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Fiction Private Investigators

Rolling Thunder

by (author) A.J. Devlin

Publisher
NeWest Press
Initial publish date
May 2020
Category
Private Investigators, Hard-Boiled, General
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781988732879
    Publish Date
    May 2020
    List Price
    $11.99
  • Downloadable audio file

    ISBN
    9781774390955
    Publish Date
    Sep 2023
    List Price
    $18.99

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Description

Former pro wrestler "Hammerhead" Jed Ounstead, now a fully-fledged private investigator, is riding high after his first successful case. In this second episode, Jed leaves the wrestling realm to enter a new arena: women's flat-track roller derby. When old acquaintance Stormy Daze seeks his help finding her team's missing coach, Jed discovers that the turnbuckle-and-metal-chair mayhem of the wrestling ring pales in comparison to roller derby's four-wheeled ferocity.

As his search intensifies, Jed is drawn into the criminal orbit of a shady entrepreneur who doubles as a late-night TV personality, a high-class bookmaker with a yen for racing dachshunds, and a kinky painter with a special technique for producing art. When the thunder rolls, Jed finds he needs more than a few of his beloved banana milkshakes to solve this case.

Rolling Thunder continues A.J. Devlin's hard-hitting, award-winning mystery series with its unbeatable one-two punch of over-the-top-rope humour and elbow-to-the-face adventure.

About the author

A.J. Devlin grew up in Greater Vancouver before moving to Southern California where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from Chapman University and a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from The American Film Institute. After working as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he moved back home to Port Moody, BC, where he now lives with his family.Cobra Clutch, the first book in the "Hammerhead" Jed professional wrestling mystery-comedy series, was released in spring 2018 and nominated for a Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery and won the 2019 Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel.The highly acclaimed sequel, Rolling Thunder, was released in spring 2020 and featured in the Vancouver Sun, The Province, The Globe and Mail, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal Reviews, Mystery Tribune Magazine, Punk Noir Magazine, CrimeFictionLover.com, and on CBC Radio's The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers. The third book in the series, Five Moves of Doom, was published in September 2022 by NeWest Press and featured on The House of Mystery Radio Show on NBC. It won the 2022 Crime Fiction Lover Editor's Choice Award for Best Indie Crime Novel, was selected by The Globe and Mail as one of the Best Books of 2022, nominated for the 2023 Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, and shortlisted for the 2023 Crime Writers of Canada Howard Engel Award of Excellence for Best Novel Set in Canada.

A.J. Devlin's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"Rolling Thunder, with its captivating and twisty plot and hilarious characters, is a great pick for fans of private eye novels and readers of novels by Sam Wiebe, Carl Hiassen, and Janet Evanovich."
~ Mystery Tribune

"It’s the kind of book we need right now."
~ June Lorraine Roberts, Murder in Common

"The follow-up to the Arthur Ellis Award–winning Cobra Clutch is another action-packed violent mystery.... readers of the first book will enjoy the humor and outrageous antics."
~Lesa Holstine, Library Journal

"The “Hammerhead” Jed series is rolling right along. There is a wonderful flow to the book that drew me swiftly through the pages. I enjoy being with Jed on his adventures."
~ Bill Selnes, Mysteries and More from Saskatchewan blog

"Strap on your knee pads and buckle your helmet; it’s about to get physical."
~ Strong Sense of Place

"Jed is growing as a person and as a character. His horizons are broadening, he takes his mistakes to heart and tries to learn from them, and he genuinely wants to help people. The general decency of the guy makes you root for him, both inside and outside of the ring."
~ Cozy Up With Kathy

>"Devlin’s comic caper has a goofy charm and action aplenty."
~Kirkus Reviews