March 2007

Welcome back to the Mystery Morgue! Aren't you glad February is over?

This month, you'll find a wealth of reviews here at the Morgue: 21 to be exact, with titles from favorites like Robert B. Parker, Susan Isaacs, Jesse Kellerman, Gammy Singer, Robert Crais, John Mortimer and Carole Shmurak.

There's also a "How I Write" essay, candid and funny, from Sandra Parshall, whose Agatha-nominated The Heat of the Moon is reviewed as well, and whose Disturbing the Dead releases this month.

So there's plenty to read and by the time you're done, it might just be Spring!

In this month's issue:

How I Write, by Sandra Parshall

Reviews:
In Dublin's Fair City by Rhys Bowen
Scrub-a-Dub Dead by Barbara Colley
The Watchman by Robert Crais
Murder... Suicide... Whatever... by Gwen Freeman
Trap Door by Sarah Graves
Past Perfect by Susan Isaacs
The Pact by Roberta Kray
Poisoned Petals by Joyce and Jim Lavene
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman
Rumpole and the Reign of Terror by John Mortimer
Murder at the Monks' Table by Sister Carol Anne O'Marie
High Profile by Robert B. Parker
The Heat of the Moon by Sandra Parshall
All's Well That Ends by Gillian Roberts
Probable Cause by Theresa Schwegel
Relative Danger by June Shaw
Death By Committee by Carole Shmurak
Down and Dirty by Gammy Singer
Dry Ice by Stephen White
Accidents Waiting to Happen by Simon Wood
A Case of Two Cities by Qiu Xiaolong

Link to Archives

 

How I Write
by Sandra Parshall

Sandra Parshall has worked as a newspaper reporter in South Carolina, West Virginia, and Baltimore. She has written fiction since childhood but discovered her true love, mystery/suspense, only in recent years. Sandra—Sandy to anyone who has known her for more than three minutes—is the author of The Heat of the Moon (2006), which is currently an Agatha nominee for Best First Novel—and reviewed below—and Disturbing the Dead, published this month. She lives in the Washington, DC area with her journalist husband, two cats, and her inner child.

The last time an interviewer asked me to describe my writing process, I replied honestly, "Utter chaos."

Try as I might, I can't control the way a story gels in my mind or how I get it onto the page. Ideas come at me from every angle – an incident I've read about, a person I've met or merely observed, my own curiosity about how people would behave in a certain situation. "Ripped from the headlines" has become a joke phrase among mystery writers, but the truth is that all fiction is an imaginative reordering of real life. And a writer who can't see a million possible plots spinning out all around her simply isn't paying attention.

Only once has a story—The Heat of the Moon, my first published novel—come from within my mind rather than the outside world. During a restless night after eating too much pecan pie with Thanksgiving dinner, I had a vivid dream about two little girls standing in pouring rain, crying for their mother. I usually forget my dreams quickly, but  this one wouldn't go away. It haunted me, and my imagination went to work on it, filling out the girls' history and future. I wrote the book in a few weeks, record time for me.

After I've decided what my central plot is, I embark on a messy process of gathering the background information I'll need, jotting notes on characters and possible scenes as they come to me, trying to pull together a preliminary outline. Since I'm only happy when I'm actually writing, I seldom make it all the way to the end of an outline before I say to heck with tedious preparation and dive into the first draft.

My first drafts are sketchy, far too short, usually lacking entire scenes that I know the story requires. This initial product isn't fit for human consumption, and I would never allow anyone to read it. But it serves me well because it helps me get to know both the characters and the plot. The first draft might take a direction I never dreamed of when I was outlining. I end up with an untidy lump of words, but now I have something to work with.

The second draft is what I enjoy most, because I'm shaping the material into a coherent narrative, deepening the characters, widening the book's scope. Around page 100 of the second draft, though, I observe a personal tradition: I panic. I become convinced that what I've written so far is garbage and what remains to be written isn't worth the effort. Knowing this has happened before doesn't stop it from happening again. I believe the 100-page crisis of confidence is my inner child's way of whining, "This is HARD. This is too much like WORK. I don't wanna do it anymore." Doggedly writing my way past the panic point is my outer adult's way of saying, "Shut up. I'm busy here."

I have five critique partners who read my second draft as I write it. Their comments are often invaluable, but I've never believed anyone can accurately judge plot and pace when reading piecemeal. Someone has to read the entire book at one time, and I have to read it through with a critical eye. This usually results in numerous adjustments, most small but some major.

Pacing has always been the most difficult aspect of writing for me, and I'll probably never feel that I've mastered it. Getting the pacing right in a suspense novel is easier, I think, than in a mystery, because suspense is driven by emotion and danger. If you've dreamed up enough incidents and clashes between characters, the story will sail along under its own steam.

In a mystery, as I discovered when I was writing Disturbing the Dead, pacing is more of a problem. Clues must be laid in place (but not too obviously), the sleuth must go around questioning people without boring the reader to death, forensics results have to be reported, red herrings have to be worked in, and you must do all this while never letting the tension go slack. My inner child is right when it comes to mysteries—they're hard, they're real work. If the writer can keep things moving at a brisk pace while attending to all the other necessary tasks, that's an achievement to be proud of. When the advance reviews for Disturbing the Dead began to appear, I held my breath in apprehension as I scanned for any mention of pacing. My relief was enormous when I spotted "fast-paced" in the Kirkus review. Yes! I did it!

Now I have to do it again. And again... I've just reached the 100-page mark in my work-in-progress, and I can hear my inner child cranking up her world-class whine. I will insert my ear plugs and soldier on.

 

Reviews

In Dublin's Fair City
by Rhys Bowen
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 288 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312328192
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

In this, the sixth book in the series, Molly Murphy meets a rich theatrical producer at a party atop the original Madison Square Garden.  He offers her an assignment to return to Ireland (she fled to avoid prosecution in a murder) to discover whether his baby sister, left behind because she was ill when the family fled the Emerald Isle during the potato famine, survived.  The producer is a very rich man with no real heirs, and his finding her would benefit the sister if she's still alive.

With trepidation, Molly accepts the job.  However, as she puts it: she doesn't seek trouble, but it has a way of finding her.  And it does.  Molly begins her assignment with a second class passage on a transatlantic steamer.  Before she can even unpack, she is summoned to the first class cabin of a famous actress, whom she also met at the party, asking her to switch cabins and identities, including a maid, so the actress can avoid attention.  On the last day of the voyage, Molly discovers the maid dead in "her" bed, suffocated.  Suspicion is cast on Molly when it is found the actress left the ship before it departed, leaving five trunks behind.

Upon arriving in Ireland, Molly finds the trunks in her hotel room.  She begins her investigation and learns the young girl she seeks indeed survived, but each lead turns out to be a dead end.  Meanwhile she receives instructions to forward the trunks to a hotel in Dublin, where Molly eventually visits.  There she inspects the trunks and sees rifles, presumably for the Irish Brotherhood. 

At this point the plot becomes complicated.  When a few men come to remove the trunks, one of them is Molly's brother.  She is kidnapped by the Brotherhood and learns that her older brother is in jail awaiting execution.  Molly volunteers to assist the Brotherhood in attacking the jail in the hopes of freeing her brother and other prisoners.  Meanwhile she is being stalked by someone for some unknown purpose.  And she still fears the police suspect her of various crimes.  It all comes to an exciting end, perhaps the most unusual in the series, and one you shouldn't miss.

 

Scrub-a-Dub Dead
by Barbara Colley
Kensington Books
Hardcover, 244 pages, $22
ISBN: 0758207662
Reviewed by Clara Johnston

Charlotte LaRue is back and I couldn't be happier! It has been one year since Katrina devastated the New Orleans area and her friend Carrie needs Charlotte to work at the Jazzy Hotel for her.  It is definitely an adjustment time for New Orleans residents.  Memories and fears are present everywhere that people look. 

Charlotte learns that a group of women called The Red Scarf Sorority are in the hotel.  They claim to support each other and it has some of the earmarks of the Red Hat Society.  These red scarfers are not always quite as nice as one would think and as a fill-in maid, Charlotte has the chance to meet several ladies in the group.  She meets a Joan Rivers look-alike, Tessa, and after a minor confrontation, Charlotte cleans her room.  Right from the get-go, Charlotte learns there are layers of turmoil here.  A woman called Lisa seems to be in the middle of it and it smells a bit like blackmail. 

Imagine Charlotte's surprise when she meets a former boyfriend, Mack.  Years ago, he and Charlotte dated.  Then he introduced her to the father of her son.  Mack is a good addition to the story but it's equally special to revisit characters such as Charlotte's niece and Louis, her tenant and friend.  Louis has his own set of issues with his ex-wife.  There are surprises for all in this story line.  Louis and Charlotte have a unique relationship.  Sometimes he says things that are completely inappropriate, often taking out his frustration on her.  Louis is a former policeman and now works in security.

In the 6th installment of this series, a death is imminent (after all, it is a murder mystery).  When one of the women dies, Charlotte is automatically in the midst of the commotion.  Detective Gavin Brown is again telling her to butt out, but if only life was that simple.  The detective may really be a good guy but he does come across to Charlotte as arrogant and self-serving.  Actually, a second murder hastens the necessity for finding the murderer quickly.  

