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August Riordan #3
Candy from Strangers
Caroline Stockwell has a she and her best friend Monica are "cam girls."
Soliciting cash donations and gifts via Amazon.com wish lists from anonymous admirers, the young women have put up a web site featuring still photographs, video and web diaries (aka blogs) to help pay their way through art college. But when Caroline goes missing and her mother Ellen engages jazz bass-playing PI August Riordan to find her, Riordan discovers her secret and it appears to everyone that someone she met through the web site is responsible for her disappearance.
Set against the real-world backdrop of Internet predators using social networking sites to find and ensnare their victims, Candy from Strangers is the first novel to explore the phenomenon of teenagers and young adults displaying themselves online in exchange for material favors—often without their parents' knowledge—which some are calling the newest form of prostitution.
Soliciting cash donations and gifts via Amazon.com wish lists from anonymous admirers, the young women have put up a web site featuring still photographs, video and web diaries (aka blogs) to help pay their way through art college. But when Caroline goes missing and her mother Ellen engages jazz bass-playing PI August Riordan to find her, Riordan discovers her secret and it appears to everyone that someone she met through the web site is responsible for her disappearance.
Set against the real-world backdrop of Internet predators using social networking sites to find and ensnare their victims, Candy from Strangers is the first novel to explore the phenomenon of teenagers and young adults displaying themselves online in exchange for material favors—often without their parents' knowledge—which some are calling the newest form of prostitution.
341 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Mark Coggins
21 books20 followersMark Coggins’ work has been nominated for the Shamus and the Barry crime fiction awards and selected for best of the year lists compiled by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Detroit Free Press and Amazon.com, among others. His novels Runoff and The Big Wake-Up won the Next Generation Indie Book Award and the Independent Publisher Book Award (IPPY) respectively, both in the crime fiction category.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 31, 2017
Some say that summer is over when we hit September 1. Others hold out for the autumnal equinox. I am trying to satisfy both groups by getting this review in under the wire, because it definitely falls into the category of “summer reads and beach books.”
This is my first encounter with Mark Coggins’ P.I., August Riordan. In many ways, Riordan is your typical investigator from a long tradition of the same: He loves a wisecrack; he enjoys sexual encounters and he has a tendency to drink to excess. In some important ways, he is a bit different: he plays bass in a jazz band with a decided LGBT flavor and practices his trade in San Francisco complete with that city’s thrills and chills. You get two young women trying to make some money off a “goth” webcam site. Thus, you get a dash of kinky sex. You get the traditional P.I vs. cops and P.I. vs. tough guys scenes. You get August’s self-described “Luddite mentality” when it comes to all technology from cell phones to automobiles. And, you are treated to his jazz playlist, if that’s your cup of tea.
As a beach read, this is an engaging novel with enough “mystery” to carry the plot. The venue is well-represented and Riordan’s insights and foibles work well. Not sorry that I read it, but it never quite soared into the literary stratosphere for me, though the fact that I now own an autographed first edition may keep it on the shelf for a while.
This is my first encounter with Mark Coggins’ P.I., August Riordan. In many ways, Riordan is your typical investigator from a long tradition of the same: He loves a wisecrack; he enjoys sexual encounters and he has a tendency to drink to excess. In some important ways, he is a bit different: he plays bass in a jazz band with a decided LGBT flavor and practices his trade in San Francisco complete with that city’s thrills and chills. You get two young women trying to make some money off a “goth” webcam site. Thus, you get a dash of kinky sex. You get the traditional P.I vs. cops and P.I. vs. tough guys scenes. You get August’s self-described “Luddite mentality” when it comes to all technology from cell phones to automobiles. And, you are treated to his jazz playlist, if that’s your cup of tea.
As a beach read, this is an engaging novel with enough “mystery” to carry the plot. The venue is well-represented and Riordan’s insights and foibles work well. Not sorry that I read it, but it never quite soared into the literary stratosphere for me, though the fact that I now own an autographed first edition may keep it on the shelf for a while.
June 21, 2025
It has been too long since I read the last August Riordan mystery. I was able to jump right in and enjoy the challenges of being a private detective in San Francisco without friends in the police department.
I loved the interrogation interview with Jack Kittredge and the dripping ceiling. Disagreeable enough to keep August focused on another client for most of the book, but pivotal in the resolution of both incidents.
I am not a jazz fan but loved the band scenes as well.
This is a quick read and a complicated plot.
I borrowed a copy from the public library and won't wait so long to read the next book.
