Title: Pariah
Author: Thomas Zigal
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: The Toby Press
Pages: 330
ISBN: 9781592641611
Price: $9.95
Publishing Date: June 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
This is the third in a series of mysteries about Kurt Muller, a reformed hippie sheriff. In an effort to curry political favor, the sheriff agrees to allow an auction of himself for a date. An old flame and wealthy heiress wins the right with a $10,000 bid. She wants his undivided attention to listen to her fears that a rock and roll idol of a husband, which she was suspected of killing twenty years before, is really alive and has been sending her threatening letters. He promises to look into the situation, ends up in the sack with her, and returns home. A couple of hours later he learns she has been murdered and is suspected of being the killer by his own department. Despite facing a recall action, Sheriff Muller wades into an investigation of an impossible murder.
This makes for extraordinary reading with twists, turns, and a race to the end, or is it over? We rated it five hearts.
Title: If It’s Not One Thing it’s A Murder
Author: Liz Wolfe
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Medallion Press, Inc.
Pages: 403
ISBN: 9781933836393
Price: $7.95
Publishing Date: Aug 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This is an unusual mystery that features Skye, a career house wife who walks in on her husband and his lover caught in the act. To make matters worse, his lover is another man. Skye finds herself in a divorce while trying to deal with her college freshman daughter (who discovered dad’s in-the-closet condition a year before). As if life couldn’t get more complex, Skye finds she needs to defend her good friend, who has been considered a suspect in what may have been a mercy killing of her very ill husband. She also finds herself coordinating her neighbor’s daughter’s wedding. Then things begin to get even more complex.
This was a most unusual story. It moves quickly and has a great number of twists and turns. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Fiddle Game
Author: Richard A. Thompson
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 236
ISBN: 978-1-59058-455-2
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This interesting mystery combines the elements of fine, collectible priceless violins with the customs and scams of the Rom Gypsies. Herman Jackson, a St. Paul bail bondsman, witnesses the tragic murder of a customer after she has just left him a priceless violin as collateral for her brother’s bail, or has she? The reader spends most of the rest of the book trying to figure out what is truth in an environment of scams, counter scams, and favors, as well as more deaths.
The author writes authoritatively on his topic and presents a non-stop storyline. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Cries & Whiskers
Author: Clea Simon
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 251
ISBN: 978-1-59058-464-4
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This Theda Krakow mystery continues examining a journalist who has become a freelance writer of the Boston club music scene. She’s also a cat lover. She becomes embroiled in trying to save feral cats in her neighborhood and finds herself involved in the murder of an animal activist. Meanwhile, her significant other police detective is laid up with a broken knee and can’t do much to help, although her own cute kitty, Musetta, helps as well as she can.
The series is musically enlightening and also quite realistic as to the freelance writing life. We recommend it to mystery lovers, writers, and cat lovers. It is a classic cat mystery with the edginess of demanding editors and competitive musical performers. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Dark Horse
Author: Mike Langan
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Five Star / Thomson Gale
Publisher Website: www.mikelangan.com/training.html
Pages: 301
ISBN: 978-1-59414-664-0
Price: $26.95
Publishing Date: Feb 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 3 hearts
Nicky Rigopoulos, a major partner of a law practice, tries to balance running for a judgeship seat with womanizing and his law practice. His life suddenly gets far more complicated when his lady law partner is murdered and all evidence points toward him. Then his life becomes far more complex when his wife and then one of his lovers are murdered. The police are convinced he is the murderer, so Nicky must stay out of their hands while he attempts to find the real culprit.
The author uses his personal experience as a practicing attorney to lend a degree of realism to this legal mystery. We rated it three hearts.
Title: The Marathon Murders
Author: Chester D. Campbell
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Night Shadows Press
Pages: 224
ISBN: 978-0-9799167-1-7
Price: $14.95
Publishing Date: Feb 08
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This fourth mystery by the author is especially entertaining for those of us in the silver/no hair set. Retired Air Force OSI investigator Greg McKenzie and his partner/wife Jill become involved in a case that spans a current mysterious disappearance of old evidence in a cold case stretching back to the turn of the 1900s. Hired by a woman working for a clandestine government agency and an Air Force Colonel working for the Defense Intelligence Agency who have gone to bat for her grandfather whose ancestor was falsely accused of stealing money from the Marathon Car Company. Exonerating papers are found in a wall of the plant while it goes under refurbishment and the man who contacts the grandfather turns up dead.
