David Marshall Hunt
Mystery/Author
Lost Sisters ( A Ryder Nguyen Mystery) by David Marshall Hunt
Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers' Favorite
Lost Sisters is a crime sleuth mystery novel by David Marshall Hunt. When she is not helping with her adoptive family's shrimping expeditions aboard their trawler, Mura "Ryder" Nguyen is busy getting her degree in criminology and doing an internship for private investigator Luka Demings. After her beloved husband lost his life in Afghanistan, Ryder opened up her own private investigative agency, helping people find missing things. But when her friend Tracy Billings brings her the cold case of her missing sister, Augusta, Ryder truly gets her chance to prove herself as a PI. Tracy is the great-granddaughter of Florida's billionaire, WC Billings, and she has just received a mysterious letter. Soon, Ryder finds herself chasing a trail of missing uncut diamonds and an escaped felon with links to the cartel. Will she find her answers in the Tate's Hell Forest? A gripping sleuth mystery with lots of suspense, drama, and shocking reveals, Lost Sisters is a crime investigative drama that mystery lovers should not miss. David Marshall Hunt has spun an intricate web of family drama, betrayal, and intrigue that pulls you in from the first page and has your attention on lock with multiple plot twists and turns you never see coming. This book is an absolute page-turner. Apart from the meaty plot, Marshall also excels in crafting some inherently dynamic characters who will have you cheering for them to find closure. Ryder's determination to rescue Tracy's missing sister mirrors her own desire to connect with her long-lost sister. I really liked that nothing comes easily for Ryder, and she has to employ all her cunning, grit, and courage to solve the case. Anyone who enjoys intricately crafted sleuth mysteries will have a blast with this one!
NEW NOVEL COMING SOON
A Dark Secret by David Marshall Hunt is an historical adventure mystery. Charlee Sang possesses a dark secret that involves a forgotten war, but he suffers from amnesia. His son, Reggie a special operative suffering from PTSD is trying to discover his heritage when he stumbles upon a classified document from the 1930s. Set in the 1990s, there are powerful people who covet the Emperor’s letter. Those who will do anything to prevent its contents from being revealed. Reggie’s friend, a former colleague and now a Jesuit priest is translating the document from kanji to English when he is kidnapped. Now the real danger begins.
Constance A. Hunt’s Preface to Four Wheels [A 1950s teenage saga]
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Tim Holcomb, Mark Easton, and the Fisher twins have been pals all through grade school. They are together so much that once at a school picnic, someone in fun called them "The Four Wheels." The boys liked it, and when they enrolled at Wilson High, it seemed a capital idea to launch themselves into high school as the Four Wheels.
They thought of themselves as a four-wheeled buggy. Still, this allusion didn’t precisely fit because a carriage required a horse. The boys had no intention of ever adding a fifth to their group. They like being exclusively four. Unanimously they agree, early in their freshman year, that high school is a bore.
"Action is what this school needs. And we'll provide some!"
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They begrudgingly realize a newcomer can boost their chances at winning. However, things fall apart as the Four Wheels find other interests than sports and they ride the rollercoaster of their teen years growing apart only to learn the lessons of teamwork. As they each find their own goals, winning becomes possible.
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FOUR WHEELS: A 1950s teen-age saga is an effort to contribute a piece of literature which presents sports and music as contingent parts of human experience and assigns to teachers and parents the privileged and rewarding role they occupy in the lives of their young people as they come of age.
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The story may also help today’s youth better understand that their grandparents and parents were once teenagers.
NEW Series: A Family Gathering Mystery
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (A family gathering mystery) by David Marshall Hunt is a mystery/ psychological thriller novel. This is the first book in a new series entitled A Family Gathering Mystery. These novels celebrate the lost family tradition of gathering for the holidays and for special occasions to dine and tell stories, to pass on to the next generation, or to leave a legacy.
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Childhood secrets are hidden in the memory-attic of Professor Daniel Jonson. The mystery begs an answer to, where is the best place to hide a family secret? Lost family and lost memories collide in this story set in the Pacific Northwest in the 1940s interrupted by war and continuing in the 1990s. The story features a twist on the family relationship theme of guilt and redemption.
Synopsis
Shortly before the war, the Jonson’s adopted three orphans, one Chinese and two Japanese. The orphans attended their first family gathering in December of 1941. Extended family members came from Seattle and cities on the Pacific coast, gathering for the Christmas holidays at the family farm in the Spokane River Valley. The gathering was an opportunity to renew family ties and partake of Grandma Jonson’s fabulous cooking and sumptuous pies. Uncle Paul tells the children scary stories and young Danny Jonson is his apprentice storyteller. The gathering is interrupted when they hear the voice of President Roosevelt responding to the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor. In February Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9066, ordering the relocation and incarceration of over 70,000 Americans of Japanese heritage. The family faced a crisis.
Tormented by forgotten and repressed memories of his childhood, Daniel is racked with guilt over failing to keep a promise to his favorite storytelling uncle, to find and reunite the extended family after the war. During the war he spread “The Chinaman’s Story” to all the children in the neighborhood in an effort at keeping trespassers off the family farm. But there is a mystery behind why his uncle insisted he promise to tell the story, a secret that evades him.
Fifty years after his story telling uncle is killed and his extended family scattered by the war. Daniel’s mother dies and the family farm he grew up on is put up for auction. Compelled to return home from a life of wandering and adventure, he turns to Dr. Claire Parsons, a clinical psychologist and his main squeeze. She comforts him and suggests a course of action to unlock his repressed memories. They have three months before the auction to journey to places from his childhood to uncover memories that will disclose the family secret which holds the key to Daniel keeping his fifty-year-old promise. Perhaps he’ll redeem his lost sense of family, maybe restore the family gathering tradition for a new generation.
Flower Girl
A Burton Family Mystery
What happens when a government scientist with top secret clearance teams up with a rogue CIA agent, who happens to be her father?
As a kidnapped orphan, Shannon Lee is hired out as a flower girl on Cheju-do Island, Korea the honeymoon capital of Asia. At 12 she is rescued from being sold as a child bride. Her rescuer is a rogue CIA Agent, who returns her to the USA to get an education. At 26 she is a scientist and linguist with a top secret clearance working for a government contractor when her rogue agent father suggests that they start a family business as assassins for hire. An unexpected turn of events on an assignment sends them back to Cheju-do where she is faced with the difficult choice of service to family and community or revenge.