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Detective Lessons
Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Schmidt is trying to get used to working Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach, an assignment forced on him after arresting the son of a commanding officer. A wealthy boater asks Schmitty for a personal find his missing son. Schmitty reluctantly accepts out of curiosity….and boredom.
He isn’t bored for long. Schmitty reluctantly teams up with Megan McCann, an attractive private investigator with her own set of rules. Finding a body in the trunk of a BMW sends Schmitty and Megan on an adrenalized trail through Southern California unraveling a sophisticated real estate scam. Determined to find the missing heir apparent, but caught in the middle of a shocking web of greed and corruption, Schmitty must figure out how to make justice prevail and who to bring down.
He isn’t bored for long. Schmitty reluctantly teams up with Megan McCann, an attractive private investigator with her own set of rules. Finding a body in the trunk of a BMW sends Schmitty and Megan on an adrenalized trail through Southern California unraveling a sophisticated real estate scam. Determined to find the missing heir apparent, but caught in the middle of a shocking web of greed and corruption, Schmitty must figure out how to make justice prevail and who to bring down.
- GenresMystery
263 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 17, 2014
2 people are currently reading
10 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 15, 2014
Looking for a mystery novel with a charming hero and an intriguing plot, danger galore, and lots of motive for what happens? Add to the mix a beautiful private investigator, a billionaire, and the California coast and you have Detective Lessons.
Schmitty is the star of the story, a cop working harbor patrol which mostly means driving a boat 5 mph around the harbor intercepting drunk and/or stupid boaters to keep them from killing themselves. His partner is a woman on a career track, he is a guy whose future is iffy so he sort of drifts along, living in a loft over a collection of classic cars (not his), with a sort of pie in the sky dream of finding treasure. He's likable and honest, a good guy I cared about.
When he and his partner save the life of an older man, he recognizes him as Mac Whelan, father of a classmate in high school. The next day Whelan calls wanting to hire him to find his missing son. He's only been missing for 24 hours but that just doesn't happen and Whelan doesn't want to involve the police officially, for good reason as we soon discover. Schmitty takes a couple days off to find Jimmy Whelan, then discovers Whelan has also hired a P.I., Megan McCann, to partner with him. Hence, the detective lessons.
As you might imagine, the case turns out to involve more than just Jimmy disappearing, and it puts Schmitty and McCann into serious danger as well. As in all good stories, this one will change Schmitty's life. There are important consequences for everyone involved, so you finish it with satisfaction along with some sadness for the things people do to one another in life.
I hope you'll read Detective Lessons. Bill Larkin is a writer I'll continue to watch for and I kind of hope I'll encounter Schmitty again in a future book.
Highly recommended
Source: Partners in Crime Book Tours
Schmitty is the star of the story, a cop working harbor patrol which mostly means driving a boat 5 mph around the harbor intercepting drunk and/or stupid boaters to keep them from killing themselves. His partner is a woman on a career track, he is a guy whose future is iffy so he sort of drifts along, living in a loft over a collection of classic cars (not his), with a sort of pie in the sky dream of finding treasure. He's likable and honest, a good guy I cared about.
When he and his partner save the life of an older man, he recognizes him as Mac Whelan, father of a classmate in high school. The next day Whelan calls wanting to hire him to find his missing son. He's only been missing for 24 hours but that just doesn't happen and Whelan doesn't want to involve the police officially, for good reason as we soon discover. Schmitty takes a couple days off to find Jimmy Whelan, then discovers Whelan has also hired a P.I., Megan McCann, to partner with him. Hence, the detective lessons.
As you might imagine, the case turns out to involve more than just Jimmy disappearing, and it puts Schmitty and McCann into serious danger as well. As in all good stories, this one will change Schmitty's life. There are important consequences for everyone involved, so you finish it with satisfaction along with some sadness for the things people do to one another in life.
I hope you'll read Detective Lessons. Bill Larkin is a writer I'll continue to watch for and I kind of hope I'll encounter Schmitty again in a future book.
Highly recommended
Source: Partners in Crime Book Tours
September 22, 2016
I was provided a copy of Detective Lessons in exchange for an honest review. The story was interesting and had a lot of potential; but I found it bogged down with a lot of superfluous details. I don’t live in LA, and I am not going to pull out a map to see where they are going, so describing the freeway changes and where they were constantly driving just got annoying. I am a big believer in less is more; if it doesn’t contribute to the story in some point there is no point telling us about it. Then the ending was like a quintessential action movie. I, one, guessed what our hero was going to do before he did it; and two, cringed a bit at the lack of originality.
The mystery was well thought out with a lot of twist and turns that keeps you guessing. There are a lot of different players involved in this missing person’s case. I enjoyed the banter between the two leads, yet at the same time I found Schmitty a contradiction; with all the rules he broke and the excessive force he used, Is he a good cop? It’s questionable in my mind....Sara
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The mystery was well thought out with a lot of twist and turns that keeps you guessing. There are a lot of different players involved in this missing person’s case. I enjoyed the banter between the two leads, yet at the same time I found Schmitty a contradiction; with all the rules he broke and the excessive force he used, Is he a good cop? It’s questionable in my mind....Sara
http://www.boundlessbookreviews.com
https://www.facebook.com/BBReviews
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July 26, 20163 stars. Review to follow on Boundless Book Reviews
May 21, 2015
I admit, I expected this story to fit the tried and tested formula of the complicated relationship between cop-and-partner: one a jaded misfit hanging on by his fingernails, and a principled rogue officer who insists on doing it his way against his superior’s orders.
