The Case of the Deceiving Dons (Five Star First Edition Mystery) by Carl Brookins

Sean Sean Mystery #2

by Carl Brookins

Book by Brookins, Carl

Genres: Mystery

Hardcover

First published August 1, 2008

About the author

Before I became a mystery writer and reviewer, I was a television program producer, a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul and a mystery fiction reviewer for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press and Mystery Scene Magazine. I'm an avid recreational sailor (hence my sailing series and a member of Sisters in Crime, and Private Eye Writers of America, as well as MWA. You can frequently find me touring bookstores and libraries with my companions-in-crime, The Minnesota Crime Wave. You can also catch me on tv! Just check out the Minnesota Crime Wave website, www.MinnesotaCrimeWave.org.

I live with my wife Jean, a retired publisher and editor, in Roseville, Minnesota.

Reviews

[Glenda Bixler · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://gabixlerreviews-bookreadershe...

[Carl Brookins]

Sean NMI Sean's second adventure as a Minneapolis P.I. While short in stature, Sean has a big heart and sometimes rides out to battle the forces of evil as if he really had armor and a white horse.

Here he helps feisty denizens of a local retirement home to solve a murder and bring down organized perpetrators of medicare fraud.

I write the Sean Sean series with tongue planted firmly in cheek! And what I've learned from that is that it's very hard to talk that way.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like another reviewer on Goodreads, I first got interested in this one because I thought perhaps the "don" in the title referred to a British academic (and you know how I love me an academic mystery). But it winds up that we're talking Don like Don Corleone. Like the Mafia. Like messing with the "family." So, okay...I need this book for my Follow That Blurb Challenge--gotta go with this one or else I'll have to start the whole darn journey again. So, I brought it home from the library anyway. And, boy, am I glad I did.

Now this is the way books about private investigators ought to be written. It's fun and tongue-in-cheek, with just enough of the hard-boiled patter to make it right. (After all, our hero uses Chandler and Hammett and all the rest as his PI handbooks.) PI Sean Sean (yes, that's his name) is a not-so-hard-boiled detective operating in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. He may not be tall, but he's got a big heart and is willing to go the extra mile when a case interests him (or when someone needs the help). He wears red Keds and rarely packs heat. He's just starting to figure out the mysteries of computers and the internet and hasn't quite talked himself into a cell phone yet. He's a gumshoe just beginning to burst into the 21st century.

The book begins with a bang--quite literally. As Sean is making his way home one evening, he comes upon a murder scene. An elderly patient of the local nursing home was out for a regular trip around the block when his wheelchair exploded--directly across from Sean's home. At first, Sean is interested merely because of the proximity. But then a couple of large toughs hire him to investigate and his interest becomes professional. With the help of a feisty fellow resident of Sheltering Limbs (the nursing home), Sean soon discovers that there was more to the dearly departed than meets the eye. Not to mention some of the activities of the Director of the home. Things really get interesting when the FBI gets involved and then someone begins taking potshots at Sean. Is he getting too close? And just exactly who is getting skittish about that?

This is a delightful read. Fast-paced and smooth. It goes down like Sean says a single malt does (I'll have to take his word on that). Lots of action and interesting characters. I absolutely love Sean's interaction with Blanche, his contact in the nursing home. And Sean is a very likeable protagonist. I look forward to trying more of the series. Four stars.

[Mascanlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well has anyone who checks my reviews knows I am really all about the cozy mystery. I picked this up on the "new" shelf at the library reading "don" as in professor.Well joke was one me its another "don" altogether...think headless horses, think mob....lol. So this book is set in the Twin cities and is part of a series. The detective is a PI who pretty much works well with the authorities but is just to curious for his own good. I enjoyed reading about Sean Sean (no typo, his first and last name are the same) but the plot was way too far fetched for me, with way to many loose ends, or to be more accurate, red herrings that he chases for half the book, someone walks in and says, nope, you're on the wrong page and that's the end of that string. It just didn't work for me, although the character is likable, smart and the support cast is as well. I'll give Sean another try I expect, maybe I'll like that case better.