Injoy's Blogs + Book Reviews

Played to Death, A Scott Drayco Mystery by BV Lawson is an intriguing, page-turning book. It's a Shamus Award Finalist and Named Best Mystery in the 2015 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. I gave it five stars. Drayco was driving his vintage Oldsmobile Starfire near Chesapeake Bay. The scenery was not to his liking. He arrived at the Opera House he had inherited. He wanted to have a quick turnover sale. He's a crime consultant and considering retirement. He finds a dead body on stage and becomes a suspect in the murder. He has chromesthesia, "a type of sunesthesia where people hear sounds as colors, shapes, and textures." "He was accustomed to death, to corpses, to depravity. Drayco and his colleagues lived those nightmares by day, so others didn't have to dream them at night." The wife of the man whose body Drayco found is described like this: "There was something noble about Nanette. A dignity formed through years of wondering where her husband was, or with whom, and learning to hold her head up regardless. An innate strength, a will to persevere, no matter how brambled the journey." The Sheriff mentioned a victim had no enemies. "Drayco had yet to meet a person without enemies. Maybe not the murderous kind, but the type to take one word or one oversight, no matter how small and sharpen it into a blade of ill will." Drayco was talking to Yeagle about a case. "'I’m not here on a witch hunt, Earl. I only want the truth.' Yeagle snorted. 'Whose truth? Tends to vary, depending upon your point of view, doesn't it? Truth is worse than a moving target because it changes shapes.' Yeagle pointed toward the door. 'I think you should leave now.'" Drayco was talking to Deputy Nelia Tyler whose husband has multiple sclerosis. "Being a primary caregiver was a soul-sucking task. The physical and emotional demands chipped away at your sanity as slowly as melting ice on a glacier." Darcie Spier is interacting with Drayco and says: "'Why, I think you're jealous. That's why you're asking me these questions.' "'I call jealousy the dandelion emotion. Innocent looking, until it morphs from sunny yellow to a gossamer skeleton. And impossible to stop from destroying your yard once it spreads.'" I thought that was an excellent description of jealousy. I received a complimentary copy from the author and Barnes & Noble. That did not change my opinion for this review. Link to purchase: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LPUX7OA