Thursday, September 6, 2012

Book Spotlight Part II : The Brett Cornell Mystery Series by David D. D'Aguanno

Dear readers, today's book spotlight is a popular detective series with humor and comedy thrown into this interesting mix concoted and created by author David D. D'Aguanno -- The Brett Cornell Mystery Series.

The 2 popular Brett Cornell Mysteries featured today - Read an excerpt from each book posted in this blog along with links to the author's website, purchase links to the bookstore and links to multiple star reviews that the Brett Cornell Series has received.

AUTHOR LINKS : Connect with author David D. D'Aguanno




Twitter handle: @DaveDAguanno




THE BRETT CORNELL MYSTERY SERIES- book features and excerpts



Ebook : IT'S ALL BRETT'S FAULT (Brett Cornell Mystery#7)

Genre : Mystery, comedy-mystery

ISBN (print format): 978-1477631218




CreateSpace paperback: https://www.createspace.com/3904102

Barnes and Noble :  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/its-all-bretts-fault-david-daguanno/1111971619


Blurb :  Marcus Wade was a man who wasn't easily intimidated -- that is, until he had reason to believe that someone was trying to kill him.

Upon talking the matter over with his wife Sybil, he decided to hire someone who would not only protect him, but who would also scare off any potential murderers. In other words, he needed a man who was tough, dangerous -- and more than a little unscrupulous.
 
Enter private detective Brett Cornell who jumps at the chance to push his weight around on the man's behalf, but is even MORE anxious to get it on with the lovely Sybil Wade as well as her younger and even more voluptuous sister Nora -- for starters! The fun and games come to an abrupt end, however, when someone really ends up dead, and everyone involved agrees: It's all Brett's fault!


Excerpt from It's all Brett's Fault (Brett Cornell Mystery#7)


 A little while later, when I was getting back inside after having stashed all that brew in the trunk of my car parked right outside, I thought the jig was up for sure when a fairly cute brunette, decked out in a little waitress outfit, suddenly materialized behind the counter and, looking around in some confusion, finally squinted her eyes in my direction as I approached.

     “Did you see where Al went?” she asked me, then her confused look turned into one of sheer pleasure, probably on account of she could see me more clearly when I stepped in closer to her, and the sight of my incredible mustache and my beautiful curly blond hair had obviously bedazzled her to the max.

     “What do you need Al for? I’m here right now, and Al ain’t,” and all I had to do just then was to continue to enchant her by giving her a brief sample of the devastating Brett Cornell smile, and then I topped it off by circling an arm about her waist and bringing her in closer to me.

     “I -- I wish I had time to get better acquainted with you,” she replied, summoning all the inner strength available to her in an effort to prevent herself from melting away completely. “But I am on duty right now. Maybe later?”

     Hearing that, I kept my smile going strong as I calmly reached over and extracted her little waitress’s pad from out of the back pocket of her skirt, along with the pen that was attached to it, and held it in front of her a moment before handing it over to her and telling her,

    “Name and number.”
    Then I slowly let go of her, but remained standing pretty close as I watched her write down the info I’d asked for. Then I shoved my hands in my pockets, looked around idly, and remarked,

     “As a matter of fact, honey -- I kinda wish Al was here right now. I loaned him fifty bucks last week, and he told me I’d get it back this afternoon. Now, the lousy bum’s nowhere to be found, and it’s my nephew’s birthday – the little tadpole’s just turned six -- and I really need that fifty to buy him a nice present, you know?” I was gonna add a few words to the effect that I needed to get him something that wouldn’t put too much of a strain on the poor, sickly little tadpole, seeing as he’d recently had an operation, and golly, he was just a helpless little tadpole, too, and he didn’t deserve all the unhappiness he’d had recently, which was quite a lot, considering he was just a little tadpole, right? And in so saying this, I think I’ve just exceeded the world’s record for the number of times the word “tadpole” has ever appeared in print in a single paragraph!

    But the truth of the matter is I didn’t actually say anything like that, but instead, I merely clamped my mouth shut and cast pleading eyes across the short space that separated my face from hers and sniffed a little, as if to hold back a few tears.

     Then the girl sighed and said,

     “I guess I’m just a sucker for sensitive guys like you. Listen, darling -- I’ll just take fifty dollars out of the register, and when Al gets back, I’ll just tell him I paid you, and he can just put the fifty bucks back in the register out of his own pocket.”

