I finished my seventh book of February yesterday and have started one more. This was in my 12 + 4 Reading Challenge, my fourth book completed in that challenge. I'll update both and also continue with my look at the Mystery genre, with the fourth part of English standalone authors / mysteries.
Just Finished
"Cold Streets is the 10th book in the Vampire Files series by P.N. Elrod and the 4th that I've read so far. The series focuses on vampire / night club owner / private detective Jack Fleming who lives in Chicago in the '30s. He works with partner, Charles Escott, helping him with cases and also runs a night club with girl friend, singer Bobbi.
Both Escott and Fleming are working on a kidnapping case as this story opens, the daughter of a wealthy Chicago socialite has been kidnapped and the two detectives are working to make the pay-off with the kidnappers. Escott is the face of the business and Fleming uses his vampire powers in assisting him. In this case he keeps himself invisible as he follows the kidnappers to their hideout.
As well, this story has two other plot lines. Fleming's friend, Gordy, a Chicago mob leader is having meetings and difficulties with the New York mob and Fleming is trying to help him stay out of trouble. As well, Bobbi wants to hire a dance act for the night club, but there are difficulties with the relationship, with the husband cheating on his partner.
So there are many different features to this mystery thriller. One of the kidnappers also tries to blackmail Fleming with his knowledge of Fleming's vampire nature. Everything that is going on makes for a fascinating story, lots of action, lots of intrigue and vampire skills and talents. The story builds very nicely and comes to an intriguing climax. Along with the action and mystery, the story is peopled with interesting characters. It will definitely hold your interest. (3.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"The first corpse was found hooded, bound, and naked, kneeling ona bare mattress in a seedy hotel room. This was no ordinary murder but rather the work of a killer driven by something special, something spectacular. The fact that the dead man was a convicted rapist recently released from prison only increases the bizarre nature of the gruesome crime ... and the police's reluctance to apprehend the perpetrator. It's the body count that troubles Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, as brutal slaying follows brutal slaying, each victim more deserving than the last. Though he has no sympathy for the dead, Thorne knows he must put an end to a cruelly calculating vigilante's bloody justice before time runs out -- and a horrifically efficient serial killer targets a life worth fighting for."
My Ongoing Look at the Mystery Genre - English Standalones Part 4
In my last entry on this topic I highlighted Cyril Hare, Val McDermid and Julian Symons. I'll finish off the final 4 in this post.
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| Andrew Taylor |
"England 1819: Thomas Shield, a new master at a school just outside London, is tutor to a young American boy and the boy's sensitive best friend, Charles Frant. Drawn to Frant's beautiful, unhappy mother, Thomas becomes caught up in her family's twisted intrigues. Then a brutal crime is committed, with consequences that threaten to destroy Thomas and all that he has come to hold dear. Despite his efforts, Shield is caught up in a deadly tangle of sex, money, murder and lies -- a tangle that grips him tighter even as he tries to escape from it. And what of the strange American child, at the heart of these macabre events, yet mysterious -- what is the secret of the boy named Edgar Allen Poe?"
"August, 1778. British-controlled Manhattan is a melting pot of soldiers, traitors and refugees, surrounded by rebel forces as the American War of Independence rages on. Into this simmering tension sails Edward Savill, a London clerk tasked with assessing the claims of loyalists who have lost out during the war. Savill lodges with the ageing Judge Wintour, his ailing wife, and their enigmatic daughter-in-law Arabella. However, as Savill soon learns, what the Wintours have lost in wealth, they have gained in secrets. The murder of a gentleman in the slums pulls Savill into the city's underbelly. But when life is so cheap, why does one death matter? Because making a nation is a lucrative business, and some people cannot afford to miss out, whatever the price..."
Taylor's remaining historical novels are -
-- Bleeding Heart Square (2008)
-- The Anatomy of Ghosts (2010)
-- The Silent Boy (2014).
