Reviews from HARRIET KLAUSNER

JANUARY - FEBRUARY  REVIEWS

SARA PARETSKY

BLEEDING KANSAS
SARA PARETSKY
G. P. Putnam’s Sons  January, 2008

Near the town of Lawrence, Kansas, in the Kaw River Valley, two families the Grelliers and the Schapens, have farmed the land for over one hundred and fifty years. The families barely tolerate each other because the Schapens, who belong to a fundamentalist church, believe the Grelliers are godless heathens. Into this atmosphere comes Gina Haring, a Wiccan and a lesbian, who is the catalyst for a series of events that ends in tragedy and death.

Susan Grellier is attracted to the Wiccan holidays and attends the bonfire which gets the Schapens up in arms. Junior Schapen makes life miserable for Chip Grellier. Life gets worse for Chip when his mother becomes an anti-war activist and the town looks upon her as a hippie. Tired of the constant fighting, Chip enlists in the army and is sent to Iraq , where he dies less than a month after he arrives. Susan has a breakdown and doesn’t relate to anyone, causing the family to fall apart. The Schapens have a baby red heifer that the ultra conservative Jews want to buy in three years -- if she is perfect.  Both Jews and Christians believe such an animal is needed for the temple to be built and for Christ to come again. Tired of the loathing the Schapens stir up, some people set in motion a deadly series of events that culminates on Halloween.

BLEEDING KANSAS is nothing like the author’s V.I. Warshawski crime capers.  This is more like a novel written by Barbara Delinsky about families and the internal and external strife with which each individual must deal. There is a lot of depth to this novel and, though it can be read for entertainment, it deals with a number of social issues --  religious intolerance, same sex relationships and people who don’t conform to mainstream thinking. The heartland of America is shown as a microcosm of society dealing with timely issues that divide us.

 - Harriet Klausner

STUART WOODS

BEVERLY HILLS DEAD
STUART WOODS
G. P. Putnam’s Sons  January, 2008

In the 1940s, the House Un-American Activities Committee is just beginning its witch hunt and Hollywood is starting to feel the effect. Rick Barron, head of production of Centurion Pictures, has no interest in politics, but his antenna quivers when Communist Cards are sent to him with the names of Bitter Creek screenwriter Sid Banks and Laurie Brecht, who happens to be his movie star wife, now known as Glenna Gleason.

Rick arranges for the matter to be taken care of quietly, but Sid is blackballed when he refuses to name names to the HUAC. Most of Hollywood runs from Sid to avoid being tainted. His movie is near completion with new stars Vance Calder and Susie Stafford in the leads.  The pair become romantically involved and she is about to move into his home when she vanishes. Soon afterward she is found dead in a dump. Rick demands the police find her killer, while Sid becomes a willing friendly witness for HUAC, which restores his name. However, both Rick and Sid know HUAC has unfinished business with them since Congress will leave no stone unturned.

This historical mystery focuses on the beginning of the HUAC “Red Scare” witch hunt that terrorized much of Hollywood in the late 1940s and early 1950s when the studio heads were more concerned over the bottom line than the “J’accuse” mentality of DC. The murder mystery is cleverly devised so that red herrings and twists keep the reader guessing the identity of the killer. However, that also detracts from a closer look at the opening phases of the HUAC investigation into film making. Still, this is an intriguing tale that will have fans seeking the previous entry, THE PRINCE OF BEVERLY HILLS.

 - Harriet Klausner
PHOTO CREDIT:  CHINA SHORT

PATRICIA SPRINKLE

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING TO DIE?
PATRICIA SPRINKLE
Obsidian PBO 2/08

Hopemore, Georgia, has its share of vicious crimes.  Usually Magistrate MacLaren Yarbrough is in the middle of the investigation -- to the horror and fear of her husband, Joe Riddle. This time when someone dies, Joe handcuffs Mac’s leg to her desk at Yarbrough Feed Seed and Nursery. A car went over the bypass bridge with Star Knight inside. At first the police think it’s an accident, until they recover the vehicle and see that Star was beaten to death.

Star had her life together when she was pregnant but fell off the wagon and became addicted to crystal meth. The Sheriff knows there is a meth lab in the area, but can’t locate it. Star’s father, Trevor, demands custody of his grandson. They later learn that Star was planning to go straight, and was going to the DEA to inform on those running the meth lab. MacLaren and others believes the meth lab operatives killed Star to prevent her from ratting them out. When another death linked to Star occurs, MacLaren tries to find the killer who ran the meth house, but the murderer remains free with plans to murder the nosy magistrate who ruined his business.

This is a poignant character-driven police procedural that makes the case that amoral people can live in the open, even in a small Southern town, yet keep their true nature hidden. Joe’s handcuffing of his wife shows how much he cares and worries about her investigating activities, but unless he plans to do this 24/7, his scheme is doomed to fail.  MacLaren is committed to uncovering the truth, regardless of the danger involved. 

- Harriet Klausner

SNOWBIRD’S BLOOD
JOE HENSLEY
St. Martin 's Minotaur  February, 2008

While Martha Cannert’s husband, Charlie Cannert, was in a Chicago hospital being tested for what proved to be untreatable stomach cancer, Martha went to Florida to find a new home for them. Charlie has received one post card from Martha almost a month ago, and then nothing, which is very unlike her.  Now he is driving to Lake City, from where that post card was sent.

Martha is at the Tepsicon Rest Hospital, a state mental facility, under the name Jane Doe after suffering amnesia following a vicious assault. Meanwhile, Charlie believes someone murdered his long time spouse. As he continues his search, Martha begins to slowly recover her memories -- especially of Charlie. She escapes from Tepsicon knowing that Charlie is looking for her and begins to search for him.  Charlie was once a guardian angel vigilante; from his Nam "tunnel rat" days to his bringing violence to sociopath attackers of the helpless.  He works with local cop Tom Ryan to find those who assaulted Martha and other missing Snowbirds.

Joe Hensley writes a powerful stand alone thriller that focuses on the predators who take advantage of the elderly; especially Snowbirds who are either grieving a recent loss or who have retired to Florida alone. The story is fast-paced from the moment Charlie asks his Florida host whether he and his wife killed Martha. Although the climax seems a bit weak, readers will appreciate this fine tale from the late Mr. Hensley (the back cover mentions he passed away last year) whose underlying theme is condemnation of a society that allows the elderly and the young to be unprotected victims of the amoral.

 - Harriet Klausner

LADY KILLER
LISA SCOTTOLINE
HarperCollins  February, 2008

When they both attended St. Maria Goretti High School, Trish Gambone was the student ‘Queen of Mean’ and amongst her victims was good girl Mary DiNunzio. Now Trish needs help and turns to Philadelphia attorney “Saint” Mary for assistance.

Mary is shocked to learn Trish is on the receiving end of an abusive relationship and wants out. However, Trish fears her boyfriend, Bobby Mancuso, has strong mob connections and will never let her go unless he decides to end it. Mary offers a few suggestions, but Trish thinks none will work with someone as violent as Bobby. When Trish vanishes, their mutual friends blame the lawyer for failing her classmate. When the Feds learn that Mary hides key information regarding her ties to Bobby, they toss her off the team trying to save Trish.  So Saint Mary goes it alone.

Fans of Lisa Scottoline will enjoy the return of intrepid Saint Mary (see KILLER SMILE) as she tries to save the life of her high school enemy. The story is filled with entertaining action, but most readers will have plausibility doubts when Saint Mary rides to the rescue.  The Feds seem to struggle with the difficult case much more than she does.

 - Harriet Klausner

OBEDIENCE
WILL LAVENDER
Shaye Areheart / Crown Books  February, 2008

At Winchester University, in Indiana, Professor Williams teaches Logic and Reasoning 204. He explains to his class that there is no text, no syllabus, and no lectures. Instead, they have one assignment. Based on clues he provides and they find, the students must locate Polly, a missing teenager, within six weeks or she will die.

All the students assume this is an academic exercise and that no one is in jeopardy. However, rather quickly three of the pupils begin to believe Polly not only exists but that she will be killed if they fail to rescue her. As Professor Williams provides the class with photos of Polly and other clues that affirm she lives -- for now -- the trio panics, fearing that a D in this class means dead.

None of the prime players (the professor, the three students, and the elusive Polly) come across as fully developed, but no one will care.  This is a suspenseful story that grips the reader from the moment Williams explains the assignment. Readers will wonder if Polly is real and in danger, but will also wonder whether the trio of students is in peril. Fans of tense intriguing conspiratorial thrillers will want to attend Professor William’s Logic and Reasoning class.

 - Harriet Klausner

WHAT LIES IN SHADOW
TINA WAINSCOTT
St. Martin 's Minotaur PBO 2/08

In Boston, Jonna Karakosta is bored.  Her successful husband, Rush, ignores her except when he needs his trophy wife on display for business purposes. Still, she tries to remain loyal to him, even if he disregards her needs. Feeling all alone with no outlet for her frustration, Jonna sets up a blog where she anonymously releases her inner torment.

