Friday, October 24, 2014

Reading right now:

            “Personal” by Lee Child. This is the 19th Jack Reacher novel. After an assassin (whom Reacher put in jail once before) attempts to kill the French president, Reacher is asked to hunt him down again and put him away. His quest takes him to France and England in a quest to not only find the shooter, but the men behind him.

On hold right now:

            “The Escape” by David Baldacci. In this third John Puller novel, Puller’s older brother escapes from prison after his conviction for treason and national security crimes. Puller wants to bring his brother in alive. Along the way, however, he finds troubling details about his brother’s conviction.


Other Mysterious Things:

Don't miss even one of these great new novels coming out soon:









Sunday, October 12, 2014

Reading right now:

            “Deadline” by John Sandford. Hard to believe that this is already the eighth Virgil Flowers thriller, but it is. This time around Flowers is after a dognapping ring supplying medical labs until he gets a call from Lucas Davenport about a dead reporter and finds himself investigating a whole school board to find the killer or killers.

On hold right now:

            “Blood of the South” by Alys Clare. This sixth book in the medieval mystery series continues the adventures of apprentice healer Lassair and her partner Rollo.


Other Mysterious Things:

            I’m always looking for a debut mystery author who might be the next big thing: the next David Baldacci, the next James Patterson, or the next Lee Child. Every new author brings fresh hope that twenty years from now, we will still be reading their books and loving them. A few new mystery authors throwing their hats in the ring for the next big thing include: Andrew Brown, Holly Brown, C.J. Carpenter, Steph Cha, Joel Decker, and E.R. Dillon.
            In Andrew Brown’s “Coldsleep Lullaby,” South African Detective Eberard Februarie investigates the death of the daughter of a prominent conservative activist. The book has been called compelling and chilling. Holly Brown’s “Don’t Try to Find Me” has been compared to “Gone Girl.” Brown’s debut novel revolves around a family’s use of social media to try to find their fourteen-year-old runaway daughter. C.J. Carpenter’s new series launched with “Never Alone” which centers around NYPD detective Megan McGinn. Steph Cha’s main character is Juniper Song, an amateur sleuth in Los Angeles. The new series opened with “Follow Her Home” and the second in the series came out in August, 2014, with “Beware, Beware.” Her books have been called compelling and the third book in the series should be available some time in 2015 (“The Surrogate”). “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair” by Joel Dicker looks fascinating and takes on the murder of a teenaged girl in 1975 and the solution 33 years later. Another new series by E.R. Dillon introduces Deputy Kyle Shaw who solves crimes in 1297 (first book “Ayrshire Murders”).






Friday, October 3, 2014

Reading right now:

            “The Golem of Hollywood” by Jesse and Jonathan Kellerman. Here’s a great Halloween book—a combination of mystery, suspense, with a splash of the supernatural. The central figure is L.A. detective Jacob Lev who gets dragged into the mysterious beheading of a serial killer. After Lev sleeps with a beautiful, mysterious woman, he finds himself chasing the legend of the Golem of Prague throughout the world. In order to solve the case, he is assigned to the Special Projects squad whose members seem more interested in blocking his attempts to solve the case than actually helping him. So far I have enjoyed the storyline about the beheading, but the other half of the book isn’t working for me. It just feels like two separate books which I’m sure will intersect at some point, but I think the two parts of the book could have been integrated in a much more readable way.

On hold right now:

            “Bones Never Lie” by Kathy Reichs. This is the 17th Temperance Brennan book and I’ve heard it is a good one. Can’t wait to read it.



Other Mysterious Things:

            The new movie “Life of Crime” was recently released in the U.S. and is based on Elmore Leonard’s 1978 book called “The Switch.”  While Jennifer Aniston may be the main reason to see the movie, it is a prequel to Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and sounds funny. It is about two convicts who once released from prison kidnap a rich real estate developer’s wife and holds her for ransom. Unfortunately, the husband does not want his wife back and she does not want to go back.

            Liam Neeson’s new movie “A Walk Among the Tombstones” started out as the 10th book in the Matthew Scudder series by Lawrence Block. Ex-NYPD cop turned PI, Matthew Scudder is hired to find out who killed the wife of a drug lord—violence and craziness ensues.