Posts filed under 'Mystery'
The Central mystery book group met last week and discussed Crossfire by P.M. Carlson. Crossfire is set in a mid-sized town in southern Indiana and features Deputy Marty Hopkins in the role of investigator. As the book opens it is a chill winter night and Marty has been called to the scene of a fire. Someone’s hunting cabin is going up in smoke. Initially the only victim appears to be a deer wedged in the doorway, but Marty discovers the body of a man who has been pinned to a bed with a machete and left to the fire.
All but one in the discussion group really liked it (more about her thoughts in a minute). The Midwestern setting was a draw as was Marty as protagonist. The suspenseful plotting and complicated mystery also worked. The dissenter in the group had an issue with the sexism that Marty was facing in her department - she just thought it was a bit overdone given this day and age (pub. date 2006). Others did agree with her to some degree and I thought that the book did feel a little dated in some aspects - Marty’s 13-year-old daughter and her bff are big fans of Pearl Jam - but liked the story none-the-less. Several of the readers already had other Carlson books in hand as they left (a sure sign that they liked the book).
In addition to discussing the assigned, we do a little book-talking of other mysteries we’ve read since last we met. Tasha Alexander’s historical mystery And Only to Deceive was well liked by one member and someone else liked Overkill by Eugenia Lovett West. One that didn’t impress a couple of the readers was A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church - a mystery set in North Korea.
Next up for our group is Touchstone by Laurie King. What has your group read recently? Any good mystery suggestions?
March 15th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Carolyn Hart’s new Bailey Ruth Raeburn mystery is just what the doctor ordered during this dreary time of year. Bailey Ruth is a ghost, or as her boss reminds her, a heavenly emissary, who doesn’t always follow the rules. Although this time she does try to follow the Precepts for Heavenly Visitation more closely, she again ends up doing the right thing the wrong way to the dismay of her boss, Wiggins.
In Merry, Merry Ghost Bailey Ruth gets to re-visit her hometown Adelaide, Oklahoma. She is sent by the Dept of Good Intentions to safeguard Keith, a 5-year-old boy who has lost his parents and has been deposited on his grandmother’s doorstep around Christmas. Susan Flynn, his grandmother, is one the leading members of the town. She is delighted to find out that she has a grandson, particularly when she is dying of congestive heart failure. But her other relatives are not so thrilled. Because Bailey Ruth is so concerned about protecting Keith she doesn’t see that Susan is in danger. So when Susan dies prematurely, Bailey Ruth “flies” into action. Not only does she stage Susan death so that the police will investigate, she helps the police along in their investigation, despite the fact that she is supposed to remain invisible. From there it’s a race to protect Keith and find Susan’s killer.
It’s a treat to watch the vivacious and nosy Bailey Ruth protect Keith and at the same time help the police find Susan’s killer. I look forward to more adventures in Adelaide with Bailey Ruth.
March 3rd, 2010
Kathy K. - Central
I know that Charlaine Harris’s series featuring Sookie Stackhouse is garnering a lot of attention, helped along by the HBO series True Blood. And don’t get me wrong, I also enjoy that series. But the series I most enjoy by Harris is the one featuring Harper Connelly. So far there are four books in the series, with the latest being Grave Secret. Not such high camp, they offer a more serious look at the dark side of family secrets and relationships as well as a dramatic step into the paranormal.
Harper Connelly was struck by lightning at the age of fourteen. She survived but beyond the bodily scarring and the weakness in one leg, it has left her another legacy—the ability to, in a sense, communicate with the dead. Not wholly, but she can determine or sense the cause of their death. Harper and her half brother Tolliver are using this ability to build a business connecting the lost dead to their grieving families. Of course not all die a natural death, and typically murderers are not too happy having their secrets revealed. In Grave secret Harper and Tolliver head back to Texas. The head of a wealthy family wants to find out more about the death of her father but sets it up so that it is also a test of Harper’s ability and truthfulness. This sets off a deadly train of events when Harper reveals not one but two suspicious deaths. Mix in a back story of a seriously dysfunctional family and a missing, presumed dead sister, and you have an engrossing series that keeps getting better and better.
February 9th, 2010
Liz C. - Alicia Ashman
Mystery readers were saddened and shocked to hear of Robert B. Parker’s sudden death at age 77 last week. Parker had a long and prolific career and a big impact on detective fiction. As I was researching his life and works, I learned a lot about him. I was not aware that he had a Ph.D. and wrote his dissertation on the works of Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, and Dashiel Hammett, all early writers of mysteries featuring hardboiled detectives. Parker’s own works follow in their footsteps, as he developed late twentieth century tough and moralistic characters, who are not afraid to kill when necessary. His novels may be considered formulaic, but it is a formula that worked for many years because of his entertaining dialogue, fast-paced plots and likeable main characters.
Parker wrote westerns and several mystery series, but he was best known for his Spenser novels (we never know Spenser’s first name). The decades long series began in 1973 with the Godwulf Manuscript. Through more than 30 books, Spenser never lost his strong sense of justice, his gourmet cooking ability, and his sharp tongued and wise cracking ways. He remained devoted to his psychiatrist girlfriend Susan Silverman and also to his loyal sidekick, Hawk. All of the Spenser books are set in Boston, and the city has a big role. Spenser drinks in the bar at the Ritz, and navigates and walks past city landmarks. Perhaps, if we’re lucky, there is one more manscript in waiting that will wrap up the series.
There were several television series that featured Parker’s characters. Spenser for Hire featured the actor Robert Urich and ran for 3 years in the 1980’s, followed by some made for television movies. There was also a spin off series featuring Hawk. His western Appaloosa was made into a movie, starring Ed Harris. His more recent Jesse Stone series were also made into television movies starring Tom Selleck. And the rumor was that his Sunny Randall books were written for Helen Hunt to bring to the screen.
Parker is credited with bringing the mystery genre into the mainstream and onto the bestseller lists. And just as he was influenced by earlier writers, he also inspired others during his long and prolific writing career. It is fitting in many ways, that he died at his desk while writing. For more information, here is his New York Times obituary.
January 28th, 2010
Mary K. - Central
As I told you in my last post, I’d been in a bit of a reading slump. That slump has now passed (I hope) and I have two first time authors to thank. Both novels start with the discovery of a murdered young women - one found buried in a peat bog of the Shetland Islands and the other in her bedroom in the historical setting of Dobson, NY in 1905.
In Sacrifice, S. J. Bolton writes of the lonely Shetland Islands of Scotland where obstetrician Tora Hamilton has recently settled with her husband. Tora is a newcomer to the islands so when she discovers the body of a young woman and is told to leave the investigation alone, she initially complies. But the questions keep piling up and Tora, with the aid of another recent transplant - the detective on the case, can’t help but be drawn into an investigation. Why did the murder victim have her heart cut out and runic figures carved into her back? Why do the Shetland Islands seem to have a spike in the deaths of young women every few years? Why are there ore babies available for adoption in the Shetlands then elsewhere? All are questions Tora is determined to answer in Bolton’s moody, gothic mystery.
Equally atmospheric is In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff. Simon Ziele, like Tora, is a transplant. After his fiancee was killed in the General Slocum ferry disaster of 1904 Simon left his job with the New York City Police and moved to nearby town of Dobson. There he expects to live a quiet life as a small-town detective in a two-man department. His expectations are short-lived when the body of Sarah Wingate is discovered. Sarah, a graduate student of mathematics at Columbia University, has been stabbed and bludgeoned to death while visiting her aunt in Dobson. Suspects are thin on the ground until Simon is visited by Professor Alistair Sinclair. Alistair is studying the new science of criminology at Columbia University and he’s convinced that the subject of his study, a budding psychopath, is responsible for Miss Wingate’s death. Though Simon is skeptical, he follows the investigation back to New York and finds the case ever more twisty.
Both debuts are notable for their sense of time and place. As I read Bolton’s book I kept thinking of those old gothic suspense novels of the seventies (in a very good way!). Outsider finds herself caught up in mysterious events in a claustrophobic setting and doesn’t know who to trust. Combining that gothic sensibility with a more modern forensic investigation works to surprising effect. Equally effective is Pintoff’s use of the history of the science of crime within her mystery to set the stage. So if the next round of winter weather (snow, sleet, rain!) is going to keep you housebound, I would suggest being prepared with Bolton and Pintoff.
