The Star by David Skibbins

Review by Diana Bane

If it's been a while since you were last in Berkeley, or if you've never been but would like to go, David Skibbins can take you there, no problem. And I can promise that you'll enjoy the time you'll spend with Warren Ritter -- who, if not quite the archetypical denizen of that Alternative City-by-the-Bay, comes very, very close.

Having read the Tarot Card Mysteries from the beginning, this third in the series (following Eight of Swords and High Priestess) struck me as the best yet.  I do recommend reading the books in order. Although it's not completely necessary, and each book stands well on its own for story alone, there is continuing development of the protagonist from one to the next, adding considerable dimension overall. This growth in a character already in his mid-fifties when the stories start (Warren has turned 56 in The Star) is rewarding in an interesting way: If you are over 50 yourself, then you probably have already noticed that people do change, and the most interesting people are still growing, as they age; and if you're younger, you may find that you have more in common with this "older" man than you thought. There is a secret at the core of Warren Ritter, and as it happens, there are even deeper secrets he's been keeping from himself, as well as the big one he's kept from the rest of the world. By the end of this book three, much has been revealed.

The plot of The Star concerns Warren's new-found daughter Fran, who like Warren is bipolar, her baby son Justin, and her husband Orrin. Orrin, a police officer in Santa Cruz, has been shot and killed with his own weapon. Fran is the chief suspect. Frantic to protect her son, she deposits the baby on Warren's doorstep in Berkeley and flees. Enlisting the help of Rose, his psychotherapist -- and after getting babysitting help from close friends Sally and her foster-daughter Heather --  Warren makes one of his exciting high-speed motor cycle runs to Santa Cruz and begins to investigate. The plot moves on quickly from there.

What I enjoy most about these books are the characters and settings, which ring absolutely true to me -- and I grew up in the parts that David Skibbins writes about. His descriptions of Berkeley and of Santa Cruz are pitch-perfect and uncannily insightful. Warren Ritter is among the most appealing mystery protagonists for me, because he's a survivor with a lot of strength and an equal lot of vulnerability. I was happy for Warren at the close of The Star, because after many scares and frustrations came a highly satisfying resolution. Read it for yourself and find out -- I think you'll be happy too.

Dry Ice by Stephen White

Review by Gloria Feit

 

Stephen White's newest thriller is all about secrets:    "We choose secrecy at some point in our lives—presumably it makes sense to us at the time—and we protect the secrecy through the phases that follow.  Do the facts truly remain dangerous later on?  Worthy of all the subterfuge?  Or does the existence of the secrecy become the real danger requiring protection?... Secrets aren't secrets.   They're just hidden treasures, waiting to be exploited."  Alan Gregory, the Colorado psychologist, returns as the protagonist in this wonderful series.  A ghost from his past ha s come back to haunt him, a brilliant, vindictive and seriously disturbed killer who, in Privileged Information, the first book in the series, was his patient before being sentenced to an indeterminate period in a State mental hospital until such time as he is found competent to stand trial.  Now, fifteen years later, he has escaped, and Dr. Gregory's life will be profoundly affected.  A seemingly innocuous enough incident, a patient noticing a woman's purse lying outside the window of his office, triggers a series of events that will put his life, both personally and professionally, in peril.

 

The trademark suspense of Mr. White's books is present here along with a fascinating tale of the price we all pay for the secrets we keep from even our closest friends and loved ones, and the implicit issue of trust that is involved.  The Colorado setting and the characters, dialogue and plot keep the reader involved right through to the end of this gripping novel.

The Pact by Roberta Kray

Review by Theodore Feit

 

The Pact is a book that is very different, with plot changes and character development so unexpected that the reader needs a road map to follow the curves and developments.  It begins simply: Eve Weston's brother is in jail for a six-month sentence, but on a visit she sees he has been beaten.  In return for her promise to do whatever he asks, she makes a deal with another prisoner to protect her brother.

 

Meanwhile, Eve is recovering from the suicide of her father and the loss of her job because of her close relationship (purely platonic) with her married lawyer superior, misconstrued as an affair.  Then the fun begins.  Her apartment is broken into and ransacked, she is followed, her ex-husband's residence is broken into and ransacked, two men are found murdered and other odd occurrences take place.  What's going on?  Who's responsible?  What is at the heart of these misadventures?

 

As the plot moves forward it becomes obvious that someone believes Eve has something they want, but she doesn't know what it is. All the characters, seemingly unrelated, become intermingled and the mystery unwinds in spectacular fashion.

 

It is well worth reading to find out the reasons.

 

Roberta Kray is the widow of the late, legendary London gangster Reg Kray.  Her first book was a biography of her husband.  This is her second novel.

Murder...Suicide...Whatever... by Gwen Freeman

Review by Theodore Feit

 

Fifi Cutter, half black, half white, makes her debut in this novel, along with her Caucasian half-brother, Bosco, and the publisher hints they will reappear in the future.  They are a couple of characters.  She is an insurance adjuster who lives in an inherited house with no furniture.  He is a ne'er-do-well drifter and sponger.

 

When Bosco turns up on Fifi's doorstep after a hiatus of five years, he presents her with a potential murder investigation, one for which neither is qualified.  It seems "Uncle" Ted Hefferman was found in his office, supposedly dead of a heart attack, but one of his co-workers is convinced he was murdered so the firm could collect $5 million in key man insurance, sorely needed to pay off a judgment.  They are offered compensation to find the murderer (although the money is as hard to get as a solution).

 

It would appear that many of the deceased's co-workers, including his two partners, had motives to slay him.  Among the ruses Fifi and Bosco use in their "investigation" in an attempt to garner clues is to pose as grief counselors to employees of the insurance brokerage firm.  Just one of the many quirky characteristics of the two.

 

For a first effort, the novel is fast-moving and interesting.  The plot is different, although the traditional "closed door" mystery is at its base.   The dangers to the protagonist are several, including the bombing of her vehicle, and the police suspecting her of various crimes.  And, of course, the conclusion is unexpected.

Perish by Pedicure by Nancy J. Cohen

Review by Dawn Dowdle  

As if Marla Shore wasn't busy enough, now she's working for Luxor Products as a styling assistant at a local conference and her fiancé's parents of his dead wife are staying at her house to see whether she'll be a good step mom for Brianna.  And her friend Georgia, who helped her get the job with Luxor, will be staying with her through the weekend conference.

She hopes her work with Luxor will bring her salon more business, especially after she moves to her new location.  She's also hoping to gain more experience and possibly travel with them in the future to other conferences.

Luxor director Christine Parks isn't well-liked.  This is quickly evident to Marla as she gets to know the staff while setting up for the conference.  When Christine ends up dead from poison, Marla begins to suspect everyone and works at trying to uncover the truth.  Unfortunately there is another death.  Can Marla discover the identity of the killer without putting herself and others in danger?  Can she get through this week with Dalton's ex-in-laws in her house?

I really enjoy this series.  Marla is such a fun character.  She just can't keep herself from sleuthing.  Dalton isn't the investigator in this mystery, but he still provides some needed data for Marla to unravel the mystery.  I also like the Florida setting.  

The author has done a great job of creating the characters and plotting the story.  And there are plenty of red herrings and twists so that you aren't sure until the killer is revealed who did it.  I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

Saddled with Trouble by Michele Scott

Review by Dawn Dowdle

Michaela Bancroft is a horse trainer in California.  Her husband is divorcing her for a younger woman with whom he had an affair.  To top it all off, Michaela finds her Uncle Lou murdered when he didn't show up for their breakfast meeting.  Who could have done such a thing? 

Soon Michaela is embroiled in finding the killer.  Plus her aunt asks her to look into a problem with the artificial insemination program her uncle was running for horses.   

Michaela isn't sure who to trust any more.  The more she looks into things, the more she realizes who had possible motives. 

Her father has gotten himself into big trouble with gambling.  Michaela works to help him get out of trouble without losing the family ranch. 

Can she figure out who killed her uncle without putting herself in danger? 

I really enjoyed this book.  You don't have to be a horse lover to enjoy it.  It is so well written.  It is a great cozy and you'll find yourself picking it back up constantly to finish it. 

There are so many wonderful red herrings that it will keep you guessing until the end.   Terrific plot and characters really add to the reading experience.  I highly recommend this book.

The Oxygen Murder by Camille Minichino

Review by Dawn Dowdle  

Gloria Lamerino, a retired physicist, and her fiancé, Homicide Detective Matt Gennaro, head to New York City for a vacation with their best friends Rose and Frank Galigani before Christmas.  They plan to visit Matt's niece Lori Pizzano, a documentary filmmaker.  Rose plans to shop and take in shows and to get Gloria to participate with her as much as possible.  Matt is there to attend an NYPD conference. 

Lori is doing a documentary on ozone and environmental issues.  When Gloria goes to her apartment, she stumbles over the body of her camerawoman, Amber Keenan.   

Later Gloria learns that Amber had been scheming, and there is an abundance of suspects.  Can Gloria enjoy her vacation while finding a killer?  And can she help Lori stay safe in the process? 

Before I read my first book in this series, I worried about it being full of science jargon.  It's not.  The author has done a great job of presenting needed information without taking you out of the story.  And all the technical data is in layman's terms. 

I really like Gloria and Matt.  They are a great couple with real problems and issues to deal with.  The New York location of this book adds to the story and provides great ambiance.  I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

Deadly Laws by Jim Michael Hansen

Review by Dawn Dowdle

Kayla Beck is a law student.  Life is going along well until she receives a strange phone call where the voice is distorted.  The caller tells her there's a woman being held in a box car, and she's the only one who can save her and only if she acts quickly and follows the directions exactly.  Kayla does so and is able to save Aspen White, but not before Aspen kills a man.  They become friends and pair up to try to find the serial killer who called Kayla. 

Denver Homicide Detective Bryson Coventry is called to the murder of a man in a box car.  Then later a law student is found dead by the tracks.  Bryson feels in his gut these cases are related, but he can't find what ties them together. 

Tracking down a car seen at the first crime scene, Bryson arrives at Kayla's apartment only to find Aspen White.  He is drawn to her because she is so beautiful, and they become involved. 

When more young women go missing and end up dead, Bryson realizes he is on the trail of a serial killer.  An FBI profiler, who is also Bryson's friend, comes to help with the case.  She's been tracking this guy for years.  What neither of them knows is that Kayla and Aspen are also looking for the same guy.  Can they find him before he kills again and without putting themselves in danger? 

I have to say this is one book you will have trouble putting down from page one.  The author has done a fabulous job of pulling the reader in and keeping them there.  He has a great knack at switching from one part of the story to another at just the right time.  He will keep you wondering what is going on until the last page.  There are lots of twists and turns and suspense. 

This is the first book I've read by this author.  I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more.  I highly recommend this book!  Just remember, start it when you have lots of time to read. You won't be able to put it down! 

