REVIEWS FROM CAROLYN LANIER

THE MAO CASE         
QUI XIAOLONG         
Minotaur Books March, 2009

Chief Inspector Chen Cao of the Shanghai Police Department is told by the new Minister of Public Security that he must take on a "special assignment," an investigation. He has two weeks. The case is unusual because Jiao, the granddaughter of a beautiful actress and mistress of Chairman Mao, may have something that would greatly embarrass Mao's reputation. No one knows what it is.

Jiao was raised in an orphanage because her Mother and her grandmother were swept aside (murdered?) during the Revolution. Jiao has risen to living in a luxury apartment with no obvious means of support after quitting her job as a lowly secretary. Internal Security has been working on the case and Inspector Chen knows he will face resentment and make enemies if they know he has been given the case.

Chen is also a published poet and decides to pose as a business man trying to write a book about Chairman Mao. He tells no one he is a policeman and goes to a party where he is introduced to Jiao. The investigation requires a trip to Beijing, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and many tea rooms and restaurants featuring food fit for an emperor. An analysis of Chairman Mao's poetry reveals clues along with a review of Mao's history.

Two murders suddenly occur and Chen knows he is making progress. Sure enough, he solves the case but handles the information so sensitively his principals are not compromised and the party is not embarrassed.

Qui Xiaolong is a poet and professor and has written an award winning series featuring the Inspector. This is a delightful trip to China without leaving home.

                                                                                                 - Carolyn Lanier

THE LITTLE SLEEP         
PAUL TREMBLAY           
Henry Holt & Company Trade PBO 3/09

Looking for a new kind of PI? I think I have found him. South Boston's Mark Genevich suffers from narcolepsy in the worst way... including hallucinations. He has absolutely no control over when he will fall asleep and is never sure what really happens and what he hallucinates. Never the less, he has perseverance and is determined to find out who hired him; he slept through the interview and only has the lascivious pictures the client left for clues.

Mark thinks it was Jennifer Times, the daughter of a wealthy kingpin from his dad's old neighborhood. (It wasn't.) He also thought she hired him to find out who stole her fingers. As Mark tries to straighten out the fact from fiction he asks the wrong people the right questions. If only he had stayed awake for their answers and threats.

The whole book is a mystery but extremely delightful and the scene of Mark trying to rent a car that would keep him awake as he was forced to drive makes me laugh even now.

Does the dictionary have a picture of Paul Tremblay next to the word imagination? If not it should. I cannot wait for the sequel he is working on in his soggy basement in Massachusetts.

                                                                                                  - Carolyn Lanier

PERFECTLY CRIMINAL         
CELESTE MARSELLA         
Dell PBO 3/09

Four powerful women attorneys in the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office were boozing it up at Al Forno's Bar after a tough week when assistant prosecutor Shannon Lynch headed to the unisex bathroom. As she is pushing the door open, she falls into the arms of a tall, handsome, suited, bleary-eyed dude who happened to be a Connecticut Senator. It is love at first sight for Shannon, even though she has a long time relationship with the married chief of police, Charles Sewell. She takes Scot home with her and as he begins to cry against her breast he says, "I think I might have killed my wife tonight." All thoughts of passion are instantly gone as she tells him to call his lawyer and go to the police station.

Scot recants his confession but everyone except Shannon knows he is guilty. The Chief is really out to get him and the complex and intriguing mystery kept me racing through the book until the very end. I confess, I fell under the spell of Celeste Marsella's team of tough lawyers in DEFENSELESS and I am still captivated.

                                                                                             - Carolyn Lanier

ONE HOT MESS          
LOIS GREIMAN           
Dell PBO 3/09

L. A. psychologist Christina McMullen is back. Remember her? She first started listening to people as a barmaid, decided to sharpen her skills and went to school to become the sexiest psychologist around.

The chemistry between Christy and Police Lieutenant Jack Rivera scorches the pages. Not that she is wanton, but when Jack's dad, Senator Rivera, calls on her asking that she investigate a mysterious death that might cripple his campaign for President of the United States, Jack is furiously jealous. His dad is a BIG womanizer and he does not trust her or his dad. Christy is hit on by every guy in the book and Rivera is there to see it happen. It took me forever to realize that someone was setting that up.

In the mean time, Christy finds multiple deaths among the Senator's old campaign workers. She finds all kinds of weeds in paradise and the Senator may never run, or patch things up with his son. This is a book that can cause you to sweat. Well named!

                                                                                                   - Carolyn Lanier

DANGER IN A RED DRESS         
CHRISTINA DODD         
Signet PBO 4/09

"Hanna Grey could not remember when she'd enjoyed a funeral more." is the first line of the book. You see, Hannah is a beautiful nurse who specializes in caring for cantankerous arthritic patients. She has the knack of liking the old codgers while making them comfortable. This particular old man liked her so much he left her, unbeknownst to her at the time, $50,000. The relatives are furious and are sure she had provided more comfort than just fluffing his pillows. She lost her nursing license in New Jersey.

The story made national news and sleazy, handsome Carrick Manley decides Hanna is just the one to care for his mother in Maine. His father swindled a lot of people, including the government, out of tons of money and Carrick thinks his mother knows where the money is hidden. After Hannah refuses to spy for him, Carrick hires Gabriel Prescott to wire and video the house in case his mother tells Hannah anything. Now, Gabriel has searched for family all his life and he knows he is another of Carrick's illegitimate half brothers, but he waits to tell Carrick. In the meantime, he falls big time for Hannah, watching her day and night.

Sure enough Mrs. Manley has Hannah wheel her out to the sea so no one can see or hear and she tells her where the money is. She wants it returned to the ones cheated and wisely only trusts Hannah to do so... after her death. Mrs. Manley is murdered and Hannah is accused and must flee. It takes Gabriel a year to find her but when he does Carrick has him shot. Hannah is tricked into nursing Gabriel and the sparks fly!

I cannot remember when I have enjoyed one of Christina Dodd's Prescott family books more. I hope you have taken my rave advice and read the other sexy, witty and delightful Prescott books, as this sounds like it might be the last of the series. It is good as a stand alone too. It is just that her characters and plots are so good I want to share.

                                                                                                 - Carolyn Lanier

WRONGFUL DEATH         
ROBERT DUGONI         
Touchstone Books   April, 2009

Attorney David Sloane racks up his seventeenth win with a multi-million dollar wrongful death verdict and before he can leave the court room a modestly dressed woman of color, Beverly Ford, presses her dead husband's file in his hands and pleads with him to take her case against the government and the military. Her husband was a soldier in Iran. Sloane was a soldier himself and knows about the Feres doctrine, which means a soldier forfeits his right to sue even if it could be proven superior officers acted negligently and deliberately because everything is "Incident to service."

In perusing the file, Sloane notes all witnesses say exactly the same thing. Six men were in Ford's squad. Five came back, The leader was paralyzed and uses a wheelchair; he works for a large megga buck company that sold chemicals to Iran clandestinely. Methodically, the other squad members are murdered. The widow is offered money and Sloane's family is suddenly in harm's way.

Before this spellbinding book reaches its conclusion, I became convinced the government is outsourcing so much of our military jobs that the Feres doctrine should be reviewed as Supreme Court Justice Scilia noted in a four-five decision on this very topic. Just because you are in uniform does not mean greedy men should escape justice. Think about it. They are protecting us, should we not protect them?

WILD SORROW          
SANDI AULT         
Berkley Prime Crime   March, 2009

WILD SORROW is Sandi Ault's third book in the Wild series. The first two racked up several awards and this one is probably her best yet. What can I say?

Jamaica Wild is a Bureau of Land Management agent in New Mexico. Ten days before Christmas she is miles away from everyone tracking a wounded mountain lion when a blizzard forces her, her sorrel and her (I would call him a pet but Jamaica would be offended as she calls him family) wolf to seek shelter in an old Indian boarding school. There she finds a freshly frozen older woman strangled and scalped. The victim has sage bracelets on her ankles.

In the first week, Jamaica endures getting thrown from her horse, finding the body, going without sleep, fighting off a wounded big cat, she also battles incredible cold weather, has no electricity or running water in her desolate log home, is called out to an eviscerated elk, survives an Avalanche and misses a bullet with her name on it. She also explores rich Native American culture and enjoys sensory awareness of sights and smells that are so real I can almost smell the pine. The old school was a torture chamber for all those forced to attend and every conceivable cruelty was practiced there, yet the person responsible for the murder is hard to track.

Native American New Mexico Christmas events steal the show for a bit and then the heartbreak and some wickedly conceived betrayals fill the scenes. I cannot wait for the next WILD book!.

                                                                                                   - Carolyn Lanier

THE COLDEST MILE           
TOM PICCIRILLI         
Bantam Books PBO 3/09

I am ebullient! Chase is Back! I hope you took my advice and caught him in THE COLD SPOT because this begins exactly where that ended. Chase is besotted with grief over the death of his police officer wife Lila.

The ten years Chase lived within the law, teaching auto mechanics in High School, is put behind him. Now Chase is trying to find the miscreant grandfather who raised him, after the tragic death of his mother. Even though pregnant, she was shot in her kitchen and Chase suspects his grandfather of pulling the trigger. His dad committed suicide after much drinking. And so at the age of ten, Chase was taught to drive get away cars, burgle houses, grift and con. All his acquaintances were cronies of his crazy, bent grandfather Jonah. Chase wants to save Jonah's infant daughter from the same kind of life.

First he needs a stake and so becomes a chauffeur for a crime family that is on the skids. It is obvious a bloodbath is coming and a score with this family will not go unnoticed or unpunished. With amazing humor, Tom Piccirilli continues the sad spiral that reunites Chase and his grandfather. This is a crash course in multiple cons and murder. Too soon the riveting fast-paced book ends and I am left longing for more Chase.

THE FIRST APOSTLE                    
JAMES DECKER           
Signet PBO 3/09

Spring A.D. 67
Jatapata, Judea, a naked Jew, is pinned to a rough cross for crucifixion. General Vespasian watches, as he has watched all the crucifixions. The rest of the chapter focuses on the chaos and civil war in Rome as Nero was declared a traitor by the Senate. Almost incidentally, the reader becomes aware of a locked wooden chest and an unremarkable earthenware pot, each containing a small papyrus scroll, that simply disappear.

Present day
Jackie Hampton awoke at 03:18 to the sound of someone downstairs in the more than 600 year old Italian house she and her husband bought and were remodeling. Mark is in London so Jackie descends the stairs alone to investigate the metallic pinging sound and confronts two black clad men chipping away at the hearth. Jackie had discovered an ancient mysterious inscription when the workers had started the remodel. In fact she had started an internet search in an attempt to translate the ancient phrase. The best she could do was " Here lie the liars, " but that alerted the Mafia who had been watching for such an internet quest. The Vatican and the Mafia joined forces years ago to find the missing artifacts.

Jackie tries to flee but is intercepted and killed on the stairs. The housekeeper finds her; the police track down her husband in London. Mark then contacts his best friend, Chris Bronson, who has been having trouble with his D.I. superior in London. Chris and Mark go to Italy to arrange the funeral and the mob comes back. From this point on, there are clues and deaths all along the way to a Dan Brown conclusion.

While the story is fast-paced and riveting, Christians will feel they have danced with the Devil when they reach the end!

                                                                                                 - Carolyn Lanier

GRAVE GOODS         
ARIANA FRANKLIN           
G. P. Putnam's Sons   March, 2009

The year is 1176. The place is Glastonbury Abbey, England, according to legend the resting place of King Arthur. There has just been a great fire that burned the Abbey to the ground and uncovered two skeletons.

King Henry II wants proof the bodies belong to King Arthur and Queen Guinevere. He also wants to know who started the fire. If the Welsh can be assured the bones are King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, the Celtic rebellion can be stamped out. It seems they think Arthur is only sleeping. So Henry calls on Adelia Agular, a forerunner of our forensic anthropologists, to ride to Glastonbury. Adelia agrees to go but says she will not lie about the identity of the bones. The Abbey fire investigation will be overseen by the Bishop of St. Albans, the father of Adelia's daughter.

Murder, madness, myths and mayhem prevail in this gripping historical novel that is also a terrific forensic thriller. Sherlock Homes would have been proud of Adelia.

Ariana Franklin is the pseudonym of acclaimed British writer Dana Norman. The former journalist lives in Hertfordshire, England, with her husband Barry Norman, the film critic. This book would make an enthralling movie.

DEAD BEFORE DARK         
WENDI CORSI STAUB         
Zebra PBO 4/09

In the late 60's, a deadly killer played cat and mouse with local police and the FBI as he sporadically killed beneath a full moon. He was never caught. No one but the police knew the Nightwatchman, as he was dubbed, smeared bright red lipstick on his victims.

Renowned psychic Lucinda Sloan is made up for her appearance on a national TV show and her mouth is sporting bright red lipstick as she talks about catching serial killers. Sure enough, the Nightwatchman is just getting out of prison for killing his mother, although he was never a suspect in the other slaughters. He sees Lucinda and plans a little game to toy with her and test her psychic skills, while leading her into a trap as his final victim.

The first of his victims is Lucinda's old boyfriend's wife. When Lucinda calls to warn Randy, he lies and says he is skiing with the guys, while he is really living alone. He is ashamed to admit the marriage is over because he never got over Lucinda. Reluctant to reveal why she called, she decides not to tell him his wife might be slashed and on the bathroom floor with lipstick smeared on her mouth and decides to check it out herself.

The madman is delighted as he watches her from a distance and thinks perhaps she really can see the murders as they happen, or shortly thereafter. Then there is a second murder in Chicago and a third in Denver. The game is on, to Lucinda's horror!

All my favorite characters from DON'T SCREAM and DYING BREATH are here so it was fun to "catch up" on their lives. The ending is a cliff hanger. Get ready to Read!

RED APRIL           
SANTIAGO RONCAGLIOLO         
Pantheon   April, 2009

Congratulations Santiago Roncagliolo!

On Wednesday, March 8, 2000, sales clerk Justino Mayta Carazo woke up from a three day celebration of Carnival in Quinua, near Lima, and discovered a charred body with an arm missing. The 1,576 residents of the municipality could not tell what had happened to the dead man because they too had consumed large amounts of alcoholic beverages at the celebration.

Conscientious newly appointed Assistant District Prosecutor Felix Chacaltana Saldivar carefully wrote a report suggesting there might be a terrorist at work. He was delighted to realize he finally had a task to do, although he had few resources; he had already submitted thirty six requisitions for a new typewriter, pencils and a ream of carbon paper. Not to appear aggressive, he felt he could wait a little longer for supplies, but he needed this report to be signed, and that begins his life-changing drama.

No one wants to acknowledge that there might be rebels or terrorists in their midst. Eventually Chacaltana must rewrite his report. He is forced to deduce that a stranger wandered into the celebration since no locals are missing; the stranger stumbled into a barn where he was accidently soaked in kerosene. A storm hit and lightning struck him in the missing arm and burned him to a crisp.

Things get a lot worse. Another charred body with the other arm missing is found. Then two more corpses, each missing a leg are found torched. Chacaltana thinks someone is making a new body and he might be the head they are seeking. This is a man whose wife left him because he might never amount to anything. He has also recreated his dead mother's room and talks to her photo. A woman of interest smells of tripe; she works in a cafe where strange items are on the menu. Chacaltana is suspected of being the murderer.

The Banana Republic cannot admit civil unrest as it might affect tourism. RED APRIL is an unforgettable read. Santiago Roncagliolo is considered one of Latin America's most important new writers. He certainly impressed me.

DARK SIDE OF THE MORGUE         
RAYMOND BENSON         
Leisure PBO 3/09

There is a murdering Machiavellian musician in Chicago masking as a ghost and leaving CD's to prove it. Spike Berenger, partner in a security company for the rock 'n roll stars, is called in from New York because he was once part of the rock and roll scene in the sixties in Chicago.

We are given a Chicago Prog Bands' family tree on page one with all the bands, their names and the instruments played. The players skip around like popcorn so we need the guide. There are thirty chapters and each one is titled for a famous track.

"Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll-Too Young to Die" is the first chapter, but Joe Nance died anyway. It is a blast to see how "King of Pain," "Taken by Surprise," "Assassin" and "Witchy Woman" tie in to the story. You get the idea and sort of hum through the book if you remember the songs as I did. I guarantee you will not be tapping your foot.

This is definitely a book for fans of the early days of free love and Rock 'n Roll.

                                                                                              - Carolyn Lanier

Look for Carolyn's reviews of
OXYGEN by Carol Cassella and
CLOSE by Martina Cole 
on the PAPERBACK PAGE .

