Welcome to our July, 2005 fiction and mystery book reviews. As
we say, good fiction is mastery of the art of storytelling, where the imagination soars, the intellect is
broadened, and the heart yearns for more. We try to review the best mystery books, sharing amusing works of
fiction and other novels that you probably won't find covered in your local newspaper. Here are some
fiction books we know you'll enjoy. We hope you enjoy this look back at our July 2005
fiction and mysteries reviews.
Dortmunder is at it again! I admit to slowing down my reading speed because I love this character and his friends. I know that the author is going to wait another two years before he writes another mystery about this unabashed crook and his thieving friends. One I start to read. I am doomed. I have to put it down. This has been true of every one of Westlakes' Dortmunder books and most of his non-Dortmunder books.
The Dortmunder crew always gets together to plot and plan in the backroom of the O.J. Bar & Grill. The bartender knows the group and sets them up with no questions. To their horror they are suddenly no welcome in the bar. The bartender they know is gone and the backroom is not available. The awful fact they face is that the bar has been taken over by a mob crew.
The boys are trying to put together a heist of an upscale private apartment that is filled with art works. The man who owns the apartment is never there. His name is Preston and he has moved to an island resort just out of the U.S. jurisdiction. He is avoiding his ex-wives who are all after him. It is on the Island that Preston meets and makes friends with Arnie Albright who is the Dortmunder gang's fence.
As the gang plans to rob the secret apartment they are also planing on how to get the gang out of their bar. All of the usual members of the group are working on the heist and it is a welcome read that includes the likes of these characters.
Well, in the end all of the parts of the plot come together at the wrong time. It's a very close shave and another hilarious romp with Dortmunder.
This is a good one... I hate to think that another two years must go by before I can enjoy this marvelous band of crooks gets together again.
You do not ever want to miss one of Hillerman's great mysteries that take place in Navajo territory. In this new mystery Joe Leaphorn is back. He is now retired from his job as a Lieutenant of the Navajo Tribal Police Department
Jim Chee needs to request Leaphorn's help in a somewhat personal case of murder. The crime also concerns diamonds. A young relative of Chee's boss tried to pawn a very expensive diamond for a very small amount of cash. It turns out that the diamond was from a cache of diamonds that vanished when a plane crashed in the Grand Canyon. The diamonds were in a pouch that was attached to the wrist of one of the passengers. There were 172 people killed in the crash and some of the bodies were never recovered.
The young man who is accused of murder is in jail. He claims that he was using a trail down into the canyon that only his tribe knows and should use because it is sacred. Down at the bottom of the canyon he ran into an old man who asked to trade this diamond for something not essential that the young owned.
The plane crash was fifty years ago and a variety of interesting people are looking for the "Skeleton Man" who had the diamond bag handcuffed to his wrist. Some of the searchers are our familiar detectives and some are relatives of the man who was carrying the diamonds. One of the searches simply wants to reunite the hand to the rest of the skeleton for proper burial. Some are just plain murderers and thieves.
No more plot giveaways here. This is simply too good to spoil. Anyone who is a Hillerman fan will enjoy all of these marvelous characters and their problems who are as fascinating as ever.
Tony Valentine is back and he is a fascinating read. Valentine is a former cop who has learned how to bust Casino cheaters. Valentine runs an agency that services some of the big Las Vegas casinos. Tony and his son have worked together but the son has been untrustworthy in the past. Dad will give him another chance this time.
This mystery is all about one man who just about wiped out a big casino by wining over a million dollars at a Blackjack table. There was a big fire at the hotel and the Casino is holding off on the payoff for the moment.
The Mr. Lucky in this case says that he wins all the time. He is just very lucky.
Tony Valentine is trying to prove that Mr. Lucky is a cheat and follows him to his small hometown so he can study him close up and prove that it was all a scam.
Valentine's son is sent off to find the cheaters in a small casino where he hopes to prove himself to his father. He has learned a lot about the various cheating scams from his father but he is not an expert as yet. Now he runs into a southern-Mafia group who are out to kill him before he finds out that they are controlling the gambling places in this area of the country.
In fact, there is a lot of killing in the story but debunking the games piece by piece is fascinating and both father and son are good at this.
The story gets truly exciting when some pretty smart bad guys are chasing all the good guys. Never forget that at heart in this tale is finding out if Mr. Lucky is a cheat or just really lucky.
Are you a Frankenstein fan? This author admits to his fascination with the tale. You might know him from National Public Radio or his earlier books. This is his first fictional novel. It's big one with small printing so you know right off that you have a read that will take more than an hour.
