The Unknown Devil: A C.T. Ferguson Private Investigator Mystery

Tom Fowler

The C.T. Ferguson Mysteries Book 2 · Widening Gyre Media

About this ebook

A gray hat hacker. A dark-hearted crime boss.

Baltimore isn’t big enough for both of them.

C.T. Ferguson uses his illicit digital skills as a private investigator. When a teenaged boy wants to find his missing brother, C.T. takes the case.

He soon discovers the missing brother is a fellow keyboard wizard, which piques his interest. Then shadowy figures turn up wherever C.T. goes. He gets an offer he’s not supposed to refuse from a budding gangster.

He declines it anyway, of course. But how is it all connected to the missing programmer?

When the investigation takes a turn for the worse, C.T. must contend with the police trying to arrest him and a cadre of enforcers trying to kill him. Can he follow the clues online and in the real world in time to reunite a family?

You’ll love The Unknown Devil because it combines classic hard-boiled sensibilities and modern tech savvy in a compulsively readable package.

Keywords: private investigator, private detective, crime thriller, crime fiction, hard-boiled, noir, mystery, mystery series, murder mystery

Ratings and reviews

Tom Fowler is an author with two good series. The C.T. Ferguson series fits into one of my all-time favorite genres, and I like that the PI is a privileged person instead of a Mickey Spillane stereotype. These books are well thought out in plot and character development along with realistic dialogues, realistic fight scenes and a smart mouthed character full of himself with plenty of good humor. Infrequent use of vulgar language. See my complete reviews with GoodReads and BookBub. The C.T. Ferguson Series: The Reluctant Detective #1 – 4* The Unknown Devil #2 - 4* The Workers of Iniquity #3 - 4* Already Guilty #4 – 5* Daughters and Sons #5 - 5* A March From Innocence #6 - 5* Inside Cut #7 - 3* The Next Girl #8 - 5* Dead Cat Bounce #11 - 4* Don't Say Her Name, #12 - 5* Night Comes Down, #13 - 5* Concrete Angels, #14 - 5* Novellas: Hong Kong Dangerous, prequel - 4* 3.5 Red City Blues - 4* The C.T. Ferguson Series end.

Having enjoyed the first book of the C.T. Ferguson series this one had a lot to live up to. C.T. is back with his trademark wit and shady ethics. His new case sounds simple: find a missing brother. As this is a C.T. Ferguson novel there were to be plenty of twists and turns along the way as well as some good old fashioned fist fights. C.T. is one of my favourite characters because he’s a good guy but he blurs the line between 'good guy' and 'bad guy' methods. If you’re new to Tom Fowler’s writing then this is a great book to read. I think I personally enjoyed it more having read the first book as I like that feeling of revisiting a character I’ve grown to like. That said this book works perfectly well as a stand-alone and is a fun entertaining read all about a P.I. with a good heart trying to help people who need it, and he’s not afraid to cross a line or two if he needs to! The best recommendation for any book is if you want more by the author and I certainly do.