REVIEWS FROM JOHN A. BROUSSARD

John's e-mail address is:
broupome@hawaii.rr.com
He has been writing and selling fiction, including novels and short stories, for several years.

Eleven of John's books are now available in Kindle editions via Amazon.com.  Click on John's name below to view selections.     

MARCH - APRIL  REVIEWS

A WORLD I NEVER MADE         
JAMES LePORE         
The Story Plant April, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9816087-2-3

When Pat Nolan is notified by the French police that his estranged daughter Megan has committed suicide, he flies to Paris... only to find that the deceased is a stranger. Suspecting that the suicide note left behind in the dead woman's hand is really Megan's way of telling him that she is in hiding and wants to stay that way, he tells the authorities that the corpse is indeed that of his daughter, and he follows the expressed wish in the note to have the body immediately cremated. Meanwhile, there are others who suspect that Megan is still alive, and the search is on. Inept European and American intelligence agents are convinced she's in league with Arab terrorists, while the equally inept terrorists suspect she's a double agent. Pat, on the other hand, only wants to find his daughter and is given the assistance of an attractive French police officer in his quest. Fortunately, he also happens to have the help of a troop of gypsies blessed with second sight and a young flower girl who bears a remarkable resemblance to St.  Thérèse  of Lisieux. A WORLD I NEVER MADE has plenty of action, with bodies strewn from Morocco and France to Germany and Czechoslovakia. LePore intertwines Megan's story, as she becomes more and more entangled with the terrorists, and Pat's headlong hunt for her a year or so later. For those who are looking for an international thriller with gunfights, grenades and almost endless pursuit, this will be a more than satisfactory novel.

                                                                                              - John A. Broussard

NEPTUNE AVENUE          
GABRIEL COHEN         
Minotaur Books   April, 2009

Homicides are business as usual for the police in major US metropolitan areas. But the business changes to urgent when the murder victim is a friend of the investigating detective. While on another case -- the strangulation killing of a young prostitute -- NYPD Homicide Detective Jack Leightner hears that Daniel Lelo has been shot dead while at the wheel of his automobile. Calling on Daniel's wife, Eugenia, partly to console her, but also to find out what she knows about any enemies Daniel might have had, he learns that a Russian mobster had indeed been seen arguing with Daniel prior to the shooting. The matter becomes complex when Jack finds himself falling in love with Eugenia, even as he closes in on the mobster, who may be a threat to Eugenia, since she was the one who identified him. He is definitely a threat to the manager of Daniel's fish import business, and has already done him physical harm. NEPTUNE AVENUE is an intriguing mix of police procedural and romance, a combination which Cohen handles well. The first crime is solved early in the novel, but the second is resolved with a dramatic surprise in its final pages.

                                                                                             - John A. Broussard

FEELERS         
BRIAN M. WIPRUD         
Minotaur Books March, 2009

Liquidating an estate requires professionals, including "feelers" - otherwise known as "home content removers." They're the ones called in to clean out abandoned homes. The lowest bidder for the job can then do what he wants with whatever he may find in the course of the cleanup. Monty Martinez, a successful East Brooklyn feeler, hits it big when he shows up with his gang of laborers at one site and finds a cache of $800,000. But word of the find gets around fast, despite his efforts to keep it a secret. Very soon he has three others looking to divest him of his windfall: Danny Kessel, a recently paroled convict who had taken part in the armed car robbery which was the origin of the money; an ex-cop who is badly in need of cash and who figures the convict will lead him to it; and a fellow feeler who simply wants the loot, period. What Monty doesn't realize is that there's also a fourth party bird-dogging the money. Kessel is by far the most persistent and most dangerous, leaving a trail of bodies behind him as he searches for Monty and the prize he feels is rightfully his. But there's a catch. The heist had actually netted some five million dollars, and nobody seems to have any inkling as to what may have happened to the rest of it. FEELERS has a twofold theme. First, Monty's frantic efforts to evade his pursuers; second, the very real difficulties entailed in successfully hiding large sums of money. Wiprud has come up with a clever plot, nicely written in the first person, with a very believable protagonist who makes no claims to being a hero.

