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The Reed Ferguson Series: Box Set 1-3 (A Private Investigator Mystery Series - Crime Suspense Thriller Boxset Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Renee Pawlish (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,961 ratings
See all formats and editions
Meet Reed Ferguson, Denver's wittiest new detective.

"I was halfway through the first chapter when I did something I rarely do - I laughed out loud. From the first chapter, I was hooked." ~Amazon Review

This Doesn’t Happen In The Movies (A Reed Ferguson Mystery #1)

When a beautiful, rich woman walks into Reed’s office and hires him to find her dead husband, Reed can’t believe he scored his first case, but this femme fatale is full of secrets. As the lies pile up, and her story keeps changing, she soon becomes a suspect rather than a client.

Reel Estate Rip-off (A Reed Ferguson Mystery #2)

A real estate agent who didn’t like cycling or heights dies after riding off a cliff in the Colorado mountains, and the police label it suicide. Is a killer on the loose? Someone is determined to keep the details of the death hidden, and searching for the truth might cost Reed his life.

The Maltese Felon (A Reed Ferguson Mystery #3)

When a client begs Reed to find the prize-winning Maltese show dog stolen from her back yard, Reed suspects he may be channeling Ace Ventura: Pet Detective rather than his hero, Humphrey Bogart. It sounds like a simple case, but when a ransom drop goes awry, and more valuable dogs go missing, Reed discover man's best friend can attract some decidedly unfriendly characters.

Elvis And The Sports Card Cheat (A Reed Ferguson Mystery Short Story)

Perry Rawlings, an Elvis impersonator discovers his prize Mickey Mantle baseball card stolen. Can Reed track down the culprit?

____________________________________________________

Surprisingly fresh and fun to read! —Amazon Reviewer

These stories have substance and wit in all the right places. Great writing that brings the characters to life. Don't pass them up. —Amazon Reviewer

What a hoot! Each of the stories was filled with twists and turns intertwined with suspense and laughter. I thoroughly enjoy the series and look forward to more of Detective Reed. —Amazon Reviewer

These books are so funny I laugh out loud! —Amazon Reviewer

When I started with the first one I could not put them down! —Amazon Reviewer

Best noir detective since Sam Spade. —Amazon Reviewer

Good clean mysteries that are a lot of fun to read!
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Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 7
    P.I. Reed Ferguson Bundles
  2. Print length
    482 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    April 21, 2012
  6. File size
    2524 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

★★★★★ "A promising start to a good-humored mystery series worth following." ~Kirkus Reviews
 
★★★★★ "I was halfway through the first chapter when I did something I rarely do - I laughed out loud. From that point on, I was hooked." ~Amazon Review
 
★★★★★ "Good old-fashioned mysteries with lots of comedic charm." ~Amazon Review
 
★★★★★ "With a modern noir approach, Reed Ferguson adds humor and cleverness as he attempts to emulate his heroes, Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe, and especially the man who embodied the hard-boiled, no-nonsense detective, Humphrey Bogart." ~Amazon Review
 
★★★★★ "There is little doubt that Renée Pawlish is a promising new voice to the comic murder/mystery genre." ~Norman Goldman, Bookpleasures Publisher and Editor, Top Amazon Reviewer
 
★★★★★ "Renée has a deft touch with the genre. Her style is not to hammer the reader over the head, but rather to use subtle and light touches of humor appropriate to her stories and wonderful references to old movies. But underneath all that there is a serious story with surprising plot twists." ~Amazon Review

From the Author

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007WMU00Y
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Creative Cat Press (April 21, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 21, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 2524 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 482 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 1,961 ratings

About the author

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Renee Pawlish

Renee Pawlish

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Renée Pawlish is the author of the Reed Ferguson mysteries, the Dewey Webb historical mysteries, and the Sarah Spillman police procedurals. She also wrote the standalone suspense novels The Girl in the Window and What's Yours is Mine, Nephilim: Genesis of Evil, a supernatural thriller, along with children's novels and other short stories. Renée's early career as a counselor gives her a unique ability to write characters with depth and personality, and she now works as a business analyst. She lives in the mountains west of Denver, Colorado, and when she's not busy writing her next novel, she enjoys hiking, cycling, and reading.

To learn more you can follow her on her website:

http://www.reneepawlish.com

on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/reneepawlish.author

on Twitter:

@reneepawlish

or Goodreads:

http://www.goodreads.com/reneepawlish

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
1,961 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Roger Fauble
5.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable 5 star read
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
Book 1: This Doesn't Happen In The Movies. OK, time to eat some crow. After reading the pre-release of Backstory, I had to re-read this first book in the Reed Ferguson series and I discovered that I was not fair in my review. The first third of the book moved somewhat slowly, but the author laid extensive groundwork for the characterizations that I enjoy in her later books. The movie genre references & tongue in cheek remarks that I didn't appreciate in this book are what I enjoy so much in subsequent reads. This is indeed a good read!

Reel Estate Rip-off. Renée Pawlish is a refreshing voice to the comic murder mystery genre. Pawlish's continuing development of her lead character, Reed Ferguson makes for an entertaining read as she feeds us movie trivia that both entertains & educates all while being interwoven in the story.

The Maltese Felon. Renée Pawlish just keeps getting better & better in the comic murder mystery genre. Pawlish's continuing development of her lead character, Reed Ferguson makes for an entertaining read as she feeds us movie trivia that both entertains & educates all while being interwoven in the story. This time she takes on the world of show dogs, educating & entertaining us, while further developing Reed's love life. I received a free Kindle copy of this book back in May of 2018 and am voluntarily leaving a review." The gifting of this book did not affect my opinion of it. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).
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Becky Coulee City WA
4.0 out of 5 stars Comfy
Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2023
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Enjoy Reed Ferguson series. Entertaining, and suspenseful. Would recommend to anyone wanting a comfy, rainy day read. Nice as a set to read from one case to the next, while getting to know each of the characters.
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Kupciher
3.0 out of 5 stars Schlemiel, schlimazel, or in between
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2018
Verified Purchase
The Renee Pawlish, Reed Ferguson Trilogy (plus one short story)
Three books (and a short story) about an aspiring private investigator, located in Denver, Colorado, where a PI can be anybody without certification or license. Reed is financially independent, so he can survive without his investigating business paying for his consumption from the two primary food groups of pizza and hamburger/hotdog. He is assisted by a computer geek/master hacker/genius sidekick with whom he has an ongoing relationship from high school. He also relies for help, from time-to-time, on two brothers, his neighbors, whom he affectionately calls goofballs, de facto, two dunces, border retards.
Ferguson is a cinema noir aficionado, his ultimate hero being Bogart, he refers to as Bogie. In every tight situation (usually, his own causing) he asks himself the question, WWBD (what will Bogie do)? So, far, so good. We like serials in detective, thriller, suspense books, if not only for but mostly, the protagonist and the cadre of recurring of characters. In contrast, although Ford F-150s, Boing 736s, and templates of resumes are a welcome platform because their efficiency of production, the same doesn’t hold for whodunit serials.
Yet, this is what Ms. Pawlish does in her three books. Reed, sitting in his splendid isolation in his office, encounters a prospective client out of the blue, with an incredibly strange case. The protagonist accepts the assignment. The first step, the computer geek’s help. Next, some initial field investigation. Followed by some screwups of his own doing, where it is difficult to decide whether Reed is a schlemiel, a schlimazel or bouncing in between these two extremes. Consequently, Reed is beaten up or suffers severe bodily harm, after which with a stroke of a seasoned PI, he deducts the only possible solution to the case. With the help of his friends, and sometimes a nurse who doesn’t want to get romantically involved with Ferguson because of his high-risk profession (like race car drivers, test pilots, and firefighters do not have girlfriends, or perhaps, some women are married to one of these). Nevertheless, Reed still has high hopes that one day he will have a roll in the hay with Willie (for Wilhelmina), possibly, repeatedly.
After the first book, I could predict, almost to the page, when and how will Ferguson screw up, suffer a serious beating, thrown off a speeding truck, or experience cruel physical punishment, how he will recover, and with whose help will he save the day.
Ms. Renee also promotes herself that her writing is witty, something I look for in this class of books. In fact, I have a distaste for all the books in the genre which are not in the humorous style. If Pawlish thinks that the annoying, repeated phone calls of his mother, a de facto nagging yenta (you don’t have the be Jewish to enjoy a kosher pickle, and a gentile woman can be a yenta) and the naivete, border-line stupidity of the goofballs amount to humor, she missed the point with me. But hey, this is just me and people laugh at slapstick comedy.
I give the trilogy three starts, instead of two because I read all three books and the shorty to the end, without getting off the bus, and its great credit to Pawlish’s prose.
18 people found this helpful
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Whitney
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved it
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2022
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The Reed Ferguson Series: Box Set 1-3 (A Private Investigator Mystery Series - Crime Suspense Thriller Boxset Book 1) by Renee Pawlish has the following titles This Doesn’t Happen In The Movies, Reel Estate Rip-off, The Maltese Felon, and Elvis And The Sports Card Cheat. I’ll update my review as I finish each title.

This Doesn’t Happen In The Movies

Reel Estate Rip-off

The Maltese Felon

Elvis And The Sports Card Cheat
One person found this helpful
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S.R.L.
4.0 out of 5 stars Private Investigator tales
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2022
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I enjoyed this Private Investigator series with P.I. Reed Ferguson. I like the style of the writing and the style of the stories. At times it drags a bit and is fanciful, and I got a little tired of Reed getting beaten up all the time. But I really enjoy the array of characters and the writing. I also enjoyed the old movie references.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Light Reading
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2019
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The Reed Ferguson series is made up of short entertaining who-dun-it books. There is nothing too deep and thought provoking. There is no long winded social justice epistle too take away from the main story line. There is no extensive character study which adds to the plop value of the book but little else. These books are short and too the point. They are always moving forward. They are reminiscent of the the pot boilers from the 30s/40s/50s with a little humor thrown in to lighten them up. I salute Renee Pawlish for her writing style.
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Dragon link
5.0 out of 5 stars Silly private eye
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2023
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Almost a comedy of errors, but with luck, good friends, and some painful encounters, you can't help but wonder if Reed Ferguson will get the job done.
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Ellen Oceanside
4.0 out of 5 stars Noir Humourous Story
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2020
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A good selection of noir type film, add the Bogart touch that set his films apart. These are shorter stories, with quirky characters, quirky request for Reed to solve. Have read many of the authors books and they are different in there plots and all are enjoyable.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

MsBrenna10
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy reading
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2019
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I thoroughly enjoyed this box set. The character of Reed is a bit shaky in the first one but strengthens and develops as the series progresses and he finds his feet in the private detective business. Well edited, pacily written and mildly informative on the subject of Hollywood in the 1940s.
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Jane
5.0 out of 5 stars Bogie Reinvented
Reviewed in Canada on July 19, 2016
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If you like TCM true detective stories you'll love Reed Ferguson...he's a great reinvention of Humphrey Bogart in an up to date detective agency he's starting to capture his dream...quick reading because you can't put it down...lots of twists and turns but very well written and believable.
2 people found this helpful
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Kerry
5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing not to like
Reviewed in Australia on December 28, 2016
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The Reed Ferguson books are wonderful reads. They have excellent and varied characters, no bad language and no gratuitous sex, and random humour. Just love them all
2 people found this helpful
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Scottyjas
4.0 out of 5 stars Fun read, unexpected twists.
Reviewed in Canada on June 26, 2020
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Found this set of stories to be a fun read, never really a serious “detective or crime solving” set. His nativity is a bit unsettling at times. Having said that, I still found it an enjoyable read.
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Maureen Renouf
4.0 out of 5 stars If you like crime novels.....
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2019
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An interesting crime novel approach
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