Greg McKenzie’s inner dialogue and the interactions with Jill give the reader a the thoughts of seasoned professional senior citizens. The story is fun to follow and the dialogue is realistic. We rated this mystery four hearts.
Title: Blood and Circuses
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 208
ISBN: 1-59058-235-7
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This Phryne Fisher mystery introduces the reader to the world of Australian circuses and carnivals shortly before the depression years. Phryne has been asked to find out what is behind a series of problems and catastrophes with Farrell’s Circus. To do so, she must go deep undercover and become a performer herself. This is complicated by the murder of one of the tenants of a boarding house frequented by circus personalities.
As always, this delightful protagonist and champion of women’s rights leads the reader through a wickedly complex trail of crimes and passions. The author’s characters all add to the wonderful mix of story and solutions, each from his or her unique perspective. We rated this one four hearts.
Title: Landmark Status
Author: Alan H. Rolnick
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: iUniverse
Pages: 315
ISBN: 0-595-42716-2
Price: $21.95
Publishing Date: Dec 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This comedic mystery is a hoot, especially if you are familiar with the Miami/Southern Florida region. Protagonist Benjy may have adequate funds to afford a comfortable lifestyle, but he has terrible luck. The book opens with Benjy and his classic 1965 Mustang parked in the wrong place at the wrong time—a wrecking ball breaks loose from its cable and rips off the convertible’s roof, barely missing Benjy. His luck goes downhill from that point.
All the situations revolve around typical Miami characters and its wacky real estate scene. This book makes for an enjoyable romp through a hilarious scene revolving around greedy developers. Purloined skeletons, tribal leaders, and loony PC do-gooders play important roles alongside Cuban politicians and long-time residents all come together over an old Bar and land on which it sits. We rated this fun read four hearts.
Title: The Ragtime Kid
Author: Larry Karp
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 353
ISBN: 1-59058-326-4
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
One of the blessings of being a book reviewer is learning all kinds of neat trivia. As a music major and a player of both big band and combo jazz, I had no idea that Sedalia, Missouri, a community only eighty miles away from where I live, was the birth place of ragtime jazz. This is the setting and timeframe that the author has chosen to build upon to craft this diverting mystery. Brun Campbell, the 15-year-old protagonist leaves Oklahoma and home to learn the “colored music” of Scott Joplin. Brun literally stumbles over a young woman’s body outside Sedalia. He comes across evidence linking the corpse to a newly made friend, Edward Fitzgerald. He also discovers the evidence points toward his new mentor, Scott Joplin. He decides that he must help his new friends by finding the real killer.
This author, a physician, writes very well. He knows how to bring out little details in such a way as to make his story context come alive. I have read several of his books, and he has consistently done this. He blends real people and fictional characters in very convincing ways. We Rated this latest work five hearts.
Title: False Fortune: A Pinnacle Peak Mystery
Author: Twist Phelan
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 292
ISBN: 978-1-59058-363-9
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: Sept 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
I have watched this author from the time she wrote her first mystery and we met at the first Mystery Conference in Manhattan, KS several years ago. She has written four mysteries in this series and each has gotten better. This latest one is her best so far. She mixes protagonist Hannah Dain’s interest in kayaking and the excellent descriptive settings of Arizona, as well as the legal profession. In this mystery Hannah gets caught between very powerful money interests of tribal gambling and industry, and corporate polluters of the worse kind. Woven in and around the action are her inter-family conflicts and a love interest gone awry. We rated this effort five hearts.
Title: Fire Prayer
Author: Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 282
ISBN: 1-59058-402-3
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 3 hearts
Investigator Storm Kayama and her partner Ian Hamlin leave their Honolulu-based practice to investigate the disappearance of a wealthy scion on the island of Molokai. Stormy has also been requested by an old high school friend to check on his diabetic son. Suddenly several characters begin disappearing, including the son and his father. Further complicating the plot is a dark underground of ancient Hawaiian dark shamanism.
The author does a good job of explaining the conflicts between old Hawaiian culture and modern white culture. The story is further complicated by Storm’s feelings for her partner and his toward her. We rated this mystery three hearts.
Title: The Day Will Come
Author: Judy Clemens
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 237
ISBN: 1-59058-299-3
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This continuing mystery series features a rebellious lady dairy farmer, Stella Crown, lover of motorcycles, tattoos, friends, and rock and roll. This particular mystery focuses on a murder in a Philadelphia rock club of a young girl singer. While she seeks to protect a suspect and solve the crime, she is having love relationship problems with Nick, her long distance boyfriend. This all has to happen between twice a day milkings. To further complicate matters, she has to assist her hired lady helper get ready for her wedding.
