Ambush (Sydney Rose Parnell Book 3) --Barbara Nickless

Fiction / Thriller

356 pages / 2579 KB

5 Stars

I absolutely love the Sydney Rose stories. I've already pre-ordered Book #4. So, maybe my review is some biased? Proceed at will.

Sydney is believable. She doesn't think of everything, though she doesn't miss much, and when she does, it's a whopper. She's a Marine (a veteran of Afghanistan), she's a railroad cop, she has the dog her dead Marine boyfriend had, Clyde, who is also a highly trained K9 Cop. She has PTSD, and she has a (living) boyfriend who is a homicide detective.

She also has something that an unknown someone wants, in the worst way, and that someone is willing to kill for it. Unfortunately, Sydney doesn't have a clue what she has. Or where to look. But she'd better figure it out before her boyfriend who has been kidnapped by the someone is killed. She'd also better figure out where he is.

She's lost too many friends, family actually, for Marines are family. They may not always like each other, but they are family. And Sydney takes it as a personal affront when they are killed.

Ms Nickless has written another fast-paced book. Not so much a railroad story as the earlier ones, but nonetheless, one I couldn't put down until I got to the end. I think one who had not read books 1. Blood on the Tracks or 2. Dead Stop will find enough back story in this one to read as a stand alone, but having read the first two, and being familiar with the characters, I'm not one hundred per cent positive.

My biggest complaint is with Ms Nickless and it's one I've mentioned before: She writes slower than I read.

Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer --by Dorothy Gilman

Fiction / Mystery (Cozy)

218 pages

4 Stars

This is my introduction to Mrs. Pollifax, so I have no idea how it compares to the rest of the series. I found it moderately entertaining, enough that I finished it. Mysteries are not my normal reading genre, and when I read them, I try not to figure out who the bad guy is so the ending won't be ruined when I get there.

This is a book I would be delighted to find on the hospital book cart, should I find myself confined to such a place. Mrs. P and the Lion Killer is easy to read, easy to put down, and easy to pick up again later.

The title is somewhat misleading; it is not about a person who goes to Africa to kill lions, but about the man who kills others like a lion might.

If you are a fan of the Miss Jane Marple books by Agatha Christie, I think you will enjoy the Mrs. Pollifax books.  While there is violence, it is neither gratuitous, nor graphic, and there is a great deal of humor. And, true to the "cozy" format, it ends well for everyone but the antagonist.

Three Blind Mice

Fiction / A Matthew Hope Mystery

315 pages / 1221 KB

4 Stars

If you're a hard core mystery buff, this may not be your book, but if you're like me, and pick one up now and again, and are looking more for a novel of escape and, well, brain candy, Three Blind Mice is a lot of fun. As fun as murder and wrongly accused suspects can be ;-)

Ed McBain is probably better known for his 87th Precinct novels than his Matthew Hope series. Matthew Hope is a partner in a law firm in Calusa, FL, located on the "other west coast" – the west coast of Florida, not far from where I used to live. And maybe that's one reason I really enjoyed the book; it was a bit like going home and visiting old friends, though I never knew any of those folks.

We have our requisite murders, the wrong person arrested, the district attorney who wants a fast settlement of the trial for political reasons, and a dogged attorney who wants the right person arrested and justice found.  Yes, this is McBain, perhaps not at his best, but still writing page-turners. Romance, murder, tangled webs—a great bed-time mystery that is fun, but will not give you nightmares when you turn out the light. I'm looking forward to reading other Matthew Hope books.

Awakening (A Joey Dearing Mystery) –by Patsy Shepherd

Fiction

Publisher: Kindle

721 KB

Footnotes/Endnotes: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

4 Stars

Disclaimer: I used to know Patsy Shepherd so my review may be a tad biased.

Joey (Johanna) Dearing is raised by her widowed father, goes off to college, and marries a real control freak. After a lifetime of being told what to do, when to do it, how to do it, by Dad, teachers, and husband, she finally decides she's had enough, and leaves her husband, her teaching job, and returns to her small hometown and a life on her own. The story is set in 1974, and that's important to remember for several reasons.

She gets a job as a part-time reporter for the weekly paper, and the story opens with her having a vision of a red tennis shoe. She's never had visions like this, and doesn't know what it means, or what to do about it. She ignores it and goes about her business of the day, on this day, interviewing the new police chief. While waiting, she has another psychic experience.

She learns, among other things, that the Police Chief believes her, and is interested in her visions, or sightings; her new boyfriend is not interested in that "bull crap;" and that she has a gift and finds a teacher to help her.

The story is engaging, I liked the characters I was supposed to like, and disliked the ones I should have disliked. The sex scenes were handled with a nice erotic touch, and weren't over played. Unfortunately, the one, and necessary, violence scene was, for this reviewer, a bit over the top. This is a case where I would have preferred more left to my imagination rather than the graphic and detailed description.  But, that's my preference, it may not be yours. The only other negative about the book is I think a good Copy or Continuity Editor would have worked wonders. There were several places where it was obvious things had been cut and pasted and not all of the old words deleted. Nothing major, but each place stopped me as I figured out which word was the correct word.

I enjoyed the building of the tension using Joey's visions and the climax of the story was, to this reader, logical. I don't want to get into too much and spoil it for anyone. This reads like the first in a series, and I hope it is. I look forward to more Joey Dearing books. I hope the same main characters are brought along for the ride, too. A good read.

Guilt by Degrees –by Marcia Clark

Fiction (Mystery)

449 pages / 598 KB

Footnotes / Endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

5 Stars

When the OJ Simpson murder trial played prime time on Cable TV, I had an opportunity to watch part of it. In fact, I became hooked on Court TV (alas, no longer available) and enjoyed watching Marcia Clark. Guilt by Degrees is the first mystery by her I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am also pleased this is not a fictionalized rehash of the OJ Trial! Mysteries aren't normally my genre of choice, but this was great fun. And I just ordered another one for my Kindle. Perhaps mysteries are becoming my genre of choice?

I would have preferred a slightly different ending, but hey, I didn't write the book! And, I have a feeling (hope?) I'll get my ending in another book. There are other Rachel Knight books out there, but you do not need to read them in order to enjoy them. Each stands alone.

The start of the book was a bit like putting a picture puzzle together – working from the outside in, rather than a linear storyline. I enjoyed it. And she did get all the pieces in place by the end of the book for the complete picture.

Rachel Knight, Ms. Clark's protagonist, is a prosecuting attorney in the Special Trials unit. When one of her cohorts almost loses the case of a homeless man's murder through his ineptness, she grabs it, and with the help of a couple of good friends, finds out the case is not all that simple. Are they ever?

Turns out the homeless man had ties to a cop who was brutally murdered a couple years before. Everyone knows his wife – everyone, that is, but the jury of her peers who saw an innocent woman and acquitted her – killed him. Ms. Knight, of course, must dig into the old killing as she tries to solve the new murder.

Many have told me that trials are high drama with limited sets. Although little of this story takes place in a courtroom, there is great drama in the pages of this book. Marcia Clark knows her way around the legal system, and has the ability to write about it in a gripping way, with enough humor thrown in so it doesn't become either tedious or too dark. I hope her other books keep the same set of characters. They're great fun. Well, except for the bad guys who get there just rewards. Don't they?

Got a Bone in Your Throat?

Bone in the Throat –by Anthony Bourdain

Mystery

372 KB / 304 pages

Footnotes/Endnotes: No

Illustrations: No

Suitable for eReaders: Yes

4 Stars

Murder mysteries are not my usual genre when I reach for fiction; however, I'd just finished reading Kitchen Confidential (see below) and enjoyed it, so added Bone in the Throat to my Kindle. While it's not the story I would have given to my Sunday School Teacher as a child, it is a story I'd have shared with my Drill Instructor.

This is his first novel and I think he did a pretty good job. It's set in a mobbed up restaurant in New York City. The language is a tad rough for the genteel set, but perfect for the story. I gave it 4 stars more for the publisher than the author. When it was translated from paper to electrons, a lot of formatting was lost, quotation marks dropped, the symbol for the British Pound found it's way into the story as a double, lower case 'l', nothing serious, but enough times (once is too much) to be irritating and cost points – for the publisher, not the author!*

If you are a lover of metaphor, don't bother with this one. Bourdain tells the story straight out, with no creative flowery stuff. When he talks about the sex, it's straight out about the sex. When he talks about the murder it's well described in a few words, not drug out for paragraphs and pages. If the 'F' word offends thee, don't read this. But, do get a life.

Tommy is the sous-chef at the Dreadnought Restaurant. His dad disappeared when he was a kid (assumed mob hit) and his uncle, a wannabee Wise Guy, takes him under his wing and helps his sister, Tommy's mother, raise him. Tommy wants nothing to do with the mob or his uncle, he wants to be a chef, and avoids his uncle as much as possible. But Uncle Sal is, after all, family. And then Uncle Sal needs Tommy to do a favor for him, payback for the help, a simple favor that won't get him in trouble or cause him grief. Yeah. Right.

Tommy and his drugged out boss, the Chef, are now caught in the midst of an FBI operation, drug rehab and threats, Mob mentality, and, well, for a fun read, pick up the book. As stated above, this book does not fall into my usual fiction genre, and until I finished the last chapter, I wasn't sure I'd pick up another Bourdain novel, but I will.

Oh, and if you don't recognize at least one of the Mob Guys, you need to read or watch more news!

*OK, maybe I should change to a 5 star. I received a Kindle Fire, and the formatting is perfect! Why it is good on the Fire and not my older Kindle, I don't know.