December 21st, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
There are a number of long-lived and continually excellent mystery series, too many to list here. One of the best known is Sue Grafton who’s latest well-reviewed book in her alphabet series has just been published - she’s made it to U. And Grafton’s literary contemporary Sara Paretsky has just published Hardball, the thirteenth in her long running series featuring V.I. Warshawski. On a side note, can you believe they both published their firsts in 1982! (what a great year for mysteries that was).
V.I. is the classic detective, one who works alone and takes on difficult cases which often put her into danger. She has had relationships, but has few family ties since both of her much beloved and respected parents are dead. Her closest companions are her neighbor Mr. Contreras, a spry older man with whom she shares dogs, meals and some sleuthing, and Lotty, an old friend who is also a doctor.
In Hardball, V.I. has been hired to find out what happened to a young man who disappeared 40 years ago; this is the last wish of his elderly aunt. The case pulls V.I. into the past into the civil rights era, which includes Martin Luther King’s time in Chicago, and also into an incident that involved her police officer father. We also get acquainted with more of V.I’s family as her cousin, Petra, has arrived in Chicago to work on a political campaign. Petra’s enthusiasm and high-spirited personality quickly win over both V.I. and Mr. Contreras. But it is those very attributes, plus her naivety, that eventually put Petra in harm’s way.
As is often the case in Paretsky’s mysteries, Chicago politics, both current and historic, play a big part as she skillfully portrays both eras. Not surprising since Paretsky was in Chicago in 1966 doing community service and she says that summer was the defining time in her life. This is a must read for fans of the series. V.I. has aged, but she still will persevere and solve the case, no matter what the personal cost.
December 18th, 2009
Mary K. - Central
It’s nearing the end of the year and I had a little vacation time to use (or lose) and naturally I did some reading. Not as much as I thought I would of course, all that nice sunshiny weather got in the way of that plan, but I did get a few books read.
First up was Running from the Devil by Jamie Freveletti. This thriller starts off with a bang - or a crash - and doesn’t let up once. Chemist Emma Caldridge is on a flight to Bogota, Columbia that’s been hijacked and forced to land in the jungle. The too-small runway causes a crash and kills many of the passengers and crew, but enough remain to be taken hostage by a guerilla army. Since she was ejected a ways from the crash, only Emma manages to escape capture. When the possibility of rescue becomes increasingly remote, Emma decides to follow the rest of the passengers and their captors to somewhere where escape may be possible. Emma’s experience as a chemist and the fact that she’s an ultramarathoner (running races over 100 miles) help her to not only survive but triumph. Though some reviewers have commented on Emma’s lucky streak and abilities, I liked that Emma was entirely competent and put her knowledge to good use. Just the right pace for a vacation read.
Next I dived into the latest J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) book, Kindred in Death. As with all the books in the series this is a futuristic mystery with romance in the mix. Lieutenant Eve Dallas is supposed to be enjoying a few days off from her job in homicide. That plan is quashed when a fellow officer’s daughter is murdered. He wants Dallas on the case and she’s determined to do all in her power to find the killer. In many of the books in this series the ratio of mystery to romance is probably 70/30, here it’s about 90/10. So if you read these for the relationship development or the appearance of the members of Eve’s “family” you may not be as pleased with this one as I was. I liked the intense police procedural arc of this one given the brutality of the crime. Eve is the future version of Brenda Lee Johnson of The Closer (though the character of Eve Dallas came first) and she is just as single-minded when it comes to murder. As it should be.
The book I finished just before returning to work was The Hidden Man by David Ellis. Jason Kollarich is an attorney who is trying to come back from a personal tragedy. He’d been an up-and-comer at a big law firm but gave it up after the death of his wife and daughter. Now he is nominally still in business as a single practitioner, but many days he barely makes it to the office. On one of the rare days Jason does make an appearance at the office he gains a new client. A mysterious man by the name of Smith hires Jason to represent Sammy Cutler. Jason has known Sammy all his life, though he hasn’t seen him in years. Now Sammy is accused of killing a man who was the main suspect in the disappearance of Sammy’s three-year-old sister 26 years ago. Jason accepts the assignment but chafes at the strictures placed on him by Mr. Smith. As he delves deeper he realizes that nothing is at it seems - today or 26 years ago. Great legal procedural.
All in all some great choices whether you’re on vacation or not.
