To Kill A Conman was written by Kevin Berry and published by Quake City Publications in 2021.You may purchase it at Amazon.com/Kindle. Visit the author on Amazon, Facebook and Twitter.
Stuart Baker makes a lot of dough from conning people. He always has a scheme or a scam on the go. His enemies outnumber his friends, but Baker doesn’t care about that. Crime pays too well.
His new girlfriend suspects his money is dirty. A business rival wants to take over his club. Baker’s latest victims want revenge. Private investigator Danny Ashford is closing in on the scammer who hacked his bank card. But he also has another problem—his new neighbour asked him to have a word with her sleazy boss. Determined to help her out and give the man a scare, Danny’s about to discover that telling hardened criminals to lay off is not as easy as he thought it would be. Broke and desperate, Danny doesn't think his life can get any worse. Then Baker is found murdered, and Danny becomes the main suspect. With the help of sassy reporter Deepa Banwait, Danny must prove his innocence before the police lock him up and throw away the key…
The main character, Danny Ashford is a determined P. I. but he is also not without his flaws and because of a few mistakes he has made, he finds himself in the clutches of the law when he is fingered as a suspect in the murder of a conman. Stuart Baker is cunning and very successful at scamming people and even Danny Ashford falls victim to one of Baker’s schemes which also gives him motive to kill. There are several conflicting scenarios that Danny finds himself in and the most compelling one is that, while vigorously trying to eliminate himself as a murder suspect, he also has to investigate the same crime that the police are in a rush to solve. Danny finds himself down on his luck with very few monetary resources and while being pursued by a very demanding landlord for back rent and other restless clients who want closure to their cases, the story erupts in humor as Danny tries to pacify and outwit his pursuers while keeping his nose to the ground for clues in the murder.
And while I'm not a huge fan of crime noirs, I decided to give this one a go. I was not disappointed. The story flows nicely and the author knows his craft; artfully applying his abilities to create interesting characters and at the same time he presents a twisting, enjoyable plot which is easily read and suspenseful.
As I mentioned, the characters are interesting, and the story held my interest from the beginning. Kevin Berry is an accomplished author, has published other works, and it shows in this one. The final twist in the last scene in the book surprised me and shocked me. Very well done and I look forward to reading more from Mr. Berry. Please keep those stories coming. I loved it!
I give To Kill A Conman 4 out of 5 stars.