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Callie McFee Mysteries #2
Sins of the Family
Buddy McFee, Texas’s legendary fixer, is trying to hide his failing mind from the world. He takes on what should be an easy case, the DUI arrest of a young lifestyle marketer. When Buddy botches the case, his client, Trevor Birdsong, locks his front door and hangs himself with a necktie.
Buddy’s daughter, Callie, had grown to like Trevor. She was the last person he contacted before his death and she feels guilty that she hadn’t been there for him.
Meanwhile, Buddy worries that the suicide will tarnish his legacy. Out of desperation, he claims that Trevor’s death was a murder, and Callie latches onto the notion, defying all the evidence to the contrary.
As an investigative reporter, Callie enters the world of hip, holistic healthcare, convinced that Trevor’s death was connected to some secret within his company. But her murder investigation unleashes another secret, one from deep in Buddy’s twisted past, that may just send him to prison for the rest of his life – and get Callie killed in the process.
Buddy’s daughter, Callie, had grown to like Trevor. She was the last person he contacted before his death and she feels guilty that she hadn’t been there for him.
Meanwhile, Buddy worries that the suicide will tarnish his legacy. Out of desperation, he claims that Trevor’s death was a murder, and Callie latches onto the notion, defying all the evidence to the contrary.
As an investigative reporter, Callie enters the world of hip, holistic healthcare, convinced that Trevor’s death was connected to some secret within his company. But her murder investigation unleashes another secret, one from deep in Buddy’s twisted past, that may just send him to prison for the rest of his life – and get Callie killed in the process.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 2022
About the author
Hy Conrad
47 books187 followersHY CONRAD has made a career out of murder, earning the 2022 Independent Press Award for Best Mystery (“The Fixer’s Daughter”) and 2022 NYC Big Book Awards for Best Mystery Series (“The Fixer’s Daughter,” “Sins of the Family”), a Scribe Award for Best Novel (“Mr. Monk Helps Himself”) and garnering three Edgar nominations from the Mystery Writers of America (for the “Monk” TV series). Along the way, he developed a horde of popular games and interactive films, hundreds of short stories and a dozen books of solvable mysteries, published in over 15 languages. Hy is best known for his eight seasons as writer/co-executive producer for the ground-breaking TV series, “Monk.” Other shows include “White Collar” and “The Good Cop.”
As a novelist, Hy authored the final four books in the Monk series, the Amy Travel Mysteries (“Toured to Death,” “Dearly Departed” and “Death on the Patagonian Express”) and the Callie McFee Mysteries (“The Fixer’s Daughter,” a Barnes & Noble bestseller and “Sins of the Family”).
In the world of theatre, his produced works consist of “Home Exchange” (a mystery), “Ta-Dah!” (a musical), and “Quarantine for Two” (a socially distanced dark comedy about the pandemic).
When he looks up from his keyboard, Hy sees either the hills of Vermont or the palm trees of Key West, depending on the time of year. He also sees Jeff Johnson, his partner of 43 years, now his husband, plus Nelson and Stella, the latest in a dynasty of mini-schnauzers.
www.hyconrad.com
Facebook: hyconrad
Instagram: hyconrad1
As a novelist, Hy authored the final four books in the Monk series, the Amy Travel Mysteries (“Toured to Death,” “Dearly Departed” and “Death on the Patagonian Express”) and the Callie McFee Mysteries (“The Fixer’s Daughter,” a Barnes & Noble bestseller and “Sins of the Family”).
In the world of theatre, his produced works consist of “Home Exchange” (a mystery), “Ta-Dah!” (a musical), and “Quarantine for Two” (a socially distanced dark comedy about the pandemic).
When he looks up from his keyboard, Hy sees either the hills of Vermont or the palm trees of Key West, depending on the time of year. He also sees Jeff Johnson, his partner of 43 years, now his husband, plus Nelson and Stella, the latest in a dynasty of mini-schnauzers.
www.hyconrad.com
Facebook: hyconrad
Instagram: hyconrad1
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 7, 2022
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, so 5 stars it is!