I loved the interrogation interview with Jack Kittredge and the dripping ceiling. Disagreeable enough to keep August focused on another client for most of the book, but pivotal in the resolution of both incidents.
I am not a jazz fan but loved the band scenes as well.
This is a quick read and a complicated plot.
I borrowed a copy from the public library and won't wait so long to read the next book.
May 13, 2017
I didn't realize this was a series. It seems to revolve around the main character, August, is a private detective. He is humorous, in an annoying Uncle sort of way. It was unusual for me to read story that doesn't revolve around one case. August works several cases thru the book, none of which I enjoyed.
I will be skipping this series... there are just so many series out there!
I will be skipping this series... there are just so many series out there!
August 13, 2007
CANDY FROM $TRANGERS (Private Invest-San Francisco-Cont) – Poor
Coggins, Mark – 2nd in series
Bleak House Books, 2006-Amer Hardcover
*** San Francisco PI and part-time bass player August Riordan and his cross-dressing friend, lead singer and computer hacker Chris Duckwork escape a bar fight only to come across a dead girl’s body bearing what seems to be the beginning of a tattoo. Riordan is hired by Ellen Stockwell, wife of an alcoholic suspended East Palo Alto policeman, to find her missing daughter. The case leads Riordan into the world of sexual websites, a doomed relationship and murder.
*** Coggins knows the streets of San Francisco better than MapQuest. He has created some interesting characters but doesn’t develop them. I kept waiting to feel something for any of the characters, but never did. The plot begins with a coincidence and the motive behind it all was very thin. The dialogue was well written and did add to the flavor of the story and characters but I never had a feeling of suspense. For someone who is supposed to be an experienced investigator, Riordan did, or didn’t do, things I found unrealistic. I had read Coggins first Riordin book and hoped I would like this one better. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Sorry, but this just didn’t work for me.
Coggins, Mark – 2nd in series
Bleak House Books, 2006-Amer Hardcover
*** San Francisco PI and part-time bass player August Riordan and his cross-dressing friend, lead singer and computer hacker Chris Duckwork escape a bar fight only to come across a dead girl’s body bearing what seems to be the beginning of a tattoo. Riordan is hired by Ellen Stockwell, wife of an alcoholic suspended East Palo Alto policeman, to find her missing daughter. The case leads Riordan into the world of sexual websites, a doomed relationship and murder.
*** Coggins knows the streets of San Francisco better than MapQuest. He has created some interesting characters but doesn’t develop them. I kept waiting to feel something for any of the characters, but never did. The plot begins with a coincidence and the motive behind it all was very thin. The dialogue was well written and did add to the flavor of the story and characters but I never had a feeling of suspense. For someone who is supposed to be an experienced investigator, Riordan did, or didn’t do, things I found unrealistic. I had read Coggins first Riordin book and hoped I would like this one better. Unfortunately, I didn’t. Sorry, but this just didn’t work for me.
February 1, 2010
This book is a bag of potato chips. It really offers nothing new, but you as you eat, you don’t really think, “My god, I am eating potato chips for the thousandth time in my life. I really need to get some of those wasabi rice crackers and mix it up a little.” For snack food is snack food and regardless of the form it takes, you enjoy it and sort of forget about it until the next time you need a snack. This is no slam of this book, calling it snack food. I would never turn up my nose at a competent mystery, and this is a competent mystery. Read the rest of the review here
February 2, 2013
What a different set of characters. And the voice of the author is excellent, like nothing I've read. Loved the noir flavor. While it might not have kept me on the edge of my seat biting my nails, I looked forward to reading it each night and appreciated how well it was written, the plot, and the winding path of red herrings.
May 25, 2011
Fun read, pretty good whodunit with plenty of suspects. The identity of the actual killer does become pretty obvious at one point, by elimination if for no other reason. Riordan is a great character and the books just keep getting better as I plow through the series.
November 6, 2012
Decent, not great. I like the dead pan style that the narrator delivers the presentation. I found a lot of the descriptions of "high tech" humorous since the novel is a little older. Would probably enjoy his other works.
March 30, 2011
Modern noir with a flip and sarcastic voice and some wonderful turns of phrase in describing characters and settings.
December 9, 2012
Coggins really hits his stride with p. i. August Riordan on the streets of San Francisco. The mystery is engaging and the sense of humor infectious.
February 4, 2015
The best of the series so far. August and Chris are depicted more fully. A good, if creepy, plot.
Good read.
Good read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews