Carson Reno, Mystery Series Books, are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any particular order.
When a Tennessee Highway Patrolman is mysteriously murdered, the clues are non-existent. Police have the name of a possible suspect, but he’s nowhere to be found. Carson gets involved at the request of the local sheriff, but when the best lead disappears; his assistance is no longer needed.
Things are not what they seem, and it appears the bad guys are winning this war of wits. Everyone has more questions than answers, and just when it seems the mystery has been solved, Carson discovers that it has only gotten worse.
Follow Carson in this strange circle of money, lies, murder and bad guys who have everyone chasing them and their ‘Deadly Decision.’
Hannah
Another great Carson Reno mystery
I haven’t read all of the Carson Reno books, however, I did read the last book in the series and really enjoyed it. I was really glad to have been given a chance to read the next book in the series and this one didn’t disappoint either.
What I enjoy about these books is that despite them being set in the 1960s, they don’t read like that. Darnell gives his books and writing a fresh feel to them and read just as highly as any top-notch crime/thriller book written in our current time. The books are always fast-paced and have plenty of going on to keep you hooked throughout. I would definitely recommend this series to anybody who likes a good crime read. I am definitely looking forward to reading the next one!
I realise this is a quick review but what can you say when there’s nothing negative and a complete five star rating! This was a fantastic read and something I will keep recommending.
All Carson Reno books are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any order.
Carson has been hired to locate a client’s missing brother, and it quickly gets complicated.
Somehow the missing brother is linked to a gangster who has stolen thousands from the mafia, but that link isn’t clear. Carson’s search doesn’t turn up the brother, but it does turn up a body – the body of a gangster who was on a mission of murder.
It seems that the Memphis Mafia and the Memphis Police are also searching for his client’s brother. Finding him first becomes a real priority.
The pursuit takes him to New Orleans, where a whole new mystery unfolds, which puts Carson in some very serious danger.
Then, if possible, things get worse.
More bodies appear while the Mafia chases their money, and it seems people are not who they claim to be.
This old fashion crime story takes Carson Reno and his crew on a complicated adventure, where it seems the solution may be worse than the problem.
Join our Cast of Characters and come along to help Carson find the clues, search for the truth and try to solve the Disappearance of Robin Murat
All Carson Reno Mystery Series Books are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any particular order.
It’s spring 1962 and a Sergeant with the Memphis Police Department is found dead only hours before his scheduled testimony before a grand jury.
Was it suicide or was it murder? What was he going to testify about?
A handwritten note left by the Sergeant and addressed to the District Attorney disappears. What was in the note? Was it a suicide note with information regarding his pending testimony or something else?
A woman claiming to have information related to his planned testimony comes forward and seeks protection.
Carson is hired to look into the matter and provide protection to the mysterious woman, but protection from whom?
The situation gets out of hand quickly, and Carson finds himself in trouble with most everybody involved. A dark cloud hangs over the truth, as he tries to determine the ‘good-guys’ from the ‘bad guys’ from the ‘bad good – guys’.
This old fashion crime story takes Carson Reno and his crew on a complicated adventure, where it seems that no one is looking for a solution.
Join our Cast of Characters and come along to help Carson find the clues and discover the truth, while he tries to understand why everyone has a serious:
Lack of Candor
Virginia Gray
Carson Reno never fails to please!
Whenever I want a good PI mystery read, I grab a Carson Reno novel. They’re always filled with humorous dialogue, plenty of plot twists, great characters, and fast-paced action. Lack of Candor, set in the 1960s, was no exception. This book was satisfying to the last page! Enjoy!
All Carson Reno books are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any order.
Carson has been hired to locate a client’s missing brother, and it quickly gets complicated.
Somehow the missing brother is linked to a gangster who has stolen thousands from the mafia, but that link isn’t clear. Carson’s search doesn’t turn up the brother, but it does turn up a body – the body of a gangster who was on a mission of murder.
It seems that the Memphis Mafia and the Memphis Police are also searching for his client’s brother. Finding him first becomes a real priority.
The pursuit takes him to New Orleans, where a whole new mystery unfolds, which puts Carson in some very serious danger.
Then, if possible, things get worse.
More bodies appear while the Mafia chases their money, and it seems people are not who they claim to be.
This old fashion crime story takes Carson Reno and his crew on a complicated adventure, where it seems the solution may be worse than the problem.
Join our Cast of Characters and come along to help Carson find the clues, search for the truth and try to solve the Disappearance of Robin Murat
All Carson Reno, Mystery Series Books, are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any particular order.
What happens when a rich client, three beautiful women, a shifty businessman, a gambler and a missing spouse are all suspected of murder? The results are a merry-go-round of shadows and lies in a house of cards with clues almost as old as Carson.
Greed, blackmail, infidelity, murder, serial killers and a twenty-year-old crime spin a tale that is practically unbelievable – with the truth masked behind a story that nobody wants told.
This old fashion ‘whodunit’ takes Carson Reno and his crew on a complicated adventure, which has too many victims and too many suspects.
Come along and help Carson find the clues and discover the truth as he tries to make sense of all the Shadows and Lies
Eva Pasco
Book a Room at the Peabody Hotel
Having read my first Carson Reno novel, ‘Dead End,’ the 13th in this hard-boiled, detective Mystery series, I eagerly selected another—‘Shadows and Lies,’ the 16th standalone book. Drawn to the hallmark ring tones of the Sixties, and the aura of actual places cited by the author, I willingly booked a room at the Peabody Hotel for my reading sojourn.
The prominent Dumont family, proprietors of the prestigious Dumont Hotel chain under the auspices of Matthew Dumont, provide a strong case for Carson Reno to take on via his Drake Detective Agency at the Peabody. For starters, Matthew’s son Brigham’s third wife is missing. The first one died under mysterious circumstances. You’ll find out if the second was murdered by a serial killer or not.
Besides the whodunit, like Reno, you’ll want to know what else is going on—and why!
If all of the tantalizing tidbits of this novel aren’t enough for you—serial killers, a twenty-year-old armed robbery, murders left and right, greed, infidelity, lies, Mob influence, bogus security reports, and false identities—there’s all the other hallmark ring tones of the Sixties you become privy to:
Constantly lighting up. Gumshoes wearing suits. Conducting biz inside a lounge or bar knocking back a few beers or Jack Daniels and coke. And, dig these character names: Cheese, Spider Webb, Tucker Baggett, Rags Tobin, and John Dho.
I highly recommend “tunneling” through ‘Shadows and Lies’! However, if Lydia Longstreet can’t get a straight answer from Carson Reno, I doubt any reader will either, as to why Marion Dumont’s pair of pantyhose was under his bed.
All Carson Reno books are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any order.
Carson has been hired to locate a client’s missing brother, and it quickly gets complicated.
Somehow the missing brother is linked to a gangster who has stolen thousands from the mafia, but that link isn’t clear. Carson’s search doesn’t turn up the brother, but it does turn up a body – the body of a gangster who was on a mission of murder.
It seems that the Memphis Mafia and the Memphis Police are also searching for his client’s brother. Finding him first becomes a real priority.
The pursuit takes him to New Orleans, where a whole new mystery unfolds, which puts Carson in some very serious danger.
Then, if possible, things get worse.
More bodies appear while the Mafia chases their money, and it seems people are not who they claim to be.
This old fashion crime story takes Carson Reno and his crew on a complicated adventure, where it seems the solution may be worse than the problem.
Join our Cast of Characters and come along to help Carson find the clues, search for the truth and try to solve the Disappearance of Robin Murat
All Carson Reno Mystery Series Books are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any particular order.
Carson’s feud with a local crime reporter continues, and then suddenly the husband of his client is brutally murdered – a husband he’s been hired to investigate. Mysterious characters weave a web of blackmail and suspense while leaving Carson with more clients than he can handle.
