The Case of The Missing Bubble Gum Card

The Case of The Missing Bubble Gum Card (Mystery)

By R. Weir

Independent Publishing Platform

ASIN #B00JGEZNSU

Price $ Free

28 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

Returning to his office, Private Detective Jarvis Mann finds a young man, 16-year-old Dennis Gash waiting on the steps for him. While playing after church, he had showed several of his friends his valuable bubble gum sports card, then stuck it in his back pocket and forgot about it. Upon reaching home he found the card was missing. Valued at over twelve hundred dollars, he doesn’t want to tell his father about its loss, and asks the detective to help him find.

This was an easy investigation, and Jarvis soon finds the card in a Specialty Shop, and discovers who sold it, so the case is closed, but how to handle the case is another matter.

The Jarvis Mann detective series is new, and easy reads. The author is a good writer, and relies on words instead of a lot of sew and profanity, yet offers good plots and characters, with a good mystery that will keep you interested. It could have used a better cover, however. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

The Case of The Invisible Souls

The Case of The Invisible Souls (Mystery)

By R. Weir

Independent Publishing

ASIN #B071SJPFTZ

Price $0.99

53 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

Private Detective Jarvis Mann of Denver returns to his office after a brief workout in the December cold of the Mile High City. Shortly there’s a knock at his door and he finds a homeless man standing there. After a few minutes debating what he should do, he lets him in. Parker Turner is an ex-Army vet down on his luck, but he’s not looking for anything for himself. Some of his friends are missing, and he wants Jarvis to find out what happened to them.

Starting his investigation at the Invisible Souls Mission, he meets a black woman named Pastor Sam (Samantha), also an ex-Army vet, who tough as nails. He learns that men have been coming to the Mission to recruit workers with the promise of money, but they never return. It’s up to Jarvis to uncover the plot, even if he has to become a homeless person himself to discover the truth.

This was a really nice story, written by a writer who can use words to tell a good story without a lot of profanity and violence. It’s almost Christmas, so we know it will end okay, even after a confrontation that leaves one of the homeless in the hospital. The kind of story we might have seen as a Christmas movie on TV back in the 1970s. For those of you, like me, who enjoys a well-written mystery without all the vulgar scenes and profanity we have today, I can highly recommend this for a family mystery.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

Dark Night of The Soul by Gary Reilly

The utopian world carefully created by Denver cab driver Brendon Murphy is about to be shattered. In fact, it’s about to be the worst day of his cab driving career. There’s the Land That Forward Motion Forgot. There’s a guy Murph comes to thinks of as “Mister Twenty.” And there’s an old woman who wants to pay her fare with a saucepan full of pennies.

            In Dark Night of The Soul, the sixth adventure in The Asphalt Warrior series, Murph’s plan to carefully monitor the intake of cash—for fear of earning too much—challenges every math skill he can muster. Messes grow around Murph “the way a pearl grows around a pebble.” Of course, “It’s best not to think about what might have happened if you had done this instead of that,” but it’s hard not to wonder what went wrong when you’re kissing the asphalt and police have you surrounded with guns drawn.

            To wiggle out of his latest spot, Murph must stare long at and hard at who he is and what he’s all about. It’s the most eye-popping journey of all time.

Dark Night of The Soul (Literary Mystery)

By Gary Reilly

ISBN #978-0984786091

Running Meter Press

221 Pages

Price $14.95

Rating 5-Stars

 “Entertaining - Smooth, And Intelligent Writing.”

Murph has had bad days before, but Monday has to be his worst day ever with Rocky Mountain Cab Company. Before his day is even started well, a fare gives him a twenty-dollar bill for a three-dollar trip, taking all his start-out change. Then an old lady tries to pay the fare in pennies. Then a bank robber hires his cab to make his escape. Now he’s a suspect in the bank job, and accused of assaulting the old lady, who threatens to sue RMCC.

This time Murph has to do some deep soul searching, and discovers his dark soul hiding beneath the surface. Will he go over the deep end, or come out smelling like roses once more? It’s too close to make the call, and he may not pull through this one without help.

This was another fun story of the Asphalt Warrior, and the problems the Denver cab driver gets into during a normal day-to-day shift. Gary Reilly’s writing is smooth, intelligent, and entertaining, and the reader chuckles at Murph’s laid-back philosophy, and determination not to make money. How can such a mild soul step into so much trouble? If a series was ever written for cab drivers, this one is it. But you don’t have to be a cab driver to enjoy these little mystery adventures; they capture all of us, in our day-to-day jobs, just wanting to exist in a crazy world. I also want to say how much I like the cover art on these books. The folks at Running Meter Press beautifully produce the books, and the covers are eye-catching. The art by John Sherffius would look nice hanging on anyone’s wall. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Asphalt Warrior

Asphalt Warrior (Literary Fiction)

By Gary Reilly

ISBN #978-0984786008

Running Meter Press publisher@runningmeterpress.com

Price $14.95

168 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“An Artist With Words”

Brandon Murphy struggled through seven years of college, and ended up driving a taxi in Denver. With a BA in English, he dreams of writing a great American novel, but so far has nothing to show for it but unpublished manuscripts. Cab drivers have certain rules they follow, one of which is never get involved with passengers. Murph had a tendency to break that rule sometimes, which can lead to disastrous results. One such gentleman is Tony Bombalini, a barber in Denver. Fearing that his wife is having an affair, Tony offers to pay Murph three hundred dollars just to trail her in the taxi for one day. That’s more than he can make on a normal shift, so Murph falls into the scheme. The plot thickens from this point on.

This is a literary story with very little mystery, however we get plenty of philosophical views from Murph as he tells the story in first person narrative. He eats hamburgers three times a day, and watches reruns of Gilligan’s Island on TV. Single, he lives in the Crow’s Nest apartment, which he reaches from the metal fire escape. A simple man, he knows he will never be rich, and all he wants is to make his daily requirement to pay for the lease on the taxi, and enough to pay rent and eat. It’s an easy life, and should be uncomplicated – except for his inclination to break that one rule now and then.

The author shows us that a writer with imagination and a grasp of the English language can tell a yarn without sex and four-letter gutter language. What language is used is very mild, and the reader doesn’t want to put the book down until the last page. Story telling is an art, and Gary Reilly is an artist with words.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories