Mystery Crime Books

My husband and I really like Stuart Woods books, and will continue to read every thing he writes.

My son lives in Italy and wanted this. Thanks for the speedy delivery of it so I could send it to him.

Dirt is a novel about the world of celebrity gossip.Amanda Dart is the Queen Bee of that world -a gossip writer who knows everyone and who is courted and feared in equal measure.She finds what it is like to be on the receiving end of gossip when she is caught having sex with a married Atlanta industrialist and blackmailed with the threat of having the story exposed in a scurrilous scandal sheet named Dirt.She hires a private eye -Mr Woods' regular series character Stone Barrington- to investigate .
She is not the sole victim of the magazine and the blackmailers running it .There is also a British "journalist"(an editor of a west Coast tabloid) -and then there is Amanda's boss who is on the verge of being outed as the head of a porn publishing empire.This guy raises the stakes ,bypasses Stone and engages the Mafia to root out the person or persons behind the stories.
The hunt is on -Barrington and the Mafia guys for the blackmailers .snd then in conflict with each other.

Barrington is the least convincing PI in modern crime writing -independently wealthy ,an ex-cop and qualified lawyer,he is suave and sophisticated and seemingly irresistible top women .James Bond-ian in a way and like no PI yopu would find in the phone book if you wanted to hire an investigator.Amanda is a great creation however -a Joan Collins role in waiting ;if they ever make a TV movie of the book she would be great casting .Amanda is tough as old boots -born of poor white trash and utterly unscrupulous she is not above ,murdering her own PA when she discovers her disloyalty
It is schlocky and wildly improbable and I like a bit more grit in my crime writing but if you want a night or two of escapism and gloss in your reading you could do a lot worse

My first Stuart Woods book and I'm not likely to pick up another. Not a likeable character to be found other than the domestic help. I didn't care what happened to anyone.

This book was a hoot and a half to read - a vicious gossip-monger who has always been careful to keep her own dirty laundry hidden finds out she hasn't done as good a job as she would like and finds the tables turned. She turns to Stone Barrington to get help. As things progress, more and more of the high and mighty find themselves being drug through the mud. I had lots of good laughs in this, and of course the suspense was great as well. The twists and turns were everything you would expect out of Stuart Woods and more and the mystery plotting was tight. Expect some pins and needles, because you're not going to want to put it down - you'll sit right where you are until you're finished!

I thought this book had a great story line. The only thing was that it was so predictable at the end. It kind of spoiled the story, for me.

I've read all of Hunter Morgan's books and I've loved everyone of them. This is the lastest book and it was great! I love mystery books and this book was as good as all the others.

I recommend this writer and books to anyone who loves murder/mystery books.

I have now read everything Hunter Morgan has written and with the exception of one have enjoyed them all. This was great and intense,
funny, I loved Casey's Dad Ed and the others...just read it...it's great!

Another winner and wonderful read for Hunter Morgan. "Don't Turn Around" is a superb story that will keep you turning page after page. I would recommend this to anyone who likes drama and suspense. A+

Hunter Morgan never fails to bring realistic romance and chilling suspense to a small town setting. I read this book in one sitting and loved it. Casey is a tough but vulnerable heroine, and I loved the relationship between her and a much-loved but failing father. This is a great vacation read, whether the reader escapes to the beach or just to a bubble bath. Great book! Worth every penny.

Am a retired California Cop living in Sandpoint. Bought book on recommendation of another retiree living here. Fast read. Interesting how the author changed names of locations, but if you live up here you know where and what they are.

Wow! What a great summer read.
A great surprise, for just a random pick-up.

This book would make a wonderful movie! Intense, well written, fantastic plot, original ending.
-DannyR

This was one of those books that started out with the biggest bang. I just knew this was going to be the best book of the year. I even had to remind myself to breath and then kapoowee. It did pick up in spots, but dry in others.

Another complaint is the believability, especially with the ending. Oh sure, it was a tear-jerker, heavy on the emotions. It still lacked in the believability department. I do think this is a good time to add, I'm a minority in my thinking. Most readers raved and raved about it.

