TWENTY-SEVEN BONES - Jonathan Nasaw

From the book: Interesting statistic about Antisocial Personality Disorder: it has the lowest suicide rate of any major psychiatric illness. Psychopaths don't get the blues, they give them, and their will to live is an extraordinary thing to behold-ask any cop who's ever cornered one.
The reader learns fairly early on who the killers are, we know why they are doing what they are doing. We get to go along with the people who set out to capture them before they kill again.
Pender is a retired FBI agent. He is asked by an old colleague to go to the island of St Luke to investigate the mysterious killings that are occurring on his island paradise. The islanders want the tourist trade and the killings are obviously going to hamper that.
There are various characters in the mix, Holly the masseuse who is caring for her dead sister's two kids, Marley and Dawn. Dawson the fugitive from justice; Fran Bendt, reporter and peeper; Lewis and Hokey Apgard, old family money; Emily and Phil Eps, local anthropologists...and many more.
I alternated between impatience with the story and intrigue with it. In the end, I really liked it and I will definitely look for more of this author, likely start at the beginning of this four book series with THE GIRLS HE ADORED.
Four bony beans....







Bookmark for this book....

BIG CITY BAD BLOOD - Sean Chercover

I had my own voice-over in my cranium while I read this one. It really has the feel of a hardboiled crime novel and it needed a voice-over telling me the gritty story. I had gravelly-voiced (in the yummiest way) Sam Elliott doing mine....get your own....

Ray Dudgeon was a newspaper guy who became disillusioned after having an expose of his turned down by the powers that be. He turned in his keyboard and notepad and took up his overcoat and gun and became a private investigator. He is hired by a movie company to protect their locations guy who got himself on the wrong side of the Mob, or the Outfit as it is known in Chicago. Ray discovers more than he ever wanted to know about all sides of the Outfit, Hollywood, people in the course of the job.

Superbly gritty read.

Four noir beans....

BLACK WIDOW - Randy Wayne White

This was my second audiobook in this series by Randy Wayne White and it was just as good as the first I listened to also the first in the series. BLACK WIDOW is #15 in the Doc Ford series. This is usually when a series author would rest on his or her laurels, but Mr White ab-so-tively did not do any resting here.

Doc Ford is tasked to find the blackmailers who are after his niece, Shay. Someone filmed his niece and her girlfriends on the Caribbean island they were visiting for her bachelorette party that went a little wild. The blackmailers now want big money or they will tell all and it won't be pretty. Shay is set to marry big money and this definitely won't go over well.

Doc Ford goes to the island and finds the blackmailers and more.

A definite good listen or read.

Four voodoo beans....

DECEPTION PASS: A Thomas Black Mystery - Earl Emerson

This one is a little rough around the edges, but I like the main characters, Thomas Black and his wife Kathy. I will look for more of the series, especially the first one just because of these two. I especially loved the interplay of their relationship.

Thomas Black, PI, is hired to look into whoever is blackmailing uber-rich Lainie Smith. This would all be in a day's work for Black, but Lainie wants him to find out who is blackmailing her, but not enlighten him over what the blackmail is about.

There was another thing I liked, there wasn't much black and white. There were shades of grey all over the book. Everyone was shades of grey-ish good and bad.

Three rough around the edges beans....

BLUEGATE FIELDS - Anne Perry, BOT, narr Davina Porter

I like Anne Perry at times, enough to listen to or read from time to time. Not in a hurry to listen or read another in the near future. I put this one on my wishlist because one of my favorite narrators, Davina Porter, was the voice for the characters. I adore her work and I like Anne Perry, so I gave it a try.

Anne Perry does great work portraying the ways and means of Victorian times. Or at least as I would imagine they would be. Stuffy on the outside and teeming with intrigue on the inside.

Inspector Thomas Pitt is given the case of finding the killer of a young man found naked and dead in the sewers of Bluegate Fields. What was the body of a young man of what looked like good means doing in a place of such squalor and poverty?

Pitt's investigation is hampered by both his superiors and the closed mouth, protective attitude of the upper class families he questions. His wife, Charlotte, takes up the banner and makes her way into society with her well married sister to ask questions of her own.

