The Corruptible: A Ray Quinn Mystery by Mark Mynheir


Interesting Characters. So-so mystery.

Published in 2011 by Multnomah.

The Corruptible is the second in the Ray Quinn mystery series. It is written by now-retired police officer Mark Mynheir who adds a touch of authenticity to his work (although he misses the most obvious clue at the beginning of this mystery).

Ray Quinn is a former Orlando police officer turned Private Investigator who was forced to retire due to disability as a result of being shot through the hip. His replacement hip is painful and he needs to walk with a cane and he often deals with the pain (physical and emotional) with a few stout shots of Jim Beam. He has a support team of sorts: a partner named Crevis who is trying to pass the entrance exam to be a police officer and a business manager who works during the daytime hours as a parochial school teacher.

 In this story, Quinn is hired by an investment company to recover stolen client information by downloading it onto a portable hard drive. The number one suspect is a an acquaintance of Quinn, an employee of the company who was former Orlando narcotics undercover officer who had been forced off the police force.

 Quinn delves into some of his own difficulties with alcohol and unresolved issues of his own forced retirement and his new physical limitations as he follows the trail to the missing data.

Mark Mynheir
As I noted in the title of this review, the strength of this book, and of the series so far, is the characters. The mysteries are so-so, but the real-life struggles of the three principal characters and the fact that Ray Quinn is not a superman that can punch out all of the bad guys makes the story more interesting.

 There is a second story involving those annoying e-mail scammers who claim they are trying to "smuggle" money out of Africa into America while in reality they are trying to scam the elderly out of their hard-earned cash. Also, there is an undercurrent of Christian themes written into the story.

 Follow this link for my review of the first book in the Ray Quinn series.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Corruptible: A Ray Quinn Mystery.

 Reviewed on March 7, 2011.

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