Review: A Big Disappointment
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 10 14, 2013
Having read all of the Joe Costa series and rated them all 5 stars, I looked forward to a new novel situated in Henry Simpson's home town of Monterey.  But Carlos Acuna was no Joe Costa!  A lawyer retiring from his career with the FBI in Washington, DC, Carlos moved to Monterey just wanting to find a nice place to sit under a tree and drink beer.  Since Carlos is also the son of a famous artist, the local art group (led by the son and grandson of famous artists/photographers) considers Carlos one of their group.  But it's a group of wealthy, dissolute cocktail-party-type people in whom I couldn't get very interested.This book also needed a good editor.  There were a good many typos, and it was way too rambling and long--69 chapters total!  Also, the main plot line (Carlos going to Mexico to find a missing artist and check out a family secret) doesn't start until you're more than 60% through the book.  Much of Carlos' time in Mexico is spent sitting on a porch drinking beer or cocktails and pondering what to do next.  Just too much extraneous (or boring) plot and characters to deal with.  And in the end--finally!--Carlos is sitting under a tree in Monterey, drinking his beer.  Hope his beer wasn't as flat as this story.This book was really a big disappointment.  Time for Henry Simpson to write another Joe Costa novel.