The Memphis police have warned Carson to back off, but an employee of a friend is missing from a murder scene and he’s determined to find her and the killer.
Follow Carson to New Orleans, Humboldt, Memphis and Florida where he chases numerous suspects trying to track down a missing person and the killer he’s been hired to find.
Enjoy this unusual adventure for Carson Reno, as he struggles to solve the case of
‘Murder and More’.
Angela Kay
A Carson Reno Mystery
Murder and More is a quite intriguing story. The author does well to take the readers back in history. The scenery was very well described, the characters three-dimensional and interesting. The story pops out from the pages and you’re really just watching a movie–that’s how engrossing it was…for me, anyway.
This is the fourteenth installment of the Carson Reno series but is a stand-alone. We get the sense of who Carson is without knowing anything about this novel’s predecessors.
Carson is a very likable man, but I had trouble discerning how old he was. Sometimes he seemed to be in his mid-thirties, while other times he appeared to be much older. Either way, he gets his job done well.
Throughout the novel were various photos that help remind us that it’s set back in time. While I enjoyed the old-time landscaping and sign photos at times, some of the photos were beginning to become a bit of a nuisance, making it more of a picture book.
I did rather enjoy reading Murder and More. It was a quick, easy read, kept me guessing, and I became so engrossed in the storytelling that I managed to finish in one day. I highly recommend the story, whether you’ve followed along with Carson Reno in the past or not.
All Carson Reno Mystery Series Books are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any particular order.
It’s spring 1962 and a Sergeant with the Memphis Police Department is found dead only hours before his scheduled testimony before a grand jury.
Was it suicide or was it murder? What was he going to testify about?
A handwritten note left by the Sergeant and addressed to the District Attorney disappears. What was in the note? Was it a suicide note with information regarding his pending testimony or something else?
A woman claiming to have information related to his planned testimony comes forward and seeks protection.
Carson is hired to look into the matter and provide protection to the mysterious woman, but protection from whom?
The situation gets out of hand quickly, and Carson finds himself in trouble with most everybody involved. A dark cloud hangs over the truth, as he tries to determine the ‘good-guys’ from the ‘bad guys’ from the ‘bad good – guys’.
This old fashion crime story takes Carson Reno and his crew on a complicated adventure, where it seems that no one is looking for a solution.
Join our Cast of Characters and come along to help Carson find the clues and discover the truth, while he tries to understand why everyone has a serious:
Lack of Candor
Michelle Henderson
The best mysteries take place in the 60s!
“Life is Cheap-make sure you buy enough.” Carson Reno
Lack of Candor is the 18th story in the Carson Reno series written by Gerald W. Darnell. The main character, Carson Reno, is a private detective with an office located in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. Carson is a tough, hard-drinking and womanizing private detective, but he also shows a sense of humor in difficult situations Carson Reno finds himself protecting a young lady who has information about the death of a Sergeant with the Memphis Police Department. The Sergeant was found dead hours before he was going to give his testimony before a grand jury. Using his connections, he is able to decipher the clues to find the truth behind the events leading up to the death of this Sergeant. The reader will enjoy not only the mystery behind this death but also the pictures that are found on several pages of the book. The author does a tremendous job using visuals that depict the lifestyles of the 60s and readers will be able to “witness” the events that take place in the story as if they were truly present. Was the death of this Sergeant a murder or a suicide?
All Carson Reno Mystery Series Books are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any particular order.
Carson’s feud with a local crime reporter continues, and then suddenly the husband of his client is brutally murdered – a husband he’s been hired to investigate. Mysterious characters weave a web of blackmail and suspense while leaving Carson with more clients than he can handle.
The Memphis police have warned Carson to back off, but an employee of a friend is missing from a murder scene and he’s determined to find her and the killer.
Follow Carson to New Orleans, Humboldt, Memphis and Florida where he chases numerous suspects trying to track down a missing person and the killer he’s been hired to find.
Enjoy this unusual adventure for Carson Reno, as he struggles to solve the case of
‘Murder and More’.
