At The Poisoned Pen with Thomas Perry!

It seemed like an eon or two had passed since the last time we'd gone to our favorite bookstore, The Poisoned Pen, for an author event, so Denis and I were very happy to be heading that way to see Thomas Perry, author of one of my favorite series, the Jane Whitefield mysteries. This time he would be talking about his latest book, The Burglar.

Without any further fuss, I'm going to get right down to the interview.

Thomas Perry & host Barbara Peters

Barbara: This is Tom's twenty-sixth book, The Burglar, and we calculate that this is our twenty-fifth event together or something like that. It's really been fun.

How many of you are Jane Whitefield readers? [Most of the audience raised their hands.] Oh good! We were doing a podcast that's going to be a little different, and we talked about how the protagonist of The Burglar, Elle Stowell, is a bit like Jane Whitefield and how she is different.

Let's talk about how she's like Jane since Jane is one of my favorite people, and there are eight Jane Whitefield novels now, is that right?

Thomas: I think there are eight.

Barbara: I couldn't count either. Originally it was five and then one or two crept in. Was it the last one where you had an assist from an actual member of the Seneca tribe?

Thomas: Yes, that was A String of Beads. It was a gentleman who was a Canadian lawyer who spent his life dealing with Native American issues. Defending them against infringements of their rights and so on. He wrote to me at one point and he said, "I've been reading your books for twenty years. I've been meaning to write to you about it, but there are some things that I don't think you understand. He proceeded to write a three-page single-spaced letter about the things I didn't understand. [Audience laughter]

I read the letter, and I thought to myself that this was wonderful stuff. These are all things I've never seen anywhere, in anyone's anthropological texts or anywhere else. Lots of tiny little cultural things. So I wrote back to him and said, "This is great. Thanks! If you ever think of anything or if you ever notice anything in one of my books that you know to be wrong, please let me know. You've done me a great favor." Immediately I got a five-page single-spaced letter that had more things. And it was all gold.

Barbara Peters

Barbara: I know the hook for you there is that you're such a research addict and to discover that you had a whole new trove to draw from was terrific.

Thomas: Oh, absolutely. Fibber McGee's closet... I don't know if any of you remember Fibber McGee's closet? Open the door and tons of things fall out, and there are tons of things you can use in a book.

Barbara: You know, I really miss radio. None of you are probably old enough to remember the old radio drama "Suspense" when there'd be that horrible creaking door. As a little kid, I would lie there in bed and I'd hear that door. You know, your imagination can do so much more for you than actually watching something on the screen.

Thomas: That's true. But to get back to Jane, when you write a series and you like the character, you don't want to write a book that's awful so that every time you walk into a bookstore the rest of your life people will say to you, "I used to love that series, but it's too bad you had to write that last one!" [Audience laughter] So I'm waiting for an idea that's worth anyone else's time. You know. Is it worth your time to read it?

Barbara: You realize you've given me a new mission. In my copious free time, I'm going to start evolving an eight-page single-spaced letter that will prompt you into writing about Jane again.

Anyway, back to my point about Jane and Elle. The ways in which I think they were alike... Jane was always careful to map out the territory she'd be working in. If she was going to make someone disappear, she was always familiar with the landscape. Elle does the same thing, but what is the landscape she's got here?

Thomas Perry

Thomas: Well, Elle is a young woman who has been on her own since she was about fourteen when all of her relatives-- three aunts, her grandmother, and all the children the aunts have had-- move out of the house they'd been living in illegally for all of these years and don't hang around to tell her where they moved. So she was basically on the street at the age of fourteen trying to steal to stay alive.

She has become an expert burglar. She's very good at blending in. She can look like the daughter of some rich Beverly Hills or San Marino family. She runs through the neighborhood wearing a pair of the latest $600 running shoes. She wears t-shirts that say things like "Princeton." She's essentially casing the neighborhood as she jogs. She's looking for anything that gives her the indication that this is the place to break into. Because she's physically small and in great shape, she's really good in getting in through places like doggie doors. Taking the louvers out of the kitchen window.

She also knows that most people who have valuable things they want to hide, hide them in the master suite. And she knows that the things she wants are the valuable things. Things like cameras, jewelry, guns, gold, that she can carry out on a very quick trip.

Barbara: She actually puts it on her body to escape?

Thomas: Yes, she usually wears a fanny pack. She looks just like the other women jogging in the prosperous neighborhoods of LA. She's like Jane in some ways, but she's a criminal.

Available Now!

Jane is not a criminal. Jane breaks laws, but the point of what Jane does is always to help someone. She takes people who have convincing reasons to believe they are about to be murdered and she moves them to other parts of the country and teaches them to live as new people. That's completely altruistic.

Elle, even though she's stealing things that are very valuable, is still living at a subsistence level. If you are a burglar, you have to sell this stuff to somebody and the people to whom you sell it are crooks. So they're not going to give you a great deal. If you steal a $200,000 necklace, you're going to get something under $20,000 for it.

They have qualities that I admire in people. I admire self-reliance, cunning, and things like that because they're fun to write about.

Barbara: They are fun to write about. I was actually not referring to her moral character but to her skill set. You've also brought up the next point I was going to make which is Elle's physical skill set. Both of them are athletic and able to do things that the ordinary person may not be able to. In fact, Elle gets into trouble because she infiltrates a house in a way that other people can't.

Thomas: It's fun to think about what a burglar sees when he's looking at a house. We look at a house and we see doors and windows and how pretty the paint job is; they're looking for ways in.

Barbara: Are you doing this all in your imagination, or are you, too, going out in Rancho Santa Fe or San Marino and casing the neighborhoods?

Thomas: Have you seen my new watch?

Barbara: I can just see Tom out there saying it was just research when the cops catch him! [Audience laughter]

Thomas Perry

I think that another way Elle is different than Jane-- and partly it's because if you're writing a character over the course of several books they accumulate people and relationships and baggage and so forth-- is that Elle is young and she doesn't have any of that. This is a single book, but if you were to continue, you'd almost have to...

