Cotton FBI Collection #2

EPISODE 5: THE INFECTION. The man with the inflamed stab wound in the Bedford specialty clinic is no ordinary patient. His name is Jeremiah Cotton, agent of the FBI, and he thwarted a biological weapon attack. Because he might be carrying the pathogen himself, he cannot leave the hospital grounds. Then one of the other patients dies under peculiar circumstances. Cotton starts to investigate - looked over by personnel as just a hobby detective and viewed with suspicion by hospital management. But then there is an attempt on Cotton's life and things get serious - and personal ...

EPISODE 6: BONY BEACH. Human bones were uncovered by a winter storm on one of Chappaquiddick's beaches. While examining the remains the police found a dozen more buried in the sand. Philippa Decker and Jeremiah Cotton from the FBI's G-Team are on the scene to investigate. They are supported by Dr. Connors, a retired forensic doctor from homicide. For a long time he had been convinced that there is a serial killer active on the island, but no one ever believed him. He asks the two agents to help him find the killer. Just as a blizzard blows over the island, a dramatic showdown takes place ...

EPISODE 7: THE KUMO CARTELL. John Saito, an American business man of Japanese descent, lies in his penthouse. He was murdered. All he had on was a condom. He had two Asian ciphers scrawled on his forehead which together form the word ?kumo' - the spider. It seems that the man was killed by some poison during sex games. Saito is not the first person to be killed in this manner. The G-Team is called upon to help solve the murders. Special Agent Jerry Cotton and Philippa Decker first suspect the Yakuza, or a similar organized crime gang, to be responsible for the killings. However, the true meanings of the homicides go far deeper. The traces lead to a network of dirty business and to a woman who is more dangerous than a Spider ... and deadlier.

Cotton FBI Collection #2

By Various Authors

Bastei Entertainment

BOORZTB2LK

Price $3.99

258 pages

5-Stars

“Fast, Pulpy Action.”

This second collection in the Cotton FBI series contains the next three stories: The Infection” by Linda Budinger; “Bony Beach” by Peter Mennigen; and “The Kumo Cartel” by Mara Laue.

“The Infection” starts out with Cotton following a suspect with a suitcase of biological germs. During the capture, Cotton is accidentally shot by a G-Team sniper. He is ordered into Belfort Private Medical Clinic for a period of treatment. He’s not there long when he notices things are not on the up and up. The story is actually a bit slow, and not much action with him inactive in the clinic.

“Bony Beach” is set on the island of Chappaquiddick near Martha’s Vineyard, where a mass grave site has been discovered, revealing the bones of many women of different ages. They appear to be the bodies of missing woman the Boston police were investigating for years. When one was discovered in Connecticut it brings the FBI in, but they never find the bodies or killer. Now, with the mass grave throwing new light on the case, Decker and Cotton are sent to the island to investigate. Like the first story, this one was also slow, and a bit boring.

“The Kumo Cartel” has the FBI trailing an assassin who is killing high-ranking members of the Kumo Cartel, a group of Japanese dealing in gun smuggling. Evidently the Yakuza hired the assassin to kill the Kumo Cartel members, but the assassin, a mysterious woman named Yuki, is working for a Brotherhood of ninjas. She is a kunoichi, a Dragon Lady, trained in ninjutsu since childhood, and disappears from every trap. The story follows Yuki as she assassinates her targets, escaping before Cotton and Decker can capture her.

After reading the first two stories I was ready to give this collection a 4-Star rating, but “The Kumo Cartel” blew the collection up to a 5-Star on it’s own merits. This is one of the best stories so far in the series, and I’m anxious to read more stories by Mara Laue. Needless to say, Yuki was not captured and will make a return engagement in the series. For action and character, Yuki probably deserves her own series. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

& Night To Dawn Magazine www.bloodredshadow.com

Cotton FBI

Cotton FBI was originally a German Dime Novel character, but has been brought back by Bastie Entertainment, with new writers and modern sensibilities. The series is planned to continue under the authorship of several new writers. The story begins when Cotton and his family come to New York from Iowa to visit his sister. He has just finished high school, and doesn’t know what his future holds. A thief steels his wallet, forcing him to chase him down, and delaying his arrival at his sister’s office. When he arrives at the building and starts up, there is an explosion from above. It’s September 11, 2001, and he’s in the Twin Trade Towers during the terrorist attack. His sister and parents are killed, and he is dug out of the rubble, almost dead. It was while lying beneath the debris that he decides to become a policeman and help people.

Cotton FBI Collection #1 (FBI Drama, episodes 1 thru 4)

By Various Authors

Bastei Entertainment

ASIN #BOORTQYBTC

Price $3.99

337 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Fast Action, Well Written, With Interesting Characters.”

This collection contains four short novels: “The Beginning” by Mario Giordana; “Countdown” by Peter Menninggen; “Hidden Shadows” by Jan Gardemann; and “Witness Protection” by Alexander Lohmann.

“The Beginning” begins when Patrolman Jeremiah Cotton and his partner stop in a seedy part of the city, and his partner leaves the car to check on Asian prostitutes that are paying him for protection, something that angers Cotton, but he can’t do anything about the situation. More than one cop in the city is crooked. While his partner is away, a Chinese woman passes the patrol car, and he notices a weapon tucked under her blouse in back. Suspicious, he follows her into a building, and hearing the sound of a body crashing to the floor he enters a room to investigate. As he sees the young woman on the floor in a pool of blood, he senses movement behind him then the blur of a hand and he’s knocked to the floor. The assailant escapes before he can get up. Calling for assistance, he’s arrested when patrols arrive on the scene. Taken to the police station, Cotton is interrogated by the FBI.

The FBI have been investigating a serial killer of Asian prostitutes in several States bordering New York, and the woman Cotton had followed into the building was an FBI Special Agent on the case. When he continues to stick his nose into the investigation, he discovers the unit she was assigned to was the G-Team, a special FBI unit. As Cotton comes up with more clues, the Team eventually allows him in, and the story follows their investigation into an even deeper motive than the murder of prostitutes.

“Countdown” begins when terrorists somehow take control of a passenger plane coming into New York. With a computer they have taken control away from the pilot, and using the plane as a weapon to blackmail America into releasing an Arab prisoner. The plane has six hours of fuel on board, so the case must be solved within that short time. Forced to comply, Cotton and his senior partner, Decker, are sent to the prison to pick the prisoner up in exchange. As they are loading him into the van, a silenced shot it fired from the prison, killing the Arab instantly, then the assassin escapes.

As each of their investigations end in failures, the president closes G-Team after five hours, and assigns the job to Homeland Security. They solve the problem in the next hour, destroying the terrorist office and getting the plane down, though the terrorists escaped. Something isn’t right about the whole situation, but Cotton can’t figure what. Returning to his apartment after being fired, he finds a young girl sitting on the steps, abused and crying. Learning that her father is beating her and his wife, he intervenes, and while helping the girl something she does snaps his mind on a clue to the whole case. But will he have time to save the G Team and bring the culprits to justice?

“Hidden Shadows” begins when Cotton and his senior partner, Decker, are called to investigate the death of Dominick Tarbell, the son of Claudia Tarbell, the Secretary of Commerce. He fell from the Brooklyn Bridge, and a bomb followed him down to explode on a boat below.

The case involves illegal drug smuggling to Canada, as well as a terrorist plot against buildings in New York.

“Witness Protection” begins when a woman is found drowned in the New York Harbor with a false ID. The boss of G-Team puts Decker and Cotton on the case, but Cotton doesn’t understand why a mere drowning brings in their FBI team. They soon learn that somebody is offering a witness protection scheme to people who want to disappear with a lot of money, and this interest the chief of G-Team.

Cotton discovers that there have been other strange deaths of unknown people with false IDs, and other people that have come up missing. It may all add up to the same case. Is the head of the racket working two angles on the disappearances?

These four short novels, each by different authors, set the stage for the new series. The stories are fast, well written, good plots, and lots of pulpy action. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Cotton FBI: The Beginning

New York City. A Chinese woman was brutally murdered and Jeremiah Cotton, a young cop with the NYPD, just can't let go. He suspects that the woman is the victim of a serial killer, but no one believes him and he is taken off the case. While carrying out an unauthorized investigation, Cotton encounters a division of the FBI whose existence no one knows about: the "G-Team." Stubborn and persistent, Cotton asks uncomfortable questions about the mysterious unit - and runs afoul of Special Agent Philippa "Phil" Decker in the process. When he narrowly escapes an attempt on his life, Cotton realizes that this is no ordinary killer hunt and the hotter the case is getting, the more determined he is to stay involved ...

A new legend is born! COTTON FBI is a remake of a world famous cult series with more than one billion copies sold and appears bi-weekly with a self-contained story in each e-book episode.

Cotton FBI (Murder Mystery)

Episode #1 The Beginning

By Mario Giordano

Bastei Entertainment (Germany)

ISBN #978-3838747545

Kindle BOOHCBGYUA

Price $1.99

93 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Fast Action, Well Written, With Interesting Characters.”

Patrolman Jeremiah Cotton and his partner stop in a seedy part of the city, and his partner leaves the car to check on Asian prostitutes that are paying him for protection, something that angers Cotton, but he can’t do anything about the situation. More than one cop in the city is crooked. While his partner is away, a Chinese woman passes the patrol car, and he notices a weapon tucked under her blouse in back. Suspicious, he follows her into a building, and hearing the sound of a body crashing to the floor he enters a room to investigate. As he sees the young woman on the floor in a pool of blood, he senses movement behind him then the blur of a hand and he’s knocked to the floor. The assailant escapes before he can get up. Calling for assistance, he’s arrested when patrols arrive on the scene. Taken to the police station, Cotton is interrogated by the FBI.

The FBI have been investigating a serial killer of Asian prostitutes in several States bordering New York, and the woman Cotton had followed into the building was an FBI Special Agent on the case. When he continues to stick his nose into the investigation, he discovers the unit she was assigned to was the G-Team, a special FBI unit. As Cotton comes up with more clues, the Team eventually allows him in, and the story follows their investigation into an even deeper motive than the murder of prostitutes.

Cotton was originally a German Dime Novel character, but has been brought back by Bastie Entertainment, with new writers and modern sensibilities. The series is planned to continue under the authorship of several new writers. The story begins when Cotton and his family come to New York from Iowa to visit his sister. He has just finished high school, and doesn’t know what his future holds. A thief steels his wallet, forcing him to chase him down, and delaying his arrival at his sister’s office. When he arrives at the building and starts up, there is an explosion from above. It’s September 11, 2001, and he’s in the Twin Trade Towers during the terrorist attack. His sister and parents are killed, and he is dug out of the rubble, almost dead. It was while lying beneath the debris that he decides to become a policeman and help people.

This short novel is a fast paced action mystery, and well written, with interesting characters. It will be a good series to follow if it receives enough attention from readers. Highly recommended to mystery and action fans.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories