Ed Earl Burch Hard-Boiled Texas Crime Thriller: Book 5
Publication Date: December 15, 2025
MAYHEM WITH A BADGE
After wandering the peephole wilderness of a private detective for two decades, defrocked Dallas homicide detective Ed Earl Burch is finally an official manhunter again, wearing the badge of a district attorney’s investigator working in the harsh desert mountains of West Texas.
Big D, it ain’t. And life as a resurrected lawman isn’t everything he hoped it would be. Too many rules. Not enough satisfaction. And a boss who hates him for saving his life.
But Burch is back, playing the same deadly game he mastered as a murder cop, tracking a serial killer who tortured and murdered his ex-lover with a straight razor—an Aryan Brotherhood gang leader Burch thought he killed in a desert shootout.
He’s also trying to protect the fugitive granddaughter of an old friend and her four-year-old son—from this remorseless killer and cartel gunsels hired by her incestuous Dixie Mafia daddy.
Throats get slashed. Bullets smack flesh. Bodies drop. And Ed Earl Burch and his partner, Bobby Quintero, are in reckless pursuit, dodging death, closing in on their prey.
No place Burch would rather be. Unless he gets killed.
His knees might creak, but Ed Earl Burch now has a badge back in hand and is more than ready to use it.
Author Jim Nesbitt serves up the fifth installment featuring the seasoned manhunter in The Fatal Saving Grace. New readers will have no problem jumping in at any point in the series.
Nesbitt deftly creates a clear mental image of the rough-around-the-edges main character. He’s hard talking, but backs everything up with action. On the Texas landscape, he’s as weathered as his favorite pair of leather boots.
This time, he has a personal stake in tracking down a serial killer. Like Dirty Harry, Ed Earl brings the right tools on the hunt and has no problem clearing his path.
The Fatal Saving Grace serves up a top-notch crime thriller full of solid dialogue and dry humor.
Jim Nesbitt has the perfect radio face, bionic knees that can grind coffee beans and tell time and a cat who poaches his cigars and uses his cellphone to place bets on British soccer. He is also a recovering journalist who once chased politicians, neo-Nazis, hurricanes, rodeo cowboys, plane wrecks and the everyday people swept up in a news event who gave his stories depth, authenticity and a distinct voice.
A lapsed horseman, pilot, journalist and saloon sport with a keen appreciation of old guns, vintage cars, red meat, good cigars, aged whisky without an ‘e’ and a well-told story, Nesbitt is also the award-winning author of five hard-boiled Texas crime thrillers that feature battered but relentless Dallas PI Ed Earl Burch — THE LAST SECOND CHANCE, THE RIGHT WRONG NUMBER, THE BEST LOUSY CHOICE, THE DEAD CERTAIN DOUBT and THE FATAL SAVING GRACE.
A diehard Tennessee Vols fan, he now lives in enemy territory — Athens, Alabama — with his wife, Pam, and is working on his sixth Ed Earl Burch novel, THE PERFECT TRAIN WRECK. When he’s off his meds, he’s been known to call himself Reverend Jim and preach the Gospel of Hard-Boiled Crime Fiction.
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Great review, Glad you enjoyed this one. Sounds like a fun read!
Thanks for the terrific review, Amy. Perfect topper for the showcase. Much obliged. Regards, Jim