It's the same problem Barry Eisler had when he wrote the first John Rain book. I don't know if any of you remember Barry or that book, but he wrote the perfect assassin. He had zero relationships. He lived an entirely solo life in Tokyo. And Gregg Hurwitz who will be here with Orphan X. When you get to book two, you gather people as you move along. Actually, Gregg's been very good because when he's here with book four, he's managed to get all those people out of the way and he has homed in on a single mission: assassinating the U.S. president.

Thomas: Where'd he get that idea?

Barbara: I'm making no further statement. I'm just sayin' he did find an interesting way to hone away all the baggage that Orphan X may have been accumulating and focus on the mission. You're almost forced to do that if you want a real solo agent.

Thomas: I think that's true. What I was trying to do with Elle is to show that she has the type of life that she does because she doesn't have these relationships and what she needs to solve in her life. But yes, if you're going to write some sort of superhero, you're going to have to cut these relationships, or you're going to have to just use people. One or the other.

Thomas Perry

Barbara: Where Elle is vulnerable is with the fence because the fence can betray her. So you're writing about her as an accomplished burglar but maybe one who's thinking that this isn't a permanent career path?

Thomas: You're in a business that depends upon you looking like a college student. Your credentials as a jogger in a place like Los Angeles is that you run really hard and fast, and there are a limited number of years in which you can carry that off and make it look convincing.

Barbara: You don't think she could take up dog walking or something?

Thomas: She could. That's what I do. But essentially, when you're living as a criminal, you're living on borrowed time. Eventually, the odds are going to catch up with you.  Or you're going to have what happens to her which is you break into a house and there are three dead bodies in the room you've gone into to rob. Who left them there? Why is that camera on the other side of the room still running? Something bad's going to happen.

Barbara: So this is your Real Housewives of Beverly Hills moment, isn't it? [Laughter] But if you're going to write a crime novel about a burglar, there's always going to be a time when the burglar finds themselves in a place where their profession prevents them from dealing with a greater crime, right?

Do you remember Larry Block when he wrote Bernie Rhodenbarr? Bernie breaks in. There's a body on the floor. What does Bernie do? Can he call the cops? Not really because he just broke in. Same thing with Tim Hallinan and Junior Bender. I think it's a really neat dilemma when you have someone who's breaking the law on a softer crime and they bang right into a big crime and they're morally impelled to do something about it, but how do they go about doing that? Although in Elle's case, it may just be self-preservation because she doesn't seem to have a particularly high moral plane.

Thomas Perry

Thomas: No, she's not. There's another implicit problem with burglars and that is you break in, and what happens if the guy who lives there is there? What are you going to do? Are you going to kill him? Are you going to try to outrun his gun? What is it you're going to do? You have to make the decision before you get in that house.

Barbara: And that is something that has come up many times in real life.

Thomas: There are all sorts of things you have to think about if you're going to be some sort of criminal. Those are fun things to play with.

Barbara: This is why you write books, right? You're really a criminal, but you're too chicken to go out there and do it. [Audience laughter] I don't want to say chicken; that's unfair!

Thomas: Well, my needs are few and therefore I don't need to do it. But one of the reasons why I write books is that there are certain qualities humans have that I find despicable, but there are other ones that I think are just so inspiring! And one of them is physical courage. There are a lot of people throughout the history of the world who have done things that are just astounding. They make superheroes look like jokes. You wait for a moment where you can write about something that actually makes you feel good to be human. Meanwhile, you play around with lesser issues. Things like competence. There's a lot to be said for competence. You may be writing about a burglar, but how well does she do her job? How does she get in...

Barbara Peters

Barbara: But you've always taken a lot of pride in doing your research. In making it as authentic as it can be.

Thomas: The world is given to you as a writer. It's out there. Everybody owns it. Everybody that you meet, everybody that... when you're in an airplane and you overhear the people in the seats in front of you talking, their stories are free. They're given to you.

Barbara: So you eavesdrop?

Thomas: Of course. I'm a terrible eavesdropper!

It gives me change. It gives me a chance to think about the problems of somebody else. I often think that what you're doing as a writer is what we used to do when we were kids. We get to be somebody else for an hour or two. I got to be a young, twenty-four-year-old burglar. I think what we're doing is playing. Whatever we learned as children by playing those roles is graduate work when you write stories.

Barbara: So this is your version of cosplay at Comic-Con?

Thomas: Yeah, I guess! It took a while to admit that.

Barbara: So what's happening with the old man? [The Butcher's Boy and film options]

Thomas Perry

Thomas: My policy on these things is that if somebody wants to do an option of a book, what you do if the price is reasonable and your agent can protect you from predatory clauses is you sign the paper, wait for the check to clear the bank and then forget it ever happened. [In other words, nothing much is going on film-wise.]

After a brief Q&A period, we adjourned to the signing line. For any of you who want to hear more from Thomas Perry, I invite you to listen to the podcast he did with Barbara Peters.

It was wonderful being back at The Poisoned Pen. I'd been in serious withdrawal!

The Burglar by Thomas Perry

First Line: A young blond woman ran along a quiet Bel-Air street at dusk.

With the right combination of intelligence, looks, and skills, Elle Stowell has gone far in her chosen profession: burglary. It's easy for her to stroll through the swanky Bel Air neighborhoods and pick the perfect homes to break into and steal the most valuable items. But when she breaks into the home of a wealthy art dealer and stumbles upon a triple homicide, Elle discovers that someone is searching for her-- and leaving a trail of bodies in their wake as they do so.

Her knowledge of the high-profile murder has made her a target, and her skills as a burglar are going to have to help her uncover the truth before she becomes the next victim.

I am a big fan of Thomas Perry's Jane Whitefield mysteries in which Jane helps people disappear. Reading passages in those books makes readers feel as though they're reading a textbook on how to leave your old life behind and start all over again. You get that same textbook feeling reading The Burglar, but the reading enjoyment was much lower for me.

The repetition is deadly in this book. We are told over and over how pretty Elle is. How smart she is. How good she is at being a burglar. We are told over and over of her wardrobe changes and her rental car trade-ins. Over and over, world without end... This might have worked-- I might not have noticed all the repetition-- if Elle's voice hadn't been so dispassionate. As if everything she says must be taken as fact and it's useless to argue with her because she could care less what you think.

But I do insist on arguing with her. She may be pretty, and she may know how to trade in rental cars and choose just the right outfit for each occasion, but she's not nearly as smart as she likes to think she is. She knows someone is following her, someone who committed a triple homicide. What does she do? Go to a friend's house to stay. In another instance-- having even more proof that she's being followed-- she attends a funeral and is surprised by what happens there. There are even more examples of Elle being Too Stupid To Live, but there's no need to list them all. Seasoned crime fiction readers will know what I mean. This character was driving me insane.

The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I insisted on knowing what was going on, why it was going on, and how it would all be wrapped up. That was interesting, and it helped that the point of view at the end switched from the smug, flat-voiced Elle. My ear needed a rest from her, and the different point of view helps readers see how everything fit together.

At the end of The Burglar, I was happy to know how everything turned out and even more thrilled in the knowledge that I'd never have to spend any more time with Elle Stowell. If you've wanted to read Thomas Perry-- and you should-- it's better to stick to a standalone like The Butcher's Boy or his Jane Whitefield series. This is not one of his better books.

The Burglar by Thomas Perry

ISBN: 9780802129000

Mysterious Press © 2019

Hardcover, 304 pages

Amateur Sleuth, Standalone

Rating: C

Source: Amazon Vine


 

January 2019 New Mystery Releases!

Here I am, compiling a new release post when I haven't even gone through all my reading statistics for the past year. I guess I can't get really enthused about doing that because I didn't meet my reading goal. I tend to be competitive, so I really don't like it when I fail. (Even though four eye surgeries may have had something to do with it.)

What I didn't stop doing was keeping an eye peeled (ouch) for new, enticing crime fiction that will be released throughout the month of January. If I ever stop doing that, you know something is seriously wrong!

These are my picks of the best in new crime fiction being released in January. I have them grouped according to release date, and the book covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon. I hope I've listed some that tickle your fancy. Let's take a look!

=== January 8 ===

Title: Lives Laid Away

Author: Stephen Mack Jones

Series: #2 in the August Snow P.I. series set in Detroit, Michigan.

312 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "When the body of an unidentified young Hispanic woman dressed as Queen Marie Antoinette is dredged from the Detroit River, the Detroit Police Department wants the case closed fast. Wayne County Coroner Bobby Falconi gives the woman’s photo to his old pal ex-police detective August Snow, insisting August show it around his native Mexicantown to see if anyone recognizes her. August’s good friend Elena, a prominent advocate for undocumented immigrants, recognizes the woman immediately as a local teenager, Isadora del Torres.

Izzy’s story is one the authorities don’t want getting around—and she’s not the only young woman to have disappeared during an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid, only to turn up dead a few weeks later. Preyed upon by the law itself, the people of Mexicantown have no one to turn to. August Snow, the son of an African-American cop and a Mexican-American painter, will not sit by and watch his neighbors suffer in silence. In a guns-blazing wild ride across Detroit, from its neo-Nazi biker hole-ups to its hip-hop recording studios, its swanky social clubs to its seedy nightclubs, August puts his own life on the line to protect the community he loves." 

Title: The Burglar

Author: Thomas Perry

Standalone thriller set in Los Angeles.

304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Elle Stowell is a young woman with an unconventional profession: burglary. But Elle is no petty thief―with just the right combination of smarts, looks, and skills, she can easily stroll through ritzy Bel Air neighborhoods and pick out the perfect home for plucking the most valuable items. This is how Elle has always gotten by―she is good at it, and she thrives on the thrill. But after stumbling upon a grisly triple homicide while stealing from the home of a wealthy art dealer, Elle discovers that she is no longer the only one sneaking around. Somebody is searching for her.


As Elle realizes that her knowledge of the high-profile murder has made her a target, she races to solve the case before becoming the next casualty, using her breaking-and-entering skills to uncover the truth about exactly who the victims were and why someone might have wanted them dead. With high-stakes action and shocking revelations, The Burglar will keep readers on the edge of their seats as they barrel towards the heart-racing conclusion."

Title: Sydney Noir

Edited by John Dale

A collection of crime fiction short stories set in Sydney, Australia.

256 pages

Synopsis: "Sydney is a good choice for Akashic's first noir anthology set in Australia...The 14 uniformly strong selections feature familiar subgenre figures: gangsters, ethically compromised cops, and people bent on revenge for the loss of a loved one...Fans of dark crime fiction will want to seek out other works by these contributors, most of whom will be unfamiliar to American readers."

Title: The Paragon Hotel

Author: Lyndsay Faye

Standalone historical thriller set on a cross-country train bound for Portland, Oregon.

432 pages

Synopsis: "The year is 1921, and "Nobody" Alice James is on a cross-country train, carrying a bullet wound and fleeing for her life following an illicit drug and liquor deal gone horribly wrong. Desperate to get as far away as possible from New York City and those who want her dead, she has her sights set on Oregon: a distant frontier that seems the end of the line.

She befriends Max, a black Pullman porter who reminds her achingly of Harlem, who leads Alice to the Paragon Hotel upon arrival in Portland. Her unlikely sanctuary turns out to be the only all-black hotel in the city, and its lodgers seem unduly terrified of a white woman on the premises. But as she meets the churlish Dr. Pendleton, the stately Mavereen, and the unforgettable club chanteuse Blossom Fontaine, she begins to understand the reason for their dread. The Ku Klux Klan has arrived in Portland in fearful numbers--burning crosses, inciting violence, electing officials, and brutalizing blacks. And only Alice, along with her new "family" of Paragon residents, are willing to search for a missing mulatto child who has mysteriously vanished into the Oregon woods.

