Paganini’s Ghost

by Paul Adam

Minotaur Books, January 2010, $24.99

The sequel to Adam’s excellent novel The Rainaldi Quartet (2006), Paganini’s Ghost, is an equally splendid music mystery featuring violin maker Gianni Castiglione and his younger friend Antonio Guastafeste, cellist and police detective. Set primarily in Cremona and Milan, with brief excursions to Paris and London, the story opens with a young Russian virtuoso who won the Premio Paganini competition in Genoa and whose prize includes a recital in Cremona where he gets to play Paganini’s violin il Cannone (the Cannon). The violin is brought to Castiglione for repair before the performance, and he and the Russian, Yevgeny Ivanov, become friends.

The day after the big performance though, a somewhat shady French antiques dealer is found murdered and Castiglione and Guastafeste discover a gold box that had been made to hold a small, jeweled violin given to Paganini by Napoleon’s sister. An extremely complex mystery follows, with the disappearance of the Russian violinist, more deaths, a lost piece of music, and a fascinating study of the life and loves of Paganini.

Castiglione’s encyclopedic knowledge of violins and music history help Guastafeste solve the crimes. Adam has a remarkable ability to create characters that come alive on the page. The Italian settings are superb. Music lovers and mystery fans have a marvelous treat in store.

Reviewed by Mary Helen Becker

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• Read an excerpt at the publisher’s site here.
• Visit the Paul Adam’s website.
• Purchase Paganini’s Ghost at Amazon.com

No Mercy
by Lori Armstrong
Touchstone, January 2010, $25.00

In this modern western with a twist, Mercy Gunderson is on furlough from the Army and back home on the family ranch in South Dakota. Her father, the local sheriff, has just died and everyone is expecting Mercy to look after both his affairs and her irresponsible younger sister. Mercy’s already heavy load gets even more worrisome when her 15-year-old nephew Levi begins running with a gang of native kids called “The Warrior Society,” and reservation teens begin turning up dead.

Frustrated when the handsome new sheriff doesn’t seem interested in the first killing, and a second killing strikes close to home, Mercy takes it upon herself to investigate. A prickly love-hate relationship develops when the sheriff resents her intrusion on his job. There’s a reason Mercy’s nickname is “No Mercy”—she’s tough. A hard drinker, a loner, and a bit psychotic, the hero of this dark, exciting series debut is a female who drives a fast sports car rather than rides a white horse, but she’s a wild west vigilante all the same.

Mercy is used to going after bad guys. In her Army job she’s a sniper trained to track and kill human prey. If she’s the one to find this local killer, she may just take him out on the spot. Author Lori Armstrong is already known for her mass market PI Julie Collins series, and she proves here with her first hardcover release that she’s just getting started.

Reviewed by Verna Suit

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• Visit Lori Armstrong’s website.
• Read an excerpt from No Mercy at the publisher’s website here.
  
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Jack Higgins kicks it old school, as in bringing back the Cold War and the troubles in Northern Ireland for the 21st century. In The Wolf at the Door, Higgins’ usual cast of characters, General Ferguson, agent Harry Miller and his ex-IRA partner Sean Dillon, and American agent Blake Johnson, find themselves the targets of several assassination attempts. The group digs deep to find a sleeper cell of the Provisional IRA they suspect may be behind the attacks, but the real cuplrit may be even more dangerous and powerful than they imagined.

Higgins comes from a school of writers who think nothing of making huge historical events and real political figures characters in their fiction, and his cast of heroes has been entertaining readers for 17 novels now. But it is this novel’s “wolf,” Yorkshire-born PIRA veteran Daniel Holley, and his role as the vengeful hunter unleashed on the “the Prime Minister’s private army” that is the heart of this story. By the end, Holley has determined there’s little difference between those who recruited him to kill and the British against whom he’s avenging his fallen comrades. In the end, the reader is forced to agree.

Reviewed by Jim Winter

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• The Killing Ground (2007), by Jack Higgins, review by Stephen B. Armstrong
• Purchase The Wolf at the Door at Amazon.com

by Alan Gordon

Minotaur Books, January 2010, $25.99

A husband and wife detective team isn’t that unusual—but put them in the early 13th century in Toulouse, France and make them court jesters, and you’ve got the makings of a strange murder mystery indeed.

Theo and Claudia are not only accomplished jesters, they also belong to the super-secret Fools’ Guild, an international group that strives to maintain order in a dangerous world. Count Raimon , the ruler of Toulouse, has named Theo his Chief Fool and relies on him not only for entertainment, but for wise counsel as well.

When a visitor arrives from Paris claiming to be the Count’s brother he is jailed as an imposter. Later, on Theo’s advice, the claimant, Baudoin, is freed pending further investigation into his claim. That night, he is taken to a brothel and spends the night in the arms of the most beautiful prostitute in the city. When the following morning her dead body is found next to him in the bed with his dagger in her chest, Baudoin is arrested for her murder.

Dissatisfied by the “rush to judgment” against Baudoin, Theo and Claudia decide to investigate. Both being competitive, however, they each go about it separately in their own way, Claudia being accompanied by Helga, a 12-year-old apprentice fool. Which one will solve the case first?

In alternating points of view, we follow the pair through a complex series of adventures leading to an unexpected conclusion. This latest in a series of Fools’ Guild Mysteries is enjoyable reading, not only for the mystery, but for the sharp and witty dialogue as well.

Reviewed by Joseph Scarpato, Jr.

Alan Gordon, photo by Paul Petronella

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• Purchase The Parisian Prodigal at Amazon.com

A Thousand Cuts

What can you ever know about the motives of a quiet and unassuming teacher who opens fire in a school assembly and kills three students and a fellow teacher before turning the gun on himself? Though everyone seems mystified by the violent event, DI Lucia May tries to walk, literally, in the shooter’s footsteps. She wants to understand what led up to it, even though her boss wants the case wrapped up and out of the headlines.

As she peels back the layers, Lucia learns that students tormented the teacher mercilessly, that he had a failed relationship with another colleague, that he was not the only person who suffered from unchecked bullying. As she investigates, the treatment she receives from her male colleagues is similarly abusive. The psychological tension escalates as she doggedly keeps digging.

The book has an unusual structure, opening with a witness statement in the voice of a schoolboy recounting his experience with an uncannily realistic voice. Chapters alternate a close third-person view from the detective’s perspective with the statements she takes from students, teachers, parents, and school officials. It’s artfully done—almost too artfully; at times it seems like the virtuoso performance of a well-trained actor who can do voices cleverly. Yet the growing sense of injustice and the muggy, stifling atmosphere of the book work well to increase the sense of being trapped, drawing the reader into the state of mind of someone bullied so relentlessly there’s only one way out.

Reviewed by Barbara Fister

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• A Thousand Cuts (March 2010), Simon Lelic, review by Betty Webb available in Mystery Scene Winter Issue #113
• Purchase A Thousand Cuts at Amazon.com
• Get the reading group guide at the publisher’s site
  

Last Snow
by Eric Van Lustbader
Forge Books, February 2010, $25.99

Troubleshooter Jack McClure returns in this follow up to last year’s First Daughter. In Last Snow, McClure is with the US President in Moscow on the eve of a historic treaty with Russia. But when an American senator is killed in Italy (when he was supposedly in the Ukraine), the President sends McClure to Kiev to investigate. McClure’s job is complicated by the presence of Annika Dementieva, a renegade Federal Security Service (FSB) agent and Alli Carson, the President’s daughter, whom he must keep safe.

Time and again, McClure’s three-dimensional approach to problem solving, which is also linked to his dyslexia, gets them out of trouble. At the same time, McClure uncovers a conspiracy to undermine Ukraine’s sovereignty and involving some in the President’s own inner circle.

Last Snow is one of several recent novels featuring the grandiose theme of a renewed Cold War with Russia. However, the presence of Alli Carson, the titular First Daughter of the previous novel, humanizes the story. Alli is still reeling from the kidnapping and torture she endured in the first installment. Her rather bizarre presence on McClure’s mission gives her an opportunity to face her fears and claim her own identity. That alone raises Last Snow above the current le Carré knockoffs.

Reviewed by Jim Winter

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• The Bourne Deception (June 2009), Eric Van Lustbader, review by Hank Wagner
• Purchase Last Snow at Amazon.com
• Read an excerpt at the publisher’s site.
  

Some guys have all the luck. Like Jack Susko, the bookselling protagonist and amateur sleuth in Australian writer Lenny Bartulin’s 2008 entertaining and nicely paced debut (recently published Stateside with a new title). I sell books for a living too, but I can assure you that no rich sexpots like Annabelle Kaspowricz ever seem to throw their voluptuous bodies (“on the curvy side of womanhood”) or any of their other spectacular assets at me the way they do with Jack. Then again, the complications that ensue when Annabelle’s wealthy, but singularly unpleasant, businessman father hires Jack, the proud proprietor of Susko’s Books, a struggling basement shop in Sydney, to track down every copy he can of an obscure poet’s books, might not be worth it. Even at $50 a pop.

Those complications include sleazy business rivals, a disgraced gynecologist, possibly corrupt or at least inept cops, a vengeful crime lord, hired muscle, plenty of dubious poetry and enough dirty family secrets, obsessions and greed to fill a soap opera. In fact, Annabelle’s family is so chronically dysfunctional that they make The Big Sleep’s Sternwoods look like television’s Waltons. And unfortunately, by the time Jack realizes what he’s involved in, it’s far too late to crawl out gracefully. Still, he draws upon just enough unexpected resources of strength and courage (not to mention a bit of wild luck) and a definite way with wisecracks (for example a thug is dismissed as having the “muscle-to-brain ratio of a brontosaurus”) to keep the reader flipping pages. A sly parody of ’30s-era hardboiled fiction or the contemporary real deal? Either way, this stuff is just way too good (and too fun) to be a one-off. Down these mean streets a used book dealer must go, anyone?

