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Frank Cole #2
Reduced Circumstances
Frank Cole, bankrupt businessman and sometime sleuth, has taken a second job with the Midnight Taxi Service in Exile, Florida, when one of the drivers tells him about a teenage boy who hailed his cab near the site of a police drug bust the night before. It doesn't sound like much at first, but the driver disappears just as people start coming by the cabstand inquiring after the mysterious passenger.
First there is the private investigator from Atlanta, who seems genuine but knows the kid by the wrong name. Then there are the two bounty hunters from Mobile, who have the right name but are wrong in every other way. And finally there is the kid's girlfriend, a blond drifter who never leaves a fingerprint.
As if that all weren't enough to ruin Frank's night job, a body turns up holding a Midnight Taxi Service roadmap. And once again Frank Cole has to find the answers without even knowing the questions.
In this entertaining sequel to his first novel, Vincent H. O'Neil takes his readers on a dark Florida taxi ride with his likable sleuth.
- GenresMystery
224 pages, Hardcover
Published July 10, 2007
7 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Vincent H. O'Neil
27 books43 followersVincent H. O’Neil is the Malice Award-winning author of the Exile mystery series from St. Martin's Press and the military science fiction Sim War series (writing as Henry V. O'Neil) from HarperCollins.
He is also the author of the theater-themed murder mystery DEATH TROUPE, and two books in a New England-based horror series, INTERLANDS and DENIZENS.
Most recently, he released an innovative news series that pairs a futuristic fiction novel with a non-fiction book.
The novel, A PAUSE IN THE PERPETUAL ROTATION, describes a future United States where people are embracing an underground philosophy called The Unused Path. The non-fiction book, THE UNUSED PATH, is a genuine self-improvement / life philosophy manual that is featured extensively in the novel.
Learn more at www.vincenthoneil.com
He is also the author of the theater-themed murder mystery DEATH TROUPE, and two books in a New England-based horror series, INTERLANDS and DENIZENS.
Most recently, he released an innovative news series that pairs a futuristic fiction novel with a non-fiction book.
The novel, A PAUSE IN THE PERPETUAL ROTATION, describes a future United States where people are embracing an underground philosophy called The Unused Path. The non-fiction book, THE UNUSED PATH, is a genuine self-improvement / life philosophy manual that is featured extensively in the novel.
Learn more at www.vincenthoneil.com
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 19, 2009
Vincent H. O'Neil's inimitable beach bum/amateur sleuth Frank Cole is back in Reduced Circumstances (2007), his followup to Murder in Exile (2006). Things have quieted down for Frank since solving the Eddie Gonzalez case in Exile. In fact as fast as fact checking is concerned, business is just about non-existent.
Although Frank's peculiar bankruptcy case prevents him from earning too much money, he does still have living expenses. So, to deal with the light times as a fact checker, Frank finds himself working as a night dispatcher for the Midnight Taxi Service near his home in Exile, Florida.
The taxi stand is where Frank first hears about the kid. The young man was seen hailing a Midnight cab near a drug bust the night before--interesting but not exactly big news. Of course that's before a parade of visitors drop by the cab stand trying to find the kid and the MIA driver who picked him up the night before. First there's the private investigator from Atlanta, then the possible bounty hunters from Mobile, and finally the kid's girlfriend--a blond femme fatale of sorts who never seems to leave a fingerprint in her wake.
Suddenly Frank finds himself a person of interest on all side of the investigation despite having little in the way of information to share. Urged on by equal parts curiosity and necessity, Frank begins to investigate the kid and his mysterious disappearance trying to figure out why exactly so many people want to find him. And who, if any of them, want to find him alive.
Murder in Exile was a lot of fun. Amazingly, and happily, this installment in the series is even more enjoyable. The narrative also provides ample yet brief recaps of Frank's adventures in the first book for anyone who might be fuzzy on those early details. Reduced Circumstances is an interesting blend of character study and mystery. The elements for both are here and used well to create a breezy read that leaves readers with a satisfying investigation and more insight into Frank's personality and life.
Because Frank comes to the world of investigation from a fact checker's side of things, the novel also provides a unique look at the world of online research and a commentary on just how much information can be found online. O'Neil keeps these segments just the right length to stay interesting for the typical readers and any information professionals who should happen to pick up the book.
While the investigation wraps up nicely, the novel does still end with a slight cliff hanger that will leave readers eager for the next installment in the series Exile Trust (2008).
