Ricky Burns’ twenty years as a New York City Homicide Detective were coming to an end. He was conflicted about his retirement, after all at forty-two he didn’t feel ready to give up the job he loved. As a cop, Ricky survived two shootouts and was the first guy the Department went to on the tough, grittier cases. He was smart and had been lucky to stay alive. His former partner was shot and crippled in one of the shootouts, and another detective on his team was dead and gone. When his eleven year-old son came to him, tears welled up in his eyes, and said, “Dad, what if you don’t win the next one?”, smart money told Ricky to take his pension and get the hell out of Dodge. So whether he was ready or not, he put in his papers and prepared to start chapter two of his life.
It wasn’t easy for Ricky to clean out his desk and walk out of Major Case for the last time. The handsome detective spent more than twenty years of his life policing, and despite his son’s encouragement to leave while he could get out whole, abandoning his work bothered him more than he expected. He was still young enough to begin a new career, but the only thing he really loved was solving cases and making a difference. He decided to get his license and become a private investigator. Sitting alone in his small apartment, he agonized over what was next for him. That’s when he got the phone call that changed everything. It had always been a dream of his to live on a houseboat. Every time he passed the 79th Street Boat Basin over the years, he’d thought about it. Jake Sloan, an old buddy of his, moved to Florida ten years prior. He’d invited Ricky to visit so many times, but he had no interest in Florida and he’d never taken advantage of the offers. Now Jake, who knew Ricky had retired, was on the phone with a proposition. He owned a houseboat on Indian Creek in Miami Beach. Because it sat empty, it had been burglarized twice. He wanted Ricky to come live on the houseboat. He wasn’t asking for rent; he only wanted Ricky to be there to keep an eye on it. As long as Ricky lived there, he’d never pay rent. Ricky said he’d give it some thought.
Two ex-wives with hands out for monthly alimony and child support meant Ricky had little time to decide where to go and what to do. His pension was half of what his salary was and that just wasn’t going to cut it. He figured he didn’t have to live in New York to do private investigations, and with his reputation he hoped to have all the work he could handle. That houseboat surely sounded good though. Living on a houseboat was a long-time dream of his, and rent-free was tempting. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. They were expecting a bitter winter in New York, so “What the hell,” he said out loud. “I’m moving south.”
~~~
I so enjoyed Laurence's last mystery (check out link to that book in the right-hand column) that I got this next book and read in a few hours! This time, Laurence had joined with writer Jerry Lyons and dubbed the book A Ricky Burns Mystery...
I hope that is because there will be more featuring Ricky Burns. You will see that Lyons' previous life in law enforcement has resulted in a leading character that is well worth moving toward an ongoing series...
Perhaps, though, more in the mystery phase than in the legal arena. You see, Laurence is known for being "extraordinary..." She has tried many things in her career and is outspoken when she has opinions, normally strong opinions. In setting the mystery within the criminal justice system as a whole, readers may find that her bias--which in most cases, matches my own--is showing. Is it a spoof? Satire? Or is it just a very real interpretation of just how badly the criminal justice system has sunk and how prejudices, the stereotypical processes by which legal officials make snap judgments about who is guilty, is shown through a critical, exaggerated level of incompetence? It is so extreme, it is almost humorous, but not, because it seems genuine as the police, crime scene specialists and attorneys presents their parts to we readers.
Having come to know Laurence through her words, frankly I have no doubt, the ironic comparison between the prosecution and the defense is so well done that we want to start getting into the events that are happening and try to help...Lol... Seriously!
Ricky Burns, the lead character, has just taken early retirement from a major position in law enforcement. He has been involved in the normal danger that is faced by all good cops so much so that his son had begun to worry and asked him to retire. But Ricky wasn't really ready to retire... On the other hand, he knew his son had a right to be concerned. Was a change the best thing? Who knows what might have happened if a long-term friend had not contacted him and offered to have him live on his boat, rent free, just so the boat would have some security... Burns had always considered becoming a PI some day, and it suddenly turned out to be financially feasible as well as help to keep peace in his family life...
The book does not say whether his son ever was told that the very first case involved a double murder and, based upon the actions of the police, Ricky found himself right in the middle of solving the case--by himself!
There had been a shooting. Two men were found, dead, another, injured, in a car near a local club. A club at which Miami Demons Wide Receiver, Ron Ramirez, just happened to be. Mr. Ramirez had been in the news lately, when he had signed a forty-million dollar contract with the Demons, with a twenty-four million dollars guaranteed upfront.
Jay Kirschman, Ron's defense lawyer, had contacted Ricky to see if he would work as the investigator on this high-profile case. So when Ricky heard about the case and that the client was a multi-million dollar athlete, there was no question in his mind. He was in and both Jay and Ricky hoped that Ron was innocent, but with him willing to pay in advance, Ricky was already anxious to get started! And he looked forward to working with Kirschman; and working with his beautiful assistant, Collette, to whom Ricky was immediately attracted.
Often when individuals are violent people, they are sometimes caught in situations where they claim to be innocent. And this was the case with Ramirez. But as the three individuals handling the case, they felt that at least Ramirez was trying to help rather than hinder their work to defend him...
“Okay, man. Take it easy. I just want to tell you something that can’t get out of this office. I wanna come clean, but I don’t want it to come back and bite me in the ass.”
“All three of us are here to get you out of these murder charges. No one will ever hear or read what you tell us,” Jay reassured him. “I can only speak for us, though, Ron. If you have or do tell others, that’s on your watch.”
“You gotta believe I’m innocent when you talk about the murders, but so’s you’ll believe I’m not lying, I’ll tell you this. I did kill a guy a while back. It was what I had to do to get into a gang. I was young and didn’t believe I’d ever get out of the ‘hood. I wanted my back and my family to have protection and that was the best way to get it. You people don’t get it, I know, but it’s a way of life.”
Jay sat forward in his chair and asked, “Who’d you kill?” “I shot James Bacon. He was a piece of shit that had been trying to move in on my posse’s territory. I don’t think anybody even remembers it now. It’s been five years.”
“There’s no Statute of Limitations on murder,” Ricky warned. “Yeah, so?” Ramirez asked. “Just make sure you realize that. Keep it to yourself, we’ll keep it to ourselves and if no one else decides to out you, we’ll be fine.” Jay added.
“Not something I’m likely to bring up in small talk, but I wanted you to believe me when I told you I did not kill those two guys!” Jay nodded and asked Ron to go back to the night of the murders and relate exactly what happened.
The story as Ramirez told them was going to be one where Ricky would have to work to find out as much information as he could. The police had already tied Ramirez to the hit, figuring that it was all related to drugs and one group hitting another... They just needed to name somebody and close the case... Or that was what they thought until the trial actually started and all the work by Ricky began to be shared.
There are a few issues that came to me as I was reading. Yes, I'm a fan of legal thrillers and know quite a bit about procedure. For one, no bail was considered. Ramirez was out free and even, got into a violent incident that resulted in a shot through the eye of another man. But neither of the men were saying anything about what had happened. As mentioned above, the prosecutor's case was shoddy and was revealed during the trial. Interestingly, though, there is at least one or more individuals who were working with Ricky who wanted to get to the real truth. And they had tried to proceed to merge new facts into the case being presented. These efforts were stopped by higher levels of the court.
I enjoy writers who make an effort to pinpoint problems within government, the criminal justice system, and other areas where ethics, truth and a right to a fair trial is spotlighted. America still has major problems, both with police brutality and the lack of controlled access to guns and other means by which violence can be performed. Laurence and Lyons has perhaps been too top-heavy in illustrating that the defendant was being hurried through the system without concern about who actually killed two thugs that were known individuals in gangs or drugs. But, in doing so, the point was clear and the way a criminal case should be handled is perhaps educational to those who are not as familiar with the rule of law and instead work to blame others in order to keep their own freedom.
By the way, there's a bit of secretive romance going on to break up the drama. I was impressed with both the characters of the defense lawyer as well as Ricky Burns, the PI... Hopefully, this pairing of authors will continue for at least a couple more books. Criminal Justice certainly needs to be better handled by having our citizens aware and watching... Reality Must Change! Fiction should not be how we learn Right from Wrong, don't you think?
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