Mystery readers everywhere are invited to join in the fun. This a morning book club, meeting at 10:00am for coffee and tea with discussion beginning promptly at 10:15am. We expect to adjourn in time for lunch, approximately 12:00pm. Meetings will be held the second Wednesday of each month. Members of the group take turns leading the discussion or bringing refreshments. We are interpreting the term Mystery very loosely so we can look at a variety of authors. Come and bring a friend. Everyone welcome. Suggestions encouraged. For more information call 241-5277 or 1-800-462-2050 ask for Margo.
January 14, 2009
Envy
Sandra Brown
Type of Story: Romantic Suspense
Summary:A best-selling author living on an island off the Georgia coast and hiding behind a pseudonym seeks revenge on a publisher by writing a book detailing a dark secret which has caught the eye of the publisher's wife. A Novel within a Novel.
Review: Booklist:
Maris Matherly-Reed, an executive at Matherly Press, the publishing house that her father runs, is going through the slush pile of unsolicited manuscripts when she encounters one that intrigues her. But the author has submitted only the prologue and has put only his initials on it and the name of the island off the coast of Georgia where he lives. To the befuddlement of her husband, Noah, a writer who only published one novel and now works at Matherly Press, Maris is determined to pursue the manuscript. Maris has been concerned by her husband’s inattentiveness and lately has been feeling dissatisfied with their marriage. Impulsively, she decides to go to Georgia to find the author, now identified as Parker Evans. At first, Parker puts off Maris--he’s rude, abrasive, ruggedly handsome, and wheelchair bound from an accident he won’t discuss. Nevertheless, Maris is totally drawn in by his novel, the story of the friendship between two young men that ends tragically when only one makes it back from a boating accident. Nor can Maris deny her attraction to Parker. Meanwhile, her two-faced husband, Noah, is back in New York, trying to secure a deal that will essentially allow him to sell Matherly Press out from under Maris and her father. As her marriage crumbles and her attraction to Parker grows, Maris finds that Parker and his novel are much more closely related to her life than she could have ever imagined. Suspenseful and satisfying, Brown’s latest novel is sure to please readers, just as her many previous ones have.
(Reviewed July 1, 2001) -- Kristine Huntley
Summary: Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie Series Number 1: A penniless twenty-something member of the British nobility, Lady Victoria puts her sleuthing talents to work when an arrogant Frenchman, who is determined to gain control of her family's eight-hundred-year-old estate for himself, ends up dead in her bathtub.
Review: Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/
Bowen, the Agatha winner responsible for the popular Molly Murphy series, has come up with another winner in her new heroine, Lady Georgina, the least important member of the royal family. Thirty-fourth in the line of succession, Georgie may have the title but none of the money. Whats a girl to do? Well, in Georgies case, she tries opening her own domestic agency, with herself as the only domestic. Even her brother, Binky, the duke, is barely holding on to the family castle in Scotland, and that hold becomes tenuous when a French rogue claims to have proof that Binky and Georgies father gambled the homestead away before his suicide. So, when the Frenchie winds up drowned in the bathroom of Binkys Belgrave house, theres reason to worry. After Binkys arrest, Georgie feels its up to her to find the real murderer, but soon she finds her own life threatened, repeatedly. The mystery jigs and jags, but the best part here is Bowens evocation of 1930s England. Drawing on Georgies diary entries, she vividly portrays what daily life between the wars was like for a modern young woman bumping up against tradition. Populated with lots of neatly delineated characters, including Mrs. Simpson and a sexy Irish lord attempting to help Georgie lose her burdensome virginity, this is a smashing romp. -- Ilene Cooper (Reviewed 05-01-2007) (Booklist, vol 103, number 17, p20)
March 11, 2009
Raven Black
Ann Cleaves
Type of Story: Police Procedural
2006 Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award from the British Crime Writer’s Association
Summary: First Book of the Shetland Island Quartet : When murder strikes a remote hamlet in the Shetland Islands, and the body of a teenage girl turns up in the winter snow, Inspector Jimmy Perez launches an investigation into the killing that takes him into the heart of sinister secrets from the past. White Nights is the second of the series that has recently been published.
