These Never Disapoint

I have listened to every Harry Starke book starting with number 1. They are all good. Maybe some day the author will run out of new ideas and the series will get stale, but it sure hasn’t happened yet.
The narrator has been the same since #1 and I can’t imagine anyone better at being Harry at this point. Looking forward to the next one.

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3.17/ 5 stars

Individual ratings:
3/5 stars 10 Caloway Jones
3.5/5 stars 11 Emoji
3/5 stars 12 Hoodwinked

*possible spoilers in discussion
Summary:
Caloway Jones: Somebody’s out to kill Harry and his friends.
Emoji: A killer haunts a college campus and plays games with the police.
Hoodwinked: Harry’s on a mission to prove his best friend isn’t a killer

Additional Comments:
• Content Warning: I generally listen to clean stuff, so I’ll include a content warning up front. If you removed the curse words, the book would be missing about 3 hours. If you removed the sex references as well, you’d be missing about 8 hours. Somewhere in there, you have a mystery. I think. If you took out alcohol references as well, heck, we’d be down to 3 hours.
• This is my first exposure to this author and the character. They’re okay. I’d probably give another set a go if the chance arose, but I could also do without and be fine.
• The son of a crazy rich dude thing is okay.
• Side characters: Kate’s cool. The rest are just furniture, or horny furniture in the case of Amanda.
• They’re very different mysteries. Harry Starke leads a charmed life. The stories have a bit of a hardboiled detective shading. Harry’s the best of the best PI’s.
• The mystery conclusions are somewhat frustrating, even though Harry always gets his man, so to speak.
o Caloway: Really. The person used to throwdowns goes toe to toe with the bad guy and loses, then the person who never handled a gun ever saves the day?
o Emoji: So, bad guy wins then decides to play a game with Harry to give him a sporting chance … and thus, loses.
o Hoodwinked: I kind of like this twisted ending. That’s a redeeming quality. But I’m sensing a theme here. Yet again, the bad guy wins, hands down… then shoots him mouth off and Harry wins.
• Overall, they’re not bad stories, but what keeps them from being good or even great is that the conclusions rely very heavily on the bad guys being incredibly dumb. I get it, criminals can be stupid, but these particular ones spend the whole book running circles around the cops … then, when they’re home free, blather about it and lose.
• The Caloway Jones conclusion was highly unsatisfying because the author spend 5+ hours building up this woman to be the best of the best, and she flubs it by playing silly games. Yeah, yeah, contract and so forth. If she’d really wanted him to suffer, she would have planted a bullet in his wife’s skull then gone after the friends one by one.
• The narration was fine until the man tried to tackle a Jamaican accent and ended up sounding vaguely Irish. I do play stuff fast, but I honestly thought Kate’s last name began with K something. Lost that “g” somewhere.
• Kate’s an interesting character. I liked the interaction b/t her and Harry in the second story. I see that she has her own series. That could be interesting. I’ll give those a go if the chance arises.
• The first-person narration style was okay, but it got annoying because Harry’s not a very reliable narrator. He says a lot of things like “but you don’t need to know that” and “where was I.”

Conclusion:
I’m kind of torn. There’s a lot of potential, and the author is decent at describing things. The mysteries themselves are fairly formulaic. The characters keep things interesting. If you don’t mind excessive cursing and rampant references to sex, check it out.

*I got the book on a free code site. I understand I do not have a set-in-stone obligation to share my thoughts, but have freely chosen to do so anyway.

A great murder mystery collection

The Harry Starke Collection Books 10-12 is a great collection of three entertaining murder mysteries. This collection includes Calloway Jones, about an assassin after Harry. Emoji is about a murdered girl. Hoodwinked is about a friend of Harry’s who is accused of killing his wife.

The narrator, who narrates the entire series, does a terrific job with the books.

I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Lennon and Stark for the win!!!

