Brinker Books
"Eccentricity at its finest in a detective story, and proof that a flawed protagonist can still earn sympathy." — Kirkus ReviewsA doctor wants to euthanize his terminal patients. A disgraced journalist wants a better job than flogging tours of crime scenes. The tour business is dying. There aren’t enough murders in this sleepy town to draw a crowd.A good serial killer would help.So begins "Mr. Mayhem," the new crime thriller from Jeff Widmer, journalist and author of "Peak Season," a novel Kirkus Reviews calls “an entertaining mystery romp.”For a man known only as Brinker, the trouble begins when he’s fired for reporting his publisher’s DUI. Reduced to working PR for a funeral home and its trolley tour of murder sites, Brinker despairs of ever restoring his pride, or his bank account. His addiction to prescription medication fuels his rage.When his doctor asks for a hand in dispatching hopeless patients, Brinker hires a wildly successful assassin named Angel, who brings chaos and fame to this backwoods town. But as Angel’s demands soar with the body count, Brinker wonders whether he’ll become the latest addition to his own list.
Brinker’s back. Can the advertising world survive?Brinker has lost his magic. The agency’s CEO wants him to ace the competition. His former girlfriend wants him in detox. And as rival advertising executives disappear, an ambitious state trooper wants him in jail.If this keeps up, the PR whiz who turned a serial killer into a national brand may have to vanish himself.Throw in toxic waste, a nude car wash and a gun-toting presidential candidate and the czar of PR will have to spin some potent magic to escape the snare of sex, lies and greed that threatens to destroy his job, his sanity and the love of his life.From the author of Mr. Mayhem and the CW McCoy series of crime novels comes Mr. Magic, the second outing for Brinker, the defrocked journalist famous for sex, satire and PR events that push the boundaries of legality and taste.The novels have garnered praise from reviewers and readers alike. Louise Machinist, author of My House Our House, says of Mr. Mayhem, says “Jeff Widmer takes you on a wild ride in the murderous tour bus in a uniquely dark and twisted story that touches on euthanasia, addiction, sex and more. And then there's Brinker. . . .”Kirkus Reviews calls Peak Season, the first novel in Widmer’s Florida series, “an entertaining mystery romp. CW is a great character—a noir detective trying to outrun her own past, suffering no fools along the way, [trying] to keep her cool as she solves a case of embezzlement, kidnapping, and murder in the Florida heat.”