Mysteries Galore.com

Archive for January, 2012

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 »

Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair

With long running series, it’s sometimes hard to age the main characters and their families. Readers become attached, not only the main characters, but also the supporting cast around them. The same can be said about running themes in books. In most of Kellerman’s books featuring Decker and Lazarus, there has been a strong emphasis on their families and Rina’s strong Orthodox Jewish faith. Neither really plays a part in Gun Games. The assorted Decker and Lazarus children are grown and off doing other things, no extended family is involved and Rina’s faith does not come into play much at all. This will undoubtedly disappoint some readers. Both Peter Decker and his wife Rina Lazarus are back, as is their foster son Gabriel Whitman. This book is Gabriel’s-and possibly Kellerman’s effort to shift the series in a different direction.

Gabriel witnessed a fellow student commit suicide which given his rocky background is enough to concern the Decker household. But when the student’s mother approaches Peter saying she is sure her son’s death was not suicide and asks him to investigate, Peter agrees. It also causes Peter and Rina to wonder what Gabriel is not telling them. Things become even more intense when a second child, from the same elite school dies-also of an apparent suicide. Decker launches an all out full scale investigation. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Caryn St. Clair

When readers want to take a virtual trip to some other part of the world, an easy choice is to pick up one of the various series published by SOHO Crime. They have series literally set all over the world. One of this reviewer’s favorites is the Chief Inspector Silva series set in Brazil.

In A Vine in the Blood, World Cup Soccer serves as the back drop for the plot. Brazil is due to host the World Cup and fans anticipate a finals match between Brazil and arch rival Argentina. Brazil MUST win no matter what. What lengths will fans in this soccer rabid country go to in order to secure a victory? When the mother of the star for the home team is kidnapped, everyone assumes it was a plot to hamper Brazil’s chances in the upcoming match. But was it? There are certainly other people in the soccer star’s life as well as his mother’s life who might have a motive.

While the plots of the other books in the series were fairly unique to Brazil, this book could possibly take place in any locale with over-the-top avid fans of any sports team. In fact, a situation in Olympic figure skating came to mind more than once while reading this book. This took a bit off the book for me since much of the focus was on the sports community rather than uniquely Brazilian cultural issues. Still, author Gage takes readers in the Brazilian mob and offers us a look at the running of crime investigation in Brazil. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

What would you expect to be taken from you if you were mugged outside a local bar? Most of us would expect to lose our purse/wallet, keys, money, watch, or rings. Well, Jake Reese was mugged and all that was taken was his wedding ring with the finger. The finger was cut off with bolt cutters. They let him keep his money.

Jake Reese had a rough upbringing. Today we would consider him as a child to be “at risk”. Fortunately, he has turned his life around. His drinking is under control. He recently married and lives together with his loving wife in a house in a decent neighborhood. He has a possibility for a secure future with his position as a professor teaching writing at a university. Everything seems to be falling into place until he is mugged. Jake decides to investigate this on his own placing his life at the university on hold when another weird thing happens. His wife, Diane, is missing. oes this have anything to do with the finger? Is this a kidnapping? Is this revenge for something in Jake’s past? He decides to look into his past for the answers, if there are any. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

Every parent sees that their child is special, but what if your child really has an ability that is rare and possibly prized by others? Would you take your child to a specialist to verify this ability or to improve this gift? Keep those questions in mind when reading this book.

Michelle Martinez was working in her kitchen when she heard her doorbell. Since she was personally working on not being a super-woman, she asked her boyfriend to answer it. Unfortunately she did not plan to hear the sound of gun shots using a silencer. Her training and adrenaline kicked in as she immediately ran from the house and grabbed her son who was playing in the backyard. Where do you go?

Michelle called the only trustworthy person who could investigate this incident and still protect, Sean Reilly. Since it has been five years, he was surprised to receive the call and to discover that Michelle kept a secret from him. Her son is also his son. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

What will people do to be famous? ..to have their fifteen minutes of fame? You can probably guess what normal people will do, but what about those in the movie business? What lengths will these people go to get into a film, be featured on television, or just to get some form of publicity?

Everyone is shocked when watching the news on television and seeing an elderly actress talking to a newscaster while her house is burning in the background. Besides being reminded of this person’s existence, Max and Margot view this and decide to invite this actress to play a part in their next movie as the zombie grandmother. Could the fire have been a coincidence? Could this be a set up to get the actress publicity and to remind people of her existence?

Max and Margot have their own movie production company and currently are creating a new-type of zombie movie. They begin their filming in Florida with the zombies coming out of the ocean. Also coincidentally, the containers holding the actors and actresses are covering an alligator hole. This definitely makes for interesting filming. Read the rest of this entry »