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Andy Veracruz Mystery #2
Island Casualty
An island paradise, a lost engagement ring, and a midnight chase add up to Island Casualty!
When Andy Veracruz flies to Greece for a holiday, the California native expects to spend afternoons swimming and nights making love. After all his confusions in Mariachi Meddler, he deserves a break! But at an outdoor café, he meets a fellow traveler who accidentally leaves behind a package. Before Andy can return it, the man disappears.
Andy tries to enjoy the rest of his vacation, but after he and Rachel are run off the road by a determined motorist, the musician starts doing undercover work by playing in a bouzouki band. Soon he realizes that he’s not safe anywhere on the island. While he’s around, his friends aren’t safe either! He vows not to take any more vacations, but how can he uncover the truth so that he can make his escape?
The light-hearted mystery is also a primer for readers interested in the basics of bouzouki music, the form of Greek folk music popular throughout the mainland as well as the Greek islands.
When Andy Veracruz flies to Greece for a holiday, the California native expects to spend afternoons swimming and nights making love. After all his confusions in Mariachi Meddler, he deserves a break! But at an outdoor café, he meets a fellow traveler who accidentally leaves behind a package. Before Andy can return it, the man disappears.
Andy tries to enjoy the rest of his vacation, but after he and Rachel are run off the road by a determined motorist, the musician starts doing undercover work by playing in a bouzouki band. Soon he realizes that he’s not safe anywhere on the island. While he’s around, his friends aren’t safe either! He vows not to take any more vacations, but how can he uncover the truth so that he can make his escape?
The light-hearted mystery is also a primer for readers interested in the basics of bouzouki music, the form of Greek folk music popular throughout the mainland as well as the Greek islands.
242 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
2 people are currently reading
320 people want to read
About the author
D.R. Ransdell
14 books49 followersD.R. Ransdell performs in a mariachi band where zealous customers, scheming musicians, and jealous spouses provide countless plots for the Andy Veracruz Mysteries. She also writes travel-themed fiction about the Campanello sisters. Her musical memoir is a tell-all about how she learned to play mariachi music. Yes, the names were changed to protect the guilty!
More recently, she set Party Wine in her cousins' village in the Old Country (Italy). She's about to release Dervla Alarms the Nanas, a Tucson-based mystery in which a young woman teams up with two nanas to solve domestic crimes.
D.R. resides in Tucson where she can swim outside all year long--and play pickleball! She’s currently drafting a mystery that takes place in Lugano, a beautiful Swiss lake town. To pay for plane tickets, she teaches first-year writing at the University of Arizona. https://www.dr-ransdell.com
Andy Veracruz Mysteries:
MARIACHI MEDDLER
ISLAND CASUALTY
DIZZY IN DURANGO
SUBSTITUTE SOLOIST
--
Travel-themed fiction:
AMIROSIAN NIGHTS (Greece)
THAI TWIST (Thai Twist)
--
Musical Memoir:
SECRETS OF A MARIACHI VIOLINIST
Cat Poetry:
THE SECRET LIVES OF THE PINK HOUSE CATS
More recently, she set Party Wine in her cousins' village in the Old Country (Italy). She's about to release Dervla Alarms the Nanas, a Tucson-based mystery in which a young woman teams up with two nanas to solve domestic crimes.
D.R. resides in Tucson where she can swim outside all year long--and play pickleball! She’s currently drafting a mystery that takes place in Lugano, a beautiful Swiss lake town. To pay for plane tickets, she teaches first-year writing at the University of Arizona. https://www.dr-ransdell.com
Andy Veracruz Mysteries:
MARIACHI MEDDLER
ISLAND CASUALTY
DIZZY IN DURANGO
SUBSTITUTE SOLOIST
--
Travel-themed fiction:
AMIROSIAN NIGHTS (Greece)
THAI TWIST (Thai Twist)
--
Musical Memoir:
SECRETS OF A MARIACHI VIOLINIST
Cat Poetry:
THE SECRET LIVES OF THE PINK HOUSE CATS
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 3, 2014
sland Casualty is the second Andy Veracrus mystery. Invited to visit a friend who is working in a cafe on a Greek Island, Andy decides to go. Maybe the woman who invited him, can help him forgot the one he could not save.(see Mariachi Murders Book 1). Expecting a nice quiet relaxing vacation what he finds is anything but that.
