Title: Dangerous Depths
Author: Kathy Brandt
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Signet
Pages: 272
ISBN: 0-451-21493-5
Price: $6.50
Publishing Date: May 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Hannah Sampson left her homicide detective job in Denver for the good life in the British Virgin Islands. She has to eat, so she’s taken the same type of job with the island police to find it’s just as dangerous in the islands if not more so than the mean streets of Denver.
In this third book of a series, Hannah has to determine why someone tried to kill her best friend and neighbor while saving various protected environments. The pace is frenetic and the settings are compelling. This is an excellent mystery, which we rated four hearts.
Title: Deadly Illusions
Author: Chester D. Campbell
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Durban House Publishing Company, Inc.
Pages: 261
ISBN: 1-930754-65-5
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: March 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Greg and Jill McKenzie are a team: husband and wife, as well as private detectives. Greg is a retired Air Force OSI (Office of Special Investigations) agent. He and his wife have settled in Nashville and run a small detective agency. They are hired by a small restaurant chain to discover how cash money has been walking out the door of a Nashville restaurant. At the same time, a man the equivalent of Alan Greenspan, is assassinated in a plush Nashville hotel and they are brought a background investigation case by a worried wife. These cases are enough to keep them very busy; however, their lives get much more complicated by the husband they are investigating who may be a secret government agent and has begun to target them for harassment, if not destruction.
The author does a good job of keeping all his plot balls in the air without dropping them. The plot’s complexity provides a good pace that pulls the reader through the story. His own background in the OSI business provides him with many excellent investigation tools. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: The Deadly Tools of Ignorance
Author: Robert Elias
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Rounder Books
Pages: 288
ISBN: 1-57940-104-X
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 200
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This debut mystery has an extraordinary range of plot elements. The protagonist, Debs Kafka, is a graduate student in Criminology at Fairmount University. He stumbles across the body of a priestly faculty member in the University Chapel. An itinerant black man is accused of the murder. Kafka doesn’t feel that is correct, so he challenges his Intro to Crime class to run their own investigation as part of their grade. At the same time, he is inadvertently drawn back into an old love—baseball. Soon he is juggling decisions about his love life, his academic career, the question of who killed the priest, and getting a shot at first the minors and then the San Francisco Giants as a ball player. If that isn’t enough, someone is trying to kill him and a team mate on the Giants.
Be prepared to learn far more than you ever imagined about the different aspects of Kafka’s interests. The author has much to communicate and an unusual way of doing so. We rated this book three hearts.
Title: Double Attraction
Author: Frank Zachery
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: iUniverse
Pages: 173
ISBN: 0-595-27159-6
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
PI Dan Brandon is hired by a computer manufacture to find a hijacked shipment of computer chips worth over a million. In conjunction with his investigation, he finds himself also looking into three possibly related murders and a mysterious new computer startup company.
The author did a good job with characterization, dialog, and setting. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Away with the Fairies
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 241
ISBN: 1-59058-022-2
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This Australian author keeps on spinning delightful tales about her protagonist, Phryne Fisher. Ms Fisher has been asked to investigate the unusual death of a well-known children’s writer of fairy stories. To do this, she takes on the duties of fashion editor at the magazine where the murder victim wrote, including a lovelorn column under another name. Had she given out bad advice—enough to die for?
Greenwood handles characters so well! They all come alive with each one’s foibles and strengths consistently portraying their essence. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: Bitch Creek
Author: William G. Tapply
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: The Lyons Press
Pages: 292
ISBN: 1-59228-435-3
Price: $22.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Stoney Calhoun doesn’t know who he is or what he’s been. He remembers the hospital stay, but nothing before that. He functions well as a fishing guide; however, when placed in a threatening situation, he reacts violently, in a calculated manner with killer instincts. Occasionally a man (from the government?) shows up to determine if he remembers anything yet. All this makes for a fascinating protagonist.
Bitch Creek is a masterfully written crime novel by a master writer. The author has over twenty books under his belt and teaches creative writing at Clark University. He knows all the trade tools and uses them well. As the protagonists flails his way through the murder of his best friend and the dilemma of loving his boss/business partner, who is married to an invalid, the author keeps putting up barrier after barrier to his progress. Just when you think the story couldn’t get more involved or complicated, it does. This is a read-all-night type of book. We rated it top five hearts scores.
Title: Blind Switch
Author: John McEvoy
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 278
ISBN: 1-59058-095-8
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Advertising executive Jack Doyle finds himself downsized unexpectedly and maneuvered into a job cleaning stalls at a racetrack with the understanding he is to fix an upcoming race. He does so, is paid a large sum of money, is ripped off by supposed friends, and finds himself being forced into undercover work for the FBI against a maniacally egotistical horse owner in another state.
