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Bragg #3
Pieces of Death
PIECES OF DEATH
The Shamus Award-nominated, action-packed third thriller in the Bragg series of private eye novels that propelled author Jack Lynch into the league of detective fiction legends alongside Sue Grafton, Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker, Dashiell Hammett, and Ross MacDonald.
“Bragg is authentic, gripping, gritty.” San Francisco Examiner
Peter Bragg goes to San Francisco International Airport to protect a man arriving with a valuable package and ends up in a brutal gun battle with two ruthless and brazen assassins. When the smoke clears, the traveler is a corpse and his package has disappeared…Bragg doesn’t have it and neither do the killers. Bragg becomes the hunter and the hunted as killers descend on the city to find thirty-two gem-encrusted chess pieces smuggled out of China that are worth a staggering fortune…one somebody is willing to step over a pile of bodies to have for himself…if he can get past Bragg first.
“This is a first-rate series. Bragg is a restrained and believable hero. The action scenes are excellent.” 101 Knights: A Survey of American Detective Fiction
“The books are damn good, featuring a hard but believable hero,” The Thrilling Detective
The Shamus Award-nominated, action-packed third thriller in the Bragg series of private eye novels that propelled author Jack Lynch into the league of detective fiction legends alongside Sue Grafton, Raymond Chandler, Robert B. Parker, Dashiell Hammett, and Ross MacDonald.
“Bragg is authentic, gripping, gritty.” San Francisco Examiner
Peter Bragg goes to San Francisco International Airport to protect a man arriving with a valuable package and ends up in a brutal gun battle with two ruthless and brazen assassins. When the smoke clears, the traveler is a corpse and his package has disappeared…Bragg doesn’t have it and neither do the killers. Bragg becomes the hunter and the hunted as killers descend on the city to find thirty-two gem-encrusted chess pieces smuggled out of China that are worth a staggering fortune…one somebody is willing to step over a pile of bodies to have for himself…if he can get past Bragg first.
“This is a first-rate series. Bragg is a restrained and believable hero. The action scenes are excellent.” 101 Knights: A Survey of American Detective Fiction
“The books are damn good, featuring a hard but believable hero,” The Thrilling Detective
304 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
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229 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 14, 2015
Somehow I managed to miss Jack Lunch's series of crime novels featuring San Francisco P.I. Peter Bragg when they were first published some thirty years ago, and so I'm especially grateful to the folks at Brash Books for discovering and re-releasing these titles.
Pieces of Death is the third book in the series, following The Dead Never Forget and The Missing and The Dead. In this case, a friend that Bragg knows from a local newspaper asks him to serve as a bodyguard for a guy named Buddy Polaski, who's flying into San Francisco International Airport from New York that afternoon. The friend is a little vague as to why Polaski might need someone to protect him and so Bragg takes his .45 along just in case.
A lot of good that does him. He meets Polaski; they have a quick drink and then go to the baggage carousel to pick up Polaski's luggage. As Polaski grabs his suitcase, two guys race up and pump him full of lead. There's not much that Bragg can do; understandably, pandemonium ensues in the baggage claim area and Bragg doesn't dare return fire for fear of hitting an innocent bystander. He chases after the hit men, but they jump into a waiting car and make their escape.
Why would the men have targeted Polaski and what would they have wanted? There's nothing in his luggage that would suggest a reason for his murder. With his dying breath, the man leaves Bragg with a cryptic message but he expires before Bragg can figure out what in the hell the guy was trying to say.
Bragg's client, Harry Shank, is equally cryptic. He and the departed Mr. Polaski were working some sort of a deal and Harry won't trust Bragg with the details. But Polaski was supposed to be bringing something very important for the consummation of their deal and it wasn't in his luggage. Harry wants Bragg to stay on the job, decipher the message that Polaski was trying to give him, and recover the missing items.
Bragg agrees and sets off on an investigation that very vaguely suggests overtones of The Maltese Falcon. It turns out that there are a lot of other players in this drama, including someone's very sexy wife who has designs on Bragg, and a younger, more innocent, woman who has something of the same idea. Naturally, Bragg can't trust any of these people and the story takes any number of unexpected twists and turns.
The result is another very enjoyable tale from an author who has since died but who nonetheless deserves a wider audience. Peter Bragg is a great protagonist: tough, smart and witty, and this is a book that will appeal to large numbers of crime fiction fans.
Pieces of Death is the third book in the series, following The Dead Never Forget and The Missing and The Dead. In this case, a friend that Bragg knows from a local newspaper asks him to serve as a bodyguard for a guy named Buddy Polaski, who's flying into San Francisco International Airport from New York that afternoon. The friend is a little vague as to why Polaski might need someone to protect him and so Bragg takes his .45 along just in case.
