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Alphabetical list of all Killer Book Recommendations

Issue 3. 12

December 2006

Issue 3. 11

November 2006

edited by

Karen Spengler

I Love a Mystery

Mission, KS  www.iloveamystery.com

THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS by John Connolly (Atria, $23). Recommended by David Hunenberg, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale AZ, www.poisonedpen.com:  Connolly, well know for his gritty Charlie Parker series, has expanded his literary horizons with a tale sure to be a hit with adult and teen readers of Harry Potter or Artemis Fowl. David at age 12 has lost his mother to illness although he did everything a child could imagine to help her get well. His world seems empty. This is until the books they shared together and she left him begins to talk to him, first in faint whispers, then with characters coming to life. Soon his hours of loneliness, anger over the
intrusion of Rose and a new baby, a half-brother, into his life, and confusion over change and his emotions are filled with vivid literary conversations causing reality to blur with fantasy. David is sometimes scared and sometimes drawn into the story as he watches helplessly as World War II changes the London he knows. Then a German bomber falls from the sky into his home's garden....

The tale is far from Connolly's usual venue but his almost poetic prose and attention to detail remains intact and the polished writing offers up nuggets of humor that are pure gold. After the first few pages the tale draws the reader into every page, every chapter. Connolly's Irishness is apparent yet the story is universal in its truths."

THE MAN WHO DIED LAUGHING & THE MAN WHO LIVED BY NIGHT by David Handler, reissued in an omnibus edition, with a new introduction by the author (Busted Flush Press, $26 hardcover; $18 trade paper), recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery, Mission, KS  www.iloveamystery.com:  Lulu’s back!  For the uninitiated, Lulu the basset hound is, in my opinion, the best dog in all of mysterydom.  She doesn’t talk, she doesn’t solve mysteries, we aren’t privy to her thoughts.  She is simply…a dog, albeit a dog with unusual tastes in food, discerning tastes in people and the ability to wrap her family around her little toe.  In other words, a dog like the ones that many of us know. 

    In this omnibus edition of The Man Who Died Laughing & The Man Who Lived by Night (out of print for nearly two decades), Busted Flush Press has brought back the first two books in this delightful series about Lulu and her person, Stuart Hoag .  Hoagy, as he likes to be called (as in the cheesesteak, not the musician) is a writer, a one-hit wonder, still famous but now reduced to ghosting books for celebrities in order to make a living.

The Man Who Died Laughing finds Hoagy reluctantly taking on his first ghostwriting assignment for Sonny Day, a washed-up comedian—once part of a wildly famous comedy duo--who has promised to reveal the real cause of the partnership’s breakup in a tell-all autobiography.  When Sonny is killed, Hoagy is drawn--even more reluctantly--into the murder investigation of the man who had become his friend.  In the Man Who Lived by Night, Hoagy, now more comfortable with his ghostwriting career, but still hoping to recapture his own literary muse, is in London (with Lulu) to write the memoirs of aging rock superstar Tristam Scarr.  Both books are filled with cultural references that—rather than making the books seem dated—were even more fun than when I first read the books.

Busted Flush plans to reissue the remaining six books in the Hoagy/Lulu series in three more omnibus editions. 

WHAT ANGELS FEAR by C. S. Harris (Signet Mystery, $6.99) recommended by Deb Andolino, Aliens & Alibis Books, Columbia, SC, www.aliensandalibis.com: I am a sucker for historical mysteries where the protagonist (usually male, wealthy and handsome) is accused of a crime and must clear his name. Therefore, I was excited to find a new author who has given us a fresh look at the sub-genre.  The dueling pistol of Sebastian S. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, is found beside the body of a beautiful young woman who has been raped and savagely murdered. In addition, damning testimony of a witness to the crime further incriminates him.

Sebastian was an agent during the Napoleonic Wars and uses that skill to catch the killer and prove his own innocence. As the blurb on the back of the book says: "In Sebastian's world of intrigue and espionage, nothing is as it seems, yet the truth may hold a key to the future of the British monarchy, as well as to Sebastian's own salvation."  This is the paperback version; the hardcover was published in November 2005. The second book in the series, When Gods Die, comes out this month -- and I can hardly wait to read it!

THE ACCOMPLICE by Elizabeth Ironside (Felony & Mayhem, $14.95), recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO, www.ruemorguepress.com: Jean Loftus has led a comfortable and orderly life for over 40 years at her spacious country home in Sussex. But everything changes when workmen dig up a child’s skeleton in her well-tended garden, a discovery that exposes Jean’s secret past as a child in revolutionary Russia and as a refugee during two world wars. Jean’s kindly neighbor, Zita, wants to help Jean keep her secrets, but the arrival of a mysterious Russian student puts an end to any hope of that, as does the investigation opened by the local police. 

 What follows is a leisurely, often elegantly, told tale of how impossible it is to escape the past. As the truth about those long gone days gradually unfolds Zita finds herself increasingly involved in the affair. If she fails to act does this make her an accessory or—worse--an accomplice to murder? Written by the wife of the current British ambassador to the United States, this book failed to find a U.S. publisher for ten years even though the author had been shortlisted for several of Britain’s most prestigious literary awards

ALL MORTAL FLESH by Julia Spencer-Fleming (St. Martin’s Minotaur, $22.95), recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO, www.ruemorguepress.com: Faithful readers of this acclaimed series already know the premise: former Army helicopter pilot Clare Fergusson is the first woman pastor at St. Aldan’s Episcopal church in the tiny Adirondacks town of Millers Kill, and she’s not at all what they were expecting. Lonely and frequently at odds with her conservative parishioners and diocese, she’s found a friend and kindred spirit in police chief Russ Van Alstyne, also an Army veteran and unfortunately very married. Over the course of four earlier books in this sensitively written series, the two have struggled with their feelings for each other while working together solving murders and raising a few eyebrows in the town.

 Now the brutal murder of Russ’s wife, from whom he has recently separated, turns their already conflicted world upside down. Both Russ and Clare are suspects, and both are assigned watchdogs by their superiors, he a politically ambitious investigator from the state police and she an overly helpful deacon sent by the diocese. What follows is a dizzying rollercoaster of a ride, with one wholly unexpected plot twist after another following in rapid succession. And just when things seem sorted out at last, the author has one last surprise in store for the reader, one that raises all sorts of questions about where the series is headed.

 Issue 3.10

October 2006

Edited by

Maryelizabeth Hart

Mysterious Galaxy

San Diego, CA www.mystgalaxy.com

47 RULES OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE BANK ROBBERS by Troy Cook (Capital Press, $14.95), recommended by Maggie Mason, Lookin for Books, San Diego, CA:  Tara Evans had an unusual childhood. While she did have a Barbie doll, it was used by her father as a prop explaining how they would rob the next bank. She was nine years old when she first became a bank robber, and at twenty-two years old is still at it. She sees her father, Wyatt, get crazier and more violent with each bank, and vows to break free. In a small town, she meets Max Williams, son of the local sheriff. Max has had a bit of a wild youth, to the point where the his father is at his wits end. Tara and Max evade both fathers and hook up. On the run from the law and family, they begin Max on his real criminal career. Starting with robbing convenience stores,
Max is a natural, using a children's game to get cooperation. Also of use to Max is Wyatt's rules of bank robbing, or at least most of them. Sadly, they forget
one, and when Wyatt finds them, he is out for revenge.
On the lam are not just Tara and Max, but assorted other felons, and even an FBI agent who must be the original source of the term "feebie" as he is too dumb for words. The Epilogue ties things up nicely in this wild west romp of a novel. There are too many interesting characters to mention without using up my entire column, and all of them are indeed characters.

THE MEPHISTO CLUB by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine, $24.95), recommended  by AnneMarie Cox, Mysterious Galaxy, CA ww.mystgalaxy.com:  Tess Gerritsen has done it again! Rizzoli is back. The story begins  with the funeral of a father. His son is taken in by family. The most  prophetic words are "Amy Saul had no idea what they were about to bring home with them."  BOOM -- twelve years into the future and bizarre  murders are beginning to happen. The only thing they have in common,  for now, is the signs left at the crime scenes. The funeral scene is the first time that you are introduced to the evil that is about to be unleashed.  You very rarely meet The Beast, in fact throughout the book you only hear his voice seven times and all in back stories. Tess has spun a  wonderful, suspenseful thriller. I was enthralled from the first page!   There are several twists and turns and I had several ah ha! moments,  but it's not until almost the end of the book that you actually meet The Beast and hear his story. A subplot is the tale of Rizzoli's parents and how she tries to deal with them, her husband and daughter. This subplot balances out the horror of The Beast with its humor of the typical family with all its bumps and bruises.