Dry Ice by Stephen White

Review by Gloria Feit

 

Stephen White's newest thriller is all about secrets:    "We choose secrecy at some point in our lives—presumably it makes sense to us at the time—and we protect the secrecy through the phases that follow.  Do the facts truly remain dangerous later on?  Worthy of all the subterfuge?  Or does the existence of the secrecy become the real danger requiring protection?... Secrets aren't secrets.   They're just hidden treasures, waiting to be exploited."  Alan Gregory, the Colorado psychologist, returns as the protagonist in this wonderful series.  A ghost from his past ha s come back to haunt him, a brilliant, vindictive and seriously disturbed killer who, in Privileged Information, the first book in the series, was his patient before being sentenced to an indeterminate period in a State mental hospital until such time as he is found competent to stand trial.  Now, fifteen years later, he has escaped, and Dr. Gregory's life will be profoundly affected.  A seemingly innocuous enough incident, a patient noticing a woman's purse lying outside the window of his office, triggers a series of events that will put his life, both personally and professionally, in peril.

 

The trademark suspense of Mr. White's books is present here along with a fascinating tale of the price we all pay for the secrets we keep from even our closest friends and loved ones, and the implicit issue of trust that is involved.  The Colorado setting and the characters, dialogue and plot keep the reader involved right through to the end of this gripping novel.

In Dublin's Fair City by Rhys Bowen

Review by Theodore Feit

 

Molly Murphy fled Ireland two years before, fearful of arrest for the murder of her employer's son.  She came to New York City in 1909, made friends, met Captain Dan Sullivan of the police department in a somewhat romantic way and opened a detective agency.  So much for the backstory from the previous five novels in the serires. 

 

In this book she meets a rich show producer at a party atop the original Madison Square Garden.  He offers her an assignment to return to Ireland to discover whether his baby sister, left behind because she was ill when the family fled the Emerald Isle during the potato famine, survived.  The producer is a very rich man with no real heirs, and his finding her would benefit the sister if she still exists.

 

With trepidation, Molly accepts the job.  However, as she puts it: she doesn't seek trouble, but it has a way of finding her.  And it does.  Molly begins her assignment with a second class passage on a transatlantic steamer.  Before she can even unpack, she is summoned to the first class cabin of a famous actress, who she also met at the party, asking her to switch cabins and identities, including a maid, so the actress could avoid attention.  On the last day of the voyage, Molly discovers the maid dead in "her" bed, suffocated.  Suspicion is cast on Molly when it is found the actress left the ship before it departed, leaving five trunks behind. < /P>

 

Upon arriving in Ireland, Molly finds the trunks in her hotel room.  She begins her investigation and learns the young girl she seeks indeed survived, but each lead turns out to be a dead end.   Meanwhile she receives instructions to forward the trunks to a hotel in Dublin, where Molly eventually visits.  There she inspects the trunks and sees rifles, presumably for the Irish Brotherhood.   At this point the plot becomes complicated.  When a few men come to remove the trunks, one of them is Molly's brother.  Because of her recognition of him as he flees, she i s kidnapped by the Brotherhood and learns that her older brother is in jail awaiting execution.  Molly volunteers to assist the Brotherhood in attacking the jail in the hopes of freeing her brother and other prisoners.   Meanwhile she is being stalked by someone for some unknown purpose.  And she still fears the police suspect her of various crimes.  It all comes to an exciting end, perhaps the most unusual in the series, and one you shouldn't miss.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

Review by Theodore Feit

In this debut novel, the author has created a far-out ghost story which creates wonder and suspense.  It may not be a book for everyone, but those who enjoy the genre certainly will eat it up.  Jude Coyne (nee Justin Cowzynski), a 54-year-old rock star, collects all kinds of weird things—a hangman's noose, a cookbook for cannibals, a 300-year-old confession from a witch, a Mexican snuff film.  Then one day, his assistant tells him of an offer on an auction site: the suit of a dead man and his ghost to go with it.  Jude offers $1,000 and snares the bizarre item.

And that's when the tale takes off.  The ghost is the hypnotist-stepfather of a girlfriend who Jude discarded, and she supposedly committed suicide as a result.  The ghost is sent by her sister in an act of revenge and the trials and tribulations mount as the ghost attempts to convince Jude to kill his present girlfriend and then himself, and Jude and his current paramour try to get rid of their nemesis.

The idea and theme of the book is certainly original and will keep the reader on edge throughout—if he or she is up to the terror and eerie goings-on.  The novel raises the emotions and tingles the nerves.
 

Let There Be Suspects by Emilie Richards

Review by Dawn Dowdle

It's almost Christmas, and Aggie Sloan-Wilcox's mom, June, and sisters, Sid and Vel, arrive for a holiday family reunion.  Only Aggie arrives with their former foster sister Ginger.  Ginger and Sid get along like vinegar and water.  Ginger is very manipulative and controlling while coming off as sweet to those who don't know her so well.  Unfortunately June has always seen the sweet side of her.  Sid has been Ginger's victim too many times to see the sweet side. 

Sid and Ginger's rivalry surfaces immediately, and when Ginger turns up dead, Sid is the logical suspect.  Aggie knows Sid couldn't have killed her, so she sets out to find the real murderer before the police arrest Sid.  Can she do so without putting herself or her family in danger?  And without putting her husband's position in jeopardy? 

Aggie is a fun character.  The fact that she is a pastor's wife really adds to her sleuthing.  Her family and all their quirks really adds to the story.  Often families get lost in the story as the mother sleuths.  Not so in this series.   And the sub-plots don't detract from the story at all.  In fact they enhance it and make it a well crafted mystery with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing to the end.   I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

Poison Pen by Sheila Lowe

Review by Gloria Feit

 

The body of Lindsey Alexander is found in her LA-area penthouse apartment, in her bathtub Jacuzzi, with what appears to be a suicide note beside the tub.  Ivan Novak, her close friend and business manager, asks Claudia Rose, a noted handwriting analyst frequently called in by the police, among others, for her expert assistance, to examine the note [not trusting the police to have done a proper job] to prove, or disprove, that it was indeed Lindsey's handwriting.  The note consists of six words, not a whole lot to work with.  There is no lacking for suspects:  Lindsey was a woman who made enemies with ease, and at one point Claudia thinks, "Maybe the world is better off without someone who made a career of hurting others."

 

At one point in time Lindsey, Claudia, and a third woman, Kelly Brennan, had been best friends.  Lindsey had been following the same path as Claudia in handwriting analysis, but had dropped out to forge a very successful career in public relations, with many high profile clients.  But her sadistic propensities had caused Claudia and Kelly to have maintained only the most superficial contact with Lindsey for at least the past ten years.  Now, with events indicating Kelly may become a suspect in what is increasingly believed to have been Lindsey's murder, and beyond authenticating the 'suicide note,' Claudia determines that "she would have to do everything within her ability to uncover the truth."  She also comes to realize that "personal acquaintances make the worst clients."

 

The resulting tale is fast-paced and filled with interesting tidbits on graphology [handwriting analysis], one that the author is well-placed to do since that has been her profession for over thirty-five years, having authored books on the subject and testified in court as a forensic handwriting expert.

 

I must admit to having had a problem when Claudia, before the police arrive, takes two items from a crime scene that might be crucial evidence, even given her determination to get to the truth; admittedly the author makes her 'theft' integral to that part of the plot, but it seemed like something someone that sophisticated wouldn't have done.  Other instances stretch credulity as well, as when Claudia puts herself in harm's way on more than one occasion.  That aside, Poison Pen is a good read, and one that I enjoyed.

Trouble by Jesse Kellerman

Review by Gloria Feit

Jonah is a third-year medical student at a New York City teaching hospital, over-worked and stressed out.  One night, having run out of the hospital on a personal errand, he hears a woman's scream, and comes upon what appears to be a murder in progress.  He instinctively intervenes, and the knife-wielding attacker is killed.  The woman, he later finds, has survived with nothing worse than sixty-two stitches.   Nine days later she shows up in his apartment.  They go for a couple of drinks; he is attracted to her, but the evening ends with his failing to get her phone number.  Then, soon after, she appears behind him in a downtown book store and goes back to his apartment with him.   They start seeing each other every day, and what begins as an exciting, intensely sexual relationship becomes something much darker, as implied by the book's title, but so much worse than merely that.

 

The author is, at this point in his career [this is his second novel, following "Sunstroke"], known primarily as the son of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, but now coming into his own with this book.  I had a couple of problems with it, specifically, the writing style, which at times seemed jumpy [for lack of a better word].  Similarly, I found it unsettling and a bit disorienting to read about characters whose identities are not made clear, e.g., when it's discovered that one character, Hannah, is the daughter of someone first mentioned a few pages back but not identified at the time and then, a bit further on, someone else who's been a presence in the novel is identified as being her father.  The use of adjectives such as "normative," "japanned," "acidulated," "bactrian," "gravid," "eructing" and "plastinated," and something described as being a "panjandrum" had me thinking I'd better have a dictionary beside me.  The main characters' surnames, somewhat self-consciously, are "Stem," "like a plant, the root of all goodness, the benevolent earth god," [originally Stein], and "Gones" [originally Jones but misspelled at some point in time and still pronounced "Jones"]   All of which serves to pique the interest while at the same time pulling this reader briefly out of the story.  But these things occur early in the book, and as a whole, this is a fascinating and original story, which I must admit at times had me wanting to look away as when one passes the scene of an accident, horrified but needing to see what happens next, and it's got a shocker of an ending.

Death on the Nevskii Prospekt by David Dickinson

Review by Theodore Feit 

Lord Powerscourt, as he recovered from a near fatal wound two years before, was convinced by his wife, Lady Lucy, to retire as an investigator.  Now, in the year 1904 he is coaxed out of retirement to undertake a secret mission to St. Petersburg on behalf of the British Foreign Office to learn the details of the death of a diplomat who himself was on a secret mission to the Russian capital.

The plot revolves around a secret presumably known by the murdered man, but which is unknown to everyone but King Edward.  Powerscourt becomes involved with the Russian secret intelligence service head who also wants to know the secret, among others.  He witnesses the bloody massacre of workers at a peasant demonstration, the torture chambers of the secret police, and is even subjected to whipping by the palace intelligence service after he meets with the Tsar.

In the end, Powerscourt applies logic to unlock the mystery of the diplomat's death, but not before the author takes us on a vast tour of the pre-revolutionary era, the royal family and even Rasputin as he enters the picture.   It is a tale well told and worth reading.  The real question is: was this Powerscourt's last investigation, and will he finally retire for good?

Recommended.

Trap Door by Sarah Graves

Review by Gloria Feit

Jacobia ["Jake"] Tiptree, her two dogs, her cat, and her best friend, Ellie, are back, as is Jake's ex-husband's ghost.

Uncharacteristically for this series [if memory serves], the "bad guy" in Sarah Graves' newest Home Repair is Homicide mystery, is a paid assassin, Walter Henderson.  But the murder he is planning on page 1 of "Trap Door" is personal, not professional.  Despite his planned retirement from a "long, successful career of killing people for money," and but for one loose end he still has to tie up, he's now decided that the only way to get rid of the punk who has charmed his beloved teenage daughter is by the means he knows best.  But it seems that the boy has saved him the trouble, for Walter finds his body hanging below the trap door of the loft in Walter's barn.  Is it really the suicide it appears to be?  Al though I was skeptical that a couple of tiny threads of fabric stuck on a hangnail of the victim's hand would really warrant such a suspicion; but maybe that's just me.

But back to that loose end, who turns out to be a wiseguy, Jemmy Wechsler, Jake's friend from her former life as money manager to the mob.  Jemmy knows Walter plans to kill him, and calls in a favor by asking Jake to let him hide out in her cottage in Eastport, Maine, where Walter also lives.  The spotlight turned on Walter by the body found in his barn, though, is certainly a complicating factor, from anyone's point of view.