Jonna exposes her innermost desires and disappointments on her "Montene's Diary" which, to her surprise, becomes popular thanks to the Globe claiming she is an everyperson; people write back on her blog including someone named Dominic.  Jonna is hurt when she concludes that Rush is cheating on her, which results in her accepting Dominic’s request to meet in person and see where that goes. However, she begins to have second thoughts; she does want to try to save her marriage, but Dominic has a different outcome in mind.

WHAT LIES IN SHADOW is a modern day cautionary story that makes a case for not providing personal information on the Internet. The story is driven by the characters as Dominic knows what he wants and will do anything to achieve his desired rush. Although some of the twists are obvious, readers will appreciate this look at the dark side of blogging and wonder whether Montene is a part of Jonna or just her imagination running wild.

 - Harriet Klausner

GAMBIT
KARNA SMALL BODMAN
Forge  February, 2008

Computer scientist Dr. Cameron "Cammy" Talbot has little time to sit on her laurels following the CHECKMATE technology she and her team created that prevented war between India and Pakistan. Recently, a terrorist has developed a missile system that has shot down commercial aircraft.  The President, the Vice President and their top National Security Advisor want Cammy and her Bandaq Technologies team to create an antimissile system to place on planes so that the cockpit crew will be aware of a deadly incoming and destroy it.

Cammy visits her associate, Dr. Wen Hu, at MIT for assistance, but soon afterward someone kills him and destroys his lab. She realizes that she is next after a few somewhat amateurish but potentially lethal assaults occur.  Cammy turns to her former lover, Special Assistant to the President for Arms Control and Strategic Defense, Lieutenant Colonel Hunt Daniels, for protection.

More a romantic suspense (even the Veep wants Cammy) than a thriller, readers will enjoy this race against the clock where each day means more deaths and less air traffic. The story grips the reader because the enemy technology seems plausible. Although the romantic subplot is well written, it takes attention away from the excitement of stopping the adversaries soonest.

 - Harriet Klausner

BARE FACTS
KATHERINE GARBERA
Kensington Brava Trade PBO 2/08

Former model Charity Keone is a highly regarded employee of Liberty Investigations, which provides personal protection services. Currently she is guarding Daniel Williams, the CEO of Williams International, an import-export firm based in Hong Kong and Seattle.  Williams has doubts about a beautiful woman keeping him safe from an unknown enemy who wants him dead. However, he changes his mind when Charity saves him from an assassination attempt.

Perhaps it is the danger they face or her rejection of Senator Williams’ proposal for her to be his latest trophy wife, but Charity and Daniel make love and both are stunned by the intensity. However, she knows keeping him from harm remains the prime mission as a ruthless killer stalks Daniel.

Even Charity sees the Charlie's Angels connection with her, Justine and Anna as the Angels and Sam directing them from a voice box as “Charlie.” The first part of the story focuses on Charity’s introspection and desires leading to the sexual trysts with her client. Towards the middle of the novel, suspense kicks in and never slows down as someone wants the CEO with connections to Japanese gangs dead. Readers will enjoy this fine romantic suspense thriller with two more Angels’ tales to follow.

 - Harriet Klausner

KILLING FEAR
ALLISON BRENNAN
Ballantine PBO 2/08

Seven years ago club owner and exotic dancer Robin McKenna’s testimony helped convict serial killer Theodore Glenn, who defended himself but could not overcome the DNA evidence at the murder scene. He and one other person know the forensic proof that convicted him was not left at the scene by him; someone -- probably the dumb detective -- framed him. That is, if you can call it a frame when he did commit the murders. Robin assumed she would never see the vile psychopath who killed her roommate Anna ever again, though he vowed vengeance against those who sent him to prison.

An earthquake shakes the Bay area damaging San Quentin. During the turmoil, Glenn escapes. He plans to kill those who convicted him. At the top of his list is Detective Will Hooper. Not only did the cop arrest him and probably frame him, he had the gall to have a tryst with Robin, who Glenn believes belongs to him. In fact, he considers each new homicide as a gift to Robin.  Glenn is obsessed with Robin and thrills to the pain each new murder causes her. Glenn even leaves several hints that, even after all this time, Anna still lives. Robin and Will reexamine the evidence, though they doubt Anna survived her ordeal, but they begin to think the possibility exists. Will knows that Robin is on Glenn’s list so he must stop this maniac before anyone else, especially Robin, dies.

This is an exciting serial killer, cat and mouse game in which Glenn is as brilliant and amoral as a person can be, feeling pleasure while inflicting immense pain and climaxing in death. Before reaching that climax, Allison Brennan takes her readers through spins and twists that add tension to the strong suspense storyline.

 - Harriet Klausner

THE POISONER OF PTAH 
P. C. DOHERTY
St. Martin ’s Minotaur  February, 2009

In 1478 B.C., Pharaoh Hatusu rules Egypt with a firm but gentle hand. She feels no major internal threats to her keeping the throne in spite of her gender. Her biggest concerns come from outside her kingdom where foreign rulers assume she is weak because she is female. Still, she negotiates peace treaties with her royal peers for the betterment of her nation.

While negotiating a treaty with Libya, three Egyptian scribes die, apparently by poison. Hatusu directs her Chief Judge in the Hall of Two Truths, Lord Amerotke, to uncover the identity of the killer. The prime suspect is Rekhet, who just escaped from incarceration, having been sent to prison for life for royal poisonings. Amerotke finds a link between Rekhet and the Libyans that makes him wonder if the foreigners were negotiating in badfaith.

The Lord Amerotke - Ancient Egypt investigations continue to be some of the best whodunits on the market. The latest tale, THE POISONER OF PTAH, is an excellent entry both as a mystery and as a historical thriller. Amerotke is terrific, holding the story together with his investigation while the support cast helps bring to life Ancient Egypt and, to a degree, Libya, through its delegation. This series (see THE ASSASSINS OF ISIS, THE MASK OF RA, HORUS KILLING and THE SLAYERS OF SETH) remains top of the line.

 - Harriet Klausner

THUGS AND KISSES
SUE ANN JAFFARIAN
Midnight Ink Trade PBO 2/08      
ISBN: 9780738710891

Odelia Grey is a paralegal at Wallace, Boer, Brown, and Yates. Her immediate boss, Michael Steele, requested her and the partners thought she would be good for the hard-to-get-along-with, anal-retentive and obsessive attorney because she has patience and should be able to keep him grounded.  They bribed her with a big pay raise and her own office.

Since Greg Steven, her wheelchair user lover, is ill, Odelia takes Detective Dev Frye as her date to her thirtieth high school reunion. While dancing with Dev, Danny Oliver is shot and killed. Everyone has a motive for killing him -- including Odelia and her friend Sally Kipman, who lost custody of her son to him in an ugly court battle. While dealing with being a suspect, her boss never returns from his mini vacation. His car is found at the airport, certain documents from a client are tampered with and he never showed up at the inn where he had made reservations. Although it looks bad for Steele, who some think broke the law and fled the country, Odelia knows he is too obsessed to do anything illegal. She and Sally team up to locate Steele and find out who murdered Donny.

Ignoring the amateur sleuth investigating plausibility, THUGS AND KISSES is a very enjoyable reading experience. The whodunit and the missing person case are well thought out and the sequences smoothly change from one case to the other. The protagonist, a size twenty who is very comfortable with her body, does what she believes is right because she has a strong sense of justice and loyalty. Obstinately, she refuses to be swayed from the case by her lover, family or friends which sometime make for strained relations.

 - Harriet Klausner

WILD GOOSE CHASE
TERRI THAYER
Midnight Ink Trade PBO 1/08            
ISBN: 9780738712154

It has been six months since her mother died and Dewey Pellicano is doing her best to hold herself together. She lost her job, so she is running the store, Quilter Paradiso, that her mother left her. Currently she is renting a booth at the seventeenth annual Northern California Quilt Extravaganza. She is putting the store online thanks to an expensive program her mother bought a week before she died. Her sister-in-law Kym, who works at the store, is constantly sabotaging her efforts.  She wants things done the old fashioned way.

Dewey runs into quilting celebrity Claire Armstrong who offers to buy the store from her. She needs time to think about it and then decides to go to Claire’s room to talk about it some more. Claire’s assistant Myra lets her in and they find Claire dead. She bled out from an accident with a yellow-handled rotary cutter. When the police arrive Claire is glad to see Detective Buster Healey is one of them because her friend makes her feel less like a suspect in what turns out to be a murder. A few days later, Dewey agrees to sell her store to Myra, but another death occurs at a rehearsal for the Quilter’s fashion show. Again Dewey is made to look like the killer, but she knows someone is setting up the evidence to make it look that way and she intends to find out who it is.

WILD GOOSE CHASE is a delightful cozy that gives readers an insider’s look at quilting and a quilting fair. Terri Thayer creates an excellent amateur sleuth mystery in which the reader will believe a desperate Dewey follows the clues one stitch at a time.

