The Case of the Thwarted Lovers Blog Tour

Synopsis:

It’s been a long shift for Detective Vincent Pasquale. Back at his desk at the station he finds a phone message from his vampire spouse, Mark, waiting for him. 

“Hi. I figured calling your station phone number was more secure than using a cell. Listen our friend Dexter found something about who may have tried to frame Jean-Claude. Turns out that there is a lot more to this thing! It’s big. Jean-Claude and Jaime are meeting me here before we all head over to see Tortego at his offices. We should be there in a half hour and we figure this meeting will run most of the day. If you can join us fine but if not I’ll tell you about it later after your shift is over. Call me.” 

A few moments later a report comes into the station about a possible terrorist bomb explosion at a Midtown office building. No survivors are reported. To his horror Vinnie realizes the bombsite’s address is the exact location of Tortego’s offices. In a panic Vinnie rushes to the scene where, out of nowhere, he is shot from behind by an unknown assailant. Its’ four funerals and a wedding, as the newest Julian book unfolds. 

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Excerpt:

Vinnie was still trying to make sense of what he had just heard when suddenly a loud commotion erupted in the outer room of the police station. Everyone in the squad turned their heads to see a young police rookie burst into the room. “A bomb just went off by Saint Pat’s,” the shaken young Latino officer hurriedly blurted out. “The blast took out at least one building! There are injuries and maybe worse.”

There was silent for a few seconds before a multitude of voices broke out asking questions of the rookie. Some of the older detectives grabbed their jackets just as their Captain quickly strode into the room to speak to everyone in the squad room. All talking ceased as the men and women in the room paused to stare at their boss. “We don’t know if it’s terrorists but everyone should understand that right now we are in code red,” he calmly said. “We’ve drilled for this since 9/11. You all know what to do and what our city and I both expect from every person here. Get to your assigned posts now!” Within seconds, people were quickly scrambling to obey.

As the news of where the explosion fully sunk into his mind a terrifying thought took hold of Vinnie. “Captain, what buildings!” he yelled out amid the squad room’s commotion. “What building went up?”

The Captain looked at a paper and gave out the address. When Vinnie heard it he sat down in his chair. That’s where Tortego’s office is located, his mind screamed as he ran his hand through his dark curls in horror. Sweet Christ in heaven, Mark, Jaime, and Jean-Claude are there with him! The frantic detective quickly got up and ran to his Captain. “I need to go to that explosion site, sir,” he said while trying to stay calm.

  

More in the Mark Julian, Vampire P.I. Series

While each individual mystery can be read as a stand along, there are storylines that continue from one book to another, so we recommend you use the series in order:

Book One – The Case of the Choirboy Killer
MyReview

Book Two – The Case of the Strega’s Touch
My Review

Book Three – The Case of the Heavenly Host

Book Four – The Case of the Vampire Hunter 

Book Five – The Case No One Foretold

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About the Author:

L.G.Fabbo-Gonnella is a resident of NYC. He has often said Manhattan is the underlying unspoken character in many of his books. "I guess it’s a love affair that I have with her," he once said. "I could live here forever and yet still find magical things about her that I never knew existed.”

When not seeking out interesting new locales for his books he can be found dinning with friends and enjoying all the city he adores has to offer.

Though he has not yet met the supernatural denizens of NYC, he does hope to one day. And yes, there is a "letter Lounge" albeit under a different name.

He can be reached at L.G.Fabbo.Gonnella@gmail.co

Facebook     |     Website

The Case No One Foretold Blog Tour

Synopsis:

Two men engage in an altercation in a movie lobby. Later one of the men turns up dead in a New York City alley. But this is no ordinary murder. The deceased is a sex demon and his fellow combatant was the werewolf, Jean-Claude Roué, fiancé of Mark’s shape-shifter secretary. Now the werewolf is accused of his murder and faces a trial by before a supernatural tribunal. If Jean-Claude is convicted for causing this death it will mean his execution. This time however, Mark Julian is away on a personal investigation in Kenya so Tortego, the crafty vampire chief, goes to an unusual source to secure help. Using his powers as head of New York City’s supernatural community he appoints Mark’s human partner, Detective Vincent Pasquale, to be one of the three judges for Jean-Claude’s trial. Now Vinnie must not only fight to clear his friend, Jean-Claude, he must deal with his supernatural co-jurists: the werewolf Viola Lupa and the sex demon Dale Carter. Both of his companion judges are on record as sworn enemies of “any mixed supernatural mating.” Throw in a shifty shape shifter named Andelan Clarke, Ja-ne the original Oracle of Delphi and, a sexy TV newsman from the island of Guernsey who appears to be more interested in bedding Vinnie than nailing a story and it truly becomes “The Case No One Foretold!” 

Buy Links

Amazon US    |    Amazon UK    |    Amazon AU    |    Amazon DE

a Rafflecopter giveaway

More in the Mark Julian, Vampire P.I. Series:

While each individual mystery can be read as a stand-alone, there are storylines that continue from one book to another, so we recommend you use the series in order. 

Book One – The Case of the Choirboy Killer
My Review

Book Two – The Case of the Strega’s Touch
My Review

Book Three – The Case of the Heavenly Host

Book Four – The Case of the Vampire Hunter

About the Author:

L.G.Fabbo-Gonnella is a resident of NYC. He has often said Manhattan is the underlying unspoken character in many of his books. "I guess its a love affair that I have with her," he once said. "I could live here forever and yet still find magical things about her that I never knew existed.

When not seeking out interesting new locales for his books he can be found dinning with friends and enjoying all the city he adores has to offer.

Though he has not yet met the supernatural denizens of NYC, he does hope too one day. And yes, there is a "letter Lounge" albeit under a different name.

He can be reached at L.G.Fabbo.Gonnella@gmail.com

Facebook     |     Website

The Case of the Choirboy Killer - Mark Julian, Vampire P.I. Book 1 - Review

Mark Julian is New York’s only private eye for the supernatural. He has a job to do, one that includes not getting romantically involved with humans. Until a feeding frenzy on gay men crosses his path with irresistible Detective Vincent Pasquale of the NYPD. The paranormal world is about to collide with the human world, in more ways than one… 

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My Review:

3.5 stars

This was an interesting introduction into a fascinating world for me. I’m not normally a huge mystery fan, but something about this one just grabbed my attention. I will definitely keep reading the series from here on out, if only just to see how Mark and Vinnie’s relationship grows. I loved seeing these two interact with each other; the tension building between them was fun to see and left me feeling a sense of FINALLY! when they got together. Their banter with each other was great, and I liked seeing how they solved the mystery and got the job done.

As for background characters, this book has a wealth of secondary, tertiary, and other characters. I love Jaime, he/she cracks me up and is the perfect sidekick for both Mark and Vinnie. I can’t wait to see what happens with Jaime in future books, because he/she is a character that deserves to be explored. I also really liked Tortego, who seems like he could grow to become a very interesting character.

The story telling was interesting to say the least and worth talking about here since it could potentially turn some readers off of the story. For one, there are a lot of narrative flashes to the future, reminiscent of the description sometimes given at the end of a movie about what happened to the characters after the movie’s end. And some of the flash forwards were on tangents that are then never mentioned again For example, after the death of one of the victims, we get a flash to his family placing missing person posters and ends with “His mother would grow old and die waiting on that dream to come true.” I didn’t really find these distracting, more an interesting story telling device showing the author’s writing style.

Another interesting style choice was that there are also lots of internal dialogues, which I didn’t mind since I like knowing what’s going on in a character’s head. However, I did have an issue at times with how needlessly violent the book could get. One of the flash forwards in particular was just very odd in that it ended with a surviving victim murdering his boyfriend because he did something that reminded him of the killer, and then just jumps right back into the story like nothing happened. It was odd and jarring how events like this happened, especially since they were not relevant to the plot. So I’m not sure if the author included these to purposefully try and jar the reader or develop a certain tone, but it didn’t always work for me.

I did enjoy the chapter titles though, as they provided hints at what was to come and I thought they were a nice little touch that added to the story. However, I was not a fan of how the victims were portrayed. Normally in a mystery, I don’t mind following a victim’s final moments, especially when they’re interacting with the killer because it can provide clues about the killer and where the story is going. However, most of the victims followed here were creepy and disturbing, so it was hard to feel any sympathy for them (except for poor Jordy). For example, why was it important to know that several of the victims were okay with hurting and even raping their partners in such detail? I understand explaining how the victims and the murderer met, but beyond that, I don’t know. Yes, it was a bit of poetic justice where you had these total asses who had the tables turned on them, but I thought it was a bit of an odd choice for the story, especially since Mark and Vinnie never learned about what asses the victims were. I kept thinking this would somehow come into play, maybe in the murderer’s justification behind why he killed them, but it never did. It just seemed like superfluous information that wasn’t necessary and brought the story down in my mind, mostly because at the end I was left thinking WTF?

All in all, I had a bit of a mixed reaction to some of the story telling elements and plot twists, but overall, this was a very intriguing series introduction. The author definitely has his own writing style, which I admire, even if I’m not always such a fan of it. I will definitely continue reading this series as I can’t wait to see how the characters grow over time.

*I received this book in exchange for an honest review.*