ALL OR NONE
by Clive Fleury
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
Blurb:
Returning to Sydney, Detective Ramesh Ryan is promoted to the Homicide Squad. Zoe Yang joins him there. Now a detective herself, she is assigned as his junior partner. Straight up, the cops are off and running—investigating the discovery of a murdered company director. Following the clues, Detective Ryan finds that this and a second murder may be linked to past events.
As the pressure mounts for a quick solution to the case, the detective finds that he too, is in the killer’s crosshairs. But Ryan is distracted from the investigation by a romantic encounter with an old university friend. He also worries about his mother, Mumta, and her new obsessive desire for grandchildren from her only son. Could this be linked to her recent medical tests? And there’s another pressing problem—the plague of rats in his apartment block.
Detective Ryan’s hands are well and truly full.
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Excerpt:
There were eleven of them squashed into the red Ford Transit van. All were in high spirits—except, that was, for the driver, Tommy Clarke. He wasn’t happy.
Tommy had thought long and hard about offering his services locally as a driver and wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for Anne, his wife. She had heard that people were looking for transport into the city for a protest march and saw it as the perfect opportunity for them to earn some money—even though it was scheduled for Saturday, which would mean Tommy missing the big match: the Swans versus the Eagles.
He had tried to argue, but it was a waste of time. Anne Clarke was an unstoppable force of nature and opposing her was an exercise in futility. Still, it was that same determination and persistence that had attracted him in the first place—that and a body that could stop traffic.
Before meeting his wife, Tommy had drifted like a ship without an anchor. But Anne had plans—lots of them—and the principal one was to buy a house. Of course, properties cost money, and Tommy had no idea where they would get that. Luckily, Anne did.
She stuck a big whiteboard up in the kitchen, taping it to the wall. Using a black marker, she split the board vertically into three columns: incomings, outgoings, and savings. Then, she crossed the lines with dates. Every week, she filled the boxes with numbers—money they earned, spent, and saved together. The savings column had gotten larger and larger, but they still needed every cent they could get, which was why Saturday’s driving job had to go ahead.
Tommy picked the passengers up outside Absolute Muffin, Church Point’s only bakery. He stashed their banners and signs in the back of the Transit and then set off to Sydney Town Hall, where they would join the others for the Future Is in Your Hands march. After they returned, Tommy would drive them back. He would get three hundred dollars cash for the job.
It was the first demonstration Tommy had attended. He thought protests and marches were a waste of time and was surprised at the eclectic mix of people he had picked up for the protest. There was old Mrs. Deans, who was almost eighty and could hardly walk; a farming family, the Morinas—father Antonio, mother Lucia, and their eight-year-old son, Sasha; Claire Nichol, who owned the local ladies’ fashion boutique, and her husband Noel, a teacher; a couple of hippies whom Tommy had never met before; and the Coopers, newlyweds who were older than Tommy and Anne but had gotten married at almost the same time and in the same church. Theresa Cooper worked as a dental hygienist and was bubbly and outgoing. Irwin was more intense, an academic who worked as a chemistry lecturer at the local college.
My Review:
All or None serves as an excellent continuation of the Detective Ryan Mystery series by Clive Fleury. This installment is set approximately two years after the initial book, Off Season. All or None is equally captivating, if not superior to Off Season, the first entry in the series. It kept me intrigued and alert just as much, if not more, than the original book.
In the previous installment, Detective Ryan was dispatched to a different town, where he first encountered his new partner, Zoe Yang, who is now a detective herself. Ryan and Zoe are embarking on their first day in their new roles as partners once again.
Their day begins with two murders that may be connected to previous cases. The mystery and tension kept the pages turning as I endeavored to assist the detectives in unraveling their cases.
Detective Ramesh Ryan and Detective Zoe Yang reminded me of Detective Danny Regan and his partners, Maria Baez from Blue Bloods and Lena Silver from Boston Blues.
I would be thrilled to see the Detective Ryan Mystery series adapted into a television show, with its numerous cases to solve and a diverse cast of characters. The writing is so vividly crafted, I would love to witness it come to life on screen. I eagerly anticipate what the next installment in the series will reveal for Detective Ryan and Detective Yang.
I wholeheartedly recommend getting a copy of All or None!
About the Author:
Clive Fleury is an award-winning writer of books and screenplays and has worked all over the world as a Film/TV director, writer and producer. He has written six books, most recently 'All Or None', the second novel in the Detective Ryan Murder Mystery series.
'All Or None' sees Detective Ryan back in the thick of things. His latest investigation into a mysterious death couldn’t come at a worse time. He discovers his mother is hiding a troubling secret and is further sidetracked by a new romance. Fans of who dunnit's, crime thrillers, and cop and detective stories will love this novel.
Clive's other books include 'Off Season' - book one in the Detective Ryan Murder Mystery series; 'Kill Code' - a dystopian science fiction novel set in a world facing climate change; ‘Scary Lizzy’ - a novel about an eight year old girl, who befriends an African child ghost – and the teen action adventure book; ‘The Boy Next Door ‘ - a story of what happens when a teenage girl has a crush on her next door neighbor, who isn’t all he seems. He also co-wrote ‘Art Pengriffin and The Curse of The Four’ - a young adult fantasy adventure about a teenage boy who discovers his father was Merlin the Magician.
Connect with Clive Fleury
Giveaway:
$20 Amazon/BN
1 comments:
Thank you for featuring and reviewing ALL OR NONE today.
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