I'm happy to have Liza O'Connor back as a guest. As I've mentioned before, I love her books, from her science fiction romances to her historical romantic suspense. I found this series last year and thoroughly enjoyed the main characters Xavier and Vic. Toxic Diamonds is the eighth book in the series. While it's always more interesting to read books in order, I haven't caught up with all of them yet, but I had no trouble reading this as a standalone. Without further ado, here's the lowdown on Toxic Diamonds.
Tubs tells a childhood story about
himself: whenever his father was drunk, he’d try to drown Tubs by sticking his
head in a bucket of water. Only Tubs could hold his breath for twenty minutes.
Fortunately, his drunken father would lose interest and wander off for another
drink long before twenty minutes were up.
So, can a person really hold their breath
for twenty minutes? Certainly not everyone, but, some can. The current record
is 24 minutes and 3 seconds.
Everyone
is called in to assist: Jacko, his wife Alice, their son, Pete, Samson, the
Crime Lord, David and Claire, Tubs and his wife, Sara, the boys: Cannon and
Ham, plus the bloodhound, Arroo.
The
Wasp who escaped punishment for her attempts to murder her bigamist husband’s
first wife last year is back. Vic discovers love letters between Ben, their
terrible secretary and the Wasp. Worse yet, he shared Xavier’s financial advice
with the Wasp, making her and her husband very wealthy.
With
Stone missing, and Barns and Meyers stretched to their limits, Vic decides it’s
time to train more of the Scotland Yard officers in intuitive and deductive
reasoning. While only half the class makes it through her two-day course,
everyone is pleased with her results.
Be
warned, Vic’s sister, Claire, is becoming more difficult than ever. Gregory
thinks she is going mad.
“Xavier! I think he snuck
out and might be in the basement with the dead guy. Whatever this smell is
could be killing him as we speak.”
Without waiting, she and
Tubs took off. Gregory yelled for them to wait, but no one listened. In fact,
Dr. Connors followed them.
When they got to the
basement door, wet putty laid in strips at the bottom of the steps. Seeing the
doctor behind Vic, Tubs focused on the doctor. “The door’s been open, so Xavier
is probably inside. I can hold my breath a long time. Let me bring him
upstairs. Otherwise, I’ll probably have to rescue both of you as well.”
Vic paused, but Dr.
Connors just grabbed her arm and pulled her upstairs. The moment they closed
the basement door, her heart wrenched. “What can knock a person out so
quickly?”
“I’m not certain. But
chemists have discovered several gases, some of which can be deadly.”
“Such as?”
“Such as the gases that
form from the sewer lines. That’s why the toilets should have a kink to hold
water. It prevents the foul gases from entering into the bathroom and possibly
killing the residents in their sleep.”
Vic began to pace. “Why
has Tubs not returned?”
“Let me go down and see,”
Dr. Connors suggested. “We cannot risk you.”
“Like you aren’t vital as
well?” she yelled. She then ran to the door and opened it just as Tubs climbed
up the steep stairs with Xavier hanging over his shoulder.
When he reached the first
floor he handed an unconscious Xavier to Dr. Connors, took a deep breath and
returned downstairs.
“Tubs, come back!”
Book 8
Free with Amazon Kindle Unlimited
Need to catch up?
Book 1
Book 2
Book 2.5
Book 3
Book
4
Book
5
Book
6
Book
7
All Xavier & Vic books are Free with Amazon Unlimited
Liza O’Connor was raised badly by feral cats,
left the South/Midwest and wandered off to find nicer people on the east coast.
There she worked for the meanest man on Wall Street, while her psychotic
husband tried to kill her three times. (So much for finding nicer people.) Then
one day she declared enough, got a better job, divorced her husband, and fell
in love with her new life where people behaved nicely. But all those bad
behaviors has given her lots of fodder for her humorous books. Please buy these
books, because otherwise, she’ll become grumpy and write troubled novels
instead. They will likely traumatize you.
You have been warned.
The Adventures of Xavier & Vic Sleuth series: (Late
Victorian/Mystery/Romance)
The Troublesome Apprentice — The greatest sleuth in Victorian England
hires a young man who turns out to be a young woman.
The Missing Partner — Opps! The greatest sleuth in Victorian England
goes missing, leaving Vic to rescue him, a suffragette, and about 100 servants.
Not to mention an eviscerating cat. Yes, let’s not mention the cat.
A Right to Love — A romantic detour for Jacko. Want
to see how amply rewarded Jacko was when he & Vic save an old woman from
Bedlam?
The Mesmerist — The Mesmerist can control people from afar and make them murder for
her. Worse yet, Xavier Thorn has fallen under her spell.
Well Kept Secrets — The problems with secrets is that they always come to
light, no matter how you wish to silence them.
The
Darkest Days — Muddled cases make Vic very grumpy.
The CrimeLords’ War — Vic
is almost killed twice as she tries to prevent a CrimeLords’ War, stop a female
Russian spy, and locate Xavier.
Toxic Diamonds — The Queen’s Diamonds have been
stolen, Director Stone of Scotland Yard is missing, and there is a toxic gas
that may kill hundreds of Londoners.
FOR
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT
LIZA O'CONNOR’S MANY BOOKS
Investigate
these sites:
Hmmmmmm my last comment didn't take. Thanks for having me over!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for having Tubs over. Dr. Connors and Vic over,,, Not to mention an unconscious Xavier.
ReplyDeleteGlad to have you, Liza. Tubs is an interesting character. I'm amazed he can hold his breath for 20 minutes.
ReplyDeleteWow! Quite a set up and excerpt. Very interesting reading. Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks. This is my fav series.
DeleteWow, what a series! You sure are prolific...another Janet Evanovich! Good going, and love the title TOXIC DIAMONDS!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I did nothing but write for 10 years before I published. I have the world's largest backlog of unpublished novels and I still write more.... lol
DeleteGoodness does this sound like a great series! Wow! Nice excerpt. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIt is my fav of all my series. You should start at the first: A Troublesome Apprentice.
DeleteHistory, romance, AND suspense? That's a winning combination in my book. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteMine too! oh...Add humor to that list.
DeleteWow...how interesting to know someone can hold their breath that long! Never would have thought. Of course I've never timed myself or anyone either LOL!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
Good luck and God's blessings
PamT
Thanks. Normal peeps cannot hold that long. You have to train to do that.
Delete