Charlie 316 by Colin Conway and Frank Zafiro - Book Report #271

This story crackled from the page.  (I've always wanted to write that.)

I love a good police procedural because I like to see the behind-the-scenes work and influences at play.

Tyler Garrett is an exemplary cop and is often tapped to make public appearances to promote the Spokane Police Department.

One day, while making a routine traffic stop, he is ambushed and shots are exchanged.  By the end of the shoot-out, the man who was pulled over is dead, having been shot in the back by officer Garrett.

What transpires next involves politics, dirty cops, crazy theories and some damn cold decisions.

All of this felt very real and there were many moments where my heart beat just a bit harder.



One of my favourite passages described a bar where the powerful and connected go to have a drink;

Business and politics were discussed at every table.  If those subjects weren't to your liking, you could always move down the street to one of the cheap joints where depression and failure were served on tap.

Zafiro and Conway wrote a crystal-clear story and I found myself thinking how it reminded me of Robert B Parker's Spenser novels.  It was all about asking endless questions and tugging on threads.  You never know which detail will bring the whole mystery apart.

The twist of the story came as a complete surprise to me and I had to put the book down to catch my breath.  After that, the whole story took on a menace and I found myself physically leaning into the book while I read, my nose almost touched the screen.

This was a terrific read.

Highly recommended.

Frank Zafiro's website - http://www.frankzafiro.com/

Colin Conway's website - https://colinconway.com/

Frank Zafiro

Colin Conway

Stumptown by Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth - A Graphic Novel Review

The Case of the Girl Who Took her Shampoo (But Left her Mini)

I came to this story from ad on television.  Cobie Smulders will star in the TV adaptation of the comic series written by Greg Rucka.  

I’m a sucker for strong characters who are unafraid of dangerous situations, Dex Parios is one tough woman, who is in deep debt with a casino and must do a job for them to have her debt cleared.

As Dex looks for the granddaughter of the casino owner she uncovers dangerous connections and takes a beating in the process.

The story was quick-paced, dark, funny and scary.  Matthew Southworth’s art created a gritty mood and the colours captured the mood and atmosphere of the Oregon coast.

I enjoyed the story very much because it kept to the classic PI storytelling without having to prove itself as being “edgy” by being overtly gratuitous with the violence.  Plus, Dex is sassy as hell and I like that.

I am glad to have read it and happy that I’ll have a TV show to go with it.

Recommended.

Greg Rucka's website - http://www.gregrucka.com/wp/

Matthew Southworth's website - http://matthewsouthworth.net/

Greg Rucka

Matthew Southworth

The Big Downtown by Jack McDevitt

Oooh!

Murder and mayhem in the wake of a hurricane make for a compelling mystery.

To be honest, this story barely qualifies as SF, not that it's a bad thing, but if you take away the flying cars and holograms you've simply got a straight-up mystery here.

It was a good mystery too.  The author kept the plot moving along with some complicated relationships and motivations.

I liked this one very much.

Jack McDevitt's website - https://www.jackmcdevitt.com/

Jack McDevitt

Count Backwards To Zero by Brett Halliday - Book Report #229

I must admit that I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes while reading this book.

Sure it's a hard-boiled detective story, which is something I love, but I couldn't help thinking about how it just did not stand up to what transpires today.  Okay, I know it's not fair, it was written in 1971 and things were different.

I may also have suffered by the fact that this is the 62nd volume in the series so there are many relationships in the book that seem so very convenient that they took me out of the story.

Here's the premise: an British scientist, suicidally depressed, is convinced to smuggle plutonium into the US on board the RMS Queen Mary.  Mike Shayne boards the ship in Bermuda and immediately becomes entangled in the conspiracy.

The moment the story had Shayne doing some pretty heroic automobile maintenance in the hold of the ship, I was out.  There is no way one man could do what he did, and talk about a dangerous job to boot!

Once he is on his home turf of Miami the level of suspension of disbelief I needed was too much.  It started with his personal car, which had a car phone - in 1971!  I had to Google when car phones first made it to market.  Yup, that fit reality, but it must have been incredibly expensive.  This Mike Shayne guy must be very successful and have tons of money.

This was further proven out when his car is shown to have a booby trap right out of James Bond.

It goes on - his reputation is so good that the local police allow him to investigate the conspiracy.  When the FBI become involved the local cops convince the feds to let Shayne continue.

The sex was unbelievable, the relationships and deals Shayne creates out of nothing were also impossible to buy.

In short, this book is terrible because it was written straight.  Today, with only a little bit of rewriting, it would make a terrific comedy.

Funny how nearly 50 years can change a story.

Brett Halliday

Dead Men Run by Gregg Taylor - Book Report #221

I have been listening to the Black Jack Justice Podcast for at least ten years and I can't get enough of the adventures of Jack and Trixie.  They are such a great team.  The stories are all self-contained and performed to perfection.

That's why I get a thrill whenever I hear:

Once again, Decoder Ring Theatre presents another page from the casebook of that master of mystery, that sultan of sleuthing, Martin Bracknell’s immortal detective: Black Jack Justice ...

I always know that I will be in good hands and that the dialog will crackle.  Gregg Taylor should be a big, big star.  He should be publishing books and be rolling in a big pile of cash because of it.  This blog is my little way of helping him to live that life.

The novel is structured much like the podcasts, with Jack and Trix taking turns at the narration of the story.  Here Jack is suspected of killing a cop and, instead of explaining the circumstances to the police, runs and hides.  Only a guilty man would run.

But Trixie does not believe it.  Both of them work the case on their own, which brings me to the only complaint I have of the book.  Black Jack and Trixie Dixon are a team; the stories work best when they are together.  Some of that great banter was missing and how they help each other to work a case was also gone.

It was still a very entertaining installment in the cannon.  But now that the podcast is suspended, each book becomes much more important as it just might be the last time I get to spend time Jack and Trix.

Taylor is just as talented a novelist as he is a script writer.  He has those voices so well memorized that reading the book is just like listening to a podcast.

To me the Black Jack Justice series is the pinnacle of what old-time detective fiction should be.  I can't get enough of this.

Absolutely recommended.  Help Gregg Taylor and buy the most expensive version of this book.  Make sure he gets as much money as possible so that he can be convinced to continue writing.

Decoder Ring Theatre - https://decoderringtheatre.com/shows/

Gregg Taylor

Inhuman Garbage by Kristine Kathryn Rush - A Short Story Review.

013/150/2016

Set in the Retrieval Artist universe and available from Asimov's website for free while the readers' choice awards are still in the voting stage.

It is a straight-up murder mystery involving the main characters of her earlier novels plus a crime boss who is the main suspect.

It was well done with a good twist and a surprising conclusion.  It also does the added work of expanding her RA universe.

Not being a reader of the series I can say that it works very well as a stand alone story.

Silent Night by Robert B. Parker and Helen Brann - Book Review #136

Don't let the title fool you, this novel is all Spenser and should be read by anybody who is a fan of the series.  The story only takes place during the Christmas season.

Slide, a street-kid staying at Street Business, a local shelter that tries to offers a safe place to stay and help the kids get jobs, comes to Spenser looking for his support.  Street Business is being threatend and may close, throwing all the kids back on the street.

Once Spenser and Hawk start poking around they discover that things are not as they seem and the problem is much more complicated than first suspected.

This was the book Parker was working on when he passed away.  His long-time literary agent was given permission to complete his work.  She did a wonderful job of it too.  Although the book was shorter than most of his previous novels Brann was able to channel Parker's economy of words into a fine addition to the cannon of Spenser stories.

Perhaps the only part of the story that was a bit too easy to come by was how quickly and readily Spenser was able to enlist the help of Quirk and Belson.  But, they all go back a long way and perhaps the spirit of the season made them more agreeable and willing to help.  This is a small complaint and I have no idea if that was part of the original manuscript or what Brann brought to the table.

I am still grateful that Spenser has been able to continue without Parker, he is in good hands with Helen Brann and Ace Atkins.

Robert B Parker's website is where is work is continued.

http://www.robertbparker.net/

Robert B Parker

Helen Brann

Book Review #120 - The Sins of the Fathers by Lawrence Block

Book 44 of 52
Page count - I don't really know; I read it as an e-book and the page count depends on the font size chosen.

This is the first Matthew Scutter novel; a series that is wildly popular with mystery fans.

Scutter is an ex-cop turned "private eye."  He is not a licensed PI but does "favours" for people for money.  By not being a legitimate investigator he is not restricted by the laws and regulations of that profession.  Even though he solves mysteries he is not doing it for the justice system (at least not in this book) but to help his client.

Scutter left the police department after a truly unfortunate accident.  He is an alcoholic; although he was never drunk he was never without a drink.

The novel was set in present day 1975 back when New York was a scary, dirty and dangerous place.  The sense of place was vivid in my imagination.  The story itself moved at a quick pace and was completely engrossing.  I tore through the book in a very short time.

A young woman is brutally murdered by her roommate.  She was estranged from her father and it is he who hires Scutter to discover what her life was like from when he lost contact to the time of her death.  This proved to be an interesting angle since he was not hired to solve the murder; the cops already had the man who was covered in her blood.

As Scutter learns about her life, he keeps bumping against the crime itself, which does not quite fit together neatly.

It's no wonder I like Block so much; his writing flows like water over a smooth rock - it is effortless to read.  I just love it.

Lawrence Block

Last Fair Deal Gone Down by Ace Atkins - a short story review

According to the Ace Atkins website this short story was lost for years until it was found on an old floppy disc.

It fits right in with his first novel, Crossroad Blues, actually, in 2008, this short was included as bonus material, in a 10th anniversary edition of Crossroad Blues.

In it we see Nick unravel the unfortunate death of a beloved sax man after discovering that the saxophone is missing from his room.

Look up book report #42 to see my review of CB.  Since first reading it I discovered the HBO series Treme and learned to love New Orleans.  I got a wonderful sense of place from this short story and really enjoyed it. I got the sense that Atkins was ready to tell a fully fleshed out story when he wrote this one.

A very nice addition to the cannon.  I wish I knew more authors who wrote novels AND short stories with their characters. Sometimes it's nice to get a small bite from a bigger world.

Book Report #76 - The Black Box by Michael Connelly

Out of respect for Michael Connelly I'm writing this post while listening to Sonny Clark's Dial "S" For Sonny originally recorded in 1957 on Blue Note records.

The latest installment of the Harry Bosch series finds Harry pursuing a 20 year old murder that occurred during the 1992 LA riots.  A Danish journalist was found dead in an alley a victim of an apparent execution.

While Harry reviews the information in the file he notices a small anomaly; a phone call logged 10 years after the murder inquiring about it.  By pulling on this thin thread Harry starts to uncover a much larger conspiracy that dates back to Operation Desert Storm of 1990.

At first I was caught off guard from the Desert Storm twist but leave it to Connelly to develop a gripping and believable plot.  I found this book to be quite the page-turner.  There were a couple little leaps in faith that I had to take; actions that I was surprised Harry took.

Unfortunately I found the climax to be a bit too "cinematic" for my tastes.  Like a bad TV episode, a surprising character comes to help Harry and the final chase to capture the Bad Guy made me groan in disappointment.

The novel was very good but the ending was botched, in my opinion.  The best part of the book was the musical suggestions I lifted from it. I always like tracing down the music that Connelly mentions.

Check out:
Art Pepper - http://straightlife.info/
Michael Formanek - http://www.amibotheringyou.com/index.html
Danny Grissett - http://www.dannygrissett.com/

The Care and Feeding of Houseplants by Art Taylor - Ellery QueenMystery Magazine, March/April 2013

Infidelity.  Watch out.

Felicia is married to a timid man.  She has an affair with Roger who is fitter, stronger more of a man than her husband. 

Never underestimate what a man is capable of.

I did not read this in one sitting but nibbled at it all day.  It is so well written that I kept thinking about it as I was working around the house.  The characters and situation were fresh; Roger's confidence and arrogance - made me dislike him intensely. 

Taylor is an accomplished short story writer.

Art Taylor

The Return of Crazy Horse by Clark Howard - Ellery Queen MysteryMagazine, March/April 2013

Nelson Clay, assistant curator of the Great Plains Native American Museum is approached by a young girl who claims to know where the burial site of Chief Crazy Horse is.

On one level there is the story of how to prove the authenticity of the claim, then there is the conflict of nepotism between Clay and his boss.

As the story progresses interesting relationships develop to a satisfying twist ending.

This is my second encounter with Howard's writing and I look forward to more.

Clark Howard

Robers' Roost by Loren D. Estleman from AMOS WALKER The Complete Story Collection

Walker is summoned to the bedside of a dying man.  He is asked to solve the death of a Prohibition era driver who's vehicle broke through the winter ice of the Detroit River.

The dying man, Oscar Chubb, an ex-cop, wants Walker to get enough evidence to prove Specs Kleinstein, a known racketeer and bootlegger, was responsible for his adopted brother's death, who was driving that car.

Walker has to get a vehicle pulled from the Detroit River that has been lying at the bottom for over 50 years.

Even though this is the coldest of cold cases, somebody does not want it investigated.

A solid story.

Greektown by By Loren D. Estleman from AMOS WALKER, The Complete Story Collection

This is my fist stab at the Amos Walker cannon.  I thought a collection of short stories would make for an easy introduction to a new series, at least, new for me.  Eastleman has been writing this series since the 1980's.

Amos Walker is like a lot of PIs in fiction; he's a loner and has pals in the police department and at the city newspapers.  Unlike most PIs his character is based in Detroit, the only other author I know of who uses Detroit is Elmore Leonard - good company.

This first story revolves around a serial killer; Walker's client thinks it's his own half brother and wants him to find his brother before the police do.

Walker then has to walk a fine line around the police, never letting on that he's in fact on the case representing the suspect.

The police get their man and Walker discovers the reasons behind it all.

First published in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, August 1983.

August 1983

Loren D. Estleman

Book Report #56 - Dutch Uncle by Peter Pavia

This book sure started out feeling like an Elmore Leonard novel. It had all the elements; south Florida local, lots of drugs, a couple murders, cops, low-lifes and three or four loosely related plot lines. Unfortunately all the separate stories ran out of anything interesting to tell.

195 pages in and I kept wondering when the author was going to bring all these plot lines in for some kind of conclusion.

Interestingly, the dangling plot points ended abruptly, giving the book a rather low-keyed yet believable conclusion. The denouement was interesting in that you don't get that type of ending too often in crime fiction.

A satisfying end, however, did not make up for a book that spent most of its time in the doldrums.

Book Report #53 - Back Story by Robert B Parker

Sue recently went on a book reading rampage, first reading every Spenser novel, in order, then reading every Janet Evanovich novel.

Now she's starting on the Jesse Stone novels. I thought I would read the book where he first appeared. (according to Wikipedia).

Spenser is hired to find the killer of a woman who died 28 years in the past.

He uncovers more than his client is willing to learn and continues his investigation after he is asked to stop. Spenser, with the help of Hawk, soon find the murder to be buried in layers of cover-ups.

I always love the humour and larger-than-life confidence in Parker's characters and the dialogue is perfect. Nobody wrote dialogue like Parker.

A very entertaining book.

Open Mike by James Nolan - New Orleans Noir

The longest story in the book so far, it was also the first straight-up detective story. Set in pre-K French Quarter and back alley dives, our detective searches for answers surrounding the death of a young woman.

The settings were wonderfully seedy, made more interesting by being set in the open mike world of the poetry community.

I thought the author did an excellent job of telling an interesting story with careful touches of humour.

Well worth the read.

The Battling Priests of Corpus Christie by Jervey Tervalon - NewOrleans Noir

Pretty cool story here.

We have two priests; one is a bigot the other a skirt-chasing drunk. Pretty rich territory when you also add a hatred between the two.

The story is told by a young adult girl of mixed race.

I would really like to read this story in a novel-length form. I found the short story less than satisfying because the conflict just resolves itself, in two paragraph0,s away from the narrators' eyes.

Boy, I liked the set up though. I really think the author has a great idea for a cracking read.

Pony Girl by Laura Lippman - New Orleans Noir

Set in pre-Katrina Treme, New Orleans; a young college student joins a second line parade on Mardi Gras day. She is dressed far too provocatively for the neighborhood (if such a thing can be imagined) and attracts the attention of many men including the narrator.

He sees that the girl has attracted the attention of a dangerous man and decides to follow in order to give her some protection.

What follows was a gruesome surprise both to me and the antagonist.

After watching the first season on Treme I could really picture what the parade line is like in the story.

This was very well done. I could have read more. I'll definitely be looking for Lippman's work from now on.

Algiers by David Fulmer - New Orleans Noir

Set in Algiers, New Orleans, 1905.

An enforcer comes into an Algiers tavern to run off a card-cheat who's been making a nuisance of himself.

It read a lot like a western, which, given the year the story is set in, is about right.

It was wonderful. My heart rate went up while reading the final scene.