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December Edited by Deb Andolino Aliens & Alibis Books, Columbia, SC,
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GRAVE IMPORTS, by Eric Stone (Bleak House Books, $14.95) Recommended by Becci West, I Love A Mystery, Mission, KS, www.iloveamystery.com: Grave Imports explores the dark and deadly world of stolen Cambodian artifacts. Ray Sharp is the series main character working for a company looking to invest in a Chinese Art Supply Company. While exploring the feasibility of the investment, he stumbles into the backroom world of ancient treasures for sale to the highest buyer. He enters a nation devastated by war and exploited by ruthless people looking for easy money while dismantling the sacred temples built centuries ago. Sharp goes to the heart of a crime ring looking for a way to stop the pillaging only to learn the very complicated and sophisticated techniques of this unsavory international trade. THE CON ARTIST OF CATALINA ISLAND by Jennifer Colt (Tessera Books, $22.95 ) Recommended by Maggie Mason, Lookin' for Books, San Diego, CA, maggiemary@yahoo.com: Fourth in the McAfee Twins series, the McAfee sisters are treated to a trip to Catalina Island by their wealthy Aunt Reba. They are lucky enough to get a wonderful suite, which has been vacated recently. It seems a couple who were honeymooning quarreled and the wife left, taking with her a valuable ring. The husband is still hanging around the island and the picturesque town of Avalon. The twins soon get into the rhythm of the island, and get to know a local guide. When the guide, Nikki, confesses that she feels like she's being followed, Terry sees a way to make some brownie points with the woman for whom she feels an attraction. The fact that an older woman is causing scenes around Nikki and the twins makes for a very confusing situation. Events turn sour when Nikki is found dead, and the twins have some 'splaining to do. The fact that they've been honored for valor by the city of Los Angeles doesn't cut too much ice in Catalina. The twins survive a stampede (no, I'm not kidding) and bring back peace on earth in this yuletide present from the author. The underlying story of their cousin Roberts attempt to find his birth father is just icing on the fruitcake. There is to be a prequel to this book out in the spring, but reading this out of order didn't spoil anything. I realize the author wanted to give her fans a holiday present, and I really appreciated it. Knowing there is another book due soon is a lagniappe.
A HELL OF A WOMAN edited by Megan
Abbott (Busted Flush Press, $26.00 trade, $18.00
tpo.) Recommended by Maryelizabeth Hart, Mysterious
Galaxy, San Diego, CA
www.mystgalaxy.com : Let's get the
obvious out of the way: this is a Hell of an anthology of female noir.
Good women, bad women, women done wrong and who are wrong doers. Assassins
and housewives. Police officers and movie starlets. Victims and perps … the
whole spectrum of women in their infinite variety, with one important common
denominator – crime. Standout stories for me included Zoe Sharp's tale of
revenge "Served Cold;" Naomi Hirahara's serenely vicious "The Chirashi
Covenant," and long-time favorite Sandra Scoppettone's nicely pulpy
"Everybody Loves Somebody," but the collection is filled with tales of
(sometimes) deadly dames that deserve your attention. When a blind retired dentist is run down outside of the post office, it falls to Siri to determine his identity, with his only clue a letter written in invisible ink tucked into the man’s pocket. It turns out to be a code that his widow insists is a chess puzzle but which in fact turns out to be the key to a plot to overthrow the government. Despite his disillusionment with the status quo, Siri remembers with pleasure his days as a young revolutionary, and together with an old friend who is a senior Communist Party official and other members of his circle he sets out to crack the conspiracy. Siri’s odd psychic gifts (his frail body is the host for the spirit of a thousand-year-old Hmong shaman) come less into play in this book than in the first three of this quirky and always entertaining series, but his wry sense of humor remains intact, and a chance meeting with a woman he once trained as a revolutionary proves that there is still plenty of life left in this old dog, even if his best days are long behind him. CROSSING THE DARK, by Heidi W. Boehringer, (Serpent’s Tail, $14.95), recommended by Gretchen, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, Seattle, WA; http://www.seattlemystery.com: This book reads like a short story, as the chapters are merely a pause in the action. Quickly paced, well-written grievous story about a police officer, her really a.#%$* of an ex-husband, and their experience of having their thirteen year-old daughter kidnapped and gang-raped. As Mona fights the experience as a police officer, mother and ex-wife, we also learn of her own rape and healing process. This author is really able to capture the dynamics of abuse, during and after. The story unfolds in a tight back-and-forth between doing what is right and doing what you want. It is a sad story, but well worth the experience.
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Edited by Karen Spengler I Love a Mystery Mission, KS
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WRITTEN IN BONE, by Simon Beckett (Delacorte, $24.00), recommended by Tom and Enid Schantz, The Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO: www.ruemorguepress.com: Forensic anthropologist Dr. David Hunter lost his family in a tragic accident and tried retiring to rural England to escape his past, but circumstances keep calling him back to his old profession. In this second book of the series it’s the puzzling death by combustion of a woman discovered in a crofter’s hut on a remote island in the Outer Hebrides off the coast of Scotland. Both feet and one hand remain intact and nothing else in the room is touched by the fire, which has entirely consumed the rest of the body. Complications pile up as the island is cut off from the outside world by a raging storm and it becomes clear that a savage killer is still at large. With limited facilities at his disposal, David can perform only the most rudimentary tests, but they’re enough to identify the victim as a prostitute who did not live on the island. The forensic details are crucial to the story, but David must also explore the dead woman’s connection to the close-knit community before he can determine who might have killed her, and why. With well-drawn characters and a highly atmospheric closed setting, this is a traditional detective novel through and through, updated for modern tastes and with a likable detective we look forward to seeing much more of. THE BLACK WIDOW AGENCY, by Felicia Donovan ($12.95, Midnight Ink), recommended by Maggie Mason, Lookin' for Books, San Diego, CA, maggiemary@yahoo.com: The Black Widow Agency may not have a large staff, but the women working there have a dedication to their clients and their firm that is admirable. When Amber Gordon comes to them to seek help in regaining custody of her daughter, the BW's find that Amber was a victim of harassment and cruelty, made worse by the fact that the perpetrators were her husband and father-in-law and their company. Ex-cop Katie is the BW who takes on most of the undercover operations. Alexandria is the computer genius who is able to work wonders, legal or not, with cyberspace. Margot is the office manager who makes life easy for everyone, and Jane is their financial guru, though more conservative than the others. Past customers are delighted with results, and help when they can, making for a large extended family. Aided by Margot's brother, an interior decorator, and his partner in life and business, the BWs take aim at Amber's ex and his father. Justice is served, and the BWs are free to help another person. This was a delightful book, easy to read, and very enjoyable. I love to hear about people who are helping the underdogs, and liked how everything works out in the end. The Black Widow Agency needs to be franchised all over the country. I need a second book, NOW. DIE WITH ME, by Elena Forbes (MacAdam/Cage Publishing, $24.00), recommended by Maryelizabeth Hart, Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA. www.mystgalaxy.com: Debut author Forbes offers a great first novel for fans of Elizabeth George, Val McDermid, Linda La Plante, and other British crime novelists. Die With Me includes one of the most evil protagonists I've encountered in crime fiction lately – "Tom," who finds susceptible young women and lures them into a "suicide pact," then murders them. Forbes does a great job with her multiple point-of-view characters, both members of the murder team, and "Tom" and his victims, distinguishing each by his or her taste in tea, music, liquor, etc. Her descriptions of various parts of London help each to feel like one of the individual small villages it originally was before merging into the metropolis. Special thanks to my publisher's rep for making sure I didn't miss this book, and I look forward to many more! MAIDEN ROCK, by Mary Logue (Bleak House Books, Hardcover, $24.95; Trade paperback, $14.95; November 20th release), recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, Mich., www.auntagathas.com: Mary Logue’s series, set in tiny Pepin County, Wisconsin, features Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins, who at the beginning of the series was a recent widow on the run from crime in the Twin Cities with a daughter to raise on her own. Through the course of the novels (there are now six) Claire has settled into Pepin County, found a steady boyfriend in pheasant farmer Rich, and her daughter, Meg, has grown into a teenager. Maiden Rock is really about Meg. The opening chapter of the book - about a young girl on an unknown (in the first chapter, anyway) drug who sails to her death off of Maiden Rock - is completely indelible. As Logue structures the book, the action is counted down to minutes. Claire gets a call that Meg isn’t where she’s supposed to be (with her friend, Krista) and Claire and Rich go on a hell-for-leather chase all over the county looking for her. Since Claire is the main character, the outcome of the chase isn’t that much of a surprise, but the hunt for Meg is still incredibly suspenseful. Anyone who has ever lived with - or been - a teenager will have their heart in their throat as Claire and Rich look for Meg and unfortunately find Krista at the foot of Maiden Rock. This book is also a grim look at the horrible work methamphetamines have done to rural America. The call of the drug, the ease of making it, and the absolute destruction it leaves behind are all gruesomely, and realistically, documented here. There’s an addict whose mother is desperately trying to get him off the drug; there’s the drug addict mother with a neglected toddler; there’s the dealer, who is “dead” to his own brother; and there’s the tragic Krista, who only tried the drug once. The culpability of Krista’s death is teased out of the story slowly and it’s not clear exactly what happened until the very end. The ripple effects of the drug are both obvious and long term, but what is perhaps more remarkable, this isn’t a polemic. It’s a great story with an anti drug message included - but also included is some stuff about family loyalty, trust, friendship, and being a teenager, something Logue seems to remember very clearly. This is a book I had trouble putting down - not just because of the structure, but because of the characters and what happens to them as the story moves forward. If you haven’t read Mary Logue before, you’re in for a treat.
GHOSTWALK, by Rebecca Stott
(Random House, $24.95), recommended by Barbara Tom, Murder by the
Book,
Portland, OR;
www.mbtb.com:
Ghostwalk is an intriguing first novel by British historian Rebecca
Stott. It is a compelling mixture of contemporary romance, ghost story,
historical novel, and Da Vinci Code intrigue. I also was reminded of
The Turn of the Screw’s play of psychological breakdown versus
paranormal haunting.
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Issue
4. 10
October 2007 Edited by Tom & Enid Schantz, the Rue Morgue, Boulder, CO
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LAST RITUALS by Yrsa Sigurdardottir (William Morrow, $23.95). Recommended by Fran Fuller, Seattle Mystery Bookstore, Seattle WA. www.seattlemystery.com: I was intrigued by the subtitle of this book: “An Icelandic Novel of Secret Symbols, Medieval Witchcraft and Modern Murder." Thora Guomundsdottir is a lawyer in a small firm with a surly receptionist who came with the building. She is hired by a wealthy German family when their son is found murdered on his college campus. Assisted by the family’s representative in Iceland, Matthew Reich, Thora investigates Harald’s rather gruesome death, although she’s a bit puzzled, since the police have arrested a friend of Harald’s in connection with the murder and the case seems solved. But as Thora learns more about Harald, who had a deep fascination with medieval witch hunts – so much so that he was heavily tattooed with runic symbols and implants – the more she believes that the wrong person is in jail. Ms. Sigurdadottir’s novel is gripping, fleetingly gruesome and at times wickedly funny. There are twists and turns along the way, along with a good snippet of medieval religious history involving the Malleus Maleficarum and the interaction between several prominent religious leaders in the Middle Ages! THE DEATH OF CORINNE by R.T. Raichev (Carroll & Graf, 224 pages, hardcover $24.95, trade paper, $13.95). Recommended by Tom and Enid Schantz, The Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO 80540 www.ruemorguepress.com: Fans of the traditional English country-house murder mystery will relish this second book from Bulgarian-born Raichev, who wrote a university dissertation on the English detective novel between the wars and pays delightful homage to the genre in his fiction. Antonia Darcy, a sharp-witted librarian and mystery writer, is finishing up her honeymoon with the widowed Major Hugh Payne at his aunt’s decaying manor house in Shropshire, where the elderly Lady Grylls—Aunt Nellie—holds forth in her own inimitable style. Additional houseguests include Nellie’s celebrated godchild Corinne Coreille, an eternally youthful French chanteuse who is seeking a safe haven from a demented woman who has been sending her death threats, and her draconian handler, the imposing Maitre Maginot. Such is the deceptively simple premise of this dazzling tour de force, as ingeniously plotted as anything Agatha Christie ever wrote but wittier and more sophisticated. Antonia and Hugh make a formidable detecting duo, with no incongruous detail escaping their notice and no leap of deductive reasoning beyond their powers. They gradually penetrate a wall of secrecy and deceit to solve the mystery, delivering a perfectly executed surprise ending to the reader. The book is also available in trade paperback, as is its predecessor, The Hunt for Sonya Dufrette, in which Antonia and Hugh meet. AN ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN by Alex Carr (Random House, $9.95). Recommended by J.D. Singh, Sleuth of Baker Street, Toronto, Canada. www.sleuthofbakerstreet.com: This new thriller by Jenny Siler (writing as Alex Carr) is a fine, quick read. It’s the story of Nicole Blake, part French, part Lebanese, part American, and a master forger. She did years in jail for her crimes and is lying low on a small farm in the French Pyrenees with her dog and chickens, trying to put her past behind her. U.S. intelligence operative John Valsamis showing up at her door is reminder enough that she will always be an ex-con. Valsamis is after Nicole’s former lover, Rahim Ali, and wants Nicole to track him down. Which is how she ends up back in Lisbon in their old haunts. Except now Rahim isn’t just a document forger—he’s a suspected terrorist and the stakes are much, much higher. DEAD MAN IN TANGIERS by Michael Pearce (Carroll & Graf $24.99). Recommended by Robert Rosenwald, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ. www.poisonedpen.com: Wow, put Pearce into the Arab world of a century ago and in his own elliptical way let him illuminate, as in this knockout novel, the dynamics between it and Europe that underlie the politics of today. The drama centers around a dead French official, found nailed by a (missing) spear in a pig-sticking accident. But Seymour of Scotland Yard, an accidental linguist from the East End of London, not only spots the holes in the crime scene, he explores the establishment of the French Protectorate in Morocco and Algeria and wakes you right up to how that went. Plus the solution to the murder is elegant. A superior book that should be read with the Mamur Zapt series and in fact falls in nicely with the final Zapt, The Mark of the Pasha, to publish next May. THIRST by Pete Larson (Bleak House Books, hardcover $24.95; trade paper, $12.95). Recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery, Mission, KS, www.iloveamystery.com: Stuart Carlson isn’t interested in redemption. In fact the former minister—who lost his faith when he found his minister wife in bed with another man—isn’t interested in God at all. These days, Stu works behind the bar in the Longhorn Lounge, pouring drinks and listening to customers’ troubles—not so very different in that way from what he did as a man of the cloth. When Andrew Washburn dies after drinking a poisoned scotch, police arrest Daniel Lackland, a tormented artist who’s a regular at the Longhorn. Stu is sure that Daniel is innocent; for one thing, Daniel’s purported motive—Washburn had stolen his wife—strikes an all-too-familiar chord with Stu. Author Pete Larson has accomplished some impressive things in this superior debut novel. Thirst is dark, but not bleak or depressing. It’s atmospheric; you can’t help but feel the heat in dusty Travis City, Texas (haven’t they heard of air conditioning in that place?). The best thing about Thirst, though, is Stu Carlson. Complex, given to introspection, wracked by doubt and loneliness, Stu still manages to be an attractive character. And who knows, after all of his soul-searching, he might even end up finding redemption—even if it isn’t the religious kind.
