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The Last Justice by Anthony J. Franze

Publishers: Sterling & Ross Publishers,

Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan for New Mystery Reader

More and more lawyers are breaking into print. (It seems that law schools now will have to devote a subject solely for the study of law and fiction writing). And most lawyers are one book wonders… a sudden flash in the pan and we hearing nothing more about them. But here is a lawyer whom I am damn sure we will hear about in the coming years…a name that’s going to be said in the same breath as that of Scott Turow, John Grisham and Steve Martini. That lawyer in Anthony J. Franze and the book that is going to create waves in the legal fiction writing this year is THE LAST JUSTICE.

Only one other legal thriller that I know of has started with the assassination of a judge; that was John Grisham’s THE PELICAN BRIEF. But Franze goes one step further and murders six United States Justices. The question is not who did it, but why it was done. The person called into action is Solicitor General Jefferson McKenna and a multiagency commission is formed to look into the matter.  But the preliminary investigations lead to an unlikely suspect…McKenna himself.  Is the shikhari becoming the shikhar?? 

And so with now more than the quest for truth, McKenna finds himself in a conundrum, to disprove the shadow of suspicion hanging around him. What follows is taut suspense that takes the reader the upper echelons of the hallowed doors of justice…and of what really and truly happens behind closed doors and the venerated chambers. 

Franze’s narrative style is suspense filled and nitty-gritty. It seems that the lawyer has spent much time into researching the subject matter. I felt sort of an Irving Wallace touch in the narration- not in the prose style, but the way the author manages the rich background for carrying on the story. 

2012 has started on a bright note so far as the legal thriller genre is concerned. William Landay’s DEFENDING JACOB proved to be intriguing and with LAST JUSTICE, Franze has proved to be promising lawyer novelist…one from whom we expect more in the future; and Jefferson McKenna has all the tapping of a series protagonist.  Watch this space. 

Start Shooting  by Charlie Newton

Publisher:   Doubleday

Reviewed by Jim Sells, New Mystery Reader 

Reuben Vargas is a Chicago homicide detective. His brother Bobby is tough and smart

street cop. The two brothers are alike in many ways, but differ in their approach to the

job. Bobby still believes in his ability to make a difference while Reuben has succumbed to the temptations that corruption offer.

Now, involvement with Korean gangsters threatens to destroy Reuben and his partner. At the same time, the murder of Bobby’s childhood girlfriend, more than a decade before, threatens him. An investigative reporter has been a series of reports that imply the brothers were responsible for the murder and promise proof. The events overlap when the dead girl’s sister becomes involved.

Newton has penned a first-rate mystery that resembles the works of Wambaugh. The short, terse style works well for the story. However, the style can make the story line difficult to follow at times.

Dying in the Wool by Frances Brody

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

Nearly forgotten in popular fiction, World War I has clearly become a source of inspiration in the current literary revival nearly a hundred years later.  In Frances Brody’s Dying in the Wool, Kate Shackleton has maintained her wits thanks to a strong network of well-wishers and her own curious nature after being widowed four years earlier in the Great War.  Navigating through the English society struggling to return to normal after its physical and mental devastation, Kate helps others who have lost contact with their spouses, children or other relatives through death, bureaucratic uncertainty or misadventure after the war. 

In Dying in the Wool, a school acquaintance of Kate’s, a wealthy millowner’s daughter named Tabitha, requests Kate’s help in finding her missing father in just a few weeks time.  Tabitha, sparkling on the outside and a bit fragile on the inside, plans to marry a young man several years her junior in an attempt to find happiness and perhaps recapture the youth she lost during the war.  Tabitha’s father, Joshua Braithwaite, suffered the loss of his son Edmund on the first day of the Somme, apparently causing a nervous breakdown of sorts and an embarrassing episode in which the local boy scouts found him in great confusion.  His later, seemingly permanent disappearance continues to haunt Tabitha seven years later and she fears that her painful past will snuff out her dreams of future happiness.

Fortunately for Tabitha, Kate’s experience during the war and its aftermath resulted in a determination to find the truth, undimmed by social conventions or gender bias and supported by a tender heart towards others who have suffered.  Kate’s family may believe that her husband is really and truly dead, but Kate shares Tabitha’s hope that their loved ones are just missing and confused, perhaps, or somewhere in need of their aid.  The fighting by soldiers may be over, but the war still affects everyone in this story.

