Cruel April

Dave Garrett #4

by Neil Albert

Unable to forget his love for married teacher Kate McMahan, private detective Dave Garrett is delighted when Kate says she is finally leaving her husband, but when she fails to show up, Dave becomes involved in a grueling missing-persons case. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery

272 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

I am a trial lawyer, mystery writer, and retired foxhunter living in the Amish Country near Philadelphia. I started writing a series of mysteries in the 1990s and now I am returning to finish the series. I was very lucky to be published then, in the days when there were still independent bookstores and there was a chance to meet your fans face to face. As exciting as it was to be published, the best part was the fans, editors and other writers I met. Writing is far more collegial than people suspect.
I stopped the series in 1996 partly because I had run out of good ideas (I had plenty of bad ones) and because, at age 47, I had started riding horses for the first time in my life. Six months after my first ride I was fox hunting. It was very time intensive and the books went on the back burner. (And no, we do not kill the fox.) After twenty years and putting down my last hunt horse, I find myself with time on my hands and a need for a distraction.

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A married love interest from Dave's past contacts him and tells him she want to see him again. But, when he goes to meet her at the airport, she is not there. The police don't believe there was foul play, and are not interested in investigating her disappearance. Dave takes it upon himself to find her, and finds himself in the midst of an investigation into a drug cartel. Can he find Kate in time to save her, and will they be together in the end? This was a suspenseful read with a quick and surprising conclusion.

[Maddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

PROTAGONIST: Dave Garrett, PI
SERIES: #4 of 6
SETTING: Pennsylvania
RATING: 2.5
WHY: PI Dave Garrett has fallen in love with Kate McMahan, who lives in Miami and is leaving her husband to be with him. But she is not on the flight when Dave goes to meet her. Dave and his assistant, Lisa, work to track her down. The premise was quite implausible--it didn't seem possible that based on the scant information they had, they'd get anywhere. The book really fell apart for me at the conclusion when Dave became an energizer bunny and things got more and more over the top. Albert never developed Kate, so the reader didn't ever really care about her fate.