Do you read like I do? When I’m loving a book, I can tear through 400 pages in one day, two at the most. When a book is not appealing to me, I slog through it, and it takes me days. I’ve written Tuesday’s review of a book I enjoyed. I loved Jan Karon’s My Beloved, and read it in one day. Wednesday’s book? I’m halfway through it, and I should have finished it days ago. It’s taking me forever.
So, I’m glad Kevin Tipple has sent today’s review. I really should have finished Wednesday’s book for today. Thanks, Kevin, for your review of Crime Writer by Vinnie Hansen.
Any police officer will tell you there is no such thing as a routine traffic stop. Things can go bad in a second. That is exactly what happened to Officer Austin, and his ride along, Zoey Kozinski, in the new novel, Crime Writer by Vinnie Hansen.
Zoey is a writer and in the police car this September evening because she is working on her project. The novel is pretty much stalled and she is hoping that the ride along might provide some real-world inspirational details that will help get it going. Her agent certainly would like to see some progress too.
It is the night shift for those on the job in Playa Maria County in the central coast of California and the ride along isn’t doing much at all for her. Officer Austin isn’t sharing much with her at all despite her best efforts.
After several unremarkable situations, Officer Austin decides to pull over a random car. It takes a considerable distance for the driver to stop as the person seems oblivious to the lights and siren. Once it does stop, the officer approaches the vehicle. Within seconds he is dead on the roadway.
The shooter immediately speeds off and then, within a couple of minutes, as Zoey tries to comprehend what she saw and get help, comes back and passes the scene. There is no way the shooter did not see her as the car came by. That means the shooter knows she is a witness.
A witness that needs to be eliminated.
A witness that the police believe is actually the suspect.
A witness the devastated widow firmly believes needlessly distracted her husband and father of their children and thereby got him killed.
What follows is Zoey trying to come to grips with what she saw and the aftermath of the tragedy. At the same time, she has to deal with suspicious members of law enforcement who treat her as a suspect as well as a killer who is trying to find her and silence her. Things are complicated in her life before the shooting. All that gets way worse afterwards and gets even more complicated before long.
Don’t forget Mom. She is sure she knows best on all things and Zoey isn’t having it.
Crime Writer by Vinnie Hansen is an entertaining fast moving read. It starts with a compelling idea about an officer killed during a ride along (a thankfully rare event) and builds out from there in a myriad of ways. Zoey is smart, funny, emotional, and a fiery redhead bundle of energy and contradictions.
It all makes Crime Writer by Vinnie Hansen a solidly good read.
My ARC digital reading copy came from the publisher, Level Best Books, through NetGalley where I was already preapproved. There was no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Lesa, yes! A slog of a book can absolutely take days! except in my case I will just say no and toss it aside. At my age with fewer days ahead if me, life is way too short for sloggy books! LOL!
Terrific review, Kevin!
If it wasn’t called The Librarians, Kaye, I’d do the same and just dump the book. I’m trying, though!
Ha! well now it all makes perfect sense! carry on, sister! ❤
Probably not, Kaye.
Kevin that book sounds great, I will look for it.
I have a print copy and the type face is so weird I gave up on THE LIBRARIANS and was going to try it on my Kindle. Maybe not now…
I may quit today, too, Cindy. I have 4 waiting for me at the library.
Kevin, you made me want to read ‘Crime Writer’, so I’ve looked it up. It’s only available in a digital version, so I’ll keep an eye out to see if it ever comes out in a printed version. Thanks for the review!
Thanks, Kevin, for reviewing my book.
Lindy, thank you for your interest. Could you please tell me where you were unable to find the print version? On this end, it looks like Level Best Books has made it available on Amazon, B&N, etc. Any bookstore should be able to order it from Ingram.
Hello Vinnie,
I live in Canada and have checked with Indigo books here, and also with amazon.ca. Both only had the e-versions.
I don’t know if bookstores in Canada can order from Ingram or not, but I can delve more deeply into the search now. Thanks for that extra piece of info!
This is really interesting, Lindy. If you continue to have problems, maybe try a backdoor, going in through my website, http://www.vinniehansen.com. Navigate to the page for Crime Writer. There you’ll find buy buttons for B&N, Amazon, etc. On my end, they all work. Hope this helps.
Hello again Vinnie,
The U.S. Amazon site has the print edition but the Canadian one does not. If I order through the U.S. site I will be charged an extra $8.41.
Your book may eventually make it to Canada, who knows. I look forward to reading it if it does.
Thank you, Lindy. I’ll ask LBB why they didn’t opt to include the Canadian market.
Hello, friends. Lesa, I often get stuck in books. Unless it’s very important that I finish it, I usually only give whatever I’m reading 50 pages max to win me over, and then I give up. Kevin, this sounds like a good book! New author for me (Hi, Vinnie!)–I’ll check it out.
Hi, Kim! Thank you for your interest in Crime Writer.
You’re all right, Kim. I finally gave up after wasting too much time on that book. Usually, I’m like you, only 50 pages. I gave it 55% of the book, and cared so little that I forgot to read the end to see what happened. I quit.
Evening everyone…sorry I am so late getting here. I write everything longhand and spent a good chunk of today typing reviews and setting them up on the blog.
Just wanted to say big time thank you to Lesa for having me back once again. Still amazed to be able to do this here.
And thank you everyone for reading my reviews. If you read the book, I hope your assessment matches mine and that you enjoy the read.