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THE CHICAGO WAY by Michael Harvey (Knopf, $23.95, August release) Recommended by Terry Gilman, Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA, www.mystgalaxy.com :Michael Kelly is an Irish ex-detective from the Chicago Police Force now turned private investigator and the protagonist for this gritty Chicago debut. The reason behind the transition to private life remains a mystery to us, but there are hints that Chicago politics plays a large part in this history and that is the theme of much of this book. The Chicago Way has it all: A mysterious, beautiful client, the local mob, a lifetime of connections throughout this very connected city, more beautiful women, and our personally and professionally damaged hero who is out on the streets trying to do the right thing, no matter how many rules he bends. When Kelly's ex-partner shows up one day with a cold case involving rape and assault, Michael is instantly drawn in and agrees to help him. When the body count continues to grow nine years after the crime was committed, Michael does not stop digging until he finds out the truth. And the cost to him is huge.
The Chicago Way also
manages to highlight some of the issues surrounding the prosecution of rape
cases and the need to focus Michael Harvey is the co-creator and executive producer of the Cold Case Files, a non-fiction television series focusing on solving real cold cases. He has a degree in Classical Languages, a law degree, and a Masters in Journalism. But most interesting to me is that he owns an Irish Bar in Chicago. I can't wait to go there, I mean meet him! THUNDER BAY by William Kent Krueger (Atria, $24.00, July release), recommended by Karen Spengler, I love a Mystery, Mission, KS, www.iloveamystery.com.: In Krueger's seventh Cork O'Connor mystery, Cork has given up his sheriff's badge in favor of a career as a private investigator. When Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux asks Cork to find a son then Henry fathered seventy three years ago (but never saw), Cork is reluctant to get involved, but unable to deny his old friend. Before long, he has located the long-lost son, but when someone tries to kill Meloux, Cork relaizes that he has also stumbled onto a dangerous secret past. The story of Henry's love of a woman from outside his culture - which makes up a large part of the book - is a fascinating look into the old man's past.
I admit that I love this series. Mira is dorky, yet sexy. Battle Creek residents are sassy and slightly crazy. Lourey turns small town Minnesota on it's ear! If you are looking for a series to make you laugh out loud - this is it.
BLOODSHOT by Stuart MacBride (St.
Martin’s, $24.95, August release), recommended by Jamie Agnew, Aunt Agatha's,
Ann Arbor, MI, www.auntagathas.com. SECOND SHOT by Zoe Sharp (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95, September release), recommended by Maggie Mason, Lookin' for Books, San Diego, CA, maggiemary@yahoo.com.: Charlie Fox is recovering from her last visit to the U.S. when she is offered a job protecting a newly wealthy lottery winner. The woman is divorced from her husband who is the father of her adorable child Ella. Ella is cute, but she is also a handful. Simone wants to use some of her new wealth to try to locate her father. Her father abandoned Simone and her mother years ago, something Simone never understood. Simone hired private investigators in the U.S. to track down her father. The investigator working on the case had a lead, but he died in an auto accident. Charlie and Simone go to Boston to get away from Paparazzi. Simone proves to be a client who will not heed instructions, thinking she knows best. Charlie is upset when Simone goes off on her own at an aquarium, and has to take action to keep both Simone and her daughter away from a man who tried a casual pickup. Simone was offended by Charlie's attitude thinking that Charlie felt no one could find her attractive. Simone is contacted by a man who claims to be Simone's father. Charlie is skeptical as the man doesn't seem to be the kind of toughened soldier that Simone's father was known to be. Could twenty years have made a hardened soldier that soft?? The visit to Greg Lucas' home is eventful, and during a break-in, Charlie gets more doubtful of Greg's background. Simone and Greg get a DNA test done, and he is found to be her father, which makes the situation even murkier. A friend of the family shows up, and almost takes over a family dinner, setting off more alarms in Charlie's head. With the help of Sean, her boss and love, and a local investigator, the mystery is solved, but not before disaster strikes. The first chapter gives you a clue about the end, but there are so many twists and turns that knowing the small bit of the ending doesn't make it easy to figure out the mystery. Sharp is a writer who can twist the action and leave you gasping for air.
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Edited by Deb Andolino, Aliens & Alibis Books, Columbia, SC,
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The One Minute Assassin by Troy Cook (Capital Crime Press, $14.95) Recommended by Maggie Mason, Looking for Books, San Diego, CA : John Black works with his Australian mentor, Harley, helping families. They track down dead-beat dads, missing children, and "encourage" payment of child support. His job takes a back seat when his sister's campaign for Governor of California hits a snag. His niece sees a man under her mom's car, and when it is discovered the car was tampered with, John wants to get involved. He has never been interested in politics, which makes him a bit of an outcast in his family. His mom is a Senator and his sister is the Mayor of Los Angeles. John's sister refuses his help, with sad results. John and Harley discover someone near Eleanor's car, and they notify her security company. Sadly, no action is taken and Eleanor ends up in a coma in the hospital. The senator convinces John to use a little known law and take over his sister's campaign. The entire campaign is very reminiscent of the all too real recall election of Gray Davis. Candidates are found dead, shot at, and even blackmailed into dropping out of the campaign. The three front runners are Eleanor, a Rapper, and a man with ties to a questionable medical research company and the Russian mob. As the rapper was the possible target of a drive-by shooting, it's likely Mr. Steel is behind the thinning of the herd of his competition. Proving it is another thing, and John's assistance to a reporter comes back to him in ways that are extremely helpful. There are so many bright spots in this book, from the inept assassins who want to unionize, but are afraid of their Russian Mob bosses to a political debate that would be worth watching, Cook has done it again. I'm guessing Cook paid attention during the Davis recall election in California, and used his impressions to great advantage.
Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen (Berkley Prime Crime, $23.95) Recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, MI www.auntagathas.com: Like all things PBS, BBC, and Royal? If you can answer “yes” to any of those, Her Royal Spyness is the book for you. Many readers, of course, are already familiar with Rhys Bowen’s delightful Evan Evans and Molly Murphy books, and now this talented writer adds a third arrow to her quiver, in the form of a (very) minor royal, Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie, daughter of the Duke of Glen Garry and Rannoch. Mostly she’s simply Georgie, and she moves in a set where the nicknames run to things like Binky, Whiffy and Fig. She’s impoverished, though, as many a Jane Austen heroine has been, when her brother (Binky to you) takes over the drafty family castle in remote Scotland. As Georgie describes it, the winds are always whipping down the halls, the wallpaper in the loo is a ghastly tartan, and if possible, Castle Rannoch is draftier, more uncomfortable and colder than Balmoral. Georgie is bored to tears at her brother’s Scottish castle under the watchful eye of Fig, her sister in law, and Fig (ungraciously) and Binky (graciously) agree to letting her use their London house. Georgie has always had nannies and servants and is uncertain of how to do much else besides make a cup of tea - so she quickly enlists the aid of her cockney grandfather and learns to light a fire and do a few other useful household things. Being a royal, though, even a minor one, Georgie is uncertain how to scrape up an income and decides the best way to do it would be to establish herself as a service for opening up people’s houses in town - dusting, airing the furniture, and running the carpet sweeper (her one encounter with a vacuum cleaner doesn’t go well) - for a hefty fee, and best of all no contact with clients she might actually attend parties with. This seems to work quite well, but things become more complicated when an unpleasant Frenchman turns up claiming to have won Castle Rannoch fair and square in a card game with Georgie’s unfortunate (and dead) father. Binky and Georgie can’t figure out to do, but then to make matters worse the Frenchman is discovered drowned in the bathtub of their townhouse. Meanwhile, Georgie’s relative, Queen Mary, asks Georgie to do a little spying for her. The scene where the hungry and impoverished Georgie has tea with the Queen - a delicious tea, but she can only eat the same brown bread slice the Queen permits herself - is a masterpiece of social dissection and humor. Queen Mary, of course, wants Georgie to spy on the Price of Wales’ unsuitable American girlfriend, Wallis Simpson, who is portrayed by Bowen as an absolutely unpleasant monster. All this is set up in as delicate and frothy a manner as possible, but because Rhys Bowen is such a very top notch narrative storyteller, the underpinnings are so sturdy they carry this wisp of a book along and make something more solid out of it. I finished it in a matter of hours - you probably will too - and, if you’re like me, you’ll definitely be looking forward to Georgie’s next adventure.
