Death Before Coffee by Desmond P. Ryan @BakerPromo @RealDesmondRyan

Book Description:

By 2:27 on a Thursday afternoon, the one-legged man from Room 8 at 147 Loxitor Avenue has been beaten to death with a lead pipe. Twenty-eight minutes later, Detective Mike O’Shea is testifying in a stuffy courtroom, unaware that, within an hour, he will be standing in an alleyway littered with beer cans and condoms while his new partner—the man who saved his life thirteen years ago—flicks bugs off of a battered corpse with a ballpoint pen. When a rogue undercover copper prematurely hauls in the prime suspect, Mike blows a fuse, resulting in an unlikely rapport developing between him and the lead homicide detective sergeant, a woman known for her stilettos and razor sharp investigative skills. At the end of his seventy-two-hour shift, three men are dead and Mike O’Shea is floating in and out of consciousness in an emergency room hallway, two women by his side. Death Before Coffee, the second book in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series, weaves a homicide investigation through the life of an inner-city police detective intent on balancing his responsibilities as a son, brother, and newly single father with his sworn oath of duty. When faced with death, Mike is forced to make decisions that stir up old memories, compelling him to confront his demons while fighting the good fight.

My Thoughts:

This is the second book in the Mike O’Shea crime series. Even though the author gives plenty of background from the first novel in the series, I would still highly recommend reading it before this one if you can.

The author has packed loads into this novel and it all works really well. I loved getting to see more of Mike’s personal life, especially his mother and the big family dinners. A strong solid Irish family and I so wanted to be part of it. It did bring a bit of much needed humour in what is otherwise a dark read.

At times this does make for a sombre read. I can’t say to much as you really need to read it yourself to see exactly what I mean. Whilst it may be sombre in places, it still makes for a compelling, page turner of a read.

Death Before Coffee is a great follow on from the first book in the series. I loved getting to know Mike better. His new partner Ron, whilst not a patch on his previous one, still had me enjoying seeing the working relationship grow between both men. A thrilling, yet at times heart felt story, that has you really routing for the good guys.

My thanks to Shell Baker at Baker’s Blog Tours & Promo for an advanced readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own and not biased in anyway.

Death Before Coffee is available to purchase from Amazon. (Please note that link used is an affiliate link).

Author BioFor almost thirty years, Desmond P. Ryan began every day of his working life with either a victim waiting in a hospital emergency room, or a call to a street corner or a blood-soaked room where someone had been left for dead. Murder, assaults on a level that defied humanity, sexual violations intended to demean, shame, and haunt the individuals who were no more than objects to the offenders: all in a day’s work.

It was exhilarating, exhausting, and often heartbreaking.

As a Detective with the Toronto Police Service, Desmond P. Ryan wrote thousands of reports detailing the people, places, and events that led up to the moment he came along. He investigated the crimes and wrote synopses for guilty pleas detailing the circumstances that brought the accused individuals before the Courts. He also wrote a number of files to have individuals deemed either Not Criminally Responsible due to mental incapacity, or Dangerous Offenders to be held in custody indefinitely.

Now, as a retired investigator with three decades of research opportunities under his belt, Desmond P. Ryan writes crime fiction.

Real Detective. Real Crime. Fiction.