A lot of good that does him. He meets Polaski; they have a quick drink and then go to the baggage carousel to pick up Polaski's luggage. As Polaski grabs his suitcase, two guys race up and pump him full of lead. There's not much that Bragg can do; understandably, pandemonium ensues in the baggage claim area and Bragg doesn't dare return fire for fear of hitting an innocent bystander. He chases after the hit men, but they jump into a waiting car and make their escape.
Why would the men have targeted Polaski and what would they have wanted? There's nothing in his luggage that would suggest a reason for his murder. With his dying breath, the man leaves Bragg with a cryptic message but he expires before Bragg can figure out what in the hell the guy was trying to say.
Bragg's client, Harry Shank, is equally cryptic. He and the departed Mr. Polaski were working some sort of a deal and Harry won't trust Bragg with the details. But Polaski was supposed to be bringing something very important for the consummation of their deal and it wasn't in his luggage. Harry wants Bragg to stay on the job, decipher the message that Polaski was trying to give him, and recover the missing items.
Bragg agrees and sets off on an investigation that very vaguely suggests overtones of The Maltese Falcon. It turns out that there are a lot of other players in this drama, including someone's very sexy wife who has designs on Bragg, and a younger, more innocent, woman who has something of the same idea. Naturally, Bragg can't trust any of these people and the story takes any number of unexpected twists and turns.
The result is another very enjoyable tale from an author who has since died but who nonetheless deserves a wider audience. Peter Bragg is a great protagonist: tough, smart and witty, and this is a book that will appeal to large numbers of crime fiction fans.
October 15, 2019
Two and a half stars for this one. I am clearly in the minority here, but I found the dialogue stiff and characters rather wooden. The interplay between Bragg and the sexy wife/widow just seemed juvenile and unbelievable.
I’d give the plot a three star rating, maybe even a bit more, as there are a couple of nice twists. Unfortunately, I couldn’t abide the characters, which felt flat and stereotypical, nor the aforementioned dialogue.
Maybe I’ve missed something here, but this just failed to connect for me.
I’d give the plot a three star rating, maybe even a bit more, as there are a couple of nice twists. Unfortunately, I couldn’t abide the characters, which felt flat and stereotypical, nor the aforementioned dialogue.
Maybe I’ve missed something here, but this just failed to connect for me.
June 20, 2019
Peter Bragg is a rarity: an honest private detective without any obvious flaws or shady history. But he's having a bad week. The client he is contracted to protect is gunned down in the airport arrivals hall. And from there, it just goes downhill.
Pieces of Death is an easy read, really page turning, with a complex plot and many twists and turns. I suspected everyone of being the baddie; and was mostly wrong in my guesses. This is the first Jack Lynch book I have read; and it's the third Bragg story. I will definitely be going back to the beginning of the series and reading more.
Pieces of Death is an easy read, really page turning, with a complex plot and many twists and turns. I suspected everyone of being the baddie; and was mostly wrong in my guesses. This is the first Jack Lynch book I have read; and it's the third Bragg story. I will definitely be going back to the beginning of the series and reading more.
August 23, 2015
I absolutely love Jack Lynch novels, and Peter Bragg is one of my favourite Private Investigators. This is a terrific story, with enough twists and turns to spin your head.
What happens when a group of guys confiscate something during the war and share it out, little souvenirs that they think are worthless? Plenty happens, especially when those said souvenirs are found to be worth millions. Bragg is hired to meet one of the associates, and witnesses him being gunned down, even his response at shooting back does not prevent the death of the man he was meeting. Bragg soon finds himself embroiled in something big, something he is capable of dealing with of course but nothing is about to be smooth and plain sailing. There are more deaths, plenty leads to track down.
Really riveting read, I am so grateful to Brash Books for allowing me the honor of reading this in exchange for an honest review. Give me a crime book and I am in my element but give me one of Jack Lynch's and I am ecstatic, as his work is splendid, it is great that Brash are re-releasing them all!
What happens when a group of guys confiscate something during the war and share it out, little souvenirs that they think are worthless? Plenty happens, especially when those said souvenirs are found to be worth millions. Bragg is hired to meet one of the associates, and witnesses him being gunned down, even his response at shooting back does not prevent the death of the man he was meeting. Bragg soon finds himself embroiled in something big, something he is capable of dealing with of course but nothing is about to be smooth and plain sailing. There are more deaths, plenty leads to track down.
Really riveting read, I am so grateful to Brash Books for allowing me the honor of reading this in exchange for an honest review. Give me a crime book and I am in my element but give me one of Jack Lynch's and I am ecstatic, as his work is splendid, it is great that Brash are re-releasing them all!
February 2, 2015
Join the action as San Francisco PI and former reporter, Peter Bragg, finds himself on a Maltese Falcon like assignment gathering the lost jewel and precious metal encrusted chess pieces hidden beneath black tape and smuggled out of World War Two jungles by a small group of soldiers and now to be gathered together and sold for millions.
