Discover new selections
$6.99 with 22 percent savings
Digital List Price: $8.99

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Sold by Amazon.com Services LLC.

Audiobook Price: $17.46

Save: $15.47 (89%)

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Lily Gardner
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Betting Blind Kindle Edition

by Lily Gardner (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

From the author of A Bitch Called Hope, the search for a blackmailer turns into a murder investigation for an ex-cop-turned-private-investigator. 

In the rainy city of Portland, Matilda Bauer has been blackmailing her parole officer, Fulin Chen. Just when Fulin’s ready to come clean, Matilda disappears. Bad news for Fulin, because once Matilda is arrested for breaking parole, she’ll show the photos she has on him and end his career. Fulin turns to his longtime friend and poker buddy, Lennox Cooper, P.I., to help him find the beautiful blonde con-woman.

A former cop, Lennox knows how it feels to live and breathe the police life—and to be thrown out of it. She'll do anything to help her friend avoid a similar fate. But three days later Lennox finds Matilda dead, in what looks like a sex game gone terribly wrong. Fulin Chen is the lead suspect. Lennox's search for Matilda, however, causes her to begin turning over rocks, finding that her past lies under many of them—not to mention deadly threats. Matilda Bauer had no shortage of enemies, though, and Lennox will have to sift through the many blackmail victims and jilted lovers to find the real killer.

Praise for A Bitch Called Hope

“A well-crafted mystery novel with a heroine you can root for, plenty of action and a satisfying ending.”―Phillip Margolin, New York Times–bestselling author of Capitol Murder

“A noir with heart…Beware, it's hard to put down.”―Cara Black, New York Times–bestselling author of the Aimee Leduc mysteries

Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    237 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Diversion Books
  4. Publication date
    March 29, 2016
  5. File size
    4.3 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Like many writers before her, Lily Gardner has spent much of her life as a factotum, working as a bartender, a vet assistant and a bookkeeper. She’s managed a bookstore, sold crystals, herbs and fine jewelry. And has written articles on mythology and goddess lore for ten years.

Lily's first novel, A Bitch Called Hope, is a noir mystery set on the rainy streets of Portland, Oregon. Her second novel, Betting Blind, will publish in March, 2016. Lily lives in Portland with her husband, two corgis and several thousand books.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B087WJVSKB
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Diversion Books (March 29, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 29, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4.3 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 237 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 19 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Lily Gardner

Lily Gardner

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Lily Gardner lives in Portland with her husband, two corgis and several thousand books. "A Bitch Called Hope" was Lily's first mystery, followed by "Betting Blind" published in 2016, and "All In" in May, 2018. Lily loves all things noir. For dandy reviews of film noir and detective novels, check out Lily's web site: www.lilygardner.net

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
19 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Customers say

Customers find the book to be a great read with interesting characters.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more

4 customers mention "Readability"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be a great read, with one customer noting it builds well upon the author's first book.

"I loved her first book and this one was no exception. I could not put this book down. I'm hooked on Lennox and look forward to the next book...." Read more

"...for follow up book to arrive and yep, chapter 1 is off to an excellent start. YEA!" Read more

"This is a fast paced, fun read with a wonderfully strong and quick witted protagonist and a great descriptions of the Portland cityscape." Read more

"Great read! Built well upon this author's first book, A Bitch Named Hope. Those familiar with Portland Oregon will recognize many locations." Read more

3 customers mention "Character development"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the character development in the book, with one mentioning the quick-witted protagonist.

