D. P. LYLE'S PAGE: The Jake Longly series

SUNSHINE STATE (Jake Longly #3)
D. P. LYLE
Oceanview Publishing (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$16.00 paperback, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Serial killer’s message to PI Jake Longly: Two of those seven murders I confessed to are not mine—but I won’t tell you which two.

Jake Longly and Nicole Jamison are confronted with the most bizarre case yet. Serial killer Billy Wayne Baker now denies that two of his seven murders were actually his work. An anonymous benefactor, who believes Billy Wayne’s denials, has hired Longly Investigations to prove Billy Wayne right. Billy Wayne had confessed to all seven. Not only did the confessed serial killer have the motive, means, and opportunity for murder, but his DNA was found at each crime scene. Bizarre doesn’t quite cover it.

Jake and Nicole travel to the small Gulf Coast town of Pine Key, Florida, where three of the murders occurred. The local police, FBI, state prosecutor, and crime lab each did their jobs, uncovered overwhelming evidence of Billy Wayne’s guilt—and even extracted a full confession. Is Billy Wayne simply trying to tweak the system to garner another fifteen minutes of fame? It’s likely all a game to him, but, if he’s being truthful—someone out there is getting away with multiple murders. How? Why? And most importantly, who?

Dark clouds loom in the Sunshine State.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: Third book in a series now seven books in...first one I read...have now read them all.

Is that enough to cause that one-click to go into buy mode? No? Well, retired baseball player and private investigator Jake, his gal-pal Nicole, and dad/employer/owner of investigations agency Ray, land up in a tatty little Florida burg to solve a series of murders...again...as the serial killer who confessed now says there were two he confessed to that were not his crimes. Then he went all coy and refused to say which ones weren't his, or who really committed them. Though he says he knows that, too. And why's he saying it to Ray? Because someone rich wants the truth told about these two crimes. We do not get to know who.

Reluctantly leaving his retirement career as a bar owner—again—while he helps his dad and old friend Pancake (so nicknamed for his astonishing capacity for 'em) look into the likeliest place for a copycat to be found: the one town where three victims were killed not just one.

Nicole is absolutely not a reluctant sidekick, she is an eager participant in this investigation. Her uncle is a rich producer who helps out the scoobygroup by "filming a documentary" about victim's families in the aftermath of a serial killing. Perfect cover, holds up on all checkable points.

What will sell you on the read or repel you from it is the narrative: almost all in Jake's voice, reflecting his moods, reporting his impressions of friend and foe alike. He doesn't stop himself from saying when he thinks one of the friends makes a bonehead mistake to them or to us if he can't to them right away. It's not to everyone's taste. I like it because I like Jake, as when he observes,"The air held a salty must, and a gentle breeze came off the water. The sky was blue and pock-marked with wads of fluffy clouds." It's not poetic, it's a regular guy looking at the world his regular way. It's also exactly like the Gulf Coast.

The main feature that caps my rating at four stars is the fantasy-fulfillment of Nicole being the hot, funny babe who wants sex with Jake All. The. Time. I got adept at recognizing the signs of an impending...romp...and skipped ahead. I'm just not interested in that.


I was interested in the resolution, which surprised me with how well it was misdirected. It's logical; it's not obvious. What more can you ask for?

Fun in the sun for wintertime escape sound good? Here's a series to follow.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

RIGGED (Jake Longly #4)
D. P. LYLE
Oceanview Publishing (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$16.00 paperback, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Love triangle—motive for double murder?

First loves are never forgotten. Ever. Certainly not for Tommy "Pancake" Jeffers. His first-kiss, sixth-grade love, Emily, who he has not seen since grammar school, is sliding toward divorce in the artsy Gulf Coast town of Fairhope, Alabama. Longly Investigations has been charged with looking into the finances involved. When Emily doesn't appear for their nervously anticipated meeting, Pancake's radar goes on high alert. Her body, along with that of Jason—one of two guys she has been dating—is found murdered, execution-style, Pancake calls in Jake, Nicole, and Ray.

