Lesa's Book Critiques: MANY DEADLY RETURNS, EDITED BY MARTIN EDWARDS
Sunday, October 31, 2021
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: MAKING MAGIC!
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: MAKING MAGIC!: Some things are hauntingly magic. Those of us born before the age of everyone carrying a mobile phone—we in our family call this back when t...
SleuthSayers: The Women in my Writing World by R. T. Lawton
SleuthSayers: The Women in my Writing World: Kathleen Jordan Thinking to give AHMM one more try back in the year 2000, I went to their website to see what type of story they wanted. Ka...
Mystery Fanfare: DAY OF THE DEAD CRIME FICTION // DAY OF THE DEAD MYSTERIES
Mystery Fanfare: DAY OF THE DEAD CRIME FICTION // DAY OF THE DEAD M...: What holiday could be more fitting to Mysteries than El Dia de los Muertos: Day of the Dead? You'll love this list. Be sure and check ...
Guest Post: 5 UNDERRATED LOCKED-ROOM MYSTERIES by Tom Mead
Please welcome author Tom Mead to the blog…
5 UNDERRATED LOCKED-ROOM MYSTERIES
by Tom Mead
I make no
secret of the fact that I’m obsessed with locked-room mysteries. I love to read
them, I love to write them, and I love discovering books that offer new spins
on the classic tropes and tricks of the subgenre. For those who aren't in the
know, "locked-room mystery" is typically a sort of umbrella term for
"impossible crime" fiction. That is, fair play puzzle mysteries in
which the question is not only whodunit
but also how.
John
Dickson Carr was the most prolific and accomplished writer of locked-room
mysteries, as many genre fans know, and some of his most famous titles
include The Hollow Man and He Who Whispers. He
churned out a string of masterpieces, and needless to say I devoured them all-
as I do with pretty much every story I can find which tackles the locked-room
or the impossible problem.
But with such
a niche subgenre, you will inevitably encounter repetition of the same trick
from time to time. Speaking as someone who has attempted to come up with
locked-room problems for my own stories, I can tell you originality is a major
challenge- that’s part of the fun. It makes me admire the work of Carr and
Ellery Queen and Clayton Rawson all the more, as well as the other authors who
are rightly celebrated for their creativity in a very demanding sphere of the
crime writing world. So here are a few titles that don’t get enough
acclaim, but are well worth rediscovering.
(A quick
disclaimer: I don't claim that these are the best locked-room mysteries, though
they ARE very good. Simply that they’re underrated, and that they retain the
potential to surprise even the most well-versed reader of puzzle mysteries. As
such, they’re well worth seeking out.)
Blood on his Hands by MAX AFFORD (1937)
The work
of Australian author Max Afford is often overlooked in studies of golden age
mystery (which is a mystery in itself). Just about everything he wrote- with a
couple of notable exceptions- was an impossible crime. His series sleuth, Jeffery
Blackburn, appears in a string of complex and atmospheric novels. But I’ve
picked Blood on his Hands as it may
be the most gruesome and macabre of the bunch; a perfect showcase for Afford’s
creativity and his very dark sense of humor.
Hard Tack by BARBARA D’AMATO (1991)
Barbara
D’Amato’s Hard Tack is a seafaring
mystery featuring series detective Cat Marsala. In the vein of Agatha
Christie’s Death on the Nile, it
places the sleuth on a ship whose passengers are positively seething with
hidden resentment beneath a veneer of society savoir faire. Naturally, it’s only a matter of time before a murder
takes place- this time in a locked cabin. The solution here is surprising,
gruesome and fiendishly practical. What more could you want?
You’ll Die Laughing by BRUCE ELLIOTT (1945)
Bruce
Elliott is an anomaly in the world of mystery fiction. As far as I know, You'll
Die Laughing is his only published novel. It's a sort of madcap caper
in which a group of strangers are gathered at the mansion of a sadistic recluse
for reasons unknown. A classic set-up, but the solution to the apparently
impossible locked-room murder is completely original. This is a short and
briskly-paced book that is punchily written and dexterously plotted. Elliott
also just happened to be a professional stage magician, which no doubt explains
his knack for literary sleights-of-hand.
Mr. Splitfoot by HELEN MCCLOY (1968)
I’m a
huge fan of Helen McCloy's "Basil Willing" series, and like many
critics I would rank her novel Through A Glass Darkly up there
with the very best of Carr, Christie and Queen. While that book is her masterpiece,
it’s by no means her only contribution to the realm of impossible crime. Mr.
Splitfoot was written long after the end of the so-called golden age
of mystery fiction in which locked-room mysteries thrived. But at the same time
it is crammed with so many of the features that made the golden age great.
This time, Basil is faced with a fascinating conundrum involving an apparently
cursed room, where those who spend the night are seldom seen alive in the
morning.
More Dead Than Alive by ROGER ORMEROD (1980)
More Dead
Than Alive is another magic-themed mystery, this time by a
very prolific author of traditional puzzle mysteries. Roger Ormerod managed to
carve out a lengthy career long after the golden age was over. He had a knack
for twisting the conventions of the genre, and More Dead Than
Alive makes the most of its gothic setting in an English castle where
a stage illusionist has been unceremoniously hurled from a window in the locked
room at the top of a tower. The solution to this one is completely fair play,
but I bet you won't see it coming...
So there
you have it: five more mysteries for your teetering TBR piles. Hopefully you’ll
find something here to puzzle, beguile and confound you- as all good mysteries
should.
Tom Mead ©2021
Tom Mead is a UK-based crime writer specializing in locked-room mysteries. He has written short fiction for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and numerous others. Recently, his story “Heatwave” was included in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 (edited by Lee Child). His novel Death and the Conjuror is forthcoming from the Mysterious Press in July 2022. You can find Tom at his website or on Facebook.
Saturday, October 30, 2021
KRL This Week Update for 10/30/2021
Up in KRL this morning a review and paperback giveaway of "The Witch's Child" by Susan Van Kirk along with an interesting interview with Susan https://kingsriverlife.com/10/30/the-witchs-child-by-susan-van-kirk/
We also have the latest mystery Coming Attractions by Sunny Frazier, along with a giveaway of books by Amy McNulty, and Kathi Daley https://kingsriverlife.com/10/30/october-coming-attractions-be-thankful-for-good-books-edition/
And a review and ebook or audiobook giveaway of "Library of the Damned" by Jeri Westerson along with an interesting guest post by Jeri https://kingsriverlife.com/10/30/library-of-the-damned/
And a ghost short story by Ellyn Siegel for Halloween weekend https://kingsriverlife.com/10/30/missing-persons/
We also have reviews of 2 Acorn TV mysteries with a dark edge for your Halloween weekend watching "Hinterland" and "One Lane Bridge" https://kingsriverlife.com/10/30/hinterland-one-lane-bridge/
And a Fresno true crime ghost story https://kingsriverlife.com/10/30/the-murder-at-shakeys-a-ghost-story-with-pizza/
Up in KRL during the week we had a special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Susan Van Kirk about her Endurance Mystery series and her new book "The Witch's Child." You can also enter to win an ebook copy of the book https://kingsriverlife.com/10/27/all-our-yesterdays/
And another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Dp Lyle about location in his series and about his new book "The OC" https://kingsriverlife.com/10/27/jake-gets-around/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and giveaway of "The Secret Staircase" by Sheila Connolly https://www.krlnews.com/2021/10/the-secret-staircase-by-sheila-connolly.html
And a review and ebook giveaway of the anthology "Monkey Business" Crime Fiction Inspired by the films of the Marx Brothers. It is published by Untreed Reads https://www.krlnews.com/2021/10/monkey-business-crime-fiction-inspired.html
And a review and giveaway of "Dark Ride Deception" by Mark Bacon https://www.krlnews.com/2021/10/dark-ride-deception-by-mark-bacon.html
Happy Halloween,
Lorie
Scott's Take: Titan Song (The Carter Archives: Book Three) by Dan Stout
Titan
Song (The Carter Archives: Book Three) by Dan Stout is heavily based on the
idea that readers have read the previous two books before picking up this read.
This time Carter and Ajax are investigating a series of gruesome murders. The
first murder occurs at a multi-day concert out in the ice plains (think Lollapalooza).
As they investigate, Carter tries to keep secret his new ability to manipulate
magic.
The above plot
blurb barely touches what is going on in the very complicated read. If anything,
the book is too complicated as there are so many factions and conflicting motives,
one could use a diagram or chart explaining all of it. The book has so many
characters that some characters get the short end of the stick such as Carter’s
adopted daughter. There are so many characters with their own agendas that several
antagonistic characters with a lot of storytelling potential end up getting very
little page time. There is a lot of set up for the next book in this book.
It is very
similar to the first two books so, if you liked the first two books, you will
like this one too. Personally, I found it to be the weakest of this book series.
This was true throughout the read but was really brought home with the ending
as that fundamentally changed this series from what I expected. As the murders
are based in magic and there is little evidence, Carter and Ajax sit around
discussing theories for much of the book with little action.
While I still
enjoyed Titan Song (The Carter Archives: Book Three), it was not nearly
as good as the first two. Interested readers should definitely read the first
two books in the series before attempting to read this one and should be
prepared for an ending here that changes the series to something different than
what readers would expect based on the other books.
The books in the
series and my reviews:
Scott's Take: Titanshade
by Dan Stout (March 2020)
Scott's Take: Titan’s Shade (The Carter Archives Book 2) by Dan Stout (January 2021)
Titan Song (The
Carter Archives: Book Three)
Dan Stout
Daw Books
(Penguin Random House)
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/663065/titan-song-by-dan-stout/9780756417468
April 2021
ISBN# 978-0756417468
Hardback (also
available in eBook and Paperback formats)
384 Pages
My reading copy came by way of the Skillman Southwestern Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple
©2021
Friday, October 29, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Need by Helen Phillips
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Need by Helen Phillips: Reviewed by Christy Paleobotanist Molly has two young children, four-year-old Viv and baby Ben, who run her ragged day in ...
Publishing.... and Other Forms of Insanity: 75 Calls For Submissions in November 2021 - Paying Markets
75 Calls For Submissions in November 2021 - Paying Markets: This November there are more than six dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As alwa...
FFB Review: Conspiracy in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 8) J. D. Robb
For the homeless in New York, the January cold brings with
it an extra burden. The extreme cold means that some slip from this mortal coil
real during the dark and cold hours. A death of a homeless person from the cold
would not normally call for NYPSD Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her
assistant, Officer Peabody, to respond to the scene. However, this is not a
normal death of a homeless person.
Upon arrival, it is clear that the scene is not being
managed properly by Officer Bowers and her rookie trainee, Officer Trueheart. Once
Dallas gets that addressed, she turns to the reason for the call. The man known
as “Snooks” did not have much to steal in terms of possessions. The killer or
killers left his tent and the few items he had. They did take something he
literally could not live without. They took his heart and did so with surgical
precision.
What follows is a complicated case of murder, organ
harvesting, and more. All the usual caveats apply as the head hopping pov, sometimes
multiple characters in the same paragraph, graphic sexual content, and others
apply here. This read is also just flat out fun and entertaining just as the
previous books in the series. As long as you, the reader, do not take the books
seriously, they are a fun and fast read.
The series to this point and my reviews:
Naked in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book
1) March 2021
Glory in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book
2) April 2021
Immortal in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book
3) May 2021
Rapture in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book
4) June 2021
Ceremony in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book
5) July 2021
Vengeance in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book
6) September 2021
Holiday
in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 7) October 2021
Conspiracy in Death: Eve Dallas Mysteries (Book 8)
J. D. Robb
https://jdrobb.com/1999/04/conspiracy-in-death/
Berkley
April 1999
ASIN: B000P2A41I
eBook (Available in audio and various print formats)
363 Pages
My copy came via the good folks at my branch, Lochwood Library. Scott, once again, made the Libby App work for Dad.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
Thursday, October 28, 2021
Criminal Minds: Speaking of Dialogue… by James W. Ziskin
Criminal Minds: Speaking of Dialogue… by James W. Ziskin: “Dialogue is often hard to do right,” he said. Give us your tips for writing killer dialogue. 1.) Don’t make dialogue “realistic.” Rather, m...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Murder on the Boat Deck (1941) by Vanno
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Murder on the Boat Deck (1941) by Vanno: During the first years of Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Bruna published two detective novels by an unknown, pseudonymous author, "...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian: Reviewed by Christy Mary Deerfield is a deeply unhappy woman. The twenty-four year old Puritan is the second wife to a seeming...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Something Wicked This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Something Wicked This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury: Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are young boys, aged thirteen years old, and ready for some new experiences. Will is more cautious, Jim is ...
Guest Post: THE POWER OF A WRITING STREAK by Laura Ware
Please welcome Laura Ware to the blog today…
THE POWER OF A WRITING STREAK
Laura Ware
Over
the past few years, I struggled with the most basic part of being a writer –
sitting down and actually writing. It was a frustrating situation for me
because I wanted to write. It’s something I believed I might be good at
and knew I enjoyed.
For
a while, life kept getting in the way. I provided care for both my husband’s
parents over those years, which drained me in all kinds of ways. Six months
after my mother-in-law passed away, while I was still trying to figure things
out, the pandemic hit. Again, I was knocked for a loop.
On
June 29th, 2020, I found myself participating in a “writing week”
with some fellow wordsmiths. According to my records, I wrote 710 words that
day.
And
sometime during that day I asked myself, “What if I just did this every day?”
At
first, I felt apprehensive. I’d tried a streak before, and it eventually
petered out. How long could I go? And would it really make a difference this
time?
There
was only one way to find out.
I
cut myself some slack by not having a minimum word count at first. If I got
words on the page, it counted whether it was 10 or 1,000. One day in July I
only eked out sixty-eight words. But they were new words, so they counted.
What
did I write?
I
worked on a novel or two, not finishing them but making progress. I revisited
my love of short fiction and wrote short stories. I worked on my weekly column,
something I’d maintained for over 20 years.
And
I noticed I wasn’t stopping.
One
thing I discovered in this adventure is that a streak, when it gets long
enough, applies a kind of pressure on you. “You’ve written 100 days in a row,”
it whispers to you when you’re tired and just want to go to bed. “You don’t
want to quit now, do you?”
And I’d grumble and gripe but head to the laptop anyway. And I made words.
At the beginning of 2021, I decided
to up the ante. I participated in a program from a mentor of mine called The
Great Challenge. The challenge? To write a short story a week for 52 weeks in a
row.
I’d
written short stories in a week before. But could I maintain that? Over a year?
Was it possible to come up with fifty-two ideas in a year?
Again,
one way to find out. I took a deep breath and signed up.
The
short story challenge gave me words to write every day. Getting words done every
day helped me get the stories done, though there have been more than a few late
Sunday nights trying to meet the deadline.
As
I type this, I’ve written 477 days in a row. I’ve written when life was good,
and when my father passed away. I’ve written when the words flowed and when I
struggled to express myself. I’ve written during trips. Day after day I’ve
managed to get words in – these days at least five hundred before I quit for
the day.
And
I just turned in my 42nd short story for the challenge. Some of the
stories have come to me with no trouble. For some I’ve had to beg my muse to
give me something. But I’ve pulled it off forty-two times without a miss.
What
have I learned from this?
For
one thing, there is always time to write if I look for it. It may be as little
as 15 minutes, but it’s there. The pressure of the streak helps motivate me to
find that time and get those words typed.
I’ve
also learned I tend to write at night when it’s quiet in the house. Finding
your ideal time to write is a useful tool in getting words out every day. Nighttime
usually works for me, though I also want to train myself to write a little in
the morning to get things started. But writing every day tends to show a
pattern.
And
the words add up. My goal for 2021 was to write 200,000 words. I passed that
goal sometime in August or September. My current goal is to hit 300,000 and
based on my average word counts for the month I will probably pass that, too.
A
streak isn’t for everyone. But if you’re interested in trying it out, here are
some tips to get you started.
n Start small. If I
had begun by pledging to write 1,000 words every day, I would have bailed on
the streak within a week. Maybe you just want to write 10 minutes a day. Or you
want to do a page (about 250 words) 5 days a week. The trick is to find
something within reach and build on it as your streak grows.
n Make it a priority.
There will be all kinds of distractions to take you away from the page. Let
those around you know this is important to you. Guard that time the best way
you can.
n Build a team. A
team helps with tip #2 tremendously. Involve your family and friends. Let them
keep you accountable. And pick people who will cheer your success.
I’m fortunate in that my husband is totally behind me in this. Before he goes
to bed, he’ll ask if I’ve written yet, reminding me to get to the laptop. He
even helped me at a family gathering by informing them that we would return in
a couple of hours after I finished a story that was due. It helped that he backed
me up in that, and my family had no issues with it.
n Keep track. There
are all kinds of way to keep track of your progress. I use two that work for
me.
The first one is a spreadsheet designed by a fellow wordsmith that allows me to
track my word count daily. It has columns for words written and time spent and
calculates total words by month and year. It also lets me know my average daily
word count and time spent and is helpful in charting my progress.
I also have a paper calendar that is on the wall across from my laptop. For
every 250 words I write in a day, I get a foil star for that day. On days I
write several thousand words, I put a few stars and pen in how many others I’d
earned. It is cheering to see those squares fill up with stars day by day,
knowing they represent new words.
There will
probably come a time when my streak will end (my daily streak, that is. I’m
determined to write those last 10 short stories) despite my best efforts. Life happens, and something could come up
that totally derails me. I will be sad when it happens. Then, after a day to
have a pity party, I’ll start a new streak, hoping to beat the old one. And who
knows? Chances are I will.
Streaks can be a
powerful tool, and helpful to any writer trying to kickstart their production. If
you have questions about it, or just need someone to tell you that you can do
it, email me at laura@laurahware.com. And happy writing.
Laura Ware ©2021
Laura Ware’s column, “Laura’s Look,” appears weekly in the Highlands News-Sun and covers news items or ideas she can talk about for 600 words. She is the author of a number of short stories and several novels. Her short story collection Five Female Gumshoes recently came out. Her essay, “Touched by an Angel,” appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Random Acts of Kindness. Laura lives in Central Florida. Check out her website and sign up for her newsletter at www.laurahware.com
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Cattle Kingdom, Boop and Eve's Road Road Trip, Perestroika in Paris, Denali
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Cattle Kingdom, Boop and Eve's Road Tr...: Reported by Garry This week’s Nevermore book club selections included stories about road trips, cattle drives, talking animals and more. C...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 35 Writing Contests in November - no entry fees
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Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: A USE FOR GENIUS by James F. Sullivan
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: A USE FOR GENIUS: "A Use for Genius" by James F. Sullivan (first published in The Strand Magazine #30, June 1893; included in his collection Quee...
Short Story Wednesday Review: The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes From The Panhandle To The Piney Woods Editor Michael Bracken
The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes From
The Panhandle To The Piney Woods opens with a very short introduction
by Editor Michael Bracken before moving on to the stories. First up is “Chasing
The Straight” by Trey R. Barker. Derrick Kruse is a bit different than most
private investigators and knows more than he would like about domestic violence
and abuse. His latest case involving Billie Vogan is a case that came to him
during the weekly poker game. Now that he knows about it, Derrick and the
voices in his head have a problem that must be fixed.
William
Dylan Powell takes readers to 1984 in Corpus Christi in his tale “The Haunted
Railcar.” Our private investigator has his own boat and is working on it when
Dell McClendon shows up. Not only does Dell arrive in full clown make up which
will set the dog off, as he knows, he really should have stopped walking up the
pier when told to stop. Sure, he would still have the problem that caused the
visit to the boat, but Dell McClendon would also still have his own nose fully
intact.
A murder is
rare in Robertson County. They have one this Thursday morning in November at
the Camp Hearne Historical Site. In “The Yellow Rose of Texas” by Josh Pachter,
the local High School English Teacher, Elsie Jordan, is dead and probably from
strangulation. Helmut Erhard, a private investigator, found the body while on
another matter. Finding the body made it very personal for him and he is not
about to just let the local law handle it.
Like her
father before her, Nicky Moran is a private investigator based in Fort Worth who
uses a special bar stool at the legendary Billy Bob’s as the office. “In
Cowtown” by Robert S. Levinson the client is one Mr. Jergens who likes to be
referred to as “Slim.” The client believes that somebody is out to murder him
and is very sure about the identity of the suspect. The suspect has one heck of
a motive and the local law is not moving on the case. Nicky does not come
cheap, the client is more than willing to pay and has the funds, and she is
soon on the case.
Houston is
the setting for “Harvey and the Redhead” by Debra H. Goldstein. In the
aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. It is not necessarily a good thing to be
carrying around the name of “Harvey.” Yet the detective is, and while pretty
much everything the detective owned has been destroyed, the bills still must be
paid. The latest client is Olive Twist, part of the legendary Twist Realty and Developments. A
family with money, contacts, and resources, she wants a painting returned to
her and wants it done discreetly for numerous reasons.
The former
Texas Ranger works now and then as a process server and/or private investigator
after more than thirty-two years as part of the legendary local law enforcement
agency, Texas Rangers. Huck Spence is just trying to stave off boredom in “See
Humble And Die” by Richard Helms. His latest case is to find “Ralph Oakley” and
it should be easy enough to find him.
Sitting surveillance
on a place deep in the night gets boring as one fights to stay awake and focus
on the matter at hand. Such is the situation for the private detective in “No
One Owns The Blues” by Scott Montgomery. The years have passed, and a lot has
happened, but Sharon Turner, still has a hold over him. A singer and a good
one, she has a complicated relationship with her current financial backer. She
wants him checked out in this tale set in Austin.
Colt Colton
just got hired to trace the history of some cars recovered from the Houston
area in the aftermath of the Hurricane. He’s from Gary, Indiana originally. But,
eight years in the Dallas PD working in the Auto Theft Division means he is very
good at tracing cars and finding owners. Tracking down Porter Shackleton of PS Services
in Hempstead should be easy enough though the recovery company has tried the
easy way in “Shaft on Wheels” by Mark Troy.
Michael
Boone sees her long before she makes it to his office. The lady has a problem
and needs a private detective in “Triangles” by John M. Floyd. She separated
from her husband awhile back. More recently, she used her house key and went
into the house to take an item that her husband is very serious about getting
back. Since the item in question may have been acquired by her husband in the
less than stellar fashion, the police are not an option. This remains true even
though she believes her husband is trying to not only get the item back, but
have her killed for what she did.
It is back
to Austin as a setting in “Purple And Blue” by Stephen D. Rodgers. Our narrator
is sitting surveillance on a certain car owned by Gregory and the client. Based
on some evidence, apparently somebody else believes the car is owned by
somebody named “Cynthia.” This misplaced identity has led to a serial tire
killing spree by party or parties unknown and Gregory needs it stopped now.
Houston and
the immediate area is the setting of several stories in the anthology.
Hurricanes by name and not serve as a backdrop to several stories in one way or
another. Such is the case with “Lucy’s Tree” by Sandra Murphy. Hurricane Harvey
is unloading on the area and reminding our narrator of another powerful storm
and his late wife. In the here and now, neighbors need help and, in so doing, a
long ago murder is finally solved.
Unless you
are an attorney licensed to practice in the great state of Texas, or a police
officer, it is best to avoid and all visits to the jail. In “Unwritten Rules”
by Chuck Brownman, private investigator Rafe McAlister is at the jail because it
is hi job to be there as he is an investigator for an attorney by the name of
Bobby Williamson. Their latest client is Tommy Nguyen who is in jail on a
murder charge in the death of Vic Mallory. Racism, the history of the war
between Texas and Vietnamese shrimpers, and more are at work in this tale.
Andy
Wilkins came to Jefferson, Texas, in search of one specific person. In “Blackbirds”
by Graham Powell, his search for Jack Lynch brings the attention of the local
police chief and quite a few other folks. Not all of that attention is of a
positive nature, but Andy Wilkins drove all the way in from Fort Worth and he has
a job to do.
Riley is in
the flood waters and pounding storm of Hurricane Harvey by way of a small
aluminum fishing boat. She sits in the bow with Donald at the tiller as they
navigate flood streets and drowned wreckage in the hunt Carl Vincent Farlow.
Known to the locals as a storm chaser, she believes him to be a serial killer.
A serial killer who uses severe weather events as a cover for his killing spree
over the last twenty five years. In “Weathering The Storm” by Michal Pool,
there are victims to be saved and a killer to be found and stopped.
The weather
is quite a bit dryer in “Trip Among The Blue Bonnets” by James A. Hearn. Trip
is at a certain diner south of Lampasas looking for the spouse of his niece,
Tammy. Everybody in the family hated the guy and that was before Tammy, his
niece, got worried he was cheating on her. Now that he found him a very long
way from home, Trip must figure out exactly what is going on with him as well
as a couple of other things.
West Texas,
specifically the town of Odessa, is the setting for “West Texas Barbecue” by
Michael Chandos. Every town has their own homegrown mobster type and Mr. Oxnum
is the one for Odessa. His wife took cash and some important papers out of his
safe before she run off a couple nights ago. Mr. Oxnum, who prefers to go by
“Mr. Ox” is only really interested in the papers. He wants them back and wants
them back now. He has a very good idea where Mr. Taylor can go to find her and
get them.
Ms. Amanda
Treviño needs the help of private investigator Benjamin Kane in “The Patience Of
Kane” by Bev Vincent. She is far along in her pregnancy and would like to know
the real reason her husband, father to their child, died in a recent car
accident. The crash report blames driver inattention and she believes that to
be nonsense. She also does not understand why he would have been driving where
the car crash happened. She wants to know what did really happen and is not
worried as to what he will find as she has faith in her husband and knows he
wasn’t running around up to no good when he died.
Short biographies
and several ads for other books by Down & Out Books bring the read to a
close.
Edited by
Michael Bracken, The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes
From The Panhandle To The Piney Woods is a very entertaining
mystery anthology. All the stories here are
on point and very good. Unlike many anthologies that have a bit of a
rollercoaster effect due to the inclusion of some weaker stories, here there is
not a weak tale in the bunch. Settings are varied, cases are always complex,
and the authors in the anthology skillfully weave interesting tales. The
Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes From The Panhandle To The Piney Woods is a
mighty good read.
My reading
copy came as an autographed gift by way of many of the involved authors who presented
it to me at Bouchercon 2019 in Dallas. I was stunned to be gifted the book and
am very appreciative of the authors who did this for me.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2020, 2021
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
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Review: UTube: Inspector Mislan and the Emancipatist Conspiracy by Rozlan Mohd Noor
UTube: Inspector
Mislan and the Emancipatist Conspiracy by Rozlan Mohd Noor is the third
read in the police procedural series based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Inspector
Mislan and Detective Sergeant Johan are brought into an ongoing case when a friend
of a sexual assault victim dies.
That is the second
attack in a case that starts when Era Amilia was sexually assaulted. The attack
was video recorded and shared on the internet via UTUBE. Hours later, she died
after a fall the balcony of her ninth-floor apartment at the condo tower. Was
she pushed or did she jump? While The
sexual child abuse investigation division intended to handle that case by
themselves as it was tied into the rape case, when a second rape attack results
in an obvious murder of a friend of the victim, Special Investigations is brought
in and that means Inspector Mislan and Detective Sergeant Johan.
That means the
independent take charge MIslan is forced to work with Inspector Sherry and her
squad. Not only does he have to work with her, the powers that be have decreed
he has to take orders from her. Mislan’s reputation is known to all and with
the intense media focus and political factors, he is not going to be in charge.
Inspector Sherry She is very much by the book and Mislan isn’t. She also is not
going to jeopardize her career by letting Mislan have his usual free reign.
With pressure
mounting and additional attacks and recordings being posted online, the chase
is on to stop at least two, if not more, rapists who believe they are
correcting wayward behavior. Things are very complicated and the case has many
angles to pursue as the officers involved try to find a way to work together.
This is the third
in the series that began with 21
Immortals: Inspector Mislan and the Yee Sang Murders and DUKE: Inspector Mislan and The
Expressway Murders.
Personal details of the lives of Inspector Mislan and several others away from
the job continue here in various established secondary storylines. Therefore, it
is best to read these books in order as previous case are mentioned along with
continuing secondary storylines.
As always in
this series, things are very complicated. UTube: Inspector Mislan and the
Emancipatist Conspiracy is one of those books there is hard to explain
in greater detail without ruining the read. Suffice it to say, these police
procedurals are complicated and solidly good reads with interesting cases and
plenty of detail on sights and sounds that the reader feels like they are there
working the case and eating the food. As in earlier books, there is a lot of
mention of food so be prepared.
UTube: Inspector
Mislan and the Emancipatist Conspiracy
Rozlan Mohd Noor
Arcade CrimeWise
July 2021
ISBN# 978-1950691425
Hardback (also
available in eBook format)
336 Pages
My copy came via
the Martin Luther King JR Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple
©2021