Velma Gone Awry
Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mysteries Book 1
by Matt Cost
Award-winning author Matt Cost brings us back to Brooklyn in the Roaring ’20s and introduces us to Hungarian private eye, 8 Ballo, who is hired to find the daughter of a wealthy businessman. The search will lead him to cross paths with Dorothy Parker, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Bugsy Siegel, Babe Ruth, and many more as he tries to uncover why Velma went awry.
8 Ballo’s mother was certain he was going to be born a girl, but when he comes out a boy, she writes down simply the number 8, as he has seven older siblings. She meant to change it to a real name at some point but never got around to it.
Now, in his mid-thirties, 8 is a college educated man, a veteran of the Great War, jilted in love, and has his own private investigator business. He enjoys his friends, a good book, jazz music, and a very simple life. When he is hired to find the young flapper daughter of a German businessman, life suddenly becomes much more complicated.
5 out of 5 fairies
An excellent start to a new mystery series. Cost brings a unique MC to life, that will quickly find his way into your heart. You’ll easily be transported back to Brooklyn, back when jazz was big and flappers were everywhere. I really enjoyed getting to know 8 as well as following along as he tried to track down Velma and solve the mystery of what exactly happened. The colorful cast only helps to enhance the story, and bring more depth to an already rich plot. There are plenty of twists to keep you guessing, and you’ll be hooked from page one. Highly recommend for all mystery and historical fiction lovers!
Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.
“Love in a Time of Hate” is the third historical by Cost. “Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War; At Every Hazard”, was published in 2015, in which Emmett Collins grows into manhood during the Civil War. “I am Cuba; Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution” was published in 2020. It was recently awarded the silver award for historical fiction from Kops-Fetherling.
Cost has also published the Mainely Mystery series including “Mainely Power” (the MHC Read ME fiction book of the year), “Mainely Fear”, and “Mainely Money”. The fourth book in the series, “Mainely Angst”, will be published in January of 2022.
He has begun the Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Trap series with “Wolfe Trap”. “Mind Trap” will be published in October of 2021 and “Mouse Trap” in the spring of 2022.
Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.
Other Works
I Am Cuba; Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution
Amazon
Goodreads
Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War: At Every Hazard
Amazon
Goodreads
Love in a Time of Hate
Amazon
Goodreads
Jazz Jones & January Queen Raleigh Mysteries
Goff Langdon Mainely Mysteries
Mainely Power (#1)
Amazon
Goodreads
Mainely Fear (#2)
Amazon
Goodreads
Mainely Money (#3)
Amazon
Goodreads
Mainely Angst (#4)
Amazon
Goodreads
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