Black Orchid

by Vaughn C. Hardacker

The murder of one wannabe starlet may only be the beginning for a vicious killer.

When poor little New Hampshire rich girl Mindy Hollis gets lost in Los Angeles, her big sister hires private detective Ed Traynor to find her. Traynor and Hollis’s security chief, Jack McMahon, take off for Tinseltown to track down the aspiring actress—but they discover the only part she ever got was the one that killed her.

Their hunt for her killers takes them from the bowels of Mexico City to the glitz of Los Angeles, north to the set of The Black Orchid in Vancouver, and then back again to Hollywood, where the angels are dying in the dark. It’s up to Ed and Jack to save them before the film fades to black.

Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Genres: Audiobook, Mystery, Noir, Fiction

364 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2016

About the author

Vaughn C. Hardacker is a writer. He has completed five novels and numerous short stories. He is a member of the New England Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and has published short stories in three anthologies: Mouth Full of Bullets; Best of Year One, My Teacher Is My Hero, and Deadfall, Level Best Books' sixth annual anthology of New England crime and mystery stories. His most recent novel, MY BROTHER'S KEEPER was released in July, 2019. Three of his novels (Sniper, The Fisherman, and Wendigo) were finalists for the Maine Literary Awards. H He regularly blogs with The Maine Crime Writers Blog (http://maincrimewriters.com) and his own blog (http://toughguyswrite.blogspot.com).

He is a veteran of the U. S. Marines and served in Vietnam. He
holds degrees from Northern Maine Technical College, the
University of Maine and Southern New Hampshire University.
He lives in Maine.

At this time has two novels under contract with his publisher, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., both mystery thrillers.

Reviews

[Brian Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book by a relatively new author. Characters and dialogue need work, but with a little time and experience, this Ed Traynor franchise could really take off.

[Leslie Concannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

went quickly. the beginning reminded me of raymond chandler.

[Isobelle007 · Rating 5 out of 5]

ohh my!!!! finish listening to this book in a day. Loved it, easy listening ohh so entertaining!! Full of action and it has all the spice you'll needing a thriller. Highly commendable!!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Black Orchid is an excellent thrilled by Vaughn Hadracker. I recommend those who are looking for a good summer read to look for this book.

[Renata · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t even know where to begin with this book. First of all, I wouldn’t even consider this a thriller, rather a disgraced cop novel, because there is no suspense and there are very few questions that we are kept in the dark about throughout the story.

Our main characters are two white, tall, muscular and conventionally attractive ex-cops, one ex-DEA agent that is said to be Dominican or Puerto Rican and later is said to have gone undercover and undetected in Mexico for 8 years (How, you might ask? I have no idea at all), and one conventionally attractive woman that comes from old money. They all come together to try and find the guilty parties responsible for the death of rich girl’s sister out in California.

I couldn’t even begin to dissect all the inaccuracies and loopholes present, and let’s not even mention the lack of character development and the awkward conversations. If you want examples of all the passages that gave me secondhand embarrassment, check out my shared Kindle highlights.

Despite all of these criticisms, the saving grace of this book is that it was entertaining. It didn’t change my life at all, but I also don’t feel like it was a waste of time.

[Paulette Illmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This begins as find the missing girl, and quickly evolves into find her killers. From there, you are led on a wild goose chase, with some unbelievable coincidences, some justice style fate surprises, and an ending where everyone involved gets what they have coming to them, one way or another. I felt like the book peaked when they found the dead girl, but it was too early on, so I continued to read just to see how things would wrap up. It was a long journey to the end, and I suppose it worked out well, although I don't think this is really to my taste.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good noir murder case. They obviously relied on the Black Dahlia case from the 1940's. There is a lot of adventure, suspense, and drama. I was going to give this 3 stars because the plot revolves around a snuff film which do not exist in real life. However, in the afterward they admit this and I softened my position.

[Jackie Martello · Rating 3 out of 5]

It had its interesting moments. It won’t really surprise you or thrill you very much nor will you find it very original. It deals with perverse subject matter central to the plot- which I didn’t like. Not a whole lot of action either for a book that’s as long as it is. I even thought the dialog was pretty simplistic. Not a bad book, just not a very good one.

[Osa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't finish the book. The plot was too gory for me.

[Hidenzeke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barely any redeeming points

[Garry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my best ever reads.

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was ok, I wanted to see what the outcome was but found it hard to really get into. None of the characters really stood out to me, and it felt longer than it needed to be.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad, not bad at all. Awesome, actually. The story got kinda rushed near the end and it dragged a wee little bit in the middle (the trek across Mexico was a bit long even though it was peppered with a decent amount of action) but that's okay, the rest of the book was very cool. There were some knotty relationships between some of the characters but they never turned full-Gordian-knot so I didn't get "lost," a common problem with these kinds of books (I'm lookin' at you, Ellroy). The pace was just enough to keep me happily reading, and the characters were just likable enough for me to care about their outcomes, crooks included (although I wished their outcomes to be...um, less than the outcomes of the others).

Yep, it's a thriller, and a good one at that. Gross subject matter, no doubt, and an overall well-told story. I'm looking forward to #2 in the series, no doubt about it.

I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review. I was honestly surprised to find out that "snuff films" are an urban myth, that all known films have been proven to be fakes. That surprises me almost to the point of pegging my BS meter, but I've been wrong before so I'll just say "huh...interesting" and move along.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book free from a goodreads giveaway.

This book is pretty good lots of action and fast paced.
Characters were awesome few of which said some pretty amusing stuff some of I definitely have to remember.
The only thing I kinda didn't like was how the team got split up so the chapters kept alternating between them. Id get all into what they were doing and bam team change.
Its minor though since the author did a good job of it and kept things moving and what not.
The ending was pretty good, though I did wish that the characters got their revenge but still I liked it.
Grab this book for sure if you like crime/mystery.

[Jaclyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I won this book for free in a Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest opinion *

Do you like sassy characters? Suspense? Conspiracy? Watching bad guys get what they deserve? Well, you're going to love this book.

I had the hardest time putting this book down. It just got better and better the more I read. The characters were so much fun. Heck, this book is just fun. I really recommend it.

[Kirstin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a goodreads giveaway. I couldn't finish it because of all the swearing. What I did get through was intense and I didn't want to put it down. But if a book has more swearing than a PG-13 movie is allowed then I don't want to read it.

[Susan Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a great mystery. I especially liked the team hunting for the killers. It is made up of a group of great characters. The story will keep the reader interested and is worth a read.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Suspenseful. In depth. Well written and consuming. This book was great to read. Won courtesy of Goodreads giveaways.

[Melanie Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

fast paced with lots of action. Loved it

[Becknitter]

meh.

[CathyD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not a mystery or detective story fan but this was an entertaining book, especially for this genre. It was also somewhat horrifying in the way it described Mexico which was fortunately 100% different than my experience there. Ooops, spoiler alert.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

first time reading this author. Fantastic... lookin forward to reading more!!!

[Paul Parkinson]

Just couldn't accept a thriller with a jokester as the protagonist. Got bogged down. I'll try one more of his before I give up