                                                                                            - John A. Broussard

BLOOD AND ICE         
ROBERT MASELLO         
Bantam Books March, 2009

Bodies can sometimes be found in strange places, but few will be stranger than under an Antarctic ice shelf. When photographer/journalist Michael Wilde scuba dives into the chilly depths in connection with a story he's doing about scientific research at the bottom of the world, he spots the body of a woman embedded in a submerged iceberg. With the help of one of the crew at the station, he cuts out a chunk containing the body and returns it to the surface... where far more than just the mystery of how the body got there comes to light. One of the scientists, whose specialty is the fish that survive in Antarctic waters, takes over the gradual thawing of the find and discovers that there are two individuals in the ice. The second one is a man chained to his fellow victim. BLOOD AND ICE is a fantasy underlying a thin veneer of science fiction. There's something here for vampire fans, as well as for anyone who may ever have speculated about the possibility of zombies. Masello pushes beyond the limits of believability, so readers who insist on something approximating the real world will be disappointed. Those more accepting of the incredible will find mystery and suspense aplenty in this cleverly-plotted novel, along with graphic descriptions of the frigid Antarctic world.

                                                                                          - John A. Broussard

PERCEPTION OF DEATH         
LOUISE ANDERSON         
Bantam Books PBO 3/09

Some families go beyond dysfunction. Erin Paterson's kin are prime examples. Her father, founder of a prominent law firm, has had several strokes, and slips in and out of reality. Her mother, teetering on the edge of psychosis, is little more than a sump of bitterness. Her older brother, Leland, after a history of viciously abusing his siblings, has committed suicide. Her younger brother has drifted off into a latter-day hippie existence of wandering aimlessly around the world. Her younger sister,  Brontë , is a single mother who leaves her four-year-old son haphazardly in anyone's care while she parties, boozes and does drugs. But the one who bears most of the scars is Erin, herself. A successful attorney in her father's law firm, she is a compulsive workaholic of the worst kind and has a boyfriend she's planning to divest herself of. Returning unexpectedly to her apartment from the office to pick up some documents she'd forgotten, she discovers him in flagrante. She tells him to get out. They quarrel. He threatens her, and she strikes him across the head with a bronze statuette. It's all downhill from there. He launches assault charges against her, her firm takes a dim view of the resulting publicity and eventually fires her. She receives an enigmatic phone message from a woman she hardly knew, someone who is later found brutally murdered. And then it appears that the murder is connected to the long-dead Leland, and Erin becomes more and more enmeshed in what may be serial murders. When Brontë is also mysteriously attacked but survives, and Erin receives threatening calls and notes, she becomes convinced that the murderer has decided to make her his next victim. PERCEPTION OF DEATH is an intricate portrait of a woman who is desperately trying to forget the horror of her childhood and is now suddenly forced to confront it anew. Anderson has turned out a first-rate thriller, one that is so well paced, plotted and written that it's hard to believe it's her first novel.

                                                                                              - John A. Broussard

OUT AT NIGHT         
SUSAN ARNOUT SMITH         
Minotaur Books   March, 2009

Death by arrow. That's the fate of a university professor killed in a field of soy -- a crop which becomes central to the story. Crime scene technician Grace Descanso is summoned from the Caribbean to San Diego to help with the investigation. The dead man's last phone message had been to her and, more importantly, her uncle, Pete Descanso, is an important FBI agent who is convinced that the homicide has implications that go far beyond the murder itself. Time is of the essence, since the crime seems almost certainly to be tied to Radical Damage, an extremist eco-group that may be planning to disrupt a convention on genetic crop modification, to be held in the city within a few days. The plot is a complex one, involving freight train hijackings, DNA testing, destruction of test crops and a second killing with the same m.o. as the first. OUT AT NIGHT is in the best whodunit tradition, with suspects galore and an abundance of clues, including obscure psychological concepts such as prosopagnosia. Smith does a masterly job of intertwining concerns about the implications of current scientific discoveries, the rage of some individuals against what they see as imminent danger to mankind, and the personal and tangled lives of several of her main characters. She will definitely keep you guessing up to the penultimate chapter.

