The following reviews are exclusive to our Web site, and most (if not all) will not appear in the printed version of Mystery News. We hope you enjoy them, and we thank our contributors for allowing us to share them with you on www.blackravenpress.com. Click here to return to the Mystery News home page. If you enjoy reading these, you probably would enjoy reading Mystery News each month. Click here for subscription information or click here for information on back issue/single issue purchases. (Most recent update: 7 September 2003)

Dr. Nightingale Follows a Canine Clue by Lydia Adamson - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
Aunt Dimity: Detective by Nancy Atherton - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
Hunting Season by Nevada Barr - reviewed by Diana Vickery
The Janus Deception by John F. Bayer - reviewed by Dick Saxe
Hot Dog by Laurien Berenson - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
A Short Life on a Sunny Isle by Hannah I. Blank - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
Fit to Die edited by Joan Boswell and Sue Pike - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
Red Dream by Victoria Brooks - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Queen of Ambition by Fiona Buckley - reviewed by Sally Fellows
He Sees You When You're Sleeping by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
The Killing Kind by John Connolly - reviewed by Reed Andrus
Hostage by Robert Crais - reviewed by Reed Andrus
Death of the Party by Catherine Dain - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
Black Sunshine by S.V. Date - reviewed by Gayle Wedgwood
One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Dying for a Change by Kathleen Delaney - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Corpse Candle by P.C. Doherty- reviewed by Sally Fellows
The Mask of Ra by P.C. Doherty - reviewed by Virginia R. Knight
Safe Beginnings by Christine Duncan - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
A Sunset Touch by Marjorie Eccles - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
The Company by Arabella Edge - reviewed by Dick Saxe
At Risk By Kit Ehrman - reviewed by Diana Vickery
Killing Paparazzi by Robert M. Eversz - reviewed by Angie Hogencamp
Sketches with Wolves by Jacqueline Fiedler - reviewed by Angie Hogencamp
Separation of Power by Vince Flynn - reviewed by John Leech
Fish, Blood and Bone by Leslie Forbes - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Fury by G.M. Ford - reviewed by Reed Andrus
Garden View by Mary Freeman - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
The Survivors Club by Lisa Gardner - reviewed by John Leech
Death of a Songbird by Christine Goff - reviewed by Leslie Doran
Save the Last Dance for Me by Ed Gorman - reviewed by Gary Warren Niebuhr
The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton - reviewed by Virginia R. Knight
An Eye for Murder by Libby Fischer Hellmann - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Death's Jest-book (A Dalziel and Pascoe Novel) by Reginald Hill - reviewed by John Leech
The Dead of Midnight by Catherine Hunter - reviewed by Diana Vickery
The Murder Book by Jonathan Kellerman - reviewed by Dick Saxe
Green Girls by Michael Kimball - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Dig Deep for Murder by Kate Kingsbury - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Blood Diamonds by Jon Land - reviewed by Dick Saxe
Dead Men Die by E. L. Larkin - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
Black Out by John Lawton - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Bad Connection by Michael Ledwidge - reviewed by Reed Andrus
Three to Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette - reviewed by John Leech
Overkill by Susan McBride - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
The Case of the Ripper's Revenge by Sam McCarver - reviewed by Reed Andrus
Atonement by Ian McEwan - reviewed by John Leech
Peaches and Screams by G. A. McKevett - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance by Larry Millett - reviewed by Dick Saxe
Death of a Mermaid by Wendy Howell Mills - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
Angel Fire by Lisa Miscione - reviewed by Gary Warren Niebuhr
Sea-Born Women by B.J. Mountford - reviewed by Sally Fellows
A Valley to Die For by Radine Trees Nehring - reviewed by Robyn Glazer
Thin Walls by Kris Nelscott - reviewed by Gary Warren Niebuhr
A Study in Lilac by Maria-Antonia Oliver - reviewed by James Clar
Advent of Dying by Carol Anne O'Marie - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
Four Blind Mice by James Patterson - reviewed by Dick Saxe
The Truth Hurts by Nancy Pickard - reviewed by Lisa Lundquist
Resurrection Men: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin OBE - reviewed by John Leech
The Music of the Spheres by Elizabeth Redfern - reviewed by Virginia R. Knight
The President's Weekend by David D. Reed - reviewed by Sally Fellows
The Cross-Legged Knight by Candace Robb - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Murder In Hollywood by Helen Rose - reviewed by Thomas McNulty
Winter and Night by S. J. Rozan - reviewed by Gary Warren Niebuhr
Private Justice by Richard Sand - reviewed by Dick Saxe
Death in the Dordogne by Louis Sanders - reviewed by Dick Saxe
The Valley of Jewels by Mary Saums - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Catilina's Riddle by Steven Saylor - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Sound Tracks by Marcia Simpson - reviewed by Leslie Doran
Morality for Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
December 6 by Martin Cruz Smith - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Dead Ringer by Charles Smithdeal - reviewed by John Leech
Dying to Meet You by Amy Talford - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Foreign Body by Kathleen Taylor - reviewed by Angie Hogencamp
A Tax Deductible Death by Malinda Terreri - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks
The Lions of Lucerne by Brad Thor - reviewed by Dick Saxe
Pilikia Is My Business by Mark Troy - reviewed by Reed Andrus
Food, Drink, and the Female Sleuth by The Sisters Wells - reviewed by Beth Fedyn
Eclipse by Richard S. Wheeler - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Who Was the Man in the Iron Mask and other Historical Mysteries by Hugh Ross Williamson - reviewed by Sally Fellows
Sleep with the Fishes by Brian M.Wiprud - reviewed by Reed Andrus
Rex by Fred Yager - reviewed by Brenda Weeaks

 

Dr. Nightingale Follows a Canine Clue by Lydia Adamson
Signet Mystery $5.99
ISBN 0-451-20366-6 Paperback
July 2001
Amateur Sleuth

Dr. Deirdre Nightingale is surprised when her best friend Rose Vigdor leaves town without a word to anyone. Although she is surprised, she is not alarmed as Rose has always been very free-spirited. It is only when one of Deirdre's employees spots Rose's dog all alone in the area, does she get worried. Rose would never leave her dog, especially without food or water. As soon as Deirdre gets off work, she goes hunting to find the dog. When she finds the dog, that is not all she finds. The dog turns out to be guarding Rose's dead body. The police are brought in to investigate the matter but Deirdre isn't sure they know what they are talking about. The first thing they were able to tell Deirdre is that her best friend had more than one identity and the other identity that Rose had was on the run from the law. Deirdre can't believe this about the woman who she thought was her best friend. Deciding to look into the matter herself, Deirdre becomes embroiled in arson, murder and just plain evil.

Dr. Nightingale Follows a Canine Clue is rumored to be the last in the series. It certainly read as if it was the last one. While the characters were enjoyable, it felt as if the end was hastily thrown together. This is the first Deirdre book that I have read and I enjoyed it. I plan on looking for the ones earlier in the series because of the wonderful secondary characters. They were well developed and funny. This is a fun, light read.

Reviewed by: Robyn Glazer
Rating: 2.5 quills

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Aunt Dimity: Detective by Nancy Atherton
Viking Press, $22.95
ISBN 067003021X Hardcover
September 2001
Cozy

Nancy Atherton's Aunt Dimity: Detective is lucky number seven in a winning series known for its tradition of blending the conventional with the unconventional.

Lori is a wife, mother, and amateur sleuth. Her husband, Bill, is a lawyer who takes care of the European part of his family's law firm. They've just returned from a 3-month stay with Bill's family in Boston, and they are soooo happy to be back. Home in a honey-colored cottage in Cotswolds, England, in the small village of Finch is just where they want to be. Lori's twins can keep her busy, but she has the luxury of a nanny and is able to come and go as she pleases, which is vital if you sleuth as regularly as she does. Lori also has a little help from the woman who once owned the cottage, Dimity. The late Aunt Dimity communicates through a leather bound journal with blue pages. Her beautiful scrolled handwriting inspires Lori's directions and offers up some motivating deductions. When alone, Lori also leans on her pink flannel bunny, Reginald, who has been with her since birth-hence his proud place on every Aunt Dimity book cover.

Since they arrived home, the Vicar's wife has shown up asking Lori to entertain her nephew, Nicolas, while she and the Vicar go to the inquest of a recent murder case. This is surprising news to Lori because the last person murdered in Finch was in 1872 when one shepherd bashed another over the head with the hook of his crook! It seems a newcomer to Finch has been given the same treatment, only with a flowerpot. Prunella "Pruneface" Hooper was a troublemaking connoisseur, and no one regrets she's passed on. In fact, there seems to be a village effort in keeping the details of whodunit hush-hush. Could her love of gossip have been her downfall? What secrets could this newcomer have learned about any of the villagers that she died for them? And what kind of secret could any of these simple villagers have that would lead them to murder? Well, these are just the questions Lori plans to answer. As it turns out, the Vicar's nephew isn't a child, but a grownup, and he takes an interest in the murder and Lori when he discovers her interest is mysteries. Their close teamwork has the village buzzing.

Aunt Dimity is a delightful series full of likeable characters who make the plot more engaging as it moves along. Lori is far from flawless; in fact, it's a good thing the villagers are there to keep an eye on her marriage. Oh, sure, you have to suspend your disbelief when she communicates with the aunt, but it's all part of the charm of the series.

Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks
Rating: 4 quills

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Hunting Season by Nevada Barr
Berkley $6.99
ISBN 0-425-18878-7 Paperback
February 2003
Police Procedural

Anna Pigeon is a park ranger on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. When the "death do us part" vows at a wedding she's attending bring back memories of her husband's death years earlier, she's not all that unhappy to be beeped about a bizarre discovery. The nude body of Doyce Barnette has been found on park grounds in the restored plantation home, specifically on the bed in Grandma Polly's room. At the outset, it appears he's been involved in some kind of sexual activity that went awry, strangling him.

In addition to working with County Sheriff Clintus Jones to solve the murder, Ranger Pigeon has lots more on her plate: poachers for one. One of her deputies is distracted by his efforts to properly identify the bodies in the plantation's slave cemetery; another deputy is just plain hostile, unhappy working for a woman. And Ranger Pigeon is wondering where her relationship with a married Episcopal priest/law enforcement officer is headed. In addition, Doyce Burnette's brother Raymond is running for county sheriff against Jones and both Raymond and his rifle-toting mother are being evasive when questioned about the victim's activities, as are the Doyce's poker buddies.

Some mystery reading friends are big fans of Nevada Barr, but I had never read any of her books before Hunting Season. I really liked the character of Anna Pigeon-she seemed very realistic, as did her dialogue. The narrative seemed a bit wordy-Ms. Barr managed to use the words lugubrious and avuncular in one sentence-and at times that wordiness was a bit tedious.

Although the book was a pleasant enough read, but I didn't enjoy it enough to run out and buy all the earlier Anna Pigeon books. Not having read any others, I can't evaluate whether this was better or worse than others in the series.

Reviewed by: Diana Vickery
Rating: 3.5 quills

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The Janus Deception by John F. Bayer
Broadman & Holman, Publishers $12.99
ISBN 0-8054-2439-3 Paperback
July 2001
Thriller

Lt. Commander Jake Madsen, M.D. takes sick call during his two-week tour as a reservist at a Naval Support Base in Tennessee. When Jake discovers a mysterious implant in a soldier's chest he starts a chain of events that ultimately explains the obliteration of a village in Mexico and the mysterious deaths of soldiers around the world. The patient with the implant was one of a few in a secret file, the X File. When this patient is later murdered, Jake attends the autopsy where he and Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent Kaci Callihan find the implanted device has been stolen. As they attempt to discover why the soldier had to die, others also die, violently, and Jake and Kaci narrowly escape teams of skilled assassins. Finally, they find that the monster behind the murders is not a person but a technology created years before for a sinister purpose and now functioning on its own, with no regard for human emotions or actions.

The preceding information is not a spoiler. Everything is available on the book jacket copy. This does not diminish the suspense which begins with a gripping prologue and continues right on through an epilogue with an ominous surprise. The idea of machines taking over is frequently addressed in science fiction. (Remember the computer Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey?) Their sinister purpose in this story is a disappointment, and anyone who is looking for a plausible plot is unlikely to finish the story. The devil is in the details and the details are not addressed in The Janus Deception.

The Janus Deception opens with the destruction of a chemical plant and the annihilation of an entire village in Mexico. Other disasters around the world are described from time to time so that readers are well informed that something really evil is at work. The technique is similar to Clive Cussler's stories. It works so long as it is not over done. The characters are familiar, the dialogue is adequate, but plot is the heart of this story, the malevolent computer gone berserk. The attempt to attach some religious significance to several incidents doesn't work, nor does a quasi-philosophical argument that the lethargy of a self-absorbed people is responsible for the disasters.

This most recent fantasy of the ascendance of machines will interest die-hard science fiction fans. It has its flaws. but the notion is so intriguing that readers will forgive them and wait eagerly for another author to entertain them with a similar frightening tale of the dangers of technology. Frankenstein's monster will live again.

Reviewed by: Dick Saxe
Rating: 2.5 quills

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Hot Dog by Laurien Berenson
Kensington $22.00
ISBN: 1575667819 Hardcover
September 2002
Cozy

Hot Dog is the ninth installment in the Melanie Travis series. Melanie has lots going on in her life. Raising her son and showing her prized poodles fills her days, but her aunt, ex-husband and boyfriend have tendency to add to her list of commitments.

Aunt Peg, a former nun shows up with Dox, a pure breed dachshund. The pup was donated to their charity auction. Melanie is put in charge of the dog, but doesn't want to see it up for auction. She investigates and discovers Dox is the result of a bitter divorce battle. The owner's reasoning for putting his pup up for auction instead of returning it to his ex-wife is pathetic and he blames the "dog shows" -- not the dogs -- for his cold emotions. Well, the ladies go to scheming with confidence, but to quote the narrator on page 84: "Overconfidence; it will get you every time." Dox disappears.

Overconfidence in her plan is just what Miss Cable News suffers from as well. She takes to stalking Melanie because she is positive that being there when Melanie stumbles on another body and solves another a mystery will make her career.

Sam's overconfidence comes in the way of a diamond ring and BMW SUV when he returns to re-ask Melanie to marry him. Still upset at his sudden departure and lack of explanation for it, Melanie's reaction was a sound no and changing the locks. In this installment Sam works the "You need to trust me" game in hopes of winning Melanie back.

Berenson's series is well developed. The author leaves no stone unturned in presenting her characters or explaining the dog show experience. Hot Dog is a your typical dog mystery, except that the dogs sit, heel and walk, but don't talk. I enjoyed the storyline as a whole, but what kept the pages turning was the unwelcome guest gaining access to Melanie's house and turning things on to let her know someone had been there.

I haven't followed the Melanie Travis series as much as I would have liked, so Melanie's personal life was a bit of a catch up for me. Readers can expect some series spoilers, but not necessarily past mystery spoilers. After reading Hot Dog I am confident in saying that it's one cozy mystery readers would benefit in trying.

Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks
Rating: 3 quills

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A Short Life on a Sunny Isle by Hannah I. Blank
Prism Corporation $24.95
ISBN: 0965277844 Hardcover
September 2002
Historical, 1955 - Spain

Inspector Alphonse Dantan of the Paris Police Judiciare just finished an intense case. After being away from his American wife Judy too much, he is looking forward to spending time with her. That is until she makes plans to visit her friend, Miri Winters, in Ibiza, Spain. The Dantans know Miri from a former case. Miri telegraphs Judy and asks her to bring Alphonse along to help solve a murder. A fourteen year-old girl has been murdered and Miri is positive that Thomas, the police's suspect, will not get a fair trial. The couple heads to Ibiza to solve the mystery.

Once there, Dantan finds support in the local artists who frequent a café called Lazy Liberto's, but help from Spain's legal system will not be possible. The Guardia Civil would not appreciate someone from Paris doing their job. Dantan quizzes Miri's friends and the islanders. He also investigates the site, the truck, the body and the circumstances. It isn't long till Dantan and others discover who the murderer is, but Dantan is limited on what he can do.

The sunny island mystery that takes place in the 1950s - a time when artists nurtured their crafts in inexpensive foreign places. It was during one of these relaxing, inspirational moments of food, drink, gossip, and carousing at Liberto that that murder was announced. As it turns out anyone at the café could be a suspect as well as any islander because the murder happened long before they gathered at the café.

The island atmosphere is laid back, but the path to solving this stand-alone type mystery is swift. The characters are well explained and the mystery is well developed, but, for me, both seem to lack life, energy.

A Short Life on A Sunny Isle falls between amateur sleuth and cozy. It has the simple, unencumbered writing style of a cozy and the subject matter of an amateur sleuth or mild police procedural. Spoilers in the book are used to update readers by way of asterisks and footnotes. There is a table of contents listing each chapter and a Cast of Characters, listed by the characters' nationalities. Readers will appreciate the list because of the many new characters.

If you are looking for a mystery to take you to Spain and the mid 1950s in a subtle way, in the company of a perfect couple then A Short Life on A Sunny Isle just might be what you are looking for.

Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks
Rating: 2.5

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Fit to Die edited by Joan Boswell and Sue Pike
Rendezvous Press $12.95
ISBN 0929141873 Trade Paperback
October 2001
Mystery Anthology

The Ladies Killing Circle has joined together to create this new anthology, Fit to Die. Twenty-one authors have created stories (and poems) that will cause you to think twice about staying healthy and fit. One theme that runs through the book is help backfiring. In "Fit to Live" by Audrey Jessup, all Eileen wanted to do was keep everyone at the senior center in shape. She figured Tai Chi would be perfect for that and fun at the same time. Her innocent planning turns dangerous for her, as someone decides that they are sick of working out. Victoria Maffini's "Down in the Plumps" (great title!) features an overweight woman, trying to live her life only to be stalked by a weight-obsessed fanatic.

Lea Tassie writes one of the best-plotted stories. "Grand Slam" centers around three bridge players that want to get rid of their fourth. They way they manage to do it, while unoriginal, works out better than they ever could have hoped. My favorite story is "Sign of the Times" by Mary Jane Maffini. There is no hiding her quick wit and finely tuned writing. In this story graffiti is used to help a good cause. All throughout this anthology are great poems by Joy Hewitt Mann that are worth the price of the book alone.

This whole book is filled with talented authors and wonderful stories. This book does not have a bad story in the bunch and I just wish I had room to mention them all. One last story that stuck in my mind was "Tee'd Off" by Mary Keenan. This story is written with the perfect pace and ending. Any type of mystery reader should have no problem finding a story that fits their mood and taste.

Reviewed by: Robyn Glazer
Rating: 4.5 quills

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Red Dream by Victoria Brooks
Greatest Escapes Publishing $15.00
ISBN 0968613721 Trade Paperback
July 2002
Suspense

Victoria Brooks is a travel writer who is trying her hand at a novel. Perhaps she would be happiest sticking to travel writing for the strongest parts of this novel are the descriptions of Saigon and, to a lesser extent, France. She attempts to tell the story of modern Vietnam but falls short. Her main characters are a lovely, self-centered Vietnamese woman, Jade Minh, who works in Paris from 1955; her French lover, Jacques; her husband, Van Minh, who remains behind in Vietnam; and her illegitimate daughter, Suzette. The only sympathetic character of the bunch is Suzette. Jade is elegant and striking, but has no thought of anyone but herself. Her only concern about her daughter is whether anyone will find out. Jacques is a drunk who blames Jade for all his troubles. Van is blind, working on his scientific experiments while the world around him collapses.

This does give a view of modern Vietnam from a different perspective than we usually get. The Americans are almost marginal to the story, important only because they prop up a corrupt and repellent regime. The travel writer frequently discontinues the story entirely in order to fill in the background and give us a view of what Vietnam was like in the late fifties and early sixties. Chou Hang-shu is symbolic of so many residents of South Vietnam. He outwardly supports the Diem regime while secretly working for Ho Chi Minh. Certain the quagmire that was Vietnam comes through plainly to the reader.

The story, however, is not so engrossing or so well told. It is, in fact, almost cartoonish and motives are obscure and actions confused. As I was reading, I never really believed in the story. I could not willingly suspend my disbelief. The characters were too single-faceted with little or no complexity or intricacies. The larger more vivid character was Vietnam and the human beings were puppets manipulated to show what the author was hoping for us to see.

This is labeled an exotic novel, with which I do not necessarily disagree. However a better label might have been erotic. There is explicit and gratuitous sexual content. There is nothing wrong with this, but I think it is good to be forewarned. Perhaps we are still too close to Vietnam to truly do it justice from a Vietnamese point of view. This book certainly does not succeed.

Reviewed by: Sally Fellows
Rating: 2 quills

Queen of Ambition by Fiona Buckley
Scribner $ 23.00
ISBN 0-7432-0264-3 Hardcover
December 2001
Historical, 16th Century England

Ursula Blanchard, one time member of the Queen Elizabeth's court but now married to a French Catholic opponent of the Queen, is back in England. Plague is rife in France so Ursula and her daughter returned to England to live at Withysham, the manor the Queen gave her. In return the Queen and Cecil expect Ursula to perform services, in this case to go to Cambridge which the Queen intends to visit as one of the harbingers and also as a spy.

There is apprehension about a playlet that some students wish to perform for the Queen. The students planning the event often congregate at the pie shop of Roland Jester. Jester1s brother-in-law, Dr. Giles Woodforde, is a tutor at King's College and had been found in an compromising situation by Lady Lennox at court. Ursula goes under cover and gets a job at the pie shop. One of the students tells her he is worried about the playlet and wants to meet her the next day. Before this can happen he is dead apparently the result of a fall from his horse. This really piques Ursula's curiosity.

The story is well-told and diverting to read. You get a sense of what it was like to live in fifteenth century England, especially if you were not a member of the privileged classes. The politics of the court are certainly in evidence, but not as prominently as in earlier books in the series. One of the disappointments for me is that we do not see as much of the Queen and her courtiers as usual. But the book is pleasing and we do get a peak inside the colleges at Cambridge. It is also entertaining to note what was involved when the Queen visited a part of her kingdom.

Ursula perhaps is not a typical Elizabethan woman. The fact that she married her bitter enemy was always a bit bothersome for me and, for the purposes of the story, the author has to bring her to England away from her marriage and this tangles the storyline. Probably she is more independent than most women were. Certainly one of her erstwhile good friends resents her showing him up and arriving at the solution to some of the mysteries.

The puzzle is provocative and the solution clever, but I have to say I expected more. The ending of the book is rather like the musket that misfired, to my mind.

I have always enjoyed the books is this series, but I have to say this one was less entertaining than some of the earlier ones. Nonetheless I enjoyed reading it.

Reviewed by: Sally Fellows
Rating: 3 quills

He Sees You When You're Sleeping by Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark
Simon & Schuster $20.00
ISBN 0743230051Hardcover
December 2001
Christmas Mystery

Sterling Brooks has been in the waiting room to Heaven for forty-six years. He has seen thousands of people coast into Heaven and yet he is still waiting. The last straw was seeing Annie Mansfield, his former fiancée, float past without him. It is almost Christmas and Sterling would love to be with Annie for Christmas. As soon as Sterling makes a silent plea stating that he would do anything to get into heaven, he is granted a meeting with The Heavenly Council. Since Sterling was extraordinarily self-centered while living, the council requires him to go back to earth and find someone who needs help. Sterling sets his sights on an eight-year-old girl named Marissa. All she wants for Christmas is for her father and grandmother to come home. What she doesn't know is that they are being hidden away because there is a hit out on them, for witnessing something they shouldn't have. Sterling is determined to make everything work and tries to make it better, with a little help from above.

This is the second book the Higgins family has teamed up to write. Both books are Christmas novels with a mystery involved. Although this is a readable book and the first few pages are really funny, that is the best thing I can say about this book. I am sure there are many who will find this to be a very cute book, but for me, it was very bland and too much on the cutesy side. This book left me feeling very ambivalent and it's hard to write a review to reflect that. He Sees You When You're Sleeping is a book that many of the fans of the Higgins family will instantly devour and love. Unfortunately, that just wasn't the case for me.

Reviewed by Robyn Glazer
Rating: 2 quills

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The Killing Kind by John Connolly
Hodder & Stoughton (London) L25
ISBN: 0-340-77120-8 Hardcover
May 2001
Private Eye

In the opening pages of The Killing Kind, a Minneapolis pro-choice abortion doctor is murdered in one of the most gruesome and unique methods I've ever encountered -- made me all squirmy and itchy while reading. The doctor is immobilized in her own car, in her own garage, strapped firmly with duct tape. The car is filled with brown recluse spiders. Connolly's description of her discovery by a cautious police officer is a thing of beauty:

"When he looked down, he saw a small brown spider making its way across the concrete floor toward his right foot. It was a recluse, about half an inch in length, with a dark groove running down the center of its back. Instinctively, Ames raised his steel-capped shoe and stamped down on it. For a brief moment he wondered if his action constituted a destruction of evidence, until he looked into the interior of the car and realized that, for all its effect, he might just as easily have stolen a grain of sand from the seashore or pilfered a single drop of water from the ocean."

It gets worse, friends - or better, if your tastes are similar to mine. I've thoroughly enjoyed John Connolly's near-poetic portrayal of damage done by evil forces at work in our world over the course of three superior novels, and cheer for the retribution visited on that evil by private investigator Charlie "Bird" Parker, who speaks both for and to the innocent dead.

After three books, I've figured out the author's formula. He opens with a compelling hook - in The Killing Kind, the doctor's death is coupled with the discovery of a mass grave in the far north of Maine. Then he assigns Charlie Parker to a seemingly-innocuous case - in this book, an investigation into the apparent suicide of young woman Charlie once knew. After that, complications ensue (or shit happens, depending on your lexicon). And of course, metaphysical foundations are firmly established, built carefully in earlier stories. Charlie not only sees, but speaks to and touches the form of a young boy whose corporeal form might reside in that mass grave. The boy is accompanied by "The Summer Lady," a gentle euphemism given to the spirit of Charlie's dead wife who now guides the wronged dead to her living husband so that reparations can be made. Connolly also peoples his books with over-the-top rivals to those villains who once graced the pages of Modesty Blaise and James Bond thrillers. Shortly after finding a box of brown recluse spiders in his mailbox, Charlie is visited by a singular monster known as...

"Permit me to introduce myself," he said. "My name is Pudd. Mr. Pudd. At your service, sir." He extended his right hand in greeting, but I didn't reach out to take it. I couldn't. It revolted me. A friend of my grandfather's had once kept a wolf spider in a glass case and one day, on a dare from the man's son, I touched its leg. The spider shot away almost instantly, but not before I had felt the hairy, jointed nature of the thing. It was not an experience I wanted to repeat."

Other strange and wonderful characters move in and out of the story - an independent Jewish assassin known as Der Golem; two or three members of the Boston Mafia; and, as recounted in pages of the suicidal girl's doctoral thesis, all 20 members of a fundamentalist cult known as the Aroostook Baptists, gone missing since 1963. The latter motif brought up memories of another writer, John Blackburn, whose wonderful Children of the Night (Putnam Red Mask pb, 1970) also dealt with the disappearance of a similar group.

