Publication Day Review: A Lonesome Place for Murder: An Ethan Brand Mystery by Nolan Chase

 

A Lonesome Place for Murder: An Ethan Brand Mystery by Nolan Chase is the sequel to A Lonesome Place for Dying. It, like that first book, is a really good read. You could read this one first, if you wanted, but why do that as the series is a good one and should be read in order like all good series.

 

As this book begins, Chief of Police Ethan Brand and Deputy Brenda Lee Page are slogging it out as they hike through a pasture. The mission is to find an old man and a certain horse. Both work for the small town of Blaine, Washington, near the border with Canada. They might not be the ones even out there now except for the fact that Chief of Police Brand is thinking about buying the horse. He had an appointment to see the horse and brought Deputy Brenda Lee Page with him, on her day off, as support as she knows animals. Not that she knows much about horses.

 

Brand’s ex and the kids live in Boston now and the most recent visitation did not go as well as he would have hoped. Both of his sons during the summer visitation were too immersed in their electronic devices when they were not actively doing something. That is except for one afternoon when they were able to interact with a horse in its trailer. The Christmas visitation is coming up and Brand is thinking that maybe a horse would help things. He wants his young sons to be present in the world and understand that there are things that matter far more than chatting online and playing videogames. He is feeling a growing gap between his sons and himself and is having a hard time with the dawning realization that his ex and his sons aren’t going to come back home.

 

The muddy and wet pasture they are slogging through has a slope to it as it sits parallel to the Canadian border. It is where they were sent by the owner’s wife to go check on him as he is overdue for getting back to the house. The slope and the wet ground are working Brand’s surgically repaired left foot and causing him increasing pain as he climbs steadily higher up the slope. The man they are looking for is Mac Steranko. Once they finally the crest and can look down the other side, towards the border, they can see him sitting on the ground near a patch of disturbed ground.

 

The elderly Mr. Steranko is a tough man and lucky to be alive. He is a bit banged up as is the horse, Trim Reckoning. It is favoring a leg and is a bit spooked by the hole in the ground. Mr. Steranko explains that the horse stumbled hard because a patch of ground suddenly gave way under it.

 

Even more ground gives way when Brenda Lee starts poking around and accidentally causes a bigger collapse. One that dumps her several feet down into a hole that is now several feet long. In fact, this is not a hole, but a partial tunnel collapse.

 

Back a few years earlier, Brand was in the military. One of his duties in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan was clearing tunnels. The last thing he wants to do is go down in that tunnel. But, when Brenda Lee finds a body in there that has been there for quite some time, he doesn’t have a choice.

 

A body that soon means quite a lot to Ethan Brand in more ways than one.

 

What follows is another highly entertaining and complicated read in this great series. Not only do they have a murder to solve, local politics is heating up, his ex has plans that don’t involve him, and history is rearing its ugly head. Much is going on professionally and personally and Ethan Brand is a bit like the dogged prize fighter that takes body blow and head shot, one after another, with barely any time to breathe as he leans against the ropes. Backed in a corner every which way, all he can do is keep his head down, and keep dodging that fatal blow. Or that head shot as the case may be.

 

A Lonesome Place for Murder: An Ethan Brand Mystery by Nolan Chase is a mighty good read. Very much strongly recommended as it is well worth your time.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4iVOHo1

 

My digital ARC reading copy came from the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Rock Creek by Kevin Flynn

 

Kevin Flynn prosecuted violent crimes in Washington, DC, for the Department of Justice for more than thirty-five years. Rock Creek (Kilimanjaro Press, 2024) is his second book; it reflects his deep knowledge of the city, its history, and the people who live there.

In 1952 Washington, DC, was still a small sleepy Southern city. Still a year or so away from the explosive House Un-American Activities Committee hearings chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy that wrecked the careers of so many, and three years before Rosa Parks was arrested for failing to yield her bus seat to a white man, setting off a firestorm that resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the city did not call much attention to itself.

Emily Rose came to the city to escape her past and start over with a brand-new name and life. She managed to find a job in a Congressional office but unaccountably was murdered and her body abandoned in the lush forested park along the banks of Rock Creek in northwest Washington.

Shane Kinnock is a homicide detective whose nights are haunted by his war experience and whose days are complicated by colleagues whose professional standards are abysmal. Between the police chief who is quick to close cases without examining them in any detail and Capitol Hill personnel who feel Kinnock is getting too close to matters better kept private, he is swimming upstream, so to speak, to identify Emily’s killer. He is supported by a member of the Park Police who wants to do more than ride his horse around the park all day but who sorely lacks training.

The somewhat rambling story bears more than a passing similarity to the real-life murder of Congressional intern Chandra Levy in 2001, which has never been closed. I expect Flynn was in a position to hear all about the search to find the intern who was missing for a year before her body was found in Rock Creek Park and then the ensuing homicide investigation.

An engaging read set in a time and place not common to historical crime fiction.

·         Publisher: ‎Kilimanjaro Press (May 14, 2024)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Hardcover: ‎348 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1662950179

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1662950179

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4iKz7vc

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025

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

Review: The Silence of the Dead: A Charlie-316 Novel by Colin Conway and Frank Zafiro

 

The Silence of the Dead: A Charlie-316 Novel by Colin Conway and Frank Zafiro is a complicated book that spans a period from 1951 to more recent months. Set in 1951, 1973, 2005 and more recently, it considers the idea of a generational serial killer and the repercussions involved in opening cases long ago declared solved. Set in the Charlie-316 Universe, this sixth book in the series isn’t an easy book to review as revealing details of the situation early in this read would ruin the book.

 

Suffice it to say, and it has to as this reviewer does everything possible to avoid spoilers, the book begins in 2023. Major Crimes Detective Wardell Clint is a good cop, even though he has a large axe to grind with many people inside and outside the Spokane Washington Police Department. One of those people he dislikes, and the feeling is fairly mutual, is former Police Chief Robert Baumgartner. Not only does he think the former chief is a bit racist, he also thinks that the chief did everything from a political perspective first, and as a cop a distant second. So, he does not trust the man at all. But, Detective Clint is on the track of a killer that has been active for decades and the former chief has the knowledge and thereby the answers he needs. So, he heads out to the lakehouse to see the former chief, have a chat, and surreptitiously record what answers he gets.

 

Detective Clint is investigating the 2016 murder of Melaine Paz back when Baumgartner was still chief. Sexually assaulted and left dead behind a dumpster, her case is classified as a cold case and one of several Detective Clint is working. While still in the Major Crimes Unit, he has been put on cold cases only due to recent events. He’s not in the active current rotation and has been professionally sidelined. A man who is known for his conspiracy theories, he believes a conspiracy of some type is at work here with this murder case and others, and intends to expose all to get his status back.

 

If nothing else, Detective Clint is thorough. He has found links to other murder cases going back as far as 1951. All the cases share a common denominator and were classified as solved even though he sees inconsistences and holes in the investigations. Thus, he believes there is a coverup and wants know what really happened and why Baumgartner and others apparently covered it all up

 

Baumgartner eventually agrees to tell all that he knows, unofficially, this one time. As the hours pass, he starts telling it all from the very brutal beginning in 1951.

 

There is a lot to tell. It all is very complicated and shows how some things have changed and others have not.

 

The Silence Of The Dead: A Charlie-316 Novel is an incredibly complicated read. Unlike a lot of police procedurals, this book as well as the series, do not push a pro police agenda. Instead, the read highlights that there are times when no matter what you do, the choices are horrible.

 

While this was not my favorite read in the series to date that began with Charlie-316, it was an interesting and entertaining read. If you like complicated police procedurals steeped in shades of grey and black, this book, is well worth your time.

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

 

My ARC reading copy came from author Frank Zafiro back in October 2024 and with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025

Mystery Fanfare: PRESIDENTIAL MYSTERIES: Presidents Day

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Review: Den of Iniquity: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance

 

It is Valentine’s Day, 2020, as Den of Iniquity: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance begins. Bellingham, Washington, is clear and cold this morning. The news of Covid dominates, though the impacts have yet to be felt here. J. P. Beaumont plans on taking his wife, Mel, to a nearby restaurant for the evening. That is until J.P. and Sarah (their dog) return from a walk and find grandson, Kyle, parked in the drive.

 

It takes some time to drag out of Kyle why he made the nine-hour drive and arrived with no warning. There is a mess at home. Kyle left and brought with him his stuff and his troubles. He had a very good reason to show up as his family (J. P.’s daughter, her husband, and Kye’s sister) has, basically, imploded. While Mel and J.P. try to come to grips with what has happened and the sudden addition of a teenager to their house, Ben Weston reaches out to Beaumont.

 

Back when Beaumont was a Seattle Homicide Detective, he first met Ben as a five-year-old kid. There had been a violent home invasion leaving Ben the only survivor. Ben is now a Seattle Homicide Detective as is Scotty, J.P. Beaumont’s son, and they have desks close to each other. Ben needs a favor.

 

After Ben’s parents died, a woman at church, Matilda Jackson, always looked out for Ben. She had been good friends with Ben’s mom. Mrs. Jackson’s grandson is dead. He died of a drug overdose back in November of 2018. The police followed the medical examiners ruling of accidental death due to fentanyl overdose and closed the case. Mrs. Jackson is sure that he was sober and things were going right. She is absolutely sure it was murder.

 

 

As he talks to Mrs. Jackson, J. P. is not hearing anything that is very convincing, but Ben wanted him to look into it, because he can’t. For the cops, it is a closed case and that means Ben can do nothing. J. P. agrees, talks to her some more, and starts investigating. It isn’t long before he is sure Matilda Jackson is right. Her son was murdered.

 

He wasn’t the only one.

 

What follows is a fast moving read that switches back and forth between Kyle’s family issues, and there are many, and the Jackson case J.P. is working. Investigative skills come in handy for family and others. J.P. has a lot going on in Den of Iniquity: A J.P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance.

 

While those that have read the series to this point will get more out of the book, one could start here as there is enough background material to get new readers comfortable in the read. This reviewer, a long-time reader of the series, enjoyed it a lot.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3z5nG0F

 

My ARC digital reading copy came from the publisher, William Morrow, by way of NetGalley.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024 

Lesa's Book Critiques: A Cold, Cold World by Elena Taylor

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Review: A Lonesome Place for Dying: A Novel by Nolan Chase

A Lonesome Place for Dying: A Novel by Nolan Chase takes the reader to Blaine, Washington, in this very good police procedural. Veteran Ethan Brand has been through some things. He came home, got off the drugs, got on the local police force, and is now 42 years old. He is also now the new chief of police for the town of just over six thousand. The Canadian Border is just north of town with Bellingham, and 90 miles away, Seattle, to the south.

 

It is April and so the tourists have yet to descend in mass. Things should be somewhat easy on his first day in the new job as he has been on the force for a number of years now and pretty much knows everybody. It also helps he grew up there.

 

There have been some strange things happening at his house. There is also the stress of being the new boss. Especially when Officer Brenda Lee Paige was skipped over by the former chief, Frank Keogh, when he recommended to the council they appoint, Ethan Brand. Frank’s son, Mal Keogh, also still works in the department and is clearly not ready to recognize Brand as his boss. Frank has also left him the pollical problem as to what to do Officer Cliff Mooney.

 

He is trying to smooth things over with Brenda Lee, at least a little bit, when Officer Ruiz calls in over the radio and requests assistance out at MO’s Scrapyard on the southeast side of the town. There is a body about a mile and a quarter from the scrapyard. Officer Ruiz was out at the yard on the vandalism call. The owner had thought it was kids and that they were still around on the nearby train tracks. They went looking to see if they could find the kids, or evidence tied into them, and found the body instead.

 

The deceased woman appears to be in her late twenties. It appears she was stabbed twice in her right side. It was raining until just after midnight and her clothing is dry. There is also no sign of anything around the body. Brand is left to wonder if she, somehow, came off of the train as it rolled by on the tracks a few feet away, or some other way.

 

What follows is a complicated police procedural that features a lot of world building. Rich and full small town characters including Brand, and a complicated mystery, are all at work here in A Lonesome Place for Dying. It takes familiar tropes, such as the veteran wounded and back home trying to stay sober, and turns them in new ways that reveal depth and nuance of characters. Those side excursions into backstory don’t slow the forward motion of the tale. Instead, they enhance the read.

 

Everything combines incredibly well together to create a mighty good read. One that hopefully is the start of a series. A Lonesome Place for Dying: A Novel by Nolan Chase is absolutely strongly recommended.

 

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

 

My reading copy was a digital ARC from the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, through NetGalley and was provided with no expectation of a review.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Second Girl by David Swinson (Mulholland Books, 2016)

Second Girl by David Swinson (Mulholland Books, 2016) is the first book about retired Washington, DC, cop Frank Marr and the gritty underworld of DC. Ostensibly Marr retired before he had his 20 years in because of burn-out, but in reality he is a drug addict and his supervisors eased him quietly out so as not to jeopardize the dozens of high-profile convictions Marr had obtained. Now Marr does investigative work for a few lawyers and whoever can pay him while he searches for his next fix. As the book opens, he’s panicking about his diminishing supply of cocaine.

He has identified a small-time group of drug dealers on the east side of DC. He watches the crew for a few days to learn their schedule. He waits until they leave with their first haul of product to sell at the nearby park, then breaks into their apartment and is searching methodically for their stockpile when he hears a noise from the closed bathroom. He opens the door to find a nude teenaged girl, handcuffed to the pipes under the sink. She is bruised and battered and terrified. While Frank generally has the tenderness of a Mafia hit man, he can’t bring himself to leave her there. He scoops her up and takes her to the office of a lawyer he works for, buying himself some time to manufacture an explanation for how he happened to be in the apartment where she was locked up.

The teenager is one of several missing girls from the Virginia suburbs. Her parents are so grateful to Frank that they tell another set of parents whose daughter has been gone for months. These people are desperate and beg Frank to search for their daughter. Frank does not want to take the case, believing the girl to be out of the area by now, but he agrees to work a week and begins to annoy the police on the case as well as the drug dealers who had been trafficking girls.

David Swinson is a retired police detective from the DC Metropolitan Police Department himself and his writing bristles with knowledge of local police operations and the neighborhoods of DC. Frank Marr is an inspired creation, casually cruel and unscrupulous while fundamentally kind. He spins one whopper after another to cover up his addiction. He tap dances around the DC and Virginia police and the drug dealers, all of them suspecting he’s pulling a fast one but none of them able to figure it out. Breakneck pace, good writing, authentic setting, and a brilliant antihero.

Starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus. Recommended!

 

·         Publisher: ‎Mulholland Books (June 7, 2016)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Hardcover: ‎368 pages

·         ISBN-10:‎ 9780316264174

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-0316264174

  

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2023

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

Review: Nothing to Lose: A J. P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance

It is early December as Nothing to Lose: A J. P. Beaumont Novel by J.A. Jance begins and Mel wants J.P. to put out the Christmas decorations as he will be home for the day. Mel is the chief of police and has her duties along with meetings with the mayor and the city council in separate events. The winter storm won’t help her either.

So, it is just him and their dog and many boxes of decorations when a knock at the door stops everything. It has been nearly twenty years since J.P. Beaumont last saw Jared Danielson. That was the night that J. P.’s partner, Sue Danielson, was shot and killed by her ex-husband, Richard Danielson. J. P. had tried to save her and could not. J.P. has always had a lot of guilt over that fact as well as his decisions that horrible night. Seeing Jared Danielson on his snowy doorstep brings everything back with a vengeance.

Jared Danielson is now a catholic priest. He has been through some things over the years, but has pulled himself together because of his own efforts and support from other folks who helped along the way. In the here and now, he needs J. P.’s help finding his brother, Chris.

Chris has always blamed Jared for their mom’s death as he believes that if they had not left, their father would not have murdered their mom. The fact is that they had run, because J. P. told Jared to take his brother and run, no doubt saved their lives. Chris believes otherwise, despite all evidence to the contrary, and the issue has never been resolved. While going to home of their mom’s parents in Ohio had worked out well for Jared, Chris had a far harder time. He eventually ran away and wound up in Homer, Alaska, living with the grandparents on their father’s side of the family.

Now with Grandma Hinkle, Sue Daniel’s mom, in assisted living and not doing well, time is of the essence. Grandma Hinkle is desperate to try and make things right with Chris before she dies. Father Jared Danielson wants J. P.’s help in finding his brother and thereby giving the family a chance to reconcile.

While Jared has some ideas what Chris was doing in 2006 thanks to an old yearbook, a dozen years have passed. That is a lot of time to account for and there is not much information readily available. That means to get the answers they all need; J. P. is going to have to go to Alaska.

What follows is a complex tale of mystery and deceit with an occasional laugh out loud moment as J. P. deals with locals in Alaska and winter weather. Such details serve as colorful background for a complex mystery that truly is a cold case – literally and figuratively. A lot if going on here along with the internal grief and self-doubt J. P. is dealing with as he works to find Chris and the answers to many questions.

While it is always preferable to read a series in order, those new to the world of J.P. Beaumont could start here. Most of the reminiscing about earlier events is tied into the horrible events of that night which was many books ago in the series. Obviously, those who are familiar with the series and caught up will get more out of this read than others.

All and all, Nothing To Lose: A J. P. Beaumont Novel is another solidly good read in the long running series. Recommended.

  

My reading copy came from the Dallas Public Library System via the Libby/OverDrive App. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2022 

Lesa's Book Critiques: Murder at the Capitol by C.M. Gleason

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Review: Twisted Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel by John Sandford

Twisted Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel opens, as many of the recent books in the series do, with bad guys doing bad things to somebody. Readers know from almost the start the identities of some of the bad actors though the motivation for the criminal events has yet to become apparent.  In this case the victims are a United States senator and his mistress who are run off the road as they attempt to return to Washington. In the aftermath, Senator Smalls is lucky to be alive. He also has pretty good idea regarding the identity of the person who tried to take him out.

Not that Senator Taryn Grant would have done it herself. She would not have gotten her hands dirty directly. But, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, she may have been making use of her contacts in the intelligence community and elsewhere as Small has been an ongoing problem for her. Especially recently after he brought her a fresh round of unwanted media attention which seems to have impacted her carefully crafted media image just a little bit.

U. S. Marshal Lucas Davenport has been bored. Very bored with routine boring cases. The kinds of case he did not sign up for when he joined the United Sates Marshal’s Service. Senator Smalls knows the automobile accident was no accident and is sure that Senator Taryn Grant is behind it all just like she was two years ago. Smalls is convinced she is not going to stop until he is dead. He also knows Lucas Davenport might be the only one to not only understand his situation but to appreciate the threat from Grant and be able to do something about it. He wants Lucas to investigate and hopefully by doing so, keep him alive, and stop the next attempt to kill him.

What follows is a straight action adventure read with Lucas Davenport on the hunt for professional Killers, probably ex-military members who are now most likely private contractors, and proof that Grant is behind it all. Of course, that means Lucas and others he cares about become targets for retaliation.

Straight action and adventure with little character depth or development for any of the new characters in this series—several of which will most likely pop up again in coming books--- the read is about action and moving forward by way of following numerous characters as they go about their criminal and otherwise activities. The story structure is very reminiscent of an EKG with regular spikes of action and the predictable lulls between events. Overall, the book moves forward at a rapid pace despite the occasional segue into politics (that clearly inflames some conservatives who are reading something, based on their “reviews,” far beyond what is actually in the book), sight-seeing destinations in Washington, and other reading suggestions regarding various books and magazines made during those lulls in the action.

While a good read for what it is – a straight action/adventure book – it is not nearly as good as many previous Prey books in this long running series. Sheer escapism, Twisted Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel, settles some scores and keeps the reader fairly well entertained and turning pages. For those readers who prefer more escapist type read for their trips to the beach or mountains, this latest read in the series should do very nicely.

Twisted Prey: A Lucas Davenport Novel

John Sandford

http://JohnSandford.org

Random House Large Print

http://www.randomhouse/largeprint/

April 2018

ISBN# 978-0-5255-9378-2

Large Trade Paperback (also available in hardback, audio book, and eBook formats)

512 Pages (497 pages of actual story)

$31.00

Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

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