DEAD TO ME by Cath Staincliffe

January 25, 2014


A young woman is murdered in Manchester, England, and the Murder Investigation Team, headed by the formidable Gill Murray, gets the case.

Gill is good friends with one of her detectives, Janet Scott, a 25-year veteran who loves her job. Rachel Bailey is a young cop who has escaped a tough childhood, and she is smart and ambitious. Murray teams Bailey up with Scott and puts them on the murder case.

Scott is not happy with the arrogant and overzealous Bailey, and Bailey thinks there is something wrong with Scott because she has never tried for a promotion. They uncover a rape that may be related, find a roving drug dealer that may have been the last person to see the young woman alive, and investigate an unsavory boyfriend that the mother is convinced is the murderer.

Janet is a rules oriented, methodical detective while Rachel is headstrong and thinks and acts outside the box. Working together is a nightmare for both of them, but gradually they learn to respect each other as they work the case through to the shocking ending.

But this is much more than just a murder mystery; these characters are well developed, idiosyncratic and likeable, and that extends to their families and co-workers as well. Most reminiscent of the Cagney and Lacy TV series, this should appeal to readers who enjoy female buddy books like the Rizzoli and Iles series by Tess Gerritsen, the Women’s Murder Club series by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro, or even Lisa Scottoline’s Rosato & Associates legal series.

This book is actually a prequel to a popular British TV series, “Scott and Bailey,” now in its fourth season in the UK and airing on some PBS stations in the U.S. Visit the “Scott and Bailey” Facebook fanpage for more info.

Copyright © 2013 Booklist, a division of the American Library Association.

1/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

DEAD TO ME by Cath Staincliffe.  Minotaur Books (January 14, 2014). ISBN 978-1250038548. 400p.

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THE HOUSE ON THE CLIFF by Charlotte Williams

January 23, 2014


As a therapist, Jessica Mayhew is used to treating clients with odd quirks. Gwydion Morgan is a charming up and coming actor whose father is a famous playwright. He’s come to Jessica ostensibly to treat insomnia and a button phobia, out of fear that the two may hurt his budding career. He soon reveals that he’s also been struggling with a recurring nightmare, one in which he seems to be trapped in a box while hearing yelling and splashing outside.

As their sessions progress, Gwydion tells Jessica that he’s been remembering more and more of the dream, which seems now to be a memory of something quite disturbing: when Gwydion was a boy, his nanny drowned in a tragic accident. The dream would suggest that not only did the young Gwydion actually witness the event, but that it wasn’t actually an accident at all.

Charlotte Williams’s debut seemed like it had all the right pieces to be a great mystery. Unfortunately, it did not live up to its promise. The story was a bit dry and held few surprises.

1/14 Becky Lejeune

THE HOUSE ON THE CLIFF by Charlotte Williams. Bourbon Street Books (January 7, 2014). ISBN 978-0062284570. 352p.

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EX-COMMUNICATION by Peter Clines

January 21, 2014


The third novel in Peter Clines’ bestselling Ex series.

The Mount has grown into a flourishing community in spite of the horde of undead that clamor at the gates. As they ready themselves for their first official election, it seems the population has begun to split into two factions: those who believe the undead should be put down and those who believe they are still people.

The friction only grows worse when a girl with a very unusual power arrives. At the same time Barry seems to be coming under extreme stress, talking to people who aren’t there. When George learns the truth, it’s something of a blessing and a curse for the heroes who have worked so hard to keep their little settlement alive and well. And with Legion still planning his big revenge, it seems likely things could take a turn for the worse.

Peter Clines never ceases to amaze. Each new installment of the Ex-Heroes series is a new and unique chapter in the story. The characters continue to grow as they face new hurdles brought on by the zombie apocalypse and Clines always has something unexpected to add as well. This third book offers up not one but two “new” heroes, each with super cool back stories

1/14 Becky Lejeune

EX-COMMUNICATION by Peter Clines. Broadway Books (July 9, 2013). ISBN 978-0385346825. 352p.

