Friday, July 12, 2013

The Classic Rockers Reunion with Death / RJ McDonnell


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Mystery

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

The son of a police detective, RJ McDonnell grew up watching TV detective shows with his father, who critiqued the stories for believability. (This is something McDonnell has in common with Jason Duffy, the protagonist of his mystery series.) A working musician during his college years, McDonnell has since worked as a professional writer, including as a columnist for two San Diego publications and a comedy skit writer for a local TV show.

For more, visit the author’s website.

Description:

“Private investigator Jason Duffy travels from San Diego to Scranton, PA in January after his uncle’s best friend is murdered. He learns that they were members of a rock band that nearly made it to the national scene in the early 1970s, and were about to play a hometown reunion concert when their rhythm guitarist was executed.

Drawing on his past as a club musician, Jason fills in for the victim, enabling the show to go on. But he quickly finds himself targeted by the killer as he tries to discover who is willing to commit murder to stop the concert, and why.”

Appraisal:

The fourth installment of McDonnell’s The Rock & Roll Mystery Series finds rocker-turned-PI Jason Duffy looking into a murder at the behest of his uncle on the other side of the country from home. As in the previous book I read in this series, the story is a murder-mystery set within the world of rock music. As with any good mystery, not everyone is how they first appear, which keeps the reader guessing as to who’s hiding what along with the obvious question of who done it.

One aspect of this story that complicates matters for Jason and adds a strong secondary storyline is the matter of the strained relationship between Jason’s ex-cop Dad and his brother (Jason’s Uncle). How his Dad reacts to Jason helping out his Uncle and how that evolves as the story progresses not only adds to the story, but complicates the case for Jason.

FYI:

Limited adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues


Rating: **** Four stars

1 comment:

Irene Jennings said...

I love RJ's character Jason Duffy. He seems so down to earth as well as adventurous have read all McDonnells books and can't wait for the next one. Once I start his books, I can't put them down so make some time for a great adventure.

Irene (Mixed Media Graphics)