Ted Wood

Reid Bennett has been police chief of Murphy’s Harbour in Canada for three years now. That means he knows the locals pretty well and is very much aware of all the young people in the area. He knows that the kids he sees down Main Street are not local. They also seem to be the kind of kids waiting for trouble to happen.

They are and they will be more than once. The bigger issue is the body in the lake. More accurately, the body in the trunk of the car that was found submerged out in the lake. The car was recovered and towed to a nearby garage where the body was later found in the trunk. Moira Waites is the deceased and she had just left her husband, quite possibly for good, the day before.

Whatever future she had has now been destroyed with her death. The spouse is always a suspect and husband, John Waites, is definitely a suspect. Not only because he is the spouse and part of the argument they were having before she supposedly left, his behavior now is a bit off as he seems far more worried about the status of the car, his wife’s friends, and a host of other issues instead of the shocking loss of his wife.

That isn’t all that is going on either in Murphy’s Harbour as a bank robber who promised to get even with Bennett is on the way, and more. The tale is complicated and this installment is a good one. Flashback is part of a series that should be read in order starting with Dead In The Water. People come and go in this series and the books interconnect making reading in order a good idea. As always, multiple mysteries are at work and there is plenty of action keeping things moving and the pages turning.

Flashback
Ted Wood
Charles Scribner’s Sons
1992
ISBN# 0-684-19414-7
Hardback (also available in paperback and digital formats)
224 Pages

Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/… (altro)

Reid Bennet is always willing to go help a friend. In this eighth book of the series titled, Snowjob, that willingness takes him to Chambers, Vermont. While Reid Bennett was an odd man out because of his history when he arrived in Murphy’s Harbour, Doug Ford is going to always be the odd man out on his local police force because he is African American.

He also is odd man out because he sits in the local jail accused of the murder Cindy Laver. She was the bookkeeper at the local ski resort. Not only was he there in her apartment the night she died, fifty thousand dollars she was to take to the bank and deposit was also found in the back of his car. Then there is the fact that nearly everyone around knew they were having an affair before Ford killed her.

While the evidence points to Ford being a killer, Ford swears he didn’t do it. Reid served with Ford in Vietnam and there is an unshakable bond there. A bond that will be tested as Reid investigates and learns what is actually going on a case that leads from small town murder to big time issues.

Ninth in the series, Snowjob is another very good installment in a very good series. Reid and his personal life continues to evolve and strengthen as he puts the past behind him. At the same time, as always, there is plenty of mystery and action to keep the pages turning. The result is another very good read making Snowjob, as are the other books in the series, highly recommended.

Snowjob
Ted Wood
Charles Scribner’s Sons
1993
ISBN# 0-684-19563-1
Hardback (also available in paperback and digital formats)
262 Pages

I got to read this one by way of an Interlibrary Loan from the Beaumont Public Library in Beaumont, Texas.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018
https://kevintipplescorner.blogspot.com/… (altro)

As On The Inside: A Reid Bennet Mystery begins, newly Married Reid Bennett is the mining town of Elliot on an undercover assignment. He should have been away on his honeymoon with Freda. Instead, he is applying to be an officer on the local police force in the hopes that he can substantiate the rumors of police misconduct and corruption. It might have been more than a rumor, but the man who contacted the Provincial Police Commission was dead the day after he called to report the situation.

Whatever he knew and was going to tell investigators died with him. It is possible that the guy might have accidentally died as a result of drunk driving. Considering he had 14 years of sobriety, the crash could have just as easily been murder. Either way, the PPC need the situation evaluated and with the Elliot Police Chief accused by the dead man, they don’t know who else in that department they can trust.

The PPC know what Bennett did in Toronto and what he has been doing in Murphy’s Harbour the last couple of years. He is a good cop and one that can hold his own in physical situations when needed. Thanks to media coverage about what happened in Toronto a few years back and a couple of more recent cases in Murphy’s Harbour, Bennett has ready-made reputation which should work in his favor on the undercover assignment. Good thing Freda is willing to do what needs doing and Sam can go too. It will be a family affair in more ways than one.

On The Inside: A Reid Bennett Mystery is the 7th installment in a very good series that started with Dead In The Water. Published in 1990, the focus is on the mystery of what is going on in Elliot. That mystery focus means, as always, there is plenty of action in this one just like the other books in the series. This book is also a bit more police procedurally as much of the book is Bennett is actually working on shift duty with other officers.

Like the other books in the series, On The Inside: A Reid Bennett Mystery, is a good one.

On The Inside: A Reid Bennett Mystery
Ted Wood
Charles Scribner’s Sons
1990
ISBN# 0-684-19090-7
Hardback (also available in paperback and digital formats)
280 Pages

Material supplied by way of an Interlibrary Loan filled by the staff of the Tom Green County Library in San Angelo, Texas, and sent to the good folks of the Dallas Public Library. My sincere and appreciative thanks to all involved.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019… (altro)