Tag Archives: Matt Cost

Glow Trap (Clay Wolfe 6) by Matt Cost-review & interview

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GLOW TRAP (Clay Wolfe / Port Essex Mystery 6) by Matt Cost-review and interview

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 13, 2025

What happens when a spy, a retired thief, and a person in the witness relocation program end up in the same coastal Maine town? Nothing, unless a man using an alias washes up on shore and threatens to tear the idyllic nature of said town apart at the seams.

The gang is back together in the deadliest game yet. Westy, the former Navy SEAL, Murphy the IRA member turned clammer, Cloutier the newspaper editor, and the foul-mouthed Crystal all join together to root out the insidious evil lurking in the belly of Port Essex.

Meanwhile, the romance between Clay and Baylee deepens, leading him to consider proposing. This thought process is propelled forward by her near-death experience. Will their love have a happy ending?

Clay Wolfe, Baylee Baker, the gang, and Port Essex become embroiled in their hottest and deadliest mystery yet. Will the spies, informants, and thieves be exposed in time before the killers can finish the job that they have begun?

•••••••

REVIEW: GLOW TRAP is the sixth and final instalment in Matt Cost’s contemporary, adult CLAY WOLFE / PORT ESSEX MYSTERY suspense series focusing on thirty-seven year old, former homicide detective turned private investigator Clay Wolfe, his girlfriend and partner Baylee Baker, and his intrepid team of undercover operatives and amateur sleuths. GLOW TRAP can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from numerous omniscient third person perspectives GLOW TRAP follows several intersecting pathways when PI Clay Wolfe is asked to locate a missing landscaper whose side-gig as a drug dealer may have cost him his life; and a contracted investigation into the supposed drowning of a man whose fear of the water is no match for murderous intent. From Russian spies and double agents, to CIA operatives, questionable law enforcement and retired criminals, Clay Wolfe finds himself a target when the past comes full circle, reminding Clay that everything and everyone is not whom they appear to be.

The world building is detailed and complex as Clay Wolfe encounters a ghost from the past, a ghost he never knew existed in the here and now. Believing the good guy always wins, Clay, Baylee and the gang discover crime often pays but with the help of your friends, payment can be swift and steep. Trust is constrained as deceit and pretense threaten any semblance of peace for the people of Port Essex.

GLOW TRAP is a story of secrets and lies, betrayal and vengeance, murder and obsession, power and control, friendships and love. The premise is fascinating, compelling and thought-provoking ; the characters are numerous, familiar, dogged and tenacious.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Wolfe Trap
Mind Trap
Mouse Trap
Cosmic Trap
Pirate Trap

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

 

 

TRC: Hi Matt and welcome to The Reading Café. Congratulations on the release of GLOW TRAP the sixth and final instalment in your Clay Wolfe / Port Essex Mystery series.

We would like to start with some background information. Would you please tell us something about yourself?

Follow: Goodreads / Website  / Facebook/

Matt Cost: I write histories and mysteries. Glow Trap is my eighteenth published book. Fifteen of them are part of four different series. The Mainely Mysteries, Clay Wolfe Trap series, the Brooklyn 8 Ballo series, and the Chronicles of Max Creed. Three are stand-alone historical fiction.

TRC:Who or what influenced your career in writing?

Matt Cost: My parents instilled a love of reading. Early favourites were the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Encyclopaedia Brown, and the Great Brain. These evolved into Louis L’Amour, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, Robert Parker, and Carl Hiaasen.

TRC: What challenges or difficulties have you encountered writing and publishing?

Matt Cost: I’ve spent thirty years honing my craft in writing and that is just putting the work in and getting better. Once the writing is good enough, it can be very difficult to find an agent or publisher. And once that hurdle has been cleared, you still must market and promote to get your book out there. It is a grind, day in and day out, but it is a grind that I truly enjoy.

TRC:Would you please tell us something about the premise of GLOW TRAP and the Clay Wolfe/ Port Essex Mystery Series?

