Synopsis/blurb…..
Garrett and Tiffanie
Bate had it all—youth, money, and a perfect marriage. Until Tiffanie is killed
in a suspicious accident. Neither the police nor the insurance investigators
can prove she was murdered and the case turns cold. Two years later the insurance
company asks an intern—former college professor turned private eye Ray
Courage—to reopen the investigation. He uncovers little new evidence to support
suspicions that Garrett killed his wife for the insurance money. Garrett has
the perfect alibi—hundreds of witnesses that place him more than two hours from
the scene of Tiffanie’s death. Ray knows he’s missing something. But what? As
his search for the truth unfolds, Ray’s life is put in jeopardy and he realizes
his adversary is someone who’ll kill before he’ll be caught. In this prequel to
Courage Matters, Ray Courage begins his private investigation career,
displaying the skills, abilities and sense of humor that have made him a fan
favorite around the world.
Courage Begins is
an 85 page novella from new-to-me author
R. Scott Mackey. The author’s debut novel
Courage Matters sits after this in
his Ray Courage series.
I enjoyed this introduction to a new investigator. We had
some sense of his character and background revealed to us during our case and
there was enough there to encourage me to want to read more about him. The
Sacramento setting also appealed to me.
We had a decent plot here and I was interested to see how
our former college professor unravelled it when more experienced investigators had
failed before him. Garrett Bate was cocky, confident and pretty sure he was
home free after the suspicious death of his wife a couple of years previously.
He was also over a million dollars richer. Courage starts off sedately enough,
poking around, innocently asking questions. A mention of something maybe
halfway through or a bit beyond, set an alarm bell ringing in my head and
whilst I was correct, the author added a twist which I hadn't seen coming.
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Overall, entertaining without being the best book ever, but I
was satisfied and as a result intend to get to Courage Matters sometime soon.
Courage
Resurrected follows-on after that.
4 from 5
R. Scott Mackey
has his author website here.
Review copy received from the author.
This does sound appealing, Col. I think it's interesting when an insurance investigator is the sleuth. It's just logical that an insurer would want the truth about a suspicious death. And I like the San Francisco setting too.
ReplyDeleteMargot thanks. There were ticks in a lot of boxes here.
DeleteSounds interesting. Novellas are a good length to try a new author. I will keep this author in mind for the future.
ReplyDeleteTracy, definitely a good start with this author for me.
DeleteWhat Tracy said. And I like the setup, that 'how can I prove this wrong?' is always appealing.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting way of approaching an investigation and you're right - it has its attraction, and it makes a change from the norm.
DeleteCol, 85 pages sounds like a good reading prospect to me.
ReplyDeleteAgreed - a good opportunity to decide whether he's the kind of writer whose get stories you want to read.
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