Title: 11 on Top
Author: Janet Evanovich
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Latest Stephanie Plum series novel with the usual hilarious exploits of the lovable but inept bounty hunter and her wacky family and friends.

Title: 206 Bones
Classification: Mystery
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: For forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan the 206 bones in a human body are the essence to understanding life and death. In this latest "Bones" mystery Tempe, held captive in an abandoned underground tomb, mentally reconstructs events of 4 related murders that she and Lt. Ryan are trying to solve. Is her work slipping or is she being sabotaged? The detailed forensics, character development and chemistry with Ryan intensify this complex story. One of her better mysteries.

Title: All Mortal Flesh
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Publisher: Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Spencer-Fleming proves, once again, that she is absolutely one of the best mystery writers around in this, the fifth in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne series. Returning from a week's retreat to come to grips with her decision not to see the married Van Alstyne again, Clare is stunned to learn that his wife Linda has been murdered...and that Russ is the primary suspect. After all, the husband is always the first the police look at--especially one rumored to be having an affair, and, more especially, one separated from his wife. This is one series that earns a "5" for every book. Don't miss them!

Title: Among the Mad
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Publisher: Holt, Henry & Co.
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In her 6th Maisie Dobbs novel Winspear opens on Christmas Eve 1931 with a street bombing in London. Using her psychological investigative talents Maisie works the case even when she is at odds with Downing St. As in all her novels the author portrays the damage war does to ones soul, historically, and timely in today's world as well.

Title: The Art of Detection
Author: Laurie R. King
Publisher: Bantom
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: San Francisco detective Kate Martinelli (series) and her partner Al Hawkin are called to investigate the death of Philip Gilbert, member of a group of serious Sherlock Holmes aficionados. The discovery of a manuscript, possibly written by Sherlock Holmes, intrigues the detectives because the victim's death mirrors that of the victim in the manuscript. Who had read the text?

Title: Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: Nancy Atherton
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is #11 in the series which began with "Aunt Dimity's Death." Main character Lori Shepherd and her 5-year old twin sons, Will and Rob, are sent to stay with a rich friend of the family on an island off the coast of Scotland when "Abaddon" --a lunatic, obviously--threatens her husband Bill. This is about as tame as it gets in a modern mystery series, so if you like that, as I do, you'll enjoy this story. Aunt Dimity is a ghost friend who communicates with Lori through a journal, but she doesn't figure into this particular story very much.

Title: Aunt Dimity and the Deep Blue Sea
Author: Nancy Atherton
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The 11th novel in the Aunt Dimity series finds Lori Shepard and her children hiding out in a castle on a secluded Scottish Island after a series of death threats. But even there she is drawn into a possible smuggling plot and has to call on Aunt Dimity's supernatural power to save herself and her family. Atherton's cozy amateur sleuth books are both whimsical and suspenseful.

Title: Bad Day for Sorry  
Author:  Sophie Littlefield
Publisher: Minotaur
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Stella Hardesty is overweight, menopausal, and runs a sewing machine shop.  So why are grown men terrified of her?  It probably has something to do with the fact that she killed her abusive husband with a wrench and, in her spare time, is fully prepared to do just that to any other man who beats up on women.  Roy Dean Shaw is proving to be a tough case, though, and when Stella discovers that he’s not only not learned his first lesson but has also gotten himself in a whole other world of trouble, she escalates her effort to reform him--or else.

 Littlefield, a fresh, fun new voice in mystery makes her debut here in what I’m hoping will be a series. I’d like to see a lot more of her, but until then, don’t miss this!  A must-read. 

Title: Bad Guys
Author: Linwood Barclay
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Barclay is back, and he's proved he isn't a one-book author...Bad Guys is up to the standard set in Bad Move, complete with overprotective husband/father, sassy kids and smart wife; even the move back to the city can't save the hapless dad from his obsessive worry. Fortunately for us, it's really funny.

Title:  Bad Moon on the Rise
Classification: Mystery
Author:  Katy Munger
Publisher: Thalia Books
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

Although it’s been years since the last in the Casey Jones series, Munger must have spent the time honing her skills, because this is far and away the best so far.
When Casey is hired by Corndog Sally, local character and businesswoman, to find her grandson and his drug-addicted mother, Casey uncovers a nasty plot that forces her to confront her own terrors. Despite the help of all the men in her life and the complications of a new relationship Casey is running for her life as she fights to bring Sally and her grandson together before it’s too late.
A terrific read!

Casey Jones series:
Legwork
Out of Time
Money to Burn
Bad to the Bone
Better off Dead
Bad Moon on the Rise

Title: Bad Move
Author: Linwood Barclay
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Okay, gang, take Carl Hiaasen, move him to the suburbs, keep all the humor and whacked characters, and you've got Barclay. This is a terrific new voice in mystery...don't miss it.

Title: Bark M for Murder
Author: J.A. Jance, Virginia Lanier, Chassie West, and Lee Charles Kelley
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Copyright: March 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This collection of 4 short stories was enjoyable, but nothing to write home about. Short stories are rarely as fun to read as a full-length novel, so part of the handicap is the format. For die-hard dog lovers, this will be a must-read. All others can probably take a pass. The short stories are 1)Red Shirt and Black Jacket by Virginia Lanier; 2) Nightmare in Nowhere by Chassie West; 3) The French Poodle Connection by Lee Charles Kelley; and 4)The Case of the London Cabbie by J.A. Jance. Lanier and Kelley are dog lover's mystery series authors; for Jance and West, this is their first foray into this area. I particularly enjoyed Maddy Watkins with her golden retrievers, featured in the Jance story. Maddy's old but spunky and full of life. I hope to see more of her.

Title: Big Boned: A Heather Wells Mystery
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: Avon Trade
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The plus-sized, ex-pop star, now dormitory Assistant Director Heather Wells (series) is back! As hard as it is to believe, another dead body has turned up in her dorm The police, her ex-con father, the school officials, and her P.I. roommate want her to stay out of this murder investigation. Her life may be getting complicated, but Heather seems to piece evidence together better than any one else and she can't stay out of it. The story is light, moves quickly and keeps you guessing.

Title: Birds of a Feather
Classification: Mystery
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: 2004
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

"Birds of a Feather", the 2nd Maisie Dobbs series, takes place in post WWI London where Maisie is hired to find a missing young woman. Investigation leads Maisie to consider whether the girl  is the perpetrator or the next victim when 3 of her friends turn up murdered. As in all her mysteries Maisie's use of psychology and mind/body interaction create a compelling main character.

Title: Bleeding Heart Square
Classification: Mystery
Author: Andrew Taylor
Publisher: Hyperion
Copyright: 2009
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Set in London in 1934, this mystery intertwines three people all living in a rooming house. Eventually all the characters are sorted out but not without a great deal of slow moving effort. With the exception of the missing woman's diary entries, everyone and every place seems very one dimensional.

Title: Blind to the Bones
Author: Stephen Booth
Publisher: Bantam
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Blind to the Bones, a contemporary mystery set in a small English village, pairs detectives Diane Fry and Ben Cooper. Their personal and professional relationships converge as they find the common denominator in two murders. Booth's plot features interesting characters but is somewhat ponderous getting to the point and conclusion.

Title: Blue Shoes and Happiness
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Pantheon Books/Random House Inc.
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This 7th entry in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is a delight from start to finish. As always, it is less a mystery than a peek into Precious Ramotswe's life in Botswana. Simple, charming, refreshing.

Title: The Body in the Bookcase
Author: Katherine Hall Page
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 1999
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is one of many Faith Fairchild mystery series. While catering a lavish wedding weekend she is drawn into solving a murder as well as a break-in in her own home. Witty, complex and recipies to boot!

Title: Bone Vault
Classification: Mystery
Author: Linda Fairstein
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2004
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

Assistant D.A. Alex Cooper, in her 5th mystery novel, is called upon to find the killer of a Metropolitan Museum of Art intern whose body is found in an ancient sarcophagus. A controversial combined exhibit with the Museum of Natural History provides several possible suspects. Alex teams up again  with homicide cop Mike Chapman as they search behind the scenes through museum politics as well as miles of backrooms and shadowy halls.

Title: Bones to Ashes (Review #1)
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Once again Kathy Reichs enmeshes Temperance Brennan in a series of unsolved deaths and intense forensic study to determine the age and identity of the victims. But one case becomes very personal when she fears the bones may belong to her long ago childhood friend whose disappearance was never solved. Fellow detective Ryan is on the scene too, working on the possibility of a serial predator who may be involved. If you like Reich's detailed forensic study you will enjoy this one too.

Title: Bones to Ashes (Review #2)
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist, is back in Montreal and the first case that comes across her desk involves an Acadian skeleton of a young girl who may be Tempe's childhood best friend. Tempe finds herself more involved in cold case police field investigations in this tenth installment from the Temperance Brennan series, but it is truly the gripping forensic science that keeps this sophisticated thriller a page turner.

Title: Bones to Ashes (Review #3)
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Patty
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: It's been a while since I've picked up a Temperance Brennan series book. Despite the time away, I found it easy to pick up where I left off. This newest tale takes Temperance back to her childhood after her father passes away. Bones are discovered that bring up the possibility of them belonging to her long forgotten friend who disappeared suddenly so many years ago. Taking on this case becomes personal as Temperance works to discover the true identity of the bones. Is it her missing childhood friend or not? Reichs takes you along for a ride as the answer is revealed.

Title: Bones to Pick
Author: Carolyn Haines
Publisher: Kensington
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The newest installment in the Bones series featuring Sarah Booth Delaney, Southern Belle and P.I.  All the quirky characters are at it again to solve another murder mystery.  Again, Haines paints the Delta with so much texture you smell the flowers and feel the temperature change as you read.  If you enjoy Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, you should give Haines’ Bones series a try.  The mysteries have more depth and the relationship between the characters is much more believable than you find in Evanovich.  Highly recommend this series.  Best to read in order but not necessary since each book has an independent story line that could be followed.  

Title: Bones to Pick
Author: Carolyn Haines
Publisher: Kensington
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: PI Sarah Booth Delaney and her partner Tinkie are involved in solving several local deaths attributed to a serial killer. Nearly becoming victims themselves draws Sarah Booth's (unavailable) lover to the scene. The "Bones" series generally are well done, but this one has less humor and is too easily solved by the reader.

Title: Break No Bones
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This book is the ninth addition to the Temperance Brennan, Forensic Anthropologist series.  Tempe is stuck in South Carolina filling in as professor for an archeology field dig.  The students find a recent body among the ancient Native American burial mounds and Tempe finds herself part-coroner, part-detective and living with ex-husband, Pete and new paramour, Ryan in a friend’s beach house.  The story is full of scientific forensic facts and interesting police work as Tempe sets out to solve the mystery of what is happening to the area’s missing persons.  Not one of the best Temperance Brennan books, but definitively worth reading.  Nothing in this story demands reading previous books in the series to follow the characters or the mystery.

Title: By The Time You Read This
Author: Giles Blunt
Publisher: Henry Holt
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Blunt, the author of Black Fly Season, is back with another great read! John and Catherine Cardinal have been married for years, so he knows when his wife's bipolar syndrome is reaching the blackness of depression. He's devastated when, on a routine photography outing, she throws herself off the tallest building in Algonquin Bay. Despite overwhelming evidence that her death is a suicide Cardinal sets out to prove that it was murder and uncovers the dark and twisted truth. Don't miss this one!

Title: Case Histories
Author: Kate Atkinson
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Copyright: 2004
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Kate Atkinson just hasn't found a way to write a bad book, and this entry in the Jackson Brodie series is more evidence of that. Three unrelated crimes, spanning a period of twenty-four years, are woven together in an unlikely but inevitable way when former cop Brodie investigates. Atkinson, as always, convincingly establishes the strength of coincidence as the quirky Brodie wanders through the clues. A terrific read.

Title: Cat Breaking Free
Author: Shirley Rousseau Murphy
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This cat lover's mystery is #11 in the Joe Grey series that began with "Cat on the Edge". This series continues to be delightful, as the feline sleuths are pawing for the truth once again. Mysteriously gifted with human intellects and the ability to speak to humans (although they only choose to converse with a select few), Joe Grey, Dulcie, and Kit encounter some wild domestic cats who are their equals, and some beastly humans who have bad plans for them.

Title:  Caught
Classification: Mystery
Author: Harlan Coben 
Publisher: Dutton
Copyright:  2010
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

Dan Mercer is on his way to help a teenage girl in trouble when he walks into the glare of television lights and his life is forever changed.  Wendy Tynes is the TV reporter who has made a name for herself by exposing pedophiles and who thinks Dan is no different from any of the others she has nailed.  This case is not the same, though, and with heart-pounding speed Coben races through twists as more people are caught in the maze of murder and retaliation. 

Move this one to the top of your must-read list, and be sure not to schedule anything until you’re done.  Absolutely fantastic!

Title: Cell
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Thriller with a little sci-fi (or is it). At 3PM on a sunny afternoon in October afternoon, everyone using a cell phone suddenly goes mad, reverting to the basest form of life - bestiality. The Pulse, as it comes to be known, erases everything else in the brain. People begin killing each other, tearing limb from limb with their teeth. As survivors try to escape to somewhere safe, they begin to notice a herd or flock quality to the phoners who seem able to communicate with one another telepathically. When survivors find that the phoners are using tools and seemingly planning activities, they realize that that the damaged brains are rebooting, just as a computer does.The journey to some sort of safety is fraught with dangerous encounters and near encounters and no real resolutions ever occur. The plot is somewhat intriguing but extremely gory. Typical Stephen King who, by the way, does not own a cell phone.

Title: The Chameleon's Shadow
Author: Minette Walters
Publisher: Knopf
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Wounded in Iraq, British lieutenant Charles Acland returns home disfigured and suffering from aggressive paranoia. Unwilling to accept help, he becomes a suspect in a series of vicious murders. "The Chameleon's Shadow" is a psychologically complex and suspenseful thriller.

Title: A Charmed Death ____
Author: Madelyn Alt
Publisher: Berkley
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The second book in the Enchanted series is even more disappointing than the first.  Again, all the characters from The Trouble with Magic are back sans one; the most interesting, Enchantment owner Felicity Dow.  She makes an appearance midway through the book but is rather inconsequential to the mystery of finding out who has killed the local entitled teenage princess thought to have committed suicide.  The book focuses more on teaching us about the New Age witch world and the stumbling of new witch Maggie O'Neill than creating a good murder mystery.

Title: Charmed to Death
Author: Shirley Damsgaard
Publisher: Avon
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Book 2 in the Ophelia & Abby Mystery series. Ophelia again stumbles upon a dead body in the small town of Summerset, Iowa. Now, she has to deal with her emerging psychic gifts alone since grandmother Abby is indisposed and the town is full of person’s from her past trying to link her to previous murders. A quick read murder mystery where the secondary characters, at times, seem more interesting than the lead character. The series makes you wonder if living in a quiet, small town might be more dangerous than city life.

Title: Crazy School  
Classification: Mystery
Author:  Cornelia Read
Publisher: Grand Central
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

Title: Deeper Than the Dead
Classification:  Mystery
Author: Tami Hoag
Publisher: Penguin Group
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

"Deeper Than the Dead" opens with 4 fifth graders stumbling onto a murder victim. When it becomes apparent a serial killer is responsible FBI profiler Vince Leone is brought in. While trying to consul the kids teacher Anne Navarre is also drawn into the center of the investigation. Suspects include two of the parents, one a well respected dentist and the other a local sheriff's deputy. Thrown in is a little romance with the mystery to keep your interest to the very end.

Title:  Elegy for April
Classification: Mystery
Author:  Benjamin Black
Publisher: Henry Holt
Copyright: 2010
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

Title: Executive Power
Author: Vince Flynn
Publisher: Pocket Books
Copyright: 2003
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Political thriller. Outed undercover agent Mitch Rapp now is on the kill list of terrorists across the globe and has been reassigned as a CIA Advisor. While investigating the ambush of a Navy Seal team, he uncovers a probable leak within the State Department. In addition, powerful Middle Easterners are plotting to ignite a global war to further their evil goals of world domination. Political intrigue on an international level. Great.

Title: A Fatal Slip: A Clay and Crime Mystery
Author: Melissa Glazer
Publisher: Penguin Group
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Potter Carolyn Emerson's husband is the prime suspect in a local murder. She and her sleuthing friends conspire to clear his name in this middle book of a series. Author Glazer really had to stretch to find a plot in this weak and unmemorable mystery.

Title: Fearless Fourteen
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: It just wouldn't be summer without the new Stephanie Plum (series)...there's something about the Morelli/Ranger indecision that lends itself to a front porch and iced tea. This one is no exception, as Plum takes on temporary custody of a client's kid while helping Ranger protect a has-been singer and trying to keep Grandma Mazur from digging up Morelli's yard. (Well, she DOES think the nine million dollars is buried there). Add to the mix a kidnapping, a homemade cannon that shoots potatoes and a dog that eats underwear and Stephanie is pretty busy. No big guffaws, but lots of little giggles.

Title: Fear the Worst
Classification: Mystery
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: Bantam
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy  
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: When his seventeen year-old daughter doesn't come home from her summer job, at first divorced dad Tim Blake thinks she's in a snit over the minor argument they'd had. But when the staff at the motel where she's been working tell him they've never seen her and her absence stretches into days, then weeks, Blake's investigation opens a whole new world to him. The question is: has Syd left on her own or has she uncovered something that cost her her life? And can he stay ahead of the police long enough to find out? Another fast-paced Barclay success.

Title: Fever Moon
Classification: Mystery
Author: Carolyn Haines
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Copyright: 2007
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Haines’ remarkably descriptive writing style that always seems to capture the texture of small town southern life works against her in this murder mystery set in the war-robbed small town of New Iberia, Louisiana in 1944.  I tried more than once to get through the book but to no avail-the characters just weren’t interesting enough and the story moved way too slow.

Title: Field of Darkness  
Classification: Mystery
Author:  Cornelia Read
Publisher: Grand Central
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: 

Madeline Dare comes from money so old that there’s none left, although there are members of the family who still live as though there’s plenty.  Dare, however, is living in Syracuse, working at the local newspaper when her father in-law shows her some dog tags found at a murder scene years ago.  Interesting but not riveting until Madeline sees the name on the tags and begins her search for answers, because the name is not only familiar to her but belongs to her cousin, a Gatsbyesque playboy who may or may not be a killer.

 A very good debut!

Title: Fifth Floor
Author: Michael Harvey
Publisher: Alfred A Knopf
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Harvey is back, with the second in the Michael Kelly series, and he proves that his terrific first book wasn't a fluke! Kelly is hired by an old lover, now married and a punching bag for her influential husband, and Kelly finds himself up against the powerful Fifth Floor...the seat of Chicago's city government and home of Mayor Wilson in a mystery that starts with the Great Chicago Fire. Another great read from Harvey!

Title: Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: When celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle is beheaded right in front of Lula, Stephanie and the gang decide to sign up for a barbecue cookoff to trap the killers before they kill Lula. After all, it should be easy to recognize the guy with the meat cleaver and the giggle. But the laughs in this latest Stephanie Plum mystery are few and the Stephanie/Ranger/Morelli tension seems forced. Evanovich needs to wrap this up and move on.

Title: Finger Lickin' Fifteen
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Stephanie Plum again with lots of Lula, perverts, flaming cars and of course, Ranger and Morelli. Fifteen has a pretty weak plot but still lots of laughs.

Title: First Rule 
Author: Robert Crais
Classification: Mystery
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Copyright: 2010
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

In this, the second in the Joe Pike series, Crais has the deadly Pike hunting the home-invasion gang that killed his friend and former mercenary. When it becomes evident that this is no low-level drug-addled group, Pike finds himself up against the powerful Russian mob in a thriller that races its way through deceit and double-cross and has Pike calling in all his favors as he tracks a killer who is almost as lethal as he.
Whether he features Joe Pike or his business partner Elvis Cole, Crais almost always nails it…this one is no exception.
 

Joe Pike series:
Watchman
First Rule

Title: Fool's Puzzle
Author: Earlene Fowler
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is the first in a mystery series you'll recognize by the quilt on the cover. In addition to a good "light" mystery, the books take you through several changes in the life of the main character, Benni Harper.

Title: Forty Words For Sorrow
Classification: Mystery
Author: Giles Blunt
Publisher: Berkley
Copyright: 2001
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: One of the most surprising things about this author is that he isn't front and center on bookstore displays. In fact, I had to special order this: and it was worth the wait! This is the first in the Algonquin Bay series featuring cop John Cardinal, and is as absolutely great as the others. Cardinal's bipolar wife Catherine is hospitalized, his daughter Kelly away at school, when he's called out to view the most unusual results of a murder: the victim is frozen in a block of ice. Missing for months and almost dismissed as a runaway, young Katie Pine has been found. Set in Canada, this book will chill you as Cardinal tries to find the killer and as he hides a shameful secret. My recommendation? Read this book!

Title: Full Scoop
Author: Janet Evanovich & Charlotte Hughes
Publisher: St. Martin’s Paperback
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Full Scoop is the sixth in their Full Series and with each book, the stories and characters from Beaumont, South Carolina keep getting better. This novel has more suspense and action than mystery, but humor is in all the right places. A quick, fun read.

Title: The Good Husband of Zebra Drive
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Knopf
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Precious Ramotswe, Botswana's leading, and only female detective, continues to solve mysteries in her quiet thoughtful way. This 8th book in "The No 1 Ladies Detective" series also features her husband and office manager, both of whom try their hand at new ventures. McCall Smith's mysteries, although not fast paced or dramatic, are sprinkled with compassionate wisdom.

Title: Grave Secrets
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2003
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: "Grave Secrets" finds Tempe Brennen, a forensics examiner, in Guatemala this time where she must try to find a connection between an earlier government massacre, 4 possible new murders of young women and the attack on two of her co-workers. She also must balance the attention of two admirers with her investigations and her own well being. The books in this series include a lot of forensic detail and many varied interesting characters.

Title: Grave Sight
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Harper Connelly is a twenty-something woman, who after being hit by lightening is able to find dead people. She is for hire and travels around the south with her step-brother, Tolliver, acting as her emotional protector and business manager.  This story is darker and lacks the endearing characters usually found in Harris’ other books.  Harper may be good at what she does, but seems somewhat wimpy and a little too whiney for a lead character.  If you like murder mysteries with a slight supernatural twist, you may enjoy meeting Harper and Tolliver in this first book. (The second installment, Grave Surprise, is set for release in November, 2006, and I hope Harper gets a grip on her unique skill by that time.)  

Title: Grave Surprise ____
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Well, it seems Harper Connelly has gotten a grip on her unique skills in this second mystery featuring Harper and her brother Tolliver Lang.  Harper Connelly is a twenty-something woman, who after being hit by lightening is able to find dead people and knows how they died.  She is for hire and travels with her step-brother, Tolliver who acts as her emotional protector and business manager.  Both siblings are sharp and on top of their game as they as they tie up loose ends from the first book in the series, Grave Sight (Check out my review on this title in my Back Shelf page).  If you like murder mysteries with a slight supernatural twist and a touch of deadpan wit, you will enjoy reading about these sibling sleuths in Harris’ new series.

Title: Ham Bones
Author: Carolyn Haines
Publisher: Kensington
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This seventh installment in The Bones series gets a four solely based on the return of some of the most endearing Southern Daddy’s Girls that ever tried to solve crime-Sarah Booth, Tinkie, Cece and the Dahlia House haunt, Jitty.  As soon as Sarah makes a New Year’s resolution to put her past behind her, it slaps her in the face when her New York acting associates bring the theater and murder into her life.  Charged with the murder of an old nemesis, Sarah is self-absorbed and lacks the strong lead she usually commands in most of the series’ stories.  This murder mystery is hardly a mystery and the characters seemed posed to survive without Sarah by the end of the book.  The series receives a five; this story is the weakest installment and is only worthy of a three.

Title: Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Author: Sharyn McCrumb
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Set in the mountains of Tennessee, this book weaves a haunting Appalachian story of murder, suicide, history, and prescience. Much more than a murder mystery; it's a moody, moving story of the deep rural south.

Title: I Heard That Song Before
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Patty
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In usual Mary Higgins Clark style, the 'who done it' novel is full of twists and turns which I am grateful for as I hate it when I can guess the ending of the story halfway through. This story centers on Kay Lansing Carrington, the latest “Mrs. Carrington”. The ultra rich husband, Peter, has a sordid past. A previous dead wife and missing and presumed dead girlfriend…which Peter is suspected of being behind but it can’t be proven. When the body of the girlfriend is found on the property, Kay and Peter’s lives are focused on proving his innocence.  The diligence of a hired private detective by the dead girlfriend’s mother searches for the truth of did he or didn’t he do it.

Title: Hoe Lot of Trouble
Author: Heather Webber
Publisher: Avon
Copyright: 2004
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: A cute mystery (the first in the Nina Quinn series) featuring the owner of a landscaping firm, her police officer husband, and his teenage son. And, of course, Xena the snake. A light, fun read in the style of Elaine Viets and Sharon Short.

Title: Hold Tight
Author: Harlan Coben
Publisher: Dutton
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Coben does it again! Following the suicide of a teenage boy, Mike and Tia Baye are worried about their son...so worried that they install spy wear on his computer to monitor his activities. Their discoveries lead them into a new culture of drugs and murder and the fear that they will be too late to save their son. Although not quite as tightly-written as Tell no One or Gone For Good, Coben paints a fairly convincing picture of the potential for terror in today's tech-driven world.

Title: How to Succeed in Murder
Author: Margaret Dumas
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: A slick, funny and light amateur sleuth story involving a newlywed couple who infiltrate a software company where an alarming number of executives turn up dead. The characters, Charley and Jack, are an appealing and clever couple.

Title: The Hunt Club
Author: John Lescroart
Publisher: Dutton
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: When the body of a federal judge is found shot to death alongside his equally dead mistress, homicide inspector Devin Juhle assumes it's a simple case of wifely jealousy. Investigation, however, reveals that the judge had many powerful enemies. Meanwhile, Juhle's best friend, private investigator Wyatt Hunt has become enamored with Andrea Parisi, a beautiful lawyer, who is a commentator on Trial TV, and who has ambitions of making the big time in New York. But hunt soon discovers that Andrea also had a connection with the murdered judge and, furthermore, that Juhle considers her the prime suspect. Then Andrea disappears which Juhle feels strengthens his case. Hunt fears she has been kidnapped or even become another victim. As the investigation continues, Juhle is adamant that everything be done by the book and fears Hunt may get in the way and jeopardize his case. Hunt just wants to find Andrea alive. He gathers a loose group of friends and associates -the hunt club- who don't mind bending the rules to achieve their goals. Intricate plotting and superb characterization make this an excellent read.

Title: The Husband
Author: Dean Koontz
Publisher: Bantam Books
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Thriller. Landscaper Mitch Rafferty is in the middle of planting annuals in a client's garden when his cell phone rings. On the other end of the line, a voice says "We have your wife. You can get her back for 2 million - cash." Whomever is calling is unimpressed with the fact that Mitch has no possible way to raise such a sum, saying that he'll find a way - if he loves his wife enough. This intense thriller will keep you in it's grip from the shocking beginning through the labyrinth of plot twists to the astounding conclusion. Dean Koontz at his very best. (Click here to check out Nancy's review of the same book)

Title: An Ice Cold Grave
Author: Charlaine Harris
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Harper Connelly and her stepbrother/manager, Tolliver head to Doraville, NC to find a missing boy in this third story from the Harper Connelly Mystery series. What they find is a frozen grave yard of young boys who have been tortured, abused and murdered over the years. The find is shocking, considering so many young boys have gone missing in this small town and most of the locals just assumed they ran away. Add a personal twist in the relationship between Harper and Tolliver, and this story becomes even more unbelievable. The series is dark, full of suspense and quirky characters that keep you coming back. However, if the characters continue to vacillate between professional competence and whinny personal trauma, this series could go down hill fast.

Title: Incomplete Revenge
Classification: Mystery
Author: Jacqueline Winespear
Publisher: Picador USA
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Maisie Dobbs, British sleuth and psychologist, travels to Kent to investigate a series of fires and thefts. Maisie, still emotionally fragile from her WWII  nursing experiences, forges ahead  to confront the locals and her own past. Character and plot development lead to an ending which, in the larger sense,  is one of national reconciliation and healing. In this series Maisie as always compelling not only as an investigator but as a psychologist probing not only her subjects but herself as well.

Title: Interred With Their Bones
Author: Jennifer Lee Carrell
Publisher: Penguin Group
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Shakespeare scholar and theater director Kate Stanley embarks on a high stakes race to solve a string of deadly murders involving numerous literary clues. The ultimate solution- did William Shakespeare really write the many works attributed to him? This debut thriller has lots of twists and a great deal of Shakespearian history.

Title:  Invisible Boy
Classification: Mystery
Author:  Cornelia Read
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Copyright: 2010
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

In her third Madeline Dare book, Read gets more than a little hung up on the whole urban drinking, smoking, swearing doping thing which definitely gets in the way of what is a pretty decent plot.  Madeline and husband Dean have moved back to New York after living in what she considers the hinterlands and are supporting themselves (barely) with odd jobs when Maddy meets a woman who is working to clear and restore a historic graveyard.  Interested, Maddy agrees to volunteer, but when she discovers the skeleton of a child and attempts are made on her life she is determined to find the murderer.

A little long on big city living, a little short on mystery, but a decent read.

Title: I Shall Not Want
Author: Julia Spencer-Fleming
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne are back in the first in this series since the death of Linda Van Alstyne, and Spencer-Fleming has allowed their relationship to dominate the book with enough sexual tension to classify this entry as a romantic suspense rather than a mystery. A definite distraction from what used to be a tightly-written series with a romantic subplot, and one I hope doesn't continue in subsequent submissions. Here, Clare caught up in the murders of undocumented aliens who are, unfortunately, so vaguely drawn that it's hard to keep track...since, after all, Russ is no longer married and the focus is on: when can Clare sleep with him? All in all, a letdown.

Title: The Jasmine Moon Murder
Author: Laura Childs
Publisher: Berkley
Copyright: 2004
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is one of the "Tea Shop" mysteries where main character, Theodosia Browning, an amateur sleuth, finds herself trying to solve the murders without becoming a victim. She runs a Charleston tea shop so there is the added touch of southern recipes and "tea" tips.

Title: Judas Burning
Author: Carolyn Haines
Publisher: River City Publishing
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Carolyn Haines is amazing at capturing the live-style and flavor of the Mississippi Delta and you can almost feel the mosquitoes buzzing around Jexville, Mississippi in this murder mystery. However, there are too many mysteries surrounding each of the characters and the story doesn’t always appear connected or cohesive. Lacks the whimsical, light-heartedness found in Haines’s Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries. Still, I would recommend it if you are in the mood for a well-written Southern small-town murder mystery.

Title: The Kalahari Typing School for Men
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Copyright: April 2003
Reviewer: Leigh
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Book four in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. Precious is still waiting for a wedding date from Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni and solving mysteries meanwhile. Mma Makusti has decided to start her own business venture teaching men how to type. Will this lead to romance for Mma Makusti? This light story ties in with the flavor of the other books in the series. A nice light read.

Title: Lady Killer
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Lawyer Mary DiNunzio is juggling her typical caseload of South Philly clients (responsible for the sign on the office door that reads "Must Wear Shirts")when former high school classmate Trish (Trash) Gambone shows up in her office, hysterical. Trish is terrified that her abusive boyfriend is about to kill her, and with his Mob connections it's a real possibility. So when Trish goes missing, Mary is sure she's dead and sets out to find her murderer. Written with Scottoline's trademark humor, this is a very good read.

Title: Lean Mean Thirteen (Review #1)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Stephanie Plum (series) is back and as funny as ever as she juggles Morelli and Ranger while trying to solve the disappearance of her scumbag ex. Lula is in rare form as she and Stephanie track down a no-show for the bond office in a trailer inhabited by a monster python and through a cemetery in the dark, and as they try to apprehend a taxidermist afraid to leave his house. Evanovich is dependably hysterical...it would be great if she gave up on her other series and gave us more Plum!

Title: Lean Mean Thirteen (Review #2)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Stephanie Plum and the gang are back in this 13th addition to one of the funniest mystery series ever written.  Nothing new develops; no major character development; just Stephanie, Grandma, Lulu, Ranger and Joe dealing with murder, a missing ex, wrecked cars, funeral showings and family dinner at the Plums.  As long as you don’t expect something new, enjoy another funny, totally fluffy romp around New Jersey with Stephanie, the inept bounty hunter.

Title: Lone Wolf
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: Bantam Dell/Random House
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this, the third in the Zack Walker series, Zack is working as a feature writer for the Metropolitan when he gets the call informing him that his father is dead. Not just dead, but eaten-by-a-bear dead. When he arrives at his father's camp he finds, not a bear, but a group of survivalists who are armed to the teeth and whose artwork on the walls features a picture of Timothy McVeigh. At least his father isn't dead, but a lot of people might be if Zack can't find out just who is being targeted by this group and stop them before it's too late. Maybe a notch less funny than the first two, but still a must-read.

Title: Look Again
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Reporter Ellen Gleeson is tempted to toss the missing children card that comes in the mail but the child pictured on the card could be her adopted son's twin, a coincidence that drives Ellen to a search for a truth that could take her son from her. In this fast-paced thriller, Ellen has to face her fear that, like the women about whom she writes, she may be become a statistic: a woman who loses her child, not to murder or kidnapping, but to a crime with the same result. A terrific, harrowing read!

Title: Lost in a Good Book: A Thursday Next Novel
Author: Jasper Fforde
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: 2004
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this second volume literary sleuth Thursday Next ventures through several literary classics to get back her "eradicated" husband and, perhaps, save the world. Fforde's novels are inventive, witty, fun and sometimes confusing, but this one will especially appeal to "literary" readers.

Title: The Mapping of Love and Death
Classification:  Mystery
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2010
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

The 7th and latest Maisie Dobbs novel, "The Mapping of Love" finds Maisie and assistant Billie investigating the death of an American cartographer, attached to the  British army in France during WWI. In discovering that his death was actually murder Maisie's own well being is threatened. Several subplots, the chance for personal romance and the approaching loss of her mentor all build to a moving conclusion. If you like a more subtle, introspective and gentle heroine, Maisie Dobbs is definitely for you!

Title: Messenger of Truth: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Publisher: Picador USA
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Set in London in 1931, the fourth Maisie Dobbs mystery finds Maisie investigating the "accidental" death of a controversial artist. Once again she must deal with post-WWI England's struggle with widespread unemployment, poverty and political upheaval as well as her own personal problems. Winespear's novels are for those who enjoy historical whodunits and compassionate introspective protagonists.

Title: Morality for Beautiful Girls
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Copyright: September 2001
Reviewer: Leigh
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The third novel in the No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series finds Precious Ramotswe in a bit of a bind. Her fiance Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni has given up any desire to work and maybe suffering from what the doctors in Botswana call depression. Mma Makutsi is now in charge of the car garage while Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni gets better as well as having a case of her own regarding beauty pageant contestants. Precious on the other hand uses her common sense to solve other mysteries that are brought to her such as a wilderness boy and another case of a jealous wife. Again, another good, light read in this series.

Title: Motor Mouth (Review #1)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby (series), first introduced in "Metro Girl", returns in this fun and sexy multi crime mystery. NASCAR driver Hooker and the Cigar Ladies Felicia and Rosa add to the cast of characters for a light quick read. Evanovich continues to create supporting characters who add immensely to her books.

Title: Motor Mouth (Review #2)
Classification: Mystery
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2006
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Okay, so this isn't Stephanie Plum, but it's still laugh-out-loud funny. Barney is back (series), working for (and trying to resist) Nascar Guy Sam Hooker. When another driver races to the win, Barney is convinced that he's cheating. And when bodies start to turn up, Barney and Hooker have to race against the clock to find the murderer before they end up in jail...or dead.

Title: Motor Mouth (Review #3)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: I care zip about car racing, but I still laughed my way through this book. Mechanic Alexandra Barnaby, more commonly known as Barney, and racecar driver Sam Hooker start out to help a friend and end up on the run from the bad guys, with hilarious results. This sequel to Metro Girl is much better than the original, in which 'NASCAR Guy' talked about himself in the third person and was as appealing as Jar Jar Binks. Thankfully, the authors have divested him of that habit in this second appearance. The crack-up character Lula from the Stephanie Plum series does not appear in the Barnaby books, but I felt that her spirit was there in the pages of it.

Title: Motor Mouth (Review #4)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: I heard so much about this NASCAR themed series, and love most of Evanovich’s witty characters, I felt compelled to read this second installment of the series about mechanic turned sleuth Alexandra Barnaby and her on-again-off-again love interest, race car driver Sam Hooker.  What a major disappointment! The characters are so ridiculous and the story so far fetched from reality, it became harder and harder for me to turn the page.  At times I wonder whether the main character, an educated mechanical engineer, was just acting stupid or whether her exposure to the NASCAR scene made her so.  She would find a dead body, discuss whether or not to have sex, dispose of the body, discuss whether or not to have sex, hunt down hired killers, and hide out from a major police hunt with her sex-crazed ex-boyfriend while they tried to figure out who and why dead people kept getting in their path.  Who cares!  I would rather have dust on my shelf than this book and it gets a two only because Evanovich, even at her worst, can write. 

Title: Moving Is Murder
Author: Sara Rosett
Publisher: Kensington Books
Copyright: April 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: #1 in the new Mom Zone series. A decent read about a woman, newly "mommed," who is married to an Air Force pilot. The story takes place after their move to a new home, so although the plot does not center around the actual experience of moving, the family is unpacking and settling into their new neighborhood. With a murderer on the loose, of course. The author gives a few moving tips at the ends of chapters. The main character may develop a home organizing business in future books. So, military, new motherhood, organizing for a move--if any of these topics hold appeal for you, you may enjoy the themes in this mystery.

Title: Mr. Monk Goes to the Firehouse
Author: Lee Goldberg
Publisher: Signet
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: If you like the TV show "Monk", featuring a brilliant detective who is crippled by extreme obsessive-compulsive disorder, you'll enjoy this paperback novel by one of the show's writers. In June 2006, Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii. I can't wait!!

Title: Mr. Monk Goes to Hawaii
Author: Lee Goldberg
Publisher: Signet/Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright: July 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This second book in the Monk series is sure to delight the fans of the t.v. show. Full of depictions of Monk's obsessive-compulsive habits, this story had me laughing out loud. My one complaint is that the mystery was too easy. If I could figure it out, a genius like Monk certainly should have caught on sooner. But I found it very enjoyable just the same. Now we have to wait until Jan. 2007 for the "Blue Flu" to be released. I'm getting my order in early!

Title: Mrs. Jeffries Appeals the Verdict
Author: Emily Brightwell
Publisher: Berkely/Penguin
Copyright: May 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: #21 in the Mrs. Jeffries series. I typically enjoy this light Victorian mystery series featuring an Inspector whose detective work is helped out considerably by his household staff. However, this one did not particularly engage me, probably because I so recently read the previous book in the series, and the stories are too much alike after awhile to read one right after another.

Title: Mrs. Jeffries and the Silent Knight
Author: Emily Brightwell
Publisher: Berkley/Penguin
Copyright: October 2005
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Inspector Witherspoon is a gifted homicide detective: gifted in having a household staff, headed by housekeeper Mrs. Jeffries, accompanied by a few friends, who enjoy secretly helping him catch murderers and thus enhance his reputation. In this 20th entry in the series begun by "The Inspector and Mrs. Jeffries", set in Victorian England, Witherspoon continues to be charmingly puzzled by "his" brilliant ideas. If you like your mysteries tame, without extensive blood/gore/unwelcome insights into the twisted minds of psychotic killers, you'll be safe with this entertaining series.

Title: Murder On a Girls' Night Out
Author: Anne George
Publisher: Avon/Hearst
Copyright: 1996
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The first in the Southern Sisters mystery series, this is a delight. The series features Sister and Mouse, two elderly Southern sisters who sleuth. The relationship between the women rings absolutely true and the supporting characters are fun, too.

Title: Murder On A Girl’s Night Out
Author: Anne George
Publisher: Avon/Hearst
Copyright: 1996
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: First in the Southern Sisters series. A mildly entertaining story about two very different sisters who become involved in a murder case when the former owner of a Country Western bar is murdered right after one sister buys it from him.

Title: Murder Unfolds
Author: Sharon Short
Publisher: Avon
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this, the fifth in the Stain-Busting series, Josie Toadfern (laundromat owner and stain-removal expert) tries to determine whether her former high school teacher (grumpy Mrs. Oglevee) was murdered. Although Short has vastly improved her writing style and story-telling technique she still has a way to go. I understand the difficulty of concealing the identity of whodunit, but throwing in lots of superfluous characters as red herrings just muddies the story without advancing the plot. Short's humor, though, shines in the first half of this book. For a chance to meet the author, check the Foul Play site (linked on our home page); she'll be appearing there in June 2007.

Title: Murder Unleashed
Author: Elaine Viets
Publisher: New American Library/Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright: May 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: #5 in the Dead-End Job Mystery series. Main character Helen Hawthorne works at the Barker Brothers Pampered Pet Boutique in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This is not a typical dog-lover's mystery: the main character does not have a dog, and the dogs as individual characters are not central to the plot. However, the animal-centered setting is very central, and its originality (a pet store catering to the extreme rich) makes this an appealing, inviting read for dog-lovers regardless. The story weaves together a lot of interesting elements that make for an entertaining, fun, fresh read. The primary focus of the story is pets, humor and adventure, but please note that there is a sexual element that makes this story unsuitable for young people.

Title: Nature Girl
Author: Carl Hiaasen
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf/Random House
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Hiaasen does it again! When Honey Santana answers the phone to sleazy telemarketer Boyd Shreave, it's the last straw for her...she enlists the help of her computer geek son to give him a taste of his own medicine. With a full cast of quirky Hiaasen characters (although missing the governor), this is terrific. Add it to your must-read list!

Title:  Never Look Away
Classification: Mystery
Author:  Linwood Barclay
Publisher: Delacorte
Copyright: 2010
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

David Harwood is worried about his wife Jan, who has been showing signs of depression, but he is encouraged by her plans for them to take their four year-old son to a nearby amusement park for a family day.  David’s optimism turns to horror when first Ethan, then Jan, disappear and all the evidence implicates him.  The police want to know why only two tickets to the park were bought and why no one else has noticed any changes in Jan’s behavior. 

Fast-paced and riveting, Never Look Away is another winner from Barclay!

Title: A New Leash on Death
Author: Susan Conant
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is the first book in my favorite dog lover's mystery series. The unofficial sleuth, Holly Winter, is a writer of dog articles who shows Alaskan malamutes in competition. Her dogs are real dogs and act like it: they misbehave, even though they are well trained. Fun! Plus I learned tons about the dog show world.

Title: Night Fall
Author: Nelson Demille
Publisher: Warner Books
Copyright: November 2004
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Thriller concerning filght TWA 800. One of my big, big favorites. Be aware that is begins with a very explicit sex scene which is critical to the plot. Fortunately that's the only such scene. Don't miss this one! (Check out Nancy's review of the same book by clicking here)

Title: No Clue at the Inn: A Special Pennyfoot Hotel Mystery
Author: Kate Kingsbury
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: 2003
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this late Victorian British mystery Cecily Sinclair Baxter and her husband, returning to manage the Pennyfoot Hotel for the Christmas holidays, become involved in solving two mysterious disappearances. An enjoyable read somewhere between "light" and intense.

Title: The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 1998
Reviewer: Leigh
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Precious Ramotswe has decided to become the fist lady detective in Gaborone, Africa. She has no formal training in being a private detective, but uses her intuition and observation to creatively help people solve their problems from cheating husbands to missing children and curious doctors. I really enjoyed this first novel in the series and look forward to reading more from McCall Smith.

Title: No Such Creature
Author: Giles Blunt
Publisher: Henry Holt
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In a departure from Blunt's Algonquin Bay series, Owen Maxwell and his Shakespeare-quoting great-uncle Max are engaged in their yearly travels, robbing the "rich, the Republican, and the reprobate." Unfortunately, they attract the attention of a group called the Subtractors...a gang of thieves without scruples (!) who subtract the body parts of fellow criminals until they give up the location of their stolen goods. Much lighter than Blunt's usual fare, but still an enjoyable read.

Title: Not a Girl Detective
Author: Susan Kandel
Publisher: William Morrow/HarperCollins
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: I collect all the hardcover reprints by Applewood Press of the original Nancy Drew stories, so I hoped to enjoy this contemporary mystery with its Nancy Drew theme. Sadly, this book is not worth reading unless you struggle with insomnia. I don't know how the author manages to turn such interesting topics into dull, tedious, mind-numbing, "is-it-over-yet-please" stories. I only finished reading it because I wanted to give the book a fair shake for its review by reading it all the way through. I dreaded the chore and celebrated when I finally finished reading this extremely boring story. I felt the same way about the author's first book, "I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason," and I LOVE the Perry Mason mysteries. Two strikes and this author's out. The boring-ness of her first book was not a fluke; it's a trend. I will not read Susan Kandel again. On the other hand, it's cheaper than sleeping pills.

Title: Now You See Me
Author: Rochelle Krich
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Los Angeles crime reporter Molly Blume is asked to find the 18 year old run-away daughter of a rabbi who was once Molly's teacher. The investigation leads her into the world of chat rooms, exam cheating, sexual harassment. Midway through the story the girl returns home, only to be led into a tangled murder plot, which Molly must solve. This is the 5th of the Molly Blume series (but the first one I've read) and I'm looking forward to going back and reading more.

Title: Ocean Waves
Classification: Mystery
Author: Terri Thayer
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Quilt shop owner Dewey Pellicano stumbles across a dead body while attending a sewing/quilting symposium. Mix in a ghost, a missing woman, a stolen heirloom and a mountain lion and you have a mystery which is a real unlikely stretch of the imagination.

Title: Of Blood and Sorrow
Author: Valerie Wilson Wesley
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Although Wesley is an author I've enjoyed before, this latest in the Tamara Hayle series is a letdown.  Tamara's son Jamal witnesses a murder and seems to be the chief suspect, despite the fact that the police don't seem to be in any hurry to talk to him.  When Tamara and Jamal get into a screaming match (with lots of exchanges of the "f" word), Jamal vanishes.  There are just too many stereotypes here, and too many excuses for awful behavior.

Title: Officer Down
Author: Theresa Schwegel
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: "Officer Down", winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Novel of 2006, introduces Chicago police officer Samantha "Smack" Mack, a woman with multiple personal problems. She realizes she has been set up to take the blame for her partner's death, investigates on her own and comes face to face with the killer. Schwegel's writing is gritty, even shocking, and intense.

Title: Panic Attack
Classification: Mystery
Author: Jason Starr
Publisher: Minotaur
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy  
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this barely so-so suspense novel, Johnny Long fancies himself the quintessential Casanova, seducing and robbing as many women as he can. Things escalate when he agrees to help his friend burglarize a supposedly empty house but, after his buddy is killed by the homeowner, decides the only decent thing to do is to avenge the death. Amateurish, predictable and filled with thoroughly unlikeable characters. What a waste of time.

Title: Paper, Scissors, Death
Author: Joanna Campbell Slan
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Scrapbooker Kiki Lowenstein is stunned when her husband George is found dead in a hotel room, and completely puzzled when she learns that he was naked...unless you count the woman's scarf stuffed in his mouth. Despite the distraction presented by hunky Detective Detweiler, Kiki is determined to find out who killed George and who is responsible for the money missing from his business. A sharply-written cozy with handy scrapbooking hints at the end of each chapter (I only skimmed those, since I'm hopelessly un-crafty). A nice beginning to this new series.

Title: Pardonable Lies
Author: Jacqueline Winspear
Publisher: Henry Holt
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The third in a series, "Pardonable Lies", takes London investigator Maisie Dobbs back to France in the early 1930's to solve two intertwined cases and to confront her own wartime torment. Maisie is a "modern" young woman with much depth and insight.

Title: A Pedigree To Die For
Author: Laurien Berenson
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Dog lover's mystery. First in the amateur sleuth Melanie Travis series. She's a single mom who enters the world of show Poodles and discovers an aptitude for solving crimes.

Title: A Play of Dux Maraud
Author: Margaret Frazer
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: August 2005
Reviewer: Leigh
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is a mystery of a different flavor. The stage is set the 1400's and a wedding is about to happen. A theatre troupe has been sent to the celebrations to discover all the dirty secrets surrounding the event and figure out if there may be any truth to the feeling that the groom is in mortal danger.

Title: Plea of Insanity
Author: Jillianne Hoffman
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: When a mother and her three children are horrifically murdered, Assistant State Attorney Julia Vacanti is tapped by her charming boss (and new lover) to sit second chair on the prosecution team EVEN THOUGH Vacanti has never tried a murder case. Oh, geez, and she's afraid people will think she slept her way to this plum assignment? Of course there's more AND more, all of which lead poor Julia to sob her way through most of the book. Honest emotion is one thing, but when an author uses tears to fill the pages that's quite another. Pass.

Title: Plum Lovin' (Review #1)
Classification: Mystery
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2007
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The second in the Evanovich Diesel sub-series, this short-story sold as novel is about as good as Visions Of Sugar Plums (the first). Although it's mildly amusing, Evanovich risks alienating her fans by asking them to spend money on something that would be better as a part of a collection of short pieces. Cute, but who cares?

Title: Plum Lovin' (Review #2) ____
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Stephanie Plum is back in this “between the numbers” short novel that is so brief in length, it is just a tease.  Valentine’s Day is rapidly approaching and Stephanie finds herself having to aid a match maker complete her tasks before she will allow Stephanie to take her in on her bond violation. There is no one quite like Stephanie and Evanovich should focus on the entertaining, laugh-out-loud characters in her Plum books instead of wasting time writing her other, sappier romance stories that have hit the shelves of late.

Title: Plum Lucky (Review #1)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Well, I have to say, this little between-the-numbers novella has all the hilarity of Evanovich's full-length Plum novels, with Grandma Mazur finding a bag full of money and heading for Atlantic City with Stephanie in pursuit. The entire cast of regulars is here, although in abbreviated form, and Stephanie's quirky style has rarely been more evident. A terrific read that will tide us over until the next book!

Title: Plum Lucky (Review #2)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:A Between-the-Numbers Stephanie Plum novel. This thin 'novel-light' falls between number 13 and number 14 in one of the funniest, charismatic mystery series out today! Yes, Stephanie and most of the gang are back; this time with a little person who believes himself to be a leprechaun. The gang's antics will make you laugh out loud as they descend on Atlantic City to find grandma and a horse being held hostage by a local gangster.

Title:Plum Spooky
Classification: Mystery
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2008
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In her first full-length "Plum" book (series), Evanovich nails it! Weird sexy Diesel is back, along with Carl the Monkey and the rest of Stephanie's gang as they track a white-collar criminal who wants to rule the world (and get girls). Although this series within a series is usually skimpy, this entry is fleshed out and funny...maybe enough to keep you laughing until June, when Fingerlickin Fifteen is released!

Title: Poison Heart: A Novel of Suspense
Author: Mary Logue
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this mystery Deputy Sheriff Claire Watkins delves into a history of lies, deceit, arson and poison in a small Wisconsin farm community. A collection of varied individuals and family settings contribute to an enjoyable read.

Title: Pretty Poison
Author: Joyce and Jim Lavene
Publisher: Berkley
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Though not strong on riveting suspense, this mystery was well written and made you read to the end to see if you had correctly figured out "who done it".

Title: Prior Bad Acts (Review #1)
Author: Tami Hoag
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: March 2006
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Suspenseful with lightning fast action. A bit gory but if that doesn't bother you, it's great.

Title: Prior Bad Acts (Review #2)
Author: Tami Hoag
Publisher: Bantam
Copyright: April 2006
Reviewer: Venus
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Tami Hoag brings back the detectives from one of her prior books ("Dust to Dust"). Anyone who enjoyed that series of thrillers will be happy to know that this book also brings back the detailed layers of suspense - it will keep you guessing exactly who is trying to kill Judge Carey Moore (the escaped prisoner? Judge Moore's cheating husband? a burned-out police detective? or the victims' family?)

Title: Promise Me
Author: Harlan Coben
Publisher: Dutton
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Coben is back with Myron Bolitar and the gang in the series he left for the terrific stand-alone "Tell No One." I honestly haven't missed Myron, and am not delighted to have him back, although this book about missing teenagers is mildly entertaining. Too many pointless twists and stereotypical characters and way too much superhero stuff by Myron. It's time to retire Bolitar for good and for Coben to get back to the stuff he does well.

Title: Quilt As Desired: A Harriet Truman / Loose Threads Mystery 
Classification: Mystery
Author: Arlene Sachitano
Publisher: Zumaya Publications US
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

Widow Harriet Truman takes over her aunt's long-arm quilting business and subsequently is knocked out and drugged. Her shop is ransacked and valuable quilts are vandalized. Her aunt's friend, whose business is in trouble, is murdered. The friend's son, a local vet, wants to date Harriet, but strangely is always around when Harriet is attacked. A series of events leads to the eventual solution in this somewhat far fetched but pleasant mystery.

Title: Rabbit Factory
Author: Marshall Karp
Publisher: MacAdam/Cage
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Several years ago, Larry Brown wrote a wonderful book called "Rabbit Factory" so, when this book was released, I just had to read it to see how it would compare (which is a risk that occurs when books share a title). Karp is not nearly the writer that Brown is, but has written a pretty good mystery featuring detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs, two cops who are called to investigate the murder of a pedophile who has landed a job playing Rambunctious Rabbit at Familyland. At first it seems to be a revenge slaying, but when more killings follow, Lomax and Biggs realize that someone has it in for the owners of Familyland and anyone who has anything to do with the company. Like many first-time authors, Karp has a hard time wrapping things up and the book goes on about three chapters too many, but the characters show promise for a sequel. Worth a read when it comes out in paperback.

Title: Runner
Classification: Mystery
Author: Thomas Perry
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Copyright: 2009
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: It's been ten years since Jane Whitefield (series) has helped anyone disappear. But on the evening of the bombing, the night she meets Christine, she knows that her skills are the only ones that might save the young, pregnant woman. Things have changed in ten years, though, and Jane is up against not only a determined adversary but also against sophisticated technology. Although it's been years since Perry's last Whitefield book, this may be the best one in the series...it's as taut and suspenseful as anything I've read in awhile. And if you've missed the earlier books in the series, you're in for a treat while you catch up!

Title: "S" is for Silence
Author: Sue Grafton
Publisher: ?
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Grafton is back on track with this latest Kinsey Millhone mystery series.

Title: Sacred Cows
Author: Karen E. Olson
Publisher: Warner Books
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Annie Seymour, jaded newspaper reporter,investigates the murder of a woman who is a college student moonlighting as a call-girl.   When it seems as though the story is reaching into the lives of the city's most rich and powerful, Annie is warned off by the paper's owner, who also happens to be sleeping with Annie's mother.  Hmmm...a little too conveniently contrived for me, but this s a decent-enough "filler" read.  Low end of "liked".

Title: SERIES - Aunt Dimity
Author: Nancy Atherton
Publisher: Various
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In today’s modern day world, you aren’t likely to find a more gentle mystery series. Sometimes nobody even gets killed. The main character, Lori Shepherd, talks to her deceased Aunt Dimity through a journal which was bequeathed to her. Aunt Dimity serves as the foil for her thoughts and sometimes is able to help with the cases.

Title: SERIES - Bones Series
Author: Carolyn Haines
Publisher: Bantam
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Meet Sarah Booth Delaney, current resident and owner of Dahlia House in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Sarah is forced to start a detective agency to prevent loosing her family estate. Between solving cases, Sarah finds herself entwined with romantic interludes and nagging advice from Jitty, the ghost of her great, great grandmother’s nanny regarding how she lives her life. These books are great mysteries with lots of humor and quotable wisdom from Jitty. No one captures the mood and texture of the Mississippi Delta like Haines. If you like the Stephanie Plum series, you will love this series with stronger mysteries and a more competent main character.

Title: SERIES - Kinsey Millhone Mysteries
Author: Sue Grafton
Publisher: Various
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Kinsey is a tough, independent female private eye. If you like this series, also try Sara Paretsky.

Title: SERIES - Melanie Travis Mysteries
Author: Laurien Berenson
Publisher: Various
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: A dog lover’s mystery series featuring standard poodles and Melanie Travis, thirty-something single mother and Connecticut teacher.

Title: SERIES - Miss Silver Mysteries
Author: Patricia Wentworth
Publisher: Various
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: If you like the kind of mysteries that won’t give you nightmares, this is a thoroughly enjoyable series. The series debuted before Agatha Christie started writing. Dora Amy Elles Dillon Turnbull (a.k.a. Patricia Wentworth, 1876-1961) introduced elderly spinster sleuth, Miss Maud Silver, in 1929. Maud is a retired governess, who loves to knit and read the Bible and Tennyson. Nobody beats Agatha Christie, but these are great reads if you like mysteries on the genteel side, as I do. It is not necessary to read in orders, which is helpful because most, if not all, are out of print.

Title: SERIES - Mrs. Jeffries
Author: Emily Brightwell (aka Sarah Temple)
Publisher: Various
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The mysteries aren’t hard to figure out, but I enjoy the characters and the gentleness of the series (not gory, graphic, or intense). Inspector Witherspoon is not nearly as talented at detecting as his housekeeping staff, but I won’t tell if you won’t.

Title: SERIES - The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is a gentle and enjoyable series, really more fiction than mystery. A woman, Precious Ramotswe, sets up her own detective agency in Botswana. This series is a lot about her life, her relationships with people and her relationship with the land. It’s very interesting to hear the different perspective from another country, and hard to believe the author is a man.

Title: SERIES - Ophelia & Abby Mysteries
Author: Shirley Damsgaard
Publisher: Avon
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Thirty-something librarian Ophelia Jensen and her charming granny Abigail are both witches with paranormal powers. Trying to flee her personal demons, Ophelia moves to small town Summerset, Iowa to be close to Abby and the two of them find themselves in the middle of murder and mystery.

Title: SERIES – Stephanie Plum
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: Various
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Most likely, you will laugh-out-loud at the comedy in these novels and forget they are mysteries. For sheer entertainment, this series is the one to read. Stephanie is an inept bounty hunter who is too petite for the job but has bills to pay, so she finds herself working for her sleazy cousin with an ex-prostitute, Lulu and her grandmother as occasional side-kicks. Her love life bounces between her old flame, Joe who is now a cop and the mysterious bounty hunter, Ranger.

Title: SERIES - The Sunday Philosophy Club
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Various
Copyright: Various
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie is a philosopher, Editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, and host of The Sunday Philosophers' Club at her house in Edinburgh. Not nearly as good as The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series.

Title: SERIES - Temperance Brennan
Author: Kathy Reichs
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: Various
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The series follows Temperance Brennan, Forensic Anthropologist as work takes her between the North Carolina and Quebec. There are always bones, love interests and murder mysteries to be solved. The science in these books is amazing; no surprise because author Reichs is also a Forensic Anthropologist. Temperance Brennan can be seen weekly in a new T.V. series based on Reichs’ books.

Title: Seven Dials
Author: Anne Perry
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2003
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Victorian mystery featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. Thomas is called to the murder of a junior diplomat whose body is found slumped in a wheelbarrow in the garden of an exotic Egyptian woman. The woman, a prominent senior cabinet ministers (said to be her lover), and the murder weapon are all nearby. Thomas is ordered to protect the good name of the cabinet minister while solving the crime, in order to avert an international crisis. Meanwhile, Charlotte (of course) has her own mystery to solve which takes her to the notorious London slum called Seven Dials. Another great installment in the series.

Title: Silver Swan
Author: Benjamin Black
Publisher: Henry Holt
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this, Black's sequel to the excellent Christine Falls, pathologist Quirke is asked by a long-ago classmate to forgo an autopsy on his wife, dead by what seems to be suicide. The curious Quirke agrees, knowing that he won't honor the request and, when he finds a puncture mark in the dead woman's arm, sets out to find the truth about her death. In a meandering, Columbo-like plot, Quirke discovers hidden lives including the one being led by his estranged daughter. Unfortunately, Black dozes off and at the end of the book forgets his own murder sequence, which throws the whole thing into a shambles. Well-written, but not for true mystery readers who will be appalled by this slip.

Title:Size 14 Is Not Fat Either
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: I never thought I would pick up this second book in the Heather Wells Mystery series after my disappointment with the first book, Size 12 Is Not Fat. However, Meg Cabot is such an entertaining writer, that when I wanted to be just entertained, I decided to find out what was happening with pop-star-turned-resident-hall-administer, Heather Wells. Set in a fictional college in New York City, this dormitory has more bizarre collegiate murders than any I believed imaginable. If you can get past the unrealistic setting, and the first person narration of a 29 year old whose intellect is more like 14 year old, then you will find this mystery has just the right balance of suspense, humor and character interest. Heather's dad is out of prison and now trying to make up for the 20 year absence in his daughter's life. He seems to have forgiven Heather's mother, who skipped town with all Heather's money when the child pop star grew up and failed to land her last recording contract, and now wants Heather to do the same. Heather is trying to get an education and working as an assistant resident administrator while living with her ex-pop star boyfriend's estranged brother. She finds herself in the middle of these strange murders; this one involving a cheerleader's head found boiling in the dormitory kitchen. Heather seems to have an uncanny knack at getting information and figuring out what is going on before the police, but in the end, she never seems to get the props she desires.

Title: Smoky Mountain Tracks
Author: Donna Ball
Publisher: Signet/Penguin
Copyright: March 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Raine Stockton dog mystery series #1. The main character is a dog trainer, Raine Stockton, who participates in a search and rescue operation for a missing child and mother, with unexpected repercussions. Her golden retriever, Cisco, is young and inexperienced, but the other SAR dog teams are hours away, and every minute counts when there are lives at stake. An animal psychic friend adds an unusual element to the story. I liked it well enough that I plan to read the sequel (currently scheduled for release Dec. 2006) but it isn't as good as dog mysteries by Laurien Berenson, Susan Conant, and Virginia Lanier. I rate this one a 3 1/2.

Title: Snow Blind
Author: P. J. Tracy
Publisher: Putnam
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Venus
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Another Monkeewrench series novel from P.J. Tracy ... all the usual characters are back, but this novel features Detectives Magozzi and Rosleth who are trying to solve the murders of two policemen stuffed into snowmen. It also introduces Iris Rikker, the new sheriff of rural Dundas County who must deal with another snowbody the first day on the job. Only one thing wrong with this book ... I have to wait another year or two for the next one! (Check out Nancy's review of the same title)

Title: Sofie Metropolis
Author: Tori Carrington (pen name of Lori & Tony Karayianni)
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Copyright: June 2005
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: I might have enjoyed this more if it weren't so obviously a Stephanie Plum wannabe. I'd be more willing to overlook its lack of originality if it had made up for it by providing sufficient humor. It was interesting to learn a bit about Greek American culture. While waiting for another Plum mystery, I'll probably read the next Sofie ("Dirty Laundry" due out May 2006) but it will be like eating a diet cookie.

Title: Some Danger Involved
Author: Will Thomas
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The first novel featuring Thomas Llewelyn, assistant to detective Cyrus Barker. Set in Victorian London, it has very much of a Sherlock Holmes feel to it, without actually being a Holmes mystery. Llewelyn is a type of "Watson" who accepts the job only because he's at the end of his rope. The employment ad which warns, "Some Danger Involved", of course turns out to be a vast understatement. This is a bit more intense, graphic, and violent that I ordinarily like, but the story is well done.

Title: Sorrow Without End
Author: Priscilla Royal
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Somewhat in the style of Ellis Peters, this medieval period mystery started well but had too much unnecessary repetition and unlikely relationships which didn't enhance the plot.

Title: Steamed
Author: Jessica Conant Park and Susan Conant
Publisher: Berkley/Penguin
Copyright: March 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: First book in the new Gourmet Girl series. The main character, Chloe Carter, is a college student whose blind date (from an Internet dating service) is murdered during their first meeting. Then she dates the main suspect, chef Josh. The first half of the book is hilarious; I laughed out loud. The second half became a bit more predictable and run-of-the-mill, losing that fabulous humor. Susan Conant was never this funny in her own wonderful dog mystery series, so I think the great humor comes from her daughter's writing. I look forward to the next book and hope to see that humor throughout the next time. These gals could definitely give Evanovich a run for her money if the humor makes a more consistent appearance in their future novels.

Title: Still Life
Author: Louise Penny
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:"Still Life", a Debut Dagger honor book in the UK, introduces Canadian Inspector Monsieur L'Inspecteur Armand Gamache, a modern day combination of Inspectors Morse, Daglish and Poirot. The setting is a small French Canadian village; the victim a retired school teacher found shot to death with and arrow. Was it an accident or deliberate murder?

Title: A Stolen Season
Author: Steve Hamilton
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: During an unusually frigid summer in Michigan's Upper Peninsula Alex McKnight becomes enmeshed with gun smugglers, drug dealers and murderers. In the end he has to face his own revenge demons in a plot which occasionally becomes a bit tedious.

Title: Stone Rain
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: Bantam Books
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Barclay does it again, in this, his fourth entry in the Zack Walker series. Walker, in his own hapless way, finds himself drawn into a murder when he's asked for help by his former neighbor and professional dominatrix Trixie Snelling. Trixie has kept her life a secret until now, when she is exposed by an article in the local weekly newspaper. The reporter is found in her home, strapped to a restraint device, and very dead. Zack and Trixie find themselves suspects in the crime, and pursued by really bad people from Trixie's past. Barclay is always worth reading and this book proves no exception.

Title: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Classification: Mystery
Author: Alan Bradley
Publisher: Random House
Copyright: 2010
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

The first in a new series (Flavia de Luce series) "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" introduces 11 year old Flavia, an extraordinary and precocious child of a well to do English family in the 1950's. Her snooping leads to finding a body in their garden, an old episode of death from her father's school days and her own life threatened. Brilliant and incorrigible, Flavia is a character the reader will want to meet again.

Title: Take Down
Author: Brad Thor
Publisher: Atria Books
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Leigh
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Thriller. After a lull of several years, terrorists once again launch a massive attack on the United states, despicably choosing a particularly important date--the Fourth of July weekend. In a perfectly executed plan, all bridges and tunnels leading into and out of Manhattan are hit just as thousands of commuters and tourists pore into them to begin their holiday weekends. With search and rescue teams occupied in the aftermath of the disaster, another group of foreign combatants makes its way through the city in search of one of their leaders- a man so important that the U.S. won't even acknowledge exists- let alone that they have him in custody and hidden. Scott Harvath, former SEAL and White House Secret Service agent, along with a small number of former fellow agents and SEALs must overcome inter agency bureaucracy to find and question this man before his supporters can get to him. Was this hit on New York a single attack or is there more coming? Who and where is the mastermind and who else is involved? And- how can these forces be eliminated? The plot races with incredible speed and intrigue- typical Brad Thor page-turning action. Super read.

Title: Tears of the Giraffe
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Publisher: Knpof Publishing Group
Copyright: September 2002
Reviewer: Leigh
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This was a nice second novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series. Here, Precious Ramotswe has been asked by a mother to find out where her son disappeared to over ten years ago. There is also a suspicious husband, a scheming maid (my favorite part), and a persuasive owner of the Orphan Farm. While there is always time for tea, Precious has enough business to keep her going throughout the day.

Title:  Think Twice
Classification: Mystery
Author:  Lisa Scottoline
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Copyright:  2010
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

As head of her own law firm, Bennie Rosato has been up against some of the toughest criminals but never one quite like her identical twin Alice.  Even though Bennie was successful in getting Alice acquitted of murder, Alice has decided that she wants more. She wants Bennie’s life.  So, in this latest entry in the Rosato and Associates series, that’s exactly what Alice sets out to get, no matter who she has to kill.

Very fast-paced with lots of action, this is a very fun read.  But try not to read the last sentence—it sounds like a line from Scooby-Doo.

Series:

1. Everywhere That Mary Went

2. Legal Tender

3. Rough Justice

4. Mistaken Identity

5. Moment of Truth

6. Vendetta Defense

7. Courting Trouble

8. Dead Ringer

9. Killer Smile

10. Lady Killer

11. Think Twice

itle: This Dame For Hire
Author: Sandra Scoppetone
Publisher: Ballantine Books/Random House
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This hard-boiled dick is a woman, Faye Quick, who is left in charge of A Detective Agency (that's its name) when her boss goes to fight in World War II. An interesting spin and an okay one-time read, but not particularly noteworthy. Psychic friend Anne has a bit part in cracking the case.

Title: Thistle and Twigg
Author: Mary Saums
Publisher: St Martin's Minotaur
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Two widows strike up an unlikely friendship in this new series. Phoebe and Jane, from very different backgrounds, are brought closer together after discovering a dead body. These two crafty ladies are more than a match for the scheming murderer."Thistle and Twigg" mixes light humor, suspense and a bit of the supernatural.

Title: To Kingdom Come
Author: Will Thomas
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In this sequel to "Some Danger Involved", Barker and Llewelyn go undercover as bomb-makers in an effort to stop a terrorist group from blowing up London. It may be that this was simply the wrong book at the wrong time for me. I unfortunately was reading it when London was bombed for real, and it was too close to the news for me to enjoy it as entertainment.

Title: Tombs of Endearment
Author: Casey Daniels
Publisher: HarperCollins
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Pepper Martin is a historic cemetery tour guide in Cleveland, Ohio and recently found herself private investigator to the deceased. In this third Pepper Martin Mystery series. Pepper finds herself trying to find out who is channeling a 1970's rock icon that died of an overdose and threatening the remaining aging members of his band. As the mystery unravels, Pepper finds that she needs to come to terms with her own past before she can truly take a chance at getting involved with the living. She realizes her life is no different than these aging rockers and their groupies, who failed to move forward in their lives when the party was over. These mysteries are smart, equally mixing humor and suspense, and are just fun to read.

Title: Tome of Death
Author: D. R. Meredith
Publisher: Penguin
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Carol
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This paperback mystery format was interesting with dual plots, contemporary forensics and 19th century Native American history.

Title: Too Close To Home
Author: Linwood Barclay
Publisher: Bantam
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Seventeen year-old Derek Cutter has a plan. He'll hide in his best friend's house until the family leaves on vacation, then have a perfect place to see his girlfriend while they're gone. But when he hears the family return, and he hears the shots that kill them, Derek knows that he is the perfect suspect. Is there a chance that the wrong people were murdered? Is his own family next? In true Barclay style this is a quick, page-turning thriller.

Title: The Trouble with Magic
Author: Madelyn Alt
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: First installment of the Bewitching Mystery series: a crime mystery with a little magic. Maggie O’Neill literally falls into a New Age-type life when she meets Felicity Dow, owner of the haberdashery Enchantments and local witch in the small Midwestern town of Stony Mill, Indiana. The characters, as well as the mystery itself, are a bit predictable, but the book is still charming. Most likely, I will read the next Bewitching Mystery book when it is released to see what is happening with Maggie and Felicity.

Title: The Trouble with Witches ____
Author: Shirley Damsgaard
Publisher: Avon
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The third novel in the Ophelia & Abby Mystery series finds librarian Ophelia and her psychic grandmother Abby on the road to Minnesota to find a missing girl who recently got involved in a cult-like psychic research group.  All the main characters are back and there is an interesting Native American shaman introduced but this story is slow, lacking the suspense and interest found in the other Ophelia & Abby mysteries.  It seems the author is more interested in having these charming psychic ladies embrace their witch heritage than telling a good story.  It wasn’t until the last chapter that the original mystery of the missing girl comes to light.  I actually forgot the story was about finding her.   More like a 2-1/2.

Title: Twelve Sharp (Review #1)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This, the twelfth in the Stephanie Plum series, reinstates Evanovich as the freshest, funniest mystery writer around. All the regular gang is here, with Stephanie in the middle of the action when Ranger's daughter is kidnapped, Lula joins a rock group, and Grandma connects with the new owners of the funeral home. I look forward every June to an evening of laughing out loud with Evanovich, and this one didn't disappoint; in fact, there's more laughter here than in the past few.

Title: Twelve Sharp (Review #2)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Copyright: June 2006
Reviewer: Mariah
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: I was a bit disappointed by this latest in the Stephanie Plum series. Don't get me wrong: it was a fast, enjoyable read; but I expected more humor. I laughed less with this book than with any of the previous ones (excepting the weird holiday story "Visions of SugarPlums"). Long live Grandma Mazur, who was in fine form as usual. But Stephanie seemed too serious and straightforward to me. Not enough zany high jinks. Perhaps it is because of the plot: a missing child is no laughing matter. But I missed laughing all the way through the book as I usually do with the Plum series. I have very high expectations for this series which were not met in this book. I'm still giving it a 4 because I enjoyed it enough to zip through it very fast, staying up until the wee hours of the morning to finish it.

Title: Twelve Sharp (Review #2)
Author: Janet Evanovich
Publisher: St. Martin's
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: No one entertains quite like Evanovich with tales of Stephanie Plum and her bounty hunter co-workers.  This new addition to the series has grandma, Lulu and Sally signing off key in a rock band for the senior set, Ranger on the lamb, and new funeral parlor owners who bakes the best cookies!  For the first time, Stephanie’s father delivers dialog as close to a soliloquy as a New Jersey taxi driver stuck in this family can get. 

Title: Two Minute Rule
Author: Robert Crais
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: A departure for Crais with uneven results. I was hoping for something great with this one and didn't get it, but it's worth a read.

Title: U is for Undertow  
Classification: Mystery
Author: Sue Grafton
Publisher: G. P. Putnaml
Copyright: 2009
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments:

Unfortunately, Kinsey seems a little tired in the newest entry from Grafton and when she’s approached by a new client who is convinced that he saw two men bury a murder victim when he was six years old she spends a lot of time in her car making right and left turns.  Mixed in with her efforts is a story set twenty years earlier, during the sixties, with the requisite hippies and dopers searching for free love.

 All in all, a let-down.

Title: Unplugged
Author: Lois Greiman
Publisher: Dell
Copyright: March 2006
Reviewer: Venus
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This is the second outing for cocktail waitress turned psychologist, Christina McMullen. She attempts to find her best friend/secretary's missing boyfriend and gets herself into and out of several humorous scrapes. Not quite as good as the first book - but still worth the read!

Title: Virgin Of Small Plains
Author: Nancy Pickard
Publisher: Ballantine/Random House
Copyright: 2006
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Pickard's newest starts great, with the discovery of a nude, frozen body by three farmers, and has an interesting plot. She loses steam, however, and just sort of muddles her way to an unsurprising end. A good beach read for next summer, when it will be released in paperback.

Title: Watchman
Author: Robert Crais
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Joe Pike takes center stage in this great thriller about a spoiled rich girl involved in a car wreck and then targeted for death. As Pike and Elvis Cole race to find her would-be assassin, they find themselves caught up in a world of international greed and murder. One of the best Crais books, this is a must-read.

Title: Where Are the Children?
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 1975
Reviewer: Patty
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: I ran across a paperback copy of the 30th anniversary edition of this book. The first suspense novel Clark ever wrote. This story follows the secret life of nancy Harmon who fled across the country to get away from her past and the death of her two children. Time has passed and Nancy remarries and has two more children. Then suddenly on her 32nd birthday, both children disappear. The nightmare for Nancy is beginning all over again. There is someone out there who doesn't want Nancy to ever feel safe and secure again. While the story is very good, I'm glad that Clark continued to mold her craft into the books published today.

Title: Where Are You Now?
Author: Mary Higgins Clark
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2008
Reviewer: Patty
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This latest mystery by Clark centers around Carolyn MacKenzie. Her older brother Mack mysteriously vanishes one day from his college ten years ago and only contacts his family on Mother's Day with a quick phone call. After the latest Mother's Day call, Carolyn resolves to find her missing brother and figure out why he disappeared. Along the way, a young college girl suddenly disappears and calls her family and tells them that she'll call them again on Mother's Day. A coincidence? Could it be related to Mack's disappearance? A very good read!

Title: The Whitechapel Conspiracy
Author: Anne Perry
Publisher: Ballentine
Copyright: January 2001
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: All the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mysteries are delightful. Besides being good mysteries, they reveal the customs (and quirks) of Victorian England. If you're new to this series though, read The Cater Street Hangman first since it introduces the characters.

Title: Witch Hunt
Author: Shirley Damsgaard
Publisher: Avon Mystery
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: The fourth installment in the Ophelia and Abby Mystery series focuses on Ophelia, the librarian-turned-amateur-sleuth as a new parental figure to a young teenager.  Abby has taken on the role of mentor, teaching the youngster the ways of old and again murder and mayhem has rocked the “quiet” small town of Summerset.  Witches, motorcycle gangs, corrupt cops, and ghosts fill this installment with wit and suspense.  Although this book is not my favorite, the series keeps getting better and I can’t wait to read the next mystery adventure of this remarkable multi-generational team.

Title: The Witch is Dead
Author: Shirley Damsgaard
Publisher: Avon Mystery
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: In the fifth installment of this quirky, small town mystery series, librarian Ophelia and her charming grandmother, Abby are set to adopt the fourteen year old medium, Tink, when a visit from elderly Aunt Dot, eager for an adventure away from her stagnant life in the Appalachian mountains, throws all the witches in the middle of a neighboring town’s murder mystery.  Trying to keep up with Aunt Dot’s antics, balancing her responsibilities at the library and dealing with the emotional angst of a teenaged medium, Ophelia tries to avoid becoming involved in yet another murder investigation.  As in all the adventures of these amateur sleuths, the generational witches grow in their understanding of the craft as well as their skills at working with the authorities to solve crime.  The mysteries in this series are captivating and the characters have grown endearing to the point that I look forward to brewing a little tea for their visit. 

Title: Witch Way to Murder (An Ophelia & Abby Mystery)
Author: Shirley Damsgaard
Publisher: Avon
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Gayle
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: This story is the first in the series involving Librarian Ophelia and her grandmother, Abby. Both have paranormal abilities but Ophelia is a too uptight to let her skills flourish. The mystery is great but I found it hard to tolerate Ophelia’s aloofness. What will get me to read the next book in the series is her delightful grandmother, Abby. Another small town mystery where murder and conspiracy shakes up the normally tranquil world of Summerset, Iowa.

Title: With No One as Witness
Author: Elizabeth George
Publisher: Harper Torch
Copyright: 2005
Reviewer: Marilyn
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Another superb psychological thriller from one of the best authors in the genre featuring familiar characters Detective Superintendent (Sir) Thomas Lynley, his wife Helen (now pregnant), partner Barbara Havers, and others. Thomas is on the case of a serial killer who murders little boys and who becomes more and more personally involved with Thomas. Issues of politics, race, class and forensics plus attention to detail and plot development make this another outstanding read from George. The shocking conclusion will leave you stunned.

Title: The Woods
Author: Harlan Coben
Publisher: Dutton/Penguin Group
Copyright: 2007
Reviewer: Nancy
Book Rating:
Reviewer Comments: Twenty years ago Paul Copeland was a camp counselor when his sister and three friends were murdered. Now, as a county prosecutor, Paul is asked by police to identify another body...a body that he is sure is that of one of the murdered boys. And if Gil survived, what of his sister? In what may be his best book since Tell No One, Coben races through a riveting series of seemingly unconnected events to a wrenching conclusion. Don't miss it!