November 12th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
If you like historical mysteries, I have two to recommend. The first, A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell, is set in 1931 Berlin, Germany. Hannah Vogel is a single woman in a man’s world. She is a journalist for the Berliner Tageblatt and writes under a pseudonym. Crime is her beat. The mystery begins when Hannah gets the shock of her life while following leads at the police station. There in black and white she recognizes the identity of one of the photographs in the Hall of the Unnamed Dead. The nude dead man on the river bank is her beloved brother, Ernst, a gay transvestite cabaret singer. But she can’t tell anyone because her and her brother’s identity papers are being used to help Jewish friends escape Germany. So she decides to investigate on her own.
As she digs into her brother’s life Hannah discovers that Ernst was involved with some pretty powerful and decadent Nazis. As the investigation proceeds she must walk a fine line if she wants to stay alive and protect those close to her. This bittersweet mystery gives us a look into the life of an ordinary German trying to navigate the dangerous times as the Nazis were coming to power.
My second recommendation is set in fifth century Britain. It has Arthur, Merlin, Guinevere, and introduces the one-armed man, Malgwyn. In The Killing Way by Tony Hays, Malgwyn is asked by a young Lord Arthur to investigate the brutal death of a young woman - who just happens to be Malgwyn’s sister-in-law. Since he lost his arm in battle and his wife to a brutal death by the Saxons, Malgwyn has been drowning his sorrows in alcohol. Despite that fact he cannot resist Arthur’s request for help. Soon enough the investigation has him off the bottle and using his detective skills to find out who killed the young girl. In saving the accused Merlin, finding justice for the young woman and helping Arthur defeat those who would challenge his ascension to the throne Malgwyn once again begins to feel like he has a purpose and a life. I enjoyed watching Malgwyn change from an angry, old drunk to a sober, brave detective. I hope to read more of his adventures.
October 10th, 2009
Kathy K. - Central
So says agent John Tomasetti whose been brought in to help solve the serial killer murders plaguing sleepy Painters Mill, Ohio. If you can make it through the first three pages (a description of the last torturous moments of a young victim) then you are in for a thrilling treat. Fans of Tess Gerritsen or Patricia Cornwell will love Linda Castillo’s new novel Sworn to Silence that introduces us to Police Chief Kate Burkholder.
Burkholder’s rookie cop TJ Banks discovers a body one blustery winter evening on a routine cow roundup (the normal type of Painters Mill police work). His discovery sets off a chain of events for the town that will end with two other women dead and a unraveling of Burkholder’s life. Burkholder has a suspicion of who the killer is but to pursue the suspect she’ll have to uncover her own past.
Castillo does a great job of parceling out the back story of Burkholder’s secret life and weaving it into the present investigation. Her inclusion of Amish cultural references and description of the community also really added to the story and made Burkholder’s character believable and emotional, not just some hard nosed cop with a murder to solve.
So where does Tomasetti fit into all of this story? He’s a rogue cop who’s lost his family to violence and become lost in booze and drugs. He is sent to Painters Mill by his superiors as a last ditch effort to get him to mess up one more time, but Burkholder ends up using his killer profiling experience to her advantage to figure whose responsible for the murders. Does she end up using Tomasetti in other ways? You’ll have to read it to find out. According to the book blurb Castillo is working on the next installment of Kate’s police career and that makes this another must read female cop series on my list.
August 27th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson is the second volume to feature journalist Mikael Blomkvist and brilliant sociophobe (and computer hacker) Lisbeth Salander, the protagonists from Larsson’s debut novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (read Mary K.’s review here). The new work picks up shortly after the conclusion of the first novel (and you should probably read that first, just so you’ll have a better idea of the character’s background/backstory, including why Salander had a falling-out with Blomkvist).
The new volume begins with Salander on vacation in the Caribbean where she finds herself in the path of an oncoming storm, which she uses to hide her rescue of a battered wife staying at her hotel. Back in Sweden, Mikael’s magazine decides to do a feature story on sex trafficking in Sweden, while simultaneously publishing a book written by a young author whose work is complimented by his fiancee’s dissertation along the same lines. The plan is to name some of the men, including government officials and members of the police, who’ve had sex with the girls, many of whom were underage. On another front, Nils Bjurman, Salander’s legal guardian, is trying to find a way out from under her threats to expose him as a rapist with an incriminating video to use as proof.
