Rich and Gone by W.F. Ranew (Spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

Rich and Gone

by

W.F. Ranew

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GENRE: Mystery

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BLURB:

PI Red Farlow is on the hunt to find $300 million a Florida insurance executive has bilked out of family and friends.

Woody Cunningham stashed the money in safe havens around the world before disappearing. Has he been done in by one of his enemies? Or did he skip town with his girlfriend to live off the ill-gotten wealth? If that’s the case, where is he?

Farlow must quickly learn how and why people hide their money in offshore accounts if he's to find out what happened to Cunningham.

When a tough guy from Farlow's past resurfaces, wanting to settle an old score, Farlow discovers he also has links to the missing man. Clues lead him across Georgia and Florida, and Europe, to find the answers.

Is Woody Cunningham dead, or just rich and gone?

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EXCERPT

As we went inside, I reached back to touch my pistol. At the threshold to the kitchen, I flipped on the living room lights and looked around. Nothing looked out of place in the larger room. The kitchen posed a different scene. I didn’t go into the room because of the mess. There could be evidence there, in the worst case. I suspected the worst case. You get that feeling sometimes.

I walked through the rest of the house, with Julie behind me. I turned down a long hallway, at the end of which glowed light from what we found to be the master bedroom. I stepped cautiously to the door and looked inside. The horrible scene instinctively sent me bringing my gun out and at the ready. But instead of proceeding, I turned around and pulled Julie back down the hall.

“What is it?”

“You don’t need to see this, Julie.”

She paused and put her hands over her face. She stood there a moment, dropped her hands, and said, “Red, I’m a reporter. I’ve probably seen worse.”

“Lord, lady, I hope not.”

With that, she stood beside me to look into the bedroom. Her scream wasn’t nearly as loud as I expected, but it echoed throughout the house. She screamed again, and yet again. I put an arm around her shoulder. She sank into me.

In the room, Rye Whitworth’s body sprawled face up across his bed. The sheets, which likely started out white, bore a strong resemblance to a ritual slaughter pit. Blood soaked into the covers and mattress. Rye’s right hand dangled over the bed over a large pool of blood. Someone had stabbed him repeatedly.

Amazon link

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

W.F. Ranew is the author of Rich and Gone, a Red Farlow mystery set for publication May 29, 2019, by Tirgearr Publishing.

Ranew is a former newspaper reporter, editor, and communication executive. He started his journalism career covering sports, police, and city council meetings at his hometown newspaper, The Quitman Free Press. He also worked as a reporter and editor for The Augusta Chronicle, The Florida Times-Union, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where he was a news editor.

Ranew has written two previous novels: Schoolhouse Man and Candyman’s Sorrow.

He lives in Atlanta and St. Simons Island, Ga.

Website

Tirgearrbook page

Tirgearrauthor page

Goodreads

Blog

Facebook

Twitter: @wfranew

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The tour dates can be found here






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My review:

3.5 out of 5 stars

Rich and Gone by W.F. Ranew is the first story in the ‘Red Farlow Mysteries’ series and details private investigator Red Farlow’s search for a man who has vanished along with a considerable amount of money that he had purportedly invested. The case twists and turns and the stakes continue to rise as some of the threat becomes personal and potentially fatal. Tenacity and a bit of luck will be required, plus a little help from his friends and allies.

This mystery story showcases a combination of crimes and provides a glimpse of several areas of Florida as well as a few more exotic locations. The reader is taken on a journey that demonstrates the tedious aspects of proving whether a crime has taken place as well as the unexpected dangers that arise when following leads.

Red seems to have a lot of contacts who think highly of him and don’t mind sharing information plus his intrepid newspaper reporter source and they all help provide puzzle pieces. For me, there is a bit too much exposition interspersed with brief periods of excitement, and a confusing shifting in tenses, so that it seemed that some events are foreshadowed while other occurrences take place in real time even though they happened in the past. There is a large cast of characters and although some of them provide red herrings, others seem to be superfluous, and it was difficult to make a connection with any of them. I’m still a little puzzled about one villain’s antipathy that seems to stem from a murky connection in their respective pasts.

Understandably, establishing a series requires a lot of exposition to set up the main character’s background, and the glimpses of Red’s past hint at a very dedicated investigator. He seems to be allowed a lot of latitude from his former colleagues but he apparently has a penchant for getting into dangerous situations which makes one wonder about his facility for self-defense. The story leans toward the noir mystery style, so those who are a bit squeamish should be advised that there is a bit of violence scattered throughout the story. I am also a little ambivalent about the ending although it was a version of justice. Those who like to armchair travel while solving a mystery or two may wish to give this story a try.

A copy of this title was provided for review