A seasoned detective knows that the best way to solve a crime is to follow the money trail, especially in a particular L.A. neighborhood where the rich float on top while the bottom feeders sink below. But we’re talking about Detective Finn O’Brien and he’s in the other L.A., the one with sun-streaked neighborhoods burning with robbery and drugs, and where kids duck for cover under a lullaby of gunfire.
Amber, his partner Cori’s daughter, bypasses her mother and asks Finn for help in finding her missing friend, twenty-two year old Pacal Acosta. Finn is conflicted about keeping a secret from his partner and challenged by the impossibility of trying to gather information to track an undocumented male immigrant.
When a number of missing young immigrant men are found murdered, Finn’s instincts kick in. There’s a serial killer on the loose targeting immigrants, and Amber’s involvement is spooking the killer which means she’s in danger too.
Friendship and trust are tested when Cori discovers the secret pact between Finn and Amber, and when she learns that her daughter loves the missing young man, her worldview gets turned upside down. Cori struggles to accept her daughter’s openness to this new blended world and is forced to confront her own prejudices.
The three work together to compare notes and scenarios. Who would kill immigrants and why? Could it be gang related? Maybe the work of Marbles, a member of the Hard Time Locos, not yet 18 but whose “evil is already old and deeply ingrained.” Ruling out money and drugs, the three of them follow, not the money trail, but the trail of blood and dead bodies.
Finn and Cori investigate possible killers, interview members of the ethnic community, and try to keep Amber safe, all the while dreading the unspoken possibility. What if Amber’s young man is the next dead body they find?
With multiculturalism quickly becoming the new normal, the fast-paced thriller Secret Relations is the novel for our times. Read it!
See you next time on June 22nd.
Rebecca Forster
A Finn O’Brien Thriller, Book 2
Police Procedural
ASIN: B071RJZ4LD
ISBN: 9781547170173
Miraculously surviving torture Takrit, a political activist, smuggles evidence of human rights atrocities out of her home country of Eritrea and she escapes to the United States.
Also in the U.S., both hunting for Takrit, and hoping to close a lucrative business deal for a port of trade that will cement his power and his fortune is, Emanuel Dega Abu, the President of Eritrea and . . . the man responsible for the human rights abuses, and Takrit’s torment.
If Takrit’s video evidence goes public, Dega Abu’s empire will come crashing down and so will he. He must find Takrit and eliminate her. She must find a way to stay alive and tell the world her story.
In Foreign Relations, book 2 of the Finn O’Brien Series, Rebecca Forster immerses us in the world of political wheeling and dealing at home and abroad, and the disparate parties that the matchmaker, Money, unites with ease.
When the first dead body turns up, Finn O’Brien starts to fit the pieces together. He gets too close to the source so a local congresswoman, with her sights on a seat in the Senate, deters him by shutting down the case. But Finn is haunted by what he’s discovered. And the spirit of the dead body ‘sits on his shoulder asking him to put it to rest.’
Never one to back down or cringe before the brass or the most degenerate criminal, O’Brien tackles crime, money, and politics. With help from where he least expects it, he plows through the mire of government contracts, kickbacks, and money laundering, and dents the unbreachable wall of diplomatic immunity.
Intriguing. Thrilling. Page-turning. With Finn O’Brien on the scene, crime doesn’t pay.
Both heart-rending and heart-warming, Rebecca Forster assures us that despite the reality and the odds, justice, loyalty and love, still reign and rule the day.
A fantastic read you will never forget!
See you next time on May 22nd.
The Day Bailey Devlin Picked Up A Penny
Book 2 of the Bailey Devlin Series
by Rebecca Forster
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2015
ISBN# 978-1517072728
When we first met Bailey Devlin in, The Day Bailey Devlin’s Horoscope Came True, (see my review posted on Dec. 22, 2018), Bailey was struggling with the unexpected arrival of her grandfather, studying to pass the bar exam, and conflicted about her feelings for two guys.
In The Day Bailey Devlin Picked Up A Penny, book 2 of the Bailey Devlin Series, our heroine is on a weekend getaway with Jeffery to “meet the parents.” Driving through the pouring rain, Bailey spots a woman stranded on the roadside and urges Jeffery to turn the car around and go back to help her. Bailey braves the downpour to help the woman into the car. The three of them arrive at the mansion with Bailey drenched and looking like something the cat dragged in . . . and then threw away. Not the great first impression she was hoping to make on Jeffery’s family.
The stranger turns out to be Jeffery’s childhood friend, now drop-dead-gorgeous . . . Penny. And this is one penny Bailey can’t toss away! In Bailey’s mind, Penny is a rival who threatens her potential future with her true love. And to make matters worse, Penny has a secret that no one but Bailey seems concerned about.
Since our Bailey rarely takes the easy or direct route to confront her problems, she lets her fears and suspicions lead her into trouble and grief. The only foot she’s able to put forward is the left one, usually into her mouth.
