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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September 2007
The Betrayed
Lisa T. Bergren
Berkley, Sept 22007, $23.95, 416 pp.
ISBN: 9780425217085
In the year 1340, the Gifted, those chosen by God to spread Christ’s word among the masses and endowed with divine powers, are in Venice looking for clues to where the Lord wants them to go next. The group consists of the healer Lady Daria d’Angelo; Sir Gianni whose gift is faith; Hasani has visions; and Father Piero known for his wisdom and Tessa who has discernment and knows who is good and who is evil.
They are pursued by Lord Abramo Amidei who worships the forces of darkness and sacrifices children on the altar of his god. He intends to capture and convert the Gifted or destroy them; his plan is to separate them so that they do not have each other to rely on when he tortures them into doubting their beliefs. While the Gifted search for a glass map, a piece of which is hidden in the seven churches of Venice, Cardinal Boreli observes them as he hopes to use them to bring the papacy back to full power when he becomes the pope. Daria is captured and taken to Abramo’s prison where he tortures her: hoping to break her spirit. The rest of the Gifted mount a rescue, but it will take a miracle from God to free her from that darkness.
By books end, the Gifted knows where they are needed next, a place that is anathema to them yet their faith is so strong they don’t doubt God’s will and obey him even though they are heading into more troubles. The Gifted are good and honorable but circumstances sometimes causes them to have doubts. Abramo is a fully developed villain who is the sworn enemy of the Gifted and will do whatever is necessary to convert or kill them. Lisa T. Bergren has written an exciting thriller that is full of surprises and confrontations between good and evil.
Harriet Klausner
The Sunrise Lands
S.M. Stirling
Roc, Sep 2007, $24.95
ISBN 9780451461704
At the end of the twentieth century the Change occurred suddenly and stunningly; it left all technological advances of the past two centuries inoperative. Across America, people were stunned with the loss of taken for granted conveniences like electricity and computers, etc.
In Western Oregon by CY22 (Change Year 22), most, if not all locals, have adapted to the Change living in peaceful cooperation until the traveler from the east arrives. The stranger informs the tribe that he seeks Rudi Mackenzie, whose destiny the outsider insists is to learn what destroyed America and what technology can be salvaged. Meanwhile in the former Wyoming and Montana the Prophet and his Church Universal and Triumphant followers believe that God has sent them to destroy any remains of the technological serpent that drove people away from the heavenly father.
Now S.M. Stirling continues his alternate America with the second decade since the Change as a generation who never tasted technology is heading into adulthood. Thus the story line is fast-paced but also refreshed as Rudi, born of non technology, begins his odyssey across a world filled with Death Zones, massive deserts, and special interest sects protecting their little fiefdoms from outsiders. The audience does not need to read the previous set of the trilogy to appreciate this strong coming of age in a post technological un-United States.
Harriet Klausner
Crusade
Robyn Young
Dutton, Aug 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9780525950165
By 1274, the years of war that has devastated much of the Middle East especially the Holy Land appears over. A shaky peace has finally come to weary people mostly because of the Herculean efforts of the Brethren. However, one of the Brethren Will Campbell fears their cause has been betrayed from within and that hostilities will break out unless the traitor Prince Edward is stopped from meeting his pledge to the Pope that the Cross will soon control Jerusalem. However, Will remains unaware that European war profiteers have found their profits gone since peace has descended on the land; so to stir up business they plan a scheme to use Edward as a foolish tool to erupt the Muslin world into a Jihad against the European infidels.
In Egypt, Sultan Baybars’ heir Baraka has turned a deaf ear towards his fathe; who left him with his mother until he was old enough to train as a warrior and then left him with a tutor. Now he ignores his offspring even more since his closest friend died saving his life. Instead Baraka heeds the guidance of soothsayer Khadir who tells him his dad is going to leave him a destroyed kingdom unless he acts. Baybars believes he must fight the powerful Mongol horde while Khadir insists that is not only suicide, but it is the Christians who are the real enemy. A new wave of crusades seems imminent with Will and some of his Brethren peers the only hope to prevent another region wide conflation that could easily spread across the Mediterranean.
The middle book of this superior historical fiction trilogy (see BRETHREN) is a terrific entry as the late thirteenth century Middle East seems on the verge of another Crusade unless Will and his peers can pull off several miracles. The fast-paced story line effortlessly moves back and forth between the subplots and the key cast members are fully developed so that the audience obtains a taste of the medieval age especially in Jerusalem and Cairo in AD 1276.
Harriet Klausner
Patriot Acts
Greg Rucka
Bantam, Sept 2007, $25.00, 352 pp.
ISBN: 9780553804737
Running away after killing a man who was hired to kill them, Atticus Kodiak, Alena Cizkova and Natalie Trent run to the safe house at Cold Spring. Atticus is a wanted man because it is believed he killed his friend Scott Fowler, an FBI agent, when it was Oxford who fired the gun. He leaves the women at the cabin and takes off when two teams of assassins hit them. He makes it back to the cabin after he disposes of them to find Alena and Natalie have dispatched those sent to kill them. Natalie dies and her friends vow to avenge her murder.
It takes them years to track down the man who betrayed him and when they catch him the only information he gives up is the contractor is untouchable. In order to find the man who ordered the hits, Alexa and Atticus devise a trap but in Lynch, Wyoming they are trapped by various government agencies and it is only through ingenuity and luck they escape. They are hired by Natalie’s father to kill the man who ordered the hit that killed his daughter but to do that Atticus and Alexa, now known as Patriot and Drama must work it so that justice is served without the president and his government being tarnished.
Atticus and Alexa can kill in cold blood but they are not stone cold murderers. They live in a different world where murder is a tool yet when they have an easy chance to catch the man who destroyed their lives; they pass, because it would mean involving a woman and child dying. That also means they have to work harder to catch him. Both anti-heroes would not be killing their adversaries, if the contractor did not put a hit out on them. Greg Rucka scores a best seller with this thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Dead Heat
Dick Frances and Felix Francis
Putnam, Sept 2007, $25.95, 352 pp.
ISBN: 9780399154768
Business is booming at the Newmarket restaurant in Newmarket, England; and the proprietor Max Moreton is hired by the racetrack to be the guest chef of a dinner. The meal is a success but most of the people came down with a bad case of food poisoning including Max. The next day he has to drag himself out of bed to perform as the guest chef in the sponsor's box. A bomb goes off killing many and injuring even more including Max’s staff. The cause of the food poisoning is caused by undercooked kidney beans. Max knows nothing in the dinner called for kidney beans.
He believes somebody deliberately poisoned his meal so that they would have an excuse not to go to the sponsor’s gala. Two couples who were supposed to attend the sponsor’s gala never showed up; one couple is one of Max’s best customers and the other is Peter, an importer of polo ponies and his wife. While he is investigating he is almost killed when the brakes on his car go out and his house with him in it is set afire. When Max and his lover go to the states, he gets a broken arm just for asking about a certain person and showing a metal ball to the security guard. Even with his life in danger, Max refuses to give up his quest to find out who tainted the meal that left so many ill and he has a number of unexpected allies willing to back him up.
This father and son writing team changes the dynamic of a book written by Dick Frances. There is more humor in the storyline and readers get even closer to the characters because Max is an everyman the audience can identify with even with his outrageous risks to clear his name. The mystery itself is clearly set up so that through the use of misdirection, readers aren’t sure who the villains of this tale are.
Harriet Klausner
Interred with Their Bones
Jennifer Lee Carrell
Dutton, Sep 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9780525949701
In 2004 at London’s renovated Globe Theater Katharine Stanley directs a production of Hamlet. Attending is her friend Harvard Shakespearean Professor Rosalind Howard who gives Katharine a small gold-wrapped box before the production.
That same evening, a fire breaks out at the Globe; soon after it is put out, Roz is found dead in the same way that Hamlet’s father was killed. Kate is stunned by her friend’s death and the fire, but is over the edge with the gift, a Victorian mourning brooch decorated with flowers mindful of Ophelia. Needing to know the truth, Kate investigates traveling on a trek across the Atlantic in which a killer accompanies her murdering potential witnesses and attempting to add Kate to the list.
INTERRED WITH BONES is one of the best thrillers of the year as the plausible twists keep coming. Kate is terrific as the prime character struggling with her friend’s death and the eerie related symbolism to Shakespeare that makes her feel her life has turned into a tragedy with no third act comic relief. As she travels across the pond to Arizona and more, Kate begins to learn what the Holy Grail is: a lost Shakespearean play. Readers will enjoy this entertaining amateur sleuth in which the Bard’s legacy is proving deadly.
Harriet Klausner
Sweet Revenge
Diane Matt Davidson
Morrow, Sept 2007, $25.95, 368 pp.
ISBN 9780060527334
Goldy Schulz’s catering business is booming as she has twenty– five events between December first and Christmas. On the way to the MacArthur’s house to finalize theevent she is catering, Goldy sees someone she believed has been dead for six months; the woman who killed her abusive ex-husband the Jerk. Sandee Brisbane had cause because he raped her when she was a teenager but everyone believed she perished in the blaze. When she tells her husband, a police officer he believers she saw someone who looked like Sandee because nobody could have gotten out of that fire even though her bones were never found.
At a library event she is catering she thinks she sees Sandee again but loses sight of her when the head librarian finds the body of ex-D.A. Drew Wellington who tried to cover up his DUI and his being in the car with a nubile minor.. One of Drew’s business acquaintances is also found dead with his head bludgeoned. Goldie thinks the two murders are connected and she starts investigating and uncovers some very ugly secrets people hide in their closets.
Diane Matt Davidson is one of the premier writers of culinary mysterious of this decade and after readers finish one of her books, they come away hungry for food and the next tale. Goldy needs to know the truth about the alleged rebirth of Sandee and the murders. Once the motive becomes clear, readers will feel no sympathy for the victims. SWEET REVENGE is a satisfying and tasty treat.
Harriet Klausner
Tokyo Year Zero
David Peace
Knopf, Sep 2007, $24.00
ISBN: 9780307263742
In the summer of1946 Tokyo, the ravages of the war permeate every aspect of life in the battered city. One year to the date of the surrender, two female corpses are found in Shiba Park. Both were rape victims before being strangled.
Police Detective Minami leads the official investigation into the homicides. As he struggles with a drug addiction that helps him forget his ignominious past during the Chinese Occupation, Minami owes his allegiance to a drug lord who feeds his habit. Still he wants to solve this particular brutal case so in spite of a lack of running water, he is out seeking clues amidst the ruins of the city; that is when he is not with his mistress. When more dead females surface; each raped before being strangled, Minami knows he must concentrate on uncovering the identity of a serial killer even if he believes the victims deserve what they get as these prostitutes know the risk of picking up a customer.
TOKYO YEAR ZERO is going to be considered one of the best historical police procedural of the year. The investigation is top rate and the depressing Minami is a fascinating lead character who readers will dislike once they learn he ignores his starving family for his drug needs and his mistress. However, with the American occupation led by the invisible emperor with no clothes and MacArthur occupying a country in ruins with only a thriving black market efficiently run by criminals, Japan especially Tokyo owns this dark whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
Invasive Procedures
Orson Scott Card & Aaron Johnston
Tor, Sep 2007, $ 25.95
ISBN: 9780765314246
George Galen is the leading geneticist in the world. However, the brilliant research scientist has no ethics except his own. Thus disgraced for crossing lines, his work healing diseases through fixing DNA via a virus V-16 has proven successful when customized to the individual; when not properly adapted tragedy occurs. Galen also has tinkered with his patients’ DNA to improve their healing capacity and to turn them into stronger and faster humans. Finally he also has insured this revised super model Healer obeys his command.
To make his work pragmatic Galen needs the cooperation of a super thoracic surgeon. He targets highly regarded Dr. Monica Owens because she is easily vulnerable. He abducts her weakness, her six-year-old son, Wyatt. If she wants Wyatt kept alive, Monica will do Galen’s bidding. She accompanies the insane Galen to an abandoned nursing home where he has a living lab of involuntary human guinea pigs for Monica to alter their DNA. Federal Biohazard Agency virologist Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hartman has found the antidote to Galen's DNA altering virus. The mad scientist plans to neutralize the threat by capturing and changing Hartman’s DNA to make him less brilliant and more willing to cooperate.
INVASIVE PROCEDURES is an interesting action-packed medical thriller that grips the audience from the moment readers meet egomaniacal Galen who blames government interference for his failures and his intelligence for his successes (classic conservative). The story line is fast-paced and fun to read although there are no twists as fans will know from the onset the end game. Still the cast is strong and the ethical questions raised on where to draw the ethical boundary on research and what is the government’s role seems relevant with current debates over ideology twisting/ignoring the pertinent facts.
Harriet Klausner
Heartsick
Chelsea Cain
St. Martin’s, Sep 2007, $23.95
ISBN 9780312368463
In Portland, Oregon, the serial killer soaks his victims in bleach before discarding the teenage girls. Police Detective Archie Sheridan is assigned to lead the task force investigating the case. He knows he must get his act together to prevent more victims, but also thinks back to when he went after serial killer psychiatrist Gretchen “The Beauty Queen” Lowell. She caught and tortured him for ten days including breaking his ribs so that she left behind a heart shaped scar. He lives because she called 911, but he uses painkillers at an alarming rate to ease the ache and continues to visit Gretchen weekly although he claims it is to get her to tell the authorities where the bodies are buried; he knows deep inside she owns him even from behind bars.
On the task force is energetic pink haired reporter Susan Ward. She rejects Archie’s controlling orders; instead she pushes him to do the right thing but she must compete with Gretchen who controls Archie so much so that he deserted his family for her. As the tug of war between the two females occurs, the bleach killer is interested in the reporter as a victim while Archie thinks this case might get him past his fascination that has made no woman compare to his Gretchen.
I n an obvious connection to Hannibal Lector, HEARTSICK is a fabulous psychological police procedural that grips the audience from the onset, but especially when readers meet Gretchen. The story line switches back and forth between the current case to when Gretchen captured Archie effortlessly so that both subplots are well written and gripping. Readers will appreciate this dark suspense thriller driven by the lead quartet whose tango means death.
Harriet Klausner
The Hades Project
Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore
Midnight Ink, Sep 2007, $14.95
ISBN: 9780738709307
Reporter Cotton Stone is a Nephilim, the daughter of a fallen angel and a mortal; but unlike the rest of her species, she is on the side of good as one of God’s warriors. Her father repented his sin and he had two daughters; one took his place in heaven. A new battle is brewing as the Devil’s Nephilim is creating a super computer using the code given by the kidnapped son of Alan owner of CyberSys. The forces of evil intend to unleash the Hades virus, which will cause disasters leading to millions dead and a new Dark Ages.
A childhood friend of Cotton is on the run with her daughter who sees the red auras of those aligned with Satan. They want her dead and Cotton is her only hope for survival. Alan’s son and Lindsay’s daughter meet after both are temporarily free of Satan’s minion and it is obvious they know each other. Cotton thinks these Indigo children are blessed by God and there is an increase in their births for a reason she does not know. Both supercomputers need thodium, the substance found in the resin of The Tree Of Life and the wood is used by Noah to build the arc; the only known artifact that still contains this is the Spear of Destiny. If Satan obtains it hell will come to earth.
Once again, Lynn Sholes & Joe Moore have written a compelling thriller in which Satan, the Nephilim and their offspring the Rubie walk the earth as government, religious, and financial leaders. Cotton plays a major role in putting the pieces together that lead to the Spear of Destiny, but that only insures she will be under attack by the dark forces who already loathe her as a traitor. Readers will enjoy the latest escapades of God’s champion as she battles the minion of Satan.
Harriet Klausner
Red Sea
Emily Benedek
St. Martin’s, Sep 2007, $24.95
ISBN 9780312354916
The American Airlines plane flying from Paris top Boston explodes; at about the same time the British Airways jet containing a class of students heading to Madrid explodes; finally also at about the same time as the other two incidents a Cathay Pacific aircraft going from Hong Kong to Singapore explodes. Three commercial jets terrorized in flight resulting in over seven hundred people dead.
As the world panics and assumes a Mid East Jihad s in action probably issued by Al Qaeda connections, Israel brings out of retirement former secret agent Julian Granot, whose expertise is aviation, to investigate the calamities. Aviation Monthly journalist Marie Peterssen asks Julian for an interview; he agrees as he sees her as a source to furthering his inquiries into who is the Bin Laden mastermind and financier behind this precise assault. Unbeknownst to Julian is that his long time enemy Islamic extremist Mansour Obaidi is the genius who brought the world to its knees for a 9/11 like blow. However, he has no time for glory or for Granot as he awaits a ship carrying a vast amount of dirty explosives reaching New York Harbor.
This exciting thriller soars from the opening sequence of the three jets exploding and never slows down until the final confrontation between the two adversaries. The entertaining story line is action-packed as the audience anticipates a High Noon showdown once the two opponents are revealed by author Emily Benedek. Besides DOT acting more like Katrina FEMA, the ending is a disappointment as Ms. Benedek insures a sequel over a clear finish. Fans will enjoy this exciting tale.
Harriet Klausner
Dark of the Moon
John Sandford
Putnam, Sep 2007, $26.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 9780399154775
To look at him nobody would believe that Virgil Flowers is a police officer; one of Lucas Davenport’s best (see INVISIBLE PREY for the case in which Flowers assisted the Minnesota Bureau of Crime Apprehension Chief). He wears casual clothing, has long hair, looks younger than his years and has a breezy amiable manner which enables him to make friends easily. He is on his way to Bluestem, Minnesota to investigate the deaths of the octogenarian Gleasons, who apparently knew their killer.
As he enters the town he sees a house belonging to the recently deceased wealthy Bill Judd. The sheriff asks Virgil to help him with the Judd murder; another eighty-something year old person killed in a horrendous fashion. Judd scammed the townsfolk with a pyramid scheme making millions so he had plenty of enemies. In a town where murder almost never occurs three in a short period of time doesn’t strike Flowers as coincidental especially the age of the victims. When another couple also in their eighties is killed, Flower is certain that there is a methodical organized sociopath killer hiding in plain sight. During the course of his investigations he discovers a meth lab, a mole in the police department, and a church dealing with criminals. For one independent police officer he finds himself involved with a serial killer, townsfolk, the sheriff, a lover and the dead all lead him to the killer if he is clever to find the link.
John Sandford’s latest protagonist is an adrenaline junkie living on the edge but within the rules of an excellent police officer. Flower deserves his own series because his style and methods is as good as his boss Lucas Davenport even though there are ying and yang. There are many different mysteries that tie into the storyline and they are easy to follow although the reader will be perplexed until the very last page of a very fine and exciting police procedural.
Harriet Klausner
Hook, Line & Homicide
Mark Richard Zubro
St. Martin's, Jun 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9780312333034
Chicago police detective Paul Turner rents two houseboats on Lake of the Woods, Canada for his annual fishing trip. Accompanying Paul are his sons teen Brian and preadolescent Jeff, his significant other Ben, his CPD partner Buck Fenwick and his wife and their children.
Paul breaks up a fight between the Krohn's gang and five First Nation Canadian Indian kids caused by the bullying tactics of the former. However when he reports that the Krohn crowd caused the incident as the Indians were minding their business to the police, they ignore him insisting that the First Nation people always cause trouble. Soon afterward the Krohn gang harasses the “fags” renting the houseboat. Not long after that someone murders Krohn. Police Chief Shreppel arrests a First Nation's teen without any evidence except prejudice and hatred. Putting aside their rods and reels, Paul and Buck investigate as they know the homophobic racist cops will not.
HOOK, LINE & HOMICIDE is an interesting whodunit as the Chicago cops are outside their jurisdiction investigating a homicide that the local Canadian police prefer their solution. The assault on gay rights by government and so called family value gurus is given a personalized face especially when Jeff personalizes the venom as he cannot understand why his father is hated due to sexual preference. Although at times Paul can pontificate on racism, sexual preference harassment slowing the sleuthing story line down, fans of the series will appreciate the latest caper north of the border.
Harriet Klausner
The Next Killing
Rebecca Drake
Pinnacle, Sept 2007, $6.99, 416 pp.
ISBN 9780786018062
She never expected to get a job at St. Ursula’s Preparatory Academy but when she was offered the position she was glad to take it. Lauren Kavanaugh hopes this time the writer who has been stalking her for years with letters condemning her for years will not find her. She has no idea teaching history at St. Ursula’s will be like diving head first into the frying pan. The first day she is there, she goes out running and finds the dead body of a student tied to a tree.
The students openly exposed her belief in the Wiccan religion which didn’t make her popular with the girls. Lauren comes under the operation of a secret group in the school and she later finds in the woods cigarette butts and a half burned picture of the dead student in the water swimming naked. Someone doesn’t like her nosing around so when Lauren goes back she sees a figure in the woods. She gives chase and almost trips over a wire tied between two trees. Lauren knows the person lured her to that spot so that she would be killed. When she tells the headmistress, they go to the spot but the wire is gone. Nobody believes her and then a second student is killed.
Readers who like the thrillers of Wendy Corsi Staub, Rick Mofina and P.J. Parish will definitely want to read THE NEXT KILLING. It is a chilling thriller of evil gone unchecked and the protagonist is a great heroine who risks her life to find out what is really going on at the school. Lauren has her own past that influences how she investigates, which adds to the tension of a character driven prep school thriller.
Harriet Klausner
The Alehouse Murders
Maureen Ash
Berkley, Sept 2007, $6.99, 288 pp.
ISBN 9780425217658
He felt the call to join the Templars and Bascat de Marins was overjoyed to be sent to the Holy Land to kill the Saracens and take Jerusalem for the Christians. His joy did not last long because he was captured by the enemy and became a slave and was tortured. He returned home after an eight-year-captivity minus an eye, a leg that limps and a loss of faith. He is sent by his order to Lincoln Castle to recover his health both physical and mental and hopefully return to the Templars with his faith restored.
