David Bell: The Forgotten Girl & J. Sheridan Le Fanu: Wylder’s Hand

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WyldersHandI generally read one book at home and a different one at work. Recently the home book was an old one, Wylder’s Hand, the 1864 “sensation novel” by J. Sheridan Le Fanu, and the store book was brand new, David Bell’s The Forgotten Girl. Strangely enough, I didn’t get very far in either of them before I realized that despite a span of 150 years, they had the same basic plot. I call it “the mysterious disappearance,” and even though it’s an ancient story, going back at least as far as Persephone, perhaps the original Gone Girl, it’s very much in the air these days, especially since we’re all about to ask where the heck the warm weather went to. read more

E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen: The Question of the Missing Head

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missingheadThis absolutely charming, totally enjoyable book is one of the reads of the year from E.J. Copperman/Jeff Cohen, a writer with a long and solid history in the cozy mystery genre. His earliest books featured a parent with an Asperger’s child; in this one he’s streamlined his concept and given the main character Asperger’s, something that enhances his skills as a detective. Cohen, the real life parent of an Asperger’s child, illuminates the condition for the reader in the best possible way: by showing, not telling. read more

Elizabeth Heiter: Hunted

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huntedThis is a neat first thriller with a really interesting main character. Evelyn Baine is a star profiler for the FBI, and it’s obvious Heiter is interested not just by the FBI jargon but by the whole business of profiling, and it’s a fascinating field, one not covered all that extensively in mystery fiction, with a notable example being Val McDermid’s Tony Hill. It’s odd there isn’t a greater profiling “presence” though there are some; lots of the FBI characters in mysteries are special ops or forensic experts. read more

Andrew Grant: Run

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runAndrew Grant at last returns – after a change in publishers – with a new thriller, Run. Grant uses a fairly conventional thriller set-up and twists it to his own devices through the use of perspective and a possibly untrustworthy narrator, something he leaves the reader to figure out for themselves. I always appreciate an author assuming intelligence on the part of the reader and while I may not be as intelligent as Andrew, I appreciated the leeway he gave me as a reader to figure things out. read more

Maureen Jennings: No Known Grave

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noknowngraveThe final novel in Maureen Jennings’ fine Tom Tyler trilogy is every bit as gripping as the first two – in each, Jennings explores different aspects of life on the home front during WWII. In the first, she looked at the Land Girls; in the second, at a munitions factory; in this novel, perhaps the most heartbreaking at all, she takes us to a wounded veterans home, where the men and women have mostly been seriously disfigured, blinded, crippled, or all three by their war experiences.

Jennings’ skill as a traditional mystery writer is at the forefront here. She is brilliant at constructing a story with various clues and red herrings, almost daring the reader to figure it out (I sure didn’t). This book reminded me most strongly of one of my favorite books, Christianna Brand’s Green for Danger, which is also a kick ass detective story set inside the confines of a wartime hospital. read more

Deborah Crombie: To Dwell in Darkness

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todwellindarknessA new Crombie book is an event. Her Gemma James/Duncan Kincaid books have become instant classics, on a par with Peter Robinson’s, and I used to say, with Elizabeth George’s, but at this point I far prefer Crombie’s books to George’s. Her books are tighter and the character’s lives aren’t completely – or even at all – bleak and depressing. Gemma and Duncan have their problems, yes, but they are the problems of a normally lived life with a houseful of children ranging from teen to toddler. read more

G.M. Malliet: A Demon Summer

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demonsummerOf all cozy writers, I think Malliet has the purest, most elegant prose.  Her writing is a joy to read.  That alone would set her books apart, but she’s also deliciously re-visiting the British village mystery and making it her own, to the delight of mystery fans everywhere.  My customers have quickly made her Max Tudor series a favorite.

So far she’s used seasonal titles and in this one she’s up to her last season, summer, as she spins a tale set inside a convent.  Max, the vicar of Nether Monkslip, has been asked by his bishop to look into a mysterious fruitcake poisoning originating in the convent of the Handmaids of St. Lucy.  The fruitcake is a bit of a specialty and the victim was the unpleasant Lord Lislelivit, happily recovered but angry and demanding answers. read more

Michael Koryta: Those Who Wish Me Dead

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thosewhowishmeI’m not a big fan of those headlines that read “The Best Writer You’ve Never Heard Of,” mostly because I often have heard of said writer. It’s a tidy formulation, however, and it scans much better than, say, “Here’s a Fantastic Writer Who’s Much Better Than Most of the Crap on the Best Seller List.” But say it any way you like, Michael Koryta is such an criminally underappreciated author.

He began his career while still in college with a superior private eye series set in Cleveland. The Lincoln Perry books started strong and only got stronger, ending not (as so many readers believe) at the artist’s whim, but simply because for whatever reason they failed to sell enough copies. Fortunately, publishers can see beyond a track record to discern true quality, and Michael was “relaunched” with three novels that mixed suspense with the supernatural. read more

Tana French: The Secret Place & Josephine Tey: Miss Pym Disposes

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thesecretplaceBoth Tana French and Josephine Tey have books that are among my favorites as well as books I can’t slog my way through (confession: I can’t read Tey’s The Singing Sands).  I love Tana French’s Broken Harbor so much it’s one of my favorite contemporary mysteries; but there are other times when her books are a tad too long and a tad too over determined.  This is one of those times.

French’s prose skills are among the most beautiful of all contemporary mystery writers.  She catches an atmosphere, she has an ability to make you feel a place in your bones, like no other writer.  That’s no small skill, and in her new book the place she is out to capture is a Catholic girl’s school in Ireland.  French has always been interested in the otherworldly nature of the woods, or the forest, the ones that you might encounter in a fairy tale.  The woods in fairy tales may hold enchantment or danger; in this novel, the woods surround the school and supply both elements. read more

Lev Raphael: Assault with a Deadly Lie

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assaultwithadeadlylieIt’s been a few years since Professor Nick Hoffman has made an appearance (Hot Rocks, 2007), and he fills a nice gap. There are few academic based mystery series, and this is an engaging one, set on the fictional campus of “SUM” or State University of Michigan in “Michiganopolis,” a town that sounds suspiciously like East Lansing, where Raphael teaches classes at MSU. His central character, Nick, and his partner, Stefan, live a peaceful life on a bucolic street with their Westie, Marco, enjoying books, movies, food, wine and each other. read more