Navigating a maze of confusion and misunderstanding, Bailey finds herself wallowing in self-doubt and treading the waters of low self-esteem. She questions whether luck and love are well-matched and wonders if maybe it’s like her mother said, ‘luck encompasses those things and events that can change the course of one’s life.’
To find out if the events in this book change Bailey’s life and confirm her true love, you’ll have to read, The Day Bailey Devlin Picked Up a Penny. It just might be your lucky day!
See you next time on, March 22nd.
One Taste Too Many (A Sarah Blair Mystery)
First in a new series!
by Debra H. Goldstein
Kensington Publishing Corp. 2019 ISBN 9781496719478
They say that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. It’s also an effective way to take him out—permanently!
Every clue points to Emily, a chef on the rise, and it doesn’t help that the dead man is Bill Blair…her twin sister Sarah’s ex-husband. Throw a third woman into the mix, Jane, the woman Bill was seeing who claims that Bill’s family inheritance belongs to her, including Sarah’s cat, and you’ve got a recipe for murder.
In the midst of a major Food Expo and fierce, (shall we say deadly?), chef competition aspiring careers will be made or broken. Emily’s lawyer Harlan, and Peter the police chief, all life-long friends, match evidence and wits to discover the identity of the real murderer and get Emily off the hook.
In One Taste Too Many, Debra Goldstein will put your sleuthing skills to the test. If you think you can run with the best of the pack; whether Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, or Jessica Fletcher of the television series, Murder She Wrote, Debra will throw you for a loop each time you think you’ve solved the case.
Intriguing and entertaining, you will bury your nose in the book trying to pick up the scent of each new clue. But like a sophisticated recipe, you won’t be able to guess the secret ingredient. And like the expert storyteller that she is, Debra will keep you turning the pages until she reveals the culprit. It’s not who you think!
P.S. I tried the killer recipe included at the end of the book (‘killer’ as in taste, not the one that did poor Bill in. That’s why I’m still here). I didn’t get it to come out the way it was supposed to, but it’s light, refreshing, and delicious. And if I might add…one taste is to die for!
See you next time on February 22nd.
Veronica
The Day Bailey Devlin’s Horoscope Came True (Book 1 of the Bailey Devlin Series) by Rebecca Forster
Amazon Digital Services 2015 ASIN: B013XGNI06
Some people don’t celebrate Christmas. Others have overdosed on holiday movies. But EVERYONE loves a good story especially if, like a great meal, it satisfies and nourishes. And we all have hopes, dreams and wishes for the upcoming year.
So before you pick that next book off the shelf or make your New Year resolutions, you need to read Rebecca Forster’s, The Day Bailey Devlin’s Horoscope Came True. You’ll be glad you did!
Bailey Devlin, a lawyer in the making, wants a better life. Don’t we all! She’s sick and tired of living on the low-end as a sandwich maker, coupon-cutting to make ends meet, (they never do), and stifling her gourmet appetite. If she can just pass the upcoming bar exam she’ll have everything she always wanted. So she thinks.
Guided by the stars, Bailey follows her daily horoscope predictions. The latest one tells her that someone will knock on her door and she must let him in. Him? Has to be the love of her life to complete her dream.
Not.
It’s the 92 year-young Grandpa she never knew she had and she’s the designated next-of-kin to care for him. Bailey likens him to a hunk of kryptonite that lands in her living room sapping her strength.
Her life gets turned upside down: bar exam study partners that meet in her apartment ditch her, Ethan, her musician neighbor, and Jeffery, her lawyer friend help her with Grandpa but compete with each other for her affection.
And yes, things get worse.
Bailey shows up in the wrong court room one day to protest a ticket and is berated by the judge. Grandpa rises to her defense by stomping his walker on a guard’s foot, and challenging the judge to remove his sissy dress and “let’s take it out back.” She and Grandpa wind up in a jail cell!
Way past fed-up, unable and unwilling to care for Grandpa, and convinced it will be best for all concerned, Bailey commits Grandpa into the Rainbow Rest Retreat nursing home.
The day of the bar exam arrives and Bailey’s life is back on track… until Jeffery arrives to alert her that Grandpa has suffered a heart attack. Bailey is forced to choose between this stranger called Grandpa and her dream life.
Tender and hilarious, The Day Bailey Devlin’s Horoscope Came True will leave you wanting more. It might even make you hug that relative who drives you nuts.
And like Bailey, you may discover that life doesn’t always give you what you expect, but gives you exactly what you need.
See you next year on January 22, 2019. Until then, Happy New Year and Happy Reading!
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More info →A Slice of Orange is an affiliate with some of the booksellers listed on this website, including Barnes & Nobel, Books A Million, iBooks, Kobo, and Smashwords. This means A Slice of Orange may earn a small advertising fee from sales made through the links used on this website. There are reminders of these affiliate links on the pages for individual books.
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