Day Breaks

Dire Calls #1

by Mathew Reuther

When his first day on the Job in Homicide Unit turns up a body in a warehouse, it's time for Detective Third Class Griffon Dire to start asking questions. His partner's advice? When in doubt, start with the Goblin Court...

Detective First Class Hargold Thief, veteran HU investigator, is Dire's new partner. With over twenty years on the Job, he knows what it takes to get things done. Now it's time for Thief to pass his skills on to Dire, one of the most promising new detectives on the force.

Together the detectives uncover a plot behind the murder of their victim which endangers the lives of thousands. The only way to stop the threat is to bring a sadistic killer to justice. Even if it means going through one of the most violent gangs in the city-state to do it.

Genres: Short Stories

50 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 11, 2013

About the author

Cursed. Born to drama. Chained with language.

After decades of struggling to remain somewhat sane amidst a sea of creativity Mathew has honed his craft and emerged from the madness a compulsive storyteller.

Mathew is obsessed with imperfect characters throwing themselves (or being thrown) into dangerous situations within fantastic settings. Building his worlds one word at a time, he populates them with characters who posess lives of their own.

A Pacific-Northwest native rumored to glow in the dark and shed water like a duck, Mathew now resides in sunny Southern Californina with his wife (and partner-in-publishing-crime) Bridgette, their two distractio--err, children--and their dog, Illy, a natural herder.

Email List: bit.ly/mrsignup
Site: mathewreuther.com/about-mathew
FB: facebook.com/mathewreuther0
TW: twitter.com/Mathew_Reuther

Reviews

[Princess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this (pretty long) short about Detective Griffon Dire. I think the character is cool: he's both likable and a tad mysterious. His partner, Thief, is cool... though I wonder about his name. The combination of a fantasy realm and the modern feel is really neat. Like the natural evolution of a "normal" fantasy world, magic is used in everyday stuff, kind of like technology is for us.

I'm a long-time fantasy reader, and I love watching all the police procedural and detective shows on TV. Stuff like Criminal Minds, Law and Order (especially SVU), Castle, the Mentalist, CSI (NY!), and loads of others. So as you might imagine I'm really happy with the melding of the genres. It totally works in my head.

I also read the other story (linked in the back) and enjoyed it. Looking forward to whatever comes next!

[Miss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this free for my Kindle and I am happy (and surprised) to report that I enjoyed it. Short stories always worry me but this one was engaging, entertaining, and the characters were intriguing.

The fantasy world is not really explained very well / at all but that is the nature of the short story.. and I'm sure that this is something that will be fleshed out in subsequent books.

Overall, I'm not sure if it had enough for me to go out of my way to find book 2 but I did find it enjoyable and entertaining.

[Katharina Gerlach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very fast read (no wonder since it's rather short and very fast paced). It was so good, I went out right away to get the sequels and ended up buying the whole omnibus.

The book tells the story of a newbie police officer with special abilities and his friend. A mini-bonus story tells us, how he came to the police in the first place. This is a little like the good old noir mysteries but with lots of fantasy thrown in.

Highly recommended to everyone who likes fantasy AND mysteries.

[Megan Reuther · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short! It has an engaging tone and intriguing characters. I can't wait to read what's up next for Dire.

[Robert Williamson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice short story. Lots of action and great characters. Definately worth reading.