Free - Jay Leicester Mysteries Series by JC Simmons

[NightBird]

By small publisher Nighttime Press.

Some People Die Quick (Book 2 of the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series)

Jay Leicester, a retired airline pilot now running his own investigation firm, is sent a client by his old friend Guy Robbins, an attorney on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. The client is a horribly disfigured young female marine biologist who is Director of a research lab on Cat Island, twelve miles off the coast of Gulfport. Her disfigurement is the result of an attack by a tiger shark during a dive to the wreck of a World War Two German submarine sank during the war by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Chandeleur Island.

During a two year recovery period the scientist becomes convinced the attack was orchestrated by someone who wanted to steal the formula for a shark repellent being developed at the research lab. The repellent, if perfected, would be worth billions of dollars. How a pelagic shark could be used to attack a specific diver in the open ocean becomes the enigma behind the investigation of this mystery thriller.

One of the most enigmatic characters is the marine biologist herself. Annatoo Yillah, a direct descendant of Polynesian parents, is as strange as she is intelligent. A woman who, though educated in the west, believes she is an ancient God of Tiburon - a shark god. Other characters in the work are: Anna Yillah's two research assistants, George Lenoir and Vickey Fourche, brilliant graduate students from Mississippi State University, who worship and learn at the feet of their mentor; Susan Weems, a lifelong friend and former colleague of Anna Yillah, enters the scene with a bizarre tale of love and friendship; a career criminal and shrimp fisherman, Bob Sabado, who is tied to the lab by unrequited love. Then we meet Hebrone Opshinsky, one of those unforgettable characters that linger on in our mind forever. An "in-country" Viet Nam soldier trained as a silent killer and put back on the street after the war without any indoctrination in how to adjust to a peaceful society. A man who is more deadly than all the sharks in the Gulf of Mexico and lives among the underbelly of the shrimp fishermen along the docks of the Mississippi Coast. Finally, we meet a Police Detective and a Chief of Police who could not be more different in their investigative techniques. Both think Jay Leicester may be responsible for three murders and an attempt at a fourth.

After meeting with Anna Yillah and conferring with Guy Robbins, Jay takes the case and accompanies her to Cat Island. Understanding why a brilliant research scientist could believe an attack in the open ocean by a shark could be purposefully accomplished is the first priority. He learned quickly that not only was it possible, but that it was exactly what had happened.With hundreds of visiting scientists rotating on and off the island doing research, the list of possible suspects seems insurmountable, but soon is narrowed to a select few. To expose the antagonist Anna and Jay recreate the original dive on the German submarine. It goes horribly wrong resulting in a ghastly death and failing to reveal a murderer. Starting over, Leicester finds an unlikely ally in an original suspect. This assistance leads to the discovery of the killer, but not before another innocent life is lost, and Jay is confronted with his own mortality.

Pristine offshore islands, coastlines ruined by casino hotels, and Gulf of Mexico waters is the setting for intrigue, horror, and quick death. A must read for any aficionado of the Mystery/Thriller genre.

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There are 10 ebooks in the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series by JC Simmons:

Blood on the Vine
Some People Die Quick
Blind Overlook
Icy Blue Descent
The Electra File
Popping the Shine
Four Nines Fine
The Underground Lady
Akel Dama
The Candela of Cancri

[piperclassique]

Thank you!

[spindlegirl]

Nice! (picked mine up at Smashwords of course )

[HarryT]

NOT free at Amazon UK.

[NightBird]

Blind Overlook (Book 3 of the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series) is now free.

Jay Leicester is a retired airline pilot, retired because he could not stand the bureaucratic web the government spun over the aviation industry, and partly because anyone with the price of a bus ticket could fly on the airlines which resulted in overbooking, overcrowding, and near chaos on every route. Raised in a family of Judges and police officers, the only thing he knew to fall back on was the law. Opening his own private investigation business was a natural evolution, especially since he had trouble with authority, and could work outside the constraints of legalese. Handling mostly aviation related cases, recovery of stolen aircraft, investigating drug-hauling pilots, and helping set up corporate aviation departments kept him busy.

In Blind Overlook we find Leicester doing a favor for an attorney friend and taking a case far removed from aviation. It involves something he knows nothing about, the art world. A beautiful, but enigmatic young woman who owns an art gallery in New Orleans hires him to travel to Maine where a body has been found fitting the description of her brother and partner in the gallery. The body turns out not to be the brother. However he has not been heard from and the young lady grows concerned as he was traveling with four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in cash with which to buy a collection of work by an artist named, Rockwell Kent. Delving into this situation leads Leicester straight into a confrontation with the most powerful Mafia figure in the United States, a local detective, a police sergeant, local fishermen, and a friendly, but suspicious waitress at a local cafe. The entire populace of the small community seems involved in the murder, the missing brother and his money. Maine coastal locals and offshore islands provide a unique setting for a powerful work reminiscent of Ross MacDonald or John D. McDonald. Character driven and plot oriented, this is a must read for the serious Mystery/Thriller 'aficionado.

[LuvReadin]

Originally Posted by NightBird

Blind Overlook (Book 3 of the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series) is now free.

Also free on Amazon UK. Oh well, at least we get one of them!

[kg3]

--Some People Die Quick (Book 2 of the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series) is still available for free from Smashwords in all formats:

--https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/133940

--Also, still Free at Amazon US.

[NightBird]

The Electra File - Book 5

In this newly re-released and moving novel, Jay Leicester, Simmons' celebrated Mississippi Aviation Consultant/Private Investigator, is hired by his friend, Guy Robbins, to help find his missing sailboat. It is found scuttled offshore with two bodies aboard. When identified, it is determined that the individuals were associated with the new gaming industry that has reshaped the Mississippi coastline and boosted the economy. However, the benefits to the area do not come without consequence.

When a candatate in the local mayoral election who openly opposed the gambling industry is killed, many suspect involvement by casino officials. Angered by the negative publicity and the millions it could cost them, casino officials, at least on the surface, work with Leicester to help solve the murders.

[NightBird]

The Candela of Cancri (Book 10 of the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series) now free.

J.C. Simmons, Mississippi’s legendary author, returns with the tenth in the Jay Leicester series. Familiar and beloved characters, Rose English, Shack Runnels, Hebrone Opshinsky, and B.W., the Siamese cat, join in a medical thriller set in the Deep South and Colorado Rockies. From Gulf of Mexico waters to mountain ski resorts, Leicester deals with the disappearance of close friend and retired Radiologist, J.D. Ballard, who has fought long and hard for FDA approval of a noninvasive cure for cancer he thinks is being suppressed by the medical aristocracy simply for power, money, and prestige.

The Candela of Cancri is J.C. Simmons at his best with his trademark tight plotting, pitch-perfect dialogue, and Hemingway-like sparseness. Readers will believe or not believe, love or hate the ending of this medical Mystery/Thriller.

[HarryT]

Thanks - free on Amazon UK, too.

[NightBird]

Free Four Nines Fine (Book 7 of the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series)

One hundred million dollars' worth of pure gold traded for stolen military arms... the brutal murder of a Mexican Governor... the involvement of La Eme, the Mexican Mafia, Outlaw Motorcycle gangs, and violent street gangs, and a contract ordered on his life... These are the pieces of the puzzle Jay Leicester must put together to save not only himself, but those of innocent people working with him.

Asked to recover and airplane from Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, Jay is inadvertently drawn into unthinkable horror. In his unaccustomed role as prey, Jay is forced into consideration of his own mortality and those close to him. Jolted into taking stock of his life, into acknowledging that through the years he has become more of a loner than he ever intended to be...

As he goes about the increasingly dangerous business of keeping himself alive, following the trail of gold smugglers from South America to Mexico to urban and rural areas of Mississippi, Jay begins to see the only way to avoid more deaths is to shatter the opposing forces.

Here - in a novel exploding with action, surprises, and suspense is J.C. Simmons writing at the top of his game. FOUR NINES FINE is one of the most entertaining works we have yet had from one of Mississippi's most gifted and prolific writers.

[HarryT]

Thanks. Amazon UK Link.

[dreams]

Thank you! I just need #'s 4, 6 and 9.

[NightBird]

Originally Posted by dreams

Thank you! I just need #'s 4, 6 and 9.

Here's #4

Icy Blue Descent (Book 4 of the Jay Leicester Mysteries Series) now free.

In this newly re-released and moving novel, Jay Leicester, Simmons' celebrated Mississippi Aviation Consultant/Private Investigator, is hired by a young woman to find her sister. What appears to be an ordinary matter of a missing person is suddenly magnified, as Leicester plunges into the world of high finance, drug dealers, and murder. He ranges from Mississippi to Miami to islands in the Bahamas, tracking men and women who are pursuing the fast buck in the drug trade, and comes close to an icy blue descent into death.

To the hard-boiled story of violence and death, J.C. Simmons has brought substance and depth of characterization. It is often said that he follows in the tradition of Kenneth Millar and John D. MacDonald, but Simmons has actually broken new ground. His novels have a social range and moral dimension that, in combination with a striking prose style and first person narrative drive, provide the reader with a rewarding experience.

[dreams]

Whoop! Whoop! Thank you!