The Third Hell

With a bullet lodged too close to his heart, LAPD Detective Nino Angelo is no longer able to do the job he loves. He believes being forced to retire after a 25-year career might be the worst thing that could happen, until his twelve-year-old son goes missing.  
Mathew vanishes in the middle of the night from the Hollywood Hills condo of Nino’s ex-wife, but Nino blames himself for the boy’s disappearance, knowing his addiction to police work cost him his marriage and ruined any chance he had to be a real father. 
School friends tell the police Mathew ran away, but none of his son’s clothes or other belongings are missing. Nino’s ex-wife is frantic but even his rusty police instincts are warning him both she and Mathew’s friends are not being completely truthful.
After months of searching, he’s unable to find a trace of his son. He looks in every Hollywood shelter and follows leads from homeless encampments along the LA River to the mansions north of the city in Canyon country, his son’s Catholic School, and finally to a children’s home in Texas. The police department isn’t helpful except for Charley Harper, a female detective at the Hollywood station, and Detective Reggie Madison, his ex-wife’s current boyfriend. Reggie is a hard-charging cop and although Nino doesn’t approve of the man’s “end justifies the means” approach to police work, he knows his help is crucial.
Nino’s life is about to change. He goes through a personal hell and battles evil in unlikely places to find out what kind of man he really is.

The Third Hell (Mystery/Police Procedural)

By Connie Dial

The Permanent Press www.permanentpress.com

ISBN #978-1579624941

276 Pages

Price $8.66 (hardback)

Price $7.99 (Kindle)

Rating 5-Stars

“A Page Turner”

I received this book from the publisher for an honest review. Detective Nino Angelo’s son has disappeared and he wants to find him. Although a retired police detective, the police department doesn’t seem to want to help. His ex wife's boyfriend Detective Reggie Madison, and Detective Charley Harper are his only allies in the search. They know where to search, but run into blank walls at every turn. A rumor mentioned a preacher’s name, and they start digging. What they find is chilling.

Connie Dial is a retired police captain; she spent 27 years on the force and her stories have a tendency to be realistic. We see all the evil in the world, of men and women who prey on little children. Readers will see the real world in all its terrible reality, and the ending is not always television nice. A page-turner. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE PULP DETECTIVES

The Third Hell

With a bullet lodged too close to his heart, LAPD Detective Nino Angelo is no longer able to do the job he loves. He believes being forced to retire after a 25-year career might be the worst thing that could happen, until his twelve-year-old son goes missing.  

Mathew vanishes in the middle of the night from the Hollywood Hills condo of Nino’s ex-wife, but Nino blames himself for the boy’s disappearance, knowing his addiction to police work cost him his marriage and ruined any chance he had to be a real father. 

School friends tell the police Mathew ran away, but none of his son’s clothes or other belongings are missing. Nino’s ex-wife is frantic but even his rusty police instincts are warning him both she and Mathew’s friends are not being completely truthful.

After months of searching, he’s unable to find a trace of his son. He looks in every Hollywood shelter and follows leads from homeless encampments along the LA River to the mansions north of the city in Canyon country, his son’s Catholic School, and finally to a children’s home in Texas. The police department isn’t helpful except for Charley Harper, a female detective at the Hollywood station, and Detective Reggie Madison, his ex-wife’s current boyfriend. Reggie is a hard-charging cop and although Nino doesn’t approve of the man’s “end justifies the means” approach to police work, he knows his help is crucial.

Nino’s life is about to change. He goes through a personal hell and battles evil in unlikely places to find out what kind of man he really is.

The Third Hell (Detective Mystery)

By Connie Dial

The Permanent Press  www.thepermanentpress.com

ISBN #978-1679624941

Price $29.00 (Hardback)

276 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Connie Dial Does It Again”

Retired police detective, Nino Angelo feels that he failed as a family man due to his dedication to police work. When he learns that his son, Matthew, has disappears in the night, he blames himself. The police department doesn’t help. Following the trail, he leaves no stone unturned in his search, and with the help of his ex-wife’s recent boyfriend and Hollywood Detective Charlie Harper, they stick to the scent.

Visually real, we see the sordid lifestyles of unscrupulous and dangerous people in the world around us. People in power that can’t be touched, yet do despicable things to those we cherish the most. Will Nino find his son in time? The reality is sometimes unfair. This was a real page-turner, and the characters memorable. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of BEHIND THE MASK

Set The Night On Fire

In 1971, Josie Corsino is unmarried Josie Pastore, a fresh face chosen from her LAPD policewoman class to be an undercover operative.

