Jim Nesbitt

The Dead Certain Doubt Jim Nesbitt March 2023

Dallas Private Investigator Ed Earl Burch has a love/hate relationship with West Texas. Loves the land and its stark beauty. Does not care for many of the people--- especially the ones that have repeatedly tried to kill him. But, truth be told, he never felt more alive than when working out there being the manhunter deal where one kills or is killed. It was like working Dallas Homicide without the red tape. Get the bad guys and gals, dead or alive.

In the wake of the savings and loan collapse the last decade, these days he is off the pills and making a good living going after the fugitive partners of real estate deals that went bad, finding hidden asserts, and nailing dead beat developers. He has done so well that he got his lawyer paid off and that meant he was free and clear from that shyster. Also did well enough to open an IRA and play in the stock market a little. He is a regular guy these guys with bad knees, mental and physical scars, and is absolutely bored out of his mind.

He’s spending his nights at Louie’s when he can’t sleep, drinking, and sharing war stories with a bunch of retired Dallas cops and other folks. Those old stories bring back a lot of memories. Also tends to sooth the voice of his long dead partner.

One memory from the past brings a lot of pain and guilt. Juanita Mutscher, at one time had an ex-mother-in-law, Theda Bayer. That woman had a daughter, Rhonda May Bayer. After Theda Bayer died as a result of her own toxic ways, Burch pulled a few strings and greased the wheels so that Rhonda Mae, who was six or seven back then, could go back to Juanita to live at her place out in the country between Midlothian and Venus.

It should have been a good deal.

It was until her Daddy came back in Rhonda Mae’s teen years, got full custody, and had Rhonda Mae move in with him. Things spiraled out of control. Burch intervened the first few times as she did drugs, booze and more, and repeatedly found herself deep in in consequences and trouble with the law. But, being off the Dallas PD by this time meant he had far less sway or markers to call in to help. He also got fed up riding to her rescue.

Now more than a decade later, Burch decides to go see Juanita and to make amends as best as he can. The years have not been kind to her and she makes it clear to Burch she is not long for this world. Her husband is dead and the next stroke she has will no doubt will send her on her way to him in the afterlife.

She would not have called. But, since he is at her place seeking redemption, she wants him to find Rhonda Mae. Been over a year since Juanita last heard from her. All she knows is that means the young woman is in trouble, not surprising since she is out in West Texas and mixed up in one of those Texas secession groups. While all the various groups preaching that nonsense are bad news, some are far worse than others.

Which one Rhona Mae is in, Juanita does not know. Juanita did save the letters that Rhonda Mae sent and she wrote some about what she was doing so that might help. Most of them were postmarked in Faver. A small town along the border. A place that Burch knows and he also knows the Sheriff down there pretty well.

With a starting point, a couple of ideas, his guns, and a handful of memories and ghosts, Burch packs up and goes down to see if he can find Rhonda Mae. It is a quest for redemption and to save the living, if he can. It does not take long for Burch to find blood, bullets, and mayhem. For Burch, this is the way.

The Dead Certain Doubt: An Ed Earl Burch Novel is the latest read in the series that began long ago with The Last Second Chance. As such, one expects the read to be complicated, violent, and graphic in terms of that violence as well as intimacy between partners of the night or long-term relationship. Such is true here as author Jim Nesbitt pulls out all the stops in every area.

At the same time, a significant part of this book is about Burch’s history and past cases. He has seen a lot and those deals are a major backbone of this book. Some situations, major parts of previous books, are detailed here in multiple paragraph odes of remembrance. As such, it would be best to have read the previous books before embarking on this read.

The Dead Certain Doubt: An Ed Earl Burch Novel by Jim Nesbitt is a powerfully dark and very violent crime fiction read. It is also incredibly good.

My reading copy was an ARC provided by the author with no expectation of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023… (plus d'informations)

The Best Lousy Choice: An Ed Earl Burch Novel begins with Ed Earl Burch hurting in more ways than one. Demons haunt his dreams and are a specter barely unseen during his waking hours. Narcotics and lots of whisky keep things a little bit at bay, though working is what works best for the private investigator that was once many years ago, a Dallas Homicide Detective, who believed in the law and that justice would rule the day. Burch knows better now and has the many physical and mental scars to show for it.

