LYING IN WAIT A FINE CHILLING CRIME NOVEL

Lying in Wait   

Author: J. A. Jance

Copyright: 1994

ISBN: 0-380-71841-3<

This one will give you chills. It’s now available in a variety of formats and while it was written more than ten years ago, it holds up extremely well. I don't think Jance has written a better book; here she's at the height of her narrative powers. Expertly blending family and personal relations with a historical reality, Jance first introduces the reader to Seattle detective J. P. Beaumont's grandmother, a delightful old lady. Then the world turns dark. A fisherman is found murdered in a peculiarly brutal way and his widow turns out to be a woman from Beaumont's teen-aged past. The case quickly develops odd and puzzling elements. Jance provides clues aplenty in this complex story of terror and greed, but you have to pay attention.

Woven into the tight fabric of the main plot Beaumont pursues a better relationship with his grandmother, assists his new partner with some domestic problems, and resolves some lingering questions from his own background. The characters for the most part are fully-rounded, and the pace of this complex mystery may keep you up past your bedtime.

Hot paranormal murder mystery

The Last Victim  

By Karen Robards

eISBN: 978-0-345-53544-3

An August, 2012 releasefrom

Ballantine Books.

This first novel in a new series by this veteran writer is a ghost story. A romantic hot ghost story. I’m not a fan of ghost or paranormal stories. It’s not that I don’t believe in the possibility of another dimension or two. I do, but too often the paranormal element in a good crime fiction novel breeds sloppiness. Not in this case.

All too often, the inclusion of a strong romantic element in a good crime novel is just a way for the novelist to beef up a weak plot line. Not in this novel. There’s enough good emotional sex in this story to satisfy the most prurient reader, but it’s handled in a precise way that adds to the character of the principal actors, and it comes in logical sequence in the story. The plot line, an increasingly frantic search for a kidnapped teen aged young woman by a serial killer, is tension-filled from the first page and it peaks in the final resolution at precisely the right moment.

The writing is clean, the story line almost impeccable, although some FBI agents lose a little polish in some scenes. The love story between shade and serial killer specialist, psychiatrist Dr. Charlotte “Charlie” Stone, is, well, hot and nicely realized. She had me, almost from the first sentence. Highly recommended.

SET THE NIGHT ON FIRE: An Outstanding Thriller

Set The Night On Fire
By Libby Fischer Hellmann
ISBN: 978-0-98406-5-7
Trade Paperback from
Allium Press, Chicago, 2010
346 pages.

Every so often a novel comes along that connects with the reader in such a visceral way that it is like a punch in the stomach. This is such a story. If you lived through the nineteen-sixties and your memory is reasonably intact, or you learned even a small amount about those turbulent times, you will connect with this story.

On one level this is the story of Lila Hilliard.

Forty-some years after a particular series of spectacular and dangerous events in Chicago that revolved around a nasty far-off war and a political convention, a mysterious fire has robbed her of the only family she has ever known. At about the same time, a man named Dar Gantner, just released from prison, returns to Chicago from prison to reconnect with a few of his former companions from the same era. One, a woman named Rain, tells Dar that another of their mutual friends has just met with an odd fatal accident. It is clear in their conversation that Rain doesn’t entirely believe that it was an accident.

From that moment on it becomes apparent that dark and unknown forces are at work. But why? Who are these people we meet at the beginning of the book, who targets them and why? Through a series of small and then progressively longer flashbacks we are transported to a time when young people believed the rhetoric, that they could indeed change the outcomes of momentous happenings, that they could affect the course of the most powerful nation in the world. Some of those players, whatever they believed, moved on to build calm and substantial lives of commerce, and politics, and contemplative existences. They don’t want to relive any part of that time.

Most readers alive today will have memories of the Chicago convention of 1968, or of the riots and will begin again to remember the emotions of the time. And even if not, the measured, artful, portioning out of connections, of information, will bring those emotions to the surface. On another level, this is the telling of the great events of the late sixties, the crimes and the abuses and the trails that descended from them, not from the newspaper headlines or the televised reports, but through the eyes and hearts of some of the young people at the center of the conflicts. But this is no polemic, nor is it an attempt to change the record.

