Review: Third Rail by Rory Flynn

A Mysterious Review of Third Rail by Rory Flynn. An Eddy Harkness Mystery.

Review summary: This novel is centered on a seriously flawed cop, an overused plot device if ever there was one. But the storyline is rather good, unfolding in a not quite predictable manner. A first in series mystery with a number of familiar elements, yet a series with the potential to distinguish itself in the future. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Third Rail
Rory Flynn
An Eddy Harkness Mystery
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (June 2014)

Publisher synopsis: At crime scenes, Eddy Harkness is a human Ouija board, a brilliant young detective with a knack for finding the hidden something — cash, drugs, guns, bodies. But Eddy's swift rise in an elite narcotics unit is derailed by the death of a Red Sox fan in the chaos of a World Series win, a death some camera-phone-wielding witnesses believe he could have prevented. Scapegoated, Eddy is exiled to his hometown just outside Boston, where he empties parking meters and struggles to redeem his disgraced family name.

Then one night Harkness's police-issue Glock disappears. Unable to report the theft, Harkness starts a secret search — just as a string of fatal accidents lead him to uncover a new, dangerous smart drug, Third Rail. With only a plastic disc gun to protect him, Harkness begins a high-stakes investigation that leads him into the darkest corners of the city, where politicians and criminals intertwine to deadly effect.

        

New This Week: Hit and Run, A Moreno & Hart Mystery by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin

Omnimystery News is pleased to present a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during July 2014 and priced $4.99 or less …

Hit and Run by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin

A Moreno & Hart Mystery (2nd in series)

Publisher: Socal Press

Price: $3.99 (as of 07/22/2014 at 4:30 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

Danger comes from all sides as private investigators Scarlet Moreno and Krista Hart tackle two new cases …

Scarlet Moreno gets a panicked call from long-time friend Jason Jones, an LAPD street cop wanted for killing his girlfriend. Paranoid with no one to trust, he reaches out to Scarlet for help. Before they can figure out who set him up, a SWAT team descends, Jason runs, and Scarlet is left with questions she can't answer when the police show up. She's determined to prove Jason innocent, but the cops want him behind bars and someone else wants him dead. As Scarlet digs deeper into the murky case, she realizes that whoever is framing Jason wants her dead, too — and it might connect to the ambush that nearly killed her and Krista three years ago.

Krista Hart doesn't want to team up with rival private detective R.J. Flynn. And she definitely doesn't want to help an unscrupulous trial lawyer get away with murder. But when R.J. pulls her into his latest high-profile case, Krista realizes that nothing about the murder of a beautiful Laguna Beach housewife is quite what it seems. Krista sets out to uncover the truth — no matter whose side it helps — and manages to provoke all the wrong people, including a vicious murderer who won't hesitate to kill again and then make a run.

— Hit and Run by Allison Brennan and Laura Griffin

Cop Hater, An 87th Precinct Novel by Ed McBain, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to feature the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Thomas & Mercer …

Cop Hater by Ed McBain

An 87th Precinct Novel (1st in series)

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Price: $1.99 (as of 07/22/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

As a cop with the city's famed 87th Precinct, Steve Carella has seen it all. Or so he thinks. Because nothing can prepare him for the sight that greets him on a sweltering July night: fellow detective Mike Reardon's dead body splayed across the sidewalk, his face blown away by a .45.

Days later, Reardon's partner is found dead, a .45-caliber bullet buried deep in his chest. Only a fool would call it a coincidence, and Carella's no fool. He chalks the whole ugly mess up to a grudge killing…until a third murder shoots that theory to hell. Armed with only a single clue, Carella delves deep into the city's underbelly, launching a grim search for answers that will lead him from a notorious brothel to the lair of a beautiful, dangerous widow. He won't stop until he finds the truth — or until the next bullet finds him.

— Cop Hater by Ed McBain

Shame on Him by Tara Sivec, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2014

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during July 2014 …

Shame on Him by Tara Sivec

The Fool Me Once Series (3rd)

Publisher: Montlake Romance

  

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for July 2014. For new hardcover mysteries, visit New Mysteries where for a list of July 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

More about our featured title, below …

For Lorelei Warner, being perfect isn't everything it's cracked up to be. She did what her straitlaced parents wanted: became a lawyer, married her college boyfriend. But since her husband ran off with another man and her career became a nonstop bore-fest, Lorelei has turned to her best friends and Fool Me Once Investigations to find fulfillment and adventure.

When a routine subpoena-delivery turns up a dead body, Lorelei knows that solving the murder is exactly what she needs to boost her confidence … until private investigator Dallas Osborne walks in and takes over the case. Dallas has always rubbed Lorelei the wrong way. It's aggravating enough that he's a pompous ass, but he's also entirely too good-looking.

If she wants to catch the killer, Lorelei will need to loosen up and defy her parents — not to mention the law. And she'll need to partner with Dallas, working closer (much closer) to the sexy investigator than she ever expected.

— Shame on Him by Tara Sivec

The Camelot Caper, A Novel of Suspense by Elizabeth Peters, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to feature the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, HarperCollins …

The Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: HarperCollins

Price: $3.99 (as of 07/22/2014 at 3:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

The lethal stuff of legends …

For Jessica Tregarth, an unexpected invitation to visit her grandfather in England is a wonderful surprise — an opportunity to open doors to a family past that have always been closed to her.

But sinister acts greet her arrival. A stranger tries to steal her luggage and later accosts her in Salisbury Cathedral. Mysterious villains pursue her through Cornwall, their motive and intentions unknown.

Jessica's only clue is an antique heirloom she possesses, an ancient ring that bears the Tregarth family crest. And her only ally is handsome gothic novelist David Randall — her self-proclaimed protector — who appears from seemingly out of nowhere to help her in her desperate — attempt to solve a five hundred-year-old, puzzle.

For something from out of the cloudy mists of Arthurian lore has come back to plague a frightened American abroad. And a remarkable truth about a fabled king and a medieval treasure could ultimately make Jess Tregarth very rich … or very dead.

— The Camelot Caper by Elizabeth Peters