The Night Watchman (Ray Quinn Series, Book 1) [Paperback]

Mark Mynheir (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2009

Eleven months ago, Ray Quinn was a tough, quick-witted Orlando homicide detective at the top of his game–until a barrage of bullets ended his career…and his partner’s life.

Now medically retired with a painful handicap, Ray battles the haunting guilt for his partner’s death. Numbing the pain with alcohol and attitude, Ray takes a job as a night watchman at a swanky Orlando condo.

But when a pastor and an exotic dancer are found dead in one of the condos in an apparent murder-suicide, Ray can no longer linger in the shadows. The pastor’s sister is convinced her brother was framed and begs Ray to take on an impossible case–to challenge the evidence and clear her brother’s name.

Ray reluctantly pulls the threads of this supposedly dead-end case only to unravel a murder investigation so deep that it threatens to turn the Orlando political landscape upside down and transform old friends into new enemies. As Ray chases down leads and interrogates suspects, someone is watching his every move, someone determined to keep him from ever finding out the truth–at any cost.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“With dialogue so realistic that it sounds like crime scene dictation, Mynheir renders a flawed, emotionally haunted, staunchly decent protagonist in retired detective Ray Quinn. The reader cannot help but root for him to defeat his personal demons. The warmth of this story rings true and feels deserved.”
–Anthony Flacco, screenwriter and author of The Hidden Man and The Last Nightingale

“What a rare pleasure it is to discover a suspense novelist as talented as Mark Mynheir–an elegant writer who tells stories about the world of law enforcement that only an insider possibly could. The Night Watchman is a powerful, fast-moving tale with rich characters and some great twists.”
–Joseph Finder, New York Times best-selling author of Power Play and Paranoia

“With stakeouts, fake-outs, and shoot-outs, The Night Watchman is a terrific crime story. Well written, well plotted, and extremely well done, Mynheir delivers a compulsively engrossing thriller that bears comparison with Michael Connelly and John Sanford.”
–W. L. Dyson, best-selling author of The Shefford-Johnson Case series and Shepherd’s Fall

“Riveting, revealing, rewarding–classic Mark Mynheir! In The Night Watchman, Mynheir has created an intricately woven thriller with a worthy mystery, gut-clenching suspense, and a compelling protagonist, Ray, who has lost everything, including hope and faith. Yet Ray dares to seek answers intentionally buried, and in doing so, he finds himself…and offers us insights into ourselves. Author to author, I say, ‘Bravo!’ Reader to reader, I say, ‘Don’t miss this book. It’s loaded with insightful gems!’”
–Vicki Hinze, award-winning author of Kill Zone and Lady Justice

“The Night Watchman delivers high-stakes suspense, the perfect amount of police intrigue, and characters so real they walk off the page and into your soul. This is a story that will keep you awake all night and stay on your mind long after you’ve placed this novel on your keeper shelf.”
–Amy Wallace, author of Enduring Justice

“Mynheir’s real-life experience shines through in his creation of new hero Ray Quinn–a hard-edged, never-say-die detective with leathery wit, unable–or unwilling–to quite give up on life. The Night Watchman is an intense read you won’t put down until the last page.”
–Tosca Lee, Christy-nominated author of ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Silver Award Winner Demon: A Memoir and Havah: The Story of Eve

“What a ride! In a novel rich in both plot and character, Mark Mynheir has given us a classic noir crime novel. Ray Quinn, the night watchman, may be broken in body, but his mind and heart refuse to quit. A must-read for mystery fans.”
–Gayle Roper, author of Fatal Deduction

About the Author

A detective with the Criminal Investigations Unit of the Palm Bay Police Department, Mark Mynheir investigates violent crimes and writes riveting Christian fiction. A U.S. Marine with a passion for martial arts and firearms training, Mark has worked on narcotics units, SWAT teams, and in a myriad high-risk situations. His novels offer a realistic glimpse into the gritty world of law enforcement and the rarely seen raw emotions behind the badge. Mark lives in Florida with his wife and three children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 339 pages
• Publisher: Multnomah Books; Original edition (May 5, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590529359
• ISBN-13: 978-1590529355
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 7.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (123 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,013,272 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark is a former Marine who's worked in law enforcement over twenty years. He began his career with the Cocoa Beach Police Department and shortly after that moved to the Palm Bay Police Department, where he currently works as a homicide / violent crimes detective. In his career, Mark has worked as a Patrol Officer, an Undercover Narcotics Agent, a S.W.A.T. team member, as well as a Homicide Detective.

