Synopsis/blurb.......

Introducing maverick Chicago private investigator Sam Kelson in the first of a hardhitting new crime noir series.

Sam Kelson is a PI like no other. As a consequence of being shot in the head while working undercover as a Chicago cop, he suffers from disinhibition: he cannot keep silent or tell lies when questioned. But truth be told - and Kelson always tells the truth - he still feels compelled to investigate and, despite the odds, he's good at his job.

Hired by Trina Felbanks to investigate her pharmacist brother, whom she suspects is dealing drugs, Kelson arrives at Felbanks' home to make a shocking discovery. Arrested on suspicion of murder, he makes an even more startling discovery concerning his client's identity. Kelson would appear to have been set up ... but by whom, and why?

As events spiral out of control and the body count rises, Kelson realizes he's made a dangerously powerful enemy. Will he survive long enough to discover who has targeted him - and what it is they want?
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My take....

Michael Wiley, is a new-to-me author and one I've been wanting to try for a while. I thought I might as well start with his latest series featuring an ex-Chicago cop turned PI, Sam Kelson and Trouble in Mind.

Plus points.....

I like a Chicago setting

I liked the back story of the main character, Sam Kelson...... his cop career, his marriage and his family and the incident which changed the course of his life..... a bullet to the brain. Fast forward and the career and marriage have ended and he's left with a daughter he sees regularly, a gig as a private investigator and a condition which means he is unable to tell a lie. Something that isn't always helpful when you've a growing and inquisitive daughter or if you're trying to investigate things and the witness you're talking to has questions of their own. He's still troubled by the shooting incident and worries that he was at fault for the incident which saw his assailant killed.

I quite liked the story. Man investigates client's brother and finds him dead and he's now in the frame for murder. Get out of frame, discover what's going on, all the while his client, who has an annoying habit of disappearing and reappearing keeps pointing him in directions which keep getting him further and further into difficulties with the police. Ergo more dead bodies.

I liked the author's writing style. I liked the injections of humor into the narrative, usually a result of Kelson's condition. There's a decent cast of supporting characters, with Kelson's friends and ex-wife, as well as a couple of cops he bumps heads with. The friction in the relationships are a recurring theme and add to the story.

I enjoyed the length of the book, long enough to give time for character development and back story without dragging things out unnecessarily. And I was okay with the outcome.

Negatives.....

The client annoyed me and Kelson continually dancing to her tune - ditto. After probably the second time of her leading him a dance, albeit she's being coerced or manipulated by whoever is out to get Kelson, I think any reasonable person would have told her to go and do one. I suppose Kelson's doggedness and damaged brain doesn't allow him that option. I just think that if you head butt a wall and find it hurts, why would you do it again and again and again?

More to like than dislike.

4 from 5

There's a second Kelson book Lucky Bones from Michael Wiley. One I would say I'm looking forward to reading soon, but I've already read it.

Read - June, 2020
Published - 2019
Page count - 228
Source - purchased copy *Net Galley download disappeared when my last laptop died!
Format - hardback

https://col2910.blogspot.com/2020/07/michael-wiley-trouble-in-mind-2019.html

Sam Kelson is a Private Investigator with a diagnosis of disinhibition after he was shot in the head while working undercover in narcotics when he was a Chicago cop. His condition requires pain pills on a daily basis, and more importantly, he cannot control what comes out of his mouth. His thoughts, his feelings, and he cannot lie ... he is incapable. And when asked a question, he absolutely must answer.

Surprisingly enough, he's rather good at his job. A woman walks into his office and wants to hire him to investigate her brother ... a pharmacist who may be dealing drugs. And when he tracks down the brother, he's met with quite an eye opener. Kelson is arrested on suspicion of murder ... especially when the cops identify the dead man. And then they learn that his sister wasn't his sister at all.

It seems that Kelson has been set up .. but why and by whom?

This is a real page turner, filled with action from the very first page. The mystery is nicely paced with suspense that holds one's attention to the the surprising end. Various twists and turns with an occasional red herring make this an excellent read.

Many thanks to the author / Severn House / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Having read books previously by this author, I knew there was little risk picking up a new series by him.
How wrong was I?
This book is a gem, a delight and has left me wanting more about his new protagonist Sam Kelson. This is indeed an engaging mystery and rooted in the fine traditions of the American private detective genre.
Kelson was a Narcotics undercover cop in Chicago when he was shot in the line of duty.
He had to be discharged from his police duties and was retired due to his disability.
He is a struggling PI whose life if falling to pieces around him as due to his injuries his personality has changed and he is almost impossible to live with.
2 years on he still struggles in therapy; separated from his wife and unable to control his mouth like some kind of verbal Tourettes where he is compelled to speak and always tells the truth. His diagnosis is disinhibition and something called autopagnosia.
These are not great qualities for meeting new people and holding interrogations or probing questions since he is programmed to say what he thinks. He has not social brakes to save offence or stop himself even when he knows it will get him into trouble. His behaviour is almost childlike and his 11 year old daughter adores his frank and openness devoid in all other adults.
For the reader the author has created a unique hero with the qualities to self-destruct. It is funny and humorous without degrading the conditions or looking for cheap laughs. I adored every page he is speaking, thinking or coping and found him a great guy to root for.
In this first book he is seemingly being placed in a threatening situation where some unknown adversary wants him to suffer and loose everything before he is ruined and probably killed. The guy after him has some connection to the person Kelson fatally wounded when he himself was shot and nearly died.
Someone is playing with his head and sends a go-between to confuse him and frame him for murders he was lured to the scene of the crime.
Within a few pages of the story Kelson is locked up, suspected of murder and no-one likes a rogue cop addicted to prescription medication.
He must clear himself, try to get the police to see he’s being set up and discover who is pulling the strings. The stakes are raised when his family are threatened and no-one appears to believe his role as an innocent pawn in growing body count.
Like when I first found Bernie Rhodenbarr. I can praise Michael Wiley no higher than it carries echoes of Lawrence Block.

Trouble in Mind is the promising first book in a new series by Michael Wiley. Due out 7th Jan 2020 from Severn House, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats (ebook available now).

This is a nice PI procedural with an appealing protagonist who is a good investigator despite a traumatic brain injury which left him missing a significant portion of his brain and disinhibition, so he always blurts out what's on his mind and is incapable of filtering or lying. This unsurprisingly causes him a lot of problems. There's a lot of humor here and not all dark or ironic. His relationship with his 11 year old daughter is priceless and sweet (she enjoys quizzing him about ALL kinds of things because she knows precisely what his brain injury did to his ability to obfuscate).

There is a fair amount of rough language and mature themes (used in context). There is a fair bit of violence and murder, as expected, but the descriptions aren't overly graphic.

In some ways, the book reminded me in a good way of one of my favorite series, Lansdale's Hap & Leonard, in its over-the-top violence and maverick good guy against the forces of nastiness as well as wonky, lolloping humor. I love love love his daughter. I'm looking forward to more in this series.

Five stars. Highly recommended.

Trouble in Mind captured my attention from the first sentence and never let go.

In the first chapter, we meet Sam Kelson, pre-injury, as he and the commander of the narcotics division discuss an undercover job. The dialogue's snappy and effective. It develops the plot, foreshadows Kelson's later affliction, and shows these characters doing what they do: planning to take down a drug dealer and his supplier. And in Kelson's case, it also involves a bit of straight-talking, mouthy bluntness. 

Then Kelson's shot in the left frontal lobe. His close friend Tosellini saves his life, but Kelson develops autotopagnosia. 

For those of you who (like me) aren't neurological experts, autotopagnosia is "loss of the power to recognize or orient a bodily part due to a brain lesion" (from Merriam Webster).  Translation: Kelson looks in a mirror and his own face surprises him.

He also has disinhibition. He propositions the pizza delivery girl, says whatever is on his mind, and generally lacks any impulse control.

And he always tells the truth . . . as he sees it.

He also cannot shut up. At. All. Literally.   

In other words, he's an introvert's nightmare.  

This makes him an unusual private investigator. He can't promise his clients that he'll keep anything confidential. If asked, he'll always tell the truth. (When was the last time you met a completely truthful character in a crime novel?)

This is the premise that drew me to this novel. Whenever there's a premise that's unusual, I always fear that the promise of the blurb won't be fulfilled by the reality of the book.

Wiley wowed me. 

Kelson's neurological issue is not a gimmick. Wiley uses it to develop a deep, intriguing central character caught in circumstances he doesn't understand. Despite his frequent inappropriate sexual overtures to pizza delivery girls, clients, shrinks, etc., Sam Kelson won me over.

I love that he talks to everyone. And everything. Minus a human audience, he shares his thoughts with the phone, the computer, the two kittens his daughter sweet-talks him into adopting, and even his empty office. It's always the complete blunt truth as he sees it and is simultaneously abrasive and endearing. (Though I'm glad I don't live with him!) 

But he's not the only terrific character in this book.  From the other police officers to Trina Felbanks to Rodman to Kelson's ex-wife and young daughter, Wiley creates a cast of well-developed, interesting, realistic people. 

The story has plenty of twists, the dialogue's sad-funny snappy, and there's terrific use of language. But it was the people who kept me reading.

I devoured the novel in two days and enjoyed every minute of it. When I read the last page, I didn't want to leave Kelson and his friends. Thankfully, it looks like Michael Wiley has future plans in store for Sam Kelson. More, please!  

Thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for a copy of Trouble in Mind in exchange for an honest review. 
(This review will be published on my blog on January 6, 2020.)

Trouble in Mind is a great first book in a hopeful long-lasting series introducing Chicago private investigator Sam Kelson. Michael Wiley has penned a real page-turner

I read a LOT of crime fiction and it can all get a bit samey and, every so often, I crave something a little different. Be it the MC or the actual crime being investigated. In this book I got the both. Sam Kelson is a former cop who was shot in the head when undercover with the drugs squad. This caused, shall we say, behavioural issues for him, the most interesting being his disinhibition; the inability to keep secrets or tell lies. He now works as a PI and, when we first meet him, he is visited by a woman who wants him to investigate her pharmacist brother who she claims is stealing and selling drugs. Sam visits the pharmacy and is redirected to his home as he is not at work. On visiting his home he is shocked to find the man dead. Even worse, the police storm in and arrest him. He's been set up. By who and why?
And so begins a rather convoluted and spiralling tale which has Sam chasing his tail all over the city as both the body count and the number of his arrests rise. More of the story I can not divulge here for fear of spoilers but suffice to say I spent the majority of the book as clueless as Sam so I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. And what a ride it was...
I blooming loved Sam. He's so different from any other MC in any crime book I have read. And he loves his kittens! I really hope that this is the start of a series. I suspect it is as the author has gone above and beyond in creating his MC and there's no way he can leave all that wonder behind. The plot is so convoluted that I gave up trying to work out who was who and what was what and, more importantly, who to trust. But, by the end of the book, when all was revealed, I sat back and applauded the author for a job well done. I do have a couple of niggles with some of the things included in the book (no details, sorry, spoilers) but I was more than happy to accept and move on as the rest of what I read was high quality stuff.
All in all, a great book that I have no hesitation recommending for fans of the genre. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Good crime story. Great read.

A quick synopsis: Two years ago, while taking part in an undercover narcotics sting officer Sam Kelson, mid-30s, took a bullet to the head that should have killed him (in fact, he was technically dead for a brief time). As a result, Kelson, now trying to work as a P.I., suffers from disinhibition which leaves him incapable of keeping secrets or telling lies. He also has an unfortunate habit of making inappropriate comments and a tendency to irritate people.

I was intrigued by the premise of a P.I. who was incapable of keeping secrets. The whole disinhibition aspect was less unique since pretty much all the great hard-boiled detectives have issues with impulse control (though it usually has more to do with anger issues and questionable decision making rather than random stream-of-consciousness commentary).

I wasn't really sure what to expect (seriously, we all know that you can't always trust the book blurb). Perhaps a silly story built around a gimmicky premise... some lightweight crime fiction... a saccharine story of overcoming the odds... whatever. I thought, if nothing else, it would be a pleasant time waster between more "serious" reading.

So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Trouble in Mind by Michael Wiley is a very good crime novel. Good characters, decent plot, a little dark, odd-ball humor sprinkled in here and there... I would stop short of calling it fast-paced but once things get going it's pretty steady with a fairly streamlined (not overly descriptive) narrative.

I liked this book a lot. In my opinion detective Sam Kelson would not be out of place in the company of such fictional detectives as Elvis Cole (by Robert Crais), or Hap & Leonard (by Joe R. Lansdale). There is also a hint - just a hint - of some of the edgier aspects of ex-cop Matthew Scudder (by Lawrence Block).

If, as I suspect, this ends up being a series then sign me up right now - I'm in!

There is some adult language and brief crime scene descriptions (not overly graphic).

***Thanks to NetGalley, Severn House Publishers, and author Michael Wiley for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.