November 2003 Fiction and Mystery Reviews

The Sinner
by Tess Gerritsen

Ballantine Books

ISBN# 0-345-45891-5
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

The scene is the cold halls and rooms of typical New England winter house. Inside this building lies the chapel of Our Lady of Divine Light. It is here that bloody bodies have been discovered. This is a cloistered convent, and two nuns have been the victims of an unspeakably savage attacker. One of the nuns is already dead and the other is critically injured.

When Medical Examiner Maura Isles does the autopsy, she discovers that one of the dead nuns had just given birth. Her name was Sister Camille and she was a novice at the convent. Wait! There are more turns and twists. More deaths are discovered and one other murder. Together, Maura Isles and homicide detective Jane Rizzoli uncover an ancient horror that connects these murders together.

Lots of suspense here. A shocking ending finishes up this chilling mystery book and ties all the ends together.

Blindside: An FBI Thriller
by Catherine Coulter

G. P. Putnam's Sons

ISBN# 0-399-15056-0
Suggested Retail Price: $25.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

Fifty-four novels to date and Catherine Coulter still going strong. This time she takes us along with FBI agents Lacey Sherlock and her husband Dillon Savich. Again the action and intrigue with these likable characters is going to make this mystery hit the top of every best-seller list.

The case concerns a six-year boy named Sam Kettering. Sam is kidnapped and then manages his own escape. Katie Benedict is the pregnant local sheriff. She found Sam on the road and took him in. Katie has a delightful daughter, and the two children become fast friends.

There are a lot of narrow escapes and a little amore' that seems just right. In the end the Sheriff is the major character in this exciting novel. You will find out why and how Sam was kidnapped, but only after a number of chilling attempts to kidnap him again. The kids are the stars in this plot. Plucky kids along with Kate Benedict who is a very capable officer.

Very exciting. Its another thrilling example of Coulter's ability to write mysteries so readers will keep their noses buried in the book until the end.

Stone Cold: A Jesse Stone Novel
by Robert B. Parker

Putnam Publishing Group

ISBN# 0-399-15087-0
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.20 from Amazon.com!

Robert B. Parker just can't stop creating new characters. We first met Police Chief Jesse Stone in the book "Death in Paradise." This adventure takes place in Paradise, Massachusetts. Chief Stone is a worthy character to know. Chief Stone has a problem. Dead bodies keep showing up but there are no clues to follow. A man takes his dog out for a run on the beach where he is found dear a few hours later. A woman parks her car and runs into the grocery store. She is found dead behind her still loaded shopping cart. When a third body is found and the method of murder is the same we know that Chief Stone has a serial killer in his territory.

The problem I found with this mystery is that it was very difficult to like the hero. Jessie is a somewhat recovered alcoholic. He is still totally crazy for his ex-wife. All he knows is that he loves her and expects that she will return to the marriage. In the meantime, he loses no opportunity to have lady friends old and new over for sex. He is still on the hunt, apparently, and it's hard to like this deluded male personality. Politics and the media are driving him to solve these deaths. Of course he does solve them in the end of this mystery, but I still could not bring myself like him.

Alice in Wonderland
by Lewis Carroll, Ralph Steadman

Firefly Books Ltd

ISBN# 1-55297-754-4
Suggested Retail Price: $29.95 or as low as $10.00 from Amazon.com!

This is a special edition of the classic children's book. Alice does all the same things as the story is and always told to us by famous author Lewis Carroll. This time, this special book is illustrated by one of my favorite artists, Ralph Steadman. Always a little skewed in his outlook, Steadman has illustrated books by Hunter S. Thompson, and has also worked for Punch, Rolling Stone and The New York Times. This treasure of a book is filled with black and white sketches that will enchant all readers. Beginning with the White Rabbit running with his long ears and perky hat, well, the grins and guffaws begin right away. You know immediately that you have a book that is filled with art that make it a collector's dream.

The original text is very much enhanced by the restored and updated story from an original edition published in 1968. Its not the new text, really, just the originality of Steadman's art that adds to the fantasy of Lewis Carroll's fantasy.

