He’s a lover, not a killer. But when corpses pile up around him, he fears the police will pin him down for murder.
He craves to change his philandering ways. But is his debauched lifestyle about to be ended by a deranged killer?
California, January 1990. Don Juan Casanova wearies of the fast life. After thirty years of upholding his family name’s Lothario legacy, the retired Marine longs to find the one woman who can tie him down. But his plans take a treacherous turn when his womanizer grandfather is brutally slain, and he tops the suspect list.
Employing desperately dark measures to avoid taking the rap, Don vows to hunt down the real culprit when a second body surfaces at his nightclub. Yet just as he finally lands the lady of his dreams, incriminating evidence sends him scrambling for control when a third corpse drops.
With the death toll escalating, can Don stop a vicious murderer before he’s slammed behind bars?
The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova is an ominously titillating mystery suspense thriller. If you like complex heroes, an enticing cast of characters, and heavy twists and turns, then you’ll love Lloyd Lofthouse’s walk on the wild side.
Professional Reviews
Instant fan of this writer
I loved this book. The redemption of Don Juan Casanova was a superb, funny mystery. It was tightly plotted and the pacing was good, so the storyline sort of took care of itself, thanks to clever writing. What won me over is that it's populated with such a cast of colorful characters. I read a lot of mysteries and I feel like this one was just perfect for my tastes. Nothing was done in the extreme, in my opinion. There was just enough crime, shooting, blood, romance and humor to make this feel like it was a perfectly rounded book.
Where do you start with Don? Somehow you do feel a little sorry for him because of his inability to find true love. How does that even happen? I guess he's more sympathetic as a character because he's a murder suspect. Either way, he's such a likable character you want him to win. I stopped raising my eyebrows at the words coming out of his mouth early in the book.
Family secrets, drug deals, undercover agents, and murder
Do you believe that the name you are given at birth has a lot to do with how you live your life? If you do, what would a child named Don Juan Casanova grow up to be like? How would being blessed (or cursed) with such a name affect his life? Look at what these names mean. Don Juan – a man who has sexual relationships with many women. Casanova – a lover, especially a man who is a promiscuous and unscrupulous lover.
Don Juan was raised by his grandparents, and they taught him to be a Lothario, a man whose chief interest is seducing women. Then he had to go to Vietnam and fight. When he returned, memories of what he had gone through during the war made it easy for him to turn back to seducing women. Booze helped him escape even more from these horrible memories.
During the day, he is an English teacher. Each night, he is the maître d’ at his family’s nightclub, The Aphrodisiac Academe.
Now he is close to forty years old. After having seduced hundreds of women, Don Juan has one desire: he wants to change his ways. He wants to get serious with one woman and be faithful to her. But how easy is it for a Lothario to change the way he lives?
Now throw some pretty grisly murders into the mix. His grandfather and his younger brother, also Lotharios, have been brutally murdered. Guess who the police suspect of killing them? Then there are the bodies of the dead that Don Juan discovers and hides. Don Juan thinks the killer might come after him next.
So Don Juan is dodging a killer while finding the killer’s victims and hiding them. He is doing all he can to stay out of the clutches of the police who think he is the killer. And while all this is going on, he is trying to find the perfect woman to remain faithful to and spend the rest of his life with. Family secrets, drug deals, and undercover agents only serve to complicate things even more and make the already difficult task of redeeming his life even harder.
If the name of this book gives you the idea that book is erotica, you are deceived. There are sex scenes, yes, but they are not X-rated. This is the story of a man who grew up to lead the life of a Lothario and is now trying to find a way out of that lifestyle while trying to prove that he is innocent of murder.
And considering who the murderer is and the method of murder, maybe the life of a Lothario isn’t one to be desired.
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Favorite Sentences:
He was sitting on top of the counter with his long legs sprawled across all three sinks, staring at the mirror in deep concentration, as is he was willing the Wicked Witch of the North to appear from the mirror and weave a spell to make him handsome instead of butt-ugly.
When he spoke, his voice was soft, like a feather duster gently moving across a hardwood floor.
His complexion was so pale that his zits looked like glowing embers on a sheet of white paper.
What if his brother had turned the body into hamburger and planned to serve it to the customers to get rid of the evidence?
Shh .. Family Secrets and Murder, well done!
Don Juan Casanova was raised mostly by his grandparents and they raised him to follow in their footsteps. His Grandmother was the owner of a brothel. It was she and his grandfather that raised him to be a Lothario (a seducer of women). They taught him all the tricks in the trade and he was like a magnet for women. He could have his pick.
When he came of age he had to go off and fight in Vietnam. Like most vet who returned home, he was changed. He turned to booze and of course, lot of women to blot out the horrifying memories of war.
Now at 39 years of age, he has sworn off women, at least until he meets the one he can become faithful to. However, it isn’t that easy and he falters. So many obstacles are in his path including the the girl he rescues from a brutal pimp and the murder of his Grandfather and brother. As the evidence keeps stacking against him and the blame of the murders points to him, he must focus on proving his innocence and dodging the real killer.
There are many twist and turns in the plot that kept me turning the pages. I loved the strong cast of female characters. Books like this often have weak women who can’t think for themselves. However, Lofthouse didn’t go the “damsel in distress” way, except for the girl Don Juan rescued from the pimp. This was refreshing! Highly recommended
Six straight men in the cast plus free Tex-Mex food? My friend Lida Rose sure knew how to persuade me. I signed on the dotted line and dusted off my dance shoes. I knew Bad Business on the Brazos would have them rolling in the aisles and standing up
