DO UNTO OTHERS: A Jordan Poteet Mystery - Jeff Abbott

From the back of the book:

Jordan Poteet has left the big city to work as a librarian in his hometown of Mirabeau, Texas. But his dream of the quiet life is shattered when he locks horns with Miss Beta Harcher, the town's prize religious fanatic, in a battle over censorship.

When Jordan finds her murdered body in the library, he becomes the prime suspect. And when the police find a cryptic list stashed next to her fanatical heart, it seems as if Beta Harcher has the whole town in a death grip . . .

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What I learned from this fine amateur sleuth mystery:

1. Be careful what you pick up on your walks

2. Beware of sweet smiles.

3. Being a librarian can be more exciting than one might think.

4. Those little Texas towns can be full of mystery and murder.

This is Jeff Abbott's first book published and first in this series. I've been on the hunt for it since reading and highly diggin' THE ONLY GOOD YANKEE a few years back (apparently before I started blogging, so no review link).

I like Jordan Poteet's style. I feel for him. His mother has Alzheimer's, his sister is a single mom to a sullen teen and Jordy has moved back to help as well as he can. He's been accused of murder and he sets out to prove he didn't do it.

I will continue to search out this series and this author. He has several stand-alones and another fab series, Whit Mosley. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/jeff-abbott/

Five mysterious Texas beans.....

CUT & RUN: Judge Whit Mosley #3 - Jeff Abbott, narr L J Ganser

From the back of the BOCD: Edgar Award winning nominee Jeff Abbott has been praised for his "exciting , shrewd, and beautifully crafted" (Chicago Tribune) thrillers that "will keep reader guessing" (Publishers Weekly). Now the national best-selling author of BLACK JACK POINT delivers an electrifying story of a decent man pitted against the criminal underworld.

When Judge Whit Mosley sets out to find the mother who abandoned him 30 years before, he discovers that a gang of vicious killers thinks she's made off with their loot. Trapped in a web of violence, Whit's only way out is to track down the missing money before his short-lived family reunion is brought to a bloody end.

CUT AND RUN is a relentless thrill ride filled with stunning plot twists. Through L J Ganser's narration, this tale of family and forgiveness, blood and betrayal will have every listener spellbound.

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I do love this series and this one is a humdingah, but I got exhausted trying to keep up with all of the twists and turns. I needed a scorecard to keep track of the players and intrigue and that's hard to do when you are listening to the book on your drive into work. Ah well....

Each book, so far, is dark and sucks the reader right into the depths. There are some funny parts that I look forward to, there are characters I look forward to listening to, especially when Whit and Gooch get together.

I went right along with Whit and his desire to find his mother. He thought it would help his dying father find peace in his last days. I could empathize with how he looked for something he thought he needed to find.

His mother is a piece of work that I alternated between admiring and wanting to smack down. She did what she needed to to survive, but I did not like how she left her husband and six children to begin this survival.

There were some very grey areas of the good and bad that I had to work at to accept. A very good story and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Four grey area beans....

BLACK JACK POINT: Whit Mosley, 2nd in series - Jeff Abbott, narr L J Ganser

From the back of the book: When A KISS GONE BAD was published, it received rave reviews from major publications including Publishers Weekly and The Midwest Review which called Jeff Abbott "the next John Grisham." BLACK JACK POINT is a riveting continuation of the adventures of Whit Mosley, the laid-back district judge of Port Leo, Texas.

Two of Whit's old friends have been brutally slaughtered at Black Jack Point, stretch of underdeveloped land on the Gulf Coast. But when Whit opens an inquest into their deaths, the evidence points to a plan more wicked than these two murders. Buried treasure and millions in land investment are the prizes and the players won't let anyone stand in their way.

From unpredictable bad guys to the tropical-shirted Judge Mosley, each character vividly stands out against the coastal landscape. Enhanced by L J Ganser's narration, BLACK JACK POINT will keep listeners guessing how Whit will escape the net of violence that is closing around him.

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This one wore me out! Action-packed and always having that 'Well HUH...WOW!' factor going throughout the listen. It started with almost sex and digging for treasure and ended with swimming in the Gulf and there was a whole lotta intrigue, murder, bad guys, good guys in between. I like those books. I did figure out some twists early on, so it's a four beaner rating from me. A KISS GONE BAD remains my favorite of the two I've listened to and I will darn well listen to more of the series and maybe not in order since I'm not sure it matters.