The author uses acerbic humor and irony to portray his story. His insider knowledge of the horse racing milieu is instructive. He’ll have you rooting for the protagonist, hoping he solves both a murderous antagonist and his own life. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Carnage on the Committee
Author: Ruth Dudley Edwards
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 219
ISBN: 1-59058-133-4
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: December 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
What a delightful satirical mystery which takes to task the behind the scenes shenanigans of literary contests. When an obnoxious chairwomen is murdered, the contest’s judges are thrown into consternation until a no nonsense replacement, Lady Troutbeck, is brought in to drive the committee to completion and to solve the murder as well. Sometimes academia provides us with hilarious extremes. Ms Edwards pokes a needle-sharp wit into several inflated sacred cows, letting the air out to the deflation of the self-important literary community. Many passages were laugh-out-loud funny, especially since they ran so true to reality. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: The Coffin Trail
Author: Martin Edwards
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 286
ISBN: 1-59058-129-6
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
David Kind, an Oxford historian and TV personality, and his new lover, Miranda, a writer, decide to drop out and purchase a cottage in an isolated English village. David is drawn to the cottage because it was previously occupied by an autistic childhood acquaintance who was accused of a sacrificial murder of a beautiful tourist on a stone altar. David feels his friend, who fell off a cliff and died, was unjustly accused. He begins asking awkward questions in a community that is so isolated, they had to carry their corpses over a special trail to another valley’s church (hence the name coffin trail). His questions bring great danger to his and his lover’s lives.
This author writes with excellent visual detail. His characters are life-like, and the plot pulls the reader along. In addition to the crime aspect of this novel, relationships are highly important. David’s questions threaten not only his life, but the relationship with Miranda. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: Cold Burn
Author: Kit Ehrman
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 321
ISBN: 1-59058-143-1
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Once again, protagonist Steve Kline, horse barn manager launches into an undercover investigation of a missing person, this time, the brother of a friend. Taking the missing man’s job at a horse breeding operation, Steve finds himself caught up in unethical breeding practices and drug running.
The author creates a double whammy conflict between the investigation’s elements and the emotional aspects as to why Steve runs off to tilt at windmills while ignoring his own career and the relationship he has with a special woman. The plot is interesting and the setting and occupational details are engrossing. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Speaking Ill of the Living
Author: Mark Arsenault
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 250
ISBN: 1-59058-139-3
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
It’s hard to keep a good corpse down. Freelance reporter Eddy Bourque gets involved with a story about a banker who had supposedly been killed in a car jacking is now being held for ransom. Eddy must go to his long-unacknowledged convict brother to learn what might be at the bottom of this story. His life suddenly gets complicated by the appearance of a woman who has recently married his penitentiary-bound brother and is now claiming family rights.
Nothing is as it seems, and Eddy finds himself in a battle for his reputation and his life, which is complicated by good and bad cops. This is a fast paced read and incorporates the setting of Lowell, Massachusetts in a believable manner. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Xs
Author: Louise Gaylord
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Little Moose Press
Pages: 267
ISBN: 0-9720227-4-0
Price: $23.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
A lady lawyer from Texas gets a call from her modeling sister in New York, asking for twenty thousand dollars immediately. Allie, the lawyer, drains her savings account and then follows the money to New York. She finds herself in the middle of a police sting operation against a club of extremely wealthy playboys who play rough—even to the death—in a prostitution operation. She also chances upon a lost love from Texas who appears to be in law enforcement and has lost his Texas accent.
The author races through this romantic mystery, providing keen insights into the wealthy and the vice scene with accompanying sex and drugs. Her treatment of characters builds a credible story. We rated it four hearts.
Title: The Unseen
Author: Lee Driver
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Full Moon Publishing
Pages: 305
ISBN: 0-9666021-7-X
Price: $22.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is paranormal mystery writing at its best. The author blends the protagonist’s investigative skills with his lady partner’s Native American shape changing skills to capture a demonic ex-con, high-tech manipulating genius. The story’s pace moves along quickly and the relationship conflicts provide much spice to the story. These are specially talented characters who manage to overcome the challenges their paranormal skills bring into their lives while learning how to work together as a team.
The author has mastered excellent writing skills to put forth a gripping yet entertaining story. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: The Castlemaine Murders: A Phryne Fisher Mystery
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 240
ISBN: 1-59058-117-2
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This Australian author has begun to grow on me. Her protagonist, Phryne Fisher, is a highly sophisticated, social-dame of the 1920’s. Leaving an abusive English upper class household to be an ambulance driver on the front in WWI, she ends up in Melbourne, Australia as a private detective, who isn’t afraid to use a gun if she has to. In this book, she accidentally uncovers a frightening amusement park dummy in a fun house as a mummified corpse. While she is solving a decade’s old murder, she discovers connections to even her own English family. Meanwhile, her Chinese consort, Lin Chung is kept busy taking over the reins of his family’s mercantile empire from his grandmother while seeking to discover a large deposit of purloined family gold. The two’s investigations lead them to the town of Castlemaine, Australia, with much danger to both of them.
The author has created an absolutely delightful set of characters and background knowledge which surrounds her highly crafted story. Her ability to paint a visual setting is awesome, and the richness of her characterizations and dialogs are superlative. I rated this book five hearts.
