ATOMIC NIGHT

A California private eye puts
himself and others in peril while digging into a triple-murder cold case in
this first installment of a thriller series.

Chad Kidd, a former Palm Springs cop-turned-private
investigator, looks into the murder of Chloe Nelson from four years ago. She
was the teenage daughter of Kidd’s former colleague Phil Nelson, a retired
lieutenant. Firefighters found the charred remains of Chloe; her mother (and Phil’s
ex-wife), Diana; and Diana’s boyfriend, Dan Brady, at a house fire, though all
three were dead from gunshots. But as Chloe’s burning body was in a wheelbarrow
in the front yard, Kidd and Phil surmise the teen was the primary target.
There’s a slew of people for Kidd to interrogate, from Lizzy Grant (the teen’s
best friend who’s devoted a Facebook page to finding the killer) to Jay Strait
(Chloe’s ex-boyfriend who Lizzy and Phil are convinced is guilty). Before long,
an anonymous Facebook message and phone call threaten Lizzy to stay quiet, and Kidd
notices a Dodge Charger following him around. While the PI updates his growing
suspect list, he also notes a possible tie between drug dealers and the murder
case. The increasingly dangerous investigation ultimately leads to further
intimidation, more than one kidnapping, and, sadly, additional deaths. Perry (To
the North, 2018, etc.) gets this
swift mystery off to a running start, with Kidd already investigating and Phil
providing case details. Readers only know as much as the detective, and
identifying the culprit who committed the murders isn’t easy. Moreover, Kidd
becomes a more complicated character as the story continues. He starts a dalliance
with someone connected to the case and is flustered by the impending release of
Goran Markovic, who had been awaiting trial for gunning down Kidd’s cop
fiancee, Erin Jade. Though the mystery eventually unravels on its own, it’s
still a treat to watch the sleuth in frequent scenes of interrogations. His
easygoing demeanor tends to make others talkative, and he has a holstered Glock
17 in case the interviewee turns aggressive.

A diverting whodunit bolstered by a
laudable, complex detective.