Murder This Close

by Timothy Cole

In the wealthy Gold Coast enclave of Westport, a feud between
mystery writers turns deadly—and retired spy Dasha Petrov must find
the real killer to clear her name. Once
one of the most lethal secret agents in the world, Dasha Petrov has
hunted Nazis, Communists, and one common murderer (in The Sea
Glass Murders , the first Dasha
Petrov thriller). But now it’s 1991, two years after that
unpleasantness, and Dasha is living a
sedate life appropriate
to an
elderly widow in wealthy Westport, Connecticut, spoiling her
grandchildren and innocently flirting with two of her neighbors, the
rival mystery novelists
Barnaby Jayne and Michael Aubrey.
The
two writers, both wildly successful and many times married, cordially
despise each other. Dasha thinks they’re just two silly men with
big egos, but the writers’ feud boils over into a bizarre series of
attacks that starts with a blowgun dart and escalates to booby traps
and car bombs. And when Jayne and Aubrey both turn up dead, the
evidence points to one suspect—Dasha herself.
Now
Dasha has to once again call upon her cunning mind and capacity for
extreme violence, honed by her younger years as a Nazi-killing
partisan and a top-rank CIA agent. Teaming up with her old allies,
Westport police chief Tony DeFranco and local TV reporter Tracy
Taggart, Dasha sets out to clear her name, find
the real killer, and figure out why she was targeted—while dodging
jealous wives, a sleazy tabloid reporter, child spies, and a fearsome
Mafia hit man, leading to a tense and dramatic confrontation.
Fast-paced
and filled with intriguing characterization, Murder This Close
is a stunning murder mystery with a twisty cerebral plot and
plenty of hard-hitting action.

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 7, 2022

About the author

This is the disambiguation profile for otherwise undifferentiated authors publishing as Timothy Cole. Tim is the chief content officer of Belvoir Media Group, publishers of monthly periodicals from major healthcare centers, including Harvard Medical School, The Cleveland Clinic, and Massachusetts General Hospital. In prior roles he served as an editor at leading marine magazines, and was the science/technology/aerospace editor of Popular Mechanics magazine. Tim’s editorial assignments have taken him aboard America’s nuclear Navy, to climate change studies at the South Pole, and to particle physics cyclotrons in Siberia. He is an instrument-rated private pilot, and holds a 50-ton captain’s license from the U.S. Coast Guard.  He just completed Cry for Lancer, which sends Dasha Petrov on a frantic hunt to stop the assassination of  President John F. Kennedy.  Other books in the Dasha Petrov series include Moscow Five,  a spy ring on the verge of exposure by her KGB nemesis; Relentless, a multi-continent race to stop ex-Nazis bent on creating the Fourth Reich; and Murder This Close, when Dasha Petrov becomes the bait for Mafia hitmen plying their trade on Connecticut's Gold Coast. Tim and his wife, Sarah Smedley, live in Greenwich, Connecticut and New York City.

Reviews

[Elizabeth C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dasha Petrov returns in Book 2 of Cole’s Gold Coast Mystery series. The former C.I.A. operative and freedom fighter knows all of the tricks of the spy game and she employees them to the delight of this happy reader. Tony DeFranco, Westport Connecticut police chief, is also back along with the lovely and talented Tracy Taggart, tv journalist and talented sleuth. You will remember these characters from The Sea Glass Murders, the debut novel in the series which left us hungry for more.

Cole has a real knack for creating strong female characters like Petrov and Taggart and he also knows how to bring us serious manipulation and treachery as perhaps only the fair sex can execute.

This is a mystery that you will fly through. Forget setting it down; you will find that nearly impossible. I will stop short of anything that will require a “spoiler alert”. This book is too good to miss!

[Stephen B. Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great read by Tim Cole

This is a good follow up to the Sea Glass Murder. Murder This Close is a quick and easy read as his previous book.
The characters are well developed and the story continues. I eagerly await the next Gold Coast Mystery

[Kathi Ramsdell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book even more than the first one. It is a suspenseful page-turning mystery with just a hint of romance. The writing style is fabulous. The characters feel real. Highly recommend

[Kim Clifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was hard to start this book-I don’t know why. But after 1/3 of the way I really enjoyed it.