November 2006

The leaves are changing color, the air is brisk and there's a hint of turkey roasting in the air. This can mean only one thing: that's right, it's football season, and thank goodness we have mystery novels to help us escape from such things.

We here at the Morgue are also told there's some holiday at the end of the month that deals with being thankful, so we'll note that there are many wonderful features and reviews we're thankful for this November.

For example, we're including a "How I Write" essay by Jennifer Jefferson, author of Defending Violet, and an attorney who has worked on family violence and child abuse cases. It's a fascinating look at the process of writing while hiking, not to be missed.

We also have an interview with Chris Grabenstein, who writes the John Ceepak Jersey Shore mysteries that began last year with Tilt-A-Whirl and continues now with Mad Mouse (Whack-A-Mole is due in 2007). He'll tell us how improvisational comedy leads to murder mysteries, and why New Jersey has an attitude all its own.

There are also 22 mystery novel reviews this month, from authors like Jan Burke, Janet Evanovich, Elizabeth George and Kirk Russell, among others. It's a real cornucopia of murder, to belabor a metaphor beyond its breaking point.

So, get the turkey in the oven, sit back and read all you like until it's time to baste. And when the relatives descend upon you, remember: there's no place like the Morgue.

In this month's issue:

How I Write, by Jennifer Jefferson
The Mystery Morgue Interview: Chris Grabenstein

Reviews:

One Good Turn, by Kate Atkinson
The Kill, by Allison Brennan
The Gardens of the Dead, by William Brodrick
Kidnapped: an Irene Kelly Novel, by Jan Burke
The Drowning Man, by Margaret Coel
A Minister's Ghost, by Phillip DePoy
Cat in a Quicksilver Caper: A Midnight Louie Mystery, by Carole Nelson Douglas
Motor Mouth, by Janet Evanovich
What Came Before He Shot Her, by Elizabeth George
Why Casey Had To Die, by L.C. Hayden
Waking Lazarus, by T.L. Hines
A Dangerous Man, by Charlie Huston
The Moon Tunnel, by Jim Kelly
Dying Light, by Stuart MacBride
The Princess of Denmark, by Edward Marston
Still Life, by Louise Penny
Missing Member, by Jo-Ann Power
Night Game: A John Marquez Crime Novel, by Kirk Russell
The Mayor of Lexington Avenue, by James Sheehan
The Sorcerer's Circle, by Michael Siverling
13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy, by L.A. Starks
Emerald Enigma, by C.J. Westwick

Link to Archives

 

How I Write
by Jennifer Jefferson

Jennifer Jefferson is an attorney who worked on domestic violence and child abuse and neglect cases in the New Jersey Family Courts for several years. She has also practiced in the areas of child custody, child support, and divorce mediation and litigation. Her first novel, Defending Violet, explores many of these areas.

Jefferson lists her interests as: "Read. Watch sports, especially the New York Giants and the New York Mets. Go hiking with my dog Casey. Bake cookies. Read. Listen to ESPN radio and shows and archives on WFUV radio. Read. Spend time with my family. Read."

She earned an M.F.A. from the Columbia University writing program and lives in Massachusetts with her husband and three sons. And Casey.

Planning

Equipment needed: Hiking shoes. Yellow legal pad. Pen. The early part of writing a novel involves much contemplation and very little actual writing. My dog and I go hiking almost daily, and it is then that mental knots loosen, and fresh images and ideas appear. Later, I scribble those ideas on a yellow pad. I keep it—what the book will be about—loose until I've locked onto something that excites me enough to live with it, to obsess over it, for a year.

The genesis of the novel is a subject I need or want to explore. Defending Violet grew from my need to investigate the ethical dilemmas defense attorneys face, and to explore the ambiguous meaning of truth in a court of law. My recently completed novel grew from a character I fell in love with, while writing a (never-completed) sequel to Defending Violet. He got his own book. Presently I am at the early, taking long walks, phase of my new book. I'm pretty sure it will be about baseball, and some kind of creative pursuit (jazz?). At heart it will be about grief, a subject I return to again and again. So—grief, baseball and jazz. Can I turn them into a novel?

Research

Equipment needed: File folders, large accordion file, pens, legal pads, research materials. Comfortable chair. Once I have settled on setting, major characters, and general subject, I begin research. I label file folders: characters, setting, scenes, etc. I surround myself with research materials; then read, make notes, and file them. I keep the files in an accordion folder along with legal pads and pens. That becomes my book in a box. I can take it to the coffee shop or library, work in bed, at the kitchen table, or in the garden.

Outline

Equipment needed: Legal pad, pens, research materials and files, comfortable chair. While researching, I begin to construct a very loose outline and a list of possible scenes. I used to try to compose neat outlines on the computer. But that doesn't work for me. I just make messy ones on paper.

First draft and scene list

Equipment needed. Legal pad, pen, files, computer, music or other entertainment that doesn't require focus. I like Anne Lamott's (from Bird by Bird) concept of the shi**y first draft. Just work it through. Leave gaps and plow through the story. Later I fill in the pieces. I write my first draft on yellow legal pads. Every day or two I go back and read and edit what I wrote the day before. When I'm finished the shi**y first draft I go through it and make list of scenes, just a few sentences each. I'll leave a break where I think a scene should go, that I haven't written yet. I number the scenes in the draft itself and then I have an easy way to reference back. I also use the scene list to work out kinks in the flow of the story, to note where more cohesion, suspense, etc. is needed. Next, I enter the draft into the computer, as fast as I can, without editing, unless something jumps out that must be dealt with. I used to hate that part, being tied to the computer. I listened to music or ball games on the radio, but it was a chore. Then last year I bought myself a 12" Apple notebook, which I adore. It makes the boring part less boring because I can move around. I type while I watch baseball or sit on the porch. I love the mobility, and I've been working much faster since I started using it.

Second Draft

Equipment needed: Computer, printer, pens, comfortable chair. When the first draft is finished I take a break, get away from the darn book for a couple weeks. Then, I print it out, and slowly work through it, revising with a pen. This is a long process. I'll find more research that needs to be done, scenes that don't work, characters that need development, and so much more. The entire draft ends up covered with notes. When I finally finish, I enter those changes into the computer, print it out and send it to my reader. Then I read it again and incorporate suggestions my reader makes (the ones I agree with). I proofread it and polish it up. I write THE END.

 

The Mystery Morgue Interview: Chris Grabenstein

You don't run into that many mystery authors who began by doing improvisational comedy with Bruce Willis. In fact, you'll only find one.

Chris Grabenstein, the author of the John Ceepak/Danny Boyle series that began with the critically acclaimed Tilt-A-Whirl and continues with the equally well-received Mad Mouse, has been an improvisational comedian and an advertising copywriter (he says his major contribution was the introduction of "Trojan Man"), a student of James Patterson (at an advertising agency) and a television screenwriter. His books, which celebrate the New Jersey shore while poking gentle fun at its culture, are not cozy: the violence is real, the stakes are high, and the tension is palpable.

Here, he discussed John Ceepak's affection for Bruce Springsteen's music, whether Bruce Willis returns his calls, and what his next book—outside the Ceepak series—will be about.

You took an unusual route to becoming a mystery author. How did improvisational comedy help you when you started to write?

I think the training I got doing improvisational comedy (the secret is to always say "Yes... and") in front of a live audience for five years in an East Village basement club has helped all my writing—first advertising copy, now mysteries and thrillers.

Most people know improv these days from Whose Line Is It Anyway? It's basically a game where you take what the audience suggests and build a scene, story or song from there. All those years writing advertising, that's what I did. I'd take the Unique Selling Proposition and twirl it around a hundred different ways.

And now, it's more or less how I write my books. When I started Tilt-A-Whirl, I had the seed of the Ceepak character planted in my brain. My dog, on one of our many walks, suggested a straight arrow like John C needed a "Watson" do handle the narration so Danny Boyle was created. Then, I started playing improv games... with the title. Tilt-A-Whirl. A ride that, when operated correctly, is completely unpredictable. So, I started weaving a tale with enough spins that it would operate like a Tilt-A-Whirl. When I started Mad Mouse, I did the same thing. Improvised all the different meanings of what those two words could mean. Are you a man or a mouse? Can a mouse go crazy?

I think there is a courage or stupidity that comes from doing all those shows in front of all those late night audiences, many of whom were feeling no pain due to the availability of alcoholic beverages in the East Village at 10 p.m. on a Saturday. There are no mistakes in improv. You just keep trusting your partners and your instincts and saying "Yes, and..."

Writing starts with "What if?" followed by a series of escalating "Yes, and then..."

You were in a troupe with Bruce Willis in the early 80's. Ever call Bruce up and ask if he'd like to, perhaps, play John Ceepak in a film?

No... even though I was once recognized by Bruce in a London hotel lobby a few years ago. He said "Hey, I know you don't I." Unfortunately, no one was there to witness this exchange except, of course, Demi Moore.

My agent is also a film publicist and he just worked with Bruce on a movie shooting here in New York. I hope he slipped him a Tilt-A-Whirl... but I think he might be a little too old to play Ceepak now. Unless Bruce said YES. Then, Ceepak would age overnight.

Your Ceepak novels take place in the New Jersey shore town of Sea Haven (nice meshing of Seaside Heights and Beach Haven, by the way). How did you choose that location?

I want to assure you and any IRS agents that it had nothing to do with the fact that my wife and I go on vacation... I mean research trips... to Long Beach Island in a rental house near Beach Haven every summer. What I've tried to do is collapse the whole Jersey Shore onto one 18-mile strip of sand. Seaside Heights and its Boardwalk. Wildwood. Even Spring Lake—"The Irish Riviera"—and Cape May. That's where the Bed and Breakfast scenes were inspired.

New Jersey seems to have an interesting effect on crime writers—they have a distinct sense of humor. Janet Evanovich, and, let's say (ahem!) others, all exhibit that in mystery novels. You live in New York, and come from Tennessee, but do you see the New Jersey attitude as unique?

I did live in Jersey for seven years—a commuter town called Metuchen, which calls itself The Brainy Boro because, at the turn of the last century, Literary Figures used to fox hunt out where the malls now are. Joisey definitely has an attitude. An underdog aura. A toughness that comes from being the little brother to New York City up north and Philadelphia down south. It is, as Benjamin Franklin either said or should've said, a barrel tapped at both ends. It's kind of like Canada. Sitting next to all this big important stuff... within spitting distance, which many New Jerseyans are quite good at. Also, it's the most densely populated state in the country. No elbow room. You need a sense of humor just to navigate the Turnpike and the jug handles. That's where you have to turn right if you want to turn left.

You're starting a new series this Christmas, with holiday-based thrillers. After only two novels, were you already aching to bust out of the Ceepak mode? And by the way, does Slay Ride exist simply to vent feelings you couldn't express in your made-for-TV movie "The Christmas Gift"?

I think it's this improv brain again. Too many ideas bobbing around to do only one series. Ceepak and Danny will be back next June in Whack A Mole and the June after that in Hell Hole. Hopefully, the holiday thrillers will come out every winter, Ceepak every summer. And, news flash, I'm also entering the Young Adult market in 2008 with a ghost story to be published by Random House. I think this proclivity to be prolific comes from my advertising training. For every commercial you see on the air, there were another 100 storyboards the client passed on.

Ah, "The Christmas Gift." Starring John Denver and Jane Kaczmarek, who later became a star on "Malcolm In The Middle." That was done back in 1986! And, it's still on some channel every year. My writing partner and I rake in about ninety dollars each on an annual basis. Since it was the first thing either one of us ever wrote, it was completely re-written by a Hollywood pro. That's why there are professional pieces of expository dialogue in it such as: "Susan, being the postmistress in this town as you are, perhaps you know someone who can show us around." It's also why we don't talk about it too much.

When you were "discovered" by James Patterson at J. Walter Thompson Advertising, which of you was less likely to become a respected crime novelist? Show your work.

Me! Definitely. Jim (aka James) had already won the Edgar for his first book and was, I think, working on a book called Black Market, when he hired me. (Still hadn't broken out with Alex Cross, yet) What a work ethic! He'd be in the office very morning at 5 or 6 a.m., behind closed doors, writing on his novel in progress. At 9 or 10, he'd start running the agency and keep us going until 9 or 10 at night. I think I wanted to write movies back then. Maybe a play. Thrillers and mysteries were what I read on business trips.

The interaction between Ceepak and Danny Boyle, his somewhat less experienced (he's a part-time cop) partner is never disrespectful, which is refreshing; Ceepak believes in Danny, especially when Danny doesn't believe in himself. What do you think drives the relationship between the two?

There's a tiny detail about Ceepak's back story revealed about 3/4s of the way through Tilt-A-Whirl. He had a little brother who committed suicide at a young age, when Ceepak was overseas with the military. I think, in some ways, Danny is a do-over for Ceepak. A second chance at a little brother. I also think he is, basically, respectful of all people. He never speaks ill of anyone, even the jerks. Ceepak, grounded by his code, knows who he is and that means he doesn't have to worry so much about being better than everyone else—the source of much disrespect.

John Ceepak, a straight-laced, by-the-book cop, is a huge fan of Bruce Springsteen, and you often quote lyrics in the novels. Is that just a New Jersey thing, or does it speak about Ceepak's character more deeply, pointing to things that we might not learn about him otherwise?

You have hit the nail upon the proverbial head. At first, it is the single link between two alien beings: Ceepak and Danny. As the first book moves on and the series progresses it is a chance for our manly men to express things with words they would never use themselves. A lot of New Jersey readers would prefer my guys to quote Bon Jovi but "you give loving a bad name" isn't quite as poetic as "try to walk like a man."

What's Ceepak's favorite Springsteen album, and why?

It's a DVD: Live In Barcelona. If you listen to the concert in the sequence performed, it becomes an amazing story of grief conquered. Bruce starts with "The Rising," all about the horror and heroism of 9-11, moves into "Lonesome Day," a sad song about lost loved ones, keeps the anger of loss going with some songs from his early years "Prove It All Night" and "Darkness On The Edge Of Town," sings about the "Empty Sky," another allusion to loss of the twin towers, and so forth... until he gets to "Mary's Place," a song about having fun anyway, remembering the lost in the life they lived, and ends the whole concert with "Land Of Hope And Dreams." An amazing journey. I run around Central Park listening to this concert all the time. I think "Land Of Hope And Dreams" is Ceepak's song.

Ever feel the urge to get back into comedy, hop onstage and improvise with the best of them? Is writing an ongoing improvisation for you?

Every now and then I get up on stage with some of my old buddies here in New York. And, I love "performing" at mystery conventions. Put me on a panel, ask me to host an auction, and I'm in heaven.

Explain how the Trojan Man radio spots helped you become a crime fiction writer.

Immensely. I have no children to support.

What do you know now that you wish you knew then?

Being your own client is much more fun than writing advertising. I wish I knew one's first book should not be any longer than 80,000 words. My first (and still unpublished) manuscript clocked in at 125,000 I think. The second (also unpublished) tipped the scales at 150,000. Hmmm. I could almost pull two books out of that one...

 

Reviews

One Good Turn
by Kate Atkinson
Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, 418 pages, $24.99
ISBN: 0316154849
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

"A coincidence is just an explanation waiting to happen," states one of the main characters in this novel.  And that observation pretty much sums up this intriguing book, which begins when a rented Peugeot stops short to avoid hitting a pedestrian on an Edinburgh street and a blue Honda slams into its rear.  The driver of the second car jumps out with a baseball bat and bashes the head of the front driver.

In the crowd witnessing this road rage are various people who play a vital role in the story, including a writer of banal crime novels who takes it upon himself to slam the second driver with his laptop to prevent him from killing his victim, among others.  The novel slowly builds from that point with facts and stories and relationships and family histories intertwining as the tale begins to unfold in unexpected twists to a fitting conclusion.  It is a story well told.

Highly recommended.

The Kill
by Allison Brennan
Ballantine Books
Paperback, 407 pages, $6.99
ISBN: 0345485238
Reviewed by Janet Koch

Thirty years ago, a five-year-old Olivia St. Martin watched helplessly as a man kidnapped her older sister, Missy. When Missy's body is found, Olivia's parents fall apart, finding no solace even after a suspect is convicted for their daughter's murder. Olivia's consolation in a lonely childhood is that her eyewitness account helped imprison her sister's killer.

Now Olivia is a fact-minded FBI science director, sacrificing friendship and marriage to immerse herself in work. But the science she lives by threatens her decades old consolation—a DNA test proves that the man incarcerated for Missy's murder is innocent. The real killer remains free.

Olivia, compelled to find the truth, plunges into unauthorized research to find murders similar to Missy's. When she collects a series occurring over a 30-year period, she knows she's on the right track. She heads to Seattle, the scene of the most recent murder. Nothing will stand in her way of putting away the killer, not her own fears, not the attractive Detective Zack Travis, and not the danger that encircles them both when a another young girl is kidnapped.

The Kill is rich with suspense from beginning to end. Multiple viewpoints—Olivia's, Zack's, the killer's, the wrongfully imprisoned man—speed the ticking clock and add layers of complexity just when you think you know what to expect.

Author Allison Brennan applies the brakes only lightly in giving her readers a roller coaster ride that has it all: murder, grief, revenge, greed... and the healing power of love.

The Gardens of the Dead
by William Brodrick
Viking Penguin
Hardcover, 321 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0670034983
Reviewed by Janet Koch

Elizabeth Glendinning has just purchased a set of antique spoons from a London open-air stall when she dies unexpectedly of heart failure. What should be a time of quiet grieving for her adult son Nick and good friend Father Anselm evolves into a quest, for Elizabeth, though dead, is pointing them to a mission that will right an old wrong.

Her last act, a phone call, was a cryptic but confident message to a police officer: "Leave it to Anselm." That message, along with a series of seemingly unrelated documents, push the pair past curiosity and into Elizabeth's footsteps. Too late, they discover she is taking them places they'd rather not go, and teaching them things they'd rather not learn.

As Anselm struggles to meet Elizabeth's expectations, he thinks of the last words she said to him: "We can't be lukewarm. That's the only way to mercy or reward." Who, though, can expect mercy? And who truly deserves reward?

Unafraid to pose unanswerable questions, The Gardens of the Dead is an intricate novel that seizes the reader on the first page. Author Brodrick—whose career path of Franciscan friar-tuned-barrister is the opposite of Father Anselm, barrister turned monk—writes with a compelling confidence. Each of his characters is unique and treated with respect, from the steadfast wife of a criminal to the homeless man who wears a welder's dark goggles because he cannot bear the things he sees.

Elizabeth says of her profession: "We stand on an island. The cold place of not knowing, and not being able to care." But as it turns out, she cared deeply, and it's up to Nick and Anselm to mete out the justice she craved.

Kidnapped: an Irene Kelly Novel
by Jan Burke
Simon & Schuster
Hardcover, 366 pages, $24
ISBN: 0743273850
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

The name of the murderer in Kidnapped, Jan Burke's wonderful new novel in the Irene Kelly series, is made known to the reader in the book's first sentence, as Cleo Smith has just killed Richard Fletcher as the book opens.  But lest you think there is no suspense in the ensuing pages, think again.  Though we know the name, the identity and the "why" of the murder is another matter entirely.  And the murder is just for openers. 

At the same time Richard is killed, his four-year-old daughter Jenny disappears.  A year later, Mason, one of Richard's sons, is tried and convicted of the murder, and sentenced to prison; Jenny has never been found, although her mother is convinced she is still alive.

The Fletchers are a well-known family in and around Las Piernas, CA.  The patriarch Graydon Fletcher and his late wife adopted twenty-one children over the years, as well are raising others as foster children, and many of their offspring have done likewise.  Fairly self-sufficient unto themselves, they keep their children close, limiting their interaction with other children, establishing private schools which most of the children have attended, or home schooling them.  The members of the Clan, as some of them refer to the family, include doctors, lawyers, dentists, accountants, a policeman, etc., so they can rely on their own for most of their needs.

Five years after the Fletcher murder and kidnapping, Irene Kelly, reporter on the Las Piernas News Express and wife of a homicide detective in the Las Piernas Police Department, has just written a major story on missing/kidnapped children (discovering in the process that nearly 800,000 children were reported missing in just a recent one-year period in the United States—a staggering number). Meeting one of the many members of the Clan, Caleb Fletcher-who is convinced of his brother's innocence-Irene agrees to help him in his ongoing search for the truth, and for his missing sister.  The search takes Irene into unexpected discoveries, in the process putting her in danger. She learns that, as one character says, "It has always been about the children."

I had one problem with this book:  when the identity of the murderer is made known, it requires a big suspension of disbelief on this reader's part—the revelation is fascinating, but somewhat implausible, as was the character. That notwithstanding, the book is very well-written and suspenseful, and another enjoyable entry in this series.

Recommended.

The Drowning Man
by Margaret Coel
Berkley Prime Crime
Hardcover, 321 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0425211711
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

The latest in the Wind River Indian Reservation Mysteries finds Arapoho lawyer Vicky  Holden and Father John O'Malley in the midst of not only a seven-year-old murder and a stolen petroglyph, but a current theft of The Drowning Man, a petroglyph which apparently may be related.

Vicky becomes involved when the convicted murderer, who has already served almost half his sentence, becomes her client when she is convinced he either received inadequate representation at his trial or is innocent.  Father John, the Indian Priest, becomes involved when he is picked as the go-between of the tribes and the thief seeking $350,000 for the return of the sacred object.

Separately, Vicky and Father John wend their way in their attempts to accomplish their missions—the rescue of Drowning Man and the freedom of her client.  Along the way are a series of murders, obviously an attempt of the real culprits to cover their tracks, including several attempts on Vicky's life.

This novel is up to the high standards of the earlier entries in this series, with a tight plot and excellent writing and descriptions.  It moves ahead with suspense and is entirely enjoyable.

A Minister's Ghost
by Phillip DePoy
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 277 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312339348
Reviewed by Caryn St.Clair

In A Minister's Ghost, Fever Devilin, a college professor and folklorist, moves back to his hometown of Blue Mountain, Georgia, to collect the oral histories and folk tales of the region.  While traveling home one evening, Devilin thinks he sees an apparition near the rail road tracks and takes it as an omen of bad things to come. Later Devilin is told by his girlfriend, Lucinda, that her two nieces have been hit by a train and killed.

While this is a tragedy that rocks the town, Lucinda does not believe it was an accident and asks Fever to investigate. Fever wonders why the two girls would not have tried to get out of the car when they saw the train coming. Then he learns that there were no keys in the car, nor found anywhere at the scene.  His suspicions are raised even more when the sheriff, Skidmore Needle, a long time friend, starts warning him off the case.

This third book in this series is filled with a sense of life in a rural Appalachian community.  There is both a touch of the supernatural and southern gothic in the characters in the book. A vagrant minister who has disturbing visions and an albino dwarf who may well be Devilin's relation are two of the most memorable characters.  People are not as they seem and some long buried secrets come out as the investigation moves forward.

DePoy use of the language in the book is remarkable.  The story unfolds like an onion's peel being pulled back one layer at a time. The suspense builds slowly as the reader is transported to this small rural southern setting. The reader is pulled forward through the plot by the nearly musical voice DePoy uses. So immersed in the tone and telling of the story that this reviewer didn't even realize until I had put the book down how improbable the conclusion really was—and I don't care. A Minister's Ghost is a terrific read.

 

Cat in a Quicksilver Caper: A Midnight Louie Mystery
by Carole Nelson Douglas
Forge Publishing
Hardcover, $19.95, 384 pages
ISBN: 0765314002
Reviewed by Shirley Wetzel

Midnight Louie, P.I., the hippest cat in Vegas, is back for his eighteenth adventure. Temple Barr, a freelance public relations maven, gets the break of her life when she's asked to handle the opening of an exhibit of priceless artifacts from the Russian Czar's collection at the New Millennium Hotel. 

A member of the aerial magic act set to perform on the high wires above the exhibit is murdered, and Temple has to use all her powers of persuasion to keep the authorities from shutting the exhibition down. Then the main attraction of the exhibit, the Czar Alexander Scepter, is stolen by a mysterious man in black, and someone sabotages the rigging for the aerial act, with disastrous results. Temple must find out whodunit so that the show can go on.  Midnight Louie naturally does his bit to help out his bunkmate Temple, as always unbeknownst to her.  His recently discovered daughter, Midnight Louise, and other feline pals, including a couple of black panthers, assist him in his crime-solving activities.

Temple's personal life is still a mess.  She is torn between two lovers: the sleek, slightly dangerous, here-tonight-gone-tomorrow Max Kinsella and the proper, old fashioned ex-priest Matt Devine. Her new platinum blond hairdo, part of her disguise in a recent undercover job, gets her a lot of attention from other males, and she has a bit of fun playing the dumb blond role to get what she wants.

Max has been thrown out of Vegas, but he has come back again as the Phantom Magician in order to get the goods on a band of disgruntled ex-magicians known as the Synth, infiltrating the group.  His initiation price is high, but he is able to rise to the challenge.

Lt. Carmen Molina is back for another round. She is no fan of Max or Temple, even though both have helped her solve crimes in the past.  She believes Max is stalking her. Shangri-La, Temple's nemesis, makes an appearance as well, along with her feline companion, the poison-clawed Hyacinth.  Temple's flamboyant Aunt Kit comes for a visit and adds a bit of humor and some wisdom to her niece's life, while carrying on her own bawdy social life with a beefy and connected member of the Fontana family.

Chapters alternate between the cat's-eye-view of the situation and that of various human critters. Louie is a likable kitty, not too precious, and his actions are appropriately cat-like, for the most part, with some suspension of disbelief.  Fans of the series will not be disappointed.

Motor Mouth
by Janet Evanovich
HarperCollins
Hardcover, 312 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0060584033
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

Alexandra Barnaby and Sam Hooker return in this sequel to Metro Girl and once again find themselves in all kinds of trouble, which stems from Sam's placing second in a NASCAR race at Homestead Miami Speedway.  From her eye-in-the-sky spot as his spotter advising the driver, she sees some strange things going on in the infield and suspects hanky panky.

After the race, in an effort to find out what has transpired, they steal a hauler and strip down the winning car, discovering two computer chips suspected of governing traction control—which is illegal—as well as the dead body of the owner of the racing stable.  In an effort to leave without detection, they leave Sam's St. Bernard in the hauler by mistake and it is later dognapped and held hostage for return of the chips. Later, Sam is also abducted.

The story progresses from that point, with the attempt to rescue the dog, but becoming more complicated with stolen technology, shady dealings, more murders and hiding dead bodies.  Meanwhile, of course, there is also the side issue of Sam trying to get into Barney's pants despite all the dangers, including the police who are looking for them for multiple counts of grand theft and murder.

Once again, the couple provide an amusing tale, fraught with danger, and are joined  by their friends, cigar roller Rosa Florez and wholesale fruit seller Felicia Ibarra, who help bring the plot to a successful conclusion.  Amusing and fast-paced, the novel lives up to the standards of its predecessor.

What Came Before He Shot Her
by Elizabeth George
HarperCollins
Hardcover, 548 pages, $26.95
ISBN: 0060545623
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

At the end of Elizabeth George's earlier book, With No One As Witness, Helen Lynley, wife of Scotland Yard Acting Superintendent Thomas Lynley, is shot dead on her doorstep.  The new novel, which diverges from the author's accustomed series and its characters, has an entirely different focus.  It concentrates, instead, on what led up to the murder. It really is a standalone, even if it is based on an event that took place in a prior series book.

It is a sad tale of a very troubled "half-breed" family in an impoverished section of London.  Three children are dumped on the doorstep of their aunt by their grandmother who has been tending them before leaving for Jamaica. There is 12-year-old Joel, 15-year-old Vanessa and eight-year-old Toby. Their mother is in a mental institution.  Their father was murdered years before.  The youngest floats between fantasy and reality, while the oldest withdraws into drugs and sex. Joel attempts to keep everyone together, protecting them from neighborhood roughs.  Their aunt, while well-meaning, has no experience with children, and is busy with a full-time job and trying to establish her own business.

In an effort to protect his siblings, Joel makes a pact with the devil, a neighborhood gangster and dope peddler, who has other plans for the family—like revenge for the sister who has spurned him. The outcome is tragedy for all. This excellent novel is a study in poverty, helplessness and violence. The complexity of the plot, character depictions and issues of class, race and life without hope are so well written that the reader is overwhelmed. The novel is as fine as any work this author has written.

Why Casey Had To Die
by L.C. Hayden
Five Star
Hardcover, 259 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 1594144931
Reviewed by Clara Johnson

Supposedly, Harry Bronson retires.  Someone with an awful motive is about to change that and will test his skills.  A detective who likes to stretch the rules, Bronson maintains a strong track record for solving his cases.  But twenty years prior, there was a girl named Casey and she died.  Now that he is no longer working, Bronson may still be able to find some answers and figure out why Casey died.

Harry and his wife, Carol, accept the opportunity to go to Stafford, Arizona, where he is offered a consulting job at a mystery convention.  Suspicious that this offer is just too good to be true, Bronson has not lost his edge at intuition.  Once again Casey's life and death rear an ugly head.  A revisit to this long-ago case is confirmation that Bronson is here for more than just a convention.  A variety of clues at the convention lead readers just far enough down the path.  When you think you may be close to solving this puzzle, you will find a roadblock and then, a dead end.  A death puts Harry in hot water momentarily and when the Bronsons are in acute jeopardy, answers need to be found in more than a timely matter.

Who is Harry Bronson?  He likes to ask questions but very rarely answers them.  He likes his coffee and loves his wife, Carol.  If you haven't read What Others Know, do yourself a favor. Read it first.  Upon completion, you will need to know Why Casey Had to Die.

As I read this mystery, I did not want to stop and knew that if the phone rang, I would not answer it.  I wanted no interruptions.  It has been a long time since I have been this invested in such a well-crafted book; I literally could not put it down.  I await the next Harry Bronson installment.

Waking Lazarus
by T.L. Hines
Bethany House Publishers
Hardcover, 293 pages, $18.99
ISBN: 0764202049
Reviewed by Kim Reis

After surviving death three times, Jude Allman he became a celebrity and needed to escape the world, so he took refuge in rural Montana living an anonymous life as a school janitor.

Now a woman has found him in his hiding place, and she tries to convince him that his life has a purpose. She says the reason he has come back three times is about to reveal itself.

The past that Jude has hidden all these years, from everyone including himself, makes him aware of a serial killer, a man who has been kidnapping children from surrounding communities.

This book grabbed me in the first chapter. Jude is a damaged soul struggling to put the past behind him. He has locked away his past so deep that even he has no memory of his childhood. As he starts to find his way, he becomes less reclusive and more open to other people and memories start to resurface.

As Hines peels back the layers of protection Jude has built over his buried memories, we become more and more connected to Jude and his fight for sanity. This is a story of faith, though not necessarily any particular faith. The thought of a higher purpose for our existence on Earth is foremost in many religions. 

The mystery of the serial killer takes a secondary role to the character study of Jude Allman.  How he is affected by his past, his gift, and how he uses it to find the serial killer is the primary story here.  Hines has done a superb job of bringing it to us.

A Dangerous Man
by Charlie Huston
Ballantine Books
Trade paperback, 304 pages, $12.95
ISBN: 0345481337
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Calling Henry Thompson, the protagonist of the new novel by Charlie Huston, a dangerous man would be a major understatement.  After being a baseball phenom as a kid, when those dreams for his future are crushed he has become a hit man for some predatory Russians, albeit a reluctant one—a running threat to his parents' lives ensures his continuing his role, which has also left him with a badly scarred and rebuilt face, and dependent on a drugstore's assortment of pharmaceuticals of every description just to get through each day's pain, both the physical and the psychical. 

Henry's latest assignment is to "bodyguard" a young man whom he sees as the embodiment of his own dreams: signed by the New York Mets with a brilliant career ahead of him, starting out with the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones.  Henry's job is to ensure that the boy, who has a major gambling addiction, stays out of trouble.  But nothing goes as expected.  Things Henry has done in the past come back to haunt him, literally and figuratively.

Charlie Huston has previously written Already Dead, the first of the Joe Pitt Casebooks [the second in that series, No Dominion, is due out in January. A Dangerous Man is the final book in his Henry Thompson trilogy, and it is a fast-paced, original, suspense-filled and brutal book.  It's hard to root for a man like Henry, but he is living a life he did not choose and one can't help hoping he comes out of it without too many more awful things happening to him and those around him, things done to him and by him, but it's almost too much to hope for.  Somehow the author manages to make the reader pull for this most unsympathetic of protagonists, no easy feat.

The Moon Tunnel
by Jim Kelly
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 323 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 031234922X
Reviewed by Angela McQuay

Small-town newspaper reporter Philip Dryden has plenty to deal with in his life.  He is still psychologically recovering from a car accident years prior that has left him with a fear of driving and his wife in a state known as Locked In Syndrome.  She spends her days in a nursing facility, able to only move her eyes and lips.  He spends his evenings conversing with her through a computer device and his days being driven around, reporting on stories for the local paper. 

However, his life is about to get even more complicated when he runs across a big story—that of a body found in a tunnel underneath an old POW camp in town that has been sealed for fifty years.  What's even more intriguing than this is that the body was obviously trying to crawl into the camp, not escaping from it.  Who is this mysterious man and why would he be trying to get into a place most wanted to escape from?

Dryden's investigation leads him in a number of unusual directions.  He learns of a family that just might have been a group of burglars and an old woman on the brink of poverty whose sole claim to fortune is a painting connected to the POW camp tunnel. 

The Moon Tunnel is a gripping mystery full of plot twists and factual information that history buffs will undoubtedly find interesting.  It also features the one thing that successful serial mysteries must have—an interesting and deep main character.  Philip Dryden, who has appeared in other Kelly mysteries such as The Water Clock, is as complex as he is sympathetic.  His scars from the crash that ruined his family show on nearly every page, yet he still manages to live his life and do his job.  Following his adventures is interesting because he is interesting—and because we are continually rooting for him to win.

Those who are already familiar with Kelly's work with be pleased with The Moon Tunnel and those who have not yet met Philip Dryden will likely seek out more of the books featuring him after reading this latest effort.  A solid and very readable mystery.  

 

Dying Light
by Stuart MacBride
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 424 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0-312-33997-6
Reviewed by Suzanne Epstein

MacBride's debut novel Cold Granite introduced Aberdeen Detective Sergeant Logan MacRae. Seen by some as a hero for solving the devastating abduction/murders of young children, his actions led to a fellow officer being mortally wounded, so he has been assigned to the "Screw-up Squad" under Detective Inspector Roberta Steel, who has to be the most darkly comic, narcissistic police officer in mystery fiction.

The book opens with a case of arson in which the perpetrator sadistically sealed the door so the occupants could not escape. This event is being investigated by DI Insch, who drafts Logan to assist whenever possible. In the meantime, a prostitute is found murdered in an alley, and Steel's squad is assigned to that case. A tortured drug dealer and the discovery of a mutilated torso in a suitcase add to their workload.

MacRae is now living with WPC Jackie Watson, but they are on different shifts, so the relationship is having problems. In addition, Logan must often work with his former lover, Isobel MacAlister, the pathologist known as "The Ice Queen." And a new Deputy Procurator Fiscal (like a D.A.), attractive and ambitious, enters the picture.

The city of Aberdeen, on the northeast Scottish coast, has a reputation for dreary weather and a high crime rate. The investigation involves a range of characters, from powerful politicians and ambitious businessmen to the drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes that inhabit the red light district near the docks.

MacBride's complex Scottish police procedurals will satisfy fans of Ian Rankin, Val MacDermid, and Denise Mina. The graphic violence is tempered with a sly humor and sympathetic characters.

 

The Princess of Denmark
By Edward Marston
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 230 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0312356188
Reviewed by June Harris

Westfield's Men have gone up in smoke. After a successful Italian Tragedy evening performance at the Queen's Head Inn, the players of the Elizabethan theater troupe, Westfield's Men, have spent an evening of merriment funded by an admirer of the troupe. Unfortunately Will Dunmow is no match for the actors in drinking. The evening ends with several of the actors helping Dunmow to a room to recover from the excesses of the evening. In his muddled state Dunmow wakes up and tries to light his pipe. This effort burns down part of the Queen's Head. Will loses his life in the fire that suddenly leaves Westfield's Men without a venue.

The future looks bleak as the troupe pitches in to help clean up the debris. Nicholas Bracewell, the bookholder with Westfield's Men goes to see their patron, Lord Westfield, and finds him preoccupied with a miniature portrait. Although Westfield listens to the tale of woe Nicholas pours forth he does not even react to Bracewell's request for Lord Westfield's recommendation to his friends. When Bracewell regains Westfield's attention he finds the troupe's troubles ended by Westfield's decision to take the players to Denmark, where lives his future third wife, the Princess of Denmark Sigbrit Olsen, the subject of the miniature.

This adventure continues with an attack on actor Owen Elias just before boarding and an attack on Westfield's ship by pirates. Although some men are lost, Nicholas Bracewell once again uses his experience and talents to turn the tide, but the ship has to change its first port of call arriving early at Kronburg Castle, Elsinore.

Owen and another actor are attacked once again in Denmark. Rolph Harling, Lord Westfield's friend, advisor and responsible for finding the lovely Sigrid, is murdered in the depths of the castle Kronburg at Elsinore.

The reader is taken along on this trip across the ocean in Elizabethan times. It is a fascinating trip. One becomes well acquainted with all the personalities involved in Westfield's Men. All the attacks, and the murder have a number of possible causes. The dramatic occurrences at the castle Kronburg are a challenge for even Nicholas Bracewell. The solution to seeming unrelated crimes, by Bracewell, is a satisfying read.

Those familiar with Edward Marston's Elizabethan theater mysteries featuring Nicholas Bracewell will find the 16th book measures up to those preceding. New readers to the series will find a worthwhile read and a taste of Elizabethan life complete with a castle with secret.

Still Life
by Louise Penny
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 320 pages, $22.95
ISBN: 0312352557
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

The murder in Still Life is related in the very first sentence of this nonetheless gentle debut novel by Louise Penny. The body of Jane Neal is discovered in the woods outside the village of Three Pines, just south of Montreal, and the case is assigned to Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete du Quebec.  Assisting him is young Yvette Nichol, working her first case since achieving her dream of working at the Surete.

"Gentle" is also an apt description of the victim, and Inspector Gamache has a serious challenge in attempting to discover "whodunit." Jane was a local artist, albeit one whose work she had never permitted anyone to see, with the exception of one called Fair Day, which she has, for the first time, entered into the competition for the village art show.  Her entry provokes strong reactions, many of them negative, but the piece is accepted.

Two days later Jane is murdered, in what at first appears to have been a hunting accident, but no weapon is found and no one comes forward to claim responsibility.  If it is indeed murder the culprit must be one of the residents of the small village where Jane had lived for nearly all of her 76 years.  Interestingly, the weapon appears to have been an old-fashioned wooden bow and arrow.  The Inspector muses: "Looking around he realized how much he liked this place and these people.  Too bad one of them was a murderer."

The novel follows the inexorable progress of the investigation; as the author says, referring to Gamache, "unhurried, unperturbed, unstoppable."  The setting is beautifully brought to life.  The writing, at times, seemed to this reader lacking, but it was also at times captivating, e.g., "His magical thinking allowed him to be surprised that when such a good soul dies it isn't remarked. The bells of the church didn't set themselves off.  The mice and deer didn't cry out.  The earth didn't shudder.  If he were God, it would have.  Instead, the line in the official report would read, 'her neighbors noticed nothing.'" 

The characters are interesting, especially young Ms. Nichol, full of ambition and conflict as to proper professional behavior.  The pace of the book, casual till near the book's conclusion, picks up quite a bit at that point until the identity of the murderer is revealed.  An enjoyable read.

Missing Member
by Jo-Ann Power
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 274 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312357990
Reviewed by Terri M. Tumlin

Finding a dead and mutilated corpse in your office chair when you arrive at work one morning is enough to ruin anyone's day.  It certainly doesn't do anything to brighten the world for Congresswoman Carly Wagner, but it sets up an intriguing situation to begin a rollicking mystery novel. 

The corpse, Alistair Dunhill, is a womanizer (a possible reason for the mutilation?) and his party's whip on Capitol Hill, a combination that insures that there are plenty of people around who might have had it in for Congressman Dunhill.  Unfortunately for Carly Wagner, Capitol Police Detective Sarge Brown takes the position that since the murder occurred in her office with her letter opener and since she was the one to find the body, she is an ideal prime suspect.

Carly needs help, not only to protect herself from a murder charge, but also to get back into her office and car, so she can get back into representing her Texas constituents. Unfortunately, in Capitol politics, help always incurs obligations—not a good position for a Congresswoman to be in.  Then someone unknown provides her with assistance in a big way—a tall, dark and mysterious protector named Mr. Jones—a name that he says is "Mine. For now. With you. Here."

The story is satisfyingly complex with a wide variety of supporting characters, from Aaron the Fashion Plate and Carly's Administrative Assistant, to her live-in ape, Abe, a companionable chimpanzee. Abe has been sharing living space with Carly and her daughter Jordan for the past six years.

Well mixed with the murder mystery plot is the goings on around our nation's legislative branch of government, painted with a broad and humorous brush.

Missing Member is written in the first person, present tense—something that feels a little unusual for the first few pages of Chapter 1, but Ms. Power uses the technique with skill and it soon feels completely natural.  This volume is apparently the first of a planned new series and if the later books are as much fun as this one, it will be a series to be greatly enjoyed.   

Night Game
by Kirk Russell
Chronicle Books
Hardcover, 365 pages, $23.95
ISBN 0-8118-4112-X
Reviewed by Kevin Tipple

In this sequel to Shell Games, John Marquez returns and this time he is on the hunt for bear poachers. Marquez runs a Special Operations Unit within the California Department of Fish and Game. Trafficking in bear parts and products of bears, such as bear bile, is illegal and as such, can be very lucrative. To stop such actions, undercover operations are needed and take considerable time to build cases under intense risk to personnel.

Marquez along with his team have been undercover working a case built from a tip Marquez does not entirely trust. Clearly, somebody is trafficking in bear parts and could be connected to a bear farm and Marquez has managed to gradually work his way into a shadowy network of paranoid sellers. At the same time, he doesn't trust the snitch who gave him the tip as some of the pieces of information he passed on simply don't add up.

Along with bear trafficking, El Dorado County California seems to be having a bit of a murder problem. A couple of years ago a murder occurred and Detective Jack Kendall was unable to solve it. Now, another murder has happened and there are links between the two cases. This time a geology student, known for involving himself with pro bear support groups against bear farming, bear poaching and the like while working on his thesis was killed and his body was found in the area known as the Crystal Basin, behind Barrett Lake. Kendall wants to know everything Marquez has in case there is overlap with his case.

What follows is a strong and increasingly complex mystery much in the mode of the books written by C.J. Box. While the locations are different, the issues confronting the game wardens involved are the same. Politics also soon becomes an issue as the heard headed Kendall is much more concerned with his murder case than what Marquez and his team are doing.

As the cases lead back and forth through the high country of California, around Lake Tahoe and through Western Nevada, Marquez and his team quickly become more than characters in a book. They take on a flesh and blood substance as they work to solve a case with far reaching implications while juggling the demands of their personal off the job lives.

While occasionally a little slow in spots, the overall read is good with strong character development, multiple storylines and plenty of action moving the work forward. Readers new to this series should definitely start with the first book. Not only does it set up the characters, several events including how that case was resolved, are explained in detail in this novel.

The Mayor of Lexington Avenue
by James Sheehan
Yorkville Press
Paperback, 420 pages, $14.95
ISBN: 097674421X
Reviewed by Caryn St.Clair

The Mayor of Lexington Avenue is all about the characters.  Author Sheehan takes a simple story of injustice and weaves an intense tale of friendship, loyalty and moral character. The author allows the reader to slip inside the various characters' head and feel what they are feeling and think what they are thinking as they make decisions that alter their lives forever. The book is divided into three parts, each serving its own purpose.

The first part of the book is devoted to setting the stage. The reader is flipped back and forth between a murder and its investigation in a small Florida community and the childhood of a couple of boys growing up in New York City.

Rudy, a young man with mild mental retardation, is excited when Lucy Ochoa invites him to stop over after work. Things do not go as planned when Rudy, who is not used to alcohol gets drunk, stumbles and breaks a mug then makes a quick exit from her house. Unfortunately for Rudy, he is spotted as he stops to vomit on a neighbor's yard. Even more unfortunate for Rudy, Lucy is murdered later that night.

Entering into the story now is a corrupt police department and one very lazy and politically connected prosecutor. There is a well known and very good defense lawyer who is initially on the case, but it wouldn't make for much of a book if things went well for Rudy and so of course they don't. Meanwhile in New York, two boys, Mikey and Johnny, are growing up as best friends-as close as brothers.

It's not until the second part of the book that the connection between those two young boys and the crime in Florida becomes important.  This section opens ten years later with Jack Tobin, a highly successful Miami attorney who is getting ready to leave his current life behind and open a small town legal practice. Of course it turns out to be the same small town where the crime took place and naturally Jack decides to look into Rudy's case.

The third part of the book really takes on the judicial system and death penalty cases. After many story twists, some surprising, some expected, the book comes to a satisfying close.

I have two small quibbles with the book. There are a couple of relationships that were not really plausible, or at least not in the time frame of the book and I found them distracting.  Also, the author gets a bit preachy on the death penalty in America. Mostly, though, The Mayor of Lexington Avenue is a well crafted legal thriller that compares favorably to Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer and John Grisham's assorted works.

 

The Sorcerer's Circle
by Michael Siverling
Thomas Dunne Books, 290 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0312361921
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

As this novel begins, Jason Wilder is healing from a knife wound suffered in the course of The Sterling Inheritance, the charming initial entry into this series.  And, of course, he is banged up some more, with hurting ribs and the like, as this tale unfolds.  As he is about to leave the office one day, a mysterious visitor introduces himself, saying the police have referred him to the investigation agency headed by Jason's mother, "Queen Victoria."   He tells Jason he is going to be murdered.  Jason believes the man to be off the wall and dismisses him.

The next morning two events occur.  First, there is news of the man's murder, which, in fact, did take place.  And Jason is called into his mother's "throne room," to find the mayor there seeking assistance in clearing his daughter, who had been involved with the murdered man, apparently a self-styled psychic and "devil worshiper."  The murder took place during a ritual at which the mayor's daughter and others were participants.

The more Jason's investigation progresses, the more it seems as though the girl is the guilty party.  It is up to Jason to discover whether or not this is truly the case.

While this second book in the series lacks some of the cuteness of the interchange between mother and son present in the earlier novel, the book still is a first class suspense novel, well-written and -plotted to keep the reader from suspecting the outcome until it is revealed.  It will be interesting to see if the next one—if one is in the works—will recover some of the mirth and entertaining dialogue encountered in the debut effort.  Nonetheless, if it only lives up to the standard of this one, it should be rewarding enough.

Recommended.

 

13 Days: The Pythagoras Conspiracy
By L.A. Starks
Brown Books Publishing Group
Paperback, 368 pages, $15.95
ISBN # 1933285451
Reviewed by Kevin R. Tipple

Concerns over the vulnerability of the nation's oil supply rose late last summer in the wake of the devastating hurricanes that struck along the Gulf Coast. Oil production and processing was severely impacted with resulting shortages across the nation. As soon as normal operations returned, the fragile state of U.S. energy production and processing faded from public view as media attention shifted elsewhere. It is against such a backdrop, that author L.A. Starks has crafted an interesting, though at times excessively technical, thriller.

Executive Vice President Lynn Dayton convinced her bosses to buy Centennial Refinery right before it landed in bankruptcy court. A group of current management had wanted to buy it as well but when their funding didn't come through, the door was open for outsiders to take over. They did and Lynn Dayton and her company is somewhat resented by the employees. That isn't her concern though as she has just four short weeks left to finish the refit and prove to the board that her argument to buy the plant was worth it to the bottom line of the parent company.

Then people start dying. Not just employees at her refinery, but at other ones up and down the Houston Ship Channel. The casualties in terms of the dead and injured and losses in production steadily mount. As hurricane season brings a storm of steadily increasing strength on a deadly course towards Centennial, Davis is forced to not only save her employees and her refinery, she is also into a life-or-death struggle to save her family.

This is an enjoyable and interesting thriller that showcases too well the current and ongoing vulnerability regarding U. S. oil production and processing. Lynn Dalton is an interesting character, as are several others.

Oil production and processing is a highly complex subject and the author draws upon her long career in the industry to write what she knows. Clearly she knows the subject matter.  In addition to a brief "notes for understanding" at the beginning of the book, terms defined at beginnings of chapters, there are large sections devoted to detailed descriptive narrative in the mode of a Tom Clancy novel.

Once the description is finished, the pace again picks back up and the result is an overall enjoyable read. The premise works, as do the character situations and the book resolves everything by the end without leaving any story threads hanging. Clearly a statement book, the author conveys real world concerns while delivering a good story worthy reading.

Emerald Enigma
by C.J. Westwick
Krell Press
Hardcover, 344 pages, $26.95
ISBN: 0977600904
Reviewed by Kim Reis

Bret Lamplighter is working as an investigator for an insurance company whose client has lost millions in emeralds when a courier was murdered.   His job is simply to locate the emeralds, not to find the killer.  The tricky part of this case is that it takes him back to the Caribbean island where everything went wrong for him two years ago, just before the DEA fired him.

The people behind the first fiasco know Bret is back on the island. When there are attempts on his life, he is uncertain whether they are in relation to the current case or the former.

There is also the beautiful French agent sent to keep an eye on him.  Can he trust her or is she targeting him too?

The spies watching the spies watching the locals keep this thriller moving and the reader guessing who is helping and who hindering Bret's case. There are many twists and turns keeping the reader off balance and unsure who can be trusted. Friends become enemies and enemies turn out to be friends.

Political intrigue, jungle guerrillas, and white sandy beaches all serve to lend local color to the Caribbean setting.

Be forewarned though, the cliffhanger ending will leave you anxiously waiting for the next installment.