The Skull
S.D. Tooley
Full Moon, Dec 2006
ISBN: 9780978540210
Thirteen year old Remy Bauer is a highly intelligent teen who lives with her single mom and her paternal grandmother while her absentee dad travels the world gambling just like his late father did. Remy enjoys her lifestyle as the other females in the household encourage her to be all she can be. She especially enjoys forensics.
At the Sycamore Mansion estate sale, Remy buys a monkey’s skull with plans to construct the animal. She asks Rob “Roadkill” Haislett who photographs dead animals and orphaned Andy the runaway to help her learn how the animal died. As they become friends, they obtain summer work at Sycamore Mansion. This enables them to seek clues to the monkey’s death. However, instead of learning that, Rob proves the skull belonged to a newborn human. The three young teens tries to learn what happened and when, but someone has other ideas as to what to do with three nosy thirteen years old youngsters
This excellent young adult forensics mystery is fast-paced yet provides a discerning look at social issues facing tweeners such as peer pressure, youth gangs, and abandonment. The three amigos are unique eccentric protagonists who make this a fun amateur sleuth for readers of all ages.
Harriet Klausner
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Last Call-James Grippando
Last Call
James Grippando
Harper, Dec 19 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780060831165
Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck still worries about his former client bar owner Theo Knight as he knows his best friend has lingering resentment, rightfully so. When Theo was a teen raised by kind Uncle Cy (after his mom was killed) in the roughest hood, he was arrested and convicted for murder. He became the youngest person on death row and was only saved when Jack proved he could not have committed the homicide; even then he still almost was executed.
Jack learns that someone tried to kill Theo in his old hood. Apparently, convict Isaac Reems promised to provide Theo with the name of his mom’s killer in exchange to helping him elude the law. Instead the escaped con leaves evidence that Theo abetted his escape while setting Theo up for the failed shooting. Theo has always wanted to avenge his mother’s murder, but the case went cold for the cops and him as the trail was outside the hood. While Jack joins Theo on his investigation, he hopes to keep his buddy from committing a homicide, but that may not matter when Isaac is found dead with proof that Theo killed him. Meanwhile an affluent unknown adversary wants the son as dead as the mother so that a two decade old murder stays unsolved.
LAST CALL is an excellent South Florida mystery as the key players bring the Greater Miami area to life in a fast-paced tale. Isaac and whoever hired him cleverly use the past that haunts Theo to get at him while Jack is there for him. A touch of two romances and a bit of humor adds depth to a great cat and mouse thriller.
Harriet Klausner
James Grippando
Harper, Dec 19 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780060831165
Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck still worries about his former client bar owner Theo Knight as he knows his best friend has lingering resentment, rightfully so. When Theo was a teen raised by kind Uncle Cy (after his mom was killed) in the roughest hood, he was arrested and convicted for murder. He became the youngest person on death row and was only saved when Jack proved he could not have committed the homicide; even then he still almost was executed.
Jack learns that someone tried to kill Theo in his old hood. Apparently, convict Isaac Reems promised to provide Theo with the name of his mom’s killer in exchange to helping him elude the law. Instead the escaped con leaves evidence that Theo abetted his escape while setting Theo up for the failed shooting. Theo has always wanted to avenge his mother’s murder, but the case went cold for the cops and him as the trail was outside the hood. While Jack joins Theo on his investigation, he hopes to keep his buddy from committing a homicide, but that may not matter when Isaac is found dead with proof that Theo killed him. Meanwhile an affluent unknown adversary wants the son as dead as the mother so that a two decade old murder stays unsolved.
LAST CALL is an excellent South Florida mystery as the key players bring the Greater Miami area to life in a fast-paced tale. Isaac and whoever hired him cleverly use the past that haunts Theo to get at him while Jack is there for him. A touch of two romances and a bit of humor adds depth to a great cat and mouse thriller.
Harriet Klausner
A Pale Horse-Charles Todd
A Pale Horse
Charles Todd
Morrow, Dec 26 2007, $23.95
ISBN: 9780061233562
In 1920 five kids arrive at abandoned Yorkshire’s Fountains Abbey with an alchemy book they stole from their school. They plan to perform a ritual to raise the devil, but instead flee in fear leaving behind the purloined tome. The next day a corpse wearing a gas mask is found near the book.
Scotland Yard sends troubled Inspector Ian Rutledge to identify the victim as the War Office has an interest in the body too. Although the Great War to end all wars may be over, Ian still suffers from battle fatigue feeling guilty for what he did and saw. His inquiries of the nearby villagers are met with suspicion as each seems to have something to hide. The alchemy book belongs to a conscientious objector schoolmaster, but he also offers little. As deceit seems the norm, Ian struggles to learn the truth while the pale horse of the Apocalypse reminds the shell shocked detective that death is the final frontier.
A PALE HORSE is a fantastic whodunit due to the mentally battered hero whose only respite from the ghost that disturbs him is investigating as this is what he did before he became an unrecognized war “casualty”. The story line is fast-paced, but totally owned by Ian even as the audience obtains a deep look at an English village still reeling from the war. This haunting post WWI series remains one of the best historical police procedurals on the market today.
Harriet Klausner
Charles Todd
Morrow, Dec 26 2007, $23.95
ISBN: 9780061233562
In 1920 five kids arrive at abandoned Yorkshire’s Fountains Abbey with an alchemy book they stole from their school. They plan to perform a ritual to raise the devil, but instead flee in fear leaving behind the purloined tome. The next day a corpse wearing a gas mask is found near the book.
Scotland Yard sends troubled Inspector Ian Rutledge to identify the victim as the War Office has an interest in the body too. Although the Great War to end all wars may be over, Ian still suffers from battle fatigue feeling guilty for what he did and saw. His inquiries of the nearby villagers are met with suspicion as each seems to have something to hide. The alchemy book belongs to a conscientious objector schoolmaster, but he also offers little. As deceit seems the norm, Ian struggles to learn the truth while the pale horse of the Apocalypse reminds the shell shocked detective that death is the final frontier.
A PALE HORSE is a fantastic whodunit due to the mentally battered hero whose only respite from the ghost that disturbs him is investigating as this is what he did before he became an unrecognized war “casualty”. The story line is fast-paced, but totally owned by Ian even as the audience obtains a deep look at an English village still reeling from the war. This haunting post WWI series remains one of the best historical police procedurals on the market today.
Harriet Klausner
Friday, December 7, 2007
Pushing Up Daisies-Rosemary Harris
Pushing Up Daisies
Rosemary Harris
Dunne, Feb 2008, $23.95
ISBN: 9780312369675
After the buyout of the production company she worked for, Paula Holliday moved from the Big Apple to Springfield, Connecticut where she opened up a landscaping business, PH Factors, Garden Solutions. When Dorothy Peacock died, she left her estate Helepin to the Historical Society, but the grounds desperately need a good landscaper. Paula applies and gets the contract.
Her euphoria turns to horror when she digs up a box containing a mummified baby inside. Unable to forget or ignore her grisly find, Paula asks questions of those locals who lived in the area for decades in an attempt to identify either parent of the unfortunate child. She upsets someone who sends her a threatening email to back off or else, and someone knocks her out when she was in a deserted area. Paula learns that a young female Mexican who worked nearby decades ago mysteriously vanished although most people assumed she went home. The newbie ponders whether the interred baby and this woman are related like a mother and child. When another landscaper is murdered, Paula knows she has to stay involved even though she risks her life by still snooping.
This “Dirt-y Business” mystery by first time writer Rosemary Harris is an exciting well plotted (pun intended) amateur sleuth due to a quirky heroine and an eccentric Connecticut support cast. There are two mysteries that Paula feels must connect and has her theory how, but struggles to affirm her supposition. The novel also contains gardening tips and flora lore that enhance the appeal especially for fans of China Bayles.
Harriet Klausner
Rosemary Harris
Dunne, Feb 2008, $23.95
ISBN: 9780312369675
After the buyout of the production company she worked for, Paula Holliday moved from the Big Apple to Springfield, Connecticut where she opened up a landscaping business, PH Factors, Garden Solutions. When Dorothy Peacock died, she left her estate Helepin to the Historical Society, but the grounds desperately need a good landscaper. Paula applies and gets the contract.
Her euphoria turns to horror when she digs up a box containing a mummified baby inside. Unable to forget or ignore her grisly find, Paula asks questions of those locals who lived in the area for decades in an attempt to identify either parent of the unfortunate child. She upsets someone who sends her a threatening email to back off or else, and someone knocks her out when she was in a deserted area. Paula learns that a young female Mexican who worked nearby decades ago mysteriously vanished although most people assumed she went home. The newbie ponders whether the interred baby and this woman are related like a mother and child. When another landscaper is murdered, Paula knows she has to stay involved even though she risks her life by still snooping.
This “Dirt-y Business” mystery by first time writer Rosemary Harris is an exciting well plotted (pun intended) amateur sleuth due to a quirky heroine and an eccentric Connecticut support cast. There are two mysteries that Paula feels must connect and has her theory how, but struggles to affirm her supposition. The novel also contains gardening tips and flora lore that enhance the appeal especially for fans of China Bayles.
Harriet Klausner
Shadow Music-Julie Garwood
Shadow Music
Julie Garwood
Ballantine, Jan 2008, $26.00, 339 pp.
ISBN: 9780345500731
In England she is the Lady Gabriella, daughter of a powerful baron; but in Scotland the beautiful and innocent is known as the Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel like her mother before her. Many men want her including King John’s favorites Baron Percy and Baron Coswold. Although King John gets pleasure in pitting the two men against each other he decides that Gabrielle goes to Laird Alan Monroe in an attempt to appease his countrymen.
Gabrielle and her guards are on their way to the Abbey in Scotland to meet her betrothed when she sees a group of men dressed up as monks ready to kill a man who they are using as bait to capture his brother Laird Colm MacHugh. She shoots an arrow in the man who is getting ready to kill the prisoner. She saves his life and brings him to the Abbey to heal. She visits him during the night to make sure he is okay but a woman’s lies destroy her reputation and causes her to be banished. Lord Colm MacHugh is persuaded by Gabrielle’s kinsman to marry her in order for Colm to pay off his debt to him. Once she is in his home, she turns his life upside down but enemies from England and Scotland have differing plans to destroy the relationship that is beginning to blossom between the laird and the princess.
Julie Garwood goes back to her historical roots and writes a romance that is filled with pageantry, blood feuds, duplicitous lords and eventually a war between two powerful clans. The growing love between the hero and the heroine is beautiful to behold and is very believable. Ms. Garwood’s trademark underlying humor is present throughout the storyline and readers will chuckle at the way Gabrielle winds Colm around her little finger. This is one of the best historical romances of the year.
Harriet Klausner
Julie Garwood
Ballantine, Jan 2008, $26.00, 339 pp.
ISBN: 9780345500731
In England she is the Lady Gabriella, daughter of a powerful baron; but in Scotland the beautiful and innocent is known as the Princess Gabrielle of St. Biel like her mother before her. Many men want her including King John’s favorites Baron Percy and Baron Coswold. Although King John gets pleasure in pitting the two men against each other he decides that Gabrielle goes to Laird Alan Monroe in an attempt to appease his countrymen.
Gabrielle and her guards are on their way to the Abbey in Scotland to meet her betrothed when she sees a group of men dressed up as monks ready to kill a man who they are using as bait to capture his brother Laird Colm MacHugh. She shoots an arrow in the man who is getting ready to kill the prisoner. She saves his life and brings him to the Abbey to heal. She visits him during the night to make sure he is okay but a woman’s lies destroy her reputation and causes her to be banished. Lord Colm MacHugh is persuaded by Gabrielle’s kinsman to marry her in order for Colm to pay off his debt to him. Once she is in his home, she turns his life upside down but enemies from England and Scotland have differing plans to destroy the relationship that is beginning to blossom between the laird and the princess.
Julie Garwood goes back to her historical roots and writes a romance that is filled with pageantry, blood feuds, duplicitous lords and eventually a war between two powerful clans. The growing love between the hero and the heroine is beautiful to behold and is very believable. Ms. Garwood’s trademark underlying humor is present throughout the storyline and readers will chuckle at the way Gabrielle winds Colm around her little finger. This is one of the best historical romances of the year.
Harriet Klausner
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Echoes From The Grave-S.D. Tooley
Echoes From The Grave
S.D. Tooley
Full Moon Publishing, Aug 2007, $26.00
P.O. Box 408, Schererville, IN 46375
ISBN: 9780978540234
The digging at a construction site on the south side of Lake Michigan uncovered many human bones. Everyone assumed that a Native American burial site was inadvertently exhumed.
As the local tribes want the site preserved as a cemetery, Chasen Heights detective in charge of the investigation Jake Mitchell arrives at the dig accompanied by his detective wife Sam Casey. She quickly informs her spouse that the remains of one of the dead told her that they were murdered three years ago. Jake knows to heed Sam’s Native American psychic skills. However, the bones go missing before they can be tested as if someone fears what they will tell will affirm Sam’s information.
Few if any paranormal police procedurals are as good as the Casey-Mitchell Lake Michigan whodunits (see NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK and RESTLESS SPIRIT). The latest entry ECHOES FROM THE GRAVE is a terrific whodunit as a cunning person manipulates the construction crew and the Native Americans to insure Mitchell cannot learn the truth although his sleuthing spouse Sam has pointed him in the right direction. The investigation brings to life some of the history of the Lake Michigan area while the husband and wife detectives are a delightful pair as they do their jobs professionally enhanced by her talent and that of her Native American family. Although construction sites in the Chasen Heights area seem extra dangerous, S. D. Tooley provides an exhilarating fast paced mystery that readers will appreciate.
Harriet Klausner
S.D. Tooley
Full Moon Publishing, Aug 2007, $26.00
P.O. Box 408, Schererville, IN 46375
ISBN: 9780978540234
The digging at a construction site on the south side of Lake Michigan uncovered many human bones. Everyone assumed that a Native American burial site was inadvertently exhumed.
As the local tribes want the site preserved as a cemetery, Chasen Heights detective in charge of the investigation Jake Mitchell arrives at the dig accompanied by his detective wife Sam Casey. She quickly informs her spouse that the remains of one of the dead told her that they were murdered three years ago. Jake knows to heed Sam’s Native American psychic skills. However, the bones go missing before they can be tested as if someone fears what they will tell will affirm Sam’s information.
Few if any paranormal police procedurals are as good as the Casey-Mitchell Lake Michigan whodunits (see NOTHING ELSE MATTERS, WHEN THE DEAD SPEAK and RESTLESS SPIRIT). The latest entry ECHOES FROM THE GRAVE is a terrific whodunit as a cunning person manipulates the construction crew and the Native Americans to insure Mitchell cannot learn the truth although his sleuthing spouse Sam has pointed him in the right direction. The investigation brings to life some of the history of the Lake Michigan area while the husband and wife detectives are a delightful pair as they do their jobs professionally enhanced by her talent and that of her Native American family. Although construction sites in the Chasen Heights area seem extra dangerous, S. D. Tooley provides an exhilarating fast paced mystery that readers will appreciate.
Harriet Klausner
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
The Sovereign's Daughter-Susan May Warren and Susan K. Downs
The Sovereign's Daughter
Susan May Warren and Susan K. Downs
Barbour, Jan 2008, $9.97
ISBN: 9781597899833
In 1917 in Alexander Palace just south of Petrograd, Tsar Nikolai Romanov gives state secrets to his faithful twenty something chambermaid Oksana Terekhova. Though he trusts God will protect her, the Russian ruler assumes she has a better chance of survival than he and his royal family from overzealous revolutionaries especially the Bolsheviks, but still fears for her life. As such to keep Oksana and the secrets safe, he asks visiting Mennonite Anton Klassen to escort her to a safe haven; although dangerous the young Mennonite accepts the assignment that will bring honor to him and his family. Anton decides to hide Oksana inside his family on a South Russian farm.
As the Mennonite and the servant travel together, they begin to fall in love. However, dangerous adversaries seem to know that Oksana carries state secrets and make efforts to capture her so they can torture the information out of her. As the peril grows Anton begins to realize the state secrets he assumes his companion possesses is not what is the enemy wants; it is the woman that he vowed to his sovereign he will protect with his life who their adversaries vigorously pursue.
Using the Bolshevik Revolution as the impetus to this superb inspirational historical tale Susan May Warren and Susan K. Downs provide an interesting look at the turmoil of 1917 Russia. The key couple makes for a fascinating story as they flee for their lives heading from royalty to a Mennonite farm while revolutionaries pursue them. Each learns the hard way how difficult it truly is to trust God when you don't understand why bad things are happening to good people. Historical and inspirational fans will fully appreciate this fine saga and seek more collaborative works by the two Susans (see Heirs of Anton trilogy).
Harriet Klausner
Susan May Warren and Susan K. Downs
Barbour, Jan 2008, $9.97
ISBN: 9781597899833
In 1917 in Alexander Palace just south of Petrograd, Tsar Nikolai Romanov gives state secrets to his faithful twenty something chambermaid Oksana Terekhova. Though he trusts God will protect her, the Russian ruler assumes she has a better chance of survival than he and his royal family from overzealous revolutionaries especially the Bolsheviks, but still fears for her life. As such to keep Oksana and the secrets safe, he asks visiting Mennonite Anton Klassen to escort her to a safe haven; although dangerous the young Mennonite accepts the assignment that will bring honor to him and his family. Anton decides to hide Oksana inside his family on a South Russian farm.
As the Mennonite and the servant travel together, they begin to fall in love. However, dangerous adversaries seem to know that Oksana carries state secrets and make efforts to capture her so they can torture the information out of her. As the peril grows Anton begins to realize the state secrets he assumes his companion possesses is not what is the enemy wants; it is the woman that he vowed to his sovereign he will protect with his life who their adversaries vigorously pursue.
Using the Bolshevik Revolution as the impetus to this superb inspirational historical tale Susan May Warren and Susan K. Downs provide an interesting look at the turmoil of 1917 Russia. The key couple makes for a fascinating story as they flee for their lives heading from royalty to a Mennonite farm while revolutionaries pursue them. Each learns the hard way how difficult it truly is to trust God when you don't understand why bad things are happening to good people. Historical and inspirational fans will fully appreciate this fine saga and seek more collaborative works by the two Susans (see Heirs of Anton trilogy).
Harriet Klausner
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)