Tag: Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller Page 18 of 54

When I started to write this, I thought it’d be a 5 +/- paragraph post, but apparently I can’t shut up about books in a Parker series (and I did try).

Fallout

by Mike Lupica

DETAILS:
Series: Jesse Stone, #21
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: September 5, 2022
Format: Hardcover
Length: 353 pg.
Read Date: September 7-8, 2022

“I guess drinking was his way of dealing with it tonight.”

“That was always my first option,” Jesse said. “And second. And third. But no matter how many times I tried, it never seemed to work.”

There was a pause at her end.

“He didn’t get into any fights, did he?”

“Just with himself,” Jesse said. “Spoiler alert? He lost.”

What’s Fallout About?

There are two murders for the Paradise Police Department to focus on in this book—and both have a lot of personal resonance.

The first is the suspicious death of Suit’s nephew. He was a senior in High School and a hot college baseball prospect—naturally, a great athlete—and had been getting better because of Jesse’s mentoring. Suit thought of Jack as a son more than a nephew and he’s devastated by this. It’s unclear if he died after a drunken fight at a party, or if he’d been driven by inner demons to end his own life. No one wants to believe the latter—but they can’t rule it out. A very not-subtle cone of silence around the team is being enforced—as that was pretty much all of Jack’s life, that means the investigation isn’t getting very far.

Some time ago, a former Paradise Police Chief moved back to town and befriended Jesse. The two regularly had dinner together, and one of the first things we see is a meal between Jessee and Charlie Farrell. The woman that Charlie’s been seeing was recently swindled out of a few thousand dollars and now it looks like scammers have targeted Charlie. He’s been retired for decades, but still has the instincts and reflexes to try to track them down himself rather than turn things over to Jesse’s crew. He must’ve been on the right track because he was killed. This shakes (an already shaken) Jesse, who sets his sights on this case so much that he turns Jack’s death primarily over to Molly. He was Chief before any of the officers we know joined the force (as far as I can tell), but it’s still about “one of their own.”

Jesse’s Battle with Alcohol

I’m not crazy about Lupica’s way of dealing with Jesse’s alcoholism compared to Coleman’s—but it’s better than Parker or Brandman did. But I really liked Jesse’s ruminations about people being able to stop drinking while the bottle still had something left, or when the option to order another glass was available. Actually, all of the material about his drinking in this book was good—better than he’s given us so far. Hopefully, the trend continues.

Miscellaneous Bullet Points

I don’t have time/inclination to expand these beyond brief paragraphs—but I felt compelled to mention a few things.

bullet Okay, the over-use/over-reliance on Crow, basically making him Jesse’s Hawk, bugs me. It also doesn’t do that any favors for the character of Crow or Jesse—and really doesn’t help Molly’s character in any conceivable way (although Lupica may have a long game there). Parker (inadvertently?) tamed Hawk by using him too much—and was well on the way to doing that with Bobby Horse and Chollo, too. And now Lupica’s doing that with Crow. Use him less (far less) and he retains his mystery, his edge, and his ability to do the things that Jesse won’t do.

bullet This isn’t evaluative, per se, I guess I’d file it as a general musing—it felt to me like this book was (for lack of a better term) swear-ier than I’m used to. Parker and the other authors in the Spenser-verse have never been reluctant to use a four-letter word when the situation called for it, by any means. It seemed like a noticeable uptick in those words. I’m not saying that Lupica’s turned into Kevin Smith or anything, it just gave everything a slightly different feel. I wonder if that’ll continue, if it was just a blip, or if I’m imagining things.

bullet It really feels like Lupica is trying to write off Jesse’s son, Cole. Had Coleman continued with the series, I’m curious about how he’d have handled the character. I’ve had so many questions about his introduction in the first place, and now it feels like Lupica’s trying to pull a Chuck Cunningham with him—sending him to law school in London and taking him out of Jesse’s life. He actually thinks, “The kid sounded happy. Leave him alone.”

bullet So Molly came clean with her husband about her fling with Crow several years ago. Now her marriage is all but over. No one has given us enough time with Molly’s husband over the previous 20 books for us to get that invested in the marriage—so putting it on the rocks doesn’t do much for the character either. I really don’t care either way, except that it feels like Molly’s character is drifting and becoming a different person. But that happens to all of us, so I can’t complain on principle, just…

bullet Yeah, Parker created his three series in a way to allow the characters to intersect—but other than the Jesse/Sunny love story, and the Sunny/Susan therapy relationship, the primary characters didn’t intermingle too much. I’m not sure if the current approach of bringing them all together so much is the right way to deal with them. I’m not sure it’s not, either.

bullet Building from that—if you’re going to bring these worlds together so much, and if you’re going to introduce and kill off a police chief that coincidentally(??) shares the last name of a frequently used supporting character who is also a cop? Someone had better say something. If only so that readers stop thinking about it. In a Spenser-verse book, if someone talks about “Farrell,” I reflexively think, “Lee.” I can’t imagine I’m alone there—I just don’t get that character name choice. I bumped on it every time it was mentioned (and, as the central death in one of the two major storylines, it came up a lot).

So, what did I think about Fallout?

This was entertaining and occasionally clever. I don’t know that I felt the emotional impact of either murder—I felt for Suit, but I’m not sure I cared too much about it. Maybe if we’d been able to focus on what Suit was going through while he was doing the investigation—keep it a Jesse and Suit thing with some backup from Molly. In the end, it became primarily a Molly and Jesse thing with Suit in the background.

I don’t know if Lupica’s capable of delivering a great Jesse Stone novel, instead, I think we’re going to get a streak of pretty good—and consistently so—novels (well, he’s probably capable, but I don’t get the impression that it’s his goal). That’s good enough for me, I might want something more, but consistently good and entertaining will sustain my interest.

I’m not sure if this is the place to jump onto the series—but it’s not necessarily a bad place. It’s the 21st in the series, but you don’t need the knowledge that comes from the previous twenty. It might help, but not that much, you’ll not miss much at all.

A good time will be had by those who take a dip into these waters.

3.5 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, the opinions expressed are my own.

A Few Quick Questions with…Susan Grossey

By HCNewton

On September 13, 2022

In A Few Quick Questions With...

I talked about the first of Susan Grossey’s Sam Plank mysteries, Fatal Forgery earlier today. Grossey was kind enough to take part in a Q&A with me, too. I really enjoyed these responses and hope you do to, and hopefully they make you inclined to check out the book.

Your website talks a little about your background and how you got into focusing on financial crime professionally—how did you get from writing Non-Fiction about it to writing Fiction about it?
Like most bookish people—and those who study English at university—I had always harbored dreams of writing a story book. In my professional life I wrote many technical books on the subject of money laundering and financial crime, and one day I came across a short account of a banker who had stolen all the money from his own bank and then inexplicably confessed to it quite readily. I started writing a straight biography of him, but then decided that fictionalizing it would be more fun—and that became, after many false starts and different iterations, “Fatal Forgery”. And once I’d written one fiction book, I found I couldn’t stop! It’s the temptation of hiding from the world in a fictional environment that I can control…

I don’t want to ask “where do you get your ideas?” But out of all the ideas floating around in your head, how did you latch on to Regency-era Financial Crimes? Can you talk a little about the decision to make this a series instead of just one novel?
Once I had come across the story of Henry Fauntleroy, I started to research his era more closely. And I found that the late Regency—the 1820s specifically—was a time of great upheaval in two arenas that fascinate me: finance and policing. In finance, paper money had just been introduced, and much as we today are having to come to terms with cryptocurrencies, people in the 1820s had to learn to trust paper money instead of weighty coins, where you had value in the actual metal. And stories of rogue bankers didn’t help! And in London—a growing city with escalating rates of crime—thoughts were turning to improving policing. Everyone has heard of the Bow Street Runners (founded in 1749) and their work tackling crime, but having men who are paid bounties according to who they arrest brings certain problems. In 1829, the world’s first organized police force—the Metropolitan Police—was created in London. Between the two, London had a system of “magistrates’ constables”—and Sam Plank, the narrator of my series, is one of these. As far as I have found, there are no other novels with a magistrates’ constable as the hero!

As for the series decision, it was actually Sam’s idea. When I first wrote “Fatal Forgery” I wrote it from the point of view of the banker, but it didn’t really come alive. As an experiment I tried a couple of chapters with the arresting constable telling the story, and it just leapt off the page. And I am afraid that by the time I finished I was hopelessly in love with Sam and couldn’t face saying goodbye. Just one more Sam book, I thought—as the first one was set in 1824, I’ll do one for 1825. And then Sam suggested that it would be logical to see what he would make of the arrival of the Met Police in 1829, and so I needed to write a book for each intervening year…

I have zero previous knowledge of the criminal justice system in this era of English history, but I really never felt too lost during this case. How did you approach weaving just enough information into the book to keep it authentic (or at least relatively authentic) without turning this into an information dump?
I am a research addict—I would happily spend the rest of my life in archives and libraries! But I once read a review of a book (sadly, now forgotten) which said, “The author wears his research lightly”. And this is what I strive for. I try to drop in just enough information for the reader to feel oriented, but not so much that it’s like reading a history book. I like to think that I hold all the information in the background, so that if a reader said to me, ah that’s interesting, but what would have happened in this instance, or where did that street actually go to, I would have the answer. I like the reader to feel that they can trust that I have done the research on their behalf and am sharing with them only the bits they actually need. And you should see my research files—they are ENORMOUS!

