Murder at the Jersey Shore

Murder at the Jersey Shore #1-3

by Richard Brawer

Revised May 2020 This book contains three full length mysteries featuring detective David Nance and his girlfriend, Bobbie. The following is a synopsis of each of the three books contained in this one Secrets Can Be Deadly As a single parent, David Nance’s mother is devoted to her son. When David finds her murdered on the eve of her sixtieth birthday, he sets out to avenge her death. His investigation uncovers a brain impaired baby born twenty-six years ago that had either been switched at birth or murdered. The mounting evidence forces David to come face to face with the idea that his mother may not only have been involved, but as a delivery room nurse in the hospital for thirty years, may also have been a blackmailer. As David digs into the backgrounds of the murder suspects, he is tormented when one by one he realizes each could be his father. One is, but is his father also the murderer? Diamonds are for Stealing David Nance is still angry, still mourning his mother when he takes on an insurance case from an old rival. Investigating the circumstances surrounding a missing diamond necklace, the new case throws him into the path of his old nemesis, the man he blames for his mother's death. Already on notice from his gorgeous girlfriend, Bobbie, about his insatiable thirst for vengeance, David must walk a fine line between cool, rational deduction and his inner rage. When the body count starts mounting, the trail of diamonds leads him to a dangerous killer and a confrontation with his own demons. Murder On The Links Rooting out the murderers of a penny stock scam artist, a mob boss’ daughter, and a prostitute, David Nance uncovers mob infested stock brokers, fraudulent hedge fund operators, loan sharks, blackmailers and deviant sex addicts from among the high powered CEOs, lawyers, investment bankers, philanthropists and heirs to fortunes at exclusive Riveredge Golf and Country Club.

Genres: Mystery

746 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 2, 2011

Reviews

[Anne D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pro: A fun and intriguing trio of mysteries, narrated by a rather geeky but likable private investigator.
Con: He is annoyingly obsessive about telling the history of the Jersey shore, sometimes to the point that the narrative is abandoned for several pages at a time for an unnecessarily long, detailed description of some past event that's really unrelated to the story. Could also use an editor for frequent grammar and punctuation errors.

[J.J. Lair · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story in the compilation is the title story, Murder at the Jersey Shore.
The story begins when David Nance finds his mother murdeered. Carl Adams her friend, skipped out as she was murdered. This leaves no witnesses.
David sets out to find the murderer. In his quest, he finds that his mother is accused of stealing drugs. David has to clear her name and find a murderer

The case takes on several twists through dirty arcades, drug pushers, ritzy parties and police vs. private eye feuds. David may even find his long lost father.
I like the character of David. The author really wants to share his knowledge of Monmouth county. Normally an info dump is off putting, but this character talks like a documentary. Is he a show off or does he use all this info? Turns out the background info does play a part in the story.
I enjoyed this first story.

[Vicki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very intriguing and suspenseful. I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline, and I liked that the ending gave closure. My only complaint is the amount of "history" the author integrated into the story about the area. It seemed very long and drawn out, and in my opinion had little relevance to the storyline itself.

[Les · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this trilogy of stories starring Redbank, NJ and the surrounding beach communities. Murder and intrigue are on call. We follow a twisted path of illegitimacy, corruption and lies.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the history of Freehold county is artfully woven into the stories.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series of three crime novels set in New Jersey were intriguing. Good plots in the classic style. The author frequently sidetracks into little local history lessons, or other factual information, which can be somewhat distracting. There are also quite a lot of proofreading omissions.