Hot

Fred Carver #6

by John Lutz

Investigating cocaine smuggling in the Florida Keys, Fred Carver stumbles on a crime far worse than drug pushing

 

When Henry Tiller barges into Fred Carver’s office, the old man seems crazy. He tells a paranoid story about one of his neighbors on the sunny Florida Key where he makes his home—a wealthy man whom he suspects of using his yacht to run drugs. A young boy recently washed up on the beach, Tiller says, and he’s certain it was murder. Carver is uninterested until he learns that the old man’s grandson died a few years earlier: another casualty of cocaine addiction. It’s only been three years since Carver’s own son was murdered, and he’s too sentimental to turn down the case.

 

When Tiller turns up dead himself, a victim of a suspicious hit-and-run, a little smuggled cocaine becomes the least of Carver’s troubles.

 

This ebook features an illustrated biography of John Lutz including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection. 

Hot is the 6th book in the Fred Carver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Detective, Crime

297 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John Lutz has captivated suspense enthusiasts for over four decades. He has been one of the premier voices in contemporary hard-boiled fiction. His work includes political suspense, private eye novels, urban suspense, humor, occult, crime caper, police procedural, espionage, historical, futuristic, amateur detective, thriller; virtually every mystery sub-genre. John Lutz published his first short story in 1966 in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and has been publishing regularly ever since. He is the author of more than fifty novels and 250 short stories and articles.

His novels and short fiction have been translated into virtually every language and adapted for almost every medium. He is a past president of both Mystery Writers of America and Private Eye Writers of America. Among his awards are the MWA Edgar, the PWA Shamus, The Trophee 813 Award for best mystery short story collection translated into the French language, the PWA Life Achievement Award, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society's Golden Derringer Lifetime Achievement Award.

He is the author of two private eye series, the Nudger series, set in his home town of St. Louis, and the Carver series, set in Florida, as well as many non-series suspense novels. His SWF SEEKS SAME was made into the hit movie SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and his novel THE EX was made into the HBO original movie of the same title, for which he co-authored the screenplay.

Lutz and his wife, Barbara, split their time between St. Louis and Sarasota, Florida.

Reviews

[Newtek30 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good Read!

An action packed story with plenty of twists and turns in a believable plot.
The characters are fully developed and memorable. I’m a staunch follower of John Lutz and have read practically all of his books which have left me a satisfied reader.

[Mark Hepler · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book, Lutz employs a clean, crisp writing style that is full of—but not overloaded with—detail and description that add to the novel’s sense of place. His character, Carver, has a lone-wolf warrior persona that reminds one of Robert Crais’ Joe Pike, or Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, but, of course, predates them.
And, because Carver is crippled in one leg and struggles physically, he is no Pike or Reacher . . . he’s more like Charles Willeford’s Hoke Mosely.
I enjoyed the book, and finished it (which sounds like a left-handed compliment, but isn’t, since I give up on a lot of them after a few chapters).

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

A readable book, but not a book that drove me to finish it. Its main problem is its languid pace and repetitiveness. Not only is everything described in lavish detail, but sometimes things are described more than once. This happens to Beth, Carver's girlfriend, who gets countless paragraphs dedicated to her demeanor, background, and appearance (Lutz really wants us to know she's black). In addition, the whole story is a little unbelievable, since Carver and Beth are both operating without pay, and presumably are forfeiting any paying jobs that would have been their's had they not been so preoccupied. I got about halfway through and then decided it wasn't quite worth it.

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Desoto sends a retired cop to Carver. The old cop has a feeling that there is something going on in his neighborhood, but the local cop won't take him seriously. On his way home from talking to Carver, he's hit by a car and it's called an accidental "hit & run", but Fred doesn't believe in coincidence.

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps I'll read more by this author when I can't find anything else.