Showing posts with label Ace Atkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ace Atkins. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2025
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange: UK bookseller Waterstones has chosen as its 2025 Book of the Year the romantic-mystery, The Artist, by Lucy Steeds. Set in the 1920s in so...
Tuesday, December 02, 2025
Thursday, July 03, 2025
Wednesday, January 08, 2025
Monday, June 17, 2024
Wednesday, April 03, 2024
Short Story Wednesday Review: The Havana Run: A Short Story by Ace Atkins
George and Jay
are two out of work newspaper reporters who need money as The Havana Run: A Short
Story by Ace Atkins begins. They are meeting with an elderly man at the La
Tropicana in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, Florida. He has a lucrative
proposition for them. The only problem is they have to agree to do the job
without knowing much about it. They have to go to Cuba and pick up something
unspecified for him.
All Navarro will
tell them is that he wants “family valuables” retrieved and brought back. All
they have to do is go down to Cuba, get the family valuables that have been
hidden since the revolution, and bring them back. Fidel Castro died a few
months ago and things in Cuba are probably a bit shakier. Un the upside, they
can pass as tourists, and get in and out over a couple of days. Plus, they do
need the money.
When you have
read a lot of crime and mystery fiction, and are an older reader, you know
those guys are going to take the job. You also know that once in Cuba things
are going to go from bad to worse. The only question is how?
It does and the
result is the highly entertaining The Havana Run: A Short Story.
Author Ace Atkins keeps the twists coming in a fast-moving novella. He also
packs in plenty of character development regarding our reporters who are just
doing the best they can. The result is a quick read and one of the better tales
I have read this year. Well worth your time.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3POrPel
My reading copy
came by way of a purchase using funds that were recently donated via the PayPal
widget on the left side of this blog.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2024
Thursday, February 10, 2022
Review: Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins
As Robert B. Parker’s Bye Bye Baby: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins begins, it is summer and Spenser’s latest client is a politician. Carolina Garcia-Ramirez is seeking reelection. Her campaign manager, Kyle Rosen, wants Spenser involved to deal with threats. Some folks have made it very clear that they are not going to tolerate her ideas and see her, as a person of color, all that is wrong today. They intend to kill her, among other things.
Kyle Rosen knows
that Attorney Rita Fiore and that got Spenser involved. Now that he is
involved, Spenser intends to make sure nothing happens to the congress person.
He also intends to find out who might be behind the threats. That might include
somebody on staff.
To do this means he is going to need help. Not just from his friends, but his contacts developed in Boston over decades. Meanwhile, the threats keep coming and are increasingly in intensity as the primary gets steadily closer. Carolina Garcia-Ramirez is in a political as well as a real-world dog fight where the stakes are everything-- including her life.
This is the last
Spenser novel, at least for a while, by Ace Atkins and it is another good one.
Complicated and fast moving, the read brings back a number of characters and
references from the recent past and then some. It also serves as another homage
to Boston and everything that made the Spenser series so good.
My reading copy
came from the Dallas Public Library System by way of the Libby/OverDrive App.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2022
Friday, January 14, 2022
Monday, April 12, 2021
Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Someone to Watch Over Me by Ace Atkins
Someone to
Watch Over Me
by Ace Atkins (Putnam, 2021) is the ninth book he’s released in the series about
the iconic private eye Spenser created by Robert B. Parker in 1973.
Spenser has
always been inclined to mentor the youngsters who come his way, Paul Giacomin and Zebulon Sixkill most notably. The latest
is Mattie Sullivan, a former client, who is acting as his trainee while she attends
college classes. Mattie’s new client is a 15-year-old girl who wants to recover
her laptop and backpack which were taken from her after the girl was assaulted
by a much older man in an exclusive Boston club. The teenager is afraid to
report the attack and insists on secrecy. Mattie is enraged after she learns
her client is one of many girls victimized by this wealthy executive and his
friends.
Spenser is
understandably disgusted; he and Hawk become involved in Mattie’s case as the relatively
simple request to recover a laptop and backpack gradually reveals a major sex
trafficking operation that moves girls out of Boston to a private estate in the
Bahamas. Word that Spenser’s nemesis The Gray Man serves as the security lead
for the operation creates flashbacks to their last encounter, from which
Spenser emerged critically wounded.
A significant
subplot deals with the loss of Pearl II and the ways Spenser, Susan Silverman,
and Hawk each react to the replacement puppy.
This story
was clearly written in 2019 at the time Jeffrey Epstein and his colleagues were
making headlines. Current events have provided cases for Spenser before; School
Days (Putnam, 2005) is a notable example. Atkins follows the details of the
depressingly sordid tale so closely that even the physical descriptions of the
characters match the real-life players. The ending however is considerably
different and far more satisfying.
Comparisons
between Atkins’ version of Spenser and that of the series creator are
inevitable. Spenser is not quite the same in Atkins’ hands but then Spenser in
the early Parker books is not the same as Spenser in the last few Parker books
either. Which one is the real Spenser? The differences may lie more in the plot
treatments. For instance, the thread about the puppy seemed unParker-like to
me. It was not the sort of detail I think he would have included.
I was glad to
see a mention of Paul Giacomin, as he has
thus far been missing from the Atkins books, and I wondered where he was. My
very favorite bit though was Spenser saying he has Hank Phillipi Ryan on speed
dial. Ryan is an actual well-known investigative reporter for Boston station WHDH-TV as well as an award-winning
mystery novelist. Inside jokes are always fun. This book is a good thriller and
essential reading for fans of the Spenser canon.
·
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (January 12, 2021)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 320 pages
·
ISBN-10: 052553685X
·
ISBN-13: 978-0525536857
Aubrey Hamilton ©2021
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It
projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
Saturday, January 30, 2021
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Review: Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel
Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins
takes readers to sunny California where things are decidedly not sunny in so
many ways. Not only is the weather often cold and rainy, the trail has gone
very cold. 24 years ago old Gabrielle Leggett is a part time actress and full
time social media influencer. “Gabby” is very much missing and her mom wants
her found and back in contact with her family in Boston.
Mom hired Spenser to come to Los
Angeles and find her daughter. Spenser is trying to do so and has sought help
from his friend, Zebulon SixKill, who these days is also a private investigator
thanks to the efforts of Spenser and Hawk, among others and his own hard work.
Sixkill has cultivated his own network of contacts in the few years since he
came out west and those contacts are going to be needed if Spenser is going to
be at all successful.
It is easy enough to see her apartment
and meet with Eric Collinson who used to be her boyfriend and then moved on to be
her agent. It is also relatively easy to find her acting teacher and her
classmates from the acting class she was taking before she vanished. What isn’t
easy is to actually find her with so many folks being massively unhelpful as
they claim she was the best and claim to know nothing. Then there are those who
are hostile to finding her such as the creepy movie producer, members of the
Armenian Mob, and a woman’s empowerment group that maybe is nothing more than a
pyramid scheme wrapped up in a cult. They know things and when Spenser and
Sixkill push a bit, the bullets start flying their way with much more promised.
Good thing Spenser and SixKill can cash in some favors.
Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel is an entertaining
read. Unlike the Jesse Stone series that continued under Reed Farrell Coleman
and had Jesse evolving as he grew older, this Spenser is the classic Spenser
unchanged. He still cooks in detail all manner of dishes, flirts with Susan
Sliverman, turns down the advances of beautiful and willing women, and still
manages to survive wicked gun battles, all while doing the frequent sarcastic
quip and taking the occasional long run to think. This Spenser has not changed
a bit.
An entertaining read that never pushes
any boundaries, Robert B. Parker’s Angel Eyes: A Spenser Novel is a fun light
weight diversion that entertains and moves along at a fairly brisk pace. It is
also a read that those new to the series can easily enjoy as there are very few
references to the past. Those references that do popup are small references
that are typical of the series and therefore do not impact reading enjoyment of
the other books.
My reading copy came from the Prairie
Creek Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2019
Wednesday, July 18, 2018
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Review: Robert B Parker’s Old Black Magic: A Spenser Novel by Ace Atkins
Robert B Parker’s Old Black Magic: A Spenser Novel is the seventh since Ace Atkins took over the franchise and
is another good one. Mr. Atkins continues to stay true to the series while also
his own little changes to bring some new life into the characters. At the same
time he also acknowledges the passing of time and how none of us are going to
get out alive. Contrary to what happened before in much of the series, folks
are now aging and Spenser is frequently contemplating the mortality of both man
and animal. That concept was present in the previous novels written by Mr.
Akins, but makes its presence here in multiple ways almost to the level of a character
in the tale.
It is early summer, a light rain is falling, and Locke has
come to Spenser’s office with one last request. Locke has terminal cancer and
wants the case that he has chased for almost twenty years solved. Three
paintings were stolen from the Winthrop Art Museum almost twenty years ago in what
remains the biggest heist ever. While some would consider the works priceless,
others place the value in the tens of millions. Locke has chased the paintings
ever since with little to go on over the years.
With the twenty year anniversary of the theft coming up a
person or persons unknown has started sending letters to the museum’s director,
Marjorie Ward Phillips. The letters don’t seem to be a ransom demand. The
letters do communicate details of the theft that only those directly involved
would know. Locke has put in a word with the director and has made it clear
that he wants Spenser to finish what he started. Take over the case, find the
paintings, and bring them back where they belong. Locke thinks the letters will
lead to a real chance to recover the paintings and wants Spenser, as a favor to
a dying man and friend, to take the case.
How do you say no
to a dying man?
You don’t. Spenser certainly can’t. From the start at least
some of the museum’s board absolutely does not want Spenser involved. There are
those among the criminal element at Boston who don’t want him involved. Local
law enforcement also would prefer him to stay out of things. Still, a promise
was made to a dying man, so Spenser isn’t about to go away. Nor are many others
who only care about getting a piece of the five million dollar reward.
Robert B Parker’s Old Black Magic: A Spenser Novel is a solidly good read. Ace Atkins does a nice job of
weaving the old and new in terms of characters and settings while also crafting
a mystery with plenty of misdirection. People and places evolve over time and
those changes provide a nice background nuance to the highly entertaining read.
Robert B Parker’s Old Black
Magic: A Spenser Novel
Ace Atkins
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
(Penguin Random House)
2018
ISBN# 978-0-399-17701-9
Hardback (also available in
eBook and audio formats)
325 Pages
$27.00
Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Public
Library.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2018
Friday, May 04, 2018
Tuesday, May 01, 2018
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Saturday, August 20, 2016
Monday, July 11, 2016
Saturday, June 04, 2016
Review: "Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn: A Spenser Novel" by Ace Atkins
Jack McGee is a Boston firefighter.
He is sure the fire in an Old Catholic church a year ago that killed three firefighters
was arson, but they can’t prove it wasn’t either. McGee is sure that the church
fire was arson. He is also sure the recent fires around town are the work of
the same arsonist.
While McGee wants Spenser to
investigate and is willing to pay for the work, he wants and needs Spenser to
do so quietly. Stepping outside of the Boston Fire Department could cost him
everything including his job and his pension. In the twilight of his career, McGee
can’t afford to make a wave with so much at stake. He just wants answers.
Spenser agrees to take the case. But, keeping the investigation quiet soon
proves impossible in Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn: A Spenser Novel
by Ace Atkins.
This fifth book in the Spenser
series since Ace Atkins took over is not a mystery at all. Readers know from
the start the identities of the arsonists and their motivation. While Spenser
has a mystery on his hands, readers do not.
What readers have is a basic
thriller style novel as Spenser chases arsonists. It isn’t surprising the
arsonists get wind of Spenser’s involvement and retaliate. That isn’t the only
predictable thing that happens in this fairly predictable thriller.
While Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn: A
Spenser Novel is not a mystery at all and has very little suspense, it is a fairly enjoyable albeit
predictable thriller style novel from start to finish. The days pass, Spenser
investigates a bit /cooks a bit /seduces the lovely Susan a bit (not always in
that order), Pearl hangs out, as does Hawk and Sixkill, as well as many of the
other usual regulars. Violence occasionally ensues and there is often snarky
dialogue between various characters. In short, a typical Spenser novel in a
thriller read. All in all, a pleasant read that breaks no new ground and allows
one to escape reality for as long as your reading speed dictates.
Robert B. Parker’s Slow Burn: A Spenser Novel
Ace Atkins
G. P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Random
House)
2016
ISBN# 978-0-399-17085-0
Hardback (also available in eBook
and audio formats)
310 Pages
$27.00
Material supplied by the good folks
of the Plano Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016
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