Five Moves of Doom
- Publisher
- NeWest Press
- Initial publish date
- Sep 2022
- Category
- Private Investigators, Hard-Boiled, General
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781774390566
- Publish Date
- Sep 2022
- List Price
- $11.99
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Description
Hired by local mixed martial arts trainer Elijah Lennox to find a missing UFC Championship belt, pro-wrestler PI “Hammerhead” Jed must extract answers from the tight-knit MMA community. Still consuming his weight in banana milkshakes, Jed ventures into a world of jewel thieves, bodybuilders, eccentric yoga enthusiasts, and adorable baby goats. As he infiltrates an exclusive and unique no-holds-barred fight club, Jed might just find himself down for the count …
Five Moves of Doom is a high-altitude and high-attitude entry in A.J. Devlin’s award-winning mystery series, one that finds its hero pushed to his absolute limit, relying on his closest allies to survive, and making choices he never thought he’d have to make.
About the author
A.J. Devlin grew up in Greater Vancouver before moving to Southern California where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from Chapman University and a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from The American Film Institute. After working as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he moved back home to Port Moody, BC, where he now lives with his family.Cobra Clutch, the first book in the "Hammerhead" Jed professional wrestling mystery-comedy series, was released in spring 2018 and nominated for a Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery and won the 2019 Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel.The highly acclaimed sequel, Rolling Thunder, was released in spring 2020 and featured in the Vancouver Sun, The Province, The Globe and Mail, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal Reviews, Mystery Tribune Magazine, Punk Noir Magazine, CrimeFictionLover.com, and on CBC Radio's The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers. The third book in the series, Five Moves of Doom, was published in September 2022 by NeWest Press and featured on The House of Mystery Radio Show on NBC. It won the 2022 Crime Fiction Lover Editor's Choice Award for Best Indie Crime Novel, was selected by The Globe and Mail as one of the Best Books of 2022, nominated for the 2023 Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery, and shortlisted for the 2023 Crime Writers of Canada Howard Engel Award of Excellence for Best Novel Set in Canada.
Excerpt: Five Moves of Doom (by (author) A.J. Devlin)
PROLOGUE
You have a couple of options when you answer the door wearing nothing but a skin-tight pair of André the Giant boxer briefs before being arrested for murder.
ONE: You accept what’s happening and fully embrace your shame.
TWO: You man up and rock those undergarments with the same aplomb James Bond would while sipping vodka martinis (shaken, not stirred) at a no-limit baccarat table in the Casino de Monte-Carlo.
I attempted to pull off the latter and tried to puff out my hairy chest, which was suddenly itchy as hell. I also quickly realized my torso was long overdue for a trim.
“Burt Reynolds on a bearskin rug ain’t got nothing on you, Big Guy. And while I’m sure a bunch of tabloids will duke it out for the privilege of splashing this iconic pose all over the cover of a future issue, I’d hardly call that bulge the Eighth Wonder of the World.”
Vancouver Police Department Homicide Detective Constable Rya Shepard, flanked by two uniformed officers, tugged on the lapels of her tan pantsuit blazer before nodding toward my junk and rolling her eyes.
“Hello, Rya. You seem chipper.” I grabbed a T-shirt and pair of track pants on the banister beside me and slipped them on faster than it takes a piece of weakened two-by-four western red cedar to break in half over my forehead after winning a wrestling match.
“Detective Shepard?” asked one of the uniformed officers beside the woman I had long loved with feelings I had never shared.
Rya sighed audibly before looking downwards. “Cuff him.”
One of the cops strutted forward, yanked my wrists behind my back, and handcuffed me while his partner pulled a laminated card from a pouch on his police duty belt and proceeded to read aloud my rights. “John Edward Ounstead, AKA “Hammerhead” Jed Ounstead. You are hereby under arrest for the murder of—”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “What the hell, Rya?!?”
“Don’t make this any harder than it has to be,” she said, hanging her head.
I clenched my jaw as Officer Tweedle-Dumb snapped on the metal restraints.
“This isn’t a heel turn, Detective. You know me. I’m not a murderer.”
Rya crossed her arms and finally looked me in the eye. “I hope you’re right, Jed.”
“Hope? What happened to trust?”
She turned her back to me. “Take him away,” she said softly to the officers.