The trademark home repair tips that preface every chapter but the first, as in the preceding books in the series, are always interesting and practical.  There are poignant thoughts of mothers of teenage sons over whom they have little if any control.  The final scene is the always satisfying gather-all-the-suspects-in-one-room-and-identify-the-killer, though somewhat implausible in this instance.

Eastport, Maine, where the author as well as her protagonist make their home, is on an island a few miles off the coast of Maine [although hopefully the author's home is sans ghost, ex-husband or otherwise], and is beautifully depicted, and the book is as charming as its protagonist.

A Case of Two Cities by Qiu Xiaolong

Review by Gloria Feit 

Inspector Chen is caught up in the web of inscrutable Chinese politics.  He is appointed to investigate corruption by a high official of the party, and given a blank check for authority.  The investigation involves an individual and his family who have fled to the United States, but may also involve many party cadres, bureaucrats and others.

How to proceed against the institutionalized Chinese system?  Chen wends his way alone seeking leads from various sources.  One of them is raped and murdered before giving him information.  As he begins to learn more, he is suddenly appointed chairman of a literary delegation leaving for Los Angeles in a couple of days.  Was the appointment an effort to sidetrack the investigation, or really deserved (after all he is a respected poet and translator)?

Before leaving on his new mission, Chen deputizes his assistant to carry on the investigation in Shanghai.   In the United States, Chen continues his efforts and gains assistance from U.S. Marshall Catherine Rhon, with whom he previously worked in Shanghai.

Like its predecessors in the series, this novel provides deep insights into contemporary China, while giving the reader a crime story that is compelling.

Recommended.

All's Well That Ends by Gillian Roberts

Review by Gloria Feit 

I opened Gillian Roberts' new book with conflicting feelings:  Happy anticipation at again entering the world of Amanda Pepper, Philadelphia high school English teacher and investigator-in-training, but dismay at the knowledge that this is the last of the 14 books in the series.

Amanda is asked by her friend, Sasha, to look into the death of her stepmother, whose body Sasha had discovered, her death apparently caused by a lethal combination of alcohol and sleeping pills.  The fact that the woman was dressed for an evening out or at least one entertaining a guest, her outfit complete with 4" stiletto heels, is enough of a reason for her to be convinced it could not have been suicide, and she persuades Amanda to help her prove it.    The stepmother had been married five times--divorced four times, widowed most recently--and had one son, described as worthless and uninterested, his only virtue being that he lived far away from his mother.  But no immediate suspects are apparent.  Amanda's husband, a licensed investiga tor and former homicide cop, now attending grad school, is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which has devastated the lives of his parents and other relatives, and is not sympathetic to the task.  But then Amanda and Sasha discover a second body, in the same house.  And now the investigation begins in earnest.

The wit, literary allusions and interesting plot make All's Well That Ends among the best of the novels Ms. Roberts has written.  The ending is a satisfying one.  Amanda will be missed, but who knows what new sleuth this author has in store for her many fans? 
 

The Watchman by Robert Crais

Review by Gloria Feit 

Robert Crais plunges the reader into the action from the first pages of The Watchman.  In a well-plotted novel which brings the welcome return of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, the book reverses their usual roles, with Cole, the p.i. who calls himself the World's Greatest Detective, playing back-up to Pike, ex-cop and former mercenary, who has been hired to protect a 22-year-old girl who is in Witness Protection before an impending grand jury investigation.  The body count starts to mount early and rapidly.  Joe Pike is on the case, and Robert Crais fans will be pleased.  Several attempts are made on the life of the girl [a Paris Hilton-type rich girl, described as the 'classic LA wild child'], three before Pike is hired and two more in the first 24 hours since, and then the bad guys come after Pike.

Mr. Crais has in this novel has somewhat self-consciously given the reader insight into what makes Pike, variously described here as a "monster" and a man whose skills include the ability to rise "with the slowness of melting ice," tick.  He is, as always, enigmatic [though a bit less so in this book, with background details filled in this time], self-sufficient, but then again, classic Joe Pike.

The book is set for the most part in Southern California, including the Echo Park area most recently inhabited by Michael Connelly, an author with whose writing Mr. Crais' is frequently compared, not without reason.  My overriding thought as the book got closer to the suspense-filled conclusion:  This just keeps getting better.

Recommended.
 

Sinners and Saints by Eileen Dryer

Review by Diana Bane

Chastity Byrne, a forensic nurse, goes to New Orleans looking for her missing
sister and finds a whole lot of trouble instead, including a hurricane named
Bob that looms over and haunts the city as it grows ever larger and closer.

Eileen Dryer, a forensic nurse who writes suspense novels, went to New
Orleans and found a whole lot of trouble, including a hurricane named Katrina. The
hardcover debut of Sinners and Saints happened just a few days before Katrina
struck. Sometimes real life is not just stranger, it's worse than fiction. A
whole lot worse.

Reading Dryer's book in paperback now makes for a poignant experience,
because the atmosphere of New Orleans, as it was before Katrina, permeates every
scene. Though "innocent" is not an adjective one would normally ever apply to New
Orleans, a kind of innocence seems to hang over these characters as they go
about their fictional business, not having a clue how bad a hurricane can be.
The main character, Chastity Byrnes, who hails from St. Louis, roams from the
French Quarter out to the bayous and back, from cemeteries to Gallatoire's,
from one vividly described scene to another. Most of the time she's in the
company of a former fireman called James who turned cab driver after being burned
down one side of his body. Chastity is a feisty survivor of a family that is
beyond dysfunctional -- the family secrets emerge as Chastity's search
progresses, and they are horrendous. She is an engaging character who becomes moreso
with each revelation. Her sidekick and fellow forensic nurse, Kareena, is a
hoot, with a mind like a razor.  The more these three uncover, the more there
seems yet to be discovered -- and all this time the police are not idle either.
Just to make things more complicated there's the pending Hurricane Bob, and the
fact that Chastity is frightened to her very soul of water.  Eventually we
find out the very good reason why.

I hope that many, many people will read this book, not just because it
deserves to be read for its story alone, but also because with a year's distance
from Katrina, the reality of that tragedy now enhances the book in a way that is
almost eerie. One need only think of a heroine frightened by water, juxtaposed
against our memory of the flooding that we all saw on our tv sets, to
understand just how much courage it takes for the fictional Chastity to remain in New
Orleans for her sister's sake although she knows that the hurricane is
coming. We want to yell "Heads-up, woman!" at Kareena, who can't quite believe the
hurricane will really hit -- and she's a trauma nurse at the city's biggest
hospital for its poorest people. And there is more that resonates in this way,
much more than I can tell in a review. Read Sinners and Saints for yourself.
You won't be sorry.

The Interpretation of Murder by Jeb Rubenfeld

Review by Claire McManus
 
The Interpretation of Murder was our book club's reading choice for January.  We'd taken a couple of months off for the holidays, and several of us had put this book on our Christmas wish lists!   Which made it the perfect book for January.
 
The set-up of the story is very intriguing indeed.  This is a historic murder mystery based on true events.   Sigmund Freud visited the United States only once and never returned.  He had apparently taken quite a dislike to America while he was here, and when he returned to Europe he referred to Americans as "savages."  In The Interpretation of Murder, the author creates a story to explain Freud's perceptions.
 
In a nutshell, it's New York City, c. 1909, and a beautiful out-of-towner has been murdered in an upscale apartment building called the Balmoral (based on a famous NYC building called the Ansonia).  The murder coincides with Freud's first trip to America to deliver a lecture at Clark College.  Dr. Stratham Younger, a burgeoning Freudian, is called in to psychoanalyze the murderer's second victim, who managed to escape.  
 
It is a very intriguing set-up, and one that piqued all of our interest.  But the book is not an unqualified success.
 
First, the pros.  The author has done an excellent job with his research.   Many of the details of New York City are very well done, including details about high society at the time (the feud between the Vanderbilts and the Astors).  We all enjoyed the details about the mechanical feats of engineering that allowed the Manhattan Bridge to be built.  We also liked the details about Gramercy Park (one of us used to live in that neighborhood).
 
But now the cons.  While some of us thought the book moved along at a nice clip, most of us felt it was plodding, with too many things going on.   The author is given to lengthy explanations of things like Shakespearean drama and the inner workings of Freudian theory, which lead to a sort of textbook feel.   The plot is pretty convoluted, with a bunch of red herrings and subplots that muddy the waters, including one to discredit Freud before he even gets to speak at the university.  Several of us had to read the resolution of the mystery several times to "get" it, and two of us gave up on trying to figure it all out.
 
There are some other disappointments, too.  Most of us had been under the impression that Freud himself would be actively investigating the mystery—that's not the case.   He's more of an advisor to Dr. Stratham Younger, who isn't very interesting as a narrator.  The narration keeps switching back and forth between first person and third, which can work (some of  us very much like books with multiple viewpoints) but in this case, it seemed like a mishmash.   The portrait of Carl Jung (who accompanied Freud on his trip to the U.S.) seemed really unfair.  None of us knew a tremendous amount about Jung, but the portrait of him in the book seems negative in the extreme (though the author says in his afterword that his fictional recreations of Freud and Jung are based on extensive research, which we didn't doubt).  
 
The characters are sort of lifeless, too—no real flesh and blood there, not even the narrator.  But the biggest problem we thought was the way the book reads.   Freudian psychology has receded quite a bit…it's no longer what's going on in the field of psychology today, which is becoming increasingly focused on the brain and biochemistry.   The Interpretation of Murder makes it seem as if Freudian psychology has been the salvation of the field, but we know that it really hasn't been (even though its influence of course cannot be denied).   Now we may be wrong about this (none of us are psychologists or trained in that area) but even a casual reading of the popular press tells the common reader that it's all about biopsychology these days, not the Oedipus Complex.   So the book feels like much ado about nothing…almost like a historical footnote that is out of touch.
 
Overall, I can't say that we disliked or hated the book, but many were disappointed in it and felt it did not live up to the hype.   We took away from it a sense that the author really does love NYC and did a great job on the research.  But as a mystery it leaves a lot to be desired, and in terms of suspense—it's almost nonexistent.   Several of us finished it out of a sense of obligation, not because we wanted to.  All told, not one of our favorite books, but to be fair, we are just a small group of people and others may love it.   There is a publisher's website set up for the book if anyone is interested: www.interpretationofmurder.com <http://www.interpretationofmurder.com/> .

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror by John Mortimer

Review by Gloria Feit 

John Mortimer has, to the delight of his fans, brought back Rumpole of the Bailey, self-described as having a 'slightly raffish air…, a little tarnished, jovial but not quite respectable.'  In a case very much of the times, Rumpole is called upon to defend a man who has been picked up by the police and detained, without benefit of counsel, or even of formal charges having been brought.  To make matters worse, the man, a doctor, is a Pakistani, and most make an assumption of guilt on his part, including She Who Must Be Obeyed, Rumpole's wife, Hilda.  And the laws, and the Courts, have changed – he is told "That's the trouble with your sort of lawyer, Mr. Rumpole.  You can't move with the times.  Things like jury trials and the presumption of innocence may have been all very well in their day.  But times change.  History moves on."  Rumpole despairs of adherence to things like the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights any longer.  But being Rumpole, he knows he must find a way despite it all.

Even more frightening to him than the abridgement of civil rights in the name of fighting terror, Rumpole must deal with the fact that his beloved wife has started writing her memoirs, to parts of which the reader is made privy in these pages.  Utterly charming, as is this novel.  Recommended.

Well Bred and Dead by Catherine O'Connell

Review by Gloria Feit 

 

The first page of Well Bred and Dead, Catherine O'Connell's second published novel, had this reader intrigued, describing as it does our protagonist, Pauline Cook, gagged and bound on her bed in the luxurious penthouse apartment on the Gold Coast of Chicago, her captors having left her to die.  Pauline, described as a "devastatingly elegant and wealthy widow,'' [although known to very few to be in much more straitened circumstances just lately], can trace her current predicament to her close friendship with Ethan Campbell, a social columnist and author of biographies of famous socialites, and the fact of his shocking death, an apparent suicide.  Pauline was the one who discovered the body and has now had to pay for his funeral when no close relatives can be found.  Pauline soon finds that there was much sh e didn't know about Ethan, her best friend for over five years, including perhaps his real identify when multiple birth certificates are found among his things.  As Pauline says, it is incredible "how little we know those we think we know best."  The mystery only intensifies as her investigation gleans some further tidbits of information, which only leads to further efforts to get to the truth.

 

The writing is for the most part light-hearted, witty and fast-paced, the view afforded by the author into the world of the social elite is a wry and interesting one, though it is almost by definition a superficial vista.  Some of the attitudes are mildly offensive, but these are reflective of the times and strata.  And then, of course, we get to the harrowing scene described in the prologue, and its aftermath, and Pauline has to find a way not to become one who is, um, well bred and dead.  A quick and enjoyable read.

 

Sight Unseen by Robert Goddard

Review by Theodore Feit

 

In this highly readable novel, David Umber is caught up in a web of intrigue that so complicates his life that he just drifts away into oblivion from a promising career as an historian.  He is working on his PhD on an obscure topic—the Junius Letters—written in the 1700s by an unidentified person critical of the King, when he is promised a look at a rare edition of the bound volumes prepared for the author.   He is to meet the person in Avebury, but instead is witness to the kidnapping pf a two-year-old girl and the hit-and-run murder of her sister.

 

As a result of the tragedy, David befriends the nanny who was in charge of the children, ultimately marrying her.  They leave England, but his wife never really recovers from the incident, and leaves him when she discovers a clue as to the identity of the missing child years later.  She is then found electrocuted in her bathtub in England, while David is shilling away his days in Prague, living from hand to mouth.

 

A retired detective, originally on the case, seeks Umber out and convinces him to assist in investigating the truth of the incident, even though a convicted sex offender had confessed to the kidnapping.  Soon after, the confessor is murdered in prison.  Their efforts proceed, and the theory arises that David's wife also was murdered.   The trail leads to Jersey, where the little girl's father, now remarried, and her brother now live. The detective is framed and placed in jail for drug smuggling and the brother commits suicide.

 

Meanwhile, David identifies the missing girl, now in her twenties, when he accidentally discovers the clue that sent his wife off on her quest.  [None of this constitutes a spoiler, BTW—reference to much of it is to be found on the back outside cover.]  The Junius volumes play a key role in the mystery, and David's expertise is essential in unraveling the mystery.   The twists at each phase of the story keep the reader on edge.  And the denouement is so wholly unexpected that the reader is left in awe.  Highly recommended.

Sinners and Saints by Eileen Dreyer

Review by Gloria Feit

 

In what can only be described as prescience, Eileen Dreyer's Sinners and Saints takes place in a New Orleans that is bracing for a hurricane, what would be the earliest ever to hit that City.   The book was published days before New Orleans was struck by Hurricane Katrina, a devastating event from which it is still trying to recover, and it was obviously written much earlier than that.  Reading it now is an erie experience. 

 

Chastity Byrnes is a 26-year-old former trauma nurse in St. Louis, now "one of two new forensic nurse liaisons at St. Michael's, her job being not only to save patients, but preserve any viable forensic evidence that might prove a possible criminal or civil case.  She made sure abuse victims didn't fall through the cracks, rape victims got better treatment from the hospital than they did from their attackers, and unknown patients were identified.  She helped police and hospital personnel work more efficiently together."  And she needs to call upon all of those skills when she receives a call one day from a brother-in-law she didn't even know she had, the husband of a sister she had had no contact with for ten years, ever since the day that sister and their mother left their home without a word.  She is told her sister has gone missing, and five days later finds herself in New Orleans, having agreed to try to help in the search for her sister, Faith.  (The third sister was called "Hope.")  Chastity is the survivor of an unspeakably horrendous abusive childhood (her accusations against her father having resulted in his incarceration), the effects of which have barely diminished over the years.  She finds she has to "protect herself from old sins and older secrets."  Each time she thinks she knows all of the secrets, she finds more are yet to be unearthed.

 

The writing is wonderfully evocative, most strikingly in its descriptions of New Orleans.  On Jackson Square: "Chastity stopped at the edge of the square, enchanted.   She wasn't really a mystical person.  She'd given up her faith with her virginity, long before she could comprehend either.  If she could, though, she thought, she might look for it again here in the dark, where the trees dripped shadows and the church bells tolled into the night.  Where usually raucous voices quieted to a murmur, and the only real lights were the candles that flickered on the psychics' tables.  If there was magic, she thought, it was here."  The ominous presence of the impending storm is a living, breathing thing - one cannot help but feel the winds and the lashing waters that surround Chastity throughout the novel, embodying her worst nightmare from the scarred days of her nightmare-filled world from her earliest memories.  The suspense builds as Chastity continues her search.  People to whom she speaks are killed, and her own life is in danger.   Chastity and her friends, Kareena, a New Orleans nurse who helps her, and Kareena's cousin, James, a survivor himself although of entirely different circumstances, a cabdriver who Chastity hires as a chauffeur, among other things, are terrific creations.  Recommended.

Plum Lovin' by Janet Evanovich

Review by Theodore Feit 
 

Yenta the Matchmaker has nothing on Stephanie Plum, who in this short novel trades in her bounty hunting skills for making four couples a great Valentine's Day.  The reason is that the mysterious Diesel (as opposed to the mysterious Ranger) shows up unexpectedly offering her a deal: in exchange for Stephanie playing matchmaker, he'll trade Annie Hart, a relationship expert who skipped out on her bail bond for armed robbery.

 

With Valentine's Day only a few days away, Stephanie has her work cut out for her.  A series of amusing situations arise, and she has to apply lots of ingenuity to solving the problems, not the least of which is that of a gangster who has captured Annie.

 

The story is somewhat different than others in the series, but, after all, it is a Valentine's Day saga rather than a light-hearted mystery novel.  Of course, it is equal in quality to the preceding entries in the series, a fast read and kind of cute.

The Rex Stout Reader with Introduction by Otto Penzler

Review by Theodore Feit

 

Nero Wolfe fans beware:  this volume contains two novels and a short story that preceded Rex Stout's creation of the armchair detective.  Her Forbidden Knight, Stout's first novel, was serialized in 1913, and not published in book form until 1997.  A Prize for Princes, his third, was serialized in 1914 and published in book form in 1985.  It wasn't till 1934 that Nero Wolfe was born, but not before Stout had authored other novels, honing his craft.

 

The two novels in this volume are a product of the times, heavily influenced by 19^th century writing and the demands of the reading public of the times.  Much of the writing, by modern comparison, could be called stilted, but it is in keeping with the style of the publication, and characters and story lines.

 

Forbidden Knight follows the fortunes of a pretty telegraph operator in a New York City hotel under the "protection" of several hangers-on in the lobby.  She falls in love with a stranger who is under a cloud in his hometown and is passing bogus currency in the Big Apple.  It is more of a romance than a crime story.

 

Prize, while full of romance, comes with murder and mystery and intrigue.  A young American rescues two women amid a brutal Turkish assault on a convent and falls in love with one, a beautiful but dangerous woman who is accused of poisoning her husband, unbeknownst to him.  She schemes and plots to rise to marry the Prince of Marisi, poisoning two others along the way.

 

The short story, Out of the Line, is more modern and is a tale of pathos.  A bored woman, widow of a rich man to whom she was married for seven years, celebrates her birthday by giving money to homeless men on lower Broadway.  One of the men is a former lover who she presumably wronged.  Invited to visit her, he rejects her in no uncertain terms.

 

It was interesting reading Stout's early works even if it does not appeal to the modern eye.  As a forerunner of his later accomplishments, the novels and short story certainly are indicative of what was yet to come.   If only for that reason they are worth reading.  But there is another: they are well-written and enjoyable.

Pegasus Descending by James Lee Burke

Review by Gloria Feit

 

Pegasus Descending opens with a recounting of Dave Robicheaux' time in an exchange program between the New Orleans Police Dept. and a training academy for police cadets in South Florida, where his hours are divided between the homicide unit at the Miami P.D. and a criminal justice class at a community college a bit further north.  That was in his drinking days, when most of his down-time was spent in bars.  He says of those with whom he spent that time:  "Most of them drank with a self-deprecating resignation and long ago had given up rationalizing the lives they led, I suspect allowing themselves a certain degree of peace."  He tries to go on the wagon, but finds himself back in the bar, pretending "once ag ain I could drop lighted matches in a gas tank without consequence."  One of his few friends among the regular bar customers is a young man names Dallas Klein, a highly decorated Vietnam war hero who works for an armored car company, with a 6-year-old daughter and an addiction to gambling.  One afternoon when Dave is, as usual, seriously drunk, Dallas, his best friend, is gunned down in an armored car holdup/bank robbery in front of Dave, and the moment has haunted him ever since.

 

Fast forward two decades.   Dave has long since been sober, having joined AA shortly after the bank robbery, the perpetrators of which were never caught.  He has left New Orleans and returned to New Iberia, and is a detective with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Department.  When he is called out to investigate a relatively minor incident involving possibly stolen money, the woman in possession of the bills turns out to be Trish Klein, Dallas' daughter.  The more Dave discovers about Trish, the less sure he is of anything about her.  What is he to make of her friends, who strike him "like people who met at a bus depot and decide to live together?"   And he must determine what, if any, connection she had with the apparent suicide of a local girl, described as "young and beautiful and full of promise," whose body is discovered the same day Dave first meets Trish.  As the author says, crediting Faulkner with the line, "the past is not only still with us, it is not even the past."  Pegasus Descending is full of surprises, passion, tragedy and fascinating characters, including, as usual in the series, Dave's old NOPD partner, Clete Purcel, and Helen Soileau, now the Sheriff.  It is well-plotted, with wonderful prose and.a setting lovingly, nostalgically  and wonderfully evoked.  In short, it is everything we have come to expect from this author, and is recommended.

Death of a Maid by M. C. Beaton

Review by Theodore Feit   

The customary elements of this long-standing wonderful series remain in place: Constable Hamish Macbeth's romantic life remains in flux, he is content to solve crimes in the little fishing village of Lochdubh in the Scottish Highlands but give credit to anyone else because he doesn't want a promotion and wants to remain there with his dog and tamed wild cat.

 

In this case, a cleaning woman famous for gossiping and fairly poor work is discovere