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Will Harper Mystery #4-6
Will Harper Florida Thrillers: Vol. 4-6
Investigative journalist Will Harper returns in this rollicking set of gritty Florida thrillers. A semi-retired reporter, Will spends most of his time on his live-in yacht exploring Florida’s lush, tropical waterways, navigating his treacherously overlapping love interests--and solving hard-boiled murder mysteries. In this latest box set, Will grapples with industry good ole’ boys, ruthless sex traffickers, and a smooth, French serial killer hellbent on murdering his wives. All the while writing titillating exposés on sober home scams, illegal immigration, and black widows. Equal parts gripping, action-packed thriller and empathetic rumination on Florida’s social issues, Will Harper’s adventures will appeal to big-hearted hard-boiled readers.
THE FLORIDA SHUFFLE
Will Harper is living the dream aboard his yacht with his new live-in girlfriend Callie, a social worker at a rehab center. But it’s not all Florida coast sunsets and steak dinners on the boardwalk.Callie learns her employer has a history of setting clients up in shady sober homes in exchange for financial kickbacks—and one of those homes has lost three of its patients to “accidental” overdoses in the past four months. Turns out it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
This mystery anthology is custom-made for Florida mystery connoisseurs, and the cherry on top is Will’s liveaboard trawler, harking straight back to the grand tradition of marina-living PIs like John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee and Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford. Fans of classics like those and more recent Florida tales by Wayne Stinnett and Dawn McKenna will be thrilled to discover this tempting tropical series—but so will anyone looking for the kind of private investigator who really cares.
DEADLY TRAFFIC
David Crosby’s fifth thriller kicks off when Will discovers that modern-day slavery has been operating in his own backyard. Will’s informant’s a Guatemalan immigrant who’s just escaped the elegant compound where she was enslaved as a maid. She’s on the run from hired goons who work for the sugar tycoon who held her captive, at the same time searching for her missing siblings.
THE HAPPY WIDOW
While trying to unmask scammers who target vulnerable elderly Floridians, Will risks angering homicidal con artists who will stop at nothing to extort their hapless victims.
THE FLORIDA SHUFFLE
Will Harper is living the dream aboard his yacht with his new live-in girlfriend Callie, a social worker at a rehab center. But it’s not all Florida coast sunsets and steak dinners on the boardwalk.Callie learns her employer has a history of setting clients up in shady sober homes in exchange for financial kickbacks—and one of those homes has lost three of its patients to “accidental” overdoses in the past four months. Turns out it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
This mystery anthology is custom-made for Florida mystery connoisseurs, and the cherry on top is Will’s liveaboard trawler, harking straight back to the grand tradition of marina-living PIs like John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee and Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford. Fans of classics like those and more recent Florida tales by Wayne Stinnett and Dawn McKenna will be thrilled to discover this tempting tropical series—but so will anyone looking for the kind of private investigator who really cares.
DEADLY TRAFFIC
David Crosby’s fifth thriller kicks off when Will discovers that modern-day slavery has been operating in his own backyard. Will’s informant’s a Guatemalan immigrant who’s just escaped the elegant compound where she was enslaved as a maid. She’s on the run from hired goons who work for the sugar tycoon who held her captive, at the same time searching for her missing siblings.
THE HAPPY WIDOW
While trying to unmask scammers who target vulnerable elderly Floridians, Will risks angering homicidal con artists who will stop at nothing to extort their hapless victims.
819 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 2, 2021
270 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
David Crosby
15 books150 followersDavid Crosby grew up in Atlanta, GA, making weekly trips to the library with his Dad.
Crosby’s love of reading became a love of imagination and creativity, which he finally found an outlet for in college at the University of Georgia. David received an ABJ degree in magazine writing from the UGA School of Journalism, but it was his newly discovered interest in photography that took over his working life. Starting at graduation, David spent eight years as a photojournalist for newspapers before a desire for self-employment led him to start his award winning commercial photography studio, Crosby Stills.
David retired from photography after a 36-year career and is now writing. He's the author of eleven Will Harper Florida Thrillers, and the non-fiction book, Keeping Us Afloat. He lives in Land O Lakes, Florida, with his wife Marilyn, a retired Lutheran Pastor, and their lovable shih tzu, Zoe.
