Night Work
Steve Hamilton
Dunne, Sep 18 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780312353612
In Kingston, New York, juvenile probation officer Joe Trumbull has spent the past two years buried in his work while he grieves the strangulation murder of his fiancée Laurel three days before their wedding. Though he still mourns his loss and believes he will compare all women to Laurel, Joe finally goes out on a blind date with Marlene. A few hours after their date ends, Marlene is found strangled to death. Not long after that he tries to help battered wife Sandy, who soon after his offer of assistance is found strangled to death.
The local police turn to the State for homicide detectives to investigate since the small department has no one capable of working a serial killer case. Joe being the obvious link between the murders is the prime and only suspect. He begins an investigation to find a killer before he is arrested.
This is an entertaining investigative thriller although fans of Steve Hamilton who know Alex McKnight will think Joe Trumbull is no Alex. The whodunit is cleverly developed especially the motive and the location on the Hudson is vividly described. However, Joe’s constant self pity becomes irritating and after a while he loses the empathy he had early on. Still this is an interesting stand alone tale of a man who is trying to return to the living when all he finds are deaths.
Harriet Klausner
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Dead of the Day-Karen E. Olson
Dead of the Day
Karen E. Olson
Obsidian, Nov 2007, $6.99, 320 pp.
ISBN 9780451222473
Crime reporter Annie Seymour is presently working on two pieces for the New Haven Herald: a floater at Long Wharf whose body is covered with bee stings and a profile of on the city’s new chief of police Tony Rodriguez. However, Annie struggles with the profile that isn’t coming together because Rodriguez is so bland she can’t find a hook. The story about the floater is also difficult to write about because nobody knows who he is or where he came from .
The chief of police story turns exciting when a drive by shooting leaves Rodriguez dead while he sat in his car. Witnesses claim that someone opened fire on two policemen, Annie’s ex-boyfriend Tom and Rodriguez’s second-in command Sam O’Neil. The shooter is now in the hospital in a coma. Annie is assigned the story and finds much more than she bargained for with illegal immigrants, a green card scandal, bomb sniffing bee experiments and someone wanting to permanently stifle the curious intrepid reporter.
This crime thriller starts out at light speed and accelerates from there never giving the readers a chance to catch their breath. Annie is a strong willed woman who never lets a death threat frighten her off the investigation. Besides dodging bullets and cars that want to run her off the road she is trying to figure out if Vinnie the P.I. she is in love with and hasn’t spoken to in months wants to get back together. This is a great investigative series and readers will look forward to the next book in the series.
Harriet Klausner
Karen E. Olson
Obsidian, Nov 2007, $6.99, 320 pp.
ISBN 9780451222473
Crime reporter Annie Seymour is presently working on two pieces for the New Haven Herald: a floater at Long Wharf whose body is covered with bee stings and a profile of on the city’s new chief of police Tony Rodriguez. However, Annie struggles with the profile that isn’t coming together because Rodriguez is so bland she can’t find a hook. The story about the floater is also difficult to write about because nobody knows who he is or where he came from .
The chief of police story turns exciting when a drive by shooting leaves Rodriguez dead while he sat in his car. Witnesses claim that someone opened fire on two policemen, Annie’s ex-boyfriend Tom and Rodriguez’s second-in command Sam O’Neil. The shooter is now in the hospital in a coma. Annie is assigned the story and finds much more than she bargained for with illegal immigrants, a green card scandal, bomb sniffing bee experiments and someone wanting to permanently stifle the curious intrepid reporter.
This crime thriller starts out at light speed and accelerates from there never giving the readers a chance to catch their breath. Annie is a strong willed woman who never lets a death threat frighten her off the investigation. Besides dodging bullets and cars that want to run her off the road she is trying to figure out if Vinnie the P.I. she is in love with and hasn’t spoken to in months wants to get back together. This is a great investigative series and readers will look forward to the next book in the series.
Harriet Klausner
Chat-Archie Mayor
Chat
Archie Mayor
Grand Central, Nov 2007, $24.95, 326 p.