Why was "Nobody" Alice James forced to escape Harlem? Why do the Paragon's denizens live in fear--and what other sins are they hiding? Where did the orphaned child who went missing from the hotel, Davy Lee, come from in the first place? And, perhaps most important, why does Blossom Fontaine seem to be at the very center of this tangled web?"

Title: The New Iberia Blues

Author: James Lee Burke

Series: #22 in the Dave Robicheaux police procedural series set in Louisiana.

464 pages

Synopsis: "Detective Dave Robicheaux’s world isn’t filled with too many happy stories, but Desmond Cormier’s rags-to-riches tale is certainly one of them. Robicheaux first met Cormier on the streets of New Orleans, when the young, undersized boy had foolish dreams of becoming a Hollywood director.

Twenty-five years later, when Robicheaux knocks on Cormier’s door, it isn’t to congratulate him on his Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Robicheaux has discovered the body of a young woman who’s been crucified, wearing only a small chain on her ankle. She disappeared near Cormier’s Cyrpemort Point estate, and Robicheaux, along with young deputy, Sean McClain, are looking for answers. Neither Cormier nor his enigmatic actor friend Antoine Butterworth are saying much, but Robicheaux knows better.

As always, Clete Purcel and Davie’s daughter, Alafair, have Robicheaux’s back. Clete witnesses the escape of Texas inmate, Hugo Tillinger, who may hold the key to Robicheaux’s case. As they wade further into the investigation, they end up in the crosshairs of the mob, the deranged Chester Wimple, and the dark ghosts Robicheaux has been running from for years. Ultimately, it’s up to Robicheaux to stop them all, but he’ll have to summon a light he’s never seen or felt to save himself and those he loves.

Stephen King hailed New York Times bestselling author James Lee Burke “as good as he ever was.” Now, with The New Iberia Blues, Burke proves that he “remains the heavyweight champ, a great American novelist whose work, taken individually or as a whole, is unsurpassed” (Michael Connelly)."

Title: She Lies in Wait

Author: Gytha Lodge

Series: #1 in the DCI Jonah Sheens police procedural series set in England.

368 pages

Synopsis: "On a scorching July night in 1983, a group of teenagers goes camping in the forest. Bright and brilliant, they are destined for great things, and the youngest of the group—Aurora Jackson—is delighted to be allowed to tag along. The evening starts like any other—they drink, they dance, they fight, they kiss. Some of them slip off into the woods in pairs, others are left jealous and heartbroken. But by morning, Aurora has disappeared. Her friends claim that she was safe the last time they saw her, right before she went to sleep. An exhaustive investigation is launched, but no trace of the teenager is ever found.

Thirty years later, Aurora’s body is unearthed in a hideaway that only the six friends knew about, and Jonah Sheens is put in charge of solving the long-cold case. Back in 1983, as a young cop in their small town, he had known the teenagers—including Aurora—personally, even before taking part in the search. Now he’s determined to finally get to the truth of what happened that night. Sheens’s investigation brings the members of the camping party back to the forest, where they will be confronted once again with the events that left one of them dead, and all of them profoundly changed forever."

=== January 22 ===

Title: Rupture

Author: Ragnar Jónasson

Series: #4 in the Dark Iceland police procedural series set in northern Iceland.

272 pages

Synopsis: "Hailed for combining the darkness of Nordic Noir with classic mystery writing, author Ragnar Jonasson’s books are haunting, atmospheric, and complex. Rupture, the latest Ari Thór thriller, delivers another dark mystery that is chillingly stunning with its complexity and fluidity.

Young policeman Ari Thór tries to solve a 50-year-old murder when new evidence surfaces. But the case proves difficult in a town where no one wants to know the truth, where secrets are a way of life. He's assisted by Ísrún, a news reporter in Reykjavik who is investigating an increasingly chilling case of her own. Things take a sinister turn when a child goes missing in broad daylight. With a stalker on the loose and the town in quarantine, the past might just come back to haunt them." 

Title: The Golden Tresses of the Dead 

Author: Alan Bradley

Series: #10 in the Flavia de Luce historical series set in England.

352 pages

Synopsis: "Although it is autumn in the small English town of Bishop’s Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Yes, Flavia de Luce’s sister Ophelia is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. “A church is a wonderful place for a wedding,” muses Flavia, “surrounded as it is by the legions of the dead, whose listening bones bear silent witness to every promise made at the altar.” Flavia is not your normal twelve-year-old girl. An expert in the chemical nature of poisons, she has solved many mysteries, sharpening her considerable detection skills to the point where she had little choice but to turn professional. So Flavia and dependable Dogger, estate gardener and sounding board extraordinaire, set up shop at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, eager to serve—not so simple an endeavor with her odious little moon-faced cousin, Undine, constantly underfoot. But Flavia and Dogger persevere. Little does she know that their first case will be extremely close to home, beginning with an unwelcome discovery in Ophelia’s wedding cake: a human finger."

Title: The Smiling Man

Author: Joseph Knox

Series: #2 in the Aiden Waits police procedural series set in England.

400 pages

Synopsis: "Aidan Waits is back on the night shift, the Manchester PD dumping ground for those too screwed-up for more glamorous work. But the monotony of petty crimes and lonesome nights is shattered when he and his partner are called to investigate a break-in The Palace, an immense, empty hotel in the center of the city.

There they find the body of a man. He is dead. The tags have been cut from his clothes, his teeth have been filed down, and even his fingertips have been replaced…
And he is smiling.

But as Waits begins to unravel the mystery of the smiling man, he becomes a target. Someone wants very badly to make this case disappear, and as their threats escalate, Aidan realizes that the answers may lie not only with the wealthy families and organized criminals connected to the Palace but with a far greater evil from his own past."

=== January 29 ===

Title: The Gun Also Rises

Author: Sherry Harris

Series: #6 in the Garage Sale cozy series set in Massachusetts.