Brody evokes a genuine sense  of the regrets and ongoing concerns felt by those who lived through the rebuilding efforts, especially those in the more economically comfortable classes who feel the  economic currents in a way modern readers understand, without an unrelatable nobility found in other books whose heroines seem to have little trouble scraping by.  Sympathetic character development appears throughout and enhances the believability of both immediate victims and their survivors.

Readers who appreciate Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs series and Charles Todd’s Bess Crawford mysteries should find Brody’s Kate Shackleton mysteries worth investigating.

The Look of Love by Mary Jane Clark

Publisher: William Morrow 

Reviewed by Robin Thomas, New Mystery Reader

Beauty can be deadly in the City of Angels. In The Look of Love, Piper finds this out all too soon after accepting a job in Los Angeles to bake a wedding cake for Jillian Abernathy. The job includes a round trip ticket to Los Angeles and an all expense paid stay at the luxurious Elysium spa. The timing is right for Piper; she has moved back in with her parents who are smothering her, her fiancé has called off their wedding and she is having relationship issues with FBI agent Jack Lombardi who wants to be more than friends. Even before Piper arrives, bad things are happening at Elysium and Jillian is the target. The Abernathy family attempts to block the bad publicity that the spa is getting due to the series of untimely and fatal events occurring at Elysium. Piper learns that love can cause people to make fatal decisions.

The Look of Love is the second installment in Mary Jane Clark’s Wedding Cake mystery series. Piper is a realistic protagonist who is a struggling actress suffering with commitment issues. She has been burned once and is being overly cautious. Her relationship with Jack Lombardi is strained as his interests go beyond friendship while she keeps her distance, protecting her heart from being broken again.

The author uses short chapters to provide the reader with a range of perspectives as the whodunit unfolds and the danger escalates at the spa. The book is a quick read and the author keeps the reader questioning their list of suspects up until the final chapters. I highly recommend The Look of Love and plan to read the first in the series because this book was so enjoyable.

Hard Target by Howard Gordon

Publisher: Touchstone

Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

Riding high on the success of his recent Golden Globes win for Best Television Drama with the show he penned, HOMELAND, Howard Gordon once again revisits the world of print fiction with the second novel in the Gideon Davis series --- HARD TARGET.

This time around, Gideon is facing a threat to our nation that exists at the very heart of it.  Home-grown terrorists with a serious chip on their shoulder towards the U.S. and their government are planning an attack on the Capitol that will literally cripple the entire governmental system.  Planned for the night of the President’s State of the Union Address, this band of fanatics have their sights set on taking out the government in one fell swoop.

The only thing standing between the terrorists and their target is Gideon Davis and his brother, Tillman.  In GIDEON’S WAR, Gideon Davis and his brother Tillman were pitted against each other --- or so we thought.  Now joined together and with the help of Gideon’s ex-girlfriend and FBI Agent, Nancy Clement, they represent a small band of patriots with a large task to handle.

Tillman does his part by going undercover and joining the ranks of the conspirators while Gideon and Nancy try to enlist support from the rest of the FBI and anyone who will listen to guard the nation’s Capitol.  Nancy’s boss, Director Dahlgren, has serious reservations about trusting Tillman Davis and his meth-head informant within the white supremacist group planning the attack.  Additionally, the FBI does not want to overreact against a bunch of hicks and create another Waco.

The Davis brothers realize they are mixed up with some really bad people who have an anti-government agenda that is quite alarming.  When two of the leaders of the rebel group, Jim Verhoven and his sadistic wife, Lorene, take Tillman into their circle of trust they share with him their deadly intent to decapitate the entire top tier of the US government.  Even though they know about the group’s plans, the Davis’ are in a race against time to stop them since no one takes the threat seriously and many of the players involved have their own hidden agendas.

HARD TARGET is far more dramatic and slower-paced than the high-turbo action of the previous novel, GIDEON’S WAR.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  Howard Gordon uses his knowledge of the U.S. government’s inner workings coupled with the twists and turns that make his series HOMELAND such a treat and pushes them to the extreme.  The most frightening reality within HARD TARGET is the fact that those who are capable of causing the most damage to our nation may be currently living safely within it.  A solid, suspenseful read!

