Drift Away by Jeff Shelby (Noah Braddock Mysteries)
If you’re a fan of the hard-boiled detective mystery genre and enjoy books by Robert B. Parker and Robert Crais, then you’ll probably enjoy Jeff Shelby’s Noah Braddock books. Shelby’s wise-cracking San Diego PI who solves mysteries with his laidback investigative manner, and manages to squeeze in some surfing between working cases, is back in the fourth book in the series. In the latest installment, Noah’s no longer in San Diego. Instead, he’s licking his wounds after encountering more than his fair share of personal tragedy… and has moved across the country to Florida to try and heal. But you can’t keep a good PI down, and when he encounters a lost young boy on the beach who can’t find his mother, Noah is dragged into the boy and his mother’s lives as their protector. It’s all complicated when ghosts from his past on the West Coast show up. Lots of fast-paced action, and sarcastic and witty gibes make this an entertaining read that will leave you waiting for the next in the series.