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The
Bookman's Wake was a follow up to Dunning's
Booked to Die and a Cliff
Janeway mystery. In this case, he is eventually convinced
to track down a book from a small, defunct press that no
one knew was published. Grayson Press is a small, limited
edition house known for finely crafted publications of
reprints and occasional new properties. They are rumored
to have published a copy of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven
in 1969 in a very limited printed run. Someone is, as it
turns out, is trying to collect each one and kill off the
owners. Like Booked to Die, this is a good mystery and
there is a lot of interesting stuff about the book
collecting world. Also like Booked to Die, Dunning has
Janeway ranting about the prices of contemporary
collectibles. I find that irritating, but, admittedly,
it's just a pet peeve of mine. I mean, Gee, Dunning, Horn
works, try the lights, I get it already. |
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The
Ice Limit by Preston and Child is a thriller about
excavation and transportation of what is supposed to be
the largest meteor ever recovered. The find is in the
Tierra Del Fuego islands at the southern tip of South
America. The problem is to get permission from Chile to
"mine" the island and retrieve to the meteor
without telling them that it is a meteor (lest Chile
refuse in order to keep it herself). A retired navel sea
captain working for the Chilean government is suspicious
of the expedition and is determined to get to the truth.
Also, the density and size of the find presents a number
of engineering problems and it seems the meteor itself
has some surprises of its own. Also, it isn't even clear
what it is. One of the team has a theory that it's an
"interstellar" meteor. Meaning that it's origin
is not from this solar system or the Ort cloud just out
side, but from an entirely different star system. Like every one of
Preston and Child's "techno-thriller" novels, I
found this to be exciting all the way through. Will the
Chilean captain find out what's going on? Will they get
the rock out of there? Will the ship still float? And
what is that thing, anyway? I read recently that the goal
of a mystery writer was to hold off the solution to as
late as possible. The "perfect" solution, then,
would be one that was revealed in the very last sentence
of the novel. Though this isn't really mystery, they do
achieve this solution distinction and take it a step
further by answering the final question with the very
last word!
Plum
Island, was an absolute delight. I've never read
DeMille before, but he's now on my list of regulars. In
this one, John Correy is a wisecracking NYPD cop on a
convalesence leave after being shot three times in the
line of duty. He is about due back and is relaxing at his
uncle's place on the eastern end of Long Island. The
local sheriff stops by to ask for his "help" on
the murder of a young couple, whom Correy has met. They
were career biological scientists that worked on Plum
Island, a government research lab which, rumors have it,
might be involved with chemical or biological warfare
efforts. A really fun read.
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Painted
Truth by Lise McClendon has been sitting in my
library since I bought it back in late 1995 or early 1996
while attending a book signing at the Book Carnival in
Orange, CA. I'd been putting off reading it because I'd
hoped to run across her first one. But since she has now
come out with the third and I've heard much about it, I
thought I'd move it up on my TBR pile. Alix Thorssen is
the part owner of an art gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
and is asked to do an estimate on the loss of paintings
destroyed in a fire. That soon becomes a moot point. The
speculation is that the fire was arson and the artist
killed himself in the fire, therefore, there's no need
for an estimate since the insurance won’t pay
anyway. Though the police seem to be satisfied with this
conclusion, it leaves too many questions unanswered and
raises others for Alix. Questions which may get Alix,
herself, killed. It was good. I liked her setting. I
liked her "waxing philosophical" on paintings
and life. |
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The
Track of the Cat by Nevada Barr is the first in a
series of Anna Pigeon, park ranger, cum murder
investigator. In this, her first case, Anna is stationed
in the Guadalupe Mountains in South East New Mexico where
a fellow park ranger is killed, apparently, by a mountain
lion -- too apparently. I read Blind Descent back in August of
'98 and have been meaning to start this series from the
beginning. They seem to be relatively light reads, but
I'm enjoying them for their park settings. |
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Killer
Material is by Dan Barton whose day job is
"stand-up comedian" and this is his first novel
about Biff Kincade, a stand-up comic, who is discovering
that his material is being "pirated" and the
pirate is also killing off his competition. It was okay.
It was somewhat funny, but that wasn't the focus. The
focus, other than the mystery itself, was on what it
takes to make a living in the stand-up arena. |
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Left
Behind is the first of what is now 8 books in a
series discussing the aftermath of the
"Rapture". As is suggested in bible prophecy,
all the righteous are raised from the dead and those
righteous still living are all brought to heaven. This
book opens up with that happening and those "left
behind" form the basis of the series. I could tell
from the cover and back panel blurbs about the authors,
that this series had religious overtones and, quite
frankly, I am not interested in spending money to get
preached at. However, my wife and I were talking to a
person at a store and she said that it isn't like that at
all. Sure, there is some, because of the subject matter,
but it is presented in a matter-of-fact kind of way and
the story and the characters involved is a
"dramatization" of what happens to and around
them. It really was a thriller. Imagine, for
openers, the chaos, calamity and confusion that would
result if, say, 25 to 30% of the world's population
suddenly disappeared. Suddenly there are driverless cars
and pilot-less airlines. The world is an industry that is
"on" 24 hours a day, there is no way to
gracefully extract that many people without some very
drastic consequences. This story is what those
consequences are, how those left behind deal with it and
what two characters in particular do to try to find
causes and what to do next. Of course, these two people
both discover what has happened and are now taking their
queues from bible prophecy. The only "down
side" to the story I felt was that the journalist
too easily became confused about his role in the current
state of affairs. A journalist is a professional that
separates his personal feelings from the events being
covered. Editorials aside, if there is a slant to a
story, it reflects editorial policy of the paper, and
not, necessarily, the writer. I thought that the
journalist in this story too easily became baffled about
his role after he'd become a true believer. But, as it
happens, it was necessary for other reasons, and it
wasn't that big of a distraction. I did enjoy it and I'll
put the rest of the series on my TBR pile, but I'm not in
a hurry to get to it.
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A quick
read was Richard Paul Evan's The Christmas Box.
This short story (which was made into a Christmas film
with Maureen O'Hara and Richard Thomas ("John
Boy" from the Walton's). A young couple just
starting a new business takes job as "home
care/house sitters" for a well-to-do elderly lady.
It's a hanky-holder. Be prepared. |
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A Monk
Swimming by Malachy McCourt (the younger brother of
Frank McCourt of Angela's Ashes fame), is his
account of the drunken meanderings of his youth that come
to a climax when he verbally rips his father to pieces
for being such a dolt. It doesn't have anywhere near the
charm of Frank's work, but given you've read Angela's
Ashes and/or 'Tis, A Monk Swimming covers
another aspect of the family and you may find it
interesting.
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Lou Bolt
is hooked into a case of illegal Chinese immigrant
trafficking in The First Victim by Ridley Pearson.
The press seems to have found a way inside the
trafficking, but can't get out. This story has entwined
Law Enforcement, the Press and the
Criminal-yet-politcally- connected all working
more-or-less together, but all for their own agenda. Monster by Jonathan Kellerman has
Alex Deleware profiling a killer who's MO is surprisingly
similar to that of a psychotic who has been an inmate of
a local psychiatric ward for the last 15 years. This
inmate is also "seeing" the crimes before they
occur. |
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Silent
Snow by Steve Thayer is a follow-up to his Weatherman
from a few years before. In this case, Rick Beanblossom,
Vietnam War scarred veteran and an investigative reporter
in Minneapolis, receives a note that his son has been
kidnapped. That case has remarkable similarities to the
Lindbergh kidnapping and leads Rick through research into
that kidnapping as well. It was fascinating and now has
me more curious to read about the Lindbergh kidnapping. |
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Family
Honor by Robert B Parker is the first in a series
with Sunny Randall, female PI in Boston. Sunny is hired
to find a teenage girl who has run away, but she hangs
onto her until she can get a handle on why the kid ran
away. I liked it but, am somewhat confused on why Parker
started a new series. The style is almost identical to
the Spenser novels to the point of using very similar
lines, "...'because I'm a trained investigator,' she
said...." She has a brute side kick, a beefy gay guy
named Sykes, connections with the police (her father was
on the force and she used to work there too), and a link
to the under world as her ex-husband is the son of a
Mafioso. |
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John
Saul's Nightshade is about Matt who is 16 and is
going on the traditional "now you're a man"
deer hunt with this step-father. Though they have an
argument the night before, all seems to be forgotten.
When Matt takes a bead on the buck, he suddenly finds
himself, an hour later, still holding the bead, but the
buck is down and his step father has been shot as well.
Matt has no recollection of the events or time that has
past as he is brought out of his "trance" by
one of his friends who claims he's been looking for him
for the past hour. This is a psychological thriller laced
with just a hint of the supernatural. |
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On a
recent trip taking the grandkids to Yosemite, we
listened the first two Harry Potter novels from JK
Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Absolutely delightful and, in my opinion, much of its
charm is wasted on kids and, possibly, some of their
parents. In Stone we are
introduced to Harry Potter who, at the age of 10, learns he is a wizard.
A fact that has been kept from him by his aunt and uncle. But now it's
time for him to be taught wizard ways and is invited to Hogwarts, a school
of witchcraft and wizardry. There he meets Ron Weesley and Hermonie
Granger and together they try to follow clues to the "sorcerer's
stone", a gem that the evil Dark Lord could use to come back to power.
In Chamber, Harry is back at Hogwarts
for year 2. This time, rumors of "the Chamber of Secrets" created by one
of Hogwarts founders, Salazar Slytherin, has been reopened and attacks
on students and faculty begins. Harry tries to learn the secrets of the
chamber and stop the attacks. |
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