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Hot, Shot, and Bothered by Nora McFarland

Publisher: Touchstone

Reviewed by Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

Anti-hero Lilly Hawkins has spent most of her adult life trying to amend for her mistakes and crimes from her miserable youth.  Preferring to be anywhere but the center of attention, she excels in her job as a “shooter,” or camera-person, for a local news station.  Things are literally getting hot around her small California town when wildfires blaze out of control, resulting in a small army of firefighters attempting to control the damage. 

Lilly’s personal life has actually solidified with the growth of her relationship of TV personality Rod, although his work on-air may give him a shot at the big time in a new city hours away from little Bakersfield.  Being back in her adolescent stomping grounds forces Lilly to examine her past while deciding what would be best for her future while still shooting the biggest story of her life.

When a body surfaces, both a firefighter and Lilly get the shock of their lives when the dead girl is identified as environmentalist Jessica Egan.  The firefighter, Jessica’s brother, describes his late sister as “trash” on the air while Lilly remembers unexpected Jessica’s sacrifice to protect Lilly over a decade before.  For both Jessica’s brother and Lilly, the unapproved search for Jessica’s killer means learning more about the person Jessica truly was—and why someone might go to great lengths to silence her.

Nora McFarland does an admirable job of making Lilly complex and likeable enough to root for her even though her tally of mistakes is substantial.  Through Hot, Shot, and Bothered, Lilly continues to grow and become more comfortable in her skin even as the identity of Jessica’s killer remains elusive until the heated climax in the latest of the Lilly Hawkins mystery series.

Acceptable Loss by Anne Perry

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Reviewed by Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

A simple yet distinctive silk gentleman’s cravat threatens a man’s life, especially when it’s found wrapped around the neck of a despicable murder victim and its Oscar Wilde-styled owner remains socially acceptable solely because of his father’s powerful position.

In the Victorian-era mystery, River Police Commander William Monk and his wife Hester try to find out who really killed the blackmailing child molester found strangled with the silk cravat owned by Rupert Cardew.  As a nurse in the Crimea, Hester has seen much of the worst of humanity but it’s her life in England that exposes her to significant abuse of young boys.  In fact, Wiliam and Hester’s first-hand knowledge of the trade stems from a case which resulted in their unofficial adoption of one protective young orphan named Scuff. 

While Monk investigates the child trade, his friend Oliver Rathbone represents his father-in-law after Monk accuses the latter of murder.  Rathbone, still feeling guilty after raking Hester and Monk over the coals under oath in a previous case, must reconcile his won doubts with his need to protect his wife, Margaret. 

Anne Perry takes care to construct the dialect of London’s lower social classes while preserving both dignity and intelligence with characters as helpful and resourceful as the villains are vile.  She strives to give Cardew redeeming qualities to make his plight as the suspected murderer more sympathetic, although the motivation behind his actions still remains questionable.

More successfully, Perry creates an interesting juxtaposition of both home and professional lives of aristorcratic Rathbone and middle-class Monk.  Their complicated friendship aids in preventing broad generalizations while demonstrating the rigidity of tradition of the era.

Perry’s characters sometimes discuss pedophilia anachronistically, using descriptions stemming from more modern psychology than in Freudian times and the abuse appears throughout the novel with occasional graphic information.    

Bad Intentions by Karin Fossum

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader

One of the signs of a good writer is if she can so involve you in the story that you forget that it’s “foreign”.  The process is assisted by a good translator, of course. 

Norwegian writer Fossum has a knack for focussing the reader on the mental processes of the criminals in her stories, few of whom are your average bash-and-run types.  In Bad Intentions, there are several crimes, one of which leads to another, and then another, yet none of them are what could be labelled ‘traditional’ murders. 

I picked this book up for my bedtime reading yesterday, figuring to put it down around 11 p.m….at midnight I was still reading, and at one p.m. I was still reading….it’s that sort of book.

Fossum brings her stock characters Inspector Sejer and his offsider Jacob Skarre to the lakeside scene of a missing person who is believed to be either lost or dead.  Jon Moreno took  weekend leave from the hospital where his psychiatric problems are being treated.  His friends Axel and Philip convinced him it would do him good—but when they awoke in the cabin the next day, he was gone.  That’s their story, anyway.  Jon’s body is found by divers and the whole incident looks like being written off as either accidental drowning or purposeful suicide.