The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau

Publisher: Touchstone

Reviewed by Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

The Crown recreates the unstable world of the religious orders who try desperately to hold onto their convents and monasteries after the advent of Henry VIII’s English Reformation.  Young novice Sister Joanna Stafford grew up in an old noble family of enormous privilege but Joanna’s experience with the sympathetic figure of the pious, feisty but dying Katherine of Aragon encouraged Joanna to seek the life of a Dominican nun.  Thanks to her half-Spanish heritage and her inquisitive nature, Joanna has many skills that make her the perfect candidate to be used by a paranoid former favorite of the king, Bishop Stephen Gardiner.  Gardiner believes that Joanna’s priory at Dartford shelters a legendary artifact of great symbolic and mystical importance, potentially embodying the key to saving England.

Joanna’s habit of breaking rules means that few trust her and her family’s recent disgrace makes her wary of others.  Fortunately, her intelligence and earnestness encourage readers to cheer her on in a well-written, illuminating treasure hunt filled with key historical figures and believable supporting characters.

Author Nancy Bilyeau has certainly researched the Tudor era well, both the court politics surrounding an aging, volatile monarch struggling to get an heir and the confusion permeating the lives of the common people as to what religious beliefs they should support in order to preserve their lives.  She accurately describes where a condemned person could expect to die, depending on method of execution, and includes the Protestant influences that infiltrated England at this time while Henry and his advisors determined what kind of Catholicism they would allow. 

There are some questions, however, about a couple of oddities in The Crown, such as claiming Jane Seymour supported old-style Catholicism and thoroughly assassinating the character of George Boleyn.  While historians tend to fall on either Team Anne Boleyn or Team Katherine of Aragon, most agree that Anne’s brother George was falsely charged and executed.  The backstory concerning George Boleyn does not point readers to the murderer’s identity so readers of this review will still have the opportunity to be surprised at the final unveiling.   Regardless, readers intrigued by the fiction of Phillippa Gregory and Dan Brown should be pleased by Nancy Bilyeau’s The Crown.

The Cat Sitter’s Pajamas by Blaize Clement

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by Robin Thomas, New Mystery Reader

Pet sitting is a very dangerous profession for Dixie Hemingway. Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Cupcake Trillin (I had a good laugh at the image of a linebacker called “Cupcake”) and his wife hire Dixie Hemingway to take care of their precious cats, Elvis and Lucy, while on vacation. As a pet sitter, Dixie provides valued care to pampered pets and reassurance to their owners that all will be well during their absence. When Dixie stops by the Trillin home to care for the cats, she finds a woman scantly clad who claims she is Cupcake’s wife and a dead body. The fake “wife” is actually a fashion model who knew Cupcake when they were children. When she becomes the police’s prime suspect, she begs Dixie to help her clear her name. Dixie agrees despite her better judgment and quickly finds that she is in the midst of a load of trouble.

The Cat Sitter’s Pajamas is the seventh book in the Dixie Hemingway series. Blaize Clement takes time to fully develop the secondary characters in the book; in particular the four-legged ones. Through Dixie the reader gets to know their quirky personalities and often I found the pets to be more interesting than their human owners. Dixie is a very believable character. She struggles with the grief of the death of her husband and child. As a results of the hardships she has experienced; being a pet sitter fits her emotional state much better than her previous career on the police force. The whodunit in The Cat Sitter’s Pajamas is very well crafted and keeps the reader’s interest throughout the book. The author saves the most stunning revelation of the story for the last couple of pages of the novel. The Dixie Hemingway series is set on Siesta Key in Florida. The author vividly describes the area enveloping the reader in the tropical climate, vegetation and wildlife. While reading the book I feel in love with the Keys and the delightful pets that are in Dixie’s care. By the end of the book I was ready to get on a plane, move to Florida and see if I could find a job as a pet sitter.

Blaize Clement passed away in July of 2011 before she finished this installment.  Fortunately her son was able to complete this book and intends to continue the series. I just loved The Cat Sitter’s Pajamas and although I was deeply saddened about the tragic loss of Ms. Clement, I was delighted to know that the series will continue. I highly recommend not only this book but also all the books in the Dixie Hemingway series.

