Book ~ "Fixed in Fear" (2015) T.E. Woods

From Goodreads ~ Seattle Chief of Detectives Mort Grant cannot reconcile the memories of his vibrant, headstrong young daughter with the cold, deadly woman she has become. The head of one of the largest criminal enterprises in the world, Allie Grant seized power by wrenching it away from her lover, a notorious Russian gangster. How she maintains her control, Mort doesn’t even want to imagine.

Only two other people know the truth about Allie: the vigilante known as The Fixer, and Mort’s best friend, Larry, who’s undergoing a crisis of his own. Someone close to Larry, his last real connection to his beloved late wife, has been slain in a mass murder at a sweat lodge deep in the woods of Washington State. When word gets out, Mort immediately takes on the gruesome case.

But as Mort hunts down a pair of methodical killers, The Fixer does some deep digging of her own. And what she unearths will rock Mort’s family forever. Because The Fixer has set her sights on Allie Grant - and nothing will ever be the same again.

Mort is the chief of the homicide detectives in Seattle.  Five people are found murdered in a spiritual sweat lodge not far from Seattle ... one of them is Carleton, the uncle of the late wife of Mort's good friend, Larry.  Because of this, Mort offers to help the chief of police in the town find out what's going on.

In the meantime, Mort's estranged daughter, Allie, is back in town wanting to have a relationship with her dad, brother, sister-in-law and nieces.  But Allie was the mistress of a Russian gangster ... she had killed him and taken over his power.  Obviously Mort and his family don't want anything to do with her until she confesses her crimes and takes responsibility for them.  Well, that's not going to happen so Allie turns to Mort's friend, Lydia, for help to persuade Mort to change his mind.

This is the fifth book I've read by this author and the fifth in the Mort Grant series (I've read them all) ... I liked it.  Though it is part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone as there is enough information provided. It's written in third person perspective and I liked the writing style. As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.

Mort had a lot going on.  In one of the storylines, Mort is trying protect his family against his dangerous daughter.  In the other, he is supporting his friend, Larry, who as executor, has to go through Carleton's things, which brings back memories of his beloved late wife.  Lydia is trying to stay in the background, as usual, but Allie's actions make her consider some actions she doesn't want to do.  There was a lot of focus on Robbie's twins, Hayden and Hadley, and I found them a bit annoying.

I look forward to the next one!

Book ~ "Fixed in Blood" (2015) T.E. Woods

From Goodreads ~ Seattle Chief of Detectives Mort Grant is still reeling from losing his daughter - again. When Allie first walked back into his life, breaking years of silence, he could hardly believe his luck. And after hearing her story, Mort tried to do everything in his power to keep her safe. The only person he trusted with Allie’s life was The Fixer. But, for the first time, The Fixer let him down. 

Now Mort has been called in on a gruesome murder case: a beautiful young woman found in a ravine, her body riddled with stab wounds. Within twenty-four hours, the police uncover a snuff film depicting her murder, the killer’s face always just out of shot. When a second body and video are discovered, Mort knows this is no ordinary case. 

From a chain of sleazy payday loan shops to the dark underworld of the sex-slave trade, Mort’s chasing a twisted menace to hell and back. But he’s not the only one. Once again, The Fixer is on the hunt - and she’s desperate to make things right.

A young woman is found murdered and Chief of Detectives Mort Grant is on the case.  They then discover a snuff film showing her murder online.  Then it happens to another young woman.  The link between them is they owe money to the same payday loan shop so that's where Mort focuses.

Lydia has a busy caseload and when one of her patients goes missing, she and Mort discover that she too owes money to the same payday loan shop.  Working together, they try to solve the murder of the two women and find Lydia's patient before she becomes the third victim.

In the meantime, Mort is worried about his daughter, Allie, who has disappeared again and is rumoured to be living with a Russian drug lord in London.

