Bulldog - Mike Faricy

   2015; 231 pages.  Book 9 (out of 30) in the “Dev Haskell – Private Investigator” series.  New Author? : No.  Genres: Airport/Beach Read; Hard-Boiled Mystery; Private Investigator Mystery.  Overall Rating: 8*/10.

 

    Dermot Gallagher and Dev Haskell have been close friends for a long time.  Even after Dermot married Casey, and even after Dev started his Private Eye business.

 

    So it’s no surprise that the news of Dermot’s passing hits Dev like a ton of bricks.  Especially the circumstances of Dermot’s death.  According to the police, someone rang the doorbell of Dermot and Casey’s house, Dermot answered it, and was immediately shot in the face.  To say Dev is devastated is an understatement.

 

    The St. Paul police department's investigation is underway, and they have a request for Dev: stay out of this case and let us do our job.  We recognize your PI sleuthing is well-intended, but it will only slow things down.

 

    Yeah, we all know Dev’s not going to comply with that.

 

What’s To Like...

    Bulldog is the ninth book in the Dev Haskell series.  So far, I’ve been reading the series in order, sometimes via economy-priced bundles, sometimes as discrete e-books.  If you don’t happen to own the whole set of tales in this series, don’t fret.  Each of them is a completely standalone story.

 

    The storyline follows the usual formula for a hard-boiled mystery novel: fast pacing, lots of action, and lots of witty dialogue.  But Mike Faricy seems to be subtly tweaking his usual format.  For starters, Dev has no client; he is tackling this case strictly for his personal reasons.  Second, to me the plotline seemed to be more focused on the mystery, with less attention paid to Dev’s amorous interests.  And thirdly, the tone felt a bit darker here.  Personally, I thought these tweaks all worked rather well.

 

    A fascinating new character is introduced: Fat Freddy Zimmerman.  Dev’s first impression of him is given in an excerpt below.  At first I thought he was just another stereotypical “big, dumb, thug”, but he turns out to be an important character in the tale and I certainly hope Mike Faricy promotes him to being a recurring role.

 

    Louie the Lawyer is back, so is Lieutenant Aaron LaZelle of the St. Paul Police Department.  I like both those characters.  The widowed Casey Gallagher is new, and it was neat to watch the way her character gradually develops.  Tubby Gustafson makes for a suitably evil-but-crafty crime boss.  And Bulldog is everything you could want in a mob enforcer.

 

    The ending is exciting and over-the-top, which is mandatory for a hard-boiled crime mystery.  Dev figures out why someone shot Dermot, justice is served, and good triumphs over bad, with a couple of surprising benefits thrown in for good measure.  All the crime-mystery plot threads are tied up.  None of Dev’s romantic efforts are resolved, which is just fine.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.1/5 based on 1,823 ratings and 257 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.95/5 based on 772 ratings and 52 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    As I moved closer, the face came into focus, and I actually recognized the idiot.  The flattened nose, the Mohawk hairstyle, a half dozen piercings in each eyebrow, and the three rings in his bottom lip left little doubt.  Then, there was the gauging in his earlobes the size of a giant doughnut hole.  I didn’t so much know him as I knew of him.  Freddy Zimmerman, Fat Freddy, a wannabe criminal of dubious reputation.  I was pretty sure he was a general disappointment to folks on both sides of the law.  (loc. 282)

 

    “The license plates had been removed, to answer your next question, and no, a quick search of the immediate area did not turn them up.”

    “Did you search the river around there?  You know in the water, some idiot could have just tossed them in there.”

    “Right now, we’re dealing with a stolen car that was torched.  I’m not calling divers out to search the river bottom for a quarter of a mile in all directions to confirm what we already know.”

    “I was just thinking.”

    “Don’t, please don’t.  You are forbidden to think, which shouldn’t be too hard for you.  You are also forbidden to call me from here on in unless you have been murdered, in which case you wouldn’t be able to call anyway.”  (loc. 1731)

 

Kindle Details…

    Bulldog is priced at $4.99 at Amazon right now.  The rest of the books in the series are currently either $0.99 or $4.99.  Mike Faricy has several other series (Hotshot, Corridor Man, and Jack Dillon Dublin Tales) that have similar pricing structures.

 

As my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, I noticed the place had the definite reek of cheap perfume and dumb guys.  (loc. 619)

    The profanity in Bulldog felt like the usual amount, in this case there were 28 instances in roughly the first third of the book, and a nice mixture of mild and not-so-mild expletives.

 

    The story ends on page 231, which is at 57% Kindle.  The rest of the e-book included two sneak-peeks at other Mike Faricy opuses: 8 chapters from Double Trouble (the next book in this series), and 36 chapters from Corridor Man (the eponymous first book in another of his series).

 

    There were only a few typos (such as whacko/wacko), but lots of grammar errors, most of which involved apostrophes.  The editing seems to be gradually getting better, and I’m tempted to read one of the recent books in the series next to see if that trend continues.  The series is now up to Book #33, and yes, I know, that doesn’t add up to the number listed in the header of this review.

 

    Overall, I found Bulldog to be a fun and quick read; filled with plenty of thrills, spills, and intrigue; and with lots of interesting characters gallivanting around and uttering witty remarks.  I doubt it will win a Pulitzer Prize but it did keep me coming back for more (mis)-adventures by the incomparable Dev Haskell.  Which is exactly what I wanted.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  Chapter 43 is devoted to an incident that we’ll simply call “Mouse in the Kitchen”.  We’ll not reveal any details, but let’s just say it brought back “been there, done that” memories for me.  Thank you, Mr. Faricy, for that little aside.