Who are some of your major influences? (whether or not you think those influences can be seen in your work—you know they’re there)
At the formative age of about twelve, I discovered that the “Poldark” stories I had loved on television were in fact books – and lots of them! I read them at a gulp, and I think my preference for historical series (rather than standalone books) started there, with author Winston Grahame and his dashing Cap’n Ross. In more mature years, I admire the historical writing skills of Antonia Fraser and CJ Sansom. And for sheer volume and sticking at it, there are few to beat Agatha Christie, Catherine Cookson and Barbara Cartland—all women, as it happens. When I am feeling lazy, I gee myself up with thoughts of their astonishing output: 66 novels for Agatha, 104 for Catherine and an unbelievable 723 for Barbara!

Is there a genre that you particularly enjoy reading, but could never write? Or are you primarily a mystery/suspense/thriller reader when you’re not doing Financial Research?
For relaxation, I enjoy what are sometimes disparagingly called “Aga sagas”—slice of life family dramas by authors like Joanna Trollope and Maeve Binchy. I could never write them myself, as I am childfree and know very little about that sort of family life, but perhaps that’s why I enjoy learning about it. I actually read very little in the crime/thriller genre as I am rather squeamish and frankly have had enough of nasty things being done to women, which seems to be a trope these days. I do like more gentle whodunnits, but have no interest at all in gore, torture or psychological horrors.

I’ve often heard that writers, or artists in general, will forget hundreds of positive reviews but always remember the negative—what’s the worst thing that someone’s said about one of your books, and has it altered your approach to future books?
I don’t know whether I’m lucky or mercifully forgetful, but I honestly can’t remember a poor review. Someone once gave me one star on Amazon because “Amazon always asks for reviews too soon and I haven’t even started this book”, which was rather annoying – but it was no reflection on the book. After about book two in the Sam Plank series, a couple of readers asked for “more Martha” (she’s Sam’s wife) and so the later books have given them just that, albeit within what would have been realistic for a working class, uneducated woman in the 1820s.

This year you released the seventh and final book in this series. What’s next for your fiction?
I am already knee-deep in research for my new series, and have written about six chapters. I just can’t leave the 1820s so we’re still there, but this time we’re in Cambridge (my hometown) and our narrator is a university constable called Gregory Hardiman. There will be five books, each—again—with financial crime at its heart. It’s interesting knowing from the outset that this will be a series, as I’m allowing myself to wallow in the research (it will pay dividends down the line) and also I’m choosing my characters carefully as I know I’ll have to live with them for a long time! So far, Gregory’s friends include a coroner and an innkeeper, so we’ll see both life and death in action. I’m hoping that “Gregory 1” (with a much better title) will be out in spring 2023.

Thanks for your time—and thanks for Fatal Forgery and for introducing me to Sam Plank!

Fatal Forgery by Susan Grossey: A New Type of Crime Calls for a New Type of Investigator

By HCNewton

On September 13, 2022

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

I’ve got a Q&A with the author coming up in a little bit, be sure to check back later for that.

Fatal Forgery

by Susan Grossey

DETAILS:
Series: Sam Plank Mysteries, #1
Publication Date: December 17, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 282 pg.
Read Date: September 3-5, 2022

But the theft of that which represents money—of pieces of paper that can be exchanged for money—well, there we have something new. Mr Fauntleroy is not accused of going into his bank’s vaults and taking money belonging to others, but of changing pieces of paper to make it look as though their money belonged to him. We police officers will have to learn new skills to catch such people.

What’s Fatal Forgery About?

It’s 1824, and Henry Fauntleroy is one of the leading bankers of London—it’s a smaller bank, but it has a stellar reputation. Fauntleroy is the son of one of the founders, and while he’s an utter and complete cad in his personal life, he earned both his position and reputation—it wasn’t handed to him.

But then evidence comes to light that he’s been forging documents and moving large sums of money around in some sort of complicated scheme. He’s determined to plead guilty and avoid a trial. While the winds of reform are blowing, this type of offense is a capital crime. Fauntleroy knows this and is still ready to plead guilty and accept the sentence.

At least one magistrate involved wants to make sure that the investigation is handled properly and there isn’t a rush to judgment/punishment. Sam Plank is a constable that works for him and has the same concerns–he is the one who arrested Fauntleroy and becomes somewhat invested in the investigation and his welfare (beyond what’s called for in his duties). Plank is convinced that everyone is missing something vital in this case, but he’s struggling to see what it is.

Will he be able to put the pieces together in time to save Fauntleroy’s life?

Financial Crimes

I get the impression that the monetary system was in a time of transition at the time the book was set, and the kind of crime at the center of this book was a new thing that the legal system wasn’t quite prepared for. Much like we might be today with cryptocurrencies and we’re still trying to figure out how to effectively police identify theft-type crimes. I’ve lost track of the number of books that I’ve read this year that include a discourse on cryptocurrencies (and I have a book to start this week that will likely feature a few of them), so it was nice to walk into a book about financial crimes that was sure not to include one—but behind all this is the equivalent, which is thankfully much easier to understand.

