Spotlight: L.H. Thomson, author of Quinn Checks In

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I’m excited to be hosting L.H. Thomson, the author of Quinn Checks In, presented by Making Connection Book Tours. This was my first time reading one of Lowell’s books and, let me tell you, I was blown away. I’ll tell you about the book first, but keep reading for my review.

Author: L.H. Thomson
Title: Quinn Checks In
Series: Liam Quinn Mysteries

Genre: Hard-boiled mystery

Book link: Amazon ebook

Synopsis

Liam Quinn is back in his hometown Philly after three years in the pen for forgery. Now the ex-boxer, ex-art student has been given a chance to make amends by working as an insurance investigator, restoring a little of his family’s pride and getting another chance at Nora Garcia de Soria, the woman of his dreams.

But a gallery heist isn’t what it seems, and pretty soon, Quinn is running out of people to trust. The biggest mobster in town, a sweetheart named “Vin The Shin,” is calling him out; a steady string of lowlifes want his head, and the local police think he’s hiding something.

Hey, when trouble comes knocking?

That’s when Quinn Checks In.

Excerpt from Quinn Checks In

IN ART, THE ARC OF A CURVE can be a beautiful and important thing. In Art Deco, for example, the consistency of its curves gives each design a sense of cleanliness and function, of uniformity.

When I was an art forger, a perfect curve was one of my best friends.

So believe me when I say that the arc of the pool cue slicing through the air towards my head was a thing of beauty, a mighty cut that in that split second, with Boston’s classic rocker “Smoking” cranking on the jukebox in the corner, made me wonder why the giant biker swinging it had opted for a life of vice and violence, instead of baseball.

My name is Liam Quinn, and I’ve been a fighter most of my life. One of the blessings of two decades of boxing has been a sort of athletic sixth sense. Some pros call it being “in the zone”, that split second where your adrenalin peaks, your instincts take over, and everything just seems to slow…

Right.

Down.

I ducked, dropping between the two tree-trunk arms around my chest, and the pool cue continued its arc. If he’d swung with a tighter reach, instead of stepping into it so directly, he’d have come up short and gone over my head while still missing his enormous bald-and-goateed companion.

But then it wouldn’t have been perfect.

Instead, the cue smashed into his buddy’s temple with a hollow clack, like a brick dropped on hard cement.

Kristine’s Review of Quinn Checks In

The above excerpt is a perfect example of why I enjoyed this book so much. The duality in Quinn’s character drew me from the first couple of paragraphs, as did the quality of L.H. Thomson’s prose. The character development, the growth and resolution of the mystery, and the pacing of the book kept me enthralled from start to finish.

Quinn is an art forger turned insurance investigator. I loved this! He’s basically a good guy, an artistic type. But he is also adept at boxing and has spent time in prison. Not at all the usual type of protagonist we see in most mystery novels.

Another aspect of this book that I enjoyed a lot were the relationships in the book. Quinn’s father and one of his brothers are cops. Imagine being a cop and your son or brother is locked up? And not for a tough-guy crime like bank robbery either. No, it has to be art forgery. Quinn works at rebuilding these relationships, but it’s a hard road and one I hope will continue across the series.

The romance lover in me also got a kick out of Quinn’s relationship with his childhood “best-friend,” Nora. He’s had a thing for her since junior high school. But all she wants is to be just friends. Or at least that’s what Quinn seems to think. I kept hoping he’d open his eyes and see what I see. Looks like I’ll have to wait for the next book to see what happens with these two.

The only quibble I have with this entire book is that the final show-down seemed a bit rushed to me. I expected more of a build-up, so that I, as a reader, could follow Quinn’s logic as he developed it. On the other hand, it was a good surprise.

I give this book five stars for the intriguing storyline, the amazing writing, and the wonderful characters who stayed with me long after I reached “The End.”

About the Author

A 20-year veteran newspaper reporter and editor, L.H. Thomson has written seven novels. When he’s not writing strange newspaper and web columns about the impacts of neuroscience on sociology or the losing ways of his beloved Toronto FC, he lives in Edmonton, Canada with his wife Lori – a quality assurance manager for a major utility company who helped develop the Liam Quinn character – and their six adopted pets, who didn’t make the process any easier at all.

Links

Lowell’s blog
Lowell’s books on Amazon
Quinn Checks In on Amazon

Kristine: I’d like to thank Lowell and all you wonderful readers for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed the excerpt of Quinn Checks In and that you’ll check Quinn out 🙂

Happy Reading!
Kristine

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