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A Carmedy & Garrett Mystery #1
Deadly Legacy
Even in the future, the past can kill you...
In 2018, rookie detective Kate Garrett lives in the shadow of her near-legendary father Joe. When Joe dies unexpectedly, he leaves Kate half interest in Garrett Investigations, his last case that ties to three murders, a partner she can't stand and a legacy to live up to.
Jake Carmedy has lost a partner, mentor and friend, but grief will come later. First, he has a case to solve, one that has detoured from a simple insurance case to a murder investigation. If that isn’t enough, Joe’s daughter seems to want to take her father’s place as his boss.
No matter how hard they try, Carmedy and Garrett can't avoid each other--and they might be next on a killer's list.
In 2018, rookie detective Kate Garrett lives in the shadow of her near-legendary father Joe. When Joe dies unexpectedly, he leaves Kate half interest in Garrett Investigations, his last case that ties to three murders, a partner she can't stand and a legacy to live up to.
Jake Carmedy has lost a partner, mentor and friend, but grief will come later. First, he has a case to solve, one that has detoured from a simple insurance case to a murder investigation. If that isn’t enough, Joe’s daughter seems to want to take her father’s place as his boss.
No matter how hard they try, Carmedy and Garrett can't avoid each other--and they might be next on a killer's list.
- GenresMystery
186 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2012
About the author
Alison Bruce E.
6 books66 followersAlison Bruce writes history, mystery and suspense. Her books combine clever mysteries, well-researched backgrounds and a touch of romance. Her protagonists are marked by their strength of character, sense of humour and the ability to adapt (sooner or later) to new situations. Four of her novels have been finalists for genre awards.
Copywriter, editor and graphic designer since 1992, Alison has also been a small press publisher and website designer. She was Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada (2017-2023), and CWC's Awards Administrator (2010-2017). Now she is mostly retired except for writing fiction.
Yes there is another author named Alison Bruce who lives in Cambridge, UK. They are often confused, except by each other.
Copywriter, editor and graphic designer since 1992, Alison has also been a small press publisher and website designer. She was Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada (2017-2023), and CWC's Awards Administrator (2010-2017). Now she is mostly retired except for writing fiction.
Yes there is another author named Alison Bruce who lives in Cambridge, UK. They are often confused, except by each other.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 7, 2012
Detective Kate Garrett’s tumultuous professional world is forced on the backburner when her father suddenly dies. Joe Garrett was a private investigator working a fairly routine case when killed in a car accident. But was it an accident? His partner, Jake Carmedy, has questions, but is reluctant to involve Kate with his concerns. He and Kate haven’t gotten along in a long time, and he’s not convinced things will change things now.
Deadly Legacy is a compelling story of loss, deception, and finding one’s place in a world where change is fast and unwelcome. Set in 2018, Alison Bruce has a created an intelligent plot in an intriguing environment. Her smooth writing style and fast-paced scenes immerse the reader into complicated lives filled with grudges. Best of all, Kate Garrett is a sensible professional blessed with a welcome mix of brains and heart, and she might have met her match in the handsome and uncertain Jake. The potential for a hot sizzling romance is there, and I can’t wait for this duo to pair up for more crime solving adventures.
Deadly Legacy is a compelling story of loss, deception, and finding one’s place in a world where change is fast and unwelcome. Set in 2018, Alison Bruce has a created an intelligent plot in an intriguing environment. Her smooth writing style and fast-paced scenes immerse the reader into complicated lives filled with grudges. Best of all, Kate Garrett is a sensible professional blessed with a welcome mix of brains and heart, and she might have met her match in the handsome and uncertain Jake. The potential for a hot sizzling romance is there, and I can’t wait for this duo to pair up for more crime solving adventures.
April 27, 2012
Deadly Legacy is a masterful who-done-it mystery. The suspects are many. The characters are all well developed, and the dual protagonists are extremely engaging. You have to like the hints of romance to come as the series progresses. The book is subtitled “A Carmedy & Garrett Mystery,” which I take a promise of more C&G mysteries to come. I hope not to be kept waiting long.