Now, I’m not a complete dunderhead when it comes to finance and economics, but (in both real life and fiction) things don’t have to get too detailed before my mind checks out. I was a little daunted about trying to understand 1820s banking in the first place—much less any kind of scheme involving defrauding it. But Grossey’s depiction of it was easy to follow—she wrote it in such a way that you don’t have to come in knowing the nuts and bolts* of the machinery to follow Fauntleroy’s crimes

* Nor will you walk out knowing them—it easily could’ve become a Tom Clancy-deep dive into Nineteenth Century monetary systems.

Martha Plank

I think that Sam’s wife, Martha, is going to turn out to be one of those supporting characters that turns out to be one of the MVPs of the series. At first glance, she seems to be simply a nice, supporting wife, who understands her husband’s moods better than he does—and understands that she’ll take a backseat to his job (at least from time to time). But at one point, she takes the reins for a bit and gets more information out of a witness than Sam would’ve been able to—and with far less fuss and bother.

I’m not saying she’ll become the asset that Marybeth Pickett is to Joe’s investigations, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns into something in the same vein.

So, what did I think about Fatal Forgery?

While Plank was clearly drawn to the case, trying to understand what made Fauntleroy ticked, and was disturbed by some of his non-financial crime activity, there isn’t the same kind of emotional investment that characterizes so much of Police Procedural/Detective Fiction today. Part of that has to do with the era, I’m sure—Plank caring the way that Renée Ballard or Malcolm Fox does about a case would be unseemly. Still, he spends personal time on the case—even using a date with his wife as a pretense to go track down someone associated with Fauntleroy–and will later go to great lengths to wrap things up.

I liked that feel to the character, and think it serves to help establish the setting. But that might say more about my preconceptions about the time—and how it’s been depicted in the fiction I’ve read.

I wondered if the setting—and the type of crime—would end up being a hurdle to reading and/or enjoying the book. But neither proved to be the case, I was pleased to see how easy it was to get into the book. And the pages just melted away when I got past the first chapter or so, which felt more like a speed bump than a learning curve. In the end, the setting and subject made this a very pleasant change of pace.

Fatal Forgery isn’t the kind of thing that would catch my eye when I browse, and ultimately, not it’s exactly my cup of tea–but I’m shooting to read at least one more in the series because I enjoyed this and am curious about what else can be done with the character (and I can see that easily turning into me reading all of them). I do know one reader who will likely burn through the whole series as soon as I give her the first one—if you’re like her and a Regency-era police procedural with a minimal amount of violence piques your interest at all (even if it makes you mildly curious)—give this a try.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author in exchange for this post and my honest opinion.

3.5 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, the opinions expressed are my own.

Blood Sugar (Audiobook) by Sascha Rothchild, Allyson Ryan: She Didn’t Kill Her Husband, But…

By HCNewton

On September 9, 2022

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

Blood Sugar

by Sascha Rothchild, Allyson Ryan (Narrator)

DETAILS:
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publication Date: April 18, 2022
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 8 hrs., 38 min.
Read Date: August 31-September 1, 2022

This is one of those books that grabbed my interest and then I immediately forgot about it for months. Thankfully, the library system here had it in their audiobook catalog where I stumbled on it. Knowing what I know about it now, I’m pretty annoyed that I took this long to get to it.

The Hook

The book opens with the protagonist/narrator in a police interrogation room. Ruby Simon is being questioned about her husband’s death. She’s innocent–100% guiltless–it’s clear from the get-go, that she did not murder her husband.

But…there are three other people that Ruby has killed over the last couple of decades. She’s never even been looked at as a suspect in these deaths–they’d previously been judged to be accidental, in fact.

But after death #4, it’s hard to believe that with all this smoke, there might not be a fire.

What Comes After the Hook

The first part of the book focuses on the events in the interrogation room–the detective presses for details on these four deaths, and as Ruby dances around her answers, we get to see her life story in flashbacks. Her childhood (punctuated by a murder), her party days as a teen (punctuated by a murder), her college years and training as a psychologist (punctuated by a murder), and then her falling in love with her husband and beginning their life together (punctuated by his death by natural causes).

The rest of the book focuses on the legal battle that ensues–the investigation that follows, her eventual arrest, the decimation of her career and reputation that results, and the eventual resolution of it all.

Conflicting Impulses

Ruby is a completely horrible person, she’s a murderer–and in two of the three cases, it’s entirely unjustified. The motives behind those two are so…pointless is the best I can come up with. The third murder probably wasn’t necessary, Ruby could’ve found a non-lethal solution to the situation–but you can understand and appreciate why she did it. She deserves to be behind bars (at least), she needs to be tried, convicted, and punished. It’s the right thing.

And yet she’s innocent here. She loved her husband, would never have killed him, and shouldn’t be dragged through the mud over this. The reader/listener constantly finds themselves rooting for this character that in normal circumstances you want to be pursued by a dogged investigator.

It’s similar to Dexter or Hannibal–with them, we embrace their homicidal acts and desires while rooting for them. There’s part of you that wants Dexter to get away with it so he can take down another serial killer. A similar part of you wants Hannibal to slip away from custody because he’s disturbingly charming. But it’s different in Blood Sugar–we have an actual injustice, and we instinctually recoil from that and want her exonerated.

But…you can’t get away from the injustice of her getting away with the other murders.

At the same time, you resent Detective Jackson for doing his job. He’s absolutely wrong about Jason’s death and shouldn’t be in Ruby’s life. But in any other book/series, we’d be rooting for him. He might as well be Harry Bosch or a similar character–he’s got all these pieces before him and is assembling a case that’s 75% correct. He’s doing everything right, and has an actual killer in his sights–and you want him to fail. Not only that, you probably are angry with him and have some active distaste for him.

But if this book was told from his perspective? You’d love him and admire his ingenuity and intuitive leaps.

For a long-time reader of detective fiction, this is a great twist on the conventions.

Ruby’s Antagonist

Someone has to be behind all her problems right? Det. Jackson isn’t going to look into Jason’s death without someone or something prompting him. Once you figure that out–which will probably happen before the actual reveal–it’s delicious. This might be my favorite thing that Rothchild does in this book.

For a book that’s full of confusing impulses for the reader, it’s nice to have an adverse reaction to someone that’s straightforward and uncomplicated.

A Brief Thought about the Narration

Ryan did a great job of this–she made Ruby Simon a human being. Her portrayal helps you identify and embrace Ruby as the innocent–with a shady past. You want to believe her when she says that she’s not a sociopath.

There were a couple of scenes (with one of Ruby’s patients in particular, and some involving Ruby’s dog) where I was moved because of the narration. I don’t know if they’d have been as effective (or affective) if I’d read the book, but with Ryan’s work, I was absolutely gripped.

So, what did I think about Blood Sugar?

I thought this was a great listen–a great experience.

I relished this approach to the story and characters, and the way you were forced time and time again to re-evaluate the characters, their actions, and your reactions to them.

Do I want a steady diet of this? No. Do I hope that a future Rothchild novel is either more conventional–or tweaks conventions in a different way? Absolutely. I can see Rothchild being a Lisa Lutz-type of writer. With stand-alones where you never know what you’re going to get–other than some wry humor, deep characters, and an approach to Crime Fiction that you hadn’t considered before.

I strongly recommend you pick this up in audio or print.

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, the opinions expressed are my own.

The Friday 56 for 9/2/22: Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski

By HCNewton

On September 2, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Hell of a Mess

Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski

“Where are we going?” Fireball asked as he escorted Jen down the steps, careful on the wet concrete. His heavy back. pack bounced against his spine, the straps too loose.

“No idea,” Fiona said. The station would protect them from the rain and wind, at least. With no trains running, they could safely walk the tracks to another station. Hell, it wasn’t impossible they could make their way back to the house while staying underground.

But what if the system floods?

You have a point, she told the treacherous demon in her head. Past hurricanes had ruptured tunnels and retaining walls, filling half the subway system with toxic water. For years, politicians insisted they were spending the money to ensure such a thing never happened again, but since when could you trust anything they said?

She would just have to risk it. And yet she hesitated at the top of the stairway, frozen by a vision of whitewater foaming down a tunnel, sweeping away anything in its path, drowning anyone foolish enough to try and take refuge deep in the earth…

Down the River Unto the Sea by Walter Mosley: The Re-Birth of a Detective

By HCNewton

On August 29, 2022

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

Down the River Unto the Sea

by Walter Mosley

DETAILS:
Series: King Oliver, #1
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Publication Date: February 19, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Length: 322 pg.
Read Date: August 26, 2022

I like detective novels. The dick is either smarter, braver, or just luckier than his nemeses. He, or even she, works pretty much alone, sticking out his jaw whenever there’s a blow coming. If he gets arrested that’s okay. If some pretty young thing needs sex, it’s probably not the right time for him, or her, just then.

The literary PI usually takes on one case at a time and he stays on the trail until it is solved, whether or not justice is done.

Sometimes I liked to pretend that I was a detective out of a book.

What’s Down the River Unto the Sea About?

Ten years ago, for reasons he’s still unsure about, King Oliver was framed for a crime that ruined his career as an NYPD Detective, destroyed his marriage, and put him in jail for months.

Today, he’s keeping a PI agency afloat with his teenage daughter as an admin assistant. He’s really never recovered psychologically (aside from some scarring, he seems okay physically) from his incarceration and the accusation. His daughter and the work are what keep him going.

When he receives a letter from his accuser, offering to help him clear his name—everything changes. He has a glimmer of hope, a renewed sense of purpose—and a new client. This client works for a defense attorney—he’d been representing a convicted cop killer and had vowed to free him. Suddenly, the attorney has changed his mind and is going to tank the case. The convict is a journalist/activist who claims to have been acting in self-defense, and this associate believes him. She wants Oliver to discover what changed the attorney’s mind—but more importantly, she wants help clearing the journalist.

Oliver agrees to look at the files but makes no further promises. He’s quickly intrigued by some of what he reads and It’s not long before he starts working the case as well as working to clear his name. The letter has changed everything for him.

Melquarth Frost

Before he was framed, Oliver arrested Mel Frost, and earned his respect from the way Oliver treated him during the arrest and trial. After Frost’s release, he came to thank Oliver and the two have struck up a strange near-friendship over chess games and the occasional meal.

Oliver realizes he’s not going to be able to handle everything in these investigations—particularly when things get dicey, so he hires Mel to help him.

Mel fills the Hawk/Joe Pike/Bubba Rogowski/Nate Romanowski role—he’s dangerous, he’s skilled, and really has no moral compunctions about anything. He is aware of it, and knows he should follow a different path—and attempts, but will resort to his former ways in a heartbeat.

I’m Such a Sucker

Shortly after that opening quotation, Oliver cites Tecumseh Fox. Fox was the protagonist of a short-lived series by Rex Stout, alongside Nero Wolfe. Elizabeth Breck gets big bonus points from me for her frequent citations of Wolfe, but a Tecumseh Fox reference is a heckuva deep cut. If I hadn’t already decided that I really liked Oliver, this would’ve pushed me over the edge. Not only am I a sucker for Stout, but referring to a 3-book series that ended in 1941 really underscores Oliver’s description as being someone who reads a lot.

So, what did I think about Down the River Unto the Sea?

I was born to be an investigator. For me it was like putting together a three-dimensional, naturalistic puzzle that in the end would be an exact representation of the real world.

I really enjoyed this book—most of the plot seemed pretty predictable, but I never minded for a second because of the execution. Also, there were a couple of twists that caught me flat-footed. I don’t mind if everything plays out as you’d pretty much expect as long as the writer delivers a good story and characters (I know if I get on the freeway headed west, I’ll end up on the Pacific Coast. I just want a smooth drive with maybe a couple of interesting sights and snacks along the way)—and there are few as good at that as Walter Mosely.

This wasn’t really an origin story, this was more of a renaissance, a reawakening. Now that King Oliver is back—he’s invested in life, his career, and people again—further books in the series are going to have a different feel, a different focus, and I can’t wait to see where Mosely takes this character.

3.5 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, the opinions expressed are my own.

The Friday 56 for 8/26/22: Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosely

By HCNewton

On August 26, 2022

In Currently Reading, News/Misc., Quotations, The Friday 56

This is a weekly bloghop hosted by Freda’s Voice.

RULES:
The Friday 56 Grab a book, any book.
Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your ereader. If you have to improvise, that is okay.
Find a snippet, short and sweet.
Post it.

from Page 56 of:
Down the River unto the Sea

Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosely

“Your mother sent me, Jacob.”

“She did?” One eye opened wide while the other strained for sight.

“You okay?”

“They hit me. They hit me hard.”

“Did you steal that money?”

“Are you going to take me home?”

From the looks of him I would have said he was midtwenties, but he spoke like and had the manner of a child.

“Not right this minute, but if you answer my questions truthfully, I’ll do my best to prove you innocent.”

That’s when he started crying.

PUB DAY REPOST: Hell of a Mess by Nick Kolakowski: A Whole Bunch of Plans that Don’t Come Together

By HCNewton

On August 26, 2022

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

I also did a Q&A with the author about this book, give it a look!

Hell of a Mess

by Nick Kolakowski

DETAILS:
Series: Love & Bullets, #4
Publisher: Shotgun Honey Books
Publication Date: August 26, 2022
Format: eARC
Length: 234
Read Date: August 1, 2022

What’s Hell of a Mess About?

Well, isn’t that a tricky question? There is too much. Let me sum up. There are multiple people who start off intending to commit one crime and end up doing something entirely different.

Fiona’s been hired to steal something, and it’s a timely thing (and she’s not deterred by much), so despite an impending hurricane, she goes for it. Sure, the Inside Man tries to wave her off, but, again—she’s not deterred by much. Which is a shame—she should’ve paid attention to either the weather or the Inside Man. She ends up with a price on her head and multiple people around the city.

While she’s busy, Bill’s trying to prep for the storm in the home they’re squatting in when some police break in looking for the man who lives there. One thing leads to another, and they kidnap Bill, believing he can lead them to the millions his former employer had hidden away.

Thankfully. that assassin they thought Fiona killed at the end of A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps survived—readers knew that, but Fiona and Bill didn’t. Not only did he live, but he’s been keeping tabs on them. He’s been trying to live a different—less lethal—life and he has a chance to help them. Will he be enough?

(I have no idea if the above makes any sense—trying to cram it into three brief paragraphs doesn’t do the plot any favors. In the non-condensed version, it works. Trust me.)

The Unnamed Assassin

Up to the point where it looked like Fiona killed him (maybe a little sooner), I thought that the hitman who was sent after Bill in the first book was the protagonist. His is the only first-person perspective we get through the series—almost like he’s relaying what he knows and hears about this crazy couple while he’s dealing with his own problems like they’re a diversion for him.

His personal arc is very different from theirs—they claim to be trying to get out and live a straight life, if only they get one more decent score to set them up. The unnamed assassin is going a different path, he’s still a violent criminal, but like Jules Winnfield, he’s looking for something more. There are lines he won’t cross anymore (he seems to be making those rules up on the fly, but at least he has them.

As you can probably tell, I find it difficult to articulate his development and role in the series—but using him (sparingly, on the whole) and his arc throughout in juxtaposition to Fiona and Bill adds a layer to these books that few authors would have utilized, but make the whole thing better.

Be sure to check out my Q&A with Kolakowski (posting later today) for more about him.

Unanswered Questions

The thing that really kicks off the Fiona storyline is her stumbling across something she wasn’t expecting while discovering the thing she came to steal wasn’t there. Her discovery of the other nefarious action—and the way she prevented it from being completed*—is what starts the manhunt for her, more than the attempted heist. If she’d just walked away, I think it’s likely no one would’ve come after her.

* It is so tricky to discuss this obliquely.

Then when it comes time for Fiona to go save Bill, that storyline is dropped. Which is actually fine and good, because ultimately what it’s replaced by is more interesting. But in the back of my mind couldn’t stop asking—and, a week later, still can’t—what happened? What led up to Fiona’s discovery? What happened after she and the unnamed killer ran off to rescue Bill?

Typically, leaving these threads hanging would annoy me enough that I’d downgrade a novel over it—but Kolakowski pulls it off. If you’re going to abandon a plotline, this is the way to do it.

That said, I’d pony up twice the typical Shotgun Honey novella price today to get Love & Bullets #5 if it picks up right after this to tell the rest of that story. Maybe thrice.

So, what did I think about Hell of a Mess?

The previous three installments were novellas, but this is a novel, clocking in at 50-100 pages longer than the rest. And it didn’t feel like it at all. It was the same adrenaline-fueled, not-quite-frenzied pace and was over before I was ready for it to be. My daily schedule kept this from being a one-sitting read, but I think I could’ve done it in one sitting without realizing it.

This is pulpy fun. There’s action, there’s heart, there’s comedy (some subtle, some absolutely not), there’s a lot of violence, and you can’t forget the bunch of heartbroken saps that are at the center of things. They’re crooks and killers that really seem like decent people when you stack them up next to the nastier crooks and killers they can’t stop encountering. In the middle of all that chaos (and you can’t forget the chaos of the storm), there’s hope, forgiveness, and love. And who can’t use a little of that?

I don’t know if Kolakowski is going to come back to these characters in the future—I’d be content with what he’s given already, but I also know that I’d jump on any future installments, too. I encourage you to do the same.

4 1/2 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, the opinions expressed are my own.

Roses for the Dead by Chris McDonald: McDonald Ends This Trilogy with a Bang

By HCNewton

On August 19, 2022

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

Roses for the Dead

by Chris McDonald

DETAILS:
Series: DI Erika Piper, #3
Publisher: Red Dog Press
Publication Date: April 13, 2021
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 206 pg.
Read Date: August 15, 2022

What’s Roses for the Dead About?

Seven years ago, Erika Piper is one of the detectives that arrested the rock star, Johnny Mayhem, for beating his wife to death with a baseball bat. It’s not one of those cases that haunts her, they had solid evidence, made a good arrest, and moved on.

But now, new evidence has been made public that casts doubt on that arrest. Enough doubt that Mayhem is released. He’s angry about the last seven years and the way “the real killer” got away with things, so he’s making not very subtle threats against those who were involved in his arrest and conviction—and the man who held onto that evidence until now.

Under the shadow of Mayhem’s release, Piper returns to work after maternity leave—to a nice, safe, and stultifyingly boring desk job. Which she’s going to make work, she’s committed to the idea—she regrets its necessity, but she wants to be a good mother, and she has plenty of evidence that the DI role is dangerous. But on her first day back—the new DCI offers her old DI position. She needs someone with the experience that only Piper has. Just mentioning the offer causes problems at home, her partner, Tom is dead set against it and makes that very clear. Eventually, she agrees—for one case, and then they’ll re-evaluate.