He is given a private room in the castle where Nicolaa de la Haye is castellan and her husband Gerard Camville, King John’s man is the sheriff. When two men and a woman are found dead in a local tavern, Nicolaa asks Bascot to investigate. At first glance it looks like the proprietor, a harlot and another young man were killed elsewhere and brought to the alehouse.. Bascot has information that leads him to realize that the woman was no harlot but the pregnant wife of the young man who was going to be named to a noble and that noble planned to put aside his spouse. The lord believes his wife and stepson killed Hugo and his pregnant wife to get rid of her and remain his heir but Bascat continues to investigate, wanting evidence not accusations.
Readers will receive a historically accurate depiction of life in medieval Lincoln during the beginning of the reign of King John. This work will be read by fans of Sharon Kay Penman, Sharyn Newman and Roberta Gellis. The protagonist obtains sympathy from the audience because of his physical and mental pain and his lack of direction. In some ways an innocent, he proves he is a hero when he refuses to let fall guys be tried for a crime he doesn’t believe they committed. Maureen Ash’s series will be very popular if the future novels are the quality of THE ALEHOUSE MURDERS.
Harriet Klausner
The Way Life Should Be
Terry Shaw
Touchstone, Sept 2007, $14.00, 284 pp.
ISBN: 9781416563129
After a long absence, Josh Quinn, his wife Maria and his son return to his home town of Stone Harbor, Maine where he intends to run the family owned newspaper The Stone Harbor Pilot. The town is not as he remembers it as condos and mini-mansions for the yuppie set are everywhere and the regulars feel that they are being squeezed out. The murder count is at zero since the last one was in the 1960’s but that changes when Paul Stanwood is murdered at Sullivan Park, a place where gays in the closet congregate.
Paul was John’s best friend and he knows that Paul was concerned that Police Chief Al Sears was cracking down on the gays; John feels some guilt and culpability as he exposed the names of the men in the newspaper. John doesn’t trust Sears to reliability investigate so he is determined to find out who killed his best friend. That investigation will expose unethical land deals, insider information, and put he and his family in danger from a killer who knows that John eventually will learn the truth if he keeps digging.
This is Terry Shaw’s first whodunit and in is this reviewer’s opinion he will prove a star in the mystery galaxy. The storyline is exciting with the dark secrets of a small town slowly peeled away and the characters are so well developed readers will feel as if they know them. John is Don Quixote who prints the truth in his paper, but in matters close to his heart he is innocent as he judges people by what they say and looks no further.
Harriet Klausner
The Girl with Braided Hair
Margaret Coel
Berkley, Sept 2007, $25.95, 320 pp.
ISBN 9780425217122
Near the Wind River Reservation where the Arapaho tribe lives, a skeleton is unearthed in an out of the way ravine. At first glance the authorities believe it is an Indian woman because of her long dark braid and the clothing that was from the 1970’s; a time when AIM was stirring up trouble with the whites and against Indians who didn’t agree with them. Records don’t show any woman missing from the tribe during that time period.
Several Indian women asks attorney Vicky Holden to inquire when the police will find out her name so they can release the body and give her a proper burial. Vicky is now in practice with Adam Lone Eagle normally taking on clients with major cases that impact many people and issues. However, this death in which the woman was tied up with all her bones broken and a bullet wound to the head affects her deeply and she starts investigating as does Father John the catholic priest whose mission as on the reservation. Vicky receives threatening notes and is shot at; she realizes the killer is hiding on the rez behind people afraid to give him away.
What Tony Hillman has done for the Navaho, Margaret Coel has done for the Arapaho. There are two storylines running in alternating chapters; the first is the woman whose bones were found in the present goes on the run because AIM leaders thought she was an FBI snitch who got another leader killed. The second begins with finding out in the present who killed her. Both tales are exciting and filled with suspense and danger. This is a must read for anyone who loves a great mystery.
Harriet Klausner
Strip Search
William Bernhardt
Ballantine, Aug 28 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9780345470195
In Las Vegas, a serial killer leaves behind torn off body parts and mathematical formulas written with the victim’s blood. LVPD is stymied so police chief Robert O'Bannon knows who he needs to assist lead homicide detective Barry Granger over the objection of the lieutenant an his own concern that she is the lesser of two evils. He rehires former police profiler behaviorist Susan Pulaski, who he once fired, to uncover the identity of this maniac.
Robert warns Susan not to alienate Barry, but she knows that is impossible as he hates her. He also tells her to keep his autistic son Darcy out of the investigation as he has not forgiven her for using him in the past (see DARK EYE). Susan believes Darcy who is a numerical patterns savant can interpret the bloody messages left behind at each grisly crime scene. With Darcy on Susan’s side and Granger not, the psychopath continues his numerical rampage.
This exhilarating but dark and vividly violent (don’t eat just before reading this novel) police procedural sequel hooks the audience with the first coded formula and never slows down even with extended cul de sac sidebars vaguely related to the prime serial killer plot. The story line flows with blood as the killer keeps rolling sevens while Granger and Pulaski shoot snake-eyes at each other. The climax will prove to be one of the year’s best as advanced mathematical concepts have rarely been more fun to follow.
Harriet Klausner
Stolen in the Night
Patricia MacDonald
Atria, Sep 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780743269568
The DeGraff family always went on a summer vacation camping in a small New Hampshire town until tragedy struck. One night when Tess was nine and Phoebe thirteen, a man cut a hole in their tent and abducted the teen. Phoebe was found two days later dead, having been raped before he killed her. When Tess describes the invader to the sheriff, they arrest well known sexual pervert Lazarus Abbott. He was convicted solely on Tess’ testimony; when his appeals ended, the state executed him.
Lazarus’ mother never believed her son kidnapped, raped and killed Phoebe. Twenty years of trying to prove he did not commit any of those horrific crimes leads her to attorney Ben Ramsey who persuades Governor Putnam to approve DNA testing. The test proves conclusively that Lazarus at least did not rape Phoebe. The case is reopened with the townsfolk angry at Tess for sending an innocent person to the gallows. However, she realizes if Lazarus was not the killer, a clever murderer still lives free. When her son Erny is abducted she fears history will repeat itself.
Patricia MacDonald affirms once again she is one of the grandmasters of psychological suspense with this strong thriller that fans of Mary Higgins Clark and Sandra Brown will relish. The protagonist is a strong person who feels guilt that her testimony led to an apparent wrongful state execution yet has a burning need deep in her gut to uncover the identity of her sister’s killer. Tess is ignorant that this sheep in wolf’s clothing watches her every move as he hides in plain sight inside the cloak of nicety.
Harriet Klausner
A Perfect Game
Rick Mofina
Pinnacle, Sept 2007, $6.96, 362 pp.
ISBN 9780786018482
Everyone who knows Sister Anne thinks she’s a saint for her compassion and good works concerning the homeless, the mentally ill, prisoners, and families in crisis. The homeless adore her for her non-judgmental attitude and the community as a whole believes she is a truly good and moral person. It comes as a shock when this good person is killed in her home by a man who knows her and wants something he believes she has.
Seattle Mirror reporter Jason Wade scoops all the other news people when he reports on the weapon, a knife stolen from the soup kitchen where Sister Anne worked. Slowly he gathers information from a variety of sources that a strange man in the soup kitchen talked with Sister Anne who tried to minister to him and he made her sad. What Jason doesn’t know is that his father is connected to this case by the incident that made him quit SPD or that an innocent child with a brain tumor in need of surgery will be kidnapped by this killer in order to get what he wants from the child’s mother. The reporter remains clueless and time is running out for an innocent child.
Thriller writers like Rick Mofina make the genre something special. Jason goes from being a disgraced journalist to the man who keeps getting the inside breaking story. It is hard to accept anyone killing a nun who everyone believes is a saint but as Jason finds out, there is no evidence of her existence prior to her entering the order. The answer to the mystery lies in the nun’s past and Jason, a strong, kind yet vulnerable tough guy doesn’t even know where to start looking.
Harriet Klausner
When She Was Bad
Jonathan Nasaw
Atria, Sept 2007, $25.00, 304 pp.
ISBN: 9781416534167
As a very young child Lily De Vries was abused sexually by both her parents so was given to her grandparents who loved and raised her. She developed disassociate identity disorder (DID) once known as multiple personality disorder. She is being treated by psychiatrist Dr. Irene Cogan who was kidnapped by another DID Ulysses Maxwell; he tortured her, but she was fortunate to escape because he raped and killed her as he did with most of his victims, strawberry blondes who looked like his sexual abuser his former elementary school teacher who got custody of him.
When Lily learns her grandparents were killed in an automobile accident she becomes a new alter: biker chick Lilith. Dr. Cogan and her friend Pen track her down and bring her to Alan Corder’s Institute where Ulysses is being confined. When he sees Lilly he falls in love but his alter Max comes out and is interested in Lily now Lilith. Both are deemed non-violent and are invited to Dr. Corder’s home for a party in honor of Ulysses’ birthday. The doctor thinks he is dealing with Lily and Ulysses instead of Max and Lilith; Max takes advantage of that misconception to get even with the doctor and to wipe out the two psych attendants before they go on the run. Irene and Pen hope to find them before Lily does something that will have her end up in prison.
Jonathan Nasaw provides a terrific psychological thriller with quite a spin in his latest, perhaps best work to date. Readers will feel sorry for the abuse the two protagonists suffered even though the audience condemns Ulysses’ actions. Readers and her doctor have hope for Lily because except for Lilith her egos are passive and don’t want to hurt anyone. Mr. Nasaw takes his fans to the max with the tense WHEN SHE WAS BAD
Harriet Klausner
The Bloody Tower
Carola Dunn
St. Martin’s, Sept 2007, $23.95, 256 pp
ISBN: 9780312363062
The Honorable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher has been asked to do a series of articles about the Tower of London for an American magazine. It will be the first time she returns to work since the twins were born four months ago. People take a natural likening to Daisy and she gets a personalized tour of the Crown Jewels, interviews the people in power in the tower, learns about the feuds between the Yeomen Warders and the Hotspot officers, and is told the stories of the ghosts who haunt the lacee.
When she gets ready to leave, she comes across the murdered body of the chief Yeomen Warder with a partisan (pike) in his back and his neck broken. She gets someone to call the superintendent who calls her husband DCI Alex Fletcher, who is resigned to the fact that Daisy will once again be in the middle of a homicide investigation; but this time she walks away and is dragged back by the entreaties of two teens she befriended. She contributes to the investigation and hopefully with what she learns it will lead to the killer.
The latest Daisy Dalrymple mystery is as refreshing and entertaining as are the rest of the books in this delightful historical amateur sleuth police procedural combination. Points of views keep changing between the spouses who learn much of the same information from different sources in different manners. This is a perplexing case because everybody liked the victim and it is only when knowledge of the victim comes to light the Fletchers begin to even come to solving the case.
Harriet Klausner
Goodbye, Dolly
Deb Baker
Berkley, Sep 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 9780425217702
After discovering her boyfriend of seven years Steve Kuchen cheated on her, Gretchen Birch dumps him and returns to her hometown to move back in with her mother and also becomes part of mom’s doll restoration business. When her mother goes on a publicity tour for her new book, Gretchen attends her first auction where she wins the bidding on a box of Ginny dolls. However, her package and that of someone else gets mixed up and she leaves with a box of kewpie dolls instead.
Reporter Ronnie Bean covered the event, but while working on a big exposé story is killed. The weapon is one of Gretchen’s tools which has Steve’s fingerprints on them because he took it from her. The police arrest Steve, but Gretchen does not believe the rat is a killer. She begins receiving kewpies dolls with threatening messages inside the boxes containing them. When two more people are murdered who know about the kewpie doll mix-up, Gretchen decides she is on the list unless she exposes the identity of the culprit.
Readers will enjoy this engaging exciting amateur sleuth tale filled with quirky characters that provide comic relief when the tension seems ready to explode. Gretchen is a delight as she never makes up her mind but stumbles about trying to uncover a killer before he or she adds her onto the collector’s dead list. Deb Baker provides a fun tale starring a likable living doll.
Harriet Klausner
Trashed
Alison Gaylin
NAL, Sep 2007, $21.95
ISBN: 9780451221131
At one time Nia Lawson was going to be the next Marilyn Monroe, but told her stylist about her affair with Congressman Mack Calloway. The stylist sold the story to the tabloids destroying two careers. Ten years later Nia thinks Mr. Big Shot will energize her career. Instead he kills her making it look like a Monroe suicide.
Simone Glass leaves New York for Los Angeles to work as a reporter on the Edge. After being unemployed for a month, she applies for a job at the Asteroid tabloid. Bureau chief Nigel Bloom asks her why she wants to work for his dump; she says she is desperate. Her first assignment is to sift through the garbage of soap opera star Emerald Deegan. They find four dead exotic parakeets and a shoe that Simone thinks belongs to Nia. Nigel blackmails Emerald into an interview or he will reveal that a PETA spokesperson killed four birds.
Simone and Asteroid reporter Kathy get inside Emerald’s trailer, but before they learn much security Neil Walker tosses them off the set. She learns that Emerald’s boyfriend Keith Furlong also hangs with Destiny a hooker. Destiny hopes the VIP she is seeing, can make her the next Nia. When he hurt her; she flees as the next Nia means death. Meanwhile Emerald commits suicide, but Simone has doubts and wonders about Nia’s death too. Although she sees no connection, she seeks the links between Nia, Emerald and Destiny.
The heroine is delightful lead character who readers will appreciate her asides especially her conscience fits as she struggles with not being a reporter but as an infiltrator. The look at the tabloid sleaziness is amusing as nothing is sacred including garbage investigations. The support cast especially the reporters are a delight as their antics is humorous albeit unethical. Although why the killer targets trios of women is not lucid, fans will enjoy this Hollywood serial killer whodunit.
Harriet Klausner
Crime Seen
Victoria Laurie
Signet, Sep 2007,
ISBN: 9780451222015
In Royal Oak, Michigan Abby Cooper has physically recovered from almost dying from a gunshot wound, but mentally remains despondent as her psychic skills failed her. She remains in the house of her FBI Agent boyfriend Dutch Rivers and has not returned to work doing readings as she suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome. Private Investigator Candace calls to rent space from Abby while Dutch asks her to read three cases that have stymied him. Dutch’s former partner police detective Milo mentions the parole hearing of Lutz; convicted nine years ago of killing his first partner Walter McDaniel.
Abby with the help of her crew of five spirits “reads” the first file. She next picks up a second case, but realizes she accidentally grabbed the Lutz file. She says nothing about Lutz to Dutch. Abby barters with Candace: four months no rent in exchange for helping her investigate the Lutz case because she feels he is not the killer although he confessed. Candace learns that a PI on the case Darren Cox quit to become a loan officer at Universal Mortgage, owned by Wolfe, who Abby knows was at the McDaniel crime scene. Candace arranges for Abby to meet Cox so that she can go undercover as a loan officer at Universal.
The fifth Psychic Eye mystery is a clever whodunit that focuses on a more humanly foible than before Abby as she struggles to return to readings having failed to “see” the attempt on her life. Her undercover work upsets Dutch who knows she is up to something especially when he sees her hiding her face in the lap of another man, but trusts her to believe she is not cheating on him. Once again he enhanced by Candace makes Abby’s psychic skills seem real although skeptical readers will question how easily strangers accept her “gift” without any doubt or scorn. Fans will enjoy Abby’s return to what she does best.
Harriet Klausner
Walla Walla Suite (A Room with No View)
Anne Argula
Ballantine, Sep 2007, $12.95
ISBN: 9780345498427
After her husband Connor dumped her for his younger office assistant, Quinn left Spokane to start over in Seattle. The retired police officer becomes a private investigator though her caseload is slim to none except for what mitigation investigator Vincent Ainge sends her way. In the building where they both work is a poster for a missing eighteen year old woman Eileen Jones who also worked there. Unable to resist and besides needing to cool down from her latest hot flashes, Quinn visits the place where Eileen was working when she vanished, Promotion in Motion. She sees four desks three occupied by young beautiful women. She asks a few questions when the owner Arnie Stimick steps inside and asks who she is. She explains and they chat; he hires her to find Eileen.
