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Archive for the ‘Book Reviews’ Category

Reviewed by Gina Metz

Breaking Silence begins with what first appears to be a terrible accident. Solomon Slabaugh, his wife Rachel, and brother Abel Slabaugh are all found in the pit of hog manure in the barn. It is initially assumed that one of the brothers fell into the pit and the other brother and wife have succumbed to methane gas asphyxiation while trying to rescue the other. However, when the bodies are removed, the Coroner discovers a head wound on Solomon Slabaugh that had occurred just prior to his death and the accident turns into a murder investigation.

Police Chief Kate Burkholder suddenly finds her hands full with the murder investigation and a series of hate crimes against the Amish at the same time. The state send in agent John Tomasetti, Kate’s boyfriend, to help in the investigation of the hate crimes and find out whether the Slabaugh murders are related to these crimes. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

One of my favorite authors in a somewhat earlier story about Joe Pickett, the Game Warden who works mostly at the beck and call of Spencer Rulon, governor of Wyoming. Pickett is a top game warden but he has some bad habits in that he either gets involved in some very serious crimes while he patrols his territory or he inadvertently destroys the equipment that the state gives him to use. His involvement in crimes is not that he commits them but that he somehow manages to stumble onto some of the strangest types of crimes that can be imagined. And they always in one fashion or another happen while he is doing his normal game warden job. And the equipment gets damaged because invariably he is chasing down some criminal or he is being shot at by some miscreant that Joe has determined to be a bad guy!

This story begins when several hunters are found murdered in the area that Joe is covering. Not only have the hunters been shot but they are left hanging from several tree limbs in a position that mimics how a hunter would possibly hang a dead animal that he has killed. Not only are they hung but they have had their throats slit and they have been disemboweled much like a hunter would do prior to taking his kill home to eat. It definitely appears that someone is sending out word to hunters that they will be treated as they treat their kills. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

Sabina Carpenter as a former Pinkerton operative and John Quincannon, a former Secret Servie agent joined forces to establish their own private detective agencies in San Francisco during the 1890s. Unfortunately for the two, they are joined by the mysterious Sherlock Holmes, or a man pretending to be the supposedly deceased investigator. Or is Holmes alive and well and willing to help in San Francisco?

Sabina is in pursuit of a local pickpocket who preys on wealthy men. This female criminal usually attacks her victims by stabbing them in the side with her hat pin. While the victim is reacting to the pain, she quickly empty his pockets.

John is currently looking for a thief who prefers to break into the houses of prominent businessmen while they are out during the evening. He is employed by the insurance firm that happens to insure these wealthy homes. The company greatly prefers to hire the agency to retrieve the stolen goods rather than having to pay for the value of the stolen property. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Gina Metz

When Shirley Peters is found strangled, it initially appears to be an open and shut case when the police arrest her common-law husband, Tony Macliesh. He has a history of violence, a police record, is insanely jealous and they’ve been split up for eighteen months. Shirley also had a restraining order against him.

However they soon find out that Tony is not guilty when the second woman is murdered while they have Tony in custody. As they dig deeper into both murders they find that the only things the two women have in common is that they had shared an interest in the local newspaper’s Lonely Hearts column. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

Los Angeles Homicide Detective Milo Sturgis works with Doctor Alex Freeman on this really unusual case. Dr. Freeman is a noted psychologist and is often a main character in Jonathan Kellerman’s mysteries. In this one both he and Milo have their hands full as they try to determine exactly what all is going on at Windsor Prep, a noted prep school in Los Angeles that numbers among its attendees the son of the L.A. Chief of Police.

A part time teacher and tutor at the prestigious school has been found dead in her bathtub completely buried in dry ice. The question is why the dry ice and who would have killed her. Before Milo and Alex get there however a DVD was found in her effects and turned into the police department. The DVD is of Elise Freeman, the dead woman, speaking to the camera and she tells about three faculty members at Windsor. Supposedly these three have been sexually making her life miserable for the past two years. She claims they have been forcing her into brutal sex and sexually harassing in many other ways. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

If you are like most Sidney Sheldon fans you have missed the excitement of opening a new book by Sheldon. Well now his style of writing is alive again because Tilly Bagshawe is writing using his style and co-writing with the deceased author. I thought that was odd too but it gets so much better; it is almost like Sheldon is alive and writing again.

Sidney Sheldon’s The Tides of Memory is the fasted paced book ever. Does the past follow you or does it just sneak up and bite you in the ass. Something terrible happens to Toni and Billy – an accident and it was a terrible secret they both tried to forget but it gnawed away at them and finally it broke free. When the truth was known it destroyed lives, marriages, and families and even some of the British government. This is an amazing book and I wish that it would have kept going but there was nothing left to tell so all good things do come to an end. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Elizabeth Sheehan

Joe Hunter is an ex-soldier and former member of a secret force called Arrowsake. He’s left the force after nearly being killed and he still has some painful wounds. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Teri Davis

“A Cancer”, that is your purpose in the world.

When Fumihiro Kuki was eleven years old and living in present day Japan, his wealthy father told him that he was to carry on the family tradition and to become “a cancer”. “I created you to be a cancer on the world.” A cancer would be someone who attaches themselves to others as a parasite draining the life for their own personal gain. How would you react to this declaration?

For Fumihiro Kuki, being born into a wealthy family allowed him to receive extra tutoring to that he would excel in school. With no knowledge or evidence of his mother, his father chooses to be distant and unlovable. Doesn’t money solve the problem of not being loved?

Living in this house with Fumihiro and his father are many servants and a young girl who is also in his class. Kaori attends school with Fumihiro and becomes his best friend and love of his life. Why is she living with them? It also seems that she is motherless. What is her connection to the family?

Evil and the Mask is about Fumihiro while he lives at home with his father and how he adjusts to life. After being cursed, Fumihiro enjoys his growing friendship with Kaori but begins to feel revengeful towards his father and this curse placed upon him. When opportunity for revenge occurs, he makes a well-planned decision that changes his life and his character. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Julie Moderson

A Case of Redemption is Adam Mitzner’s 2nd book and all I have to say is his first book was fantastic and now his second book is incredible. He keeps on getting better with each book so what will his 3rd book bring?

Dan Sorensen was a high powered attorney for a very large law firm in New York City and then the unimaginable happened and he stepped off the grid. He has been unheard from for over a year when he is approached by a beautiful, sexy young attorney to try a case of a lifetime. This case seems to be just the case to get Dan back into the courtroom that he loves but will it help him to clear the pain that has hung over him for over a year? Who is this sexy young lawyer who makes Dan remember he isn’t dead. Nina is her name and she wants to help a young man she believes is innocent. Nina has some of her own ghosts like an ex-boyfriend that is married. Nina is still in love with him but she is trying to get over it. Read the rest of this entry »

Reviewed by Allen Hott

Patricia Cornwell writes novels dealing with forensics and that is exactly what the Bone Bed is about. Actually the bone bed is a place where bones of prehistoric dinosaur type creatures have been found and it turns out that one of paleontologists working in the area has come up missing.

However as the story moves along it turns out that it is not just this one lady who is missing but another is missing and also one is fished out of the river in Boston. Kay Scarpetta, the Chief Medical Examiner, has the honor of fishing the body out of the river and it is not an easy task. It seems that a huge endangered species sea turtle has somehow gotten wrapped around the body and some other fishing line. It is all entangled and Kay has to figure out how to get it untangled. However as she gets closer she finds that the body has been tied in at the neck and the feet. If not done correctly and carefully either the head will be pulled off the body or the entire body will sink to the bottom of the river bed. It looks like someone didn’t want the body recovered in good condition.

While Kay is trying to pull this off there are many boats in the area circling around to see what is happening and strangely enough a large helicopter appears above the scene and is taking movies of the procedure. Kay is very concerned with getting the body not only to shore but to her morgue so that she can investigate what caused the death before the body goes from its semi-frozen state to a condition unacceptable for autopsy work. Read the rest of this entry »