Body count and violence quotient is high in all three Charlie Parker books. But as if to compensate, Connolly avoids gratuitous sex and excessive dirty language. His goal is establishment of overwhelming menace, an aura of evil that hovers and surrounds our daily lives. He calls the result "our honeycomb world."

"There are people whose eyes you must avoid, whose attention you must not draw to yourself. They are strange, parasitic creatures, lost souls seeking to stretch across the abyss and make fatal contact with the warm, constant flow of humanity... sometimes it is better to keep your eyes on the gutter for fear that, by looking up, you might catch a glimpse of them, black shapes against the sun, and be blinded forever."

Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffery Dahmer - all of those monsters and others are real-life analogues of Connolly's environment. He has created the symbolic Charlie Parker to use as a force against them. It would be nice to think that Charlie Parker analogues exist in our reality. Of the author's three books to date, I'm hard-pressed to make a favorite call, but I'll go out on a limb and nominate The Killing Kind for its stunning recapitulation of themes first introduced in Every Dead Thing. I'm cheating a bit when I select it as a partner to Dennis Lehane's Mystic River for Best Novel of the year- but The Killing Kind is certainly the best novel that's been produced on the UK side of the Atlantic.

(Editor's Note: John Connolly was interviewed by Reed Andrus in the August/September 2001 issue of Mystery News)

Reviewed by: Reed Andrus
Rating: 5 quills

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Hostage by Robert Crais
Doubleday $24.95
ISBN: 0-385-49585-4Hardcover
August 2001
Police Procedural

When Robert Crais pushed Elvis Cole to a higher level in LA Requiem, I silently agreed with many other fans that there didn't appear to be much more he could do with the series, and applauded his willingness to attempt standalone novels. Demolition Angel was first to break the pattern, and while a fine reading experience, that book arguably extended the author's range laterally rather than vertically. Fortunately, there was a surprise waiting in the wings for patient followers. In Hostage, Robert Crais has once again raised the bar, set a new standard of excellence that will be difficult to supplant. He's also produced a worthy contender for Best Novel of 2001.

Hostage introduces Jeff Talley, former LAPD SWAT hostage negotiator who's refusing to deal with past psychological trauma in his new role as small-town Chief of Police in sleepy rural California. As the book opens, Talley's most dangerous confrontation has been against shoplifters. Then three moronic punks botch a convenience store robbery, try to escape through an upscale subdivision, and wind up barricaded inside a house with the owner and his two kids. A straightforward, well-drawn beginning. Then the author proceeds to twist his scenario, not once but many times, each spin depositing another layer of pressure on the protagonist. No one is exactly who they appear to be at first blush, and by the time this reader chewed through two-thirds of the prose, additional right-angle turns were expected and somewhat predictable. But by then it didn't matter.

Crais provides a near-perfect mixture of action, suspense, and depth of character. Supporting roles are invested with as much power and dignity as the principal players, enriching the latter by proxy. Listen to Talley's wife defend her estranged husband to their hurt and angry teen-age daughter:

"I am scared to death that your father is finally going to give up and call it quits. I could see it in him tonight. Your father, he knows what this is doing to us, he's not stupid. We talk, Amanda; he says he's empty, I don't know how to fill him; he says he's dead, I don't know how to bring him to life. You think I don't try? Here we are, split apart, time passing, him wallowing in his goddamned depression; your father will just end it to spare us. Well, little miss, let me tell you something: I don't want to be spared. I choose not to be spared. Your father used to filled with life and strength, and I fell in love with that special man more deeply than you can know. You don't want to hear about the job, fine, but only a man as good as your father could be hurt the way that job hurt him. If that's me making excuses for him, fine. If you think I'm a loser by waiting for him, tough. I could have other men; I don't want them. I don't even know if he still loves me, but let me tell you something: I love him, I want this marriage, and I goddamned fucking well care whether or not he likes my hair."

Superior novels demand an emotional investment from the reader. Hostage speaks loudly and clearly through the words of Robert Crais; it will pick you up and shake you. I honestly don't know how the author can top this production, but by God, I plan to be around to make the assessment.

(Editor's Note: Robert Crais was interviewed by Gary Warren Niebuhr in the April/May 2000 issue of Mystery News)

Reviewed by: Reed Andrus
Rating: 5 quills

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Death of the Party by Catherine Dain
Worldwide Mystery $6.99
ISBN 0-373-26415-1 Paperback
March 2002
Amateur Sleuth

Faith Cassidy's neighborhood in Los Angeles has deteriorated rapidly, culminating in a burglary of Faith's bungalow. Faith feels violated and as a therapist, she is not one to ignore or hide her feelings. To make herself feel better, she starts a neighborhood watch. What she did not count on was being elected captain! Unfortunately, no one is watching when a young Hispanic boy is killed in the middle of the block. As Faith gets a closer look at the body, she notices that the corpse is wearing her stolen jacket. The police make a quick arrest. The arrested person turns out to be someone from the neighborhood watch. The arrested boy's mother believes him to be innocent and asks Faith to look into it for her. Faith agrees, largely in part, because the guilt of saying no is something she does not want to deal with. Then she hears Jorge's side of the story and agrees with his mother that he is innocent. What started out as a simple leadership role turns out to be a job for the professionals but Faith wants to give it her best shot before turning the case over to the police. Now Faith just has to hope no one takes his or her best shot at her!

Death of the Party is the first Faith Cassidy book. While I found the writing to be stylish and tight, I was disappointed with the characters. I felt that Faith was constantly making poor and unwise decisions. One such decision she made was to do drugs even though she knew she had responsibilities in the morning and she had tried so hard in the past to get over this addiction. I also thought for a therapist, she was remarkably unstable. The one character that I did enjoy was Richard, who breathes sensibility into Faith and the book. What kept me reading this book until the end was the descriptions of the inside acting world that Faith once belonged to. These assessments were really interesting and would have preferred Faith to be an actress over a therapist. I will probably pick up the next book just because I want to see where Dain takes Richard from here.

Reviewed by: Robyn Glazer
Rating: 3 quills

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Black Sunshine by S.V. Date
Putnam $24.95
ISBN 0-399-14946-5 Hardcover
October, 2002
Satire/Suspense

This is a caricature of political evil so outrageous and barbed that it may actually be offensive to some. As a satirical suspense, however, it is both witty and action packed. One can only hope that real-life politics do not go as far as they do in this novel.

When the front-runner for governor of Florida is suddenly out of the picture, the new candidate is one of two sons of a former governor. A charismatic under-achiever, "Bub" Billings is sure to win in the polls, but brother Percy doesn't understand why. As the campaign draws to a close, it seems apparent that although Bub can win, he might not be willing to play the game that the party leaders want. Maybe Percy would have been the best choice after all.

Murphy Moran has always worked for the opposing party, but then he suddenly runs into Bub. Now he finds himself helping the hapless candidate in a race not only in the political arena, but to stay alive as well.

This is irreverent, funny, and sometimes downright scary. It is not a book for everyone, but if you are not too sensitive about politics and want a definite change of pace with lots of action that takes place mainly on the water, then this book might just appeal to you

Reviewed by: Gayle Wedgwood
Rating: 3 quills

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One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis
Mysterious Press $12.95
ISBN 0-89296-716-1 Trade Paperback
July 2001
Historical (Roman Empire)

The Rome of Marcus Didius Falco is the Rome of the Flavian Emperors, A.D. 74, not long after the republic surrendered to Augustus and his new empire. There are still those who fool themselves into believing that they live in a republic and those, like Falco, who act as though they do. His Rome is one of back alleys, underground tunnels, the Aventine which has never been very salubrious, and of men who would just as soon cheat you as not. It is also, however, the Rome of Vespasian, the majestic buildings that make up the Forum, and the huge amphitheater that Vespasian is currently building. The people of this Rome are not any more decorous, but they dress nicer.

If you have been following the adventures of Falco, you do not need me to describe him to you. He is a modern-day London cockney transported to imperial Rome. He is delightfully cynical, totally distrustful, and yet, at his core, he still believes in love and courage and honor. What he does best is to ridicule the traditional Roman gravitas which he sees as hypocritical and a way to keep those in power always in power. He is outrageous and often bawdy and you cannot help but love him. His voice is distinctive.

As always the plot is complex and multi-faceted. Falco, his paramour Helene who, for those of you who are new to the books, is a Senator's daughter and outrageously radical, and their child have just returned to Rome from Africa. Falco has been one of the Census collectors and has done well for himself. For once he is not hard up for money. Vespasian has awarded him equestrian status, to Falco's disgust because that means he is now a member of the middle class and must act respectably. Not that he allows that to get in his way. He has also been appointed to a newly created ceremonial post, Procurator of Poultry for the Senate and People of Rome. This makes him part of the religious establishment.

He arrives home to find a six year old girl insisting she must see him. She is the granddaughter of the former Flamen Dialis, the chief priest of Jupiter. She claims that someone in her family is trying to kill her. Falco and Helene send her home assuming there is nothing to her story. They then learn that she is the leading candidate to become the newest Vestal Virgin. Later, when she disappears, they wish they had taken her seriously. Helene's brother Aelianus in his quest for membership in an ancient priesthood stumbles over a dead body of one of the Brothers and begs for Falco's help in finding what happened. These two problems absorb Falco and Helene for the rest of the book.

As you can no doubt tell, religion is the main focus of this book. Falco does not think much of the organized state religion and he belittles it every chance he gets. As irreverent as always, he finds a great deal about religion to be highly amusing even when it nearly costs him is life. Falco is always ready to poke holes in official beliefs.

As a leitmotif, Falco roasts the contractors. Everyone, it seems, even Falco, is having work done on their homes. Everywhere he goes there is evidence of the work, but no workmen. They start a job, get part way finished and then vanish, presumably to start someone else's job. Even the Emperor cannot control them. I am sure these men have worked for me several times in the past.

This book has all the elements of a great story. It has endearing and intriguing characters who will take you to parts of Rome that textbooks never visit. It has a beguiling and captivating plot that will keep you guessing until the very end. It has mystery, it has suspense, it has love and hate and madness. And it has Falco. It really needs no more.

Reviewed by: Sally Fellows
Rating: 4 quills

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Dying for a Change by Kathleen Delaney
Publish America $19.95
ISBN 1-59129-216-6 Trade Paperback
June 2002
Amateur Sleuth

This is a conventional little (182 pages) novel with very little to distinguish it from hundreds of others. Ellen McKenzie has returned home, divorced with a daughter in college, to live in her parents' home while they relocate to Arizona and earn a living as a real estate salesperson. Her first house showing leads to a dead body in an upstairs closet. The chief of police turns out to be her best friend from youth, the next door neighbor with whom she did everything. Naturally a relationship develops and she helps him solve the crime.

The one thing that surprises her, but probably will not surprise the reader, is how much this small town has changed and become homogenized. Where the ice cream parlor once stood is now a commercial frozen yogurt stand. A luncheonette that once sold delicious homemade meals now dispenses stale sandwiches wrapped in plastic. The people have changed as well, but not as much.

The characters in this book are two-dimensional and not especially well developed. They do act consistently however. The small town is adequately described but exactly where it is located was more difficult to ascertain. There is a predictable romance and a rather predictable plot. With a little effort, I think I would have figured out the villain.

This book was the runner-up in the St. Martins/Malice Domestic contest. It is published by a small publisher and I am all in favor of more books being published and the field not being dominated by a few huge publishers. I wish this book had been a bit more complex or original or at least had a novel hook. And I think the price is way too high for a trade paperback. It is a pleasant enough book and certainly neither a difficult or a complex read. There is nothing wrong with the book; it simply does not set itself apart from all its competition.

Reviewed by: Sally Fellows
Rating: 2 quills

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Corpse Candle by P.C. Doherty
St. Martin's Minotaur $24.95
ISBN 0-312-30087-5 Hardcover
December 2002
Historical, England, 1303

At the dawn of the fourteenth century wealth was burgeoning in England centered mainly in the huge monasteries that dotted the countryside. Those men (and women) who might be CEOs of corporations today found their power in those religious houses. Anything that would forward the reputation and renown of their house was probably admissible.

St. Martin's-in-the-Marsh was no exception. Prior Cuthbert and the rest of the Concilium dreamed of building a large new guesthouse in Bloody Meadow outside the gates of the monastery and, in the process, digging into the burial mound in the center of the meadow which they hoped contained a holy relic. Abbot Stephen was opposed and, in fact, said it would happen over his dead body. Not long after he was indeed dead inside a locked room. Because he was a personal friend of King Edward I, Sir Hugh Corbett, Keeper of the King's Secret Seal, was sent to discovery who had killed him. Soon more members of the Concilium were murdered and it began to look like the abbey would be destroyed.

The corpse candles (mirages in the marshes) burned and it seemed the ghost of Sir Geoffrey Mandeville, a robber baron, roamed the forest. Ghostly horns sounded at night and the lights danced over the tumulus. This was a time when the line between the natural world and the supernatural was very subtle and easily broached. Men believed in ghosts and other unearthly creatures.

Doherty sets the scene very well. It is easy to put one's self in the forest surrounding the abbey where fires flickered as the snow fell and the cold was intense enough to keep honest men at home at night. The historical scene is also well described. The sense at the beginning of the century of both the limitless possibilities of wealth and the terror of both God and the devil is excellently conveyed. The reader can easily immerse herself in the medieval life and vicariously enjoy the fears and dreads that haunted men.

The puzzle is well developed except for what is supposed to be the great secret of the story. That is telegraphed from the very first pages of the book. But the mystery is well done and the Nero Wolfe-like denouement, where the survivors are gathered together and the guilty person is identified, is fascinating. The characters seem a bit stiff and not quite lifelike to me. Corbett is clearly fleshed out but the others are harder to believe.

This is an intriguing book. I am going to allow the author to have the last word about it: "In the end, of course, this novel is about murder which, like charity, can be found in any community in any era where men and women gather together."

Reviewed by: Sally Fellows
Rating: 3.5 quills

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The Mask of Ra by P.C. Doherty
Berkley Prime Crime Books $6.50
ISBN 0-425-18093-X Paperback
July 2001
Historical (Egypt,1479 B.C.)

The Mask of Ra represents a fourth mystery series for P.C. Doherty. Set in ancient Egypt, the book deals with the mystery surrounding the death of Pharaoh Tuthmosis II upon his victorious return from war in the Nile Delta.

With trumpets sounding his return, the Pharaoh falls dead before the statue of the sun god, Amun-Ra, while wounded doves circle overhead. His last words to his queen, Hatusu, are "It's only a mask!" Whatever is only a mask, the death of the Pharaoh brings the rivalries for power and rule through the control of his young heir, Tuthmosis II's seven-year-old son borne by a concubine, to a head.

Even before his death, Tuthmosis II's tomb had been desecrated, assassins roamed and his queen anonymously threatened. Despite the threats or perhaps because of them, Hatusu demands an investigation into the death of the Pharaoh, headed by Amerotke, chief judge of Thebes.

The captain of the Pharaoh's guard has been arrested for negligence in the care of his Pharaoh's security. A viper's bite was found on the royal heel and a dead viper found curled up under the dais of the royal barge. For every argument presented by Sethos, the Pharaoh's eyes and ears, the royal prosecutor and a high priest of Amun-Ra, the accused presents an equal argument. Amerotke, dedicated to the pursuit of truth, defers judgment for a day. Events proceed from there, with more deaths, more threats and an even greater need for truth.

Doherty's knowledge of ancient Egypt and his experience in writing mysteries makes the book flow. His characters are far from cardboard figures moved on a chessboard of plot. Some of them are frightening in their drive and conniving. All are grounded in true human nature and human need.

The facts of early Egyptian life ground the reader in a rather harsh, literally gritty reality and tend to make one appreciate 21st century existence and conveniences. Still, tasting the life of Thebes and all it entails beguiles the reader as much as the answers to the various mysteries and trials heard and resolved by Amerokte. Not to mention that Hatusu proves fascinating.

Reviewed by: Virginia R. Knight
Rating: 3 quills

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Safe Beginnings by Christine Duncan
Treble Heart Books $13.99
ISBN 1-93174285-5 Trade Paperback
May 2002
Cozy

Safe Beginnings is a mystery about Kaye Atchinson, soon to be Berreano after her divorce. Kaye is the night counselor at Beginnings, a battered women's shelter. She is also going through a divorce with a shallow, selfish husband. While she takes care of battered women and their families at night and her husband is tucked away with Bambi - I mean Brenna - their kids, RJ and Hannah, are home alone behaving like typical kids, fighting and calling mom on the phone, complaining. As you can tell, Safe Beginnings carries a realistic tone of the kind of lives we hear about on the news.

The mystery begins immediately when Kaye shows up for a night's work, ends up pulling Mary Ellen, a battered wife out of a room full of flames. The fire is suspicious so the women are moved to the Red Cross then to other shelters. A Lt. Farrell of the Denver Police and officer Wiloski from the fire department are assigned to investigate the fire.

As the women of the shelter discuss the fire and Mary Ellen, Kaye begins to have her own suspicions. Is it possible a gang member got word that his wife was coming to Beginnings? Was Mary Ellen as mean as the women claimed -- mean enough to make a deadly enemy in the shelter? Is it possible that someone in the neighborhood wanted the shelter closed down? Could it be Kaye's husband? After getting everything in the divorce and leaving her with an old car and the kids, was he out to destroy her and take the kids? Kaye takes on the case.

Safe Beginnings is a quick read with a realistic theme of divorce and abuse. Although the mystery has some entertainment elements to it, like a police drama, the subject matter is a strong reminder of what is really happens to innocent women and children everyday. It's not a violent read like most mysteries dealing with abuse, nor is there a lot of profanity, which is common with this subject theme, so I guess it, could be considered a cozy mystery. I do know readers can expect plenty of suspects and false leads.

Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks
Rating: 3 quills

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A Sunset Touch by Marjorie Eccles
St. Martin's Minotaur $ 22.95
ISBN: 0-312-28353-9 Hardcover
January 2002
British Police Procedural

A house fire keeps superintendent Gil Mayo from dinner and his ladylove, Alex. A neighbor woman fears the two children did not make it out. When Mayo, Abigail Moon, and Sergeant Carmody inspect the house, they find one body, and it's not a child. Everyone fears it is their father but where are the children? Mayo also learns there are suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire and the death.

Cicely lives in the vicarage down the street from the burned house. Mayo learns she is in critical condition after a surprise visitor attacked her in her home. Inspector Martin Kite is holding a grudge towards Moon so Mayo puts him on the vicarage case to separate the two. Also near the burned house is Pitor Kaminsky. He served in the Free Polish Air Force during the war. He is unable to get around on his own and he too gets a surprise visit….

Superintendent Mayo feels the stress as the three cases surface at once. One by one bodies and clues begin turning up, along with the discovery of a misnamed, amnesiac man, and the knowledge of a missing art treasure dating back to wartime England.

The storyline follows the lives of all the characters, the reoccurring and the new, in order to surface the mystery. Because there are so many characters, the reader will have a lot to keep track of. A Sunset Touch is a bit milder than most police procedurals I've read. It moves at a clip pace, barely taking the time to describe surroundings. The conversation is extensive, keeping the reader in the midst of the mystery, though he or she may not be aware of it until the final page is turned.

Although I had to back track a time or two to keep things straight, I thoroughly enjoyed the mystery. I was impressed with the way the cases were laid out and brought to their conclusions. And I also liked he no-nonsense, get-to-the-point way the story was written. Superintendent Gil Mayo series is a British police procedural series I would recommend to any mystery buff who prefers his or her mysteries straightforward.

Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks
Rating: 4 quills

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The Company by Arabella Edge
Simon and Schuster $23.00
ISBN 0-7432-1342-4 Hardcover
July 2001
Historical

The Company is based on the disastrous wreck of the Dutch East India Company flagship Batavia off the coast of western Australia in 1629. The story is told in the voice of Jeronimus Cornelisz, the psychopathic apothecary who was responsible for the shipwreck and the reign of terror among the survivors. Cornelisz boarded the Batavia in Amsterdam to escape prosecution for several poisonings and the practice of black magic. In a bizarre scheme he persuaded the ship's captain to leave the protection of the convoy, planning to poison almost everyone on board and share the riches in the cargo. Before Cornelisz could implement his plan of mass murder, the ship ran aground on a coral reef near the inhospitable Abrollas Islands. Once ashore, Cornelisz gained control of the survivors and methodically murdered them to save water and food for himself and his minions, a group of young men and boys he manipulated with opium and deceit. Cornelisz saw himself as the savior of the survivors and, for a time, everyone else shared this perception. Cornelisz became ever more brutal in his treatment of his "subjects", even, finally, terrorizing and humiliating an aristocratic young wife he chose as his concubine.

There is no mystery in The Company. The only suspense is wondering how long it will be before the survivors finally revolt and execute Cornelisz. The ordeal lasted 40 days of violence, starvation, rape and murder. Since the story is told by Cornelisz, he is the only character fully described. The author succeeds in using Cornelisz's own words, in showing how her rationalizes the most depraved behavior, making it seem necessary and proper. Many terms will be strange to readers, but most can be understood in context. The Company will be compared to Lord of the Flies, but the evil in Company is not created by the situation; it is present in the creepy, monstrous apothecary. If the author's version of this historical event is accurate, then truth is indeed stranger than fiction, much stranger.

The Company is well-researched, especially the difficulty of the long ocean voyage. Readers with an interest in the history of the period should perhaps read this book. But, they probably will not enjoy it.

Reviewed by: Dick Saxe
Rating: 2.5 quills

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At Risk By Kit Ehrman
Poisoned Pen Press $24.95
ISBN 1-59058-036-2 Hardcover
October 2002
Amateur Sleuth

Steve Cline had a privileged upbringing, and was on track for following in his physician father's footsteps, Ivy League college and all. Steve, however, had different ideas. After dropping out of college, he finds himself cut loose from his family and working as barn manager for Foxdale Farm in rural Maryland, living in a converted barn loft.

When he walks in on horse thieves early one morning, he is kidnapped along with the horses and almost murdered before he escapes. When he returns to Foxdale, he has a very personal interest in finding his tormenters. But as he steps up his own investigation, Foxdale Farm and Steve both seem to be targets of a very sick person. It soon becomes apparent that Steve's life is very much at risk.

If Steve Cline is not the youngest amateur sleuth in crime fiction, at age 21, he's certainly the youngest in any mystery I've ever read (except Nancy Drew). I wasn't certain in the first few pages whether his age would be a plus or a minus for the book. I've nothing against young people, having been one myself, but I've never found them all that interesting to read about. Another negative for me was that the story involves animals -- horses. That said, I enjoyed the story and the main character and thought the plotting was top-notch. Horse lovers would probably rate it a "must read" and, according to the book's promotional materials, the author is already being compared to Dick Francis.

Kit Ehrman is especially good at creating a sense of place. Her mastery of sensory detail made the Maryland countryside, the barns, Steve's apartment so real that they become important elements of the story. I know nothing about horses and horse barns, but Kit Ehrman sounded very authoritative to me, and her background would indicate she knows what she’s writing about.

Readers should know that At Risk contains a sprinkling of profanity, not excessive, but a put-off to some readers. There is also fairly explicit description of some sexual interludes. I typically dislike sex and/or romance mixed in with my mysteries, but in At Risk, the sexual encounters were not a huge part of the story. Overall, I enjoyed it much more than I ever expected.

Reviewed by: Diana Vickery
Rating: 3.5 quills

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Killing Paparazzi by Robert M. Eversz
St. Martin's Minotaur $23.95
ISBN 0-312-28902-2 Hardcover
January 2002
Amateur Sleuth

The very first sentence tells you a lot about the book. "The horn sounds before dawn when you're paroled, as it does every morning." (At least, that's the opening sentence in the advanced uncorrected proofs.)

Nina Zero is out on parole after five years inside prison. One of the first things she does when she gets out is to meet and marry a man. The marriage is to Gabriel Burns, a British paparazzo who had a work visa and his own reasons to become a citizen. Nina needed the promised $2000. Although they both went in with their eyes open, they found themselves attracted to each other. After a short and sweet honeymoon, they both went their own ways in LA. Being an ex-con, Nina was finding it difficult to get a job. While scrounging a meal, she met a tabloid writer named Frank who recognized her from her checkered past. Over lunch he suggests she use her old photography skills to take pictures for the tabloids.

One thing leads to another and she finds herself a paparazza. On an assignment to take pictures of a dead man found in a lake, she realizes the victim is, or was, her husband. As an ex-con and the wife of the deceased, she is prime suspect material, especially when drugs were found on the body. Nina is pretty sure Gabe wasn't a druggie. She needs to find out what happened. Her need is strengthened when other paparazzi are murdered, and she might be next.

This is the second book in the series, the first being Shooting Elvis, which I'll have to track down and read. The few references to the crime spree in the first book pique my curiosity. I liked this book. Despite her rough side, she's a likable character with her own integrity. It's also a view of our justice system and of LA, that I've never had before.The characters are interesting and there is a lot of humor in the book.

(Editor's Note: Robert M. Eversz was interviewed by Reed Andrus in the February/March 2002 issue of Mystery News)

Reviewed by: Angie Hogencamp
Rating: 4 quills

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Sketches With Wolves by Jacqueline Fiedler
Pocket Books, $6.99
ISBN 0-671-01560-5 Paperback
July 2001
Amateur Sleuth, Artist

Caroline Canfield is a wildlife artist in the Chicago area. She's a member of an Internet mailing list Wolf Prairie Digest. If you've ever been on any mailing list, you'll enjoy the opening flurry of email messages before the group's visit to a new sanctuary. Fielder has captured many of the "types" you find on any mailing list, regardless of topic.

Caroline hasn't met any of the subscribers, only knowing them by their email names. They're spending the weekend together to learn about the wolf behavior research. Friday afternoon Caroline is already trying to put faces together with online names and waiting to meet the one woman she's become email friends with, Kaila Windwalker.

Saturday morning after drinking orange juice meant for another, Caroline went for an early morning walk. She started to feel ill, but kept on walking. She followed boot prints in the snow which lead her to a cave. She found a body in the cave just before she passed out. When she came to, she had been discovered by the others. No one believed her claims that Rebecca was dead, as the body wasn't there. Not much investigating can be done because the group is cut off from the rest of the world for a few days by a blizzard. The general impression of the group is that Caroline has been drinking too heavily. Naturally, she is compelled to investigate.

This is the second book in this series, the first being Tiger's Palette. I liked that the protagonist has a realistic reaction to the murder in the first book. She had walled herself off from people for a while, using a modem and computer to keep her distance. I like wolves, so the topic appealed. I did think it took Caroline too long to understand she was being drugged, but then I suppose the drugs were affecting her thinking. I liked the first book and its plot a bit better, but this is still a good read.

Reviewed by: Angie Hogencamp
Rating: 4 quills

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Separation of Power by Vince Flynn
Pocket Books $25.00
ISBN 0-671-04733-7 Hardcover
October 2001

Honey, I'm home. How was my day? Well, I can't tell you. It's a matter of national security. Oh, by the way, I brought someone with me. Yes, we were lovers, but. This is work. Really.

Would that fly at your house? Sure it would. But Anna and Mitch's situation is a little complicated. Anna is NBC White House correspondent, and she feels a need-to-know. Mitch is an extra-legal CIA assassin, and feels a corresponding lack of want-to-tell. Maybe his bosses can give him a little help. After all, he works for the deputy director of the CIA and, indirectly, the president of the United States.

They have problems of their own, Bud. Irene Kennedy faces confirmation hearings as new agency director, and Bob Hayes has just gotten big news from the head of Israel's Mossad. Saddam has three nuclear warheads abuilding, in a bunker under a hospital.

Luckily, Mitch is just the guy to clean house for them. He's ready to get out of his own house for a while. Anna is steamed over the catty kind of colleague he drags home. So it is time once more for him to summon his special-ops skills, saddle up, and lead Special Forces into hostile territory.

All this is told straightforwardly, within the conventions of political thrillers. The narrative is mostly chronological, and sticks with the simple past tense most of the time. Not as compelling as Tom Clancy, but just as believable and certainly entertaining. Remember the words of John Rambo: "Sir, do we get to win this time?"

Priors: The Third Option, Term Limits, Transfer of Power.

Reviewed by: John Leech
Rating: 3.5 quills

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Fish, Blood and Bone by Leslie Forbes
Bantam $13.95
ISBN 0-553-38163-6 Trade Paperback
June 2002
Suspense

This book commences with a murder, a foul murder of a vulnerable young woman, Sally Rivers. Claire Fleetwood witnessed the murder and is prepared to testify. Sally is a thoroughly empathetic character but her murder quickly becomes incidental to the story, interesting only in the effects it had on Claire.

Meanwhile Claire has inherited a giant white elephant of a house with a number of cottages attached to it, smack in the middle of London's East End. She had grown up in the United States knowing nothing about her father's relatives in England and she makes her ancestry a quest. To that end she joins an expedition to India with the nephew of the woman who left her the house. That expedition is seeking a fabled green poppy with properties that may cure cancer. Others may be seeking the poppy for a more mundane reason.

The stories that we learn span three generations of the Ironstone family from Magda who purchased the East End estate through her daughter Alexandra who bequeathed it and a nephew, Jack Ironstone who seems to feel the estate should have been his. Somehow Claire's father was related to Alexandra. Magda's husband had been murdered in 1888, the year of Jack the Ripper, and the body had disappeared. So there are questions enough to go around.

Distinct images at first convey the precise setting, the lush garden of the estate, the surreal Calcutta cemetery, the snowy passes of the Himalayan mountains. Always throughout the story the color green predominates. From the green poppy to the properties of chlorophyll to the ancient yew tree in the garden, green seems to be the basic building block of life. As we move further along the story, the events appear almost like those of a dream, overrun with vegetation, images blurring and melding together. It is as though we were in an opium induced trance. Then the images turn grotesque and the characters become bizarre and freakish.

Again at first the characters seem believable, but as we move through the book they also acquire a dreamlike quality. Among other things their motivations seem very murky. Why Claire would leave her job to go to India makes no sense to me at all. Why did this little band take the risks they did to journey through the most dangerous of terrain? It was difficult for me to keep track of Claire's traveling companions especially amid all the shades of green.

There are echoes as you read of the British Raj and the Great Game as it was played in the nineteenth century in the area where Russia, China and India come together. (And where we are once again playing it.) But that background was not enough to salvage the book for me. Others have liked it, but it was just too indistinct and vaporous for me.

Reviewed by: Sally Fellows
Rating: 2.5 quills

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Fury by G.M. Ford
Morrow $24.00
ISBN: 0-380-97724-9 Hardcover
May 2001
Professional

G.M. Ford, whose Leo Waterman PI series now stands at six books, I believe (the first of which carries my strong nomination for Best Title of All Time: Who in Hell is Wanda Fuca?), is one of several recommended authors that I've just not found time to read. Until now. Fury is the first episode in Ford's new series featuring disgraced investigative reporter Frank Corso. I freely admit to being a sucker for journalistic protagonists, even when their investigations lean to thematic overlap. Fury's plot resonates with other worthy sub-genre contributions such as Andrew Klavan's True Crime, John Katzenbach's Just Cause, Mary Willis Walker's The Red Scream, and possibly Martin J. Smith's Straw Men. That's pretty good company, and Fury acquits itself well.

Frank Corso is pulled out of semi-retirement by Natalie Van Der Haven, owner and publisher of the Seattle Sun, a second-tier newspaper whose own sun dimmed when Corso's printed defense of serial killer Walter Lee Himes generated highly negative public sentiment. Execution of the aforementioned criminal is rapidly approaching, and the prosecution's principal witness has just called the paper to recant her testimony. The police are stone-walling, possibly covering up their own investigation of additional crimes as work of a "copy-cat." And it doesn't help that Himes is his own worst enemy, railing against his conviction in the courtroom at the worst possible moment:

"Said there's always gonna be somebody out there killin' bitches. Bitches and mo' bitches is gonna be dyin' all over the damn place, till you-all up to your damn ass in dead bitches."

As you might expect, the possibility of someone like Himes being freed at the last moment creates a highly emotional, politically-sensitive situation. But Frank Corso has always believed that this scumbag had been railroaded, and in company of Meg Dougherty, a highly competent freelance photographer with a sad story of her own, begins a re-investigation intended on stopping the execution clock.

The author complements his standard-but-acceptable story with a very gritty attitude towards the Seattle PD. Although his characters are fictional, he seems to be using them to make political statements regarding the effectiveness of local law enforcement in dealing with real serial killer situations, i.e. the Green River Killer and other Pacific Northwest murderers who have never been caught. Ford also creates memorable secondary characters. Meg Dougherty, for example, is a pariah in her own light, has come to be known as "the tattoo girl."

"Corso remembered the story well. She'd been a successful young photo artist. Already had a couple of very hot local shows and beginning to attract national attention. Dating a trendy Seattle tattoo artist. Guy who kinda looked like Billy Idol. You'd see them all the time in the alternative press. Unfortunately, while she's developing photos, he's developing a cocaine habit. She tells him she wants to break it off. He seems to take it well. They agree to have a farewell dinner together. She drinks a glass of wine and - bam - the lights go out. She wakes up thirty-six hours later in Providence Hospital. In shock. Nearly without vital signs. Tattooed from head to toe with what was rumored to be some pretty weird stuff. A Maori swirl design on her face. The boyfriend nowhere to be found."

If Fury produced a downside for this reviewer, it occurred when my credibility was severely strained in a couple of places - once in the middle of the book, and once at the finale. The author seemed to forsake logic in favor of pacing, maintaining suspense with continued references to the ticking of the execution clock at each chapter heading. But the tone and style presented by Ford outweighed these minor grievances. Fury is a fine, fun reading experience, filled with interesting people and imbued with a cynical, gritty mindset. I'll be watching for the next Frank Corso byline, and I also plan to tap into Leo Waterman's caseload sometime in the near future.

Reviewed by: Reed Andrus
Rating: 3.5 quills

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Garden View by Mary Freeman
Berkley Prime Crime $6.50
ISBN 0-425-18454-4 Paperback
May 2002
Amateur Sleuth

Rachel O'Connor is back in her fourth gardening mystery. She still owns and runs Rain Country Landscaping and is now engaged to Jeff Price, the chief of police. In Gardening View, Rachel has the job of landscaping the Garden View Retirement Village. It's a prime job that promises to secure some free advertising but may also bring her some added problems - at least that's what an anonymous caller tries to tell her:

"'I've been watching you.' The sibilant whisper on the tape might belong to either a man or a woman. 'You're a nice girl. You be careful working out there, now. You make sure you get paid. And you be careful. I don't want to see you get hurt, not in any way. Because you are a nice girl. So you be careful, hear? Because I think maybe people are dying.'"

After she gets the call, Rachel turns to Jeff and former detective Harris, who works at the retirement home. Also, Rachel continues to deal with her wedding plans, and her mother's health problems. Changes in her business take place, and she welcomes back a past character named Spider. Spider and Rachel's landlady, Mrs. Frey, strike up an odd relationship, which reveals more of Spider's past before and after he worked for her in the last mystery.

The retirement village isn't the only place experiencing a bit of mayhem. The town of Blossom is changing from an orchard town to a tourist center, and not everyone approves. Someone is breaking windows and spray-painting businesses and the newspaper editor adds to the problems by using his newspaper to air his vendettas and personal opinions. The police chief is doing his best to protect the town from the recent vandalism, muggings, and dirty politics. A new officer nipping at Jeff's heels adds to the pressure to his job.

Rachel and Jeff are likable characters. They seem to be easygoing, rarely disagree, and respect each other's careers. There is nothing I hate more in a storyline then when a character is set up to date or marry a police officer, only to be followed by, "I hate your job. I can't take the stress. I want you to quit." Thankfully Freeman is wise enough to avoid such stereotypical silliness. Another sign that Freeman keeps her characters grounded is in the name of Rachel's cat. Instead dubbing the finicky feline after a plant, the precious pet is called simply, Peter.

Between the suspects and the well-hidden clues, the mystery is able to give the reader enough doubt until the end. Because it is a gardening mystery, readers can expect to learn a bit more about landscaping, sprinkler systems, and plants, but don't expect to be overwhelmed by the subject.

I've read prior gardening mysteries and found the series as a whole, very appealing. I think it's one of those well worth backtracking and reading from the start. Jumping into the middle of this series might be a bit confusing when it comes to the characters' personal lives, but if solving a mystery is all one wants, Garden View is a wise choice.

Reviewed by: Brenda Weeaks
Rating: 3.5 quills

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The Survivors Club by Lisa Gardner
Bantam $23.95
ISBN 0-553-80251-8 Hardcover
May 2002
Thriller

Rape - its survivors, its victims, its perpetrators, its investigators - is the sad theme underlying this story. Jillian Hayes, who came too late to rescue her sister, Carol Rosen, who suffered waiting waiting waiting for her husband to come home, and Meg Pesaturo, who doesn't remember a thing, have formed the Survivors Club, proclaiming their support for each other and their determination that the man who ruined their lives will be brought to justice.

Pedophilia, the crime Sergeant Griffin fought eighteen months ago, has left its ugly reminders in his life. His wife died of cancer just weeks before he discovered that their cherubic next-door neighbor was the Candy Man, perpetrator of a heinous series of abductions, maimings, and murders. Since then, he's hid out, pressed weights, and jogged himself into physical shape.

On his first day back on the job, the squared-jawed sergeant answers a call that puts him in the center of the lives still afloat on the Survivors Club life raft. A military-trained sniper took out Eddie Como, the College Hill Rapist, as he arrives for trial. The client pays him off with a car bomb in his rental car.

Interviewing the Survivors Club, instant suspects in their tormentor's murder, the sergeant finds himself drawn in by their unraveling indomitability. And soon he discovers the case isn't closed at all; that night the real College Hill Rapist takes his fourth victim. And the long, hard trek to a real solution to the crimes, crimes that have haunted all these lives, must begin.

From obligatory prologue to race-to-the-finish dénouement, The Survivors Club is a compelling, disturbing, absorbing entry in the suspense marketplace. Characters illuminated by interior monologue and shifting point-of-view narration gain weight otherwise missing from the thriller formula.

Suspense novels, unlike mysteries per se, often reveal clues first to the reader and only after many more pages to the characters. Here clue number 1 happens in that compulsory preface; other vital factors in the solution come to light well before a bulb lights above the head of anyone in the story. This can build anticipation-(When will they find out?)-or simply annoy.

Stories like this, built around pedophilia, abuse, and murder, are a bit like the therapy play psychologists use with damaged children. Because it is make-believe, the violence "pretend", we can sometimes look at social realities-in the guise of fiction-from which we would otherwise turn aside in despair. At their best, such stories can help us deal with the realities of existence, rather than simply disturb our dreams.

Reviwed by: John Leech
Rating: 3 quills

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Death Of A Songbird by Christine Goff
Berkley $5.99
ISBN 0-425-18044-1 Paperback
July 2001
Amateur Sleuth

Native Coloradoan Christine Goff has found herself a nicely feathered niche in mystery fiction by focusing on the burgeoning world of birding. Colorado already boasts Diane Mott Davidson's Goldie the Caterer, Margaret Coel's Jesuit Father John O'Malley and now there is the Elk Park Ornithological Chapter of birders. Breaking new ground by focusing on a group of people in her series, Goff plans that each book will focus on one character in the enthusiastic and devoted band of birders in Elk Park, a fictitious area fashioned after Estes Park, the Gateway to the Rocky Mountains.

In Rant of Ravens, Goff's debut novel in the series, the heroine was Rachel Stanhope. In Death of a Songbird, Lark Drummond takes center stage. The action unfolds at the historic Drummond Hotel, a luxurious lodge brimming over with expectant guests and owned by Lark. The annual conference of the Migration Alliance has Lark's employees hopping, especially her fussbudget manager, Stephen Velof. He's just informed Lark that the crisis de jour includes the fact that the hotel is almost out of coffee, and not just ordinary coffee, but Chipe Coffee, the gourmet coffee that Lark silently co-owns with friend Esther Mills. It is this same friend whose violent murder Lark witnesses through her spotting scope, thus sending into motion this gripping tale.

Goff adds to this heady brew by folding in fascinating facts about the $10 billion coffee industry. Learning that the United States alone imbibes one third of the world's production of coffee beans is an eye opener. An especially profitable area of the business is the organic and gourmet specialties. The growing of coffee beans is relevant to birding since the manner of production of coffee in South America, especially Mexico, can heavily impact the habitat needed by migratory birds to survive. Goff deftly and subtly weaves these facts into the story without neglecting the all-important action.

As for characters, there are plenty. The story includes a suspected covert military man, a beautiful runaway Chiapas songbird, a dilettante heiress, a Zapatista revolutionary, and a Fortune 500 career woman, not to mention the divergent, slightly zany local characters from Lark's birding group. As in most small towns, Elk Park has its share of local color, given off not by feathered friends but by the human element. Being able to identify characters resembling personal real-life acquaintances adds to the sleuthing fun as strong wills collide.

Goff draws on her life-long knowledge of Colorado to create a wonderful sense of place. Using the surrounding countryside as a complicating character, Mother Nature throws quite a punch into the middle of the birding convention leaving several members in dire straights, but not high and dry.

This book is not the run of the mill plodding police procedural. Even though Lark's amateur sleuthing is sporadic and untrained, she has good instincts that may be inherited from her father, the honorable Senator Nathan Drummond from Connecticut. The clues don't appear tidily to her; rather they appear randomly with great effort. When Lark finally connects all the dots, she realizes the danger is not just to her, but also to all of her birding friends. They are all at grave risk. Goff weaves in several sub-stories that add to the action. Most involve the basic human emotions of love, lust for power, and greed.

Goff has fashioned a tale and a group of characters that will draw readers like bees to honey. Of interest to fans, a little bird sings a tune that says that the next book will feature hunky, tall and Norwegian park ranger Eric Lineger. So stay tuned.

Reviewed by: Leslie Doran
Rating: 4 quills

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Save the Last Dance for Me by Ed Gorman
Carroll & Graf $24.
ISBN 0-7867-0968-5
February 2002
Private Investigator

The Reverend John Muldaur has hired Black River Falls, Iowa, private investigator Sam McCain because the preacher believes someone is going to murder him. Muldaur proves prophetic when he has a fit and dies during one of his services. Author Ed Gorman opens the book with this tragic event and the chapter proves terrifying because of one fact: Muldaur is a snake handler.

This series has an established tone which combines a young adult voice, a small town setting and the unique period quirks of late 1950s America. The opening chapter aside, it all works here again. Richard Nixon is coming to this small town, and Judge Whitney, Sam's steady employer, orders her investigator to find out who murdered the Reverend before his death embarrasses the town on the national scene. When a second pastor is killed, Sam searches for the clues through the ranks of weird parishioners and some very unhappy women.

The theme of the book deals with the sanctity of marriage, an especially powerful message when it is mixed with the religious politics of intolerance. Sam himself is put to the test when he is attracted to a local reporter trapped in a messy relationship. Everything will work out in the end as is the nature of a cozy P.I. series like this, especially when it is handled with the skill that Gorman brings to this whole series.

Reviewed by: Gary Warren Niebuhr
Rating: 4 quills

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The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton
Scribner $24.00
ISBN 0-7432-1269-X Hardcover
July 2001
Suspense

The Jasmine Trade by Denise Hamilton is subtitled as a novel of suspense, introducing Eve Diamond. Indeed there is suspense, as well as mystery, violence, insight into and an examination of events not generally explored outside of the news media, if ever covered.

A reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Eve Diamond works out of its suburban San Gabriel Valley office. Denise Hamilton's 10 years as a reporter for the LA Times shows in her mystery. She knows the territory, not only of LA and its suburban sprawl, but that of a journalist.

Eve is awakened by a call from her editor, a man she likes and respects. He "was oblivious to, or else ignoring, my sleep-logged voice at ten in the morning, a time when most reporters were already at their desks, rustling through the daily paper and midway through a second cup of coffee." When she finally is able to tune into the assignment through her Chardonnay excesses of the night before, he's describing the crime: "slumped in her new Lexus, blood all over the place, right there in the parking lot of Fabric World in San Gabriel. Guess the bridesmaids won't be wearing those dresses any time soon."

The cops on the scene account for the death of seventeen-year-old Marina Lu as an attempted carjacking gone bad. Built in a Spanish Mission style, the shopping area at Valley Boulevard and Del Mar caters exclusively to the exploding Chinese immigrant community.

As Eve observes after writing the story to 12 inches of copy, for reporters and cops alike, a kind of battle fatigue had set in. Los Angles averaged more than one murder each hour on a prickly summer day. They had lost their ability to be shocked. However, as she continues to work on that story and others, Eve manages to regain that ability.

During an inter