Secret engagements, angry police chief, crazy mothers, a dead professor and a failed suicide. Andy Vercruz,amatuer detective and savior of everyone but himself is soon involved in it all. Life on the small island in Greece is so much different than life in Squid Bay and justice is not always black and white.
I love the characters here and the descriptions make the scenes jump off the page.When you read a book and the scenes unroll in front of you like a movie, then you know there is something good.
This is the second of the Any Veracruz mysteries and I look forward to more.
Secret engagements, angry police chief, crazy mothers, a dead professor and a failed suicide. Andy Vercruz,amatuer detective and savior of everyone but himself is soon involved in it all. Life on the small island in Greece is so much different than life in Squid Bay and justice is not always black and white.
I love the characters here and the descriptions make the scenes jump off the page.When you read a book and the scenes unroll in front of you like a movie, then you know there is something good.
This is the second of the Any Veracruz mysteries and I look forward to more.
December 25, 2020
I think I'm becoming addicted to Andy Veracruz novels.
Island Casualty takes place on an island in Greece, and Ransdell captures the place and the culture vividly. After blowing up his life in California, unemployed Andy travels to Greece to visit Rachel, a fellow musician with whom he could have a genuine relationship if he was willing to drop his barriers. The minute he gets off the ferry to the island, he meets a man who drops a package and disappears. As usual, Andy cannot rest until he rights the situation, making himself a target for attempted murder. The characters are engaging and it is interesting to watch his relationship with Rachel stutter along. The plotting is excellent. It kept throwing me new wrinkles all the way to the climax.
Island Casualty takes place on an island in Greece, and Ransdell captures the place and the culture vividly. After blowing up his life in California, unemployed Andy travels to Greece to visit Rachel, a fellow musician with whom he could have a genuine relationship if he was willing to drop his barriers. The minute he gets off the ferry to the island, he meets a man who drops a package and disappears. As usual, Andy cannot rest until he rights the situation, making himself a target for attempted murder. The characters are engaging and it is interesting to watch his relationship with Rachel stutter along. The plotting is excellent. It kept throwing me new wrinkles all the way to the climax.
May 28, 2016
Description: Andy Veracruz desperately needing a vacation accepts an invitation from a new friend to visit her in her home on a Greek island. His vacation should have consisted of swimming by day and visiting the taverna at night to hear the wonderful music of his friend. However, his trip doesn't go as planned and his life is threatened numerous times. He seems to be the only one concerned about the man who turned up dead on the first day of his trip, but that concern may just be the end of him.
In Short: This is a well paced mystery novel that goes as follows: it starts with excellent character development, then the plot takes an intriguing twist and you find yourself getting more and more curious as the story progresses, then it gets exciting and full of action, finally the mystery is solved in a whirlwind of surprises.
Pros: The book is so descriptive and the characters are so well crafted that I completely lost myself in it by the middle. This is the first book that has so thoroughly sucked me in that I felt like everything was real. Even the conversations were genuine, especially between Rachel and Andy. In real life men and women often have a way of talking to each other where they aren't really understanding each other, it can be difficult to communicate and so much gets left unsaid. That is how this book is. It isn't phony, where everyone says the right things, makes grand romantic gestures and lives happily ever after. No, this book is real, from start to finish. I'm dying to know what happens between our heroes, Andy and Rachel, in the next book of the series.
Another great thing about this book is that it is a perfect stand-alone! You do not need to read the first book to know what is going on and you do not get left on a cliffhanger at the end. The conclusion is solid and satisfying and the only cliffhanger is what will Andy's life be like now, and what will Rachel do next. The mystery wraps up nicely and is almost suspenseful in its reveal. I was definitely happy with the resolution and didn't see that ending coming.
I'm blown away by the overall quality and fascinating story in this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery.
