Inger Ash Wolfe

In this collection of short pieces published in 2000, most only three pages long, 74 authors write about books that have made a lasting impression on them, but which they have lost or that are otherwise hard to find. The works cited are quite eclectic, including major works of fiction, children's books, travelogues and other varieties of non-fiction. While most of the books--and the authors writing about them--were unfamiliar to me, this book is 100% fascinating from beginning to end. It is show more difficult to put down once you start, assuming, of course, that you are a book lover. Time after time, it demonstrates the power and importance of books, and it shows all the ways, large and small, that they educate and influence the lives we lead.

There is no need to single out individual examples of these authors' reminiscences, since all are interesting and many are memorably written. You'll be looking up these "lost classics" and their authors on the internet in almost every case. I'm happy to report that most of these books are no longer "lost". Some are available in reprints or new editions, and nearly all are available used at reasonable prices from Amazon, abebooks.com, and other sources.

This book will make you think about your own lost classics, and maybe you'll dig one or two up from the back of your double-stacked shelves or the bottom of a box in the back corner of your storeroom. This book itself, I'm happy to say, doesn't appear to have imitated the fate (at least circa 2000) of its subjects. Amazon still has new copies for sale, and it was reprinted in 2011. show less

First Line: Saturday, August 6, 11:21 p.m. She needed to get to the road.

Inspector Hazel Micallef is the type of character I love, and my love affair with her began with the first book, The Calling. In that book, she is the 62-year-old interim police chief of a small town force in the province of Ontario, Canada. She's divorced, not particularly likeable, and is racked with pain. She lives with her octogenarian larger-than-life mother who's an ex-mayor of the town in which they live. Hazel show more is smart, relies a lot on her intuition, and doesn't know the meaning of the word quit.

In the second book, The Taken, she finds herself forced to live in the basement of her ex-husband's house after back surgery-- and forced to rely upon not only her ex-husband, but his current wife, for almost everything she needs. For someone as independent and obstinate as Hazel, this is an almost unbearable situation-- but she learns from it. (She may be stubborn, but she's not stupid.)

In this third book, Hazel's story continues. One of the most popular and well-known men in the community has been found dead in the parking lot of a smoke shop on a nearby reservation. The autopsy shows that the man died of anaphylactic shock after being stung by a wasp. Hazel does not believe the findings. She knows the man, and after talking with others who were even closer to him, too many things just don't add up.

Then in short order, the dead man's wife is attacked, and another man is killed. Both crimes have a common denominator: a lone woman who seems to be desperately searching for something. Who is she? What is she looking for? Is she also responsible for the first man's death? Is Hazel going to be able to solve these crimes before someone else dies?

It's a good thing that Hazel is a strong woman because there's a lot more on her plate than a few violent crimes. She's just been informed that there are changes afoot in the police department, one of them being that she has a new boss-- a man whom she used to supervise just a short while ago. But even more worrying than the crimes and the new boss is the fact that Hazel's 88-year-old mother, who's always been so vibrant and full of vinegar, seems to be giving up. As a daughter who loves her mother dearly, this is the hardest thing for her to face. Give Hazel a bad guy any day over seeing her mother lying in bed with her face to the wall.

One of the things I love most about this series is the author's skill in changing my perspective. At the beginning, the killer is a person to be feared and reviled, but as the story unfolds, we find we need to change our point of view. This is about much more than a woman on the rampage, and as Hazel puts the clues together, she understands this and knows that she will not rest until everyone responsible is brought to justice.

Larysa is one of the best "villains" I've read in years. As more and more is learned about this woman, my perspective continually shifted from fear and abhorrence to understanding to great unease. She is a character to remember.

As is Hazel. In her many years of policing, she's excellent at her job, although her people skills are sadly lacking. If she cares about someone and that person is in danger, she will literally move heaven and earth to save them, regardless of the cost to herself.

I've just learned that there are three more books planned in this series, and I couldn't be happier. With superbly plotted stories and a strong-willed quirky main character, this is one series that I want to hang onto for dear life. Is this one of the formulas for books that you love? Then I highly recommend that you get your hands on all three of these books. Is it necessary to read them all in order for them to make sense? Not all all. But when a character like Hazel is involved, you don't want to miss a word of her story! show less

This was my first introduction to DI Hazel Micallef, and I must say that I'm a convert.

The novel opens with Micallef recuperating from serious back trouble in the basement apartment of her ex-husband's apartment. She's still in love with her ex, and she's dangerously close to being in love with Percocet, too. Her mother and her husband's new wife are hanging over her, and it's a rather overly close domestic situation. Cue the drama: a dismembered mannequin is fished out of a nearby lake, show more bearing the web address for a camera feed in which a kidnapped man in being shown tortured. Who has him? Why? What are they trying to communicate? Why does this event parallel the storyline of the featured summer story in the local newspaper? And why is this being presented to Micallef, of all people? (this last question, is, perhaps, never fully explained) Micallef and her second-in-command, the well-sketched DC Wingate, are thrust into the middle of a mystery. Things are a bit slow to get started, but once they do, there's no letting up of the suspense.

Micallef is no sob sister, even as a 62 year old with a devestating back injury who's openly called a "dinosaur" by a higher-up and is threated by Toronoto police. She's firey, she's gutsy, she's in the heat of the action: she never lets up. She's incredibly sympathetic without being a wet blanket. Wolfe draws her characters incredibly well. DC Wingate is another example of a multilayered character with a backstory of his own, but, like Micallef, his personal affairs never overshadow his policework. Wolfe manages to create psychological characters without ever putting aside the fact that this is first and foremost a suspense-filled police procedural; personal drama never gets in the way of a good, strong plot.

Wolfe plays her cards close to her chest; you never know exactly where or to whom the plot is going to take you next, and that's a good thing. I'll definitely be seeking out the first DI Micallef mystery after reading this one. show less

Book on CD read by Bernadette Dunne

From the book jacket: Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef has lived all her days in the small town of Port Dundas (Ontario) and is now making her way toward retirement with something less than grace. Hobbled by a bad back and a dependence on painkillers, and feeling blindsided by divorce after nearly four decades of marriage, sixty-one-year-old Hazel has only the constructive criticism of her mother and her own sharp tongue to buoy her. But when a terminally show more ill woman is gruesomely murdered in her own home, Hazel and her understaffed department must spring to life.

My reactions
Wow but this was a graphic and gruesome tale. The serial killer is a seriously deranged individual. The reader always know who the killer is, as Wolfe takes us into his mindset as he plans and justifies the killings.

Hazel is a complex character. On the one hand, she has great instincts for investigation, and she makes good use of the limited resources she has. She’s not going to let the powers that be dissuade her from what she KNOWS is a serial killer, even if the evidence isn’t sufficient – yet – to convince other jurisdictions to cooperate.

And, as if the killer isn’t enough to deal with, Hazel is also battling an internal power struggle and betrayal by a colleague she thought was securely in her camp.

The pace is fast and furious with many twists and turns to keep things interesting. I was not entirely happy with the way Wolfe ended the story. I felt that he’d run out of ideas and took the easy way out.

But I really liked Hazel as the lead character, and I’d be willing to read more from this series featuring her.

Bernadette Dunne does a fine job narrating the audiobook. There are a lot of male characters and she was able to give them believable voices. And she sufficiently distinguished the female characters as well. show less