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https://mailchi.mp/dc6e8fb4707f/david...
Crosby’s love of reading became a love of imagination and creativity, which he finally found an outlet for in college at the University of Georgia. David received an ABJ degree in magazine writing from the UGA School of Journalism, but it was his newly discovered interest in photography that took over his working life. Starting at graduation, David spent eight years as a photojournalist for newspapers before a desire for self-employment led him to start his award winning commercial photography studio, Crosby Stills.
David retired from photography after a 36-year career and is now writing. He's the author of eleven Will Harper Florida Thrillers, and the non-fiction book, Keeping Us Afloat. He lives in Land O Lakes, Florida, with his wife Marilyn, a retired Lutheran Pastor, and their lovable shih tzu, Zoe.
Wanna get more exclusive Will Harper news? Copy and paste the link below in your browser to sign up for my newsletter.
https://mailchi.mp/dc6e8fb4707f/david...
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 11, 2023
I usually give books I got for free 3 stars because they didn't cost me anything, but the last two of the three books were just so, so very annoying to me.
The first book would be a solid 3 stars as a no-frills "thriller" about as thrilling as your average CBS police drama. Freelance reporter Will Harper and his girlfriend Callie uncover corruption in rehab facilities and halfway houses. Mayhem ensues, with Callie almost being killed twice before the bad guys are brought to justice.
The really unsubtle bad guys done in third-person while Will's parts were in first-person was not that great. I probably wouldn't have read on if the other two books hadn't been included.
There was a very strange phenomenon in the last two books of an author character assassinating his own character. The last book Callie was Will's girl and at the end she's offered a job as his research assistant. But in this book when Callie actually throws herself into the new job, Will acts like a lazy baby and refuses to do anything. And then resents her seeking the help of an editor at the paper.
The way the author presents this is so odd as he makes Callie suddenly into a raging, irrational b-word. This is of course to break them up so Will is free to hook up with his old flame Bonnie in the next book. Even when Callie comes crawling back to Will, he refuses to take her back.
So, OK, you think then she's out of the picture, right? But for some strange reason the author can't resist dumping on her again in the next book. Again she's constantly a raging b-word always yelling at Will for stealing her stories. I started to wonder if Callie was based on someone in real life the author was angry with and wanted to humiliate as much as possible.
Meanwhile, in the third book, every other woman is throwing herself at Will like he's emitting pheromones. But Will stays with Bonnie and we can see why as she's uncomplicated and nonthreatening to his career and she goes naked on the boat a lot. It's laughable then when Will claims he respects women. Sure he does, unless they threaten him in any way.
Adding to my dislike of the last two books was just how lethargic Will's investigations were. In the second book, the three immigrants (who don't seem to have a last name) basically rescue themselves with one rescuing herself twice! Will really has no hand in their rescues, while when he (grudgingly) rescues Callie, his friend Jimmy and his former Ranger buddies do most of the work.
It's pretty much the same in the third book too. Will is more into drinking Red Stripes, eating fried fish, and hitting on women then finding the bad guys scamming seniors. One of the bad guys is taken out thanks to a random snake! Deus ex serpent!
What I really hated most of all three books is how the end just seemed to linger and linger. Each book I'd check the table of contents and wonder why there were still 2 chapters and an epilogue left. Usually the epilogue was to set up the next book and then was repeated in that next book, though not at the beginning.
And the other really annoying thing is the author (or whoever assembled this) was too lazy to trim out the end matter and beginning matter between books. It's redundant and plain silly to repeat the "Also By" and things like that multiple times. I doubt it would be very hard to erase the extra stuff--I do it all the time for bundles.
The grammar is passable though there are a few hiccups. Things like saying, "shrugged his shoulders" instead of just shrugged. I mean, is there another body part you shrug? Just like if you say "nodded his head" is there another part you nod besides the head?
Anyway, I'm not sure how many more of these books there are but I will definitely not be reading them.
That is all.
