The Gold Dragon Caper: A Damien Dickens Mystery

Publisher's Summary

A missing boy. A stolen nugget. A shocking revelation.

Derek Turpin is set on revenge, and no one is safe, least of all Damien and Millie. Yet, duty and friendship call, pulling the detective duo in opposite directions. While Damien is engaged in a race against time to rescue young Artie Sutherland, Millie goes to the aid of a sister-in-law she has never met.

The Gold Dragon Caper is the fourth audiobook in the Damien Dickens Mysteries series.

©2018 Phyllis Entis (P)2018 Phyllis Entis

Exciting Story!

I received this audio book for free in exchange for my honest review. This is an excellent story that is full of excitement. The writing and narration are both top notch. I'm sure you will love it.

6 of 6 people found this review helpful

The Gold Dragon Caper

I enjoy the story lines that push Damien and Millie on separate paths. I love seeing Millie strut her stuff. Damien has an equally adventurous problem to solve in finding and rescuing Artie; there are some great scenes involving this. Overall, this is another well done mystery that leaves me wanting to know what trouble the duo will get into next.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

This is one suspenseful mystery!

Book 4 in the Dicken's detective duo brings Millie and Dick into my territory. I always love reading stories in locations with which I am familiar. Millie and Dick are down on luck, well, I'm not sure luck has much to do with it since the evil Derek Turpin is at it again. Not only do they have to deal with being broke, their agency in dire straits, homelessness, but also there's a rift between them due to a secret Millie's been holding back. Add to all these problems the fact that Millie's brother has gone missing, leaving a wife and infant child to fend for themselves, and Millie takes off for Las Vegas, unbeknownst to Dick, who finds out from Susan Sutherland. This is one suspenseful mystery with bad guys, long-lost family, a kidnapped child, a stolen gem, an ongoing rival, and lots of danger for both Dick and Millie. Author Entis writes well with a plot that is structured perfectly to move the story along without needing to fill it with extras to plod down the story line. Her characters are extremely likable, but free from perfection. If you like clean, cozy mysteries, you can stop looking; Phyllis Entis is your author. I listened in one day, eager to get to the end, even though I'd already read the book.Tom Lennon is back on the job narrating, and he does a wonderful job.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

A Kidnapped Boy and Stolen Gold

In <strong>The Gold Dragon Caper</strong> by Phyllis Entis, it has been three years since Damien and Millie Dickens' last encounter with Derek Turpin in <em>The Chocolate Labradoodle Caper</em>, and things have gone downhill for them dramatically. Turpin has clearly been indirectly targeting them and their business, leaving them with just a single client, Susan Sutherland, owner of a major manufacturing conglomerate. Just as Damien and Millie decide to take up Susan on her offer to hire them as full-time security consultants, they learn that Susan's nephew, Artie, her only living relative, has disappeared on a school ski trip. Soon, Susan gets a ransom demand for $10 million. The more Damien delves into the case, the more it appears that Derek Turpin may be involved.

Meanwhile, Millie gets word from the 19-year-old sister-in-law she didn't even know she has that her brother, Colin Hewitt, went missing 10 days earlier. What is worse, he has been named a person of interest in the major heist of the casino where he works. So, knowing Damien will be upset at her doing so in the midst of the kidnapping case, Millie flies to Las Vegas to try to help her brother.

<strong>The Gold Dragon Caper</strong> was an exciting ride throughout the whole book. The dual plot points run in a parallel direction and keep things moving through the course of the book. The details of the search for Artie come across as interesting and creative in their elements. I also enjoyed learning more about Millie and her family background.

The characters further made me feel invested in them. I really wanted Damien and Millie to succeed and especially enjoyed spending time with Hershey, the labradoodle whom the Dickenses adopted in the previous book. Hershey does a lot to save the day and proves heroic. In addition, I found myself really abhoring Derek Turpin as his hatred-fueled crimes build up.

The audio edition of this book is performed by Tom Lennon. Lennon's voice seems perfectly suited to the role of Damien Dickens, and he has come to embody the private investigator. Using good expressions, Lennon makes the book all the more enjoyable to listen to.

<strong>The Gold Dragon Caper</strong> is somewhat darker than the previous books, but even though I prefer cozy mysteries, I really loved this book. The plot lines kept things dramatically moving and were very exciting. I give this book five stars.

<strong>Disclaimer:</strong> I received this book for free for review purposes, but that had no influence on the content of my review.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great Story, Great Narration!

Damien and Millie Dickens are awesome characters. Phyllis Entis has woven a gripping story, that is full of twists, and comes together flawlessly. Vengeance, revenge, and greed are strong motivators in this book. I really like how this book is a standalone listen and part of a series. Tom Lennon performs this book brilliantly. He adds the right emotion and tension where needed. He also gives distinguished voices for various characters. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review. I will definitely listen to more books by this author and narrator.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Another enjoyable listen

I was given the audiobook free in exchange for an honest review. This is my second or third Damien Dickens audiobook. I quite enjoy the old-time feel of the novels; not quite noir, but definitely a blast from the past: phone books, no cell phones, things like that.

Damien and Milly have fallen on hard times since the last time I listened to one of the books, and it's been a couple of years since the Green Pearl caper. Their marriage is cracking, and they are fighting Derek Turpin, a money hungry man who thinks that the world is his and everyone should do his business. He's determined to ruin Damien and Milly because they had thwarted him in the past.

To get away from the upheaval of their life, they take another job from Susan Sutherland; this time looking for her missing nephew, kidnapped at a ski resort. Upon arriving there, Damien and Milly split up to do what each does best. Milly travels with the other kids from Artie's school in the hopes of getting some answers as too who may have kidnapped the child.

When Damien, who stayed behind to help search for Artie, tries to contact Millie later on, he finds that she has abandoned her job to fly to Las Vegas to help out her wayward brother. Seems he's caught up in the theft of the Gold Dragon, a nugget of gold, from the casino that bears its name.

As the story progresses and the two cases entwine, we learn more about Damien and Millie, and Turpin.

This is a good, clean story; it keeps you guessing as too how and why until close to the end; definitely keeps you wondering how the stories are going to unravel, and Damien and Milly get out of their predicaments.

Tom Lennon has a nice, calm voice throughout, easily switches from male to female characters and is a joy to listen to.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Second Time Around

I read The Gold Dragon Caper a while back. I was curious to listen to the audible version. I thought I would browse some of the chapters and maybe even skip some.... to my surprise, I didn’t skip one page never mind a chapter. The narrater was excellent and kept my attention throughout the entire book. The story? I loved it the first time, and even more the second time around! I look forward to reading/listening to more of The Dickens Detective Agency!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Favorite book of the series so far

I think this might be my favorite book in the series so far. There were so many twists that I did not see coming. It really kept me on the edge of my seat throughout the entire book. I liked getting to know more of Millie's background. Though the subject matter of this book was a little difficult for me to read, it held my attention and kept me engaged.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Mystery that doesn't disappoint!

If you're a follower of Entis' Damien Dickens series and enjoy the old-school detective feel presented with smooth, experienced writing, then you aren't going to be disappointed with this latest installment. Though I already read the ebook, listening to the audio version adds that extra dimension as Lennon's voice is suited to Entis' writing style.

I enjoy the story lines that push Damien and Millie on separate paths, mainly because I love seeing Millie strut her stuff. Listeners get that again in the Gold Dragon Caper. But Damien has an equally adventurous problem to solve in finding and rescuing Artie; there are some great scenes involving this. Overall, this is another well done mystery that leaves me wanting to know what trouble the duo will get into next. I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook with no obligation to review.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great drama without the extreme

This book was about a kidnapping that was done to force the victim to sell their property.

There was also the theft of a gold nugget from a casino that had to be solved.

The book was well written and enjoyable without being too intense. The story flowed well and the characters were believable.

The narrator was good also.

This book was provided free of charge with the expectation of an honest review.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

You told me we'd be partners.

Several story lines converge in this rather curious PI investigation set in the 1980s, before the easy access of information through the internet or everyday use of mobile phones. The husband and wife team comprising the Dickens Detective Agency had initially prospered until falling foul of a wealthy and unscrupulous property developer, Derek Turpin. Through his influence, the Agency had been so seriously deminished that now no one sought their help and there remained just one of their original clients. Then their office building was burned down. Time to leave Atlantic city. So it seemed very fortuitous when old friend and original client, Susan, offered them a security job which would require their immediate relocation to Navada. But even before they had time to agree, news came that Susan's nephew and heir to the expanded tobacco company she ran, had disappeared on a skiing holiday under mysterious circumstances. It was the start of a deadly series of seemingly unrelated events.

The main focus of the book is on the characters, not the events. There is a feeling of reality, with blundering protagonists, emotional reactions and personal revelations. And beneath it all, the desire for revenge. This is the first in the Damian Dickens series that this reader had experienced and it stands alone well; although the depth of background feelings between Millie and Damian as well as the animosity of Turpin is obviously lost, all salient facts are included for this story. Narrator Tom Lennon becomes the voice of Dickens very believably, his deep and pleasant voice telling the story from his perspective with gentle pace and low key emotion, just as the character himself would surely react. He also portrays each of the other protagonists with an individuality, both males and females given distinct and appropriate voicings. A good performance throughout.

Overall, the book is quite exciting, if somewhat mostly predictable, with the various story lines intertwined. But it is the character studies which bring the book alive. A personal comment here, though, certainly not related only to this story, but many. As a Brit, it always seems bizarre than someone can empty a gun-full of bullets into another and still seem to suffer no consequence other than, perhaps, a gentle reprimand. Ah, well. Vive la difference.

My thanks to the rights holder of The Gold Dragon Caper, who, at my request, freely gifted me a complimentary copy of the book, via Audiobook Boom. It was an enjoyable listen, a gentle thriller really brought alive by an excellent narrative performance.