MURDER-GO-ROUND: REVIEWS BY HARRIET KLAUSNER
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Harriet Klausner, was chosen the number
one reader in the entire USA by BOOK Magazine. What does that mean
to you? She reads constantly and knows what's out there and wants
to let you know, too. Read on for tips to great books from the wonder
reader Harriet Klausner. |
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February 2010
SPQR XIII: The Year of Confusion
John Maddox Roberts
Minotaur, Feb 16 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312595074
In the year 46 BC in Rome, Caius Julius Caesar is now the Director of Rome. He plans to rebuild the city making it grander as expected of the capital of a great empire. One of his pet projects is to create a new calendar using astronomers and astrologers from around the world. Thus he appoints Senator Decius Caecilius to oversee the project alongside of Cleopatra’s head astronomer Sosigenes.
At first Decius is more concerned with Cleopatra being in the city than he is of a bunch of scientists creating a new calendar. However the situation turns dangerous when an astronomer Denades is murdered with his neck broken. He has strange markings on his neck but the doctor feels it it hard to judge how the killer made them. Even the Chief Physician in Rome does not how the killer was able to extinguish is prey. Caesar orders Decius to find the killer, which proves difficult to accomplish because all suspects are lying about something or concealing something.
As always John Maddox Roberts writes a fantastic Ancient Roman mystery that gives the reader a sense of the era and the culture during the time of Caesar. This enables the audience to envision the City-State Empire warped inside a whodunit. Decius is a great detective, whose investigation is all the more remarkable because of the limitations of sleuthing in the first century BC. Sub-genre fans will enjoy joining him on his inquiry.
Harriet Klausner
A Dark Matter
Peter Straub
Doubleday, Feb 9 2010, $26.95
ISBN: 9780385516389
Nomadic charismatic guru Spencer Mallon arrives in Madison, Wisconsin accompanied by his beautiful lover Meredith Bright and subservient University of Wisconsin students, Keith Hayward and Brett Milstrap. The charmer invites several high school students which include Lee Harwell, his tomboy girlfriend, Lee “Eel” Truax, Howard “Hootie” Bly, Jason “Boats” Boatman, and Donald “Dilly” Olson to attend a night ritual. Before the sun rises, Hayward is dead and Bright vanished.
Over the years each has coped differently to that horrid night that changed all of them. Milstrap has avoided responsibility preferring Peter Pan to adulthood. The Lees married, but Eel has since lost her sight. Bly was taken to a mental institution on that horrific night and remains there while citing Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter as his only form of speech. Bright came out of whatever hole she had hidden inside of to marry into power. Boatsman went from shoplifter extraordinaire to shoplifting crime prevention extraordinaire. Filly Olson has never moved on. All will converge to relive what each chose to psychologically forget about that deadly night when novelist Harwell writes a nonfiction account of the horror that still impacts all of those who attended Mallon’s malevolent ritual.
This is a convoluted but enjoyable horror thriller as Peter Straub keeps the audience guessing whether what happened was a group psychological hysteria or something evil from beyond. All of the survivors realize they do not have total recall of what occurred in spite of the college student’s death. Although at times difficult to fathom what truly happened as murky memories make for a murky story line, fans who prefer something different will want to know what the students faced on the night that changed each of them.
Harriet Klausner
A Dog at Sea
J.F. Englert
Dell, Dec 29 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780440245414
He has an extremely high IQ and loves to read a variety of boojs; unusual traits in a canine. Randolph the Labrador and his less intelligent human companion Harry are on a canine cruise in which both species have the freedom of the Nordic Bliss as poop decks have different meanings. Ostensive the duo are enjoying their time at sea; but actually are following a clue to Imogen, Harry’s beloved human love and Randolph’s mistress. Fearing for Randolph and Harry in that order, she faked her death because a bad person with influential allies wanted control of her uranium fortune.
On board they meet Milton Tabasco, TV’s dog “mutterer”, who hypnotizes canines with his voice. At the Captain’s Table for dinner, Milton and his wife Kitty argue and she storms out of the dining room. Later, Randolph and Harry see her crying on the deck. Soon afterward they learns she jumped overboard and is assumed dead. Randolph sniffs Tabasco and concludes Milton killed his spouse. However the smell changes to regret so Randolph wonders if his original olfactory conclusion stinks. When someone else dies in a box that Milton uses as part of a magic trick, Tabasco was nowhere near the victim at the time of the murder. Randolph investigates and scents another homicide, but has to find a way to tell the tone deaf authorities who the killer is; he comes up with a devious brilliant plan.
Reminding me of my late Max (who understood the spelling of words like pizza and treat) and I am sure other readers of their brilliant dogs, Randolph loves to eat, eat, and eat yet always takes into account the best interest of his BF. In his third canine caper (see A Dog About Town and A Dog Among Diplomats), the sentient dog is at his best as he expects to dine, poop, sleep and dine, but the ship staff wants him to lose weight. His perspective (on the murders, the inquiry, exercise, and dieting, etc.) makes for a wonderful anthropomorphic whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
Sizzle
Julie Garwood
Ballantine, Jan 2010, $26.00
ISBN: 9780345560779
In Los Angeles film student Lyra Prescott decides as her final project in Professor Mahler’s class to make a documentary on Parisso Park, a dumping ground filled with broken bottles, dirty disposable diapers, old newspapers, and an assortment of other discarded trash. Near the “land filled” playground is a beautiful garden oasis that contrasts to the toxic dump. On her way home, Lyra stops at a yard sale in which Mrs. Rooney is giving away all her husband’s things.
Lyra takes the CDs and tapes; unaware that crime boss Mr. Merriam wants his foot soldier Milo to snuff out the Rooneys as they have something that could put him away for a long time. His goons go to collect the evidence, but it is not where it is supposed to be. They learn Lra might have what they are seeking. Two men are holding Lyra’s roommate Sidney Buchanan prisoner waiting for her arrival. The two females escape and Sydney uses her contacts to get a bodyguard to protect Lyra. FBI agent Sam Kincaid arrives to do the job, but is stunned by his attraction to Lyra, who knows she can easily fall in love with her protector. They are shot at, her house is trashed, and a bomb is set under her car. Sam vows to risk his life to keep her safe though neither knows what the perpetrators want.
Sizzle is the appropriate name for this action-packed romantic suspense thriller as the relationship between Sam and Lyra never cools down. Fast-paced from the moment the hoodlums arrive and never taking a tension breather on the romance or suspense fronts, fans will be stunned to learn who is calling the shots and what the villains seek. Although the escapes especially the pre Sam getaway seem unlikely, Julie Garwood provides her fans with a great taut thriller with everyone (except the bad guys) rooting for this couple to not just survive but to make it together.
Harriet Klausner
Last Snow
Eric Van Lustbader
Forge, Feb 16 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9780765325150
Jack McClure, Strategic Advisor to his best friend President of the United States Edward Carson, is in Russia where he negotiates with President Yukin on a pact to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Carson is informed that Senator Lloyd Bern died in Capri; he was supposed to be on a fact finding trip to the Ukraine. He made an unscheduled stop to Kiev where the last person to see him was K. Rochev.
The President sends Jack to the Ukraine to find out what happened. Before he leaves his hotel Jack rescues Russian FSB Agent Annika Dementieva from an ambush by her lover a minor thug in the local Mafia. When they get on the plane, the First Daughter Alli Carson demands to come with them as he is the only man she trusts (see First Daughter to learn why). As they investigate Bern’s death, Jack concludes there is a traitor inside the American President’s most inner circle of advisors and probably one inside of Yukin’s most trusted advisors. Additionally he wonders whether Bern was murdered rather than dying accidentally as reported. As he continues his inquiry while keeping the two women accompanying him safe, others try to manipulate him, but obviously they don’t know Jack.
This sequel is as entertaining and exciting as its predecessor is. Events are straight from headlines as Jack, Alli and Annika traverse Eastern Europe through a landscape of crime including murder. No one is safe especially the likable trio whose flaws feel genuine. For instance Jack uses his work to bury his mind from obsessing over the recent death of his daughter; this grief propels him to take risks with his life but not if it endangers his two compatriots. Eric Van Lustbader provides his refreshing version of Bourne with the escapades of Jack.
Harriet Klausner
The Red Door
Charles Todd
Morrow, Dec 29 2009, $24.99
ISBN: 9780061726163
In 1920, WWI veteran, Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge still struggles with his military time though he successfully is able to investigate crimes (see A Matter of Justice) and conceal his mental issue Hamish even from his astute visiting godfather. Rutledge is assigned the case of the disappearance of missionary Walter Teller, who mentally broke down in London and was taken to a nearby clinic where he apparently left. The inspector questions Walter’s family especially focusing on his two brothers, Peter and Edwin.
Rutledge is next assigned to look into the Lancashire stabbing murder of Florence Teller, wife of an apparent different Peter Teller than Walter’s brother; a Peter who failed to return from the Great War. Still he finds the surnames too coincidental to ignore though he cannot fathom the otherwise link beyond The Red Door that Florence painted for her husband who never came home.
Extremely complicated, the latest Inspector Rutledge historical police procedural is a timely thriller on two fronts. First the hero and Walter suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as do many of our soldiers today; second the Spanish Flu of 1918 still leaves fear in many people as does Swine Flu today. The whodunit is super (though Hamish’s voice feels somewhat irritating) and the depth of the era is as always insightful without superseding the mystery as team Todd provides another strong Inspector Rutledge tale.
Harriet Klausner
Hold On Tight
Stephanie Tyler
Dell, Jan 26 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780440244363
The Joint Task Force mission rescued the U.S. ambassador and his family from a hostile takeover of an embassy in Djibouti, Africa but left team members Navy SEAL Mark Kendall and FBI agent Josiah Miller dead in an explosion. Navy SEAL Chris Waldron and Delta Force operative Cameron Moore survived.
FBI Special Agent Jamie Michaels questions Chris, who has some memory lapses from the moment of the explosion, and Cam to tell what went wrong. Chris and Cam separately insist leader Josiah ordered them not to enter the embassy, but Mark disobeyed the command. Later that night Chris sneaks out of the hospital to spend time with Chris alone as both remember the heat from their last mission together two months ago. Each wonders where their relationship will go as both have ghosts from their past haunting them. However, her boss informs her that Josiah did not die from the explosion as first thought. Instead he was murdered from a bullet between his eyes; a bullet that super sniper Chris could have fired using a war scenario as fog to cover up the crime. He is the only suspect. When someone breaks into her home, Chris vows to uncover the truth and keep his woman safe.
The third SEAL romantic suspense (see Jake Hansen in Hard to Hold and Nick Devane in Too Hot to Hold) is a terrific investigative tale as the hero is the prime murder suspect and the woman who loves him is the Fed assigned to prove he committed the homicide. With a second romance enhancing the exhilarating story line, fans will want to hold on as Stephanie Tyler completes her best friends’ SEALS trilogy with a rousing roller coaster finish.
Harriet Klausner
Split Image
Robert B. Parker
Putnam, Feb 23 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9780399156236
Paradise, Massachusetts is not the place where one would expect major crimes, but like any town in America, they do happen here too. Sunny Randall, private investigator and sometimes lover of the Chief of Police Jesse Stone, comes to town at the behest of her clients. They want her to rescue their daughter Cheryl DeMarco from the cult Bond of Renewal who promotes peace and love. Cheryl refuses to leave, but soon afterward vanishes. Sunny needs to find her because she believes her parents kidnapped her and she is legally an adult.