"...Great story, characters you believe in and fun to read about the city we love." Read more

"This is a fast paced, fun read with a wonderfully strong and quick witted protagonist and a great descriptions of the Portland cityscape." Read more

"Great book characters are interesting and amusing" Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Julie Feely
    5.0 out of 5 stars Another fantastic novel by Lily Gardner
    Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I loved her first book and this one was no exception. I could not put this book down. I'm hooked on Lennox and look forward to the next book. Great story, characters you believe in and fun to read about the city we love.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Aaron C. Brown
    4.0 out of 5 stars Striking and original mystery, with a lot of secondary flaws
    Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2016
    I'm going to start with a complaint about ballot stuffing. How likely is it that someone decides to review their first and only book for Amazon with a five star review that reads like a publisher's blurb within twelve hours of a book becoming available for sale, and with no indication it was purchased from Amazon or received free? These are two of those reviews, and the other two are from people who give only five star reviews to the same handful of books. I received my copy free from NetGalley weeks ago so I had time to read and reflect on the book. I have no connection to the author, and this is my honest opinion.

    There are a lot of good elements in this book, and the main character is strong and original enough for the book to merit four stars. But there are some significant flaws as well.

    One unusual feature that makes the book hard to characterize is that it's the opposite of noir. Classic noir has a beautiful exterior. Good-looking, respectable, well-off appearances mask deep corruption, and all morality are shades of gray. This book has an ugly exterior, the weather is always rainy or worse, the action takes place mainly in the seediest parts of Portland, the characters are mainly scummy criminals and low-level police and parole officers who deal with those people daily, there is a lot of ordinary pain, tedium and boredom. Yet the plot and attitude are those of a light-hearted, comic, romantic mystery; almost what is sometimes called a cozy. There are clear good guys and bad guys, and not a lot of pretense.

    The one noirish aspect is the Internet, which in this book is a place only for pedophiles, blackmailers, rapists and murderous hackers. No one ever gets a friendly email, gets a good laugh from something on line or finds a useful product or service.

    Another unusual feature is the protagonist, a former low-level police officer turned private detective, uses standard police procedural methods. She searches the scene of the crime carefully, canvasses neighbors, tracks down people related to the victim and bullies them into answering routine questions, collects physical evidence and turns it over to specialists, follows people around for days in the vague hope they might do something or meet someone to help crack the case, chasing people, throwing them to the ground and cuffing them without obvious justification for a private citizen, and so on. The logical problem is those methods require the vast manpower of the real police. Most fictional private detectives rely more on brilliance, deception, contacts or other less labor-intensive investigative techniques.

    This technique produces an unusual but interesting story. It will not satisfy people looking for clever logical or psychological insight. Most of the clues lead nowhere, in fact the author seems to forget about them (which will frustrate readers expecting a guess-the-murderer-puzzle). The protagonist plods along making little obvious progress, but badgering lots of people until they lash out. Most of the lashing out only leaves her bruised, but eventually it helps solve the case. It's a little like Spencer used to do (although he also employed some of the other standard fictional detective techniques), but he liked nothing better than being accosted by three professional tough guys he could beat up. The detective in this book can handle herself in a fracas, but not with the supernatural ability of a Spencer and Hawk.

    The author works in a lot of Portland, Oregon street and bridge names--all of which make sense geographically--and a few landmarks like Powell's and the forest-in-the-city, but fails to give the reader a sense or place, and also fails to connect the geography to the plot (with a mild exception in the car crash scene). Nothing conveys the personality or flavor of the city. There is physical description of the city, unrelated to the plot, but little physical description of anything else. The author tells you the smell of a bar, and the attitudes of the patrons, but not the layout or lighting or anything else. You don't know if the poker table that features in several scenes is round or square or polygonal; or what it's made of or how big it is; but you do know the stains on it. You don't know much about her house or porch, except how hard it is to clean things off the siding. It's kind of a janitor's-eye view of things.

    There is a traumatic backstory explaining how the protagonist got kicked off the police force that is repeated too many times. Readers of the first book in the series will already know it (I assume) and others (like me) will get it the first time and not want to obsess over it. The initial investigation and romantic subplots are too disconnected from the rest of the book, they feel like padding. The supporting cast of poker buddies are not differentiated enough, and only one is given much chance to develop. The other supporting characters walk on for one-off scenes necessary for the plot, and are never heard from again. Two thirds of the way through the book, the author starts referring to a character named "Aurora" whom she has forgotten to introduce, but turns out to be somewhat important. The reader has to figure it out by context (it's not that hard, but it's still sloppy writing, and it's typical of the author's disregard for minor characters).