The year is 1989 and the legendary Dallas Cowboys barely exist in name only thanks to that shyster owner out of Arkansas. The Oklahoma Sooners suck and will always suck, as any true Texan knows, and Louie’s Bar is the best place for booze and Campisi’s on Mockingbird is the best for pizza. One often finds Ed Earl Burch in one place or the other, more often Louie’s, and that means those that know Burch know where to find him. One such person is Fat Willie Nofzinger, his lawyer, and a man that can’t be ignored. Nofzinger holds the note on Burch’s business and has the cards that, for now, have kept Burch out of the county jail. So, Burch has to listen to Nofzinger and do what he wants, but he doesn’t have to like it or make it easy on him

The last thing Burch wants to do is to go out to West Texas. He barely survived events out there last time and some folks would love it if he came back so they could settle scores. The fact that it is a divorce case, the type of case Burch absolutely hates, does not improve the situation.

Fat Willie Nozfinger has a rich female client by the name of Nita Rodriguez Wyatt. The very wealthy woman has heard of Burch, wants him hired, and knows enough to go through Nozfinger to get him on the case. A case from a while back and a talkative former client who was very grateful for the help means Wyatt wants him and won’t take no for an answer. Not that Nozfinger is going to allow Burch to say no as Nozfinger also stands to make buck off of Burch working the case. Refusal to take the job means severe consequences for Burch and ones he can’t accept.

Hating every second of it, all Burch can do is pack up and head out to West Texas. Plan is to do his five days of supposedly easy money and pocket his cash, while also separately slashing a bit of his debt to Nozfinger, and get back to Dallas without anyone being the wiser. That was before the gun play, public and not so public carnage, a possibly bent sheriff, an obvious and very bitter family feud, and more come into play. Ed Earl Burch is in a world of trouble before he hits the sun baked wilds of West Texas and things are only going to go downhill in an escalating violent way.

The Best Lousy Choice: An Ed Earl Burch Novel is the third in the series that began with The Last Second Chance followed by The Right Wrong Number. One expects before one opens the book that there will be plenty of action, carnal adventures, frequent carnage, along with plenty of observations about Texas history and some sarcastic comments about life in the great state of Texas. Things will be graphic and detailed in terms of settings, language, and violence. Author Jim Nesbitt meets and exceeds those expectations in The Best Lousy Choice: An Ed Earl Burch Novel.

This review is a mere West Texas mirage glimpsed on the distant horizon down a crooked two lane macadam roadway. The review just does not do the book justice and the read is an intense and a violent crime fiction read. A book that, like the series itself, is highly recommended. It would be best to read in order, but do what you will.

The Best Lousy Choice: An Ed Earl Burch Novel
Jim Nesbitt
https://jimnesbittbooks.com
Spotted Mule Press
July 2019
ISBN# 0-9983294-2-8
Trade Paperback (also available as an eBook)
347 Pages
$16.99

Material in the form of an ARC was provided with no expectation of a review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2019… (plus d'informations)

It has been several years since the events of The Last Second Chance: An Ed Earl Burch Novel and private detective Ed Earl Burch still carries those scars and many more. Many of those scars haunt his dreams and daylight memories often inspired by drinking, smoking, or the way a woman’s hair moved on the lady across the bar. Dangerous women were always his downfall and one of those has crawled back into his life.

Her name is Savannah Crowe these days though Ed knew here in every sense possible before she got married. She lives down in Houston and is married to an attorney who does oil and gas partnerships. At least that was what he was supposed to be doing. Apparently he was shady, at best, and now he is dead. No doubt murdered by some guys out of New Orleans who are looking for the money he stole. Savannah wants Ed Earl Burch to come down from Dallas and protect her. Not just from those guys out of New Orleans, as the cops are also pushing hard at her thinking she killed her own husband, and there might be some other players as well.

Sure she can hire the best attorney in Texas, a certain man by the name of Racehorse Haynes, but having the money to do that is not enough. A lot more than she has is missing because he husband stole it. Savannah wants Ed Earl Burch to find her husband---the body left in the flaming wreckage wasn’t positively identifiable--- or the guys who killed him. If he can find either party, the money should also turn up.

Being broke thanks to a downturn in business as the economy improves under President Clinton means Ed Earl Burch is already in a bind before his attorney pushes him hard. His attorney concocted an elaborate evidentiary pyramid to keep his rear end out of prison at the cost of 20k plus and is calling everything due and payable now. He can’t pay so the prison option and far worse things are back on the table. He has other money trouble as well. While Savannah is willing to offer far more than money to Ed Earl Burch for coming down and helping out, all he wants is money with at least half of his fee upfront to stave out the attorney. She’s trouble, but she can pay the bucks and he needs the bucks desperately.