Although Frank's peculiar bankruptcy case prevents him from earning too much money, he does still have living expenses. So, to deal with the light times as a fact checker, Frank finds himself working as a night dispatcher for the Midnight Taxi Service near his home in Exile, Florida.
The taxi stand is where Frank first hears about the kid. The young man was seen hailing a Midnight cab near a drug bust the night before--interesting but not exactly big news. Of course that's before a parade of visitors drop by the cab stand trying to find the kid and the MIA driver who picked him up the night before. First there's the private investigator from Atlanta, then the possible bounty hunters from Mobile, and finally the kid's girlfriend--a blond femme fatale of sorts who never seems to leave a fingerprint in her wake.
Suddenly Frank finds himself a person of interest on all side of the investigation despite having little in the way of information to share. Urged on by equal parts curiosity and necessity, Frank begins to investigate the kid and his mysterious disappearance trying to figure out why exactly so many people want to find him. And who, if any of them, want to find him alive.
Murder in Exile was a lot of fun. Amazingly, and happily, this installment in the series is even more enjoyable. The narrative also provides ample yet brief recaps of Frank's adventures in the first book for anyone who might be fuzzy on those early details. Reduced Circumstances is an interesting blend of character study and mystery. The elements for both are here and used well to create a breezy read that leaves readers with a satisfying investigation and more insight into Frank's personality and life.
Because Frank comes to the world of investigation from a fact checker's side of things, the novel also provides a unique look at the world of online research and a commentary on just how much information can be found online. O'Neil keeps these segments just the right length to stay interesting for the typical readers and any information professionals who should happen to pick up the book.
While the investigation wraps up nicely, the novel does still end with a slight cliff hanger that will leave readers eager for the next installment in the series Exile Trust (2008).
December 31, 2007
Frank Cole: bankrupt, divorced, educated, forced to work as a night dispatcher for the Midnight Taxi service and currently living in Exile, Florida. A string of circumstances, beginning with a suspicious late night fare, entice Frank into investigating the death of a young grifter.
Recommended for those who like serial mysteries somewhere between cozy and graphic with smart protagonists and a few eccentric, but believable characters in the supporting cast.
Recommended for those who like serial mysteries somewhere between cozy and graphic with smart protagonists and a few eccentric, but believable characters in the supporting cast.
April 18, 2008
A murder mystery set in the Florida panhandle brings together an offbeat bunch of characters for a twisty tale about how "normal" people might go about perpetrating - or solving - a crime. The dynamics of the interpersonal relationships are entertaining: yankee v. southerner, cops v. civilians, professional detective v. amateur one, cabbies v. their fares, and the good ol' male v. female. The dialogue is realistic, with a couple scenes played for laughs (but not overplayed). As Frank Cole starts closing the loops on the case, while still finding the tantalizing loose strings, it's hard to put down the book. The ending is satisfying and leaves you wondering what will happen next in the personal life of this transplanted Yankee playing chess under the Florida palm trees.
August 3, 2016
This is an entertaining book that kept me interested from beginning to end. The characters were well enough developed to make them believeable and also of interest. I am looking forward to more work by this author.
September 10, 2013
The main character Frank is moonlighting as a dispatcher for a taxi company. We have a murder mystery to solve and this book has a lot of subtle humor. I was really in to and till the last 30 pages. The solve was pretty boring.
June 2, 2020
This is a surprisingly good whodunit with a very complicated plot involving layers of lies, double-crossings, betrayals and subterfuge. I kept getting lost in the plot twists, but it all became more or less clear in the end. I look forward to reading more books in this series.
December 28, 2010
A good detective story.Reasonably believable characters. More plot twists than expected but it kept me guessing. I look forward to reading more by this author.
August 14, 2010
Great mystery in the Florida Panhandle where I was born and raised. The story is great for use with my students on developing characters and visualizations.
January 27, 2013
Vincent O'Neil is a West Point Graduate and mutual friend, with a high school friend of mine that is also a West Point Graduate. He is a excellent writer, I look forward to reading all of his books.
March 13, 2014
I'm interested in seeing where this series goes. It is really entertaining reading and I can't wait to read the next in the series.
December 12, 2017
Frank Cole, the main character is okay, but the rest is junk.
