Blood Over Badge

Wayne Farquhar is a 28-year veteran of the San Jose Police department and it shows in his writing. The reader is given the shotgun seat in the complicated murder of the San Francisco Mayor’s daughter. Complicated because there isn’t a lot to go on and the lead detective, Jack, is breaking in a rookie partner.

Jack has heard good things about his new partner, Casey, but his seeming unwillingness to share personal details about his life doesn’t sit well with his wife when they meet. No matter, Casey shows that he has good instincts and pulls his own weight on the case. The reader gets the feeling that he is indeed hiding something, but it feels like nothing more than a rookie playing all of the angles and trying to make himself come out on top.

The thing that Jack can’t figure out is how in the hell a convict in Angola State Penitentiary, half a world away, knows details about the case that haven’t been released to the public. Was their perp inside with this guy at one time or what? Connecting the dots leads them to a stolen SUV in Texas and the murder of a Nevada State Trooper before they get much further along. It is a wild ride for the killer and something less than a joy ride for the detectives.

I read a lot of self-published and debut authors and I have to say that Farquhar’s writing is the tightest I have ever read. There isn’t a word or sentence of dialogue that is misplaced or over-indulgent. Like I said, he gives you the shotgun seat into the case and while we may know a bit more about Casey than his partner Jack does, the finish is an eerie kaboom that has your heart racing and wondering just when the next book is coming out. We can only hope that this is his first book of many.