Title: Sidetracks
Author: Valerie Connelly
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Nightengale Press USA
Pages: 258
ISBN: 0-9743348-2-0
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Sidetracks is a New Age mystery about a couple who are brutally assaulted and shot. While they are sorting out their previous relationships in the temporary afterlife, the woman’s lawyer and a police detective try to sort out who assaulted them and why. This is an unusual paranormal mystery and will appeal to readers who are interested in this spiritual realm. We rated it three hearts.
Title: Relative Danger
Author: Charles Benoit
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 256
ISBN: 1-59058-091-5
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Take a suddenly out of work blue collar worker from Pottsville, Pennsylvania and offer him the chance of a life time to travel the world, learn more about a black sheep uncle, and rescue a fabulous diamond, and you have the essence of this novel. Add in competing interests, new-found friends, betrayers, a stint in an Egyptian prison, and several parties with murderous intent and you’ll have this book’s framework. Now watch an essentially clueless bumbler try to function, survive, and grow within this context while learning to become a man of the world.
The author paints exotic settings, creates wacky but realistic characters, and sets a pace that will leave you breathless. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: Murder in Montparnasse
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 277
ISBN: 1-59058-042-7
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Phryne, an ex-WWI ambulance driver and sophisticated flapper girl has returned home from Paris to Australia. Here she has made a comfortable and interesting life for herself until old soldier friends begin to be murdered and she is asked to help them find the guilty parties.
This book reminded me a little of Nora of “The Thin Man.” There is understated elegance built into Phryne’s lifestyle. She is definitely her own woman, balancing an investigation service with an Oriental lover who is about to become married to a mailorder bride from China. The author’s characters are richly structure, and one can’t help enjoying this free-wheeling, independent protagonist. We rated it four hearts.
Title: The Merry Mascot
Author: Bobby Jaye Allen
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Accolade Books
Publisher Website: www.accoladebooks.biz
Pages: 223
ISBN: 0-9712082-3-9
Price: $9.99
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is the fourth book in a mystery series by the author. A popular lady professor who doubles as her college’s basketball team mascot, dressed in a rooster costume, is found dead hanging by her neck from the bell tower before an important tournament. Much to the surprise of investigating detective Brady Kincaid, the medical examiner makes the startling discovery that the lady professor was a “he.” The plot becomes more twisted from there. Organized crime and a gambling-hungry basketball star become involved and kidnap victims are dropped into the Arizona desert. Few are what they really seem to be.
The author has brought the romantic mystery to a new level of plot complexity. We rated this book three hearts.
Title: Family Claims
Author: Twist Phelan
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 241
ISBN: 159058-110-5
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Hannah, a young lady lawyer, work’s in her Father’s Arizona law firm with her older sister. She feels like a Cinderella before the Ball with lots of work and no respect. Everything gets dumped on her, including a real estate deal that has gone sour along with two million dollars of investors’ money. Her client may have prior mob connections. Her old cowboy love interest is shacking with her older sister, and she is on tether hooks about a law firm job open to her out East. This is not the best year of her life.
The author makes good use of her excellent setting descriptions and her personal knowledge of mountain biking to bring realism to her story. The inter-family conflict builds throughout the book, making its disfunctionality a part of the story and integral to its ending. We rated this book three hearts.
Title: Deadly Diversion
Author: Eleanor Sullivan
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Hilliard & Harris
Pages: 219
ISBN: 1-59133-076-9
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is the second medical mystery in the author’s series and the second I have reviewed. She gets better with each book. This one incorporates protagonist Monika Everhardt, an intensive care unit head nurse in St. Louis, with topics such as the misuse and abuse of nurses, the unionization of the medical field as backdrops to a plausible medical who done it. Monika must try to hold together her overworked staff while patients are dying mysteriously and drugs are missing from their secure cabinets. To add spice to the story, one of the dead patients is a mafia don with a vindictive family. Forget malpractice suits, these guys go for the throat, literally.
The author, a highly experienced nurse and nurse educator, brings her wealth of career detailed knowledge to her mysteries, making them very plausible. The fact many of her characters are not perfect and have plenty of foibles makes her story all the more real. I rated this book a score of five hearts.
Title: Cat Cross Their Graves
Author: Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Harper Collins
Pages: 306
ISBN: 0-06-057808-4
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: January 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is a nice cozy mystery centered on three unusual cats in a coastal town in Central California. The cats are unusual in that they are able to speak and read English, but they limit mankind’s awareness of their abilities to a select group of humans. Using their natural sense of curiosity and their unique abilities, they help the town’s police chief solve the mysteries behind a runaway twelve-year-old girl and a backyard filled with graves of dead children.
The author does a splendid job of portraying the cats’ points of view in a convincing manner. The pace is fast and the storyline is interesting. The ending not only has a good twist, it is strengthened with compassion. The book leaves the reader with a warm glow and feeling good about how it came out. We rated this mystery four hearts.
Title: An Image of Death
Author: Libby Fischer Hellman
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 285
ISBN: 1-59058-101-6
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
A video mysteriously shows up at the Chicago doorstep of independent film producer, Ellie Foreman. A surveillance film, the tape shows a lady being murdered. Libby shares the tape with the cops and begins an investigation of her own that takes her into the dark world of the Russian mafia. At the same time, she is dealing with ethical and independence issues with a super-rich real estate developer.
