4 Stars - The Irresponsible Reader

The Mermaid’s Pool

by David Nolan
Series: Manc Noir Book 2

Kindle Edition, 192 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2020

Read: August 20-23, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

‘Wow,’ the young man deadpanned. ‘Nazi cops. Absolute shocker.’

‘Is that how you see it?’ Smithdown asked.

‘Yes, I do. And it appears that I’m entirely right.’

‘This is the bit when I tell you about a few bad apples isn’t it? About what a great lot we all are – on the whole; just good people doing a tough job as best we can? But under the circumstances, I’m going to say nowt. I don’t know what I know anymore. Or who.’ Smithdown looked around the darkening landscape. ‘I’m a bit lost, to be honest.’

What’s The Mermaid’s Pool About?

The predecessor to this novel, Black Moss, took place in two different timelines—the first was April of 1990. This book takes place two years earlier, and involves (to one degree or another) two of the characters from Black Moss, and shows them starting on the path that leads them to where they were in the second storyline of 2016.

Which is a long-winded way of saying it’s a prequel.

There are (essentially) two separate storylines.

Storyline A

The first involves a missing mother—Naomi’s daughter has been put in children’s care home after her boyfriend slapped her. Soon after this, Naomi’s hand is found by a man walking his dog. Smithdown focuses on the boyfriend as the culprit, but needs to know if Naomi’s still alive, too.

This case takes him to a nearby town where another grizzly discovery has been made—near a lake (subject of many urban legends), a mutilated body has been found.

Storyline B

Immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan are being attacked in the night, creating—practically overnight—a spike in racial tensions between the two communities.

As Smithdown and other detectives try to put a stop to these attacks, he starts to believe that there’s something going on that is trying to take advantage of—and is perhaps stoking—this tension as it mounts to near-riotous levels.

So, what did I think about The Mermaid’s Pool?

Of course, it’s not just the two storylines at work—they’re intermingled and there are a couple of more personal subplots involving Smithdown and his family. But let’s keep things simple and pretend that the storylines are hermetically sealed from one another.

In my imaginary world, if you could excise Storyline B; tweak A so it’s not dependent on B; or create an easier-to-believe B, and keep the personal subplots—you’d have yourself a winner. Most of B is great—but at a certain point, it just jumps too far and I can’t buy it. I’ve seen similar things tried by other authors—Robert B. Parker and Rob Parker jump to mind.*

* I’m at a loss for other examples at the moment, but Nolan’s not the first non-Parker to try.

That said, while I had checked out on that story working for me as soon as I saw where Nolan was going—I was gripped by it. How was he going to pull off a satisfying resolution while balancing the smaller story of one presumed-dead woman in the middle of this? I was on the edge of my seat and rolling my eyes simultaneously.

And it’s a shame I felt this way because, underneath all of this, Nolan was painting a gripping picture about hate—hate in many varied forms—and how that hate can shape and harm a community, how it can corrupt noble institutions, and twist individuals of all backgrounds. And I was too distracted to be able to spend as much time musing on that as I think I should have.

Is there some light in all of the hate? Some hope? Yes, some. But as with Black Moss, Nolan makes you hunt for it. Maybe so you value it more.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex: The Self-Proclaimed Greatest Dragon in the Multiverse by K.R.R. Lockhaven: So Preoccupied with Whether They Could, They Didn’t Stop to Think If They Should…

By HCNewton

On November 4, 2021

In Fantasy, Fiction

The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex:
The Self-Proclaimed Greatest
Dragon in the Multiverse

by K.R.R. Lockhaven

Kindle Edition, 306 pg.
BookBaby, 2021

Read: October 23-25, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“We’ve had years and years of preparations to ensure everything will run smooth. We have learned from the mistakes of the past and will use that knowledge to make better mistakes in the future. Er. . . to avoid those mistakes altogether.”

What’s The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex About?

Harris Reed is fresh out of magical training school and arrives at the Site to begin his career as a conjurer—he couldn’t be more excited about it. He’d grown up on fantasy literature and movies, and in college finds out that so much of what he’d dreamed about is actually true. Not only that, he can be part of the incredibly secret world.

What he discovers is a corporate culture that basically mimics that which is in the mundane world (Harris would use the adjective “Muggle,” he’s that kind of nerd). Petty rivalries, careerists focused on climbing the ladder, budget issues, inter-department squabbles, and a devotion to bureaucracy over the well-being of the employees—or common sense.

Harris and his fellow graduates have been brought to the Site to add some last-minute power to a long-term project set to launch on their second day of work, which sounds exciting to them all.

What they don’t know is that the project is summoning a dragon into this world from another universe. To you and I, this might sound as dumb as John Hammond’s plan for a park full of dinosaurs, but the managers of the Site (and the U. S. Military, which expects to be the eventual recipient of said dragon) don’t see it that way. It turns out that, in comparison, Hammond looks like a safety-conscious genius—it takes less than one sentence for the dragon to show that the humans have no control over him. He kills one staff member, snatches a woman that Harris knew from school, and flies off.

Zoth-Avarex takes Silvia to the top of the Space Needle and makes it his base. He brought Silvia along because he needs a princess in addition to his treasure. There’s no threat implied to her (as long as she doesn’t try to escape)—he basically wants to keep her safe and pamper her. It doesn’t keep this from being a horrible experience for her, but it sure could be much worse.

On their first day, Harris has befriended (or tried to) Siliva, her fiancé, and her sister. The three of them quickly realize that Management and the military are going to be of little use in getting Silvia back, and decide to take matters into their own hands in the tradition of fantasy protagonists everywhere. They get support and a little guidance from Silvia and Harris’s direct supervisor, as well as a long-term employee who’s got his heart set on retirement.

Eddie

One of the first people that Harris meets on campus is a conjurer just days away from retirement. He’s named Eddie, but might as well be named Dr. Perry Cox. Eddie’s a legend on the Site for some heroics back in the ’70s but is now an iconoclastic grump. The kind of guy every office has one or two of—they’ve been around forever and understand the way things work in ways that management doesn’t. They also don’t care about anything anymore and aren’t afraid to show it. He gives the new hires a hard time but actually gives good advice and assistance.

I personally love to get to know those figures and try to learn as much as I can from them (and have likely taken on that role a time or two), maybe that’s why Eddie resonated with me so much. He was hands-down my favorite character—he’s one of those supporting characters that could overshadow the protagonists if used too much, but Lockhaven doesn’t let that happen. Which is probably good, too much of him could’ve hurt the novel.

Footnotes

I am a sucker for a good (generally comedic) use of footnotes in novels—it’s not something I see often, but when I do, there’s a high correlation between their presence and a novel I enjoy.* Lockhaven nails the practice—they give him an added vehicle for jokes and help add to the reader’s understanding of the world and some characters. He also includes one note that’s so long could be a Steinbeck-ian intercalary chapter. It takes a certain audacity to try that, and it paid off.

* See Lisa Lutz, Thomas Lennon, Josh Bazell.

Satire

The book is primarily a fantasy adventure, but throughout—sometimes more pronounced than others—it’s also a workplace satire. As such it’s a winner—even if the fantasy storylines and broader comic bits didn’t work, I’d be pretty positive about this book for the workplace satire alone.

Like Harris, Lockhaven is pretty clearly someone who has drunk deeply from Fantasy fiction. At once he celebrates tropes, themes, and ideas from all sorts of Fantasy—and pokes fun at them. If he just ridiculed them (as several tropes and themes deserve), it’d likely come across as mean-spirited and wouldn’t be that entertaining. If all he did was unleash his favorite tropes to use in telling his story, it’s be unoriginal and clichéd. Mixing avoids the pitfalls and makes for an entertaining read.

So, what did I think about The Conjuring of Zoth-Avarex?

“Well, Bill, I know the answer to life is simply to live with love. Well, actually it’s forty- two, but you humans can’t comprehend that.” The dragon paused wistfully. “I know the best things in life are free. But the birds and bees can have all of that. I need gold! Gold! And to hang here with my beautiful maiden. That’s all I want in this crazy mixed-up world.”

It’s de rigueur when talking about a humorous work of Fantasy or SF to invoke Pratchett, Adams, and Asprin, and it’s de rigueur when I talk about that kind of fiction that I go out of my way to not do that. It’s easy this time because I find them completely inapplicable. On the other hand, TCoZA:TSPGDitM brought to mind: John Scalzi (I’m thinking Agent to the Stars and The Android’s Dream), Scott Meyer (Magic 2.0 series), Joe Zieja (Epic Failure Trilogy), and Eoin Colfer (Highfire). You put those works in a blender and pulse for 30 seconds and you’re going to get something akin to this book.

* Actually, does anyone Asprin anymore? I probably need to update my references.

This would be an easy book for me to go on too long about—I’d love to spend a few paragraphs on Zoth-Avarex alone. But it’s best experienced rather than being told about.

Most of the Independently published Humorous/Light Fantasy that I’ve come across hasn’t worked for me—at least not as much as I wanted it to. Either on the humor front or the story front. But Lockhaven nailed it, I’m happy to say. I laughed—audibly and hard—a couple of times, I chuckled and grinned a lot. I thought the relationships between the characters worked well, and I enjoyed the characters you’re supposed to enjoy and was annoyed by the ones that are supposed to bother you. This is largely one of those novels whose journey is more important than the destination—but I enjoyed the way Lockhaven wrapped things up, too.

In short, I had a lot of fun with this and expect that you will, too. Give this one a try.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Daughter of the Morning Star by Craig Johnson: A Cheyenne boogeyman, A Recalcitrant Teen Sports Star, and a Wyoming Sheriff

By HCNewton

On October 27, 2021

In Craig Johnson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Walt Longmire

Daughter of the Morning Star

by Craig Johnson
Series: Walt Longmire, #17

Hardcover, 322 pg.
Viking, 2021

Read: September 28-29, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

“Everybody thinks the dead of the night is the scary time, but it’s not. The time of danger for the living is the time of change, from day into night or night into day, when the world isn’t sure what it is or what it wants to be.”

What’s Daughter of the Morning Star About?

Midway through the last novel, Next to Last Stand, Walt and Henry stop by a High School Girl’s Basketball game to watch Lolo Long’s niece, Jaya “Longshot” Long, do what she does best. But they don’t stop by to enjoy the game, really, they’re there because Lolo wants help. Jaya’s been receiving death threats and there’s only so much an aunt can do (even if that aunt is a Tribal Police Chief).

This is where we pick up now—the threats are real, repeated, and don’t seem to be a prank. Adding to the danger is the fact that Jaya’s older sister disappeared the prior year under suspicious circumstances. There’s no need to think the two are linked, but Walt has to consider the possibility.

If nothing else, Lolo hopes that bringing Walt into the investigation(s) will draw attention to him—he tends to get people watching and talking about his escapades, and hopefully, his involvement will get enough people interested in what’s going on to generate some leads.

There are plenty of suspects—on the reservation and off—for both the threats and the disappearance, so Walt and Henry have their hands full.

A Recurring Question

“I’m sorry, but I don’t believe in the things you believe in, Henry.”

He nodded. “I know that, but I respect your belief in humanity, if for only one reason.”

“What’s that?”

“It makes you very resolute.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Sometimes.”

There is a strong possible supernatural thread running through this novel. I’m not going to do justice to explaining the particular spirits that are suspected to be at work in this book, but there’s a real sense of hazard around them. And a lot of what Walt encounters during these events cannot be easily explained by something other than a spiritual force.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that this concept has been explored in the Longmire books. I don’t have hard numbers on it (I expect someone on the Internet does), but I’d guess that it’s a little less than one-half of them that feature this in a significant way.

And for all his protesting (see above), I’m not so sure that Walt doesn’t believe most of what Henry does. If your actions are an expression of your beliefs, he sure seems to. Not simply his actions over the course of this novel, there’s just about every other novel in the series—look at everything involving Virgil White Buffalo, for example (but there are several other pieces of evidence). Given both his background, what his wife believed, and his lack of knowledge about the details of Cheyenne beliefs, I can believe that Walt’s hesitant to claim that belief, but he sure does walk the walk.

Of course, there’s this observation Walt makes:

Funny how your attitude about spirituality could change when the chips were down.

A Sobering Beginning And Unfortunate Coincidence

In the midst of all the media coverage surrounding the search for Gabby Petito this summer, one of the things I frequently saw was people listing the statistics surrounding the numbers of missing Native American women every year.

The Acknowledgements in the front of this book listed similar statistics regarding missing and murdered Native American women, which are partially where Johnson drew the idea for this novel from. These numbers are repeated in the text itself, too.

This isn’t the first time that Johnson has used Walt’s case to comment on something in the news (or something that should be), but an accident of timing made this novel particularly germane.

Missing Friends

The downside to a Longmire book that takes place outside of Absaroka County is that most of the Sheriff’s department and the residents of Durant aren’t in the book. We didn’t get Sancho, Ruby, or Lucian (for example). And Vic was largely absent as well—but was well used for little time she was around.

I get the need to have Walt do things outside of Durant/Absaroka County to prevent Durant from becoming Murder Central, U.S.A. (it’s likely the most murder-filled town/county in Wyoming), but I really wish it didn’t involve leaving so many of the characters out of the books.

Here’s hoping that #18 brings them all back.

So, what did I think about Daughter of the Morning Star?

I thought some of the basketball material in the book (particularly the further in the novel we got) was a little eye-roll-inducing. It was just too much for a cynical guy like me. But somehow Johnson made it work.

There’s a lot said about hope in Daughter of the Morning Star–mostly about its absence. But, as hope tends to do, it shows up in the unlikeliest of places and in the midst of the darkest times. When this book is finished, there’s no happily ever afters promised (as usual for this series), but there’ve been moments of triumph, and maybe a dawning of hope for some.

This is really the most entertaining Longmire book in quite a while. When Johnson is on his game, he’s great. And that’s what we got here. Readers new and old will find a lot to be satisfied with here.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

The Ninja’s Blade by Tori Eldridge: The Ninja Daughter is Back in a Darker Thriller

By HCNewton

On October 21, 2021

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

The Ninja’s Blade

by Tori Eldridge
Series: Lily Wong, #2

Paperback, 317 pg.
Agora Books, 2020

Read: August 4, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s The Ninja’s Blade About?

I have abandoned this post five times since early August because of this section—I’ve written three that were too detailed (and therefore too long to read) and two that were too vague (and therefore too, well, vague to be any good). So, fine. I give up. Here’s what’s on Eldridge’s website about it:

In THE NINJA’S BLADE, Lily Wong―a Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja―has more trouble than she was bargaining for when controlling grandparents arrive in Los Angeles from Hong Kong at the same time she goes undercover in the dangerous world of youth sex trafficking. As she hunts for a kidnapped prostitution victim, a missing high school girl, and a sociopathic trafficker, the surviving members of a murderous street gang hunt for her.
Life would be easier if Lily knew who to trust. But when victims are villains, villains are victims, and even family is plotting against her, easy is not an option. All Lily can do is follow the trail wherever it leads: through a high school campus polarized by racial tension or the secret back rooms of a barber/tattoo/brothel or the soul-crushing stretch of Long Beach Boulevard known as The Blade.
She relies on her ninja skills to deceive and infiltrate, rescue and kill―whatever is necessary to free the girls from their literal and figurative slavery. If only those same skills could keep Lily’s conniving grandparents from hijacking her future.

Words Matter

I could not stop thinking about Robert B. Parker’s Ceremony/Taming a Seahorse/ Hundred-Dollar Baby and any number of similar books by him (and others) featuring P.I.s looking for particular prostitutes. Many of these I’d considered treating the women in question with sensitivity and respect. But I’m starting to think they could’ve done better.

Of course, whatever social workers the P.I.s encountered weren’t the same people Lily encountered. Lily was told in no uncertain terms that it’s not child/teen prostitution, but commercial sexual exploitation, and if she wanted to get anywhere with that agency, she’d adjust her language. Not only is it a language thing—but it reframes the activity. And the criminal culpability of those involved.

You can see its effect on Lily from that point on in the novel, if anything it probably made her more determined.

Lily’s Personal Life

Ask Peter Parker, it’s hard being a vigilante without your family finding out. The Ninja Daughter showed Lily’s skill in keeping that from her family, but it wasn’t easy. Add in trying to date—something Lily hasn’t successfully done since the night her sister died—and you’ve yet another bit of trouble.

Lily finds herself liking Daniel, but can’t make herself make time for him. Until her grandparents intervene, and suddenly, there’s one more plate for Lily to keep spinning.

But the fact that her grandparents are involved in her life is the big thing—they’ve come to visit from Hong Kong to check up on their business. Lily’s mother runs the LA/American branch of the family’s corporation.

Their presence changes—at least temporarily—the dynamic between Lily and her mother. Instead of the fairly antagonistic relationship we saw last time, there’s an alliance of sorts. Lily becomes as much of the supportive, obedient daughter as she can. Her mother’s stress level is through the roof, feeling like every decision she makes and has made—personal and professional—is being weighed and found wanting. So Lily does what she can to take the pressure off—she spends time with them, allows them to meddle in her life (rather than her mom’s), and so on.

I really appreciated this—mutual affection, familial bonds, and so on were present in The Ninja Daughter, but we got to see them in action here. It keeps Ma from being merely an obstacle to Lily’s mission and turns her into a character (that is frequently an inadvertent obstacle to Lily’s mission, sure—but that’s different).

The Fallout From The Ninja Daughter

Lily’s character is defined by her reaction to the trauma and guilt over her sister’s murder. But in The Ninja’s Blade, she has a fresh batch of trauma to deal with. The events of The Ninja Daughter have done some significant damage to her psyche (to paint with a broad brush, Eldridge does a better, and more subtle job of depicting it—don’t let my need for pithiness fool you).

She doubts herself, second-guesses her choices, makes costly errors, and this causes problems for her in the midst of battle (literal or figurative)—and for what Lily’s trying to do, this could be fatal. It’s also making things difficult for her outside of her work.

It’s not like she can seek out a counselor or anything—it’s not like she can tell a lot of people what caused the trauma. So it’s up to Lily—with some help from Stan and Aleisha at the shelter—to work through this.

So, what did I think about The Ninja’s Blade?

Eldridge here takes what was a strong adventure series with heart and a social conscience and improves it here—adding psychological depth, more layers to the protagonist, developing the characters of those around her, and showing that there are real risks and consequences for the protagonist. This isn’t a Reacher-like series, things that happen to Lily matter and will have a lasting impact on the character.

I really enjoyed this book—there’s enough humor and action to make sure this stays entertaining, and the darkness and complexity of the world add weightiness to the novel so that it doesn’t become a disposable thriller.

I strongly recommend this one to you and think it would serve alright as a jumping-on point, but I think you’d be better off jumping back to the prior novel. But starting with this one and then backtracking would work, too. Just do yourself a favor and pick these up.

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

PUB DAY REPOST: It’s a Wonderful Woof by Spencer Quinn: Chet’s on the Search for a Missing PI

By HCNewton

On October 19, 2021

In Chet and Bernie, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Spencer Quinn

It’s a Wonderful Woof

by Spencer Quinn
Series: Chet and Bernie, #12

eARC, 272 pg.
Forge Books, 2021

Read: September 13-14, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s It’s a Wonderful Woof About?

Someone comes to the Little Detective Agency to hire them, but it’s just not the kind of case that calls for Bernie’s strengths, but he knows just the right guy for the job, Victor Klovsky. The two had recently run into each other on different cases, and Bernie’s been reminded that Victor isn’t cut out for the more, shall we say, physically demanding cases—but he’s great at the stuff you can do behind a desk, which is what this case calls for.

Also, I think Bernie feels sorry for the guy and thinks he can do him a favor by sending work his way to make up for the way things went during that recent encounter.

You know what they say about roads and best intentions, though. It’s not long before Victor has gone missing—a very concerned mother (who has less confidence in his abilities than Bernie does) hires Chet and Bernie to find him. It turns out that not only Victor is missing, but his client is, too.

There’s nothing about this case that suggests a cushy desk job anymore—a strong sense of violence surrounds the disappearances—and other elements of the case as it develops. Can Chet and Bernie sniff out what happened to them, and what the relationship is between these disappearances, Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt, Caravaggio, and an old Spanish mission?

Relationship Issues

This is news to no one that has read one book in this series, but Bernie’s not good at relationships. Expressing himself to a woman he cares about is not a skill he possesses (I’m sure Chet would differ with me here, but I stand by it).

His current relationship is still pretty new—and seems to be going pretty well. But that’s all stuff that happened since Tender is the Bite. It doesn’t take him too long to mess things up with Weatherly. Both his reaction to this throughout the novel and the way it started felt different than the way he’d put his foot into it with Suzi (but not completely). The relationships between Bernie and the two women are notably different—which is a relief, too often in situations like this it feels like a duplicate of a previous romance.

A Very Bernie Christmas?

It would be very easy to forget that this is a Christmas/Holiday Themed novel—I did more than once, and I was expressly looking to see how Quinn dealt with it.

However, when the holidays do come up? It’s great. There’s a Hannukah scene that I just loved, and…well there are a couple of great other scenes about the holidays, but my no-spoiler policy stops me from getting into those.

Language Choice

This isn’t a big deal—I don’t want to make a proverbial mountain out of anything. But it struck me that Bernie’s language is a bit stronger than usual. I don’t want to take the time and do word counts or anything—I’m lazy and I’m not going to buy e-copies just to document this point. This book is still PG-13, but it jumped out at me and struck me as different—and I’m curious about it.

So, what did I think about It’s a Wonderful Woof?

I had a blast with this—there was a time 5 or 6 books ago, that my interest in the series waned a bit—I still enjoyed the books, but they didn’t grab me the way the initial novels did. That’s gone, and I have to wonder what was wrong with me—Quinn and Chet are as fresh and entertaining now as they were in Dog Gone It.

There’s heart, there’s excitement, there’s humor, there’s the devotion that only a dog can have for their human, and you even can even learn a little bit about art history. Throw in a little holiday magic and you’ve got yourself another winner in this series.

Go read this—which readers of this series probably don’t need me to say. But if you haven’t read any before, this functions well enough as a jumping-on point, just be prepared to make some time for the previous 11 novels. You’re going to want to read them all.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Macmillan-Tor/Forge via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Pub Day Repost: Best in Snow by David Rosenfelt: Tara Digs Up Trouble for Andy

By HCNewton

On October 19, 2021

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

Best in Snow

by David Rosenfelt
Series: Andy Carpenter, #24

eARC, 320 pg.
Minotaur Books, 2021

Read: September 10, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s Best in Snow About?

After a snowstorm dumps a healthy amount of snow on the ground, Andy takes his dogs for a walk. Tara, his beloved golden retriever goes digging in that snow and uncovers a body. Not just any body, it turns out, but the mayor.

The evidence points to a reporter that used to work for Andy’s friend, Vince, at his paper. Despite this scandal that he kicked off last year centering on the mayor, Vince believes him and supports him the best he can. One way Vince supports the reporter is that he gets Andy to defend him.

Also, instead of Andy taking in the suspect’s dog for the duration of the trial, Vince does it this time. Vince is not a dog person—he’s not much of a people person, either, so readers can imagine how his housing the dog will go.

Comfort Food

I’m pretty sure I’ve said this (or something like it) before—it’s hard to track in a 24 book series just what I’ve said. But these Andy Carpenter books literary comfort food. You know what you’re going to get, you know you like it, and it just makes you feel good.

For example, you know when it gets to the part about jury deliberation, Andy’s going to say and do a few things. And it’s just as enjoyable to see him say that in this book as it was 20+ books ago.

That said? Rosenfelt managed to surprise me a couple of times and did some stuff in the courtroom that I haven’t seen from him before.

Holiday Content

In the last few years that Rosenfelt has been doing these Christmas-y themed books, I’ve always been mildly surprised at how low little “Holiday Content” there is in the book. This one seemed to be the lightest on Christmas/New Year’s material.

Yeah, the weather and dates help ground the action and show how fast things are moving in terms of the trial. But there’s not much more to it than that. Basically, this is just an excuse to get another Andy Carpenter book this year. And I’m fine with that.

So, what did I think about Best in Snow?

I really enjoyed this—the case was a good puzzle. The courtroom antics and strategies were up to Rosenfelt’s usual standards (maybe a little better than some). The little bit of action that crept in (mostly involving Marcus) was great, too.

The members of Andy’s team were as entertaining as usual and, of course, so were the dogs (including Vince’s new charge).

If you’re a long-time reader of the series, you know what you’re going to get here—with a couple of surprises. If you haven’t tried this series yet, you really should—this is as good a place as any. But once you start, you’ll have a hard time stopping. That’s not a warning, that’s an assurance.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for this post—thanks to both for this.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

Dead Mercy by Noelle Holten: An Apt Title for A Grim Thriller

By HCNewton

On October 18, 2021

In DC Maggie Jamieson, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Noelle Holten

Dead Mercy

by Noelle Holten
Series: DC Maggie Jamieson, #5

eARC, 416 pg.
One More Chapter, 2021

Read: October 4-5, 2021

What’s Dead Mercy About?

The closing chapter of Dead Secret set this up (as Holten is so good about doing): a business has gone up in fire and a body has been found inside—possibly the body of someone Maggie’s worked with in Probation. From the start, this case has its hooks in Maggie.

It’s soon decided that the body was the source of the fire—and before the victim had been set ablaze, he’d been restrained and had teeth pulled. The killer had wanted to punish him, not just kill him.

Soon another victim is discovered—and the team has to race to find a connection so they can prevent anyone else from suffering this fate.

When the link is finally discovered, it suggests potential new victims as well as several suspects. It also shines a bright light on a striking failure of the criminal justice system.

Bethany and Kat

Back when I talked about Book 3, Dead Perfect, I wrote that they were overworking PC Bethany Lambert, “Miscellaneous errands, thankless tasks, things requiring technological expertise, and more fall to her. I lost track of how many things Maggie threw her way to do—on top of her own assignments. I have multiple notes about how they’re working this woman to death.” They’ve yet to let up on her—however, it’s talked about both as the way she likes to work and as something other people are concerned about. This is efficiently done—the characters around her get to be observant and sympathetic, and they can continue to throw too much work at her so Holten doesn’t have to create 2-3 more characters to keep the stories moving at that pace.

Dead Perfect was also where DC Kat Everett was added to the team—she’s better integrated into the action over the last couple of books now and I really enjoy her. I’m ready to read a spin-off series focusing on her now, either in her same assignment or transferred somewhere. Her brashness would make for a fun protagonist (not that Maggie isn’t brash, but hers is a side-effect of her impetuousness).

A Refreshing Approach

With most police procedurals you get the maverick, lone-wolf detective—maybe with a couple of people they trust. Or (particularly with UK-based procedurals), you get a focus on a detective squad. With the Maggie Jamieson books, we get a good look at her squad, probation services, and other social services.

Not just as a drop-in for a convenient bit of information, either. But characters that matter, there’s interconnectedness between the groups and it’s good to see the flow of information (formally, informally, unauthorized) informing the investigations. I like seeing that approach, and I like to think it reflects reality far more than any lone-wolf thumbing their nose at regulations.

Although, the pathologist still seeming to hold a grudge over one of her staff being (justifiably) questioned a while back seems to be petty. Which, so it’s not all super-professional and mutually helpful.

Let’s Hope This Is Fiction

Not every author spends too much time on the motivation behind the killings, but an author that gives a believable motivation separates their work from the pack. This is another of those areas that Holten excels in.

Yes, this is a work of fiction. Yes, things are heightened. But when you read this, there’s going to be a voice in the back of your head saying, “I could see that happening.”

Not only that, there’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to be a little conflicted about the crimes. Odds are, you’re not going to be hoping that Maggie and her team fail, or that the killer (killers?) gets away with it. Buuuut…once you understand the motive pushing the killer(s), you may not feel that bad about what happens to the victims.

So, what did I think about Dead Mercy?

Holten’s got this down now—the characters and world are well established, as are the relationships in them. Despite the relatively brief chronology between books 1-5, there’s been some decent character growth on several points, too. So a new Maggie Jamieson thriller is a chance to spend some time catching up with new acquaintances while getting to go for a pretty intense ride as those acquaintances try to stop a brutal killer.

Okay, maybe that’s not the ideal way to catch up and check in on anyone, but it’s a pretty exciting read.

Crime Reads had that piece a couple of weeks ago discussing “all crime is cyber crime,” which was ringing in my ears as I read this. This very visceral series of murders is evidence to support that thesis—cyber-policing wasn’t enough to stop the series, either, but it played its part. Holten’s always been good at balancing the computer-work and the boots-on-the-ground policing but might have outdone herself here.

The accent does fall on the physical world, of course, given the nature of the crimes. If your stomach doesn’t church a little at the description of the murders (likely both as they’re happening and as the pathologist breaks them down), you’re made of pretty stern stuff. Thankfully, Holten’s narration doesn’t ever seem to relish in the disturbing details as too many do.

Basically, this is a top-notch thriller with a lot for the reader to chew on as they’re burning through the pages.

It does appear that this is going to be the last Maggie Jamieson book–at least for a while. I’m hoping it’s just a break, and we get back to Maggie and the rest of the Major and Organised Crime Department soon. If not? These five books are a great set and I (again) strongly recommend them to you.

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

4 Stars

What God Has to Say about Our Bodies by Sam Allberry: The Body and the Christian

By HCNewton

On October 17, 2021

In Non-Fiction, Theology/Christian Living

It is frequently difficult to remember that this is a book blog and not a theology blog and I’m frequently tempted to engage with the teaching presented in a book, rather than talking about a book as a book. This is one of those times…I ended up deleting about 5 paragraphs from this (and was gearing up to write more when I remembered what I was supposed to be writing).

What God Has to
Say about Our Bodies:
How the Gospel Is Good News
for Our Physical Selves

by Sam Allberry

Paperback, 185 pg.
Crossway, 2021

Read: October 3, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

What’s What God Has to Say about Our Bodies About?

At the center of the Christian faith is the belief that by coming to earth as one of us, Christ could die for our sins, rise to new life, bring us into fellowship with God, and begin the process of putting right all that’s gone wrong. But at the center of that claim, tucked away where we don’t always see it, is the notion that to become one of us, Jesus had to become flesh. To become a human person, he needed to become a human body.

Become a body, not simply don one for a few years…

Bodies matter. Jesus couldn’t become a real human person without one. And we can’t hope to enjoy authentic life without one either. That his body matters is proof that mine and yours do too. He became what he valued enough to redeem. He couldn’t come for people without coming for their flesh and without coming as flesh.

From the foundation that bodies matter, that humans aren’t just souls trapped in bodies, but are bodies with souls, Allberry sketches out a theology of the body. Something that the Western Church just hasn’t thought a lot about recently.

He discusses things like: identiry, sex, gender, disease, death, the body and discipleship, resurrection. There isn’t a lot of Law in these pages (though it’s not antinomian), as the subtitle says, it’s about the Gospel and what it means for our bodies (both in weakness and in promised renewal).

High Points

Hardwired into most of us is some sense that we all get what we deserve. So it is easy to apply that mindset to sickness and infirmity and wonder if the suffering isn’t some sort of payback for sins. But Jesus is unequivocal in his response: “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents” (John 9:3). We’re not to extrapolate from someone’s suffering what they might have done to deserve it. It doesn’t work like that. The main connection between suffering and sin is at a general, humanity-wide level rather than at an individual level. It is not that one person’s suffering is a sign of his or her sin, but that anyone’s suffering is a sign of everyone’s sin.

While reading the book and when I sat down to write this, I had in mind two specific chapters to mention, but flipping through it, I almost doubled the list (and there was a danger I’d have gone further). Basically, I’m saying there’s a lot to like here.

But let’s get back to the highpoints of the book—I’m going to stick with my original plan and mention chapters 1 and 5.

Chapter 1, “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: The Body and its Creator,” is one of those things that I wish everyone would read. It’s foundational for this book, and a vital reminder that our bodies are made and made for a purpose.

“Subjected to Futility: The Body, Affliction, and Shame,” Chapter 5, is similarly foundational—in a fallen world, each of us is confronted daily by the weakness of the body—affliction, sickness, and even shame. Some of the problems discussed in this book aren’t things that we all struggle with—and even with the certainty of death for all of us, it’s clear that in the West we’re pretty good at denying that. But weakness? Sickness? Infirmity? We’ve all dealt with that—deal with it all the time, and seeing that in Scriptural light, in terms of the Gospel, is just so helpful.

So, what did I think about What God Has to Say about Our Bodies?

We need to know this. In too many areas of our discipleship we have separated our Christianity from our bodies. There are areas of our physical life that we think are irrelevant to our faith, and there are parts of our Christian life that we think have nothing to do with our bodies.

The truth is that the New Testament often speaks of discipleship in bodily terms, and in ways that tend to surprise us…These things are not trivial or spiritually irrelevant. The problem many of us have is that we are oblivious to their spiritual significance; we don’t see them as part of our discipleship and service to God.

I’ve read a few books by Allberry (and my wife owns a couple I haven’t gotten to yet), and this is noticeably longer and goes a bit deeper than he normally writes, but still, it’s an introductory volume. So I’m left wanting a little more.

That said, it’s an introductory discussion The Church (and others) need. The contemporary Church’s teaching on the body, on physical-ness is so narrow, so negative*, so deficient that it’s pointless. This is a good corrective. It’s only a first step, but we need to start somewhere. Regardless, Allberry’s writing is crisp, clear, engaging–the prose flows smoothly and the ideas are clear.

* Basically “taste not, touch not” kind of things.

I do wonder if Allberry had gone a little deeper if I’d quibble more or even downright disagree with him on some things, but here? I just spent time appreciating that he was addressing topics and ideas that I haven’t really seen done before. I do strongly recommend this—not as a final word, but as the beginning of a course of study (now I just have to figure out where to go from here).

Introductory and basic or not—I really commend this to your attention.

4 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

It’s a Wonderful Woof by Spencer Quinn: Chet’s on the Search for a Missing PI

By HCNewton

On October 14, 2021

In Chet and Bernie, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Spencer Quinn