MURDER-GO-ROUND: REVIEWS BY HARRIET KLAUSNER

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.

July 2011

English Tea Murder
Leslie Meier
Kensington, Jul 1 2011, $24.00
ISBN: 9780758229311

Winchester College Professor George Temple sponsors a tour of England. Tinker‘s Cove, Maine newspaper reporter and surprisingly good sleuth Lucy Stone and her three close friends excitedly join his group. However, while still in the air crossing the ocean, George dies from anaphylactic shock. Another member of the tour Dr. Cope tries to save Temple, but fails.

Lucy is sad by the professor’s death, but did not know him so she, her BFFs and the rest of the group tour the country. After a while, Lucy notices an odd vibe amongst the group excluding her pals. There is a lack of passion towards the deceased and in fact she thinks there is general sigh of relief. Then there are the strange dangerous accidents including a student falling off Brighton Pier and someone tried to push Lucy’s friend Pam into oncoming traffic. Lucy has a theory to what is happening, but Metropolitan Police easily explain an alternative to her concerns.

Leslie Meier writes a complex cozy in which life imitates art. Fans of the long running series will enjoy the first book outside of Maine, as armchair travelers will appreciate the tour that provides timely insight into British history. The characters are believable as American tourists who have to get used to a new culture very different than in the United States. The whodunit is clever as Lucy Stone amateur sleuth investigates once again.

Harriet Klausner

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation: The Burning Season
Jeff Mariotte
Pocket, Jun 28 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9781439160879

On Mt. Charleston where McMansions abut the forest, a fire blazes. The Engine 42 crew tries to put out the flames, but a sudden change in the wind sends the inferno at the first responders killing all of them. In another part of Las Vegas, a dog brings home a human hand and starts chewing on it. Driving home from a fund raiser medic mogul Dennis Daniels, potential political candidate, is hurt by a roadside bomb. The three cases have in common CSI trying to determine who the respective responsible people for each incident are.

In the arson incident, CSI uses forensic evidence to track down the killer; they are surprised by the identity and why he did it. DNA leads to the person missing a hand. As for the injuries Dennis incurred, good old fashion police work solves that case. The death of the police officer at the hands of an unknown person without any motive to reason remains a mystery until CSI gets trace evidence that leads them to the cop killers who hide behind a radical fringe group at odds with another strange organization.

Like Lee Goldberg and Donald Bain, Jeff Mariotte writes exciting mysteries based on TV shows. The author understands the essence of CSI and the cast, which enables series fans to believe the inquiries are performed by genuine people working real cases. Especially well done is the smooth transition from one crime to another smoothly, which insures readers will not be jarred from the entertaining story line.

Harriet Klausner

Quinn
Iris Johansen
St. Martin’s, Jul 12 2011, $27.99
ISBN 9780312651213

Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan stays with her lover FBI Agent Joe Quinn as he struggles to survive stab wounds in the intensive care unit of the hospital following a confrontation with killer Paul Black who remains on the loose (see Eve). While Eve holds Joe’s hands, she reflects back to when they first met years ago on a child killer case in which her seven years old daughter Bonnie was abducted and assumed dead by all except her. Obsessed over bringing Bonnie home dead or alive, she risked her life then and has many times since.

Eve’s adoptive now adult child Jane flies in from London; Catherine Ling meets her at the Milwaukee Airport where she explains how her search for her son began the events that have Joe in ICU. Black insisted that Bonnie’s biological dad John Gallo killed his offspring; which Gallo never denied as he is unsure though he wants to believe he would not harm his child. Gallo remains free seeking proof in the Bayou that he did not murder Bonnie while Catherine Ling pursues him.

The second exciting Duncan personal suspense thriller rotates the related but not quite linked exhilarating subplots as if the well written book contained novellas since much remains nebulous with the audience anticipating the upcoming Bonnie tale to tie the saga together. Fast-paced even when sitting in a hospital room, fans will relish the middle novel as the key players converge in what so far is a great saga.

Harriet Klausner

Watch Me Die
Erica Spindler
Minotaur, Jun 21 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312363949

In New Orleans, Mira Gallier loves her caring husband and her vocation as a stained-glass restoration artist. However Katrina changed everything for the woman with a seemingly perfect life when her spouse was washed away and much of her work ruined.

It has been several years of grief since The Hurricane destroyed her life but finally Mira begins to move on emotionally. However, she is shocked when someone breaks the church windows she has restored. That is terrible but the vandalism does not compare with the murder of a priest near one of her restoration projects; the culprit left behind a graffiti message from the bible sprayed on the window. More homicides with biblical references left behind and seemingly tied to Mira and her work occurs. NOPD homicide detective Spencer Malone leads the investigation in which the prime suspect is Mira.

With a nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, readers will feel Mira’s angst and fears as she has only recently recovered from Katrina turning her into a widow and now those close to her are being slaughtered by a maniacal believer. She is so distraught she fears for her mind. With post Katrina New Orleans as the backdrop, Erica Spindler provides a taut psychological suspense.

Harriet Klausner

The Ranger
Ace Atkins
Putnam, Jun 9 2011, $25.99
ISBN: 9780399157486

On duty in Afghanistan U.S. Army Ranger Quinn Colson returns home to Jericho, Mississippi to attend the funeral of his beloved role model Uncle Hampton Beckett. Quinn is stunned when he arrives home to learn his uncle the town’s former sheriff committed suicide.

Long time friend Deputy Lillie Virgil rejects the notion that Hampton shot himself. She believes he was murdered. Knowing Lillie is not a person to pull punches, Quinn makes inquiries into his uncle’s death only to find official and unofficial opposition. He learns that while he was serving his country, meth deals own Jericho. Though threatened with violence, Quinn with Lillie covering his back fights the drug dealers and corrupt officials closing their eyes on chemical cooking.

This is an exciting violent homecoming filled with non stop action as Quinn finds Mississippi burning as much as Afghanistan. Fast-paced though following the classic theme of a lone cowboy cleaning up a corrupt outlaw town (see Bronson’s Mr. Majestyk and Ladd’s Shane), the freshness comes from a subplot in which Quinn muses about what he would be if he never left Mississippi. Readers will not be able to put down Colson’s return to Jericho.

Harriet Klausner

Lake Charles
Ed Lynskey
Wildside, Jun 28 2011, $12.99
www.wildsidebooks.com
ISBN: 9781434430465

In 1979 in Tennessee, Brendan Fishback met Ashleigh Sizemore at a bar; they went off together, but the next morning she is lying dead next to him from angel dust; he is accused of killing her by supplying her with the drug. Brendan knows he has to deal with his upcoming homicide trial, but wants to do something nice by getting his twin sister Edna and his best friend Cobb Kuzawa to reconcile. The married couple has not talked to one another in months.

The three drive to Lake Charles in Brendan’s truck, but outside of her gum, his sister is silent. At Lake Charles, Edna vanishes. Her desperate male companions search for her only to become entangled in an illegal drug feud in which the Feds are involved. Additionally Ashleigh's wealthy father comes to town seeking revenge against the man who murdered his little girl. Cobb's Korean War veteran dad Jerry joins the hunt for Edna and has the need to squash the "big bug" for attacking them.

This is an entering historical rural Tennessee thriller, as the locals do whatever to eke out a living in difficult often deadly environs. Ironically readers will admire and resect the natives, but none are likable except Jerry who’s cynical kick butt nature steals the show as he will remind readers of Harrelson’s Tallahassee in Zombieland. The noir story line is fast-paced once Brendan and Cobb realize Edna is missing and never slows down as the pair feels like they fell down the rabbit hole.

Harriet Klausner

Blood of the Reich
William Dietrich
Harper, Jun 28 2011, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061989186

In 1938 Berlin, Reichfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler sends Kurt Raeder to Tibet to investigate rumors of a secret force that allegedly brings eternal life. At the same time Museum of Natural History zoologist Benjamin Hood, and pilot Beth Colloway need to prevent the Nazis from obtaining the substance.

In present day Seattle, a journalist saves software peddler Romminy Pickett from certain death when her car explodes. He explains he is writing an article on Tibet and that her heritage may save the world from evil. Sam Mackenzie and Romminy team up starting with investigating her birth and following up with what happened in Berlin, New York and ultimately the Himalayas just before WWII exploded as neo-Nazis try to capture them for nefarious malevolent reasons.

This is a great gripping thriller that will be on the year’s short lists for action packed adventure tales. The two subplots rotate with each exciting yet nicely paired before converging into a super climax mindful of Indiana Jones that Spielberg should consider filming. Fans will appreciate the globetrotting escapades in 1938 and today as they meet at the top of the world.

Harriet Klausner

Revenger
Rory Clements
Bantam, Jun 21 2011, $25.00
ISBN 9780385342841

John Shakespeare retired from field work to be with his wife Catherine and their four years old daughter Mary. He teaches at a small school and finds his two females superseding the excitement he had working for Queen Elizabeth.

Since he has been a family man since leaving the intelligencer field, John is surprised when the Earl of Essex asks him to investigate the disappearance of the Roanoke colonists who are rumored to be safe and sound in London. Essex’s rival Queen Elizabeth's Privy Councilor spymaster Sir Robert Cecil does not trust the Earl who he thinks might have seditious schemes. As such, Sir Cecil orders Shakespeare to serve the Queen as he did five years ago (see Martyr).