May 8, 2012
Deadly Legacy is an honest to goodness Mystery patterned after early mystery writers Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Edgar Allan Poe. The story, however, is set on 21st century Canadian soil. Putting a finger on the genre is tricky: Mystery/Police Procedural/Sci-Fi/touch of Romance. Maybe.
The main characters, police detective Kate Garrett and private eye Jake Carmedy have one thing in common: Kate’s father. Wait, two things - they don’t much like each other. Or do they? Their working relationship reflects neither Scully & Mulder nor Bones & Booth. Theirs is a unique non-partnership, with plenty of potential.
This Police Procedural is written with attention to well-researched detail of law enforcement technique. The “whodunit” mystery portion of the novel is laid out with thought provoking precision. Evident throughout the story is author Alison Bruce’s first hand knowledge of Canadian life and her artistic talent for storytelling.
As the story unfolds, Kate Garrett must guard her emotions while she determines the cause of her father’s death. Did someone arrange to have him killed, or was police officer turned private investigator Joe Garrett’s death an accident? Kate’s investigation leads her to several potential suspects, a disturbing underground drug activity, and plenty of unanswered questions.
Joe Garrett’s partner in Garrett Investigations is Jake Carmedy. With Joe dead, Jake’s job is in limbo; he is now half-owner of a company that may have no future. He continues the investigation into three murders that Joe started and was working on the day he died. Jake’s case holds clues to the investigation opened by Kate Garrett, who is the other half-owner of Garrett Investigations.
Deadly Legacy is another of those first-in-a-mystery-series novels I look forward to following.
The main characters, police detective Kate Garrett and private eye Jake Carmedy have one thing in common: Kate’s father. Wait, two things - they don’t much like each other. Or do they? Their working relationship reflects neither Scully & Mulder nor Bones & Booth. Theirs is a unique non-partnership, with plenty of potential.
This Police Procedural is written with attention to well-researched detail of law enforcement technique. The “whodunit” mystery portion of the novel is laid out with thought provoking precision. Evident throughout the story is author Alison Bruce’s first hand knowledge of Canadian life and her artistic talent for storytelling.
As the story unfolds, Kate Garrett must guard her emotions while she determines the cause of her father’s death. Did someone arrange to have him killed, or was police officer turned private investigator Joe Garrett’s death an accident? Kate’s investigation leads her to several potential suspects, a disturbing underground drug activity, and plenty of unanswered questions.
Joe Garrett’s partner in Garrett Investigations is Jake Carmedy. With Joe dead, Jake’s job is in limbo; he is now half-owner of a company that may have no future. He continues the investigation into three murders that Joe started and was working on the day he died. Jake’s case holds clues to the investigation opened by Kate Garrett, who is the other half-owner of Garrett Investigations.
Deadly Legacy is another of those first-in-a-mystery-series novels I look forward to following.
February 4, 2013
Reviewed from 1st edition ebook
An intricate weaving of a celebration of life and the results of sudden death, this book with its intriguing characters is sure to pull the reader in like a whirlpool. With ingenious plotting, prickly relationships, futuristic technology and bodies dropping like flies, Alison Bruce has a knack for descriptive narrative that breathes life right into the scene. The landscape, streets, murder scenes and characters rich and poor, are all clearly established in the mind. Set in the winter of 2018, there is plenty of opportunity the author to play with technological possibilities.
From the opening scene in a cold muddy field with a rookie cop gathering evidence from the drugged vicious rape of a young girl in the hope of saving her life, to the sudden accidental death of Joe Garrett, the very popular retired ex-cop turned private investigator, and coincidentally the father of Kate, the rookie cop who was working in that muddy field, the story appears to go in many directions, but does it really?
It's been a very difficult and emotional day for Kate and there are many decisions for her to make, not the least of which is whether to remain with the police force or to take over her father's business, as his will splits ownership between Kate and Jake Carmedy, Joe's business partner. Unfortunately, Kate and Jake do not get along, but a hidden undercurrent they aren't aware of seems to promise a hot romance in the future. In the meantime Kate is going to have to take over the current case Joe was working on, as well as pursuing the police case of the now declared murdered girl.
