Saturday, July 12, 2025

Scott's Take: G.I. Joe Vol 1: The Cobra Strikes by Joshua Williamson and illustrator Tom Reilly

  

G.I. Joe Vol 1: The Cobra Strikes by Joshua Williamson and illustrator Tom Reilly takes place after the Duke Volume 1: Knowing is Half the Battle series I reviewed last July that saw Duke forming the G.I. Joes and trying to create a team to stop Cobra. Duke does not know the group is called Cobra until later in the volume he just knows bad people are doing bad things. Duke ended implying that the Joes would be going after Optimus Prime, but nope, that is completely ignored.  I read this G.I. Joe volume through Hoopla.

 

Instead, this sees the Joes, outmatched in numbers, technology, and resources struggling to stop Cobra from taking over the world. Somehow the U.S. Military’s plan to stop Cobra and M.A.R.S. industries is to use five special forces soldiers to stop a small army. There is an attempt to justify that idea by referencing someone with diplomatic immunity, but that really does not work. Cobra Commander is using the energon and technology he harvested from Megatron and others to arm the troops provided by Destro and his arms/security company/country.

 

Cobra Commander, Destro, Duke, and Baroness are the main characters in this volume. There are attempts to grow the supporting cast, but I don’t think they are fleshed out more than their architypes. Making the Baroness a Joe has been a good addition since it allows her more pragmatic approach to bang against Duke’s more heroic approach.

 

The art is great and this is a mature action story with a classic world domination plot. There is plenty of violence and several character deaths including one supporting character. Cobra Commander does something evil, but also short sighted. That is typical Cobra Commander behavior, but I was hoping we would get a smarter Cobra Commander.  The ending is abrupt and promises to tie this series in with the Transformers main series more. However, considering how Duke ended and was glossed over, I have doubts.

 

I could not find volume 2 for this series listed anywhere on goggle. I hope it stays good. In my opinion, the Transformers book started off strong, but got too bloated cast wise and plot wise.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4kyZ6ro

 

 

My reading copy was a Hoopla digital eBook via the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2025

Friday, July 11, 2025

Lesa's Book Critiques: “Hamilton”

Lesa's Book Critiques: “Hamilton”

 

Writer Beware: When an Interview Isn’t Exactly What It Seems: NewYox Media and Its Suite of Magazines

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Mystery Fanfare: The Marlow Murder Club News: PBS Masterpiece

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The Hard Word: "THERE ARE LOTS OF SECRETS IN THE NEVADA DESERT.": AN INTERVIEW WITH THE BLUE HORSE'S BRUCE BORGOS

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In Reference To Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Uncle Abner, Master of Mysteries

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Happiness Is A Book: Friday’s Forgotten Book: Whose Hand? by Vernon Loder

 Happiness Is A Book: Friday’s Forgotten Book: Whose Hand? by Vernon Loder

Patricia Abbott: FFB: THE GREAT SANTINI, Pat Conroy

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FFB Review-- Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Death Shall Overcome by Emma Lathen

  

Dipping into the archive for this one today…

 

A few days ago someone in one of the mystery-focused Facebook groups asked the members to identify their favorite Emma Lathen title. Emma Lathen is the pseudonym of economist Mary Jane Latsis and attorney Martha Henissart. Their financial and legal expertise formed the backdrop of their mysteries, which each highlighted an industry or socioeconomic issue (fast food franchises, grain exports, parochial schools, professional hockey, the Winter Olympics). Inevitably money in some form is the impetus for the crime. No psychological suspense, no serial killer, no love triangle: money and the lack of it or the desire for more is front and center.

 

It is difficult to choose among the entries in a long and almost uniformly excellent series but I decided that Death Shall Overcome (Macmillan, 1966) was among my candidates for favorite. I then realized I had not re-read it for some time and pulled my worn paperback copy off the shelves. Its themes are timeless and I found it stands up to the passage of 50 years quite well.

 

Wall Street is in turmoil as one of the oldest brokerages among them proposes a black man for a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. The octogenarian owner of the brokerage has chosen Edward Parry of Atlanta -- Yale graduate, Rhodes scholar, and multimillionaire -- to break the color barrier at the NYSE hard on the heels of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. (The authors were only a little ahead of reality: Joseph Searles III actually became the first African American trader on the New York Stock Exchange floor in 1970.)

 

At the formal reception where Mr. Parry is to be introduced to the New York financial community, one of his prospective colleagues drops dead. Everyone assumes the cause is a stress-induced heart attack until the autopsy discovers nicotine poisoning. Then someone shoots at Mr. Parry as he leaves his house one morning. Protests, counter-demonstrations, and wild rhetoric ensue. (A number of the scenes from this book could have been ripped out of last week’s newspaper.) John Putnam Thatcher, senior vice-president of Sloan Guaranty Trust, the third largest bank in the world, is drafted to try to calm the various groups while the Exchange processes Mr. Parry’s application for a seat and the police search for the killer.  His own knowledge of the financial world and his involvement with the people most affected lead him to the identity of the culprit.

 

Part of the charm of this series is the inside look at the Sloan, which is very much like any large corporation with its internal politics, quirky personalities, and relatives of the president to be worked around. The supporting cast of characters that appear in each book are similar to office colleagues everywhere and invest the story with a personal flavor as well as help Thatcher’s investigations. This particular book is full of visually complex scenes that would film nicely: the sit-in at the main Sloan bank, the NAACP fundraiser, Thatcher and his colleagues hiding from demonstrators by riding the Staten Island ferry back and forth.

As always, the well-written story is witty and tightly plotted. If Emma Lathen is an author new to you, this book is an excellent place to become acquainted with her work.



  • Publisher: Macmillan Pub Co; First Edition (June 1966)
  • ISBN-10: 9997518446 
  • ISBN-13: 978-9997518446

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/45XNjyr

 

 

Aubrey Hamilton © 2017, 2025 

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal IT projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Lesa's Book Critiques: What Are You Reading?

 Lesa's Book Critiques: What Are You Reading?

Criminal Minds: Voyeurs and Exhibitionists from James W. Ziskin

Criminal Minds: Voyeurs and Exhibitionists from James W. Ziskin: Sally Rooney has refused, in interviews, to talk about her private life. Author Debbie Urbanski recently wrote a piece for Literary Hub titl...

In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange 7/10/2025

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Writers Who Kill: An Interview With Barb Goffman

Writers Who Kill: An Interview With Barb Goffman: by Grace Topping People often complain they don’t have time to read. Finding myself in that predicament recently, I turned to  Crime Travel,...

Wednesday, July 09, 2025

Gravetapping: Review: "The Blue Horse" by Bruce Borgos

 Gravetapping: Review: "The Blue Horse" by Bruce Borgos

ButtonDown.Com: Five to Get You Started Surprise! Let's recommend five crime comic titles

 ButtonDown.Com: Five to Get You Started Surprise! Let's recommend five crime comic titles

The Rap Sheet: Yes, That’s Me Behind the Mic

 The Rap Sheet: Yes, That’s Me Behind the Mic

The Rap Sheet: Vicar and Cop Make a Slow Exit

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The Hard Word: NO LONE HERO: BRUCE BORGOS' THE BLUE HORSE

 The Hard Word: NO LONE HERO: BRUCE BORGOS' THE BLUE HORSE

The Rap Sheet: Griffiths Receiving Her Due

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Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "Immune to Murder" by Rex Stout

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George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #232: H. P. LOVECRAFT’S THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH Adaptation and Artwork By Gou Tanabe

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Mystery*File: SF Diary Review: GALAXY SF – October 1967

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Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: MURDER, 1990

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Patricia Abbott: Short Story Wednesday: "Something is Out There" Richard Bausch

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Little Big Crimes: Abreast Schwarztonnensand, by Zöe Beck

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Short Story Wednesday: Crimeucopia - A Load Of Balls Editor John Connor

 

Crimeucopia - A Load Of Balls is a Murderous Ink Press anthology featuring mystery and crime fiction tales involving various sports. Pool and golf make multiple appearances, but other sports also make it in here and there. It is a solidly good book that also scores with the reader.

 

(Referee Whistle)

 

Stadium Announcer: Called for a double foul of combining a sports pun with a dad joke. That is a Flagrant and One Foul.

 

Oh, come on. You call that a foul? You can’t be serious! (Screaming the last in his best John McEnroe at Wimbledon voice.)

 

(Referee glares, then makes an arm motion, play resumes.)

 

As always, I read an anthology from front to back, so the list below of my personal favorites is in the order of appearance. It is not a ranking. No, these are the tales that resonated with this reader as he hit them over a several day period.  

 

Those that follow my reviews know I have a fondness for police procedurals. If Dallas had not had a multi-year hiring freeze in the early and mid-eighties, I was going to apply to the police academy. Instead, I went to work for a security guard company and, a few months later, got myself shot one night just before 3 in the morning, and that changed many things.

 

I grew up watching my Dallas Cowboys playing Coach Bud Grant and his Vikings. We had “The Man in the Hat.” The Vikings were “The Purple People Eaters.” Back when the game was played outdoors, like it should be, and not all the frozen tundra was in Green Bay. The stuff of legends all around. Some of that decades ago glory you can still experience from NFL Films with their excellent soundtracks and narration by legends all.

 

All of the above probably played a major role in my liking “The Purple Figurine Murders” by Arthur Vidro so much. A complex mystery that uses NFL history for clues. A mighty good read.

 

The career of DS Jim Cooper of the Norfolk Constabulary showed such promise back in the day. That promise was never actualized. The discovery of a body in the here and now in “Thank God for the Nineteenth Hole” by Dave Dempster might be a way to put some shine back on him.

 


John M. Floyd’s recurring character, Sheriff Lucy Valentine, makes a welcome appearance here in “Rules of the Game.” So too does her mother, Frances, who is again ready to help with a case surrounding a certain wrist watch.

 

He had a plan when he walked into the bar. A bar that has pool tables in the backroom. One of those tables is in use by his target. It slowly becomes clear what he aims to do in “Side Pocket Bank Shot” by William Kitcher.

 

“You May Already Be A Winner: A Vermont Radio Mystery” by Nikki Knight combines a lotto drawing, a DJ, and some amateur sleuthing into a fast-moving enjoyable mystery read. Not to mention an arson at a local business.

 

Fake jerseys are an expensive and growing problem for all the leagues, especially the NBA. A street hustler is selling them at the heart of “The Baby Lawyer” by Paul R. Paradise. The bosses want him gone. Easier said than done.

 

Back in the long ago, I was a pretty good bowler. I was known to frequent the nearby Jupiter Lanes, every couple of weeks, where I rolled 220 to 245 or so without much practice or effort. Sandi and I talked, more than once, about me trying out for the Pro Bowler event over in Grand Prairie every year. But, being a new dad and life, in general, meant we never got beyond the talking stage.

 

Bowling is at the heart of “The Perfect Game” by Robert Petyo. If everybody would leave him alone, Donnie might complete his quest for a perfect game. Nine frames in, he has a very chance. Bowling leagues can be cut throat so he knows the pressure is on in more ways than one.

 

Her husband is still alive, but for all intents and purposes his wife, Marie, is a golf widow in the Diane A. Hadac’s short story, “Golf Widow.” She is increasingly fed-up with the situation and wants to travel like they talked about and he promised. Ralph better pay attention at home instead of the greens.

 

Jimmy loves cars. Especially expensive fast cars. He also has skills being ex miliary. He puts everything to work in “Fancy Car Lover” by Ed Teja. The problem is that some of his choices to liberate from their owners are not the best choices for others. That causes problems.

 

While these are the stories I preferred, that is not to say the others are not good. On the contrary. They are good. These just happen to be my personal favorites for a variety of reasons. No doubt your choices for favorites in Crimeucopia - A Load Of Balls anthology would vary.


 

Available in print and eBook at this Amazon Associate Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/4eGr3LN

 

 

My ARC reading copy came from Editor/Publisher John Connor of Murderous Ink Press back in May with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Tuesday, July 08, 2025

PW: Four Years After Buying It for $440 Million, Kakao to Shutter Radish Fiction

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Mystery Fanfare: 2025 David Thompson Special Service Award Recipients: Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich

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The Hard Word: LISTENING BETWEEN THE NOTES: JIM FUSILLI'S A SONG FOR KATY SHAYNE

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Mystery Fanfare: Ballard: New streaming series based on Michael Connelly's novels

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Lesa's Book Critiques: Murder Among the Owls by Bill Crider

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Beneath the Stains of Time: Such Bright Disguises (1941) by Brian Flynn

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SleuthSayers: Get Away to Recharge

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Publication Day Review: Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo

 

Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo is the latest in the long running Kate Burkholder series. A series that, while still very good, is becoming increasingly graphicly detailed in terms of the violent murders and the aftermath. In this case, the aftermath of what was done to the first victim.

 

Painters Mill Chief of Police Kate Burkholder and Officer Chuck “Skid” Skidmore are out at Painters Mill Elementary School as the books begins. Chief Burkholder loves doing the annual presentation for the kids. Officer Skidmore is not enjoying himself as he is cooking alive in the costume he must wear to play the role of “Kip the Cow.” It is late August, the first week of school, and unbelievably hot.

 

During their presentation, Chief Burkholder gets a call from dispatch regarding the fact that some kids have found something very disturbing. They think they have found pieces of a body. Before long, Burkholder and Skidmore are on their way to the scene.

 

Upon arrival at Sweet Potato Ridge Road, an area known to flood, Burkholder is still hoping it isn’t what the kids, and now their dad, thinks it is alongside the creek. That hope is quickly dashed by Officer Rupert “Glock” Maddox who has confirmed the presence of body parts.

 

The kids were playing down in one area next to Painters Mill creek when one of them found things that no child should have ever see. The kid found a severed hand and a foot. Soon, more parts are discovered and it becomes abundantly clear this was no accidental drowning and somehow the body just fell apart.

 

It won’t be the last killing either.

 

The latest read in the series is another good one with a lot going on throughout the book. It also goes into incredibly graphic detail about the murders as well as the disposal of the bodies. Those who were disturbed by that in The Burning are sure to be bothered here. This reviewer, who did not have that much of a reaction to that stuff in that read, was considerably bothered here. Especially in terms of the depiction here of the recovery and later autopsy of the various body parts of the first victim.

 

With that caveat in mind, Rage: A Novel by Linda Castillo, is a good one and well worth your time. I have been a fan of this series since the very beginning with Sworn to Silence. Still am. But, I just don’t really need things to be as graphic as they are here with the first body. Even though I read a ton of mystery and crime fiction each year, in this case, it was a bit much.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3G8EV4k

 

 

My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, Minotaur Books, through NetGalley, and with no expectation of a review. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Monday, July 07, 2025

Lesa's Book Critiques: The 2025 Dagger Awards

 Lesa's Book Critiques: The 2025 Dagger Awards

The Hard Word: TOP OF THE PYRAMID: MEGAN ABBOTT'S EL DORADO DRIVE

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Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue by Kate Pearsall

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In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 7/7/2025

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Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Hidden Man by David Ellis

 

The Hidden Man (Putnam, 2009) by David Ellis is the first legal thriller about Jason Kolarich, an attorney in an unnamed Midwestern city that sounds a lot like Chicago. Kolarich is reeling from the loss of his wife and child in a car accident four months earlier and is barely functioning when a slick stranger named Mr. Smith gives him a briefcase full of cash to defend Kolarich’s childhood friend Sam Cutler in a murder trial that is scheduled to begin in a month. Cutler’s baby sister was taken from her room one night about 25 years ago, and Cutler is accused of shooting the man who was believed to have kidnapped and killed her but who was never convicted.

Smith tells Kolarich that he will be directing the defense but Kolarich doesn’t understand Smith’s interests. Cutler claims not to know anything about Smith and is deeply suspicious of his motives. Kolarich maps out his own strategy and implements it over Smith’s escalating objections. He is developing an understanding of the case, considering potential defense strategies, and attempting to interview witnesses while overwhelmed with guilt and grief and realizing that his younger brother is likely using drugs again.

Kolarich is not the typical protagonist of legal thrillers. He grew up in a rough neighborhood and would have started down a path of petty crime as a teenager had the football coach not recognized his outstanding athletic ability and diverted his energies. He managed to attend college on a football scholarship, where his quick temper got him into more than a little trouble but he still managed to graduate and go on to law school. Kolarich is an original thinker and seldom does what anyone expects him to do, which brings him into direct conflict with Smith but helps in the execution of courtroom strategy.

An original story with a couple of imaginative and unexpected plot twists turn this into a very good legal thriller. Starred review from Publishers Weekly.

 


·         Publisher: Putnam Adult

·         Publication date: September 3, 2009

·         Print length: 336 pages

·         ISBN-10: 0399155791

·         ISBN-13: 978-0399155796

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4evauCe

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Sunday, July 06, 2025

Sunday Evening Humor Seen On Facebook

 


Kathleen Marple Kalb's Blog: So You Wrote the Book, Now What?: Control THIS!

 Kathleen Marple Kalb's Blog: So You Wrote the Book, Now What?: Control THIS!

Lesa's Book Critiques: Rage by Linda Castillo

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Rage by Linda Castillo

ButtonDown.Com: Introduction: Closing the Gap Between Crime Fiction and Crime Comics

 ButtonDown.Com: Introduction: Closing the Gap Between Crime Fiction and Crime Comics

Dru's Book Musings: New Releases ~ Week of July 6, 2025

 Dru's Book Musings: New Releases ~ Week of July 6, 2025

Review: The Blue Horse: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos

 

This comes out Tuesday... 


The Blue Horse: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos begins in September 2020. Covid is making an impact and will directly affect the good sheriff of Lincoln County, Nevada, in the coming days and weeks. But in the here and now of this beautiful September morning, Sheriff Beck and Chief Deputy Tuffy Scruggs are on horses are chatting and watching as wild mustangs are being herded for capture.

 

Sheriff Beck, 48, and with worsening eyesight problems that make him almost blind at night, is soon to be Chief of the Investigative Division of The Department of Public Safety. He is looking forward to the new job though he hates to move on from what he does now. That loss is mitigated by the fact that the new job means he will get to see his girlfriend, Charlie Blue Horse, a state police detective, a lot more. He is also happy to turn over his current job to Tuffy Scruggs who will be the new sheriff.

 

With drought gripping the land, the Bureau of Land Management ordered an emergency roundup of the wild horses in the area. The goal is to remove almost fifteen hundred stallions, mares, and foals from the surrounding public land. Protestors have made their presence known, but they are not close to where the helicopter today is herding about forty wild horses known to the locals as the “Willow Creek Band.”

 

The horses are being herded into a nearby canyon with high limestone walls. Those walls hide the view as the helicopter makes multiple passes above and below the rim as the pilot expertly maneuvers to herd the horses for capture. Those same walls hide the view as the helicopter maneuvers down out of sight, but the noise of it crashing is heard loud and clear. Sheriff Porter Beck also believes he heard a gunshot which would mean it was not mechanical failure or pilot error.

 

Riding their horses, it takes two minutes for Sherriff Beck and Chief Deputy Tuffy Scruggs, to arrive on scene. It is instantly clear from the wreckage that nobody could have survived. It also does not take long to verify that Sherriff Beck was right that the pilot was shot and killed in order to cause the helicopter to crash.

 

That murder leads to a complicated case of politics, natural resources and land use, and quite a lot more. It won’t be the last death in this complicated and very enjoyable read.

 

As it is the third book in a very good series that began with The Bitter Past: A Novel, there are various references to earlier books and events. Sheriff Beck has been coping with a lot, personally and professionally, and all that was child’s play compared to what is in store for him here in The Blue Horse: A Peter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos.

 

It is also one heck of a good read. Strongly recommended.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4lvbutj

 

 

My digital ARC came the publisher, Minotaur Books, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025