Book ~ "Blackout" (2018) Alex Segura

From Goodreads ~ Startling new evidence in a cold case that's haunted Pete drags the exiled PI back to his hometown of Miami. But as Pete and his partner, Kathy Bentley, delve deeper into the unsolved murder, they become entangled in Miami’s obsession with a charismatic and dangerous cult leader and his even more menacing followers. 

At the same time, the detectives find themselves at odds with a Florida politician’s fixation on wealth, fame and power. It all converges in the heart of the Magic City and Pete is left scrambling to pick up the pieces - or die trying. 

Pete was a former newspaper reporter and PI in Miami and now a PI in New York ... because of his last PI case in Miami, he was safer hiding out in New York. His friend, Jackie, was an attorney in Miami and asked him to work on a case that had ties to Miami. One of her clients, Trevor McRyan, was running for governor in Florida. Stephen, his son, had led a less than stellar life and had disappeared and his parents want him found and contained. There's another reason Jackie wants Pete back in Miami. Stephen may have something to do with the death of Patty, Jackie's niece and fellow high school student of Pete's, who he'd had a crush on. Patty's disappearance and murder about 20 years ago had never been solved so it was personal for Pete. So Pete headed back to Miami and he and Kathy, his former partner, investigated and caught up with a religious cult.

This is the fourth in the Pete Fernandez series (I read the first ones in the series recently) and, though it was very convoluted, I thought it was okay ... one more to go! It works as a stand alone but I'd recommend you read the others first to get the background. It is written in third person perspective with the focus on Pete. The timeline jumps back and forth and the chapters are labeled. I usually don't mind when a story does this but I found it confusing in this one. As a head's up, as usual, there is a lot of swearing and violence.

Book ~ "Dangerous Ends Dangerous Ends" (2017) Alex Segura

From Goodreads ~ Pete Fernandez has settled into an easy if somewhat boring life as a PI. He takes pictures of cheating husbands. He tracks criminals who've skipped bail and he attends weekly AA meetings The days of chasing murderous killers are behind him. Or are they?

When his sometimes partner, Kathy Bentley, approaches him with a potential new client, Pete balks. Not because he doesn't need the money but because the case involves Gaspar Varela, a former Miami police officer serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife - one of the most infamous crimes in Miami history. The client? None other than Varela's daughter, Maya, who's doggedly supported her father's claims of innocence.

As Pete and Kathy wade into a case that no one wants, they also find themselves in the crosshairs of Los Enfermos, a bloodthirsty gang of pro-Castro killers and drug dealers looking to wipe Pete off the Miami map. As if trying to exonerate Varela wasn't enough, they find themselves entangled in something even older and more surprising - a bloody, political hit ordered by Fidel Castro himself, that left a still-healing scar on Pete - and his dead father's - past.

Pete is a former newspaper reporter and editor in Miami. He eventually got fired and is now working as a PI following cheating husbands. Kathy, his friend and former newspaper colleague, is now working freelance and writing books. She gets approached to investigate the death of Carmen, a wife and mother who was murdered ten years ago. Gaspar, her husband and an ex-cop, is in prison for killing her. He's always maintained his innocence as has Maya, his daughter. Maya hires Kathy (and Pete) to find out who really killed her mother and assures that Kathy will be able to write a book about it, regardess of the outcome. This gets them tangled up with Los Enfermos, a pro-Castro gang in Miami, who want to put a stop to them.

This is the third in the Pete Fernandez series (I read the first ones in the series in the last couple of weeks) and I liked it ... two more to go! It works as a stand alone but I'd recommend you read the others first to get the background. It is written in third person perspective with the focus on Pete. It jumped back and forth in time, starting in the late 1950s in Cuba with Pete's grandfather in Cuba (the chapters are labeled). There is a lot of violence ... Pete doesn't get beat up as much as he has in the past, though. As a head's up, there is a lot of swearing.

Book ~ "Shallow Grave" (2017) Alex Segura and Dave White

From Goodreads ~ Five years ago, Gilbert "GG" Garcia - bassist for beloved New Brunswick, NJ, indie band Magna Carta - went off the grid. At the request of GG's sister, P.I. Jackson Donne made some inquiries but hit a wall. Aside from allegations of mob involvement and illegal betting, the leads had dried up and GG was in the wind. Soon enough, the case went cold and Donne moved on. 

Five years later, Miami P.I. Pete Fernandez gets a frantic call from an old friend - a police detective stationed in his old stomping grounds of New Jersey - asking for a favor he can't discuss over the phone. Bruised and battered from a near-fatal run-in with a lethal serial killer, Pete welcomes the brief change of scenery. Or escape.

Pete discovers the GG case has frozen solid, with only one flicker of hope for solving it: talking to the first detective who tried to find the local-boy-gone-missing. But there's one problem: Jackson Donne is in prison for murder. Pulled into an uneasy alliance with the older jaded detective, Pete must pick up the pieces of Donne's work to learn the missing bassist's final fate, while also avoiding an unexpected mob turf war and locals who prefer the past stay buried.

