T. Jefferson Parker Pack – T. Jefferson Parker Free Audiobook

Written by T. Jefferson Parker
Read by Various
Format: MP3

Cold Pursuit read by Patrick G Lawlor

Parker, whose Silent Joe won an Edgar in 2001, can turn his hand to many genres: this one is a thriller with elements of family feud, and with a setting-San Diego in an unusually rainy winter-that is wonderfully moody. Homicide cop Tom McMichael is called in on the murder of wealthy old Pete Braga, a legendary local character who was once a tuna fisherman and now moves in the city’s top financial circles. The problem is that his Portuguese family and McMichael’s Irish one have a rivalry going back two generations. The details of that past, and the picture that emerges of two feisty old men locked into a bitter battle, are the brightest part of the book.

The actual plot is more conventional: Braga’s attractive nurse is an obvious suspect, so it is unwise for Tom to fall for her. Was the patriarch’s killing related to local politics, or perhaps to his changed will? There are numerous red herrings-including a lurid subplot about a crooked cop and a very surprising commodity being smuggled across the border from Mexico-before the violent, rather improbable denouement. It’s not unusual for a thriller to begin much better than it ends, but the more eloquent passages of Cold Pursuit make the routine ones doubly disappointing.

L.A. Outlaws read byDavid Colacci, Susan Ericksen

Los Angeles is gripped by the exploding celebrity of Allison Murietta, her real identity unknown, a modern-day Jesse James with the compulsion to steal beautiful things, the vanity to invite the media along, and the conscience to donate much of her bounty to charity. Nobody ever gets hurt–until a job ends with ten gangsters lying dead and a half- million dollars worth of glittering diamonds missing.

Rookie Deputy Charlie Hood discovers the bodies, and he prevents an eyewitness–a schoolteacher named Suzanne Jones–from leaving the scene in her Corvette. Drawn to a mysterious charisma that has him off-balance from the beginning, Hood begins an intense affair with Suzanne. As the media frenzy surrounding Allison’s exploits swells to a fever pitch and the Southland’s most notorious killer sets out after her, a glimmer of recognition blooms in Hood, forcing him to choose between a deeply held sense of honor and a passion that threatens to consume him completely. With a stone-cold killer locked in relentless pursuit, Suzanne and Hood continue their desperate dance around the secrets that brought them together, unsure whether each new dawn may signal the day their lies catch up with them.

The Jaguar read by David Colacci

Erin McKenna, a beautiful songwriter married to a crooked Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy, is kidnapped by Benjamin Armenta, the ruthless leader of the powerful Gulf Cartel. But his demands turn out to be as unusual as the crumbling castle in which Erin is kept. She is ordered to compose a unique narcocoriddo, a modern-day folk ballad of the kind that have recorded the exploits of the drug dealers, gunrunners, and outlaws who have highlighted Mexican history for generations. Under threat of death, Armenta orders Erin to tell his life story – in music – and write ‘the greatest narcocorrido of all time.’ Allowed to wander the dark hallways of the castle retreat with only a guitar and a mysterious old priest to keep her company, Erin must produce the most beautiful song that these men have ever heard. As the mesmerizing music and lyrics of Erin’s song cascade from the jungle hideout, they serve as a siren song to the two men who love Erin: her outlaw husband, Bradley Smith, and the lawman Charlie Hood – two men who together have the power to rescue her. Here, amid the ancient beauty and haunted landscape of the Yucatecan lowlands, the long-simmering rivalry between these men will be brought closer to its explosive finale. T. Jefferson Parker, who is widely hailed as his generation’s most accomplished and talented crime novelist, delivers a crime thriller that dramatically redefines the landscape of the cartel wars as an epic clash of good and evil.