Mystery Crime Books

Swedish author Hakan Nesser, has his laconic, sardonic series detective, Inspector VanVeeteren, investigate a serial ax murderer in a quiet seaside town, in "Borkmann's Point," winner of the Swedish Crime Writers' Best Novel Award for 1994.

Van Veeteren is not feeling his best after a dreary coastal vacation partly spent with his paroled son, and is looking forward to returning to the city when his superior assigns him a case in a tiny nearby coastal town where two men with nothing in common have been brutally murdered and the police chief is about to retire.

The first victim was a petty thief, drug-dealer and pimp; the second was a successful, self-satisfied businessman. It's not a town that sees many murders and the police chief is more than cooperative. Van Veeteren soon finds himself spending enjoyable evenings playing chess and drinking fine wine from the chief's cellar - carefully collected to last out his retirement.

Point of view switches among the team members, which include Beate Moerck, an ambitious young woman afraid of ending up successful and childless, and Munster, one of Van Veeteren's usual assistants, a young, happily married man with children who soon finds himself attracted to Beate.

The qualities Americans have come to love in Scandinavian novels - dry wit, a calm, philosophical approach, and the cool, northern atmosphere, are here in abundance. Fans of Henning Mankell or Helene Tursten will relish Nesser.

Nesser's book was published 12 years ago in Swedish and is finally available in English. He joins Henning Mankell as one of Sweden's premier crime novel writers.
This novel is one of Nesser's Van Veeteren series and it's a doozie. Inspector Van Veeteren is called in to help the police officers in Kaalbringen, a small Swedish city, with what appears to be a serial murder.
In his long career Van Veeteren has left only one case unsolved. Naturally the Kaalbringen police expect he will come in and take over their case. But they are pleasantly surprised when the famous detective finds a kindred spirit in the Kaalbringen chief of police, Bausen, and treats his team with deference and respect. Van Veetern is especially impressed with the obvious intelligence of the lone woman officer on the team, Beate Moerk.
What follows is not only a very cleverly constructed mystery but also a portrayal of major characters, each with a "back story". Van Veeteren's customary finesse is hampered by a string of murders which appear to have no connection and then finally the disappearance of a member of the Kaalbringen police force.
This reader was satisfied but disappointed when the book ended - I had to remind myself the next day that there was no more Van Veteeren to read about. Needless to say I hope the translator, as good as she is, is also quick! Highly recommended.

My reading group, a World of Words, chose this book for the July meeting. It was a fun and fast read, not that the pace was necessarily fast, but it was quick to read. This may be due, in part, to the fact that we had just finished Blindness and A Dictionary of Maqiao, both which were quite different from the Van Veeteren Mystery. The members of the group agreed with me that we could not put the book down, but one of the members commented that he liked to follow the clues, and he found no clues to follow in this book. I have no reference for other Swedish mystery, detective novels, but I can reference several I've read that are American, and I enjoyed this one more than some American detective novels. I liked the fact that I did not know who did the crime on the first or second page. I felt as though I might have been missing something, though, when it came to the characters. I've read other books out of order, and many of them can stand on their own, but I felt as though I needed to have read the earlier book, if there was one, to get to know Van Veeteren better. Perhaps the following book in the series may shed more light for me. The inclusion of chess in the book was quite interesting. I am not knowledgeable about chess, but I imagine that there were some clues set forth in the game. I look forward to reading more books by this author. I'm not sure that the book kept me, as the San Francisco Chronicle claims, "on the edge of your seat," but I enjoyed the lighter reading and the mystery. It was not a book I wanted to put down. I read it in only a couple of days.

I will make an effort here to not give anything away to those who haven't read the book yet, but something struck me as not right when I finished the book. I went back to some earlier passages and found out what was bothering me. Chapter 24 does not stand up to scrutiny after the culprit is finally unveiled. As American detectives often say, "It just doesn't add up". I have now decided that the author changed his mind about who the culprit was going to be part way through writing the book, which is fine as long as you go back and make sure what you have already written still hangs together. Given this, I'm surprised the book won an award in Sweden. I don't expect Swedish critics to forgive the faulty logic.

Ordered several books by this author.
Based on reviews.
I found the books, slow, mild plots. More involved with the inspectors drinking and chess.For the first time, I will be returning books I ordered.

I don't want to spoil anything about the book but The Cat is the only thing I had trouble with. I Love the writers style, no nonsense.
But the cat. Don't get me wrong, I love Cats but this had to be the authors sympathy tool.

Actually, the F word doesn't bother me; the animal torture did. The main character is indeed a self-absorbed jerk. I am certain there are plenty of real-life killers out there that like cats, and call mom once in a while. A better yardstick might be to take a look at what has happened to Hank's "friends" by the time you turn the last page. The writing is pretentious and vicious. And boring; I ended up skimming the last 100 pages. However, there are clearly some people who like this "flawed" hero stuff, so more power to them. I tossed the next two Huston works in the trash unread. Back to SJ Rozan, Sean Doolittle and Michael Connelly for me.

Hank Thompson, protagonist of Charlie Huston's slam-bang neo-noir, has not had an easy life. From a baseball accident that ended a promising career to a car crash that left him unable to drive to the bottles of booze that fill his apartment, this strangely gentle man never really caught a break. He was doing OK, though, until his neighbor left town and gave Hank his cat to watch... and the key hidden at the bottom of the cat's litter box. Various people come looking for the key, and that's when the fun begins.

The novel stands up next to James Ellroy's The Black Dahlia or Scott Smith's A Simple Plan, in both the dark settings and the violence. The seedy world of the characters includes beatings, shootings, robbery, torture, and worse yet. In this environment, it's not a question of whether a good man will go bad, but the manner in which it will happen, and how bad he'll go. Huston's narration and use of the first-person viewpoint is gripping, conveying the thoughts and fears of Hank Thompson very well. The plot twists and turns to some extent, but the action and violence of this story are what will keep you reading until 2 a.m.

Hank Thompson is a regular law abiding guy with some original, yet regular problems. While at work one evening, bartending in Manhattan, he is beaten up by two Russian thugs. He soon realizes that this wasn't really about the drinks he served. Hank becomes an infamous and wanted criminal when fate brings a line-up of bad guys chasing after him, all of which are after something that doesn't even belong to him.

Caught Stealing is the first book in the Hank Thompson trilogy, and the first novel I've ever read written by Charlie Huston. It was violent, fast paced, and at times, funny, very funny. The prose read quick and easy, even without quotation marks. Certainly, this will not be my last Charlie Huston novel. Can't wait to find out what happens to this likable protagonist in the next addition.

Although the violence was a bit much at times overall I thought it had a good pace and was easy to read. Despite the stupid decisions at times I ended up liking the character in the end.

Ray Bradbury'
s book was something that I've wanted to read for quite some time. Unfortunately, I had already seen the film so I had a plot in mind as well as a mood. Bradbury as always strings metaphores together like we do popcorn on the Christmas tree. It's his main setup for atmosphere and that is the books great strength. Unfortunately for me, the characters of Will, Jim and Will's Dad are flat, underdeveloped and dull. Without a back story, I really don't have a sense of caring for the characters and as hard as I tried that didn't change. This was typical of Dickens at times. He created characters and then threw them into the story for development. I never found this technique particularly inviting for me.
The story is simple enough -- a carnival comes to town creating strange and bizarre situations that invite temptation. Jim wants to be older -- but we aren't given a good enough reason why. Will's Dad wants to be younger and the idea feels more universal than centered on the character in question and it falls short. The carnival can do this of course but at a price. That alone feels as rundown an idea as I've ever read. Everyone has that statement. The ending feels more of a fable than anything else and perhaps that's what Ray wanted out of the story. Perhaps he would have put 'once upon a time' and 'happily ever after' were it a different time.
The message -- don't fall into temptation and don't let misery eat away your soul. I don't know, the book has great mood and atmosphere but had the same feel for me as 'Tale of Two Cities' -- I couldn't want to finish it and move on to something else.

Usually I connect Ray Bradbury with weird enough stories that always seem to have plenty of heart. And I am not saying that this does not have plenty of heart, but rather than the usual strange sci-fi Ray Bradbury makes something truly horrific that has actually caused me nightmares. Through the innocence of children and a traveling carnival Bradbury makes an intelligent and creative story that deals with the hidden desires of humanity itself. It's weird, terrifying, and altogether Bradbury classic.

I read this book for the first time about 16 years ago, when I was 10 or 11 years old. I was so impressed by the book, which had gripped me with its enchanting prose, that I immediately re-read it. Over the next couple years, I read several other works by Ray Bradbury and I periodically tried to imitate his style for school projects. I loved the book.

I just re-read it for the third time, and I was still bewitched. Ray Bradbury's writing is impressive! He is poetic, and his writing perfectly fits the spooky subject of the book. In the book, there are dark characters whose bodies are covered with tattooed illustrations or who have been squashed down to resemble dwarves, and Ray Bradbury's writing, which is full of images, metaphors, and poetry, captured these characters and provided a great accompaniment for the book's story.

Rereading it, now, after many years, I understood the book in a different way. The book's repeated discussion of immortality stuck with me, and has a different significance for me now. Also, between the first reading and this third, I had learned a bit more about Ray Bradbury's life. Did you know that Bradbury claims that, at a young age, he met a circus performer called Mr. Electrico? According to Bradbury, this performer, who had electric current pumped through him in front of a crowd of people, pointed his sword at Bradbury and declared: "You will live forever!" Knowing this story had a significant, and I think positive, impact on my reading!

Finally, I'm glad that so many reviewers have liked this book. That's great. At times, I wondered whether other people would like Bradbury's wild writing, which jumps around, and calls forth images, and which captures the dark magic of the performing freaks. On a few rare instances, the prose felt forced, or seemed vaguely pretentious, or felt too overdrawn . . . But, when the writing seemed like this, the sour impression would only last for a moment before the story once again swallowed me whole.

I was very glad that so many readers have found Bradbury's prose appealing.

This is Bradbury's finest novel, in my opinion. All of Bradbury's fiction is lyrical in nature, but in this work his prose flows quickly and magically from the first page to the last.

The book is closer to horror than sci-fi, but I regard it as simply a great novel and believe that its universal theme of good vs. evil qualify it as literary fiction of the highest order. It is a book I read every few years to remind me of what language is capable of doing and to listen to the voices of Bradbury's unique small town characters as they attempt to deal with the mystifying forces of Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Show, a traveling carnival.

The one-star reviews appear to be from the usual students who were forced to read the book. Don't be deterred. If you like a scary tale that also examines love and the human heart, you can't go wrong with SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.

Thirty-five years after its initial release, this magical and mesmerizing story still carries a punch. The opening pages are more like a thriller where you know something is out there...waiting. You can hear it; you can feel it getting closer. And it's not going to be pleasant.

You follow a pair of young boys on their pre-Halloween adventure until you realize there is a lot more at stake than just going to the carnival. And the father of one of the boys, a meek and beaten down man, has a great decision to make. Others in the town face a temptation that could and does change each person's life.

A small town story with universal truths about life and what you make of it. This is a true masterpiece using Bradbury's poetic phrasing and the hypnotic pictures he paints with words.

Read it again.

This is the fourth book in the series. I've only read the first and fourth books. Here, I loved the Ramses character. He is an 8 year old boy with a genius mind and great luck. I did not like the way his mother cut him off so much and refused to listen to him. She was also jealous of his ability to find entrances to tombs and other archaeological finds before she could. I lost some respect for her in this book because of that. It was still a good book, but I preferred the first book in the series: Crocodile on the Sandbank.

CAUTION SPOILERS: In this book, we learn that Sethos, the master criminal, loves Amelia and plans to kidnap her and keep her secluded until she learns to love him back. He appears in different disguises in this book.

Sexual language: none. Number of sex scenes: none. Setting 1895 Egypt. Copyright: 1986. Genre: young adult, mystery, adventure.

There are many books in this series. Following are the titles of the books with the setting years in parentheses. The years that these books were published range from 1975 to current. The setting years range from 1887 to 1922. The following list may not be complete, but is given as a starting point for someone wanting to try the series from the beginning.

Crocodile on the Sandbank (1884-85), Curse of the Pharoahs (1892-93), The Mummy Case (1994-95), Lion in the Valley (1895-96), The Deeds of the Disturber (1896), The Last Camel Died at Noon (1897-98), The Snake ,The Crocodile, and The Dog (1898-99), The Hippopotamus Pool (1899-1900), Seeing a Large Cat (1903-04), The Ape Who Guards the Balance (1906-07), Guardian of the Horizon (1907-08), The Falcon at the Portal (1911-12), He Shall Thunder in the Sky (1914-15), Lord of the Silent (1915-16), The Golden One (1916-17), Children of the Storm (1919-20), The Serpent on the Crown (1922), Tomb of the Golden Bird (1922).

This is another great Amelia Peabody mystery with all the melodrama, adventure, and comedy you could wish. It follows one of the main story threads of the series as Amelia attempts to track down the Master Criminal!

Elizabeth Peters was born and brought up in Illinois and earned her Ph.D. in Egyptology from the University of Chicago's famed Oriental Institute. Peters was named Grand Master at the inaugural Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America at the Edgar Awards in 1998. She lives in a historic farmhouse in western Maryland.

The Amelia Peabody books may or may not be an acquired taste, personally I love them. They are set in Victorian times when there were still very strict rules of etiquette and polite behaviour was the norm. Although most of the books are set in Egypt, in the desert under very trying conditions and extremely hot weather the `English' way of life was still expected to be adhered to, sometimes with quite hilarious consequences.

Amelia Peabody is Elizabeth Peters' best loved and brilliant creation, a thoroughly Victorian feminist who takes the stuffy world of archaeology by storm with her no nonsense dress sense and forthright opinions.

Yet again the lives of Amelia's son Rameses and her husband Emerson rest in her hands. Her prowess as an amateur sleuth is needed when her son is abducted in the dead of night and an expedition haunted by misfortune and death, have alerted her to her arch enemy who has sworn vengeance on Amelia who is determined to bring him to justice as quickly as possible.

As always I really enjoy Amelia Peabody mysteries. The humor plus the twists and turns make for great reading.

I am having a problem getting past the third chapter. I enjoyed her first two mysteries when she met her husband-to-be and then the birth of her son Ramses. Now I am getting a bit tired of the bratty son and the recurrent Master Criminal. How about a new plot? I don't know why Peters has made the son such an obnoxious character. Then there is the adolescent relationship between Peabody and Emerson. Who cares, just get to the mystery. Unfortunately, I have purchased three more of her books and will probably skim through them trying to find the mystery.

DEATH OF AN ENGLISHMAN (Trad. Mystery/Pol. Proc-Marshal Guarnaccia-Italy-Cont) - G+
Nabb, Magdalen - 1st in series
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1981, US Hardcover - ISBN: 0684177579

First Sentence: The small office was in darkness, except where the red night lamp stood by the telephone on the desk, and the white kid gloves lying on top of a sheaf of papers within the patch of light were flushed pink.

Marshal Guiarnaccia is a Carabiniere stationed in Florence. He wants to get home for Christmas with his family in Sicily but is laid low with a bad case of the flu so it's his young new police cadet, Carabiniere Bacci, faced with the investigation into the murder of a well-connected Englishman.

Inspectors from Scotland Yard appear on the scene and want to keep things quite. As he begins to recover, it is the subtle observations of Marshal that solve the case.

I was not familiar with this author, but it was recommended to me and I thought I'd give it a try. I'm so glad I did.

It's the first of the series and a bit misleading since the actual protagonist spends most of the story being sick. I didn't learn much about Marshal in this book, but when he did make an appearance, I became completely intrigued and wanted more.

I loved the Florentine setting. Nabb is a wonderfully visual writer. Unfortunately, now I've found another author whose backlist I need to seek out and read.

Having really enjoyed Camilleri's Montalbano books, I was hopeful about this, especially after seeing such good reviews. I was greatly disappointed. The mystery itself was all right, although the red herrings were rather expected, but it was the feel of the story which was the greatest disappointment. Rather than having an Italian, much less Florentine, flavor permeate the story, I felt as if the author visited for local color and presented details without substance. Marshall Guarnaccia was barely in the story much of the time, and I got no feel for his personality or quirks. It was the English characters who had the most life, and that wasn't what I was looking for.The Terra-Cotta Dog: An Inspector Montalbano Mystery

I was going to read this book which looked nicely recomended but thanks to the kindly meant but unfortunately revealing review of Maiko Shimoi from Osaka, Japan I will not be reading this book.

Any one else who is planning to read the book please do not read Maiko's review...

The re-release of Magdalene Nabb's Florentine stories is long overdue ( and shame on her UK publisher for dropping her ).

Congratulations are due to SoHo Press for their continuing ressucitation of some of the finest crime writers ( Van Der Wetterring , Tokagi and Janes etc )who all seem to have been dropped in favour of half-witted serial killer clones.

These are some of the finest crime stories ever written and their evocation of Florence is flawless.Marshal Guarnaccia is one of the most engaging protagonists since Maigret and the stories have a similar emphasis on the observation of character and cause rather than Chritie-esque puzzles.In many ways the mystery seems secondary to Ms. Nabb's exceptional ability to draw the reader into the lives of her characters and the bustle of Florentine daily life.

Buy three copies, one to read and re-read to destruction , one to keep for the time when your first falls to bits and one to give to your best friend.

Brava Signora !

Alas, I was rather disappointed in Strong Poison. True, it addressed one of the complaints I had early on in the series and featured loads of personal drama for the investigators. I liked the turn Peter took here--in love and accepting rejection with grace and angst--and I liked Harriet, too, though there wasn't enough of her. Miss Climpson and another enterprising spinster were also entertaining and made valuable contributions to the case.

But! I just about tore my hair out when Sayers reused one of her favorite plot devices AGAIN--a will. There was a twist involved that made it slightly different than a matter of mere inheritance, but just once, I'd like to read a Sayers book that mentions neither a testatrix nor a legatee! There was also a certain clue that, by the randomness of its inclusion, enabled me to immediately guess the method in which the arsenic was administered.

Despite not being everything I'd hoped for, it was still probably the best of the Sayers so far.

Dorothy L. Sayers created perhaps one of the most iconic of all detectives when she fashioned Lord Peter Wimsey. At first impression, Wimsey seems to be a lot of piffle, dressed to the nines, and overly confident in his intelligence. Yet there is something intriguing about his character and his buffonery that makes readers laugh at his expressions and marvel at his exploits. Such is the case with "Strong Poison", the book that introduced Lord Peter Wimsey to Harriet Vane.

The reader is immediately drawn into the story through a recounting of the evidence against Harriet Vane; she is on trail for murdering her lover with arsenic. The case against her seems airtight, and it isn't helpful that she was writing a mystery concerning arsenic poisoning, but Wimsey is convinced of her innocence, and is just as convinced of making her his wife. When the jury can come to no verdict, the defense has one month before Vane will be retried. Wimsey takes it upon himself, with a colorful cast of helpers, to make sure he clears Harriet's name and finds out who the real murderer is.

"Strong Poison" is a quick-paced read with ingenious plotting to the central mystery that is baffling to the readers. Although one can only handle so much of Lord Peter Wimsey at one time, the story clips along even with a wide array of characters and a plot that includes sleuthing, religious fanaticism, lessons in lock picking and spiritualistic shennanigans. All of these strange occurrences brew together to create a truly unique mystery. While Dorothy L. Sayers' writing can seem dated, since this novel was originally published in 1930 and the expressions that are used are not in modern usage, her stories have stood the test of time, and will continue to do so.

It's nice to see Sayers's unflappable and delightfully conceited Wimsey suffer from the disabling effects of self-doubt in this one. As opposed to his traditional dilettante approach to crime solving, there is something on the line here. Wimsey's in love and his new found love is in line for the gallows. Sayers aristocrat superman has fallen for murder suspect, Harriet Vane, and he is in a race against time to find the actual killer and while the solving of the case is far too dependent on Wimsey's use of intermediaries, there is a satisfying conclusion and a more human Lord Peter for the reader's enjoyment.

This was the first Peter Wimsey mystery that I didn't find totally satisfying. I had really high hopes; I couldn't wait to find out how Peter and Harriet met, and why Peter fell in love with her.

It starts off promisingly enough - the judge is summarizing the case against Harriet for the jury, who are about to start their deliberations. It's a pretty strong case; Harriet's former lover died of arsenic poisoning, and Harriet had been buying arsenic for research purposes.

Now, first of all, it was really easy to figure out who the real murderer was. Normally Sayers keeps me guessing much longer than she did here.

Second of all, Peter does almost nothing from beginning to end. Miss Climpson and her staff do all the actual detecting - Peter mostly flops around feeling a little useless because love for Harriet has impaired his judgement.

Third of all, Peter is already in love with Harriet as the book begins. Not only do we not see him actually falling in love, the first thing he ever says to her is to ask her to marry him. This is romantic and all, but what makes Peter and Harriet's relationship so magical to me, at least, is their repartee - they're so well matched in wit, sensibility, and principle. I thought something more mature than love at first sight would bring them together.

There's a little bit of a twist - but I guessed it around the same time as I guessed the murderer, which is to say pretty early on.

I still enjoyed Strong Poison, quite a bit, but Sayers has done better.

No one knows more about poisons than crime fiction writer Harriet Vane, which makes her the natural suspect when someone feeds ex-lover Philip Boyes arsenic. Enter Lord Peter Wimsey, who sees Harriet for the first time standing in the dock and is instantly convinced of her innocence. The rest of Dorothy L. Sayers' Strong Poison is spent in convincing the rest of us.

The sixth of the Wimsey novels and the first of four to feature Harriet, this tale is a classic in the crime fiction genre, both for the mystery itself (I will never forget hunting up a copy of A Shropshire Lad so I could figure out how Lord Peter figured it out) and for the beginning of the rich, complicated relationship between Peter and Harriet. The minor characters (Miss Climpson, the Duchess, Blindfold Bill Rumm) are only added seduction, as is the peek over their shoulders of the all but forgotten years between World Wars. In order, the Wimsey-Vane novels are Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, and Busman's Honeymoon.

Second volume of an instant classics.
Azzarello forcefully tells intervowen stories of hope, revenge, destiny and choices of life and death. These stories are richly illustrated by one of my favorite graphic artists, Risso. This duo give life to a "noir" graphic novel and I'm sure someone will twist these stories in to real "film noir". I'm hooked, completely.

Better than the first volume, as a little more becomes clear. We start to have an inkling of what Agent Graves is up to, who he is working for, where he comes from, what he wants to get done, and why and how he can come up with the immunity guns and untraceable ammunition, to start with.

The ultimate mindf**k. I strongly suggest you read this series. Start with Vol 1 and proceed in sequence. As a matter of fact, I won't waste any more of your time...order and read it now!

I was totally blown away by 100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call. Most people think of comic books as mostly about superheroes and villains. Sure there's the rare serious titles that deal with more than just costumed heroes and out of this world situations, but outside of Miller's Sin City, there's not been another comic book to truly take a shot at creating a noir title that does the word honor. Brian Azzarello and Eduardo Risso's 100 Bullets series brings the world of Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, Mickey Spillane and Raymond Chandler to the world of comic books, or should I say in this regard: the graphic novel.

With the first volume, Azzarello quickly introduces the reader to his world of revenge, femme fatales and smoke-filled backrooms. He clearly establishes that the world of 100 Bullets is closer to the real world than Miller's Sin City. Where Miller goes the minimalist and overly simplistic route (in both artwork and storytelling) with his Sin City series, Azzarello bases his story in a world that looks so similar to the real world, but with a slight undercurrent of hyperrealism. With this second volume, Azzarello continues the basic theme of carte blanche revenge offered by the old and grizzly Agent Graves to what seem like a random group of people. It is later in the volume that we slowly get a new insight to who Agent Graves is and the secrets behind him and his actions. This revelation actually goes through a three-issue arc that ends the second half of the volume. The one story that really stood out was a stand-alone featuring Lilly Roach in "Heartbreak Sunnyside Up." It stood out not for Lilly taking Graves' offer of the briefcase and the gun, but in Azzarello's heartbreaking and brutal telling of a mother's love for her daughter and losing it in a way both shocking and terrible.

100 Bullets, Split Second Chance marks the second volume in the ongoing series. It takes issues 6 through 14 and adds more mythology to the world Azzarello and Risso have built with the first volume. It's a thicker volume than First Shot, Last Call, but reads just as fast. I highly recommend that people who have read the first volume pick this one up. The previous one may have been Last Call, but this volume just served up a smooth, dangerous second round that would feel at home in anything Spillane, Cain, Chandler and Hammett call home.

Brian Azzarello, 100 Bullets: Split Second Chance (Vertigo, 2000)

Wow. I liked First Shot, Last Call, the first 100 Bullets book. This one, though, is on a whole other plane of existence. The episodic nature of the first book goes right out the window, with Azzarello showing us exactly how he's going to tie all this together, with a sample encounter in that vein towards the end that leads me to think I've got the frame for the third book figured out in my head (I put it on hold immediately upon finishing this one, so I'll know soon if I'm right). This is a book that demands being picked up and read in one bite-- we begin to see how the relationships between the characters will shake out, who the big players are, how the pawns are going to move, all that sort of thing.

As with the last book, the artwork is dark, claustrophobic, even when it's daylight outside. Azzarello's use of dialect, relentless in the first book, is a bit less ubiquitous here, which helps matters immensely. And the pace, which was just a tad on the slow side in the first book, has kicked itself into very high gear. I'm glad there are eight books out in the series so far; if things keep up this way, I'll have read them all by the end of the month and be clamoring for number nine. ****

"Justice" by Faye Kellerman, ©1995

"Justice" is an older story by Mrs. Kellerman. I have read stories by her that come after this, judging by the occupation and situations Peter Decker is in.
He is a detective investigating a homicide at a hotel after a prom dance. His main candidate for doing the deed is a nephew or adopted son of a Mafia kingpin from New York. The tragedy is that others get caught up and become so much trash on the way to a conviction. The bugaboo is that the fellow is not really the doer, and the doer is not necessarily the killer, because of drugs and what not. It becomes a sad dance of retribution nobody wins and the dead stay dead.

Justice (Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus Novels)
great read. Can't put it down.

The book's story has its ups and downs as many books. It has the family story and the thrilling story but you'll be interested in both because neither one is boring. The end is like waking-up from a nightmare but it won't desappoint you. You'll have a good time reading this book.

This book, in my opinion, is the best of all Kellerman's. It's gripping and compelling and you just can't put it down... Also, Chris Whitman is indescribable: you fall for him despite everything and this is what's so scary. You know deep down that he is reeeeaaaaly bad but you can't help hoping for him to some how turn out good...
To find out more about him and Terry you should read Stone Kiss.

Having read this book I still don't know what the main theme was. Is it a love story, a crime novel which follows a serial killer, a disturbing look on how teens spend their time on prom night, an inside look into a mafia family, or just a chilling detective story?

Nevermind, it's up to detective Peter Decker to unravel the complex murder of a girl that was strangled on prom night. There is a nice balance between action and suspense(multiple murders) and the private life of Peter Decker when he talks to his wife Rina Lazarus about his hard and difficult life as a LAPD detective. This gives us a little time to relax, before the suspense starts all over again.

Faye Kellerman is also great in describing Jewish rituals, which is interesting if you don't know anything about the Jewish religion. Another case for Peter Decker to solve, hopefully many will follow !

All I have to say is WOW!!! I hated The Punisher movie staring Tom Jane. It was a typical Hollywood POS! It almost killed my hopes of a good Punisher character/story. But this book is everything I had hoped for. For years I never got to see one of my favorite Marvel Charaters as he is supposed to be shown. Blood and guts yes but there is also a awesome story to match the beauty that is illustrated in The Punisher Vol 1. Readers will be treated to early battles and wont have to wait too long for Castle to do what he does best. I waited a while to make sure that this is what I wanted and I a so upset with myself that I waited to get this!! I will start collecting the other Vol VERY soon and I will watch for more from this series! If you are a square then you wont like this book but if you think outside the box and love to have a story toss you around and spit you back out then this is it! All you need is right here! BLOOD, GUNS, THE MOB, CASTLE! If you were thinkning about purchasing this book then stop thinkning and buy it already, you WILL NOT be dissapointed! LOOK FOR PUNISHER: WAR ZONE coming to theaters SOON!!!

Punisher Max reads a lot like the movie that came out at the time - straight up, violent, and pretty much like any gangster flick you can think of with a lot more violence and gore (read: splattered brains and body parts). If you're looking for extreme violence, splat 'em up kind of panels - Punisher Max does a good job and the Extreme tag on this book lives up to its label.

But oddly, there's nothing new here. The Punisher is a straight yet complex character - where Garth Ennis's bloke approach fails is in the empathy section. The beauty of the Punisher is how a marginalised man has become a vigilante that we may not admire, but we do empathize with. Frank Castle feels untamed (as he should) but perhaps almost too straightforward. Violence does the talking, as it should, but this didn't grab me. When violence undermines the characters - and the Punisher's code is compromised or unclear - the result is moral ambiguity but a less compelling Punisher. His twisted code and brand of justice is what keeps him compelling and there are some interesting characters in this one (who don't make it to the end unfortunately - I would've kept reading this series if they had).

I'd just come off reading Punisher: War Journal (Civil War) and Matt Fraction / Ariel Olivetti's rounded and slightly humorous approach to Frank Castle work a lot better for me. Lots more irony and comic book moments in that one. Mr Punisher is a lone ranger that needs a supporting cast. Making him too trigger happy and we forget he's supposed to be part of an interesting storyline, not just a force of nature.

The Punisher Max series written by Garth Ennis(Preacher) is the best run on the character. I recommend any of these collected volumes to anyone and especially those who were disappointed in the movie because the movie is G-rated compared to this.

I just got this book as I had finished the previous series that ended w/ Streets of Laredo and began with Welcome back Frank, I was not impressed.

Many criticize the last series as PG and not well written but IMO they were actually better written and had a much better plot. This was more about everyone else than the Punisher, he was reduced to almost a secondary character and the plot was pretty much directionless.

I plan on reading Vol. 2 of the MAX series but i do not have high hopes after this one

It's a fantastic book, which includes one of the best Punisher stoy arcs ever (In The Begining), but i thought that i'd let eveyone know that the post apocalyptic one shot The Punisher: The End is not in this book. But you can find it in the book From First To Last if you're trying to read it.

Punisher MAX: From First to Last

I'm a fairly picky reader, turned off by the lack of craft in much of commercial fiction, but I enjoy Saylor's Roman novels. The setting and Roman details are wonderful and the mysteries are enjoyable in a "cozy" sort of way. That is, the emphasis is on Gordianus resolving the mental puzzle rather than danger to the main characters.

My only real complaint is that Saylor falls victim to the "as you know, Bob" syndrome. That is, character explain things about Roman life and history to other characters that they would never need to know in order to get information to the reader. It would be the equivalent of a modern character saying, "As you know, Bob, July 4 is Independence Day in the United States. It celebrates the day when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and began the American Revolution. Before then, the Americans were subject to the English crown."

I wish Saylor would find a way to more skillfully relay this sort of detail.

I must admit that I feel like a "finder" for discovering this series. Gordianus the Finder is a remarkable character. He is clever, but vulnerable, jaded, but a loving father and husband, and he is vividly portrayed by Mr. Saylor. This is an outstanding series, but I truly recommend that it be read in order. This book is the fifth in the series. Saylor covers the peculiar slaying of Publius Clodius, and the fallout that occurred in Rome as result of his murder. In that respect, it is a little less of a mystery, but Gordianus has been asked by two very prominent citizens to find out what actually happened on the Appian Way the day Clodius was killed. Rome was at a very unsettled time at this point in history, and it was the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic. The book illustrates all the conflicting ambitions that were driving Rome at this time. We have the murdered man, Clodius, and the man accused of killing him - Milo wanting power. We also have Pompey and Caesar in the background who also want to control Rome's destiny. These are totally engrossing books, and they've kind of taken over my life right now, even though I continue to read others by other authors, my mind keeps wandering back to wonder what Gordianus is up to now. Highly addicting!

Steven Saylor's fascination with Ancient Rome began at an early age. A history graduate and former newspaper and magazine editor, he lives in Berkeley, California. His series of books about Ancient Rome and featuring Gordianus the Finder are extremely popular both here in England and also in America. Anyone who is a fan of Lindsey Davis will love these books too. Steven Saylor brings Ancient Rome to life, so much so that the reader can lose himself in the sights and sounds of the ancient city.

Gordianus the Finder, the investigator of crimes, a man whose skill and integrity have made him much sought after by some of the most important men in Rome. Men who may need a secret to be kept, men who need to know that when Gordianus is working for them he will be discreet and not susceptible to bribery.

In this novel Gordianus the Finder is assigned to a case by the great man himself, Pompey. He is now one of the most important, if not the most important man in Rome, although perhaps one Julius Caesar, may in later times argue with that. Pompey is determined to find out about the disappearance of the high born politician Publius Clodius. His disappearance has caused a great upheaval in the city of Rome, with riots on the streets and bouts of arson taking place. He needs Gordianus to find out what happened to Clodius and quickly before the mob destroy the city.

Murder on the Appian Way is a study in crowd psychology. The Novel begins with a riot in Rome, apparently caused by the assassination of one of the citizens favorites, Publius Clodius. The climate is tense as Rome is divided into two crowds; One mob supports the radical views of Clodius who pushed for more rights and privileges for the average citizen - especially the poor. The other gang supports a colleague of Cicero, Titus Annius Milo, who fights for the traditional ways which appeal to the upper classes. Both groups are populated with packs of tough young men who functioned to fight and plunder members of the opposing group. The riots eventually lead to Roman officials taking strong actions to enforce peace.

Gordianus is hired by Pompey, who insists on being called the "great one". Pompey takes control of Rome and decides to investigate the death of Clodius so peace may be restored. Additionally, Gordianus is hired by Clodius's window, Fulvia and Clodius's sister Clodia.

The relatives of Clodius charge Milo with the crime and a trial is planned with Cicero scheduled to defend Milo. The preparations for the trial lead to much strife and conflict.
Gordianus insists on finding the truth. His search for the facts, leads through many twists and turns, and finally leads to unexpected results.

For me, the clear detailed descriptions and three dimensional characters transform this book from a good detective story to a polished novel. I felt the trepidation of confronting a blood thirsty riot. I experienced outrage when marauding crowds threatened homes and families. I sympathized with the loss of close friends. Murder on the Appian Way is well worth reading.

I generally read history, not fiction. In fact, until the past year, about 95% of my reading was history. I started reading Colleen McCullough's series of books on Rome, tired of it, and then tried Saylor. I think I've found my author. This book is splendid. Interesting, engaging, never insulting to my intelligence, but never overly dry or expository. The style is elegant and refined, as opposed to the clunky, cliche-ridden style of McCullough. The characters breathe. (For instance, characters can be erotic and alluring, but they're never lurid.) The storytelling is engrossing. I won't comment on the book's value as a murder mystery per se, because I'm not really a fan of the genre. Does it have a sufficient twist? I don't know; I don't care. I enjoyed the book, regardless of its genre.

All in all, a novel written for serious, mature readers, but readers who seek a fun, relaxing book. And after you finish the first, you can look forward to the others, because the central character, Gordianus, is warm, witty, vulnerable, imperfect, and thoroughly human. Someone I can identify with.

By the time I'd finished this book, I had ordered all of the other books in the series.