Customer Reviews

Jake's Burn

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In Dallas, former police officer turned private sleuth Arthur Conan "Ace" Edwards ekes out a living to complement his retirement pay mostly finding information on cheating spouses. Three years ago, Ace worked a case for a client from his hometown, multimillionaire Jake Adams, seeking proof that his wife, Sheila was cheating on him so that he would pay less in alimony and most likely keep the home he designed. Ace succeeded, but Jake lost the house to Sheila anyway.

Jake wants to hire Ace to investigate who burned down "his" home. Though he would prefer to stay away from Cisco, Ace accepts because the fee will pay off his outstanding debts. Ace immediately learns two people died in the fire. He assumes Sheila is one, but has no idea whom the other is. Though local, townsfolk treat Ace like an outsider refusing to cooperate with him; except for Bubba, who loved Sheila and was the cause of the divorce. As Ace continues his inquiries for a conflict of interest pair of clients (Bubba vs. Jake) and falls in love, someone tries to ace the sleuth whose only allies are his two cats.

Fans of private sleuth tales will appreciate the fabulous JAKE'S BURN that proves one cannot go home even to his own home. The action-packed story line with a wicked sense of humor engages the audience from the moment Jake rehires a reluctant Ace to look into deadly arson until the final brawls. A sidebar romance humanizes the hero who proves to be an ace of a detective and readers will demand further adventures of this charismatic hero.

Harriet Klausner

Jake's Burn was a quick and fun read. The characters were multi-dimentional and real. The plot had many twists and turns and Jake was in the middle of them all. Believable characters, snappy dialogue, "don't turn the lights off yet, honey," plot--it had all the characteristics of a good mystery. This was my first Randy Rawls book, but won't be my last.

Ace Edwards is the kind of P.I. who clears his calendar for two weeks by canceling an appointment to have the oil changed in his Chrysler convertible. He discusses his cases with his two cats, referred to as "the boys," and with his dead parents on occasional visits to the cemetery. "Discusses" is the wrong word.He tries out his theories on a captive audience.

Ace gets a call from longtime friend Jake, whose house-- or ex-house inhabited by ex-wife Sheila -- has just burned to the ground.Charred remains of two people are found in the ashes. It's assumed that one of them was Sheila.

Jake doesn't care.Tough about old Sheila, who dumped him for Bubba, the chauffeur, and has been hanging out with a wild crowd.Jake just wants to know who torched his dream house so he can start rebuilding. Ace is about to earn his $1500 a day plus expenses.

Jake's house was in Cisco, a wide spot in the road not far from Dallas, and hometown of both Jake and Ace.That counts for something, but not much, when Ace goes to Cisco and starts asking questions. He sifts through the fire debris with a hostile fire chief and ends up looking like a charcoal briquette, leading to equally hostile receptions in fancy offices.

Ace's investigation takes him to Bubba's apartment. Bubba strikes him as just a big lug with a "cobwebby space where most humans store a brain." He turns out to be a pretty good guy, running interference for Ace at the Down Home,where the locals hang out. There Ace meets the beautiful Terri, who's a spitting image of the late Sheila. Trailing along is her plug-ugly brother, Joey-Boy, who sincerely believes that women refer to him as Lovetoy. As weird as it all seems to Ace, it has great bearing on his eventual cracking of the case.

Randy Rawls writes with a Texas twang and humor.This is a fun first outing for Ace Edwards.