1222-Anne Holt

1222


Anne Holt

Scribner, Dec 27 2011, $25.00

ISBN: 9781451634716



In 2007, the train was traveling from Oslo to Bergen in Northern Norway when a meteorological phenomenon caused a derailment 1222 meters above sea level. Of the 269 people on board, only the driver died. Among the survivors is retired police detective Hanne Wilhelmsen wearing only a T-shirt and holding someone else’s baby. Hanne is wheelchair bound thanks to a bullet in her spine since 2002 and now has a ski pole sticking through her leg though she has bled a lot she feels no pain there. She and others are brought to the almost empty Finse Hotel awaiting further rescue.



Taking charge Geir Rugholmen learns from Dr. Magnus Streng that Hanne was a cop for two decades. Geir asks cantankerous Hanne to investigate the shooting murder of Father Cato hammer, the football priest. As the blizzard worsens, Hanne, with the help of an equally cantankerous teen, investigates the locked hotel homicide with 194 suspects not counting herself staying at the mountain resort; her case soon turns serial with more murders.



1222 is a super locked room whodunit with a fabulous late spin. Hanne turns the mystery into an entertaining Norwegian Noir with her acerbic personality and her fascinating use of statistics. Readers will appreciate this taut thriller as panic has become the norm amongst those trapped in the Finse.



Harriet Klausner

The Leopard-Jo Nesbo

The Leopard


Jo Nesbo

Knopf, Dec 13 2011, $26.95

ISBN: 9780307595874



Following the harrowing serial killer case of The Snowman, Oslo Police Inspector Harry Hole fled to Hong Kong suffering from PTSD made worse by his debt. However, back home in Norway, two women are found dead with no apparent connection except each received multiple needle wounds inside their mouths and eyes reaching the brain. Oslo Homicide Detective Kaja Solness travels to Hong Kong to bring home the serial killer expert Hole who has the notorious reputation for thinking like a sadistic psychopath thanks to his success. He has a second reason to return to Norway as his father has been hospitalized.



Although preferring to breath in the smog form China and smoke opium to dull his brain, reluctantly Hole goes back to Oslo to visit his dad and investigate the murders. The case officially goes serial when a politician is killed though that death initially looked like a suicide. Not remotely recovered from the Snowman, Hole finds clues to odious trafficking in the Democratic Republic of Congo.



The latest Hole police procedural has the damaged cop working another mentally debilitation serial killer case. As always in a Hole homicide, Jo Nesbo deftly incorporates within the framework of the mystery scathing look at acceptable societal values. However what makes the Hole thrillers one of the best of the Scandinavian noir is that hooked readers believe the bad guy might win the deadly chess match.



Harriet Klausner

Death Comes to Pemberley-P. D. James

Death Comes to Pemberley


P. D. James

Knopf, Dec 6 2011, $25.95

ISBN: 9780307959850



In 1803, Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet remain happily married after six years at Pemberley. They have two young sons (Fitzwilliam and Charles); her only unmarried sister Georgiana resides with them though her marital prospects look promising. The couple hosts their annual gala with his family, her father and another Bennet sibling Jane with her husband attending as well as other guests. Only the youngest sister Lydia, married to that rogue Wickham, is unwelcome and uninvited as she remains estranged from the extended Bennet family who want nothing to do with her rascal husband.



As the host family and their guests settle for the night, Lydia arrives at Pemberley hysterically screaming that someone shot and killed Wickham in the woods on the Bennet estate. Almost everyone at Pemberley think the same thought that Wickham in death is the same despicable person he was in life as each feels an affinity to the unknown shooter. Still because it occurred on the Bennet estate even if the victim was trespassing, Darcy, Elizabeth and others consider their options to diminish the scandal including investigating the deserved murder of wicked Wickham though none feel prepared to do so.



This is an interesting sequel to the Jane Austen classic as mystery great P.D. James puts her spin on what has happened since Pride and Prejudice ended. The story line focuses on two themes that never quite fully merges Sheridan’s A School For Scandal manners theme with a murder mystery inside the Austen Regency world. Still this is a fun entertaining Regency whodunit in which Janeites will enjoy Ms. James’ where are they now as she captures the original essences of the cast with a six year maturation.



Harriet Klausner

Celebrity In Death-J.D. Robb

Celebrity In Death


J.D. Robb

Putnam, Feb 21 2012, $27.95

ISBN: 9780399158308



Although NYPD Lieutenant Eve Dallas closed the Icove case (see Origin In Death), the public remains fascinated with it. TV journalist Nadine Furst helped foster the interest with her reports on the high profile murder case and in 2050 Hollywood director Mason Roundtree begins a film The Icove Agenda based on the case and Nadine’s book.



Eve and her partner Detective Peabody are uneasy guests of honor at a celebrity dinner celebrating the movie. Neither cop likes K.T. Harris the actress playing Peabody’s role. Harris insults almost everyone at the gala before going up on the roof for a smoke of an herbal. Marlo Dunn, who plays Eve in the film (and looks like the lieutenant’s twin) and her lover Mathew Zank who plays Detective McNab find Harris floating in the rooftop swimming pool. Each has reasons to want the victim dead as did just about everyone associated with the movie. Dallas and Peabody investigate who is the evasive murderer before someone else dies.



The latest Dallas futuristic police procedural (see Dallas to New York) is a terrific exciting whodunit. The investigation is entertaining as the new homicide inquiry is under the spotlight of the media as Furst plays a major role. Fast-paced and with Roarke assisting (naturally), readers will relish this thriller.



Harriet Klausner

Sweet Reward-Christy Reece

Sweet Reward


Christy Reece

Ballantine, Dec 27 2011, $7.99

ISBN: 9780345524096



In Agar, France, Last Chance Rescue operative Jared Livingston saves a little girl from a predator. However before his boss Noah McCall can rip his head for breaking protocol again, Jared’s ex wife Lara calls hysterically from Paris that someone kidnapped her baby. She and her second husband Carter Denison are heartbroken.



In Chicago, Sandi Winston explains to Mia Ryker of Riker Rescue that two weeks ago she gave her newborn away to men who insisted they would find a better home for her baby. She said two days afterward she reconsidered and called the police. Now she turns to Mia, but reluctantly admits they paid her two thousand for the child. Drawing pictures from what Sandi described, Mia tells her “client” she must clean up her act as a baby needs a nurturing mom. Two weeks later, LCR teams up Jared in his search for Lara’s baby with Mia’s search for Sandi’s baby. Jared thinks the midget is incapable of field work while she wonders if he ever smiles. As they fall in love, they need to have each other’s back if they are to complete the mission, which takes them into the heart of a deadly baby trafficking ring.



The third Last Chance Rescue trilogy (see Sweet Justice and Sweet Revenge) is a fabulous romantic suspense thriller starring two opposites as he is tight and withdrawn while she is open and uplifting. Action-packed from even before their first meeting, readers will appreciate this taut thriller in which the mission of saving the babies from a ruthless ring for the most comes before the attraction; when the romantic subplot takes center stage it feels like a required intrusion into an otherwise tense tale.



Harriet Klausner

Explosive Eighteen-Janet Evanovich

Explosive Eighteen


Janet Evanovich

Bantam, Nov 22 2011, $28.00

ISBN: 9780345527714



New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum looked forward to her vacation in Hawaii with her lover. However, nothing goes right especially when her other love interest arrives to join her as a big surprise. Stephanie flies back to Newark with a stopover in Los Angeles leaving behind two raging testosterones.



In Trenton, FBI Agents Lance Lancer and Sly Slasher demand Stephanie give them an envelope she may have inadvertently picked up while flying home. She calls Morelli to check if they are legit and her mom to pull out of the trash the photo and envelope she tossed out there. Her mom says this was pickup day. Two more Feds show up demanding the photo or her lawyer. Meanwhile back in L.A. Dr. Richard Crick who carried the photo and sat next to her on the leg from Hawaii rests peacefully in a LAX garbage can. Besides the FBI, other miscreants want the photo that Stephanie’s grandma tossed out. Things are just as ugly at Vincent Plum Bail Bonds.



This Plum thriller contains the usual zaniness but the main plot is thin; and what happened with Ranger/Morelli in Hawaii obviously stayed in Hawaii as this segue is disappointingly underdeveloped. Filled with madcap scenarios fans of the series will enjoy the heroine’s photographic memory (not) while also singing the Lovin’ Spoonful’s Did You Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?



Harriet Klausner

The Rook-Daniel O’Malley

The Rook


Daniel O’Malley

Little Brown, Jan 11 2012, $25.99

ISBN: 9780316098793



In a London park, the woman awakens during a storm surrounded by corpses wearing gloves. She has two letters on her so opens the one identified as first. Inside a note is addressed to “Dear You from “Sincerely Me” as the writer explains the body hosting her was once that of the writer. Thus Myfanwy Thomas, as the note calls her, follows the instructions of finding a safe house before reading the second memo.



The second letter explains her choices. She can flee London to live a conformable life overseas or seek out those responsible for her lost memory. Thomas number two soon learns her predecessor was a Rook who fought for the top secret Chequy organization against supernatural evil. She also finds out she possesses a rare lethal paranormal skill. As she decides at least for now to learn the truth of who betrayed her, Thomas number two struggles on the mundane plane against deadly children warriors and on the dream plane from an aristocrat who easily enters him subconscious. The more Thomas two learns, the more convolute her inquiry turns as she struggles with what everyone she encounters assumes she knows; although that is a handicap Thomas two realizes she sees things differently than her Chequy mates enabling her to envision a diabolical conspiracy that others fail to fathom.



This may be the paranormal thriller of the year as Daniel O’Malley creates a fresh, fast-paced and entertaining tale. A sort of urban fantasy version of the movie Memento, readers will enjoy the escapades of “You” guided by “Me” in what is a fabulous fascinating fall though the "Rabbit Hole".



Harriet Klausner