The Devil's Advocate by Steve Cavanagh

 

First Line: Holman Correctional Facility, Escambia County, Alabama. Randal Korn had waited for this moment for four long years.

Randal Korn has sent more people to death row than any other district attorney in history. Part of his success is due to the fact that the guilt or innocence of the accused doesn't matter a bit; he lives to watch prisoners being executed.

Korn has already fixed things to ensure a fast conviction and the death penalty for Andy Dubois, an innocent man accused of murdering a young girl. The one thing Korn didn't take into account was Eddie Flynn.

Eddie has seven days to save an innocent man and find the real killer. In a week, the judge will read the verdict, but there's a very real chance that Eddie will not be alive to hear it.

~

I have become hooked on Steve Cavanagh's former con man turned lawyer Eddie Flynn, and The Devil's Advocate gives readers another opportunity to watch him pull one legal rabbit out of his hat after another.

The stakes are high in this case. Young Andy Dubois is innocent, but Randal Korn is a master at convicting the innocent. Eddie is one of those "slick" New York City lawyers who probably won't get a fair deal in Deep South Alabama. There's also a packed jury to contend with. But Eddie has an expert team to help him, and with only seven days, every second counts.

I have to admit that I did find Randal Korn and all the evil surrounding him to be a bit over the top, but I still enjoyed The Devil's Advocate. Why? Because it's always a pleasure to watch Eddie Flynn perform miracles when everything is stacked against him. I look forward to his next case.

The Devil's Advocate by Steve Cavanagh

eISBN: 9781668093481

Atria Books © 2025

eBook, 432 pages

Legal Thriller, #6 Eddie Flynn

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

Desperate Creed by Alex Kava

 

First Line: Chicago. Frankie Russo's head was already throbbing when her cell phone started blaring salsa music.

 

Francine "Frankie" Russo is not happy when her young co-worker, Tyler Gates, calls at 5 AM for a video chat, but her irritation turns to horror when seconds later, two men murder Tyler and pick up his phone. Now they know what Frankie looks like... and more. They'll be coming for her next, and the only thing she can think of to do is get out of Chicago and head for the Florida Panhandle to her friend, Hannah Washington.

 

While Frankie is en route, Hannah's friend and business partner, Ryder Creed has taken his best scent dog, Grace, to Alabama where a series of devastating tornadoes means there are survivors to find. Ryder's employee Jason and Jason's K-9 partner, Scout, are on their way to help.

 

With killers on her trail, Frankie is trying desperately to get to Hannah and the meeting that Hannah has set up with FBI agent Maggie O'Dell, but the weather is proving to be the biggest handicap of all. With threatening clouds and screaming tornado sirens, Ryder, Jason, and their dogs are witnessing tremendous devastation while Hannah and Ryder's sister, Brodie, are at home, worrying and waiting... and Frankie is trying to outrun two killers. This is a race against time and the weather, a race that no one can afford to lose.

 

~

 

I've been an ardent fan of this series since the very first book, Breaking Creed. Ryder, Hannah, Jason, and Maggie are strong, intelligent characters, and I absolutely love how Ryder has created his business: "Hannah liked to say they rescued abandoned and discarded dogs and turned them into heroes"-- and that's exactly what Ryder does. In Desperate Creed, Ryder's behavior with his dog, Grace, during a tornado made me love the man even more.

Ryder's sister, Brodie, has been added to the cast, and her adjustment to life after captivity is both life-affirming and heartbreaking. (I'm purposely not saying much about Brodie to prevent possible spoilers because I want all of you to read this series!)

As much as I enjoy the interactions of the characters, the high-octane plot of this book almost blew me away. There are the killers following Frankie from Chicago down to the Florida Panhandle. They are professionals. She is a rank amateur. Are they going to catch up with her? But, first and foremost, there are the tornadoes. I once lived in Tornado Alley, and I've had a few close encounters. I've also experienced earthquakes, blizzards, fire, and hurricane-force winds. What scared me most? Tornadoes. To put characters whom I feel so strongly about right in the path of a weather phenomenon that petrifies me? I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.

Desperate Creed thrilled the adrenaline junkie in me to pieces, and it's the type of book in which readers should make a point of reading the Afterword. If you're in the mood to read a book you won't be able to put down, this is definitely the one you need to get your hands on.