Parent's Guide: There are sexual references but the sex scenes are not described with any detail. Some violence (shooting guns), mild language.
I was sent a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.
In Short: This is a well paced mystery novel that goes as follows: it starts with excellent character development, then the plot takes an intriguing twist and you find yourself getting more and more curious as the story progresses, then it gets exciting and full of action, finally the mystery is solved in a whirlwind of surprises.
Pros: The book is so descriptive and the characters are so well crafted that I completely lost myself in it by the middle. This is the first book that has so thoroughly sucked me in that I felt like everything was real. Even the conversations were genuine, especially between Rachel and Andy. In real life men and women often have a way of talking to each other where they aren't really understanding each other, it can be difficult to communicate and so much gets left unsaid. That is how this book is. It isn't phony, where everyone says the right things, makes grand romantic gestures and lives happily ever after. No, this book is real, from start to finish. I'm dying to know what happens between our heroes, Andy and Rachel, in the next book of the series.
Another great thing about this book is that it is a perfect stand-alone! You do not need to read the first book to know what is going on and you do not get left on a cliffhanger at the end. The conclusion is solid and satisfying and the only cliffhanger is what will Andy's life be like now, and what will Rachel do next. The mystery wraps up nicely and is almost suspenseful in its reveal. I was definitely happy with the resolution and didn't see that ending coming.
I'm blown away by the overall quality and fascinating story in this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery.
Parent's Guide: There are sexual references but the sex scenes are not described with any detail. Some violence (shooting guns), mild language.
I was sent a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.
May 28, 2016
Description: Andy Veracruz desperately needing a vacation accepts an invitation from a new friend to visit her in her home on a Greek island. His vacation should have consisted of swimming by day and visiting the taverna at night to hear the wonderful music of his friend. However, his trip doesn't go as planned and his life is threatened numerous times. He seems to be the only one concerned about the man who turned up dead on the first day of his trip, but that concern may just be the end of him.
In Short: This is a well paced mystery novel that goes as follows: it starts with excellent character development, then the plot takes an intriguing twist and you find yourself getting more and more curious as the story progresses, then it gets exciting and full of action, finally the mystery is solved in a whirlwind of surprises.
Pros: The book is so descriptive and the characters are so well crafted that I completely lost myself in it by the middle. This is the first book that has so thoroughly sucked me in that I felt like everything was real. Even the conversations were genuine, especially between Rachel and Andy. In real life men and women often have a way of talking to each other where they aren't really understanding each other, it can be difficult to communicate and so much gets left unsaid. That is how this book is. It isn't phony, where everyone says the right things, makes grand romantic gestures and lives happily ever after. No, this book is real, from start to finish. I'm dying to know what happens between our heroes, Andy and Rachel, in the next book of the series.
Another great thing about this book is that it is a perfect stand-alone! You do not need to read the first book to know what is going on and you do not get left on a cliffhanger at the end. The conclusion is solid and satisfying and the only cliffhanger is what will Andy's life be like now, and what will Rachel do next. The mystery wraps up nicely and is almost suspenseful in its reveal. I was definitely happy with the resolution and didn't see that ending coming.
I'm blown away by the overall quality and fascinating story in this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery.
Parent's Guide: There are sexual references but the sex scenes are not described with any detail. Some violence (shooting guns), mild language.
I was sent a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.
More at: ODBookReviews.blogspot.com
In Short: This is a well paced mystery novel that goes as follows: it starts with excellent character development, then the plot takes an intriguing twist and you find yourself getting more and more curious as the story progresses, then it gets exciting and full of action, finally the mystery is solved in a whirlwind of surprises.
Pros: The book is so descriptive and the characters are so well crafted that I completely lost myself in it by the middle. This is the first book that has so thoroughly sucked me in that I felt like everything was real. Even the conversations were genuine, especially between Rachel and Andy. In real life men and women often have a way of talking to each other where they aren't really understanding each other, it can be difficult to communicate and so much gets left unsaid. That is how this book is. It isn't phony, where everyone says the right things, makes grand romantic gestures and lives happily ever after. No, this book is real, from start to finish. I'm dying to know what happens between our heroes, Andy and Rachel, in the next book of the series.