At the same time, Jesse has a double homicide to investigate. Two allegedly retired gangsters (Reggie Galen and Knocko Moynihan) were married to identical twins (Becca and Robbie) and lived next door to one another inside gated communities Petrov Ognowski, a former foot soldier in Galen’s mob, was found dead in the trunk of his car. Galen’s brother-in-law Knocko was gunned down in what looked like a professional hit. Petrov’s irate father, a powerful mob boss, plans to find his son’s killer before the cops do; this adds pressure on Jesse to solve the case with evidence he can bring to the District Attorney.
This short concise mystery conjures up vivid images as Robert B. Parker provides a powerful thriller. Split Image brings together Sunny and Jesse once again (see High Profile, Shrink Rap and Family Honor) as they take their relationship one step further as each deals with the loss of their ex’s by talking to separate shrinks. Their respective subplot inquiries make for a powerful story line as she looks deep inside a dangerous cult and he looks deep inside a dangerous mob. Who needs Spenser when you have Sunny and Jesse?
Harriet Klausner
The Man from Beijing
Henning Mankell
Knopf, Feb 16 2010, $25.95
ISBN: 9780307271860
In January 2006 in Sweden, the police arrive at Hesjovallen to find a battered corpse on the outskirts of the jarringly silent village. Eighteen more severely destroyed bodies are found inside homes; not one living person remains inside the hamlet with no clues where they went. Dissonantly from the brutal scene is a red ribbon and a nineteenth century diary written by Andren as a gang master of Chinese slaves working the transcontinental railway found in the snow near the first body the cops saw.
Judge Birgitta Roslin reads about the worst mass murder massacre in Swedish history. She is stunned that her Andren grandparents are among the dead; but even more shocking the branch of the Andren family living in Nevada were also brutally murdered. She feels compelled to learn what happened in Hesjovallen and Nevada. The clues from the diary already take her back to the American Civil War and China then and now; as well Zimbabwe and Mozambique. However, all roads eventually lead to London's Chinatown.
Although Wallander takes a deserved respite, fans of Henning Mankell will fully appreciate this super thriller that focuses on modern day global issues with links back to the middle of the nineteenth century. The story line is fast-paced driven predominately by Birgitta as she disagrees with the police conclusion that a lunatic committed the mass murders. She thinks a deliberate intelligent person on a vendetta killed those whose blood caused generational blood flow of his or her family. The Man from Beijing is a one sitting winner.
Harriet Klausner
Foolproof
Barbara D'Amato, Jeanne M. Dams, Mark Richard Zubro
Forge, Dec 22 2009, $24.99
ISBN: 9780765322661
During the 9/11 assaults on the Twin Towers, Brenda Grant and Daniel Henderson, who worked in the World Trade Center, were in the Brew-Ha-Ha coffee shop. Their contemporaries at a software firm including Brenda’s fiancé Jeremy die in the terrorist attack.
As the 2008 presidential election winds down, in Manhattan someone pushes thirtyish computer engineer Sarah Swettenham into traffic. Swettenham was to meet with Grant who along with Henderson opened up AllTech, a software security firm. When Grant learns Swettenham’s computers are missing, she concludes an assailant deliberately killed her and stole her computers. National Security Agency’s Allen Cooper already hired them to look into polling machine fraud; now their two inquiries converge in Cairo and DC.
This is an exciting over the top of the Washington Monument, the Pyramids and football nation as the conspiracy tied to elections never quite gets grounded. Still this is a fun tale that uses real American election dirty tactics and fraud (thankfully ignoring the phony issue of an individual at the poll voting as someone else) committed by both parties as the base for an enjoyable steal the presidential election conspiracy thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Victim Six
Gregg Olsen
Pinnacle, Feb 1 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780786020447
In the Puget Sound area, Samuel and Melody Castile abduct Celesta Delgado. They rape and torture her before killing her. Victim number two is Marissa who receives the same treatment from the married couple. The count rises as the married couple stalks, hunts, and kidnaps their targets.
Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office Detective Kendall Stark knows a vicious serial killer-rapist is on the loose. At the same time the cop fears the worst is happening in her county, Melody’s sister Serenity thinks her brother-in-law may be a killer; at a minimum she knows he is a lunatic. She fears for melody’s safety, unaware that Samuel has selected her as Victim Six and that her sibling is not just aware of her spouse’s murders, but a willing participant.
Victim Six hooks the reader due to the up front and in person deep look at the killing couple as the fast-paced story line comes across with an odd duality of feeling on one hand the story seems over the top of Mt. Rainier and on the other the tale seems plausible. This dichotomy demonstrates why Gregg Olsen is so good at suspense thrillers as readers will believe the Castile duo could have been the villains in the Frighteners as much as Disturbia. Well written and exciting from start to finish, fans will be hooked even knowing who the killers are early on and anticipate the sibling showdown. With a slick final twist, Victim Six is a super serial killer thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Black Rain
Graham Brown
Dell, Jan 26 2010, $7.99
ISBN 9780553592412
National Research Institute (NRI) undercover operative Danielle Laidlaw leads a specially selected team on a journey into the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest in search of a lost legendary Mayan Underworld Xibalba. Their goal is to learn the source of mysterious radioactive crystals that appears to be a cheap clean energy source brought back in artifacts by Blackjack Martin in 1926, but ignored until now.
In Manaus, Brazil, colleague Arnold Moore shocks her when he tells her she goes in alone as Operations Director Gibbs recalled him to DC. Irate but intrepid Laidlaw trusts no one on this expedition to have her back; as Moore was the one person she would and could depend on with her life. Having her transportation and supplies bought from under her; Laidlaw knows her party is not the only group searching for Xibalba. Ruthless billionaire Richard Kaufman will kill to monopolize the technology. Danger also lurks from tribes like the nomadic Chollokwan that kill trespassers and a strange creature that is even more dangerous. Unbeknownst to Laidlaw and her team is that they are the second unit NRI sent into the Amazon; the first group is presumed dead.
Black Rain is an exciting Mayan mythological thriller with a frantic pace once Laidlaw leaves Manaus for the jungle. Filled with violence and brutality including some unnecessarily overly described passages that feel more like page fillers than graphic escapades, readers will be caught up with one of the fastest action-packed thrillers of the year; seat belts are a requirement.
Harriet Klausner
Stolen Seduction
Elisabeth Naughton
Love Spell, Jan 2010, $6.99
ISBN 9780505527950
With the murders of her father and her cousin, police officer Hailey Roarke has become the prime suspect as she has the motive of inheritance. Ironically Hailey became a cop because she preferred law enforcement over the profitable family business. However, now Hailey races against the real killer trying to solve the riddle of the six statues in order to control Roarke Resorts. Thus she breaks into the home of her late cousin to steal a bronze statue.
Detective Shane Maxwell is assigned the two homicide cases. He and Hailey met at his sister's wedding and he was instantly attracted to her. Although he knows she might have killed her cousin and even her father, Shane risks his career and perhaps his life to help her solve her father’s puzzler and prove her innocence.
The third Stolen thriller (see Fury and Heat) is once again more an action investigative tale than a romance as the lead couple focuses on the inquiry more than their attraction. This makes the tale work as it did in Stolen Heat although as previous the romance is powerful while enhancing the whodunit. Fans will enjoy the efforts of Hailey and Shane as they fall in love while he decides between arresting her for murder and making love with her.
Harriet Klausner
The Midnight House
Alex Berenson
Putnam, Feb 9 2010, $25.95
ISBN 9780399156205
Following the New York incident (see The Silent Man), CIA agent John Wells receives some needed R&R. He takes off for rustic New Hampshire with only his dog Tonka as his hiking mate.
However, his respite abruptly ends when his assignments boss Ellis Shafer calls asking him to come back to work as he is needed. An assassin has killed probably five members of the defunct 10 manned Task Force 673, whose mission was to interrogate high-value terrorists; they had no rules except obtain information anyway they can. John searches for the killer with the biggest barriers coming from within as security agency chiefs are willing to allow more Americans to die in order to gain more power.
Shakespeare said “All’s well that ends well”, but even if he ends the serial killing spree, the espionage operative learns otherwise as Pogo trumps the Bard with “we have met the enemy and he is us”. The latest Wells’ spy thriller is more a whodunit except for the penis envy testosterone wars between the American spy agencies. Fans will appreciate Alex Berenson’s super thriller as his hero may be The Faithful Spy, but others place agency desires over national security.
Harriet Klausner
The Last Surgeon
Michael Palmer
St. Martin's, Feb 16 2010, $26.99
ISBN 9780312587499
Former battlefield trauma surgeon Dr. Nick Garrity suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder following a suicide attack on his field hospital in Afghanistan. Back home in Baltimore, Nick runs the Helping Hands RV mobile clinic that provides medical care to the homeless while struggling to contain his PTSD symptoms.
At the same time Nick drives the streets of the city, someone kills Central Charlotte Medical Center Cardiac Surgery ICU nurse Belle Coates in Charlotte, North Carolina. Belle's sister Jillian leaves her home in Virginia to uncover the identity of the person who killed her sibling. She soon finds a tie to Nick and his homeless clients; several of whom have abruptly vanished from the streets as if swept away; neither realizes who is spying on them.
The Last Surgeon is a fast-paced enthralling conspiracy medical thriller that grips the audience with a need to know why the homeless are vanishing and the professional hit man killed Belle. Nick is a fascinating protagonist who suffers from PTSD while Jill is a kick butt heroine. Fans will enjoy Michael palmer’s latest action-packed tale as the CIA secretly operates.
Harriet Klausner
The Proof Is in the Pudding
Melinda Wells
Berkley, Feb 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425233115
In North Hollywood, public relations specialist Phil Logan informs widow Della Carmichael, the hostess of In the Kitchen With Della, that she is one of the three judges selected to score the Celebrity Cook-off charity event at the Olympia Grand Hotel. The other two judges are Yvette Dupree and Keith Ingram. Phil warns her that her Della’s Sweet Dreams partner Eileen O’Hara is seeing womanizing Keith, who rumors have it will dump her to marry wealthy Tina Long, daughter of the Olympia Grand’s owner. Keith dumps Eileen, but tells her she will be his mistress as he has tapes of their sexual encounters with his face blurred that he will release.
At the gala, Eileen’s father Police Detective John O’Hara punches Keith in the face. While cook Wolf Wheeler performs an incredible juggling act with pots, pans and food, someone releases a smoke bomb. When the air clears and the panic ends, Keith is dead from a knife to his throat. The prime suspect is John, who the lead detective Hatch (known fondly by Della as Hatchet) hates.
Although readers know who will be murdered when Eileen hysterically calls “Aunt” Della, fans will enjoy the latest Della Cooks mystery (see Della Takes the Cake). Della is courageous as an amateur sleuth and insane as a break and enter “thief” when she sneaks into the victim’s home to attempt to steal the tapes. With wonderful recipes after case solved and some included in the whodunit, culinary mystery fans will appreciate Della’s risking her life to keep Eileen out of a sex scandal and prove John did not commit the homicide.
Harriet Klausner
Wild Penance
Sandi Ault
Berkley, Feb 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780425232323
Bureau of Land Management Resource Protection Agent Jamaica Wild works out of the Taos, New Mexico filed office. She runs along fences to make sure there are no holes in them; if they contain rips usually means someone is doing something illegal. One morning while running Jamaica stares up at the Rio Grande Gorge bridge only to see activity where there should be none. Two men drops a cross with a man tied to it into the river below; the current takes the cross with its rider.
