I like mystery books but this one was just okay. I enjoyed the first one more. I felt like the ending was slightly rushed but the rest of the book had a good pace. But it was a quick and easy read which for mystery books I appreciate.

This was a quick and interesting read. Good story line: the main character is a retired detective with personal baggage pulled into helping a friend/ex-partner in distress, and the perpetrator of the distress is unclear. I would have enjoyed the story more if the history between the main character and his ex-partner, as well as the developing romantic relationship had been more fully developed. Maybe that is for a future installment? I would read more from this author.

Thanks to Shawn and NetGalley for allowing me to read Duplicity before the publication date.
This is the first of Shawn’s books which I have read.
With 3 storylines interwoven, this is an easy reading book, with some dark humour, a smattering of Irish culture and a hint of romance for the main character.
I was particularly amused by the main character, Brick, deciding that Guinness drunk in Ireland might be slightly better than that served in the USA. Maybe in the next book, Shawn could let Brick sample it at the Guinness factory in Dublin.

Homicide Detective Brick Kavanagh retired from Washington DC police after his last traumatic case resulted in his personal details being aired in the Washington Post. The situation was not helped by the then Homicide Chief, Blancato, whose actions are always determined by his own interests and political connections.
Brick has spent 3 months recovering in Ireland before deciding on what to do next. Having met Nora, an Aer Lingus attendant who lives in Chicago, they agree to meet up again. on her next break in Chicago.

Professor Grace Alexander has asked Brick if he would be interested in working with a group of post grad students to investigate a cold case. It is suggested that the case should be the hit and run death of Henry Yang, a student at Lincoln University. Once granted access to the police reports on the incident, Brick realises that it contains little detail and that the name of a witness has been redacted. He contacts the investigating officer, Fred Stewart, who has since retired, and discovers that his nemesis, Blancato, has his prints all over the case, having told Fred to ‘ deep 6 ‘ it as diplomatic immunity was involved.

When Brick attends the christening of his former partner, Ron’s twins, he notices that all is not quite well on the day. Jasmine, the twins mother, is seen to be upset and being comforted by Pastor Marcus Walker.
Shortly afterwards, Jasmine and the twins go missing. Jasmine is suffering postpartum depression and is attending a therapist, raising fears for their safety. Throw in the disappearance of Pastor Walker, who was a former boyfriend of Jasmine, and speculation runs riot.
There are lots of twists and turns in this investigation and numerous red herrings, not least the actions of Ron’s new partner, Detective Holly Beltran.

I highly recommend this to the armchair detectives of the world! A totally addictive page-turner that will have you racing through the pages and reeling at the twists! A fantastic read… Had me guessing the outcome till the last pages!

2..5 stars
This is the second book on the Brian Kavanaugh series. It has an intriguing storyline. Two crimes are presented but they aren’t interconnected. Characters are round and multi dimensional. Pacing is steady, although slow at the beginning. The mysteries of the two crimes are intriguing! I enjoyed reading this book… until the rather disjointed and rushed ending. It was extremely disappointing to invest the time reading the book to have such an abrupt and dissatisfying denouement. Additionally, way too many references are made of Brian’s last case that has caused him anguish. It is referenced numerous times, but it is never revealed what happened that caused him so much angst and an early retirement. It was frustrating to realize that the reader would not be given the reason. Therefore, the past case should not have been mentioned over and over. Thus the lower rating.

I really liked this book. The characters were all relatable and the story moved along at even pace. I read this as a standalone even though it is book #2 in a series and I didn't feel lost or confused.

Book review : Duplicity by Shawn Wilson is a commendable mysterious read.

This story is about a retired homicide squad Brian Kavanagh who is requested to teach students of lincoln university by Grace about a cold case . This adds to his new career start after a truamatic case in his career.

But the investigation is derailed due to many factors and his friend and former partner faces problems when his family gets abducted. It was quite interesting to unfold the events and know how Brick handles the situation when circumstances put him in danger too.

I loved reading this cozy mystery and the way its presented by the author. Looking forward to read more of his books in near future. I recommend this book to all mystery lovers.

I am thankful to netgalley and Oceanview Publishing for providing me this book to read.
Happy Reading!

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Thank you NetGalley, Oceanview Publishing House and Shawn Wilson for giving me this arc in exchange for a honest review.
Duplicity the second book in the Brick Kavanagh mystery series follows a newly retired detective Brick starts investigating a cold case which is sidetracked when his former partner's wife and twins go missing.
The title duplicity is named after the nature of the two interwoven cases. The book started a bit slow but after the first Jasmine's POV I was gripping the phone so hard. I plan on reading 'Relentless' cause the book was so good def a 4.5 read.

