Dead Ringer: A Ron Shade and Alex St. James Mystery (Five Star First Edition Mystery) [Hardcover]

Michael A. Black (Author), Julie Hyzy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Black's kickboxing PI, Ron Shade (Windy City Knights), and Hyzy's TV reporter/sleuth, Alex St. James (Deadly Blessings), both based in Chicago, blend their talents nicely in this first team effort from their creators. Shade is working for an insurance company that paid out $12 million in an accidental death case, but now has reason to believe that the insured is still alive. St. James is working on a story about the homeless that requires going underground equipped with a Taser for protection. Told in roughly alternating chapters, their assignments eventually merge as they separately, then jointly, uncover a massive case of fraud with murder a frequent byproduct. The bad guys, as deadly as they are, are pretty easy to identify, but the way the physically tough Shade and the gutsy St. James deal with them shows the protagonists to be a well-matched pair. The frisson of mutual attraction between St. James and Shade should make readers hope for future joint endeavors. (Nov.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 429 pages
• Publisher: Five Star (ME) (November 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594147132
• ISBN-13: 978-1594147135
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,152,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent collaboration, December 4, 2008

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dead Ringer: A Ron Shade and Alex St. James Mystery (Five Star First Edition Mystery) (Hardcover)

In Chicago World's Heavyweight Kickboxing champion and private investigator Ron Shade accepts an assignment from "Big" Dick Mackenzie of Midwestern Olympia Insurance company. Dick claims they paid out $12 million to the widow of deceased Robert Bayless and the dead man's company when he died in a downstate car accident; however, based on Robert's distinctive laugh, Dick insists he is alive in Vegas.

At the same time her boss assigns TV investigative reporter Alex St. James to go undercover amidst the homeless. The case is dangerous so she conceals an illegal Taser. However, her inquiry spins into insurance fraud and murder as Alex's investigation ties in with that of Ron.

These two Chicago based mystery series are strong sagas in their own right, but merging them proves a winner as for the most part the two sleuths rotate leads. The subplots are exciting until they merge proving the whole is greater than the sum of the parts even when the parts work quite well as separate subplots. With a hint of an attraction between the two stars, fans will insist Michael A. Black and Julie Hyzy provide more collaborative novels like this one.

Harriet Klausner