Matt Cost: The premise of GLOW TRAP was reading about a retired spy community living in a coastal Maine town. The idea is that when people leave the CIA and other agencies such as that, it is nice to go where others have lived the same life as you. So, I had thoughts of capitalizing on that. Unfortunately, Tess Gerritsen beat me to the punch with “Spy Coast”. I tweaked the idea to a retired spy, a former art thief, and a member of the WITSEC program, all of who’d banded together in the small coastal Maine town of Port Essex. When a man washes up dead on the rocks of town, Clay Wolfe and Baylee Baker are pulled into the fray to investigate, and all sorts of complications follow.

TRC: What kind of research/plotting did you do, and how long did you spend researching /plotting before beginning GLOW TRAP or The Clay Wolfe / Port Essex series?

Matt Cost: A lot of work goes into the initial book of a series, in this case, WOLFE TRAP. The creation of character descriptions, backstories, idiosyncrasies, speech, relationships, and whatnot is a major piece in the creation of a book. Luckily, a lot of that work has been done for the ensuing books. Research can be great or small. For MIND TRAP, I went down many rabbit holes concerning cults. I’d no idea how many, how powerful, how large—the cults of the world are. For MOUSE TRAP, I had to learn about genome editing, or the technology of CRISPR that allows scientists to change the DNA of babies in the embryo stage to cure disease, but also to change eye color, and possibly make them bigger, stronger, and smarter. COSMIC TRAP was learning about UAPs. A congressional task force has been appointed to investigate the excess of unexplained aerial phenomena that daily takes place in the skies. Their findings so far? There is something up there, but we don’t know what. PIRATE TRAP? Pirates of course. And GLOW TRAP got me into the CIA, spies, the witness relocation program, and so much more that I found to be fascinating.

TRC:Is any of the premise based in reality or fact?

Matt Cost: As mentioned, there is truly a coastal Maine town with a retired spy population. I just built on that to wonder where wealthy thieves who were never caught ended up as well as people in WITSEC. These are three categories of dangerous people living under the radar in our communities. Interesting fodder for a book.

TRC:Are any of the characters based on real people or people in your life?

Matt Cost: I use pieces of people to create my characters, but no one person is a real person in my life. Dogs? That is a different story. Frank and Flash both have real counterparts who live in my house.

TRC:Believability is an important factor in writing story lines especially stories of mystery and suspense. How do you keep the story line believable? Where do you believe some author’s fail?

Matt Cost: The adage that truth is stranger than fiction is extremely true. Some of my biggest difficulties are putting real events in the book and then realizing that they are so far-fetched that the reader will lose faith in the story, and I have to dampen them down.

TRC:Do you believe the cover image plays a deciding factor for many readers in the process of selecting a book or new series to read?

Matt Cost: I do. It is the first impression that a reader gets, whether in the bookstore or online, and something about it has to grab the reader to then read the description, and then hopefully, browse a page before deciding that the book is for them.

TRC: When writing a storyline, do the characters direct the writing or do you direct the characters?

Matt Cost: The characters absolutely lead me. That is one of the beautiful pieces of writing a series, because the protagonist and other regulars become family. At certain points, I must close the laptop and go for a dog walk in the woods and let the characters speak to me and let me know what they would do in certain situations. Then, I return, and am ready to go under their direction and supervision.

TRC: The mark of a good writer is to pull the reader into the storyline so that they experience the emotions along with the characters. What do you believe a writer must do to make this happen? Where do you believe writer’s fail in this endeavor?

Matt Cost: It is absolutely crucial to make the characters in the story real. That reality includes flaws as well as strengths, emotions and backstories, and the living embodiment of a human being who can be loved and hated. Then, these people have to be thrown into situations that evoke fear, happiness, anger, frustration, and other emotional turbulences to bring the reader skidding into the power of the story.

TRC:Do you listen to music while writing? If so, does the style of music influence the storyline direction? Characters?

Matt Cost: I write in my living room with my headphones on listening to cool jazz music. It walls me off from reality and allows me to enter my writing world, but I have no comprehension of the music being played.

TRC:What do you believe is the biggest misconception people have about authors?

Matt Cost: That we are making a ton of money. Only a few of us are. The rest are grinding it out.