WHERE PETALS FALL         

EVEN         
ANDREW GRANT         
Minotaur Books June, 2009

EVEN by the extraordinary and incredibly talented younger brother of Lee Child, Andrew Grant, is spellbinding and beyond.

It begins. David Trevellyan, Royal Navy operator, sees a dead tramp dumped in a New York alley and decides to be a Good Samaritan. Rather than leave the body among the heap of cheeseburger wrappers and used condoms, he turns the guy over and sees a professionally neat six bullet "T" pattern on the guy's chest. Instantaneously, the cops arrive, resulting from a 911 call. The caller describes David to a "t" as the killer. Not one to immediately evoke diplomatic immunity because of the paper work, David is arrested and soon it is too late to claim immunity as London abandons him. He doesn't get mad, he gets even.

James Bond could not have pulled off the rest of the story any better. After London abandons Trevellyan, he must take on first the NYPD and then the FBI as the tramp was an undercover FBI agent. The villain is in fact a "real ball buster" and she has a small bottle with Trevellyan's name on it.

I particularly enjoyed the bits when he remembered bits and pieces of his training. It is so graphic that the movie, and I am sure there will be one, will be rated R. Odds are you will love EVEN too.

                                                                                                  - Carolyn Lanier

MARY JANE'S GRAVE         
STACY DITTRICH          
Leisure PBO 6/09

Detective Cee Cee Gallagher faces her most confounding case to date when a brutally murdered and branded body is found in the old grave yard under the tree where a "witch," Mary Jane, was hanged one hundred years before. This is a terrible time in Cee Cee's personal life. She has just discovered her divorce from Eric was never filed and the ex-wife of her current lover, Michael, is causing scenes, spreading lies and resorting to blackmail to break up Cee Cee and Michael.

As emotional upheaval haunts her personal life, Cee Cee tracks a history of one hundred years of murder. Murder began when, before her eyes, Mary Jane's baby was bashed to death on a tombstone by five evil men. Mary Jane was raped, beaten and strung up, but before she died she uttered "Ego vomica quisque vestrum, Ego vomica vos totus." Mary Jane had been an herbalist and had never used her gift in any way but for good before the curse that spanned time. Her fifteen-year-old daughter was hiding and saw the whole thing.

The grave site is part of local legend but it is no ghost who is killing and attacking people today. Michael is a profiler for the FBI and he gives Cee Cee some very keen insights.

I was amazed at the careful research used to track crimes in the last century.

ONE DEADLY SIN         
ANNIE SOLOMON        
Grand Central Publishing PBO 5/09

Tattooed, motorcycle riding Edie Swann, bartender extraordinaire, has changed her name and returned to her home town with revenge in mind and a list of people her dying Aunt Penny gave her. Someone must pay for the innocent blood Edie's dad shed so long ago. She even bought tiny black angels, like the one over her Dad's grave, to scare the men.

Then, one by one, the men turn up dead with a tiny black angel nearby. Widowed Sheriff Holt Drennen and his young daughter lose their hearts to Edie, but he knows Edie is hiding something. He is torn between protecting the town and the woman he loves. Long buried secrets emerge and one of those angels has his dad's name on it!

This romantic suspense thriller is a fantastic story with well-rounded characters I hope to meet again.

CEMETERY DANCE         
DOUGLAS PRESTON and LINCOLN CHILD         
Grand Central Publishing  May, 2009

If you are an Agent Pendergast fan, as I am, you will gasp in horror as he and D'Agosta struggle to find out what really happened to William Smithback, the New York Times reporter I grew to love in earlier Diogenes adventures. Smithback and his wife Nora were celebrating their one year wedding anniversary when Collin Fearling, a neighbor, broke in and slashed Smithback to death and injured Nora.

Eyewitnesses and the security cameras confirm it is Collin who is dressed and acting like a Zombie. Since Collin had been declared dead by the medical examiner two weeks before, Pendergast calls on Monsieur Bertin, one of his early teachers in New Orleans. Bertin is extremely knowledgeable about Voodoo, Obeah, and conjure. Prepare for charms, feathers and a Manhattan cult operating in a wooded rocky cove enclave complete with an ancient church and cemetery.

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child co-author these best selling novels and they just keep getting better!

ROADSIDE CROSSES           
JEFFERY DEAVER         
Simon & Schuster  June, 2009

Cyber bullies ruin an innocent's life.

What started as an innocent blog post about a tragic car crash turned into a vicious attack against Travis, a lonely teenager with a totally dysfunctional family. Meanwhile, roadside crosses are placed on roads before there is a death. A teenage girl is found alive in the trunk of a car on the California beach as high tide is about to carry the car out to sea. There is a cross higher up on the beach.

California Bureau of Investigation Detective Kathryn Dance, body language expert, and Monterey County Sheriff's Senior Deputy Michael O'Neil race against the clock to catch the culprit before the next victim is found. All of those targeted have blogged incredibly nasty things about Travis.

Kathryn Dance is interrupted in her interviews when her mother is arrested for the mercy killing of a painfully dying man begging to be put out of his misery. Kathryn's mother is a nurse in the hospital where the man has had his dying wish granted.

This is a great book for those interested in reading body language, or learning about computers and games affecting young people, or watching sparks fly between Kathryn and O'Neil . Things are not as they seem and the mystery is up to award winning Jeffery Deaver's usual puzzle standard. I guarantee there will be no LOL.

BLIND SIGHT         
TERRI PERSONS          
Doubleday  June, 2009

Tracking a wounded deer in a near blizzard in the Minnesota woods led the hunter to the ghastly mutilated corpse of a young woman. Her stomach had been sliced open and a baby removed. An inverted pentagon was drawn on her forehead. The victim was the unwed daughter of a powerful senator who makes no bones about his distaste for the FBI when they are called in to assist the locals.

Bernadette is an FBI agent with psychic sight that allows her to hold or touch victims or items belonging to them, and see the murder through the eyes of the killer. This is at great emotional expense to Bernadette, but she and her handsome partner, Tony Garcia, are in a race against the clock to find the baby, so she tries.

The town has turned a blind eye to the witches living in their midst. The pentagon is erased in the morgue before the autopsy and, obviously, someone is colluding with the enemy.

This is a follow-up to BLIND SPOT and BLIND RAGE and I could not put it down.

BAD THINGS         
MICHAEL MARSHALL         
William Morrow & Company  May, 2009

BAD THINGS BY Michael Marshall is aptly named.

Financially successful lawyer John Henderson stepped out on his Washington deck looking for his four-year-old son. Scot is standing on the jetty with a frozen look on his face. His father screams and runs; Scot's mother is holding their tiny baby, who has quieted after a restless night, and she too runs. The boy turns to his dad with a look of terror, crumples and falls in the water. There seems to be no reason for this terrible death. This sad event slowly turns to horror.

John and Carol divorce. He moves to Oregon, living in a solitary beach house, and becomes a waiter. This is where the story really begins. A stranger's phone call tells John, "I know what happened" and draws John back to Black Ridge, leaving behind the daughter of the restaurant/bar owner and her druggie boyfriend.

The imagery is haunting, eerie and down right scary. The rising action is chilling as the devil is in the details and the book is filled with details. Witchcraft. Primal forest. Dark shadows and darn if the barkeep's daughter and her boyfriend don't figure into it too! The resolution left me with that deer in the headlights look. BAD THINGS, aptly named, for sure.

                                                                                                - Carolyn Lanier

A BREED APART         
PIERRE DAVIS        
Dell PBO 5/09

Okay, I'll admit I thought the book was going to be witty, amusing, and maybe downright funny. After all, the detective's name is Elliot Elliot. The first page had a few jokes about it... E squared, Double E, even Dubby; and then, suddenly, it wasn't funny anymore. Veteran Elliot had a very unpleasant Gulf War history. Then, he was a street cop who finally made detective and had more horrifying, shattering experiences. He was a nice smart guy exiled to the Pearson Institute, a big medical campus, while taking the blame for his commander.

Suddenly, Elliot was not looking for stolen laptops. A well-known surgeon collapses in surgery and his brain scanned or switched. Is this an accident or a cover up? A specially bred dog is shipped in from Malaysia and manages to escape at the institute. A professional hit man is involved. Elliot's one true love is married to the comatose Doctor, and there is something funny about the millionaire funding the project.

Conspiracy, complicity: astonishing and totally believable. This book is no joke! Its pure genius.