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. Check her new column in FMAM's hardcopy magazine, titled, Murder-Go-Round by Harriet Klausner.

GRAVE ENDINGS
Rochelle Krich
Ballantine, Oct 2004, $24.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0345468104

Molly Blume writes true crime books and works as a freelance journalist. Six years ago someone murdered her best friend Aggie; Molly mourned her loss, but hounded police even when they filed the homicide as a cold case. Sixteen days before her wedding to Zach, Detective Andy Connors asks her to identify a locket that he thinks belonged to Aggie. Molly confirms that it was Aggie’s locket because of the red thread inside and a personalized inscription in Hebrew outside.

The jewelry was found in the apartment of Randy Creely, whom police believe died from an overdose and probably killed Aggie. Molly has doubts as she ponders why he kept the locket, sent letters asking people he abused to forgive him, and regularly attended Narcotics Anonymous. Randy’s sister is contacted by a person who insists her brother was to send him a package that never came. He trashes her apartment and warns her that if she tells anyone, he will insure that is the last thing she eer does. Molly becomes convinced that Randy never killed anyone and was murdered. If she tracks down the thug who harassed Randy’s sister she feels she can learn the truth.

The added fun of this fine amateur sleuth tale is Molly conducting an investigation while also preparing for her Orthodox Jewish wedding ceremony. The mystery is a puzzler because Randy was not a nice person (understated) and is easy to see him as a killer just like the police do; Molly digs beyond the obvious seeking the truth. Between the insight into her religious beliefs and her inquiries, readers will send accolades to author Rochelle Krich for a fine tale.

Harriet Klausner

DYING IN THE DARK
Valerie Wilson Wesley
Ballantine, Oct 2004, $22.95, 240 pp.
ISBN: 0345468066

Tired of the sexism and racism of the Newark Police Department Tamara Hayle quits the force and opens up Hayle Investigative Service. Years later she might not have much money, but she relishes her independence and self reliance, which leaves her very contented.

One day, a gangster looking male introduces himself as Cecil Jones, the son of Tamara’s “used to be best friend” Celia. He wants to hire her to find out who killed his mother because he believes that the mostly white police force is not going to bother to learn who murdered a promiscuous black woman. Tamara wants nothing to do with the case, but agrees because of the plea she sees in Cecil’s eyes. He gives Tamara his mother’s notebook and several other items that might prove useful and places four hundred dollars in cash on her desk before walking away. A week later, Tamara learns that someone murdered her client, but she continues her inquiries as she is determined to find out who killed Cecil and his mother. Tamara interviews people who knew Celia and realizes that she broke many hearts with one person enacting vengeance.

The protagonist refuses to allow any negative isms to stop her from living life her way especially doing her job; readers will admire her spunk. Cecilia grew up in poverty as an unwanted child with low esteem seeking someone to truly love her, but failed and eventually ended up in the wrong place. Readers see this sad picture through Tamara’s flashbacks and muses about their childhood as best “sisters” and through her inquiries. Valerie Wilson Wesley provides a fabulous private investigative tale with a deep social and psychological underpinning.

Harriet Klausner

TILL THE END OF TOM
Gillian Roberts
Ballantine, Nov 2004, $22.95, 244 pp.
ISBN 0345454928

When Philly Prep teacher Amanda Pepper ducks out of the headmaster’s speech in the auditorium she finds a man lying comatose on the bottom of the marble stairs. He dies en route to the hospital; Amanda thinks he was murdered because he fell backwards and has an injury to his cheek. She learns that the victim, Tomas Severin, wanted to hire her services as a private detective to investigate threatening phone calls he was getting.

Later, Amanda finds a cup of tea in her office that she assumes was Tomas’ drink. She gives it to the police to see if there was anything in it. It turns out that somebody put a date rape drug in the tea. Not too much later, Amanda and her fiancée are hired by the social secretary to Tomas’s mother Ingrid to find out whether her employer’s fiancée who is forty-six years younger than his future bride had something to do with the homicide. Amanda feels needs to solve the case fast because Tomas’s son Zach, Amanda’s favorite student, confesses to killing his father. Amanda wants to clear Zach by finding out how Tomas really died because she doesn’t believe her pupil committed patricide.

TILL THE END OF TOM is a very entertaining academic mystery due in large part to the heroine’s trying to work two jobs and plan her wedding. This leads to some very numerous scenes and will have any reader who planned their own wedding chuckling out loud. Gillian Roberts is a talented writer whose clever plotting and excellent characterizations make TILL THE END OF TOM a very erudite mystery.

