July 2004 Fiction and Mystery Reviews

An Inconvenient Wife
by Megan Chance

Warner Books

ISBN# 0-4465-2956-7
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $4.99 from Amazon.com!

Early New York upper-crust families were ruled totally by the males of the household. Husbands and fathers controlled their wives and their daughters. Wives did nothing but attend parties and perform as an example of good behavior and always look elegant. This is the story of a woman named Lucy. She did her father's biding all her young life and when he approved of the man who became her husband Lucy learned to follow her father's choice and be a dutiful wife. She is reacting with many symptoms of nervous actions that cause her husband to commit her to a rest home and take her to many doctors. Lucy cannot get pregnant and her husband is sure it is the fault of her illness. One day he takes Lucy to a new doctor who treats her with hypnotism and electric shock. While she is under his spell he takes advantage of her and teacher her about her sexuality.

The theme is not unusual in women's literature, but the delivery of the scenes and characters in this sad tale are brought to the pages with a hand that cares. It all starts out slowly, but as the reader becomes drawn into the story the pace picks up. Lucy does recognize finally that she is not at fault, and that she has been manipulated by her father and her unscrupulous husband all of her life. As she breaks free of her bonds, we are taken to ride on the tide of her freedom and root for her recovery and her revenge.

Hot Plastic
by Peter Craig

Hyperion

ISBN# 1-4013-0044-8
Suggested Retail Price: $13.00 or as low as $1.99 from Amazon.com!

Grifters and con men always make for good stories. Jerry is a con man and he has been teaching his son Kevin to follow in his footsteps. Jerry is not greedy, and they pull off just enough jobs to keep the two in money and seedy motels. Jerry is an expert at using false credit cards to buy stuff and then selling it. One day they pickup a very young runaway whose name is Colette, and she becomes Jerry's girlfriend. Collette brings some new skills to the grifts, and moves in with the two men. Kevin is a fast learner and he has picked up all of the skills his father has taught him. He works many of the jobs with Colette as the three of them prosper and move up the ladder of wealth.

As the trio moves along, teenaged Kevin developes a crush on Collette. As he grows up he also plans some very clever grifts that the two of them can work. The bitter day comes when they get caught and spend several years in prison. While idle Kevin has conceived a grand plot to make a lot of money on the his new grift.

The curling and winding plot takes part of the trio to Europe where they are very sucessful but eventually get into a lot of trouble. Son Kevin and Collette finally get together while the father takes up with a straight lady and settles down. The peace never lasts as they all pull off one more really big job.

I have read better books with plots about grifters, but this one moves along and has some surprises along for the reader. The characters are quite real by the end of the book, although you are not sure that you would ever like to meet them.

The Road to Ruin
by Donald E. Westlake

Mysterious Press

ISBN# 0-8929-6801-X
Suggested Retail Price: $25.00

It's been a long two-year wait for this new caper that features the famous John Dortmunder. This author is in a field of his own. He writes lots of other tales that are good too, but Dortmunder is by far the most humorous crook Weslake has created and is certainly our favorite.

John Dormunder and his odd bunch of friends are all crooks, and they make no apologies about it. This is what they do. This time around they plot a complicated scam to steal some very expensive automobiles. The cars are stored on the estate of this very wealthy businessman who is a big crook himself. He lives with his lovely wife in a big house on a well-protected estate.

It takes a lot of planing to figure out how to get inside the compound. The millionaire is a much hated man both by his former workers and the union men he cheated. The town people who had invested in his business lost everything.

John and his friend decide that the only way to get into the house and the grounds is get hired in various capacities to work and live within the compound for just a short time and then take off with all the fancy car collection.

You would not want to miss a wonderful page of this delightful caper. The joy of Dortmunder and his friends is the clever and complicated plan they put together using all of the talents of the gang members As is always the case with this entertaining crew….things go wrong in a big way.

Every move is fun to follow and all of the characters are worth getting to know. They are so likable that you never want them to get caught although you know that crime must never pay.

Sigh! Another two years for the next Dormunder. I will wait impatiently for the talented Mr. Westlake. In the meantime he will author other books for our reading pleasure. Donald Westlake has never let me down.

Firestorm
by Iris Johansen

Bantam

ISBN# 0-5538-0340-9
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95

Kerry Murphy is an arson investigator. She and her evidence-sniffing dog, Sam, work together and they have a unique talent for finding the origins of suspicious fires. The villain in this piece has a new weapon that he can use from a distance to start a serious and explosive fire. The fire will seem to come from many different parts of a structure. And all at once!

Kerry is the investigator assigned to find this offender and solve the mystery of the method used in a series of these unusual fires. Kerry targets a group of scientists who have been developing a weapon unlike any other the world has every seen.

Kerry has her own memory of a terrible fire that haunts her. In order to catch this firestarter she must bring back long hidden memories. She is terrified of these memories. By the way, the dog, Sam, is very special.

Bad Business
by Robert B. Parker

Putnam Publishing Group

ISBN# 0-3991-5145-1
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95

It is always a joy to receive a new Spenser tale. One a year during the first hints of spring Parker brings out a new adventure of this popular detective.

One day a woman named Marlene Cowley hires Spenser to investigate her husband, Trent. He is cheating on her she says. As Spenser takes on the case he begins to realize that there is a lot more to this. First he discovers that the husband has hired a private detective to follow his wife.

This complex and fascinating case begins to lead the detective into a world of individual depravity and corporate corruption

The mystery involves a talk-show host who is spreading his views on what he calls, "courtly love." The corporate folks find this new philosophy fascinating. O'Mara, the host of the radio show believes in very loose sex therapy. It is probably illegal and certainly deprived. There is a murder at the company where husband Trent is CFO and Spenser takes off in another direction.

Is it good? Of course it is!

Codex
by Lev Grossman

Harcourt

ISBN# 0-1510-1066-8
Suggested Retail Price: $24.00

The author, Lev Grossman is a book critic for Time magazine. He has created a tale that is hard to pinpoint the style. It's part mystery, part romance and part literary history. His topic is really a computer game that he is using in a search for an ancient manuscript that might not really exist. The plot moves around an investment banker whose name is Edward Wozny. While he is on vacation his firm assigns him the task of helping a powerful client of the firms.

This is the story of Edward and his search for a book titled, Codex, which has been missing for a long time.. Codex might have been written by a 14th century historian.

Edward also enters into a computer game and is fascinated by the depths of the game. He becomes addicted to both the game and the search for the Codex. As the tale weaves in and out of reality and confusion the reader is suddenly unable to tell where the author is going.

You will not put this book down until all of the mysteries are solved. It's a unique and absorbing tale.