Best Crime Books and More

Synopsis:

When Nicolas ‘Po’ Villere runs into Elspeth Fuchs, an old flame, he’s surprised to find who’s by her side. It’s her son, Jacob, and he’s a dead ringer for when Po was a child. His age lines up with when Po last saw Elspeth, before she left him for Caleb Moorcock and a life in a secluded community.

Elspeth and Jacob are now running for their lives from the abusive Caleb. Po and his partner, Private Investigator Tess Grey, offer shelter. But before Po can dive into the boy’s parentage, Caleb snatches the absconded pair and drags them back to their fortified commune.

Has Po dodged a bullet? Maybe it’s best for them all if he never learns whether he’s Jacob’s father. Who’s he kidding? Po resolves to rescue Elspeth and discover the truth about Jacob no matter what . . .

My Rating: 5/5

My Review: Thank goodness! That’s all I can say….

Book 6 in this series was an absolute banger and then book 7 was kind of middle of the road and I was seriously worried about where the series was heading. Thankfully it was heading straight back into the same area book 6 was in which was brilliant! This book leans heavily on the personal side as Po’s old flame Elspeth Fuchs turns up in a town where Po is, and she has a child with her. The difference is that child is a dead ringer for Po as well as being the right age should the boy be his.

What started as an innocent running into an old flame turns out to be a fight for survival for Elspeth and her son Jacob. It turns out that Elspeth is on the run from her violent partner Caleb and they had been living in a secluded and vert controlled community. What I loved about this book was that emotions were what led both Po and Tess as opposed to it being just a job. Is Jacob Po’s son? If it is his son, can Po fight to keep him safe?

As ever the faithful Pinky lends a hand as Po and Tess closest friend and together they chase after Elspeth and Jacob but don’t bank on coming across Caleb and his friends. This makes for an emotion filled but packed with action thriller book with my favourite characters all in attendance. I can’t help but think this series is seriously underrated by many and I think if people gave it a chance and started from book one they would fall in love with these very un-traditional characters. Sadly I have now caught up with Tess, Po and Pinky so will need to wait until next year for the next instalment.

Synopsis: Private investigator Tess Grey feels duty bound to help when the missing girl she has been asked to find becomes involved a high-stakes case of extortion.

Private investigator Tess Grey’s latest case involves tracking down Hayley Cameron, a young girl who has fled after discovering that she was adopted. Tess, aided by her fianc� Po Villere, traces Hayley to the apartment of Madison Toner – one of Hayley’s college friends – in Bangor, Maine.

Despite Tess’s pleas, Hayley refuses to return to her adoptive mother. Both Tess and Po believe there’s more to her running away than it seems, especially when they see Madison’s father bloodied and beaten. Concerned for Hayley’s well-being, they conduct a stake-out.

When thugs turn up to extort Madison and Hayley, Tess and Po feel duty bound to get involved. But what are the girls embroiled in? Who are after them and to what lengths will they go? Tess and Po don’t know it yet, but events are about to grow deadly.

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: After the belter of a book being the last in this series I couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed in this latest book. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t a bad read, it just wasn’t as great as the last one I read. This latest case for Tess involves Hayley Cameron and tracking her down as she has run away from her adoptive mother. It is soon uncovered that the girl is caught up in her friend Maddison’s scam which is putting them in the middle of a dangerous situation.

Maddison and her Father become rather central characters in this story but I couldn’t help feeling this was just a bit too run of the mill for my liking. The story was okay just I found it not that exciting. Although we see PO and Pink make their appearances there just seemed to be some of the normal magic from the characters missing in this book. Still a fantastic series but this book didn’t hit the high of the last one. Hopefully book 8 will bring the magic back!

Synopsis: Tess Grey is tasked with investigating a plane crash in the Great North Woods after rumors surface of a survivor… but she and her partner Po aren’t the only ones heading there.

Three field biologists are distracted from their studies when a plane crashes in the Great North Woods. They find two pilots dead only to be confronted by a female survivor. Once they call the authorities, they claim they found only the pilots.

Private Investigator Tess Grey is hired by an insurance firm to investigate rumors another person was aboard the downed plane. She sets off into the woods with her partner Po Villere and friend Jerome ‘Pinky’ Leclerc in order to search the crash site and interview the biologists.

But they aren’t the only ones heading into the woods. There are also teams of mercenaries investigating the crash and killers hunting Pinky to claim a bounty that has been placed on his head. Can Tess get to the bottom of what happened at the crash site while they’re also being hunted?

My Rating: 5/5

My Review: I am straight onto this book having just finished book 5. This time there is a plane crash in the Maine forest and it’s a team of biologists who are researching in the area that get to the crash site first. The rumours start about how there was a woman at the scene, but it seems nobody, the researchers included, have anything to say about it. Tess is asked by the insurers to check out the plane crash so she decides to take along her fella Po as well as their long time friend Pinky.

Aside from the issue of them all checking out the crash site, Pinky has a slight worry going on as now he has given up the criminal world of illegal gun trading there is now a bounty on his head. This book I absolutely LOVED. It had so much going on and you were always wondering what was coming next. There is a lot of action, especially towards the end and I was thoroughly engaged from start to finish. Thankfully as I know there are still books ahead of me to read in this series, I luckily didn’t feel too heartbroken that I had finished another of these books.

I absolutely love all the characters that make up these books as they are a fry cry from your bog-standard hero’s, and I have grown very attached to all of them. I can highly recommend this series and can’t wait to move onto book 7!

Synopsis: When an ex-cop goes on the run from his employers, his daughter seeks help from an old friend . . . Tess Grey.

Ex-cop Aaron Lacey is on the run from Elite Custodian Services, a protection service of ex-military and police – and his current employers – and they will stop at nothing to track him down. His disappearance results in his daughter reaching out to her old schoolfriend, Tess Grey. But when Tess’s mother urges her to turn down helping her friend, Tess begins to question why.

Is her mother simply being overprotective, or is there more to her past with Lacey than Tess realises? Why has Lacey gone underground and why are the Elite so determined to catch him?

As Tess and her partner Nicolas Villere get involved, they need to figure out who can be trusted and what secrets they are hiding.

My Rating: 4/5

My Review: I have not had much free time so when I decide to binge read I decided it was high time I caught up with Tess and Po in this series I have come to love. This latest instalment sees an old school friend of Tess named Stella reach out to her with a request. Her father Aaron Lacey who is an ex-cop has gone missing. Aaron was working for a company called Elite Services and it looks at first glance like he has done a runner, the question is why?

Tess and Po decide to help her out and as usual butt heads with people from the get go. Of course no book would be complete without their loveable friend Pinky. I liked this story and as per usual the characters are totally what makes these books so engaging. There is a lot of action and it is reasonably fast paced. It took me only two sittings to read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I cannot wait to move onto the next book in the series.