So before I take Bonnie out for her pre-lunch walk, here is a quick update on the last couple of books I've read, the synopses of the next two on my list and the same for a couple of new books on my bookshelves.
Just Finished
"The Tiger Among Us by American author Leigh Brackett. From what I've read she was best known as the 'Queen of the Space Opera' but was also a script writer; The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, and she also wrote crime fiction, The Tiger Among Us being one such. It was also turned into a movie, 13 West Street.
Walter Sherris is a middle-aged accountant, a family man with two young children and a lovely wife. He is working late at his company one night finalizing financial statements and decides to take a break and go for a walk and to get a coffee down the road. While walking down a dark alley, he is accosted by 5 young men and viciously assaulted. He ends up with a broken leg and is in a coma for nine days. His wife indicates she has received a threatening letter from the attackers and leaves town with the children, heading to relatives in Boston.
When Walter wakes up he finds the police have little to nothing to go on. There have been attacks in recent days of alcoholic derelicts (the attack on Walter seems to have been a mistake, as the 'boys' thought he was such a derelict). So Walter begins his own investigation.
Thus begins a tense, thrilling story as Walter tries to find clues to give to the police, in the person of Detective Koleski, who is frustrated in his own investigation and trying to keep Walter out of the whole thing. It's a fascinating, dark noir thriller as Walter investigates the attack, tries to find motives for the attack and analyses his own actions. What is he looking for; revenge, justification, trying to get his own life back in order? It's a well-written story. The characters are well-drawn, even minor ones like Noddy, the bartender who assists Walter and the story moves along nicely and with increasing tension and excitement. It's also a very thoughtful story, the characters are three-dimensional and there is an attempt at insight for everyone's actions. I will continue to explore
Brackett's writing as I have some of her Sci-Fi on my bookshelves now (4.5 stars)"
"Wycliffe and The Cycle of Death is the 16th book in the Inspector Wycliffe mystery series by British author W.J. Burley and the 11th book I've read in this entertaining series.
Superintendent Charles Wycliffe is enjoying a weekend at home with his wife when he gets a call about a murder in Penzance; book store owner Mathew Glynn has been found murdered in his office. This sends Wycliffe and his CID team to the coastal town to begin his investigation. Like all of the other Wycliffe stories, I found it entertaining, a page turner and an interesting mystery. One murder begets another death as Wycliffe wanders about Penzance, looking at present friends and family members and also delves into the past history of the Glynn family, especially the 17 year old disappearance of Matthew's wife, Inez.
It turns out that Inez was originally betrothed to Matthew's brother Alfred and may at one time even had a bit of a thing with Matthew's other brother Maurice. Quite an interesting family, eh? And what about sister Sara, who moved in with Matthew to help care for his children and household when Inez disappeared? There was ill feeling between all of the brothers; Matthew and Alfred because of Matthew's stealing away of Inez and Matthew and Maurice because Matthew wanted to build houses on the old family property where Maurice still lived and worked a commercial property.
Burley is is normal irascible self and his competent team, especially Crime Scene investigator Fox and his two DI's, Kersey and Lane, play minor but important roles in the ongoing investigation. I do like that it is a team effort even if Wycliffe plays the major role. The setting is lovely and the mystery is complex enough to satisfy you and it's peopled with interesting, three-dimensional characters. Even the ending is satisfying, and somewhat surprising. Always one of my favorite mystery series. (4 stars)"
Currently Reading
"Two Chicago hoodlums and a beautiful nightclub singer on the run decide to hide out in the bayou country of the deep South, land of moonshine whiskey and easy loving. Then Miss Choo-Choo Caroline disappears wearing nothing but a very tiny G-string encrusted with diamonds, and the neighborhood erupts into a fevered search of the woods.
Only one thing is certain, and that is that Sagamore Noonan aims to make himself some big money from the whole scandalous business."
"What’s a twenty-two-year-old Irish American cop who’s never been out of Massachusetts before doing at Beardsley Hall, an English country house, having lunch with King Haakon of Norway? Billy Boyle himself wonders. Back home in Southie, he’d barely made detective when war was declared.
Unwilling to fight — and perhaps die — for England, he was relieved when his mother wangled a job for him on the staff of a general married to her distant cousin. But the general turns out to be Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose headquarters are in London, which is undergoing the Blitz. And Uncle Ike wants Billy to be his personal investigator.Billy is dispatched to the seat of the Norwegian government in exile. Operation Jupiter, the impending invasion of Norway, is being planned, but it is feared that there is a German spy amongst the Norwegians.
Billy doubts his own abilities, with good reason. A theft and two murders test his investigative powers, but Billy proves to be a better detective than he or anyone else."
'What do I say?'
'Say goodbye.'
This is how it begins. Lone women terrorized in a game where only one player knows the rules. And when those rules change, the new game is Murder.
Helping her Daddy to catch the killer might be the key to keeping him close.
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