Mr. Richard Lw Bunning
Darnell Keeps the 60s Breathing With a Little Help from Private Detective Carson Reno
A detective mystery set in the 1960s with an authentic feel of the 1960s. The book could so easily have been written then rather than in 2015. The read is nicely scattered with illustrative pictures from the period, which I can see adding a lot to the reading experience of those born later. I felt that I could be reading a period Mickey Spillane novel; the script felt that authentic. I’d even say that there are more than a few similarities between Mike Hammer and Carson Reno— well at least as how I remember the character. Then again, possibly Reno is a more James Garner in the Rockford Files TV series. Okay, that was very 1970s scripted, but the Rockford character could have been slotted seamlessly into any ’50s/60s detective series. So then, for me, Carson Reno is possibly best described as a blend of Mike Hammer and Jim Rockford.
The writing has a sharp journalistic economy, never burying us in irrelevances and keeping a brisk pace. Some of the bit players are easy to confuse, but that problem is relieved by the index of characters. This is the first Darnell book I’ve read. Love it. I can see this series of books on every paperback turntable in front of every ’60s newspaper store. The mass market paperback days are, generally speaking, history, but that shouldn’t limit the availability and popularity of Darnell’s Carson Reno. This book is an object lesson in how to get that old paperback buzz into the e-market. For those still addicted to traditional paper, the lovers of the smell and feel of ‘pulp’, for those that still have or are discovering vinyl records and classic cars, the hands-on version looks just as 60s slick. The period will always be culturally cool and so will Carson, with bourbon and coke and an after-dinner cigar.
This is a mystery detective novel, not a voyeuristic trip through violence and death, as so many modern genre books are. A read that may seriously damage your place in time.
All Carson Reno, Mystery Series Books, are standalone novels. It is not necessary to read them in any particular order.
The witness protection program had simply not worked as promised. He and his wife had been relocated to a one-horse hick town in West Tennessee, with a promise to start life over – on the right side of the law, this time.
His factory job lasted less than a year. A strike and major labor dispute had cost him his job – and his running around with other women had cost him his wife. He never intended for any of this to happen, but it seemed he was meeting failure at every turn. He had made that difficult move from the underworld to the real world with all good intentions of making it stick – it wasn’t working. Things were dragging him back, and he was finding it too easy to drift into the dark side of life once again.
He knew that if he crossed back over, all chances and opportunity for a life in the real world were over – his one chance gone forever. While he resisted, it just didn’t seem to matter – circumstances were taking him back – he couldn’t stop himself.
He started by renewing some old contacts, asking the right questions and finally by offering his services for hire. It didn’t take long for things to happen, and contract offers coming his way.
They started with a call from Anthony ‘Tony’ Scarsetti. He had worked for Tony in the past, and he believed they held a mutual respect for each other – him for his skills and Tony for his leadership. Tony was a rival of Steve Carrollton, and their competition for the vices in Memphis and on Beale Street was well known. Evidently, Carrollton had been temporarily sidelined – but his operations continued. Tony was looking for some professional help to make his temporary situation a permanent one.
Once again in his life, things were looking up, and he was feeling good about himself – being useful. His skills were needed, and he would again be a contributor. His little house on Mullins Avenue, in this hick town of Humboldt, would also be useful. Quiet, out of the main activity in Memphis, and allowing him to operate under the radar. Besides, the government had bought it, why not put it to good use?
He would start by sharpening the skills that had once made him successful. After all, failure was not an option in this business – only death. Hours in the local forests and woods would give him the privacy required – he had the perfect set-up and the perfect location. Nobody local to challenge him, and besides, if someone did – he was still the best at what he did. Everybody knew that.
Well written and fun to read.
JonJTN
As a native of the real town that is the setting for most of the Carson Reno adventures, I probably get more involved than the casual reader of mysteries. But, aside from being able to actually remember the locations in the book, the stories are logically devised and well written. Carson, as chronicled by Gerald, is fun to follow.
Viv Drewa 