Mystery Fanfare: DENISE DIETZ: R.I.P.

Mystery Fanfare: DENISE DIETZ: R.I.P.: Denise (Deni) Dietz passed away yesterday (1942-2024). Mystery writer and editor, Deni Dietz was funny and smart and a one-of-a-kind. I alw...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "The Gay Old Dog" by Edna Ferber

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "The Gay Old Dog" by Edna F...:   "The Gay Old Dog" by Edna Ferber was first published in 1917 in the Metropolitan Magazine. It is the first story I read in 100 ...

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: SUB-SATELLITE

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: SUB-SATELLITE:  "Sub-Satellite" by Charles Cloukey  (first published in Amazing Stories , March 1928; reprinted n Amazing Stories , December 1967...

Short Story Wednesday Review: The Missing Sniper by Earl Staggs

 

From the massive archive….

 

Thanks to his gift, Adam Kingston knew he would get a phone call. Who was calling, why he would be called, he didn’t know. But, he knew it would be a call about someone dying somewhere and he would be involved. Hard to sleep when you know something is going to happen. Hard to sleep when you know for absolute certainty just enough to be worried.

 

The phone call finally comes by way of Sheriff Dillon Corbin of Mendes County, Florida.  Adam is on a master list of Law Enforcement consultants and the good Sheriff needs his help. Three weeks ago somebody tried to take out a State Senator.  While they know where the shots came from they knew nothing else and have no suspects. The shooter is still out there and may try again if he or she isn’t stopped.

 

Soon Adam is in Jacksonville, Florida with Sheriff Dillon working the case. The target, Senator Willy Thornton, has plenty of enemies because of his politics and the way he lives his life.  Business rivals, spouses of the women he has seduced and many others have good reason to want him dead.  Good thing Adam has a bit of ability with extra sensory perception and can pick up a few images along the way as he helps with the case.

 

Released from Untreed Reads last January, this is the short story that ultimately gave rise to Earl Staggs' powerfully good novel, Memory of a Murder.  This cozy style type read is full of twists and turns and on that will keep you very entertained as it moves through the pages.

 


Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4d0Ymax

 


Kevin R. Tipple ©2012, 2024

SleuthSayers: More about Voice? Really?

SleuthSayers: More about Voice? Really?: Three weeks ago, I wrote about voice, saying in part that voice is the way you make your characters sound real, how you enable them to com...

Little Big Crimes: The Man Who Found The Body, by Avram Davidson

Little Big Crimes: The Man Who Found The Body, by Avram Davidson:   "The Man Who Found The Body," by Avram Davidson, in AD 100,: 100 Years of Avram Davidson, Volume 1, Or All The Seas With Oyster...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts by Rodney Castleden

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Element Encyclopedia of the Celts by Rodney Ca...:   Reviewed by Jeanne Subtitled “The ultimate a-z of the symbols, history, and spirituality of the legendary Celts,” this book does take ...

Beneath the Stains of Time: Back in Black: Case Closed, vol. 90 by Gosho Aoyama

Beneath the Stains of Time: Back in Black: Case Closed, vol. 90 by Gosho Aoyama: The 90th volume of Gosho Aoyama 's Case Closed series is a star-studded affair with many familiar faces and plot developments furtherin...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Book Club Murders by Alan Gorevan


Alan Gorevan is an intellectual property lawyer and a crime fiction writer from Dublin with some 15 books to his credit. He published The Book Club Murders independently in October 2023.

Izzie O’Brien has had it with her controlling possessive boyfriend. She waited until he was at work on her day off and packed everything she owned into her tiny Fiat and drove south to Dun Laoghaire, a former fishing village where her aunt Elaine had lived. Elaine died only 10 weeks before in a household accident and she left her terraced house to Izzie, who was grateful for a place to hide from Adam, whom she found increasingly frightening.

Adam’s possessiveness had been worrying but the final straw was when Izzie discovered Adam’s previous girlfriend had been murdered and Adam had been the primary suspect. Unfortunately she could easily believe it. Both her aunt and her friends had warned her about Adam but she was so smitten that she could not hear what they were saying. Now she understood everything they were telling her.

Louise, one of the Izzie’s new neighbors, watched Adam throwing a fit on Izzie’s doorstep. After he gave up and left, but not before smashing her car window, Louise invited Izzie to her house for the weekly book club, where she was warmly welcomed by Kate, Tess, Dee, and Melanie. The group was shocked and stunned when Kate died on the way home that night, stumbling onto the rocks below the pier where the garda assumed she’d wandered after drinking a bit too much.

With multiple narrative threads the story and characters in this book could be hard to keep straight but the various subplots come together neatly. The major account is Izzie’s attempt to remove Adam from her life and move on amid his determination to force her to return. The rapid fire pacing and the crisp writing are propulsive and I raced through this book without realizing how quickly I was reading. Highly rated on Amazon and Goodreads. For fans of domestic thrillers and strong characters.

 


 

·                Publisher: Independently published (September 30, 2023)

·                Language: English

·                Paperback: 408 pages

·                ISBN-13: 979-835381112

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3WuyMUG

 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

 

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

SleuthSayers: The Shelf Dilemma

SleuthSayers: The Shelf Dilemma: I once read a profile of a famous author (it may have been Stephen King, but my memory for things like this doesn't so much fail me as s...

Sample Sunday: Excerpt from One Of You: A Tower District Mystery by Lorie Lewis Ham


Please welcome author Lorie Lewis Ham to the blog today as she shares an excerpt from her new novel, One Of You: A Tower District Mystery. This is the second book of the series that began with One of Us: A Tower District Mystery.

 

Prologue

 

I’m back! Did you miss me? Boy, do I have some juicy gossip! Spotted: A whole lot of trouble coming your way! Murder, did you say? Why, of course, there will be murder!

 

When I typed “The End” I knew it was just the beginning. They would never expect the trouble I have in store for them! Some surprises are worth waiting for, and some are deadly.

 

Chapter 1

My alarm clock went off at eight a.m. and I groaned. It was way too early for this night owl. I rolled over and looked at my Buffy calendar. October 21. I couldn’t believe I’d been in Fresno for three months. The worst thing so far had been the weather. I survived the brutal heat of the summer, and now I was getting to experience the wonderful Tule fog—so thick I could almost pretend I was in London instead of the San Joaquin Valley of California.

Thankfully, the temps were now in the 60s to low 80s, which made me feel like I was back in Ayr, the California coastal town I’d been forced to leave when my publisher dropped my children’s book series featuring a pet rat—still a very sore subject for me.

At thirty-five, I packed up my life and moved in with my P.I. cousin, Stephen Carlucci. I arrived with everything I owned—being sure to bring in the car with us the things I valued the most—my Sherlock Holmes collection, a replica of Excalibur, and my pet rat, Merlin.

The only bright spot had been that he lived in the cultural oasis of Fresno, the Tower District. It was the hub of all things artsy, and I loved it! He also had a great house. It was a cocoa-colored, early Mediterranean-style place that instantly felt like home. Since my only transportation was my trusty red bike, I seldom ventured beyond the Tower, despite Stephen’s best efforts, which was fine with me.

I’d rented out my house in Ayr for extra income and now worked for Stephen as a part-time P.I.

“Hey there sleepyhead, want coffee?” yelled Stephen from the kitchen, which was close to my bedroom.

“Yes, please! I’ll be out as soon as I feed my bedmates.” 

Reluctantly, I extracted myself from the furry heating pads wrapped around my body under the covers and sat up. Watson, the Pit Bull, and Dan, the black cat, had been left homeless after a murder that had taken place soon after I arrived and were now a part of our family. There was a wonderful rescue in the area for bully-breed dogs and great cat rescues, but I couldn’t bear to let them go to rescue after already losing one owner. It wasn’t a surprise that I’d collected two more animals since moving here; it was something I’d done my whole life.

After feeding them, I went to the large cage on the floor by my desk to feed Merlin, a dumbo rat with big round ears set more to the side like an elephant. He’d been the star of my books. Thankfully, Dan ignored Merlin, and they managed to coexist without any problems. Of course, Merlin never seemed to be scared of anything. Maybe it was because he was a wizard.

When living in Ayr, I’d run a hamster and pet rat rescue. Domestic rats are wonderful pets. They bear little resemblance to their wild counterparts—they’re much smaller, come in many different colors, and are very affectionate.

After the furries were fed, I pulled on jeans and a Supernatural t-shirt, ran a brush through my long black hair, and stumbled into the kitchen.

Stephen was already dressed for the day in perfectly pressed jeans and a t-shirt—his normal non-working garb. When he worked, he wore expensive Italian suits. My handsome cousin with his blond hair and gray eyes was more of a clotheshorse than I would ever be.

“Good morning, Roxi.” He handed me coffee, then shooed me from the kitchen into the living room. I plopped down on the brown faux leather couch, and he sat in one of the comfy brown and red chairs on the other side of an oak coffee table. The house was decorated in earthy tones, except for my bedroom. He had decorated that in purple and black just for me.

The coffee table had a couple of big books on it; one was on Sinatra—a love he and I shared—come on, we're Italian. The other book was about opera. I was grateful Stephen didn't blast his opera music loudly—that was a love we did not share.

I looked at the fireplace. “Can you please light a fire? It’s cold.”

Stephen laughed. “Soon, I promise. The afghan Aunt Carol made is on the back of the couch, grab that.”

I glared at him as I grabbed the brown and tan afghan and wrapped it around me. I had to admit I loved this place. The living room was perfectly cozy, like the rest of the house. It wasn’t big, but it was big enough. The walls were decorated with beautiful paintings of horses. Stephen used to own several, which he bred and raced, but the corruption in the industry led him to get out of the business. He kept his two favorites so we could go riding. At his mother Maria’s urging, he had reluctantly stabled them at his parent’s ranch just outside of Donlyn.

Stephen’s father, Antonio, was again involved with the local Mafia, after having supposedly retired, so Stephen’s relationship with him had gotten even worse than it already was. Originally, becoming a P.I. had been as much to piss off his father as it had been an outlet for his sense of justice. He ended up being very good at it.

Not only did Stephen hate what his father did, but he blamed him for his brother’s death. Stephen had been at Julliard studying piano when his brother was killed by the Mafia. He left school and became a police officer and later a P.I. He still played the piano, but it had taken him a long time to return to it.

Though we were both raised in a Mafia family, mine hadn’t been involved in the illegal side of the family business. They ran the family winery in Paso Robles on the coast until their deaths.

“What are you up to today?” he asked.

I took a sip of the heavenly coffee—Stephen only bought the best—and sighed. “I need to meet with Clark around ten to finish everything for Mysteryfest.”

Soon after arriving in Fresno, I was persuaded to volunteer for a community theatre production and was shocked when a crew member was murdered. It led to all sorts of adventures, and I’d gotten to know some wonderful people. One of them, playwright Clark Halliwell, had become a dear friend. Clark recently purchased the local bookstore Walt’s Book Nook and renamed it Halliwell’s Book Haven.

About a month ago, Clark decided Halloween would be a perfect time for a mystery event. The Tower Halloween Mysteryfest was this weekend. With my and Stephen’s help, along with several volunteers, he’d managed to pull it all together. He’d even done an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue to be performed as part of the event. His connections as a BookTuber, and now a bookstore owner, made getting local authors for the event easy. He even managed to get the reigning Queen of Cozy Mysteries, Marilyn Bradford.

When I first met Clark, I knew he looked familiar, but it took me forever to figure out why. I later realized he was a BookTuber, and an extremely successful one. His YouTube channel was called Halliwell Reads—which always made me think of the show Charmed. Clark was amazing. If I were to decide I was ready for a relationship, maybe…but not now. He was also attractive. At six feet, he was a little taller than me, slender, and had shoulder-length dark brown hair and expressive brown eyes.

Stephen flicked a lock of hair from his eyes—something he’d done since we were teenagers. “Mysteryfest opens on Friday evening, doesn’t it? How’s it going?”

I took another sip of my coffee before answering. “Good. I never dreamed it would be so much work. If it wasn’t for the volunteers, it would never happen.”

“You have a heavy contingent of volunteers from the theatre community, don’t you?”

“Well, they do make up a good percentage of the population around here.”

Most of the friends I’d made over the past three months came from volunteering with that theatre production when I first arrived—so they were mostly theatre people. I still didn’t know much about Clark, but I knew he loved books, Sherlock Holmes, old movies, and animals, so that was a great start. Oh, and most importantly, Star Trek and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After my parents were killed in a car accident when I was thirteen, TV had been a faithful companion, providing hope and inspiration in an often dark world.

“I imagine Tabitha has been a big help,” said Stephen. “There’s nothing that woman can’t do.”

Tabitha O’Reilly was another person I’d gotten to know. Not only was she the owner of a local tea shop, she ran her own theatre company, and helped run Happy Paws. Happy Paws rescued dogs and trained them to be emotional support animals.

Dan jumped in Stephen’s lap and he nearly spilled his coffee. That cat wasn’t shy. “How’s the podcast going?” Stephen asked after he averted disaster.

Three months ago I started a podcast called Tower Talk. I covered local arts and entertainment and interviewed pillars of the community like Marcel Nunes, who created the Rogue Festival—a local Fringe festival that happened in the Tower every spring.

“Great! The coverage the podcast got in the local media after the murder was a huge boost. It didn’t hurt that it took up the slack left behind by Tower Gossip either.” Tower Gossip had been a local gossip website like the one on the TV show Gossip Girl. It revealed secrets everyone would have preferred to leave hidden. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when solving the murder led to the end of Tower Gossip.

“I need to edit the Zoom interview I did yesterday with Marilyn Bradford and get that up. I can’t believe how nervous I was. I hope I did okay.”

“Considering you’ve been a fan of her mystery novels since you were a teenager, I’m not surprised. I’m sure you were fine,” reassured Stephen.

Marilyn was the biggest name coming to Mysteryfest. The authors were all published by Bradford Publishing, owned by Marilyn’s husband Edward, who was also a local actor.

“I heard Nathan is doing a one-man show of Edgar Allan Poe for Mysteryfest. Have you seen much of him lately?” asked Stephen, a mischievous twinkle in his gray eyes.

I wadded up a napkin and threw it at him, but he ducked. If I were looking for a relationship, the dreamy Nathan Gilmore would be another option. Not only was he a talented local actor, but he worked in the library at Fresno State University, was an environmentalist, Master Gardener, vegan, and just too good to be real. I had failed to find a fault in him, yet. The only thing I could say, was that he was too busy to be human. Perhaps he was from another planet, or maybe an android, though his heart was way too big for that. But Data from Next Generation had a big heart, so I couldn’t rule that out.

My phone dinged. It was a text from Clark. “When can you get here? I really need your help!!!” The exclamation marks were a concern. He never used exclamation marks.

I jumped up. “Duty calls. Sounds like Clark may have an emergency, and since he never freaks out, I’m guessing it’s bad. You off today, or do you have a case?”

“I have a client meeting in about an hour, guess I’d better change and get going. Good luck. If it has to do with Alec again and you need help, let me know.”

Alec Dunne and his husband Matt Freeman were two more theatre people I’d gotten to know. Alec had been the director of that first show and could be a bit difficult in that role. As a friend, he was a delight and a great source of gossip. Matt was a successful realtor and the total opposite of Alec in personality, a great big teddy bear. Alec was directing Murders in the Rue Morgue.

He and Clark had butted heads before, so it was definitely a possibility that he was the urgent problem. “Will do.” 



Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3xWJxqy 

 

Lorie Lewis Ham ©2024

 

Lorie Lewis Ham lives in Reedley, California and has been writing most of her life. She has published numerous articles, short stories, and poems, has written for a local newspaper, and published 7 mystery novels. For the past 14 years, Lorie has been editor-in-chief and publisher of Kings River Life Magazine, and she produces Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast, where you can hear an excerpt of her new book One of You, book 2 in The Tower District Mystery series. You can learn more about Lorie on her website mysteryrat.com and find her on FacebookBookBubGoodreads, and Instagram @krlmagazine & @lorielewishamauthor.

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: Award Winning GRANT ME THE MOON

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: Award Winning GRANT ME THE MOON:   By Caroline Clemmons Several years ago, GRANT ME THE MOON won 1 st place in short romance for the International Digital Awards presented ...

SleuthSayers: The Story is Writing Itself

SleuthSayers: The Story is Writing Itself: I got a story on my computer writing itself. It started as a title, an idea forming into a sketchy plot. Once the characters arrived, they j...

Scott's Take: Transformers Volume 1: Robots in Disguise by Daniel Warren Johnson


Transformers Volume 1: Robots in Disguise by Daniel Warren Johnson, colorist Mike Spicer, is the first volume of the series that handles the Transformer part of the new Energon Universe where the G.I. Joe and Transformers live in the same time period on Earth. As the book opens, Optimus Prime and his surviving autoboots crash land outside of a small remote town. The surviving robots landed alongside their enemies, the Decepticons led by Starscream. Megatron is missing so Starscream is in charge.

 

Where Megatron is does not get not addressed in this read, but in Cobra Commander. I am working on getting a copy through the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Back to this book…. Soon the Autobots encounter human children and befriend them quickly at the crash site. At the same time, the Decepticons, realizing how weak the native life forms are, begin to terrorize the local population for fun while also taking control of the local power plant for their own purposes. The Autobots, despite being severely outnumbered and more injured by their own crash landing, will not let this happen without a fight.

 

The main Autobot character is Optimus while the primary human characters change from time to time as the story progresses. This is an exploration of trauma, grief, and war. There is plenty of action and there are several graphic deaths. This read is very adult in parts.

 

Such as when Starscream crushes a man alive just for fun. Then there is the part when Optimus Prime rips his own arm off to whup some butt. Using his own arm to beat the Decepticon is pretty cool, but he also suffers greatly doing it, as clearly and graphically depicted.

 

The art is detailed in spots incredibly well while at other times frantic sketch lines art are used to make up the faster action sequences. It’s all done very well.

 

Overall, this tale is a little rushed, in my opinion, since so much happens in it there is little time to breath. One could also argue how quickly Optimus falls in love with humanity and the Earth is rushed, but one could also argue Optimus would not be the robot he is if he did not care so much so easily. The ending leaves Optimus Prime in a place I have never seen him before. It will be incredibly interesting to see how Volume 2 deals with the fallout of these events.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3VZa9ix 

 

My print reading copy came from the Mountain Creek Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2024

Friday, July 26, 2024

Beneath the Stains of Time: They Can't Hang Me (1938) by James Ronald

Beneath the Stains of Time: They Can't Hang Me (1938) by James Ronald: In 2023, Moonstone Press published Stories of Crime & Detection, vol. 1: The Dr. Britling Stories (2023), collecting three novelettes,...

FFB Review: Leverage in Death: In Death Series by J.D. Robb


What could motivate an executive known as a good man to walk into a room and detonate the bomb vest he wore? That is the question that Eve Dallas and her team must answer in Leverage in Death by J.D. Robb.

 

There is no question that Paul Rogan did it. He walked into a room where the executives of Quantum Air and EconoLift were meeting to sign the paperwork for the merger of the two companies. He walked up to Derrick Pearson, The President and CEO of Quantum Air, said something to him that sounded like an apology according to survivors, and detonated.

 

When Lieutenant Dallas arrives, Lieutenant Lisbeth Salazer, head of the Explosives and Bombs Unit, informs her nine people in the conference room survived. Eleven are dead, including the bomber. Fortunately for folks in the hallway and nearby offices, the suicide vest had limited range. Otherwise, things would have been far worse.

 

Married with an eight-year-old daughter, and known to all as a good guy, there seems to be no explanation for Paul Rogan’s actions. Upon learning the news that neither his wife or daughter showed up at school, Dallas sends officers to their house. Soon the officers find the wife and child in the home and in considerable distress.

 

All evidence in the first hour or so points to the family being taken hostage, terrorized physically and emotionally, and Paul Rogan forced to make a horrible choice. The choice was do either walk in and do what he did or watch his family go through far worse than they had already suffered and then be killed.  Who forced him to do what he did and why are the two primary questions Dallas, Peabody, and the team must answer. Especially since the folks who did this show no signs of stopping.

 

What follows is another good read in this series that blends police procedural and romance. It may be set nearly twenty years in the future, but what happens in Leverage in Death by J. D. Robb, could be happening now, or happened last week. It is that relevant.  



Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4deJwNB 

 

My large print reading copy came from the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Bitter Tea and Mystery: A Cast of Falcons: Steve Burrows

Bitter Tea and Mystery: A Cast of Falcons: Steve Burrows: A Cast of Falcons is the third book in the Birder Murder Mystery series by Steve Burrows. The author is Canadian and this is the first book...

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE ROMANCE OF ROSY RIDGE

Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE ROMANCE OF ROSY RIDGE: "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" by MacKinley Kantor  (first published in The Saturday Evening Post , June 5, 1937; published in book f...

Earl Staggs Reviews: From Hay To Eternity: Ten Devilish Tales of Crime and Deception by Sandra Murphy


From the archive comes this review by the one and only Earl Staggs when he considered this short story collection, From Hay To Eternity: Ten Devilish Tales of Crime and Deception by Sandra Murphy.

 

 

In the ten stories in this collection, Sandra Murphy exhibits her deliciously inventive imagination to create stories and memorable characters which will involve you and entertain you from beginning to end.

 

Here's a sampling.

 

In “Superstition,” a woman ponders them all:  stepping on a crack, walking under a ladder, a black cat crossing your path,  three black birds on your roof mean death, and more.  What is real and what is foolish imagination and silliness?  Once she figures it out, she knows what she must do. 

 

“The Chicken Pot Pie Fiasco,” concerns a large quirky family in the process of preparing their own traditional Thanksgiving meal. In this family, it's a huge chicken pot pie.  Our narrator, who manages too observe it all without getting involved due to his “stealth,” explains, “There’s one big pie, and if there’s some of the inside stuff left over, there are little pies for later. I like that part.”   Everyone adds their own favorite ingredients, but a surprise ingredient somehow gets added which no one expected.

 

For “The Space Heater vs. the Window Fan,” we meet a woman who only needs to get dressed and prettied up for her sister's wedding. Unfortunately, every necessary machine, from her computer to the local laundromat's equipment, refuses to cooperate and do its part, culminating in a major struggle with one particularly stubborn appliance.

 

The title story, “From Hay to Eternity,” takes on a darker turn and gives us a murder mystery.  It begins with the driver announcing, “Welcome to the hayride. Listen up! Find a seat on the bench or one of the hay bales and hold on. Our horse, Sam, sometimes rocks the wagon when he starts, but it will be a smooth ride after that.”

 

Riders on the haywagon include a cross section of local parents and children, along with a pair of feuding brothers and an attention-grabbing teenage girl wearing tiny cut-off jeans and a tight top  designed to “show what your momma gave you.”  Her goal is to turn the hayride into a photo op which will make her the next supermodel.  She has no idea that one photo will turn the hayride into something other than a smooth ride.  

 


There are six more stories in this collection and each one is a delightful gem. Sandra Murphy is an author to watch. Her stories will not disappoint.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3LzKzMb

 

 

Earl Staggs © 2017


 

Texas author Earl Staggs earned all Five Star reviews for his novels MEMORY OF A MURDER and JUSTIFIED ACTION and has twice received a Derringer Award for Best Short Story of the Year. He served as Managing Editor of Futures Mystery Magazine, as President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars.  http://earlwstaggs.wordpress.com 

Little Big Crimes: Her Dangerously Clever Hands, by Karen Odden

Little Big Crimes: Her Dangerously Clever Hands, by Karen Odden:   "Her Dangerously Clever Hands," by Karen Odden, in Crimeucopia: Through the Past Darkly ,  Murderous Ink Press, 2024. The publis...

Review: Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos


Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck Mystery by Bruce Borgos is the second in the series that began with The Bitter Past: A Novel. This one might be better than the first. 

Among other things, massive wildfires are ripping through the Nevada countryside and adding to the long list of Sherriff Porter Beck’s worries. The government helicopter arriving to land near his house means even more trouble.

Aboard the helicopter is Special Agent Ed Maddox of the Office of Special Investigations. OSI is the equivalent of the Army’s Criminal Investigation Department. He wants Beck’s help in locating a piece that came off an aircraft last night. He has a general idea of where it went down and wants Beck to ride in the small unmarked chopper to go look.

Once onboard the helicopter, Maddox reveals the impact site is out at the Double J Ranch. Owned by a childhood friend who has moved back home, Beck coming along should help smooth the way. It might have if they were still close. They aren’t and a lot has changed at the ranch that has existed for decades.

It is also clear that the impact was not a piece of the aircraft. Maddox claim a fuel tank did it. There is no way. Beck is ex-military and knows missile debris when he sees it.

Maddox finally admits that they lost control of a Remotely Piloted Aircraft the night before. It was hijacked and flown way off course. It ultimately fired a missile at the prize bull at the ranch. Somebody targeted the bull of the owner who just happens to be a guy Beck grew up with a long time ago. Who would want Jesse Roy’s prize-winning bull exploded into pieces? What are they planning to do next? And the biggest question of all – how did they take control of the RPA?

Those three big questions and many others are answered in the incredibly entertaining, Shades of Mercy: A Porter Beck Mystery. This review only carefully scratches the surface as much is in play here and I am not going to spoil any of it for readers.

Additional character development, multiple complex story lines, and plenty of action make this second in the series a very good book.

For a more in-depth look at the very good read, make sure you read Lesa Holstine’s review. 


 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3SFeNS7

 

My digital ARC reading copy came by way of the publisher, Minotaur Books, through NetGalley.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Monday, July 22, 2024

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: LOL Mysteries

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: LOL Mysteries:   Love Janet Evanovich but you’ve finished Dirty Thirty and can’t wait until November’s Now or Never comes out? Here are some other author...

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Blind Devotion of Imogene: The Misadventures of Imogene Taylor


David Putnam, former California law enforcement officer, put his name on the crime fiction map with 11 well-regarded books about ex-cop and paroled ex-con Bruno Johnson. Putnam has been branching out a bit recently with sheriff’s deputy Will Donnelly and homicide detective Dave Beckett but still staying within the construct of policework. With his newest book he travels further afield, to the life of a paroled chain-smoking elderly lady who spent 10 years in jail for murder.

The Blind Devotion of Imogene: The Misadventures of Imogene Taylor (Level Best Books, July 2024), released July 9, is an alternately entertaining and somber look at the life of a parolee who had few resources before spending time behind bars and even less now that she is a convicted felon. The only job Imogene Taylor can find is in a rundown scratch and dent store in a low-rent strip mall. Her parole officer relentlessly looks for ways to demonstrate Imogene has violated the terms of her probation, leaving Imogene in a constant state of fear. At the age of 73 she knows she won’t survive prison to be released a second time.

Her neighbor thoughtfully maintained her house while she was gone so Imogene does have a roof over her head. She also has her neighbor Suze to confide in. Suze’s father dies as the book opens and Imogene is busy trying to support the bereft only child. Suze’s mother left years ago when Suze was small so Suze is the only person left to handle everything. In clearing out the junk-filled garage, they find the body of a long-dead woman. They both assume it’s Suze’s mother. Suze is horrified, believing her father killed her mother, and Imogene is terrified that her parole officer will twist this discovery around to blame Imogene for a second death. They agree to hide the body a second time.

Then a thug visits the stores in the strip mall and tells them what will happen if they don’t start paying him protection money. And Imogene gets a visit from Eugene, her assigned Secret Service agent. While she was in prison, she wrote a series of threatening letters to the president of the United States. Her letters were convincing enough for her to become an object of interest to the Secret Service and whenever the president is in the vicinity, Eugene stops by to check on Imogene. The book that she wrote while she was incarcerated is another thread. Imogene is a woman of many parts.

This is an offbeat story full of eccentric but relatable characters. It seems overlong in places but the rambling narration reflects the stream of conscious inner dialog of Imogene’s mind. Putnam has planned another two books about Imogene; it will be interesting to see what she’s up to in the next volume. For fans of unusual character-driven crime fiction.

 


·       Publisher: Level Best Books (July 9, 2024)

·       Language: English

·       Paperback: 246 pages

·       ISBN-10: 1685126170

·       ISBN-13: 978-1685126179

  

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3A23Zqk

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

 

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