288 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "A wealthy widow has asked Sarah Winston to sell her massive collection of mysteries through her garage sale business. While sorting through piles of books stashed in the woman's attic, Sarah is amazed to discover a case of lost Hemingway stories, stolen from a train in Paris back in 1922. How did they end up in Belle Winthrop Granville's attic in Ellington, Massachusetts, almost one hundred years later?
 

Before Sarah can get any answers, Belle is assaulted, the case is stolen, a maid is killed, and Sarah herself is dodging bullets. And when rumors spread that Belle has a limited edition of The Sun Also Rises in her house, Sarah is soon mixed up with a mobster, the fanatical League of Literary Treasure Hunters, and a hard-to-read rare book dealer. With someone willing to kill for the Hemingway, Sarah has to race to catch the culprit—or the bell may toll for her . . ."

Title: Death by Chocolate Malted Milkshake

Author: Sarah Graves

Series: #2 in the Death by Chocolate cozy series set in Maine.

240 pages

Synopsis: "This summer, Eastport’s favorite lovebirds, kindergarten teacher Sharon Sweetwater and Coast Guard Captain Andy Devine, are getting married. The gala reception is sure to be the fête of the season, especially with a wedding-cake-sized whoopie pie courtesy of The Chocolate Moose. For Jake and Ellie, the custom-ordered confection will finally reel in some much-needed profits. But the celebratory air and sweet smell of success are ruined by foul murder.

When Sharon’s bitter ex-boyfriend Toby is poisoned with an arsenic-laced milkshake, Andy is jailed as the prime suspect and the wedding is canceled, whoopie pie and all. Then Sharon makes a shocking confession—one that sounds like a fishy attempt to get Andy off the hook. Now both the bride and groom are behind bars. And with the fate of The Chocolate Moose at stake, it’s up to Jake and Ellie to catch a poisonous predator before someone else sips their last dessert."

Title: Death by Committee

Author: Alexis Morgan

Series: #1 in the Abby McCree cozy series set in Snowberry Creek.

304 pages

Synopsis: "After a rough divorce, Abby McCree only wants to stitch up her life and move on. But other loose ends appear after her elderly Aunt Sybil passes away, leaving Abby to tend to a rundown estate, complete with a slobbery Mastiff of questionable pedigree and a sexy tenant who growls more than the dog. As Abby gets drawn into a tight-knit quilting guild, she makes a twisted discovery—Aunt Sybil’s only known rival is buried in her backyard!

Despite what local detectives say, Abby refuses to accept that her beloved aunt had anything to do with the murder. While navigating a busy social calendar and rediscovering the art of quilting, she launches an investigation of her own to clear Aunt Sybil’s name and catch the true culprit. The incriminating clues roll in, yet Abby can’t help but wonder—can she survive her new responsibilities in Snowberry Creek and still manage to patch together a killer’s deadly pattern without becoming the next victim?"

How did I do? Did any of my choices make it onto your own wishlists? Which ones? (You know inquiring minds would love to know!) I have to admit that I'm most looking forward to Ragnar Jónasson's Rupture; I've become quite a fan of his writing!

Happy New Year, and Happy Reading!

January 2018 New Mystery Releases!

I'm running way behind schedule here on the blog due to the flu that Denis accidentally brought home from picking up our to-go order at a local restaurant. First it hit him, and just as he'd recovered, it slammed me. The poor man had to work Christmas day, but at least he felt well. I wouldn't've been fit company for man nor beast, but at least I did manage to keep a bit of food down. Anyway, that's why I'm behind and have no jolly lead-in to one of my favorite posts.

I've grouped my picks of January's new crime fiction by their release dates, and I hope I've chosen a title or two that tickles your fancy. After all, if you're like me you received some gift cards during the holidays and you feel the need... the need to buy BOOKS! Let's take a look at this list of mine!

=== January 2 ===

Title: An Aegean April

Author: Jeffrey Siger

Series: #9 in the Andreas Kaldis police procedural series set on the Greek island of Lesvos.

280 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "The beautiful Greek island of Lesvos, birthplace of the poet Sappho, and for centuries an agrarian paradise famed for anise-flavored ouzo and tasty sardines, sees its serenity turn into chaos as the world watches boatloads of refugees daily flee onto its shores from Turkey across the narrow Mytilini Strait.

Mihalis Volandes is one of Lesvos' elite, the patriarch of a storied shipping clan. He's weathered many changes in his long life, and when a government policy accelerates the surge of refugees onto his island, he rises to prominence in relief efforts he sees as growing increasingly ineffectual.

One evening, after working to stir up support for his breakthrough plan to strike at the heart of the lucrative refugee trafficking trade, he returns to his mansion in darkness - only to fall victim in his own garden to a swishing sword.

A refugee-turned-local-aid-worker is found at the scene, splattered with Volandes' blood, and swiftly arrested by island police. Case closed - or would be, if young Ali Sera were not working with SafePassage, an NGO (non-government organization), headed on Lesvos by American Dana McLaughlin. McLaughlin is having none of Ali's arrest. Within hours the phone rings in the Athens office of Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, and she's requesting that Kaldis take over the investigation.

Volandes was a prominent citizen and the crime particularly gruesome. Could it be terrorism or something else? But whether Ali is guilty or framed, Andreas can't ignore a powerful motive for the murder. Volandes' daring plan, if implemented, would soon shut down the cash-generating refugee-trafficking pipeline between Turkey and Lesvos.

And so, we're off on a nail-biting ride with Kaldis and his team through Byzantine island politics, deteriorating diplomatic relations, and a world on fire with intrigues and more brutal deaths." 

Title: Dial M for Mousse

Author: Laura Bradford

Series: #3 in the Emergency Dessert Squad cozy series set in Ohio.

304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "The Emergency Dessert Squad business is booming, with owner and baker Winnie Johnson working overtime to satisfy the emergency cravings of Silver Lake, Ohio. Her latest order, a plate of motivational desserts for an artists’ retreat, is just what she needs to keep her mind off her own relationship woes.