DEAD CAT BOUNCE (Harper $14) by Norman Green, recommended by Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ, ww

w.poisonedpen.com. Visit the dark side of Jersey and NY where Stoney, staying sober but missing the family who tossed him out, is still partnered wi

th Fat Tommy. Then from the blue comes a call from Stoney's 17-year-old daughter Marissa who gives him a story-she's being stalked. The truth, it emerges, is worse; for thrills she did a little gig as a stripper and now a violent, dangerous man with a yen for the young won't leave her alone. Fat Tommy runs up a stump trying to ID this guy
Prior, but no matter, Stoney sets up a sting from which Prior can either run, or be rubbed (out). That's a bare outline of a fabulous caper that goes down fast, unapologetic, and funny, just like this cast's first round in Shooting Dr. Jack ($7.99), one of my very favorites.

ART'S BLOOD by Vicki Lane (Dell, $6.99), recommended by Deb Andolino, Aliens & Alibis Books, Columbia, SC, www.aliensandalibis.com:  This is the second book in the Elizabeth Boodweather series.  The first book, SIGNS IN THE BLOOD (Dell, $6.99) is a book I have recommended highly to customers and I was very pleased to find that this new entry in the series is as good or better -- and they both turned out to be impossible to put down once I started them. Fundamentalist Christian snake handlers and liberal back-to-the-landers; a secretive white supremacist militia and undercover police agents; simple rural mountain dwellers and sophisticated urban artists-throw in a counterculture commune of allegedly extraterrestrial origin and that still wouldn't cover all
the disparate types who populate the Appalachian community of Ridley Branch, N.C., the setting for this well-crafted, dramatic tale of murder, miracles and midlife romance. 
    When Elizabeth Goodweather discovers that a flamboyant performance artist has been murdered, she doesn't realize where that discovery will take her.  She learns the amazing history of a magnificent piece of folk art and gets caught between the worlds of the past and the present. 

THE THIRTEENTH TALE by Diane Setterfield (Atria $26), recommended by Joanne Sinchuk, Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore, Del Ray Beach, FL, www.murderonthebeach.com:  Categorized as a "Literary Thriller", The Thirteenth Tale is one of my favorite
books read this year. Similar in many respects to Shadow of the Wind but very different in other respects, this is a book to get lost in.Margaret Lea is a young writer working for her father in his Cambridge Antiquarian Bookshop (any book that takes place in a bookshop, you know has to
be great). One day she receives a letter from Vida Winter, one of the  bestselling contemporary authors of England. Vida is dying and is looking for someone to write her biography. For reasons not readily apparent, she has chosen Margaret as the one. Margaret takes the job, and spends months with Vida, listening to her tales and crimes of the past which have very real consequences in the present.  It is the story of the Angelfield family, a very old and respected English family living in a huge rambling mansion, with their fortune, their fears and their ghost. There is a strong streak of insanity in the family, which the
servants work to keep hidden, but which will pop out at the most inopportune moments. How Vida survived this upbringing, and escaped the destruction succumbed to by the others, is a very remarkable tale.
   Although Vida tells her story, Setterfield skillfully does not tell all, but lets the reader piece the clues together to arrive at the real story. The characters which populate this world are beautifully drawn, so although sometimes unbelievable, are immensely likable. And in the end, we see parallels between Vida's and Margaret's lives. And we finally know why Vida chose an unknown writer like Margaret to write it.

THE MOURNFUL TEDDY by John J. Lamb (Berkley Prime Crime, $6.99, August release), recommended by Lelia Taylor, Creatures ‘n Crooks Bookshoppe, Richmond, VA, http://www.cncbooks.com: Lamb’s first mystery, Echoes of the Lost Order, established him as a mystery author to watch and The Mournful Teddy, first in the Bear Collector’s series, is every bit as good.  Brad Lyon, a retired San Francisco homicide cop, has moved with his wife, Ashleigh, to her Virginia mountains hometown. The idyllic setting is disturbed by the discovery of a body in the river at Brad and Ash’s back door and Brad’s cop instincts kick in when the local sheriff refuses to treat the death as a possible homicide. In the meantime, the couple has an exhibit of her teddy bears at an extravaganza where a rare and very valuable bear is set to be auctioned--but how could there be a connection between a murder and teddy bears? Lamb blends police procedural with traditional mystery to create an intriguing puzzle with more than a little edge, while offering lots of fascinating information about the world of collectible teddy bears.

