Lesa's Book Critiques: SANDIE HERRON’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Girl with the Hole in Her Head (1949) by Hampton Stone
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Girl with the Hole in Her Head (1949) by Hampt...: Last month, I reviewed The Real Gone Goose (1959) by Aaron Marc Stein, a prolific American crime-and detective writer, who produced over a ...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Top Ten New-to-me Authors in 2022
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Top Ten New-to-me Authors in 2022: Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl . This week's topic is a Freebie (any topic). I missed last week'...
Jeanne Reviews: Witch and Famous by Angela M. Sanders
Wilfred, Oregon is usually a fairly sedate place, which is
just how Josie Way likes it. She’s
gradually learning to control her magic with help from the books and letters
left by her grandmother, but still has a lot to learn. The arrival of movie star Daphne Morris
really shakes things up. The glamourous
actress is in town to interview assistant librarian Roz about Roz’s new book, The
Whippoorwill Cries Love, for Daphne’s book club. It’s soon apparent that
Daphne dazzles every male in sight, including Josie’s crush and Roz’s long-time
love interest. Emotions are running
high, so it’s not really a surprise when a body turns up.
This is the third in the Witch Way Librarian series.
Josie draws her magic from books, and I love the way the books
participate in the magic. They also let
Josie know who needs that particular book—an ability I would love to have! The
characters don’t have a lot of depth, but most are likeable and there is some
humor. The townspeople do tend to see their library as part of the community
which is both good and bad: good that
they rely on it, bad when they decide it is something other than a library,
like a café. Josie spends as much time herding people as she does being a
librarian.
I don’t think you need to have read the others in the
series to understand this one. There are some changes to relationships, changes
of which I wholly approve, and I think it will make the series more interesting
going forward. It also helps at times if you can suspend disbelief and just go
with the flow—and not just with the magic.
Books in the series are:
Bait and Witch
Seven-Year Witch
Witch and Famous
Witch Upon a Star (2023)
Monday, January 30, 2023
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Prose and Cons by Wendy Corsi Staub
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Prose and Cons by Wendy Corsi Staub: Reviewed by Jeanne When Bella Jordan’s beloved husband Sam died, he left behind a grieving widow and their young son Max. Financial prob...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Meet Me in Malmo by Torquil MacLeod
Scotland
native Torquil MacLeod turned his years of copywriting to good use when a
family member relocated to southern Sweden and MacLeod decided it was a good
place to set a mystery. Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden, sitting on
the southwestern edge of the country at the end of the bridge to Denmark. (Malmo
is near the town of Ystad, the setting for the Kurt Wallander series by Henning
Mankell.) The ninth book in MacLeod’s Malmo series is scheduled for release in
March 2023.
The first
book Meet Me in Malmo (Robert Hale, 2010; McNidder and Grace, 2015)
introduces Inspector Anita Sundstrom of the Malmo police. The chief inspector
dislikes having women on his staff and he distrusts Sundstrom’s intelligence.
The office Lothario can’t take no for an answer. Between the two of them she is
miserable and considering the benefits of a transfer.
Against this
toxic environment, the body of an internationally famous movie star is found in
her home in Malmo, where she retreated between films. A journalist for a
regional newspaper in Newcastle, England, made the discovery when he arrived
for an interview with her husband, his former university friend and now a prominent
film director. The widower reported that his wife had been receiving letters
from a demented fan. Later the police learn that the film star had advocated
for the replacement of her husband’s business partner, which would spell the
end of the partner’s career. A third possible motive lies in the politically
controversial choice of the director’s next project. They all have to be
thoroughly explored.
The
journalist, instead of going back to England, wangles an assignment from his
newspaper to cover the investigation because he is smitten with Sundstrom. He
is underfoot while she works around her inept boss and backstabbing colleagues,
political appointees demand fast results, and the media skewers the police
hourly.
Interesting
look into the Swedish criminal justice system. Solid forensics and
investigative footwork which seems to transcend national borders. Malmo with
its film festivals and strong tourism industry is a promising site for a
long-running series. Strong crisp writing. Unexpected evidence turns up near
the end of the book and a bombshell is handed to Sandstrom in the last pages,
giving the story an ambiguous outcome. For fans of procedurals and Scandinavian
noir.
·
Publisher: McNidder and Grace;
July 21, 2015
·
Language: English
·
Paperback: 298 pages
·
ISBN-10: 9780857161130
·
ISBN-13: 978-0857161130
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Reading the Past: What we can learn about historical historical fiction reading (and reviewing) from an AI chatbot
Reading the Past: What we can learn about historical fiction reading...: Over the past several weeks, I’ve been fascinated by ChatGPT , the artificial intelligence chatbot that responds to prompts in a conversatio...
KRL: KRL This Week Update for 1/28/2023
It is that time of year again! Time for KRL's reviewers to share their favorite books they reviewed in 2022! https://kingsriverlife.com/01/28/king-river-life-staff-favorite-books-of-2022/
We also have reviews and giveaways of 4 mysteries that can take you on an exciting trip around the world! "A Fashionable Fatality": A Lady & Lady’s Maid Mystery by Alyssa Maxwell, "City of Fortune": A Counterfeit Lady Novel by Victoria Thompson, "Murder at a Scottish Wedding": A Scottish Shire Mystery by Traci Hall, and "A Death in Tokyo" by Keigo Higashino https://kingsriverlife.com/01/28/travel-the-world-mystery-catchup/
And the latest mystery Coming Attractions from Sunny Frazier along with a giveaway of a signed copy of "4 Sleuths & A Burlesque Dancer" by Traci Andrighetti with some Mardi Gras beads https://kingsriverlife.com/01/28/february-coming-attractions-what-the-heart-wants/
For those who prefer to listen to Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast directly on KRL you can find the player here for our latest episode which features an excerpt from "The Path" by Peter Riva read by local actor Terrance Mc Arthur. This one is a little different as it is a Scifi novel with a mystery twist to it https://kingsriverlife.com/01/28/mysteryrats-maze-podcast-featuring-the-path/
Up during the week we posted night another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Nancy Cole Silverman where she talks about writing short stories and the new Sisters in Crime Los Angeles anthology "Entertainment To Die For" https://kingsriverlife.com/01/25/to-make-a-long-story-short/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and giveaway of "The Devil You Know" by PJ Tracy https://www.krlnews.com/2023/01/the-devil-you-know-by-pj-tracy.html
And a review and giveaway of "Killer Cupid" by Laurien Berenson https://www.krlnews.com/2023/01/killer-cupid-by-laurien-berenson.html
And this week one of our reviewers, Kathleen Costa, shares her picks for Best of 2022, and you can enter to win a $3 Amazon gift card https://www.krlnews.com/2023/01/youre-topyoure-waldorf-salad-my-best.html
Happy reading,
Lorie
Beneath the Stains of Time: Close Quarters (1947) by Michael Gilbert
Beneath the Stains of Time: Close Quarters (1947) by Michael Gilbert: Michael Gilbert was a British solicitor, author, schoolteacher and veteran who, beginning in the 1930s, served with the Royal Horse Artille...
Scott's Take: Hellboy: The Bones of Giants by Mike Mignola
Hellboy: The Bones of Giants by Mike Mignola
adapts the book of the same name into comic form. I have never read the
original book so I have no idea how good of a job they did on the adapting
part.
In this graphic novel, a man is found
dead in Sweden. The deceased is holding a large old war hammer. It appears that
Thor is the dead man. Hellboy picks up the hammer and that causes the power of
Thor to be transferred to him. That could be a positive. But, a major negative
is the fact that the hammer is now stuck to his hand. He literally cannot let
go.
Not only does Hellboy need to figure out
how to let go, he also needs to figure out who killed Thor, and why. Hellboy is
now stuck trying to figure out who and why Thor is dead. Hellboy meets Norse Mythology
in this action-packed volume.
The main characters are Hellboy and Abe
as they do their buddy team up investigate weird stuff thing. The art is
typical Hellboy ---you either like it or you don’t.
I highly enjoyed this volume. This is a
unique tale since Norse Mythology and Hellboy do not crossover much. I am a big
fan of both so I might be biased. I recommend this volume for fans of both.
My reading copy came by way of the
Hoopla App and the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2023
Friday, January 27, 2023
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 63 Calls for Submissions in February 2023 - Paying Markets
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 63 Calls for Submissions in February 2023 - Paying...: This February there are more than five dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As alw...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of W...: Reviewed by Ben I just finished The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Chang was a Chinese-American writer for whom this book represent...
Barry Ergang's FFB Review: THE CRAZY MIXED-UP CORPSE (1957) by Michael Avallone
From the massively magnificent archive….
If you’ve never seen a movie written and directed by Ed Wood—among others “Glen or Glenda,” “Bride of the Monster,” and that eternal classic “Plan 9 From Outer Space”—you’re either very young, or old but someone who has spent the bulk of his life in a cave. If you have seen an Ed Wood film, especially “Plan 9,” you understand why his works fall into the “so bad they’re good” category.
Arguably, Michael Avallone’s Ed
Noon mysteries fall into that same category. The Crazy Mixed-Up
Corpse is a case in point.
The novel opens with private
detective Noon killing time by reading newspapers in his office, “which is also
my home and a real mouse auditorium for size. Everything is relative, like they
say, but every time I took my hat off it was like adding an extra piece of
furniture to the place.” His P.I. license and gun have been suspended for the
past year, “thanks to my peculiar talent for annoying the D.A., beating
Headquarters out of big cases and generally making myself a large, unofficial
nuisance.” When he receives a call from one of his best friends, Homicide
Division Captain Mike Monks, telling him his suspension is over, that he can
retrieve license and gun, and that Monks needs his help on a police matter,
Noon intends to immediately head to HQ. He’s barely out on the street when
someone in a Packard sedan opens up with a machine gun, cutting him down. When
he awakens in a hospital several days later, he learns that the gunner
seriously wounded him but killed a blind man and the youngest daughter of Tom
Long, owner of the Chinese laundry a couple doors down from his office, who
were both out on the sidewalk when the sedan drove by. Long’s six-year-old
daughter suffered a wound to her left arm that will probably result in
permanent damage.
Three weeks later, though still rather weak from his ordeal, Noon walks out of the hospital without having been officially discharged. He’s barely back in his office when a voluptuous blonde named Holly Hill pulls a gun on him and asks, “Where is it?” When he tells her he has no idea what she’s looking for, she orders him to strip. Still not finding the item she won’t name, she tosses his clothing out a window and departs. He has barely retrieved and donned his trousers “when a shattering explosion boomed, banged and bombarded the stillness of the night.” The explosion came from Tom Long’s Hand Laundry.
I’m not going to reveal anything
more about the plot of this short, fast-paced novel beyond explaining that the
title refers to a murder victim who lived next to Tom Long’s store, whose
identity is a mystery, and who was murdered in a particularly grisly
manner—make that manners, plural: throat cut, shot, and gutted. Noon truthfully
tells Mike Monks that he’s never seen the man after seeing the morgue photos.
Needless to say, Noon is not going
to sit idly by and let—or hope—the police solve the case. As he pursues it, he
once again comes into contact with Holly Hill. But then there’s also her
machine-gunner boyfriend Ace; an attractive waitress, Penny Darnell, who works
at a restaurant Noon frequents; one very large, handsome, and dangerous
specimen named Carver Calloway Drill; and a couple of other thugs working with
Holly, Ace and, eventually, Drill.
If you haven’t read Bill Pronzini’s Gun in
Cheek and Son of Gun in Cheek, two marvelously entertaining and often
hilarious books about “alternative crime fiction”—i.e., “the neglected classics
of substandard mystery writing,” as the back cover of the trade paper edition
of Son of Gun in Cheek puts it—you’re missing out on a lot of
fun. You’re also missing out on considerable space devoted to Michael Avallone,
some of whose linguistic dubieties are in evidence in The Crazy Mixed-Up
Corpse. For example, similes that either strain for effect—“My body
felt as abnormal as a tuxedo in a hobo jungle”—or make little or no logical sense:
“And me with a machine-gun in my mitts that was about as useful as a grizzly
bear at a wedding.”
As Pronzini notes, Avallone has a
tendency to belabor certain points, and I can’t help wondering if such moments
were deliberately padded to achieve the required minimum word count. While
reading this particular novel, the first of Avallone’s I’ve read in more than
two decades, and in view of the aforementioned strained similes and other
rhetorical flourishes that passed muster, I wonder if his editor at Fawcett
Gold Medal called in sick whenever one of Avallone’s manuscripts arrived at the
office.
There are descriptions that don’t
quite work, or even make sense—e.g., “I flagged down a cab and helped Penny
Darnell inside. As she settled back against the cushions, I shot the address to
the cabbie and he gave me a look of shrugging envy.” [Italics mine]
The Avallone moment that’s
reminiscent of Robert Leslie Bellem’s pulp stories starring Dan Turner,
Hollywood Detective: “His big body had reached me and his lunch shovels went
for my throat.”
The ludicrous (Pronzini cites this
in one of the aforementioned volumes): “His breath was hot and sweaty.”
The contorted: when the enormous
Carver Calloway Drill gets Noon into a bear hug and Noon could only feel “his
steel-trap fingers sunk into my thighs and shoulders,” the reader can only
wonder how many hands Drill has.
Incorrect or debatable word
choices: “My insides did an adagio.”
While I personally couldn’t take a steady diet of Michael Avallone, the Ed Wood of Ed Noon and other tales, I can recommend this crazy mixed-up farce as diverting mind-candy. But as a dentist would advise about candy consumption, moderation is an imperative.
Barry Ergang © 2017, 2023
Among his other works, Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang’s
locked-room novelette, The Play of Light and Shadow, can be found in eBook formats at Smashwords.com and Amazon.com
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Collaborist: Head Hopping in Writing and Reading While You Write
Collaborist: Head Hopping in Writing and Reading While You Write
(Yours truly got an incredibly nice mention in the readers reading section)
There Are More Ads Now
Your eyes are not deceiving you. There are more ads now. I am sorry.
I have enabled Google Adsense here in a desperate attempt to have some sort of income, no matter how little, coming in to offset expenses. Things are so not good.
So, I am sorry. I hope you will keep reading and commenting despite the addition of the ads.
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Japanese Literature Challenge: A Midsummer's Equation
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Japanese Literature Challenge: A Midsummer's Equation: A Midsummer's Equation by Keigo Higashino is the first book I am reviewing for the Japanese Literature Challenge, hosted at Dolce Bel...
Review: Storm Watch: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box
The worsening
weather this day in late March for Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett means that
he is on the clock. A major snowstorm is coming down from the Bighorn Mountains.
He is on foot and on the hunt for an injured elk after a collision between the
elk and a car earlier that morning. The elk had left the scene on three good
legs according to a state trooper, so now Game Warden Pickett has to find that
elk and end its suffering before the storm hits.
Snow is heavy
on the ground as it is thanks to a winter of relentless and constant storms.
More snow and high winds are going to make a bad situation way worse. Time is
of the essence. He calls and gets permission from the foreman of the Double
Diamond Ranch known to all as “The Double D” to cross their land in pursuit of
the badly injured elk. With one eye on the darkening sky rolling down from the
mountains, he sets out following the trail.
After being
on the trail of the elk for a few minutes, he finds a vehicle hidden in the
trees off of an old small two track road. He investigates and nobody is in the
SUV. Thanks to the fact that it is unlocked, he also finds that the interior is
fairly warm. Among other things inside is a topographical map with four
locations marked by x’s in a black marker. The person or persons from the car
are not lost. They meant to be here in this isolated spot though they may not
have counted on the powerful storm closing in on the area by the minute.
As Pickett
begins to look around the immediate area, he realizes he is hearing a
mechanical scream coming from somewhere nearby, He gets up on a ridge and
starts looking for the missing person or persons as well as the source for the
noise. As the snow begins to build in intensity, he can see tracks from the SUV
to a nearby small metal building of some type. The longer he looks at the
structure, he realizes that a dark form is hanging out of the steel louvers on
one side of the building
The dark form
is a person and not moving.
What follows
is a complicated read that touches on espionage, the growing Sovereign Citizen
movement, domestic terrorism, and a host of other issues driving our nation’s
politics at this time. The MAGA crowd comes in for their fair share of
criticism as do other groups on the far right.
Various characters depict those positions and their behavior and
statements may offend readers who believe in their cause.
While there
is a mystery here as to what is going on, this is a politics heavy thriller
more than anything. It shows the ongoing shift of the last few books from the solidly
good mysteries that began the series to more of thrillers populated with cardboard
cutouts as secondary characters.
It is my hope that Mr. Boxx returns to his roots that made this series so good in future installments in this series.
My reading copy
came by way of the publisher through NetGalley. Publication day is 2/28/2023.
Kevin R.
Tipple ©2023
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 58 Writing Contests in February 2023 - No entry fees
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 58 Writing Contests in February 2023 - No entry fees: This February there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes ran...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Gilded Mountain, Marjorie Post, Lady Sherlock, Simplicity Parenting
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Gilded Mountain, Marjorie Post, Lady S...: Reported by Garry Gilded Mountain by Kate Manning. Set in Moonstone, Colorado at the turn of the 20 th century, the story is told throu...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: HENRY HORN'S SUPER-SOLVENT
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: HENRY HORN'S SUPER-SOLVENT: :Henry Horn's Super-Solvent" by Dwight V. Swain (from Fantastic Adventures , November 1941) Henry Horn is a nebbish of a scientist...
Little Big Crimes Review: The Grown-Ups Table by Steve Hockensmith
Little Big Crimes: The Grown-Ups Table, by Steve Hockensmith: "The Grown-Ups Table," by Steve Hockensmith, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2023. This is my fir...
Short Story Wednesday Review: THRILLER 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down Editor Clive Cussler (Reviewed by Barry Ergang)
From the
massively magnificent archive…
THRILLER 2: STORIES YOU JUST CAN’T PUT DOWN Editor Clive Cussler
Reviewed by
Barry Ergang
Edited by Clive
Cussler, who supplies an introduction and a preface to each of the twenty-three
stories in this collection, Thriller 2 is the sequel to a previous
volume of short stories by members of International Thriller Writers, Inc.
Jeffery Deaver:
When U.S. intelligence agencies learn about “The Weapon,” they also learn they
have only four days to identify exactly what it is, where it will be deployed,
and by whom. Will they be able to do so in time to stop it?
Blake Crouch:
Keeping the young boy and his father under surveillance, what exactly is
Mitchell’s motive, and what kind of “Remaking” does he hope to accomplish?
Harry Hunsicker:
In “Iced,” murder comes easy to Tom, a formerly respectable banker and family
man, as long as he has Chrissie and the drugs and the prospect of living large
in Costa Rica.
Mariah Stewart:
Because of Deanna’s cowardice, her friend Jessie is assaulted, and thus
severely traumatized, by a gang of punks. Determined to see “Justice Served,”
Deanna sets out to avenge Jessie—with nightmarish unintended consequences.
David Hewson:
Melanie, a temporary employee at the Palace of Westminster, has traveled “The
Circle,” the London subway system, since she was a little girl. Today’s trip
and arrival will be considerably different ones.
R.L. Stine:
Wayne swears that he’s innocent and has a “Roomful of Witnesses” to prove it
after his coworker Leon pays a price for abusive behavior at The Haven, a
facility for elderly residents.
Readers won’t
soon forget either the witnesses or the abused residents in this jewel by an
author best known for his books for children.
Phillip Margolin: From the time her mother brought her as a child to it, Monica Esteban dreamed of living like a princess in “The House on Pine Terrace.” Opportunity presents itself when she meets Dan Emery and they fall in love. But when do things ever go that smoothly in crime fiction?
Marcus Sakey:
His army service earned Nick post-traumatic stress disorder and Cooper’s friendship. Now the two live in Las Vegas and
Cooper needs Nick’s help, as he did after an incident in Iraq. For Nick, “The
Desert Here and the Desert Far Away” mix unpleasant memories from the past with
danger in the present in a story persuasively told in the second-person.
Carla Neggers:
Ill-prepared for the weather conditions and the terrain but “On the Run,” the
fugitive has kidnapped Gus Winters and demanded that Winters lead him to a
specific location high up in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Whether one
or the other or both will die of hypothermia eventually becomes the question,
provided the fugitive doesn’t use his gun first.
Robert Ferrigno:
The accountant’s hands are bound behind his back as he leads Briggs and Sean
through swampy ground to retrieve the ledger they want before they kill him.
It’s amusing up to that point, but once he asks, “Can You Help Me Out Here?” it
becomes even funnier. Carl Hiaasen fans—and I’m one of them—will likely love
this one.
Joe Hartlaub:
When in “Crossed Double,” C.T.’s son Andy gets himself into trouble with loan
shark Kozee, Dad—with growing annoyance and as matters become more complex—has
to bail him out.
Lawrence Light:
“When the man he’d killed a year ago walked into the bar, Joe Dogan was
surprised. So surprised that he fell off his stool.” So begins a wry story
about life and politics in the environs of southern New Jersey as they relate
to “The Lamented” Brad Acton, his friends, associates, and enemies.
Lisa Jackson:
Private detective Lucas Parker has been hired by his former brother-in-law to
provide security for a formal gathering at the D’Amato Winery in a powerful tale
of personal angst, a dysfunctional family’s secrets, a lust for revenge, and
“Vintage Murder.”
Tim Maleeny:
Author Jim Masterson is no longer merely a writer; he’s become a brand whose
name on a book cover means sales in the tens of millions—even if the book was
“co-written” by someone whose name appears in smaller type. When his editor
shows up and says that if he doesn’t
finish his latest manuscript in forty-four minutes, Jim’s wife Emily will be
killed, Jim isn’t sure if the situation requires a “Suspension of Disbelief.”
I have to add
here that I find it ironically amusing that Thriller 2 was edited by Clive
Cussler, and that its predecessor—which I haven’t read—was edited by James
Patterson, both of whom are “brands” whose names appear in large type on the
covers of a multitude of novels “co-authored” by lesser-known writers who, I
suspect but cannot prove, did most (possibly all) of the actual work.
Sean Chercover:
Tom Bailey runs a charter boat and isn’t particular about most of his
clientele. But the man who calls himself Diego proves to be a different story
entirely, “A Calculated Risk” whose motives are suspect and upon whom Bailey’s
life hinges.
Javier Sierra:
Professors in America, Madrid, and Mexico are being murdered in a ritualistic
manner. Solar storms and eruptions threaten the Earth. Is one of them the Big
One that a dead scientist was investigating? What events might lead to “The
Fifth World”?
Gary Braver:
Former best-selling author Geoffrey Dane hasn’t been able to sell anything for
quite awhile, and is currently teaching a writing course at a local college to
make ends meet—barely. Lauren Grant asks him to be her “Ghost Writer” for a
book idea she has. But who—and what—is she, and is that all she really wants
from him?
Kathleen Antrim:
“It’s time to kill my husband, Izaan Bekkar. The forty-eighth president of the
United States.” So opens Sylvia’s story—Sylvia, who knows what the public does
not, and who experiences it “Through a Veil Darkly.”
David J.
Montgomery: Li Jinping is officially the Cultural Attaché of the People’s
Republic of China. In his unofficial capacity he’s a spy. A very inept one, as
well as a horndog with two mistresses in the D.C. area and a predilection for
hookers. Hitman Jason Ryder has been hired to make it a permanent “Bedtime for
Mr. Li,” the more embarrassingly the better.
Simon Wood: Nick
is more than a little smitten with Melanie. Unfortunately for him, her brother
Jamie disapproves and warns him off as though he’s “Protecting the Innocent.”
When Nick digs into Melanie’s past, it seems obvious than Jamie has been unduly
overprotective—and deadly.
Joan Johnston:
Before leaving for his tour of duty in Iraq, Carter Benedict asked his brother
Nash to “Watch Out for My Girl.” Nash has complied—to the point of falling in
love with firefighter Morgan Hunter. The morning after he impetuously kissed
her, she’s gone missing. While trying to resolve her own feelings, Morgan
drives into murderous trouble she might not survive unless she gets some
help—and soon.
Jon Land:
Fallon, a skilled professional killer who likes his work, is a man in hiding,
posing as an English teacher at the Hampton Lake Middle School. He’s
ill-prepared for that position, but no longer just “Killing Time” until he can
leave the country when his pursuers, who want him dead after he botched a job,
track him to the school and imperil the student body and staff.
Ridley Pearson:
“Boldt’s Broken Angel” is the final and longest story in the book, a police
procedural that emphasizes forensics. Amateur jazz pianist and police detective
Lou Boldt, aided by partner John LaMoia and Daphne Matthews, investigates a missing persons case that
leads to a particularly deranged serial killer.
Whereas most
such collections contain some stories that are stronger and more engrossing
than others, Thriller 2 is an exception. I found every story
totally engaging. Moreover, none is like another. Plot, tone and style vary widely, providing
the reader with different takes on what constitutes a thriller. The only
caveats are raw language and some scenes which, while not flagrantly explicit,
might just be graphic enough to repel some readers. Those who find these
elements offensive are advised to stay away. Those who don’t will find this a
very entertaining read.