Alison Bruce's writing almost takes on a life of its own as it weaves in and out of these relationships and cases. The murdered girl died of prescription drugs, Joe died from a car accident, while following a man for his protection, a man who claimed he had been threatened. But why was this man threatened? It didn't make sense. Yet bodies and coincidences begin to pile up even while both police and family friends are mourning Joe's death.
When do coincidences become conspiracies? Joe's death seems unrelated, but why do the murders appear to have commonalities? The action is rapid-paced, the suspects are many and unusual, and the story is compelling as it gets deeper into the mystery. It all comes down to a perfectly Agatha Christie-esque finish with all suspects in one room. Yet we are left with the question, are Kate and Jake going to be able to put aside their antagonism? Will they? won't they? Can they make this partnership work? With the ultimately odd backdrop of the Santa Claus parade going by, surely anything can happen!
An intricate weaving of a celebration of life and the results of sudden death, this book with its intriguing characters is sure to pull the reader in like a whirlpool. With ingenious plotting, prickly relationships, futuristic technology and bodies dropping like flies, Alison Bruce has a knack for descriptive narrative that breathes life right into the scene. The landscape, streets, murder scenes and characters rich and poor, are all clearly established in the mind. Set in the winter of 2018, there is plenty of opportunity the author to play with technological possibilities.
From the opening scene in a cold muddy field with a rookie cop gathering evidence from the drugged vicious rape of a young girl in the hope of saving her life, to the sudden accidental death of Joe Garrett, the very popular retired ex-cop turned private investigator, and coincidentally the father of Kate, the rookie cop who was working in that muddy field, the story appears to go in many directions, but does it really?
It's been a very difficult and emotional day for Kate and there are many decisions for her to make, not the least of which is whether to remain with the police force or to take over her father's business, as his will splits ownership between Kate and Jake Carmedy, Joe's business partner. Unfortunately, Kate and Jake do not get along, but a hidden undercurrent they aren't aware of seems to promise a hot romance in the future. In the meantime Kate is going to have to take over the current case Joe was working on, as well as pursuing the police case of the now declared murdered girl.
Alison Bruce's writing almost takes on a life of its own as it weaves in and out of these relationships and cases. The murdered girl died of prescription drugs, Joe died from a car accident, while following a man for his protection, a man who claimed he had been threatened. But why was this man threatened? It didn't make sense. Yet bodies and coincidences begin to pile up even while both police and family friends are mourning Joe's death.
When do coincidences become conspiracies? Joe's death seems unrelated, but why do the murders appear to have commonalities? The action is rapid-paced, the suspects are many and unusual, and the story is compelling as it gets deeper into the mystery. It all comes down to a perfectly Agatha Christie-esque finish with all suspects in one room. Yet we are left with the question, are Kate and Jake going to be able to put aside their antagonism? Will they? won't they? Can they make this partnership work? With the ultimately odd backdrop of the Santa Claus parade going by, surely anything can happen!
June 13, 2013
Old-fashioned mystery worth reading
I finished this excellent book months ago and feel remiss that I didn't write a review until now. I love a good old-fashioned mystery and this one struck a chord with me. Kate Garret is a savvy heroine trying to live up to the legend of her famous father, while Jake Carmedy is not quite the partner she had in mind for her inherited half of the private investigating business. What was her dad thinking?
I enjoyed the romantic tension that built while these two characters learned to work together and found the mystery intriguing. If you love old-fashioned mystery novels, you'll enjoy reading this complicated plot. I hope there will be more adventures in this series.
July 23, 2015
The list of bodies pile up as protagonist Kate Garret comes to grips with a very personal loss. She must find a murdeer before he/she kills again, her life is in danger, and her heart is broken. There is a hint of a love story to come in future Carmedy & Garrett Mysteries.
November 12, 2012
I enjoyed this mystery with just a touch of SciFi. Set just a little in the future it grabbed me and kept me interested to the end.