NO GOOD DEEDS by Laura Lippman (William Morrow, $24.95, July release), recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, MI, http://auntagathas.com:  Laura Lippman, who has won every major mystery award, is hardly a neglected author, but as she continues to write she has matured and her later novels are far superior to her early ones.  Her newest Tess Monaghan installment, No Good Deeds, centers on Tess' longtime companion, Crow, as well as on Tess.  The alternating points of view add to the interest of this story, which begins when Crow takes home a homeless kid for dinner and a place to sleep. The kid, of course, is secretly casing the joint and ends up crashing Crow's car in the middle of the night.  The more seasoned Tess is less surprised by this than the more naïve Crow, but Tess has figured a link between the homeless kid and the recent murder of a state's attorney, a case she's consulting on for the Beacon Light.  When one of the homeless kids' friends is murdered, he and Crow go into hiding.   Tess is frightened because she's afraid Crow's very naiveté will do him in and she keeps mum by necessity when a trio of government types start dogging her every move.  The sophistication of the opening metaphor - it involves Horton Hears a Who - and the lightning quick and complex narrative, combined with Lippman's considerable skills with character development, make this book another standout in what has become one of the classic P.I. series.  Sure, Lippman owes a big debt to Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton, but she's made Tess Monaghan's Baltimore her own.

SECOND BURIAL FOR A BLACK PRINCE by Andrew Nugent (St. Martin’s Minotaur, $23.95, July release), recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery, Mission, KS, http://iloveamystery.com:   Although this is ostensibly second in a series featuring a group of Dublin police detectives, they actually play very little part in this delightful mystery.  The story takes place in Dublin’s close-knit Little Africa, where twenty-three year old Jude Ekemauche Okafor, a Nigerian of the Igbo tribe, has recently arrived to join his older brother, Shadrack.  When Shadrack is murdered in a particularly brutal way—he is left in a ditch to die of blood loss after someone amputated his leg—the police are left with no leads.  Shad, after all, was highly regarded by everyone who knew him, even by members of tribes who would have been his enemies in his native Nigeria.  The police are particularly puzzled by one aspect of the case: why did Shad’s attacker take the time to give him anesthetic before performing the operation?   Andrew Nugent, who was formerly a missionary in Africa, brings the inhabitants of Little Africa to life:  gentle Jude, who goes from naïve newcomer to a strong and wise young man while he searches for his brother’s killer; the orphan Pita, embraced by the African community after he arrives in Dublin half-dead in the hold of a container ship; Fat Isaac, who wears the traditional toga, red bonnet and neckbeads of a chief.   Highly recommended for anyone who enjoyed The Coroner’s Lunch or No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.

THE PRINCESS OF BURUNDI by Kjell Eriksson, translated by Ebba Segerberg (St. Martin's Minotaur; $23.95) Recommended by Joanne Sinchuk, Murder on the Beach Mystery Bookstore.   Scandinavian mysteries suddenly seem to be very popular.  Written in the British style, they not only have all the plot, character and intricacies of the English mystery, but also the exotic and unusual setting thrown into the mix.

Kjell Eriksson won the Swedish Crime Writer’s Award for Best First Novel of 1999, and then followed it up by winning the award for Best Swedish Crime Novel for The Princess of Burundi.

John Jonsson’s (Little John) body is found by a jogger, dumped in the snow in his home town.  The body had a few fingers cut off, and other signs that he had been tortured before death.  Little John had been on the wrong side of the law when he was younger, but had straightened himself out.  He was married with a 12 year old son, had become a welder and was recently laid off by his long-time employer Sagander’s Mechanical Workshop.  He had developed a hobby of raising tropical fish, one of which was the Princess of Burundi, and was known locally as somewhat of an expert on them.  His brother, however, was the type who was still in trouble with the law now and then, but mostly for petty crimes and drunken brawling.  Still the brother keeps looking like the most likely suspect.  Inspector Ann Lindell, although on maternity leave, is determined to find the killer. 

     Wonderfully plotted with atmospheric settings transposed against the Christmas setting, The Princess of Burundi is a traditional mystery that kept me turning the pages.  Eriksson reveals layer after layer of plot in a classic style with the right amount of suspense.  This was a thoroughly enjoyable read. 

TOO BIG TO MISS by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Midnight Ink; $13.95) Recommended by Maggie Mason, Looking for Books.   First in the Odelia Grey series.  Odelia Grey is a Big Beautiful Woman (BBW) who works as a paralegal.  She has a wonderful group of friends and a support group, reality check, run by Sophie London.  When Sophie commits suicide, on a web cam no less, Odelia is one of the many people who don't believe what was on the screen.  Odelia finds there is a lot she doesn't know about Sophie.  Sophie had a child, and had an adult oriented website, and thus the web cam.  Sophie left a few treasured belongings to her friends and the balance of her estate to her son.  Odelia was chosen as the administrator.