This is the fourth book I've read by this author and the fourth in the Mort Grant series (I've read all four) ... I enjoyed it.  Though it is part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone as there is enough information provided. It's written in third person perspective and I liked the writing style. As a head's up, there is swearing, violence and adult activity.

Mort and Lydia are likeable.  Mort insists on running the investigation legally and according to the books whereas Lydia, as "The Fixer, a former assassin, would rather do things her way.

I look forward to reading more in the this series.

Book ~ "The Unforgivable Fix" (2014) T.E. Woods

From Goodreads ~ Detective Mort Grant of the Seattle PD has finally decided to sell. The home where he and his late wife raised two kids feels too large and too full of old memories. His son is married and raising a family of his own, and despite desperate efforts to find her, Mort has lost touch with his wayward daughter. That is, until the day she walks back into her childhood home and begs for his help.

For the last four years, Allie Grant has been the lover - and confidante, confessor, and counselor - of one of the world’s most powerful and deadly men. But a sudden, rash move has put Allie in the crosshairs of a ruthless Russian crime lord. Mort knows of only one place where Allie will be safe: with The Fixer.

As a hired desperado, The Fixer has killed twenty-three people - and Mort was complicit in her escape from the law. She has built an impregnable house, stocked it with state-of-the-art gear, armed it to the teeth, and locked herself away from the world. But even The Fixer may not be able to get justice for Allie when real evil comes knocking.

Allie took off years ago and has been living with Patrick, a drug kingpin. Patrick does something stupid and, scared of the retaliation against her, Allie returns home to seek protection from her father, Mort, who is a police detective.  Mort asks Lydia, a therapist, to let Allie stay with her.  Lydia was once "The Fixer" ... you could hire her to fix situations.  Against her better judgement and her dislike of Allie, Lydia lets her move into her home.

In the meantime, Lydia returns to her practice and starts taking on new clients.  She also agrees to taken on an intern named Zack to help him get the practice he needs.  Things get complicated when a cop starts investigating the treatment of some of their patients.

This is the third book I've read by this author and the third in the Mort Grant series (I've read all three) ... I liked it.  Though it is part of a series, it can be read as a stand alone as there is enough information provided.  It's written in third person perspective and had more of a focus on Lydia.  As a head's up, there is swearing.

I've like Mort in all three books.  He's a good cop and despite that fact Allie knew what she was doing by hooking up with Patrick, he still welcomed her back as if nothing had happened.  I didn't find Allie likeable at all ... she was extremely manipulative and definitely a survivor.  I found Lydia to be less cold in this book and liked her more than in the last one.

Book ~ "The Red Hot Fix: A Justice Novel" (2014) T.E. Woods

From Goodreads ~ A little more than a year after the Fixer killings, Detective Mort Grant of the Seattle P.D. once again has his hands full. In the last four months, seven men have been murdered in seedy pay-by-the-hour motels: first strangled, then tied with rope and set on a bed of crushed mothballs, with a red lipstick kiss planted on their foreheads. Speculation abounds that the killer is a prostitute who’s turning her tricks into dead men. The press has taken to calling her “Trixie.”

As Mort follows scant leads in the case, he can’t help but feel continued guilt over his involvement with the Fixer. Though the public holds her up as a folk hero, a vigilante who seeks justice when the system fails, Mort cannot shake the fact that serious crimes have been committed. And though legend says she has vanished, Mort knows exactly where the Fixer is - and he’s conspiring to keep her hidden. 

As Trixie strikes again, Mort suddenly finds himself and his family in the crosshairs. These new murders are not random and their perpetrator is hell-bent on luring Mort into a sick and twisted game. If he’s not careful, he’s going to need Fixing.

Someone has strangled another man in a seedy hotel ... the police suspect it's a hooker with a vendetta against men and have nicknamed her "Trixie".  Mort is the police chief in charge of the investigation but can't figure out who the killer his.  He enlists the help of Charlotte, the founder of CLIP (Children Lost in Prostitution).

