A Cold Case Hit-And-Run Murder Turns Quite Hot

This novel has an interesting start as it is a B-storyline thread. Brick Kavanagh has just retired from the Washington DC police department because he had a very serious problem with his boss. Brick now is spending a 90-day vacation in Ireland to recuperate. He knows he must find a job, but he has only one offer to assist a professor teach a class of graduate students on as an assistance in a class learning about cold case investigations on a real cold case. From this start the novel emerges.

There are two main storyline threads. The first is very complex and is split into phases. First is to obtain permission from his old homicide division to conduct the investigation. At this point the complexity begins. The case is a hit-and-run that was dropped soon after the investigation started. The first of many indications that something was significantly wrong with this investigation. The novel is structured to lead the reader along the investigation. The who was discovered, and then why he was not prosecuted. Each step solves the next issue but delivers another issue. When Brick discovers that his former boss had a role, Brick’s desire for retribution starts to boil in his blood. The second thread involves his ex-partner’s wife leaving with their twin’s days after their baptism. While the first thread is basically straight forward investigation, this thread has many twists and turns that kept the suspense up on whether the departure was voluntary or forced. These aspects of the novel solidly laid hold of my interest. I could not stop reading.

The B-storyline is very extensive in this novel. Besides the usual method of his interactions with other characters and his thoughts at the time, there are two threads devoted to this storyline. The first centers on a woman with whom he became friendly in Ireland who regularly travels to Chicago. The second is centered on old friend who owns a bar by an employee who is Brick’s nephew. He opens his inner thoughts to them. Both threads provide much insight into Brick’s personal side. My reading enjoyment was enhanced by them.

For the aspects that turn off some readers, first is that there are not any intimate scenes. Vulgar, rude, and impious language is at a low level. Violence is described in the less edgy after the fact, but their implications signal tragedy, real or potential. There is one violent incident portrayed as it occurs, but it is over in a few words. The last aspect is that this is the second novel in this series and Brick’s quick retirement occurred in that novel. The only aspect that reaches by to the previous novel was Brick’s loathing for his old boss. That fact is explained in this novel, so this there should not be a problem reading this novel first. Therefore, I do not believe that most readers will not have any problems reading this novel.

The major issue I had with the novel that the start is slow, so do not give up too early. I liked the two main storylines that took very different paths to their conclusions. I was quite happy all the threads with their believable action and the endings of all the threads. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel. Due to that, this author solidified his position in my Will-Read category. I do recommend reading this novel, but make sure you get past the slow start. I am looking forward to reading further books from this author. I rate this novel with five stars.

I received a free prepublication e-book version of this novel through NetGalley from Oceanview Publishing. My review is based only on my own reading experience of this book. I wish to thank Oceanview Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this novel early.

Second book by this author - but my first read. I'll definitely read the first and be waiting for more.

Enjoyable police procedural/mystery/crime novel. Had just enough going on to stay interesting but not so much to be overwhelming. Definitely a good, solid, entertaining read.

A detective series, Duplicity by Shawn Wilson is the second of Brick Kavanagh mysteries. Having returned to Washington after his hiatus in Ireland, recovering from the devastating consequences of his last case, he is asked to revisit a hit and run cold case. Then his friend and former detective partner’s wife and twins go missing. Brick lends his support but can’t help wondering what happened, as numerous leads go nowhere. Whilst the events of the first book have significant influence on the narrative tale, no prior knowledge is necessary to make this a suitable standalone crime story. So, an enjoyable read of a gentle police procedural with two intertwining cases and their impact on the detectives’ lives and those around them, makes for a three star rating. My thanks to Oceanview Publishing and the author, for an uncorrected advanced reader copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.

I am always ready to try out a new author. So, the description of this book looked interesting, and I decided to give it a shot. Shawn Wilson is talented, and this book was enjoyable to read. It started out a little slow, but it eventually picked up steam, and got more interesting. There are two separate investigations that are going on in this story that are totally unrelated. However, some of the characters have an overlap as they investigate. One twist was inserted that I NEVER saw coming. The author did a good job of making you think one thing and then shocking you that it was not what you thought. I really liked Brick. However, the reference to the case that made him retire is referenced several times, but I do not feel I was given enough information about the case. This was the 2nd book about Brick, but it was my understanding you could read them as a standalone. I think we needed a little more background about Brick's past as a detective to more fully understand his need for retirement. This was a minor inconvenience for me. The book was still very good. The story flowed well, and I was completely hooked when I got about a quarter of the way through it. In my opinion the title of the book was well chosen because there is probably nowhere better to have deception hiding in the corners than in good old Washington, D.C. The mystery got more interesting as the book progressed. If you enjoy a mystery, you will like this one.

Thank you to Oceanview Publishing and NetGalley for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Duplicity is the second book in the Brick Kavanaugh series. Brick is a retired DC Detective, retired after only 20 years, so he's still a relatively young 42 year old. The book opens with him returning from a 3 month stay in Ireland to clear his mind after retiring. His aim now is to cone up with a job.

Brick ends up working on a cold case in DC, the death of a college co-ed who was the victim of a hit and run involving a driver with diplomatic immunity.

Then, Brick's old partner, Ron, has to deal with his wife and six month old twins disappearance. Brick wants to help his friend so there are now two cases he has to deal with.

I really enjoyed the characters and their relationships to each other. When Ron hands one of the twins to Brick to feed I could picture it so well, someone out of their element but happy to help. There are a couple women who may become love interests of Brick's, they are both interesting people who I wouldn't mind getting to know more. There is also a Police Lieutenant who has a great down to earth personality and brings out the best in the guys. My only regret in the book were the references to what had happened in the previous book that I have not read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this honest review. I look forward to more books in this series!

Duplicity by Shawn Wilson is a recommended investigative novel.

Retired homicide detective Brian (Brick) Kavanagh is returning home to Washington, D.C. after spending three months in Ireland recovering from the trauma of his last case. It is good to be home among friends and, even better, he and Nora, an Aer Lingus flight attendant, are planning to continue seeing each other when she is in the USA.

When a job opening at a local university presents itself, Brick isn't especially interested at first. The job would be training criminology students on techniques in solving cold cases, but the case does intrigue him. Professor Grace Alexander has chosen the hit-and-run death of a grad student where the prime suspect has diplomatic immunity and the case file is interesting. Brick proceeds on to Chicago to spend a weekend with Nora, when he receives distressing news. Jasmine, the wife of his former partner and friend, Rob, and their infant twins have disappeared, and possibly were kidnapped. Brick rushes back to support Rob and assist in any way to finding his wife and children.

This follows the first Brick Kavanagh novel Relentless, although you can read Duplicity without having read the first novel. Duplicity is a very comfortable procedural to read. The chapters are short which keeps the narrative highly focused on the two cases presented as the plot moves along at an even pace. Both cases are resolved at the end of the novel.

As mentioned, this is a very comfortable novel to read. Brick treats women with respect, which is appreciated, but he's also kind of a bland character. The opening chapter set in Ireland was interesting, but it didn't add anything to the rest of the story, beyond adding Nora as a character. All of this could have been covered in a few paragraphs. There are a lot of descriptions of what people are eating or drinking, which was different in an investigative novel. There was also a bit too much telling of the story versus showing the story.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Oceanview Publishing.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Google Books, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

This is the second offering by this author featuring Brick Kavanaugh, homicide detective in Washington DC. He is recently back from Ireland where he spent some time regrouping after an intense case in book 1: Relentless, a debut by the author. I loved book 1, as it was written quite well for a budding author and kept my interest throughout.

In this book 2, Brick's partner Ron needs his help finding his wife and kids as they seem to have disappeared with no trails, or were they kidnapped? His wife had just had babies (plural) and experiencing signs of postpartum depression.

I enjoyed this, but liked book 1 better, which moved along a bit faster. This seemed to lag for me getting started. I intend to keep on with the series, if any more are in our reading future, as I like the author's style, his interest in Pro-basebal, specifically the Nationals, and his sense of humor.

Happy to recommend, and thank the publishers via NetGalley for the complimentary ARC to read and review. Release date is coming up fast, 10-18-22. Much success is wished for Shawn Wilson.

Duplicity wasn’t quite a memorable read, but it was good enough for my enjoyment. It’s a police procedural that blended two unrelated crime investigations into an interesting and suspenseful novel. There’s some light romance built in, but I didn’t see the point for its inclusion except to boost the word count. The romance was a little distracting.

The characters are staples from the first novel (Relentless) in the series. I got some semblance of each of the characters make up, but I felt that by not reading the first novel, I missed out on some important facets of each character’s personalities, background, and history.

The plot had some twists, but those twists were somewhat expected. There wasn’t anything startling or shocking.

I’ll keep an open mind for the next book from this author. And I’ll probably read Wilson’s first book, Relentless before then. Three enjoyable stars.

I received a digital ARC from Oceanview Publishing through NetGalley. The review herein is completely my own and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

I received an ARC through "NetGalley" and I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

This story begins with Brick spending the last few days in Ireland. He returns home and had received an email that wanted him to instruct students on a particular cold case. Brick wasn't sure that he wanted to do it but went forward with it. After looking into it he discovered that the case was shut down for a specific reason. Because of what he learned the idea of teaching was dead. Instead, the new Homicide Lt. wanted Brick to work on it.

Brick took a break and went to Chicago for a weekend to visit Nora, a stewardess he met. The visit was shortened once he learned of an abduction of Brick's old partner's family. Once he returned, he got involved in trying to locate Ron's wife and kids.

To learn who was responsible for the abduction and why, in addition to learning what events happened after Brick along with Ron got to the bottom of the cold case, then you need to raed this book. You definitely won't be disappointed.

Classic book that would have all the elements to be a good thriller and fails miserably due to the author's eagerness to cram in too much stuff, much of which is useless, irrelevant, and ends up tiring the reader. The characters, then, are treated superficially. Their reactions are always too much or too little for the situation that triggers them, and the themes that should be the novel's founding ones little more than stereotypes. Truly a major disappointment.

Duplicity by Shawn Wilson is an engrossing read from first to last page. Great writing. Highly recommend.

First and foremost, a large thank you to NetGalley, Shawn Wilson, and Oceanview Publishing for providing me with a copy of this publication, which allows me to provide you with an unbiased review.

Always eager to to try new books and authors, I gladly accepted an ARC of Shawn Wilson’s latest novel. After familiarising myself with the debut novel, I dove into this one, which was just as intense. Wilson creates a stellar mystery with some strong themes and keeps the reader guessing until the final page turn. I cannot wait to see how former cop Brick Kavanagh progresses as Shawn Wilson develops this series.

While the DC area is always wonderful, former homicide detective Brian ‘Brick’ Kavanagh needed a change. A trip to his ancestral homeland of Ireland proved useful, choosing to return stateside only because of the visa requirements. However, Brick did not leave Ireland empty handed, having struck up a romantic connection with a flight attendant who spends much of her time in Chicago.

Brick is looking for something to bide his time and agrees to help a criminologist talk about cold cases to one of her college classes. Choosing one, Brick begins revisiting a hit and run that came to nothing, primarily because the accused was able to hide behind diplomatic immunity. All the same, it is something to keep him occupied and once Brick finds a thread, there’s no knowing where it will lead.

While away on a brief trip to Chicago, Brick hopes to strengthen his relationship and see if it is going anywhere. However, a panicked call from his former partner, Ron Hayes, has Brick rushing back to DC. Ron’s wife and twin babies have been kidnapped and they are nowhere to be found, though clues begin popping up. Brick will have to tap into all his detective experience to help piece things together, but the direction in which things are going seems baffling.

Both cases progress rapidly; the cold case showing signs of a potential motive lie the kidnapping a sinister revelation. Brick might have wanted to let sleeping does lie with this case, as it seems his poking around has someone highly agitated. Still, Brick Kavanagh is not one to turn his back on progress and will open whatever doors are before him, even if they could cause harm. How will Brick be able to juggle two intense cases and bring justice to them both before more people are hurt? Shawn Wilson weaves another great story in her latest novel, not to be missed by those who love something intense and unputdownable.

I enjoy discovering new authors, as they are a formidable challenge for me. I find some who are best left behind me, but others, like Shawn Wilson, who earn a spot on my list of those I will gladly follow. A great writing style is balanced with poignant plot twists, all of which create something well worth my while. In a genre full of authors who purport to have what it takes to spin a police procedural into something fabulous, Wilson excels and should rise to the top for those seeking something worth their reading time. I just hope there is more to come before too long.

From the opening pages, Wilson builds up her narrative to create a mystery that has all the elements of success. The story flows easily and is aided by strong characters who add flavour where it is needed. Short chapters keep the reader pushing forward before realizing they are neck-deep in the story and cannot put it down. Plot twists emerge throughout that keep the reader on edge and wondering what awaits them. I can only hope that Shawn Wilson will keep up this calibre of writing, as I devoured both of the first two novels in the series. There’s something about Brick Kavanagh that has me eager to come back, whenever the next novel makes its way to readers.

Kudos, Madam Wilson, for another great piece. You have a fan in me!

This book was all right. There were all the elements of thrill and action but not enough for me personally. The language is smooth and easy.

However what I was thrown off with was , the story focuses on one plot and suddenly moves into another plotline with no connection between the two. There were some swear words here and there.

The scenarios and police procedures are described well.

However, for me, this book lacked the punch that i wanted.

3.5
Didn't realize this was part of a series. Easy to follow even though I didn't read the first book. Quick, entertaining read. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Thank you NetGalley and Oceanview for an ARC of this book for an homey review.
I enjoyed this book but felt like both cases that Brick was working on didn’t get the attention they should have and were cut short. I wanted to know more about why Brick retired early. I think that would have added more to the book. I thought too the second case just wrapped up too quick. There was too much description of food that could have left room for more of a story. I did enjoy it but it was just a little disappointing.

I wish to thank NetGalley and Oceanview Publishing for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I am a fan of crime books and I looked forward to reading my first book by this author Having said that, I was really disappointed with this one. Brick Kavanagh comes out of retirement as a police detective to head up a group of college students to work on cold case files. He begins working on an older hit and run case but quickly puts it aside to work on an active kidnapping case involving his former partner. Frankly I enjoyed the new case much more anyway but found the stories to be disjointed. Too much time was spent describing what people were eating and/or drinking and it did not add to the story. Finally toward the end the author hurriedly went back to the cold case and wraps it up way too fast. Based on this book I have no desire to read the first book he wrote and probably will not read another. He has a really nice descriptive style but gets off track too easily. I wish he had just written about the second crime as he really held my interest there.

I liked the twisted tale that the author spun here, with a few different story strands and supporting characters giving the book some flesh on the bones. Thank you to the author, NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an
advance copy

I'm going to be quite honest - this review will be short. I've been trying to keep to using the CAWPILE headings for my reviews, but for this book, I think I'm just going to keep it short and sweet.

Duplicity is a decent book - it earned 3 stars, but it's honestly nothing to write home about. For one thing, we start out with one plot line, then are slapped with a second plot line. We spend the majority of the book working on solving plot line #2, then go back and finish plot line #1 in a hurry. To me it almost felt like Shawn Wilson couldn't figure out what he wanted to actually do with this book, so instead of separating the two plot lines into separate books, which I'd have preferred, he just did them both and hoped for the best.

For me, the characters are just meh. Maybe it was because I hadn't read the first book, but it seemed to me that Brick Kavanaugh, our main character, just wasn't remarkable. None of the characters really were. There just wasn't anything about the characters that made me want to keep reading more books about them.

As far as the plot lines go - I actually enjoyed the second plot line more than the first. I actually wanted to know what was going to happen with plot line #2, while I honestly couldn't have cared less about plot line #1. I'll be honest, I don't honestly know if I'd pick up another Shawn Wilson book.

I found this to be a good, solid crime novel. It kept my interest and I read it quickly. I liked the characters in it and enjoyed the twists and turns.
I would have liked a little more explanation of Brick's history and the case the made him retire.
I will probably go back and read the previous book and would happily read anything else by the same author.
Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book.

Duplicity is the second book to feature police homicide detective Brian (Brick) Kavanagh, though I didn't know it when I dived in. It can be enjoyed as a standalone, but I'd suggest starting with Relentless if you're keen to try this series. In Duplicity, Brick is recently retired... sort of. He is trying to starting fresh after a traumatic case. But he can't really escape. Not with a cold case calling for his attention. And more so, not after his former partner's baby twins and wife go missing. Duplicity has a gripping main storyline and a good main character in Brick and it is an easy read. The subplot (cold case) gets a rather perfunctory nod, is wrapped up very quickly at the end, and might easily have been omitted. The ending feels a little rushed, but overall it all works and sets up an enjoyable series character. Duplicity is for readers who like US police detective novels and quick reads.