Liquid Smoke
A Noah Braddock Mystery
Jeff Shelby
Tyrus Books 2011
300 pages
Liquid Smoke is the third Noah Braddock mystery novel by Jeff Shelby. This is a solid read. Braddock is an interesting and complex enough character, his sort of sidekick is entertaining, and Shelby wastes little time getting the story started or moving. If you like mysteries, Liquid Smoke is good enough to make you want to read the previous two novels in the series. The ending is going to make you want to read the next ones. Kindle edition
Liquid Smoke opens with Noah Braddock content and spending time with his detective girlfriend. A young woman approaches him. She is the pro bono attorney of a man on death row. Braddock cares little until she tells him the man is his father. He goes to see the man. When he comes back, the attorney’s body is lying in his living room. This is what gets him interested in the case.
Braddock stars looking into a name his father gave him. This opens a nasty trap door Braddock falls into.
Shelby is an excellent writer. Liquid Smoke’s two or three page chapters keep things moving along without rushing things. I like a writer who doesn’t f.. around.
The one weakness of Liquid Smoke by Jeff Shelby is the secondary characters are more colorful than the narrator detective.