#1533. Go Find Daddy by Steve Goble

Mifflin County Ohio (a real Ohio county) is roughly midway between Cleveland and Columbus. Ed Runyon is comfortably settling into life near Ambletown (a fake Ohio town) with his girlfriend/artist Linda. His new life, after a bad scene as NYC detective, is as owner/operator of Whiskey River Investigations. His small PI firm with a special interest in missing children cases, but like most all PIs he pays the bills with wayward husbands and bounced child support checks.

Office Brandon Gullick has been found dead outside a barn on the property of one Donny Blackmon – a noted blogger specializing in guns and hatred of all things connected to law enforcement. He hates cops. Gullick was beaten and shot. A handgun from Donny’s arsenal of sidearms was found at the scene along with a partial fingerprint of its owner. Pretty open and shut case for the Ambletown police. And you can bet that law enforcement will pull out all the stops to catch the man who killed a brother law enforcement officer.

But Blackmon has flown the coop. Off the grid. Hiding. And he has a quite the following from his blog meaning plenty of like-minded folks willing to help Donny evade capture. A reward has been posted and there’s even been a second reward posted for Donny’s head, a bounty of $500K by a shadowy group known as Blue Fury (gonna go out on a limb and say we'll hear more from Blue Fury in future Ed Runyon books). Donny has left his wife and young daughter Cassie to fend for themselves as best they can.

This is where Ed gets called in. Donny’s wife wants Ed to find him. But not to bring him in. She only wants Ed to deliver a letter she’s written to Donny. The letter is asking Donny to please contact her. In the couple months that Donny’s been living off the grid, daughter Cassie has been diagnosed with a childhood cancer so she’s imploring him to make contact.

Ed’s not interested in the case because every cop in Ohio is looking for Donny. Not to mention numerous other PIs and bounty hunters are in search of the chance at a cool half million dollars. But Ed has a soft spot for kids with problems and he takes the case for Cassie. The question is what will happen first. Will Donny get captured by the law? Killed by bounty hunters? Or will Cassie’s disease become more aggressive?

After my previous review of an Oceanview Publishing book (Killer Story with a distasteful protagonist), I ventured again into Oceanview. Having read Steve Goble’s two previous Ed Runyon books, I felt safe in the notion that our boy Ed Runyon will be true to form from Oceanview. Flawed but decent PI getting the job done. A linear plot with a few twists right up to the big reveal. Quality PI story. That’s what I’ve come to expect from Oceanview, their bread and butter. The kind of fun aside in the book is Mifflin County Sheriff Baxter who never met a metaphor he couldn’t mangle: ‘coming down there faster than a split log’ or ‘painting a barn that’s already been knocked down.’ After a couple of those, I couldn't wait for the next Runyon-Baxter conversation.

And I learned a new word: widdershims, as in “One would go clockwise and the other widdershims.” Had to look that one up.

available 11 Jul 2023. Thanks to Oceanview and Netgalley for making an advance reader copy available.

ECD

Wayward Son by Steve Goble

We last left Ed Runyon in quasi-rural Ohio about an hour north of Columbus. He'd bailed on being an NYC detective because of some child abduction case that sent him into a drunken tailspin and headed back to his home state of Ohio. Became a detective in the fictitious Mifflin County and the equally fictitious Ambletown. 

His first real case is that of a raped/murdered girl by the local football star destined to enroll in The Ohio State University (points to Goble for capitalizing 'The.' Hey, it's part of the formal name . . . sez me, the OSU alum). Anyway, the town (and plenty of the cops) really haven't forgiven Ed for derailing the kid's career. Tough shit, pal. He killed a girl. This story begins shortly after, right as the pandemic is sneaking out of China.

So Ed quits the sheriff's office and decides to start his own PI agency specializing in runaways. Not getting as much business as he'd get in Columbus or Cleveland, but ditching the big city to live in a lakeside trailer is his preference. 

Gets a hit from his website. 15yo Jimmy Zachman is missing. His parents are desperate to find him and are sure the local cops are yanking their chain - just another teenage runaway.  Dad is a religious zealot with special hatred for the LGBTQ+ community (that's a clue to the story for you armchair detectives). Dad's even got a blog that says so in no uncertain terms. Mom is deeply religious but not to the same extent. 

