The reason for these "quarterly" reports is that I just can’t keep up with the speed most of you read. It is not unlikely that I’ll only get one book done in a month and now that my "day" job has me doing less traveling, I don’t go through Books on Tape as often.

Open Season on Lawyers by Taffy Cannon has a cute premise. Someone is out there killing off "shyster" lawyers, and posing the dead bodies in a manner suggestive of their notoriety. For instance, an attorney noted for winning a multi-million dollar suit against a fast food chain for a client who was scalded by hot coffee, was found boiled in his hot tub. Set in Southern California, detective Joanna Davis isn't entirely unsympathetic to the killer, but he must be stopped. In spite of the whimsical premise, this is not a comedy. Taffy has a hard-boiled (pardon the pun) novel, here, with plenty of suspense. Though there is some humor, its calling card is "serious police procedural."

Tod Goldberg's Fake, Liar, Cheat is his first novel. Funny book, though darkly so. Lonnie Milton meets Claire who takes him through a world of fine cars and fine dining in the fast lane. For free. They walk out on the checks. We watch Lonnie as he slowly deteriorates as Claire also walks out on him. Due to his guilt and consequences of their "pleasure cruise" through high price restaurants, Lonnie sinks deeper into a mental morass. His fall is aided on by a foggy brain clouded by pain killers and booze. As funny as it is, it is kind of depressing. It's like reading about Holden Caufield, as an adult, in relapse.

This was written in present tense, which I had never seen (or if I saw, never noticed) before. It has an interesting effect in that you are vicariously riding along with Milton as these things are happening to him and become a victimized just  as he is. In a sense, it adds to the suspense. In the more traditional past tense, there is the general implication that things turn out (especially in first person where you feel safe to assume our hero lives). This story isn't about how it ends, it is about Milton loosing it and what he does about it. I think the tense went a long way to enhance that.

The first from David Rosenfelt, Open and Shut , was a delightful read. Very witty. You'd think you wouldn't "enjoy" a book were our hero, a slippery defense lawyer, is straining to deal with a marriage that isn't working, suffers the death of his father and then is walked all over by client he takes on, pro-bono, for friend (who then disappears). But Andy Carpenter, though not immune to the situations, takes it in stride with grace and humor. I couldn't help but carry smile on my face as I read it. The crux of the story is about a case his father asks him to look into. The case is one that he (his father) had prosecuted a number of years earlier. Due to a technicality, the case is being retried. For the prosecution, it's the quintessential "open and shut" case. Before Andy can get his sleeves rolled up, he and his father attend a ball game where his father passes away. From there on it is one surprise after another all the way to the end. A great debut novel.

This was also written in present tense. Since I just finished reading the first book where I'd ever seen this technique, I wondered if there wasn't something going around in literary circles about which I hadn't been informed. Two different writers, both first novels, both written in present tense -- is it a conspiracy? Is it contagious? In this case, though, I'm not sure if it was a necessary tool. Certainly, it aids in suspense, but this isn't a suspense novel. It is a mystery. Though the technique does no harm, I didn't see what it added. Nevertheless, present or past tense, I find/found it is/was a great read.

Chris Holmes' first novel, The Medusa Strain is a deftly crafted bioterrorism medical thriller. A mid-eastern organization has come up with a way to create a contagious form of Anthrax. Through recombinant DNA techniques, a flu virus is created that carries Anthrax spores. Six “suicide” hosts are infected with this virus and sent to six different major cities in the US and “mingle” until they receive their specific orders. They don't know this part of the mission. They don't know their “mission” will not be forth coming. They don't know they are already on it. While they mix at various tourist sites, they are propagating this disease and will soon die, never knowing what their mission was or that they completed it.

 A fascinating premise and, as the note in the afterward says, all too possible. Chris is a physician, epidemiologist, and retired military. He has spent much of his career investigating epidemics of all kinds. This fiction, which is not so far fetched, is a riveting eye-opener. I am really becoming fascinated by medical thrillers. Chris Holmes is going to be added in with the likes of Michael Crichton, Tess Gerritsen, Robin Cook and Robert Greer on my shelves.