Baron R. Birtcher Reviews

Added October 1, 2008

Angels Fall

A Mike Travis Fall

Author: Baron R. Birtcher
Publisher: Iota Publishing
Available At: Bookstores Everywhere
Publishing Date: April 2008
Genre: Fiction/Suspense
Format: Trade Paperback
Price: $23.95
ISBN-13: 9780979372018
Reviewer: Phillip Tomasso III

I was lucky enough to discover author Baron R. Birtcher soon after the release of his first Mike Travis mystery novel, Roadhouse Blues. I loved the characters created. Despite a tightly crafted mystery, it was those characters-their pasts, their interactions-that kept me turning pages. I cared about them! I then had to anxiously wait out the second in the series, Ruby Tuesday. I always worry that a new author won't the stamina to impress me with a second book. Birtcher did not let me down. In fact, I remember enjoying Ruby Tuesday even more than Roadhouse Blues. It has been some time since the release of Ruby Tuesday-but imagine how excited, and a bit apprehensive, I was to learn that Birtcher was back at it, and that a new Travis novel was being published! The results, Angels Fall. Was Birtcher just lucky with his first two books? Nope. The man was born to write, and Mike Travis is practically living proof of that.

Like the previous novels, Angels Fall takes place in Hawaii. And as always, while reading, I can't help but sometimes confuse Travis (and Birtcher) with Jimmy Buffet. Palm trees, the ocean, the casual, slow way of life (as compared to where I live in New York). And Birtcher seems to paint effortlessly a constant surround setting of peace and tranquility. (He paints in plenty of tension, action and suspense, too - not to worry!)

The back cover of the book reads:

"The disappearance of a teenaged girl draws former Los Angeles detective Mike Travis away from his scuba charter business and into the bowels of an underground culture driven by designer-narcotics and violent sex. What he uncovers is a world built on secrets, and entire lives built on lies.

But as Travis unravels one set of deceits, he finds himself confronted with visions of his own past, his own complicity in an act of shocking cruelty. His investigation glimpses a hellish side of paradise unseen by tourists, painted with the dark brushstrokes of hardboiled tropical noir."

Like I said above. Birtcher writes some tight-knit stuff. Believable mysteries. But it's the characters and their interactions that really make the whole story work. What the back-cover synopsis doesn't tell you is, Travis teenage nephew shows up in Hawaii. He's having problems at home with his father, and thinks Travis will take care of him. And of course, Travis agrees, but expects his nephew to pull his own weight. After all, Travis knows the kind of man his brother is. And by the end of the book, so do we. Through a series of well-told, well-placed flashbacks, the history between brothers is revealed, better defining their relationship-as well Travis on the whole.

Here's my only concern ... Baron R. Birtcher has brought Mike Travis back ... he better not keep readers waiting another seven years for the next installment!

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This page was last updated on October 1, 2008

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