Oath Of Office by Michael Palmer

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

Michael Palmer has been writing edge-of-your-set medical thrillers for several decades and firmly taken the place of Robin Cook in that genre.  His last few novels have ventured out into pure thriller territory and with a nice political spin!

His latest effort, OATH OF OFFICE, combines both the medicine and politics to create a novel that has very current and relevant themes at its core.  The story opens with a well-respected but curiously troubled Doctor named John Meacham going on a shooting spree in his own office and killing several people before taking his own life.

The results of this tragedy are placed at the feet of Dr. Lou Welcome, the counselor who had worked to get Dr. Meacham’s medical license restored after it was revoked due to prescription drug addiction.  Welcome does not want to believe that the two acts are related so he begins to look into the homicidal act to find out what the actual root cause was.

Welcome’s search quickly pits him against powerful opponents.  He uses his position as a physician with the PWO --- Physician Wellness Office --- to look further into the Meacham case.  When a few other cases of people acting out sorts or maniacal occur, Welcome suspects that this is no mere coincidence and delves further into the investigation.

His journey leads him to a small town named Kings Ridge where the residents have been acting odder than usual.  Ironically, this is also the town of multi-millionaire William Chester, the head of Chester Enterprises.  Chester is a major food magnate and Lou and the colleagues he enlists to aid him in his efforts find out first-hand just how powerful Chester is when they find themselves nearly mowed down in one of his huge corn-fields.

Death by a corn thrasher is more than just a sick coincidence when it turns out that this very corn (and other produce being manufactured by Chester Enterprises) may have been genetically tampered with.  Could this tampered food be behind the behavioral changes of the local residents and possibly have brought about the homicidal reactions of Dr. Meacham?

As frightening as this premise is for Welcome, it does not come near the greater revelation that he uncovers.  Could the White House itself have been behind the genetically tampered food products?  If yes, the next question would have to be to what end was this being done?  That answer is one that Welcome is definitely not prepared for and will terrify readers with how eerily plausible this discovery is.

Michael Palmer continues to evolve as a writer and his ability to leap from purely medically driven thrillers into novels that pack such strong political overtones like OATH OF OFFICE shows of an author at the top of his game.  With well-researched and shockingly relevant fiction like this it scares me as to what Mr. Palmer will think up next!

Gideon’s Corpse by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Publisher:  Grand Central Publishing

Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

With the introduction of Gideon Crew, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have created one of the most unique protagonists in modern fiction.  First seen in the novel, GIDEON’S SWORD, Gideon Crew jumped off the pages with a background utterly unique.  Not only is he a brilliant nuclear scientist but he also suffers from a rare form of brain aneurysm and has been diagnosed with less than a year to live.

Actually, it could be anywhere from a few months to a year.  All Gideon knows is that when his time comes it will be sudden and extremely painful.  Needless to say, Gideon has both a huge chip on his shoulder and the determination to do as much good as he can before his time is up.  In GIDEON’S CORPSE, he is called into action immediately by his mysterious benefactor, Mr. Glinn.  Glinn runs an organization in the meat-packing district of NYC known simply as Effective Engineering Solutions.  This is an obvious front for a group that gets involved in some deeply important and underground stuff on behalf of the U.S. Government.

Gideon’s latest assignment is simple --- infiltrate a hostage crisis taking place in Queens, New York.  The alleged hostage taker is a former Los Alamos colleague of Gideon’s by the name of Chalker.  Gideon enters a street scene filled with all forms of law enforcement and scientific teams who are on the ready to take down Chalker.  As Gideon gets close enough to speak with Chalker through the front door of the Queens home, he finds the formerly mild-mannered scientist to be delusional, paranoid and screaming that he is ‘burning up’.

Gideon helps to eventually resolve the situation --- but Chalker is killed and the burning feeling he professed so loudly about was a fear of radiation poisoning.  Everyone involved is quarantined and cleaned.  Upon release, Gideon is teamed up with an FBI Agent named Stone Fordyce and put on the trail of a nuclear bomb.  Where did this bomb come from?  After examination of Chalker’s tiny basement apartment, it looks like Mr. Chalker may have built a nuclear weapon for a group of Islamic terrorists.  It also appears that Chalker himself has converted to Islam and may have been part of a Jihadist sect.