Desperate Creed by Alex Kava

eISBN: 9781732006416

Prairie Wind Publishing © 2019

eBook, 321 pages

Law Enforcement, #5 Ryder Creed mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Breaking Creed by Alex Kava

First Line: Sweat slid down Amanda's back.

It was never Ryder Creed's intention to wind up in the spotlight, but that's exactly what's happened to him and the dogs he's trained for search and rescue, finding cadavers, and sniffing out drugs and bombs. Creed may not like it, but his partner says the publicity's good for their fledgling business.

One job has Creed and his Jack Russel Terrier named Grace searching a commercial fishing vessel off the coast of Florida. They discover that the Colombian cartel's latest shipment isn't drugs-- it's human.

Meanwhile, FBI agent Maggie O'Dell is following the trail of a brutal assassin. She's worked with Creed once before, so when she discovers a hit list with his name on it, she immediately goes into action. Hopefully, she isn't too late...

Last September, I happened to read an article about the top mystery series featuring working dogs, and Alex Kava's Ryder Creed series was on it. I've already sampled the others on the list and thought that it was high time I cracked open Breaking Creed. Boy howdy-- once I did, I didn't want to stop reading!

Breaking Creed has all the hallmarks of a thriller: the breakneck pace, lots of action, multiple locations,  and just the type of loathsome bad guys that made audiences boo! and hiss! in the old silent movie theaters. If that was all it had, it would be a good book, but it has a lot more.

I loved getting to know Creed and seeing the perfect set-up he has for his dogs-- the kennels, the fact that he trains rescue dogs, and that he's building facilities for a veterinarian. I pretended that I was part of the audience in one of those old silent movie theaters when I learned what many of his neighbors were doing, and then there was the pleasure of seeing Creed at work with his dogs. I'm the type of person who believes one of the best things in life is to find oneself in the middle of a romping pile of puppies, so you know I'm thrilled with the burgeoning subgenre of working dog mysteries.

There are some interesting secondary characters as well, like young Amanda and Jason, a vet who served in Afghanistan. Having Maggie O'Dell make an appearance from Kava's other series undoubtedly brought many Maggie fans over, but I'd never read a Maggie O'Dell mystery before. Guess what happened? Now I've added the Maggie O'Dell series to my Need-To-Read list.

What can I say? I'm the type of reader who is disciplined enough to put my book down when it's necessary, but I was enjoying Breaking Creed so much that I read until I finished the book at 5 AM. I'm certainly looking forward to reading the other books in the series, but in the meantime... anyone got a couple of toothpicks so I can prop my eyelids open?

Breaking Creed by Alex Kava

eISBN: 9780698160675

G.P. Putnam's Sons © 2015

eBook, 309 pages

Law Enforcement/Working Dogs, #1 Ryder Creed mystery

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon. 

War Hawk by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood

First Line: Few in the Abwehr's military intelligence knew his true name or even his intent here on British soil.

When a former army colleague asks Tucker Wayne for help, he cannot refuse, even if it means dredging up things from his past that he'd rather leave buried. His friend and her son are on the run from assassins, and the only way Wayne can keep them safe is to discover who killed a brilliant computer programmer... and why.

The crime leads back to powerful figures in the U.S. government and will have Wayne and his war dog Kane on the move from the Deep South to Trinidad and places further afield. The two are trying to track a mystery that dates back to World War II, and to do this they will have to put everything they've got on the line.

The remarkable bond between Tucker Wayne and Kane completely won me over in The Kill Switch, and I couldn't possibly miss the second installment of their adventures.The action wasn't as predictable as it was in the first, which made the book even more enjoyable.

The focus in this book is information warfare, and it is terrifying. Those who control information are those who will be in control of the world. As always, Rollins includes  an "Author's Note to Readers: Truth or Fiction" at the back of the book, and it's a good idea to read it. He doesn't make up most of what he writes about. Part of the mystery of War Hawk revolves around some work Alan Turing did at Bletchley Park during World War II. Were his papers really lost in a fire, or were they stolen? They just may contain the key to winning this information war.

Tucker's PTSD and the way he relates to others figures highly in this book, and these things are a key to his character. So is his relationship with the war dog, Kane. When Rollins first wrote about Kane, he asked people in the military who actually worked with war dogs if what he'd written was realistic. All of them told him that the dogs were actually capable of doing much more than he'd written. Keep that in mind when you read about Kane. His relationship with Tucker will fill you with a bit of awe, a lot of admiration... and you might even get a bit emotional, too. 

James Rollins and Grant Blackwood have written the kind of thriller I enjoy the most: an intriguing plot, plenty of fast-paced action, and complex characters. Just the combination that will keep me coming back for more.
  

War Hawk by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood

ISBN: 9780062135278 

William Morrow © 2016

Hardcover, 384 pages

Thriller, #2 Tucker Wayne & Kane

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen. 

   

The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

First Line: Elizabeth Lacy had been a member of the Darling Garden Club ever since Mrs. Blackstone started it in 1925, and president for the last two years.

It's 1930 in Darling, Alabama (population 907), money is scarce, and everyone is making do. The ladies of the Darling Dahlias Garden Club are looking forward to sprucing up the neglected gardens of their new clubhouse, which they inherited after the club's founder, Mrs. Dahlia Blackstone died. However, there's plenty going on in town to distract them.

There are rumors floating around that the Darling Savings and Trust may be in trouble, and there's been a prison break, but what has the lion's share of club president Elizabeth Lacy's attention is the disappearance of drugstore clerk, Bunny Scott. 

Bunny was known to be flighty and man crazy, and she was always talking about moving to New York, but Liz Lacy and fellow club member Verna Tidwell know good and well that a woman doesn't leave for New York City and leave all her clothes, jewelry and cosmetics behind. When Bunny turns up dead in a stolen car, the Darling Dahlias decide to do some investigating on their own-- even if a ghost does seem to be digging around the old cucumber tree at night.

Susan Wittig Albert almost immediately transported me to Depression-Era Alabama in this first book in the series. She's done her research, and her mentions of songs playing on the radio and the movies that were showing at the theater in town created a lot of the needed ambiance. Her research shows up everywhere-- in the prices people were paying for things, in their recipes, in the fear that swept through the community when rumors of a bank closure and a prison break began to circulate-- and all these details fit into the story seamlessly. 

Add an intriguing mystery to a perfect setting, and you've got a good book to read. In fact there are several little mysteries running throughout this book. Some are easily solved, but others require much more thought and deduction.  What raises the bar even higher is Albert's cast of characters. The main garden club members come from all walks of life-- there's the mayor's wife whose husband is always telling her not to worry her pretty little head, there's a legal secretary, a probate clerk, and women who run the local diner and moonlight as telephone operators. If these women don't have their fingers on the pulse of Darling, Alabama, then no one does!

We get to know Lizzy Lacy the most in this book, and I like her a lot. She's what would have been called a spinster back then, since her domineering mother got it into her maternal head that Lizzy was going to be her live-in doormat forever more. But lest you get the idea that Lizzy has no spine, think again. I guarantee you're going to like her. I look forward to learning even more about the rest of the characters because just enough of their backgrounds were given to let readers know that there's much more to their stories, too. 

Albert also includes "making do" tips and recipes at the back of the book, and reading them brought back many memories for me, having grown up with a grandmother and mother who lived through the Depression. And although I did notice the slow pace of the book throughout the first half, I just chalked it up to setting the stage for this new series. History, mystery, characters, food, music, and flowers. I'm already looking forward to the next book!

The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

ISBN: 9780425234457 

Berkley © 2010

Hardcover, 304 pages

Historical Mystery, #1 Darling Dahlias mystery

Rating: A-

Source: Paperback Swap 


 

Read and Buried by Erika Chase

First Line: "Lizzie Turner, you'd like a signed copy of Derek Alton's award-winning book, wouldn't you?"

Lizzie Turner makes a trip to her local bookstore, and before she knows what's hit her, she's agreed that one-hit wonder author Derek Alton will appear at the next Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straw Society meeting. Under the guise of learning more about the book club's members, Alton proceeds to make moves on Lizzie-- which she most definitely does not appreciate. But what she really doesn't appreciate is when Alton is murdered in her own home and she's the number one suspect. Lizzie's beau (and the local police chief) Mark Dreyfus not only has to go where the circumstantial evidence is leading him, he's not thrilled about the dead man putting the moves on his girlfriend. This is one case that the Ashton Corners book club has to solve... fast!

This second book in the Ashton Corners series is a light, fun read, and sure to please cozy mystery readers. Due to the events in the first book, A Killer Read, the characters are evolving, and I'm still enjoying the information Chase shares about Lizzie's job as a literacy specialist for the local school board. Lizzie has managed to get a young teenage girl interested in reading by starting her out on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries. As this book club group of sleuths begin investigating, I got several chuckles from young Andie applying what she's learned from Stephanie to the case they're all trying to solve. Another feature that I enjoy is at the very end: a list of recommended books by each member of the book club. Since this is a mystery readers' book club, it's easy to gather several good titles to read in those last two pages alone. If you're like me and have read many of the recommendations, it's easy to use the list to see which member's reading tastes are most like your own.

Probably due to all the crime fiction I read, I'm becoming rather adept at identifying the killers in books rather quickly. I did so in this case, but I wasn't bothered by it at all. As in most books, it's not so much who did it as why. (And I have to admit that I'm not nearly as good at guessing the Eternal Why!)

Read and Buried is light, fun, and quick to read. I know I'm not the only one looking forward to book number three!

Read and Buried by Erika Chase

ISBN: 9780425251782

Berkley Prime Crime © 2012

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Ashton Corners Book Club

Rating: B

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen

A Killer Read by Erika Chase

First Line: "I've got an idea, Lizzie... why don't you just do, like, brain surgery or something on me."

Literacy specialist Lizzie Turner's days don't always run smoothly, especially when she has a reader as reluctant as teenager Andrea Mason. But Lizzie doesn't know the meaning of the word quit, and she's inspired to invite Andrea to the very first meeting of the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society.

What no one bargains for is the fact that the man who barges in on the meeting is found shortly afterwards shot dead in his car at the end of the driveway. The man was murdered with an antique gun stolen from member Molly Mathews' house, and when Officer Amber Craig focuses her attention on the members of the book club, Lizzie knows that she's going to have to find some sort of information that will make the human pit bull stop wasting time and chase after the real killer.

Author Erika Chase has the perfect premise for a cozy: a mystery readers book club set in small town Alabama whose main member is a literacy specialist who works with school boards, students, and teachers as well as teaching evening literacy classes. It's fun watching Lizzie trying to find that one spark of inspiration that will encourage someone to read, to keep on reading, and eventually to read for the sheer pleasure of it.

The fellow book club members are a varied lot: a retired police chief, a wealthy elderly widow, a school teacher, an unwed mother, a lawyer, and a high school student. Their varied ages, backgrounds, personalities and areas of expertise should prove to be fertile soil for future books in this new series. When you add romantic interest for Lizzie in the form of an old high school crush and her two Siamese cats named Edam and Brie, about the only other thing you could possibly need are lists of each book club member's reading recommendations-- mystery after mystery for crime fiction lovers of all types.

I found A Killer Read to be enjoyable from beginning to end in regards to both characterization and setting. Since it is set in Alabama, I was wondering how the author would handle regional speech, and I was pleased to see that Chase adds just enough to provide true Southern flavor without going over the top. Only the pickiest of readers should object to the number of times words like "y'all" appear in the book.

I did find one or two things that bothered me a bit. Each chapter begins with a quote from a mystery novel. Enough of these quotes are from books whose authors have also written blurbs for A Killer Read that it all seemed a bit like mutual admiration society overkill. Also, I've (unfortunately) gotten rather used to a bit of shoddy proofreading in the books I read, but this book has an error that shines like the brightest of beacons. The author obviously meant to refer to a Jack Russell terrier, but the dog remained a Jack Daniels terrier all the way through the editing process. I did check to see if there was a new breed of dog I wasn't aware of, but alas, no.

I also felt that the book's pacing was too slow, and I think the reason why it did seem to grind to a halt from time to time was because the author gives so much detail of Lizzie Turner's life and work. It wasn't long before I knew which nights she taught literacy classes, which night was choir practice, what days she tutored students, and so forth. I really feel as though I know Lizzie quite well-- and like her-- but all the repetitive information did slow the mystery down.

Yes, these things did bother me a bit, but I still found A Killer Read to be fun from beginning to end. Now that I know Lizzie and her friends so well, I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

A Killer Read by Erika Chase

ISBN: 9780425247037

Berkley Prime Crime © 2012

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Amateur Sleuth, Cozy, #1 Ashton Corners Book Club mystery

Rating: B

Source: Paperback Swap