The Writing Class by Jincy Willett

Title: The Writing Class
Author: Jincy Willett
ISBN: 9780312330668, Thomas Dunne Books, 2008
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Rating: C+

First Line: Lumbers into class five minutes late, dragging, along with her yard-wide butt, a beat-up vinyl briefcase stuffed with old notebooks.

Amy Gallup used to be a contender. A published and award-winning writer at the age of twenty-two, she now exists by writing blurbs for other authors' books and by teaching creative writing classes for the local university's extension program. Her former life is gone: no career, no husband, just a grumpy, flatulent basset hound who barely tolerates her.

This semester's class is filled with the usual suspects: a doctor who wants to be the next Robin Cook, the enthusiastic repeat student, the slacker, the know-it-all, and so on. Amy's seen them all before. But when students start getting threatening phone calls in the middle of the night and frightening pranks pulled on them out in the parking lot, Amy knows that this class is different. When one of the students is murdered, the class bands together to discover who among them is the killer.

The Writing Class really didn't work as a mystery for me because it took very little thought to realize whom the killer had to be. The occasional chapters written from the killer's point of view were very jarring and pulled me out of the story instead of raising suspense. Where the book did succeed was with the character of Amy herself. She is very well-drawn and comes to life on the page as the details of her life unfold.

Another flash of brilliance was during the class lectures. There is a gold mine of writing tips contained in Amy's lectures, and the information is given in a very entertaining and often laugh-out-loud funny style.

If you pick up this book wanting a strong, solid mystery, you may be in for disappointment. If you pick it up wanting a story about a truly involving character who just happens to give great advice on writing, you should enjoy The Writing Class.

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.

Frozen Sun by Stan Jones

Title: Frozen Sun
Author: Stan Jones
ISBN: 9780979980374, Bowhead Press, 2008
Genre: Police Procedural, #3 Nathan Active mystery
Rating: B+

First Line: "Beautiful, wasn't she?"

I'm a tender soul. I tend to read Stan Jones' Nathan Active books in the heat of a Sonoran Desert summer while sitting in the pool. Why? Because they take place at the Arctic Circle, and the wind, snow, darkness, and booming crack of pack ice can freeze me down to the bone!

Nathan Active is an Alaska State Trooper. He is also Inupiat. (What most of us would call Eskimo.) As a child, he was adopted by a white couple in Anchorage, and this has given him rather mixed emotions about his heritage. Now he's living in the small village of Chukchi where his mother is. He has a girlfriend, Lucy Generous, and he's just been asked to begin an investigation that's going to put this relationship at risk.

High school principal Jason Palmer has asked Active to find his daughter, Grace, a former beauty queen. His search leads him halfway across Alaska, to the notorious Four Street in Anchorage all the way to the Aleutian Islands. The photos of Grace show a beautiful girl, and Active wonders why she would ultimately wind up on Four Street-- Anchorage's version of Skid Road. As he slowly gathers facts together, he has to ask himself, is Grace Palmer dead...or is she a murderer?

My rating is a bit down for this one because I knew almost from the beginning why Grace Palmer disappeared. I think I've read a few too many mysteries and have just become adept at suspecting characters' motivations. However, my educated guess took very little away from my enjoyment of this book because characters like Nathan and Lucy are so strong.

This is one of my favorite mystery series for its characterization, its plots, and its setting. Actually the setting is just as much a character in these books as Nathan Active himself. Jones provides an enthralling glimpse into a culture and a landscape that are completely different from what most of us know. He uses common Inupiat words sparingly and provides a glossary at the front of each book so that we not only know what the words mean, but we learn how to pronounce them.

If you like your mysteries strong on character and plot and with a glimpse into a landscape and culture which are very different from your own, you can't go wrong with this series by Stan Jones-- even if you have to read them in the summer like I do!

Cactus Heart by Jon Talton

Title: Cactus Heart
Author: Jon Talton
ISBN: 9781590585849, Poisoned Pen Press, 2008
Genre: Police Procedural, #5 David Mapstone mystery
Rating: B-

First Line: Throughout history, the desert has been a place of trial, penance, and hard-won revelation.

In the fifth mystery involving Maricopa County sheriff's deputy David Mapstone, we're taken back to Phoenix, Arizona in 1999. Christmas is only a few weeks away, and the subject on most people's lips is Y2K.

Recently hired by the Sheriff's Office, things don't start out well for Mapstone. He chases a robber into an abandoned warehouse and stumbles across the bodies of two young children-- the remains of a sixty-year-old crime.

Just before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Arizona and the nation were shocked by the kidnapping of a cattle baron's grandsons. The bodies of the children had never been found, and although the kidnapper was caught and executed, Mapstone begins digging up evidence that shows justice was far from being served. When the evidence starts coming to light, people begin to die once more.

This is a favorite series of mine that almost wasn't. When I read the first book, I was so irritated with Mapstone's whining about the heat that I almost didn't pick up the next book. Fortunately for me, I gave him another chance and haven't looked back since.

Talton is a former Phoenix resident who remembers what the place was like Before and isn't a fan of After. Having his main character be an historian lets Talton share his love of a younger Phoenix and the things that made it unique. He can even wax poetic about the weather from time to time:

When the winter rains come, the sidewalk restaurants move inside. The Fiesta Bowl promoters worry. The resorts cover up the pool furniture, and the snowbirds grumble. But we Phoenicians quietly exult-- that after all the punishing months of sun and heat, the sky brings back the healing water. That, after all, the desert is God's chosen, sacred place.

Although I enjoyed another visit with Mapstone and his complicated personal life as well as another glimpse into Phoenix's past, I did have some problems with the plot. It was too easy to piece together the facts to identify the real culprit, and the entire subplot concerning a hot babe from the city archaeologist's office just had too many coincidences. I couldn't swallow it without the aid of a glass of water.

Cactus Heart was still an involving read that I would've devoured in a single sitting if left to my own devices. Talton has created living, breathing characters who inhabit a place that I love. I may have a quibble here and there about a subplot or a character whining about the heat, but as long as Talton writes, I'll continue to read.

Borderline by Nevada Barr

Title: Borderline
Author: Nevada Barr
ISBN: 9780399155697, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009
Genre: Police Procedural, #15 Anna Pigeon mystery
Rating: C

First Line: Wailing cut through the perfect darkness.

Sometimes it doesn't pay to let a few days go by before I write a review. When I finished this book and wrote the details down in my book journal, I rated it a B. Now that Borderline is fully digested, I changed the B to a C. This hurts because this is one of my favorite mystery series, and Anna feels like an old buddy of mine.

In this book, Anna is still trying to recuperate from all the horrendous doings up at Isle Royale in Winter Study. Diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she's basically told to take a vacation. The good thing about this is that she's able to take her vacation with her husband, Sheriff Paul Davidson. This is good for both Anna and the readers of this series because Davidson is a good guy and an interesting character but gets precious little "air time".

The two of them decide to go on a rafting trip down the Rio Grande and through Big Bend National Park in Texas. Big Bend has had its share of troubles post- 9/11 since it's right on the border. The Rio Grande is running high and strong due to storm run-off, and the raft Anna's group is on is swamped. While trying to recover supplies from the swift water, a young, very pregnant Hispanic woman is found caught in a snag. Anna can't save the young woman, but she does manage to save the baby before shots start being fired and members of the rafting party start dying. Anna and Paul have to get everyone-- including a newborn baby-- to safety. With young people along, it's not easy:

The twins were resilient but Lori and Chrissie had not been taught to face adversity. They were products of the Barney generation where everybody always wins, trophies are given all around regardless of which team wins and playground insults are dealt with by the courts. They had been trained to passivity and entitlement, skills that were useless in the present situation. Had they also been trained to obedience it would have helped, but in Barney's world everyone was a leader, regardless of ability.

Now comes the part where I have to explain why I downgraded this book. The book was schizophrenic. The first part was excellent. The young people in the rafting party all came to life, and having Anna in charge of a baby and teenagers was a stroke of genius. The suspense was first-rate; I had no idea how many of them would make it out of the canyon, and I kept wondering who was taking shots at them.

Once they were out of the canyon and effectively rescued, it almost felt as though I'd started reading an entirely different book. Anna's observations of the dead Hispanic woman coupled with the Texan politicos on the scene made it all too easy for me to figure out whodunit. Me...the person who never sets out to solve the mystery!

This is a must-read for anyone who's a Nevada Barr fan. The first part of the book is just too strong, and being able to see Anna interact with a baby and young people is something not to be missed. Just don't expect it to be one of the strongest books in the series. Of course...this is my opinion only, and your mileage may definitely vary. If you've read the book and really enjoyed it, please leave a comment and tell me. I always want to hear differing viewpoints!

Organize Your Corpses by Mary Jane Maffini

Title: Organize Your Corpses
Author: Mary Jane Maffini
ISBN: 9780425215807, Berkley Prime Crime, 2007
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #1 Charlotte Adams mystery
Rating: B

First Line: "Is this some kind of death wish?"

Charlotte Adams has moved back to Woodbridge, New York, and is trying to get her personal organizer business firmly established. That is the sole reason why, against everyone's advice, she accepts the job from "Hellfire" Henley, the school teacher everyone in town loves to hate. Things can't get much worse when Charlotte goes over to have Henley sign a contract and finds the former teacher's body buried under a mountain of clutter. You see...her former best friend is now a police officer and would love nothing better than to pin the crime on Charlotte. Charlotte's got to organize her own investigation to stay out of prison.

Maffini surrounds her main character with a cast of interesting friends and acquaintances, as well as giving readers organizational tips at the beginning of each chapter. Charlotte's landlord is her friend, Jack, who's never met a meal he didn't want to mooch and who constantly tries to get Charlotte to adopt homeless animals. How in the world she could adopt any more when she's already got her hands full with two misbehaving Dachshunds named Truffle and Sweet Marie is beyond me.

This is a traditional cozy mystery in which both the plot and the mystery take a backseat to the characters. Maffini's characterization is skilled, and I grew to like Charlotte, especially when she befriends an elderly shut-in, Rose, who bakes a mean batch of cookies.

Will I continue on with the series? I'm not sure. I used to love cozies, but within the past couple of years, I've found myself moving away from them and steering myself toward darker and heavier fare. Would I recommend this series to readers who love this genre? You bet! With the cast of characters Maffini has created, I can see Charlotte organizing investigations in many a mystery yet to come.

The Dark Horse by Craig Johnson

Title: The Dark Horse
Author: Craig Johnson
ISBN: 9780670020874, Viking, 2009
Genre: Police Procedural, #5 Walt Longmire mystery
Rating: A+

First Line: It was the third week of a high-plains October, and an unseasonably extended summer had baked the color from the landscape and had turned the rusted girders of the old bridge a thinned-out, tired brown.

When I began blogging last June, one of the very first authors I raved about was Craig Johnson. Get ready to listen to more raves because my opinion of him is unchanged.

In this fifth book of the series, we see the Sheriff of Absaroka County, Wyoming, working undercover as an insurance agent in the tiny, ill-tempered town of Absalom. Absalom resident Wade Barstad, well-known womanizer and jerk-about-town, set fire to his barn. The fire roasted alive his wife's horses, which didn't set too well with Mary. Mary Barstad waited till Wade went to bed. She then proceeded to put six bullets in his head and set fire to the house. When the fire department showed up, Mary confessed to killing her husband. But the sheriff in that county smells a rat, and he soon has Walt Longmire sniffing the very same eau de rongeur. Seeing as how most Absalom residents would just as soon shoot strangers as look at 'em, will Walt have enough time to figure out what really happened?

Although Johnson writes of his corner of Wyoming as if it's a character in and of itself, it's really the two-legged ones for whom you want to read this series. Each a rugged individualist, learning everyone's outlooks on life as well as their relationships with the other characters is the meat and potatoes of these books. The mystery is the huge wedge of lemon meringue pie that puts a satisfied PAID to the entire meal.

It's difficult to write a novel about the West and not have the landscape have its say. Just ask Hillerman or Bowen or Box...or Craig Johnson:

I thought about how we tilled and cultivated the land, planted trees on it, fenced it, built houses on it, and did everything we could to hold off the eternity of distance-- anything to give the landscape some sort of human scale. No matter what we did to try and form the West, however, the West inevitably formed us instead.

Walt Longmire was raised by his mother to respect and help the young, the old and the infirm. He's the type of person who can stare at the wall around a pay phone and think

People had written and scratched things so deeply that re-paintings had only heightened the sentiment. I wondered if Custer really wore Arrow shirts, if DD still loved NT, if the eleven kids that got left at the parking lot were still beating the Broncos twenty-four to three, or if 758-4331 was still a good time. I thought about the love, heartbreaks, and desperate passions that had been played out through the phone in my hand....

No matter how he may try to dissemble, when the chips are down you want Walt Longmire guarding your back. The man who can wonder about DD and NT truly gives a damn.

The book is told in two alternating time frames: the present while Walt is undercover, and the two weeks leading to his arrival in Absalom. Although this had me chafing at the bit a few times, it did serve two purposes: reminding us why Walt thought Mary Barstad was important enough to risk his life for, and giving us doses of Walt's co-workers and friends who couldn't follow him into this investigation. This series isn't the Walt Longmire Show; the secondary characters are just as well-drawn and easy to get attached to as he is.

Although I still doubt the wisdom of having a character like Walt go undercover practically on his own home turf, I loved this book. In a nostalgic post a few days ago, I mentioned being horse crazy, which was a bit prophetic. The Dark Horse was drawing to a close. Walt had to save someone's life and the only transportation available to take him down off a high mesa and toward help was a magnificent black horse. I swear, if someone had interrupted me at that moment, I wouldn't have bothered with a gun or a baseball bat or a scream of rage. I would've let fly with one of my Spontaneous Combustion Looks-- guaranteed to flash fry the recipient down to his Tony Lamas in one-tenth of a second.

Craig Johnson turned back my clock. While my adult brain was being very well taken care of, I was also a child, sitting here with my eyes glued to the page, reading about a hero and a horse and a race against time. Not many writers are skilled enough to satisfy on so many levels. Johnson is one of the few.

Ash Child by Peter Bowen

Title: Ash Child
Author: Peter Bowen
ISBN: 0312288506, St. Martin's Minotaur, 2002
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #9 Gabriel Du Pré mystery
Rating: B

First Line: Du Pré was pissed off.

This is one of my very favorite mystery series. I'd like for it to be one of yours, too, but in order for that to happen, you'll have to check any political correctness you may have at the door before you walk into the Toussaint Saloon to meet with characters that are so fully fleshed you'd swear they were alive. They are also farmers and ranchers, and their language may be a tad saltier than you're used to.

Gabriel Du Pré is a Métis Indian and occasional cattle brand inspector in the wilds of Montana. Nowadays he helps out the local sheriff when he isn't playing some of the best fiddle music you've ever heard in your life. Du Pré is probably more than a little bit different from the characters you're used to reading about:

"I checked you out," said Vook. "Du Pré is a good guy, they say, real good guy, runs on Bull Durham and bourbon and he pisses on the little laws but he's good about the big ones."

Maddy Collins was an old lady who lived on the edge of Toussaint and pretty much kept herself to herself, but everyone in town is upset when her body is found inside her small house. Someone had bashed in her head. Who on earth would want to do something like that to a person who'd never caused harm to another soul? Maddy's death doesn't set well with Du Pré, and he starts looking for the murderer. When he and Madelaine, the lady in his life, find out that drugs might have something to do with the woman's death, they ask an expert what they should be looking for. The expert gives them some things to look for, and--since they live in a small town--they know exactly who's involved.

An old woman's death, drug trafficking in a small Montana town...and then the Wolf Mountains start to burn. Everything Du Pré holds dear, including his own life, is at risk.

Peter Bowen is a master craftsman. The Métis speech patterns, at first strange to the ear, become more familiar with each book until they're completely natural. The independent spirit of all the people living in and around this small town feels familiar. When faced with a problem, they prefer to deal with it themselves. No agencies or government bureaucrats for the people of Toussaint. Even Du Pré's fiddle playing has a life of its own. Bowen's prose are lean and totally evocative of the place and the people of which he writes. There's not an unnecessary scene or phrase to be found.

If you'd like to spend a couple of hours with some real characters taking care of business, if you'd like to get a feel for the real West, you can't go wrong with a Gabriel Du Pré mystery by Peter Bowen.

Winter Study by Nevada Barr

Title: Winter Study
Author: Nevada Barr
ISBN: 9780399154584, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2008
Genre: Police Procedural, #14 Anna Pigeon mystery
Rating: A

First Line: The Beaver was spotless.

It's been fifteen years since National Park Service law enforcement officer Anna Pigeon was at Isle Royale National Park, and then she had the good sense to work there in the summer. However, she just couldn't pass up the chance to work with the famous "Winter Study"--scientists and researchers who study the wolf and moose populations of northern Michigan as their predecessors have for fifty years. In terms of data and knowledge gained, it's the most valuable study of its kind. Now it's in danger of being shut down due to Homeland Security's concerns about its Canadian border location.

It's a thousand times colder than that proverbial well digger's knee. Anna has so many layers of clothing on she feels like the Michelin woman, and she's still freezing. The staff quarters are less than salubrious, and to make matters worse, the resident Homeland Security bureaucrat is a complete jerk. Then strange things begin to happen. Wolves appear at their living quarters (an unheard of behavior), and they find the mutilated body of a fellow researcher out in the snow--along with the huge tracks of an unidentified beast. What in the world is going on, and with the weather closing in and shutting them off from the outside world...is anyone really safe?

I've been a "friend" of Anna's since her very first appearance in Track of the Cat. For two people who look no more alike than Laurel and Hardy, Anna and I share many psychological similarities. We both detest the cold, we both become depressed when too many overcast days string themselves together, we both prefer solitude and nature to most of the humans we know, we'd rather take a beating than walk into a cave, and it's usually more than we can take to put up with bombastic idiots. With that many quirks in common, you can see why I like her.

Barr worked her magic on me once again. As I turned the pages, I broke out in goosebumps and had to cover up with a blanket. She knows how to describe the cold! Whenever Anna and her cohorts went trekking any distance over the snow, I felt as though I were trudging right along with them, and I desperately wanted eyes in the back of my head because the creature that was killing people seriously creeped me out. I was there with Anna in almost every possible way I could be except physically. I had a vague idea of what was going on, but by the time Anna revealed all, I still hadn't pieced it all together.

For me, Winter Study is another strong entry in one of my favorite mystery series. And one that I will never consider actually reading in the winter. Without doubt, I'd keel over from terminal cold and goosebumps!

Signs in the Blood by Vicki Lane

Title: Signs in the Blood
Author: Vicki Lane
ISBN: 0440242088, Bantam Dell, 2005
Genre: Amateur Sleuth, #1 Elizabeth Goodweather mystery
Rating: B+

First Line: When Dessie Miller lay dying at home, her family overflowed the little house in a bittersweet reunion.

This marks the first time that I've read a book because I've been enjoying an author's photographs and posts on her blog. I first became acquainted with Vicki Lane's blog through a photography meme this past winter. I've had an almost daily dose of western North Carolina through her splendid photos and words. It didn't take Curious Cathy long to wonder about the mysteries Lane has written.

Elizabeth Goodweather is a fifty-something widow living on a farm in the mountains outside of Asheville, North Carolina. She's lived there for twenty years, running her herb and flower business, and she has become friends with many of her neighbors, but when Cletus Gentry goes missing, Elizabeth discovers how much she doesn't know about the land and people around her.

Cletus's elderly mother, Miss Birdie, is convinced that her childlike son has been murdered while out hunting for ginseng. She pleads with Elizabeth to help her find out what happened. As Elizabeth retraces Cletus's last wanderings through the mountains, she discovers fundamentalist Christians who use snakes in their services, an ultra conservative militia group calling themselves the Sons of Adam, and a commune that harks back to the 60s. With each discovery, she puts herself in more and more danger.

Lane's depiction of the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina and their people is wonderful. The cadence of the characters' speech was music to my ears. Woven throughout is the story of Little Sylvie, a young girl who lived in the area at the turn of the twentieth century. No one seems to know what ultimately happened to Sylvie, which bothers Elizabeth:

My god! I've lived here twenty years and still don't know what's on the other side of the mountain. But Cletus did.... I've got to help Birdie find out what happened. We can't let it be like the Little Sylvie story--just something that happened and it doesn't matter what the truth is. The truth does matter.

I really don't know what I expected when I began reading Signs in the Blood. If Lane's blog were any indication, I thought I'd enjoy the setting of the book. I enjoyed much more than that. Yes, the setting does play a large role in the book. It is a character unto itself. But the two-legged characters shine every bit as brightly: Elizabeth, who's let grief and widowhood blind her to the people around her; Birdie, a strong little mountain woman who's always done her best and puts her faith in Elizabeth to find out what happened to her son...even Little Sylvie, a young girl whose fate no one really seems to care about. They're all woven into a story that can mesmerize--just like those old mountains themselves.

When the time comes, I know I'll pick up the second book in the series, Art's Blood, with anticipation and pleasure.

The Monkey's Raincoat by Robert Crais

Title: The Monkey's Raincoat
Author: Robert Crais
ISBN: 0553275852, Bantam Books, 1992
Genre: Private Investigator, #1 Elvis Cole mystery
Rating: A

First Line: "I'm sorry, Mr. Cole, this has nothing to do with you."

Several years ago people began mentioning Elvis Cole to me. Hmm...my last name, my mother's favorite singer.... I duly filed away the information. The people doing the mentioning probably thought I'd blown them off, to which I would reply: Just because I don't lay rubber the second you mention an author I might like doesn't mean I'm not paying attention. Sometimes I think part of my brain is an aquifer; it takes time for some of these authors to percolate down to the Do Something Level. I finally reached the Do Something Level with Elvis Cole, and now I've got a big smile on my face knowing what I've got in store for me.

Elvis Cole is a private investigator with a shadowy partner, Joe Pike. Joe isn't around all that much, which suits most people just fine. Let's face it-- the man scares people to death, and according to Elvis, "Pike thinks Clint Eastwood talks too much." Elvis has a life that suits him just fine. A Vietnam vet, his hero is Peter Pan, and he thinks very highly of Jiminy Cricket. (So do I. Jiminy taught me how to spell encyclopedia.) I also have to admit that the Pinocchio clock he has on his office wall fascinates me. Peter Pan...Jiminy Cricket...Pinocchio...when Ellen Lang walked into his office to hire him to find her missing husband and son, I knew that I was about to embark on a rather unusual investigation. I was led to a viper's den of criminals, drugs and sex, but I feared not, for Cole and Pike were with me.

By the time I finished, I had some new friends in Elvis and Joe. (I have a healthy respect for Joe, but he doesn't scare me. Yet.) The investigation itself isn't all that complex or unusual, but it moves quickly and taught me to pay attention to small clues and subtle nuances. The real reason why this book is such a standout rests squarely on the shoulders of Elvis Cole. It's as though, once he made it out of Vietnam in one piece and decided he wanted to be Peter Pan, his decision stripped away several layers of adult apathy and cynicism. This man can eat ice cream, watch an obnoxious customer torment the counter girl...and be incapable of pretending it isn't happening. When Mr. Obnoxious is persuaded to leave, Elvis leaves his business card with the girl. "If anyone ever bothers you...let me know."

And that's the strength of Elvis Cole--he cares. If that's what happens when a person decides to be Peter Pan, I say we should all start flapping our arms and taking flying lessons. In The Monkey's Raincoat, Robert Crais has set his stage with two superb characters in Cole and Pike, and I just happen to have Acts Two (Stalking the Angel) and Three (Lullaby Town) waiting in the wings.

Now if I could only find myself one of those Pinocchio clocks....





[A word of warning: anyone who has a low tolerance of violence may want to pass on this series.]

Dog On It by Spencer Quinn

Title: Dog On It
Author: Spencer Quinn
ISBN: 9781416585831/ Atria Books, 2009
Genre: P.I., #1 Chet & Bernie mystery
Rating: B+

First Line: I could smell him--or rather the booze on his breath--before he even opened the door, but my sense of smell is pretty good, probably better than yours.

I'd better get this off my chest first: when I was little, I'd never miss an episode of "Lassie" on television, even though Mom would make remarks about Lassie coming in to spell H-E-L-P in the mashed potatoes. I've been all grown up now (at least physically) for quite some time, and once I put childish things aside, I've never been a fan of talking animal books. Perhaps I'm entering my second childhood, but now I find myself a fan of a talking dog, and his name is Chet. (Actually he never does "talk"...he just thinks really loud.)

After a run-in with a cat, Chet flunked K-9 school and now finds himself a partner in the Little Detective Agency. Life with private investigator Bernie Little is tops in Chet's book, and when divorcee Cynthia Chambliss hires Bernie to find her missing fifteen-year-old daughter Madison, Chet is ready to get to work.

Although Quinn never comes right out and tells us where the book is set, he mentions saguaro cacti a few times, so that does an excellent job of narrowing down the location. Chet and Bernie are in Arizona. (Probably Phoenix after reading Bernie's comments about the growth of the city.) Told entirely from Chet's point of view, I enjoyed this book immensely--and not just because of Chet. Bernie is a very strong character, too, with his own highly developed smarts and his views on the environment. One of the pleasures of reading Dog On It was seeing everything from a canine perspective and wondering how the author would work those clues so that Bernie could pick them up and go to work on them himself. (Unlike Lassie, Chet can't leave messages in the spuds.)

Strong characters, a fast-paced engrossing plot, and the added bonus of seeing everything from a very different perspective makes this debut a fun read.

There has been quite a lot of speculation about author Spencer Quinn's true identity. Sarah Weinman seems to have figured it out. Chet also seems to be turning into quite the celebrity. He has his own blog, you can find him on Twitter, and he has his own Facebook page.

Here's to many more mysterious adventures with Chet and Bernie!

Murder in Metropolis by Lonnie Cruse

Title: Murder in Metropolis
Author: Lonnie Cruse
ISBN: 0978588002, NaDaC Publishing, 2006
Genre: #1 in the Metropolis Mystery series
Rating: B

First Line: Sheriff Joe Dalton plunked his boots on top of his desk, leaned back in the protesting chair, snapped open his newspaper, and hooked a finger through his donut-shaped coffee cup.

Other than his wife keeping him on a diet and occasionally having to roust Big Ed Simmons off Miz Lipinski's steps, Sheriff Joe Dalton has a pretty good life in Metropolis, Illinois...until the body of his best friend is found draped all over the Superman statue in front of the courthouse. Finding Jack Hatfield's killer has just become Dalton's top priority.

I felt as though I were back home in small-town Illinois as I read this book. Like me, Dalton (and I suspect his creator as well) tends to feel more comfortable with people who know what it's like to put in a hard day's work:

Most likely that came from having done a man's work every day of his life since early boyhood. Dalton knew that the perpetrator of this crime would be much safer spending life in jail than spending five minutes alone with Windhorst in his barn.

There's an ease, a familiarity that comes with growing up among people in a small town. You know everyone. Everyone knows you. This ease shines through on each page of Cruse's book. Her sense of place, her skill in characterization, makes Murder in Metropolis a pleasure to read. If only I hadn't twigged to whodunit almost immediately! The fact that I did has very little to do with my powers of deduction and more to do with my suspicious mind after years of hearing excuses for employees not being able to come to work. One certain excuse was used a lot, and since it's a malady I'm very familiar with, I tend to treat it with more doubt than almost any other. If not for my suspicious mind, the ending of this book would've been a huge surprise.

Am I disappointed? Not really. I enjoyed the setting, the action, and getting to know the characters so much that I'll be looking for more books in this series!

The Cold Blue Blood by David Handler

Title: The Cold Blue Blood
Author: David Handler
ISBN: 0312986106/ St. Martin's Minotaur, 2001
Genre: Cozy Mystery, #1 in the Berger and Mitry series
Rating: A

First Line: He called himself Stan, although Torry was pretty sure Stan wasn't his real name.

The two main characters: Mitch Berger, New York film critic and reclusive curmudgeon; and Lieutenant Desiree Mitry of the Connecticut State Police, six-foot-one, long dreadlocks, legs up to there, and a rescuer of feral cats.

Hooked yet?

I was, but I was also in for a shock. For some reason when the term "curmudgeon" is used to describe someone, I automatically think of that person as being over fifty years of age. Mitch Berger is barely in his thirties, and has been thrown for a loop by the death of his beloved wife. He's lived and breathed movies his entire life, and being a film critic is the perfect job for him:

"I discovered that I come alive in the dark," he said. "Not so much like a vampire but more like an exotic form of fungus. A darkened movie theater is my natural habitat."

Enough time has passed after his wife's death that Mitch begins to feel a need for a change of scenery, someplace where he can work on his latest book. He finds a place on Connecticut's Gold Coast:

Because this was no ordinary outbuilding. It was a genuine antique post-and-beam carriage house with exposed beams of hand-hewn chestnut. The room, which was a good-sized one, had a big fieldstone fireplace at one end, wide-boarded oak floors and floor-to-ceiling windows that afforded a totally unobstructed view of the water in three different directions. It was a bit like being on the bridge of a ship at sea.

Although Mitch had just thought of staying at a B&B for a couple of weeks, after seeing this carriage house, he couldn't help himself and rented it immediately from its blue-blooded Yankee owner. Mitch moves in, the sea air begins working its magic on him, he decides to put in a garden...and when his spade uncovers a dead body, he has the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Desiree Mitry. What did the good lieutenant think when she first laid eyes on Mitch?

Mitch Berger had the saddest eyes Des had ever seen on any creature that was not living at the Humane Society, its wet nose and furry paws pressed to the door of its cage.

A few pieces of the plot are well-known devices: the small town community that shuns outsiders; the rich folks who expect doffed caps and tugged forelocks and know that the laws do not apply to them. Well-known and well-worn or not, what drew me into this book hook, line and sinker were Handler's way with words and his characterizations. Handler has an eye for detail and a talent for snappy dialogue. Although Berger and Mitry are the stars of the book (each with a personal arsenal of life's scars), there are other characters that stand out and remain in my memory: the single mother who makes a fatal mistake, the old "Cranky Yankee"....

It's been a long time since I was so charmed by one book that I immediately started grabbing as many of the other books in the series as I could get my hands on, but that's what I did when I finished The Cold Blue Blood. I have the next three books in the series waiting to be read. I know I'm in for a treat!

Review-- Wild Indigo

Title: Wild Indigo
Author: Sandi Ault
ISBN: 9780425219010/ Berkley Prime Crime, 2008
Genre: Mystery, #1 in the Wild series
Rating: A

First Line: I got there too late to save Jerome Santana.

We first meet Bureau of Land Management resource protection agent Jamaica Wild when she fails to save a man from a buffalo stampede. In short order, the leadership of the Tanoah Pueblo in New Mexico's high desert blames her for starting the stampede and for being on their land during Quiet Time when no visitors are allowed. Jamaica finds herself banned from the pueblo and suspended from her job. Something about Jerome Santana's death doesn't seem right to her and her integrity is at stake, so she decides to investigate.

Ault blends the legends and traditions of several Pueblo cultures to immerse the reader in a very different way of life and to give a very real sense of the high desert of New Mexico. The author also doesn't dodge the difficulties of many Native Americans in today's society:

"She already had her Becomes Woman ceremony and everything, where she had to grind corn for four days and everyone went from house to house singing her name. I went there for the ceremony, and I felt ashamed that there was no father there to sing for her. I missed my people then, and I felt like I lived in three worlds-- my home at Cochiti, my life here, and the modern world we have to live in now in order to survive. It's not easy when you have all that to deal with."

The cultural and physical settings are powerful. The pacing moves right along, and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing as to what's really going on, but it was the character of Jamaica Wild herself that grabbed me the most. Jamaica is no greenhorn at living in what can be a very hostile environment. She has caches of gasoline, water and food at various points throughout the land she patrols. She enjoys the company of people, but also values solitude. She's adopted a wolf pup she's named Mountain, and their relationship will ring true for any reader who's had a close connection with an extraordinary animal. An older woman in Tanoah Pueblo is Jamaica's mentor because she truly wants to learn the culture and traditions of the people with whom she works. No matter how strong the action and the plot, Jamaica and Mountain are the true draws of this book, and they are the reason why I'll be reading the other books in this series.

If you've enjoyed the mysteries of Nevada Barr and Tony Hillerman, I think the chances are excellent that you would enjoy this series, too.

Review-- Poison Pen

Title: Poison Pen
Author: Sheila Lowe
ISBN: 9780977627608/ Capital Crime Press, 2007
Genre: Mystery, #1 Claudia Rose Forensic Handwriting
Rating: B

First Line: "No, girlfrien'."

Publicist-to-the-stars Lindsey Alexander was ruthless. She was a backstabber. She was a manipulator of the first degree. When her nude body is found in a Jacuzzi with a suicide note nearby, former friend Claudia Rose is dumbfounded. Lindsey is the last person she would expect to commit suicide. Lindsey just had too much fun making other people suffer. When Lindsey's business manager hires Claudia to prove that Lindsey did not write the suicide note, the forensic handwriting expert finds herself up to her eyeballs in danger.

Although I sometimes have a tough time reading a book that centers around a thoroughly nasty murder victim, I had no problem turning the pages of Poison Pen. There are several reasons for this. One, I've been interested in handwriting analysis since I was in the eighth grade and helped my English teacher grade handwritten papers. (I was the only person who could read one particular student's handwriting.) As I read each person's paper, I began to pair certain characteristics of their writing to their personalities. I still do that today, although handwriting can certainly be much more difficult to find! Now that you know this, it would be easy for you to surmise that I enjoyed the fact that Claudia Rose is a forensic handwriting expert.

I also liked the fast pace of the book and the setting of southern California, but to me the best part of the book was Lowe's characterizations. I liked Claudia Rose. This character has just the right blend of intelligence, naivete, and willingness to take a risk. She also has a smart mouth from time to time, which is a plus. (At least to me!)

I don't know how many times I've read scenes when the amateur sleuth is being grilled by the police, and I've wanted to add my own smart-mouth commentary. I didn't have to when I read this book:

She rolled her eyes. "Have you seen the amount of blood in there, Columbo?"

"You know, Ms. Rose, you might want to consider changing your attitude. At the very least, you're a witness at a serious crime, and I expect you to explain yourself, not smart off."

Claudia stared at him.

You go, girl! Don't back down! (She didn't.) Fast pace, good setting, interesting occupation, excellent characters, and a killer who isn't easily guessed...I'm already looking for the next book in this series, Written in Blood!

Review-- Homicide in Hardcover

Title: Homicide in Hardcover
Author: Kate Carlisle
ISBN: 9780451226150/ Obsidian Mystery, 2009
Genre: Cozy Mystery, #1 in the Bibliophile Mystery series
Rating: B-

First Line: My teacher always told me that in order to save a patient you'd have to kill him first.

When book restorer Brooklyn Wainwright decided to go into business for herself, it caused a rift between her and her teacher, Abraham Karastovsky. She is relieved when he welcomes her with open arms at a party in the prestigious Covington Library in San Francisco, but a short time later Brooklyn walks into a workroom to find Abraham lying in a pool of blood. Leaving her with a cryptic message and an extremely rare (and supposedly cursed) volume of Faust, she finds herself right in the middle of a murder investigation, complete with family members as suspects and a delectable British security officer.

Although Hardcover in Homicide suffers a bit from wanting to be all things to all people with a wide-ranging cast of characters that could've been pared down, I did enjoy the book. The information about book restoration was fascinating without bogging down the pace. The San Francisco-Napa Valley locales added the perfect ambiance to the story, and Carlisle does have some gems in her line-up of characters-- foremost among them Brooklyn's family. Her parents live in a commune named Dharma in the Napa Valley, and her siblings have similarly geographic names: Austin, China.... Led by Guru Bob, the people of Dharma are quite the interesting bunch to visit, and I'm hoping that future books in the series will let us get to know Brooklyn's siblings better.

Led by a very interesting main character, once this series tightens its focus a bit, it will be a very entertaining one to follow. One small aside: I find it amusing that Homicide in Hardcover is published as a mass market paperback (but then, I can be easily amused)!

Review-- Ghost at Work

Title: Ghost at Work
Author: Carolyn Hart
ISBN: 9780060874360/ William Morrow, 2008
Genre: Cozy Mystery, #1 in the Bailey Ruth series
Rating: C

First Line: Incandescent dashes of pink and gold spangled the fluffy white clouds that arched over the entrance to the Department of Good Intentions.

Bailey Ruth Raeburn and her husband, Bobby Mac, were killed in a boating accident many years ago. Bailey Ruth wants to lend a helping hand and makes an appointment with Wiggins, the man in charge of the Department of Good Intentions, which is renowned for helping those on earth who are in dire need of aid. Before Wiggins can explain all the rules and regs of her position as emissary (what you and I would call a ghost), Bailey Ruth finds herself whisked off to a house in Adelaide, Oklahoma, where the pastor's wife has just found a dead body on her porch a few days before Halloween. Bailey Ruth has to discover the identity of the killer before the pastor's wife is hauled off to jail.

This is the first book by Carolyn Hart that I've read, and I thought she added an interesting twist to the cozy mystery genre by having a ghost as the sleuth. As befits someone who's written as many books as she, Hart is quite workmanlike at delineating her characters, setting the scene, moving the plot along, and planting red herrings.

But somewhere along the line, the entire book began to lose air like a wrecked souffle. It was fun to see Bailey Ruth become acquainted with SUVs, cell phones, and computers, and for a woman known to speak and act without thinking, she naturally broke almost all of Wiggins' rules by the end of her first evening in Adelaide. But some things just didn't add up. Her lack of a corporeal body is emphasized, but why does she need to eat and sleep? Bailey Ruth keeps mentioning Bobby Mac, but we never hear a peep out of him, or see him for that matter. Are there divorces in Heaven? And why did I keep picturing Tom Bosley as Wiggins?

All in all, I'd have to say that Ghost at Work is average. Your mileage may definitely vary!

Sharon Fiffer's Jane Wheel Mystery Series

Lovers of cozy mysteries and The Antiques Roadshow (both US and UK versions) are bound to love this mystery series by Sharon Fiffer. It definitely deserves more attention!

Jane Wheel, recently estranged from her husband and laid off by her PR firm in Chicago, is making ends meet by working as a "picker" for an antiques dealer. As someone whose kitchen is loaded with Bakelite and vintage tea towels, who's never met a piece of McCoy pottery that she didn't like, this is perfect therapy. Trouble is, she keeps finding mysteries to solve along the way.

Jane's crime solving takes her from the Chicago area further south into Kankakee, Illinois, and readers are given many tips about garage sales, flea markets, estate sales, and collectibles. (I wouldn't be at all surprised if many don't go rummaging through their attics after reading one of these books.) But the information to be gleaned about collecting "stuff" isn't the only reason to read this series. The mysteries are solid, the setting takes me right back to growing up in Illinois, and there is an excellent cast of characters.

The books in the series are:

1. Killer Stuff (2001)
2. Dead Guy's Stuff (2002)
3. The Wrong Stuff (2003)
4. Buried Stuff (2005)
5. Hollywood Stuff (2006)

Click on the book cover collage at the top of this post to be taken to Fiffer's entry on Fantastic Fiction for more information on the books and buying options. If you like cozies and collectibles, you should enjoy this series!

Review-- Shakespeare's Trollop

Title: Shakespeare's Trollop
Author: Charlaine Harris
ISBN: 0425196992/ Berkley Prime Crime, 2004
Genre: Mystery, #4 in the Lily Bard series
Rating: B

First Line: By the time I opened my eyes and yawned that morning, she had been sitting in the car in the woods for seven hours.

Deedra Dean got very little respect in her hometown of Shakespeare, Arkansas. She liked men, and men most definitely liked her. In death, as in life, she was shown no respect: her nude body found in her car on a little-traveled road by the town cleaning lady, Lily Bard.

Lily cleaned Deedra's apartment, so it falls to her to help Deedra's mother empty it. Knowing the dead woman's proclivities, Lily manages to dispose of Deedra's home videos, photos and sex toys before the grieving mother can see and be upset by them. But Lily can't ignore the fact that this murder touches her in a way that others have not. Knowing that the easiest solution would be to pin the crime on one of Deedra's many "beaus", Lily is determined to see that justice is served.

The growth of Lily is the main focus of this series. She had a good career in Memphis, Tennessee until she was kidnapped and brutally raped and disfigured. Afterward, all she wanted to do was hide from all the publicity, heal, and mind her own business. Her body has been healed, and it's now toned and strengthened with karate. She's not afraid of being alone. Lily thought that being a cleaning lady would mean that she could exist beneath most peoples' radar, but instead the job has helped bring her back into the orbit of others. She's slowly made friends and is letting down her defenses enough to try a relationship with someone.

As interesting as the mysteries may be, this series is really all about Lily's journey from the shadows and into the light. Although it's a pity that there's only one more book in the series, if Harris brings this character fully back into the light, it will have been a good journey for both character and reader.