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| Minette Walters |
"Excellent 'mystery' by Minette Walters. I think she is one of the most unique mystery writers I've ever read. Each story I've read is unique in its own right and covers different aspects of human behavior. In this story, two investigators, one a university professor and the other a town councillor, Jonathan and George, delve into the past to try and prove that a convicted murderer, a young man with mental difficulties, who committed suicide in prison, was, in fact, innocent of the murder. The trail of their investigation is an interesting one, involving many twists and turns, potential suspects, deceit, etc. As well, they both must deal with their own issues, that many or man not colour their investigation. Walters has a unique style of writing, this story is partly written in emails, case transcripts, etc. I liked both Jonathan and George and their book editor, Andrew Spicer and the other characters are interesting and full of mystery. Excellent story and highly recommended. (5 stars)"
"Acid Row is a crime-infested housing project that exists by its own laws. When news comes that a child has been kidnapped, the frustration and anger that has been seething on the streets of Acid Row is ignited. And no one will be safe." I rated this 4 stars.
"Twelve hours after Kate Sumner’s broken body is washed up on a deserted beach on the south coast of England, her traumatized three-year-old daughter is discovered twenty miles away walking the streets of Poole, alone. The police are puzzled.
Why weren’t mother and daughter together? Why was Kate killed and her daughter allowed to live? More curiously, why had Kate boarded a boat – apparently willingly – when she was scared stiff of drowning at sea? Who had tempted her to her death?
The police suspect a young actor, a loner with an appetite for pornography, who lies about his relationship with Kate and whose sailing boat, Crazy Daze, is moored just yards from where the toddler was found…
As the investigation proceeds, the police discover a gaping hole in Kate’s husband’s alibi. Was he really in Liverpool at a conference the night she died? Was Kate the “respectable woman” he claims she was?
And why does their daughter scream in terror every time he tries to pick her up…?"
"In this hypnotic novel of psychological suspense, a homeless man is found starved to death in the garage of a ritzy London home. The police chalk it up to an unfortunate accident, but a journalist, Michael Deacon, is intrigued. Amanda Powell, a socialite whose wealthy husband vanished five years ago after being accused of embezzlement, is just as interested as Michael in finding out who died in her garage. They have no idea that this simple story will unveil a web of deceit that is an appalling as the people behind it."
The remaining novels are below. I'll highlight (*) those I've got and rate those I've read.
- The Ice House (1992) (4 stars)
- The Sculptress (1993) *
- The Scold's Bridle (1994) (3 stars)
- The Dark Room (1995) (3 stars)
- The Tinder Box (1999) (3 stars)
- The Shape of Snakes (2000) *
- Fox Evil (2002)
- The Devil's Feather (2005) *
- Chickenfeed (2006)
- The Chameleon's Shadow (2007) *
- A Dreadful Murder (2013)
- The Cellar (2015)
- The Last Hours (2017)
- The Turn of Midnight (2018)
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| Ruth Ware |
"In a Dark, Dark Wood is Ruth Ware's first novel and she has created a spooky, tense thriller. Nora, a reclusive writer, is invited to a hen party in northern England for a woman who was a childhood friend but who she has not seen in ten years; the parting was not necessarily a happy one. She attends with another old friend, Nina and with 3 others.
Nora isn't sure why she has been invited, in fact, she wasn't invited to the wedding. The reason is surprising, especially when she finds out who Clare is marrying. (I'll leave that as a teaser). There is considerable tension at this party; the hostess, Clare's friend, Flo, who has organized the event, is quite strange. There are incidents throughout the course of the weekend that cause the tension to increase.
The story builds very nicely, moving from Nora in the hospital and being interviewed by the police about events that took place at the hen party; Nora trying to remember a crucial part of the weekend and then back to the party itself. Very well written, very tense and a nicely crafted ending. An excellent first book. (4 stars)"
"In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…"
c. The Lying Game (2017) - I don't have this one yet.
"On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.
Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the centre of it."
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| Colin Wilson |
"It's this bloody case which is keeping the C.I.D.'s Saltfleet awake--& bloody it is with Colin Wilson's penchant for criminosexual horribilia & the clinical mot juste (try intracrural intercourse for starters) having to do with the schoolgirl who is raped & strangled with a telephone cord only it turns out she's a call girl for a pervert called Lytton who is found dead & nude on a black pile rug. The plot is basic enough but of course it's tufted with fetishism, black magic, et dreadful al. The only filing you really have to think about is that the king of kink plans to write 11 more in this series."
Wilson's complete bibliography can be found at this link.
Well, there you go folks. In my next entry on the mystery genre, I'll move over to the US of A. See you there. Have a great weekend!
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