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Thursday, September 24, 2020
Jeanne Reviews: Murder on Cape Cod by Maddie Day
Mackenzie Almeida runs Mac’s Bikes in the small seaside village of Westham, MA where she is kept busy with bicycle repairs and rentals. She usually has help from her half-brother Derrick and a couple of other people, but they are suddenly proving unreliable. Things only get worse when the local handyman meets with an accident, if once can call being stabbed to death with a fishing knife an accident. The local police certainly don’t, and they find Mac a suspicious character because she argued with Jake not long before. Mac doesn’t really have any fears they’ll try to pin the murder on her. . . but that fishing knife looks very much like one owned by her brother Derrick.
And Derrick has disappeared.
This is the
first in the Cozy Capers Book Group
Mystery series. As with a lot of
“first in series” books, a lot of ink is spent introducing characters, the
layout of the town, Mac’s pet parrot, her baker boyfriend, etc. Also as is the case with many cozy mysteries,
a colorful cast is required so Mac’s father is a minister from Cape Verde, her
mother is an astrologer, and the police detective is half Wampanoag. Brother
Derrick is a recovering alcoholic with a young daughter and Mac’s beau is a
hunky baker. As the subtitle suggests,
Mac is a member of a book group and they decide they will solve the mystery.
Day writes
well and her characters are enjoyable. The plot—well, while the murder
investigation goes on, the plot is more concerned with introducing characters
and their problems. The solution is
interesting but comes via info drops tucked in at the end rather that sprinkled
throughout the story. As my tastes run
more to the “fair play” mysteries where the reader has enough clues to solve
it, I was disappointed. Those looking
primarily for a nice visit with likeable characters will find this book to be a
treat.
The second
book in the series, Murder at the Taffy Shop is due out in March
2021. Day also writes the “Country Store
Mystery Series” set in Indiana. (The last piece of information is relevant
because I have a friend from Indiana who was interested to see there was a cozy
mystery set there.)
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Beneath the Stains of Time: A Wreath for the Bride (1957) by Maria Lang
Beneath the Stains of Time: A Wreath for the Bride (1957) by Maria Lang: Earlier this year, Kate and Laurie reviewed two of the three available translated detective novels by one "Maria Lang," a nom...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Kendi, Thibodeau, Troost, Murakami, Han...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Kendi, Thibodeau, Troost, Murakami, Han...: Reported by Kristin Nevermore began with a highly recommended narrative, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History o...
Review: Badge Heavy: A Charlie 316 Novel by Frank Zafiro and Colin Conway
Badge
Heavy is the third book in the Charlie
316 series and picks up shortly after Never The Crime ended.
The Anti-Crime Team is up and running and working the streets of Spokane hard.
Officer Gary Stone is on ACT along with Tyler Garrett as well as well with rookie
Jun Yang and veteran officer Ray Zielinski. While the four officers are on the
team and, in theory, working together, they are fragmented and have settled
into a Stone/Garett and Yang/Zielinski pairing. Despite their internal issues,
they are generating results in their pursuit of HPOs--High Profile Offenders.
It
has been nearly two years since Garrett got away with murder and more. Captain
Tom Farrell knows Garrett is dirty. Farrell just can’t prove it. The Anti-Crime
Team was supposed to be a trap for Garrett, but it isn’t working out that way
at all. If anything, it has allowed Garrett to further entrench himself in the
Department and improve his status. Trying to catch Garrett and prove his criminal
activities is slowly becoming an insurmountable problem. Farrell does have a
couple of ideas though they could just as easily backfire. As readers familiar
with the series already know, Farrell is not the only police officer on the
hunt sure Garrett is dirty.
Badge
Heavy by Frank Zafiro and Colin Conway is
another rock-solid installment in this highly entertaining police procedural
series. Politics and police work are heavily intertwined in real life and they
certainly are in the series. The authors have managed to keep ratcheting the
tension in each installment and then they rally blow the doors off with the end
of Badge Heavy. This is a series that concludes with the November
release of Code Four.
While
it is always important to read any series in order, that absolutely is a must
here. Relationships evolve and change over time and there are many changes,
personally and professionally, for these characters as time passes. The crime
problem and the pollical landscape play major character roles in this series
and those issues change as a reaction to events and other factors. That ongoing
aspect is a key part of this complicated series.
Badge Heavy: A Charlie 316 Novel is highly recommended.
Badge Heavy: A Charlie 316 Novel
Frank Zafiro
Colin Conway
Down & Out Books
September 2020
ASIN: B08CVRYL6G
eBook (available in print format)
385 Pages
I
received a digital ARC of this read from author Frank Zafiro weeks ago with no
expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2020
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Crime Review Update
We feature new 20 reviews in each issue of Crime Review (www.crimereview.co.uk), together with a top industry interview. This time it’s author DA Mishani in the Countdown hot seat: http://crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/8795
We’re on Twitter at:
Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK
Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer
Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia
This week’s reviews are:
STORMBREAKER by Anthony Horowitz, reviewed by Linda
Wilson
Reluctant 14-year-old spy Alex Rider is sent to
Cornwall to investigate rich philanthropist Herod Sayle and his plan to install
a new generation of computer in every school in the UK. Alex soon realises that
there’s a lot more to the Stormbreakers than Sayle is letting on, and with that
knowledge comes extreme danger.
MAIGRET AND MONSIEUR CHARLES by Georges Simenon,
reviewed by Chris Roberts
In his last appearance, Maigret investigates the
disappearance of Monsieur Charles, a wealthy lawyer well-known in Paris
nightclubs.
POINT BLANC by Anthony Horowitz, reviewed by Linda
Wilson
Reluctant teenage spy Alex Rider is sent undercover in
an exclusive school for the rebellious offspring of some of the world’s richest
people to find out what links two unexplained deaths to Point Blanc academy in
the Alps.
THE MAN IN THE WOODS by Ilaria Tuti, reviewed by Viv
Beeby
There is a creepy man in the woods; a bad man with the
face of a skull. And if you don't watch out he's coming to get you …
THE CABIN by Jørn Lier Horst, reviewed by Ewa Sherman
Chief Inspector William Wisting is assigned to lead a
top-secret investigation into the life of a recently deceased controversial politician.
When he finds boxes full of foreign currency in his cabin, he also manages to
unearth possible links to two 15-year-old cold cases, one of them of a missing
young man.
HITLER’S PEACE by Philip Kerr, reviewer by Chris
Roberts
In autumn 1943 the tide of war has turned and Germany
is putting out peace feelers. But the response of the allies will be settled in
Tehran.
THE STRANGER by Simon Conway, review by John Cleal
MI6 agent Jude Lyon must deal with past events which
threaten the credibility of his agency – and a terrifying new threat to the
whole of the British establishment.
FORGET ME by Andrew Ewart, reviewed by Kati
Barr-Taylor
Hannah wants to know the secret her husband can’t
remember, whatever the cost.
THE NIGHT OF SHOOTING STARS by Ben Pastor, reviewed by
Chris Roberts
Lieutenant-Colonel Martin von Bora is in Berlin in
July 1944, directed to investigate the murder of a prominent clairvoyant, but
the rumours of political conspiracy suggest that Bora himself is at risk.
KISS THE GIRLS AND MAKE THEM CRY by Mary Higgins
Clark, reviewed by John
Cleal
Investigative journalist Gina Kane receives an email
describing the abuse of a woman by a well-known figure at a television news
network that’s on the verge of a multi-billion dollar stock market flotation.
FAIR WARNING by Michael Connelly reviewed by Linda
Wilson
When journalist Jack McEvoy finds himself a person of
interest in the murder of a woman he dated once, he’s determined to clear his
own name, as the police don’t seem to be making any moves in that direction.
WILD DOG by Serge Joncour, reviewed by John Cleal
Retired actress Lise persuades her producer husband to
holiday in the wild hills of the Causse de Limogne. He must come to terms with
his fear of nature and rediscover the basic instincts common to both man and
animal.
THE STRANGER GAME by Peter Gadol, reviewed by Kati
Barr-Taylor
Rebecca’s boyfriend is missing. But she is unsure if
he is licking his wounds, or if has he become another victim of an increasingly
dangerous game sweeping Los Angeles and beyond.
HAMMER TO FALL by John Lawton, reviewed by Chris
Roberts
Joe Wilderness spies for Britain in 1960s Finland and
Prague and runs into several people with whom he shares a history.
BONE CHINA by Laura Purcell, reviewed by John Cleal
Nurse-companion Hester Why flees London for a position
at the lonely Morvoren House on a desolate Cornish clifftop where she finds
herself faced with a dark and dangerous situation linked to events of 40 years
before.
THE LAST WIFE by Karen Hamilton, reviewed by Linda
Wilson
After Nina’s death, her best friend Marie steps in to
help her grieving husband with two children and a large house, gradually taking
over more and more of her friend’s former life. But not everyone thinks that’s
a good thing.
THE AOSAWA MURDERS by Riku Onda, reviewed by Chris
Roberts
The poisoning of celebrants at a Japanese family
birthday party is a mystery, even when the culprit admits responsibility. The
true story takes years to emerge.
HAVEN’T THEY GROWN by Sophie Hannah, reviewed by
Sylvia Maughan
Beth Leeson sees an old friend whom she has not seen
for 12 years. Her friend has aged appropriately, but her children appear not to
have aged at all. Is Beth mistaken about what she saw?
LAKE CHILD by Isabel Ashdown, reviewed by John
Barnbrook
Eva Olsen cannot remember much about the last year of
her life and is horrified that her parents are keeping her locked in an attic
room with no contact with her old friends. And her parents are behaving oddly.
CORRUPT BODIES by Peter Everett, reviewed by John
Cleal
When the author becomes superintendent of Southwark
mortuary, he walks into a corrupt world of sales of body parts, theft, bribery
and kickbacks.
Best wishes
Sharon and Linda
www.crimereview.co.uk
Monday, September 21, 2020
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Outsider: A Novel of Suspense by Linda Castillo
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Outsider: A Novel of Suspense by Linda Castillo: Once again we are delighted to have Kevin Tipple back with a review. Please check out his own blog, Kevin's Corner , for more review...
Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Vulnerable by Mary Burton
Vulnerable
by Mary Burton (Pinnacle, 2016) is the fourth book in her series about the
Morgans of Nashville, Tennessee. Georgia Morgan is the youngest of the family
with three older brothers, all working in law enforcement agencies. She is a
forensic technician in the Nashville Police Department, freshly assigned to a
cold case. Five years ago, three teenagers went into a local park that covers
2600 acres and didn’t come home. Two days later one of them was found
unconscious with a head injury and broken bones. She had no recall of the day,
consistent with the severity of the concussion, and the other two teenagers
were never located. Police thought the two had perhaps run away together but
the wealthy father of one missing teen denied the possibility. He recently
renewed his pressure on the police department to find his son, hence the
assignment of the case to Georgia and homicide detective Jake Bishop.
The discovery of a murdered college student leads
to a hidden cave in the park where the remains of the two missing teenagers
were found. The likelihood that more than one murderer knew about the remote
cave seems unlikely to the police, so they begin searching for links between
the high school seniors and the college student and ways to identify someone
they fear is a serial killer. They revisit the people who were around the
missing teenagers in the last months before their disappearance and find that
the passing of time has jarred some secrets loose.
On one level this story is a good police procedural with a lot of forensics. On another, it’s a predictable romance, which ordinarily would be enough for me to put a book down. In this case the investigation and the mystery kept me reading. Georgia’s side gig of singing in a bar adds a nice Nashville touch. The author is described on Amazon as specializing in romantic suspense, which doesn’t really apply to a story so heavy on law enforcement process and forensics. This seems to be another of those books that does not clearly fall into any one category. Recommended for readers who enjoy a romance along with their mystery.
·
File Size: 430 KB
·
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
·
Print Length: 305 pages
·
Publisher: Pinnacle Books (March 29, 2016)
·
Language: English
·
ASIN: B010ZZXWRW
Aubrey Hamilton ©2020
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Do Some Damage: The World's Biggest Crime Fiction Convention: Comi...
Do Some Damage: The World's Biggest Crime Fiction Convention: Comi...: By Claire Booth I’ve missed a few Sundays and I thought I’d explain why. For the past four years, I’ve been involved in planning the 2020 ...
Sweet Freedom: FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to ...
Sweet Freedom: FRIDAY'S "FORGOTTEN" BOOKS AND MORE: the links to ...: painting by Jeffrey Catherine Jones This week's books and more, unfairly (or sometimes fairly) neglected, or simply those the rev...
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Woman in the Wardrobe (1951) by Peter Shaffer
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Woman in the Wardrobe (1951) by Peter Shaffer: Anthony and Peter Shaffer were twin brothers, celebrated playwrights, screenwriters and novelists with three revered, frustratingly rare ...
KRL This Week Update for 9/19/2020
Up in KRL this morning a review and ebook giveaway of "Kickbacks, Kayaks, & Kidnapping" by Tonya Kappes
https://kingsriverlife.com/09/19/kickbacks-kayaks-kidnapping-by-tonya-kappes/
And a review and ebook giveaway of "Poison
in Paradise" by Melissa Baldwin along with an interesting
interview with Melissa
https://kingsriverlife.com/09/19/poison-in-paradise-by-melissa-baldwin/
We also have a review and giveaway of "The
Fixer's Daughter" by Hy Conrad along with an interesting guest
post by Hy about moving into self publishing
https://kingsriverlife.com/09/19/the-fixers-daughter-by-hy-conrad/
And reviews of the latest seasons of
"Endeavour" and "Father Brown"
https://kingsriverlife.com/09/19/endeavour-season-7-father-brown-season-8-pbs/
Up during the week mystery author Victoria
Hamilton shared her Top 5 Mysteries Read During the Pandemic
https://kingsriverlife.com/09/16/the-year-i-rediscovered-short-stories/
And we had a special midweek guest post by
mystery author Randy Overbeck
https://kingsriverlife.com/09/16/do-you-need-an-escape/
Up in KRL News and Reviews this week a review
and giveaway of "The Solace of the Bay Leaves" by Leslie
Budewitz
https://www.krlnews.com/2020/09/the-solace-of-bay-leaves-by-leslie.html
And a review and giveaway of "The Quiet
Girl" by S.F. Kosa
https://www.krlnews.com/2020/09/the-quiet-girl-by-s-f-kosa.html
And a review of "A Body on the Hill"
by Brad Shreve along with a giveaway of a $25 Amazon gift card
https://www.krlnews.com/2020/09/a-body-on-hill-by-brad-shreve.html
Happy reading,
Lorie
Writer Beware®: The Blog: Dissecting a Scam: Fact & Fiction Entertainment an...
Writer Beware®: The Blog: Dissecting a Scam: Fact & Fiction Entertainment an...: Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware® In the past week, I've gotten two questions about solicitations from a literary agency c...
Scott's Take: A Chain Across The Dawn (The Universe After Book 1) by Drew Williams
A Chain Across The Dawn by Drew Williams
is the sequel to The
Stars Are Now Unclaimed. While the first book focused more on Jane,
this book focuses more on Esa and is set three years later when she is Jane’s
partner. Together they work as a team to rescue gifted children.
Their latest rescue involves a Wulf (think
wolf alien) boy named Sho who is being hunted by an unstoppable monster with
advanced technology and no regard for humor or alien life. The creature may have
the answers to how to undo the pulse, but there are two major problems with trying
to find out. He is absolutely insane and incredibly powerful. He is killing
everything in his path and won’t stop until he kills them and Sho.
