Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

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When Rebecca Robbins returns home to tiny Indian Falls, Illinois she initially thinks she has one problem to deal with – selling the roller rink she inherited from her mother – but ends up with something decidedly more ominous on her hands… a dead body in one of the roller rink’s bathrooms.

Though at first it looks like an accident or suicide given the bottle of prescription pills found nearby, the town’s doctor / coroner soon rules it a homicide making Rebecca’s task of selling the roller rink even more difficult. (Who wants to buy a murder scene?)

And if a dead body throwing a monkey wrench into her plans to make a quick sale and hightail it back to Chicago wasn’t bad enough, the glacial pace – and incompetence – of local law enforcement’s investigation makes the prospect of Rebecca ever getting out of Dodge look downright grim.

What’s a girl to do? Take matters into her own hands, of course. So, with the “help” of her grandfather, Pop, Rebecca becomes a reluctant detective… and finds more than she expected.

Author Joelle Charbonneau has obviously drawn upon her extensive experience in the performing arts to give each of her characters a strong, and unique, voice. From Rebecca (who has a wonderful mix of whimsy and level-headedness), to Pop (who’s both well connected and disturbingly “active” in the town’s retired community), to Neil (Rebecca’s seriously misguided boss and would-be suitor), to Lionel (the veterinarian Rebecca loves to hate… or is it hates to love?), to Elwood the camel, every character has an incredibly rich, fully realized personality (yes, a camel can have a personality… trust me on this.)

A few of the situations Rebecca finds herself in are reminiscent of the early Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich (when they were still fresh and funny), though Charbonneau wisely never veers into the all-out slapstick territory that Plum frequently ends up in. Rather, Charbonneau has managed to deftly balance a healthy dose of comedy with a serious and engaging mystery. Add to that pitch perfect descriptions of the ins and outs of small town living and Skating Around the Law hits so many right notes it’s like reading an exquisitely conducted symphony.

In Maps of Hell, British crime writer Matt Wells initially has a bigger problem on his hands than nailing his enemies… he has to figure out who he is first.

The book opens with Matt regaining consciousness in a tiny cell, naked, beaten and unable to recall who he is or how he got there. He’s taken from his cell repeatedly for bizarre, Clockwork Orange-esque sessions aimed at conditioning his mind… but to what end? Matt doesn’t want to stick around long enough to find out.

Taking advantage of a lapse in one of the sessions he makes a daring escape, during which he realizes that he – and many others – are being held and experimented on by a fringe militia group at a compound deep in the forests of Maine. His memory slowly returns while he’s on the run trying desperately to stay one step ahead of his militia pursuers. And they aren’t the only ones looking for him.

A series of gruesome murders have been occurring in Washington, D.C., with Matt’s fingerprints turning up at one of the crime scenes. If that wasn’t bad enough, he’s also wanted for questioning in the disappearance of his girlfriend, British DCI Karen Oaten, who was in D.C. to meet with the Department of Justice.

Now, in addition to trying to stay one step ahead of the militia members tracking him, Matt also has to decide whether to go to the authorities and trust them to believe his story, or try on his own to solve the puzzle of his abduction, his girlfriend’s disappearance, and why he’s being framed for murder.

Maps of Hell is a truly frantic and engaging read. It is decidedly unnerving to be thrust into a world where the narrator, normally the reader’s guide, himself doesn’t know precisely what’s going on. And author Paul Johnston has captured Matt’s fear and confusion in a way that’s so vivid it’s almost palpable:

When I came round, I didn’t have a clue where I was. My head was ringing with strange sounds and I saw a blur of colors and shapes. Gradually my vision cleared, but my ears were still filled with discordant voices. There was a foul stench in my nostrils. I tried to move, but my arms and legs were confined. I looked down and saw that I had been tied to a wheelchair. I was wearing paper clothes again. I felt a twinge of alarm and glanced around. What I saw wasn’t reassuring.

Having read the previous two books in the Matt Wells series is not required in order to enjoy Maps of Hell. In fact, not having done so could arguably enhance the experience as the reader would truly be discovering everything for the first time right along with Matt as he struggles to understand who he is and what’s happening to him.

Author Paul Johnston consistently produces books that manage to take a familiar premise and completely turn it on its ear, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Maps of Hell. If you’ve not read anything by Johnston before, grab a copy of Maps of Hell and begin your journey into the mind of one of the most creative – and criminally under the radar – thriller writers working today.

Maps of Hell is available from Mira (ISBN: 978-0778327783).

One wouldn’t expect the chief fund raiser for a posh art museum to find herself at the center of a murder mystery, yet that is precisely where Danielle “Dani” O’Rourke finds herself in Susan Shea’s debut novel, Murder in the Abstract.

What should be a triumphant, gala evening of celebration at the Devor Museum where Dani works is cut brutally short when up-and-coming young artist Clinton Maslow plunges to his death from an office window. The circumstances lead police to believe it was murder, and the fact that Dani previously dated the victim, not to mention the window he went out of was her office, quickly lands Dani at the top of the suspect list.

When additional evidence appears that seemingly further connects Dani to Maslow’s death, but which she knows was planted, Dani decides to get proactive in figuring out who really killed him and why they are trying to frame her.

Dani O’Rourke is a refreshingly real character: she’s closer to 40 than 30, closer to a size 14 than a size 4, doesn’t know martial arts or weapons, isn’t a master computer hacker, and she doesn’t single-handedly figure out whodunit. She’s just a regular gal caught up in a highly irregular situation, which makes her very easy to identify with because she could actually be your next door neighbor, an old college roommate… even you!

Shea has also given Dani a strong cast of supporting characters: the dashing police detective Dani finds herself attracted to, despite the fact he’s investigating her for murder; her über rich playboy ex-husband, who’s still carrying a torch for Dani; Rowland Reynold, a somewhat sinister Santa Fe based art collector and main patron of the dead artist; Suzy, Dani’s social-butterfly, gossip-hound best friend. They, and many others, flesh out the wonderfully colorful world Shea has created.

Whether you’re looking for a book to curl up with while having a glass of wine or one to stuff in your bag to take to the beach, Murder in the Abstract is picture perfect!

Pasadena Police Department Homicide Detective Nan Vining most definitely knows about the dark side. Two years prior to the events in Love Kills she was attacked by a serial killer in a vicious knife assault that left her scarred both physically and psychologically.

While her physical wounds mended on their own over time, it took Nan going to a very dark place psychologically before she emerged feeling confident and free again, which is where we find her at the start of Love Kills, the fourth book in author Dianne Emley’s Nan Vining series.

And she’s going to need every ounce of her rediscovered confidence to deal with the three death investigations that cross her path in Love Kills, as not only do they all appear to be linked to each other, but also to someone close to Nan.

When Nan and her partner, Detective Jim Kissick, are called to the site of a Pasadena socialite’s drowning, Nan is startled to realize that she recognizes the victim, Catherine “Tink” Engleford, a longtime friend of her mother, Patsy.

Nan is even more startled when she goes to Patsy’s apartment to inform her of Tink’s death only to find two Los Angeles detectives already present and questioning Patsy… about two completely different deaths. It turns out that Patsy’s most recent boyfriend, a sleazy private investigator to the stars, was found shot to death in a motel room alongside a young woman who had been stabbed to death.

Complicating matters even further, charismatic self-help guru to the stars Georgia Berryhill appears to have links to all of the victims, as well as to Patsy. Given that Berryhill’s Malibu Canyon compound is frequented by a virtual who’s who of the rich and famous, none of whom welcome a police investigation with open arms, Nan has an uphill battle on her hands to get to the bottom of things.

As with all previous entries in the series, Emley has given Nan and her partner a wonderfully complex puzzle to solve, one that even the most savvy reader of mysteries will be hard pressed to get out in front of. Emley has also served up a healthy dose of black humor in addition to the mystery, as Berryhill and her followers are obviously a wickedly funny poke at the Hollywood set and their fascination with flavor of the month gurus and trends.

Emley’s descriptions of Pasadena and Malibu are picture perfect, and the locales are a refreshing change of pace from the numerous detective series set in Los Angeles proper. Emley also continues to masterfully bring Nan to life in a way that rings true to the delicate dance a single mother engages in on a daily basis to balance job and family. She’s a competent, take charge detective, yet very realistically can’t quite seem to wrap her arms around her hectic personal life: a teenage daughter who’s starting to rebel; a wonderfully supportive grandmother, who unfortunately seems to be heading into Alzheimer’s; an on again, off again romance with her partner (on again at the moment); and, of course, her well intentioned but often flighty mother Patsy, who presents a particularly unique challenge in Love Kills.

Old friends of the series will find that Nan’s closure with serial killer T.B. Mann has lifted a great burden from her and allowed her to begin rediscovering life without that constant shadow looming. It makes for a wonderful rediscovery for the reader as well. In that regard, Love Kills also presents a unique opportunity for those new to the series to jump in and hit the ground running without feeling as though they’ve missed something. So what are you waiting for? Pick up a copy and find out why Love Kills.

Love Kills is available from Ballantine Books (ISBN: 978-0345499554).

Former LAPD narcotics detective Will Magowan has pretty much hit rock bottom. Having been fired because of the heroin addiction he picked up while working undercover, he’s estranged from his wife and living in a beat up Airstream trailer at the opening of author Ken Mercer’s debut novel, Slow Fire.

Still unemployed and trying to get his life together two years after his firing, Magowan’s prospects for another job in law enforcement are looking rather grim. Until, that is, he gets an offer from the Mayor of Haydenville, California to become their Chief of Police.

Located far upstate and deep inland in National Forest territory, the once idyllic town is suffocating under a growing methamphetamine problem, one so bad that the Mayor is willing to overlook Magowan’s current baggage in favor of his past expertise.

Magowan accepts the position, and in relatively short order identifies the person he believes to be the source of the meth; Frank Carver, a man who served time in the 1970’s after being convicted of the voluntary manslaughter of his wife. Unfortunately, Carver also wrote a bestselling book shortly after his release from prison which, in conjunction with his generous patronage of the town’s library, makes him ‘hands off’ as far as the Mayor is concerned. (more…)

Cleverly presented as a series of blog entries, author Graham Parke’s debut novel, No Hope For Gomez!, chronicles the experiences of Gomez Porter. Being rather unsuccessful at running the antiques store he inherited from his parents, primarily because he knows absolutely nothing about antiques, Gomez decides to earn some extra cash by participating in an experimental drug trial.

As part of the trial, Gomez is instructed to keep a detailed blog of his daily activities and experiences, especially anything strange he notices. One thing in particular that Gomez notices, though he doesn’t find it at all strange, is how attracted he is to Dr. Hargrove, the scientist running the drug trial. In fact, he develops a mad crush on her and decides to devote all his time to winning her affection.

Dr. Hargrove, however, is already being stalked by someone so Gomez becomes her stalker’s stalker in order to determine the stalker’s identity and prove himself to Hargrove. Which he does, and an incredibly awkward romance ensues.

Things take a turn for the strange, if not downright disturbing, when one of Gomez’s fellow drug trial participants turns up dead, and shortly thereafter the detective investigating the case goes missing. Dr. Hargrove assures Gomez that the drugs being used in the trial had nothing to do with the death, but when yet another participant dies Gomez believes he has no choice but to go off the grid and investigate for himself in order to get to the bottom of things.

Interspersed throughout Gomez’s romance and investigation are the laugh-out-loud funny interactions he has with his decidedly left-of-center downstairs neighbor, Warren, an aspiring novelist, Hicks, the antiques store’s sole employee, who has a “pathological fear of all things unpunctual” (At one point Gomez becomes so frustrated with Hicks’ bizarre behavior that he puts him up for auction on eBay.), and the parade of oddball customers who frequent the antiques store.

Since it is known that Gomez is participating in an experimental drug trial, the reader is often left to wonder whether what is being relayed in his blog entries is real or the product of some drug-induced hallucination. After all, he can’t possibly have actually heard Warren stir-frying hamsters in an enameled wok… can he? And surely no one really came into his antiques store wearing a three-piece suit accessorized with sandals and a sombrero covered in “I love pasteurized milk!” stickers, right?

No Hope For Gomez! is one of the most delightfully odd books I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. It’s part humor, part mystery, part romance and entirely original. It was, in fact, like getting sucked into an alternate reality called Gomezland, and what a wonderful world to visit it was! I won’t spoil the book’s ending by telling you whether or not there’s ultimately hope for Gomez, but I can tell you that I most definitely hope for more books from Parke in the future.

No Hope For Gomez! is available from Outskirts Press (ISBN: 978-1432752484).

Dundee, Scotland based J. McNee (full first name never given) is not at a good place in his life when we meet him in author Russel D. McLean’s debut novel, The Good Son. Formerly on the Dundee police force, McNee was forced into early retirement following a car crash that killed his fiancée and left him physically disabled and psychologically crippled.

Now working as a private investigator, McNee receives a visit from local farmer James Robertson whose estranged brother, Daniel, was found hanging from a tree on the family’s farm. Though the police have it down as suicide, James is convinced his brother did not kill himself and hires McNee to investigate what Daniel had been up to during the 30 years since James last saw him.

In addition to putting him at odds with his former colleagues on the police force, McNee’s investigation opens up a Pandora’s box of local thugs, London gangsters and a mysterious woman with connections to both, as a visit to London reveals that Daniel had been working for one of that city’s most notorious gangsters, Gordon Egg.

Not pleased with either Daniel’s unexplained disappearance from London, with a substantial sum of Egg’s money, or McNee’s visit inquiring about him, Egg sends two of his thugs to Dundee to get to the bottom of things. And that’s when things go seriously sideways, as Egg’s thugs, Ayer and Liman, cut a bloody path through Dundee in their efforts to retrieve the missing money. (more…)