BV LawsonBesprekingen

I had trouble keeping some of the threads straight, but the clues were all there and the solution was more than satisfactory.

When a former client gives Scott Drayco an Opera House in Cape Unity, he arranges to meet his next client there. Unfortunately he finds him dead with a letter G carved unto his body. Quite a few people have a motive, and is there any connection to Konstantina Klucze, a polish pianist who played at the House, or to the other murders which occur.

Scott Drayco, a crime consultant, and defense attorney Benny Baskin are looking for evidence that Benny's client is innocent of the murder of his business partner.
An enjoyable mystery novella

Three enjoyable and interesting short stories.
The Devil to Play - the case of the stolen violin
Blood Antiphon- Drayco visits an alleged serialkiller. A killer who will only speak to him.
Valley of the Shadow of Death - Drayco is hired by rancher Will Pichford, but why

Drayco's inner demons aren't afraid to bubble up close to the surface and wrap their tendrils around his mind, but he does a pretty good job of keeping himself calm and steady on the surface--a good skill to have when you're a former member of the FBI turned crime consultant who's just inherited an abandoned, derelict Opera House with--what else--a dead body inside. There are lots of twists and turns in this one, as people from a past mostly forgotten have a way of making their voices heard, and the deeper Drayco digs, the more the past and present intertwine. I had a little difficulty keeping the cast of characters straight in my head at first, but I enjoyed figuring out who the killer is even though I initially had the wrong motivation. There's a bit more blood than I'm used to since I generally stick to cozies, but there's by no means over-the-top gore.

I loved this novel, although it dragged in places. I was so caught with the words in the song and I wondered if it was cursed. Retired FBI, Scott Drayco really really hated to investigate suicides, but when Neila Tyler asked him for help he couldn't say no as her boss ruled the boy's death a suicide without hardly investigating his death he knew that he had to get involved. I was fascinated as this is the first time that I have read this series and can't help but wonder what I missed!!

This was a good mystery to solve. There were enough clues to keep me happy and not so many that I felt sure. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the scenery. My copy from a few years ago had a few typos.

Well-written and engaging thriller.

The protagonist, Scott Drayco, has a chequered background - ex-concert pianist, ex-FBI - and is now an independent investigator. I like the way the author feeds information about Drayco gradually and relevantly while maintaining the energy of the novel.

The story opens with Drayco going to meet a new client at a white elephant of an opera house which Drayco has just inherited from a previous client. His intended brief visit turns into an extended stay when he finds the body of his client lying on the stage, and is drawn into investigating his murder.

One of the areas that makes this book stand out is the quality of the characterisation. There are no cliched cardboard cut-outs. Each is a real person in his or her own right, with their own desires and needs, hidden or overt. They inhabit a small town where secrets are hard to keep and easy to embroider. Because it is a closed in world, quite a few people come under suspicion, but the ending came as a total surprise to me.

I very much enjoyed this book, and look forward to reading more by this author.

Scott Drayco, ex-FBI, private investigator inherits from a previous client a run-down Opera House in a small town. I liked the character of Scott Drayco because he is someone everyone can relate too. He has terrible nightmares from a previous case, he is tempted but doesn't give in to the town councilman's wife, short on money and thinking about giving up investigating but is having financial problems. In short a real human with real problems.

He arrives in town because a potential client wants to meet him at the Opera House - he's dead in the Opera House.

This town has secrets and more secrets. Ms. Lawson has done a great job creating a twisting, turning mystery that is difficult to solve because of all the secrets.

I really liked the story because it has depth but not all the swearing and sex scenes that a lot of mysteries have in an attempt to make the story more believable. I look forward to more in this series.

I hope to read more from this author and series. Scott Drayco is a combination of the 1960’s male protagonist detective and a sensitive intuitive artist. He hears and sees sounds as colors, shapes and textures – “chromesthesia “. He reminded me of Humphrey Bogart in the Maltese Falcon.

I was given this book with no commitment to review it. Death on Holiday is a collection of short stories filled with witty retorts that will tickle readers as you love the heroes that get out of trouble one way or another.

Crime consultant Scott Drayco is in Cape Unity this Monday morning in mid-march to meet a client at the old Opera House. A building that has not been used in years and one that Scott Drayco now owns. It wasn’t something he expected, but he inherited it thanks to the fact that the recently deceased Horatio Rockingham assigned it to him by way of his will.

