Mystery Monday

Good evening, my fellow Book Dragons. It is once again Monday and this means a Mystery. Tonight’s Gem is red, clear, like semi-congealed blood. A spinel made of pain and death. Frightening in it’s aspect. Dealthly in it’s form. Hold it. Feel the vibrations of arrogant ignorance vibrating from it. The worst kind of ignorance. This is ‘The Echo Killers’ by Gem Maker Danny R. Smith.

Danny’s is a name you have read here before. A Gem Maker and Dragon Feeder he once again keeps us on the edge of our scales with this tale of two Army Soldiers going A.W.O.L. One a hard-edged girl of the L.A. ghetto and Latin gangs and the other an arrogant militant sadist who sees himself as the ultimate soldier and Soldier of Fortune. He knows all, has done it all. In reality, he’s done nothing, he knows nothing.

They are wanted by the Army for being A.W.O.L. and faking their own deaths. They have committed murder in another state. Dickie and his new partner, Sanchez (no Dickie still isn’t back with Floyd, but happily Floyd is still in the picture) want them for killing a ‘you couldn’t ask for a nicer guy’ local store owner and a harmless wino. Floyd suspects them of attempted murder in an attack on a store owner in his district, and a little kid named Cedric, with green eyes, saw the whole thing and told him so. Floyd isn’t the only one who knows about Cedric. So does our Arrogant Militant Sadist. And he wants him DEAD, with a capital D. He doesn’t care that he’s a little kid. He doesn’t care that is second victim who lived through the attack isn’t talking. He wants them both dead.

I loved this book. Once again, Danny R. Smith lives up to his own code on Noir and it’s fantastic. Dickie and his new partner deliver plenty. Everyone, especially Floyd, is betting they will end up in an affair because men and women can’t just work together without, well, you know. And Floyd is, well, still Floyd. Smart mouthed, on the prowl, and still street smart. It’s wonderful. Los Angeles and the world before political correctness ruined everything.

So do yourself a favor, grab your fedora, put your feet up on your desk, lean back in that office chair with your favorite cup of Joe and get busy finding out if Cedric lives and if the Echo Killers get away, die or go to jail. After all, you’ve got a murder to solve.

Something really wonderful about these books, if you buy them directly from Danny’s personal site, you get them autographed. How wonderful is that? https://dickiefloydnovels.com/ .

Until tomorrow, I remain, your humble Book Dragon, Drakon T. Longwitten

I purchased this book for my collection.