Your Weekend Read: BLOOD IS THICKER THAN MONEY

 

 

Book Title: Blood is Thicker than Money: Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles, book 38

Book buy link: https://bit.ly/4lF8s5a

My Amazon page: https://amzn.to/3AaI8xf

My blog page / Joe Congel Fiction Stories: https://bit.ly/3H60Da2

 

Blurb:

Ronnie Spatch Senior, brutally murdered. An empty safe. What warranted the murder of an old man?

Retired New York City police detective Brandon Turner is just trying to enjoy time with his girlfriend, her sixteen-year-old son, and his dog, Max. They are his priority.

But he has a nagging feeling that something is missing. An itch that needs to be scratched. He misses the action his former job provided. It was an adrenaline rush retirement just can’t fill.

So, when Ronnie Spatch Junior asks for his help with finding the person who killed his father on their family farm, Turner uses it as an opportunity to scratch that itch. Which he does by starting his own private detective agency and launching himself straight into a murder investigation.

While searching the farm for clues, Turner discovers Ronnie Junior lying unconscious on the barn floor with a hunting knife sticking out of his stomach. It quickly became clear to him his client’s father’s death was much more than a simple robbery gone wrong.

Austin PD Sergeant Investigator Palmer Kraus is on loan to the Magnolia Bluff Police Department. When he shows up unannounced at the crime scene, Turner realizes he’ll have to deal with Magnolia Bluff’s finest once again. Only this time, he can do it on his own terms.

Follow the breadcrumbs left behind in Joe Congel’s most compelling mystery to date. Blood is Thicker than Money, book 38 in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles series, is a mystery not to be missed as Turner tries to balance everyday life while going all in grappling to solve a crime that doesn’t stop at murder.

 

Bio:

 

Joe Congel grew up in Syracuse, NY, and currently lives in beautiful Charlotte, NC. He got his first break in the world of publishing when he illustrated the humorous book, Housetraining Your VCR, A Help Manual for Humans, published by Grapevine Publications back in the early ’90s.

A few years after Housetraining set the world on fire, Joe decided that he was better suited as a writer rather than as an artist, so he began crafting stories that allowed the reader to use their own imagination to add the visuals to the narrative.

Since he’s enjoyed reading murder mysteries and PI detective stories all his life, he felt he had a pretty good grasp on how to create an engaging character in the world of private detecting. DEAD IS FOREVER is the first book in the Razzman Mystery Crime Files series, featuring Tony Razzolito, PI. The book is set in Syracuse, NY, and Charlotte, NC, with upcoming books in the series concentrated more in and around the Charlotte area. Joe is uniquely qualified to write about both areas of the country since he lived in Syracuse for 36 years and Charlotte for the last 25 plus years.

When he’s not writing, you will most likely find him spoiling his three grandchildren.

 

Three Foodie Facts about Brandon Turner (Main Character):

Even though he’s living in Magnolia Bluff, Texas, Brandon’s favorite foods reflect his New York roots –

Nothing like the taste of biting into a good New York hotdog. Brandon’s favorite place to indulge when he’s in the city is Gray’s Papaya. The crisp snap of the skin when you take that first bite is the hallmark of a flavorful all-beef Sabretts quality dog eating experience.

A pepperoni slice from Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village. He loves to grab a couple of slices, a drink and sit in the park and watch the people go by while enjoying one of the best thin crust pizza slices in the city. Always a long line at the door – always worth the wait.

Chicken Riggies. When Brandon was a detective with the NYPD, he spent the holidays at his girlfriend’s (at the time) parent’s home in Utica, NY. They introduced him to this wonderful blend of chicken breast (cut into small bites), mushrooms, green peppers, and onion, mixed with a creamy tomato sauce and poured over rigatoni pasta. Since moving to Texas, he’s been cooking up his own version and enjoying this distinctively northeastern dish in the southwest. 

 

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I'm over at Cowboy Kisses posting on Judge Roy Bean who held his court cases in his saloon.  He was quite a fascinating character. If interested stop by and say hey.