When the story begins, she's immersed in the politics and schemes of one of the most active radical organizations in LA, but after three years on assignment she's weary of the lifestyle and tired of lying about who she is. Josie wants to “come up,” and do police work with the same opportunities as her male counterparts.

Before that can happen, she's arrested during a demonstration in downtown LA and upon her release from jail is told by her department contact that one of her fellow undercover officers has disappeared. Members of his group have filed a missing persons report with the police department in which they publicly blame the LAPD for his sudden disappearance. It would be an embarrassment for the department to admit the officer was spying on this particular group, so Josie is given her final undercover assignment—find the missing officer.

For protection, she forms an unlikely alliance with another UC as her search leads to an underground network of violent radicals with ties to celebrities and political figures who are unwitting participants in an imminent plan to destroy innocent people and property. By the end, both her personal and professional lives are about to undergo some drastic changes.

Set The Night On Fire (Police Procedural)

By Connie Dial

The Permanent Press

ISBN #978-1579624026

Price $29.95 Hardcover

304 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Harsh Reality”

This is the fourth story in the Josie Corsino series, but is the first after she graduates the police academy. Picked as an undercover officer, she infiltrates a radical group. Three years as an undercover cop she’s ready to move up, but they have one more assignment for her. She partners with another undercover officer, Dave Soriano. Their assignment is to find a missing officer. The trouble is someone in the upper echelon of the city may be releasing the names of undercover cops. This could prove fatal for them.

The harsh reality of the undercover police officers inside the underground is a dangerous job, and one that could get them killed if found out. The author was an experienced police officer in the LAPD, and was familiar with all aspects of her job, including undercover work, thus her books are very authentic reads. She retired a captain and the commanding officer of the LAPD's Hollywood Community Police station after nearly thirty years on the job. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of ASSIGNMENT: NINA FONTAYNE

Unnatural Murder

Unnatural Murder (Police Procedural)

By Connie Dial

ISBN #978-1579623692

The Permanent Press www.thepermanentpress.com

296 Pages

$29.00

Rating 5-Stars

“Pure Entertainment With A Good Mystery.”

Two murders in a sleazy part of LA at first looks like the simple killing of Drag Queens, men who dress as women; but the victims lead to a powerful councilman and his office; one victim was the son of a millionaire. This one wasn’t going to be easy for Captain Josie Corsino and her team of detectives; in fact, pressure was quick to come down for hands off. But the feisty captain doesn’t back down from her job, regardless of who she is up against.

This was another topnotch murder investigation by the Hollywood detectives under Captain Josie Corsino’s command, and they follow each lead no matter how high up it goes. Corsino stays focused on the case, even during a divorce, and the return of a man in her life she is in love with. There are also problems within her tight knit group, which she has to handle and keep peace between her officers.

It’s a pleasure reading police procedurals by someone who knows the ropes. The author worked a 27-year career with the LAPD working the streets of Hollywood as a narcotics detective, and eventually became the area’s commanding officer. Her Josie Corsino novels show that experience and dedication. This is the third novel in the Corsino series, and highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Dead Wrong

Dead Wrong (Police Procedural)

By Connie Dial

ISBN #978-1579623340

The Permanent Press

Price $28.00

255 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Gritty And Realistic”

When Sergeant Richards is notified of a silent alarm in a building near his stake out, he responds knowing the area is notorious for false alarms, but draws his weapon as he enters the alley. Immediately, a figure steps towards him in the dark, drawing a gun. Identifying himself as a police officer and ordering the man to stop, the figure continues, and fearing his life in danger fires, killing the suspect. When investigators arrive they discover the dead man is a suspended cop wearing a badge, and it’s not clear why he was in the alley and pulled his gun on Sergeant Richards. To complicate matters, the dead man is black, and Richards is white, meaning racial problems, as well as a lawsuit against the police precinct and officer involved. Captain Josie Corsino, Richards’ boss trusts her sergeant, backs him as far as the police department will let her. The investigation reveals that the dead man was working for a shady lawyer, who was now poised to sue, until he is also mysteriously murdered.

This was an exciting police procedural, and the reader follows Captain Corsino and her investigators as they search for clues to why a suspended police officer was in an alley where a silent alarm sounded, and why he drew his weapon on the responding officer? Was the dead man set up, or involved in a deeper plot they had not discovered yet? Answers that slowly come together as they did into the background of suspects and uniformed officers.

The reader will like the characters as they have a feel of reality, and the 27-year veteran police author brings authentic police jargon to the dialogue, making the tale gritty and realistic.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories