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The Best Lousy Choice: An Ed Earl Burch Novel by [Jim Nesbitt]

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Jim Nesbitt

The Best Lousy Choice: An Ed Earl Burch Novel Kindle Edition

by Jim Nesbitt (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Dallas private eye Ed Earl Burch is an emotional wreck, living on the edge of madness, hosing down the nightmares of his last case with bourbon and Percodan, dreading the next onslaught of demons that haunt his days and nights, including a one-eyed dead man who still wants to carve out his heart and eat it.

Burch is also a walking contradiction. Steady and relentless when working a case. Tormented and unbalanced when idle. He’s deeply in debt to a shyster lawyer who forces him to take the type of case he loathes -- divorce work, peephole creeping to get dirt on a wayward husband.

Work with no honor. Work that reminds him of how far he’s fallen since he lost the gold shield of a Dallas homicide detective. Work in the stark, harsh badlands of West Texas, the border country where he almost got killed and his nightmares began.

What he longs for is the clarity and sense of purpose he had when he carried that gold shield and chased killers for a living. The adrenaline spike of the showdown. Smoke ‘em or cuff ‘em. Justice served -- by his .45 or a judge and jury.

When a rich rancher and war hero is killed in a suspicious barn fire, the rancher’s outlaw cousin hires Burch to investigate a death the county sheriff is reluctant to touch.

Seems a lot of folks had reason for wanting the rancher dead -- the local narco who has the sheriff on his payroll; some ruthless Houston developers who want the rancher’s land; maybe his own daughter. Maybe the outlaw cousin who hired Burch.

Thrilled to be a manhunter again, Burch ignores these red flags, forgetting something he once knew by heart.

Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. And it might just get you killed.

But it’s the best lousy choice Ed Earl Burch is ever going to get.

Print length

349 pages
Language

English
Publication date

July 6, 2019
File size

1813 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Take another plunge with Ed Earl Burch into the badlands of a tough, corrupt West Texas county where violence is a virtue and truth is hard to find. Jim Nesbitt makes you feel the hard, dry heat rising from the high desert rocks and the sharp thorns of the twisted scrub. You'll find yourself in a land where the mysteries come like unexpected thunderstorms and the double-cross should be the brand of many a ranch...With characters you're happy to meet and those you'd like to see dead. Nesbitt's flair with believable dialogue and pounding action makes you want to know more -- and Ed Earl delivers. A cashiered cop reluctantly turned private eye, Ed Earl knows this trip west of Dallas is no joy ride. This gun-slinging crime thriller plays for keeps. Buckle up, you'll like this. -- John Davis, The Decatur (Ala.) Daily
"Nesbitt paints a picture of a harsh, brutal, sun-dried land of mesquite and rattlesnakes that will have the reader turning pages, mopping sweat and thirsting for water - or maybe an ice-cold long neck of Lone Star beer. If you like hard-boiled crime novels, you'll love this one." -- Jerry Barksdale, The (Athens, Ala.) News-Courier
"Ed Earl Burch is a terrific hard-boiled character - a beaten up, beleaguered, boozing ex-cop who also happens to be one helluva detective...But the real story here is the violent uncompromising world of Ed Earl Burch's Texas that Nesbitt writes about so eloquently and dramatically. It's a tough world, but Burch is even tougher - an unorthodox lawman with a classic sense of justice who uses both his intelligence and brute force to beat the bad guys time and time again, no matter how badly the odds seemed to be stacked against him." -- R.G. Belsky, author of the Clare Carlson mysteries
"...The Best Lousy Choice is a bracing dose of the West as strong and smooth as a long pull of good whiskey before breakfast." Michael Ludden, author of Alfredo's Luck and Tate Drawdy
"West Texas is a harsh mistress. She'll snake-bite you, shoot you, stampede you. Or-plain-old burn you up inside your own barn. Jim Nesbitt brings these dangers and the beauty of this harsh land to life in The Best Lousy Choice, the third book in his series featuring private eye Ed Earl Burch...Burch, tough as those he faces, is as interesting for his nightmares as he is for his sharp mind and sharper tongue when on the job. The Best Lousy Choice is a great choice for readers looking for a thriller filled with action, atmosphere and unforgettable characters." -- Rich Zahradnik, author of Lights Out Summer, winner of the 2018 Shamus Award
"Suffice to say, that The Best Lousy Choice brings all of author Jim Nesbitt's considerable talents to bear and puts them on display in crisp, wide-angled focus. It is Texas, 1989, and Ed Earl Burch, the self-described de-frocked cop and walking paradox is back. A man both clever and intelligent, he also possesses a timeless Western-style sense of justice, unburdened by too much regard as to the methods he employs to keep the scales in balance. As steady, relentless, and as tough as they come, Burch is a man at much at war with his personal demons as with the narco-traficantes, land schemers, and double-dealers that threaten his corner of the Lone Star State, one boot heel planted firmly on each side of the border, and the law." -- Baron R. Birtcher, author of South California Purples and Fistful Of Rain

From the Author

I've always thought hard-boiled detective novels an American art form. At their best, they're more than who-dun-its or thrillers, they're vehicles for a writer's observations about culture, politics, philosophy, music, history and a time or a place. Or life, it's ownself. When you read James Ellroy, Dashiell Hammett or James Lee Burke, their stories are always about far more than good guys chasing bad guys. That's the kind of book I wanted to write. When you write, you start with what you know - and work hard to learn more. And I knew a little something about the border, Texas and Mexico from my journalism days. Knew some cops and redneck outlaws, too. And I knew I wanted to write a noirish detective novel. So I started with that and went from there. Out popped Ed Earl Burch and THE LAST SECOND CHANCE, THE RIGHT WRONG NUMBER and THE BEST LOUSY CHOICE.

