October 2005

It's October, the Morgue's favorite time of year (after all, when is more fun around here than when the ghosts and goblins are loose?)!  But Halloween candy is not exactly flattering in the hips department, so feast on the less filling, better-for-you diet we're offering here: 18 mystery book reviews, including titles by John Burdett, Mindy Starns Clark, and David Skibbins, as well as:

• A terrific interview with Dorothy Bodoin, author of romances, mysteries and romantic mysteries...
• A new chapter in our ongoing exercise in confusion and intrigue, "Murder By Committee," this time from Deborah Turrell Atkinson, and
• A "How I Write" essay by J.A. Konrath!

So forget the mini Almond Joys and settle in for a good read!  The Morgue's always open!

In this month's issue:

How I Write, by J.A. Konrath
Dorothy Bodoin—The Mystery Morgue Interview

Reviews:
Bangkok Tattoo, by John Burdett
The Trouble With Tulip, by Mindy Starns Clark
Mum's The Word, by Kate Collins
The Darwin Conspiracy, by John Darnton
Scare the Light Away, by Vicki Delany
May The Best Man Die, by Deborah Donnelly
Pier Pressure, by Dorothy Francis
Out of Tune, by Lorie Ham
The Iron Girl, by Ellen Hart
The Goodbye Body: A Claire Malloy Mystery, by Joan Hess
Killing Time, by Linda Howard
Dead at Daybreak, by Deon Meyer
Southern Fried, by Cathy Pickens
Thicker Than Blood, by Penny Rudolph
I Right the Wrongs, by Dylan Schaffer
Eight of Swords, by David Skibbins
Dying To Call You, by Elaine Viets
Bound For Eternity, by Sarah Wisseman

Ongoing Story:
"Murder by Committee," Chapter 18, by Deborah Turrell Atkinson

Link to Archives

 

How I Write
by J.A. Konrath

J.A. Konrath, author of the Lt. Jacqueline ("Jack") Daniels series, has a unique view of the world.  His protagonist, a female homicide detective with a rocky social life who deals with the pressures of her job with a jaundiced sense of humor and a variety of cocktails, is barely keeping things together, even as she projects an outward sense of control over her world.  Her creator isn't that far from such a life (minus the drinking difficulties), according to his examination of the writing process, as it works for him.  With his trademark sense of humor and penetrating honesty, Konrath lives up to his reputation for one of the freshest and most human voices in mystery today.

I'm pretty fast. Ask my wife.

Can I get a drum roll for that?

But it's true. I'm a quick.

Writer's block? Waiting for the muse? Warm-up rituals? Getting in the mood?

Writing every day?

No to all counts.

I can write anywhere, at any time. Sometimes I won't write anything creative for weeks and weeks. Other times I'll bang out a short story a day for five days in a row. It all depends on two things:

1. Deadlines.

2. Whether I have something to do on the marketing front.

In fact, I can safely say that less than 20% of my professional life is spent writing. The rest of the time I'm self-promoting. If I didn't have to do signings, conventions, libraries, events, my blog, my website, newsletters, and so on, then I'd be able to write about six books a year.

New writers and seasoned pros are always annoyed when I tell them it only takes me a month to write a book.  I became a writer because I love to tell stories, to spill my thoughts onto a page and mold them into a narrative. If this were difficult to do, why would I bother? Life's too short to make yourself miserable.

When I'm in the midst of a novel, I usually write ten hours a day. I average 300 words an hour, or about 12 pages by dinner time. Because I'm required by my publisher to turn in an outline (or else I don't get paid), writing the actual novel is simply a matter of putting meat on the skeleton. Every plot twist and conflict is already in the outline—all I have to do is add action and dialog, which is pretty easy.

The outline takes about a week to do. I write a paragraph for every chapter in the book, and winds up around forty pages of third-person present-tense action.

I prefer quiet while I'm writing, which isn't easy when you have two kids and two dogs. Foam earplugs work wonders, though a tiny part of me wonders if I'm possibly missing some household emergency, such as the dogs eating the kids, or vice versa.

I use Wordperfect, and here's a dirty little secret—I never learned how to type. I'm a hunt-and-pecker, though I can do about fifty words a minute. I have to correct a lot of typos because I'm watching the keyboard rather than the screen. I also suck at speling. (sic)

I don't write down anything longhand first, though I'm often jotting down jokes on random pieces of paper when I'm out in real life, and have been known to scream at my wife for washing my jeans without checking the pockets first.

My writing pre-game each morning is rereading the previous twenty pages of the manuscript and rewriting/editing them before picking up where I left off. That means, by the end of the book, it's already gone through two rewrites.

It's very rare that I get stuck. If I do, it's never more than an hour or two. I'll skip ahead in the narrative and let my subconscious work on the problem, then go back and fix it.

Motivation isn't ever a problem, but it is easy to get distracted checking my email. I'll often take a dozen "mini-breaks" during a writing session, replying to people if needed.

I research on the fly—what did we ever do without the Internet? If something takes more than a few minutes to Google, then I'll skip the research until later.

The most I ever wrote in one day was 37 pages, but that took about 18 hours.

I pretty much always listen to editors. They're editors for a reason. They read a lot more than we do, they know what works and what sells, and they're trying to make the book better without pleas to artistic integrity.

I call trying to judge one's own work Ugly Baby Syndrome.

We all have a friend who shows pictures of their child, and the child looks like a sack of potatoes. This person always asks, "Isn't he/she adorable?"

That's because, to the parent, the child is beautiful. Love prevents them from seeing the flaws.

Same thing for writers. It's very easy to fall in love with your own voice... that's probably why many of us become writers in the first place. An editor tells it like it is, and if you want to be a professional, it's wise to listen.

Ever pick up the latest book by a longtime bestselling author, and it stinks? I don't think that it's because the author forgot how to write. I think it's because the author became so big, they refused to be edited. Which is why their books keep getting longer, and crummier.

I sometimes get looked down upon, usually by unpublished or underpublished writers, for my willingness to change a manuscript based on editorial suggestion.  My reply is always the same:

This is a business. It's all about money, and your book is a commodity.

But what of integrity? What of the beauty of your prose, undiluted in its purest form?

If you want to keep your integrity, write a journal and keep it in a drawer for your eyes only. But if you want to earn a living, be prepared to play the game by their rules—and "they" are the ones who write the checks.

That doesn't mean you're RoboHack. It simply means you keep an eye on the market as well as the story.

I look at it this way: let's say I make a bowl out of clay. And when I'm finished, I'm convinced it's a pretty good bowl. Along comes an editor, who says, "You know what? I really don't want a bowl. I want an ashtray instead."

Should I try to change her mind and convince her of the merits of the Bowl?

Or should I cut a few notches in the rims and give her the ashtray she wants?

The same artist (me) created both the bowl and the ashtray. I lost nothing in following her suggestion. But I gained a sale, and also became known as "easy to work with."

I was rejected over 450 times before making a single sale. Making it in this business has very little to do with talent. Want proof? Look at all the crummy books that become huge hits. Then look at all of the wonderful books that no one has ever heard of but you.

Getting published is all about luck—getting the right book in front of the right editor at the right time. Persistence trumps genius, every time.

I love writing. I've wanted to be a writer since fifth grade. It was a long, hard road to get where I'm at, and it's even harder to maintain the status quo. But I know I'm the luckiest guy on the planet, and wouldn't trade my life for anyone else's. I'm living my dream, and there's nothing cooler than that.

See you in the bargain bin!

 

Dorothy Bodoin—The Mystery Morgue Interview

Interview by Gloria Feit

For Dorothy Bodoin, writing has always been a hobby, a dream, and a passion.  As soon as she learned to form letters, she began writing her own stories on the blank pages of her books and, throughout the years was never far from a pen and notebook.  At fifteen, she bought a typewriter with money earned from a summer soda fountain job.   She taught herself to type and wrote her first full-length book, a science-fiction mystery-adventure. 

In college literature classes, she discovered the Gothic novel and, at the same time, in local bookstores, the works of Victoria Holt, Virginia Coffman, and Velda Johnston.  Her ambition was to write Gothics of her own some day.  In the meantime the necessity to earn a living intervened, so she taught secondary English in the Michigan Public Schools. 

One summer, while still teaching, she wrote Treasure at Trail's End, a Gothic set in the Old West.  After several years on ice and many revisions, this book will be published in November, 2005, by Wings ePress.

Each one of Dorothy's books contains Gothic elements, a canine character based on her own past and present pets, and Michigan setting. She lives in Royal Oak, Michigan, with her collie who serves as a model for Halley in the Foxglove Corners mysteries.  Dorothy is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Gothic and Kiss of Death chapters of Romance Writers of America.

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

Dorothy Bodoin: Very much so.  I grew up in Michigan where I learned to love the lakes and woods and small towns with their historic houses.  For example, my great-aunt lived in a 1930's log cabin in northern Michigan near Lake Huron.  As a child, that was one of my favorite vacation places, filled with wonderful memories.  When I wrote my latest book, A Shadow on the Snow, I turned Harrisville, Michigan, into a town named Huron Station and used the cabin, making a few structural changes to accommodate my plot.

I live in one of the most beautiful states in America, and I'm passionate about issues that affect it.

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

Unfortunately I've never been able to participate in conferences or workshops.  My only formal writing course was a Rhetoric and Composition class that I took as a college freshman.  Ironically, I taught creative writing in high school. 

I learned the craft of writing by reading books and articles, along with the works of my favorite authors, and of course by writing.  After I mastered the computer—if anyone can ever do that—I discovered the Internet and took a few courses in writing Gothic novels, but I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know from my previous sources.

How/when did you become interested in mysteries?  What happened to interest you in Gothics?

When I was in grade school, I discovered the Judy Bolton mystery series by Margaret Sutton in the library.  After this, I read every mystery I could find.  However, except for the Judy Bolton books, so often the plots didn't live up to the covers.  I'd already read Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre at this point and even Emily's Wuthering Heights.  Actually I read everything that captured my interest, but always came back to mysteries when I wanted to lose myself in a good story. 

During the Golden Age of the Gothic Novel, when every other paperback featured a cover with a young girl running away from a castle, I read every new release I could find as well as the old ones, reissued with variations of that traditional cover.  At the same time, I began to study the history of the Gothic novel in my English classes at Oakland University.  

Over the years, I've collected enough Gothic novels to stock a library of my own.  I never lost my enthusiasm for the genre, and I'm proud to shelve my own books with them.

In view of the length of time involved before its publication, did you have difficult writing Treasure at Trail's End because of the genre, or were you sidetracked by mysteries?

Treasure at Trail's End was the easiest of my books to write and was a source of great satisfaction for me because at last and for the first time I knew that I could create a novel.  I wrote Treasure at Trail's End, then titled The House at Trail's End, one summer, and in the next few years I tried very hard to get it published.  I received many rejections and some compliments but couldn't find a publisher for it.  I didn't realize until I had my first professional critique on another book that I still had more to learn about my craft.

For several years, I kept the manuscript on a shelf as a sentimental keepsake.  After I wrote and sold Darkness at Foxglove Corners, I sent Treasure at Trail's End off for a critique and was surprised at its enthusiastic reception.  After a few more minor revisions, I sold it.

What did you try writing before your first novel?

I wrote short stories and some poetry when I was in high school, and my first science-fiction book when I was fifteen and bought my first typewriter.  I never tried to get the short stories published because I really wanted to write full-length books.  That old science-fiction book is definitely in the sentimental keepsake category.

What did you learn writing each of the last two books, The Cameo Clue and A Shortcut Through the Shadows?

In A Shortcut Through the Shadows, I learned that my slow, romantic first chapter didn't have a hook.  I wrote a whole new first chapter, developed from a line of dialogue in the existing one.  This revision not only gave me a hook for the book but a wonderful character who provided plenty of trouble for my heroine over the course of two books.

Also, I learned that my heroine didn't necessarily have to save herself if it was physically impossible for her to do so.  In this one book, I let the hero come riding to her rescue.

In The Cameo Clue I learned to let a character have his own way.  I started the book with an all-American true blue policeman hero.  I also had a character who was rumored to be a member of the Michigan Militia and was keeping other secrets.  Before long I began to give all the best scenes to my militiaman.  Midway in the book, I had the heroine realize that she preferred the militiaman to the policeman.  From comments I've received, so do the readers.

How long did they each take to write?

Each book took an average of six to eight months, which includes a two- month (average) planning period.  I like to take plenty of time to let the idea grow and write a detailed synopsis and chapter outline before I start writing the book.  Of course I usually wander away from the outline; but that's always a good thing, and at least it's there to fall back on.

Does your having lived in Royal Oak play any part in your writing?

I have a comfortable home with a large screened porch where I can write in the summer time and an entire room for my computer and most of my books.  I'm in an ideal location with one hour's drive to Foxglove Corners, AKA Metamora, three hours to my favorite up north retreat, and within driving distance to several bookstores.        

The city of Royal Oak has old neighborhoods and intriguing streets, a few of them with only two or three houses on a block.  There's a viaduct a few blocks from my house and a railroad track that overlooks a wonderful, woodsy park.  In Darkness at Foxglove Corners, I moved track and train to one of the character's towns and had her hear the train's whistle in the early morning hours and long to be home.  All of these hometown locations have helped me develop my settings.

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

I lived in southern Italy for two years and briefly in Huntsville, Alabama.  When I lived in Europe, I traveled whenever I could, mostly to France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.   I've also traveled in the southern United States, visiting relatives in Louisiana and Texas.  Living so close to Canada, I've traveled there frequently.  However, to date, my travels haven't been a large part of my writing.  That may change in the future. 

How do you do your research?

I have a library of books on all sorts of subjects that fascinate me like Collies, the Old West, The Civil War, Costumes through the Ages, Western Movies, Witchcraft, Mythology.  I also use the Internet.

Where did you get the idea for The Cameo Clue? Shortcut Through the Shadows?

For The Cameo Clue, I wanted to write about an old unsuspected murder that would connect to one in the present day, but at first none of my ideas seemed right.  When I thought of a poisoned caramel apple, the "going nowhere" plot came to life.  Also I once had a brown cameo, bought on the Isle of Capri, that had slipped off my blouse and got crushed by a car.  That was exactly the clue I needed for my plot.  Once I had these two elements, everything fell into place.

A Shortcut Through the Shadows is part of my Foxglove Corners cozy mystery series.  I had just written Winter's Tale, in which my heroine rescues a wounded collie, Winter, from a snowy country road.  By the end of the book, she adopts him, but his background is still a mystery.  In the next book, I wanted to find out what happened to Winter's original owner, and that led me to the disappearance/murder plot.

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?

My characters are completely fictional, although I may use pictures of real people as springboards.  As soon as the characters step onto the page, however, they become their own person.    

My heroines tend to live alone, as I do.  They're independent.  In developing their characters, I give them my love of dogs, some of my likes and dislikes, my few virtues and many faults. I even give them items from my own wardrobe, or I give them clothes I'd like to wear.  But they're all more adventurous than I am.

The life experiences I use deal with careers I've had, which consist of secretarial work and high school teaching and now writing. 

Using experiences from life had a strange twist in a scene from Winter's Tale.  Jennet Greenway and her friend are stranded in the woods during a snowstorm when their car gets stuck in a snow bank.  They're miles from civilization and can only start walking. 

A few years later, I was driving home from a Christmas visit in the country at my brother's house.  It was dark and snowing.  Somehow I drove off the road and got stuck in high snow.  I didn't have a cell phone in those days so I had to walk back to my brother's house for help.  When we returned to my car with flashlights—because this was deep in the country with no lights or even other houses—I saw that the car was resting inches from a pond.  It would have been a great scene for Jennet.  Unfortunately I'd already used it.

 

Reviews

Bangkok Tattoo
by John Burdett
Alfred A. Knopf
Hardcover, 320 pages, $24
ISBN: 1-4000-4045-0
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

I had not read Bangkok 8, the first book in this series by John Burdett which introduced the reader to Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a Detective with the Royal Thai Police, and so was unprepared for the world and the voice encountered in this book.  The world which we enter is one so filled with corruption that its presence is described in a completely blasé manner, so much is it the normal way of life.  The police are not only in the pockets of the underworld, they are partners of its members.  The voice of the narrator, the aforementioned Sonchai, is one filled with a patronizing tone in its regular asides addressed to 'farang,' which apparently is an almost derisive reference to Westerners.

The book opens with a particularly brutal murder of a man who is discovered to be a CIA nonofficial cover operative, operating in what is surely one of the most depressing areas of Thailand, where virtually the only trade carried on is the sex trade, whose practitioners operate out of shacks built against the perimeter wall of the police station, the rental of which space, paid to the police of course, is part of the operating costs.  But he had come to Bangkok, where he was killed, to be with Chanya, an enchantingly beautiful prostitute who has also captured the heart of Sonchai.  The cover-up of the circumstances of the murder, and the political implications of the murder, make for fascinating reading. 

I found the writing particularly engaging, although I must admit I found myself brought up short by a couple of throwaway lines, in references to the West and particularly to the US, such as ‘his people could not even protect their own skyscrapers,' references to Guantanamo Bay such as we used to make when referring to the gulags, and ‘would people who invade sovereign countries under false pretenses stop at anything?'  Talking about the sniffer dogs with the narcotics squad, he says “To the dog, of course, the heroin would remain the most valuable commodity in the universe, since without it he'd be just another unemployed mutt wondering where his next meal was coming from: there are no more enthusiastic supporters of the war on drugs than our sniffer dogs."

I enjoyed Bangkok Tattoo very much, and will seek out Mr. Burdett's earlier book and the preceding adventures of Sonchai.

 

The Trouble With Tulip
by Mindy Starns Clark
Harvest House
Paperback, 293 pages, $11.99
ISBN: 0-7369-1485-4
Reviewed by Jeffrey Cohen

Josephine Tulip writes a Heloise-style household hints column, has a regular radio show and is about to get married when this novel, the first in a new series from the author of the Million Dollar Mysteries, begins.  But don't expect that all to last.

Contacted by her long-time best friend Danny on the morning of her wedding, Jo reluctantly agrees to take a look at the home of a neighbor who has died suddenly, with no sign of a break-in or a struggle.  She uses her knowledge of household chemistry and its uses to determine that the death is, at least, suspicious, and after the wedding blows up in her face, Jo uses the unexpected time alone (when she should have been on her honeymoon) to investigate.  She's nothing if not plucky.

Danny, a freelance photographer whose day job is working at a shopping mall studio for baby pictures, has been trying to dissuade Jo from going through with her wedding to a stiff, preppy business type, and is secretly delighted when the marriage doesn't go off as planned.  Properly set straight by the women in his family, Danny realizes he's always been in love with Jo, and decides to do something about that.

The interplay between the characters is certainly the best thing about this new series.   While the resolution to the mystery of her neighbor's death is a little contrived, Jo and Danny make for good company, and their romantic struggles will no doubt last through the next few books at least.  They are the spine that holds the rest of the book upright.

Jo is surrounded by colorful characters, and her family background leaves something to be desired.  As the adventures become a little more outrageous toward the end of the book, Clark at least provides a decent reason for Jo to put herself in what turns out to be harm's way.

The religious subtext (this is a Christian publisher and series), which was more background than not in the author's previous books, take a little more central position in this novel, but non-religious readers or those of other faiths will probably not be put off.  Clark hints at more to come for Jo and Danny, and they will in all likelihood blossom as her previous characters have done.

 

Mum's The Word
by Kate Collins
Signet
Paperback, 293 pages, $5.99
ISBN: 0451213505
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Abby Knight recently opened her flower shop, Bloomers.  She is a law school dropout.  She really enjoys her shop.  But a low-cost competitor has just come to town and is killing her profits. 

Then a black SUV rams her vintage Corvette in a hit-and-run.  The police don't seem too interested in tracking down the culprit, especially when a murder is discovered near Bloomers. 

Abby meets hunky ex-cop Marco Salvare  who now owns the pub down the street.  Together they begin to look into who rammed her 'Vette.  As things turn dangerous, they begin to wonder whether the person that rammed her car could have been involved in the murder.  They track down the possible vehicles that rammed her car and one is owned by a prominent politician's nephew. 

Abby is a delightful character.  All the other characters that work in her shop, as well as Marco, really add to the story.  The author has done a great job of weaving her job as florist and her sleuthing.  Abby's family adds a lot of tension in the story, too.

It was hard to put this book down once I started reading it.  I can't wait to read more. 

I highly recommend this book.

 

The Darwin Conspiracy
by John Darnton
Alfred A. Knopf
Paperback, 304 pages, $25.00
ISBN: 1-4000-4137-6
Reviewed by Terri M. Tumlin

Sin Nombre, Without Name, is the name of the island in the Galapagos National where Hugh Kellem is studying finches as part of a Darwin study.  It is there that he first meets Elizabeth Dulcimer (Beth) at the beginning of one of the three fascinating plot threads that run through this novel.  Hugh and Beth, on their separate paths to uncover hidden facts about the life and work of Charles Darwin, are the modern thread.  The second thread covers the voyage of the Beagle in the 1830s, with Darwin, Captain FitzRoy, ship's surgeon and rival Robert McCormick, and a native from Terra del Fuego named Jemmy Button, who had been kidnapped to England a number of years previously.  The third thread comes from the writings of Darwin's daughter, Elizabeth, in the form of diaries and letters.

Hugh and Beth are separated and find each other again, both interested in the Darwin papers for different reasons.  The tone is modern as are their thoughts, problems and approaches to the obstacles they face.  As Hugh begins to discover the mystery surrounding Darwin's early life, he also discovers a mystery in his own life, one that he wasn't aware he needed to solve. 

The interspersed chapters aboard the Beagle have an entirely different tone and outlook.  We feel the concerns and tensions aboard the five-year voyage on a wooden sailing ship, as well as something about how life was lived on shipboard.  Ashore with the young Darwin, the reader enjoys the sense of discovery and some background into how specimens were collected.

The third portion of the novel, printed in italics, takes the reader into the world of a young Victorian woman as she begins to sense a hidden secret in her invalid father's earlier voyages.  Again the language and the mood of these sections present a very different point of view character.

This novel does not simply present a mystery for the reader to solve. Only when modern characters close in on the secrets of the past does the reader begin to understand Darwin's past and uncover the nature of the mystery.  And only then is the way opened to the solution.

 In The Darwin Conspiracy, John Darnton has done a fine job in meshing the known information about historical figures with an imaginative plot for his fictitious characters.  In between, the diaries of Elizabeth (Lizzie) Darwin, although imaginary, ring true to the life and sensibilities of an unmarried Victorian woman.

The Darwin Conspiracy is fun and well worth the time to read it.

 

Scare the Light Away
by Vicki Delany
Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 274 pages, $24.94
ISBN: 1-59059-141-5
Reviewed by Janet Koch

Thirty years ago, you left your blink-and-you'll-miss-it Canadian town, leaving behind all you'd ever known—the mother you loved, the father you despised, the sister you ignored, the brother you hated and the grandfather you feared. You went to college, moved to Vancouver, married, became a successful bank vice-president, were widowed—and in all that time you never once went home. Until now.

This is Rebecca (don't call me Becky) McKenzie's life when her mother suddenly dies. Compelled to attend the funeral, she soon discovers herself sliding back to the habits of childhood—cooking for her father, bickering with her sister and avoiding her ex-con brother. Her primary thought is how soon she can decently leave. But when her father hands over her mother's journals, everything changes.

While Rebecca is engrossed in reading the story of her mother's life, learning more about her family than she wished to know, a young local girl missing for days is found murdered. All fingers point to Rebecca's brother and she realizes that family ties hold stronger than she knew, for when her innocent brother is taken away by the police all thoughts of fleeing back west are gone . She does her best to help, but her best might not be good enough to keep her brother out of prison—or the rest of her family alive.

As much character study as mystery, Scare the Light Away illustrates murder's impact from the point of view of the accused murderer's family. Vicki Delany writes a complex story filled with a sense of foreboding. The diary of Rebecca's mother as a young English woman during World War II inserts an almost jarring note of joy into a dark tale, a happiness made even more poignant by Rebecca's knowledge of her mother's subsequent unhappiness. An accomplished family portrayal, Scare the Light Away speaks of broken dreams and despair and the hope of a cleansing forgiveness.

 

May The Best Man Die
by Deborah Donnelly
Dell
Paperback, 319 pages, $5.99
ISBN: 0440241294
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Carnegie Kincaid is a wedding planner in Seattle.  Normally she doesn't plan stag parties;  she plans weddings, but her new client insisted.  After she left the party, she ends up looking through binoculars to watch the party.  Why?  Her significant other, although they're currently having trouble, is at the party.   What she doesn't know is that a killer is there, too.

The next day the best man is pulled from the canal.  Who could have killed him?  What did she see in those binoculars?  Anything important?  After she tells police what she saw and gets a friend in trouble, she decides she'd better look into things herself before telling them anything else.  She gets Aaron, her significant other, to help her.

Not only does she have this New Year's Eve wedding to be planning, she has another Christmas wedding to plan.  And now Ivy, the mother of the bride for the New Year's Eve wedding, has asked her to plan another party. 

Since the murder is related to that wedding, she wants to spend as much time as possible with the parties to try to determine who could have been the murderer.  Can she do that before anyone else is murdered, including herself?  Plus what about her new love interest?  Will this muddy the waters?

