Warning: Creating default object from empty value in /usr/home/kbsweb/public_html/ms20210510.mysteryscenemag.com/plugins/cck_storage/custom/custom.php on line 36
The Crossing
Dick Lochte

As Amazon Prime subscribers know quite well, in two seasons of a series that makes fascinating use of Michael Connelly’s novels, Titus Welliver is the living, breathing image of Harry Bosch. Happily, his skill as an actor includes a versatile voice that he now uses to advantage on Bosch series audios. Here, as the retired-against-his-will, almost-too-saintly Harry is finally cajoled by his half-brother, Mickey Haller, into going over to the dark side—i.e. helping build a case for the defense—Welliver proves equally adept at capturing the upbeat buoyancy and courtroom patter of the author’s other main series character, the Lincoln Lawyer. It’s evident early on—in chapters focusing on the villains (unusual for Connelly)—that Haller’s client has been set up by two very nasty, sadistic cops. In typical fashion, the author follows Bosch as he digs into the brutal rape-murder of the wife of a deputy sheriff. Thin cracks in the case eventually lead to more cracks, more deaths, more danger to Harry. As always, it’s fun to follow his progress, annotated with fascinating police procedure points and cop lore. This is definitely a Bosch novel, but the few moments of Haller’s courtroom magic add a lot to the overall enjoyment. And for those interested in Harry’s troubled romantic life, one door slams shut and another opens.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 18:36:03
King Maybe
Dick Lochte

This fifth caper of Timothy Hallinan’s Junior Bender finds the smart aleck but charmingly self-effacing LA burglar stealing the rarest of stamps and discovering a bit late that, by so doing, he has enraged a very dangerous man. He adds to his peril by agreeing to help a bad-luck movie producer by breaking into the home of a Hollywood power-brokering mogul, King Maybe, so-called because he likes to keep projects in development hell, to recover one of those sidelined scripts. There’s more to it than that, and Junior finds the mansion, like the Roach Motel, a snap to enter, but impossible to leave. The plotline moves from break-in to break-in to break-out, but each of those has all the thrills needed to avoid seeming repetitious. Reader Peter Berkrot’s voice has a soft, tough intelligence that fits narrator Junior’s personality to a T. And he’s adaptable enough to easily shift sounds to give voice to a passing parade of mobsters, damsels, actors pretending to be cops, eccentrics, and the whispery, sinister little King.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 18:39:38
Perchance to Dream
Dick Lochte

In my teens, I fell under the spell of several writers of short stories that were then labeled sci-fi and/or fantasy and/or suspense and would now, I suppose, be lumped under the speculative cross-genre banner. They included Ray Bradbury, of course, John Collier, Roald Dahl, Richard Matheson, and the late, great Charles Beaumont. Of them, Beaumont, though he published more than 80 stories during his all-too-brief 38-year lifespan, is remembered less for his literary excellence than for his overactive parallel career as a film and television writer (whose contributions to The Twilight Zone were second only to its creator’s Rod Serling). This collection, at the very least, should serve as a reminder of how good and how versatile an author he was. The 23 shorts, each featuring a surprising twist in the tale, hop from sci-fi to noir to romance to humor to horror, frequently combining those categories. The title story is my favorite. It focuses on a man terrified of falling asleep. Beaumont’s fondly recalled adaptation during Twilight Zone’s first season no doubt helped to build the show’s reputation. Here it’s read by Harlan Ellison, himself no slouch at short-form fiction, and he gives a full-out performance right down to a panicky scream of desperation. Another highlight is “Song for a Lady,” in which newlyweds find themselves aboard a very old ship filled with very old married couples. The CD package, aside from listing the seven readers, doesn’t mention who’s reading what. Ellison is easy to identify. As is John Rubenstein, who gives a chilling rendition of “The Jungle” (arrogant hunter tracked by veldt creatures in the city), the postapocalyptic “Place of Meeting,” and William Shatner’s “Afterword,” a reminiscence of the making of The Intruder, a Roger Corman film based on Beaumont’s novel and adaptation. I’m guessing that Alex Hyde- White is the reader of “Song for A Lady.” His father, Wilfred, was one of the stars of the hour-long Twilight Zone adaptation, retitled “Passage on the Lady Anne.” Bradbury’s affectionate intro recalls the days he, Beaumont, Matheson, and William Nolan were fledgling scribblers who’d get together to talk books and discuss one another’s manuscripts. Now, that’s a writers’ workshop.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 18:43:33
Terror in Taffeta
Dick Lochte

Though I don’t mind the occasional poisoned cookie caper, I’m not an avid fan of occupational cozies. So I had to be cajoled into sampling Marla Cooper’s debut yarn about Kelsey McKenna, a hapless San Francisco wedding planner tasked with guiding a destination nuptial in San Miguel de Allende. As adaptable and capable as she is, Kelsey gets stuck with a murdered bridesmaid, an innocent but imprisoned sister of the bride, a priest who may not be what he seems, a semi-boyfriend who may not be what he seems (it’s hard to avoid spoilers), several brain-dead Mexican policemen, and, worst of all, a mother-of-the-bride who is as supercilious as she is demanding. The book has the funniest dialogue this side of TV’s iZombie, thanks in part to Kelsey’s snark, not to mention the equally snarky ripostes from her sidekick, a gay wedding photographer. Happily, reader Romy Nordlinger is able to capture every nuance of narrator Kelsey’s shifting attitudes. All in all, a very engaging package that has me eager to check out Kelsey’s next caper, Dying on the Vine, in 2017.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 18:47:20
The Ageless Agatha Christie: Essays on the Mysteries and the Legacy
Jon L. Breen

Academic essays on detective fiction too often bury the occasional striking or original nugget of insight in long-winded sessions of belaboring the obvious. While I’d never claim there’s nothing of interest in this collection of essays, written by professors for other professors, very little of it is important to the general reader of Agatha Christie. The leadoff piece by Merja Makinen compares Christie’s The Hollow to Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. The second by Rebecca Mills, on how objects reflect the changing times in wartime and post-World War II Britain, includes an intriguing statement worth testing: “If people in Christie’s villages kill people they know, people in Christie’s cities kill people they don’t—and this is why it is a dangerous world.” Other topics include children in Christie’s works; “feminine identity” in the Harley Quin stories; a “queer perspective” on how Captain Hastings, Countess Rostakoff, and Miss Lemon are developed in print and on TV; Miss Lemon’s filing system; information sources in the Miss Marple novels; Christie translated for the Hungarian market; and how Kerry Greenwood pays tribute to Christie in her “postcolonial tribute series.” Of most interest to the general reader may be Sarah Street’s account of Kathleen Tynan’s novel Agatha (which I remember finding in questionable taste) and its adaptation for the screen. In the last piece, the editor surveys Christie’s fans and quotes some of their comments.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 18:50:40
Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime Fiction: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden Since 1967
Jon L. Breen

This is the rare reference book that delivers more than its title promises. It not only introduces the writers, including many not yet translated into English, but offers substantial essays on the cultural context of each country, exploring how its geography, history, politics, literature, and major recent events may have influenced the writers’ work. Listings of each country’s awards and a literary/historical chronology precede the alphabetically arranged entries on individual authors. Each nation has at least a few writers available to monolingual readers of English. Some prominent examples follow: Denmark (Jussi Adler-Olsen, Anders Bodelsen, Peter Høeg), Finland (Leena Lehtolainen, Harri Nykänen), Iceland (Arnaldur Indri›ason, Yrsa Sigur›ardóttir), Norway (K.O. Dahl, Karin Fossum, Jo Nesbø), and Sweden (K. Arne Blom, Ake Edwardson, Camilla Läckberg, Stieg Larsson, Henning Mankell, and the pioneering team of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö).

Following the author entries on each country are descriptions (where applicable) of short-story anthologies in English from the Akashic Noir series and TV crime shows. For all but Denmark, there are notes on selected mysteries set in the country by foreign writers. The page-count score by country is Sweden 159, Norway 124, Denmark 95, Finland 81, Iceland 60. The term “Nordic noir” is used broadly, referring more to a general dark mood than to a more purist definition.

This excellent book belongs on the reference shelf of any collection concerned with world crime fiction.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 18:53:56
Josephine Tey: A Life
Jon L. Breen

Elizabeth MacKintosh (1896-1952) had two notable pseudonyms: Gordon Daviot, whose 1932 play Richard of Bordeaux was a key turning point in the career of John Gielgud; and Josephine Tey, author of eight detective novels including the 1951 classic The Daughter of Time. Playwright Daviot’s fame has faded, but mystery writer Tey’s reputation lives on. MacKintosh spent a large part of her life caring for her elderly father in the Highlands of Scotland, with occasional trips to London on theatrical or literary business. Her identification with England and lack of interest in Scottish nationalism led her to be underappreciated on the literary scene of Scotland and even her hometown of Inverness. Biographical details have been sparse, with standard accounts often repeating misconceptions about her life and character. Henderson’s is the first full-scale biography, providing the most thorough account imaginable of her subject’s very eventful life, including critical summaries of the Daviot and Tey writings and a theory of why the latter have survived better. Anyone interested in the British theatrical scene in the 1930s will find the book just as rewarding as the mystery buff. Who knew that London’s celebrated Old Vic Theatre began as a temperance ploy, to “distract [its local audience] away from drink and expose them instead to high culture”?

Henderson’s work ranks with the very best biographies of crime writers and is sure to be the standard source on Tey for years to come. It is so excellent, I will even forgive the customary assumption that Golden Age detective fiction was strictly a British and female product, with nods to the traditional big four (Christie, Sayers, Marsh, Allingham) plus Gladys Mitchell and Georgette Heyer. Apart from passing references to Chesterton, Chandler, Buchan, and Fleming, the only male crime writer mentioned is the Scottish contemporary Ian Rankin.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 18:57:53
The Red Hot Typewriter: The Life and Times of John D. MacDonald
Jon L. Breen

Originally published in 2000, this is a thorough and agreeably written literary and personal biography of one of the great 20th century crime writers. Spanning 1940s pulp stories through 1950s paperback originals to 1980s bestsellers, John D. MacDonald’s was a remarkable and prolific career. Hugh Merrill does full justice to his subject’s character and experiences and their influence on his work, including the social and environmental sermons that reached full flower in the Travis McGee novels. Every one of the many quotes from MacDonald’s writings, not only published works but letters and even school assignments, makes impressive reading. His parody of Mickey Spillane is among the best I’ve ever read. (“It was one of those afternoons when the greasy sunshine flooded Third Avenue like a men’s room with a broken john. She came out of the alley lapping at her juicy red lips with her pointed spicy tongue.”)

The new edition has an improved bibliography, an afterword by Carl Branche, and a reprint of Ed Gorman’s last interview with MacDonald plus a selection of Gorman’s favorite standalone novels by JDM. I agree that, good as the McGee books are, his creator was at his best in his nonseries work.

There are some inconsistencies that the late author or his original editors should have caught. At one point, Merrill inaccurately brands Richard S. Prather in the Shell Scott novels and Brett Halliday writing about Michael Shayne as Spillane imitators; in both cases, this assertion is contradicted later in the book. Shayne preceded Hammer in print by several years, and the lighthearted and humorous Scott was nothing like Spillane’s detective.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-19 19:01:04
Marcia Clark’s Reinvention
Oline H. Cogdill

 

clark marciaSMALL
One of the hot topics to come out of the Emmy Awards last Sunday was actress Sarah Paulson’s win for lead actress in a limited series for her role playing prosecutor Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson, which aired on FX.

It wasn’t her well-deserved win, but what Paulson said about the person whom she was portraying on-screen.

Paulson has been widely quoted in a variety of publications saying that it wasn’t just a win for herself, but also a win for Clark.

In her acceptance speech, Paulson offered an apology to Clark, whom the actress brought along as her date for the ceremony.

“I, along with the rest of the world, had been superficial in my judgment, and I’m glad that I’m able to stand here in front of everyone today and say, ‘I’m sorry’,” said Paulson in her speech.

Paulson was referring to how Clark was ridiculed in the news during the trial. Clark often was accused of blowing the prosecution, which resulted in Simpson going free.

Everything from her clothes to her hairstyle was targeted.
clarkmarcia moraldefense

But in many ways, Paulson’s sympathetic portrayal of Clark—and the series’ popularity—made people see the former prosecutor in a different light.

In an interview with Variety, Paulson said, “The thing I kept coming back to was I wanted to cut to the quick of how abandoned I felt she was by women, almost as a collective. It just felt like everyone wanted to drop the hot potato that was Marcia Clark. I so felt for her, having only played it. Multiply that by a million, and also have it be your actual life,” Paulson told Variety.

Clark not only was Paulson’s date, but the trophy was engraved with both of their names: “Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark.”

I think everyone should applaud Paulson’s insight about Clark. I well remember that trial and felt, at the time, that Clark was being unfairly singled out.

For some years now, the mystery community has proudly called Marcia Clark one of our own.

Her four novels about LA district attorney Rachel Clark and her two novels about defense attorney Samantha Brinkman are terrific legal thrillers. In both series, Clark delivers well-rounded, realistic characters and insight into the legal system.

Her second Samantha Brinkman novel, Moral Defense, comes out in November.

Clark also was featured in a profile in Mystery Scene’s summer issue (Summer 2016, #145).

I have met Marcia Clark several times at mystery writers’ conferences and found her to be gracious, witty, and very interested in her fans.

And now she has an Emmy.

Author photo: Claudia Kunin

Oline Cogdill
2016-09-21 20:45:00
Paperback and Audiobook Sales Are Up
Oline H. Cogdill


girlonthetrain emilyblunt
I am not a fan of process stories—those statistics-laden stories meant to tell us how things work. Usually, they just make my eyes glaze over.

But when it comes to books and reading habits, I am happy to hear statistics that show good news.

According to The New York Times, paperback book sales are up. Independent bookstores are thriving again, and e-book sales have tumbled.

The Times reports: “Sales of adult books fell by 10.3 percent in the first three months of 2016, and children’s books dropped by 2.1 percent. E-book sales fell by 21.8 percent, and hardcover sales were down 8.5 percent. The strongest categories were digital audiobooks, which rose by 35.3 percent, and paperback sales, which were up by 6.1 percent.”

OK, so it is not all good news.

But any increase of books, no matter the platform, is good news.

The Times acknowledges that several factors might have made book sales at the beginning of this year slightly worse than those in the same period last year.

The Times states that “like the movie business, publishing depends heavily on a few outsize hits each season to drive profits. In the early part of this year, there wasn’t a huge, breakout bestseller, certainly nothing like 2015’s The Girl on the Train, which came out in January and sold two million copies in just over four months.”

But I am sure that we’ll see an increase in the sale of the paperback version of The Girl on the Train when the movie version comes out in a few weeks.