The characters, both major and minor, in this series are well drawn and interesting.  I wonder if Mack may become a regular.  Soon Charlotte will be a first time grandmother and as for me, I look forward to the next book.  Enjoy!

The Watchman
by Robert Crais
Simon & Schuster
Hardcover, 304 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 0743281632
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Robert Crais plunges the reader into the action from the first pages of The Watchman.  In a well-plotted novel which brings the welcome return of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, the book reverses their usual roles, with Cole, the P.I. who calls himself the World's Greatest Detective, playing back-up to Pike, ex-cop and former mercenary, who has been hired to protect a 22-year-old girl in Witness Protection before an impending grand jury investigation.  The body count starts to mount early and rapidly.  Joe Pike is on the case, and Robert Crais fans will be pleased.  Several attempts are made on the life of the girl (a Paris Hilton-type rich girl, described as the "classic LA wild child"), three before Pike is hired and two more in the first 24 hours since, and then the bad guys come after Pike. 

Crais has self-consciously given the reader insight into what makes Pike, variously described here as a "monster" and a man whose skills include the ability to rise "with the slowness of melting ice," tick.  He is, as always, enigmatic (though a bit less so in this book, with background details filled in this time), self-sufficient, but then again, classic Joe Pike.

The book is set for the most part in Southern California, including the Echo Park area most recently inhabited by Michael Connelly, an author with whose writing Mr. Crais' is frequently compared, not without reason.  My overriding thought as the book got closer to the suspense-filled conclusion:  This just keeps getting better.

Recommended.

Murder... Suicide... Whatever...
by Gwen Freeman
Capital Crime Press
Paperback, 281 pages, $14.95
ISBN:  0977627616
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

Fifi Cutter, half black, half white, makes her debut in this novel, along with her Caucasian half-brother, Bosco, and the publisher hints they will reappear in the future.  They really are a couple of characters:  Fifi is an insurance adjuster who lives in an inherited house with no furniture,  while Bosco is a ne'er-do-well drifter and sponger.

When Bosco turns up on Fifi's doorstep after a hiatus of five years, he presents her with a potential murder investigation, one for which neither is qualified.  It seems "Uncle" Ted Hefferman was found in his office, supposedly dead of a heart attack, but one of his co-workers is convinced he was murdered so the firm could collect $5 million in key man insurance, sorely needed to pay off a judgment.  They are offered compensation to find the murderer (although the money is as hard to get as a solution).

It would appear that many of the deceased's co-workers, including his two partners, had motives to slay him.  Among the ruses Fifi and Bosco use in their "investigation" in an attempt to garner clues is to pose as grief counselors to employees of the insurance brokerage firm.  Just one of the many quirky characteristics of the two.

For a first effort, the novel is fast-moving and interesting.  The plot is different, although the traditional "closed door" mystery is at its base.  The dangers to the protagonist are several, including the bombing of her vehicle, and the police suspecting her of various crimes.  And, of course, the conclusion is unexpected.

 

Trap Door
by Sarah Graves
Ballantine Dell
Hardcover, 272 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 9180345480217
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Jacobia ("Jake") Tiptree, her two dogs, her cat, and her best friend, Ellie, are back, as is Jake's ex-husband's ghost.

Uncharacteristically for this series (if memory serves), the "bad guy" in Sarah Graves' newest Home Repair is Homicide mystery, is a paid assassin, Walter Henderson.  But the murder he is planning on page 1 of Trap Door is personal, not professional. 

Despite his planned retirement from a "long, successful career of killing people for money," and but for one loose end he still has to tie up, he's now decided that the only way to get rid of the punk who has charmed his beloved teenage daughter is by the means he knows best.  But it seems that the boy has saved him the trouble, for Walter finds his body hanging below the trap door of the loft in Walter's barn.  Is it really the suicide it appears to be?  Although I was skeptical that a couple of tiny threads of fabric stuck on a hangnail of the victim's hand would really warrant such a suspicion; but maybe that's just me.

That loose end turns out to be a wiseguy, Jemmy Wechsler, Jake's friend from her former life as money manager to the mob.  Jemmy knows Walter plans to kill him, and calls in a favor by asking Jake to let him hide out in her cottage in Eastport, Maine, where Walter also lives.  The spotlight turned on Walter by the body found in his barn, though, is certainly a complicating factor, from anyone's point of view.

The trademark home repair tips that preface every chapter but the first, as in the preceding books in the series, are always interesting and practical.  There are poignant thoughts of mothers of teenage sons over whom they have little if any control.  The final scene is the always satisfying gather-all-the-suspects-in-one-room-and-identify-the-killer, a touch implausible in this instance.

Eastport, Maine, where the author as well as her protagonist make their home, is on an island a few miles off the coast of Maine (although hopefully the author's home is sans ghost, ex-husband or otherwise), and is beautifully depicted, and the book is as charming as its protagonist.

Past Perfect
by Susan Isaacs
Scribner
Hardcover, 337 pages, $25
ISBN:  0743242165
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Katie Schottland is a woman with an enviable life:  She has a husband and ten-year-old son whom she loves and a successful career in New York City as the writer of a long-running cable tv spy series.  But fifteen years ago, she worked for the CIA, until the day she was summarily fired and escorted from the premises, to her great humiliation and without explanation. And just when she was convinced she was in line for a promotion.

She has never been able to get over her termination from a job she loved more than anything else before or since, but pretty much pushed it to the recesses of her memory.  Until the day she gets a phone call from her former CIA colleague, Lisa Golding, who beseeches Katie to help her "on a matter of national importance," and to coax her into agreeing to speak with her she promises to tell her the truth behind her dismissal.  Then Lisa disappears. 

When two men who Lisa with whom Lisa had dealt in her job are found dead, Katie has no choice but to try to get to the bottom of whatever is going on, lest she find herself next on the list.  True, in Katie's two years with the CIA she was never a ‘spy,' working desk jobs as a financial analyst for the first six months and for the next eighteen months as deputy chief of the Office of Eastern European Analysis (and for a few months having had an affair with her married and mysterious boss in that office, but that's another matter entirely).  For some reason beyond her present comprehension, she is somehow involved in the present events.

I have enjoyed Susan Isaacs' writing from the time I read her first book, Compromising Positions.  Now, ten novels later, she is still creating funny, endearing female protagonists, albeit ones who unexpectedly find their lives in jeopardy.  The writing is humorous, witty and able to capture and hold the reader's interest throughout, and just as delightful as it was in book one.

The Pact
by Roberta Kray
Carroll & Graf
Hardcover, 448 pages, $26.95
ISBN:  0786719028
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

The Pact is very different, with plot changes and character development so unexpected that the reader might need a road map to follow the curves and developments.  It begins simply: Eve Weston's brother is in jail for a six-month sentence, but on a visit she sees he has been beaten.  In return for her promise to do whatever he asks, she makes a deal with another prisoner to protect her brother.

Meanwhile, Eve is recovering from the suicide of her father and the loss of her job because of her close relationship (purely platonic) with her married lawyer superior, misconstrued as an affair.  Then the fun begins.  Her apartment is broken into and ransacked, she is followed, her ex-husband's residence is broken into and ransacked, two men are found murdered and other odd occurrences take place.  What's going on?  Who's responsible?  What is at the heart of these misadventures?

As the plot moves forward it becomes obvious that someone believes Eve has something they want, but she doesn't know what it is. All the characters, seemingly unrelated, become intermingled and the mystery unwinds in spectacular fashion.

It is well worth reading to find out the reasons.

Roberta Kray is the widow of the late, legendary London gangster Reg Kray.  Her first book was a biography of her husband.  This is her second novel.

 

Poisoned Petals
by Joyce and Jim Lavene
Berkeley Prime Crime
Paperback, 272 pages, $6.99
ISBN: 0425215814
Reviewed by Clara Johnston

Peggy, also known as Dr. Margaret Lee, fights for endangered plants in the best way she knows. Her team is relocating a type of sunflower; this plant has been lost to road construction before.  She does what she can to preserve and let live.   She does this both for the plants she loves and also for the people that need her help.  This story is set in North Carolina.

When Peggy reacquaints with Pastor Luther, she is reminded how Luther and his brother, Darmus, are not that close.  Too bad too, Luther is stricken with cancer and could use some family now.  He is a bitter man and not that great to be around.  On the up side, Peggy's business, The Potting Shed, is doing very well.  Maybe she can give up her university teaching and just concentrate on one of her passions.  There just aren't enough hours in the day to do it all. 

Mystery abounds when death comes to visit—not once but twice.  Is this accidental or coincidental?  When an explosion kills Peggy's friend, her world tips. Relatives, including Peggy's parents are coming for a visit.  This prospect does not bring a lot of excitement because Peggy's mother has the reputation for wanting her to return to her old roots in Charleston. Peggy successfully reconnects to her old friend, Rosie.  They had drifted apart when Rosie divorced.  Thank goodness for Steve, a veterinarian who only lives a short distance away from Peggy; they are good for each other and this relationship will hopefully have a chance to develop and go somewhere.  Their chemistry is well matched and I like their humor. 

This is the third installment in the series.  One of the mysterious people in this series is Peggy's secret computer pal named "Nightflyer."  He helps her with clues and gives her moral support but she has never met him in person.  She would like to know him because she thinks there may be a connection between him and her deceased husband, John.

Character bound, this series is more than a favorable experience.  Some of my favorite snippets in this story involve the relationship between Peggy and her dad.  There is such genuine understanding between them and he doesn't want to spend all his time at the mall with the rest of the guests, so the reader sees him a little more.  Consequently, he will be by Peggy's side as an aide more frequently than the rest of the group.  Another one of the minor characters that I really like is Mai.  Paul is Peggy's son; Mai is his ex-girlfriend.  I like her smartness and her attitude and want to see more of her.  Maybe, just maybe down the road, these two will bury their differences and get together. 

Enjoy this pleasurable read!

What the Dead Know
by Laura Lippman
Wm. Morrow
Hardcover, 384 pages, $24.95
ISBN:  0061128856
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

A young woman driving on a Baltimore highway loses control of her car, which veers out of control and sideswipes another vehicle.  Stunned, she keeps driving, pulling off the highway shortly thereafter, and is picked up by a local patrol car, obviously disoriented, and taken to the hospital to be treated for her injuries. 

She is questioned in connection with charges of leaving the scene of an accident and refuses—or is unable—to give her name, but finally tells the empathetic social worker who comes to see her, Kay Sullivan: "I'm going to say a name... It's a name you'll know... There's a girl, and she's dead, and that won't surprise anyone.  They've believed she was dead, all these years.  But there's another girl, and she's not dead, and that's the harder part to explain... The Bethany girls.  Easter weekend. 1975."

Thirty years previously, two sisters, 12 and 15 years old, disappeared from a Baltimore mall and were never seen or heard from again, other than false sightings and bogus ransom demands.  The young woman offers tantalizing clues indicating that she may be the younger sister, Heather Bethany.  It becomes impossible for her listeners, or the reader, to differentiate the truth from the lies.

With its genesis in an actual incident, Laura Lippman, in her eagerly anticipated and beautifully written new standalone novel, has created a fully fleshed-out life for her protagonist, before and after that date in 1975.  Is it possible that the Jane Doe is really Heather?  Kevin Infante is the lead detective who must try to answer that question, to gain her trust sufficiently for her to tell him the truth.  When asked where her sister is, she tells him "Killed.  Murdered.  Her neck snapped right in front of me."

The novel juxtaposes scenes from thirty years ago with the present, with "Heather" reflecting on her childhood before "that day," her father instilling in her true family values (before that phrase become fraught with politically correct meaning): "A family was a team, a unit, a country unto itself, the one part of her identity that would remain constant the rest of her life. 'We lock our front door against strangers... but never against each other.'"  The concept of "family" is insightfully explored in What the Dead Know.  The suspense is sustained throughout, and despite the fact that all the clues are there the resolution, when it comes, is stunning.

 

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror
by John Mortimer
Viking
Hardcover, 184 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0670038040
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

John Mortimer has, to the delight of his fans, brought back Rumpole of the Bailey, self-described as having a "slightly raffish air..., a little tarnished, jovial but not quite respectable." In a case very much of the times, Rumpole is called upon to defend a man who has been picked up by the police and detained, without benefit of counsel, or even of formal charges having been brought.  To make matters worse, the man, a doctor, is a Pakistani, and most make an assumption of guilt on his part, including She Who Must Be Obeyed, Rumpole's wife, Hilda.  And the laws, and the Courts, have changed—he is told "That's the trouble with your sort of lawyer, Mr. Rumpole.  You can't move with the times.  Things like jury trials and the presumption of innocence may have been all very well in their day.  But times change.  History moves on."  Rumpole despairs of adherence to things like the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights any longer.  But being Rumpole, he knows he must find a way despite it all.

Even more frightening to him than the abridgement of civil rights in the name of fighting terror, Rumpole must deal with the fact that his beloved wife has started writing her memoirs, to parts of which the reader is made privy in these pages.  Utterly charming, as is this novel.  Recommended.

 

Murder at the Monks' Table
by Sister Carol Anne O'Marie
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardback, 229 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312357672
Reviewed by Heidi Vornbrock Roosa

Lord only knows what number Murder at the Monks' Table is in the Sister Mary Helen mystery series, but this is the first of them that I've blessed with a reading.

Sister Mary Helen and her sidekick, Sister Eileen, are at the weeklong Oyster Festival in the Irish village of Ballyclarin, Ireland.  Oddities at the festivities quickly lead to Sister Mary Helen finding a body in the loo of the Monks' Table pub.

A varied and interesting cast of villagers drop hints and lead the sisters through the days of the festival.  Readers get quite a tour—and an earful too, as we listen in on the villager's interactions.  We are also treated to a young garda's lovelorn observations as he struggles to balance his loyalty to the gardai with his desire to protect the one he loves.

In the tradition of much older British cozies, long-held village rivalries and overheard secrets play a part in the cleverly brought round conclusion.  A pleasant read and well-executed.   

High Profile
by Robert B. Parker
G.P. Putnam's Sons
Hardcover, 298 pages, $24.95
ISBN:  0-399-15404-3
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

It is always a delight to read a Parker novel.  No one writes dialog or repartee like he does.  And this book is no exception.  It doesn't matter who the protagonist is—this is not a Spenser tale—or what the story line is.  It's just a sheer joy to be exposed to the witticisms and observations that Parker creates.

High Profile features Jesse Stone, his ex-wife and current girlfriend in a pas de trios, complicated by the dual murder of a television celebrity in Paradise, MA and his bride-to-be.

Jenn, Stone's ex- and forever love, claims she was raped and is being stalked.  Lacking the time because of the murders, Stone asks Sunny Randall (the protagonist of another Parker series, now crossed-over to this one) to take on the task of protecting Jenn while he goes about his duties as Chief of Police.

Enough of the plot.  Just read the novel and enjoy it to the hilt.

Recommended.

 

The Heat of the Moon
by Sandra Parshall
Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 268 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 159058256X
Reviewed by Janet Koch

Small animal veterinarian Rachel Goddard is newly licensed at her profession, young, and beautiful. She seems to have everything going for her—until a small child screaming for mommy triggers a long buried memory. But why would five-year-old Rachel and her younger sister be out in a thunderstorm?

She holds back from mentioning the troubling incident to her mother and sister. The three of them are happy living in their elegant Washington, D.C. area home. She decides not to disturb the peace with what was likely just an old nightmare.

Only as the novel unfolds does the reader begin to see the peculiarities in the life the small family leads. Rachel and her sister know nothing about their grandparents. Their mother, widowed young, has never dated. Even the basic facts of Rachel's birth are murky.

At twenty-six, Rachel begins to feels she's long due the truth, but every attempt to question her mother ends the same way—with Rachel feeling guilty for causing her mother pain.

Rachel is poised at a crossroads. Leave the questions alone, or do what she's never done before—lie to her mother and discover her history by traveling a different path. Rachel suspects the choice will alter her life forever, but even her darkest nightmares were never as shattering as the truth.

Written in first person, The Heat of the Moon is a very internal story. Every attempt Rachel makes to break free of her mother's influence is wrought with anxiety, and author Sandra Parshall shows great skill in bringing alive the young woman's torment.

Even though told as a flashback, the novel's tension is relentless. The continuous struggle between daughter and mother is deftly layered over their affection for each other. The Heat of the Moon is not a traditional mystery. No one killed the butler with a candlestick in the library. More a novel of psychological suspense than crime fiction, this is a dark family tale that will linger long in the back of your consciousness.

 

All's Well That Ends
by Gillian Roberts
Ballantine Books
Hardcover, 272 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 9180345480217
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

I opened Gillian Roberts' new book with conflicting feelings:  Happy anticipation at again entering the world of Amanda Pepper, Philadelphia high school English teacher and investigator-in-training, but dismay at the knowledge that this is the last of the 14 books in the series.

Amanda is asked by her friend, Sasha, to look into the death of her stepmother, whose body Sasha had discovered, her death apparently caused by a lethal combination of alcohol and sleeping pills.  The fact that the woman was dressed for an evening out or at least one entertaining a guest, her outfit complete with four-inch stiletto heels, is enough of a reason for her to be convinced it could not have been suicide, and she persuades Amanda to help her prove it.   

The stepmother had been married five times—divorced four times, widowed most recently—and had one son, described as worthless and uninterested, his only virtue being that he lived far away from his mother.  But no immediate suspects are apparent.  Amanda's husband, a licensed investigator and former homicide cop, now attending grad school, is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which has devastated the lives of his parents and other relatives, and is not sympathetic to the task.  But then Amanda and Sasha discover a second body, in the same house.  And now the investigation begins in earnest.

The wit, literary allusions and interesting plot make All's Well That Ends among the best of the novels Roberts has written.  The ending is a satisfying one.  Amanda will be missed, but who knows what new sleuth this author has in store for her many fans? 

Probable Cause
by Theresa Schwegel
St. Martin's
Hardcover, 292 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312343167
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

In her second novel, after the Edgar Award-winning Officer Down, Theresa Schwegel has brought us a cop novel with just as much nitty-gritty realism as its predecessor.

23-year-old Ray Weiss is a third-generation Chicago cop, which makes for something like resentment on the part of his fellow officers.  Partly to overcome this, and to finally be "in"—and also apparently because it's a regular practice—as a rookie he must undergo an initiation: He must break into a jewelry store and steal a few pieces, looking particularly for a ruby ring that his senior partner wants to give his wife.  He doesn't really want to do it, but reasons "Every profession has its scams," and feels he really has no choice.  "He's taken endless flak over his father's position in the department... His dad didn't help him get the job; in fact, his dad is the reason he has to prove himself tonight."  Unfortunately, there is a complication: Once he's gotten into the store, he finds a dead body on the floor.

The author has created a sympathetic protagonist in Ray, as she limns his relationships with other cops: Jed Pagorski, a fellow rookie, with whom he bonded in the academy; his father, who he still refers to as The Lieutenant; Sloane Pearson, the female homicide detective assigned to investigate the murder.  He has nightmares about the dead man, both literally and figuratively, fearing he can somehow be traced to and implicated in the murder.  An arrest is quickly made, but Ray is skeptical about it, and doesn't hesitate to say so.  And then he finds himself questioning whether all the bad guys are on the outside of the precinct house.  He's told: "You're one of us now."  But he wonders, is he really?

This is a swiftly-paced, engrossing novel that will keep the reader turning the pages. I look forward to reading the author's next novel, and Probable Cause is recommended.

Relative Danger
by June Shaw
Thomason Gale
Paperback, 308 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 1594145318
Reviewed by Terri M. Tumlin

It was such a simple thing: Cealie Gunther, came to the suburbs of Chicago to attend the high school graduation of her granddaughter, Kat Gunther.  The occasion was important.  Cealie had promised her dying daughter-in-law that she would be there to watch Kat walk across the stage and receive her diploma.  The trouble is there has been a death at the school. Grant Labruzzo, the school custodian, died in a fall from the balcony of the auditorium.  Murder?  Maybe.  And now Kat says she is not going back—to classes, to exams or to graduation.

Cealie, middle-aged, financially independent, and with time on her hands decides that she must find out what happened so her granddaughter will graduate.  To gain access to the school, she becomes a substitute teacher and crashes full tilt into a world she never knew existed.  The crush of the large, suburban school with its ruffians and honor students and a faculty with a bewildering set of viewpoints almost overwhelm her. And it seems that everything she tries to do to help brings a new unanticipated consequence that makes things worse for Kat.

And then there are the incidents.  Her rental cars (yes, cars) are vandalized.  Attacks are made on her and on others.  Or are they attacks or accidents?   Beset by confusion, worry and fear, Cealie searches for answers.

June Shaw has created a fascinating character.  Cealie, longtime wife and now widow, is determined to find her own identity apart from being half of a pair.  Unfortunately for her, she is also strongly attracted to Gil Thurman—single, intelligent and sexy—and the owner of the Cajun Delights chain of restaurants.  She might want to go back a relationship she broke off with him.  On the other hand, it appears that he may have formed a new relationship with Legs, a much younger woman.  On the lighter, zany side, since Cealie herself no longer cooks, she has found the perfect place for the books she reads when sleep eludes her—the bottom shelf of her dishwasher.

Relative Danger not only has the twists and turns, false clues and red herrings that are a must in a good mystery story, it is also peopled with a full cast of diverse and interesting characters.  It is definitely a good read.  One hopes to see Cealie again in many more mysteries.

Death By Committee
by Carole Shmurak
Sterling House Publisher, Inc.
Paperback, 170 pages, $12.95
ISBN: 1-56315-329-7
Reviewed by Kim Reis

Susan Lombardi gets roped into serving on a tenure committee for a controversial teacher in her department at the college before learning the college has been getting threatening letters from both supporters and opponents of Abby Gillette. After a suspicious fire and a dead body, Susan worries about her own safety and that of other committee members.

Meanwhile, Susan's dysfunctional in-laws get together for a funeral and her friend Elaine has suspicions that her new beau is hiding something.  Susan recruits Mark, her former student, to use his private investigator skills to help Elaine and spends her own time trying to figure out whether Abby's friends or enemies are behind the attacks.

Susan is a fun character and the look into higher education is realistic and knowledgeable. The secondary characters get more time in this second entry in this series and we get to know them a bit better than we did in the first.  Developments lead me to believe we might see even more of them in future books.  This is a great cozy series that I highly recommend.

 

Down and Dirty
by Gammy Singer
Dafina Books/Kensington
Paperback, 225 pages, $15
ISBN: 0758208952
Reviewed by Heidi Vornbrock Roosa

Down and Dirty is "Another Landlord's Tale," the second of Singer's novels featuring Amos Brown, a reformed numbers runner turned landlord, in the crumbling Harlem of the early 1980s.  The first in the series, A Landlord's Tale is currently in movie development with Laurence Fishburne as producer. 

It's not hard to see why Singer's work would be picked up for a movie.  Her strength is in her plotting, and in the introduction of a memorable cast of characters one wants to meet again.  And while the writing is sometimes inconsistent, it is brought back up above the expected with priceless gems like this description of a lifelong petty thief: "The man stole anything—from a pickle to a Plymouth"—and sensitive observations by the protagonist, Brown, as in, "Hard to look at misery full-blown like that."

The core of this mystery lies in a batch of stolen fur coats, a recent jewelry heist, and the underworld politics of 1980s Harlem. But it is the characters Brown visits in his quest to help a wrongly accused friend that we care about.  And what we take away is the poignant portrayals of fierce neighborhood loyalty and sad confusion at the "gay man's cancer" that ravaged some before it was even known to have a name of its own.

I will go back and read A Landlord's Tale and I eagerly await Fishburne's interpretation of the intriguing cast of characters that spill over into this sequel.

Dry Ice
by Stephen White
Dutton
Hardcover, 352 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 0525949976
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Stephen White's newest thriller is all about secrets: "We choose secrecy at some point in our lives—presumably it makes sense to us at the time—and we protect the secrecy through the phases that follow.  Do the facts truly remain dangerous later on?  Worthy of protection?... Secrets aren't secrets.  They're just hidden treasures, waiting to be exploited." 

Alan Gregory, the Colorado psychologist, returns as the protagonist in this wonderful series.  A ghost from his past has come back to haunt him, a brilliant, vindictive and seriously disturbed killer who, in Privileged Information, the first book in the series, was his patient before being sentenced to an indeterminate period in a State mental hospital until such time as he is found competent to stand trial.  Now, fifteen years later, he has escaped, and Dr. Gregory's life will be profoundly affected.  A seemingly innocuous enough incident, a patient noticing a woman's purse lying outside the window of his office, triggers a series of events that will put his life, both personally and professionally, in peril.

The trademark suspense of Mr. White's books is present here along with a fascinating tale of the price we all pay for the secrets we keep from even our closest friends and loved ones, and the implicit issue of trust that is involved.  The Colorado setting and the characters, dialogue and plot keep the reader involved right through to the end of this gripping novel.

 

Accidents Waiting to Happen
by Simon Wood
Dorchester Publishing
Paperback, 352 pages, $7.99
ISBN: 0843958308
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Josh Michaels, a young man with a wife and little girl he adores, while driving back to his home in Sacramento, California, is forced off the highway and into the river in what appears to be an accident born from what he thinks of as reckless stupidity on the part of the other driver.  But the actions of that driver, before he gets back into his car and speeds away, convince Josh that it is anything but. 

Josh survives the "accident," but starts to doubt his ability to continue to survive the ensuing events, all appearing to be accidents but increasingly obvious (to him) staged attempts to end his life.  Josh is staggered as he comes to this unavoidable conclusion and cannot believe that he is the target of a killer, but has no choice but to accept this fact and attempt to figure out who wants him dead, and why, if he is to survive.  To make matters worse, if that's possible, past indiscretions and errors in judgment are now coming back to haunt him.

In Chapter Four the reader meets "the professional," the man hired to kill another person, a woman, as well as Josh.  Who has hired him?  Is there a connection between the two intended victims (something not readily apparent)?  And what is the motive? As "the professional" himself muses, "a seemingly motiveless murder was just as hard to solve as a well-planned accident."

Simon Wood has fashioned an exciting and well-written novel of suspense, with a nail-biting conclusion during which this reader held her breath in anticipation of what new horrors might be in store.

A Case of Two Cities
by Qiu Xiaolong
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 307 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0312359853
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

Inspector Chen is caught up in the web of inscrutable Chinese politics.  He is appointed to investigate corruption by a high official of the party, and given a blank check for authority.  The investigation involves an individual and his family who have fled to the United States, but may also involve many party cadres, bureaucrats and others.

How to proceed against the institutionalized Chinese system?  Chen wends his way alone seeking leads from various sources.  One of them is raped and murdered before giving him information.  As he begins to learn more, he is suddenly appointed chairman of a literary delegation leaving for Los Angeles in a couple of days.  Was the appointment an effort to sidetrack the investigation, or really deserved (after all he is a respected poet and translator)?

Before leaving on his new mission, Chen deputizes his assistant to carry on the investigation in Shanghai.   In the United States, Chen continues his efforts and gains assistance from U.S. Marshall Catherine Rhon, with whom he previously worked in Shanghai. 

Like its predecessors in the series, this novel provides deep insights into contemporary China, while giving the reader a crime story that is compelling.