CELTICLADY'S REVIEWS: Shadows in the Fog by Greg Messel Review!

Title: Shadows in the Fog
Author: Greg Messel
Publisher: Sunbreaks Publishing
Pages: 353
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Format: Paperback/Kindle

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The story begins on a stormy morning in February of 1959. The front page of the morning paper is dominated by news of the plane crash which killed rock ’n roll stars Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens.

Private Eye Sam Slater is hired to perform what he thinks is a routine two-day job as a favor for a friend. However, it all goes terribly wrong when a young San Francisco policeman is gunned down while sitting in a parked car with Sam.

The murder sets off a chain of events which will pull Sam and his wife and partner, Amelia, into a dangerous web of intrigue in the dark, shadowy alleys and back rooms of San Francisco’s Chinatown.

In the winter of 1959, Amelia resigns as a TWA stewardess and is now Sam’s full time partner in the private eye business.

Sam and Amelia inadvertently come in conflict with the San Francisco mob boss after helping a crusading newspaper reporter who is working to expose corruption in Chinatown. Now a mysterious dark car follows the Slaters every where they go. Sam and Amelia discover a hidden world of corrupt cops, gambling parlors, brothels and human trafficking exists right under their noses.

At the same time, a rising California politician hires Sam and Amelia to find his daughter who disappeared without a trace three years earlier. The search is prompted by the sudden appearance of a letter from the woman, who was presumed dead.

As Sam and Amelia pursue these cases, they discover that all the clues lead them back to Chinatown. The Slaters want to avoid taking on the San Francisco crime lords head-on. However, when Amelia is kidnapped in an alley during the Chinese New Year’s celebration, Sam plunges himself into danger desperately searching Chinatown to find her before it’s too late.

The reader will be drawn into fast moving events which culminate in a harrowing conclusion as Sam Slater races against the clock on a foggy night in Chinatown.

“Shadows In The Fog” is the fifth book in the the award winning Sam Slater Mysteries Series but is a stand-alone thriller in the tradition of great whodunits.

Book Excerpt:

The heavy blanket of clouds that had hung on the city all day was especially thick in the Ocean Beach area near Playland. It felt like rain.

When Amelia arrived at her car, which she had parked in a side lot by the Funhouse, she opened the door before removing her trench coat and tossing it on the front seat. She had been overdressed in Cassandra’s parlor, leaving on her coat over her gray wool dress.

As she stood by her car, a slow moving large blue car caught her eye. She froze. There were two lines of parked cars in the lot. Amelia noticed that the driver of the car seemed to be watching her as he slowly drove through the parking lot.

She watched the man suspiciously and wondered if he might be looking for a parking spot. Maybe the man in the blue car was waiting for her to vacate her spot. Amelia continue to watch him and thought if he tried something she could always turn and run into the Funhouse.

The large blue car then stopped as it entered the row where Amelia was parked.

Amelia leaned in to place her purse on the seat and thought of taking the handgun out of her purse. It was then that the blue car suddenly accelerated and then slammed on it’s brakes with a screech right behind Amelia’s car.

Amelia had been concentrating on the slow-moving car and never saw the second man rapidly approaching her from behind. The assailant put a black hood over Amelia’s head and grabbed her arm, painfully twisting it behind her before pushing her into the back seat of the blue car. The swiftness of the attack was so unexpected that Amelia had no chance to cry out before she felt herself being held down on the back seat by the large powerful man.

She heard the car door slam. “Let’s get outta here!” the man said to his partner and the car began to drive away.

About the Author

Greg Messel has spent most of his adult life interested in writing, including a career in the newspaper business. He won a Wyoming Press Association Award as a columnist and has contributed articles to various magazines. Greg retired from the corporate world and now lives in South Jordan, Utah with his wife of over 40 years, Carol Madsen Messel. They have three adult children who are married and have 11 grandchildren.

Greg has written eight novels. His latest is "Shadows In The Fog" which is the fifth in a series of mysteries set in 1959 San Francisco. "Fog City Strangler," "San Francisco Secrets," "Deadly Plunge" are sequels to the first book in the series "Last of the Seals." His other three novels are "Sunbreaks," "Expiation" and "The Illusion of Certainty."

Greg is currently working on his ninth novel--the sixth in the mystery series--"Cable Car Mystery"--which will be published in late 2015.

For More Information

Visit Greg Messel’s website.
Connect with Greg on Facebook and Twitter.
Find out more about Greg at Goodreads.
More books by Greg Messel.
Contact Greg.

My Review

I love the Sam Slater Mysteries, each one just gets better than the previous one. This installment has Sam and Amelia Slater battling with the mob in San Francisco in the late 50's. Amelia has now retired from being an airline stewardess, which at the time was a very prestigious job. The only problem for Sam and Amelia, is that a stewardess can not be married. Amelia comes to work with Sam at the his PI office. She gets her PI license and is ready to go.

They are tasked with investigating the murder of a cop and the disappearance of a young woman, daughter of wealthy politician. As they further investigate each case, they discover that they are both related. Sam doesn't like to do cases where he is asked to follow a spouse and see if there is any cheating going on. But as a favor to a cop friend of his, he takes on the case. A young cop thinks his wife is cheating on him. He agrees to meet the young cop in a park, while sitting in the car the policeman is shot and killed. Now Sam needs to find out why.

An up and coming politician in San Franciscan politics has hired Sam and Amelia with trying to find out where their daughter is, she disappeared three years previous. They feared she was dead but when they received a letter from her stating that she is alive and well, they want to find her. Unbeknownst to either of them, the two cases are closely related. Further into their investigation, Amelia is kidnapped she and Sam threatened with bodily harm if they continue into the investigation of the police officer. Of course they don't stop the investigation because they were hired to do a job and do that job they will.

I love the characters in this series, Sam and Amelia are so in love and it comes through in the author's writing. The author not only talks about San Francisco and its surroundings but includes pictures of the areas he is describing. I was born in the early 50's and I enjoyed looking at the pictures and picturing in my mind what it was like at a time when there were no cellphones or computers. Very descriptive.

Not only do Sam and Amelia get involved with the San Franciscan crime boss but with the dangerous elements in Chinatown, that puts them both in serious danger. A thrilling ride for sure. Like I said before, I love this series and look forward to reading the sixth book in the series.

I received a copy of the book for review and was not monetarily compensated for review.