The author weaves complex plots with improbable characters in such a way as to make the combinations realistic and interesting. Stella is an easy protagonist to love. She is just kinky enough to draw a sense of sympathy. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Buffalo Mountain
Author: Frederick Ramsay
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 257
ISBN: 1-59058-369-8
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This mystery presents an unusual scenario: Ike Schwartz, a Jewish retired CIA operative has come home to the mountains of western Virginia to become the county’s new sheriff. A dead body shows up just inside his county’s boundaries and Ike recognizes it as an old KGB operative. Suddenly the CIA and the FBI become involved.
The author develops fascinating characters, which makes for interesting reading. They readily become people of interest, almost like a soap opera for men. This story has some very unusual twists with surprising reconciliations. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Earthly Delights: A Corinna Chapman Mystery
Author: Kerry Greenwood
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 239
ISBN: 1-59058-393-0
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: June 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
I admit it. I am a hard core Kerry Greenwood fan because of her Phryne Fisher series. Now she’s started a new series with a delightfully different protagonist: Corinna Chapman. Corinna is not so liberated feminist in your face as Phryne; however, she’s definitely her own person. Walking out on an unfulfilling marriage and the grinding career of accounting in the money market, Corinna gives it up to become a high quality baker of pastries and breads.
The new career and life style have given her pleasure; however, all that is threatened when a junkie collapses onto her alley grate. What is happening on the Melbourne drug scene? Greenwood is known for her strong characters. She exceeds her writing with this cast of crazy, eccentric neighbors. Corinna is milder than Phryne, but is endearing in her own way. Greenwood shows her versatility with the character cast and settings of this new series. She even includes some pastry recipes in the books back. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: Identity Murder
Author: Jean Sheldon
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Bast Press
Pages: 252
ISBN: 978-0-9723541-3-4
Price: $14.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
Kerry Grant, is caught in an interesting dilemma. As a computer guru for the Chicago Police Department, she has been assigned to an undercover assignment with the mafia’s online gambling and internet scamming operations. She finds herself caught in the middle of a mob war over territory rights and having to teach the mob just enough to make their computer operations effective while still leaving the means for government agencies to monitor and counter the mob’s illegal computer activities. Her position is further complicated by the presence of another government undercover agent with whom she falls in love.
This book is a wonderful teaching tool as to the dangers of both the internet and traditional scamming operations targeted toward an unwary public. Added to these threats is the very real nightmare of identity theft and how hard it is to prevent, detect, and curtail. This is a must read for the American public. We rated this book a high four hearts.
Title: Island Blues
Author: Wendy Howell Mills
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 270
ISBN: 978-1-59058-397-5
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: April 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This delightful cozy mystery is about Sabrina, a woman going through a middle-aged crisis away from her home in Ohio, and now living in the Caribbean on Comico Island. In need of a job, especially since her Ohio home hasn’t sold yet, Sabrina takes on a newly established position as the island’s ombudsman—the person who represents the interests of visitors and keeps the lid on incidents. Unfortunately, the job isn’t as easy as she thought. First is a string of unusual burglaries that leave everyone accusing anyone and everyone. With the murder of a controversial guest to the island and a weird paranormal phenomenon, Sabrina is hard pressed to keep that lid on the boiling island pot while trying to solve the murder.
This is a fun read, paced just right. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Amen Corner
Author: Rick Shefchik
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 323
ISBN: 1-59058-411-2
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
Police detective Sam Skarda has been rehabilitating from a gunshot wound received in the line of duty while on the Minneapolis Force for two years. His old partner and now boss wants him to return to the department. His rehab golfing on public courses, however, has landed him a once in a lifetime opportunity—an invitation to play at the Masters in Augusta, GA. While he’s down there, the Master’s Rules Committee Chairman is found murdered on the club grounds called “Amen Corner.” There is evidence the murder may be linked to a Women’s Lib protest. Then, a lady reporter from the New York Times is found murdered. The club hires Sam to solve the killings quickly and quietly.
The author brings an air of authenticity to the story. A professional journalist, he shows his familiarity with police work, golf, the media, and the Masters. This is an excellent first-time novelist. We rated his book five hearts.