But Winnie’s problems seem like trifles when she discovers the body of retreat owner Sally Dearfield mere inches away from five oh-so-eccentric and viable suspects. Now, this baking detective must uncover the inspiration behind Sally’s murder before another creative genius is iced." 

Title: The Bomb Maker

Author: Thomas Perry

Standalone thriller set in Los Angeles.

384 pages

Synopsis: "A bomb is more than a weapon. A bomb is an expression of the bomber’s predictions of human behavior―a performance designed to fool you into making one fatally wrong move. In The Bomb Maker, Thomas Perry introduces us to the dark corners of a mind intent on transforming a simple machine into an act of murder―and to those committed to preventing that outcome at any cost.

A threat is called into the LAPD Bomb Squad and when tragedy ensues, the fragmented unit turns to Dick Stahl, a former Bomb Squad commander who now operates his own private security company. Just returned from a tough job in Mexico, Stahl is at first reluctant to accept the offer, but his sense of duty to the technicians he trained is too strong to turn it down. On his first day back at the head of the squad, Stahl’s three-person team is dispatched to a suspected car bomb. And it quickly becomes clear to him that they are dealing with an unusual mastermind―one whose intended target seems to be the Bomb Squad itself.

As the shadowy organization sponsoring this campaign of violence puts increasing pressure on the bomb maker, and Stahl becomes dangerously entangled with a member of his own team, the fuse on this high-stakes plot only burns faster."

Title: The Pyramid of Mud
Author: Andrea Camilleri
Series: #22 in the Inspector Montalbano police procedural series set in Sicily.
272 pages

Synopsis: "On a gloomy morning in Vigàta, a call from Fazio rouses Inspector Montalbano from a nightmare. A man called Giugiù Nicotra has been found dead in the skeletal workings of a construction site, a place now entombed by a sea of mud from recent days of rain and floods. Shot in the back, he had fled into a water supply system tunnel. The investigation gets off to a slow start, but all the evidence points to the world of construction and public contracts, a world just as slimy and impenetrable as mud.

As he wades through a world in which construction firms and public officials thrive, Montalbano is obsessed by one thought: that by going to die in the tunnel, Nicotra had been trying to communicate something.

'The novels of Andrea Camilleri breathe out the sense of place, the sense of humor, and the sense of despair that fills the air of Sicily.' —Donna Leon"

=== January 9 ===

Title: The Black Painting

Author: Neil Olson

Standalone art-history-inspired thriller set on the East Coast of the US.

320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "There are four cousins in the Morse family: perfect Kenny, the preppy West Coast lawyer; James, the shy but brilliant medical student; his seductive, hard-drinking sister Audrey; and Teresa, youngest and most fragile, haunted by the fear that she has inherited the madness that possessed her father.

Their grandfather summons them to his mansion at Owl’s Point. None of them have visited the family estate since they were children, when a prized painting disappeared: a self-portrait by Goya, rumored to cause madness or death upon viewing. Afterward, the family split apart amid the accusations and suspicions that followed its theft.

Any hope that their grandfather planned to make amends evaporates when Teresa arrives to find the old man dead, his horrified gaze pinned upon the spot where the painting once hung. As the family gathers and suspicions mount, Teresa hopes to find the reasons behind her grandfather’s death and the painting’s loss. But to do so she must uncover ugly family secrets and confront those who would keep them hidden."

Title: The Widows of Malabar Hill

Author: Sujata Massey

Series: #1 in the Perveen Mistry historical series set in 1920s Bombay, India.

400 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Inspired in part by the woman who made history as India’s first female attorney, The Widows of Malabar Hill is a richly wrought story of multicultural 1920s Bombay as well as the debut of a sharp and promising new sleuth.

Perveen Mistry, the daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father’s law firm, becoming one of the first female lawyers in India. Armed with a legal education from Oxford, Perveen also has a tragic personal history that makes women’s legal rights especially important to her.

Mistry Law has been appointed to execute the will of Mr. Omar Farid, a wealthy Muslim mill owner who has left three widows behind. But as Perveen examines the paperwork, she notices something strange: all three of the wives have signed over their full inheritance to a charity. What will they live on? Perveen is suspicious, especially since one of the widows has signed her form with an X—meaning she probably couldn’t even read the document. The Farid widows live in full purdah—in strict seclusion, never leaving the women’s quarters or speaking to any men. Are they being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous guardian? Perveen tries to investigate, and realizes her instincts were correct when tensions escalate to murder. Now it is her responsibility to figure out what really happened on Malabar Hill, and to ensure that no innocent women or children are in further danger." 

Title: A Mortal Likeness

Author: Laura Joh Rowland

Series: #2 in the Victorian historical series set in 1880s London.

304 pages

Synopsis: "A photographer in 1889 London, Miss Sarah Bain runs a private detective agency with her friends, Lord Hugh Staunton and former street urchin Mick O’Reilly. Their sole credential is that they solved the Jack the Ripper case, a secret they can never tell because they did it outside the boundaries of the law. Their new big case arises when a wealthy banker, Sir Gerald Mariner, posts a handsome reward for finding his missing infant. All of London joins in the search. But Sarah has an advantage―a photograph she took during a routine surveillance job, which unexpectedly reveals a clue about the kidnapping.

After Sir Gerald hires Sarah, Hugh, and Mick to find his son, they move into his opulent mansion and discover a photograph of baby Robin. It eerily resembles postmortem photographs taken of deceased children posed to look as if they’re alive. Was the kidnapping real, or a cover-up for a murder? Is the perpetrator a stranger, or someone inside the troubled Mariner family? The case hits close to home for Sarah as it intertwines with her search for her father, who disappeared after he became the prime suspect in a murder twenty-three years ago. She finds herself on the wrong side of the law, which threatens her budding romance with Police Constable Barrett. But Sarah must uncover the truth about Robin’s kidnapping, and her own family, before her past catches up to her in A Mortal Likeness, the gripping follow-up to award-winning author Laura Joh Rowland’s The Ripper’s Shadow."