His assignment suddenly goes sour when the man carrying a fortune he was sent to protect at the airport is shot and killed, and then his newspaper friend is murdered and that is just the beginning of this incredibly action packed page turner.
Gorgeous women, young and old; New York killer thugs; a mysterious hermit in the Washington rain forest; an errant Aussie are just a few of the characters that might seem like friends or people you see on the street daily are just a few characters who make up this all too believable thriller.
Tell me. Don’t you deserve something special today? Well, this is it! You know you deserve it!
His assignment suddenly goes sour when the man carrying a fortune he was sent to protect at the airport is shot and killed, and then his newspaper friend is murdered and that is just the beginning of this incredibly action packed page turner.
Gorgeous women, young and old; New York killer thugs; a mysterious hermit in the Washington rain forest; an errant Aussie are just a few of the characters that might seem like friends or people you see on the street daily are just a few characters who make up this all too believable thriller.
Tell me. Don’t you deserve something special today? Well, this is it! You know you deserve it!
August 6, 2014
Peter Bragg is asked by a newspaper acquaintance to meet a man at the airport and be a bodyguard for him and a package he was bringing with him.Almost before he knew it, he was in the middle of a gun fight when two men appear and begin pouring bullets into the man.
His assignment is dead, the two men escape, and whatever the package he was bringing is missing, Bragg doesn't have it. The two assassins didn't take it.
Soon his newspaper friend is dead, shot through the head, and the bodies start to pile up. A fortune in cash is being sought by the killers and a chess set made of precious metals, encrusted with jewels, is at the heart of it all. Disappeared during WWII, it's worth millions and someone doesn't mind killing to get it.
Well written thruller back in print after thirty years.
His assignment is dead, the two men escape, and whatever the package he was bringing is missing, Bragg doesn't have it. The two assassins didn't take it.
Soon his newspaper friend is dead, shot through the head, and the bodies start to pile up. A fortune in cash is being sought by the killers and a chess set made of precious metals, encrusted with jewels, is at the heart of it all. Disappeared during WWII, it's worth millions and someone doesn't mind killing to get it.
Well written thruller back in print after thirty years.
Want to read
November 10, 2019Synopsis: Peter Bragg goes to San Francisco Airport to protect a man with a valuable package and ends up in a gun battle with two assassins.
June 18, 2019
Very clever
This is a very intelligent story which has been very cleverly crafted. It was interesting to see how the story unfolded till near the very ending, the final pieces slot in. The characters are written with depth and are complete.
Being Australian though I did take great offence at the use of the derogatory term for aboriginals and the description given of him being almost animal, if that had been the view in WW2 times they would have not been allowed to serve in the war. Yes, they may have been called that by some back in WW2 time, but not now, not in the current time the book is written in. This is a black mark against this book.
This is a very intelligent story which has been very cleverly crafted. It was interesting to see how the story unfolded till near the very ending, the final pieces slot in. The characters are written with depth and are complete.
Being Australian though I did take great offence at the use of the derogatory term for aboriginals and the description given of him being almost animal, if that had been the view in WW2 times they would have not been allowed to serve in the war. Yes, they may have been called that by some back in WW2 time, but not now, not in the current time the book is written in. This is a black mark against this book.
August 16, 2022
The story line is good, the author has a proofreader, almost unusual these days for ebooks and few times did I feel there was a reach in logic to further the action. The book was short and at one point, I had to painfully wait for the shoe to drop as to who the bad guys are and how bad each is. That pointed out to me that so long as things are moving, action is occurring, I can wait for more information, but when sitting around chatting and expecting someone to come in blasting, or equivalent, I get antsy.
Some dumb things were done by different people, but that seemed normal to me, no awkward stretches. A good read.
Some dumb things were done by different people, but that seemed normal to me, no awkward stretches. A good read.
July 8, 2019
A little dated
This was an award winning book in its day. Still very enjoyable with an interesting storyline but some of the dialogue was stilted. The use of the term abo would not be acceptable in today's P.C. world. I found Erica to be an especially unbelievable character with her readiness to switch allegiances, and then her surprising honesty when she could have easily taken off with all of the loot. When the true villain was finally exposed it wasn't a surprise as much as totally unrealistic. Goes to show everyone has their price!
This was an award winning book in its day. Still very enjoyable with an interesting storyline but some of the dialogue was stilted. The use of the term abo would not be acceptable in today's P.C. world. I found Erica to be an especially unbelievable character with her readiness to switch allegiances, and then her surprising honesty when she could have easily taken off with all of the loot. When the true villain was finally exposed it wasn't a surprise as much as totally unrealistic. Goes to show everyone has their price!