Jamaica believes someone wants to disguise a murder by making it look as if the ancient Christian sect Los Penitentes, who reenact Jesus' crucifixion as part of their extreme penance, committed the act. She learns the corpse is Father Ignatius who warned her to stop asking questions about Los Penitentes who react rather swiftly and ugly to inquiries and loathe outsiders asking questions about them. Three men break into her car to steal a book Jamaica is writing about this sect. A car follows her and her house is broken into. However, the trauma she faces is raised when someone tries to kill her at a lingerie show. Not one to idly sit back, Jamaica with an unexpected ally goes after her tormentor with help from the late Father Ignatius.
Fans are going to love the latest Wild thriller as we are thoroughly drawn into the world of a little known sub-culture that receives support from the masses. The sect conducts much of its practices un secret because the Catholic Church would prefer they vanish as their modern day penance is considered extreme by most people. The protagonist is a strong woman who may receive a lot of punishment, but obstinately refuses to back down as she remains dedicated and committed although the danger mounts. Jamaica is terrific, but Wild Penance is owned by Los Penitentes.
Harriet Klausner
The Things That Keep Us Here
Carla Buckley
Delacorte, Feb 2010, $25.00
ISBN: 9780440245094
Peter and Ann Brooks separate after he informs her he does not love her. A year later single mom Ann works and raises their two daughters. She learns that the virulent form of H5N1 virus has reached phase five, leading to the closing of all schools by the feds. Accompanied by her neighbor Ann goes to the store fearing quarantine so she stocks up on necessities. When Ann returns home, she finds her estranged husband and his co-worker Shazia there.
Ann invites them in to stay for now but in separate beds. The Feds declare the anticipated quarantine in which everyone is to remain indoors. Over time as the pandemic spreads, the people inside the Brooks’ home become claustrophobic; food supplies dwindle as she bought for herself and two youngsters and not two additional adults; electricity goes out during a storm; and firewood is low. Ann’s best friend is dying from the virus so leaves her son in front of Ann’s house. She fears bringing the child inside as the disease is probably incubating inside him, but Peter overrules her. Peter also takes care of a stray dog whose owner died, but Ann resents his using their dwindling food he gives to the child and canine. Everyone remains in danger unless a vaccine is manufactured as half the population is dead, others are dying, and sustenance supplies are becoming scarce.
The Brooks family trials, tribulations and triumphs serve as a microcosm of what is faced by other people throughout the world. Some become heroic helping the needy; others try to protect their immediate loved ones; and finally those exist who commit legal and moral crimes. Ann owns this apocalyptic thriller as she feels strongly that her kids come before others in an imploding world gone mad; the opposite of Peter. In her debut, Carla Buckley provides a thought-provoking thriller that asks her readers who would they become if civilization somewhat vanished.
Harriet Klausner
Thereby Hangs a Tail
Spencer Quinn
Atria, Jan 5 2010, $25.00
ISBN: 9781416585855
Chet’s human pet Bernie Little is a private investigator, whom the canine helps solve cases by using his nose and bark. Their current client is Countess Adelina di Borghese from Passaic, New Jersey, who lives on an expensive ranch with plenty of horses also residing there as she has come a long way from being an urban Jersey girl. Bernie has been hired because of threats to her and her pampered dog show-dog Princess. The case is an utter bore to Chet and tedious to Bernie as nothing happens and barking is disallowed.
However, the situation on the ground changes when the Countess and her royal canine princess are kidnapped and dog-napped respectively. The search and rescue mission goes badly as Chet is separated from Bernie only to be snatched and sold to a punk running away to Alaska. Escaping this miscreant Chet ends up having the military try to kill him when he accidentally wanders on to an exercise site to take a decent leak. However, Bernie becomes truly motivated when reporter Susie Sanchez disappears while covering the abduction of Princess story. Chet’s motive is doggie treat and a hero’s welcome, canine style from one of the snobbish victims.
The key to this canine noir told mostly by Chet in between bodily needs is that first and foremost he comes across as a dog and not a “human” inside a canine’s skin. Chet makes the tale of the tail as he relates stories or follows clues partially only to be sidetracked by a need like a good tree or a cat. The kidnapping story line is well written and entertaining as fans will enjoy Chet’s escapades Dog On It in a world in which humans make stupid rules of where to pee, mount, bark, bite, and eat as if canines are the ones not doing what comes natural.
Harriet Klausner
Treasure Hunt
John Lescroart
Dutton, Jan 12 2010, $26.95
ISBN: 9780525951445
In San Francisco private investigator Wyatt Hunt is feeling the economic down turn as clients are almost nonexistent. His receptionist Tamara Dade quit leaving Wyatt with one employee her brother, Mickey, who is bored and wants field work, but no clients hire the firm.
Mickey has his chance when he finds the body of activist Dominic Como, who was on the board of over a dozen charities. He persuades his boss to let him investigate, which should bring in fame and money. Several suspects surface with strong motives from money to jealousy, but the prime person that Hunt and Dade focus on is Alicia Thorpe; and not just because she is beautiful, but due to her acting as if she is concealing something from the cops and the sleuths.
The latest Wyatt Hunt private investigator case (see The Hunt Club) is a fast-paced thriller that seems to go nowhere until a final gala with cops and suspects so that the hero can pull a dead rabbit out of the hat. Still Treasure Hunt is fun to follow as Wyatt and Mickey work the city streets to solve the case of the charity mogul murder.
Harriet Klausner
If Books Could Kill
Kate Carlisle
Obsidian, Feb 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451228918
She works at the book arts center in San Francisco and is considered an expert in book restoration. Brooklyn Wainwright is also called upon to authenticate whether a book is genuine or a fake. Currently she heads to the world- renowned Edinburgh Book Fair where she will meet with friends and associates, teach a few sessions, and sit in on lectures.
Her plan implodes when she runs into her former boyfriend Kyle McVee who asks her to authenticate a book allegedly created by eighteenth century bookbinder William Cathcart containing never before published poems written by Robert Burns in which the renowned author infers he had an affair with Princess Augusta Sophia, daughter of King George III. Rumors have survived to the present that he got her pregnant, which, if true, would leave the British royalty with a nasty black eye. He also tells her he has received threatening letters and calls. That same day whiles Brooklyn is sightseeing, she finds the body of Kyle killed with one of her bookbinding instruments. The local lead cop suspects Brooklyn so to clear her name she investigates Kyle’s murder.
As in the first Bibliophile mystery (see Homicide in Hardcover), Brooklyn finds the corpse of someone who was close to her at one time (a sub-genre hazard). The author’s second cozy is breezy fun due to a taste of the city and false clues with dead end trails. Although in trouble with the law and who knows who else, Brooklyn keeps her sense of humor, mostly self deprecating as she finds even Princess Street dangerous. A terrific romantic subplot enhances her stay in Scotland that she hopes is not a lifetime event as she learns once again Books Could Kill to the delight of cross genre fans.
Harriet Klausner
How to Host a Killer Party
Penny Warner
Obsidian, Feb 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451229304
At San Francisco State University, all part-time instructors were riffed due to budget cuts. Presley Parker was one of the first downsized by the school, but she rebounded quickly by opening up Killer Parties, an event planning firm. She mostly sponsors children’s galas, but her big break comes when Mayor Davin Green chooses her to host his surprise wedding for his fiancée on Alcatraz.
Before the nuptials, police detective Luke Melvin calls Presley asking her to come to the station so he can question her regarding the murder of the mayor’s previous event planner Andi Sax. She offers no information of use to the cop. Presley gets back to work on the wedding plan but is concerned since Melvin tells her that Andi left a message on her Blackberry that she had an appointment with Parker; a meeting she denies ever arranging or agreeing to have. When the mayor’s fiancé turns up dead of poisoning just like Andi, she becomes Detective Melvin’s number one suspect. Fearing jail time, Presley who reluctantly accepts the help of crime scene cleaner Brad Matthews begin to investigate even as someone breaks into her home and sets her office on fire.
The second Party Planner mystery with tips (see Dead Body Language) is a delightful whodunit due to a strong lead and the eccentric cast who bring a flavor of San Francisco to life (and death) and a horde of suspects (in her mind that is) with viable motives. The heroine is a curious mix of vulnerability and daring do, which endears her to readers and Brad, but drives Melvin to want to lock her away in Alcatraz. Although a lawyer might be a better choice than Brad, fans will enjoy this fun amateur sleuth mystery starring a charming party planner who fears her business will go bankrupt if she wears stripes.
Harriet Klausner
Blood Ties
Kay Hooper
Bantam, Jan 26 2010, $26.00
ISBN: 9780553804867
Near Serenade, Tennessee, the remains of a butchered man and woman are found. The FBI Special Crimes Unit (SCU) led by Bishop and including his wife Miranda is sent to investigate. The unit moves into a nearby B&B, and quickly concludes that the male was meant for immediate finding while the female was not.
Meanwhile a sniper begins killing people and something is interfering with the special skills of the SCU team. Unsure of Hollis Templeton’s rapidly changing paranormal skills since Touching Evil. and he does not want to use Special Investigator Diana Brisco as the Lodge incident is thirty crow miles away (see Chill of Fears). However, Bishop has no choice. The only hope SCU has to stop what they increasingly believe is an inhuman evil is Diana using her unique psychic ability that enables her to walk in what she calls the void of color Gray Time to communicate with spirit guides. However she must be careful how long her spirit remains in Gray Time as too long means never returning to her body; an adversary plans to strand her there.
This is an exciting Special Crimes Unit police procedural in which several team members play key roles including others not mentioned above. A glossary after the novel provides a who’s who of SCU and their skills and appearances; this helps keep track as twelve members participate as do the Haven Operatives (bios also in the back). The story line is fast-paced from the moment local Pageant County Sheriff sexagenarian Duncan tells Miranda that neither he nor his department has ever seen let alone handle a case like this one and never takes a stuttering step from there. Fans of SCU will relish the twelfth SCU investigation as someone or something has brought the team to Tennessee to destroy them physically and spiritually.
Harriet Klausner
A Stitch in Crime
Betty Hechtman
Berkley, Feb 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425233108
Molly Pink works as an event coordinator at Shedd & Royal Books and More. Her boss Mrs. Shedd hands over her rhinestone clipboard placing Molly in charge of the “Get Out of the Heat and Light Your Creative Fire” retreat weekend on the Monterey Peninsula. Her employer’s only admonition for Molly is not to get involved in a homicide investigation as is her inclination (see By Hook or Crook and Dead Men Don't Crochet).
Pink thinks that will prove no problem since a crafts retreat is an unlikely setting for a murder. She soon finds her theory wrong when one of the instructors, famous Izabella Landers is found on the beach. Rushed to the hospital she is dead from anaphylactic shock due to exposure to peanut butter that she is allergic to. Certain odd details make Molly wonder if a murder occurred even though the police believe a tragic accident happened; the coroner backs up the cops. Determined to find out whether her theory is correct, Molly almost gets killed too. Even more sure a killer is loose; Molly and the Tarzana Hookers investigate.
Betty Hechtman has written an enjoyable amateur sleuth featuring a likable lead protagonist who has reinvented herself one stitch at a time several years after her husband died. Although reckless, a bi-product of her spouse’s death as she believes life is to be lived every moment one has and her late mate would admire her for doing so; that zest for taking chances adds to her charm. The whodunit is fun as the woman carrying the symbol of power, the rhinestone clipboard, searches for a killer who may not exist.
Harriet Klausner
Fantasy in Death
J.D. Robb
Putnam, Feb 23 2010, $26.95
ISBN: 9780399156243
Four partners founded the computer-gaming firm U-Play. One of them Bart Minnock is the glue that holds the group together. He comes home one day, locks his door, enters his inner sanction and begins to play the new cutting –edge word-wielding warrior game Fantastical, the firm’s newest which is cutting edge and not yet released to the public.. He is shocked when his hologram is hit and he feels the pain.