This is the second book in a series, but it was the first book I have read from this author.
Callie, a daughter of a Texas fixer (?) is pulled into a whirlwind time with a mistake, an apparent suicide, a dying aunt and a return of a childhood "friend" - and she still holds on to a full-time journalism job, despite being born into a very affluent family, the kind with a cook, an aid and a cleaner.
I found the pacing and story development to be great, the characters well fleshed out and believable enough (minus the green Tesla), and the twists and turns and revelations along the way made me hold on to my imaginary hat! The main character was likeable and relatable and that is something I rate highly in the books I enjoy reading.
Truly, I had fun reading this book, it really sucked me in, very well written and intriguing!
I took some time to finish this book, just about a week, as it was so good I really wanted to savour it.
The author is new to me, but I already have added the first book of this series to my "to be read" list. Can't wait for the next book!
Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book!
This is the second book in a series, but it was the first book I have read from this author.
Callie, a daughter of a Texas fixer (?) is pulled into a whirlwind time with a mistake, an apparent suicide, a dying aunt and a return of a childhood "friend" - and she still holds on to a full-time journalism job, despite being born into a very affluent family, the kind with a cook, an aid and a cleaner.
I found the pacing and story development to be great, the characters well fleshed out and believable enough (minus the green Tesla), and the twists and turns and revelations along the way made me hold on to my imaginary hat! The main character was likeable and relatable and that is something I rate highly in the books I enjoy reading.
Truly, I had fun reading this book, it really sucked me in, very well written and intriguing!
I took some time to finish this book, just about a week, as it was so good I really wanted to savour it.
The author is new to me, but I already have added the first book of this series to my "to be read" list. Can't wait for the next book!
Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book!
December 27, 2021
Rtc soon
January 24, 2022
This book was OK for me. Perhaps, my sentiment is clouded by the fact that I did not read the first book, The Fixer's Daughter. The events from that book, were mentioned in passing with no specifics.
Callie McFee is a journalist who happens to find a dead body. Unfortunately, the body is Trevor Birdsong, a former client of her father. Buddy McFee, is a famous "fixer" , former Attorney General of Texas. What people do not know is that Buddy is in the early stages of dementia.
Trevor is charged with a DUI and seeks Buddy out to represent him. Trevor follows Buddy's advice, but is charged with a felony. Trevor's employer fires him. Trevor loses his company stock and blames Buddy. Meanwhile, Callie gets to know Trevor and likes him. Trevor texts Callie, what is construed to be a suicide note, but Callie gets to him too late. Buddy insists Trevor was murdered and Callie begins to investigate.
I was not impressed with Callie. I thought she was a lush. I never really understood the relationship between her and her boss, was it just business? I may have missed something from the first book. The author throws us a few red herrings. There are a couple of subplots, a family friend doing a documentary on Buddy, another family friend looking for a lost child.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. The review is my own.
Callie McFee is a journalist who happens to find a dead body. Unfortunately, the body is Trevor Birdsong, a former client of her father. Buddy McFee, is a famous "fixer" , former Attorney General of Texas. What people do not know is that Buddy is in the early stages of dementia.
Trevor is charged with a DUI and seeks Buddy out to represent him. Trevor follows Buddy's advice, but is charged with a felony. Trevor's employer fires him. Trevor loses his company stock and blames Buddy. Meanwhile, Callie gets to know Trevor and likes him. Trevor texts Callie, what is construed to be a suicide note, but Callie gets to him too late. Buddy insists Trevor was murdered and Callie begins to investigate.
I was not impressed with Callie. I thought she was a lush. I never really understood the relationship between her and her boss, was it just business? I may have missed something from the first book. The author throws us a few red herrings. There are a couple of subplots, a family friend doing a documentary on Buddy, another family friend looking for a lost child.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC. The review is my own.
