THE YARD by Alex Grecian

THE YARD is set after the Ripper murders in London and Scotland Yard credibility is at a low point when Inspector Day and his Murder Squad must pursue the killer of a fellow inspector, assisted by forensic pioneer Dr. Kingsley. Is the Ripper back at work, or is this killer something new? If you're looking for a taut police procedural, this is not it. What this is: a detailed portrayal of Victorian London with an entertaining inspector and a fascinating look at forensic investigation in its infancy. There is a fair amount of suspending disbelief required by the reader, but Grecian is not an author who seems to take himself overly seriously, so I was more than willing to meet him halfway. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Source disclosure: I purchased this book.

WATCHING THE DARK by Peter Robinson

This is the twentieth book in the Chief Inspector Banks series. I don't normally start a series so far in, but the premise was intriguing. The murder of a police officer (by crossbow!) triggers a wider investigation, reaching back to one of the murdered officer's unsolved cases and to more recent murders. Banks must work with Joanna Passero, from internal affairs, as his partner, Annie, returns from her convalescence.

For jumping in on the twentieth book, I was impressed. Robinson does an excellent job of providing enough information for a first-time reader of the series. The mystery itself is complicated and interesting, and the interpersonal relationships (Annie returning to work and facing her fears, Banks working with internal affairs) were satisfying. All in all, an excellent British mystery, and I'll be looking for Peter Robinson's previous books so I can get caught up.

Source disclosure: I received an e-galley of this title from the publisher.

Summer staples

There are always writers I think of as my summer constants. They invariably release a new book (usually in a series) every summer, and these round out my beach reading. I have no idea what the beach will be like this summer without a new Stephanie Plum release by Janet Evanovich (she's releasing in the fall this year). One of these (fairly recently discovered for me) is Karin Slaughter, and I just read her new novel, CRIMINAL, being unable to wait until I was at an actual beach to do so. Amanda Kyle Williams is another new one for me (her first novel, THE STRANGER YOU SEEK, was published last summer). Once upon a time, Patricia Cornwell was another. What are your favorite beach staples?

CRIMINAL by Karin Slaughter: Her recent mysteries, featuring Will Trent of the GBI, are set in Atlanta, which is loads of fun for me. My only complaint about her books is that the violence is so extreme. More creative and horrifying torture methods than I'm really looking for. Doesn't anyone just shoot or stab or strangle without some sick, seriously disturbing abuse? But this is not usually a huge part of the narrative, so I read her anyway for the depiction of Atlanta, the excellent mysteries, and the believable, interesting cops.

Many series start to lose steam and eventually plod along formulaically, but CRIMINAL is Slaughter's best to date. Will Trent has a troubled past and an odd relationship with Amanda, and Slaughter hasn't rushed to share every detail of his background. This installment is particularly revelatory as far as Will goes, but it's unexpectedly enlightening concerning the racist/sexist history of Atlanta, particularly in the police world. Slaughter has clearly done her research on both the legal/organizational details and the general atmosphere and attitudes of the time.

"The federal Law Enforcement Assistance Association grant that had created the Atlanta police sex crimes division required all teams to be comprised of three-officer units that were racially and sexually integrated. These rules were seldom followed, because white women could not ride alone with black men, black women - at least the ones who wanted to keep their reputations - did not want to ride with black men, and none of the blacks wanted to ride with any man who was white."

That matter-of-fact paragraph sets the tone for a divided police department in which female police officers are laughed at, groped, and sent into danger as a prank. Seeing Amanda in this context gives the reader a full picture of her that we've never had before. Suddenly her tough-as-nails don't-give-a-shit attitude is completely understandable. She's a character who has always intrigued me, but I never thought I would find her sympathetic. Amanda's partner, Evelyn, is married with a child, which adds another dimension to the treatment of women:

"Bill and I agreed that we shouldn't keep a loaded gun in the house because of the baby."

Words clogged Amanda's throat. She screamed, "Your gun isn't loaded!"

"Well..." Evelyn dug her fingers into the back of her hair. "It worked out, right?" She let out a strained laugh. "Sure, it worked out. We're both fine. We're both just fine." She looked down at the pimp again.

Evelyn's decision to return to the force after having a baby is viewed as utterly bizarre. Slaughter works in other details about attitudes toward women in 1970s Atlanta that are not specific to policing: Women can't open checking accounts, apply for a credit card, or even rent an apartment without cosigning by a husband or father.

The racial division in the forcibly integrated police force is equally fascinating/horrifying:

There were pockets all over the city where the radios had little or no reception, but that wasn't the problem. A black officer was calling for backup, which meant the white officers were blocking the transmission by clicking the buttons on their mics. In the next hour, a white officer would call for help and the blacks would do the same. And then someone with the Atlanta Journal or Constitution would write an article wondering about the recent spike in crime."

It's a wonder that any crimes were solved in this era at all. The 1970s murders are only solved because Amanda and Evelyn ignore the harassment and abuse from the male officers in charge and place themselves in danger to seek out the culprit. Amanda's father would have kept her in line, but he has been temporarily relieved of his lofty position due to racially fueled politics. He has been in the force since Klan affiliation had been compulsory for all Atlanta Police Department members. Amanda is conflicted about carrying on her investigation with Evelyn, but the fact that the murder victims are girls and no one else cares about them spurs her on. The 1970s investigation is told in parallel with a related present-day murder investigation, and the mystery is complex and interesting. Will and Amanda's relationship is finally explained, and the revelations make me more eager to read the next installment in the series.

Source disclosure: I purchased this book.

When work comes home with you

FALLEN ANGELS by Connie Dial: Captain Josie Corsino is a good detective who has turned into a good supervisor: "She hadn't been to roll call for a few weeks, and she knew the uniformed patrol officers liked to have her there so they could find out what was going on in their division, especially on mornings like this. Besides, a few minutes with them always left her energized. Half an hour later, she had answered every question she could about the morning's events and made a mental list of all the officers' complaints, including those problems she couldn't solve. It was important to make contact because their lives were tied to her." Out of the trenches since promotion, she stays connected to her subordinates, but a challenging case calling into question whom she can trust will push her further into danger than any captain should be. When a troubled young actress is found murdered in a well-known party house, Josie faces pressure from above to keep a councilman's son out of it, though he is at least indirectly involved. Hints of corruption leave her with few officers above or below her rank to trust, and she skirts the edges of procedure to solve the murder with its tentacles reaching into organized crime, off-duty cops, and local politics before those involved can undertake a cover-up.

Josie has been promoted as high as she wants to be: "Any rank above captain had nothing important to do except create meaningless projects and audits, or find other ways to annoy cops with real jobs." Her personal life is falling apart, her husband going through a midlife crisis and her twenty-two-year-old son tangentially involved in her current investigation. She can trust almost no one at work or even at home. Her balance of family and police work makes her a compelling character, and when the two come into conflict, her resolution rings true.

Dial uses her extensive experience in the LAPD to inform and ground this novel and give the fictional department a well-rounded feel. I've enjoyed her Detective Mike Turner novels, INTERNAL AFFAIRS and THE BROKEN BLUE LINE, and Josie, as a captain and as a woman balancing family and police life, brings a fresh perspective.

Source disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher.

Mystery Monday: The Kate Burkholder Series

Hard to believe it's already been two years since I reviewed Linda Castillo's first book in her Kate Burkholder series, Sworn to Silence. I really liked that book! I read it in a little over a day.

I've been wanting to read Pray for Silence since I first saw it was released. It wasn't until I was going on vacation and looking for a new book that I quickly purchased it and downloaded to my NookColor. And I was not sorry I did. In this second installment of the series, seven members of an Amish family are found dead in their home leaving law enforcement officials baffled. Not until Kate finds a hidden diary written by one of the teenage daughters (Mary) in the family does she realize that Mary's boyfriend may be the #1 suspect. But Mary never mentions him by name. Throughout the case, Kate identifies with Mary as a victim. Her past catches up with her; Kate was victimized as a young Amish girl who eventually left that way of life. She finds it hard not to take it personally as she learns about Mary being taken advantage of. The only downside to this book is that there are quite a few characters on the periphery. I had to remind myself who one of the suspects was at the end.

Once I finished Pray for Silence, I was soooo excited to find a review copy of the latest book in my mailbox! I jumped right into Breaking Silence. Kate is called out to an Amish family's home where four children are left orphaned when it appears that their mamm, datt, and uncle are found dead in the manure pit in the barn. The coroner realizes at least one of them was murdered and the case turns around. Someone has been going around committing hate crimes against the Amish and they think the murders may be a part of that. However, Kate soon learns that things are not what they seem and maybe things aren't so simple in the Amish world. The family's secrets are revealed and things really twist around!

Throughout both of these books, Kate calls on John Tomasetti both to help her with the cases and to lean on in her personal life. They have both endured great personal hardship and are fighting their way back from being broken. They both have their demons but work well together. The thing I truly like about these books is the way Castillo writes the characters of Kate and Tomasetti. They are so real. And deep. Really, really great character development in this series. The only thing that bugs me a bit is that it seems that Castillo is stuck on the young innocent Amish girl being victimized. It would be nice if her next book had a fresh take on the Amish community and the case involved a storyline other than a young naive Amish girl.

Source Disclosure: I purchased Pray for Silence and received a review copy of Breaking Silence from the publisher.

Flashback Friday - Tess Gerritsen

I admit it, I did not read Tess Gerritsen before I became hooked on RIzzoli & Isles on television. I apparently have some sort of weakness for female medical examiners, because even when the R & I dialogue makes me cringe (several times an episode!), I can't stop watching. I watched the Jill Hennessy one, too, and now the Dana Delaney. I've knocked out the eight books currently in the series in the last week or so, and really enjoyed them. The next book, THE SILENT GIRL, is due out July 5. If you watch the show and you're one of those people driven mad by differences between page and screen (a la BONES and Kathy Reichs), well, you're going to want to skip this series, but I enjoyed it. Complex plots, interesting investigations, and medical detail are excellent, but what really makes this series shine is the friendship between Rizzoli and Isles. Fun, if sometimes dark, summer reading.

Here's the series in order:

THE SURGEON: Jane Rizzoli (no Maura Isles until THE APPRENTICE) and her partner, Thomas Moore, are on the trail of a serial killer. Jane is not always likable - she's gone to great lengths to prove herself as a female cop, and she can be unreasonable, oversensitive, and belligerent. This is what makes her a standout character, actually, because there's more to her than a competent cop, and Gerritsen deals with the issue of sexism head-on, but not in a preachy way. The descriptions of violence were sometimes unnecessarily brutal, but the mystery is interesting, the plot twisty, and the investigation absorbing.

THE APPRENTICE: The second book introduces Maura Isles and continues where THE SURGEON left off. A new serial killer is in town, with some eerily familiar habits. This one dragged a bit for me at first, but quickly veered into unputdownable plotting. This one explores Rizzoli's character more, which is really enjoyable, as Rizzoli, Isles, and FBI agent Gabriel Dean hunt down a new killer.

THE SINNER: The series is really hitting its stride in the third installment, which focuses on a brutal attack on two nuns in a convent. Rizzoli and Isles are both lapsed Catholics, which gives their investigation complexity and allows Gerritsen to explore the theme of blind faith. The case becomes more and more complicated, as do the personal lives of the main characters.

BODY DOUBLE: This entry opens with Maura Isles arriving home from Europe to find her street filled with police cars, responding to her death in a car outside her own house. The woman looks eerily similar to the adopted Maura, so much so that she confronts the possibility that she had a twin. Meanwhile, a very pregnant Rizzoli is on the trail of a killer who targets pregnant women, giving her an uncharacteristic vulnerability. Maura's private life becomes even more complicated, between an unlikely attraction and revelations about her birth mother.

VANISH: A woman in Isles's morgue wakes up and takes a group of hostages that includes pregnant Jane Rizzoli. This one was fantastic, with Gerritsen exploring sex slavery and post-9/11 security measures that give the government frightening power. An excellent entry. My only complaint is that I could see a key plot twist coming from a mile away, but it was still worthwhile to watch it unfold.

THE MEPHISTO CLUB: A grisly murder/dismemberment with Satanic overtones sends Rizzoli and Isles to the Mephisto Club, an odd group of scholars dedicated to fighting demons. Yes, demons. They contend that some people can commit hideously evil deeds precisely because they are not human. The skeptical Rizzoli would like to write the group off as a bunch of weirdos, but they prove too helpful to dismiss entirely. The main action takes place in the United States, with some jaunts to Europe thrown in. Burial practices and mythology round out a complex plot.

THE KEEPSAKE: Isles is involved in the x-ray examination of Madame X, a mummy unearthed in the basement of the Crispin Museum. When a bullet and modern dental work are found on the mummy, Rizzoli investigates. More "keepsakes" turn up, leading to a search for a stalker with ties to a museum employee. This one stretched credibility maybe a bit more than other Gerritsen books, but I still found it enjoyable, and the museum/archaeology angle is an interesting one.

ICE COLD: This entry was an excellent thriller, though it takes a while to hit its stride. Maura Isles, reeling from personal issues, heads to a medical conference, where she encounters an old friend. The rarely spontaneous Isles joins him, his teenaged daughter, and his friend Arlo and wife, on an ill-fated ski trip. Lost in a snowstorm, they seek shelter in an empty house whose residents seem to have vanished entirely. This one gave me the creeps, and I started to wonder if Gerritsen was wandering into paranormal territory.

THE SILENT GIRL comes out next month, and I've preordered it on the Kindle.

Source disclosure: I purchased these books.

Mystery Monday: THE SNOWMAN by Jo Nesbo

And it's another candidate for "The Next Stieg Larsson!" A thriller set in Norway (all those cold countries are the same setting, really), THE SNOWMAN enthralls when it isn't bogged down in cliche. It opens with possibly the worst sex scene in the history of thrillers, but once that's over, it captivates with the creepy statement from a child: "We're going to die." Unusually for me, especially in a book filled with red herrings, plot twists, and misdirection, I figured out who The Snowman was almost immediately and was unswayed by the multiple times the killer was "caught." I'm not sure if this was a lucky guess that took hold, or if it really is that obvious. At any rate, I enjoyed, for the most part, the unfolding to the reveal. There are excellent moments of creepiness that made me keep turning pages (or, rather, hitting the "next page" button on the Kindle), and Harry Hole skirts the edge of the "alcoholic brilliant detective" cliche carefully enough that I grew to quite like him. What I enjoy about serial killer novels (is that a genre on its own?) is the process of the detectives putting together clues to unravel the mystery, not the point-of-view of the serial killer (yes, yes, you're psychotic and your mother wasn't nice to you...we get it already), so a chapter near the end detailing the killer's rationale and process was so unbearably tedious I mostly skimmed it. I'd rather have the detectives uncover the details than have the killer's actions from childhood summarized for me.

The plot: Harry Hole is about to come up against a serial killer who kills with the first snow, leaving a creepy snowman behind. (I suspect Nesbo is trying to do for Frosty what Stephen King did for clowns.) An examination of missing-women statistics reveals that not all the bodies may have been found. Some of the murders are absurdly complicated, but that's not unusual in serial killer novels. It was an amount of suspension of disbelief I could live with. The wide pool of suspects and the revelation that it is someone with a connection to Harry makes the pages fly by. Even being certain of the killer, I enjoyed the process of Harry and his team chasing down leads to get closer to the truth. Besides a Scandinavian setting, THE SNOWMAN has nothing in common with Stieg Larsson's trilogy. It reminded me more of Michael Connolly or Jonathan Kellerman, but the setting is a compelling part of the novel, almost another character. If you're looking for a summer thriller, this is a decent one overall, with some flickers of brilliance. If you read it, come back and tell me if you guessed the killer. From the Amazon reviews, I'm not sure it's as obvious as I think it is.

Source disclosure: I purchased the Kindle edition of this book.

Review Snippets: Part One

Oh so sad. I've only finished 10 books so far this year. UGH. That's what having a 16-month old (plus two other older kids) and a part-time business will do to your reading life. And reviews. Well, they are just not getting written as I would like. So I'm going to quick type up a few short reviews so at least I can document my thoughts.

The Inner Circle by Brad Meltzer
I was drawn to this book because its main character is an archivist at the National Archives. My background in museum and archival work made me very curious and well, I know a former co-worker who actually works at the National Archives so it made me think of her. :-) Beecher White is an archivist who gets sucked into a presidential conspiracy when he discovers a book in a hidden compartment of a chair in an isolation room at the Archives. From there, he discovers he can trust no one and he is now part of a situation involving a brotherhood known as the Culper Ring. But is it the real Culper Ring (dating back to George Washington) or just a group claiming to be?

Hmm...this book was mildly entertaining. The last third got quite unbelieveable even for a political conspiracy book. I kept thinking I was reading a book that would be made into a movie. And quite a bit of it reminded me of the already-made movie National Treasure. If you're looking for something that is an easy read, a little over the top, and a bit of a thriller, this may be a good vacation read for you. Not a total waste of time, but definitely better books out there.

The Night Season by Chelsea Cain
The fourth installment in Cain's Archie Sheridan series. She steps away from the serial killer Gretchen Lowell storyline to introduce us to a new serial killer. One that kills his victims with a small octopus! And all while Portland is flooding. I wonder if Cain wrote her "Heart" series as a trilogy and now plans to write more without Gretchen involved?

I'll be honest and say, this is a great, fresh addition to the series! I actually liked the fact that we have moved on from Gretchen. This book was much MUCH less violent than the previous books (which is a nice change of pace). And many of the other original characters are still there and seem to take on more full development now that we're not focused on the Gretchen/Archie dynamic.

I think Cain is a really good writer. She is very creative. I mean, who comes up with using a rare small octopus as a murder weapon?! Don't worry, that wasn't a major spoiler. That is revealed early on in the book. I also think she does a great job of telling the story without a lot of extraneous information. Too many authors feel like they need to add 100 more pages than necessary. Highly recommend this one!
Evil at Heart Review
Sweetheart Review
Heart Sick Review

Source Disclosure: The Inner Circle was an e-book galley copy from Netgalley.com and I borrowed The Night Season from the library.

Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason

Arctic Chill is the fifth in Indridason's Reykjavik Thriller series, but it is the first I've read. Before I had even finished reading this book, I had placed an order for the first four. This novel has much to offer the mystery aficionado: a well-crafted police procedural, an unflinching indictment of modern culture, and a glimpse into Iceland's racial tensions and changing demographics. Erlendur and his two detectives, Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli, investigate when a young Thai boy, Elias, is found stabbed to death, his blood freezing his body to the ground outside his apartment complex. Elias's mother, Sunee, had been brought to Iceland as a bride in a marriage that ended in divorce, partly because of Sunee's insistence on bringing her older son to Iceland as well. Niran's difficulties in adapting to Icelandic culture provide the backdrop for a fascinating discussion on assimilation versus preserving one's own culture. Was this crime racially motivated? There is an abundance of liberal Icelanders whose hackles have been raised by the influx of immigrants who don't learn Icelandic and whose children scoff at learning Icelandic history in school. One of Elias's teachers is full of hateful rhetoric about "those people." Hints of a possible pedophile in the area, tensions between Icelandic and immigrant children at Elias's school, the disappearance of Niran, and whispers of a boyfriend for Sunee complicate the investigation.

Iceland itself is almost its own character in this novel. This is not a culture with which I was terribly familiar, and the insight was fascinating. In Iceland, disappearances are accepted as part of life in a country with an astronomical suicide rate. The Icelanders are welcoming of immigrants, but fear losing their dwindling culture. The climate is forbiddingly harsh, and it makes me wonder what keeps people there.

Subplots supplemented the central murder investigation. A second mystery, the disappearance of a woman, slips into the storyline as Erlendur receives strange phone calls. Erlendur broods on the disappearance of his brother decades before while awkwardly dealing with his son and daughter turning up, and his mentor is on his deathbed. The plots altogether added up to one of the bleaker mysteries I've read, but even a clunky translation can't diminish its compelling appeal.

Source disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Picador through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program.

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

"Je me souviens" (I remember) is the motto of Quebec, and Bury Your Dead echoes this sentiment in every plot thread. In the acknowledgements, Penny says, "Bury Your Dead is not about death, but about life. And the need to both respect the past and let it go." (Advance Reader's Edition) The main action takes place in Quebec City, an ancient, walled settlement literally built on the bones of those who came before. Here, the dwindling English minority huddles together, surrounded by the Francophones who mostly resent their presence. Their symbolic last stand is in the Literary and Historical Society, the depository for all English-language books and papers. The old building needs an infusion of cash, but the Anglophone community responds poorly to attempts to sell off the worthless books and papers choking the Lit and His, insisting that to sell off a few books to save the many devalues the English language. It is here, in the Lit and His, that Inspector Gamache seeks refuge in the past, and is pulled into a murder investigation in the present.

Bury Your Dead is the sixth entry in the Inspector Gamache series. I first read the fifth, The Brutal Telling, then immediately ordered the first four books in the series. I was delighted to receive a review copy of the sixth, which picks up some time after The Brutal Telling. Gamache and Jean-Guy are both on leave following a disastrous case that left both men wounded, physically and emotionally. Gamache seeks refuge in Quebec City with his mentor, Emile, researching the history of another leader whose mistakes piled up until it was too late. In the basement of the Lit and His, the half-buried body of amateur archaeologist and eccentric Augustin Renaud is found, his head caved in with a shovel. Renaud is well-known as a fanatic obsessed with finding the final resting place of Champlain, the father of Quebec. French-English relations are threatened by Renaud's death in the English stronghold, and Gamache is asked to act as liaison between the two communities and assist with the investigation. Penny has dealt in intriguing fashion with the Anglophone/Francophone relations in Quebec in previous books, but this marks her most thorough discussion so far. I was fascinated by the political/historical implications of the unfolding events.

Meanwhile, Gamache is haunted by doubts and sends Jean-Guy (also on leave) to Three Pines to reopen old wounds. I can't go into detail without spoiling The Brutal Telling for those new to the series. But Jean-Guy's covert investigation is a welcome return to the charming village, intersecting with Jean-Guy's attempts to deal with his own past. The final plot thread, the disastrous last case, is teased out in remarkably effective fashion as Jean-Guy and Gamache attempt (separately) to come to terms with the tragedy. So much of both men is revealed in this entry of the series, and this unifying idea of respecting the past, but letting it go, is carried through this psychological exploration as well. It's really a breathtaking book, and I found it difficult to put down.

While a newcomer to the series wouldn't be completely at sea, I recommend against starting with the sixth, which refers to many events in The Brutal Telling. In addition, The Brutal Telling marked a deepening psychological examination of the main characters, which is further explored in Bury Your Dead. Readers will find the most satisfaction in reading the series in order from the beginning as the characters are fleshed out and relationships evolve.

Bury Your Dead is available in hardcover September 28, 2010.

FTC Source Disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program.

My blurbs for #1-4, Still Life, A Fatal Grace, The Cruelest Month, and A Rule Against Murder.
My review of #5, The Brutal Telling.

Mystery Monday - Lisa Lutz

Still in Paris! I read the newest Isabel Spellman book over a month ago, though, so I wanted to schedule a Mystery Monday post for the series, which has become one of my go-to rereading series. For fluffy, fun re-reading, I still go to Janet Evanovich and her Stephanie Plum books, but Izzy Spellman is fresh and funny, but with a more serious edge. And she's good at her job. A little TOO good...

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz (Book One): At twenty-eight, Izzy Spellman is comfortable in the family business, a detective agency, where she enjoys surveillance a little too much. And she's not the only one. The Spellmans can't seem to leave their work at the office, spying on each other with every professional resource they have, except for David, the "black sheep" of the family, who has chosen a respectable job as a lawyer. When Izzy's mother hires fourteen-year-old Rae Spellman to follow her sister to find out about Izzy's new boyfriend, Izzy decides she wants out. Her parents agree to let her go...after one more case. An impossible-to-solve fifteen-year-old missing persons case. They're banking on her insatiable curiosity keeping her in the business after the required hours have been put in. Rae, whose hobby of recreational surveillance is more than a little dangerous, disappears, presenting Izzy with the most important case of her life. The dialogue is snappy, the dysfunctional family outrageous, yet believable, and the cast of characters rich and quirky. This is pure fun.

Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (Book Two): Izzy is obsessed with the Spellmans' neighbor, who seems just a bit 'off.' She can't seem to leave him alone...despite the restraining order. She's arrested four times in three months, which she writes off as a hazard of the job. It all started when the friend from whom she'd been subletting an apartment showed up in the middle of the night. He's happy to be roomies, but she quickly moves back home. Rae, now fifteen, befriends a cop and great guy, Henry Stone. He really doesn't deserve to be saddled with the Spellmans, but he's so good for them, the reader hopes that he and Izzy will get together. But Izzy is preoccupied with that suspicious neighbor and with her brother David's problems. This is a worthy follow-up to a fantastic debut mystery.

Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz (Book Three): This series just gets better and better. Izzy is in court-ordered therapy, Rae is accused of cheating on the PSAT, and a new case seizes Izzy's attention. Ernie Black's wife is probably not having an affair...but something odd is going on. Even after Ernie is satisfied, Izzy can't let go until she uncovers the secret. The transcripts of Izzy's therapy sessions are hilarious - she's a terrible client, but a funny one. Her preoccupation with Henry's annoyingly perfect new girlfriend adds another subplot. Another fun read.

The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz (Book Four): I was delighted when Lutz released a fourth book in this series. I can't get enough of Izzy and her crazy family. Unfortunately, this looks like the final entry, but what an entry! Izzy has finally agreed to take over the family business. Her first task is to gather dirt on Rick Harkey, the competition, one she enjoys a bit too much. A mysterious disappearance convinces her to hire an actor friend to play butler in a mansion, a role he can't leave at the end of the day, driving his partner crazy. Rae, now interning by researching pro bono cases, becomes obsessed with freeing a prisoner. And what on earth does Henry Stone mean by hanging around again? A funny, delightful conclusion to a fantastically fun series.

Source disclosure: I purchased all these books.

Mystery Monday - G. M. Malliet

Death at the Alma Mater (St. Just mystery #3) by G. M. Malliet: The delightful Malliet turns her rapier wit to the university murder mystery in the third St. Just and Sgt. Fear mystery. St. Michael's College, the red-headed stepchild of Cambridge, is desperate for money. The college master invites rich alumni for a fundraising weekend. Both Lexy Laurant and her ex-husband, Sir James, are on the guest list, promising fireworks, but when Lexy turns up dead, the weekend becomes a bit too exciting. Detective Inspector St. Just and Sgt. Fear come to St. Michael's to sort through the array of suspects, including Lexy's Latin lover, a spoiled student, a dot-com millionaire, the shrewd college Bursar, and so many more. St. Just's girlfriend, Portia, is on the scene, as she is a student. To be honest, I'm a bit annoyed by the St. Just - Portia relationship. I just don't care too terribly much about it. But the good far outweighs the bad in this series, which is both an homage to classic mysteries and a gentle parody. The suspects are many, the investigator entertaining (he delights in the drawing-room scene with all suspects assembled), and the plot convoluted enough to keep the reader guessing. A really fun read in a delightful series.

My review of Death and the Lit Chick (#2)
My review of Death of a Cozy Writer (#1)

Source disclosure: I purchased this book.

Flashback Friday - Louise Penny

I received The Brutal Telling, the fifth in Louise Penny's Inspectpr Gamache mystery series, through LibraryThing's Early Review program. I was so utterly charmed that I ordered the first four books in the series. This series is a new favorite of mine. Chief Inspector Gamache, of the Surete in Quebec, investigates murders primarily in the tiny village of Three Pines. Penny has a gift for characterization and a flair for mystery.

Still Life by Louise Penny (#1): The body of eccentric artist Jane Neal is found outside the village of Three Pines, and Chief Inspector Gamache is called in to investigate what appears to be a hunting accident. But the plot quickly thickens with suspects as Jane's dreadful niece, Yolande, turns up to claim her inheritance and villagers' secrets are brought into the light. Penny is a master of both mystery and the village novel. Her characters are rich and vibrant, their relationships complex and satisfying, the mystery plausible yet not obvious. Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are smart and determined. Penny's prose is beautiful and the reader is drawn into Three Pines and its wonderful inhabitants.

A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny (#2): No one mourns when abrasive socialite (and self-made spiritual guide) CC dePoitiers is electrocuted during a curling match during the Christmas season. But Chief Inspector Gamache arrives to investigate. CC's lover, her abused daughter, and any number of villagers offended by her are all suspects. The mystery is involved, and while the method of murder seems overly complicated, Penny kept me guessing until the end.

The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny (#3): In this entry, the villagers of Three Pines hold a seance in the old Hadley house, and Madeleine Favreau collapses, apparently dead of fright. Naturally, there is more to the story, and Chief Inspector Gamache and his team arrive to investigate. A subplot involving Gamache's accusations about a superior has Gamache wondering if there is a mole on his team.

A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny (#4): Gamache and his wife are on holiday at Manoir Bellechasse, a lovely, peaceful resort. Vacationing with them are the Finney family, including Three Pines residents Peter and Clara Morrow. When a statue of the Finney pater crushes one of his daughters, Gamache's carefree holiday is at an end. Leaving Three Pines for a book was probably a good idea, since the village is tiny and would soon run out of residents. And the Manoir, with its intriguing staff and contentious guests, was a delightful setting.

Source disclosure: I purchased these books.

Mystery Monday: The Chet & Bernie Series

If you're looking for a fun mystery that has a bit of a different twist, Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie series may be just what you're looking for.

Chet and Bernie are in charge of the Little Detective Agency. Bernie Little is a private investigator based in Arizona who is not very good with money, tends to drink a little too much, can be a brute when need be, but is ever loyal to his good buddy, Chet. Chet is a dog. He and Bernie are equal partners in the detective agency and what truly sets these mysteries apart is that they are written from CHET'S point of view! Yes, you read that right. The DOG is telling the story.

It took me a chapter or two to get used to Chet's point of view. But after that, I got into it. It was sort of fun to read the story from his vantage point. And it actually added a bit of suspense to the book. At times Chet knew answers to the mystery that Bernie didn't and being a dog, Chet couldn't communicate this information to Bernie. It kept you reading to find out how Bernie was eventually going to figure everything out.

In the first book Dog On It, Chet and Bernie are in search of a missing teenage girl. Chet is dognapped and happens to discover where the girl is being kept. He just has to figure out how to lead Bernie to her.

In the second installment, Thereby Hangs a Tail, Chet and Bernie are charged with guarding a prissy show dog named Princess. But Princess, her owner, and roving reporter Suzie Sanchez go missing. Chet and Bernie are on the case!

I will fully admit I am NOT a dog person at all. I have always been a bit tentative around them. But I have become a fan of these books centering around Chet. And I HIGHLY recommend them to any dog-loving mystery fans out there. I think you will really get a kick out of them. It was amusing to me how well Quinn seemed to capture the personality of a dog and the observations Chet made about humans. I'll be sure to continue reading this series!

Source disclosure: I purchased both of these books.

Flashback Friday

In addition to my more current reading, I sometimes dip into older series or favorites from long ago. They seem less newsworthy than advance copies or hot new releases, but might still be of interest. I thought Flashback Friday might be fun for these excursions!

murder@maggody.com by Joan Hess: I like Joan Hess. Her Claire Malloy series is one of my favorite cozy series. I've dipped into her Maggody series before, but never read them in any particular way. To be honest, I'm not sure what to think of this series. It's a rather fun way to pass the time, but don't feel like "must reads" the way her Claire books do. Arly Hanks went off to the big city, got educated, and returned to be sheriff in her rural hometown of Maggody, Arkansas after her marriage crashed and burned. The tongue-in-cheek verbosity that is so well-suited to Claire (a bookstore owner in a college town) makes Arly a bit less sympathetic, as though she feels superior to her rural roots. This is perfectly understandable, given the stereotypical redneck hick neighbors (especially the Buchanons, an inbred clan featuring a moonshiner with a pet sow), but the line between contempt and amused affection is a fine one, and I'm sometimes not altogether comfortable with the portrayal of rural folk or of Arly's attitude toward them. Maybe I'm taking it too seriously. At any rate, this, the twelfth installment in the series, the town of Maggody is about to go online, with a new computer lab staffed by a new arrival in town. As the Maggody folk explore the internet, ghost images of their neighbors in compromising positions pop up unexpectedly, leading some to conclude the devil is at work in the internet. A meandering plot, some obvious twists, and the sidelining of the mystery in favor of Maggody life made this one tough to finish, though the flashes of Hess's trademark humor made for some chuckles.

They keep reprinting classic Nancy Drew mysteries, so someone must be buying them. But I have to wonder whether kids these days too savvy to enjoy Nancy's sleuthing. I hadn't read this in years, but I remember them with great affection, particularly the first, The Secret in the Old Clock, and some other standouts (The Brass-Bound Trunk and Password at Larkspur Lane), with only dim recollections of the plot. I re-read the first four, The Secret in the Old Clock, The Hidden Staircase, The Bungalow Mystery, and The Secret at Lilac Inn, when I was sick and not feeling up to very involved reading. These books are still fun, and the pre-internet, pre-cell phone era has great charm. Nancy is plucky and brave. Her father respects her contributions to his cases. And the mysteries are fairly interesting as they unfold. Who doesn't love an old-fashioned caper involving a missing will and deserving would-be heirs? And hidden staircases and secret passages? The Secret in the Old Clock was originally written in 1930 by the pseudonymous Carolyn Keene (produced by ghostwriters of the Stratemeyer Syndicate) and extensively revised in 1959. Good luck finding an affordable copy of the original, which I understand includes some racial stereotypes that were unacceptable by 1959, as well as cosmetic changes to cars and fashions. These four books are pre-George and Bess. Nancy's great friend is Helen, who is later written out. I found these to be fun, quick reads. The dated elements (social strata in River Heights are hilarious, average families have housekeepers) add to the charm, really. I've been collecting this series for Lilah to read when she's older.

A side note: I reviewed Not a Girl Detective, a CeCe Caruso mystery by Susan Kandel, right here. It's just a blurb, really. But this book is a lot of fun if you're a Nancy Drew fan interested in the history of the Stratemeyer Syndicate and of the Nancy Drew series. It's well-researched, and, while you can find the information on Wikipedia, it's more fun to watch CeCe unfold the layers of history.

Evil at Heart by Chelsea Cain

I received an ARC of Evil at Heart through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program. And the timing of it was perfect for me because I had to read it for LibraryThing AND it fits in with the R.I.P. Reading Challenge I recently joined.

Evil at Heart is Book 3 in the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series by Chelsea Cain, preceded by Heartsick and Sweetheart. Archie Sheridan is a police detective originally in charge of the task force put in place to catch The Beauty Killer, a serial killer on the loose in the Portland Area. In the first two books, we learned Gretchen (the Beauty Killer) had manipulated herself into the investigation and got close to Archie. In the end, she kidnapped and tortured him. In Book 2, she escapes from prison and continues to torment him, this time taking a newspaper journalist Susan Ward along for the ride. Now, in Book 3, we find Archie has checked himself into the mental ward of a hospital voluntarily. He could leave at any time but prefers to stay closed off from the "real" world and hopefully out of Gretchen's clutches. But dead bodies start appearing around Portland again in signature Gretchen Lowell sites. The city has gone crazy with their fascination with the Beauty Killer and the police don't know if she has resumed killing or some crazy Beauty Killer cult has taken up where she left off. Trying so hard not to be involved, Archie can no longer resist and checks himself out to try and figure out what is going on and journalist Susan Ward is again long for the ride.

I like this series more with each book. I started out with the first book thinking it was just sort of "meh". And I also wondered how long Cain could drag the cat and mouse game of Archie and Gretchen out. It's sort of like one of those television shows where two main characters like each other, but find for one reason or another they can't be together even though they long to be. And you keep watching to see just when the show's producers will finally let them get together and then you continue to watch to see the aftermath of the relationship. Well, in Book 3, Cain has found a way to have Gretchen be central, but then again not really. I won't say anything more because I don't want to spoil the story for you. In the end you really don't know just how much Gretchen was involved in the whole story or not. I really liked how Book 3 evolved and I liked that throughout the book Archie finally seemed to mentally be on the road to recovery.

I'll definitely read the next one to see where Cain takes the story from here. My only problem with the book is the gory-ness of it. There are some extremely graphic parts and I tend to read while I'm eating lunch and whatnot. Not a great book to read while you're eating. But if you can look past it or gore doesn't bother you then read this series! The back of the ARC touts, "Stephen King placed both Heartsick and Sweetheart on his 10 Best Books List of 2008, and praised Cain's "ferocious" writing." I have to say this book certainly evokes classic Stephen King with its torture theme and Cain doesn't hold back ata all. Anyone who has read Misery, this is definitely in the same category as that. I think Mr. King would approve of Book 3 just as much as he did of Book 1 and 2.

If you're interested in reading an excerpt from the book, please click here. You can even visit a website from the book called: iheartgretchenlowell.com

Here's a book trailer:


My reviews of Books 1 and 2:
Heartsick
Sweetheart

Other Blog reviews of Evil at Heart:
Charlotte's Web of Books, The Novel Bookworm, The Genreview, Fatally Yours

Completed Book #1 for the R.I.P. IV Reading Challenge.

Mystery Monday

I've been in a mystery/detective story kind of mood this summer. I read Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey back in June. I received this book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers Program.

This is the first in what appears to be a new series from Quartey. The promos for it suggested that if you like The Ladies #1 Detective Agency, you may enjoy this one. I had some mixed feelings on this one.

The story of Darko Dawson, a detective in Accra, Ghana's capital, is like his name, a bit dark. A young woman, Gladys is murdered in a small town outside the capital and Darko is sent to help with the investigation. While trying to solve Gladys' murder, memories come flooding back of visits to his aunt's house as a child (she lives in the region) and of his mother's disappearance 20 years earlier. His mother had gone to visit his aunt for a few days and never returned home. His mother's disappearance and Gladys' murder become entwined and in the end both end up getting solved.

The character of Darko is very well-written. We completely understand him from his troubled childhood (dealing with his mother's disappearance and his brother's accident that leaves him in a wheelchair) to his current life with a loving wife and an ailing son who needs a heart operation. Darko has a violent side that he lets loose every now and then. And he's a very smart and dedicated police detective. I can see where he will be a good series character.

I felt the other characters were not nearly as developed which is fine and may come with time as the series progresses, but my chief complaint is that there seemed to be too many of them! I was having a hard time keeping track of everyone. It wasn't until I was about 2/3rds through that I felt like I finally had everyone down.

I really enjoy reading books set in Africa. I like reading about the culture and the enviornment and this one is no exception. Though, I'm not sure I would compare it to Alexander McCall Smith's series very much, except in setting perhaps. It was interesting to read the contrasting cultures of Accra (the big city) to Bedome (the rural community).

I may pick up the next one in the series whenever it comes out, but I'm not sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for it to be published. Wife of the Gods came out July 14th so you can find it at your local bookstore now!

I won Linda Fairstein's Lethal Legacy in a contest back at the beginning of the year.

This is the newest book in the Alexander Cooper mystery series. I had not read any other books in this series, but I deviated from my general "start at the beginning of a series and work forward" rule. Part of this novel is set in the New York Public Library which is what drew me to it.

A young woman is murdered while clutching a valuable rare book. A.D.A. Cooper and her police counterpart Mike Chapman work together to uncover the crime and its connection to the rare book world.

I have to say I give this one 3 stars. There were things I really liked about it. And then things that just plain bugged me. So first the good, I love the Special Collections and rare books aspect of the book. I even found all the details about old maps to be interesting. However, the characters didn't really draw me in (maybe because this is just one book in a series and a later one at that--maybe the character has already been developed in previous books). And the pace of the book was VERY slow. It took me forever to read this book because there was not much gripping me to keep me from putting it down. I really love the cultural aspects of this series. But, it's lacking the excitement and thrill I hope to find in reading a more "serious" mystery.

I was looking for a quick cozy book to read and the second book in Charlaine Harris' Aurora Teagarden series fit the bill nicely. One of Aurora's cohorts from the Real Murders Club--Jane has passed away and inexplicably left her estate (house, jewelry, and savings) to Aurora. This both baffles and excites the librarian as she sorts through what Jane left behind.

Aurora spends time at Jane's house sorting through this and that, meeting the neighbors, pondering what to do with her windfall, all the while trying to figure out A) why the neighbors on the street have all had their houses broken into, and B) why Jane had a skull hidden in her window seat.

Even though the "mystery" of this one was not particularly deep or involved, I really enjoyed it. I like Aurora as a character and enjoyed her exasperation with having her ex-boyfriend (whose newly married and expecting a baby) living across the street from her. I think Harris does a terrific job of writing Aurora's character very real. All of her thoughts, reactions, and emotions are very genuine. I'm looking forward to continuing this series.

Mystery Monday!

Internal Affairs by Connie Dial: In general, I'm more concerned with the story than the biography of the author telling it, but in this case, Dial's twenty-seven-year career in the LAPD is relevant because it lends tremendous credibility to her debut novel, a police procedural set in the sprawling bureaucracy that is the Los Angeles Police Department. When a female police officer, Alexandra Williams, is found dead in the trunk of a car parked outside Deputy Chief McGann's home, it's a foregone conclusion that the investigation is going to be a mess. No one wants to deal with it, but it must be dealt with. When it turns out that McGann had been having an affair with the dead officer, Internal Affairs launches an investigation into the illicit relationship, while a parallel investigation in the Robbery Homicide Division teases out Alex's other relationships. Burned-out Sergeant Mike Turner, serving his time in IA and waiting for a promotion, ends up working the murder investigation, re-igniting his passion for police work and jeopardizing his relationship with promotion-minded girlfriend Lieutenant Paula Toscano. Turner is afraid that the police chief will protect McGann at the expense of the truth, so he walks a fine line between doing the right thing and keeping his job.

Dial's police officers run the gamut from decent people who make decent cops to a self-involved Chief of Police, to a spineless Captain, to cops who abuse their power. She doesn't give all the women in her fictional LAPD a pass, either, and I found that aspect of the novel particularly interesting. Sally uses her sex appeal to go after promotions, Captain Connelly was promoted only because she's a woman and can't make a decision to save her life, Paula is determined and hard-working. I found Dial's portrayal of female police officers intriguing, and the diversity in quality really rang true.

This is the most illuminating police procedural novel I have ever read. Dial's long experience in various capacities with the LAPD puts the investigation in a solid context of bureaucracy that sometimes has to be finessed to serve justice. By the time Turner makes his decision to basically lie to his superior officer to keep working on the murder investigation, the reader understands why this is necessary to bring the truth to light. The particulars of the investigation detail dedicated surveillance, scanning of telephone records, and witness interviews that lead to the truth. This murder mystery is the perfect choice to make use of Dial's knowledge; since a cop is involved, Internal Affairs must be involved, complicating matters, and the department is caught between its mission of truth and justice and its desire to protect itself. The officers involved in the investigation have complex motives, and the backstabbing, promotion-mongering, and various relationships ring true. One wonders how many of these characters are based on real officers in Dial's past. She also portrays both sides of the bureaucracy; on the one hand, it provides the structure needed for such a massive organization to function, but it can also impede officers who are just trying to do what's right. Turner has to navigate the bureaucracy carefully, stepping outside it when necessary. Dial walks the civilian reader ably through the web of bureaucracy without being patronizing. An organizational chart and list of characters are very helpful to keeping the various departments straight.

There are certainly trade-offs in a novel that so elegantly portrays bureaucracy, organization, and structure. While I liked Mike Turner, I didn't feel particularly emotionally invested in him or the other characters. Part of the problem was a wandering point of view. Multiple points of view were necessary, but establishing Turner as the protagonist from the beginning would have been helpful. The novel begins from McGann's point of view, with Mike's point of view becoming dominant with the second chapter. Often, long sections of exposition substituted for more evocative scenes, especially when complex relationships were involved. Confrontations would be summarized instead of shown through dialogue, which would have been more powerful. Many of Turner's motivations are told, rather than demonstrated. In fact, when forty pages before the end, Turner is shown making an omelet for Paula and reflects that cooking relaxes him, I found myself wishing that more of these personal details had been revealed throughout the novel. I would have felt more connected to the characters as people, rather than as cogs in a wheel of bureaucracy.

That said, this was a cracking good read. The mystery was satisfyingly complex, with plenty of suspects and investigative threads that either didn't pan out or led to other clues. As the killer becomes more obvious, the focus shifts to Mike finding a way to prove it to the satisfaction of his boss, and that process, too, is interesting. I highly recommend this book to fans of police procedurals, anyone interested in an insider's look at the LAPD, and hard-boiled mystery readers. Available June 1.

Mystery Monday: Sequels Edition

Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz: I liked The Spellman Files, and liked the sequel, Curse of the Spellmans, even more. But the third entry, Revenge of the Spellmans, is the absolute best yet. Izzy Spellman has left her job in the family P.I. business in favor of a bartending gig. She's in court-ordered therapy after that "misunderstanding" that led to her violation of a restraining order (she has trouble letting go before an investigation is complete). She swears her car is always in a different place than she parked it. And she's squatting in her brother's basement. So she's not in the best place. She takes on a single case, a husband who wants to set his mind at ease about his wife's fidelity. It all seems routine: Linda, Ernie's wife, just meets with a friend, as she had told Ernie. But something seems off, and it's not long before Izzy has uncovered some very strange information about Linda. While I knew that learning to let go and stop obsessing over the case was probably best for Izzy, I really, really wanted her to keep obsessing because I wanted to know what the deal was with Linda and her friend Sharon. What's great about this entry is that Izzy has to grow up. She doesn't have to lose all her quirks or become less funny, but between the therapy, the threats by her parents to sell off the PI business, the imminent out-of-state move by her attorney/good friend, and her lack of a real home, something's got to give. Izzy grows a lot as a person, but she's no less entertaining. Rae, Izzy's teenaged sister, also has some growing to do, as she's embroiled in a PSAT cheating scandal and interfering (somewhat feloniously) in Henry Stone's current relationship. All the threads come together in an absolutely hilarious way that only Lutz can pull off. I highly recommend this series and I'm looking forward to the next one.

Fatally Flaky by Diane Mott Davidson: I've been reading Diane Mott Davidson's Goldy Bear mysteries for years. I think they were my first cozy mysteries. Fatally Flaky is #15, and I had fun reading it, but the series is starting to lose some steam. We had murder-by-car-accident again (I think that was back in #2). Teenaged son Arch was barely there. Now he's annoying, but still, it was bizarre that he was MIA for almost the whole book. And Davidson gave Goldy a beloved godfather...who has never been mentioned once in the fourteen previous books, despite his huge influence on her life. That last one bugged me the most. The convoluted plots don't actually bother me--they're fun and campy, but I like internal consistency. That said, the recipes were great, the interaction with Boyd was hilarious, it was fun to see Julian so capable, and Tom was less constantly nagging about his wife's interference in investigations (perhaps he's given up). So it was fun, but not the best in the series, and I wonder how much longer Davidson can keep the series going.

Mystery Monday!

One of the highlights of my 2008 reading was Death of a Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet, the first mystery to feature DCI St. Just of Cambridgeshire. I was so completely hooked by the first novel that I pre-ordered the second, Death of a Lit Chick, as soon as amazon.com listed it. I wondered a bit whether the follow-up would be as satisfying, mainly because Malliet created such deliciously wicked characters in Sir Adrian's family, and of course, the only recurring character is DCI St. Just. I needn't have worried, because Death of a Lit Chick features an equally engaging cast of characters. DCI St. Just travels to Dalmorton Castle in Scotland for a mystery writer's conference (he has been asked to attend as a speaker) and finds himself confronted with a gaggle of mystery writers, all with clashing personalities and huge egos, along with a publisher, agents, and a journalist. When ditzy superstar "chick lit" writer Kimberlee Kalder turns up dead, there is no shortage of suspects. St. Just is asked to assist the local constabulary with their investigations, which culminate in a hilariously over-the-top drawing room scene worthy of Agatha Christie. A cast of suspects including mystery writers is a challenge, as they all make things up for a living and seem unable to turn off the prevarication under interrogation. As St. Just unravels the web of secrets and lies, the deliciously complex plot comes to a logical yet surprising conclusion. Malliet manages to embrace the classic cozy mystery while satirizing its conventions with her sharp wit, and as we learn more about DCI St. Just, he becomes even more endearing. I'll be pre-ordering the next in the series as well.

Death and the Lit Chick on amazon