    At Sophie's funeral service, an altercation breaks out between two men.  Odelia learns one is Sophie's ex, and the other is a man she was involved with off and on for many years, mostly to her detriment.  Odelia also meets Greg Stevens, a man who was a friend of Sophie's.  He was the one who called 911 after seeing Sophie's death.  Greg proves to be a man worth knowing.  He is in a wheelchair due to a youthful accident, and helps Odelia cope with the loss of a good friend.  Together Greg and Sophie piece together the puzzle, and solve the mystery of Sophie's death, and begin a promising romantic relationship. 

This book was full of insights into "invisible people" like the disabled, and overweight, and how they have to cope with their life, as well as discrimination and misconceptions people have about our differences.  Odelia mentions in department stores, the large size departments are hidden away,  and shows the difficulty dealing with size 0 sales girls (along the line of the movie Pretty Woman).  There is an abundance of humor and snappy dialog, and a golden retriever (always a plus for me).  I've read three mysteries published by Midnight Ink, and have enjoyed all of them.   

DEATH WITHOUT COMPANY, by Craig Johnson (viking; $23.95), Recommended by J D Singh, Sleuth of Baker Street .  My personal criterion for excellence is if I feel I could have done as well, then it can’t be very good and excellent otherwise. Flawed, and some might say arrogant, as that argument may be it has oft served me well. I recently come across CRAIG JOHNSON and boy, if I could do have the job that he has done, then I’d give up bookselling without a second thought. Johnson is the author of two novels to date, Cold Dish ($14 Penguin) and Death Without Company ($23.95 Viking) and you won’t believe that he’s a newly-minted writer. Tony Hillerman is rather vocal about how good this guy is per the jacket blurbs, and he’s quite right. The writing is elegant and eloquent, the characters memorable and whole, the plots rich and complex enough, and there’s a playfulness and a wonderful sense of humour. I’m a fan. If nothing I’ve said convinces you, then buy the books for the jacket illustrations alone. Then read them. You’ll thank me. Both novels feature Sheriff Walt Longmire, as well as Henry Standing Bear, his best friend for as long as he can remember, Victoria his deputy and likely successor, Ruby the receptionist and a whole cast of others. The secondary characters are fleshed out well enough to not seem like cardboard cutouts and the setting, the wild open spaces of Wyoming, is as important a character as Walt is. I could go and give you plot outlines, but I won’t waste your time. Just get the books and start to enjoy. The last debut novel this good was Relative Danger by CHARLES BENOIT!!

PRODIGY, by Dave Kalstein (St. Martin's Press; $23.95) Recommended by Audrey Richlinsky, I Love a Mystery.  In the year 2036, the Stansbury school has taken education to an all new level, using 'supplements' to make its students grow bigger and learn better than anyone could imagine.  To some this is science at its best; to others, a danger to society.  When six recent Stansbury graduates are murdered, an unlikely pair of students ends up investigating.  Valedictorian Thomas Oliver Goldsmith wants to avert a scandal that could ruin the history-making school, while fellow student Winston Cooley—a rebel who doesn’t buy into the school’s ideals-- is desperately trying to protect his own freedom.

LOST,  by Michael Robotham (Doubleday; $24.95) Recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery: When Detective Inspector Vincent Ruiz is fished out of the Thames on a cold London night, he has a bullet hole in his thigh, no recollection of how he ended up in the river and an officer from Internal Affairs accusing him of faking amnesia.  Little by little, Ruiz comes to believe that at the time of his accident, he was on the trail of a seven-year old girl, kidnapped three years earlier and presumed dead by everyone except him.   Initially, this story might seem similar to another mystery that I recently wrote about.  However, while Memory Book, by Howard Engel, focused on the realistic struggle of its main character to recover his memory and come to terms with the new limitations of his life, Lost is a top-notch thriller with strong and complex characters and an intricate plot.

18 Seconds by George D. Shuman (Simon & Schuster; $23.00); Recommended by Linda Dewberry, Whodunit? Books .  I don't usually like books about stunningly beautiful women but Investigative Consultant Sherry Moore is blind, has had a horrible childhood and yet manages to keep a sunny disposition.  Sherry is a psychic, not any role I'd want for a day job, and works with police to solve crimes after normal investigative methods have failed.  She has the ability to see the last 18 seconds of a dead person's brain activity and is willing to work her magic in the background, sneaking in to morgues and funeral homes to find justice for the victims and their families.  No publicity shots or Larry King visits here. 

