Where All the Dead Lie-J.T. Ellison

Where All the Dead Lie


J.T. Ellison

Mira, Sep 20 2011, $14.95

ISBN 9780778312680



The Pretender serial killer put a bullet into the brain of Nashville homicide detective Taylor Jackson (see So Close the Hand of Death). She survived the shot but her head trauma left her mute as the bullet devastated the speech center of the brain.



Mute and suffering from PTSD, Jackson goes to heal at the Scottish manor house of detective inspector Memphis Highsmythe who is attracted to her but gives her the space she needs hopefully to mentally and physically heal. His understanding comes from carrying baggage of not seeing the clues before his pregnant wife committed suicide. In Tennessee, Jackson’s fiancé Dr. John Baldwin and her best friend Dr. Samantha Loughley also struggle to move passed the recent harrowing experiences. However, as Jackson begins to feel at home, strange phenomena at the manor house increasingly targeting her has her wondering if the bullet she took destroyed more than just her ability to speak.



This is an exciting suspense thriller that has the audience wondering whether the assault on Jackson comes from the paranormal, the normal, or as she leans towards her warped injured mind; the answer is hidden in twisted yet plain sight especially for Monday morning quarterbacks. Fast-paced from the moment the beleaguered heroine arrives in Scotland, Where All the Dead Lie is a super entry in one of the best police procedural series on the market today.



Harriet Klausner

Skating Over the Line-Joelle Charbonneau

Skating Over the Line


Joelle Charbonneau

Minotaur, Sep 27 2011, $25.99

ISBN: 9780312606626



Rebecca Robbins inherited a skating rink in Indian Falls, Illinois from her late mom. She looks forward to selling the rink where she nay have a buyer so she can escape her hometown and return to Chicago in spite of her attraction to her new boyfriend veterinarian Lionel Franklin.



When a friend of her grandfather Pop has his car stolen and others at senior center likewise complain about vehicles stolen and set on fire, the elderly turn to Rebecca to investigate as she has solved a crime that the cops failedto do (see Skating Around The law). Still embarrassed that a civilian solved his case that stymied him, Deputy Sean Holmes warns her to stay out of the vehicle inquiry. As she ignores the law enforcement official, Rebecca looks into the car crimes only to have her absentee father Stan the deserter salesman arrive along with angry men bilingually informing her and her dad to back off or else..



Readers will enjoy this amusing amateur sleuth starring a delightful heroine who is a combination of sass and mellow. The townsfolk add Midwest eccentricity especially her former classmates, and Pop and the geriatric gang. Fast-paced, readers will appreciate Rebecca Skating Over the Line.



Harriet Klausner

Who Do, Voodoo?-Michelle Staab

Who Do, Voodoo?


Michelle Staab

Berkley, Nov 1 2011, $7.99

ISBN: 9780425244593



Clinical psychologist Liz Cooper is a rational person who scoffs at the supernatural. On the other hand, her friend Robin believes in voodoo and other paranormal phenomena; so not surprisingly she becomes upset when someone places threatening tarot cards on her front door; these were the cards laid out when read by Liz’s mother. Needing to better understand the supernatural and what the cards mean, her brother introduces her to religious teacher Nick Garfield.



After tracing the cards to a charlatan thanks to Nick’s friend, they are invited to a concert act where they will be able to go back stage due to Robin’s boss. There they meet the boss’s girlfriend Sophie, a powerful person who gets into a fight with Robin who refuses to allow her into the office to see her boyfriend. As Nick and Liz walk to their car, they find a dead Sophie in her vehicle. The police charge Robin with murder. Convinced her friend is innocent, Liz with Nick’s help investigate but to succeed the logical shrink needs to embrace the supernatural.



Ignoring why the professor and the psychologist investigate rather than hire a professional to make inquiries, fans will enjoy accompanying the charming lead pair as they explore the supernatural. In her debut, Michelle Staab provides an entertaining, fast-paced twisting amateur sleuth. The author casts a spell on sub-genre readers with this engaging glimpse into Who Do, Voodoo?



Harriet Klausner

Black Thunder-Aimee & David Thurlo

Black Thunder


Aimee & David Thurlo

Forge, Oct 25 2011, $24.99

ISBN: 9780765324511



A construction crew works on the Navaho Reservation until one of the team hits something solid with a shovel. He digs a bit deeper only to find a human hand. The Navaho cops led by Tribal Police Investigators Ella Clah and her partner Justine Goodluck take charge of the area. There they find a male human corpse with two bullets in the back of the victim’s head, execution style.



A further analysis of the Hogback gravesite vicinity uncovers graves of two men and a woman, but one of them just outside the reservation making that homicide’s jurisdiction belonging to San Juan County, Sheriff’s Department. Ella, Justine and FBI agent Dwayne Blalock work together on the multiple jurisdiction murder case starting with learning who the three John Doe’s and the Jane Doe are before they can figure out the connecting why. As the Fierce Ones member of her tribe demand justice now while also threatening Ella and Justine, the medical examiner reports the murders occurred a year apart from each other while a potential young witness needs protection.



The latest Ella Clah Navaho police procedural (see Never-Ending-Snake) is a super whodunit enhanced by events in the heroine’s personal life while inside the overarching theme of the conflict between Navaho culture tradition vs. modernization. The whodunit is a complex case made more difficult by the multijurisdictional case between cooperating law enforcement, the Fierce Ones screaming for vigilante justice and the time span of the homicides. Ella also contends with her boyfriend Reverend Ford Tome who is being transferred and wants her and her daughter to come with him and her teenage daughter Dawn is starting to rebel while her mom Rose displays signs of something disturbing her but refuses to talk about.



Harriet Klausner

Police and Thieves-James Patrick Hunt

Police and Thieves
James Patrick Hunt
Five Star, Oct 12 2011, $25.95
ISBN: 9781432825072

In Seattle, Seth Bridger works as a probation and parole officer while going to law school at night. He visits his client single mom Natoya Carter to insure she remains clean as part of her parole. When he leaves her apartment, someone shoots him four times.

Seth’s lived in lover Elaine Ogilvie calls his estranged brother Dan the auto mechanic thief who resides in Baltimore to tell him his sibling was murdered. Though he had not spoken to Seth since their mom’s funeral eight years ago, Bridger arrives in town to learn what happened. As he asks questions, SPD has filed the case as another gang killing while implying he should go back to Maryland. However, what fails to add up is why his brother’s gun was left behind when his wallet and notebook weres taken. Bridger investigates as only a professional thief could.

This awesome antihero noir stars a hard boiled thief (see Bridger) obsessed with knowing who killed his good seed sibling and why. The story line is fast-paced but it is Bridger whose kick-butt and takes no prisoners inquiry has gangbangers, Police and Thieves wanting to run him into Puget Sound.

Harriet Klausner

Time of Death-Gary Madden

Time of Death
Gary Madden
Five Star, Oct 12 2011, $25.95
ISBN: 9781432825133

In 1952 in the Pittsburgh area, the ghost of murder victim Virginia Beal visits Melody Rush pleading for justice. The newspapers made it clear the street hooker got what she deserved and the police allow the case to go cold without much of an inquiry. Only Melody investigates the homicide, but when Virginia’s pimp Fleck shoots her she falls into the nearby river and drowns.

The Grim Reaper and Melody discuss the metaphysics of death as he introduces the big mouth female to dead Theodore Amos whose soul is trapped for eternity inside his body since something stole the source of his power, his mask. He hires Melody to find and return his mask in exchange for his delaying the pick up of her soul. Beside her mom outraged that she was shot rather than finding a husband and that every ghost in the Tri-rivers area wants to chat with her, Mel feels pretty good especially since her physician for her wound is a hunk. However, time is running out on her client’s stolen artifact.

Time of Death is a fun paranormal historical noir that stars a sassy female who is a fish out of water in the early 1950s and even in the afterlife holding station. Her sarcastic discussion with the grim reaper is the best perhaps since Bill and Ted plated Battleship. Readers enjoy this entertaining investigative thriller as Mel and her sidekick Voe the cat work the mean streets of1952 Pittsburgh.

Harriet Klausner

Sahara Dust-Jim Ingraham

Sahara Dust
Jim Ingraham
Five Star, Oct 12 2011, $25.95
ISBN: 9781432825089

FBI agent Tyonek Horse persuades retired NCIS agent Woodrow Barstow to meet him in Summerlin‚ Florida. Soon afterward, the murdered corpse of Barstow is found on a nearby beach. Cherokee City Sheriff Derek Chubleigh assigns Detective Sergeant Randa Sorel to investigation the murder.

However, the FBI claims jurisdiction due to national security concerns since the victim was NCIS. The Feds order Chubleigh to hand over the case to Agent in Charge Tyonek Horse. Chubleigh demands the FBI explain to him why he should cede the inquiry to them when the Feds hide behind the fog of national security as he needs something concrete to explain to the media. Sorel continues her scrutiny into the activities of Barstow that leads her to his probe into arms merchant Raphael Cardozo and Iraqi defector Abu Mosul, but soon finds herself marked for death by the international criminal military law enforcement complex.

This is an entertaining police procedural in which the killer investigates the murder he committed. The twisted story line is fast-paced as Sorel struggles with her boss, her boyfriend’s family connection, the Feds and a crime syndicate. Although key cast members lack depth especially Horse and Barstow, fans will enjoy this exciting Florida whodunit.

Harriet Klausner