Old Wounds by Vicki Lane (Dell, $6.99) Recommended by Deb Andolino, Aliens & Alibis Books, Columbia, SC, www.aliensandalibis.com: Many of my customers and friends know that I highly recommend Vicki's books. The series is set in the Appalachians and evokes the spirit of the mountains and the people so very well. Old Wounds is the third in the Elizabeth Goodweather series and, after being out for just a week, has gone to a second printing. Elizabeth is a widow who lives in the Appalachian mountains and throughout the books, it's clear that she has great affection for the area and its people. The language and the stories of the mountains weave in and out of the books. The characters are complex and interesting and pull the reader into the story and the surrounding emotions. In this third book of the series, Elizabeth's daughter, Rosemary, an Assistant Professor of English at UNC-Chapel Hill, returns home to solve the riddle of the disappearance of her best friend, Maythorn Mullins which occurred when the girls were ten years old. The investigation will lead Rosemary and Elizabeth into confronting a complex web of relationships which include magic and Cherokee legend. Oracle Lake by Paul Adam (St. Martin’s, $24.95) Recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, The Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO www.ruemorguepress.com: The author of last year’s quietly brilliant The Rainaldi Quartet moves from Italy and the world of priceless violins to the high Himalayas and the struggle of the Tibetan people for independence in this riveting thriller. Tough, ambitious British journalist Maggie Walsh hears a rumor that the Dalai Lama is dying and heads for India, the home of the Tibetan government in exile, for the story that could make her career. The rumor proves to be true, and the Dalai Lama’s followers are convinced that his successor and reincarnation has already been born in a remote region of Tibet, a country closed by the Chinese to western journalists, where Buddhism is heavily regulated and barely tolerated. Maggie manages to smuggle herself into the country along with the three monks charged with finding the infant, persuading them that she can document their quest, and then she proceeds to become invaluable to them with her pragmatism and greater knowledge of the outside world. The story quickly evolves into an exciting cat-and-mouse game as the Chinese military ruthlessly pursues the unlikely quartet while various signs and manifestations lead them closer to their goal. It’s topflight suspense with a breathtaking and endlessly fascinating setting.
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Edited by Karen Spengler I Love a Mystery Mission, KS |
RAVEN BLACK by Ann Cleeves (St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95), recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery, Mission, KS, www.iloveamystery.com. I can’t overstate my regard for this book by celebrated British crime writer, Ann Cleeves. The first in a new series, this atmospheric mystery set in the remote Shetland Islands is one of the best I’ve read lately. Inspector Jimmy Perez is private and introspective, torn between the job he loves and the opportunity to return to the tiny island of Fair Isle to take over a rare vacant croft (farm) near his family. If I haven’t convinced you of this book’s unique setting, well-drawn characters and—although I didn’t mention it--satisfying plot, then you might want to consider that Inspector Perez has been compared to Inspector Morse or Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks. A WELCOME GRAVE by Michael Koryta (St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95), recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, MI, www.auntagathas.com. Michael Koryta's third entry in his incredibly strong Lincoln Perry P.I. series is a worthy follow up to the first two. Like many of the best authors, Koryta manages to slightly change up his formula with each book - in this installment, his older and more experienced partner, Joe, is out of commission and he's on his own. The husband of his ex-girlfriend Karen has been brutally murdered and she asks him to find her stepson to let him know about his father's death. Lincoln finds the son in time to have a ring side seat at his suicide, but when he gets back home, it seems the cops have him in their sights as the killer of Karen's husband. Turning eventually to a scary Russian named Thor for help, the action sequences in this book really can't be beat. Who knew the streets of Cleveland could be so mean, or so evocatively portrayed? This talented author is terrific at character development, narrative, setting and this seems like a series destined for a very long, and classic, run. THE CRIME WRITER by Greg Hurwitz (Viking, $25.00), recommended by David Hunenberg, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ, www.poisonedpen.com. In a summer filled with unexpected literary joys, none is more delightful than this breakaway story by Gregg Hurwitz. In a classic opener, Drew Danner wakes up in the hospital with no clue how or why he's there. What he rapidly learns is that he was arrested standing over his stabbed former fiancée's bloody body. And that brain surgery has removed the tumor he'd been hiding (insurance) along with any memory of the event. Unable to assist in his defense but convinced he didn’t kill Genevieve, he refuses to plead guilty, is convicted at trial, and then the jury rules for him in the temporary insanity phase. So he's out, but hardly free. The media makes life a nightmare, his editor (a fabulous character, and Hurwitz actually inserts parts of a manuscript with Preston's edits displayed so you can see the editorial process at work) demands he work (and he needs the pay check), and the cops haven't let go. With the support of Chic (the kind of guy you want to watch your back) and Lloyd, a forensics pro who's provided the details that make Drew's mysteries so real, Drew probes Genevieve's death. A second woman dies: if Drew didn't do it (and this time he's sure), then it's a copy cat. Or wait, is someone trying to frame him for murder? And if so, why? With Preston's help, dodging disasters like his own blood at the second scene, Drew begins to write the story. The other bonus in the book is Hurwitz's superb evocation of Los Angeles, akin to that of Robert Crais or Thomas Perry, and his ability to take you inside the pressures of celebrity and relentless media scrutiny. THE SECRET HANGMAN by Peter Lovesey (Soho, $24.00), recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, Rue Morgue Press, Boulder, CO, www.ruemorguepress.com. Peter Diamond, still grieving over the death of his beloved wife Stephanie, becomes the object of an attractive woman’s affections after he runs over her groceries in a supermarket car park and agrees to have a drink with her afterward. At the same time he’s engrossed in his latest case, the apparent suicide of a waitress with two children, followed shortly thereafter by the suicide of her ex-husband. Diamond is at odds with his boss, Assistant Chief Constable Georgina Dallymore, who doesn’t share his suspicion that the suicides may be murders. The agony and self-doubt Diamond experiences at resuming the dating game after years of being happily married are poignantly and amusingly portrayed, and the city of Bath, where he plies his trade, is used to good effect as subsequent murder victims (for Diamond is right all along, of course) turn up in landmark places around the historic city. Even the middle-aged romance is neatly integrated into the plot. As we’ve said before, Lovesey is a writer who never disappoints. DEATH IN THE TRUFFLE WOOD, by Pierre Magnan, (St. Martin’s Minotaur, $23.95), recommended by Kathy Harig, Mystery Loves Company, Baltimore, MD, kathy@mysterylovescompany.com :A Provencal truffle hunter and his pig Roseline get more than they bargained for when they encounter a body near the roots of a tree where prized truffles are growing in the wood. Hippies have gone missing recently in the area and Commissaire Laviolette is on the case. Food, wine, truffles, the intoxicating smells of Banon in Upper Provence and the characters will charm and delight you. Magnan is a French best-selling author and the master of mysteries set in Provence. Truffle Wood was written 30 years ago, but hasn't aged a bit due to the superb translation by Paula Clancy. Let's hope she'll translate more of Commissaire Laviolette and this wonderful Provencal mystery series.
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Issue 4.6 June 2007 Edited by Robin Agnew Aunt Agatha's Ann Arbor, Mich
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CITY OF FIRE by Robert Ellis (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95, May release). Recommended by Jean Utley, Book'em Mysteries, South Pasadena, CA, www.bookem.com. This is a great summertime book - a police procedural set in Los Angeles during the fire season. LAPD detective Lena Gamble is trying to solve the murder of a pregnant woman when she gets the call that a friend of her late brother is also found dead, perhaps by the same person they are calling Romeo. Since her brother David’s death is never far from her thoughts, the new death brings back all the memories of her brother and his demise a few years before. The ending is a real surprise, but just right. Great characters, real locations and particularly interesting in view of all the fires going on in Los Angeles county. THE LARK'S LAMENT by Alan Gordon (St. Martin's Minotaur, $24.95, May release), Recommended by Tom and Enid Schantz, Rue Morgue Press, Boulder, CO, www.ruemorguepress.com. The imaginative premise of this unique series of medieval mysteries is that court jesters the world throughout are members of the Fools’ Guild, a secret international intelligence agency. Who better than a fool - an entertainer who was a clown, an acrobat, a juggler, an actor, and a musician - to gain the confidence of persons in high places and have access to all levels of society?
The central character is Theo, a veteran fool who with his spirited wife and
fellow guild member Claudia is on the run from enemies within the church who
wish to destroy the guild. The couple, along with their infant daughter
Portia and young apprentice Helga, find their way to a Cistercian abbey in
1204 France,
where they hope to persuade the abbot, a former troubadour named Folc, to
intercede on their behalf with the Pope. THE FALSE-HEARTED TEDDY by John J. Lamb, (Penguin, $6.99, June release), recommended by Debbie Beamer, Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop, Mechanicsburg, PA.: Brad and Ashleigh Lyon are back in this second title in the Bear Collector’s mystery series. And it is just as good as the first book, The Mournful Teddy. Retired San Francisco homicide inspector, Brad Lyon, and his wife Ashleigh travel from their home in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to Baltimore to participate in a major teddy bear show. Little do they know that the show will be marred by blackmail and violence leading to murder - the artist who created the Cheery Cherub Bear has been accused of stealing an idea and now the artist is dead. Unfortunately for Brad, the evidence is stacking up in favor of him as the killer. Now the Lyons must try to figure out a series of clues to prove Brad’s innocence. This combination police procedural/cozy has lots of twists and turns to keep you guessing “who REALLY dunnit”. Lamb’s characters are wonderfully drawn and it’s fun to read about their interactions. As in The Mournful Teddy, the humor in The False-Hearted Teddy is an added bonus. THREE BAGS FULL: A SHEEP DETECTIVE STORY by Leonie Swann (Flying Dolphin Press, $22.95, June release), recommended by Lelia Taylor, Creatures n' Crooks Bookshoppe, Richmond, VA, www.cncbook.com. Suppose you were walking down a country lane someday and came across a flock of sheep. What would you do? Hope they wouldn't suddenly decide to stampede and mow you down? Ignore them and walk past? Not me. I'd be checking out each one to see who is Miss Maple or Othello or Mopple the Whale or any of the other delightful sheep in this book.
When I first
picked it up, I thought this would be just another cute animal sleuth
mystery. After only a few pages, I knew I was wrong. This flock of charming
Irish sheep finds their shepherd murdered and,being a rather educated group,
they decide they need to solve his murder. George, you see, used to read to
them every night and they've learned
The mystery
here is fairly slight with a neat twist at the very funny denouement but the
character development of the sheep is wonderful, equal to some of the best
human character development I've read. You just can't help liking these
animals and wanting to know more and more about them individually. They have
much more interesting backstories than you might imagine and you'll come
away from this book being absolutely sure there's a lot more to the woolly
beasts than you ever dreamed all those times
THE INTERLOPER by Antoine Wilson (Handsel
Press, $13.95, May release),
recommended by Maryelizabeth Hart,
Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA,
www.mystgalaxy.com.
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Issue 4.5
May 2007 Edited by Deb Andolino
Aliens &
Alibis Books Columbia, SC,
www.aliensandalibis.com
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Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall (Poisoned Pen $14.95). Recommended by Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale AZ, www.poisonedpen.com This 2007 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel is a gem of suspense, something in the Daphne DuMaurier, Mary Higgins Clark, or Barbara Michaels line (or even the work of Robert Goddard if you enjoy a change of sex for the genre). I'm not sure I even know how to classify suspense but I've always felt that it had elements of jeopardy, a hidden menace, and discovery, sometimes by deduction, often by gradual revelation. The past is generally present, driving the plot. I really fell in love with Sandra Parshall's voice, with her sense of residential Washington, DC, and with the heroine. I like people who like animals but I'm not a reader of the cozy mystery where they so often appear. Dr. Rachel Goddard of the McLean Animal Health Clinic is sensible, not the type to hare off into a dark woods without saying where she’s going, she's a problem solver, and she takes action rather than reacting to unfolding events. She propels them and there's logic in her deductions even though she's dealing with, in part, her own hazy memories. And that’s the crux of the plot: out of the blue, one day, she hears something that gradually makes her realize that everything she thinks she knows about her life, and that of her sister and her inflexible mother, is not true. But what is? There's a bit of a love story, too, and a nice sense that the world can't all be put right. In our confessional age, a bit of reticence is a mitzvah, no? In her second novel, Disturbing the Dead (Poisoned Pen $25), moving Rachel Goddard into the Appalachians to restart her life has been a winner for Parshall -- Parshall's exploration of the Melungeon community and buried family secrets after not one but two skeletons are discovered on a remote mountain top is compelling. Those who miss Sharyn McCrumb’s mountain stories will find this story something special.
