Ratings3
Average rating3.7
"It's the start of another action-packed summer for the wise-cracking Boyle and straight-arrow cop (now Chief of Detectives) John Ceepak down the Jersey Shore as they do their best to help Danny's friend, an attractive young nurse, who claims she has been falsely accused of aggravated assault by a prestigious Sea Haven resident. Ceepak's unshakable code of honor is tested when he trusts that the nurse is telling the truth. It's stretched to the limit when one of the nurse's home health care patients turns up dead. Now Ceepak and Danny must answer the hard and horrible question: 'Did we just help a friend get away with murder?'"--From author's web site.
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8 primary books9 released booksJohn Ceepak Mystery is a 9-book series with 8 primary works first released in 2005 with contributions by Chris Grabenstein.
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This is an outtake from a blog post discussing John Ceepak Mysteries 6-8 over at The Irresponsible Reader. It probably works better in the context of the whole, but, you never know.
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Sure, there are draw backs to having a mystery series in a smaller town - at some point the crime rate gets ridiculously high, for example. On the other hand, when at least one of your characters has known half of the victims/suspects/witnesses all their lives, you can save a lot of time getting to know them finding narrative hooks, emotional ties, etc. That helps a lot here.
There's something to this murder – this victim that doesn't seem like the typical Ceepak/Boyle case. Same with the motive, really. I really liked the characters, the murder, the way this pushed our protagonists in different ways. If this wasn't the best mystery – the best book in the series, it's the best in a long time. Hope it's a sign of things to come.