    Poker is central in the book's description and marketing, but it's embarrassing. Only sketchy details are given in the poker scenes, yet the author still manages to have people bet out of turn, check after a bet has been made, fold but remain in the hand, make illegal bets and play in ways that make little sense. The cards and chips are just random background. The protagonist does not think like a poker player, either at the table or away from it. Rather she thinks like a fictional poker player who believes in luck, rejoices at getting good cards and looks in people's faces to instantly know if they are bluffing or not. This is pretty much the opposite of a real serious poker player who believes in the inexorable mathematics of randomness, knows that good cards are dangerous (the best hand wins money from the second-best hand, the worst hand costs nothing) and come in equal proportion to everyone, and balances many small whiffs of inference rather than getting hot flashes of certainty.

    The book rates four stars for originality, a fine central character who develops in a satisfying way and some pretty fair writing. It could stand some improvements in the other elements, and integration of those elements.
    3 people found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Douglas T. Whitneybell
    5.0 out of 5 stars ... excellent start
    Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Okay, this is a little early to review since I just finished the first chapter over lunch. But I had read her first book (liked it) have met Lily at a workshop (liked her). Was sort of tapping my toe waiting for follow up book to arrive and yep, chapter 1 is off to an excellent start. YEA!
    Helpful
     Report
  • Tonstant Weader
    3.0 out of 5 stars Authentic voice - Fair Pllay Mystery
    Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2016
    One thing I know for sure, Betting Blind author Lily Gardner is an authentic Portlander. Portland’s presence in Betting Blind is deep and authentic. The sense of place is powerful, the city sets the mood and it all rings true. The main character even says spendy instead of expensive or costly.

    Lennox is a private investigator, dismissed from the Portland Police Bureau in disgrace and piecing her life back together. Some of her former colleagues are still her friends, aware that her firing while technically fair was plainly unjust. The gather for a weekly poker game where she cleans them out more often than not.

    One of the gang, Fulin, a parole officer, does not show up for the game, it turns out he’s been arrested and hires her to help find a parolee whose put the squeeze on him. Things go bottoms up and soon Lennox is investigating more than a missing parolee, but extortion and murder as well.

    Interestingly one of the clues leads to Second Life® which is the only part of this mystery where Gardner goes astray. It is not just that Gardner revisits the usual sexual deviance tropes that people outside of Second Life concentrate on, but she has skin reddening, people glowering and flipping their hair in irritation.

    The mystery follows all the fair play rules, there’s no secret clues and unknown, unseen reports. Lennox is a smart investigator and does not chase stupid red herrings. There are red herrings, of course, but they aren’t stupid ones.

    I enjoyed Betting Blind and if Lily Gardner continues to write more Lennox Cooper mysteries, I will gladly read them. As a Portlander, I was pleased with her excellent, true to the city setting. As a Second Life resident, I had to roll my eyes a bit. Damn you, C.S.I. New York, you have much to answer for. The novel is fast-paced and the writing is disciplined and efficient. The main character, Lennox is a smart woman, competent and independent. I hope to read many more of her cases in the future.

    I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley

    [...]
    One person found this helpful
    Helpful
     Report
  • Patsy Lally
    5.0 out of 5 stars I read mysteries for much more than the who done ...
    Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I read mysteries for much more than the who done what to whom...I read them to examine the human condition. Lily Gardner takes her flawed characters into situations that require them to stretch and grow. In living with them in her books you get to examine your own self and hold it up to a mirror of the human condition. I am anxious to continue this ride with Lennox in future books because now I'm hooked.
    Helpful
     Report
  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Can't wait for the next Lennox installment!
    Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    This is a fast paced, fun read with a wonderfully strong and quick witted protagonist and a great descriptions of the Portland cityscape.
    Helpful
     Report

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report