Mystery
Jun 11, 2010MURDER IN MAYBERRY
Small towns or villages continue to serve as popular settings for mysteries, especially cozies. Chris Cavender’s Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder is set in Timber Ridge, NC, where everyone is on a first-name basis. The town of Atoka in Virginia’s little-known wine-producing country is just an hour from Washington, DC, and the setting for Ellen Crosby’s latest oenophile mystery, The Viognier Vendetta; people know one another there, too, but residents include billionaires and political luminaries. Susan Wittig Albert’s The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree takes place in Depression-era Darling, AL. Here, neighbors share party phone lines and local gossip. And Welsh villages are just as gossipy as we find out in Elizabeth J. Duncan’s A Brush with Death. Don’t get overly comfortable because the ugly side of small-town life is clearly shown in Anne Zouroudi’s The Messenger of Athens, in which jealousy, greed, and small-mindedness leave the reader enraged.
Albert, Susan Wittig. The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree. Berkley Prime Crime. Jul. 2010. c.290p. ISBN 978-0-425-23445-7. $24.95. M
If you are ever in a mood to experience life back in the day, try this first entry in a new historical cozy series set in 1930s Darling, AL. When Bunny Scott is found dead in the wreckage of a car, some townspeople believe the beautiful tart got what she deserved. The ladies of the Darling Dahlias Gardening Club begin poking into the private lives of the townsfolk in an attempt to discover the truth behind Bunny’s death. At the same time, a treasure of silver is found under the town’s cucumber tree. Verdict The author of the popular China Bayles mysteries brings a small Southern town to life and vividly captures an era and culture—the Depression, segregation, class differences, the role of women in the South—with authentic period details. Her book fairly sizzles with the strength of the women of Darling. Also included are a few recipes and a list of ten ways to stretch whatever we have in a time of need.
Crosby, Ellen. The Viognier Vendetta: A Wine Country Mystery. Scribner. Aug. 2010. c.254p. ISBN 978-1-4391-6386-3. $24. M
An old college friend invites Lucie Montgomery to a Washington, DC, soiree during which a billionaire will be making a huge gift of artifacts from the War of 1812 to the Library of Congress. But Rebecca Natale disappears after a brief meeting with Lucie, and the next morning her clothes are found in a rowboat in the Potomac River. Was Rebecca murdered, or did she commit suicide or stage a disappearance? Lucie follows a trail of clues left by Rebecca. VERDICT The fifth entry (after The Merlot Murders) in Crosby’s mystery series set in Virginia’s wine country mixes winemaking details with a timely tale that incorporates the current financial and political climate. Fans of Kathryn K. Wall and Carolyn Haines might enjoy this series.
Drake, Nick. Tutankhamun: The Book of Shadows. Harper: HarperCollins. Jul. 2010. c.375p. ISBN 978-0-06-076592-7. $24.99. M
Rahotep, the chief homicide detective in Thebes, is asked by Ankhesenamun to find the person who is threatening her husband, Tutankhamun, with sinister “gifts” left in the palace. Rahotep, remembered by the daughter of Nefertiti as someone her mother trusted, begins a dangerous inquiry into the lives of those who surround the boy king. VERDICT In the second book in his Egyptian trilogy (after Nerfertiti), Drake vividly describes the political machinations of the courtiers and the undercurrents of physical danger always present in ancient Egypt. Readers walk in the old streets of Thebes, ride the chariots in the desert, and know the fear that any minute they can be tortured or killed by the powers that be. Marked by fine writing, Rahotep’s story will captive historical mystery fans. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 3/1/10.]
Elias, Gerald. Danse Macabre. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Sept. 2010. c.278p. ISBN 978-0-312-54189-7. $24.99. M
After playing his last concert at Carnegie Hall, violinist Rene Allard goes home for a grand reception but is murdered instead. Blind violin teacher Daniel Jacobus is one of the main witnesses at the murder trial of Allard’s former student and up-and-coming rival who is convicted of the crime and now resides on death row. Jacobus is asked to find the real killer and does so reluctantly. VERDICT Elias, a former symphony violinist, concertmaster, and music professor, gives us a glimpse into the soul of a musician and the relationships among the artist, the music, and the instrument. And then there is one-of-a-kind virtuoso Jacobus, perhaps one of the most unique protagonists in mysteries. Elias’s debut, Devil’s Trill, was a great reading experience; his new book is outstanding. A musical feast for mystery and music lovers.
