Free Fall: A John Ceepak Mystery (John Ceepak Mysteries)
It’s early June and, despite Hurricane Sandy, Sea Haven, New Jersey, is ready for another “sunny, funderful” summer. But straight-arrow Detective John Ceepak and his wisecracking partner, Danny Boyle, really have their hands full. A 94-year-old retired dentist has been murdered, and yet another hot friend of Danny’s, an RN who provided live-in care to the victim, is a prime suspect, along with the dentist’s wildly dysfunctional family. Meanwhile, the new mayor, who owns a boardwalk amusement pier, has purchased a second-hand thrill ride—a Free Fall, which was involved in a fatal accident in its former location—and he has hired Ceepak’s odious father, who arrives quoting Bible verse, to operate it. These disparate plot threads collide to produce a bloody denouement that leaves Ceepak and Boyle at risk. Free Fall was essentially completed when Sandy hit, but Grabenstein acknowledges the hurricane in an author’s note and alludes to a future Ceepak novel set during the storm. For now, though, Sea Haven abides, complete with Springsteen lyrics, sleuthing, characters both honorable and awful, and, of course, deep-fried Snickers bars. --Thomas Gaughan