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🌟🌟🌟🌟 1/2

Murder, mayhem, and all-around almost gleeful nastiness make this book a fun and crazy read, deeply reminiscent of the hi-jinks found in the best of Elmore Leonard.

When Goff Langdon, mystery bookstore owner, hangs out his shingle as a PI in rural Brunswick Maine, little does he expect to end up in a maelstrom so deadly that it threatens to wipe out everyone he has ever cared for. Caught in the middle of a mysterious death at a nuclear power plant, a salacious widow, a hideously evil sallow-faced thug and a whole confusing host of suspects, Langdon needs his best wits about him, along with his motley crew of friends and colleagues, if he’s to have any chance of solving (and surviving) this one – his first case in “the big leagues”.

Brimming with hoodlums, hard-as-nails women, vicious oddly-named bad guys, raucous car chases, pistols, rifles, switch-blades and head-splitting blood-letting fisticuffs – the action never stops, but somehow, throughout it all, an underlying layer of sweetness and silliness prevails.

As Langdon, with his penchant for bad puns, Sam Spade, and Geary’s beer, like Rex Stout’s young Archie Goodwin emerging from the big man’s shadow, steps up to earn his keep and maybe save the day, it’s clear that his life will never quite be the same again.

Highly recommended for mystery readers, this book is based in the 1990’s, yet harkens back to generations past, where dark and smoky bars, a hero with a tough yet charming bluster, and a cold one – will likely get you anywhere.

A great big thank you to the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book – the first in the Goff Langdon Mainely Mystery series. All thoughts presented are my own.

If you enjoyed this review, stay tuned! I can’t wait to read (and review) more of this series.