Loose Ends: Cal Corwin, Private Eye, Book 1

This is an engrossing, fast paced and action packed crime mystery that I downloaded free on BookBub. Set in San Francisco, Cal is an ex cop and a bomb blast survivor who has been left with some facial scars and nerve damage to her right hand. The case of the kidnapped girl has literally been dropped into her mailbox by award winning investigator journalist Cole Sage; or was it? There is something amiss with the latest client, Mira Sorkin who did not meet with Cal until two days after her daughter Talia was kidnapped. Suffice to say this mothers behavior is dubious as is her strange attitude. With weird flashes of insight, terrific people instincts along with vibes that make her cop senses tingle, these are attributes that make Cal a very capable private investigator. The bomb incident saw the return of Cal's dead father who often joins his daughter in her car, a chatty hallucination in the form of her favorite picture of him. This is a surprising quirk to our heroin that I love as it adds to her uniqueness, as does her love for fast cars, fast driving and the game of poker. Cal's staff are interesting and competent, from tech guy Mickey, research assistant and hacker extraordinaire to the muscle bound Estridge brothers who are larger than life and periodically added to the payroll when muscle is required. Finding that the kidnapping ties to the monitoring center and a drug heist at the clients place of work, Bill Clawson retired Chicago PD now security manager joins in the search for the Talia. Memorable, strong and compassionate this man actively helps others despite being shrouded in sad darkness. One of my favorites characters is Lieutenant Jay Allsop, homocide detective who's relationship with his former partner is in tatters since Cal successfully sued the department and the city following the bomb blast. Partnered with enthusiastic rookie Brodie, a stark contrast to the older soured and disgruntled cop. I am looking forward to discovering more about this duo as I am with Gunther Luger a surprising and interesting drug connection. Aside from brilliant characters and an ever twisting plot this high octaine, read with a rising body count, a kidnapped girl to save and a mysterious Audi driver to catch California Corwin is on the case!!! I am totally hooked on this series and am looking forward to reading more of Van Dykes work.

I liked this book. It is fast paced and with a couple of decent twists that kept it interesting until the end. The only downside is that it's short. I read it in just a couple of hours or so and prefer something longer that I can get my teeth into over a few days. I will probably check out the other books in the series since this is just the first one and the others will hopefully be longer as the stories and characters develop.

Even though it has this all will fall in place feel to it, the writing is good, worry and entertaining. Some loose ends and a realistic sense of not all will get taken care of hero style in the story makes interesting.