By Karen McCarraher
The Case of the ’66 Mustang by Tom Meschery is the second of his Brovelli Brothers mysteries. Twin brothers, Victor and Vincent Brovelli, own and operate a used car lot in Alameda, California. The police have notified them that their older brother, Mario, shot his girlfriend, Grace, and then committed suicide.
Mario’s family would not accept this as Mario detested guns and was an active member of PeaceLinks, a group that organized anti-Vietnam war rallies all over the country. Victor’s mother begs him to find out the truth and defend the family’s “honor”.
Victor was not a private investigator (but he had a book on how it was done). He and his girlfriend, Dila, who worked for the Black Panthers, decide that is the place to start. They learned of rumors that guns were being brought into the country illegally, that heroin, too, was being brought in, and that young Vietnamese girls were being brought to the U.S. to work as prostitutes.
As Victor tried to verify these rumors, he got himself into several pickles. His family and friends urged him to give up and just accept that Mario had committed suicide after killing Grace. But Victor wanted “honor” restored to his family and he persisted. Eventually, he was involved in gunfire at the waterfront that left Dila severely injured. As Dila fought for life, his next step was to investigate PeaceLinks and found ties to not only the IRA (Irish Republican Army) but also the UPG (Ulster Provisional Group) in his own community. What did these warring Irish factions have to do with Mario’s death?
So here we are. Does Dila recover? Does Victor find out who killed Mario and Grace? How is the IRA involved? Is Victor able to restore his family’s honor? The ending will surprise you—I can say no more.
This book is well written and easy to read. It had humor, love, treachery and all you would want in a murder mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed this one!
Author Tom Meschery is former NBA player for the Golden State Warriors and the Seattle Sonics. He is a retired high school and college English teacher and is a graduate of the University of Iowa’s Writers Workshop. Meschery was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. He has traveled extensively in West Africa coaching basketball and lecturing. He lives in Sacramento, California with his wife Melanie Marchant, who is a painter,
The Case of the ‘66 Ford Mustang is published by Epicenter Press and available at Amazon.com.