Barry Jones' Cold Dinner

Steve Cassidy #1

by John Schlarbaum

In March 1990, after kissing his wife and boys goodbye, Barry Jones departed his small town home and headed to work in the city. He never arrived. Now seven years later, in order to collect his life insurance, Cathy Jones is set to have the courts declare her absentee husband dead once and for all. Enter Private Investigator Steve Cassidy - a man with a checkered past and looking for a second chance. Hired by Global Insurance to take a fresh look at this cold case, Cassidy must try to uncover new clues to Jones’ disappearance. However, with the court date looming, there is precious little time to complete his investigation. In addition to seeking out the truth, Cassidy must overcome another major the skeptical locals in his hometown of Delta, which he left under mysterious circumstances years earlier. Cassidy must also explore his own heart when confronted by his high school sweetheart - the girl he left behind. Like Barry Jones, he too had disappeared without a trace, leaving behind countless unanswered questions. Did he and Jones have more in common than he would like to admit? If so, would the information ultimately help him find his man? Global Insurance was gambling he could, while the good citizens of Delta were wagering he couldn’t. Steve Cassidy, a disgraced ex-cop with a broken soul, had his work cut out for him. He knew this time around, he had one final shot at redemption and could blame no one but himself if he failed to solve his first big case.

Genres: Mystery, Adult Fiction

306 pages, paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

John Schlarbaum was raised in the small town of West Lorne in Southwestern Ontario. After graduating from a respected Television Broadcasting Program, he worked in the television industry for several years. It was during this period he began his professional writing career while working as a Field Director and Writer for several nationally syndicated daily television programs. He has also been a licenced Private Investigator for over 17 years.

Reviews

[Edmond Gagnon]

Barry Jones' Cold dinner will easily satisfy your reading appetite.
The only thing wrong with this book is that the author's surname is harder to pronounce than mine.
I met John and swapped this book for one of my own at a local store where he was doing a book signing.
Personally, I struggled a bit to get into the story, but the compelling characters grabbed me by the hand and showed me the way. By the half-way mark I was convinced that the big names like Grisholm and Patterson have nothing on this aspiring local author. It's a great story!
Well done John!

[Michael Drakich]

The first novel in the Steve Cassidy mystery series, this one sets out early to establish the protagonist, Steve Cassidy, a once failed vice squad police officer now turned private investigator. The author does a very commendable job on delving into the psyche of his protagonist giving the reader a great opportunity to emote with the character. This is the driving force behind the first couple of chapters in the novel and quite enjoyable ones at that.
There is a very large sub-plot to the story involving his relationships with the women in his life. Much is spent with the protagonist trying to sort out which way he should go and why. This is an excellent sup-plot that helps drive the novel.
It is only the main story when Steve starts to do his job to ascertain the whereabouts of Barry Jones where I have moments wondering as to what is going on. For example, he hides his file on the case in his motel room. One would think he would want that file with him at all times. When he discovers his room has been broken into, but his files have gone unnoticed, rather than move them to a safe place he lets them stay where they are hidden. Another incident that had me scratching my head dealt with his receiving a video showing short clips taken by the news camera man that might help in solving the case. Instead of viewing at his earliest opportunity, he puts the video, with the hidden file, away for several days.
There are a couple of cliches in here that disappointed me. First off, the local small town policeman who hated the protagonist - fat, stupid, and bent on the protagonists demise despite his job. Then there is the culprit giving a detailed description and admittance of his crime to the protagonist. Really? It stretched the credulity of the story.
Still, all in all, I found the read easy, relatively enjoyable, and, outside of the crime solving, engaging. The author has all the other aspects of a good novel in place, it's only the main plot that needs an upgrade. Because that is the crux of the novel I can only give this 3.5 stars, but as there are no half star measures, I rounded up to four. After all, this is the author's first mystery novel. I'll grant him the benefit of the learning curve and be willing to commend him on all the aspects and round my rating up.

[Cindy Wiedemer]

I have to say how pleasantly surprised I was my this book. The title honestly threw me off, and I really had trouble recalling why on earth I would ever choose such a book. Then I happily noticed it is written by a Canadian author. Then as I dove in, the writing was so well done. The mystery of the book kept me guessing, going back and forth between what I thought the truth was. I did have difficulty with recalling who didferent characters were, but ultimately didnt take away from the book. I enjoyed the details and descriptions were kept light and simple. I had difficulty from the start to finish of the book to put it down. The only reason I couldn't give it 5 stars was due to the frequent spelling errors, typos and incorrect words, spelt correctly ao were not picked up as being wrong. While some may argue this doesn't take away from a book and its overall story, I would tend to agree if I found one or two, but this was frequently and in the end detracted from the story and became a distraction. I do however recommend this book.

[Anne]

I really enjoyed this book! The mystery and clues were great and I liked involvement with the reporter.

This was the third Steve Cassidy mystery I read, even though it is supposed to be the first. Steve Cassidy is interesting, and I like how his backstory is still a bit of a mystery in the first book.

My one critique is that I don't like the women in these mysteries. Most of them seem to move the plot sexually and are not as outstanding characters as the males.

Overall, definitely a great mystery! But my favourite is still his third Steve Cassidy mystery.

(The man yelling at Cassidy over the muffins was hilarious.)

[Susan]

Humour, home-coming, old high school friends (and enemies), mayhem, and romance all work together in this mystery.

[Rick Wilkinson]

A great book. A worthy read.

[Lori]

Barry Jones' Cold Dinner is an intriguing novel with the flavour of those 40's mysteries. The mystery is tight and leaves you guessing right to the very end. I have no doubt that Schlarbaum's Steve Cassidy will stand tall beside Robert Parker's Spencer and Robert Crais' Elvis Cole. Great book - can't wait for the sequel.

[Dale Moore]

Worth the time spent! If you've ever been through a small town, it could be the place this mystery takes place. A well crafted story with good characterizations. I haven't read a lot of first person narrative stories and haven't attempted to write this way myself, so I found that aspect interesting and well done.

[Laura]

Steve Cassidy is very entertaining.

[Anita]

This book had it's good parts. Took a bit to get in your it, but it kept me reading. Local author....