October 21, 2019
Coyle’s exiting sixth novel featuring San Diego, Calif., PI Rick Cahill (after 2018’s Wrong Light) opens with Rick getting a call from Leah Landingham asking him to come to Santa Barbara to attend the funeral of her sister, Krista, who was his training officer when he was a rookie cop 17 years earlier. Three years later, his wife, Colleen, was murdered, and he hasn’t been back to the city since. He hesitates because he knows that within the Santa Barbara PD he’s still unjustly despised as “the cop who got away with murdering his wife.” At the funeral, Leah asks him to investigate Krista’s death. The police think it was a hit-and-run accident, but Leah is sure it was murder. When Rick, whose creed is “Sometimes you have to do what’s right even when the law says it’s wrong,” learns that Krista had reopened the cold case file on Colleen’s murder just one week before her death, he knows that the two crimes are connected. The twisty plot takes readers down some false trails before reaching the explosive climax. Noir fans will be well satisfied. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc.
December 1, 2019
PI Rick Cahill is haunted by his wife's murder 14 years ago. A young cop at the time, he was also exiled from the Santa Barbara Police Department (SBPD) after being wrongfully accused of the crime. Though innocent, Rick is still weighed down by guilt. The night of the murder, he was in bed with another woman, his SBPD partner Krista Landingham. Now Krista is dead, struck by a van in the middle of the night. A quick trip to Santa Barbara for her funeral becomes much more when Krista's sister, Leah, hires Rick to investigate. Leah also hires former detective Jim Grimes, who arrested Rick for murder years ago and still thinks he's guilty. The unlikely partners discover that Krista's death might not have been accidental and could even be linked to the murder of Rick's wife. VERDICT Coyle's sixth "Rick Cahill" novel (Wrong Light) will please noir enthusiasts with its staccato prose, evocative descriptions, and hard-nosed protagonist. Readers new to the series can still enjoy this book as a compelling stand-alone mystery, and enticingly vague references to previous books make a strong case for checking out Rick's past adventures.--Andy Northrup, Eugene P.L., OR
Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 15, 2019
For his sixth Rick Cahill novel, Coyle has his ex-cop hero pulled into the heart of a police conspiracy. Worse, the cops he's colliding with are his former colleagues with the Santa Barbara Police Department, and they're sure that Cahill murdered his wife years ago. The occasion is a fresh killing, this time a female cop once Cahill's partner. He's drawn into it because the victim's sister doesn't believe the death was accidental and asks Cahill to investigate. In addition, the case gives Cahill the chance to hunt down the man he's convinced killed his wife. And it gives Coyle the opportunity to show off his flair for hard-boiled language. A man's buzz cut slopes back to front "like he was always speeding downhill." A flawed argument has "more leaps than a cricket on crack." There's a really good detective plot, too, though the verbiage, entertaining as it is, may find some readers mumbling, "Get on with it, man." Still, for those who admire old-school PI style, there's plenty to savor here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)