The first book would be a solid 3 stars as a no-frills "thriller" about as thrilling as your average CBS police drama. Freelance reporter Will Harper and his girlfriend Callie uncover corruption in rehab facilities and halfway houses. Mayhem ensues, with Callie almost being killed twice before the bad guys are brought to justice.
The really unsubtle bad guys done in third-person while Will's parts were in first-person was not that great. I probably wouldn't have read on if the other two books hadn't been included.
There was a very strange phenomenon in the last two books of an author character assassinating his own character. The last book Callie was Will's girl and at the end she's offered a job as his research assistant. But in this book when Callie actually throws herself into the new job, Will acts like a lazy baby and refuses to do anything. And then resents her seeking the help of an editor at the paper.
The way the author presents this is so odd as he makes Callie suddenly into a raging, irrational b-word. This is of course to break them up so Will is free to hook up with his old flame Bonnie in the next book. Even when Callie comes crawling back to Will, he refuses to take her back.
So, OK, you think then she's out of the picture, right? But for some strange reason the author can't resist dumping on her again in the next book. Again she's constantly a raging b-word always yelling at Will for stealing her stories. I started to wonder if Callie was based on someone in real life the author was angry with and wanted to humiliate as much as possible.
Meanwhile, in the third book, every other woman is throwing herself at Will like he's emitting pheromones. But Will stays with Bonnie and we can see why as she's uncomplicated and nonthreatening to his career and she goes naked on the boat a lot. It's laughable then when Will claims he respects women. Sure he does, unless they threaten him in any way.
Adding to my dislike of the last two books was just how lethargic Will's investigations were. In the second book, the three immigrants (who don't seem to have a last name) basically rescue themselves with one rescuing herself twice! Will really has no hand in their rescues, while when he (grudgingly) rescues Callie, his friend Jimmy and his former Ranger buddies do most of the work.
It's pretty much the same in the third book too. Will is more into drinking Red Stripes, eating fried fish, and hitting on women then finding the bad guys scamming seniors. One of the bad guys is taken out thanks to a random snake! Deus ex serpent!
What I really hated most of all three books is how the end just seemed to linger and linger. Each book I'd check the table of contents and wonder why there were still 2 chapters and an epilogue left. Usually the epilogue was to set up the next book and then was repeated in that next book, though not at the beginning.
And the other really annoying thing is the author (or whoever assembled this) was too lazy to trim out the end matter and beginning matter between books. It's redundant and plain silly to repeat the "Also By" and things like that multiple times. I doubt it would be very hard to erase the extra stuff--I do it all the time for bundles.
The grammar is passable though there are a few hiccups. Things like saying, "shrugged his shoulders" instead of just shrugged. I mean, is there another body part you shrug? Just like if you say "nodded his head" is there another part you nod besides the head?
Anyway, I'm not sure how many more of these books there are but I will definitely not be reading them.
That is all.
August 7, 2021
Changing POV is confusing
Florida Shuffle is a great book, clearly based on real life for those who are/have been addicts and are now in rehab. The degree of fraud some get away with is sad and disturbing. They are ripping off the taxpayers on a daily basis. The characters are well drawn and Will and Callie are very believable heroes. I did not like the author's writing style because of the frequent "head hopping", where a different character's thoughts suddenly are thrown into the narrative. Nevertheless, this is a book worth reading. I hope it makes more people question what our elected leaders are doing with our money.
Florida Shuffle is a great book, clearly based on real life for those who are/have been addicts and are now in rehab. The degree of fraud some get away with is sad and disturbing. They are ripping off the taxpayers on a daily basis. The characters are well drawn and Will and Callie are very believable heroes. I did not like the author's writing style because of the frequent "head hopping", where a different character's thoughts suddenly are thrown into the narrative. Nevertheless, this is a book worth reading. I hope it makes more people question what our elected leaders are doing with our money.
August 30, 2021
Good Florida story telling
Living in Florida for the last 30+ years, I always enjoy books, fiction or nonfiction, written about my home state. I particularly like reading mysteries. The Will Harper series are especially good because they are based on actual happenings in Florida, such as senior scams, human trafficking, and opioid addictions and treatment centers. I thought this series of books was well written. My only comment is that The Happy Widow should have been better proofread. There were a few errors...such as a character's name changing from one page/paragraph to another.
