REVIEWS FROM CAROLYN LANIER
THE SURROGATE
TANIA CARVER
Pegasus Books September, 2011
The baby shower was over and all the guests had gone except for one. It had been a lovely party, even if the pregnant teacher had written off the abusive guy who tried to get her to have an abortion. She goes to her room for a moment, the bell rings and her friend answers. Her throat is cut. The murderer ties the pregnant woman spread eagle to the bed, slashes her open and takes the baby.
Detective Inspector Philip Brennan has seen this twice before. Psychologist Marina Esposito is brought into the case. She is pregnant, though the police have no idea. She is also the love of Brennan's life, but has refused to see him after the last case they worked together and its grizzly conclusion.
Marina is being stalked by the butcher. Brennan's boss is convinced Marina is on the wrong track. He thinks the teacher's old boy friend is guilty. As horrible as the story is, the person receiving the babies has childcare skills based on the babies seen on TV. Cooing and smiling, we witness her shaking the baby until it is quiet and cold. Well, she reasons, there is always another where her supplier got the first three. After all, she wants a family and her husband is helping provide.
Shudder! This is not an easy book to read.
POLICE AND THIEVES
JAMES PATRICK HUNT
Five Star September, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4328-2507-2
Dan Bridger learned his craft with a short prison stint and he is very good. Bridger is a professional thief. He is calm under pressure and very smart. A young woman calls from Seattle with the news Dan's younger brother has been murdered. Seth, the "good" brother, was a probation and parole officer and Bridger had not seen him for years.
Perhaps it was guilt over leaving his kid brother with his abusive Dad and joining the service, or the way his friends respected and felt about Seth, but Bridger was distressed that the local police dismissed the case as another gang killing. A trip to Seattle is in order.
It just did not add up to Bridger. Why was Seth's wallet taken and not his gun? Where was the notebook he kept in his pocket? Bridger is considered a criminal by the police and they are extremely insulting; urging him to get out of town
Before this is over it is hard to tell the good guys from the bad ones. Bridger is a good thief. I say, it is time for a shout out for James Patrick Hunt. There is no doubt he has written a very good book.
HELL TO PAY
WENDY CORSI STAUB
Avon PBO 9/11
The Saga continues. The third of a trilogy, but HELL TO PAY is also a stand alone novel. If you read LIVE TO TELL and SCARED TO DEATH (I did) you will be acquainted with the characters and their secrets. Well, almost...
Lucy Walsh, a survivor of a serial killer, and Jeremy Cavalon, the son of a serial killer, are now married and expecting their first child. Jeremy was kidnapped as a child and raised by a pedophile. He now works with trouble kids.
There is an earthquake and a crazy person escapes from prison. Diabolical and evil, she begins her killing spree. She is convinced she is getting messages from God and Lucy is pregnant with the Messiah. This web is as tangled as all the books that preceded it, and there is a shell-shocking conclusion.
Wendy Corsi Staub you have done it again! Lots of loose ends, but you tied them together while tying me in knots.
BLACK DIAMOND
JOHN F. DOBBYN
Oceanview Publishing October, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60809-022-8
Move over Dick Francis, there is a thrilling new horse racing mystery writer in town.
Attorney Michael Knight has agreed to defend a jockey accused of murdering Michael's best friend in a race at Boston's Suffolk Downs. Viewing the film of the last minute of the race, it is clear something strange has happened, but the horses block the view that might explain.
Horse racing breeds the urge to make a quick quid and deception is not new to the track. What was new to me was the inclusion of Boston's Irish mafia and the remnants of the terrorist branch of the Irish Republican Army.
The investigation spans the continents, with serious crimes including kidnapping, extortion, and murder. It is indeed a race to the finish for both life and reputation.
This book is a legal thriller that paces well with high-stakes in the horse racing world. John F. Dobbyn is both a lawyer and a mystery writing resident of Boston. Bet he goes to the races too.
STOLEN SOULS
STUART NEVILLE
Soho Crime October, 2011
It was Christmas Eve. Galya had his blood running beneath her naked toes as she dropped the broken glass dagger she had used to kill the younger brother of Arturas Strazdas, a merciless, iron-fisted cocaine-using Lithuanian crime boss.
Somehow she must manage to escape. Unfortunately, her savior turns out to be insane and a serial killer. Bodies are buried in the basement and she can see scratch marks on the windows and doors where others had lost their lives. Through a freaky event, Detective Jack Lennon becomes involved as he tries to determine who and how the guy with the glass sliver in his neck winds up by the side of a dirty lake.
The bad guys have strings into Lennon's superiors and they want the girl. How dare a new sex slave kill one of them! Lennon has a girl friend and she is watching his children as his dead wife's family tries to get them for the holidays. He keeps his eyes on all the bouncing balls.
Violence is rampant in this gripping time ticking Belfast thriller. The Ukrainian girl has pluck as each new danger unfolds. Ingenious too.
What a book!
UNDER THE SKIN
VICKI LANE
Bantam Books Trade PBO 10/11
Two sisters, so alike yet so different. Lizzy grows organic plants and makes grape vine wreaths with sweet herbs. She is planning her wedding to comfortable, solid, smart policeman Philip. Gloria, on the other hand, is far from a nature girl. She collects rich husbands and beautiful clothes. Gloria flees to Lizzy and confides her husband is trying to kill her; which Lizzy doubts.
There is another story taking place a hundred years earlier at North Carolina's new improved resort. The DeVine Sisters and their brother are running a little fortune telling scam which turns into murder.
The stories alternate between the time periods and I eagerly awaited the link. The link is murder. For closure, the two sisters must look at each other in a new light. Philip understands crime but certainly not women.
If you are looking for something a little different to read, try this. It is well written with strong believable characters and is definitely unusual.
PICTURE OF LIES
C. C. HARRISON
Five Star October, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4328-2506-5
Keegan Thomas, award winning investigative journalist, has burned out. Her child Daisy was kidnapped while Keegan was shooting pictures on the beach. There had been no one in sight and she had turned toward the water for just a minute for the shoot. When she turned back, Daisy was gone! She looked behind every sandy hill, had the experts out, but Daisy was gone! This was the start of her series on missing children.
Top it off with her boyfriend admitting he was cheating and Keegan needs a new direction. She remembers a picture of her grandfather taken many years before at Monument Valley on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Perhaps tracking down the stories of the people in the picture might make an interesting story, she reasoned.
Flashing that picture stirs up murder, lies, cover-ups and a new boyfriend with a few secrets of his own. Incidentally, John Wayne was also in the picture. Then, in the midst of the mayhem, Keegan gets a message that her daughter has been spotted abroad.
The mysteries are swirling like a west Texas sand storm. Lots of grit to boot. This is a wonderful book to read. I thought Harrison's 2008 nationally recognized suspense novel THE CHARMSTONE was spectacular. I am converted. Now I am on the lookout for anything she writes.
THE BLACK STILETTO
RAYMOND BENSON
Oceanview Publishing September, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60809-020-4
Have you ever read a novel that made you smile at almost every page?
Martin Talbot's Alzheimer stricken mother had a secret closet in the house Martin is about to sell. In it he finds diaries, news clippings and an outfit that might make Wonder Woman jealous.
It seems the 1950's had a masked vigilante known as the Black Stiletto and it just might have been his mother. Martin tries to talk to her, but she really relates to Martin's daughter, who he wants to become an accountant. The daughter, on the other hand, is much like her grandmother and prefers something much more colorful. After fifty years in prison, one of the Stiletto's old enemies is released from jail with vengeance in his eye. Now, the grandmother, the son and the granddaughter are dealing with an aging mobster intent on murder.
Raymond Benson is noted for six of the original James Bond 007 novels, films, short stories and two anthologies on Bond. No wonder I adored this book. He has won other awards writing as David Michaels. THE BLACK STILETTO is the first of a new thriller series. YIPPEE!
THE IMMORTALIST
KYLE MILLS
Thomas & Mercer Publishing / Amazon Encore December, 2011
Have you ever heard of a rare disease called progeria? It causes premature aging and it is so rare that few foundations will grant research funds.
That is exactly the situation in which brilliant microbiologist Richard Draman finds himself. His eight-year-old daughter has it and the clock is ticking. He has given up his career in cancer research to devote himself to trying to round up enough money to fund his research to save Susie. The atmosphere changes dramatically when the widowed friend of a fellow researcher, working on unraveling the fundamental secrets of life, visits him and professes his belief his wife was not a suicide but was murdered. He passes his wife's notes on to Richard, who thinks this might help his daughter.
Almost immediately, Richard is charged with Industrial Espionage by the pharmaceutical company that funded the research. A bad guy climbs in his child's bedroom window intent on kidnapping her. Richard manages to rescue her but the police ignore him. He knows his family's life is in danger. The arm of the big pharmaceutical company is long and strong. Richard turns to an old friend, Burt Seeger, a retired special-forces operative. The quest is on to find out who is out to get them and why. And avoid getting caught and get the information to save Susie's life. The realism and unconventional heroes entertains and educates.
This is a first rate political thriller, as is every provocative crime thriller Mills has penned in the past. Do you suppose the fact his dad was a former FBI agent and director of Interpol prepared him to write these gripping tales?
THE FACES OF ANGELS
LUCRETIA GRINDLE
Felony & Mayhem Trade PBO 12/11
ISBN: 978-1-934609-86-6
Written in the first person, we meet our heroine, Mary Warren, as she is on her honeymoon with her husband in Florence. She foolishly wanders away into a ruined maze in one of the Cities great palazzis.
A masked man jumps out from behind grabs her hair, throws her down, stuffs her mouth, ties her up, flips her over and she sees the blade! As he begins to slice and dice, her husband appears. and is killed in the fight that follows. Within months, the killer is caught and dies.
Two years pass and Mary again goes to Florence to meet her first love. He works as the Editor of a newspaper. Women are again being slashed and murdered in the same general area where Mary was attacked. Mary fears the killer has not been correctly identified, or there is a copy cat. The police wonder about Mary; could she be involved? She is reading the news file before anything is printed.
This richly colored, terrifying plot includes a present day artist painting the faces of the victims on the restored relief he is doing for the Church. He, too, has lost a love to the slasher.
Be prepared for the wonderful feel of Florence and the vivid feel of fear.
THE FACES OF ANGELS is the first book in Lucretia Grindle's "Florence" series. The second book has been nominated for England's CWA Gold Dagger Award which is a very big deal. I RECOMMEND you become a reader as she is going places.
SLASH AND BURN
MATT HILTON
Harper pb 11/11
After fourteen years in CIA Special Ops, Joe Hunter has refined his fighting and killing skills. He has gone to work for an old military buddy with an investigative business. Kate Piers, the sister of a fallen comrade, knows her sister is in bad trouble and she enlists Hunter to help her find her missing sister.
Hunter agrees to help, but there are several things he does not know. Kate failed to to mention she is a cop until three guys are dead in a shoot-out at her sister's Kentucky mountain home, and Hunter is the one who shot them. The sister has crossed some seriously bad guys and taped a sadistic millionaire committing murder.
There are a pair of huge crazed twin killers involved in Kentucky, but the real show-down involves a private army with a violent conclusion in Texas after Kate is captured.
This book is destined to be a fantastic "guy" movie. Do you hear me Hollywood?
THE LOVER
LAURA WILSON
Felony & Mayhem Trade PBO 11/11
WAR!
Every night London is blitzed, but that is not what brings terror to mind.
This story is based on a true killer of the 1940's called the "Blackout Ripper". Just like his predecessor, Jack, the serial killer is very crafty. He is a good looking soldier with a sexual problem with women. The women might be considered loose, but it is wartime and some are trying to experience life before they die.
The story is told in calendar days and the thoughts of the main characters: A family with a mom driven crazy by the blitz; The air raid system and the people; The young women that just want to live; the Londoners determined to carry on and the killer, drawn to murder under the cover of darkness and bombing.
SHIVER!
This is a fast-paced, cannot put it down page turner. A daily dose of war is not easy to imagine but this book brings it home.
COLLATERAL DAMAGE
H. TERRELL GRIFFIN
Oceanview Publishing November, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60809-026-6
What is your pleasure? A thrilling international mystery with a retired special ops guy with Viet Nam military buddies who cover his back? Or a retired trial lawyer turned into a beach bum interested in the new police detective, Jennifer Diane (J.D. ) Duncan? Well, COLLATERAL DAMAGE has it all rolled up in Matt Royal.
After a lovely wedding on the beach, the groom, son of an old army buddy of Matt's, rises the next morning, makes love to his new wife and starts his morning run on the beach -- only to be shot by a sniper. There are no clues.
The same evening as the wedding, Matt and a buddy were fishing from Matt's boat when a River Cruise dinner ship nearly hits them and goes aground. The lights go out, people are spilled into the water. The Captain is dead and two unrelated dinner guest are found dead in the water the next day. It turns out the Captain has a broken neck. Again, no clues.
Matt's army buddy asks him to look into his son's death; this was the buddy that carried wounded Matt out of the battlefield at the risk of his own life. They lost touch for years, but how can Matt refuse? Longboat Key, Florida, has few murders and Matt wonders what the connection could be. Speculating with J.D. Duncan becomes Matt's new hobby -- until she disappears. Prepare for doubt and deception,
I hope I have teased you enough with these bare bones to make you inclined to read Matt's newest adventure. I am so glad I did and I think you will be also. H. Terrell Griffin is an award-winning novelist, a former trial lawyer and soldier.
MURDER IN ARGELÈS
D-L NELSON
Five Star December, 2011
American born Annie Young, a Third Culture young woman, is delighted and eager to return to her "nest" in Southern France. A dear friend and fellow history buff, Père Yves, has exciting news to share about their research in nearby Rennes-le-Chateau.
Father Yves is so excited he climbs the bell tower on the chapel to watch for her. A flip and a twist from the rear and the Father is over the wall and smashed onto the Angel below. It is early morning and Annie arrives to find the Father dead, speared by the Church Angel. Her cell phone has no charge so she dashes to her studio nest and calls for Police Chief Roger Perrin, her former lover. By the time he gets there, the dead priest has disappeared. The tiny village suspects Annie of making up the entire thing just to capture Chief Perrin's attention. He knows that is not true. Annie left him because she loved her free and unencumbered life.
Life in the village has history exciting enough to interest a leading documentary film maker. The characters are politically split between the old mayor, always on the take, and the new upstart with no family roots. The priest had lost his faith. Multi-lingual Annie speaks to Chief Perrin in English so the village cannot understand as they discuss the crime. There are many French words and phrases used when they speak with the villagers, but a glossary is provided at the end.
The setting and the culture make this as enchanting and delightful as murder can be. Also true: Annie is stalked and marked for murder. Sweet love and justice abound.
In case you are wondering, a Third Culture Kid is a child who has lived long enough outside the place of their parents or their birth to always feel an outsider. They combine other cultures into a third culture, their own.
What a charming book.