I adored this book! The characters are realistic. You, the reader, instantly become vested in their lives. I immediately found Shawn Wilson's first book, Relentless. Both books are excellent reads!

This mystery involves former homicide detective Brick Kavanagh being asked to work on a cold case. During that time the family of his former
partner is kidnapped so Brick is embroiled in a few mysteries at the same time. The mysteries are solved one after the other so it’s a bit disjointed at the end. I was surprised by the twist even though it was a standard plot twist. But I mostly enjoyed it since it is set in DC, where i grew up and. i recognized so many places in the story :)

This detective story works well as a stand-alone book despite being the second in the series. Retired Detective Brett “Brick” Kavanagh returns to life in DC after an extended vacation in Ireland. Looking for a new career, he is offered a teaching position at Lincoln University but instead winds up investigating the cold-case hit and run of a former student. At the same time his former partner’s wife and child go missing. These two cases progress simultaneously and give variety to the pace and tension of the story as it unfolds. While I wouldn’t describe it as fast paced, there were enough twists and turns to keep me engaged right to the end. Varied and interesting characters, crisp, clean dialogue and touches of romantic interests added up to an enjoyable read. Highly recommend

Duplicity is a crime read that provides all the unpredictable twists and turns that keep you engaged and sitting on the edge of your seat. I found myself empathising with the main characters and supporting them throughout their journey in the book. I was engaged the whole way through which I often struggle with when it comes to other reads. It was easy to pick up when I had a spare few minutes and I finished it very quickly as a result of this! I would definitely recommend this book for any crime novel fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review "Duplicity', but Shawn Wilson. I had not heard of this writer previous to obtaining the book, and I had not read the previous book "Relentless" (but I am rectifying that now), but I was intrigued by the synopsis and was rewarded in kind.
This is just the kind of fast paced, well plotted book that I enjoy - and I came close to reading it all in one sitting!
"Brick' Kavanaugh is a recently retired Homicide detective, newly returned to D.C. after spending some time in Ireland, decompressing, leaving behind his old life and even meeting a potential new love, when he's given the opportunity to mentor a University class who are looking into cold/unsolved cases.
The first case involves a student who was the victim of a hit-and-run that was never fully investigated due to a case of 'diplomatic immunity'.
But, just when he starts his involvement in the cold case, the wife and twin babies of his former partner mysteriously disappear; are they the victims of kidnapping for ransom? Or has the new mother run off due to a case of post-partum depression?
The author manages to drop Brick right into the thick of things, and throws up enough red herrings to keep us guessing almost to the very end.
And then, the cold case heats up again when Brick discovers that a person from his recent past may have been involved in a cover up.
Highly recommended. Can be read as a stand alone (which I did), but I would recommend either reading "Relentless' first or going back to it afterwards.

First let me thank Oceanview Publishing and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read and review the book by Duplicity Shawn Wilson.

I did not like the book., Having said that there are a Few parts of the book I did like. After reading books like this. I think that there must be a gigantic check list some when online that all author s must go by before submitting the book to be published. This book checks (almost) the top five boxes so it must qualify for publishing. This book follows all of the tried-and-true formulas for detective fiction. And it does it while telling a pretty good story. I am not sorry I read it but I will not be reading any of his other books.
1, retired good cop (checked)
2 cold case the is haunting said good cop. (checked)
3 evil villain out for revenge (half checked)
4 Retired cop riding to the rescue (checked)
5 family narrowly escapes (Checked)
6 Retired cop saves the day (checked)

It's been awhile since Brick Kavanaugh's last case of the young woman found floating in the Tidal Basin surrounding the Jefferson Memorial. That was a soul crushing case. So draining that Brick took his bartender's advise and set off for Ireland for an extended R&R . . . a week. Maybe two. How about three months? Doesn't really matter. He quit his job as a homicide detective for the DC Metro police. He has managed to kill some time with an Air Lingus flight attendant, Nora Breslin, who conveniently has the Ireland-USA routes.

But head back he must. To what, he's not sure. First stop will be to see his bartender/friend, Eamonn Boland, owner of the bar in his name. While catching up, Brick flips through his email and finds a letter from the Ass't Director of the School of Public Affairs at Lincoln University (a thinly disguised Georgetown University) wanting to know if he'd consider being an advisor/mentor to a few students. The task he's asked to lead the students through is an investigation of a cold case.

Brick isn't crazy about the invite, but out of courtesy to the prof who tracked him down, he agrees to meet Prof Grace Alexander, at Boland's Mill Pub of course. The cold case project is an unsolved hit-run of a Lincoln University student some years back. Brick doesn't have any pressing job prospects so he says OK if his former boss is OK with it. Lieutenant Hughes will have to agree, and process some paperwork, to give Brick, no longer an employee, access to their records.

That request goes fine and Brink takes the records home for his first review. As he skims through the case file, he quickly learns that the case may be tougher than envisioned because most everything of importance has been redacted.

Nora has a Dublin-Chicago and asks Brick to join her for a weekend. She's been there a bunch and is showing Brick around. A lakeside bar's TVs are tuned to a news channel. Brick absent mindlessly glances to see the trailer describing the possible abduction of a DC detective's twin infants and mother. It's the family of his former partner on the force, Ron.

So much for a quiet weekend in Chicago. Brick heads back to find a devastated Ron, Lt. Hughes, and a host of other cops at Ron's house still picking through every possible shred of evidence.

Brick has to take a back seat to the police investigation, be moral support for Ron, investigate as best he can, given his status as a civilian. And he is still looking into the cold case. Each heat up with the cold case taking a very unexpected turn (does the term 'diplomatic immunity' mean anything to you?).

This is my second Brick Cavanagh mystery and it's as an equal to Wilson's previous novel (Relentless, reviewed here in 2020). From where I sit, if one wants a solid police procedural, look for titles from Oceanview Publishing. I've read a bunch and have yet to be disappointed. Does this book may not break any new ground in the mystery genre? Probably not. But who cares? It's a quick, fun read and that's good enough for me.

Like I've said before - pay attention to those publishers. I've yet to go wrong with Oceanview.

Duplicity by Shawn Wilson is a quick read with some likeable characters, especially Brent, who is exploring new relationships while deciding if he wants to return to the police department after three months away. I appreciate that the story moves between multiple locations, the smooth dialogue and crime development. The crimes were serious, but not told in an offensive manner. I hope the author will circle back to the crimes in this book while coming up with other interesting crimes as the series continues. Although Relentless, the first novel in this series, and Duplicity are easily read as standalone novels, it is fun to read them in order.

Really, really good! 4.5 stars. Not quite a mystery and not quite a police procedural. I liked the characters (well developed) and the plot line was inventive but believable. I devoured it in one day.

Brett Kavanagh takes an early retirement from the police force (due to circumstances that were apparently told in a former book). He is not sure what he wants to do next when he is approached by a D.C. professor who wants his help teaching students through an unsolved cold case. But then events happen that make this cold case more than it seems. Then at almost the same time, his old partner Ron’s wife and 6-month-old twins disappear. .Now Kavanagh ends up with more than he bargained for. and is running on all cylinders.

For how much activity is taking place, this book actually moves at a slow speed, which was kind of nice - it gave more opportunity for character development. This development made this a little more than the :"usual" police procedural.

I really enjoyed this book, and will read more from this author.

Thank you to the author #ShawnWilson the publisher and to #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

3.5✨

I liked the story but there’s a couple of things that too much explanation for me. There isn’t any complicated things that makes you overwhelmed with the story. So far so good i liked the character development for sure. Such a good crime/mystery solved.

The word duplicity is defined as a kind of deception in which one intentionally hides their true feelings or intentions behind false words or actions. Nothing screams deception like Washington D.C. Duplicitous is an apt description of the kinds of people Detective Brett Kavanagh is dealing with in this novel by Shawn Wilson.

After his hasty retirement, Kavanagh finds himself rejuvenated by his time in Ireland but out of time on his tourist visa. Returning to the States means deciding what to do next; however, the intriguing Nora Breslin, a flight attendant he met on his travels, gives him good motivation.

Upon his return, Brett is approached by a D.C. professor who endeavors to enlist his help teaching students through an unsolved cold case. At almost the same time, his old partner Ron’s wife and 6-month-old twins disappear. Kavanagh ends up with more direction than he bargained for. What ensues is a captivating and slow-burn mystery of deception begging you to turn the page.

The storyline of this novel is realistic and almost whimsical. The progression of character development evokes feelings from the reader throughout the novel.

There is a lack of character physical descriptions which I notoriously crave in any novel; however, it didn’t ruin the story by any means. The chapters are fast-paced but not rushed.

While the twists are engaging, I found some of the resolutions to be anti-climactic. I wanted a little more drama or time spent in the dramatic situations of the plot. The cliffhangers from chapter to chapter were satisfactorily resolved but needed just a little more time.

Overall, Duplicity is a 4-star read for the mystery lover in all of us.