The Sleeping and the Dead by Jeff Crook

First Line: I sat at the deepest corner of the bar away from the door, trying to get the bartender's attention without my hands shaking.

I've been reading so many cozies lately that I thought it was time to head toward the other end of the spectrum. Jeff Crook's The Sleeping and the Dead was just what the doctor ordered.

There's no other way to put it: the main character in this book is a train wreck. Jackie Lyons, former vice detective with the Memphis Police Department, now ekes out a living as a crime scene photographer. She's been served with divorce papers. She's battling narcotics addiction. She's broke, and her apartment has just gone up in flames. Once you've absorbed all that, telling you that she also sees ghosts may barely make your eyebrow raise.

By selling some crime scene photos to a collector, Jackie is able to scrape together the money for a secondhand high-end camera, but when she uses it at the scene of the murder of the Memphis Playhouse Killer's latest victim, Jackie discovers that she's viewing crime scenes from a different perspective. The camera captures spectral images and begins to point her toward clues that the ex-detective in her can't ignore. Is the man she just started dating a killer? Could the Playhouse Killer be someone she knows?

I normally don't enjoy reading about current or reformed addicts, but there are exceptions: Barbara Seranella's Munch Mancini, Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor, and now Jeff Crook's Jackie Lyons. As she visits crime scenes and talks to the police officers she knows, it's obvious that she had a lot of talent as a detective-- or she would have, if drugs hadn't sidetracked her. Seeing glimpses of that talent made me a patient reader, willing to tease out wisps of clues throughout the narrative in order to learn what made her so wounded, so defensive, so distrustful. I'm not about to tell you what happened, but the wait is worth it.

There is also a high creep factor in The Sleeping and the Dead. Are the visions Jackie sees late at night actually ghosts or are they drug-induced dreams? And what's up with that camera that takes photos when no one is pushing the button?

There are two mysteries in this novel-- one of the man accused of murdering his wife, the other of the Playhouse Killer. I liked both, and I really enjoyed how the author tied them together in a very unexpected way.

There's a lot to like about Jackie Lyons, and I'm really looking forward to reading more about her in the future.
  

The Sleeping and the Dead by Jeff Crook

ISBN: 9781250000286 

Minotaur Books © 2012

Hardcover, 336 pages

Paranormal, Police Procedural, #1 Jackie Lyons mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet 

A Fair to Die For by Radine Trees Nehring

First Line: Carrie clicked "Play." Neil Diamond began singing to her about Sweet Caroline, and she increased the volume on her CD player to wall-shaking level.

Like me, Carrie McCrite finds cleaning and cooking much easier tasks when singing and dancing to loud music. (I do try not to dance and chop veggies at the same time, just so you know.) Her husband Henry calls to tell her his meeting is running over and that he's going to be late. Before Carrie has time to digest that piece of news, the phone rings again. This time it's a woman claiming to be her cousin. Trouble is, Carrie was told that she did indeed have a cousin... who died when she was a child. She can't help but wonder-- if the woman is her cousin-- why it took so long for her to get in touch, and just what is it that she wants? 

When Carrie and Henry begin helping their friend Shirley at the War Eagle Craft Fair, she becomes increasingly concerned over her "Cousin" Edie's strange behavior. Then a vendor disappears, there are rumors of some sort of drug connection in the Arkansas Ozarks, and Carrie finds herself in mortal danger.

This is the first book I've read in Nehring's Something to Die For series, and I enjoyed it a lot. The author told just enough backstory to prevent any confusion on my part-- and just enough to make me want to go back and read the previous books. Not being familiar with the Arkansas Ozarks, I appreciated how Nehring seamlessly wove information about the area into her book.

What I enjoyed most, however, was the story and the characterizations. Carrie is a strong, intelligent, funny woman whose faith is an elemental part of her being. I also loved the characters of Carrie's husband, Henry, and her best friend, Shirley, although there just wasn't enough of those two in the book. (I think that's where reading previous books in the series is going to come into play!) A Fair to Die For is most definitely Carrie's show, and the mystery she's been given to solve is a puzzling one. I was able to piece together enough clues to know whodunit, but the answers to why and how didn't become clear till the end of the book.

Nehring knows how to make a reader's heart beat faster, too. I'm not going to give away one of the very best parts of the book, but suffice it to say, at one point Carrie's life definitely hangs in the balance, and I loved reading how she kept herself together in order to figure out what she had to do.

Now that I've sampled the Something to Die For series, I have a strong suspicion that I'll be coming back for more!

A Fair to Die For by Radine Trees Nehring

ISBN: 9781610091220

Dark Oak Mysteries © 2012

Paperback, 244 pages

Cozy Mystery, #7 Something to Die For mystery

Rating: B

Source: publicist 

A Lack of Temperance by Anna Loan-Wilsey

First Line: It was chaos.

It's 1892. Self-described typewriter Hattie Davish has been paid to work for a Mrs. Edwina Trevelyan of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. She boards the train in Kansas City, and when she arrives in the resort town, the very first thing she sees is the American Women's Temperance Coalition (AWTC) trying their best to demolish a saloon. By the time she gets to the Arcadia Hotel, Hattie has learned that Mrs. Trevelyan is the president of the AWTC.

After a short battle of wills with a AWTC member, Hattie assumes control of Mrs. Trevelyan's correspondence, but the woman herself seems to have disappeared. Hattie does as much as she can with the letters and telegrams, then she sets out to find her employer. Shortly thereafter, she finds the woman's body, and when an arrogant woman in the temperance organization tells her she can go home, Hattie refuses. She's been paid for a week's work, and she's going to stay to help find her employer's killer. What Hattie hasn't planned for is that-- by her conscientiousness, she's putting her own life in danger.

Author Anna Loan-Wilsey sets her stage immediately by having Hattie Davish witness the demolishing of a saloon. I can't remember any other fiction book I've read using the background of the women's temperance movement, and as I began reading A Lack of Temperance, I had to wonder why. All the various members created a microcosm of motives, which is perfect for a mystery.

Her choice of Eureka Springs, Arkansas was also inspired. The Victorian resort town's treacherous, twisting streets, steep stairs, luxurious hotels, and many hot springs fired my imagination and created many locations for Hattie to investigate.

Hattie Davish is a young, spirited woman who-- as a traveling private secretary-- is a bit ahead of her time. She's a workaholic who can forget to eat or rest, and in her spare time she loves to explore, finding plants to add to her catalogue. Hattie is meticulous in her work habits, to the point of being what we would call OCD today. Throughout her investigation, she settled her mind by sitting at her typewriter creating lists of facts and lists of questions. It's no wonder this young woman attracts all sorts of other characters to her-- including handsome young doctor, Walter Grice.

I did find the identity of the killer to be a bit obvious, but as a debut book with an 1890s traveling secretary as the main character, I think this series is set up for a very interesting, enjoyable run. I look forward to reading more books about Hattie and to learning more about her mysterious benefactor, Sir Arthur Windom-Greene.

A Lack of Temperance by Anna Loan-Wilsey 

ISBN:  9780758276346
Kensington Publishing Corporation © 2012
Paperback, 304 pages

Genre: Historical, Cozy Mystery, #1 Hattie Davish mystery
Rating: B-
Source: NetGalley

Shakespeare's Counselor by Charlaine Harris

Title: Shakespeare's Counselor
Author: Charlaine Harris
ISBN: 0425201147, Berkley Prime Crime, 2005
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #5 Lily Bard mystery
Rating: B

First Line: I connected with a hard blow to the nose, rolled on top of him, gripped his neck, and started to squeeze.


Few people know this in small town Shakespeare, Arkansas, but Lily Bard not only works for private investigator Jack Leeds, she's married to him. However, being married seems to put more stress on Lily and Jack is taking the brunt of it. Lily is still scarred mentally and physically from her horrendous kidnapping and rape that occurred several years ago. She may never completely recover, but if Jack is to survive unscathed, she knows she has to do something to end her nightmares.

Lily joins a therapy group for victims of rape run by newcomer Tamsin Lynd. When a woman is killed before the second group session, Tamsin is scared to death that a stalker has followed her and her husband Cliff all the way to Arkansas from back East. Lily decides to find out if her therapist is right.

This is a series I've enjoyed from the beginning. Due to her history, Lily is an edgy character who's found it very difficult to let her guard down enough to get close to anyone else. This series has been a gradual letdown of that reserve, showing Lily beginning to heal and to trust others.

As I read Shakespeare's Counselor I got the feeling that the book really wanted to be something else instead of a mystery. Lily's rape and recovery has been a theme throughout the series, and with Harris having her actually join a therapy group and interact with other victims, I felt that this was the direction in which the book really wanted to go. The identity of the murderer strained my credulity a bit, so it would've been interesting to see how the book would have turned out if allowed to follow that different direction.

Harris has no plans to go further in this series, and I don't think there's any point. Lily's well on her way to recovery, and she's got a good partner in Jack. If only it were this simple to get all victims of rape back on the right road!

If you like edgy characters and slightly stronger themes in your cozy mysteries, you might just want to give Lily Bard a try.