Angels Whisper

Nick Bertetto Mystery #2

by Tony Perona

When Nick Bertetto, stay-at-home dad and former investigative reporter, almost hits a homeless man wandering down a highway, he stops to help. While unconscious, the man mumbles, "Cahill wore red." It seems nearly impossible to Nick that the man could know anything about the recent disappearance of State Representative Calvin Cahill, but with Cahill's name prominently in the news, Nick takes a special interest in the homeless man, Elijah Smith. He begins to investigate what Smith says "angels" whisper to him about Cahill. Soon Nick has an assignment to work with his longtime friend, reporter Ryan Lockridge, on the Cahill story. It soon becomes clear that someone doesn't like the progress Nick and Ryan make, as Nick is beaten up and threatened. By the time they figure out that the disappearance is related to gambling legislation, dead bodies are turning up. As Nick struggles to keep the uglier details from his family, the story takes a new twist. Someone he knows - intimately - disappears, giving Nick very little time to find out who wanted Calvin Cahill dead and whether Eli's angels can be trusted. Tony Perona is a former General Motors advertising/public relations manager. After leaving his job to care for his children, he kept up his writing skills by becoming a newspaper correspondent and columnist. Angels Whisper is the second in his series about stay-at-home dad and freelance reporter Nick Bertetto. A University of Chicago MBA graduate, Perona is still something of a stay-at-home dad and lives in the greater Indianapolis area with his wife and two daughters.

335 pages, Hardcover

First published February 21, 2005

About the author

Tony Perona is a former General Motors advertising/public relations manager who became the first man at GM to take the corporation’s two-year leave-of-absence policy to care for his children. While at home he kept up his writing by becoming a newspaper correspondent and columnist. When the company could not reinstate him, he opened his own business, Tony Perona Writing, to service the writing, marketing, and public relations needs of other companies. Perona’s first novel, Second Advent, was labeled a “distinctive first novel” by Publishers Weekly and termed a “winning first novel” by Mystery Scene magazine. The follow-up, Angels Whisper, was cited as “the second in a series to watch” by Booklist. Saintly Remains is the third in the series about stay-at-home dad/freelance reporter Nick Bertetto. Perona also served as co-editor for the mystery anthology Racing Can Be Murder, a series of nineteen short stories revolving around the Indianapolis 500 race. It was a finalist for the 2008 Indiana Book of the Year, fiction division.

Reviews

[Johnjoseph Regino · Rating 5 out of 5]

mystery

[Carolyn Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truthfully, I was more caught up with the logistics of child care than the elements of the plot which at times seemed flimsy.

[Donna Barnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angels Whisper is the second Tony Perona book I read, and even though I liked it, and it read quickly, this one I didn't like as much as the other one. One major reason is that he reused the kidnapping idea to write the ending, and I felt it could have been something else. I realize that his wife needs to show a change, but I thought it could have been done in a variety of ways. The one who ended up to be the murderer seemed very unlikely, and almost a soap opera-type ending, to me. I prefer much more of a realistic situation in the murder mysteries I read. But once again, this reads really quickly, and the characters are believable and at times funny. The opening "rosebud" line didn't pan out to be as important as I thought it was going to be, and that was a big disappointing, as well. So if you are choosing between this one and Saintly Wishes, I'd choose the latter. I plan to read his first book, too, for my book club. And we plan to invite the author to our club for a Q & A session.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was different than what I'm use to reading but that's okay. It was amazing I really liked it. Their was so much action in the book to make me just want to read read read. Which did not happen because of school and work. But any time that I got I would read this book just to know how the ending was going to happen. I gave it one less star because the book took forever to get to the ending and it seemed like that the ending was never going to happen. So I gave it one less star but other than it taking forever I still really think people should read this book. It has some really good background details.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. I hadn't read this Authors books until now. The story wasn't quite what I had expected. I found the characters were interesting but didn't really get into them. Not the best of the best but I gave it a 4 star because of the ending, other wise I would have given it a 3 1/2 if that were an option. I tend to go to the next star up if I feel it should be in the 1/2 range...

[Stacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 1st book I read of this author. It really hooked me. It's a mystery and the ending surprised me. I really liked it and thinking I'm going to try another of this authors books.

[Heather Touw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing mystery. I enjoyed learning how the pieces of the puzzle fit.