Mystery Crime Books

Good writing and realism helped carry this novel a while for this reader. But I felt the lack of respect and compassion I had for all the characters tended to drag this novel down, and it became a bit of a chore to finish. No one it turns out had any morals or any brains. I wish I could've felt compassion for Mildred Pierce, but she stupidly enabled her bad seed daughter Veda every other page.

Required reading for all natives and denizens of Los Angeles. A dark romp thru our fair city. Accompany Mildred as she traverses LA's golden past- shop with her at Bullocks Wilshire, sweat bullets in the passenger seat as she navigates the Glendale freeway during the flood of 1938, pine for Pasadena, pray that her girls get into Marlborough, imagine singing at the Hollywood Bowl, and marvel as our heroine with the great gams builds an empire out of chicken and waffles - of all things! Mildred is no ordinary pie maker, she's Los Angeles incarnate. Joan Crawford may have won an Oscar for her portrayal in 1945, but Cain's 1941 novel more evenly balances Mildred's capacity for good against a city steeped in bad seeds. And while the film presents Mildred's daughter, Veda, as simply spoiled and shrill, Cain's study presents her as the fully fleshed out viper to which all true divas secretly aspire. Read it and weep. ~ Lili N. Barsha 5/2008

Mildred Pierce proves the old adage that love is blind. Mildred proves that with the men in her life, but even more so with her daughter. Mildred is like many people who can't see the faults in her child, and even when she does she squeezes her eyes even tighter shut. I found this book to be much more captivating than Cain's more popular The Postman Always Rings Twice. This book is timeless, and the characters as believable today as the day they were driven.

I was inspired to read Mildred Pierce after hearing Wesltey Strick, screenwriter and novelists, discuss his new novel on Elvis Mitchell's NPR radio show "The Treatment." Strick said to get in the mood for his own writing, he reread Mildred Pierce and I was intrigued. I had read some other Cain novels and knew he was a master of terse crime fiction but I wasn't prepared for the psychological insight and complexity evident here. His descriptions of American gaucherie and philistinism are unparalleled. His complexity between the mother and daughter is unforced.

The plot, about a Billy Goat husband who leaves his pretty wife for a trashy woman in Southern California circa the Depression, begins simply enough, but spins into penetrating psychological pathology.

His ability to capture America's sense of the American Dream and bad taste reminds me of Paula Fox's novella Desperate Characters and a masterful essay by William E. Blundell's "My Florida," published in the 2005 edition of The Best American Travel Writing.

A man tends to his lawn, showers, gets dressed, tells his wife that he's going for a walk. She knows better --- he's going to see his mistress "and then unbutton that red dress she's always wearing without any brassieres under it." But it's not the mistress that annoys her most. It's the way, in 1931, he's without work and not exactly looking for any.

So far, so ordinary.

Then the author steps in: "They spoke quickly, as though they were saying things that scalded their mouths, and had to cooled with spit. "

That's James M. Cain, folks, the master of the quick, dark truth.

When Cain wrote "Mildred Pierce," his fame and fortune were assured. In the 1930s, he had published "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and "Double Indemnity." These two short, brutal novels had scandalized the bluenoses and become bestsellers. He'd found a formula that, in a repressed culture, never fails --- serving up hot, illicit sex and then punishing the lovers.

In "Mildred Pierce," he adapted the formula and, in the process, wrote what I believe is his best novel. Here the shapely, sexy woman is a wife and mother who wants to stay married. She throws her husband out as a statement of self-respect. It's a costly gesture. As a friend says, "You've joined the biggest army on earth. You're the great American institution that never gets mentioned on Fourth of July --- a grass widow with two small children to support. The dirty bastards."

Mildred's assets are few. She can bake. And she's got a bod for sin. "Her brassiere ballooned a little, with an extremely seductive burden." Although she's got great gams, she feels she's slightly bow-legged, so she takes short steps when she walks. To great effect --- "her bottom twitched in a wholly provocative way."

It's not long before two realities collide. She has no trouble finding a lover (and discovering that she enjoys sex) --- but it's impossible to get a job. For one thing, she is without qualifications. For another, she fears that her eldest daughter, the beautiful and haughty Veda, will scorn her if she wears a waitress's uniform or becomes a clerk in a store.

But a waitress she becomes. And money flows in. Veda is, as expected, horrified. She says Mildred has "degraded" the family. Mildred's response: She spanks Veda silly. To no point. Veda crawls to a couch, laughs and whispers: "A waitress."

It is then that Mildred realizes that she fears her daughter's judgment, "her snobbery, her contempt, her unbreakable spirit." She resolves to open a restaurant, to be a waitress no more. And she thanks her daughter for prodding her to aim higher: "We'll have something. And it'll all be on account of you. Every good thing that happens is on account of you, if Mother only had the good sense to know it."

On the eve of the opening of Mildred's restaurant, she spends the weekend with a society swell and becomes his lover. Back home, her younger daughter has spiked a fever and is in the hospital. The death scene is terrible. Even worse is Mildred's reaction: Thank God it wasn't Veda.

Death and birth collide: As she buries her child, Mildred opens her restaurant. It's a great success. But we have half a book to go, and this half is a slow-mo train wreck --- the story of Veda's evil ways, her schemes to escape her mother and Mildred's shameless effort to win her love.

You think your kids have foul, disrespectful mouths? Listen to Veda: "With this money I can get away from you. From you and your chickens and your pies and your kitchens and everything that smells of grease. I can get away from this shack with its cheap furniture. And this town and its dollar days, and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls."

Through it all, Mildred is Mother Courage. Her will and her work ethic dazzle. But can Veda be redeemed?

In the movie --- directed by Michael ("Casablanca") Curtiz and starring Joan Crawford, her shoulders so padded she could be a linebacker --- the story is changed for greater dramatic effect. In the book, there's no need; this time, the female is punished and punished and punished, though she's done nothing to deserve it.

"Mildred Pierce" is twice as long as "Postman" and "Double Indemnity" --- and, say I, twice as satisfying. Face it, you're not likely to take a married lover and then kill his/her spouse. But most parents have, at one time or another, a child whose ingratitude is sharper than a serpent's tooth. Well, here's the worst case --- read it and weep for Mildred, then count your blessings.

I'm reading every book in the series & liked most of them, but this one is too strange. The storyline at the convent is extremely weird & unbelievable & so are the nun characters.

Also, there was one part in the book that made me almost want to stop reading the book & the rest of the series. It was disgusting. I won't mention the whole scene, but it had to do with a bathing suit hanging up on the cross.

After I read that, I thought there's something wrong with the author. Creepy! I wonder what she's like in real life??? That part really threw me, but I decided to continue on with the book & the rest of the series.

Fortunately, there's hasn't been something like that so far in the rest of her books.

very good almost as good as carvic and braun

Herb-shop owner China Bayles is worn out after the Christmas season, and living with her boyfriend McQuaid and his son Brian has caused its own stress in her life. Because of this China eagerly agrees to accompany her ex-nun friend Maggie on a retreat to the monastary where Maggie used to be. She anticipates two weeks of quiet, solitude, and the opportunity to meditate on the course she wants her life to take. When she arrives, she finds things to be very different than she had pictured. The monastary had been heavily endowed by the wealthy woman who donated the land and she intended for it to be used to house the nuns and to grow a special kind of garlic. Recently the old convent had been merged with another group of nuns and the new group wants to build a large meeting center with all the amenities. The sisters are deadlocked over this issue and it is causing strife between the two factions. Soon, disturbing letters are being sent to the nuns and some fires wreak havoc in the convent. Also some items begin to disappear and two elderly nuns die mysteriously. If this isn't enough, China encounters an old boyfriend from the days when she was an attorney in Houston. She is sorely tempted to resume her relationship with him, despite her attachment to McQuaid. All of these things cause a tangled web of intrigue which China unravels, after a few false starts. In a long-running series like this, it's always refreshing to have the books move to another setting from time to time. This is another good read from Susan Wittig Albert.

In Rueful Death, China finds herself involuntarily and unwittingly tricked into using her amateau detective skills. China has decided to take a two-week retreat at St. T's convent in order to wind down from the busy holidays. While there, she is asked to look into a series of fires. This book is different from Albert's others in such that you don't really want to choose a suspect, because who wants to think that a nun, or anybody working at a convent, is behind all the trouble? China also happens to run into a hunky ex-beau that she knew from her lawyer days. China doesn't get much rest on this retreat, but she does catch the firebug. Pretty much par for course in this series.

China has survived the Christmas rush at her herb shop but is sadly in need of some private time. So off she goes to a nunnery! Together with her friend Maggie, she heads off to a remote nunnery where the sisters grow amazing garlic. Instead of the peace and quiet she longs for, China finds herself embroiled in a contentious power struggle between two groups of nuns working to combine two disparate orders into one. As the sister's jockey for position, fires break out and several mysterious deaths occur. If that wasn't enough, China runs into an old beau and the heat is still there. As she works to solve the nunnery mystery she is making major life choices for herself. Once again, I enjoyed the ride and learned more about herbs and gardening.

This is one of the better books in an already excellent series. Most of the good points of the series is played up in this title, while many of the bad parts are missing, making for an overall good read.

The thing that makes Plum books good, beyond Stephanie herself, are the side characters. Seven Up has introductions of some of the more interesting and enjoyable characters, including Moony and Doug "the Dealer", both of whom you instantly like. Even the one shot characters like Benny and Ziggy are enjoyable.

The one character I have a problem with is Joyce. She is one note, and that note has been played. I wish Evanovich would move away from that character. Of course, the big thing in this book is her deal with Ranger. It is nice to see their relationship move forward, as it was starting to feel a bit stalled.

The story is what you can expect from a Plum novel. A mystery that is not overly complex but that does have enough twists and turns to keep things interesting.

If you are a fan of the series, this is a must have. You will not regret it.

After I read the sixth book in the Plum series, I started thinking they were all sounding the same: Stephanie flubs yet another apparent slam-dunk apprehension, gets shot at, can't find her pepper spray, on-again/off-again with Joe Morelli, sees black spots before her eyes -- please. I just want her to develop some -- get better at her job, give it up, organize her purse -- anything!

And there's more of the same in this seventh book, too. For the uninitiated, Stephanie Plum is a reluctant bounty hunter in Trenton, New Jersey, and the wackiest things always happen to her as she's trying to bring in her FTAs (failed-to-appear). Surrounded by a cast of characters out of Central Jersey Casting (crazy grandma, grumbly dad, nervous mom, prostitute-turned-assistant...), she fumbles her way into the most improbable situations. Her cars get trashed; her apartment gets broken into. You get the idea.

But a funny thing happened to me with this book: I just sat back and read and enjoyed the darned thing, formula and all. Ms. Evanovich is just a funny writer, and this book was just a fun speed read (it was due the next day at the library). I will continue with the series, even if (or maybe especially if) Stephanie stays the same. She's finally kind of growing on me.

I loved the first 6 Stephanie Plum novels on CD, but the reader of #7 is horrible. Her delivery is v-e-r-y s-l-o-w. It ruins the pace of the book. Also, she gives really strong accents (which are really bad, by the way) to everyone. Everyone EXCEPT Stephanie, the quintessintial Jersey girl. Stephanie sounds like a 50 year old midwestern matron.

Skip this audiobook. The reader is terrible. She tries to do a Jersey accent that comes off sounding like she has a speech impediment and a lisp. Bad!!

I've listened to the first six Stephanie Plum books and absolutely loved the reader and laughed out loud while listening. Unfortunately, the reader for this book is just horrid, not a speck of the same characters in the voice as in the first six books. I hope this reader, Tanya Eby doesn't do anymore Stephanie Plum novels. Please give us the original reader back!

Rachel Grant's world is turned upside down when she loses her fiance in a mysterious plane crash. Now ten years later, a stranger enters her life, who looks amazingly like Thomas. Is Adam a con-artist or a honorable man with the intention of returning her father's loan? Torn between finding out, Rachel's life is threatened through mysterious accidents. Trusting her instincts, she falls hard for Adam, who always seems ready to save the day. But Adam has a secret to hide. It seems that he and Thomas had crossed tortured paths years before. And it was this path that led Adam straight to Rachel. As Rachel discovers the truth about her father's death, she is faced with a life and death battle of her own. With no means of an escape, two men race to her aid - one living, the other dead. A great read full of twists and turns. Highly recommended!

I don't know what some of these other reviewer's are talking about when they say they are dissapointed? How much easier it is to review a book than actually write one! This book is higly sculpted,inspired and all the moving parts fit. It causes you to think if all the questions were answered, and as you begin to think, the next answer comes, and it all fits so perfectly. It was the perfect blend of suspense, romance, betrayal and the paranormal. I loved it! Although you painted Nick so ugly and somewhat fearsome, I found myself routing for him and hoping he'd find love and happiness, and I loved the scene where he was vulnerable and we got to see what was really going through his mind. Heartbreaking and joyous to see someone love him as he was.

Kay, a bad review is like a bad meal, it should be forgotten immediately! I look forward to reading more of your books. Good job!

Sufani Garza
Author

I'm disappointed. This is the second book I've read by this author and I didn't like this one either. The characters are not real to me. The situations are even worse. The whole idea of the dead boyfriend showing up later (is it him? isn't it?) and the mystery of the heroine's father and the money issues are great storylines, but not told effectively. I didn't believe for a minute that I was "IN" the story. Rachel was not my friend and I wasn't totally in love with Adam. After reading James Patterson, Patricia Cornwell and even Sue Grafton for years and years, Kay Hooper is a disappointment, I'm sorry to say.

I really enjoyed this book. I read a lot of books sometimes 3-4 a week and this one held my intrest to the end.

An Aside first: the dichotomy on the reviews of this book is just fascinating. There are some truly polar opinions. Great plot / bad plot; good on details / bad on details; too much sex and romance / not enough sex and romance...etc. It's like people were reading 2 different books.

Anyway, I didn't think I was going to like this book. I actually almost decided not to read it. I wasn't sure if it was romantic suspense or just a suspense book....I prefer romance. So I kept putting off reading it and almost opted not to, but then figured I'd give it a try. Glad I did. It was a fabulous book.

The storyline was excellent. Hooper did a great job casting suspicions about. She'd write scenes out of context that made characters questionable. You were never quite sure who was good or bad. You had a gut feeling and kind of knew that certain people were good, but she made you wonder. Hooper did a great job with the details too, making the story believable and interesting. I was thoroughly into everything that was going on.

While the book is more plot than romance, there were enough romantic elements to keep me into the story. It could have had some more general romance, but I wasn't bothered by that issue. Rachel and Adam's relationship was still pretty well done. There was a good elemental chemistry between them and you really want to root for them. The progression between them was great to read. The only negative I can say is that Hooper skimped on the sex scenes. She basically just implied them. Took some of the spice out of the book.

Another aspect that I really enjoyed was the sub-story of Nikolas and Mercy. They had a great romance and I was just as interested in them as I was everything else in the story. I liked them just as much as I did Adam and Rachel. And Hooper gave them plenty of story space. They didn't just have spare scenes, they were an integral part of the story. I liked that.

Overall, great book. Definitely worth reading.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Gemstone Publishing continues their truly outstanding reprints of EC Comics with their latest release, Crime Suspenstories, Vol. 1. This hardcover volume reprints the first six issues of the original series, published from 1950 - 1951. EC Comics remain vastly popular today even when most of their comics publishing peers have long since been forgotten. There are a few reasons for this; EC comics had a level of quality to them that outshined all of their competition in the 1950's, even DC and Timely/Atlas. While most comic publishers were catering to kids, EC was putting out stories that appealed to an older audience. They also had a stable of artists that was unparalleled at the time.

While their horror comics like Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror have gained the most notoriety down through the years, EC published all types of comics. Crime SuspenStories may not have been a horror title in technical terms, but these lurid tales of violence and murder were definitely horrific. These tales were heavily influenced by crime noir writers and films of the period. One of the best examples is Wally Wood's Death's Double-Cross. The story is told in first person perspective from a wife yearning for love from her wealthy husband who only cares about work. She plots to kill her husband with the aid of his exact twin brother. But when the deed is done, the brother begins to act more and more like her husband. She doesn't know which brother died and to which one she's now married.

In Dead Ringer, a two-bit hood discovers he's a nearly identical look-alike to a millionaire who is the victim of amnesia. He plots to kill the millionaire and take his place, conveniently recovering from his amnesia. But this hood soon learns the man he replaced has made a lot of enemies.

Jack Kamen's Contract for Death is another fantastic tale. A man who is about to commit suicide is offered $5,000 to wait one month before killing himself by a mysterious doctor. He agrees, living it up to the fullest on the five grand. But when he falls in love, he tries to renege on his deal and is forced to find a substitution for his own body.

The Haunt of Fear makes several appearances in the book with stories with a decidedly stronger horror slant to them and introduced by that title's mascot, The Old Witch. The best is Partially Dissolved in which an illusionist concocts a special metal alloy that is mixed with calcium that will dissolve in water. He plans to use it to perform astounding feats of escapism. But his scheming assistant, who bears more than a little resemblance to Bela Lugosi, has his own plans.

Other standout stories include The Giggling Killer, Blood Red Wine, and Jury Duty. In addition to the stories, writer max Allan Collins provides the books foreword as well as a several "crime blog" articles. Marie Severin's colors have been re-mastered and look stunning. If you only know EC's horror comics, you have to check out Crime SuspenStories. These stories are not as widely acclaimed but are every bit as good.

I've read some of the Braun series cat books and this one wasn't one of my favorites. It was boring with no plot and it did mention very little about the Butterfly Girl or who she is. The story didn't make any sense at all. I couldn't get into this one. I read it but was disappointed in it. I'm lucky that I only paid $1 for it towards charity.

It has been a long time since I last read a "Cat Who" book, but I seem to recall them being more interesting than this one. It is difficult to tell the backdrop from the foreground of the story, the backdrop of Moose county occupies much more time than the foreground, though it is interwoven. Qwill seems to follow the mystery much more than participate in it and the background characters have much more appeal than those intimately involved with the mystery, the primary of which we only meet briefly or know of through the accounts of others. This makes it difficult to really care about their fate, and thus the story.

Spring has sprung in Moose County, and that means that the beauty of nature is quickly unfolding. From butterflies emerging from their cocoons, to baby birds hatching and chirping left and right; even romance blooming in the sunny days. But not everything is peaceful and quiet within Moose County. Underneath the beautiful façade are secrets, local vandalism, cruelty, and many other strange events. Strange events that Qwill just can't stop himself from poking his nose into.

Even though he came from Down Under, Jim Qwilleran has found that residing in Moose County - 400 miles from everywhere - couldn't be more pleasant. He has good friends, keeps good company with his prized felines Koko and Yum Yum, enjoys the perks of being a reporter for the Moose County Something, and spends his days sniffing out stories. When some unexpected, and out-of-the-ordinary acts of vandalism occur within little Moose County, the residents are sent into a tizzy, trying to figure out who would commit such a disgraceful crime. Qwill, however, is one of the only people interested enough to do a little investigating to finger the criminal. But as he continues digging, he begins to uncover some very unexpected things, such as strange events involving some of the local political candidates. To Qwill, vandalism is one thing, but when a murder takes place, he knows that he'll have to enlist the help of both Koko and Yum Yum to assist him in catching the culprit. Qwill would prefer simply spending time with a remarkable local artist known as Butterfly Girl, and savoring the opening of the new Art Center. But he'll have to solve the crime before his mind can finally rest, and he can enjoy the new beauty springing up all over Moose County.

The beauty of Lillian Jackson Braun's work does not necessarily lie in the mystery contained within the pages of her books, but, rather, the character development she weaves in her tales. That character development is quite prevalent within THE CAT WHO SANG FOR THE BIRDS. The descriptions of Butterfly Girl, and the nosiness of the people of Moose County does overshadow the mystery that Qwill, along with Koko and Yum Yum are investigating; but for those looking for a quaint read, it is not perturbing in the least, and actually makes for a refreshing trip through a cute community, where we have the opportunity to catch up with new and old friends. Mystery light, but still a delight!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

This was such a good book! The funeral scene brought tears to my eyes. Qwill spends a lot of time at the new art center. He befriends a young artist who paint butterflies. She is in a state of flux and wants to move in with her boyfriend.

The lady who lives across the road from the art center is Maude Coggin. She is an interesting lady who is ninety three. Qwill interviews her and discovers that she takes in stray dogs.

Koko wakes Qwill up one night to find that Mrs. Coggin's house is on fire. More mysteries abound and Koko knows what is going on and tries to communicate with Qwill.

This was a great book and I enjoyed it very much.

Once again we tune in on the denizens of Moose County and find all in an uproar. In fact there are several uproars going on in this cozy neighborhood located 400 miles north of everywhere. First there is the new art center which most people love but the director somehow expects the farmers in the vicinity to keep their dirt off of the roads. When it rains you see, that dirt becomes mud and eventually gets tracked into the art center. Worse yet, the library has gotten rid of their card catalog and replaced it with a computer. This little innovation even sparks a demonstration complete with a grill for burning protestor's library cards.

Amid all of the normal Pickax City hubbub resides the ever-affable Jim Qwilleran and his mystery solving cats Koko and Yum Yum. In this entry in the series Koko has taken to singing like a bird and communing with his bird friends as often as he can. He has also been on the case again after a suspicious fire claims the life of one of Pickax's oldest citizens. The authorities rule that the fire started with a kerosene heater but Qwill doesn't buy it and neither does Koko. Yum Yum for her part is happy playing with her new yo-yo.

Eventually of course everything works out and as in previous books Qwill looks back to see just how precise Koko's clues were. For those new to the series Koko, although talented can't talk but he tries to tell Qwill what has happened in some odd ways. Usually however Qwill doesn't figure out Koko's clues until he has solved the mystery on his own. The best thing about this series besides the wonderful cast of characters is that the reader gets the same clues as does Qwilleran and if one pays very close attention Koko will tell you who done it long before the solution is revealed.

Overall this book, while enjoyable is just a little darker than most of the previous entries, although the body count is fairly low especially compared to some of its predecessors. I can't put my finger on the difference but there is a slightly different tone to this book and it is not an altogether welcome change. On the other hand this is still a very fun and entertaining read and this is a book that should be on every cozy mystery lover's bookshelf.

After a few weeks I can't really remember what it was exactly about. It was interested at the time but I didn't love it. I was just ok.

This book was phenomenal, and highly reccommended to to readers over the age of thirteen for some adult themes in the book. Hooper kept me guessing til the very end, and I enjoyed the supernatural theme that held throughout the entire book.

Excellent book, suspenseful, a definite page turner. This is another one of the series of "Evil" books by Kay Hooper. This book draws you into the world of the paranormal, delivers mystery, and a bit of romance. I certainly didn't guess who the culprit was, and I'm usually good at doing so. Highly recommend her books. Received in perfect condition, and quick and easy transaction.

I read this book and it was kind of interesting, however the more I read the more it seemed as if this author was having difficulty putting a real plot together. Instead of giving the reader clues to the killer's identity and having the characters solve the mystery, she just endowed her characters with more and more super powers to give them the ability to get to the next situation. The psychic angle was kind of fun for a bit but it got to the point of being silly. Also, the book was 392 pages long and close to 200 of those pages probably dealt with Nell explaining to Max why it wasn't his fault she left town and why they couldn't be together. That became tiresome. Also "Nell chose her words carefully" was used soooo many times. Okay, I got the point. Shelby and Justin seemed to be a story line that had some potential, but nothing ever developed as far as importance to the plot was concerned. They got together as a couple. Great, but once Shelby took the picture with the aura looming over Nell, the rest of her time in the book was just filing pages. And what kind of a sheriff's office was Ethan running? Undercover FBI agents get hired as deputies using faked backgrounds from police offcers who are off duty and private investigators get hired without the sheriff knowing they are private investigators hired to investigate him. How convenient. And do they really hire deputies with just a paper application, not an extensive background check, no face to face interviews, no verification of identity and without some kind of training in the ways of the local department for more than say an hour or so? There was also the sense of impending danger. I guess in the last few pages, Nell was in a dangerous situation but at no time did any of the main characters seem to actually be in danger. In fact, the identity of the killer is kept a total secret until right up to the very end of the book and there is not a single clue in the book that points to his identity. In fact, the killer turns out to be a very minor character in the plot who is hardly mentioned in the first 300 pages. I was very disapointed in this book, yet I did kind of enjoy the writing and I believe I will read more by this author. This is the first book I have read by Kay Hooper. I was hoping for more of a Tami Hoag or Lisa Gardner type work here but, sorry to say, this is absolutely not a thriller.

This is the 7th Kay Hooper book I have read. I enjoyed this book as much as any of the others.

This is another excellent book in the vineyard series, with a dead girl poisoned (was it accidental?) and mysterious cases of $100K showing up in bank accounts. An interesting side story involves a concert pianist. During the story, however, I was distracted by the apparent change of name from Hazel to Helen Fine. Why didn't the editor pick up on this? Or was I mistaken and they were two different female bankers? Huh? If not for this confusion, I would have given this 5 stars.

there is death in the air in marthas vineyard this mystery is filled with money laundering murder and enough humor and romance to satisfy any reader . One of Craigs best so far I'm reading thie series in order. Good reading took me 3 days to finish it!!!

Craig's biggest downfall is the third-rate dialogue he employs. It's often trite and unrealistic, I criticism I noted in another review of one of his books. The storyline is actually better in this book than in others. There's an unexpected twist that throws you at the end, which makes it better reading than Craig's other works. As with his other "Martha's Vineyard Mysteries," the story centers on another adventure with retired Boston cop (and Vineyard resident), J.W. Jackson. He finds a dead girl in his driveway, and goes about solving her murder. There are subplots that don't really add to the story, and as I said above, the dialogue is crap. I'm sure the reason I keep reading Craig's books is that if you are a Vineyarder (as I am), there are few better ways to conjure up images of the island than his books. His descriptions of such things as the traffic jams and night life on the Vineyard are incredibly realistic and offer a respite to someone like me who only gets to spend a week or two per year on the island. Non-Vineyarders would do better to find something else.

This novel seems to be a little bit of mystery added into a story about fishing on Martha's Vineyard with a travelogue of the island. The author puts a little too much emphasis on the fishing. An interesting basis was developed for the crime, i.e., manipulating inter-bank transfers, with intelligent criminals fumbling the implementation, but maybe there are one too many characters/complications/side issues.

OK, the "Vineyard" series does not represent great literature. However, that's not the point about these 'atmospheric' novels is it? You read these kind of books while you're on the Cape or to bring you mentally back to the place. This one has a better plot that the others I have read in the series but the dialogue remains the weak point. Enough with the fishing and the traffic jams too, please. All in all, since we go to the Cape every year, this series is a fun read for me. However, if you want read a good series with excellent dialogue and a strong sense of place, find one of the Dibdin novels. They are set in Italy and they are wonderful.

SWANN'S LAST SONG is a joy ride with a twist - Henry Swann starts out trying to identify a killer and instead finds himself trying to identify a victim whose identity keeps changing. Swann's the kind of guy you immediately like and want to hang out with, a guy who describes himself as "an American, from the tip of my wallet to the bottom of my bank account" and readily admits "I like to read other people's mail. I like to listen to their private conversations. Let's face it, I'm a born sneak." Along with snappy Robert Parker-like dialogue and a swell sauce recipe used by Aztecs who ate their human sacrifices, this book is a fun read filled with surprises. Highly recommended.

Swann's Last Song is an excellent read with a plot that made it hard for me to put the book down. I needed to see where we were going and was continually surprised to see where we ended up. Swann's an interesting character. I look forward to the sequel.

Manhattan based private investigator Henry Swann earns a living as a repo man. So he is more than shocked when femme fatale Sally Janus wants to hire him to find her missing husband, Harry. Besides the wealth that denotes she can afford a downtown pro, he is puzzled that she cane run down neighborhood. Still the upfront money is too good to pass even if he has never done a missing person case.

However, almost immediately after she hires him, Harry's murdered body is found in a hotel dive sleazier than the repo man's office. Sally rehires Swann to find her husband's killer; once again he accepts though he never did a homicide investigation before as the money is too good to pass. He begins to follow clues that take him to rock and roll in Vegas, Mexico and Germany in search of the Peking Man fossils.

SWANN'S LAST SONG is an exciting but odd hard boiled noir. The story line starts out fast-paced as Henry feels he is in a movie when the femme fatale hires him to first find her husband and when the corpse is located find who killed him. Although the plot spins totally out of control especially after trips to Vegas, Mexico and Europe, fans who like the action piled on without regard to accepting food stamps or passport stamps will relish Swann's search for the Peking Man.

Harriet Klausner

Swann's last song is edge-of-your-seat entertainment, a true page-turner, but with a distinctly literary twist. The characters invoke the tried and true archetypes of the detective genre, then play off of them in what amounts to both a homage and a deconstruction. Everything is what you expect, but nothing is quite what it seems. You spend half your time trying to figure out what's going to happen next, the other half sorting through the ironies of what has already happened. Salzberg has produced a novel that satisfies on many levels.

I don't want to slip into book review cadence here because this isn't a usual kind of book. Very funny. Very noir. Excellent read. Beautifully written and structured, too. Between the lines, though, "Swann" is that rare item: a wry, entertaining and serious novel about a guy who terrifyingly runs up against his own limits. Definitely worth your time.

Life looks simple enough as the book opens. Lochdubh's finest, Police Constable Hamish Macbeth, checks out a former heroin addict, Tommy Jarret, and is quickly convinced the young man has kicked the habit and wants to stay clean. Imagine Hamish's shock when Jarret dies of a heroin overdose soon thereafter. Detective Chief Inspector Blair and Detective Jimmy Anderson of Strathbane are quickly convinced it's an accidental overdose and the case is closed. Hamish isn't convinced. Jarret had been writing a book about his drug-using days and all but the first chapter has disappeared. Also, Jarret also had a sedative in his bloodstream. Jarret's parents are also skeptical and persuade Hamish to keep an investigation going.

Hamish takes his vacation so he can investigate on the quiet. His searches begin with a sex-obsessed church that seems to be a cover for something else. Confronting Jarret's former roommates, Hamish decides on the spot to pretend to be a drug dealer who wants to buy a big quantity of heroin. Hamish calls for help, and soon a large police operation is mounted with the inexperienced and uncomfortable Hamish at the middle.

To make matters complicated, the operation is headed by the very attractive Detective Chief Inspector Olivia Chater of Glasgow who will play the role of Hamish's "wife." DI Chater wants no messing around and she plans to wear the pants. The role playing develops into all kinds of giggling situations as they find themselves sharing bedrooms, beds, and needing to put on a good show for the drug dealers' minions who trail them.

Naturally, Hamish cannot control his need to wander around and soon gets himself into an embarrassing situation in Amsterdam.

Despite missteps, Hamish and Chater delve deeper and deeper into the heart of the Highlands' most dangerous drug ring. Along the way, they also solve the mystery of a monster that's haunting Loch Drim.

Blair finds out about Hamish's success and is beside himself with envy. What will Blair do?

After many interesting complications, Hamish still cannot see who killed Tommy Jarret. Taking what's left of his vacation, Hamish is once again on the track of those who are responsible for Jarret's death.

The story has a bittersweet ending that helps Death of an Addict rise above most of the stories in the series. The aura of danger throughout much of the book and the sadness of drug addiction make this story far darker than the usual Highland tales Ms. Beaton has written before about how obnoxious people get what's coming to them from another visitor to the Highlands. I enjoyed the difference.

But don't expect this story to have the gritty realism of all those New-York based movies about drug cartels. Look elsewhere if that's your bag.

As the fifteenth entry into the popular Hamish MacBeth series opens is enjoying the beautiful early autumn weather in his beloved Lochdaubh and rejoicing that he is finally over his long term on again off again romance with Priscilla. His peace is shattered though when a tenant of a tourist cottage is found dead. Once it is revealed that the young man had died of a drug overdose it was assumed that he had relapsed and begun using again. Hamish was not so certain, and despite being told to drop the matter, began his own investigations. The trail let him away from Lochdugh, first to an even more remote village, then to the mean streets of Strathbane and finally to Amsterdam - Hamish's first trip abroad.

As with any long running series Beaton has had to come up with various ways to keep the series fresh without losing the very things that made it popular in the first place. Taking Hamish out of the Highlands where he is most comfortable to unfamiliar territory puts a new slant on the series. Beaton has managed to let Hamish grow in a realistic manner without losing his appeal.

For fans of the series this is a treat, Hamish gets to spread his wings a bit but we still get to catch up on a bit of the latest Lochdubh news. Those new to the series would probably enjoy beginning with one of the earlier books although it is not absolutely necessary to read this series strictly in order.

I first enjoyed the series that played on BBCAmerica and wanted to see how it compared to the novels in which it was based. I was pleasently surprised. The series doesn't follow the novels exactly but there are elements fans can recognize. This one in particular can be seen adapted into the television production. I liked comparing the two.

Although Hamish is brighter than he appears, the idea of him posing as a drug kingpin just doesn't work. And the dialogue is weak in the extreme. It is extremely rare when a television series is better than the books but the BBC series of Hamish Macbeth is. This is a very light series anyway, but this story was one of the weakest.

This is the second Hamish McBeth book I have read, and it is a disappointment. It lacks the folksy charm of the first. The plotting is weak, and the situations absurd. I suppost if you want a simple, easy weekend read this would do. If I had a cottage, that is where I would put this lightweight piece of nonesense.