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click on links for buying info The Drifter’s Wheel by Phillip DePoy Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2008, ISBN: 9780312362034 Reviewed by LJ Roberts, New Mystery Reader Folklorist Fever Devlin receives a visit from a man who is young in appearance but claims he is over 100 years old, and a veteran of the Civil War, whose uniform he is wearing and with a gun from the same period. He tells Fever a story about traveling on the stream of time and of brother killing brother, then falls asleep sitting in the chair. Devlin calls his friend, Sherriff Skidmore, turns back and the man has vanished. In the morning, he is called to identify a body found on the Jackson property. The body is wearing the right clothes, looks very similar to the missing man, but isn’t the same one. The coroner wants to declare it a suicide but Devlin and Skidmore know it was murder. Devlin, with the help of his English friend, Professor Dr. Winton Andrews, has 48 hours to find the killer. DePoy has a wonderful, lyrical, evocative, haunting style. The story captured me from the first sentence. He has a way of describing the ordinary in a way that is extraordinary. His observations are both humorous and profound. The sense of place is so strong; you are there with the characters. The characters are so well developed, you can see and hear them. The dialogue has a wonderful flow and banter, particularly between the two friends, Fever and Andrews, about whom you also learn more of their history. One thing I so enjoy about DePoy’s writing is that it reads on several levels while being filled with thoughtfulness and humor. There is the mystery of the murder; the relationships of the characters; and the thoughts of “time travel,” memories and what holds us to life. All these elements combine to make an excellent story and one that made me think.
A Moment of Silence by Anna Dean Publisher: Allison & Busby, ISBN: 074907910X Reviewed by LJ Roberts, New Mystery Reader Catherine Kent is engaged to Richard Montague. During a special ball at Betsfield Hall, Richard reacts strongly to a red-headed man and then disappears. Catherine’s father sends for his spinster sister, Miss Dido Kent. The same day Dido arrives, the body of a murdered woman is found under a hedge on the property and Dido decides it’s up to her to discover the killer. Ms. Dean’s writing is literate, intelligent, funny and completely captivating. I give her top marks for sense of time and place, as well as dialogue, which is delightfully appropriate to the period. Her observations on women, marriage and inheritance are done with a light, but informative, touch. Dido Kent is a wonderful protagonist. She is smart and clever without being malicious; something of a Miss Marple of 1805, but better. I particularly enjoyed the letters to Dido’s sister, which convey Dido’s internal questions, observations and explorations. All the characters come to life under Ms. Dean’s deft hand. The story is very well plotted. Ms. Dean provides her readers all the clues as Dido uncovers them but, as one who let’s the protagonist solve the crime, I was delighted watching the solution unfold. Those who are fans of Jane Austin, traditional mysteries, and/or historical mysteries, should enjoy this book. Personally, I loved it!
Fearless Fourteen by Stephanie Plum Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, 2008, ISBN: 9780312349516 Reviewed by LJ Roberts, New Mystery Reader Stephanie keeps suspecting someone has been in the basement of her boyfriend, police detective Joe Morelli. Stephanie is baby-sitting teenaged “Zook” after him mother was arrested. Zook’s uncle isn’t happy that the kid is spending time at Morelli’s house and claims Joe is Zook’s actual father. But the uncle, Dom Rizzi, is no saint as he did time for a bank robbery in which the money was never recovered. Having grown up in “Jersey,” I loved the earlier Plum books. Not this one. It’s one sight gag after another—oh, but we’re reading. What would probably be very funny visually, just doesn’t quite work here, in spite of Ms. Evanovich’s best efforts. She’s a good writer, but this is so chaotic, you lose the focus, and the impact, of the main story. Stephanie is a character who hasn’t grown. She’s the type I might enjoy at first, but would never have as a friend as she is just too much of a ditz. Men would love her; most women would just shake their heads in disbelief. Give me a strong, smart, independent female protagonist; I think Stephanie and I are done.
Exile Trust: A Frank Cole Mystery by Vincent H. O’Neil Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books ISBN: 0-312-38064-X Reviewed by Jim Sells, New Mystery Reader Freelance fact-checker and reluctant private investigator Frank Cole is asked to track down safety deposit box owners by Exile, Florida Police Chief Denny Dammon. Cole is a former computer business owner now forced to take low-paying jobs due to legal troubles up north. Visiting lawyer / friend Mark Ruben warns Cole to distance himself from the safety deposit boxes since bank regulators would soon be involved. With the Ollie Morton – the disorganized bank manager – this is not an easy task. Arriving at the bank, Cole is disturbed to see a haphazard operation to open and inventory the contents of unclaimed boxes. Immediately Cole is thrust in the middle of what he was warned against. In his new vocation, Cole is learning the ins-and-outs of private investigation from lawyers, PI’s and others in the trade. The author goes into detailed accounts of such methods that benefit the main character and reader alike. Characters are an aspect of the author’s style that give substance to what could be a dry procedural. Susan Wilmington is the fiercely protective bank employee given recent charge of the preparing the safety deposit boxes for the bank regulators. Gray Toliver –retired Navy accident investigator and Cole’s chess partner – jumps at Cole’s offer to help find the unknown owner of a Navy Cross left in a safety deposit box. Gray’s wife Emily shares her knowledge of Exile’s small town gossip with Cole. Add to that, a nemesis that Cole will probably encounter in later stories. The preparation for the bank regulators is going well until a man claiming to be customer’s husband wants into a box. Since he had proper identification and a key he, is given access to a safety deposit box. Bothered by the incident, Susan asks Cole to look into the matter. Cole discovers that the woman died from a broken neck days before and her husband has been dead for more than a year. The women was disliked by most who her knew her and her husband was into numerous, questionable real estate deals. To complicate matters even more, assistant DA Vera Cienfuegos demands that Cole be fired from the safety deposit box matter because of his ongoing legal difficulties. Then Susan admits that she failed to check the imposer’s signature when she allowed him access to box. Next enters the deceased real estate speculator’s former partner and Cole has plenty of suspects to look into. The author keeps enough twists and turns for an interesting read. These include deaths that may or may not be murders, missing con artists, blackmail and more interest by the authorities than they’re willing to admit. Add a twist at the end and there’s plenty to keep the reader’s attention. O’Neil’s style is somewhat a combination of Sherlock Holmes’ deductive style meets Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series docudrama.
Hell’s Gate by Richard E Crabbe Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312341598 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader If you like a book that unwinds in your mind’s eye like an old movie, you should find this one very satisfying. There’s something about it that calls to mind Clark Gable in the original “San Francisco”. The New York City of Mike Braddock, second generation cop, is tough, dangerous, and filled with crime of all sorts, from petty theft to prostitution to blackmail. Particularly important to the economic life of the criminal element is the black-market. Mike Braddock stumbles across something big in this line when he has a shoot-out with Smilin’ Jack O’Banion. Jack dies with one word on his lips, a word that sends Mike into the depths of Hell’s Kitchen in search of the man who would be the new gang leader of all New York. If he can be found and disposed of now, much future misery will be prevented. Tracking down the elusive character known as The Bottler, Mike uses methods that wouldn’t pass these days: people with information who won’t give it up are dealt with by fists, boots, and guns. There wasn’t any ACLU watching out for the rights of anyone in those days. Mike learned from his father, Tom, who gets respect by being tougher than anybody else on the street. As a back story to Mike’s crusade is his relationship with Ginny, who works in a bordello, but somehow has preserved a fresh and lovable personality. Ginny really cares for Mike, but it takes a crisis to push her into the bravest action she’s ever done: to walk away from the life of relative ease and get what is laughingly called ‘an honest job’ for $6 a week, sewing dresses. The major event in the story is the real-life disaster, when the “General Slocum” ferry boat sank with over a thousand fatalities. This little-known disaster represented New York’s worst mass fatality for nearly a century, until the events of September 11th. Crabbe ties this real event neatly into his fictional story. This is a fascinating book that gives you an in-depth look into the New York that once was. The characters are three-dimensional, some larger than life. Somewhere out there there must be a film producer salivating in anticipation of the film awards this could bring him.
Escape From Amsterdam by Barrie Sherwood Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books ISBN 978 0 312 38040 3 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader The most amazing thing about this book is that it reads like one of the better modern Japanese woman writers, but is in fact penned by a male Englishman who was born in Hong Kong. Like many of the modern Japanese books, this one is grim, bleak and in spots both frightening and depressing. There is none of the ‘lightly Zen’ flavor of Inspector Sato, or the solid police procedural of Inspector Otani here. The story focuses on the ne’er do well Aozora Fujiwara, a student who has managed to run up large gambling debts with some very tough people. He’s facing some serious pain when his father advises that Aunt Okane’s estate is about to be settled. The chance of getting enough money to pay off his debts and maybe start afresh is very compelling—but there’s a catch: Aozora’s sister Mai is equal heir with him. Without her signature on the legal documents, no money will be released. Simple solution: find Mai. Problem: Mai has run off to the bright lights of the big city to pursue a singing career. Things haven’t gone to plan and she has ended up as a high-priced prostitute, ‘owned’ by a crime boss in the Amsterdam section of Kyoto. How Aozora finds and rescues Mai forms the second half of the book. As well as getting his sister away from the gangsters, Ao has to avoid the hired hurt-merchants of Mr Uno, the man he owes money to. This would probably be easier if he hadn’t smashed a fluorescent light tube in Mr Uno’s face. And meanwhile, old Mr Fujiwara’s simple gall bladder operation has gone bad and the old man is dying, and desperate to see his children again. There are very few light or jolly moments in this book, and almost no likable characters. It is well-written, and at the very end there is cause for hope, but I sure wouldn’t recommend reading it on a grey cold day in February.
The Dirty Secrets Club by Meg Gardiner Publisher: Dutton Adult ISBN-10: 0525950664 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader When a wealthy San Francisco designer is found dead along with his lover, it seems at first to be an obvious case of murder-suicide, that is until the next inexplicable suicide occurs, this one also involving a wealthy San Francisco player. And when one takes into account the odd circumstances surrounding a US attorney’s plunge off a bridge, killing herself and 3 others, it becomes frighteningly obvious that there’s much more going on than meets the eye. Brought in to try and find a connection between the cases is forensic psychologist Jo Beckett, a woman who knows the pain of unexplained death on a very personal level, but one who isn’t afraid to look beyond the obvious. And so when she discovers that the victims all belonged to a mysterious and elite club called The Dirty Secrets Club, she’s willing to fight the odds to prove that the deaths are all part of something much larger and much more alarming. But as she races towards the truth, she’ll find that the enemy is much closer than she thought, and more than willing to do what it takes to keep this master plot of revenge alive. With this first of what’s hopefully to be a new series, Gardiner, who already has scored with the European crowd with a previous series, starts out with a sure-fire winner that will no doubt bring her a whole new fan base. Her heroine, down-to-earth Jo Beckett, with her intelligence and movingly guilty regrets surrounding her past, makes for a sincere and appealing character that is easy to root for and even easier to like. And her secondary characters aren’t too shabby either, especially her eccentric hypochondriac neighbor who provides a welcome dose of humor. Throw in some great unexpected twists and turns that keep the story consistently suspenseful and unpredictably challenging and you have a solid foundation for what we hope is only the first of many to come.
I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312334877 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Both Miller’s Kill, NY Reverend Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne are still having difficulties getting past the murder of the chief’s wife not too long ago, a death that caused a serious, and perhaps irreparable, rip in their friendship. But when the bodies of Latino men begin to be discovered in their small community, they’ll find their paths crossing once again as Clare tries to find out how it all might be connected to the burgeoning immigrant community and Russ just tries to find the killer. Muddying the waters even more is Clare’s reenlistment with the Reserves and the new young female officer on the force who is causing quite a stir with her fellow male officers. And as the two get closer to the very dangerous truth that may prove to be deadly, they’ll be forced to not only put their differences aside, but to once again confront the temptations that have always haunted them. While the mystery itself in Spencer-Fleming’s latest in the series comes off as a bit uneven and oddly lacking in suspense, there are still plenty of other compelling reasons to make this a worthwhile read. The new female officer is one of them, her vividly drawn character adding a refreshing spark to this already well-established and appealing cast. There’s also the sweet love affair between a Latino immigrant and a white woman that plays out softly in the background, adding some relief from the sometimes tedious main plot of drugs, gangs, and the long-asked question of when the two main characters are going to give into temptation and finally seal the deal. (To find out the answer to that one, you’ll have to read it for yourself.) All in all, the pluses outweigh the minuses, making this another decent outing, and one that ends on a note that hints of yet even bigger challenges ahead.
The Unforgiving Eye by Beth Andrews Publisher: Hale Books ISBN 978 0 7090 8572 0 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader This is another in the charming series featuring John and Lydia Savidge. They are now married, but their wedding trip is interrupted by their overbearing friend Mrs Wardle-Penfield. She wants them to investigate the murder of Sir Benedict Stanbury, who is the uncle of her godchild Portia. Portia’s lover James Bromley is in jail for the murder, but Portia is very sure he is innocent. John and Lydia use the pretext of delivering a gift from Mrs Wardle-Penfield to gain entry to Portia’s home, and it isn’t long before she insists that they stay and help her prove James’s innocence. The Savidges promise to give three days to the investigation. Those days are packed with interviews of everyone in the family and all the servants and the family lawyer as well. At the end of the time they have accumulated a great deal of information and formed several conflicting views of Sir Ben before hitting on the key to his personality, which also one of the keys to the crime. Sometimes the person who dies isn’t the person who was meant to die, and it is a chance sartorial mixup on the third day that suddenly shows John and Lydia what really happened in the little stone temple in the garden. Set in rural England in 1818, this story should appeal to historical mystery buffs and also those who like Georgette Heyer and Jane Austen’s works. Andrews uses enough quaint words from the time (such as ‘bosom-bow’ to describe a best friend) to flavor the story without overwhelming the reader with incomprehensible archaisms.
Fixation by Mark Schorr Publisher: St Martins Minotaur/Thomas Dunne Books ISBN 978 0 312 35916 4 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Who better to counsel the deeply disturbed than one who has experienced traumatic events himself and survived? Brian Hanson went through post-traumatic stress syndrome after the Viet Nam war, and like many other survivors took up drug and alcohol abuse to try and cope with his memories. When that didn’t work, he was one of the lucky ones who salvaged a life and made a career helping other sufferers. He’s got a home, a demanding but rewarding career and a girlfriend, Louise, who’s an FBI agent. Fresh from a hair’s-breadth rescue of a suicidal patient, Brian hears on the radio that there’s been a botched FBI raid on a white supremacist hideout and a female FBI agent has been killed. The gut-wrenching panic he feels at this news helps him to realise just how much Louise means to him, so he’s extremely relieved to learn that it is not she who was killed. However, she’s being blamed for the way the assault went wrong. While she’s under suspension, Louise starts experiencing weird events. Her wallet is stolen in church, and then she starts getting things she hasn’t ordered: DVDs, pizzas, and, most worrying, a Cayman Island bank account. The bank account comes to the attention of the FBI, or course, and Louise is in deep, deep trouble. Brian tries to help find out who has set her up, meanwhile juggling his overload of cases, all of them dealing with some very disturbed—and disturbing—people. This is a book that delves deeply into the dark corners of mentally and emotionally ill people, and Schorr bring to bear his many years as a psychotherapist, which makes the story read almost a documentary in some sections. It’s not the sort of book you’d give a depressed friend, but it is a very involving and well-written one.
The Murder Notebook by Jonathan Santlofer Publisher: William Morrow ISBN-10: 0060882042 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader When ex-cop Nate Nodriguez, now working as a consultant to local police departments as a sketch artist, is called in to sketch eye-witness accounts of the first players in what’s to be a sting of murder-suicides hitting NYC, he has no idea just how deadly the trail he is about to embark upon will be. And while at first the killings, all followed by suicides, make little sense to Nate and his girlfriend homicide detective Terri Russo, deeper investigation soon shows that these men all had one thing in common: ties to the US Military. And so the question then becomes if this string of deaths is related to PTSD-afflicted vets, or if instead there is something much larger and deadlier at play. And as the clues begin to lead toward the possibility of a hush-hush government study on fear, those involved will find that the closer they come to unraveling the conspiracy, the closer they come to a dangerous new understanding of fear. The second in Santlofer’s series featuring Nate Rodriguez is an interesting and timely tale that gives not only an in-depth look at PSTD, and what little has been done for those soldiers who have been deeply impacted by it, but also an alarming look at some of the more controversial military studies performed in an effort to create a better soldier. Additionally, fans and new readers alike will enjoy the well drawn Rodriguez, whose half Latino/half Jewish ancestry, along with his artistic skills and out of the ordinary ability to see more than what’s really there, makes for a very interesting character. Admittedly, some may find Nate’s love interest to be a bit off-putting at times, but she’s got her reasons, which does make her a bit easier to bear. All in all, if you love provocative conspiracy theories based on controversial concepts, you’ll love this latest. With great attention given to detail, and some very interesting drawings thrown in by this on top of that, you have another great read from this very talented author.
Another Man’s Moccasins by Craig Johnson Publisher: Viking Adult ISBN-10: 0670018619 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Small time Absaroka County, Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire might initially look like a laid-back lawman with his gentlemanly manners and tendency towards compassion. But as fans of the series discovered with his last outing, there’s more than one layer to this onion. And in this latest, Johnson reveals yet another darker one when Longmire is forced to revisit his past in Vietnam when the body of young Vietnamese woman is discovered on the side of the road, and in her possession, a picture of the him as the young soldier he was years before. And so Longmire will have to look deep into his past, including the unsolved death of another young Vietnamese woman he had once befriended, to discover if the deaths of these two innocent woman may somehow be related, and if so, how? Alternating between then and now, Johnson provides the reader with a powerful glimpse of what it must have been like then to be caught in the middle of a situation with very few winners, and what it must be like now to live with the ambiguity that still must haunt those that came back alive. And it’s with this provocatively honest approach, filled with unanswered questions and unresolved issues, that he creates a mystery that manages to be both judicious and absorbing. If you’ve never read a Longmire mystery, you might want to start now; this is one guy who doesn’t shirk from the big questions, and one who’s not afraid of much- except maybe a good looking woman – but one who approaches both with a gentle humor and sincerity that is striking all on its own. Kudos to Johnson, he’s done it again!
Ambush by Paul Carson Reviewed by Dana King, New Mystery Reader This is a revenge story with a difference: the man who
has lost everything isn’t a Rambo-type, not a Charles Bronson clone, he’s a
doctor, a pediatric specialist, and he wouldn’t know an Uzi from a wishbone.
Nothing to Lose by Lee Child Publisher: Delacorte Press ISBN: 978-0-385-34056-4 Reviewed by Kathryn Lawson, New Mystery Reader They should have just served him the coffee without argument. But when Jack Reacher, ex-military police officer and current itinerant wanderer, is driven from Despair, Colorado back to Hope, he takes the insult personally. Determined to uncover what Despair is hiding, Reacher enlists the help of attractive Hope police officer Vaughn. The couple’s investigation puts them on a collision course with corrupt law enforcement, unruly mobs, mysterious illnesses, an unexplained military outpost, and the rogue group Congregation of the End Times. Along the way, the novel also explores the moral ambiguities of war and duty, and marital fidelity. Nothing to Lose is an adrenaline-soaked rollercoaster of a book with a hero as likeable as any you can find. Reacher engages in glorious Dirty Harry-esque fight scenes (“Maybe you’re right. Maybe one of you will stay on your feet long enough to get to me…But the question you need to ask is, which one of you will it be?”). The personal relationship between Reacher and Vaughn is so free of unrealistic expectations and romantic fluff that the passion burns cleanly. Some of the plot twists require a fair amount of suspension of disbelief, but they keep the book racing till the conclusion. An intriguing and exciting book that is also thought-provoking.
The Reapers by John Connolly Publisher: Atria ISBN-10: 1416569529 Reviewed by Dana King, New Mystery Reader All series authors struggle to keep the franchise fresh, with varying results. Some age their characters in real time, some slow the aging process. Some stop it. Books are written out of sequence, telling of events that took place before already released novels. The past year has seen two top-list authors shift focus to their series’ regular sidekick. Last year brought Robert Crais’ award-winning The Watchman, a Joe Pike story with Elvis Cole in support. This summer unveils John Connolly’s The Reapers, featuring Charlie Parker’s friends and abettors Louis and Angel as protagonists; it should be no less successful. The story begins by looking back to Louis’ father, burned alive by racists in a redneck town. Nightmares bring the Burning Man to Louis with unnerving frequency, even now that he has retired from the Reaper, an elite team of professional killers. A former colleague turned nemesis has returned for vengeance on those he feels wronged him, and Louis and his partner Angel must take action to save themselves and those close to them, no matter how extreme the action may be. Louis and Angel will seem more sympathetic to those who have read other Connolly books, where their efforts to do good with their lethal skills show their desire to turn away from Louis’ previous career. Parker’s eyes and troubled sensitivities see how similar their demons are to his and leavens his judgment. Here the darkness inside their personal motivations is more fully explored—especially Louis’—with less benign results. Connolly keeps The Reapers from becoming a nihilistic festival of destruction by counterbalancing them against another bit player from previous episodes, Willie Brew. Sixty, a Vietnam veteran, Willie runs a small auto shop with his friend Arno that operates partly as a front for Louis’ money. Willie has no involvement in Louis’ other interests, their relationship is as deep as Willie’s acknowledgement that Louis bailed him out when he was in danger of losing the shop in a divorce. Willie knows Louis is bad news, just not how bad. He respects Louis for helping him and asking little in return, but knows nothing is free. Willie does what he thinks is right, even when he doesn’t want to. He becomes involved in Louis’ plight because he feels an obligation to someone who has been good to him, despite the conflicts what he might have to do to fulfill his self-imposed obligation. Louis kills because it’s what he does; his developing conscience must accommodate killing a relatively innocent man because of a potential future threat, or as collateral damage, because he is too close to an immediate threat, an egg in Louis’s omelet of survival. Willie’s conscience has no such peace. He must choose between possibly killing men who mean him no harm, or abandoning a man who would kill for him. He is swept with increasing rapidity into the maelstrom of Louis’ danger in an effort to return a favor. No good deed goes unpunished in Connolly’s world. The second half of The Reapers is an extended gunfight on multiple fronts. The ending unfolds through the eyes of several participants, none of whom knows all of what is going on, giving the reader glimpses into the minds and hearts of all. Some bad guys have been swept up almost as innocently as Willie; some of the good guys are there only to kick ass. Connolly’s palette consists of shades of gray that exist only in the mind; some darker, some lighter, with no bright line of separation. He pulls it off with elegiac and poetic prose worthy of James Lee Burke. The Reapers never disintegrates into operatic carnage. The pace of the writing remains introspective throughout, denying the conventional wisdom of shorter, choppier, sentences to convey action and imply tension. Connolly has all the tension he needs in the dark world his language creates. Humor is plentiful; the usual banter between Louis and Angel lightens the mood when needed while showing the bond between them, two early-middle-aged gay men nagging each other like an old married couple, but with the coarse humor men reserve for their friends. Not the easiest thing to pull off, it’s highly effective when handled by someone with Connolly’s talent. Beneath the carnage, The Reapers is about commitment and obligation. Angel knows Louis’ plan is based on incomplete information. He goes along because he goes where Louis goes, unconditionally, no matter how much he bitches about it, and he knows their original team is there for the money; only he will look out for Louis. Willie Brew will risk his life for a man he barely knows and fears more than he respects because Louis has been good to him, and he knows Louis would do the same for him, even if their motivations would be completely different. Parker arrives late and makes up for lost time by diving in without any plan at all, because Louis and Angel have been there for him without asking why, or how their contribution fits. These qualities are juxtaposed against the selfishness of their antagonists, and contrasted to the good-soldier innocence of some of their opponents, to create a book that is much greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts create a substantial sum. The Reapers allows Connolly to look at his characters from outside of their own perspectives and see them as other see them. The supernatural elements that work so well in his other books (especially The Black Angel) aren’t needed here; frank examination of good and bad, how they overlap, and how each can be used in the service of the other fills the spaces between the lines. The Reapers can be read as one hell of a thriller, but those who read it for that purpose alone are cheating themselves.