I was so happy to have found this collection of detective mysteries. They are nailbiters up to the end with no way out. I very much enjoyed this collection and plan to search for more. I had the immense pleasure to find this narrator previously in another series, and I'm still enamored with his narration. He brings the story and characters to life beautifully . I didn't like how friends and co workers guilty Harry into taking the case, especially after he was almost murdered and suffered multiple injuries in the previous book??!! The case with the young women upset him greatly, but they pushed him into it!! Real friends,I think not. The third story has Harry sticking to his morales scruples, and his integrity shines bright. I was shocked at the way he handled it, but I admired him. I never did warm up to Amanda in the three stories. In fact the opposite happened. I despised her more with each book. I agree with Harry's initial assessment of her- she's cold blooded and a predator. I feel she was an unnecessary distraction in the stories, and the sex was gratuitous and unnecessary as the storylines were good enough without that clutter!!! I voluntarily listened to a free copy of this and am giving an honest review. As I've said , the narrator truly adds to my enjoyment of this experience

Read them all!

What a fun and satisfying series ! It took a minute to get hooked and that was it !!!
Get them 😊

A 3fer of Good Ones

Calaway Jones = Little Billy, Harry's archenemy who he put away for 25 years-to-life, hires an ex-Mossad agent to murder Harry, painfully. But first, she is to harass his friends and kill his wife, Amanda. Calaway Jones is up to all those tasks, easily. One harrowing experience after another has Harry chasing his own tail to find and catch his assailant. In the end, Calaway is too much for Harry, but can his friends save him? Best Harry Yet!

EMOJI = Harry goes up against a sicko who's a little to smart for his own good, but really builds up a body count of young innocents. Try as he might, Harry is stymied even as he's sure of the culprit. Not to worry, maybe this time he'll catch the bad guy without being shot and maimed?!? Read and enjoy.

Hoodwinked = Not the strongest of the 3, but a baffling case which has Harry as the only person who believes his friend is innocent of murdering his wife. Why? There is $183M of motive and everyone else seems to know the friend is guilty. Well, it's a shocker, and in the end, you are going to feel Hoodwinked!

Harry is fun and straightforward

I love the Harry stark series, life progresses and matures with Harry. Love the supporting cast , partners and ex partner. A no miss series. Harry is a great character

Gripping!

Blair Howard does it again! All my favorite people fighting for truth and right in a roller coaster tale of murder and intrigue!

Tom Lennon brings the characters to life with his great narrating.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Great Series

CALAWAY. JONES.
I love all of his books, and this is another winner. Even in prison Harper, is out for revenge, calling in Shady to get a job done. First has to be mental anguish for Harry, and wife Amanda, before killing. Harry has his job cut out for him, to keep family safe and find the assassin. The plot flows, characters you will love. Each can be read separately. Awaiting the next one in the series.
EMOJI
two months since he's been in the office, he doesn't want to go back. Enough is enough, but others not listening, he's 47, they are expecting their first child, life was a gift, after his close call with death.
Chattanooga students being killed, the nightmares have come again for him. He knew he would be haunted till he could put her to rest. Another fast pace story, that draws you in. Feeling the emotions of Harry, as he fights with himself doing what he needs to do. Readers will enjoy another good story as they all are in this series.
HOODWINK
Isla a prominent Dr. news saying she died from a fall off her horse. Harry was a close friend of her husband. Curiosity he goes to the autopsy, Lt.Kate is there, and wondering, why he is, then he knows, the husband is a suspect. Jim was a pussycat, he appreciated life, a vet. Harry, tired of being semi retired and a pencil pusher, trying to write a book. Wants to
dig into the case, something wasn’t right, and it was bugging him. Kate, is like a pit bull, and doesn’t want Harry anywhere near the case. The lawyer Harry recommended think’s Jim is guilty, also. Interviewing the husband, opens another whole scenario, which surprises Harry. They can find plenty of players, but no evidence. This was a great plot, the characters are all there, like a chess game, but who is going to win. The outcome is surprising, Harry is stunned. He did a fabulous job with this story, readers won’t forget it.
Great narration added, given audio for my voluntary review and my honest opinion

like muzak

The narrator does this no favors: he reads well enough, but the delivery and the attempt to make a southern accent makes the already banal characters and dialogue even flatter and less interesting and engaging. It's clear the author can just churn this stuff out endlessly, which is not a good recommendation at all: it's glib and easy and deals with cliches, not to mention veering toward romance while avoiding any difficult concepts or questions.

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