FMAM MOSTLY MYSTERY REVIEWS
 |
THE FMAM MOSTLY MYSTERY REVIEW is the place to come
to find out what to read next. Want to know what readers are saying
(as opposed to critics) about the books you see around you? You’ve
come to the right place! And, if you appreciate a critical review
we’ll have those, too. Come in, sit down and see what’s
write with the world! (Or, right in the world of write!) New reviews this month from: |
 |
|
|
||
April 2008
A Reunion to Die For
Lauren Carr
Thomson Gale Publishing,
June 2007, $25.95, 379 pages
ISBN: 1-59414-548-2
Twenty years earlier Tricia Wheeler, beautiful teenage cheerleader is found shot in the chest. It is ruled a suicide. Now, a famous television journalist, Gail Reynolds returns to her hometown to investigate that crime and attend her high school reunion. Jan, always in Gail’s shadows is now writing for the paper. Joshua Thorton, another of the member of the class has been elected the prosecutor.
Then in a strikingly similar fashion another cheerleader is also shot in the chest. Are the two crimes connected?
Seth Cavanaugh has recently joined the police force, but something does not seem right about him.
Tad MacMillan is Joshua’s cousin and a doctor. He treats just about everyone including Rex Rollins who is shot in his hip. His estranged wife Phyllis was aiming for his balls. Later, Rex claims he wrote a book about a murder and who committed it and then he is murdered. His room is set on fire destroying everything, but oddly enough the hard drive of his computer is missing. Did this pompous, obnoxious, illiterate man really write a book? And is so, who was murdered and who did it? As Joshua tried to figure it out, Gail is murdered and Seth is set on pinning it on Joshua. Hank, a friend and sexy woman flies in from Hawaii to defend him.
Yes, he was at Gail’s house that night but did he kill her? Who killed the cheerleader? Tricia? Rex? What is going on?
Would the reunion provide much needed answers?
A REUNION TO DIE FOR is a suspenseful read with plenty of murders and plenty of suspects. Who did it? Lauren adds in bribery, stalking, extortion, and attempted murders to spice it up even more. Did someone get away with murder for twenty years? And are the two cheerleader crimes connected? You’ll have to read A REUNION TO DIE FOR to find out and it’s worth the read! Lauren Carr has weaved a complicated plot of deceit, unrequited love, and lust!
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.9.
Boneyard
Michelle Gagnon
MIRA Books, July 2008,
$6.99, 376 pages
ISBN: 13:978-0-7783-2539-0
Kelly Jones is a special agent with the FBI. She is just about to go on vacation when her supervisor asks her to handle what might be a serial killer case that crosses state lines. Five bodies, well skeletal remains have been found in two states in what is being called a Boneyard.
When Kelly arrives at the Berkshires she is greeted by Detective Lieutenant Doyle just in time for the Berkshire Search and Rescue team to discover another body. But Doyle isn’t very hospitable; in fact he’s fairly hostile.
Monica Lauer, a Vermont State police officer represents the bodies found in Vermont and the three of them, Jones, Doyle, and Lauer form a task force.
THE FBI adds to the group a Forensic Anthropologist hoping to identify the bodies and obtain much needed clues on who had done these heinous crimes. Doyle insists on using their lab, yet their lab seems to have one speed, slower than a turtle. The task force despite Doyle’s lack of help identify one of the victims as a young gay man. This allows them to suspect that possibly the other victims may be young gay men as well. Kelly and Monica drag Doyle to the local gay bar to see if anyone is missing friends or relatives. But due to the transient nature of the season and traveling gay men, some could be missing and the men who hadn’t left yet couldn’t be sure. Danny was helpful to the best he could be and then he disappeared. Was he the killer’s next victim?
When the determination of the true heinous nature of the murders is determined, the task force is left wondering if there could be two serial killers or just one. The killer or killers tortures his victim probably for days, possibly reviving them to continue and then he gouges out their eyes. But it seems that with some of the victims the wounds are deeper and stronger and in other victims they are shallower and show possible hesitation. Two killers? Working together? An apprentice maybe? Or are there dueling serial killers?
And if the possibility of two killers isn’t bad enough Doyle isn’t being a team player. He’s been hiding the lab reports, talking to reporters, being lazy, all in all disrupting the task force.
It’s bad enough when your own team member doesn’t seem to want you to succeed but when Monica’s teenage son goes missing it becomes personal. Can they rescue Zach in time?
Who is killing these boys? Why? And who is the shadows watching the Captain as he brings a boy to a special place and then spends days with him only to bring his mangled limp body out later?