This book is just as amazing as the first
book, but instead of a space military war type story this is a chase thriller
book. This book is full of humor, action, character development, deep
discussions about life, and two awesome new characters that quickly grow on the
reader. The new characters are just as interesting as the returning characters
and just as different. The villain in this book is just as nuanced as The Pax. This
book and the series is complicated and very engrossing as the pages fly by.
This book ends with a bang that sets up
the third book called The Firmament of Flame which I am on hold
for at the library. I eagerly await the third book in this amazing series. One
should definitely read this series in order as the first book is a huge
influence on the sequel.
A Chain Across The
Dawn (The Universe After Book 2)
Drew
Williams
Tom
Doherty Associates (Tor)
May
2019
ISBN#
978-1-250-18614-0
Hardback
(also available in audio, eBook, and paperback formats)
320
Pages
My
reading copy came from the Mountain Creek Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott
Tipple ©2020
Friday, September 18, 2020
Echocardiogram
Today I finally had the long delayed echocardiogram that was originally scheduled for late March.
According to the tech, she saw a little worsening, but nothing significant. Which means that I am holding my own heart enlargement wise. She saw no reason to delay the scoping on October 9th which is an all clear I needed for that.
Doc will review all the results from today and make the final call, but things seem to be as good as possible heart wise.
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett: Reviewed by Jeanne Nine year old Tiffany is the granddaughter of a shepherd who may or may not have been a witch. She sees the wo...
FFB Review: Carnosaur Weekend by Garnett Elliott
Last week Barry and I
reminded you of The
Drifter Detective,
the first gook in a great series that has a new installment coming soon. For
something completely different and seriously cool, I remind you of this
one also by Garnett Elliott. It will blow your mind.
After you read the reviews, make sure you head over
to Patti Abbott’s blog as
well as Aubrey Nye Hamilton’s Happiness Is A Warm Book blog
and see what they suggest today. Todd Mason is back collecting links so you
will have even more suggestions om his Sweet Freedom blog later.
Have a good weekend!
“The Zygma Gambit” comes next and was also published in the very good The Lizard’s Ardent Uniform and Other Stories. Set a bit before the preceding story, Kyler Knightly is one of those very special people known as “dreamers” and is employed by Continuity Inc. Through their dreams the dreamers have the ability to foresee the future. Kyler has been awakened by a dream in his own bed in the early morning hours of April 14, 2223. For this to happen outside of the Precog bays where he normally works means that this dream was very powerful and definitely coming true. Kyler has to get to his Uncle Damon Cole and tell him about the dream before Cole goes on his mission.
The final story title “The Worms of Terpsichore” is very good and highly reminiscent of the classic type of science fiction many of us grew up on. The spaceship Sallust sent off a one word message via their orbital beacon and then went radio silent. No further transmission has come from where they landed on the surface. The one word message also does not make sense. Clearly, something has happened. Raj and Thea will go down to the site by way of a lander from their spaceship known as the Astarte. This type of search and rescue mission is just part of what they do as members of “Frontier Swift Response.” While this isn’t at time travel story and Damon Cole and Kyler Knightly are not involved at all, it is still a very good tale. After all, any story that uses a flame-gun is automatically pretty good.
Author Garnett Elliot’s bio and ads for other books from Beat To A Pulp including installments of the excellent Jack LaramieDrifter Detective series finish out the book.
The three science fiction tales in Carnosaur Weekend quickly yank readers to a very different time and place. The multiple characters involved have considerable depth that never gets in the way of the science fiction adventure. These are adventures when anything is possible as the dangers are many and one has to stay alive by one’s wits. The tales of Carnosaur Weekend are all very good ones very much worth your time.
Carnosaur Weekend (Kyler Knightly and Damon Cole Book 1)
Garnett Elliot
Beat To A Pulp Press
October 2014
ASIN: B00OTT7UN8
E-Book (also available in print)
65 Pages
Material supplied by the publisher in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014, 2020
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