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THE TRIGGER by L J Sellers

January 20, 2014

Ms. Sellers became one of my go-to authors of crime fiction with her highly successful Detective Jackson series. Now she had broken new ground with Jamie Dallas, a young single female FBI agent who thrives on undercover assignments.

In this outing, Dallas is sent into a “preppers” compound run by two brothers near Redding, California. The wife and infant son of one of the brothers have gone missing and Dallas is sent in to see if she can either find them or clues regarding what might have happened to them.

What the FBI doesn’t know and Dallas soon finds out is these are no ordinary preppers. Instead of waiting for the global economic collapse touted by most preppers, they are, in fact, actively engaged in a program to bring on the apocalypse by creating “bank runs” and disrupting the internet.

All is well that ends well but getting to the conclusion can be quite scary. Recommended.

1/14 Jack Quick

THE TRIGGER by L J Sellers. Spellbinder Press (August 23, 2013). ISBN 978-0984008650. 280p.

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AN OFFICER AND A SPY by Robert Harris

January 20, 2014

Robert Harris takes us to France during the late 19th century and as he does in his other historically centered novels, brings the era to life as background for this novel.  The French army has suffered a major defeat in just six weeks against the Germans during the war of 1870.  The country has lost the twin provinces of Alsace and Lorraine, seized by Germany as war reparations and the country is smarting from the defeat.

Alfred Dreyfus is a captain of artillery in the French army, Jewish, and originating in Alsace. In 1894,  after the discovery of a traitor in the ranks of the army selling secrets to Germany, a group of officers in the army convicted Dreyfus of the crime. This was based on very flimsy evidence not revealed to his lawyer, and had him sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island, a French possession off the coast of South America.

Among the officers convicting him is Georges Picquart, an intellectual and a soldier loyal to France. After the trial  Picquart is promoted to head up the newly formed French counter-intelligence agency and, among other duties, is to maintain the ongoing file on Dreyfus.  While Picquart was originally convinced of Dreyfus’s guilt, some evidence surfaces which points in another direction.
In order to bring emotions to the story, it is told in first person using Picquart as the narrator. When he discovers evidence conflicting with that presented by Dreyfus’s prosecutor, his honor demands that he systematically begin to investigate it, although his career begins to suffer along the way when superior officers demand that he drop the matter.

Harris incorporates real people involved in the affair, including several Generals that apparently colluded to prevent the truth coming out.  The author Emile Zola is mentioned, and it was his article “I Accuse,” printed in the newspaper that helped to finally pardon, and later exonerate Dreyfus in real life. The period was rife with antisemitism, and Harris accuses this factor as being an important feature in the original finding Dreyfus guilty and subsequent attempts to free him.

A must read, and a commanding one.

1/14 Paul Lane

AN OFFICER AND A SPY by Robert Harris. Knopf (January 28, 2014). ISBN 978-0385349581. 448p

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PURGATORY by Ken Bruen

January 19, 2014

Former cop Jack Taylor has finally managed to kick the myriad substances that have had a stranglehold over his painful life. However, this fragile existence is threatened when a vigilante killer begins targeting the scum of Galway, signing mysterious notes with the moniker ‘C 33’.

The killer addresses these cryptic letters to Jack, trying to goad him into joining the murderous spree. While Jack tries to unravel the mystery and motives of this demented killer, he is also brought into the fold of an enigmatic tech billionaire who has been buying up massive amounts of property in Galway. If Jack has learned one thing living in Ireland, it’s that people who outwardly claim to be on the side of righteousness are likely harboring far more nefarious motives beneath the surface.

With the help of his friends, former drug dealer-turned-zen master Stewart and dogged police sergeant Ridge, Jack is determined to track down C 33, even if it jeopardizes his livelihood, his friends, and the remaining shreds of his sanity.

Purgatory is Bruen at his best: lyrical, brutal, and ceaselessly suspenseful.

1/14 Jack Quick

PURGATORY by Ken Bruen. Mysterious Press (November 4, 2013). ISBN 978-0802126078. 272p

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CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith

January 19, 2014

I may be the only remaining person on the planet who has never read a Harry Potter book or watched a Harry Potter Movie. The Hunger Games series shares that same distinction for me. However, after reading this one I may have to change my priorities.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Detective Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, desperate designers, and his own celebrity parents, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

I thought it was great.

1/14 Jack Quick

CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling). Mulholland Books (April 30, 2013). ISBN 978-0316206846. 464p

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TAKEDOWN TWENTY by Janet Evanovich

January 19, 2014


Twenty books into the Stephanie Plum series, and the word that most springs to mind is formulaic. If you’ve read one, you’ve read them all – yet millions of readers keep on reading, including this one.

I think it all comes down to the characters. I am invested in Stephanie and Ranger and Joe, not to mention Lula, Stephanie’s parents and Grandma Mazur. Picking up any book in this series means Grandma’s going to a funeral, Lula is wearing some crazy spandex outfit and there will be a surefire stop at Cluck in a Bucket, and guaranteed Stephanie’s car of the moment will go up in flames. And of course Stephanie is torn between Joe, the love of her life, and Ranger, the lust in her life.

This time out, the world’s most inept bond enforcement agent is after Uncle Sunny, a beloved local Mafia don who also happens to be Joe’s Godfather. She’s also helping Ranger look into the death of one of Grandma Mazur’s bingo playing contemporaries. And just to make things interesting, there’s a giraffe on the loose in Trenton, New Jersey.

I can’t help but enjoy these books even though I know everything that’s coming. If you’re an Evanvich fan, then you know what to expect and no fair complaining when you get exactly that. If you’re new to the series, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning with One for the Money.  All the books are still in print and I think the first five or six were the best – but I’m still reading, and laughing.

1/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

TAKEDOWN TWENTY by Janet Evanovich. Bantam (November 19, 2013). ISBN 978-0345542885. 320p.

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THE GODS OF GUILT by Michael Connelly

January 13, 2014


This is the latest entry in the Lincoln Lawyer series, but fear not, Harry Bosch is lurking around the fringes. Mickey Haller is a great character, and I loved the tongue-in-cheek references to the Lincoln Lawyer movie. Yes, Mickey has had his life turned into a film, causing enough lawyers to start practicing out of Lincoln Town Cars to create some humor with Mickey hopping into the wrong car on more than one occasion.

Connelly is not known for writing humorous mysteries, and the humor pretty much ends there. An online pimp calls Mickey asking for help; he’s been accused of murdering one of his girls. Turns out Mickey knew her and had tried to help her get out of the life. He believes the pimp and agrees to defend him. This case is not as simple as it seems; a drug cartel is involved, along with the inherent violence there, and some of the unusual twists that Connelly excels at.

The courtroom is where it always ends up with this series, and again, Connelly comes through here, interweaving testimony with legal strategies and great character development. The title “Gods of Guilt” refers to the jury, and I find it fascinating to see all the legal machinations in motion; I always feel like I’m learning something. 

This was fast reading, one night, as I couldn’t put it down. Another excellent read from the master of crime fiction. If you’d like a taste, Connelly has posted an excerpt here.

1/14 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE GODS OF GUILT by Michael Connelly. Little, Brown and Company (December 2, 2013). ISBN 978-0316069519. 400p.

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TWOSPOT by Bill Pronzini & Collin Wilcox

December 30, 2013

Interesting classic from 1978. Pronzini’s San Francisco based Nameless Detective (actually “Bill) becomes involved with the affairs of a prominent Napa Valley family owned winery. When one of the parties is murdered, Collin Wilcox’s Lieutenant Frank Hastings is called into the picture.

Alternating chapters from the two authors weave a complex story in which various possibilities are assessed and discarded before the two men working together come to realize this no ordinary matter, but in fact, is the point of an explosion that could have international repercussions.

Amazing how a book this old can continue to be extremely readable 35 years later.

12/13 Jack Quick

Twospot: The Nameless Detective Paperback by Bill Pronzini & Collin Wilcox. Speaking Volumes, LLC (August 17, 2011). ISBN 978-1612320694. 224p.

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