Sunday, September 30, 2007

Voices-Arnaldur Indridason

Voices
Arnaldur Indridason
Dunne, Oct 2007, $23.95
ISBN: 9780312358716

The grand hotel is loaded with tourists vacationing in Iceland during Christmas. However, the management calls the Reykjavik police to inform them someone murdered their doorman who doubled as Santa Claus. Police inspector Erlendur and Detectives Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg arrive at the crime scene to find in the basement the bludgeoned corpse of Gudlaugur Egilsson; a used condom hangs from his penis.

As saliva is taken from all the guests and employees, the three cops interview everyone, but no one admits knowing the victim outside of the hotel. The hotel manager confesses that he had just fired Gudlaugur, but had no motive to kill him. Erlendur and his companions soon learn that Gudlaugur was a popular soprano as a young boy so the sleuths turn towards his family, whom he was estranged from after an incident with his father left the older Egilsson wheelchair bound. Erlendur personalizes the case as it reminds him of his own family, but diligently continues seeking the motive that will lead to the killer’s identity if DNA testing fails to do so.

This terrific Icelander police procedural combines a strong murder investigation with Erlendur’s personal crisis as the case is wearing him down. His daughter visits him though everyone assumes she is a hooker he hired, and he considers an affair with a crime scene technician. Readers will appreciate Arnaldur Indridason’s fabulous whodunit due to predominately Erlendur (see his previous case SILENCE OF THE GRAVE).

Harriet Klausner

Mausoleum-Justin Scott

Mausoleum
Justin Scott
Poisoned Pen, Dec 2007 $24.95
ISBN 9781590584682

Newbury, Connecticut celebrates the tercentennial by wearing historical costumes. The villagers wander around the cemetery looking at stones of deceased residents. Suddenly classical music explodes from the recently constructed pretentious mausoleum “McTomb”.

Everyone rushes over to McTomb to see what is going on. When it is opened, the corpse of developer Brian Grose, who created the gaudy crypt, is found. The Newbury Cemetery Association hires realtor and private investigator Ben Abbott to investigate the murder of Grose. The police believe an Ecuadorian immigrant killed the obnoxious Grose, but Ben thinks otherwise as that seems too simple with so many other people having stronger motives to commit this particular homicide.

As with the insightful MCMANSION, MAUSOLEUM plays out on two levels. First there is the obvious whodunit with Ben Abbott conduction a private investigation that not surprisingly goes contrary to the official police position. Supporting Ben’s sleuthing is the theme of national (and even global) modernization and how it impacts on a small regional town. The story line is fast-paced as Ben conducts his inquiry. However, it is the various reactions by the townsfolk to changes in their quaint village that justifies reading this superb tale.

Harriet Klausner

Cries & Whiskers-Clea Simon

Cries & Whiskers
Clea Simon
Poisoned Pen, Nov 2007, $24.95
ISBN 9781590584644

Theda Krakow covers the Cambridge-Boston music scene. The freelance Boston based journalist has noticed at her favorite club, a new designer drug has become popular.

At the same time she begins her inquiry into the latest music drug helix, over the top animal rights activist Gail Womynfriend, who championed wild animals and detested pets, is killed in a hit and run that the cops believe was no accident. An autopsy revealed that the victim had dangerous toxic levels of strychnine in her blood. Theda’s pregnant friend who is careful about taking anything is drugged at the club that they frequent. When her beloved cat Musetta vanishes an upset Theda goes berserk searching for her feline only to receive a threatening call. None of these incidents seem linked except in Theda’s mind although she has not found the connection between any two let alone all of them. On top of all this, her friends are acting strange as if they are involved with one or all of strange happenings and her boyfriend Bill the homicide cop wants her to drop out of the music scene.

The third Theda Krakow investigative tale (see MEW IS FOR MURDER and CATTERY ROW) is an entertaining mystery as the heroine’s seemingly unrelated incidents are for the most part personal in nature. Theda’s mind is full of anxiety over finding Musetta safe and sound, and her concern for her friends especially Tess who are acting strange. Although Bill’s demands seem unreasonable as music reporting is what Theda does, animal lovers will appreciate this fine thriller as Theda looks for the string that ties everything together with the only nebulous link being animal rights extremism.

Harriet Klausner

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Turkey Flambé-Nancy Fairbanks

Turkey Flambé
Nancy Fairbanks
Berkley, Nov 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 9780425219041

After much delay, Carolyn Blue’s cookbook “Eating Out in the Big Easy” is finally being published by Pettigrew Publishing. To celebrate the company is throwing a party in Carolyn’s honor. They even persuade Carolyn to make TURKEY FLAMBÉ. When she ignites the cognac that soaks the turkey, a loud explosion occurs. The room is on fire and the two turkeys that combusted are tossed out a window. One slams on a car driven by a Chinese-American who ends up in a coma; while the other falls on the Benamian ambassador.

The FBI and the State Department are involved because the Feds believe this was a deliberate attack on a moderate Arab politician attending to his business. The police lean towards Carolyn being guilty as they consider negligence as the cause. Carolyn knows someone sabotaged her turkeys causing the initial explosion. She begins her own investigation to clear her name because she believes the cops will not look beyond her.

Nancy Fairbanks has written an exciting, humorous amateur sleuth starring a cookbook author who will remind readers of the Perils of Pauline, as she jumps from the frying pan filled with adventure into a simmering stew of danger. Carolyn is quirky and courageous while the support cast is a loyal eccentric friend, a government official, or a suspect (at least in the heroine’s mind). The recipes in this culinary whodunit are mouth watering so that TURKEY FLAMBÉ should not be read on an empty stomach.

Harriet Klausner

Friday, September 28, 2007

Under the Spell-Karen Wiesner

Under the Spell
Karen Wiesner
Whiskey Creek, Oct 2007
ISBN: 9781593748814

Network’s Justine Fielding is assigned field work after six years as a Communications and Systems Analyst. If it was not serious, she would find it ironic that she is to go home to her family ranch as herself Gina Calhoun, who “died” when she joined the Network, to uncover the identity of who is sending encrypted messages from the ranch.

At her family ranch, Alex Lynch is stunned to see Gina, the only woman he ever loved. He thought she was dead, but assumes she came home to claim the ranch that he has kept working in the hope he would one day own it. She, in turn, finds evidence that makes him look responsible for sending the classified transmissions that have spooked her superiors at the Network and for the suspicious death of her father. As each suspects the motive of the other, Gina and Alex fall in love again.

The Incognito series has been consistently one of the best thriller sagas on the market today. The fifth book will place newcomers UNDER THE SPELL of author Karen Wiesner (fans already are ensorcelled by this writer). The lead couple makes for a fast-paced plot as each realizes they still love the other, but neither trusts one another or their own heart. The espionage elements are cleverly designed to keep the audience and Gina struggling with the fact that Alex is certainly the traitor. As fans know set aside the hours, this is a one sitting espionage romantic thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Shadow Lake-B.J. Daniels

Shadow Lake
B.J. Daniels
Harlequin Special Release, Oct 2007, $5.99
ISBN: 9780373198917

In Washington State during the heavy rain at night, visibility was poor as Anna Collins drives her car when a deer steps out of the nearby woods. She brakes, but loses control of her vehicle which plunges off the road into Shadow Lake. Nearly dead from drowning, she sees a face outside her. The next she knows is that she is a nearby hospital under the care of widower Dr. Gene Brubaker.

Officer D.C. Walker leads the investigation. He contacts Anna’s spouse Marc who says she was in an accident eight moths ago in which their child Tyler died. He also says she is dangerous and threatened to kill, which is why he allegedly stopped divorce proceedings. When her car is pulled out of the lake, they find a corpse in the trunk. When she describes the face she saw it fits the description of reclusive Jack Fairbanks, the cop questions further her veracity. However, with his boss Chief Nash acting strange, Walker goes it alone seeking the truth even as he admits an attraction to a woman he considers a probable killer who tried to commit suicide.

Romantic suspense fans will appreciate this tense character driven thriller as the reader will agree with Walker’s assessments that his boss is acting peculiar (we know why) and the woman in the lake is a killer and attempted suicide. In both cases, he tries to hold off judgment until all the facts are in. However, when it comes to Anna, he fears his judgment is distorted as he is falling in love with her Yet in spite of wanting her innocent, all evidence from the corpse in her car to the death of her child to the so-called rescue in the lake and finally to her spouse’s fears and warnings point to her being a sociopathic murderer who snapped when she drove her child’s death vehicle. Readers will enjoy this fine twisting tale.

Harriet Klausner

DeadFall-Robert Liparulo

DeadFall
Robert Liparulo
Thomas Nelson, Nov 2007, $24.95, 496 pp.
ISBN 9780785261797

In Saskatchewan, Canada is the small isolated hamlet of Fiddler Falls where everyone knows everybody else and crime is non-existent; but that serenity changes when the strangers come to town. Declan, his teenage brother Julian and four other men and women have come with a specific goal, to test a new weapons system using a satellite driven by nuclear power to power up the attached laser. They want to see how accurate it is when targeting specific objects and people. They kill the town’s only police officer but his wife Laura and son Dillon get free.

They are separated and each falls in with a group of hunters from the United States who wanted to take a two week vacation from the stress of home. Hutch and Dillon find each other and make it to the rendezvous point his mother told him about. While Laura and Terry also head for their vacation cabin unfortunately, Declan and his pals are right behind them and what ensures is the biggest cat and mouse game with the stakes the lives of the townsfolk, the hunters and the mother and son they rescued.

Think Deliverance with a high tech weapons system that is being tested by an evil sociopath who views the lives he takes and the people he rounds up as cattle to be culled. Then the reader will have some idea what DEADFALL is all about. The action never lets up in this thrill a page, pulse pounding blockbuster. Robert Liparulo is a grand storyteller who keeps thriller readers’ interest with his two groups competing against each other in a winner take-all survival contest.

Harriet Klausner

Thursday, September 27, 2007

García's Heart-Liam Durcan

García's Heart
Liam Durcan
Dunne, Nov 2007, $23.95
ISBN 9780312367084

In Montreal teenage Patrick Lazerenko was just another aimless street punk until he was caught vandalizing the Bodega owned by immigrant, Hernan García. However, Patrick got off soft as he is allowed to work off the damage he caused. He becomes part of the Garcia family and considers Hernan as a father figure. In fact it is Hernan's illegal practice helping Central American immigrants with health issues that inspires Patrick to attend medical school and become a doctor.

Decades later, Hernan is exposed as the Angel of Lepaterique, who was part of a CIA sponsored group that tortured Hondurans during the Reagan era. Hernan is brought to The Hague to stand trial as a war criminal accused of abetting detainee torture. Unable to ignore his mentor in trouble and needing to know the truth, Patrick travels to Europe unable to reconcile the man who saved him and gave so much to immigrants in Montreal with the person who could be part of a grouptorturing dissidents.

Patrick holds together this superb contemporary character study as readers observe his myriad of emotions as his hero whom he placed on a pedestal crumbles to the ground. On the one hand he wants Hernan to be exonerated, but also begins to believe his mentor did the nasty deeds. Complicating his feelings towards his father figure is seeing his former lover Hernan’s daughter Celia with in your face references that imply war crime trials for those in charge and participating at Abu Ghraib and Guantomino is appropriate.

Harriet Klausner

García's Heart-Liam Durcan

García's Heart
Liam Durcan
Dunne, Nov 2007, $23.95
ISBN 9780312367084

In Montreal teenage Patrick Lazerenko was just another aimless street punk until he was caught vandalizing the Bodega owned by immigrant, Hernan García. However, Patrick got off soft as he is allowed to work off the damage he caused. He becomes part of the Garcia family and considers Hernan as a father figure. In fact it is Hernan's illegal practice helping Central American immigrants with health issues that inspires Patrick to attend medical school and become a doctor.

Decades later, Hernan is exposed as the Angel of Lepaterique, who was part of a CIA sponsored group that tortured Hondurans during the Reagan era. Hernan is brought to The Hague to stand trial as a war criminal accused of abetting detainee torture. Unable to ignore his mentor in trouble and needing to know the truth, Patrick travels to Europe unable to reconcile the man who saved him and gave so much to immigrants in Montreal with the person who could be part of a grouptorturing dissidents.

Patrick holds together this superb contemporary character study as readers observe his myriad of emotions as his hero whom he placed on a pedestal crumbles to the ground. On the one hand he wants Hernan to be exonerated, but also begins to believe his mentor did the nasty deeds. Complicating his feelings towards his father figure is seeing his former lover Hernan’s daughter Celia with in your face references that imply war crime trials for those in charge and participating at Abu Ghraib and Guantomino is appropriate.

Harriet Klausner

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Ransom-Maggie Price

The Ransom
Maggie Price
Harlequin Special Releases, Oct 2007, $5.99
ISBN: 9780373198900

It has been a decade since Kathryn Connor stepped on the family owned Cross-C Ranch in Texas, but with the death of her martinet grandfather she has come home accompanied by her five-year-old Matthew. However, she is hardly back when someone breaks into her home while she is sleeping and abducts Matt. The kidnapper leaves behind a cell phone with a text message warning her no cops and one million dollars in ransom or her child will die. She is frantic yet unsteady as she will learn later that her wine that she takes every night was drugged; Kathryn panics because her son needs medicine everyday to prevent his body from rejecting his kidney transplant.

Her ex-husband Devlin is overseas at a remote site on a film project so is difficult to reach him. Instead she turns to Clay Turner, whose parents were abducted in Columbia and knows first hand how to deal with a kidnapping although in his case doing everything right still failed to save the lives of his loved ones. He knows the person who snatched the child had intimate knowledge re Kathryn’s habits and he arranges for an expert negotiator to take charge. he knows his one regret in life was rejecting Kathryn’s love years ago and that still haunts him.

This is an exciting second chance at love romantic suspense thriller as Clay seeks redemption and Kathryn seeks the safe return of her beloved son. The story line is fast-paced with the clock ticking. Clay points out that the kidnapper obviously knows intricate details about mother and son, but fans will wonder how anyone would know so much since she just moved back for instance that she drinks a glass of wine each night. Still readers will appreciate the deep look at the desperate mom who knows she needs help (not everyone is Mel Gibson) as she drives this exciting tale.

Harriet Klausner

Out-Foxed-Debra Webb

Out-Foxed
Debra Webb
Harlequin Special Releases, Oct 2007, $5.99
ISBN: 9780373198924

Thirty two years old Samantha Fox works part-time as a UN translator, but full time as an IT&PA field agent. Her assignment is to save the world from terrorists by handling mission impossible cases that the polite colleague FBI, the arrogant colleague CIA and the agency NSA cannot. Her support team is top rate as Trainer, Big Hugh and Angie would do anything to keep her safe during an operation.

Her superior IT&PA Director Anderson Marx sends her to Paris to obtain critical codes that will help the agency to prevent an operation from occurring. However, instead of completing the deal as pre-arranged, the courier Frederick Heilman jumps back onto the train; Fox follows only to have a sniper kill her contact before they can do much talking or for her to receive the code. Immediately afterward, Eric “the Dragon” Drake, former head of INTERPOL, warns her they need to get off the train or die. Fox distrusts Dragon as he betrayed her on a joint mission two years ago. However, when they are abducted, Fox knows her only hope to survive and gain the codes is with Dragon, the man she fell in love with on their last assignment together.

From the opening sequence in which Fox rescues an Israel family being tortured for information in a Manhattan hotel to the final twist confrontation, OUT-FOXED is a terrific romantic espionage thriller. Like Fox, readers will wonder where Dragon’s loyalty lies and if it is the highest bidder will the heroine go up in his flames. The family problems Samantha has back home with her mom humanizes her, but also detracts from an action-packed romantic suspense thriller starring a fabulous heroine, a questionable love interest who may be her enemy, and a strong support cast, especially the Fox network.

Harriet Klausner

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Soldier on the Porch-Sharon Wildwind

Soldier on the Porch
Sharon Wildwind
Five Star, Oct 2007, $255
ISBN: 9781594145940

In 1973 at the Pisgah Mountain VA Hospital in Ashville, North Carolina, an explosion rips into an abandoned wing. Security guard Avivah Rosen investigates the ruins. Two corpses are found; one is nonagenarian patient Zeb Blackenship who went out for a smoke and the other is Major Henry Campos, Avivah’s nasty former superior in Viet Nam. Meanwhile Avivah’s friend nurse Elizabeth Pepperhawk knows the rules, but showed up for work somewhat intoxicated; she is forced to join a counseling program. Thier other friend Benny Kirkpatrick is too busy with school and babysitting to assist either female.

The FBI Agent Harrington and Military Intelligence Officer Darby Baxter take Avivah into custody to protect her from a serial killer. Besides Campos, three other officers from that cell of five are dead; she is the last one standing. However, not one to sit around, Avivah sneaks out with the help of newspaper reporter Saul Eisenberg as she begins an inquiry into who wants them dead; she already knows why.

The latest 1970s military veterans Pepperhawk/Rosen mystery (see SOME WELCOME HOME and FIRST MURDER IN ADVENT) is an exhilarating thriller that focuses mostly on what happened in Viet Nam that Avivah has hidden. This time Ben is a minor player unable to come to the rescue of his two female friends and Elizabeth is tied up with an alcohol issue. This leaves Avivah going alone (she enlists Saul) to fix the mess as her choices seem to be going to jail or learning of more murders until she becomes a corpse. Historical mystery fans will enjoy this strong investigative tale that remains relevant as the then hot Cold War Against Communism is now the hot cold War Against Terrorism.

Harriet Klausner

Twisted Sister-Natalie M. Roberts

Twisted Sister
Natalie M. Roberts
Five Star, Oct 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594145735

In Santa Barbara, California, the first victim was Jake Higgins whose penis was cut off. At the Santa Barbara Community Hospital, Nurse Alisha Telford looks at the corpse and recognizes him as the man who raped her when she was sixteen. Her present boyfriend, Police Detective Joe Morsen and his partner Quinn Anderson lead the official investigation. However, when Joe observes Alisha looking strangely at the body of Higgins, he wonders what is going on until suddenly he suffers a heart attack in front of her; she takes her time before calling for help and Joe dies.

The second victim is a wife abuser whose spouse is friends of Alisha and her best buddy Kelsey, whose boyfriend is Quinn. As he sees the obvious connection between the two victims beyond the physical slicing off of their precious jewel, he wonders if either Alisha, Kelsey or an associate of both from the Women Against Violence group has a literal ax to grind with men.

TWISTED SISTER is an entertaining but strange combo police procedural psychological thriller. The fast-paced story line grips the reader from the opening moment when the fatale assaults Higgins and never slows down until the final slice is served. Although readers know the identity of the killer early on (and so should Quinn), fans (males may feel squeamish with a killer providing “penectomy” services) will appreciate this exciting suspense filled tale as a serial killing avenger castrates male predators.

Harriet Klausner

Twisted Sister-Natalie M. Roberts

Twisted Sister
Natalie M. Roberts
Five Star, Oct 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594145735

In Santa Barbara, California, the first victim was Jake Higgins whose penis was cut off. At the Santa Barbara Community Hospital, Nurse Alisha Telford looks at the corpse and recognizes him as the man who raped her when she was sixteen. Her present boyfriend, Police Detective Joe Morsen and his partner Quinn Anderson lead the official investigation. However, when Joe observes Alisha looking strangely at the body of Higgins, he wonders what is going on until suddenly he suffers a heart attack in front of her; she takes her time before calling for help and Joe dies.

The second victim is a wife abuser whose spouse is friends of Alisha and her best buddy Kelsey, whose boyfriend is Quinn. As he sees the obvious connection between the two victims beyond the physical slicing off of their precious jewel, he wonders if either Alisha, Kelsey or an associate of both from the Women Against Violence group has a literal ax to grind with men.

TWISTED SISTER is an entertaining but strange combo police procedural psychological thriller. The fast-paced story line grips the reader from the opening moment when the fatale assaults Higgins and never slows down until the final slice is served. Although readers know the identity of the killer early on (and so should Quinn), fans (males may feel squeamish with a killer providing “penectomy” services) will appreciate this exciting suspense filled tale as a serial killing avenger castrates male predators.

Harriet Klausner

Two in the Churchyard Lie-Kinley Roby

Two in the Churchyard Lie
Kinley Roby
Five Star, Oct 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594145995

The car was pulled out of the nearby canal contained the corpse of retarded John “Bunny” Roberts. The police including his brother assume Bunny committed suicide rather than face jail time for his role in a robbery. His sister Martha refuses to accept her happy sibling killed himself so she hires private investigator Harry Brock to conduct an inquiry although he explains the case is four years old, so cold and the probability is Bunny killed himself.

As he interviews family members and meets Bunny’s still grieving fiancée Harry begins to believe a homicide was committed, but has no clue or motive. At the same time he gets involved with his neighbor’s campaign to protect unique butterflies from development encroachment and his involvement with Helen Bradley turns into a triangle when her former lover Riga Kraftmeier comes to rekindle what they lost.

The latest Harry Brock private investigative tale (see NOW COMES DEATH) is a fascinating dysfunctional relationship drama. Not only is Harry struggling with the omissions of his client, but with getting her insane family members to cooperate. On the personal front, he finds himself caught in a romantic triangle in which he knows his rival is better for their mutual person of affection even though his opponent is a female. Although the three subplots at times seems too much between how Bunny died; saving the butterflies; and romancing Helen, Harry shoulders them all leading to a fine mystery.

Harriet Klausner

American Skin-Ken Bruen

American Skin
Ken Bruen
Justin, Charles, Oct 2007, $12.95
ISBN: 9781932112498

In Galway, Ireland Stephen Blake reluctantly participates in a bank robbery in which his friend is killed. He escapes with the loot and after consulting with his girlfriend Siobhan flees to Tucson, Arizona where he is to hide as an American; Siobhan will join him shortly with the plan being she will launder the money.

The IRA leader who arranged the heist wants its booty. Crazy outraged hitman John A. Stapleton comes to America to take back what is his; however, John A. plans to eliminate anyone who knows about the money. Blake also runs into other problems in spite of his effort to remain figuratively buried in the desert. He meet femme fatale killing machine Sherry and Tammy Wynette’s biggest fan Dade, who kills anyone who fails to stand by his singer. This fearsome five will soon collide turning the southwest into a ferocious dead zone.

This Irish visitor Noir is an over the Rocky Mountains thriller that hooks fans of Ken Bruen from the moment the key quintet is introduced and never slows down until the desert storm is over. The story line is action-packed as the audience anticipates a multiple High Noon shoot out in which there is no telling who the last man or woman standing will be. Violence may be as American as cherry pie, but Mr. Bruen takes murder and mayhem to caricature levels in this fun tale.

Harriet Klausner

Monday, September 24, 2007

Sisters on the Case-Sara Paretsky (editor)

Sisters on the Case
Sara Paretsky (editor)
Obsidian, Oct 2007, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451222398

This twenty-story anthology celebrates “twenty years of Sisters in Crime”. The tales run the gamut of the mystery genre especially procedurals and historicals, but not limited to those sub-genres as for instance Eve K. Sandstrom goes tribal, Clare McNab writes about an Aussie investigator interrogating a canine movie star and Sue Henry turns mystical. Fascinatingly Chicago seems to be the prime spot for crime thrillers though other locales are used. Each of the tales is well written as expected by the renowned female authors who contribute. Especially fascinating is Ms. Paretsky’s preadolescent Warshawski’s first case when she is called Victoria or Tori. Once again the Sisters in Crime prove they still are on the case of providing first rate entertainment with this superb collection of all new tales.

Harriet Klausner

Sisters on the Case-

Sisters on the Case
Sara Paretsky (editor)
Obsidian, Oct 2007, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451222398

This twenty-story anthology celebrates “twenty years of Sisters in Crime”. The tales run the gamut of the mystery genre especially procedurals and historicals, but not limited to those sub-genres as for instance Eve K. Sandstrom goes tribal, Clare McNab writes about an Aussie investigator interrogating a canine movie star and Sue Henry turns mystical. Fascinatingly Chicago seems to be the prime spot for crime thrillers though other locales are used. Each of the tales is well written as expected by the renowned female authors who contribute. Especially fascinating is Ms. Paretsky’s preadolescent Warshawski’s first case when she is called Victoria or Tori. Once again the Sisters in Crime prove they still are on the case of providing first rate entertainment with this superb collection of all new tales.

Harriet Klausner

A Clubbable Woman-Reginald Hill

A Clubbable Woman
Reginald Hill
Felony & Mayhem, Sep 2007, $14.95
ISBN: 9781933397931

In the early 1970s in Yorkshire, Mary Connon loved rugby; literally she loved seducing the local rugby team’s players. Her husband “Connie” knew she flirted with the entire squad, but seemed to tolerate her activity. That is until she is found dead in their home; the Mid-Yorkshire police believe a cuckold drunken Connie killed his wife fueled by the alcohol.

Case closed except the new cop on the block Andy Dalziel finds the wrap up too simple especially since everyone knows Mary was the local rugby team’s biggest fan. He thinks sharing a few pints with the players might prove illuminating. Sergeant Peter Pascoe cannot believe the investigative method of his new superior “Fat Andy”, but tags along especially as clues begin to point towards the squad rather than the spouse.

Although in some ways this reprint of the first Dalziel and Pascal British police procedural feels like a 1970s historical (although written at the time as a present day tale), A CLUBBABLE WOMAN remains a well written somewhat a sports whodunit. The story line introduces the audience to the dynamic duo who are working together for the first time; thus Pascoe is shocked by Dalziel’s techniques as he has not adapted to it yet. Fans of the series will enjoy where it all began.

Harriet Klausner

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Looker-Stanley Bennett Clay

Looker
Stanley Bennett Clay
Atria, Jun 2007, $13.00
ISBN: 9780743291026

Although their backgrounds are miles apart, Brando Haywood and Omar Stevens became best friends while attending Hamilton High School in the early 1980s. Their friendship was solidified on the day they graduated when Brando was there for a grieving weeping Omar whose beloved Grammy died in an accident as she was coming to see him get his diploma.

Two decades later they remain best friends although their lifestyles like their upbringing are miles apart. Entertainment attorney Brando, raised by loving caring parents, wants passion in his relationship; he has not found that since his last lover left him two years ago. He remains celibate. Showbiz journalist and writer Omar, before Grammy took him was raised by an abusive single mother who was a rape victim, relishes various partners; he is promiscuous. Now Brando’s friend Jeanette pleads with him to defend her on a murder charge in which she is accused of killing her rapist. Brando reluctantly agrees as criminal law is not his expertise, but leaves L.A. for SF anyway. The case reignites Brando’s passion for his professional life and soon overflows into his personal life as he claims love by accepting who he really is inside and stops looking for an image in all the wrong places.

LOOKER is a challenging well written tale that profoundly explores various relationships in the twenty-first century by deeply delving into how the two best buddies perceive love. The story line is character driven as the audience will know what Brando wants and who Omar loves. Although the final spin seems obvious as the climax fits the plot, fans of deep relationship dramas will relish Stanley Bennett Clay’s strong tale of love while also IN SEARCH OF PRETTY YOUNG BLACK MEN as the author has led the way with his upper middle class African-American male stories seeking much more beyond the material that they already possess.

Harriet Klausner

Naked Addiction-Caitlin Rother

Naked Addiction
Caitlin Rother
Leisure, Nov 2007, $7.99, 350 pp.
ISBN: 9780843959956

San Diego police detective Ken Goode wants more than anything to be transferred to the homicide division so when he ultimately stumbles over the body of a dead woman he thinks she is his ticket to getting what he desires. His attitude changes when he comes to “know “the victim Tania Marcus who attracted men in droves, some of them walking on the wrong side of the law. He learns that she attended Head Forward School of Hair Design and that she planed to open an “escort” service that will cater to men and women.

A couple of days later Sharona, a girl who attends the same school is found dead in the same manner. Through good old fashioned police work Goode finds a connection between the two women and how the Pumphouse, a bar where drugs are sold house works and two men Seth and Keith who are suspected drug dealers and knew the two women. When Keith is murdered Goode knows all three murders are connected and he believes they were all killed by the same person. However, finding the link and the killer isn’t easy; as different suspects have diverse motives for killing only one of the victims with no one having reasons for three homicides.

Caitlin Rother’s first novel is an excellent police procedural that will appeal to fans of Nancy Taylor Rosenberg and Christine McGuire. The investigation contains red herrings, wrong paths taken and misdirection and that makes the reader feel they are accompanying the protagonist. Goode is an honest police officer whose motive for solving the case changes from wanting a transfer to solving the crimes as he gets to know the victims.

Harriet Klausner

Dance with the Dragon-David Hagberg

Dance with the Dragon
David Hagberg
Forge, Sep 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780765308344

Retired CIA director turned guest professor at the University of Southern Florida Kirk McGarvey is assigned to lead the investigation into the shooting death of CIA agent Louis Updegraf; who was murdered at the entrance to the American embassy in Chihuahua, Mexico. Louis’ last operation was wiretapping into the Chinese embassy, but none of his superiors apparently know who assigned him or why.

Kirk quickly finds a link between Iran and China in Mexico, but the connection is the dead American spy. His clues lead him to Iranian belly dancer Shahrzad Shadmand, but her lies send Kirk down false paths. The former CIA head also follows clues that focus on Chinese espionage agent General Liu, who resides in his country’s compound in Mexico City where he arranges for galas attended by North American diplomats who appreciate his juvenile whores. Still Kirk is unable to learn what Louis sought, but he knows the veteran agent would not go fishing unless something big is coming and besides the enemy would not murder him unless they need time to accomplish this big incident. With a creepy déjà vu premonition, Kirk fears another 9/11 level terrorist event is being executed.

This is a superb espionage thriller that will have the audience wondering along side of the hero what is going on as red herrings and triple crosses are the norm. The fast-paced story line grips the reader once Kirk begins to connect the Iranian belly DANCE WITH THE DRAGON from China, but is unable to figure out any of the whys. The climax is terrific as it provides closure yet sets up the next story; which is going to be the only complaint – waiting for the follow-up to this stupendous saga.

Harriet Klausner

Crossing the Dark-Heidi W. Boehringer

Crossing the Dark
Heidi W. Boehringer
Serpent’s Tail, Nov 2007, $14.95
ISBN: 9781852424985

Unlike everyone else, police officer Mona Longo does not believe her thirteen year old daughter Perdita ran away with an older male teen riding a bicycle; she thinks something bad happened. For two weeks she went on leave and followed the clues until she found Perdita in a dilapidated shack in the Everglades where Cesar has sold her to customers and videoed the sex probably for Internet sales. She manages to rescue her distraught daughter and take one of his cameras, but Cesar gives chase shooting at them. Mona calls her partner Nick, but he fails to catch the thug.

Mother and daughter temporarily live in the home of Mona’s former husband and Perdita’s dad Les, who is his obnoxious self. As Mona tries to help Perdita cope with depression, Les offers his offspring beer. Cesar is caught, but the DA offers him a plea bargain to the outrage of Mona. She begins to believe the judicial legal system is broken as Cesar has all the rights while her daughter has all the pain. Needing justice and closure for herself and Perdita, Mona begins a plan outside the legal system but inside nature’s law.

This tense psychological thriller grips the audience from the moment that Mona tries to safely expedite her daughter from the nasty Cesar and never slows down until Nicky’s final depositions. The action-packed story line is driven by the anticipation of war between Mona and Cesar, as she knows if he gets out of prison he is coming for them; and he knows that if he gets out of prison she is coming for him. The laws of the jungle rules in Florida; as both antagonists understand that you mess with a lioness’ cub, you better kill the momma or die trying.

Harriet Klausner

Saturday, September 22, 2007

One-Way Ticket-William G. Tapply

One-Way Ticket
William G. Tapply
St. Martin’s, Sep 2007, $23.95
ISBN: 9780312358297

Twentyish Robert Lancaster calls attorney Brady Coyne from the New England Medical Center to inform him that his dad, the lawyer’s law school roommate and fishing friend, was in the emergency room after three thugs beat him up as a warning to pay off his gambling debt within a week or else. Brady quickly learns the physical message was delivered by those in the pay of Boston mobster Paulie Russo, son of the North End crime kingpin Vincent. He also finds out that the victim owes nothing, but that Robert, being a chip off the old block, has run up the debt. Apparently like his dad, he has a horrific gambling addiction too.

Not long after Brady tries to mediate with the Russo mob on behalf of his father-son clients, three thugs escort him to meet Paulie. The gangster chip off the old block wants Robert to intercede with his grandmother, Superior Court Judge Adrienne Lancaster, on a Russo case. Brady informs the Judge, who plans to remove herself from the case until a CD arrives starring a taped up Robert with demands including Brady serve as the middle man. As Brady struggles to free the son of his friend, his girlfriend Eve, who left him to spend time with her dying father, calls.

Except for the Judge recusing herself from the Russo case, this is not a legal thriller, but instead an entertaining crime tale that is a weaker Brady Coyne entry even if the attorney and his pals discuss 2004 as a one time aberration with the Buckner Syndrome being the norm. The story line is a ONE-WAY TICKET as Brady struggles with keeping the Lancaster duo safe from the mob, who demands payment in terms of fixing their court case. Fans of the series will enjoy the entry, but know the Red Sox are not in top form in this tale.

Harriet Klausner

High Season-Jon Loomis

High Season
Jon Loomis
St. Martin’s, Sep 2007, $23.95
ISBN: 9780312367695

Melinda Merkin visits the basement office of the Provincetown, Massachusetts police department where detective Frank Coffin works. She reports that her renowned anti gay rights husband, Reverend Ron Merkin, has vanished. She also demands that Frank conceal the fact that her spouse is a transvestite who loves wearing female garb. However, not long afterward, Ron’s corpse is found on the Cape Cod beach wearing a floral muumuu and strangled by a raspberry-colored scarf.

Frank suffers palpitations as he left Baltimore for his hometown to get away from panic attacks whenever he worked a homicide, but must find the way to lead the investigation or lose his position into the first murder here in six years. As he struggles to keep his anxieties under control and not faint at the crime scene, a second homicide, that of Sonny Duarte, occurs and others follow.

HIGH SEASON is the opening act of a Cape Cod police procedural starring an interesting lead detective with mental traumas and family issues that harm him at the office and at home. He is ably supported by a strong secondary cast that round out his personal and professional lives. The whodunit is fun to follow as the cops go undercover in drag, but fail to uncover the serial killer. Sub-genre readers will enjoy escaping to the dunes of the Cape escorted by frantic Frank Coffin although much of the story line is introducing the hero and his support.

Harriet Klausner

Friday, September 21, 2007

Last Rituals-Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Last Rituals
Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Morrow, Oct 2007, $23.95
ISBN: 9780061143366

In Reykjavik, Iceland, the police arrest a drug dealer for murdering and mutilating German college student Harald Guntlieb. However, the victim’s affluent parents do not believe the police caught the right person; they cannot comprehend why a drug dealer would asphyxiate a victim rather than just shoot him, not carve out their son’s eyes nor carve ritual symbols on his chest. They assume their offspring was killed in a witchcraft homicide.

Still seeking closure, the parents send trusted family friend Matthew Reich, a former CID agent, to Iceland to investigate. He knows even before he leaves the continent that he will require local assistance so through Harold’s grieving mom Amelia, Matthew hires lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir, a single mother, to assist him on the case as she speaks his language as well as that of the locals. They follow up on the odd LAST RITUALS by looking into Harold’s life in Iceland and learn he belonged to a strange group that participated in unusual sexual rites and had a passionate fascination with medieval witch-hunts. As they dig deeper, they find the case spiraling out of control even as Thora’s family life intrudes.

Thora makes this exciting Icelandic whodunit an entertaining read as she struggles between balancing a complex investigation with the demands of her children especially her teen son. Matthew knows he can go nowhere without her as he does not speak the language besides being a foreigner no one would cooperate with him. Thus her family needs intrude on the case driving Matthew to distraction. The mystery is clever as the audience will find many suspects to choose from even while the police seek to end the case with a second arrest of a student. LAST RITUALS is a terrific investigate thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Street of Death-Mary Ann Mitchell

Street of Death
Mary Ann Mitchell
Medallion, Oct 2007, $7.95
ISBN: 9781932815849

Late in the fifteenth century in Spain everyone fears the Inquisitor, whose Papal direction is to root out heretics and Jews, but never allow blood to flow. Many Jews convert to Christianity to avoid torture, but practice their secret religion inside their homes; if outed they are tortured until they confess. Susana Diego’s lover reported to the authorities that her father was still a Jew so he was burned at the stake and though she lived to give birth to a daughter had her skull nailed to her home to warn others from going down the wrong path.

Susana’s daughter Teresa, unaware of her Jewish heritage, was born at a convent and raised by the sisters. Considered a healer Teresa is sent to the Velez home on the “STREET OF DEATH” to care for the dying wealthy patriarch Roberto, a converted former Jew. His son Luis does not want her in their home at first, but soon finds himself attracted to her courage. As they fall in love, Luis continues to try to learn the fate of a servant Catrin, taken by the Inquisitor. However, family secrets by their parental generation begins to surface placing both in danger as Teresa is accused of witchcraft and Luis of Jewish heresy.

The haunting atmosphere of the Velez home located on the aptly named STREET OF DEATH ironically brings to life the Spanish Inquisition in which loyalty was a commodity not to trust. The family secrets provide fascinating twists that add depth so that the audience fully understands the plights of Jews in fifteenth century Spain; for instance why Luis’ mother is buried where she is. Although Luis’ conversion from disdain to desire seems a stretch, Mary Ann Mitchell paints a dark picture of what mankind did in medieval times and still does to one another in the name of God.

Harriet Klausner

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Waiting to Surface-Emily Listfield

Waiting to Surface
Emily Listfield
Atria, Oct 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9781416537830

Sculptor Todd Larkin travels to Florida to visit his girlfriend. Soon afterward the police call his estranged wife of a decade Manhattan magazine editor Sarah informing her he has disappeared after going for a midnight swim. Apparently his Sunshine State girlfriend let four days lapse before calling the cops.

Although she wonders if Todd is alive, Sarah is more worried for their six years old precious daughter, Eliza who she fears will be permanently traumatized by the apparent tragedy as their child was still struggling with her parents’ separation. Still as Sarah tries to be there for Eliza, she takes a chance professionally and personally. She knows she must never forget Todd but she rationalizes that this is for Eliza’s sake, but deep in her gut she knows his memory is important to her too.

Based on a true tragedy that happened to the author, WAITING TO SURFACE is a character driven haunting tale that asks what people do to cope and help their preadolescent children adjust when closure is unavailable. The story line grips you from the onset as Sarah struggles three months after Todd vanished with how to help Eliza while ignoring her own grief, which in turn eats at her gut. This powerful family drama shows how much love hurts yet means so much when an unexpected loss occurs.
Harriet Klausner

Waiting to Surface-Emily Listfield

Waiting to Surface
Emily Listfield
Atria, Oct 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9781416537830

Sculptor Todd Larkin travels to Florida to visit his girlfriend. Soon afterward the police call his estranged wife of a decade Manhattan magazine editor Sarah informing her he has disappeared after going for a midnight swim. Apparently his Sunshine State girlfriend let four days lapse before calling the cops.

Although she wonders if Todd is alive, Sarah is more worried for their six years old precious daughter, Eliza who she fears will be permanently traumatized by the apparent tragedy as their child was still struggling with her parents’ separation. Still as Sarah tries to be there for Eliza, she takes a chance professionally and personally. She knows she must never forget Todd but she rationalizes that this is for Eliza’s sake, but deep in her gut she knows his memory is important to her too.

Based on a true tragedy that happened to the author, WAITING TO SURFACE is a character driven haunting tale that asks what people do to cope and help their preadolescent children adjust when closure is unavailable. The story line grips you from the onset as Sarah struggles three months after Todd vanished with how to help Eliza while ignoring her own grief, which in turn eats at her gut. This powerful family drama shows how much love hurts yet means so much when an unexpected loss occurs.
Harriet Klausner

Bang Bang-Lynn Hoffman

Bang Bang
Lynn Hoffman
Kunati, 2007, $19.95
ISBN: 9781601640005

Philadelphia waitress Paula Sherman is distraught when her best friend was killed. She blames the shooter not the hand gun for murdering her pal. However, the most powerful gun lobby in the world the United Gun Association (UGA) learns of her comments and they along with the Pennsylvania senator in their back pocket quote Paula out of context in an ad campaign featuring her.

Outraged she wants the UGA to stop using her and her words, but the arrogant leaders ignore an overweight wannabe singer as beneath their notice except for their use and abuse of her words. Paula decides to create vengeance with a gun by targeting the windshields of cars with the UGA sticker on them as her motto is to fight fire with fire. Soon her vigilante campaign takes off as others begin shooting the windshields with UGA on them.

This is a deep yet entertaining look at the abuse of the Second Amendment by those who claim the convenience of certain constitutional rights. However, though a condemnation it is Paula who hooks readers once she realizes how her grief has been used by the spin doctors to defend the indefensible. No question author Lynn Hoffman will become criminalized, demonized, and a amoral leper as the NRA and their congressional slaves will have their media spin maestro servants use weapons of mass destruction as their right to assault her.

