Soundings in the Dark by Brian Anderson is a mystery worth reading #mystery #bookboost #booksworthreading #nnlbh
- N. N. Light
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Title Soundings in the Dark
Author Brian Anderson
Genre Mystery
Publisher The Wild Rose Press
Book Blurb
Minneapolis P.I. Lyle Dahms investigates the murder of an old high school buddy. The dead man, now a highly successful software developer, is found repeatedly stabbed with swastikas carved into his corpse. Suspicion promptly falls on the dead man’s son, a high school student who had gone virtually overnight from star athlete and scholar to rebellious skinhead whose hate-filled diatribes spare no one, least of all his privileged, liberal father. Dahms soon discovers others with motives to kill his old friend, chief among them a white supremacist leader and publicity-hungry “minister” who frames his racist views as divine law. But before Dahms can close in on the truth, his investigation is hampered by the arrival of the dead man’s former girlfriend, now an embittered hooker. Claiming to know who killed his friend, she refuses to tell Dahms for fear that she will be the next victim. She does, however, leave him something. When she bolts, she abandons her three-year-old daughter to his care, leaving Dahms charged with keeping the little girl safe, finding her mother, and solving the murder before the killer can strike again.
Excerpt
Edgerton put one hand on the top of the Ford as if to steady himself and leaned in close. Most of his anger had drained away, but his eyes retained an anxious wistfulness. “She makes me think of angels,” he said. He swallowed hard to fight back a sob. “Like when I was a little kid waking up in the middle of the night, scared after having some dream or hearing some noise. Since my parents didn’t believe in God, my sister and I didn’t have angels watching over us like other kids. There was just Mom and Dad.”
He drummed his fingers lightly on the car. “I’d lie there telling myself that I was safe. That my parents were there for me. That they were enough. But I couldn’t help thinking that it would be better if there were angels.” He paused. “Having Ava...Taking care of her...I’m supposed to be the one watching over her. But instead, here I am. Still scared. Still wishing for angels.”
He turned to gaze out to the horizon. Wisps of clouds were stretching warily out toward the sun, spreading out like the feathers of ghostly wings about to take flight.
“We’ll get her back, Stephen,” I told him. “I promise.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
Barnes and Noble: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206148989-soundings-in-the-dark?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=hihPEv3vjB&rank=1
The Wild Rose Press: https://wildrosepress.com/product/soundings-in-the-dark/
Author Biography
Brian Anderson is a graduate of the University of Minnesota whose Dinkytown neighborhood provides the setting for his mystery series featuring private investigator Lyle Dahms. The Dahms novels spring from his lifelong love of mystery fiction, especially the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, as well as more contemporary masters like Robert B. Parker and G. M. Ford. He is a three-time finalist in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association mystery and suspense contest, and his debut novel, The Shiver in Her Eyes, was a finalist in their Nancy Pearl Contest for published fiction.
In 2024, he released his standalone novel Yule Tide, which features a fallen angel turned private investigator who fights to wrest Christmas from the dark forces who have taken control and twisted it to their evil ends.
Brian spent much of his professional career working to alleviate domestic hunger serving as the operations director of the Emergency Feeding Program of Seattle & King County as well as the manager of the Pike Market Food Bank in downtown Seattle. Married with three beautiful daughters, he now lives and writes in Ocean Shores, a small city on the Washington coast.
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