Inspired by a shocking true story, Come What May, the debut book in the new Ben Malone detective mystery series, is a high-stakes thrill ride through the gritty underbelly of the City of Angels.
Hollywood Division detective Ben Malone is caught up in a run of bad luck. The worst of it, his unfortunate entanglement in three separate fatal on-duty shootings in less than a year at a time when activists are protesting the use of deadly force by police and provoking riots all over the country.
The spate of shootings has his LAPD superiors questioning his judgment. Is he too quick to use deadly force?
Relieved from street duty, Malone is sequestered in Robbery-Homicide Division's Cold Case Homicide Section to keep him under wraps while he undergoes department-mandated psychiatric evaluation. His work-related problems compounded by a vindictive ex-wife who seems intent on bleeding him dry financially sends Malone into a spiral of depression that soon has him drinking too much in the attempt to cope.
Initially resentful over his reassignment to the cold case section, Malone's attitude starts to change when his new partner, Jaime Reyes, introduces him to the files of a cold as ice, 23-year-old unsolved murder case. The more he reads, the more certain he becomes that the theory pursued by the initial investigators, a murder resulting from a burglary gone sideways, was completely wrong.
While the decades-old murder doesn't fit the unit's criteria for reopening a cold case for active investigation, the more Malone studies the case, the more obsessed he becomes with trying to solve it. He and Reyes soon embark on an "off-the-books" investigation that predictably creates more problems. Especially for Malone. It quickly becomes clear that there are powerful forces at work both inside and outside the LAPD determined to keep the truth behind the murder buried with the victim's corpse.
The more resistance he encounters, the more unwavering Malone becomes in his unwillingness to let sleeping dogs lie, even when things start to get increasingly personal. His insistence on digging up bones from the past begins to threaten his very career with the LAPD. Even after the investigation sends him hurtling into more trouble than he ever dreamed possible, Malone is unrelenting in his determination to solve the mystery by uncovering the truth behind the brutal 23-year-old unsolved murder, come what may.
Come What May was published in paperback and digital formats in November 2016 and hardcover in January 2017. It will soon be available in the English language as an audiobook. Thus far, including all formats, the book has sold more than 1,200 copies. As the first book in a new genre for the author and the debut novel in a new long-term crime fiction series, sales have met expectations. The book is actively promoted via social media and with regularly scheduled paid promotions. Book sales respond very positively to marketing efforts. The book has received eight reviews, all positive, with an Amazon customer review average of 4.8. Come What May performs best in Amazon's Literature & Fiction > Action & Adventure > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Crime category where it was at 1,608 in the category on March 18, 2017. Ranking fluctuates based on promotional activity, and it has been ranked as high as 307 in the above category during March 2017. It is expected that the book will perform even better once more titles are published in the series.
Sample available at the Amazon book page https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBAQK17
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Eva Melisa Mastroianni
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Portuguese
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Translation in progress.
Translated by André Weber
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Maria Ochoa
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