Title: Lipstick and Lies
Author: Margit Liesche
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 305
ISBN: 978-1-59058-321-0
Price: 24.95
Publishing Date: April 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
During WWII, many women stepped up to take the place of men going off to war. In this excellent historical mystery, a young lady, Pucci Lewis, not only becomes a pilot of war aircraft needing ferrying, but receives counter intelligence training from the OSS and finds herself working for the FBI against high society women who may be involved in espionage for Germany.
This is an excellent walk back into history. My own mother became a Link Trainer instructor and trained night time instrument flying to young men going off to fight in their airplanes during WWII. This first novel reminded me so much of the boundaries these women overcame out of necessity. We rated it a high four hearts.
Title: Fool Moon
Author: Jim Butcher
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Penguin
Pages: 342
ISBN: 0-451-45812-5
Price: 7.99
Publishing Date: 2001
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This second book in a series is a unique approach to the classic PI mystery. In this case, the protagonist, Harry Dresden, is the only true wizard in Chicago. He couples his skills in the arcane arts to solve and fight against paranormal crimes. Acting as a consultant to the Chicago Police Special Detachment, Harry faces multiple gangs of were wolves in this delightful mystery filled with strange murders.
We learned about this series from a couple of customers at our bookstore. They were right. This is a very fun series. We rated it a very high four hearts.
Title: Black’s Beach Shuffle
Author: Corey Lynn Fayman
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: iUniverse
Pages: 175
ISBN: 0-595-40267-4
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: March 07
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This Southern California-set mystery provides the reader with an interesting view of the dot com start-up world through the eyes of Rolly Waters, a recovering alcoholic, part time rock musician, and even more part time private eye. Returning to the scene of a late night party at a modern mansion to retrieve a valuable guitar he accidentally left behind when his band packed up for the night, Rolly sees a body floating in the swimming pool and leaves in a panic. He soon finds he has been hired to locate an important disc which is the key to a high stakes business startup. He soon finds it in his guitar case from the party, but also discovers the body has been moved to a beach below the house.
The author has an excellent talent for describing the Southern California scene and allowing his flawed protagonist his head in following a twisted, complex path to a strange conclusion that manages to mix the porn movie industry with the dot com world. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Circle of Assassins: Tales from the Back Page #2
Author: Steven Rigolosi
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Ransom Note Press
Pages: 256
ISBN: 978-0-977387-4-6 / 0-9773787-4-8
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: April 15, 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This is a rather ingenious mystery written in a much different format than is normally expected. Is someone making your life miserable? Have you entertained thoughts of killing him? What if you saw a classified ad that proposes you join a circle of conspiracy, which is structured around the idea of you killing someone else’s nemesis and having some other member of the circle kill yours. Would you do it? This is the story concept portrayed by this structurally agile author. The success of the story depends on his ability to shift points of views and timelines. The plot line is filled with surprises that the reader won’t see coming. His ability to get inside a character’s head and communicate it to the reader is uncanny. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Poison Pen: Death Lies Between the Lines
Author: Sheila Lowe
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Capital Crime Press
Pages: 284
ISBN: 978-0-9776276-0-8
Price: $14.95
Publishing Date: March 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
A high visibility Hollywood public relations maven is found dead with an apparent suicide note lying nearby. Handwriting analysis expert, Claudia Rose, is hired by the PR lady’s partner to determine if the note’s printing is indeed genuine or a forgery, which may make the case the difference between suicide or murder. Claudia’s efforts are hampered by the murder of her client and the complications of a developing romantic attraction between her and the investigating homicide detective. Further investigations open up a political can of worms fraught with kinky sex and blackmail.
The author, who is an internationally renowned handwriting expert in her own right, is also the author of two bestselling nonfiction books on the subject and the author of an award-winning software package for handwriting analysis, brings an impressive sense of reality to this, her first fiction effort. We rated it a very high four hearts.
Title: The Do Re Mi
Author: Ken Kuhlken
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 368
ISBN: 1-59058-337-X
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: Nov 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This mystery takes place in California gold country—pot gold, that is. In the small town of Evergreen, two brothers come together for a folk festival, but find themselves targets of a murder set-up and caught between local law enforcement, pot raising hippies, and pot poaching bikers. Clifford Hickey finds himself trying to vindicate his on-the-run adopted brother who stands accused of killing a deputy sheriff’s nephew while getting ready to sing at the fest before he goes to law school. He quickly finds himself a target of all the warring factions while discovering the love of his life in the form of a Jesus freak local girl.
