Thursday, December 09, 2021
Want To Be A Guest?
You could be and
the process is as easy as I can make it. The open days are currently Tuesdays,
Thursdays, and Sundays. I usually run excerpts from published or about to be
published works on Sundays as they seem to work best on those days.
Topic--pretty much
anything goes. While my blog is mainly aimed towards items of interest for
readers and writers of mystery and crime fiction, I am open to pretty much
anything. I do ask that folks avoid the topics of religion and politics unless
either or both directly relate to the work being discussed or promoted.
Before contacting
me, please have an actual idea in mind. I do not assign topics. This is your
opportunity to write what you want to write about. You know your books, your
expertise in topics, etc. I do not. Your idea does not have to be set in stone.
It does need to have some detail. Have at least a couple of things that you
know you want to have in your piece and tell me that in your pitch.
Word Count:
Totally up to you. I do not set a maximum or a minimum word count.
This is, as
always, a non paying opportunity. Yes, I value your work. I also have no income
other than SSD (and that is just a few hundred each month) and am supporting
myself, my adult son, and this old house on what little I inherited when my Mom
passed.
While I have no
funds to pay you, I can promise to promote the heck out of your appearance. You
will be seen. I can not promise a certain number of sales, but most guests do
see a spike in their sales. Guests who are on the blog on a semi regular basis
do far better than one off appearances, but everyone does see an impact.
Questions/ pitches should be sent to me at Kevinrtipple AT Verizon.net
Wednesday, December 08, 2021
Frank Zafiro's Write Place, Write Crime: Open & Shut with Kevin Tipple (Podcast)
It was a privilege and an honor to be invited to participate on Frank Zafiro's long running podcast. The deal today was recorded about a month or so ago. We talked books, reviewing, short stories, and a lot more. Hope you give it a listen. It is slightly more than a half hour.
http://wrongplacewritecrime.com/2021/12/08/open-shut-w-kevin-tipple/
The Reading Room: The Midnight Hour (The Brighton Mysteries #6) by Elly Griffiths: Reading Room Review
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Summons, Crossroads, Bewilderment, The...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE STRIDING PLACE by Gertrude Atherton
Little Big Crimes Review: Two Birds, One Todd by Karen Harrington
Short Story Wednesday Review: Black Cat Mystery Magazine #10
After a brief introduction by editor Michael Bracken, Black
Cat Mystery Magazine #10 opens with “The Last Gasp” by H.K. Slade. With
the department short staffed and three gang related shootings that morning, Senior
Detective Ambrose Broyhill is out in the heat at a murder scene that hardly has
any police presence. Once officer, who looks to be the same age as his young
grandson, is out on the street and a second officer is the house with the
suspect and the dead body. The officer inside is Friday Hampton, daughter of
the department legend, Tony Hampton. She’s young, smart, and has a gut feeling
that the Broyhill believes is important. She just has not put all the clues
together yet.
“Spook” by Emilio DeGrazia comes next where the narrator is
pretty sure that they saw Rondel Collins on Sunday night just outside of
Chisolm. Problem is that allegedly he was not in Minnesota Sunday night as he was
killed by police in Alabama Saturday night. This happened just a few hours
after he supposedly killed Ginny Gunderson. The police there said he was barricaded
in a stall inside a barn. He would not come out. So, since they had no idea
what weapon or weapons he had, they shot him dead in self-defense. That means
that, somehow, a black outsider originally from Detroit with no car, killed a
local gal, and then a few hours later and more than a thousand miles away, dies
in a barn in Alabama. Does not make sense at all and that is not the only local
weird thing going on.
Getting dumped the week before Thanksgiving hit her hard in “Out
of a Fog” by Barb Goffman. It takes her some time to plan after she realizes
the depths of his betrayal. She has the time to plan since she does not have a
boyfriend anymore. One way or another, he’s going to get his.
Captain Ernesto Guillén hates the new posting, but when you embarrass a major
businessman and political donor to the mayor, you get yourself banished to the
hinterlands. In his case, he was sent to Manglaralto, a tiny Ecuadorian fishing
village where it is too damn hot and humid and his clothing constantly itches
and scratches because of it. Everything combines to irritate his senses as does
the increasingly vocal villagers clustered outside the small station. They are
demanding the police release the suspected killer to them so they can deal with
him directly. That is not going to happen and not just because Captain Ernesto
Guillén is sure that the arrested suspect did not do the crime in “El Pescador
Zurdo” by Tom Larsen.
Rebecca Sweeney had it coming for what she did. That means
Allison has a problem in “A Blue Umbrella Sky” by R.S. Morgan. Part of her
problem is guilt and embarrassment. Part of her problem is that she is going to
have to talk to the Kentucky State Police. It is karma at work, after all.
“Death Will Give you A Reason” by Elizabeth Zelvin is next
and death certainly explains why Cindy had to cancel her dinner plans. A
floater found by professional dog walkers who compromised the scene is the
first of several problems with the case. Her sobriety is going to be tested in
a new way as the floater is Shane Dougherty and a man she knew long ago when
they were kids. She intends to find out why he wound up in the river and then
on a morgue table in New York City.
Marc is in hiding somewhere in the very northern reaches of
New England. He has been sent to see Woody at a house at the end of a winding
dirt road that does not show up on any maps. It is a sanctuary, in a sense, in “The
Mannequin Graveyard” by Gregory L. Norris.
“Saving the Indiana Dae” by Vicki Weisfeld comes next
where Bruce Pritchard loves his new get away home. It used to be the schooner Indiana
Dae before the ship was thrown on to land during a storm in the late 1880s.
The old ship had eventually become a tourist attraction by the sixties and then
had fallen into considerable disrepair. In the here and now, Mr. Pritchard
spent a lot of money fixing it up to be livable and a cozy weekend getaway. He
isn’t the only one invested in the old schooner and things are about to take a strange
turn.
While the past was a major piece of the preceding tale, the
future and what can be done with technology is a major piece of the story. Securing
the border so effectively means that the local economy cratered and what crime
there is mainly involves the personnel working out of the security towers. Most
of the staff has computer chips installed in their earlobes. The fact the body
is missing both ears thanks to clean cuts that no predator could duplicate
means that the dead person is probably somebody on staff. That makes it his
case in “The Control Tower” by Janice Law.
Many of us suffered the hunt for X in algebra and very well
understand why Tiffany hates it all so much. Algebra certainly does nothing to
help her ADHD. Her inability to understand algebra and her ADHD are two of
several things her Dad does not understand in “Slow Down” by Steve Liskow. He
also does not understand how music is a such a great help to her at all times
and especially when she is stressed.
Competitive eating is a thing these days, thanks to ESPN and
other outlets. The national media folks may not have made it to “Burnin Butt,
Texas” for the jalapeno eating contest yet, but they might next year. A murder
at the contest gets the attention of a lot of folks in this tale by Mark Troy.
The issue closes with “The Affair of Lamson’s Cook” by
Charles Felton Pidgin and Jim Taylor. The tale originally appeared in The
Chronicles of Quincy Adams Sawyer, Detective back in 1912. In this case,
Quincy has not been having a lot to do lately so his reserves, mentally and
physically, are in good shape when Herbert Lamson shows up in his touring car
looking for him. Lamson wants him to take a ride out to his country home where
his cook has been found dead that morning. Her name was Mrs. Elizabeth Buck.
Known to be a shrew when not cooking, Lansom has no idea who would killer her.
Edited by Michael Bracken, Black Cat Mystery Magazine
#10 is another solidly good read. The twelve mystery tales included in
the new issue showcase a wide range in author styles, time periods, and mystery
flavors. Some are cozy style while others have a slightly harder edge. Once
again, some folks deserved their killing. Suitable for readers of nearly all
age groups, Black Cat Mystery Magazine #10 is another comfortable
and fun mystery read.
I purchased this in eBook format last month after I received
an Amazon gift card from an online friend for my birthday.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
Tuesday, December 07, 2021
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: The New York Times Wants Your Personal Essays - Paying Market
Review: The Dark Hours by Michael Connelly
After the fireworks and the gunfire finally ends, they get a
call to respond to a nearby shooting near the intersection of Sunset Boulevard
and Gower Street. Back in the day, it was where day labors were picked up to
work as extras in Westerns. These days, a faded shopping plaza sits on the spot
with walled off studio lots nearby. Across the street is a string of auto
repair shops and aging apartment complexes. It is the gang territory of Las
Palmas 13 and they will soon learn that their victim was once in the Las Palmas
13.
Many years ago, Javier Raffa, bought his way out of the
gang. In the here and now, he was owner of an auto body shop. Each year for
NYE, he would throw a neighborhood party and put out a keg for all. The headshot
he took this night means he won’t be around to host another. The headshot was
also clearly not because of a round coming back to earth.
Somebody executed Raffa at close range and did it while
everyone else in the crowd was looking skyward. Even more interesting, the bullet
involved traces back to a cold case of one Detective Harry Bosch. While he is
even more of a hot potato due to his recent actions, there is no option but to reach
out to Bosch and discuss the situation. She needs his help and has to get it as
quietly as possible in order not to totally destroy her own career.
At the same time, it is also clear that Moore is going to be
zero help, at best, and a definite hindrance at worst. The two are paired as part
of the hunt for a pair of serial rapists known as the “Midnight Men.” The
horrible attitude expressed in so many ways by Moore reflects the ongoing malaise
affecting many in the LAPD. Moral is in the toilet that to the protests, the pandemic,
and various other factors that getting Moore and many other officers to do more
than the minimum is problematic. So, basically, Ballard is on her own on the rape
case and is pretty much on her own on the murder case because using Bosch comes
with limits and severe consequences.
But, like Bosch, Ballard only knows one way to do the job.
Screw the politics, build cases, and get the bad folks off the street. What follows
is an intense police procedural that works by the way of several different
storylines. Multiple cases and other matters are slowly brought together in a
read with a powerful ending. One would expect nothing else from the author and
he more than delivers in The Dark Hours.
The Dark Hours
Michael Connelly
https://www.michaelconnelly.com/
Little, Brown and Company
https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/michael-connelly/the-dark-hours/9780316256568/
November 2021
ISBN# 978-0-316-48564-7
Hardback (also currently available in audio and eBook
formats)
400 Pages
My reading copy came from the Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
Monday, December 06, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin
SleuthSayers: No Longer the Golden (Age) Standard... by Steve Liskow
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Misjudged by James Chandler
Misjudged by James
Chandler (Severn River Publishing, 2020) is the first book in a new legal
thriller series with Sam Johnstone as the lead character. Chandler is the
pseudonym of Paul Phillips, a retired career Army officer who now is a circuit
court judge in Wyoming. Johnstone is a disabled veteran who loves to fish and
who has a great reverence for the law. His untreated PTSD has left him unable
to hold steady employment on the East Coast, and he accepts the last-chance
offer of an old law school friend to join his small law practice in Custer,
Wyoming.
The effects
of PTSD on Sam, even years after the precipitating event, are wrenching. When
an easel falls over in the courtroom, Sam has a flashback and screams
“Incoming!” as he dives under a table, disrupting judicial proceedings. The
only place Sam finds peace is fishing alone in the scenic mountain lakes and
streams. Sam accepts the help he’s declined for years during the story in a
strong effort by the author to show veterans the impact of the hard years of
middle Eastern conflict can be reduced.
The town of
Custer is a far cry from the law practices of Georgetown in Washington, DC,
where Sam has been working. The lawyers in town are often uncomfortably cozy
with the two judges who hold sway over the courthouse, and the janitors often
know as much about cases being tried as the participants. To get along, lawyers
go along, sometimes at the expense of the equitable application of the law.
I’ll never trust a small-town lawyer again after reading this book. The degree
of wheeling and dealing and under the table arrangements is staggering,
especially considering the size of Custer.
The caliber of cases is depressingly mundane. Custer has a severe substance abuse problem and most crimes can be traced to alcohol, prescription drugs, or illegally manufactured ones. Soon after Sam’s arrival, another alcoholic veteran with PTSD is arrested for a particularly gory murder, and Sam feels compelled to take the case to ensure the man is treated fairly. Since a conviction would be convenient for everyone but the defendant, Sam finds himself battling powerful forces. How he prevails is a well-organized and immersive story with memorable characters in an atypical setting for a legal thriller. Highly recommended.
·
Publisher: Severn River
Publishing (November 10, 2020)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 364 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1648750354
·
ISBN-13: 978-1648750359
Aubrey Nye
Hamilton ©2021
Aubrey
Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and
reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, December 05, 2021
Beneath the Stains of Time: Mom Meets Her Maker (1990) by James Yaffe
The Reading Room: The Corpse with the Granite Heart by Cathy Ace: Reading Room Review
Sample Sunday: Excerpt: Under An Outlaw Moon: A Novel by Dietrich Kalteis
Please welcome back Dietrich
Kalteis back to the blog today with an excerpt from his new book, Under An Outlaw
Moon: A Novel.
.
. . one
June 12, 1937
In the eyes of men I am not just
But in your eyes, O life, I see justification
You have taught
me that my path is right if I am true to you.
Sixteen, huh? Well, I might’ve
guessed older.” Flashing her the honest blue eyes.
“Well, maybe you’d’a been wrong then, huh?” Said her name
was Stella Mae Redenbaugh, looking at him like she saw something underneath his
smile, this guy with the wavy hair, skating around the roller rink, looking at
her now and then, finally coming over when she was alone next to the boards.
Making a fast stop and showing his moves.
Stella knowing her friend Liz and the other girls were
looking over from the concession stand, whispering and giggling to each other.
Made her feel good, lying to him that she was sixteen.
“Well, I been wrong a time or two,” he said, “but still, I
guess you’d pass for older.”
“Older, like how much?” Crinkling her nose — Stella guessed
it looked cute like when she practiced it in the mirror — smiling at him,
liking the way this Johnny O’Malley was flirting with her, something no boy had
done before. Not feeling that unease she often felt around men. Been that way
since her real father just walked off, Stella thinking good riddance, happy her
mother wouldn’t get hit and bruised anymore. Her stepfather, Lester, being made
of better stuff, a quiet man working hard for the family. Maybe dull in that
way, but at least the man didn’t leave those awful bruises on her mother.
Fifteen and Stella wasn’t sure what the look meant that
Johnny D. O’Malley was putting on her, but she was thinking maybe she wouldn’t
mind finding out.
“I don’t know, let’s see . . . eighteen maybe.” Johnny
grinned, saying, “Guess I ain’t saying it right.”
“Well, I think you’re saying it just fine.” She liked the
way his cheeks flushed then, yeah, starting to feel easier with him. Not tall,
but a nice build and good looking with the blue eyes and wavy hair. Older by a
mile, even if she had been eighteen. Stella liking the way Liz was watching
from the refreshment stand, talking to some boys, the rest of the girls gone
home.
§
Bennie Dickson had been feeding
lines to the pretty blonde, this Stella Mae. Now he was getting caught up in
it. Laid it on pretty thick, saying he was a prize fighter in training. That
part was true, and Johnny O’Malley was the name he used when he stepped through
the ropes.
Not sure why he used the name on her, the name the promotor
had come up with, telling Bennie it gave him the Irish edge, a young fighter
showing promise, along with a punishing right hook, something they could build
on.
Bennie didn’t tell her anything about the trouble he’d been
in, the stuff he got into back when his old man told him he was acting more
loser than winner, anything but a Dickson man. Strike one coming for the stolen
car, doing time in that reformatory and shaming the family. Bad Bennie not
learning life the easy way, then taking a second swing when he got mixed up in
the Missouri bank job, giving up six more hard years in the Missouri pen, same
place they kept Pretty Boy Floyd, the place inmates called The Walls on account
of that high gray limestone surrounding the place. Life’s lessons kicking
Bennie hard that time. Working in the prison library and learning to box while
inside. Finally convincing the parole board he got the message and wasn’t going
to make the same mistakes, released into his father’s custody. Just turned
twenty-six, and Bennie swore to go straight this time.
Might have been partly why he was feeling more Johnny than
Bad Bennie right then, telling this girl about the job he just took driving a
cab, the money he made allowing him to sweat and work the bag in the Hard Rock
gym. Then switching the focus, telling her she skated like a pro.
“You been watching me, huh?”
“Admit I was.” From over by the boards, betting all the boys
looked her way. From the corner of his eye now, he caught the three mutts
eyeing him from over by the food stand, the ones chatting to Stella’s friend.
The looks meant they guessed who he was and knew about the time he served. Thinking
they were better and wanting to prove it. Bennie feeling glad his older brother
Spencer had showed up at the rink today, two years older and born on the same
day, the two of them of the same blood. Spencer known around town as a tough
customer. And although the oldest of the three wasn’t there that day, the same
went for Darwin, a reputation for watching out for his brothers, likely the
main reasons the mutts were keeping their distance. Still, they had that look,
like they had something to prove.
§
“Me, pffft, nobody sees me.
Just a place I meet Liz and the girls and have a few laughs, is all.” Stella
Mae thinking who had money for roller skating, a nickel just to get in the
place, wondering again if Johnny meant what he said, that she looked eighteen,
maybe older. Could be on account of the way she’d pulled her hair back that
day, not wanting it in her eyes when she skated around, the sweater showing the
promise of changes coming, and the ruby lipstick from her mother’s dressing
table completing the picture. Liked her lips red like that, Stella doing it
more these days when her mother was out of the house. Always wiped it off
before she went back home. “How you like it, the music?” Johnny asked. Not sure
what the number was piping from the speaker cone. Admitting to her he had a tin
ear.
“This one’s Lionel Hampton, called ‘Hot Mallets.’ They play
it all the time, everybody skating to it. One the girls like to dance to.”
“That right? Well, lucky for Lionel, how about it then,
let’s see you do it. Dance or skate, either one.”
“Just ’cause you say so, huh?” Stella acting indifferent,
the smile letting him know she was playing too.
“Just like to watch you move.” The blush in his cheeks
betrayed him, and he pushed off the boards and skated around the rink, turning
and going backwards, moving faster between and around the couples and singles,
pretending he was doing it to the music, moving his hips and clowning, looking
her way, smiling from across the rink. He swished around and grabbed hold of
the boards next to her, saying, “So, come on, girl, catch up if you’re any
good.” And he was off again, going around and looking to see that she was
watching. “I’ve Got a Pocketful of Dreams,” coming through the speakers now.
The three mutts over at refreshments watching him too.
Standing with a hand against the boards, Stella glanced over
at Liz still talking to the boys, likely saying something dumb. Pushing off,
she windmilled her arms to gain her balance, half the rink between them.
Johnny coming around and past her, calling out, “Hey,
slowpoke.”
Picking up speed on the rented skates, she ducked and went
under a couple with joined hands, nearly ended on her butt as she bumped them
apart. Johnny slowed and let her catch up, holding out his hand, then catching
her again from falling, the two of them moving around the rink, holding hands
now. Going around two more times, he stopped over by Spencer and introduced
her, asking how old Spencer guessed she was, mouthing eighteen behind her back.
Also pointed at himself and mouthed to call him Johnny.
Spencer said,
“It ain’t right to guess a lady’s age.” Smiling at her, offering his hand.
Stella
liking this older brother calling her a lady, told him it was nice to meet him.
Taking her hand again,
Bennie did it like it was a natural thing. Stella not pulling away, thinking
maybe he did it to keep her from falling, but she liked the way her friend Liz
kept looking, the three boys looking too. And she lost track how many times she
skated around with him, talking about where they went to school, places around
town they both knew. Bennie saying he was serious about his boxing, and driving
a cab too. Then asking about her, where she lived, how she liked the school she
went to, getting to know her.
Letting him buy her a soda after, the two of them just kept
talking, not running out of things. Playing at being eighteen, she pushed away
thoughts of her mother worrying about her being out as the afternoon gave way
to evening. Then realizing Liz had gone home, Stella told him she’d better get
on home too.
“Well, I got my car, can give you a lift if you want?”
Wanting to trust him, but knowing her mother’s rule about
getting in cars with boys. Saying, “I’m okay, I can walk.”
“Well, I’m just offering is all.”
They stood talking a few more minutes. Bennie didn’t push
it, offering to return her skates to the rental desk, asking, “So, how do I see
you again?”
“Well, you come next Saturday and maybe you will.” Smiling,
she let him take the skates.
“Not the brush-off, I hope — I mean, you’re gonna show,
right?”
“Guess you’re gonna find out.” Smiling, she started walking,
knowing he was watching her, not sure how she’d get another nickel, but she’d
get it, and she’d be here next Saturday alright.
Excerpted from Under an Outlaw Moon by Dietrich Kalteis. © 2021 by Dietrich Kalteis. All rights reserved. Published by ECW
Press Ltd. www.ecwpress.com
Dietrich Kalteis ©2021
Dietrich Kalteis is the
award-winning author of Ride the Lightning (bronze medal winner, 2015 Independent
Publisher Book Awards, for best regional fiction), The Deadbeat Club,
Triggerfish, House of Blazes (silver medal winner, 2017 Independent Publisher
Book Awards, for best historical fiction), Zero Avenue, Poughkeepsie Shuffle,
Call Down the Thunder, Cradle of the Deep, and Under an Outlaw Moon. His novel
The Deadbeat Club has been translated to German, entitled Shootout, and 50 of
his short stories have also been published internationally. He lives with his
family on Canada’s West Coast. More info at https://dietrichkalteis.com/
Saturday, December 04, 2021
KRL This Week Update for 12/4/2021
Up in KRL this morning a review and giveaway of "It's a Wonderful Woof" by Spencer Quinn https://kingsriverlife.com/12/04/its-a-wonderful-woof-by-spencer-quinn/
SleuthSayers: The Z-Files by John Floyd
SHOTSMAG CONFIDENTIAL: Announcing Reacher
Scott's Take: Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid Book 4) by Seanan McGuire
Pocket Apocalypse
by Seanan McGuire is the fourth Incryptid novel and readers are back in the
world of Alex Price. Everything is going well until his girlfriend Shelby
Tanner asks him to go to Australia and help her and her family with a problem. Australia
is a dangerous place because of the wildlife as it is, but these days they also
have an outbreak of werewolves threating the fragile ecosystem. Since werewolves
are not native to Australia, the Tanner family has no experience dealing with werewolves.
Alex does and it was not an experience he particularly enjoyed. But, this is
Shelby asking for help. So, Alex reluctantly joins his girlfriend on her trip
back to her native country.
This book is full of action, humor, and plenty of Australian
monsters. There is plenty of family drama in this novel because the Tanner
family is more focused on their family problems than the fact that there are werewolves
spreading across the country infecting and eating people.
The Aeslin Mice remain one of my favorite parts of this
series. Aeslin Mice, for those who are not familiar with this series are
religious mice that can talk and make funny observations that delight this reader.
I highly recommend Pocket Apocalypse by
Seanan McGuire for those who are interested in a fun book. The fifth book, Chaos
Choreography, changes the main character back to Verity Price who was
the heroine of the first two books.
Pocket Apocalypse (InCryptid
Book 4)
Seanan
McGuire
DAW
Books, Inc. (Penguin)
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/312929/pocket-apocalypse-by-seanan-mcguire/
March
2015
ISBN# 0756408121
Paperback
(available in audio and eBook formats)
368
Pages
My copy came from the Central/Downtown Branch of the Dallas
Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2021
Friday, December 03, 2021
Beneath the Stains of Time: Here Be Dragons: "The Donnington Affair" (1914) by G.K. Chesterton and Max Pemberton
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Unkindness of Ravens by M.E. Hilliard
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: OF WORLDS BEYOND: The Science of Science Fiction Writing -- A Symposium
Barry Ergang's FFB Review: MR. MONK AND THE TWO ASSISTANTS (2007) by Lee Goldberg
Hardcore
“Monk” fans know the back story: Adrian Monk’s photojournalist wife Trudy was
murdered in a car bombing by person or persons unknown. Devastated, Monk was
nearly catatonic for the next three years. When he was released from the
hospital, it was in the care of a nurse named Sharona Fleming, who functioned
as both his nurse and assistant for the next several years. When Sharona
remarried Trevor, the husband she’d previously divorced, and moved from San
Francisco back to New Jersey, Monk hired Natalie Teeger as his new assistant.
So when, in Mr. Monk and the Two Assistants, Natalie’s daughter Julie breaks her wrist during a soccer game, necessitating a trip to the emergency room, both Natalie and Monk are stunned to see Sharona working there. Monk is ecstatic as he imagines both women in his life; Natalie feels threatened by the prospect of losing her job to Sharona.
It
turns out that Trevor moved to Los Angeles after buying a landscaping company,
and is now in jail, charged with murdering one of his clients. Convinced he’s
guilty, Sharona would be happy to let him languish while she resumes working
for Monk. Natalie wants Monk to prove Trevor innocent so Sharona will get back
together with him, thus solidifying Natalie’s position as Monk’s sole
assistant.
After
Natalie takes it upon herself to visit Trevor, she persuades Monk to
investigate. She, Sharona and Monk drive to L.A., a place Monk quickly learns
to fear, to begin their probe of the events. There they meet, among others,
bestselling mystery novelist Ian Ludlow, who frequently acts as a consultant to
the LAPD.
When
they return to San Francisco, Captain Stottlemeyer tells Monk, who’s a paid
consultant to the SFPD, that he needs his help in the murder—on a nude beach,
to Monk‘s chagrined horror—of one Ronald Webster, a shoe store clerk.
Eventually
it becomes clear that the two apparently disparate cases are connected, and any
veteran mystery reader will easily guess the identity of the culprit. Proving
said culprit’s guilt is another matter entirely, because that person has
cleverly and convincingly developed seemingly airtight cases against Sharona
and Natalie as the perpetrators of the two murders.
This
is the fourth of Lee Goldberg’s Monk novels that I’ve read. I’ve enjoyed all of
them, but this one is the best to date, in no small measure because of its
fairly-clued solution. The clue, I might point out, is kept in front of the
reader throughout the book, but is nevertheless elusive—a sign of excellent
authorial misdirection.
Recommended
without reservations.
Barry
Ergang © 2008, 2021
Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang’s written
work has appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic. Some of it is
available at Amazon and at Smashwords. His website is http://www.writetrack.yolasite.com/.
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