Devil's Slew
A Barrett Raines Mystery by Darryl Wimberley
Review: When an Iraqi war veteran commits "suicide by cop", FDLE detective Barrett "Bear" Raines is determined to understand why … but is side-tracked by a major crime investigation involving counterfeiting and money laundering along the Gulf coast in Devil's Slew, the fifth mystery in this series by Darryl Wimberley.
Quentin Hart lives in a marshy area of northwestern Florida known as Devil's Slew, home to wild hogs, panthers, and gators as big as bass boats. When the ex-Marine takes a hostage and fires recklessly at Bear and his partner, they have no choice but to take him down. Bear is torn up over the killing, but it is a clean shoot, not his fault. Still, he wants to know why the son of a good family, friends to Bear and his own, would do such a thing. But before he can get started, he's pulled into an investigation surrounding the kidnapping of a Federal agent, a woman who was planted as a casino employee in New Orleans to identify gamblers exchanging counterfeit bills for chips, then cashing out early, effectively laundering the currency. The authorities believe a crime syndicate is operating all along the Gulf coast, and in particular, involving local fisherman in Bear's jurisdiction.
The narrative in Devil's Slew is both folksy and edgy, an interesting mix that fits well with the characters, setting, and overall plot. For the most part a police procedural — nearly everything is known to the reader — it is nonetheless a bit tricky getting started, with multiple, competing storylines from different points of view. The various plot threads all come together in the end, of course, though the link between Quentin Hart's suicide and the Federal investigation is a bit tenuous and, given all that comes before it, rather disappointing. Also in the final chapters, Devil's Slew incorporates a couple of weakly developed whodunit elements, more as a means of tying up a few loose ends than to test Bear's deductive reasoning. All in all, a solid if somewhat imperfect entry in this mystery series.
Acknowledgment: Minotaur Books provided a copy of Devil's Slew for this review.
Review Copyright © 2011 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Location(s) referenced in Devil's Slew: Florida
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Devil's Slew by Darryl Wimberley
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-10: 0-312-64949-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-64949-4
Publication Date: March 2011
List Price: $25.99
Synopsis (from the publisher): Special Agent Barrett “Bear” Raines of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has his Little League game interrupted when a returning GI uses Bear and the local sheriff to commit suicide-by-cop. Barrett agonizes over the young man’s death.
He knows that the young marine came home with a squad of other veterans who live outside the law near a place called Devil’s Slew. Those GIs come under suspicion when federal authorities trace counterfeited currency to Bear’s backyard. The feds believe that the counterfeiters are responsible for the kidnapping of a female agent off the streets of New Orleans. The threads connecting these local crimes stretch from northern Florida to Afghanistan and Mexico, and so, once again, Barrett Raines and the FDLE are called in to dodge the bullets and connect the dots.