Quinn visits Eileen’s roommate Darla, but the missing girl’s boyfriend Guy is there too. Both say Eileen is a great person with no enemies. Quinn next visits Eileen’s divorced mom Abby, whose ex-husband lives in Hawaii. Abby looks like she has not slept in ages, but offers nothing new as she insists her daughter had no enemies. Quinn learns they have found Eileen’s corpse. She visits an upset Arnie who retains her to find the killer. Not long afterward police sergeant Beckham announces they caught the killer, Randy Merck who was driving Eileen’s car. Arnie says Merck must be properly punished so he forms the Friends of Eileen, whose presence will be seen everyday by the jurors while Public Defender Wendy Maron hires Vincent to serve as the mitigation investigator if they lose and Quinn to investigate as needed.
This is a well-written legal thriller with a fascinating refreshing angle that of the mitigation investigator. His investigation is top rate due to the mighty Quinn struggling to make it as a private investigator. However, it is Vincent Ainge the mitigation expert who steals the show. Anne Argula provides a fresh spin to the sub-genre.
Harriet Klausner
Face Down O’er the Border
Kathy Lynn Emerson
Perseverance Press, Sept 2007, $14.95, 236 pp.
ISBN 9781880284919
In August of 1577 Catherine Russell, Lady Glenelg, wakes up at the bottom of the steps in Glenelg House in Cannongate, Scotland only to see her mother-in-law Jean Ferguson dead. Nobody is nearby leaving Catherine to wonder if she killed Lady Russell. She has no chance to ponder the question because Annabel MacReyolds, retired intelligence gatherer, arrives and whisks her out of the house before anyone can accuse her of murder.
She makes arrangements to send her seven year old daughter Cordell to her sister-in-law and friend Susanna Appleton with her trusted servant Avise. Susana gets word that Catherine is in trouble and with her lover Nick races to Scotland to try to find her. Annabel has done a good job hiding them so that even the clever Susanna cannot find them. Catherine is determined to get her son away from his position with the eleven year old monarch. They intend to meet up with Cordell and escape Scotland and England because her eight years old Gavin doesn’t want to be a noble and the entire family wants the freedom to choose their own destiny. Unknowingly, Susanna has something to make Catherine’s dream come true while trying to find out who killed Catherine’s mother in-law and framed her.
Kathy Lynn Emerson writes some of the best Elizabethan mysteries on the market today. Her historical details give the reader a sense of time and place. The idioms used by the characters (see glossary) adds authenticity to the period without distracting from the murder mystery, which is cleverly played out on several levels including finding Catherine, figuring out a way to get her son out of his position at court, meeting up with Cordell and figuring out who killed Jean. FACE DOWN O’ER THE BORDER is a electrifying historical mystery filled with romance and political intrigue.
Harriet Klausner
Antiques Maul
Barbara Allan
Kensington, Sept 207, $22.00, 220 pp.
ISBN 97807558211934
Small town living in Serenity, Iowa is anything but dull for divorcee Brandy Bonne. After her marriage breaks up, she went home to live with her quirky and eccentric mother Vivian and her dog Sushi who she got custody of in the settlement. Her husband has custody of their son Jake who rightly blames her for the divorce. Both Brandy and her mother are seeing psychiatrists to get the murders that kept them on edge out of their systems and to deal with their other problems.
After solving one homicide, Brandy doesn’t want to play amateur sleuth again but her mother wouldn’t mind being in the middle of such a situation again. When her mother’s good friend gets the director’s position in the community theater that Vivian wanted, Brandy persuades her mother to open up a stall in the antiques mall. When they arrive there one day, they find the woman in charge dead and the victim’s pet bull covered in blood; it looks like the dog killed her, but Vivian is positive she was murdered by a human. Brandy is afraid mom will try to prove her theory.
The second Trash ‘n Treasure mystery is a delightfully charming cozy that keeps readers interested in the storyline because of the protagonists, Brandy and Vivian. Their witty repartee and Brady’s attempt to keep her mother under control will have the audience laughing out loud. There aren’t any viable suspects in ANTIQUES MAUL so readers will wonder if the dog actually did the deed. Barbara Allen is a terrific storyteller who knows how to grab and keep reader interest.
Harriet Klausner
Rebel Island
Rick Riordan
Bantam, Sep 2007, $25.00
ISBN 9780553804232
San Antonio based private investigator Tres Navarre radically changes his life as he retires and marries his eight month pregnant girlfriend Maia. Tres’ older brother wheelchair-bound Garret persuades the newlyweds to go to Rebel Island on their honeymoon; Garret and some long time pals will be at the Texas Gulf Island where the two siblings spent family vacations.
At the Rebel island dock, Tres meets rumored cold blooded killer U.S. Marshal Jesse Longoria, who believes the sleuth is on a case. They last met at the grave site of the former sleuth’s best friend when Jesse wanted to insure Ralph Arguello was dead. While Tres and Maia settle into their suite at Rebel House Inn, a shot is fired. They along with Garret and the manager investigate only to find someone killed Longoria. Tres makes inquires and follows clues even as others are murdered and a hurricane heads towards the island.
Although hurricanes attacking the Gulf have flooded the mystery genre since Katrina, the latest Navarre thriller is an exhilarating tale as the audience learns about the lead protagonist’s salad days and his current relationships. As he digs for clues and finds hidden tunnels and passageways, the killer steals the show as the villain seems always one step ahead of Tres. Readers will enjoy Rick Riordan’s terrific murder caper, Texas style.
Harriet Klausner
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