Harlan Has Left The Building by Dean Wesley Smith

Harlan Has Left The Building by Dean Wesley Smith

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Dance for Emilia by Peter S. Beagle

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Dance for Emilia by Peter S. Beagle: Reviewed by Jeanne Sam and Jake have been friends since high school: closer than friends, more like brothers.    Both are drawn ...

My Little Corner: A Little Respect Please by Sandra Seamans

My Little Corner: A Little Respect Please by Sandra Seamans

KRL This Week Update for 6/30/18

Up in KRL this morning a review & giveaway of 4 more June mysteries for your summer reading-"Crime and Punctuation": Deadly Edits series by Kaitlyn Dunnett, "Murder at the Mansion": Victorian Village Mystery by Sheila Connolly, "The Spook in the Stacks": A Lighthouse Library Mystery by Eva Gates, and "Till Death Do Us Tart": A Bakeshop Mystery by Ellie Alexanderhttp://kingsriverlife.com/06/30/end-of-june-mystery-catch-up/

Also up this week we have one more LGBTQ+ mystery in honor of Pride Month, a review & giveaway of "Seven Suspects" by Renee James which features a transgender main character, and transgender author. We also have an interesting interview with Reneehttp://kingsriverlife.com/06/30/seven-suspects-by-renee-james/

Perfect for your 4th of July reading, up in KRL this morning a review & giveaway of "Firework Fiasco" by Kathi Daleyhttp://kingsriverlife.com/06/30/firework-fiasco-by-kathi-daley/

We also have a review of "For Sale by Killer" by Catherine Bruns, and a giveaway of the first book in that series "Killer Transaction"http://kingsriverlife.com/06/30/for-sale-by-killer-by-catherine-bruns/

Also we have the latest mystery Coming Attractions from Sunny Frazier, along with a giveaway of a book from a former Coming Attractions, "Read Herring Hunt" by VM Burns http://kingsriverlife.com/06/30/coming-attractions-the-lets-dine-out-edition/

We have a Kathi Daley double header this week in KRL, as we also have a review & giveaway of her book "Finding Answers"http://kingsriverlife.com/06/30/finding-answers-by-kathi-daley/

And a review & giveaway of "Tailed" by Joyce Ann Brown http://kingsriverlife.com/06/30/tailed-by-joyce-ann-brown/

And up on KRL News & Reviews today a review and giveaway of a mystery perfect for your 4th of July, "Rocket's Dead Glare" by Lynn Cahoon http://www.krlnews.com/2018/06/rockets-dead-glare-lynn-cahoon.html

And a review and giveaway of "Beyond the Pale" by Clare O'Donohue http://www.krlnews.com/2018/06/beyond-pale-by-clare-odonohue.html

Happy reading,

Lorie 

Outlaws Echo: The Hat On The Bed by J.R. Lindermuth

Outlaws Echo: The Hat On The Bed by J.R. Lindermuth

Lesa's Book Critiques: In Dark Company by Linda Castillo

Lesa's Book Critiques: In Dark Company by Linda Castillo

The 2018 Texas Observer Short Story Contest is now open

The 2018 Texas Observer Short Story Contest is now open

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Empress of the East, Ice Cream Queen, C...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Empress of the East, Ice Cream Queen, C...: Reported by Jeanne The Empress of the East:   How a European Slave Girl Became the Queen of the Ottoman Empire by Leslie Peirce...

Saturdays With Kaye: Rusty Puppy by Joe R. Lansdale

Rusty Puppy by Joe R. Lansdale

After starting with the best beginning phrase I’ve read for a long while (“I was still getting over being dead…”), this Hap and Leonard adventure was off and running.

Hap, the white half of the team, is recovering from a gunshot wound, dying twice in the hospital when Louise, a black lady who lives across the street, comes into the office wanting to speak to the other one, the black one: Leonard. Her son Jamar, she says, has been murdered in Camp Rapture and she wants them to investigate. Because that’s a tough, black neighborhood, she would rather Leonard take her case. When she realizes that she and Hap bonded a few years ago over an incident at a chicken plant, he’s hired. And no, she doesn’t want the cops involved. She’s pretty sure they’re the ones who killed her son.