Harriet Klausner

BUZZ RIFF
Sam Hill
Carroll & Graf, 2004, $25.00, 325 pp.
ISBN: 0786713909

University of Georgia professor Jay Pope-Scott, whose Dixie theories on race have angered the world outside of a few white supremacists, believes his cousin stole the "Bloody Red Rag" from him. This legendary Confederate flag supposedly stopped the flow of blood from dying Stonewall Jackson. Jay asks research expert Top Kiernan to regain his valuable possession. Top would prefer to refuse his client, but he takes on the job because Top has competition now. His former lover and ex partner Gillie Lynfield is stealing his customers and has even lured away some of his better talent.

Top and associates investigates the stolen flag by visiting Confederate supporter collectors throughout the region; especially concentrating on those who could not care less about ownership as possession is ten tenths of a collection. However, the Klan and other white supremacy groups who believe in Professor Jay’s genetic theories on whites mixing with blacks dilute the former but improve the latter, abortion bombers, and even law enforcement want to collect Top.

The buzz about Sam Hill’s latest mystery is that this is an exciting action-packed tale that never slows down even when the reader finishes the novel. The cast seems out of a Florida zany mystery but located in Georgia with the stipulation that just about everyone wants to do harm to get what he or she desires. Jay’s theories alone are worth the price of admission as the audience will laugh out loud at his assertions on race, but that is the subtly underneath the zaniness of this wild ride as Sam Hill uses hyperbole along the lines of Swift’s A Modest Proposal to show how asinine racism actually is.

Harriet Klausner

IN A DARK HOUSE
Deborah Crombie
Morrow, Oct 2004, $23.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0060525258

A fire in the southwest reveals the body of a dead woman, but instead of letting the local police handle the case, Scotland Yard sends Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid to investigate because the warehouse that burned down belonged to MP Michael Harwood. The Victorian warehouse was being renovated by converting it into park flats, but rumors has it that was not succeeding so the fire department is looking for signs of arson.

Two people entering the building before the blaze were caught on video; one was Harwood’s missing daughter Chloe. Also absent is Laura Novak and her child Harriet; however, Harriet’s father Tony had left her with someone named Beth, an obvious alias. Duncan concentrates on the fire because he thinks a serial arsonist caused the deadly blaze.

Duncan’s live-in lover Inspector Gemma James is also in town investigating the disappearance of the roommate of a friend of a friend. Gemma searches for Harriet before time runs out on the child. Neither realizes these two cases connect in a dramatic fashion.

In addition to all the pressure in their private lives, Duncan and Gemma are also in a custody battle over his son with the lad’s maternal grandmother who blames the cop for her daughter’s death and believe the living in sin couple are unfit to raise her grandson. The two parallel police procedural plots are cleverly drawn so that the audience enjoys both, but wonders which of the lovers has chosen the correct path, if either has. Deborah Crombie provides a strong British who-done-it that fans of Val McDermid will appreciate.

Harriet Klausner

HOT ON THE TRAIL
Jane Isenberg
Avon, Nov 2004, $6.99, 336 pp.
ISBN 0060577517

Tenured Professor Bel Barrett carries a full load of classes at the River Edge Community College in Jersey City, but she takes on even more work when she intervenes to teach a memoir writing class at the Senior Center. Her live-in lover Sol wants her to set a wedding date and start making plans but Bel finds herself putting him off because the thought of planning a wedding exhausts her. As a post-menopause woman, Bel has stopped using the estrogen potion and has trouble maintaining bladder control.

While she deals with all these demands, a student in her class Flora Tomaselli tells Bel that fellow student Dom is dead. He went up to the roof in his pajamas, fell down, and froze to death. Flora also thinks her father was murdered by her uncle Emilio who owed him a large sum of money and wants Bel to prove it. Bel who always comes alive during criminal investigations agrees but Emilio has an airtight alibi and there are suspects closer to home.

Bel Barrett does for Hoboken what Stephanie Plum does for Trenton. This is an upbeat amateur sleuth tale in which the major characters are in their fifties. Jane Isenberg makes it clear that life does not stop once a person reaches the half century mark; it just gets better. If the heroine is any example that is certainty true because she has a lust for life and an appreciation of it that younger people don’t have. HOT ON THE TRAIL is a charming romantic amateur sleuth mystery.

