Mystery Crime Books

Okay... granted, I'm pretty much a sucker for any mystery book series set in New Mexico... and that's why I bought this first book in the series (after discovering McGarrity about 12 years too late and wanting to start with the first book in the series)...

Tularosa was a strong enough effort that I've just gone ahead and ordered the rest of his books.

If you haven't read Michael McGarrity yet you've been missing out on some excellent police procedural mysteries. I love his characters and the richness and color of his Southwestern settings. Tularosa is intriguing, well-paced and fun to read for anyone who likes seeing justice done.

While I agree with other reviewers that a couple of his later works are weak on pacing and rushed at the climax that is NOT the case for Tularosa, which exceeded my expectations in every category.

By the way, I'm a published author myself and am not easy to please.

Ray White How I Got Published: Famous Authors Tell You in Their Own Words The Towers Of Greed

This is sort of a Western in a Procedural Mystery guise. A Western in the mythos sense. A lot of what happens is not really credible. If you read the book, count the number of times that person A has the drop on person B, only to have B's confederate show up in the nick of time and reverse the situation. The romantic interest, Sara, turns out to be to be not only a tough, intelligent Army cop with survival and martial arts skills, she is also an expert horsewoman. And the villain kidnaps her without a good reason. He isn't planning to hold her hostage, nor does she know or have something he needs. Maybe he intended to tie her to the railroad tracks. And I'm not sure, but I think the author got some of his Native American customs wrong, mixing up Navajo and Tewa (Pueblo) beliefs and attibuting petroglyphs created by the Mogollon people to the Apaches.

I found this book at my local libary. I was searching for a mystery book and was surprised to find one that was about places I knew. I haven't heard about the magnanimous author, Michael McGarrity before, but I am intrigued to read it anyway, because it sounds like a good mystery book.

The book Tularosa is about a missing, silent soldier from White Sands Missile Range. Kevin Kerney, a former cop from Santa Fe is searching for his godson Sammy Yazzi, the son of his former partner, Terry Yazzi. Sammy has been reported as AWOL from White Sands Missile Range. The credence to find Sammy falls on Kerney, together with Sara Brannon, the capricious, blond, armi investigator. They embark a cryptic story about stolen, golden artifacts, murdered people, and a corrupt, white, high ranking officer from White Sands Missile Range.

Today Michael McGarrity lives with his wife and his son in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Before he turned to writing full time, he worked also as a deputy sheriff for Santa Fe County. Maybe this was what inspired him 1996 to write Tularosa, which was well nominated for an Antohny Award, a Dilys Award and a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America. I really want to read more from him, because this first novel combined the characters of mystery, a story involing unknown persons and facts, with a description of the sometimes green desert landscape of New Mexico.

McGarrity's books move right along -- lots of action and not a lot of conversation or things not strictly associated with the plot. His books are set in the southwest and draw on his experience in law enforcement. Kevin Kerney, his hero/detective, is the kind of character who would be played by a younger Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford -- tough, honorable, capable, and a bit of a loner although well-liked. Think Lone Ranger, riding in to defeat the forces of evil and then riding off again leaving behind grateful people.

At the beginning of the book Kerney is living alone on a New Mexico ranch. He was seriously injured fighting badguys and is no longer in law enforcement but kind of retired, doing caretaking for an absentee landlord on a ranch. A truck arrives carrying a Navajo police officer, a former partner whom Kerney has a grudge against on account of the injuries, but the ex-partner hopes that he will take a paid assignment to track down his son Sammi, who has apparently gone AWOL from the army -- or at least he's missing, because no-one who knows Sammi believes he would desert. Kerney cares about Sammi so agrees to go looking for him. Sammi had been assigned to the White Sands Missile Testing Center (or whatever the base is called) and that's the land that Kerney was raised on -- he knows it well. So with the initially reluctant help of Sara, an army intelligence officer, he starts asking questions and trying to uncover what has happened to Sammi.

This is high adventure and quick paced. This isn't the first book in the series I've read, and it won't be the last. I think guys will particularly like the book, although as a woman I also enjoyed it. Some violence, but nothing too graphic, and a little sex but not too explicit, for those concerned about such things.

Great series, Ceepak and Boyle are quite a team. I've read all of Grabenstein's books and loved them all. Can't wait for the next one.

I really enjoyed this fourth book of the Ceepak Series. As always, I can just picture all of the NJ surroundings. The reading comes as easy as the laughs. I really like the relationship between Danny & Ceepak and the newbie Samantha Starky. I'm so glad I saved this one for the beach. This series just keeps getting better and better. I can't wait for the next one. Awesome A++++++++!

HELL HOLE is both a return and a departure for Chris Grabenstein. It's a return in the sense that it's another welcome addition in the John Ceepak series. Ceepak is a Sea Haven, New Jersey police officer who subscribes to a rigid and impressive code of honor. The stories are told through the voice of his partner, Danny Boyle, a method that infuses Ceepak with an enigmatic air, given that we don't know too much about him to begin with and are dependent upon what (precious little) Boyle learns during the course of each succeeding book. The departure for Grabenstein is that HELL HOLE, the fourth in the series, is much darker in tone and substance than the previous installments, being closer in mood to what are now known as his "holiday" books.

Sea Haven is a vacation destination, so that it is accordingly fitting that HELL HOLE begins with Boyle being dispatched to a rental house on a noise complaint. Upon arriving, he finds a group of soldiers home on leave and getting rowdier, and more intoxicated, by the minute. The party becomes deathly somber, however, when the soldiers receive a telephone call notifying them that Corporal Shareef Smith, one of their brothers in arms, is found dead at a rest area on the Garden State Parkway with a map to their house in his pocket. Boyle offers Sergeant Dale Dixon a ride to the site to identify the victim, thus neatly involving the Sea Haven police in the matter. The death appears to be a grisly suicide, but something about the scene doesn't look quite right, an impression that is confirmed by Ceepak when he checks out the photos of the scene. Rather than being a clear, if somewhat messy, suicide, it slowly becomes apparent that Johnson was the victim of a murder.

There is a nice contrast between Boyle and Ceepak as they proceed through their investigation, with Boyle jumping to serial conclusions while the more experienced, older Ceepak gently reins Boyle in by example, taking a step-by-step approach to reaching conclusions as opposed to making a 10-foot jump to them. The backdrop of Sea Haven, a fictional New Jersey resort town, as a setting for this and the other Ceepak novels is a stroke of nothing less than genius. Beneath the vacationers, and the constant sun, surf and alcohol, there is a gritty subculture of drugs and violence that only occasionally raises its head but that, like a shark, skims along just beneath the surface.

It is at first thought that one of the denizens of that undercurrent --- a group of trailer park occupants best known as the Feenyville Pirates and responsible for a great deal of the smash-and-grab incidents --- are involved. They are, if only indirectly. The true culprits behind Johnson's murder, however, have friends in high places, and before HELL HOLE reaches its end, betrayals great and small will abound, as Ceepak and Boyle pull out all the stops and follow the leads in pursuing justice for Johnson, no matter where the trail takes them.

One gets so caught up in Grabenstein's spot-on description of the environs of the south central Jersey coast that it becomes easy to overlook what an accomplished plotter he is. One example: the crime scene. Grabenstein has the Garden State Parkway rest areas --- the tired restaurants, the overpriced gas station trinkets, the restrooms --- down perfectly. If you have ever stopped at these places even once, it all will come back to you. Yet it is the plotting and characterization that truly make the book a success.

Although I found Grabenstein's choice of villains unfortunate, I was overwhelmed by his ability to infuse a pair of small town resort police --- well, three actually --- with a likable and credible ability to pursue a lead here and a clue there to a resolution. Throw in a couple of additional factoids about Ceepak's past --- could he possibly be from Mason, Ohio, a town not entirely unlike Sea Haven? --- and a potential love interest for Boyle, plus an unresolved issue or two, and you have another winning book in a continuing series that I happily will read for life.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Ceepak and Danny--two cops in a small town on the Jersey shore. Ceepak is ex-army and lives by "The Code", a rigid set of moral requirements that makes Ceepak both admirable and comical. Ceepak is Danny's boss and partner, in this small Jersey shore police force. Danny, is an amiable ex-slacker who began his police career issuing parking tickets in the summers, to support his laid back lifestyle.

Hell Hole is the fourth in this Ceepak and Danny series, and it may be the best. Here's a town that should have less serious crime than Mayberry, and part of the fun of this series is learning how the author will plausibly introduce another murder into their lives.

The plot is tight and twists, and the pace is quick. But the rarest thing about Hell Hole and the Ceepak and Danny series is that Grabenstein has succeeded in creating two original heroes. Danny, the narrator, is the most unlikely hero: not strong, not fearless, but rather with a natural predilection for comfort. And his admiration for Ceepak only makes him more comically aware of his shortcomings. Yet Danny, ultimately, is the greater hero. Against all of his natural inclinations towards comfort and safety, he does the right thing. Not exactly the same way Ceepak would do, but achieving the same end.

I would recommend reading Hell Hole first, even though it is the fourth in the series, because you get to enjoy Ceepak and Danny fully developed and in their stride. Then you can go back and enjoy the first three in order.

The latest entry in the John Ceepak series is easily the best, building on what was a brilliant series from the get-go. Grabenstein manages to be edgy and darkly realistic while retaining the humorous tone of Danny's narrative that makes this series so notable and successful. Like its predecessors, HELL HOLE follows traditional mystery form but drapes it with a grim authenticity and topicality that should appeal to mystery fans as well as those whose taste leans more to noir and thriller fiction.

Somewhere in England, 14th century. Nicholas, a monk on the lam, hooks up with a theatrical road company that's barely making the rent performing its repertoire of old chestnuts. (Small wonder, when one of the actors is a corpse. Their plays aren't the only things that stink) Dismayed by paltry box office receipts, Martin, the company's star and executive producer, fears he'll be driven out of show business by the big-budget horse & wagon tours that are dazzling audiences with realistic beheadings, miraculous transfigurations, plunging chandeliers, and other feats of divine light and magic.

Martin decides it's time for a last-ditch effort (no, this is not a reference to the late Brendan's interment). Aided by his fellow troupers: a dog-loving oldster, a discreet man-boy duo, a cunning strumpet, and a rum-soaked, nine-fingered senior thespian with a penchant for chewing up what little scenery there is to munch on, Martin drafts a brilliant business plan that results in the invention of (in order): investigative reporting, tabloid journalism, experimental theater, American sign language, and interactive infotainment.

Hit the road with this merry band of half-baked hams as they strike an
inadvertent blow for truth and justice, nearly losing their union cards
(and their heads!) in the process.

This is a really entertaining book, a mystery told by a master storyteller, with beautiful langauge but never a false step in the telling of a good story. Barry Unsworth offers us a mystery from the 14th century full of modern conceptions integrated into the narrative. We get a tale of child molestation and murder mixed with the social and class structure of the middle ages. Unsworth knows that modern readers will quickly follow the strucuture of the modern murder mystery and will try to get one step ahead of the narrator. He plays this to his advantage in a murder with twists and turns of plot that reveal much about the religious and social order of 14th Century England. One interesting aspect to the story was the concept of a group of actors radically changing the direction of theater by producing a play about a recent murder in a town instead of the typical morality plays. And yet this tale of a murder is in fact a morality play, since it explores the facts and beliefs about the murder in an attempt to reconcil different accounts and details that make the murder less tidy that those in power would wish. Unsworth is extremely skillful as a wordsmith, his prose is effortless and vivid and flowing. It is so nice to read a smart page-turner. It makes you wish to read more of Unsworth's work.

I wasn't sure about this book in the beginning, but I love historical mysteries, so I tried it out. The narrator, Nicholas Barber, is a former priest who walked away from his place and joined a group of travelling players--remarkable for a time when you were born to a social station and stayed there all your life. That is, in fact, a recurring theme--being trapped in a role, escaping from it, choosing the part you play in your own life.
The mystery, which centers around the murder of a young boy, is interesting--true mystery lovers will probably figure out the ending long before the narrator does. But the surrounding story of Nicholas's development as a person and of the accused goat girl was interesting enough to keep me reading. Overall, it was a satisfying book.

The major selling point of this novel is that it has a very interesting and engrossing storyline. Neither does the author digress into inconsequential sideplots nor does he use the book as an excuse to show off his vocabulary i.e. no boring lifeless descriptions of the scenery or alleged insights into how the human mind works. This focus implies that it's possible to read the book in just one sitting without noticibly perturbing your daily routine.

The plot is set in England in the middle ages and is about a drama troupe that goes from town to town performing plays. Apparently, in those times the only kind of plays they performed were the ones that were based on stories from the bible. Competition in the shape of some other more complelling form of entertainment forces our troupe, when they enter a town, to adapt. While there, in that town, there is much controversy about the murder of a young boy in very mysterious circumstances. The debonair leader of the troupe, despite opposition from other troupe members who are troubled by this break from tradition, decides to 'play the murder'! To say more would be to give away too much but suffice it to say that the troupe's performance has unexpected ramifications.

Barry Unsworth's short novel "Morality Play" (1995) is a murder-mystery set in 14th century England, but it is much more. It is a story that explores the changing boundaries between the medieval and the modern and that illuminates the power of drama to help people understand their experiences.

The narrator of the book is a 23-year old priest, Nicholas Barber, who becomes restless with his calling, runs away, has a brief affair with a married woman, and meets a group of itinerant players who are burying one of their number. Nicholas joins the troupe which heads to a small village where they decide to make a play of the fresh murder of a 12-year old boy, Thomas Wells, in the community. A young deaf and dumb woman is being held for the murder. The troupe is compelled to perform their play for the local baron, Sir Richard de Guise (in a scene that reminded me of Hamlet's performance for Claudius). They come closer to the truth of the murder than they realize.

There are vivid pictures in this book of English medieval life, of corrupt monks and priests, plagues, dusty towns, jousting, knights, the life of wandering actors and performers called joungleurs, and much else. And the mystery itself is abosrbing. Nevertheless, in my reading I found these features of the book secondary.

I found "Morality Play" most intriguing in the character development of Nicholas and in the attendant picture of a rising modernity. Nicholas is dissatisfied in his budding life as a cleric and ultimately decides that the life of a clergyman is not for him. "The impulse to run away had not been folly but the wisdom of the heart," (p. 206) he concludes. There is a turn to secularization in Nicholas's story, and to finding and following one's own star in life.

Many other features of the novel illustrate the move to and nature of the modern temprament. The players initially object to performing a play based upon the murder of young Thomas Wells in part because the story is not biblically-based and the meaning of it in the divine plan is not revealed (unlike, say, the Fall, or the story of Cain and Abel.) But as a member of the troupe observes, "Men can give meanings to things. That is no sin because our meanings are only for the time, they can be changed." (pp.74-75)

The troupe decides to perform its story of Thomas Wells to make money, a distinctively modern motivation. The members of the troupe investigate the circumstances surrounding the murder, and their play suggests how art and science are means of approaching the truth. Ultimately the murder is solved by an investigator sent by the King, and the story has something to say about the relationship between a rising central government and medieval feudalism. Finally, a young woman of easy virtue, Margaret, has been accompaning the troupe as the mistress of one of the players. She also does a great deal of value for the troupe and contributes towards preparation of the play about Thomas Wells. Yet, the troupe does not consider her as one of their number due to her gender. She becomes highly angry with this and leaves the players to make her way on her own.

Thus, I think this book has a great deal to say about the growth of secularism and the rise of views of personal growth and personal identity, naturalism in art, strong civil government, gender issues, and other matters that move the story forward from the medieval time in which it is set. The "Play of Thomas Wells" is itself a drama that tells a story of our modern world and of the factors which have led to its development.

Robin Friedman

Not only is the story intriguing, but if you are interested in herbal lore this book is excellent. All of the China Bayles books have an interesting plot with many twists and turns.

I have greatly enjoyed the China Bayles series, so I am sorry to say that "Hangman's Root" does not do these books justice. I found the mystery incredibly uninteresting-- it revolved around office politics at a university & animal rights, which seemed interesting at the outset, but the plot just never came together. I think one of the main problems was China's knack for rambling off subject into background information. These asides really slowed down the plot, & I could barely finish the book. If you are a first time reader to this series, don't judge China Bayles by "Hangman's Root."

I love the whole series! I love the characters, the plots, the herbal references! Quick fun reading- a real page turner!

China Bayles becomes disillusioned with her career as an attorney so she moves to the small town of Pecan Springs in the Texas Hill Country and opens an herb shop. In this third book of the series, China's good friend, Dottie Riddle, a biology professor at the university in Pecan Springs, is being accused of murdering one of the other faculty members, Miles Harwick. Harwick's animal experiments have galvanized opposition from animal rights groups, but Dottie has personal as well as professional problems with Harwick. A piece of physical evidence is all it takes for Dottie to be arrested. As China does some investigating, she discovers that other people have a motive to murder Harwick as well. Just as she thinks that she has the mystery solved, yet another possible suspect appears on the scene. The setting of the Texas Hill Country is a great place for a mystery and the characters surrounding China, especially her boyfriend Mike McQuaid just add to the fun.

Susan Wittig Albert's third mystery of the China Bayles series, "Hangman's Root", is a solid mystery, with a surprising killer, and a murder victim with a history of doing horrible, sadistic things to people and animals. China's friend, Dottie Riddle, a biology professor and a "cat lady" is the prime suspect in the murder of the sadistic Dr. Harwick, a colleague. Soon China finds that extortion, embezzlement, and deep hatred figure into this killing. Meanwhile, China and Mike are trying to find a house that they could both move into, with some comic results, and Rudy is trying to deal with a reunion with the daughter she gave up years ago. Not quite as good as "Witches Bane", but the sotry introduces us to some intriguing new characters.

What a pleasant surprise! I'd read a "Maggody" mystery some time ago, not realizing there was another Joan Hess series to savor. Claire Malloy is bright, sarcastic, ironic, and funny as all get-out. The plot has enough twists and turns to keep you going... I stayed up way too late two nights in a row to finish it. Peter Rosen has definite possibilities, although his character wasn't developed quite as much as Claire's; since this was Claire's opening gambit, however, that's understandable. Loved this book, and right now I'm trying to figure out the order in which the rest were written so I can follow through properly (I always read a series in order to follow character development). Definitely have your library rustle up a copy of this one, and, I suspect, the rest of the series, as well!

The only good thing about this book is that you don't have to read all of it to find out whodunnit. The identity of the murderer is obvious from chapter 2 -- even before anyone has been murdered! With their identity so clear so early on, you don't need any clues or sleuthing, which is a good thing, because there aren't any. When the showdown comes and the murderer's identity is "revealed" to anyone who has bothered to read this far, whopping great loose ends are left hanging around, leaving you asking "But why -- and what about -- ?" The setting -- a bookshop -- could have been interesting but little is made of it. This book is the first in Joan Hess's Malloy series, and as far as I'm concerned, it's also the last.

Typical of Joan Hess, it's engaging, interesting and hard to put down. The characters are lifelike, and the town is one you feel like you know.

... It is old-fashioned in a way. The police procedures are unrealistic and being gay can lead to being fired from an academic post. Much of the humor is heavy-handed and corny (addressing the cop as "Sherlock" for instance) but somehow I found it worked for me. It's unpretentious fun in the tradition of those old English cosies that were relaxing and easy to read if you willingly suspended disbelief.

As one reviewer already stated, this is not a political novel. This is not a novel about the civil rights movement in the South in the 1960s. The fact is Joe Dunne is a unique private detective, someone who is willing to be hired to stop bad things from happening to good people by decidedly evil people. He'll allow himself to be hired out to destroy a drug ringleader in a high school in order to save the high school from a drug infestation. He will also allow himself to be a hired killer if it means killing the murderers of three innocent young men (who were civil rights protestors) in the South in the 1960s and he will be handsomely rewarded for his efforts.

It's the voice of Joe Dunne who here confidently carries the novel away. The private-eye palaver employed by this detective's voice is confident, riveting, convincing, and ultimately soothing. He even makes literary comparisons between himself and other, more famous private-eyes in pulp fiction, and, decidedly, Joe Dunne comes out smelling sweeter than the roses he opts to buy his gorgeous assistant, Kirby (before she gets knocked off at the novel's conclusion ) - and has more charm than those more handsome pulp detectives who like to wear shoulder holsters instead of the hip holster he wears.

While some reviewers have stated that the novel makes a long wind-up before the plot is pitched, I noticed no problem at all in that the reader early on learns and knows he or she is in the presence of an extremely skilled and highly confident P.I. Much of the first half of the novel involves the sheer joy to be obtained when witnessing a pro prepare his job - like watching a master violinist's final rehearsal before his debut performance.

What is peculiar is that the reader barely notices how "coincidental" it is that this job is executed without a hitch. There are no mistakes before the job or during the job - none that he knows of nor none that he can clearly surmise once the job is done. Joe Dunne plans to find and murder the five men who killed those three young men and he does find and murder them by plot's end, and he does not get caught, and he does collect his pay. The drama at this plot-point is merely the suspense of how much time will it take to complete this "crime."

Only near the near-end of the novel does the reader learn, and only through the death of his assistant, Kirby, that somewhere along the line, Joe Dunne must have done something to mess things up - but no one learns exactly where, when or how.

Joe Dunne is the man who played to win, but it cost him a broken heart in the end.

The reader is left wanting more of Joe Dunne and more by Shepard Rifkin.

Classic noir grabs you from the haunting preface and won't let go. Rifkin's style combines the lean punch of Hammett with the doomed fate of Thompson. Outstanding selection in Hard Case Crime series - hope they publish more Rifkin.

As a member of the Hard Case Crime book club I received THE MURDERER VINE in the mail six weeks ago and promptly put it on the shelf. I had a few books to read before I could get to it, even though I found the description on the back cover very engaging. It was an angle that I hadn't heard before- the father of a young man murdered while he helped fight for civil rights sounded pretty darned good to me.

I was even more excited when I finally got to reading it and found it was every bit as good as I'd hoped it would be. It's true that it takes some time to build things up and get the protagonist to Mississippi, but it's worth every word. This is the first book I've read by Shepard Rifkin and I was happy to discover that his technique of plotting was very effective. While the first half of the book sets up at a slower pace the second half takes off like a bat out of heck, ending not the way you expect but possibly the way it would really happen. There are several dangling subplots, but what's great about that is it leaves you guessing until the last page. Not every character you meet plays into the climax, but to me that just adds to the realism. Call 'em red herrings or rabbit trails, I don't care. It works well.

One other reviewer said that this was not one of the best Hard Case books. I disagree. I think it's one of my top five. Granted, there's a few I've yet to read but now the measuring rod is going to be a little higher. THE MURDERER VINE is definitely a favorite. I've described it in broad strokes to people, ranging in age from 17 to 65, and they are all interested in reading it. And while it does include some politically charged ideas it isn't a "political" book. It's an adventure/mystery that can be enjoyed by everyone, though some folks from the deep south may take slight offense at the broad brush used to describe the people in this particular town.

As I read more and more of Hard Case Crime's re-releases of old mysteries from decades past, I have noticed that in a certain way they are mostly similar in that they focus on crime. That, in itself, is not surprising (especially given the name of the publisher), but what is a little more so is where the focus isn't: on anything even vaguely political. The Murderer Vine by Shepard Rifkin, originally published in 1970, is an exception.

The politics in this case deal with the civil rights movement in the Deep South. Then three young men disappear while trying to register black voters, murder is the obvious conclusion to be arrived at and, of course, the fix is in to make sure no one is ever prosecuted for the crime. One of the victims, however, has a rich father, and he hires ex-cop-turned-private-eye Joe Dunne to find the bodies, determine who the killers are, and make sure they pay the ultimate price. Dunne has some ethics, but the hundreds of thousands of dollars his client offers overrides any moral concerns.

Dunne heads down to Mississippi along with his beautiful assistant Kirby, who not only offers cover, but as a native Southerner, can teach him the ways of Dixie. Figuring out who the killers are will require blending into small town Southern life and - against Dunne's better nature - adopting a bit of a racist nature.

Will he succeed? Well, the novel begins with Dunne hiding out in Latin America, telling his tale in the form of a confession to a visiting priest. He has committed some sort of crime to justify his hiding out here, but what it is - and how it was done - is the basis of the story.

The Murderer Vine is not the best in the Hard Case Crime series, but it is a decent book. The main flaw is that the first half is pretty slow moving, and it takes nearly a hundred pages (out of a 250 page book) for Dunne to finally get to his destination. Once he's there, however, things to pick up, and by the end, things really move. This one should not be your first choice in this series, but when you get to it, you won't be disappointed.

Hiding out in Puerto Lagarto as the novel opens, our hero Joe Dunne begins a detailed confession to a traveling American priest. He has been hiding out for two years with no one to talk to and clearly is a bit lonely. Besides that, he has been watching the American in a clerical collar chasing butterflies with a net and thought it was funny. As the pages turn, he tells his story and explains how e got a job that was to set him up money wise pretty good as well as cause his exile far from home.

After handing a case that pushed the bounds, his name is passed on to an angry father by a client who really should have kept his big fat mouth firmly shut. The father is aware of some of the details of the other case and thinks that Joe Dunne could be willing to do what he wants done. It seems his boy was one of three men who went down to Mississippi to help with voter registration. His son, who was a good student at Harvard, along with two friends are now missing and presumed dead. Dad knows who did it thanks to another contact and Dad wants justice.

"'I know they're dead. I don't know what your political views are and I don't care. But I think you know what justice is. If it doesn't exist, then you make it. I want my boy's body. And I want justice."
"You mean revenge."
"I don't make any distinction. Shall we talk business?'"
(page 34)

Dad also knows that the legal system in 1970 Mississippi isn't going to do anything to the five that local gossip says were involved. He wants proof of their guilt and he wants justice.

Justice he is willing to pay for and justice of a kind that means Dunne will have to close his private investigation business, send his receptionist, Kirby, on her way and disappear. The father is willing to pay for finding the bodies of the victims, another higher amount for proof of the guilty and a still higher amount for their execution--no matter how many are ultimately guilty of the crime. Justice that he is wiling to pay for and will pay well for once he has the proof he needs of their guilt. Justice that can be bought at these prices and justice that Dunne is willing to deliver.

Like most releases from Hard Case Crime, this recent re-release is a dark atmospheric one. One knows from the opening page something went horribly wrong and the only real question as the pain filled narrative begins from Joe Dunne is exactly what went wrong. Everything and everyone is flawed in some fatal way and that certainly is the case here. Like many from this publisher, there is a certain inevitability in the read that means all the hard work, the meticulous planning of every last detail, in the end truly did not matter.

Joe Dunne is a complex character and as this slow moving novel tells the tale, a character that the reader begins to identify with more and more. A character, that while one knows is probably doomed, one that the reader pulls for all the way to the bitter end.

The novel is a read full of rich detailed characters, a time that wasn't the best in American history, and plenty of evil. It is a read that also makes one wonder just how much, if any, things have really changed.


Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2008

Margaret Truman knows how to craft a novel and although the story of Joe Wilcox and his journalistic integry is put to question and makes for an interesting read, the book is absolutely riddled with cliche. Murder At The Washington Tribune is not an entirely bad read, albeit a bit slow and clunky at times. It has just enough to keep you interested and wondering. However ... ahhh ... as a reporter Joe Wilcox is virtually handed the name of the person who may have killed a young female reporter at the paper about 120 pages in, courtesy of the young women's parents. Wilcox never considers looking into this angle. Flew past him like a Roger Clemens fast ball. Twenty five years of crime reporting and what becomes a major clue goes unreported. Wilcox, the newspaper reporter has, of course, a beautiful daughter in television. Chalk another cliche up. Anyway, the dialog between the two is often pedestrian and dumb. They're constantly sharing sources for stories and get irritated with each other when one of two holds back information for their own employer. As I think about it, there's another cliche at every page. Wilcox' boss is a "tough" Metro News Editor in constant need of the latest scoop. Cliche. Wilcox' wife is a stay-at-homer, all too eager to please and have dinner cooked when he arrives home. Cliche. The main female police officer investigating the murders has a life so cliche -- failed marriage, amazing good looks, high morality -- that she could be a piece of swiss cheese. Cliche. Then, there's the long lost brother whose past creates the books sense of mystery, but he turns out to be medium spicy. You see everything he does or is going to do coming a mile away. The last chapter of the book? CLICHE. Just read for yourself. The one redeeming part of this book is the issues facing newspapers across the country: Integrity. Revenue. The conflict between tabloid journalism and real news journalism. For exploring this angle, I give Ms. Truman thumbs up. For the rest of the book, cut the cliches.

I found myself pulled into this mystery. I've read a number of the Capital Crimes Series and feel this is one of the best ones that the author's written. I was guessing all the way until the end to figure out who the murderer was. I highly recommend this book. It is well written and the attention to detail was good without being overwhelming.

Susan K. Behm, author of The Journey, Secrets in Paradise, and Civilized Savages.

Margaret Truman is one of my favorite writers. I learn about DC politics and the city while getting a good yarn, and usually can't put them down. Unlike other mystery writers, I do not skip her words -- I do nto "speed read" but savor the whole book!

I found this book to be a bit of a departure from Truman's other novels and I have to say I really enjoyed it and found it to be a breath of fresh air. Not that Truman's other novels aren't spectacular, they really are! This book however is quite special in that the main character turns takes a path that strays away from the straight and narrow. With books where Mac Smith is the main character, we are used to him taking the high road, so this is definitely a departure from that way of thinking!

Joe Wilcox, a respected, but aging reporter finds himself in a moral dilemma when he has the opportunity to gain some fame in the autumn of his career. One thing leads to another and soon he finds himself losing is journalistic integrity in order to show up a young, hot shot reporter. To add further intrigue, someone from his past shows up on the scene that has a lot more to hide than the reader first realizes.

This complicated tale of deception and murder in the Nation's capitol should not be missed!

Murder at the Washington Tribune by Margaret Truman is not the worst book I've read this year (I'll reserve that dubious honor for Patricia Cornwell's Predator). And it's not even really that bad. It's just not that good either.

I have to applaud Ms. Truman for venturing away from her usual Washington series starring attorney Mac Smith and coming up with an entirely new set of characters for this novel. I generally enjoy her mysteries, with the combination of Washington insider intrigue, solid mystery writing, and good characters.

This book, however is not so much a mystery as a journey into the temptation of and subsequent fall from grace of a good man. As such, the mystery, the murder of a young journalist takes second place to the relationship between veteran news reporter Joe Wilcox, his daughter, hotshot television reporter Roberta Wilcox and MPD detective Edith Vargas-Swayze.

Also entering the mix is Joe's brother Michael, newly arrived in Washington after years spent in a mental institution after his killing of a teen-age girl. Truman mixes all these characters together, and tosses in a few other mysteries as well-- the murder of another reporter and the killing of an elderly veteran. Sometimes she loses some of the threads-- I don't believe the murder of the second reporter is ever solved, and the resolution of the murder of the first reporter is no big surprise-- the surprise is that no one tumbled to it sooner.

Ultimately the murders in this book are merely window dressing for the true story, which is the downfall of Joe Wilcox. There's nothing terribly wrong with that, however Ms. Truman could have given her story more oomf if she had devoted as much time and energy toward the mysteries as she did to Joe's story. As it is, the reader is left at the end feeling dissatisfied-- not only are all the questions not answered, but there just doesn't seem to have been any purpose to the whole book.

I started with book one and got so enthralled I have ordered all of these books in this series. Love to read her books under the above name and Nora Roberts name also.

I am an avid fan of this series. Haven't read all of them yet but I'm working on it. I liked every single one that I have read so far but I must say I enjoyed this one more than most of the others. Maybe it's the katharsis of the main character when she finally visualises her past or maybe because the villain is another woman, or maybe because I enjoy the banter between characters. All in all I think it's up there with "Naked" the one that launched them all.

I'm giving the book five stars, because it's good despite a few problems.

Julianna Dunne was a fascinating villainess. What makes her fascinating is she actually seduced her stepfather and cried rape to gain sympathy, which is rather ironic as the author is constantly using the fact Eve's father did rape her to gain sympathy for the character. Thankfully, the author also breathed some new life in the tired dream of the red room and the blood that's been shoved down the viewer's throat for the last 12 or 13 books.

Julianna's has returned to wreak revenge on Eve and she's decided the way to pay her back for sending her to prison is to kill Eve's husband, Roarke. I wish they would have taken it to the mat in regards to Roarke being in danger, since Eve saw the instant Julianna tried to give Roarke a poison glass of champagne, so you didn't really feel Roarke's life was ever really that much in jeopardy.

There was also a nice little side mystery of a cold case involving the murder of Marsha Stibbs. I applauded Eve when the ever-annoying Peabody felt sorry for the woman who killed her so she could have her husband and Eve rightfully said the one she should feel sorry for is Marsha Tibbs.

The bad parts of the book regard the inappropriately creepy Dr. Mira and the bootlicking Peabody. I don't know where the author is trying to go with the Eve/Mira relationship, but it doesn't work and she comes off desperate to form some kind of bond with a woman who just isn't that into her. She was practically begging Eve to take her with her when she went to Dallas declaring she could make it all better for her if she did. Eve, however, wanted Roarke with her, as he's the one she's able to open up to about her past. Then Mira went over a bugged Roarke to see how he was feeling. I really think the Mira character needs to be drop-kicked from the series, because she really doesn't work in the capacity the author is trying to go for. As for Peabody, the only thing that makes her tolerable is her relationship with McNabb. She started mouthing off to Roarke in defense of her idol, when he was allowing her equally annoying parents to stay in his house, and if she'd done the same with Eve, she would have been kissing her butt and begging forgiveness, but she never offered one word of apology to Roarke for her behavior. Of course the most nauseating Peabody moment of all was declaring to Eve, "You're my god."

To be frank, with the exception of Summerset, all the characters at one time or another have to worship at the shrine of Eve Dallas. Roarke gets away with it, because unlike the others, he'll also only put up with so much of Eve's crap before he gets fed up and tells her off. To the others Eve Dallas is their own little tin god who they genuflect to on a regular basis.

As a reader, I'd prefer to make up my own mind about Eve, and not have all the characters telling me she's the next best thing to sliced bread.

Still, Julianna, Roarke and Eve make this book a great read. Buy it for them and just skimmed through the butt-kissing when it gets too deep.

While the plot itself might not be an original idea, the spin Eve Dallas et al place on this story makes it 100 percent their own.

When a criminal from Eve's past is released, a showdown between the two former enemies is all but certain. Will Roarke be injured in the ensuing battle? Who will the killer harm to get Eve's attention? How badly does she want revenge?

We all know Eve isn't going to hide. She's not even willing to "play it safe." Typical to Eve Dallas, she meets this challenge head-on in a clash that will leave readers VERY satisfied.

The "in Death" books were published in paperback here until recently... I was able to find a seller in England who provided me with many of the older books in the series in hardcover, and was excited to find this one.

Great Eve Dallas book - I have almost all of them, and love them!

It's all about secret societies but this book shouldn't be kept a secret. The fast-paced story is full of action, riddled with twists and turns, develops characters you like a lot, weaves in some interesting U.S. history and is VERY hard to put down. My only complaint was that it was over too soon. So read it - it's good!

Having read his previous book, The Shopkeeper, I knew going in that this would be an entertaining thriller. The anticipation of what is going to happen next makes it difficult to put this book down. The author has a way of personalizing the characters so that they seem like someone you've known for a long time.
I eagerly await his next book, which I hope is out soon. His writing style is unique and demands attention, and yet is easy to follow. The Shut Mouth Society is one of those books that you get into reading and then realize that half the day is gone.

This captivating novel moves with dizzying speed. The plot twists so fast that you don't want to put it down because you know there is going to be another surprise on the next page. The combination of an unpredictable plot, intriguing characters, and fascinating American history made this book hard to put down. I was very disappointed to finish it because I wanted more. Hey! How long are you going to keep us waiting for Leadville?

I loved The Shopkeeper and I liked The Shut Mouth Society even more. It's full of adventure and suspense , but always remains believable. Besides being a fun book, I enjoyed the way American history was intertwined with an exciting story. The history of Lincoln and the Civil War period was a real asset to the book. I also like the way the story moves all over the United States because I have been in many of the locations. I hope James D. Best, like my other favorite authors, puts out at least a book a year.

I couldn't put it down. The perfect combination of suspense, mystery, adventure and US history. I learned more about Lincoln then I expected, and had a good time doing it. I like the way it takes history and brings it into current times. Nicely done.

If you haven't yet read Margaret Coel, you are in for a treat. I got hooked on Elizabeth George and now I am hooked on Margaret Coel. She gives us the same kind of attractive characters and the same kind of authentic plots as George does. Just as George mirrors the world of British aristocracy, so Coel gives us a closeup of life on an Indian reservation. I have been to the Wind River Reservation. Coel captures it perfectly. You will not only love Father O'Mallely; you will love all of the Arapaho Indians you will meet.

Margaret Coel's Father John O'Malley series is a winner. Her characters are strong and realistic, and Father John himself is one of the most endearing sleuths I've come across in this genre for quite some time. In this book Father John and his lawyer friend Vicky become involved with some really bad dudes. They both see that their beloved Wind River Reservation is facing a terrible danger, and it is up to them to avert it. One of the nicest things about these books is the nice mix that Coel pens between the white world and the world of the Reservation. As we read we see that there is some tension there, but these two cultures do mange to coexist together. I can't wait to read the next one.

Margaret Coel has said she has her characters face great challenges in order to see what they're made of. In "The Ghost Walker," her second mystery in a series, Father John O'Malley and Vicky Holden definitely get put through the wringer, which was a bit torturous for me to read, since I have already come to care about these characters so much.

But Father John and Vicky rise to meet their respective challenges with dignity, grace and humanity. Vicky struggles to save her drug-addicted daughter from a group of men who could be killers, while Father John combats plans to shut down his beloved Jesuit mission while wrestling with his own feelings for Vicky and his alcoholism.

As far as the mystery goes, Coel once again makes it clear who the bad guys are early in the novel. Normally, this would kill any suspense, but Coel has a gift for making you want to keep reading even when she lets you in on her secrets. You want to see how all the pieces will finally fit together, and you want to further probe the motives of the villains who bring such chaos to other people's lives.

"The Ghost Walker" wasn't just a page-turning mystery. It was a top-notch, character-driven novel with two protagonists you really want to see triumph in the end.

Ghost Walker is the story of Father O'Malley a Jesuit priest who works at St. Francis on the Arapaho reservation, and in his free time solves crime. Father O'Malley is a likeable character, with two problems: he has just discovered a body in a ditch by the side of the road, and two: he has financial trouble and is having difficulty making ends meet.

I wanted to like Ghost Walker, because it contained some of my favorite fictional elements: Native American Characters and Mystery, but the writing was inconsistent, and I really couldn't decide whether this book was supposed to be a 'cozy' mystery or hard-edged murder mystery, as a result it was neither, and the story suffered as a result.

Pros: Unique characters, interesting setting, some Native American Lore described.

Cons: O'Malley interfered WAY too much in Police Investigations. Police AND FBI, seemed to sit by the phone, waiting for O'Malley to call. (Yeah, right.) Substance and Alcohol Abuse themes felt a little bit heavy-handed for this reader, and I felt a bit sermonized to. The ending left me saying: Where's the mystery?

Overall, this was an okay read. I would have liked it better if it had been either a hard-edged mystery or a cozy. As both, it was rather weak, and it left me with a blah, ambivalent feeling.

In this book Father John O'Malley discovers a dead body beside the road. His credibility takes a beating when the police return and the body is gone. At this point, Father John makes it his mission to find the body and discover who has died. When a commercial developer threatens to take over Father O'Malley's mission and turn it into a recreation center, he becomes distraught and is tempted to turn to alcohol, which has been the bane of his existence for many years. Instead, he teams up with Arapaho attorney Vicky Holden, and tries to solve the murder while helping Vicky with her drug-addicted daughter, Susan. This book, while not as compelling as the first book of the series, "The Eagle Catcher", is still a good read.