January 7, 2022
Sins of the Family by Hy Conrad is the 2nd novel in the Callie McFee series, which I did not know when I downloaded this on Net Galley! Callie is the daughter of a longtime powerful Irish Texas "fixer" named Buddy McFee, yet tries to distance herself from him. When her ailing father takes on a case and the client winds up dead, she uses her job as a reporter to begin investigating the suspicious death.
I have to say when I first started reading this book, I was not a huge fan of the main character but Conrad does such a great job of developing her! Callie is frustrating as hell, makes a lot of really stupid choices but you can't help yourself from rooting for her. I also really loved some of the supporting characters especially her boss and her brother. I also appreciated that even though i hadn't read #1, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of this book at all.
My only gripe is I figured out one of the twists pretty early on, I wish one of the red herrings was more distracting but it was easy to see through it. However watching it play out was still enjoyable because the characters are done so well! I would definitely read the next novel in this series.
I have to say when I first started reading this book, I was not a huge fan of the main character but Conrad does such a great job of developing her! Callie is frustrating as hell, makes a lot of really stupid choices but you can't help yourself from rooting for her. I also really loved some of the supporting characters especially her boss and her brother. I also appreciated that even though i hadn't read #1, it didn't hinder my enjoyment of this book at all.
My only gripe is I figured out one of the twists pretty early on, I wish one of the red herrings was more distracting but it was easy to see through it. However watching it play out was still enjoyable because the characters are done so well! I would definitely read the next novel in this series.
February 1, 2022
Sins of the family by H.Y. Conrad.
Buddy McFee, Texas’s legendary fixer, is trying to hide his failing mind from the world. He takes on what should be an easy case, the DUI arrest of a young lifestyle marketer. When Buddy botches the case, his client, Trevor Birdsong, locks his front door and hangs himself with a necktie.
Buddy’s daughter, Callie, had grown to like Trevor. She was the last person he contacted before his death and she feels guilty that she hadn’t been there for him.
Meanwhile, Buddy worries that the suicide will tarnish his legacy. Out of desperation, he claims that Trevor’s death was a murder, and Callie latches onto the notion, defying all the evidence to the contrary. As an investigative reporter, Callie enters the world of hip, holistic healthcare, convinced that Trevor’s death was connected to some secret within his company. But her murder investigation unleashes another secret, one from deep in Buddy’s twisted past, that may just send him to prison for the rest of his life – and get Callie killed in the process.
A very good read with good characters. I liked the story. 4*.
Buddy McFee, Texas’s legendary fixer, is trying to hide his failing mind from the world. He takes on what should be an easy case, the DUI arrest of a young lifestyle marketer. When Buddy botches the case, his client, Trevor Birdsong, locks his front door and hangs himself with a necktie.
Buddy’s daughter, Callie, had grown to like Trevor. She was the last person he contacted before his death and she feels guilty that she hadn’t been there for him.
Meanwhile, Buddy worries that the suicide will tarnish his legacy. Out of desperation, he claims that Trevor’s death was a murder, and Callie latches onto the notion, defying all the evidence to the contrary. As an investigative reporter, Callie enters the world of hip, holistic healthcare, convinced that Trevor’s death was connected to some secret within his company. But her murder investigation unleashes another secret, one from deep in Buddy’s twisted past, that may just send him to prison for the rest of his life – and get Callie killed in the process.
A very good read with good characters. I liked the story. 4*.
February 4, 2022
I wasn't a huge fan of this book; the main reason being that I didn't like a single one of the characters. Maybe this problem might have been helped by reading the first book in the series (there are mentions of previous events from that, but it doesn't seem integral to the plot), but generally, I do not think it would have fixed the issues I had.
Callie mainly comes across as petty and grandstanding, without much to back that up. There are numerous hints to who the antagonists are and none of it seems like a major surprise in how the book sets it up, but rather it just has a lot of plot mechanics turning and turning in order to get to the reveals. I especially wasn't a fan of everyone around Callie's father covering up his dementia and allowing him to continue getting involved in the law and other people's lives. Characters act like he was a major player and someone who people respect but the reality is that most of what he does seems to be covering up accidents and DUI/DWIs for rich people which is not an admirable quality in a person...
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Callie mainly comes across as petty and grandstanding, without much to back that up. There are numerous hints to who the antagonists are and none of it seems like a major surprise in how the book sets it up, but rather it just has a lot of plot mechanics turning and turning in order to get to the reveals. I especially wasn't a fan of everyone around Callie's father covering up his dementia and allowing him to continue getting involved in the law and other people's lives. Characters act like he was a major player and someone who people respect but the reality is that most of what he does seems to be covering up accidents and DUI/DWIs for rich people which is not an admirable quality in a person...
ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 13, 2022
I have very much enjoyed Hy Conrad's books in the past, especially the FOUR books that he wrote in the Adrian "Monk" series.
This book, "Sins of the Family", is a follow up to his first novel in the Callie McFee series, "The Fixer's Daughter". I enjoyed the first book which featured Callie, the estranged daughter of Buddy McFee, the most influential man in Texas, a legendary fixer and head of the powerful McFee clan.
In this second book, Callie, again finds herself involved with another series of unusual events surrounding the deaths of several people, whose deaths appear to be (1) a suicide; and, (2) an accidental death. Callie never seems to "leave well enough alone" and pursues the truth, with very surprising results. She again has help from her her police detective brother and from her boss at the Austin Free Press. This new adventure leads Callie through a series of many twists and turns and surprises.
While the first Callie McFee book dealt with powerful politicians and lawyers, wealthy Texas oil men, struggling college students, prostitution and deadly secrets….in the family and elsewhere, THIS SECOND BOOK deals with close family friends, the founders of a successful holistic healthcare company and both a one-armed-man and zombies, yes you've got that correct! Anything more and we get into revealing "spoilers". I found the book fascinating and entertaining. I recommend it highly to mystery book fans.
Merged review:
I have very much enjoyed Hy Conrad's books in the past, especially the FOUR books that he wrote in the Adrian "Monk" series.
This book, "Sins of the Family", is a follow up to his first novel in the Callie McFee series, "The Fixer's Daughter". I enjoyed the first book which featured Callie, the estranged daughter of Buddy McFee, the most influential man in Texas, a legendary fixer and head of the powerful McFee clan.
In this second book, Callie, again finds herself involved with another series of unusual events surrounding the deaths of several people, whose deaths appear to be (1) a suicide; and, (2) an accidental death. Callie never seems to "leave well enough alone" and pursues the truth, with very surprising results. She again has help from her her police detective brother and from her boss at the Austin Free Press. This new adventure leads Callie through a series of many twists and turns and surprises.
While the first Callie McFee book dealt with powerful politicians and lawyers, wealthy Texas oil men, struggling college students, prostitution and deadly secrets….in the family and elsewhere, THIS SECOND BOOK deals with close family friends, the founders of a successful holistic healthcare company and both a one-armed-man and zombies, yes you've got that correct! Anything more and we get into revealing "spoilers". I found the book fascinating and entertaining. I recommend it highly to mystery book fans.
This book, "Sins of the Family", is a follow up to his first novel in the Callie McFee series, "The Fixer's Daughter". I enjoyed the first book which featured Callie, the estranged daughter of Buddy McFee, the most influential man in Texas, a legendary fixer and head of the powerful McFee clan.
In this second book, Callie, again finds herself involved with another series of unusual events surrounding the deaths of several people, whose deaths appear to be (1) a suicide; and, (2) an accidental death. Callie never seems to "leave well enough alone" and pursues the truth, with very surprising results. She again has help from her her police detective brother and from her boss at the Austin Free Press. This new adventure leads Callie through a series of many twists and turns and surprises.