Revenger is a great Elizabethan mystery as readers will feel they are in London during a tumultuous period in the Queen’s reign with the Spanish war on-going, a plague devastating London, and intrigue inside her royal court. The mystery of Roanoke is handled deftly while Shakespeare proves worthy as he holds the plot together while not shocking to him finds strange even perverted bedfellows on both sides of the argument between Cecil and Essex.

Harriet Klausner

The Silent Girl
Tess Gerritsen
Ballantine, Jul 5 2011, $26.00
ISBN: 9780345515506

Forensic pathologist Dr. Maura Isles testifies against a police officer who is on trial for killing a suspect who allegedly murdered a cop. She broke the blue line and has made enemies of the Boston Police Department. Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli remains Maura’s friend but even she wishes the pathologist held the line. Jane and her partner Frank cannot help her, but they are determined to solve an unusual case.

A man who shows the tourists a glimpse into all the haunted places in Chinatown is shocked when one of the children on his tour finds a severed hand. They find the rest of the body on top of a roof near the hand. Jane and Frank have no idea who the Jane Doe is, but the evidence points towards the victim being an assassin for hire. Their investigation leads to Iris Fang who owns the Dragon and Stars Academy of Martial Arts who was widowed nineteen years ago during the massacre at the Red Phoenix Restaurant.. A couple of years later, Iris’s daughter disappeared as did the daughter of another victim. There are various people who prefer certain secrets to remain buried about the massacre and disappearances and they are willing to kill to insure this occurs.

Tess Gerritsen is one of the best thriller authors writing today as affirmed by her series going to TV. The action starts immediately on page one and never takes a respite until the finale. Maura plays a minor role as she has enough on her plate with the blue backlash and the emphasis on the police investigation. Readers get glimpses as to what is happening in Jane’s personal life while much of the support cast adds complexity to the prime whodunit. The Silent Girl showcases the author at the top of her game with this certain bestseller.

Harriet Klausner

The Real Macaw
Donna Andrews
Minotaur, Jul 19 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312621209

Four months ago Meg Langslow gave birth to twin boys. Her sons are on different sleep cycles so she feels sleep deprived. Thus during a graveyard feeding, she assumes she is hallucinating when she hears assorted animal noises downstairs. She looks only to find a horde in her home. She asks her father, grandfather and other animal lovers what is going on; they explain the formerly no kill shelter they rescued the animals from was going to murderer them due to a lack of funds.

They were brought to Meg’s living room because the transporter Parker Blair failed to show up. Police Chief Burke arrives at Meg’s home to find out why her zoologist grandfather kept calling Parker who he explains was murdered. Meg promises to stay out of the investigation though she has a history of involvement (see Stork Raving Mad). She becomes upset when Mayor Pruitt wants to seize her house and other homes under eminent domain to sell to a developer in order to pay off the finance company that upgrades the Pruitt section of town. He used county buildings as collateral and the firm is ready to take possession. Someone attacks Meg’s grandfather and a blue macaw is replaced by another macaw. Meg assumes the assaults are linked to the Parker homicide. She begins to ask questions while helping the county by letting them using her barn to house the library, but almost gets killed for her efforts.

Donna Andrews has written another laugh out loud cozy. The heroine deals with the twins and her husband who remains in the background with relative but sleepy ease; she handles the animal kingdom guests with calm. However, her dad and granddad are over the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their caring lunacy encouraged by the eccentric Caerphilly townsfolk. The whodunit is fun to follow as Meg investigates, but it is the jocularity that makes the Langslow amateur sleuths super.

Harriet Klausner

Crime Fraiche
Alexander Campion
Kensington, Jun 28 2011, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758246714

In Paris, Police Judicaire Commissaire Capucine LeTellier is diligently working with a team trying to catch the criminal La Belle. She allows herself, after feigning illness, to go to her rescuer’s house and steals some valuables while there. No one knows what she looks like or have a clue how to find her, which leads to the media wanting Capucine’s tete. Capucine’s Uncle Aymerie invites her to his Chateau Maulevrier in Normandy ending a two year estrangement. She and her overweight food critic spouse Alexandre accept.

At a dinner party, Monsieur Vienneau talks about the shooting two weeks ago of a cattle ranch manger. When a man is found dead after a steak house is demolished, Capucine’s instincts are engaged. During another hunt a third person is killed. The Commissaire investigates the string of deadly accidents while also working the La Belle case in Paris.

Armchair travelers get a taste of Paris and a small town in Normandy as Alexander Campion paints a picturesque background. The author creates quirky characters with flaws that make them seem real. The two subplots are cleverly devised and the flow back and forth between them is smooth as the cop goes after the killer and the thief in a super French police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

Vision Impossible
Victoria Laurie
Obsidian, Jul 5 2011, $23.95
ISBN: 9780451234067

No two people have the same aura as psychic Abby Cooper realizes since she has been reading them for much of her life. As a civilian profiler for the FBI, Abby is asked to go on a dangerous mission with her fiancé Assistant Special Agent in Charge Dutch Rivers as her paranormal skills are needed.

A scientist developed Intuit, a software program that reads the aura of a person or their video so that a weapon consisting of three deadly toxins attached to a drone can kill a targeted individual. Terrorists and rogue governments want the weapon. Someone stole the drone loaded with the software and toxins. The GPS indicates it is in Toronto. The plan is for Dutch to masquerade as weapons leader Richard Des Vries and Abby as his business partner. They are to contact arms dealer Viktor Kozahkov; he will introduce them to Boklovich who is hosting an auction to sell the stolen weapon to the highest bidder. In Tornto, someone attacks and almost kills Abby while arms dealer Maks Grinkovbatters Dutch. Abby and Mako (who supposedly works for the enemy as an arms dealer) are attracted to one another. Mission impossible moves to an island owned by Boklovich in which humanity’s most despicable gather to bid.

Making her hardcover debut, Victoria Laurie provides an enthralling thriller in which readers will understand the meaning of mission impossible when they try to put the novel down as the heroine has made believers of a reluctant government. She makes choices partly based on facts and somewhat on intuition as she sees A Glimpse of Evil aura. Her love for Dutch is strong in spite of her attraction to Grinkov. Fans will relish this mesmerizing paranormal espionage thriller.

Harriet Klausner

A Taste of the Nightlife
Sarah Zettel
Obsidian, Jul 5 2001, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451234070

In a world much different than this one; humans know vampires, weres, witches and warlocks exist. However, the paranormal species do not have the same rights as humans as they must register, but share most all the other liberties. Although vampires can drink human blood, it must be freely given and not sold as a commodity. There exists special clubs and restaurants that cater to the nocturnal creature crowd where vamps can drink and meet friends while mundane food is also served.

One such restaurant is Nightlife, an up and coming in place that serves “Noir Cuisine”. Chef Charlotte Caine and her vampire brother Chet own the place. One evening a drunken warlock Dylan Maddox causes trouble with spells and almost burns down the joint; shortly afterward Dylan is found murdered in Nightlife’s foyer. Charlotte later finds a vial of human blood and fears her brother is involved. She des not turn the vial over to the police. Instead the dead man’s brother Brendan a security expert and Antole the restaurant critic join Chef Charlotte in investigating what happened though that means walking the thin red line of were-vamp politics.

Fantasy author Sarah Zettel provides readers with a delightful riveting urban fantasy amateur sleuth tale. The whodunit is complex while the cast range from quirky to dangerous and to charming (except in Caine's kitchen). The twisting story line is fast-paced while containing plenty of biting action and humorous interludes. Readers will want to stop for a bloody drink and A Taste of the Nightlife if only in their thoughts.

Harriet Klausner

The Paradise Prophecy
Robert Browne
Dutton, Jul 21 2011, $25.95
ISBN 9780525952237

At Trinity Baptist College in Harrison, Louisiana, Professor Sebastian “Batty” LaLaurie teaches Religious Studies and Rhetoric, but is on administrative leave due to a lecture that condemns God. A widower, he suffers from nightmares and has turned to alcohol to abate the pain of his wife Rebecca’s death while acknowledging his beliefs were shattered when she died.

The State Department Section unit sends agent Bernadette Callahan to Sao Paulo, Brazil to investigate the burning death of Christian singer Gabriela Zuada. The locals swear the devil murdered Gabriela, but the American thinks a serial killer added her to the list of the dead. Needing expertise into the occult and Milton, Bernadette contacts Batty whose nightmares come from surviving a trek beyond. She shows him Gabriela’s picture and he reacts stunned as she stars in his dark dreams with her death mirroring that of his late wife. The professor and the agent follow the homicides to Istanbul, but the potential Armageddon is in Los Angeles where Michael the Archangel walks the earth hunting down rogue angels harming the offspring of Adam and Eve, and Beliel and her three Fallen teammates meet.

With nods to Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, and to the Walken Prophecy movies, The Paradise Prophecy is a superb rendition of good and evil as the agents of God and Satan battle for the souls of mankind. Action-packed from the onset, Batty the “fallen” Milton scholar and Bernadette the pragmatic doubter make a delightful pairing as they argue over the clues starting with the toasted corpses that he insists come from agents of Hell and she insists the one doing the killing is a psychopath. Fans will appreciate Robert Browne’s excellent thriller.

Harriet Klausner

The Knowledge of Good and Evil
Glenn Kleier
Tor, Jul 19 2011, $24.99
ISBN 9780765323774

Survivor guilt though he was only a child when his parents’ died in a tragic plane crash years ago, Ian Baringer has spent the next couple of decades trying to contact them. Currently the former priest skeptically believes in the afterlife though his hope is weakening with years of failure to achieve his obsession. He works on the talk show Probing the Paranormal as an investigator while his lover agnostic psychiatrist Dr. Angela Weber is the show’s host.

Finally reaching a breaking point where he needs to know either way, the OCD Ian decides to prove the soul survives the body dying by experiencing a near death incident. A shocked Angela who loves the troubled Ian pleads with him to no avail. Determined, he will prove the theory either way, but soon finds the secretive Ordo Arma Christi brothers want him dead before he conducts the experiment as this Order believe they must prevent Ian from biting the apple.

This thought provoking exhilarating thriller asks many questions about religious dogma, but is not limited to the afterlife as Glenn Kleier questions contradictions for instance between free will and forbidden fruits of knowledge. Ian is the key to the plot, as he suffers from survivor induced obsessive compulsive behavior that has worsened in reaction to his beliefs shrinking. Angelia is a loyal wonderful person who refuses to give up on the man she loves although she fears he is losing his mind to his obsession. The story line is fast-paced as the lead pair abruptly finds themselves being hunted by a cell who rejects the concept that man has the right to know anything about the afterlife.

Harriet Klausner

The Vault
Boyd Morrison
Touchstone, Jul 5 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9781439181829

Gordian Engineering Special Operations Chief Dr. Tyler Locke was ten minutes into his commute on a ferry from Seattle to Bremerton when his cell phone receives a text message from an unknown caller whose words are answer his phone or die in twenty eight minutes. Locke responds to the person’s next call when he says he planted binary explosives on the ferry and wants Locke to defuse it as a test to prove whether he can handle a special job; failure means death for him and the rest on board. He heads to a truck where he finds waiting for him is Chasing the Past TV host and classical languages expert Stacy Benedict who interprets the Greek instructions so he can defuse the bomb that he created from Archimedes’ geolabe for Jordan Orr and save her kidnapped sister Carol and those on the ferry.

Solving the puzzle with seconds to spare, they learn this pretest is to prove they have a reasonable chance to find King Midas’s lost treasure. To do so the pair will need to interpret the arcane Antikythera Mechanism’s cryptic clues; another puzzling deadly device created by Archimedes over two millennia ago. Failure to find the loot in five days will result in loved ones like Carol being brutally murdered; success will save Carol, but cause mass destruction to others.

The above is just the opening act of an exhilarating action-packed thriller that hooks the audience from the first text message to the confrontations in New York and elsewhere. Readers will never look at the Hudson sediment in the same way as Boyd Morrison provides a taut thriller that never allows the heroes or fans to take a respite.

Harriet Klausner

Long Gone
Alafair Burke
Harper, Jun 21 2011, $24.99
ISBN: 9780061999185

In Manhattan, Drew Campbell hires thirty something Alice Humphrey to manage his new Highline Gallery. Unemployed for months Alice loves her job. However, a few weeks after starting Alice arrives at the gallery to find it empty except for Campbell's corpse. NYPD suspects she murdered her lover and has proof of a picture of them together in a very friendly pose. Furthermore they think she used the gallery that is in her name to her shock to distribute child porn.

A stunned Alice seeks information on Drew and the gallery, neither seems to have existed. At the same time a PTSD FBI agent unofficially investigates the death of his sister while a teenager in Upstate New York vanished without a trace. Alice, the fed and a small town cop will cross paths as each investigate seemingly unrelated crimes.

The three prime subplots are at times overwhelming; the Alice in the rabbit hole can definitely stand alone while the other two cannot. However each is an intense psychological suspense as someone struggles with what is going on whether it is Alice, the Fed or the teen’s mom. Alice owns the tale as she learns identity is not as simple as it may seem.

Harriet Klausner

Split Second
Catherine Coulter
Putnam, Jul 19 2011, $26.95
ISBN: 9780399157431

The FBI is stunned when the DNA of the Black Beret serial killer breaks the profile norm. First the psychopath is female and statistically very few serial killers are women. Second she is related to Ted Bundy.

FBI agents Dillon Savich, Lacey Sherlock, Lucy Carlisle and Cooper McKnight lead the hunt for apparently Bundy’s biological daughter. At the same time Lucy’s father just before dying informs her that her grandfather did not abandon the family; instead her grandmother murdered her spouse. Needing to learn what happened decades ago, Lucy moves into her grandmother’s mansion in Chevy Chase, Maryland. As she begins to unravel the past and finds a strange ring, a trap fails ending up with Sherlock hospitalized and Dillon believing the female-predator they stalk is hunting him.

Although S to the second power in their sixteenth appearance have dealt with seemingly quadrillion serial killers, Ted Bundy’s daughter brings over the top freshness by being a chip off the old murderous block as Catherine Coulter makes a case for naturing. The story line is fast-paced especially once the Feds realize who they are dealing with and never slows down as the audience anticipates a showdown between the offspring and Savich.

Harriet Klausner

Dreams of the Dead
Perri O'Shaughnessy
Simon and Schuster, Jul 11 2011, $25.00
ISBN 9781416549734

Lake Tahoe attorney Nina Reilly and Philip Strong share a tragedy. Two years ago, his son Jim killed his adulterous wife Heidi and allegedly murdered his younger brother Alex. Soon after the homicides, Jim vanished and was assumed dead (see Acts of Malice).

Philip informs Nina that he was finalizing the selling of his Lake Tahoe resort ski lodge but the sale was blocked in court allegedly by Jim who is apparently living in Brazil. Philip believes the affidavit is a fraud filed by someone trying to obtain his son’s share of the receipts. Nina fears Jim lives and remains a threat to her family and friends especially when females associated with casinos are suddenly murdered.

The unexpected but realistic twists to this Nina Reilly thriller make for a powerful tale as Nina recalls what her then boyfriend prosecutor said when she defended Jim that. He believed the man was a psychopath who will go after her and her family if he is convicted. She believes he is back in Tahoe while her “protector” Paul von Wagoner knows someone stalks his former lover. Dreams of the Dead is a super thrilling twister.

Harriet Klausner

Justice
Karen Robards
Gallery, Aug 3 2011, $25.00
ISBN: 9781439183700

Attorney Allison Howard agrees to marry her lover Greg Sullivan. They race to her house so she packs a suitcase and has something to wear as they go to Vegas to tie the knot. Unknown to both of them, two runaways from juvenile institution Shelter House are hiding under the bed when Greg snaps Allison’s neck. The youngsters flee from the house, but Greg sees them.

Jessica Ford is in court working a high profile rape case in which the accused is a senator’s son. While questioning the victim Tiffany Higgs, she suddenly admits to lying; saying she had consensual sex with Rob Phillips. The lawyers are so pleased with Jessica’s win that she is transferred to the sixth floor working on a high profile layer’s team. Secret Service Agent Mark Ryan returns into Jessica’s life because one of the men who knew the First Lady’s death was murder has been killed. Mark fears someone is tying up loose ends with Jess and him the remaining witnesses. He plans to keep her safe and hopes she gives him a second chance as several attempts on her life occur.

This legal thriller is filled with action yet readers get to know and understand the myriad of emotions the prime protagonists. The key to exhilarating tale is that the readers senses the romance in the air everywhere the pair appears, but it is cleverly kept in the background of the suspense as a deadly assassin is coming for Jessica and Rob. With several other strong subplots that blend into the prime story line, Karen Robards provides a superlative thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Very Bad Men
Harry Dolan
Putnam, Jul 7 2011, $25.95
ISBN 9780399157493

In Ann Arbor, Michigan David Loogan is the editor of Gray Streets mystery magazine. He lives with Police Detective Elizabeth Waishkey and her daughter Sarah. Someone leaves a manuscript outside the Gray Streets mystery magazine office. The story line focuses on two previous homicides; that of Henry Kormoran of Ann Arbor, and Terry Dawtrey who he killed when he got him temporarily released from prison to attend his father’s funeral after Lark murdered the old man. Those already actually occurred and a third is about to happen, that of Sutton Bell of Ann Arbor.

Elizabeth and David realize the link between this trio and author Anthony Lark is a Sault Sainte Marie bank robbery seventeen years ago. As Loogan investigates the disappearance of a reporter associated with the case and Waishkey tracks the serial killer, the raging paranoid Lark adds the editor, the cop and the daughter to his list of those needing his murderous attention.

The two L’s Lark and Logan makes this Michigan amateur sleuth mystery fun to read as the former is an intelligent but violent avenging killer and the latter works the manuscript as Bad Things Happen to Very Bad Men but he hopes not to a very diligent editor. Witty and filled with twists, Elizabeth sums up the investigations when she tells Loogan he knows how to charm people; readers will know so does Lark with a tire iron.

Harriet Klausner

The Nightmare Thief
Meg Gardiner
Dutton, Jul 21 2011, $25.95
ISBN 9780525952213

In San Francisco reporter Evan Delaney (see Kill Chain) investigates the death of attorney Phelps Wylie as he finds some odd phenomena starting with the corpse found in the Sierras,. Needing help, Evan contacts forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett (see The Dirty Secrets Club) for help. Jo Informs Evan she will perform a psychological autopsy. She begins her analysis and she and her boyfriend Gabe Quintana visit the mine for further information.

In San Francisco, twenty-one years old Autumn Reiniger’s father gives her a birthday present of playing an Edge Adventures urban reality game. However, a different group abducts Autumn and her friends, demanding her father CEO of Reiniger Capital hedge fund pay twenty-million in ransom money for their safe return. Gabe and Jo collide with the kidnappers and their six spoiled offspring of wealth.

The first collaboration between the leads of Meg Gardiner’s two series is a terrific thriller though neither Delaney nor Beckett is the prime players. Instead spoiled overly indulged Autumn with her need to connect anyway she can with her distant dad is the star. Readers will enjoy this strong rescue mission attempt as even the affluent have emotional issues though it is difficult to feel much sympathy towards the six as money may not buy happiness but it eliminates the economic detractors that the impoverish face; which make happiness that much harder to obtain.

Harriet Klausner

You're Next
Gregg Hurwitz
St. Martin's, Jul 5 2011, $24.99
ISBN 9780312534912

After being abandoned as a pre-school aged child and growing up in foster care, Mike Wingate has worked his way up from the ooze below the ladder of success to the top. He lives with his wife Annabel and their eight years old daughter Kat in Lost Hills near Los Angeles and runs a profitable contracting business.

The Boss Man sends two of his thugs William and Dodge to Lost Hills and threatens the Wingate family. They steal Kat’s toys go the child’s school to cause mischief, harass Mike and assault Annabel. The police ignore the two punks instead blaming Mike for something he must have done in his past. Mike turns to his only friend from foster care Shep the dangerous criminal. They take the fight to the two predators and their boss.

Although at first the assaults seem over the top of the Sierras (even to Mike), once he and Shep learn why the Boss Man sent his thugs, readers and Mike will know this super thriller is grounded. Fast-paved from the first attack to the final confrontation as Mike learns what lies and avarice can do to am unsuspecting person and his loved ones.

Harriet Klausner

Dick Francis’s Gamble
Felix Francis
Putnam, July 26 2011, $26.95
ISBN: 9780399157479

After breaking his neck when he was a jockey, Nicholas "Foxy" Foxton became a financial advisor at Lyall & Black, a small but profitable investment firm. Also employed by the company is Herb Novak. The pair attends the Grand National when someone shoots Novak while Foxton stands next to him. Foxton does not know what the killer looks because he looked at the gun when the murder occurred.

Foxy is shocked to learn Novak named him estate executor and a beneficiary. He realizes Herb had a scam going on with internal gambling using his British credit cards to enable people in the United States to go on line to place bets. Pondering what he should do, Foxy decides he needs to identify the gamblers to end the betting scheme and locate the money Herb hid so he can pay off the estate’s debts.

A client informs Nicholas that an investment brought to the attention by one of the Lyall & Black advisors is bogus as the so called bulb factory in Bulgaria is nonexistent. Foxy investigates the legitimacy of the claim, but someone tries to kill him. Running for his life though unaware why Herb’s assassin wants to kill him, Foxy’s lover Claudia has been diagnosed with cancer.

Talk about a chip off the old block, Felix Francis provides a winning thriller that his late father will be proud of. Filled with action and tense twists and red herrings, Nicholas holds the story line together as he is there for his lover and when danger stalks him, he goes to extraordinary lengths to keep his beloved Claudia safe as he does the unexpected.

Harriet Klausner

Threat Warning
John Gilstrap
Pinnacle, Jun 28 2011, $7.99
ISBN: 9780786024926

Jonathan Grave owns a security firm whose mission is the rescue of hostages around the globe. In rush hour on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge two predators open fire killing many people on the bridge. Jonathan kills one of these mass murderers and is about to take down the second when an overzealous secret service agent arrests him. The FBI gets Jonathan released.

