"No Good Time" By Cathi Stoler: Review/Giveaway

Review by Terrance McArthur

Details at the end of this post on how to enter to win an ebook copy of the book and a link to purchase it. 

What do the red eyes of rats in a dark warehouse have to do with art forgery? It’s all a part of No Good Time, Cathi Stoler’s third Nick Donovan Adventure.

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Nick is a professional gambler––smooth, smart-mouthed, and James Bond-ish, with a winning smile. Blackjack is his game of choice. His lady, Marina DiPietro, a former British Intelligence agent, is asked to help Lady Gabriella Peake Jones—their upstairs neighbor who works at a trendy London museum—when a loaned painting is identified as a forgery, after repeated approvals, and the blame will land on Gabi. Nick suspects a long con, a swindle that may take a year or more to complete. He is plunged into the world of art forgery, dodgy finance, and murder.

As Nick learns about confidence games, he begins to identify people who would play the parts in the scam:

The Mark—who is being swindled, the victim. The Grifter—who sets up the con.

The Roper—who doesn’t seem to be part of the con, but they are.

The Shill—who happens to meet the Mark, strikes up a friendship or relationship, and leads the victim into the web of deceit.

The Inside Man—who sells the painting to the Mark.

The Second Inside Man—who steers the con to defraud the museum.

It’s an intricate pattern of fraud and deception. On top of that, Nick discovers another shady situation involving art and his father, a banker who is in London for work and a family vacation.

The fun comes in seeing how characters in the story fit into the parts of The Sting (and I admit to mentally hearing Scott Joplin music from the Redford/Newman movie). Stoler fits the puzzle pieces together with style. You’ll get ritzy casinos, “reformed” forgers, tough guys, abduction, saucy women, and rats—definitely rats.

No Good Time combines a caper mystery, told from the viewpoint of someone outside the con, with London travel, betrayal, and the fun relationship and banter of Nick and Marina. (Stoler also writes the Corner Bar books, New York City-based suspense-thrillers.)

Nick Donahue gives you a breezy adventure with bite. Dig in!

To enter to win an ebook copy of No Good Time, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "no good time,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen September 20, 2025. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like. 

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section in Kings River Life and in our mystery category here on KRL News & Reviews. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. And check out our new mystery podcast which features mystery short stories and first chapters read by local actors! 

You can click here to purchase this book.

Terrance V. Mc Arthur is newly retired as a Librarian in Fresno County, California. He is also a storyteller, puppeteer, magician, and maker of pine needle baskets. On top of that he writes stories that range from rhymed children's tales to splatterpunk horror. He's an odd bird, but he's nice to have around.

Disclosure: This post contains links to an affiliate program, for which we receive a few cents if you make purchases. KRL also receives free copies of most of the books that it reviews, that are provided in exchange for an honest review of the book.