We listen in to a drama of a gal being accused by her boyfriend of cheating on him while he spent time behind bars. Does he have anything to worry about? Cut to the action in the Blue Note and Casey talking with Ethylbert and Ann. Their Thanksgiving evening is interupted with the report of a murder. Might it be the jealous boyfriend? Casey heads out to investigate.
The evidence isn’t looking good for the boyfriend, but Casey isn’t leaving any stones unturned. Is someone trying to set up the young lover? Casey smells a rat in the whole situation. Listen in to get the full set of clues as Casey talks the case over with the cops. Did you catch the twist?
Listen in as Casey tells how the clues worked to tip him off as he shares with his friends in the Blue Note. And will he and Ann ever get their Thanksgiving dinner?
Another good FBI mystery by A.J. Rivers. I think if there’s one hallmark of the Emma Griffin series its great suspense! Rivers knows how to keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next. Who’s kidnapping these children? How are they related to Emma Griffin? What’s their motivation?Many suspenseful books I find boring, but this series is an exception. I chalk that up to good writing. Recommended!
About the Author: A.J. Rivers
A.J. Rivers loves all things mystery and thriller. Growing up in a sleepy small town, A.J. spent her days enthralled in crime solving novels and movies. She started creating stories at a young age to escape and create adventures for herself. As a child she dreamed of solving crimes and becoming a crime fighter. She dreamed of being as great as her favorite crime solving character Sherlock Holmes. While in college she realized that leading a crime fighting life might be more gruesome than she could stomach. She decided that the best course of action would be to fuse her love of writing with her love of thrilling mysteries together.
She finds inspiration from researching true crimes and is passionate about writing suspenseful novels with crazy twists. Twists that you’ll never see coming. The inspiration for her first novel came when she read a news article about a missing young woman in a small town that was never found. Her question on who, what, and why brought her to her journal to discovering the dark twisted story behind the disappearance and to seek justice for the victim through her writing.
Her thriller novels have elements of mystery, suspense, and romance.
When she’s not absorbed in a novel or working on her next thriller mystery, her favorite past time is spent with her husky. She finds great inspiration while going on hikes with her dog.
Claire Duncan is a multi-award winning actress living in NYC. She has performed Off-Broadway, regionally, and in national tours, and appeared in the Drama Desk nominated revival of The Threepenny Opera. She has played the lead in a dozen films, and received a Best Actress Award for her work as Rosetta in the dark comedy Rosetta’s Blues, which debuted at Cannes. As a singer, she had the honor of performing at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and toured the country as a travel host with Visit The USA.
Claire’s broad career has shaped her into an exceptional and flexible voice artist. You can hear her on Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, in hundreds of national commercials, and in over thirty audiobooks.
“Claire Duncan was a dynamo” – New York Stage Review
“Simply side-splitting… a terrific comedic actress” – Show Business Weekly
Mike Papantonio is back with his second novel with Law and Vengeance and is sure to be a winner. So don’t miss out on this legal thriller!
From the Author
Mike Papantonio, a leading trial lawyer and the television host of America’s Lawyer, has delivered his new action-packed legal thriller. This time his leading character is a beautiful, determined woman who built her career as a criminal trial lawyer by believing she could play by the rules and still achieve justice for her clients. But the gruesome murder of her law partner and former lover has turned her world upside down―and suddenly she’s on a playing field where there are no rules.
When Gina Romano learns America’s largest weapons manufacturer has her in its crosshairs, she realizes this time the pursuit of justice is not enough.
In her own two-pronged attack against her enemies, her strategy is to win both in the courtroom and, when necessary, outside of it.
Based on a real case, Mike Papantonio delivers the goods in his carefully drawn, likeable characters and a smart, well-told adventure.
Law and Vengeance: Introducing Gina Romano
Don’t miss this Eye opening Television Interview with Mike Papantonio.
Mike Papantonio is a senior partner of Levin Papantonio, one of the largest plaintiffs’ law firms in America, that has handled thousands of cases throughout the nation involving pharmaceutical drug litigation, Florida tobacco litigation, litigation for asbestos-related health damage, securities fraud actions, and other mass tort cases. “Pap” has received dozens of multimillion dollar verdicts on behalf of victims of corporate corruption.
Papantonio is one of the youngest attorneys to have been inducted into the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. In 2012 Papantonio became President of the National Trial Lawyers Association, one of the largest trial lawyer organizations in America. For his trial work on behalf of consumers, Papantonio has received some of the most prestigious awards reserved by the Public Justice Foundation, The American Association for Justice, and the National Trial Lawyers Association.
Papantonio is an author of four motivational books for lawyers. He is also co-author of Air America: The Playbook, a New York Times Political Best Seller.