TRC:What is something that few, if anyone, know about you?

Matt Cost: I enjoyed acting in school before sports made me quit that pursuit.

TRC:On what are you currently working? Do you have plans for a new series?

Matt Cost: I am writing the third book in my Chronicles of Max Creed. There is another series under contract with Level Best Books, the Jazz Jones & January Queen historical mysteries. The first book, 1955, will be out in October of 2026. And I am shopping around the debut of another series called BOB CHICAGO INVESTIGATES.

TRC:Would you like to add anything else?

Matt Cost:Thanks for inviting me onto your site and for your loyal reviews of my books!

LIGHTNING ROUND

Favorite Food: English muffin pizza.

OMG-best food ever !!!

Favorite Dessert: Tiramisu.

Favorite TV Show: Rockford Files.

Last Movie You Saw: Happy Gilmore 2.

Dark or Milk Chocolate: Dark.

Secret Celebrity Crush: Jodi Foster.

Last Vacation Destination: North Carolina.

Do you have any pets? Four dogs.

Last book you read: King of Ashes.

TRC:Thank you Matt for taking the time to answer our questions. Congratulations on the release of GLOW TRAP and the Clay Wolfe/ Port Essex series. We wish you all the best.

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The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed by Matt Cost-review

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The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed (The Modern Day Chronicles of Max Creed 1) by Matt Cost-review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 8,2025

Max Creed is a fictional person created to bring justice to those wronged by the ultra-wealthy in a world where the law overwhelmingly favors those with money and power. He is bound only by the laws of humanity and not those of the legal system.

When Sevyn Knight hires Max Creed and his disciples to right the wrongs done to her father at the hands of billionaire playboy Rupert Hastings, the game is afoot. Creed must enmesh himself in the world of the immoral tycoon in order to destroy him, but the temptations of sin and the allure of the pleasures of the rich and famous tease the very fabric of his being.

Aided by his business manager, John Little, the former assassin, Scarlett, the tech wizard, Scads, the attorney, Marian, and the financial guru, Tucker, Creed races against time to stop Hastings from becoming all-powerful as murky figures appear on the darkest edges of his fiefdom.

A breathless thrill ride that will keep your heart pounding long after the last page is turned.

•••••

REVIEW: THE NOT SO MERRY ADVENTURES OF MAX  CREED is the first instalment in Matt Cost’s contemporary, adult THE MODERN DAY CHRONICLES OF MAX CREED suspense series focusing on Max Creed and his band of investigators and assassins.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from several omniscient third person perspectives including Max Creed, using present day and memories from the past, THE NOT SO MERRY ADVENTURES OF MAX CREED follows Max aka former PI Milo Sharp, as he takes on the baddest of the bad. Approximately five years earlier, Milo lost the love of his life to an assassin’s bullet, and in the interim our hero has destroyed the man who destroyed his life. Another billionaire’s powerful reach has devastated many more families, leaving the grieving families struggling to understand. Max Creed has been approached in the hopes he and his team will take on the case but from the outset nothing goes according to plan, and at every turn, the team will be sabotaged and targeted by the very people Creed is hoping to take down. Meanwhile, one of their own has been threatened for the sins of the father, and in this, the Chinese Triad and Cartel want a piece of our story line hero.

The world building is detailed and complex as the reader is introduced to Max Creed ,and his unflinching team with secrets of their own, secrets that are about to play into a possible betrayal of our story line hero. The large ensemble cast of colorful, charismatic and energetic secondary and supporting characters each have a specific role to play in Max Creed’s investigative journey, a journey Max believes he will not survive.

THE NOT SO MERRY ADVENTURES OF MAX CREED is a story of secrets and lies, power and control, betrayal and vengeance, human trafficking and missing persons. The premise is dark, dramatic and gritty; the characters are determined, desperate and dynamic.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Follow: Goodreads / Website / Twitter / Facebook/

Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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Mainely Mayhem (Goff Langdon Mainely Mystery 6) by Matt Cost

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Mainely Mayhem (Goff Langdon Mainely Mystery 6) by Matt Cost-review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters Indigo /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date November 13, 2024

Things are not right in Brunswick. Chabal is wracked by the nightmare that was the Wendigo. Langdon is hired to investigate the questionable moral integrity of one of Brunswick’s favorite sons and gets thunked in the head and left to die on a boat mooring in the Atlantic Ocean. And that is just the beginning of the bad.