Sejer and Skarre interview the friends, and find first one and then another and another weak link in Axel’s story.  (Philip says little; he just goes along with Axel’s account.)  Such little things as the mark of the prow of a rowboat in the mud begin to make Sejer’s radar hum.  It’s obvious that there’s more to Jon’s death than appears, but there’s no evidence that it was anything other than suicide.  However, Sejer wants to know the reason for the suicide, and whether it was assisted or not.  Philip is clearly the weak partner in the surviving pair; could some pressure on him produce the truth?  And does the appearance of another body from the depths of the lake have any connection with the more recent death?

On the cover of this book is a quote from Ruth Rendell: “I always eagerly await a new novel from Karin Fossum.”  Rendell gives that sort of approval sparingly; that comment should tell you that this book is worth your time.

The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill

Publisher: Free Press

Reviewed by Bonnye Busbice Good, New Mystery Reader

It’s 1968 and the Troubles between the Catholics and Protestants are escalating in Northern Ireland.  Instead of focusing on the difficulties of meshing Irish and Anglo-Irish cultures, expectant Anna and her husband Conor visits her dear “Nanny Madd,” the long-time family employee who helped raise her.  Nanny Madd, or Maddie, realizes that she’s near death and begins to share Anna’s legacy of family tragedy and a special butterfly cabinet with relevance to both Anna’s and Conor’s history.

When only 14 years old, Maddie became part of the house staff for the wealthy Ormond family, which consisted of a bevy of boys and one tiny daughter, an icy mistress from Scotland, and a master with a pleasant demeanor who remained happiest when left unbothered about domestic problems in his own sumptuous house.

Soon after Maddie’s arrival, the four year-old girl dies while being punished by her mother.  As a result, Harriet Ormond spends one year in prison, during which she writes entries into a diary about her experience and motivations, asking for neither pity or to be liked.  Through this effort, Harriet recounts the things that make her genuinely feel free—riding well-bred horses and the act of studying her personally caught collection of butterflies, demonstrating once more a need to be in control even though she does not see it herself.

This hidden journal sheds light on Maddie’s own recollections and confessions, with alternating chapters that fills in both physical and emotional details that make Charlotte’s death both more tragic and unavoidable.  Adding to the sense of cycles, Maddie spends her last days in a nursing home housed in the very same house once owned by the Ormonds. 

Author Bernie McGill writes comfortably as both the upper-class woman who shared the sense of socially prescribed soul-crushing restriction so ably described by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Virginia Woolf even as her instincts led her to choices difficult to understand.  Maddie and her fellow servants appear more sympathetic with their smiles, ready laughs and considerate care for the unhappy and neglected children but in The Butterfly Cabinet, no one remains innocent except for poor Charlotte.

White Heat by M. J. McGrath

Publisher: Viking Adult

Edie Kiglatuk, the only female guide in this part of the cold interior of the Arctic, manages to scrape by on the jobs that come her way guiding mostly white males into this desolate region.  But on one particular trip while guiding two supposed hunters, her license ends up in jeopardy when one of the men dies by a fatal gunshot wound.  And the questions surrounding the death, mainly if it was an accident or murder, only become that much more crucial in answering when another man, and then someone very important to her, dies on her watch.  What really were these men searching for?  And who is next on the list to die?

If you’ve ever wondered what living in the Arctic is like, McGrath provides plenty of detail in this vivid and atmospheric novel.  Her story, like the landscape, is stark, dark, and chilling.  Well rounded characters and a timely plot complete this first in what promises to be an engaging series featuring a tough, independent, and slightly flawed heroine who easily holds her own.

The Magdalena Curse  by B.F. Cottam

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books

Reviewed by Jim Sells, New Mystery Reader

Mark Hunter is a Special Ops officer in the British military. He lives an orderly, quiet life. He meets and marries a special woman. The marriage produces a son and a daughter. His future looks ideal.

Then he ordered to the jungles of the Amazon as part of a multi-national force battling the drug trade. Along with two other officers and an elite group of commandos, Hunter prepares to attack a camp. Recon brought by one of the soldiers make them uneasy, but they proceed.

What they find is beyond their experiences and comprehension. They have encountered witches with tremendous power. The commandos are killed. The officers are cursed with a spell that fits each. Hunter kills the more powerful of the witches. Hunter and one officer make it out.