On that bridge Good Samaritan Christyne Nasbe, ignoring her son Ryan’s advice, allows a woman into her car to help her get away from the violence. The woman abducts the pair taking them to the Army of God. They keep the mother and son as hostages and place on the ne pictures of them with Ryan injured. The victims are the wife and son of Jonathan’s friend Boomer from when he served in the Unit. His former Commander asks him to rescue the family. Jon and his crew trace the terrorists to an isolated compound in West Virginia where the killers plan to execute their captives. The Grave team prevents the murders but is trapped by the cult members inside the compound. Jon also knows if they escape alive his mission is not over as he must stop an assassination of a prominent person.

John Gilstrap demonstrates why he is one of the best thriller writers with this action packed tale that soars from the opening bridge scene and never slows down to allow the hero a respite except overnight in a DC prison holding cell. Although Jonathan is on the surface a standard implausible thriller hero, readers will enjoy his actions as he rejects the law being in cement especially by those who conveniently flaunt it as killers or officials. With a late twist involving his partner setting up the next conflict, readers will relish Threat warning and look forward to more Digger Grave tales (see No Mercy and Hostage Zero).

Harriet Klausner

Eyes Wide Open
Andrew Gross
Morrow, Jul 12 2011, $25.99
ISBN 9780061655968

In Morro Bay, California, twenty-one year old Evan Erlich leaps off a rock to his death in what was an apparent suicide. Evan’s father Charlie calls his younger brother Jay with the news. Though the siblings are estranged, Jay leaves his medical practice to go across the country to Grover Beach to be there for his sibling and his sister-in-law Gabriella.

Charlie tells Jay he had troubled Evan committed out of fear his son would kill himself, but does not believe the lad took his life. However the state released Evan just before he killed himself. Being a doctor, Jay believes the institution has negligence liability based on their releasing a potential suicidal person. Jay investigates his nephew’s death and soon uncovers murky links to other questionable deaths and Charlie's 1970s relationship with cultist murderer Russell Houvnanian while the local cops starting with dedicated Detective Sherwood tell him to go home.

With an obvious link to the Manson murders, this exciting thriller starts off as a slow paced family drama as parents and an uncle deal with the suicide of the next generation. However, once Jay begins his resolute obstinate inquiry, the plot accelerates as he begins to find a horrific murderers’ row which targets the Erlich trio.

Harriet Klausner

The Woodcutter
Reginald Hill
HarperCollins, Jul 26 2100, $25.99
ISBN: 9780062060747

The Cumbrian woodcutter’s son Wolf Hadda married his childhood sweetheart Imo though she is of noble blood. He became a successful businessman as he, his wife and their daughter live in affluence.

However, their idyllic perfect life ends when police arrest him for financial fraud and child porn. He is sent to a maximum security prison while his spouse divorces him and marries his lawyer. However, the straw that broke the stoic Hadda is the death of his teenage child. Hadda becomes mute refusing to speak with anyone. Several years into his enforced silence and insistence of innocence, prison psychiatrist Dr. Alva Ozigbo finally reaches past his The Man in the Iron Mask facade. Remorseful he admits his guilt, which leads to his parole. Hadda returns to Cumbria seeking solace and answers to what happened several years ago just prior to that knock on his door by the cops.

This is a superb psychological suspense that provides Hadda’s present and back story in smooth transitions. Hadda and to a lesser degree Alva holds the intriguing plot together as the audience will wonder about the fall from grace of the businessman that turned him stoically silent. With a major twist providing the why, fans will relish The Woodcutter as one of the year’s best character driven thrillers.

Harriet Klausner

Bloodline
Mark Billingham
Mulholland/Little Brown, Jul 14 2011, $24.99
ISBN 9780316126663

In Whittington Hospital, police Detective Inspector Tom Thorne struggles with his girlfriend Detective Inspector Louise Porter’s miscarriage. Thus when his superior DCI Brigstocke informs him of a homicide, he welcomes a new case to take his mind off the tragedy.

In her home in Finchley, someone battered Emily Walker before suffocating her with plastic. Thorne looks at the murder scene, which is clearly that of domestic violence. However, he learns that a twenty-something nurse was murdered in the same manner three weeks ago in Leicester City. Further inquiry into the pasts of two dead females links them when both their mothers and five other women were murdered fifteen years ago by the late serial killer Raymond Garvey. As more offspring of Garvey’s victims are murdered, a copycat psychopath is on the loose.

The latest Thorne British police procedural (see Death Message) is an engaging suspense filled investigation. The protagonist does not cope well with the miscarriage and though he relishes the case to keep his mind off dark personal thoughts, he also feels a bit guilty for his euphoria over corpses appearing in London. Although the nibbles from the soul of the psychopath never feel adequate as with the Lay’s commercial a few chips is not enough (either more or none is needed). Still sub-genre readers will want to join the DI as he investigates the copy cat serial killings.

Harriet Klausner

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