Things heat up when the young journalist and his fiancee are murdered in their apartment, on the same evening that Nils Bjurman was murdered with the same gun–a gun that has Salander’s fingerprints on it. In the ensuing rush to judgment, aided in no small part by glory-seeking police inspectors, corrupt officers, and sensation-seeking journalists, Salander’s life is suddenly thrust into the spotlight, where her sanity, sexuality, and past violent tendencies are speculated upon. Her only supporters are Blomkvist and his staff, her former employer at a private security firm, a woman friend and sometime lover, a former boxing champion, and her former legal guardian, now recovering from a stroke. Arrayed against her are most of the country, as well as some of the people who had been contracted by Bjurman to kill her.
Like the first novel, the story zooms along at a breakneck pace, with revelations and plot twists that can leave you reeling from the enormity of the horror and injustice that has taken place. I even found myself noting parallels between Salander and Hannibal Lecter, both equally brilliant, yet removed from the rest of humanity, and with a tortured past slowly being revealed to readers.
If you’re not already on the waiting list for this volume, sign up now. And if you haven’t read the previous volume, do make a point of reading that first.
Also available in large print and as an audiobook.
August 14th, 2009
Dennis - Central
When Tamora Pierce published a new novel set in her fantasy realm of Tortall I was thrilled. I’ve read a couple of her other series and loved them. Pierce specializes in strong, capable young women as protagonists. They are realistically drawn as they struggle with their life choices and in their heroics. Beka Cooper follows that pattern. Though her life in Tortall takes place 200 years earlier then Pierce’s other books and Beka lives in a gritty, inner-city world, she is still a practical-minded fighter of the good fight.
Beka was introduced in Terrier: The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 1 where she entered the Provost Guard as a trainee (Puppy) in the city of Corus. Known coloquially as Dogs, these local police keep the peace in uneasy times. Beka and her fellow Dogs’ lives more closely resemble the early days of policing - bribes are the norm and a Rogue runs the criminal’s guild - and they struggle to maintain a law-abiding balance. Having successfully completed her Puppy training, Beka returns as a full-fledged Dog in Bloodhound: The Legend of Beka Cooper, Book 2.
In Bloodhound, Beka is on the job once again. Though she’s having a hard time finding a partner who fits, she is glad to be fully on the job and nabbing Rats at every opportunity. When she and her mentors begin to notice a disturbing trend - counterfeit silver coins are flooding the market and driving up prices - they notify the bosses. Since the coins seem to be originating out of Port Caynn Beka and her temporary partner, Clary Goodwin, are sent undercover to the harbor city to investigate. Once there they find themselves caught up in an ongoing war between Pearl, the local Queen of the criminals, and the local Dogs who may or may not help Beka when the crunch comes.
Though Pierce’s Beka books are set in a fantasy realm where magic is possible and Gods are present, these are police-procedurals more then anything else. The ins and outs of Beka’s life on the job are centerstage, which is all to the good. As she unravels the mystery of the false coins the pacing increases and the book ends with an action-packed chase. I can’t wait for the final book in this trilogy.
July 7th, 2009
Jane J. - Central Library
Los Angeles Times reporter Jack McEvoy, featured in Michael Connelly’s earlier novel The Poet, returns in his latest thriller, The Scarecrow. When Jack is laid off from the newspaper with only 14 days notice, he decides to go out with a bang with one final high profile story. What starts out as an investigation into the wrongful arrest of a young gangbanger for the brutal rape of an exotic dancer turns into a case involving the sinister nature of computer technology.
The actual villain in the story is an MIT graduate Wesley Carver known as the Scarecrow. Wesley overseas security at a top-secret data storage facility in Arizona used by many law firms and businesses. His below-the-radar existence gives Carver the ability to mine for victims which he has been doing successfully for years. The reader is introduced to the Scarecrow early in the story as the action switches between his secret work at the facility and McEvoy’s hunt for the killer during his final days as a reporter. Helping Jack in his investigation is the FBI agent featured in Connelly’s previous book, Rachel Walling. As Jack and Rachel uncover information about the killer, they realize that they are also among the hunted.
Michael Connelly, a former Los Angeles Times crime reporter, delves into the state of the newspaper industry while telling a thrilling story. And while not up to the level of his ever popular Harry Bosch series, I found The Scarecrow to be an entertaining summer read.
June 30th, 2009
Lesley - Central
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