=== January 16 ===

Title: A Treacherous Curse

Author: Deanna Raybourn

Series: #A3 in the Veronica Speedwell historical series set in 1880s London.

320 pages

Synopsis: "London, 1888. As colorful and unfettered as the butterflies she collects, Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell can’t resist the allure of an exotic mystery—particularly one involving her enigmatic colleague, Stoker. His former expedition partner has vanished from an archaeological dig with a priceless diadem unearthed from the newly discovered tomb of an Egyptian princess. This disappearance is just the latest in a string of unfortunate events that have plagued the controversial expedition, and rumors abound that the curse of the vengeful princess has been unleashed as the shadowy figure of Anubis himself stalks the streets of London.

But the perils of an ancient curse are not the only challenges Veronica must face as sordid details and malevolent enemies emerge from Stoker’s past. Caught in a tangle of conspiracies and threats—and thrust into the public eye by an enterprising new foe—Veronica must separate facts from fantasy to unravel a web of duplicity that threatens to cost Stoker everything..."

Title: The Silent Room

Author: Mari Hannah

Series: #1 in the Matthew Ryan police procedural series set in Northumbria, England.

416 pages

Synopsis: "Detective Sergeant Matthew Ryan wants to clear the name of his former boss, who stands accused of official corruption. But before he can do so, his boss disappears. Did he escape from police custody, or was he kidnapped? Or did something even worse happen to him?

The Silent Room has everything a good thriller should have―compelling characters, a gripping plot and storyline, superb pacing, and a strong sense of place. In addition it has heart, something many thrillers sorely lack. Add some truly scary villains, vast uncertainty about whom to trust, and a loudly ticking clock, and we have ourselves a thriller that will grip readers from the first pages and never let go." 

Title: The Night Market

Author: Jonathan Moore

A near-future standalone thriller.

304 pages

Synopsis: "It’s late Thursday night, and Inspector Ross Carver is at a crime scene in one of the city’s last luxury homes. The dead man on the floor is covered by an unknown substance that’s eating through his skin. Before Carver can identify it, six FBI agents burst in and remove him from the premises. He’s pushed into a disinfectant trailer, forced to drink a liquid that sends him into seizures, and then is shocked unconscious.

On Sunday he wakes in his bed to find his neighbor, Mia—who he’s barely ever spoken to—reading aloud to him. He can’t remember the crime scene or how he got home; he has no idea two days have passed. Mia says she saw him being carried into their building by plainclothes police officers, who told her he’d been poisoned. Carver doesn’t really know this woman and has no way of disproving her, but his gut says to keep her close.

A mind-bending masterfully plotted thriller that will captivate fans of Blake Crouch, China Miéville, and Lauren Beukes, The Night Market follows Carver as he works to find out what happened, soon realizing he’s entangled in a web of conspiracy that spans the nation. And that Mia may know a lot more than she lets on." 

=== January 17 ===

Title: The Marshal and the Moonshiner

Author: C.M. Wendelboe

Series: #1 in the Nelson Lane Frontier historical series set in Wyoming and Oklahoma during the Great Depression.

251 pages

Synopsis: "Gangsters and hoodlums prey upon people’s weaknesses for a quick buck in an era that saw few bucks to spare, making criminals of everyday folks in the rural Great Depression. In a place as wild as the West ever was, in the heyday of the badmen and the lawmen, the law is in short supply. U.S. Marshal Nelson Lane chases a fleeing murder suspect from the frontier of the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming all the way to the big city of El Reno in Oklahoma―out of his element in both places and nearly everywhere in between. His only help is an Indian rookie deputy sheriff, and she is as wild as any other young woman in that time with access to booze and men: Not much help to a widower alcoholic struggling in recovery. While she might get Nelson killed unintentionally, a shady sheriff dealing in illicit booze, his henchman warning to him to leave, and run of the mill moonshiners just taking care of business are running him down and trying to kill him from all sides. When his persistence pays off and he finally catches up with the murderer, Nelson must find it in himself to look beyond the law and deliver the ultimate justice."

=== January 30 ===

Title: Into the Black Nowhere

Author: Meg Gardiner

Series: #2 in the UNSUB police procedural series set in Texas.

368 pages

Synopsis: "In southern Texas, on Saturday nights, women are disappearing. One vanishes from a movie theater. Another is ripped from her car at a stoplight. Another vanishes from her home while checking on her baby. Rookie FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix, newly assigned to the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, fears that a serial killer is roaming the dark roads outside Austin.

Caitlin and the FBI's serial crime unit discover the first victim's body in the woods. She's laid out in a bloodstained, white baby-doll nightgown. A second victim in a white nightie lies deeper in the forest's darkness. Both bodies are surrounded by Polaroid photos, stuck in the earth like headstones. Each photo pictures a woman in a white negligee, wrists slashed, suicide-style--posed like Snow White awaiting her prince's kiss.

To track the UNSUB, Caitlin must get inside his mind. How is he selecting these women? Working with a legendary FBI profiler, Caitlin searches for a homology--that elusive point where character and action come together. She profiles a confident, meticulous killer who convinces his victims to lower their guard until he can overpower and take them in plain sight. He then reduces them to objects in a twisted fantasy--dolls for him to possess, control, and ultimately destroy. Caitlin's profile leads the FBI to focus on one man: a charismatic, successful professional who easily gains people's trust. But with only circumstantial evidence linking him to the murders, the police allow him to escape. As Saturday night approaches, Caitlin and the FBI enter a desperate game of cat and mouse, racing to capture the cunning predator before he claims more victims."

Title: Death by Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

Author: Sarah Graves

Series: #1 in the Death by Chocolate cozy series set in Maine.

240 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Life just got a little sweeter in the island fishing village of Eastport, Maine. Jacobia “Jake” Tiptree and her best friend Ellie are opening a waterfront bake shop, The Chocolate Moose, where their tasty treats pair perfectly with the salty ocean breeze. But while Jake has moved on from fixing up houses, she still can't resist the urge to snoop into the occasional murder.

Jake and Ellie have been through a lot together, from home repair to homicide investigation. So when they decide to open a chocolate-themed bakery, they figure it’ll be a piece of cake. With Ellie’s old family recipes luring in customers, they expect to make plenty of dough this Fourth of July weekend. Having family home for the holiday only sweetens the deal for Jake—until the ill wind of an early-season hurricane blows up her plans. When the storm hits, Jake’s grown son Sam is stranded in a Boston bus station, and her husband Wade is stuck on a cargo ship. But as bitter as the storm is, something even more sinister is brewing in the kitchen of The Chocolate Moose—where health inspector Matt Muldoon is found murdered.

Ellie never made a secret of her distaste for Matt, who had been raining on their parade with bogus talk of health code violations. Now, with no alibi for the night of the murder, she’s in a sticky situation with the police—and it’s up to Jake to catch the real killer and keep Ellie living in the land of the free." 

January is a good month for new crime fiction, isn't it? I think the book I'm looking forward to most is Sujata Massey's The Widows of Malabar Hill. Which titles are you looking forward to? Inquiring minds would love to know!

On This Week in 2005: Dancing on the Tombstone of the Dead

It's time to whip out my 2005 book journal to see what I was reading at this time twelve years ago. Heavens, tempus certainly does fugit, so I'm not going to wax poetic. Let's get down to business!

Tombstone by Jane Eppinga is part of the excellent Images of America series. Each slender volume can pack quite a punch, with dozens of historic photographs of places all over America. I've learned that they make quite a good resource when I'm trying to get a real "feel" for a place.

Jane Eppinga has written over twenty books, the majority of them on some aspect of Arizona history. Although the Images of America series is primarily pictorial, there is text and Eppinga gives an informative, interesting overview of Tombstone's history. Here's Amazon's synopsis of the book:

"Tombstone sits less than 100 miles from the Mexico border in the middle of the picturesque Arizona desert and also squarely at the heart of America's Old West. Silver was discovered nearby in 1878, and with that strike, Tombstone was created. It soon grew to be a town of over 10,000 of the most infamous outlaws, cowboys, lawmen, prostitutes, and varmints the Wild West has ever seen. The gunfight at the O.K. Corral made Wyatt Earp and John Henry "Doc" Holliday legendary and secured Tombstone's reputation as "The Town Too Tough to Die." In this volume, more than 200 striking images and informative captions tell the stories of the heroes and villains of Tombstone, the saloons and brothels they visited, the movies they inspired, and Boot Hill, the well-known cemetery where many were buried." 

I've never been disappointed with a book in this series, and Tombstone is no exception. I rated it an "A." 

Thomas Perry's Dance for the Dead is another book I rated "A." It's the second in his Jane Whitefield mystery series. Here's the synopsis of the book from Amazon:

"When eight-year-old Timothy Decker finds his parents brutally murdered, it's clear the Deckers weren't the intended victims: Timothy's own room--ransacked, all traces of his existence expertly obliterated is the shocking evidence. Timothy's nanny, Mona, is certain about only one thing. Timmy needs to disappear, fast.

Only Jane Whitefield, a Native American 'guide' who specializes in making victims vanish, can lead him to safety. But diverting Jane's attention is Mary Perkins, a desperate woman with S&L fraud in her past. Stalking Mary is a ruthless predator determined to find her and the fortune she claims she doesn't have. Jane quickly creates a new life for Mary and jumps back on Timmy's case . . . not knowing that the two are fatefully linked to one calculating killer. . . ."

I've read and enjoyed all but the last two books in this series, so I really need to get back to it and catch up. Jane is a fascinating character. A talented, solitary person with a job that requires keeping everyone at a distance-- but she also longs for a more normal existence, and the series delves into the difficulties she has in trying to reconcile both her professional and personal lives. And... what Thomas Perry doesn't show you about the fine art of disappearing off the face of the earth isn't worth knowing! This series is well-written, eye-opening, and memorable.

The last book I was reading twelve years ago happens to be the third book in J.A. Jance's Walker family mystery series, Day of the Dead. I also rated it an "A."

Most people are familiar with her J.P. Beaumont series set in Seattle, her Ali Reynolds series set in Sedona, Arizona, and-- my personal favorite-- her Joanna Brady series set in Bisbee, Arizona. Her Walker Family series ranks right up there with the other three in terms of story, character, and setting. 

These books are set in Tucson, Arizona, and feature different members of the family throughout the series. Jance incorporates fascinating local Native American lore in each book. Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

"Thirty years ago, the butchered body of a local Papago girl was found stuffed into a large cooler on the side of Highway 86. No one was ever charged for the crime. Few even cared. And no one suspected it was just the beginning.

Retired Pima County Sheriff Brandon Walker's work with The Last Chance—an exclusive, nationwide fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsolved homicides—has brought new purpose to his life. But a gruesome, three-decades-old cold case is leading him into a strange world at the unlikely border between forensic science and tribal mysticism—a place where evil hides behind a perfect façade. A long-forgotten murder in the Arizona desert now threatens to bring home a new horror for Walker and his family, who have already survived the dark hunger of two human monsters. And suddenly the relentless ex-cop is the only person who can still unravel a blood knot of terror and obsession before the innocent die again." 

Jance always does an excellent job of portraying Arizona-- undoubtedly because she grew up in Bisbee. The first book in the Walker Family series, Hour of the Hunter, was the first book Jance wrote that was set here. The model for the bad guy in it was the creative writing professor who wouldn't allow females in his class. (Sometimes decisions can turn around and bite you in the behind, can't they?)

Well, that's what I was reading all those years ago. Next month, I'll be wandering down Memory Lane once again. See you then!