A decade passes. Hunter has lost his wife and daughter to tragedy. He lives quietly in Scotland. The other officer that survived kills himself. Now Hunter’s son – his last hope – has suffered the spell and speaks in voices of the long dead in ancient languages. Hunter must seek out the other witch and try to have the curse lifted before it is too late.

Leaving the boy in the care of a kind doctor – Elizabeth Bancroft – Hunter sets out. Neither know the extent of the threats to which they have been exposed.

Cottam has combined mystery with dark sorcery to create an intriguing tale. The book is well written in an almost journalist style of a reporter. The style works well for the story line.

Back Of Beyond by C.J. Box

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

C.J. Box has acquired a modest following for his Joe Pickett novels but really hit the big-time when he won the Edgar Award for Best Novel of 2008 with his stand-alone thriller, BLUE HEAVEN.

Now, with the release of his latest stand-alone effort --- BACK OF BEYOND, Mr. Box may be taking things to a whole other level.  Set in the dangerous backdrop of Yellowstone National Park, BACK OF BEYOND does a nice job of depicting a remote area where the fears of the natural and unknown terrain is not nearly as frightening as that of a sociopathic killer with a deadly agenda.

Montana Detective Cody Hoyt is an admitted alcoholic.  This disease has cost him his family as well as the respect of many of his colleagues and has kept his career from fully blossoming.  Now, a full-fledged member of AA and trying to get his life back together, Hoyt is faced with an investigation that will test him more than anything he has faced before.

When his friend and fellow AA member, Hank Winters, is found burned to death within the charred remains of his own home, Hoyt immediately suspects foul play.  Hoyt is convinced Hank was murdered and that someone is using the fire to cover up the evidence of this.  Hoyt rubs too many people the wrong way during the investigation and summarily finds himself tossed off the case and suspended.

Little does this deter Hoyt from proceeding with the investigation.  With a little bit of help from his one trust-worthy friend on the inside of the Montana P.D. --- Larry --- Hoyt puts together evidence that points to a member of a wildlife hiking outfitter that takes groups of tourists into the wilds of Yellowstone National Park.  To make matters worse for Hoyt, his own son is with his new ‘step-dad’ on this very excursion that may be carrying a killer or killers responsible for Hanks Winters death as well as others from Hoyt’s AA circle.

Operating on his own and outside the limits of law enforcement, Hoyt faces road-blocks wherever he turns.  It almost appears that someone on the inside knows what he doing before he even does. When his motel room is ransacked and set on fire (with Hoyt barely escaping) he realizes there is now no one he can trust --- not even good friend, Larry.

The novel begins to shift between Hoyt’s plight and that of the members of the Yellowstone tour.  Aptly called, the Back of Beyond Tour, there are plenty of possible suspects to choose from.  The reader is placed right along with Hoyt as he goes through the background of each tour member that he obtained when he visited their office.  Like every classic murder mystery, there are too many potential bad guys and you will be guessing right along with Hoyt as the body count begins to pile up.

The novel wanes slightly during the last act, and I found one of the murder suspects easy to identify (I must read too many murder mysteries!).  However, C.J. Box has several tricks up his sleeve and BACK OF BEYOND kicks into high gear when Hoyt pays a retired tour guide to lead him along the same trail the group is on --- with the dead bodies piling up before him and his son in mortal danger.  A terrific summer read and possibly Box’s finest effort to date!

Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel

Publisher: Pegasus

Reviewed by Robin Thomas, New Mystery Reader

In Call Me Princess, Internet dating sites are the venue for setting up a series of brutal rapes and a murder. The predator leverages the anonymity of the Internet to change his persona, blur his location and lure in extremely vulnerable, introverted and naïve women. Louise Rick, Assistant Detective with the Copenhagen Police Department is assigned the first rape case and she becomes increasingly obsessed with the investigation as her personal life unravels while the number of victims rise. She becomes so consumed that she decides makes an extreme risky decision to set herself up as “bait” in order to lure the serial rapist out of hiding. Hopefully, Louise can solve the case before she becomes the next victim.

Call Me Princess is the second book in the Louise Rick series but the only one that has been translated to English at this time. Sara Blaedel does an outstanding job of fully developing the characters in this novel. The reader experiences Camilla Lind’s struggles to balance her friendship with Louise with her rabid journalistic desires to deliver yet another compelling article. At times it is unclear that Camilla is maintaining that delicate balance between her career and her friendship. On the other hand, Lars, Louise’s partner, is “rock solid.” He is a veteran cop who is respected by his peers, maintains a well-balanced home life and has earned Louise’s trust. Call Me Princess is a gripping novel that exposes the “darker side” of Internet dating.