Sine he had to come look at the place anyway he had arranged with his potential client, Oakley Keys, to meet him at the Opera House at 7 in the morning. Keyes never got into specifics, but he definitely had wanted to meet and hire Drayco. That meeting isn’t going to happen as the man is very much dead on the stage in the old opera house. While the bullet to the head probably killed him the meaning of the carving on the chest of Oakley Key is far harder to determine. He has been dead for hours and probably was already dead when Drayco climbed into his Oldsmobile Starfire and headed out of Washington, DC.

The plan had been for a quick sale of the Opera House followed by a much needed vacation. Not only is Drayco haunted by the nightmare of his last case, he suffers daily from Chromesthesia. He hears sounds and his brain translates that to colors, shapes, and textures. While it does not debilitate him, that ability along with his deep love of music, allows him to see investigations in a different way than most. Fortunately, the local sheriff is willing to indulge him and welcomes his assistance in a case where there are almost as many motives as suspects.

First in the Scott Drayco mystery series, Played To Death by BV Lawson is very good. Filled with complex characters, multiple motives and agendas, and a lot of small details that build the atmosphere, this cozy style story works the suspense angle while Drayco tries to figure out what happened. That isn’t easy and the problem does not get simpler when the body of a second victim is found. Plenty of twists and turns as the case goes along makes figuring out who did it as well as why in Played To Death quite the challenge.

Played To Death: A Scott Drayco Mystery
BV Lawson
http://www.bvlawson.com/
Crimetime Press
http://www.crimetimepress.com/
July 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0990458227
E-book (also available in hardcover and paperback)
312 Pages
$3.99 (Free at this time)

Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2015

Dies Irae is book three in B.V. Lawson's Scott Drayco mystery series and I enjoyed every minute of reading it! This whole series has kept me enthralled and I can hardly wait for book four.

Drayco was a concert pianist until his arm was permanently damaged by a criminal. No longer able to maintain the intense practice schedule required for his musical profession, he retired from the stage to become a crime-fighting FBI agent. He has now left the FBI and works as a freelance crime consultant.

In this book, he is contacted by his former FBI partner, "Sarg" Sargosian, and asked to help solve a murder. A co-ed was brutally murdered on his daughter's college campus. Sarg is afraid that his daughter might become a target of the murderer and sets aside his pride to ask for Drayco's help. Drayco has two skills that Sarg is hoping will help to quickly solve this murder: his musical background and his synesthesia. The killer has left a clue hidden in musical code. Can Drayco use his musical skills to unravel the code? Also, the victim is, as is Drayco, a synesthete. In layman's terms, that means that they have a rare neurological condition where stimulating one sense leads to an automatic, involuntary experience in a secondary sense (in Drayco's case, sound creates visual colors). Will that shared experience help him to better understand the victim and solve this crime?

Another murder, another musically coded clue. Is this a ritualistic killer? And what's this with Scott receiving a code of his own? Can he solve the mystery before even more are killed???

I enjoyed this book not only for the interesting story but also because this book gave a lot of information about Scott's past and how he ended up where he is today. It gave me a rich appreciation of who he is.

I definitely recommend this book and happily give it a five star rating.

Awesome book! I loved the main character Scott Drayco. He is a complex character that leaves you wanting to know more about who is is. The people of the town are an intriguing cast of characters. I found myself wanting to find a hidden gem of a town and move there hoping to find the same sense of community. As well as the serenity in the views. Wonderful read. I highly recommend it. If you like murder mysteries this one will keep you on your toes.

PI Drayco is a likable, intelligent lead character who ties the whodunit plot together with ease, playing off of several memorable townsfolk and the long disused Opera House. Classical music references and his synesthesia add interest and are integral to the plot. An enjoyable read.

Scott Drayco, an investigator, must find evidence to help his boss, Lawyer Baskin in a case he does not want to lose. Drayco plays a game of cat and mouse with a murderer and comes out the winner. This was a well written, fast read, that held my attention.

Review copy recieved via Library Thing Member Giveaway Received as a review copy via Library thing member giveaway. the fourth in the Scott Drayco series,so by now if you have read all the earlier books, you are up to speed with Drayco, Drayco Snr, Drayo's former work colleagues, his bedmates and the places he loves and hates. Drayco is a former concert pianist, former FBI agent, current crime specialist we go back to the East Coast, but most of the action happens in Washington DC.
Drayco's mother has been arrested under suspicion of murder. As Drayco thought his mother was dead,this is confusing news even for a 35 something man. And he has issues lots of old,deep issues - if she is his mother why did she leave and if she is not, why does she claim to be. Drayco is asked to prove she is innocent, how easy will that be when she creates the impression that she knows more than she is saying and that she may be protecting someone.
Lawson writes clean, clear crime mysteries, you MAY guess the solution before it is presented to you, I personally gave up guessing the killer(s?) after I read Murder on the Orient Express at the age of 9 - spoiler alert - they all did it, and Poirot would have too given half the chance.