Harriet Klausner

CRUSHING CRYSTAL
Evan Marshall
Kensington, Nov 2004, $22.00, 256 pp.
ISBN 0758202288

Literary agent Jane Stuart works and lives in Shady Hills, New Jersey and is glad to be away from the crime and troubles of New York City. She has a wonderful nanny Florence for her eleven year old son Nicholas; because of her friendship with Florence she allows her nanny’s sister Crystal Ryerson to stay at her home for two weeks. When they move Crystal into her new home, Jane is thrilled to get rid of the obnoxious, meddling know it all busy body.

In the short time she has been in town, Crystal complained to Children Services stating that Myrtle Lovesy’s daughter, a former drug addict, is not fit to raise her child. She also gets a teacher fired for stealing computers that he categorically denies. Crystal, an assistant director at the public library, arranges a reading group. At the very first meeting the teacher and Mrs. Lovesy are there. When Crystal climbs a ladder to get a book from the top shelf of the bookstore, it falls on her killing her instantly. Florence ask Jane, who has solved five homicides, to find her sister’s killer; she agrees to help her friend not knowing that she is putting her life on the line.

CRUSHING CRYSTAL is a fantastic cozy and a delightful amateur sleuth tale all rolled up into one terrific package. The protagonist is intelligent and loyal willing to go the extra mile to help her friend. Evan Marshall has written his best mystery to date because there is a subplot involving a missing beautiful high school girl that seamlessly returns to the main story line. This delightfully charming mystery is definitely deserving of an award nomination.

Harriet Klausner

SACRED STONE
Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo
Berkley, Oct 2004, $15.00, 416 pp.
ISBN: 0425198480

Archeologist John Ackerman working on a millennium old Vikings excavation in Greenland uncovers a meteorite. He realizes that the stone is radioactive, struck earth around 50,000 years ago, and that Eric the Red and his followers must have buried it in this cave because they must have learned first hand the danger it posed.

Two deadly opponents want to possess the Viking meteorite to use in constructing a devastating super-bomb that can wipe out an entire city in a blink. Aleimein Al-Kahlifa and his Muslim group see this as an omen from God to use with a nuclear device stolen in the Ukraine to destroy London; billionaire industrialist Halifax Hickman sees the opportunity to use the material with his industrial know how to destroy Islam. Juan Cabrillo, Chairman of the Corporation, sends his experts to stop both factions from succeeding in their respective plots of mass destruction.

As with the first Oregon Files book, GOLDEN BUDDHA, Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo provide an action-packed thriller filled with incredible amounts of technological elements especially of nuclear and naval factoids. The gun blazing story line never slows down until the final confrontation to include an unnecessary adventure, the return of a second stone (Abraham's Stone) to the Kaaba at Mecca. However, the action to the nth degree oriented story line lacks the deep characterizations of the NUMA novels so that readers never care whether the good guys win. Those fans who do not mind casting in the pits as long as one escapade follows another will appreciate this non-stop thriller.

Harriet Klausner

TOTAL SILENCE
T.J. MacGregor
Pinnacle, Oct 2004, $6.99, 384 pp.
ISBN 0786015586

She tells fortunes for a living but Mira Morales is a true psychic as is her mother and her daughter Annie. Mother and daughter are vacationing in Asheville, North Carolina with Mira’s fiancé FBI Agent Shep. Mira has a cold that stuffs up her psychic senses, which leaves her helpless when a woman carrying a gun kidnaps her and shoots at her when she tries to get away. The killer, Allie Curry, also killed five people who were on the property and could have identified her.

When Shep and Anne come home, they find the dead bodies in the barn and Mira nowhere to be found. Shep immediately realizes that someone kidnapped Mira to get back at him because as a law official he made many enemies. Allie, a doctor by profession, treats Mira because she wants her healthy so she can kill her on a certain day, the one year anniversary of her brother’s death. She believes this is payback for Shep arresting her brother years ago.

Readers who like supernatural thrillers that are absolutely fantastic will want to read TOTAL SILENCE, a work that has Dean’s ghost aiding Mira in her quest to survive his sister’s deadly plan. Good old fashioned detective work, Annie and her grandmother’s psychic powers and a friendly ghost are all part of the investigation in which Shep is not too proud to use all the help he can get. T.J. MacGregor has written an outstanding work starring characters that were featured in THE HANGED MAN and BLACK WATER.

Harriet Klausner

PERSUASIVE EVIDENCE
R. Barri Flowers
Leisure, Oct 2004, $6.99, 368 pp.
ISBN: 0843954698

Assistant District Attorneys Jordan La Fontaine and Jerrod Wresler compete for the position of Chief, Homicide Division Bureau, but the former believes being a black female works against her while the latter believes that gives her an edge. Jordan currently works the case of a Portland homicide detective killing his former wife. If she gets a conviction she has the promotion. This is an open and shut case because the police officer was found in his ex-spouse’s bedroom covered in blood and holding the murder weapon.

Jordan’s son Trevor is charged with killing two acquaintances. The police have not found the murder weapon, but have an eyewitness who claims seeing the suspect leave the crime scene and a victim’s blood is on Trevor’s clothing. Others claim he had a fight with one of the dead victims and said the guy was going to die. Defending Trevor in what also appears to be an open and shut case is Simon, former partner of the suspect’s dead father and his mother’s lover. Unable to remain on the sidelines, Jordan conducts her own sleuthing independent of the official investigation.

R. Barri Flowers has written a superb legal thriller that offers the reader an excellent look at the jurisprudence system and how race is a key card. Jordan received the cop case because she and the detective are black; the victim being white apparently is irrelevant. What is interesting is how concealed the race element is yet how significant it effects all aspects of the legal system, but is kept silent for fear of reprisal. PERSUASIVE EVIDENCE will appeal to fans of John Grisham and Linda Fairstein.

Harriet Klausner

THE CLOSER
Donn Cortez
Pocket, Oct 2004, $6.99, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0743476980

One Christmas Eve, struggling artist Jack meets with a potential patron at Jack’s warehouse. His client never shows up, but when a disappointed Jack returns home he finds the murdered corpses of his wife, son and parents. His new goal is to kill the person who killed his loved ones, but first he must find out who did the dastardly deed.

He teams up with Nikki the prostitute as both share in common the loss of loved ones due to serial killers. They search for serial killers and when they catch them they make them confess on tape who they murdered and where they buried the bodies. The police dub Jack the Closer because he provides some closure to the victims’ families. When Jack and Nikki learn about a secret site for serial killers, they gain the passwords and codes to the Stalking Ground. There he finds his family killer, but who will provide victorious in this cat and mouse game they play.

THE CLOSER is an exciting yet odd thriller reminiscent of Bronson’s Death Wish but somewhat different because all the characters even the professionals are serial killers. In his pursuit of justice, Jack crosses the line to become the thing that he wants to destroy which turns him into a paradox. Nikki keeps him grounded until he finally goes one step too far for even her and she is forced to walk away. There is plenty of violence in this crime thriller though the plot contains numerous serpentine twists and red herrings as Jack’s quest to find his family’s killer never stays on a straight path. Those detours make for a solid but intense reading experience.

Harriet Klausner

CRISSCROSS
F. Paul Wilson
Forge, Oct 2004, $24.95, 414 pp.
ISBN: 0765306913

Few know that Repairman Jack exists except his pregnant girlfriend Gia, her daughter, and a few other souls that he trusts. People turn to Jack when they need problems solved without the police involved. Jack fixes things for cash only as he has no money or paper trail to follow. Jack seeks a way out of the cold without attracting attention so that he can marry Gia.

While he ponders his problem, two cases come to him. Maggie the nun says that someone is blackmailing her with illicit pictures of her with her lover; she wants Jack to destroy the pictures before the Church finds out. Maria hires Jack to learn if her son is okay since she lost contact with him when he joined the Dormentalist Church whose founder Luther Brady believes that burying certain designated pillars in specific locations will fuse this world with its mirror realm leading to paradise regained.

Jack destroys the pictures with a little help from a hacker, but when Maggie informs her lover that they no longer have to pay the extortionist, tragedy occurs. Jack learns about the pillars and what will happen once Brady finishes planting them; he must stop the false prophet at all costs to save the world as we know it.

Repairman Jack novels are always fun to read, but this thriller, though also quite entertaining and exciting, is much darker than usual. He solves the nun’s problem, but the results are not what he or she expected forcing him to take an amoral position with the blackmailer. The Brady problem is simply world threatening. For those who know Jack will know that F. Paul Wilson provides another fantastic reading experience.

Harriet Klausner

THE REUNION
Sue Walker
Morrow, Oct 2004, $24.95, 320 pp.
ISBN: 0060726091

The Adolescent Psychiatric Unit in Edinburgh, known just as the Unit, was a place where the most troubled teens would receive the most innovative treatment for mental disorders. The class of 1977 contained youths with a wide variety of problems such as sexual deviancy, violent tendencies, and worse. When they were released, society hoped they would lead normal productive lives. As a whole the group did not stay in touch with one another, but a few formed a cell that gets in touch with each other every November 8th.

Innes Haldane was a Unit patient, but never heard from her peers until out of nowhere Isabella Velasco called her; Innes never returned the call. A few weeks alter, Isabella was dead, ruled a suicide. Innes learns that another graduate Danny also apparently killed himself just before Isabella did. A third Unit member almost died in the inferno that left her spouse and children dead; she might as well have been dead because her mind broke in the fire. Innes thinks this is too much coincidence as all these deaths are related, but how? Unbeknownst to Innes is that a heinous act during a camping trip as Unit members led to the present spate of killings and injuries.

Sue Walker is a marvelous storyteller who masterly uses flashbacks as a key plot device that ironically enables the reader to know what Innes does not comprehend. THE REUNION is very atmospheric, dark and foreboding in a gothic Jane Eyre like way, but is clearly a psychological suspense that tantalizes the audience with what is really happening inside the minds of the key characters. Ms. Walker should receive Edgar consideration for this highly recommended book.

Harriet Klausner

THE PRINCE OF BEVERLY HILLS
Stuart Woods
Putnam, Oct 2004, $25.95, 336 pp.
ISBN: 0399152202

After years working as a Beverly Hills detective, Rick Barron is busted down to police officer because he got his captain’s daughter pregnant. One night he witnesses a traffic accident and recognizes that famous movie star Clete Barrow caused it. He quickly removes the license plates and registration from the vehicle so that no one knows that Clete caused the accident while under the influence of alcohol. On Clete’s instructions, Rick calls Eddie Harris, a Centurion Studios Executive, who knows the right people to make the mess go away.

Eddie is so impressed with Rick’s handling of the fiasco he offers him a job as head of security. Rick eagerly accepts the position. His first assignment is to baby sit Clete until the film is finished. In the course of his new job, he crosses paths with Rick Stampano who has connections with Bugsy Siegel and Lucky Luciano. Stampano has a habit of beating up and almost killing studio girls; Rick tries to intercede and makes a deadly enemy. In an act of revenge, Stampano beats up Rick’s fiancée; an incident that must not go unpunished.

Stuart Woods has written a fantastic stand alone tale that captures the ambience of Hollywood just prior to World War II through tidbits and real notables like Hedda Hopper referring to Rick as THE PRINCE OF BEVERLY HILLS because of his fancy garbs. The antagonist is a nasty person whom today would be considered a stalker for his preying on starlets, but the law cannot touch him since none of the victims want the adverse publicity. This is a rich, complex thriller about Hollywood, home to extortion, blackmail, and murder.

Harriet Klausner

HARD, HARD, CITY
Jim Fusilli
Putnam, Oct 2004, $24.95, 288 pp.
ISBN: 0399152172

After years of mourning for his wife and their son who died in a train accident, private detective Terry Orr still struggles with the fact that his spouse was locked in a passionate embrace with another man while her son was on the rail tracks. She died trying to save their child’s life. Terry cares for Julie, but is unable to tell or show her how much he needs her. His daughter Bella looks after him because she understands his pain and he will do anything for her.

Bella asks her father to find Allie Powell, who has been missing for several days. Terry visits John McPorter, who shows the sleuth his open safe in which $471 and some envelopes were stolen leaving behind much more valuable items. Next Terry sees Allie’s father Powell who believes the detective has the stolen items; his goons rough up Terry. He returns to John’s house to find the man impaled on a fence and not long afterward the man’s son is dead in a shoddy apartment building. Terry concludes that Powell seeks incriminating documents that John possessed and if he can prove this perhaps Allie can come out of hiding.

Jim Fusilli provides a dark urban noir that paints the meanness of city streets. The protagonist prefers being shot at or beaten up as less painful than his thoughts and enables him to escape from his growing unwanted feelings for Julie. The story line is action-packed filled with colorful secondary characters, but it is the sinister Manhattan skyline that makes HARD, HARD CITY a tale that fans of James Patterson will want to read.

Harriet Klausner

CALIFORNIA GIRL
T. Jefferson Parker
Morrow, Oct 2004, $24.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0060562366

The Becker and Vonn families share a history that goes back years starting when they rumbled in the old packinghouse because a member of the former threw a hat belonging to the latter to a dog. When the Beckers apologized for the incident, they noticed that five years old Janelle Vonn had a black eye. Years later Janette attended a sermon given by David Becker. Afterward she told David and his two brothers, police officer Nick and reporter Andy, that her siblings forced her to have sex with them.

Nick was able to get her siblings arrested and the Becker clan tried to keep Janellee safe. Nick arrives at that same packinghouse to lead his first homicide investigation, the decapitation of Janellete. As he digs deeper, his two brothers feed him information, which leads to a suspect in Mexico. Across the border a shoot out occurs leaving eight dead and Nick severely injured. Still he thinks he has an open and shut case, but Andy thinks otherwise.

CALIFORNIA GIRL is not the author’s ultra dark and foreboding crime thriller though it is bleak, but instead is an intriguing police procedural. Readers come to know the goodness of the Beckers especially since the tale is predominantly told from the perspective of the three brothers (and the badness of the Vonns). This contrast turns into a two edge sword as the rivalry causes adrenaline pumping suspense, but the extremes are too simplistic; then again perhaps if the Vonns told the tale the magnetic poles would switch. T. Jefferson Parker provides an action packed cerebral crime thriller starring a trio of likable siblings.

Harriet Klausner

WINTER HOUSE
Carol O’Connell
Putnam, Oct 2004, $24.95, 320 pp.
ISBN: 0399152113

When a man enters Netta Winters Central Park West mansion, she uses a pair of sewing scissors to kill the invader in self defense. Detectives Kathy Mallory and Riker are assigned the case. They interview Netta and her niece Bitty. Mallory’s business partner Charles Butler is called to the crime scene because Bitty has pictures of him plastered all over her walls. Charles does not recall ever meeting Bitty, but also refuses to press charges of stalking against her mostly because he finds her seventy years old aunt charming.

Mallory believes that Netta killed in self-defense since the deceased had been previously charged with killing women, but how he met bail and hired a high price lawyer disturbs the cop. Also bothering Mallory is two murder weapons were used; one being an ice pick. Just under six decades ago, someone killed nine people in this house using an ice pick. Mallory believes Netta is not telling everything she knows especially where she has been for the past fifty-eight years and that the septuagenarian is in danger. Every time she pressures Netta to tell her the whole truth, Charles intervenes, a Good Samaritan action that could perhaps lead to another death.

WINTER HOUSE is a fantastic police procedural filled with plenty of action and a support cast that adds much needed humor when the tension threatens to overwhelm the audience. Mallory is a terrific lead character struggling with feelings because she believes that the delightful Netta is hiding a dark secret that could kill her. WINTER HOUSE is a fabulous New York mystery.

Harriet Klausner

BURNING BRIDGES
Troy Soos
Kensington, Oct 2004, $6.99, 320 pp.
ISBN: 0758206240

In 1896, thanks to his exposé article on Tammany Hall corruption, Harper’s magazine hires reporter Marshall Webb while the Lexow Committee tries to see that corrupt politicians and cop do time. Marshall wants to work on a different story and his boss is eager to oblige him. His topic of choice is to look at the upcoming referendum to decide whether Brooklyn and Staten Island should merge with Manhattan; supporters and opponents are volatile on the subject.

He attends the town meeting hosted at Brooklyn’s Canarsie Hall where wealthy industrialist Joshua Thompson provides a rousing speech in support of the third largest city in America remaining independent. As Marshall interviews Joshua, shots are fired; Joshua is dead. Detective Buck Morehouse investigates the homicide; he teams up with Marshall using the reporter as bait to lure a killer.

Troy Soos has written a fantastic historical mystery starring a likeable hero. His girlfriend wealthy socialite Rebecca Davies, who runs a home for women in trouble, plays more of a secondary role this time as opposed to her prime actions in the previous novels. The most intriguing character is Detective Morehouse, who receives free gratuities that today would be considered corruption but is quite acceptable in the Gay Nineties of New York. This well written and thoroughly researched BURNING BRIDGES, besides containing a wonderful period piece who-done-it, also leaves the audience with the concept that crime including corruption and graft is defined by society, which changes the definition periodically.

Harriet Klausner

THE LAKE
Richard Laymon
Leisure, Oct 2004, $24.00, 384 pp.
ISBN: 0843954507

As a teen, Leigh was a rebel protesting the Viet Nam War so her parents decided she needed a change of scenery sending her to her uncle and aunt’s home in Wisconsin where she met studmuffin Charlie Payne. Leigh chased after the shy man who was intimidated by his mother until she finally caught him. They made love in an abandoned house, but as Charlie was leaving he fell through the floor, hit his dead, and died. His mother claimed Leigh killed her son, but the police ruled it an accidental death. She returned home pregnant.

Eighteen years later Leigh’s daughter Deana is on a date with Allan when a man carrying a cleaver and wearing a chef’s hat chases after them and kills the lad. The culprit is the former chef at Leigh’s restaurant, who was recently fired. Macer, the detective in charge, becomes romantically involved with Leigh. When the police catch Allan’s killer, Leigh feels safe, but she soon will learns she is wrong because someone is coming for her and her daughter.

