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| Then a tormented female voice from the front cried out, "Sylvester is dead!" The crowd froze for a moment. And then chaos ensued. |
"I have soe terrible news to report. "There's been a tragic accident, and the wedding is canceled. I'm afraid that's all I can say now. Please exit the ballroom in an orderly fashion for your own safety.
Grier stepped down from the stage. A stunned silence engulfed the room, the moment was so abrupt and so utterly inconceivable that I thought it might be some kind of morbid practical joke. A hushed murmur rose from the crowd and built into a crescendo as people near the front surrounded the cops and beseiged them with questions. More people surged forward, a man fell and cried out in pain, and one officer pulled his billy club as he was pushed back against the pulpit. Another cop grabbed a bulhorn and told the crowd to stand back.
~~~
Stateline:
A Dan Reno Novel
By Dave Stanton
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| Author Blackie Noir Playing Dan Reno |
During that time, he also got divorced...Interestingly, it is his ex-wife's niece that invited him to the wedding where it all started... Then his ex, of course, had to call with her orders.
“Well, this is a fancy wedding, don’t try showing up in jeans.”The bridegroom was the son of one of the richest men in California and was paying for everything including for invited guests... Dan needed to go, just to have some time away from his penny-pitching boss who was the type who wanted you in to work on time, even if you'd had an all-night stakeout!
“Of course not.”
“And getting drunk would be totally uncalled for.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not drinking anymore,” I said.
“Or any less, I’m sure.”
I cleared my throat. “So, who’s the lucky groom?”
I knew Wenger would be pissed that I was bailing early, but he would have to live with that. Unfortunately, I had to live with it, too. It wasn't that I considered him a bad person, but as a boss, Rick Wenger was a tremendous pain in the ass.
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| "It's Dan, Dan Reno. How are you? I felt awkward, feeling a sense that whatever there was between us in Salina may have been a drunken illusion on my part. She had been scared and vulnerable, and I had treated her kindly. Maybe there was no more than that. "I didn't think you were going to call..." ~~~ |
exploits/love interests along the way--too many. I'll just mention a prostitute he had to track down that was the only one he contacted at the end of the case...LOL Can you tell I thoroughly enjoyed the book?!
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Sylvester had been at his bachelor party the night he was killed. There were dancers there, but they weren't willing to party. So Dan had brought two hookers to his room and got
busy...
Before the night was over, Sylvester had a knife run through him, until it was coming out his back...
My eyes fell back to [ one of the killers]. I swore I saw his corpse shudder, then I had an eerie sense that his soul was leaving his body. For a second I felt his presence watching me. I froze, staring into air charged with electricity, then the sky flashed, and I saw his spirit being sucked into the earth, like sand falling through an hourglass in fast motion. I staggered back, the hair on my arms and back of my head standing straight out, my face on fire with needles and pins. A small dust twister appeared, danced around his body for a few seconds, then vanished.
~~~
Both prostitutes had disappeared... Another man who had been at the party was then murdered just as the investigations were getting started. After talking with the local police Sylvester's father had sent for Reno, offered him a large sum up front and double that if he found the killer before the police did. He explained that he had no faith in the police he'd talked to and he wanted to ensure that justice was done, even if he had to do it himself...
Well, Reno was just about broke and had no option but to take it for the money! Wouldn't you? Well, maybe not, if you had known in advance what Dan would be getting into...but that was well into the case by the first time he was almost killed...
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| I chose Julia "before" image to act for Samantha... because of her personality at that time. I love both of these great female actresses who've played hookers... Loved Pretty Woman! ~~~ |
Reno was able to learn that there had been two prostitutes in the room the night of the murder, so he was assuming they'd be looking for similar jobs in nearby areas...So readers will be spending time at a number of "the 19 strictly regulated bordellos" operating in the state... The first one he found was Samantha...
Most of the other characters with whom Reno gets involved is the many cops in the area in which he's conducting his investigation... which is going quite well, NOT like the police investigation which is going nowhere...In fact, a number of the cops appear to be bad guys and will go on your "possible person of interest" list. So, I'll give you one hint... there's more than one bad guy/killer!!!
So when things were getting tighter and tighter, Dan talks to his friend, who has been doing some police checks for him, and who is a regular in this series, and he comes calling...and also almost gets killed! Yikes!
But why was this young man killed? Heck, in this book, even that is complicated! What's the picture of the Lake for? Well, Dan lost his beloved car as it was moving down the hill toward that lake.
At least he got one of those men who had pushed him over the hill to kill him... Get the feeling that most people didn't want Dan on this investigation?!
One of the small things I like about the book is what happens to the town sheriff... Stanton has covered all bases in the total case and left no strings hanging for us to wonder about. Dan Reno is a character that is so well drawn that you'll think you know him. He's definitely got the drive and methods to get the job done if you needed a PI. And even gets a girl at the end... And then there's Edward who is Dan's contact for his job... He not only turns out to become a friend and more...but Stanton adds a little side scene where Edward gets interested in visiting one of the bordellos that Dan keeps talking about...just to see what it's like, of course...
Enough, this is a hard book to review and not give too much away... There is so much action going that your reading time will automatically speed up to keep pace with how fast Reno is moving! LOL. Crime fiction aficionados, you'll be sorry if you miss this one!
GABixlerReviews
Stanton is the author of five novels, all featuring private investigator Dan Reno and his ex-cop buddy, Cody Gibbons.
He has two boys, whom he joyfully raises with his wife Yvonne, amongst the beautiful desert hills of Palmdale, California.