The first character we meet is Dr. Davis Moore who is a fertility expert living in Chicago. His specialty is cloning. When his seventeen year old daughter is murdered he wants to use his knowledge, not to clone, his daughter, but the to clone the murderer. He dreams of looking into the face of this killer.
When little Justin Finn is three he looks like any other bright child. Just another small child. His parents don't suspect that Justin is an exact match for the murderer of the Doctor's daughter. He will grow up to be an exact replica. Will he turn into a killer?
All of the questions you may have about the correctness of cloning are faced in this tense and believable tale.
We hope that in the future Kevin Guilfoile will take to fiction again. This is a good enough story to want more of the author's work.
Newcomer Patricia Smiley is fast endearing herself to a fan group of readers. She brings us a new character named Tucker Sinclair, a female with a unique name. Tucker lives in Los Angeles. She is recently divorced and thirty years old. Her mother, whose name is Pookie, lives with her but is traveling a lot. Pookie leaves her dog for Tucker to take care of when she is away. The dog's name is Muldoon. All that has little to do with this mystery.
Tucker is a senior manager where she works. She is hoping to soon become a partner in her firm. She does financial makeovers for large firms. In that capacity Tucker runs into a lot of trouble and a murder. Her latest project was to write a good business plan so that potential investor's will want to become financially involved in Dr. Milton Polk's expansion scheme. Dr. Polk suddenly vanishes. Then a body is found on the beach. Tucker finds herself unfairly accused of bilking her clients out of millions of dollars.
It's a mess to figure out and it's also a more than passing readable mystery.
Young Anabella Lagrange has been raised as a lady. Her mother dotes on her. Her father is a figure both of fear and love to her. The facts as they come out are jolting. Mother has the money and father is a brute who has been losing money all through the marriage.
When the truth comes out about Anabella's true parentage she runs away with the stable worker. He is a handsome Irishman with a Spanish name who taught Anabella to get over her fear of horses when she was very young. Then he taught her to ride as well as her father demanded..
So the little lady falls to the bottom of the social cast in an early time in England where the lower classes are despised and worked for their keep with many cruel families.
Little Anabella grows up and finds love with her handsome companion runaway, who is really not Spanish, as she is really not an aristocrat. Not much goes smoothly for them and after several years of barely surviving, several deaths, and a couple of murders it all finally works out.
Lots of nasty people in all classes here as well as a tale that is well told but nothing new. The glass part of this virgin refers to her early family's ownership of a glass factory.
Author Seth Greeenland who has won award for his screen writing calls our attention to a new character. His name is Bones. That is his name is Frank Bones. Frank is a standup comedian. His act is rough with lots of outrageous language. Frank is living it up with drink and his girlfriend until one night he goes onstage and blows it all away. Literally. Frank shoot a gun at the ceiling in a club where his act is not doing well and his mind is blurry. So now his reputation is keeping him from working.
Frank decides to talk his old friend the successful comedy writer, Lloyd Melnkick. Lloyd thinks hi has sold out and welcomes the idea of working with Frank.
There is, of course, a murder, and Frank is a suspect. The two collaborators are running from Los Angeles to Tulsa and on to Mexico bring them to a tragic but somewhat hilarious ending.
This story begins with a cold-blooded murder spree. In a house invasion two unknowns who are most proficient in killing. Everyone in the household has had their throats slit. Silently and expertly. In this bloody mess we find that the little daughter of the house had a friend visiting. The daughter is names Nixie and she wanted to get a drink in the middle of the night so she was downstairs when it all happened. She was hiding under a table when the shadowy killers fled. They never saw her.
Investigating Officer Eve Dallas rescues the child who is very frightened. Eve befriends the little girl and takes her into protective custody. Now Eve and her fellow officers must find out the who and the why of this horrendous crime.
After you read through the massacre of this family and you meet the nine-year-old Nixie you will be unable to put this thriller down until Eve finds all the answers.
Alan Gregory is a shrink who finds that his colleague is lying on the floor of her office. He name is Hannah. She is dead. The police are baffled. Also a patient is missing. It is Christmas day and this all happened in Boulder, Colorado. The missing person is a young girl a situation that the Boulder police are most sensitive about. Is the girl a runaway or was she kidnapped? The hunt for this answer falls into the hand of Alan Gregory and the hunt will take him to Las Vegas is this interesting mystery.
Stephen White is most dependable about producing an engrossing mystery to enjoy. Don't miss this one.
Be sure to visit us again next month when we'll
review more helpful fiction and mysteries. Our
fiction book reviews are written by our Editor, Richard L. Trethewey.
Rainbo Electronic Reviews' fiction book reviews are published monthly. Back issues of our
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