Anyway, I picked up a few books yesterday when I dropped off a bunch at Nearly New Books. I also finished reading another of my 12 + 4 challenge books and have started the 8th book in that challenge. I'll update those and also take another look at the Mystery Genre - American PI series.
So let's get on with it!
New Books
"A counter-terrorist operation, code-named Wildlife, is being mounted on the British crown colony of Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office minister, a private defense contractor who is also his bosom friend, and a shady American CIA operative of the evangelical far right. So delicate is the operation that even the minister’s private secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it. Three years later, a disgraced special forces soldier delivers a message from the dead. Was Operation Wildlife the success it was cracked up to be—or a human tragedy that was ruthlessly covered up? Summoned by Sir Christopher “Kit” Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house and closely observed by Kit’s daughter, Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and duty to his service. If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can he keep silent?"
"Bernhard Gunther, a hard-boiled Berlin detective who specializes in tracking down missing persons—mostly Jews. He is summoned by a wealthy industrialist to find the murderer of his daughter and son-in-law, killed during the robbery of a priceless diamond necklace.
Gunther quickly is catapulted into a major political scandal involving Hitler's two main henchmen, Goering and Himmler. The search for clues takes Gunther to morgues overflowing with Nazi victims; raucous nightclubs; the Olympic games where Jesse Owens tramples the theory of Aryan racial superiority; the boudoir of a famous actress; and finally to the Dachau concentration camp. Fights with Gestapo agents, shoot-outs with adulterers, run-ins with a variety of criminals, and dead bodies in unexpected places keep readers guessing to the very end."
"A Kiss Before Dying not only debuted the talent of bestselling novelist Ira Levin to rave reviews, it also set a new standard in the art of mystery and suspense. Now a modern classic, as gripping in its tautly plotted action as it is penetrating in its exploration of a criminal mind, it tells the shocking tale of a young man who will literally stop at nothing, not even murder, to get where he wants to go. For he has dreams; plans. He also has charm, good looks, sex appeal, intelligence. And he has a problem.
Her name is Dorothy; she loves him, and she's pregnant. The solution, he realizes, involves some desperate measures. But, then, he looks like the kind of guy who could get away with murder. Compellingly, step by determined step, the novel follows this young man in his execution of one plan he had neither dreamed nor foreseen. Nor does he foresee how inexorably he will be enmeshed in the consequences of his own extreme deed."
Just Finishing
"Swan Song by Edmund Crispin is the fourth Gervase Fen mystery I've read. The first three were hit and miss. I liked two and one I wasn't all that thrilled with. It may be that I'm getting used to Crispin's style of story - telling but for whatever reason, this was the Fen mystery I've enjoyed the most.
The story focuses on an opera company who have just moved up to Oxford to practice and then perform Wagner's Meistersinger. One member, Adam Langley, has recently married, a budding author, Elizabeth, who specializes in crime stories. Edwin Shorthouse, the lead singer and a feared member of the group, has made passes at Elizabeth and hates Adam because of the marriage.
Elizabeth, as part of a series of articles she wants to write about famous detectives, wishes to interview the famous Gervase Fen, who is now a professor at Oxford. While the troupe practices, one of the members (I won't say who) is found dead, a purported suicide. This brings Gervase Fen into the picture.
The story revolves around his investigation, ably assisted by Adam. It's an interesting mystery, peopled with lovely characters. I like Fen and I also enjoyed Adam and Elizabeth, as well as another singer (maybe my favorite), Joan Davis and I think Fen liked her as well. Shorthouse is an excellent villain, a misogynist, a drunk, but an excellent singer, the focus of the opera He is a source of tension throughout the story. I'm not an opera buff but the snippets involving the rehearsal and the characters made the story more interesting.
For that it was a murder mystery, there is a brightness to the story, it is light and humorous even with murders / deaths occurring within. It's a quick, entertaining, enjoyable mystery. I will read the other books in this series. Well done, Mr. Crispin (4 stars)"
Just Started
"Sweeping across decades, Burke masterfully unearths a cold case that is far from closed while introducing an intrepid novice reporter, Irene Kelly, learning the ropes from her mentor, Conn O'Connor. From the late fifties, when a bloodstained car is buried on a farm and a wealthy family disappears at sea . . . to the seventies, when Irene makes shocking connections and brashly tracks a killer from the past . . . to today, when new threats and deadly surprises are closing in on the veteran journalist and her husband, Frank Harriman, Bloodlines follows a fascinating labyrinth of lives, loves, sins, and secrets -- with the irrepressible Irene Kelly at its core."
My Ongoing Look at the Mystery Genre - American PI's Part 6
1. P.N. Elrod - The Vampire Files. P.N. Elrod is an American author who writes what's described as urban fantasy. This is a different series. I've read four of the 12 books so far. The series is a combination Noir PI / vampire story, an interesting combination.
"Vampire detective Jack Fleming made a good bit of money cleaning up the streets of post-prohibition Chicago--enough to realize his dream of owning a nightclub. During renovations, workmen discover the remains of a woman, clad in a distinctive red dress. Vampire or not, Jack won't rest until he finds out who killed the lady in red--even if it means resurrecting secrets the mob would kill to keep buried. (3 stars)"
"A simple case of blackmail turns deadly for vampire investigator Jack Fleming and his human partner. (3 stars)"
"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)"
"During his life Jack Fleming had been a reporter with a nose for the grittiest news, and now that he is dead, Jack is a vampire private eye with a thirst for blood and justice, but he may be the only one in a world of guns and gangs who can stop an all-out street war before it starts. (4 stars)"
The remaining books in the series are -
- Bloodlist (1990)
- Lifeblood (1990)
- Bloodcircle (1990)
- Art in the Blood (1991)
- Fire in the Blood (1991)
- Blood on the Water (1992)
- Song in the Dark (2005)
- Dark Road Rising (2009)
- The Devil You Know (2009)
Well, there you go. I'll continue with this next entry. Enjoy your TGIF!
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