Killer Swell: A Noah Braddock Novel    by Jeff Shelby Order:  USA  Can Dutton, 2005 (2005) Hardcover     Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton Jeff Shelby's Killer Swell is the first in a new series featuring detective Noah Braddock. Noah lives in San Diego and in this episode, he works with his friend Carter to find Jeff's missing ex-girlfriend, Kate Crier. Noah hasn't seen Kate since high school, having graduated over ten years ago. She broke off their relationship before heading to the East Coast for college, while Noah stayed behind. As the book opens, he is approached by Kate's mother Marilyn to find her missing daughter. What Noah doesn't expect to find soon after their meeting is Kate's corpse stuffed into the trunk of a car. As Noah (with Carter's help) gets closer to the truth behind Kate's death, he runs into a great deal of danger as he finds clues leading to Mexican drug lords, and wonders if Kate found herself in a whole new world after they parted years before - though he finds it hard to believe that his Kate could have been involved with drugs, let alone drug trafficking. Jeff Shelby makes a good start to his series with a very fast and entertaining read in Killer Swell. Having lived in the area for the past six years, the backdrop of San Diego was an added delight for me, and I'm looking forward to Noah Braddock's next adventure. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Mystery books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews