Outside Chance
Molly Adams

Even though I've never followed horse racing or lived in England, I was totally wrapped up in Outside Chance by Lyndon Stacey. A book set in current day England, detailing the ins and outs of the horseracing world there, this book is well-written and absorbing. The main character is Ben Copperfield, a freelance journalist who writes about horses and the people who work with them. As he investigates the kidnapping of a famous horse just weeks before a big race, he becomes more and more involved in the lives of the people who live and work at Castle Ridge Racing Stables. But how much can he trust the owner, Eddie Truman? And what can Ben do about Eddie's daughter, Fliss, who's a little more interested in Ben than Ben would like, considering how serious he's feeling about his girlfriend Lisa.

Lyndon Stacey has a knack for creating believable, well-rounded characters, and Ben Copperfield is an engaging protagonist. Outside Chance also has subplots involving a Hungarian Gypsy horse stunt--riding troupe and a group of animal rights activists, and it all adds up to a compelling book. Take a chance on Outside Chance and you won't be disappointed.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

Even though I've never followed horse racing or lived in England, I was totally wrapped up in Outside Chance by Lyndon Stacey. A book set in current day England, detailing the ins and outs of the horseracing world there, this book is well-written and absorbing. The main character is Ben Copperfield, a freelance journalist who writes about horses and the people who work with them. As he investigates the kidnapping of a famous horse just weeks before a big race, he becomes more and more involved in the lives of the people who live and work at Castle Ridge Racing Stables. But how much can he trust the owner, Eddie Truman? And what can Ben do about Eddie's daughter, Fliss, who's a little more interested in Ben than Ben would like, considering how serious he's feeling about his girlfriend Lisa.

Lyndon Stacey has a knack for creating believable, well-rounded characters, and Ben Copperfield is an engaging protagonist. Outside Chance also has subplots involving a Hungarian Gypsy horse stunt--riding troupe and a group of animal rights activists, and it all adds up to a compelling book. Take a chance on Outside Chance and you won't be disappointed.

Riding Gain
Charles L.P. Silet

The first Shauna J. Bogart novel, Murder Off the Mike, won the Malice Domestic contest for best first traditional mystery and was nominated for an Agatha Award. Riding Gain continues the talk radio series and features again the smart, feisty, funny, and attractive Ms Bogart.

Turning up late for her broadcast at the narrative's opening turns out to be the least of Shauna's worries, because on the same day her former intern is murdered, the station is under pressure from its advertisers, and RadioLand, a national radio consortium, is breathing down her boss's neck. Shauna is also being courted by a large radio station in LA, and they are pressuring her to reply to their bid.

But she doesn't believe the police version of the intern's death and begins an investigation of her own. Travis Nyland was a good kid and was clean and sober when left the station to return to UCLA to finish his degree. As Shauna digs into the case, however, she discovers a questionable clinic for substance abuse where Travis had been a patient. And her suspicions plunge her into the spooky world of electronic surveillance which may even involve her old high school boyfriend, the wealthy computer whiz, Richard Snelling, who is supposed to be doing some time at a minimum security federal prison for securities fraud.

Who knew talk radio could be so dangerous? Well, Joyce Krieg does, and she spins a good yarn in this appealing new series.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

The first Shauna J. Bogart novel, Murder Off the Mike, won the Malice Domestic contest for best first traditional mystery and was nominated for an Agatha Award. Riding Gain continues the talk radio series and features again the smart, feisty, funny, and attractive Ms Bogart.

Turning up late for her broadcast at the narrative's opening turns out to be the least of Shauna's worries, because on the same day her former intern is murdered, the station is under pressure from its advertisers, and RadioLand, a national radio consortium, is breathing down her boss's neck. Shauna is also being courted by a large radio station in LA, and they are pressuring her to reply to their bid.

But she doesn't believe the police version of the intern's death and begins an investigation of her own. Travis Nyland was a good kid and was clean and sober when left the station to return to UCLA to finish his degree. As Shauna digs into the case, however, she discovers a questionable clinic for substance abuse where Travis had been a patient. And her suspicions plunge her into the spooky world of electronic surveillance which may even involve her old high school boyfriend, the wealthy computer whiz, Richard Snelling, who is supposed to be doing some time at a minimum security federal prison for securities fraud.

Who knew talk radio could be so dangerous? Well, Joyce Krieg does, and she spins a good yarn in this appealing new series.

San Francisco Noir
Kevin Burton Smith

If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to carry a hip flask in your pocket—all the better to wash the gritty taste of doom out of your mouth after reading this collection of satisfyingly bleak tales of desperation and despair among the damned of the City by the Bay.

Possibly inspired by the success of Kerry Schooley and Peter Sellers' Canuck Noir trilogy and their own Brooklyn Noir collection from a few years ago, NYC's tiny Akashic Books has launched an ambitious series of regional dark crime tales, with future volumes promised for DC, Baltimore, LA, London and Miami, among others. The results so far have all been suitably impressive, and this latest volume boasts an equally impressive range of contributors, not just the usual local crime writing suspects (Barry Gifford, David Corbett, Domenic Stansberry, Jim Nisbet and Will Christopher Baer) but also some solid yarns from former prostitutes, squatters, poets and private eyes, each giving us a street level view of a place full of, as editor Peter Maravelis assures us in his over-heated introduction, "broken dreams, shattered lives and deadly liasons." Sin Soracco's "Double Expresso" is a stand-out, a richly detailed yarn about a confused female ex-con trying to escape the pull of the city, only to be pulled back by her own demons, while Eddie Muller's "Kid's Last Fight " is a twisted tale about a sociopathic Asian gang member out to make his bones, a distracted Yuppie shopper and an aging former boxer who possibly took a few too many shots to the head—all on a collision course. Pruning shears figure prominently, and you'll both laugh and cry at the ending. A real San Francisco treat.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to carry a hip flask in your pocket—all the better to wash the gritty taste of doom out of your mouth after reading this collection of satisfyingly bleak tales of desperation and despair among the damned of the City by the Bay.

Possibly inspired by the success of Kerry Schooley and Peter Sellers' Canuck Noir trilogy and their own Brooklyn Noir collection from a few years ago, NYC's tiny Akashic Books has launched an ambitious series of regional dark crime tales, with future volumes promised for DC, Baltimore, LA, London and Miami, among others. The results so far have all been suitably impressive, and this latest volume boasts an equally impressive range of contributors, not just the usual local crime writing suspects (Barry Gifford, David Corbett, Domenic Stansberry, Jim Nisbet and Will Christopher Baer) but also some solid yarns from former prostitutes, squatters, poets and private eyes, each giving us a street level view of a place full of, as editor Peter Maravelis assures us in his over-heated introduction, "broken dreams, shattered lives and deadly liasons." Sin Soracco's "Double Expresso" is a stand-out, a richly detailed yarn about a confused female ex-con trying to escape the pull of the city, only to be pulled back by her own demons, while Eddie Muller's "Kid's Last Fight " is a twisted tale about a sociopathic Asian gang member out to make his bones, a distracted Yuppie shopper and an aging former boxer who possibly took a few too many shots to the head—all on a collision course. Pruning shears figure prominently, and you'll both laugh and cry at the ending. A real San Francisco treat.

Spectres in the Smoke
Hank Wagner

As used in the title above, creeping refers to the art of cat burglary, the profession of the book's English narrator, Jethro (he never, to my knowledge, gives his last name). One of the best at what he does, Jethro's criminal career was interrupted by the intervention of one Colonel Walsingham, who, at the tail end of WWII, blackmailed the thief into working for MI 5 during the course of events chronicled in Broadbent's debut novel, 2003's The Smoke ("the Smoke," by the way, is underworld slang for London). Three years later, Jethro is asked to utilize his creeping skills to obtain damaging information on a secret fascist society.

Agreeing to help, Jethro takes on the identity of Canadian timber magnate Jeffrey Hannay (John Buchan fans take note) in order to infiltrate the organization.

Starting with its title, the book touches on many elements of the James Bond mythos, featuring cameos from David Niven and Ian Fleming, a villain named Belfold (play with the letters), and a secret organization intent on gaining power by whatever means necessary (the group's leaders refer to each other as "Number One" and "Number Two"). A winning diversion, this lighthearted thriller is also notable for its lively first person narrative (it's told from Jethro's point of view), its depiction of the seedy London underworld, and for its convincing evocation of post war England. Although seemingly through with international intrigue by novel's end, here's hoping Broadbent soon finds a way to drag Jethro back into that perilous world.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

As used in the title above, creeping refers to the art of cat burglary, the profession of the book's English narrator, Jethro (he never, to my knowledge, gives his last name). One of the best at what he does, Jethro's criminal career was interrupted by the intervention of one Colonel Walsingham, who, at the tail end of WWII, blackmailed the thief into working for MI 5 during the course of events chronicled in Broadbent's debut novel, 2003's The Smoke ("the Smoke," by the way, is underworld slang for London). Three years later, Jethro is asked to utilize his creeping skills to obtain damaging information on a secret fascist society.

Agreeing to help, Jethro takes on the identity of Canadian timber magnate Jeffrey Hannay (John Buchan fans take note) in order to infiltrate the organization.

Starting with its title, the book touches on many elements of the James Bond mythos, featuring cameos from David Niven and Ian Fleming, a villain named Belfold (play with the letters), and a secret organization intent on gaining power by whatever means necessary (the group's leaders refer to each other as "Number One" and "Number Two"). A winning diversion, this lighthearted thriller is also notable for its lively first person narrative (it's told from Jethro's point of view), its depiction of the seedy London underworld, and for its convincing evocation of post war England. Although seemingly through with international intrigue by novel's end, here's hoping Broadbent soon finds a way to drag Jethro back into that perilous world.

St. Alban's Fire
Hank Wagner

Interviewing several citizens of St. Alban's, Vermont in the aftermath of a barn fire in which a local farmer tragically perished, Vermont Bureau of Investigation officer Joe Gunther confirms that the conflagration was caused by arson. Additionally, he realizes that the fire, one of several in the region in the recent past, is part of a larger, more sinister pattern of events. Proceeding on the assumption that the blazes and several other odd occurrences are linked, Gunther begins to unravel a complex conspiracy--his travels in pursuit of the truth lead him across Vermont and, eventually, to the unfamiliar terrain of Newark, NJ.

The sixteenth novel Joe Gunther novel takes its place among the best of the nimble Mayor's works, exploiting and building on all the elements that have made the series such rewarding reading over nearly two decades. Surrounded by a substantial, well rounded, and captivating supporting cast, Gunther doggedly pursues the truth, no matter the cost. Along the way, readers are treated to subtle lessons in the culture and history of Vermont; they also get an update on the fictional people who populate Mayor's fictional version of Brattleboro, Vermont, people who doubtlessly have come to feel like real acquaintances to long time readers (many of whom, by the way, will no doubt be rocked by developments in this book). Mayor makes it all seem easy, delivering his tale in carefully measured prose, offering up yet another winning installment in the ongoing saga of reliable lawman Joe Gunther.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

Interviewing several citizens of St. Alban's, Vermont in the aftermath of a barn fire in which a local farmer tragically perished, Vermont Bureau of Investigation officer Joe Gunther confirms that the conflagration was caused by arson. Additionally, he realizes that the fire, one of several in the region in the recent past, is part of a larger, more sinister pattern of events. Proceeding on the assumption that the blazes and several other odd occurrences are linked, Gunther begins to unravel a complex conspiracy--his travels in pursuit of the truth lead him across Vermont and, eventually, to the unfamiliar terrain of Newark, NJ.

The sixteenth novel Joe Gunther novel takes its place among the best of the nimble Mayor's works, exploiting and building on all the elements that have made the series such rewarding reading over nearly two decades. Surrounded by a substantial, well rounded, and captivating supporting cast, Gunther doggedly pursues the truth, no matter the cost. Along the way, readers are treated to subtle lessons in the culture and history of Vermont; they also get an update on the fictional people who populate Mayor's fictional version of Brattleboro, Vermont, people who doubtlessly have come to feel like real acquaintances to long time readers (many of whom, by the way, will no doubt be rocked by developments in this book). Mayor makes it all seem easy, delivering his tale in carefully measured prose, offering up yet another winning installment in the ongoing saga of reliable lawman Joe Gunther.

The Actor's Guide to Greed
Mary Elizabeth Devine

Jarrod Jarvis' acting career peaked in childhood when he starred in a successful sitcom that has made its way into Ameican pop culture. Since then he has had only bit parts here and there. The chance to revive his career comes when he is offered a part in a West End play written by an old acquaintance from his sitcom days. Unfortunately, the leading lady (Jarrod's only ally in the cast) is murdered on opening night. The play receives the worst possible reviews. However, Jarrod's lover Charlie appears to perk him up, and the two decide to stay in London and play tourist. To Jarrod's chagrin, Charlie seems to take up with Akshay, one of the cast members who is a star in his native India. Charlie disappears after he and Jarrod have a spat and Jarrod's world begins to crumble

Jarrod is both a beguiling and amusing character, loaded with backstage gossip. Charlie is less interesting--possibly because a stolid, rather boring person is needed as a foil to the ebullient Jarrod. If the plot turns on a couple of unlikely coincidences, one is more than happy to overlook them for the merriment Rick Copp provides.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

Jarrod Jarvis' acting career peaked in childhood when he starred in a successful sitcom that has made its way into Ameican pop culture. Since then he has had only bit parts here and there. The chance to revive his career comes when he is offered a part in a West End play written by an old acquaintance from his sitcom days. Unfortunately, the leading lady (Jarrod's only ally in the cast) is murdered on opening night. The play receives the worst possible reviews. However, Jarrod's lover Charlie appears to perk him up, and the two decide to stay in London and play tourist. To Jarrod's chagrin, Charlie seems to take up with Akshay, one of the cast members who is a star in his native India. Charlie disappears after he and Jarrod have a spat and Jarrod's world begins to crumble

Jarrod is both a beguiling and amusing character, loaded with backstage gossip. Charlie is less interesting--possibly because a stolid, rather boring person is needed as a foil to the ebullient Jarrod. If the plot turns on a couple of unlikely coincidences, one is more than happy to overlook them for the merriment Rick Copp provides.

The Belen Hitch
Mary Welk

PR consultant Sasha Solomon is hired to assess the best use of the Harvey House, an aging mansion in Belen, New Mexico, once a hotel and restaurant. Train buffs want to convert it into a railroad museum cum bed-and-breakfast. Local artists propose that it become a gallery, the centerpiece of which would be the work of Phillipa Petty, famous for her outrageously anti-religious paintings. Sasha must decide which plan will benefit the town most as a tourist attraction. Sasha schedules an interview with Phillipa Petty, but when she arrives at the artist's home, she finds her dead in her studio. Near Petty's body lies a picture of her standing arm in arm with Sasha's mother and local author Jerome Whitaker. Sasha discovers that years earlier Whitaker had been both Petty's and her mother's lover. She's shocked to learn that he might be her father. Suffering from memory loss, Mrs. Solomon can't comprehend that Phillipa is dead, much less tell Sasha who her real father is. But when Sasha digs for answers in Petty's and Mrs. Solomon's past, both she and her mother are put in harm's way.

Pari Noskin Taichert received an Agatha nomination for her first Sasha Solomon mystery, The Clovis Incident. This second novel is equally praiseworthy for its unique setting, comfortable characters, and stylish language. Taichert's refusal to employ hackneyed metaphors results in descriptive passages alive with a breezy freshness. The author is word savvy and witty, and it shows to her advantage in this enjoyable tale.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

PR consultant Sasha Solomon is hired to assess the best use of the Harvey House, an aging mansion in Belen, New Mexico, once a hotel and restaurant. Train buffs want to convert it into a railroad museum cum bed-and-breakfast. Local artists propose that it become a gallery, the centerpiece of which would be the work of Phillipa Petty, famous for her outrageously anti-religious paintings. Sasha must decide which plan will benefit the town most as a tourist attraction. Sasha schedules an interview with Phillipa Petty, but when she arrives at the artist's home, she finds her dead in her studio. Near Petty's body lies a picture of her standing arm in arm with Sasha's mother and local author Jerome Whitaker. Sasha discovers that years earlier Whitaker had been both Petty's and her mother's lover. She's shocked to learn that he might be her father. Suffering from memory loss, Mrs. Solomon can't comprehend that Phillipa is dead, much less tell Sasha who her real father is. But when Sasha digs for answers in Petty's and Mrs. Solomon's past, both she and her mother are put in harm's way.

Pari Noskin Taichert received an Agatha nomination for her first Sasha Solomon mystery, The Clovis Incident. This second novel is equally praiseworthy for its unique setting, comfortable characters, and stylish language. Taichert's refusal to employ hackneyed metaphors results in descriptive passages alive with a breezy freshness. The author is word savvy and witty, and it shows to her advantage in this enjoyable tale.

The Cadaver's Ball
Charles L.P. Silet

In 1991 at the medical school's Cadaver's Ball Ed Tyson proposes to his dream girl, Beth, with whom he is in love and has had an affair. She turns him down because she does not love him and instead marries Ed's best friend and most exacting competitor in med school, Peter Grainger. A decade later Beth and her unborn child are killed in an automobile accident when Peter was driving. The accident unhinges both men. Peter is wracked with guilt and regret and holds himself responsible for the deaths of his wife and child. He is barely holding himself together with the help of his father and teenaged son. Ed is also deranged, but in a very different way. His pain turns to thoughts of revenge; revenge against Peter for having stolen Beth that night at the Cadaver's Ball and revenge for being responsible for Beth's death.

The machinations of Ed's master scheme to destroy Peter's sanity and his life is truly diabolical, and Peter's struggles to overcome his grief and guilt are agonizing. Throw in a bit of romance, some nail biting tension, and with ample twisting of the plot you've got The Cadaver's Ball, a revenge novel par excellence with surprises and tension enough for even the most exacting reader of thrillers.

Super User
2010-04-22 15:16:32

In 1991 at the medical school's Cadaver's Ball Ed Tyson proposes to his dream girl, Beth, with whom he is in love and has had an affair. She turns him down because she does not love him and instead marries Ed's best friend and most exacting competitor in med school, Peter Grainger. A decade later Beth and her unborn child are killed in an automobile accident when Peter was driving. The accident unhinges both men. Peter is wracked with guilt and regret and holds himself responsible for the deaths of his wife and child. He is barely holding himself together with the help of his father and teenaged son. Ed is also deranged, but in a very different way. His pain turns to thoughts of revenge; revenge against Peter for having stolen Beth that night at the Cadaver's Ball and revenge for being responsible for Beth's death.

The machinations of Ed's master scheme to destroy Peter's sanity and his life is truly diabolical, and Peter's struggles to overcome his grief and guilt are agonizing. Throw in a bit of romance, some nail biting tension, and with ample twisting of the plot you've got The Cadaver's Ball, a revenge novel par excellence with surprises and tension enough for even the most exacting reader of thrillers.

The Door to Bitterness
Hank Wagner

A compelling blend of noir, thriller, and police procedural, The Door to Bitterness opens as GI cop George Sueno comes to in an alley, slowly realizing that his gun and badge are missing.

Alarming in and of itself, the robbery may also cost Sueno his career, as losing your gun is one of the greatest sins a CID officer stationed in 1974 South Korea can commit.

A court martial is almost certain.

Sueno's dismay increases when it becomes apparent that his gun was used in a casino robbery where one of the establishment's employees was critically wounded. Searching for the gun, Sueno and his hotheaded partner Ernie Bascom follow up every lead, however slim, soon discovering that the gun's new owners are pursuing a personal vendetta.

Narrated by a distraught and increasingly anxious Sueno, The Door to Bitterness tells a tale of two strangers in a strange land, two foreigners who must, to solve a crime, cope with both a foreign culture and the ways of that culture's underworld. Limon effectively conveys Sueno's love/hate relationship with that culture, creating an atmosphere of confusion, dread and mystery that permeates every page, every scene. He also convincingly evokes Sueno's despair at losing his gun, elevating this crime novel to the level of a mythic quest. The fourth Sueno/Bascom book (following Jade Lady Burning, Slicky Boys, and Buddha's Money), The Door to Bitterness is a mesmerizing piece of work, a complex, moving tragedy that elicits reader's sympathies for cops and criminals alike.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

A compelling blend of noir, thriller, and police procedural, The Door to Bitterness opens as GI cop George Sueno comes to in an alley, slowly realizing that his gun and badge are missing.

Alarming in and of itself, the robbery may also cost Sueno his career, as losing your gun is one of the greatest sins a CID officer stationed in 1974 South Korea can commit.

A court martial is almost certain.

Sueno's dismay increases when it becomes apparent that his gun was used in a casino robbery where one of the establishment's employees was critically wounded. Searching for the gun, Sueno and his hotheaded partner Ernie Bascom follow up every lead, however slim, soon discovering that the gun's new owners are pursuing a personal vendetta.

Narrated by a distraught and increasingly anxious Sueno, The Door to Bitterness tells a tale of two strangers in a strange land, two foreigners who must, to solve a crime, cope with both a foreign culture and the ways of that culture's underworld. Limon effectively conveys Sueno's love/hate relationship with that culture, creating an atmosphere of confusion, dread and mystery that permeates every page, every scene. He also convincingly evokes Sueno's despair at losing his gun, elevating this crime novel to the level of a mythic quest. The fourth Sueno/Bascom book (following Jade Lady Burning, Slicky Boys, and Buddha's Money), The Door to Bitterness is a mesmerizing piece of work, a complex, moving tragedy that elicits reader's sympathies for cops and criminals alike.

The Innocent
Beverly J. DeWeese

An unidentified, decomposing body found in a small fish pond in Florence's Boboli Gardens saddens Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia. He has always enjoyed this quiet garden in the midst of a bevy of small shops and bustling tradesmen, and the murder is upsetting. He soon discovers that the body is that of a young Japanese girl, Akiko, who is an apprentice to a local, elderly shoemaker, Peruzzi, someone he knows. The Marshal is shocked as his investigations uncover passions in this small enclave he knew nothing about.

Undoubtedly, one of the appealing qualities of this mystery is that Marshal Guarnaccia is such an ordinary, likeable man, with a loving wife and two fine sons. He enjoys his food. He often takes a paternal interest in some of the young policemen. But, as he investigates this case, he comes to believe the world is moving too fast, in the wrong direction. And he is often unpleasantly surprised by the hidden obsessions and misfortunes of his apparently normal neighbors and co-workers, such as Akiko and Peruzzi, secrets which can lead to a brutal murder.

The other charm of Nabb's books is the lovingly described setting.

Though Guarnaccia is Sicilian, he obviously loves Florence and its inhabitants. He speaks of the weather, the food, and even the smells and noises with great affection.

This smoothly written mystery is neatly plotted. And Guarnaccia's Florence is a delightful place to visit. A pleasant read.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

An unidentified, decomposing body found in a small fish pond in Florence's Boboli Gardens saddens Marshal Salvatore Guarnaccia. He has always enjoyed this quiet garden in the midst of a bevy of small shops and bustling tradesmen, and the murder is upsetting. He soon discovers that the body is that of a young Japanese girl, Akiko, who is an apprentice to a local, elderly shoemaker, Peruzzi, someone he knows. The Marshal is shocked as his investigations uncover passions in this small enclave he knew nothing about.

Undoubtedly, one of the appealing qualities of this mystery is that Marshal Guarnaccia is such an ordinary, likeable man, with a loving wife and two fine sons. He enjoys his food. He often takes a paternal interest in some of the young policemen. But, as he investigates this case, he comes to believe the world is moving too fast, in the wrong direction. And he is often unpleasantly surprised by the hidden obsessions and misfortunes of his apparently normal neighbors and co-workers, such as Akiko and Peruzzi, secrets which can lead to a brutal murder.

The other charm of Nabb's books is the lovingly described setting.

Though Guarnaccia is Sicilian, he obviously loves Florence and its inhabitants. He speaks of the weather, the food, and even the smells and noises with great affection.

This smoothly written mystery is neatly plotted. And Guarnaccia's Florence is a delightful place to visit. A pleasant read.

The Long Mile
Jeff Siegel

One hallmark of hardboiled fiction, and especially the private eye novel, is the role of the hero's city. These cities are, for all practical purposes, another character, whether it's Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles or Chester Himes' Harlem, and it's almost impossible for the hero to exist outside of his city (see Chandler's failed Playback). There's a sense in The Long Mile, featuring ex-New York City cop John Shannon, that author Clyde Ford well understands this tradition.

On one level, there isn't much different about The Long Mile. Shannon, who has been framed for killing another policeman, must clear his name. The cast surrounding him--the prison inmate with a heart of gold, the rogue spy, assorted street thugs, and dirty cops--will be familiar to anyone who reads this sort of novel. But it's Ford's use of New York City that distinguishes the book (as well as his sense of irony, like giving a black cop an Irish name). Ford's description of a day in the life of the drug trade in Harlem-- "tinted windows whined as they were lowered"--shows he knows exactly what he is doing.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

One hallmark of hardboiled fiction, and especially the private eye novel, is the role of the hero's city. These cities are, for all practical purposes, another character, whether it's Raymond Chandler's Los Angeles or Chester Himes' Harlem, and it's almost impossible for the hero to exist outside of his city (see Chandler's failed Playback). There's a sense in The Long Mile, featuring ex-New York City cop John Shannon, that author Clyde Ford well understands this tradition.

On one level, there isn't much different about The Long Mile. Shannon, who has been framed for killing another policeman, must clear his name. The cast surrounding him--the prison inmate with a heart of gold, the rogue spy, assorted street thugs, and dirty cops--will be familiar to anyone who reads this sort of novel. But it's Ford's use of New York City that distinguishes the book (as well as his sense of irony, like giving a black cop an Irish name). Ford's description of a day in the life of the drug trade in Harlem-- "tinted windows whined as they were lowered"--shows he knows exactly what he is doing.

The Typhoon Lover
Derek Hill

Still ostracized from her beloved Japan and stuck in Washington DC, spunky Japanese-American antiques dealer and international amateur detective Rei Shimura is offered a chance to not only further her antiques education but to regain entry into Japan. But this opportunity has more than a few strings attached. The most problematic being the operation is being monitored and funded by the CIA, overseen by the pushy State Department spook Michael Hendricks, and the job requires Rei to spy on her old flame, Japanese playboy Takeo Kayama. Takeo is now headmaster at the prestigious Kayama School of Ikebana in Tokyo and might be in possession of a priceless Mesopotamian vessel looted from the National Museum in Iraq at the start of the war It will be Rei's job to confirm said suspicions. Easier said than done, of course.

Despite her reservations, Rei ditches her digs in DC and anxiously lands back in Japan. But a lot has changed since she was last there--including the fashions. Rei is also forced to contend with a typhoon that's about to slam into the country. Ever resourceful, Rei manages to sway with the literal and emotional storms awaiting her, and loyal readers of Massey's long-running series will undoubtedly find much to enjoy. Despite some interesting cultural details and observations, the novel occasionally wanders from its initial premise and too much of Rei's characteristic humor gets lost in the storm. Not a total washout, but it's far from Massey's best.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Still ostracized from her beloved Japan and stuck in Washington DC, spunky Japanese-American antiques dealer and international amateur detective Rei Shimura is offered a chance to not only further her antiques education but to regain entry into Japan. But this opportunity has more than a few strings attached. The most problematic being the operation is being monitored and funded by the CIA, overseen by the pushy State Department spook Michael Hendricks, and the job requires Rei to spy on her old flame, Japanese playboy Takeo Kayama. Takeo is now headmaster at the prestigious Kayama School of Ikebana in Tokyo and might be in possession of a priceless Mesopotamian vessel looted from the National Museum in Iraq at the start of the war It will be Rei's job to confirm said suspicions. Easier said than done, of course.

Despite her reservations, Rei ditches her digs in DC and anxiously lands back in Japan. But a lot has changed since she was last there--including the fashions. Rei is also forced to contend with a typhoon that's about to slam into the country. Ever resourceful, Rei manages to sway with the literal and emotional storms awaiting her, and loyal readers of Massey's long-running series will undoubtedly find much to enjoy. Despite some interesting cultural details and observations, the novel occasionally wanders from its initial premise and too much of Rei's characteristic humor gets lost in the storm. Not a total washout, but it's far from Massey's best.

The Wheelman
Barbara Fister

Lennon is a talented wheelman for a team of bank robbers. Getting the goods is what the others do; his specialty is getting away. Their current heist is so elaborate and thoroughly planned it could be the basis of a good caper, but Swierczynski has written something else: an anti-caper. Turning the first few pages is like having a dye pack explode in your hands. It won't be easy to get away from this one.Right at the start things go badly wrong, and they just get worse. Lennon manages to spring his mates from inside the bank, where they've been trapped inside a sophisticated bullet--proof containment unit (one he reckons must be the "Scratch-Your-Nuts-Until-the-Feds-Arrive model ") but that bit of improvisation is the first of many that Lennon must make as all their plans unravel. Crooked ex-cops, the Russian Mafia, old-school Philadelphia mobsters, a writer, a woman with a secret, and assorted college students get in the act and Lennon finds this getaway to be the hardest of his life.

Swierczynski has devised a double-joined plot that twists and turns so furiously he could take the gold if contortionists competed in the Olympics.

Told in lean, taut prose without a misplaced word in its 244 pages, The Wheelman is twisted, funny, violent--and a blast.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Lennon is a talented wheelman for a team of bank robbers. Getting the goods is what the others do; his specialty is getting away. Their current heist is so elaborate and thoroughly planned it could be the basis of a good caper, but Swierczynski has written something else: an anti-caper. Turning the first few pages is like having a dye pack explode in your hands. It won't be easy to get away from this one.Right at the start things go badly wrong, and they just get worse. Lennon manages to spring his mates from inside the bank, where they've been trapped inside a sophisticated bullet--proof containment unit (one he reckons must be the "Scratch-Your-Nuts-Until-the-Feds-Arrive model ") but that bit of improvisation is the first of many that Lennon must make as all their plans unravel. Crooked ex-cops, the Russian Mafia, old-school Philadelphia mobsters, a writer, a woman with a secret, and assorted college students get in the act and Lennon finds this getaway to be the hardest of his life.

Swierczynski has devised a double-joined plot that twists and turns so furiously he could take the gold if contortionists competed in the Olympics.

Told in lean, taut prose without a misplaced word in its 244 pages, The Wheelman is twisted, funny, violent--and a blast.

Thirteen Steps Down
Barbara Fister

Mix Cellini is outraged to learn a national treasure has been destroyed.

What kind of city would fail to preserve an historic site--the home of John Reginald Christie, a famous serial killer? Mix, who has taken a room nearby, is determined to become famous himself, though can't decide whether to get there through associating himself with a fashion model (certain to fall for him once he contrives to meet her) or like Christie, through a shocking crime. Too bad both routes turn out to be such a lot of work.

Mix's elderly landlady, Gwendolyn Chawcer, once met Christie, but she doesn't take much interest in her brush with tabloid notoriety. She is untidy and stubborn, curmudgeonly and eccentric, and stays aloof from people because, frankly, she prefers books. The only person she cares for is a physician who flirted with her years ago, a fond memory that turns into a fantasy when she learns he has recently been widowed.

Rendell is known for drawing intense psychological portraits. Here she contrasts two people from different generations, each with irrational dreams and prejudices, people who share a house but inhabit different universes that intersect through a handful of well-drawn secondary characters. Rendell's typically taut suspense is fused with a keen eye for social comedy and the small emotional details that make characters touchingly human. It seems her specialty is shifting from abnormal psychology to the psychology of ordinary lives, and here she does it very well indeed.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Mix Cellini is outraged to learn a national treasure has been destroyed.

What kind of city would fail to preserve an historic site--the home of John Reginald Christie, a famous serial killer? Mix, who has taken a room nearby, is determined to become famous himself, though can't decide whether to get there through associating himself with a fashion model (certain to fall for him once he contrives to meet her) or like Christie, through a shocking crime. Too bad both routes turn out to be such a lot of work.

Mix's elderly landlady, Gwendolyn Chawcer, once met Christie, but she doesn't take much interest in her brush with tabloid notoriety. She is untidy and stubborn, curmudgeonly and eccentric, and stays aloof from people because, frankly, she prefers books. The only person she cares for is a physician who flirted with her years ago, a fond memory that turns into a fantasy when she learns he has recently been widowed.

Rendell is known for drawing intense psychological portraits. Here she contrasts two people from different generations, each with irrational dreams and prejudices, people who share a house but inhabit different universes that intersect through a handful of well-drawn secondary characters. Rendell's typically taut suspense is fused with a keen eye for social comedy and the small emotional details that make characters touchingly human. It seems her specialty is shifting from abnormal psychology to the psychology of ordinary lives, and here she does it very well indeed.

This Girl for Hire
Kevin Burton Smith

Snubbed by tunnel-visioned feminists and politically correct revisionists who like to peg the private eye genre as an exclusively male domain prior to the blessed arrival of the Holy Trinity of Sainted Sisters Muller, Grafton and Paretsky, I still think Gloria and Skip Fickling, the husband/wife writing team better known as G.G. Fickling, and their PI creation Honey West have gotten a raw deal. Okay, Honey, she of the 38-22-36 measurements, "taffy-colored hair, big blue eyes and baby bottom complexion," was often more a male fantasy figure than an icon of female empowerment, and her ditzy charm and the risque humor of the books may have reached their expiration dates decades ago, but let's not forget that in a time of insipid TV housewives obsessed with ring around the collar and brewing the perfect cup of coffee, Honey was a true breath of fresh air, an honest-to-goodness professional detective running her own business and the star of her own series of books (and later a TV show).

So it's great that Overlook is reprinting them for a "more sophisticated" age, starting off with Honey's 1956 debut. Sure, the humor owes no small debt to Richard Prather's equally smirky (and bestselling) Shell Scott books of the time (the book is even dedicated to Prather and his wife, who were family friends), and the plot (some nonsense about a string of murders plaguing a television production) mostly serves as a convenient set-up for the gags, most of which involve Honey's losing her clothing. But if the sheer good-naturedness, goofy humor and sweet innocence of the times makes these books a guilty pleasure, they remain a pleasure nonetheless.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Snubbed by tunnel-visioned feminists and politically correct revisionists who like to peg the private eye genre as an exclusively male domain prior to the blessed arrival of the Holy Trinity of Sainted Sisters Muller, Grafton and Paretsky, I still think Gloria and Skip Fickling, the husband/wife writing team better known as G.G. Fickling, and their PI creation Honey West have gotten a raw deal. Okay, Honey, she of the 38-22-36 measurements, "taffy-colored hair, big blue eyes and baby bottom complexion," was often more a male fantasy figure than an icon of female empowerment, and her ditzy charm and the risque humor of the books may have reached their expiration dates decades ago, but let's not forget that in a time of insipid TV housewives obsessed with ring around the collar and brewing the perfect cup of coffee, Honey was a true breath of fresh air, an honest-to-goodness professional detective running her own business and the star of her own series of books (and later a TV show).

So it's great that Overlook is reprinting them for a "more sophisticated" age, starting off with Honey's 1956 debut. Sure, the humor owes no small debt to Richard Prather's equally smirky (and bestselling) Shell Scott books of the time (the book is even dedicated to Prather and his wife, who were family friends), and the plot (some nonsense about a string of murders plaguing a television production) mostly serves as a convenient set-up for the gags, most of which involve Honey's losing her clothing. But if the sheer good-naturedness, goofy humor and sweet innocence of the times makes these books a guilty pleasure, they remain a pleasure nonetheless.

Tilt a Whirl
Joseph Scarpato Jr.

As policeman, John Ceepak and his 24-year-old part-time partner, Danny Boyle are enjoying Saturday morning breakfast in a seaside resort town, their meal is cut short by the screams of a 12-year-old girl whose dress is covered with blood. Her father, a wealthy real estate developer, has been shot and killed while they sat in an empty Tilt A Whirl car before the amusement rides had even been opened for the day.

John, a former MP in the 101st Airborne, and just back from Iraq, finds himself heading up the murder investigation along with his partner. At first, the murder seems cut and dried, and a local drug addict, tentatively identified by the young girl, is sought. But all is not as it seems, and the murder investigation becomes more complicated by the sudden disappearance of the young witness along with a ransom demand.

As told in the present tense by young Danny, Tilt A Whirl is an excellent debut mystery by a former New York ad man and improv comic. It introduces a strong, play-it-by-the-book protagonist who "never lies" and lives by his own strict moral code. Thanks to memorable characters and a fast-moving, seamless plot, this book is highly recommended.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

As policeman, John Ceepak and his 24-year-old part-time partner, Danny Boyle are enjoying Saturday morning breakfast in a seaside resort town, their meal is cut short by the screams of a 12-year-old girl whose dress is covered with blood. Her father, a wealthy real estate developer, has been shot and killed while they sat in an empty Tilt A Whirl car before the amusement rides had even been opened for the day.

John, a former MP in the 101st Airborne, and just back from Iraq, finds himself heading up the murder investigation along with his partner. At first, the murder seems cut and dried, and a local drug addict, tentatively identified by the young girl, is sought. But all is not as it seems, and the murder investigation becomes more complicated by the sudden disappearance of the young witness along with a ransom demand.

As told in the present tense by young Danny, Tilt A Whirl is an excellent debut mystery by a former New York ad man and improv comic. It introduces a strong, play-it-by-the-book protagonist who "never lies" and lives by his own strict moral code. Thanks to memorable characters and a fast-moving, seamless plot, this book is highly recommended.

Tonight, Somewhere in New York
Charles L.P. Silet

Francis Nevins calls Cornell Woolrich "the Poe of the 20th century and the poet of its shadows." Some critics have called him the "father of noir." From the mid-thirties until 1948, under a number of pseudonyms, Woolrich wrote dozens of short stories and a score of novels that largely did come to define noir fiction. By the early 1950s he had pretty much written himself out, and until his death in 1968, he survived on reprinting his old stuff and on the money he was paid by the movies for the film rights to his fiction.

In Tonight, Somewhere in New York Francis Nevins sets out to collect the work he did do during the last twenty years of his life, when his writing was not as prolific but when it certainly remained as dark as his earlier period. The selections include nine stories from the 1950s and 1960s, some of them never collected before, two episodes from an autobiographical work, Blues of a Lifetime, and five chapters of one of the unfinished novels he left, the title of which is used for this collection. Besides editing the material Nevins has contributed an excellent, lengthy biographical introduction, tracing Woolrich's last years, plus ample head notes to each selection, which include bibliographical as well as additional biographical information.

For fans of Cornell Woolrich this book will provide some surprises; for newcomers, it offers an excellent entr?e into his dark, perverse world.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Francis Nevins calls Cornell Woolrich "the Poe of the 20th century and the poet of its shadows." Some critics have called him the "father of noir." From the mid-thirties until 1948, under a number of pseudonyms, Woolrich wrote dozens of short stories and a score of novels that largely did come to define noir fiction. By the early 1950s he had pretty much written himself out, and until his death in 1968, he survived on reprinting his old stuff and on the money he was paid by the movies for the film rights to his fiction.

In Tonight, Somewhere in New York Francis Nevins sets out to collect the work he did do during the last twenty years of his life, when his writing was not as prolific but when it certainly remained as dark as his earlier period. The selections include nine stories from the 1950s and 1960s, some of them never collected before, two episodes from an autobiographical work, Blues of a Lifetime, and five chapters of one of the unfinished novels he left, the title of which is used for this collection. Besides editing the material Nevins has contributed an excellent, lengthy biographical introduction, tracing Woolrich's last years, plus ample head notes to each selection, which include bibliographical as well as additional biographical information.

For fans of Cornell Woolrich this book will provide some surprises; for newcomers, it offers an excellent entr?e into his dark, perverse world.

A Long Shadow
Mary Elizabeth Devine

The trenches of the Somme are never far from Ian Rutledge's mind. Even though he has returned to Scotland Yard, he is haunted by World War I and the dead soldier, Hamish MacLeod, who serves as Rutledge's spectral conscience and mentor.

Rutledge is summoned from Scotland Yard to the village of Dudlington to investigate the shooting (by bow and arrow) of Constable Hensley. But Rutledge gets sidetracked, becoming obsessed with the disappearance of a young woman, Emma Mason, and her mother.

Rutledge is a very interesting man, filled with neuroses. Despite being a policeman, he takes stupid risks, such as climbing up to a church belfry in the dark without a flashlight. Todd skillfully creates a village of characters who constantly spy on one another, and who sometimes reluctantly, sometimes gleefully tell their own or one another's secrets. Likable or unlikable, all the villagers avoid the haunted Firth's Wood.

Both the dark secrets and the caste system of the oppressive small town are eerily realized. Especially noteworthy is the inscrutable pub owner Keating who barely tolerates his customers. Also worthy of attention is Mrs. Ellison, Emma's grandmother, and Grace Letteride, Emma's best friend, who is convinced that the constable killed Emma. Perhaps the most delightful character is the ghostly Hamish.

The plot and the atmosphere draw the reader in from the first page. Todd doesn't let up for a minute piling clue upon clue and motive upon motive.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

The trenches of the Somme are never far from Ian Rutledge's mind. Even though he has returned to Scotland Yard, he is haunted by World War I and the dead soldier, Hamish MacLeod, who serves as Rutledge's spectral conscience and mentor.

Rutledge is summoned from Scotland Yard to the village of Dudlington to investigate the shooting (by bow and arrow) of Constable Hensley. But Rutledge gets sidetracked, becoming obsessed with the disappearance of a young woman, Emma Mason, and her mother.

Rutledge is a very interesting man, filled with neuroses. Despite being a policeman, he takes stupid risks, such as climbing up to a church belfry in the dark without a flashlight. Todd skillfully creates a village of characters who constantly spy on one another, and who sometimes reluctantly, sometimes gleefully tell their own or one another's secrets. Likable or unlikable, all the villagers avoid the haunted Firth's Wood.

Both the dark secrets and the caste system of the oppressive small town are eerily realized. Especially noteworthy is the inscrutable pub owner Keating who barely tolerates his customers. Also worthy of attention is Mrs. Ellison, Emma's grandmother, and Grace Letteride, Emma's best friend, who is convinced that the constable killed Emma. Perhaps the most delightful character is the ghostly Hamish.

The plot and the atmosphere draw the reader in from the first page. Todd doesn't let up for a minute piling clue upon clue and motive upon motive.

Air Dance Iguana
Carol Higgins Clark

Once you get past the silly title, prepare for a mystery that begins slowly but builds to breakneck speed about half-way through. Alex Rutledge is a freelance photographer, called in to shoot at the sites of two hangings. Both are set up to look like suicides but are soon revealed to be murders.

Alex decides to look into the deaths, because the chief suspect is his wastrel brother, Tim, whom he threw out of his house some years ago and told to stay away from Key West. Alex has the help of his policewoman lover. Bobbi Lewis, and of the local sheriff, Fred Liska. What Alex can't understand is why Liska hired Bohner, a stupid, violent bully, as his deputy. When Alex realizes that the murders are related to the hanging of a navy man many years ago, and that Liska and Bohner share a secret from the past, the pieces fall into place.

There are places in Air Dance Iguana that read much like a travelogue of the Keys, but Corcoran does a good job evoking the island ambience. Alex is a complex and likable character, as are Bobbi, the beleaguered sheriff, and the brawny "Tank," a collector of postcards who gives Tim temporary shelter.

A friend who often visited Key West said that there were three things to do: sit in the sun, count the toes on Hemingway's cats, and drink. Add a fourth: read this book, a really good mystery.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Once you get past the silly title, prepare for a mystery that begins slowly but builds to breakneck speed about half-way through. Alex Rutledge is a freelance photographer, called in to shoot at the sites of two hangings. Both are set up to look like suicides but are soon revealed to be murders.

Alex decides to look into the deaths, because the chief suspect is his wastrel brother, Tim, whom he threw out of his house some years ago and told to stay away from Key West. Alex has the help of his policewoman lover. Bobbi Lewis, and of the local sheriff, Fred Liska. What Alex can't understand is why Liska hired Bohner, a stupid, violent bully, as his deputy. When Alex realizes that the murders are related to the hanging of a navy man many years ago, and that Liska and Bohner share a secret from the past, the pieces fall into place.

There are places in Air Dance Iguana that read much like a travelogue of the Keys, but Corcoran does a good job evoking the island ambience. Alex is a complex and likable character, as are Bobbi, the beleaguered sheriff, and the brawny "Tank," a collector of postcards who gives Tim temporary shelter.

A friend who often visited Key West said that there were three things to do: sit in the sun, count the toes on Hemingway's cats, and drink. Add a fourth: read this book, a really good mystery.

Autumn of the Phantoms
Derek Hill

Algerian cop Brahim Llob is feeling the heat from his fellow police officers as well as the few friends that he still has after the publication of his latest controversial novel, Morituri (which was itself a book in the Inspector Llob series). When he is fired from his post , he is left even more disillusioned about the state of his country than ever before.

War continues to rage and the city is besieged by bombings, laying waste to the thin veneer of order and civility that struggles to survive there. Llob has witnessed first hand his beautiful country willingly submit to the will of the wolf, stripping itself of its own dignity and carelessly fumbling into the future with blinders on and knives drawn.

This slim volume (it's only 146 pages) is not a traditional mystery novel by any means. The biggest crime perpetuated within its blood-soaked pages, Khadra (a pseudonym of the Algerian writer Mohammed Moulessehoul) insists repeatedly, is the mass murder that is continuingly being waged by Algerians under the auspices of war. It's an angry book to be sure, and a didactic one, but Khadra's sensitivity to his characters, insight into the corruptive and intoxicating heart of darkness within us all, and moral outrage is frequently startling and poignant. Haunting, tragic, and well worth the effort.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Algerian cop Brahim Llob is feeling the heat from his fellow police officers as well as the few friends that he still has after the publication of his latest controversial novel, Morituri (which was itself a book in the Inspector Llob series). When he is fired from his post , he is left even more disillusioned about the state of his country than ever before.

War continues to rage and the city is besieged by bombings, laying waste to the thin veneer of order and civility that struggles to survive there. Llob has witnessed first hand his beautiful country willingly submit to the will of the wolf, stripping itself of its own dignity and carelessly fumbling into the future with blinders on and knives drawn.

This slim volume (it's only 146 pages) is not a traditional mystery novel by any means. The biggest crime perpetuated within its blood-soaked pages, Khadra (a pseudonym of the Algerian writer Mohammed Moulessehoul) insists repeatedly, is the mass murder that is continuingly being waged by Algerians under the auspices of war. It's an angry book to be sure, and a didactic one, but Khadra's sensitivity to his characters, insight into the corruptive and intoxicating heart of darkness within us all, and moral outrage is frequently startling and poignant. Haunting, tragic, and well worth the effort.

Bad Debts and Black Tide
Charles L.P. Silet

MacAdam/Cage has already introduced American audiences to the Australian crime writer Peter Temple with his stand-alone thriller, Identity Theory. Now, they are bringing out the first two of his series featuring Jack Irish, gambler, lawyer, ex-boozer, and unlicensed private investigator.

Bad Debts begins with Jack getting a phone call from a past client who soon turns up dead. Jack doesn't remember him because they met after his wife's murder when he went into an alcoholic free fall, so he feels a nagging sense of responsibility to look into the case. When Jack does so it opens up his buried past.

As with Bad Debts it is the call of the past which also begins Black Tide when an old friend of Jack's father calls upon him to locate his wayward son. But it turns out to be more than a routine missing person case, and Jack becomes entangled in a web of international crime and deadly violence.

In both cases Jack's initial investigation leads to a broader exposure of widespread corporate and governmental corruption.

In Jack Irish, Peter Temple has created a likable, vulnerable mid-life male whose wry, often witty angle of vision provides a distinctive narrative point of view. Temple is also a master of dialogue, especially in the local vernacular, that's so real, so genuine that you'd swear it was tape-recorded.

These two novels are the best hardboiled crime fiction I have read for some long while. I cannot recommend them strongly enough.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

MacAdam/Cage has already introduced American audiences to the Australian crime writer Peter Temple with his stand-alone thriller, Identity Theory. Now, they are bringing out the first two of his series featuring Jack Irish, gambler, lawyer, ex-boozer, and unlicensed private investigator.

Bad Debts begins with Jack getting a phone call from a past client who soon turns up dead. Jack doesn't remember him because they met after his wife's murder when he went into an alcoholic free fall, so he feels a nagging sense of responsibility to look into the case. When Jack does so it opens up his buried past.

As with Bad Debts it is the call of the past which also begins Black Tide when an old friend of Jack's father calls upon him to locate his wayward son. But it turns out to be more than a routine missing person case, and Jack becomes entangled in a web of international crime and deadly violence.

In both cases Jack's initial investigation leads to a broader exposure of widespread corporate and governmental corruption.

In Jack Irish, Peter Temple has created a likable, vulnerable mid-life male whose wry, often witty angle of vision provides a distinctive narrative point of view. Temple is also a master of dialogue, especially in the local vernacular, that's so real, so genuine that you'd swear it was tape-recorded.

These two novels are the best hardboiled crime fiction I have read for some long while. I cannot recommend them strongly enough.

Blindfold Game
Jules Brenner

Dana Stabenow begins her taut maritime thriller with an "if only" in the detection of terrorists. Following the bombing of a restaurant in Pattaya Beach, Thailand, two Koreans in identical nondescript clothing calmly watch the scene of carnage. Their passivity catches the attention of several people nearby, most importantly Arlene, a blond, plump woman who photographs them at the scene and, later, in a meeting with some notorious bad guys. Turns out she's CIA, and she tails them to the airport until they elude her with a last minute boarding for Moscow.

When CIA boss Hugh Rincon studies the photos and IDs, he and Arlene track down one of the men at the meeting, Jaap Noortman, in Hong Kong. A little CIA torture discloses a well-funded Al Qaeda-inspired plot involving a dirty nuke heading for Alaska. But Hugh can't convince anyone at Langley of the imminent danger to 240,000 people. Since his wife Sara Lange is the Executive Officer aboard the US Coast Guard cutter patrolling the Maritime Boundary Line--exactly where the terrorists are headed--Rincon goes onboard to guide the crew in an interception. But the pounding seas aren't the only navigational dangers. The real problem is cunning deception.

In addition to her extensive knowledge of Alaska and its waters, Edgar-winner Stabenow (Fire and Ice) spent 16 days researching her fictional mission aboard a Coast Guard cutter in the Bering Sea. The resulting level of accuracy and crisp on-board dialogue helps make the drama so harrowing you'll be looking for a life vest before the last wave drenches you. In this smashing maritime adventure this exceptional mystery writer finds her sea legs.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Dana Stabenow begins her taut maritime thriller with an "if only" in the detection of terrorists. Following the bombing of a restaurant in Pattaya Beach, Thailand, two Koreans in identical nondescript clothing calmly watch the scene of carnage. Their passivity catches the attention of several people nearby, most importantly Arlene, a blond, plump woman who photographs them at the scene and, later, in a meeting with some notorious bad guys. Turns out she's CIA, and she tails them to the airport until they elude her with a last minute boarding for Moscow.

When CIA boss Hugh Rincon studies the photos and IDs, he and Arlene track down one of the men at the meeting, Jaap Noortman, in Hong Kong. A little CIA torture discloses a well-funded Al Qaeda-inspired plot involving a dirty nuke heading for Alaska. But Hugh can't convince anyone at Langley of the imminent danger to 240,000 people. Since his wife Sara Lange is the Executive Officer aboard the US Coast Guard cutter patrolling the Maritime Boundary Line--exactly where the terrorists are headed--Rincon goes onboard to guide the crew in an interception. But the pounding seas aren't the only navigational dangers. The real problem is cunning deception.

In addition to her extensive knowledge of Alaska and its waters, Edgar-winner Stabenow (Fire and Ice) spent 16 days researching her fictional mission aboard a Coast Guard cutter in the Bering Sea. The resulting level of accuracy and crisp on-board dialogue helps make the drama so harrowing you'll be looking for a life vest before the last wave drenches you. In this smashing maritime adventure this exceptional mystery writer finds her sea legs.

Catch Me When I Fall
Barbara Fister

Holly Krauss is creative and funny, a brilliant inventor of successful retreat weekends for disengaged employees. She is a whirlwind of ideas, a charmer to everyone who encounters her but she rides her exuberance like a bicycle without brakes, that can accelerate until she's flying right over the top. One bad decision made at the start of the book leads to another. Before long, she owes the wrong people money, her business is in jeopardy, her husband is having an affair, and she keeps losing things: keys, papers, nail clippers. Or is it her mind she's losing?

Told first from Holly's unraveling perspective, then from that of her business partner and best friend Meg, who patiently does her best to put things back together. Nicci French offers readers a deftly calibrated balance of awful dread and gruesome chain-reaction accidents with perfectly placed touches of humor. Her narrative style is engaging, funny, touching, and true. All of the characters, even the minor walk-on parts, are fully developed and three-dimensional. The storyline that wobbles artfully between farce and tragedy is a craftily-constructed trompe l'oeil. Nicci French is an author in total control of her material, giving us first-hand experience of life out of control.

Though the plot itself offers plenty of adrenaline-pounding moments, what's most thrilling about this book is its sympathetic and genuine depiction of a woman with bipolar disorder and the effect it has on everyone who cares about her. Brilliantly executed, Catch Me When I Fall is one you won't want to miss.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

Holly Krauss is creative and funny, a brilliant inventor of successful retreat weekends for disengaged employees. She is a whirlwind of ideas, a charmer to everyone who encounters her but she rides her exuberance like a bicycle without brakes, that can accelerate until she's flying right over the top. One bad decision made at the start of the book leads to another. Before long, she owes the wrong people money, her business is in jeopardy, her husband is having an affair, and she keeps losing things: keys, papers, nail clippers. Or is it her mind she's losing?

Told first from Holly's unraveling perspective, then from that of her business partner and best friend Meg, who patiently does her best to put things back together. Nicci French offers readers a deftly calibrated balance of awful dread and gruesome chain-reaction accidents with perfectly placed touches of humor. Her narrative style is engaging, funny, touching, and true. All of the characters, even the minor walk-on parts, are fully developed and three-dimensional. The storyline that wobbles artfully between farce and tragedy is a craftily-constructed trompe l'oeil. Nicci French is an author in total control of her material, giving us first-hand experience of life out of control.

Though the plot itself offers plenty of adrenaline-pounding moments, what's most thrilling about this book is its sympathetic and genuine depiction of a woman with bipolar disorder and the effect it has on everyone who cares about her. Brilliantly executed, Catch Me When I Fall is one you won't want to miss.

Chain a Lamb Chop to the Bed
Lynne Maxwell

This book is the third in the "diet club" series featuring the Weight Watchers instructor Ellie Bernstein and her handsome boyfriend Peter Miller, a homicide detective for the Colorado Springs Police Department. Chain a Lamb Chop to the Bed takes the duo on vacation to a dude ranch near Aspen. This romantic getaway turns into a busman's holiday as murder follows Ellie and Peter, when Ellie's longtime friend, renowned artist Garrett Halliday, uncharacteristically fails to show up for a dinner party he is hosting.

Certain that something has gone horribly awry, Ellie persuades Peter to ride off on horseback through difficult terrain to search for Garrett in a hazardous ravine. Alas, Peter's search is all too successful, as he finds Garrett--dead. To complicate matters further, Garrett's wife Heather seems to be in complete sequestration, which worries her concerned friend, Ellie, who wonders whether Heather is being held hostage by family members who stand to gain financially from Garrett's demise.

Chain a Lamb Chop to the Bed is more than just a cleverly plotted, engaging mystery, it is also an exploration of dysfunctional families and the curiously warped relationships between their members. All of the characters, Ellie and Peter included, have been touched and damaged by dysfunctional relatives. Denise Dietz offers hope to readers that there can be life after familial disaster. Witty, with complicated interweaving threads, this most recent addition to the "diet club" mysteries is far from being lightweight.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

This book is the third in the "diet club" series featuring the Weight Watchers instructor Ellie Bernstein and her handsome boyfriend Peter Miller, a homicide detective for the Colorado Springs Police Department. Chain a Lamb Chop to the Bed takes the duo on vacation to a dude ranch near Aspen. This romantic getaway turns into a busman's holiday as murder follows Ellie and Peter, when Ellie's longtime friend, renowned artist Garrett Halliday, uncharacteristically fails to show up for a dinner party he is hosting.

Certain that something has gone horribly awry, Ellie persuades Peter to ride off on horseback through difficult terrain to search for Garrett in a hazardous ravine. Alas, Peter's search is all too successful, as he finds Garrett--dead. To complicate matters further, Garrett's wife Heather seems to be in complete sequestration, which worries her concerned friend, Ellie, who wonders whether Heather is being held hostage by family members who stand to gain financially from Garrett's demise.

Chain a Lamb Chop to the Bed is more than just a cleverly plotted, engaging mystery, it is also an exploration of dysfunctional families and the curiously warped relationships between their members. All of the characters, Ellie and Peter included, have been touched and damaged by dysfunctional relatives. Denise Dietz offers hope to readers that there can be life after familial disaster. Witty, with complicated interweaving threads, this most recent addition to the "diet club" mysteries is far from being lightweight.

Dark Blue Death
Lynne Maxwell

On the heels of Austin City Blue, short listed for the Anthony Award for Best First Novel in 2002, Texas-based Jan Grape produces an excellent sophomore installment in her Zoe Barrow series. Like its fine predecessor, Dark Blue Death features Zoe (don't call her Zoe-y) Barrow as an experienced officer with the Austin Police Department. When a series of bizarre, sadistic murders unfold, Zoe--partnered with long-time veteran Sgt. Hank Albright--is hot on the trail of a perverse killer with a fetish for butterfly tattoos.

Why is the killer targeting female police officers of Hispanic origin? What abusive background accounts for his particularly heinous variety of serial murders? Zoe and Hank work feverishly to find out, even though the FBI has been called in to assist in cracking the case.

Not only is Zoe's professional life challenged by the killer's depredations, but her personal life is also in a state of upheaval. Her husband, a permanently disabled cop critically injured in a police mission gone awry, disappears from the nursing home where he has been housed. Facing the exigencies of twin mysteries, Zoe rises to the occasion, demonstrating her loyalty and acumen on every front.

It is no surprise that the Austin Police Department, rather than the FBI "feebs", succeeds in identifying and halting the killer. Similarly, it is no surprise when Zoe provides for her husband Byron's well-being. Dark Blue Death is another sure winner for Jan Grape.

Super User
2010-04-24 20:04:36

On the heels of Austin City Blue, short listed for the Anthony Award for Best First Novel in 2002, Texas-based Jan Grape produces an excellent sophomore installment in her Zoe Barrow series. Like its fine predecessor, Dark Blue Death features Zoe (don't call her Zoe-y) Barrow as an experienced officer with the Austin Police Department. When a series of bizarre, sadistic murders unfold, Zoe--partnered with long-time veteran Sgt. Hank Albright--is hot on the trail of a perverse killer with a fetish for butterfly tattoos.

Why is the killer targeting female police officers of Hispanic origin? What abusive background accounts for his particularly heinous variety of serial murders? Zoe and Hank work feverishly to find out, even though the FBI has been called in to assist in cracking the case.

Not only is Zoe's professional life challenged by the killer's depredations, but her personal life is also in a state of upheaval. Her husband, a permanently disabled cop critically injured in a police mission gone awry, disappears from the nursing home where he has been housed. Facing the exigencies of twin mysteries, Zoe rises to the occasion, demonstrating her loyalty and acumen on every front.

It is no surprise that the Austin Police Department, rather than the FBI "feebs", succeeds in identifying and halting the killer. Similarly, it is no surprise when Zoe provides for her husband Byron's well-being. Dark Blue Death is another sure winner for Jan Grape.