The author takes us into a sordid world of behind the scenes crime, yet allows the protagonist to keep her slightly bent soul. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Till The Cows Come Home
Author: Judy Clemens
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 288
ISBN: 1-59058-082-6
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Stella has run her own dairy farm with the help of her aged farmhand, Howie, since her teen years and her parents’ deaths. She’s worked hard with only a little time off to ride her Harley, acquire a few tattoos as societal statements. Children begin getting sick from a mysterious illness. Could it come from her milk? While she investigates her own operation, she has to fight off the attentions of real estate developers and the wiles of a handsome barn painter.
The author has nailed the family farm crisis superbly. Her rich descriptions tell a story so familiar to those of us with farm backgrounds. She is right on the money and in doing so, develops a female protagonist who is gritty and lovable at the same time. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: Desert Shadows: Publishing Can be Murder
Author: Betty Webb
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 280
ISBN: 1-59058-113-X
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is a must read for all writers, publishers, and bookstore people, as well as mystery lovers in general. The author builds an excellent mystery around a small hate-lit publisher’s death by water hemlock at a regional publishers’ tradeshow in Scottsdale, AZ. PI Lena Jones is asked to clear a dear friend of the crime. Nothing is as it seems as we are taken into the seamy world of small, niche publishing—in this case a racist niche.
Red herrings abound to the end while Lena fights for her friend’s life and deals with dragons from her own past. Stresses come from all sides, to include getting caught in a fire bombing incident. The pace is very quick and the characters are interesting. This is a highly educational book about the book industry and is bang on the money with its insider knowledge. We rated it four hearts.
Title: The Feline Friendship
Author: Michael Allen Dymmoch
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Thomas Dunne Books
Pages: 310
ISBN: 0-312-31016-1
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
John Thinnes is a homicide detective stuck with a rape case and a new female partner suspected of sleeping her way into the job. He hates both aspects. Then another rape happens, and soon more, but with the victims being murdered. A serial killer is running amok and Thinnes is stuck with breaking in a new partner, one who is quick to charge sexual harassment at the drop of a hat. Fortunately, he has the able assistance of a consulting psychiatrist, Jack Caleb. Thinnes is a straight, family man. Caleb is gay, yet their differences are set aside, enabling them to become an effective team.
The author does an excellent job of plotting with well crafted red herrings and twists and turns. The inevitable end is totally surprising just as the readers think they’ve figured everything out. The surprises just keep on coming up to the very last page. This fast paced book addresses many issues within the law enforcement community and society as it unravels its story. We rated it a high four hearts and look forward to the series.
Title: Plains Crazy
Author: J.M. Hayes
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 242
ISBN: 1-59058-132-6
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Plains Crazy is another wonderful mystery featuring the protagonist Sheriff English and his wacky Cheyenne-ophile brother, Mad Dog. Set in Central Kansas, nothing ever happens here except fo a young reality TV participant suddenly developing an out-sprouting Cheyenne arrow in his back (for which Mad Dog is suspected); a real Cheyenne shaman visiting to give spiritual guidance; bombings by Al Queda, and the sheriff’s wife giving an ultimatum to come to Paris, France today or don’t come at all.
The pace will pull you through screaming with laughter and terror. The characters are a hilarious group, and you’ve got to feel sorry for the poor sheriff. To top it all off, officials at the State and Federal level don’t believe the town’s pleas for assistance—Al Queda would never bomb such a forsaken community, right? We rated this delightful read five hearts.
Title: Speak Now
Author: Margaret Dumas
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 318
ISBN: 1-59058-121-0
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Wealthy heiress and fanatically dedicated to non commitment, Charley Van Leeuwen returns from a year’s sabbatical in England to study reparatory theater with a handsome retired US Naval officer husband of three days. Upon entering their hotel suite’s bathroom, Charley discovers the body of a dead, naked woman in the tub. Although hubby claims he was a weather officer, was he really someone much more—present at every political uprising throughout the world? Is the dead body a warning to Charley or maybe to her new husband? Will it have an impact on Charley’s own reparatory theater’s survival?
Although set in modern San Francisco, this book really has the feel of a 1930’s noir in which everyone is rich, cultured, and beautiful. The protagonist is not only likeable, but funny too. I found myself chortling along as the plot unfolded. The author brings just the right touch of sophistication and earthiness to her characters. A very enjoyable read, think of it as a rich, artsy girl comparison to Janet Evanovich’s mysteries. We rated it five hearts.
Title: The Fall
Author: Michael Allen Dymmoch
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Thomas Dunne Books
Pages: 246
ISBN: 0-312-32193-7
Price: $23.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Photographer Joanne Lessing is taking pictures of a flock of geese in the park when she witnesses a minor hit and run of a parked car. In an attempt to be a good citizen, she takes pictures of the driver and his car. The driver, a mob hit man, decides he must eliminate Joanne. She reports the accident to the police and discovers she may be the only witness connected to a mob hit a couple of blocks away. The FBI become involved and the agent assigned to her begins to fall in love with her and her teenaged son, whom she is raising by herself after a divorce. How the hit man attempts to eliminate her and how she deals with the threat to her and her son is unique.
This is a classic study in character development. The author makes it so easy to get inside the heads of the lead characters. The plot moves very quickly and we are allowed to see the characters evolve from their original motivations into areas they never expected to go. The author handles the shifts in points of view cleanly and her language is very descriptive. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: The Dogfather
Author: Susan Conant
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Putnam
Pages: 259
ISBN: 0-425-18838-8
Price: $9.98
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
When newly released mobster, Enzio Guarini, wants dog trainer and breeder of Malamutes, Holly Winter, to help him train his puppy, she’s afraid to refuse. To express his appreciation, he recommends her to others, and so she reluctantly becomes dog trainer to the mob. She becomes even more deeply involved than she’d like when a mobster-turned-FBI informant known as Blackie kills one of Guarini’s bodyguards. The official cause of death is heat attack, but Holly saw the bullet hole. To make matters worse, Guarini’s henchmen try to influence a dog-show judge to name Holly’s Malamute Best of Breed. Attempting to influence a judge can result in loss of showing privileges in all AKC dog shows, as well as a fine. How can she get out of this mess alive and with her reputation intact? Her attempts to satisfy her client’s wishes while distancing herself from him and his associates result in a fast-paced, funny read. The Dogfather is not only a good mystery, it also provides a look into the world of dog shows and training. It’s a sure hit with dog lovers. We give it four hearts
Title: Five for Silver
Author: Mary Reed and Eric Mayer
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 258
ISBN: 1-59058-112-1
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: March 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is the fifth in the “John the Eunuch” series. The authors consistently get better at their craft. This mystery takes place in Constantinople in 542 AD. Emperor Justinian’s Lord Chamberlain, John the Eunuch (rendered so by Persian soldiers when he was a POW), is confronted by his aged manservant, Peter, who has had an angelic vision that demands justice for a murdered old friend. The subsequent investigation is complicated by the Black Death plague, which is sweeping the region. Suspects and witnesses alike keep dying from the horrendous disease before John can reconcile truth in an atmosphere of intrigue where nothing is as it seems.
The authors do a wonderful job of drawing the reader into a setting that is both alien and yet chillingly too possible for modern times and the threat of bio-terrorism. The one constant between the ancient days and today is human motivations–greed, revenge, jealousy, and love continue to be understandable, regardless of context. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Fractal Murders
Author: Mark Cohen
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Warner Books
Pages: 320
ISBN: 0-89296-799-4
Price: $25
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This book is one of those self-publisher success stories we love to learn about. Back in November, 2002, we reviewed the self-published version of this book. Since then it made the Book Sense Top ten Mystery list and got picked up by Warner Books. Here is our original review. Read this book. You won’t regret it.
The Fractal Murders is a brilliantly written murder mystery by a currently seated judge. It is a story about a burned out Denver lawyer who has become a private investigator in the little town of Nederland, Colorado. A pretty mathematics professor hires him to discover if there is any connection between the murders of three highly competent fractal geometry professors (I wouldn’t dare try to explain the term here) professors scattered across the United States. The PI is flawed just enough by depression and sorrow over a dead lover to become endeared in the reader’s heart. The client becomes a potential love interest while powers at higher levels lurk in the background, constantly threatening, like the storms coming over the Rockies.
This is the best written first novel mystery I have ever read! Wow, it glued my attention to its pages. The author’s ability to clearly define and build complex math and philosophical concepts into the story line in an interesting manner is phenomenal. The protagonist is extremely likable and the plot is absolutely plausible. The story keeps the readers guessing whodunit right up to the end and the relationships await reconciliation in a follow-on, we hope. We rated this book an absolute five hearts.
Title: Masks of Murder
Author: C.C. Canby
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: j-Press Publishing
Pages: 254
ISBN: 1-930922-04-3
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Throughout this interesting first mystery, the reader experiences a unique perspective of a murderer, supported by a whole family of weird relations who talk about the necessity of his actions while bemoaning the danger he brings to them all. Their greatest concern is his killing of a detective, as well as the rape of a young college girl. It is the job of the dead cop’s younger partner to figure out who this strange killer and his cortege is while trying to hold together a very strained relationship with his fiancé.
The action is good and the author will keep you guessing all the way through. He does an especially good job with his characters and in capturing the setting of the twin-cities area of Minnesota. We scored this mystery four hearts.
Title: Murder—Technically: A Report on the Neighbor From Hell
Author: Michael Sadler
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: The Phoenix Group Publishing Co.
Pages: 490
ISBN: 0-9708747-5-8
Price: $9.95
Publishing Date: Summer 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Widower and acoustic engineer Ken Easton has retreated to his beautiful home by the sea south of Carmel, California. He spends his time developing earthquake damage detectors for buildings and courting death in the wild surf below his cliff-side home. He has found peace, if not happiness since his wife and baby boy died in an unfortunate car accident. Then a high-stakes poker game in Las Vegas starts a chain of events with immense impact on his life. The ownership of the lot next door to his finds its way into the hands of a sociopath with the turn of a card. The chain of events following threatens to destroy all Ken has left to love.
The setting descriptions in this gripping and unusual mystery are dead on. The characters are believable and unusual. The plot rushes to an end filled with surprises and revelations at every turn. The story is told through the eyes of a prison psychologist who chronicles events in the form of a dramatic report—a most unusual device, yet it works. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Bone Dry
Author: Ben Rehder
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 352
ISBN: 0-312-29132-9
Price: $23.95
Publishing Date: September, 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Blanco County, Texas has problems. There’s a drought and cedar trees are using too much water from the aquifer, so the brush-clearing business is booming. A Mafioso in the witness protection program wants to cash in on the boom, but environmental activists have targeted the county because an endangered species of bird needs the cedars to survive. If that weren’t enough for game warden, John Marlin, to deal with, a deer hunter is found murdered, a long-time resident turns up missing with blood all over his house, and the suspect in the murder takes a deputy hostage and claims he’s being railroaded. Marlin would rather be game warden than policeman, but he is dragged into the mess anyway. Slowly, he discovers that all these seemingly unrelated events connect in surprising ways.
Bone Dry is a hilarious, complex mystery. Ben Rehder’s engaging characters run from New Jersey mob to Texas redneck, with a tree-hugging environmentalist and his gorgeous companion thrown in. My favorite characters are two redneck brush clearers who aren’t as smart as they think they are. Someone should make a movie of this one. We give it five hearts.
Title: The Murder Book
Author: Jonathan Kellerman
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Ballantine Books
Pages: 516
ISBN: 0-345-41390-3
Price: $7.99
Publishing Date: September, 2002
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Los Angeles psychologist, Alex Delaware, receives a notebook full of crime scene photos in his mail and calls his friend, Detective Milo Sturgis. Milo immediately recognizes one of the photos as a brutal unsolved murder he worked on twenty years earlier. Who sent the book and why now? Milo had suspected a cover-up when he was removed from the case and moved to another precinct. Now he’s compelled, with Alex’s urging, to reopen the case. Gradually the homicide detective and the child psychologist unravel the secrets of a murder that compromises some wealthy families and the police department.
The Murder Book is another in Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware series and it doesn’t disappoint. It’s fast-paced and action packed and the characters keep evolving. We give it five hearts.
Title: the Mingrelian Conspiracy
Author: Michael Pearce
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 201
ISBN: 1-59058-069-9
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: August, 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Set in Cairo in 1908, The Mingrelian Conspiracy deals with a world far removed form today’s, but some problems remain the same, no matter the century. Gareth Owen, Head of the Secret Police, is faced with providing security for the coming visit from a Russian Grand Duke. A small Christian group, the Mingrelians, hate the Russians, but would they plan an assassination? Are a rash of protection-racket beatings of café owners connected to the conspiracy? An old book dealer’s interest in obtaining gold dust, and some missing explosives add to the Mamur Zapt’s headaches.
The Mingrelian Conspiracy is another in a series of Mamur Zapt mysteries. Michael Pearce writes with a quiet humor that grows on you. His characters are unique and the setting exotic. We rate The Mingrelian Conspiracy four hearts.
Title: Mardi Gravestone
Author: Sandy Semerad
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Wings ePress Books
Pages: 300
ISBN: 1-59088-792-1
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Mardi Gravestone is a romantic mystery set in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Journalist and widow Lilah and her daughter, Angela, are on the way to New Orleans from Florida to cover the vice-president as Grand Marshal of the parade. They have a run-in, literally, with a mysterious man who is sent into a coma by their strange auto accident. Lilah finds his luggage and takes it for safekeeping. She discovers a million dollars in his suitcase. The rest of the book deals with a newly discovered relationship and concern about America’s first woman president coming to speak at Mardi Gras.
This book is solidly written with many excellent setting and background details. The lives of professional journalists and musicians are explored well. We rated this book three hearts.
Title: By the Light of the Moon
Author: Dean Koontz
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Bantam
Pages: 460
ISBN: 0-553-58276-3
Price: $7.99
Publishing Date: December, 2002
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
When Dylan O’Conner is overpowered by a stranger in a motel and injected with an unknown substance, he is propelled on a journey to find out exactly what has happened to him and to escape unknown pursuers, who want to kill him. His autistic brother, Shep, and another “victim” of injection, stand-up comedienne, Jillian Jackson, join him on his break-neck quest. Dylan’s efforts are delayed from time to time by his need to save people he intuits are in danger. He is compelled to act, even at the risk of his life. Jillian also suffers from psychic problems, which they determine are caused by the injection. And then Shep begins repeating warnings. With time running out the threesome races to find the answers.
Dean Koontz has written another page-turner. I look for By the Light of the Moon to show up as a pilot for a television series. It would be a sure hit. This easily rates five hearts.