That one case? The death of Mayhem’s drug dealer—the man who held on to the evidence for all those years. There’s evidence at the scene that ties it to the death of Mayhem’s wife, too. Could this be her chance to redeem herself for the work on the original case?

This is the End?

At this point, the series feels lived in—we’re comfortable with all of the characters and this world. If McDonald hadn’t been making so much noise about returning to it lately, this is where I’d be complaining that he jumped off at the wrong time. We needed more time with Piper’s new boss and partner, and that it’d be good to see Piper functioning in a stable environment for a bit (like she was in the beginning of Whispers). But since it looks like he’s at least thinking of #4, I guess I can spare us all that.

So, what did I think about Roses for the Dead?

If I was ranking them, I’d put the second in the series, Whispers in the Dark, a little higher—and not just because of the shocking mid-book scene. But just a little—I’d have preferred a little more time spent with a couple of the threads in this book (and one more proofreading pass). Those are just quibbles, though. This is a gripping story and McDonald got me chasing a couple of red herrings—I was fully committed to one of them until the moment it became impossible.

I thought the conflict over Piper leaving the desk job for the DI role so soon was resolved a little too easily—but I do appreciate the way that McDonald handled it overall. I just wanted it fleshed out a little more, I think.

That’s twice I’ve said something along the same lines in this section—essentially, I guess what I’m saying is that I liked the book, but it was a bit too lean. Several scenes were a bit too brief, conversations could’ve gone on a little longer—especially the arguments over Piper’s work (and too often she and Tom are just repeating themselves). I’m not asking for another 100 pages, but maybe 20? This is the shortest of the three and it felt like it.

I cannot say enough for both the premise of Roses for the Dead and the resolution of that story. McDonald’s take on this idea was fresh enough to make it stand out among other procedurals. Even if it feels impossible to talk about without spoiling just about everything. The pacing is strong, I can’t get enough of these characters, and the investigation was well-executed—everything you want in a police procedural.

I’m glad I finally got to reading these books, and encourage crime readers out there to pick them up, too.

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, the opinions expressed are my own.

Persecution by RC Bridgestock: Charley Mann Hunts Her Most Elusive Killer Yet

By HCNewton

On August 12, 2022

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

Persecution

by RC Bridgestock

DETAILS:
Series: DI Charley Mann Crime Thrillers, #3
Publisher: Canelo
Publication Date: July 8, 2021
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 267 pgs.
Read Date: August 9-10, 2022

What’s Persecution About?

DI Charley Mann is looking into a murder—one of those killings that make you despair for anyone’s humanity—and it’s a complicated case—just establishing the identity of the victim is difficult. The motive for the killing is impossible to pin down. And there’s a dearth of viable suspects.

But she and her team keep plugging away, making slow and steady progress—in a great touch of realism (as per usual for this series).

At the same time, she’s overseeing the investigation into some break-ins at a local university. Someone is breaking into the rooms of single women and staring at them while they sleep. Campus security hasn’t been paying attention to the reports until some police officers take a report seriously. The invader hasn’t crossed the line into violence, but the police know it’s only a matter of time.

There’s no evidence to support it, but Charley’s gut feeling is that these are connected. But even if she’s right, it doesn’t do her any good—she has no evidence to point to a suspect for either. There’s a break out there for her team to catch, they just have to keep working at it.

I Finally Put My Finger On It

This is the third book in the series that I’ve read, and I’ve talked about the problems I have with a lot of the dialogue. I’m not sure I’ve done the best job describing it, but I’ve tried. I think I finally put my finger on it, now.

There was something about a conversation in the first chapter that rang a bell with me, but it wasn’t for another 10-20% that it came to me: these characters—crime scene officers, PCs, detectives of all ranks—they talk like they’re in an HR training video.

If you’ve ever made it through a training video, you know what these people frequently talk like.

So, what did I think about Persecution?

This isn’t important at all, but this is a bad title. It has nothing to do with anything in the book. Really, it doesn’t matter, because most people are going to think of it as Charley Mann #3 or something like that. But, blech.

On to more substantive things—I don’t have a lot of new things to say about this book. Actually, I have nothing new to say. Like its predecessors, I really liked the story, I think the characters are interesting, and the police procedural aspects of the novel (the crime, the investigation, the twists, the original victim’s backstory, etc.) are exactly what I look for in a procedural—but the writing isn’t quite there. If Bridgestock took a little more time with the writing and editing, I’d be a huge fan.

As is, this is an entertaining enough diversion—frustrating when it misses, satisfying when it hits.

3 Stars