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Mysterious Times at the Odyssey Bookshop Sign up for our special Mystery Email List. You will receive special notices of mystery events at the Odyssey. Author Events | Odyssey Crime Club | Current Favorites | Recent Reviews | Awards Current Picks click on book title to order The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke
The Tin Roof Blowdown is the 16th Dave Robicheaux novel set in southern Louisiana, and is perhaps his most poignant and powerful book to date, because it is set in the real life aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As is usually the case in Burke’s books, several stories are told. The central one here is that of Bertrand Melancon, a young thug, who, along with his brother and two friends are looting deserted houses after the storm. What they steal, and who they steal it from sets in motion a storm of trouble, including the arrival of a gentleman named Ronald Bledsoe, who despite polite Southern manners, appears to be a very terrible and evil guy. As these and other stories merge, and as Robichaux’s family is threatened, the tension mounts to an almost unbearable level. Burke’s descriptions of the devastation left by the power of the storms, as well as Dave’s anger at government incompetence and human greed are so emotionally wrenching you’ll find yourself holding your breath, fearing the next sentence. And when he throws into the mix the power of human nature - both heroic and unspeakably cowardly and violent, what results is an unforgettable novel that feels all too close to reality. But beware, Burkes prose is incredibly literary and beautiful. This is a book where you will linger over sentences, where you want to read them out loud to whoever will listen, so it may take you a little longer than usual to finish. And it’s a book where you will feel like you are living the horrors of the events and feeling the emotions of the characters. I think James Lee Burke is one of the most amazing writers working today, and that said, The Tin Roof Blowdown, even for him, is a truly remarkable accomplishment. Gun Shy by Ben Rehder
His books feature game warden John Marlin in Blanco County Texas, and usually involve a serious issue in an achingly funny and satirical way. This book is about gun control, the gun lobby, anti-gun protesters, and what happens when they all get put into the soup along with a high profile accidental shooting. Country and Western superstar Mitch Campbell, high on mushrooms, accidentally kills a Mexican worker at his home, and enlists the help of the president of the local gun association, Dale Stubbs, a guy who loves guns more than anything on this earth. Together, and as ineptly as one can imagine, they develop a plan to cover up the crime so as not to have a distraction at the upcoming gun rally and meeting of Stubbs’ gun organization. While Marlin and other local police investigate, other sub-plots are developed, such as that of a local low-life redneck who is the first person ever to be denied membership in the Texas Gun Association, and his attempt to interest Mitch in his pro gun song. No matter which side of the gun issue you find yourself - whether you are against guns, period, or whether you prefer to blame the criminal, not the gun, you simply can’t suppress your chuckles, and sometimes out loud laughter and amazement when the plots come crashing together. Rehder is a master satirist, taking aim at some very cherished beliefs - on both sides. And considering that pro gun feelings are perhaps held more dearly in Texas than anywhere else in the nation, and given that Rehder is a Texan himself, he walks a fine line - but one that he’s mastered. This book has put everything together, humor tragedy, pathos, all centering on one of the most vital issues of the day. The second amendment will never be the same. Yesterday’s Fatal by Jan Brogan
At the outset of this book, Hallie comes upon a car accident, in which a young woman lost control of her car and rammed into a tree, and despite Hallie’s attempts to help the victim, she dies. There was another witness, the elderly owner of house on the road, who saw the whole thing and says to Hallie that it looked like the car was just aiming for the tree - hit it twice, in fact. But a few days later the other witness changes her story, and now says that another car forced her off the road. It turns out that in RI, you don’t collect insurance in one car accidents, when there was no other cause. When Hallie also finds out that a mobster ex con named Tito, who also happens to own a auto body shop, is connected to the victim’s family, she starts thinking that the other witness was paid off to change her story, and that this is really a case of murder and insurance fraud, Hallie sees the story, and pursues all angles, much to her peril, culminating in a great heart-stopping showdown with the real villain. Throughout the book, the reporters in the newsroom refer to the accident as The Fatal, emphasizing the depersonalization of the news. Everything in the room is about the story. And in addition to a tight, exciting plot, and wonderful characters, this book gives us an inside look at local journalism and the competition and pressures on reporters to produce the big story. Jan Brogan was a journalist for 20 years and writes with an authenticity that is wholly believable. And Hallie is really a wonderful creation. She is believably flawed, often self-effacing, skilled in her profession, but sometimes recklessly so. Her gambling 12-step sponsor insists she takes the risks for the rush that she can no longer get through gambling. Hallie tells him maybe so, but it doesn’t matter - and away she goes, and she takes us with her every time. This is wonderfully entertaining series. Free Fire by CJ Box
Free Fire, which takes place in Yellowstone National Park not only showcases the park itself, with its geysers and hot springs and mountains and wildlife, but also gives us a plot that is as exciting and interesting as any he has devised. When the Yellowstone Act of congress was passed in 1872, the act specified the whole park as being in the judicial district of Wyoming, even though a small part of the park actually exists in Idaho and Montana. And there is a small strip of land, in the Idaho part of the park, in which there are no residents. And because of the guarantees of the constitution for a local jury trial, it turns out that someone committing a crime in this area can’t be tried for his crimes, because no local jury can be convened. That’s where this novel begins - the first page actually. A lawyer named Clay McAnn turns himself in after killing four people in this so-called zone of death. And three months later, after prosecutors determine that they can’t get around this loophole, they have to set him free. The governor of Wyoming contacts Joe and asks him to investigate, to see if he can gather new evidence which would put McAnn away. Mystery after mystery abound in this book. Why did Clay shoot these people in the first place. Why were the victims gathered in the zone of death? Why did Clay simply turn himself in? Joe and his dangerous friend Nate Romanowsky start digging and uncover motives that are as credible as they are scary, culminating in one of the most thrilling climaxes Box has ever written. The power of this plot and the majestic beauty of Yellowstone is matched by Joe’s (and I assume Box’s) passion for protecting the land. If you’ve ever had the urge to visit Yellowstone, this book is like a guidebook, with the bonus of being an absorbing, fascinating tale. And though I haven’t talked with any experts, I believe this zone of death actually exists, since Box tells us that Congress is now taking steps to close the loophole. This is just a great series and this is one of the best. Night Ferry by Michael Robotham
The primary detective in Night Ferry is Alisha Barba, who receives a note from a school friend named Cate, who she had not heard from in many years, saying she was in trouble and that someone was after her baby. The note begs Barba to come to an upcoming school reunion, so that they can speak. Barba goes, meets with Cate who is in late stage pregnancy, and hears again that her baby is in danger. But as Cate and her husband leave the building, they are run down. Cate’s husband is killed instantly, and she dies sometime later. But Barba, having witnessed the accident, believes is was not an accident at all, wants to investigate, and the mystery deepens when it’s discovered that Cate was not even pregnant. She was using pillows to make herself look pregnant, and it’s not clear when she ever shared the truth with anyone, including her husband. As Barba gets deeper into the mystery surrounding Cate’s murder and her deception, the story focusses on the cash value of babies being conceived, bought and sold between the continent and Great Britain, and the crimes that accompany this particularly offensive operation. There is a social message here, but in Robotham’s hands, the message doesn’t overwhelm the story which is tense, surprising, full of twists, and has characters, both good and evil who are sharply drawn and really believable. Especially Alisha herself, who has secrets of her own that drive much of the narrative. Robotham is one of those writers who needs to be read more widely in this country - I think he is setting some new standards for international crime writing.
Laura Lipmann is a Baltimore writer best known for her series featuring reporter Tess Monaghan. What the Dead Know is her third stand alone, and very different from anything she’s written before. This story opens with a woman driving into Baltimore, and it’s clear to the reader that while she once lived there, she hadn’t been back in a very long time. Just as she enters the city, she’s in a car accident in which she sideswipes an SUV, which goes down an embankment, probably injuring the passengers. Her own car is wrecked, and she flees the accident on foot. She’s picked up by a cop and taken to the hospital, where she says she is Heather Bethany, one of the two Bethany girls who disappeared from a Baltimore mall thirty years earlier, never to be seen again until now. The case was never closed, and now needs to be re-opened. And although she has some details about the Bethany family right, there are holes in her story, and she refuses to say much about what really happened to her, except to say she saw her sister, Sunny, murdered. Det. Kevin Infante is brought in to investigate her claim, but because of the inaccuracies and gaps in her story, and her refusal to say more about what really happened, he is very skeptical. The story smoothly alternates between present day and flashbacks to the Bethany family and slowly reveals a complex family history filled with intimate and realistic character portraits. And the further into the story and the investigation we get, the clearer the picture becomes about what really happened to the Bethany girls, and what the impact of their disappearance was on their family. This is a marvelous story, heartbreaking at times, wonderfully insightful, always suspenseful and beautifully written. In her acknowledgments, Laura says that the book was inspired by the real-life case that she remembers well of two girls, Shelia and Katherine Lyon who disappeared from Wheaton Plaza in Baltimore in March of 1975, a case that was also never solved. This is one of those books that could easily be sold as literary fiction, since much of the book focuses not on any investigation, but on a single family dealing with crisis.
Robert Crais’s series featuring Elvis Cole is probably one of the best of the smart-ass detective series of the last twenty years. And anyone who has read an Elvis Cole novel knows hat his partner, Joe Pike, is truly one of the most enigmatic and scary good guys in the genre. Joe rarely speaks, and when he does, it’s usually in two or three word sentences, but his presence and his power is always an important part of the series. Crais’s new book, The Watchman, is a Joe Pike novel, with Joe in the lead, and Elvis lending a hand. Pikes takes on the job of protecting Lakin Barkley, a fabulously wealthy jet-setter type who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a late night joy-ride, she crashes into a Mercedes with three passengers. One flees on foot, while the others simply drive away. The one on foot turns out to be a man wanted by the FBI, and thought not to be in the country. After she reports the accident, there are attempts on her life, and Joe is hired to guard her, but no matter where they hide, the bad guys find them. So he now has two jobs - protect Larkin, and find out who is trying to kill them, and eliminate the problem. There are a lot of high-octane thriller writers out there, but few reach the intensity and style of Robert Crais. He effortlessly glides through stunning twists and turns and breakneck pacing, while still delivering an intelligent plot that makes sense, and characters we want to keep learning about. Joe Pike was always someone who existed in the shadows of the Elvis Cole books. And now that he’s out, I suspect he’ll stay out.
Blunt is a Canadian Writers whose main character is detective John Cardinal from Ontario. In previous books, we have seen John struggle to help his wife, Catherine, a talented photographer, deal with her depression. But at the outset of this book, Catherine commits suicide by jumping off a building. There is no question that it’s suicide - she left a note in her own handwriting. But John isn’t convinced, partly because Catherine was feeling much better of late, and partly because he was so much in love with her, he simply can’t believe it. And contrary to department rules he starts looking into it, starting with her psychiatrist, a Dr. Frederick Bell. At the same time, his partner on the force, Lise Delorme, is searching for a pedophile who is plastering the internet with pictures of his victims. While digging more deeply into his wife’s death, he’s ordered to assist Lise in her investigation. Simultaneously, there is a growing number of suicides in this tiny Ontario town. Blunt suggests who the bad guy is early on, and soon after that, reveals it with certainty, but even then, it’s a shock. And the perfection of the crimes, as well as the killer’s motives are painted by Blunt in convincing ways, hooking you in from the beginning. Blunt won the silver dagger, the highest award in Canada,, and it’s easy to see why. His writing is superb and his characters are wonderfully sympathetic and realistic. There is a foundation of intense sadness and tragedy that could bog down lesser writers. Cardinal’s love for his wife is so real that we find ourselves truly affected by his overwhelimg sense of loss. But through all this, Blunt creates a level of suspense and excitement that is a joy to read, and a climax that will hold you breathless.
Peter Abrahams writes stand alone psychological thrillers that are exquisitely crafted books in which the main characters are usually trying to rediscover their place in the world because their assumptions have all be shot to hell. His books generally do not depend on chases and explosions to build tension, but rather focus on the individual’s struggles to deal with new realities. Nerve Damage is about Roy Valois, a Vermont sculptor who is nationally known for his larger than life sculptures using scrap metal and junk parts. Roy’s wife Delia had been an economist with the Hobbes Institute, a think tank in specializing in third world economic issues and while on a mission to Honduras fifteen years earlier, she was killed in a helicopter crash. Roy still mourns her death, but never questioned that it was an accident. Now he has just learned that he has contracted a rare disease related to asbestos exposure. and he has only four months to live. He finds out that newspapers like the New York Times have on file pre-prepared obituaries of famous people like Roy. So Roy and computer savvy friend hack the Times computers and Roy soon finds his own obituary. But there is a minor mistake in it related to his wife. It says that she was employed by the United Nations, not the Hobbes Institute. The mistake gnaws at Roy, who simply wants the record set straight before he actually dies and the obit is published. But the more he looks into it, the wierder it gets, and eventually he learns that everything he thought about his wife was a lie, and he sets out to learn the truth and why she hid it from him. The suspense is non stop, as Roy races against his own clock to piece together his life and come to some understanding about his wife and himself. The writing is once again superb and controlled, and the book has characters that matter, and a plot that keeps you thinking for a long time to come.
Thomas Cook has been writing crime fiction for a long time- over 20 books, and been winner of multiple awards for best novel. What distinguishes him as a writer is certainly his style of writing. He is a literary master, writing prose you want to hang on to and re-read. His books are all stand alones, and are stories which are deeply emotional and penetrating. There is always a crime element in his books, but the crimes often seem secondary to the motives and psychology that drive the characters. The Cloud of Unknowing opens with an interview between the narrator and a detective that seems to suggest that there was a crime, although you don’t know if this is so, and if it is, what the crime was. The interview alternates with a first person narrative of Dave Sears whose father was a raving paranoid schizophrenic His sister, Diana’s child, Jason, also severely schizophrenic, had recently drowned in a pond, and although the ruling on the death was that it was accidental, Diana believes it’s murder, and Dave worries that she is being driven insane by her obsession with this belief. The mystery surrounding the boy’s death almost takes a back seat to Diana’s obsession, her growing friendship with Dave’s own teenage daughter, Dave’s attempts to help her through the crisis, and what the interview with the detective is really about. This book is about madness through several generations, and the efforts of one man to shield his family and understand his own potential for mental illness at the same time. It is truly haunting, and although there is not much violence, this is as much a page turner as you could wish for. And as I said, the writing is simply magnificent with sentences that you want to read out loud just to hear them. Crime Beat by Michael Connelly
Michael started his career as a crime writer first with the Florida Sun-Sential and then for the LA Times. His new book, Crime Beat: A Decade of Covering Cops and Killers, is a compilation of many of his writings while working for those papers. This is really an extraordinary collection, displaying Connelly's ability to observe and listen, and to relate the story of the crime and its impact in powerful and absorbing ways. He starts the book with an essay on his moment - the moment that shaped his life–a chance event when he was a teenager. He had a job as a night dishwasher and late one night he was driving home and he sees a man running. He watches for a while, and sees him take a bundle from under his arm and stuff it into some bushes and then disappear into a local bar. Connelly gets out of his car, finds the bundle, unwraps it and finds a gun. The he calls his father, and soon he is part of a robbery/homicide investigation and he was hooked. From there, the book is divided into three sections, one focusing on the cops he knew, one on the killers and one on some extraordinary cases. In each one, we see the story of the crime become the story of the people involved. It’s written in journalistic style– they don’t have the big chases, or satisfying endings. They are stories of real crime, real killers and real cops, stories and people that inspired some of his truly remarkable novels and characters such as Harry Bosch. If you’ve read Connelly, and find yourself waiting for the next Connelly book, I think you’ll be fascinated by this collection. If you never read him, you’re missing the best in the business. Crime Beat is a slice of America told by one of the best novelists around. In Plain Sight by CJ Box
In Plain Sight, Box’s 6th Picket book, opens with the disappearance of a local matriarch, Opal Scarlett, an influential farmowner, whose three sons are found trying to kill each other, fighting about who will get the estate. At the same time that this is playing out, a killer named JW Keeley is on his way to Twelve Step– where Joe lives–to seek revenge for what he thinks is Joe’s part in the death of Keeley’s wife and daughter. Keeley is a pure psychopath who leaves a wake of bodies in his travels to Wyoming, and the showdown that you know is going to come between him and Joe is only one of the driving forces behind this wonderful book. Unlike many heroes of the genre, Joe Picket does not suffer from alcoholism and does not have the kind of demons that drive other characters. He’s a nice guy, with a nice family, and has an ethical streak a mile wide that sometimes leaves him friendless in high places. So he’s always arguing with his boss, getting on the wrong side of the powerbrokers, and in this book, is beginning to lose faith in the job he loves. Box’s depiction of the evils of bureaucracy, even in this beautiful and lightly populated land, is fascinating, and all too believable, since so often, vast amounts of money and power are at stake. In the end, and I’m not giving too much away here, he even manages to get fired from his post. As the search for Opal progresses, as her sons disintegrate, and as JW Keeley gets closer and closer, the novel unfolds with relentless suspense. Joe and his family are people we really care about, set against real evil, in a land of stunning beauty. This book is a winner, as is this whole series. The Hard Way by Lee Child
In this book, Reacher becomes involved with the kidnaping of Kate Lane and her daughter. Kate is the beautiful trophy wife of Edward Lane, a wealthy ex-special ops officer, surrounded by his former team. This is not the first of his wives to be kidnaped. Five years ago, Lane’s first wife was kidnaped and murdered, and Lane is determined this time to fight back. Reacher, ex- Military cop convinces Lane that he has the skills to find Kate through his brand of detective work, which Lane and his crew are generally unskilled at. So Reacher joins the team, but soon finds Lauren Pauling, the sister of Lanes first wife, who is convinced that Lane himself had her sister killed. This a Jack Reacher novel that not only has the trademark suspense, it also has an investigation that is as good a police procedural as they come. And the climax is about the most exciting and intense showdown as Lee Child has ever written. There are a ton of thriller writers out there now, but few absorb you in the way that Lee does. He writes with a combination of explosive action and thoughtful analysis to get you into the minds and hearts of the villains, victims and heros. Jack Reacher is a kind of fictional beacon for a troubled world - a port in a storm. The kind of guy you want on your side, or at least not on their side. This is as entertaining as this genre, a perfect read for anyone who likes his or her thrillers to be a cut above the rest. End of Story by Peter Abraham
So she starts poking around the case, visiting the crime scene and interviewing the principal players, collecting evidence of his innocence, even as we, the readers, get the strong, eerie feeling that she is naively walking into a storm of trouble. And even though we know the storm is coming, it still surprising and intense when it comes. As in many of Abraham’s books, the suspense is not only what happens, but more in how it’s going to unfold - this is the real genius of Peter’s books. It’s the heart of psychological suspense. End of Story has wonderfully drawn characters and sense of place, shifting between New York City, where Peter lives, to the hills of upstate New York, and is a thriller that has compassion, humor, modern culture, and the kind of suspense that keeps you glued to the pages right to the end. The Bookwoman’s Last Fling by John Dunning
The Bookwoman’s Last Fling is the fifth book in the Janeway series, and really shows off Dunning’s skills and range of expertise. Janeway is asked to appraise a private library in Idaho, and finds a collection of first edition juvenile fiction that has value beyond words. Books dating back to the early 19th century, all in pristine condition. First printings of books like Wizard of Oz, Huckleberry Finn, and Winnie the Pooh. All perfect. Except that some were missing, and replaced with relatively cheap imitations. And the missing ones weren’t necessarily the most valuable. The books had been owned by the Candace Geiger, wife of HR Geiger, a noted horse owner and trainer. Candace had died twenty earlier, her death being ruled an accident. But now, Janeway is asked not only to track down the missing volumes, but to look into Candace’s death, to determine whether it was really an accident. Along the way, another body turns up, and Janeway himself is almost killed. His search takes him from Idaho to the racetracks of northern Califonia, where he gets work as a horse walker in order to get close to the people who knew Candace and HR. So in this book, most of the backdrop is the horse world. It turns out that Dunning was also a horseman in the 1960's, and so there is authentic detail on life at the tracks, and what it’s really like to work on training teams. But it’s the plot and characters that drive this book. As always with Janeway books, Dunning doesn’t depend on violence or action to get you hooked. His plots are intelligent and convincing, and his characters are warm and sympathetic, and in this book, even the bad guy is a very sympathetic and sad character, even though you don’t find out who that is until the very end unless you’re very clever. This is crime fiction at its most interesting and engaging.
The Devil Of Nanking by Mo Hayder
The Devil of Nanking is a literary thriller, based heavily on the historical record. but it also much more than a thriller. It is a remarkable story, told in beautifully literary prose, primarily of two people, Grey, a young English woman obsessed with studying the tragedy at Nanking, and an old Chinese professor, a survivor of Nanking now living in Tokyo, who may hold the key to helping her finish her research, but who at first wants nothing at all to do with her. The real object of her obsession, and the real reasons the old man is so secretive and rejecting are slowly revealed throughout the book in ways that are as startling and wrenching as any book I’ve read in years. The book is told in alternating chapters of real time, and the slowly unfolding diary of the professor. Other stories within this remarkable book include that of a young American who is obsessed with Grey, and an old member of the Japanese Yakuza, orgaqnized crime, who whose continued health seems dependent on a mysterious elexir. As all these stories come crashing together, you are left with a haunting, excrutiatingly powerful and suspenseful book that explores some very important questions of human nature. This is an absolutely fabulous, unforgettable book. It is due in paperback in June. The Fallen by T. Jefferson Parker
His new book, The Fallen is another wonderful story that explores obsession and loss and concentrates on one primary character, Robbie Brownlaw, a San Diego cop with a strange and compelling oddity. When people speak to him, he sees their voices, more accurately their emotions, as colored shapes: Blue for sincerity, yellow for love, red for deception. This is called synesthesia - when the senses get mixed up, and he acquired it after he was pushed from a 6th story hotel window by a guy he was trying to arrest. Before crashing to the pavement, he hits the hotel awning, and it breaks his fall just enough to allow him to survive. He’s called the miracle cop, and quickly promoted to the elite homicide squad. Meanwhile, he doesn’t tell anyone except his wife about his new power, which acts as a crude, personal lie detector. The crime in this book involves the murder of Garrett Asplundh - the lead investigator for the San Diego Ethics Authority Enforcement Unit - a unit charged with investigating corruption in high places, and a job that could have made him many enemies. As Robbie delves into the case, he learns that Garrett was recently divorced following the tragic drowning death of his young daughter, and was obsessed with her loss and with reconciling with his wife. Robbie, meanwhile, also has a major distraction--his wife has just left him, after he realized that he wasn’t seeing those yellow squares coming out of her mouth when they talked. While the synesthesia is fascinating, but does not by any means take over the story. This is a book primarily about the lives of a cop and a victim. And as the cop assembles the facts and pieces of the victim’s life, he discovers the truths about his own life as well. The story is told with a wonderful literary sensitivity - it is not a particularly violent book, but rather one which tells psychologically painful tales. In that way, it is absorbing, heartfelt, suspenseful, and memorable. Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith
The book takes place in 1892 in Montana. Two cowboy brothers, Gustav and Otto Arlingmeyer, known as Old Red and Big Red, respectively, are sitting around the campfire and Big Red, the better educated of the pair, is reading aloud the Holmes story called Red-Headed League, published in Harper's. Old Red is captivated by the methods that Holmes uses in his investigations, and he sees himself following in the great detectives footsteps. And soon he gets the chance after they land a job at the VR Ranch, where, shortly after they arrive, they find a body that was caught in a cattle stampede. Big Red assumes it's an accident, but Old Red is not so sure, and starts applying Holmesian methods of ‘detectiving’ as Big Red likes to say.. Soon, after the British owners of the farm arrive, another body turns up in the outhouse, an apparent suicide until Old Red points to the clues suggesting otherwise. And it's up to Old Red, with Big Red at his side, much like Watson, to solve the crime. Hockensmith has produced a truly charming, funny, and engaging story that is pure western, with the Brisih thrown in, complete with great names: Old Red and Big Red are joined by Tall John, Pinky Harris, Swivel Eye Smyth, Crazymouth Nick and Anytime McCoy, great scenery, terrific language and dialogue, a wonderfully clever puzzle and a surprise solution that you just won't see coming. This is really a delightful, surprising treat that has something for everyone. Slipping Into Darkness by Peter Blauner
The book opens with an exhumation of a
murder victim 20 years after the crime. We learn that DNA from that
crime is somehow connected to DNA of a current murder, but not too
much is revealed. Then the book jumps back to 1983, and
the investigation of the original crime. Julian Vega, a 17 year old
kid is the prime suspect, pursued by the lead cop, Francis Loughlin,
who is sure of his guilt. Julian seems like an innocent kid,
infatuated by the 27 year old doctor who was the victim, and is
completely overwhelmed by the investigation. He is eventually
convicted despite his insisting on his innocence. In 2003, he is released after a finding
that he had incompetent counsel. Hardened by prison life, he is still
fighting to prove his innocence. Francis is infuriated by Julian's
release, and is still trying to prove his guilt for a new trial. But
shortly after Julian's release, there is another, similar murder
re-igniting suspicion's about Julian's involvement with the crimes.