Five years ago, New Jersey P.I. Jackson was investigating the disappearance of Gilbert "GG" Garcia, the bassist for a local indie band, and got nowhere. Five years later, GG's sister has never given up hope of finding her brother. She works with a police officer's wife and the police officer asks his friend and Miami P.I., Pete to reopen the case. Jackson is now in prison so Pete is basically on his own putting together the pieces of the cold case.

This is a novella involving Pete of the Pete Fernandez Mystery series by Alex Segura and Jackson of the Jackson Donne series by Dave White. I've read the first two in the Pete Fernandez series recently so knew Pete's backstory but wasn't familiar with Jackson's. It don't know if it was the combination of two writers' styles or the story itself but I found it a bit confusing and not very interesting. Maybe it would have helped if I'd read the Jackson Donne series books to catch up (I'm interested enough to check the first one in the series out). As a head's up, there is violence and swearing.

Book ~ "Down the Darkest Street" (2016) Alex Segura

From Goodreads ~ Pete Fernandez should be dead. His life - professional and personal - is in ruins. His best friend is dead. His newspaper career is past tense. His ex is staying with him as her own marriage crumbles. On top of that, the former journalist finds himself in the eye of a dangerous storm; investigating a missing girl with an unexpected partner and inching closer and closer to a vicious, calculating killer cutting a swath of blood across Miami - while at the same time battling his own personal demons that refuse to be silenced. 

Last year Pete wasn't happy working at a newspaper in Miami and ultimately got fired. With no job prospects, he tried working as a freelance private detective and is now working parttime in a friend's quiet bookstore. His personal life hasn’t been much better. Emily, the love of his life, left him a few years ago and married someone else. Now that marriage is falling apart and she’s moving in with Pete for a while, which is messing with his head and heart. Pete had been drinking heavily but a few months ago he realized he had to stop and started attending AA meetings.

When Alice, a former client from his brief PI days, goes missing, Pete can’t resist looking into it. Things get even more complicated when he discovers Emily’s marriage ended because her husband was having an affair with Alice. As more women begin to disappear, Pete teams up with Kathy, an ex-colleague from the newspaper, and the two of them find themselves getting pulled into the investigations. The FBI agents are giving them a hard time and telling them to stay out of it but, of course, they don't.

This is the second in the Pete Fernandez series (I read the first one in the series last week) and though I found the whodunnit a bit convoluted, I liked it. It works as a stand alone but I'd recommend you read the first one to get the background. It is written in third person perspective with the focus on Pete and the serial killer. There is a lot of violence ... it seems like Pete is getting beat up badly often but bounces back quickly. As a head's up, there is a lot of swearing.

Book ~ "Silent City" (2013) Alex Segura

From Goodreads ~ Pete Fernandez is a mess. He's on the brink of being fired from his middle-management newspaper job. His fiancée has up and left him. Now, after the sudden death of his father, he's back in his hometown of Miami, slowly drinking himself into oblivion. 

But when a co-worker he barely knows asks Pete to locate a missing daughter, Pete finds himself dragged into a tale of murder, drugs, double-crosses and memories bursting from the black heart of the Miami underworld - and, shockingly, his father's past. 

Making it up as he goes and stumbling as often as he succeeds, Pete's surreptitious quest becomes the wake-up call he's never wanted but has always needed - but one with deadly consequences. 

Welcome to Silent City, a story of redemption, broken friendships, lost loves and one man's efforts to make peace with a long-buried past to save the lives of the few friends he has left.

Pete's life had promise. He and his fiancée were in love and he enjoyed his job at a newspaper in New Jersey. When his father unexpectedly passes away, they head to Miami to settle his father's affairs. But things start to fall apart ... they stay longer than planned, he and Emily break up and she marries someone else, he's not happy with his new job at a local newspaper and he's drinking a lot. 

When Chaz, a colleague he barely knows, asks him for a favour, Pete figures it would be a quick distraction. His daughter, Kathy, is an investigative reporter for the paper and he doesn't have a great relationship with her. Chaz thinks she has disappeared and he asks Pete to find out if she's okay. As Pete starts to check things out, he realizes something is amiss with Kathy. Concerned he keeps digging because no one else seems to be concerned. For a story, Kathy had been investigating a serial killer named Silent Death and she may be his latest victim.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it. It is written in third person perspective with the focus on Pete. I liked Pete and felt kind of bad for him. His life was falling apart and it didn't seem like he really cared. He was still hung up on Emily and even though she had moved on, she still meets him and their good friend for drinks. On the plus side, he loves music and has a cat. As a head's up, there is violence and swearing. It's the first in the Pete Fernandez series and I look forward to reading the rest.