One-Two, Kill A Few: A Casey Fremont Mystery

by John Achor

Struggling to recover from a disastrous marriage and contentious divorce, Casey Fremont would prefer to make ends meet with her paycheck from a temp job; but now her goal of personal and mental renewal becomes one of staying alive as she solves a riddle of murder and mayhem.

Casey Fremont is on her way to interview for a temp job when a falling body nearly lands on her. Three days later, a second man, this one from her own office, dies in a similar manner and Casey is drawn into the intrigue. She confirms her suspicions, but one of her friends ends up in the hands of kidnappers. Casey must solve the mystery before she becomes the third body to go over the railing.

Author John Achor introduces amateur sleuth Casey Fremont in a newly released edition of One-Two, Kill A Few: A Casey Fremont Mystery from Pro Se Productions.

Kindle Edition

First published August 23, 2014

About the author

John Achor's writing assignments have appeared in a variety of local, national and international magazines. He enjoys writing about, "The subjects I know best: the military, flying and people I've known." After that, John says he lets a vivid imagination take over.

The first of his careers spanned twenty years as a U.S. Air Force pilot. Following his military service, John was a teacher, trainer, management consultant and professor in a variety of industries: real estate, banking and education. In those fields he became a freelance computer instructor, user-developer, consultant, writer and Community College instructor

In May of 1999, John moved to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas where he resides in the piney woods with his wife Pat. John considers himself a professional writer since the 1990s.

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was given a promotional copy in exchange for my honest review, so here it is ... in a nutshell, this is "revenge fantasy" material for bitter women. Bear in mind that with audio I can't go back and transcribe passages easily, so I stand by my references below as close paraphrases .

Casey starts out angry that her ex-husband's alimony check is late again, so she needs to scramble to make the payment on the condo she was awarded in the divorce; she goes on to say that she believes he does that on purpose hoping she'll be evicted.

So, she goes to the temp agency where she's registered to get an assignment. Our protagonist is quite confident that she'll get one because ... when she showed up the first time for an interview, the manager proceeded to grope her, so she turned the tables by groping him HARD (where it hurts) forcing him to admit what a pig he is in front of witnesses. Casey has no job history, because her ex wouldn't "let" her work while they were married. Yes, you read that right, in the 21st century he decreed that, and she accepted it. Instead, she took a slew of "courses" acing each, natch. So, she got the agency owner to put her on the books as a preferred client.

On arrival at the job site, she's nearly hit by a falling body, saved by the hot building security manager, who is attracted to her. Casey is very attracted to the detective in charge of the case; as soon as he takes her statement, verifying she has nothing more to add, he tells her, "Good, because now that you're finished being part of the events I can ask you out!"

Soon thereafter, there's a misunderstanding where she and her new roommate assume an applicant for a third slot is a woman, but that's not so. They like him, but hold off a bit, which gives her time to run into the detective at the building to ask him "Should I take a gay black male as a roommate?" (I cannot swear she said 'black' but am fairly certain). He asks the guy's name, then tells her, "I know him, he's a great guy!" Bear in mind they haven't even had that date yet.

Then we get the story of her actual divorce. It seems her husband, a very successful rich local attorney represented himself (as someone who worked in the court system, the chances of that happening are lower than hitting the Powerball). He brought his bimbo (my term) with him to sit at counsel table, introducing her as a "paralegal trainee" at which Casey reports that the judge rolled her eyes. Upshot is that the judge awarded her as much as she possibly could after the husband "repeatedly" referred to Casey as a "witch" (only stronger). If you are willing to suspend disbelief that he did that once in open court (a remote possibility, very remote), but "repeatedly"? A judge would've been all over him the first time, a second time and he'd have been immediately up on contempt charges.

Perhaps I'm a picky curmudgeon, and it's really a fun read, but I've given the highlights accurately in a promised honest review, and my job is done. I have no position on the narration itself.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fans of Janet Evaonovich will love Casey and her crazy life. Her no good, cheating ex-husband Jarvis the rat is late, again, with the support payment. That means it's time to go blackmail the womanizing jerk at the temp agency into helping her with a temp job to make ends meet for a little while. When she arrives for her interview she is knocked over by a man pushing her out of the way of a falling body. Turns out there is more going on in this building than a temp job. When she goes back to the temp agency to tell the Office Manager about her day she ends up helping a young woman there get the polish she needs to be employable, and taking her in as a roommate. She quickly adds a gay flight attendant as a 3rd roommate. The 3 of them begin investigating the suicide or was it murder in the building? Just 2 days later another person falls to their death in the same building. Is there a connection? Add in some romance with the hot detective assigned to the case and you have a great mystery that keeps you laughing.

I received this book for free from AudioBlast in exchange for my honest review.

[Kathy Parish · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great entertaining read set in Little Rock. Intriguing plot. Appealing cast of characters. An enjoyable light mystery with lots of local color. I look forward to more Casey Fremont mysteries.

[James Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well,...I guess I should have guessed from the title, but this novel is rather campy. Although fast paced, it has a rather Scooby Doo flavor. If this appeals to you, you might enjoy this one. It just wasn't my cup of tea.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is for the audio version. One-Two, Kill a Few is the first in a new series by John Achor. It’s light, entertaining and the mystery is well plotted. I didn’t really warm up to the protagonist, Casey Fremont, but the story was interesting enough to keep me listening. She felt shallow to me. For example, when a body falls from the 10th floor to land a few feet from her, she’s more interested in the “hot” guy who knocks her out of the way than the dead man. Then the police show up and the detective is also very “hot”. I don’t remember the exact words, but as she walks away she’s thinking how she’s just met two hot guys who are both interested in her and how, except for the dead man, her day is getting better and better. I liked her new roommates and the relationship growing between the three of them.
The mystery in the book was good enough for me to try the second in the series, in hopes that the characters are more fully developed. The narrator, Aisling Gray, did a great job differentiating between the characters and her voice is easy to listen to. This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.