Harriet Klausner

Jump Cut-Max Allan Collins

Jump Cut
Max Allan Collins
Obsidian, Nov 2007, $6.99, 304 pp.
ISBN: 9780451223180

Like most cities in the United States, Lawrence Kansas has a homeless problem that the authorities would like to move out of their area but they don’t want to see anyone killed. Somebody though is murdering the homeless population, stalking them, drugging them, chaining them in an enclosed area making them hope they can get away. To date four bodies have been found in various places around the town but the police are no closer to finding the killer than they were the day the first corpse was found.

In desperation, the police call in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, a group of expert profilers to assist them in finding the killer. When the team arrives, they get to work right away and though they have no leads they come to the same interesting conclusions; the most important one being that the hate crimes are escalating with more signs of violence on the later victims. While the BAU is in Lawrence, twenty-year-old college drama student Kelly Bonder is kidnapped and the ransom is $68,000. In such a quiet town, the profilers believe this crime is linked to their case and if they discover the connection they will find the killer. They race against the clock too uncover the perp before the ransom deadline arrives.

This novel is based on the television show Criminal Minds and readers get to see the step by step criminal investigation of the FBI. The prologue is in the first person voice of the killer and he speaks periodically throughout the book which sends goose bumps down the spine of the audience because he sounds so sane in his insanity. The investigation takes place in the third person and is also terrifying because the reader feels the tension of the last victim. This crime thriller absorbs the reader in the unfolding drama of mind games played by a brilliant serial killer.

Harriet Klausner

Book of the Dead-Patricia Cornwell

Book of the Dead
Patricia Cornwell
Putnam, Oct 2007, $26.95, 416 pp.
ISBN: 9780399153938

Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her long time lover Benton Wesley are called to Rome to work with a team investigating the death of sixteen-year-old tennis star Drew Martin. Her body was left in a prominent location so that her mutilated corpse would be found quickly; huge chunks were cut out of her body and her eyes are gouged out and sand was placed in them before they were glued shut. The killer who will come to be known as the Sandman thinks he is doing the victim a favor by putting her out of her misery.

Before they fly home Benton gives Scarpetta a ring and then she returns home to South Carolina where she has opened up her own pathology practice Coastal Forensic Pathology Associates.

The Sandman is also in Charlotte where he is scoping out his next victim a woman who, like Drew, also appeared on Dr. Marilyn Self’s talk show. Dr. Self has volunteered to be a patient in Benton’s study coordinated at McLean University in Massachusetts because the Sandman is e-mailing her pictures of his handiwork. Kay is involved in the case and is also trying to deal with the fact that someone is trying to run her out of town, Marino’s angry moods, Lucy’s snooping into her personal life and a nosy neighbor who likes to make trouble for her.

Patricia Cornwell always writes crime thrillers that are fantastic but BOOK OF THE DEAD, though superb, is a bit of a departure for her. The author concentrates more on the relationship between Kay and those she cares about and their feelings; some revelations are revealed as well as a shocking act that nobody who knows those characters could ever see coming. The cast comes alive in a way they have never done before and readers will feel connected to them in a way they have never done before. Ms. Cornwell admits to being proud of BOOK OF THE DEAD and she should be.

Harriet Klausner

Book of the Dead-Patricia Cornwell

Book of the Dead
Patricia Cornwell
Putnam, Oct 2007, $26.95, 416 pp.
ISBN: 9780399153938

Dr. Kay Scarpetta and her long time lover Benton Wesley are called to Rome to work with a team investigating the death of sixteen-year-old tennis star Drew Martin. Her body was left in a prominent location so that her mutilated corpse would be found quickly; huge chunks were cut out of her body and her eyes are gouged out and sand was placed in them before they were glued shut. The killer who will come to be known as the Sandman thinks he is doing the victim a favor by putting her out of her misery.

Before they fly home Benton gives Scarpetta a ring and then she returns home to South Carolina where she has opened up her own pathology practice Coastal Forensic Pathology Associates.

The Sandman is also in Charlotte where he is scoping out his next victim a woman who, like Drew, also appeared on Dr. Marilyn Self’s talk show. Dr. Self has volunteered to be a patient in Benton’s study coordinated at McLean University in Massachusetts because the Sandman is e-mailing her pictures of his handiwork. Kay is involved in the case and is also trying to deal with the fact that someone is trying to run her out of town, Marino’s angry moods, Lucy’s snooping into her personal life and a nosy neighbor who likes to make trouble for her.

Patricia Cornwell always writes crime thrillers that are fantastic but BOOK OF THE DEAD, though superb, is a bit of a departure for her. The author concentrates more on the relationship between Kay and those she cares about and their feelings; some revelations are revealed as well as a shocking act that nobody who knows those characters could ever see coming. The cast comes alive in a way they have never done before and readers will feel connected to them in a way they have never done before. Ms. Cornwell admits to being proud of BOOK OF THE DEAD and she should be.

Harriet Klausner

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Broken Heartland-J.M. Hayes

Broken Heartland
J.M. Hayes
Poisoned Pen Press, Nov 2007, $24.95
ISBN:9781590584521

In Benteen County, Kansas, the election for sheriff is a hot race between the incumbent Sheriff English AKA “Englishman” and braggart Lieutenant Greer, who has the support of the radical right in a state in which the political spectrum runs from the far right to the extreme far right.

However, Englishman has other problems to deal with when his only Deputy Wynn is severely hurt during a high speed chase car accident involving a station wagon and a school bus. With Wynn in a Wichita hospital’s intensive care unit Englishman claims he is to busy to attend a Buffalo Springs Chamber of Commerce pancake breakfast or debate his opponent. To himself, the sheriff expects to lose his job for legally upholding the law. Meanwhile, his half-brother born again Cheyenne Mad Dog has a feeling that Englishman needs him so accompanied by his wolf Hailey rushes from the Black Hills to Kansas. Englishman's two college student daughters feel the same way as their uncle and rush home to help their dad too. All three are right as angry Buffalo Springs High School student Chucky Williams threatens to make Columbine and Virginia Tech look minor while an army of organ harvesters abduct Mad Dog to reap his inner parts.

When you mix a Mad Dog with an Englishman you can expect a zany cocker tale that will elate those fans who appreciate the offbeat in their police procedurals. Even Dorothy would not want to go home to this mess as fans observe a day in the life of a county sheriff on the Plains when even he questions whether he would be better off losing the election. Although life is as out of control here in the BROKEN HEARTLAND as it was in PRAIRIE GOTHIC, and MAD DOG AND ENGLISHMAN, J.M. Hayes provides a zany law enforcement tale.

Harriet Klausner

The Critic-Peter May

The Critic
Peter May
Poisoned Pen Press, Nov 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9781590584583

Several years ago renowned wine critic Gil Petty vanished without a trace during a “vino veritas” trip to the Gaillac region of France. A few years later his preserved corpse was found drenched in wine. The case was never solved after he was found hanging like a wet scarecrow in the nearby woods.

Scottish expatriate forensic expert Enzo Macleod decides to solve the cold case. However, the local police do not want the outsider making them look foolish so they refuse to cooperate. Worse, region winemakers prefer the homicide remain unsolved; Enzo assumes because Petty lived up to his name and was universally disliked. However, when another murder victim embalmed in wine appears in the woods, the local vintners become concerned. Meanwhile Petty's daughter Michelle tries to seduce Enzo, who is held accountable by the other women in his life. However even as Enzo digs up dirt on the arrogant odious late critic, he finds many people in the industry and the family who had a motive to kill the Petty expert and would not mind pickling Enzo too.

The second Enzo Macleod French cold case mystery is a superb tale that will send readers seeking his previous starring role (see EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE). Enzo is fabulous as he uses all his forensic skills seeking the motive, which initially might have been personal but begins to believe insider trader information is the key. Breaking Petty’s code that the deceased used to conceal his work adds to the fun of a wonderful whodunit in which wine seems inappropriate way to toast Peter May for this entertaining whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

The Snow Empress-Laura Joh Rowland

The Snow Empress
Laura Joh Rowland
St. Martin’s, Nov 2007, $24.95
ISBN 9780312365424

In 1699 in Edo, Masahiro, the son of chamberlain Sano Ichiro and his wife Reiko, vanishes without a trace. At about the same time that his parents are aware of his abduction, Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi summons Sano to the palace. There Sano’s enemy Lord Matsudaira accuses him of bombing his villa. Sano believes the bombing is a distraction ploy as his odious foe probably kidnapped his child.

Tokugawa sends Sano to the faraway island of Ezogashima, where he is to help Lord Matsumae battle barbarians. Meanwhile Matsudaira confesses that Sano’s son has been taken to Ezogashima also. Sano and Reiko accompanied by a small retinue rush to Ezogashima, but meet no cooperation from anyone and almost lose their heads as grieving Lord Matsumae trusts no one since his mistress was murdered; meanwhile his wife mourns the homicide of their daughter. Reiko investigates the murders allegedly committed by the SNOW EMPRESS and the whereabouts of her son while Sano struggles to get through to the apparently insane Matsumae.

Ichiro’s twelfth historical mystery is an exciting thriller that once again brings to life late seventeenth century Japan. The story line is fast-paced as Sano tries to stay clam in light of his son’s kidnapping and the insanity of the Lord he is supposed to help; he would like to harm Matsudaira for the abduction and remove Matsumae from office. However, his volatile wife does not care one iota about political correctness especially when Masahiro is involved. Although placing the lad on the same island that the Shogun sends the hero to makes it easier on the lead couple to work together, fans of the series will enjoy their latest escapades as the Chamberlain and his wife try to rescue their offspring and struggle with obeying their order to help the insane Lord.

Harriet Klausner

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Charade-Kate Donovan

Charade
Kate Donovan
Silhouette Athena Force, Oct 2007,
ISBN: 9780373389742

Athena Academy graduate and FBI agent Sasha Bracciali is undercover using her vocation as a fashion designer and her heritage as the daughter of Chicago Mafia Don "Big Frankie" to hide her efforts to rescue an Athena student Teal Arnett being held by the new Kestonian dictator. Apparently this Eastern Europe despot is aware of Teal’s special skills.

Accompanying Sasha on the rescue attempt is her FBI handler special agent Jeff Crossman, who recently has become her lover. However, inside the Kestonian compound, Sasha operates alone as she must seduce the megalomaniac in order to save the child. However, as she gets closer to mission successfully accomplished, Sasha unravels shocking information that leaves her trusting no one especially Jeff.

Country name aside (Kestonia vs. Estonia?) The third Athena Force tale since the reincarnation from the Bombshell days (see THE GOOD THIEF by Judith Leon and LINE OF SIGHT by Rachel Caine) is an excellent fast-paced thriller. Sasha is terrific as an Athena graduate trying to save a current academy student while quickly finding she is alone with no one she can trust or rely on. Readers will appreciate Kate Donovan’s entry as CHARADE is a superb action-packed romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner

Judgment Fire-Marilyn Meredith

Judgment Fire
Marilyn Meredith
Mundania Press, Jul 2007, $10.00
ISBN: 9781594264849

In Bear Creek, Yvette La Rue hears the screams from her neighbor’s house and calls 911. Deputy Tempe Crabtree responds to the domestic dispute in which building contractor Tom Cannata had battered his wife Jackie. Tom is taken away while Jackie complains the cops should stay out of her family matters and that Yvette only called to embarrass her. Tempe has known Jackie since their school days together although they ran in different social circles as the Deputy was ostracized for being partially Native American.

Meanwhile another neighbor computer geeky guru Spence Gullott claims Tom diverted water from Bear Creek to his property, which now threatens Spence’s home and his family; at least that is what he claims. Not long afterward, someone kills Jackie who is found dead in her bed from a gunshot. The police suspect Tom and their son Ronnie, but Tempe has a gut feeling that the latter is innocent. As she wonders if her sensation is part of her Native American heritage, a police hunch, or both, she investigates the homicide while heeding the advice of her friend Native American shaman Dorethea Nightwalker that she faces danger.

Married couple, Deputy Tempe and Minister Hutch, makes this Native American whodunit exciting as they both are beginning to accept her mystical heritage. Thus fans of the series see how much the Crabtrees (and their offspring) have grown in terms of religious tolerance and acceptance since the earlier well written police procedurals (see CALLING THE DEAD and KINDRED SPIRITS). The investigation is fun, but it is the increasing acceptance of the reality of Native American mysticism (as embodied by the female Shaman) by the cop and the pastor that make the visit to the Sierras fun for readers.

Harriet Klausner

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Flawed-Jo Bannister

Flawed
Jo Bannister
St. Martin’s, Sep 18 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780312375669

In Dimmock, England Brodie Farrell’s business-Looking for Something? detective agency has proven a success. However, Brodie is taken aback when she learns she is pregnant; a delicate condition that panics her as this is not good for sleuthing. Adding to her chagrin is that just before she found out she was carrying, she and her partner Detective Superintendent Jack Deacon split.

However, Brodie’s loyal best friend Daniel Hood tales a leave of absence from his math teaching position to run Looking for Something? while she deals with her pregnancy. However, Daniel becomes concerned about a baldy bruised preadolescent child, Noah Selkirk. The twelve-year-old boy claims his influential father attorney Adam Selkirk abuses him. Daniel tries to intervene with the family on behalf of Noah, but is threatened with a lawsuit for slander, a warning to stay away from their son or else face nasty accusations, and bodily harm.

There is a bit of a mystery in the latest treasure seeker tale (can’t say thriller), but that serves as a minor subplot to what is a deep character study as the two prime plots are Daniel’s mishandling the Selkirk family affair and Brodie’s demeanor albeit her pregnancy and her men, past and present. Besides Daniel and Brodie being fully developed (and not just because she is pregnant), the secondary cast seems genuine; readers will believe that the wealthy Selkirk brood have major issues and so does Brodie especially with Jack who seems to have bounced into another woman’s arms. Readers will appreciate this comic-tragic relationship drama.

Harriet Klausner

Night Work-Steve Hamilton

Night Work
Steve Hamilton
Dunne, Sep 18 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780312353612

In Kingston, New York, juvenile probation officer Joe Trumbull has spent the past two years buried in his work while he grieves the strangulation murder of his fiancée Laurel three days before their wedding. Though he still mourns his loss and believes he will compare all women to Laurel, Joe finally goes out on a blind date with Marlene. A few hours after their date ends, Marlene is found strangled to death. Not long after that he tries to help battered wife Sandy, who soon after his offer of assistance is found strangled to death.

The local police turn to the State for homicide detectives to investigate since the small department has no one capable of working a serial killer case. Joe being the obvious link between the murders is the prime and only suspect. He begins an investigation to find a killer before he is arrested.

This is an entertaining investigative thriller although fans of Steve Hamilton who know Alex McKnight will think Joe Trumbull is no Alex. The whodunit is cleverly developed especially the motive and the location on the Hudson is vividly described. However, Joe’s constant self pity becomes irritating and after a while he loses the empathy he had early on. Still this is an interesting stand alone tale of a man who is trying to return to the living when all he finds are deaths.

Harriet Klausner

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Dead of the Day-Karen E. Olson

Dead of the Day
Karen E. Olson
Obsidian, Nov 2007, $6.99, 320 pp.
ISBN 9780451222473

Crime reporter Annie Seymour is presently working on two pieces for the New Haven Herald: a floater at Long Wharf whose body is covered with bee stings and a profile of on the city’s new chief of police Tony Rodriguez. However, Annie struggles with the profile that isn’t coming together because Rodriguez is so bland she can’t find a hook. The story about the floater is also difficult to write about because nobody knows who he is or where he came from .

The chief of police story turns exciting when a drive by shooting leaves Rodriguez dead while he sat in his car. Witnesses claim that someone opened fire on two policemen, Annie’s ex-boyfriend Tom and Rodriguez’s second-in command Sam O’Neil. The shooter is now in the hospital in a coma. Annie is assigned the story and finds much more than she bargained for with illegal immigrants, a green card scandal, bomb sniffing bee experiments and someone wanting to permanently stifle the curious intrepid reporter.

This crime thriller starts out at light speed and accelerates from there never giving the readers a chance to catch their breath. Annie is a strong willed woman who never lets a death threat frighten her off the investigation. Besides dodging bullets and cars that want to run her off the road she is trying to figure out if Vinnie the P.I. she is in love with and hasn’t spoken to in months wants to get back together. This is a great investigative series and readers will look forward to the next book in the series.

Harriet Klausner

Chat-Archie Mayor

Chat
Archie Mayor
Grand Central, Nov 2007, $24.95, 326 p.
ISBN 9780446582582

Les Gunther and his mother are driving home after seeing a movie when all of a sudden the car isn’t operating the way it should; they crash leaving both of them badly injured. The next of kin Joe Gunther, a commander in the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, is notified and he passes a John Doe corpse case he is working on to his team while he returns home.

Before his brother lapses into a coma he says something was wrong with the car. When they discover what is wrong with the car, Joe is immediately suspicious because the vehicle was too new to have thrown a rod. When they find the cotton pin that held the rod in place they have probable cause to confiscate the computer at the Griffis Garage where the vehicle was serviced. The father E.T. and son Dan blame Joe for putting away the youngest brother Andy who was probably innocent and took the fall for Dan. If Dan was convicted of another crime he would have been put away for life under the state’s three strike rule. While in jail Andy was raped and when he gets out he committed suicide. Ironically there is nothing on the computer to implicate Dan with his crashing the vehicle but there are a series of chat logs connected to the case Joe was working on before his family emergency.

This regional mystery gives a vivid picture of the Vermont countryside and the colorful inhabitants who populate it. Joe’s love for his family is so real that readers expect to do what he can and more for them. The mystery is well plotted and has so many suspects besides the obvious avenging father and son team that readers will never guess who the killer is. Archie Mayor has written another great Vermont police procedural.

Harriet Klausner

Friday, September 14, 2007

Dark of the Moon-John Sandford

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 they 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

The Border Lord's Bride-Bertrice Small

The Border Lord's Bride
Bertrice Small
NAL, Oct 2007, $14.00
ISBN: 9780451222145

In 1494, the unprotected are pawns for the more powerful to obtain greater strength. That is why elderly Lochearn Laird Ewan MacArthur sends his beloved orphaned granddaughter Ellen to King James for her safety. Two weeks after her departure, their cousin Gavin demands Ellen marry his son Balgair instead of the heir Donald McNab as he plans to make his offspring Laird of Lochearn even if it means turning Ellen into a teenage widow.

Border Laird of Duffdour Duncan Armstrong visits King James to ask a favor of his liege. In return James assigns him to safely escort Ellen home so she can wed Donald as the monarch believes it is Ewan’s decision. When they reach her home, they quickly learn what Balgair and his sire have done as he has her grandfather’s signed document making him heir and her spouse; he explains that he held Donald hostage, but once signed slit both their throats. However, Balgair made one mistake as he asks Duncan to witness the ceremony, he failed to understand the escort is an honorable loyal person, who takes this into his own hands by wedding Ellen although that means giving up his hope to marry for love; or does it.

The second Borderlands Chronicle historical romance (see A DANGEROUS LOVE) is a fabulous late fifteenth century tale filled with intrigue and treachery much greater than that described above. The lead pair struggles with her odious extended family and with the machinations between the rival Kings James and Henry VII. Readers will cherish the heroic Duncan as their own as he risks his happiness and ultimately life to keep Ellen safe; fans will also admire the spunky female protagonist, whose tasted violence and death with her parents already gone and now her betrothed and beloved grandfather were murdered; yet she keeps her with and takes a chance on the unknown rather than the devil she knows. Bertrice Small provides a great read.

Harriet Klausner

Fire Bell in the Night-Geoffrey S. Edwards

Fire Bell in the Night
Geoffrey S. Edwards
Touchstone, Sep 18 2007
ISBN: 9781416564249

In 1850 New York Tribune journalist John Sharp is sent to Charleston, South Carolina to report on the trial of white farmer Darcy Nance Calhoun; accused of violating the law when he abetted a runaway slave, a capital offence. If convicted Darcy will hang. Already aware of the crisis throughout the nation since winning the Mexican War, John arrives with a sense of foreboding especially since his predecessor from the Tribune was murdered; probably because the local assumed a Yankee reporter denotes an abolitionist lover.

As John makes inquiries in the city seeking the truth, he is stunned by how angry everyone seems to be; in that atmosphere Darcy has no chance even if he did nothing and could prove he was totally innocent of the crime. The outside reporter does not believe Darcy will make it to trial as the city led by powerful plantation owners with connections like Tyler Breckenridge has all but hung him. As fires purposely set burn 24/7 with the alarm bell seemingly ringing constantly, underneath the rage, many of the elite and affluent are demanding secession from the Union in spite of knowing the North would invade.

FIRE BELL IN THE NIGHT is a deep look at South Carolina at a point where entrenched partisan feelings has divided the nation so that either secession or civil war seems imminent. The historical story line focuses on unrest from several perspectives as slave families are divided for individual sale and plantation owners see their region’s national influence slipping with the addition of the territories taken from Mexico; as the 14 to 14 tie will soon be over with the north winning. The strong cast brings to life the critical moment in which the great regional compromisers (Calhoun, Clay, and Webster) are gone and the strong President (Taylor) with convictions dead; the deal worked only temporarily and cooled the heat for a few years.

Harriet Klausner

Norway to Hide-Maddy Hunter

Norway to Hide
Maddy Hunter
Pocket, Nov 2007, $6.99, 304 pp.
ISBN: 9781416523802

It is time once again for travel escort Emily Andrews and her group of senior citizens to embark on another tour of a foreign country. They are traveling to Scandinavia concentrating on Finland and Norway. Emily’s fondest hope is this trip proves to be no “Passport to Peril”; meaning no dead bodies to deal with especially since her ex-husband Jack (now Jackie after a transgender operation) published her book, which is ranked and rated on Amazon.

The Iowans are on the Midnight Sun Adventure tour with a group of Floridians senior citizens, who live in the affluent gated community Hamlet. The two groups don’t get along but even Emily is surprised to find the leader of the other Hamlet group Portia Van Cleef murdered, strangled by a fish and plum necklace. At first Jackie is the prime suspect because she threatened her with violence but the police can’t hold her because there is no evidence and others had a motive to kill her. When another Hamlet is killed, a Pulitzer prize winning reporter, Emily believes she needs to clear her group so she decides to investigate. Everyone wants the killer caught because the travel group doesn’t want to keep looking over their shoulders for a murderer.

Maddy Hunter writes a riveting who-done-it that will appeal to armchair travelers and readers who like a meaty cozy plot with no blood and guts flowing. The heroine has not had a good time on this trip as she deals with cranky travelers, a despondent writer who was totally obsessed with the numbers concerning her book, long distance wedding plans that have to be changed because a twister destroyed the place she was going to get married. Oh yes, she needs to find the killer to salvage what is left of the trip. The humor spread out throughout the storyline is used as a tension reliever.

Harriet Klausner

Who is Conrad Hirst?-Kevin Wignall

Who is Conrad Hirst?
Kevin Wignall
Simon & Schuster, Nov 2007, $14.00, 227 pp.
ISBN 9781416540724

Who is Conrad Hirst? He is a hitman who has killed scores of people for German crime boss Julius Eberhardt. Now at thirty-two after killing old Klemperer he realizes he doesn’t want to kill anymore. He knows only four people who knows who he is and what he has done; his handler Frank Dillon, Eberhardt, arms dealer Freddie Fischer and forger Fabio Gaddi. He plans to kill them all and walk away into the sunset.

As Frank is dying, he tells his killer Conrad that all these years together he lied to him. He isn’t sure what that means until he goes to see Eberhardt and sees he isn’t the man who recruited him almost a decade ago. He realizes Frank was serving two masters but he doesn’t know who the second master was. Freddie and Fabio have disappeared and are perhaps dead, two womenl have taken an unusual interest in him and spooks are spying on him. Conrad believe if he can’t walk away by convincing whoever is really in charge he is no threat, he will go down in a blaze of glory.

Conrad was a damaged young man when he was recruited; he has healed and he finally knows it. Readers will feel sorry for him even though he never asked questions about who he was killing and why or that he believed he worked for a crime boss. The question of who Conrad’s handlers really are will keep readers turning the pages of this mesmerizing crime thriller. The antagonist comes across like a little boy waking up from a terrible nightmare.

Harriet Klausner

Bang Bang-Theo Gangi

Bang Bang
Theo Gangi
Kensington, Nov 2007, $15.00
ISBN: 9780758220547

Now thirty eight and in the business for years with his psychotic partner Malik “Mal” Dumont, half Jewish half black Ezekiel “Izzy” Levin wonders why his job is titled Stickup Kid and never Stickup man; he ponders whether life expectancy in his line of work is so short that one can never be a man. Still while he muses about his profession of robbing criminals and leaving no witness behind, he relishes the subway World Series as his passion is baseball and his two favorite teams are playing for the championship. However, to even his shock at a bar to watch the game, he becomes more interested in a woman who is also there. He persuades Eva to go out with him in a couple of nights.

Mal and Izzy head to Queens accompanied by their client’s “agent” Benny. As Mal cleans house, Izzy fails for the first time to make the closer save (like Mariano Rivera always does) by killing her. The witness is Eva whose cousin is lying dead from a knife wound. Understanding the rules of kill all or be a victim, Izzy saves Eva’s life, but now Mal is after them to finish the job.

As this reviewer read this fascinating crime thriller, I kept thinking of Nova Swing (Harrison): “It starts with a dame” combined with paraphrasing the best man’s comment at the wedding of my nephew Marc the cop as his “vocation is the dreams of a Jewish mother”. Izzy grips the audience as he is obviously intelligent yet his profession as a criminal closer is not what one would expect of someone with his intellect. On the other hand the over the top of the Empire State Building Mal is crazy enough to be a closer. This is one tour of the Big Apple that will grip readers who, like the police, will follow the corpses as High Noon comes to New York City when a woman coming between two former partners.

Harriet Klausner

Thursday, September 13, 2007

The Tomb of Zeus-Barbara Cleverly

The Tomb of Zeus
Barbara Cleverly
Delta, Nov 2007, $13.00
ISBN: 9780385339902

In 1927 wealthy Laetitia Talbot comes to Crete to sponsor a dig. Famous archeologist Theo Russell directs the patron to the Mountain of Juktas to a location he already selected where he believes THE TOMB OF ZEUS is buried. Laetitia takes an instant dislike to the pushy man, but adores his wife Phoebe.

Before going to the village of Kastelli where the team will be based for the dig, Phoebe escorts Laetitia to the ruins of Knosses where her new friend suffers a fainting spell and is brought back to her villa. There are sores all over Phoebe’s legs that Laetitia believes come from wearing tight boots. Shortly afterward Phoebe is found dead in her room; an apparent suicide. Laetitia does not believe the woman killed herself, especially when she learns Phoebe was pregnant but not carrying Theo’s child. Instead the site patron digs amongst the ruins of lives to uncover the murderous truth.

Readers of historical mysteries and armchair time travelers will thoroughly enjoy this wonderful whodunit. Besides the vivid look at Crete during the golden age of archeology, fans will ponder whether the heroine is wrong as there are few suspects with a motive to kill Phoebe; increasingly suicide seems right yet Laetitia stubbornly believes otherwise based on her short time with the woman. Barbara Cleverly explores the culture of Crete in great depth so that her audience can fully visualize what was back in ancient time and what was in 1927-28; an era used as a setting in modern literature for great female sleuths (Phryne Fisher and Maisie Dobbs) and now amateur sleuth fans have one more.

Harriet Klausner

Murder by the Slice-Livia J. Washburn

Murder by the Slice
Livia J. Washburn
Obsidian, Oct 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 9780451222503

In Weatherford, Texas, four members of the Retired Teachers Association sell baked cakes as a scholarship fund raiser. When Loving Elementary School Parent-Teacher organization member Marie Tyler comes by their table, she asks the quartet to help her with the carnival that she is chairing. As Phyllis Newsom is about to say sorry, but too busy, Dolly Williamson says yes that they will help with the food.

The ladies agree to have a food contest but all entries must be healthy. However, as the RTO members meet the PTO leader dictatorial Shannon Dunstan, each wants to say no as the woman is outrageous, nasty, and demanding; Phyllis believes that’s her better qualities. Still they honor their commitment, but at the gala, someone kills Shannon using a knife that Phyllis believes is one she used on her cake. Besides her fingerprints, telltale frosting is on Shannon’s body. Knowing that she is now the prime suspect, Phyllis begins her own inquiry; only it seems to her that the entire state of Texas loathed the late nasty martinet and alarge segment had the opportunity to kill her but who was willing to actually stab her while facing her remains a mystery.

MURDER BY THE SLICE is A PEACH OF A MURDER due to the retired chick lit asides by the heroine whether she sells cake at Wal-Mart or Loving Elementary or during her investigation. The whodunit is fun and the recipes mouthwatering. Putting aside the assumption that the intelligent retired JHS history teacher would hire an expert investigator, it is her bumbling amateur sleuth antics that cook up a tasty culinary mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye-E.C. Sheedy

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
E.C. Sheedy
Kensington Brava, Oct 2007, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758215635

Over two decades ago Phyllis Worth rescued nine years old April from the dark eyed man who hid her in an unlighted basement. Phyllis raised the frightened April as her own. Now Phyllis is missing fleeing for her life without a moment’s notice. She left behind a quickly scratched note warning April to hide as the dark eyed man seeks her.

April still fears her bogeyman, but needs to insure Phyllis is safe. She turns to Joe Worth to find Phyllis and keep both females safe. Joe wants to say no to sad eyes as Phyllis is his biological mother, who deserted him years ago. However, he cannot leave April at the mercy of a deranged serial killer who wants to use Phyllis to get to his intended target; besides which he has instant heat that she reciprocally makes hotter.

The dark eyed killer who in many ways remains in the shadows of a nightmarish memory steals the show of a superb erotic romantic suspense thriller. E.C. Sheedy uses the family link to bring the lead couple together, but plays down the soap opera in order to provide a strong complex mystery. The lead couple is a fascinating likable pairing as he needs prove to himself that he is worthy of her trust by keeping her safe more so than completing her request to save his mother. Readers will kiss the day away reading this exciting tense one sitting romantic mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Sweetheart Deal-Claire Matturro

Sweetheart Deal
Claire Matturro
Morrow, Nov 2007, $23.95
ISBN 9780060773250

Sarasota, Florida attorney Lillian Rose Cleary vowed never to go home, but rushes back when her bipolar abusive mother is accused of murder. Lilly would not have come back to Bugfest, Georgia after two decades away especially to see her mother except to defend her mom in a court of law. For her own peace of mind Lilly needs to believe she would have ignored her mother being in the hospital as the woman abused her (starting with naming her after two flowers) and her brother when they were growing up.

As she mounts a defense for mommy dearest and investigates the homicide, Lilly runs up against her mom’s home (should be an EPA superfund site), someone trying to kill mom with red ants, avaricious developers and the sale of endangered species as specialty meats sold to expensive restaurants. Still her prime reason is to not battle the environmentally challenged including mom’s abode; it is to get mom free so Lilly can immediately head south and away from this insane termagant who makes DNA cleansing seem politically correct.