  Lieutenant Kelly O'Shaughnessy is trying to win the respect of her male counterparts and subordinates.  She's a bright, inventive cop who's willing to do almost anything to stay ahead of the bad guys. Serial killer Earl Sykes is one creepy guy and even though I thought I had read one too many serial killer books already I was drawn in because Kelly and Sherry are such well drawn characters with problems and challenges we all face.  Earl has been in prison for 19 years and he can't wait to get out to start killing again.  Only now he's smarter! You'll be on the edge of your seat as you watch the cops try to fig ure it out!   Written by a 20-year veteran cop, the procedural side feels spot-on, but George Shuman can really write!  I loved it!

OUT OF ORDER by Charles Benoit (Poisoned Pen, $24.95). Recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO. Jason Talley, a 27-year-old loan officer from Corning, New York, is the unlikely hero of this thriller set in the teeming streets of India, where an assassin can be purchased for pocket change. When his friends, a couple from India, are found dead in their Corning apartment, the apparent victims of a murder-suicide pact, he decides to honor their memory by delivering an elaborate sari to the dead man’s mother in India. His travel agent books him on a senior citizens’ tour that is more shopping than sightseeing. With the help of the only other young person on the tour, a lovely Canadian woman with a fondness for trains and making up outrageous lies, he leaves the group only to find himself attacked by knife-wielding, gun-toting assassins at every juncture. The assassins appear to be in the pay of one or more of his dead friend’s former associates in an Indian software company that went bankrupt after he allegedly stole their plans and sabotaged their computer system. While Jason can’t believe that his jovial

friend could be guilty of duplicity, the evidence suggests otherwise. Part detective story, part thriller, Benoit’s second novel is all the more engaging because Jason is an average Joe who doesn’t know martial arts or how to handle a weapon. The result is an adventure story almost cozy in texture, yet still thrilling, with just the right touch of romance. It’s the kind of story Alfred Hitchcock would have filmed.

OH DANNY BOY by Rhys Bowen (St. Martin’s, $23.95). Recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha’s, Ann Arbor, MI. Rhys Bowen is a born storyteller. Her natural gift with narrative has happily been paired, in this series, with a totally memorable and endearing heroine, Molly Murphy. Following Molly as she comes over to American from Ireland in 1900 through her struggles to find a job, a mentor (he dies), friends, and her navigation through a rocky love life establishes Molly both as someone the reader can root for and someone who you are eager to know more about and follow through more adventures. In this book Bowen takes on the tired serial killer genre in a fresh way (I didn’t think it could be done), placing it more firmly in the background as Molly attends to her real mission in this book: getting Daniel Sullivan out of jail. Still furious with Daniel over his engagement to another woman, Molly is dragged to the jail to see Daniel. Daniel begs for her help as an investigator because she’s the only person he can really trust . Molly teams up with a real life character, Sabella Goodwin, one of the first women on the New York city police force. Goodwin actually became a full detective in 1910; her work with Molly in this book suggests one of the ways that might have happened. One of the things I really like about this series is not only its attention to period detail, but attention to things that haven’t been frequently written about. The depiction of Sabella Goodwin in this book is one such treasure . Her presence makes Molly’s job more believable, gives Molly an entree into the workings of the police force, and provides her with an ally who’s as strong minded and independent as she is. And like the four other books, this is a great story, with some personal issues for Molly. This is one of the best historical series being written at the moment.

THE DEEP BLUE ALIBI by Paul Levine (Bantam, $6.99). Recommended by Terry Gilman, Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA. A great defense team, snappy dialog, and deep-seated family secretes are the mainstays of the second outing for Solomon and Lord, partners in law and in life (or at least it started out that way). Deep Blue Alibi is as much about trying to win a murder case for their client as it is about trying to discover the truth about their pasts. Victoria Lord’s father’s business partner dramatically reenters her life and claims her as his attorney to defend him against a murder charge. His son and her childhood friend are also back in the picture. Blending into the mix is Victoria’s mother who shows up just in time to screw up her case and her perception of the past. On Steve Lord’s part, he is trying to clear his father’s name in the Florida court system even as his father resists all of his efforts to help him. As Victoria and Steve try to reconcile their pasts while solving a murder case they also find themselves reevaluating their relationship -- always tricky waters! But my favorite character by far is Steve’s nephew Bobby, who continues to steal the limelight with his insight and intelligence in matters of the mind and the heart. I continue to love this series and look forward to Kill All the Lawyers, due out this fall.

