William Wells (4)Recensioni

Now and then, retired Chicago cop Jack Starkey might help out the police with a case, but mostly he’d rather stay sober at the Drunken Parrot or enjoy the company of the beautiful Marisa. Sometimes he edits his friend’s best-sellers about a police detective who isn’t yet retired. It pays the bills quite comfortably. But mystery’s a bit like gravity, and Jack just can’t resist a call for help.
In this novel, this particular call has Jack investigating the relatives of a dead philanthropist. The philanthropist was murdered, and his fortune won’t go to those relatives. But perhaps they didn’t know…, or perhaps they hope…

It’s not that the plot is complex, though it takes Jack Starkey far from his present comfort zone. And it’s not that the threat is overly ominous. But the novel’s a true page-turner because of its voice. Jack Starkey’s narration meanders convincingly, offering social commentary and humorous asides, with an amusingly modern tone. He uses his “cell phone to connect with my sleuthing partner Google.” He eats donuts with an old friend who knows where to keep a secret stash. And he asks all the right questions, pondering the answers, and delving through false leads. “Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you,” just now and then.

Disclosure: I was given a preview edition by the publisher and I really enjoyed it. I love this series. I love this voice!

A retired Chicago homicide cop, a sleepy Florida town, and two dead bodies, executed on a pleasure boat; add a bar called The Drunken Parrot—every retiree’s dream—plus enough money to make things easy, and you’ll have a detective willing to work for a dollar a year with a police chief delighted to hire him. You’ll also have a fascinating murder mystery, narrated compellingly in the voice of retired cop Jack Starkey. The scenery, peace and splendor of Florida are convincingly portrayed. The characters have a cool blend of small-town and big-city concerns. And the occasional appearance of Jack’s fictional alter ego, who solves crimes with aplomb and no danger of getting caught, adds an interesting opportunity to step aside, regrouping thoughts and ideas.

The Dollar-a-year Detective is the sort of detective fiction where the reader struggles alongside the protagonist to connect the dots, find reasons why crimes might be related, and determine how they feel about oil permits in the gulf, justice on high street, or even politics. While the narrator clearly has views of his own, the author has perfected the technique of including social commentary without imposing on the reader; he even lets his protagonists ideas morph in light of reality. It makes for enticing reading, as if a real person were narrating the tale—a person deserving of respect.

Great characters, intriguing situations, good humor, and a growing collection of sub-plots and red herrings; it’s a really fun read.

Disclosure: I was given a preview edition by the publisher and I offer my honest review.

Here's a twist on the classic detective novel for you, this one has a fictional detective as one of the main characters. Okay, so I realize the book is detective fiction... but, in this case there are two detectives one a fictional character and one the detective the other is based on. We get to follow both of them to some degree. It's a fun twist and makes for an interesting tale! Pick up a copy, I'm sure you'll find this one entertaining

In William Wells’ Detective Fiction, Jack Starkey, ex-Chicago homicide detective is living the retired cop’s dream. He lives on a boat in Fort Myers Beach, FL, owns a bar, dates Marisa, a beautiful Latina, and is the basis of a successful mystery series written by a journalist friend. When approached to assist the Chief of Police in nearby posh Naples with several suspicious deaths, he realizes he misses the action and accepts. Marisa suggests the only way to learn about the upper one percent is to become one, which is arranged by the Naples’ mayor. Average guy Jack Starkey assumes the persona of rich Frank Chance (named for the Chicago Cubs first baseman). However, living the good life yields no clues and the investigation stalls. He grabs onto the flimsiest of leads.

Starkey is a guy’s guy, liking cars, shapely women and ballpark food. He is out of his element in Naples. The case almost takes a back seat to Starkey’s humorous commentary comparing the life of the elite to Chicago’s South Side, the Cubs and the Baby Doll Polka Lounge, his former hangout. The fact that the body count continues to increase and he must ultimately combine forces with a known gangster makes him seem like an amateur, but so what. This novel is shouting ‘series’ which would be perfectly fine.

Here's a twist on the classic detective novel for you, this one has a fictional detective as one of the main characters. Okay, so I realize the book is detective fiction... but, in this case there are two detectives one a fictional character and one the detective the other is based on. We get to follow both of them to some degree. It's a fun twist and makes for an interesting tale! Pick up a copy, I'm sure you'll find this one entertaining!

William Wells’ Detective Fiction opens with a story within a story. The editor, Chicago Homicide Detective Sergeant Jack Starkey (retired), promises to make notes in the margin as he reads, and the reader is quickly intrigued. Starkey has a very individual viewpoint, humor, and pleasantly chatty style as he tells his tale. He also has a vested interest in his fictional counterpart, Jack Stoney, both financial and personal, as profits from the books are what keep his Florida bar, the Drunken Parrot, afloat.

Starkey has retired to a houseboat in Southern Florida. He runs a bar not too far from Naples, Florida’s haunt of the rich and famous, and enjoys the company of beautiful Marisa. But he misses the chase and is delighted to help when the powers that be grow suspicious of deaths in Naples. Unfortunately, lacking the support of the whole Chicago force of detectives and friends, Jack Starkey’s about as untethered as his fictional alter-ego, committing himself to a dangerous cover and failing to spot the lies behind the truths. If Stoney would charge into an armed man’s home without backup, Starkey will charge when equally blind and equally lacking support. But he’s retired. The retired and the fictional are different.

Written with sharp dry humor, Detective Fiction invites the reader to follow Starkey’s dream-driven journey to dream houses, dream boats, dream cars, dream girls (but don’t tell Marisa) and nightmare dangers. Meanwhile there’s a book to be edited, and a fictional character whose imagined bravery might inspire the real.

