I’m going to be honest: I’ve put off reviewing Joseph Schneider’s The Darkest Game for a while now, mainly because I hoped to find another book that I could pair it with for this review – and that’s mainly because I feel like I have almost nothing to really say about this book. There’s nothing especially wrong with The Darkest Game, which is apparently the third book in a series about Tully Jarsdel, the son of two college professors and an academic in temperament who’s now working as a murder detective for the LAPD. Stop me if you’ve heard this: he’s prickly, he doesn’t get along with people, he doesn’t tolerate fools – but dammit, he gets the job done!

You can probably see where this is going from here. Yes, in theory, the novelties here are the specifics, but I’m going to tell you, it’s been maybe two weeks since I read The Darkest Game, and almost nothing about the book has stuck with me in that time. Jarsdel’s approach rubs people the wrong way; he doesn’t like a lot of the cops and he looks down his nose at them. But he’s brilliant and knows a lot about…well, about most anything convenient for this plot, which in this case revolves around a dead museum curator whose death catches Jarsdel’s attention. There’s a somewhat intriguing motivation at the bottom of it all, but not enough of one to make the book really stand out – more of a “huh” than a “wow.”

All of this sounds like I hated The Darkest Game, and that’s not the case. It was completely fine – it kept me reading, the prose is fine, the story is engaging enough. But there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before, and seen done better. There’s better books out there for your time.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Detective Tully Jarsdel is not your average police detective. He was close to getting his Ph.D in history, when he chose to drop out of grad school and go to the police academy. He's highly successful at solving crimes, but he doesn't really fit in with people. His partner is reasonably tolerant of him, but he tends to annoy people by launching into lectures about the history of persons, places, or things that have some sort of relationship to the investigation. Not to mention using "twenty dollar words"!

This book shows him having a good deal of trouble getting along with people. Often, when interrogating a witness/suspect, he'll say just the wrong thing, antagonizing the other person and hurting his ability to get information from them. He's also shown having trouble getting along with his dads, one of whom is from Iran and is unwilling to talk about his experiences there before fleeing the country.

The mystery itself is not really as interesting as the characters. Almost all of them are very unlikable, but in interesting ways. I found myself much more focused on that than on trying to figure out who did what to whom. I enjoyed the book, but I wasn't particularly invested in figuring out the murders!

At first, I had a hard time getting into the book. I couldn't help comparing it to a Michael Connelly book, which it isn't, but I soon found that it was still a good story. Though some sections get bogged down in unrelated detail, there is enough of the police investigation to keep the plot moving. I liked the behind-the-scenes look at the Huntington, and the details of the trip to Catalina. Such background is always a plus in a novel. The only real quibbles I had were the often ornate prose, reading more like a freshman assignment in "creative writing," and the animosity between Jarsdel and Morales. Would police partners really be so against each other? This is the first of the series that I read, and I intend to read the others.

I am not a fan of Joseph Schneider. I read the description of this book and found it interesting enough to read. After several chapters I thought I recognized the main characters. I had read an earlier book by this author and was under impressed with that book. I continued to read this one in hopes that the author had improved.
To an extent, he had. However, I found his style condescending, his characters stiff and the overall tone of the book depressing. This was just not the right book for me.
My thanks to NetGalley and the Poisoned Pen Press for an advance copy of this book.

The characters in this book are amazing, written so beautifuly and the mystery itself is very intriguing and surprising. Being that this is the first book in the series that I read, I didn't feel like I was missing too much of the story.

The sub-plot involving Detective Jarsdel and his Iranian father was particulary moving and I think it gave the whole story an additional depth and a better inderstanding of the character, and it also gave a deeper dimension to the the thriller itself.

All in all, this is a very well written book and I can't wait to read the first 2 books in the series.

3.5 it was a good read, it didn't grab my attention like the first book did but it was still a really interesting read.

I really really hate it when I don't like a book that I was excited to read and... this was one of them. though the characters were well developed, the story itself was so slow paced that I couldn't enjoy it well enough. there were references that I was not familiar with and I had to spend so much time googling them and I got bored doing so. the plot was not fast and exciting enough and I'm just sorry and disappointed.
Thanks to NetGallery for providing my copy.

I was eager to read the Darkest Game when I read the blurb and it hit so many points of interest for me. The settings of The Huntington and Catalina plus the addition of pirates clinched it for me. I wasn't disappointed. Then to find out it's the third in a series, well those two are now on my TBR pile.
Tully Jarsdel and his more seasoned partner, Oscar Morales are assigned a homicide in L.A. that leads them to Pasadena and the Huntington Library to investigate the murder of a curator. From there the clues take them to Catalina Island.
The character of Tully is not your usual homicide detective as he was an academic in his previous career. That gives him a different take on their case and makes for an interesting pairing with Oscar. The mystery was solid and the pace was perfect - slow but in the best way. It worked fine as a stand alone. Now I have another series to add to my must read list.
My thanks to the publisher Poisoned Pen Press and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

THE DARKEST GAME (2022)
By Joseph Schneider
Sourcebooks/Poison Pen Press, 354 pages
★★★★

We are told not to judge a book by its cover. Still, were I involved with Joseph Schneider’s Tully Jarsdel mystery, I’d change the title. It’s certainly plenty dark, but so many books with “dark” and “darkness” in the title are paint-by-the-numbers offerings.

There’s little that’s formulaic about The Darkest Game. How many detectives do you know who speak Farsi (and is working on his fifth non-English tongue), dropped out of a history Ph.D. program, has two fathers, and can recognize valuable sculptures at a glance? We find Tully teamed with Oscar Morales in what is certainly the odd couple of detectives. Oscar is Tully’s hardboiled opposite, a heavyset Latino family man whose idea of culture is television. He’s also at ease with cop banter, protocol, grab-and-go cuisine, and mugs of beer. Tully was raised by two professors–his biological father is ill with lung cancer–who have never made peace with his decision to become a homicide detective but schooled him in proper grammar, academic research, wine, film, and upper-middle class values. They only thing they haven’t taught him is the circumstances under which his “Baba,” Professor Darius Jahangir, left Iran after the Islamic revolution of 1979.

Tully and Oscar investigate the murder of Dean Burken, a museum conservator also in charge of deaccessioning for the prestigious Huntington Library and Museum in Greater Los Angeles. A lot of Burken’s colleagues disliked him, but that doesn’t make them killers. As Jarsdel applies logic and Morales more conventional police legwork, a prime suspect emerges, no thanks to the Huntington staff which seems far more interested in the institution’s reputation than solving Burken’s murder. One small problem: The suspect also becomes a corpse. On Santa Catalina Island, no less, some 22 miles offshore.

Jarsdel and Morales are sent to Catalina to investigate if there is a link between the two murders. They initially treat it as an expense-account vacation because it’s a proverbial longshot that there’s a connection between Burken’s brutal murder and the suspect’s death. Still, some things are weird in Avalon, the town that contains more than 3,700 of the island’s population of less than 4,100. The local sheriff, Captain Ken Oria, is cloyingly welcoming and he and his assistant Ledbetter, who plays the bad cop role, are intent on blaming everything that goes wrong locally on a weird bunch called the Natty Boys, a mashup of Pirates of the Caribbean, survivalists, libertarians, and a rough-stuff motorcycle gang. Plus, there’s Pruitt, the island’s resident developer/club owner/restaurant proprietor, who strikes Tully as a pompous jerk.

This may sound like variants of a standard mystery cast but if anything, Schneider’s plot suffers from being overly complex. Before the two central deaths are resolved and a third occurs, The Darkest Game delves into things such as the whereabouts of a 19th century diary, the disposition of art works, a perplexing map, a real estate plan, detours into California history, half-truths and lies, a Ruger .38, a musket ball, and a show down.

Schneider also overlays the action with the sometimes-tense interactions between Jarsdel and Morales, plus Tully’s quest to unravel his Baba’s life in Iran. The latter could have been saved for another book and somehow woven into a plot. Though it adds depth to Tully’s character, it isn’t germane to an already ideas-packed narrative and slows a novel that’s already leisurely paced. Some readers might also think that Schneider drops in too many red herring suspects. It’s not a bad idea to jot down a few notes to help keep characters straight, but I’d rather read a book open to charges of being too complicated than one that’s as obvious as a hobo at a black-tie dinner. I did work out the murderer, but Schneider led me places I did not suspect to visit.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for an advance copy of this book.

Rob Weir

This is a roller-coaster murder mystery that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. While the book is part of a series, it can be read alone without too much confusion (this was my first introduction to Detective Jarsdel).

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read an advance reading copy.

I liked this book but not as much as I could. Tully Jarsdel and his dads still have not yet become realistic characters in this third book of the series. Tully is too broadly knowledgeable, that is, he can give factual info on too wide a range of stuff. I know lots of well-educated people but none can provide all of these: art id and dollar appraisals of a smashed painting, detailed lore of Caribbean pirates, cross-tribal art references for a dozen Native American tribes, and a bunch of other arcana reaching far beyond Roman art (Tully's PhD thesis) or local knowledge and history that an Angelino might absorb as part of growing up in an academic household. Tully's estrangement from his Iranian father, and that man's behavior, is too strange to seem real. The murder mystery is good enough, although the murderer is clear from early on, as is the method for the second killing.

All in all it's worth reading but you won't omit involuntary yips of joy.

Amazing history of California and the atrocities to the First Nations people of California. Tully Jarsdel is an educated single,Homicide detective who has two dads from Iran and so has a difficult relating to the other detectives. His partner Detective Morales is a family man and very conventional. They get a case of a death of the registrar at the Huntington, a museum of artifacts. In finding the evidence this leads them to history of California, Catalina Island and the land of the First Nation of Califoenia. So not only a murder mystery it’s a travel mystery as well.
Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC of this book. I will definitely go back and read the first books in the series.
#Netgalley #PoisonedPenPress

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. This is the 3rd book in a series about LAPD detective Tully Jarsdel. I've not read the previous books and did not feel that I was missing anything, which doesn't always happen when you pick up a book in the midst of a series.

Tully is not your average detective. He became a detective after spending years in academia and has a mind to prove it. When a museum curator is found murdered in his home, which was ransacked; however, Tully and his partner quickly deduce that it was ransacked to make it look like a burglary rather than a homicide.

As they start investigating, they wind up going through archives at the museum where the victim worked and interviewing Board members. This then takes them to the island of Catalina where they encounter pirates, a story of lost treasure and another murder.

it was a relatively quick read - only 20 chapters - but a lot was thrown into those 20 chapters. I'm not sure if I will continue reading this series but Tully is an interesting character.

I found this book slow to read. I could. It connect to the characters. It was almost a DNF for me but I did finish it. This was just not a book I would reread but I am sure there are others who would enjoy it more than me.

I received a free electronic ARC of this novel from Netgalley, Joseph Schneider, and Poisoned Pen Press. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read The Darkest Game of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. The third book in a series featuring LAPD Detective Tully Jarsdel Mysteries, The Darkest Game is completely stand-alone. I am grateful to have had Schneider brought to my attention. He is an author I will follow.

Detective Tully is a very interesting character, a former scholar who brings his bright mind to work with him as he cruises the streets of Los Angeles. I especially loved this book because it is set for the most part in the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Check out the Bonzi trees. The Huntington is a museum my children and I love, thanks to my sister Rebecca. It's a place you can wander all day long. Throw in Catalina Island, as Schneider does, and it's the trifecta.

One of the curators of the Museum is found shot four times in the face in his home, the home was ransacked after he was shot, many antique items were blatantly destroyed, and there are no real clues. Dean Burken seems to be completely innocuous. Sixty-eight, single, no kids, no next of kin. It is only when they find his connection to the Museum that Jarsdel and Morales begin to make any sort of headway. The deeper they dig, the swampier the clues begin to seem. There are missing items gifted to the museum by ordinary people. Where have they gone? Can everyone at the museum be involved in this murder?

Good story line, characters are interesting. I might read earlier titles just to get to know the main players.

I was not familiar with Joseph Schneider’s writing before receiving an ARC from NetGalley of The Darkest Game. This is a very well- written book that engages the reader with strong characters with interesting back stories and makes use of location and history to add color to the story. Much to the chagrin of his family, Tully Jarsdel abandons his academic career to pursue one in the police department. Referred to as “Professor Detective”, Jarsdel’s approach to his craft tends to the intellectual. “For him, it was only about the murder. Murder sets you apart as a traitor to your species, one who preyed on his own. …the duty of a homicide detective wasn’t to act as karma’s watchdog, restoring justice to the universe, but to isolate and remove those who’d crossed such an ancient and terrible boundary. Murder was as base and perverse as cannibalism. The moment you’d broken that taboo, no one would ever again be safe at your table. It didn’t matter how nice the linen was or that the silverware was shiny. You’d turned on your kind, and if you’d done it once, you were capable of doing it again.” The unraveling of a conspiracy of greed, corruption, and murder, this is a really good read. The fact that much of the book takes place on Catalina Island, which I had visited, was a bonus.Thanks again to NetGalley.

The Darkest Game is a story about dread, greed, and anguish; how it spreads like rot, and how one detective struggles to keep it at bay. This is one intense, twisted, dark and addictive novel! Not only is this a very well-written book with wonderfully-interesting characters, but the suspense builds at just the right pace as the story unfolds.

I received an advanced copy of “ The Darkest game” through Net Galley in return for an honest review.
“ The Darkest Game” begins with LAPD Homicide detectives, Oscar Morales and Tully Jarsdel being called out to the scene of a crime where they find the body of an older man. He had been shot through the head some days ago. His apartment apparently had been searched , but nothing seems to be missing. An identification is made: the corpse is that of the acquisition curator employed by a notable - and wealthy - Los Angeles Museum. The dead man was not well liked; in fact, he was vindictive, haughty with many co workers fearing him. Eventually a motive appears and it is, of course, money. Lots of it. The investigation takes the detectives to Catalina Island, where there is a gang of pirate role players, another body, ( this one killed with a musket ball , but no with shooter,) and a cast of island people living where it is always five o’ clock somewhere.

While Morales is the typical cop, loud- voiced, tough, and cynical, Tully is very different. Co-workers sometimes call him the Professor Policeman because he attended university, where studied ancient civilizations . He had started his doctoral theses then quit suddenly to join the force. The reader learns why late in the book. Tully is introverted and cerebral, often corrects other people’s facts, grammar and syntax.( and not always silently) He has secrets: namely that he has two fathers and is of Iranian descent,He is not a conversationalist but but book is filled with Tully’s thoughts, philosophical musings and ramblings. He could be low grade Asperger; in fact Morales calls him Rain Man. At times the book’s murder mystery seems to linger in the background as the author reveals more of Tully’s life, past and mind. Morales loves Catalina and it’s life style. Tully feels part and above it all. That , in a murder mystery is a dangerous way to feel.
Once the reader accepts the fact that “ The Darkest Game “ is like the main character, a bit different, the book is a good one. The climax is a stunner and the crime is solved , thanks to Tully’s insights.
Recommended : Different but enjoyable . Tully is a fascinating character, as noted. The book is G-rated, with the only real violence at the end- game. One personal note: a chapter deals with one of Tully’s two father’s deteriorating physical condition because of Cancer. Having recently been through a deathin the family, these pages were thought for me to read, so I skipped.
Otherwise, Recommended to readers who do not mind a detective story that is more introspective than usual.

A very different mystery novel.

When I received this book, I chose not to look up anything about it outside of the synopsis listed on the book's page. I wanted to go in blind. As a result, I did not know this was the third book in a series until I finished it and headed to Goodreads.

However, that is a good thing. This was a stand-alone novel and I didn't feel confused at anything about the characters in the book. With that out of the way...

Tully Jarsdel is a cop unlike any other. He is an intellectual from a family with two dads, one of which is a brilliant professor. However, Tully made his dad, Baba, angry when he gave up academics for the police academy. Despite that, he became the cop that went to homicide scenes when they needed someone who could pull out clues the regular cops missed.

A museum curator was killed in his home and that led Tully and his partner Morales to the Huntington Library and Gardens, where clues there led them to Catalina Island, where they found a second dead body and Tully faced pirates, wealthy elitists, and a police force that was not ready for the crimes that invaded its coastal town.

What makes this stand out is that Tully is not what fans of Noir fiction might enjoy. He is not a typical cop and instead is a high intellectual (his partner jokingly calls him Rain Man more than once) and he doesn't fit in with other police officers. His thoughts, which are what we follow, are often philosophical in nature, but not in a high-brow way. He is very relatable and very sympathetic and a nice change-up in police detective novels.

It was also a quick read, and even with all the scenes involving Tully's thoughts, it flew by. His relationship with his dads was equally compelling.

If there is any complaint, it is that his relationship with Morales was a little too confrontational and he seemed more like a jerk than a sparring partner.

There were also a few too many characters spouting off about "cancel culture" and similar topics, and it took me out of the fictional world. I know this happens in the real world, and it was never Tully going on about it, but it just seemed jarring when thrown in and disrupted the story rather than adding flavor to it. For fun detective novels, even ones with more intellectual characters, I prefer not to have the story bogged down in real-world polarizing topics that often start arguments and fights in today's society.

With that said, I really enjoyed the book and will go back and catch up on the first two to see what I might have missed.