Dead Red

by Tim O'Mara

Overview

Filled with the kinds of unexpected twists that make for the best crime fiction and with secrets that run far deeper than loyalties, Dead Red is the most thrilling mystery yet in Tim O'Mara's widely acclaimed series.

New York City school teacher Raymond Donne had no idea how bad his night was going to get when he picked up the phone. Ricky Torres, his old friend from his days as a cop, needs Ray's help, and he needs it right now in the middle of the night. Ricky picks Ray up in the taxi he has been driving since returning from serving as a Marine in Iraq, but before Ricky can tell Ray what's going on the windows of the taxi explode under a hail of bullets, killing Ricky and knocking Ray unconscious as he dives to pull Ricky out of harm's way.

Ray would've done anything to help Ricky out while he was alive. Now that he's dead, he'll go to the same lengths to find out who did it and why.

All he has to go on is that Ricky was working with Jack Knight, another ex-cop turned PI. They were investigating the disappearance of a PR giant's daughter who had ties to the same Brooklyn streets that all three of them used to work. Is that what got Ricky killed or was he into something even more dangerous? Was there anything that Ray could've done for him while he was alive? Is there anything he can do for him now?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781466862999
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/20/2015
Series:	The Raymond Donne Mysteries , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	321
Sales rank:	310,967
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

TIM O'MARA, author of Crooked Numbers and the Barry Award nominated Sacrifice Fly, is a teacher in the New York City public school system. He lives in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen with his wife and daughter. Dead Red is his third Raymond Donne mystery.

Editorial Reviews

11/17/2014
O’Mara’s intricately plotted third outing for New York City-cop-turned-Brooklyn-teacher Ray Donne (after 2013’s Crooked Numbers) opens with a bang. Ray and his old friend Ricky Torres, a former cop and ex-Marine who served in Iraq, are sitting in the front seat of Ricky’s cab when it’s riddled with bullets, killing Ricky and injuring Ray. Ricky had been working for Jack Knight, another ex-cop who now runs a PI agency, to locate Angela, the missing 16-year-old daughter of a public-relations mogul. To find out who targeted Ricky, Ray agrees to assist on the case, despite his long, acrimonious history with Jack. Ray’s girlfriend, newspaper reporter Allison Rogers, and his uncle, NYPD chief of detectives Raymond Donne, lend support. O’Mara captures the world of New York politics and convincingly takes Ray into the mind-set of young veterans newly returned from war. Energetic storytelling and credible characters are a plus. Agents: Erin Niumata and Maura Teitelbaum, Folio Literary Management. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Tim O'Mara's Dead Red is pitch perfect, and Raymond Donne is a beautifully flawed Brooklyn hero.” —Reed Farrel Coleman, author of Robert B. Parker’sBlind Spot

“Intriguing debut... Strong characters enhance the sturdy plot... O'Mara's Sacrifice Fly deserves an A-plus.” —Oline H. Cogdill, Sun-Sentinel, on Sacrifice Fly

“Resounding debut.” —Library Journal on Sacrifice Fly

“The well-drawn characters are what really bring this compelling debut to life... Donne is the type of character who keeps readers coming back for more, much in the manner of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch or James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux. Here's hoping we see much more of him in the future.” —Booklist on Sacrifice Fly

“Hopefully Mr. O'Mara has more adventures in mind for this character who quotes Whitman as readily as he does the penal code. And, he's a big-time baseball fan. What's not to like?” —Daily Herald on Sacrifice Fly

From the Publisher

2014-12-07
What did you do over your summer vacation? Brooklyn schoolteacher Raymond Donne uses the last two weeks of his to get in way over his head when a shooting much too close to home pulls him into a case of smuggling and murder. One moment Ricky Torres is sitting in his cab talking to Ray; the next, he's been blown away by a shooter who almost gets Ray as well. What had Ray's former friend and colleague from the NYPD wanted to talk about at 2 a.m., and who didn't want him to finish the conversation? No sooner has Ray, defying his uncle and namesake, NYPD Chief of Detectives Raymond Donne, started to ask questions about Ricky T than he's getting answers that make him uneasy. Though he'd announced himself unready to return to the force, the Iraq vet was evidently done marking time by driving a cab for his cousin Fred's company; he'd put in quietly for reinstatement. And he'd applied for a Veterans Affairs loan on a $900,000 apartment, pledging to make a 20 percent down payment Ray can't imagine how he could've come up with. It's not just his uncle's pressure or the approaching school year that keeps Ray from making further inquiries. Jack Knight, another old NYPD colleague who's turned private eye, asks him to question a witness to a routine traffic accident, and before he knows it, Ray is summoned to a private audience with PR mogul Charles Golden, who's hired Jack to trace his missing 16-year-old daughter, Angela. Everyone concerned struggles manfully to pretend the two cases have nothing to do with each other, but most readers will know better. Ray's third case (Crooked Numbers, 2013, etc.) presents another tangled mystery and another forgettable killer. But the acrid, knowing Brooklyn atmosphere is strong enough to bottle.

Kirkus Reviews