Mysteries Galore.com

Archive for October, 2011

Reviewed by Teri Davis

How long does it take for someone to finally succeed with revenge?

Harry Hole is a former alcoholic Norwegian detective that believes in doing the right thing, even if it is not politically correct. Harry is searching for a neo-Nazi, Sverre Olsen while also stopping an assassination of a world leader. Having to make a split-second decision, Harry shoots a Secret Service agent, possibly paralyzing the man permanently. True, the Secret Service agent should not have been where he was, but should he have been shot? Harry did not see that he had any choice.

In World War II, Norwegians were in a touchy situation with wondering whether to side with the Germans or the Russians. Many realized that they needed to be on the side of the victors, but it was difficult to tell which side would win.

The Redbreast was voted the best Norwegian crime novel ever written by members of Norwegian book clubs. The Redbreast is a novel that was confusing for me for the first hundred pages. When a novel is translated from its original language, I always wonder if what I am reading is the skill of the writer or the translator. It moved from the Norwegians fighting in World War II, to Harry Hole searching for Sverre Olsen in present time, to Harry at the police station, to Harry investigating with his female partner, and seemed to make few connections. After that, the novel was completely mesmerizing. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Cy Hilterman

Sometimes the word “WOW” is used in extravagance, but not with this book! Ben Coes wrote his first book, “Power Down” and it was one of the best, most thrilling and engrossing stories I have read. This new book is of the same quality or, if possible, even better. It brings back the main character from the first book, Dewey Andreas, who is a master of all actions when it comes to helping his nation. He had been highly trained in all phases of super warfare such as Seals and Rangers are. The main story takes place in India and Pakistan but the interaction goes all over the world. Dewey had settled in secretively in Australia knowing that Aswan Fortuna was constantly searching for him. He had huge sums of reward money for anyone that could catch Dewey and ‘dispose’ of him. Fortuna’s two sons were loaded with money too but one son, Alexander, had been killed while the remaining son, Nebuchar, roamed free. All the Fortuna’s were wanted by the United States, dead or alive. Aswan Fortuna controlled or influenced many governments mostly with his money. He speaks and they jump. Fortuna had hired specialized killers to track down Dewey no matter where they could find him, if they could find him!

Jessica Tanzer was the national security advisor to President Allaire. Her advice went very far in most all of the cabinet meetings. Jessica also had a relationship with Dewey that set sparks off when either name was mentioned to each of them. Their long distance relationship made life hard for them but they knew that security demanded that distance with Dewey being a hunted man. Fortuna was very influential with Pakistan’s leader as well as others in the Asian area. He did all he could to change that part of the world to Muslim. Once again his money spoke tons of words and advice to any leader of a nation who could be influenced easily. Hostilities increased quickly between India and Pakistan. So many were killed, civilians as well as military. Attacks were launched increasingly and more deadly. It didn’t take long for Pakistan to drop a nuclear bomb on a small town in India wiping out the entire town killing thousands of civilians. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

Being Sherlock Holmes’ wife can be challenging. What with Sherlock’s eccentricities and brilliance, Mary Russell constantly needs to balance her own interests with his. She finds that this places her in the position of having to be involved in investigations even without her husband’s assistance.

Mary’s newest investigation is to join Fflytte Films, a silent film producing company. There are suspicions about this film crew smuggling of drugs and guns. Working as a director’s assistant should make it easy for her to combine with her massive daily duties. Since the former director’s assistant has disappeared, this is also a concern. Her job is to be a part of this group as they film in Lisbon and Morocco. What she did not plan on though was the demands of being a director’s assistant and quickly finds that she has no time for investigating. She writes to her husband back in England when she finds the opportunity or time. One of the first things that she tells him is the demands of being a mother to the crew and no time to investigate.

The story is to make a silent movie made about making Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Pirate of Penzance”. The complications come when the director, Fflytte, plans to have triplets play each of the daughters and when he manages to hire real pirates for the pirate parts. Imagine working with thirteen blond teenaged-girls and meeting their various needs in an attempt to live in temporary harmony along with real pirates playing both pirates and constables. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair

After a couple of books away from Harry Bosch as the main character, Connelly returns with The Drop, a book where Harry is at his best. Harry and Chou have two cases to investigate and as things seem to be resolved in each case, the cases take unsettling turns. Questions arise that may pop up again down the road.

The Cold Case Unit of the LAPD routinely selects cases at random to be reviewed to see if using the latest DNA testing there are any new leads in the case. Harry Bosch, now a member of this unit, catches a case from 1989. When the evidence is reviewed, there is a hit on the blood that was found at the scene-only the blood belongs to a guy who would have been only eight years old at the time the crime was committed. Before Harry and his partner Chou can really get started working the case, Harry long time nemesis, Councilman Irvin Irving asks that Harry be assigned to investigate the death of the Councilman’s son.

As readers ride along with Harry and is partner, it’s like catching up with old friends. Readers find Harry and his daughter settled into a comfortable routine after the death of Harry’s ex-wife and Maddy’s mother. Harry and his new partner have a not surprisingly unbalanced relationship with Harry wanting only to give orders while not sharing information. Kiz Rider, Harry’s old partner, has moved up the ladder in the police department and while it is sometimes helpful for Harry there is a definite shift in their relationship during this book-a shift leaving Harry feeling the loss. But the best is the return of Irvin Irving. In The Drop, the Councilman and Harry are supposed to be on the same side on this case, but can Harry and the Councilman ever be in agreement? Their relationship also takes an unusual twist by the end of The Drop. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

The last place you would expect to find a Minneapolis Police Detective on leave is working aboard a sailing ship but that Is exactly what Brie Beaumont is doing. The Maine Wind is a working ship owned by Captain John DeLuc. Brie and John are very attracted to each other but Brie is still uncertain what the future holds for her and is unwilling to make a commitment to John on a personal level or to the ship as a permanent job.

Brie left the police department after her partner was killed and she felt she needed some distance from police work but when the ship makes a stop on Sentinel Island to help John’s friend repair an old lighthouse Brie is immediately caught up in a mystery surrounding the lighthouse and the small island.

Amanda Whitcombe is an artist, a prominent member of the Sentinel Island community and a good friend of Ben, the owner of the lighthouse. Amanda has disappeared and when Brie finds her cottage unlocked she investigates and some clues lead Brie to believe that Amanda did not leave voluntarily.
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Reviewed by Vickie Dailey

Hell to Pay is the third book in a trilogy consisting of Live to Tell and Scared to Death. This book is not really a stand-alone. I do recommend that you read the other two first. Most of the first half of the book is given over to retelling of relationships and past events in the other two books. When it finally gets down to it’s own story – Jeremy & Lucy Cavalon and their soon to be born child. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

This is the second of Hart’s novels that I have read and both were excellent. He writes with feeling and emotion but not in a way to neither drag down the story nor hurt the action.

Iron House happened to be the North Carolina orphanage that Michael knew as his only home until the day that his younger brother stabbed one of his tormentors to death in the bathroom of the orphanage. Michael fixed the death scene so that it appeared he, not his brother, did the killing and Michael then took off. Michael made his way to New York City and was heading up a gang of juvenile thieves on the streets until “discovered” by a gang boss who basically adopted him.

The adoption was based on his ability to control his underlings even as a teenager. The gang boss saw the potential in Michael becoming a major part of his crew, as Michael was strong, unforgiving, and worked with practically no emotions. He worked well for quite a while and did what was required of him which most of the time included killing those who dared to cross his boss.

A major change occurred however when Michael met and fell in love with Elena, a waitress in a local restaurant. She was from Spain originally and had moved to the states. Elena knew nothing of Michael’s background and was actually looking forward to a long happy life with him and their expected child. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

A very interesting read featuring Harlan Donnally, who now owns a small café in Mount Shasta, California after moving there from San Francisco. In the Bay City he had been a detective before moving away and he believed he had definitely done the right thing by getting away from that occupation.

However just before the fellow who owned the fix-it shop next to Donnally’s café died he asked Donnally to deliver a letter to a long lost sister. And then things happened that moved Donnally back into the investigating business. Actually Donnally said to himself as he left with the letter, “Screw him. I ain’t nobody’s postman”.

There was just something about the whole situation though that made Donnally believe he should probably go find the sister, show her the letter, and help her claim her dead brother’s estate.

It turned out to be a lot more involved than just finding the sister as Donnally found out. Trying to find her was difficult enough but when he finally gets the whole story is when he definitely puts his detective’s hat on once more. At first he thought that she had died and he could have probably accepted that but once he found out that she had been murdered the old investigating spirit kicked in and off he went. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Cy Hilterman

David Baldacci has written many terrific stories and “True Blue” is no exception. The story takes two sisters, one, Beth Perry, is the Chief of Police of Washington, DC and the other, Mace Perry, a former police woman who has spent the last two years in prison due to trumped up charges against her. Mace’s tough life in prison finally comes to an end with her release a bit early thanks to her sister but her last few days in prison were not pleasant. The only thing in Mace’s mind now that she is out of prison is to find out who framed her so she, hopefully, can get back on the police force. That was her life; all she ever wanted to do. Roy Kingman is an attorney who leads an active life when not in the courts fighting for his clients. Eventually Mace and Roy work together to help her find the one that got her sent to prison. Mace knows Washington, the good and bad sections and she has little concern going anywhere because she knows what and who to watch out for in any area riding her fancy Ducati Sport motorcycle. She feels she can take care of herself. Famous words that many of us think in our lives! Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Douglas R. Cobb

If you would like to read a perfect Halloween book, or a chilling, thrilling novel to read at any time of the year, look no further than the awesomely suspenseful, spine-tingling Black Light, by the writing team of Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan, & Stephen Romano. Their names should sound familiar to fans of the Saw franchise, as Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunston wrote the screenplays for Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, and Saw 3D. Also, they wrote the screenplay for The Collector, and are filming The Collector 2. Black Light delivers the goods, and Buck Carlsbad and his unique Gift that allows him to Pull ghosts into his body by using his will instead of the proton packs like in Ghostbusters makes for one of the coolest and most bad-ass characters of the horror genre.

Buck Carlsbad is the first-person narrator of Black Light. He was found trapped in a car with the windows up in Arizona in the summer when he was a boy, and the intense heat cause him to experience amnesia about his parents and background up until then. He didn’t even remember his own name, so chose the name Buck Carlsbad himself. He received training in several martial arts, and also eventually discovers he can communicate with the dead and trap them within his own body for a short time, until he can dispose of them later by regurgitating them into funeral urns and burying them.

While the dead are within him, he can see things that they see, a world of different levels of intense Blacklight. The light is so strong, he needs to wear filtered goggles to protect his eyes. He has learned that he can sometimes pull out items from his own past, a past he doesn’t remember, that should hold some sort of meaning for him. The goggles he wears come from one such encounter with his own past, and he believes that they must have belonged to his father, and that his father also rid the world of the harmful spirits of murderers and child molesters as he does now. Buck’s services don’t come cheap, generally speaking, but he sometimes just wants to ingest as many spirits as he can, and progress ever lower down into the lowest levels of the Blacklight, in his attempt to gain as much knowledge as he can about his parents. It is a dangerous thing to do that can cost him his life, but it’s worth it to him. Read the rest of this entry »