Category: Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller Page 116 of 153

Before the Fall (Audiobook) by Noah Hawley, Robert Petkoff

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On October 21, 2016

In Fiction, General Fiction/Literature, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Before the Fall Before the Fall

by Noah Hawley, Robert Petkoff (Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 12 hrs, 59 min.
Hachette Audio, 2016
Read: August 25 – 30, 2016


A small, but luxurious, private plane goes down between Martha’s Vineyard and New York — two passengers survive, a painter (a guest of one of the other passengers) and a 4-year old boy. The boy is the son of two of the passengers — a man who runs a FOXNews doppleganger and his wife. The painter is a recovering addict named Scott Burroughs who’s on the verge of his big break. Thanks to a childhood obsession with swimming, Scott is able to swim he and the boy to safety — catapulting them both into a level of celebrity that nobody wants.

The investigation into the plane crash begins even before Scott makes it to shore — and looks into the background of everyone on the plane to find the responsible party. As the investigation — and the narration — gets into their pasts, it’s easy to believe that many of the people on board are responsible for the tragedy (either as perpetrator or target).

The other primary storyline follows the lives of Scott and the boy in the days following the crash. Their lives are forever changed — and intertwined. This was the heart of the book — by far the best part of it, while there was no suspense, no danger, just picking up the pieces of their life while under intense and unwanted media scrutiny.

The commentary this novel makes about the role of the Twenty-Four News Cycle in commenting on, shaping, and twisting whatever story it chooses to focus on needs to be heard. On the one hand, it’s nothing that many haven’t said before, but the way Hawley says it should help his message to resonate with people.

I read Hawley’s first novel, A Conspiracy of Tall Men, when it was first released and it blew me away — and I lost track of him after that until his show, The Unusuals premiered (still annoyed with ABC for canceling that too soon). This book has convinced me that I need to go back and read the books I missed — this isn’t as good as his debut, but it’s easier to believe. Hawley has a great way of getting into his character’s heads — and bringing the reader with him. These are all clearly drawn individuals with intricate and distinct backstories and voices, throw in an equally intricate plot that kept me gripped (even after I stopped really caring about “how did it happen” — I’m not sure that makes sense).

Petkoff’s narration is pretty good — he’s able to keep the story moving and deliver convincing characters (although I’m not crazy about his kid-voice, thankfully, he didn’t have to use it often). Petkoff’s a name that I’ll keep an eye out for.

A novel with two (main) stories — one that’s really good, and another that’s ultimately disappointing, while gripping up until that point. Hawley delivered here, and I look forward to reading more of his work (almost as much as I look forward to another season of his TV work). I recommend this — either in text or audio — it won’t be the best thing you read, but it’ll reward the time.

—–

3.5 Stars

Madam Tulip and the Knave of Hearts by David Ahern

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On October 19, 2016

In Fiction, Madam Tulip, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Madam Tulip and the Knave of HeartsMadam Tulip and the Knave of Hearts

by David Ahern
Series: Madam Tulip, #2

Kindle Edition, 355 pg.
Malin Press, 2016

Read: September 29 – October 1, 2016


After the dramatic events at the end of her first experiment as Madam Tulip, Derry puts away her costume and fortune-telling apparatus, focusing on something safer — like theater. Which works up until the roof caves in after her big opening night. So now she (and her friends) are without jobs, the theater’s existence is in danger, and Derry’s mother is just waiting for a chance to pounce and force her into a “real” job.

Derry and her pals organize a charity auction (with some help from her mother) to help the theater — Derry also ends up working for her mother in a temporary capacity (only one of them actually believes that part) — we see a different side of her, on e that makes you believe she has options outside of acting if she wants them. I like seeing her character rounded out — I also liked the little flash we had of her acting ability outside of Madam Tulip.

Marlene comes to the rescue as well — she has a friend from a titled family, who is throwing an extravagant engagement party and wants Madam Tulip to be part of it. This will give Derry a needed infusion of cash and the family will make a contribution to the theater’s fund as well (there’s a family connection). Bruce also picks up some work, which is convenient for Derry — and for Ahern — always handy to have your ex-SEAL buddy character nearby if things go bad. And they do, naturally — Derry has visions of an unhappy bride, body parts start showing up in the mail (don’t worry — this doesn’t get gruesome), and rumors of other family problems surround Derry. It’s up to her, her clients (featuring a spunky dowager), and Bruce to save the day.

It might just be me, but there’s a larger supernatural feel to this one. Last time, you could almost get away thinking that Derry was just good at reading people and doing the card thing as a lark. But in this volume, there’s no denying that she has some sort of “sight.” While the supernatural is more evident here, it’s not like Charlaine Harris took over, it’s still pretty much the same feel. Also, I should add that Derry putting the pieces together at the end isn’t all due to her gift — the practical side, her mother’s influence, that has as much to do with her success as anything else.

There’s a bit of a romantic storyline here, I liked this one better than the previous book’s foray into that part of Derry’s life. It was less complicated and more believable. Sure, I liked the guy from the last book more than this one — but the story worked better with this interest.

The whole gang is back for this go ’round. We didn’t get a lot of Bella, less of Marlene than I expected, and less of Bruce than I wanted (but he’s there when he needed to be) — but the just the right amount of Jacko (who was a lot of fun) and her mom. The new characters were okay, I didn’t get the sense of connection to them that I did with everyone last time — they were clearly invented just for this adventure, ready to be replaced by another group in need of her talents.

This is a fun, light mystery — great for readers of David Rosenfeldt or Janet Evanovich, who don’t mind a touch of something beyond this world. I really liked the first book in this series — I’ve even put my money where my mouth is and given it as gifts. I liked this one almost as much, but in many ways it reminded me about what I’ve heard many TV writers talk about — writing the pilot is hard, but the 2nd episode is worse — it’s basically retelling the pilot in a slightly different way. On many fronts, that’s what this felt like: a slightly tweaked version of the first book (and as soon as I wrote that, I thought of at least a half-dozen ways I was wrong to say it). I hope book 3 (assuming we get one) is a little less like these two. But I’m still going to be there, because these characters and Ahern’s voice are right up my alley and I want to spend more time with both.

—–

4 Stars

Pub Day Repost: The Twelve Dogs of Christmas by David Rosenfelt

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On October 18, 2016

In Andy Carpenter, David Rosenfelt, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Twelve Dogs of ChristmasThe Twelve Dogs of Christmas

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #15eARC, 336 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2016
Read: August 27, 2016

I’m not a big fan of holiday-themed installments of long-running series (see the Holiday Plum novels or the Silent Night Spenser novel as glaring examples of how bad these can be). But you know I’m a completist — and if I could make it through the aforementioned books, I could handle this. Thankfully, this was pretty light on the Christmas theme (sure, there are trees and gifts and whatnot, but it’s not really that different from your standard Andy Carpenter novel. So, if you think like I do — don’t worry. If you don’t mind/like a little holiday cheer — don’t worry, you’ll find it.

A friend of the Tara Foundation, “Pups” (so-called because she takes care of stray puppies until they’re old enough to adopt out, and might be pickier than Willie when it comes to worthy humans). Is facing eviction because of the large number of puppies she has in her home, and a new neighbor is complaining. Pups isn’t really what you call “friendly,” “polite” or someone who “should be allowed to interact with people.” She’s crabby, opinionated, blunt and has no patience for fools — particularly fools that seem intent on messing with her and her puppies. So Pups has said a few things that make it sound like she’d be happy if the neighbor stopped breathing.

Which, naturally, means that he ends up killed and that someone did a really sloppy frame job on ol’ Pups. The frame job is actually bigger than just this one killing, but you can read that for yourself.

Why prosecutors continue to play hardball with Carpenter clients, I just don’t get. I never understood why Hamilton Burger insisted on taking Perry Mason’s clients to trial, and I can’t understand why New Jersey’s prosecutors don’t just dismiss charges the instant that Carpenter and Hike show up on the other side of a courtroom. But they don’t, which means we get to watch Andy do his thing, fret about his jury deliberation superstitions, and annoy a judge. Who could ask for more?

I really think the mystery, the culprit and the way things unfold in Twelve Dogs is better than the last few books in this series. Everything’s clicking just like it should in these pages. This may be some of the best Marcus material in quite a while — the way that the gang leader acts around and talks about “Mr. Marcus” tells you more about Marcus than anything that Andy could possible tell us. The book would be worth reading just for that.

Minor spoiler: and hopefully once the book is published, this’ll be taken care of. It was a shame to see Andy betting since he and Ricky and just made a promise to stop doing that about a third way through the last book (I’m too lazy to look up page number, an approach Andy would probably endorse) — and Laurie made it clear that he was expected to keep that promise. It’s a minor note that I probably only caught because I read the two passages in the same 24-hour period.

It’d be really hard to rank Carpenter books in terms of happy and/or sweet endings. But if you were bored/ambitious enough to take on that task, I’m pretty sure that this would find itself close to the top. A great addition to one of the more entertaining mystery series around.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Minotaur Books via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.

—–

4 Stars

NYPD Red 2 (Audiobook) by James Patterson, Marshall Karp, Edoardo Ballerini, Jay Snyder

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On October 14, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

NYPD Red 2 NYPD Red 2

by James Patterson, Marshall Karp , Edoardo Ballerini (Narrator), Jay Snyder (Narrator)
Series: NYPD Red, #2

Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs, 8 min.
Hachette Audio, 2014

Read: October 6 – 7, 2016


Yeah, I was underwhelmed by NYPD Red, but thought that maybe this series would pick up a little, with everything established in the first. Wow, was I wrong.

This is basically a Dexter retelling — murderers who got off thanks to good lawyers, bad prosecutors, etc being kidnapped, tortured and killed. Before they’re killed, they record a video confession to their crimes, which is uploaded to YouTube shortly after their body is discovered.

Of course, one of the victims is the campaign manager for a mayoral candidate, and the body is discovered 8 days before the election — making the whole investigation a political issue in addition to a pressing crime. Given the prestige and notoriety of the latest victim, the case is bumped up to the NYPD Red team.

From there, it’s pretty much a paint-by-numbers affair — I called the whole thing, even the twists, early on. There’s so little to commend in this book that I can’t think of a positive way to finish this sentence.

I guess I understand why you’d have two narrators for the audiobook — one for the first person detective narration, one for the other perspectives. But I think we’re all smart enough to follow things with just one voice. Both narrators did a decent job, but nothing remarkable. They probably did the best they could with the flat prose and dull dialogue.

Dull, predictable plot with personal side-stories that made me like everyone less. Both authors are capable of such more — I don’t know why they aren’t delivering with this series.

—–

2 Stars

The House of Secrets (Audiobook) by Brad Meltzer, Tod Goldberg, Scott Brick, January LaVoy

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On October 14, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The House of Secrets The House of Secrets

by Brad Meltzer, Tod Goldberg, Scott Brick (Narrator), January LaVoy(Narrator)

Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs, 14 min.
Hachette Audio, 2016
Read: September 22 – 28, 2016


I’ve appreciated the work of Meltzer (comics only, haven’t tried a novel) and Tod Goldberg in the past, so I was intrigued by the idea of them working together, but the book itself just didn’t seem like my cup of tea. Then I heard them interviewed on The Writers Panel podcast and I changed my mind (give it a listen, it’s fun).

Boy was that a mistake. Mostly.

So, the host of a Ripley’s Believe it or Not-esque show all about the crazy conspiracies, hidden stories, and unexplained throughout history is about to retire but is killed in an auto accident. His son and daughter are in the car with him — Junior survives with minor bumps and bruises, Hazel is seriously injured and suffers a traumatic brain injury. She pretty much forgets who she is.

She starts investigating her own background and starts finding questions about her father and his show — there seems to be more than just a TV show afoot. And…yeah, I just can’t care enough to do more than this, I’ve already spent more time on this than I wanted to.

It was a fun, potboiler-y book that was entertaining enough to justify the ten hours — and then the ending, the explanation for everything, and the denouement were horrible. Not just disappointing, but worse. It really made me mad.

I typically like Scott Brick’s narration — but something about the approach he used this time just didn’t work for me. I can’t put my finger on why — maybe it was a bit too aggressive sounding? Like I said, I really don’t know. I did find LaVoy’s work interesting and engaging, however. Maybe it was the contrast between the two that left Brick’s performance wanting (I don’t think so, but it’s a thought that occurs).

As frustrating as I found the story (eventually beyond frustrating), it was an entertaining, gripping book. Structurally sound, moved along at a good pace — everything you want in escapist fiction. But man . . . the ending (and really all of it, therefore, as it is a mystery) was plain ol’ bad. The first 9-ish (maybe 8-ish) hours were good enough that I can’t rate this too low (but man, the ending made me want to).

—–

2 1/2 Stars

Genrenauts: The Complete Season One Collection by Michael R. Underwood

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On October 10, 2016

In Genrenauts, Michael R. Underwood, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, P-U, Science Fiction, Western

Genrenauts: The Complete Season One CollectionGenrenauts: The Complete Season One Collection

by Michael R. Underwood
Series: Genrenauts, #1-6

Kindle Edition, 544 pg.
2016


Parallel to our world are various worlds populated by fictional characters in a wide variety of genres (Western, SF, Romance, etc), and when things go wrong in the stories, things go wrong in our world. For example, broken Romance world stories = higher divorce rates here. In this world, there are a number of teams of story specialists who shift to the other worlds to fix the stories and set things back on course here. Leah Tang — a struggling stand-up comic by night, struggling receptionist by day — is the newest recruit. Join her as she learns the ropes, rights wrongs, struggles with ethics, and gets shot at while cracking jokes.

Originally printed as 6 episodes in 5 novellas, now collected in one season-long omnibus, Genrenauats as become one of my favorite series this year and I’m glad to get one more chance to talk about it with the release of the collection this week.

There’s a great cast of characters here, all of which deserve the reader’s time and focus. For example, I was tempted to not-really-ignore, but relegate Angstrom King to back burner status in my mind. He’s the leader, he points the team in a direction, but the real excitement’s with the rest. This was a mistake on my part — think of him like Capt. Picard. Sure, for the most part he sits around in his ready room with some Earl Gray (hot) — but really, some of the more interesting things that happen in he series are because of his actions. King’s not Jean-Luc, but there’s a similar quality.

I love a good team — fiction, TV, comics, you name it — the interaction, the teamwork, the dynamics, there’s really nothing like it. There’s a great team in these novellas — some of the intra-team camaraderie got pushed aside for a little romance that doesn’t really work for me (but I get why it would for others and appreciate the way Underwood’s tackling it). Overall, it’s built on solid interactions and relationships that have plenty of room to grow and develop over the many seasons that we hopefully get of this.

Each adventure gives Underwood an opportunity to talk about various genres — to talk about the clichés, tropes, archetypes, pluses, minuses, and so on of each genre. And one visit to each won’t be enough to fully explore these. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not talking Master’s Theses-esque discussion, he jokes about them, plays with them, sometimes turns them upside down while telling his tale.

The collection includes:
The Shootout Solution — We meet Leah Tang, Angstrom King and the rest of his team. We’re also introduced to the concept of Genrenauts, Story Worlds, the effects that they can have on our world — also, we get a pretty decent story in Western World. Not bad for 148 pages. (For more details, you might want to read my original blog post, my blog post about the audiobook)

The Absconded Ambassador — The team goes to Science Fiction World to help out on a DS9-like Space Station. On the verge of a major treaty being finalized and signed, the Terran ambassador has been kidnapped. It’s up to King and co. to rescue the ambassador and keep the shaky alliance from crumbling in her absence. We learn a little more about everyone, and while having a lot of fun with genre conventions. ( my original blog post, my blog post about the audiobook)

The Cupid Reconciliation — The team gets back up to full strength in time to go rescue a Rom-Com gone awry. Underwood really lets things fly when it comes to observations about the genre and playing with conventions while using them for comedic — and narrative — value. Also — a couple of seeds that were planted in the first two novellas are watered enough that you can see season/season-plus story arcs beginning to grow. The series took a big jump in quality here. ( my original blog post)

The Substitute Sleuth — A Police Procedural needs some help, a no-nonsense cop’s off-the wall/out-of-the-box partner takes a bullet and another pair of mismatched detectives needs to come in and close the case. We get some major backstory stuff here, and the season arc is moved along nicely. The detective story itself isn’t my favorite, but what Underwood does with the tropes, themes, conventions, etc. is really good — it is more of a TV detective story than a novel detective story. Think Castle, not Harry Bosch (whoops, thanks Amazon, you ruined that point…). ( my original blog post)

The Failed Fellowship (Part 1 & 2) — This think kicks off with Leah Tang ranting about fantasy fiction and 5 episodes later, she gets to spend 2 episodes in Fantasy World, where a Chosen One with a Magic Artifact story has fallen to pieces. Leah’s in hog heaven, the rest of the team are at the top of their game and Underwood is, too. Rollicking good adventure. Best of the batch in every way. ( my original blog post)

I dig this series, and having all of the novellas in one handy collection is going to make it easier (I hope) for others to discover it — the collection is also a little cheaper than buying all the individual stories, which will also going to make things easier for people to discover it. If you haven’t dipped your toe in this world/these worlds yet, what are you waiting for?

—–

5 Stars

The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook) by Lauren Carr, Dan Lawson

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On October 6, 2016

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Now for the last post on The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook) book tour.
—

The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook)

by Lauren Carr,Dan Lawson(Narrator)

Series: The Mac Faraday Mysteries, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs, 9 min.
Acorn Book Services, 2014

Read: September 7 – 9, 2016

So Mac Faraday stumbles onto a haunted castle where one of his favorite authors was murdered — as were many others — that he just happens to own. Shortly after him finding it, more people are murdered. Just what this retired (and seemingly bored) detective needs: a complicated mystery to sink his teeth into.

The investigation brings up a lot of memories for the locals — most particularly, his half-brother, the Police Chief. The two of them dive into investigating the murder cases both cold and red-hot. There’s some good banter, some shamefully wasted cognac, a lot of antics from Mac’s German Shepherd, and more twists and turns than your typical small-town murder brings along.

With murders that are this old, a lot of old memories are dredged up, so for the locals, this is a pretty messy case. Old scars, old enemies, old heart-breaks are brought back to the surface and examined.

The killer is pretty clever — a little hard to believe, but since when aren’t they? The solution was as obvious as it was outlandish — but the trick is in the telling of the story, not in how reality-based it was. On that score, Carr did a capable job.

There were infodumps galore in the opening chapters — mostly thinly disguised as dialogue. It’s like one of the squints from Bones or the non-Beckett detectives from Castle dropped in. The recall the hotel manager, security chief, etc. had for the murders that happened over a decade ago was pretty clear and accurate. It’s also surprising how little Mac knew about the murder of an author he seemed to be so into (seriously, if Steven King was murdered in a horrible fashion — who wouldn’t know something about that?)

Lawson gave us a competent narration, with odd inflections from time to time, like a NaturallySpeaking voice. The way he pronounced it made me very unclear what Mac’s girlfriend’s name was until I could get online and look it up.

I’m not doing a great job selling this thing — because it’s hard not to spoil anything while talking about this book’s strengths — they are there. The characters are likeable, the puzzle is good (and Carr doesn’t cheat with the clues). It wasn’t the best thing I ever read, but it was entertaining enough to stay with it — an enjoyable book to keep your mind occupied while working out, doing data entry, etc. And then somewhere around the 7:45 minute mark, things fells apart for me. That last chapter just about ruined the whole thing for me. Then, the epilogue answered a big remaining question, but it was one that I’d figured out in Chapter 2 or 3 — and I think most readers would’ve, too. Getting it “revealed” like that just annoyed me. Still, it seems like this one was enough of a divergent from Carr’s typical mystery — if so, the things that were the weakest parts of this book would probably not be around in the others, which would lead me to think they’d be worth a shot. Mystery fans should take a chance on this series — even this installment.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion and participation in this tour.

—–

3 Stars

A Few Quick Questions With…Lauren Carr

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On October 6, 2016

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

So, for the second post on The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook) book tour, we got a few questions with the author, Lauren Carr. This has the distinction of featuring the most poorly-worded question I’ve asked here — I’m pretty embarassed by that. But, “Always Forward,” right? As usual, I kept it short and sweet, because I’d rather she work on her next book than take too much time with me.

So, I realize The Murders at Astaire Castle is written to be accessible to new readers, but what would be useful to new readers to know before picking it up?
The Murders at Astaire Castle is a murder mystery with a touch of paranormal. It is not a paranormal book with a murder mystery. The mystery is at the forefront of plot.
There’s a hint of the supernatural running through this book — is this typical for your work/this series? If not, what led you to the choice?
For The Murders at Astaire Castle, I wanted to do a Halloween mystery. What better than a haunted house—or better yet a castle? Of course, you needed a murder mystery. Then, I asked, who would be the victim? Who else but a paranormal author.

Halloween has always been a fun time. It’s the time to break out and be someone else. As a child, I would pretend to be one of the Bobbsey Twins searching for clues to lead me to a secret treasure. If I was lucky, it was made up of chocolate. As a teenager, I was Nancy Drew. Always, when October rolled around, I craved mysteries with something extra added—something beyond the normal—something supernatural.

But I wasn’t looking to do a paranormal book. I am a murder mystery writer and I love murder mysteries. So, it had to be a murder mystery with a supernatural touch.

The Murders at Astaire Castle has a touch of everything. We have the dark and spooky castle with rumors of a curse. We have hidden passage ways. Things happening that defy a logical explanation. We even have a wolf man! And it’s not Gnarly.
What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that.”?
Now You See Me. The twists and turns in this movie left me breathless. I saw none of it coming.
Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading, but could never write? Or are you primarily a mystery/suspense/thriller reader?
I am primarily a murder mystery writer and reader. I always have been and I love murder mysteries. When I was a child reading the Bobbsey Twins, I would turn the mystery of the missing sea shell into a kidnapping story.
This many books into a series, is it easier or more difficult to keep going? What challenges are you finding doing this that you didn’t expect?
So far, the difficulty is in keeping up with the directions that the characters themselves want to go. I am always one book ahead in my mind. So, while writing a book, I have a very good idea what direction that I will be taking my characters further down the road.

For example, right now I am writing A Fine Year for Murder, the next Thorny Rose Mystery. Mac Faraday and the Spencer gang make an appearance in this mystery. Keeping in mind my plot for the next Mac Faraday Mystery, I am able to plant seeds for Bonding with Murder and even the Mac Faraday mystery that will be following that. These dropping aren’t necessary clues—rather, they are Easter eggs that will make faithful readers go, “Ahh, I remember Mac saying something about that back in A Fine Year for Murder.”

The biggest challenge, I have found is characters. I fight to keep my characters interesting and even diverse. There are characters in my books who everyone loves. But then, sometimes I will introduce a new character who I find unique and different who some readers object to. This happened with Cameron Gates in the Lovers in Crime mysteries. Some readers loved her. Others didn’t. The same thing is happening now with Dallas Walker in the Mac Faraday mysteries. She appears to be a love her or hate her character with nothing in between.

Which goes to prove the fact of life—you can’t make everyone love you.
Thanks for your time and the opportunity to read (well, listen to) this book.

The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook) by Lauren Carr, Dan Lawson Book Tour

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On October 6, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Science Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Welcome to our Book Tour stop for The Murders at Astaire Castle (Audiobook). Along with this blurb about the book I’ve got a Q & A with the author, Lauren Carr and my 2¢ about the book coming up (the links will work when the posts go live).

Book Details:

Book Title:  The Murders at Astaire Castle by Lauren Carr
Publisher: Acorn Book Services
Release date:  September 5, 2014
Genre: Mystery / Crime

Book Description:

Never tell Mac Faraday not to do something.

Spencer’s police chief, David O’Callaghan, learns this lesson the hard way when he orders Mac Faraday to stay away from the south end of Spencer’s mountaintop – even though he owns the property. It doesn’t take long for Mac to find out what lies on the other side of the stone wall and locked gate, on which hangs a sign warning visitors to Keep Out!

Topping the list of the 10 top haunted places in America, Astaire Castle is associated with two suicides, three mysterious disappearances, and four murders since it was built almost a century ago – and Mac Faraday owns it!

In spite of David’s warning, Mac can’t resist unlocking the gate to see the castle that supposedly hasn’t seen a living soul since his late mother had ordered it closed up after the double homicide and disappearance of Damian Wagner, a world-famous master of horror novels.

What starts out as a quick tour of a dusty old castle turns into another Mac Faraday adventure when Astaire Castle becomes the scene of even more murders. Mac is going to need to put all of his investigative talents to work to sort out this case that involves the strangest characters he has run into yet – including a wolf man. No, we’re not talking about Gnarly.

Buy the Book

Amazon ~ Audible

Meet the Author:

Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, and Thorny Rose Mysteries. The twelfth installment in the Mac Faraday Mystery series, Candidate for Murder will be released June 2016.Lauren Carr Photo

Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions. She lives with her husband, son, and four dogs (including the real Gnarly) on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
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Pub Day Repost: The Purloined Poodle by Kevin Hearne

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On September 30, 2016

In F-J, Fiction, Iron Druid Chronicles, Kevin Hearne, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Purloined PoodleThe Purloined Poodle

by Kevin Hearne
Series: Iron Druid Chronicles, #8.5/Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries, #1

eARC, 112 pg.
Subterranean Press, 2016

Read: August 8, 2016


The best and most consistent part of The Iron Druid Chronicles has been Atticus’ Irish Wolfhound, Oberon. Now Kevin Hearne has given us a novella narrated by and starring him, with Atticus in the supporting role. It’s good that he kept the Druid around, because he has the whole opposable thumb thing going for him and can do things like communicate with other people

While playing in a dog park, Oberon stumbles upon a rash of dognappings — the victims are all Grand Champions. Oberon is appalled that such a thing can happen and vows to find the dogs and return them home. He enlists Atticus to assist him (and well, to do most of the work). They spend the next couple of days moving around the country visiting various dog trainers/owners and skirting trouble with the law. While Atticus does the heavy lifting of investigating, Oberon has a lot of fun meeting various Champion dogs — in particular, a Boston terrier named Starbuck.

The interplay between Atticus and Oberon is a lot of fun, but his narration is even better — between the repeated mentions of trying to pull off “the Full Jules” (reciting Ezekiel 25:17 at just the right moment); his summary/slash review of The Great Gatsby (which will forever alter the way I look at the book); Oberon as food critic (his takes on coffee and mustard are highlights); and a repeated tribute to Denis Leary’s best movie, this book was flat-out entertaining. Because it’s by Hearne and featuring Oberon, I assumed I’d enjoy it — I didn’t plan on (but should’ve) cackling by the 7% mark.

I thoroughly enjoyed this — the story was good enough to justify the time reading, but Oberon’s voice elevates this to something really special. It is now one of my major Life Goals to hear Luke Daniels do the audiobook of this. If you’ve read an Iron Druid Chronicle or two, you’ll know how good Oberon can be. Read this, you won’t be disappointed.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Subterranean Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post — thanks to both for this.
N.B.: As this was an ARC, any quotations above may be changed in the published work — I will endeavor to verify them as soon as possible.

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4 Stars

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