To the Death by Patrick Robinson Publisher: Vanguard Press ISBN 978 159315 476 9 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader There is a lot of pressure put on best-selling authors to write more best-sellers and make more money for their publishers. Some writers manage to hold out and take their time to refine and polish their books: P D James is one of those. Other writers crank out a book every six months or every Christmas or every Father’s Day, and over time their product wears a bit thin. We can all think of several thriller writers whose recent work has been a pallid imitation of their best years. The newest Patrick Robinson, in this reviewer’s opinion, is not his best. It’s topical to the point of being stereotyped: Palestinian terrorists, plots to crash planes into the capitol building and blow up airports, secret deporting of terrorism suspects to Guantanamo, a president with a powerful Grey Eminence without whom he can’t decide whether or not to have a roast beef sandwich, and so on. This is another book in the series about Admiral Arnold Morgan and his fight against world terrorism, and in particular against the former British special forces soldier and now terror leader, General Ravi Rashood. Ravi has sent his beloved wife into the USA to obtain information about the Admiral’s movements, in order to be able to carry out a successful assassination. Ravi has decided that Morgan is the single biggest threat to Palestinian aspirations, and that he must be removed. There’s a lot of skullduggery, violence, plotting, activities that may or may not be torture, dirty politicking, international travel and hair’s breadth escapes before the final scene, which is strangely anti-climactical. This isn’t a bad book, it moves fast, it’s got some really good action scenes mixed in with the ‘same old, same old’ bits, and it will appeal to those who like to see the bad guys severely thumped and the white-hats triumph. It’s just that it is not as good a book as Robinson can write and has written before. More depth, maybe just more time to develop the book would have produced something noteworthy. His publishers should ease up and let him decompress a bit before they insist on his cranking out another one. (Of course, my lack of enthusiasm may just be resentment at Robinson’s using my home town airport to launch his plot!)
Eight in the Box by Raffi Yessayan Publisher: Ballantine Books ISBN-10: 0345502612 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader When police are called in to investigate the case of a young and successful woman who has gone missing, there’s little doubt left that she’s most likely dead when investigators find her bathtub full of blood. But without a body, there’s not a whole lot of evidence to indicate what might have caused her death, much less who might have killed her. And when this case is followed by others much the same, Boston investigators must face the fact that they have a serial killer on their hands, one whose motive is unknown, but one whose identity might just eventually prove to be all too familiar as it could be one of their very own. The plot from Yessayan’s debut novel isn’t much different from so many that have come before and so it would take something very special to distinguish it from the pack, such as outstanding characterization or a novel narration that is compelling on its own. Unfortunately, this really has neither. After turning the last page, most readers will get the sense that the book has mostly relied on its “shocking” ending to carry the entire read; however, most will also have seen the ending coming long before its dramatic unveiling, making it feel like getting there has just a matter of going through the motions. And, ironically, it’s because of this very goal to keep the reader guessing “who done it,” that Yessayan is forced into making every character equally despicable, resulting in a read that is rather unpleasant all the way through. But, keep in mind, this is a debut novel, so there is hope that next time out Yessayan will come a bit closer to hitting that spot that will entice readers to want more.
Rules, Regs and Rotten Eggs by H R K Keating Publisher: St Martins Minotaur ISBN 978 0 31237533 6 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader This is what may be the final in the DS Harriet Martens series. There is an elegiac quality to the story, which details Harriet’s most difficult case to date, involving as it does powerful people in high places, people who have been raised in the belief that they are above the law. Previously known as “the Hard Detective”, Harriet has taken a while to recover form the death of her son Graham, who was following in his mother’s footsteps in police work when a terrorist’s bomb took his life. She’s on top of things now, she thinks, but has to battle her new chief to be allowed to hang onto the case she caught almost by accident, the attempted assassination of Robert Roughhouse, a pro-hunting MP who has a lot of enemies. Harriet happens on a street demonstration and sees the rotten eggs of the title being flung at Roughhouse—unfortunately, one of them is an egg-shaped grenade. Robert is whisked off to the hospital and just as quickly removed from there and locked up in a high security very expensive private clinic. It seems a bunch of his old school friends feared for his safety and took his care into their own hands. Sadly, it hasn’t worked, and before Harriet can find out much from Robert, he is found suffocated with his own pillow. Aided and sometimes hindered by her assigned assistant, known as Bolshy Bill, Harriet starts investigating who wanted Robert Roughhouse dead besides the obvious candidates, the friends of local foxes. All the scanty clues point back to the same exclusive boys school, and to a small inner circle at the school which has continued to bind the former school boys into their adult lives. Some of them are very important people indeed, and Harriet not only has to battle her way through the enchanted briar patch of corporate security, she has to fight her own boss for the privilege of solving the case. He can’t believe that an important corporate giant would stoop to murder, heaven forefend! Harriet knows better, and despite the growing unease among her superiors, perseveres until she forces the issue. There’s a stunning final scene where Bolshy Bill proves his worth after many a day of dumb insolence. It will be interesting to see if this is the final in the series, or if Keating has a different direction for the Hard Detective in her next outing. You need to pay careful attention while reading, as much of the action takes place inside Harriet’s head, and there aren’t any italics or quotation marks to guide you. Highly recommended.