June 16, 2019
Very entertaining
A captivating story in the tradition of Raymond Chandler noir gumshoes who are smart, relentless, but also vulnerable to being beaten up and banged around in the process of pursuing his investigation. Lots of interesting characters and a plot with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.
A captivating story in the tradition of Raymond Chandler noir gumshoes who are smart, relentless, but also vulnerable to being beaten up and banged around in the process of pursuing his investigation. Lots of interesting characters and a plot with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing.
June 22, 2019
Gripping
A truly gripping roller coaster trip from start to finish. What began as W W 2 was finalising a group of soldiers unwittingly stole something from the Japanese captors. For 30+ years it remained a secret. Then followed intrigue, drama, murder and bizarre mayhem which came to a finale back in U S. I recommend this to all who enjoy murder, mydtery and intrique.
A truly gripping roller coaster trip from start to finish. What began as W W 2 was finalising a group of soldiers unwittingly stole something from the Japanese captors. For 30+ years it remained a secret. Then followed intrigue, drama, murder and bizarre mayhem which came to a finale back in U S. I recommend this to all who enjoy murder, mydtery and intrique.
December 16, 2021
A good old time story.
The book was written like books from the 40’s. The story was put together that is easy to follow, but you don’t figure out everything all at once. The characters were developed for their part with just enough information to keep the story interesting. Read and enjoy.
The book was written like books from the 40’s. The story was put together that is easy to follow, but you don’t figure out everything all at once. The characters were developed for their part with just enough information to keep the story interesting. Read and enjoy.
June 14, 2019
Good Read
Well written thriller, but it did not capture my imagination. It was two hundred pages, and I got it free from Bookbub. The author did a good job describing the characters and the action that took place.
Thank you, Mr. Lynch, for a good read.
Well written thriller, but it did not capture my imagination. It was two hundred pages, and I got it free from Bookbub. The author did a good job describing the characters and the action that took place.
Thank you, Mr. Lynch, for a good read.
June 15, 2019
Excellent thriller. You can not put down. Very Intriguing
The story keeps unfolding with many surprises. It is very detailed and as read you feel like it is a movie. You really like all the people.
The story keeps unfolding with many surprises. It is very detailed and as read you feel like it is a movie. You really like all the people.
June 15, 2019
GREAT STORY!!! Loved it, loved it, loved it! Best mystery I've read in a looooooong time!!
June 16, 2019
This was a quick afternoon read - nothing deep, not a lot of character development, but fun with a bit of action and mystery.
June 16, 2019
Not bad.
I liked this book. I felt like I knew the characters,followed the story along. Will most likely read another. 😇
I liked this book. I felt like I knew the characters,followed the story along. Will most likely read another. 😇
June 17, 2019
Original & creative
Keeping up with this takes staying with it. Very exciting mystery-- it' s hard to tell which ones are overcome by greed and which ones are honest. Good read.
Keeping up with this takes staying with it. Very exciting mystery-- it' s hard to tell which ones are overcome by greed and which ones are honest. Good read.
June 18, 2019
Really liked it...
Much more realistic than a a lot that I've read. Put interesting in there too, and I can say "very enjoyable"
Much more realistic than a a lot that I've read. Put interesting in there too, and I can say "very enjoyable"
June 20, 2019
Pierces of death
Ehh.... OK but not as good as the 1st book in the series. Highly improbable scenarios made it difficult for me to accept.
Ehh.... OK but not as good as the 1st book in the series. Highly improbable scenarios made it difficult for me to accept.
September 10, 2019
Good read
I enjoyed reading this book. Mystery and murder combined to make a good story. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next .
I enjoyed reading this book. Mystery and murder combined to make a good story. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next .
November 28, 2019
Bragg is one tough dude!
Was quite interesting up to the end. A bit implausible at the end, but I will leave that assessment up to the next reader. Worth a read however.
Was quite interesting up to the end. A bit implausible at the end, but I will leave that assessment up to the next reader. Worth a read however.
June 18, 2020
Good
It’s the first book I’ve read by this author and quite enjoyed it. I will be looking up some more by him
It’s the first book I’ve read by this author and quite enjoyed it. I will be looking up some more by him
September 8, 2020
Lynch can really write
December 24, 2020
A fine story and a quick read
This was a quick story with lots of moving parts. I enjoyed the writing style immensely and will definitely read more from this author.
This was a quick story with lots of moving parts. I enjoyed the writing style immensely and will definitely read more from this author.
January 3, 2023
😲
Pretty good investigative thriller.
Starts off fast paced and keeps going through the whole novel. A nice wee page turner.
Pretty good investigative thriller.
Starts off fast paced and keeps going through the whole novel. A nice wee page turner.
April 19, 2023
I felt like this book was all over the place. I didnt really like the characters much and the ending seemed hurried.
July 7, 2021
"Pieces of Death": Bragg once again doesn't disappoint. I rate this one 4.7 stars.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews