Molly, I could kiss you.

Tom Kendall is not quite the usual private eye of most novels. Oh, he's come up through the usual route, ten years a New York cop then nearly as long working for himself. But now he and his business partner fun secretary, Molly, have moved to Miami and just opened a new office. He could be fitter, needs to lose a bit of weight, but he really loves his chocolate biscuits. He doesn't need the money, he works because he wants to do so. He's good at asking questions, just not so fast at putting together the answers, whilst Molly, for all she is devoted to her celebrity magazines, often sees the bigger picture without even realizing it.

With Kendall and Molly, John Holt has created a really good character couple : Kendall asks the questions, doggedly determined and distrustful of all coincidence, whilst Molly makes the coffee and listens to his meandering summation of where his investigation has taken him so far. This is not a fast paced thriller but a delicious and meticulous piecing together of the puzzle, starting with an heiress whose husband has gone missing, believed kidnapped. Murder, robbery, lies and deceipt, and much downloading of rain along the way. Great fun.
Narrator Kolyn Marshall makes an excellent Kendall, a slightly growly but sardonic tone capturing perfectly his personality. Voicing of the other characters is slight but easily sufficient, from the policeman friend Delaney through to Molly, although his Irish accent for a young woman named Mary really does need considerable work. There are also occasional editing glitches, mostly very slight, but including the final book credits briefly bursting into the final chapter. Overall, though, his was a good performance.

I love these detective stories by John Holt. Completely character led, the reader can solve the mystery before the P.I. But that's all part of the enjoyment: the quirky personality of Kendall and our eavesdropping on his conversations with everyone he can connect to his case as well as those with marvellous Molly.
Although the second in the series, these Kendall books can be read in any order and are recommended to anyone who wants more than mere action in their sleuthing stories

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Really enjoyable - narration was brilliant

How does the author think of these plots, they are appear so complicated but all come together in the end. I just love how Kendall explains his deductions to Molly - who knows how to react to him. Another really interesting listen, the narration just adds so much to the story. I listened to this one out of order but it didn't really matter, I could just escape into the detective story that is Kendall. He is a true old fashioned detective, so dont take him seriously it all just so much fun.

I was given a free copy by the author but this in no way impacted my review.

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☺

All John Holt work is very good i give it 5 out 5 100% 😊

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Brilliant book

Brilliant book really enjoyable can't wait to read the rest of the series, loved it

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love it love it

brilliantly read. story got better and better I want to become a crime detective. thank you John xx

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Book 2

Tom Kendall and his sidekick Mollie are both very good characters, and I found that this book was very easy to read and very hard to put down.
If you like stories that keep you guessing, letting you think you know the answer until you realize you were being led up a blind alley, then this is the book for you.

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1 person found this helpful

a kidnapping case that turned into a murder case

I loved this book! there were so many clues to put together! It was more like 3 cases they were trying to solve all at once! I loved the story and trying to figure out which trails were false leads and who was telling the truth! Definately a fun read! I would reccomend this book to all!

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The Marinski Affair

Another nice listen with Detective Kendall. He makes himself sound so clueless at times and rambles on but always gets his results in the end. Can’t wait to see what he does next!

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excellent

loved this cracking story plenty of who dun it right up there with the great detectives

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Great storyline

Enjoyed listening to the audio book the narrater was great too can’t wait for next book

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