Reviewed by Kevin Burton Smith

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• Read an excerpt at the publisher’s site.
• Author’s blog site lennybartulin.blogspot.com
• Purchase Death by the Book at Amazon.com

Virtually Dead
by Peter May
Poisoned Pen Press, January 2010, $14.95

When our lives become too complicated, overrun with confrontations, debts and emotional turmoil, the desire to escape can be overwhelming. In Peter May’s entertaining Virtually Dead, a virtual world becomes preferable to reality for crime scene photographer Michael Kapinsky.

Michael’s life is in chaos. The death of his wealthy wife has left him grief-stricken, depressed and in debt. While his wife, Mora, had inherited millions, her lavish lifestyle and a legal battle with the family of her first husband has left Michael an inheritance of overdue bills and a staggering mortgage. He begins to find solace in the virtual world called Second Life, which his therapist suggests as a kind of group therapy.

There, his avatar is moviestar handsome Chas Chesnokov, a fearless agent of the Twist of Fate Detective Agency. But the virtual and real

Peter May, photo by Domi Photographe

worlds collide when both the the avatars and their real life counterparts start being murdered. Chas and an exotic dancer avatar begin an investigation that centers on greed and control.

May (The Enzo Files) keeps a firm hand as Virtually Dead alternates between Michael’s real-life struggles and his avatar’s fantasy life. The plot moves briskly with surprise twists and a believable conclusion. May not only makes Michael a sympathetic, likable character, but also imbues Chas with a solid personality and a fearlessness that makes him a true hero. Online you can be whoever or whatever you want to be as May believably shows.

Reviewed by Oline H. Cogdill

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• Chinese Whispers (October 2009), Peter May, review by Hank Wagner
• The Killing Room (February 2008), Peter May, review by Beverly DeWeese
• The Critic (November 2007), Peter May, review by Charles L. P. Silet
• Purchase Virtually Dead at Amazon.com

In Eye of the Raven Eliot Pattison reprises the characters and French and Indian War from his previous Edgar-winning historical mystery Bone Rattler. This time Duncan McCallum and his Native American mentor and Shaman, Conawago are investigating a series of murders. It seems several land surveyors charged with preparing the way for a huge land grant held by a consortium of well-connected Virginians have been killed. The legality of the grants that encompass much of the land in the Ohio valley are suspect, having been obtained by questionable methods. There are others interested in the lands beyond Penn’s colony too, and, of course, the local Native American inhabitants are concerned and confused about the seizure of their ancestral hunting grounds.

All of this takes place amidst the North American phase of a European war raging around the world. The French and Indian War was particularly bloody as it involved the European powers employing Native American allies, many of them traditional enemies. Both Duncan and Conawago are the last survivors of their clans and find themselves caught in the middle of conflicts beyond their control and facing constant danger from all sides. Pattison’s novels are part history, part Native American primer, part complex whodunit, part James Fennimore Cooper. These novels are exciting as the central characters are swept up into colonial politics and a savage guerilla war.

Reviewed by Charles L. P. Silet

Eliot Pattison, photo by Jerry Bauer

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• The Bone Rattler (September 2007), Eliot Pattison, reviewed by Betty Webb
• Bone Mountain (January 2002), Eliot Pattison, reviewed by Beverly DeWeese
• Author’s website www.eliotpattison.com
• Purchase Eye of the Raven at Amazon.com

Bellfield Hall
by Anna Dean
Minotaur Books, February 2010, $23.99

Capitalizing on the perennial popularity of Jane Austen-inspired books, Anna Dean has written a subtle mystery certain to appeal to the Austen in all of us. As one might suspect, marriage, misperception, and perfidy are major themes in Bellfield Hall, a historical with currency for present-day readers. Dean employs first-person narration, which creates for readers a sense of immediacy and a vested interest in the novel’s clever narrative threads.

Narrator Dido Kent, a woman well past the first blush of youth, travels to Bellfield Hall to assist her niece, Catherine, who is engaged to Richard Montague, heir apparent to the estate. For Dido the match seems suspicious since her niece is neither propertied nor titled. Even more suspicious, though, is Richard’s renunciation of the engagement after the silent appearance of a visitor and his hasty, inexplicable departure from the engagement party. Catherine remains convinced that Richard still loves her, even after the corpse of a young woman surfaces outside the mansion, leading some to attribute the murder to Richard. It remains for Dido to discover where Richard is hiding, why he fled, and who murdered the young woman—a tall order for anyone. As is universally true, Dido’s perceptions are necessarily limited, so despite her astute sleuthing, she doesn’t see the truth immediately. Fortunately, though, she doesn’t remain clueless for long. One hopes to see Dido soon in a welcome reprise to this masterful mystery. Austen fans, rejoice!

Reviewed by Lynne Maxwell

More from Mystery Scene and this author

• Read the first chapter of Bellfield Hall at the publisher’s site.
• Purchase Bellfield Hall at Amazon.com