Mysteries Galore.com

Archive for February, 2010

Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb

Murder, mesmerism, opium, and mystery – what do these things have to do with the life of one of the all-time best novelists, Charles Dickens? As it turns out, quite a lot, at least if you believe the account of one of his best friends, Wilkie Collins, the first-person narrator of Dan Simmons’s vast and sweeping novel, Drood. The problem is, Wilkie is an unreliable narrator, in that besides admiring his friend, he was also a competitor with him, and he was jealous of Dickens’s greater fame and success, much as Soleri was jealous of Mozart. Also, Collins was a long time sufferer from what he termed “rheumatical gout,” (though a doctor later informs him might be a bad case of a venereal disease) and took prodigious amounts of laudanum to deal with the pain and continue with his writing career. This is ironic, as he looked down on those who smoked opium in the numerable opium dens that existed during the era he and Dickens lived, yet he imbibed what was basically a liquid form of opium, and finally also becomes a habitue of opium dens. He experiences hallucinations sometimes, seeing either a hideous woman with a greenish pallor to her skin, or sometimes his own doppleganger, who tries to complete his novels for him.

The title for Drood comes from Dickens’s final, unfinished work, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. I am a fan of Charles Dickens, though I confess I have only read Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, A Christmas Carol, and The Pickwick Papers by him, and not many of the other novels and short stories Simmons’s book refers to, such as David Copperfield, Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, Dombey and Son, and Our Mutual Friend. I would like to remedy this some day, especially as Wilkie Collins – the author of several best- selling books and renowned plays of his day, which now most people have for the most part forgotten – compares the quality of Our Mutual Friend to the comedies of Shakespeare. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Nancy Eaton

The Freedom Project is a charity group whose main purpose is to help clear wrongfully convicted prisoners.

Casey Jordan has always worked to help the people who did not have much. She is made an offer by billionaire founder of the Freedom Project, Robert Graham. He offered her one million dollars annually to use in her legal clinic. All she had to do in return was handle a couple of cases for him each year. Casey could turn down this offer – the money would mean so much to be able to help people.

Casey’s first case is to investigate the case of Dwayne Hubbard, a black man, convicted of the rape and murder of a college student many years ago. Dwayne is serving a life sentence for this crime. Casey figured this case would be easy because of DNA evidence.

As Casey digs deeper into the case, she starts to receive death threats and much resistance. Why? She is shocked when she discovers more and more about what happened in the original case and is now in the middle of trying to exonerate Dwayne and protect her own life.

Is Casey able to exonerate Dwane before someone gets to her?

False Convictions gets more and more exciting with the turn of each page. There are many twists and turns that keep the story going at a good pace. Tim Green has written a thriller with an ending that will not disappoint. As always, the author has created well-developed characters. The story will keep you guessing – just when you think you know what is going to happen, the opposite occurs. Tim Green fans will enjoy False Convictions.

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

When Cassandra Follows, best-selling author, decides to investigate a mystery involving a childhood friend she discovers that things are not always as they seem and that memories sometimes are not exactly as they really happened.

 Cassandra hears a news story about a missing baby and the reporter links the story to a similar incident years ago in Baltimore, Cassandra’s hometown.  A woman named Calliope Jenkins served seven years in jail for contempt of court.  Calliope refused to answer questions as to the whereabouts of her son.  Authorities assumed the child was dead but could not prove it and Calliope was not talking.  Cassandra realizes that Calliope is one of the girls that she attended school with and decides that Calliope will be the subject of her next book.

When Cassandra returns to Baltimore and tries to investigate, she runs up against a dead end every place she turns.  Her former friends either do not want to talk to her or are upset with her about references to them in her previous book.  Calliope’s present location is either unknown or no one is willing to reveal it to Cassandra.

Cassandra starts her own investigation and eventually not only finds Calliope and the story behind the story but also finds out a few truths about her own life.  Life Sentences is a complicated book that goes back and forth between the present and the past.  Cassandra’s investigations lead her to understand the relationships with her mother, father and stepmother revealed in her memoirs were not actually the facts.

 Life Sentences is an intriguing book that kept me reading.  If you pick up Life Sentences to read and expect to find a traditional Laura Lippman novel, you will be very much surprised.