The pace is rapid; the story, based in the early 70s, is hauntingly familiar to we older folks; and the characters are powerful. We rated this book a high four hearts.
Title: Extraordinary People
Author: Peter May
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 321
ISBN: 1-59058-335-3 or 978-1590833-5-7
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: Nov 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
A French iconoclast disappears without a trace ten years ago. Scottish biologist and ex-forensic scientist, Enzo Macleod, who lives and teaches in France, takes on this cold case as a bet with his local police chief. In doing so, he places both himself and his family in danger from forces in the elite political realm. Jacques Gaillard, the missing teacher of France’s ruling class, is found piece by piece in a grim scavenger hunt, despite resisting government officialdom.
This is possibly the best crafted mystery we’ve reviewed in 2006. It’s all there: clues, red herrings, fractured relationships, dangerous romances, and much more. We rated this excellent mystery a max five hearts.
Title: Murder, Suicide, Whatever
Author: Gwen Freeman
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Capital Crime Press
Pages: 281
ISBN: 0-9776276-1-6 or 978-0-9776276-1-5
Price: $14.95
Publishing Date: March 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This is a rather humorous mystery featuring two unlikely protagonists, a lady insurance claims adjuster and her Tom Sawyer-like n’ere-do-well brother who is more than willing to claim expertise at anything if it means conning someone out of anything—even grief counselor, if it gets him info or the chance of getting laid. These two go from the uptight to the outrageous. They have been hired to solve the death of a porn industry insurer whom all hate and no one cares about, or do they? The author’s characters make her story come alive. The reader will be kept just as busy determining who done it as she will be trying to guess what will be the next totally outrageous ploy to froth out of the demented brother’s brain. This story is a hoot and makes for enjoyable snickering times around the fire. We rated it four hearts.
Title: Try and Catch the Wind
Author: Michael Murphy
Illustrator: Chrissie Poe
Publisher and/or Distributor: Wings ePress
Pages: 310
ISBN: 987-1-59705-089-X
Price: $11.95
Publishing Date: February 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
Recently widowed and retired NYPD Detective Casey Bannister, has chosen to settle in Greenburg, a rural village in New York. Because he had a successful career in serial killer cases, he is invited to come to a crime scene by the Sheriff’s Deputy/son. A pretty nude woman has been found lying in the wood chipper tray at the local dump, choked, stabbed, and missing a finger. When the highly irate and bullying sheriff arrives, Casey is ordered to leave; however, he soon finds himself brought on as a consultant by the State’s lead sex-crime investigator and former partner/illicit lover, Shannon Danziger. Having spent the first two months in the community as a recluse in the house his dead wife had always wanted, Casey suddenly finds himself thrust back into the homicide investigation game and forced to learn about the townsfolk.
This is an excellent police mystery and wonderful first novel in a new series. The author effectively uses all the tools of the writer’s trade to craft a riveting story. We ranked it five hearts.
Title: Choking Sam
Author: William DeNisi
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Lakeside Communications Publishing
Pages: 441
ISBN: 978-0-9771075-1-3
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
This is a superb story that incorporates both police and special ops elements about North Korea acquiring alien weapons technology from a downed flying saucer. Their weapon causes massive earthquakes and tsunamis, but it is lost in an accident over the water. Deputy Sheriff Mike Sullivan is hauled back into special ops to go look for the weapon while another deputy is left to deal with North Korean sleeper agents and assassins back home in Orange County, California. Think of a combination of Clive Cussler and Marcus Wynn and you have an idea of this author’s wide range of talents. We rated this excellent thriller five hearts.
Title: The Dead Detective
Author: Lorene Robbins
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Swimming Kangaroo Books
Pages: 289
ISBN: 1-934041-04-1
Price: $?
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
Computer consultant CJ Thomas goes with a friend to meet a new client, a nerdy pawn broker. When he doesn’t answer their knock, they open his apartment door to find his shotgunned corpse on the floor. The investigating detective turns out to be someone CJ dated once in high school, and she finds herself falling for him. This relationship is complicated by a relative of the pawn broker accusing her of the murder and the fact only she can see and hear the ghost of the pawn broker, who is asking her to solve his murder. CJ finds, despite her initial repugnance and weirding out, that she is falling in like with the ghost. Will they find the real murderer and the motive? We rated this funny, “Ghost Whisperer”-like story five hearts.