Lawson packs a lot into the Drayco books, references to classical music which must also be the author's passion because the detail is beyond the amateur pianist, here we have scams, Gypsies and the vulnerability of the lonely.

Lawson is developing Drayco and his life and work well, if you have read the other three books - which you really should have only to be up to speed,you may very well have developed a fondness for this investigator and his colleagues.

As I continued to read, I found no 'fatal' editing errors, of the type that usually make me want to throw a book or in the case of a Kindle - the nearest cushion (there is always one on hand) across the room.

So why 3 stars? Way too many cultural references that meant that on occasion I had nothing to work with - OK, it is NOT important that I know exactly what a Manhattan Special Expresso Soda is, but when not connected to the Internet my Kindle couldn't tell me, nor, did Lawson spell out some of the other US centric terms sprinkled through the Drayco books, I don't care if there is a footnote with a link within the kindle book, or an explanation in the body of the text but for a non USA based reader it became frustrating, and I really HATE skipping over sections because I cannot see the obvious link. In this book, Lawson has ramped up the acronyms I was halfway through the book before I had Internet access to find out what the TSA meant and by that time I almost didn't care.

Received as a review copy via Library thing member giveaway. The first in a series which, as I read the 4th in the series (also a review copy) before I read No 1, I was left a little confused - so read them in order as the characters' backgrounds are developed over each book. This is a well written, carefully plotted and planned book, unlike the crime(s) which start off interestingly and then deteriorate with the carelessness of a person or persons under stress in a small town. It is an unfortunate coincidence for the killer(s?) that Scott Drayco is in town.Drayco is a former concert pianist, former FBI agent, current crime specialist and new owner of an opera house situated in a very small town on the East Coast of the USA on a few hours drive from Washington DC where he normally lives.
Drayco turns up in the town early one morning to look over the opera house left to him by a man he did not know. He has also received a message from one of the townsfolk that they - knowing he is an investigator - would like to hire him. So far so normal, until Drayco walks into the opera house, and onto the stage to find the man who had hired him shot - dead on the stage with the letter G carved into his chest. And of course it is downhill from there.
Lawson writes clean, clear crime mysteries, you MAY guess the solution before it is presented to you, I personally gave up guessing the killer(s?) after I read Murder on the Orient Express at the age of 9 - spoiler alert - they all did it, and Poirot would have too given half the chance.

There seem to be a lot of people in this book, but you will meet them again in future books and this sets the frame for their actions in later books. Once upon a time investigators rarely progressed as more and more stories were written for them, There was no referring back to previous events,crimes although sometimes an individual or two, or a town or two would reappear. Now, a writer has to develop a rock solid backstory for all of their characters and then fill that story in as they go through their years of work. We the readers have come to expect accuracy as character move from one book to another, we want to know where they have been, what they have been doing, why didn't that love affair develop - why are they suddenly blonde, not grey?

Lawson packs a lot into the Drayco books, references to classical music which must also be the author's passion because the detail is beyond the amateur pianist, so too is the peppering of this book with those snippets of information which may help you win a pub test such as the poetry of British soldier/Poet Wilfred Owens, Polish cooking and migration patterns of Europeans to the USA after WWII.

As I continued to read, I found no 'fatal' editing errors, of the type that usually make me want to throw a book or in the case of a Kindle - the nearest cushion (there is always one on hand) across the room.

So why 3 stars? Way too many cultural references that meant that on occasion I had nothing to work with - OK, it is NOT important that I know exactly what a Manhattan Special Expresso Soda is, but when not connected to the Internet my Kindle couldn't tell me, nor, did Lawson spell out some of the other US centric terms sprinkled through the Drayco books, I don't care if there is a footnote with a link within the kindle book, or an explanation in the body of the text but for a non USA based reader it became frustrating, and I really HATE skipping over sections because I cannot see the obvious link. In this book, Lawson is relatively light on things like acronyms, but in book 4 he ramps it up - so expect to see my ire if you read that review.

Found as 2015 Shamus Award Finalist. First in series. BOOK not in Merlin. Sample available.Read sample and was not impressed.