Richard Laymon is a Bram Stoker award winning horror novelist who proves he can switch genre gears by writing a fantastic thriller as well. From the very beginning, the action explodes and just accelerates beyond warp speed and yet allows for a strong believable relationship between mother and daughter even when stress threatens to destroy it as both want to protect the other. The story line is loaded with surprises so that the audience never knows what will happen next. This totally absorbing crime thriller will have readers enthralled and unable to put it down until the last page is turned.

Harriet Klausner

TAGGED FOR MURDER
Elaine Flinn
Avon, Oct 2004, $6.99, 304 pp.
ISBN: 0060545801

Her husband ruined her sterling reputation by selling fake antiquities before leaving for parts unknown with his young bimbo leaving Molly Doyle financially ruined. She now runs her friend’s antique shop in Carmel, California. She is recovering financially and making new friends when her sister Carrie whom she has not seen in fifteen years arrives with her twelve year old daughter Emma. Carrie is job hunting and asks Molly to watch Emma. Not long afterward, a letter given to Molly from Emma informs her that Carrie is leaving the country and wants Molly to raise Emma.

While Molly reels from her sibling’s callousness, she learns that her friend Trudy Collins did not die from a heart attack; instead was murdered by someone who knew she was allergic to aspirin and hid a tablet in her soda at an antiques gala. While going through her pal’s belongings, Molly realizes Trudy was selling fakes and Carrie was part of the operation. The more she digs, the more Molly comprehends her sister broke several laws and leaving the country was the only way to avoid arrest. Molly’s snooping frightens the killer so much that he or she tries to murder her and her niece on a fog shrouded road.

Molly is a likable and intelligent heroine who falls in love with Emma from the moment they first meet and takes her home with her without a second thought. She accepts that her sister is a felon and the best thing Carrie can do is stay away from her family. Emma steals the hearts of readers as a precocious child (they always seem that way in fiction) who has more common sense than most of the adults she knows. Elaine Flinn provides a beguiling amateur sleuth tale that readers will love.

Harriet Klausner

A DOSE OF MURDER
Lori Avocato
Avon, Oct 2004, $6.99, 320 pp.
ISBN: 0060731656

While she is trying to get a sick boy’s mouth open, Pauline Sokol concludes she just does not want to remain a nurse any longer. After twelve years she is burned out. Her gay roommate Miles gets her a job at an insurance agency as a fraud claims investigator. Her first case is to prove that Tina Macaluso, receiving injury compensation, never injured her back on the job.

Pauline knows zilch about how to conduct an investigation; sexy Jagger offers to teach her if she will assist him on a case he works involving a group of doctors committing Medicare fraud by filing false claims. He wants Pauline to apply for a job as a temporary nurse since Tina is on medical leave. Jagger’s source inside the office is murdered while Pauline stumbles across the corpse of the billings clerk leading her to wonder why she is doing the job she detests even undercover and could get killed doing it.

The heroine finds herself in several crazy situations that leave readers at times chuckling out loud and often concerned whether she can extricate herself from her perils without revealing her true purpose for being in the medical office. The quirky support cast adds humor to this wonderful debut mystery. Lori Avocato provides a solid who-done-it, chick lit style.

Harriet Klausner

NORTHERN LIGHTS
Nora Roberts
Putnam, Oct 2004, $25.95, 576 pp.
ISBN: 0399152059

Baltimore Police Officer Nate Burke is in the dumps due to the break up of his marriage so his partner Jack takes him on a night on the town. When they are ready to go home, they see a drug deal going down so they go to arrest the perpetrators, but Nate is shot and Jack is killed. Feeling guilty and unable to cope, Nate quits the force and heads to Lunacy, Alaska to become police chief.

Lunacy is a small quiet town in which Nate deals with traffic incidents and minor misdemeanors. From the first time he sees bush pilot Meg Galloway, Nate feels he has returned to the living. When a frozen male body is found inside a cave on No Name Mountain, Meg identifies the corpse as her father, who she and the townsfolk felt walked out on his family eighteen years ago. Not long afterward, newspaper publisher Max commits suicide leaving a note that he killed Meg’s father. Nate thinks a second homicide is covering up a two decade old murder.

NORTHERN LIGHTS is an electrifying romantic suspense that will please the myriad of Nora Roberts’ fans. The hero is a wounded warrior who runs as far away from his hometown as he just about can to bury himself in the tundra. Instead he finds a new home, a satisfying job, and a woman that heals his soul. The support cast is eccentric and likable (Nora Roberts’ trademarks) with anyone and no one capable of committing murder. Thus the readers will enjoy a solid police procedural that they will want to solve (not an easy mission) alongside a strong romance heading to the New York Times bestseller list.

Harriet Klausner

THE VANISHED PRIESTESS
Meredith Blevins
Forge, Oct 2004, $23.95, 320 pp.
ISBN: 0765307804

Widowed after only a few years of marriage, Annie Szabo inherited her gypsy mother-in-law Mina, who was not pleased when her son married an outsider. Over time the two combating women found a way to co-exist at a distance with one another. Though they would never admit this to anyone even their maker, they respect one another. Annie is unhappy when Mina comes for an extended visit for a large dose of the woman will drive her crazy.

However, Annie’s concern over her failing mental health as there is no end state to Mina is diverted by someone shooting her neighbor Margo Spencer in the back; circus friends of the victim discovered the body. Margo owned and operated a new age circus that funded a shelter for battered and abused women. When Annie’s daughter Abra arrived bruised, Margo brought her to the shelter and the Szabo women closed ranks against her abusing spouse Rory. At the same time that Margo was killed, her lover Lili disappears. To get her mind off of all the negativity that floods her soul, Annie investigates the homicide.

An Annie Szabo mystery is always a special treat due to the eccentric Szabo clan that play powerful secondary roles especially driving the heroine nuts with their loyalty and other shtick that she reciprocates 100 percent. Meredith Blevins applies a wicked sense of humor, at times edgy, but never quite over the edge, as the conversations between characters especially the cross purpose discussions between Annie and Mina, are fabulous. Amateur sleuth fans will love THE VANISHED PRIESTESS.

Harriet Klausner

SUGAR COOKIE MURDER
Joanne Fluke
Kensington, Oct 2004, $16.00, 352 pp.
ISBN: 075820681X

Hannah Swenson owns the Cookie Jar Bakery in Eden Lake, Minnesota. Currently she is working her buns off (pun intended) to get ready for the Christmas party and food competition at the community center. Hannah is compiling a book of recipes that the townsfolk are renowned for. Everyone seems to want to be included in the cookbook so Hannah is struggling not to ruffle any feathers by showing every dish entered at the party. She also looks forward to spending time with her date police investigator Mike Kingston.

Hannah knows that Martin’s new wife Brandy Wyn Dubrinksi will make his mother Babs and his former spouse Sherry uncomfortable. However everyone gasps when they see Brandy as she is wearing a $25,000 mink coat that Martin just bought her. While Hannah toils in the kitchen she notices that the door to the back parking lot is ajar. She goes outside only to find Brandy dead with her mother’s jewel encrusted Regency serving cake knife in the victim’s chest. Hannah begins searching for the real killer.

There should be a warning not to read this book on an empty stomach because the descriptions of food throughout the novel and the recipes at the end will send the pickiest eater on a gorging frenzy. This warm cozy amateur sleuth tale is well plotted and has a sweet eccentric small town support cast, but the main ingredient remains Hannah as she takes another bite out of crime. SUGAR COOKIE MURDER is a delicious lighthearted mystery.

Harriet Klausner

SHIELD OF THE SKY
Susan Krinard
Luna, Oct 2004, $12.95, 400 pp.
ISBN 0373802110

The free People of the Shield of the Sky are all women, a self-sustaining community that only uses males to get pregnant so their community will have fresh blood. The chosen that are selected mate with the Aliuri, shapeshifters that are children of the Deva spirits of the sky, water, and earth. Rhena was not called but went up to the mountain anyway where a shapeshifter permanently scarred her cheek. When Rhena came down from the mountain she was sent into exile until the powers of the Aliuri weakens and many of the Devas disappear, leaving the Free People without any protection.

Rhena is recalled and assigned to find out what happened to the Devas and the Aliuri. Along the way she meets the seer Tahvo and she rescues the Aliori Cian. They cross paths with Qustis; together they make Four, a fighting unit that travels to Karchedon, the heart of the evil Arrihidaean Empire where the worship of the Stone is at its strongest. Each member of the quartet has a different reason to go to Karchedon but when they arrive they discover it is their destiny to destroy the evil entity that is in the stone which seeks to bring all mankind under its domination.

SHIELD OF THE SKY is epic fantasy unlike other works this author has written as the shapeshifting romances that made Susan Krinard is only a small start of this work. Four individuals are on a quest to destroy the stone and bring down the empire; although they doubt their worthiness, all of them agree to play their part even if it means their death. Character driven but with plenty of action scenes, this romantic fantasy will give the reader hours of enjoyable pleasure.

Harriet Klausner

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