May 2005

Welcome back to the Morgue! It's a balmy Spring month down here, which means extra air-conditioning for our guests and way more mystery for you, our loyal readers.

Consider this the "Elaine Viets Commemorative Issue," since we have not only reviews of two of Elaine's "Dead-End Job" mysteries, but also a delightful interview with the author herself, discussing the jobs she takes to research her novels, and the one she'd return to in a heartbeat.

Chapter 12 of "Murder By Committee," our round-robin mystery that never seems to end up anywhere, was written by Gordon Aalborg, author of The Specialist, and he acknowledged the inspiration of his wife in Gordon's work. Well, this month, Mrs. Aalborg herself, Denise (Deni) Dietz, picks up the story where her husband left off, and adds some laughter to the twisty tale. It's a must-read. So read it. Really. You must.

So as the flowers bloom and the kids start to get that "school year's almost over" look in their eyes, enjoy the wallow in mystery-ana with reviews of 21 mystery novels and our usual features. And if you have ideas or suggestions, feel free to contact us at mysterymorgue@breakthroughpromotions.com and let us know! (We'd like a break from all the Viagra spam, anyway.)

In this month's issue:

Elaine Viets—The Mystery Morgue Interview

Reviews:
The Cameo Clue by Dorothy Bodoin
Death By Inferior Design by Leslie Caine
The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman
The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais
Give First Place To Murder by Kathleen Delaney
Dating Is Murder by Harley Jane Kozak
Killer Blonde by Laura Levine
It's A Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder by Rosemary Martin
Good Girl's Guide To Murder by Susan McBride
Cold Service by Robert B. Parker
Media Justice by G.B. Pool
The Sapphire Sea by John B. Robinson
A Landlord's Tale by Gammy Singer
Six To Five...Against by Jeff Sherratt
Deadmistress by Carole B. Shmurak
Eight Of Swords by David Skibbins
Shop Til You Drop by Elaine Viets
Just Murdered by Elaine Viets
Shadows On The Coast Of Maine by Lea Wait
Nine Days To Evil by Nancy Glass West
The Fall Of White City by N.S. Wikarski

Ongoing Story:
"Murder by Committee," Chapter 13, by Denise (Deni) Dietz

Link to Archives

 

Elaine Viets—The Mystery Morgue Interview

Interview by Gloria Feit

Elaine Viets just can't seem to hold a job. Researching her Dead-End Jobs mystery series, Viets works in the venues—including a bridal shop, a bookstore and a telemarketing firm—in which she sets her books. And that experience has given her a wealth of material, although as she explains in this interview, just living in Florida is enough to keep a novelist's mind working, 24/7...

Did the area where you grew up influence your present outlook or interests?

Elaine Viets: Absolutely. One reviewer said that South Florida was like another character in my books. My mysteries try to reflect the life here. The weather is a major factor. It's paradise in the winter, hell in the summer, and deadly in the fall hurricane season. Then there's the ocean. We all exist in relation to the water. Real estate is valued by how close it is to the ocean, or by how many drawbridges your boat has to go under from your dock to the ocean. And finally, there's the rootlessness, which suits my character Helen so well. No one is really from Florida—most of us moved here from somewhere else, and it's not polite to ask what you did in your old life, which is just as well, because Helen is on the run from the courts and her ex-husband.

Helen's new life at the Coronado Apartments is very South Florida, particularly when people first move here. If they are lucky, they may find a small apartment like the Coronado with a slightly wacky landlady and a group of congenial neighbors, and toast the sunset every evening.

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

EV: I was a syndicated columnist with United Media in New York, and I wrote for a newspaper in St. Louis for more than 25 years. I graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia with a degree in journalism. I'm also a graduate of the St. Louis University Death Investigators course, which is usually for police, EMS and medical examiners.

How/when did you become interested in mysteries?

EV: I've loved mysteries since my mother gave me her old set of Nancy Drews. I like the puzzles in mysteries, the unusual characters and new situations. Mysteries will tackle subjects that mainstream novels avoid. Instead of writing one more coming of age novel, mysteries are exploring dark and difficult territory. My own novels are an in in-depth look at the minimum-wage world.

How did the idea for the Dead End Job series evolve?

EV: This is a post-stock market crash series. Before the crash, a lot of my friends had grand plans—trips to Europe, kids in expensive schools, cushy early retirements. After the crash, the early retirements were canceled, along with the fancy trips, and the kids went to public schools. Suddenly, these people were working two or three jobs, trying to make the house payment. It was a very different world, a much harsher one. My books are a funny look at a serious subject, the minimum wage job, where workers have little power or respect. Many of the things that happen to Helen—the abusive customers, the boss who insisted Helen use pencil stubs—happened to me.

What did you try writing before your first novel or short story?

EV: I was a newspaper columnist, and then a syndicated columnist for United Media in New York. I wrote three to four columns a week for 25 years. That's a lot of discipline and deadlines. When I finally was able to write my first novel, I reveled in the freedom. I was no longer encumbered with facts and direct quotes. I no longer had to tiptoe around advertisers or the publisher's pet projects, the way I did at the newspaper. I could create my own world, where people lived and died at my command. Writing is a heady experience. Sort of like being God, except I get paid.

What did you learn writing Shop Till You Drop?

EV: I learned how much fun it was to write about South Florida. My other series was set in the Midwest, where readers expect you to have taste, morals and standards. When I wrote about Florida, I had none of those handicaps.

In Shop Till You Drop, I loved writing about that exotic bird, the Florida bimbo. I tracked the bimbos to their natural habitat, to observe them. I went to a beauty shop where they congregated. I had really big hair during that time, but I got some good information. Many people think bimbos are stupid. That's not true. They are actually quite smart when it comes to pleasing a certain kind of rich man. It's just an intelligence we don't always value.

In Shop, I got to write about the full range of Florida women, young and old. Florida has an amazing group of older women, and the purple-loving, Marlboro-smoking landlady Margery Flax is based on some of the women I've met here. She's one of my favorite characters.

How long did it take to write?

EV: I wrote Shop in six fevered months. When I really get into writing, the rest of the world goes away, and I am lost in my novel for days on end. I have to write myself notes to remind me to go outside.

