December 2006

Ho, ho... ah, who am I kidding? It's time for cold weather, pre-holiday anxiety and the passing of one more year—time for a good mystery if ever I saw one!

Luckily, Mystery Morgue's got just the thing for you, no matter what your thing might be. Sample book reviews from such authors as David Baldacci, M.C. Beaton, Sunny Frazier, Chris Grabenstein, Tony Hillerman, Harry Hunsicker and William Tapply. There's plenty more where those came from, too.

And this month's interview, with April Star, author of an RV-themed mystery, reveals the motivation behind packing all your stuff up in a great big bus and traveling around the country, but also about putting pen to paper and communicating your mysterious fantasies to the rest of humanity.

Mark Arsenault, a journalist and author of Spiked, offers this month's "How I Write" exploration of the creative process. But he's quick to offer the warning: Don't try this at home. Arsenault says his method, with a little madness in it, isn't for everybody.

Why waste time at the mall? There's a mystery here for every gift list! Sit back, scan, read, and let them worry about what to buy for you!

In this month's issue:

How I Write, by Mark Arsenault
The Mystery Morgue Interview: April Star

Reviews:

Game of Patience by Susanne Alleyn
By the Chimney With Care, edited by Tony Burton
Remains Silent by Michael Baden and Linda Kenney
The Collectors by David Baldacci
Love, Lies and Liquor: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M.C. Beaton
Blinded by Darkness by Tony Burton
Conan Doyle Detective by Peter Costello
Primary Storm by Brendan DuBois
Gunpowder Plot by Carola Dunn
The Arsenic Labyrinth by Martin Edwards
Fools Rush In by Sunny Frazier
Slay Ride by Chris Grabenstein
The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman
Still River by Harry Hunsicker
Tainted Blood by Arnaldur Indridason
The Wrong Man by John Katzenbach
The Do-Re-Mi by Ken Kuhlken
On The Run by Lorena McCourtney
The Prudence of Flesh by Ralph McInerny
McMansion by Justin Scott
Out Cold: A Brady Coyne Novel by William G. Tapply
Hollywood Station by Joseph Wambaugh
The Highly Effective Detective by Richard Yancey

Link to Archives

 

How I Write (Not that I Recommend It)
by Mark Arsenault

Mark Arsenault was born in Massachusetts in 1967. He slouched through public schools, and then lollygagged through Assumption College in Worcester, Mass., with a double major in philosophy and English. He likes to say he graduated 8th in his college class, but that's only because they handed out diplomas alphabetically...

Nobody outside the newspaper industry has ever wanted to hire him. He has been a newspaper delivery boy, a newspaper truck driver, a Sunday paper section "inserter," a paste-up artist, and, since 1989, a reporter. He cut his teeth in the news business at The Gardner News, in Massachusetts, as a reporter and columnist, before moving to the Marlboro Enterprise in the early 1990s. He joined The Sun, of Lowell, Mass., as a reporter in 1994. It was during his time in Lowell that Mark discovered the setting and the character inspirations for Spiked, his first novel.

In 1998, Mark got a reporting job at The Providence Journal, where he works today, covering politics and general news. His prison interviews became a highly controversial newspaper series in 2004, entitled "Into Another World." He also spent one year writing about the aftermath of the 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people.

When Mark is not at his keyboard, you might find him backpacking up the side of a mountain.

These are my rules for the process of writing, in no particular order. I break them at my own peril.

1. Have low standards.

The lower, the better. I came to fiction from the world of journalism, so I have none of the poetic notions of writing. I don't believe in a Muse who sprinkles the dust of inspiration over me at odd moments. I am the muse. Inspiration is what happens after I sit down to write. I don't believe in fictional characters surprising me and taking over my story. I am the characters.

That sucks some of the romance out of the job.

On the plus side, I don't believe in writer's block. In journalism, there's no such thing. I can't tell my editor: "Sorry, I'm blocked. Let me stroll among the cedars to clear my head."

On election night, for example, when the 11 p.m. deadline comes, I better have a story that says who won, and provides some insight as to how and why. Daily journalism is a great teacher; it forces me to write within limitations—I might have two hours to write that election story, and it must not be longer than, say, 40 inches of type. If I can't do it, I could get fired. So I do it.

In fiction, the limitation is not time or length, but standards. People get blocked when they can't think of anything good enough to write. No problem. Just lower the standards. I tell myself, "just get started... write anything... then go back later and make it good." Most of the time, what I'll bang onto the keys will be fine.

2. Use the subconscious.

I envy people who sit down and draw up an entire outline for a novel. I've tried, but I physically can't do it.

I never know what's going to happen in a novel because I figure it out as I go. I don't recommend this method—I do it because I have no choice. Any path that occurs to me has as much validity as any other, so I'll type any idea that comes into my head.

The little advanced plotting I do is recorded in pencil in a notebook, right before bed. That way, my subconscious can churn the ideas overnight, and in the morning I can just sit down and type. In theory, anyway.

3. Edit along the way.

I'm a slow writer. I type with two fingers. [I like to think I type at the speed I think, and that any additional typing speed would just be wasted capacity.] But I also edit myself as I go, and I cannot move to the next paragraph until the one I'm working on is in acceptable shape.

4. Stop touching that!

My battle cry for fiction writing is this: Make it longer! The enemy of creation is futzing. I do not allow myself to re-read any part of the manuscript that is more than 24 hours old. Otherwise, I would start every day re-reading from the beginning, and making tiny improvements here and there. Then I'd have one perfect chapter, and no story. One of the fun parts of finishing a first draft is the pleasure of scrolling to the top and beginning to futz.

5. Use the creative power of caffeine.

200 milligrams, minimum. I will not debate this.

6. Combine goofing off with hysterical effort.

Writing a novel takes me 10 months. That's 5 months of tapping at it casually with deadline a hazy date in the future. And then 5 months of tearing my hair by the handfuls, sweating through my shirt, and promising myself that this would be the LAST TIME I do it this way.

7. Set measurable goals based on production.

I set goals in words, not in time at the keyboard. Whether it's 400 words a day or 1,500, remember the battle cry: Make it longer!

8. Either very quiet, or very noisy.

I write in silence most of the time, except when I put on some brain-blasting rock music. My most recent manuscript was created to AC/DC's "For Those About to Rock" album. Working in a newsroom blunts your sensitivity to noise. You can have a gunfight around me on deadline and I might not even notice.

9. Endure the 2/3rd crisis.

About two-thirds of the way through any manuscript, you will become convinced that the story just ain't working. Ideas for other books seem more attractive. You'll wish you were working on some other manuscript. This is very distracting. The 2/3rd crisis is why so many unfinished manuscripts fill shoeboxes and litter closets all over the globe. It must be confronted head-on. Admit you're in the crisis. Then get back to battle. Make it longer!

10. Be careful about who sees your work.

I don't let anyone see the manuscript until I've finished my second draft. I know many writers who like to get feedback as they go. There's no one right way to write, of course—but be careful. Envy is an ugly filter. And even those who sincerely want to help will peck your work to bits, which will drain your enthusiasm for the literary carcass they hand back to you.

11. Stop when the cat wants attention.

The cat knows when your mind needs a two-minute break. So stop and play whenever the cat jumps on the desk. (I'm doing so right now...)

This is the way I write, not that I recommend it.

 

The Mystery Morgue Interview: April Star

April Star took an unusual route to a writing career. Traveling the roads of America in an RV for 16 years with her husband, Jerry, she began to write on the road. Jerry's work in the construction trade brought them to every "where-in-the-hell-is" place on the map. April filled her days writing journals of people, places, and the countless things that happen on the road. Many campers through the years would ask her over and over why she didn't write a book. So she did: a nonfiction account of all the journals titled Life Through A Rear-View Mirror. Shortly after writing that very large volume, April discovered her real niche was in the mystery genre.

In 1992, shortly after hurricane Andrew devastated the Homestead, Florida area, April and her husband rolled their thirty-two foot Avion into a camping resort (which at the time appeared to be more of a MASH unit).

In an attempt to keep her sanity, she took a job in the office where she says she soon discovered insanity seemed to be the rule. A year later April became assistant manager and marketing director. In 1996 Jerry joined her in the office as campground managers. There they stayed and there is where the stories and characters emerged for what is now a reality—the Wanderlust Mystery Series.

Have you traveled outside of the US?  If so, has that contributed to the content of your book? 

My husband and I have traveled to Canada, Mexico and a number of the eastern and western Caribbean islands.   I think it was a combination of all the places we've been that contributed to the characters, plot, and subplot. 

Describe the influence your RV experiences have had on your writing.

It's been a tremendous influence, in that it has given me vast and colorful array of people, places, and events to base storylines and plots upon.    The journals I've kept through my travels have given me a wealth of firsthand information on a number of settings, various ethnic traditions and expressions used in dialogue for characters, and a very exciting means of adding authenticity to my writing.                    

As to your educational background, have you taken any formal writing courses, participated in any writers' conferences or workshops?

I've taken a number of online and correspondence writing courses.  Perhaps the most unusual and unique was when I was in Morgantown, Pennsylvania and attended an advertised writers group in Amish country.  Driving into the parking lot of the shimmering white church, I felt rather awkward amongst the rows of horse and buggies.  I was contemplating whether or not this was the type of writers "group" for me when, all of a sudden out of nowhere, I was approached by a young Amish girl with a little-house-on-the-prairie hairstyle.  I followed her inside the building, illuminated by the light of Mother Nature.  As I looked around, most of the Amish women appeared to be at a social gathering, circled around a table chatting over homemade baked goods.  It certainly did not have any signs of being a writers group but it did enlighten me nonetheless.  I've participated in a number of writers conferences across the country and I believe this is the best means of education for any writer.  Where else can you receive such an abundance of information on the craft, listen and meet with best selling authors, experience networking and pitching to editors and agents?  Writers' conferences are a great means for motivation and the inspiration and drive received from them lasts long after the conference has ended.

How/when did you become interested in mysteries?

I stumbled through a number of genres before discovering my niche with mystery writing.  I think the interest began to take root within me five or six years ago when I became hooked on the broadcasts of America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries.  I remember forming a number of my own assumptions and analyzing these cases and characters for days on end.  It wasn't long before these actual events began to make their way on my computer screen as fictionalized stories.

What did you try writing before your first novel?

I started out in the mid seventies with children's writing.  I enrolled in the Institute of Children's literature and felt at the time that this was definitely going to be my writing genre.  At the time I was a teacher of emotionally disturbed children and I would incorporate a lot of their creative imaginations into stories.  The children loved story time and actually inspired me to continue with my storytelling in spite of the overwhelming number of rejection slips that poured in.  The editors of various children's magazines and book publishers may have rejected my stories; but the children to whom I read and presented them to absolutely loved them, became mesmerized and swept away, and begged for more.  These stories never made their way into print; but they did see their way into the hearts and minds of many children.  From there I began to write for teenagers, mostly romance, which moved me to writing more adult romance which ended up having more elements of suspense and mystery.  I was drawn to such writers as Nora Roberts, Sue Grafton, and Patricia Cornwell, and soon realized, and felt within the depths of my soul that this was and would be the genre I desired to write.

What did you learn writing Tropical Warnings?

I learned how very important it is for a writer to have self-discipline and perseverance.  How you must learn to quiet your inner doubts and be strong enough to believe in yourself and your capabilities.  And how vital it is, if you are serious about writing, to write EVERY day with a clear and reasonable goal.

How long did it take to write?

It took about eight months for the first draft, three months on the second draft, and four on the final draft (before submitting).  So, about a year and a half to write and another year of sending out proposals before it finally ended up in the right hands.  Once accepted, it went through another three edits and thirteen months before seeing and holding the manuscript in book form in my hands.  I doubt there will ever be a more satisfying and fulfilling feeling as an author.

Do you expect your having lived in Florida to play any part in your future novels?

My future titles in the Wanderlust Mysteries are set in various camping resorts throughout the United States.  When my husband and I traveled for sixteen years in our RV we hit every State and then included Canada!  I have journals filled with all these places, settings, characters, and experiences from all over the United States in every type of camping resort that I finally decided to listen to my muse and begin what is now the Wanderlust Mysteries.

How do you do your research?

When possible, I prefer to get research facts firsthand by visiting a particular place or interviewing experts.   If this isn't possible, I usually set aside one weekend day where all I do is research.  This is done either via the Internet or through my volumes of research books.

Where did you get the idea for Tropical Warnings?  (It doesn't seem to be RV-related.)

Tropical Warnings is very much RV-related with my heroine as a campground manager and the setting of the South Florida camping resort.  I won't give away the ending, but readers will discover just how RV related this series will become. I got the idea for Tropical Warnings from an actual stalking incident at the resort my husband and I managed.  It was interesting to listen to all the presumptions and reasonings as to who the stalker was or wasn't.  It almost got to the point where people where people were afraid to stare at anyone for any length of time in fear they would become a suspect.  The setting, the incident, and the camping environment in Tropical Warnings all came about through this one particular campground incident.

When you create a character, how much of that character comes from your personal experience?  Are your characters just an extension of your own life and are their experiences from your own life, or are they completely fictional?

They are composites of all of the above.  I take characteristics of people I know or have met, life experiences, and weave them into my character sketches.  But once my characters take on a life and existence of their own, its out of my hands and mind.  They become their own person and often times end up surprising me as they grow.

 

Reviews

Game of Patience
by Susanne Alleyn
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 285 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312343639
Reviewed by Carl Brookins

This elegant, elegantly written, precisely constructed novel of Paris is set in the aftermath of post-revolutionary France, when La Guillotine still held sway and public executions were the order of the day.  But Danton and Robespierre are gone, as is the time of terror when wholesale executions are a thing of the recent past.  This is a story of love, of passion, of loss and of great friendship set against the panorama of a great political upheaval.

In school we learned how the people rose up in the late Eighteenth Century and did away with the institutions of royalty; how they established the foundation of the French democracy that remains to this day.  But we did not learn so much about the nasty darkness that inhabited a good deal of Parisian society in that time just before Napoleon came to power.  Here is a rousing novel that probes and reveals what it must have been like to live in that society, as a police official, as a former member of the upperclass and as a poor workingman or woman.

The novel is rich in powerful street scenes and characters of 1796 as our guide, freelance police investigator Aristide Ravel stalks the streets and the halls of power.  He attempts to unravel the double murder of a man of some questionable substance and a young woman of a higher class who should not have been in his chambers unattended by a chaperone.  The trail takes Ravel through very mean streets and back alleys of a turbulent Paris, as well as into some of the palatial salons and homes of the still-wealthy upper classes, all carefully described in pungent and telling ways.

Alleyn has obviously done meticulous and extensive research and the characters with whom she peoples these pages come alive with impact and care.  She writes with a steady hand and her messages are clear, though they never get in the way of this highly entertaining and rousing story.  I suggest that to preserve the mystery and the exciting if inevitable conclusion, you not read the jacket copy before you read the novel.

By the Chimney With Care
edited by Tony Burton
Wolfmont Publishing
Paperback, $10.95, 208 pages
ISBN: 0977840239
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

There are 17 short stories and one poem in this slender volume, all revolving around the Christmas season.  Some have been previously published elsewhere.  There are tales of burglars posing as Santa getting stuck in the chimney attempting to enter a home (and getting arrested), and a missing young woman discovered stuck in a chimney while trying to deliver a surprise gift to her boyfriend.

Other stories describe thefts of Christmas gifts from under trees.  And there are a few murders as well.  One yarn is by the editor (and publisher), a heartfelt description of a young Vietnam-era widow and her small son's stolen Xmas gifts.

In keeping with the Christmas spirit, the profits from this book will go to the Toys for Tots Foundation to brighten up some child's holiday.  So you can read the stories and feel good for an even better reason.

Remains Silent
by Michael Baden and Linda Kenney
Vintage
Paperback, 288 pages, $6.99
ISBN: 1400095611
Reviewed by Caryn St.Clair

Philomena Manfreda, known to most as Manny, is a highly successful trial attorney who takes on the cases of the poor and disenfranchised.  She's also an extremely neat person allowing very little clutter to collect in her apartment, and quite the clothes horse, buying the best clothing she can afford.  Dr. Jake Rosen is a deputy medical examiner for the city of New York who also gives expert testimony at many trials.  He lives in a five story brownstone and has his clutter scattered throughout. He seldom pays any attention to what he is wearing and often appears to have slept in his rumpled clothes.

Manny and Jake's paths have crossed professionally upon occasion. Jake has testified as a witness for Manny but he has also testified against one of Manny's clients. Manny thinks Jake sells his services to the highest bidder; Jake thinks Manny is a pushover for a sad story. Manny and Jake, it would seem, could not look at life anymore differently.

However, when Jake gets a call from his friend and mentor Pete Harrigan asking Jake to help him with a case, Jake and Manny are suddenly working two sides of the same case and unexpectedly find themselves as allies. 

Excavation near an old mental hospital unearths some human bones. When Jake arrives, parts of four skeletons are recovered and Jake and Pete are able to find enough evidence to identify one of the bodies. After several attempts are made to scare Manny and Jake from continuing their investigation, they realize that some very powerful people are behind the secrets of the former mental institution.  Why were the bodies buried in makeshift graves in the middle of a field? How many bodies are out there? Who are these people and what caused their deaths?

Linda Kenney is an attorney and Michael Baden is a forensic expertso it is not surprising that the two authors tell the story by alternating viewpoints between the two protagonists. Both voices are strong as are both of the main characters. The forensic details are very well done. The description of an autopsy is especially fascinating.

Remains Silent is a fast paced read that will keep readers quickly turning the pages to find the solution to the puzzle of the bodies found buried in the field.

The Collectors
by David Baldacci
Warner Books
Hardcover, 436 pages, $26.99
ISBN: 044653109X
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

The Camel Club has reconvened in this sequel to the book of that name.  The unusual foursome, led by cemetery caretaker Oliver Stone (nee John Carr, former CIA operative), also includes Caleb Shaw, who works in the Rare Book Room of the Library of Congress.

Caleb comes to work one morning to discover the body of his boss, Jonathan DeHaven, dead of undetermined but apparently natural causes, perhaps a heart attack (although he had received a clean bill of health the previous day at Johns Hopkins).  This death follows the assassination of the Speaker of the House, and the burning of his home.  These seemingly unrelated events set the stage for a haphazard investigation by the Camel Club.