Oh and I still have a crush on Gootch.....and L J Ganser rocks!

Four twist figured-outer beans......

PANIC - Jeff Abbott, narr L J Ganser

From the back of the book: The recipient of multiple nominations for both the Edgar and Anthony Awards, author Jeff Abbott crafts no-holds-barred page-turners of almost unbearable suspense. Abbott's go-for-broke style is on full display in PANIC, the tale of a man dodging trheats on his life after his world is turned upside down.

Evan Casher makes an unplanned visit to his parents' house after his mother surprises him with an early morning phone call. Upon arrival, Evan finds his mother viciously murdered and is nearly killed himself before being rescued by a shotgun-wielding stranger. Blindsided by grief, his life in immediate deadly peril, Evan soon discovers that most of what he knows about himself is a lie--and that he'll have to shelve everything he knows to be true if he's to have any chance of staying alive.

With PANIC, Abbott delivers a cutthroat potboiler whose frenzied pace will leave readers gasping for breath as they approach the book's stunning conclusion.

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Yeah, what he said.....I'm not sure I can add anything to what was on the back of the book without giving away key details (and the use of more hyphens in the description)...I already love Jeff Abbott's Whit Mosely series. It's action with humor. PANIC is all action, no humor, and it was exhausting. The good kind of stay-in-your-car-just-a-little-longer-to-find-out-what's-going -to-happen-next kind of exhaustion (ahhhh, there're my hyphens). It was just like that, though.

It took a little bit for me to get used to Evan just jumping into action, but maybe his career as a documentary filmmaker carries him along. He's a quick thinker and it helps him keep as balanced as one can be when one's life is in danger and everything he thought was true just isn't.

Five seat-of-your-pants beans....

A KISS GONE BAD - Jeff Abbott, narr L J Ganser

B&N Synopsis: When the black-sheep son of a senator is found dead aboard a yacht, there's plenty of pressure on rookie judge Whit Mosley to make his ruling without the usual inquest. Was it suicide, as the family claims? Or did an obsessed killer use the dead man as a pawn in a twisted game? One thing is certain. The closer the judge gets to the truth, the nearer he comes to exposing a viper's nest of drug lords, con artists and power-hungry sharks -- all of whom are out for blood. Only this time, the blood that's spilled could be Mosley's own….

I've read this one before, but it was a while back when I was working on my First in Series Challenge and I'd since forgotten who the bad guys were and the basic premise. My review from Sept 08 is here. So it was like a brand new book as far as I was concerned. I remembered really really liking it, though, so thought it would be a good one to listen to. I was right...I do like being right. Cool thing, too, DH really really liked it as our commute book last week. He requested I get as many of them as are available from RecordedBooks. It's the narrator, L J Ganser, pictured below. He is the perfect voice for Judge Whit Mosley.

Whit is considered the black sheep of the family now justice of the peace in the small town in Texas along the southern coast. I think he is just looking for his niche in life. He's found it as the interim justice of the peace. He sets out to investigate the case of a possible suicide of another black sheep son of a Texas senator. Everyone wants it to be a suicide, but Whit just isn't so sure.

My review from Sept is still valid, so won't do more here. I did bump up the bean count due to the fabuloso voice of L J Ganser. He totally made the book even better.

Oh, and I still have a crush on Gooch...read the book and get to know him.... = D

Five fabuloso beans....

A KISS GONE BAD - Jeff Abbott

I really like this author, but I LOVE this title! I am a sucker for a fab title and this one did it for me. Even more groovy, the smart dialogue, intriguing characters and steamy storyline is fab, too.

Whit Mosley is my kinda guy. He's trying to redeem himself with the career path his father chose for him. Whit is a judge in Port Leo, Texas. Under the robes he dresses like a beach bum. He can be found reading court law documents and books to help him become a better justice of the peace and investigator. He really is trying hard to make the right choices and it really comes home when the son of a state senator is found dead of apparent suicide and Whit finds himself on the path to discover the truth. He also finds more than he bargained for...drug traffic, pornography, con jobs.
My favorite character is Gooch....you'll have to read the book to meet him, but he is someone you'd want on your side in any kind of altercation. I have a crush....
Four gritty Texan beans...