Chasing Smoke (Skin Kadash Series) [Kindle Edition]

Bill Cameron (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Portland homicide detective Skin Kadash just wants to survive cancer treatment so he can get back to the work he loves. When his partner tries to drag him into an unofficial investigation of a series of deaths, he’s not interested — he’s dead-dog sick and doesn’t need the grief — until she reveals the victims all suffered from cancer themselves, and all had one thing in common with Skin. His oncologist.

The deaths are all apparent suicides; the police have closed the book on them. Then a mysterious young woman, daughter of the first victim, surfaces and insists the dead men were all murdered. Before her story can be probed more deeply, she disappears, leaving Kadash with no support from the cops and little to go on except a nagging belief the missing woman knew more than she revealed.

Kadash is left to chase elusive leads among the bitter and broken widows of the dead men. Struggling with his own illness and with a growing rift between himself and his partner, Kadash finds himself entangled in a web of resentment, jealousy, and deceit. Ultimately, he finds that not is he only seeking a missing woman and the truth about the dead men, but also the meaning of his own life in the face of his impending mortality.

Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 491 KB
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00719VT58
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,546 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

Critically-acclaimed mystery novelist Bill Cameron is the author of the dark, gritty mysteries COUNTY LINE, DAY ONE, CHASING SMOKE and LOST DOG--featuring irascible Portland homicide cop Skin Kadash. In a starred-review of COUNTY LINE, Publishers Weekly said, "Contemporary sharp-edged noir doesn't get much better than Cameron's mournful novel featuring ex-cop Skin Kadash." And Library Journal called COUNTY LINE, "A perfect fit for Archie Mayor and William Kent Krueger fans."

New York Times Bestselling Portland author Chelsea Cain described DAY ONE as "an utterly engrossing page-turner." In the Vancouver Voice, Carolyn Schultz-Rathbun said, "The body count is positively Shakespearean, but in Cameron's vision of P-town's dark underbelly, love really is strong as death. Maybe stronger." DAY ONE was a finalist for the 2011 Spotted Owl Award for best Northwest mystery.

CHASING SMOKE received a starred review from Library Journal, and Booklist declared, "it engages the reader on an emotional as well as literary level." It was a finalist for the 2009 Spotted Owl Award. LOST DOG was nominated for the 2008 Rocky Award and was a finalist for the 2008 Spotted Owl Award. His short story, "The Princess of Felony Flats," was nominated for a 2011 CWA Short Story Dagger Award.

Cameron's short fiction has appeared in PORTLAND NOIR, SPINETINGLER MAGAZINE, the KILLER YEAR and FIRST THRILLS anthologies, as well as on Lit 103.3: Fiction for the Ears. In 2011, a pair of Skin Kadash stories appeared in the anthologies WEST COAST CRIME WAVE and DEADLY TREATS.

Bill lives with his wife and poodle in Portland, Oregon, where he also serves as staff to a charming, yet imperious cat. He is an eager traveler and avid bird-watcher, and likes to write near a window so he can meditate on whatever happens to fly by during intractable passages. He is currently at work on his next mystery.

Bill tweets at twitter.com/bcmystery. You can learn more at www.billcameronmysteries.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars five dead men, February 19, 2009

By 

Geof Arwood "mulehead" (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing Smoke (Hardcover)

The main reason I liked this book so much was because the main character and narrator, Skin Kadash, is one of the most intriguing characters I have come across recently in a novel. He is so flawed, so self depricating, so frustrating, that the reader has really has nowhere else to go but to like him. He is a character you love to hate, hate because he is so much of a pain in the you know what. Good story, good mystery, but most of all good characters. Enjoy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Read from Bill Cameron, February 1, 2009

By 

Sue Ann Jaffarian "Mystery Author" (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chasing Smoke (Paperback)

I thoroughly enjoyed Cameron's first novel, Lost Dog, and looked forward to his second book, Chasing Smoke. I was not disappointed. For me the heart and soul of this book was not the murder plot, but the character of Skin Kadash, the detective being eaten away by cancer. In Chasing Smoke (a wonderful and appropriate title, by the way), we not only get to follow Skin's thought process as he untangles the deaths of a group of cancer patients, but his struggle, both emotional and physical, with his own illness. Well done!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Mystery-Thriller, Outstanding Police Procedural!, November 9, 2008

By 

Kelli E. Stanley (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasing Smoke (Paperback)

I was lucky enough to get an advanced reading copy of Bill Cameron's Chasing Smoke several months ago ... and the book has haunted me ever since.

A chilling, completely original premise--what if fellow clients of your oncologist are dying under suspicious circumstances?--that lays bare psychological and physical vulnerability in a darkly elegiac and beautifully written fashion. Expert character study, almost unbearably suspenseful pace, evocative Portland setting, and textured, realistic detail. This book is a masterwork, building on the promise and success of Cameron's first noir crime novel, Lost Dog.

Read Chasing Smoke ... you'll find images lingering long after you've finished the novel. Hollywood, are you listening?