Another great thing about this book is that it is a perfect stand-alone! You do not need to read the first book to know what is going on and you do not get left on a cliffhanger at the end. The conclusion is solid and satisfying and the only cliffhanger is what will Andy's life be like now, and what will Rachel do next. The mystery wraps up nicely and is almost suspenseful in its reveal. I was definitely happy with the resolution and didn't see that ending coming.
I'm blown away by the overall quality and fascinating story in this book and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good mystery.
Parent's Guide: There are sexual references but the sex scenes are not described with any detail. Some violence (shooting guns), mild language.
I was sent a free copy of this book in return for my honest review.
More at: ODBookReviews.blogspot.com
April 1, 2016
I hadn't read the first novel in the Andy Veracruz Mystery Series, but I didn't find myself lost at all. In fact, after reading Island Casualty I am quite interested in reading the earlier book. Right away I was engaged in the story, invested in the main character, and quite smitten with the setting. The Greek island "paradise" where D.R. Ransdell places the story had me checking the price on plane tickets before I finished the book.
Rachael, the main character's love interest, was just as sexy and enticing as the setting but both were subordinate to Andy's internal struggles and the compelling mystery that pulls him through the story. My only criticism is that after the first 200 pages, which slowed from the mystery only occasionally to tantalize the reader with island life and island lovemaking, the last 50 pages seemed to take a bit slower pace. While it might have been 5 or 10 pages shorter to maintain that earlier heart-pumping pace, the climax and resolution were quite satisfying and well worth the read.
If you're up for a good mystery, check this one out. I'll be looking into the other books in the series.
Rachael, the main character's love interest, was just as sexy and enticing as the setting but both were subordinate to Andy's internal struggles and the compelling mystery that pulls him through the story. My only criticism is that after the first 200 pages, which slowed from the mystery only occasionally to tantalize the reader with island life and island lovemaking, the last 50 pages seemed to take a bit slower pace. While it might have been 5 or 10 pages shorter to maintain that earlier heart-pumping pace, the climax and resolution were quite satisfying and well worth the read.
If you're up for a good mystery, check this one out. I'll be looking into the other books in the series.
July 5, 2018
This is the second book in the Andy Veracruz Mystery series. I enjoyed the first one so much that when this Indie Author made the second one available, I was more than willing to jump back into Andy’s world. Andy has been invited by Rachel, a fellow musician to visit an island in Greece. Andy is a bit of a commitment phobic but after the first book’s adventures has decided he needs a vacation. Upon arriving at the island, early, he has coffee with a fellow traveler. Seems pretty bland, right – well hardly. When the fellow traveler is found dead – Andy’s on another adventure leaving the idea of a relaxing vacation behind. An interesting and many layered Police Chief, and Rachel’s housemates add to the story depth in an intriguing way.
This author has the ability to bring the music into the story. In this case bouzouki music, sweetens the story. Basically cozy with a twist – if you are looking for all the things you love about cozy mysteries but want a little something different – this book is for you.
This author has the ability to bring the music into the story. In this case bouzouki music, sweetens the story. Basically cozy with a twist – if you are looking for all the things you love about cozy mysteries but want a little something different – this book is for you.
July 22, 2014
I won this book through Goodreads First Reads. I have not read the first book in this series, but still enjoyed this one. First of all, it is set in Greece, a place I would love to visit some day. And second, I am always up for a good mystery. This story is about Andy Veracruz, a mariachi player. He goes on vacation, expecting rest and relaxation, but instead finds murder and mayhem. He becomes enmeshed in life on the Greek island of Amiros, and discovers that what he knows about right and wrong doesn't seem to apply here. All in all, a very good story, the author draws you in with her unique way of story-telling. I could almost picture the scenes as if I was watching a movie instead. I probably would have gotten a little more out of this book if I had read the first story, but I still enjoyed it very much. I do recommend this book if you would like a relaxing beach read, and I will be looking for more from D.R. Ransdel! Thank you!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews