Tag: 4 Stars Page 27 of 83

Drop the Mikes by Duncan MacMaster: The Scrawny, Geeky, Jessica Fletcher-esque Kirby Baxter find Trouble in a Caribbean Paradise

By HCNewton

On April 7, 2021

In Duncan MacMaster, Fiction, Kirby Baxter, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Drop the Mikes

by Duncan MacMaster
Series: Kirby Baxter, #3

Paperback, 243 pg.
Fahrenheit Press, 2016

Read: March 29-30, 2021

“Mathilda, my wife, says that archaeology runs in your family.”

“My parents are archaeologists,” said Baxter with a nod. “They teach, and every summer they go to digs in Europe or the Middle East.”

“They’re pretty respected,” said West, “what do they think about their son the cartoonist, turned detective?”

“I don’t think they ever fully understood what I do,”said Baxter. “In fact, most days, I don’t fully understand what I do.”

A Little Bit about Kirby Baxter

Before I get into this book, let me give a quick run-down of the series. Kirby Baxter is a comic book artist/writer. A few years ago, he came into a lot of money and took some time for himself in Europe. Kirby has the kind of eye for observation and powers of deduction comparable to Shawn Spencer or Adrian Monk (you could include several incarnations of Holmes, etc., too—but Shawn and Monk are closer in tone to this series). While in Europe, he found himself in situations where he could use those gifts to help solve some crimes—this got him a bodyguard, valet, assistant, or whatever, named Gustav, and both of them were made official Interpol consultants.

His talent(?) for being in the general vicinity of crimes continued once he got back to the States and he’s ended up helping the police in various cities with murders and other crimes. He’s frequently helped in this by the aforementioned Gustav; his girlfriend, Molly; her gossip-blogger cousin, Shelly; and his friend and colorist, Mitch Mandelbaum.

What’s Drop the Mikes About?

As a thanks for a bit of deduction that saved a New York Hotel a lot of money and even more bad publicity, Kirby and his friends (Molly Mitch, Gustav and Gustav’s girlfriend, Miriam) were given the opportunity to spend two weeks in some villas at a resort that’s about to open on a Caribbean island. Sounds like a fun little getaway, right?

Kirby Baxter doesn’t get those anymore. But we’ll get to that in a minute.

At the same time they arrive on the island, so do many other people—these people are largely young, with a lot of money, and/or are social media “influencers.” They’re on the island of a big luxury music festival to help promote a new product from a company called HÿpStar. Except the festival didn’t have any musicians (their checks bounced), or food (same), or decent places for the attendees to stay (you probably have guessed why by now).*

* If you’re thinking, this sounds a lot like Fyre Festival, give yourself a pat on the back.

Before the situation can totally deteriorate with the festival, the right-hand man to the organizer is found murdered. So you have thousands of disgruntled festival-goers, all with a reason to be angry with the victim, with almost every one of them trying to get off the island as fast as possible. It’s a bit much for the small island police force—thankfully, there’s a renowned detective in the neighborhood.

So Kirby and his friends have their vacation cut short.

The Hÿp Festival

I think I was largely offline for whatever reason about the time the whole Fyre Festival thing happened, and I missed most of the early hubbub, and then when I started to become aware of it, I didn’t exert a whole lot of effort into it. I’ve picked up a thing or two in the years since then, but that’s about it. So while I’d like to say something about the way that MacMaster satirizes The Fyre Festival, but I can’t. Seems outlandish and crooked enough.

But I can say that some of the more outlandish characters are hilariously drawn—like the influencer who cannot help speaking in text-speak acronyms, like “Double-you-tee-eff” or “Ess-em-aitch.” I appreciated MacMaster not using the acronyms themselves but going the extra mile and spelling out the letters, it added just enough to make her ridiculously charming. Carting around a ceramic Buddha statue and calling it her “Good luck Gandhi” was borderline-too-much, but I found it amusing every time it came up, so I’m not going to criticize it.

Too Much Going On

The two earlier Kirby Baxter books had a lot going on—several characters, each with their own arcs intertwined with the others—and that’s repeated here as expected. But this time it felt like there were too many other characters and their arcs running around—it wasn’t confusing or anything (we’ve all seen that before, this isn’t one for that list), but to do an adequate job for each of those, MacMaster had to use Kirby less.

But also, his friends—his self-labeled Scooby Gang—are running around doing their own thing while he’s looking into the murder (some are acting independently to help, others are working along with him), and that ends up taking time away from Kirby getting to shine. Sure, (to refer to that other Scooby Gang) we all know Fred, Velma, and Daphne have to look for clues on their own—either paired up or on their own—but the viewers came to see Scooby and Shaggy (possibly Scrappy-Do, too) and the more time we spend with Fred and his ascot doing things the less we see Scooby and Shaggy and the less entertaining the episode is. The same applies here. Molly’s great doing her own thing. Ditto for Miriam—and even Mitch is pretty darn amusing and got to do things we don’t normally associate with him. I’m all in favor of it, but Kirby was off-screen too much of this book.

A Small Gift for Long-Time MacMaster Fans

Readers of MacMaster’s other series, the Jake Mooney books, might recognize this particular part of the Caribbean, as it was the setting for Hack (and if you don’t recognize it, that’s okay, a couple of characters will make sure you get the connection).

It’s one of those things that won’t bother you if you don’t get the references as you read, but if you do, you’ll appreciate the ties between the two.

Now, what are the odds we can get Jake and Kirby working the same mystery from different angles?

Baxter had long thought that the adventures that afflicted his life the last few years had immunized him from ever feeling shocked, or surprised. It was one of the very rare instances where he was very, very wrong.

So, what did I think about Drop the Mikes?

Drop the Mikes is 243 pages of pure enjoyment. It’s that simple. You have Kirby being geeky and almost supernaturally-clever self. You get Molly and Gustav doing their usual thing. Mitch gets to be repulsive yet endearing—and even a little heroic, and we get to meet Miranda, the librarian who could be an action star if she really wanted to.

Throw in a handful or two of whacky characters, the disaster of the Hÿp Festival, a couple of murders, financial hijinks, another couple of crimes that really have nothing to do with the Festival outside of location—and you just can’t stop turning the pages to see what MacMaster has left up his sleeve.

These books are like ice cream or pizza—even if the one you’re eating isn’t as good as others you’ve had, they’re still ice cream or pizza, and you’d rather be eating them than just about anything else. I strongly recommend this book—and the rest in the series, too—well, anything with Duncan MacMaster’s name on it. I can’t think of another book this year that I’ve had as much fun reading as this one. And I bet there won’t be many in the 7+ months yet to come.

4 Stars

Dead in the Water by Chris McDonald: These Amateur Detectives Start to Look a Little Less Amateur

By HCNewton

On March 29, 2021

In Book Tour, Chris McDonald, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, The Stonebridge Mysteries

Dead in the Water

by Chris McDonald
Series: The Stonebridge Mysteries, #2

eARC, 105 pg.
Red Dog Press, 2021

Read: March 25, 2021

What’s Dead in the Water About?

Rivalries between small towns are nothing new, and when they can find their focus in a small—and relatively meaningless—athletic competition, they can take on an intensity that belies their significance. Add a cash award on top of a long-standing rivalry? All bets are off. That’s exactly what happened between the neighboring towns of Stonebridge and Meadowfield with the annual Stonebridge Regatta.

Things get a little tenser this particular year when the captain of the Stonebridge team (who was not particularly liked by his team, but he still was one of their own) is found dead in the water. The authorities concluded it was an accidental drowning, but his widow doesn’t accept that conclusion. Matthew Henderson was far too cautious around the water for something like that to happen.

Elena Henderson is an old friend of Adam Whyte’s mother, and like many people in Stonebridge was familiar with his recent success in finding the murderer of his friend. She asks him to look into her husband’s death for her. So Adam recruits his friend Colin to come along for another adventure and the two see if they can find that kind of success again.

Too Much Character Growth?

Part of the charm of The Curious Dispatch of Daniel Costello was how much Adam’s confidence exceeded his (and Colin’s) ability, and yet they somehow blundered onto the solution. They’re clever obviously, but they’re amateurs and they acted that way.

In the ensuing month, their success and fleeting local fame were the push that Adam needed to get off his mother’s couch and get serious about life (for at least a while). Not only that, but when approached by the widow, Adam’s reflexive reaction was to know that he wasn’t qualified. He feels bad for her and wants to help, so he agrees to look into it. While that may really be the right reaction, the realistic reaction, but we don’t turn to this kind of thing for realism, do we? A month of personal growth is enough to banish his overconfidence?

Now, these are things I thought of when sitting down to write this post, and not things that came up when I was reading. In the moment, I was just curious about finding out who killed Henderson and enjoying Adam and Colin. That’s the important part—it worked while reading, and only made me wonder in retrospect. Also, I’m not opposed to these two growing up—I just wonder about the pacing of it.

And also, Adam’s still a clueless and self-focused twerp when it comes to dealing with his mother, so, it’s not like he’s suddenly grown up—and there are plenty of ways his maturity can stumble in future installments if McDonald doesn’t want him to be well-adjusted.

The Sherlock/Watson-ish nature of the relationship that Adam foisted on Colin is pretty much gone—at least in the typical Holmes feel. To stick with those two as exemplars, in this novella, Adam and Colin function largely like Holmes and Watson in the last couple of Elementary seasons. Not quite equals, but close to it—Adam’s still expected to do the big thinking, but the labor and thinking pretty equally divided. It’s easier to see the two being friends this way, rather than Colin being pushed around by Adam like it frequently seemed in the previous adventure.

So, what did I think about Dead in the Water?

Like its predecessor Dead in the Water is a quick and enjoyable read, not quite as comic this time—but there were plenty of grins and chuckles to be found. Colin’s undercover work on the rival town’s rowing team, in particular, comes to mind there, as does a tip of the cap to one of McDonald’s podcast co-hosts (Adam has a comic highlight—with a bonus Narnia quip that I probably laughed out loud at—but I can’t even allude to it without ruining it).

I guessed the killer pretty quickly, but it didn’t affect my enjoyment that much. It was a well-constructed whodunit that provided plenty of opportunities for the reader to pick up on things that Adam missed (and vice versa).

One of the advantages of the novella-length is that McDonald has no opportunity to let “dull parts” step in. Everything that happens propels the story forward or gives us what we need for the characters. Lean prose and not a wasted word keep things moving for the reader and help to keep this as pure fun. I’m absolutely ready to return to Stonebridge to see if these two can find yet another murder in this small town.

4 Stars

My thanks to Red Dog Press for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the novella) provided.