ISBN 9780446582582
Les Gunther and his mother are driving home after seeing a movie when all of a sudden the car isn’t operating the way it should; they crash leaving both of them badly injured. The next of kin Joe Gunther, a commander in the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, is notified and he passes a John Doe corpse case he is working on to his team while he returns home.
Before his brother lapses into a coma he says something was wrong with the car. When they discover what is wrong with the car, Joe is immediately suspicious because the vehicle was too new to have thrown a rod. When they find the cotton pin that held the rod in place they have probable cause to confiscate the computer at the Griffis Garage where the vehicle was serviced. The father E.T. and son Dan blame Joe for putting away the youngest brother Andy who was probably innocent and took the fall for Dan. If Dan was convicted of another crime he would have been put away for life under the state’s three strike rule. While in jail Andy was raped and when he gets out he committed suicide. Ironically there is nothing on the computer to implicate Dan with his crashing the vehicle but there are a series of chat logs connected to the case Joe was working on before his family emergency.
This regional mystery gives a vivid picture of the Vermont countryside and the colorful inhabitants who populate it. Joe’s love for his family is so real that readers expect to do what he can and more for them. The mystery is well plotted and has so many suspects besides the obvious avenging father and son team that readers will never guess who the killer is. Archie Mayor has written another great Vermont police procedural.
Harriet Klausner
Archie Mayor
Grand Central, Nov 2007, $24.95, 326 p.
ISBN 9780446582582
Les Gunther and his mother are driving home after seeing a movie when all of a sudden the car isn’t operating the way it should; they crash leaving both of them badly injured. The next of kin Joe Gunther, a commander in the Vermont Bureau of Investigation, is notified and he passes a John Doe corpse case he is working on to his team while he returns home.
Before his brother lapses into a coma he says something was wrong with the car. When they discover what is wrong with the car, Joe is immediately suspicious because the vehicle was too new to have thrown a rod. When they find the cotton pin that held the rod in place they have probable cause to confiscate the computer at the Griffis Garage where the vehicle was serviced. The father E.T. and son Dan blame Joe for putting away the youngest brother Andy who was probably innocent and took the fall for Dan. If Dan was convicted of another crime he would have been put away for life under the state’s three strike rule. While in jail Andy was raped and when he gets out he committed suicide. Ironically there is nothing on the computer to implicate Dan with his crashing the vehicle but there are a series of chat logs connected to the case Joe was working on before his family emergency.
This regional mystery gives a vivid picture of the Vermont countryside and the colorful inhabitants who populate it. Joe’s love for his family is so real that readers expect to do what he can and more for them. The mystery is well plotted and has so many suspects besides the obvious avenging father and son team that readers will never guess who the killer is. Archie Mayor has written another great Vermont police procedural.
Harriet Klausner
Friday, September 14, 2007
Dark of the Moon-John Sandford
Dark of the Moon
John Sandford
Putnam, Sep 2007, $26.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 9780399154775
To look at him nobody would believe that Virgil Flowers is a police officer; one of Lucas Davenport’s best (see INVISIBLE PREY for the case in which Flowers assisted the Minnesota Bureau of Crime Apprehension Chief). He wears casual clothing, has long hair, looks younger than his years and has a breezy amiable manner which enables him to make friends easily. He is on his way to Bluestem, Minnesota to investigate the deaths of the octogenarian Gleasons, who apparently knew their killer.
As he enters the town he sees a house belonging to the recently deceased wealthy Bill Judd. The sheriff asks Virgil to help him with the Judd murder; another eighty-something year old person killed in a horrendous fashion. Judd scammed the townsfolk with a pyramid scheme making millions so he had plenty of enemies. In a town where murder almost never occurs three in a short period of time doesn’t strike Flowers as coincidental especially the age of the victims. When another couple also in their eighties is killed, Flower is certain that there is a methodical organized sociopath killer hiding in plain sight. During the course of his investigations he discovers a meth lab, a mole in the police department, and a church dealing with criminals. For one independent police officer he finds himself involved with a serial killer, townsfolk, the sheriff, a lover and the dead all lead him to the killer if he is clever to find the link.
John Sandford’s latest protagonist is an adrenaline junkie living on the edge but within the rules of an excellent police officer. Flower deserves his own series because his style and methods is as good as his boss Lucas Davenport even though they are ying and yang. There are many different mysteries that tie into the storyline and they are easy to follow although the reader will be perplexed until the very last page of a very fine and exciting police procedural.
Harriet Klausner
John Sandford
Putnam, Sep 2007, $26.95, 384 pp.
ISBN: 9780399154775
To look at him nobody would believe that Virgil Flowers is a police officer; one of Lucas Davenport’s best (see INVISIBLE PREY for the case in which Flowers assisted the Minnesota Bureau of Crime Apprehension Chief). He wears casual clothing, has long hair, looks younger than his years and has a breezy amiable manner which enables him to make friends easily. He is on his way to Bluestem, Minnesota to investigate the deaths of the octogenarian Gleasons, who apparently knew their killer.
As he enters the town he sees a house belonging to the recently deceased wealthy Bill Judd. The sheriff asks Virgil to help him with the Judd murder; another eighty-something year old person killed in a horrendous fashion. Judd scammed the townsfolk with a pyramid scheme making millions so he had plenty of enemies. In a town where murder almost never occurs three in a short period of time doesn’t strike Flowers as coincidental especially the age of the victims. When another couple also in their eighties is killed, Flower is certain that there is a methodical organized sociopath killer hiding in plain sight. During the course of his investigations he discovers a meth lab, a mole in the police department, and a church dealing with criminals. For one independent police officer he finds himself involved with a serial killer, townsfolk, the sheriff, a lover and the dead all lead him to the killer if he is clever to find the link.
John Sandford’s latest protagonist is an adrenaline junkie living on the edge but within the rules of an excellent police officer. Flower deserves his own series because his style and methods is as good as his boss Lucas Davenport even though they are ying and yang. There are many different mysteries that tie into the storyline and they are easy to follow although the reader will be perplexed until the very last page of a very fine and exciting police procedural.
Harriet Klausner
The Border Lord's Bride-Bertrice Small
The Border Lord's Bride
Bertrice Small
NAL, Oct 2007, $14.00
ISBN: 9780451222145
In 1494, the unprotected are pawns for the more powerful to obtain greater strength. That is why elderly Lochearn Laird Ewan MacArthur sends his beloved orphaned granddaughter Ellen to King James for her safety. Two weeks after her departure, their cousin Gavin demands Ellen marry his son Balgair instead of the heir Donald McNab as he plans to make his offspring Laird of Lochearn even if it means turning Ellen into a teenage widow.
Border Laird of Duffdour Duncan Armstrong visits King James to ask a favor of his liege. In return James assigns him to safely escort Ellen home so she can wed Donald as the monarch believes it is Ewan’s decision. When they reach her home, they quickly learn what Balgair and his sire have done as he has her grandfather’s signed document making him heir and her spouse; he explains that he held Donald hostage, but once signed slit both their throats. However, Balgair made one mistake as he asks Duncan to witness the ceremony, he failed to understand the escort is an honorable loyal person, who takes this into his own hands by wedding Ellen although that means giving up his hope to marry for love; or does it.
The second Borderlands Chronicle historical romance (see A DANGEROUS LOVE) is a fabulous late fifteenth century tale filled with intrigue and treachery much greater than that described above. The lead pair struggles with her odious extended family and with the machinations between the rival Kings James and Henry VII. Readers will cherish the heroic Duncan as their own as he risks his happiness and ultimately life to keep Ellen safe; fans will also admire the spunky female protagonist, whose tasted violence and death with her parents already gone and now her betrothed and beloved grandfather were murdered; yet she keeps her with and takes a chance on the unknown rather than the devil she knows. Bertrice Small provides a great read.
Harriet Klausner
Bertrice Small
NAL, Oct 2007, $14.00
ISBN: 9780451222145
In 1494, the unprotected are pawns for the more powerful to obtain greater strength. That is why elderly Lochearn Laird Ewan MacArthur sends his beloved orphaned granddaughter Ellen to King James for her safety. Two weeks after her departure, their cousin Gavin demands Ellen marry his son Balgair instead of the heir Donald McNab as he plans to make his offspring Laird of Lochearn even if it means turning Ellen into a teenage widow.
Border Laird of Duffdour Duncan Armstrong visits King James to ask a favor of his liege. In return James assigns him to safely escort Ellen home so she can wed Donald as the monarch believes it is Ewan’s decision. When they reach her home, they quickly learn what Balgair and his sire have done as he has her grandfather’s signed document making him heir and her spouse; he explains that he held Donald hostage, but once signed slit both their throats. However, Balgair made one mistake as he asks Duncan to witness the ceremony, he failed to understand the escort is an honorable loyal person, who takes this into his own hands by wedding Ellen although that means giving up his hope to marry for love; or does it.
The second Borderlands Chronicle historical romance (see A DANGEROUS LOVE) is a fabulous late fifteenth century tale filled with intrigue and treachery much greater than that described above. The lead pair struggles with her odious extended family and with the machinations between the rival Kings James and Henry VII. Readers will cherish the heroic Duncan as their own as he risks his happiness and ultimately life to keep Ellen safe; fans will also admire the spunky female protagonist, whose tasted violence and death with her parents already gone and now her betrothed and beloved grandfather were murdered; yet she keeps her with and takes a chance on the unknown rather than the devil she knows. Bertrice Small provides a great read.
Harriet Klausner
Fire Bell in the Night-Geoffrey S. Edwards
Fire Bell in the Night
Geoffrey S. Edwards
Touchstone, Sep 18 2007
ISBN: 9781416564249
In 1850 New York Tribune journalist John Sharp is sent to Charleston, South Carolina to report on the trial of white farmer Darcy Nance Calhoun; accused of violating the law when he abetted a runaway slave, a capital offence. If convicted Darcy will hang. Already aware of the crisis throughout the nation since winning the Mexican War, John arrives with a sense of foreboding especially since his predecessor from the Tribune was murdered; probably because the local assumed a Yankee reporter denotes an abolitionist lover.
As John makes inquiries in the city seeking the truth, he is stunned by how angry everyone seems to be; in that atmosphere Darcy has no chance even if he did nothing and could prove he was totally innocent of the crime. The outside reporter does not believe Darcy will make it to trial as the city led by powerful plantation owners with connections like Tyler Breckenridge has all but hung him. As fires purposely set burn 24/7 with the alarm bell seemingly ringing constantly, underneath the rage, many of the elite and affluent are demanding secession from the Union in spite of knowing the North would invade.
FIRE BELL IN THE NIGHT is a deep look at South Carolina at a point where entrenched partisan feelings has divided the nation so that either secession or civil war seems imminent. The historical story line focuses on unrest from several perspectives as slave families are divided for individual sale and plantation owners see their region’s national influence slipping with the addition of the territories taken from Mexico; as the 14 to 14 tie will soon be over with the north winning. The strong cast brings to life the critical moment in which the great regional compromisers (Calhoun, Clay, and Webster) are gone and the strong President (Taylor) with convictions dead; the deal worked only temporarily and cooled the heat for a few years.
Harriet Klausner
Geoffrey S. Edwards
Touchstone, Sep 18 2007
ISBN: 9781416564249
In 1850 New York Tribune journalist John Sharp is sent to Charleston, South Carolina to report on the trial of white farmer Darcy Nance Calhoun; accused of violating the law when he abetted a runaway slave, a capital offence. If convicted Darcy will hang. Already aware of the crisis throughout the nation since winning the Mexican War, John arrives with a sense of foreboding especially since his predecessor from the Tribune was murdered; probably because the local assumed a Yankee reporter denotes an abolitionist lover.
As John makes inquiries in the city seeking the truth, he is stunned by how angry everyone seems to be; in that atmosphere Darcy has no chance even if he did nothing and could prove he was totally innocent of the crime. The outside reporter does not believe Darcy will make it to trial as the city led by powerful plantation owners with connections like Tyler Breckenridge has all but hung him. As fires purposely set burn 24/7 with the alarm bell seemingly ringing constantly, underneath the rage, many of the elite and affluent are demanding secession from the Union in spite of knowing the North would invade.
FIRE BELL IN THE NIGHT is a deep look at South Carolina at a point where entrenched partisan feelings has divided the nation so that either secession or civil war seems imminent. The historical story line focuses on unrest from several perspectives as slave families are divided for individual sale and plantation owners see their region’s national influence slipping with the addition of the territories taken from Mexico; as the 14 to 14 tie will soon be over with the north winning. The strong cast brings to life the critical moment in which the great regional compromisers (Calhoun, Clay, and Webster) are gone and the strong President (Taylor) with convictions dead; the deal worked only temporarily and cooled the heat for a few years.
Harriet Klausner
Norway to Hide-Maddy Hunter
Norway to Hide
Maddy Hunter
Pocket, Nov 2007, $6.99, 304 pp.
ISBN: 9781416523802
It is time once again for travel escort Emily Andrews and her group of senior citizens to embark on another tour of a foreign country. They are traveling to Scandinavia concentrating on Finland and Norway. Emily’s fondest hope is this trip proves to be no “Passport to Peril”; meaning no dead bodies to deal with especially since her ex-husband Jack (now Jackie after a transgender operation) published her book, which is ranked and rated on Amazon.
The Iowans are on the Midnight Sun Adventure tour with a group of Floridians senior citizens, who live in the affluent gated community Hamlet. The two groups don’t get along but even Emily is surprised to find the leader of the other Hamlet group Portia Van Cleef murdered, strangled by a fish and plum necklace. At first Jackie is the prime suspect because she threatened her with violence but the police can’t hold her because there is no evidence and others had a motive to kill her. When another Hamlet is killed, a Pulitzer prize winning reporter, Emily believes she needs to clear her group so she decides to investigate. Everyone wants the killer caught because the travel group doesn’t want to keep looking over their shoulders for a murderer.
Maddy Hunter writes a riveting who-done-it that will appeal to armchair travelers and readers who like a meaty cozy plot with no blood and guts flowing. The heroine has not had a good time on this trip as she deals with cranky travelers, a despondent writer who was totally obsessed with the numbers concerning her book, long distance wedding plans that have to be changed because a twister destroyed the place she was going to get married. Oh yes, she needs to find the killer to salvage what is left of the trip. The humor spread out throughout the storyline is used as a tension reliever.
Harriet Klausner
Maddy Hunter
Pocket, Nov 2007, $6.99, 304 pp.
ISBN: 9781416523802
It is time once again for travel escort Emily Andrews and her group of senior citizens to embark on another tour of a foreign country. They are traveling to Scandinavia concentrating on Finland and Norway. Emily’s fondest hope is this trip proves to be no “Passport to Peril”; meaning no dead bodies to deal with especially since her ex-husband Jack (now Jackie after a transgender operation) published her book, which is ranked and rated on Amazon.
The Iowans are on the Midnight Sun Adventure tour with a group of Floridians senior citizens, who live in the affluent gated community Hamlet. The two groups don’t get along but even Emily is surprised to find the leader of the other Hamlet group Portia Van Cleef murdered, strangled by a fish and plum necklace. At first Jackie is the prime suspect because she threatened her with violence but the police can’t hold her because there is no evidence and others had a motive to kill her. When another Hamlet is killed, a Pulitzer prize winning reporter, Emily believes she needs to clear her group so she decides to investigate. Everyone wants the killer caught because the travel group doesn’t want to keep looking over their shoulders for a murderer.
Maddy Hunter writes a riveting who-done-it that will appeal to armchair travelers and readers who like a meaty cozy plot with no blood and guts flowing. The heroine has not had a good time on this trip as she deals with cranky travelers, a despondent writer who was totally obsessed with the numbers concerning her book, long distance wedding plans that have to be changed because a twister destroyed the place she was going to get married. Oh yes, she needs to find the killer to salvage what is left of the trip. The humor spread out throughout the storyline is used as a tension reliever.
Harriet Klausner
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