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click on links for buying info Barrington Street Blues by Anne Emery Publisher: Ecw Press ISBN: 978-1-55022-813-7 Reviewed by Kathryn Lawson, New Mystery Reader When two men are found shot dead outside a nautical-themed strip club in an apparent murder-suicide, their families smell money. The families’ intended target is the substance abuse treatment center that released the shooter, allegedly prior to completion of his treatment. Attorney Monty Collins and his firm are hired to file the lawsuit, but Monty’s initial investigation turns up too many questions to ignore. His efforts to determine whether he has a viable case will lead him to talk to prominent citizens and streetwalking sex workers, real estate mavens and homeless unfortunates. Along the way, he also encounters a mysterious party spot called the Coliseum, about which nobody is willing to speak openly. Monty’s personal life is just as fascinating, with his attempts to drown his sorrows in Barrington Street bars continually resulting in those sorrows floating up to the surface again. Anne Emery won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best First Novel for Sign of the Cross, and her talent is showcased once more in Barrington Street Blues. The story excels at being both funny and suspenseful; the humorous aspects never interfere with the authenticity of the investigation. Along with the intriguing plot, Emery offers compelling characters and witty, snappy dialogue. Monty and his pals dash off the kind of instant comebacks we all wish we had at hand. A winner of a book – entertaining and enjoyable.
South of Shiloh by Chuck Logan Publisher: Harper Books ISBN 978 0 06 13669 6 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader This isn’t a book I expected to enjoy much, not being into the whole Civil War re-enactment scene. I’d only gone a few chapters into it when I realized that there was a great deal more to the story than a bunch of overgrown boys running around in blue and gray uniforms. This is a very complex story of human interactions, with a strong plot and a fast-moving timeline. For sure not a book to start reading when you have a lot of ‘must do’ projects on hand; better to start it on a rainy weekend when you can devour it in a sitting. Civil War re-enactor Paul Edin and his wife Jenny are agonizing about telling their daughter Molly that Paul isn’t her biological father, and asking John Rane, the real father, to provide a DNA swab so they can get a full picture of Molly’s genetic heritage. Paul goes off to a battle re-enactment and is killed, at first apparently in an accident, but it later there’s a strong rumour that Paul died by accident, and the real target was a policeman, Kenny Beeman. Beeman has an ongoing mutual hatred going with local bad boy Mitchell Lee Nickels, maybe for good reason. Mitchell Lee has a number of unsavory relatives with whom he carries on some business that wouldn’t appear in the Forbes list. Jenny doesn’t know where to turn, so she calls John Rane, with whom she hasn’t spoken in 11 years. He’s at loose ends, having been suspended from his news photographer job for two weeks for losing an expensive telephoto lens while getting a front page story for his paper. John drives south and connects with Beeman and finds that the two men have much more in common than at first appears. They form a wary partnership because both of them want to know what really happened when Paul died. Behind their backs a complex plot is being worked out with a particular outcome in mind. Rane and Beeman sense this , but can’t see any way forward other than just going forward. The final scene is worthy of a Rambo movie; not for the squeamish, but integral to the entire story. You will be fascinated by how author Logan polishes and fits the bits of his jigsaw, and how they all come together in the final picture.
Guilty by Karen Robards Publisher Putman Adult ISBN: 978-0-399-15461-4 Reviewed by Kathryn Lawson, New Mystery Reader Plenty of people hate rainy Monday mornings, but Assistant District Attorney Kate White had more reason than most to hate this particular one. After dashing through the downpour (in a pair of sadistic black pumps) to make it to court on time, she forgets to turn off her cell phone and she and the packed courtroom are subjected to the unprofessional strains of a custom ringtone. Before her mortification has fully hit home, gunmen strike the courtroom and Kate is taken hostage. She is able to walk away from the massacre physically unharmed, but only because she makes an unethical bargain with a shadowy figure from a past she would rather forget. Sexy homicide detective Tom Braga is suspicious of her story almost immediately and Kate finds herself struggling to keep her end of the bargain, protect herself and her son, maintain a daunting caseload at work, and keep handsome Braga out of her business and her bed. Bestseller Karen Robards is an expert at creating the kind of romantic suspense that keeps readers impatiently turning pages, eager to find out what happens next. Robards doesn’t disappoint in Guilty, which is unpredictable right up to the explosive conclusion. The sexual tension between Kate and Braga sizzles, and is nicely balanced by mutual affection. And if Kate White is noticeably similar to Sarah Mason, the heroine in Vanished (both single mothers abandoned by their ne’er-do-well husbands when barely out of their teens, who struggle to make it through law school and become prosecutors with male would-be protectors sleeping on their sofas), at least it’s a character worth repeating, and the plot lines of both books are significantly different. Overall, an intriguing and immensely satisfying read.
