False Consolation

by Ted Claypoole

Murder or Suicide? Matt Bishop and his high-tech team of investigators dig into an apparent crime leading them from the secrets of Seattle's wealthy, through racists, torturers, bullies, diamond smugglers and video gamers, and into the darkest recesses of the underworld. The deeper they fall into this fetid and corrupt world, the more danger envelops them.
Matt Bishop and Alex Candiotti, former Army Intelligence unit mates in Iraq and owners of a large multi-city detective agency headquartered in Seattle, agree to investigate the apparent suicide of their most important client’s son, Darius Wells. Matt suspects that the teenager was murdered, and seeks confirmation of the fact at the scene of the crime. The sheriff’s report of the death as suicide seemed inept or corrupt, compounded by the sheriff’s office losing important evidence that Matt and Alex need to review.
Matt, Alex and their administrative director and former police officer, April Chatham, stalk the remaining evidence, discovering that Darius led a life hidden from his parents. They uncover tales of blackmail, extortion, and theft of the Wells’ neighbors and friends, all blamed in part on Darius, who had seemed an innocent, nerdy kid. They also investigate signs that the murder of Darius Wells was racially motivated, and evidence relating to a personal vendetta against Darius at school. Nothing seems to add up.
With dark humor and the technological resources once only available to government spies, Matt, April and Alex lead the investigative team of hackers, drone operators, researchers and detectives into a puzzle that confounds them all. Surprise and death await around every turn, forcing Matt to confront the police and to call on his military training.
Perfect for fans of Robert Parker, Walter Mosely, and West Coast Noir, with even a splash of Ian Fleming in the mix, this novel establishes strong characters you will want to return to, a fast and twisty plot, clever crime solving, with the multicultural urban cast and reliance on modern technology readers should expect from a novel set in a twenty-first century American city.

237 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2019

About the author

Theodore F. Claypoole is a Member of Womble Carlyle Sandridge and Rice in the Intellectual Property Transaction group in Charlotte, and the leader of its Privacy and Data Management Team. He has long been charged with internet privacy issues as in-house corporate counsel for CompuServe and as assistant general counsel for Bank of America. Ted has served on a U.S. Justice Department computer crimes task force and the Information Protection Committee for the Banking Industry Technology Secretariat. He is the co-chair of the American Bar Association's Cyberspace Law Privacy and Data Security Subcommittee, and has presented biometric and corporate security talks at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

Reviews

[Phil Gura · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his impressive debut novel, Ted Claypoole brings the police procedural into the 21st century. Matt Bishop is not your grandfather’s gumshoe, although he and your grandfather would probably get along. Claypoole lovingly weaves many of the familiar tropes of murder mysteries together with today’s most advanced and fearsome technologies. Bishop calls upon his background in military intelligence, cybersecurity and the law to unravel a conspiracy that takes two lives and at least some of Bishop’s remaining innocence before the story ends. With entertaining and informative discourses on food, travel, language and life with a very large dog, “False Consolation” proceeds at its own pace, slowing in the corners and accelerating into the straightaways. Claypoole has created a cast of characters who we want to know better, from Matt Bishop himself to crime lord Jesus Rodrigo de Jesus (“Rod God”), who deserves a story of his own. I have a feeling he’ll get one and I’ll be looking forward to reading it.

[James Dobbins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story well plotted

I enjoyed this novel very much. I would have rated it five stars, but it needs a significant amount of copy editing, more in the second half than the first. Too many obvious things like a wrong pronoun, words that should have been depleted, some grammar that needs correcting; all fixable and would have made it a five star bok.

[Billy Ratliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolute page turner could not wait to read the next page. ,

Looking forward to reading more by this author. Loved the mixture of all personalities portrayed in the book. Loved it!

[BonusMom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good start to a series

I liked this book. It has a realistic approach to cyber security that leaves you thinking about your online vulnerability.

[Garrett Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, tough story but a weak ending

The story was interesting and detailed enough to keep you reading more but the ending was too short and lacked a good finish