The thing that has the cops baffled is that the DNA belonging to the
first victim shows up on the second victim. As Julian struggles to reclaim his name and his life, Francis is hell bent on proving him guilty again for his new trial, and of the new murder, and struggling with his own demons about the methods he used to send Julian away in the first place. This is compassionate and brilliantly told story of dark secrets and the struggle for redemption. It has relentless suspense, with a puzzle that will baffle even the most experienced of crime fiction readers, beautiful, literary writing, and character portraits that sometimes enrage you and other times break your heart. It's a book that won't be soon forgotten. Blindfold Game by Dana Stabenow
The Blindfold Game is Dana’s first stand alone thriller, and it is one which certainly catapults her to the top of the genre. The Blindfold Game starts with a terrorist attack in a busy marketplace in Thailand in which over 100 people are killed. After blowing up a busy marketplace in Thailand, Smith and Mr Jones, initiate a plan to set of a much deadlier bomb in Alaska. The CIA gets wind of the plot, and set things in motion to intervene before the disaster. Meanwhile, the USS Coastguard cutter Sojourner Truth is patrolling the Maritime Boundary line in the northern Pacific ocean, watching mostly for fishing boats strolling into American waters. When they come under attack, the captain is killed and second in command Sara Lange is forced to take the helm. And eventually, it’s the Sara and the Sojourner Truth, who will face the terrorists in the high seas off the Alaskan coast. This is really the kind of no-holds-barred thriller that keeps you glued to your chair until the bitter end. Stabenow’s ability to evoke a high seas battle in heavy storms and bitter cold is really unparalleled. As is her depiction of courage and evil opposing one another with unspeakably high stakes.. Stabenow once again gives us fully developed characters whose motivations are fascinating and complex. She gives us terrorists who don’t fit the mold of the one dimensional, ubiquitous ‘terrorist’ that we hear about on a daily basis. And she also throws in heavy doses political intrigue and exposes the danger of the current tendency to obsess on AlKaida while ignoring potential threats from other parts of the world. In short, this is a plausible thriller, which is as entertaining as it is thrilling. Stabenow has really outdone herself.
The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
At the heart of The Lincoln Lawyer is Mickey Haller an LA defense attorney covering all of Los Angeles County conducting much of his business from his car. He is a very good attorney, whose yellow pages ad has the motto, "reasonable doubt for a reasonable price" and who truly believes what his father taught him: The scariest client is an innocent client. Because in Mickey's world, truth is elusive and almost irrelevant- and that's the way he likes it. That’s why he is haunted by one case which he probably mishandled, that of Jesus Menendez, who is now serving a long sentence for a crime he probably didn't commit, because Mickey, not believing he could be innocent, get him to take a plea.. When Mickey gets the case of Louis Roulet, a wealthy real estate broker, accused of assault and attempted rape, all he knows is that he has very high paying client. Haller and his investigator start digging, but they soon uncover a very dark side to Roulet's life that may in fact touch on the Menendez case. The first half of this book involves us in Mickey's defense of Roulet, while the second half reveals two simultaneous cases, Roulet’s and Mendendez, which have opposing goals and very high stakes, forcing Haller into a balancing act which, with luck, would cost him only his practice. Michael Connelly shines a new light on the legal thriller, adding his unique brand of authenticity, gut wrenching suspense, moral quagmires and highly defined, complex characters. One of the best books of the year.
It’s been said that Ed McBain virtually invented the American police procedural with his book called Cop Hater in 1956. Crime fiction at the time mostly centered on individualist PIs from such authors Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. But with Cop Hater, McBain invented a form which has been copied but some would say never matched. The form included an ensemble cast of characters, multiple story lines, realistic investigative techniques, tough, cynical, yet sympathetic cops speaking dialogue straight off the mean streets of a big city. The series lasted 50 years, through more than 50 books. And although the cops didn’t age quite that much, they their families grew and developed and expanded. In fact, McBain’s books distinguished themselves because they read like novels about cops as much as they did mysteries or procedurals. In Fiddlers, the cops are faced with four murders taking place over a very short period of time by the same killer. The challenge to the cops is that the victims are so different - a blind violinist, elderly priest, a sales rep killed in her kitchen, and an old woman walking her dog, - all killed with the same gun. Not the typical serial murder picture. But oddly, when the reader gets to see and know the killer, he turns out not to be the monster you might expect. This is a fascinating book knowing that it’s McBains last. It forces you ask discomforting questions of yourself without offering any particular answer. The cops also have little resolution of the particular issues they are dealing with - from a rebellious teen to a lover’s quarrel, leaving us with the questions of ‘what’s going to happen next," only to realize later that it’s only fiction - he just made it up. They’re not real. But of course, for a lot of us, they are real, and they will be missed.
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James
Lee Burke is an author who transcends genre. Perhaps more than any other crime
writer working today, his prose is so literary, his messages are so powerful,
and his visions of American life are so insightful, his novels can certainly be
called masterpieces of American fiction.
This
is the first book I have read of Ben Rehder, but I intend to go back and read
all of them - because Gun Shy is that good.
This
is Jan Brogan’s third book and the second featuring Providence RI reporter
Hallie Ahearn. . Hallie, who is a recovering compulsive gambler, is a struggling
investigative reporter in a small city paper which is about to be bought out by
a large media company. This means probable layoffs, and since she is at the
bottom of the seniority ladder, she has to come up with a great story to save
her career. Luckily, she lives in Providence, RI, which seems to have more crime
and corruption per square mile than practically any other place in the nation,
crime which involves perps from lowly thugs to high up government officials.
