Harry Starke by Blair Howard


Harry Starke
by Blair Howard
GENRE: Mystery/Crime Fiction

It's midnight on a cold and snowy night in January when a beautiful young girl, Tabitha Willard, 
throws herself off the Walnut Street Bridge. Harry Starke happens to be there. Wrong time, 
wrong place? Maybe. Although he tries, he is unable to stop her.

Thus begins a series of events and an investigation that involves a local United States congressman, a senior lady senator from Boston, a local crime boss, several very nasty individuals, sex, extortion, high finance, and three murders.
Harry has to work his way through a web of deceit and corruption until finally....

Well, as always, there's a twist in the tale, several in fact.

Harry Starke is a big fish in a small pond. He's a tough individual with a past and a conscience. 
He has friends in high places. He’s single, successful, wealthy, a womanizer, well educated, 
and he will hurt you if he needs to. 

This book is the first in the series of Harry Starke novels.


Excerpt:

Now here she was in the wind and the snow, running, frightened, looking back over her 
shoulder, as if she thought she was being chased. Then she tripped, stumbled, almost fell. 

started toward her, but as soon as she saw me, she stopped, put her hands to her mouth, looked desperately about her, then turned, ran to the rail and started to climb.


"No!" I sprinted the few yards that separated us, but I was too late. She was on the rail before I could reach her. She looked wildly around, first along Walnut and then at me... and then she jumped.
I dived the last couple of yards, my arms outstretched, and I managed to grab the collar 
of that fancy parka with both hands. I slammed into the rail. Man was she heavy?
I hung onto 
the fabric, hauled on it as hard as I could, but it wasn't enough. She simply threw her arms over her head, slipped out of it, and down she went.
I barely heard the splash over the noise of the 
wind howling through the ironwork above. 
I leaned over the rail, looked down. Nothing, just the white caps on the river some eighty feet below. She wouldn't last more than a few minutes in those icy waters,
always supposing she'd survived the fall.




Starting out with the true gritty hardcore noir feel of a classic detective novel, the reader experiences this story with every sense. Harry Starke was a good cop. He is an even better P.I. The rules no longer apply. Freedom allows him greater leverage to pursue truth.

That is not to say he doesn't value his ties to the force, specifically one hot female Lieutenant, with whom he has more than a professional relationship. Harry likes to feel in control. He enjoys having things his way, on his terms. So when he finds himself in the very wrong place at a horribly wrong time, he has a hard time dealing with how it makes him feel.

This is a book about crime and deceit on many levels. It is about becoming aware of what you'd prefer not to see, and figuring out how to deal with change. The reader is only informed of necessary facts at the same time as Harry learns them. We feel Harry's gut emotions and conflict.

He feels responsible for something he had no personal influence over.
His sense of value won't let him quit until the job is done.
This first book in the series sets the bar high for author Blair Howard.

I did receive this book in exchange for an unbiased review.



Blair Howard was born and raised in England. He writes sweeping historical epics, and is the 
author of four historical novels, with a fifth due to be released at the end of July this year:
Be on 
the lookout for Three Days in Hell: a Novel of the American Civil War
His current novels are: Chickamauga: a Novel of the American Civil War; The Mule Soldiers: a Novel of the American Civil War; The Chase: a Novel of the American Civil War: and Comanche: a Novel of the Old West. 

His new book, Harry Starke, mystery novel will be available on September 4, 2015
All of 
Blair's books are available on Amazon as eBooks or Paperbacks.

Blair is also a travel writer and professional photographer specializing in golf travel, vacation 
travel, and golf course photography. His travels take him throughout the United States, Europe 
and the Caribbean playing golf, writing about his experiences, and photographing the golf courses
he visits. You can follow him on About.com here: http://abt.cm/1zoDpei.


Blair is the author of more than 40 books and more than 4,500 magazine, newspaper, and web 
articles. His work has appeared in many national and international publications, including 
Delta's Sky Magazine, PHOTOgraphic magazine, The Mail on Sunday, The Walking Magazine, 
Petersen's Hunting Magazine, The Boston Herald, The Detroit Free-Press, The Anchorage 
Times and many more.

Visit Blair's blog: http://bit.ly/1KA0CCR

Blair's Website is: http://bit.ly/1zBru1C

Follow Blair on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/blairhowardbooks

On Twitter @bcwhoward

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Starke-Novels-Book-ebook/dp/B0153VEA6K/





Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for visiting.
I love to hear comments
and like to visit you back.

Popular posts from this blog

Three Days To Forever ~ Lauren Carr

A Fanciful Twist's 8th Annual Virtual MAD TEA Party Extra special, as it is the 150th anniversary of Alice in Wonderland ♥

Alicia Connected: Tricked with Treats by Derek Fisher