Friday, April 29, 2011

Cherry Beach Express by R. D. Cain

Every once and a while I like to read a good police mystery and this one fit the bill.

Det. Nastos has been arrested for the brutal murder of a dentist who specialized in child pornography. Nastos has been known for his rough treatment of suspects while on the Sexual Assault unit. And Nastos took his own daughter to this dentist. He saw the video. It seems like a clear case of a cop bent on personal revenge.
Nastos has a recovering alcoholic for a lawyer. The prosecuting attorney is a woman with whom he previously had a relationship. There is a rogue cop who is out to nail Nastos, using just about any means to see the accused detective put away. It doesn't look good.
Out on bail, Nastos tries to find the real murderer. The situation becomes tense as the offices of both lawyers are invaded and Nastos' wife is attacked. The prosecuting attorney had the dentist's full client list and now it has been stolen. What was she hiding? Who is on that list?

This is a well written murder mystery for a first time author (from what I can tell). The characters are well developed, the plot is very reasonable, and the action is great. And the murderer? At the end of the book I said, “Of course! I should have seen that coming.”
If you like the hard boiled police mystery, you'll like this book.

I received an advanced reading egalley from ECW Press for the purpose of this review.

1 comment:

Ken Bidwell said...

Just finished this read. Now searching for more by this author. Well written and easy to read. Kept my attention.
Hope to find more by R.D. Cain!