Lydia is a psychologist who we met in The Fixer.  She is recovering from wounds suffered in that book and has withdrawn from her old life.  She meets a young girl named Maizie whose father won't let her attend school.  Lydia and Maizie become friends and Lydia discovers some horrible truths in Maizie's life.

Reinhart Vogel owns a professional basketball team which his wife, Ingrid, runs.  The team is in the playoffs and Reinhart will do anything to ensure his team wins.

The stories become interconnected when there is another murder.

This is the second book I've read by this author and the second in the Mort Grant series.  I'd read the first one, The Fixer, in January and liked it ... and I liked this one too.  I liked the writing style and found the story interesting.  Though this one works as a stand alone, the first one provides more of the details of what happened to Lydia and why she and Mort are tied together.  As a head's up, there is some swearing.

I liked Mort.  He's a good cop doing his job while trying to move on in his life after the sudden death of his beloved wife.  He has a good (though long distance) relationship with his son Robbie, who is a reporter and successful author.  He hasn't seen his daughter, Allie, in many years.  The last time he saw her, she was the girlfriend of a drug dealer (he finds out her current situation in this book).  I found Lydia cold and couldn't relate to her, though I applauded her when she developed the relationship with Maizie.  Mort's friends and colleagues are supportive and provide humour at times.

I look forward to the next in the Mort Grant series.

Book ~ "The Fixer" (2012) T.E. Woods

From Goodreads ~ An enigmatic vigilante known as The Fixer steps into the lives of the most depraved criminals and balances thwarted scales of justice. For those who employ her, she’s their last hope. For her targets, she’s an inescapable date with righteous payback.

And for The Fixer, each contract she accepts is a futile effort to silence her own demons. In her latest assignment, she violates every rule that has kept her safe. The Fixer is trapped into serving as personal assassin for an invisible employer who strips her of the safety she’s deluded herself existed. As she begins to mentally unravel, she knows her only hope for survival is to identify and destroy her controller.

When Mort Grant, Chief of Detectives for the Seattle PD, learns the death of a prominent university faculty member wasn’t the heart attack it was designed to look like, he uncovers the dark underbelly of animal research and academic politics. Where sex is as viable a currency as a million dollar grant and power is held with an iron grasp. His search for the killer puts him on the trail of The Fixer.

Mort encounters Lydia Corriger, a talented psychologist, with a beautiful and mysterious new patient who mystifies her and tests her considerable clinical skills. Together, Mort and Lydia work to untangle a complex weave of sadistic cruelty, sexual manipulation and limitless money that finds them fighting for their sanity and their lives.

The Fixer accepts jobs that right wrongs.  She is hired to kill Fred Bastian, a chair of neuroscience at the local university, because he inhumanely killed a gorilla in his lab.  It turns out she was watched and set up so she would have to do further killings for the person who had hired her for Bastian's murder.

Lydia Corriger is a psychologist.  Savannah Samuels becomes her patient and is cagey in offering information about why she is there and what she does for a living.  This frustrates Lydia who does what she can to gain Savannah's trust so she can help her.

Mort Grant is a cop who is investigating some deaths which he eventually suspects the Fixer is behind.  Working with Jim DeVilla, the chief of forensics, and Bruiser, Jim's dog, they get closer to finding out who the Fixer is and solving the murders.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the writing style.  I thought it was well-paced and flowed well.  There is a lot going on in the beginning with lots of characters but it eventually all comes together and makes sense.  As a head's up, the language is for mature readers.

I liked the characters.  All have had tragedy in their past that still affects them today.  I liked the interaction between Mort and his friends ... how he teases Jim about his crush on their much younger colleague and in the bar with his crossword puzzle solving buddy.  Mort also has a loving relationship with his son, Robbie, and Robbie's family.

This is apparently book one in the Mort Grant series and I look forward to reading others in the future.