Carnegie is a great character.  She is a lot of fun, and she gets herself into predicaments throughout the book.  I felt it was a very believable story, and a lot of fun to read.  I can't wait to read more.

I am originally from Washington State, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading a book set in Seattle.  I think the author does a great job of weaving the wedding planning and the sleuthing. 

I highly recommend this book.

 

Pier Pressure
by Dorothy Francis
Five Star
Hardback, 306 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 1594142718
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Keely Moreno, now free from an abusive ex-husband, is living in Key West and building up her foot reflexology business.  Things seem to be going fairly well until she arrives for an appointment at her wealthy patient Margaux Ashford's house to find her dead of a gunshot.

The police are very interested in Keely because she found the victim.  They question her extensively, but there are plenty of suspects to go around.

Keely and her friends decide to try to solve the murder, because they aren't convinced the police will look at all the possible suspects

This is the first book by this author that I have read.  It definitely won't be the last.   I really enjoyed Keely, and the Key West location was very refreshing.  I felt like I was on vacation while reading this book. 

Keely and her friends and family are such fun characters.  You never know what might happen next.  I can't wait to read another book in this series.  I highly recommend this book.

 

Out of Tune
by Lorie Ham
PublishAmerica
Paperback, 233 pages, $19.95
ISBN: 1413788416
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Grandma Harms has summoned the family for Grandpa Harms' memorial service.  He died while they were on safari in Africa, and she was unable to bring his body back.

Alexandra Walters is a gospel singer.  She is happy to be home with her daughter Jess, but someone sends her a photo which unsettles her.  It appears someone is watching her.

Grandma Harms requires that the family also come to the Blossom Trail Bike Ride she'll be riding in.  Sabotage begins against her and disrupts the bike ride.  Alex ends up riding too to try to keep an eye on things.  She hasn't been on a bike for years so she has her hands full just keeping up.

Stephen, Alex's boyfriend, is a PI.  He is looking into the accidents.  Plus he has a secret case he won't tell Alex about.  She is upset by this. 

Detective Will Knight is trying to keep everyone safe during the bike ride.  Plus he has an interest in Alex.

Alex can't figure out who is sabotaging her grandma in the ride.  When a local woman dies at the funeral, could the real target have been Grandma Harms?  Could the killer be someone in her family?  Her grandma is referred to as the storm in the family and not many people like her, inside or outside the family.  She was especially difficult in business.

I really enjoy this series.  It is always fun to pick up one of these books.  Alex's relationships with Stephen and Will make for a terrific story.  This book gives us a real insight into Alex's family and helps us get to know her better. 

There are plenty of suspects with twists and turns.  I highly recommend it!

 

The Iron Girl
By Ellen Hart
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 339 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0-312-31749-2
Reviewed by Shirley Wetzel

After years spent mourning the death of her lover, Jane Lawless is ready to share her life again.  Reluctantly, she begins to deal with Christine's possessions, which she'd hurriedly packed and stashed in her basement after Christine's death from cancer almost two decades ago.  Unable to deal with the memories brought up by the boxes of personal items, she starts with Christine's briefcase, and is stunned to find a pistol.  In trying to figure out why her gun-hating partner would have had this in her possession, Jane seeks answers from the past.  At the time of her death, Christine, a realtor with Bill McBride's company, was selling a home for the matriarch of the wealthy, eccentric Simoneau family.  Jane quickly realizes that, the night before her friend died, three members of the Simoneau family were murdered.  The police had quickly focused their attention on the live-in handyman, Dexter Haynes, a young black law student.  He was convicted and sentenced to three life sentences.

Did Christine somehow feel threatened when she was working for the Simoneaus?  Could she have had some premonition about the tragic crime? Jane, an amateur sleuth who's helped solve several crimes in the past, feels that something is not right about the case.  After talking to her dad, an attorney with some knowledge of the case, and interviewing Dexter Haynes in prison, she begins to doubt the man's guilt.  She starts uncovering old secrets that someone wants very much to be left buried.   Her curiosity does get her into some tight spots, but she's smart enough to actually work with law enforcement and use common sense most of the time, unlike many plucky amateur sleuths who insist on going their own way come hell or high water.

Meanwhile, Jane's day job as a Minneapolis restaurateur continues to keep her busy.  Her feisty sidekick and best friend Cordelia, she of the flamboyant wardrobe and kick-ass Hummer, convinces her to take part in a new business venture, a club that will be housed in a decaying Art Deco theater.  When Jane goes to look at the building, she runs into a young photographer who is a dead ringer for Christine.  Throwing caution, and Cordelia's strongly worded advice, to the winds, Jane offers the girl a job photographing the building during the reconstruction process.  She also provides the girl with a dark room in the attic of her own home.  She trusts her intuition about people, and she is usually right.  Usually, but not always.  As mysteries from the past start colliding with those in the present, things start getting really hairy for Jane and crew.

I thought I'd figured out the killer before the end, but I was wrong.  There are several skillful twists and kinks that kept me guessing right up to the end.  This is the thirteenth Jane lawless mystery.  It's the first I've read, and I enjoyed it thoroughly and plan to read her earlier works. The Iron Girl is sure to entertain old fans and new.

 

The Goodbye Body: A Claire Malloy Mystery
by Joan Hess
St. Martin's Minotaur
Hardcover, 291 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 0-312-31304-7
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

In an intricately plotted mystery novel, Claire Malloy makes her 15th appearance as a struggling single mother and bookstore proprietor who somehow finds herself immersed in nefarious crime-solving, along with her beau, police Lieutenant Peter Rosen.  This time a customer offers Claire the use of her home, while her apartment is overhauled because of rat and other pest infestation, suggesting she visit her sister in Dallas.

Housesitting a relatively harmless activity?  Not so.  No sooner than Claire, her daughter and daughter's friend take up residence than a body turns up in the gazebo.  When police respond to the 911 call, guess what?  No body.  Later, Claire goes to the freezer in the garage for steaks, and instead finds the same body.  This time, the corpse remains in place—except that it disappears from the morgue later.

What's going on?  Dolly, the owner of the home, can't be found.  She's not in Dallas and they can find no trace of her, until she calls Claire.  The telephone call is traced to Atlanta.  Subsequently, another call comes from Miami.  Meanwhile all kinds of visitors play mysterious roles. Two young women show up to visit Aunt Dolly, and are invited to remain in the house.  A day later one of them disappears, and the other murdered.  Are these events related to the disappearing corpse and the errant Dolly?

