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An
Eye For Murder
By Libby Fischer Hellmann
Berkley Prime Crime
Dec. 2002
ISBN 0 425 18739X
$6.50
Poisoned Pen Press
Nov. 2002
ISBN 1 59058 0354
$24.95
An American meets a foreign agent in a bar in Prague, Aug. 1944. In an
alley, they identify themselves as Kafka and Joe. There is an exchange of a
detailed report, which focuses on The Butcher of Auschwitz, Josef Mengele,
and his immoral medical experiments. Joe wanted it passed through the
channels. Their plans are to meet in Chicago, where they both live.
Present day Chicago. An old man opens his door thinking his landlady's dog
wants a treat. He is murdered when a syringe is plunged into his chest by
one of two assailants.
Then Ellie Foreman, the producer of "Celebrate Chicago, receives a
letter
written to her in care of her show. The return address states the letter is
from Ruth Fleishman. Ellie wonders why her life would intersect with a total
stranger's. This leads her to Ruth's home where she learns that Ruth rented
a room to an elderly gentleman named Ben Sinclair. After Ben died, Ruth
found Ellie's name on a piece of paper among his possessions. When Ellie
arrives at Ruth's home, they look over a stack of library books; a metal
box, which they can't open; a small gray velvet bag containing a cigarette
lighter with the initials SKL. Ellie agrees to take Ben's overdue books back
to the library and to drop of his clothes at a Jewish charity agency. While
walking to her car with several boxes, Ellie sees two men nearby in a car.
She ignores them as she drives off to the library, but her mind has made a
mental note.
At the library an African American teenager who heard her mention Ben's name
approaches Ellie. He informs her that he taught Ben how to go online and
that Ben had his own e-mail. Curious to learn more about the mysterious Mr.
Sinclair, Ellie treats the young man to lunch at a small Middle Eastern
eatery. She turns her back for a minute and he's gone.
After returning to Ruth's home, Ellie finds the old woman dead in Ben's
room. She informs the police of Ruth's death and watches her body brought
out on a stretcher. Adding to the mystery of Ben's death is now Ruth's and
the current location of Ruth's dog. Hoping to dig up a few clues, Ellie
speaks with her editor, Hank Chenowsky about the lighter. Hank is an antique
collector and immediately recognizes the old zippo as those given to GI's
during the war. If the murders aren't enough, Elle's ex-husband states
that he can't pay the child support payment because he's temporarily
short of cash because of losses in the stock market.
Needing to talk to someone responsible, Ellie visits her father in his
retirement home. They briefly discuss a female politician's campaign and Ben
and Ruth's death. When Ellie shows her father the zippo, he recognizes the
initials saying that it belonged to Ben Skulnick. Ben had hung out at a
particular bar where he took payoffs, ran numbers and greased palms. Her dad
use to run errands for the gangsters so he knew that a number of men were
going after Nazi Bund members on the North Side. Skull had a personal reason
for going after the head of the local Nazi group.
Ellie's inquisitiveness leads her into great danger, which is apparent when
she returns from her visit with her father to find her home ransacked. What
the burglars are after pulls her deeper into her investigation and into the
life of a man she'd never had meet had Ben never scribbled her number down.
AN EYE FOR MURDER is a reminder that historical events leading to the
highest level of injustice may be buried in the past, but there are
those within our society that follow the belief system of the Nazi's. This
book does not preach or provide graphic details that would keep us deep into
nightmares for the rest of our lives. It does make you look closer at the
individuals in our society, at the 9-5 worker and the politician, at
literature left on our doorstep or the pro-Nazi parades. Sooner or later we
will touch upon true evil, not intentionally, but because it's out there.
Thank you, Libby, for
helping us remember.
Denise Fleischer, GWN Book Reviewer
4 out of 5 zippo lighters
2/28/2003
Lemon
Meringue Pie Murder
By Joanne Fluke
Kensington Books www.kensingtonbooks.com
March 2003
Mystery
ISBN: 0-7582-0150-8
Hardcover $22.00
336 pages
Lake Eden, Minnesota
In this fourth novel, Hannah Swensen's friend, Norman, has just signed on
the dotted line to purchase the inherited property of Rhonda Scharf. Norman
intends to build his dream house on the lot, the one he and Hannah designed.
There's one little problem, though, the police have to wheel out the
previous owner's body first. Which brings Hannah back into the mystery
solving realm in trying to figure out who killed the cosmetic saleswoman and
why? Rhonda was all set to move on with a well-cushioned bank account and a
ticket to Rome in her purse.
This time around it's Hannah's mom, Delores that discovers the body in the
basement of the home while treasure hunting for her antique shop. The
police are immediately called to the scene and identify the body as being
Rhonda's. The yellow police tape means two things: no dream trip to Rome and
a big dent in Norman's plans for the demolition of the house. Delores feels
she owes it to Rhonda to find her murderer. This is unusual since it's her
daughter that's darn good at being an amateur sleuth. Delores asks for her
help in the investigation and Norman seconds it.
Hannah starts digging up clues and the truth. Two clues were found in the
kitchen, but were disposed of not knowing it was a murder case. Hannah
learns that Ken Purvis, Jordan High's principal was having an affair with
Rhonda. He even saw her on the night she was murdered. Then there's Freddy
Sawyer, a mentally challenged young man mentored by his cousin, Jed. Both
were spending time in Hannah's bakery putting up shelves she ordered. One
day Freddy approaches Hannah. Tells her they're making good money and that
he's holding on to something Jed lost in the garbage can. Next comes what is
believed to be a counterfeit $10.00 bill dated 1974.
Can Hannah put the ingredients to this murder in logical order and find the
killer? Will Moishe her cat ever get off her pillow? Does Norman intend to
propose or will the man she truly loves finally pop the question.
LEMON MERINGUE PIE MURDER continues to be entertaining as it follows
Hannah's adventures. You look forward to finding out what is happening in
the lives of her friends and family and follow right behind her as she mixes
up a batch of can't-live-without-them cookies. Recipes are right inside the
book. I don't know about you but I'm ready for the next installment and
please pass me a Pineapple Right-Side-Up Cookie Bar.
5 scoops of sugar out of 5
--Denise Fleischer, GWN Book Reviewer
1/12/2003
Blood
Junction
Caroline Carver
Warner Books, Sept. 2002. $24.95
ISBN-0-89296-770-6
After returning to Australia from the UK, journalist India Kane agreed to
meet her childhood friend Lauren, little did she know that her trip to
Cooinda would become the biggest challenge of her life.
As India was unwilling to go to Sydney to see Lauren, and Lauren had told
her that she had found "her grandfather," she couldn't resist the
temptation of meeting her in the outback town of Cooinda. She would probably
have gone anywhere to discover her unknown family roots.
Alas, her "not so well kept" rented Toyota Corolla died about 40
kilometers from Cooinda, in the middle of nowhere, with a temperature well
above 50° C. and not the slightest bit of shade in sight.
After being ignored by two passing cars, she is finally rescued by Terry
"Tiger" Dunn, one of the local police officers who offers to drive
her to town. When they arrive at the hotel were she is supposed to meet
Lauren, she is informed that she has already left but will see her at the
Goodman's, the Bed and Breakfast she is meant to stay at.
This meeting will never happen: Tiger and Lauren are found shot the
following morning, India becomes the prime suspect, soon to be incarcerated
at the local Police Station jail like facility.
From that time, all hell breaks loose, Frank Goodman, the only person who
could confirm her alibi is trekking somewhere in the Flinders Ranges, and
the ambiance is not the best at the Cooinda Police Station for a suspected
cop killer.
When she is thrown in a cell with Mikey "The Knife," she is
terrified. How would she know that he is the one who will become her best
friend, ally, savior and much more.
Together they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies since "the
stolen children". A conspiracy which, if successful, would make the
nazis look like kindergarteners.
Caroline Carver has written a powerful suspense, a fantastic page turner,
which is difficult to put down. Her style is flawless, her knowledge of the
Australian Outback is quite considerable. Blood Junction's ending will
satisfy the most difficult mystery aficionado reader.
4 ½ boomerangs out of 5
Mystery/thriller
Johana Smith, GWN Book Reviewer
Do
No Harm
By Gregg Andrew Hurwitz
William Morrow
http://www.harpercollins.com
Mystery
Hardcover
2002
388 pages
$24.95 US
ISBN 0-06-000886-5
It begins with a nurse, stumbling into the emergency room, her skin melting
as some corrosive substance works its way into it, down her throat and into
her eyes. Emergency Room Chief David Spier treats her quickly, trying
to figure out what the substance is as he rushes to save her life. A
second woman, a Doctor this time, is attacked, causing the police to realize
that the attacker is concentrating on women who work at that hospital.
