September 2000 Fiction and Mystery Reviews

Lo Mein
by Robert Eringer

Cote Literary Group

ISBN# 1-9291-7514-0
Suggested Retail Price: $19.95 or as low as $0.83 from Amazon.com!

Its a bloody and hilarious tale about a failed artist who shoots up Walt Disney World, killing a bunch of folks - and Mickey and Minnie Mouse, too!  A very distressed Michael Eisner hires a former FBI agent who has Tourette's Syndrome.  Farsical fun.

Do Or Die
by Grace F. Edwards

Doubleday

ISBN# 0-3854-9248-0
Suggested Retail Price: $22.95 or as low as $0.30 from Amazon.com!

Grace Edwards brings Mali Anderson to his fourth outing. This time, Anderson takes a trip on the QE2 only to return to a murder in Harlem he must solve.

He Shall Thunder In The Sky
by Elizabeth Peters

William Morrow & Company

ISBN# 0-3809-7659-5
Suggested Retail Price: $25.00 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

Another mystery for the summer is He Shall Thunder In The Sky by Elizabeth Peters, creator of the fictional sleuth Amelia Peabody. Once again the Peabody family face murder at their summer digs in Egypt. Amelia is a favorite of mine. Her family never fails to impress the reader.

Cat to the Dogs
by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN# 0-0610-5097-0
Suggested Retail Price: $23.00 or as low as $3.94 from Amazon.com!

I am a cat lover, and I especially enjoy a good mystery that features a cat. "Cat to the Dogs" was just right for me. Tomcat Joe and Dulcie are the cats who can actually speak to a select few people. They also solve crimes. When a neighbor dies in a drowning accident the cats go to work. With the help of a young feral cat who learns that she too can talk, they solve the crime and the mystery.

Special Circumstances
by Sheldon Siegel

Bantam

ISBN# 0-5538-0141-4
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

"Special Circumstances" by Sheldon Siegel is one of those engrossing legal thrillers for mystery lovers to enjoy. Lawyer Mike Daley starts his private practice with a huge case, defending a good friend who is accused of murder.

Standoff
by Sandra Brown

Warner Books

ISBN# 0-4465-2701-7
Suggested Retail Price: $30.00 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

A lightweight mystery to take to the beach is "Standoff" by Sandra Brown. Tiel Mcoy is a TV reporter who sets out to follow a story that involves the kidnapping of the daughter of a Texas millionaire. Actually, the pregnant daughter has run off with her boyfriend because her father has threatened to put the baby up for adoption and get rid of the father. Short, at just over 200 pages, this is still a good mystery-adventure.

Name Dropping
by Jane Heller

Thorndike Press

ISBN# 0-7862-2979-9
Suggested Retail Price: $29.95 or as low as $1.88 from Amazon.com!

"Name Dropping" by Jane Heller is another kind of funny adventure in this comic mystery writer's portfolio. Nancy Stern is a pre-school teacher. Another Nancy Stern moves into her apartment building, but this new Nancy is gorgeous and soon... she is murdered.

Our Nancy has had a romantic adventure by pretending to be the glamorous Nancy until the murder. Then she must come clean to the man she sort of stole from the deceased Nancy. As she falls for this guy, she is afraid to tell him the truth and then she is afraid that he has not told her the truth either!  What a tangled web, indeed!

Omerta
by Mario Puzo

Random House

ISBN# 0-3755-0254-8
Suggested Retail Price: $25.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

Omerta refers to honor in the Sicilian language. This last book by the late Puzo deals one last time with Mafia killers and the code they live by. It's a bloody path for Astoree, the nephew of the murdered Don Aprile. Astoree has promised to protect the old Don's children, which he does as he helps clean out the old Mafia legends and creates a new life for himself and the family. This is the usual study that only Puzo could present to us which is an deep plot of power and how it corrupts.

Death of a Red Heroine
by Qiu Xiaolong

Soho Press

ISBN# 1-5694-7193-2
Suggested Retail Price: $25.00 or as low as $2.94 from Amazon.com!

I also recommend that you include "Death of a Red Heroine" by Don Xiaolong in your reading list.  We are in Shanghai soon after the student uprising in the Tienamen Square when a "National Model Worker" is murdered.  Chen, the Chief Inspector is assigned the job of uncovering the truth about the murdered woman and the secret life she led.

The Floating Girl
by Sujata Massey

HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN# 0-0601-9229-1
Suggested Retail Price: $24.00 or as low as $0.52 from Amazon.com!

"The Floating Girl" is a fun mystery that revolves around the Japanese comic-book art scene. Good characters to meet and a lot of information about the Japanese comic book world and the modern young people of that Japan. Well done.

Middle of Nowhere
by Ridley Pearson

Hyperion

ISBN# 0-7868-6563-6
Suggested Retail Price: $23.45 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

It would be a sin to neglect the enjoyment to be had from one of the best of the best books this summer, "Middle of Nowhere". Blue Flu has struck the Seattle Police Department, and an overworked management must find the killer or killers who have been hitting police officers and civilians. Detective Lou Boldt is on the job and as he struggles with his personal problems and the split in the Police Department between the pseudo strikers and the officers who have stayed on the job. There is something very wrong in the Seattle PD and Lou will find it.

The Patient
by Michael Palmer

Bantam

ISBN# 0-5531-0983-9
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

"The Patient" is another medical thriller. The invention of a robot device to use for surgery is so good that some big players want the secrets and because one of the leaders of an outlaw group needs the surgery that the robot and only one doctor can do things become quite bloody suspenseful.

The 4 Phase Man
by Richard Steinberg

Doubleday

ISBN# 0-3854-9259-6
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

You don't want to miss the book "The 4 Phase Man" by Richard Steinberg (Doubleday). We encounter trained killers left over from a counter-intelligence program. They were trained from youth to be used during wartime. Now there are only two left of the seven originals. One is bad and one is good. They must eventually compete now that they are no longer friends. Only one will survive as the plot of high-tech espionage unfolds in a thrilling adventure.