Skip Case

by R.E. Derouin

A "prequel" to the later David Dean mysteries... When Jeffrey Byrne disappears on a business trip, police detective David Dean is assigned to the investigation. All the facts of the case point to an accidental drowning. Byrne left his lovely wife Cynthia, a sports star son and a comfortable, if boring, life. A few million dollars is missing, but that occurred miles away and is a different matter entirely. The case is officially closed, but as Dean's feelings for the missing man's wife begin to blossom, so does a nagging suspicion-is there more to the midnight disappearance? When it becomes apparent that someone is on the run, Dean must go outside his police duties. The choices he faces will change his life forever.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Raymond Derouin was born in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1937. He was an executive in the insurance industry before retiring after thirty years. He began writing stage plays, ultimately winning four national contests. In 1999 he introduced David Dean, a retired police detective. There are six mysteries in this series.

Crime Time, a stand-alone mystery, and Enough to Miss Christmas, a family love story were both released in 2013. Fridays, a fictional journal of a reclusive school teacher, was released in 2014.

Mr. Derouin and his wife of fifty years live in Mesa, Arizona where he is working on a new novel.

Reviews

[Cat. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The origin story--How They Met--which was more than a little creepy because David and Cynthia met when her husband disappeared. It is explained, at the end, that they dated for quite awhile before getting married to each other, which is good since the basis of this book is that Cynthia really loved her first husband; her going on dates with Dean just weeks after his disappearance rings a little off to me.

Anyway, the gist of the book was outstanding and complicated; I had no idea what was going on.

[Mom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Average Book/Mystery. Beautiful setting in Ouray, Colorado.

[rosalind katz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Except for some typos and a couple of oddly chosen words I was pleased to find myself enjoying this book. I'd met the author 2 days ago while waiting for my car to be serviced. An employee remarked to him that she heard he was a published author. I asked his name and what he writes about. When he said that he wrote detective stories I asked for his name, came home and looked him up on amazon. This book was available from amazon's lending library. I immediately downloaded it and quickly became engrossed. I enjoyed the characters (well fleshed out), the locales (I've visited several of them) and the plot. It's easy reading yet the whodunit surprised me.
Next month I can borrow another of this author's books from amazon. I look forward to reading it.

[Marbea Logan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn!! I would've never guessed it was Chip Burgess the grimy coward!! Fred is the one who got the case rollin in the right direction. Fred's the voice of reason and suspense!! It's sad Jeff was murdered for no reason at all, very sad!! Jeff the all-around good guy damn!!:-(