April 17, 2019
After I thanked my brother-in-law, Richard, for the tip on the free ebook by Vincent O'Neil that was the first of the Frank Cole series, Richard decided to lend me the second book in the series. I knew it was possible to lend out ebooks one bought, but I'd never done it before. I've only ever borrowed from the library before (actually, -ies, I have 4 library accounts).
Anyway, Frank Cole is still living in reduced circumstances in the Florida panhandle. Actually, his reduced circumstances have been further reduced. His fact-checking gigs have dried up and he's had to take on a job as a night dispatcher for the Midnight Taxi company. Not the world's most fun, but it pays for the simple life Frank is effecting so that he doesn't have to pay off bills from his bankruptcy.
One night, there's talk of a massive police presence of some sort at the Seaview Motel. A bit later, a tall African American man comes up to Frank's dispatcher's booth. He says he's Curtis Winslow, a PI from Atlanta. He has heard that a Midnight Taxi picked up a young man who left the Seaview Motel during the time the police were there. He says that he's been hired by the young man's family to track him down and make sure he's safe. The young man's name, according to Winslow, is Dennis Taylor. Frank quizzes the PI and decides he might be legit. But he doesn't give off any information regarding the taxi pick up. He says he'll check with Mr. Corelli, the owner of Midnight Taxi and then get back to Winslow.
Well, the next thing you know, two guys show up claiming to be looking for the young man who took a Midnight Taxi from the Seaview Motel. They're looking for Dennis Sharp, whom they claim has jumped bail. Frank determines these two are a bit on the sketchy side and doesn't give them any info, not even to the extent of telling them that the young man is named Taylor.
Weird things come in threes. Next up is a waif-like young woman with compelling, blue eyes who claims to have been Dennis Sharp's girlfriend. She is Sally Hayes and just wants to make sure Dennis is ok because he didn't show up where they were to have met. She cries on Frank's shoulder and almost gets him to do and say things he shouldn't, but Frank is saved by a phone call.
Well, Frank decides to do some checking, and it turns out that the young man in question is indeed Dennis Sharp, not Taylor, and he has a string of small busts for vagrancy and passing bad checks and the like. His parents are also cons who are currently in jail in Kansas.
There's all quite a muddle. The two "bail bondsmen" and the waif, Sally Hayes, want to know if Dennis were carrying anything when he took the taxi. It also seems that the dust up at the Seaview Motel was to capture a car allegedly burdened down with drugs and money. The drugs were found, but not the money. Then too, we find someone, perhaps a notorious family gang, the Springers, had hired Dennis to steal the car, but for some reason, the cops jumped too quickly, Dennis saw them and fled, in a Midnight Taxi. A few days later, Dennis was found to have been murdered.
Well, lots happening. Frank gets to do some "fact checking". He also hooks up with Curtis Winslow to get to the bottom of everything. Eventually, Frank figures it all out, but loses his job at the taxi stand because he'd had to take time off to wrap up the case. Something like that.
This was a pretty fun read. As I said after the first one, it's a bit like Raymond Chandler or Ross Macdonald in style, although perhaps, not so rough. I liked it, and may well read on.
Anyway, Frank Cole is still living in reduced circumstances in the Florida panhandle. Actually, his reduced circumstances have been further reduced. His fact-checking gigs have dried up and he's had to take on a job as a night dispatcher for the Midnight Taxi company. Not the world's most fun, but it pays for the simple life Frank is effecting so that he doesn't have to pay off bills from his bankruptcy.
One night, there's talk of a massive police presence of some sort at the Seaview Motel. A bit later, a tall African American man comes up to Frank's dispatcher's booth. He says he's Curtis Winslow, a PI from Atlanta. He has heard that a Midnight Taxi picked up a young man who left the Seaview Motel during the time the police were there. He says that he's been hired by the young man's family to track him down and make sure he's safe. The young man's name, according to Winslow, is Dennis Taylor. Frank quizzes the PI and decides he might be legit. But he doesn't give off any information regarding the taxi pick up. He says he'll check with Mr. Corelli, the owner of Midnight Taxi and then get back to Winslow.
Well, the next thing you know, two guys show up claiming to be looking for the young man who took a Midnight Taxi from the Seaview Motel. They're looking for Dennis Sharp, whom they claim has jumped bail. Frank determines these two are a bit on the sketchy side and doesn't give them any info, not even to the extent of telling them that the young man is named Taylor.