Michelle Gagnon has written a fast paced thriller that keeps the reader on edge. Who can be trusted? Who is a good guy? How long has the killer been killing these boys and who else knows about it? Who is the other killer of young men? What makes Ms. Gagnon’s book such a scary, great read is that she brings us right to the edge in what very well could be a true crime and not just a well done work of fiction. For a wild walk on the dark side of crime and terror, read BONEYARD, you won’t be disappointed! Excellent!
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 5.
State of the Onion
Julie Hyzy
Berkley Publishing, January 2008,
$7.99, 336 pages
ISBN: 978-0425218693
Olivia Paras has just picked up a silver frying pan, a gift for Henry, the White House Chef. Henry is retiring and if things go right, Olivia will replace him as chef. She walks though the White House grounds as she sees the Secret Service chase a man. She attempts to avoid the situation until the intruder gets the drop on the two Secret Service agents. Then he runs straight for Olivia. What choice does she have but to hit him with Henry’s frying pan. So she does, more than once. He goes down. As she wields the potentially deadly frying pan he struggles to tell her the President is in danger. At that moment Secret catches up to them. They seem to know each other but Olivia is whisked away before she can see or hear more.
Later, when the news covers the intruder, Olivia studies the news version convinced that the man’s face has been changed. She contacts her Secret Service boyfriend Tom who blows it off.
Olivia is told that the intruder is a former Secret Service agent named Naveen and he is being held by the local police. She attempts to contact him, but they deny having him. Later Naveen calls her and asks her to meet him at the merry-go-round where she witnesses his murder. An infamous assassin, the Chameleon has struck, and is probably gunning for the President. But no one seems to want to listen to Olivia.
And if that’s not bad enough, there is a new obnoxious sensitivity director, television cooking star Luarel Anne wants Olivia’s job, and a rush state dinner has been ordered.
The Chameleon attempts to kill Olivia. She is haunted by his light eyes. She knows who he is and that makes her a liability.
Will Olivia survive to become the White House Chef? Who is the Chameleon?
STATE OF THE ONION is a delightful cozy. Olivia is a charming sleuth who is compelled to get to the bottom of what is going on and save her President if necessary.
Jule Hyzy has served a delicious blend of mystery and delectable recipes. Umm umm good! As Ms. Hyzy weaves dishes through the story she made my mouth water, especially the dishes Bucky made! STATE OF THE ONION is a fun, fast read. It is a great escape.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.9,
Trouble in Bloom
Heather Webber
Avon, $6.99, 242 pages
ISBN: 978-0-06-112971-1
Nina Quinn’s landscaping business is doing well. Her life seems to be okay. She and her ex husband are on friendly terms. She has custody of Riley her step son, whom she loves dearly. Life is good until her ex boyfriend Bobby returns from Florida asking her to help with a legal case for his cousin. They are needed to appear on a reality television show called Hitched or Ditched where after a week, the audience will determine whether the couple should get hitched or be ditched. Unfortunately, Hitched or ditched is a sleazy reality show, and it is testing Nina’s will power. She thought she was over Bobby, but there he was, looking all Bobby and all, and Nina was goo.
On there first production meeting, Nina and Bobby and the other couple for the show meet with the producers. Nina excuses her self to find a bathroom and to snoop and she walks in on the wife of the producer having sex with the host. They don’t realize she is there so she is able to slink away.
A camera crew follows Nina around as she goes about her work. We meet her very determined mother, and her cousins, one of which is a sex pot that has the hots for Carson the TV reporter doing a behind the scenes report for the nightly news.
When Genevieve Sala, the bosses wife and new host of the show is murdered, Nina investigates.
But that’s not the only crime for Nina. As she is putting in a special greenhouse room in an elderly resident’s home, a very valuable ring goes missing. The caretaker is positive that one of Nina’s employees stole it as Nina has a penchant for hiring ex cons.
Who killed Genevieve? Who stole the ring? Will Bobby and Nina get back together?
TROUBLE IN BLOOM is a delightfully charming cozy. Nina is a fun character but the secondary characters are equally as fun and colorful. This is one in a series of Nina Quinn mysteries. I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, it appears to be a continuing series rather than stand alones within a series. Personally, I like when a book wraps all the pieces up even if it is part of a series. This books ends in a continuations mode. Some questions are answered and some are not. I prefer them all to be. Other than that, I loved it. There is plenty of witty repartee between characters. Heather Webber has won me over; I am now looking for Nina Quinn mysteries.
On a scale of 1 to 5, I give it a 4.7.
Main Book Reviews Index
All rights reserved.
Contact Lida: publisher@fmam.biz
Website contact: webmaster @ fmam.biz