Declan James

I care not a whit about wrestling, so I could have skipped that aspect of this book, and I also had the murderer figured out very early in the game, but still, this was very entertaining. Alexander Cendese does a terrific job of voicing the protagonist Jake Cashen. The first book in any series is important because it either is going to hook us for the long haul, or it won't. This one did, mostly through the protagonist who navigates both his demons and the quirky characters of his small town show more with a certain amount of earthy skepticism and hard-won good-naturedness.

I'm in for the next in the series, although the preview makes me fear that I'm in for more wrestling. However, the first book sets up enough characters that I already felt empathy (I do like how the crime happens almost immediately) knowing who dies in the second. I hope that all the books get audiobook versions with Cendese, because now that is how I hear Jake Cashen and all the other fun characters--his overbearing-but-ultimately-loving older sister, his cranky-but-ultimately-loving grandpa, the very cool sheriff, Jake's more-observant-that-she-seems high school sweetheart, and more.

Declan James's former career in law enforcement serves him well. The policing narrative is smart, and entertaining as it is seen through the critical eye of Cashen, who bemoans the idiocy of his partner, rather than parading procedure around in flattened dialogue meant only to show that the author knows his stuff. show less

3.75
Well, I guess I'm fairly invested in the citizens of Worthington County by now. Red Sky Hill gives us a better look at the Knoxes and the Bardos, the latter familiar from the previous book. The book opens with the grisliest murder yet in the series, and we soon learn that relativism looms large as we see a whole lot of "wrong place, wrong time" and "in over his head" sorts of explanations for bad behavior. There is a definite red herring, but it turns out to be a bit more interesting show more than usual, because it calls up some moral questions for our detective Cashen, as well as others. This one does not wallow in wrestling or hunting, so I'm impressed that James has managed to keep these things contained to their respective books (for the most part). There is some sloppy editing--for example, Jake says "We'll burn that bridge when we get there" instead of "We'll cross that bridge when we get there" -- which made me laugh, but I don't think it was meant to. As far as the audiobook goes, Cendese is still great, although I noticed an unevenness and some obvious retakes in the recording.
His voicing of Meg Landry is still my favorite part of the entire series (as is her character) and I'd welcome a Meg-centric installment (or spin-off series). Disappointing here is that we get a Meg-centric subplot that fizzles out, although we hope it will be continued in the next book (Her Last Moment). If you haven't read the synopsis of Her Last Moment yet, do yourself a favor and do NOT, until you've finished this book. That's all I'll say. show less

This had moments that are riveting, and another great performance by Alexander Cendese. By now, in the third installment of the series, James has settled in to some of the recurring characters, so they are less contrived and more dimensional --this particularly applies to Gemma, Jakes's older sister, who still occasionally becomes a caricature, but is definitely more likeable. Anya, on the other hand, is less sympathetic than I would have expected, especially given her role in this show more particular story.

Unlike the other two that have a niche area of interest at their core (wrestling for no. 1, and hunting for no. 2), this one feels a bit more like an old-fashioned mystery (in a good way) -- human remains are unearthed and we have a town with lots of secrets to hide. This one involved introducing considerable backstory and James does it fairly well, although it did get a bit tiresome trying to keep track of the victim's various "involvements." But throw in some juicy scandal and there's a great story.

As for the culprit? I was sure I had it figured out from the get-go, but let's just say I was very, very close. And that's good -- I don't like to be right in this case (and the actual murderer was plausible, as opposed to bringing in a bunch of material right at the end to justify it). I'm looking forward to Red Sky Hill up next. show less

With the first book in this series, it was easy for the reader to capture the "bad guy". In the end an out of nowhere witness turned up that explained it all. That was a bit strange.... but okay, it didn't ruin the story. This one was more difficult to figure out. The reasoning was a bit random and the "who-done-it" also kind of came out of the preverbal "blue". That was okay but, unexpected. The story kept me guessing right up to the end. Some needed facts were held back and not revealed show more until the end. That fit in with "real life" cases and gave the story an almost non-fiction feel. This is the second book in the Jake Cashen series that I've read (yeah! I read them in order), and I have to say that this, thus far, has been a well written descent crime series and certainly worth a crime or mystery enthusiast's the time to pursue. show less