Joined in their effort by Annabelle Conroy, con artist par excellence, the group encounters a master of murder who leads a spy ring selling secrets to foreign terrorists.  Along the way, Oliver is kidnapped, as are Caleb and Annabelle, by the opposition.

A couple of side stories provide some amusement.  Caleb is named executor of Jonathan's rare book collection in which he discovers a very rare book—the first ever printed in the United States.  Only 12 are known to exist and this is the 13th.  Is it real or a fraud?  Then there is Annabelle's long con in which she bilks a murderous Atlantic City casino operator out of $40 million.

Tightly written, this novel is as entertaining as its predecessor.  After it is all over, Oliver and Annabelle, who was married to Jonathan for a year and gave him the gift of the rare book, are left musing about the past and the future.  She came to Washington to attend Jonathan's funeral, changing her plans to flee the country to avoid capture by the casino operator.  Why is she still there?  Perhaps to set the stage for a third Camel Club adventure?  If so, we'll look forward to it.

 

Love, Lies and Liquor: An Agatha Raisin Mystery
by M.C. Beaton
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 231 pages, $22.95
ISBN: 0312349106
Reviewed by Kerry Hammond

Private detective Agatha Raisin is back with her ex-husband James.  When he invites her on holiday she has high hopes of a romantic getaway.  After all, she still fantasizes about getting back together with him.  What she actually gets is a visit to a run down town called Snoth-on-Sea and a stay at the has-been Palace Hotel.  Just when it seems like things can't get any worse, a honeymooning couple and their entourage (who appear to be the only other guests at the hotel) pick a fight with Agatha and James in the dining room.  Words are exchanged, punches are thrown and the bride is found strangled on the beach the next morning—with Agatha's scarf.

When the case continues to go unsolved, the police tell Agatha that she is not allowed to check out of the hotel.  It is at this point that she decides that solving the case herself would be the quickest way to end her misery at Snoth-on-Sea, so she enlists the help of the members of her detective agency.

Beaton's seventeenth Agatha Raisin story is a light but enjoyable read.  Her friends and co-workers make for entertaining supporting characters and there is no shortage of possible suspects to choose from.  This reader found that Agatha's detecting goes through as many twists and turns as her love life.  The only difference between the two is that the case eventually gets solved.  If you treat her constantly fluctuating heart with a grain of salt and don't get bogged down by her emotional turmoil, you will enjoy her latest case.

 

Blinded by Darkness
By Tony Burton
Honey Locust Press
Paperback, 200 pages, $8.95
ISBN: 0977840247
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

The peaceful calm of a small Southern town is disrupted when several occurrences take place: 3 dozen parishioners are sickened after a church potluck dinner; the church is vandalized; one of the church members, a man who has donated property on which a badly needed new church building is to be constructed, is killed in a suspicious ‘accident;' the tires of the Pastor's vehicle are slashed; and someone runs him and his wife off the road. 

Although Pastor Thomas Wilson hates to suspect any of the church members of these crimes, it is becoming obvious that is indeed a possibility.  The church council had approved the building of the new church, but not everyone agreed that the large expenditure entailed was necessary.  And there are some whose interests would be better served if a proposed commercial establishment was erected on the site instead.  Pastor Thomas resolves to try to the get to the bottom of these increasingly violent incidents before they escalate further:  "Lord, give me wisdom, and help me to understand this puzzle.  I'm no detective, but if I'm to minister to my flock, I have to know who to trust and who I can't trust.  And I have to know how to minister even to those who are killers."

Blinded by Darkness is a quick, eminently readable novel, with all mysteries resolved and an ending that put a smile on my face.

The publisher has included in this printing two short stories filling in the background of three of the principal players in Blinded, a welcome and enjoyable bonus.

Conan Doyle Detective
by Peter Costello
Caroll & Graf Publishers
Paperback, 336 pages, $15.95
ISBN: 0786718552
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

This is a scholarly attempt to trace the development of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a writer and of Sherlock Holmes, and to draw parallels between them.  The work also traces any number of actual cases which Conan Doyle investigated himself, and upon which he drew for his various detective stories.

The author relies on a wide variety of sources, documented at the back of the book, to substantiate his thesis: Conan Doyle's literary output directly resulted from his own hidden career as a consulting detective and criminologist.  There certainly are similarities between the deductive reasoning of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes and the methods his creator used in his real-life consultations.

The book traces Conan Doyle's life from that of a young boy to medical school to his medical practice, before he turned his attention full-time to writing.  There are numerous case studies—from Jack the Ripper to Sacco and Vanzetti—to illustrate the interest and ability of Holmes' creator as a criminologist., as well as his fascination with spiritualism in his later life in attempting to draw clues from crimes.

For anyone interested in Sherlock Holmes, this work is a major source of information.

Primary Storm
by Brendan DuBois
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 278 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312327331
Reviewed by Terri M. Tumlin

Every four years, everyone with the slightest interest in the presidential elections turns his eyes to the state of New Hampshire and the first political primary of the season.  Brendan DuBois takes his readers there a year early in the sixth of his series of Lewis Cole mysteries.  Lewis Cole is a retired Department of Defense operative with a secret in his past.  He now lives in a small house in New Hampshire writing articles for a local magazine.  His main interest in politics, as he puts it when asked if he was going to attend a rally for a particular presidential candidate is that he will if it will improve his "chances of later wining, dining and bedding his fair campaign aide."  An unfortunate choice.

At the rally, an attempt is made on the candidate's life and Cole's pistol is found on the floor of the hall with two shots fired from it and his fingerprints on it.  That is enough evidence for the Secret Service to have him arrested.  In addition to the weapon, the agents think they also have a motive.  Cole and the candidate's wife had a relationship while they were in college.

The charges don't stick, but Cole is sure he was deliberately targeted to be the fall guy by the person who stole his gun to do the shooting.  And with his personality, he is not one to set tamely by and let the authorities handle it.  And so begins a fine mystery tale filled with misdirection, an abundance of clues and an interesting cast of characters.  Some, like Felix Tinios, a "security agent" with an unsavory path and Annie Winn, his current love and a legal aide/campaign worker, are personal friends of Cole's.  Others, like Chuck Bittner, dirty tricks operative of one of the political campaigns and Audrey Whittaker, a wealthy matron helping to finance the campaign, are from the outside world that invades New Hampshire every four years.  The interactions of the disparate groups provide interesting tension to the plot.

Dubois has an easy to read style and crafts his story well.  Not only does the reader get an intriguing mystery with a nice twist at the end, but by the time the next New Hampshire primary rolls around, he will almost feel like he has an inside track on the goings on behind the scenes.

 

Gunpowder Plot
by Carola Dunn
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 246 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312349890
Reviewed by Kerry Hammond

In Carola Dunn's 15th Daisy Dalrymple mystery, a pregnant Daisy visits an old school chum, Gwen Tyndall, at her home at Edge Manor.  It's November 1924 and the Tyndalls are about to throw a big bash for Bonfire Night, a Guy Fawkes celebration that has been in the family for over 400 years.  Daisy has been commissioned by an American magazine to write an article about the event and the Tyndalls have invited her to stay with them in order to see it firsthand.

When Daisy arrives, Gwen's father, Sir Harold Tyndall, is coordinating the bonfire preparation and fireworks display for the big night.  Right away she realizes just how much of an autocrat he is and learns his strict views of social status.  She sees that he is someone his family avoids upsetting at all costs.  Therefore when Jack, Gwen's younger brother, invites two Australian strangers named Gooch to join the party at Edge Manor, Gwen and her sister Babs immediately dread the reaction from their father. 

Party night arrives and when the Gooches make their appearance, Sir Harold and Lady Tyndall appear mortified at their presence.  Jack tries to smooth things over and seems successful, that is until Sir Harold and Mrs. Gooch are found in Sir Harold's study, both dead from gunshot wounds in what appears to be a murder-suicide.

Daisy immediately takes control of the situation so that no evidence is disturbed while they await the arrival of her husband, Detective Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher of Scotland Yard.  Alec proceeds to investigate the murder while Daisy tries to help the family cope with their loss and the suspicion that is thrown on more than one family member.

Gunpowder Plot is a very good story and enjoyable read.  Daisy is at her best in her role of family friend versus policeman's wife.  Dunn spins a wonderful story of family honor and tradition, with all the necessary secrets thrown in.  Her characters are so likable you almost don't want the murder to be solved.  This is really a great series.

The Arsenic Labyrinth
by Martin Edwards
Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 304 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 1590583280
Reviewed by Carl Brookins

Author Martin Edwards has a distinguished career of crime writing, both fiction and non-fiction. This, the third Lakes Country novel. reflects his experience and mastery of the craft.  Here again we have historian Daniel Kind, son of a former area detective, DCI Hanna Scarlett, head of a cold case squad, and a cast of local characters who provide substantial fascination as we follow the historian and the detective on separate but linked paths to the solution of a ten-year-old disappearance.

The desolate fells behind the village of Coniston give rises to many legends and more than a few secrets.  On the tenth anniversary of the event, the local newspaper, egged on by an arrogant, self-important reporter, prints a story on the enduring mystery of the disappearance of a woman named Emma Bestwick.  Shortly thereafter the reporter receives a whispered call from someone who clearly knows more than he's ever before told about what really happened to Emma.

DCI Scarlett is learning that a significant part of being the head of a major investigatory unit requires paying attention to public interest in addition to budget balancing and arrangement of limited resources.  It's no longer sufficient merely to be a top-notch detective. 

In spite of almost instinctual antipathy to the reporter, Scarlett finds it necessary to talk to the man and thus opens up new lines of inquiry into the disappearance.  At the same time, newly resident historian Daniel Kind is developing interest in the celebrity of deceased local writer/philosopher, John Ruskin.  Kind, a minor celebrity in his own right, needs a new subject on which to focus his energy and talent.  Will Ruskin's life and slow fall into a certain madness give Daniel the foundation for a new book?  His search for information ultimately crosses paths with Scarlett's as she and her team draw ever closer to surprising answers to the riddle of Emma Bestwick, who it develops, hid some mysteries of her own.

The labyrinth of the title is a series of large flues built above a furnace in the fells to extract deadly arsenic as a heavy vapor from the ore and then collected by workers from the walls of the flues.  It was a dangerous process, largely abandoned after the nineteenth century and in this story, the deteriorating works are the site of depraved and dangerous activities.

Edwards has fashioned a complicated and intriguing story.  The pace is steady and draws one in, page by page.  We soon want to know not only how the story works its way out of the labyrinth, but how the truth affects some of the principals.  It's a fine, well-written, twisty story that will hold reader's interest to the end.

 

Fools Rush In
by Sunny Frazier
Wolfmont Publishing
Paperback, 237 pages, $11.95
ISBN: 0977840255
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Fools Rush In, the first full-length novel by Sunny Frazier, opens with a moment from the mind of a young man who is dying from a lethal heroin injection: "Faded green curtains danced in slow motion away from the window.  A spider on the sill hung precariously on the strands of a web.  Time slowed to a dusty crawl.  The young man licked his lips with great effort and relished the sensation of his tongue against the dryness." 

The about-to-be-victim has been a confidential informant for the narcotics unit in Central Valley in the San Jacquin Valley of California, and the search for his killer takes the police, and the reader, into the world of narcotics trafficking, its denizens and its victims.  The undercover detective to whom the unfortunate young man reported enlists the aid of his ex-girlfriend, Christy Bristol, a clerk in the Sheriff's Dept., who hobby is casting horoscopes, despite the fact that he is and always has been a non-believer in astronomy—that conflict had led to their breakup—but now that very hobby has brought him back to her door, and will also place her in harm's way.

Fools Rush In is an enjoyable novel, and Christy an interesting and likeable protagonist.  I must admit to never having been one to follow astrology, but the author makes the subject very interesting.  And I loved Christy's observation that "Pluto was still considered a planet in astrology-speak."  Ms. Frazier gives the book a very satisfying ending.

Slay Ride
by Chris Grabenstein
Carroll and Graf
Trade paperback, 384 pages, $14.95
ISBN: 0786718773
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

The mid-December day starts out for Scott Wilkinson, a 30-year-old MBA advertising executive from New Jersey, in not extraordinary fashion: he must catch an early morning flight out of Newark Airport to Dallas on a routine business trip, and his limo driver, after arriving late to pick him up, drives in manic fashion in order to get him to the airport within Scott's tightly structured time schedule.  A perfectly usual thing for any young businessman in the NY Metro area to experience.  Except that this limo driver, Nikolai Kyznetsoff, against whom Scott lodges a complaint, is not at all ordinary (ex-KGB among other things), and he vows vengeance against Scott, whom he feels has ruined his life—he is fired as a result of the incident.  To paraphrase the Hulk, you wouldn't like Nikolai when he's angry—and he is very, very angry—and he knows where Scott lives.

Almost precisely one year later, Scott's life intersects with that of Christopher Miller, a 50-year-old FBI legend.  Chris has a wife and a six-year-old daughter he adores, and has been on limited desk duty after a superior exacted his punishment when Scott took the spotlight away from him in a headline-making capture.  Chris has become involved in a police investigation of Russian mob activity in Brooklyn which leads back to the aforementioned Nikolai, and finds he must extricate Scott from a precarious situation, which in turn puts his own life and that of his family in danger.  The action is fast and furious, and the suspense builds to an exciting conclusion.

This is the start of a promising new series, with Chris Miller as the protagonist, from Mr. Grabenstein, previously the author of the much-enjoyed Tilt-A-Whirl and Mad Mouse, and in mostly the same light-hearted vein (if one doesn't count the violence and murders) as the previous novels.  Not to be taken too seriously, it's a lot of fun, with just enough suspense, and just in time for the holidays (which play an important part in the plot).

The Shape Shifter
by Tony Hillerman
HarperCollins
Hardcover, 288 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 0060563451
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

This novel is all about the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, now retired from the Navajo Tribal Police and thoroughly bored, which the reader will not be as this unusual story progresses.  His usual sidekicks, Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito (now Mrs. Chee), have just returned from their honeymoon and merely serve as the foils for the introduction and recap of the tale.

Leaphorn is bothered by one of his first cases when he was first starting out and called away from an old Indian grandmother complaining about the theft of two buckets of pinyon sap to a fire at a trading post in which he had previously seen a unique woven rug.  Fast forward to the present: an old friend sends the lieutenant a tearsheet from a magazine in which a copy of the rug appears.  This intrigues both the friend and Joe who, along with everyone else, believe it was burned in the fire along with an FBI-most-wanted criminal.

When Leaphorn's friend is found dead in an automobile accident, Joe suspects murder, and the autopsy shows he was poisoned.  From this point, the story cascades into an investigation surrounding the death, the rug and the mysterious rich man who owns it.

This is pure Hillerman, filled with Navajo lore and customs, set in the familiar territory and crafted subtly.  Another pure joy to read.

Still River
by Harry Hunsicker
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 277 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312337876
Reviewed by Wendy Lewis

Lee Henry ("Hank") Oswald, a Dallas private investigator and Gulf War vet, is hired by Vera, a former high school classmate to search for her brother, Charlie.  Charlie's been missing for a couple of days and Vera believes that something's wrong.  As Charlie has a history of drug abuse, Hank is convinced he's merely on a bender somewhere, but he agrees to make a few phone calls and nose around.  Unfortunately for Hank, his investigation draws him into violent confrontation with some local drug runners and shady real estate developers.  As if that's not enough stress, he also has a partner dying of cancer and has to try and work with his partner's niece, Nolan, a former police officer and amateur psychologist.

I enjoyed this book more than I anticipated.  When I read the summary, I found Hank's name to be a little too "cute" and almost passed, figuring it for another "loner-p.i.-shoots-up-bad-guys-and-has-sex-with-various-beautiful-women".  But something made me give it a chance, and I'm glad I did. 

Hank is a bit of a loner, but he has some cool gun-running friends, Delmar and Olson, who add off-beat humor to the story.  And although Hank has the requisite tough guy exterior/marshmallow insides, he doesn't seem like a stereotype.  There are several violent scenes, but no excessive gore, and Hunsicker allows a reasonable amount of time to pass between the scenes, so there's no "Hero-rising-from-a-coma-to-karate-the-bad-guys".  That's what made me enjoy this work the most, that I found Hank to be a real human being and not a Hollywood caricature.  Hank Oswald is a fine addition to the modern day p.i. and I look forward to this being a continuing series.

Tainted Blood
by Arnaldur Indridason
Vintage Books
Paperback, 275 pages
ISBN:0099461633
Translation by Bernard Scudder
Reviewed by Carl Brookins

Genetic mapping is at the center of this engrossing crime novel, as one might suspect from the title.  Reykjavik detective Erlendur instinctively knows when he sees the body, a cryptic note and an odd photograph, that this case will require all his skills and attention.  Yet he is hampered throughout by his problematic physical condition and by his relationship with his daughter, a relationship that swings at times in wildly emotional turmoil.

The detective, like the author, has been around the block a few times.  Enough so that he can be cranky with his colleagues as often as not.  His colleagues on the homicide squad seem to put up with a lot as his testy temperament runs abrasively into his headstrong daughter's independence and occasional self-destructiveness.  Loud confrontations between the two often slop over into Erlandur's efforts to move the case along and to solve this puzzling murder.

Possibly because the novel is translated from its original Icelandic, but more likely because the author wrote it that way, American readers in particular may have to give up a few treasured beliefs.  That's probably a good thing.  This is an engrossing story, with many twists and turns, in an unfamiliar style that leads to a satisfying conclusion and raises all kinds of issues and questions along the way.  This is an excellent undertaking which I recommend highly to anyone looking for something a little out of the ordinary.

The Wrong Man
by John Katzenbach
Ballantine Books
Hardcover, 461 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 0345464834
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

In a tale as immediate and terrifying as any nightmare, John Katzenbach's new novel is the story of Ashley Freeman, a recent college grad about to enter a graduate program in art history in Boston who unwittingly invites a stalker into her young life.  The protagonists—Ashley herself; her father, Scott, a college professor; Sally, an attorney and Scott's ex-wife, and Hope, a girls' soccer coach and a guidance counselor who is Sally's present partner—are all well-drawn.  And then there is Michael O'Connor, the stalker, an unnervingly bizarre, decidedly twisted and absolutely fixated creation, whose tentacles become enmeshed in all their lives to horrifying effect.  What began as an ill-conceived and uncharacteristic one-night stand shortly leads to the first act of violence. 

And one is reminded in due course that other things can be done to a person than causing physical harm.  As one character states: "You don't have to kill someone to kill them."  And another:  "...we like to presume that we can recognize danger when it appears on the horizon.  Anyone can avoid the danger that has bells, whistles, red lights, and sirens attached to it.  It's much harder when you don't exactly know what you're dealing with."

The chapters often have slightly enigmatic headings, and each ends with a section of dialogue primarily between two participants whose identities are unknown to the reader.  These unsettling devices set the tone for what is to follow.  One reads this tale with a rising sense of dread of what is to come, and the sense that anyone can fall victim to such an unsettled mind, in all naïveté, as the characters here find themselves initially unable to fathom what is to come.

The Wrong Man is a real page-turner, gripping and frightening, and it had this reader's mental fingers crossed and breath held for the outcome and the safety and lives of its protagonists.  I recall this author's first book, In the Heat of the Summer, as being equally well-written and nerve-tingling, and his newest offering is recommended.

The Do-Re-Mi
by Ken Kuhlken
Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 240 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 159058337X
Reviewed by Carl Brookins

Author Kuhlken has had a varied existence and several career paths, some of which involved writing.  This is his fifth published book and that's all reflected in the sure way he handles this refreshing story. He accurately constructs music festivals, the traveling folk scene, flower power movements, biker gangs and the conflicts between them all that sometimes rub local citizens the wrong way.

In the small town of Evergreen, tucked away in the forests of Northern California, most folks just want to be left alone to grow and sell their pot and live out their lives in relative quiet. They don't care much for war protesters, free love advocates or right-wing biker agitators and bad cops.  But jamborees bring all these disparate elements of American society together in this small city and in this novel, and that's a recipe for danger and death.

Clifford Hickey is scheduled to perform at the festival, singing a few of his songs and making some decisions.  The gig could mark a major turning point in his life.  Does he pursue the hard and knobby road of the itinerant musician or does he go to law school?  Well, maybe his brother Alvaro, who got him this gig, can help him decide.  Days before the festival, Clifford drives to meet his brother at a peaceful woodland campsite.  Instead of Alvaro and a pleasant time beside a remote campfire, what Clifford Hickey walks into is a raid by local cops maybe aided by some FBI types, his brother disappearing with haste into the forest underbrush accused of murder, and his own arrest for complicity.  The arrest is painful and harmful.  Too tight handcuffs damage nerves in Clifford's hand.  This is devastating for a guitar player and forms an ongoing thread through the book.

Along the way to solving the mystery of Alvaro's flight, the murder of the local man, and figuring out where Clifford might fit into a grander scheme of things, we are treated to some long philosophical ruminations, a host of quirky and fascinating characters, and plenty of action, although the book generally proceeds at a sedate pace.

This is an enjoyable, well-written novel that should please lovers of twisty mystery and those who enjoy thoughtful stories based on serious considerations of our culture and our society.

On The Run
by Lorena McCourtney
Revell Publisher
Paperback, 317 pages, $12.99
ISBN: 0800759567
Reviewed by Clara Johnston

This is my first meeting with Ivy Malone, and I will never look at the computer term LOL the same again.  Many of us think of LOL as "laughing out loud" but this author has christened Ivy as a LOL (little old lady).   Filled with an adventurous streak, Ivy is a senior citizen with a cat named Koop.  She tries to do the right thing and ends up on the receiving end of danger.  In her motor home, she is on the run.  There were nasty incidents that happened earlier and the Braxton family vowed to get even with her.  All indications point to the fact that this family has a reputation for not playing nice. 

Tailed by a pick up truck, Ivy knows who this might be and ends up scaring herself in the process.  With a considerable amount of driving twists and turns, Dulcy, Oklahoma is the place where she may spend some time.  As she explains, it has understated appeal.

A visitor named Abilene comes to Ivy's motor home. Bruised and battered, Abilene is also on the run.  Complementing each other's chemistry, this pair is perfectly matched and become a pseudo grandmother/granddaughter team.  There is still some mystery about Abilene and I think she may play a prominent role in episodes to come. 

Two bodies are found and the search begins for the solution of this puzzle.  On the premises, Ivy pokes around even though the deaths were supposed to be a suicide pact.  After talking to the couple's son, Ivy and Abilene agree to stay at the victims' home as caretakers.  This will serve their situation well; they are off the beaten path and probably safer plus there IS a mystery to solve. 

Here are some teasers for you to read this book.  Think emus, paintball, paranoia, Christianity, humor and romance.  This book successfully works as a stand alone.  It is the third in the series with the titles In Plain Sight and Invisible preceding it.

The characters are well drawn and I anticipate that there will be more activity between Ivy Malone and love interest, Mac.  Enjoy the experience.

The Prudence of Flesh
by Ralph McInerny
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 260 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0312351445
Reviewed by Caryn St.Clair

Father Dowling, McInerny's protagonist, has been around for many years and has developed a loyal following.  The Prudence of Flesh, the twenty-fifth book in the series, will surely please those readers.

The story told in this book is one ripped from current headlines across the country. NPR's End Notes host Gregory Barrett has been accused by Madeline Murphy of fathering her child while he was a priest many years before. The problem is, initially he does not remember ever having met the woman. Later when he realizes that he had counseled her, he turns to his former classmate form the seminary, Father Roger Dowling for help. Father Dowling begins his investigation by trying to uncover what Murphy's motives are in making her "recovered memories" public. She has turned down a large cash settlement from the Archdiocese, so money does not seem to be the answer. Then Father Dowling discovers that a freelance writer, who has done a story on him for the local paper, is planning to write a book about Murphy's accusations. When the author turns up dead, things look even worse for Barrett.

While followers of the series will be pleased to find all of the regular characters back—Marie the housekeeper, Tuttle the lawyer and Keegan the cop—this entry into the series does not center as much on those characters. The focus in this book is on the relationship between Ned Bunting, a frustrated writer and eventual victim; Gloria Daley an artist and Madeline Murphy the accuser. Life has passed them by, so they come together to try to bring down a former priest.  Also playing important roles in the plot are Gregory Barrett, the accused, Barrett's wife and son as well as Madeline's son.  Because the focus is a little different in this book, readers unfamiliar with the Father Dowling series may not get a good feel for the main characters and their longtime relationships. In many of the previous books in this series, the reader has more of a glimpse into the charming life in St. Hilary's Catholic Parish in Fox River, Indiana. 

The book is well plotted with the details of the story well thought out. McInerny has done an especially good job of weaving the individual motives of Murphy, Bunting and Daley together. While the murderer may prove to be a bit of a surprise, the clues are there for the readers to find.

Fans of Father Dowling will be satisfied with this book. Readers that have not read previous books in the series would be well served to read a couple of the earlier books in the series before reading The Prudence of the Flesh.

McMansion
by Justin Scott
Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 255 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 159058063X
Reviewed by Carl Brookins

Justin Scott has written over a dozen mysteries, thrillers and adventure novels under several names, taut, exemplary stories that illuminate and explore many of our social concerns.  They are good stories, well-written with drive and panache.  This is another, peopled with interesting characters, a serious underpinning, and enough crime and mystery to satisfy the most enthusiastic crime fiction reader.

Ben Abbott is a sometime private investigator, sometime real estate agent, and a full time commentator on some of the more egregious aspects of our modern society and the influence on small town America.  Abbott is also one of the more pleasant and thoughtful investigators readers are likely to run across in this age.  Abbott is concerned about the effects of aging on his Aunt Constance who lives nearby, he takes in children in need of adult supervision and he worries about unrestrained development of open spaces in the Connecticut town of Newbury where he lives.  That last concern forms the core of this interesting novel about crooked developers, and a badly twisted legal system.

One of the worst developers, a Billy Tiller, possessed mostly of terrible taste, monumental greed and a willingness to break the law anytime he thought there was profit in it, gets his come-uppance when somebody drives a bulldozer over him at a construction site.  The perpetrator, a young member of ELF, is discovered by the local troopers sitting at the controls of the offending ‘dozer with the crushed body of Billy Tiller underneath.  Open and shut, but Abbott, retained by the boy's lawyer, doesn't believe it.  His pursuit of the truth leads him into some interesting and stressful situations.

 

Out Cold: A Brady Coyne Novel
by William G. Tapply
Hardcover, 304 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0312337469
Reviewed by Beth Anderson

Brady Coyne, Boston PI, discovers a body almost covered with snow in his back yard when he lets his dog out early in the morning.  He's devastated because thinks he might have caused the girl to bleed to death, thinking she was already dead when he found her.

After the police remove her body, and armed with only a small piece of paper with his address on it, Brady decides to find out who she was and what happened to her.  Slowly he begins to infiltrate the world of the street people, where the victim was last seen. The first people he's able to make any real contact with are two other young women, making their living as street hookers.  Brady soon finds out the dead girl was in the same business. 

The most intriguing thing about Tapply's books is his characterization, which makes you not only care about the living but also the dead no matter what they were doing that may have contributed to their death.  He makes you want very much to see justice served. 

I found his detailed descriptions of the street people and how they move around to stay alive fascinating.  In fact, even though they had made horrendous messes of their lives and continued to do so pretty much throughout the book, I still cared about them because he showed their decency, just struggling to stay alive one more day.  In fact, I did something with this book that I seldom do: I read it straight through without stopping because I could not stop reading.

Out Cold is a fast-moving, literate, fascinating murder mystery with a unique and dynamite ending.  Highly recommended.

Hollywood Station
by Joseph Wambaugh
Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, 340 pages, $24.99
ISBN: 0316066141
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

This book is classic Wambaugh at his best; it's been a long time since his last one.  It appears that he collected all kinds of anecdotes, situations and observations from many police officers in several jurisdictions and wove many of them into this novel.  The cop talk and descriptions of everyday patrol and response certainly is up there with the best he has written in the past.

Threaded into the string of tales and descriptions is a sort of plot that comes and goes.  It begins when a couple of tweakers (smokers of crystal meth, to the uninitiated) rifle a mail box and get hold of a letter indicating arrival of a diamond shipment to a local jewelry store.  They pass the letter along to a couple who then rob the jeweler, improvising an ingenious escape: a hand grenade is placed between the victim's knees with the admonition that pressure be maintained or the pin would fall out and the grenade explode.  Naturally, when the LAPD officers arrive on the scene, the knees give way, setting up for an act of heroism as everyone waits for the explosion.

The robbers are not finished.  They are told of a delivery of cash to an ATM that should be an easy job.  It turns out that the man has to shoot one of the guards, murdering him as they get the $93,000.  The getaway car is a clunker and they narrowly escape.  The rest of the story is sort of serendipity, along with irony and poetic justice.

The long wait certainly was worth it because this novel is most readable and enjoyable.  The cast of characters is poignant and their lives and personalities are made real.  The reader is immersed in the daily comings and goings of the men and women—those on patrol, in the station house and detectives—of Hollywood Station.

The Highly Effective Detective
by Richard Yancey
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 294 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312347529
Reviewed by Clara Johnston

Thirty-three year old Teddy Ruzak opens a detective agency.  His life is not too exciting.  The most interesting thing so far, according to him, is that he was kicked out of the police academy.  Teddy's first client retains him even after learning that Teddy really doesn't have a detective license yet. 

Planning ahead, who would be his secretary? Everyone knows you have to have one.  Felicia, Teddy's favorite waitress, is offered the job.  She does financially test him.  She enjoys spending money Teddy doesn't have on clothing and office furniture and décor.  Felicia tries to help by remodeling the office and calling the media for business exposure.  She is a strong willed woman and there is more to her than meets the eye.  She enjoys advising her boss on many matters. 

The first case is bizarre and was passed over by the police. Some geese were run over by a car, but of course, that is not all there is to it.  What begins as a reasonably simplistic case does not end up that way.  Another case comes to Teddy's attention, and he wonders if there is a relationship between the two.  Along with all of his challenges (and there are many), Teddy has a woman who likes confessing to murder and other infractions. 

Placed in Knoxville, Tennessee, this story is humorous and very readable.  I especially enjoy the Teddy conversations.  One never knows where they are going, but they are always going somewhere.  Sometimes I envision him as a modern day Don Quixote.  A good description of the main character is a quote from his secretary, "You're the kind of a guy who gets asked what time it is and then tells the person how to build a watch."

The characters are the major strength of this mystery.  When the story comes closer to a solution, it quickly accelerates.  Taking some unexpected twists and turns, I think you may have some surprises when you read this.  Enjoy!