Thursday, November 30, 2023
Review: Resurrection Walk: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly
Resurrection Walk: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel
by Michael Connelly splits the time between Bosch and his brother, Mickey
Haller. At its core, the novel is about a flawed justice system and trying to
get innocent people released. But, the read is far more complicated than that.
Mickey Haller is doing pretty well. He just got
Jorge Ochoa out after years of being wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did
not commit and he likes the feeling that kind of victory. He enjoyed that
thrill of victory as Ochoa walked out, a sort of “resurrection walk.”
These days Bosch works for him so that he has
insurance. Bosch was going to let the cancer do what it did, but changed his
mind. Bosch is fighting, and when he isn’t in treatment, he is driving Haller
around and reading letters from inmates seeking help to overturn convictions.
It is their own version of the “Innocence Project”
and Bosch thinks he may have spotted a case worth looking at in greater detail.
Lucinda Sanz was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of her Los
Angeles County Deputy Husband. She pleaded nolo to manslaughter as a plea deal.
She has no idea who killed her husband in the front yard of their house, or
why, but she took the deal because her public defender said to do so. Now she urgently
needs to get out and back home to her son.
While Haller is doing various things, Bosch does
some poking around and is soon questioning the merits of the case against her. Overturning
her plea is going to be damn near impossible, but going to Federal Court might
be a step in the right direction. That case and the fight to get Lucinda Sanz
out of prison is the primary overarching storyline.
Other cases, Bosch’s cancer fight, and various ongoing
matters make up secondary storylines in a complex novel.
While the cancer fight is tough reading for those
of who have gone through it with a loved one, the overall novel does not spend
a ton of time in that storyline. Many things are going on in Resurrection
Walk: A Lincoln Lawyer Novel by Michael Connelly. The result is a
highly entertaining read that pulls the reader along at a rapid clip. The book
is well worth your time.
After the publisher skipped my NetGalley review
request, my reading copy came by way of the Libby/OverDrive App and the Dallas
Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
(audio version below)
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 96 Calls for Submissions in December 2023 - No submission fees
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: I Could Pee on This; Dracula; Rabbit-Proof Fence
SleuthSayers: Mind the Gap
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "Three Times Loser" by Michael Gilbert
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: "GAWKY" FOR GUARD
Short Story Wednesday Review: Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue Seven, Winter 2023
Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue 7, Winter 2023, contains seven short stories and one true crime article. As always, the read here is dark. Those seeking cozy mysteries or lighthearted fare should look elsewhere.
Colin Brightwell’s “Sad Sack” leads things off. It is the holidays and two porch pirates have their own plan to pick up spending money. The first step is hitting some porches and grabbing packages on this cold icy afternoon.
Sammy was a comedian with a bit of a cult following in the clubs he played between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area. He borrowed a lot of money from a guy in “Not Funny” by Jim Guigli and headed to the east coast. Now the collectors have caught up to him and he is in a world of trouble.
Crank’s girlfriend, Yulia, wants him to change. He tries in “Crank Baxter Ain’t No God-Damned Christian” by Alec Cizak. His attempt to change from his core nature has a lot of consequences.
Two young girls were murdered in Delphi, Indiana, back in 2017. “The Delphi Murders: A True Crime Story” by N. Fraley recounts the details of the case, the hunt for a suspect, and the status of the case at the time this issue was published.
Editor/Publisher Brandon Burrows is next with his short story, “It’s All An Act.” A totally insignificant man named Dan Martin ended everything. He has to pay. As does society which refuses to put a stop to such senseless acts of gun violence. The reader can’t help but wonder why this sort of thing does not happen more often when one reads this tale.
The three men had a plan and it should have worked fine. It would have too in “No Trouble” by Wayne McIntire if one man had not tried to play hero. Or if one of three had not acted as he did.
When you are convicted young and do your prison time, coming back home, and trying to get a job can be very hard. Especially in a small nowhere place like Chesterton. Andy had to come back and is now trying to make it as best as he can. It is very late at the convenience store, the weather is nasty, and it is almost time to close for the day in “Conviction” by Anderson Barres. Then a customer shows up and everything changes.
So, there he was sitting in a bar and halfway to where he wanted to be, stranger sits nearby and ask if he is willing to kill the guy’s wife. Not that our narrator has done that before. But, things are hard, it is 50k, and she will soon be dead anyway. The hook is set in “Two Guys Walk Into A Bar” by Robb T. White.
Another interesting issue, Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue 7, Winter 2023, is another in an entertaining series of reads. Dark in tone and filled with characters often compelled to make bad choices and deal with the outcomes, the crime fiction short stories presented here makes no bones about the inner nature of people. Some have power and use it one way. Others have it and use it another. Friends become enemies and the world spins on. If you are looking for light hearted, this is not the read for you.
My reading copy was a purchase of the eBook last December by way of funds in my Amazon Associate account.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2023
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
SleuthSayers: Reading for Gems by Michael Bracken
Bitter Tea and Mystery: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet: Becky Chambers
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Six Cats a Slayin’ by Miranda James
Review: Posthumous Child: Inspector Mislan and The Playground Murder by Rozlan Mohd Noor
Posthumous Child:
Inspector Mislan and The Playground Murder by
Rozlan Mohd Noor is the latest in a good series of police procedurals set in
and around Kuala Lumper, Malaysia. This sixth book in the series is a slower
read than the previous books though the second half of the book picks up
considerably.
As always, Detective Sergeant Johan Kamaruddin
and Inspector Mislan Latiff work a number of cases over the course of the book.
Some are solved fairly quickly. One takes longer and serves as the main case of
the book.
Such is the case here where the main case regards
the discovery of the body of a woman is found in a park in a wealthy area. In
the park there is a large playground setup for both adults and children. In the
children’s area, near a slide, there is the body of a woman. She is dressed and
curled up in a fetal position and clearly dumped at the park.
It is only later during the postmortem that Detective
Sergeant Johan Kamaruddin and Inspector Mislan Latiff learn that the woman was
pregnant. That fact was not obvious on scene. Somebody, presumably, the killer,
took the baby out of her. Who killed the woman, why, and what happened to the
baby drive the case and thus the primary storyline of the book. Those answers
are dark as is most of the book.
This is not a light read, not that any in this
series are, but the tone of this one is darker than most. Inspector Mislan is
also personally going through some things. The pandemic also still has a tight
grip on normal life. As the book moves forward, Inspector Mislan is struck
again and again how people will do horrible things to each other under the
guise of faith or politics. The world is frequently a sick place and Mislan is
increasingly more aware of that fact more than most.
A slow moving and very complicated police
procedural, Posthumous Child: Inspector Mislan and The Playground Murder
by Rozlan Mohd Noor is not my favorite of the series by a long shot. I found
stretches of it slow and tedious until significant progress is eventually made
on the primary case. Of course, that could easily be the mindset of this reader
and not remotely the fault of the author. This time of year is hard for me and
I am well aware that my mood definitely bleeds over into my reading.
While one could start here, I would recommend
starting with the first book, 21
Immortals: Inspector Mislan and the Yee Sang Murders, and working forward. Each book has the core characters evolving
and going through various things that provide nuance and depth to Inspector
Mislan and others. There is a reason why the good Inspector is the way he is these
days. To pick up on everything in the latest read, one really needs to have
read the previous books.
My reading copy was in digital format and a purchase from Amazon as the Dallas Library system does not have this one and staff refused to pick it up when I requested it months ago.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
(Begin Here)
Monday, November 27, 2023
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Kindaichi Case Files: Death TV by Yozaburo Kanari and Fumiya Sato
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 57 Writing Contests in December 2023 - No entry fees
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Blood Relations by Joyce Woollcott
Joyce
Woollcott was born in Belfast in Northern Ireland and now lives in Canada. Her
debut, the first police procedural with Detective Sergeant Ryan McBride and his partner Detective
Sergeant Billy Lamont of the Belfast police, won the RWA Daphne du Maurier
Award, was short-listed in the Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in
2021, and was a Silver Falchion Award finalist at Killer Nashville 2023.
Her second book with DS McBride and DS
Lamont is Blood Relations (Level Best Books, 2023). It is set just
before COVID, when things changed on so many levels.
The gory
murder of retired Chief Inspector Patrick Mullan in his isolated country house has
Homicide scrambling for fast answers. The new Homicide manager is convinced the
culprit will be found among the many miscreants Mullan sent to prison. The
intensity of the killing makes McBride think the murder was personal and wants
to look at Mullan’s family and close friends but he follows orders and begins
checking with informants. He learns John Bell was released from prison the
previous week and that Bell claimed Mullan interfered with his sentencing. In a
similar vein McBride also hears suggestions and hints that Mullan was
friendlier with the local crime bosses than was seemly for someone in his
position.
A complicated
investigation with multiple avenues to explore, a victim with a murky past, and
intriguing subplots. The supporting characters are great, especially Gracie,
Bell’s ex-wife, and Doris, Bell’s mother, who remain fast friends despite
Gracie’s separation from Bell. Steady pacing of events and disclosure of clues
prevented mid-story slump and kept me engaged.
I pointed out
in a review about a month ago and I will say it again here that I am really
tired of the competent cop fighting inept upper management trope that is so
common now. Not that useless managers don’t exist, I have had more than my fair
share of them. But portraying upper management as blithering idiots is not
realistic. It’s more accurate to show them as consumed with the administrative
demands of their positions: the higher up the chain any employee in any
organization moves, the more attuned they have to be to financial and political
dynamics. I always thought Steven Havill handled the uninformed manager in the
early Bill Gastner books exceptionally well. It’s an approach more writers of
police procedurals should consider.
Besides that
aspect and I understand other readers may not find the theme as objectionable
as I do, I really liked this book; I was especially delighted with the thread
involving Gracie and Doris. Recommended!
·
Publisher: Level Best Books (August
1, 2023)
·
Language: English
·
Paperback: 286 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1685123996
·
ISBN-13: 978-1685123994
Aubrey
Nye Hamilton ©2023
Aubrey
Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and
reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Little Big Crimes: Kit's Pad, by David Krugler
SleuthSayers: 50th by R.T. Lawton
Still Doing The Amazon Associate Thing
With tomorrow being “Cyber Monday” as the kids call
it, I thought I should remind you that I am still an Amazon Associate. Every
time you click through one of my links and buy something, I get a few cents
added to my account as a referral fee. It does nothing on your end to raise
your price. I just get a few cents and those pennies that cost you nothing
start adding up for me on this end. I use the small fund to buy some medical
stuff I need and the occasional book.
So, if you are inclined, when shopping at Amazon,
please go through my links for whatever you are ultimately buying. Doing so
helps me out and is always very much appreciated.
As always, if you wish to make a donation directly to me that will mainly be used to pay for my more frequent doctor visits, treatments, and meds, please use the donation widget on the left side of the blog here.
Anything and everything helps.
Thank you.
Saturday, November 25, 2023
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: SALE -- 99¢ FOR WINTER'S WISH
Friday, November 24, 2023
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Shady Hollow by Juneau Black
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: DESIGN FOR GREAT-DAY
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Sort of a Mini Break
With today being Thanksgiving, Scott and I are taking a bit of a break the next couple of days. This means no FFB Review tomorrow, repeat or otherwise, and no new review by Scott Saturday.
I will be linking to interesting things like I always do and I will be taking care of whatever I need to do for SMFS. But, otherwise, I plan to watch football and work on some things around here such as some reviews I need to do.
This time of year is always very tough. This year has been really hard, so trying this seems like the best option.
Beneath the Stains of Time: Inspector De Klerck and the Unwanted Death (2023) by P. Dieudonné
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Better Man, Brave Hearted: The Women of the American West
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 4 Distinctive Writing Conferences and Workshops in December 2023
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Leopold's Way
Sweet Freedom: SSW: "The Dead Women" by by Marguerite Young, AMERICAN PREFACES, a 1943 issue, edited by Louise Garrigus/Jean Garrigue; "The Day They Got Boston" by Herbert Gold, METRONOME, January 1961, edited by Bill Coss: Short Story Wednesday
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE SURGEON OF SOULS
Short Story Wednesday Review: Morale Was Down by Evan Ronan
From the massive archive….
Morale is always down and the complaining is always up no matter where you work. In this case you work in an office on the 3rd floor. You know things are not better anywhere else because the green pastures elsewhere you hear about through the rumor mill don’t exist.
Besides, if you were somewhere else you would not have a note on the fridge about a fellow employee taking Marvin’s Stromboli. The fact somebody took it is not good. That does not help morale. As a middle manager, you know you have no authority to do much of anything. Your job is to keep the morale of your team up and things like this are not good. You also know that when the boss tells you to make some discreet inquiries about the missing sandwich you have to do it. This is not the first food related item to go missing though this is the first you have heard of it. When she wants to you identify the serial food taker by the close of business you know this Monday is worse than normal.
Featuring some adult language and plenty of humor this short story written in the second person works very well. Filled with characters that work in every environment, Morale Was Down is quirky and a good read.
Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2014, 2023
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
SleuthSayers: Embarking on a Series by Alan Orloff
Monday, November 20, 2023
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Energy Follows Thought: The Stories Behind My Songs by Willie Nelson
Beneath the Stains of Time: Through Three Rooms (1907) by Sven Elvestad (a.k.a. Stein Riverton)
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Hostage Zero by John Gilstrap
John Gilstrap’s
series of thrillers about an ex-military officer who runs a security services company
and who performs high-risk hostage and kidnap rescues as an unadvertised capability
has become my go-to for absorbing but predictable reading. Predictable because
the main characters have become familiar. There’s Jonathan Grave, owner and
brains of the outfit, who loves the outcomes of his work but doesn’t always
like the paths to achieving them or the collateral damage. His friend Brian Van
de Meulebroeke, known as Boxer, supplies the brawn and expert knowledge of
explosives. I can always count on at least one spectacular scene involving C-4,
Semtex, or their relatives, resulting in mass destruction of something. The
third member of their team is Venice, whose computer skills include hacking,
esoteric research, and satellite networks. At least once in every book I’ve
read, she saves Jonathan and Boxer from certain death through her deployment of
advanced technology. Secondary characters are Grave’s friend Father Dominic,
who serves as an external conscience for Grave, and Irene Rivers, FBI director
whose association with Grave extends well into the past. She and Grave feel
free to call on each other for help and to use their influence to keep the
other out of trouble.
Gilstrap takes
this well-rounded set of characters and plops them into one original scenario
after another, always managing to save the victims while delivering justice to
the bad guys. Think of a modern version of the 1950s television Westerns and it
might look a lot like these books.
In Hostage
Zero (Pinnacle, 2010) Grave and Boxer are pulled into the rescue of two
teenage boys who have been inexplicably kidnapped from their boarding school in
Virginia. Grave is happy to bring them home but first he has to find them,
which turns out to be far more difficult than expected. Add killers for hire,
organized crime, corrupt politicians, cocaine production in Colombia, and a
homeless veteran who wanders into the middle of it all, and the result is a
complicated story with multiple threads that unwind at breakneck speed.
Gilstrap
always incorporates a political backstory into the plot. He lived in northern
Virginia near Washington for years and keeps his thumb on the pulse of the action
there. He is also deeply knowledgeable about firearms; entire paragraphs are
devoted to the firepower that Grave and Boxer carry with them on any venture.
I especially
enjoy the way Gilstrap works actual local landmarks into the story. In this
volume he references the Torpedo Factory, a building once devoted to World War
II munitions production but now is an art gallery and studio. The detail about
Vienna, Virginia, a small town in Fairfax County that Gilstrap clearly knows
well, is great. He’s used the Vienna library as a meeting place for a couple of
spies, referencing the tiny parking lot, which in real life is the bane of
residents. In this outing Grave meets River at the “Maple Inn”, a pseudonym for
the genuine Vienna Inn on Maple Avenue in Vienna, known as a local hangout and
for its killer chili dogs.
I read these
books as I find them, reading them out of publication order doesn’t affect
understanding the story at all. Highly recommended for fans of intelligent
thrillers and political crime fiction.
Starred review from Publishers Weekly.
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works
on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Little Big Crimes: Spear Carriers, by Richard Helms
Saturday, November 18, 2023
SleuthSayers: The Storia Story by John Floyd
Scott's Take: Scarlet Witch: Vol. 1: The Last Door by Steve Orlando
Scarlet Witch: Vol. 1: The Last
Door
by Steve Orlando is a new series where the Scarlet Witch has moved to a new
town. She has opened up a shop to help people with their problems by way of
magical items she sells such as potion, elixirs, and more. There is also some
sort of teleportation door affixed to her shop that allows people from all over
the world with nowhere else to go to arrive at her shop so that she can help
them in addition to her local walk-in customers.
Each issue in this collected volume introduces
a new supporting character with a new problem or a new guest star. The final
issue is mostly a setup for the Contest of Champions Event. As those of us who
have read other series already know, and Wanda does not, her former mentor,
Agatha, has gone evil. So, the fact that Agatha is visiting in the last issue of
the volume is not just because, supposedly, Agatha is worried about her former
protégé.
The guest stars are drawn from Wanda’s
complicated family tree are featured for an issue here and there and are moved
on with nothing more said about them. Wanda faces villains that are powerful in
their own right, but would not seem to be much of a challenge for her if she
was not holding back. She is, in different ways, for the reasons that come
clear during the read and does casually performing massive spells.
There is humor, action, and drama in
interesting storylines accompanied by pretty art. This series is continued with
Volume 2: The Magnum Opus.
Sometime after that book is released,
the series is scheduled to be relaunched as Quicksliver and The Scarlet
Witch. This is planned to be a buddy cop style series dealing with Magneto’s
death. Before he died, Magneto sent a letter to Wanda that was supposed to read
by his children, Wanda and Pietro (Quicksilver), after his death. But, Wanda
burned it before Pietro was able to read it. Pietro is peeved about this and
there are consequences. This upcoming series is undercut in some ways by Marvel
and their marketing choices since we already know sometime next year Magneto
will be resurrected. It’s hard to mourn a character when Marvel has already
announced his return.
My reading copy came by way of the
Hoopla App and the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2023
Friday, November 17, 2023
SleuthSayers: How do you do it? by O'Neil De Noux
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: ANTI-MAN
FFB Review: Starvation Lake: A Mystery by Bryan Gruley
This is my 2009 review of the first book in a great three book series. From the massive archive here at Casa Tipple and Home Eatery Library….
The plan was to leave Starvation Lake,
Michigan and never come back. But 1998 finds Augustus Carpenter, known to all
as “Gus” back home after his successful newspaper career exploded on him in
Detroit. Both he and the town are still haunted by the goal he let in close to
the end of the state championship game and both have never been the same.
Now at thirty-four, Gus is backing home,
once again working for the local paper, Pilot. He lives in a small apartment
above the storefront news room and across the street from the local bar where
his teammates frequently congregate. The same issues that faced them as boys
are now part of the power struggles and conflict they have as men.
Simmering disagreements are fueled by
the fire of the past when parts of a damaged snowmobile wash up on the shore at
the lake. While the snowmobile seems to be the same one Coach Blackburn was
driving years ago before both disappeared through a hole in the ice, it can’t
possibly have made it here since that accident happened miles away. No body was
ever recovered, but the assumption was that Blackburn was dead. While he
probably is dead, the fact that the recovered snowmobile shows evidence of foul
play ignites a local firestorm that finally explodes in a tale of deceit, treachery,
and unspeakable pain.
A debut novel that packs a punch, Starvation
Lake, by Bryan Gruley develops slowly through a variety of emotionally
scarred and complex characters. Billed with the totally unnecessary subtitle, A
Mystery, the book operates on several levels with multiple mysteries
and complex multiple storylines featuring heavily flawed characters. To delve
into any of this at any level would seriously impact reader enjoyment by giving
away far too much information.
Suffice it to say, if you are looking
for a thriller or a simplistic mystery full of lightweight characters and
violent action, this is not the novel for you. However, if you are looking for
a meaty novel where the characters are very human and occasionally vile, where
there is plenty of back story and long descriptive scenes leading to powerful
dialogue and emotional impact for the characters and readers, along with multiple
mysteries, this is the book for you.
Material provided by the good folks of
the Plano, Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2009, 2023
Thursday, November 16, 2023
Six Years Later
This has been a very tough day...... six years ago today Sandi came home her final time just after six in the evening. It was the beginning of hospice ... and the beginning of the end. I did not want her here as I was very afraid of what was coming and not being able to care for her as she needed and deserved. That turned out to be the reality as after about a week they lost pain control and she suffered horribly before lapsing into unconsciousness those last few days. It was hell for her and for us too.
Sandi, on the other hand, did not want to die in the
hospital. She desperately wanted to be at home here with us. I agreed as that
was what she wanted and there was no way I could tell her no. In a sense she is
still here as her urn sits here in the den.
I wish for so much that can't be......and I miss her
so much. Every day is hard....some are worse than others....and then there are
days like today. I turn 62 Monday and she is not here to tell me not to be
grumpy about another birthday and to have fun.
Then we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and her birthday
in January. What should be a great time of year is instead a hard, painful
slog. Six years later, nothing has changed. At least she is not here to watch
me slowly get sicker as what little I inherited vanishes like sand through the
hourglass.
Beneath the Stains of Time: Monkey See, Monkey Murder (2023) by James Scott Byrnside
Review: Face of Greed: A Detective Emily Hunter Mystery by James L’Etoile
Last week, Aubrey Nye Hamilton reviewed Face of Greed: A Detective Emily
Hunter Mystery by James L’Etoile. If you have read
her review, you know she liked it a lot. After setting up her review, I went
looking for it at my local library with no luck. I went looking at NetGalley
where I remembered recently seeing it offered. Oceanview Publishing still
had it listed and so I requested it. Thankfully, it was instantaneously available
with no gatekeeper delay and I was soon hooked.
Detective Emily Hunter and Detective
Javier Medina are working in Sacramento, California. In recent years she has
been assigned to the Detective Bureau of the Sacramento Police Department. She is
on call one evening when Lieutenant Ford, Watch Commander, calls her with an
assignment. One is dead, one is injured, at what according to the initial
report, is some sort of home invasion gone very wrong.
If that was not enough, both the Mayor
and Chief of Police are already on scene. That means politics, powerful people,
and probably pressure to get results quickly and quietly from on high. It is a
cold evening this night in April and the neighborhood is clearly upscale where
a murder just does not happen. But, it did this night, and Rodger Townsend is
very much dead.
The deceased was fairly wealthy and had donated
a considerable sum of money to Mayor Stone’s last campaign. Not only that, but
Ridger Townsend was also the campaign manager. Those facts at least partially
explain why the Mayor is involved. The Mayor makes it clear from the start he
expects how the investigation is to be done and that includes leaving the
widow, Lori Richardson, alone.
Something Detective Hunter is not
willing to do as she follows the evidence and believes that Lori is involved
all the way up to her beautiful face and then some. That puts her and her
partner on a repeated collision course with the Mayor and her own internal
police chain of command. She enjoys poking the bear with people of power and
intends to do it regardless of how much it could cost her professionally or how
it reflects on her partner.
At the same time, she is dealing with a
serious issue at home as her elderly mother has dementia. Connie Hunter is 74
and slowly getting worse. How Emily Hunt will help her mother and whether she
can or not she can is a major secondary storyline in the book.
An entertaining read, Face of
Greed: A Detective Emily Hunter Mystery by James L’Etoile is a good
police procedural. As Aubrey pointed out in hew review, it relies significantly
on the trope of a smart good cop beset by incompetent supervisors. A hallmark
of police procedurals and one that is long familiar to readers.
Despite that issue, the overall read is
fast moving and highly entertaining. According to the note in the beginning of
the digital ARC, there is a second one coming in the pipeline. I very much look
forward to the read.
As noted in the review, my reading copy
came from the publisher, OceanView Publishing, by way of a NetGalley ARC.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Starter Villain, Deaf Republic, Covenant of Water
MAKE MINE MYSTERY: A Decadent Rest Well Earned
SleuthSayers: Dancing The Jig
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE FAMILY PORTRAITS
Sweet Freedom: SSW: "Dead Women" by Allie Mariano, PHILADELPHIA STORIES
Short Story Wednesday Review: The Perp Wore Pumpkin: A Humorous Crime Anthology to Benefit Second Harvest Food Bank
Edited by J.
Alan Hartman, the recently released Misti Media anthology, The Perp Wore Pumpkin: A Humorous Crime Anthology to
Benefit Second Harvest Food Bank, is a highly entertaining read.
This is especially true if you like puns and slap stick humor. The book also
includes four Thanksgiving related recipes offered by Jay’s sister, Lisa Lynn.
After a short
introduction by Jay explaining why he did a charity anthology and how it will
help give back in many locations, it is on to the stories.
“The
Thanksgiving Parade” by Sandra Murphy begins where two people are working
undercover in a holiday parade. Both are very much undercover as one is
costumed as a baked potato with fixings and the other as jellied cranberry
sauce. They are not the only ones dressed as food items. They also may not be
the only ones Arlo in a certain bank, the First Federal Bank of Orlo.
The Finley Family
Thanksgivings are a notorious deal going back many years. It is happening again
in “The Vic Wore Yams” by Heidi Hunter. The kitchen fire had caused a delay in
meal prep. Then the narrator’s dad lacerated the heck out of a finger as he
tried to carve the turkey. The dog got the meat the blood hit. But, the death
at the table, and the resulting family commotion really brought things to a
halt.
Janet saw the
stumbling man from her third-floor window as “A Regular Harvest Moon Blowout”
by Daniel Sohn begins. It is only as he gets closer to her apartment building
in Columbia, Missouri, she realizes he is bleeding. She goes to help and he has
been stabbed. Stanley Tiller appreciates the help. He also just wants to get
back to his hotel room where he is supposed to be hosting the annual holiday
dinner. She agrees to give him a ride and things get even more interesting.
“A Diverse
Thanksgiving” by Debra H. Goldstein comes next where Warden Oscar P. Weiner is
just trying to make it through his final two weeks to retirement without any
problems. That includes never having to deal with inmate Joshua Randall ever
again. While on paper he is an absolute model prisoner, Randall is always
stealing from his office as he negotiates on behalf of his fellow inmates. This
year, the annual thanksgiving dinner is not enough as he wants more than the
usual fare. The latest round of negotiations is soon underway with Warden
Weiner doing his best to control the damage and the outcome.
The rich
tradition of hobos riding the rails is the background of “Hobo Hannah and the
Great Pumpkin Heist” by Lesley A. Diehl. Hanna, her friend, Lily, and their
Maine coon cat, T-rex, gave up the hobo life to go to home to where Hannah came
from all those years ago. They did. Soon after, Hannah was elected sheriff and
replaced the high school bully and sheriff, Hiram Noggins. The guy is still a
bully and did not take losing well. He has made threats to expose her for being
incompetent. Now pumpkins are vanishing from fields right before harvest and
pumpkin products are being stolen from stores. The loss of everything pumpkin
related could ruin Thanksgiving for everyone miles around.
The first two
stories that specifically reference Texas author Earl Staggs come next with and
begin with Barry’s Ergang’s groaner filled tale, “Buffet, the Umpire Slayer.”
Normally, Hardy Boyle stays home on Thanksgiving eating tacos, drinking beer,
and watching football. But, he was recently involved in the hunt for and rescue
of the daughters of the managing partners of the talent agency, Binthair-Dunthat.
Second rate actor, Macdonald Adamia, took them in misguided attempt to get
acting jobs. Hardy Boyle solved the case and got the daughters rescued and back
home. Now, one of the partners, Lucas Binthair, is having a holiday meal and
celebration at a closed public restaurant and Hardy Boyle is in attendance. Good
thing as when death strikes, Boyle’s friend, Detective Lieutenant Paul Ohnius handles
the case at the Belladonna. An entertaining mystery that is packed full of
groaners which is why Earl frequently referred to the author as the “Guru of Groaners.”
Bennet is less
than thrilled to be in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He isn’t surprised his new son-in-law
has screwed up and there is no turkey in “The Last Turkey in Tulsa” by Jim
Fusilli. His daughter, Cammy, is quite upset. With her being married to a man
that never even asked for her hand in marriage, Bennet thinks her new husband,
Owen, should deal with it. Bennet’s wife, Charlene, thinks Daddy (Bennet)
should help. So, like many a smarty married man before him, after some
grumbling, Bennett sets out trying to help by trying to find a turkey for the
holiday dinner. Far easier said than done at this late hour.
Dinner at Ann
Marie’s is clearly going to be problematic and not just because the sister-in-law
is not at all hygienic in “The Chile Pumpkin Pie Rebellion” by Linda Kay
Hardie. Though that is now going to help our narrator deal with her verbally
abusive husband, Jamie. How she goes about it, and all that she has to deal
with to make things happen, is the crux of this short story that also
references the late Texas author, Earl Staggs.
Every year Aunt
Sadie makes pumpkin whoopie pies. The things are horrible because she
substitutes ingredients at random giving them a horrible taste. In “Making Woopie”
by Shari Held, it is that time of year again. The newest member of the family,
Trevor, is about to experience the annual nightmare Hopefully this year
great-great Aunt Sadie has not decided to substitute pickle chunks for pecans
again or use salt instead of sugar. Something is coming and once again
everybody assembled will just have to deal with it.
The final story
is “Pie à la Poison: A Vermont Radio Mystery” by Nikki Knight and one with a
far more serious tone and subtle humor. Jaye Jordan is divorced, a single mom,
and back home in Vermont at the radio station, WSV. She first started out there
just after college, and when everything went so wrong in NYC, she came back home
and bought the station. With her daughter with her dad and his family on this Thanksgiving
night, she is alone in the station and handling everything including the
request line. The same phone line where an elderly woman has confessed to
setting up a double murder. The question is whether Jaye Jordan can get
authorities involved in enough time to stop it in this very good mystery tale.
One final recipe
and the often extensively detailed bios of the authors brings this entertaining
holiday anthology to a close. If you read the previous holiday anthologies
edited by Jay Hartman and you liked them, you will definitely like this one.
Many of the same authors are involved as are the usual elements of puns and
slapstick humor. As always, the recipes are a nice touch for those cooking at
home.
The Perp Wore
Pumpkin: A Humorous Crime Anthology to Benefit Second Harvest Food Bank is a fun and
entertaining quick read. It features plenty of humor, action, and mystery, and
thus leaves the reader well fed at the end.
Pick it up at Amazon, at other vendors, or at the publisher where the price is a little lower. Also check out Jay's short video regarding the book here on the Misti Media YouTube page.
My review copy
came from the publisher, MistiMedia, with no expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2023
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