The advance clips of the film version, starring Emily Blunt (pictured), look great.

And I hope that inspires more people to buy Paula Hawkins’ book, as well as other mystery novels.

If you are looking for a list of mysteries written by women that are equal to or even better than The Girl on the Train, let me suggest a few: Laura Lippman, Alison Gaylin, Alex Marwood, Megan Abbott, Julia Keller, Clare Mackintosh, Jennifer McMahon, Val McDermid, Alafair Burke, Allison Brennan, Lisa Unger, Karin Slaughter, Ausma Zehanat Khan, Elizabeth Hand, and a slew of others.

And yes, there are an equal number of wonderful mystery writers who are men, but I am making the comparison to The Girl on the Train, not Boy on the Train.

Bottom line: read, buy books, buy audiobooks, buy paperbacks.

Just read.

Photo: Emily Blunt in The Girl on the Train. Photo courtesy DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment

Oline Cogdill
2016-09-28 18:20:00
IQ
Kevin Burton Smith

The blurbs suggest that troubleshooter Isaiah “IQ” Quintabe’s debut is “part Tarantino, part Sherlock Holmes.”

Maybe. But I’d suggest there’s a healthy dollop of “gee whiz” à la Robert Arthur Jr.’s Three Investigators series in there, too. In particular the Investigators’ Jupiter Jones, a confident if eccentric young genius who trusts in logic. But IQ isn’t living in a loopy yet essentially benign white-bread SoCal suburb where evil lurks at the Scooby-Doo level. Nope, IQ’s universe is infinitely more dark and dirty, a Los Angeles where children disappear. For good. And people get killed. For real.

The novel, the first in a proposed series, alternates between origin story and detective story.

Here’s the meet-cute. Left on his own after his beloved older brother Marcus dies, Isaiah, an honor student, drops out of high school and reluctantly takes in a boarder, the sometime dealer Dodson, a pint-sized chatterbox and would-be gangsta and ladies man whose bark is worse than his bite. Dodson soon becomes Isaiah’s partner in a brief but mostly successful stint as professional thieves, and eventually serves as his Watson.

But the action also follows IQ, now in his twenties and working on the side of the angels as a local private eye who takes on, at Dodson’s urging, a “payday case.”

Seems someone sicced a gigantic pit bull dog on legendary rapper Black the Knife (aka “Calvin Wright”). But who sends a dog to kill a man? And, assuming it was a failed hit, who would hire such a person? The ex-wife? A professional rival? A member of his own entourage? Cal is willing to pay big bucks to find out.

The ensuing investigation is a hoot, caught somewhere between Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, particularly when the canine-averse Dodson goes to the dogs. Meanwhile, Cal’s loosening grip on reality gets played for big laughs, and the assorted low-lifes, scam artists, hangers-on, and oddballs that fill Cal’s world aren’t exactly portraits of mental health either. Then there’s that gun-nut dog breeder....

Unfortunately, the two narrative threads too often simply run parallel, undercutting each other’s narrative push, making for an enjoyable but uneven read. But now that we’ve seen where Isaiah and Dodson have come from, I’m looking forward to seeing where they go next. Promising.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-28 23:10:16
Dangerous to Know (Anne Buist)
Vanessa Orr

Natalie King is a forensic psychiatrist battling her own mental illness. After a harrowing episode with depression, she moves to the country to recover and to escape the stress of her rash lifestyle choices, including an affair with a married man. Though she has left her troubles behind, she soon finds herself drawn to a man even more dangerous to her mental health. Natalie becomes obsessed with her new boss, Frank, and his pregnant wife after discovering that Frank’s pregnant first wife was killed under mysterious circumstances. Though Natalie believes that she has everything under control, acting as Frank’s confidante while also furtively analyzing his behavior, the reader can see her decompensating even as she revels in her therapeutic role.

The story alternates between Natalie’s and Frank’s points of view, showing the ways in which both of them attempt to manipulate the other, while also providing insights into Frank’s traumatic childhood and dangerous nature. The psychological cat-and-mouse interplay is interesting and it becomes hard to determine which person will crack first.

There are a number of subplots in the story, including a court case in which Natalie is pitted against her ex-lover, and a romantic story line between Natalie and a homicide detective. While hoping that she can change her self-destructive ways, both the reader and Natalie are all too aware that her need to live on the edge will likely lead to nothing good. It is still worth the read to watch her wage the battle.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-28 23:20:22
Lady Cop Makes Trouble
Cheryl Solimini

As New Jersey’s first woman sheriff’s deputy, Constance Kopp carries more than the usual law-enforcement responsibilities on the broad shoulders atop her six-foot frame. But this early Jersey girl is more than up to the challenge. Fearless in pursuing justice, as well as fluent in German and French, she is proving an asset to the department, from questioning crime suspects among Bergen County’s polyglot population to aiding female victims and rescuing runaways. She has no qualms, either, about slipping her Colt police revolver into (or out of) her purse, snapping her handcuffs on a miscreant, tackling an errant suspect, or earning a man’s salary ($1,000 a year in 1915). But Constance is still missing one vital asset—a badge. Plus, women do not yet have the right to vote. Will this disqualify her from holding on to her new post?

Author Amy Stewart introduced Constance, and her family, in last year’s Girl Waits With Gun, and this follow-up to that delightful debut novel makes our re-acquaintance well worth the wait. Lady Cop Makes Trouble, set a few months after the end of the first book, finds all three Kopp women blazing their separate trails. No-nonsense Norma has expanded her circle beyond breeding and training carrier pigeons to founding a society of fellow bird fanciers. The seemingly flighty Fleurette (to Constance’s surprise) knows exactly who she is and what she wants, wielding her dramatic and dressmaking talents to advance her goals. Even temporarily (?) reassigned as a prison matron, Constance takes a “strange satisfaction” in some of her less pleasant duties.

Sheriff Robert Heath, a decent man also constrained by his time, tries to protect his protégé while pushing to have her legally appointed deputy. But his own career—and home and marriage—are soon at risk when Constance unwittingly lets a wily and wonton prisoner, Rev. Dr. Baron Herman Albert von Matthesius, escape. For her error, Heath may wind up in the Hackensack jail himself!

So, though she has no authority to arrest, Constance sets out to hunt down von Matthesius for the sheriff’s sake and her own. Yet, first she has to find out what the former director of a sanitarium for the well-to-do has done—his crime seems to be so heinous that not even her colleagues will share the specifics. As her investigation takes her to nearby New Jersey towns, the neighborhoods of New York, and the brownstones of Brooklyn, Constance uncovers not only von Matthesius’ scheme to scam the wealthy, but also its tragic effects on the poor youths who sought to stop him.

Deftly weaving ripped-from-the-headlines threads through her wise and witty weft of plot, Stewart also gives glimpses into a historic era’s economic and gender inequality through the eyes and words of her female characters, including Paterson’s first policewoman (an unpaid position), the guilty and innocent inmates at the county jail, and the professional women residing at a ladies-only hotel. Enjoy, too, a charming cameo appearance by Dr. W.C. Williams—a Rutherford, New Jersey physician better known as the celebrated American poet William Carlos Williams, who, like Stewart, found literary inspiration in everyday details. (Stewart’s back-of-the-book facts are as fun and fascinating as her fiction.)

If real life does not run out the clock for this blast-from-the-past series, Constance Kopp the cop should remain a constant in crime fiction—a role model for female sleuths in any age.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-28 23:27:40
The Homeplace
Oline H. Cogdill

With The Homeplace, Kevin Wolf joins an elite group of authors who have won the Tony Hillerman Prize. Awarded annually to the best debut crime fiction set in the Southwest, the prize has launched several excellent mystery writers, including CB McKenzie, Tricia Fields, and Andrew Hunt, since its inception in 2008.

As one might expect with a regional mystery, Wolf delivers a strong sense of place, along with believable characters, and a rich plot in his story about a man coming to terms with his past growing up in a small town and the enduring support of friendships forged in childhood.

Chase Ford was once the basketball hero of Brandon, Colorado, but his promising career in the NBA was cut short by a knee injury and a subsequent addiction to prescription painkillers. Now, 16 years later, Chase is home to settle some business and reflect on his life, but his quiet return is thwarted when high school basketball star Jimmy Riley is found murdered in a field of slaughtered bison. Jimmy’s death is soon followed by the murder of Chase’s former coach and the disappearance of two acquaintances.

Sheriff Lincoln Kendall, Chase’s old nemesis, wants to pin the murders on him. Chase navigates the small-town culture, where old grudges are not easily forgotten, aided by his two childhood friends, Deputy Marty Storm and game warden Birdie Hawkins. Thomas Wolfe maintained you can’t go home again, but in The Homeplace Chase learns you can—you just have to expect that home will have changed.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-28 23:47:40
Santorini Caesars
Craig Sisterson

Throw a dart at a world map nowadays and you will likely hit the setting of a decent detective series. But if the dart hits Greece, you are guaranteed a much more than decent one thanks to the character of Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis and the storytelling verve of Wall Street lawyer turned crime scribe Jeffrey Siger.

When a young protester is chased through the streets of Athens and gunned down in a manner suggesting police or military involvement, Kaldis and his team must douse public anger and tiptoe through a political minefield while trying to solve the murder and uncover whether a larger conspiracy is afoot. The investigation leads to a secretive meeting of military officers away from the tourist crowds on the famous island of Santorini. But why is someone stoking the fires of discontent among the military?

While Kaldis is the centerpiece of the series, Siger allows other members of his team plenty of time to shine in Santorini Caesars, the eighth installment. The banter and interplay between the likable group of cops and their close confidantes adds zest to this fine crime tale that really brings modern-day Greece to life while being textured by real-world worries about the interplay between big business, politics, and everyday citizens. A very good read from a very fine writer.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-29 14:53:54
Fidelity
Sharon Magee

After spending time on the gang squad at the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office and bringing down one of the city’s most notorious gang leaders, Kate Malloy is transferred to the FBI’s prestigious New York office to work on Russian counterintelligence under the indomitable Susan Jeffries. In Baltimore, Kate was in the field chasing bad guys. In New York, the work sometimes seems mind-numbingly boring, involving mostly sitting in an office chair, staring at a computer screen. Kate misses the adrenalin rush of fieldwork, but she works long, hard hours and soon is invited to join a case called Black Bear, in which the CIA has asked the FBI to help investigate a mole who is wreaking havoc within their ranks. There is another plus to the assignment: Andrew, an attractive member of the CIA team, soft spoken, well dressed, and with a winning smile.

Also in New York is Kate’s brother Christopher, a ne’er-do-well who only contacts her when he needs money or is in trouble—drugs, usually—and loyal Kate will do anything for him. But someone is watching, plotting how to exploit her sisterly love. As the tension of working in the shadowy world of double agents comes to a breaking point, Kate realizes she will soon be forced to make a difficult decision.

Jan Fedarcyk, called “the FBI’s First Lady” by Vanity Fair, spent 25 years in the FBI. She retired as Assistant Director in charge of the Bureau’s New York Office, where she investigated insider trading and cybercrime. Her knowledge of this secretive world shows. Inexplicably, however, one of the main plot points remains unsolved—perhaps to resolve itself in a sequel?

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 00:28:18
Blood Wedding
Hank Wagner

Blood Wedding is a truly disquieting book that I will resist telling you much about, so as not to ruin any of the surprises that author Pierre Lamaitre has so cleverly seeded throughout the narrative. Suffice it to say, the book starts off grim with the death of a child, and becomes darker with each passing chapter. A labyrinthine, matryoshka doll of a novel, the book’s many layers will shock and astound you. Evoking novels as diverse as Patricia Highsmith’s classic The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Gillian Flynn’s tricky modern bestseller Gone Girl, it is a terrific page-turner, one guaranteed to heighten your sense of paranoia significantly. It’s an impressive bit of literary sleight of hand that keeps you guessing as Lamaitre keeps switching things up, building to a satisfying grand finale that most won’t see coming.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 00:33:10
Soulmates
Katrina Niidas Holm

Jessica Grose’s captivating second novel (after 2012’s Sad Desk Salad) features ambitious New York attorney Dana Morrison. Dana has not seen or heard from her husband Ethan Powell in five years—not since he withdrew $20,000 from their bank account, changed his name to Kai, and ran off to make yoga videos with his mistress, Amaya. Dana’s worked hard to stop obsessing about the happy couple, but just as she feels like she’s finally making progress, Ethan and Amaya’s picture appears on the cover of the New York Post accompanied by the headline: “Nama-Slay: Yoga couple found dead in New Mexico cave.” Evidence recovered from the scene suggests a murder-suicide, but that doesn’t sit right with Dana, so she takes a leave of absence from her job, books a stay at the posh New Mexico retreat where Ethan and Amaya worked as yoga instructors, and does some digging of her own.

At first blush, Soulmates appears to be a hip, snarky take on the standard traditional mystery—and a rather unsatisfying one at that. Clues and suspects are in short supply, and Dana is a relatively ineffectual amateur sleuth. As it turns out, though, the investigation into Ethan and Amaya’s demise is merely the skeleton on which the story hangs; the meat comprises Dana’s exploration of the other puzzles plaguing her, namely, how Ethan came to leave her, and why she has had such difficulty finding closure. Skulking around the Zuni Retreat does little to help Dana determine whodunit, but it does lead to her discovery of a self-help pamphlet authored by Ethan. “The End is the Beginning: A Guide to Peaceful Separation”—chapters of which are interspersed with Dana’s narration—not only recaps the end of Ethan and Dana’s relationship for the reader, but it also helps Dana to understand why her marriage fell apart. Ethan’s writing, and Dana’s reaction to it, nicely illustrates how differently two people can remember an event. Dana muses, “Our memories have their own agendas,” and indeed, that is a point that Grose makes multiple times over the course of this book.

If meditations on relationships are not your thing, fear not; Soulmates also provides a thoughtful examination of the allure of cults and serves as a cautionary tale regarding New Age spiritualism. To say much more on the topic would be to spoil one of the most compelling parts of Soulmates, but suffice it to say that Grose handles the topic with skill, delivering a compelling yarn that is full of twists and an ending that is simultaneously uplifting and dark as pitch.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 00:47:28
Darktown
Jean Gazis

Brutal heat, brutal racism, brutal, corrupt cops: welcome to Atlanta in the summer of 1948. The powers that be have decided to experiment with the first-ever contingent of black policemen: eight rookies burdened by the expectation that they must be paragons of their race, while hampered by ridiculous Jim Crow rules, and harassed by their white colleagues. Black officers are not permitted to conduct investigations, wear their uniforms to or from work, drive a squad car, or even set foot in police headquarters—their station is in the basement of a YMCA, and they patrol only rundown, predominantly black neighborhoods.

WWII veterans Lucius Boggs, the privileged, college-educated son of a prominent preacher, and Tommy Smith, his partner from a rural background, stumble upon the murdered body of a pretty young black maid dumped in a garbage heap. She was last seen alive in the company of a white man with police department connections. Realizing that the establishment won’t bother to look for the killer of a “colored Jane Doe,” Boggs and Smith begin a clandestine investigation, in spite of the risks to themselves and to others. They find an uneasy ally in Denny Rakestraw, a white rookie slightly less racist than most, who is appalled by the brutality and corruption of his older partner, Lionel Denlow. The white and black officers can’t openly work together, and don’t know how far they can trust one another.

The tense atmosphere of the postwar, pre-civil rights South is darkly, but authentically and vividly portrayed in this morally ambiguous tale of flawed and ambivalent men thrust into danger, and sometimes heroism, under violent circumstances. The intricate plot keeps the reader guessing as those at the highest—and lowest—levels of society are implicated and involved. With issues of race and policing on the front pages today, this finely crafted novel is timely, thought-provoking, and hard to put down.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 00:55:24
Brain Storm
Oline H. Cogdill

In Brain Storm, Elaine Viets introduces a character who may be a first in mystery fiction: a stroke victim whose recovery turns her into an insightful sleuth. Angela Richman is adept at her job investigating deaths in the wealthy St. Louis suburb of Choteau Forest, Missouri. As a death investigator, she is often the first on the scene and her reports become part of the medical examiner’s official findings. Her meticulous notes and observations have helped prove the guilt, and sometimes innocence, of murder suspects.

Terrible migraines force Angela into the emergency room where she is given a quick exam by Dr. Porter Gravois and sent home, only to awaken 19 days later from a coma after suffering six strokes. Angela learns her recovery is thanks to an emergency surgery performed by Dr. Jeb Travis, who also happens to be Dr. Gravois’ rival. When Gravois is murdered, Travis is the logical suspect, but Angela refuses to believe that the doctor who saved her life is a murderer. Despite being brain-damaged and physically weak, Angela begins her own investigation, which, in its own way, helps her to recover; the more she taxes her intellectual faculties, the stronger she becomes.

Brain Storm is a decidedly darker story than what Viets delivers in her two current humor-laden mystery series (the Dead-End Job stories with Helen Hawthorne and the Mystery Shopper tales with Josie Marcus). It is based, in part, on Viets’ own experience: three weeks before her Dead-End Job mystery Murder With Reservations was published in 2007, Viets suffered a stroke.

The author realistically traces Angela’s slow recovery, a tough process aided by the investigator’s indomitable spirit. Angela is robbed of her career, identity, and memories, but Brain Storm is far from bleak. It is an affirmation of hope and recovery with bits of well-placed humor to enhance a murder mystery plot that also touches on insurance fraud and hospital politics. Fronted by a unique and winning protagonist, this new series promises to become as popular as Viets’ others.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 01:00:52
So Say the Fallen
Hank Wagner

This novel, the sixth in the series, finds Belfast detective Serena Flanagan assigned to investigate the apparent suicide of Henry Garrick, a man who lost both his legs in a tragic car accident some six months prior. To most of those concerned, it is clearly an open-and-shut case, but Flanagan’s antennae are set to quivering by oddities of the crime scene and by the behavior of Garrick’s widow and family friend Reverend Peter McKay. Despite fierce political resistance, and in spite of serious personal problems brought on by the demands of her job, Flanagan stoically pursues the case, eventually uncovering some long-buried secrets and present-day threats.

Although set in Ireland, Stuart Neville’s latest might make you think of two authors from New England, those being Nathaniel Hawthorne and Dennis Lehane, of The Scarlet Letter and Gone, Baby, Gone/Mystic River fame, respectively. This gripping tale is all about guilt, the past haunting the present, small-town pressures, hardboiled investigators, and sudden, unexpected violence. Neville writes beautifully, fully engaging the reader with Flanagan’s struggles, both to find the truth, and to straighten out her jumbled personal life. If you are a fan of the series, this latest installment represents a satisfying addition to Flanagan’s ongoing saga. If you are new to this terrain, Neville’s outstanding storytelling will inspire you to seek out prior offerings.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 01:05:32
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d
Joseph Scarpato, Jr.

Having just returned to her home in England from a failed attempt to change her independent ways at Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy in Canada, precocious 12-year-old Flavia de Luce finds that her father is in a local hospital and too seriously ill to be visited. Looking to escape from her less-than-ideal home life with two older sisters and a bratty young cousin with whom she has little in common, Flavia jumps at the chance to help a friendly neighbor by delivering an envelope to a reclusive wood-carver in the neighborhood. What she finds is the body of the wood-carver hanging upside down on his bedroom door. Unlike most youngsters who would run screaming from the sight, Flavia uses her detective prodigy talents to look for clues. The only other witness to this unusual death scene is a disinterested cat.

So begins another small-village murder mystery featuring the preteen version of Miss Marple. With the help of her father’s stalwart right-hand man Dogger, her only real friend in the house, Flavia manages to stay one step ahead of Inspector Hewitt who recognizes her sleuthing talents from previous investigations and welcomes her assistance.

Who was the victim? Why did he have first editions of an author’s bestselling children’s books in his home? And is his next-door neighbor a friend, just a busybody, or something more sinister? These are just a few of the questions Flavia must answer before she can help solve a truly puzzling mystery.

In addition to the meticulous investigations, what makes these novels, including this eighth in the series, so enjoyable is the personality of the primary character who, while being a murder investigator savant, is also an emotionally vulnerable little girl. It is a very unusual combination...and it works.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 01:15:09
Incensed
Hank Wagner

Night markets are a fixture in Taiwan, with Taipei serving as home to many colorful examples. In one such market, 25-year-old Jingnan runs Unknown Pleasures, a restaurant that benefits from the young man’s hard-earned celebrity. How did he become famous, you ask? By surviving a murder attempt, using a handy iron skillet to deflect a bullet.

As the novel begins, Jing-nan is summoned to the country home of his gangster uncle, Big Eye, who asks him to chaperone his wayward daughter Mei-ling when she visits Taipei. Initially reluctant, Jing-nan accepts out of a deep sense of family obligation, little realizing how truculent his cousin really is. When she disappears on his watch, he must descend into the criminal underground of Taipei to find her before she can come to harm.

Despite being labeled as a crime novel, Incensed is more a novel about family, and family values, and about how family obligations can often send one down unexpected, and sometimes dangerous, paths. Although the stakes are high and lives are in danger, the focus on family powers the narrative and the familial scenarios lend it a certain gentle humor. Ed Lin also effectively exploits his setting of Taiwan, and its traditions, people, and colorful locales to bolster his fast-paced narrative.

Teri Duerr
2016-09-30 01:26:55
Eating With Mystery Writers

 

hartelsa whitemirror
A couple of weeks ago, I had a mad craving for Chinese food. And it had to be Chinese—not Thai or Japanese or Indian. Chinese.

Now, I love Chinese food—as I do just about any kind of food, to be frank—but this was a real craving.

It was only when I was halfway through my lunch that I realized where my craving came from. I was reading—and enjoying—The White Mirror by Elsa Hart.

Hart’s excellent second novel looks at the politics and culture of China during the 1700s.

In my Associated Press review of The White Mirror, I wrote, “Hart’s precise research makes 18th century China seem fresh and relevant as she steeps The White Mirror with vivid scenery and believable characters. Hart manages to find the commonalities between centuries while keeping the sensibilities of historical China.”

This isn’t the first time my reading has merged into my meals. In fact, it happens quite often.

Naomi Hirahara’s Sayonara Slam had me rushing to my favorite sushi restaurant to bond, no doubt, with her character Mas Arai, an eightysomething Japanese-American gardener.

Elaine Viets’ Brain Storm had me wanting gooey butter cake, a specialty of St. Louis, where the novel is set. Of course, being from Missouri, I am quite familiar with this regional dessert.

Charles Todd’s The Shattered Tree had me thinking about the big English breakfasts I had several years ago at an inn near Salisbury, England.

seguraalex downthedarkestcrner
vietselaine brainstorm
Down the Darkest Street
by Alex Segura encouraged me to have dinner at John Martin’s Pub in Coral Gables, Florida, one of the many Miami spots the author references in his Miami-based novel.

Boston cuisine played heavy in my mind while I read Ingrid Thoft’s Brutality and Pamela Wechsler’s Mission Hill, both of which take place there.

I was ready for some blue crab, crab cakes, and pit beef after reading Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman, even though none of those dishes are even mentioned in this Baltimore-based novel.

Linda Fairstein’s Killer Look had me longing for New York City and the wonderful restaurants set there. Of course, I feel that way every time I read one of Fairstein’s novels about Alex Cooper.

A recent interview with Joanne Fluke, which will appear in the winter issue of Mystery Scene, made me dream of pastries and those famous chocolate chip crunch cookies that are the specialty of her baker and sleuth Hannah Swensen. Fluke also brings those chocolate chip crunch cookies to each of her book signings for her fans. Another reason to attend one of her events—buy a book and enjoy a cookie.

Ace Atkins’ The Innocents had me longing for fried catfish and shrimp and grits, which I’ve enjoyed many times in Mississippi, where the author’s Quinn Colson novels are set. Again, food isn’t mentioned Atkins’ series—except when Quinn’s mother is cooking—but the subliminal message was there nevertheless.

And my food memories were strong when I read Jason Miller’s Red Dog, which takes place in the Little Egypt area of Illinois. This area includes Cairo, Illinois, which is located seven miles from my family farm and where I was born. Red Dog had me longing for Shemwell’s Barbeque, where my parents and I used to go a lot. I would love to have one of Shemwell’s bbq sandwiches with its hot bbq sauce.

So, readers, do you have food cravings when you read a mystery?

By the way, I just started the latest Randy Wayne White novel, Seduced, and I really want some orange juice. (If you read the novel, you’ll understand why.)

Oline Cogdill
2016-10-01 16:03:39