A Patent Lie by Paul Goldstein Publisher: Doubleday ISBN-10: 0385517181 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader After the fallout of his last big case, NYC attorney Michael Seeley decided to pack it in and head back to his home town of Buffalo, bad memories be damned. But, of course, the memories of his past seem to linger on every corner, making settling in a bit more difficult than he’d hoped. So, when his younger brother Leonard, a doctor/researcher at a small pharmaceutical company, begs him to fly up to San Francisco to take over a case involving a patent for a new drug that could stop AIDS in its tracks, Michael agrees to look into the case against his better judgment. And, while at first, it seems to be a case of David vs. Goliath, with his brother’s company being the underdog, Michael will soon discover that nothing is as it seems and that the closer he comes to the truth, the closer he comes to ending up like the dead lawyer he replaced. There are many reasons to like this book, with the main one being that it offers up a provocative and timely look at the pharmaceutical industry and what goes on behind the scenes in bringing a drug to market. Although far from pretty, one does have to appreciate how Goldstein puts this alarming madness into words the layman can understand. However, while I was fascinated and challenged by the concepts presented, I simply could not feel a connection to the players involved, especially the main one, Michael Steeley. It’s difficult to grasp his inability to forgive and forget when it comes to family, and the lack of resolution can be frustrating. But, that being said, maybe by having missed the first in the series, I’m missing much of the justifications for why this is. Either way, I’m hoping the third will bring some compassion to a character that has everything but that to offer.
The Blood Detective by Dan Waddell Publisher: St Martin’s Minotaur ISBN: 0312378904 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Yet another really intriguing book from the St Martins Minotaur stable, something really unusual in a mystery, which will keep you guessing until the last few pages. Nigel Barnes, who calls himself a family historian rather than a genealogist, has fled back to the musty rooms of research from his brief adventure as a university teacher. Nigel’s been hurt, and he’s going around in a sort of fog—until the day that Detective Superintendent Heather Jenkins rings him up and asks for his help with tracing a murder victim. Heather and her boss, DCI Foster, have discovered that a serial killer is working in London. With Nigel’s help, they discover that the victims are all tied in somehow to a murder trial back in 1879. Nigel is as familiar with old records and news sources as Heather and Foster are with the data base at New Scotland Yard. Before long, he is deeply involved with the case, and beginning to wish to be involved with Heather, and not just on a professional basis. Nigel thinks he can predict where the next body might be found—in fact, he might be able to help stop the killer’s committing the murder. Unfortunately, a last minute glitch due to the changes in the London Underground system mean that what is finally located is yet another dead body. This time the murder victim is an MP’s sister, and this puts the case front and centre in the news. The pressure is really on Foster and his team to solve the murders fast—and then he disappears. Only Nigel has the required skills to piece together where the Foster has gone—and it’s going to be a life and death race to get to him before the killer commits his final horrendous crime. This book has its very gruesome moments, but they are integral to the plot and well balanced by the academic research undertaken by Nigel and his amateur helpers. Highly recommended as something quite different, and yet containing the best bits of a police procedural.
Sail by James Patterson & Howard Roughan Publishers: Little Brown, ISBN :978-0-316-01870-8 Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan, New Mystery Reader A couple of weeks back I read an article that somewhat disturbed me as a connoisseur of mysteries. Bestselling authors like Clive Cussler are “lending” their names. The books marketed as that written by Cussler are actually written by someone else. Dead authors are also not left alone. Even years after the death of Mario Puzo and of Robert Ludlum, the Godfather works and Bourne novels are being printed. Authors are no longer persons- they are now a brand name -and James Patterson is no exception. The author has candidly admitted that a lot of the words written in the novels marketed as his, are actually written by others. The central idea, the plotline is of course that of Patterson, but the actual words might be that of others. It was in this background, that I secured a copy of SAIL- the third novel by Patterson for 2008 (that makes it a novel every other month). So, for the first time realizing that I might be reading a novel written not by a person, but by a brand name, I started reading SAIL But, did this ‘disturbing’ piece of information really disturb my reading pleasure? Mostly the answer is no, frankly, I enjoyed it as well as any other Patterson novel I have read in the past. The chills and thrills, fizzles and sizzles are all there in abundance. Millionaire Katherine Dunne is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Her three children are giving her the jitters. Her daughter is suffering from depression with a suicidal tendency; her elder son Mark is on the route to become a drug addict, and the only saving grace is ten year old Ernie- Mamma’s little soldier. And Katherine decides that the only thing to bring back the family together is a pleasure trip on their luxury yacht- The Family Dunne. But someone out there wants the Dunne family un-done, and right from day one the sail trip proves to be a disaster. And, when following an explosion, the Dunne family finds themselves stranded in an isolated island with only rabbits and huge snakes for company. Will the family make it back home and, more importantly, who is behind the disaster to strike the yacht? The author (sorry the brand) keeps the suspense ticking all throughout- and though the novel is around 400 pages in length, I finished it within about three hours or so. One hellova read- and one thing I can say for sure- whether written by a person or under a brand- the thrills and chills are heart stopping, and spine tingling. Highly, highly recommended. And when is SAIL – the movie coming out??