YESTERDAY'S FATAL,
by Jan Brogan, St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95, submitted by Robin Agnew, Aunt
Agatha's, Ann Arbor, Mich., auntagathas.com: This is a well structured novel with an interesting story. “Yesterday’s Fatal” is a newspaper term - Hallie is writing up the story of a car accident she witnessed where the driver was found dead in her car. Later when she goes to the funeral of the dead woman she hears that an old woman who witnessed the accident along with her has recalled seeing another car, something Hallie is certain isn’t true. As she digs deeper, she finds evidence of an insurance fraud ring - car accidents that are carefully staged to get money out of the insurance companies. As Hallie doggedly follows up every lead she is both frustrated - no-one will go on record - and desperate, as the paper is being taken over by new ownership and layoffs are threatened. She feels getting the big story will save her job. And the more she digs, the more the tentacles of the story involve her personally and emotionally. The way Brogan writes about Hallie she makes it seem like good investigative reporters are sensation junkies, and I think that must be true. What other kind of person would want to cover the news in Bagdad? I can’t imagine it myself, but that’s a reason to read a mystery (or any book) - to get an insight into why the characters behave, often in ways you wouldn’t behave yourself. Brogan makes it seems absolutely believable. One other bit of genius on her part is using the newspaper story Hallie writes to tie up the loose ends - it’s a change from the detective or cop in a room at the end of the book explaining the solution, and it ties up the threads in a refreshingly different way. Hallie is a complicated and interesting character; I like the fact that the books are dark (I’d put them squarely in the “noir” category) and I hope that Brogan doesn’t allow for too much happiness on Hallie’s part. It sets Hallie apart, and makes Brogan’s writing sparkle. This is a new series to take notice of. A FATAL GRACE, by Louise Penny ($23.95), Recommended by George Rishel, The Sly Fox, Virden, Illinois, www.myspace.com/slyfoxvirden. Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec is back in Three Pines investigating the lakeside electrocution death of CC de Poitiers. At the same time, and as a favor to a friend in the Montreal police, Gamache offers to look into the murder of a bag lady in Montreal. Naturally, the two cases become connected. And the Inspector's re-acquaintance with the many unique characters who populate the Brigadoon-like village of Three Pines in Quebec's Eastern Townships makes this sequence to "A Still Life" delightful and thoroughly enjoyable KEEP IT REAL, by Bill Bryan ($13.95, trade paper, $24.95 simultaneous HB, Bleak House Books) Recommended by Maggie Mason, Looking for Books, San Diego, CATed Collins was an award winning investigative reporter, but his divorce put him in a downward spiral that pretty much ended that career. He's currently working as a segment producer for a reality TV show, The Mogul. Yep, its similar to the Apprentice, though taken to much more of an extreme. I say that having to state I have never watched the apprentice. Ted's ex-wife is now married to a very wealthy and influential entertainment attorney, Richard Slatkin. His seven year old daughter Hallie is living an absurdly privileged life, and even uses her credit card to buy Ted some clothing when needed to fit in to a hotel he takes her to for a treat. Ted has to have supervised visitation due to some incidents that occurred when he was binging to get over the divorce. He is about to leave his ex-wife's estate when he hears a woman in peril. It is a beautiful young woman being abused by a thug. Given Richard's clientele, Ted is pretty certain the man is a celebrity rapper. Ted is correct, and when the woman goes missing, Ted is sorry he didn't do more than just offer her help. He realizes you can't make someone save themselves, though, and wonders if Boney is involved when the woman, Patrice goes missing. Ted is promoted on the reality show, much to his dismay. The one good benefit to the promotion is that his boss, Trevor Bane, is paying for LA's best divorce attorney to get him a better deal. That is worth everything to Ted. Ted somehow manages to convince Trevor, in a job saving move, to utilize Boney the rapper in a Mogul segment, rather than Celine Dion. This allows Ted access to snoop around and perhaps tie Boney into Patrice's disappearance. Not wanting to get involved directly with the police, Ted uses pay phones and the voice of Foghorn Leghorn to communicate with the detective assigned to the case. Detective Susan DeRosa is a clever woman who finds Ted's true identity and allows him to give her tips on the case. Eventually, truth and justice prevail, though not before a lot of comic and manic action ensues. This book is definitely not PC, but I found it hilarious. It's a real look at the trappings of celebrity and the abuses found therein, the way the media encourages the celebrity of people with no discernible skill - like Paris Hilton, and Reality TV. Keep It Real kept it entertaining for me, and my ribs are just now mending from the beating they took with all the laughing I did while reading it. DEAD AND BERRIED, by Karen MacInerney (Midnight Ink $12.95).Recommended by Becci West, I Love a Mystery, Mission, KS, www.iloveamystery,.net : New innkeeper Natalie Barnes is barely able to keep her new inn afloat. A murder on tiny Cranberry Island, the island where the inn is located, could have very adverse effects on her tourist business. Natalie, therefore, has a vested interest in finding the murderer of an island resident. Her hands are full with this investigation when her ex-fiancé checks into the inn under an assumed name. Then a less-than-helpful snoopy apprentice wants to learn the inn business with the idea of starting a competing inn. Dead and Berried is a very comfortable cozy. It is the second in the “Gray Whale Inn” mystery series which I hope will go on for a long time.
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ISSUE 4.4 April 2007
Edited by Tom & Enid Schantz The Rue Morgue Lyons, CO www.ruemorguepress.com |
GOD’S SPY
by Juan Gomez-Jurado (Dutton; $24.95),
recommended by Barbara Douglas, Murder by the Book,
Houston, Tx,
www.murderbooks.com:
After the death of Pope John
Paul II the bishops gather in Rome to elect another. One by one, they begin
to die, some quite horridly. A journey through the crowded streets of Rome,
the dark tunnels of obscure, ancient chapels and a clever murderer makes
this an enthralling read. Going behind the closed doors of the Vatican as it
prepares for the momentous event is fascinating as well. Oh yes, they catch
the killer too.
WHAT THE DEAD KNOW by Laura Lippman (William Morrow, $24.95). Recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Laura Lippman becomes a more interesting novelist with each new book, her latest, What the Dead Know, being a case in point. Following up two other extremely strong standalones, this book is a worthy companion to those two, but at the same time very different. It’s a very haunting book - I was thinking about it long after I finished it - and I’ll bet the story stays with you too. Setting up the story is a car accident - the kind of thing that could happen to anyone through a combination of crappy weather, slightly careless driving, and general inattention. When the woman who precipitates (though not really causes) the accident gets out of her car and starts walking away from the scene, she’s picked up by the police, though she’s taken to the hospital first, because she’s slightly injured. At the hospital the mystery deepens - the woman claims to be one of the “Bethany girls” - sisters who disappeared without a trace in 1975, never to be seen again. Lippman is kind of an archeologist of the human heart - as she dissects the family, mother, father and daughters - you are drawn more and more into their world. It doesn’t feel like a dissection, though, it feels descriptive and insightful. The details of a 1975 childhood are spot on, as her touchstones will be familiar to any over 40 reader. She manages to make her story suspenseful by having the woman - who claims to be the younger sister, Heather Bethany - seem slightly off, as does her story, in parts. Surrounding Heather’s story is a solid police novel - the procedures of the police get them to some places the investigation was never able to go in 1975, and as the original (and retired) investigator gets drawn into the case, it gets slightly sticky. He’s never forgotten the girls or been out of touch with the parents, though the father has died since the girls’ disappearance. This is a tragic and haunting story where one bad decision turns into many with repercussions that reverberate for decades, but Lippman is not a writer without hope. Ruth Rendell or Patricia Highsmith would have made this a far more bleak affair - and Lippman is treading similar territory - but she has a more human heart, I think, and it serves her well. ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS by Gillian Roberts (Ballantine, $23.95), recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, The Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO, www.ruemorguepress.com: Schoolteacher Amanda Pepper, long a fixture at Philly Prep, a not terribly elite Philadelphia prep school, is also working part-time as an apprentice private investigator, and her two career paths converge in this adroitly plotted mystery. Phoebe Ennis, one-time stepmother to Amanda’s best friend Sasha, has committed suicide with no apparent motive, and Sasha asks the ever-skeptical Amanda to snoop around a little. But when a second woman is found dead in Phoebe’s house, Amanda begins to agree with her friend that perhaps her larger-than-life stepmother was murdered. Meanwhile, funds collected by the students at Philly Prep to aid Katrina victims have gone missing, Amanda’s Louisiana-born husband C.K. MacKenzie is concerned about his family, who lost everything in the wake of the hurricane, and some of Amanda’s students are getting in over their heads in a high-stakes poker game. All these seemingly disparate plot threads are neatly woven together by the end of the book. What makes this series so worthwhile is the witty social commentary that runs throughout each book as well as the warmth and humanity of characters like Amanda and C.K. Sadly, this fourteenth installment is also the last, as the author is moving on to other things. We wish her well, but we are going to miss Amanda terribly. DEAD AND BERRIED by Karen MacInerney (Midnight Ink $12.95) Recommended by Becci, I Love a Mystery, Mission KS, www.iloveamystery.com: New innkeeper Natalie Barnes is barely able to keep her new inn afloat. A murder on tiny Cranberry Island, the island where the inn is located, could have very adverse effects on her tourist business. Natalie, therefore, has a vested interest in finding the murderer of an island resident. Her hands are full with this investigation when her ex-finance checks into the inn under an assumed name. Then a less-than-helpful snoopy apprentice wants to learn the inn business with the idea of starting a competing inn. Dead and Berried is a very comfortable cozy. It is the second in the “Gray Whale Inn” mystery series which I hope will go on for a long time. PLAY DEAD by David Rosenfelt (Warner, $24.99) Recommended by Maggie Mason, Looking for Books, San Diego, CA: It's a good thing Andy Carpenter doesn't have to rely on his clients fees to live, as he gets a call from a man working at the local government shelter. There is a golden retriever who bit the man who claims to be his owner. No one believes the man is the owner of Yogi, but he is the one who brought him in to the shelter. The rules state Yogi can be released to the owner, but not put up for adoption, and the "owner" won't take him back. Andy has his own privately run shelter, and is well known for his compassion for animals. Luckily for Yogi, Andy steps in, buys him and becomes the new owner. Andy is a bit apprehensive about how his adored Golden Tara will feel about no longer being an only dog, but the two bond quickly. Andy is stunned when while taking the dogs out for a walk, a woman approaches them, and calls Yogi by the name of Reggie. The woman is nearly bowled over by a very happy dog. It turns out Reggie was owned by Karen Evans' brother Richard. Richard is in jail for the murder of his girlfriend, Stacy Harriman. Richard, Stacy, and Reggie had gone out on Richard's boat and were caught in a big storm. When the Coast Guard boarded the boat, Richard was unconscious, and Stacy and Reggie were gone. Stacy's body turned up, but Reggie's never did. Now that Reggie has shown up, Andy is able to prove his identity by using a trick Reggie did for Richard in court, as well as vet records. No one who knew Richard would believe he would ever harm Reggie, as was one of the prosecution's contentions. Andy also hires an expert in crime scene investigation who pokes enough holes in the old case to get a new trial. Now it's up to Andy to figure out the truth. He uses his friends, and experts, and spares no expense. Though Richard is found guilty again in the retrial, Andy doesn't give up. The truth is out there, but Andy's skill, determination, and sense of justice save the day. It doesn't hurt that he is also fighting for a dog's love for his best friend. Once again, Rosenfelt has delivered a wonderful book full of humor, court antics I wish I could see in person, and one of the best book covers I've seen in a while. I'm a big fan of this series, and highly recommend it to anyone, especially animal lovers. If you're not a dog lover before reading this series, I would guess Rosenfelt might change your mind.
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edited by Karen Spengler I Love A Mystery Mission,KS, www.iloveamystery.com |
The CONJURER by Cordelia Frances Biddle (Thomas Dunne Books, $23.95), recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, MI, www.auntagathas.com: The first historical novel by Biddle (who also writes the Nero Blanc series with her husband), is sophisticated in tone and beautifully evocative of 1842 Philadelphia. The novel begins with the discovery that Martha Beale's wealthy father, Lemuel, has disappeared during a storm, leaving only his dogs and his rifle behind. Martha has been excessively sheltered, and her very believable first steps on her own feel like the steps a young woman in 1842 might actually have made. Aiding her quest to either find her father alive or find his body is an assistant to the mayor of Philadelpia, Thomas Kelman. Mixed in with Martha's story is the story of the murders of several very young prostitutes and a "conjurer" who conducts seances for the wealthy and comes out with some disturbing and remarkably accurate statements. The novel is atmospheric, yet not overwhelmed by period detail, Martha is a strong and believable character, and the plot and prose are both exquisite. I hesitate to make comparisons, but any reader who has enjoyed books by Kate Ross or Bruce Alexander should find much to appreciate here. HEAD GAMES, by Thomas B. Cavanagh (St. Martin’s, $24.95), recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love A Mystery, Mission, KS, www.iloveamystery.com: Mike Garrity has two ex-wives, a surly teenage daughter and a brain tumor named Bob. With no job (Bob is too demanding to allow him to continue working as an Orlando cop), Garrity has little to do but sit in the dark and indulge his taste for Twinkies. When an ex-colleague taps him to track down TJ Sommerset, a missing teen idol, Garrity is reluctant to get involved but he figures that the $250,000 payoff for finding the kid would buy a lot of pain meds for Bob, with some left over for his daughter when he’s gone. At first, the search for TJ seems straightforward; everyone who knows him assumes that the sensitive musician has gone AWOL again to ‘find himself’. Before long, however, Garrity is being pursued by a thug in a battered blue Mustang who knows entirely too much about the ex-cop and his family, and TJ’s disappearance is starting to look like more than a simple case of a celebrity on a sabbatical. Meanwhile, Bob is acting out more than ever. Garrity starts to have seizures—somewhat controllable by medication, but at the cost of dizziness and nausea. All of the women in his life are hurt and confused by Garrity’s attitude—he’s not interested in any of the risky treatments that might prolong his life. When he lands in the hospital after a particularly brutal seizure, a scan of his brain shows that Bob has grown. Head Games is a first-rate detective story, even aside from its dead-on (no pun intended) portrayal of life with cancer. Cavanagh dedicates the book to his father, “who faced down cancer and beat it”, so perhaps he used the elder Cavanagh as the model for the irreverent Garrity. In any case, the author has created a memorable character—one whom we can only hope will part company with Bob and live to see another story. This one deserves an enthusiastic five thumbs-up! THE ARSENIC LABYRINTH by Martin Edwards (Poisoned Pen Press, $24.95), recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, The Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO, www.ruemorguepress.com: If you want to catch a killer you need to look at the victim and figure out why someone would want her dead. That old piece of police advice eventually leads Cumbria Cold Case Detective Inspector Hannah Scarlett to the door of the murderer in this wonderfully convoluted case with more zigs and zags than the labyrinth created decades ago by arsenic miners in the local fells. Emma Bestwick was an unremarkable 30-year-old woman with few lasting passions whose disappearance was mourned by few. Most people figured she got bored and moved on. Then on the tenth anniversary of her disappearance a drifter with a passion for Victorian literature and a knack for sweet-talking women out of their life savings shows up in town and makes a phone call to a local journalist that rekindles the investigation. Aided—and distracted in ways she’d rather not admit—by historian Daniel Kind, Hannah wanders through another labyrinth, one constructed of lies and half-truths by Emma’s friends, relatives and lover, all of whom seem more interested in guarding their own secrets than in helping the police. This is a book that has it all—character, plot, and pace—as well as a portrait of the Lake District so vividly drawn that one almost feels the need for an umbrella while reading it. THE SPELLMAN FILES by Lisa Lutz ($25, Simon & Schuster), recommended by Maggie Mason, Lookin' for Books, San Diego, CA: Isabel, or Izzy, Spellman may be the black sheep of the family, but her younger sister Rae can give her a run for the title. The Spellman family, except for Izzy's brother David, are private investigators. Rae is only a teenager, so she is not licensed, but is a pro at tailing people. To understand the family dynamics, Lutz has given us a background of the family as seen by Izzy. Izzy gives us an example of her unpunished crimes from one summer, a list of her ex-boyfriends which is made memorable by their parting words to her, and a list of events that helped with her Quasi-Redemption. She also tells us about her perfect brother, David who is now a rich attorney. Running throughout the book is an interview with a police detective who is investigating the disappearance of Rae. We get a look at the investigation business and how it impacts a family that is oh-so- dysfunctional. The Spellman Files even has the best darn footnotes ever, and I hate footnotes in books; even the acknowledgments have entertaining footnotes. I hesitate to say more about The Spellman Files, as it is almost indescribable. From Izzy's parents to her best friend, to her uncle Ray, to her dentist ex-boyfriend #9, the cast is as entertaining as any I've seen in ages. I smiled, I laughed, I guffawed, and darn near wet my pants with enjoyment. After the book was over, I was tempted to read it all over again. I'm already tired of waiting for a sequel, and I just finished this one last night. STEALING THE DRAGON by Tim Maleeny (Midnight Ink $15), recommended by Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ, www.poisonedpen.com: A brisk caper with echoes of Jackie Chan involves former cop Cape Weathers, now a PI, in a plot stretching from Hong Kong to San Francisco and featuring a fabulous sensei named Sally. Though action driven--the opener aboard the ship is a stunner--the characterizations are strong, and Cape and Sally are keepers. I curled up and couldn't put it down. Some books should be just for fun, she says, having once spent the entire hydrofoil trip from Hong Kong to Macao watching her first Chan flick. My husband nearly killed me. Maleeny exerted the same grip in this debut promising good things to come. Midnight Ink is a relatively new imprint serving up trade paperback originals.
