I was fortunate enough to win TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET by Donna Andrews from Laurie Ham at Kings River Life Magazine (http://KingsRiverLife.com). Thanks, Laurie.

To prepare for sleep, I re-read light hearted books (can't be kept awake by the plot). Meg Langslow series books are in rotation for my bedtime reading.

TOUCAN KEEP A SECRET is Meg Langslow #23. The church has an underground crypt from which loud noises emanate, then a body is discovered. I was much too interested in what would happen next to be willing to sleep.

Meg Langslow's family displays the best characteristics of amateur (amateuse?) mystery fiction. Some characters are certifiably nuts, others endearing, and some a mixture; I'm sure being part of such a family would be truly enervating, but for armchair travellers, it's quite entertaining. And it's satisfying to watch the development of these personalities.

Several spots have laugh-out-loud moments.

If you've never read any Meg Langslow books by Donna Andrews, start with #1. My librarian couldn't get interested in the minutiae of weddings, so I've recommended she move to #2. These books are just too amusing to pass up.

Sara Paretsky’s BLACKLIST ©2003 could have been written today; it doesn’t seem like we’ve learned very much in nearly fifteen years. Our Islamophobia today sounds as rabid as shortly after 9/11/2001. Private Detective V.I. Warshawski is shocked by just how many freedoms Americans gave up with the Patriot Act. Several storylines start in the mid-twentieth century, when McCarthyism and segregation were rampant. Activists and writers and dancers pushed xenophobic publishers, patrons and politicians. There is a very clear distinction between the supremely wealthy and the rest of us poor souls, in the past and the present. Seems like we haven’t learned much in the last sixty or seventy years.

And yet, this isn’t a political rant; or to be fair, the political message is what resonates when the story fades. The story gracefully unravels so many secrets until we are left with stark passion, and the heavy motivation to keep those betrayals hidden.

You will ponder over BLACKLIST for a while.

If you’re one of those people who like a Cast of Characters, you’ll find an easily downloadable one of BLACKLIST by Sara Paretsky on the review page on my website. Or write to me and I’ll email it to you. In case you’ve never heard why I think ALL authors should add a Cast of Characters EVERY TIME, here’s my reasons: http://www.reviewsbytdev.com/content/open-letter-authors

http://reviewsbytdev.com/content/BLACKLIST-Sara-Paretsky

As a lover of crime fiction, it’s perfectly believable that an amateur finds herself knee deep in intrigue. In some mysteries, it’s uncanny (and unrealistic) how suddenly an amateur gets embroiled in yet another murder investigation. But, one argues, some crime must be discovered by amateurs. In real life, how would this work?

A friend found a slow beginning in NEVER GO BACK by Robert Goddard ©2006. Not I. I loved this story. Piece by piece the author lays down a snippet, another small tale. Men have died, some long ago. Not too surprisingly, another one does. It takes a long time to know if a death is just a death, or a crime.

In 1955 fifteen soldiers took part in a military operation at a Scottish castle commandeered by the Royal Air Force. In the modern day, some plan a reunion at the same castle. Harry Bennett, our protagonist, accidentally discovers the reunion and is swept along with the crowd to Scotland.

The story takes place in the present, but we see flashes of the past as Harry uncovers fragments of his memories. These lead him to question his fellow soldiers and their families. He doesn’t understand what he’s discovering, and he can’t quite believe it. The police don’t believe him either.

It’s a leisurely journey of many tales, seemingly unrelated, but every small diversion matters.

What a fabulous story!

http://www.reviewsbytdev.com/content/NEVER-GO-BACK-Robert-Goddard

If you’re one of those people who like a Cast of Characters, you’ll find an show more easily downloadable one of NEVER GO BACK by Robert Goddard on the review page on my website. Or write to me and I’ll email it to you. In case you’ve never heard why I think ALL authors should add a Cast of Characters EVERY time, here’s my reasons: http://www.reviewsbytdev.com/content/open-letter-authors show less

Val McDermid makes everything read well. I’m uninterested in history but I read a lot of crime fiction. I was fascinated by FORENSICS by Val McDermid ©2014.

The book covers the evolution of forensics as a tool for crime solvers in the past 200 years. Not interesting, you say? Ha! There you’d be wrong. It read like a story, with lots of exciting discoveries, complete with satisfying ending.

Brilliant, positively brilliant.

Now I’ll have to scrounge around to see if I can find another book of hers I haven’t read yet.

TIME’S UP ©2015 by Janey Mack stars a fabulous, feisty heroine. Maisie McGrane and her four brothers are Black Irish, first-generation Chicagoans. Her family are all cops and lawyers (including her parents). Maisie has had a life-long dream of being a cop, which is now thwarted, so, with characteristic deviousness, she becomes a meter maid, prone to mishap and misadventure.

The romance/sex appeal is just right: ever-present, not a slam dunk, not graphic, doesn’t take over the story. TIME’S UP is not a mystery in the usual sense, though there is a body. And, it could be that Maisie discovers the culprit. It’s a roller coaster, a "caper" story full of antics.

Maisie’s adventures can be very funny, but I found some confusing. A Cast of Characters didn’t help. Events occur and then people say things but I was often unclear of the meaning of an event or how subsequent conversation made any kind of resolution, though it was clear that various other characters in the story understood.

Now that I’ve said this, I *DO* intend to read the next in the series because Maisie really is delightful. And I hope the next time, Janey Mack is able to deliver more clues about what’s going on.

http://www.reviewsbytdev.com/content/TIMES-UP-Janey-Mack

The first C.J. Box I read, THE HIGHWAY, I found riveting. Naturally, I dashed out to the library and snapped up BADLANDS ©2015, the next in the series.

BADLANDS is even better, but don’t start here because the long story (with recurring characters) is much richer.

Twelve year old Kyle Westergaard dreams of getting out of Grimstad, but he witnesses something dangerous. Grimstad is having an oil boom, so there’s no housing for love or money. With money comes drugs and criminals, headaches for new Deputy Sheriff Cassie Dewell.

I inhaled this story.

I built a Cast of Characters for BADLANDS because I often do and it is attached on the page on my website for this review (if you can find it!)

A day or two after I’d finished this immensely satisfying story, a copy of BADLANDS ©2015 by C.J. Box arrived in the mail, courtesy of the publisher. So I’m holding another giveaway.

C.J. Box’s THE HIGHWAY ©2013 is a thriller about a serial killer on the highways in the mid-west US. At first I feared the story would be fem-jep and torture porn, but it turns out that C.J. Box is a gifted writer and, without travelling that path, he had my imagination anticipating the worst. Obviously a serial killer does appalling things to his victims and we fear for the safety of a couple of young women, but the on-screen violence is a swift blur.

The story is compelling. Several unanticipated events rip holes into one’s expectations for the storyline. The only part that’s serenely lovely is the scenery.

What a ride!

I built a Cast of Characters for this story, so if you’re a person who likes these things, I’ll send if you ask.

This book was sent by the publisher, so I’m holding a giveaway. Please add a comment to my review at the link below, for your chance to win. We’ll toss the names in a hat.

http://www.reviewsbytdev.com/content/HIGHWAY-C-J-Box

WRITTEN OFF ©2016 by E. J. Copperman stars a crime fiction writer, Rachel Goldman, whose protagonist jumps off the page into her life as a semi-official police presence. Naturally a huge leap of disbelief is required, but surprisingly realistic as amateur detective fiction goes—I mean if I wrote crime fiction and my hero came to life, I’d probably be thinking much of what the protagonist of this story does. Furthermore (don’tcha love sentences that start with "furthermore"), E. J. Copperman is a pseudonym of a charming writer. So one watches oneself watching the writer watching E. J. Copperman molding Rachel as she interacts with her detective who has come alive—the whole premise is nuts, right?

Yet, one’s interest is genuinely piqued. The story has some clever twists.

WRITTEN OFF is full of snappy remarks told with wit. Meanwhile, E.J. Copperman still has that warm, kissable quality, like a favourite teddy bear.

There are plenty of inside jokes. All members of the crime fiction community should read this book.

The talented Peter Rennebohm is back with a new tale featuring Charlie Nash and his dog in SHEPHERD LAKE ©2015. We first met Charlie, some years ago, in BLUE SPRINGS. Both books are written in the tradition of vintage adventure stories, full of suspense and derring-do.

Rennebohm writes with the joyous ordinariness of a Norman Rockwell painting, those tributes to 20th century American culture. One can easily imagine a couple of boys laying in the long grass, this book between them, devouring every word. But, like a Norman Rockwell, we see that our first impression is illusory—closer study reveals squalor just beneath the surface.

In SHEPHERD LAKE, Charlie has reached his mid-teens, but life events have left him troubled. He accumulates dangerous influences, some of his own making—he’s headstrong and reckless. Some are not—strange men appear in these supposedly uninhabited woods. Old, and possibly valuable, secrets are uncovered. Unbeknownst to Charlie, at least one man is vicious and depraved.

Will he know whom to trust? In time? We hope Charlie and his friends will survive this maelstrom, though it seems certain they cannot survive every obstacle. No doubt they will be changed. How great will the damage be?

You’ll just have to pull up a chair and find out. In case you’re a bit worried, Charlie’s dog, Taffy, is a golden retriever. And she has a part to play in this story. Need I say more?

P.S. On my name url you'll also find a link to my review of the first in show more the series, BLUE SPRINGS. I recommend you read them in order. show less

I found LITTLE BLACK LIES ©2015 by Sharon Bolton a complex read. The person who starts this story is angry and full of grief, and it took me several attempts over several days before I could read beyond a few paragraphs. This is a case where a Cast of Characters would have been helpful and prevented my having to go back and reread prior sections of the story.

Soon I’m totally captivated, flipping pages in a whir. There’s feelings of surprise which recur because my expectations are elsewhere. The surprise is motivation enough to reclassify what kind of crime fiction is LITTLE BLACK LIES. But I’m afraid, my imaginings of what might happen worsen.

By the middle of the book, I’m enjoying the relationships between the protagonists, the intellectual challenge of sorting out their stories. My expectations are tossed yet again and the dread creeps back. How can there be any other outcome than what I most fear?

Then it’s worse. Better? Glorious? Breathtaking? Heartbreaking? Consuming. Gratifying. Incredibly sad.

Yes, all of those things.

ASSUME NOTHING, BELIEVE NOBODY, CHALLENGE EVERYTHING.
Intruiging title, eh? Invigorating. Sometimes hilarious. I’m not fond of short stories, mostly because there’s not enough time to get beyond the punchline, to learn about the lives of the characters. This collection of six short stories in ASSUME NOTHING, BELIEVE NOBODY, CHALLENGE EVERYTHING by Mike Craven ©2015 exceeded my expectations in most particulars. We come to care deeply about Detective Inspector Avison Fluke’s team of police- men and women. They’re a clever and thoughtful bunch.

I dislike writing which focuses on what something is not, but I find myself here comparing what I discovered to what I presumed. I’d noticed Mike Craven around various crime fiction sites and he writes well, so in a flurry of responses, Mike’s tend to be amongst those I read. Mike is from Cumbria UK and has spent many years in the probation service. His work has been described as "gritty"—facts which would seem to identify work I don’t want to read. How wrong could I be? Turns out, completely!

Mike’s first novel was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association 2013 Debut Dagger Award. First thing I did when I finished the short stories this morning was to run out and buy myself a copy.

I knew I’d be writing a review by the middle of THE DEVIL’S MAKING by Sean Haldane because it’s a fascinating story. Sadly the moment passed when I could write knowledgeably about the story, but I’m unwilling to let it go. Everyone should read this book!

THE DEVIL’S MAKING won the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel (2014).

The book opens in 1868 when Chad Hobbs travels from Britain to the tiny outpost of Victoria, capital of British Columbia. The trip takes four months because they must travel around Tierra del Fuego, the southern tip of South America. This is but one of the many “oddities” of life in the late 19th century and it doesn’t take long for the reader to feel like they belong to those rough and muddy times.

Chad becomes a policeman who must solve the murder of a local man. Naturally the townsfolk are quick to blame a native Indian and incarcerate him, but Chad is unwilling to accept such a “desirable” outcome without more facts.

One of the story’s joys is Chad’s philosophical understanding of what he discovers and what this means about life. Although I’ve never been much interested in history, I found this book delightful.

Detective Shelley Krieg’s actions as a bad cop give me a bad taste and I wonder whether to quit the story, having little stomach for bullies. But then, neither does Shelley.

NEVER KILL A FRIEND (©2015) by Martin Hill is slow to start but my interest keeps building. Detective Krieg doesn’t do what I’m expecting. Neither does author Martin Hill Ortiz.

Some of the language is lyrical. The crimes are gruesome. Banter between friendly workmates is titillating. Carping by adversaries intrigues.

Some stories swoop the reader into becoming a character in the story. NEVER KILL A FRIEND maintains a mile high view watching the dance of flawed humans trying to steer events with self-interest, compounded by conceit. An elusive conundrum.

Friends are definitely tested in this story. And you can’t turn your back on a single one.

Satisfying.

In DEAD ANYWAY by Chris Knopf (©2012), Arthur has a great life, until he nearly loses it. Dragging himself back to the living, he sets out to find who is responsible. Although we know, generally, what he’s up to, it’s fascinating how he goes about trying to identify the culprits. I suppose if I’d stopped reading and thought about it, I might have deduced more of his plan; but I couldn’t stop reading. Arthur’s way of narrowing the probabilities to figure out what to do next is very engaging. He has a tidily precise mind, which is devious and obsessive. We zip through the details of his plan like we’re hanging on at the back of a speedboat.

And the sometimes-likeable supporting characters are icing on the cake.

Hope you enjoy DEAD ANYWAY as much as I did.

HOUNDED by David Rosenfelt is an engrossing first-person story layered with the protagonist’s smart-arsed remarks. From the start you root for Andy Carpenter, lawyer. Soon you’ll be rooting for Andy’s client too. They’re ably assisted by an impressive supporting cast.

Of particular joy is the way Andy’s actions seem almost predictable, as though you were there—thinking his thoughts with him—but then he confounds you and skips a few steps ahead. You’re left watching a clever man tumble through scary, touching and impossible scenes.

Though HOUNDED is the twelfth outing with Andy Carpenter, I thought this was my first, and the story holds up pretty well for a new reader. With such a backlog, what a treat I have coming!

A very satisfying story.

THE COURAGE TO KILL by Ron Argo starts in a terrible place and moves into the thoughts of a highly disoriented person where it stays for too long, until we tumble into a straightforward exchange between two reporters for whom I didn’t care enough. I was going to quit the story but for the voice in my ear telling me to persevere—I’d corresponded with the author on social media and he’d struck me as an intriguing man with a way of talking about the story which enticed me. Tucked into those comments was hidden a beautiful accusation of the effects of the Vietnam war on those who served, from those who stayed home and protested. The story mutates again and again, wandering effortlessly between the horrors of war, child abuse, neglect and revenge.

And then everything happens so fast you can’t put the book down.

What an incredible story!

What fun! Last night I finished a charming story from the silver-tongued Neil Plakcy, GENIE FOR HIRE, the first book in a new cozy series (with a twist).

GENIE FOR HIRE features Biff Andromeda, a buff young-looking private eye with exquisite manners and a very nice conscience. Although Biff has been around for a few hundred years, he tackles some very modern problems with social media, pornography, and the Russian mafia.

Though no golden retrievers are found bounding through the pages, don’t despair, there are just as amusing anthropomorphic pets.

For an easy read with an uplift, read GENIE FOR HIRE.

http://www.reviewsbytdev.com/content/GENIE-HIRE-Neil-Plakcy

One of the things I like about writers who have retired from other professions and taken up mystery writing is how interesting it is to find out details of the writer’s former business. In collecting recommendations for stories I have read from Crime Fiction members, I’ve been wandering through my memory of great crime fiction. I remembered R. E. Donald’s SLOW CURVE ON THE COQUIHALLA as an enjoyable story with fascinating information about the trucking industry. I’ve always loved the sound of wheels spinning on the highway and you can hear them in these books.

Last week when I began book#2 in the series, ICE ON THE GRAPEVINE, I realized that I was under-appreciating just how good the storyline is. Hunter Rayne is a retired RCMP officer, now driving a truck for a Vancouver, B.C., Canada firm. He’s a complex man with good self-knowledge but has varying difficulties telling his loved ones how he feels. Not surprisingly Hunter gets landed with unexplained deaths which somehow he must resolve. A man on a mission, Hunter gets on with the job.

Another great character in the series is El, a feisty dispatcher, who seems so real she must have had a real life model for her part in the stories.

These traditional crime stories are full of interest with several surprises. They’re a welcome way to while away a few hours, accompanied by something sippable. Though I’d prefer tea, Hunter Rayne would no doubt select beer.

And naturally, I’ve just purchased book#3 in the series, show more SEA TO SKY. Can’t wait! show less