I think it will be a littel while again before listening or reading Anne Perry again. I will do so, it just takes a while before I can make myself read and/or listen to the tales of that time. It is aggravating, irritating, frustrating for me as I hear how things are handled or mishandled, withheld or grudgingly let go all because of the society of the time.
Three frustrating beans....

RUNNING FROM THE LAW - Lisa Scottoline, narr Barbara Rosenblatt

Oh man! Going without Lisa Scottoline for a long time and then getting back to her books must be close to what a smoker feels when the smoker gives up the cancer sticks for a rather long while then has one with the gang.....NICE RUSH!!
I cannot believe it's been so long since my last Scottoline! Especially listening to one with the uber delightful Barbara Rosenblatt. Love her voice. She is in the top five of my favorite narrators.
Scottoline's main characters are all female lawyers and most, if not all, have a wicked smartass sense of humor. I respect smart smartasses.
This particular smart smartass is Rita Morrone. Or 'Miss Fresh' to her dad the butcher. Rita is hired to represent Fiske Hamilton, a prominent federal judge, when he is accused of sexual harrassment. Fiske is also the father of Rita's live-in boyfriend. And then everything goes to hell.
I love all of the pitch perfect characters, especially Rita and the old guys she plays poker with every Tuesday night.
Four legally smartass beans.

KILLING FLOOR - Lee Child, book 1 Jack Reacher series

This is the first in the Jack Reacher series and I can't wait to read more of this series or anything else Lee Child may write.

Jack Reacher is a retired military investigator, now a wanderer, even calls himself a hobo to the police who pick him up on suspicion of murder. He is new to the town of Margrave, GA,having just wandered in because he heard a story from his brother that a bluesman they both admired grew up and was killed in the small town.

Jack knows nothing of any murder and discovers that all in the town is not what it appears. Everything is new, people are scarce and the few who are in town are nervous. Jack finds himself investigating the murders he was accused of as well as the mysterious occurrences.

There is plenty of action, all of it colorfully and heart poundingly written.

Five beans!

QUESTIONABLE REMAINS: A Lindsay Chamberlain Forensic Mystery - Beverly Connor

I finished QUESTIONABLE REMAINS this afternoon when I woke from my pre-mid shift nap. It might have taken me a little longer, but I sort of skimmed the flashbacks to the time when the conquistadors were bringing disease and murder to the Native Americans along the Southeast. That part of the story was sort of extraneous to me even though I am sure it was to parallel the current time story going on.
Dr Lindsay Chamberlain is going on vacation in Tennessee after testifying in a murder trial and the fallout is becoming to be a bit much. Lindsay's idea of vacation is to visit and help at various students' and co-workers' archeological digs. Along the way she has agreed to help a family find out what happened to a brother whose body has been found in a cave. There are some questions that need answering for their closure.
The back story of the conquistadors and Native Americans follows along with the sites Lindsay is visiting, but it took me away from the mystery that was going along.
Three beans.

BONE YARD - Michelle Gagnon

BONE YARD is another fab suspense thriller from Michelle Gagnon. It gets the reader going immediately and the twists and turns are definitely unexpected, but not gratuitous as some authors like to throw out.
I was completely absorbed with Michelle's first book, THE TUNNELS, when I read it last year. I was both looking forward to and expecting to be disappointed by the follow up book. I am pleased that it was the former than the latter. The debut book of some authors will leave you breathless, the sophomore effort leaves you tossing cookies (and not in that good way because of great descriptions of the kill scene). BONE YARD was one I really did not want to put down, but had to because those pesky folks in my office expect me to be there on time and the lawn has to be mowed, laundry folded, food cooked, sigh.....
I stayed up as late as possible to finish last night, but had to put it down until this morning, so woke to the rather gravelly satisfying ending.
FBI Agent Kelly Jones is about to go on vacation when a hiker on the Appalachian Trail discovers human bones. Agent Jones is assigned to assist the local authorities and becomes enmeshed in a boneyard discovery, animosity from some of the local police and what looks to be more than just this murder.
Five beans!

THE GHOST - Robert Harris, narr Robert Rees

Very well done by author of a ghostwriter tasked to write the autobiography of a former prime minister of England. He is under extreme deadline, the previous ghostwriter was found washed up on shore at Martha's Vineyard, secrets galore being discovered.
The narrator also won points by making this a very good listen. I am not sure I'd have had the patience to sit and read the book, but Robert Rees had me glued to the carseat in parking lots and my driveway.
Definite four beans!

LAST LESSONS OF SUMMER - Margaret Maron

This is one of the best books I've read in a long while. I have been a fan of Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott series, but hadn't read anything not of the series before. I gave myself the Summer Challenge to get me started on this one and so glad I did.
Now I posted above that this isn't part of the Deborah Knott series, but it does have a couple of recognizable characters, if you've read any of the series' books. Major Bryant and SBI Terry Wilson play fairly significant roles in the story.
This book starts in New York and moves to North Carolina. There is a questionable death of an old rich woman, the grandmother of the main character, Amy Steadman. Amy has come down to clear her grandmother's house before selling the land for a development project. Along the way she is also looking for answers to past mysteries....Why did her mother kill herself when Amy was only 3 years old? Why was her grandmother the standoffish person she was to all but a few? Who wanted her grandmother dead?
This a great character study as much as it is a well written mystery. Thank you Margaret Maron.
Five beans!!!

BONE THIEF - Thomas O'Callaghan

BONE THIEF could have been a better book. I almost gave up on it, but went back. The author likes shortcuts and I have a longer attention span than he was giving his reader credit for. It was a very intriguing storyline, with the serial killer making his presence known and the rest of the book was for the cops to try and catch him. I can only hope that O'Callaghan was not trying to make us feel sorry for the bad guy. The back story was a horrific upbringing for the killer as a boy, but he seems to know what he's doing now and that it's wrong to do, but he likes it and will continue. No pity from this reader. I am, however, glad that the boy got his revenge on the truly horrendous parents.
There is a romance that gets in the way of the story, too. I am not averse to romance in thrillers and suspense novels, but this one seemed gratuitous.
All that said, I will read one more of this author and hope it redeems him in my eyes. He had a very good story idea and went astray somewhere along the line.
3 beans for the good story idea and that I will read the author again.

STRANGERS IN DEATH - J D Robb

When in doubt, I go to J D Robb and hang with Eve Dallas and Roarke for a while. The series is mostly mind candy with an edge of thrill. I enjoy the tough cop Eve with her reluctant softening heart that she has thanks to her relationship with Roarke. Eve takes each murder personally and 'stands for the victim' as she puts it. It's her calling, not just her job.
Roarke is the richest guy in the worlds. Not a typo, in the future, there are populated worlds, not just Earth. And Roarke is hugely the richest guy in all of them. He's smart and a definite match for Eve.
Eve catches the murder case of nice rich guy and she almost immediately knows who the killer is, but the whole book is about her team gathering the evidence. It's a super read and a definite good time getting to the satisfying end.
....IN DEATH series....A very nice addiction. Four beans!

A WICKED SNOW - Gregg Olsen

Talk about your twisty turny suspense novels! All very unexpected twists even when one expects surprises at each turn (since it's a suspense novel and all).
Hannah Griffin has struggled her whole life to put her childhood behind her. Tragedy with loss of family and home remain buried in her memories and she is doing her best to keep it that way. Until someone begins sending messages from her past.
Nothing and no one is what it seems. Just as a well written suspense thriller novel should be.
We are enjoying having the author lead the book discussion on Shelfari.com's Suspense and Thriller group. All participants, Gregg Olsen included I think, are getting a lot of good insight. Love when the authors join in!!

A WICKED SNOW gets a very shivery four beans!

THE WOODS - Harlan Coben

THE WOODS is not gonna be a favorite Coben book with me. It may be it's because it's my first stand-alone of his, but I really think it was because it's a very convoluted wrapped-around-the axle-multiple-stories-going-on for me to digest comfortably. I did read it and finish it, there is enough of the Harlan charm in there to keep me going, but I'd be disappointed if I read another of his stand-alones that read to this enth degree of complexity.

The book begins with a mass murder in the woods of a summer camp that happened 20 years ago. The main character, Paul Copeland, is the state prosecutor and the brother of a girl who was involved. Cope, his nickname, is involved in a court case against two college students accused of rape. This leads to the fathers of these two students going into Cope's background which not only involves the past mass murder, but a past of family members involved in the KGB. It continues to get more complex as the story continues. No one is as they appear, everyone is telling lies to cover the past and I was glad to finally finish the book and get ready to read something to cleanse my palate.

I give it two beans...

TULAROSA - Michael McGarrity

TULAROSA was a surprise to me. I didn't expect to find such an involved and intriguing story on just six audiotapes and I sure didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I had it on my wishlist because George Guidall is the narrator and found a new author who I will continue to listen to and read.
I also found that it's a first in a series. For some reason, I went into it thinking it was a stand alone. Very happy that I get to hear more of retired Santa Fe chief of police Kevin Kerney's investigations.
In this book, Kerney is hired to find his missing godson, Sammy. It leads to involvement in military ops, illegal trade in buried treasure, and people not as above board as they appear.
This is a very very good book and I know the rest of the series is going to be the same. So very glad I found this!

Definitely gets a four coffee beans.

WHISKEY SOUR - J A Konrath

WHISKEY SOUR is an interesting mixture of suspense, thriller, and humor. It really works well and I will be reading the rest of this series and anything else Konrath writes.

What could be an eye rolling worthy appellation, actually works wonderfully.
Chicago Police Detective Jacqueline 'Jack' Daniels comes by her name by marriage and she doesn't seem to mind so much. She has the task to bring in a serial killer by the unlikely name of The Gingerbread Man. He is torturing and killing women in Chicago and leaving taunting messages for Jack.

She is racing against time to capture him before he kills again.

The humor part is the wonderfully stereotyped FBI agents who, with their profiling computer, make moronic 'insights' into the serial killer's modus operandi. Along with this, poor Jack suffers from chronic insomnia, maxed out credit cards from purchases of late night infomercial merchandise, live in boyfriend leaving her for his personal trainer, and trying her hand with a dating service.

Sum total of this makes for a 4 bean rating.

TRIPTYCH - Karin Slaughter

It's time for another break...from the very fiercely astounding written words of Karin Slaughter in TRIPTYCH. Slaughter writes with such intensity it draws the reader in and does not let go. I get so caught up in the thriller that it affects my dreams. Not many books do that...Karin Slaughter's books do. This is why I take long breaks, sometimes months long, between each of her books.
This one was the most intense yet. It was like peeling an onion....a really gut-wrenchingly strong emotion yanking onion....as each piece of the thriller was released. It was tension at its best.

This one gets five beans.

THE BLACK ECHO - Michael Connelly (five bean rating)

THE BLACK ECHO is a very good beginning to a very good police suspense series. Harry Bosch is a loner for the most part, with a sense of justice that the LAPD doesn't admire for the most part.

Harry is called to the scene of a heroin OD found in some pipes used for runoff in the hills of LA. He finds that he knows the victim from his Vietnam days and the man is considered a murder victim.

The book moves forward at the pace of an investigation. No shortcuts, no ah-ha moments from nowhere. Very enjoyable and highly recommendable.

I give it 5 beans.

THE MANGROVE COAST - Randy Wayne White

This was a rather uneven storytelling of a mystery suspense. I read a review that it was not one of the author's better efforts, so I will try at a later date to read another, perhaps first in the series.

The premise is very workable, Doc Ford is a marine biologist and used to work for the Company (guvment) back in the day. He is asked by a dead friend's daughter to rescue her mother from the clutches of a con artist. The story goes back and forth in past and present to tell the tale.

Saving grace of the whole audiobook was the narrator, Ron McLarty, has a marvelous faculty with voices. I especially was enamoured of the character Tomlinson, a friend of Doc Ford's. The character is portrayed as one half George Carlin and one half Tommy Chong and is 100% delightful. I have a crush on this character!

The ending is an amazing aspect of the whole book. It more than made up for the uneven beginning and middle.