Title: The Last Cut: A Mamur Zapt Mystery
Author: Michael Pearce
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 210
ISBN: 1-59058-067-2
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: March 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This British author brings us yet another story about British colonial Egypt and the head of it secret police, the Mamur Zapt. Responsible for keeping the lid on things political, a potentially explosive situation arises with the annual temporary earthern damming of the Nile and the attendant cutting through of the dam with great ceremony. A mysterious “Lizard Man” is at the heart of sabotage by dynamite and a grisley death of a young maiden by a female circumcision gone bad. Meanwhile, a potential genocidal riot is brewing between Islamic and Jewish grave diggers who are supposed to make the final cut of the earth dam. Can trouble be averted?
This delightful series opens a window into a past that some in Great Britain would rather forget–the rule of third-world colonies. His characters and their attendant dialogue sparkle. There is tongue in cheek, dry humor dealing with serious subjects. The author has a unique way of describing and showing the Middle East of the 1800s. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: The Widow Ginger
Author: Pip Granger
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 234
ISBN: 1-59058-057-5
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: September, 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Told through the eyes of Rosie, a lively young child, The Widow Ginger is set in 1954 Soho. Rosie lives with her Auntie Maggie and Uncle Bert above their café. When the Widow Ginger, an ex-GI, shows up to get revenge on Uncle Bert and his friend, Maltese Joe for problems related to a black-market enterprise and the Widow’s imprisonment, Rosie is understandably terrified. Will the menacing Widow Ginger succeed in burning the café and possibly killing Bert, Joe, or even Rosie herself?
The Widow Ginger is populated by characters that could have been written by a British Damon Runyon. Rosie give us the story through refreshingly innocent eyes, but there’s no doubt that some of the characters are, if not actually criminals, bordering on it. They are quirky and real and great fun. The Widow Ginger is one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time, in any genre. It easily rates five hearts.
Title: On the Chopping Block
Author: Bobby Jane Allen
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Accolade Books
Pages: 205
ISBN: 0-9712082-2-0
Price: ?
Publishing Date: January, 2004
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
The town librarian is found brutally murdered in the bookstore the night before Early’s Founder’s Day fair. Visiting security officer, Brady Kincaid, is once again pressed into service to help the local police find the killer. With a famous author scheduled for a book signing, the murder couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the citizens and merchants of Early, Michigan. Who would kill a harmless librarian, and why? With the help of a few locals, Brady manages to unravel the mystery.
Another in Bobby Jane Allen’s mystery series set in Early, Michigan, On the Chopping Block leads the reader on a fast-paced quest for clues. A very satisfying mystery, with plenty of twists and slowly revealed clues, it rates four hearts.
Title: Deadly Kin
Author: Tom Eslick
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Penguin Putnam Inc.
Pages: 258
ISBN: 0-670-03248-4
Price: $22.95
Publishing Date: September, 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Will Buchanan teaches at a private high school in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. When his ex-girlfriend, Laurie, the county sheriff, asks him to escort her seventeen-year-old niece to meet her brother at a camp at Zealand Falls, he agrees, hoping to persuade Laurie to return to him. Laurie’s niece, Erin, is a troubled teen, and her relationship with her brother is a little too close. The death of Erin’s brother at the falls leads Will, Erin, and Laurie through webs of family secrets to their relentless pursuit by a killer. Will’s life is complicated Erin enrolls in his school and wants Will to be her advisor. When she accuses Will of sexual abuse, he must not only clear his name, he must save Erin and Laurie from a killer.
Tom Eslick has written a fast-paced mystery with intriguing characters, full of twists and beautiful scenery. We give Deadly Kin four hearts.
Title: A Taste of Murder
A Second Helping of Murder
Author: Jo Grossman & Robert Weibezahl
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 206/210
ISBN: 1-59058-076-1/1-590058-077-X
Price: $19.95
Publishing Date: 1999, October, 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Cookbooks with a twist. That’s what Jo Grossman and Robert Weibezahl have succeeded in producing with A Taste of Murder and A Second Helping of Murder. The cookbooks are compilations of favorite recipes from contemporary mystery writers. Some of the recipes come from the characters themselves; others are the author’s favorites. All of them are written to fit the theme of the books—mystery and murder.
A Taste of Murder includes sections such as: “The Pot Thickens” and “Fowl Play,” with recipes for “Gazpacho to Kill For” and “April Woo’s Crispy Hacked Duck.”
A Second Helping of Murder has sections called, “The Set-Up,” featuring a recipe for Deviled Eggs, in which a crossword puzzled must be solved to figure out the ingredients, and “The Proof is in the Pudding,” with a recipe for “Heavenly Lemon Mystery.”
All of the recipes are easy to follow and most have easily obtained ingredients. Some of the recipes are as quick and easy as making a peanut butter sandwich, while others, such as “Seafood Bledsonia” and “Munch Mancini’s Meatballs,” call for more preparation. A Taste of Murder and A Second Helping of Murder are not only filled with great recipes, they’re fun to read. The only things that could have improved them would have been some taste-tempting photographs. We give them four hearts.