The investigators wade into this murky case, getting rumors and half-truths from reluctant witnesses. One of them, Little Woman, is dubbed a “four-hundred-year-old midget vampire” by Leonard and the description fits. She’s a great character.

They discover that Jamar was trying to gather evidence to defend his sister, who was abusively arrested by Officer Coldpoint, and he may very well have been killed by the cops. The story, buoyed along by the hilarious banter between the two main characters—raunchy but definitely hilarious—takes the self-professed persistent bumblers to an old mill where broken bodies have been recovered from an opaque, toxic mill pond. The bodies are dubbed “rusty puppies” because of the discolored debris they are coated with when they’re recovered.

Hap spins a tale of racial violence, hatred, and brutality while the reader wonders if the duo has met their match at last.

Reviewed by Kaye George, Editor of, Day of the Dark: Eclipse Stories, for Suspense Magazine.

In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange for 6/28/18

In Reference To Murder: Mystery Melange for 6/28/18

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn: Reviewed by Christy               Camille Preaker is a lower tier Chicago reporter trying to prove to her kindly editor-in-chief...

FFB Review: Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen (Reviewed by Barry Ergang)

Summer often means repeats and for this final Friday in June, the below is a repeat review from Barry Ergang that ran before in October 2012. Make sure you check out the full list of books over at Patti’s blog.

UPDATE.... This morning I have learned that Mr. Hiaasen's brother, Rob Hiaasen, was one of several people killed yesterday in the senseless shooting at the newspaper in Maryland. Terribly sad news. 

LUCKY YOU by CARL HIASSEN

 “Suspense” is one of those words that, in fiction, we probably take too much for granted as implying apprehension and associate purely with the sinister. We expect to experience suspense when reading a mystery, horror, science fiction or adventure story, but we forget that it can enter into even the homiest of tales--e.g., Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, unlikely as it would seem one of the most suspenseful novels ever. Ultimately, any good story contains an element of suspense or we wouldn’t bother reading it to the end. “Suspense” equals “page-turner,” whether the author is Homer, Dante, Dostoevsky, Raymond Chandler or Stephen King. 

Where does suspense enter into comedy? A joke is a perfect example. You listen intently, waiting for the punchline, sometimes anticipating it, sometimes only thinking you’ve anticipated it correctly. If the punchline delivers the goods, you laugh; if it doesn’t, you remain silent--or groan. 

Can a mystery or crime novel be both funny and suspenseful? All you have to do to answer that is read one of Jonathan Latimer’s Bill Crane novels, or Craig Rice’s novels and stories about John J. Malone. Even John Dickson Carr (a.k.a. Carter Dickson), best-known for the eerie atmospheres that surrounded his “impossible crime” tales, occasionally injected some wacky humor into otherwise macabre proceedings. Donald E. Westlake, in God Save the Mark, The Hot Rock and many others, has shown that the criminous can be comical. 

Which brings us to Carl Hiaasen, who may be as good as comedic suspense writers get, and his book Lucky You. It’s a page-turning good time that’ll have you smiling and occasionally laughing out loud. The only problem Hiaasen elicits is the conflict between wanting to devour his books in one or two sittings versus wanting to savor the hilarity over a period of days. 

Lucky You starts when a young black woman, JoLayne Lucks, a veterinary assistant in the small town of Grange, Florida, learns that she’s won the state lottery to the tune of $28 million. With her winnings, she hopes to purchase a tract of land called Simmons Wood before developers do, to prevent it from being transformed into a shopping mall. What she doesn’t know is that there’s another winner, a white supremacist wannabe named Bodean Gazzer, who has enlisted the dubious assistance of the glue-sniffing, aerosol-huffing misfit Onus Dean Gillespie, who goes by the monicker Chub. Bodean intends to steal JoLayne’s ticket, $14 million not being enough to fund his newly founded organization, the White Clarion Aryans.

