Key Lime Blues (Wes Darling Mystery, #1)

"Key Lime Blues" is a light-hearted private investigator mystery story that pays homage to Travis McGee by being placed in the paradise of key West, Florida, and pays homage to Ed Noon by adding in hilarious touches such as psychics named Elvis. It is a story of a reluctant detective, who now tends bar in Dirty Alvin's, and who is stuck in the middle of an investigation involving a stripper, a gang of hoods, a missing set of diamonds, and bodies that keep washing up.

It is a fast read that is filled with light banter when the hoods aren't
hunting down the protagonist and his charge. The lead character, Wes Darling, is a guy who explains that, when he worked for his mother's PI firm, his drug of choice was Prozac, but since moving to Key show more West
amidst quitting the business, found that key lime pie works just as well. He just never felt comfortable with dealing with the deceit, the dead bodies, and the cops. He was also haunted by a case he was
involved in where a fifteen-year-old kidnap victim met her demise.

According to his mother, he was "the result of a wild weekend in Acapulco with a Vietnam vet who suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder." Wes' mother is also an intriguing character with a deep, raspy voice, the product of smoking three packs of cigarettes a day, and can swear "like a sailor doused in rum."

The missing stripper here is Destiny, a six-foot tall red-headed Amazon who Wes couldn't possibly forget. She might be gorgeous, but she was also a little nuts, that is, if you think leaving a set of diamonds with a psychic who fancied himself as the return of Elvis nuts. show less

Wes Darling has had enough of being a private investigator. Too bad his mother doesn't agree. He's retreated to Key West to get out of the business after making a mistake that cost a life. He's happy to spend time tending bar, living on his boat, and getting up the courage to ask Tanya out.

That all goes to hell when he learns that his mentor's body was found on the island. Despite his refusal to come back to the agency, Wes agrees to wrap up Nick's last case. Easy peasey until he meets the crazy woman he's supposed to send back to her boyfriend.

If you like noir, you'll like this story. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good story with no real good guys and everything is in dark shades of gray.

From Amazon: For most people working in the family business means suits, power lunches and afternoon meetings. For Wes Darling it was guns, lies, and dead bodies. The Darling Detective Agency has been around since 1876. Now Wes’s chain smoking, stressed out mother is grooming Wes to take over. How does he handle his mother’s expectations? He heads to Key West, moves onto a sailboat, and takes a job tending bar at a little joint called Dirty Alvin’s. Life is carefree until his mother’s lover, a man who mentored Wes for years, is murdered a short distance from Dirty Alvin’s. Despite his reluctance, Wes is drawn into a tightening web of murder, sex and deceit. First there are his mother’s pleas for help. Throw in a show more six-foot-tall red-headed stripper, a retired mobster who acts like it’s the 1940’s, a pair of dim-witted hit men, a phobic psychic named Elvis, and a small fortune in stolen diamonds and what do you have? Mayhem in Key West. show less