 - Harriet Klausner

THE FIRST PATIENT
MICHAEL PALMER
St. Martin ’s Press  February, 2008

When the physician to President Andrew Stoddard, Dr. Jim Ferendelli, vanishes, his long time friend, Dr. Gabe Singleton, is asked to come to DC to take Ferendelli’s position. Although Gabe would prefer to remain in Wyoming, he travels to Washington for his friend.

In the capital, Singleton is taken aback when Stoddard acts confused, as if he has suffered a stroke; yet no vital signs imply a stroke or any other brain debilitating illness. Instead, Gabe believes someone close to the President has caused the mysterious ailment, but he is ignorant as to who, how and why. He needs to use preventative medicine on President Stoddard, in an effort to stop whatever is causing the illness. To do that Gabe, trusting no one except Nurse Alison Cromartie, investigates those at the White House, and even at Blair House, trying to answer the questions that befuddle him.  Gabe also knows he should suspect Alison as she has the know-how, but he can’t because he has fallen in love with her.

Although this medical political thriller is way over the top of the Washington Monument, Michael Palmer’s fans will enjoy his entertaining tale.  The story contains the typical Palmer brand of fast-paced action, a hero who is way over-matched, and real science supporting the nefarious premise. Readers will also savor Singleton’s amateur sleuthing.

 - Harriet Klausner

BARBARA COLLEY

WASH AND DIE
BARBARA COLLEY
Kensington Books  February, 2008

In New Orleans, Charlotte LaRue, owner of Maid for a Day, is unhappy to return home after a hard day of cleaning to find Joyce Thibodeaux waiting for her on her porch. With no place to stay, Joyce, formerly married to Charlotte's tenant Louis Thibodeaux and just out of rehab, begs Charlotte to let her stay for a few days. Against her better judgment, because Charlotte knows that Joyce is a lying con artist, she agrees; she cannot let the woman sleep on the street.

Their arrangement fails to work out.  Joyce’s room looks like a pig sty, she lies about why a San Francisco inspector wants to speak with her, and she steals the gold watch Charlotte inherited from her father. After tossing Joyce out, Charlotte tries to recover the watch that the woman hocked, but the pawn shop proprietor rejects her plea.  Frustrated, Charlotte comes home to find her house has been trashed.  Someone was looking for something and Joyce is shot to death amidst the mess.  To make matters worse, Charlotte’s parakeet Sweety Boy is missing.  Charlotte and Louis discuss possible suspects before she begins her investigation to find her missing bird and a killer. Her snooping almost gets her killed twice by different people who want her off the case.

Readers will admire the sexagenarian business owner who is as anxious to clear her name as she is to find her beloved bird. Yet with her cleaning enterprise, an amateur sleuth investigation and much more, Charlotte welcomes her newborn twin grandchildren with love and tenderness. She is the role model that insists the sixty of today is the forty of yesterday. Readers will enjoy this fine, thinking person’s cozy as Charlotte escorts the reader around New Orleans cleaning up a murder.

 - Harriet Klausner

THE SHANGHAI TUNNEL
SHARAN NEWMAN
Forge Books  February, 2008

In 1867, Horace Stratton decides to return home to Portland after a very successful business trip to Shanghai. Accompanied by his wife Emily and their teenage son Robert they reach San Francisco in January, 1868; only for Horace to die there. The dutiful daughter of missionaries, who is feeling some guilt for never having lived up to her husband’s expectations, Emily and Robert bring Horace’s body home to be buried in Portland.

Emily and Robert plan to live in Horace’s hometown; unaware of how rough and tumble a place it is in spite of the dream of its leading citizens to turn it into the San Francisco of the northwest. However, the widow and her son are not welcomed by Portland’s elite, especially those who had been in business with Horace. These people are ignorant as to how much Emily really knows and understands about her late husband’s unethical and mostly illegal activities; and about her plans to learn what she does not know. Not willing to take any chances, they plot to drive her and her son out of town; if they fail to run her out then they will bury her next to her late husband.

THE SHANGHAI TUNNEL (in an afterward Sharan Newman explains that the tunnels exist under Portland’s streets) is an enjoyable and riveting historical amateur sleuth tale that brings alive Reconstruction Era Portland, which obviously has come a long way. The Oregonians are a fascinating support cast, but the story totally belongs to the courageous widow as she surprises everyone, including herself, with her grit and determination in refusing to leave. Horace must be turning in his grave witnessing attributes he never suspected in his wife. Ms. Newman begins her new historical saga with a winning mid-nineteenth century thriller.

 - Harriet Klausner

MEMORIES ARE MURDER
LOU ALLIN
Rendezvous Press Crime Trade PBO    
ISBN: 9781894917339

Northern Ontario realtor Belle Palmer rents a place to her former boyfriend (they dated at Scarborough Collegiate Institute in Toronto), field research zoologist Gary Myers, who is studying the adaptability of elk recently released in the wilderness. The Brock University professor apologizes for using her as his “beard” back in school when they dated fourteen times and he failed to kiss her until she forced the issue.

When his “secret” partner, murder-mystery author Malcolm “Mutt” Malloy, arrives to join Gary, he cannot find him. Mutt and Belle look for Gary only to find his body.  He apparently drowned near his research camp. Mutt and Belle organize Gary’s notes only to conclude key items are missing; the cottage he rented from Belle had been broken into and his camera and laptop stolen. Soon afterward, Mutt is almost killed by carbon monoxide poisoning and someone tries to murder Belle. After finding an article Gary had on poisoning, Belle returns to the spot where she and Mutt found his corpse only to flee into the wilderness to escape from a killer.

The latest exciting Belle Palmer amateur sleuth (see NORTHERN WINTERS ARE MURDER, BLACKFLIES ARE MURDER and MURDER, EH?) tale is an entertaining Northern Ontario whodunit. The heroine has no plans to interfere with the police investigation into the death of Gary, but she and Mutt become embroiled by simply trying to do the right thing with the late professor’s notes.

 - Harriet Klausner

CHARLAINE HARRIS*

A BONE TO PICK
CHARLAINE HARRIS
Berkley pb reprint 2/08
Originally published 1992

Lawrence, Georgia, is usually a quiet little southern town except when Aurora “Roe” Teagarden has A BONE TO PICK; which to the locals seems too often. Trouble follows her like a magnet, but when she goes to the funeral of Jane Engle, her lawyer has some good news for her. Jane left Roe her entire estate, which includes her house and half a million dollars. The lawyer hints that Jane had a problem she wants Roe to fix.

As Roe inspects her new house, looking for a hiding place the contains the “problem” Jane wants her to fix, she spots the window seat carpeted to look like a piece of furniture. When she opens it, Roe finds a skull and since she doesn’t want to take it to the police, she wraps it inside a blanket and takes it to her mother’s house. She later finds a note inside a book in Jane’s handwriting saying she didn’t do it.  Relieved, Roe has to figure out where the skull came from and who killed that person.

Charlaine Harris’s second Aurora Teagarden mystery is a charming delight, populated with eccentric lovable Southern characters. The mystery is well thought out with enough suspects to keep readers turning the pages to find out who lost their head, why that person was beheaded, and why the head is with Jane while the body remains in parts unknown (pardon the pun). A BONE TO PICK is a reprint that stands the test of time.

 - Harriet Klausner
PHOTO CREDIT:  CAROLINE GREYSHOCK

MOONLIGHT DOWNS  
ADRIAN HYLAND
Soho Crime Trade PBO 2/08
ISBN 9781569474839

After several years of seeing the world, half-aborigine Emily Tempest returns home to the Moonlight Downs Camp in Australia’s Outback. Emily struggles to readapt to living in the “Blackfeller” camp, but is getting there, thanks in part to a warm welcome home from her friend Lincoln Flinders, although his daughter, her former best friend Hazel, makes her feel like an outsider.

Emily is stunned when Lincoln is found strangled to death. Even more shocking is that the killer carved out his kidney. The locals assume sorcerer Blakie Japanangka murdered and then mutilated the body of the camp’s leader. Emily assists police sergeant Tom McGillivray in trying to find Blakie, who has vanished. When information surfaces that makes the prime suspect look innocent, Emily looks into a land dispute as the motive for killing Lincoln with the organ removal used to throw blame on the aborigine sorcerer.

This is an interesting look at the aborigine culture from the perspective of a character who had one foot in the Aborigine life and the other in white Australian society. Emily is the strength of the story as her relationship with Hazel seems to be a microcosm of the two groups. Although the whodunit, especially when it detours into a greedy land deal, seems a stretch and lacks suspense, readers will enjoy this insightful visit to the Outback.

 - Harriet Klausner

SKIZZER
A. J. KIESLING
Revell Trade PBO 1/08
ISBN: 9780800731403

A frantic and worried Rainey calls his sister-in-law Claire to tell her that his wife, her sister Becca, is gone. A week later when Becca remains missing, a stunned Claire drives twelve hours from Florida to Raleigh, North Carolina to hunt for “Skizzer,” her childhood nickname for her sister.  She knows Becca’s favorite haunts, probably better than anyone, and thus stands a better chance of finding her.

Claire’s first stop, even before seeing her family, is the old abandoned Radcliff Place where Skizzer has left Claire a note telling her not to search for her; that she is okay, but something terrible and wonderful happened. The note communicates a sense of urgency to Claire and she is unable to sit idly by; she continues to track their roots, hoping to uncover the terrible and wonderful clue that sent Skizzer on an apparent quest.

This  thriller has the reader, along with Claire and Rainey, what drove Skizzer to leave. As Claire finds letters and other clues that lead to England, she begins to unravel the mystery.  Though the reason that Becca became a drama queen fails to match the suspenseful family story that digs into what sisters mean to one another, A. .J. Kiesling provides an appealing one-sitting read.

 - Harriet Klausner

THUNDER MOON
LORI HANDELAND
St. Martin 's Minotaur PBO 1/08

Residents of Lake Bluff, Georgia, hope and pray that the small town has returned to normal after the werewolf incidents (see HIDDEN MOON).  Especially hoping for no more supernatural occurrences is Sheriff Grace McDaniel who, in spite of the evidence of last summer and being part Cherokee, remains skeptical.

However, to her chagrin, something is stalking the town.  This creature can rip a heart out of a person, but leave no marks. This killer seems to have arrived at about the same time that Dr. Ian Walker came to Lake Bluff. Attracted to the newcomer, Grace scoffs at his insistence that she contains powerful magic inherited from her Cherokee ancestors.  They team up to investigate a supernatural serial killer.

This romantic police procedural fantasy is a thriller that will grip readers from the moment that Ian arrives in town and never misses a beat until the final confrontation. Grace is fabulous as the lead protagonist.  Her first person account will have fans leaving the lights on at night. THUNDER MOON is a terrific blending of several genres as Lori Handeland turns to Sherlock Holmes in her wonderful paranormal whodunit: “… when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

 - Harriet Klausner

MATALA
CRAIG HOLDEN
Simon & Schuster  January, 2008

Thirty-nine year old Justine has been mentoring her younger lover Will on the art of conning people since they met a few years ago. They always choose easy marks and fleece them for small sums so that the pigeon never retaliates or even goes to the police. Justine’s philosophy is that the humiliation must be greater than the lost funds.

In Rome, the two grifters select Darcy Arlen, an American recently graduated from high school, as their next pigeon. Darcy is bored with the organized group tours of the great ruins so, while the guide naps and her roommate showers, the teenager sneaks out of their hotel to do her own sightseeing. When she meets Will gazing into the Tiber, she is fascinated, especially since she recognizes him as having attended Old Indian Bend High School in Ohio, the same high school from which she has just graduated. Will and Justine persuade Darcy to leave the tour and go to Venice with them.  From there they travel to the Greek Isle of Matala.  Will and Justine think they have the perfect mark, even as a romantic triangle develops.

The key to this superb sting story is Darcy, whose character changes over the course of MATALA. The two con artists are fascinating protagonists who assume that the high school grad comes from wealthy parents, since her trip is a graduation present from them. Readers will enjoy this entertaining thriller and the interplay between Justine, Will, Darcy and a few other marks along the way make for a fun read with several wonderful and unexpected twists.

 - Harriet Klausner

SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY 
DEANNA RAYBOURN
Mira Trade PBO 1/08

In 1887, Lady Julia Grey, is still healing, having nearly died when her husband was murdered and their home was burned down (see SILENT IN THE GRAVE). To help her recover she has left England and its memories for Italy, accompanied by two of her March family brothers and her new Italian sister-in-law.

However, with Christmas arriving soon, the March family patriarch wants everyone to spend the holidays at his estate, Belmont Abbey, a former Cistercian monastery. Thus Julia reluctantly heeds her father’s summons and returns to England. Among the non-kin guests is enquiry agent Nicholas Brisbane. Julia is shocked to learn he is engaged to a simpering woman who is just not the appropriate mate for the intelligent investigator.  When her pearls are stolen and guest curate Lucian Snow is murdered, Julia decides to investigate, over Brisbane’s objections. To keep her out of harm’s way he allows her to join him, which ironically places her in harm’s way.

This late Victorian whodunit with a touch of romance is a fun read due to the relationship between the professional enquiry agent and the amateur sleuth. Readers will laugh at the double entendres and can “see” the bewildered Nicholas raise his eyebrows several times at the actions of his unwanted sidekick when it comes to detecting.  Their attraction adds to the amusing antics. Fans of lighthearted historical romps will appreciate the antics of Lady Julia and her frustrated “mentor.”

 - Harriet Klausner

THE GOOD LIAR
LAURA CALDWELL
Mira PBO 1/08

In Oakbrook, Illinois, since her divorce from Scott, Kate Livingston has lived a quiet life.  Dating just seems to be too much trouble, but admits to her friend Liza Kingsley that she is pathetic. Liza arranges for Kate, who is in her late thirties, to meet debonair fifty-five year old Vermonter Michael Waller. They hit it off from the start and, in a rather short time, he sweeps her off her feet and they marry.

However, once they exchange I do’s, Michael seems a different person to Kate, who begins to think he is hiding something from her. Although she considers another woman or mob connections as possible causes for his mysterious behavior, she is far from the truth. Michael works for the Trust, a top secret organization that performs illegal deeds to further America’s global position. Knowing he cannot keep his nefarious espionage activity a secret from Kate, Michael decides to leave the Trust.  However, his handler persuades him to take on one final assassination.

This engaging tense romantic suspense thriller in some ways will remind readers of Governor Schwarzenegger’s movie “True Lies,” although Kate is not considering an extra-marital affair. The story is at its best when Michael and Kate are at the forefront, whether together or from separate first person perspectives.  Their relationship, built on love and a lie, comes across as plausible. Although the villain is more caricature than nasty adversary, readers will appreciate this non-stop tale.

 - Harriet Klausner  

STANDARD OF HONOR
JACK WHYTE
G. P. Putnam’s Sons  January, 2008

Led by Richard the Lionhearted, 50,000 soldiers are ready to do battle to regain the Holy Land from the Saracen chieftain Saladin and his forces.  Amongst Richard's army is Knight of the Templar Alexander Sinclair, who is willing to die to see the Christians succeed in this Crusade against the unfaithful.  He and the rest of the force believe victory is theirs because God is on their side.

To the shock and consternation of the Christian Crusaders, the battle at Galilee turns into a defeat.  Richard refuses to quit on his dream of a Holy Land controlled by Christians; he plans to raise another, bigger army.  To do so he sails home accompanied by his loyal master-at-arms Henry St. Clair and the armorer's son, Andre, a Templar belonging to the top secret Brotherhood of Sion, a group with their own agenda.

The second Templar tale (the first was KNIGHTS OF THE BLACK AND WHITE) is a fabulous historical fiction tale that brings alive the Crusades and the king's efforts to raise money and men.  The story plays out on two levels.  First there are the political
shenanigans with everyone having a secret agenda; second there are the battles between the Christian Defenders of the Faith and the Saracens defending their Holy Land .  Jack Whyte provides a strong, vivid, picturesque tale.

- Harriet Klausner

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NOVEMBER - DECEMBER  REVIEWS

CITY OF THE ABSENT
ROBERT W. WALKER
Harper PBO 12/07

Night brings an end to the Chicago Exposition of 1893 and with its closing two murders occur separated by miles and class.  Mayor Carter Harrison, thought he was invincible and had an open door policy even at his home, was killed there.  Across town Vanderfn and Philander Rolsky are seeking a nonentity to kill, someone no one will miss.  They set their sights on a grandmotherly looking prostitute to harvest her organs for use at a medical college.

However, this time the brothers picked the wrong person.  The victim is an undercover Pinkerton Agent, Nell Harrington, who was on the trail of a doctor who buys corpses and organs.  Police Inspector Alastair Ransom was Nell's friend and he obsesses about finding her killer, but Ransom has enemies in high places -- like Police Chief Kohler.  The Chief collaborates with a senator, who hired the Pinkertons to find evidence to lock Alastair up as a felon.  Alastair knows the police chief and the senator are murderers, but lacks evidence to convict them.  He does not make life easier for himself when he goes to castrate a priest who has been defiling children; but was too late as someone took care of the ungodly father. Alistair's boss plans to nail him for the crime.

Robert W. Walker is a master at evoking atmosphere; in this case the gaslight era that enables fiends and lunatics to hide in its shadows. Alastair uses the services of a homeless child as a snitch just as Sherlock Holmes used the Baker Street Irregulars.  In fact, Alastair may remind readers of Holmes as he refuses to give up on a case in which the political and police brass of Chicago are corrupt and willing to hang this dedicated cop instead of seeing justice served.

- Harriet Klausner

AFTERIMAGE
KATHLEEN GEORGE
Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin ’s Minotaur  December, 2007

In Pittsburgh, Homicide Squad Commander Richard Christie has some doubts about the new detective assigned to his unit.  He likes rookie detective Colleen Greer's enthusiasm, but fears her excessive zeal could prove dangerous to her and the team.  Still, he has no choice but to see what she can do under fire.

Richard has two homicides to investigate.  The first victim is Laura McCall, who Greer knew from the counseling clinic where she worked with Laura’s husband, David Hoffman, from whom Laura was separated.  The second is a child who, once again, Greer knew from her time at the clinic.  Like Richard, to whom she is attracted, Greer wonders if Hoffman killed his wife and the child.  When Hoffman starts asking favors of his former employee it makes him appear even guiltier to Greer.  She has doubts though; she has a suspicion it is someone else she knew in her clinic days.

AFTERIMAGE is the third Richard Christie-Pittsburgh police procedural (see TAKEN and FALLEN).  The story is strong and enhanced by the simmering relationship between Christie and Greer.  Although this is Greer's first appearance, the tension she brings to the veteran homicide detective’s life may  remind series fans of TAKEN, in which Richard's wife, Marina Benedict, requested a separation.

- Harriet Klausner

LAST CALL
JAMES GRIPPANDO
HarperCollins  December, 2007

Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck still worries about his former client, bar owner Theo Knight.  He knows Theo harbors a lingering resentment, and rightfully so.  When Theo was a teen in the roughest hood, raised by kindly Uncle Cy after his mother was killed, he was arrested and convicted of murder.  He became the youngest person on death row and was only saved when Jack proved he could not have committed the murder; even then, he was still almost executed.

Jack learns that someone tried to kill Theo in his old neighborhood.  Apparently convict Isaac Reems promised to provide Theo with the name of his mother's killer in exchange for Theo’s help in eluding the law.  Instead, the escaped con leaves evidence that Theo abetted his escape while setting Theo up for the failed shooting.  Theo has always wanted to avenge his mother's murder, but the case went cold for the cops and him when the trail led outside the hood.  Jack joins Theo in his investigation; he hopes to keep him from committing a homicide.  That may not matter when Isaac is found dead, with proof that Theo killed him.  Meanwhile an affluent unknown adversary wants Theo as dead as the mother so that a two decades old murder stays unsolved. 

LAST CALL is an excellent South Florida mystery.  Grippando brings the Greater Miami area to life in a fast-paced tale.  Isaac and whoever hired him cleverly use the past that haunts Theo to get at him while Jack tries to protect him.  A touch of two romances and a bit of humor adds depth to a great cat and mouse thriller.

- Harriet Klausner

THE SAUCY LUCY MURDERS
CINDY KEEN REYNDERS
Medallion Press PBO 12/07

Lexie Lightfoot has had it with her womanizing husband Dan.  Disgusted with Dan's inability to be faithful, Lexie leaves him and, accompanied by their teenage daughter Eva, returns to her hometown of Moose Creek Junction, Wyoming, where her married sister Lucy lives.  She opens up The Saucy Lucy Café.

However, Lucy turns out to be anything but saucy.  She is a faithful churchgoer, wife of Sheriff Otis Parnell and mother of Carl.  Lucy insists Lexie must remarry or else she will not be allowed into the kingdom of heaven.  Lucy begins setting up dates for her reluctant sister.  However, every man who goes out with Lexie ends up dead; the second date is always held at Stiffwell's Funeral Parlor. The townsfolk start to fear that Lucy and Lexie are killers.  Detective Gabe Stevenson investigates while Otis tells them to stay out of his inquiry.  Lexie, seeing her reputation and her business tanking, ignores both law enforcement officials' warnings.  She distrusts both cops and begins sleuthing on her own, with no understanding of the danger in which she places herself and her sister.

This lighthearted amusing amateur sleuth tale is fun to read.  The key to this enjoyable whodunit is that a potential romance between Lexie and Gabe never occurs and never intrudes; not because he fears a second date, but instead the big tough detective is a wuss when it comes to women.  The story never takes itself seriously, even when the heroine is in danger.  Cindy Keen Reynders provides fans with an enjoyable frolic filled with puns and strong characters.

- Harriet Klausner

THE MURDERERS’ CLUB
P. D. MARTIN
Mira   December, 2007

Although six months have passed since Australian expatriate FBI profiler Sophie Anderson nearly died while working on the D.C. Slasher serial killer case (see BODY COUNT), she still remains shaken.  This is partly because she has psychic skills that come in the form of disconcerting, often ugly, nightmares.  Although at the time she was considered a top profiler, Sophie has not been able to return to field work.

Sophie looks forward to her vacation in Tucson where she will spend time with Detective Darren Carter.  When Darren goes to a murder scene, Sophie comes with him.  Upon seeing the corpse, Sophie has a vision.  Soon more bodies and visions follow.  However, what Sophie sees is not lucid -- each killing seems slightly different, as if more than one culprit is at work.  The FBI assigns Sophie to the investigation and, as she suffers more nightmares, she begins to uncover the truth that will shake her more than the Slasher case did.

THE MURDERERS' CLUB is a chilling police procedural that finds Sophie wondering how many villains are out there, and the villains will chill the readers' bones as few can.  As with BODY COUNT, P.D. Martin provides an excellent thriller that has her readers on the edge of their seats waiting for what will happen next.

- Harriet Klausner

THE MEDIUM
NOELLE SICKELS
Five Star  December, 2007
ISBN: 9781594146183

Helen Schneider has a gift that frightened her when it first surfaced.  She can envision disasters.  Although her parents feared for her and preferred their child not be a freak, her grandmother nurtured her and taught Helen to use her skill to benefit people.  She does, but years later she still resents being different and worries about failing.

When an Angel first visited Helen to help her adjust to her gift, she rejected the heavenly being out of anger at being different.  However, the Angel kept trying to help her until Helen accepted her gift and became a channel between the dead and their living loved ones.  When WWII broke out, Helen used her ability to help soldiers and civilians who knew first hand the horrors of war; although each time she does this she feels as if part of her has been ripped out.  Helen's accounts are so accurate she is suspected of being a spy by the government.

This is a strange but exhilarating paranormal historical thriller starring a fascinating lead character who holds the story line together.  Although she hates her talent, readers will admire her as she tries to help victims of the war.  Noelle Sickels provides a unique tale that showcases her talent to readers.

- Harriet Klausner

IN FOR A POUND
RICHARD MARINICK
Justin, Charles & Co. / Kate's Mystery Books  December, 2007
ISBN 9781932112511

After spending three year behind bars at Norfolk State Prison on a wrongful conviction of assaulting a DEA agent, former Massachusetts State Trooper Delray McCauley is free.  However, freedom is a relative term.  He has no prospects in his former line of work; no law enforcement agency will hire an ex convict.  Instead, he returns to his South Boston roots and tends bar.

Working at the bar, McCauley comes under suspicion as a plant by the Southie gangs who roam the neighborhood with impunity; they simply distrust anyone who was in law enforcement, even one who spent time in prison.

Boston Police Captain Conway Lilly asks McCauley to help him on a case involving a friend, lawyer Esmond Cotter, whose safe was stolen from his office. If the cops recover it first, Cotter might, at the very least, face embarrassment at the contents.  Although he detests attorneys, McCauley agrees to investigate out of friendship for Conway.  However, by volunteering to help a buddy, he learns a friend in need is a hazard to his health.  He soon finds plenty of vicious Boyos wanting him dead -- some over the safe, but most because he was a cop.

This is an exciting urban noir story that brings South Boston to life (and death), especially the street thugs who stroll the neighborhood.  The story is action-packed with plenty of blood as Delray works the mean streets with gang members ready to pound him for the fun of it.  Although the afterward is too perfect, Richard Marinick writes a bruising Boston brouhaha.

- Harriet Klausner

THIRD DEGREE
GREG ILES
Scribner  November, 2007

In Athens Point, Mississippi, special education teacher Laurel Shields takes a home pregnancy test and is horrified to learn she is pregnant.  For the past eleven months she was having an affair with Danny McDavitt, the father of one of her students.  He ended the affair because he couldn't file for divorce without losing custody of his beloved autistic son -- even though his wife finds their child a burden.

Laurel leaves the house for a parent-teacher conference while her husband, Dr. Warren Shields, is searching the books in the library.  When she returns home, Warren points a gun at her.  He found a love letter Danny wrote to her.  Fortunately Danny didn't sign his name.  Warren is furious, demanding to know who her lover is.  She doesn't tell him, but he has an idea that will crack her password on the computer and she knows that there are emails with Danny's name on them.  When the children come home, he frightens them by acting crazy but Laurel is able to get her son out of the house.  The boy tells a neighbor what is happening; the neighbor calls the sheriff, and pretty soon the house is surrounded by police who know that there is a good chance that the doctor will kill his wife.  In an ironic quirk, the only person Warren trusts to talk to is Danny.

When one thinks of a great thriller writer Greg Iles just naturally comes to mind.  The tension begins on the very first page and just keeps on escalating as Warren loses more and more control.  There is no reasoning with him, yet Laurel desperately tries to reach him.  Readers will admire her, but will feel sorry for this couple who have lost so much and stand to lose even more.  THIRD DEGREE is the appropriate title because that is what Warren gives Laurel throughout this terse domestic thriller.

- Harriet Klausner

NOT QUITE DEAD
JOHN MacLACHLAN GRAY
St. Martin's Minotaur  December, 2007

In 1848, on a cargo ship sailing from Liverpool to the United States, Irish stowaway Finn Devlin steals a package containing worthless papers -- "David Copperfield, Final Four Numbers, by Charles Dickens."  Although the Irishman sees no profit, he plans to visit Dickens' American publisher to see if they might pay him anyway.  Angered by their treatment of him, Devlin kills the publisher.

In 1849, in Baltimore, infamous author, journalist and critic Edgar Allen Poe collapses and is rushed to a hospital where he insists he has proof of a mob hit.  Allegedly dying, he arranges with his childhood friend, Dr. William Chivers, to fake his death so that he can elude the Irish mob that wants him silenced.  Charles Dickens begins an American tour by having as a roommate in a dive, the maniacal Poe, who is hiding from the Irish mob.  Soon all the players on this stage will collide in a final chapter worthy of both writers.

Although well written and very insightful into mid-nineteenth century Baltimore and Philadelphia, NOT QUITE DEAD loses some speed by rotating perspective from the first person accounts of the harassed Chivers to the third person viewpoint of Devlin, who seems more like a character from a Roger Corman movie of a Poe novel.  Poe and Dickens play key, but secondary, roles.

- Harriet Klausner

ON THE LOOSE
TARA JANZEN
Dell PBO 11/07

The CIA assigns Special Defense Forces Agent C. Smith Rydell to deal with a bad situation in South America.  A CIA plane carrying secrets crashed; Smith is to do whatever it takes to retrieve the data.  He also, to his chagrin, is to escort  spoiled socialite Honey York to the same locale where she is to give money to guerrilla leader Diego Garcia in order to free some kidnapped nuns, including her sister Julia.  Garcia also holds the valuable plane.

Smith and Honey meet their escort to the guerilla camp, drug smuggler Alejandro Campos, and the SDF agent revises his opinion of his partner from spoiled to spunky.  Meanwhile, also in South America , the femme fatale Irena Polchenko, once believed dead, is stalking the couple.  She plans to kill the only person who thwarted one of her schemes and left her for dead.

Returning to the dangerous world of the Special Defense Forces, Tara Janzen weaves a complex exciting romantic suspense thriller.  Smith is a strong character who finds he suddenly has female problems as he falls in love for the first time in his life.  Honey, however, initially does not live up to her name.  She knows Smith does not want her tagging along on this dangerous mission; he has no time for babysitting.  They make a perfect combo as they battle each other while trying to stay alive during a perilous rescue mission.

- Harriet Klausner

T IS FOR TRESPASS
SUE GRAFTON
G. P. Putnam’s Sons  December, 2007

In 1987, in Santa Teresa, California, abrasive octogenarian Gus Vronsky suffers a fall from which he cannot get up – he’s separated his shoulder.  His next door neighbor, private investigator Kinsey Millhone, and her eighty-seven-year-old landlord, Henry, hear a wail.  They investigate, find Gus and call 911.  They care for Gus until his great-niece hires nursing home aide Solana Rojas.

However, Millhone becomes concerned that the care-giver is mistreating her patient.  She plans to intervene if she can find proof.  Unbeknownst to Millhone (ironically the reader knows on page one) a diabolical thug has stolen the real Rojas' identity and knows who she must remain vigilant against if she is to continue with her masquerade.

This Millhone tale is T for terrific.  Millhone wants to do the right thing for her neighbor, but finds her interference isn’t welcomed.  The fake Rojas proves a clever adversary as they play a deadly game of chess in which Gus could prove the victim.  Fans of the long running series will enjoy this entry as the normally confident heroine struggles with how much involvement is acceptable under the circumstances.

- Harriet Klausner

WITHOUT WARNING
EUGENIA LOVETT WEST
St. Martin's Minotaur  November, 2007

In affluent Connecticut, forty-seven-year-old former opera star Emma Streat may be suffering from the empty nest syndrome with her boys at college, but she believes her concern for her husband Lewis has nothing to do with the kids being gone.  Instead, she sees firsthand the erratic behavior of Lewis, the CEO of a firm that contracts with the Department of Defense.  His sudden need for incredible layers of security that the President would envy seems excessive and scary to Emma.  She has asked him several times why he is so tense and frightened, but he refuses to talk to her.

On a trip to London together, Lewis tells Emma he has some problems with a new laser weapons project that his firm is working on for the DOD.  When they return home, Lewis dies in an accident.  If he had not acted so strangely, Emma would have just grieved her loss, but she suspects foul play.  She travels back across the ocean where she learns two physicists associated with the project recently died in accidents.  Emma knows three deaths in a short time frame point to homicide, not coincidence.  She risks her life to learn who and why.

Emma's grief over her husband's sudden death serves as a realistic motivator for her to pursue the truth.  Her investigation on both sides of the pond, but especially in England, is fun to follow as the attacks on her life only encourages her to dig deeper.  Readers will appreciate this amateur sleuth because the heroine's need to know makes for a compelling tale.

- Harriet Klausner

CHILLWATER COVE
THOMAS LAKEMAN
St. Martin's Minotaur  November, 2007

FBI Special Agent Peggy Weaver works in the Philadelphia office of the Crimes Against Children Unit.  She receives an email containing graphic porn that provides a bitter reminder of why she became a special agent.  Over two decades ago, when she was ten years old, Peggy and her best friend, Samantha Stallworth, were abducted.  Peggy escaped, but Samantha was sexually molested and abused by her kidnapper.

Now a college professor, Samantha calls Peggy to tell her she received the same email.  Stunned, Peggy goes to her hometown of Avalon, Tennessee , where her father is police chief. When Samantha vanishes, Peggy vows to save her friend and catch the culprit who is toying with her.

The key to this interesting regional police procedural is how many people, including Peggy’s father and his department and Samantha's relatives, hinder Peggy on her desperate search to save her friend's life.  Readers will feel her pain and guilt as she tries to save her friend's life.  She sees it as redemption for her failure to be able to provide her father with expert witnessing when Samantha was snatched as a child.  Readers will appreciate this character driven investigative tale and seek out Thomas Lakeman's previous gripping FBI thriller (THE SHADOW CATCHERS).

- Harriet Klausner

MR. MONK IN OUTER SPACE
LEE GOLDBERG
Obsidian   November, 2007

As she ponders her dating pool, which consists of killers, grieving relatives, frustrated cops and men named Scooter whose mouths taste like they overdosed with mouthwash, personal assistant Natalie Teeger enters the apartment of her boss, Mr. Adrian Monk.  Natalie is a realist -- she has raised her twelve-year-old daughter, Julie, by herself and helps her paranoid employer cope with life.  However, this time the crisis is beyond her immediate control.  Monk, known for evacuating city blocks based on finding a cobweb in some obscure corner of his pad, is studying a small coffee stain that he cannot remove from the carpet.  Monk wants to move in with Natalie for a few days, but she is saved from that anguish when SFPD Lieutenant Disher calls her; without saying hello she asks him where the corpse is.

After he solves the non-homicide, in spite of the bullets, for Disher and Captain Stottlemeyer, Monk becomes involved in another investigation.  At the Beyond Earth TV show convention, a person in a starship uniform kills the producer, Conrad Stipes, in a public shooting.  Asked to investigate, Monk moves into the home of his brother Ambrose, an expert on the show, while Natalie takes care of the more critical carpet problem.

Monk is at his humorous, neurotic best as he solves cases in his crazy way.  Readers will be laughing out loud at the side commentaries, such as his measuring parallel parked cars or visiting a Burgerville restaurant or marveling at the value of three decade old Beyond Earth cereal that tasted like sugared cardboard when it was fresh.  The whodunit is fun as Monk invades the cult TV world, which he realizes is filled with those as obsessively insane as he is.  Lee Goldberg provides a wonderful novelization of the TV series.

- Harriet Klausner

THE REDBREAST
JO NESBØ
Translated from the Norwegian by Don Bartlett
HarperCollins  November, 2007

In 1999, Norwegian Police Inspector Harry Hole is assigned to the Norwegian Security Service undercover surveillance of the neo-Nazis as a form of punishment for embarrassing the brass.  The recovering alcoholic knows this will be tedious but also realizes that until he is forgiven he must contend with the ennui of watching skinheads act like pompous bullying idiots in Oslo.  And he knows he cannot take a drink, regardless of how badly he needs one to combat the boredom.

The firing of a gun jars Hole out of his boredom.  His junior partner, Ellen Gjelten, links the rare weapon to a vicious Neo-Nazi, Sverre Olsen, and a WW II murder in 1944 ties in to a diabolical assassination plot in 1999 -- with only Hole in the way of preventing the first step of a brilliant plan that was created over five decades ago.

This story never loses its fast pace while switching back and forth between 1944, 1946 and 1999.  Police procedural fans will appreciate the efforts of the obstinate, acrimonious Hole, who ignores the brass -- and to a degree his partner -- in order to prevent a catastrophe that could be his nation's second darkest hour.  However, the fascination in the tale is back in WW II, where author Jo Nesbø paints a dark dismal picture of a Norway where some were sympathetic to the Nazis, and some still have ties to the Neo-Nazi crowd.

- Harriet Klausner

PRECIOUS BLOOD
JONATHAN HAYES
HarperCollins   November, 2007

Following the tragedy of 9/11, Manhattan forensic pathologist Dr. Edward Jenner retires from the medical examiner's office, unable to cope after having witnessed for weeks afterward the results of the calamity.  Edward does take on occasional consulting work.

The uncle of East Village resident Ana de Jong pleads with his close friend Edward to help Anna, who she fears for her life.  As she explains to him, someone brutally murdered her roommate, Andrea, nailing the Hutchins College law student to a crucifix.  Reluctantly, Edward takes on the case, even though he fears that a serial killer is surfacing and that he is mentally unprepared to deal with further horrific deaths.  Despite his reservations, and for Ana's sake, he digs into the investigation and realizes the killings follow a pattern, with each new ritual homicide more cruel than the previous one.

Fans of serial killer investigations that emphasize forensic science will appreciate Jonathan Hayes' fine entry.  Dr. Edward Jenner is a fabulous protagonist, suffering from post traumatic fatigue syndrome caused by the 9/11 nightmare, but Mr. Hayes fails to dig deep into the demons eating at his soul.  PRECIOUS BLOOD is a fine mystery that readers will welcome.

- Harriet Klausner

SALAMANDER COTTON
RICHARD KUNZMANN
Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin ’s Minotaur  November, 2007

Johannesburg, South Africa, Police Detective Inspector Jacob Tshabalala investigates the homicide of an elderly former mining boss, Bernard Klamm.  The murder was extremely brutal and Jacob wonders if the violence has anything to do with the victim's extensive pornography collection.  Jacob also learns that the divorced Klamm was once married to Henrietta Campbell and their daughter
vanished without a trace three decades ago.  Is this a key clue or just a coincidental red herring?

When the official investigation goes slowly, Henrietta hires private investigator Harry Mason, Jacob’s former partner, based on Jacob's recommendation, to dig deeper -- especially in the Northern Cape where Klamm owned a remote farm.  Mason checks into the three decade old disappearance of their daughter to see if the present killing is linked.  He is unprepared for corporate cover-ups of the effects of asbestos mining on the workers and angry and acrimonious people seeking vengeance for what happened to them due to avaricious irresponsibility.

This starts off as an exhilarating South African police procedural, but turns into an exciting private investigative tale that ties the 1960s with the 1990s.  The whodunit is fast-paced and filled with twists and red herrings.  The contrasts between the two eras are incredibly striking and enhance a strong murder mystery that, like the first Tshabalala-Mason team-up BLOODY HARVEST, will enthrall the reader with its insightful look at South Africa through the eyes of the two sleuths.

- Harriet Klausner

DOWN INTO DARKNESS
DAVID LAWRENCE
Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin’s Minotaur  November, 2007

In London, the naked body of a murdered woman is left hanging from a tree with the words "DIRTY GIRL" engraved on her back.  Police Detective Stella Mooney of the Area Major Investigation Pool is assigned to investigate this brutal killing.

She and her team make no progress and the motive remains unknown.  Not long afterward, a naked man’s corpse, his head nearly severed, is found on a bench with another etched message, "FILTHY COWARD.”  Anxious that a serial killer is on the loose, although the two homicides have not been linked, Mooney and her AMIP team desperately work to uncover the motive behind the crime before a third victim surfaces.

The fourth Stella Mooney English police procedural is a fabulous cat and mouse investigative thriller.  The pace of the story never lets up from the moment the first body is discovered.  Readers will appreciate David Lawrence's latest masterful Mooney tale which is as gripping as its predecessors, COLD KILL, NOTHING LIKE THE NIGHT and THE DEAD SIT ROUND IN A RING.

- Harriet Klausner

THE GOOD THIEF’S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM
CHRIS EWAN
St. Martin's Minotaur  November, 2007

Charles Howard is the successful author of a suspense series starring a suave courageous cat burglar cum detective called Faulks.  However, fiction imitates life as Charles supplements his income and creative juices by being a successful burglar -- just like Faulks.

Howard is currently completing his latest Faulks thriller in Amsterdam when, on his web site, he receives an enigmatic summons that peaks his interest.  He meets with an American who knows the truth about Howard's moonlighting.   The American offers him 20,000 Euros to steal two monkey figurines.  Reluctantly, wondering how his client knows the truth about his secret life, he carries out the assignment.  However, when he returns to deliver the figurines he finds his client almost dead from a vicious assault and the matching third figurine missing.  As the Dutch police investigate the beating, with Howard as a suspect, he makes inquiries that link back to a diamond robbery over ten years ago.  Meanwhile, his London based editor suggests plot changes for the new book, not realizing her recommendations might be tested in real life.

THE GOOD THIEF’S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM is a humorous crime caper that pays homage to the classic TO CATCH A THIEF in a lighthearted, satirical, tongue-in-cheek way.  Charles is a unique, impish rogue who finds himself in a dangerous encounter with a killer.  The subplot involving his editor is creative and amusing, as she offers advice to make his latest story line seem plausible and genuine -- not understanding that the escapade is real.  Readers will enjoy this view of Amsterdam through the eyes of a cat burglarizing author struggling to keep his nine lives in tact.

- Harriet Klausner

MURDER ON K STREEET
MARGARET TRUMAN
Ballantine Books  November, 2007

U.S. Senator Lyle Simmons is considered by the pundits to be one of the leading candidates for president.  His ambitions hit a snag when he arrives home following a fundraiser to find his wife, Jeanette, lying dead on the floor of their foyer; someone brutally murdered her.  Capital Police Detective Charles Chang leads the official investigation with the media spotlight following his every step.

Clues send Chang in the direction of K Street where the senior senator from Illinois has close ties with lobbyists who provide him with plenty of campaign funding.  However, Chang also finds the street, where corruption and lies are the norm, is close-lipped when it comes to outsiders, even cops on official business.  Under the press' persistent digging, the Simmons' marriage suddenly has cracks and holes that make it look as if it were held together only by White House ambition.  Meanwhile Simmons' friend, retired detective Phil Rotondi, wonders whether he should come clean with what he knows about the relationship between Lyle and Jeanette; although he admits to himself he may be motivated by resentment that Lyle, not he, won Jeanette when they were college classmates.

The focus on K Street provides readers with an interesting look at how much influence is bought and sold by lobbyists.  However, the constant flashbacks to college are a distraction that slows down the present murder mystery, which is too bad as this Capital Crimes entry had possibilities for an insightful relevant thriller if the plot concentrated on MURDER ON K STREET .

- Harriet Klausner

REMAIN SILENT
JAMIE DENTON
Kensington Brava Trade PBO 11/07

In Los Angeles, the police arrest art restorer Laurel Jennings and charge her with the murder of her business partner Jonathan Linton.  The evidence against Laurel is overwhelming.  She had motive, means and opportunity and her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.

When no Defense Attorney would agree to handle the case, ex-Los Angeles County District Attorney Damon Metcalf returns home to represent Laura, his former lover, at the bail hearing and subsequently at the trial.  Damon realizes that the powerful Linton family is pushing for her conviction and they have made it clear to the legal profession to stay out of it or face the consequences.  When someone breaks into Laurel 's business, Damon fears for her life -- especially as they begin to uncover a deal Jonathan had apparently arranged involving a vast amount of money.  Soon more homicides follow with Laurel as the prime suspect, even though she has an alibi.

Jamie Denton provides readers with a terrific romantic legal thriller filled with plenty of suspense.  The whodunit is cleverly devised so that readers will wonder who and why right up to the end of this entertaining tale.

- Harriet Klausner

STONE COLD
DAVID BALDACCI
Grand Central Publishing  November, 2007

With their recent escapades (see THE COLLECTORS and THE CAMEL CLUB), the DC based Camel Club members have gained some powerful friends who support their efforts to reveal government wrong doing; but they’ve also gained some equally powerful adversaries who prefer that secrets remain secret.  The club's associates are totally committed when it comes to protecting one another. When Annabelle Conroy gets in trouble after conning about forty million dollars from Atlantic City casino king Jerry Bagger (a thread that started in THE COLLECTORS), the Camel Club protects her from him; he plans to do to her what he did to her mother -- kill her.

Camel Club leader Oliver Stone has an even greater threat to contend with.  Homeland Security Agent Harry Finn, a loving husband and father and a highly regarded patriot, is methodically killing the survivors of a CIA Cold War cell, Triple 6, in retaliation for their arranging the death of his father, Raymond Solomon, allegedly a traitor.  Oliver, once known as John Carr and now “dead,” was part of that unit.  The other club members (Reuben Rhodes, Caleb Shaw, Milton Farb and their honorary member, Secret Service Agent Alex Ford) are divided over whom they need to protect as both threats are deadly serious.

The speed of this thriller is incredible as both plots move out at an extraordinary pace, yet the key players are fully developed and plausible, especially Harry and the Camel Club members.  Both Oliver and Annabelle recognize the problems they respectively face and each knows they are in trouble, but in some ways welcome the confrontation.  Underlying this strong thriller is a caution that government secrets are rarely security issues, but more likely the hiding of embarrassments, usually caused by a lack of adequate checks and balances on arrogant power brokers.

- Harriet Klausner

JUMP CUT
MAX ALLAN COLLINS
Obsidian PBO 11/07

Like most cities in the United States, Lawrence, Kansas, has a homeless problem.  The authorities would like to move them out of their area, but they don't want to see anyone killed.  Somebody doesn’t feel the same way.  Someone is murdering the homeless; stalking them, drugging them, chaining them in an enclosed area; making them hope they can get away.  To date four bodies have been found in various places around town, but the police are no closer to finding the killer than they were the day the first corpse was found.

In desperation, the police call in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, a group of expert profilers, to assist them in finding the killer.  When the team arrives they get right to work and come to an interesting conclusion:  the hate crimes are escalating, with more signs of violence on the later victims.  While the BAU is in Lawrence, twenty-year-old college drama student Kelly Bonder is kidnapped and the ransom is $68,000.  In such a quiet town, the profilers believe this crime is linked to their case and if they discover the connection they will find the killer.  They race against the clock to uncover the perp before the ransom deadline arrives.

This novel is based on the television show “Criminal Minds,” and readers get to see the step by step criminal investigation by the FBI.  The prologue is in the first person voice of the killer and he speaks periodically throughout the book which sends goose bumps down the spine of the reader because he sounds so sane in his insanity.  The investigation takes place in the third person and is also terrifying because the reader feels the tension of the last victim.  This crime thriller absorbs the reader in the unfolding drama of mind games played by a brilliant serial killer.

- Harriet Klausner

THE SNOW EMPRESS
LAURA JOH ROWLAND
St. Martin's Minotaur  November, 2007

In 1699, in Edo, Masahiro, the son of Chamberlain Sano Ichiro and his wife Reiko, vanishes without a trace.  At about the same time that his parents are aware of his abduction, Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi summons Sano to the palace.  There Sano's enemy, Lord Matsudaira, accuses him of bombing his villa.  Sano believes the bombing is a ploy to distract him and that his odious foe probably kidnapped his child.

Tokugawa sends Sano to the faraway island of Ezogashima, where he is to help Lord Matsumae battle barbarians.  Meanwhile Matsudaira confesses that Sano's son has been taken to Ezogashima also.  Sano and Reiko, accompanied by a small retinue, rush to Ezogashima, but meet with no cooperation from anyone.  Lord Matsumae, grieving the murder of his mistress, trusts no one, and his wife mourns the death of their daughter, also murdered.  Reiko investigates the murders, allegedly committed by the Snow Empress, and the whereabouts of her son, while Sano struggles to get through to the apparently insane Matsumae.

Ichiro's twelfth historical mystery is an exciting thriller that once again brings to life late seventeenth century Japan.  Sano tries to stay calm in light of his son's kidnapping and the insanity of the Lord he is supposed to help; he would like to harm Lord Matsudaira for the abduction and remove Lord Matsumae from office.  However, his volatile wife does not care one iota about political correctness, especially when Masahiro is involved. 

- Harriet Klausner

A PRAYER FOR THE DAMNED
PETER TREMAYNE
St. Martin's Minotaur  November, 2007

In 668 AD, in the Five Kingdoms (ancient Ireland), Abbot Ultan is acting as the emissary for Bishop Segene, the Abbot of Ard Macha.  He travels the country seeking to sell the concept that Segene should be lead abbot.  Both men adhere to the strict laws of a sub-group of Rome State who believe that the church holy cannot marry; they each believes it is their calling from God to do whatever it takes to insure others follow their religion --  including bribes and coercion.

Ultan and his retinue head to Cashel in the Kingdom of Muman where King Colgu's sister, Sister Fidelma, is about to take the vows to make her marriage of a year and a day to Brother Eadulf permanent.  Ultan arrives to voice his strong objection to two church officials marrying.   Before he can make his displeasure known, someone murders him.  The wedding ceremony is postponed while the bride and groom investigate the homicide in which one of the kings of the Five Kingdoms is the prime suspect.

Readers who love Middle Ages whodunits will want to read A PRAYER FOR THE DAMNED (as well the previous Sister Fidelma tales).  This series is one of the best being written today.  The freshness in Sister Fidelma's latest inquiry comes from her doubts as to whether she should be released from her vows as a religeuse.  The power struggle between Rome 's edicts and the Irish church leaders are meticulously examined, and this serves as a key element to the exciting plot.  Readers gain plenty of insight into seventh century religious and secular politics in Ireland yet the beauty of Peter Tremayne's skill is that he does this while entertaining his fans. 

- Harriet Klausner

BOWLED OVER
KASEY MICHAELS
Kensington Books Trade PBO 11/07

Regency mystery writer Margaret "Maggie" Kelly still wonders about her sanity ever since the hero of her historical whodunits, Alexandre "Alex" Blake (the Viscount Saint Just), and his assistant Sterling somehow came to life in her home.  However, as time has passed and they have worked several capers together, Maggie begins to believe that Alex is real and perhaps they belong together.

Maggie, accompanied by Alex and Sterling, is heading to Ocean City, New Jersey, for another Kelly family Christmas disaster with her separated parents, Alicia and Evan.  Maggie and her Regency companions travel to Evan's apartment only to find the police arresting him for the murder of his bowling friend, Walter Bodkin.  The motive is Walter's affair with Alicia and the murder weapon is Evan's bowling ball.  Maggie, Alex, and Sterling investigate only to realize much of the heterosexual male population of New Jersey wanted Bodkin dead for his trysts with their wives and a number of the women, including Maggie's sister and mother, shared their desire.

BOWLED OVER is an amusing romantic cozy that, in spite of the Regency gimmick and being the sixth in the series, still retains a freshness that showcases Kasey Michaels’ talent.  It’s fun to follow Maggie as she stumbles and fumbles with Alex and Sterling always there to pick her up.  This is another winner in a terrific series.

- Harriet Klausner

SHROUDS OF HOLLY
KATE KINGSBURY
Berkley Prime Crime Trade PBO 11/07

In Badgers End, England , Pennyfoot Hotel proprietor Cecily Sinclair Baxter praises Madeline Pengrath for decorating the ballroom for the upcoming Christmas holiday.  To complete the décor, Cecily's husband and stable master Samuel go to the nearby woods to gather holly, but one of the horses returns without its rider.  Instead, inside the trap used to contain the holly is a dead stranger and Mr. Baxter and Samuel fail to come home.  Cecily sends for Constable Northcott.  However, when he makes no progress on the case, a frustrated, worried and determined Cecily begins her own inquiry into what happened to her husband and the stable master, and who killed the man in the trap.

SHROUDS OF HOLLY is a delightful Edwardian whodunit starring an intrepid heroine who turns investigator out of fear for her husband when she believes the constable fails to understand that time is running out.  Fans of the series will enjoy this fun to read historical holiday cozy.  The latest Pennyfoot Hotel mystery cleverly uses stereotypes of Pre WWI England to round out the entertaining amateur sleuth mystery.

- Harriet Klausner

IN FOR THE KILL
JOHN LUTZ
Pinnacle PBO 11/07

The city is frantic, especially the women, as the Butcher dismembers females limb by limb and stacks each of them into eerie pyramids in their bathtubs. He is extremely precise with his human Legos, and never leaves behind a forensic clue of any sort.

NYPD Deputy Chief Harley Renz knows he needs his best serial killer specialist to lead the inquiry; however the department's top gun is retired.  Harley asks former NYPD homicide detective Frank Quinn to return to the field to stop The Butcher from killing any more women.  Police Officer Pearl Kasner, Frank's former girlfriend, is assigned to work with him.  However, Frank is stunned when he realizes the first letter of the surnames of the five victims spell ‘Quinn.’

John Lutz provides an exhilarating and tense thriller using a retired police detective in a cat and mouse struggle against a diabolical killer.  The cast is fully developed, especially the hero, but it is the serial killer who methodically steals the story line.  Readers will enjoy this chess game between two intelligent opponents with the women of the city as the pawns in the game.  

- Harriet Klausner

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