Category: Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller Page 87 of 154

Fahrenbruary Repost: Not Talking Italics by Russell Day: This Short Story contains enough entertainment value to carry a novel.

On February 7, 2019

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Russell Day, Uncategorized

One of the best short stories I can remember in the last few years — had so much fun with this one. Just revisiting this via this repost brought a smile to my face.
—

Not Talking Italics

by Russell Day
Series: Doc Slidesmith

Kindle Edition
2018, Fahrenheit Press
Read: May 7, 2018
In a couple of months, I’ll be taking part in a book tour for Russell Day’s debut novel, Needle Song, and I’m really looking forward to that (and am having a hard time not reading it now). But today, we’re going to look at a short story featuring the protagonist of the book, Dr. James Slidesmith. A little something to whet our collective appetites.

I know very little about Slidesmith after reading this short story, and I can’t wait to find out more. Here’s what I do know — 1. He has a PhD in Psychology, and is touchy about those who don’t consider him to be a “real” doctor; 2. He owns and runs a tattoo parlor/shop; 3. he plays poker; 4. He’s very smart; 5. He has the gift of gab.

All five of these are important, but in this short story, that last one is essential. Everything in this is dialogue — no dialogue tags, no narrative, no descriptive passages — just characters talking. Which will involve all that other stuff, but that’s not how the story is told. It takes place in a police interrogation room — you’ve got a Detective Constable, a Detective Sergeant and Dr. Slidesmith talking about an incident at a poker game earlier that night. Things got nasty and two men died, given the small number of people at the game, the Police are looking to quickly identify the killer(s) and wrap this up quickly.

But first they’ve got to get past the silver-tongued Slidesmith. That won’t be easy. He offers a detailed explanation of the night’s events — including doing some educating on Texas Hold-’em, the ins and outs of betting in the game (and how to manipulate betting). There are a couple of characters that we only learn about from questions and answers in the interrogation, and I feel like I ahve a pretty good handle on them, without seeing them speak for themselves. That’s a nice move.

As it’s just dialogue — and well-written dialogue, at that — this is a fast, breezy read (so fast, you might miss a thing or two the first time through). It’s not so much a book that you read, it’s one you hear with your eyes. I’m not certain that makes a lot of sense, but it’s the best way I can put it. These are fast-moving conversations, they have a certain rhythm, a certain feel — and you just want to keep reading more and more of it. This could’ve been twice as long and I don’t think my attention would’ve wavered an iota. Imagine your favorite scene written by Aaron Sorkin, then imagine it changing into an interrogation in a British Police Station — that’s what this story is.

This is good stuff, my friends — better than good. There’s an extent to which the reveal seems “oh, sure, I should’ve seen that coming” — and it wouldn’t surprise me if many readers get there before Day wants you to (I was not one of them) — but it’s so satisfying, so well-executed, I can’t imagine a soul complaining about it. If Needle Song is anything like this, I’m going to have to go down to the superlative store this weekend to stock up before I write anything about it.

Stop whatever you’re doing — including reading this — and click the links at the top of the page to go get this story. You’re welcome.

—–

5 Stars

The Barista’s Guide to Espionage by Dave Sinclair: A Bond Girl à la Amy Sherman-Palladino leads this entertaining action story.

By HCNewton

On February 7, 2019

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

Finally, some original Fahrenbruary content!
—

The Barista’s Guide to Espionage

by Dave Sinclair
Series: Eva Destruction, #1

Kindle Edition, 306 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2016
Read: February 4 – 6, 2018

All her adult life, she’d dated men who were bad for her. Men who treated her dreadfully and undervalued her worth. She knew that, she’d always known that, and yet she failed to break the cycle. There had only been one man who’d treated her with respect and as an equal. It was a shame he’d also threatened every government on Earth and drawn UN condemnation.

Eva ran her finger around the rim of her pint. Why were all the best kissers hell-bent on tearing down the world?

This is just your typical story of a feminist, stripper-turned-barista, who falls for an super-rich aspiring super-villain, and ends up holding the fate of the world in her hands. I’m going to stop right there — my attempts at synopsizing this just aren’t paying off. Here’s some of the back of the book blurb:

Meet Eva Destruction, the only thing quicker than her mouth is her talent for getting into trouble. It’s true she’s always had an eye for a bad boy but when she falls for billionaire super-villain Harry Lancing, it seems that even Eva may have bitten off more than she can chew.

Eva hurtles headlong into terrorist attacks, assassinations, car chases and the occasional close encounter with a dashing spy who seems as determined to charm Eva into bed as he is to thwart Lancing’s plans to bring down every government on earth.

As the odds begin to stack up in Lancing’s favour the fate of the world lies in Eva’s hands. Luckily for the world, Eva Destruction isn’t the type of girl to let a super-villain ex-boyfriend with a massive ego, unlimited resources and his own secret island get the better of her.

Eva, Horatio Lancing and the MI6 agent are entertaining characters — the action scenes are exciting. There’s a car chase that’s remarkably good. But the banter, verbal sparring and jokes are where the real fireworks are found. It’s almost like Amy Sherman-Palladino wrote an action film.

A few caveats I should issue for some of the regulars around here: Early on, there’s a sex scene that is entirely too graphic, and unnecessarily so. I liked what Sinclair achieved with it and the aftermath. But He could’ve achieved the same (or practically the same) result with a little less detail. There are further references to sex if you can get past this one, but nothing that comes close to the detail of this one scene. It’s probably PG-13 afterwards, actually. Additionally, Evan utilizes some of the more creative swearing you’ve read. It’s not anything you’d care to repeat anywhere near a mother armed with a bar of soap mind you. But creative nonetheless.

Eva is smart, witty and determined — it’s easy to see why men are fawning over her (even without the looks). She’s the kind of character you like reading — she’s sure of herself, and yet really, really not. I love reading about someone who is just awesome with zero self-confidence in certain instances. But when push comes to shove, she comes through in a way worthy of Jason Bourne or Frank Martin.

This book is essentially a cartoon — it’s over the top, exaggerated, and entertainingly hyperbolic. But Lancing . . . I tell you. For a would-be global dictator, there’s something appealing about him. He’s described as “Snowden with an agenda and Assange with charisma,” and truly (often) seems to only want to hold governments/government officials to their word. “You promised the voters X,” he essentially says, “deliver X, or I’ll release the videos of you in a compromising situation with a 14-year old.” A motivation that many people would agree with, and a capability that doesn’t seem that outlandish — especially compared to the rest of the story, Lancing seems realistic — realistic-ish, anyway.

There are so, so many quotable lines in this book — it’s practically impossible to pick one to focus on. This is like early Evanovich — just with the sex, swearing and violence turned up a bit. I think it went on a bit too long, and could use maybe 50 fewer pages. But it was so much fun, I don’t want to complain too much. The Barista’s Guide to Espionage is a big explode-y ball of entertainment and Dave Sinclair is someone to keep an eye out for.

—–

3.5 Stars

Fahrenbruary Repost: The Song of The Swan by Michael RN Jones: Locke and Doyle’s triumphant return is sure to please

By HCNewton

On February 6, 2019

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

The Song of The Swan

by Michael RN Jones
Series: The Victor Locke Chronicles, #2

Kindle Edition, 306 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2017
Read: September 13 – 14, 2017

On ending the sentence, his face dropped. “Oh,” he exhaled, “that’s it. I’ve just had one of those TV detective moments.”

“What d’you mean?”

“You know. When some tiny and unrelated fact, like a car door slamming or an answerphone machine flicking on, makes the whole case drop into place. It happens to Jonathan Creek and Adrian Monk all the time…”

In The Accidental Detective, we met Victor Locke and his court-appointed psychologist, Dr. Jonathan Doyle — a modern-day Holmes and Watson in a collection of stories that were partially a tribute, partially a pastiche, partially an update and entirely entertaining. This second episodic novel/short story collection continues in that vein.

This book opens with Doyle and Locke being arrested for bank robbery, which is not really what I’d expected. It’s, as is the case with many of the stories in this book, a chance for Doyle to stretch his investigatory skills and do a lot of the work. The two are not equal partners in any sense, but it’s nice to see that Doyle is more than just the sidekick (see Archie Goodwin and Joan Watson for other examples of this kind of relationship).

Not only is Doyle on his way to becoming a proper investigator, his write-ups of the cases are gaining him a greater degree of notoriety. I particularly enjoyed watching various characters go out of their way to fawn over him — or try to work their way into his writings.

At the same time, Doyle is wondering how well he actually knows his friend — and frequently discovers the answer is, “not that well.” At the same time, everyone (including Locke himself) regards him as the world’s expert on Victor Locke. Locke is just fun to watch in the varied situations he places himself in. As much as I appreciated Doyle’s larger role in things, I missed Locke when he wasn’t “on screen.” There’s a greater depth to the character than we’ve seen previously (or maybe I just missed it last time — that’s possible)

I’ve talked a lot about the characters and not much about the cases — there are two reasons for this, primarily, you read things like this for the characters. Secondly, Jones can tell you about the cases in a much more interesting way than I can. I’ll just say that they’re clever, enjoyable and Holmesian (in the best sense).

I’ve gotta say, I didn’t like the ending. I thought it was well done, it flowed organically from the events leading up to it, it fit the characters, it was earned — and so on. I just didn’t like it.

I enjoyed The Accidental Detective and if The Song of the Swan had been more of the same, I’d have been satisfied. But, Jones kicked everything up a notch — Locke was stranger, more clever, and funnier; Doyle was a better version of the guy we’d met previously, and the crimes were more interesting. All in all, a fun read, a great way to spend a few hours and one of those sequels that delivers on the promise of the first. Heartily recommended.

—–

4 Stars

Fahrenbruary Repost: HER: The 1st Victor Locke Story by Michael RN Jones

By HCNewton

On February 5, 2019

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

Having read the two collections of Victor Locke books, I get what “HER” was trying to do — I stick with what I said in the moment, but I wish I’d trusted Jones more. I know I dug the series more than I did this. Ahh, hindsight.
—

HER: The 1st Victor Locke Story

by Michael RN Jones
Series: The Victor Locke Chronicles, #.5

Kindle Edition, 49 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2017
Read: March 7, 2017

So a couple of weeks ago, The Accidental Detective was released — and it looked good, and is sitting on my Kindle, begging for my attention.

Today, I had an extra minute or two on my hands and Fahrenheit Press was nice enough to provide this, the first story about Victor Locke and his psychologist for free. (hopefully you see this in time to head to amazon and grab it).

Locke is a fast-talking, genius of some sort who’s served time for computer hacking. Dr. Jonathan Doyle was his court-appointed psychologist upon his release. Locke’s no longer a client, but Doyle still sees him around. So when a couple of FBI agents drop in to his office to get his help finding Locke, it’s easy for him to connect them to Locke.

They have a task — go find a digital file that will bring great embarrassment to the British government, as well as the U.S.’. They provide no details about the file beyond what’s essential to find it. They also provide the Locke with a snazzy laptop (as he’s not permitted to have one any more). Seemingly on a lark, Locke takes their offer and begins searching.

The search obviously, leads to HER. The story isn’t that important in this case, it’s all about meeting the world, meeting Locke and Doyle. As such — it’s a hoot. There’s a strong voice that practically demands to be read quickly, breathlessly, like the fast-talking Locke (can you read breathlessly?). There’s a manic energy matching Locke’s logic and smarts, which explains why Doyle seems so intrigued by him.

As an advertisement for The Accidental Detective/encouragement to read it? This works really well — I’m in, and will work on getting to it soon. As a story in and of itself? Eh, maybe it works too hard at paying tribute to/updating a classic mystery story to really work. But man, it was fun. A great way to spend a half-hour or so.

—–

3 Stars

A Few Quick Questions With…Luna Miller

By HCNewton

On February 5, 2019

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

Earlier today, I talked about The Lion’s Tale by Luna Miller (translated by Aidan Isherwood). Miller was kind enough to answer a few questions for me. Hope you enjoy this.

Tell us about your road to publication — was your plan/dream always to become a novelist and your education/other jobs were just to get you to this point, or was this a later-in-life desire?

I have always had an ambition to write, but with a restless personality it was a challenge to complete any work in a satisfying way. Always a lot of ideas, but never enough patience to complete any of them. I was always occupied with other commitments – long travels when I was young, and then education, then kids, then work…

But difficult experiences made me realize how important it is for me to make my dream come true. And my years spent working as a civil servant, specialising in providing support for cultural life, taught me about patience. So, a few years ago I started to give myself time to write. And then more and more time. Disorganized at first, but then slowly developing.

I don’t want to ask “where do you get your ideas?” But this collection of characters — Gunvor, Elin, David, Aidan — is so unusual, so great. How did this come to you? Did you start with Gunvor and then try to figure out how she could accomplish things (and therefore needed the kids), or did you start with one/both of David and Elin and then added Gunvor? I’m just guessing here — you take over 🙂

Gunvor was the first character, but Elin and David entered the story soon enough. I did just about all of the backstory on the three of them before starting to write the book. The idea was to tell the story of unexpected heroines and heroes. Characters that have issues the readers can relate to and feel a bit sorry for. Characters who can barely cope with each other, or even themselves. But characters that grow with the story, even if they do make mistakes along the way. Characters that don´t really know what they are doing, but still give it their all.

Even if I worked on a backstory and planned how to take it along, the story still took on a life of its own. There are always a lot of unexpected things that happen when I start to write. It is like the characters begin living their own lives. Making decisions within the story that I hadn’t planned in advance.

I spent so much of this novel convinced that everything The Fruängen Bureau (one member in particular) was doing and thinking regarding one particular character was a giant mistake — did you plan this character arc out from the beginning, or did it come to you mid-draft? It’s possibly the trickiest thing you did in the book, very impressive.

I made the backstory of Chibby pretty early in the process. I am fascinated by people whose strengths and weaknesses are close. But, as I described in my answer to the previous question, Chibbe also “came to life” during my writing session and evolved in the process.

Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading, but could never write? Or are you primarily a mystery/suspense/thriller reader?

I like to write mystery/suspense/thriller. I have already written the second book about Gunvor Ström and her allies in Swedish, but I have tried other genres as well. The first book I wrote, Three Days in September, is a contemporary adult relationship drama about unlikely friendships, loyalty, love and hope intertwined with sex, violence and tragedy. That story had been in my head for many, many years before it finally become a book. The main idea is about the desires, dreams and fears of six lives that collide when a stranger comes to town. The story is intense, short and drastic.

I love books like The Lord of the Rings and the stories of Harry Potter. But I cannot see myself having control over so many characters at once.

I’ve often wondered what it’s like to work with a translator — was it a collaborative effort, or did Aidan Isherwood just take the manuscript and run with it? How was the translator selected?

Years ago, I lived in the house where I have now placed Gunvor’s home. I am nothing like Gunvor except that I also had a neighbour and friend by the name of Aidan. So, except that he is the translator he is also an inspiration to the Aidan character in the book. He did an excellent job.
At that time, I had no money to pay a translator, so we made an agreement to split the income of the book.The Lion´s Tail was also edited by Perry Iles. He was recommended by a friend of Aidan who is also an author. He did a great job with the book. I really recommend working with an editor. No matter how long you work on a book there are always things that can be made better by a “third eye”.

What’s next for Luna Miller?

I am writing the third book in the Fruängen Bureau series in Swedish. I hope that the second book will be translated into English in 2019 or 2020. I am also working on a sequel to Three Days in September.

Thanks for your time — and thanks for The Lion’s Tale, I really enjoyed it, and hope you have plenty of success with it.

Thank you for taking time to read it. I am really happy that you enjoyed it. And thank you for the possibility to answer these interesting question ?

The Lion’s Tail by Luna Miller, Aidan Isherwood (Translator): Unlikely doesn’t begin to describe the heroes of this debut PI novel

By HCNewton

On February 5, 2019

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

The Lion’s Tail

by Luna Miller, Aidan Isherwood (Translator)
Series: The Fruängen Bureau, #1

Kindle Edition, 257 pg.
2018
Read: January 23 – 24, 2019

“What did he say? Think. Try to remember. It might be very important.” Gunvor struggles to hide her impatience.

“Something about how even your dreams can be dangerous. About how I should keep my dreams as just dreams. And that if you try to make a dream come true you can mess up everything. You can ruin your life. That’s what he said. That your whole life can be destroyed.”

Gunvor Strom hooked me almost immediately — she’s a feisty woman in her 60s who we meet as she’s helping a young woman deal with a handful of teen males harassing her. She’s creative, crafty, wily and ruthless in this, and it’s a great way to bring in an audience.

We quickly learn that Gunvor is a rookie Private Investigator, forced to leave her career and changing her life after a divorce, she signs on to a Private Investigative Agency and mostly does grunt work — but does get the opportunity to do some investigative work. As much as she misses her old life, she relishes this new one (although she might like joints that are a little less painful).

Gunvor is assigned to find out what’s behind a husband’s odd behavior — the client, his wife, adamantly refuses to accept the idea that he’s being unfaithful, but his behavior is different and troubling. Gunvor isn’t on the case for long before she decides she could use a few more eyeballs — so she recruits, oddly enough, Elin (the young woman above) and David — the ringleader of those harassing her. She’s a student, he’s unemployed — and both need something in their life to care about, neither one of them realized that they were interested in investigative work.

Really, this book has two stories — one is the investigation into this man — and things get violent shortly after the trio gets to work. It’s at this point that the husband talks about the potential of dreams to destroy your life. If anything, this violence causes Gunvor and the rest to work harder — not long afterwards there’s a murder and the number and types of criminal activity that they’re investigating grows and grows.

The other story is following the development of Gunvor as an investigator and her two young protégés. Elin discovers sides to her personality that surprise her (and Gunvor, actually), and really comes out of her shell. David, on the other hand, response to the trust and responsibility given him by rising to the occasion and even maturing a little bit. Now, none of these characters grow perfectly or in a straight line — there are ups and downs to this development == and the suggestion is that this will continue after this book.

Both stories are wholly satisfying and serve each other well. The conclusion is as tense and taught as you can hope for, and at a certain point, you’ll forget that the trio you’re rooting for aren’t the kind of detectives you’re used to, all you know is that you’re hoping they survive.

This book, time and time again, came so close to wowing me — the clever twists, the dramatic turns, character development, and so on — but almost every time that Miller brushed against “great” she ended up settling a few notches down at being really good. Is it possible that if this was written in English, or set somewhere that I understood more than Stockholm that I’d be able to appreciate more nuances and rate it higher? Absolutely. But it wasn’t, so I can wish I understood what it means for someone to be from X neighborhood/district versus Y, and missing other things that don’t come through the translation as cleanly as they might.

On the whole, this was just a pleasure to read — it grabbed my interest from the beginning and never let go. I’m keeping my eyes peeled for the sequels, I can assure you, and I expect most readers will find the book as compelling.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

—–

3.5 Stars

Fahrenbruary Repost: The Lobster Boy And The Fat Lady’s Daughter by Charles Kriel

By HCNewton

On February 4, 2019

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

Here’s the first book I read from Fahrenheit Press. It left an impression. In addition to the Kindle copy I bought, I have two paperback versions of this — and ordered the Hardcover last year (not sure what happened there…oh well). I wonder today if I’d given it more stars, I think I would’ve. It’s just weird enough that I didn’t know how to judge it. I’m still not sure I do, but I wish I had time for a re-read, I think I can appreciate more of it now that it’s percolated in the back of my mind for 3 years and change.

More than anything, I really hope that Kriel gives us another book with these people some time.

Be sure to check out the music video of the song FP commissioned to accompany the book.

The Lobster Boy And The Fat Lady’s Daughter

by Charles Kriel
Series: Mel Barry Investigates, #1Kindle Edition, 250 pg.

Fahrenheit Press, 2015

Read: October 31, 2015

I can’t give this one the discussion it needs with my standard spoiler-free stuff. So…after the break below, I’ll talk about my spoilery-beefs with this book. If you don’t want to read them (I’m not sure I’d blame you for skipping) read on. Otherwise, you can stop when you get to the stars.

Carnival/Freak Show owner Charlie “Lobster Boy” Koontz is being framed for murder, and given his physical appearance, an already ugly situation promises to get much, much worse. So he does the unthinkable — he calls his adopted daughter for help. You’ll have to read to find out why this is such a dumb move. Mel comes to town, starts asking questions, kicking some butt — occasionally getting a name — all while reconnecting with her carnie roots and learning a bit more about her family.

Mel’s a combination of Jack Reacher and Charlie Fox with a more mysterious past than either. Which Kriel teases us with frequently, but doesn’t give us much to go on. I’m fine with that, if we get a sequel that actually explains what happens to Mel post-carnival, otherwise, it’s a problem (one that’s not Kriel’s fault, really). Anyway, she’s good with a gun, good with hand-to-hand, crafty as all get-out and determined to get Charlie out of jail no matter what.

We don’t get much of an idea about the town that the murder takes place in, we get a flavor of some of the leadership — we see that Law Enforcement is a racist joke, and that there’s a strip joint. That’s pretty much it. Kriel comes close to playing the stereotype card, but somehow avoids it. We see almost nothing of the populace, no characters that we can remember longer than the sentence that they’re (outside of the villains, obviously)

We get a good look at The Lobster Boy’s Mermaid Parade, on the other hand. It’s a not just a group of coworkers, it’s a family — admittedly, a strange family. They live together, travel together, perform together, play together — it’s enough to make you want to run off and join them. But you should probably bend a law or two first, so you can fit in. And it’s filled with characters — almost none of which we get adequate time with, but enough to make them people, enough to remember in a couple of cases, at least.

Early on, there is a rape scene that I found to be gratuitously graphic. I get that occasionally for reasons of plot or character, you’ve got to have a scene along those lines — and while I don’t appreciate them, I can accept them. But they need to serve a purpose, this one seems to do little more than demonstrate that the man is a creep, a misogynist, violent with a twisted idea that he’s connected to Mel. Now we already know everything except the violence before things got graphic, and there’re other ways to show that. I’m not saying the guy can’t rape the girl to illustrate this stuff if that’s what an author thinks is best, but we don’t need the details. The fact that he rapes someone alone says that. The details don’t add to that. A couple of chapters earlier, there’s an attempted rape scene (different perpetrators, different victim) — I had no problems with that at all, because it accomplished things that served the story and the characters.

The first two chapters of this were interesting, yeah, but there was something about it that made me think this wasn’t going to be a book for me — no matter how well-written it turned out to be, there was just something that didn’t appeal. I’m not sure if I finished Chapter 3 before I decided I was wrong — I liked Mel, straightaway. I still wasn’t sure about anything else in the book, but if this was her book, I was in.

This was a fast read, a compelling read, and a fun read — and were it not for graphic elements in the rape scene and the stuff coming up below, I’d have rated it higher. Still, Mel Barry is a character I want to see more of, and I’m sure Charles Kriel is an author I will see more of. Especially at a Kindle price, it’s worth the read — would be for twice what Amazon is asking, too.

—–

3.5 Stars

Slaughterhouse Blues by Nick Kolakowski: Broken Antiheroes on a Last Chance Power Drive

By HCNewton

On February 4, 2019

In Fiction, Love & Bullets Hookups, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Nick Kolakowski

Slaughterhouse Blues

by Nick Kolakowski
Series: A Love & Bullets Hookup, #2

Kindle Edition, 172 pg.
Shotgun Honey, 2018
Read: January 21, 2018

“What’d you put in there?” Don said, nodding at the soiled duffel bag in the backseat.

“About twenty pounds of tobacco, but don’t worry, no leaves, just the little bits. I asked the sweepers to give me the scraps.”

Don laughed. “A couple years back, we tried taking those scraps, making cigarettes out of them. They sold, but not enough. You can’t fight Big Tobacco.”

“You know what’s a good rule for life?” Fiona said. “Don’t fight groups dedicated to killing millions of people.”

It didn’t take long for Bill and Fiona to realize that the business relationship they found themselves in at the end of the last novella to be just as unpleasant as the one they’d just left. They hadn’t jumped into the fire per se, more like they’d jumped from one frying pan into another. And their new associates took a similar approach to their older associates to their exit — they wanted them dead. So now the pair are trying to avoid two large-scale criminal enterprises bent on revenge, while trying to secure enough of a nest-egg to retire and disappear.

That doesn’t sound fun. At least not for them, for readers on the other hand…

Fiona is off doing a small — but hopefully profitable — job for a couple of brothers she’s worked for before. They’re cigar manufacturers in Nicaragua, where the competition might just be getting lethal. Bill, on the other hand, is in another country trying to hide out among the throngs of tourists. Let’s just say that neither of them meet with a lot of success — but Fiona does manage to get a lead on what should be an easy heist. The catch is, it’s in New York. Right in their old backyard.

So we have an easy heist, an uneasy alliance between the couple and a less-than-trustworthy man who can lead them to a big pay, assassins on their tail and some others who discovered that the couple has delivered themselves to their city. Chaos ensues.

It’s action-packed, but with a smaller body count than the previous novel. But at least one of the deaths happens in a way that will stay with you. Not in a haunting way — but in a “wow, what a cool visual” way (something you can appreciate in fiction — in real life, it’d be horrific and witnesses would likely need therapy).

There’s an interesting tie-in here to some things that happened at the end of World War II, reminding the reader just how much moral gray area existed for US troops in those last days of the War in Europe. Well, a lot of gray existed, and some of it might have been made. Either way, it was there.

At the end of the day, I didn’t enjoy Slaughterhouse Blues nearly as much as A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps, but I think it says more about the latter than the former. It’s a solid piece of writing, expanding and deepening the universe of these characters a tad. It gives us another opportunity to see them in action while doing some important things for Fiona’s character. If nothing else, Slaughterhouse Blues sets up the third novella (which is better than either of the other two). But most importantly, it tells a good, entertaining story on its own. If I’d read this one not knowing who Bill, Fiona or Nick Kolakowski were — I’d have sought out more about them and by him. That’s good enough for me.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

—–

3 Stars

Fahrenbruary Repost: Fahrenheit Press is Not Your Father’s Publisher

By HCNewton

On February 1, 2019

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc.

A little blast from the past (October 13, 2015) when I was just starting to get to know Fahrenheit’s brand of magic to get the month started . . .

(that is, if your father had a publisher)

Fahrenheit Press is a new publishing house with a “punk ethos” that describes themselves as:

…intent on doing things differently and we’re building a publishing company that’s heavy on curation and deadly serious about marketing.

And yeah, they’re doing something different with their second book, to be published at the end of this month. Take a look at the Amazon listing:

One day, I hope they’ll explain how they got Amazon to play along. Be sure to click the link to get more details on this book.

Their founder, Chris McVeigh, explains the deal, the thinking behind it and a few more things in this post at fromfirstpagetolast. I hope this experiment works for them (and that the book is worth the effort), if only so I can see what they try next.

Welcome to Fahrenbruary

By HCNewton

On February 1, 2019

In Books, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, News/Misc.

I’ve been doing a little ground work the last week or so for my participation in Fahrenbruary, but here on the first day of it, I find myself a little short of anything to say. But I couldn’t let the month kick-off without something, and it’s still technically the 1st of the month here, so I’m good.

Honestly, The Beardy Book Blogger’s kickoff post is where to start — especially if you have no idea what I’m talking about. But to summarize, Fahrenbruary is a month-long celebration of the publishers, Fahrenheit Press and Fahrenheit 13; their authors and their books.

I haven’t worked out my schedule or anything precisely (hopefully tomorrow) — but essentially, over the next month I’ll be reading my backlog of Fahrenheit books, posting about them, reposting things I’ve said about other books, and I’ve got some other nifty things in the pipeline. I’m looking forward to seeing what teh IntraWebs comes up with to commemorate the month (it seems that the good people over at Fahrenheit Press are compiling an index).

I really wanted to get something new written for today, but that just didn’t happen. So instead, coming right up is the first thing I ever said about Fahrenheit Press — back in 2018. Come back next week for something fresh and hot.