Tom Krome, formerly an investigative reporter for a New York paper that downsized its staff, and now working as a feature writer for a small Florida paper called The Register, is assigned to interview the reticent JoLayne. When she’s robbed, beaten and humiliated by Bodean and Chub, Krome decides to help her recover her ticket. 

That’s how the book starts. 

Deliciously complicating matters are various bizarre subplots and characters, among them Mary Andrea Finlay Krome, Tom’s wife, whom he’s been trying to divorce for years and who keeps eluding his attempts to do so; Katie Battenkill, with whom Tom has had a two-week affair; Judge Arthur Battenkill, Katie’s philandering but vindictive husband, who dispatches an inept assistant to burn Tom’s house down; Sinclair, Tom’s managing editor, who has a religious revelation in Grange and begins “speaking in tongues” after he holds a turtle whose shell is painted with the image of one of the Apostles--painted by Demencio, an entrepreneur who preys on the devotions of the ultra-religious by creating and perpetuating roadside miracles--among them a statue of the Virgin Mary that weeps perfume-scented tears; Dominick Amador, the incompetent builder who cashes in on the religious trade by drilling holes in his hands and feet to create “stigmata” Shiner, the convenience store clerk recruited by Bodean and Chub and assigned by Chub to kidnap the love of his life: Amber, the canny waitress at Hooters; and Bernard Squires, investment manager for the Central Midwest Brotherhood of Grouters, Spacklers and Drywallers International, sent to Grange by Richard “The Icepick” Tarbone, who is skimming the union’s pension fund, to purchase under any circumstances the same tract of land JoLayne wants to preserve. 

Hiaasen, himself an investigative reporter for the Miami Herald (which makes one wonder what kinds of people he’s encountered in real-life, and whether some of them find their ways into his books), skillfully blends these characters and situations into a plausible sequence of comic and not-so-comic events in a way that will keep you turning the pages to find out what happens next. Like Swift, Twain and Thurber, all of whom he’s been compared to, Hiaasen has a satirical take on contemporary life; like Dickens, he has a knack for rendering outlandish characters so as to make them goofily believable. Even his villains, if hardly likable, are fascinating to watch.

If you haven’t read Hiaasen, whose previous novels--Tourist Season, Double Whammy, Skin Tight, Native Tongue, Strip Tease (the book is infinitely better than the movie!), and Stormy Weather--are all eminently worth your time, Lucky You is a wonderful place to start. If you have read him but haven’t gotten to this one as yet, you’re in for a laugh-peppered treat rich with subtle social commentary that never hinders the pace.

Still doubt that comedy can be suspenseful? Lucky you: you can dispel the doubts by reading Lucky You.

Barry Ergang ©2008, 2012, 2018

While his website is http://www.writetrack.yolasite.com/  some of Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang’s work is available at Amazon and Smashwords.com 

The Passive Voice: Yes, ‘Little House on the Prairie’ is racially insensitive — but we should still read it

The Passive Voice: Yes, ‘Little House on the Prairie’ is racially insensitive — but we should still read it

Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 33 Calls for Submissions in July 2018 - Paying mar...

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Review: Suburban Dick: A Novel by CS DeWildt

Gus Harris is a private detective who is living the classic private detective lifestyle. Dead broke, recently divorced and very unhappy, he is struggling to keep his business afloat, not beat up his wife’s new boyfriend (even though the guy clearly needs a good beating), and stay in his kids life. It is a lot to handle. Then he gets a case in his small office above Hostetter’s Vacuum Repair. You might tend to be cranky all the time as well if you listened to the noise from vacuum cleaners screaming all day.

Gene and Grace Hughes are his latest clients and when they start explaining why they are in his office, Gus starts remembering the news coverage. Their son is missing. He was best friends with Drew Davis. The same Drew Davis who recently committed suicide by jumping off the pedestrian bridge in the Horton Nature Preserve. His death sparked a wave of stories about teenage suicides in both the local and national news outlets. Both boys were on the high school wrestling team. Not only were Gus and now his ex-wife Lucy alumni of Horton High, their teenage daughter, Jessie, goes to school and there and has a part in an upcoming school play. So, the story hit home for Gus in more than one way.

Albie Hughes is wanted for questioning in the Drew Davis suicide case by the local police. The more Gus interviews the parents, the more he is convinced there is a lot they are not telling him. Something is definitely wrong with what they say and it isn’t just the obvious marital discord between the missing son’s parents. Thanks to the parents and the info they did share, Gus has two leads with the first being the Horton High Wrestling Coach, Geoff Hanson. He took in Albie weeks ago to help and then made sure to cutoff contact between the boy and his parents among other things. That coach is definitely a place to start on the search.

What follows is a complex crime tale that easily could be happening anywhere these days. Author CS DeWildt keeps the tale moving at a steady pace. While Gus hits all the stereotype cliché boxes (broke, divorced, affair with his far younger assistant, etc.) with his character, the author breathes new life into those clichés and spins them in a tale that works at all levels. Crime fiction with a hint of noir and good old fashioned mystery with the occasional flash of dark humor, Suburban Dick: A Novel is a novel is a good one and well worth your time. And, yes, the title has more than one meaning and, no, I am not telling you.

Suburban Dick: A Novel

CS DeWildt

http://www.csdewildt.com

Shotgun Honey (Down & Out Books)

http://www.DownAndOutBooks.com

May 2018

ISBN#978-1-946502-72-8

Paperback (also available in eBook format)

202 Pages

$13.95

Paperback ARC provided by the author with no expectation of review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

Only days left to win books by Victoria Thompson, Tonya Kappes, Linda O Johnston and more from KRL

Only days left to win a copy of "Murder on Union Square" by Victoria
Thompson & while there check out an interesting interview with Victoria
http://kingsriverlife.com/06/16/murder-on-union-square-by-victoria-thompson/

Also to win a copy of 3 more fun mysteries for your summer reading-"Murder
She Wrote, A Date with Danger" by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain and Jon
Land, "Murder Most Fermented": A Rose Avenue Wine Club Mystery by Christine
E. Blum, and "Hide and Sneak": A Savannah Reid Mystery by G.A. McKevett
http://kingsriverlife.com/06/16/three-more-fun-mysteries-for-your-summer-reading/

And to win a copy of "Beachboy Murders" by Sally J. Smith and Jean
Steffens, while there check out a guest post by them where they share some
Hawaii memories and a recipe
http://kingsriverlife.com/06/16/beachboy-murders-by-sally-j-smith-and-jean-steffens/

Also to win a copy of "Dead as a Doornail" by Tonya Kappes
http://kingsriverlife.com/06/16/dead-as-a-doornail-by-tonya-kappes/

And to win a copy of "Bleeding Tarts" by Kirsten Weiss, and while there
check out a pie recipe from Kirsten
http://kingsriverlife.com/06/16/bleeding-tartsby-kirsten-weiss/

On KRL News & Review, only days left to win a copy of "Pick and Chews" by Linda
O. Johnston
http://www.krlnews.com/2018/06/pick-and-chews-linda-johnston.html

Happy reading,
Lorie

The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers for 6/27/18

The Rap Sheet: Revue of Reviewers for 6/27/18

Buried Under Books: The Laura Ingalls Wilder Controversy

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Guest Post: Jeanne and Treadmill Books: Ghostal Living: A Hamptons Home and Garden Mystery by Kathleen Bridge

It has been more than a month awhile since Jeanne’s last review (Comic Sans Murder: A Dangerous Type Mystery by Paige Shelton), but she is back today. That is a very good thing.

Treadmill Books: Ghostal Living:  A Hamptons Home and Garden Mystery by Kathleen Bridge

Meg Bennett is a decorator in Sag Harbor, currently working on an upscale B&B owned by a wealthy bibliophile who has bought what appears to be an unpublished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The unveiling is to be held soon, at an Antiquarian Books Fair, but before that happens the man who authenticated the manuscript falls to his death from a cliff. Was it an accident, suicide, or murder? Who are we kidding?

This is the third book in the series but I had no trouble getting into the story.  The writing flows well, and I reveled in the details of the rooms devoted to each author: Herman Melville, Emily Dickenson, Fitzgerald, etc. because the author tied the choice of items to the authors’ lives and time period, tossing out nuggets of information. Books are part of the décor, being restricted to the author’s work and those books he or she were known to have read or else probably would have had access to.

I also enjoyed the information about collectible books and the process by which a manuscript might be authenticated.  There was enough detail to be interesting, but not enough to bog a reader down. 

Meg herself is largely a delight, especially as she is profoundly hearing impaired but doesn't let that slow her down. She’s determined and intelligent, but she’s also apparently one of those “can’t make up my mind about which man I want” characters.  I blame Janet Evanovich, with Stephanie’s inability to decide between Morelli and Ranger for popularizing this now all too common dilemma of two intriguing boyfriends. At the end of the book, one seems to be out of the running but Meg is already eying a new possibility. (Mercifully, the author spared us the confrontation after one beau catches her out with another, but I still had the sense of “been there, done that.”) I do like a bit of romance in my mysteries, but waffling is annoying as far as I’m concerned. 

The other annoyance was that Meg fails to report things she should and likes to try to beard suspects in their dens.

The supporting characters were interesting for the most part and there was good use of “local color.” There were a couple of characters who existed just to be nasty and to distract the reader and Our Heroine, but overall there was a good solid plot and clues. Jo the overweight kitty was fun, and Meg made a fine reluctant feline guardian.  The Bibliophile Bed and Breakfast is almost a character itself, complete with ghost story of sea captain’s wife who threw herself off the cliff after the news that her husband’s ship had gone down.  I liked the writing style and the story moved well.

The writing is good enough that I largely overlook those transgressions; the pluses outweighing the minuses, in my opinion.  The author’s next book is the start of a new series, but I’m not sure if Bridges is just branching out or if that signals the end of Hamptons Home and Garden.  I rather hope not.

The titles in the series are Better Homes and Corpses, Hearse and Gardens, and Ghostal Living.

Review: Down & Out: The Magazine: Issue 1 (Volume 1) Editor Rick Ollerman

Edited by Rick Ollerman, Down & Out: The Magazine: Issue 1 is packed full of lots of good reading.  After a short introduction, it is on to the stories. Each story has a brief introduction that explains a little bit of the background of the author as well as placing the presented in the context of the author’s work. Many of the tales in this issue tie into series work by authors.

Such is the case with the first author, Michael A. Black. His tale that leads off this first issue features the author’s signature character, private investigator Ron Shade. In “Dress Blues: A Ron Shade Story.” Inspired by a real life case according to the introduction, Mr. Shade has to find a boy who has run away from the Woodsen Academy.

Editor Rick Ollerman is up next with “Hit Me: A Scott Porter Agency Story.” Amanda has been difficult for far too long. He needs her gone. The only question is how to make it happen permanently. How do you go about hiring a hitman?

Late September and the breeze off the Seine is colder than it should be. For Inspector Alain Ducard of the Police Nationale it was hard to leave his warm bed and the comforts of his wife, but when the boss says go to the murder scene, he goes to the murder scene.  He didn’t have a choice even though he works Intelligence and not Homicide.  He has no idea why he was called in, but will soon find out in “The Solitary Man: A University Story” by Terrence McCauley.

Readers take a break from reading stories with the next piece by J. Kingston Pierce titled “Placed Into Evidence.” Best known for his highly entertaining site, The Rap Sheet, Mr. Pierce gives readers the highlights on seven books coming up. He also points out the fact, at least for some of us; the change in seasons does not mean a change in what one looks for in a good book.

I have been a longtime fan of the work of Reed Farrel Coleman. He hooked my parents who were avid readers and raved about the early installments of the Moe Prager series. I got hooked and used his work in reviews and FFB review entries.  The last couple of years Mom could no longer read much at all due to her failing eyesight and memory issues, but she often talked about how much she enjoyed the series. As I now again live in the house I grew up in after inheriting it last year after my Mom passed from the consequences of a massive stroke, reading “Breakage: A Moe Prager Story” had a strong emotional impact. 1984 in Brooklyn and Moe has been doing very little detecting work. In fact, he has done none in several months. That is until Mr. Israel Roth, forty years Moe’s senior and a friend and far more, comes to see him. He needs Moe to find a concertation camp survivor just might be the wife of a dying man.

“On the Job Interview: A Slick and Bo Story” by Eric Beetner follows where Bo is glad he smoked on the way to the bar to calm his nerves once he had seen the man known as “Slick.”  The job is a smash and grab. Slick is not about to go back to jail for anyone. Slick needs a good partner so if the first job goes right there could be future work. One also has to deal with the current partner as well.

It might be time to get a dog in “Trash: An Andrea Vogel Story” by Jen Conley. A cop, a widow, and the depression is pretty deep.  A dog might help. Then there is the problem of Sheila Kemper. 2002 was a long time ago, but seeing her brings back the old fury.

After an introduction about Black Mask Magazine and the context of the story, “Rough Justice: A Donahue Story” by Frederick Nebel. Donahue is in town and working a case that has taken him from New York to St. Louis. Donahue is not happy. Not only is it too damn hot, he has to rely on a local contact for information and support. First up, Donahue needs a local cop with certain qualities.

Closing the fiction is a stand-alone story by Thomas Pluck titled “Deadbeat.”  Our narrator works the high steel while trying to hide the extent of his knee injury. He chews pain pills so he can keep working to pay his mounting bills. He is a supervisor and needs to do what he needs to do to keep his job and also make sure that the union stays happy.

A final word from the editor and a listing of other books available from the publisher close out the issue. There are a lot of books so there plenty of reading suggestions. These suggestions are in addition to the books already mentioned by way of the introductions to the various stories.

Down & Out: The Magazine: Issue 1 is a good one. Plenty of variety in stories, both old and new, as well as the nice addition of the upcoming books by J. Kingston Pierce make this first issue well worth your time and money. If the quality of content in this first issue continues in subsequent issues, this magazine should be able to find a steady if not growing audience.  

Down & Out: The Magazine: Issue 1 (Volume 1)

Editor Rick Ollerman
Down And Out Books

http://www.DownAndOutBooks.com

July 2017

ASIN: B074CFW523

eBook (also available in print format)

168 Pages

$0.99

Material was purchased by way of a gift card from my oldest son late last December.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

Beneath the Stains of Time: In a Vanishing Room (1961) by Robert Colby

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In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 6/25/18

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Unlawful Acts: Incident Report No. 47

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Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 25 Writing Contests in July 2018 - No entry fees

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Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: What You Break by Reed Farrel Coleman

What You Break (Putnam, 2017) is the second book from Reed Farrel Coleman about Gus Murphy, a former Suffolk County NY police detective whose personal and professional life shattered a few years earlier. He has slowly been putting the pieces back together. He’s found a job at a third-rate hotel, where he serves as their security officer, airport van driver, and weekend nightclub bouncer. Gus has been seeing Magdalena, a bartender and an aspiring actress for awhile, when she is offered a role that will take her to Detroit for several months. Gus is trying to decide if their relationship will survive the separation when a passenger on a routine trip from the airport kicks off his internal alarm system. His suspicions are heightened when the newcomer and Slava, the hotel doorman, appear to know each other.

Worried that this new visitor to the hotel has brought trouble, Gus is watching him the next day when he and Slava drive away together. Gus follows them to a New York neighborhood and witnesses the professional execution of the man they were visiting. The ensuing police investigation leaves Gus trying to protect Slava while explaining why he was there.

In addition to this hotel-related problem, Father Bill, the long-standing friend of Gus and his family, asks Gus to take on a paying client. The grandfather of a murdered teen offers Gus considerable money to learn why the murder was committed. The police have identified the killer through unshakeable DNA evidence but no one understands how the girl crossed the path of the hardened gang member to begin with. Not sure that he can do more than the police have and disliking his potential client, Gus reluctantly agrees to look into the case.

Juggling both investigations along with his unexpected relationship problems, Gus learns that two of the men involved have committed unspeakable crimes. One is overwhelmed with guilt and the other is chillingly remorseless, providing an intriguing contrast.

Gus is an appealing character. Unlike many damaged protagonists, the wounds that Gus has suffered have healed enough to create some protective scar tissue, which is allowing him to create a new life while not forgetting the old one. Publishers Weekly starred review.

·         Hardcover: 368 pages

·         Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; 1st edition (February 7, 2017)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0399173048

·         ISBN-13: 978-0399173042

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

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

Walmart will begin selling an exclusive monthly DC comic anthology in July

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TOE SIX PRESS--Interview: Paul D. Brazill is in the hot seat, talking about Last Year’s Man and music

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Do Some Damage: Congo by Michael Crichton

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Saturdays With Kaye: Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin

Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin

In lovely continental fashion, this book spins a complicated plot and contains a host of characters, set in Scotland. If I counted correctly, this is the 24^th Rebus novel. No, it’s not A rebus, it features a character, John Rebus who, after all those books, is now retired. Or he’s supposed to be. You can’t keep a good detective down, though.

He’s trying to keep busy, puttering around with old unsolved cases. However, when he starts digging into one involving a famous rock star and the murder of a beautiful woman, something strange happens. Detective Inspector Siobhan Clarke catches a murder that rings a bell connected with this old case for Rebus. Another old friend, DI Malcolm Fox has been transferred to Gartcosh, causing ill feelings when he’s sent to Edinburgh to help out. Neither of the three want to work with each other. An elaborate money-laundering trail leads through a betting parlor connected with people familiar to Rebus. Meanwhile, Rebus is hiding his physical condition from everyone, spitting up blood from his COPD on the sly. The awkward team works beatings and dead bodies to arrive at a conclusion of sorts.

This is a darkish read with a high body count. Readers familiar with the characters will welcome them back and love this book.

Reviewed by Kaye George, author of Requiem in Red, for Suspense Magazine

MysteryPeople: CRIME FICTION FRIDAY – THE YELLOW DRESS BY CHRISTOPHER MIGUEL FLAKUS

MysteryPeople: CRIME FICTION FRIDAY – THE YELLOW DRESS BY CHRISTOPHER MIGUEL FLAKUS

Lesa's Latest Contest: Amusing books giveaway

This week, I'm giving away copies of Auralee Wallace's Down the Aisle with Murder & Carolyn Haines' Sticks and Bones, and Charmed Bones. Details on my blog, http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com. Entries from the U.S.
only, please.

-- 
Lesa Holstine
lesa.holstine@gmail.com

http://www.lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com

New issue of Crime Review

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 Cay Rademacher in the Countdown hot seat:
http://crimereview.co.uk/page.php/interview/6327

We’re on Twitter at:
Crime Review: @CrimeReviewUK
Linda Wilson: @CrimeReviewer
Sharon Wheeler: @lartonmedia

This week’s reviews are:

GREEKS BEARING GIFTS by Philip Kerr, reviewed by Chris Roberts
Bernie Gunther starts a new career as an insurance investigator, but a trip
to Greece to investigate a claim for a lost ship has a none-too-comfortable
connection with wartime events.

A TASTE FOR VENGEANCE by Martin Walker, reviewed by Linda Wilson
Bruno Courrèges, Chief of Police in St Denis, has been promoted and now
must deal with a far wider area. His first case in his new role is a
possible murder-suicide with links to a terrorist organisation.

MAIGRET SETS A TRAP by Georges Simenon, reviewed by Arnold Taylor
The investigation into a series of five identical murders, all women and
all in the Montmartre arrondissement, has stalled. But Maigret now has a
plan that he hopes will move the investigation forward.

HOLY CEREMONY by Harri Nykanen, reviewed by Ewa Sherman
Lieutenant Ariel Kafka from the Violent Crime Unit in Helsinki investigates
a bizarre case of a woman’s body stolen from a morgue. He’s been chosen by
someone who wants to exact revenge and who might be a perpetrator or a
severely damaged soul.

A TALENT FOR MURDER by Andrew Wilson, reviewed by John Cleal
Successful murder mystery author Agatha Christie is blackmailed into
committing a murder on behalf of a controlling madman.

UNQUIET SPIRITS by Bonnie MacBird, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor
Sherlock Holmes does not believe in ghosts. It seems he does not believe in
the beautiful Scotswoman Isla McLaren either. These are two dangerous
errors.

GOLDEN PREY by John Sandford, reviewed by Chris Roberts
Lucas Davenport is now working as a US Marshal, and sets out to find a
ruthless killer who recently robbed a drug cartel. Unsurprisingly he is not
the only one in the chase.

A BRUSH WITH DEATH by Ali Carter, reviewed by John Cleal
Artist Susie Mahl is a guest at the country seat of the Earl of Greengrass
when her host is murdered in the parish churchyard. With the local police
baffled, she applies her eye for detail and her natural inquisitiveness to
uncover the killer.

HELLFIRE by Karin Fossum, reviewed by Ewa Sherman
A mother and her five-year-old child are found murdered in an abandoned
caravan. Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer believes that the killing has been
planned but the initial investigation leads nowhere.

RUN by Mandasue Heller, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor
Life couldn’t get much worse for Leanne Riley – she’s out of work and
barely surviving life in a grotty bed-sit. Jake could be her escape route
or her road to hell.

SOUTH ATLANTIC REQUIEM BY Edward Wilson, reviewed by John Cleal
War is building in the South Atlantic as Argentina prepares an invasion of
the British Falkland islands. Conflicted MI6 man William Catesby is loyal
to his country but will do anything he can to stop hostilities breaking out.

HELL BAY by Kate Rhodes, reviewed by Chris Roberts
A London detective returns to his childhood home overlooking Hell Bay in
the Isles of Scilly, and when a girl is found murdered on the beach agrees
to spearhead the investigation.

THE ONES THAT DISAPPEARED by Zana Fraillon, reviewed by Linda Wilson
Three children live and work as modern slaves, in thrall to a drug gang.
When freedom comes, it is both unexpected and terrifying.

IT ALL FALLS DOWN by Sheena Kamal, reviewed by Kati Barr-Taylor
Nora is looking for answers to her broken past. She doesn’t realise
Detroit, where the questions take her, is a desperate city that will break
her even more.

AFRAID TO DEATH by Marc Behm, reviewed by John Cleal
Joe Egan has been on the run since childhood from a mysterious blonde
vision who appears to him whenever someone close to him dies.

THE HOUSE ON HALF MOON STREET by Alex Reeve, reviewed by Linda Wilson
Leo Stanhope, a coroner’s assistant in Victorian London, is searching for
the murderer of Maria, the woman he loved. But Leo’s investigations will
endanger both his life and the secret he has to keep at all costs for Leo
was born Charlotte.

SHADOWS by Paul Finch, reviewed by John Barnbrook
DC Lucy Clayburn’s father is a key figure in organised crime in the North
West. Her career will be in trouble if this gets out.

THE GIRL IN THE FOG by Donato Carrisi, reviewed by Sylvia Maughan
A psychiatrist is called in to a police station to interview a man after a
car accident. Meanwhile, a young girl is missing from her family who live
nearby.

PERFECT PREY by Helen Fields, reviewed by Kate Balfour
DIs Luc Callanach and Ava Turner are investigating a series of murders in
Edinburgh and they are struggling to find any leads – until they realise
that graffiti about each victim appears before the murder takes place.

BOY MEETS HAMSTER by Birdie Milano, reviewed by Linda Wilson
Dylan Kershaw is having to put up with the Holiday From Hell, with added
hamsters. But the hot boy in the caravan next door is some consolation. Now
all Dylan has to do is get Jayden-Lee to take notice of him.

Best wishes

Sharon
www.crimereview.co.uk