Barry Ergang © 2015, 2023
Among his other works, Derringer Award-winner Barry Ergang’s
locked-room novelette, The Play of Light and Shadow, can be found in eBook formats at Smashwords.com and Amazon.com
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hanging Captain (1932) by Henry Wade
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hanging Captain (1932) by Henry Wade: So it must be admitted that January has been pretty average so far, quality-wise, having discussed two of Paul Doherty's e-novellas of ...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 21 Literary Magazines Open NOW for Poetry, Short Fiction, CNF, Speculative Fiction, Horror, and more
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Jeanne Reviews: A Doomful of Sugar by Catherine Bruns
Leila Khoury left Vermont after a broken engagement,
intending not to return. Her father’s
murder brought her back to Sugar Ridge, at least temporarily. She plans to go back to her teaching job in
Florida but her father’s will changes all that:
he has left Sarah his farm and business, asking that she work it for at
least one year before she decides to sell. Sarah is shocked; she’d thought if
Sappy Endings was to be left to anyone, it would have been either her mother or
her brother Simon. It’s not as if she had helped her father a lot at the maple
sugar farm, or knew about tapping trees.
Still, her father wanted her to try and Leila wants
to find out who killed him. It looks like a robbery gone bad, but some things
puzzle her enough to start asking questions—and maybe drawing out a killer.
This is the first in the Maple Syrup Mysteries, which means it can be a little uneven. First in series books have a lot of territory
to cover: setting has to be established,
characters introduced, and of course there has to be a mystery to be
solved. I tend to cut such books some
slack. I like the basic premise. The
maple syrup process is interesting. I especially
that Leila and her family are of Lebanese descent; I enjoy the little touches
of another culture, revealed mostly through food. I also liked the complicated
relationship between Leila and her mother and the slight progress they have
made toward reconciliation. I also adore
Toast the cat.
What I didn’t particularly care for what the way
Leila kept jumping to conclusions and accusing everyone. That got old pretty fast. It’s often a cozy
feature but not one I care for. She also
let her insecurities cause a lot of friction with her family and her
employees. I’m hoping she will have it a
bit more together in the next book.
Finally, I had some quibbles about the ending but
overall, it’s a good effort and I’ll be looking forward to the next in the
series.
Monday, January 23, 2023
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch: Reviewed by Christy It's December 1999, and Frankie and Ezra are headed back to their old stomping grounds to celebrat...
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Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Bad to the Bone by Tony J Forder
British author
Tony J Forder writes the DI Jimmy Bliss crime fiction series. The first seven
novels were published by Bloodhound Books beginning in 2017. They were
re-issued in 2022 under Forder’s own imprint Spare Nib Books along with a
prequel and three more books, the most recent of which was released in December
2022.
The first title
Bad to the Bone (Bloodhound Books, 2017; Spare Nib Books, 2022)
introduces Detective Inspector Jimmy Bliss and his sidekick Detective Constable
Penny Chandler of the Major Crimes unit of the Peterborough police force. Bliss
is a troubled man with a traumatic history; nevertheless he is a highly capable
detective. He sees great promise in Chandler and gives her on-the-job training
opportunities whenever possible. Bliss has a fractious relationship with his
immediate supervisor, who would remove Bliss if he could. Bliss’s career
prospects in this particular office seem dim to non-existent.
In this
opening case Bliss and Chandler are called to a wooded area where some boys
have uncovered a skeleton. The bones have been there for awhile. Identifying
them seemed unlikely but Bliss and his team took the age and gender information
from the forensics analysis and started plowing through missing persons
records. The methodical process that follows is discouragingly slow but
eventually rewarding. Bliss increasingly becomes committed to obtaining justice
for the victim, despite the likely damage to his career caused by disregarding
his manager’s instructions,
The character
of Bliss is not especially original, think Harry Bosch for instance, but the
nicely complicated plot line laid out here is. The detailed steps of the
paper-based investigation make what logically is coincidence seem quite
plausible. A couple of plot twists add depth and complexity to a well-written
story.
This series
is popular in the UK and is mentioned often in the UK Crime Book Club group on
Facebook. Fans of British detective series will want to look at this one.
·
ASIN: B09VWMGF7Z
·
Publisher: Independently published (March 18,
2022)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 376 pages
· ISBN-13: 979-8421957737
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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