THE SUMMER SNOW by Rebecca Pawel (Soho, $23.00). Recommended by Miriam Guidero, The Mystery Company, Carmel, IN. The Summer Snow, the fourth book in the Carlos Tejada series, opens in the fall of 1945. World War II is over. The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939, but the shadow of that war still lingers over Spain. When elderly Dona Rosalia of Granada dies one evening, the local branch of the Guardia Civil decides to investigate. The officers think she died of natural causes, but she had a habit of calling the Guardia frequently because she feared a Red conspiracy against her life; indeed, the last time an officer came was a few hours before her death. Also, her latest will is missing. Since she is part of an influential patrician family, tact and delicacy is needed. One of the local Guardia calls her great-nephew, Carlos Tejada, a lieutenant in the Guardia stationed in the north of Spain, to ask him to come home to help. A reluctant Tejada agrees, bringing with him his wife, Elena, and their young son—reluctant because of the strained relationship between himself and his family, made worse because Elena had Republican (Red) sympathies in the Civil War and Tejada’s parents think she is beneath him. When Rosalia’s autopsy shows that she was indeed murdered, Tejada has to investigate not only her servants but members of their mutual family, including his father, rumored to benefit from the missing will. The Tejada series takes me to a time and place I know very little about (Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls was a long time ago), and I found it fascinating. Pawel’s writing is elegant and flowing.

KILL ME by Stephen White (Dutton, $25.95). Recommended by Linda Dewberry, Whodunit? Books, Olympia, WA. I've read and enjoyed everything Stephen White has written, but Kill Me is head and shoulders above them all. As in his bestselling The Program, White puts Dr. Alan Gregory, a Boulder, Colorado psychologist more in the background to give the reader a chance to know what being in therapy is all about. The patient's name is not really important -- in fact, he doesn't even tell Dr. Gregory more than a nickname at first. What is important? He's a high powered executive in the medical technology field who's made his fortune, lived the good life, and spends his free time doing high risk sports to balance the pressure. He married a younger woman who knows what she's getting in to and understands her husband better than he understands himself. What our patient knows is that although he doesn't want to die, he's not afraid of it. He's more afraid of suffering with a long term illness like his brother or becoming a vegetable like his best friend. When a friend suggests a "policy" he can buy that would remove those worries, he's very interested and more than a little curious. I don't want to tell you any more. I will tell you that White took me where I guessed he would, but in a way that moved me to laughter and tears that I didn't anticipate. I was left with some intriguing thoughts about my own mortality and facing life's challenges.

MARK OF THE LION by Suzanne Arruda (New American Library,  23.95).  Recommended by Tom and Enid Schantz, Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO.

  Jade de Cameron was raised on a ranch in New Mexico and further toughened by driving an ambulance during World War I. She’s a crack shot, an ace mechanic, and an expert driver--a woman who embraces life and thrives on danger. When her aviator lover dies in her arms after she’s pulled him from the burning wreckage of his Sopwith Camel, she promises to carry out his dying request: find his brother and learn how his father died.          After she’s demobilized, Jade is told by David’s frosty mother that he had no brother, but a visit with his solicitor suggests otherwise. He sends her off to British East Africa , where her new career as a travel writer is a perfect cover for her inquiries. This is the Kenya of Isak Dinesen, Osa and Martin Johnson, and Ernest Hemingway, and Jade falls hopelessly under its spell, accustomed as she is to the rugged landscape of her homeland. She meets a wide variety of colonists and natives, shocks some of them with her unorthodox ways, wins more over with her kindness and common sense, and ends up on a safari at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro where she faces great danger but eventually fulfills her mission. This debut novel delivers on its unabashedly romantic premise and for good measure throws in a genuine mystery, albeit with supernatural overtones,

as Jade is confronted with a series of murders that seem to be the work of a witch not unlike the Navajo skinwalkers she grew up hearing about. It’s storytelling in the grand manner, old-fashioned entertainment with a larger-than-life heroine far ahead of her time. 

THE WOODEN OVERCOAT by Pamela Branch.  (Rue Morgue Press; $14.95) Recommended by Dean James, Murder By The Book, Houston , TX .  What happens when you mix a house full of wrongfully acquitted murderers with two young artistic couples? You get one of my very favorite funny mystery novels, that’s what. Pamela Branch wrote only four mysteries, and The Wooden Overcoat was her first. And quite a debut it was, too! Published now for the first time in the U.S. (it was first published in 1951 in the U.K. ), it is a must-read for fans of the humorous British mystery.  This is British farce at its best, hihly recommended to fans of British movies like The Ladykillers and The Lavendar Hill Mob.