Before long he is down in Houston and all hell is breaking loose. The case will lead him across Texas to a little place just down south of Big Bend in Northern Mexico for a final showdown to settle lots of scores.

The Right Wrong Number: And Ed Earl Burch Novel is a sequel of sorts to The Last Second Chance. Sequel in terms of the characters, grudges held, and memories that haunt the living as more than one character from the first book appears here as the point of view shifts throughout the read. That means it is very important to have read that book first before taking on this read.

Readers should also be aware that, as they were in the first, graphic language and descriptions in terms of sexuality as well as plenty of violence are present in this read. This is a hard hitting and graphic crime fiction read written in a noir style. Therefore, the full range of language is used and a substantial portion of it is graphic in terms of description regarding sexual situations, violent actions, motivations of others, etc. as the read shifts in point of view. Those point of view shifts are very frequent by way of a number of characters throughout the book while maintaining a fast paced and often violent flow of action.

A read that powers along with plenty of action while providing some serious as well as funny social commentary, The Right Wrong Number: An Ed Earl Burch Novel is another mighty good read from author Jim Nesbitt. Both books are highly recommended. The third book in the series is underway according to a recent comment on Facebook by the author.

The Right Wrong Number: An Ed Earl Burch Novel
Jim Nesbitt
https://jimnesbittbooks.com/
Spotted Mule Press
February 2017
ISBN# 978-0998329406
Trade Paperback (also available in eBook format)
306 Pages
$12.99

An ARC was supplied by the author’s publicist, Maryglenn McCombs, a long time ago for my use to read and review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018… (plus d'informations)

In the wreckage of the S&L crisis of the late 80s and early 90s, Ed Earl Burch works as a private detective. His office located near Mockingbird and Central in Dallas is in a shabby office park with a view of the time and temp sign over at the Dr. Pepper Plant. It features the noise of the traffic, an air conditioner that wheezes and does not cool, and a man with a serious thirst for alcohol.

Ed Earl Burch is hanging on as best as he can. He has made a few bucks thanks to the scavengers that have come to feats on the remains of the S&L crash as well as former business partners looking for their partner or bank officers looking for the developer that just vanished. He has connections all over town and beyond dating back to his days with the Dallas PD. That fact, as well as his low overhead in an increasingly vacant building, has helped him survive.

About ten blocks away is a small Mexican joint on Ross. Owned by Arturo Garcia, the place known to everyone as “Café Garcia” is always open to Ed Earl Burch. Bringing home the pregnant teenage daughter of Arturo Garcia means there is always a plate of food and a beer for Burch. It has been that way for quite some time so it means it is one of several locations that Burch can be predictably found.

The woman with the gun who interrupts his late dinner has other plans. After dropping a name from the past, at gunpoint she escorts him out to her car. Before very long, they are north of Dallas, up in Grayson Country, and on the land of a man who has left the life of crime behind for the life as a gentlemen rancher. Appearances, if one ignored the gun toting guards scattered everywhere, could be deceiving.

Burch knows exactly what Norville Ross is and could have done without the jaunt down memory lane. But, Ross wanted him here and made sure he was brought in as safely and as quickly as possible. Coming himself was not an option. The woman’s name is Carla Sue. Ross sent her to bring back Burch so that he could discuss with him a business proposition that each could find mutually satisfactory.

If any of them can say alive long enough to seal the deal.

The Last Second Chance: An Ed Earl Burch Novel by Jim Nesbitt is a violent crime fiction ride across Texas. Written in a noir style it features a read where the language is coarse, the sexual situations are graphic, and bullets and blood are on nearly every page. Burch takes no prisoners and will unleash hell on those who come after him and those he cares about.

Along the way, there will be heavy toll in carnage and death with plenty of ghosts of the past to keep him company in quite moments. Author Jim Nesbitt is building the bottom floor of a series with The Last Second Chance: An Ed Earl Burch Novel. A novel that packs quite the punch and is highly recommended.

The Last Second Chance: An Ed Earl Burch Novel
Jim Nesbitt
http://www.jimnesbitthardboiledbooks.com/
Self-Published
March 2016
ASIN: B01D0FAJ70
eBook (also available in paperback)
236 Pages
$4.99

According to Amazon, I picked this up in the middle of last November. I don’t know now if I took advantage of a free read promotion or used funds in my Amazon Associate account. Either way, I did it after a publicist contacted me about reviewing the second book in the series, The Right Wrong Number. A paperback copy of that read is in my TBR pile.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2017… (plus d'informations)