Burying the Newspaper Man by Curtis Ippolito: A Young Police Officer’s Past Comes Back to Haunt Him

By HCNewton

On March 16, 2021

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

Burying The Newspaper Man

by Curtis Ippolito

eARC, 244 pg.
Red Dog Press, 2021

Read: March 10-11, 2021

What’s Burying The Newspaper Man About?

I’m going to lean heavily on the Publisher’s Description here, because this is one of those books that I’m afraid to say anything about. “This is a book about a police officer who finds something that disturbs him. This officer used to be a child and things happened. Now he has to deal with his life.” Just doesn’t sound all that interesting, right?

Marcus Kemp is a beat cop in San Diego who has a knack for discovering stolen cars. The book opens with him discovering his fortieth of the year—a record-setting pace that should crush his previous record. It’s a fairly upbeat opening that should make anyone worried—in this car he discovers a dead body. Decades ago, when he was growing up in Texas, the man in the car trunk repeatedly sexually abused Marcus.

Marcus knows he should inform the detectives who come to the scene that he knows who the victim is, that there’s a tie between them—and that he can possibly point at a motive for the killing. But he doesn’t do that. Instead, he starts an off-the-books investigation of his own into finding the killer. Not to bring the killer to justice, but to help him avoid arrest.

He ends up lying to his lieutenant, abuses his office, breaks I don’t know how many laws (he loses count, too)—putting his career and his freedom at risk—for the opportunity to aid and abet this man’s killer.

A Matter of Focus

In a book that ostensibly is about a cop hunting a murderer, the novel isn’t all that interested in the killer. It’s primarily interested in one of the cops hunting for the killer. The emphasis is on both what happened to Marcus as a child and how he’s dealing with it in the shadow of his abuser’s killer. We get a long look at the events leading up to the abuse—Marcus’s already troubled home life, his friends, and then choices that put him in repeated contact with the abuser.

The other emphasis is what Marcus goes through after finding the body. In the intervening years, he’d stopped thinking about the abuse. But once he recognized the body, he can’t stop thinking about it. He begins to see how so many of his choices are made because of the abuse, what it’s done to the way he thinks, the way he acts, and his relationships now.

This isn’t to say that Marcus’s hunt for the killer is unimportant, but it’s of tertiary importance at best. Thanks to a lucky break or two—scratch that, thanks to Marcus taking advantage of a lucky break or two, it’s a fairly uncomplicated hunt. But that’s the only thing lacking complication in the novel. As Marcus isn’t officially investigating or looking for an arrest, he doesn’t have to adhere to a typical protocol (even the curtailed protocol we let fictional heroes get away with). It’s striking how little we learn about the killer throughout the novel. It’s not a typical choice, but it works really well in these circumstances.

So, what did I think about Burying The Newspaper Man?

This isn’t at all what I expected from the novel. It’s richer, it’s deeper, and better realized than I expected (whether or not that’s fair, it’s true). Yes, there’s a lot of psychological trauma and depictions of Marcus’ trying to cope—but there’s some great action, too.

Aside from that, there are some great descriptions of life in San Diego—you can feel the atmosphere around the beach, in Marcus’s neighborhood. Ippolito gave us enough local character to ground the action—and a little extra, too. There’s even a nice flashback to a San Diego Comic-Con to further establish the setting and show us a non-professional side of Marcus beyond the abuse survivor.

I fear Ippolito rushed through the denouement, it could’ve easily lasted 3-4x as long as it did while holding the audience’s attention. But that’s not the style of Burying the Newspaper Man. Ippolito isn’t about answering all our questions, he focuses on what he thinks is most important, and if you agree with him, all the better.

There are enough “atypical Crime Fiction” elements to this book to appeal to readers that don’t usually touch Crime Fiction. There are enough “typical Crime Fiction” elements to appeal to die-hard fans of the genre. It’s the former that adds depth to this novel that you’re not used to, but that serves to make this more emotionally satisfying, and possibly genre-expanding.

Whichever camp you fall into—Crime Fiction reader or not, I recommend this novel to you—ignore the genre and just enjoy something well done.

4 Stars

My thanks to Red Dog Press for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials (including a copy of the novella) provided.

Cover Blown by Ian Robinson: DI Nash’s Professional Worlds Collide

By HCNewton

On March 10, 2021

In Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Cover Blown

by Ian Robinson
Series: DI Nash and DS Moretti, #2

Kindle Edition, 185 pg.
The Book Folks, 2021

Read: February 24-25, 2021

What’s Cover Blown About?

Fresh off the events of Latent Damage DI Nash’s team dives into a new murder case. Two women have been murdered in clearly connected events, sadly, that’s the only thing that seems to connect them (well, that and they’re cat owners, but does that count?). Nash and Moretti are quickly stymied by the strange circumstances around the cases.

Meanwhile, Nash is helping out an undercover unit on the side. She’s as disciplined as possible with this, keeping her priority on the homicides, but she occasionally has to step away, leaving Moretti to direct the team’s efforts. At some point (and I’m only saying this because it’s in the publisher’s description), evidence is uncovered that indicates DI Nash had been in communication with both victims.

A Thought About DI Nash

I like Nash—watching her juggle the murder cases and the undercover operation is something you don’t get to see often in procedurals (particularly from someone of her rank). We haven’t (so far) gotten too deep with her and what makes her tick—but I like what we’ve seen so far, she’s an interesting character. Which is all I’m looking for—an interesting and compelling character.

That said, I wouldn’t want her as a boss. She’s mercurial, she seems to manage primarily through threats, and while she’ll come through or her team when the chips are down, it’d be good to see her do that before I got to that stage (she’s also better at looking out for them with outsiders than among themselves).

Basically, I like reading about her but wouldn’t want to work for/with her. There’s part of me that hopes she grows into a better manager as the series progresses—but I also enjoy seeing someone successful and flawed.

So, what did I think about Cover Blown?

While this is the Nash and Moretti series, in the first book, there was a definite emphasis on Moretti. This book focused on Nash—I really hope this balancing act continues (think Lydia Chin/Bill Smith books by S. J. Rozan, but in the third person), it’s a good way to tell the duo’s story (and the team’s) without the perspective becoming stale or allowing one character to take over.

The dialogue issues I had in the first book were either absent or so rare in this installment that they never bugged me—and that goes for some of the other stumbles I thought were made in Latent Damage—it feels like Robinson’s more comfortable in this new voice, this new world, and that’s good news for the reader.

The procedural element of this novel is one of the strengths, the sheer effort involved in making the slightest progress in a murder inquiry is something to behold. With these books, Robinson is blending the murder team, the work of those who handle informants, and an undercover unit, which is another layer of difficulty to portray well, and Robinson nails that. I can’t remember if I talked much about it in the post about the last book, but this team spends a lot of time and effort on avenues that don’t ultimately lead where they want to go. I love seeing that—particularly (and I expect realistically) when they end up turning up other criminal activity.

Good characters, fascinating cases, a couple of exciting moments, and an all-around entertaining novel. I’d encourage you to grab hop on to this series here at the beginning—this is a keeper.

4 Stars

Tales from the Folly by Ben Aaronovitch: Entertaining Quick Dips into the Rivers of London

By HCNewton

On March 2, 2021

In Ben Aaronovitch, Fiction, Rivers of London (Peter Grant), Urban Fantasy

I’m reposting this one because I thought of it during What Abigail Did That Summer because Abigail gets to shine a little bit in this collection—and because it was short Rivers of London stories, just like the (fairly long) novella).

Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection

by Ben Aaronovitch
Series: The Rivers of London

Kindle Edition, 139 pg.
JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc., 2020

Read: August 1-3, 2020

If asked, I’d have thought I posted about this book weeks ago, so imagine my surprise this past weekend when I saw this title still on my “To Be Written” list when I was checking for something else. Better late than never…

What are the Tales from the Folly?

The subtitle pretty much gives it away, really. These are shorter works set in the Rivers of London series. The Folly is the unofficial name for the recognized British magical organization, following in the first formal study of magic made by Sir Isaac Newton (no known relation, but that doesn’t stop me from claiming him as an uncle), it’s currently formally organized as the Special Assessment Unit of the Metropolitan Police. The Folly is also the nickname for their headquarters. Either use works for this collection.

There are seven short stores (or one novella and six short stories) told from Peter Grant’s perspective—just like the series. Then there are four stories from the point of view of other characters in the series and three “moments” (Aaronovitch’s term for “something that is more of a mood than a story, something that will last a page or two and conjure an atmosphere).

Peter Grant Stories

Obviously, this is Peter’s series (at least so far…), so he gets the bulk of the space. Most of these take place around the time of the first few books in the series, but at different stages of Peter’s development. I enjoyed them all and most of them are good enough to justify the purchase price on their own.

I can’t put my finger on why, exactly, but the first story “The Home Crowd Advantage” is my favorite. It’s about a French practitioner who got up to no good during the 1948 London Games who revisits the scene of the crime in 2012 when rookie apprentice Peter Grant is the only one around to deal with him.

The last entry in this section is the novella, A Rare Book of Cunning Device that I talked about when it was released as an Audible Original in 2017. It’s rare for me to go from hearing a work to reading it, so it was interesting that way. I enjoyed it just as much this time around, but I think Holdbrook-Smith’s voice is a better one for this series than whatever is echoing around in my skull.

Everyone Else

The fact that Aaronovitch is able to tell stories outside of Peter’s perspective shows the strength of the series in my book, he’s built the world and the characters out enough that they can carry the weight of a narrative for at least a little bit.

We get a story from the perspective of one of the Rivers, one from Abigail’s perspective that will warm the cockles of your heart (and maybe make you a little sad for a bit), a nice one featuring Vanessa Sommer from Germany (making me hope we get back to Germany for another novel soon), the answer about what happened to the River Lugg after Foxglove Summer. Then there are the moments, one featuring Nightengale, one with Reynolds and one with Sommer’s pal Tobias Winter years before The October Man

So, what did I think about Tales from the Folly?

That’s easy, I thought it was great. I’d buy volume 2 tomorrow, and volume 3 next month. If Aaronovitch wrote that quickly, anyway. They’re like the comic series in a way—a nice way to spend some time in this universe without having to put in the time of a novel.

The collection covered the gamut of emotions and types of story typical of the series with Aaronovitch’s evident charm and skill. It’s a must for every Rivers of London fan.

4 Stars

REPOST: Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch

By HCNewton

On March 2, 2021

In Authors, Ben Aaronovitch, Fiction, Rivers of London (Peter Grant), Urban Fantasy

So the plan was, read What Abigail Did That Summer by Ben Aaronovitch on Monday and post about it Tuesday. What happened was: read What Abigail Did That Summer Monday, do some parenting things and have no energy left for anything else. Whoops. So, I’m going to repost a couple of Rivers of London books I thought of while reading the upcoming novella and we’ll try again tomorrow. This novel explains why Peter wasn’t around to give Abigail a hand (not that she’d have asked for it).

Foxglove Summer

by Ben Aaronovitch
Series: The Rivers of London, #5

Mass Market Paperback, 323 pg.
Daw Books, 2015
Read: January 9 – 10, 2014

“Hail the conquering hero,” said Beverly and held up her bottle to clink.
“Sic transit Gloria mundi,” I said, because it was the first thing that came into my head — we clinked and drank. It could have been worse. I could have said, “Valar Morghulis” instead.

It’s always a pleasure to spend some time in the pages of a Peter Grant/The Rivers of London novel, but Foxglove Summer is probably the most pleasurable entry in the series since Midnight Riot (The Rivers of London for non-US types). I’m not sure I can put my finger on why that’s the case, but that’s not something I’m going to worry about. Unlike Peter’s mother, who

never saw a gift horse that she wouldn’t take down to the vet to have its mouth X-rayed — if only so she could establish its resale value.

Two young girls have vanished in a small village slightly north of London, and Peter’s sent to make sure that the (supposedly) no longer active wizard in the area had nothing to do with it. Having done so, he decides to stick around and see if he can help with some of the routine/mundane work needed.

Naturally — well, I should say, Supernaturally, it’s not long before The Powers That Be ask him to see if there’s an angle to the case that’s more up his alley than theirs. Peter finds some undeniable evidence of magic at work and things get going from there.

Nothing against London — but loved this breath of fresh air in this novel. For example, Peter’s dealing with different superior officers to not want to deal with magic/supernatural — these don’t have the antagonism that usually shows up in London, they just don’t want anything to do with it. The town is full of interesting types — including traveling fair ride owners, tavern keepers, farmers, and vacationing journalists.

As always with this series, the sheer amount of British Police acronyms and assumed knowledge of structure and procedures are a hurdle many US readers won’t want to try (I’ve been told this by a few who I’ve tried to get to read these books) — it’s a little effort, and easily worth it to overcome.

My major — only? — gripe is that Peter’s not making a lot of progress with his magic, he seems to be pretty much where he was three novels back. Yes, he’s more confident, yes, he’s able to apply his knowledge of magic with some good old-fashioned police ingenuity — but his abilities and skills are still rookie-level. Without Beverly as magic back-up, he’d be in trouble. The two of them — plus one local cop out of his depth, but committed to work — are able to handle things.

Yeah, it was nice not to focus on Lesley and the Faceless One (which isn’t to say their shadows don’t loom over a good chunk of the book), but it’s clear that they’ll be back in a really big way soon. Which I’m looking forward to, as nice as it was to have this mental palate cleanser here. Foxglove Summer was great mix of police procedural, Urban Fantasy and Folklore — both traditional and contemporary (the area’s obsession with UFOs is great) — with Aaronovitch’s deft humor, pop culture references and tight plotting. We’ve got ourselves a winner here.

—–

4 Stars

He Drank, and Saw the Spider (Audiobook) by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki: LaCrosse’s Break from His Vacation Changes History

By HCNewton

On March 1, 2021

In Alex Bledsoe, Audiobook, Eddie LaCrosse, Fantasy, Fiction, Reread Project

Like with the previous Eddie LaCrosse audiobook, The Wake of the Bloody Angel, I can’t think of much more to say than I did in 2014 when I read the book. But, this is the last one in the series, and I can’t just let this pass unremarked. So I shuffled it a bit, cleaned a couple of things up, and added bit here and there. That’s not cheating too much, is it?

He Drank, and Saw the Spider

by Alex Bledsoe, Stefan Rudnicki (Narrator)
Series: Eddie LaCrosse, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 6 min.
Blackstone Audio, 2014

Read: February 16-19, 2021

Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

I felt that little knot in my belly that meant a mystery was taking its irrevocable hold. Usually this was a good thing, because usually I got paid for it. But here and now I was on vacation, and the last thing I wanted to do was spend it unraveling the truth of the strange prince, his rotund protector, and the girl I’d once saved from a bear. But damn it, I knew that’s exactly what I was going to do.

What’s He Drank, and Saw the Spider About?

After a couple of adventures that aren’t quite typical in their nature, Eddie La Crosse gets back to basics with a fairly straightforward case. Well, that’s not exactly true—it’s just that the last was more grand-adventure-y, less LaCrosse-as-sword-jokey, and the one before that took on this epic nature by the end. This is Eddie doing what he does best. But still, there’s magic and monsters, and all the other trappings that keep this from being something that Sue Grafton or Dennis Lehane would’ve written.

Sixteen years ago, Eddie promised a dying man on the run that he’d take care of the baby that the other man was running to protect. He found a seemingly-trustworthy family willing to take the infant in, and went on his merry way, and actually forgot all about the incidents surrounding that. Years later, Eddie and his girlfriend, Liz, are on vacation in that area and suddenly it all comes back to him and he decides to try and track down the (now) young woman and see how she’s doing.

Naturally, things start to go poorly about there. He does find her—pretty easily, too—it is a small community, with an economy largely-based on sheep-herding and farming, so it’s not really a bustling metropolis where no one knows anyone else. But there’s a whole lot of interesting things happening around the young woman—royalty in disguise, a meddling sorceress, an untrustworthy mercenary-type, an over-protective mother, a dose of sibling rivalry, and some sort of articulate and super-strong inhuman creature with a healthy interest in the girl.

Even though he was just supposed to check on her and not interfere with her life—he had no intention of even introducing himself to her. Eddie can’t help himself, and before you know it, he’s neck-deep in intrigue and danger.

Biggest Magic Yet

When you think about Fantasy novels (or maybe I should just say “I”, who knows what you think) you think about magic all over the place. But if it’s really that ubiquitous, that takes away some of the special-ness of magic. In LaCrosse’s world, almost no one believes in magic. Eddie sure wouldn’t if magic, deities, and supernatural creatures hadn’t rubbed their existence in his face on repeated occasions.

That’s certainly the case here—most of the people that Eddie is around in this novel (and by most, I mean an overwhelming majority) refuse to admit that what they are seeing—some of them on multiple occasions—has anything to do with magic. I think this is a great choice—it’s another hurdle for Eddie and Liz to get over, it adds some real tension when you’d be tempted to think we’re done with tension, and it keeps the magic mysterious.

Rudnicki’s Narration

I think this is probably Rudnicki’s best work in the series. he nails every character—particularly the character of Billy Cudgel (the aforementioned untrustworthy mercenary-type). He captures the humor, the drunkenness, the misery, the madness, and everything else. I thought the choices he makes in the narration (he and/or the director) and tone were spot-on. He’s definitely a narrator I’m going to seek out in the future.

So, what did I think about He Drank, and Saw the Spider?

On the whole, this is a fun, brisk novel—a lot of humor, some good action, nice banter, and interaction between the characters (especially Eddie and Liz). Yet, even as the answers to the questions surrounding the girl’s mysterious origins become obvious, and some of the characters get to the point where they seemed irredeemable, Bledsoe (as he can every so well) keeps you completely drawn in and even tugs the heartstrings a bit as the truth is revealed to the characters. Just really, really well done.

There’s a lot of nice little touches along the way. For example, towards the end of the book, Eddie and those he’s traveling with encounter a preteen who joins their little band for a while. She’s pretty new to swearing and tries to get in as much practice as she can while with them. At first, I thought she was an odd (but entertaining) and pointless distraction. It didn’t take too long to see she was a perfect tension-breaker, just what that part of the novel needed to keep from being too tense and so much more serious than what had come before.

Eddie’s narration has never been better—humor-tinged and hard-boiled, a medieval Philip Marlowe or Elvis Cole. I liked all of these characters, and really wanted to spend more time with each of them—I don’t know how Bledsoe could’ve pulled that off without getting the whole thing too slow and ponderous (which would’ve sucked the fun out of 60-70% of these characters). This is really such a well-done and fully realized series.

Either Bledsoe or his publishers decided that was enough, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to get any more adventures from our favorite sword-jockey, but man, I’m glad we got what we did.

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.

A Two-Fer: Twenty Palaces and Child of Fire (Audiobooks) by Harry Connolly and Daniel Thomas May

By HCNewton

On February 17, 2021

In Audiobook, Harry Connolly, Twenty Palaces, Urban Fantasy

Twenty Palaces

by Harry Connolly, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Twenty Palaces, #0
Unabridged Audiobook, 8 hrs., 14 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020
Read: July 29-30, 2020
4 Stars

Child of Fire

by Harry Connolly, Daniel Thomas May (Narrator)
Series: Twenty Palaces, #1
Unabridged Audiobook, 10 hrs., and 9 min.
Tantor Audio, 2020
Read: September 8-10, 2020
4 Stars

What is The Twenty Palaces Series?

The Twenty Palace Society is a secretive and ancient group that has devoted itself to the regulation of magic in this world for the benefit of humanity. Those who use magic outside of the Palaces control have a tendency to unleash disaster—and by disaster, I mean things with the potential to destroy the world—and the Society stops them with extreme prejudice (and if collateral damage happens, so be it—we’re talking about the survival of the human race here).

Most of these threats come by way of unleashing Predators—beings from the “Empty Places” between dimensions. Their main drive seems to be coming into this (or any) reality and snacking on whatever life forms they can find. They typically begin by seeming to obey and/or help the humans who summoned them. But eventually, they turn on their summoners and exact a horrible price.

The Society’s methods, structure, and personnel largely lie in darkness, but we know a little bit—there are peers (magic users of impressive strength, but not as strong as others in the Society), investigators (whose purpose is to look for magical/Predatory activity), and wooden men. Wooden Men are cannon fodder. They’re the designated redshirts whose purpose is to draw the attention of the humans or Predators the Society is attacking so their peer can come in and eliminate the threat while they’re focused on the Wooden Man. It’s obviously not a place to be if you’re all that concerned with living a long and quiet life.

Our protagonist, Ray Lilly, is a Wooden Man (or becomes one in TP). In that book, he stumbles upon some unauthorized magic use, casts one spell himself (which would be enough to kill him over, but he proves useful to Annalise so she delays that), and then stumbles upon a group of predators and helps Annalise stop them from turning Seattle into a home base to bring in others of their kind and then to destroy humanity.

In Child of Fire, the two find themselves in a small town, where a man/company (it’s hard to tell at first) seemingly has made a deal with a Predator for some benefit to the town, but at the cost of the children of the town—and it happens in such a way that the memories of parents are affected enough that they don’t remember their children ever existed.

Publication/Listening Order

While I do think a good prequel can be fun, by nature they are wholly unnecessary. If you don’t have everything you need in the books/movies/whatever as they were published, the author/creators failed. Also, you probably don’t get something successful enough to generate a prequel.

Again, they’re fun. It can be entertaining to get an explanation for something in the original work (“Oh, so that’s why there’s a lampstand in the middle of the wood”), occasionally it gives you a new perspective on the series, that kind of thing. I was more than happy to read Twenty Palaces when the series had been mothballed, but I wasn’t clamoring for it.

But last year, when Tantor started putting out the whole series in audiobook form (the first book had been already, but the rest hadn’t been), I went with the order that Tantor published—Twenty Palaces first and then moving on to the rest.

I was surprised at how well it flowed. There’s very little time between Twenty Palaces and Child of Fire and it really felt like CoF was a sequel. There were just so many throwaway details in CoF that were there to make it seem like Ray had a past (not that we learned much about it), that there was a little bit of history with Ray and Annalise (but not much of one). As you read it (assuming you read in publication order), there’s a mysterious, violent past—one that it’s good to know Ray has, but we don’t need to know it.

Connolly did a great job of taking those details and building events in Twenty Palaces around them. I’m not saying this is the best way to listen to the books—but it makes them a lot more approachable. I can see why Tantor went the way they did.

Ray Lily

Yes, Ray Lilly is an ex-con with a violent streak. But he sincerely wants to live a straight life—while he admits to himself that he enjoys the rush of violence. He also likes the fact that his work for the Society matters. He tries to be a good, law-abiding citizen as much as possible. He works hard to prevent injury to those who have nothing to do with the Predators.

He’s incredibly loyal to Annalise—which is not a little twisted because Annalise has told him repeatedly that she will kill him.

He’s essentially what you expect in a male UF protagonist—but he’s as close to powerless as you can be in this world and yet survive. Which definitely marks him out as different. He also has a real talent for getting people (many people, anyway) to trust him and is better at inspiring bystanders to action than most UF protagonists (although most of them don’t need to recruit help, and Ray does). There’s a very human quality to Ray that makes you like him.

Annalise Powliss

Annalise is old (well over one hundred years old), but looks younger than Ray. She has a high voice and looks like she hasn’t had a decent meal in ages. But that’s deceptive—she’s supernaturally strong and magically powerful. While she doesn’t relish the prospect of collateral damage/fatalities—she’s familiar enough with the treat posed by Predators that she’s more than willing to let a town’s worth of citizens die to prevent all of humanity from being consumed. Still, she’s largely willing to indulge Ray’s compassion—up to a point.

Annalise has all the powers of your typical UF protagonist—maybe even more. But none of the wit, sarcasm, or optimism. For her, this is a duty, not one she particularly enjoys, but it’s something that has to be done.

Daniel Thomas May

I admit that I was worried about Daniel Thomas May as the narrator for these audiobooks. All I know him from is the Venators series, and this is about as far from a YA Portal Fantasy as you can get. But my worries proved groundless and he does a bang-up job portraying Ray Lilly and the horrors that this world holds.

More than that, I’m glad I listened to these if only for Annalise’s voice. It’s both exactly what Connolly says it sounds like—and is about 3.4 million miles away from what I’d imagined.

So, What Did I Think about these Audiobooks?

They’re just great—I thoroughly enjoyed being back in this world and I still don’t understand why the books weren’t bigger sellers. I hope they find a new audience in audiobook. I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about the series on this blog without using the phrase “criminally underselling,” (or words to that effect). It comes to mind once again, I just don’t get why readers didn’t get behind this.

They’re dark, they’re grim, they’re on the violent end of the UF spectrum (but I can easily find darker, grimmer, and more violent series)—but there’s a glimmer of hope throughout them all. Not just from Ray’s undaunted trust in humanity, but that’s where most of it comes from. Even with all the death and destruction, they’re entertaining reads and you get immersed enough in the world that you don’t want to come out of it.

You really should get these in your earbuds or in front of your eyes.

A Few Thoughts about Forged by Benedict Jacka

By HCNewton

On February 11, 2021

In Alex Verus, Benedict Jacka, Fiction, Urban Fantasy

Forged

by Benedict Jacka
Series: Alex Verus, #11

Mass Market Paperback, 294 pg.
Ace Books, 2020

Read: December 17-22, 2020
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

The whole time I read this, I kept thinking, “How do I write something about this?” More than a month and a half later, I’m still not sure.

Book Blurb

I’m so unsure what to say, that I’m not even going to attempt to summarize the setup. I’ll just steal the back of the book:

To protect his friends, Mage Alex Verus has had to change–and embrace his dark side. But the life mage Anne has changed too, and made a bond with a dangerous power. She’s going after everyone she’s got a grudge against–and it’s a long list.
In the meantime, Alex has to deal with his arch-enemy, Levistus. The Council’s death squads are hunting Alex as well as Anne, and the only way for Alex to stop them is to end his long war with Levistus and the Council, by whatever means necessary. It will take everything Alex has to stay a step ahead of the Council and stop Anne from letting the world burn.

Not Quite Fully-Formed Thoughts

I was blown away by the first novel in this series, Fated back in ’12. The cover caught my eye, the pull-quote from Jim Butcher on the front put it in my checkout stack at the Library. I was impressed enough that I bought the paperback almost immediately. And the series has been an auto-buy for me since. Here we are at the penultimate novel and so much of my loss for words is attributable to not knowing what he’s going to do with the events of this book.

Yes, it’s a complete story—we even get introduced to a new character. But I’m not sure what any of the events will actually mean for Alex/the series, so my judgment feels like it’s in limbo. If he does X, Y, or Z in Risen, well, sure it’ll be worth it. But if he goes in another direction…I just don’t know.

I’ve read four Urban Fantasy series from start to conclusion. Anna Strong, The Hollows,* Kitty Norville, and The Iron Druid Chronicles. If you stand back and take in the series as a whole, the first three had a very similar arc, and the IDC had a different one. It sure seems like Jacka’s taking a more IDC approach. If I’m right, that puts things in the last couple of books in a certain kind of light, and I can evaluate them on that basis. If I’m wrong (to some extent) it puts those things in a different light, and I’ll think about them differently. At the moment the book is in a pretty “is the dress white and gold or black and blue” kind of place for me. I don’t usually say that kind of thing about a book, I normally know what I think about a book without wondering too much about the future of the sequel/series. But I can’t help it this time, even if it feels like a cop-out.

Which is not to say that I think there’s a superior way for Jacka to land this plane—I’m confident he’s going to nail the landing regardless.

* Yeah, sure, that was temporarily concluded, but let’s pretend that Harrison didn’t come back for the sake of this paragraph

So, can I say anything? Yeah. This was the most violent of any of the books, Alex knows full well that this is the endgame for something, and has nothing holding him back. I’m sure that in many ways the Alex Verus of the early series wouldn’t do what he’s doing now, and wouldn’t want to. But things have changed him, and he doesn’t have time to waste pulling his punches.

Alex is running out of choices—an odd thing for a diviner. He’s burnt a lot of bridges lately—many of which I held out hope that he could repair. Instead, he burnt them to the ground, gathered the ashes, stomped on them, and then scattered them to the four winds. I’m not sure that he has a whole lot of moves left—if Alex is the King on a chessboard, it truly seems he’ll be checkmated in just a couple of moves.

I enjoyed this book, I don’t particularly like the choices that Alex is making—but I get why he’s making them. I don’t particularly like the choices Jacka’s making, either—but I think he’s probably doing the right thing for the series.

I’m not sure what else to say, really. Come back this fall after Risen and I’ll probably be a bit more definitive.

There was another realisation too, something that was harder to explain. I had the feeling that Morden was going to survive all this. He wasn’t aiming to settle grudges and wasn’t seeking the crown, and because of that everyone else would always have someone they wanted dead more badly than him. When this was over he was going to be walking away, back to the forests and streams of his shadow realm and to his new group of disciples. The same wasn’t likely to be true for me.

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.

In This Bright Future (Audiobook) by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson: A Stranger in a Strange Land

By HCNewton

On February 9, 2021

In Audiobook, DC Smith & Kings Lake, Fiction

In This Bright Future

by Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)
Series: A DC Smith Investigation, #5

Unabridged Audiobook, 9 hrs., 18 min.
Tantor Audio, 2017

Read: January 7-8, 2021
Grab a copy from your local indie bookstore!

It’s Time to Wrap up Some Things

We’ve known for some time, that someone connected to DC Smith’s time in Belfast has been trying to get in touch with him. We know almost nothing about what he did, and he’s in no rush to think about it as whoever makes these attempts. But that’s done with now.

While recuperating from knee surgery, Smith finally confronts/is confronted by (you could make the case either way) with that person and ends up using his convalescence time going to Belfast to look into something that happened (probably) the day after he left.

Smith is brought face-to-face with friends and adversaries for the first time in decades. He has to come to terms with many consequences of his actions. And he looks into a killing from that time that he didn’t even know had happened until he made the trip.

So we learn who has been looking into him/trying to communicate with him. We learn a lot about his backstory that we’d only got glimpses of shadows of before. For fans who want to know more about DC Smith, here’s the place.

There’s another plotline that gets some resolution, too—in a very pleasant way. But I’m not going to get into it.

Never Fear, There are Still Some Storylines Alive

We don’t have any resolution when it comes to this author friend and her book (and digging up all sorts of horrible memories with it). And there’s a new one introduced in the closing moments, one that will probably shake up a lot of Kings Lake…

Jackson Nails It Again

Gildart Jackson makes sure that you get what DC is feeling, how the past is coming back to haunt him while confronting him with his failures, his missed opportunities, the what could have been. This is a lonely book for Smith, and Jackson ensures the listener experiences it.

So, what did I think about In This Bright Future?

Overall, this was strange. Still good, but strange. As much as we all pick up these books for DC, it’s DC in relation to his fellow officers. Here, he’s fairly isolated—he has his ghosts, his memories, and people he hasn’t seen for decades (some he’s tried not to think about since)—but he doesn’t have his team. The fact he can’t give any tutorials, he doesn’t have anyone around to amuse with his commentary, the fact that he’s constantly on his guard, all combine to heighten the emotional impact of this one.

But man, I want to get back to King’s Lake.

This was as good as the previous entries—probably better in some ways—but in a different way. I’m all for that, let’s keep this series from getting stale. You can read/listen to this without the rest, and enjoy it. But it’s a lousy way to sample the series. If you want to know what this winning series is like, grab book 1 or 2. But if you grab this? You’re in for a very pleasant experience.

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.