Title: A Picture of Guilt
Author: Libby Fischer Hellmann
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 313
ISBN: 1-59058-073-7
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: July, 2003
Reader: Judy Schuler
Rating:
Documentary filmmaker, Ellie Foreman, realizes she has captured on film a man accused of murder. Her film shows he couldn’t have committed the crime, but when she comes forward with her evidence, people start dying. Because the film has been damaged by radio interference, the man is convicted. Ellie soon discovers that someone wants something from her and it seems to have something to do with the damaged film. What could be so important that someone would want to kill her for it? Her race to find answers leads her into dealings with the FBI and the mob.
Libby Fischer Hellmann has created a gutsy and entertaining heroine and set her in a city she obviously knows well. A Picture of Guilt is a fast-paced and very timely thriller. It rates our highest score of five hearts.
Title: Hot Plastic
Author: Peter Craig
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Hyperion
Pages: 352
ISBN: 1-4013-0044-8
Price: $13
Publishing Date: March 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Hot Plastic is a modern day Dickinson tale of a con artist, his teenaged son, and a young hoyden who comes along for the ride over a very gullible American, Canadian, and even a European landscape. Despite the disfunctionality and amoral environment inhabited by the three grifters, their own version of an honor code does develop. Eventually the father does prison time, leaving the son’s growing up process to his own devices. The ending is as quirky as some of the trio’s scams and totally unexpected.
The author has excellent writing skills and uses them effectively. Despite the negative subject matter, the book is a delightful read. We rated it five hearts.
Title: Restless Spirit
Author: S.D. Tooley
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Full Moon Publishing
Pages: 294
ISBN: 096660216-1
Price: $22.95
Publishing Date: 2002
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
This is a good example of the mystical Native American police mystery genre. Suspended policewoman, Samantha Casey, has uncontrollable psychic powers that enable her to see how murder victims were killed. Sam’s curiosity causes her to pick up an button off the ground at a new housing development. Her mind instantly flashes back over years to the murder scene of a young, pretty teenager. She witnesses the slaying of the girl during a night time beer party. When she begins to conduct an unofficial investigation as to why an innocent man is sitting on death row, her life suddenly becomes endangered.
The author uses her knowledge of police procedure and the mysticism to craft a good mystery. The conflict between Sam and those around her who have problems accepting her talents at face value make for an interesting book. We rated it a high four hearts.
Title: The Crystal Cavern
Author: Hannah Alexander
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher and/or Distributor: Barbour Publishing
Pages: 366
ISBN: 1=58660-767-7
Price: 11.99
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Jane Deskis
Rating:
The Crystal Cavern will keep you on your toes guessing all the way to the end. This is a book you don’t want to put down as you look for the clues that might lead you to the guilty party before the cast of characters figure it out. The Crystal Cavern is a wonderful Christian mystery full of suspense, budding romance, and a cast of characters that you become part of. This unlikely group of strangers is stranded together in an Ozark ice storm and must take shelter in an old house that has a cave entrance in its basement. Will this house and cave bring them the safety from the storm that they look for, or will it bring horror and death? Hannah Alexander does a wonderful job twisting the lives of the characters together and makes you suspect them all. This book gets 5 hearts.
Title: Death by the Glass
Author: Nadia Gordon
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Chronicle Books LLC
Pages: 274
ISBN: 0-8118-3678-9
Price: $11.95
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Death by the Glass is a lovely food & drink mystery featuring the protagonist, Sunny McCoskey. Centered in the Napa wine region, the story is about good cooking accompanied by fraudulent wine. A lot of wine bottle label switching is going on at a better than average restaurant. Someone thinks it’s important enough to kill the establishment’s co-owner with a poisoned glass of his favorite wine. Sunny uses a cast of zany characters to help her solve the crime while dealing with evolving relationships all around. This is a fun read, especially for wine lovers. We rated it three hearts.
Title: Everyone Dies
Author: Michael McGarrity
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Dutton
Pages: 336
ISBN: 0-525-94761-2
Price: $23.95
Publishing Date: Sept 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Everyone Dies is by far the best police mystery I’ve read this year. Santa Fe, NM, Police Chief Kevin Kerney and his wife, Army MP Ltc Sara Brannon, have taken leave for the birth of their son–a leave that turns into a nightmare as people from Kevin’s professional past begin turning up dead by an insane killer out for vengence. Will Kevin’s wife and baby be the next victims?
Written by a highly experienced police author, this book is marked by its sense of reality–a real “It could happen” feeling. The pace is compelling and the characters make total sense. We rated it five hearts.
Title: Mesozoic Murder
Author: Christine Gentry
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 280
ISBN: 1-59058-048-6
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2003
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:
Protagonist Ansel Phoenix and a group of students are on a dig for fossils on a pig farm, when they accidentally uncover a dead body–one who had been a one-night-stand for Ansel a few weeks previously. She becomes involved in discovering the murderer while trying to convince the Sheriff’s department she shouldn’t be a suspect.
This is a pleasant mystery with enough educational elements in it to make it interesting. The protagonist is believable and the storyline is involved enough to make it interesting. We rated this book three hearts.