Children are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They observe a murder. Now they are on the run. A story of some police who have gone very bad, counterbalanced by some good guys. The story is set in modern day North Idaho where times are changing as the area becomes a retirement mecca. But the area sometimes attracts the wrong people.

There are a number of villains of various stripes, ranging from murderers to a town gossip. Justice is served out in different ways as bodies start to accumulate.

The ending of this book was very surprising btu the book overall was a satisfying read. I'd recommend it for middle schoolers.

However, this book was fantastic. Seriously, run out and buy it. NOW.

I love unexpected endings. With Cormier, I've come to expect the unexpected. Nothing prepared me for this!

Usually in my reviews, I post a short description, in my own words. I won't this time, as I don't want ot give ANYTHING away. ;)

I read this wonderful book when I was in Grad School for an Adoloscent Literature Class. I read it in one sitting. Not a big deal, but I just didn't think I would get into it. As another reviewer said, it took me by surprise.

This eerie and gripping story is, at first, puzzling but it takes you over. Adam's journeys are almost surreal, until you find out why. (Which I won't give away.) However, I do remember a fairly heated debate in class that this book was too dark for young readers. I disagreed, but I saw their point. Would I recommend it to a 14-year-old? Tough call. But I think I would. But, if you are an adult, I would definitely recommend it.

By Alex Relph, Chad Kerley, Maddie Taylor, Isaac Gomez, and Sky Nichols

I Am The Cheese by Robert Cormier, is an excellent book for both male and female teenagers. A boy's struggle to find the truth about his life, takes him back to a place in the past that perhaps he shouldn't remember. It all starts when he takes a fall on his bike and it all comes back to him. As it may have been confusing at times to switch back from reality to him having discussions with his therapist, it becomes a nice refreshment from a normal story. You go along with the character to uncover his real identity. The book leaves you asking questions which we personally did not like, but does fall in the category of a mystery thriller. It is a good story and his suitable for adrenaline junkies. So read it for yourself!!

I recently read this book for the second time, and I liked it even more than when I was a kid. It's about a boy who takes a bicycle road trip to see his dad in nearby Vermont. The story shifts back and forth between the bicycle journey and his journey with a counselor to discover the truth about his past. Both journeys come to crashing climaxes. There are some loose threads that you will wonder about for days (like whatever happened to Amy Hertz? Was there ever really an Amy Hertz? Why is she important to the story? What does she represent?) This is excellent, young adult fiction. It's like the Sixth Sense in that it is one of those stories that sticks close to you long after you've finished the book.

I purchased this book for my husband because he is hooked on Author J.A. Jance and he loved this one! It arrived in great non-smoking condition. In his 56 years he had never completed an entire Fiction novel until he read the first A.J. Jance novel! It took almost 30 years to convince him that reading is more relaxing than Non-fiction books or television and it enhances spelling and vocabulary skills. Once he decided to FINALLY read a FICTION book he can't stop. I believe I'm responsible for enabling an addiction to reading that I'd highly recommend to everyone! My husband has now completed at least seven of J.A. Vances' books, Stephen King's 'The Cell', and Joe Hill's 'Heart Shaped Box' amongst others. I am an avid reader and a HUGE fan, reader, audio-book and Hardcover collector of Stephen King and more recently of his son Joe Hill. I couldn't begin to count the number of fiction books I've read in my lifetime. I mention this because on a recent trip to Alaska I would skip TV to read a SK book every evening after a long day of sightseeing. My husband asked "Are you going to read that book the entire vacation?" and I would respond "No, only until I finish it!" I think I can predict that each evening on future vacations will end with both of us reading until we fall asleep! Thank you Amazon and keep up the great work providing excellent books and other products with great service and good prices.

The first Beaumont mystery I've read & I enjoyed it. The author develops her characters & story line very directly. Ms. Jance doesn't throw a lot of useless fluff into her work. Her descriptions are not repetitious & the novel moves along at a good fast pace. It's well worth reading. Beaumont is a like-able lead character

While I'm a big Joanna Brady fan, I haven't quite been able to feel the same way about her other favorite protagonist, JP Beaumont. Beau, though a likeable guy, just doesn't ring true as a man, like he doesn't quite fit in his skin. His reactions to things seem too passive to be male, or maybe it's the way he sees women. JP Beaumont has a lot of fans, though, so obviously not everyone agrees with me on that.

