So this weekend, I finished one more book and have started one more. I'll update those and continue with my ongoing look at the Mystery genre. Today I'm heading for the US of A, starting with three authors I've either tried or want to, who have written standalone mysteries.
Just Finished
"The Third Victim is the 2nd book in the FBI profiler Pierce Quincey thriller series by Lisa Gardner. I have read the first book, The Perfect Husband, and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't my favorite thriller of all time. I much preferred The Third Victim.
Considering what has been going on in the US currently with regard to mass shootings, this book, originally published in 2001, dealt with a school shooting. In Bakersville, Oregon, police officer Rainie Quinn is called to a shooting in the local K - 8 school. On the way, her boss advises her that she is the primary on the situation. When she arrives, she finds that the crime scene has already been compromised by EMT paramedics and also by her boss, Shep O'Grady. Surprisingly, it turns out that O'Grady's 13-year old son, Dan, is holding his father at gunpoint. Two young girls have been murdered as well as a young teacher.
FBI profiler, Quincey, who is avoiding a family situation, heads to Bakersville to offer his particular assistance (he being an expert in mass shootings). Also, the Oregon state police send Abe Sanders down to work the case as well. This is the basis of the story. The police work through the case to gather evidence. Shep, even though technically off the case, wants to prove his son's innocence. The O'Grady family must deal with the tragedy, their emotions (already frazzled with a family situation), try to keep younger daughter, Becky safe and secure as well. Rainie, Quincey and Sanders work together, sometimes difficultly, gathering evidence to prove and / or disprove Danny's guilt. And in the mix is the mysterious man who stays in the shadows and may have been involved in the murder.
There are varied suspects and various threats that keep this story humming along nicely. The relationships between the police investigators develop nicely and sometimes antagonistically. I like Quincey very much; smart, dedicated and with his own familial issues. Rainie is an interesting character with a shrouded past and Sanders is sometimes a stick in the mud but his character does flesh out nicely as the story progresses. The tension builds to an excellent climax and resolution. Very good story and one that makes me want to keep reading this series. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
"A murder at an artists' colony - but not everyone wants Chief Superintendent Wycliffe to investigate . . .
The artists' colony is at the site of a disused mine working on the moor west of St Ives, and it's run by Archer and his wife Lina, according to astrological principles. The newest member of the colony is Francine, a beautiful if fey young woman with a legacy to invest. Archer isn't keen - not least because she is a Scorpio - but Lina takes a more pragmatic view.
Then Francine is found dead, killed by a deliberately blocked gas-heater flue.
Wycliffe investigates - and soon discovers that several members of the colony have very good reasons for not wanting the police poking into their affairs . ."
My Ongoing Look at the Mystery Genre - American Standalones
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| Matthew Pearl |
"In 1865 Boston, the literary geniuses of the Dante Club—poets and Harvard professors Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell, along with publisher J. T. Fields—are finishing America's first translation of The Divine Comedy and preparing to unveil Dante's remarkable visions to the New World. The powerful Boston Brahmins at Harvard College are fighting to keep Dante in obscurity, believing that the infiltration of foreign superstitions into American minds will prove as corrupting as the immigrants arriving at Boston Harbor.
The members of the Dante Club fight to keep a sacred literary cause alive, but their plans fall apart when a series of murders erupts through Boston and Cambridge. Only this small group of scholars realizes that the gruesome killings are modeled on the descriptions of Hell's punishments from Dante's Inferno. With the lives of the Boston elite and Dante's literary future in America at stake, the Dante Club members must find the killer before the authorities discover their secret.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and an outcast police officer named Nicholas Rey, the first black member of the Boston police department, must place their careers on the line to end the terror. Together, they discover that the source of the murders lies closer to home than they ever could have imagined.
The Dante Club is a magnificent blend of fact and fiction, a brilliantly realized paean to Dante's continued grip on our imagination, and a captivating thriller that will surprise readers from beginning to end."
"Through the eyes of a Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, Pearl opens a new window on the truth behind Poe’s demise, literary history’s most persistent enigma.
“I present to you . . . the truth about this man’s death and my life.”
Baltimore, 1849. The body of Edgar Allan Poe has been buried in an unmarked grave. The public, the press, and even Poe’s own family and friends accept the conclusion that Poe was a second-rate writer who met a disgraceful end as a drunkard. Everyone, in fact, seems to believe this except a young Baltimore lawyer named Quentin Clark, an ardent admirer who puts his own career and reputation at risk in a passionate crusade to salvage Poe’s.
As Quentin explores the puzzling circumstances of Poe’s demise, he discovers that the writer’s last days are riddled with unanswered questions the police are possibly willfully ignoring. Just when Poe’s death seems destined to remain a mystery, and forever sealing his ignominy, inspiration strikes Quentin–in the form of Poe’s own stories. The young attorney realizes that he must find the one person who can solve the strange case of Poe’s death: the real-life model for Poe’s brilliant fictional detective character, C. Auguste Dupin, the hero of ingenious tales of crime and detection.
In short order, Quentin finds himself enmeshed in sinister machinations involving political agents, a female assassin, the corrupt Baltimore slave trade, and the lost secrets of Poe’s final hours. With his own future hanging in the balance, Quentin Clark must turn master investigator himself to unchain his now imperiled fate from that of Poe’s."
Pearl's other books are -
- The Last Dickens (2009)
- The Technologists (2012)
- The Last Bookaneer (2015)
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| Hillary Waugh |
"This was my first experience with Hillary Waugh and I enjoyed it very much. Old school police drama, it features a small police force in Massachusetts investigating the disappearance of a young woman, a student at a boarding school, who disappears without any explanation. The story focuses on the Chief of Police, Frank Ford, a grizzled, experienced cop and one of his detectives, Cameron, as they methodically search for clues to Lowell Mitchell's disappearance.
It's not an exciting, gruesome mystery in any way, but the relationship between Ford and Cameron is great, both characters are interesting, the story flows nicely as the two work through each avenue of investigation. The story was written in 1952, and has a feel for many detective movies I've seen from that time. It was a refreshing story and excellent read. Highly recommend to anyone and I will definitely find more Hillary Waugh books to read. (4 stars)"
"Excellent, excellent! This is the second mystery I've read by Hillary Waugh and I loved both of them. Such a unique way of presenting a mystery. The first was Last Seen Wearing, which I enjoyed very much.
This was no different. Basically the plot revolves around the murder and rape of a young teenage girl in a small town in Connecticut. The way this is presented is via a series of interviews of the town citizens, from the family of the murdered girl through various others. As well, there are records of meetings of the police board and the town council. He portrays small town attitudes and how they change as the investigation drags on.
Racism and other attitudes of intolerance begin to come to the fore; innocents are accused and their lives turned upside down. And the ending is so surprising and almost had me out of breath. I found this to be one of those books I couldn't put down. As it developed, I had to read a few more pages, then a few more, until I had to get to the end. I can't recommend more. (5 stars)"
The complete list of Waugh's series and novels is at this link.
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| Jake Tapper |
"The Hellfire Club by CNN anchor Jake Tapper was one of a number of political - type books, both non-fiction and fiction, that my wife bought me for our anniversary. The Hellfire Club falls into the latter category, a historical political thriller set in the 1950's.
New Congressman, Charlie Marder, a WWII veteran and also a published novelist, is placed in a vacant seat by his congressional leadership from New York. The previous congressman had died and the spot needed to be filled. Charlie and his wife move to Washington and Charlie begins his new career.
This is during the time of the McCarthy hearings and Charlie soon finds himself in a new life style, often hard drinking and with lots of political intrigue. The story starts with Charlie returning from a party with a strange woman in his car, an accident, the woman found dead, help from a political lobbyist to hide the incident (of course, Charlie remembers none of what happened), and the follow-on events.
The story jumps back a few months to go through the events that lead up to this accident. It's not necessarily a fun time for Charlie and his wife, Margaret. Their time together shrinks, eve though Margaret is newly pregnant. She heads off to a biological research activity, he heads to other political activities, finds himself often caught in the middle of competing desires.
It's an interesting story, lots of intrigue, some gun fights, some sex, some research into this Hellfire Club and other neat political activities. You'll meet historical people, like McCarthy, Eisenhower, the Kennedys, etc and get a peek at actual events the color the story. Tapper writes well and creates interesting characters and a fast-paced, page-turning political thriller. It reminded me of movies like The Rocketeer and those old serials that used to start off a movie, a great adventure with lots of action and twists and turns. Very entertaining (4 stars)"
Well, there you go, some Family Day / President's Day mysteries for your perusal. Next entry on this topic will move into the realm of American detectives. Enjoy the rest of your day!
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