With fear running rampant that a nuke will be set off in either NYC or the Capitol in D.C., Gideon and Fordyce must work quickly to find out where the bomb is and who else is behind it.  By the diary found in Chalker’s apartment it seems like there are only 9 days until the terrorist attack.  What occurs next is a race against the clock thriller that does not let up until the final page is turned.  Gideon and Fordyce chase down all potential leads including a subversive militant group in the Midwest, a potential leak within Los Alamos and a famous fiction writer named Simon Blaine.

It is Simon Blaine who is the most confusing suspect as he is an internationally famous writer that Chalker seemed to read a lot of (even possessing several personalized signed volumes of his work).  Gideon and Fordyce find it hard to see Blaine’s involvement in this mess.  Additionally, Gideon finds himself entangled with Blaine’s daughter, Alida --- a feisty and headstrong young woman who teams with Gideon to clear her father’s name and help find the real culprits.

Things take a startling turn when Gideon is exposed by the U.S. Government as being involved with Chalker in the plans for the terrorist attack.  A series of emails are discovered between Gideon and Chalker outlining their support of Islam and professing a destiny of Hellfire for all Muslim enemies.  Gideon knows these are false --- but now has his own partner, Fordyce, on his trail.  He also has Alida doubting his actions and faces a solitary battle to prove his own innocence, uncover the set-up that has been perpetrated against him at the highest level of government and stop the terrorist attack before time runs out.

It is during Gideon’s own crusade that he uncovers something far worse than a nuclear attack.  What if that alleged attack was a smoke-screen hiding the true deadly intent of the villainous group behind this panic?  A file called OPERATION CORPSE is found on author Simon Blaine’s laptop.  It is the outline for a proposed novel about the release of the smallpox virus upon mankind and the devastation that could cause.  Gideon realizes that someone is looking to turn fiction into reality and cause destruction on a global viral scale!

After reading and thoroughly enjoying the first novel in this series, GIDEON’S SWORD, I still longed for Preston and Child to return to their heralded Pendergast series.  Now, with the completion of GIDEON’S CORPSE, I am more than happy to patiently await the continuation of the Pendergast series AFTER they finish up the saga of Gideon Crew.  Gideon is a thoroughly engaging character who will instantly appeal to all readers fortunate enough to dive into his adventures and Preston and Child are masterful storytellers at the top of their game obviously enjoying uncovering the layers of their complex and driven new protagonist.  Bravo!

Gone West by Carola Dunn

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

In her novels, Agatha Christie routinely gathered examples of high society and sequestered them in mansions, trains or other places in which their contact with the outside world was limited.  By doing this she not only reduced the number of possible suspects but also allowed the killer and survivors to marinate in fear and other simmering tensions until secrets gushed and the murderer was revealed.

In her own fashion, Carola Dunn has created a similar setting except that, excepting a snobby noble and his equally “snooty” manservant, the characters are more middling in class and the large estate becomes a sprawling but informal farmhouse where the servants leave at four in the afternoon and the family members work hard to maintain their farm.

Writer and amateur sleuth Daisy Dalrymple joins her friend Sybil at the remote farm after Sybil confesses that she fears someone is purposely making her employer ill.  Sybil works as a secretary for an older gentleman named Humphrey whose literary plots in popular novels center on his work as a cowhand in the American Wild West years earlier, enabling him to help fund the farm and his only child, Simon.  Simon styles himself as a writer but primarily spends money and avoids doing as much work as possible, especially when in the company of his friends like Neil Carey, a playwright who revels in penning controversial and censored plays.  His cousin, a vivacious teenager named Myra, returns to the farm when she’s spent all of her money in London and this time she’s joined by a thirty-something year-old admirer who’s all city and no spunk.  Rounding out the group are Lorna and Norman, Humphrey’s younger siblings disappointed by Humphrey’s reappearance just in time to claim his inheritance thirty years before.

The first section of the book reads more like a quaint English amateur detective story but Alec’s arrival shifts the investigation into a police procedural.  Daisy and Alec seem to have finally conceded to each spouse’s needs regarding murder cases and work as a productive team much more effectively than in the past.  Gone West, a pun not only on the Wild West fiction detailed within but also means a death or disappearance, adding wit to a strong installment in the Daisy Dalrymple series.

1222 by Anne Holt

Publisher: Atlantic Books

Reviewed by Robin Thomas, New Mystery Reader

1222 is a Nordic crime fiction that elegantly recreates Agatha Christie’s “locked room” whodunit technique in an isolated hotel where the guests are stranded due to a horrendous snow blizzard. A train on its way to Bergen from Oslo derails in a severe snowstorm, killing the conductor at an altitude of 1,222 meters above sea level. Using the altitude as the title of the book is unusual because it is a minor fact in the book and provides the reader with little or no information. I found the title to be so intriguingly different that it drew me into book just to understand how it tied to the plotline. It was clear from the cover that 1222 was different and as I read on I found that Anne Holt had created a contemporary mystery that leveraged the classic charm of Christie’s And Then There Were None.

Hanne Wilhelmsen is one of the passengers on the train, she is a retired police inspector who was shot in the line of duty and is left paralyzed having to use a wheel chair to get around. Hanne is a bristly character who has modified her observation skills to accommodate her disability. Little did she know that those skills would come in handy because as the passengers settle in to wait out the storm, some are dying and not of natural causes. Hanne is asked to use her investigative skills to help figure out who is the murderer in their midst. She worries about how long they will be trapped due to the storm and fears the night because that is when the murderer strikes. The passengers are quirky characters that add depth and complexity to the story and Hanne’s investigation. The author uses these secondary characters to weave subplots and red herrings into the novel that leave the reader guessing until the end. As the death toll rises so does the suspense and the level of anxiety of the passengers. Hanne mingles with the passengers to draw out clues and ultimately to figure out who is doing the killing and why. In classic Christie manner, Hanne gathers all the passengers and shares her insights and ultimately the identity of the murderer.

Anne Holt is a former Norwegian Minister of Justice and her books have topped the charts in Norway and many other European countries. 1222 is the eighth book in the series and the others are in the process of being translated. Not having knowledge of what happens in the earlier books in the series has no impact on the delightful experience of reading this book. It only whets the appetite for more experiences with Hanne and to understand the events that led up to her getting shot. The only minor regret I had about the book is that the ending feels a bit rushed but overall this is a wonderful mystery and I can’t wait to read the other books in the series once they are available.

Taken by Robert Crais

Publisher: Putnam

Reviewed by Don Crouch, New Mystery Reader

Taken is the latest in Crais’ noted run of teeth-gnashing palm-sweaters to feature, in some shape, form or fashion, Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

The series’ standing among the premier of its’ ilk is a surprise to no one that notices.  Crais is an NYT Top 10 regular, so his days as a “genre-fave” are long behind him. He’s transcended to torch-bearing game-changer.  So it’s comforting to mention here that Crais has again kicked it up another notch and delivered an episode of soul-stirring thrills.

Taken commences with the, well, taking of Jack Berman and Krista Morales.  What begins as 70’s-romantic nostalgia quickly becomes terror as they stumble into a human-traffic transaction and become collateral ransom.  Fast forward a few days and Krista’s mother hires Elvis to find her.  Then Crais moves us forward to an action-flashpoint with Joe Pike and Jon Stone.  These jolts start out jarring, like they’re supposed to, in order to set the rhythm that Crais is building...to keep us limber....the early flashes of action help build tension for future events, and sometimes you don’t even know it!

Crais created some strategic challenges for himself with Taken, and he responded by expanding (exploding?) his narrative palette . In creating what can briefly be described as Tarentino-esque plotting, Crais gives himself the freedom of multiple moving parts.  Location, story arcs and character beats all serve to keep the reader learning just enough to stay afloat.

And then he does this: somewhere in the middle third of Taken, he pulls us totally out of the story and spends some time looking at how events affect Joe Pike. It’s Joe, Elvis’ cat, and a car. But it puts us square in the sights of what is the essence of Joe Pike, and it resonates in ways both subtle and direct throughout the book.  It’s why Crais is a heavyweight.

The broad palette Crais manages in Taken involves human-trafficking and the filth it spreads. Of course, the long-neglected US Immigration system, whose margins allow human-traffic slime to thrive, is a big part of what Crais wants us to pay attention to.

The multi-national roots of the human-traffic hell-world are what Elvis must use to rescue Jack and Krista as he attempts to infiltrate the system.

Of course, Elvis gets taken. What follows is in the high-body-count Crais tradition we’ve all come to know and love, because these are high-stakes affairs, folks, and our guys are not messing around.

The emotional core is, of course, the bro-mance.  Crais’ primary themes always are seasoned with “friendships forged in fire”.  Elvis loves to talk about their friendship...yeah, Elvis pretty much loves to talk about anything....while Joe generally speaks via behavior. In Taken, he does so loudly. But Crais does shine a little more inner light on to Joe’s processes, and it’s always welcome.

Crais regs will find much to love here. Those freshly on-boarding will have no problems getting up to speed. Taken is another big step forward for a writer we’ve been trained to expect nothing less from. Sit down, strap in and HAVE FUN!

Vigilante by Stephen J. Cannell

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Reviewed by Jim Sells, New Mystery Reader

Scully and Hitch are veteran LA detectives. They’ve been around long enough to know that the high profile murder of gang activist Lita Mendez will prove little but trouble. Add to that the close scrutiny of Nixon Nash, crime reality show host, then the mix is volatile.

The nature of the victim is one factor that makes for a difficult case. Mendez had bought a phenomenal of lawsuits against the LAPD for alleged misconduct. Scully and Hitch are deceived into arresting innocent suspects by Nash thereby wasting valuable time and giving Nash juicy material for his sensational show. Nash seems to be three moves ahead on everything. The two detectives must navigate a political minefield under intense media scrutiny while trying to solve the Mendez case and another cold case that could be related. When a Captain of Internal Affairs becomes a suspect, there comes the real possibility of riots in the street.

Cannell is a master storyteller. His experience in creating more than fifty television series is evident in the development and depth of his fictitious characters. His style keeps the reader guessing right to the end. This a superior work in the tradition of Joseph Wambaugh.  

Down the Darkest Road by Tami Hoag

Publisher: Dutton Adult

Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader

Hoag returns to her idyllic setting of Oak Knoll, CA a small college town nestled between the mountains and coastline of Southern California.  And not only do readers get a chance to catch up with the cast from her previous novels, but also get the opportunity to meet some new characters who are just as compelling.

It was about four years ago that Lauren Lawton's perfect life was torn to shreds while living in Santa Barbara.  It started when her beautiful teen daughter went missing on the way home from a softball game, with all that was found of her was her bicycle on the side of the road.  And while it soon became clear who was responsible and who most likely ended her daughter's life, the lack of evidence left the culprit free to walk the streets and to secretly harass Lauren's family.  But the tragedy didn't end there when two years later her husband, unable to bear the burden of it all, drove off a cliff in what most presumed a suicide.

So now Lauren has relocated to Oak Knoll with her younger daughter, now a teen herself, and with the same amount of emotional scars her mother has.  But what makes matters worse is that the suspect in her daughter's disappearance is also a recent resident, and once again, terror lurks behind a series of unexplained  events surrounding these desperate survivors.

Taking place in the early 90s, Hoag does a stellar job at reminding us how difficult it was to prosecute a case a mere 20 years ago that today would be a slam dunk.  Without the help of DNA and other forensic advances, the chances of walking away from such brutal crimes were more often the rule than the exception.  And with the lack of tools such as the Sex Offender Registry, tracking offenders was even more of an impossibility. 

Hoag gets just about everything right in this one.  However, some might find that following along with the mother and daughter's guilt and grief can become overwhelming at times; the repetition of relentless agony almost unbearable after awhile.  But that aside, this read offers not only plenty of suspense, but enough fully-drawn characters that easily invoke empathy, to make this a read nearly impossible to put down or to forget once done so.  Emotionally taxing it may be, but well worth every second, this one comes highly recommended.      

A Killer Christmas in Wales by Elizabeth J. Duncan

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Reviewed by Robin Thomas, New Mystery Reader

Llanelen, Wales is a wonderful example of a small town in that residents who have lived there for a couple of years are still considered newcomers. The Christmas holidays are approaching, Penny Brannigan and Victoria Hopkirk are preparing for the opening of their new spa. The town is also abuzz about the arrival of Harry Saunders, an American who has worked on crew ships and is a ballroom dance instructor. Harry has great charm and good looks. As he gets to know the townspeople his interests focus on Evelyn Lloyd, a well-to-do widow. Evelyn quickly falls for his attention despite the warnings of all of her friends. When Harry is found dead, Evelyn becomes the prime suspect. Evelyn asks for Penny’s help, as the town’s amateur sleuth, to figure out who killed Harry and to clear her good name.