Genelin, Michael. The Magician’s Accomplice: A Commander Jana Matinova Investigation. Soho Crime. Jul. 2010. c.323p. ISBN 978-1-56947-626-0. $25. M
A university student is shot as he eats breakfast at the best hotel in Bratislava. Then prosecuting attorney Peter Saris, Commander Jana Matinova’s fiancé, is murdered. Matinova is sent to The Hague to work with Europol to remove her from the temptation of interfering with the two cases and to investigate the disappearance of the police officer she is replacing. VERDICT Genelin pieces his plot together by beginning with relatively few clues and allows Matinova to use her great investigative ability to see what is behind a crime. In this exceptionally wrought story full of cloak-and-dagger suspense, the author slowly reveals the motivation for murder and the life-threatening situation Matinova finds herself in, and this makes the third series title (after Siren, Dark Dreams) perhaps the best yet. Fans of Sally Spencer and Lynda La Plante (see her Silent Scream, reviewed below) will love this one. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 3/1/10.]
Hunt, James Patrick. Bridger. Five Star: Gale Cengage. Aug. 2010. c.239p. ISBN 978-1-59414-861-3. $25.95. M
Daniel Bridger, thief extraordinaire, ignores his cardinal rules of how to be a successful thief and breaks into a house without doing the proper groundwork. He finds two people dead in the house, is attacked, and barely escapes. Who set him up soon becomes obvious, but why is the real question. VERDICT In his usual competent manner, Hunt introduces another loner protagonist doing his job against all odds. Fans of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series will like this title and may also want to try Hunt’s Maitland thrillers (e.g., Maitland’s Reply).
Johnson, D.E. The Detroit Electric Scheme. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Sept. 2010. c.310p. ISBN 978-0-312-64456-7. $24.99. M
In 1910 Detroit, Will Anderson, the rich and irresponsible son of an electric automobile manufacturer, finds the corpse of a former friend in the body shop of his father’s company. He panics and becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation. As Will tries to clear his name, the frame tightens around him. Someone wants him destroyed. VERDICT Full of nonstop action, plot twists and turns, and great insight into the early history of the U.S. car industry, this debut is part coming-of-age tale (about a young man, eaten by guilt and regrets, who leaves his alcoholic haze and shows what he is made of) and part historical mystery. Essential for historical fans. [A Minotaur First Edition selection.]
Kipps, Charles. Crystal Death: A Conor Bard Mystery.Scribner. Sept. 2010. c.333p. ISBN 978-1-4391-3995-0. $26. M
When an Israeli diamond trader is murdered, the priceless red diamond she was brokering vanishes. In his second installment (after Hell’s Kitchen Homicide), New York homicide detective Conor Bard and his partner, Rosita Rubio, are dogged by a police inspector from South Africa who is seeking information on diamond smugglers, or is it the diamond he is really after? VERDICT Kipps, a screenwriter, producer, and Edgar, Emmy, and Peabody Award winner, keeps the action coming, pacing his novel for maximum reaction and creating believable characters along the way. Worth reading if you like savvy police officers with some attitude.
La Plante, Lynda. Silent Scream: An Anna Travis Mystery. Touchstone: S. & S. Jul. 2010. c.407p. ISBN 978-1-4391-3928-8. pap. $15. M
Ambition, greed, jealousy, and anger all play supporting roles in this well-crafted tale about the murder of a young British movie star. The secrets of Amanda Delany’s life are slowly uncovered as the police team led by DI Anna Travis discovers several possible motives. Travis is caught between her ability to see beyond the obvious and her supervisor’s need for instant results; this causes many false starts and misdirection for both the police and readers. VERDICT La Plante, one of the best crime writers working today, adds her knowledge of the film industry to make this not only a well-thought-out mystery but a fascinating look into the lives of young people dealing with rapid success and extreme wealth. Val McDermid readers will enjoy this fifth entry in the Anna Travis series (after Deadly Intent).
Zouroudi, Anne. The Messenger of Athens. Reagan Arthur: Little, Brown.Jul. 2010. c.322p. ISBN 978-0-316-07542-8. $23.99. M
When the young wife of a fisherman is found murdered, the villagers on the Greek island of Thiminos believe justice was meted out, as she was suspected of having an affair with another man. Then a stranger, Hermes Diaktoros, arrives and begins to ask questions about her death. All assume he has been sent by the Athens police, but who he is and what his motivation is remain shrouded in mystery. VERDICT Zouroudi was born in England but has lived on the Greek islands she describes so well in this atmospheric series debut. She vividly depicts a patriarchal culture in which women are only useful for childbearing and waiting on men. Male characters play out their roles in this Greek drama, but the focus is on women who are abused, married off, and treated as servants yet become the upholders and enforcers of the culture that demeans them. In the hands of a lesser writer, this would be standard fare, but Zouroudi has a deft way with words and an uncanny ability to create a sense of place.
Mysteries in brief
Cavender, Chris. Pepperoni Pizza Can Be Murder. Kensington. Aug. 2010. c.279p. ISBN 978-0-7582-2950-2. $22. M
When an armed masked robber steals the day’s earnings from pizzeria owner Eleanor Swift (A Slice of Murder), she realizes that she recognizes the criminal’s voice. After a man is murdered in the kitchen of A Slice of Delight, Eleanor’s investigation lands her in trouble. VERDICT Cavender, a pseudonym for an Agatha-nominated author, is an ace at writing cozies. His characters are believable, especially the relationship between Eleanor and her sister, and his plots are rock solid. Pizza recipe provided. Sure to appeal to fans of food cozies.
Crider, Bill. Murder in the Air: A Dan Rhodes Mystery. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Aug. 2010. c.258p. ISBN 978-0-312-38695-5. $24.99. M
The most hated man in Blacklin County, TX, is dead, the vast chicken farm he owned continues to be the center of an all-consuming controversy (it stinks up the whole county), and then there is Robin Hood, someone who is shooting arrows in protest. VERDICT Crider’s use of subtle humor and Sheriff Dan Rhodes’s unassuming competence make this 17th series entry a laid-back delight.
Duncan, Elizabeth J. A Brush with Death: A Penny Brannigan Mystery. Minotaur: St. Martin’s.Aug. 2010. c.258p. ISBN 978-0-312-62282-4. $23.99. M
After inheriting her friend Emma’s cottage, Penny Brannigan begins the task of sorting Emma’s personal effects and finds a packet of letters that reveals that Emma had a lesbian affair with an artist killed in a 1970 hit-and-run accident. Penny hesitantly sets out to find who killed the artist. Verdict Duncan writes so well about the lives of people in a small village in Wales that the reader becomes immersed in their daily trials and tribulations. The follow-up to the award-winning The Cold Light of Mourning is sure to appeal to fans of M.C. Beaton and Agatha Christie.
Flint, Shamini. Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Jul. 2010. c.295p. ISBN 978-0-312-59697-2. $24.95. M
Inspector Singh of the Singapore police is sent to Kuala Lumpur to help investigate the murder of a man married to a citizen of Singapore. The wife is in jail accused of the killing. Working with the Malaysian police is a bit strained, but mutual respect and different methods that achieve the desired goal bring the two teams together. VERDICT A fascinating plot and an unexpected ending get this series debut off to a great start. Fans of Tarquin Hall’s Vish Puri series and other international mysteries will want to check this one out. [Library marketing campaign.]
Herbert, Rosemary. Front Page Teaser: A Liz Higgins Mystery. Down East. Oct. 2010. c.253p. ISBN 978-0-89272-852-7. pap. $14.95. M
When a mother vanishes from her house, her kitchen splattered in blood, the authorities are not sure if she has staged a runaway or been killed by her husband. Bay State Banner reporter Liz Higgins takes a personal interest in the case. VERDICT Making her debut as a novelist, Herbert, a former LJ reviewer, librarian, and authority on the mystery novel (The Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing), brings all of her newspaper experience to bear in this neatly plotted tale of misdirection.