November 13, 2012
This is a good first book in a series. I hope to see more of Carmedy & Garrett, as I think the characters and their investigative agency have a lot of potential.
November 4, 2017
I was rather disappointed in this; I love the Cambridge series so much, but I found this clunky and annoying in comparison. I think it was partly to do with the fact that there were far too many characters with back-stories that we needed to know about...
Also, the Kindle version doesn't seem to have any section definition within a chapter, so you end up with two completely unconnected paragraphs together. In some cases, the location of the person in one paragraph is different to the previous paragraph; it makes for a lot of re-reading and confusion!
Also, the Kindle version doesn't seem to have any section definition within a chapter, so you end up with two completely unconnected paragraphs together. In some cases, the location of the person in one paragraph is different to the previous paragraph; it makes for a lot of re-reading and confusion!
June 17, 2018
Didn't interest me a whole lot because it dealt with insurance company stuff. This cops dad died and she was to get part of his business . But they suspected his death was no accident. To me a lot of confusion who was who and what they had to do with her dads business.
April 17, 2013
I enjoyed this police procedural set in the not-too-distant future. Cars are electric or hybrid, communications technology is more efficient than what we have in 2013. Besides that, not a whole lot has changed. The main characters, Kate Garrett and Jake Carmedy, are well developed and an interesting contrast. Meaning, they are not particularly fond of each other - though neither is sure why. For the squeamish, rest assured there is no overt sex or graphic violence. Nor is there ever a sense of great urgency or peril. This has the potential for a great series, and it’ll be interesting to see how their relationship develops. In this book there were many characters, who I often confused. Most were not especially memorable or sympathetic. All in all a fast-reading, fun whodunnit.
September 18, 2014
I received this as part of an anthology called Deadly Dozen: 12 Mystery/Thriller Novels by Bestselling Imajin Books Authors in exchange for an honest review.
I was sucked into this cop/private eye murder mystery from the first few pages. A private eye was run down during investigating a case he was working on, but was it a freak accident or were they trying to get rid of him? When his daughter is sucked into dealing with his death she picks up his case and tries to unravel the mystery and solve the case as the bodies pile up. In the meantime she must try to solve her differences with his partner to inherit his legacy.
This is a a great cop/private eye mystery with a lot possible killers on the loose.
I was sucked into this cop/private eye murder mystery from the first few pages. A private eye was run down during investigating a case he was working on, but was it a freak accident or were they trying to get rid of him? When his daughter is sucked into dealing with his death she picks up his case and tries to unravel the mystery and solve the case as the bodies pile up. In the meantime she must try to solve her differences with his partner to inherit his legacy.
This is a a great cop/private eye mystery with a lot possible killers on the loose.
September 17, 2012
I only write reviews of books I really like, and Alison Bruce delivers in DEADLY LEGACY. As an aspiring writer, I look at stories from a structural POV. Bruce's character development/arc's are believable and organic, and the characters are interesting and likeable. I like how the setting plays it's own part, enriching the story, and how the title refers not only to the case Joe was working on, but to his legacy left to his daughter. DEADLY LEGACY crosses many genre lines, yet still provides a satisfying read for fans of various tastes. Two thumbs up!
November 30, 2015
Deadly Legacy is my first book by this author, so I had no idea what to expect. A whodunnit set slightly into the future but written as an old fashioned style mystery. The lead character Kate is a cop turned PI stepping into her deceased father's shoes. The story coasted along smoothly, no real sense of I must read faster to see what happens next. I'd be interested to see where this series goes next and watch the characters develop more as I think it has potential.
June 8, 2013
Set in a near future version of a Canadian city, PI Joe Garrett gets killed in the first part of this book. His daughter, Kate is a police office and not overly found of his employee Jake Carmody. As multiple murders occur, the pair start to learn to work together to solve the cases. The ending leaves me longing for more. When is Carmody & Garrett #2 going to be written & publishes?
Want to Read
September 15, 2012I received a free copy of this eBook from Imajin Books.
September 6, 2014
This book starts with a death of a father the daughter starts to investigate and helps you understand all the characters... it's a ok read.....
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews