REVIEWS FROM CAROL HOWELL

MIDNIGHT FUGUE           
REGINALD HILL          
Harper  October, 2009

Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel is in church, trying to figure out how it can be Sunday when he's certain it should be Monday. As it turns out, this is the least of the problems he'll have this day, for the next 24 hours are filled with stunning events that could easily fill a month of Sundays. An old colleague calls him to ask a favor: will he help his girlfriend find her long-lost husband? The girlfriend is convinced she's spotted him in a news photo, a picture taken in the local Yorkshire area. Then, there's a pair of scoundrels trailing the girlfriend, a brother-and-sister who make up for their lack of morality with an excess of criminal enthusiasm. A Welsh journalist is convinced he's hot on the trail of a story that will unmask villainous secrets from the past that will ruin a big-time businessman. And the personal assistant of a local politician, son of said businessman, is concerned that his dad's past could negatively impact her boss's political aspirations. All of these individual threads are skillfully woven together in Hill's latest novel featuring Dalziel and Pascoe, and he's followed the splendid conceit of having all of the action take place in a day. It's a page-turner filled with stunning surprises and tongue-in-cheek humor, and Dalziel is at his topmost form despite his concerns about being chronology-challenged. This is an absolute winner.

                                                                                              - Carol Howell

WHITE GARDEN         
STEPHANIE BARRON         
Bantam Books Trade PBO 9/09

Jo Bellamy is a young American landscape designer hired by a wealthy entrepreneur to recreate Sissinghurst's famous White Garden in his back yard. She's happy to take on the assignment as it gives her a chance to explore and study one of the world's most famous gardens. Additionally, it will give her time to deal with her grief about her grandfather's recent inexplicable suicide, and do some research into his background; he had grown up in a nearby English town in the time between the two World Wars. However, Jo finds much more than she had bargained for - her grandfather, Jock, had actually worked at Sissinghurst. She discovers an old diary hidden away in a storage area that appears to be written by Virginia Woolf. Woolf's connection with the owner of the garden was well known, as she and Vita Sackville-West had been lovers and friends of long standing. But the diary is dated after Woolf's apparent suicide, and before the discovery of her corpse in the river. Pages are missing from the diary, and Jo becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about Woolf's death and her apparent connection to her grandfather. Her quest takes her through the lush countryside of England and to the two great universities, Oxford and Cambridge, as well as into the poshest areas of London where she becomes embroiled in a battle over the authenticity as well as the possession of the diary. Complicating matters is her ambivalence about her employer's decision to seduce her and her own growing interest in Peter Llewellyn, the manuscript expert of Sotheby's who is partnering her in the pursuit. This is a splendidly written historical mystery filled with details about the Bloomsbury Set and their idiosyncratic life styles. Woolf's journal is a mesmerizing stylistic match of her unique prose, and Jo is a delightful if confused protagonist who provides a rollercoaster of a ride. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                              - Carol Howell

Carol reviews two books by Manning Coles
in CLASSIC CORNER ,
GREEN HAZARD and THE FIFTH MAN .

In the U. K. REPORT you will find
two reviews from Carol:
THE LAST DAYS OF NEWGATE by Andrew Pepper and THE KILL CALL by Stephen Booth.

A DUTY TO THE DEAD           
CHARLES TODD         
William Morrow & Company  August, 2009

A dying soldier's request that a message be delivered to his brother is the impetus for Nurse Bess Crawford's pilgrimage to the small village of Owlhurst in Kent. Recuperating from a broken arm, sustained in the horrific devastation of the sinking of the Brittanic, a World War I hospital ship, Bess visits the family of Arthur Graham as she had promised. The mysterious message she carries to Arthur's brother Jonathan troubles her, however, and her vivid imagination is further aroused when she learns that there is another brother, Peregrine, locked away since age fourteen in a nearby asylum after he brutally murdered a young housemaid while on a trip to London. The dynamics within the Graham family are convoluted and Bess is treated with apparent reluctant hospitality when her stay in Owlhurst is extended. Things are further complicated when another soldier requires her nursing skills to overcome a violent episode resulting from shell shock; and then, to the Graham family's horror, Peregrine is dumped on them to care for while he dies from pneumonia. Bess's nursing skills succeed in rescuing Peregrine and, having now met him and becoming so far embroiled in the spinoff from her message delivery, Bess is determined to decipher its significance - which she is now convinced relates to the maid's murder. She takes up this "duty" not only out of curiosity but also as a way of exonerating herself from the mixed feelings she now has about Arthur. An independent young woman of great determination, Bess is an appealing sleuth who speaks her mind and just barely manages to walk the fine line required by post-Edwardian society. Todd has created a fascinating lead character who lives up to the sometimes mesmerizing character of her predecessor, Inspector Ian Rutledge. A fabulous start to what I expect will be another great series. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                               - Carol Howell

GALLOWS LANE         
BRIAN McGILLOWAY         
Minotaur Books  September, 2009

James Kerr, an ex-con, returns to a small town in Southern Ireland, and is made to feel unwelcome by the local police who suspect he's come back for no good purpose. But their focus is soon shifted to the brutal murder of a young girl, her bludgeoned semi-nude corpse found in a new house that's under construction. Detective Inspector Ben Devlin soon settles on one of the muscular construction workers as a likely perpetrator, but a second young victim who survives her attack provides details that require that the investigation change course. Then, Kerr is implicated in the murder of a local academic, and this new violent crime stretches the local force to its limits. Added to the stressful mix are Devlin's concerns over his family's welfare, his ambivalence about seeking promotion and friction with a colleague that's rapidly escalating to an explosion. The heat of the Irish summer mirrors the rising temperature of the police work, and a number of cases begin to interweave and add to the complexity of the plot. Set in County Donegal, this is the second Irish police procedural featuring DI Devlin, and he's an interesting, complicated character whose emotions are frequently up front and not always under control. (At times, I joined him in questioning his choice of career.) The locale is convincingly drawn with splendid detail and the casual references to past Troubles add a unique flavor to the narrative. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable read. RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                               - Carol Howell

RED BONES           
ANN CLEEVES         
Minotaur Books  September, 2009

On the remote Shetland Island of Whalsey, young archeological student Hattie James digs up some old bones. The finding causes a stir among the island's small number of inhabitants, but things settle back into place and the dig goes on. Then, the old woman who owns the land is found shot to death, her body discovered by her own grandson, policeman Sandy Wilson. It appears likely that the death was accidental, a terrible error of judgment on the part of a young neighbor, himself a new father, who'd been arguing with his wife and left the house to cool off. Jimmy Perez, the police inspector who heads up the investigation, is Sandy's boss, and he pushes his young colleague to provide background information to flesh out the case. It readily becomes apparent that the islanders have convoluted histories and secrets that go back decades, and even Sandy is unaware of the origins of some of the long-standing stresses and strains. The dig itself is a source of tension, and Hattie and her fellow student have their own set of problems, including some past issues with the dig's occasional supervisor. For such a small island, the complexities are amazing, and it's up to Perez to sort things out. His task becomes even more difficult when a second death occurs, and it's clear there has to be a connection between the two events. This is the third installment in the Jimmy Perez series, and the tale is well-plotted and the characters painfully realistically portrayed. Perez is an interesting lead character with solid policing skills and potent intuition, and his relationship with his girlfriend provides a much-needed balance to the dark nature of both the plot and the island setting. RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                               - Carol Howell

Carol's reviews of
THE PRICE OF BUTCHER'S MEAT by Reginald Hill
and DANCING WITH DEMONS by Peter Tremayne appear on the PAPERBACK PAGE .
Also on the PAPERBACK PAGE are her reviews of two Donna Leon books, FATAL REMEDIES , the reprint of a 2007 release, and FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES , last year's hard cover release.

THE STING OF JUSTICE        
CORA HARRISON         
Minotaur Books  November, 2009

                                                                                                       - Carol Howell

Look for Carol's review of
DEATH AT CRANE'S COURT by Eilís Dillon in CLASSIC CORNER .

BRYANT & MAY ON THE LOOSE           
CHRISTOPHER FOWLER         
Bantam Books  December, 2009

They're ba-a-a-ack. Elderly and eccentric police detectives Arthur Bryant and John May have been permitted to reconstitute their Peculiar Crimes Unit in London, though the restrictions placed upon them and the hovel of an office they are assigned provide little comfort. A corpse has been found in a vacant and derelict shop newly leased by an entrepreneur determined to sell rugs and stuff. But in an old freezer are the remains of a male corpse grotesquely missing its head. The body is in no-man's land from a police departmental coverage standpoint; more importantly, the body is near King's Cross, site of a vast urban development program worth megabucks (make that megapounds) which could potentially be derailed if negative publicity results in investor withdrawal. So the PCU gets to find the killer which, under normal circumstances, might be a reasonable assignment. But, there's the mysterious and bizarrely costumed "stag man" who is spotted on the building site at strange hours, sometimes distributing leaflets, sometimes manhandling young women, even chasing Detective Sergeant Janice Longbright and escaping. When another corpse shows up, the PCU realizes that this little crime spree may well be one of the most difficult cases they've ever tackled, and there's the distinct possibility that there are ancient spiritual forces at work behind the scenes. Bryant and May are at their best in this latest episode of the series, and all their colleagues, including Crippen the cat, are active in the pursuit. The badinage between the principals is itself worth the price of admission, and Fowler's loving tour of what is now a bleak part of Central London is fascinating.

                                                                                                     - Carol Howell
                                                                                                                   *PHOTO CREDIT:  MARTIN BUTTERWORTH

THE COUNCIL OF THE CURSED           
PETER TREMAYNE          
Minotaur Books  November, 2009

Sister Fidelma and her companion Brother Eadulf are en route to a religious council in France when they are told that a murder has been committed at the host abbey. The convocation is one involving powerful churchmen throughout Western Europe, and the delegates are hotly (and at times violently) debating church policy. (It is late 7th Century, and the rift between Rome and the Celtic Church is coming to a head once again.) They learn that an Irish abbot has been found dead in the room occupied by another churchman who was apparently drugged, and a third churchman was found unconscious on the floor. Fidelma is commissioned by the disdainful Abbot Leodegard to decide which of the two religious leaders found near the corpse is guilty of murder. She accepts the assignment to find the truth, but makes it clear she must investigate the crime in her own way. She soon discovers that the Autun abbey has established a strict rule of separation of the sexes, and women (and children) are isolated in a now walled-off portion of the building, while previous marriages have been nullified. The women are under the rule of an Abbess who rivals Leodegard in personality defects, and appears determined to hinder Fidelma at every turn. With pressure mounting to reach a speedy conclusion, Fidelma finds that murder is only one of the mysteries she must solve, and she herself becomes a target of the killer. With a dazzling display of her skills and determination, Fidelma's triumphant resolution of the abbey's puzzles is a pleasure to read. RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                                   - Carol Howell

A RUMPOLE CHRISTMAS           
JOHN MORTIMER         
Viking  November, 2009

Horace Rumpole is the politically incorrect English barrister renowned for defending the undefendable, the staunch adversary of Injustice, frequent tippler of barely drinkable red wine, and the henpecked life partner of Hilda, She Who Must Be Obeyed. These five little jewels are quick flashes of legal bling and, of course, Rumpole manages to triumph in the end. One is a tale of a surprising example of Santa's generosity; another features a chunky Rumpole enduring a holiday at an upscale fat farm where murder helps him lose his appetite, but not his insight. Another features a precocious young boy who engages Rumpole's interest and helps him win a case; in a fourth, the Rumpoles spend the holiday with an old school chum of Hilda's, and Rumpole's infallible memory brightens the festivities. And finally, in the fifth, defending a murderer against impossible odds with a malevolent judge determined to sway the case, a burst of Christmas intuition helps Rumpole turn things around and bring off his own holiday miracle. Five vignettes of the holiday season featuring curmudgeonly lovable Rumpole - a definite treat! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                                 - Carol Howell

DECKED WITH FOLLY           
KATE KINGSBURY         
Berkeley Prime Crime Trade pb 11/09

Christmas at the Pennyfoot Hotel usually brings some deadly crisis, and this season is no exception. While most of the staff is busy preparing for the sumptuous holiday feast and festivities, Clive the handyman has discovered a corpse in the duck pond. And not just ANY corpse. The dead man is Ian Rossiter, former semi-husband of Gertie McBride, Pennyfoot's head maid, and father to her two adorable twins. Ian's been persona non grata for some time, having neglected to tell Gertie he was already married when he went through nuptials with her. She is known for her short temper and is the obvious suspect, and the local dense copper, PC Northcott, jumps to just that conclusion. But Cecily Baxter, proprietor of the hotel and amateur sleuth extraordinaire, persuades him to leave Gertie free during the holidays, planning to use the time to uncover the identity of the real villain and have the solution wrapped up as a late Xmas gift. Cecily has plenty of possible suspects to investigate: a mystery guest who's been behaving most peculiarly; Ian's real wife, who had recently moved with him to the local village; and the handyman who "found" the corpse and who had previous unpleasant encounters with the victim. As usual, Cecily's band of local pals are all on hand, and her loving but always disapproving spouse, Baxter, once again urges caution as she's been exposed to danger numerous times in the past. Cecily is in top form, and interviews and clues abound rapidly, leading to a swift and satisfying denouement. A holiday visit at the Pennyfoot is always a pleasure, and the cast of characters are all old friends with idiosyncrasies galore that expand delightfully with age. This is a charming cozy for a splendid evening's read. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                                 - Carol Howell