The next day NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is assigned the locked room murder of Bart Minnock, who was found lying on his blood soaked floor. Eve struggles with figuring out how the victim was killed before she can focus on who the culprit is. Until the police entered, the door was locked with no evidence of any tampering yet someone entered and left leaving in spite of a security droid who it says no one was there. However her investigation forces the killer to target the persistent cop and her wealthy spouse and “technical consultant” Roarke.
J.D. Robb consistently writes a strong futuristic police procedural with a deep romantic subplot enhancing the mysteries; now at an incredible thirty tales. Eve is a strong stubborn individual who refuses to quit though progress in terms of resolving opportunity is lacking. Recurring characters make appearances, which provide a feel of continuity to long term fans. Filled with action, Fantasy in Death is a terrific five decades in the future locked door whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
The Kingdom of Ohio
Matthew Flaming
Amy Einhorn Books (Putnam), Dec 31 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780399155604
In Los Angeles, the elderly antiques dealer has worked for two years on mystery of the photograph he obtained. The picture is that of Peter Force Cheri- Anne Toledo, taken in 1901.
In 1900 Peter came from Idaho to work in the hazardous digging of the subways tunnels beneath the city. Cheri-Anne is a mathematical genius with bizarre memories that seem not of this time and place. They meet accidentally; at least that is what it seemed to Peter. When she insistently claimed to be the daughter of the ruler of the Kingdom of Ohio who traveled in time, he assumed she was crazy. However, he also is attracted to her and soon begins to believe her fantastic tale when others seem overly interested in her including combatant inventors and warring financiers. Soon he will understand that past, present and future of time and place is relevant to the individual as all converge either to conflict or deconflict if free will is meaningful; just like the note left behind “CROATOAN”.
This is a superb time travel romantic suspense thriller that takes a deep look at the sordid underbelly, literally as well as figuratively, side of New York during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The story line is fast-paced in spite of the cerebral underpinnings as fans will relish the tour of the city as rarely seen in novels while being escorted by two strong lead protagonists and enhanced by the real persona they encounter. Matthew Flaming provides a great, intelligent yet exciting thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Sleeping with Anemone
Kate Collins
Obsidian, Feb 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451228901
At a home and garden show sponsored by Uniworld Food, Bloomers Flowers owner Abby Knight circulates a petition against the host firm opening up a dairy farm in which the firm uses bovine hormones to increase milk production by nine times. The hormones get into the milk people drink and harm the animals. Her efforts anger the company’s district manager Nils Raand who has her removed from the exhibit hall.
Back at her florist shop, Abby finds a broach in a box or orchids she ordered from Hawaii. Her mother makes duplicates to be sold at the shop. Abby is missing an order of anemones that the vendor says he sent to her. Although she is annoyed over the mix-up she becomes frightened over the attempted kidnappings of her roommate Nikki, cousin Jillian and niece Tara. Kate and her lover former Ranger boyfriend turned private investigator Marco believe Nils is behind the terrorism crimes. A brick inside burning paper is tossed through the shop window. However, Kate reconsiders whether Nils is the culprit or someone else from Uniworld whose corporate values can be found in the sewage system though she also wonders why a large influential corporation would violently go after a minor league gnat.
Readers will thoroughly enjoy this amateur sleuth tale that uses family humor in between some dangerous escapades. The heroine is strong willed and at times resents Marco trying to protect her as she is no lilting violet. Their families want the duo married, another item that upsets her as she feels they should mind their business. Marco is a saint for putting up with the female Oscar the grouch. However what refreshes the latest Flower Shop mystery is the issue of whether hormonal induced products are safe in the long run vs. the immediate starvation around the world.
Harriet Klausner
Diary of a Confessions Queen
Kathy Carmichael
Medallion, Feb 1 2010, $15.95
ISBN 9781605420950
Seven years ago in Kansas, Dan Crosby vanished without a trace. His wife Amy, who writes fictional “confessions” articles for True Lies magazine, has not heard a word from him since he disappeared. She prepares to file a legal motion declaring him dead so she can move on with her life and collect his life insurance before she loses their home
However, Amy receives a note from an extortionist demanding she gives him or her $2000 or the blackmailer will prove Dan is alive. Used to taking on the roles of the made-up characters whose confessions she writes about, Amy refuses to pay the blackmailer. Soon afterward, her home is broken into and vandalism begins. Police Detective Brad Tyler, who worked her husband’s missing person’s case to no avail and Dan’s friend Jerome Keller try to help the almost widow. When someone murders Jerome, Amy becomes the prime suspect in his murder and under suspicion for doing away with her husband; though his corpse was never found.
Filled with an eccentric cast especially the lead female, whose opening commentary of “My husband took out the garbage and never came back”, sets the tone for a fun wacky suspense thriller. Although the killer is over the top of Mount Sunflower, fans will enjoy the antics of a heroine who plays the roles of her true confession characters and the cop fixated on her.
Harriet Klausner
Wicked Craving
G.A. McKevett
Kensington, Jan 26 2010, $22.00
ISBN: 9780758238085
There has been a dearth of clients at the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency, which leaves owner Savannah Reid bored. She thinks she will have a lot of time to spend with her Granny who has come from Georgia on a visit to San Carmelita. However, her good friend Detective Sergeant Dirk Coulter asks for her help on a case he is working; piquing Savannah’s interest so she cannot refuse.
The corpse of Maria Wellman was found at the bottom of the steps leading from her home to the beach; both the cop and the private sleuth know instinctively she was murdered. Her husband, renowned diet guru Dr. Robert Wellman claims his wife’s jewelry that she was wearing is missing when Savannah inquires about it. The doctor seems more concerned over the lost jewelry than his wife’s demise, which enhances him as the prime suspect. However as Savannah and Dirk conduct a deeper investigation they unearth a horde of suspects especially when they learn the true names of the Wellman couple though the diet king remains the top choice.