In the Heat by Ian Vasquez Publisher: St Martin’s Minotaur ISBN 978 0 312 37809 7 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader You’re an almost washed up boxer, you’ve come home to Belize to care for your small child; you’ve lost your last fight and haven’t got much to look forward to, and then somebody offers you a job to find her missing teenage daughter and the cash she absconded with. What do you do? You think it over very hard, but when they sweeten the pot with the news that you have a shot at another fight, one that will net you $30,000, well....... Miles Young suspects from the start that there’s more to this set-up than is obvious. Isabelle Gilmore’s daughter Rian has run off with Marlon Tablada’s son Joel, and there’s a lot of cash missing also. Tablada is a hard man, a dangerous man, a connected man, and it isn’t long before Miles finds out just how bad an enemy Tablada can be. Miles is badly injured while investigating where the missing teenagers have gone, and it’s not unlikely that if he keeps on, he might be killed. Pride keeps Miles going, and later, anger, when he discovers that someone he trusted is part of the crooked set-up. The only way out of the increasing danger is for Miles to think smarter than the crooks, and to find a way to get some of them to suspect the others of double-dealing. If he can make a few bucks along the way, so much the better. This is a first novel from Vasquez, but it is certain not to be his last. Having set Miles up with a new career as an investigator, surely he will want to know what happens next, and share it with the reading public.
Shadow of Power by Steve Martini Publisher: William Morrow ISBN 978 0 06 123088 2 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader This is another in the Paul Madriani series, which takes legal thrillers to a new height. It starts out with a bloody murder and a quick arrest. Carl Arnsberg has a record, and he belongs to an Aryan Supremacist group, and it doesn’t take much to convince the police and the public that he killed Terry Scarborough, writer of a recent best seller about slavery, oppression, and dark plots. Scarborough has made millions of dollars from his first book, and his second book promises to make even more money, as well as stir up more controversy, racial violence, civil unrest and political turmoil. At the heart of the project is a mysterious letter, which purports to be an account of a plot by the founding fathers to keep slavery enshrined in the Constitution, for the base motive of political expediency. The letter was stolen when Scarborough was killed, but it takes a lot of effort to convince the prosecutor of this. And even when Paul succeeds in this, the letter is still missing and therefore no use to his case. Paul Madriani and his partner Harry Hinds are floundering to find a way to defend their client, whom everyone believes is as guilty as sin. After a bit of digging, it became apparent that there were a great number of other people who weren’t sad to see Scarborough dead. A teacher provides them with a reason to believe that Carl could not have known what the missing letter was about; then another clue drops into their laps when the missing letter shows up under their front door. The DA cries foul, of course, but Paul and Harry were smart enough to document everything from the moment they knew what was in their hands. The scene where the DA tries to shake the testimony of Paul and Harry’s junior assistant is one of the great moments in legal drama, worthy of the best of Perry Mason vs. Hamilton Burger. This is a really good read, even for those who normally wouldn’t go for legal thrillers.
Mighty Old Bones by Mary Saums Publisher: St Martin’s Minotaur ISBN 978 9 312 36064 1 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader This is another volume in the Twigg and Thistle mystery series. The series, which features Jane Thistle and Phoebe Twigg is very reminiscent of the Felicity Kendall mystery series on the BBC a few years back, “Rosemary and Thyme” which featured a landscaping guru and her untrained but keen assistant who kept finding bodies in the moss phlox and conspiracies in the oleanders. This book has the same folksy touch, with the two very different protagonists playing off each other: Jane, sophisticated, well-traveled, and possessed of a spooky ability to see ghosts and connect with a time long past, and Phoebe, a down-to-earth southerner who’s rarely been five miles from home but who has some relatives with unusual capabilities, and an AK46 and-a-half named “Smokeahontas”. The trouble starts when Jane finds a skeleton on her newly-inherited property. It is buried near some interesting and ancient rock carvings. After some initial trouble with an alleged Native American burial site representative who turns out to have a lot less claim to the connection than most people (including Burt Reynolds), Jane is able to get some anthropological assistance in the form of her old friend Michael. The excavation starts and a number of interesting things turn up which suddenly make this old grave the focus of not only some other-wordly interests, but also the all-too-common world of crime for profit. The final scene where two old ladies armed to the teeth, a dog, and one ancient seer take on a bunch of heavies will have you gasping with disbelief and laughing at the same time—and cheering for the little old ladies, of course. Despite the occasionally confusing narrator switching you’ll find this a fast read. You don’t have to believe in the Other World to find this an absorbing story.
Black Out by Lisa Unger Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books ISBN-10: 0307338487 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader With a solid marriage, a beautiful young daughter, and a world full of wealth and luxury, it would seem that Annie Powers is living the perfect life in her upscale Florida beachfront home. But what most don’t know is that Annie is in fact far from the happy housewife she appears to be, with her entire identity being a tidy construction put together to hide her horrible past. Because Annie is really Ophelia March, who years before had fled her unhappy and neglectful home to go on the run with a young man who made her his partner in acts of unspeakable terror. But the past is about to come knocking on Annie’s door in the most frightful and threatening ways when signs that the evil young man from her past, allegedly dead, is in fact alive and has now come back to claim her once again. But is he, or is someone just out to make her think so in an attempt to drive her insane? With nobody to trust, and with her and her family’s life hanging by a thread, Annie will be forced to revisit the trail of past destruction in order to end the nightmare once and for all and reclaim all that should be hers. Unger’s latest tale of suspense is simply electrifying. The reader, along with Annie, is sent down dark and deadly trails that lead to shocking revelations with every corner turned, with neither the reader nor Annie ever being sure of what is real and what isn’t. Told along three different timelines, Unger makes what is happening, and what has happened, convincingly real as she switches back and forth with a brilliant ease that propels the reader forward at an alarming speed. But it’s the ending that makes this trip even more astonishing; one you won’t see coming and one that brings it all together in a way that shows Unger’s masterful ability to create a moving drama that proves to be much more than a sum of its parts. Unger’s best so far, don’t miss it.
