Mysteries Galore.com

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

Faye Kellerman is one of my favorite authors and Gun Games is such an amazing book. It is definitely a must read book. Just a warning, you will stay up all night to finish it.

The story starts with 15-year-old Gabe Whitman sitting in a coffee shop minding his own business when a group of kids come into Starbucks looking for trouble. One of the boys tells Gabe that he is going to sit his seat and he better move now and then he shows Gabe the gun tucked in his waist band. Gabe handles it with such finesse and turns to try to be friendly with the thug. In doing so he disarms him mentally. Gabe is a very talented pianist and is home schooled so he doesn’t know whom these kids are. He is living with his father’s friend detective Peter Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus. Children in the school that these thugs attend are committing suicide and no one can understand why. It takes a while to connect the dots and figure out what is really happening. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair

Cora and Sherry are back in $10,000 in Small, Unmarked Puzzles, the thirteenth book in the Puzzle Lady series, though in this installment of the popular series, readers don’t see much of Sherry since she spends most of the book in the hospital giving birth to her first child.

Cora however is called away from the hospital by Sherry and Cora’s attorney friend Becky Baldwin. It seems that one of Becky’s clients needs to have blackmail ransom delivered and it needs to be Cora who does the drop. Because this is Cora (and because it’s a murder mystery) it should come as no surprise to readers that when Cora shows up at the drop site, the only person there is a dead body-with a Sudoku puzzle on him. As faithful readers know, this is good news for Cora because, in spite of her puzzle column in the paper, she can’t solve crosswords but she is a whiz at Sudoku. Unfortunately for Cora, a crossword puzzle shows up shortly in connection with the case. With Sherry, the real crossword guru otherwise occupied in the hospital, Cora finds herself in a tight spot.

Cora has grown over the course of this series. In the early books she was portrayed as a drunk. Fortunately, author Hall has allowed Cora to get her drinking under control and although she still manages to get herself into a number of scrapes, at least she’s aware of her choices, poor as they may be. Sometimes her past still comes back to haunt her. In this book her no good, lowlife ex-husband Melvin appears on the scene. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

Quite a combination of assorted characters, plots, twists, and other necessaries to building a good novel. The author’s basic idea is certainly one of today’s world as he builds on a monumental Ponzi scheme. Without a doubt there are many investors interested in recovering at least some part of their contribution to the 60 billion dollars that Abe Cushman has stolen from them.

After Cushman took his own life by jumping from his condo tower’s window to the pavement below, Wall Street and the world felt even more anger. Not only was their money gone but also now the investors would not see the culprit stand trial and eventually go to prison.

There were those however who had thought they would get away with at least a part of the treasure. Many believe that much of the money has been hidden away by some of Cushman’s associates. Little do they know what all is involved in some of the billions that were in fact given to Gerry Collins, the closest associate.

Collins realizes that the money that he has hidden in various accounts as far away as Singapore are now definitely on the “hot seat”. Not only are the investors anxious to find their money but the government is also very interested in the monies but for other reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Elizabeth Sheehan

Bailey Weggins is a true-crime journalist working for Buzz located in New York city. She is invited by a co-worker to a weekend house party about 2 hours from Manhattan and which they find very secluded. Their host is Scott Cohan a music mogul. An interesting array of guests attend; with the main one being Devon Barr a famous model. Along with being extremely flirtatious we find that Devon has an eating disorder. As luck would have it Devon is found dead by Bailey.To make matters worse a wicked snow and ice storm makes it impossible for any of the guests to leave and the police are unable to get there for a while. While in Devon’s room Bailey discovers a bottle of syrup of ipecac which causes vomiting. When the police do arrive they find that the bottle is missing and Bailey then begins to doubt that Devon’s death is accidental.

As she investigates she is shoved down a flight of stairs and when she returns to Buzz she is asked to leave her job. She is persistent and all ends well. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

I did not read the first two books in this three-book trilogy, and wish I had but it will be hard to go back and read books out of order since I know the ending.

From the first page to the last page this book is so interesting that it is hard to put down. Patrick Lee writes an incredible story. In the first chapter, as the president of the United States is addressing the nation from the Oval Office and a missile crashes into the White House, everyone who is watching this on TV sees the flash of light and then a black TV. In this day of instant news coverage they hear almost instantly that the President is dead. Within hours of the White House attack there is another attack against Boarder Town, a top secret place where scientist Tangent is located, and the only clue as to what happened is at the launch site and is says to see Scalar. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

Pants On Fire Detective Agency is owned by Cat DeLuca. This agency specializes in discovering cheating husbands. Cat learned the basics from growing up in a police family with her father and brothers being part of the Chicago Police and from her own cheating husband.

Cleo Jones definitely has a cheating husband. Unfortunately, Walter cheats on Cleo with her sister. Besides that, he takes her money and her dog. So Cleo feels justified when she shoots her husband full of buckshot so that he will not be sitting for quite a while. Cleo also tends to be overly dramatic and gives her neighbors opportunities to use their video cameras when she threatens Walter.

Cat decides that it is best if she accompany Cleo back to the house to take whatever she needs and the dog. She also is pressing Cleo to stop shooting at Walter. When they enter the house, all is quiet but the dog has been in something messy and sticky which turns out to be Walter’s blood. He’s dead. The two also find a bag full of cash which they take with them as they leave with the dog. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Cy Hilterman

Marvelous story that combines mystery in Brier Hospital, its patients, doctors, nurses, and other workers. There is murder in Brier Hospital, but who is doing the killing? How safe are patients in their room, some in a difficult medical state of health where they are not able to think straight, and some in a very delicate state near the end of their life? Dr. Jacob Weizman and his wife, Lola, were Holocaust survivors well up in years; Jacob was eighty-eight years of age and Lola eighty-five. Jacob was so very highly thought of in the medical world of Brier and beyond for many reasons. He told it like it was but always had compassion for his patients. That, along with his expertise towards almost any health problem, made him so very valuable nd trustworthy in the medical field. Lola was also still active in her practice as a psychotherapist despite her age. She and Jacob would be lost without their professions and each other.

There is usually a person on most any hospital staff who has their problems with others in that hospital and that was the case with Jacob with a few thinking he was too darn old to practice medicine, but these same people had to admit he was the best and wisest in the hospital despite his age. When a friend of Jacobs called him and told him of a young doctor, Zoe Spelling, who was looking for an office in which to practice, Jacob asked that she come and see him. Jacob did hire Dr. Zoe Spelling. He knew he was getting old and could use someone to help him. Dr. Spelling was a bright young woman who seemed very capable and Jacob, despite his complaints about some things she did or didn’t do, thought she was a good fit as his partner. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb

Mr. Fitzwilliam and Mrs. Elizabeth Darcy are presented with their most intriguing mystery ever in Carrie Bebris’s latest Jane Austen-inspired novel, The Deception at Lyme (Or, The Peril of Persuasion). This seventh novel in the Mr. & Mrs. Darcy Mystery series is based on both two of Austen’s most popular characters, the Darcys, and on her last novel, Persuasion. In Persuasion, the seawall in Lyme known as the Cobb (my last name, coincidently) is where Miss Louisa Musgrove falls in a critical turning point of the novel. But, in Bebris’s novel, the Cobb proves to be lethal. It’s where the very pregnant Mrs. Clay suffers a fall at the base of the Cobb, manages to give birth to her baby, but dies from her injuries.

There are mysteries on top of mysteries in this excellent page-turning novel. Who is the father of the infant Mrs. Clay leaves behind? There are two likely choices, but which one would benefit the most at Mrs. Clay’s death? Was her fall an accident, or was she murdered–and, if she was murdered, why? These are just a few of the questions that the Darcys try to discover the answers to in The Deception at Lyme (Or, The Peril of Persuasion).

They have traveled to Lyme both to rest and vacation, and also to receive the personal effects of Mr. Darcy’s cousin, a naval lieutenant (Gerald Fitzwilliam) who died in action. The Darcys are there with Fitzwilliam’s sister, Georgiana, and their 18-month old daughter, Lily-Anne, who is fascinated with her first encounter of the sea. Fitzwilliam spots a ship at sea which seems to be struggling against the approach of an imminent storm. A lightning bolt crashes down, and sets a mast of the ship ablaze. Hurrying to attempt to rescue any survivors, Fitzwilliam and Elizabeth come upon the body of a woman they later find out is Mrs. Clay, who has apparently unsuccessfully tried to descend rough-hewn uneven steps called the Granny’s Teeth. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

When Carmella Melendez, Moe Prager’s ex-wife and former PI partner, shows up at Moe’s daughter Sarah’s pre-wedding party he finds himself reliving the past while trying to keep the future at bay. Carmella needs a favor from Moe. Her sister has been murdered but the police don’t seem concerned about finding her killer. Unable to resist Carmella’s plea, Moe decides to try to find out who killed Alta. This decision does not sit well with Pam, a PI from Vermont and a woman that currently holds a special place in Moe’s life.

Carmella took her son Israel, a child close to Moe’s heart, and went to Canada to live leaving Moe behind. She had also cut her family out of her life with the exception of her grandmother so it was a puzzle to Moe why she was so concerned with her older sister’s murder. Alta and her partner Mayna Watson were EMTs who had refused to give assistance to a dying man at a downtown restaurant. The man’s family were furious and the public had no sympathy for Alta or her partner as evidenced by the ton of hate mail Mayna turned over to Moe to help his investigation.

Moe moves forward in his investigation taking him to places that have held a lot of meaning to him in the past. Moe also renews old acquaintances while making his inquiries. However, his thoughts are always touching on his own future or even if he will have a future. Moe has recently discovered that he is suffering from stomach cancer. This is a fact that he hasn’t shared with his family so he is carrying the burden alone. Carmella has left town and gone back to Canada without saying good-bye. Mayna, Alta’s partner, is uncooperative and only wants to be left alone. It seems no one really cares what actually happened but Moe is determined to find the answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

A man walks into Rutledge’s office at Scotland Yard and identifies himself as Wyatt Russell. From Russell’s appearance, it is obvious that the man is very ill. Russell admits to Rutledge that he is suffering from cancer and does not have long to live. His purpose for visiting Scotland Yard is to confess that he killed a man in 1915 and was never apprehended. Russell states that confessing is the only way to clear his conscience. He names his victim as his cousin, Justin Fowler.

Rutledge is curious but confused. Although Russell admits to the murder, he is not willing to offer many details and eventually states that his confusion is due to the morphine that he is taking. Without enough evidence to open a murder inquiry Rutledge still cannot just let the matter go. His curiosity will not allow it. When a body is found floating in the Thames with a bullet in the back of the head, it turns out that the body is that of Rutledge’s confessor to murder of a few weeks ago. There is a gold locket around the man’s neck containing a picture of a young woman.

Rutledge takes the locket and travels to Essex and the village of Furnham, the home of Wyatt Russell. Although the community of Furnham does not welcome strangers, Rutledge is able to speak to the minister who informs Rutledge that the picture of the dead man is not that of Wyatt Russell. Read the rest of this entry »