Judge Cornelius Remington is being fast-tracked to be a Supreme Court Justice. Why?

After only a five-day investigation of Remington, Langdon is pulled from the case, suggesting that the judge had already been rubberstamped and that the White House staff and FBI were just going through the motions. But there are questions about the man’s past that Langdon can’t shake, a past that might still live in the present.

Welcome to Maine: The Way Life Should Be. Or so the billboard reads upon entering the state. But that was before MAYHEM seeped in and tainted the idyllic nature of the place. A corruption that was born in Brunswick has seeped throughout the state and is threatening the entire nation.

It is up to Langdon to find and stop MAYHEM before it is too late. And the clock is ticking.

••••

REVIEW:MAINELY MAYHEM is the sixth instalment in Matt Cost’s contemporary, adult GOFF LANGDON MAINELY MYSTERY suspense series focusing on fifty something part time PI / book store owner Goff Langdon, and his motley crew of friends and family. MAINELY MAYHEM can be read as a stand alone but some of the events of Mainely Mayhem are connected to the events of book five Mainely Wicked. MAINELY MAYHEM advances the series a little over one year.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be trigger for more sensitive readers.

Told from third person perspectives MAINELY MAYHEM follows several paths in the wake of the potential nomination of a local judge for the SCOTUS. Goff Langdon has been hired by the FBI to investigate Judge Cornelius Remington but five days into his search, the investigation is closed without resolution, and Goff begins to consider the reasons why. All of Goff’s information leads to a troubling past for the supreme court nominee, and when anyone connected to the judge disappears or is found dead, all is not as is appears to be when Goff becomes a target because of a job he was hired to do. No one in Washington appears to care about the past, a past that is taking aim at Goff Langdon.

Meanwhile, Goff’s wife Chabal is struggling in the aftermath of her abduction and assault by a Satanic cult, who used Chabal as their unwilling sacrifice. With issues of PTSD, and emotional trauma, Chabal is spiraling even with the help of her family and friends.

MAINELY MAYHEM is another detailed and intriguing story of suspense, secrets and lies. Once again, the premise is edgy, dark, and startling; the characters are eclectic, larger than life and determined. MAINELY MAYHEM is another thought-provoking tale that makes you reconsider what secrets lie behind the people at the top.

 

Reading Order and previous reviews
Mainely Power
Mainely Fear
Mainely Money
Mainely Angst
Mainely Wicked

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

 

Follow: Goodreads / Website / Twitter / Facebook/

Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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City Gone Askew (Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery 2) by Matt Cost-review

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City Gone Askew (Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery 2) by Matt Cost-review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO / Chapters/Indigo /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 31, 2024

8 discovers that a priceless Aquila—an ancient eagle Roman standard carried into battle 2,000 years ago—was stolen from Karl Vogel when he was killed. This provides ties to a secret German organization known as the Batavi. But Vogel was also involved in the eugenics movement centered in Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, as well as being involved with the Ku Klux Klan.

As 8 peels back layers of the underbelly of 1920s Brooklyn, the more complicated and dangerous it becomes for him and those who are important to him. What is happening at Cold Spring Harbor with Herman Wall and the eugenics movement? Who are the mysterious Germans threatening 8? And what is the identity of the charismatic Grand Cyclops? 8 must race against time to uncover the truth and put a stop to the most chilling triumvirate ever conceived.

••••

REVIEW:CITY GONE ASKEW is the second instalment in Matt Cost’s historical, adult BROOKLYN 8 BALLO noir mystery, crime series set in the roaring 20s, focusing on Brooklyn PI 8 Ballo.

Told from limited omniscient third person perspective, using both historical fact and fiction, CITY GONE ASKEW is set in 1924. PI 8 Ballo has been hired by Theda Vogel, the widow of Dr. Karl Vogel, a man she claims was killed on the hunt for the elusive Aquila-the Standard of the Roman Legion. The Great War has ended: the power of the Irish and Italian mobsters is fast accelerating, and Hitler’s rise to power is claiming supporters in America in the name of Eugenics and Anti-Immigration. As 8 Ballo, and his friends including partner Asta Holm, and African American businessman Pearle Hill search for the people responsible for the murder of Theda Vogel’s husband, 8 finds himself facing down the KKK, and the ongoing practice of sterilization, eugenics and the rise of Nazism in America. 8 Ballo will be thankful for the support of Arnold Rothstein, Bugsy Siegal, Myer Lansky, and Dorothy Parker, friends in both low and high places. As racism and discrimination run rampant including Brooklyn’s law enforcement, the corruption goes higher, possibly to the top of power in the USA.

Once again, there is another large ensemble cast of who’s who of the famous and infamous: sports stars and writers, gangsters and speakeasies, prohibition and gambling; racism and discrimination, murder and corruption. The cast of characters is animated, and imaginative; the premise is dramatic and edgy.

CLICK HERE for Sandy’s review of book one VELMA GONE AWRY

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Follow: Goodreads / Website / Twitter / Facebook/

Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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Pirate Trap (Clay Wolfe / Port Essex Mystery) by Matt Cost-review

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Pirate Trap (Clay Wolfe / Port Essex Mystery 5) by Matt Cost-review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 27, 2024

Did Black Sam bury pirate treasure in Port Essex 300 years ago?

After finding an incredibly lucrative Spanish treasure in the Keys of Florida, Black Sam Bellamy decided to leave the pirate life and return to his true love in New England. Before being shipwrecked on the way to retrieve her, he hid his booty with the Chbo So Clan in Port Essex.

“Well, Mr. Wolfe, to get straight to the point, we want you to help us find a lost pirate treasure.”

Clay Wolfe had been slouched in the desk chair of his P.I. office, but now he straightened up and sat forward. His normally natty attire was ruffled, stubble dotted his face, and his eyes were red. “In Port Essex?”

Clay Wolfe, devastated by the death of his grandfather, is hired by an antiques dealer to find a long-lost pirate treasure and finds himself pitted against an unscrupulous sex doll businessman, a motorcycle gang, a greedy salvage boat operator, and other mysterious entities. Also recruited for this treasure hunt is Clay’s Westy, Crystal, Murphy, Cloutier, and of course, Baylee Baker.

And the spark between Clay and his partner, Baylee, finally bursts into flame…

•••••

REVIEW:PIRATE TRAP is the fifth instalment in Matt Cost’s contemporary, adult CLAY WOLFE/PORT ESSEX MYSTERY series focusing on former homicide detective turned private investigator Clay Wolfe, and his rag-tag team of wanna-bes and undercover operatives. PIRATE TRAP can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and cohesion as to the history of Clay Wolfe and people he calls family and friends.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise including graphic violence, there may be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from several third person perspectives including Clay Wolfe, following several intersecting paths, PIRATE TRAP focuses on the search for sunken treasure. Over three hundred years earlier, a ship suspected of carrying several trunks of stolen fire opals was reported to have gone down near Port Essex, Maine. Hired to ‘search’ for the whereabouts of the sunken treasure, a drunk and embittered Clay Wolfe and his business partner turned lover Baylee Baker begin to hunt for the truth but all is not as is appears to be when the bodies begin to amass, another treasure hunting crew takes notice, and a dangerous MC begins to target everyone involved.

Clay Wolfe has been spiralling since the murder of his beloved grandfather, and in this, our hero is struggling to move on with his life. Placing himself in danger and the direct line of fire, Clay Wolfe’s overwhelming behavior is a threat to his own safety and often the safety of others. Finding solace in his partner Baylee Baker, Clay sees an opportunity for a different future, a future involving family and friends.

Blending historical fact, fiction, and Indigenous lore, Matt Cost enlightens the reader onto a three hundred year old case referencing pirate ‘Black’ Sam Bellamy, and twelve cases of fire opals, stolen or taken from a mine in Mexico, then disappearing off the coast of Maine. Rumors abound as to what happened: from a storm at sea to a buried treasure never to be found but greed and betrayal will be at the heart of Clay Wolfe’s investigation crossing paths with another case towards a deadly betrayal.

PIRATE TRAP is an action packed story of betrayal and vengeance, secrets and lies, power and control, violence and murder, friendships and relationships. The premise is detailed, gritty and intriguing; the characters are captivating and suspenseful; the romance is limited but encouraging.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Wolfe Trap
Mind Trap
Mouse Trap
Cosmic Trap

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

 

Follow: Goodreads / Website / Twitter / Facebook/

Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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Mainely Wicked (Goff Langdon Mainely Mystery 5) by Matt Cost

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Mainely Wicked (Goff Langdon Mainely Mystery 5) by Matt Cost-a review

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au / B&N paper /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date August 9, 2023

Langdon is hired to find a man who answered a classified ad and then disappeared into thin air. And then a second person vanishes. What starts as a couple of simple missing-person cases quickly spirals into a diabolical world of witches, wiccans, and wendigos.

“You ever hear of the Church of Satan?” Jewell asked. There was silence around the fire. The flames danced and flickered, casting shadows in the dark May night. Langdon took the bottle from Richam and poured himself another…

Bart, the dour but poetic cop, is back, even if demoted to a blue uniform. The dapper lawyer, Jimmy 4 by Four, is up to his regular philandering ways. Richam is hiding a secret from Jewell, and Chabal makes a new friend… And then goes missing.

What is going to happen during the Super Flower Blood Moon and who is the Wendigo? This time, Langdon might be too late to solve these mysteries before the blood flows…

•••••

REVIEW:MAINELY WICKED is the fifth instalment in Matt Cost’s contemporary, adult GOFF LANGDON MAINELY MYSTERIES mystery/suspense series focusing on fifty something, part time private investigator and book store owner Goff Langdon.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise there WILL be triggers for more sensitive readers.

Told from several omniscient third person perspectives MAINELY WICKED follows the search for a missing man, followed by the disappearance of a young woman. Goff Langdon is a part time private investigator and has been hired by the brother of the missing man, and the best friend and co-worker of the missing woman. Both have disappeared after having answered ads in a local paper-one hoping to purchase an ATV, the other hoping to find love on a dating website but as Goff and his wife Chabal begin their investigation they will discover a possible connection to a group calling themselves the Church of Satan, whose leader is the self-proclaimed Wendigo, in need of human flesh. As the investigation begins to reveal a dark and dangerous connection to the past, a friend will lose their life, others will be attacked and Goff’s beloved is abducted for the sacrifice on the Super Flower Blood Moon.

MAINELY WICKED is an edgy, dramatic, thought-provoking and cautionary tale of myth and madness, desperation and beliefs, power and control, murder and mayhem. The premise is dark, twisted, haunting and tragic; the characters are desperate and determined . People are desperate to believe; to have faith in something other than themselves; possessed by desolation and misery, they will cling to a system that will destroy them all.

 

Reading Order and previous reviews
Mainely Power
Mainely Fear
Mainely Money
Mainely Angst

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

 

Follow: Goodreads / Website / Twitter / Facebook/

Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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Velma Gone Awry (Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery) by Matt Cost-a review

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Velma Gone Awry (Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery) by Matt Cost-a review

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / B&N / KOBO /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 12,2023

8 Ballo’s mother was certain he was going to be born a girl, but when he comes out a boy, she writes down simply the number 8, as he has seven older siblings. She meant to change it to a real name at some point but never got around to it.

Now, in his mid-thirties, 8 is a college educated man, a veteran of the Great War, jilted in love, and has his own private investigator business. He enjoys his friends, a good book, jazz music, and a very simple life. When he is hired to find the young flapper daughter of a German businessman, life suddenly becomes much more complicated.

•••••

REVIEW: VELMA GONE AWRY is the first instalment in Matt Cost’s historical, adult BROOKLYN 8 BALLO noir mystery, crime series set in the roaring 20s, focusing on Brooklyn PI 8 Ballo.

