What Fiction are you reading this week, January 29, 2023?

[yellowdogintexas]

23. decided I needed some fierce action.

Finished one I started last week:
Country Roads by Ernest Dempsey
Dak Harper's search for a pair of stolen artifacts leads a crime ring in a small town.
North Carolina, A thief waits for his buyer to arrive near a vacated rock quarry, but he and his partner get more than they bargained for from a sociopath with a financial stranglehold on the region.

After the artifacts disappear, and a mysterious murder, Dak Harper arrives on the scene to solve both.

His boss, an eccentric young millionaire with a passion for antiquities, has sent him to North Carolina to retrieve the artifacts--a set of Civil War pistols stolen from a museum. The legendary Samuel Colt made the guns for President Abraham Lincoln, but now they've vanished, and Dak only has a short window of time to find them before they're gone forever.

As he tracks his quarry, Dak learns a Southern tycoon’s interests stretch much further than stolen weapons. Turns out he’s holding an entire town hostage at the center of a sprawling crime syndicate. And innocent townsfolk are dying.
Armed with few weapons of his own, Dak must somehow fight through a county full of crooked cops and deadly mercenaries to erase a tyrant whose greed is matched only by his cruelty.

Only then can he find the guns, rescue the town, and maybe save himself.

The bad guy is really really bad!

Currently reading:
Two Nights in Mumbai (also a Dak Harper novel in The Courier series)

When artifacts go missing, there's only one guy to call. And he's the baddest good guy you'll meet.

It seemed like a great way to bank some cash, travel to exciting destinations on his boss’ dime, and keep under the radar of some very bad men trying to kill him.

But Dak has traded one deadly set of problems for another. He might be making bank in his new career, but each country he visits is chock full of entirely new groups of heavily armed men aiming to stop his work and put him in a body bag. Dak might have traded his combat fatigues for jeans and trainers, but he’s still getting shot at for money.

Now in India to save a stolen idol and rescue the Mumbai museum curator protecting it, he’s got to duck Russian mobsters, sidestep an Indian casino boss who wants more than just his time, and distract a local police force who seems to be as incompetent as they are clueless.

If Dak has to keep this up, there’s a good chance this new job is gonna get him killed faster than his old one.

This fast-paced crime thriller with thousands of 5-star reviews by USA Today bestselling author Ernest Dempsey will have you ripping through the pages as Dak Harper races to solve the mystery, recover the artifacts, and save a town from its oppressor.

I also read one of the Pineapple Cove cozies.
Pineapple Mystery Box
When a giant inflatable Halloween witch goes missing in the Pineapple Port retirement community, amateur sleuth Charlotte Morgan’s eager to nab the culprit. But before she can lift a fingerprint, someone threatens to kill a new neighbor who looks like an adorable Pomeranian but possesses a disturbing talent for revenge. Moments later, a stranger demands the return of a mysterious wooden box… or else.

Charlotte's romantic interest, Declan, isn't having a great morning either. His calculating ex-girlfriend has returned to claim she's the rightful owner of his pawn shop. She’s livid he’s found a new lady, and she is not the sort of person you want angry at you…

Eh. Things could be worse. At least Charlotte doesn’t know that a mojito-swilling killer is on his way to Pineapple Port…

This is a long series; I have been able to catch a large number of them on sale via the discount vendors. Throughout the series, you find serial killers, crazy ex-girlfriends, loving dogs, romance, government operatives, FBI agents, danger... and a cast of characters almost as funny as they are loving, supportive and brave. The series appeals to men and women.

If Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum and the Golden Girls had a baby, it would be the Pineapple Port series!