A nice review from Kirkus of my latest book, Bought the Farm, the fourth book in the Abe & Duff Mystery Series:
Crack private investigators Abe and Duff are hired to prove that a murder/suicide was no such thing in Little’s mystery novel.
When Art and Michelle Laskey are found dead with a gun in Michelle’s hand, the medical investigator rules it a murder/suicide—case closed. Their old friend Buddy Olson doesn’t believe it; the Laskeys were always passionately in love, like teenagers. Buddy hires friends Abe Allard and Clive Staples “Duff” Duffy to clear the couple’s names and to find the real killer. As the duo snoop around the Laskeys’ crime-taped house, they’re surprised by Deputy Shelby Ree, who also questions the M.I.’s ruling. Questions soon come bubbling up: Were the proper forensic procedures performed on the murder weapon? How did the Laskeys afford some of their very expensive toys? What’s with the skid marks on the floor of their barn? Someone slashes the tires on Abe and Duff’s decrepit minivan; this and other things suggest that “something [is] rotten in the county of Dane.” A chance discovery leads to a meth ring, and the plot shifts into overdrive, with shootouts and hairy chases and revelations upon revelations. Little’s mystery is pretty much a formula whodunnit, and he is adept in the form. Abe and Duff trade the requisite smart-aleck banter (a running joke is Duff trying out nicknames for his buddy, Abe). They are an odd couple: Abe is an uptight worrywart, while Duff is a real slob with impressive powers of observation and deduction (who else would think to check the dishwasher and find crucial clues therein?). The compelling Shelby Ree is an Indigenous woman, and we learn in a preview of Little’s next book that she’s being groomed for a starring role, an obvious good choice. Southern Wisconsin is Little’s stomping ground, and he clearly knows the lay of the land (his really bad guys, it should be noted, are from out of state).
A very entertaining potboiler, well plotted and workmanlike.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/sean-little/bought-the-farm/