Kill Two Birds & Get Stoned
by Kinky Friedman

William Morrow

ISBN# 0-06-620979-X
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $1.25 from Amazon.com!

Walter Snow is an author. He is suffering from seven years of writer's block. Walter lives in a basement apartment in New York. The latest blow for him is that his bank just closed all his accounts because he had left a dead fish in his safety deposit box. Walter is also a recovering alcoholic. Now with all his problems, he finds himself in Greenwich Village bar where he is downing tequila shots with two new friends. The new friends are Clyde, a beautiful woman, and Fox Harris. The two new acquaintances are very odd people and they draw Walter into their skewed idea of fun. They introduce Walter to the adventures of small cons. His new friends call their ideas just "petty pranks," but as they escalate into new and bigger scams, Walter is beginning to wonder.

Readers will follow this odd mystery and the exploits that the friends get Walter into as they race to an ending that is a big surprise.

Ice Hunt
by James Rollins

William Morrow

ISBN# 0-06-052156-2
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $3.00 from Amazon.com!

This techno-thriller is based on the discovery of a secret scientific station located in the Antarctica. As word leaks out, it is discovered that the well-built station was the scene of some horrific cryogenic research. Russia and the U.S. are in a race that might end in the destruction of the research station and ultimately the world.

The base is buried deep inside an iceberg, and as they investigate into the recesses and the many levels of the old station a discovery is made. They find a dangerous species of killer whales. The excitement of the chase between the Americans and the Russians to get to the newly-found base is filled with adventure. Inside the huge mullet-level ice station new discoveries are constantly being made. People begin to die and as more ice is melted the killer animals are invaded the new territory that will bring them to the surface.

The searchers arrive at mysterious labs and discover that the terrible research was conducted and kept secret by more than one country. Now it is all going to be destroyed as more of the truths are uncovered. The destruction of the ice labrynth and the laboratories there will lead to the eventually destruction of the whole world unless the hunters find some way to stop the whole process.

This is an exciting thriller like those good old science fiction tales that we all enjoyed reading when we were younger. The book is long, though. As the scenery comes to life in your mind, the horrors seem more real and the adventure entangles the readers to the end.

The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done
by Sandra Newman

HarperCollins

ISBN# 0-06-051498-1
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.25 from Amazon.com!

Eddie and Chrysalis Moffat have inherited an old mansion located on the coast of California. Eddie decides that the house could be fixed up and turned into a phony "Tibetan School of Miracles." Then Eddie recruits a man to be the Tibetan Monk and the leader of the school. The Monk is also a talented potter who speaks fluent Tibetan. From here on it's a roller coaster ride to enlightenment. In fits and starts, the story unfolds and trails lead to temples of gambling and UFO's. Toss in the parking lot of the local 7-11. Crysalis is beginning to uncover the secrets in her life and question what it is that we truly know. Does fate really rule us?

Author Newman brings us an intelligent and amusing mystery tale to enjoy. That is the whole of it - Reading enjoyment.

Cyanide Wells
by Marcia Muller

Mysterious Press

ISBN# 0-89296-781-1
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

If you were expecting another good Sharon McCone mystery, forget it. A couple of years ago, Muller moved into another venue. Now she returns to the new setting in a place named Cyanide Wells. We are still in Northern California in this story.

Matt Lindstron's ex-wife vanished without a trace fourteen years ago from their home in Point Deception. Many of his neighbors believe that Matt murdered his wife. The fourteen years have passed and Matt receives a call saying that his wife, Gwen, is still alive and living in Cyanide Wells. Matt goes there to find her and clear himself. He finds out that she really has been living here in a lesbian relationship, but that she has once again vanished. Matt begins to uncover the truth as the reader follows along in this well-crafted adventure that involves several storylines that all have very satisfying beginnings and endings.

Exit Wounds
by J. A. Jance

William Morrow

ISBN# 0-380-97731-1
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

We have another good mystery to enjoy from J.A. Jance. This time there is a heat wave in Cochise County, Arizona. The mercury is over 100 degrees. Inside a trailer there is a woman lying dead. She has a bullet hole in her chest. Keeping her company are a whole lot of dead dogs. The bullet that killed the woman is eighty-five years old. This is the same type of bullet that was used to kill two other women who were discovered naked and tied up on the remote edge of a rancher's land.

Once again, Sheriff Joanna Brady must shoulder the double burden of a brutal re-election campaign. Some major development companies are involved in election shenanigans. All this must be put aside so that Joanna can contend with the big city law officer who appears to work on the case because this killer is on a rampage. To find out the truth, Joanna uncovers one family's history that is full of hatred and fear. It's hot and the Sheriff pursues a sadistic killer who comes from the past with a monstrous obsession.

Jance is always an exciting read, and her plots will keep the reader in suspense until the last page.

Last to Die
by James Grippando

HarperCollins

ISBN# 0-060-00555-6
Suggested Retail Price: $23.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

Grippando returns to protagonist lawyer Jack Swyteck for another adventure. Swyteck has a menacing sidekick named Theo Knight who is also a friend. It turns out that Theo has a brother named Tatum, and he is a thug. Tatum is a former hit man, and he is named in the will of a beautiful young and wealthy woman. She was a widow and she was shot to death in her car one dark night. The woman had tried to hire Tatum to kill her, but he had turned her down. Along with Tatum, the dead widow has named five other people who stand to inherit a lot of money.

We learn that the dead woman was once married with a child who was murdered. She had come from being very poor to marrying a wealthy and unhealthy older man who managed to die and leave her quite rich.

Jack becomes Tatum's lawyer, but discovers that Tatum is impossible to work with. In the end they find that the wealthy widow has a sister who is working in Africa, and Jack and Theo go there to find her. They do and she is, of course, also beautiful and devoted to helping people. She doesn't want to return and doesn't want her sister's money.

Then the people named in the will begin to die. Everyone suspects that Tatum is the villain. Jack begins the investigation into why the widow named these particular people in the will.

No dull moments here. Everyone looks suspicious until the truth begins to come out, leaving the reader with a satisfying smile over a good mystery.

Fatal Tide
by Iris Johansen

Bantam

ISBN# 0-553-80247-X
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $0.01 from Amazon.com!

Our main character here is one Melis Nemid. Melis lives on an island in the Caribbean where she conducts her research on dolphins. She is also escaping a nightmarish past. On the island, life is peaceful, and Melis and her Dolpin have forged a friendship. Her tranquil existence is about to be shattered by a killer who is on the prowl. One person who can help her is a fellow oceanographer who gets close to her and gains her trust. He wants to learn the secrets of her past. Her dolphin is quite special and comes from an area in ocean where there is an undiscovered deep-sea mystery. Danger comes so close to Melis that she finally agrees to pack up the dolphin and travel back to that part of the sea where the mystery is located and only the dolphin can find it.

Its a very exciting adventure mystery in which the dolphin becomes a major character.

Buzz Monkey
by Sam Hill

Carroll & Graf Publishers

ISBN# 0-7867-1261-9
Suggested Retail Price: $24.00 or as low as $0.97 from Amazon.com!

"Top" Kiernan is the main character in this thriller. Top likes Tops. This is the only clue to his personality. That and the fact that he can answer just about any question about quotations that you can think of. Who said that? Top always knows. So he has purchased an old school building and outfitted it for his business, a thriving research firm called Polymath. Frankly, the most interesting thing is this school. Top's bedroom is in the middle of the basketball court. Everyone has to remove their shoes when they enter and most take a few shots with the ball.

Top's friend Dee Lane, a male, is missing. Suddenly Top has been targeted by a racist group of rednecks. The DEA agents want him, too, as well as the CIA and a couple of killers. They think that Dee left with $1-1/2 million dollars and they all want it.

People were a little hard to keep track of in this story, and some of the characters are really dull. There is a lot of violence and we almost get used to a Top who kills at the drop of a hat and group of unbelievably dull and prejudiced characters.