Book Review and Review Giveaway: The Big Show Stopper by Ken Dalton

An old feel PI mystery.
The Big Show Stopper (A Pinky and the Bear mystery) by Ken Dalton

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Different Drummer Press (September 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0578054590
• ISBN-13: 978-0578054599

      Genre: Mystery
      My Rating: 3.25 of 5.0 ... please read the review.

Product Description
The Big Show Stopper opens in a packed concert arena with everyone waiting for the entrance of Brady Blackstone, the richest, and premier concert performer in America. But before Brady sets his foot on the stage, a tragic accident takes his life in front of Bear and a devastated Flo. However, it does not take Bear and Flo very long to question if the death was it an accident or murder?
Once again, in the pursuit of a pile of money and a little justice, Pinky travels to an exotic site while Bear and Flo end up in one of the least desirable locations in California.
The Big Show Stopper brings back Pinky, Bear, Flo, along with a gaggle of quirky characters. A beer swilling wacko. A naked old fart. A couple of downright dangerous folks. And concludes on a dark night with the dynamic trio spread eagle counting down the final seconds of their lives.

Review: This is an interesting mystery but the characters are not my cup of tea.
The lawyer, Pinky, is a big shot guy who has several ex-wives and is more interested in money than relationships or helping his clients.  There are parts of his character that I liked, but maybe more I didn’t like.

Pinky's  PI is a prior client who he got off from a murder charge. Bear is a big guy, to suit his name.  He tends to engage his fists before his brain.  I suppose what really turned me off was Bear’s female companion. Sometimes she is smarter than he is which is fine. But other times she is just a whiny female who seems to be looking for a sugar daddy. Okay...so Bear and Flo seem to have a thing that works for them. It didn’t work for me.

As the concert crew immediately begin to pack up and move on to the next gig, Bear recognizes that the death was not accidental.  He turns to the local cop, Ice, to arrest the prime suspect, Jack,.who happens to be a friend of Bear's.  Pinky agrees to represent Jack at least to negotiate a plea which is all the defense that Jack can afford. Then a female girlfriend shows up and offer a million dollar fee if Pinky can come up with another viable suspect and get Jack released within two weeks. Now the investigation gets really serious and Bear, with Flo in tow, is off to track down other suspects.

I liked the mystery; there was some very good action and the writing flowed well.  I didn’t like Flo's whines and the outrageous expenses that she and Bear ran up as though it was their "due."  Also I didn't like that Pinky fixated on one suspect to drag in for the money instead of thinking it through to the facts.

A lot of this story reminded me of Keystone Cops falling into the right place and the right time to find the right suspect. Since I don’t care for the Keystone Cops none of this worked well for me.  There was a certain amount of fun to the story. That didn’t prevail over the bumbling, sorry, slow, sleasy characters for me. It is a decent mystery that might work well for mystery lovers who do not mind stupid and  bordering on unscrupulous PIs and lawyers.

Please check the tour blog for other reviews.

Blog Tour web site:
http://thebigshowstopper.blogspot.com/

Ken Dalton's web site:
http://www.kendalton.com/

I received this book for review as part of a blog tour coordinated by Tribute Books. 
I am giving away my review copy.

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