The latest funny clearly chick lit legal thriller (see SKINNY DIPPING and BONE VALLEY) is an entertaining tale that affirms the belief you can’t go home as Lilly learns the hard way that mom still is a lunatic and her efforts to defend her lead to dangerous scenarios for the courageous neurotic attorney. Although in many ways more a neurosis filled amateur sleuth than a legal family drama, readers who appreciate a spunky phobic heroine will enjoy Lilly’s escapades especially her jocular asides even when they slow down the action.

Harriet Klausner

Sweetheart Deal-Claire Matturro

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
E.C. Sheedy
Kensington Brava, Oct 2007, $14.00
ISBN: 9780758215635

Over two decades ago Phyllis Worth rescued nine years old April from the dark eyed man who hid her in an unlighted basement. Phyllis raised the frightened April as her own. Now Phyllis is missing fleeing for her life without a moment’s notice. She left behind a quickly scratched note warning April to hide as the dark eyed man seeks her.

April still fears her bogeyman, but needs to insure Phyllis is safe. She turns to Joe Worth to find Phyllis and keep both females safe. Joe wants to say no to sad eyes as Phyllis is his biological mother, who deserted him years ago. However, he cannot leave April at the mercy of a deranged serial killer who wants to use Phyllis to get to his intended target; besides which he has instant heat that she reciprocally makes hotter.

The dark eyed killer who in many ways remains in the shadows of a nightmarish memory steals the show of a superb erotic romantic suspense thriller. E.C. Sheedy uses the family link to bring the lead couple together, but plays down the soap opera in order to provide a strong complex mystery. The lead couple is a fascinating likable pairing as he needs prove to himself that he is worthy of her trust by keeping her safe more so than completing her request to save his mother. Readers will kiss the day away reading this exciting tense one sitting romantic mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Creation In Death-J.D. Robb

Creation In Death
J.D. Robb
Putnam, Nov 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9780399154362

In March 2060, NYPSD Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas watches an action movie with her husband Roarke when an official call comes in from Commander Whitney. He tells her to go to a crime scene without providing her any information as to why he ordered her to do this on her day off. When she arrives at the location and examines the corpse, she knows why her superior provided her with nothing.

Eve realizes that Whitney wanted her to verify independently his theory that “the Groom” a serial killer who putotures his victims to death and then carves into their bodies how long they lasted under torture. Dallas believes this is the same culprit who she failed to catch nine years ago. He killed four women back then and many others in other states and countries, but apparently he is back in NYC. Eve vows to cage this animal.

Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb is at the top of her game in CREATION IN DEATH, the latest exciting entry in her futuristic police procedural series. Even though the tale occurs only five plus decades from now, the audience easily accepts the future ambience as tidbits are blended into the fine story line. This is a terrific cat and mouse thriller with the determined Eve assuming she is the hungry cat on the prowl while her opponent is a master tiger tamer.

Harriet Klausner

Monday, September 10, 2007

Paying the Piper-Simon Wood

Paying the Piper
Simon Wood
Leisure, Nov 2007, $7.99
ISBN 9780843959802

Eight years ago the Piper kidnapped preadolescent Nicholas Rooker demanding two million dollars in ransom from his wealthy father, a successful bay area realtor. The serial abductor began calling San Francisco Independent reporter Scott Fleetwood leaving clues for the cops to track. However, by the time the police realized that the caller was a fake, the Piper changed is MO of retuning the kids unharmed once remittance occurred; this time he killed Nicholas.

In the present, after a hiatus the Piper abducts one of Scott’s children, Sammy. He feels Scott owes him more than just the money he lost; he blames the reporter for his killing Nicholas, the first time he committed murder. Nicholas’ father Charles Rooker puts up the ransom money hoping that this time the FBI, led by Agent Shiels, captures his son’s killer. The cat and mouse game has just begun on the streets of San Francisco with the Piper warning Scott to play by his rules because of ACCIDENTS WAITING TO HAPPEN.

Although an action-packed thriller that never slows down even when the cast climbs the hills, the story line belongs to the four male protagonists who make up a macabre square with each feeling strong degrees of guilt over what happened to Nicholas. Fascinatingly the Piper regrets having had to murder Nicholas although he holds Scott culpable; Scott feels the same way and to a degree so does Charles and even Shiels. PAYING THE PIPER is a terrific thriller as the quartet knows that they all fall down on this one.

Harriet Klausner

Touched By Fire-Catherine Spangler

Touched By Fire
Catherine Spangler
Berkley, Oct 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 9780425217955

In Texas, the evil Belian has killed dozens of innocent humans. His explosives are everywhere yet he leaves no evidence enabling the Sentinels to stop his killing spree. Sentinel Luke is frustrated by not preventing more deaths, but continues on his Harley seeking to stop this crafty confident malevolent mass murderer.

Luke meets Marla, a conductor, who he believes is the key to stopping the Belian. He knows she is his perfect match so he invades her home and kidnaps her, taking her to his house where he learns to his incredulousness she is a thirty years old virgin. Marla fears sex giving witnessed her sister’s rape over a decade ago. Still there is something about this man that has Marla fearing and wanting him. As he explains the Belian evil to her, she senses the killer is nearby waiting for her. When the Belian mentally links to Marla, Luke knows a showdown is coming. If he could only persuade his soulmate that sex can not only be enjoyed especially between those in love, but is the most powerful tool for a conductor to track a Belian.

The stand alone sequel to TOUCHED BY DARKNESS (Luke as a character in that tale) is an electrifying paranormal romantic thriller. The lead couple suffers from tragedies; Marla obviously from her sister's rape and Luke from his mother's death making him family head. Those traumas make their relationship much more interesting as they must overcome their respective pasts to have a remote chance at defeating the seemingly invisible Belian. Sub-genre fans will be touched by Catherine Spangler’s entertaining Sentinel saga.

Harriet Klausner

Unmanned-Lois Greiman

Unmanned
Lois Greiman
Dell, Nov 2007, $6.99
ISBN: 9780440243625

After almost being killed by two different men, Los Angeles psychologist Dr. Christina McMullan is obsessed with safety; she always sets her alarm system and is extremely wary of strangers especially males. When she meets Will Swanson at a gas station, they talk while he cleans her windshield. He explains he is a carpenter and she says she needs a new garage before she drives away. When he appears at her home, he explains her dimwitted secretary gave him her address; although not frightened, Christina still talks with Will outside not allowing him into her house.

Suddenly, a shot rings out and Will falls to the ground dead. Christina’s boyfriend LAPD Detective Rivera arrives at the homicide scene in an official capacity. During his investigation he learns that Will is an alias and that Texas law enforcement officials believe he was a hit man. Christina does not have a clue as to who or why someone wants to kill her, but when her brother Pete comes to town, she thinks that the culprit might have been after her sibling, who looks somewhat like Will did. From no suspects there is instantly a myriad of individuals with motives as Pete owes $20,000 in gambling debts to those who accept remittance one cold way or another.

The dynamo heroine leaps from or is pushed into one dangerous incident after another, but she keeps her cools so she can react to avoid physical injury or death. The romantic interludes between the cop and the shrink are scorching even though they do nothing more than kiss, talk or leer. However, the key to this terrific often amusing whodunit is that the readers are unsure who the killer is and the motive though it bears repeating that the heroine’s Peter Pan complex brother seems the most likely cause.

Harriet Klausner

A Prayer for the Damned-Peter Tremayne

A Prayer for the Damned
Peter Tremayne
St. Martin’s, Nov 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780312348335

In 668 AD in the Five Kingdoms (ancient Ireland), Abbot Ultan is acting as the emissary for Bishop Segene, the Abbot of Ard Macha. He travels the country seeking to sell the concept that Segene would be lead abbot. Both men adhere to the strict laws of a sub-group of Rome State who believe the church holy cannot marry; they each believes it is their calling from God to do whatever it takes to insure others follow their religion as well including bribes, coercion and force.

Ultan and his retinue head to Cashel in the Kingdom of Muman where King Colgu’s sibling Sister Fidelma is about to take the vows to make her marriage of a year and a day to Brother Eadulf permanent. The abbot arrives to voice his strong objection to two church officials marrying. Before he can make his displeasure known, someone murders Ultan. The wedding ceremony is postponed while the bride and groom investigate the homicide in which one f the kings of the Five Kingdoms is the prime suspect.

Readers who love Middle Ages whodunits will want to read A PRAYER FOR THE DAMNED (as well the previous Sister Fidelma tale) as this series is one of the best being written today. The freshness in Sister Fidelma’s latest inquiry is her doubts as to whether she should be releases from her vows as a religeuse. The power struggle between Rome’s edicts and the Irish church leaders are meticulously examined even as this serves as a key element to the exciting descriptive plot. Readers gain plenty of insight into seventh century religious and secular politics in Ireland yet the beauty of Peter Tremayne’s skill is he does this while entertaining his fans.

Harriet Klausner

Sunday, September 9, 2007

The Chainsaw Ballet-Thomas J. Keevers

The Chainsaw Ballet
Thomas J. Keevers
Five Star, Sep 2007, $25.95
ISBN: 9781594145803

In Chicago, three Serbian immigrants opened up Club Belgrade. They took out million dollar insurance policies on each other. Two of them (Milan Krunic and Uri Simunick) have since been murdered and the survivor Stepan Vasil has received payment, but has not stopped the policy, which seems odd to Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Minnesota Mutual Agent Orson Prescott hires private investigator Mike Duncavan to learn why Stepan has not ended the insurance policy as he has no partners to claim the insurance if he dies. Mike visits Club Belgrade where he meets bartender Eva, who he is attracted to but fears is working 24/7 for her employer. As Mike keeps digging for a motive, he begins to find proof of unsavory illegal practices involving international sex slave sales; an angry Stepan knows the former cop has found evidence that could lead to jail time so he plans to take Duncavan out of circulation with the help of police officers who owe him.

The third hard boiled Duncaven detective tale (see WHAT THE HYENA KNOWS) is an exhilarating investigative thriller starring a fired street cop turned disbarred lawyer turned private sleuth who knows the mean streets of Chicago as well as anyone does. The story line is fast-paced even before Mike makes the scene at the Club Belgrade. Action-packed with confrontations the norm, fans will be hooked wondering why Vasil continues to pay for partnership insurance when his partners are dead.

Harriet Klausner