Crickett is the EIGHTH mystery in the highly entertaining Dev Haskell Private Investigator mystery series.
Mike Faricy once again proves himself to be Minnesota’s Master of the Bizarre.
When the city’s laziest Private Investigator Dev Haskell spots his old flame Karen Riley in The Spot bar, she’s changed–for one thing she’s no longer Karen Riley, now she’s Crickett, and then there’s the … Crickett, and then there’s the stroller with ten month old Oliver. Dev hangs on and does the math: ten months plus nine months equals when?
It seems Crickett’s sometime lover Daryl has been caught in possession of some drugs, and she thinks they may have been planted on him. But five million dollars worth? Tough to hide that much in your pocket. Dev starts looking under rocks and quickly uncovers local crime lord Tubby Gustafson and his psychopathic enforcer, Bulldog. Things seem to go downhill rather quickly from there as Dev finds himself literally running for his life.
Crickett is a hilariously entertaining hard-boiled mystery, with just enough chills to keep you on the edge of your seat. A delightful read with a heavy dose of corner cutting and misbehavior to go with the beverage of your choice.
“Faricy is the next Carl Hiaasen.” –Crime Scene
“Faricy is America’s hottest new mystery writer … and Dev Haskell is one of the looniest and most enjoyable characters inhabiting the world of fictional PIs out there today.” –The Dirty Lowdown
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Dev get a visit at the office from a girl he dated once and she has a baby now Tells Dev that he isn’t the father is Daryl and he was arrested for driving a stolen van with 2 pallets of cocaine valued at $5 million in the back. Dev checks it out and the police have Daryl on tape picking up the van and driving to a parking garage where they arrested him. Dev gets a call from Crickett that Daryl is dead he was killed in jail. Then the guy who killed Daryl is killed. Dev wants to do the right thing and help find out what really happened and gets into more trouble than he can handle almost dying for his effort.
As I breeze through the Dev Haskell, Private Investigator series, I’ve started collecting information on its star. So far, I know that he’s an Iraq and Afghanistan war vet with dark hair, and now I know he is highly allergic to cats. Faricy’s descriptions of the ladies in each book create visuals as do his descriptions of the various male characters. Yet Dev remains an enigma.
This is the most convoluted tale in the series so far. The cast of characters is large and largely dead. Foul play abounds as do lowlifes, crime bosses, and thugs. Dev’s former flame, now calling herself Crickett, is the mother of a 10-month-old baby boy named Oliver. She and Oliver show up, out of the blue, at The Spot. Things go downhill from there as she convinces Dev to help her sometime beau, Daryl Bergstrom, arrested on a drug charge claiming Daryl was framed. Drugs always mean some kind of organized crime. We’re not talking Chicago or New York here; we’re talking St. Paul, Minnesota’s gangsters, but the mob is the mob is the mob.
Who is responsible for the murders? Who is really running this operation? How much will Devlin Haskell have to endure? These questions are mostly answered… but…
CRICKETT has a more cryptic ending that most of the earlier books. Will I learn more in the next book, BULLDOG?
Familiar characters return, old love resurfaces, crooks keep Dev busy in this edition from Twin City author Faricy.
Cheers !!