THE TWO MINUTE RULE by Robert Crais (Simon & Schuster 24.95).  Recommended by Sue Wilder, Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach , FL.   Marchenko and Parsons, armed and high, burst into the bank, demanding money. Twelve previous successful bank robberies had already made them millionaires and sure that they would not be stopped. However, robbers have a maximum of two minutes to rob and leave a bank. After two minutes, silent alarms are triggered, security systems are activated and police arrive on the scene. Their complacency violates the two minute rule and they are apprehended and killed.  Three months later, Max Holman, a bank robber who violated the two minute rule when he stopped to help a man having a heart attack during a robbery, is released after a long stretch in prison. Max is looking forward to locating his grown son Richie—an LAPD cop--and getting to know him. Unfortunately, as Max is leaving prison he is informed that Richie has been killed.  Max is skeptical about the “official” circumstances of Richie’s death. His investigation of his son’s co-workers reveals police corruption and graft. By association, Richie is starting to look like a dirty cop. Max enlists Katherine Pollard, ex-FBI agent who arrested Max and helped send him to prison, to help him uncover the truth. Mr. Crais has written an action packed thriller that is expertly plotted. As with all of his books, characters are a strong suit. The reader shares the emotions of the characters without losing sight of the moral issues. Many readers may be familiar with Mr. Crais’ excellent award-winning series featuring Elvis Cole and Joe Pike. The Two Minute Rule is a stand-alone that exhibits the same sharp writing and tension building style. This is a terrific book for the hardboiled reader.

MEMORY BOOK: A BENNY COOPERMAN DETECTIVE NOVEL, by Howard Engel (Carroll & Graf, $24 hardcover/$13.95 trade paperback). Recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery, Mission , KS .   In this eleventh Benny Cooperman novel, the detective awakes in the hospital with a brain injury after eight weeks in a coma, having been left for dead in a dumpster.  Suffering from a condition called “alexia sine agraphia”, Cooperman finds that he can write but not read, and he’s so confused that he tries to brush his teeth with his shaving cream.  He has no memory of the crime that caused his injury, but when he’s told that he was found beside a dead woman, Cooperman realizes that he must have been in the middle of an investigation.   With a little help from his friends—whose names he can’t quite remember—Benny manages to sort out the good guys from the bad guys and solve the puzzle of how he ended up in the dumpster, and why.  This is a fascinating book, with an afterward by one of my favorite non-fiction authors, neurologist Oliver Sachs (author of The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat).  What caught my interest was not the mystery—which was fine, but secondary to the intensely personal story that author Engel shared through his character, Benny Cooperman.  It happens that Engle himself experienced alexia sine agraphia after suffering a small stroke in 2001.  Memory Book offers a rare opportunity to gain insight into Benny’s process of recovery—from the initial shock and loss, through the day-to-day struggles of even remembering his nurse’s name, to the slow redefining of his sense of who he is.  This isn’t a downbeat book, however, because through it all, Cooperman maintains his trademark sense of humor.

THE BLIGHT WAY by Patrick McManus (Simon & Schuster, $24). Recommended by Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale , AZ.   Sheriff Bo Tully, a new generation of Tully lawmen after his still lively father Pap retired, knows Blight County , Idaho , at the foot of the Rockies , as well as any man. So when a dead body is spotted hanging over a fence out at Batim Scragg's ranch, Bo knows just what to do. Ruling out Batim and his two wayward sons--who would have dumped the body down a prospect hole rather than calling it in--Bo surveys a surprisingly wide field of suspects. His methods for weeding the killer out may not be legal, but they're The Blight Way. The writing veers between awkward and hilarious; perhaps this is the trademark The McManus Way. It certainly allows him to tie up what looks like a rambling story in cunning (and very satisfying) ways. Another maverick mystery writer, bless him.

And a bonus book for Killer Books readers--not a mystery, but a must-have reference for anyone who reads British mysteries!

BUM BAGS AND FANNY PACKS by Jeremy Smith (Carroll & Graf, $14.95). Recommended by Joanne Sinchuk, Murder on the Beach, Delray Beach , FL.   As an avid reader of British mysteries, are you sometimes confused by the British slang? When a man puts on a jumper, that certainly can't be those little dresses we wore as children? And all those marrows growing in the garden, just what are they? And, more importantly, when the two are shagging, exactly how far are they going sexually?  The answers to these questions, and many more, are found in this reference work by Jeremy Smith. Bum Bags and Fanny Packs is a British-American/American-British Dictionary, that clearly translates the British words and expressions into American words and expressions, and vice versa. I've been desperately searching for something like this for years. Meanwhile I'll take off my jumper, eat my marrow, and go for a quick shag.