Kent, Christobel. The Drowning River: A Mystery in Florence.Minotaur: St. Martin’s.Jul. 2010. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-312-62101-8. $26. M
On the day that disgraced ex-cop Sandro Cellini opens his office as a PI in Florence, a young art student goes missing, and a man drowns in the River Arno. Cellini, aided by his wife, finds that working in the private sector offers challenges and a reason to live. VERDICT Filling her mystery debut with plenty of action, fast-thinking people, and beautiful Florence, British novelist Kent (Late Season) keeps the reader guessing how it all fits together. Donna Leon readers will like. [Minotaur First Edition Selection; library marketing campaign.]
Lewis, Peter. Dead in the Dregs: A Babe Stern Mystery. Counterpoint. Aug. 2010. c.274p. ISBN 978-1-58243-610-4. $25. M
Richard Wilson, a wine critic and former brother-in-law of onetime star sommelier Babe Stern, is found dead in a wine vat, and Babe is asked by his ex-wife to investigate. VERDICT Napa Valley details and the cutthroat business of producing wine in California add to this debut tale of one man seeking a murderer while trying to regain his self-esteem. Lewis is a restaurateur and restaurant industry consultant.
ADDITIONAL MYSTERIES
Barr, Nevada. Burn. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Aug. 2010. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-312-61456-0. $25.99. M
Our favorite park ranger is back. On administrative leave after her adventures in Texas’s Big Bend National Park (Borderline), Anna Pigeon visits a friend who works at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park. Soon Anna is involved with a mysterious character named Jordan who is not what he appears to be. Their hunt for two missing children leads them into the seedy underworld of sex trafficking and corrupt politicians. As always, Anna is in the thick of things, but her years of law enforcement training and work in the great outdoor parks do not fully prepare her for the wilderness of the urban scene and its inhabitants. Nonetheless, Anna prevails. Unlike in other Barr novels, the park plays a very minor role, but the excitement reigns with a multilayered story, nonstop action, and attention-grabbing characters. VERDICT Making her Minotaur debut, Barr has written another hit. Her fans will devour this. [Seee Prepub Mystery, LJ 4/1/10; 150,000-copy first printing; library marketing campaign.]—Patricia Ann Owens, Illinois Eastern Community Colls., Mt. Carmel, IL
Penny, Louise. Bury Your Dead. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Oct. 2010. c.384p. ISBN 978-0-312-37704-5. $24.99. M
This superb mystery fast-forwards from The Brutal Telling , Penny’s last novel, precipitating readers into the fictional future, as it further develops characters and plot. As always, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Montréal police is the series protagonist. Perceptive and reflective, Gamache has taken leave from his job and has repaired, sans wife, to Québec City in order to recover from severe physical and emotional trauma incurred during a disastrous police hostage rescue mission. Plagued by his fatal mistakes, Gamache, succumbing to intrusive thoughts, incessantly relives the catastrophe. Indeed, the novel’s structure replicates Gamache’s thought processes, moving, in stream-of-consciousness fashion, from present to past and back again. Fortunately, Gamache is gradually drawn back to life as he happens upon a murder case. In the investigative process, he must perform meticulous research into the mystery of Québec founder Samuel de Champlain’s secret burial place. Verdict Reminiscent of the works of Donna Leon, P.D. James, and Elizabeth George, this is brilliantly provocative and will appeal to fans of literary fiction, as well as to mystery lovers. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 5/1/10; 100,000-copy first printing.] — Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., PA
Pope, Barbara Corrado. The Blood of Lorraine. Pegasus. Jul. 2010. c.384p. ISBN 978-1-60598-098-0. $25. M