Except for Savannah’s friends and family, the rest of the support cast is a selfish lot with some having performed criminal activities; none are endearing as each is nasty leading the audience to believe they are real and capable of murder, and wanting each one to be the killer. That is the cleverness behind this strong whodunit as the reader will miss clues because of a desire to see the multitude locked away. G.A. McKevett provides another spectacular mystery as the victim is placed on the ultimate weight loss program: death.
Harriet Klausner
A Night Too Dark
Dana Stabenow
Minotaur, Feb16 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312559090
The Park in Alaska is a place of beauty to private detective Native American Kate Shugak, but the pristine landscape she loves will change when the Suulutaq Mine opens operations. Global Harvest Resources, the parent company learned the mine contains gold and after months of careful sampling and they know they have found quite a strike.
Already the firm is making changes that the inhabitants of the Park have to adapt to as people working the mine come to the town of Ninikltna. One of the newcomers leaves a note in his car stating he committed suicide. When the body of Dewayne Gammons is found, there is not enough left of him to make an identification. Kate has a hunch after two people from the mine disappeared at the sane time that the deceased is not Dewayne, but she has no idea who the victim is. As she seeks clues, a third person is killed, which makes Kate even more determined to find out what is going on at the mine.
Even before the homicides, Kate feels sad because the mining operation will change the Park though she is resigned that it will happen as people she respects sold out to the mining interests, which was not easy for them to do but they felt they had to tale advantage of people with money to spend. Still her melancholy over the mine does not prevent her from investigating as only she can. Her latest Alaskan Shootout is an entertaining whodunit that also showcases a difficult complex issue of needed economic development vs. maintaining the beauty of nature.
Harriet Klausner
State of Decay
James Knapp
Roc, Feb 2 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451463104
America is at war, which is nothing new, as America is always at war. However, the all voluntary army has maintained its constant readiness by offering incredible benefits to those who sign up. Rather than face death in some foreign land, a soldier can enlist as a revivor; a person who to dies before serving, but is revived as a reanimated corpse with cognitive skills intact and no need to eat live humans due to an implant although battlefield atrocities have been reported as Commanders remove the chip inhibiting the flesh obsession.
FBI agent and non-revivor veteran Nico Wachalowsk investigates illegal trafficking of reviver sex slaves. However, his inquiry leads him instead to illegal shipments of military weaponry including revivors. At the same time his former girlfriend police officer Faye Desalia is trailing a serial killer. When the couple compares notes, they find one link, the leading contractor for revival technology, Heinlein Industries. They are soon joined by cage fighter Calliope Flax and psycho psychic is Zoe Ott as the two cases take twists unforeseen by either Nico or Faye as the overseas wars are coming home to roost.
This is an intriguing futuristic Americana thriller in which the atmosphere and ironically what is implied but not said (for instance what war is this as seemingly eternal conflict makes them all the same) in some ways overwhelms the prime conspiratorial plot. The story line is action-paced with the zombie concept fresh and the psychic idea not while the fearsome foursome is. Although the conspiracy is over the top of the Pentagon, fans will appreciate this entertaining look at the future of the industrial-military-DC convoluted complex.
Harriet Klausner
This Is Not a Game
Walter Jon Williams
Orbit, Jan 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780316003162
At college, they became four friends because of online gaming. Charlie, BJ, Dagmar and Austin were able to turn their love for Internet gaming into a thriving business with each having a different prime role; although their fortunes and misfortunes vary. However, the financial crash has crippled their firm leaving their affluence and influence in jeopardy.
Even more dangerous is the situation that one of them finds herself in. Alternate reality game designer Dagmar finds herself trapped when rebels and riots threaten everyone in Jakarta. She has no real way out of Indonesia, but has a virtual escape path. Over the net she contacts the online gamer community and manages to escape the country. However, once back in Los Angeles, Dagmar finds herself in the middle of real homicides including one of them and a wizard using online tools to manipulate finances while the world struggles with the greater crisis. She uses what she learns to create a new game with the “Group Mind” competitors solving clues leading her, she hopes, to the culprit, but not the Russian Mafia.
Perhaps the scene in a restaurant in which a hostess stays on her cell phone ignoring Dagmar the customer sets the tone when the gamer draws a flow chart on the placemat. Fans will relish this strong thriller as the blur between reality and virtual is almost zero. Ironically the social networking commentaries make the plot believable but also slow down the faster than wireless networking story line. Still this is a terrific look at aging gamers as reality and virtual converge in their minds, but with a Russian Mafia professional hit man the only reality is a speeding bullet.
Harriet Klausner
Too Hot to Hold
Stephanie Tyler
Dell, Jan 5 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780440244356
Several years ago the U.S. Navy informed investigative reporter Kaylee Smith that her husband Aaron died while on a mission in Africa. She moved on, but now Aaron calls her from Africa and asks her to bring money with her. She looks at a list of contacts he left her consisting of people he saved. On the bottom is Navy SEAL Nick Devane, whom Aaron saved during the fatal mission that allegedly left him dead.
Nick wants to ignore Kaylee’s call, but knows he cannot. When they meet he admits her spouse saved his life, but that the last time he saw Aaron he was alive and well. Both detest their mutual attraction and he wants her to stoop digging especially into his affluent childhood, but the scar on his throat reveals plenty to her. As a young teen Nick walked out of his dysfunctional family to move in with the family of his friend Chris Walden and another troubled teen Jake Hanson (see Hard to Hold) who also joined them; the friends became SEALs. When the FBI intervenes, Nick with Chris’ help flees with Kaylee for Africa not knowing what to expect in the Congo; the last thing being love.
This is a super middle book that maintains the suspense that makes Hard to Hold a great thriller. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Kaylee receives the stress call from the “dead” and only gets faster and hotter when she hotwires his Porsche until his car becomes ours that is if they survive the African ordeal. Fans need to Hold on Tight as Chris is next.
Harriet Klausner
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