Man At The Door by Desmond P. Ryan @RealDesmondRyan @bakersNSSblog @BakerPromo

Book Description:

Man At The Door, the third in Desmond P. Ryan’s Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series, Detective Mike O’Shea solves a homicide, juggles an increasingly complex personal life, and continues to hunt for the cop-killer who has remained at large for the past thirteen years.

It all begins at 6:10 a.m. on a Friday morning when Glen Brebeuf calls demanding answers. He had reported his former lover, Elizabeth MacDonald, missing the previous day and Detective Mike O’Shea finds himself cleaning up the mess some rookie had made of the initial call.

Within hours, Mike takes over the investigation and is on the doorstep of the missing elderly woman’s home, determining that Elizabeth MacDonald—Sibby Mac to her friends—is not missing.

Sibby Mac has been murdered.

Along with Detective Ron Roberts and Detective Sergeant Amanda Black, Mike kicks the investigation into high gear. Very quickly, the ex-lover and a high-profile political figure become prime suspects, but, without a body, would there be enough evidence to charge either of them?

A day spent sifting through rancid garbage at one of the city dumps comes up empty for Mike and Ron, but a foul-smelling steamer trunk reported in another jurisdiction provides the eureka moment they need to proceed.

Meanwhile, Mike is doing double-duty, still investigating what he believes to be a link between the accused he has up in court now and his old partner’s killer.

And then there is his mother. Sensing that her son needs her, Mary-Margaret O’Shea has moved into Mike’s home—and his personal and professional life—pending further notice.

As the pieces of the Sibby Mac investigation start to fall into place, Mike follows up on a hunch and decides to take a detour on his way to work one morning. Using every trick in the book, he ends up saving a life, nearly ending another, and almost getting himself killed in the process.

Whether as a stand-alone or as your next step in the Mike O’Shea Crime Fiction Series, Man At The Door will keep you reading far too late into the night following Detective Mike O’Shea through the twists and turns of a homicide investigation. Once you’re done, take a breath and get reading for Blind Spot, coming out in early 2020!

My Thoughts:

Whilst this can be read as a standalone, I highly recommend you reading the first book in the series so you can have the added benefit of seeing not only how it starts off but getting to know Mike better as well.

Mike’s mother, we get a small glimpse of her character in the previous books and have to say I was hoping the author would give her a bigger part and my prayers have been well and truly answered. Probably not so much the case for poor Mike though who has her coming to live with him for a while.

Mary-Margaret O’Shea is the underdog in this story. Her character is your stereo typical Irish mother and the author couldn’t have gotten her anymore perfect. Through her character, it brings in part, humour to the story. I really felt for Mike though with this larger than life woman who tries to take over in his own home. It does make for some highly entertaining reading though.

The author touches on some harrowing topics. Child abuse being one. The thread to do with this made for some hard and emotional reading but hats off to the author for how he handled this particular piece of writing doing it with sensitivity. It also gave me a whole new level of respect for Mike.

Man At The Door is both a harrowing and entertaining read. If you love Amercian crime drama’s/thrillers, you are going to want to enter the world of Mike O’Shea. The author with his own police background brings a realistic look into the way that detective’s and their teams work. Another fun and gripping read from the author.

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

Man At The Door is available to purchase from Amazon. (Please note that link used is an affiliate link).

For 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.