The Brimstone Murders
A Jimmy O'Brien Mystery
Jeff Sherratt
Echelon Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-59080-552-6 (1590805526)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59080-552-7 (9781590805527)
Publication Date: February 2008
List Price: $12.99
Synopsis
(from
the publisher): Robbie Farris stabbed his junior college professor twenty-seven times.
At his arraignment, Robbie pulls a gun and escapes. After his mother is
found murdered in her shabby house trailer, Robbie's lawyer, Jimmy
O'Brien, is led into the seemingly unrelated worlds of high-profile,
religious evangelism and old-fashioned Mojave Desert borax mining.
Jimmy fights the clock, the cops, and the DA in his effort to find and
return Robbie before he himself is charged with Section 187-murder in
the first degree.
Review:
Former Los Angeles police officer and now fledgling lawyer Jimmy
O'Brien accepts the seemingly impossible defense of a young student who
killed his professor in The Brimstone Murders, the third mystery in this series by Jeff Sherratt.
“Why?” Jimmy asks when he first meets his client, Robbie.
"Because God told me to,” is the reply. Jimmy decides his only
defense is mental illness and needs time to possibly set it up before
Robbie is convicted of murder one. But before Jimmy can finish his plea
with the judge, Robbie grabs a gun from a guard and escapes. Jimmy
starts on a tempestuous journey to find Robbie and bring him back to
court. During his search he meets Robbie’s alcoholic and nasty
mother, the minister who was supposed to help Robbie, a number of
corrupt officials, and the money men giving orders for illegal
operations in the city. Jimmy faces death at more than one turn before
he can begin to understand what is going on in the city, the Mojave
Desert and an abandoned borax mine.
Complicating his investigation is the subsequent murder of Robbie's
mother with a gun of the same caliber that he stole from the courtroom.
And then there's the strange young woman he meets at a restaurant, a
girl that was said to have been killed and buried ten years ago along
with her parents. The FBI supposedly verified her identity through
fingerprints. Jimmy is determined not stop her search until he finds
Robbie, dead or alive, and to find the answer to the question of the
young girl, alive, but who was supposed to be dead, and who killed
Robbie's mother but is framing him.
There is much to The Brimstone Murders
that is appealing for the mystery reader. The situations in which Jimmy
finds himself are, collectively, quite unique but credible in the
context of his investigation. Then there are the references to
musicians, television shows, and movies of the 1970s that add an
unexpected, and certainly entertaining, aspect to the story. Readers
will no doubt look forward to Jimmy's next case in this series.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Brimstone Murders and to Breakthrough Promotions for providing a copy of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.
Mysteries in this series ...
Six to Five Against
Innova Press (Trade Paperback), October 2004
ISBN-10: 0-9752721-0-1 (0975272101)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9752721-0-7 (9780975272107)
One, Two and Even
Innova Press (Trade Paperback), November 2004
ISBN-10: 0-9752721-2-8 (0975272128)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9752721-2-1 (9780975272121)
The Brimstone Murders
Echelon Press (Trade Paperback), February 2008
ISBN-10: 1-59080-552-6 (1590805526)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59080-552-7 (9781590805527)
Omnimystery keywords for The Brimstone Murders ...
Location(s) referenced: Southern California.