Quick Facts
- Release Date: October 28, 2019
- Page Count: 376
- Publisher: Matador
- Kindle Unlimited? No
I was hooked almost immediately and loved following Newman as he unraveled the mystery. I have the utmost appreciation for Roger’s writing. Readers of mystery and crime will love this post-WWII, extremely rewarding murder mystery
~ Synopsis taken from Amazon ~
Two candles flaring at a Christmas crib. A nurse who steps inside a church to light them. A gunshot emptied in a man’s head in the creaking stillness before dawn, that the nurse says she didn’t hear. It’s 1947 in the snowbound, war-scarred City of London, where Pandora’s Box just got opened in the ruins, City Police has a vice killing on its hands, and a spooked councilor hires a shamus to help spare his blushes.
Like the Buddha says, everything is connected. So it all can be explained. But that’s a little cryptic when you happen to be the shamus, and you’re standing over a corpse.
Review
Shamus Dust: Hard Winter, Cold War, Cool Murder, by Janet Roger, far surpasses your standard murder mystery. It took me longer than usual to get through this book, but let me tell you, it was worth it.
With a style similar to Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne trilogy, I can only describe Roger’s writing style as phenomenal. It was easily my favorite part about reading this book, as it made the whole story come together so clearly and so succinctly. It felt like examining a puzzle piece in great detail, from the colors to the shape, and much later realizing that I knew all along where it fit. This book was beautifully done.
I was at first surprised that Shamus Dust is written in the first person, but having the story delivered by Newman, Roger’s shamus – private detective – protagonist, was an interesting twist. It became particularly appealing as the book progressed and the mystery unraveled. Newman reveals clues to the reader exactly when he means to, even if it was something that he himself had ascertained several chapters before.
Aside from his role as narrator, Newman is an interesting character. He uses his wit, keen sense of observation, and, at times, bleak sarcasm to cajole and extricate information from the other characters. Blunt almost to a fault, I loved that he wasn’t shy in laying all his cards out on the table just to see where the chips fell. Despite the fact that not a single piece of background information was provided about him until the second half of the book, he was instantly both likable and relatable. I often feel authors rely on background information to define their characters, but Roger impressed me by avoiding this completely.
The pace of this book was excellent. The story progressed steadily and grounded itself when it needed to. Information was provided in such a way that just when I thought I had everything figured out, another piece was revealed that made me question whether I had understood anything at all. Much to my amazement, this proved consistent up until the last few pages of the book.
Summary
I am delighted to give this book 5 out of 5 stars. I was hooked almost immediately and loved following Newman as he unraveled the mystery. I have the utmost appreciation for Roger’s writing; I could almost feel the level of attention that was given to each sentence, and it did not disappoint. Readers of mystery and crime will love this post-WWII, extremely rewarding murder mystery.
Thank you to Henry Roi PR for providing a free copy of Shamus Dust: Hard Winter, Cold War, Cool Murder in exchange for an honest review.
Link to Author’s website: https://www.janetroger.com/
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