Dolly eventually returns and the mystery begins to unfold.  It's not until the last pages that Claire analyzes all the mysteries, and the wait was more than worthwhile.  You'll find it enjoyable as well.

 

Killing Time
by Linda Howard
Ballantine Books
Hardcover, 330 pages, $25.95
ISBN: 0-345-45345-X
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

By combining an old-fashioned mystery novel with a sci-fi futuristic twist, this novel keeps the reader intrigued.  Throw in a little love story between a small-town Sheriff's chief investigator and an FBI agent from 200 years in the future and you have the ingredients of a real tale.

On New Year's Day 1985, Knox Davis is a sophomore in high school and the curiosity that will make him an excellent investigator in the future already is evident.  The town is burying a time capsule to be opened in the future.  Knox counts 13 items placed in it, although only a dozen were supposed to be included.  The odd item plays a decisive role years later.

Twenty years later, a gaping hole is found on the courthouse lawn where the time capsule is supposed to be buried.  The capsule is missing, intriguing Knox.  Meanwhile various visitors from the future show up looking for it, with murders taking place under mysterious conditions.  Two of the participants in the original burial of the capsule are found killed, one with a spear.  Is there a connection?

One of the visitors from the future, Nikita Stover, an FBI agent, provides the love interest when she enlists Knox's aid in tracking down the time capsule and a rogue visitor from the future.  It makes for an exciting story, and a good read.

 

Dead at Daybreak
by Deon Meyer
Little, Brown & Company
Hardcover, 374 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0-316-00012-4
Reviewed by Gloria Feit

Zet van Heerden is a former police officer in South Africa, prior to that a University Lecturer on Police Science.  Having left the force five years before the story begins, he is hired by Hope Beneke, an attorney with a daunting task to be done:  Within seven days he must find a will written by a man who had been found dead months previously, a Will that was apparently among the contents of a built-in, walk-in safe.  The aforementioned contents of that safe were the only things disturbed or taken on the night that the man was brutally tortured and murdered.  The client is a woman who had lived with him for eleven years, who he had never married, but who he intended to be his beneficiary. 

The police have tried to find the murderer over these many months, with nary a single lead turning up. Van Heerden very reluctantly agrees to take the job.  We are told bit by very little bit of his life prior to this point, how he was raised by a single mother [his father, a miner, having been killed in a mining accident when van Heerden was a young boy, his mother an artist whose work has become very highly praised and valued], and how his life apparently fell apart when the events that precipitated his leaving the police force took place.  The investigation moves very quickly as van Heerden uncovers things never discovered by the police after the murder, including the fact that the murdered man was not who he appeared to be.  Events which took place in 1976 play a pivotal role.  Military intelligence steps in early on and attempts to shut down the entire investigation, but van Heerden is not to be diverted.     

Dead at Daybreak is riveting reading—Meyer is a master storyteller.  I found myself so caught up in the story that I couldn't turn the pages quickly enough—the character of van Heerden is a very original one, and the past that the author lets us see as the book moves along is tantalizing, finally shown to us in its entirety as the novel nears its end.  The picture presented of South Africa over the recent past is a fascinating one.

The book has just been issued in the U.S., translated from the Afrikaans by Madeleine van Biljon.

Highly recommended.

 

Southern Fried
by Cathy Pickens
Thomas Dunne
Hardcover, 277 pages, $23.95 
ISBN: 0312324928
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Avery Andrews has recently returned to Dacus, SC, after working in a large law firm in Columbia, SC.  She was fired, so she's trying to decide what to do next.  In the meantime she's living in the family cabin and doing some legal work in town. 

Her client, Donlee Griggs, is accused of murder.  While they're dragging the lake for his victim's body, they find a car with a skeleton in it.  This has nothing to do with the crime he is accused of.  Soon Avery realizes that Donlee has told everyone he is in love with her and makes many spectacular suicide attempts to get her attention.

She is hired by Harrison Garnett, owner of Garnett Mills, a local furniture plant related to environmental concerns.  Not long after the environmental investigator arrives in town to check out the plant, there is a fire at the plant destroying records.  Now the environmental investigator is back with the feds along. 

Her other client is Melvin Bertram.  He'd left town amid a scandal years ago when his wife went missing.  He is back visiting his brother for the holidays.  The car found in the lake was his wife's, and he fears the skeleton might be that of his wife.  He asks Avery's advice and has her accompany him for questioning.

I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading many more adventures with Avery.  She is quite a likeable character, very down to earth, but a smart lawyer as well.  I like the dilemma she's having with staying in her hometown or going to a bigger city again.  It really gives us a glimpse of the character and not just her sleuthing skills. 

I like all the quirky small town characters.  They really add to the story.

I highly recommend this book.

 

Thicker Than Blood
by Penny Rudolph
Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 303 pages, $24.95
ISBN: 1-59058-148-2
Reviewed by Theodore Feit

In her debut as a protagonist, Rachel Chavez, a reformed alcoholic who operates a parking garage inherited from her grandfather, takes on daunting tasks.   The novel is based on the never-ending need for water in southern California, which has to be diverted from up north to the detriment of the agricultural industry.

Across the street from the garage is a huge water utility, whose fleet of cars is routinely parked in  Rachel's facility.  She notices a dented fender one day, following a hit and run fatality which caused the death of the water utility's general manager.  From that observation flow several sub-themes, which would really be unfair to divulge. 

Needless to say, Rachel is placed in danger more than once, and there are three additional murders to contemplate along the way.  The author ties it all together in an exciting finish.

This is Ms. Rudolph's second novel, following Listen to the Mockingbird, which was published in 2002.

 

I Right the Wrongs
by Dylan Schaffer
Bloomsbury
Hardcover, 337 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 1-58234-506-6
Reviewed by Jeffrey Cohen

Gordon Seegerman returns in the second of Schaffer's Misdemeanor Man series, in which the low-rent attorney, working for the Santa Rita Public Defender's Office, is juggling all sorts of personal and professional crises: he's got a client accused of minor drug possession and dognapping; he's pining for a former flame who just happens to work for the D.A.'s office, his father, lost to early-onset familial Alzheimer's Disease, is barely functional but living in Gordon's house, and Gordon himself is debating whether to get tested for a genetic predisposition to the same condition.

Oh yeah, and his Barry Manilow tribute band is about to play the House of Blues in Vegas, and Gordon is convinced Barry himself will take in the session. 

Then, the dognapping client, a high school football star, is implicated in a murder, and all of a sudden the whole world seems to be going crazy: Gordon is getting information about all the cases from various former friends of his father, an ex-cop.  Nothing seems to add up, and worse than that, one of the singers in his Manilow band is nine months pregnant and can't make the Vegas trip, so Gordon has to ask Silvie, his extremely hot ex, to fill in. 

Schaffer juggles quite a bit in his tongue-in-cheek but never silly series, as well.  Gordon, whose voice comes through loud and clear, is not a lightweight, but is self-deprecating, almost to a fault.  His struggles with turning 35 in this book are a little self-pitying, but given that he might be staring down a life like his father is now experiencing gives the psychology some weight—Gordon may not have all that many good years left.

Those who do not share Schaffer's enthusiasm for Manilow, which appears to be quite genuine, might find the appreciation a little over-the-top, but we all have an idol whose gifts we extol to all, and some people just aren't going to get it.  It's a very human condition for a very human character.  (I, of course, know that Schaffer is wrong—the most misunderstood artist of the past 35 years is actually Jim Croce—but he's entitled to his opinion.)

In the end, the case itself is a little convoluted, although it makes perfect sense once explained.  But it's Gordon and his extended family of characters who will keep this delightful series percolating, hopefully for a good many more episodes.

 

Eight of Swords
by David Skibbins
Thomas Dunne Books
Hardcover, 261 pages, $23.95
ISBN: 0-312-33906-2
Reviewed by Jeffrey Cohen

David Skibbins' debut novel won the 2004 Malice Domestic/St. Martin's Press "Best First Traditional Mystery" contest, which is a hoot, since this book's protagonist, Warren Ritter, is about as traditional as a celebration of Festivus in Vatican City.  But it's a nice idea, since the irony of the situation does not diminish the strengths of the book, and they are many.

Chief among these is Warren himself, a veteran of the Weather Underground, who has been really underground ("Warren Ritter" isn't his real name, for one) for thirty years, since an explosion went wrong, killed some people and put Warren's real name on a good number of Most Wanted Lists.  Since then, he's managed to get rich (he bet on Microsoft early), establish a number of identities and carve out a life, of sorts, for himself in Berkeley, California, where a little thing like being wanted by many Federal agencies for decades isn't something that worries people too much.

Warren now makes a meager living doing Tarot card readings for the locals, and lives off his fortune only when necessary.  It becomes necessary when a teenager for whom Warren does a reading is kidnapped shortly thereafter, and he feels responsible because he told her what she wanted to hear, and not what the cards were saying.  Now, that's a man looking for a guilt trip to ride.

The unapologetic hippy sensibility is refreshing, since popular culture wants to discount political activism of the 60s and 70s as an idealistic lark, misguided but understandable, given that everyone was so young.  Skibbins and Ritter believe otherwise, that there was something real and honest about the movement, and it gives the book more heft than the usual puzzle box mystery.

Warren's supporting cast, which includes a babe in a wheelchair and a lovable cop who likes spicy food, is top-notch, and even if the solution to the mystery is a little easy to spot, it's the characters who make the story moving and enjoyable.  The fact that the author has a sense of irony doesn't hurt.

Eight of Swords is the first in a projected Warren Ritter series, which is good news for anyone who picks up the book.  It's about people, and in particular, about a character who has to learn to stop running, even when being chased.  There's something just a little bit noble about that.

 

Dying To Call You
by Elaine Viets
Signet
Paperback, 270 pages, $6.50
ISBN: 0451213327
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Helen Hawthorne is working another dead-end job with payment in cash so she can evade her ex-husband and the law.  This time she's doing telemarketing.  While she's good at it, she gets plenty of hang-ups and people cursing her out.  But then she overhears a murder during a phone survey she's conducting to the home of Henry Asporth.  She reports it to the police, but after their investigation, they tell her it was just a show on TV.

Helen is convinced she heard a murder.  So she does some research through the computer at work to determine whether a woman lived at that address.  Once she determines that Laredo lived with him, she contacts her sister Savannah and they begin investigating.  Helen likes to stay as far away from police as possible.

As Savannah and Helen dig deeper and deeper into Henry Asporth and his friends, Helen finds herself in some sticky situations.  Can they find the murderer without Helen being the next victim?

I always enjoy books in this series.  Helen is a fun character and the people she works with and the other tenants in the apartment building are such great characters.  They really add to the story.

While I sometimes have trouble believing anyone is really after Helen, I think the stories are well constructed and such a fun read.  I highly recommend this book.

 

Bound For Eternity
by Sarah Wisseman
IUniverse
Paperback, 210 pages, $15.95
ISBN: 0595350887
Reviewed by Dawn Dowdle

Lisa Donahue, museum curator, returns the new Egyptian mummy after having it x-rayed at a local clinic.  She discovers the bloody body of her colleague, Marion, in the mummy's empty case.  

Marion had mentioned to Lisa that she felt that some artifacts were missing and others were misplaced.  The museum is quite old and there are promises of moving to a new facility.  Lisa isn't sure whether the artifacts are really missing or if they have been stored for the move.  Since Marion cataloged all the artifacts, now no one knows for sure.  

As Lisa gets to know more about the mummy, she begins to wonder whether Marion was killed because she knew something, or someone thought she did.  Now Lisa wonders whether she might be next.

I really enjoyed this book.  It is the first I have read by this author.  It will definitely not be the last.

Lisa is a wonderful character.  Her friends and new love interest really add to the story.  I can't wait to find out about their next adventure.

I highly recommend this book.

 

Murder By Committee

Read past installments and find out more about Murder By Committee

Chapter 18
by Debby Atkinson, with a wink to Elmore Leonard

Deborah Turrell Atkinson lives in Honolulu, Hawai'i with her husband and their two teenagers.  She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and spent ten years traveling around the Hawaiian Islands as a pharmaceutical representative for Eli Lilly and Company before she "retired" to write and raise her children.

She is a freelance contributor to Island Scene Magazine and won the University of Hawaii's Myrle Clark award for Creative writing.  Her second mystery novel, titled The Green Room,  a follow-up to 2002's Primitive Secrets, will be published this month, by Poisoned Pen Press. 

Harper gently released Guthrie's hand, the one not holding the Beretta.  The way he'd snapped back from the car door, he'd either been burned or frozen.  She had her answer; his hand was icy.

And that rough growl.  She hadn't heard that sound for years, not since her graduate school days, back before she got the boot for moonlighting in the lab.  That was the groan of steel under extreme duress, the tension of molecules forced out of natural order.  Harper took another step back.  She knew the clouds of vaporized liquid nitrogen were inert; there was no danger from escaping gas.  But the liquid stuff inside was -320 degrees Fahrenheit.  Though it was non-reactive, it was usually used to blanket dangerous chemicals, instantly contract metals, or flash-freeze flesh.  Whatever was going on in the big SUV, she didn't want to be anywhere near it.

Guthrie still held the gun on Brukowski and the attention of both men was directed at the car.  Harper had noticed Guthrie's admiring glances before he'd been distracted by the unearthly cold, and his quick peeks never approached her face.  He couldn't tell her what color her eyes were if she held that pistol to his head.  She'd figured out ages ago that men rarely take a beautiful woman seriously.  And sometimes, it's fun to go along for the ride.  She liked how he'd finessed the gun out of Ozzie's pocket and taken control of Brukowski.  And the fit of his jeans was spectacular.  What color were his eyes, anyway?

But she also had some big questions.   She'd known Guthrie for less than twenty-four hours and he'd flopped sides more often than a beached tuna. 

Plus, she was sick of being the one at the wrong end of all these guns.  It was time to get away from these goons and find that other chip. 

Harper gave a little moan and clutched at her stomach.  Both men's heads turned.  "I don't feel so hot.  I've gotta find a ladies' room."

Brukowski nodded carefully, his eyes back on the short, dull barrel of the pistol in Guthrie's hand.  Guthrie shot her a quick glance.  Suspicion flashed across his face, but he didn't stop her, and she forced herself to stumble slowly to the back entrance of Primo's Taco House. 

Once inside, Harper stopped to listen.  She was separated from the dining area by an ill-hung swinging door, and no human sounds reached her.  Instead, a crackling noise and pall of black smoke rose from the huge deep fryer.  She hoped someone forgot a batch of corn chips, but had a hunch she'd really need the ladies' room if she checked.  She swallowed hard, turned her head, and slid along the farthest wall from that hellish vat.      

Rich, who was the only one who knew she had one of the chips still nestled in her bra, had come this way about five minutes before she did.  Where the hell was he now?  From her point of view, he was even less trustworthy than Guthrie.  She peered into the back room, where Gopher had spurted blood and Ozzie had collapsed.  Not a drop of blood in sight.  No bodies, no clothes, no turned-over furniture. 

Harper tiptoed into the main dining room, and paused to check for lurking pursuers.   From where she stood, she could see behind the bar to where the cash register drawer stood open.  A bottle of no-name tequila had spilled across the counter and onto the dining room floor.  Its biting odor was almost a relief compared to the stench coming from the kitchen fryer.  Harper's eyes were starting to burn from the smoke, but she could tell that no one was in the restaurant.

She scurried across the room and peered out the window fronting the dining area.  The old Datsun Rich had made her drive was still sitting there, but he'd taken the keys.  An eighteen-wheeler thundered by on the highway that bypassed the restaurant.  Harper dashed across the parking lot to the line of dumpsters that edged the restaurant's property.  Using them as a screen, she jogged toward the road.  It wouldn't be long until Brukowski and Guthrie followed, unless they'd killed each other, and she didn't think she'd be so lucky. 

The next truck didn't see her, but the second vehicle to pass, a pickup with Manny's Yard Service emblazoned on its battered side, fishtailed to a stop.  If this was another spook in the entourage vying for the hydrogen fuel formula, Manny's was a hell of a disguise.  The handles of at least four yard-maintenance tools stuck out of the truck bed, caked with dirt and foliage.  Grass clippings clung to the door.  Harper swallowed hard and opened it.

"Where ya goin'?" the teenaged driver asked.  He stuck out a sinewy arm to help open the door and grinned at her.  The smell of grass and lawnmower fuel filled the cab.

"The airport."

"No sweat.  I'm goin' that direction myself."  His grin widened and he squealed back onto the highway, leaving a hovering pall of blue smoke.

He seemed to be impressed by the fact she was an independent pilot and by the time Harper got out at the airport perimeter fence, she'd told him everything she could about flying without giving away why she'd flown to this airport in the first place.  He waved gaily as he gunned his way back onto the highway.

Chatting with the boy about flying details had allowed the other half of her brain to mull over her next step.  Harper walked through the gate, showed the ID she'd kept in the pocket of her jeans to the security guard, and walked directly to her old de Havilland Caribou. 

She laid a hand against its silvery skin. "Okay, old girl, where'd the assholes hide the tracking device?  Talk to Mamma."

Harper let her eye wander along the fuselage, still sleek after thirty years.  Damned thing could be anywhere.  She could spend two weeks looking for the monitor in the thousands of nooks and crannies aboard the plane, and still not find it.  If she were going to attach a monitor to a vehicle, she'd put it—where?  Harper opened the cockpit door, climbed in, and began to dig through the various chart pockets and storage areas.  She wiped the sweat out of her eyes and peered under the seats. 

A frantic half hour later, she flopped back in the pilot's seat and moaned.  She didn't have much time.  She knew where she wanted to go, and she had to do it without a tail. Halsworth owed her big time, and not just for the smuggling runs.  They had a history, but if she couldn't see him alone, it wouldn't matter. 

Harper sank her head onto her arms.  Think.  If she were going to plant a bug, she'd put it—it was the best idea she'd had so far.  She got a screwdriver from her tool kit, jumped out onto the tarmac, and unscrewed the inspection panel under the left wing.  And there it was.  If it was the only one, she had a chance.

She looked around.  Not a soul was near, so she sauntered by a nearby Beechcraft, pretended to kick one of the chocks back in place, and bent over to slip the device into the wheel well. 

The next step was cake.  She filed a flight plan to San Francisco, then flew north for about a half hour before she radioed that she was having engine trouble and was going to make an emergency landing.  The Caribou banked into its U-turn and settled into an undeclared flight path about fifteen hundred feet above the pricy oceanfront estates of Malibu.  Harper prayed no one would be suspicious enough of the low-flying craft to call it in. 

Jazzed on adrenaline and desperation, she squinted into the sunlight at the private landing strip that bordered the woods on Halsworth's estate.  She trimmed the flaps and flew over the strip to make sure it was clear.  It was clear to land, but the trees were in deep shadow.  Plus, a new hut squatted at the end where a path used to be.  She could see the glint of razor wire around it.  Things had changed around here, but it was too late to pull out now.  The Caribou was impossible to miss, and she'd already announced her arrival.