Living in Florida for the last 30+ years, I always enjoy books, fiction or nonfiction, written about my home state. I particularly like reading mysteries. The Will Harper series are especially good because they are based on actual happenings in Florida, such as senior scams, human trafficking, and opioid addictions and treatment centers. I thought this series of books was well written. My only comment is that The Happy Widow should have been better proofread. There were a few errors...such as a character's name changing from one page/paragraph to another.
August 5, 2021
I enjoy reading about Will Harper and his Florida, as he goes about writing about injustices in one form or another.
There are a few ways that David Cosby writes that it is annoying, however, the storyline helps to make up for that.
I recommend Will Harper Florida Thrillers to those who enjoy an easy read about righting what's wrong.
There are a few ways that David Cosby writes that it is annoying, however, the storyline helps to make up for that.
I recommend Will Harper Florida Thrillers to those who enjoy an easy read about righting what's wrong.
August 5, 2021
A Three-Book Thrill Ride
I just finished the second 3-book set of Will Harper Mysteries, and I’m hooked. He’s a good guy, a newspaper writer looking for—and finding—good causes so he can expose the bad guys. And the ladies love him, complicating his life even more.
I just finished the second 3-book set of Will Harper Mysteries, and I’m hooked. He’s a good guy, a newspaper writer looking for—and finding—good causes so he can expose the bad guys. And the ladies love him, complicating his life even more.
August 9, 2021
Numerous characters "share many hats"
Numerous characters "wear many hats".
Three short novellas provide enjoyable reading. The stories are connected by shared minor occurrences. The stories flow smoothly one to the other.
Numerous characters "wear many hats".
Three short novellas provide enjoyable reading. The stories are connected by shared minor occurrences. The stories flow smoothly one to the other.
August 16, 2021
Will Harper series
I just finished a three-book set on Will Harper. David Crosby stories, along with the mysteries\ excitement, shine a spotlight on societal problems. His stories have really opened my eyes to these problems. Everyone should read his books.
I just finished a three-book set on Will Harper. David Crosby stories, along with the mysteries\ excitement, shine a spotlight on societal problems. His stories have really opened my eyes to these problems. Everyone should read his books.
November 18, 2021
A journey for the journalist!
Some of the most unique story lines I have ever read. Defiantly will keep you turning the pages. I’ll be looking for more of his work.
And yes Mikey liked it!
Some of the most unique story lines I have ever read. Defiantly will keep you turning the pages. I’ll be looking for more of his work.
And yes Mikey liked it!
April 12, 2022
Such a great read
What better way to raise social consciousness than to read about it and become aware when it’s wrapped in sunshine, beaches, great food, sex and lovable characters!
What better way to raise social consciousness than to read about it and become aware when it’s wrapped in sunshine, beaches, great food, sex and lovable characters!
June 20, 2022
The Will Harper series is a must read for anyone living in or visiting Florida! Great stories from an author that knows the truth about the state. Not always pretty but David Crosby writes about the truly dark side of my home state.
May 15, 2023
All Will wants is to sail around, enjoy life and find true love. Instead he keeps getting roped into writing these stories about social injustice.
Good Series of books , well worth the time to read them. Lots of fun and adventure
August 12, 2021
Great stories.
Stories deal with real life issues that are impacting our society. Newspapers are great in describing scams perpetrated on seniors.
Stories deal with real life issues that are impacting our society. Newspapers are great in describing scams perpetrated on seniors.
April 8, 2022
Please see individual stories for review.
September 29, 2022
Will Harper 1-6
Really enjoyed these books. Looking forward to completing the Will Harper series and seeing what other scrapes he gets himself and his current love interest into.
Really enjoyed these books. Looking forward to completing the Will Harper series and seeing what other scrapes he gets himself and his current love interest into.
June 25, 2023
The last of the 6 was the best
I enjoyed this book the best of this series so far. The author has a good flow and storyline. It's not as slow moving as some of his others...
I enjoyed this book the best of this series so far. The author has a good flow and storyline. It's not as slow moving as some of his others...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews