"The Murder of Jeremy Brookes" is a book I wish I liked more than I did. I don't often read stories set in Australia so I was pretty excited to get to this one. Unfortunately, it was rather predictable and I didn't much enjoy it. The characters were only somewhat interesting.

What I hoped for: Inspector Hal Challis, Garry Disher's sleuth. What I got: Jimm Juree, Colin Cotterill's second, less successful, sleuth.

I expected the F-word, I expected the Aussie slang, I expected the sexism (the sleuth's an honest man yet never forget he's also an ex-footballer). I didn't expect the typos, the casual-to-the-point-of-caricature minor characters' characterization, or the very progressive political loathing for fake-news purveying hypercapitalists.

While I'm pleased by that last one, and resigned to the first three, the other two dragged a sure-fire four-star read down to three stars. I'm honestly gutted by this. I love Australian fiction. I look for it to be atmospheric. When I am balked by fixable failures, I am cranky. So here's me, cranky.

The Kindle edition is $3.99 but I recommend ordering the free sample before committing to the purchase.

Great thriller which I could not put down. Brilliant characters, and twists and turns. Highly recommend to others!

A small private detective agency gets caught up in a shady case involving a wealthy tabloid publisher (loosely reminiscent of Rupert Murdoch). As the case progresses, the plot gets more and more twisted, involving double cross, revenge, and manipulation.

A fast read that's pretty much all on the surface like an action/adventure. I'm more a fan of the traditional P.I., a loner on the fringe of society; whereas this is more a group of enterprising investigators who are very modern with electronic devices, a computer technician and some scrappy operatives overseen by a feisty office matron. Think of something like Mission: Impossible on a much more realistic scale and you're in the ballpark.

It's a decent story, just not to my personal taste.

A private detective firm who walked a fine line to stay within the law finds itself in a nest of murder, corruption and greed. This is a solid story, but the violent scenes made it hard to finish.

I received an advanced readers copy for my unbiased review

This was not a case that I was familiar with and I was very curious. It was interesting to learn about the case, the family and the investigation. It was also interesting being in a different country to see things that are similar and different with the procedures. Thank you to NetGalley and Beach Nut Press for a copy.

i thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, the author is able to create a suspenseful element and characters that fully feel like real people.

This is a quick, easy read. As evident by the title, the novel starts out with PI Dan McGinnis in Australia being hired by the wife of Jeremy Brookes to look into Jeremy's death. The police have ruled it a mugging, but Jeremy's widow believes it had something to do with Jeremy's employer. Jeremy was an in-house lawyer for a nasty tabloid that traffics in fake news. The owner of the tabloid, Randolph Murray, is a sleazeball who wields his tabloid as a weapon to extort actors, actresses, government officials, et al. While the first part of the novel is the mystery of Jeremy Brookes, the bulk of the book could be subtitled The Sting, as McGinnis and his cohorts strive to take down Murray.

My thanks to Netgalley and the author for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley, Beach Nut Press and Tony McFadden for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

Private investigation firm gets tangled up in gossip magazine scheme. Few coincidental events bring the plot together, however, it suits more for an episode of a crime/PI show.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the story. Too many bleeding noses, jabs and broken ribs. Too little plot development and character evolution. It is a quite fast paced narrative, and I know people who may enjoy the adventures of ex-professional footie Dan McGinnis an Co. Regrettably, I was not one of them.

Perhaps the author was influenced by the superb Netflix series Rake. In that drama, the Australian colloquialisms and slang explained themselves in context. In this novel, they didn't.
It seemed that the author tried to make the dialog carry the plot, but the result was confusing and exasperating. With far better editing, this might have been good.

I love a story based in Australia and with a private investigator. Lots of swearing but nothing that bothered me. Great story but a little too much unnecessary dialogue. Could use better editing. But still, I will pick up Tony's next book.

Keeping the reader's interest long enough for the story to grab them is a fine art and Tony McFadden seems to have conquered it. From the first page to the last, our cast of diverse characters join efforts to find a killer. The story line is well defined. The characters are true to the story line and the whole book is a very enjoyable change from the usual Mystery/ thriller.

Jeremy Brooks is a lawyer for a rag magazine whose job it is the keep the the magazine from getting sued. He gets increasingly frustrated with the tactics of the owner and threatens the man and then quits. He is murdered that same evening while on his way to meet his wife for their standing date. The murder is made out to look like a mugging gone wrong. Jeremy's wife hires a PI because she disagrees with the mugging theory.

This is a quick and fun read. I like the way all the threads of the story tie together, however, there are a few things in the story that I never completely understood. Otherwise I really enjoyed the story and it is totally worth the read.

Easy read. McGinnis Investigations, a white knight PI firm, is hired to investigate the murder of Jeremy Brookes because his wife doesn’t believe the theory that it was a “mugging gone wrong”. Through the rest of the book, and the case, you keep guessing who killed Jeremy and why.

Thank you NetGalley and BeechNut Press for this advanced reader edition and hearing my honest review. Looking forward to reading more with you
#partners

Highly graphic, this book was difficult to 'get into.' Once in, at about Chapter 7, I really enjoyed the action. I knew who did poor Jeremy in, but wasn't sure why. Very interesting to find out., I found I was rooting for the good guys and hoping the bad guy 'got his.' LOL I would read another book with Dan McGinnis as the hero. He was interesting and a "white hat' as the book states. Good guys are hard to come by. The staff of Dan was interesting and could be developed further. I look forward to reading more and hope there will be more!

It was ok, I enjoyed the atmosphere of a different country than the US. The story was fine, nothing too new or exciting and the author had a tendency to include too much dialogue that didn't help move the story forward.
But there is promise here, and I will look forward to a little more edited story next time.

Simple Writing and Twisted Plot

McGinnis Investigations is hired by a woman to bug the home of a man to help her cancel a pre-nup agreement. While sorting that out, they are also hired to investigate what looks like a mugging gone bad, but the victim’s wife is convinced he was murdered. The slimy tabloid he worked for is uncooperative, and it looks as though they’re not above smearing anyone to quiet them. Everything gets tangled up, though, and a devious plot is planned by the investigators to catch the culprits.

There was quite a bit of meaningless banter between characters which did serve to help you get to know them. I was disturbed, though, by the gratuitous use of the “F” word throughout the novel. Don’t know why authors think they need to spice up their dialog with vulgarity. All in all, though, the story was entertaining, had a clever plot twist that had me laughing, and all was sorted out at the end.

noir, private-investigators, tabloid, australia, meaningful-violence, extortion, networking

The McGinnis Detective Agency is run by a savvy white knight and a group of people who specialize in different aspects of the business. And they're a gas! The publisher's blurb is a pretty start, but if you think you'd enjoy reading about how a scumbag tabloid editor who enjoys a sizable income from extortion gets taken down this is the book for you! I certainly enjoyed it and rooted for the good guys even when they were getting bashed. Hope there's a next book in the plans!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Beach Nut Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

Set in a small town, south of Sydney Australia, this book centres round a private investigator, Dan Mc Ginnis. He is investigating the murder of Jeremy, a legal counsel to the owner of a media empire. The book was a bit too graphic for me at times but I still enjoyed the read. It was well written and had interesting characters. My thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed reading this book despite its flaws. There are several logical errors, like the police not investigating a murder because it was a mugging gone bad. There's also too much trivial dialogue, especially in the first half, and several unnecessary repetitions. But an easy and enjoyable read.