A great read. ... Coffin knows... police investigations from his days as a former detective for the Portland Police Department. He also knows how to craft a tightly spun tale.” — Portland Press Herald
“Terrific! Fast-talking, smart, and cinematic, this entertaining page-turner is so knowingly authentic only a genuine cop turned storyteller could have written it.” — Hank Phillippi Ryan, Agatha, Anthony, and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author
“Reading Bruce Coffin is like going on a 300-page ride-along with some very tough and likeable cops. Beneath the Depths is one of the best police procedurals I’ve read in years—a road map of a city filled with good guys and bad guys, drawn painstakingly by an author who knows these streets as only an ex-cop can.” — Gerry Boyle, author of Straw Man
“This incredible mystery is as intricate as a finely woven tapestry. ... [Coffin] makes contemporary mystery writers like James Patterson and Tom Clancy seem slow and contrived.” — Journal Tribune
“When a lawyer who’s already antagonized half the people in Maine winds up dead, every pine tree in Portland seems chock-full of suspects. ... A sturdy, starchy police procedural.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Wonderful. ... I enjoyed Coffin’s first novel, Among the Shadows, and his new novel is even better.” — George’s Outdoor News
“[Coffin’s] clever police procedural mysteries ring true in color, atmosphere and authenticity. ... A talented mystery writer [who] knows just when to drop enticing but subtle clues for the reader. ... Detective Sergeant Byron is a complex character.” — CentralMaine.com
[Coffin’s] clever police procedural mysteries ring true in color, atmosphere and authenticity. ... A talented mystery writer [who] knows just when to drop enticing but subtle clues for the reader. ... Detective Sergeant Byron is a complex character.
A great read. ... Coffin knows... police investigations from his days as a former detective for the Portland Police Department. He also knows how to craft a tightly spun tale.
Wonderful. ... I enjoyed Coffin’s first novel, Among the Shadows, and his new novel is even better.
Reading Bruce Coffin is like going on a 300-page ride-along with some very tough and likeable cops. Beneath the Depths is one of the best police procedurals I’ve read in years—a road map of a city filled with good guys and bad guys, drawn painstakingly by an author who knows these streets as only an ex-cop can.
Terrific! Fast-talking, smart, and cinematic, this entertaining page-turner is so knowingly authentic only a genuine cop turned storyteller could have written it.
This incredible mystery is as intricate as a finely woven tapestry. ... [Coffin] makes contemporary mystery writers like James Patterson and Tom Clancy seem slow and contrived.
2017-07-20
When a lawyer who's already antagonized half the people in Maine winds up dead, every pine tree in Portland seems chock-full of suspects.The last day of Paul Ramsey's life was a disaster from beginning to end. He lost a $10 million civil suit he'd expected to win. He got word he'd be passed over for a senior partnership at his law firm in favor of a colleague who had nothing like his courtroom chops. He picked a fight with the wrong man at the Red Fox, where he'd gone to drown his sorrows. And that was all before a lobsterman found his corpse in Floater Alley two days later. Detective Sgt. John Byron's first reaction when he hears about the case is satisfaction; there'd been no love lost between the two men. Byron knows from the get-go that his antipathy for Ramsey makes him one of a large and varied crowd. Even assuming that Julia Ramsey is as grief-stricken by her sudden widowhood as she seems, there's Matthew Childress, the contractor furious over Ramsey's successful defense of the driver who killed Childress' daughter; Darius Tomlinson, who supplied Ramsey with drugs; the exotic dancers of the Unicorn, who supplied him with other creature comforts; Donny McVail, the Red Fox patron Ramsey baited minutes before he was killed; and many more contenders. Ironically, there's much less solidarity among the members of the Portland Police Department, who seem to spend so many of their waking hours scheming against each other and keeping secrets, like Byron's forbidden romance with Detective Diane Joyner, that it's a wonder they can solve any crimes at all (Among the Shadows, 2016). A sturdy, starchy police procedural most likely to appeal to readers with a hearty appetite for police routine.
Wonderful. ... I enjoyed Coffin’s first novel, Among the Shadows, and his new novel is even better.