Review: Publishers Weekly Review: /* Starred Review */ Set in the remote Scottish Shetland Islands, Cleeves’s taut, atmospheric thriller, the first in a new series, will keep readers guessing until the last page. Det. Insp. Jimmy Perez investigates the murder of teenage Catherine Ross, found strangled on a snowy hillside shortly after New Year’s. While the police and citizens alike are quick to lay the blame on local eccentric Magnus Tait, who was not only the last person to see Catherine alive but also the prime suspect in the disappearance eight years earlier of another girl, Perez has his doubts. He’s soon drawn into an intricate web of lies as he unearths the long-buried secrets of everyone from a roguish playboy to Catherine’s only school friend. Cleeves, winner of the CWA’s Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award (formerly the Gold Dagger), masterfully paints Perez as an empathetic hero and sprinkles the story with a lively cast of supporting characters who help bring the Shetlands alive. When the shocking identity of the murderer is revealed, readers will be as chilled as the harsh winds that batter the isolated islands. (June) --Staff (Reviewed April 30, 2007) (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 18, p136)
Award: Nebula Award for Best Novel from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
Award: Hugo Award for Best Novel from the World Science Fiction Society
Award: Locus Award for Science Fiction Novel from the Readers of Locus Magazine
Reading Recommendation: New York Times Notable Book
Reading Recommendation: Library Journal’s Best Books of 2007 List
Reading Recommendation: Booklist’s Editor’s Choice List
Summary: In a world in which Alaska, rather than Israel, has become the homeland for the Jews following World War II, Detective Meyer Landsman and his half-Tlingit partner Berko investigate the death of a heroin-addicted chess prodigy.
Review: Kirkus Reviews /* Starred Review */
Imagine a mutant strain of Dashiell Hammett crossed with Isaac Bashevis Singer, as one of the most imaginative contemporary novelists extends his fascination with classic pulp.
The Pulitzer Prize–winning author (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, 2000, etc.) returns with an alternate-history novel that succeeds as both a hardboiled detective story and a softhearted romance. In the aftermath of World War II, a Jewish homeland has been established in Alaska rather than Israel. Amid the mean streets of Sitka, the major city, Detective Meyer Landsman lives in a seedy flophouse, where alcohol has dulled his investigative instincts. His marriage to his beloved Bina couldn't survive an aborted pregnancy, after tests showed the possibility of birth defects. He also hasn't gotten over the death of his younger sister, a pilot whose plane crashed. He finds his sense of mission renewed when there's a murder in the hotel where he lives. The deceased was a heroin-addicted chess player, his slaying seemingly without motive. There's urgency to Landsman's investigation, because the Promised Land established by the Alaskan Settlement Act is only a 50-year rental, with Jews expected to go elsewhere when the "Reversion" takes place two months hence. Thus, Landsman must solve the case before he loses his job and his home, a challenge complicated by the reappearance of his ex-wife, appointed chief of police during this transition before the Reversion. In her attempts to leave a clean slate, will she help her former husband or thwart him? Adding to the intrigue are a cult of extremists led by a gangster rabbi, a possibility that the death of Landsman's sister wasn't an accident and a conspiracy led by the U.S. government. "These are strange times to be a Jew," say various characters, like a Greek chorus, though the novel suggests that all times are strange times to be a Jew.
A page-turning noir, with a twist of Yiddish, that satisfies on many levels.
(Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2007)
Summary: Rosamond Vivian escapes from her grandfather by running away with the adventurer Phillip Tempest, but he represents an even worse dependence, and she flees from him to a convent and then to a madhouse.
Review: School Library Journal Review:
YA--Unpublished until now, this story is the same type of moral tale as Richardson's Pamela or Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. Alcott's heroine, Rosamond Vivian, is the antithesis of Jo March. She has been brought up by a cold grandfather in complete seclusion. She does not have the support of family and educated community found in the Concord of Little Women. Nor is she of a literary or spiritual turn. Her one passionate desire is for freedom, and she seizes the opportunity by eloping with Philip Tempest, who deceives her into a mock marriage. Her subsequent disillusionment and flight result in a mad pursuit across Europe by the desperate Tempest. Continuous close calls and betrayals involve male disguise, secret letters, and escape in a hamper. The novel shows the perils awaiting a young woman some 100 years ago who defies society and finds herself beyond its protection and support. While not strong in YA appeal, fans of Little Women may be asking about it.--Frances Reiher, Fairfax Public Library System, VA
Summary: Jack Reacher Series Number 11. When a man is killed by being thrown from a helicopter high over the California desert, Jack Reacher discovers that someone is targeting his old friends and teammates and launches a personal campaign to end the conspiracy.
Review: Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/
The latest Jack Reacher thriller marks a significant departure from the rest of the series. Former military policeman Reacher, now a wanderer without an address, a phone, or an e-mail, discovers that someone has deposited $1,030 in his bank account and quickly deduces (1030 is the MPs code for urgent assistance needed) that the money represents a call for help from Frances Neagley, a sergeant in Reachers old special investigators unit. Four members of the unit have been killed, and Neagley is rounding up the survivors to avenge their colleagues and, thus, live up to the groups motto: You dont mess with the special investigators. Theres a Magnificent Seven aspect to this scenario: bad stuff is happening to good people, and the old gang is rounded up to set things straight. Crime writers like to dust off this premise occasionally, usually as a way to bring back characters from earlier books (Robert B. Parker did it in Potshot, 2001), and Child works that angle effectively. But there's more going on here than a class reunion. Readers know Reacher only as a loner, a tough guy with his own agenda who falls into stranger's problems, solves them, and moves on, Shane-like. But here we see him functioning as part of a team, almost an organization man, and it reveals new and fascinating aspects to his character. But, as always, the action is intense, the pace unrelenting, and the violence unforgiving. Child remains the reigning master at combining breakneck yet brilliantly constructed plotting with characters who continually surprise us with their depth. -- Bill Ott (Reviewed 02-15-2007) (Booklist, vol 103, number 12, p4)
Summary: Arkady Renko Series Number 6: A high-stakes tale set in Moscow follows the machinations of a group of reactionaries who harbor a nostalgic loyalty to the regime of Joseph Stalin and who plot to create a groundswell for a new dictatorship.
Review: Publishers Weekly Review: /* Starred Review */
Moscow-based Senior Investigator Arkady Renko, in his outstanding sixth outing (after Wolves Eat Dogs ), investigates a murder-for-hire scheme that leads him to suspect two fellow police detectives, Nikolai Isakov and Marat Urman, both former members of Russia's elite Black Berets, who served in Chechnya. Isakov, a war hero, is now running for public office. Renko must also look into reports that the ghost of Stalin has begun appearing on subway platforms and why several bodies of Black Berets who served in Chechnya with Isakov have turned up in the morgue. Despite repeated threats to his life, Renko stubbornly perseveres, seeking justice in a land that has no official notion of that concept. Smith eschews vertiginous twists and surprises, concentrating instead on Renko as he slowly and patiently builds his case until the pieces fall together and he has again, if not exactly triumphed, at least survived. This masterful suspense novel casts a searing light on contemporary Russia. 250,000 first printing. (June) --Staff (Reviewed April 2, 2007) (Publishers Weekly, vol 254, issue 14, p37)
August 12, 2009
In The Woods
Tana French
Type of Story: Police Procedural
Summary:
Rob Ryand and Cassie Maddox Novels, Number 1: Twenty years after witnessing the violent disappearances of two companions from their small Dublin suburb, detective Rob Ryan investigates a chillingly similar murder that takes place inthe same wooded area, a case that forces him to piece together his traumatic memories.
Review:
Booklist Review: /*Starred Review*/
Rob Ryan and his partner, Cassie Maddox, land the first big murder case of their police careers: a 12-year-old girl has been murdered in the woods adjacent to a Dublin suburb. Twenty years before, two children disappeared in the same woods, and Ryan was found clinging to a tree trunk, his sneakers filled with blood, unable to tell police anything about what happened to his friends. Ryan, although scarred by his experience, employs all his skills in the search for the killer and in hopes that the investigation will also reveal what happened to his childhood friends. In the Woods is a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. The characters of Ryan and Maddox, as well as a handful of others, are vividly developed in this intelligent and beautifully written first novel, and author French relentlessly builds the psychological pressure on Ryan as the investigation lurches onward under the glare of the tabloid media. Equally striking is the picture of contemporary Ireland, booming economically and fixated on the shabbiest aspects of American popular culture. An outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans. -- Thomas Gaughan (Reviewed 05-01-2007) (Booklist, vol 103, number 17, p29)
Summary:
Matthew Hope Mysteries Series, Number 12. Florida detective Matthew Hope takes on a case of murder, pornography, and high-seas piracy off the Gulf Coast that begins as a simple case of copyright infringement.
Review:
Publisher’s Weekly
Hero/narrator Matthew Hope, recovered from gunshots and a coma (There Was a Little Girl, 1994) and, true to his earlier resolve, practicing only civil law in (fictional) Calusa, Fla., represents the plaintiff in a suit involving the eponymous teddy bear, named after a mis-heard line in a hymn ("Gladly the cross I'd bear"). Young toy designer Lainie Commins is suing her ex-boss, toy manufacturer Brett Toland, for copyright and patent infringement, contending that his cross-eyed bear is a direct steal from hers. When Brett is found shot to death on his yacht, Lainie is arrested and charged with murder. She persuades Hope to represent her even as, we later learn, she commits the first legal sin, lying to her lawyer. From mansions to shacks and yacht club to sleazy venues for lingerie "models," McBain gives us a tour of Gulf Coast Florida that's seldom grand. Unable to reach his usual investigators (the main subplot has PI Warren Chambers urging his colleague Toots Kiley to kick her crack cocaine habit cold turkey), Hope hires 60-something Guthrie Lamb, an old-style PI with major male chauvinist traits. McBain, as he has for more than 40 years, keeps his readers riveted through this entire, satisfying tale. (Sept.)
Summary
The first Sookie Stackhouse novel. AKA “The Southern Vampire Mysteries” Love blossoms between Sookie Stackhouse, a cocktail waitress in rural Louisiana who keeps to herself because of her ability to read minds, and Bill a tall, dark, and handsome vampire with ties to a creapy crowd that may be responsible for the death of one of Sookie’s coworkers. 2001 Agatha Award Nominee
Review
“A fun, fast, funny and wonderfully intriguing blend of vampire and mystery that’s hard to put down, and should not be missed.” -Susan Sizemore
“Harris writes neatly and with assurance. –New York Times Book Review
“An author of rare talents.” –Publisher’s Weekly
Reading Recommendation: Publisher’s Weekly Top 150 Novels of 2007
Award: Estleman received the Elmer Kelton Award in appreciation for significant contribution to western literature, presented by the German Association for the Study of the Western.
Summary: Hired by former Detroit Tigers pitcher Darius Fuller to break up his daughter's romance with Hilary Bairn, a presumed fortune-hunter, Amos Walker gets more than he bargained for when Fuller's daughter turns up dead. 19th in the Series.
Summary: Hitting rock bottom after losing his family and ability to work after an explosion that was intended to kill him, former police officer Matt Stromsoe takes a job as a bodyguard for a television personality whose private life has rendered her a stalker's target. –Novelist
Review:
Library Journal Review:
* Starred Review * In Southern California, as San Diego weather lady Frankie Hatfield puts it, "Rain is life!" Rain is also raw power in the land of avocadoes and sod farms. When Hatfield stumbles upon a family secret that allows her to control the rain, that discovery brings her unfathomable power with potentially deadly consequences. P.I. Matt Stromsoe is battling with his own demons—his wife and child have been murdered, and he's seeking redemption—and he willingly accepts an assignment to protect Hatfield. The case takes him from fragrant orange groves in the San Diego hills to the cold cement of Pelican Bay State Prison. Parker's trademark is the ability to create real characters—tangible, flawed, and heroic—and Stromsoe follows the tradition. Parker's latest success (following The Fallen ) is an absorbing thriller that continues to nudge him nearer to the top of the genre. Recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 11/15/06.]—Ken Bolton, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, NY --Ken Bolton (Reviewed January 15, 2007) (Library Journal, vol 132, issue 1, p97)