Title: Before I Wake
Author: Dee Henderson
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Tyndale Fiction
Pages: 396
ISBN: 978-1-4143-0815-9
Price: $13.99
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
This Christian romantic police mystery is a welcome addition to the genre. Ex-FBI agent Rae Gabriella comes to “Justice,” a rural Illinois town to begin a new career as a private eye partner with ex-Chicago Police Department boyfriend, Bruce Chapel. She arrives in the town, only to get a speeding ticket from the community’s Sheriff, Nathan Justice, a member of the founding family. This initial goof up leads to a later delivery of roses. It also leads to working on a case involving multiple murders of ladies in the town. Soon Rae finds she is a target of murder as well.
Devoid of sex scenes, the story is a study in motivations and platonic, respectful relationships. The three protagonists develop a very close relationship while dodging threats and bullets. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: Deadly Laws
Author: Jim M. Hansen
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Dark Sky Publishing, Inc.
Pages: 420
ISBN: 978-0-9769243-3-3
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
Jim Hansen is more than an experienced trial lawyer, he is a master of the erotic serial killer mystery. Deadly Laws is his latest and best in a series of similar novels set in the Denver area featuring protagonist Bryson Coventry, the 34-year-old head of Denver’s Homicide Unit. Bryson never knew a beautiful woman he didn’t love, literally, and is the classic romantic who easily falls in love with love until the next easy conquest raises her head. In this twisted tale, a strange serial killer captures a woman victim and then directs another woman to be her rescuer. If there is no rescue, the victim dies a slow lonely death or commits suicide. The rescuer performs with other victims until she eventually becomes a victim herself.
Jim’s plots are hairy, his pace is harried, and his stories are kinky. He is a master of Alfred Hitchcock-like endings which really throw the readers off the track and yet are logically explained eventually. None of his books end like one might expect. For those readers who like to predict endings, be very careful out there. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: A Merry Band of Murders
Editors: Claudia Bishop and Don Bruns
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 315
ISBN: 1-59058-301-9
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
Poisoned Pen Press continues to take chances on excellent and unique mystery venues, for which they are to be commended. This is an unusual collection of short stories which have three themes in common: each must be a mystery, each must use music as a common thread, and its author must be a professional level musician/singer. In the back there is a musical CD with a related song to each story by performed and often written by the author. We rated this unique collection four hearts.
Title: Cattery Row
Author: Clea Simon
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 227
ISBN: 1-59058-306-X
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts
What a punny title! Edgy protagonist, Theda Krakow, is attempting to make freelance writing work after having spent years as a safely secure journalist. At the same time, she needs to find out why show cats are being kidnapped all over Boston and why a well-known cat breeder/judge has just been killed. Her freelance assignments take her back into the girl-band/performer arena of her younger years.
This is a wonderfully accurate and eclectic commentary on the freelance writer’s life, the show cat scene, and pop music. The author’s adept way of mixing the three areas and communicating them to her readers in a funny but knowledgeable way is amazing. We rated this book five hearts.
Title: Putting Lipstick on a Pig
Author: Michael Brown
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 244
ISBN: 1-59058-287-X
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
Intellectual properties lawyer Rep Pennyworth is asked to give the eulogy at a funeral of a much hated fellow attorney Vance Hayes, who had apparently drowned by falling through the ice of a Wisconsin Dells lake. Apparent is the correct term because so much is not as it seems about his death or the people who loved to hate him. This is an intellectual’s read. The author, a highly educated and accomplished lawyer in his own right, takes us behind the curtains of justice to learn about intellectual properties law, the Midwestern Hmong community, left behind POWs and the people who make money off of them, and much more. We rated this book four hearts.
Title: To Thine Own Self Be True
Author: Judy Clemens
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Poisoned Pen Press
Pages: 226
ISBN: 1-59058-298-5
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts
Single motorcyclist dairy farmer, Stella Crown, likes tattoos. While getting yet another, she dozes off in the tattoo parlor’s chair. While asleep, the tattoo artist and his young son disappear, and his wife is beaten and left to die from exposure to freezing weather. Helped by an old flame and her mother/daughter tenant team, Stella races to solve the mystery while eliminating herself from the short suspect list.
Clemens does an excellent job of expanding our awareness of the biker/tattoo and the dairy farm cultures. The protagonist fights society, romance, and her own needs to maintain her appearance as an independent , free wheeling woman who marches to a very different drummer. We rated this book four hearts.