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edited by Barbara Peters, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ. www.poisonedpen.com |
The Song Is You, by Megan Abbott (Simon and Schuster, $24). Recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha's, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Megan Abbott writes a lot like James M. Cain, but she comes at her stories from a more female point of view. Set a bit later - in the Hollywood of the 50's - she easily and beautifully describes the glamorous charms of that era, and just as quickly exposes the seamy underside. "The Song Is You" is told through the eyes of jaded publicity flack Gil Hopkins, who lets a little story of a disappearing girl get under his skin. It's like he's hypnotized by the elusive Jean Spengler, and as he chases down every lead that takes him deeper into the underside of Hollywood, he becomes more and more taken with her. When Jean's friend, Iolene, also disappears, he becomes almost frantic to find out what happened. His own life is a mess - his wife has left him for his best friend, and the three women, Jean, Iolene, and his wife, Midge, are joined in his nightmare of discovery by clever reporter Frannie Adair, who almost rises above it all. Things may technically end up OK for Hop but this is a story that will probably stick with you for quite awhile after you finish it. Abbott's first novel, Die A Little ($23.00) was nominated for the 2006 Edgar Allan Poe Best First Novel Award. Look for Queenspin ($13.00) in June, 2007. Sight Unseen by Robert Goddard (Delta, 294 pages) $12.00. Recommended by Tom & Enid Schantz, The Rue Morgue, Lyons, CO www.ruemorguepress.co We’re going to let you in on a little secret. Forget those writers whose books dominate the New York Times bestseller list and get all the ink in the book review sections: Robert Goddard regularly produces the best, as well as easily the most intelligent thrillers being published today. Yet it takes two years for his books to make it across the Atlantic from his native Britain and then only in trade paperback. Sight Unseen is a little gem, a dazzling tour de force in which several innocent bystanders battle immense odds to solve a decades-old crime that has irreparably shattered several lives, including that of David Umber, a young history student researching the letters of an obscure British political figure, who witnessed the murder of one child and the abduction of a second among the ancient sacred stones at Avebury. Umber married the nanny of the victims, only to watch his marriage eventually collapse under the weight of the memory of that long-ago day. After his estranged wife’s suicide, Umber takes a series of meaningless jobs until the original police investigator at Avebury, now retired, approaches him, suggesting that his wife’s suicide was murder and that the man convicted of the crimes, now dead, was innocent. If you’re looking for pat endings where good triumphs over evil and order is restored, you won’t find it here. As Umber nears the terrible truth of that day at Avebury, he comes to realize that justice is an untouchable illusion and that sometimes just surviving has to be victory enough. Red Cat, by Peter Spiegelman (Knopf $22.95). Recommended by Barbara Peters and Patrick Millikin, The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, AZ. www.poisonedpen.com, Patrick reports: Spiegelman's writing the kinds of books that I'm always hoping to read: he adheres to the basic skeleton of the PI novel but then tosses convention to the winds. There's enough family dysfunction and personal tragedy in John March's world to satisfy any self-respecting noir fan, and the writing crackles with freshness and intelligence. Barbara adds: It delivers a helping of compassion and power, tinged with that melancholia that defines March (yes, it's all a bit Irish). And the case comes to John Marsh from his jealous brother David, who's never been his friend and is a truly rotten client. David has been dumb enough to get himself into a sex scandal by hooking up with one "Wren" on an internet "dating" sight, and now the woman is about to ruin David's marriage and career (bankers are supposed to be proper). All David actually knows about her is the red cat tattoo on her thigh. This sounds trite and tiresomely sordid, but Spiegelman lifts the story—and where he takes it is a true surprise. What more can we say to get you to read, this wonderful writer? Black Maps ($7.99); Death's Little Helper ($14). The Coldest Blood by Jim Kelly, (St. Martin's Press $24.95). Recommended by Karen Spengler, I Love a Mystery, Mission, KS. www.iloveamystery.com. In this fourth book in the series, Kelly continues the story of Philip Dryden, underemployed newspaper reporter for a small newspaper in the city of Ely; his wife, Laura, slowly emerging from the “locked-in” state that has been her prison since an auto accident six years ago; and his eccentric cabby friend, Humph, who generally acts as Dryden’s personal chauffeur (the newspaperman hasn’t driven since the accident that injured his wife). In The Coldest Blood, "Ely is in the grip of an extended cold-snap, with two deaths attributed to the extreme weather. As Dryden researches a story about one of the deaths, he finds that the two dead men have a connection—as children, they both suffered abuse at the same orphanage. Eventually, Dryden’s story leads him to a 1974 murder with a connection to his own past. What I love about this series is that the mysteries flow naturally from Dyden’s work and he reacts in a way that strikes me as realistic. Not to say that the stories are true-to-life depictions of a reporter’s life, but I like the fact that Dryden isn’t constantly putting himself in harm’s way; in other words, he doesn’t do stupid things just to build suspense. Kelly’s books are finely plotted and atmospheric (you can almost feel the chill), but he deserves special recognition for his razor-sharp characterizations—especially that of Dryden, as he continues to work through his guilt over his wife’s condition." The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom, (Harper Collins $12.95). Recommended by David Thompson, Murder by the Book, Houston, TX. www.murderbooks.com. The publisher's description neatly captures this books whimsical character: "Israel Armstrong is a passionate soul, lured to Ireland by the promise of an exciting new career. Alas, the job that awaits him is not quite what he had in mind. Still, Israel is not one to dwell on disappointment, as he prepares to drive a mobile library around a small, damp Irish town. After all, the scenery is lovely, the people are charming -- but where are the books? The rolling library's 15,000 volumes have mysteriously gone missing, and it's up to Israel to discover who would steal them . . . and why. And perhaps, after that, he will tackle other bizarre and perplexing local mysteries -- like, where does one go to find a proper cappuccino and a decent newspaper?" This is sure to appeal to everyone who loves Maisie Dobbs and The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency and even The Thirteenth Tale! The sequel, Mr. Dixon Disappears, comes out here in America in June
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edited by Robin Agnew Aunt Agatha’s Ann Arbor, Michigan www.auntagathas.com |
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