Cold Vengeance by Preston & Child

Publisher: Grand Central

Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

At the end of their previous novel featuring Special Agent Pendergast, FEVER DREAM, Preston & Child introduced readers to the back-story of his life that involved the horrible death of his wife, Helen, at the hands of a hungry lion during an African safari.  To make matters worse, Pendergast found himself targeted by none other than Helen’s brother, Judson Esterhazy, for reasons he is not able to figure out.

Now, with the release of COLD VENGEANCE, we are treated to some more pieces of this puzzle as Pendergast and Esterhazy open the book with a life or death struggle amongst the muddy bogs of Scotland where it appears Pendergast has met his doom.  Long-time readers of this series will not be surprised when Pendergast continues to remain terribly hard to kill (let alone outmaneuver) and he takes the time to go ‘underground’ in his pursuit of the truth surrounding his wife’s death.  Before Esterhazy left Pendergast sinking into the bog he confessed that Helen was still alive.

To further complicate matters, many more characters and plot-lines are introduced --- all of which tie into the dark secrets Pendergast is pursuing.  First off is the brutal murder of a couple --- June and Carlton Brodie --- who had been hiding out for many years after having faked their own deaths.  Once they re-emerged into the realm of the ‘living’, they were targeted by the same evil people who were behind the projects taking place at the Brodie’s now defunct employer --- Longitude located in the southern marshes of Spanish Island.  The projects of Longitude and its former CEO, Charles Slade, were all revealed in FEVER DREAM and it made logical sense that this would reappear in this novel.

Also appearing in COLD VENGEANCE are Pendergast’s long-time partner, NYC Detective D’Agosta, who is recovering from a brutal shooting; Corrie Swanson, a colleague of Pendergast’s who assisted him in the case covered in their novel STILL LIFE WITH CROWS; and Ned Betterton, a reporter from the local Malfourche paper located just outside of Spanish Island, who is starting to get dangerously close to the hidden secrets behind the Brodie’s as well as Helen Esterhazy’s deaths.

The locations jump around each chapter like a whirl-wind and eventually all paths lead to NYC.  It is here where Judson Esterhazy, disguised as a Doctor of Psychiatry, has kidnapped Pederast’s mysterious ward --- Constance Greene.  This, of course, sets up the inevitable showdown between Pendergast and Esterhazy where there can only be one victor.  Simultaneously, Corrie Swanson and Ned Betterton have uncovered, separately, a dark conspiracy involving the Esterhazy family that may go back to the Nazi war camps of World War II and the dark experiments that were done there to millions of innocent victims.

Pendergast learns some of the dark secrets of the Esterhazy’s and never gives up hope that his wife, Helen, is still alive.  He also is consumed by a quotation of Judson Esterhazy where he claimed: “Vengeance is where it will end.”  Could the vengeance in this statement signify a place rather than an act?  This is just one of the many riddles left hanging for the next novel in this intriguing series.  Preston & Child indicate in novels Foreword (as they so often do) that their novels need not be read in sequence to be enjoyed.  As an avid reader of all of their work, I respectfully must disagree.  COLD VENGEANCE is a solid novel in and of itself --- but readers who have eagerly plowed through their prior Pendergast novels will receive a far greater reward and sense of satisfaction when reading this novel that is unlike anything the duo have written to date.  Looking forward to the next adventure!

Darkness My Old Friend by Lisa Unger

Publisher: Crown

Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader

Unger returns to the seemingly sleepy setting of her last novel, the Hollows, that brings back some familiar faces along with some new ones that have landed in this town with a whole new set of complications and mysteries that need solving.  Michael Holt is one of them; a young man whose mother suddenly up and left the family when Michael was a young boy, her sudden abandonment leaving him forever questioning the events of that fateful evening that seem to point towards more sinister circumstances.  In his quest for answers he turns to psychic Eloise Montgomery and her PI partner Ray Muldune to help him uncover what really happened.

Also new in town is Willow Grove, a young teen whose penchant for running away when things get tough leads her down some seriously dangerous paths while out in the woods skipping school with a couple of misfits like herself.  

And still in town is James Cooper, ex-police chief of the Hollows, and a man who is still trying to put his own demons to rest after a scandalous case shredded his career and still might do the same to his marriage.  And the tale of how these people's lives collide is what makes for one of Unger's best novels to date.