Bad guys are “brought to justice in a most satisfying way, the hero [gets] the girl, and the future look[s] bright,” in the world of detective fiction. In the novel, Starkey lives his own detective/retirement fiction and this reader, for one, is eager for more at story’s end.

Disclosure: I was given a free preview edition by the publisher and I offer my honest review.

Enjoyed this book and read it in a couple days. A tax attorney lost his job due to the bad economy, his only daughter was abducted while attending the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a wife who was in a psychiatric hospital because of her daughters disappearance. The daughter disappeared nine years ago. The husband(the tax attorney) decides to buy a Harley Cycle to ride from his home in Minnesota to Virginia to visit his wife at the facility and then down to Key west,FL to confront the person he thinks did something to his daughter. On the journey he had an accident, had his bike stolen by a girl he gave a ride to along with all his possessions. His former secretary at the law firm got him new credit cards,etc. but in the meantime some bikers from up east took him under their wing and took care of him until his new credit cards got to him. He then bought a new motorcycle and continued his journey. As things turned out the man who murdered his daughter was in prison and admitted the crime. The wife came home from the facility and they were a family again.

I just couldn't get into this book. I ride and thought I would enjoy it but I thought it read like someone's journal. It bored me so much I quit reading it. Sorry!

The book started out so real, I had to double check if it was fiction.

I became interested in the book after seeing two key words: Madison and Motorcycle! Both have been a part of my life for over 25 years. This book is about courage, grief and the struggle to overcome the worst tragedy that you can imagine. Jack and Jenna’s daughter, Hope, disappears from her apartment at U of W at Madison. Hope receives a phone call, leaves the apartment and is never heard from again. Jenna becomes fragile, unable to deal with the disappearance of her daughter. Jenna agrees to check into the Sanctuary, so very far from their Minnesota home in Virginia. Jack, a partner in a law firm is unable to maintain even the minimum needed to continue his place as a partner, so he is terminated. Jack is fully convinced that Hope’s college boyfriend, Slater, has kidnapped her and most likely killed her. Jack has become obsessed with Slater and through a private investigator learns he is in Florida. Thus begins the greatest adventure in Jacks life.

Jack is used to going big, and it is no different when he decides to purchase a Road King by Harley Davidson. A few safety lessons, and several thousand dollars later, Jack leaves Minnesota to start his trek. He stops in Madison to learn what he can and to meet with the Police Deceive in charge of Hopes case. He continues down to Virginal, to spend some time with Jenna and then finally, down to Florida to confront Slater. However, it is anything but a smooth trip. He faces theft, attempted blackmail, accidents, bullies, new friendship, loyalty and the horrific loss of a newly acquired friend. He lives an entire life in a few short weeks.

This book kept me captivated. It followed along at a smooth pace, with little deviation from the time line. The devotion to family and friends that is executed in this book is incredible. It shows the wonderful humanity that helps Jack deal with ongoing horrors. It helps us to remember to not give up. You may not always find what you were looking for, but what you find can be the stepping stones to a new life. Take the time, read the book. You will not be sorry.

I received this book in exchange for a review.½

I received this book as an ebook free from the author through LibraryThing in exchange for an honest review. Ride Away Home is about the journey of a grieving father looking to resolve the disappearance without a trace of his only child two years previously from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, Wisconsin. This is a very well written book. It made me think a lot about whether a grieving person should let grief and loss turn into anger against the responsible person and whether it really is a resolution. The locations were all very familiar to me as I live in the Midwest and am very familiar with the areas from Minneapolis and I-94 through Madison and onward. I am also familiar with Key West and really liked the way the author referred to Sloppy Joes, Hemingway, and several other familiar areas in Key West when telling the story. I really enjoyed this book.

The book started out slowly for me, but once I got into the rhythm, I found the story to be totally believable. The author does a good job with descriptions and the character portrayal is excellent.

The story itself is an unusual one, taking the reader on the journey along with Jack as he struggles to deal with his shattered life. We feel his pain and feelings of floundering loss as he searches for answers even as he knows he won't like them when he gets them. There are a few shocks along the way that seem to be treated rather casually in the story - but maybe that's part of what made them shocking.

This is a thought-provoking book that was a pleasure to read.½

This easy-rider is a fifty-two-year-old tax attorney, and this mid-life crisis is triggered by tragedy. The Harley roars, and the open road beckons, with tire-tracks of revenge and slivers of hope. Jack Tanner leaves everything behind for his looming mission on the Florida Keys. Winter’s weather gives way to warmth and spring. Winter’s anger is tempered by the kindness of strangers. And not every cop is out to get the biker, nor every friendly face to give him aid.

Author William Wells creates a very believable voice for his protagonist, muting his pain, hiding his hurts until the journey’s freedom gives him speech. Scenes come to vivid life, from Broadway Minneapolis, to the University of Wisconsin in Madison, to beaches and bars. Meanwhile a great cast of characters drift in and out of Jack’s life—the cop investigating the family’s loss, the stranger needing a ride, the biker dudes...

Surprises abound, but every step’s believable on a journey that covers physical and mental space, proving the truth that sometimes it’s really not the destination that counts. Jack’s quest to change his future has its roots in a changeless past, and grows into something more than either he or the reader might expect. There is kindness as well as cruelty in strangers. There is accident as well as evil design. And there is hope.

Crossing “fields and woodlands where so many young men fell,” keeping to the right side of the truck-stop café, showing up because anything less than showing up is meaningless, and following the journey of a grieving father, readers will learn as Jack does that, “sometimes, to get home, you have to ride away from home.”

Ride Away Home is a short, haunting novel; yet it's as huge as the country it crosses, wide as the ocean of pain, and clear as sunshine breaking through rain. It takes the deepest hurt and renders it human, manageable, agonizing but safe. It’s a book to treasure and a journey to remember.

Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy by the publisher and I offer my honest review.