Box'shero,
Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden, finds trouble in some of the most beautiful
places on earth, and one of the best things about any CJ Box novel is his
ability to so vividly bring his world to us.
This
is Micheal’s third novel. He is from Australia, but generally writes books set
in England but much of this book also takes place in Amsterdam.
Michael
Connelly is at the very top of the list of crime writers working
today. He has re-defined the modern police procedural to make them
sharp portraits of American life, capturing the details of
investigations and turning them into wonderfully compelling stories
about victims, criminals, cops, and families.
One
of the reasons people read fiction is to get a view of people and
places in the world where they haven’t yet been, or don’t expect
to go anytime soon. CJ Box gives us the mountain territory of Wyoming.
His books, featuring wildlife fish and game warden Joe Pickett, are
among the most entertaining in the genre, not only for the characters
and riveting plots, but the feeling we get of the wide open space and
the pure majesty of the land.
have been talking about Lee Child’s books for many years now, and
each of his ten books is unique for it’s locale, structure, and
driving plot. The thing that ties Child’s books together is the
hero, Jack Reacher, the pure American hero, whose unambiguous personal
philosophy guides him though the action of his stories.
Peter
Abraham, I think is one of the real masters of psychological suspense.
His latest book, End of Story, is about Ivy Seidel, a
young struggling writer, working part-time as a bartender, looking for
her big break. Her manuscripts have been rejected, and she decides to
take a job teaching writing at an upstate New York prison. Her class
includes an array of serious lowlifes, who really fascinate her on
some deep primal level, but one of the students, Vance Harrow,
displays an amazingly creative writing talent that she finds totally
seductive. So much so that Ivy finds it impossible to believe that he
is guilty of the robbery murder at a local casino, which he already
confessed to. After all, she reasons, if he’s such a good writer,
how bad a guy could he be.
John
Dunning became known in crime fiction in the early 1990's, with the
publication of Booked to Die, featuring an ex cop, Cliff Janeway, who
was forced out of the Denver Police Dep’t, and became an antiquarian
book dealer (but never really stopped wanting to be a cop). Along with
a wonderful mysteries, the Janeway series offers the reader a glimpse
into the world of book collecting - and a fascinating world it is.
Dunning himself is a book dealer himself, and the Janeway series
brought book collecting alive in a way that few writers had done.
This
is Mo Hayder’s third book, and is dedicated to Iris Chang, the young writer
who wrote The Rape of Nanking in 2002, the most revealing study ever
written on the genocide attack on Nanking China by the Japanese army in 1937.
Upwards of 400,000 people may have been killed, raped and tortured, and yet
precious little was known about the event, because so few would talk about it.
T
Jefferson Parker has consistently written some of the best and most compelling
books in this genre, certainly with some of the most sympathetic characters and
heroes. A few years ago, he won the Edgar with his book Silent Joe, and
last year, he won again for California Girl.
For
a change of pace, this first novel by Steve Hockensmith will find fans from
readers of Sherlock Holmes, westerns, and traditional mysteries. As you know, A
Conan Doyle has inspired countless stories by modern authors featuring his
famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his biographer John Watson. These are
called Holmes pastiches, and they are a measure of how influential the original
52 stories and 4 novels were on future generations of writers. The Holmes
pastiche really took off with the publication in the 1970's of the Seven Percent
Solution by Nick Meyer and there appears to be no letup in sight. But I think
Hockensmith's new book is one of the most unique takes on the idea of the Holmes
pastiche, because Holmes doesn't actually appear in the book. Rather the idea of
Sherlock Holmes takes center stage.
Peter
Blauner has been on the scene for many years, having won the Edgar
award for best first novel for his book called Slow Motion Riot
in the mid 90's. Since then his books have all been stand alone novels
of great power and suspense, but I think that his new book, Slipping
into Darkness, is his best.
Dana
Stabenow writes from Alaska and is best know for her series featuring
ex-investigator Kate Shugak. The series is now about 14 books, and has
an incredibly dedicated following because of its intelligent plots,
wonderful characters, and most of all, this majestic landscape of
Alaska
The
Lincoln Lawyer, by Michael Connelly is at the top of the my list of
recommended books this fall. It's a riveting book for anyone who has
ever enjoyed a legal thriller, or anyone who has ever watched Law and
Order and wondered how defense attorneys fall asleep at night.
Ed
McBain died earlier this year, and Fiddlers is his final Novel
of the 87th Precinct.