It was supposed to be a friendly poker game. But when one of the players drops dead, Sergeant José Rodriguez of the Savannah Police Department suspects someone at the table stacked the deck against the victim.But José faces resistance from the department as he pursues a chain of clues and growing number of angry suspects. Making matters worse, a rookie from his elite bomb squad demands to join … to join his unauthorized investigation. Now, José must catch the killer and keep the brash young woman safe—all while protecting a secret he’s held since joining the force.
The Georgia Coast Cozy Mystery Series combines mystery, suspense, humor, and southern charm. Each book is a standalone novel.
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I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review. I am a first time reader of this author and didn’t realize that this was four book in a series. That was okay as the author does a really good job of keeping the reader informed that I was able to read it without having read previous books.
What happens when a bomb squad cop with tons of issues is paired up with a big mouthed rookie with major issues of her own? The premise to a really good mystery. Jose Rodriguez is enjoying a poker game with friends and colleagues when one of them ends up dead. Ray is someone that is loathed by all but the incident is being viewed as a tragic accident. Jose (who is hiding a secret too) just can’t believe it was an accident and decides to work on his own investigating the suspicious death. He soon finds an ally with Ray’s niece who is very eager to assist.
What I enjoyed most about this book was all the twist and turns and red herrings. I have to say that I didn’t guess the murderer until the end. It has a good storyline with some surprising reveals that will keep you in suspense.
This review is for the audio book.
I have loved all three books in this fabulous series and now I can add book four to that group as well. Even though this is book four in the series you don’t need to have listened to the other books in the series to enjoy it and In fact the rest of the chubby chicks play a very small part in this book. In the other books two of the group members ( a different pair each time) help solve the case which is fun because you get to know the characters really well. With this book it is different and that is because the three ladies of the group are amateur sleuths and Jose is a police man. I did miss the other characters but I really enjoyed the story just the same. Jose has been the member of the group that you have learnt very little about because being an officer he couldn’t get involved with the less than by the book investigations, so it was fun to learn more about him. I hope this is not the end of the series because I for one want more stories involving these great characters.
Jose asks his friend Bezu to cater for his friendly poker game, little did he know by doing this he puts her under suspicion of murder when a fellow policeman dies of a peanut allergy. When his allergy pen fails to work and then goes missing, Jose is the only one to suspect foul play and rather than go on vacation he sticks around to ask questions in the hopes of finding out if it was more an accident. His newest recruit on the bomb squad is head strong and inexperienced but she is the dead man’s niece and Jose find himself with a new partner as he tracks down where the victim came into contact with the peanuts.
The author has gone with a different narrator for each book, which In my opinion worked well and this is the first male narrator used. I think he was a good choice and did the characters justice in his telling of the story.
This was just an OK read for me. The series title says it is a cozy mystery but I did not consider it a cozy read. It does not have a cozy feel but is a police procedural. Jose is a Georgia policeman on the bomb squad. When a fellow cop and poker player falls dead during a game he is convinced it is not an accident. He sets out to solve the mystery with some help from the dead man’s niece. She is a really unlikable character and even though she is also a cop she is not a very good cop. The mystery itself was easy to solve and not very interesting. A lot of the book centered on Jose and his secret. The secret did not bother me but it does bother him and reading about his whining over and over was unpleasant. I was glad it was resolved by the end. This is the fourth book in the series but can be read as a stand alone. It is a quick short read.
Killing With Kings (A Georgia Coast Mystery) by Lois Lavrisa is the fourth book in this series. The protagonist is a police sergeant (bomb squad) named Jose Rodriguez who lives in Savannah, Georgia. His family is Cuban and lives in Florida, not too close, not to far away. Jose is gay but only a few people know that: his sisters, not his parents; his good friends, Bezu, Annie Marie, and Cat; as well as his friend the medical examiner, Regina. All four of his woman friends nag him to share his secret with the world, but he’s not ready. Jose is playing in a poker tournament at a local bar with three other cops, a firefighter, an ambulance-chasing lawyer and a local city council woman. All of a sudden, Ray, one of the other cops pulls out his epipen at the onslaught of a peanut allergy attack, but instead of the allergen being neutralized, the victim dies before the ambulance can get there. The police have arrived and declared it a horrible accident but Jose is not convinced.
This is an interesting book, somewhere between a cozy mystery and a standard mystery. The protagonist is a professional and male, not unheard of in a cozy, but unlikely. He does have pets, a dog and a cat. This murder is not a case assigned him by the police but one he investigates on his own; very little description of blood or violence. The theme of Jose’s homosexuality runs through the book, but not obnoxiously or graphically. The characters are well-defined. The plot was tricky, but well thought-out. The crime was declared finally a crime and solved. The author did a good job updating the reader so not having read the earlier books is not a hindrance. All-in-all this leads to a recommendation for this book. It’s got lots going for it.
Killing With Kings, was a relatively quick read; it had an interesting mystery, it took us through all the steps necessary to solve the crime, and it was personal enough for us to get to know and have empathy for several of the characters.
I was given a free ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I thoroughly enjoyed this little twisted cozy mystery by Lois Lavrisa involving a not-so-accidental death of a fellow police officer. Just when the reader thinks they have it all figured, at least this one, she throws a clever twist into the character plotlines near the very very end of the story. I plan on checking in on the earlier Georgia Coast Cozies to see what her cast of characters were up to then. This is a voluntary review of an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Hidden Gems Books.
I received an ARC copy of this book. What follows is an honest review.
Killing with Kings was an interesting read. I kind of figured out the who did it but not the why. There were clues as to the why but I just did not pick upon them.
When a friendly high stakes poker game turns not so friendly and one of the players turn up dead, there is a tendency by everyone to think that it was an accident due to the fact that peanut allergy he had. Even though Sargent Jose Rodriguez thinks it was murder, no one else does. He teams up with the victims daughter, even though he is not supposed to be working on the case.
While entertaining, there is a side story that works with the story but may be offensive to some. The sargent is gay. It did not bother me, but I know that some of my more stronger Christian friends may take offence at it.
There were a few places it got a little wordy, that is why the 4 star review. Pick it up, you will enjoy it.
This is one of a series of books I’ve read by Lois Lavrisa, and may have been my favorite so far. I love the character of Jose and hope the young recruit she introduces here may be a recurring character in future novels. It’s an easy, good beach read. Enjoy.
Lois Lavrisa really knows how to write a cozy mystery and Killing with Kings does not disappoint. José is enjoying a poker game with some friends and colleagues prior to going on leave when one of the players loathed by pretty much everyone dies. As much as José would like not to care about the guy his instincts tell him something isn’t right. From here we have many twists and turns a few red herrings and a surprise or 2 to keep you on your toes. I also really enjoyed how there was also the story of José’s struggle with coming out with who he really is instead of hiding. I can not wait for the next book to see what is in store for us!!