     “Gee,” I said to her in an awe-struck voice, and my smile got even wider than before. “You are not only beautiful, but you’ve got a real kind heart. I like that in a woman -- even more than good looks, you know?”

     “No problem at all, sweetie,” she said on her way back from the cash register, and she handed me two crisp twenty-dollar bills and a handsome ten-spot, accompanying the act with a cheery smile that I was rapidly falling in love with -- sort of. “Now -- just in case he asks, who should I say I gave the money to?”

     With a big smile, I folded the bills, dropped them into the front pocket of my shirt where I kept my smokes, and said,” Henry Lawton,” three seconds before I was out the door. 



Ebook : BEACH BUM BRETT (Brett Cornell Mystery#8)

Genre : Mystery, comedy-mystery

Facebook Page :  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Beach-Bum-Brett

ISBN (print format): 978-1478122500

Formats: Kindle, Nook, Paperback




Amazon : http://www.amazon.com/Beach-Brett-Cornell-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B008RLB1IO

CreateSpace paperback: https://www.createspace.com/3918340

Barnes and Noble :  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beach-bum-brett-david-daguanno/1112229469

Reviews : 5stars 

Blurb : Private detective Brett Cornell decides to go on vacation, and hits the sunny, golden shoreline of the Atlantic Ocean, where he quickly captures the 3 A's (the attention, admiration, & affections) of as many of the lovely young bikini-clad beauties as he could ever desire!

So, what could possibly go wrong?

Well -- as Brett himself would say -- as sure as rain is wet and water is...well...wet, Brett's self-appointed reign as King of the Beach is soon threatened when a few of the local tough guys decide to engage him in a bit of fisticuffs so that it doesn't take long before the unscrupulous bastard himself begins to catch a whiff of MURDER in the salty sea air.

Only, this time he himself may very well be the intended victim!



“On an individual basis,” I said to the company at large,” you guys are totally useless. Is that why you always got to fight in packs?”

     “We don’t fight,” somebody said. It was a new voice -- or, at least, a voice I hadn’t heard in a while -- and I then noticed that Norman character coming forward a few steps away from the railing. With his piercing pretty eyes blazing away at me, he proceeded to inform me that he himself was not in the habit of driving into strange towns and punching out innocent people the way I apparently was. “And just because some of those innocent people want to strike back,” he continued,” you seem to think you’re being ganged up on.”

     With a laugh that had the word “scorn” written all over it, I stepped in towards the sucker, hands on my hips, and said to him,
    “Don’t be such a two-faced clown. Be honest for once in your life, and admit you’re the one who put Craig and his pals up to that stunt on the beach the other day.”

     “What stunt on the beach?” he asked with a kind of self-righteous attitude, and just because he seemed to think he was above a common piece of peasant trash like me and -- mainly -- just because I felt like it, I reached out, took him by the throat, and shoved him back up against the railing, and without letting go of his throat while I did that, too.

     “Jeez!” Konrad cried out, and noticing out of the corner of my eye that Craig was about to start towards me, I shot back at him,

     “Just try it, and I’ll break his neck with my bare hands.”

     And then, aside from some sputtering from Norman, there was silence. Craig dropped his arms loosely by his sides and stepped back to stand next to the lifeguard buddy of his that I hadn’t knocked out -- yet. Even Konrad shut his stupid baby-mouth and stood quietly, a look of pained intensity on his face the whole time I kept my hand around Norman’s throat. Finally, a scruple I didn’t know I even had persuaded me to ease up, so I let go of the hold I had on his neck, and as soon as I released him, he went stumbling back against the railing again, choking and putting on an Academy Award-winning performance like he was Marlo Thomas in “A Streetcar Named Denial” – or was it that other old movie that took place on a Southern plantation in Minneapolis, and starred Clark Kent and Betty Grable?
      Anyways, watching him carry on like that, I had some difficulty in stifling the urge to simply step over to him and nail him a good solid punch on the jaw, just to shut him up. Pretty boys like him turned my stomach, if you know what I mean, especially the ones who put on airs like they were better than everybody else, as if their descendants had all come over to this country on the Titanic, or something -- and from where I was standing, this Norman character fit that description to a Tee. Turning to the others, I told them that, as far as I was concerned, the party was over and they could all go take a flying leap off the Himalayas, assuming they knew what they were and where to find them (which I didn’t, incidentally).


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