Racism. Fear. Ignorance. A dead infant. Pope’s (Cézanne’s Quarry) second Bernard Martin mystery opens with the judge living in Lorraine, France, with his pregnant wife. It is November 1894, and word spreads like wildfire that Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, the first Jewish army officer in the French General Staff, is being tried for treason. He stands accused of passing military secrets to the Germans. As anti-Semitism threatens to rip the fabric of France apart, an infant boy is found brutally butchered. The wet nurse and mother claim a “wandering Jew” murdered him. As outrage spreads, two prominent French Jews are found murdered. Martin must ferret out the truth from the lies, delving deep into the hearts and minds of his fellow Republicans, as well as his own, to see where the true traitors are hiding. Verdict Pope landscapes her canvas with compelling characters, especially Martin as he struggles to serve justice while wrestling with his own inner demons. Recommended for historical mystery enthusiasts, especially those interested in French and Jewish history.—Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L., MD
Ryan, William. The Holy Thief. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Sept. 2010. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-312-58645-4. $24.99. M
Strong and stern, Captain Korolev solves murders for Moscow’s Criminal Investigation Division. In 1936, his successful efforts earn him an unenviable assignment—a tortured female corpse has been found in a former church that is now home to a Komsomol (youth wing of the Communist Party) group. Responding to Stalin’s increasing paranoia, the city’s population turns inward lest a careless joke result in harsh exile. Korolev has to look for allies in unlikely places. He enlists thieves, street kids, and Isaac Babel as his confederates in his gruesome quest for the perpetrators. Ryan re-creates the toxic, terrorized atmosphere by plunging Korolev into a ghastly web where nothing is what it seems. Verdict In his solitude and resolve, Ryan’s Korolev evokes Martin Cruz Smith’s fierce Arkady Renko, while the period detail and gore call to mind Tom Rob Smith. Ryan’s first novel will be released with a tsunami of marketing, so readers in public libraries will be lengthening the reserve lists for this remarkable thriller. [125,000-copy first printing; previewed in Wilda Williams’s “Passport to Mystery,” LJ 4/15/10; see also author Q&A in 4/8/10 BookSmack!]—Barbara Conaty, Falls Church, VA
Shannon, John. On the Nickel: A Jack Liffey Mystery. Severn House. Jul. 2010. 272p. ISBN 978-0-7278-6903-6. $28.95. M
PI Jack Liffey was left a mute paraplegic following a landslide at the end of Palos Verdes Blue. He’s engulfed in anger, frustration, and helplessness, and his doctors say it’s all psychosomatic. When an old friend calls for help in locating his runaway son, Liffey’s teenage daughter Maeve intercepts the call and takes on the case, hoping to help her father’s recovery. She immediately gets in over her head, trolling the depths of L.A.’s skid row for the lost boy. She finds the boy in a transient hotel, but the two end up targets of a pair of ruthless thugs hired by the slumlord to clear the premises. Jack and his partner, Gloria, an LAPD sergeant, come to the rescue, but not without a conflagration and considerable bloodshed. Verdict A young adult plot set in a very gritty and brutal locale interspersed with news clips detailing the political turmoil of homelessness in Los Angeles and very unrealistic teenage dialog make this a confusing addition to Shannon’s (Terminal Island; Concrete River) well-received neonoir series. Shannon’s anger and frustration with the city’s management of poverty and homelessness are clearly the point of this book, and it unfortunately overshadows the plot. Not recommended.—Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA
Smith, Mark Haskell. Baked. Black Cat: Grove. Aug. 2010. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-8021-7076-7. pap. $14. M
If books came with MPAA ratings, Smith’s fourth novel (after Moist, Delicious, and Salty) would definitely get an NC-17. But if you can’t tell that from looking at the cover (the ARC showed a silhouette of a nude woman with marijuana leaves covering her breasts), rest assured that the novel contains plenty of drug references, drug use, and sexual content. But it’s also a tightly plotted, well-paced caper with a message, à la Carl Hiaasen. Miro, our hero, is an experimental botanist who wins the Cannabis Cup (a real competition held annually in Amsterdam) with a new strain of marijuana. From the moment he wins, the plot is set in motion through the world of illegal drug trade, legal medical marijuana centers, and the many cultures of Los Angeles. Crazy characters abound, from a sex-crazed Mormon burrito roller to a cop with the most logical mind, to the improbably named Irish/Latino gangster Shamus Noriega. Verdict Not for the easily offended or the president of your local D.A.R.E. chapter, but an enjoyable ride for the rest of us.—Amy Watts, Univ. of Georgia Lib., Athens