Told from limited omniscient third person perspective VELMA GONE AWRY focuses on the search for twenty-something heiress and ‘flapper’ Velma Hartmann. Velma has gone missing, and her well-connected father is desperate for her return so Fritz Hartmann hires private investigator 8 Ballo to find and return his wayward girl but from the outset 8 Ballo finds himself facing down gangsters and mobsters during the Prohibition era of the roaring 20s, mobsters that are also looking for the same woman as our story line hero.

VELMA GONE AWRY is a ‘noir’ detective novel set in the 1920s during the American Prohibition era where speakeasies and jazz clubs are all the rage, hiding the criminal activity of gangsters and mobsters behind music and illegal booze. Matt Cost pulls the reader into a who’s who of the early twentieth century famous and infamous: Arnold Rothstein, Bugsy Siegal and Myer Lansky, Dorothy Parker, F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby, Al Jolson, George Gershwin and baseball great Babe Ruth. We are up close and personal with movie stars, singers, writers and poets, professional sports stars, as well as famous landmarks and speakeasies, and the big names in organized crime including several members of The Five Points Gang. The racism and discrimination of the 1920s is front and center as a world at war creates a war on the streets between anyone and everyone deemed not of their kind.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and ‘familiar’ secondary and supporting characters many of whom have been written about, and starred in our history books and theater. We are introduced to 8 Ballo’s best friend, African American businessman Pearle Hill.

VELMA GONE AWRY is a fast paced, action packed story of secrets and lies, power and control, murder and mayhem, crime and punishment. The character driven premise is twisted and dramatic; the characters are edgy and passionate.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Follow: Goodreads / Website / Twitter / Facebook/

Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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COSMIC TRAP (Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Mystery 4) by Matt Cost-review

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COSMIC TRAP (Clay Wolfe / Port Essex Mystery 4) by Matt Cost-a review

 

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 21, 2022

The man—about forty, forearms like small oak trees, with a thick beard—told the bartender at the Pelican Perch, “It came right up out of the ocean, hovered just above the water for about ten seconds, and then was gone.”

When Clay Wolfe and Baylee Baker are hired as the local liaisons for a government task force investigating the recent UAP sightings, things get complicated at lightspeed.

They’re also hired to find the missing Alice Smith, whose disappearance increasingly appears to have something to do with the UAPs—the source of which might just be a governmental defense contractor named Seagull Aviation.

But the more they investigate, the more questions pop up. Who is the assassin gunning for Wolfe and Baker? Who is the mysterious man code-named Arrow? When each witness who has seen one of the UAPs is reported missing, the stakes become sky-high.

••••••

REVIEW: COSMIC TRAP is the fourth instalment in Matt Cost’s contemporary, adult CLAY WOLFE / PORT ESSEX murder/mystery suspense series focusing on thirty-six year old, former homicide detective turned private investigator Clay Wolfe. COSMIC TRAP can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from third person perspective COSMIC TRAP follows in the wake of the mysterious and unexplained sightings on the waters near Port Essex, Maine. Witnesses have talked, and the government has sent in a crew to uncover the truth but when Clay Wolfe is hired to follow a wife suspected of having an affair, the woman’s grizzly death may be a clue to what is happening and how. As Clay and his plucky crew of amateur detectives, family and a former US Navy SEAL follow the clues, hired assassins embark on a killing spree, hitting Clay where it hurts the most.

COSMIC TRAP is a story of what if and how? Of world domination, power and control; of science fiction and fact; of betrayal and obsession. Clay Wolfe is a man, ruled by his sexual drive, and with it, comes the possibility of losing everything and more. The people of Port Essex stumble upon a powerful group determined to dominate and rule, a group that is now the focus of everything concerned. The premise is intriguing, heart breaking and captivating; the characters are determined yet imperfect.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
Wolfe Trap
Mind Trap
Mouse Trap

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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Over the years, Cost has owned a video store, a mystery bookstore, and a gym. He has also taught history and coached just about every sport imaginable.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.

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