Mysteries Galore.com

Archive for November, 2011

Reviewed by Jud Hanson

P.I. Casey Holden should have known something wasn’t right when she first entered his office. No sooner did she explain her problem-the unsolved death of her husband Artis two years prior-then she simply gets up and leaves his office. Holden decides to find out more about the case and calls his former partner Ian Jackard. One of the original officers turns out to be none other than Greg Gilman, Holden’s nemesis and the main reason he left the Virginia Beach PD. Gilman makes it very clear that Holden should leave the matter alone, which only makes Holden more determined than ever to solve the case. What he doesn’t know is that he is merely a pawn in a bigger game and that he has to win if he wants to live. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

This is my first Taylor Jackson novel but it won’t be my last. The story grabs the reader and doesn’t let go until the entire story is revealed.

Taylor Jackson is a Nashville, Tennessee homicide detective. Taylor is recovering from a case where she was shot in the head and fellow officers were injured. Taylor has lost her ability to speak. It is unclear whether the loss of speech is caused by the injury or by the guilt Taylor is feeling because she didn’t do more to help her best friend who lost her child because of the case that brought about Taylor’s injury.

Against the advice of Taylor’s fiancée, Dr. John Baldwin, she accepts the offer of Memphis Highsmythe, an old friend, for Taylor to recuperate in his family’s estate in Scotland. Taylor knows that Memphis has romantic feelings towards her but feels that she is strong enough to handle any advances he might possibly make. Highsmythe is a detective inspector with the Metropolitan Police in London and Taylor and Memphis have a lot in common. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

Love Lies Bleeding has a little bit of everything to offer. A bit of mystery, a little bit of woo woo and a good cast of characters.

Samantha Moore has lived a very successful life. Samantha holds a prominent position in her father’s company and is engaged to Jackson, a man who had presented her with a beautiful diamond and a promise of a wonderful life.

Then tragedy hit. Samantha is attacked when leaving work and is in a coma for sometime. When she awakes from the coma, she is quite a different person. She repeatedly relives the attack and rebels against the medication prescribed for her. The meds make her sick and forgetful. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

Living on a boat can be full of adventure. For Hetta Coffey in JUST DESERTS, her boat life is sidelined when blisters are discovered on the bottom of her small yacht. She thoroughly enjoys living this way but unfortunately, she has to occasionally work in order to pay the bills and especially when her boat requires expensive and possibly extensive repairs.

Fortunately being a well-qualified civil engineer, Hetta only has to make one phone call to be assigned a job that pays well close to where she is currently located. She is assigned a job in Mexico for a mining company that currently is experiencing labor/union issues and is in desperate need of being updated, especially in the area of safety standards.

Hetta discovered that being located in northern Mexico is problematic and decides to search for a home on the other side of the border in Arizona. She temporarily rents a luxury house and enjoys her time alone in this home until she is visited by a local coyote and numerous friends. Between being a host for her friends, and the local problems of smuggling people, drugs, materials for a dirty bomb, and terrorists, life is far from boring. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

If a healthy baby was subjected to brain surgery at birth, could that affect the child for life? What if part of their brain was exchanged with Einstein’s brain? Would the child be a genius? How could you insure that this child would have values and ethics to balance their intelligence?

Dennis Spears, nicknamed Ice, is a police detective who focuses on doing the right thing, even if it contradicts orders from his superiors. The apparent suicide of a medical student who was serving her residency at a mental hospital though just doesn’t feel right to him. Joanna Peters seemed to be the perfect woman so why would she commit suicide? While he is examining the body, she seems to be alive, but for only a second. Why? Dennis is certain that he did not imagine this. Unfortunately, the rest of the police force thinks that he needs a break from his stressful life.

Dennis is plagued with nightmares as he begins to investigate into Joanna’s death. Coincidentally, the setting for his dreams seems to be the mental hospital where Joanna worked. He has not visited or seen these buildings before, so is this a premonition? Why would he dream of a place he had never visited? Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

Just the title of this book intrigued me and it is as exciting of a book as the title.

Nina is asked to do a favor for her friend Karin, a simple favor really just get a suitcase from a locker in Central Station. Nina is a wonderful, kindhearted person who hates to see anyone hurt so she goes and gets the suitcase. The suitcase is heavy but not so heavy that she can’t handle it. When she gets to her car she opens it and inside is a small boy not wearing a thing. He is unconscious. Nina is a nurse and determines he has been drugged. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Elizabeth Sheehan

The novel begins when Martin Talbot, an accountant, is summoned to the office of his Mother’s attorney. His Mom now resides in a nursing home and is afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Martin is given a letter with a key inside. As Martin reads the letter he finds that his Mother is actually Judy Cooper known as The Black Stiletto a vigilante in New York City during the 1950′s. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

As usual Parker opens his book with Spenser sitting in his office. Then the door opens to not only Spenser’s newest client but to Parker’s next private investigator story. And again as usual Parker has crafted a great story using Spenser as his mode de accompli. If you have never read any of the Parker/Spenser stories this would be a good one to start with as it has all the pieces to keep any reader entertained and definitely not bored.

Now and Then starts with an anxious husband who is interested in finding out about the happenings when his wife is away from the house. He is an FBI agent but doesn’t want to do the spying because he doesn’t want to see what he fears is going on.

Spenser begins tailing the woman who happens to be a college professor at the local college. It doesn’t take long for Spenser to find her meeting with a gentleman and so he begins a more involved tracking of the lady. On one of his ventures he purposely bumps into her and efficiently drops a bug into her purse so that he can hear the conversations that she has with the man she has been meeting. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

What a funny, fast read! Too Much Stuff is about two best friends James and Skip who are part time private investigators. They are hired to find gold that has been missing since the hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935 when everything was swept out to sea.

The Keys railroad had ten crates of gold on it that has been missing for years. Mary Truebood who claims to be a descendent of the railroad has hired James and Skip. What they do not know is that they are not the first private investigators she has hired and the last two are missing. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Patricia Reid

When Nina Borg, a nurse, agrees to do her friend Karin a favor and pick up a suitcase from a locker in the Copenhagen train station, she thought it would be a simple errand. The errand turned out to be far from simple and extremely dangerous. When Nina opened the suitcase, she found a small boy, naked and drugged. Should she call the police and turn the child over to the authorities? This is the question she kept asking herself but finally determined that the authorities might not do what was in the boy’s best interest.

Meanwhile, the boy’s mother, Sigita was frantic. Sigita woke up in a hospital with no idea how she got there but is told that she was found in a drunken state after falling down the steps from her apartment. All Sigita knew was that she did not drink to excess, she has no memory of drinking or falling and her child, Mikas, is gone. A neighbor tells Sigita that the boy’s father had picked him up but when Sigita is finally able to reach Mikas’ father she finds that he knows nothing about where his son might be.

Nina finally finds out where Karin is and goes to meet her. When Nina gets to the cabin where Karin is staying, she finds that Karin has been murdered. There is no clue as to the boy’s identity or why Karin asked Nina to pick up the suitcase. Nina is quick to realize that agreeing to do a favor for a friend has placed both her and the boy in danger. Read the rest of this entry »