Audio Book Review: Gone to Dust by Matt Goldman

I did enjoy this PI mystery.

Gone to Dust
Author Matt Goldman
Narrator: MacLeod Andrews

Series: The Nils Shapiro Series, Book 1
Duration: 7 h 24 min
Release date: 08-15-17
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Genre: Detective Stories, Mystery, Private Investigator
My Rating: 4.0 of 5.0 Overall; Story 4.0; Narration 4.25.

Summary:
Set in Minnesota, Gone to Dust is the debut private-eye murder mystery from Emmy Award-winning Seinfeld writer Matt Goldman.
A brutal crime. The ultimate cover-up. How do you solve a murder with no useable evidence?
Private detective Nils Shapiro is focused on forgetting his ex-wife and keeping warm during another Minneapolis winter when a former colleague, neighboring Edina Police Detective Anders Ellegaard, calls with the impossible.
Suburban divorcee Maggie Somerville was found murdered in her bedroom, her body covered with the dust from hundreds of emptied vacuum cleaner bags, all potential DNA evidence obscured by the calculating killer.
Digging into Maggie's cell-phone records, Nils finds that the most frequently called number belongs to a mysterious young woman whose true identity could shatter the Somerville family-but could she be guilty of murder?
After the FBI demands that Nils drop the case, Nils and Ellegaard are forced to take their investigation underground, where the case grows as murky as the contents of the vacuum cleaner bags. Is this a strange case of domestic violence or something with far-reaching, sinister implications?

Review:
Nils Shapiro is a private detective who has had some success in solving cases, often involving domestic surveillance. A former colleague who is a nearby Police Detective convinces his chief to hire Nils to help with a puzzling murder. Nils gets to walk through the crime scene early to inspect the woman who was murdered on her bed. The house and bedroom are covered with dust from emptied vacuum cleaner bags creating a forensic nightmare as it obscures the DNA of the true murderer. The first thing Nils notes is that this probably indicates a killer whose DNA is in the system, and it indicates a well-planned murder. There was no evidence of struggling so it appears that the killer was known to the killer. This leads to an ex-husband and a current lover as prime suspects. Then phone records lead to a mysterious female that adds a whole new aspect to the case.

As Nils investigates the primary suspects, he runs afoul of an FBI investigation and is told to back off. But Nils is too far in to back off. He and his friend continue to pursue clues, hoping to flush out the killer. Soon another man ends up dead and all leads point to him as the killer. But Nils doesn’t think so. He is pretty sure that someone has been manipulating the direction of the clues. Soon Nils isn’t sure which suspect is really the killer, but he won’t stop until he finds out.

I initially had mixed feelings about the main character, as I wasn’t crazy about the brash and sometimes base nature of Nils’ character. However, I was pulled in by the mystery and definitely appreciated Nils’ perseverance and attention to detail. The foul language and some sexual side comments were not to my liking. I did enjoy most of the description that flushed the story although there is a little extra minutiae in the daily activity. Still, the mystery with several red herrings and twists made this an engaging listen. The next several books in the series were also included in Audible plus so I will look forward to listening to another. I recommend this to PI mystery fans.

Audio Notes: MacLeod Andrews does a good job with the narration. He provides distinct voices and a fitting, low-key, determined atmosphere.

Source: I won this at Beth Fish Reads with a set of titles from Audiobooks.com during Audiobook Week July 2018. I also have it on Audible as it is part of the Plus Catalog. This qualifies for 2022TBR, 2022Audiobook, and 2022Alphabet goals.