May 2006 Fiction and Mystery Reviews

Capitol Murder
by William Bernhardt

Ballantine Books
Book
ISBN# 034545149x
Suggested Retail Price: $25.95 or as low as $12.85 from Amazon.com!

Oklahoma defense attorney Ben Kincaid returns, to our delight. We both like chocolate milk. This time, he takes on a high stakes case that is filled with issues of power and corruption. There is a messy murder and a notorious Senator who looks like the perp. Between the evidence against him and his bad reputation, it looks pretty dire for the Senator. Kincaid and his sharp team take on the challenge. Public opinion is against them, and sometimes even Kincaid questions the case. The trial is dramatic and absorbing as this writer can take us right along with the case and into the courtroom. This is also a study of the scandals and the improprieties that seem to run rampant in Washington DC.

This is a good courtroom procedure case that gives some insight into the convoluted logic and situational ethics of DC’s politics.

Killer Dreams
by Iris Johansen

Bantam

ISBN# 0-553-80344-1
Suggested Retail Price: $26.00 or as low as $16.38 from Amazon.com!

Johansen has returned to explore the devastating problem of a drug that controls people continuing to be made, improved and used to create viscous killers. Sophie Dunston comes to greet us in the opening pages. She is vacationing with her parents and her young daughter. Suddenly her father becomes a killer and there is a shocking murder in front of Sophie4 and her daughter.

Sophie is a doctor that specializes in sleep disorders. Since the terrible event her own son has terrible night terrors. Sophie is single, and she and her friend Jock who understands and who has had his own illegal treatment with the drugs. When I got to the mention of Jock dear friend, the Laird McDuff, that I suddenly remember him and the previous book about sleep disorders that this author told us about.

This time we meet Jock and then he takes off for Scotland and the safety of the Laird's castle. He takes Michael with him to protect him and watch over and his nightmares. Meanwhile, back in the US, Sophie is meeting and being put under the protection of Mr. Wonderful whose name is, amazingly, Royd.

Sophie wants to get the formula and destroy it for the sleep product and Royd and Jock are still recovering from it. They both used to be mechanical killers but now they are good guys. Of course Sophie and the every capable Royde go to bed. They also set out together to destroy the man who is using the drug to create an army of zombies. Good Grief men who are skilled killers and a woman who is smart met and move about in a dark world that stretches to Scotland and the dark and handsome Laird of the Manor. Well, it’s very readable, but not at all believable. Hunky, skilled killer-type operators who brings trembling to the knees of a woman, although she fights it. For a while. I really like this author, and I hope she can get off this dark plot track and these men with silly names.

Two Little Girls in Blue
by Mary Higgins Clark

Simon & Schuster
Book
Suggested Retail Price: $25.95 or as low as $15.57 from Amazon.com!

Mary Higgins Clark just pours out exciting tales that grab our interest. This one is about a set of twins. They are kidnapped right out of their own bedroom. Their names are Kelly and Kathy, and they are just three years old. The terrified parents are extorted for a large amount of money for the return of the twins. The father gets his firm to put up the ransom, and one of the twins is returned. The other twin is kidnapped again, and this time by a mentally ill woman who thinks she wants to be a mother. We have all heard of “Twin Talk”, I think, but this twin set has telepathy between them and it takes the cops and the family a while to recognize that what the one twin is telling them is true.

It is a very scaring theme, and we are drawn into this story by the skilled writing of the author. Clark does present us with all of the horrors that a kidnapping might cause, and shows the heroic efforts to rescue both of the children, even if it does look very bad for the girls through most of the book.

The Two Minute Rule
by Robert Crais

Simon & Schuster
Book
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $15.72 from Amazon.com!

The theory here is that if you are a crook you know all about the two-minute rule. Not having be a con myself I learned that this rule means that you must never take more than two minutes to perform a robbery or the cops w2ill arrived.

This is about Max Holman, who is just getting out of jail after serving ten years for forgetting the rule. Now he finds out that his son, who is a cop, has been murdered along with three other cops. Although they were completely estranged, Holman feels that he must clear his son's name because the quartet of dead cops are accusing them of corruption and calling this one a recwenge killing.

So Holman needs to find a job and to learn as much as he can about his son’s death. He finds that his neglected ex-wife is also dean, and that he has a daughter-in-law. As he pursues the truth of his son's murder, he teams up with a former female ex-FBI officer. Together they try to find the truth, and the author takes you on an exciting adventure.

Although Crais (Homicide and The Last Detective) is usually a whiz of a read, this time the plot is darker and denser. I got lost along the way and would have to refresh myself about where I was in the book. That's not to say that this book isn't worth a read... Crais is always worth a look.

The Sultan's Seal: A Novel
by Jenny White

W. W. Norton
Book
ISBN# 0393060993
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $16.47 from Amazon.com!

This author is a professor of anthropology, and her expertise is plainly evident in her writing skills. White has given us a tale of the Ottoman Empire. The year is 1886, and the place is Istanbul. Five centuries of Ottoman rule is about to unravel. The tale begins with a bizarre tragedy. An unidentified female has been drowned. The dead woman bears a resemblance to an earlier governess and the body is nude except for a gypsy bracelet and a medallion that is engraved with the seal of the sultan.

Kamil Pasha is the Sultan he and wants unravel the mystery and also to bring his country to it’s former glory. He meets and befriends the young relative of the British Council. Her name is Bernie, and she is the sister of the British Ambassador whose name is Sybil.

There are many other interesting and mysterious characters, many secrets to uncover and a lot of very good reading to enjoy.

Cat Breaking Free : A Joe Grey Mystery
by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

HarperCollins
Book
ISBN# 0060578092
Suggested Retail Price: $24.95 or as low as $15.72 from Amazon.com!

If you remember Murphy’s previous tale about the feral cats that can talk you may remember that Joe Grey looks like an ordinary cat but he can chat away with his owner. Joel Gray is not the only can in this little village who can talk but very few people know about them and they won’t tell. This story is about a gang of very bad folk from Los Angeles. They are planing to rob the town’s stores on a special event night. One of the gang, the head, knows about the feral cats that can talk. He has set traps to capture them around their mountain home. He has trapped and caged several already. The fact that they can talk he isn’t sharing with anyone. He wants to make big bucks showing the cats on television. This very nasty villain is hiding out at the home of an elderly lady and her granddaughter. They have been forced to cook and clean for the bad guys and the captured cats.

Lots of things happen and the reader is treated to an intriguing murder to solve with the help of the talking cats who have become quite lovable and live with several of the village residents.

The cats are very clever, and they can get all over the little town using the rooftops. They keep a good watch on the thieves. The two major cats are caught and imprisoned with the captured cats. All comes to a satisfactory ending. Many thanks are due the cats and their human friends.