The Sudoku Puzzle Murders by Parnell Hall Publisher: St Martins/Minotaur ISBN 978 9 312 37990 9 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Crime fans will remember the old TV show Remington Steele, which had a handsome, suave Englishman fronting a detective agency, although the real work was done by the young woman who owned the business. The premise was that people would find the handsome man a more plausible PI than a young woman. The premise of the Puzzle Lady series is that an older, folksier woman is a more believable public face for a crossword puzzle column than the young woman who actually makes up the puzzles. Cora Felton couldn’t fill in “three letter word for feline” if her life depended on it, but she’s the front woman for a nationally syndicated feature compiled by her niece. Cora’s lack of puzzleability leads to any number of potentially disastrous and often funny occasions in which her cover is nearly blown. In this story the usual formula is broadened with the introduction of sudoku, those fiendish Japanese numerical puzzles that can drive you crazy faster than a Rubik’s cube. The story opens with Cora standing on a stage, with a large audience watching, and an incomplete sudoku facing her. On the other side of the stage is her nemesis, Harvey Beerbaum. Cora is trapped: how will she get out of this? Readers will be delighted by Cora’s escape method, but no sooner does she accomplish it than she’s trapped again, this time by a puzzle found with a dead man, who’s missing a big chunk off his head. This is quickly followed by another murder, and two more puzzles are found at the scene, stuck to the dead man by a samurai sword. Just because three of the suspects are Japanese is no reason to jump to conclusions—although try telling that to the District Attorney! Cruciverbaphiles will enjoy this book more than the average reader, but everyone will enjoy Cora for her wit, mental agility, and ability to think on her feet.
Goodbye, Ms. Chips by Dorothy Cannell Publisher: St. Martin’s Minotaur ISBN: 978-0-312-34338-5 Reviewed by Kathryn Lawson, New Mystery Reader When a lacrosse trophy goes missing at Ellie Haskell’s old boarding school, Ellie and her detecting partner and household helper, Mrs. Malloy, are called in to investigate. What seems at first to be nothing more than a prank turns sinister when a body is discovered at the Dribbly Drop. Ellie and Mrs. Malloy struggle to untangle a complicated web of loyalties and betrayals, identify the murderer, and recover the trophy in time for its mandatory presentation to the rival school that won it. Not so much a whodunit as a whydunit, this novel explores human motivations and relationships with sensitivity and authenticity. Cannell develops her characters with realistic detail; her villains have likeable qualities and her heroines have noticeable flaws. The story meanders gently along the plot lines, accompanied by a great deal of description of the furnishings and landscaping, as well as the refreshments served with tea. The result is a light and enjoyable read that was a perfect afternoon escape.
Mummy Dearest by Joan Hess Publisher: St Martin’s Minotaur ISBN 978 0 312 36360 4 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Honeymooning in Egypt, with romantic dahabeeyahs sailing down the limpid Nile past your hotel balcony: everyone’s dream of perfection, right? Well, maybe not. Claire Malloy is on her honeymoon but mostly without her new husband Lt. Pete Rosen, who’s out and about doing some hush-hush international police work, leaving her to cope with her drama-queen daughter Caron and Caron’s friend Inez. The Winter Palace Hotel is full to the brim with people who could have been sent by Central Casting to work on an Agatha Christie film, or maybe a dramatization of one of the many Elizabeth Peters Egyptian crime novels. (Hess pays tribute to the doyenne of exotic crime in her Afterword: one can only stand agape in envy for the experience of attending a real dig with a real Egyptologist.) Every covert organisation known to man and a few new ones turn up at one point or another in this tale of tomb robbers, art forgery and murder. Besides the romantic locale, and the eccentric characters, the book has everything you could want in a crime novel: murder, theft, kidnapping, intrigue, hair-raising car trips, and teen-aged angst. OK, maybe Claire could have done without the latter, but when you have two teenaged girls on your honeymoon, angst is a given. If you don’t enjoy this book it isn’t for want of Joan Hess’s trying. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Zapped by Carol Higgins Clark Publisher: Scribner ISBN-10: 141656215X Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader In her latest title featuring Megan Reilly, Clark pits her cast of zany characters against New York’s latest darkening episode: a city-wide blackout which seems to bring out the worst and the best of all involved during this one crazy, eventful night. Not only is Megan and her new husband’s townhouse broken into and one of the city’s up and coming art galleries, but there’s also the issue of the city’s latest female psycho on the loose, one whose new victim is in for a whole lot of hurt if not found before she exacts her plans for revenge. And as the night creeps towards morning, the heroes and victims will collide in the most unexpected ways, taking the reader with them on an adventurous tour through Manhattan’s darkened streets. This light-hearted new tale is, at the very least, refreshing in its breezy perspective towards the criminal element - with most of them being more haplessly harebrained as opposed to violently dangerous. And while not necessarily my cup of tea, I couldn’t help but enjoy this humorous and fun-filled read for most of the ride. Definitely not a literary work of art, but sometimes this type of romp is all that is needed, or desired, for an afternoon of light entertainment.
Sleeping Dogs by Ed Gorman Publisher: St Martins Minotaur ISBN 978 0 312 367848 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Accusations, blackmail, adultery, betrayal, murder, spin-doctoring—yes, friends, it’s a political whodunit, beautifully timed to hit the market when most of us have had a surfeit of the real-life campaigns. Warren Nichols, the handsome Senator from Illinois, is running for re-election and has an eye towards the White House as well. He needs his veteran political consultant to make a few small problems go away first, but unfortunately Phil Wylie has just committed suicide. Apparently committed suicide. There’s a sizeable campaign team already in place when Dev Conrad is hired to pick up where Wylie left off. The devoted Girl Friday has a secret that could blow the campaign out of the water. The faithful wife turns out to have a lump of tungsten in place of a major organ. And of course there’s the candidate himself. It would surprise few of those who know the real man to learn that he’d crawled out of a patch of damp sand as an infant. Gorman has managed to create a cast of repellent fascination. Notwithstanding that, his supporters believe Warren Nichols is light-years better than his opposition, and that’s why the narrator Dev Conrad accepts the job replacing Phil Wylie as Nichols’ strategist and fixer. Conrad is a seasoned, cynical campaigner who deep down in his heart wants to believe there are still some White Knights out there somewhere. Then the blackmailer is murdered, and his faith begins to get shaky. The more he finds out about his predecessor, the more he learns about his candidate. Just how far would Nichols go to secure the nomination? And how far does Nichols expect Dev to go? Optimists will read this as a bit of fiction; pessimists will probably regard it as a documentary. Recommended reading for voters, especially first-timers.
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale Publisher: Walker Books ISBN: 13 978-0-8027-1535-7 Reviewed by Anne K. Edwards, New Mystery Reader If you like real life crime or historical crimes or are a fan of crimes done in the Victorian era, this is a book you won’t want to miss. The flavor of the Victorian home is very well presented and you’ll come away with a realistic picture of how life was lived in this period and how it felt to be part of a household where a child was murdered. Detective Inspector Jonathan Whicher of Scotland Yard was sent to the village of Road where a child had disappeared from his bed. The searchers had found the body in an outhouse. There was no understanding how this had happened. Or what motive the killer had. This tale is a study in how the reputation of a family would suffer from such a death, how servants and neighbors reacted, and the conduction of the investigation. Raw emotions are on display, there seem to be many possible motives such as dislike of the father of the child by the neighbors, servants and family members who had secrets the tattletale child might have told. A well told tale by talented author Kate Summerscale whose thorough research brings the period into sharp focus so the reader comes away with a feeling of “having been there”. This is a story with surprises and red herrings to satisfy fiction lovers as well. I’m pleased to recommend this tale as one not soon to be forgotten by true crime fans. Enjoy. I did.
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley Publisher: Harper Collins ISBN 978 0 06 1252402 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader This is the first in a projected series by a new writing team. There haven’t been many successful double acts, and only a handful stand out: Manfred B Lee and Frederic Dannay, the Lockridges, and one or two others. Going by this maiden effort, it seems that Michael Sears/Stanley Trollip will become one of the memorable literary pairs. The story is set in Botswana, but not the cozy, folksy Botswana of Precious Ramotswe; this is a tougher, grittier place entirely. It starts with the finding of a much-chewed over body. Detective David Bengu of the Botswana CID , known as “Kubu’, seTswana for hippopotamus, is assigned to the case. It doesn’t take long for him to reach the conclusion that there’s something extremely fishy going on. Despite the corpse’s lack of clothing and teeth, eventually Kubu identifies it as the son and heir of a rich and noted white family. That would be fine if the same man hadn’t already been identified as having died miles away on the coast of South Africa, attacked by a shark. Many witnesses testify that they spoke to the man and he was alive and well weeks after most of his body was already rotting under the desert sun. Kubu knows some sort of scam is running here, but even with the help of his opposite number in the South African Police, Bakkies Swanepoels, he can’t figure out what’s really going on. Then a chance clue helps bring the disparate pieces together, but the resulting scenario is so bizarre that Kubu knows he is going to have an uphill battle to get his superior officers to let him attempt to prove it. Director Mabaku isn’t going to stick his neck on the chopping block without some heavy evidence to support Kubu’s weird theory. You don’t need to be familiar with Southern Africa to enjoy this book, but if you have ever been there, you will gain an extra dimension of enjoyment. Michael Stanley has managed to convey the flavour of the society, the feel of the sun and dust, the frustrations that the new democracies still experience with the remnants of the old order. A thoroughly enjoyable read, highly recommended.
Winter Haven by Athol Dickson Publisher: Bethany House ISBN 0 978 0 7642 0164 6 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader The island of Winter Haven, off the coast of Maine, is a
very strange place. But then, Vera Gamble, the protagonist of this story, is a
strange girl. Raised by a religious fanatic, motherless at an early age, and
forever tormented by the loss of her autistic brother, Vera comes to Winter
Haven from Texas in response to a report that the long-lost brother’s body has
been found washed up on the shore.
Death Walked In by Carolyn Hart Publisher: William Morrow ISBN: 978-0-06-072405-4 Reviewed by Anne K. Edwards, New Mystery Reader A winner! For any mystery lover of cozies, this is a tale sure to please. From the first page to the last, you’ll be so engrossed you won’t want to put it down. A perfect book for a rainy night, a cozy chair by a fire, and a hot chocolate sitting on the table nearby. The theft of valuable gold coins, repeated break-ins at Max and Annie’s new house, a body, shots fired in the dark—all combine to build a story you’ll feel compelled to finish. Who is the killer, who is the thief? Who entered the Franklin house? A mystery lover’s joy—lots of clues, lots of suspects and lots of motives. Also, plenty of red herrings. Mystery author Carolyn Hart is at the top of her game with this book. You’ll want to read all of the books by this very talented author whose characters seem like old friends to her fans, a group you’ll be joining after reading Death Walked In. When you open the book, it’s a visit to a place you could call home, having visited it before. The people are individuals you’ll enjoy meeting and remembering and you’ll look forward to that next encounter. I’m pleased to recommend this tale to any reader as one you will enjoy and may want to read again for the fun of it. Happy readings.
Dirty Money by Richard Stark Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; ISBN 978 0 446 178587 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader Let’s start with telling you that Richard Stark is a nom de plume for an old veteran of the gritty crime story. Then a warning: this book isn’t the one you should choose to take you away to a kinder, gentler America. Dirty Money is the second instalment in the story of Parker, another man with no first name. In the previous book, “Nobody Runs Forever”, Parker made off with the contents of a bank money transfer truck, over two million dollars. After hiding the ill-gotten gains in amongst the hymnbooks of a small rural church, Parker has had to lie low for a while. Now he wants his money, and he’s not too particular who he has to deal with to get it. Because the money is hot, Parker knows he can’t just use it—one of his henchmen did that and ended up behind bars. OK, so Nick escaped and is now looking for Parker, the police are looking for Nick, Parker’s looking for a money launderer, and life is getting complicated. Parker sets up an agreement with a man who has reason to want him dead, but who will buy the money for a tenth of its face value. You’d think that this might not be a financially sensible move, but Parker doesn’t have a whole lot of choice. He’s blown all his cover identities in the aftermath of the robbery, and that’s forcing him into a number of bad decisions, including using his girlfriend to drive him around. Parker has always tried to keep Claire out of the shadier side of his life, but now he must depend on her and others for his survival. Laced with a sort of gallows humour, “Dirty Money” is a compact book with a tightly focussed plotline.
Antiques to Die For by Jane K. Cleland Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312368275 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader It’s been a couple of years since Josie Prescott fled New York after a business scandal and set up shop in rural New Hampshire selling antiques and doing appraisals. And while her business seems to be growing quite impressively, so does her tendency to be at the wrong place at the wrong time when it comes to murder. This time out, while working on an art display in the office of a wealthy CEO, she’s shocked to hear of her best friend Rosalie’s death, a death made more shocking considering Rosalie had recently expressed concern over a secret admirer who seemed to be stalking her. So suspecting that Rosalie was in fact murdered comes easy, especially when she begins to learn of the many other secrets her friend had, including an affair with more than one man and a hidden treasure worth big money. Against her better judgment she becomes involved when Rosalie’s young sister, of whom Rosalie was a guardian of, asks for Josie’s help, once again leading her into a deadly and shocking case of murder. As is always the case, one has to wonder why these darned amateur sleuths get so easily involved even as they fight against it so strongly. Why not just give in and admit you’re more curious than a cat and get on with it? But, with that quibble aside, Cleland does in fact manage to put out a challenging who-done-it filled with enough several plausible suspects to keep one guessing. And while Josie could do with a little more soul and emotion, her sometimes one-dimensional character coming off a bit monotone at times, she’s likeable enough to make this an engaging and entertaining read. Not great, but not bad, it fits the bill for a cozy afternoon of breezy escape.
Janeology by Karen Harrington Publishers: Kunati Press, ISBN :978-1-60164-020-8 Reviewed by Narayan Radhakrishnan, New Mystery Reader In a thriller world saturated with James Pattersons, John Grishams and Stephen Kings, this debut novel from Karen Harrington comes as a breath of fresh air. As a lawyer and as a self- proclaimed numero- uno legal thriller lover, I read about 35-40 legal thrillers a year, and the more the merrier. More often than not, the choice of sub-genres in legal thrillers is very minimal, usually just a murder mystery with an attorney hell-bent on securing justice for his client. If the lawyer- hero is a defense lawyer, he will fight all odds and prove his client innocent- and later find out some hard truth after the trial, and if the lawyer is a prosecutor- no second guesses, he will fight all odds and secure justice for his community. It is here that I found JANEOLOGY refreshingly different. An unexplored question of law, a new line of defense, and the plausibility and possibility of such a line of defense in a murder trial, is explored in this debut novel. Tom Nelson, a professor of English at Texas is a happily married man, and father of two- twins, Simon and Sarah. His wife Jane has recently suffered a miscarriage and is affected by post partum depression. But the degree of depression is not known to Tom, and when on one fine day Jane kills Simon and attempts to kill Sarah, Tom’s world is turned upside down. Jane says that she is done being a mother. The lawyers prepare a not guilty by reason of insanity line of defense for Jane. But the real accused before the media and the law is Tom Nelson. He is charged for not providing adequate protection to his children from a potentially dangerous mother, and leaving them to her care and custody. In the course of his defense, a radical new line of defense is brought out. The lawyers argue that Jane’s gene set-up and family background is the sole reason for the murder, and even if Nelson had been there with his family, sooner or later Jane would have committed murder. Will such a line of defense work, and more importantly, what would be the impact on society if the law appreciates such a line of defense? Can each murderer break free in the future by adopting such a line of defense? It’s in this midst the whole drama unfolds, culminating in a finish that will just rattle your genes. I enjoyed the book, and as a lawyer, while disturbed by the controversial questions raised, I especially enjoyed this challenging and worthwhile read.
The Mirror’s Edge by Steven Sidor Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312354134 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Freelance journalist Jase Deering has a good life going, with his career moving along as well as his relationship with his live-in legally blind girlfriend Robin. But that’s about to change when he decides to write a follow-up story on the disappearance of a pair of twins on the anniversary of their abduction. Not only is the story heartbreaking, but when he interviews the nanny who was there when it happened, it will soon turn to terror when she points him in the direction of a mysterious cult like figure whose dreams of immortality will lead Deering down a road filled with horror and evil and a fight for his very own survival. Sidor is a talented author who can write a sentence infused with enough poetic pathos to satisfy even the most discriminating readers looking for something more literate than the average junk-filled drama. But that being said, it must also be noted that while his writing never fails, sometimes his plot takes such broad, sweeping, and unconvincing directions, that his well-written words face an uphill struggle to keep it all going. Yes, this is part “horror,” and indeed there’s going to be some off the wall antics going on, but still, the jumps made sometimes just seem too quick and too far to be justified. However, all in all, when putting the positive to be had next to the not so positive, there’s much more of the former to make this a read well worth the time spent.
The Locktender’s House by Steven Sherrill Publisher: Random House ISBN-10: 1400061539 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Janice Witherspoon has lived most of her young adult life in a state of numbness, never really in the present, nor caring much about the future. But when her live-in boyfriend is killed in Iraq, she abruptly sets off on a road-trip, her destination vague and undetermined and that will eventually lead her to a mysterious abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. And even as strange dreams begin to plague her, dreams filled with horror and an indistinct longing, she’ll find herself slowly coming to a frightening and consuming awareness of a far away past filled with ghosts connected to her by blood and the danger they bring with them. But she’ll also begin to awaken in other ways when she meets her neighbor, an artist who stirs her in ways she’s never known. But which will eventually claim her; the ghosts from a long dead past, or the promise of a future filled with meaning? In this story that defies definition, Sherrill brings the ghosts of centuries past to life in the most horrific and imaginative ways. Touching on the true history of the canals that once traversed parts of America, and the men and women who worked them, he recalls the hardships and often times hideous injustices inflicted on some during that era. Walking a fine line between suspense and terror, the reader is often left to guess which part of Janice’s midnight wanderings, and the often times very harmful results, are caused by the ghosts that surround her and which are self-induced. A highly disturbing book, this read by Sherrill shows no mercy towards those easily frightened, nor for those who can withstand much more for that matter. And while “enjoyable” is not a word that one might use to describe this reading experience, its merits cannot be denied either.
Empty Ever After by Reed Farrel Coleman Publisher: Bleak House Books ISBN-10: 1932557644 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader For over two decades PI Moe Prager has seen more than his fair share of twisted and deadly cases of murder, but while his success rate remains high, the devastating toll it’s long since taken on his marriage and family cannot be denied. And now two years later after solving the long-ago disappearance of his wife’s troubled brother in a case that put the final nail in his marriage, all the secrets he’s kept, and all the enemies he’s made will come back to haunt him in the most frightening of ways. With his ex-wife getting calls from the brother she long thought dead, and her repeated sightings of him, the mystery now for Prager to solve is whether someone from his past is out for revenge, or if ghosts really do exist. But with so many enemies and so many secrets, finding the truth will be deadly and will leave behind much more destruction than just a failed marriage. Moe Prager is an easy guy to like, regardless of how ill thought out his good intentions always seem to be; usually leading to more sorrow than anything; yet one has to admire his tenacity when seeking answers to the most difficult of questions, no matter the price. And in this latest mystery, fans will be shocked at just how high a price he eventually pays. Revisiting his most frightening cases in search of answers to this latest deadly mystery, those who have read this tremendously talented author will easily remember the PI’s many horrors from the past, and those who haven’t, will get a glimpse at what has brought Prager and his family to where they are now. Coleman balances this act well, without boring those in the know or confusing those who are not, in a satisfying story that we hope is to be continued.
Nightshade by Susan Wittig Albert Publisher: Berkley Hardcover ISBN-10: 0425219569 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Ex big city lawyer China Boyles, herbalist and restaurateur, wants nothing to do with her PI husband’s latest case of finding out how and why her father really died 16 years ago, nor does she want much to do with the step-brother she recently discovered existed. But when her brother, while seeking answers to their father’s death, dies in a mysterious manner, she too is drawn into the decade’s old case involving cover-ups and politics. And soon she will unwillingly find herself facing the death of her distant and uncaring father she never really knew, nor even much liked, and his many secrets that are still proving to be deadly to this day. With the author herself admitting in her prelude that unfamiliar readers might have difficulty following this third in a trilogy surrounding China’s past, it doesn’t come as a big surprise for those of us newbies to the series to become quickly lost in all the players and past plotlines that are being recalled. Not to say that this is not worth the read, far from it; Witting’s tone, pace, and characterizations are all worth the cover price, but that being said, it might be recommended to start from the beginning, as undoubtedly that would make this read far more enticing than it already is. And as such, this is an author I plan to start from the beginning with, because if she can prove to be this entertaining while battling my unfamiliarity, she must be even better for those in the know.
Hold Tight By Harlan Coben Publisher: Dutton Adult ISBN-10: 0525950605 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Once again, Coben manages to put out yet another title that is as, or perhaps even more so, exciting and engaging as anything that's come before. This time out we meet more than one seemingly ideal suburban family who is having to suddenly face some complicated issues involving their teen/pre-teen children. And how these dramas eventually prove to be interconnected will soon reveal that nobody’s children are safe from the dangers out there, not even those from the idyllic suburbs of America. Setting the ensuing perilous events into motion is the suicide of the Baye’s 16 year old son Adam’s best friend, a tragedy that has left their son distant and more sullen than what’s to be expected from your typical teen. So it’s out of great concern that Tia and Mike make the decision to place a monitor on their son’s computer in order to find out just how serious the problem is. And when Adam suddenly disappears, it’s only through the enigmatic emails traced on his computer that they discover he’s in much more danger than they ever could have expected. Meanwhile, it’s revealed that not only is a close neighbor harboring her own deadly secrets, but that others in this ideal suburban community also have their share of poisonous secrets, secrets that just might be connected to the recent discovery of two murdered women. And so as the Bayes' attempt to find the truths that lie behind the increasingly threatening events, they’ll find themselves on a perilous trail of deadly secrets that begun long before they noticed something was wrong, a trail that’s only going to get more dangerous with each step. Each year that Coben puts out a new title, I always think to myself that this time he’s surely going to fail to live up what’s come before. After all, how possible is it that an author can go at this rate without a single misstep? Apparently, when it comes to Coben, the answer is pretty much indefinitely. Once again, he puts the spotlight on suburbia in a timely tale that reveals all is not so sweet as it appears behind those lovely white picket fences. Additionally, he raises some very challenging questions regarding just how far should a parent go to make sure their children are safe. Is there such a thing as too far? And why has the world changed so much that parents feel the need to even consider such actions as monitoring their child’s every move? No doubt, the dangers are real, but is the price tag put on their safety so high that we’re making our children incapable of simply growing up with the trials and travails that made us ourselves cognizant adults? Even while Coben challenges us with these questions, he also reminds us of that impenetrable bond that ties parent to child, a bond that most would protect at any cost. And so it’s with these two powerful and complicated concerns that he creates a tale that will resound with parents and non-parents alike. Forceful, provocative, and ultimately rewarding, this is just one more great read from an author who stops at nothing to satisfy his readers.
The Whole Truth by David Baldacci Publisher: Grand Central Publishing ISBN 978 9 446 1957-97 3 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader I had barely got my breath back from reading the previous Baldacci when this one lobbed onto my doormat. Grand Central must have David chained in an attic somewhere; I can’t see how he can turn out several complex thrillers every year otherwise. This one is the scariest Baldacci yet. Once again he’s come up with a plot that’s at the outer fringe of reality—but not over the edge. The further you get into the book, the more plausible the story becomes. It’s said that in war, Truth is the first casualty. The premise of this often violent book is that truth is under constant assault, not only from spin doctors, who at least start with facts, but from ‘perception managers’, who manufacture material which is passed off as truth. Thanks to the Internet and other instant media, the false truth spreads as quickly as a sneeze, and it’s very very difficult to correct it. The story opens with Shaw, a man with no first name, apparently selling a dirty bomb to some terrorists, who plan to use it against the USA. You are ready to hate Shaw for his duplicity, then the scene shifts and Shaw is revealed to be an agent who is helping track down and root out pockets of dangerous fanatics before they can accomplish their evil plans. Shaw doesn’t do this for fun or even for patriotic reasons: Frank, the senior agent of this shadowy agency, is blackmailing him into working for them. Shaw once shot Frank and hasn’t been able to get away from the threat of a jail term ever since. But now Shaw wants to retire, to marry Anna and find some sort of normal life. Frank holds out the possibility of the end of the unholy contract, if only Shaw will do a few more small jobs. While doing the first of these jobs, Shaw’s path crosses that of Katie James, an alcoholic journalist who desperately needs a big story to put her back on top of her professions. Katie’s need makes her an easy target for those who want to get a big lie accepted as truth, in order to push their own secret agenda. What happens when she discovers she’s been tricked like a green cub reporter forms the main part of the story. She and Shaw, who is enraged by the senseless killing of his fiancée, make common cause and start to track the big lie back to its originators. This proves to be desperately dangerous, and requires the protagonists to put themselves into potentially lethal situations. Some of the characters are not as well developed as those in Baldacci’s previous books, but the plot is complex and fast-moving and the story is scarily believable. For additional fun, check out the Baldacci's video
on THE WHOLE TRUTH!
The Blue Religion Edited by Michael Connolly Publisher: Little, Brown ISBN 978 0 316 012515 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader It takes more than a bunch of stories to make a readable anthology. Don’t be put off by its title; this a really good anthology, a collection of stories of surprising depth and breadth, which looks at the human condition from a variety of angles, but always through the blue filter of the police force. Peter Robinson’s “The Price of Love” starts with a toy badge and ends with a stern justice that colours a man’s whole life. In “Contact and Cover”, Greg Rucka shows how three women police officers deal with a dangerous bully who’s supposed to be a colleague. In “Rule Number One”, Bev Vincent has an interesting twist to the ‘crook with a heart’ plot, and in “What a Wonderful World”, Paul Guyot tells a bittersweet story of a cop whose obsession with a case overcomes his reason, commonsense and finally his career. “Winning” looks at the burden a police officer’s family carries, and how one man deals with it. “Fathers’ Day,” by the editor, Michael Conolly, is a story that could have been ‘ripped from today’s headlines’ to quote the old show. It follows the apparently accidental death of an infant into a dark and twisted place we can all relate to but hope we never have to experience. “The Blue Religion” is as good a crime anthology as you’re likely to find this year. Highly recommended.
Cheating at Solitaire by Jane Haddam Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur ISBN-10: 0312343086 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader With more than a couple of months to go until his big wedding day, and with his Philly neighborhood of friends causing a bit of an uproar with the planning, when crime consultant Gregor Demarkian receives a call from an old friend to help out on a case on an island off the cost of Cape Cod, he’s more than happy to withdraw himself from the madness for a bit. But, as the case involves the murder of a young man working for a filming crew, and with the accused being the beautiful young starlet of movie being shot, he’s about to be introduced to a whole different kind of madness – Hollywood. And so as he battles the paparazzi that seem to have glued themselves to the tiny island, and with more than one unsavory secret haunting this glamorous cast and crew, he’ll find each step in solving the puzzle more complicated than the last, with the answers to it all being far from what anyone ever suspected. In this latest featuring the charming yet inscrutable Armenian American detective Demarkian, Haddam once again shows her talent at revealing the underside of society’s norms. There’s obviously no love lost in her depiction of Hollywood, its bad young starlets, and the paparazzi that define our news stories of the day. The scandals too often exposed and glorified for ratings will seem more than familiar to most. Yes, there’s a well-written mystery here as well, but it’s really in Haddam’s final denouement in the ultimate triviality of it all that makes this one a winner. A well told and timely story that resounds with truth, this is one of her best.
Easy Innocence by Libby Fischer Hellmann Publisher: Bleak House Books ISBN-10: 1932557660 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader After being suspended from the Chicago police force, Georgia Davis has struck out on her own becoming a private eye. And after a few months of dealing with the usual boring and tedious PI investigations, she’s more than ready to look into the case of a mentally challenged man who has been accused of killing a young teenaged girl. With her investigation soon leading her down trails involving high school hazing and teenage prostitution, it becomes more than apparent that there’s much more to this case than what it first appeared to be. And with the authorities oddly eager to hang the accused and close the case, she finds herself only that more determined to find the answers, answers that will bring her up against some of Chicago’s most powerful and influential players who have some very deadly secrets to hide. Fans of Hellmann’s series featuring Ellie Forman will no doubt recognize her new protagonist Georgia Davis who previously has been just a minor player. And while they might be disappointed to see a new female lead at work, my guess is that it won’t take long for that disappointment to fade with Davis; both compassionate and tough as nails, she’s easily a worthy new heroine. And when you combine such an engaging character with a plot involving teens, sex, and the controversial morality surrounding the combination of the two, you have a read that is not only suspenseful, alarming, and timely, but also one that will make you think twice at the pressures teens face these days. This one’s a winner, and one that leaves us eager for the next.
Separated at Death by Sheldon Rusch Publisher: Berkley Hardcover ISBN-10: 0425219488 Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Recently engaged Illinois Special Agent Elizabeth Hewitt has enough anxiety to deal with, but when recently separated couples start turning up beheaded, her attitudes toward wedded bliss begin to take on an even more alarming tone. And with many suspects, including a priest, an odd group of marriage counselors, and the typical serial killer types, she will find that figuring out the answers is as ambiguous and as complicated as her own feelings toward the subject. And when you throw in her new “partner”, her bosses daughter who herself has something to prove, the situation will not only get more difficult, but deadlier as well. While this is my first time to read this author’s excellent story-telling, it definitely won’t be my last. The unique voice given to his female protagonist is not only emotionally rich and vividly spoken, but it also manages to freely flow at such a realistic pace that one might feel they’re hearing the story first hand. And when you throw in the plot itself, one that keeps the reader challenged with an exciting guessing game, you’ve got one of those rare novels that comes complete; absolutely nothing more needs to be added. This is one great author that inspires me to read what’s come before, and one that will keep me eagerly waiting for the next.
Lost Souls by Lisa Jackson Publisher: Kensington ISBN-10: 075821183X Reviewed by Stephanie Padilla, New Mystery Reader Expanding on her previous series that centered on New Orleans’s detective Rick Bentz, Jackson returns with a new series featuring Bentz’s daughter, Kristi, the young woman who has already survived the vengeance of two psychos, and who is now about to confront her third. Kristi, now 28 and more than ready to move on with her life, moves to Baton Rouge to take some writing classes at her old college with the hope this might just be the impetus to help her on the way to her dream of becoming a true crime novelist. And, fortunately, or unfortunately, she’s come to the right place. All Saints College seems to have experienced a rash of disappearing female students, with four young loners having mysteriously vanished within the past year without a trace. And as Kristi starts investigating, she’ll discover that they all had ties to the English department and their new curriculum, one that includes a class on vampires and its rumored connections to a nefarious bloody cult And the closer Kristi comes to solving the mystery, as yet even more women begin to disappear, the closer she comes to becoming the next victim. Having read many of Jackson’s previous titles, and having begun to get a bit wary of the same old, same old, this latest proved to be a refreshing and much welcomed change in direction. Somewhat, at least. While, yes, there’s the old stand-by of ‘Should I or shouldn’t I fall in love? No, I’m much too busy. Okay, well maybe.’, accompanied by the once again ‘Oh, there comes another psycho to mess up my day', there’s still enough exciting and new drama to make this entirely suspenseful read a guilty pleasure to be taken in with gusto. And as most likely this is probably only the first, you might want to join this hot new series from the beginning as it holds much promise for great things to come.
Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh Publisher: Little Brown ISBN 978 0 316 02528 7 Reviewed by Karen Treanor, New Mystery Reader It’s always a delight when a new book from one of the old masters is delivered for review. “Hollywood Crows” is Joseph Wambaugh’s most recent book, and it’s a good read. This book has a nicely mixed ensemble cast, reminiscent of Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct mysteries. Rather than the gloomy Monroe and Monaghan, we’ve got Flotsam and Jetsam, the blond surfer cops whose private Malibu language is almost incomprehensible to outsiders, but who nevertheless manage to get their points across most of the time. And there’s Compassionate Charlie Gifford, who could be Fat Ollie’s brother, except he’s not as nice. Charlie has a warped sense of where the border of black humour lies. This isn’t a McBain rip-off, however: it can stand on its own as a complex and involving police procedural. The Crows are the Community Relations Officers, the cops who deal with the weird and wacky and sometimes dangerous community of Tinseltown. From the spaced-out Indian to the drag queen threatening to charge her client with fraud, there’s always something strange for the CROs to deal with. The scene about the purse-snatcher’s eyeball should become a crime fiction classic. If you don’t find yourself laughing aloud at that one, you must have had a really bad week. It’s not all fun and games with the CROs, however. They deal with real crime and real criminals. Ronnie Sinclair worries that somehow her partner Bix Ramstead has gone across the line into something bad but it takes Nate Weiss to accidentally discover Bix’s involvement in a potentially dangerous situation. You find yourself wanting to yell “Bix, can’t you see what’s happening? Back off, get out while you still can!” There are some real knuckle-gnawing moments in this story, which Wambaugh alternates with lighter scenes, even using the old cop cliché of doughnuts to good effect. If you like police stories that make you feel like one of the family, you should enjoy this one.
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New Mystery Reader Magazine editor@newmysteryreader.com
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