Who would have done this? Could it be the soon-to-be ex, who has an ironclad alibi; the other guy Emily was seeing—jealousy being a motive for harm; or do the drugs found in Jason's pocket indicate a drug-related hit? That world yields a host of suspects. As they peel back the layers of this idyllic community, dark secrets come to light and convoluted motives and methods of murder are revealed.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: We start with Jake in trouble. An incident at Captain Rocky's, his bar, requires Jake to call in his lawyer (who happens to be the same one who cleaned him out when his ex-wife divorced him) so he needs money. Luckily Ray, his dad, and Pancake, his dad's deputy muscle and Jake's kidhood pal, have a case. Nicole, Jake, and the scoobygroup head to Alabama to find out why Pancake's grade-school crush did not show up for their meeting. The discussion wasn't going to be about their long-ago first kiss but her need to know what her soon-to-be ex-husband is hiding from her financially.

That's a meeting she'd keep if she was on her deathbed. Not if she was dead, though. The way she and her paramour are murdered makes the entire group sit up and take notice. Was she a victim of wrong-place-wrong-time bad luck or do the drugs found on her paramour (one of two...maybe more) show a slightly more sordid side to her death?

Banter, fun asides, a murder to solve that's got more layers than you think it will have...this is what I was hoping and looking for from this series. It's here in abundance, along with icky straight-people sex. I was really amused by the invisible Tammy (Jake's ex) whose presence as a thorn in his side is all telephonic. It is a good way to add very quick hits of comedy that require little set-up but can change a mood immediately.

There is the preponderant first-person PoV from Jake, the expected moments of interpolation from different others in third person, and a satisfying resolution that comes from information the reader has already been given.

A winning entry in a good (oversexed, though) series.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

THE OC (Jake Longly #5)
D. P. LYLE
Oceanview Publishing (non-affiliate Bookshop.org link)
$16.99 paperback, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Thrill-a-minute crime fiction—infused with wry humor

Restaurant owner and former professional baseball player Jake Longly is hoping for a few weeks of fun with Nicole Jamison in the warm Orange County, CA sun—The OC, baby. After that, they’ll be on their way to LA for the filming of Nicole’s sure-to-be-a-hit screenplay.

On arrival, they discover that Nicole’s friend Megan Weatherly, a local TV reporter, has picked up an anonymous stalker. Megan downplays any real danger, but her new intern Abby, as well as Jake and Nicole, don’t agree. Bit by bit, as the harassment escalates and the shadowy man invades Megan’s world, Jake calls in the big guns from back home in Ray and Pancake. But will Ray’s military black ops experience and Pancake’s technical skills be enough to expose the predator in time?

The stalker is no fool and likely has a predatory history. He makes no mistakes and manages to cover his trail completely. So, how do you identify and locate the untraceable? How do you protect Megan from a potentially lethal phantom?

Suddenly the sunshine and safety of The OC seem more facade than reality. Jake and crew must punch through that facade and dig into the dark world of celebrity stalking. The clock is ticking.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: More daffy fun with the scoobygroup in the sunny surfside locales they favor. Only this time the water's frigid: The Pacific is so huge and so deep it's colder than their usual Gulf of Mexico bathwater warmth even in Southern California.

Pancake shines in more ways than size and muscle this outing. Stalking is a very real problem in the modern world. As Jake and Nicole hit the vacation spots in the OC, they're worried about Nicole's old friend having a stalker in escalation mode. Pancake's cyberskills show that her stalker is very cybersavvy. No usable traces in the threatening emails. Jake's dad Ray dusts off the black-ops military training that got him into the private investigation world in the first place, because everyone except old-friend Megan, who (understandably) tries to cope with the anxiety of being stalked by downplaying it. It's her good luck that everyone around her says "uh-huh" and moves right along investigating the stalking.

It all comes about for the scoobygroup because Nicole's screenplay, sold at last, is now being filmed! Murderwood is coming to life! In this way we're really prepared for Jake to be a plus-one on the entire action. He still narrates a lot of it but is more or less our eyes and ears instead of a mover and shaker. It is not as light-hearted as the earlier entries because the subject isn't really one where too much humor is available. After violence is done it's not retractable, so laughing doesn't feel as...inappropriate, awkward...as when one's trying to prevent violence.

Never fear, series fans, Jake's his irreverent self, only at two-thirds strength. The stalker is identified at last and all is well—it's a series, ma'at must be upheld at both ends—so we don't feel unsatisfied. It's fun; it's darker; it's got Nicole experiencing the moviemaking life at last.

It felt like a good time was had by all, in spite of the crazy person doing crappy things to a woman.