Friday, March 31, 2023

Something Is Going To Happen: All the Ways We Have to Reach You (by Janet Hutchings)

 Something Is Going To Happen: All the Ways We Have to Reach You (by Janet Hutchings)

Beneath the Stains of Time: It's a Numbers Game: Q.E.D. vol. 23-24 by Motohiro Katou

Beneath the Stains of Time: It's a Numbers Game: Q.E.D. vol. 23-24 by Motohiro...: The first of two stories from Motohiro Katou 's Q.E.D. vol. 23, "The Liar," begins with Sou Touma arriving in Taiwan to meet...

Happiness Is A Book: FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE CAMBRIDGE MURDERS BY DILWYN REES

 Happiness Is A Book: FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE CAMBRIDGE MURDERS BY DILWYN REES

Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH

Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH:   The Phantom Tollbooth  by Norman Juster (1961) The classic juvenile fantasy, made even better (as if that were possible) by illustrations ...

FFB Review: Time of Death by J. D. Robb

 

Time of Death by J.D. Robb is a novella collection featuring NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas. Unlike the Three in Death collection that was primarily straight forward, the strange and flat-out weird plays a bigger role in this read.

 

It opens with Eternity in Death. In late April 2060, Tiara Dent bought into his myth of living forever. Now she won’t see 24 as the young beautiful woman is a very dead celebrity. The two puncture wounds on the left side of her throat give some indication to how it happened.

 

Eve Dallas hates stiletto heels. She hates the dressing up to mingle and socialize party nonsense. But, when you are married to Roarke, a very rich man, you do what you have to do. That means being very dressed up and in attendance at the gathering hosted by Maxia Caryle. It was supposed to be a fun evening in Eternity in Death. Certainly not a murder scene. But, it is, and now there is a victim, one very bloody suspect, and many other folks that also have to be ruled considered as killers or witnesses. Now the real party can get started.

 

It is early spring in 2060 and the traditional ferries still sail across the water to the Statue of Liberty. One on those ferries, the Hillary Rodham Clinton, has a very bloody bathroom. No doubt the person that was in that bathroom is dead. Nobody could have survived that massive amount of blood loss. Yet, there is no body.  That person did not just get up and leave. It all means that Lieutenant Eve Dallas has a missing victim, a floating crime scene, and more than a few suspects in Missing in Death.

 

The three novellas in the Time of Death collection are all good ones. They push the boundaries of the strange a little bit, but all three end up being logically solved. As always, there are plenty of twists and turns as the reads move quickly to a resolution.

  


My reading copy came by way of the Libby/OverDrive App and the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Lesa's Book Critiques: LIBRARY BOOKS

 Lesa's Book Critiques: LIBRARY BOOKS

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Fair and Tender Ladies, Boy Who Talked to Dogs, Dollbaby, Librarian of Burned Books

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Fair and Tender Ladies, Boy Who Talked ...:   Reported by Garry   Fair and Tender Ladies by Lee Smith. “I used to be a scandal myself. Now I am an institution.” Ivy Crow is a fire...

George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #118: DARK ORIGINS, VOLUME 1

 George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #118: DARK ORIGINS, VOLUME 1

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "Birdie" by Lauren Groff

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "Birdie" by Lauren Groff:   Some serendipitous wandering around on the internet on the weekend led me to discover a new (to me) author that I want to read, and a shor...

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: CLOONATURK

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: CLOONATURK:  "Cloonaturk" by Mervyn Wall (firxt published in Argosy  [UK], December 1947; reprinted in Wall's collections  A Flutter of Wi...

Short Story Wednesday Review: Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue Six, Fall 2022


Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue Six, Fall 2022, opens with “Overnights at the Bumblebee Motel” by Michael Grimala.  Gordon has a driven a long way from Ohio to southern Louisiana in search of Hannah. He thinks the Bumblebee Motel might offer a clue or two in his search. He needs to find his sister.

Publisher and Editor Brandon Barrows is next with “One Last Ride.” Foley just wants to park his cab the night and go to bed. Dispatcher Hugh Spenser is a serious annoyance and he is not done with Foley yet. Instead, because the next driver is out sick, Foley has to keep working. He has to go to the airport on a nasty night and pick up a passenger named Thomas Bailey. Foley’s Bed, and his unhappy wife, are going to have to wait.

Steve Liskow’s short story, “Peepin’ and Hiddin’” is next where at least one of the neighbors is a real jerk. Unfortunately, he is teaching his own son the same bad ideas. Wes and Louie have fireworks, cherry bombs to be specific, and are perfectly willing to use them. It is July 1st, a drought is happening, and they have zero concern for others in their condo complex. That is going to change.

Dan Moore knows the kid is up to something in “You Wouldn’t Shoot Me” by Anderson Barnes. He tailed him from the buss and followed him off the bus at a stop in Roxbury. Every step they take sends Dan Moore deeper in a neighborhood he does not know and where it seems everyone is watching him.

He used to be a cop. Now, each evening, he sits in a bar and limits himself to five drinks. He plays an inner game with himself in “Some Sunny Day, Baby” by Joseph S. Walker and tries to figure out if this will be the night he goes for six. That is until a face from long ago, Anson Brancato, shows up and tells him of a problem and Carl Denham. Favors are owed and he owes Carl Denham.

“I’ll Scratch Yours” by Thomas Nicholson is next where our man is on a massage table having his bad shoulder and more worked on by an unseen masseuse. The department is paying and it should help him feel better. It might actually work if she did not talk so much. She has a lot to say.

The author, Mr. James, is meeting with a man known to some as Mr. John Wesley Hardin about an upcoming movie.  It is to be a western and he had some questions as Wyatt Earp, still living out in California, told him to get gone. Lonnie put the two together for his own reasons. Getting Mr. James to show up was just the first step in the plan in “The John Wesley Hardin Rag by Coy Hall.

The issue closes with the nonfiction piece, “The Jeff Davis 8: A True Crime Story” by. N. Fraley. It recounts the discovery of eight women in and around various bodies of water in Jennings, Louisiana. During the period between 2005 and 2009 the bodies of the women were found. All were sex workers who may have been killed by a serial killer. They may have been the victims of rogue police officers. We may never know as this piece explains.

As always, the stories in Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue Six, Fall 2022 are not happy reads. Like the tales in previous ones, these are not tales of people drinking tea, cats hanging out, or ones that make one content with the state of the world where one is sure all will work out. Far from it. Darkness, in a variety of ways, is probed in the tales that make up this issue. While this reader had his own favorites, all are solidly good reads.

 


My reading copy was a purchase of the eBook last October by way of funds in my Amazon Associate account. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2023

Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Hawaiian Noir: COVER REVEAL: SPLINTERED LOYALTY

 Hawaiian Noir: COVER REVEAL: SPLINTERED LOYALTY

The First Two Pages: “Backstory” by Charles John Harper

 The First Two Pages: “Backstory” by Charles John Harper

Lesa's Book Critiques: MURDER IN POSTSCRIPT BY MARY WINTERS

 Lesa's Book Critiques: MURDER IN POSTSCRIPT BY MARY WINTERS

LINDA K SIENKIEWICZ: WRITING MORALLY GREY CHARACTERS by Charles Salzberg

 LINDA K SIENKIEWICZ: WRITING MORALLY GREY CHARACTERS by Charles Salzberg

Dru's Book Musings New Releases: Coming soon ~ April 2023 Releases

 Dru's Book Musings New Releases: Coming soon ~ April 2023 Releases 

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Killing of Katie Steelstock (1980) by Michael Gilbert

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Killing of Katie Steelstock (1980) by Michael ...: Back in January, I returned to the work of Michael Gilbert and looked at his first mystery novel, Close Quarters (1947), which introduced ...

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 85 Calls for Submissions in April 2023 - Paying markets

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 85 Calls for Submissions in April 2023 - Paying ma...: This April there are more than seven dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As alway...

The Hard Word: "THE PERFECT FORM OF NOIR": AN INTERVIEW WITH BLACK IS THE NIGHT EDITOR MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI

 The Hard Word: "THE PERFECT FORM OF NOIR": AN INTERVIEW WITH BLACK IS THE NIGHT EDITOR MAXIM JAKUBOWSKI

Review: Wayward Son: An Ed Runyon Mystery by Steve Goble

 

Picking up a few months after City Problems and shortly before the Covid outbreak in the United States, Ed Runyon is no longer a Mifflin County Sheriff’s Deputy. He has started Whiskey River Investigations and, as a private investigator, will focus on missing kids.  Missing kid cases are important to him and a major reason why he left New York.

Jimmy Zachman is missing. His parents, Tammy and Bob Zachman meet with Mr. Runyon and are doing everything they can to hold it together. The 15-year-old has been missing around 24 hours and they have no idea why he left. While they claim they have no idea, but Ed Runyon sees a couple of possible reasons right from the start. But, he is not there to discuss religion or politics. He is there to find their missing son.

The search for Jimmy will take him far from Jimmy’s home on Poplar Street in Ambletown, Ohio. It will involve technology, a chess app, and a lot more, in a complex case where nothing is as it seems.

As this the second book in the series that began with City Problems, it would be best to have read that book first. Not only do several of the recurring characters return here, time has passed, and some situations have changed a little bit. Additionally, events of the first book are referenced repeatedly and ultimately play a role here, so read in order. 

Wayward Son: An Ed Runyon Mystery is a good one. Like City Problems, the read is highly recommended.

 


My reading copy came from the Kleberg Rylie Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.


Kevin R. Tipple ©2023

Monday, March 27, 2023

Lesa's Book Critiques: THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN BY LACIE WALDON

 Lesa's Book Critiques: THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN BY LACIE WALDON

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-Ups from Tinseltown by Andrea Van Landingham

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-U...: Reviewed by Jeanne While the lurid title and red blaze across the cover might entice some to pick up this book, it almost had the opposi...

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 51 Writing Contests in April 2023 - No entry fees

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 51 Writing Contests in April 2023 - No entry fees: This April there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range ...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: A Man and His Cat, Vol. 1-3

Bitter Tea and Mystery: A Man and His Cat, Vol. 1-3: A Man and His Cat is a Japanese manga series; the writer and artist is Umi Sakurai. This comic started out on Twitter, self-published on Tw...

In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday for 3/27/2023

 In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday for 3/27/2023

Markets & Jobs for Writers for 3/27/2023

 Markets & Jobs for Writers for 3/27/2023

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Pesticide by Kim Hays


Kim Hays holds U.S. and Swiss dual citizenship and lives in Bern, Switzerland. After a wildly diverse career she turned to writing crime fiction. Pesticide (Seventh Street Books, 2022) is her first book about Inspector Giuliana Linder and her younger colleague Investigator Renzo Donatelli of the Bern police. It was shortlisted for the 2020 Debut Dagger award by the Crime Writers' Association. The second book in the series is scheduled for release in April 2023.

Linder is assigned the difficult task of looking into the death of a member of the public, possibly at the hands of a police officer during a street celebration that turned into a riot. The officer in question reported hitting the young man but not hard enough to cause fatal damage. Her first job is to identify the victim. While he was carrying cash, his identity papers are missing. In the meantime Donatelli is pulled into investigating the clear murder of François Schwab, an elderly organic farmer outside Bern who was found in his barn drenched in the pesticide that he loathed. When their separate investigations reveal the two knew each other and that they had business dealings, Linder and her associates begin to believe the deaths are connected.

Linder’s husband Ueli is a journalist who keeps their home going in the face of her grueling work schedule and cares for their two children while fitting in his writing and research as he can. The understandable tensions this arrangement generates are clearly portrayed. Ueli has a dual role in the book, demonstrating the strain a police officer’s work exerts on home and family and carrying the secondary theme of the book, the issue of police brutality, which is examined from both sides. It is an ongoing source of concern within the Linder marriage.

Donatelli is unhappily married but adores his children. He makes no secret of his interest in the older Linder, who is committed to her marriage while finding Donatelli attractive. I am not a fan of crime fiction that is more romance than mystery but this push/pull is realistic and takes a back seat to the criminal search. Anyone who works with other people will recognize the potential for the situation.

This book is a very good procedural; I don’t understand why it has not received more attention, although Kirkus did give it a starred review. The plot is original, the setting is intriguing, and the characters are wonderful. Even the secondary characters are lifelike. The issue of police brutality is shown from both sides in a balanced and compassionate picture. The insight into the Swiss law enforcement system is fascinating. Highly recommended.

 

  

·         Publisher: Seventh Street Books (April 19, 2022)

·         Language: English

·         Paperback: 358 pages

·         ISBN-10: 1645060462

·         ISBN-13: 978-1645060468 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023 

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

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Dru's Book Musings New Releases: Coming Week of March 26, 2023

 Dru's Book Musings New Releases: Coming Week of March 26, 2023 

KRL This Week Update for 3/25/2023

Up on KRL this morning a review and giveaway of an Easter mystery, "Chocolate Bunny Betrayal" by Tonya Kappes https://kingsriverlife.com/03/25/chocolate-bunny-betrayal-by-tonya-kappes/

And a review and giveaway of "Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers" by Jesse Q Sutanto https://kingsriverlife.com/03/25/vera-wongs-unsolicited-advice-for-murderers-by-jesse-q-sutanto/

And a review and giveaway of "A Midsummer Night's Scheme" by Harper Kincaid along with a fun interview with Harper https://kingsriverlife.com/03/25/a-midsummers-night-scheme-by-harper-kincaid/

We also have a review of the latest Hallmark Movies & Mysteries movie "The Cases of Mystery Lane" https://kingsriverlife.com/03/25/hallmark-movies-mysteries-the-cases-of-mystery-street/

And a mystery short story by Mary Jo Robertiello https://kingsriverlife.com/03/25/mystery-short-story-hit-and-run/

Up during the week we posted another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Michelle Corbier about researching the crimes and methods of murder in her books and about her latest book "Murder in Gemini" https://kingsriverlife.com/03/22/research-your-crimes/

Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of the limited release novella "Mystic Wedding Bell Blues" By Sally J. Smith & Jean Steffens <https://www.krlnews.com/2023/03/limited-release-mystic-wedding-bell.htmlhttps://www.krlnews.com/2023/03/limited-release-mystic-wedding-bell.html

And a review and giveaway of "Star Tangled Murder" by Nancy Cohen https://www.krlnews.com/2023/03/star-tangled-murder-by-nancy-j-cohen.html

And a review and giveaway of "Priceless Betrayal" by VictoriaTait https://www.krlnews.com/2023/03/priceless-betrayal-by-victoria-tait.html

FYI KRL will not have an April 1 issue as I will be out of town.

Happy reading,
Lorie

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hit List: Top 10 Favorite Reprints from Dean Street Press

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hit List: Top 10 Favorite Reprints from Dean S...: If you're a casual mystery reader who looked at our little niche corner on the internet, you might get the impression that the prevailin...

Lesa's Book Critiques: Yours Truly by James R. Hagerty

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Yours Truly by James R. Hagerty

The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers: 3-24-23

 The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers: 3-24-23

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death by Smoothie by Laura Levine

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death by Smoothie by Laura Levine:   Reviewed by Kristin Jaine Austen (no, not that Jane Austen), can’t seem to get away from Cryptessa Muldoon. Cryptessa was the main ch...

Scott's Take: Ghost Rider Vol 1: Unchained by Benjamin Percy


Ghost Rider Vol 1: Unchained by Benjamin Percy (the author of the current Wolverine series) is the newest Ghost Rider series with Johnny Blaze as the lead. We find Johnny currently living a happy life with his wife and kids in a quiet town. He is suffering from the after effects of a motorcycle accident. He suffered a head injury and is dealing with occasional hallucinations that cause him to see the people around him as monsters. As long-time readers know, his wife and kids are dead so something is clearly wrong.

The first part of the read is about Johnny trying to what is real and what is not. When he does, he then goes across the country fighting against the demons who have made rural America their hunting grounds while being hunted by the FBI.

This is a back-to-basics Ghost Rider volume which establishes how hard the Johnny Blaze life is and why the world needs the Ghost Rider. Since most superheroes are not nomadic, evil can build up in small towns that people don’t care about. In a way, he is Jack Reacher and cleaning up rural America one town at a time.

The art is really good and the monsters are suitable disgusting and horrific. The violent battles are bloody and full gore. There is a ton of death, body horror, and gruesome images. This is not for kids. This is a dark tale with strong horror themes. This series continues with the late April 2023 release of Ghost Rider Vol 2: Shadow Country. There are also two more miniseries that are supposed to be launching out of this series as well. This revitalization of Ghost Rider seems to be doing quite well. It’s nice to have Johnny back as a lead character again. 


My reading copy came via the Hoopla app of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2023