Barbados Heat

Caribbean Mystery #2

by Don Bruns

Congressman Shapply, a former music insider who now leads the crusade against offensive lyrics in rap songs, is attacked and murdered in from of his Washington D.C. home. His son Nick is arrested and charged with murder. For veteran music journalist Mick Sever, covering this case is personal. Sever, best friend of the accused killer, believes his friend's claims of innocence. With the help of an old flame, Mick must penetrate the bizarre Shapply family - the icy matriarch Alicia, the disturbed daughter Amber and the religious brother-in-law - to find the truth. The investigation will take Mick from the halls of the Capital to the beaches of Barbados. Threatened by unknown assailants and dangers at every turn, Mick becomes the hunted as killer turns the tables in a stunning climax.

Genres: Mystery

320 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2003

About the author

Don Bruns is a writer, novelist, musician, songwriter, painter, cook, advertising executive and stand up comic who has no idea what he wants to be when he grows up. He's the author of nine books and was editor of the mystery/music anthology A Merry Band Of Murderers.

Don's published novels cover two series. One, a Caribbean thriller collection and two, the Stuff series, a humorous look at two twenty-four year old guys in South Florida who start their own detective agency and end up neck - deep in trouble.

Jamaica Blue, Barbados Heat, South Beach Shakedown, St. Barts Breakdown and Bahama Burnout make up the Caribbean books. The Stuff series consists of Stuff To Die For, Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, Stuff To Spy For, and Don't Sweat The Small Stuff. Bruns is currently working on the fifth Stuff book, Too Much Stuff.

He currently resides on Florida's West coast.

Bahama Burnout/ Finalist, National Best Books Award - Mystery/Suspense 2009
South Beach Shakedown/ Winner National Best Books Award -Fiction/Suspense 2006
South Beach Shakedown/ Winner, Indie Excellence, 2006 Award - Mystery/Suspense
South Beach Shakedown/ Winner USA Book Award, 2006 - Mystery
Stuff Dreams Are Made Of/ Winner Indie Excellence Award 2009 - Mystery/Suspense
Stuff Dreams Are Made Of/IndieBound Notable, October 2008
Stuff Dreams Are Made Of/Winner Florida Writer's Association -
Stuff To Die For/ Starred review Booklist

Reviews

[Kelly_Hunsaker_reads ... · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this. I chose it for my Reading the World challenge to represent Barbados. But there was no depth to the mystery, the main character or the setting.

[Megan Carrington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this bc I met the author on vacation and he was such a nice guy. Sadly I couldn’t fully appreciate the story. It was a little slow and I didn’t care about the characters at all. It wasn’t very well-written either.

[Carmen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was time to go. The Barbados heat was getting to be unbearable.

[Carl Brookins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tock Tock, Tick tock. Like the sound of steel wheels over the gandy dancer’s rail joints, this novel rocks along. A Congressman is dead. He wanted to attack the Hip Hop and Rap music industry. He wanted to join his brother-in-law, the Reverend Joseph Evans in an attempt to rein in bad lyrics, violent lyrics, sexual lyrics. Now the congressman’s son, Nick, is charged with Congressman Shappley’s brutal murder. It’s said he’s in it up to his elbows along with Rap star, Chilli D, who may have been the triggerman. Chilli D’s producer, T-Beau wants to protect his investment so he calls on a music industry star, friend Mick Sever. Mick is already in Washington on the case.

Tick Tock. Time is running on and readers may have the feeling they’re on a fast train going downhill. The whistle screams and the scenery goes by in a blur, leaving out whole pieces. There are complications. Sever, whom we last saw in the author’s debut novel, Jamaica Blue, calls in his divorced wife, Ginny to do research. Tension. Sever once had a childhood friendship with the accused Nick, the Congressman’s son. More tension. There are other family presences, not just in D.C. Tick Tock. Sever’s off to Florida to talk to Nick’s sister, Amber, and then to Barbados, where old wounds still fester.

Page by page Barbados Heat gathers speed. Tock tock. And just when you think you’ve got the characters and their relationships sorted out, even with the missing bits of action, the train roars around a sharp curve and carries you off in a new direction. Author Bruns is evolving a fresh and breathless style of pell mell writing that may be a little short on detail but long on action and thrills. Tick Tock.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Barbados Heat is the second book in the Mick Sever series by Don Bruns. In this installment, Mick is headed off on a vacation when Congressman Robert Shapply is murdered. Ordinarily this probably wouldn't be a big deal to Mick Sever. But Robert Shapply also happens to be the father of Sever's former best friend AND he's the man who stole money from Sever and his former wife, Ginny. So, when Sever is offered a job to cover the story of Shapply's murder, he jumps at the chance. It doesn't take Sever long to start connecting the congressman's death to the death of a 13-year-old girl twenty years earlier, and when he does he discovers that he may have become the next murder target.

As with Jamaica Blue, Barbados Heat is a look at the "ugly" side of the music business. Barbados Heat deals more with the folks behind the scenes of the music, however. And they are ugly, too. One element of this novel that really sat uncomfortably with me was the rumored "relationship" between an older man and the 13-year-old murder victim. It is regularly referred to as an "affair." However, anything sexual in nature between an adult and a 13-year-old is NOT an affair.

A new character that appears in this novel is Tony Beauregard, a.k.a. T-Beau. His character, a former rapper/biker/music manager lends some additional dimension to the investigative team. Ginny Sever also returns. Together they chase down the 20-year-old murder from Washington D.C. to Sarasota, Florida to Barbados in hopes that they will find the clues to solve Shapply's present-day murder.

[Pam]

had signed by author at MOTB 11/02/07

[Hrn1947 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'll try one more. Again new information, but no real depth.