Joey Madia, New Mystics Reviews

  “The Benefits of Writing (and Reading) a Series”: A Review of Double Takedown , by Kevin G. Chapman (A Mike Stoneman Thriller, First Legacy Publishing, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-958339-21-3 In April 2022, I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the first book in what is now a six-book series. Righteous Assassin , which introduced Manhattan detective Mike Stoneman, is a hard-hitting police procedural that employs all of the tropes one would expect in this popular genre. Stoneman himself is a trope—single, impatient, difficult to please, untrusting, and intensely hard on himself. His job is his life, and he takes it seriously (just consider his name: Stone man). Stoneman’s introduction is compounded by his being assigned a new partner, Jason Dickson—a fast-rising Black man, which leads to accusations of affirmative action over merit. Despite their lack of trust in each other (which creates a nice underlying tension in Righteous Assassin ), they manage to work well enough together to cap

  (MG Cobb Books LLC, 2022). ISBN: 978-0-578-33988-7 Every so often, a novel comes along that is so well researched, so well written, with such compelling characters and attention to detail that it deserves more than five stars. Dead Beckoning by Mike Cobb is one of those novels. This exquisite work of historical fiction, set in 1895 in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Cotton States and International Exhibition, easily holds its place on the bookshelf next to Caleb Carr’s Alienist books. Yes. It is that good . As my readers know, I am also a writer of historical fiction, as well as a historical education teaching-artist, performer/Chautauquan, and history-based immersive experience/Escape Room designer. Through those experiences, I have come to understand not only the countless hours of work that go into research for a novel with this level of authenticity and detail, but the challenges that come with integrating the gathered data into the story without resorting to “info dumps.