ASIN : B07TY91NKL
Publisher : Spotted Mule Press (July 6, 2019)
Publication date : July 6, 2019
Language : English
File size : 1813 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 349 pages
Lending : Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #384,807 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,298 in Crime Action Fiction (Kindle Store)
- #4,145 in Crime Action & Adventure
- #6,083 in Action Thriller Fiction

Customer Reviews:
69 ratings

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2 star		3%
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Top reviews from the United States

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Michael Ludden

A bracing dose of the west

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2019

Verified Purchase

Ed Earl Burch is former Dallas cop with bad knees, an unhealthy attitude and a seemingly unquenchable thirst for guns, booze and women.
If he were on the high seas, he'd be a pirate. But this book isn't about plunder. It's about survival. And Burch is fighting long odds.
Called in to investigate the murder of a rancher, he's up against a vicious cartel and a corrupt sheriff. And they are not alone. There are others who want Burch dead and they are frighteningly good at what they do.
In his third noir thriller, Jim Nesbitt takes us back to West Texas... "an ageless and unforgiving land of stark and barren beauty, harsh choices and sudden violence... "
Nesbitt knows the state and its traditions. And Burch will come to know its depths... and its ghosts. If he expects to be left standing, he will need what Nesbitt calls "internal iron" and a willingness to do anything. There is almost no one he can trust, except, perhaps, Carla Sue Cantrell. And when it comes to Carla Sue, trust is something you can worry about in the morning.
Burch no longer wears the badge. But he's smart and tough. And he knows when to duck.
"The solitary boom from a Browning Hi-Power sounded like a thunderclap. The slug wiped smile from Lopez's lips and turned the back of his skull into a bloody pulp as the bound body and chair tipped backwards and thudded to the dirt floor."
Nesbitt loves Texas and his descriptions take us there.
"The Devil's Backbone ran northeast to southwest for about fifteen miles, petering out to become a ragged jumble of arroyos and small hills about five miles north of the Rio Grande... along the ridge's western flank, the drainage for a creek that was dry most of the year, swollen only by the winter rains that caused the creosote brush to turn a shiny olive green and waft the scent of old railroad ties and telephone poles..."
Will Burch survive another round against enormous odds? Time will tell. For Burch, and for us, the Best Lousy Choice is a bracing dose of the West as strong and smooth as a long pull of good whiskey before breakfast.

4 people found this helpful

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PrimeYogi Customer

The worst terrible fiction.

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2020

Verified Purchase

Poorly written and even more of a waste of time than Jack and Jill. The author's clumsy attempt at pornography were laughable, lame and less than lackadaisical. Large mammary glands bouncing comically do not make for arousal.

5 people found this helpful

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Gary L. Carter

West Texas Noir As Harsh And Unforgiving As The Landscape

Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

Jim Nesbitt in his three Ed Earl Burch Novels has created a compelling character. Whose haunted by demons of his past, whose bruised and battered body and psyche can take whatever comes his way and live to walk away. He faces crooked cops & politicians,narco kingpins, sicarios, stone cold killers & psycopaths. I have read all three books in the series and haven’t been disappointed for a second. One piece of advice, read them in the order they were written. I am already looking forward to the next book by Mr. Nesbitt.

2 people found this helpful

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Kindle bill c

Read First Book, that was too many

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2020

Verified Purchase

I could not get into the book. Too much swearing, visual nightmare.

5 people found this helpful

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Adah

Powerful Story

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2020

Verified Purchase

Captivated from the start with powerful descriptions of a harsh country, I could not put this book down. Every character had a life story intertwined with the present and characters evolved beautifully. You'd have to be a man of steel to survive in this brutal, cruel and criminal society. Who wins through could be anyone's guess. Excellent.

One person found this helpful

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Ron

West Texas shenanigans

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2021

Verified Purchase

Takes a worn Western plot line: land barons vs. Homesteads, old money vs. New, mix in the modern twist of drug lords and politics, add in a local patriarch murder that needs solving with a grizzled ex-homicide cop private 'dick' that shoots first and asks questions later, and you have a story to keep you turning pages....

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Dave Norem author of RECURRENCE and PAPERTOWN

Noir at its best

Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2020

Verified Purchase

Tough, slug em in the guts, kick em in the nuts action packed suspense This is written the way the really bad-ass ones think and act. Guns, gals and grit. Once you read it you can't help but want more. I ordered two more myself

One person found this helpful

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Eliot B. Brenner

Good detective work

Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2021

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Darned good tale and detective work. Nick Danger can’t hold a candle to Ed Earl.

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