Russian Brides

Sammy Greyfox #1

by Hugh Macnab

Seeking true love
Wealthy and powerful Floridian retirees meeting beautiful Russian women for true love - what can possibly go wrong?

A personal dilemma
As a homicide detective, Sammy Greyfox is equipped to deal with the darker side of Human Nature. But, can she cope with her own inner demons - which would have her take a life?

Curiosity
During a routine autopsy, a medical examiner suspects that the man on his table did not die by accident, but isn't sure...until he discovers the others.

A life saved
Sammy saves a woman from being deliberately run down. A simple act which she doesn't realize will make her next homicide case much more complex

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2021

Reviews

[Shreya · Rating 3 out of 5]

It honestly wasn’t a bad book overall. The plot was good and kept me reading albeit leaving me kinda confused. There were several grammar mistakes throughout the book and I would have rated higher if they weren’t there. In general, I would read the next book in the series because I want to know what happens to Sammy next!!

[Karen Siddall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Homicide detective Sammy Greyfox is having a bad day, correction, SEVERAL bad days. But that doesn’t stop her from getting the job done!

Sammy Greyfox is a Native American homicide detective working for the county sheriff’s department headquartered in Naples, Florida. On her way to work one morning, she witnesses the deliberate attempt of a hit-and-run of another young native woman as she leaves the local diner, knocking her out of the way at the very last minute.

Handing the incident off to the officer on the beat, Sammy continues to the office, where she catches the case of accidental death that the medical examiner believes to be a murder in disguise. In the early hours of the morning, the much younger wife of wealthy Jon Watson called 911 to report that she’d woken to find her husband lying unresponsive at the foot of the flight of stairs from the second down to the first floor in their lavish Gulf front home. The initial onsite determination of the cause of death was a broken neck due to the fall; however, after closer examination, the medical examiner can see fingerprints on the man’s neck, and the location of the break between the C3 and C4 vertebrae would be unlikely under the particular circumstances. Suspecting foul play and recalling similar accidental deaths, he discovers at least four other cases within the county over the past three years where the neck had been broken in the very same way and contacts Sammy.

As Sammy begins to investigate, a further similarity among the cases comes to light; all the questionable deaths were of older, wealthy men married to much younger women they met in Eastern European countries such as Russia or Ukraine. When Sammy starts asking questions, she finds herself the target of a hit-and-run driver, too. Someone wants Sammy to give up her investigation, but she’s determined to get to the truth, and the more she finds out, the bigger and more complicated the entire thing becomes.

Russian Brides was an interesting and enjoyable police procedural that introduces the reader to a new detective series featuring ‘Sun and Moon’ Greyfox, AKA Samantha Greyfox. I was hooked by her story from the opening page and would have read through to the very last in one sitting if I could have gotten away with it. The story was that absorbing, and the various mysteries are solid, some with surprising resolutions that I never saw coming.

Besides the intriguing murder investigation, Sammy is experiencing personal upheavals as well, and all require some truly life-altering decisions. This woman is definitely having a BAD DAY: several bad days, in fact. However, she is strong, persistent, and smart, and she does have some good friends among her coworkers on whom she can lean when she needs a sounding board or a shoulder or a strong helping hand. And I wholeheartedly went on that ride with her as she tried to work through her various dilemmas. Readers are privy to Sammy’s internal dialogue, and it is, as appropriate, delightful, funny, entertaining, and poignant. The author has some other fun, quirky aspects worked in throughout the story that made me smile, such as her Alexa playlist used as her wake-up alarm, her relationship with her cars, and Bossy-boots.

However, my enjoyment of the book was absolutely and negatively impacted by the execution of the work and is the reason for my mid-scale rating. The story is rife with typos, changes in tense, incorrect choices between homophones (there, they’re, their, to, too), and incorrect use of apostrophes. Characters change first names or surnames: Marlene became Mellissa, Pinho became Pino. (And I wondered the entire book if the character from Brazil, Hosé, was supposed to be spelled José, the most popular boys’ name in that country.) These are all things that an editor would catch, identify, and have corrected before publication, and I am hoping that I was working from an unedited copy.

Despite the issues I had with this book, I am looking forward with great anticipation to the promised sequels, and if a reader is not bothered by these types of problems, then I say grab this book and enjoy. But I recommend this book, with reservations, for those who would enjoy a police procedural with an exceptionally engaging lead detective. This story was well worth reading.

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advanced Review Copy from Reedsy Discovery.

[Amanda ChocolatePages · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

Russian Brides is a book that packs in a lot of plot, character and grit between it's pages.


Written from Detective Sammy Greyfriers point of view, I felt like Sammy was talking to me and telling me her story. This was especially so for me as I listened to it by audio book.


Sammy, a female detective works hard at her job. She is investigating a murder which gets more mysterious the further she investigates. I liked that the book was written completely from Sammy's point of view as I got to experience the case and her thoughts as they came up. Sometimes when books write both from criminal and detectives point of view, there is less detective work for me to do. And I do like to try to guess what's happened myself. Saying that I didn't work anything out before Sammy did.


We also hear about Sammy's colleague Dan who is working on a difficult case. I didn't feel that I knew Dan very well as the book focused on Sammy and her case and the two didn't socialise together. There are quite a few other characters which piqued my interest in this book and knowing there will be more books in this series I hope to hear more from them.


Often when I read a book and get to know a new detective, if the book is good, then generally I will take a liking to the detective. This was different, I didn't take to Sammy. This is my personal point of view and other readers may well love her tough exterior and blunt way with the people she questions, but I didn't.


This is not a spoiler as it mentions in the book blurb that Sammy finds out she is pregnant. One of my issues with Sammy is her flippant attitude towards her pregnancy who she refers to as Bossy Boots. At one point she is coming home after a hard day's work and grabbing a beer, and almost every day she is reaching for strong coffee. This is the first book in the Detective Sammy series and who knows, maybe she will grow on me.


The plot of Russian Brides was very clever and took turns which kept me gripped right the way through the book. I think it takes a clever author to plot out a book where the crimes and twists keep coming through the book but everything makes total sense by the end.


The end was my favourite part of this book and probably the part I read the fastest because it was so gripping. No more clues here as I don't give spoilers, all I will say is that it made me want to read book 2 already!


For a first time published author Hugh McNab writes smoothly and cleverly with plots that pack a punch and characters that get you feeling.


I look forward to the next book in the series.

[Richard Sexton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast moving anddramatic

This insight into Danny's thinking as it happens was absorbing. I was drawn into the drama. She deserves a break - personally and professionally. But perhaps that's the lot of a cop. Teens and upwards should read this. It's grittier than I normally like, but the writing is compelling.

[Lyn Warburton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good story with twists and turns. You follow the whole thing through the eyes of Sammy Greyfox and experience the highs and lows with her. A really good, unpredictable ending. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to book two.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent thriller which moves along at a great pace. Deals with some difficult subjects in a sensitive manner.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[Diane Hassler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goodreads giveaway

Fast moving story with many characters. A great detective story with many twists and turns all interwoven together for a great ending.