Mark has parlayed his police experiences into a successful speaking and writing career. He has written articles for Focus on the Family's Breakaway magazine and Lookout magazine and is the also the author of four novels: Rolling Thunder, From the Belly of the Dragon, The Void, and the Christy nominated The Night Watchman. He and his family currently live in central Florida. You can visit Mark's website at www.copwriter.com or his Facebook account.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and enjoyable Christian mystery/thriller, April 30, 2009

By 

Sandy Kay (Twin Cities, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Night Watchman (Ray Quinn Series, Book 1) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I have read many mysteries but this is only the second one in the Christian mystery sub-genre and I wasn't sure what to expect. This is a little twist on the genre because Ray Quinn (the main character and narrator) not only is not a Christian, he doesn't think much of them and his feelings on the subject don't change dramatically throughout the book. But there are a couple Christian characters who express their faith, though not so much as to get in the way of the mystery.

Other than those Christian characters, the most notable difference from most of the mysteries I read was in the language. In this book, no one swears; not the cops and not even the "dirt bag" characters. And there is no sex. So if foul language and gratuitous sex scenes make you avoid contemporary mysteries, this one will be safe for you.

Ray Quinn, former homicide detective on medical retirement from the Orlando Police Department, is an interesting main character because of his brokenness. Many detectives in mystery novels are imperfect, but Ray is both physically and emotionally damaged. As a result of a shooting a year before the book opens, he has nearly constant pain and walks with a cane. His former partner and lover died in the attack so he has emotional pain and guilt. He works as a night watchman at a condominium complex to supplement his benefits; away from work he drinks a lot of Jim Beam and watches John Wayne movies.

The other main characters are: Pam, the sister of a man presumed to have died in a murder-suicide with a stripper, Crevis, the eager-beaver bumbling kid who shares the night watchman shift with Ray, and various cops (one of which has bad blood with Ray). The story is told first person from Ray's point of view, which is not my favorite writing style but I got used to it.

If anyone wonders whether standards are lower in the Christian fiction world, I thought this mystery was as well written as most of the "regular" entries in the mystery genre. It isn't up there with the very best mystery writers but I would definitely place it alongside the majority of "good but not great" books I've read in the past year or so. This is the first book in a series featuring Ray and Crevis as private investigators; I'd be happy to read the next one.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What does it take to find the truth?, April 28, 2009

By 

Brian Reaves (Anniston, AL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Night Watchman (Ray Quinn Series, Book 1) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Mark Mynheir is known primarily for his "Truth Chasers" series of books. "The Night Watchmen" is his latest novel and isn't officially a part of that series, though it actually could be. Ray Quinn is a homicide detective put out of commission due to a horribly violent incident that took the life of his partner. Now Ray works as a night watchman at a condo while hiding his pain in alcohol. But soon his life of hiding will end as an apparent murder-suicide in one of the condos throws Ray unofficially back into the role of detective. He must search for answers the cops want it buried.

This story is a great thriller and works on many levels. The thing about Mynheir is his ability to make you care about his characters and see them as more than just words on a page. The surprisingly lonely life "beyond the badge" takes front and center here as we see Quinn fighting to solve the mystery while at the same time struggling to rise from his depression. Add a mysterious killer stalking him to the mix and you have a winning thriller. Highly recommended!

22 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Caveat Lector, April 21, 2009

By 

greg taylor (Portland, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Night Watchman (Ray Quinn Series, Book 1) (Paperback)

(What's this?)

Like the other reviewers I was given a copy of this book to review. I am a recreational reader of detective and police procedural fiction. I always have been.
Unfortunately, I am not nearly as impressed as the first two reviewers. Writing is a craft-one that must be honed over many years. Mynheir is a fairly good writer but he has a long way to go before he joins the first rank of mystery writers.
This is where I will get in trouble. For Mynheir is writing two different novels here. The first is a fairly good crime procedural novel. As the first two reviewers have noted, Mynheir's protaganist, Ray Quinn, is a ex-homicide detective who received a medical disability retirement after being viciously shot on the job. But Mynheir is also writing a conversion novel or, at least, the first part of one. (Spoiler alert) His fiance was killed as part of that same shooting and he blames himself. He is working on becoming a drunkard. Mynheir wants us to see him as someone who has lost everything but who is brought around to an openness toward God as a result of his investigation in this book.
Unfortunately, for me, none of it worked. Quinn is fairly well fleshed out but no one else is. The main women characters are cut out of cardboard. None of the conversion experiences seem very powerful. Even the police procedure could have been written more convincingly. Toward the beginning, Quinn is brought up short by one detail he notices in a crime scene picture. Mynheir even uses it as the plot punch line to end a chapter (p. 39). He just never bothers to ever tell us which one particular point it is.
Obviously, how you react to Mynheir's book will depend on how interested you are to the combination of the conversion genre with the detective genre. For me, at this point in the series it did not work. Mynheir may yet pull it off. Many authors improve over the course of a series. But I found this to be a very uneven start. Maybe that is because I am the bitter cynic that Ray Quinn is supposed to be. Or maybe it is because there are better books to read.