Beau, an independently wealthy, high-rise-dwelling, Porsche-driving Seattle homicide cop, draws a floater one day when he's babysitting for a friend. The corpse is quickly identified as biotech executive Don Wolf, a man whose demise no one seems to lament. When Beau visits Designer Genes International, Wolf's employer, to get a positive ID, the company's CEO surprises him by announcing he will be the prime suspect, as he and Wolf were bitter enemies. It seems, however, that at least one other suspect exists, lovely young Latty Gibson, who was caught on tape being raped by Don Wolf in his office. Beau gets stonewalled in his attempts to talk to the young woman by her great aunt, an old money paragon who rather unconvincingly confesses to the murder.

The investigation gets even more interesting when Don Wolf's wife Lizbeth and a private investigator who had been digging into his past both turn up dead. Beau pursues the Latty Gibson angle while his personal nemesis looks into the biotech company that employed Wolf. Meanwhile, a couple of California cops do a little digging of their own, adding a few more facets and suspects to the mystery.

Typical of Jance, a mishmash of clues are floating around out there, and they all start coming together when suddenly, in a flash, that one vital clue comes to light. The meandering, distracted pace suddenly gets focused and goes into overdrive into the climax. The ending is a trifle too sentimental for my taste, but some people might find it moving.

In all, this was a pretty decent mystery, though it took a little while to engage my interest, as the story seems more about Beau's personal issues than a murder investigation. That's another one of Jance's trademarks, though. I'm sure this book won't disappoint JP Beaumont fans, and it wouldn't be a bad vehicle for drawing in a few new ones, either.

This book is a small cut above the average mystery/thriller, but its characters express more human emotion than normal, without waxing dramatic. Like a 1980s Hollywood movie, the plot progresses by sandwiching the character between the dumbly destructive legal process and the intelligently destructive evil of a killer covering his tracks, but in the middle, J.P. Beaumont is trying to enjoy life by doing what he finds fulfilling, namely, tracking down killers. The plot isn't far from believable, and the text, while plain, is artfully restrained, but it is the human element that makes this book stand above its otherwise competitive contemporaries.

Buried in all of J.P. Beaumont's personal problems in this novel is a halfway decent mystery. Between problems with his family, a child-services investigation, the insufferable Paul Kramer, his superiors in the Seattle P.D. (who seem to have forgotten that Detective Beaumont is a top-notch investigator), rush hour traffic, and the siren song of a MacNaughton's bottle, J.A. Jance somehow manages to shoehorn a triple murder into Beau's life. What any of it has to do with the blood-dripping icicle on the cover is beyond me.

Other reviewers here at Amazon have commented on how overcrowded the book is with Beau's personal problems, and they're right. Either the family crisis or the child-services subplots could have been eliminated and the story would be stronger for it. Either would have sufficed to add depth to Beau's character, but the two of them together is overkill. With all the extra-vocational content in the book, we are left with quite a few loose ends; very little of Kramer & Arnold's side of the investigation makes it into the story, and Beau changes objectives suddenly without having time to go back and follow up on earlier leads.

It goes without saying that "detective" Paul Kramer is going to cause problems, but for Sergeant Watkins and Captain Powell to heap on the grief makes little sense (good natured ribbing about Beau's transsexual fan club would have been appropriate; they should have at least heard his side of the story before climbing down his throat); it would be one thing if Beau was an underperformer, but the unceasing gruff boss shtick made no sense.

One thing that Jance does do well in the book is convey a sense of how different police work is from what's shown on TV (how different it really is from the book's presentation is another question). From needing evidence ahead of getting an arrest warrant to ballistics and DMV registration checks, Beau does a good job of doing the routine business of police work. If he could learn to do periodic "saves" of his police reports on his laptop, his life would be significantly happier (okay, not in a week with as many problems as this story presents, but on a less-hectic week it'd help a lot). Beau manages to do a lot of sitting and listening in this book, which isn't very exciting - even with handguns falling out of purses. If that translates into "boring" for you, then this may not be among your favorite novels.

All in all, I liked this book. It had a little bit of everything, with a bit much of only a few things. Even with all the sitting and talking I found it a quick read. Your mileage may vary, but as far as the book's conclusion is concerned, getting there was half the fun.

I'm not quite finished with the book & I'm having a hard time trying to finish it. I'm forcing myself to continue.

Murders at a castle in Scotland. Sounds interesting. Wrong!

Most of the characters who lived in or worked near castle were so unrealistic - like you were watching the SciFi channel. So unbelievable that you weren't even interested in them. Very strange.

The policeman telling Judith she's the best thing to come out of America! Right! Like he can't figure anything out & needs a woman who runs a B&B to help him.

Extremely unrealistic the way total strangers would all pour out their life stories to Judith & Renie. Not only that, they would invite them into their homes, to funerals, etc.

Too many characters to remember how they were all related.

Judith's & Renie's husbands were suppose to be taking them on a vacation together. Well, the husbands just dropped them off at the castle & left. That part was weird.

Judith starts up an official police car & drives away. Right! Renie hits people & is very rude. It's really not funny like the author wants it to be. In real life, she'd get her a-- kicked! Or arrested.

The constant mentioning of the lift (elevator) to the castle was tiring.

Very boring & the characters were just too strange to make the story believable.

I could go on & on, but this review is becoming boring now.

This is the 23rd entry in Mary Daheim's Bed-and-Breakfast series, and the first one I'd read. This time, instead of the Pacific Northwest, Judith Flynn and her cousin, Serena [known to one and all as Renie] Jones are in Scotland, where their husbands, retired cop and psychologist, respectively, are indulging in their love of fishing. Joe Flynn has arranged with a policeman friend who is to join them fishing the Scottish waters for the women to stay in a remote village near Aberdeen, where they soon find themselves "at loose ends...What else can we do with no car and our husbands off fishing? We're bored. We Yanks enjoy excitement." Excitement is soon found in the form of an explosion on the beach near the castle and a man's body found nearby. If that isn't enough, the castle is said to be haunted, and indeed a strange voice is heard from time to time, its source undiscovered. The dead man is the grandson of the caretakers to the castle and the estranged husband of a local oil heiress. There is a large cast of local residents [to the extent that I had difficulty keeping track of the various characters]. Judith has a habit, as readers of the series know, of finding dead bodies, to the extent that she says "sometimes I feel like the harbinger of death." For her part, Renie has a habit of occasional violent urges, though relatively harmless ones. They both are given to using expressions such as "gaga" and "neener-neener" and Renie at one point refers to her husband as a "nut doc," which struck me as particularly off key.

I must admit that cozies are not my favorite things, although that said, the book makes for a light summer read. I found it a bit corny, e.g., one character has the following phone conversation: "The Eagle has flown. The Jackal is trapped. The Leopard? Very well." From the Too Stupid to Live department, at one point the women accompany a stranger who had used subterfuge to get them to meet him and was a possible suspect, to his cottage, and then discuss at length the murder and their investigation, not to mention the fact that they fell for his ruse in the first place. But the book and Renie have a charm to them, not unlike Mrs. Marple in her time.

I generally like Mary Daheim and her B&B novels, but this one was just OK. The plot was confusing with a lot of superfluous characters, nonessential subplots, holes, and murders that made no sense, even after everything was explained. It still is not quite clear to me, in fact, exactly why the main murder was committed. The motivation behind some of the other deaths is even murkier. The quirkiness of some of the characters, and the interesting setting -- as well as hopes for a real surprise ending -- kept me reading, but in the end, I was dissatisfied.

The title is the best thing about this book. The story is extremely depressing and completely devoid of any of the light-hearted snarky humor that is usually in the B&B books. There are definite attempts at humor throughout the story, but they fall like a deflated balloon. The personas of Judith and Rennie are annoying instead of amusing and by the middle of the book I just wanted them to leave Scotland, have a drink at home and consider the day done. I think it's time for Ms. Daheim to close the Bed-and-Breakfast series since her lack of interest in the series is obvious by this latest book.

Judith McMonigle Flynn is happily packing her bags. Her husband Joe, and Bill her cousin Renie's husband have planned a vacation trip for the four of them. It's a surprise, so they aren't telling the cousin's where they're going until they're on the planes.

Visions of Hawaii, or The Bahama's float through her head as she tosses in bathing suits and suntan oil.

Imagine her surprise when on the plane she finds that they're on their way to Scotland. Living in the Northwest, cold and wet are normal for the winter, and although there were probably colder and wetter places than Scotland, she couldn't think of any.

Things are even worse as the cousins realize that Joe & Bill picked the spot, because they had made friends with a local Scottish police inspector and he was going to take them on fishing trip, meanwhile Judith & Renie got to stay at an ancient castle high above the North Sea.

Things get off to a rocky start when there's an explosion at Grimloch Castle and a young man is killed. He's married to the local heiress, lives in a stately mansion and father of a new son. Who would want him dead? Or is the curse some say is on his bride? He was her second husband, her first dying tragically and her male friends who have also died unexpectedly.

Judith and Renie decide to investigate, as there is nothing else to do, Joe and Bill are out of touch on their fishing trip.

There are a lot of suspects and this time the local police are actually asking them for their help. More deaths occur and supernatural things start to happen and then Joe & Bill seem to have disappeared.

The cousins have to solve this crime before they and their loved ones end up having the worst vacation they have ever had.

Highlights:

The last few books in this series have been less than stellar. This one, however, has picked up the series a little.

The mystery, as usual was very interesting, complicated and hard to figure out. I actually thought through most of the book that Joe & Bill may have set them up on some type of mystery weekend type of vacation.

Judith is always a great character. Very smart and does real investigations. You don't get the killer suddenly announcing they're the murderer out of the blue as you do in some series, although she will put herself in danger sometimes because she doesn't always think things out.

Cousin Renie is almost back to her likeable self. Renie has always been overly aggressive and willing to fight physically. But in recent books she has almost crossed the line into insanity, with her constant embarrassing remarks to people and the fact that she will start hitting people without provocation. In this book, she has pulled back a little in her embarrassing actions and although she does get physical with a particular character, it seemed more humorous than the insane way she had done in the past few books.

Lowlights:

Joe and Bill disappear from the book. I love Joe, he and Judith have the most romantic storyline and I love the interplay between them. But for several books, Joe has disappeared instead of being the supportive, helpful character that he started out as. The series has become an almost exclusive Judith & Renie show. I can't remember the last book where her son and grandchildren actually appeared in the story, and weren't just mentioned in passing.

No returning characters. In earlier books you would see a lot more of Judith & Renie's extensive family. Now they almost seem adrift with only themselves and occasionally their husbands to hang on to.

I love this series and although this book isn't in league with the earlier ones in the series, it's an improvement over the last several books. Get the cousins back home, with their extended families and put Renie and Gertrude on some meds.

This series can be saved.

Having already read later Lehane novels, this was an incredible introduction to the characters and an intriguing story weaving Boston politics and gangs. It is so much more than a mystery or thriller--Lehane really makes you care about all of the characters--including Bubba!
The violence has repercussions--Patrick and Angie do what is necessary but not without being haunted by their actions.

Dennis Lehane's debut novel is fantastic. Very well written and suspenseful. Very sharp and witty. I highly recommend it.

while not as absorbing as GONE, BABY, GONE and not as intricate a plotline this book is nonetheless a great intro to the characters. Lehane writes from his gut and there's not a whole lot of filler. Great characters and story.

If I had read Lehanes's books in the order that they were written, I would never have continued beyond this first effort. His stories never tap dance around the darkness and decay that is increasingly closer to the surface of civility but this was too bleak to recommend to anyone. While it is true that every person is capable of both great goodness and great evil, life is cheap and violence the way of much of the world, this seemed too far over the edge for even a cynical realist like myself.

The problem with mystery series is that you rarely read the first one first. You jump in somewhere in the middle since your friend recommended the book or the movie was just made. That was my experience in reading Gone, Baby, Gone (Harper Fiction). This of course leads to you going back and reading the previous books (should you get hooked) knowing all along the final outcome. Detective fiction writers are notorious for having their characters mention past incidents that are actually the plots of previous books.

So I went into this book more or less knowing the ending. Usually that's a deal breaker for a mystery but Lehane's prose and his dialogue make up for the advanced knowledge. And it's nice seeing the characters in earlier times. Working class Boston full of seedy bars and desperate people is one of the characters of the piece and it serves it well.

However, this is a first novel and as a first novel it has many rough patches. Lehane seems to be wanting to say too much about race relations and poverty. In fact he stops the action several times in order for the characters to get into an argument. Not only is race a factor but the whole book is too close to Devil in a Blue Dress (Easy Rawlins Mysteries). There's the lying politicians looking for something that he's not telling the detective about. There's the cast of ne'er do wells and there's the pedophilia angle. Throw in a psychotic best friend for the protagonist and one wonders if Lehane should start sending Mosley royalty checks.

However, calling a book a Walter Mosley imitation is not the worst criticism. In later books, Lehane would develop his own voice and style (especially in making Angie a more important character) but this is his first one and for a debut novel, it's really good.

The idea of a serial killer on the loose has been done to death. The bodies are stacking up like cord wood and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. RATTLESNAKE CROSSING gives fans the impression Ms. Jance was under contract obligations to meet a deadline and cranked out a pot boiler.
It didn't have the spark of expert craftsmanship that others of both of her series have exhibited. It is difficult to pin point what is missing except that both Joanna and her supporting characters seemed static. But as part of the series Jance is forgiven and we'll be back for more cases that involve a favorite lady sheriff.
Then maybe I'm just tired of killers who kill to kill after listening to the news on a daily basis.
Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War

This author keeps me on the edge of my seat no matter how many times I read and reread her works of art. Thank-you

I recently discovered the Joanna Brady series and have been happily reading along and enjoying the character of a woman sheriff in a small town. At first, I thought that her wearing a suit and heels to work was ridiculous but I realized that she probably had to be conservative since she was the first woman sheriff in the region. I also enjoy the Arizona setting and Jance's deft interweaving of family, friends, and mystery.

I wasn't nuts about the serial killer plot in this book -- I identified this person the moment they made an appearance in the book by the "profile" similar to many on TV cop shows and movies. However, I suppose serial killers are everywhere.

Overall, the Joanna Brady series keeps my interest and I've read about nine books so far.

My first Brady novel. Actually my first read by this author. It starts quickly and grabs your attention quickly. The story is interwoven nicely and just keeps going at a good pace without a lot of wasted words. It's led me to read more of Ms. Jance's work

It is "my bad" that I haven't caught up with J.A. Jance before now. Tucson is my second home and this author had not crossed my radar screen until my wife gave me this book for my birthday. I am ordering all the sequels as this is very good writing and needs to be supported. It talks to you as you read it so if you are into this genre, go for it. It is "really good stuff."

Warren Ellis' (Transmetropolitan, Thunderbolts, Desolation Jones, Astonishing X-Men, this list can go on and on...) brilliant crime fiction saga Fell is something you have to read to believe. Revolving around the incredibly skilled Detective Richard Fell, who has been transfered to Snowtown: a crime-ridden wasteland from which there may be no escape. As the area around him decays with every passing minute, Fell makes a number of encounters (most frequently with an eccentric bar-maid) with the townspeople, and comes to one conclusion in the end about them all: everybody is hiding something, including himself. Peppered with fantastic dialogue, Ellis manages to make Fell one of his most intriguing works of crime fiction, with Fell himself being one of his most interesting character creations. Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) provides his typical dark and moody artwork, and it more than suits the atmosphere of the universe that Ellis crafts here. All in all, the first volume of Fell is a brilliant piece of crime fiction from one of the true modern day comic book masters, and it more than deserves your attention.

Oh boy! Good doesn't even begin to describe it. Warren Ellis does noir and sets a different standard for everybody else. His inner cityscape is gritty, convincing and creepy. And I am not easily spooked. Richard Fell is beautifully characterized as the detective dedicated to his craft and every bit human and vulnerable. And Snowtown is the ultimate urban nightmare - a town that the rest of the world gave up on and only exists in the shadows of human society - inhabited by the true scum of the earth.

This is intense, gritty detective crime fiction that everyone who has any interest in the genre should not pass up. I'm not familiar with much of Warren Ellis's other work but he has brought a completely fresh new twist to your classic detective story. Its hard to believe that each issue is only 16 pages and is still more intruging than books that go a full 24-32 pages. Its hard to put down. My only gripe would be for a mature themed book the language is a bit too toned down for my taste, lets face it in a knife fight with a deadly criminal one would really call the other a "living fart" as he bashes his face in? But this is just a minor annoyance compared to the rest of a unbelievably great graphic novel.

Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith have been around awhile. Warren is famous for his over the top horror and thriller type comics and Ben got famous for his incredible art with the original 30 Days of Night. And while this book has no vampires it has everything you would come to expect from these two masters. Warren delivers a great tale or I should say tales of Detective Fell and Ben creates his world with incredible art. When you have two master come together like this it's amazing what happens. I won't spoil the story lines I'm sure someone else will do that or has done that. If you enjoy Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or Chuck Palanuik you will most definately enjoy this graphic novel. Engrossing and at time nauseating you won't be disappointed.

With all the other praises to look at, I can't add anything new or of additional value. All I can say; This is a perfect comic book. Highly recommended.

SC

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I can't believe this is the end of the book! It has so much potential for a sequel, or maybe even a triology! There were characters to explore, relationships to develop and more demons to vanquish! I loved how briggs was able to develop a relationship between the Reeve and Shamera without concentrating the book on it and how deeply she delved into the world. It amazes me how detailed she could write about this subject because it's so difficult to bring a world to reality out of thin air. However, the explanations did get a big complicated sometimes and I did get lost, but that's my only concern about it. It was a great book and I NEED A SEQUEL! I really hope she considers it!! :D

I am a Kim Harrison and Charlaine Harris fan, who does not usually like fantasy/supernatural fiction involving magic, wizards or mages. However, this book was delightful. This is the second Patricia Briggs book I have read and I truly enjoyed it. It had just the right amount of action, romance, and humor, without going overboard with the sex or violence scenes. She has a great variety of supernatural races and a very likable character in Sham.

Hm, I'm a bit embarrassed. I mean here we have a book which is basically a romance, mixed with some mystery elements and set in a fantasy landscape (you can't get much lighter) and yet I liked it. I liked it so much, I gave it four stars.
The heroine is flashy and sassy, the hero well muscled and and has the famous soft spot under a crusty exterior. Their dialogues are fast paced and witty, the plot flows along nicely and never drags. The world (same as in STEAL THE DRAGON) could have had some potential if it hadn't been neglected so badly (Sham and Kerim need some place to hold their witty dialogues after all). Fortunatelly the novel was revised before being republished in Aug 05, causing a definite improvement of style and story line.
Cliche works, this novel stands prove.

Evil lurks in the halls of the castle, and the Reeve is finally convinced to seek someone with magical powers to find it. Sham turns out to be more then what the Reeve bargins for - masquerading as his mistress, she battles the creature (and the Reeve's mother, who seems infinitely more frightening).

Usually, I dislike overt romance in my sci-fi/fantasy, but Patricia Briggs does an excellent job with this book, making it fun, and interesting, but doesn't read like a bad Harlequin novel set in a fantasy setting.

Definitely "girly" fantasy, but guys with a hidden streak of romance in them, will fall in love with Sham as well.

This is an atypical fantasy novel of spys. The heroine is working for what is technically the enemy. Shamera is a native of Southwood who is asked to spy for the occupational force. Or one faction of it. The current leader of Southwood (Lord Kerrim) is doing his best to improve the conditions for everyone, native and occupier. However, the court in general does not seem to like this idea. There are plenty of options as to who is cursing - and killing - Lord Kerrim. Of course, first Shamera must figure out there is a curse at all.

As with all of the authors books (so far) the emphasis is firmly on character, and the character drives the plot, rather than the other way around. You can watch additudes change and mutate, and conclusions are reached in a seemingly logical fashion.

The world is built from the inside out, so that if you accept the mundane, it is easy then to accept the fantastic, as it ties into what is known.

Reccomended for anyone serching for a little escapism.