Showing posts with label Thomas Perry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thomas Perry. Show all posts
Friday, September 19, 2025
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange: Book art by Frank Halmans The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival announced the winners of two crime fiction prizes th...
Monday, January 13, 2025
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Pro Bono by Thomas Perry
Thomas Perry
is a well-known source of topnotch contemporary suspense and thrillers. He’s
received the Edgar Award once and the Barry Award twice and been shortlisted
for major awards too many times to count. His latest stand-alone thriller is a fascinating
deep dive into banking and investment crime.
Pro Bono (Mysterious
Press, 14 January 2025) introduces Charlie Warren, a lawyer and CPA who
specializes in finding money hidden from his clients. He fell into this niche
early, as his widowed mother was robbed by an opportunistic second husband
while Charlie was in college and Charlie tried unsuccessfully to trace the money
Mack Stone took. Now Vesper Ellis retains him for assistance, as she thinks
something is wrong with her investment accounts. Withdrawals have been made in
her dead husband’s name and balances are not what they should be. Charlie agrees
with her assessment; he narrows the inconsistencies to two investment firms and
files the papers to ask for a legal accounting of the monetary discrepancies,
thereby alerting the senior managers of the stockbrokerages of likely problems.
Shortly after the asset management companies acknowledge the requests, Vesper turns
up missing and a pair of thugs try hard to keep Charlie from his meeting with one
firm’s lawyers.
Charlie has
considerable presence of mind when the goons attack, more than I expect most
lawyers might have. He also shows himself willing to cut corners in the manner
of his illustrious predecessor Perry Mason. He is definitely the lawyer to call
in case of trouble.
The story
falls naturally into three parts, each showcases a different approach to appropriating
money from someone else. I found the tutorials on financial crime absorbing and
educational but I think some bits, particularly where the investment company culprits
fall out, as thieves inevitably will, could have been tightened up to good
effect. The transition from one story line to the next is a little awkward but
not enough to disrupt the flow. This thriller could easily be two short stories
and one novella with the same main character.
Overall, I
loved this book. A well told story with an ingenious plot and original
characters. Charlie Warren has series potential but I see the title is listed
as a stand-alone. Recommended, especially for fans of legal thrillers and financial
mysteries.
- Publisher:
Mysterious
Press (January 14, 2025)
- Language:
English
- Hardcover:
360
pages
- ISBN-10:
1613166168
- ISBN-13:
978-1613166161
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gNdmuQ
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Thursday, January 02, 2025
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Saturday, January 20, 2024
Monday, October 17, 2022
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Left-Handed Twin: A Jane Whitefield Novel by Thomas Perry
Thomas Perry
feels no compulsion to rattle off one book after another featuring his series
characters. His award-winning books about hitman Michael Schaeffer span nearly
40 years, yet there are only four titles. So too with his books about Jane
Whitefield, a Seneca Native American in upstate New York who helps people in
trouble create new lives and disappear from the old ones. After publishing five
books about Whitefield in five years, starting in 1995, fans had to wait 10
more years to read about her again. The most recent adventure was released six
years after the previous one, a long hiatus for readers anxious to know who Whitefield
is assisting next and how she is doing it.
Whitefield
has acquired a husband since her first outing and he understandably objects to
her occasional disappearances as she sets someone up in a new life. She has all
but given it up when Sara Doughton from Los Angeles finds her. Sara’s boyfriend
killed a man in front of her and she turned states’ evidence to avoid charges.
The boyfriend walked out of the courtroom a free man and looking for Sara. Her
attorney sent her to Whitefield.
Sara is not
as easy to locate as her boyfriend expected and he asks a member of the Russian
mafia for help. The gang leader recognized Whitefield’s modus operandi, as some
of his prospective victims had disappeared over the years with her help. He is
eager to find Whitefield to force her to reveal their new identities and current
addresses. When Whitefield realizes the Russians are after her and not Sara,
she leaves Sara safely situated and takes her pursuers into the wilds of Maine
along the most dangerous part of the Appalachian Trail in a hair-raising chase.
This book has
many facets. The Native American traditions and lore that guide Whitefield’s
thinking and actions are an integral part of the story; fans of Tony
Hillerman’s books will be interested. In addition, the book can be read for
sheer suspense, of which there is an abundance. It can be used as a guide to
survival in the outdoors. And it can be viewed as a practical handbook on how
to disappear.
Whitefield
melds Native American mysticism with cold pragmatism. Her no-nonsense approach
forces Sara into facing her situation clearly and taking steps to deal with it.
Her resourcefulness appears to be bottomless. She is always one step ahead,
even when the situation seems hopeless.
While this is
the ninth Whitefield title, it offers enough backstory that a reader new to the
series will not miss anything important. I liked this one so much that I will
look for earlier books. Highly recommended.
Starred review from Booklist.
·
Publisher: Mysterious Press (November 16, 2021)
·
Language: English
·
Hardcover: 321 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1613162596
·
ISBN-13: 978-1613162590
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works
on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Review: "POISON FLOWER: A JANE WHITEFIELD NOVEL" by Thomas Perry
Jane Whitefield has been helping people escape almost certain death for a long time. Her marriage didn’t stop what she did though maybe she didn’t work as often as she used to because there was much more to risk. But, people still came to her asking for help and if she believed in their innocence, Jane Whitefield helped.
Jane thought she had everything planned out for her latest project--breaking convicted murder James Shelby out from the courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. He is an innocent man who deserves to be free. He was framed for reasons unknown by someone who needs James Shelby to die. But, thanks to Jane Whitefield, Shelby has escaped and is long gone. The only thing working in the favor of the bad guys is they have captured a wounded Jane Whitefield. They have no idea that they really only have a tiger by the tale.
POISON FLOWER: A JANE WHITEFIELD NOVEL is the latest in the series and another good one even though it does not have the same style or flow of earlier books in the series. Something often happens when an author takes a break from a series to write other books before coming back. Once back in the series, the reads are never the same for whatever the reason and such is the case here.
Not to say the book isn’t a good one. It is as the book works its way across the county with Jane trying to stay alive, keep her runners safe, and dispense violent justice to those who deserve it. Along the way much is made of her Indian history, her marriage, and how things have changed over the years.
While not nearly as good as earlier ones in the series, this latest book on its own is a good one. There is also a certain melancholy feel to it as if this might be the final one in the series. If so, it has been a good run.
POISON FLOWER: A JANE WHITEFIELD NOVEL
Thomas Perry
The Mysterious Press (Imprint of Grove/Atlantic, Inc.)
2012
ISBN# 978-0-8021-2605-4
Hardback (also available in e-book/audio versions)
274 Pages
$24.00
Material supplied by the good folks of the Plano Texas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2012
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