Have you traveled? If so, has it contributed to the content of your book?

EV: I go to New York for my publisher and agent, and I go back to my hometown of St. Louis. I live to visit the Caribbean islands. But I really like my life in Florida. Living and writing there is like a paid vacation.

How do you do your research?

EV: In each novel, Helen Hawthorne works a different minimum wage job. I work those jobs, too. I've sold bustiers to bimbos for Shop Till You Drop. For Murder Between the Covers, I worked at Barnes & Noble for nearly a year. I loved that job, and would go back to the store in Hollywood, Florida, in a heartbeat. They were incredibly goodhearted and helpful. For Dying to Call You, I worked at a number of telemarketing jobs and also as a telephone survey taker. For the book that's coming out May 1, Just Murdered, I worked in the bridal department at Zola Keller's exclusive shop on Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale. This is the place where brides spend $250,000 for a wedding, and buy two $10,000 dresses, one for the church and one for the reception.

Where did you get the ideas for your novels and short stories?

EV: Often, an incident from real life will trigger a short story, although I have to twist it considerably for my story. I got the idea for the short story, "Wedding Knife," because I had to wear a particularly ugly bridesmaid dress a few years ago. In my short story, the bride got two years in jail for making her maid of honor wear that dress. I thought there was a kind of justice in that. Apparently, other women agreed, because the story was nominated for an Agatha Award for best short story this year.

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?

EV: Florida is full of characters. I use little bits and pieces from people I encounter. I may take the skin from one person (leathery as a Coach bag from the sun), the eyes of another (flat and dead) and the hard voice of a third.

I see people with odd accessories, and borrow them: Women with parrots on their shoulders, very old men with very young blondes on their arm.

My condo has a view of the ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway, so I see everything from Homeland Security flying black helicopters, to drunken boaters out for the afternoon. And if that's not enough, I can sit in a beach bar and get two or three novels watching people pick each other up.

 

Reviews

The Cameo Clue
by Dorothy Bodoin
Hilliard & Harris Publishers
Hardcover, 251 pages $28.95
IBSN: 1-59133-049-1
Reviewed by Terri M. Tumlin

Maple Creek, Michigan, is a lovely example of small town Americana and hardly the setting one would expect for a romantic mystery with Gothic overtones, but when Katherine Kale moves in to town, that's exactly what she finds. On a walk the day after she moves into her lovely blue Victorian house, she sees a dead black bird on her lawn and is approached by a friendly stray collie dog. The two creatures set the tone for the occurrences that punctuate her settling into town. First comes murder, what appears to be a random killing that could have taken Katherine as well. Then there are the noises of unknown origin in the attic of her new home. ut there are friendly neighbors as well. Like the town itself, the weather fluctuates between warm golden autumn days and heavy beating rains that strip the leaves from the trees in preparation for winter.

Among the people she meets early on are two men. Lieutenant Dalton Gray is an unusually handsome young police officer willing to advise and help Katherine with possible hazards around her home. Garth MacKay is a local businessman with a dark beard and a somewhat suspect connection with the militia. Garth is also more than willing to find a way into Katherine's life.

While planting chrysanthemums around the edge of her yard, Katherine finds a cameo pin, broken and so intriguing that she finds herself unable to part with until a robber breaks in to her home and steals only the pin from a kitchen drawer. Slowly the past comes alive and events many years ago begin to entice the reader and spark the current protagonist to wonder what really happened. Perhaps events back then might illuminate the current murder.

Dorothy Bodoin has done a masterful job of combining mystery with romance in a gothic style setting. Throughout the book, there are sounds and smells to take the reader to Michigan in Indian summer, even if they have never been there before.

The rain colors the atmosphere. The Victorian house has secrets. There is just enough of a tinge of the ghost story to make life interesting for both Kathy and the modern reader. Amid the varied characters in the small town, there is enough mystery and danger to keep the reader satisfied. Subtle clues point first to one and then another. The book is well paced and a joy to read.

 

Death By Inferior Design
by Leslie Caine
Dell
Paperback, 372 pages, $6.99
ISBN: 0440241758
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Erin Gilbert has been hired to redecorate a bedroom by Carl Henderson, who is surprising his wife. When Erin arrives, she finds out that her competitor, Steve Sullivan, has been hired to redo the neighbor's den. Apparently a competition has been set up between the two by a third neighbor, Randy Axelrod. He plans to write a story on the winner for his magazine Denver Lifestyles. Neither Erin nor Steve knew about this, but they accept the contest as they could use the free publicity.

Carl's son, Taylor, is to be the carpenter for both designers. Erin soon discovers that he isn't the easiest to work with, nor is he the best carpenter. But due to time and money constraints, she vows to do the best she can with what she has to work with.

While removing the paneling in Carl's bedroom, Erin discovers her baby picture and some letters. She was adopted, but her mother made her swear, before she died, to never search for her biological parents. Could they be one of these neighbors? Erin has a tough time knowing what to do.

Then Randy keels over and dies at the hospital, apparently poisoned. Someone shoots at Erin's car.

Things keep heating up and Erin soon feels she has to discover the truth about her adoption, as well as figure out who killed Randy.

I enjoy Erin Gilbert and the tension between her and Steve Sullivan. The contest was very believable with all the reality TV shows. But since I'm not into interior design, I found there to often be too much description for my liking. I do plan to read more in this series as they are published, because I enjoyed Gilbert and Sullivan. I recommend this book.

 

The James Deans
by Reed Farrel Coleman
Plume
Hardcover, 288 pages, $12
ISBN: 0-452-28650.6
Reviewed by Cindy Chow

When he is cornered at an employee's wedding in 1983 New York, the last thing wine shop owner and private investigator Moe Prager wants is to work for a politician. A former cop who was forced on disability by a piece of carbon paper on a waxed floor, Moe has had enough of being manipulated. However, a carrot-and-stick approach by the bride's father forces Moe into working for State Senator Steven Brightman and investigating the disappearance of his female intern in Reed Farrel Coleman's The James Deans.

Moe soon makes headway into the case, but after coming to a conclusion that leaves everyone satisfied niggling doubts begin to force Moe into looking a little closer at a case that has been tidily resolved. Now, Moe must decide whether to open a can of worms that would leave the powerful and his own friends particularly unhappy with his actions. From the Senator down to the neighborhood bar owner, all are invested in the nicely wrapped package Moe has presented to the city. To continue investigating means that Moe risks sacrificing his career, his family, and his friends.

Moe Prager is a wonderfully down-to-earth detective who, although bored with his mundane life, would rather avoid a fight than wield his muscle. His love for his family makes him engagingly human, especially when he knows that a secret he shares with his father-in-law will one day explode and shatter his marriage (Walking the Perfect Square, 2001). Not overly bright but always quick with a quip (yet never annoyingly so), it's his ethics and sense of honor that make Moe shine. Taking a turn at writing his version of the Chandra Levy/Gary Condit scandal, Coleman does an original twist with the plot as halfway through, just when you think the mystery has been solved, he boomerangs the story and leads Moe into making a decision that forces him to look deep into his soul and his sense of justice. While Coleman does make a few obvious references meant to give a wink and a nod to the present (a poetic look at the sturdy World Trade Center and jokes about a going-nowhere Arkansas politician), he writes a riveting plot and creates a vivid portrait of eighties New York City. Always entertaining with a character who never disappoints, Coleman continues a series that improves and expands on a truly unique character.

 

The Forgotten Man
by Robert Crais
Doubleday
Hardcover, 352 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0385504284
Reviewed by Jeffrey Cohen

The tenth Elvis Cole novel finds our hero at a low point: as a result of his previous adventure in The Last Detective, Elvis' true love Lucy Chenier has moved back to Louisiana and left him, a Los Angeles detective with no mystery and little incentive to find one.

Luckily, a puzzle comes practically scratching at his door. A cop on the LAPD finds the body of a man murdered in an alley, and reports to Elvis that his last words were about being the detective's never-seen father. Elvis doubts that such a thing is possible, but the man was found with newspaper clippings from Cole's last adventure, and his death is something of a mystery. Almost against his will, Elvis starts poking into the matter, with the help of Carol Starkey, the former bomb squad member who has dropped in on the series from one of Crais' standalone novels, having developed a massive crush on our hero.

Naturally, this being one of Robert Crais' later books, there's a sadistic, twisted killer in on the deal, and in no time flat, he comes to the conclusion that Elvis Cole is the source of every problem he has ever had. So the psychopath is on the way and Elvis is on the case.

Everything is here for a superior Elvis mystery, except the sense of humor that defined the series to begin with. It's impossible to think of this Elvis with Disney figures in his office, and even when he's bantering with sidekick/enforcer Joe Pike and Starkey, Elvis doesn't really seem to be paying much attention. He's so busy pining for Lucy (and ignoring the fact that Carol Starkey is doing everything but showing up in a negligee) that he stops being a figure of sympathy and actually starts to annoy the reader after a while.

The plot moves along just fine, as Crais has not lost his sense of pacing, but like many of his latest books, this seems more like the novelization of the screenplay he'd like to have written (although Crais has said more than once that he has no interest in selling the Elvis series to Hollywood). Still, readers will get their fix of Elvis and Joe, put up with Lucy, sympathize with Carol and learn how circuses do that "shooting the man out of the cannon" trick as Crais insists on telling us yet more about the characters' childhoods.

It's always good to have Elvis around, but sometimes, it feels like Crais wouldn't necessarily agree.

 

Give First Place to Murder
by Kathleen Delaney
PublishAmerica
Paperback, 207 pages, $19.95
ISBN: 1413733026
Reviewed by Clara Johnston

The county fair is the scene for the murder on Page 1. An Arabian horse show is in progress. Ellen McKenzie and her nineteen-year-old daughter are near the feed room where the victim lies. The police need to be called and they need to be called now. Dan Durham is the Chief of Police and Ellen's best childhood friend. Just recently, they became reacquainted when Ellen returned to her hometown.

Susannah, Ellen's daughter, works here for her summer job. This is only Susannah's second horse show and she is hired to help keep the books, but she is really getting involved in this. She also has a love interest in a young man named Neil. Characters center around the stable. Some of the people employed at the stable are not very impressive; you will feel uncomfortable about some of them. After the death, there is conversation about drugs and Ellen becomes uneasy about her daughter's safety. Bryce, one of the groomers, is acting suspicious. It isn't too long before there is a second murder and now there is race against time to catch the murderer.

I know next to nothing about horses, so not only did I enjoy the revisit with Ellen McKenzie and friends, but I learned something as well. One can tell that the author has some valuable knowledge in this area.

I must tell you to read the first book in this series, Dying for a Change. (You will find it in the Mystery Morgue archives). This will give you background and show some character development. It will also tell you that Ellen has moved back to her hometown after a divorce from her doctor husband. Dan and Ellen have kindled a wonderful relationship. He, as the Chief of Police, does not want her being involved, but she is anyway. Delaney does a good job in conveying the excitement and thrill of the competitive horse arena. The activity and ambiance of the local fair brings back memories for me of the booths, the animals, the food and the fun.

 

Dating Is Murder
by Harley Jane Kozak
Doubleday
Hardcover, 352 pages, $19.95
ISBN: 0385510349
Reviewed by Jeffrey Cohen

Wollstonecraft ("Wollie") Shelly, who debuted in Kozak's first novel, Dating Dead Men, returns here with her priorities intact: she has greeting cards to design, a frog mural to paint, and a reality show on which to find a suitable mate with whom to conceive a child. Well, not really.

In any event, one of the production assistants on the reality show on which Wollie is a semi-willing contestant goes missing, and Wollie feels a sense of responsibility. The girl was tutoring Wollie in math, which was necessary for her to pass an exam to... don't get me started. And now Wollie feels she must determine exactly what has happened to Annika, whose "day job" was as au pair to a family so Californian as to make Wollie herself seem like a foreigner.

The plot certainly has its twists and turns, as the missing person leads to a murder, probably, and Wollie encounters a somewhat attractive cop and a very attractive stalker, who may be on either side of the law. Throughout, her friends see her through, and into some pretty improbable situations.

As with most comic mysteries, the real emphasis here is on character, and laughs, and Kozak delivers both with generosity. Whether breaking into (or out of) the au pair agency or dealing with her enjoyably dysfunctional family, Wollie is never not good company. Kozak probably could have gotten a little more mileage out of Biological Clock, the reality show Wollie works on, but she does an admirable job throughout, and that's nitpicking.

It might be tempting to label this mystery in the "chick-lit" category, but that would be an unfortunate narrowing of its audience. Anyone looking for a good laugh and an enjoyable ride will find both in Kozak's series. Long may Wollie Shelly date.

 

Killer Blonde
by Laura Levine
Kensington
Hardcover, 240 pages, $22
ISBN: 0758201621
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Jaine Austen is hired as a ghostwriter by Sue Ellen Kingsley. Jaine doesn't really want to work for her, but she can't turn down the three thousand dollars a week she is paying. Jaine befriends Heidi, Sue Ellen's teenage stepdaughter. Heidi tells her that she'll probably quit within a week like everyone else, as they can't survive with Sue Ellen.

Sue Ellen does most of her work while soaking in the tub. Jaine finds sitting on the toilet a terrible place to work. Plus having to look at Sue Ellen's perfect boobs, a present from her plastic surgeon husband, every day is difficult. After Heidi's birthday party where Sue Ellen is very mean to Heidi, Jaine decides to quit.

Unfortunately when Jaine arrives for work to tell Sue Ellen she quits, Jaine finds Sue Ellen has been electrocuted in the tub by her hairdryer. The police believe Heidi killed her. Jaine believes Heidi when she says she didn't do it and that she saw a blonde in the hall not long before Sue Ellen was discovered.

Jaine sets out to try to find out who killed Sue Ellen to keep Heidi from going to jail. Since Sue Ellen was mean to everyone, there are plenty of suspects in Jaine's mind. There are quite a few blondes as well. Plus Jaine discovers plenty of infidelity going on as well.

Books in this series are so much fun to read. Jaine is a fun character and has plenty of one-liners to keep you laughing. Jaine's neighbor Lance is a great supporting character. There are always lots of laughs with the various guys Jaine dates as well.

There are plenty of clues but lots of suspects as well. I didn't figure out who did it or why until it was revealed. I highly recommend this book.

 

It's A Mod, Mod, Mod, Mod Murder
by Rosemary Martin
Signet
Paperback, 260 pages, $6.50
ISBN: 0451214706
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Bebe Bennett is secretary to Bradley Williams at Rip-City Records. He is also the love of her life, although he isn't aware of it yet. She recently moved from Richmond, Virginia, to New York City and shares her first apartment with Darlene Roland. Darlene is a stewardess.

Darlene has a date with the lead singer of Philip Royal and the Beefeaters, an act signed by Rip-City Records from England, who she just met on a flight from London. She has fixed Bebe up with Keith, the lead guitarist. When they arrive in the lobby of the Legends Hotel, the men don't show up. Unfortunately, they find Philip electrocuted in the bathtub.

The police believe Darlene killed him and ground her from flying. Bebe and Darlene set out to clear her name and find the real killer. They end up putting themselves in danger more than once and are cautioned by Bradley, Detective Finelli, and Bebe's dad to stop investigating before they find themselves killed as well.

They are able to obtain some information, but will it be enough? Can they clear Darlene's name without either of them being harmed?

This is a fabulous book set back in the 60s. It is a fast read—I read it in just over a day. I felt like I was back in the 60s. It's a great cozy mystery with wonderful characters. Bebe and Darlene are very likeable. Bebe is very naïve and that really adds to the book. I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

New York is a great location for this book. It really lends itself to the story and adds so much ambiance. The sexual tension is well written. I highly recommend this book.

 

Good Girl's Guide to Murder
by Susan McBride
Avon
Paperback, 368 pages, $6.99
ISBN: 0060563907
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Andy Kendricks is a debutant dropout. She missed her own coming out party and went to art school. Now Andy manages websites for non-profit organizations. It's not like she needs money. And she believes in their causes.

But Cissy, her mother, talks her into working for her dear friend Marilee Mabry. It's supposed to be a short-term job. Marilee has gone through six webmasters already. Marilee is a Martha Stewart type and has a home show coming to TV. Marilee invites her ex-husband and his wife to the party celebrating her new show. A catfight ensues between the two women in which one woman's hair is set on fire. Andy finally stumbles into the office and stumbles across Marilee's daughter, Kendall, on the floor of the bathroom. Andy knows she must get help. She hears sirens with help arriving, but can she get back out to them in the dark in time?

Marilee's personal trainer and boy toy, Justin, finally admits to the doctor that he had been giving Kendall herbs. Kendall and Justin have a past as well. It is determined that the herbs were harmful to Kendall.

When a murder is discovered, Andy investigates to find the killer to protect Kendall whom she has befriended. Andy finds many skeletons in the closet, but can she figure out who the real killer is and the motive in time?

I always enjoy books in this series. Andy is down to earth, and her mother is high society. Yet, they go well together in this book. I highly recommend this book.

 

Cold Service
by Robert B. Parker
Hardcover, 320 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0399152407
Reviewed by Jeffrey Cohen

In a series that almost single-handedly revived the hardboiled detective genre, Parker has been accused in recent years of coasting, "phoning it in" with his plots and putting character development on hold. When a series has been running for more than 30 years, there will always be installments to which even die-hard fans can point as less than stellar.

That's not the case in the latest Spenser book, as Parker returns to what makes his series work so well: the characters. In this episode, the Boston detective's enforcer friend Hawk has been shot in the back while on his latest assignment, bodyguard to a somewhat shady operator whose young son has been left an orphan. Beyond getting revenge for his own injury, Hawk feels the need to provide for the boy, and to regain his sense of ability.

Spenser, who survived a similar injury in a previous book with the help of Hawk, understands the need, and together, they set about finding out who shot Hawk and his client, and then, how to make those people pay, in every sense of the word.

To do so, they assemble a team of characters from previous books, including the "Grey Man," a smoky operative of anyone with an agenda who was the gunman who shot Spenser those years ago. Issues of trust are apparently not a problem here, and as long as he's being compensated, the Grey Man will join the team of somewhat ragged, aging heroes as they seek to validate themselves and do some good at the same time.

Fans of the series may or may not be thrilled to know that Spenser's significant other Susan Silverman is here to analyze the situation, but she is used in Parker's best style, as a sounding board for his hero and to voice some psychological basis that deepens the plot. And to provide a little sex. Man does not live by revenge alone.

While perhaps not the most exciting Spenser adventure of the past 10 years, Cold Service is at least a step away from the "case-of-the-week" feel some recent entries have had. It's a quick read, and a visit with characters worth visiting. The Master hasn't lost it yet.

 

Media Justice
By G.B. Pool
Spygame Press
Paperback, 285 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0-9749446-0-2
Reviewed by Angela McQuay

Celebrity trials have been the source of much media attention throughout the years, culminating with the media circuses of the O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson trials. G.B. Pool investigates this phenomenon further with her book Media Justice, which takes a case very much like the O.J. one and looks at what happens not only in the eye of the media, but also behind the scenes.

The country is shocked when famous actor Desmond Williams' ex-wife Marcella is murdered in her home, along with her gay companion Adrian. After questioning, Desmond is arrested for the murders and the frantic media coverage begins. Desmond retains high-priced defense lawyer Malvin Shepherd while Johnnie Greer, an African-American prosecuting phenom, takes the opposing side.

Seeing this all from the outside is Ginger Caulfield, a retired private detective who now spends her time in the garden and on various hobby projects. Ginger becomes more than a mere spectator when she is chosen for jury duty on the case and almost immediately starts getting threats.

Those who enjoy watching media coverage on high-profile cases will enjoy the work Pool puts in to find out what happens behind the scenes. By alternating between Ginger's point of view, the media's coverage and what the lawyers' experience, Pool gives a comprehensive and fascinating account of everything that goes into a trial of this magnitude.

This is the first in a series featuring Ginger Caulfield and is a good introduction to the former P.I. as well as a successful standalone mystery. Recommended to those who like series mysteries with strong female protagonists.

 

The Sapphire Sea
by John B. Robinson
William Morrow
Hardcover, 260 pages, $22.95
ISBN: 0-06-052725-0
Reviewed by Kevin R. Tipple

Lonny Cushman, bullied by a domineering father as well as wife, is in Madagascar on a semi-permanent exile buying stones for his father. Lonny is bored and seriously depressed while he daydreams of finding the perfect stone and proving his father wrong in so many ways. Through bribery and contacts as well as an affinity for languages he has managed to sort of exist in the daily life of Madagascar but still there are limits and he truly does not fit in here anymore than he does back home. Everything changes when he comes across a perfect and rather large sapphire stone one Easter Sunday.

The sale is made with the peasant who found it and Lonny now has a problem bigger than the stone itself. How to get it home despite obstacles of claimed ownership by others, corrupt politicians and military police, and the general lawless anarchy that is the culture and way of life on the island. Not only are an incredible amount of money and self-vindication at stake, but Lonny's life is in jeopardy as he begins his perilous journey home with little help or support.

While billed on the jacket copy as a thriller, this novel is actually more of an atmospheric detailed read of the culture and people of the country. Long and extremely detailed sections are devoted to the history, religions, and politics of Madagascar, past and present. Other very detailed sections are devoted to the economic conditions, the climate, American foreign policy, Madagascar's place in the world and the harsh strain of everyday life. The author has extensively traveled and worked in the area and what he has created here is a deliberately paced story that uses those experiences in depth to provide a valuable insight into the region while at the same time offering an adventure.

The center of that adventure is Lonny Cushman. It is no coincidence that the story begins early on Easter Sunday. Throughout the 260-page novel, the adventure provides the theme of the work in telling of his, for all intents and purposes, living death and his ultimate resurrection. Lonny does it all not just to prove something, not just for his father and his ex-wife, but for his seven-year-old daughter who hasn't seen him in a very long time. In so doing, Lonny undergoes a transformation as he crosses the countryside of Madagascar of the soul and character.

Richly and deeply detailed in place and setting, the author uses his vast experience in the area to bring home a deeply detailed picture of the island nation of Madagascar for the reader in a way no guidebook could possibly achieve. The resulting novel is more of a history or cultural world and less a thriller, but still an interesting read.

 

A Landlord's Tale
By Gammy L. Singer
Dafina/Kensington
Trade paperback, 232 pages, $15
ISBN: 0758208936
Reviewed by Janet Koch

1976, the Bicentennial year for the United States. A year of celebration and pride, bell-ringing and fireworks. Harlem, however, sees little of this—for the city is aching with poverty and dying from a rot called drugs. This is the Harlem in which Amos Brown inherits two brownstone apartment buildings from his father, and the gift could give Amos the chance to turn his life around—or it might be just another thing for him to throw away.

A gambling debt nudges Amos to try and make the most of his opportunity. Drugs have crept into the numbers business, Amos's old business, and people "just weren't civilized anymore." Determined to make a go of the landlord game, Amos begins to repair an empty apartment and finds a human skeleton buried in the basement wall.

He shrugs off the discovery as a minor annoyance. There are tenants to collect rent from and a lady to pursue—but when the skeleton's identity is revealed, Amos falters. Suddenly desperate to be out of the brownstones, he heads for a high stakes card game and winds up immersed in the drug trade he'd always sworn he'd never touch.

Harlem beats in the background of A Landlord's Tale, as much a part of Amos as his own family. His in-your-face narration catches the ring of city streets and front stoops. Author Gammy L. Singer, award-winning singer, actress, and director, not only give us Amos Brown, but showers us with other memorable characters.

While the mystery of the skeleton occasionally gets lost in this populated novel, Singer weaves in the solution with a deft hand. The bittersweet ending is more satisfying than one tied with a perfect red bow could have been, and we're left with a smile and a hope that it won't be long before Amos has another tale to tell.

 

Six to Five... Against
by Jeff Sherratt
Innova Press
Paperback, 356 pages, $15.95
ISBN: 0975272101
Reviewed by Clara Johnston

From page one, I settled back in my easy chair. Sometimes you just know a story is going to be a pleasure and this was one of those times. Short, crisp chapters take this reader to 1972.

The main character is Jimmy O'Brien. He's an attorney and an ex-cop in L.A. Jimmy is told to represent a Mexican gardener who is accused of murder. Gloria, a senator's assistant, has been killed. Jimmy is supposed to be involved only for the arraignment; the Mexican cuts a deal and escapes the death penalty. But the closer he comes to this case, the more Jimmy realizes that something does not make sense. The client, Jesus Rodriguez, refuses to plead guilty and Jimmy decides to defend him. The judge is not pleased.

One of the main players in this story is Sol Silverman, a high roller. He likes to play the horses and he is a P.I. Jimmy goes to Sol to ask for his help and he gets it. There is an added combination of politics and California Mafia.

Some aspects of this novel are especially well done. The time and plot takes you there and you know it's in the 1970's. Jimmy lives in an apartment that was named after the Carpenters song, "You've Only Just Begun." This was clever. A visual book, I can even see the way everyone is dressed in my imagination and hear the music playing in the background.

Jimmy is living on a shoestring and when his office is trashed, he knows he is upsetting the right people. Action galore abounds with some surprises. A spectacular finish makes this a book for you to put on your "must read list."

 

Deadmistress
by Carole B. Shmurak
Sterling House
Paperback, 184 pages, $12.95
ISBN: 1563153521
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Professor Susan Lombardi learns that her close friend John is the police's prime suspect in the murder of headmistress Sabena Lazlo. Susan used to teach at Wintonbury Academy and knows the faculty well. She can't believe John would have killed Sabena, even though he had threatened her the day before at a faculty meeting. But many people didn't like Sabena. Susan isn't sure there are many people who like her. She was the reason Susan had left.

Since Susan knows the faculty, she feels she can find out information the police may not be able to discover as easily. She gets permission to talk to the faculty from Granny Smith, who is helping to run the school in Sabena's absence. Plus she enlists the help of her husband, Swash, and her private investigator friend, Mark.

The deeper Susan digs, the more secrets about the faculty and students she discovers. John is definitely not the only person with a motive for murdering Sabena. But can Susan figure out who the real killer is among all the suspects?

I found this mystery to be very enjoyable. It is a quick read. Susan is a likeable character. The faculty and students at the Academy are very believable. The plot is well written, and there are enough suspects to make it difficult to figure out the killer.

I hope Ms. Shmurak writes more in this series. I highly recommend it.

 

Eight of Swords
by David Skibbins
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 263 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0-312-33906-2
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

In his youth, Warren Ritter (one of his three false personae) was a member of the Weather Underground who escaped death when his bomb factory exploded, killing four others and leaving his bloodied clothes and wallet behind. He's been on the run deep underground ever since. Presently in Berkeley, CA, scene of the '60's anti-establishment milieu, he spends his time giving tarot card readings to people on the main drag.

One day, a 16-year-old girl sits down for a reading, and Warren fudges the result, which is quite ominous. She is soon kidnapped, her mother shot and murdered. Warren becomes a suspect, and tries to solve the mysteries as an act of self-preservation.

Suspects, from the girl's landlord to her ex-boyfriend, abound. Warren spends $20,000 in a single day to retain a private investigator to trail the three suspects and a crippled computer hacker to obtain police reports and other data. How can he afford such sums? It seems one of his other persona invested in Microsoft very early and pays him a monthly consulting fee (duly reported to the IRS).

This reviewer (whose politics are admittedly different than Warren's) found Warren (or Richard, his real name) an unsympathetic protagonist. He's quoted as follows, referring to his activities in the '60's:

"Those were good days. We let the rulers know that they weren't as safe as they thought they were. We bombed statues, mailboxes, a Washington barber shop, and we tossed bombs at the Pentagon and the Capitol. We sought to damage the icons of imperialism, not to kill people. In fact, the Weather Underground never killed anyone—except ourselves, when our bomb factory exploded and blew up four of our members, including yours truly."

By the end of the novel, Warren begins to change and, perhaps, in the sequel we may find a different character (or even name). The book is the winner of the 2004 Malice Domestic/ St. Martin's Press Best First Traditional Mystery Contest. Despite misgivings about Warren, the prize is justified. The plot is excellent, the writing crisp and the ending solid.

 

Shop Till You Drop
by Elaine Viets
Signet
Paperback, 276 pages, $5.99
ISBN: 0451208552
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Helen Hawthorne has moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and gotten a job working at Juliana's. She needs a job that pays her in cash, as she's trying to hide out from her ex-husband and the St. Louis courts. No more six-figure income for her: now she makes minimum wage. She is living in a small furnished apartment where she makes some wonderful friends.

Working at Juliana's is not her favorite job, but it's the only one she can find to pay her under the table and for now it pays the bills. She's selling exclusive female clothing to trophy wives and mistresses. The shop door won't be opened for those not fitting the proper image.

Soon Helen discovers that her boss, Christina, appears to be selling drugs, arranging for questionable plastic surgery, skimming money, and possibly even hiring a hit man for a customer. Before she can confront her or do anything about it, Christina goes on vacation leaving Helen in charge. While she is gone, Helen looks for another job, but once again is unable to find anything. Then Christina never comes back from vacation. Her body is found in a barrel floating in the ocean.

The police suspect Helen. Even after Helen finds out that Christina had been blackmailing people, including her ex-boyfriend, the police still suspect her. Can she solve the crime and collect the reward money, without becoming the next victim?

I enjoyed this book. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. Helen is a very likeable character. I could really feel sympathy for her situation. The peripheral characters are a real asset to the story. The plot is well written with lots of suspects. I didn't figure out who did it until it was revealed. I highly recommend this book.

 

Just Murdered
by Elaine Viets
Signet
Paperback, 271 pages, $6.50
ISBN: 0-451-21492-7
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

Helen Hawthorne is working in her fourth "dead-end" job (something the author does to research her novels), this time in a bridal salon in Ft. Lauderdale. Once again she becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. The bride's mother is smothered and hidden in a closet, apparently the night before the wedding.

The wedding proceeds, and the body is discovered when Helen opens the closet door to obtain the bride's dress for the reception. Suspects abound, including Helen herself, since her fingerprints are all over the door handle and a drop of her blood is on the bride's dress from a cut (the dress was the murder weapon). The police increase pressure on Helen as a potential murderer, and as an act of self-preservation she begins investigating to absolve herself.

Writing with fluency and charm, Ms. Viets has constructed an interesting mystery, with deep insights into the various characters, continuing her series of "Dead-End Mysteries." In fact, the next is expected to be as a dog groomer.

Just Murdered is a very enjoyable read.

 

Shadows on the Coast of Maine
by Lea Wait
Pocket
Paperback, 324 pages, $6.99
ISBN: 0743456211
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Maggie Summer gets an invitation from her former college roommate, Amy Douglas. Amy and Drew have just moved into an eighteenth-century house, which they are restoring in tiny Madoc, Maine. They invite Maggie to come up for a few days and ask her to bring some of her antique prints.

When she arrives, she finds things are not all they seem. There are phone calls with no one on the other end and sounds of a crying baby disturbing their sleep. Then when the Douglas' neighbor and teenaged helper turns up dead on their land and Drew has a suspicious car accident, Maggie decides she needs to do some investigating. She gets her antiques-hunting friend, Will Brewer, to help her.

As she digs deeper and deeper, Maggie uncovers secrets that have been hidden for years. Can she figure out who is behind everything without anyone else getting hurt?

I love books set in New England, so this is right up my alley. I love Maggie. She is a great character, and her antiques print business was something that was new to me. I enjoyed learning more about it.

The descriptions of the area were superb. The plot was well constructed with plenty of red herrings, and the peripheral characters aided the story wonderfully.

I highly recommend this book and can't wait to read more.

 

Nine Days To Evil
by Nancy Glass West
Booklocker
Paperback, 306 pages, $16.95
ISBN: 0974770507
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Meredith Laughlin's husband, Dr. Conrad Laughlin, calls on his way to visit clinics in outlying areas. While on the phone, Meredith hears him scream, then the sounds of a car crash, and then silence as the phone goes dead. No one is able to reach him by phone or to locate him.

She reports his disappearance and probable crash, but since his car hasn't been located and no crash has been reported, there really isn't much they could do. Finally she gets Detective Sam Vanderhoven to investigate his disappearance.

Dr. Key Walker, Conrad's partner, covers for Conrad, but this adds a lot of extra work on his plate. When he looks into Conrad's files, he found some interesting and odd things. Key begins to wonder what is going on. Could Conrad's disappearance be related?

Meredith begins grad school and through some of her classes begins to realize her husband might not be what he had appeared to be. To help her move on with her life, she begins to try to find him and get the answers she needs.

I have never read anything by this author before. This book pulled me in immediately, and I found myself having trouble putting it down. It is an intriguing story. You really get a feel for what Meredith is going through and how this affects her life. The characters are wonderfully created and work well together. The Texas location really lends itself to this story. The author does a great job switching between the various characters so that we see the story from many angles. Normally this detracts from a story, but in this instance, it is so well done. I highly recommend this book. Hope she writes more like this.

 

The Fall of White City
by N.S. Wikarski
Northgate Press
Trade paperback, 319 pages, $16.95
ISBN: 0-9720335-0-5
Reviewed by Kim Malo

The Fall of White City is the first mystery in a series set in 1890s Chicago, and provides excellent counter-evidence for people who refuse to even try historical mysteries because they're concerned the books will be stuffy and boring: all full of people speaking "forsoothly" and more concerned with showing off how much historical minutiae the author knows than telling a good story.

Wikarski's lovingly vivid and accurate depiction of late 19th century Chicago and its society makes it clear how well she knows that place in time, and how good she is at helping the reader learn about it. But what's also clear is that she's too good a storyteller to make showing off that knowledge what the book is about. This is a character-driven mystery—built around a variation on the classic locked room puzzles—that draws you into the historical setting because it's full of interesting people you care about, from the fondly bantering protagonists to the young settlement girls whose tragic fates they investigate.

Evangeline LeClair is considered eccentric because she's reached her mid-thirties emphatically preferring a life of independence to the conventional marriage expected of any female, particularly one with her advantages of wealth and beauty.

A young girl has been found stabbed in the back after checking into one of Chicago's most exclusive hotels, which creates a scandal everyone is in a rush to quiet down. Fortunately she has a brother who not only followed her to the hotel and made a scene shortly before she was killed, but is also an anarchist and therefore clearly an undesirable capable of anything. His arrest provides the much-desired quick solution that won't further embarrass anyone who matters. However, the victim was a girl named Elsa Bauer who happened to be one of Engie's favorite students. Smart, ambitious, and someone Engie can't believe would settle for the sort of sordid affair everyone assumes brought Elsa to the hotel. Nor, once she's had a chance to talk to him, does Engie believe Elsa's brother is guilty of her murder. Engie and her partner in investigation, Freddie Simpson, set out to discover the truth.

Very little digging makes it clear that there are other possible suspects, and that the settlement house may been more involved than just providing the connection between Engie and her student. Which means that a little more digging opens the very real possibility that this wasn't an isolated crime. Before leading the guilty party to his fate, Engie will survive threats to her person, her reputation, and her heart. And even as you're sure the solution is in sight with each new answer Engie finds, the author keeps a few aces up her sleeve that will have you guessing and gasping to the very end.

Arriving at that end is an enjoyable, engaging ride through Engie and Freddie's banter, the many worlds of 1890s Chicago, a number of interesting and amusing secondary characters, and a series of interlocking—or are they really interlocking?—puzzles to solve. It's a lot of fun and the historical part doesn't hurt a bit; sit back and enjoy the ride.

 

Murder By Committee

Read past installments and find out more about Murder By Committee

Denise (Deni) Dietz is the author of several novels, including Eye of Newt, starring a witch sleuth. Her next mystery, Chain a Lamb Chop to the Bed, will be available December, 2005. Deni says she wanted to write her chapter in the style of Harlan Coben, but is afraid she comes off sounding like the Dixie Chicks singing "Goodbye Earl."

CHAPTER 13
By Denise Dietz

"Oh my God. Omigod. Oh my God. Omigod." The three-word litany (or one-word litany, if you put all three words together) rebounded through my frazzled brain like a Super Bowl fast food commercial starring Michael Jordan and Larry Bird. Oh, bounce, my, bounce, God, bounce.

Behind Door Number One—or Door Number Two if one counted the casino—was another room, dimly lit and sparsely furnished. I am not, by nature, a foolish woman. Nor an overly curious one. If I hear an eerie noise in the middle of the night, I don't traipse stealthily down an unlit staircase to explore a dark basement. Oh, I might if I had a weapon in my right hand, a torch in my left hand, and a pair of well-trained rottweilers leading the way. But, in ninety-nine out of a hundred cases, I'd find a phone ASAP and call 1-800-Johnny Depp.

In this case, I hadn't had much of a choice. As that damn cat Arnold leapt at the wall and sprung open Betty's hidden door, a hidden hand—large, rough, and obviously male—pushed hard upon my back. Unprepared, I pitched forward, landed on the other side of the door, and felt the bottom of the door nudge the soles of my sneakers like an avid Jimmy Choo shoe salesman.

As I sprawled on my hands and knees, I listened to a click sound. Ordinarily, a click sound would mean the infestation of deathwatch beetles, also known as book louses—insects that like to make a tick-click noise when they feast on wood. But deathwatch beetles are common in old houses, and this was a modern house, so I knew for a fact that the loud click signified the turn of a key in a lock.

Shit, I was locked in again!

I was so sick and tired of being locked inside strange places. And although this room was larger by far than a closet, the concept was the same: Let's lock McCrea in some sort of room and throw away the key, ha-ha.

To be perfectly honest, I preferred the closet.

The room I now found myself in smelled musty and dusty, and it was filled with stuffed animals. Not those adorable bunnies and plush teddy bears that supermarkets and drugstores like to sell around Easter and Christmas, but real animals. Dead animals. The room looked like a cross between the Roy Rogers Museum and the Museum of Natural History. Its décor included, among other things, a stuffed palomino, a stuffed owl, and a stuffed bear.

For a moment I wondered if the stuffed bear was the bear Guthrie had shot, but then I realized my timeline was off. No way could Guthrie's bear have been stuffed so quickly, not even if the taxidermist was Norman Bates.

To avoid looking at the dead animals, my mind returned to a simpler time; a time when my lifestyle had been conventional to say the least; a time when my most prized possession had been season tickets to the Denver Broncos. They played at Mile High Stadium way back then, and I'd scream CHARGE! and thunk my heels against the stadium's wooden floorboards when the Broncos scored. Oh, how I wished I could score a weapon. Looking around, I noticed a crude wooden shelf, almost blending into the wall. A dozen or so videos, stacked neatly in a row, graced the shelf. My first thought was: ouch, splinters. My second thought was: maybe I can use the corner of a video to poke someone's eye out. My third thought was: porn.

I couldn't have been more wrong. Not about the splinters. Or poking somebody's eye out with the sharp corner of the video; as far as I was concerned, that was still a viable game plan. But even from my vantage point, I could see tape titles: Freaky Friday and The Princess Bride and Parenthood and Dumbo. Not one "Harper Does Dallas" in the bunch.

The shelf was too high for my extended fingers, even when I stood on tiptoe. Oh, how I wished I had a rolling minivan. Or a chair. Or, even better, a ladd—

The door opened and a male body sailed into the room. Literally. He looked like an Olympic diver who had planned to do three and a half twists but belly-flopped, instead. Except he wasn't wearing one of those skimpy, sculpt-your-private-parts, Olympic swimsuits.

Bare-chested, clothed in a pair of tightie-whities, Bruiser looked up and said, "Ouch!"

My first thought was: What's a nice guy like you doing in a place like this? Aloud, I said, "Why did they undress you and toss you in here?"

Rubbing the lump on his forehead, he gave me a Dean Koontz I-work-for-the-government smile. "Sorry, McCrea, but my lips are sealed."

I expected him to zip his lips with his index finger, but he tried to simulate sealing an envelope by pulling his upper lip down over his lower lip, then patting both lips with six out of his ten fingers.

"You know too much already," he added.

Frankly, I didn't know shit. But I wasn't going to let him know that. All I knew was that Bruiser was taller than I, which meant he could reach the video shelf.

I hoisted him up from the floor. Then I pointed to the shelf above my head. "See those video tapes, Bruiser? I think we could poke someone's eye out, if we had to." I tried not to stare at his tightie-whities. "Would you pull a video off the shelf, please?"

"Which one?"

"Hell, I don't care. You choose."

Bruiser easily grasped a video: The Princess Bride. "This is my favorite movie of all time," he said, "so we might as well watch it while we wait. Here, McCrea. You can poke someone's eyes out with this." He pulled another tape from the Home Depot-inspired shelf: Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Then he put The Princess Bride in the VCR, and we both sat in front of the TV, our eyes glued to the screen.

Normally I hate the phrase "eyes glued." If it appears in a book—"Her eyes were glued to the door (gun, his face)"—I'll stop reading. In this case, however, it was apropos.

The credits flashed. I blinked. Clutching Beauty and the Beast, just in case somebody walked into the room, I looked at Bruiser. He looked at me. I looked at the TV screen again. I blinked again.

In my mind's eye, I pictured myself (albeit, much younger) purchasing a discounted video at a store that was going out of business, ousted by a nearby Blockbuster. The video I had selected was on sale for $5.98 plus tax, and its cover showed Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins. But when I trudged merrily home, put the disk in the slot, and turned my TV to Channel 3, Helen Reddy was singing in her Grammy-winning, hear-me-roar voice. And the song she roared was "I Saw a Dragon" from Pete's Dragon. Pete's Dragon begins with an overture. Then Helen sings "Candles On The Water." So some bugwit had not only put the wrong disk in the wrong box, but had forgotten to rewind. Don't you hate it when that happens?

As I pictured that long-ago, rather simplistic time, when my most intimate knowledge of guns came from watching Charlton Heston extrapolate, I honestly didn't know if someone had forgotten to rewind the tape Bruiser had just put into Betty's VCR. I didn't even know if Bruiser had pushed the PLAY button at the beginning, middle, or end of the tape. All I knew, for sure, was that this video wasn't The Princess Bride. Not even close.