While the first Callie McFee book dealt with powerful politicians and lawyers, wealthy Texas oil men, struggling college students, prostitution and deadly secrets….in the family and elsewhere, THIS SECOND BOOK deals with close family friends, the founders of a successful holistic healthcare company and both a one-armed-man and zombies, yes you've got that correct! Anything more and we get into revealing "spoilers". I found the book fascinating and entertaining. I recommend it highly to mystery book fans.
Merged review:
I have very much enjoyed Hy Conrad's books in the past, especially the FOUR books that he wrote in the Adrian "Monk" series.
This book, "Sins of the Family", is a follow up to his first novel in the Callie McFee series, "The Fixer's Daughter". I enjoyed the first book which featured Callie, the estranged daughter of Buddy McFee, the most influential man in Texas, a legendary fixer and head of the powerful McFee clan.
In this second book, Callie, again finds herself involved with another series of unusual events surrounding the deaths of several people, whose deaths appear to be (1) a suicide; and, (2) an accidental death. Callie never seems to "leave well enough alone" and pursues the truth, with very surprising results. She again has help from her her police detective brother and from her boss at the Austin Free Press. This new adventure leads Callie through a series of many twists and turns and surprises.
While the first Callie McFee book dealt with powerful politicians and lawyers, wealthy Texas oil men, struggling college students, prostitution and deadly secrets….in the family and elsewhere, THIS SECOND BOOK deals with close family friends, the founders of a successful holistic healthcare company and both a one-armed-man and zombies, yes you've got that correct! Anything more and we get into revealing "spoilers". I found the book fascinating and entertaining. I recommend it highly to mystery book fans.
February 2, 2022
Hy Conrad has done it again. The second Callie McFee is a very good read, hard to put down. I read it in one sitting. So if you start it beware, you may not finish your "to do" list.
Why is it good? First, Conrad writes so well. I was struck in the very beginning by the us of short sentences in combination with longer ones. That creates a reading rhythm that lasted throughout the book. The scenes are well described, but not in so much detail that you want to skip ahead. The characters are multi-dimensional. You feel you know them, and understand why they act as they do. The plot is well constructed. It moves along sensibly, but with some interesting twists. The surprises are logical, not artificial constructions.
This book, like the first, forces Callie into the tension of protecting family and friends while seeking the truth. She manages that, while putting herself at risk. Her role as reporter puts her at odds with authorities who prefer not to dig too deeply. One of those is her beloved brother. Her portrayal of debilitation in elderly characters is touching.
Conrad has done consistently good work in the Monk series, the Amy stories, and the first McFee book. His mini mysteries are fun. You would expect that talent to continue to show in the second McFee book. Your expectation will be met.
Why is it good? First, Conrad writes so well. I was struck in the very beginning by the us of short sentences in combination with longer ones. That creates a reading rhythm that lasted throughout the book. The scenes are well described, but not in so much detail that you want to skip ahead. The characters are multi-dimensional. You feel you know them, and understand why they act as they do. The plot is well constructed. It moves along sensibly, but with some interesting twists. The surprises are logical, not artificial constructions.
This book, like the first, forces Callie into the tension of protecting family and friends while seeking the truth. She manages that, while putting herself at risk. Her role as reporter puts her at odds with authorities who prefer not to dig too deeply. One of those is her beloved brother. Her portrayal of debilitation in elderly characters is touching.
Conrad has done consistently good work in the Monk series, the Amy stories, and the first McFee book. His mini mysteries are fun. You would expect that talent to continue to show in the second McFee book. Your expectation will be met.
April 7, 2023
Thank you for the ARC!
This book really hooked the readers into the book and really did well in painting people at their worst and had a lot of emotions involved (it was more than what I was expecting). I really enjoyed the game of finding clues and paying attention to details.
thanks netgalley
This book really hooked the readers into the book and really did well in painting people at their worst and had a lot of emotions involved (it was more than what I was expecting). I really enjoyed the game of finding clues and paying attention to details.
thanks netgalley
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews