by Sandra Murphy

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win a copy of the book and a link to purchase it from Amazon at the end of this post.

Jonathan Grave funds a home and school for kids whose parents are in jail. When one of them dies from eating fentanyl-laced candy, and two others are ill, he has to find out how the candy made its way into the protected compound and who was behind the plot to harm the boy.

Boxers, Jonathan’s second in command, is experimenting with a new toy. A short demo for Jonathan proves successful. It’s a drone but not anything that has been seen before. This drone can track an individual person, even in a crowd. Arm it with ammunition or a small bomb and it’s a stealth assassin in the air.
Jonathan decides to take on the drug cartels, something the U.S. government hasn’t been able to do with any success. Eliminating one cartel won’t stop the flow of drugs but it’s a start.

When the clues to who’s behind the cartels, those who make it easier to distribute drugs on this side of the border, lead to high places, Jonathan is not deterred. He enlists the help of Irene Rivers, FBI Director. Even at her level, there’s no one she can trust except team members Jonathan, Boxers, Gunslinger, and the Queen of All Computers, Venice.

This is book 16 in the series. Jonathan and Boxers plan all contingencies but prepare for surprises. Though their lives may be in danger, there’s always a quip or joke to relieve the tension for both the team and the reader. Gilstrap knows his weaponry and the addition of drones that can target a single person is a new twist—and a scary one.

Irene Rivers condones what Jonathan does whether or not she can say so out loud. This time, she’s crossing lines she can’t come back from and knows it. For her, it’s worth the risk.

Gilstrap has a second series featuring Victoria Emerson. Her problems are more of a global nature but equally destructive. Readers of the Jonathan and Boxers series will be happy to know Irene Rivers will have her own books, the first appearing in 2025. Readers look forward to it but still clamor for more of Jonathan Grave.

You can click here to purchase this book from Amazon.

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Sandra Murphy lives in the shadow of the Arch in St. Louis Missouri. She’s the editor for the upcoming Yeet Me in St Louis, an anthology with stories from twelve St. Louis writers. Her own short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Magazine, and anthologies such as The Perp Wore Pumpkin and I (Almost) Died in Your Arms. ‘Lucy’s Tree’, published in The Eyes of Texas, won a Derringer Award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. She lives in St. Louis with Ozzie the Westie Impersonator and his sidekick in crime, Louie the Cat.

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