A New Family

The Bart Northcote Series, Book 3

Fiction - Mystery - Sleuth
174 Pages
Reviewed on 04/01/2016
Buy on Amazon

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.

This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.

Author Biography

I have been a collector and a reader of mystery novels for many years. I really like the style of the 1940s, and I try to give my novels a 1940s vibe. I should know that era well, since it was my childhood!
In my spare time I was a forensic psychiatrist. I shared my mystery hobby with many of my friends in the field, who also devoured psychological thrillers. Some people like murder mysteries or other dark subjects. I try to keep my writing lighter, without (I hope) sacrificing character development.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite

A New Family: The Bart Northcote Series, Book 3 is a private investigator mystery novel written by Murray Lee Eiland Jr. Bart Northcote not only makes a living as a private investigator; he writes novels about them. His agent, however, has issues with the manuscript he’s just submitted. It's not explicit enough for the public, his agent argues, but Northcote's got his mind set on marrying a young woman who's currently going to college, and he wants neither her nor her parents to see anything in print that will raise alarms about his suitability. His literary concerns were easily put aside when Concepcion, his office manager, buzzed him with news of a client waiting to see him. That client had no appointment, but Northcote would have been hard-pressed to turn down Dirk Dixon, a movie star and sex symbol, who had a strange story to tell. He had fallen for a gorgeous young woman, who seemed to be similarly smitten - that is, until she walked out with all his assets and left him with an empty house and a load of unpaid bills. Northcote would get a thirty percent retrieval fee if he was able to at least get Dixon's money back, and thirty percent of twenty million was a respectable fee indeed.

Murray Lee Eiland Jr.'s private investigator mystery novel, A New Family: The Bart Northcote Series, Book 3, offers the reader a fascinating look at how detectives get their man, or in this case, their woman. While this is the third book in The Bart Northcote Series, I found that enough background information was provided for me to enjoy this book on its own and to seriously consider backtracking to its predecessors. Watching as the computer-literate and banking-savvy women, who've invaded Northcote's home and installed themselves as partners with cuts of the fee, work as a team with him is a delight. I loved the international flavor of this book and reveled in the teamwork displayed as the quartet follows money trails, works to uncover other victims of the larcenous fiancee, and tries to get their hands on an elusive and highly intelligent quarry. A New Family is well-written and finely plotted, and it is most highly recommended.