What the author has done is produce a cracking good thriller that grips a reader by the throat and doesn’t let go until the final pages. One after another the revelations keep coming, and as the central characters struggle to stay alive long enough to solve their mysteries, the author maintains our interest in the love story, the history and the dynamics of the times. It doesn’t matter your political beliefs, then, or now; the characters and their trials will reach off the pages of this fine novel and touch you in ways that are basic to our existence as human beings. This is a fine, fine novel that well deserves the accolades it will surely receive.

COLD HUNTERS MOON: A Novel

COLD HUNTERS MOON
by K.C. Greenlief
Thomas Dunne Books,
January 2002, 295 pages
ISBN 0312278470

Murder among the pines and bucolic snowy life of central Wisconsin brings chills of a different kind.

This novel has just about everything you could ask for in a novel. The author has created a fascinating pair of detectives in sheriff Lark Swenson and Wisconsin State Bureau detective Lacey Smith. There’s a nice blend of early antagonism, questioning, interesting circumstances, and psychological dancing as the pair becomes better acquainted and more respectful of each other’s experience and talent.

The story begins with the discovery of human remains on a cold and snowy November day in middle Wisconsin. Ann Ranson’s dogs bring home a boot which, on closer examination, contains part of a human foot. This chilling discovery starts a chain of events that will keep readers reading long into the night. While the cold and snow creeps into the corners of the reader’s mind, the authorities in the story are forced to deal with weather and a perplexing find. Is the body evidence of a crime? Or is it accidental death, an individual who simply became lost in the woods?

When another female corpse turns up, the county sheriff, Lark Swenson decides he needs help and contacts the State police. Enter Lacey Smith. The weather, a huge factor during this deer hunting season, begins to close in even more, hampering the efforts to identify the victims and find the killer or killers.

Greenlief has surrounded her principal characters with a logical, carefully differentiated group of secondary characters who consistently act the way they are suppose to. The flow of the book is first-rate. The descriptions are often chilling and are very much to the point.

Cold Hunter’s Moon is that rare novel in which every word counts. Throughout, characters find themselves in logical if sometimes amusing situations which leavens the almost unremitting suspense just enough to give the pace rhythm. The surprising conclusion fits exactly into the fabric of the story and the final scenes leave just enough questions to leave us wanting more about the police duo. Excellent from start to finish, I expect more good reading from this author.

Phryne Fisher takes a real puzzler

Murder on A Midsummer Night
By Kerry Greenwood
July 2009. 268 pages
HC $22.95
Poisoned Pen Press
ISBN:9781590586327

It’s 1929 and the Honorable Lady Phryne Fisher, detective extraordinaire agrees to determine if the son of a model died by his or other hands. In addition she is trying to locate the ;long-missing relative of a rich woman. The RW’s relatives are less than pleased.

These are not unusual or particularly original plots, but in the hands of the bright and sensuous P. Fisher and her equally adept and perspicacious creator and mentor, Kerry Greenwood, it’s another delightful sexy, surprising detective story. Excellent.

Two cases. One is the aforementioned junk store owner found dead on the beach, his pockets filled with stones. The other is the possible child born out of wedlock to a now wealthy, deceased widow. What happened to this “love child?” Where is he now? Who is he? And of course, does he have a family of his own who may inherit? Problem. The widow was long lived, had her child in great secrecy and there are apparently no records. Who was the father if indeed the young woman had a child. Many questions, not the least if which is whether the intrepid Hon. Miss Fisher will winkle out the truth.

Miss Fisher is never in extremis in this novel, even though there are twists and turns and all kinds of chicanery, including murder. In the form of Agatha Christie, this novel, with more sex and puzzle than Dame Agatha allowed, is replete with fine understated descriptive phrases and odd characters. A delight to read.

THOUGHTS WHILE SOAKING

In my hot tub and watching through the plants and windows as snow comes down thickly on the white lawn .

I wonder how much the current economy will affect the growth of electronic publishing and perhaps energize a move to more activity in this area. The development of the Kindle and the Sony Reader in particular have clearly made a recent difference. But the cost of the reader still is a problem for lots of potential readers. Since the tendency is to add bells and whistles to these devices, I’m not sure we’ll see a substantial reduction in price anytime soon.

Many interesting visual images of yesterday’s Inauguration. For me one of the most intriguing was when Senator Feinstein was introducing President Obama for his address. Behind her, on the left, appeared just the head of the new president. He was looking directly at the outgoing President, George Bush. Just the head of President Bush appeared on the right side of the screen. The two men looked intently into each others faces and were apparently shaking hands although you couldn’t see that. It was only for an instant and then both heads disappeared.

I had the great privilege the other night of hearing the Minnesota Orchestra in a concert of Leonard Bernstein’s serious compositions. All interesting, energetic, fun to hear. Two of the five pieces included a solo by a leading member of the orchestra, Adam Kuenzel, flute and Bert Hara, clarinet. Excellent music., The last piece, titled “Lamentation” was sung by mezzo, Susanne Mentzer. It’s from Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1. I mention this because I was very impressed by the demeanor of the soloist. Ms. Mentzer has a wonderful voice, but she is required to sit through a long passage prior to singing. That seems to be a problem for some soloists with orchestras. They fidget, they shift, they cause small distractions. Ms. Mentzer sat quietly, hands in her lap and slowly surveyed the hall before her. She appeared to be a performer gradually sinking herself into the role, mentally and physically donning the sad robes of an observer of the loss of Jerusalem.

I recently completed Sean Chercover’s second novel, “Trigger City.” Ray Dugeon is an interesting Chicago PI. The plot is fascinating, well thought out and it moves steadily at a useful pace. There are some problems and I wish the author would figure out a better way for his character to decide to reconnect with his sometime lover Julie.

RANDOM HOLIDAY THOUGHTS AND NOTES

So, another year is almost over. We celebrate holidays based on a strange but workable blend of pagan, ancient and Christian, and other religious traditions and customs. It all seems to go together, at least in Western societies. I’ve lived in a world in which people fought each other over territory, power, economic gain and, for some, even humanitarian reasons. WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Israel and Palestine, Turkey and Greece, Afghanistan and now Iraq. And one in which we celebrate peace and love in hundreds of unique and different ways.

Now our economy is in deep trouble and the Free Marketers in charge don’t seem to know what to do and they appear to have forgotten the ordinary, regular public, those of us who get up and, when we have a job, go work, pay our taxes and keep the country running.

I had the great good fortune to hear a local vocal group called Rose Ensemble recently. They have a marvelous full blend of voices, rare in so small a group. I recommend their CD. Highly.

Had the rare opportunity to interview Julie Kramer on my TV show. She’s the local writer, former television producer, of the popular STALKING SUSAN. Another recommendation. It’s a fine thriller/mystery.

We sent out a lot of Holiday cards this year. And I’m planning to crank up my mailing list. I still haven’t made the complete switch to email, but if you’d like to get information on my new book from Echelon Press, due out in the Spring of ’09, let me know.

Love Is Murder is upcoming in February, if I can find my way to Chicago through the drifts. Yes, it’s snowing heavily as I type this. Nevertheless, LIM is a fine mystery conference worth attending if you are in the area.

Here’s another review of a book I like and recommend.

THE FIREMAKER
By Peter May
ISBN; 0-312-34294-2
St. Martins Minotaur from Thomas Dunne
First US edition, September, 2005
Hard Cover, $24.95
353 pages

Dandy, just dandy. And oh so current. Peter May is a fine writer and he pays close attention to what he’s doing in this novel.

Interesting characters. Take Margaret Campbell, an ugly American who learns. She jumps on a chance to go, even unprepared, to China to lecture on criminal forensics. She’s a pathologist fleeing personal troubles back in Chicago. Take Li Yan, an up-and-coming Chinese police lieutenant who so far in his career has lightly walked the fine line of political realities and criminal investigations. They meet when Campbell’s car knocks the police lieutenant off his bicycle on a busy street in Beijing.

He’s a recently promoted detective who suddenly needs her expertise to help him solve the case of a man who apparently has immolated himself in a popular Beijing park. The two are almost immediately at odds, especially since the scientist starts out in a self-centered almost arrogant fugue state. But between them, as they begin to piece together the background of the man who died in the fire, and make their tortuous way through the difficult layers of forensic science and the Chinese political landscape to an diabolical conspiracy, their bond grows. They discover and develop much synchronicity between themselves.

They also discover much danger. This thriller of a novel, while teaching us a great deal about China and cultural relationships, careens pell mell through the story with frightening and exciting twists and turns. An outstanding and unusual novel that deserves a wide audience.

A FAREWELL TO LEGS

A Farewell to Legs

By Jeffrey Cohen

Bancroft Press

Hardcover,

ISBN: 1890862-29-0

This author needs to dial it down a little. I mean, do we need a joke, a funny line, a pun or a toe-stubber on every page, nay, in every paragraph? Somewhere there is someone involved in our popular culture who is smiling because Cohen’s avatar, one Aaron Tucker, missed cracking wise about him or her, or his project.

Having said that, let me address the substance of the book, that is, the mystery. While attending their twenty-fifth high school reunion, Mr. Tucker and Mr. Mahoney, life-long buddies, discover that their youthful lust object appears to have aged even better than they. In the midst of horny if innocent festivities, the object of their desires, one Stephanie, learns via cell phone (naturally) that her husband is dead. Murdered.

Well, of course, Tucker, a free-lance writer, gets involved. Turns out he’s acquainted with the dead guy and what’s more the dead guy’s widow wants Tucker to investigate, in order, presumably, to cover her assets and avoid incarceration. Then there’s the matter of Mr. Gibson’s politics. Now you, dear reader, may be a conservative, a Democrat, a Progressive an Independent or a liberal. It doesn’t really matter, because your political ox gets gored at some point during this narrative.

Also, Mr. Tucker, being a stay-at-home with a dandy wife who earns more than he does, is involved with their children, the children’s school, and even with some of his wife’s clients, Abby being a defense attorney. Mr. Tucker does some free-lance investigating for the school’s principal, dodges rocks lobbed at him, and deals with many of the usual family matters that occupy a lot of us from time to time.

Therein lies the immense appeal of this book, part of a series. Aaron Tucker embodies elements we all recognize in our neighbors, if not ourselves. But Tucker manages to carry it all off without losing his cool. I like Aaron Tucker a lot. I like the writing, the pace and the dialogue, and I’m pleased to note that this book has been carefully copyedited which reduced grammatical missteps to a bare minimum. Actually I only noticed a single error. Cohen isn’t trying to write great literature. He’s having fun with the genre and doing it so readers can have an enjoyable time with their reading. What’s more, the major mystery is a clever one, well-told. Find Aaron Tucker’s stories. You’ll be glad you did.

CALL FOR SHORT STORIES

Call for Short Stories

The Minnesota Crime Wave, which has produced the acclaimed anthologies Silence of the Loons and Resort to Murder, is accepting short stories for a new crime anthology to be titled Murder on a Stick. The focus of the collection will be the Great Minnesota Get-Together: the annual State Fair.

Requirements:
Authors must reside in Minnesota.
Authors must have previously published a work of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama.
Stories must incorporate the Minnesota State Fair in a significant way.
Stories must involve the commission of a murder.
Stories must be no more than 7,500 words in length.

Stories must include at least 5 of the following 10 clues or elements:
A pile of manure
A ticket stub with writing on it
A headless stuffed animal
A blue ribbon
A church dining hall
A blood-stained plastic sword
A polka band
A prize-winning pie
The sound of a barker
Mini-donuts

General Guidelines:

1. Three copies of the manuscript must be submitted in paper form, double spaced, using a standard 12 point font, such as Times New Roman or Courier, and should printed on one side of page only.
2. Each manuscript page should be numbered at the top and include the story title.
3. Manuscript must include a cover page containing author’s real name, address, phone number, email address, and approximate word count. Also include the story title, and a pen name, if using one.
4. At the middle of the first page of the story, type the title in all CAPS; double space twice, and begin the story.
5. Centered on a line at the end of the story, type END.

Deadline for submission is October 1, 2008.
Story copies must be submitted to:

The Minnesota Crime Wave
3090 Mildred Drive
Roseville MN 55113

Authors will be notified of acceptance by December 1, 2008.

Payment for stories will be $100, paid on acceptance.

The anthology is scheduled for release in August 2009.

Questions may be directed to The Minnesota Crime Wave at:

MinnesotaCrimeWave@Yahoo.com

AFTER DARK: A REVIEW

AFTER DARK
by Philip Margolin
ISBN-0-553-56908-2
Hard Cover Doubleday 7/95
pb Bantam 6/96 354pg.

Author Phillip Margolin is a criminal defense lawyer in Portland, Oregon, where this novel is set. The book reflects its knowledgeable creator. Descriptions set a well-thought-out series of locations, so the reader has a real sense of place and relationship of one to the others. The characters stand up and become real, well-modulated individuals. The novel takes on current trends to bring back and expand the death penalty. But while it is clear where the author stands on the issue, this is not a shrill polemic which refuses to see or even acknowledge the nuances of the issue. Regardless, AFTER DARK is a crackling good story, with enough action, mystery and plot twists to satisfy anyone.

Matthew Reynolds is a nationally known criminal defense attorney, driven by his own obsessive demons. A brilliant tactician, he hires newly minted attorney, Tracy Cavanaugh, as the first woman ever in his practice. When an Oregon Supreme Court Justice is murdered by a car-bomb, she is drawn abruptly into a case with more layers than a German chocolate tort. More murder, illegal deals, betrayal and hidden passion among the players who intersect in many ways, is ultimately revealed.

These revelations, shifting over uncertain moral and ethical grounds, cast a dark shadow over the entire novel. AFTER DARK is a fascinating exploration of the shades of gray in which all our lives are played out, of the moral dilemmas, large and small, we all face every day. Few will guess the final resolution and most will remember this novel well after they finish the last page.

THOUGHTS WHILE KNEADING BREAD DOUGH

Every so often, as is currently the case, the primary award for mystery writers, the Edgar, comes in for sharp, and sometimes dull, criticism. Unfortunately, a great many of the criticisms when the nominees are announced, are not full informed which obscures some useful comments and ideas. For example, every year, for all kinds of reasons, books are not even submitted. Those books are not judged and consequently never appear on lists of nominees. In a relatively famous case a year or so ago, the then president of MWA, home of the Edgars, disqualified his then-current novel from consideration for an award. Something about ethical considerations. Imagine that.

What I’m told is that the MWA board frequently wrestles with and argues about how to define different sub-genres of what we commonly call mystery fiction. I prefer crime fiction, personally, those terms being more inclusive. I’m told that the sticking point is defining the different categories. Yet we readers, booksellers and authors, define them every day. How hard can it be? Traditional mysteries, International thrillers, Domestic thrillers, PI books and Police Procedurals, hard cover, trade, Mass Market, PBO, to name a few.

There are even awards in specified categories by different conventions. They seem to have little difficulty discerning between categories.

***

There’s a new book out that has to be one of the most useful compilations for mystery fiction to come along in several years. It’s called “The Essential Mystery Lists:” and it was collected and researched by Roger Sobin. Poisoned Pen Press is the publisher. It contains every nominee and winner in every known mystery fiction contest since the beginning of time. At least in the English Language. It’s a marvelous resource easy to penetrate, fun to dip into.

***

As I look out the French Doors to our deck, I see it’s snowing again. The temperature has moderated but I’m thankful I don’t have to go out today. My dough is ready to rest and rise.

New Stuff

Just back from the tenth annual Love Is Murder con in Rosemont. Great little event with a nice mix of fans, new and old (sic) writers. New resolution (personal) to reactivate this blog and communicate with anybody out there. There are pictures and as soon as I can get through them I'll post them on my web site.

Other news: my latest book, Bloody Halls is now out, both in trade paper and as an ebook. You can find more info at YouTube and of course, on my website.

Oh yeah, the Crime Wave has a new contest running. The january Brainteaser is closed, but there'll be a new one in a day or two.

Finally, if you're in Madison, so will I be at Booked For Murder, that fiune independent store on Wednesday, Feb. 6. Drop by that evening and say howdy