Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Done Rubbed Out
SERIES: Reightman & Bailey Book One
AUTHOR: Jeffrey Craig
PUBLISHER: Jeffery Craig Schwalk
LENGTH: 340 Pages
RELEASE DATE: April 7, 2016
BLURB:
In this first book of the Reightman & Bailey Series, deceit, corruption and murder tangle together with vivid, unconventional characters in a story of unlikely new friendships and their power to change us.
Things are going well at the Time Out Spa, but the night young proprietor Toby Bailey discovers his former lover naked and dead on a massage table, more things are spoiled than just his white leather shoes. Detective Melba Reightman and partner, Sam Jackson are called in to investigate and soon become embroiled in the most perplexing homicide case seen in years.
After a Hunting knife engraved with Toby’s name is found in a pile of wet, bloody laundry, he’s arrested for the murder of Geraldo Guzman. He enlists the aid of Madame Zhou Li, practicing attorney and owner of Green Dragon Chinese Herbs and Teas. The peculiar octogenarian seems an unlikely choice to defend him, but has a few tricks up her sleeve. Toby joins forces with Reightman and Jackson and a shocking string of clues leads them closer to the killer. The bad news? Successfully solving the crime might unleash a firestorm on this southern city, and come with a price none of them are prepared to pay.
REVIEW:
I stumbled onto this book on a list of available to review books that we had at Love Bytes. I knew nothing about the book, or the author, but I’m always willing to give a new to me author a chance.
Wow, am I glad I did. I absolutely loved this book. It is extremely well written. The world building was flawless. And, most importantly, I was hooked from the first page. I will admit that I wasn’t super thrilled at the cliffhanger ending on this one, but luckily for me book two, Hard Job, was already out, so I didn’t have to stop! I read straight through both books, and now have to remember where the first one stopped so I don’t include anything from the second one!
Toby Bailey is a young business owner, co-owning an upscale massage spa with his childhood best friend Geraldo Guzman. But Toby has discovered something beyond disturbing as the book opens. He walks into one of the rooms at the business to find his friend Geraldo, or Geri, dead on the table, with blood sprayed everywhere and Geri’s green eyes wide open and looking at the doorway where Toby is standing.
Who killed Geri, and why? At first there are no clues except a knife found at the scene that has “Toby” engraved on the handle. Things don’t look good for Mr. Bailey. But there is more to the story. When Toby is arrested and released we meet his delightful attorney, Madame Zhou, as well as the head detective on the case, Melba Reightman. I loved both women’s characters. One thing that this author excels at is character development. Everyone in the book is very well described, and detailed. I felt I knew them all by the time I finished the book. Brilliant characters.
Toby and Detective Reightman are off on a journey of discovery. Who killed Geri, and what is in the package that Geri left instructions for Toby to find? A whole Pandora’s Box of shit storm for some of the leading citizens in the city…that’s what. And they might not be that happy to have that Box opened.
The book is an excellent mystery and police detective story, incorporating some politicians and religious leaders who could have been pulled from current headlines. Excellent job Mr. Craig.
I highly recommend this book, as well as the next one in the series, which as I said I’ve already greedily consumed. One word of caution. These books are not romance, so if you’re a romance only person, they wouldn’t be for you. As for me…I’ll be anxiously awaiting book three, which hopefully is coming soon!
RATING: 
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