Buzz – Timothy Cole

Praise for the Gold Coast Mysteries

Dasha Petrov returns in Book 2 of Cole’s Gold Coast Mystery series. The former C.I.A. operative and freedom fighter knows all of the tricks of the spy game and she employees them to the delight of this happy reader. Tony DeFranco, Westport Connecticut police chief, is also back along with the lovely and talented Tracy Taggart, tv journalist and talented sleuth. You will remember these characters from The Sea Glass Murders, the debut novel in the series which left us hungry for more. Cole has a real knack for creating strong female characters like Petrov and Taggart and he also knows how to bring us serious manipulation and treachery as perhaps only the fair sex can execute. This is a mystery that you will fly through. Forget setting it down; you will find that nearly impossible. I will stop short of anything that will require a “spoiler alert”. This book is too good to miss!

This book is really good. While easy comparisons of this genre frequently reference Lee Child's Jack Reacher as the standard, Timothy Cole's characters and setting along the opposite shore of the Long Island Sound reminds me more of the best of Nelson DeMille. A terse writing style at times reminiscence of the best pulp fiction, a story line that has regular folks caught up in a well developed plot line that demonstrates a keen knowledge of place, people and subject, "The Glass Sea Murders" delivers. The author's bio page says the second novel in the series "Moscow Five" has been completed, I'm looking forward to it.

I have read both of Timothy Cole's other books in the Gold Coast Mystery series--and highly recommend them, especially "The Sea Glass Murders." This third book, Moscow Five, is impossible to put down. It grabs you right away. Cole's research had depth. We get details and vivid descriptions. The protagonist in this series, Dasha, is brilliant. She's a retired CIA case officer. Not young, but still courageous! She has lived a jaw-dropping incredible life and has a deep understanding of the psyche of the professional criminal. Her insights and stories are like sitting with your grandparent, where you are hanging on every word as you live history through their eyes.

"An original mystery novel is like an oyster with a pearl in it: rare, but worth the search. Search no more. In The Sea Glass Murders, Tim Cole succeeds with an original story, an original heroine, and an original supporting cast, all the while paying due diligence to the traditions of the genre. The gaps in logic that plague so many mysteries are absent here. What is present is a jewel of a tale."

Eric Burns

Author, Infamous Scribblers, and 1920: The Year That Made The Decade Roar

"Move over Jack Reacher and Harry Bosch, there’s a new knight errant of justice in town and her name is Dasha. A retired CIA spy, now living on Connecticut’s rich and powerful Gold Coast, she poses as a dotty old lady interested in nothing more than watching the waterfowl on Long Island Sound. But when she teams up with an aging police detective and an ambitious TV reporter to solve a brutal murder, Dasha exposes a trail of corruption that leads to the top of the state’s criminal justice system. Tim Cole’s riveting new novel is an exquisitely written page-turner that establishes him as a bright new star in the firmament of mystery and thriller writers."

Richard Armstrong

Author, The Don Con, and God Doesn't Shoot Craps