Investigator Sherlock Jones returns in ‘Diamonds. Doubles. Murder.’ | Book Talk

“Diamonds. Doubles. Murder.,” a welcome third installment in the Sherlock Jones mystery series by St. Vincent High School alumnus William J. Palmer, is narrated by Nicholas Jones, a former Marine who opens a Santa Monica investigations agency.

In the pandemic-themed second book, “Cars. Stars. Murder.,” Jones did a favor for his former sergeant to help a movie star who was receiving extortion letters about some questionable films she made long ago. This has led Archer Investigations to some notoriety as “celebrity detectives,” which in turn brings a star baseball pitcher to hire them to track his wife, whom he suspects of cheating.

It takes little time for Jones and his partner Sasha to catch Marcy Reed in the act. They are just waiting for Ron Reed to return from his road trip to break the bad news to him; if infidelity isn’t bad enough, they have to inform Reed about some sordid aspects of his wife’s past. They think the job is over. Then two of the principals are murdered.

The police automatically consider Ron Reed to be their prime suspect, but Jones tells his ineffective cop friend: “You think this is a simple crime of passion. All we’re saying is it could be a lot more than that.”

After a few beers, Jones confesses to his cronies, the Wednesday Drunken Golfers Association Disreputables, that he is considering proposing to Sasha, whom they think is too good for him; they may be right. Sasha is level-headed, intrepid, excellent at surveillance and in love with Jones for no good reason. She quotes Ron Reed an exorbitant price for Archer Investigations’ services and he doesn’t even blink.

Jones is a likable guy, despite his acknowledgement that his dedication to his work holds a lower priority than beer, golf and Sasha, not necessarily in that order.

A minor earthquake is treated as an ordinary occurrence and has no effect on the investigation; nothing even breaks, life goes on and it is not mentioned again.

“Diamonds. Doubles. Murder.” (260 pages, softcover) costs $15.99 from online retailers. The story is rated a hard R.

Palmer also is the author of the Indiana-set Wabash Trilogy, a detective series about Charles Dickens and several books of film and literary criticism. He is an emeritus professor of English at Purdue University.

Events

Akron-Summit County Public Library (Fairlawn-Bath branch, 3101 Smith Road): Lindsay Bonilla (“I Love You with All My Hearts”) reads from her storybooks, 1 to 2 p.m. Tuesday. Free, but tickets are required; register at akronlibrary.org. From 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, former Beacon Journal sportswriter Ralph N. Paulk talks about “Follis: Greatness Transcends,” about the first Black professional football player in America.

Westlake Porter Public Library (27333 Center Ridge Road): Local history authors W. Dennis Keating (“Cleveland and the Civil War”), Ellen Connally, Mel Maurer, a contributor to “Unfading Light: The Sustaining Insight and Inspiration of Abraham Lincoln” and Paul Landis (“The Final Witness: A Kennedy Secret Service Agent Breaks His Silence After Sixty Years”) discuss their books and answer questions, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Register at westlakelibrary.org.

Twinsburg Public Library (10050 Ravenna Road): The fourth annual 50 Book Challenge and Author Fair features Susan Bagby (“Home for Love”), poet Marion Boyer, Amanda Bryk (“Between the Holidays”), Amanda Flower, Laura Freeman (“Tangling a Web of Deceipt”), Irv Korman (“I Was Jackie Mason’s Chauffeur for Five Minutes”), Julie Anne Lindsey (Seaside Café mystery series), Kathryn Long (Sierra Pines mystery series), poet Barbara Marie Minney, Caleb Thusat (“Nook”), Jane Ann Turzillo (“Northern Ohio Cold Cases”) and Michael Walton (“The Horror Comic Never Dies: A Grisly History,”) 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Registration suggested at twinsburglibrary.org.

Lakewood Public Library (15425 Detroit Ave.): David Giffels talks about “The Beginning Was the End: Devo in Ohio,” 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Mac’s Backs (1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights): Joseph Earl Thomas talks about “God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer,” about an Iraq War veteran struggling with juggling a doctoral program, a job and his personal life, 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.

Massillon Public Library (Barry Askren Memorial branch, 1200 Market St. NE, Navarre): Alexxa Burton reads from her storybook “Meet the Cobb Bugs” and leads a craft activity, 11 a.m. to noon Thursday.

Wayne County Public Library (Doylestown branch, 169 N. Portage St.): Clarence Bechter signs “The Time of My Life with Bubba’s Pampered Pedalers: 3000 Miles from San Diego, California, to St. Augustine, Florida,” about the 52-day bicycle trip he took in 2019 at age 67, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Register at wcpl.info.

Cuyahoga County Public Library (North Olmsted branch, 27403 Lorain Road): Mark Greany, who continued the Jack Ryan series after the death of Tom Clancy, talks about his novel “Sentinel,” second in the Armored thriller series, 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday. Register at cuyahogalibrary.org.

Cleveland Public Library: Wendall Thomas, whose “Cheap Trills” won the 2024 Lefty Award for Best Humorous Mystery Novel, joins the Writers Unplugged series with a virtual appearance at 7 p.m. Friday. Register at cpl.org.

Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson): Jeff Shafer signs his novel “Our Game,” about women in professional baseball, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

Barnes & Noble (28801 Chagrin Blvd., Woodmere): Jason R. Lady of Cleveland signs his children’s Magic Pen series, including the newest, “Time Problems,” 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Diamonds. Doubles. Murder.’ is new book in Sherlock Jones series