Cool Cache by Patricia Smiley Publisher: Obsidian Mysteries (Penguin) ISBN 978 0 451 222401 9 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Tucker Sinclair is back, and right in the middle of a tasty mystery. She’s trying to help Helen Taggert promote her fabulous handmade chocolates when the cleaning lady, Lupe Ortiz, is found dead in the back room of Nectar, Helen’s shop. The police at once fix on Lupe’s gangbanger meth-head son as the most likely suspect, but Tucker isn’t so sure. If a dope addict killed Lupe, why didn’t he steal something from the shop? And why would the boy later break into Helen’s apartment and ransack it, yet leave behind $100 in cash that was there for the taking? Tucker is considering what to do when her brilliant but emotionally fragile assistant Eugene Bostok takes off on what he tells his overbearing mother is a ‘secret mission’. Tucker can’t contact Eugene and the longer he’s away, the more worried she gets. She begins to trace his steps, trying to piece together what he discovered, but at every turn she’s just a bit too late. It’s obvious to Tucker that the case hinges on an antique chocolate pot which may have great value. She hides the pot at her own home, not perhaps the wisest move, given that she’s tipped her hand to the man who may be the killer. This is a quick read with a number of good characterizations—Eugene’s mother, for instance, whom you start out being appalled by but come to have a sneaking respect for in the end, and Tucker’s own dippy parent, who is facing a career crisis and needs Tucker’s support at a time when she is already stressed out. And of course there’s the grumpy Charley Tate, the PI with whom Tucker shares an office. Complicating everything in Tucker’s frantic life is the reappearance of Lt Joe Deegan, once her great love, but now engaged to another. Can Tucker’s fears for Eugene’s safety overcome the chasm of hurt between Joe and Tucker?
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312381131 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Pediatrician Tora Hamilton was never happy with her husband’s decision to relocate to the isolated Shetland Islands in Scotland, an area known for its inhospitality and suspicion towards outsiders. And after six months of mostly unsuccessful attempts to fit in, her reciprocated disliking of the locals only grows when she uncovers the murdered body in her land of a woman who had given birth just before her gruesome death. Unable to accept the authority’s seemingly unconcerned attitude towards the identity of the victim, one that eventually proves to conflict with all legal records, Tora soon finds her resolve to find the truth only intensifying. With only the local female detective, Dana Tulloch, on her side, and against all warnings from the locals including her own husband, Tora begins a search for answers that will take her deep into the fabled and troubled history of the area that will leave her distrustful of not only the strangers surrounding her, but those closest to her as well. Bolton’s debut novel brings a more than welcomed refreshing and unique tale to the crowded bookshelves of murder and mayhem. Exploring the unfamiliar area of the Shetland Islands – their fables and questionable history – she creates an ambiance that’s both beautiful and terrifying. And even while her premise is based on what most might view as inconceivable at times, this being fiction after all, she manages to convince the reader of the possibilities inherent in her tale by confronting the readers’ doubts head-on without missing a beat. With an unbeatable pair of heroines, a plot full of discovery and hidden pathways, and twists you’ll never see coming, this makes for a powerful debut that promises great things ahead.
Murder on Bank Street by Victoria Thompson Publisher: Berkeley Crime ISBN 978 0 425 22151 8 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader If you still hope on someone finding an unpublished Sherlock Holmes story, dream on. But if you’d be satisfied with something that has a similar flavour, engaging characters, and some complex plotting, stop right here: Victoria Thompson is for you. Sarah Brandt works as a midwife in some of the worst sections of New York in the 1890’s. She needn’t work at all, for her wealthy father would happily have her home again , and pretend that her years married to Dr Tom Brandt never happened. Tom was murdered, and some nasty rumors have been going around about why. However, it’s her work that keeps Sarah going, somehow what she does seems to keep Tom’s spirit alive. She has recently tried to adopt a little girl, Catherine, but as she is a widow, this isn’t allowed. The best Sarah can do is become Catherine’s legal guardian. For good measure she takes in Maeve, an older orphan from the Prodigal Son mission, as a nursemaid. Sarah has despaired of ever knowing why her husband died, but four years later her friend Frank Malloy of the New York Police Department re-opens the case . For his own reasons, Sarah’s father has put up the money to run the investigation. Despite Teddy Roosevelt’s attempts to clean up the old NYPD, you still had to pay if you wanted service. Starting from the very few clues to the murder—that it was done by a man with a heavy silver-headed cane, who accused Tom of ruining his daughter—Frank, Sarah, and a female Pinkerton’s agent undertake investigations which eventually lead to one household. There’s no way to find out more without getting an agent inside—and Maeve is the only one who can do it.
Old School Bones by Randall Peffer Publisher: Bleak House Books ISBN-10: 1932557857 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader When the body of New England prep student Liberty Baker is found, authorities and school officials are convinced it’s suicide. And while at first faculty advisor and dorm “mother” Awasha Patterson is willing to go with the ruling, she’s soon convinced by Liberty’s best friend Grace that the death was in fact a murder. It turns out Liberty had been investigating rumors that suggested the school had a history of secret societies; one, in particular, that might have been responsible for a young girl’s disappearance years before, and one that to this day might still exist. So Awasha turns to Michael DeCastro, lawyer now turned fisherman, a man who’s seen his own share of pain and the consequences of keeping deadly secrets, to help them find the truth. But the truth might bring more than answers to these slightly damaged seekers, because it seems that everyone involved has some hidden shame and anguish still lurking from their pasts – and for some, the shame might be deep enough to drive them to murder. The fact that Peffer includes Holden Caufield in his dedication should tell you right off the bat that this is one author who is going to go deep beneath the surface of his character’s lives with poignancy, gentle compassion, and understanding. So yes, while the plot itself is suspenseful, daring, provocative, and moving, it’s these characters who make this the wonderfully enticing journey what it is. Peffer manages to get into the hearts and souls of these distinctly different characters with such ease that each stands out as being both brilliantly unique and entirely convincing. It’s rare to come upon an author who knows his characters so well, and who has the courage to follow them - good or bad - where they need to go, but Peffer does this - even as he simultaneously keeps his plot focused and thrilling all the way to the end. One of the best books of the year, don’t miss this stunning achievement in literate mystery. |
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New Mystery Reader Magazine editor@newmysteryreader.com
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