A Killer’s Christmas in Wales is a delightful read and a wonderful way to get into the Christmas spirit. This is Elizabeth Duncan’s third cozy mystery set in Wales with Penny Brannigan as the amateur sleuth. The author does a fantastic job of bringing Llanelen to life and immersing the reader in the lives of Penny, Detective Inspector Garth Davies, Victoria, and all of the other townspeople. While reading the book I could easily visualize the quaint beauty of the town. All of the characters are realistic and I felt that the author did a particularly good job capturing the relationship between Penny and Garth. They are dating but are more mature. Each have important careers and they genuinely care for each other but are cautious about their future together. The author expertly crafts the whodunit, she weaves several “red herrings” into the plotline that keep the story interesting and the reader curious to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed this return to Llanelen and another opportunity to solve a mystery with Penny Brannigan and her friends. I highly recommend this lovely Christmas-themed cozy mystery.

Swift Edge by Laura DiSilverio

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Reviewer: Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

Charlie Swift is used to being tough.  Formerly of the Air Force, Swift now owns a PI business called Swift Investigations with a quirky partner and bills piling up.  Unlike many hard-nosed PIs, Charlie is short for Charlotte and she has to prove herself everyday.

In Swift Edge, teenage skating star Dara Peterson hires Charlie to find her missing skating partner, Dmitri Fane.  Dmitri, in his twenties and full of his own hype, has been known to disappear before but this time it’s only a few days before Nationals, a required competition if the duo hopes to make it to the next Olympics. 

In this case, part-time employee Kendall finally becomes useful with her own skating background and information that almost makes up for her smart alecky attitude and tendency to literally burn through the agency’s coffeepots.  Kendall, daughter of Charlie’s brightly gussied up partner, Gigi, has a crush on Dmitri, leaving her with her own agenda to find the highly ranked skater.

Meanwhile, Gigi’s amusingly recounted fascination with hi-tech gadgets prominent on TV shows gives her the confidence to follow leads on her own case, tracking a homeless teen nicknamed Kungfu.  While Gigi clearly shows her naiveté and inexperience, her resourcefulness and economic necessity ensures that she has a tenacity to match Charlie’s, even if Charlie doesn’t yet believe it.

True to its name, Swift Edge moves quickly and with a strong but pleasant flow.  Author Laura DiSilverio allows both Charlie and Gigi to show heart without being treacly.  While Gigi’s partnership may have been initially unwanted by both of them, it’s clear that their unlikely business deal gives this PI/Cozy series legs.   

Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause by Mignon F. Ballard

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

Set during World War II, Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause tells the story of a small town in the United States whose preoccupations with war and young romance are suddenly interrupted with the discovery of a body. 

Author Mignon Ballard weaves the daily details of life on the American homefront into the murder mystery, making the local violence almost secondary to the rations and home and true deprivation and death in the European and the Pacific arenas.  Even the discovery of the young woman’s body occurs when the local school children enjoy a quick picnic after picking cotton on the Hutchinson farm to help the war effort. 

Miss Dimple, a calm, lovely schoolteacher, quietly observes and gently persuades her friends and charges to help each other on a regular basis, making her subtle suggestions on solving the case neither unwelcome nor unexpected.  Ballard periodically refers to an earlier investigation involving Miss Dimple and the town seems to genuinely look up to the sixty-something detective.

In spite of Miss Dimple’s status, plenty of other townspeople try to piece together what they know, especially after one of their own suffers a gunshot wound behind the scenes of the womanless wedding fundraiser, the sort of event that proved popular in many of the era’s small towns, eliciting funds and giggles during a time of food rationing and gas shortages.

Throughout the story, the young women in the community worry about the brothers and lovers fighting overseas, while stepping up to help in the various war effort activities.  Ballard makes these relationships seem personal by describing Charlie Carr, a teacher in her twenties, who hopes to marry Will Sinclair after the war is over. 

Filled with knowledge of the era (although an error slips in concerning the 1936 novel Gone With the Wind claims that Melanie shot a Union soldier rather than Scarlett), Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause will best entertain readers who enjoy old-fashioned cozies reminiscing about the best parts of humanity during the mid-twentieth century, without delving into the cultural changes soon to occur.