While I'm sure I said that Unger's last novel, Fragile, was her best, it's no surprise to find myself saying that yet again with her latest.  Unger, who once wrote under the name Theresa Monsour, and who put out some great suspense stories then, has remarkably continued to get even better still.  She brings it all to this latest: fully developed characters whose hidden hearts can break those of the readers, unrelentingly suspenseful storylines that come together in the end in surprising and wondrous ways and, simply put, graceful and poetic writing that often is worth re-reading just for the joy of the perfectly caught moment.  Without a doubt, one of the best in the genre, this is one writer whose books should not be missed.         

Hideout by Kathleen George

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Homeless and young, brothers Ryan and Jack are driving through the streets of Pittsburgh one night with Ryan at the wheel and high as a kite when Ryan spots a young woman in the road.  Thinking it would be fun to scare her, he goes too far and she winds up dead, forcing the brothers to go on the run.  So they head for Sugar Lake, a vacation spot they knew as children, to hole up until things cool down.  But Ryan, always looking for a high and a thrill, isn't done wreaking havoc on those around him, and more people will die before this duo is caught.

George effortlessly mixes an intelligent police procedural that includes the Pittsburgh detectives that her fans will recognize with a heart pounding tale of two young men on the run and the escalating danger that surrounds them.  One brother just plain bad, the other heartbreakingly redeemable if he could only get another chance, in a dichotomy that will leave readers aching for Jack to make it out alive, while hoping to see the demise of the other.  Gritty and realistic dialogue, a cast of unforgettable characters, and a hair-raising chase make this a stellar addition to any suspense lover's list of favorites.

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

Publisher: William Morrow

It's been 30 odd years since the group of five childhood friends spent their summer days exploring the woods of Leakin Park in Maryland.  It was following a stormy night that ended in the shocking  death of a mysterious old man who lived in a cabin in those woods that the splintering of the group began, a night that comes back to haunt them when the youngest and wildest of their members dies in what might be a suicide.  Coming together again, they can't help but relive that fateful night and what followed as they try to finally answer the most unsettling questions they are only now facing.

While this is a very well-written read, one thing to note is that there is actually very little "action" going on.  The narrative focuses mainly on the characters themselves, the past, and how the events of their lives have shaped them into who they are now.  There isn't a whole lot of suspense either, and the answers when they come are not as surprising as they are heartbreaking.  However, with that being said, this is still a highly addictive read that keeps up its steady and engaging pace till the end.    

Flowering Judas by Jane Haddam

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader

When crime consultant Gregor Demarkian is called to aid in solving a case in a small New York town, he gladly takes to the post, happy to be out of his home that is being overrun by decorating samples that his new bride is considering for the renovation of their shared Philadelphia apartment. 

The case, which begins oddly enough by the discovery of the body of a man gone missing twelve years prior hanging off his own missing person's billboard, ends up going in some wild directions as it seems everyone has something to hide, including the original investigators on the case.  And what follows might just leave Gregor wishing he was back home again wading through carpet and faucet samples.

Haddam's latest in the series offers up a steady dose of dry wit that lends an easy hand in making this challenging mystery even more engaging.  Readers who are familiar with her work will find this a bit more lighthearted than earlier novels, and after getting used to that aspect, will find themselves gladly riding along with Gregor as he deals with a set of modern day Keystone cops and a village with more than its fair share of idiots.  With its alternating spotlight on several different characters and its irreverent attitude towards big/small city/towns, this one remains entertaining all the way through.     

The Woodcutter by  Reginald Hill

Publisher: Harper-Collins

Reviewed by Jim Sells, New Mystery Reader

Wolf Hadda is an enigma. On one hand he is the son of a lowly rural worker who. Wolf rose to be a successful English businessman. He married a nobleman’s daughter. He fathered his own daughter. He lived in luxury and comfort.

On the other hand, Wolf called upon his climbing skills developed during his youth in rural countryside. Retribution is handed out through an organization known as “Woodcutter International” for criminals that escape justice by its members, including Wolf.

Suddenly, Wolf’s ideal life collapses. He is accused of child pornography. He is convicted. His wife divorces him and marries his former lawyer. Their daughter dies.

Wolf nearly dies as he attempts an escape.

In the prison, Alva Ozibzo, psychologist, delves into the psyche of Wolf. Through a series of journals, Wolf reveals his life’s journey. Still there remains the question of who set him up and why.

“The Woodcutter” is a monumental work at more than five hundred pages. Excellent writing and an interesting plot will reward the dedicated reader. 

The Bourne Dominion by Eric Van Lustbader

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Reviewed by Ray Palen, New Mystery Reader

It is hard to believe that Robert Ludlum has been gone for ten years.  During his prolific writing career he penned three novels featuring amnesiac super-spy, Jason Bourne.  These three novels were all made into popular films starring Matt Damon.

The public always seems to be clamoring for remakes and a return to the past.  That being said, THE BOURNE DOMINION marks author Eric Van Lustbader’s sixth novel featuring Ludlum’s Jason Bourne --- like James Bond and Sherlock Holmes, another character that does not want to go away.  Additionally, a new Jason Bourne film is also being made starring Oscar-nominee, Jeremy Renner.

Van Lustbader has done an admirable job reinvigorating the Bourne series and I’m sure fans around the world have been pleased to have the ability to still spend some time with one of the most famous fictional spies of all time.  Unfortunately for me, THE BOURNE DOMINION seems to not live up to Van Lustbader’s previous Bourne efforts and features far less action and excitement that the prior novels produced.

In this entry into the Bourne saga, Jason is on a mission to stop a group of international terrorists seeking to destroy several of the United States most strategic natural resources.  This would be a crippling blow to a mighty country already dealing with crippling economic woes.  To make matters more interesting, Bourne needs help in tracking down this elusive cadre of terrorists and must seek out the aid of his former friend and ally, Russian General Boris Karpov.

Unbeknownst to Bourne, Karpov is on a mission of his own --- one that will most assuredly find their paths crossing in the near future.  Karpov had to make a deal with some of his own enemies in order to save his position as the head of the Russian FSB-2 group.  The deal focuses on one aim --- hunting down and killing Jason Bourne.

Early in the novel, Jason Bourne is told by another character: “Anything is possible. Everything is possible.”  For readers familiar with the saga of Jason Bourne, you realize how true this statement is.  The novel twists and turns, focusing on a small handful of different characters, and sets an expanse that covers many parts of the globe.  We realize that the only way to stop the global threats that are posed by these terrorists must involve Bourne and Karpov working together --- but how will that happen?

Though very well written, THE BOURNE DOMINION is the least exciting of all the Jason Bourne novels and has too many story-lines occurring simultaneously.  This takes away from the main focus of the Bourne/Karpov inevitable showdown.  The big chases and races against the clock are saved for the very end of the novel, but the slow and often confusing pace that leads up to the finale takes away from the overall impact.  However, any time spent with Jason Bourne is welcome and I look forward to Mr. Van Lustbader continuing to keep this classic character alive in further adventures.

All the Pretty Hearses by Mary Daheim

Publisher: William Morrow

Reviewed by Robin Thomas, New Mystery Reader

Judith McMonigle Flynn, owner of the Hillside Manor Bed and Breakfast, is absolutely stunned when her mother tells her that her husband Joe has been taken away in handcuffs by the police. Joe is a retired policeman who is now a private investigator. Joe takes an easy case of insurance fraud and Judith cannot imagine how this results in murder with Joe being the prime suspect because his gun is the murder weapon. The fact that the police are not answering Judith’s questions and are blocking her attempts to communicate with Joe really alarms her. Since she has a B&B to run, Judith juggles between her concern for Joe and preparing for new arrivals. Judith donated a weekend stay at the school auction that was purchased by the Paine family. The Paine’s prove to be quite the “pain” for Judith with their wide variety of dietary requirements and inability to get along with each other. Judith has no idea that her “painful” experiences with the Paine’s will tie into the clues she is unearthing in hopes of getting Joe out of jail before the story of the murder and his involvement is published in the newspaper. This type of publicity would have a negative impact on Joe’s reputation in the neighborhood. Judith relies on her cousin Renie to help her find the real murderer but danger comes knocking on the Manor’s door.

All the Pretty Hearses is the 26^th book in Mary Daheim’s bed and breakfast series. In the book there are many references to the other whodunits in the series and in some cases not enough detail is provided to understand the connection without having read the other books. All the Pretty Hearses is such an enjoyable read it will entice readers to add this series to their list, if this book is a first experience with Judith, her cousin Renie, Joe and her prickly mother. Mary Daheim has done a wonderful job of maintaining a sense of newness and excitement with each new addition to this series.

Full Black by Brad Thor

Publisher: Atria Books

Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

Brad Thor is one of the few authors who can proudly claim to be a true-blue American patriot.  He dedicates his latest novel in the Scott Harvath series, FULL BLACK, to ‘the patriots who exist across the political spectrum. To all supporters of freedom and democracy.’

When you read a novel by Brad Thor you know you are getting the real deal.  He was actually an insider within the small nucleus of experts called upon following 9/11 to battle terrorism and any threat to America.  This is not due to his prowess as a fiction writer but because his novels cut to the bone of the reality that is the dangerous world we all live in today!

FULL BLACK is a term that represents going off the grid.  It is used when a team of covert operatives need to pull out all stops in defense of the nation we know and love and to protect the inhabitants of the U.S. of A.  Everyone on the team must operate off the radar because we live in an age where it is near impossible to distinguish friends from enemies.

FULL BLACK posits a nation that has so many sleeper cells of Muslim extremists and/or terrorist sympathizers living unseen within its’ walls that no one is a safe.  This novel marks the 11^th in the terrific Scott Harvath series and possibly the darkest to date.  What I enjoyed most about FULL BLACK is the fact that Thor chose to just call it like he sees it and not fill the plot with conspiracy theories or ancient mysteries that lie behind the murderous intent of the ‘bad guys’.  The bad guys in this are hard to tell from the good guys --- it is this realism that makes the novel that much more chilling.

A handful of international incidents take place that appear to be unrelated.  A famous Hollywood producer working on a documentary that may anger some rich and powerful people is attacked by a cell of Russian hit-men.   A series of terrorist bombings and random movie theaters in the U.S. has people scrambling and afraid to leave their homes.  The head of London’s MI-5 has made a deal with the devil in an apparent power play that involves one of the world’s richest men --- a Muslim sympathizer with the ability to attack the U.S.A.’s financial infrastructure and cripple the economy of this nation from the inside out.

How can Scott Harvath and team be successful against such odds?  How can you prevent terrorists who look like our neighbors and co-workers?  A sad joke is thrown in when one of Harvath’s colleagues suggests purchasing stock in Netflix as the movie theatre bombings will keep U.S. citizens out of the movie theatres permanently.  Scott Harvath is now giving his service to his old friend Reed Carlton and his new security firm --- the Carlton Group.  This is due to the exiling of covert operatives under the Presidential regime.  Harvath is no longer wanted by his country above the board --- so he must operate in ‘full black’ to do what he does best --- protect and serve the interest of the U.S.A. to the best of his ability.

With FULL BLACK, Brad Thor has written a modern horror novel far more frightening than anything from Stephen King. That is because everything he depicts within the covers of this novel are all actual possibilities and probably a lot closer to becoming a reality than any of us would like to think.  FULL BLACK has no ending --- a perfectly symbolic gesture by an author who recognizes that we are no where near the end of the dark days we exist in and that things can get far worse than we ever thought possible.

The Accident by Linwood Barclay

Publisher: Bantam 

Reviewed by Ray Palen for New Mystery Reader

Quite frankly, Linwood Barclay is the King of the Suburban Thriller.  After starting his career off with a handful of darkly-comic mysteries, he turned his career in a sinister (and quite prosperous) direction with the release of NO TIME FOR GOODBYE in 2007.  That novel featured a young girl who wakes up to find her entire family has disappeared without a word.  Twenty years later, she thinks she might have seen her long-lost brother --- and then the flood-gates open.  That remains my favorite Barclay novel to date, closely followed by last year’s NEVER LOOK AWAY, where a young father loses his wife and toddler at an amusement park only to have his own sanity questioned by local law enforcement that claim there is no record of a child and that he may be guilty of his own wife’s disappearance.

With the release of his latest novel, THE ACCIDENT, Linwood Barclay has created another masterpiece of suburban terror.  Based in a prosperous Connecticut community, the seemingly normal Garber household is about to have their entire world’s turned upside down.  Glen Garber is a contractor who manages and owns his family business and lives with his young wife, Sheila, and their 8-year-old daughter, Kelly.  Sheila wants to pitch in as money gets tight around the household and begins to take business course in the evenings at a local college.  One night, Sheila does not make it home.