They nearly catch him, and in his escape attempt, badly injures
himself on his own drain cleaner concoction. The ER, already in an
uproar over the two women, refuse to help him. Spier sees this as a
huge breach of ethics and helps the attacker, earning the hatred of
his staff. This hatred increases when he overhears a suspicious
conversation, convincing that the police will kill the man on route to the
jail. So he holds the man a little while longer, and Clyde, as he is
called, cleverly ta! kes the opportunity to escape.
This book asks many hard questions about ethics and about our own actions.
Spier feels that he is ethically bound to give Clyde -- who no one
doubts is the perpetrator -- the best care possible, while everyone else
from the police to his staff are content to let him die. Knowing that
these people worked with and cared for the victims makes their feelings
understandable, but I thought he had a point. What I am not sure that
I agreed with is that he, fearing for the prisoner's life, took it upon
himself to protect the man by keeping him in a really unsecurable location.
This makes matters altogether worse because not only is the guy on the
loose again, but he uses the opportunity to hurt more people. Clyde
has fixated on Spier and his girlfriend, and so he directs his attacks
toward them. Spier feels great responsibility for letting the guy get
loose, (as he should!) and so dedicates himself to tracking Clyde down.
Clyde is a very unusual antagonist. He feels real remorse for his
doings, but can't seem to stop himself. Because of things in his past,
he won't seek medical or mental help, and therefore ends up treating
himself. His remorse, though, does not mitigate the fact that he is a
vicious and vile man...a killer with no real redeeming qualities. A
man such as this, if he makes court, would probably easily get off the worst
charges because of madness or diminished capacity. The question is, do
we help a man like this? If there are medicines that can control him,
if, since he feels real remorse do we try and let him have a real life?
Or are his terrible crimes such that we have no choice but to
prosecute to the fullest extent of the law? Also, did Spier have a
right to risk so many lives just so that the police wouldn't harm Clyde?
These questions have no easy answers, but they do make the plot move
along quickly.
I enjoyed the story and the characters very much. Everything worked
well together to create a convincing and interesting story. Hurwitz
takes an unusual concept and runs with it to the fullest extent, and even if
the questions he asks can't be answered, he manages to satisfy the reader
with what answers he can give.
4 out of five scalpels
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
10/2/2002
Nobody
But You
By Julie Kenner
Pocket Books
Jan. 2003
ISBN: 0-7434-4604-6
David Anderson struggles to write his second novel, while his first gathers
five years of dust. His career as a private investigator is as dead as his
creativity until accountant Jacey Wilder walks into his garage apartment.
She hires him to locate her missing boyfriend Albert Alcott, whom she met at
an convention in San Diego. They shared a pleasant weekend together, but
parted under bad terms. She'd like to apologize and try to get her life back
on track. Because a man has to pay his rent, David takes on the case.
Jacey's boyfriend, Albert, is on the run, but not from the law. He's trying
to escape death by the hands of Joey Malone. Living on the outskirts of San
Diego, he's not living the life he so carefully planned for. He's broke,
paranoid and homeless.
What Jacey doesn't know is that Albert stashed the diamonds he took from
Malone in her car. He would have recovered them and gotten as far away as he
could, but Jacey left him. Her life is on the line and she doesn't even know
it. Joey's right-hand man learns through the hotel registration list, from
the convention, that Jude Wilde is really Jacey Wilde. Now, if they can only
track her down and take back the diamonds.
David's Aunt Millie has a mission of her own. She wants to see David happily
married and no longer living in the guest apartment in her backyard. One
look at Jacey and Millie has found the right candidate. Now she has to
convince both of them that they would make a great couple.
Assisting David in his case is Finn, his friend since high school. Finn was
a great help in the research department because of his education and
instinct. So good that he will be spending summer working for a district
judge in LA. Early on David and Finn learn that Al lied about being a
Harvard graduate. According to his roommate, Al died four months ago when
the heater in his office exploded. That should have ended the case and sent
Lacey home. But there is something about Lacey that David couldn't let go
off. If it is more than attraction, he couldn't admit it to her or himself.
Both are driven. David who has two books in his head dying to be written.
One, a classic detective story, while the other explores true crime. Jacey
is an artist, who only enjoys her skill painting a mural in a friend's
resale shop. She believes that she needs a 9-5 job to earn a living and
painting is merely a dream.
Will these two talented individuals solve the mystery of the missing Albert
Alcott? Will Aunt Millie's matchmaking efforts be successful? Can David save
Jacey from the criminals determined to recover the diamonds, no matter what
the cost?
NOBODY BUT YOU offers the fictional David as his protagonist, Philip Monroe,
in the beginning of every chapter. It's like a book within a book. What you
learn from this novel is the danger of having a temporary relationship with
a man you don't even know. Jacey literally puts her life on the line. This
one foolish mistake may have been her last. Also, there's nothing wrong with
living your dream as a writer or artist, or whatever else you want to be, as
long as you have two feet planted firmly on the ground and a job to pay the
bills. So many of us put aside our dreams and allow ourselves to be caught
up in the 9-5 life of commitment and nothing else.
Kenner's characters will win you over with their unique personalities. The
plot keeps you reading, wondering what's going to happen in the fictional
account and between David and Jacey. This one is on my keeper list. Only
wish the author would present the other novel as a separate book. Be on the
look out for "The Secret Life of Phineus Teague," Kenner's next
novel from Pocket Books due out in January 2004.
Four out of five diamonds
--Denise Fleischer, GWN Book Reviewer
gottawritenetwork.com
12/28/2002
The
Death Artist
By Jonathan Santlofer
William Morrow
http://www.harpercollins.com
Mystery
Hardcover
September 2002
344 pages
$24.95 US
ISBN 0-06-000441-x
Kate McKinnon has received the chance that very few get...the opportunity to
go from middle class roots to the affluent upper crust. Once a police
detective by trade, she now hosts a popular art show on the local PBS
station, and helps with programs that support young artists. She has
two protegès, Willie, an artist of incredible talent, and Elena, whose
haunting vocal performance art is rapidly gaining her a following.
When Willie discovers Elena's mutilated body, Kate finds herself back
in action. Unable to have children of her own, she loved Elena like a
daughter, and is determined to find the killer. Elena will not be the
last to die. Many other artists will be found, posed to look like
great works of art, and the clues are leading back to the man she loves the
most.
At first I had a hard time liking Kate. It is not always easy to like
someone who has everything, who is wealthy enough to afford only the best.
Fortunately, we learn a bit of her past, of how she wishes she could
have given her mother something special, how she appreciates what she now
has. It makes an interesting reversal, having a main character who has
become wealthy, rather than one who is struggling. I was pleased to
see that he doesn't lean too heavily on her wealth to help her solve the
case...she solves the case through training and wit rather than resources.
The setting of this novel is incredibly rich. Santlofer is a well
known artist, and so he knows the art world intimately. His knowledge
of this world brings a great deal of color to the book, teaching us as well
as giving us a real understanding of what it is like. The idea of a
killer copying works of art isn't new, but it is done in a fascinating
way...the killer's motives behind his killings are a definite twist, and I
found the use of this device of copying artworks in such a macabre fashion
to be creepily atmospheric. In some ways, I enjoyed the artistic
aspects more than the other aspects, because the way they talk about art and
the way they discuss the hard path an unknown artist has to tread to make a
living is very accessible and interesting.
Once we get into the mystery, it becomes a cat and mouse game. The
killer begins leaving her clues, and she has to race to solve them, and
hopefully, save someone's life. It adds a great deal of excitement to
the story, because she has to use her wits to figure out what masterpiece
he's about to copy next, and because you can't help but wonder what his
fascination is with her. Is he just playing a sick game, or is he
leading her into a trap?
Writers are often told to write what they know. In Santlofer's case,
opening the art world up and setting a serial killer inside of it was a
wonderful idea that only someone with his knowledge could have carried off
this well.
3 out of 5 trench coats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
11/2/2002
GermLine
Nelson Erlick
St. Martin's, Dec 2002, $27.95, 416 pp.
ISBN: 076530094X
Medical Thriller
In California, Dr. Kevin Kincaid accompanied by his wife, Helen, and their
twin children visit his Uncle Dermot, an eccentric scientist. Dermot asks
Kevin to work with him on a special DNA project. Before the nephew can
understand what is being offered, he receives an emergency call from the San
Francisco hospital he practices medicine in. When he returns to his uncle's
estate, he sees fire trucks and other emergency vehicles. Worse he sees two
children baby bags as his twins and his uncle died in a fire and though her
body was not found so had his spouse.
A decade later, Kevin is the leading researcher into "GermLine"
gene therapy and he is close to a major breakthrough after years of
experiment and failure. He believes he now has the needed vector to enable
the introduction of new genes into the germ cells of an unborn that will
eliminate genetic disease. However, different groups compete to control who
benefits from Kincaid's findings or want the research ended. All the rivals
are ruthless and willing to kill to achieve their objective.
This cerebral medical thriller is so cutting edge, the story line reads more
like a complex intellectual science fiction. The plot requires deep
concentration to understand the nuances of germline DNA research, but author
Dr. Nelson Erlick cleverly interweaves explanations inside the plot, i.e.,
news conference. Though the latter half of the novel turns into more of an
action conspiracy thriller as competitors skirmish over control, fans of a
sharp future state of the art tale will want to peruse this keen novel.
5 out of 5
Harriet Klausner, GWO Reviewer
12/16/2003
Out
of Nowhere
By Tim Miller
Iuniverse
http://www.timmiller.biz
Detective
Trade
September 2002
280 pages
$15.95 US
ISBN 0-595-24470-x
The murder is almost too easy. Cutter, a hired killer with ice water
for blood, calmly walks up to his target...then strolls away. Moments
later the target, Aaron Spencer, and his bodyguard are found dead. The
disembodied digital voice of the person who hired Cutter calls Reginald
Spencer, Aaron's father, reminding him that he has another daughter, and
that she, too, will die if Spencer doesn't recall the workers he recently
laid off from his company. Cindy, whose name was changed when her
mother divorced Reginald, for fear that Reginald would try to find them or
worse, is going home from school when a pair of men kidnap her.
Detective Jim Stanton doesn't know these details when he goes to investigate
the murder of Aaron Spencer. Just back after a two week bereavement
leave, he has a new partner, Shelly McGuire. She's a tough young
woman, desperate to prove herself in a world where most female detectives
are suspected of having used more creative measures to get their promotion.
She and Jim get off to a rocky start, but soon become good partners,
working well together, teasing each other easily despite the guilty
attraction he feels for her.
Very few things creep me out, but somehow Cutter, with his cold ways and
casual cruelty, does. There are times when you're living the book
through his thoughts, and you begin to kind of like him. Just when you
think, "Hey, he's not bad!" he'll do something so entirely
reprehensible, that it really shocks you. He is very silent, able to
sneak up on people -- including our main characters -- with frightening
ease. He decides that he wants to know who hired him, and so he begins
feeding clues to our detectives. Our detectives, who are amazingly
quick and good at their jobs, find themselves in a cat and mouse game,
slowly closing in, while their prey follows them, trying to be there when
they find the identity of his boss. This is particularly neat because
Stanton and McGuire get so close to catching him several times...so in a way
it's an equal contest between two very capable rivals, who test each other's
mettle with every turn.
I found the narration particularly effective. Miller goes back and
forth between characters, we have the first victim's thoughts, then we have
the victim being stalked by the killer, from the Cutter's point of view.
Mostly, we go back and forth between Jim and Cutter, and these twin
perspectives are fabulous, giving us an unprecedented look into the mind of
the killer, and adding a lot of dramatic tension. I've seen writers
attempt this pov trick before, but never have I seen it used as effectively.
I don't think anyone else could have pulled it off...it works so well,
on so many levels, making the story even more compelling.
This is one of those rare books that is truly impossible to put down.
It has all the elements that make for the very best in reading
experiences, characters that are strongly drawn, and impossible not to care
deeply about, a nemesis of cruel cunning, a fast paced story line, and a
twist at the end that will shock even the most jaded reader.
5 out of 5
Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
11/22/2002
The
Embroidered Corpse
By Brian Kavanagh
Jacobyte Books, www.jacobytebooks.com
Mystery
Paperback
2002
ISBN: 1-74100-108-0
Belinda Lawrence wanted the piece of tapestry but the owner of Kidbrooke
House refused to consider selling it. He was mysteriously murdered that
evening. His right eye was gouged out and his thigh was sliced open. Belinda
speculated about the two monks that she had seen arguing with the man as she
and Hazel were driving away.
Hazel, Belinda's best friend and business partner, purchased a Jacobean
cabinet at the estate sale. When they started cleaning the cabinet, they
found the tapestry. Hazel gave it to Belinda. They were curious about the
strange tapestry. It looked like it might be a corner piece of the Bayeux
Tapestry, which records the events of the Battle of Hastings and William the
Conqueror's overthrow of King Harold in 1066.
But trouble followed the tapestry. Belinda began seeing the weird monks
following her. When a priest offered to help Belinda learn the origins of
the tapestry, he turned up mutilated in the same way as the owner of
Kidbrooke House. That convinced Belinda that there was a connection between
the murders and the tapestry. It also convinced her that it must be
authentic if someone was willing to kill over it. The further Belinda
searched, the more involved she became in strange happenings. Then, Hazel
disappeared.
The author has worked in the film industry for many years. His editing
credits include: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Odd Angry Shot, The Devil's
Playground, Long Weekend, and Sex is a Four-letter Word. He was awarded a
Lifetime Achievement Award and an Australian Film Institute Award for Best
Editing for Frog Dreaming.
This is the book that you just cannot put down until you have read every
page. The characters are believable and will work their way into your heart.
The storyline flows smoothly and logically. The action starts immediately
and never lets up. It is 231 pages of suspense! The ending brings everything
to a logical conclusion and returns the characters to a point of stasis. If
you love history or a good mystery, you must read this book!
Alicia Karen Elkins, GWN Book Reviewer
12-07-02
Kisscut
Karin Slaughter
Morrow, Sep 2002, $24.95, 341 pp.
ISBN: 0688174590
In the parking lot of the popular Heartsdale, Georgia teen hangout skating
rink Jenny Weaver threatens to shoot Mark Patterson. Police chief
Jeffrey Tolliver is forced to kill the teenage girl. His former wife
pediatrician and Grant County coroner Sara Linton witnesses the fatal
shooting. Inside a toilet of the rink resides a dismembered fetus.
Sara's autopsy of Jenny provides several strange clues that do not add up.
The deceased was a long time abuse victim, Her battered vagina had
been sewn shut and there is no evidence of any recent sexual activity to
produce a fetus. Detective Lena Adams, a victim of rape and grieving
the death of her sister interrogates Mark. Soon she learns the
horrifying perverted secrets of a town with quite a sideshow of pediophile,
incest, and child pornography and prostitution.
Living up to her surname, Karin Slaughter provides readers with a graphic
thriller that combines elements of a police procedural with that of a
medical examiner tale. The story line catches the audience from the
start, but fans should not dive in with a full stomach as KISSCUT tears into
boundaries rarely seen in a thriller. The author eases some of the tension
by the use of puns and other humorous devices that at times can be missed
due to the high level of excitement. Those who enjoy Patricia Cornwall
will relish this novel and Ms. Slaughter's previous book, but this writer
adds more red meat in her recipe.
5out of 5 hearts
Harriet Klausner, GWN Book Reviewer
9/20/2002
 Radiant
Sword
By Lee Boschen
LTD Books
http://www.ltdbooks.com
Mystery Romance
electronic
188 pages
$ US
ISBN 1-55316-071-1
The High Court, an ultra secret coalition of the heads of
several government agencies, is worried. It has heard of a new weapon
called Radiant Sword, a super laser that is very close to being built that
has the ability to completely erase satellites from the sky. They are
desperate to know who is spending so much money to have such a thing built,
and what their intentions are. The Chairman, fortunately, has come up
with a diabolical plan. New technology has made it possible to record
and edit a human's memory. Unfortunately, they can't just pick up the
director of the project, Joanne McRae, and empty her mind of the
information. Too many risks. But they can find a handsome man,
and re-write his life so that he moves right down the road from her. A
man with enough things in common, such as a love of playing chamber music,
to make him incredibly attractive to the over worked scientist. The
plan is simple, they'll become lovers, and she'll trust him, tell him
things. Once in awhile, they'll pick him up and scan him for
information, and he'll never even know that he is their spy. Clever.
Except that they're not quite smart enough to make sure everything
fits right and makes sense. For example, David D'Escoyne, their
unwitting accomplice stands Jo up for a racquetball date. When they
meet again the next Monday, he insists that he was in Chicago, she insists
that he wasn't...this causes distrust to grow between them, despite their
attraction for each other.
This book is a seamless balance between romance and adventure. Joanne
is a strong female character, who is very focused on completing her project.
She has a certain vulnerability despite her strengths that makes her
very charming. David D'Escoyne makes an interesting match, because he
thinks he's finally taken a sabbatical from work to write a book that will
help people learn math more easily. Both are very smart, very into
their music, and connect easily despite their reservations. The
political manipulations in the background are cleverly done...one despises
the High Court immediately because Boschen's intensely apt characterizations
of the various members show the reader just how vile these people are.
In some ways, it is an interesting look at how corrupt officials are
willing to use people to get their ends, and the careless cruelty that
people can have. Because of their cavalier attitude towards these
people's lives, it makes it even more pleasurable to see Jo and David outwit
them...even when they don't realize what they're doing. The whole
point is that David is supposed to gather information about Jo's project,
yet whenever she tries to talk about work, he doesn't care. He cares
only about her.
Nearly perfect pacing and enough romance and adventure to keep the reader
going. This book is definitely a fun read.
4 out of 5 trench coats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
Partner
in Crime
By J. A. Jance
William Morrow
http://www.harpercollins.com
Mystery
Hardcover
2002
367 pages
$24.95 US
ISBN 0-380-97730-3
On the eve of her first show, artist Rochelle Baxter finds herself growing
too close to her boyfriend, and decides to break it off. At her
apartment, he sits with her and has a beer, and she has ice tea. Later
that night she wakes up with a terrible pain, and dies before the paramedics
arrive. Her death creates a series of questions for Sheriff Joanna
Brady, first, whether it was an accident or murder? She decides to
proceed as if it's a homicide, and soon discovers that the story of Baxter's
past ends the second she stepped into Bisbee, Arizona. After that, no
one can figure out who she was and where she came from. When J.P.
Beaumont from the State Attorney General's Office in Washington comes to
help with the investigation, he brings even more questions, namely whether
Rochelle is a victim of an angry lover, or if someone wants her out of
the way before she can testify. Rochelle, it turns out, was in the
witness prote! ction program.
What makes this book special is the well-rounded view we get. We get
equal amounts of all of her life. For instance, her daughter's
favorite dog has died and she has to try and deal with this event which, in
the larger world view, is not hugely significant as the death of Baxter.
Yet, she needs to treat it with the same amount of attention that she
does the murder investigation. She has to wade through a mire of
inter-office politics as men who covet her high position watch and wait for
her to slip up...the worst of these being her major competitor in the next
election, who has enlisted the help of the local gossip columnist. She
has to help plan her new house, and fill out mounds of paper work while
training a temporary secretary. When Beaumount shows up, he's very
charming, despite the fact that she totally freezes him out, making him feel
most unwelcome. But he perseveres, not only because this is his first
case on his new! job but because he also is worried about the death of
Rochelle Baxter and what it means to the Witness Protection Program.
If it's an accident or a homicide committed by her boyfriend in anger,
fine. If it's not...then who killed her, why, and does this mean that
there's a leak in the program? This well-rounded view works well
because all of her sub-characters are painstakingly drawn out, and you feel
like you actually know them. They're not simply window dressing. They
are people that fill the world of this book and make it more intricate and
strong.
J.A. Jance has written many books starring J.P. Beaumont, and several others
starring Joanna Brady, but never before have these two well loved characters
stared together. For someone like me, who has never read this series
before, it was a pleasant surprise getting to know these people, but I
imagine for Jance's long time fans, this combination will be a wonderful
read.
4 out of five trench coats
--Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Book Reviewer
Murder
on Red Cliff Rez
Mardi Oakley Medawar
St. Martin's Press
Mystery - Hardbound
Copyright 2002
www.minotaurbooks.com
207 pages
$23.95 (US)
ISBN 0-312-2938-x
Red Cliff Reservation, Northern Wisconsin
Karen Charboneau is well known for her ceramics. Unique by their
design, she forms the green ware during winter months to be fired in the
summer. But those who are close to her know her as
"Tracker." The best tracker in the region, Benny Peliquin,
taught her to find anything or anyone. And she learned well.
Benny claimed that at nine years old, she could "track a
partridge in flight." She learned how to "get into the
Zone," a place where the body simply obeys the mind, leaving
discomforts and distractions behind. Now she has to find Benny in the
most forsaken place on earth. Because Benny is wanted for murder.
To complicate matters, her Uncle Bert, a recluse who is mostly deaf and
abhors complications, (such as people in general) is also missing. She
is about to search for her uncle when David Lameraux, Police Chief and
former companion, informs her that her duty is to the law. He has
hired her tracking abilities to find Benny Peliquin.
These two scenarios seem at odds, but Ms. Medawar, with a unique
tongue-in-cheek, assembles a story of murder and justice that comes together
with a twist that is hard to see coming. The characters are lively and
easy to "see" with dialogue that offers the reader moments of
laughter and insight, while sliding in a few red herrings. There are a
few clichés thrown about, but with the unique voice of the writer, they are
fully acceptable.
Ms Medawar has written, to date, four other novels with the Native American
flavor. It is this reviewer's intent to read them. For her
style, voice and characterizations, I offer Ms. Medawar four Daggers out of
five.
Walter Ihlefield
Gotta Write Online Reviewer
"Banshee Rising"
"Controlled Conclusion"
"Treasure at Eagle Point"
Die
Upon a Kiss
By Barbara Hambly
Bantam Mystery
May 2002
ISBN 0-553-58165-1
462 pages
$5.99 US
Setting: New Orleans, 1835
Benjamin January is a free man of color, a Paris trained surgeon and
talented pianist in decadent 1830's New Orleans. He makes his
living through teaching the piano, from playing at balls, and this year,
from playing in the orchestra for the new American Theater. He is
leaving the theater to walk home when he hears someone call for help.
He rushes to the rescue, saving impresario Lorenzo Belaggio.
Who would want to kill Belaggio? Is it his insistence on bringing
Othello to stage in a city where a black man marrying - and eventually
murdering - a white woman would likely cause a riot? Or is it John
Davis, the owner of a rival theater, who feels his business is being usurped
by Belaggio? Was Belaggio truly the intended target, or was it Mr.
Marsan, a dandified plantation owner, who's account book has more than a
handful of sins to its reckoning?
One of the most remarkable things about this series is the fact that the
main character is a free man of color during the time when slavery was still
in force, where he must carry papers everywhere to prove his freedom at a
moment's notice, where to raise his hand to defend himself against an attack
is a hanging offense if the attacker is white. It binds our hero in
ways most heroes aren't bound. In most stories, if our protagonist
kills a person in self defense it's no problem. If he or she is taken
prisoner, then another person is likely to free them should the chance
arrive. Ben has no such luxuries. If he is caught, his papers
taken away, it's his word against his white captors that he is not a slave,
and in a country where Italians can be mistaken for runaway
"octoroons" and kept prisoner if they have no proof otherwise, his
word is unlikely to be taken. It adds an element of danger to the
story, a sense of worry for January every time he wanders too far away from
the city, and his friends.
The mystery is not the whole of the story. While Benjamin unearths
clues, we are taken through different worlds. We enter the world of
the opera, where divas vie for position, and politics are played out among
the staff. Ms. Hambly's delicate hand at research is evident - it is
obvious she has looked into every aspect of life in this time, but shows
admirable restraint, painting us a picture of volcanoes made of fireworks
and silk, of ballerinas floating on point with the help of wires. We
are taken into the lives of the plaçèe - women of color who live their
lives trying to please their rich white lovers. All throughout this
story there we see the interaction between men and the women they own
- the plaçèes with their struggle to please the men they are contracted
to, the diva who submits to Belaggio in order to sing, the wife and daughter
who wears threadbare clothes and bruises while their provider goes out in
velvet and matched jewels. In grim comparison stands the ballet
mistress Marguerite Scie, cool and alone, and Kate the Gouger, a
prostitute from the meanest part of the city. Quotes from Othello are
threaded through the whole book, in counterpoint to this dark symphony.
With every turn, new things happen, new questions appear, pulling you
through the magnificent world Ms. Hambly builds. This, along with the
memorable and incredible characters, make this an amazing read. She
creates people - the complex and honorable Benjamin January, the brilliant
and scarred Rose Vitrac, the slightly hedonistic and pleasant Hannibal
Sefton - that you can genuinely like, who you worry over and want to see
things go well for. She mixes the opulence of the rich with the mud
filled gutters of the poor to give you a complete picture of life in these
times.
While I could hardly wait to see how the book ended, I was very sorry when I
was done. Die Upon a Kiss is wonderful combination of suspense,
history and adventure. Fortunately, Wet Grave comes out in the
end of June, and rumor has it that she will soon be working on another book
in this series. I can hardly wait.
--Five cloaks out of five
Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Online book reviewer
elaine_of_shallot@hotmail.com
5/05/2002 |