Jimmy's main interest is chess. In a local chess club at his school. One member of the club tells Runyon Jimmy also plays online. A lot. At this one site mostly. So Runyon opens an account, plays terribly with a bunch of other players to establish himself until he scores with this other kid who, by looking at chats, is about as good a friend to Jimmy as one can get online. Luckily the kid lives in Columbus, So Runyon heads to town, enlists a Columbus detective he knows and manages to track down the kid's address. 

When he gets there, he hears music but no answer to his knocking. Tries the doorknob. Open. So Runyon slyly enters . . . to find a very recently killed adult still holding a pistol. As he checks out the murder scene, the perp comes tearing down the stairs. Both are caught unaware. Runyon, who's not carrying, dives for the corpse's gun. Shots are exchanged. Runyon gets a pretty healthy graze across his shoulder but the perp is shot dead.

Runyon gives chase after the boys, but doesn't get far due to blood loss. Ends up in the hospital. When he awakens, his Columbus detective friend is there. Says he came upon a drug deal gone horribly bad.  Runyon still needs to find the kid, but given the outcome of the shooting, you can bet the remaining druggies are after Runyon. 

So there are two chases underway: Runyon chasing down these 2 teenage chess players and the druggies chasing down Runyon. This goes on around Columbus and back towards Ambletown. 

Goble has stirred up a fun story full of colorful characters, a lot of wise cracking (courtesy of Runyon),  lots of chess details, car chases, gun fights, and an MMA-inspired encounter with a panel van all crammed into one story with two extended chases. Great literature? Nah. Address deep themes of the human condition? Please. A fun read that'll keep the pages turning? Absolutely.

Thanks to the good folks at Oceanview (haven't gone wrong yet with Oceanview mysteries) for making an advance reader copy available on Net Galley. Due for release on Aug 2, 2022.

ECD

City Problems by Steve Goble

Mifflin County, Ohio is basically a fueling stop on the I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland (A fictitious county, but most all the stops between Columbus and Cleveland are just that. I used to live in Ohio so I can say that with some impunity). It’s where former NYPD detective Ed Runyon finally landed after a particularly heinous missing persons case sent him over the edge. 

Running from city issues, he’s now a detective for the Mifflin County Sheriffs Office. Lives in a trailer off a road that is off a road. Near a creek. Plays his guitar. Battles depression and his own guilt about not having done enough to save a teenage girl from a gruesome death. Still drinks too much. Resists an 80yo resident’s invitations to church. Provides overwatch for the regional SWAT team. A local high school English teacher is his current friend with benefits. Decent co-workers. Occasional work-related outbursts. But so far, he prefers cases of a missing tractor to sliced and diced victims nailed in effigy to a wall covered with bloody graffiti.

A big party in Columbus drew kids from all around central Ohio. A girl has gone missing. All the local cops have to go on is that she left with some guy(s?) in a truck not from Franklin County (Columbus). The search is focused on stops along I-71 north. Columbus is sending cops and detectives asking for local help. The Sheriff assigns Runyon to help Columbus Detective Michelle Beckworth.

There is the usual give and take about who is in charge. Who is the good cop and who is the bad cop. Basic cop banter. It’s a crap shoot that the missing girl arrived in the county, but they still have to look and start in with the local high school and ne’er do wells in the county like a punk band, football heros, survialists, and so forth.

When Runyon gets a scent, he narrows his laser focus on a suspect. Problem is his interview techniques tend to be a little coarse and Beckworth is continually reigning him in. Problem is that he zeros in on a suspect, he sees only two things. That girl in NY he failed to save (because his case load was so heavy) and how this case parallels that case, and he ain’t gonna let that happen again.

But it does. A drunk lady pointing a handgun in his face. Said missing tractor. domestic calls. A day of SWAT duty. Every minute he’s on something else is one minute lost to find the missing girl. And it’s wearing on him to the point of making bad decisions particularly when facing an AR-15.

Goble isn’t a rookie, but he’s not grocery store book rack worthy yet. Has maybe a half dozen titles to his credit. This book is presented as the first in an Ed Runyon series and I think it’ll be a fruitful venture. Runyon is a seriously flawed cop from his days in NYC. He battles his depression, the bottle, his temper and more with the help of his latter-day hippie girlfriend who gladly accepts a Svengali role to help keep Ed’s feet on the ground. Not to mention this is an Oceanview Publishing book and so far I’ve met with good success with Oceanview books.

Serious readers tend to be on the prowl for new authors. Give Steve Goble a go. Glad I did.

Available July 2021.

 

ECD