Deadbeat [Paperback]

Michael Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 17, 2000

Lisa Jones, a beautiful young woman with a Caribbean accent, asks private investigator, Frank Taylor, to locate her missing brother. Without officially taking the case, Frank soon finds himself peeling through layers of fraud, lies and deceit. Before he can locate the missing brother, the man turns up murdered in a hotel room, which just happens to be registered to none other than Lisa Jones. Suddenly, Lisa is nowhere to be found, and several shadowy characters are trying to put Frank in the hospital. That's when the police get involved. That's also when Frank finds out that the dead man wasn't Lisa's brother at all. Set in New York City, Deadbeat is a fast-paced, hard-boiled thriller in the tradition of Raymond Chandler. A tightly woven page-turner from a fresh new talent.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Martin lives and works in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (October 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595140521
• ISBN-13: 978-0595140527
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,547,102 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good story with diverse characters., June 17, 2001

By 

Mo Addams "Mo Addams" (Terra Firma - USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deadbeat (Paperback)

This mystery has been described as a hard-boiled thriller in the tradition of Raymond Chandler. It begins with a woman named Lisa Jones hiring a private detective, Frank Taylor, to find her brother, Paul White, who Lisa says has been missing for two weeks. Lisa doesn't believe Paul has just gone off by himself without telling anyone, even though she says he's been known to do this kind of thing before. Lisa believes something has happened to her brother, and she wants Frank Taylor to help her find him. Frank's instinct tells him that Lisa's story may not be completely factual, but he does decide to look into the case and see where it leads him. Frank has been working for a credit company doing skip traces and fraud investigations. This does not necessarily prepare him for the twists and turns he runs into while investigating Lisa's case. And that is exactly what makes this mystery good reading. I enjoyed getting to know Frank Taylor through this story as much as I enjoyed trying to untagle the lies and deceit Frank plows through while trying to uncover the whereabouts of Paul White. If I had to make a comparison between Martin's writing and that of someone else's books, I would say that DEADBEAT resembles the kind of storytelling Gar Anthony Haywood does in his Aaron Gunner series. I hope Martin intends to continue with Frank Taylor in similar detective whodunits.