Kevin ‘Schmitty’ Schmidt is a little jaded with his work in Harbor Patrol, but he’s not burned out neither is he a drunk. He is given the job to appease his superiors for his mistake in arresting a rich kid for drugs possession – not a good career move when the parents have the force in their pockets.
‘Schmitty’ helps rescue a billionaire from his foundering yacht, at which the grateful man employs him to find his missing son, Jimmy. Schmitty last saw Jimmy in high school, but he does things by the book and offers to investigate as an unpaid favour.
Unbeknown to him, Mac Whelan has also hired Megan McCann, a disbarred attorney who’s reinvented herself as a private investigator. They join forces and start looking, but just as things are getting interesting with a real estate scam, and a body found in the trunk of a car, Whelan tells them Jimmy is home, everything is fine and they are both fired.
Neither Schmitty nor Megan are going to give up that easily, and convinced Whelan is lying, they continue digging. They learn that most people involved are more complicated than they first appear, though Schmitty is pragmatic enough to accept that easily, as well as every other situation the investigation throws at him.
I enjoyed the burgeoning relationship between Schmitty and Megan, though was it really necessary that they end up in bed? [yawn]. The background to the plot was clever and credible, though I still wonder why these two put their lives on the line when their employer had not only called them off, but wasn’t paying them. However, the writing style was engaging and fast paced, and kept me reading to the end.
Kevin ‘Schmitty’ Schmidt is a little jaded with his work in Harbor Patrol, but he’s not burned out neither is he a drunk. He is given the job to appease his superiors for his mistake in arresting a rich kid for drugs possession – not a good career move when the parents have the force in their pockets.
‘Schmitty’ helps rescue a billionaire from his foundering yacht, at which the grateful man employs him to find his missing son, Jimmy. Schmitty last saw Jimmy in high school, but he does things by the book and offers to investigate as an unpaid favour.
Unbeknown to him, Mac Whelan has also hired Megan McCann, a disbarred attorney who’s reinvented herself as a private investigator. They join forces and start looking, but just as things are getting interesting with a real estate scam, and a body found in the trunk of a car, Whelan tells them Jimmy is home, everything is fine and they are both fired.
Neither Schmitty nor Megan are going to give up that easily, and convinced Whelan is lying, they continue digging. They learn that most people involved are more complicated than they first appear, though Schmitty is pragmatic enough to accept that easily, as well as every other situation the investigation throws at him.
I enjoyed the burgeoning relationship between Schmitty and Megan, though was it really necessary that they end up in bed? [yawn]. The background to the plot was clever and credible, though I still wonder why these two put their lives on the line when their employer had not only called them off, but wasn’t paying them. However, the writing style was engaging and fast paced, and kept me reading to the end.
January 10, 2015
If you enjoy mystery novels, this book will definitely keep you guessing the entire time. Though it started out slow, the case Schmitty and Megan got themselves involved in had so many unexpected twists that I was drawn in and hooked until the end. Their relationship has a romantic side but most of their development is that of a friendship, which I appreciated. Where so many books draw out the sexual chemistry between two characters, this book was able to approach this attraction but didn't make it the main focus and the two were still able to have a functioning work relationship without 'feelings' getting involved.
What I didn't like were the parts when Megan would describe something and Schmitty would claim to now know of it due to their age difference. However, I knew all of these references and I'm 10 years younger than Schmitty!! I find this in many books and movies and it really annoys me; it makes it seem like the author has not done research and just assumes his experiences are solely for his own age range. I enjoyed this book but each time I came across a part like this, I inwardly groaned.
Good book for an interesting and quick-paced mystery novel. The characters are enjoyable to get to know, and though the majority of the narrative is from Schmitty's POV, there are several chapters that allow the reader insight into the others' perspectives.
What I didn't like were the parts when Megan would describe something and Schmitty would claim to now know of it due to their age difference. However, I knew all of these references and I'm 10 years younger than Schmitty!! I find this in many books and movies and it really annoys me; it makes it seem like the author has not done research and just assumes his experiences are solely for his own age range. I enjoyed this book but each time I came across a part like this, I inwardly groaned.
Good book for an interesting and quick-paced mystery novel. The characters are enjoyable to get to know, and though the majority of the narrative is from Schmitty's POV, there are several chapters that allow the reader insight into the others' perspectives.
October 16, 2014
Schmitty works for the Harbor Patrol in Orange County California but is not thrilled with his job. He is asked by a real estate mogul to find his son Jimmy and pairs up with Megan, a female Private Investigator, to find his old classmate. This book is filled with action and is well written. I liked both Schmitty and Megan and enjoyed their search for answers as each new clue was found. I would gladly read another book by Bill Larkin and recommend it to those who love detective stories.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews