Mystery Crime Books

The characters are colorful, very human and so fresh! I really had a great time reading it, diving into the mysterious story and the great ideas of the author. Fred Vargas's style is definitely unique and I love it. I'm going through her other books, this particular one "the three evangelists" is very good.
Recommending it!

Tired of reading mystery books with the hackneyed Inspector/Sergeant couples mooching around? Here's the cure: fresh characters, humour, plot - all wonderful! From the opening pages where, in Paris, a protagonist finds a handy pebble to kick along ahead of him on his route, these are people you like immensely.

If you enjoy "Monk" on USA, "Bones" on Fox, or "Cold case" on CBS, this is the book for you: quirky but lovable characters, a weird crime that digs deep, games and winks and humor even in darkness, a realistic plot, and a very unique universe you can't bear to leave. Little bonus: it's not ghoulish or gross, it contains no sex, and it's overall quite "clean" (unlike many mysteries these days.)
Plus how often do you find unemployed history majors/grad students as sleuths?

I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this mystery - such a wonderfully entertaining group of sleuths. I really like the way the author mixes a bit of history into her plots and I think this is her best book yet.

From the opening few pages, this mystery hooks you quickly. The characters are some of the most fascinating I've ever read - in many ways, I wish the author would write more stories involving them. So original.

The mystery itself is very well set up, the story flows at a good pace, and at the end, you will be amazed that you saw all the same pieces but still didn't "get it right."

Certainly this is Vargas' best work to date. Can't wait for her next book to be translated.

I loved Abby, the heroine. She was trying to get over past mistakes and have a "normal" life. She was a loyal friend who was the only one who believed her friend didn't commit suicide but was murdered. She wouldn't let that stand and pursued trying to find the killer. She was a beautiful woman who didn't see herself that way. She loved her job working for a museum as the fundraiser despite the fact that her boss was the boss from hell. Her friends keep setting her up with awful blind dates and on one of those dates she finds herself locked out of her apartment. This is when the hero shows up. He runs a locksmith business on the side.

The hero starts out as a guy we'd like to know but Abby, despite her attraction, has decided Zan has all the bad boy characteristics of prior bad boyfriends each of whom ruined her life. Two days later she's on a blind date, the date being a total jerk. He's locked himself out of his car and Abby calls Zan. He takes her home and before you know it its bedroom time.

Zan turns out to be a guy who doesn't care about Abby's concerns or what Abby wants. He doesn't care about how important her job is to her and ends up getting her fired due to his jealous, uncontrolled behavior. He follows her around spying and jumps in everytime he sees her doing something he doesn't want her to do. On one of his spying trips he gets infuriated when he spots her talking to another guy. His character being what it is he jumps to the wrong conclusion and there is the first of many nasty scenes between the two of them were his jealousy or his I want what I want mentality lets us see how unlikeable he is. Each time he storms away leaving Abby crushed by his abusive treatment. After each of these incidents, when he's calmed down, he tells her he's sorry and admits he behaved badly but before you know it, the scene repeats. Every time she admonishes him and says she doesn't want this type of turmoil and cruel behavior in her life she's having to take those words back when they fall back into bed.

Each time the scene is written from Zan's point of view, it typically shows him going over ways to manipulate her to get what he wants and totally misinterpreting a situation whenever he spys her with another man, whether work related or not. He knows he's wrong following her, but he does it anyway. When he attacks a prominent donor to the museum at a fund raising ball, just because Abby was having to do her job and entertain the guy, he gets her fired. He later tells her she can get a job somewhere else. She didn't want somewhere else, she loved the job she was in.

I don't get what Abby saw in Zan or why she kept taking him back. The only positive thing about him was the fabulous sex. There's nothing that tells us why Zan fell so uncontrollably in love when he barely knew her. His love was toxic and abusive. He is the type of person women take out restraining orders against. I was pretty angry with his character by the time I finished this book.

Don't get me wrong I really liked this book, but I've loved all the other McKenna books.

I work in a call center and we have a lot of down time and this book has traveled its way through the entire team, not one bad comment has been givin about this book and all I can say is that it is an excellent read... I think that I might have to shop for a brothel type fit for my man...

My friend tried to get me to read this for months but I was leary because I wasn't familiar with the author. I'm a die-hard fan now! The characters are people I could admire and the sex was HOT-HOT-HOT!!

ugh.......what a let down and waste of time. Slight spoiler; on a night when a woman should have been terrified after an attack, this Abby person is giggling right afterwards with no aftershocks. The sex parts are hot but the story is lame. Needless to say, I didn't finish this one.

I have read all of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and this novel was the least enjoyable. It almost seems as if Fleming was having sometime of life crisis or personal issue while writing this book.

The book is written in 3 parts, like 3 separate short stories. The main character is not James Bond, but a 20-something woman named Vivienne Michel. The first part of the book is about her past, the second part is about her present situation, and the third part is about her rescue.

You read through half the book before James Bond makes an appearance. What is unusual is that the book is mostly written from Vivienne Michel's point of view.

Usually I can read one of Fleming's Bond books in 3 to 4 nights because they hold my interest. This book was a struggle to get through. All the novels written before and after this book were far more superior. Not sure what happened to Fleming when he was writing this novel, but I am glad some resolution came before his next book.

If you want to get to the action, read the last chapter of the second part and the entire 3 part. If you are having trouble sleeping, start at the beginning (good luck and sweet dreams).

It takes all of one word to see that Ian Fleming's tenth James Bond novel, The Spy Who Loved Me, is exceptionally out-of-the-ordinary. The first word of the book is "I". Immediately, it is obvious that unlike any other Bond book, this one will be narrated in the first person. Even more extraordinary is that the narrator is not Bond but a young woman named Vivienne Michel.

Vivienne is working at an off-the-beaten-track motel in the backwoods of upper New York. How she got there is the substance of the book's first part. Essentially, she is running after having a pair of bad love affairs, first with a college age boy who is willing to tell her anything just to sleep with her, then with an almost stereotypical German who summarily dismisses her after she disrupts the order of his life.

All this took place in England. Coming back to North America (she is Canadian) to escape her past, she winds up with a temp job at the Dreamy Pines Motor Court. After the motel has closed for the season, she winds up alone at the place while awaiting the arrival of the owner. Instead, on a dark and stormy night, two hoodlums arrive, intent on rape, murder and theft. Fortunately, by chance, another person arrives: James Bond.

Of course, as any Bond fan knows, this will end only one way, with bad guys vanquished and Vivienne falling for Bond. The title alone says it all, and points out one of the basic themes that run through many Bond books: no matter how damaged a woman is, a love affair with a real man (Bond) will cure all. This rather blatantly sexist message is definitely a product of Fleming's era and his target audience of men and comes off as more quaint than truly offensive.

If you enjoyed the movie, you will find the book unrecognizable; of all the Fleming books, this one shares only its title with its cinematic counterpart. While reasonably well-written, it is also a lesser Bond book. It has its appeal, but not as a Bond novel. The first part of the novel is pure soap opera and Bond himself doesn't appear until after the halfway point in the book. Nonetheless, if you're willing to read an offbeat Fleming novel, you should enjoy this book.

The Spy Who Loved Me is very different from the other books, as the story is told from the point of view of a woman, who eventually runs afoul of a couple of gangsters.

A long way into the book Bond turns up and has a confrontation with the crims and gets the girl. With SPECTRE finished, they are still looking for Blofeld.

When I found out that the content of this novel was entirely different from the content of the Moore flick, I decided to read the novel, and boy, am I glad I did. This is a moving, exciting, totally absorbing book, with terrific characterization and surprising tenderness. I couldn't have asked for a better "light" read, and I recommend it to just about anybody.

Having recently read Andrew Lycett's excellent biography of 007 creator Ian Fleming, I found rereading "The Spy Who Loved Me," his tenth James Bond novel, a very unconventional story.

James Bond doesn't appear until page 100. The novel is told from the perspective of Vivienne Michel, a Canadian woman traveling across the USA after two devastating relationships. "Viv" is an strong, sympathetic character--considering that her creator was generally the type of cad who broke her heart! She remembers her deflowering (Fleming had lost his virginity the same way) and her career before fleeing to America (like Fleming, she worked for a newspaper).

But she's a tough, resilient woman, just the type of female who would appeal to a secret agent like 007. Drawn into an insurance scam at a remote New England motel and menaced by two repellent thugs, Viv is threatened with rape and murder until a mysterious Englishman gets a flat tire on a nearby road.

"The Spy Who Loved Me" was an interesting experiment in Fleming's writing that didn't pay off for him. He discouraged any reprints and considered destroying all unsold copies. Who knows what other directions and what risks Fleming might have made if "Spy" had succeeded. In fact, when the producers of the Bond films were looking for their next entry in the series, the Fleming estate allowed them to use only the title of this one.

Reading the novel now in 2007, it appealed to me because Viv's painful past relationships and her determination not to be bitter reflect many women I know now--or wish I knew.

It was also fascinating that the unfeeling men in her past resembled the author more than the main characters. Viv was the strong, beautiful woman he wished he had. And James Bond, as usual, was the dashing super stud he wished he was. Just like the rest of us.

This one is good, but not the typical Tony Hillerman book. Rather than being based in the Four Corners area, this one mostly takes place in Washington, D.C.

It is interesting to see D.C. through Navajo eyes, but we do spend a lot of time in the mind of the bad guy as well, which is to the detriment of the story in my mind.

Chee's personal life features prominently, as does Leaphorn's painful loneliness.

I would have rated the book as four stars, but I am reviewing the audiobook. My audiobook was read by John MacDonald and I cannot think of a worse pairing than MacDonald's voice and Hillerman's writing. It's not that MacDonald isn't clear - he's easy to understand. But, his voice sounds like Eastern establishment, not Western. This audiobook lasted about 6 hours and 35 minutes.

I love Hillerman's books. Not only are they entertaining, but they are filled with factual information about the Southwest. I am never bored, and usually finish one of his books in three days.
Suzie Chiles

A Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn mystery and one which shows the character and process of both men in the crime solving. Joe Leaphorn is investigating the death of a man found beside a railroad on the reservation, written in a notebook is a name, Agnes Tssose and a ceremonial. In a separate act Jim Chee is sent to Agnes Tsosse's Night Way ceremonial to find the man, Henry Highhawk who is visiting her, he has no idea why he has to arrest him, but observes him briefly before arresting him.

There are a number of threads running through her, but in seperate acts both Leaphorn and Chee end up in Washington DC following leads - Leaphorn to find out who the dead man is, and Chee following what is happening to Henry Highhawk and the Smithsonian.

Henry Highhawk is a born again Navajo - his grandmother is Agnes Tsosse but he has only just found that out - he has been learning all about the spirituality and culture of the Navajo and has been setting up a diorama at the Smithsonian to represent the masks of the gods, but it seems he has another presentation in mind. A much more visible act to get the world's attention and to protest against the continued storage of native American skeletons and remains at the museum.

However there are other forces at work, there is something going on at an embassy in Washington which Leaphorn suspects is related but he does not understand how - finally Jim Chee and Leaphorn meet up in Washington to compare notes and it all becomes clear.

The difference in the two men, in their styles of crime solving and the process is fascinating. Jim Chee is slightly more gauche, disturbing a tramp with unexpected results, and yet having much more of a spiritual belief. Joe Leaphorn is older, and while not necessarily more astute, he is much more poised.

I love these mysteries, I noticed someone said don't read this one first. I don't know about that, I have read these all out of order but I haven't read all of them either. This is a great book, a good demonstration of their abilities and a good read which keeps you guessing until the end.

I have been reading the Navajo mysteries for the first time, in chronological order. I was sad when each ended, and could barely wait to get the next one from the library...until this one. The plot is convoluted and far fetched with a LOT of holes, and I found the setting ugly and depressing, especially the character of the hit man. (This is the second hit man Hillerman's given us who owes it all to his unhealthy attachment to a disfunctional mama. Hmmmm...) I skimmed the last 4 chapters because I was tired of both the book and the setting...I just wanted it to see how it ended and be done with it because I was not enjoying the experience as I usually do.

So as other reviewers have advised: don't start here!

Chee and Leaphorn travel to Washington DC in an attempt to uncover mysteries that nag upon their souls. I won't talk very much about the plot. I am sure that if you read other reviews here you will pretty much satisfy your needs in that regards to your content. What I will say is that this novel is pretty much the same as every other Chee/Leaphorn duo in the Hillerman archive. Both of them stumble across something that isn't right, and as they work towards solving their problems, their work gets intertwined. After reading this scenario a dozen times, it becomes a bit tedious. Especially when Hillerman stretches plausibility. This work contains characters and plots that read like a fantastical comic book. The main evildoer is so typical that it is hard to take him seriously.
The only good thing about this book is the personal interactions with Chee, Leaphorn, and Janet Pete (Chee's current love interest). I would have enjoyed this book a lot more if it played up primarily personal dealings with these three characters and others along the way while playing down the tired mystery that sadly overwhelms these pages.

The Cure opens with schools using thought detectors to get rid of people.

After having his evidence destroyed, Spider must gather more, to take another shot at the President. With all filthy assistants armed with bowel disruptors, he sets out ot do this in his manic, though ill and wobbling fashion.

The Smiler declares fake emergencies to extend his powers to do as he sees fit, ignoring laws to do what suits him politically.

This series, for those of you who don't know, is very radical, creative, amusing, astonishing, bewildering and just plain exiting. Spider Jerusalem, the main character, is based on Hunter S. Thompson (who, if you don't already know of, you should do some reading about, or just think back to Johnny Depp's performance in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas").

Spider is a journalist (just like the real, and late, Hunter S. Thompson) who has a real problem with the way his city is being run. The series starts with a very hairy Spider who had just been living in the mountains for five years just to escape the city and "The Beast" who runs it.

The city is very futuristic, but is very much like the world we live in (if advertising strategies, body modifications and the availability of pornography and weaponary were multiplied by 10).

This is my favorite graphic novel of any I've ever read, and recomend it to every person on the planet (well, anyone who has a brain). I'd give this book 12 stars if I could, but my options are limited by Amazon here.

If you like graphic novels, Hunter S. Thomson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, rebellion, jounalism, body modification, futuristic technology concepts, sex, drugs, violence, humor, or just one of thee above, start yourself off by getting Volume 1: "Back on the Street" which is the first 3 comics in one paperback. I promise you won't regret it.

After taking us n the ride of our life, Warren Ellis is finishing of with a tone non can ignore.
IN the last attempt to find the truth and expose "the smiler" Spider Jerusalem is doing what he does best, recovering the truth no matter what may be the consequences.
The comic reads like a hurricane, jumping from scene to scene and bringing the chaos that rose with the election of "the smiler".

Spider Jerusalem is fighting against time, against his decaying brain and against forces that hold almost all of the cards.
Holding to the truth, his fists, his bowl disrupter and the chair leg of truth Spider is giving the fight of his life.

A marvellous ending to a brilliant work of literature and art

Ziv

I bought this for my mom, who lives in Yuma, Arizona and hasn't a lot to do in 110 degree heat in the summer. She loved it, said it was a great, fun read, and that's enough for me.

I thought this might be cheesy. It was fantastic! After having loved Ian Fleming, this was a great substitute. I look foward to reading the rest of the series.

Listening to this tape, I was surprised by how much of it really had a timeless quality. The book was set back a ways (there's a way to find out exactly when, having to do with a character's age and the print date of a book, but I've forgotten...) and there were clues to the fact that it was not a contemporary novel - the political setting and the level of technology - but the characters really could have been plucked out of any time period. And this made it very enjoyable to listen to because I could picture Mrs. Pollifax and it really was easy to like her and root for her. Though I figured out where the microfilm went about, oh, two tapes into the six, there was enough story around the central mystery to keep me interested. I would definitely recommend it as a wonderful book to listen to (or read, I'm sure). I believe I will try a few of the other Mrs. Pollifax books...

Bored and in excellent health for a woman who is retired with nothing more to look forward to than her gardening meetings, Mrs. Pollifax decides that there are only two choices in her life. Take one giant step off the roof of her building in New Brunswick, New Jersey or pursue a dream that she has had since childhood. With the decision made she boards a bus for Langley, Virginia and decides to be a spy for the CIA. Taking place during the cold war, Emily Pollifax is sent to Mexico to retrieve important documents, that doesn't seem difficult until she is forced to outsmart Red Chinese military men with nothing more than a pocketknife and a Christmas tree. This woman could definitely give MacGyver and Forrest Gump a run for their money.

This is the second Mrs. Pollifax book I have now finished and I adore them. The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax is a delight in her adventures and this one is full of thrilling adventures. I am now hooked and will be reading every Mrs. Pollifax book there is. They are thoroughly enjoyable...

Product was received in very good condition. This is a good read for those of us who like well written stories. I enjoyed every page of it.

I always enjoy Tony Hillerman. He has great, interesting characters with vivid descriptions of the landscape and a fascinating story. The characters and description were there; however, this was not my favorite storyline. Overall enjoyable.

This is one of Tony Hillerman's better books. I heartily recommend it.

I really enjoy all of Hillerman's mysteries. I could tell this was an earlier one not just by the wear and tear of the book, but because his writing has changed and matured for the better in substantial ways. It's interesting how most women mystery writers tend to get worse with time, become more formulaic and can't break the mold. In Hillerman's books, I think the increasing emphasis on the culture and history of the 'four corners' area of the U.S. and the native Americans who live in that area, is as much a pull to his books as the mysteries are.

This book included a big part of the plot dealing with what are called Navajo 'wolves', which I guess does not exactly converge with European idea of witches, but rather a choice on the part of a person to choose to live out of harmony with their religious and familial beliefs. I actually wonder if we shouldn't come up with a word for that, because the idea of witches is archaic and from the Middle Ages, but many people make choices against societal mores everyday (and getting worse) and we need a new word for that.

Chee gets involved because of his own desire to become a practitioner of his tribe's religion as a shaman (though that word is wrong here also). Chee meets one of the women who have impacted his life and becomes torn about between the 'white man's world' and that of his own people. Apparently, several Indians are dying or have died from a long term illness, cancer, which under normal condition cannot be given to a person like a influeza virus. At the same time, are several unexplained shootings, all having to do with a religion that became active during my teen years having to do with eating peyote buttons (cactus) with hallucinative abilities. I knew about this in CA because in the Bay area all the hippies were trying all kinds of drugs like LSD, and marijuana, and peyote was another one we would hear about, but of course this was outside the religious use.

This book and it's plot was very interesting. Hillerman just wound up the ending really fast without explaining some things concerning the gunman hired to hurry up the deaths of the Indians, and a man who had too many fingers in too many pies...a white man who was fighting with other white men and other Indians concerning this religion and a 30-year old unsolved bombing of a oil drill. We would hear all about those too when we would go to see our grandparents in Mesa, Arizona and the unfair treatment of the Native Americans over their lands and the mineral rights of those lands.

Hillerman's later novels are more satisfying, but as with most talents, some people do get better with time and age...

Karen Sadler

In "People of Darkness", Navajo tribal police Sargent Jim Chee stumbles onto a mystery and unravels multiple crimes after being asked to find a keepsake box belonging to a wealthy man outside of Chee's jurisdiction. The wealthy man's second wife specifically requested Chee as investigator because Jim Chee is considered an authority on his Indian tribe's religion, studying to be a "yataalii" (a medicine man or "singer") and the suspects are thought to be The People of Darkness.

It is in this book that blue-eyed blonde, Mary Landon first makes her acquaintance with Chee. I found her to be an unlikable character with an aggressive, pushy, prodding, provocative, smart-mouth personality and arrogant attitude and was glad to know, from reading subsequent books of this particular series, Chee and she never married.

Alas, it is also in this book that Chee is on another mission - to learn more about white people and their culture. His yataalii uncle, who was to train him in the art along the path of balance and beauty, instructed Chee that he must first truly understand the value system of the white people, knowing everything it contains, before fully being able to embrace his decision of following the traditional Navajo walk.

Tony Hillerman packed this book full of relevant Navajo culture and lore, as always. Near the end of the story, Chee explains, "We don't have much violence, we Navajos. What there is is mostly associated with witchcraft. Changing Woman taught us how to cope with the Navajo Wolves. We turn the evil around so it works against the witch." The story ends with Chee's spirit in need of repair: "But he knew the cause and the cure. Changing Woman had taught them about it when she formed the first clans of the Dinee from her own skin. The strange ways of strange people hurt the spirit, turned the Navajo away from beauty. Returning to beauty required a cure." Hence the planning for a traditional Enemy Way ceremony to be held.

As with all of the Tony Hillerman books, I would give more than five stars if I could.

Grisham's novels are highbrow trash and this one, the Brethren, finally shows him for what he is: not worth the price of the book at all. He has made millions with his stories but this one is not at all captivating or fetching. He should go back to sitting in the southern sun.

If John Grisham had stopped this book after the opening scene, in essence writing just a short story, he would have done his best work. It's breathtaking.

Unfortunately for Grisham, he decided to make a novel to follow that brilliance. The novel falls far short of the promise of that beginning.

I won't tell you about the beginning because that would spoil your pleasure, but do consider stopping there.

These are the plot premises in the book:

1. Two judges and a justice of the peace are incarcerated in a minimum security Federal prison. What would life be like for these former "law upholders?"

2. Felons need money when they get out. How can they earn some while in prison?

3. Felons and wardens need non-violent ways to resolve disputes in prison. How might this be done?

4. How can a presidential election be manipulated to determine the country's foreign policy?

5. How could a bunch of crooks threaten a presidential candidacy?

A lot of the answers depend on the presumption that the world is full of stupid older men with lots of money who want to have hot, young boy friends.

This book will appeal most to those who enjoy conspiracy theories about government action and inaction.

As a crime story, I've read a lot better.

But do enjoy that opening scene.

I liked a lot of this book but was disappointed in the ending. It had a unique plot that was really interesting and fun that held my interest throughout, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth at the end.

Karen Arlettaz Zemek, Author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

i was highly dissapointed by this book. All of the characters are paper-thin stereotpyes and none of them are likeable. The plot goes way beyond far-fetched. The biggest flaw is that the story just keeps making one unnecessary concession after another to the three ex-judges, for no credible reason whatsoever, except maybe to satisfy the readers' inclination to back the underdogs.

This book is absolutely marvelous. Very very funny, very very entertaining. As is usual for a Grisham book, no one is exactly the "good guy" in The Brethren, everyone is kind of their own bad guy, and you feel like cheering for all of them. I loved this- it's probably my favorite, right next to The Runaway Jury and The Painted House.

I am actually getting sad that I'm nearing the end of this incredible series about the US Marine Corps. Griffin's characters continue to captivate, and he always introduces new ones that you hope to see more of in the future. In this case a Chief Petty Officer called McGuire is one that I certainly want to hear more of. This book takes McCoy and Zimmerman into the Gobi Desert on a very dangerous mission that has a two-fold goal - one to establish a permanent weather station in the Gobi, and the other to rescue a band of US people who have been trying to get out of Japanese held spots in China. We get to see all the planning and preparation work carried out by Flem Pickering's men as they plan this incredibly dangerous mission again behind enemy lines. Griffin's descriptions of the unforgiving Gobi Desert are also unforgettable. What a barren land this must be. Anyway, the book kept me going right from the beginning. I love Griffin's writing style.

This series is the best one I think I have ever read. With characters that have been developed in earlier books coming back in the series with a little back story for those who have not read the previous books. All books in the series can stand on their own, but read in order, they tell an incredible tale. I am always checking to see when the next book will be available and preorder it the day I see it. I devour them, they are so well written and interesting, worthwhile reading.

The Corps series is one of the best series I have read. I can't wait for him to come out with the next book.

This one of my favorite "Corps" books by WEBG. I have read several of the reviews of this book. I find them too nit-picky.
Lighten up! This is fiction!!

Semper Fi,

Hugh W. Davis

I think W.E.B Griffin(his real name is William E. Butterworth)is the best current day writer. I highly recommend this and all of his other books. This book is number 8 of 10 in the Corps series