This is the second book of the Sammy Shovel mystery series ( a detective who finds what villain turned pure innocence into public enemy number one).
“James rewards his fans and mystery readers with Too Beautiful For Words” —Publisher’s Weekly Book Synopsis: Private Investigator, Sammy Shovel, finally gets the client of a lifetime and rushes to claim his jackpot, but he soon discovers—wealth and pearl coincide. Beloved Golden Opportunities, founder and CEO, Joel Ceja, is found murdered one foggy morning. Three months after Joel’s death the police are stumped, they still have no clues in the case. Golden Opportunities’ employees feel they’re being stonewalled and decide to hire detective Sammy Shovel to assist the police. Meeting the Golden executive congregate, Sammy learns real wealth has money trees to burn, but they want results. His shabby clothes are no concern for they think it's part of a disguise for another case, not knowing he's bordering on destitution. Sammy accepts the case, figuring it was nothing more than a local homicide. However, in no time at all, he’s mired in international quicksand filled with a worldwide assassination ring, and wants out of the contract. Sammy learns that gold teeth, with the inscription R & M, are major facts in the case. But greed overcomes his common sense, and is embroiled in a well-organized gang of hit men. He runs from firefight to firefight to get to the truth, but his adversaries dupe him time and again with lies and trickery. In Mazatlan Sammy discovers the truth about the initials R&M, they're tied to a band of Seventeenth Century assigns, who would murder each other with any hint of betrayal.
You may deceive Sammy—some of time. But when he put's it altogether—run bother, run for we all know Sammy’s a shoot first and ask questions later kind of guy.
Undercover Style – A review of the novel ‘Too Beautiful For Words’
“In Greek tragedy, they fall from great heights. In noir, they fall from the curb.” - Dennis Lehane
Sammy Shovel, the super PI once again makes his appearance in author Ronald M. James’s latest novel ‘Too Beautiful For Words.’ When the CEO of a big corporation with a squeaky clean image gets murdered, the local police department gets stumped when they aren’t able to decipher a set of clues left behind by the victim. That’s when Samuel aka Sammy comes into the picture as the hired PI of the corporation trying to find out their boss’s murderer. He quickly delves into the case and unearths some explosive and controversial information. But it also makes him the target of bad guys and he has to depend on his super sleuthing skills and gun slinging ways to find a way out of the latest muddle he has found himself in.
The narrative in this detective story is a mix of classic whodunit style and character driven plotting. The PI Sammy Shovel isn’t an all brawn; let’s shoot ‘em up kind of a guy and the storyline also reflects this attitude. Although there are enough action points that move the story forward there’s also this leisurely descriptive style to the narrative. Even in the midst of constant suspense, the story ensures that you get an adequate feel of the character’s surroundings and their thinking.
Since it’s set in 1993, we also get to see the police and PI conduct investigations by asking around and interrogating people as opposed to sitting in front of a computer and getting all the information. And even though there are a lot of fistfights and shootings, the violence is never overdone and the foul language too has been kept to a minimum. And full credits to the author for maintaining the mystery in the story till the very end.
Sammy dresses like a vagrant and it’s a recurring comic relief when prospective clients think he’s in disguise. But it also reflects the man’s attitude towards life; sure he doesn’t know how to take care of himself but more importantly he really doesn’t care what the world thinks about his life choices. Even so, sometimes we get to see an introspective side to the man when he ponders, if he dressed better, maintained a tidier office and learned to talk to people nicely, if he would then become a bigger success? Other characters like the police Lieutenant Braque provides the necessary ally cum discipliner role contrasting nicely with Sammy’s laidback approach to everything.
James does a great job with plot construction, filling it with enough twists and turns to keep you interested as you follow the experienced PI feel his way through the case. It has all the makings of a good mystery series and is worth following through.
Love, romance, innocence, intrigue, danger, and lust. Life is complicated, and love even more so. Life, and love, can be hazardous to a lady's health. Especially if she's fallen in love with a married pop star.