Papantonio is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show “Ring of Fire” along with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Sam Seder. Papantonio has conducted hundreds of recorded interviews with guests, including Dan Rather, Helen Thomas, Howard Zinn, Arianna Huffington, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Bernie Sanders, David Crosby, Merle Haggard, Morgan Spurlock, John Edwards, Bill Moyers, Rickie Lee Jones, Alanis Morissette, Pete Seeger, Jackson Browne, Chuck D from Public Enemy, Henry Rollins, Ted Sorensen, and Elizabeth Kucinich. His role on “Ring of Fire” is featured in the movie, “Jesus Camp,” which was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
Papantonio is also a political commentator who frequently appears on MSNBC, Free Speech TV, RT America Network, and Fox News.
Papantonio is married and has one daughter. He is an avid scuba diver and often dives on the Emerald Coast.
How did that title work for you? Was it click-baity enough? Because the unfortunate reality is that most people start slinking off around the corner as soon as the subject of self-defense comes up. However, I’m determined to make this as painless as possible for you all and have broken down the pages and pages of things I’d like to say on the subject into just a few bullet points for you—and your characters, for the authors out there—to remember.
There is nothing so annoying as reading a book or watching a movie and finding inaccuracies in things like police and courtroom procedures. I am not a pedant but I prefer accuracy in my own writing and that of others, whether the result is within the pages or up on the screen.
As a former UK detective and a barrister, trial counsel to Americans but we got to wear those wigs and gowns, I have an advantage in my own writing to portray accuracy.
So how does a crime writer without the same advantage set about achieving accuracy?
I cast an idle eye over the TV in my landlady’s living room. A handsome cop in a car enraptured her. The cop radioed his partner back at HQ to tell his wife he’d be back late that night.
‘That’s rude’, I mumbled, ‘… text her yourself’.
The camera shot widened and, from the shape of the car, I saw the era predated the mobile phone. My landlady snorted.
“OK then”, said I, leaving the rent money on an expectant table. Fingering the remote, she turned the volume up as I edged out the door. Photo: Pinterest: Fargo Season 2
From 1977 to 1988, I was a police officer in an Ohio city with a population of approximately
60,000. Our department had a hundred or so sworn officers when I started, but by the time I left, that number had been reduced due to budget constraints. We operated our own
communications center and our own jail, including holding federal prisoners under a contract with the U.S. government. During my time there, I primarily worked patrol but also did stints as a communications desk officer, a corrections officer, and few short-term assignments in partnership with agents from the FBI and AT&F, as well as a few short-term undercover assignments for my own department.
However, I never worked as a detective, and therefore, I’d make a lousy fictional protagonist.
All fiction, even the most epic, is like a microscope. Alfred Hitchcock said that “…drama is life with the dull bits cut out,” but too many unrelated exciting bits doesn’t make for good drama either. If an author recorded everything that occurred in a protagonist’s life—even if every moment was exciting—the book would do little more than make a great doorstop.
Jamie Reagan and Eddie Janko of Blue Bloods notwithstanding, most fictional police officers are detectives. Even in Blue Bloods, when Jamie and Eddie are involved in something interesting, they stay involved until the show is over. The viewer never sees the myriad other calls they answered during their shift.
In the real world most police officers are assigned to patrol, and in the real world, all detectives were patrol officers—usually for many years—before they got their detective shields. A good patrol officer has to be a jack of all trades. In the course of one 8-hour shift, a patrol officer might respond to a traffic accident, notify a family that a loved one has died, break up a bar fight or domestic disturbance, respond to a rape and accompany the victim to the hospital, search a building that has been broken into, or quell a riot. All of those are exciting, but no common thread ties them together other than the patrol officer herself. Some of the situations might require further investigation, but the patrol officer will not be the one to do it. And in the course of one 8-hour shift, a patrol officer might do nothing more exciting than take a theft report, write a few speeding tickets, and get a bat out of someone’s house. If it’s night shift, he might shake the doors on a few businesses to make sure the staff locked up; if it’s day shift, he might have to testify in court. Not exactly the stuff of high drama.
Most departments are open to having citizens do ride-alongs, so if you don’t already have some familiarity with police work, you can contact your local department and request you be allowed to ride with an officer for a shift. It’s a great way to see what a real cop does and a great chance to get answers to questions that your story needs answered.
Just don’t expect it to be as exciting as a ride-along with Jamie Reagan.
All fiction is like a microscope trained on the real world, examining and illuminating a small portion at a time, and crime fiction is no different. Jamie Reagan of Blue Bloods notwithstanding, most fictional police officers are detectives. Whether in an hour-long episode of a TV drama or in the 300-400 pages of a novel, the protagonist is tasked with investigating one crime or a series of related crimes. The viewer or reader gets to know the detective and his/her partner, the victim/victim’s family and often the criminal as well.
Mystery Thriller Week 