Glen’s worst fears are confirmed when the police notify him that Sheila was killed in an automobile accident.  To make matters that much more confounding, the always straight-laced Sheila was diagnosed as being intoxicated at the time of the accident.  Even worse is the fact that the accident not only took her life, but the lives of a father and his young son who crashed into her car that had been blocking a highway on-ramp.

Glen Garber is devastated and begins to slowly pick up the pieces of his life --- putting on a happy face for his young daughter who is now without her mother.  But inside, Glen is seething with questions.  Not just why --- but how this could have happened.  Glen allows Kelly to sleep over the home of a school-mate and is alarmed to receive a call from her a few hours later demanding to be picked up.  Glen eventually learns that the girls were playing hide-and-seek in her friend’s house and Kelly chose to hide in the closet of the parent’s bedroom.  While hiding, she overheard a cell phone conversation that her friend’s mother, Ann Slocum was having with an unknown party.  Ann freaks out when she finds Kelly in the closet and her husband, Police Officer Darren Slocum begins the interrogation. It as at this point when Kelly calls dad and requests a pick-up.

Later that same evening, Ann Slocum leaves her home to meet someone on the local waterfront docks.  She never returns --- her body found hours later and ruled an accidental drowning. In the wake of his own wife’s death, Glen Garber finds the death of Ann Slocum particularly troubling.  He starts talking to some of Sheila’s friends as well as her business course instructor to try and piece together what may be going on under the surface of the seemingly normal suburban façade they call a neighborhood.  Glen is also contacted by a Private Investigator named Arthur Twain who seems to know many secrets about Glen’s neighbors --- some of which involve some very bad people, illegal sale of contraband hand-bags and prescription medication and possibly even blackmail.  What is more frightening to Glen is where Sheila fit into all this and why things at his job begin to go awry while his world is spinning out of control.

Linwood Barclay is a master plotter and infuses THE ACCIDENT with enough suspects and story-lines to keep even the most astute mystery reader guessing.  Twist after stunning twist keep the pages turning at a break-neck pace and the conclusion will have readers gasping for breath as Glen Garber finds out that some secrets hit a little too close to home and may be better left alone.  Another winner by Mr. Barclay!

Garden Of Secrets Past by Anthony Eglin

Publisher: MinotaurBooks                     

Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader

If you enjoyed “The Trail of the Wild Rose” which was reviewed on the NMR website a few years back, you will enjoy this new offering from the master of botanical mysteries.  This one is less about specific plants and more about the big picture: the stately home garden.

Laurence Kingston accepts a commission from Francis, Lord Morley, a man who stiffed him out of a fee once before. You’d think Laurance would tell him to get lost, but there’s a sufficient attraction in the healthy cash advance and the chance to explore one of England’s grand gardens to lure Laurence away from his cosy flat in Cadogan Square to investigate the murder at Shugborough Hall.

Morley is concerned that the police aren’t making much progress in the murder of the archaeologist who was found near one of the neoclassical monuments in the garden.  He says visitor numbers are down, and that’s affecting the estate’s income.  Laurence soon discovers that there’s more going on than a simple murder: there’s clearly some connection with the old family legend about buried treasure at the Hall.  Did the archaeologist decipher the secret code in one of the monuments, and was he killed for it?  Laurence has a go at the code himself, and with help from a surprising ally, learns enough to make him decide on an after-dark foray into the wilds of Staffordshire.

Where there’s treasure, there’s treachery.  Laurence ponders this truism as he sits in the dark, injured after a fall into a secret chamber.  Will his friend Andrew arrive with help before a greedy killer comes back?  Has Eglin come up with one of the cleverest places to hide electronic data you could ever think of?  Buy the book and find out.

The Sixes by Kate White

Publisher: Harper

After being accused of plagiarism, celebrity biography author Phoebe Hall flees NYC to take a teaching post at a small town college in Pennsylvania.  And while at first life is relatively peaceful, that soon changes when Phoebe is asked by the head of the school to discreetly look into a secret club on campus known as The Sixes - a group of young women who seem to run the school through wicked means.  And when a young woman is discovered dead in a local river and a series of threatening events begin to stalk Phoebe, she'll soon find herself questioning everyone she knows as she searches for the truth behind this ever-growing danger.   

What's not to love in White's latest: a mysterious club of powerful young women who bully and threaten their way to power, a new love interest who just might be a killer, a mysterious stalker who knows her deepest secrets, and hints of a serial killer whose deadly deeds go much deeper.  This one has it all, making for an all too quick read full of shocking surprises.