                                                                                             - John A. Broussard

UNTIL IT'S OVER          
NICCI FRENCH         
Minotaur Books   March 2009

Seventy-two Maitland Road, an old mansion located in one of London's blighted neighborhoods, nevertheless houses a happy family - benign landlord Mike, and six roommates. Then, two seemingly unrelated events, which later affect each other, begin the downward spiral in the relationships. The first is the decision by Mike's new girlfriend to move in and move the others out. The second is that roommate Astrid Bell, a bicycle dispatcher in a hurry to get home, slams into the suddenly opened door of a neighbor's automobile. Fortunately, Astrid is only badly bruised, but the neighbor is found dead the next morning. And then there's another homicide. This time it's a woman in a different neighborhood whose face has been slashed, and Astrid is the unfortunate person who discovers her. When a third body is found, disfigured much like the previous one and by the same person, the police can see only one connection - Astrid. Part 1 of UNTIL IT'S OVER deals with the household's relationships and Astrid's seeming involvement in the murders. The story then segues into Part 2, which is a first-person narrative by the killer, detailing his emotions, motives and the steps he takes to cover his crimes. French does a truly amazing job of making the characters both complex and believable. Even minor figures such as the smarmy police psychologist are memorable and plausible. Most significant is the portrait of a perpetrator who contrives elaborate and effective schemes, and yet makes incredibly stupid mistakes in the process. This is indeed a novel that will be difficult to put down. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                                - John A. Broussard

THE GIRL SHE USED TO BE          
DAVID CRISTOFANO          
Grand Central Publishing   March, 2009

The Federal Witness Protection Program (WITSEC), designed to provide permanent concealment to vulnerable witnesses and informants, is by its very nature one of the more secret operations of the U.S. Government. Melody Grace McCartney knows a good deal about it, however, having been one of those in the WITSEC program for twenty years, after witnessing a brutal Mafia killing when she was six. It's a strange life indeed, where she's constantly looking over her shoulder, and is whisked over and over again to a new life with a new identity when it seems that the killer has located her. THE GIRL SHE USED TO BE provides an in-depth analysis of what it's like to keep losing one's sense of self. It's natural that Melody would turn for comfort to the agent in charge of her case; surprisingly, she also finds a sympathetic ear in the very person who has been given the task of disposing of her. Cristofano excels at depicting the loneliness of his protagonist, which is intensified by the romance which becomes integral to the story. With witty dialog, intriguing characters and a fast pace, this suspense novel should meet the standards of most readers.

                                                                                               - John A. Broussard

CAST THE FIRST STONE         
REBBIE MACINTYRE         
Five Star   March 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59414-746-3


The wheels of justice grind slowly, and in few places more so than in South Colorado's Coyote County, where Sheriff Mallis has arrested ne'er-do-well Parn Shannon for homicide and is holding him until the circuit court judge arrives for the arraignment... which may not happen for weeks. Trini Bates, Parn's sister, isn't about to wait that long, certain as she is that Parn would never have murdered his fellow bootlegger. She's further convinced that Mallis has planted evidence to implicate her brother and may actually himself be the killer as well as having been involved in the illegal liquor enterprise. Using her powers as a dowser -- which in her case means she can locate not only water but also missing persons, dead or alive -- Trini sets out to prove her brother's innocence. CAST THE FIRST STONE is set in a strange community, where dysfunctional families appear to be the rule rather than the exception. One-parent families are common, and intra-familial violence is even more prevalent, exacerbated as it is by the Great Depression, which is at its height. Macintyre excels at depicting a depressed rural economy in a countryside riddled with abandoned mine shafts and awash in illegal booze. It also harbors secrets which Trini, with her uncanny abilities, unwittingly drags out into the light of day.

                                                                                         - John A. Broussard

IN THE DARK          
BRIAN FREEMAN        
Minotaur Books   April, 2009

Laura Starr's murder occurred thirty years ago. The suspect in the teenager's death almost immediately fled the scene and disappeared into the night. That was enough to informally close the case as far as the Duluth PD was concerned. Not so for Detective Lieutenant Jonathan Stride, who had been a teenager at the time and who had been very close to the scene of the crime. There are additional reasons for his refusal to forget it, however. One was that he later married Laura's sister who, until her death from cancer, had frequently and painfully recalled that awful night. The main reason, though, is the return to the city of Laura's friend Tish Verdure, who is eager to write a book about the homicide and is convinced that she knows the identity of the murderer -- someone still living in the area. No brief description of IN THE DARK's plot can do it justice, since the various suspects have hidden pasts, while dysfunctional families and habitual liars abound. In addition, there's a peeping tom currently in the neighborhood who somehow or other is connected to that much earlier crime. Freeman combines memorable characterizations with a complex but very believable plot that culminates in several surprising twists and turns. This one is a winner all the way. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                             - John A. Broussard

LIARS ANONYMOUS         
LOUISE URE         
Minotaur Books   April, 2009

Pathological liar, guilty-but-acquitted murderer, a misfit rejected by her adoptive mother and siblings... Jessica Dancing Gammage seems an unlikely choice for a crime novel's hero. And yet she comes off as an amazingly sympathetic figure in the hands of this talented writer. Finally freed from a lengthy stay in jail while awaiting trial, Jessie is bitter and unrepentant, having killed the uncle of her closest friend who told her about the sexual abuse she had suffered at his hands. Even so, she has now settled down to a job she enjoys as a Tucson roadside assistance operator. It's there she receives a call from Darren Markson. His airbag has deployed as a result of a rear-ender. Over the open line she hears Markson's subsequent quarrel with whoever rammed his car and what sounds like physical violence. Then the connection goes dead. Unsatisfied with the police's response, or lack of it, to what appears to be a crime scene, Jessie undertakes some investigating of her own -- a search which leads her into Arizona's criminal underworld, with its drug trafficking, illegal immigrant smuggling and something far worse. Ure does a remarkable job of conjuring up the barrenness, deadly heat, and conflicting cultures and values of this troubled border area. LIARS ANONYMOUS combines suspense and mystery with a very different kind of ending. Best of all, it contains at its core a profound moral lesson. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                           - John A. Broussard

CHINATOWN ANGEL         
A. E. ROMAN         
Minotaur Books   March, 2009

There's plenty of work in the Bronx for a private investigator -- even for one who has been out of action for six months while feeling sorry for himself over the breakup with his wife. Markos Rivera, millionaire wannabe film star, is willing to pay generously for newly re-emerged PI Chico Santana's services. All he has to do is to find Markos' missing niece, Tiffany, who has gone into hiding. The job should be a piece of cake for someone as familiar with the local community as Santana is, but there are others out there who would much rather that Tiffany be kept wherever she is - out of sight. Among those offering Santana good money to fail the assignment is Markos' girlfriend, who soon ends up dead: an apparent suicide, though Santana is convinced she was murdered. The mystery deepens as he finds more and more of the wealthy Rivera family involved in either wanting Tiffany to show up or wanting her to stay away. And when he does finally run her down, Santana uncovers even more mysteries. CHINATOWN ANGEL describes a community that contains a mix of Latino groups, blacks and Asians, where booze, drugs, random sex and guns are a part of everyday life. Roman is obviously at home in this world, which he describes with gusto as he spins a tale of intrigue that pits family member against family member.

                                                                                         - John A. Broussard

THE MAN IN THE WINDOW         
K. O. DAHL         
Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett
Minotaur Books   April, 2009

A policeman's lot is not a happy one. That's especially true for the Oslo PD in midwinter. Homicides don't help, either, as Detective Inspector Frank  Frølich  and his boss, Chief Inspector Gunnarstranda, discover when they have to deal with the corpse of a local businessman. Reidar Folke Jespersen's nude body was spotted early in the morning sitting naked on a chair in the window of his antique shop. The day before had been a busy one for him. It included a quarrel with his two brothers over the proposed sale of the business, his accusatory call to his wife while she was in bed with her lover, an acrimonious encounter with a disgruntled former employee, and his unannounced visit to an actress who was being followed by a jealous wannabe suitor. All in all, these are more than enough suspects to keep both the officers running around in the freezing cold, interviewing them, along with various witnesses. THE MAN IN THE WINDOW is a police procedural that may be all too close to the long and tedious interrogations of suspects by real world police. Dahl has captured it all with lengthy introspections by the two protagonists, even longer conversations with suspects, and a depiction of frozen Oslo that may have the reader looking around for a warm blanket. The translation is adequate, with only occasional minor lapses into peculiar idioms.

                                                                                          - John A. Broussard

A CARRION DEATH          
MICHAEL STANLEY         
Harper Trade pb 3/09

The title is borne out in the very first line when, at the cautious approach of two men, a hyena reluctantly leaves the desiccated fragments of a corpse. Assistant Superintendent Kubu takes on the case, and has his hands full as he tries to identify the shattered bones, determine the cause of death, and -- when it becomes clear that he has a murder to solve -- find the killer. In a land rich in diamond mines, greed often overrides more humane emotions, and that seems to be the case here. The Botswana Cattle and Mining Company's executives and the members of its founding family are definitely involved, but the lines of suspicion cross and re-cross. Dual authors Michael Sears and Stanley Trollip, writing under the name of Michael Stanley, have drawn a memorable character in their protagonist. Three-hundred-pound Kubu (the native name for hippopotamus) has been appropriately nicknamed. His love of food and wine is exceeded only by his love for his wife. He is shrewd, competent, and skilled in dealing with his crotchety superior, CID Director Jacob Mabaku. Between the two of them, they manage to untangle the skein of conspiracy and death that spreads through the veldt from Angola to South Africa. Readers who have become fascinated with Botswana through the McCall Smith series, will find A CARRION DEATH, despite its title, to be a delight. For others, looking for a first-rate mystery novel with puzzles wrapped in enigmas, this will be a pleasure to read. Anyone sharing these two perspectives will have discovered a rare prize. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                           - John A. Broussard

THE CHAMELEON CONSPIRACY         
HAGGAI CARMON         
Leisure pb 4/09

The world of Ponzi schemes has already penetrated the world of fiction, but in this instance, the entrepreneur leaves the scene of his crime before getting caught. He then moves on to repeat performances, or similar illegal enterprises, elsewhere and under a different name - hence the "Chameleon." It's the Department of Justice's Dan Gordon whose job it is to find the elusive criminal. The task involves a complex search through myriad financial transactions which ultimately uncovers something far more sinister than the work of a lone but skillful con artist. The Chameleon is evidently working with a terrorist organization whose main office is in Iran, so Gordon is assigned to go undercover into that country to ferret out the group and its membership. To do so, he works in close cooperation with the Mossad, which is actually running the espionage scene in a country that has virtually cleansed itself of CIA operatives. At least half of THE CHAMELEON CONSPIRACY is concerned with the intricacies of international finance, hardly as exciting as the standard portrayal of clandestine activities, but perhaps far closer to what actually happens in the rivalry between hostile nations. When Gordon gets to Iran, the situation very rapidly heats up. Spies abound. Few turn out to be who they claim to be, but Gordon does discover an Iranian plot to wake up "sleepers" in the U.S. who are scheduled to launch an imminent nationwide terrorist attack. With a middle-aged protagonist, little booze, only minor car chases, and women playing a very minor role, this is more  Carré than 007.

                                                                                          - John A. Broussard

A FALSE DAWN         
TOM LOWE         
Minotaur Books   April, 2009

One would expect that a homicide detective, resigning after a serious case of burnout, would steer clear of unexplained deaths. At least, that's what Sean O'Brien had planned when he moved out to the banks of Florida's St. John's River to devote his time and energy to remodeling an old house. Expectations don't work out, however, when he finds the body of a horribly battered young woman in the nearby woods. The indifference of a hostile local police force spurs him on to apply his own investigative experience to the murder, with the help of a friend in the Miami PD and a local detective who is serious about running down clues, despite her boss's reluctance to make any real effort in the case. The search takes O'Brien into Florida's fetid migratory labor camps, into the homes of executives running the agricultural corporations responsible for the squalid conditions, and into the local alligator infested swamps. A FALSE DAWN centers on DNA findings, a bit of woo-woo, and O'Brien's relentless pursuit of the killer. Lowe keeps the excitement at a high pitch as he probes into the murky world where unscrupulous mega-farm owners habitually exploit powerless, illegal-immigrant workers.

                                                                                                                  - John A. Broussard

MAY - JUNE  REVIEWS

BACK TO THE COAST        
SASKIA NOORT         
Translated from the Dutch by Laura Vroomen
Bitter Lemon Press Trade PBO 6/09
ISBN: 978-1-904738-37-4

One of the unfortunate consequences of being a public figure is the increased likelihood of attracting a stalker. Singer Maria Sophia Vos suddenly has that problem in spades. Frightening letters, dismissed by the police as being not really threatening, culminate with a dead rat sent to her in a neatly wrapped package. Needless to say, Maria is terrified and decides to pack up, leave Amsterdam and go visit her sister in one of the more remote parts of the country. Could the sender of these letters be the father of her younger child who she has just broken up with? Or perhaps it's her older child's father who has just now come back to The Netherlands from America. And, of course, it may be some shadowy figure who has become fanatically attracted to her and is in the audience at each of her performances. BACK TO THE COAST is a realistic portrayal of a young mother terrified both for herself and for her young children as some anonymous creature seems to be watching her every move. Noort is skilled in maintaining the natural suspense of this variety of mystery, and the book's smooth flowing translation enhances the quality of the novel. That many regular readers of this genre will soon spot the perpetrator doesn't lessen the gripping quality of the tale.

                                                                                         - John A. Broussard

THE LAST LLANELLI TRAIN           
ROBERT LEWIS         
Serpent's Tail Trade PBO 6/09

ISBN: 978-1-85242-890-2

Private Investigator mysteries run the gamut from the heroic protagonist to down-and-out lowlife. Robin Llywelyn of Bristol, England, has fallen off the bottom of that scale. Barely able to function because of his alcoholism, he still has rare and very brief moments of sobriety when he chain smokes and gambles away whatever money he's managed to beg, borrow, or steal and hasn't spent on booze. In the midst of an alcoholic haze, he loses the keys to his shabby living quarters and wanders into his even shabbier office to find a client with a very generous proposition. She's certain her husband is cheating on her and wants to entrap him in an affair with a woman so she can obtain a lucrative divorce. Though suspecting that there's more to this case than meets the eye, Robin takes it on and spends his retainer fee and advances on liquor while haphazardly planning the entrapment. THE LAST LLANELLI TRAIN winds its way from pub to pub as Robin becomes dimly aware of what is really going on. Lewis has his own writing style, a rapid-fire combination of introspection and wry commentary on the ambiance Robin muddles through. For the reader looking for a noir tale, this one should be truly satisfying, since it manages to explore the darkest of dark places.

                                                                                         - John A. Broussard

THE DROWNING RIVER         
KIM BYRNE         
Five Star   June, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59414-769-2

Was Wickman College student Hannah McPhee's fatal plunge off the bridge over Drowning River simply an accident? Or could it have been suicide? The police write it off as one or the other - case closed. But rumors are circulating among students at the college that the co-ed was pushed, and the facts are pursued with a vengeance by her twin sister, Elise Moloney. The matter is complicated by the fact that Elise had never met Hannah. Adopted shortly after birth by a loving couple, she never even knew she had a sister. Unaware that her twin had been a student at Wickman, Elise enrolls in the college's graduate program a year after Hannah's death, and immediately causes a stir as she is mistaken over and over again for the deceased woman. Why were they separated at birth? Who was their biological mother? What really happened that winter night when Hannah wandered off in a drunken stupor across the rickety bridge? And who is sending Elise threatening messages warning her to stop looking for answers to these questions? THE DROWNING RIVER offers an intriguing glimpse into the partying life of a small Cape Cod college, and Byrne has come up with an equally intriguing mystery, which offers plenty of suspense as Elise works her way through her own interpersonal relationships on the way to answering the questions that plague her.

                                                                                       - John A. Broussard

SALLY KOSLOW*

THE LATE, LAMENTED MOLLY MARX         
SALLY KOSLOW         
Ballantine Books May, 2009

What must it be like to have died and then returned as a disembodied spirit to observe friends, relatives and a homicide detective trying to fathom what may have happened to young wife and mother Molly Divine Marx? No one wonders more than Molly, whose spectral self now has the gift of reading people's thoughts as the investigation drags on. She grieves over Annabelle, her four-year-old daughter. She despises Barry, her two-timing husband, and has mixed feelings about Larry, her irrepressible lover. Most of all, she's moved by the genuine grief and love of her parents and sister. THE LATE, LAMENTED MOLLY MARX is actually very much a portrait of this earthly life, rather than the afterlife -- or "Duration," as the residents of that nether realm call their current state. The mystery surrounding Molly's demise is but a small part of this tale, which explores a Twenty-First Century marriage rife with infidelity, but accompanied by Nineteenth Century feelings of guilt. Only readers who are completely turned off by fictional ventures into the supernatural will sell this novel short. Koslow is a truly superb writer. The underplayed humor is captivating. The exploration into the minds of her characters (made possible by her protagonist's newly acquired talent) is fascinating, and the question about what happened to Molly in those last moments of life will keep you guessing right up to and perhaps beyond the final chapter. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

                                                                                              - John A. Broussard
                                                                                                                                  *PHOTO CREDIT:  JAMES MAHER

MURDER ON WAVERLY PLACE         
VICTORIA THOMPSON         
Berkley Prime Crime June, 2009

What better time and place for a murder to happen than at a  séance , where it's pitch black and the participants are sitting around a table holding hands (or, in this instance, wrists)? So, it happens! When the lights are turned on, one of their number lies dead with a knife buried in her back. Deciding the police aren't doing enough to run down the murderer,  séance  participant Mrs. Decker calls on her widowed daughter, Sarah Branch, to enlist the aid of her close friend, NYPD Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy. Though Frank has few problems with hotly pursuing proletariat suspects in class-conscious 1897 New York City, he needs Sarah and her mother to help in the far more sensitive interrogation of the wealthy and socially prominent individuals who attended the fatal gathering. Working together, the three of them unravel the truth and, in a final dramatic scene, apprehend the guilty party. MURDER ON WAVERLY PLACE is in the tradition of early crime novels, with an emphasis on manners and a conclusion that will stretch the reader's credulity. Thompson's latest Gaslight Mystery will, however, definitely meet with the special approval of Christie fans.

                                                                                         - John A. Broussard

THE FRIGHTENED MAN         
KENNETH CAMERON         
Minotaur Books  May, 2009

Jack The Ripper is back, or so the frightened man claims as he storms into Denton's home to announce that he's witnessed the killing and disembowelment of one of London's numerous prostitutes. Fleeing in fear before former law enforcement officer Denton can get over his skepticism, the intruder leaves behind his hat, with "R. Mulcahy" written on the hatband. Next day, after having dismissed the incident as the aberration of a disturbed personality, Denton finds that a woman, Stella Minter, has indeed been killed, very much the way Mulcahy had described. Despite the open hostility of the London police, Denton sets off to locate Mulcahy and, finding him dead, then searches out the background of the murdered woman. With THE FRIGHTENED MAN's setting in the 1900 London slums, and Jack The Ripper's legacy as background, one would expect a rather gruesome tale. Other than a meticulously detailed autopsy of the murdered woman, however, the book centers almost entirely on Denton's painstaking and painful search, in this pre-Google world, through voluminous official records -- first for R. Mulcahy and then, after the frightened man's demise, for the elusive real identity of Stella Minter. Cameron knows his early Twentieth-Century London and brings its sights, sounds (and smells) to life. The ending isn't terribly surprising, but it's a fitting conclusion to a story of criminal investigation in a world where telephones are a rarity, automobiles are just beginning to appear, and police procedures are of the most primitive variety.

                                                                                          - John A. Broussard

YRSA SIGURDARDÓTTIR

MY SOUL TO TAKE         
YRSA SIGURDARDÓTTIR
Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder and Anna Yates
William Morrow & Company May, 2009

At first, the legal matter promises to be simply routine. New hotel owner Jónas Júlíusson insists the building he has just purchased is flawed, and he wants Attorney  Thóra Gudmundsdóttir to look into the problem.   Since the property is located in a picturesque area of rural Iceland, the case seems to augur a pleasant, all-expenses-paid vacation. But the work turns out to be anything but routine. The flaw Jónas is referring to is a ghost. The hotel and grounds are haunted. Highly skeptical though Thóra is, she feels she has little to lose by humoring the generous landowner. Hardly has she arrived at the property, however, when a murder occurs. The corpse of the young woman architect Jónas had hired to design an extension to the hotel is found on the nearby beach. When Thóra's client emerges as the prime suspect, Thóra inevitably becomes entangled in the search for the real murderer, which entails a painstaking unraveling of leads as she questions reluctant employees, guests and neighboring farmers -- all of whom seem to have something to hide. It soon becomes evident that the current death is somehow related to the disappearance of a young girl several generations ago. MY SOUL TO TAKE is difficult for readers of the English version to follow, as unfamiliar places and even less familiar personal and family names fill these pages. A list of characters would have done much to ease the burden, and a map would have helped.  Sigurdardóttir, in spite of these difficulties and through the veil of a somewhat stilted translation, manages to come up with an intriguing mystery where the attorney for the defense seems to do all the work while a somnolent local police force reaps the benefit of her discoveries.

                                                                                           - John A. Broussard

RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL          
JAMIE FREVELETTI         
William Morrow & Company  May, 2009

Emergency landings of commercial airliners should be avoided -- especially over Columbian jungles where landing strips are short, guerillas abound, and disease-carrying mosquitoes wait impatiently to feast on new targets. Emma Caldridge is one of the fortunate passengers, thrown clear of the plane and suffering only minor cuts and bruises. But she witnesses a horrifying scene. Half the plane has gone up in flames, and a paramilitary group shows up to march the survivors off to be held as hostages. Emma decides to follow them, hoping to somehow free them. As a chemist for a cosmetic company, she's had previous experience with the Columbian back country, looking for herbs of value in her work. But this trip had a far different goal, and it becomes evident that there is considerable interest by mysterious forces in finding her. RUNNING FROM THE DEVIL sprints through the gamut of good to evil� from a lily-white American military contractor (interestingly enough, labeled "Darkview"), to a stodgy Washington bureaucracy, to a corrupt Columbian government, to several drug cartels and splinter guerilla groups, including the one controlled by a maniacal leader who is holding the hostages. There's plenty of slaughter in the offing, with land mines, explosions, gunfire and machetes. Freveletti has turned out a novel just begging for a Hollywood version that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

                                                                                          - John A. Broussard

ANGEL'S ADVOCATE         
MARY STANTON         
Berkley Prime Crime PBO 6/09

Like temporal courts, the Celestial Court is based on a legal system that defies logic. Attorney Bree Winston-Beaufort, whose specialty is representing those who've "passed on," long ago discovered that the irrationality of heavenly law has made her fully dependent on her assistants: mysterious shades in the form of humans, dogs, owls and sundry other entities. In this instance, however, she has a rare case of "this worldly" crime to grapple with. Lindsey Chandler has been charged with assault... against a girl selling Girl Scout cookies, no less. Representing a sullen teen-ager turns out to be a formidable task, and when Leslie's recently deceased father, Probert, crosses the line into this world to ask for Bree's help in getting him out of the Ninth Circle of hell, she is only too happy to take on this more routine task. That's when she finds evidence that Probert's death was not an accident, as the police had assumed, and that his murderer is still present in the community. As with many paranormal mysteries, shameless coincidences are never explained, and ANGEL'S ADVOCATE has plenty of them. Stanton has turned out a light-hearted (and somewhat light-headed) supernatural romp. For readers making no great demands on rational explanations for irrational events, this mystery will provide a pleasant interlude.

                                                                                          - John A. Broussard

CHAM         
JONATHAN TRIGELL         
Serpent's Tail Trade PBO 5/09

The winter months at Chamonix Mont Blanc are a powerful magnet, attracting ski bums in profusion. This includes Itchy, who, fleeing a shocking episode of his own creation at home -- something which he refuses to confront -- joins several young fellow Brits who share his enthusiasm for skiing, booze and women. The small French tourist community seems an ideal setting for non-stop carousing, but Itchy discovers there's a dark side to Cham, in the form of a rapist who prowls the streets at night... and his life becomes increasingly entangled with the shadowy figure. He fluctuates between thinking what it would be like to himself be the criminal, and fantasizing a heroic capture of the monster as he surprises him in the act. CHAM's narration continues at breakneck speed, accentuated as it is by contemporary slang, text messaging, quick flashbacks to Itchy's past, and the desperate attempt of the book's characters to cram a lifetime of partying into these few months in the snow-capped Alps. Trigell has done a remarkable job of depicting Itchy and his companions as they live a life of debauchery while holding fast to some rather strange moral principles.

                                                                                           - John A. Broussard

THE BROTHERS BOSWELL         

PHILIP BARUTH         
Soho Press  May, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-56947-559-1

Samuel Johnson and his amanuensis, James Boswell, wander the streets of London, visit a variety of pubs, and float down the Thames, unaware that they are being followed. The stalker is none other than James' younger brother John, who clutches two loaded pistols in his pockets. John's objective is a mystery to the reader and, to some extent, even to himself. Just recently released from a madhouse, his emotions are befuddled, his motives obscure. THE BROTHERS BOSWELL is far from easy to read, as it swings back and forth from first-person ruminations on John's part, to excerpts from James' journal, to lengthy and rambling conversations between Johnson and his young worshipper. Further complicating matters, time and place shifts are the rule rather than the exception, as the story roams between London and Edinburgh and from childhood memories to adult escapades. It is also enriched with occasional sprinklings of 18th Century English and Scot idioms. Without question, this literary adventure requires the full concentration of the reader. One thing for certain, however, is that Baruth has spent long hours researching James Boswell's writings -- especially those devoted to his hero Sam Johnson -- and to the Britain of that time. The end result is a literary mystery which fans of the genre will find particularly rewarding.

                                                                                           - John A. Broussard