Weird things come in threes. Next up is a waif-like young woman with compelling, blue eyes who claims to have been Dennis Sharp's girlfriend. She is Sally Hayes and just wants to make sure Dennis is ok because he didn't show up where they were to have met. She cries on Frank's shoulder and almost gets him to do and say things he shouldn't, but Frank is saved by a phone call.
Well, Frank decides to do some checking, and it turns out that the young man in question is indeed Dennis Sharp, not Taylor, and he has a string of small busts for vagrancy and passing bad checks and the like. His parents are also cons who are currently in jail in Kansas.
There's all quite a muddle. The two "bail bondsmen" and the waif, Sally Hayes, want to know if Dennis were carrying anything when he took the taxi. It also seems that the dust up at the Seaview Motel was to capture a car allegedly burdened down with drugs and money. The drugs were found, but not the money. Then too, we find someone, perhaps a notorious family gang, the Springers, had hired Dennis to steal the car, but for some reason, the cops jumped too quickly, Dennis saw them and fled, in a Midnight Taxi. A few days later, Dennis was found to have been murdered.
Well, lots happening. Frank gets to do some "fact checking". He also hooks up with Curtis Winslow to get to the bottom of everything. Eventually, Frank figures it all out, but loses his job at the taxi stand because he'd had to take time off to wrap up the case. Something like that.
This was a pretty fun read. As I said after the first one, it's a bit like Raymond Chandler or Ross Macdonald in style, although perhaps, not so rough. I liked it, and may well read on.
April 18, 2008
American Library review (May, 2007):
Once upon a time, Frank Cole was the happily married owner of a thriving software firm. But when business and marriage both went under, he landed in the Florida panhandle town of Exile, cobbling together a living as a fact-checker for lawyers and a dispatcher for the Midnight Taxi Service. One night a driver picks up a fare from a local fleabag motel just before the cops bust a salesman with a truck full of dope. Frank puts his own detective skills to work and learns that the fare was a petty con man whose parents were sophisticated financial swindlers. Soon Frank is sucked into the vortex of a case in which his own life may be at risk. The second Frank Cole mystery builds on the series' critically acclaimed debut, Murder in Exile (2006), with a credible plot, a sympathetic protagonist, and an array of eccentric secondary characters. This has the earmarks of a series that could be around a long time; better get in on the fun at the beginning. --Wes Lukowsky
Once upon a time, Frank Cole was the happily married owner of a thriving software firm. But when business and marriage both went under, he landed in the Florida panhandle town of Exile, cobbling together a living as a fact-checker for lawyers and a dispatcher for the Midnight Taxi Service. One night a driver picks up a fare from a local fleabag motel just before the cops bust a salesman with a truck full of dope. Frank puts his own detective skills to work and learns that the fare was a petty con man whose parents were sophisticated financial swindlers. Soon Frank is sucked into the vortex of a case in which his own life may be at risk. The second Frank Cole mystery builds on the series' critically acclaimed debut, Murder in Exile (2006), with a credible plot, a sympathetic protagonist, and an array of eccentric secondary characters. This has the earmarks of a series that could be around a long time; better get in on the fun at the beginning. --Wes Lukowsky
November 14, 2016
Well, I have finally "caught up" with Vince O'Neil's classic murder fiction centered around under-empoloyed Frank Cole, so I will be ready, willing, and able to finish up his alter-ego's Sci-Fi Henry V. O'Neil's Sim War final books. Any reader who likes the old "classics" of murder mystery fiction will like O'Neil's fiction. Frank Cole continues his "exile" in Exile, Florida now working as a taxi dispatcher, who has the time to continue as a "fact checker" - not a tradtional PI. The books starts slow and the pace of the plot picks up rapidly. O'Neil has created a really interesting menagerie of "characters" living in Florida that could be neighbors with the cast of Carl Hiassen's Florida. Howev er, Frank Cole really needs himself to read O'Neil's earlier fiction, so he doesn't run headlong into dangerous situations, when he simply should cal 9-1-1. Strong work O'Neil. I really hope that you can return to Frank Cole when you have finished with your current Sci-Fi series.
December 31, 2016
love this series. Frank is a neat hero who doesn't want to be a hero. Learned about searching for people.
Read
November 8, 2018Reread this book not realizing I had already read it 6 years ago Although it did seam familiar not enough for me to go "oh read this one already" Only the great books do that for me. LOL Didn't change my rating.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews