DIAMONDS (AND BONES TOO) ARE FOREVER - BONES ARE FOREVER BY KATHY REICHS

Bones Are Forever is Kathy Reich’s 15^th thriller featuring Temperance Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who works both in North Carolina and Montreal.  Reichs, like her fictional creation, is forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire de Sciences Judiciaries et de Medicine Legal for the province of Quebec.  Reichs belongs to the “this is my life if I also solved homicides” genre of mystery writers.  Kathy Reichs is also a producer for the Fox televison series Bones. The author has explained that the tv show features Tempe Brennan’s life as a much younger forensic anthropologist.  In the books, Dr. Brennan is a divorcee with a twenty-something daughter.

Bones Are Forever begins with a woman named Amy Roberts going to a Montreal hospital’s ER complaining of vaginal bleeding.  When the young woman is examined, doctors discover that she has recently given birth.  After Amy is questioned about this, she abruptly leaves the hospital.  Montreal authorities are informed of this strange disappearance and the police are dispatched to her apartment.  They are horrified to find the remains of three babies.  Forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan is called in to determine what she can learn from the skeletons of the infants. 

The probable mother, however, is nowhere to be seen.  There is evidence that Ms. Roberts has fled to Edmonton, so Tempe and her sometimes lover, police detective Andrew Ryan, follow her trail west.  The young woman (who has at least three aliases) has left Edmonton by the time Tempe and Ryan arrive.  In the western Canadian town the twosome meet Ollie Hasty of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  Tempe had an unwise and brief affair with Hasty years earlier. The Mountie wants to renew the relationship but Tempe is clearly not interested in Hasty.

The trio discovers that Roberts’ real name is Annaliese Ruben.  She may have fled to Yellowknife, a bleak and barren mining town near the Artic Circle in Canada’s vast Northwest Territories.  Ruben  has an extended family in Yellowknife, including a father who left claims to several diamond mines to her and her siblings. (Diamonds were discovered in the Yellowknife area of Canada in the early 1990s;.)  As soon as Brennan, Ryan and Hasty reach the Northwest Territoies, the body count begins to rise.  Of course the murders are all connected to the diamond trade, but revealing any more would be giving away too much of the mystery.

As always, Kathy Reichs writes an exciting thriller with rich, well-developed characters.  There are fewer forensic scenes than in most of the “Bones” novels, but to me that is a plus.  Reichs uses too much professional jargon when Tempe is studying a skeleton.  It would help if the author would let the readers know what Dr. Brennan is talking about.  I wish Tempe could be like real-life medical examiner, Dr. Jan Garavaglia.  Dr. G. describes her autopsies in layman terms, yet never talks down to the audience.

All Reichs’ Tempe Brennan novels follow the same formula.  Dr. Brennan solves the murder before Ryan or any of the other detectives.  Then she gets abducted by the bad guys, but before they can kill her, Tempe is rescued by Detective Ryan.  Bones Are Forever ends the same way as every Bones thriller.  Tempe is in the hospital, recovering from injuries inflicted by the criminals.  Despite these flaws, the latest Temperance Brennan mystery is an enjoyable read.  I am looking forward to Kathy Reichs’ next “Bones” novel.

BEWARE OF THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT - TANA FRENCH'S BROKEN HARBOR

Broken Harbor is Tana French’s fourth novel in the Dublin detective squad series.  The narrator and main character is Sargent Mick “Scorcher” Kennedy who previously appeared in a secondary role in French’s third detective procedural, Faithful Place.  Broken Harbor is set in modern Ireland.  No longer the “Celtic tiger”, there are many ghost estates in Dublin and its suburbs.  The building of these housing developments was begun during Ireland’s boom years.  When the worldwide recession hit in 2008, thousands of these properties were abandoned, left empty or semi-inhabited. 

One of these home owners was Patrick and Jenny Spain.  During the good years the Spains bought a house in Brianstown, a seaside area formerly known as Broken Harbor.  Patrick had a great job and Jenny stayed home to take care of their two small children, Emma and Jack.  The Spains are a golden couple who first fell in love when they were sixteen years old.  Unfortunately, like too many people around the world, Patrick lost his job.  As the months go by and he can’t find a new job, the family is in danger of losing their dream home.

When Jenny’s sister, Fiona, doesn’t hear from the Spains, she contacts the Dublin police.  Patrick is found stabbed to death and Jenny, also a stabbing victim, is clinging to life.  Emma and Jack are also dead but they have been suffocated.  The case is given to the already mentioned Mick Kennedy and his rookie partner, Richie Curran.  Years earlier Mick and his family spent summers in Brianstown.  Back then it was called Broken Harbor.  During Mick’s fifteenth summer his mother killed herself.  Mick’s father and his younger sister, Dina, have never gotten over this traumatic event. Mick and his older sister, Geri, spend much of their time looking after the deeply troubled Dina.  Mick’s marriage ended in large part because of Dina’s unhealthy dependence on her brother.

As Mick begins to investigate the case, he discovers that nothing is as it seems.  Upon reading the Spain’s computer e-mails, it turns out Patrick gave up his search for a new job months earlier.  Instead the young husband and father spent all his time trying to catch an animal that Patrick feared was hiding in their attic.  His obsession with capturing this beast had a very negative effect on his wife and children.  The Spains did everything right and yet their lives were destroyed by economic forces beyond their control.

With Broken Harbor, Tana French has written another brilliant psychological thriller with rich characters and enough twists and turns to keep her readers awake at night.  I can’t wait for the next Dublin detective squad mystery.

SULLIVAN'S ISLAND HELPS A FAMILY HEAL - PORCH LIGHTS BY DOROTHEA BENTON FRAK

With her thirteenth novel, Porch Lights, Dorothea Benton Frank returns to familiar ground.  The novel is set on Sullivan’s Island, an idyllic resort area near Charleston, South Carolina.  Jackie McMullan is an army nurse stationed in Afghanistan.  Her husband Jimmy, a New York City firefighter, dies in the line of duty.  Jackie decides to take herself and her desperately unhappy ten year old son, Charlie, to Sullivan’s Island for the summer.  Even though Jackie couldn’t wait to leave South Carolina when she became an adult, she knows that the healing powers of the beach, sun and especially Charlies’s grandparents, Annie and Buster, are just what she and her son need.

Porch Lights is written from the points of view of both Jackie and her mother Annie Britt.  Annie and Jackie’s father, Buster, have been separated for eleven years, but they have never gotten a divorce.  Both Jackie and Buster feel that Annie has a tendency to be a “fuss budget”.  Eleven years earlier, on the day after Jackie and Jimmy’s wedding, Buster got tired of Annie’s interfering ways and went on what he called an extended “fishing trip”.  For her part, it upsets Annie that Buster is often sarcastic and rude and never seems to listen to a word she says.

The needs of their daughter and especially their grandson eventually bring Annie and Buster back together.  In the warm and friendly environment of Sullivan’s Island Jackie and Charlie finally start to mend.  Charlie is so happy on Sullivan’s Island that he never wants to leave.  He is also afraid that if he and his mother return to Brooklyn he will be surrounded by memories of his dead father.  Jackie feels that she and her son must return to where Jimmy is buried (Brooklyn), so that they can honor his memory.

Jackie does begin to fall under the spell of Sullivan’s Island, especially when she meets the “boy” next door Steve Plofker.  Steve is a 43 year old dermatologist (Jackie is 35) who lost his wife several years earlier. Dr. Steve is also the proud owner of two adorable boykin spaniels.  Charlie is hired to walk and babysit the dogs for the grand sum of $5.00 a day.  Taking care of these animals plays a very important part in Charlie’s healing process.  Jackie and Charlie also bond more with Annie and Buster following the death of Miss Deb’s husband Vernon.  Miss Deb has been Annie’s best friend since they were both children on Sullivan’s Island.  As well she has served as a second mother to Jackie and a second grandmother to Charlie.

 Porch Lights is a very warm and touching novel.  Frank’s characters are well developed and true to life.  The only question I have is about Annie and Buster careers, well actually their lack of careers.  Both seem to be retired.  Annie even reflects on how much she misses teaching American history.  But Annie is only 58, not 68 or 78.  Shouldn’t she still be teaching?  And why is Buster at the age of 62 free to fish and hang out with Charlie all day?  Frank mentions nothing about how the Britts finance their lavish Sullivan’s Island lifestyle.  Are they independently wealthy?  I think the characters of Annie and Buster would be even richer if Frank had addressed these questions.

That being said, Porch Lights is a wonderful read.  Frank is an expert of interweaving the plot with the rich cultural heritage of South Carolina.  I am already looking forward to Dorothea Benton Frank’s next Lowcountry novel. 

LISA GARDNER'S CATCH ME

Catch Me is Lisa Garner’s sixth thriller featuring Boston homicide detective D.D. Warren.  (It is Gardner’s seventh Warren mystery if you count the enovella The 7^th Month.)  Sargent Warren has just returned from maternity leave and is made lead detective in a case involving the murder of pedophiles.  Even though D.D. and her team think the murderer is doing Boston a favor by getting rid of child molesters, they know the police cannot allow this vigilante justice to continue.

While at the scene of the second murdered pedophile, D. D. encounters a woman who wants the detective Sargent to solve her own murder.  Her name is Charlene Grant and she tells D. D. that her two closest childhood friends, Randi Menke and Jackie Knowles, were both strangled on January 21^st in the past two years.  Their murders, each a year apart from the other, have not been solved.  Charlene is afraid that, as the last surviving member of the childhood trio, she will be killed this January 21^st.  That date is only four days away.

D. D. discovers that Charlene is not making up what happened to her friends.  The detective, however, does not know what to make of the strange young woman.  Is Charlene a potential murder victim or could she be the murderer?  A young detective on D. D.’s team thinks that Charlene may have killed the pedophiles as well as her two close friends.  As January 21^st draws nearer, D. D. tries to discover if her colleague is right about who the real murderer is and if the deaths of Charlene’s friends are related to the killings of the child molesters.

In Catch Me, Lisa Gardner again proves what a master she is at writing truly terrifying thrillers.  She is also very adept at weaving together several subplots into a coherent and suspenseful whole.  As well, Gardner makes the reader aware of issues relevant to just about every American.  Through the words of D. D. and her detective team, we learn how pedophiles target young boys on kiddy internet gaming sites.  Sargent Warren may eventually solve the murders, but Gardner leaves the detectives and the readers with many unanswered questions.  Can parents really know what their children are doing online? Can laws and the police truly protect young people from child predators? 

Lisa Gardner’s latest thriller is so terrifying real that it will keep many of her readers up all night.  Her mastery of the suspense novel genre increases with every mystery she writes.

PARIS OPERA BALLET

‘GISELLE’

By Colleen Boresta

July 14, 2012 (m) – David Koch Theatre, New York, New York

The last time the Paris Opera Ballet appeared in New York was way back in 1996.  Not wanting to let the chance of seeing this celebrated company escape me, I bought a ticket for the July 14^th matinee of “Giselle”.  I had been told by a fellow balletomane that POB’s current “Giselle” is as close to the original production of this romantic classic as one can get.  (“Giselle” premiered in Paris on June 28, 1841.)

“Giselle” is the story of a young peasant girl with a weak heart.  She falls in love with a farmer named Loys and believes that she is engaged to marry him.  Hilarion, the village gamekeeper, loves Giselle and is jealous of Loys.  Hilarion finds proof that Loys is really a nobleman.  When Giselle finally realizes that Loys is actually Count Albrecht and that he is betrothed to Princess Bathilde, she goes mad and dies.

In Act II Giselle becomes a Willi.  Willis are the spirits of young girls who have been betrayed by their fiancés.  They appear at midnight and dance to death any male found in their forest.  Hilarion brings a cross to Giselle’s grave and the Willis kill him.

Devastated by sorrow and contrition, Albrecht brings flowers to Giselle’s grave.  There the spirit of Giselle appears to him.  Giselle forgives Albrecht, but he is captured by the Willis who want to dance him to death.  Giselle cannot stop the Willis, but she dances with Albrecht, giving him as much of her spiritual strength as she can.  Then dawn arrives and the Willis lose their power.  Giselle’s spirit goes back to her grave.  She will never be a Willi again.  Albrecht is still alive, left to mourn Giselle forever.

Not being around in 1841, I have no idea what the original production of “Giselle” was like.  I do know that the Paris Opera Ballet’s current “Giselle”, staged by Patrice Bart and Eugene Polyakov, after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa, is a very traditional version of the ballet.  It is quite similar to American Ballet Theatre’s “Giselle”.

I am very impressed by POB’s “Giselle”, but it does not move me.  I feel as detached from the 19^th century world of Giselle and Albrecht as the leading dancers Isabelle Ciaravola and Karl Paquette seem to be.  Isabella Ciaravola is a beautiful looking Giselle, but her footwork is not as precise as it should be.  She simplifies her Act I solo, doing single turns instead of doubles.  Her Act II jetes lack elevation.

As Count Albrecht, Karl Paquette is pretty much a blank slate, especially in Act I.  I can’t figure out if he is a cad or really loves Giselle.  Paquette does not seem to develop any characterization of the nobleman.  His dancing is quite spectacular in Act II, especially his double air turns and entrechats.

For me, the most unforgettable performance is Marie-Agnes Gillot’s Myrtha.  She has the highest and most vengeful leap I have ever seen.  Gillot is a truly cold and frightening Queen of the Willis.

Heloise Bourdon and Axel Ibot dance an excitingly lovely peasant pas de deux.  Ibot’s strong jumps and wonderful ballon are especially noteworthy.

The Willis are absolutely beautiful, performing in perfect unison.  Their movements are so in sync that it is as though they are one entity. 

I will remember POB’s “Giselle” for a long time, particularly due to the power of the Willis and their Queen.  I hope the Paris Opera Ballet returns to New York before another 16 years have passed.

WHAT SIDE AM I ON? GERALD SEYMOUR'S "TIMEBOMB"

The year is 1993.  The Soviet Union has not only fallen apart, but is bankrupt as well.  Oleg Yashkin, a senior KGB at a nuclear facility, is let go without any hope of a steady pension.  Enraged at being kicked to the curb after years of faithful service, Oleg steals a nuclear weapon – a suitcase bomb or a dirty bomb as it is more often called.  Oleg buries the bomb in a vegetable garden behind his home.  The weapon cannot explode without a precursor agent combined with military dynamite, but once they are added it can easily destroy the center of a city like New York, Paris or London.

Fifteen years later, Oleg finds a buyer for the weapon.  He sets off with the help of his friend Igor Molenkov, who was also dismissed from the KGB, to deliver the bomb to Russian mafia chief Reuven Weissberg.  The crime lord insists that the weapon be delivered to him in Poland.  So Oleg and Igor begin their journey, driving an old Soviet made truck with the bomb hidden under a tarp.

Christopher Lawson, a 38 year veteran of Britain’s MI6, has received intelligence about the sale of the dirty bomb.  Weissberg, with the help of his money launderer Joseph Goldmann and two Russian body guards (Viktor and Mikhail) plans to pay the two former KGB officers one million American dollars for the weapon.  Reuven will then sell it for ten million dollars to an operative from the Middle East.

Johnny Carrick, a former British paratrooper, is working as a driver for Josef Goldmann,

Weissberg’s money man.  Carrick is really an undercover cop.  So far he has not been able to find any evidence to arrest Goldmann for his money laundering activities.  MI6 officer Lawson has Johnny seconded to his agency.  Lawson then uses one of his operatives to set up a fake assassination attempt against Josef Goldmann.  Carrick “saves” his boss’ life, thereby becoming invaluable to Goldmann.  The mafia money man is so impressed with Johnny’s heroism that he includes Carrick on his trip to Poland.

Christopher Lawson and seven MI6 operatives follow Goldmann and company to Poland.  The brusque rude Lawson does nothing to convince Carrick that he is being protected by MI6.  Quite the opposite – Johnny is made to feel that he has been set adrift among the Russians.  When Viktor and Mikhail “test” Johnny with threats of physical harm, only Reuven Weissberg stands up for him.  Carrick then becomes the mafia leader’s personal bodyguard.

Reuven also educates Johnny about his grandmother’s time as an inmate at the Sobibor extermination camp.  Her experiences at Sobibor are the main reason why Reuven became a distrustful vindictive crime boss.  As time goes on Carrick feels much closer to Weissberg than he does to any MI6 operative.

Gerald Seymour is a true master of the suspense genre.  His plots are multi-layered and his characters are fascinating as well as being true to life.  I didn’t know how “Timebomb” was going to finish until I reached the last few pages of the book.  The conclusion, however, was so perfect that “Timebomb” could not have ended any other way.  I hope Gerald Seymour continues to write his nail biting psychological thrillers for years to come.

THOMAS AND CHARLOTTE PITT SAVE ENGLAND FROM SPIES AND ANARCHISTS - ANNE PERRY'S "DORCHESTER TERRACE"

“Dorchester Terrace” is Anne Perry’s 27^th Thomas and Charlotte Pitt mystery.  The year is 1896 and Thomas Pitt has just become head of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch.  The former head, Victor Narraway, was forced to resign after becoming involved in a scandal not of his own making.  (This incident is related in Perry’s previous Pitt book “Treason at Lisson Grove”.)

Thomas is the son of a gamekeeper and many important Londoners doubt his ability to run Special Branch.  At the beginning of “Dorchester Terrace” Pitt’s assistant, Stoker, tells his boss of rumors concerning Duke Alois Habsburg, a minor member of the Austrian royal family.  The rumors indicate that the duke may be assassinated when he makes a visit to London.  Thomas is able to find evidence that these reports are possibly true, but Britain’s Foreign Minister refuses to even consider the possibility that the duke could be murdered in London.  The Foreign Minister does not even want to meet with Pitt.  He sends his assistant Jack Radley (who is Pitt’s brother-in-law) to get rid of the pesky Pitt.  Pitt insists, however, on only speaking to the Foreign Minister, who dismisses Pitt from his office after telling him that he has been promoted beyond his abilities.

At the same time Charlotte Pitt’s (Charlotte is Thomas’ upper class wife) aunt Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gold is very worried about her old friend Lady Serafina Montserrat.  Serafina was a freedom fighter during the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire.  Now she is old and in declining health.  Her mind begins to wander and Serafina is afraid she may reveal important secrets without meaning to.  Lady Montserrat is so worried that she fears she may be murdered if she unintentionally reveals delicate information in front of the wrong person.  Lady Montserrat’s niece, Nerissa Freemarsh, thinks Serafina is just imagining things and that her aunt doesn’t have any secrets worth worrying about.  Lady Vespasia takes Serafina’s worries seriously, but Nerissa doesn’t listen to her either.

Before much time has passed Lady Montserrat is found dead.  After an autopsy, it is discovered that she died from a massive overdose of laudanum.  There is no way Lady Montserrat could have administered the laudanum to herself.  Obviously, her worst fears were correct – Lady Serafina Montserrat was murdered.

Pitt believes that the death of Serafina is connected to the rumored assassination attempt on the Austrian duke.  With the help of Victor Narraway, Charlotte Pitt, Lady Vespasia (and of course Stoker and the other agents of Special Branch) Pitt begins to unravel the many layers of these mysteries.  It even begins to look like someone in the British government may be behind both Lady Montserrat’s murder and the attempt to kill Duke Alois Habsburg.

Anne Perry has written a fascinating thriller.  Pitt, not knowing whom he can trust, proves to upper class Londoners (and especially himself) that he is the right man to head Special Branch.  For the most part Perry has done her research on the history of England and Europe in the years leading up to World War I.  I only have one small complaint about the historical accuracy of “Dorchester Terrace”.  At one point, Perry has a character lecture Pitt on European geopolitical affairs.  That individual tells Pitt that the Russian government is run from Moscow.  But in the years before the 1917 Russian Revolution, St. Petersburg was Russia’s capital.  It is a very minor flaw but I’m confused about why no one involved in the publication of “Dorchester Terrace” caught this error.

As already stated, “Dorchester Terrace” is a very absorbing mystery with rich characters and many twists and turns.  I am looking forward to Thomas Pitt’s next case as head of Special Branch.

V.I. WARSHAWSKI IS STILL KEEPING CHICAGO SAFE FROM CRIME - SARA PARETSKY'S "BREAKDOWN"

“Breakdown” is Sara Paretsky’s fifteenth V.I. (stands for Victoria Iphigenia) Warshawki novel.  Even though V.I. (Vic to some) is somewhere north of 50, she is still the same tough talking, hard hitting private eye.  The book begins with V.I. doing a favor (what else is new?) for her cousin Petra.  Petra has a summer job as the moderator of a book club for tweenage girls.  The girls are reading a series of book featuring Carmilla, a shape-shifter who can turn into a raven (among other things).  The girls sneak away from the apartment where the book club meeting is being held to attend an initiation ritual in a local cemetery.  Petra begs V.I. to round up the errant girls before their parents find out they are missing.

When V.I. gets to the graveyard, however, she not only finds the wayward middle schoolers, but a dead body.  The male corpse is splayed atop a crypt, his heart pierced through with a large piece of steel.  The body is very close to where the tweens are playing their Carmilla games.  Being American young people, they all have cell phones with attached cameras so there is a risk that the girls took pictures of the crime being committed while snapping shots of the initiation ceremony.

Two of the book club members belong to very important Chicago families.  One of the girls is the daughter of Sophy Durango, a liberal candidate for the United States Senate.  The other is the granddaughter of Chaim Salanter, a wealthy Jewish businessman who is a huge contributor to Mrs. Durango’s senatorial campaign.

V.I. is, of course, the only p.i. in Chicago who can solve the case of the dead body in the cemetery.  The corpse turns out to be Miles Wucknik, also a p.i., though one with little moral fiber.  It appears that Miles has been blackmailing anyone and everyone (whether he worked for them or not) so there is a long list of those who would benefit from murdering Wuchnik.

To make the situation even more complex, V.I.  receives a desperate phone call from her old law school pal, Leydon Ashford.  Leydon has just been released from a mental hospital.  She wants to tell V.I. about something terribly wrong happening at the hospital.  But before the two can meet, Leydon is pushed off a balcony at the University of Chicago Rockefeller’s Chapel.

The one character (besides V.I.) who brings the many threads of the story together is Wake Lawton, a right wing TV journalist who works for a station very much like Fox News.  Lawton spends all his time slandering liberals like Senate candidate Sophy Durango and her wealthy supporter Chaim Salanter without ever checking his facts.  Lawton is pretty much a one note bad guy, not nearly as interesting as some of the three dimensional criminals found in Paretsky’s earlier V.I. Warshawski detective novels.

At the end of “Breakdown” Paretsky has V.I. stage a very unrealistic media event to make the killer admit their guilt.  She used the same kind of trick in her previous Warshawski book “Body Work” and it didn’t work there either.  “Breakdown” is an interesting, well-plotted mystery, except for the hokey conclusion.  In my opinion a mystery with an unsatisfying finish is not much of a mystery at all.  V.I. Warshawski is a fascinating protagonist.  I just hope Sara Paretsky doesn’t let V.I. solve any more crimes unless she can solve them the old fashioned way – with shoe leather, intuition, guts and a lot of heart.  That formula has worked for most of the Warshawski detective novels.  If only Paretsky can remember what made her female p.i. such a great character to begin with.

LOOK OUT ARIZONA CRIMINALS! ALI REYNOLDS IS ON THE CASE. "LEFT FOR DEAD" BY J. A. JANCE

Arizona native Ali Reynolds has been a reporter, a news anchor and a police officer.  After her second husband’s death Ali became an independently wealthy woman.  (Technically she is a widow, although Reynolds was in the process of divorcing her husband when he died.)  Ali enjoys helping her friends.  After learning that Deputy Sheriff Jose Reyes, a classmate from the police academy, has been shot while on duty, she drives to Tucson to look after Reyes’ pregnant wife and two small children.

At Physicians’ Medical Center in Tucson, Ali is surprised to see her close friend Sister Anselm.  The Taser toting nun is a patient advocate for a young woman who has been raped, severely beaten and left for dead in the Arizona desert.  The border patrol officer who finds the girl and takes her to the hospital assumes that she is an illegal alien.  This is also believed by the authorities at the hospital.  When the young lady wakes up, however, Sister Anselm discovers that she speaks very little Spanish.  She turns out to be a runaway by the name of Rose Ventana whose desperate parents have been searching for her for years.

Ali Reynolds and Sister Anselm work together and determine that a serial killer is behind Rose’s attack.  The two women also join forces to find out who shot Deputy Reyes.  Besides being wounded, Jose is accused of being a drug dealer.  Drugs have been found in both his patrol car and his house.

Reyes’ wife Teresa is adamant about the fact that her husband is not a criminal.  Mrs. Reyes has a great deal to cope with.  Besides her spouse’s problems, she has two little girls to take care of.  She certainly doesn’t need the mother of her first husband threatening to obtain custody of the two toddlers.  As well Teresa is nine months pregnant.  Is it any wonder that the young wife and mother is forced to have an emergency C-section?

The superhero team of Ali Reynolds and Sister Anselm solve both cases as well as take care of Teresa’s little girls and reunite Rose with her family.  In a lesser writer’s hands this might seem like an implausible story.  J.A. Jance’s skill at developing both an exciting plotline and fascinating characters turns “Left for Dead” into an enjoyable and believable mystery.  Ali Reynolds is an excellent protagonist.  She uses what she learned as an investigative reporter and police officer along with her many community contacts to protect all her friends and relatives in Arizona.  I can only hope that J.A. Jance writes many more Ali Reynolds thrillers.

INSPECTOR LYNLEY GOES ON A ROAD TRIP - "BELIEVING THE LIE" BY ELIZABETH GEORGE

 “Believing the Lie” is Elizabeth’s George 17^th Inspector Lynley mystery.  The patrician Thomas Lynley is still suffering from the senseless murder of his wife and unborn child.  David Hillier, Assistant Commissioner of New Scotland Yard, asks Lynley to look into the death of Ian Cresswell.  Ian’s uncle, Lake District industrialist Bernard Fairclough, is not satisfied with the local coroner’s ruling of accidental death by drowning.  Hillier tells Lynley to investigate Cresswell’s death on the qt.  Thomas is also told not to mention anything about this inquiry to his immediate superior (and sometimes lover) Detective Superintendent Isabelle Ardery.

Lynley is accompanied on his trip to the Lake District by his friends Simon and Deborah St. James.  Simon is a forensics expert and Deborah is a photographer.  Thomas’ usual partner at New Scotland Yard is Detective Sargent Barbara Havers.  Havers stays in London and secretly helps Lynley research the many angles of the Ian Cresswell drowning.

When Thomas and the St. James arrive in the Lake District, they find a large number of suspects, most of them connected to the Fairclough family.  With fantastic skill, George weaves the many subplots into a truly thrilling and fascinating novel.

Chief among the suspects is Nicholas Fairclough, Bernard’s only son.  Nicholas is a recovering meth addict who is married to a beautiful Argentine woman named Alathea.  Also under consideration by Lynley are Bernard Fairlough’s twin daughters Manette and Mignon.  Manette and her ex-husband Freddie, with whom she still shares living quarters, are executives at Fairclough Industries.  Mignon, who suffered a head injury when she was a child, does nothing but cause family drama and accept free room and board from her aging parents.

Drowning victim Ian Cresswell’s ex-wife Niamh is still furious that her former husband left her for a man.  She wants nothing to do with their two children, troubled fourteen year old Tim and sweet ten year old Gracie.  The children have been left in the care of Ian’s lover Kaveh Mehran.  Cresswell had wanted to marry Kaveh, but Mehran kept putting him off.  Now Kaveh is planning on moving his parents and bride-to-be into the house Ian left him in his will. 

There is even a tabloid journalist, Zed Benjamin, who desperately needs to discover something scandalous about the Fairclough family so he can keep his job.  Benjamin enters into an alliance with Deborah St. James.  Deborah is fixated on Nicholas’ wife Alathea.  The Argentine beauty is dealing with infertility issues, as is Deborah herself.

I am a huge fan of Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley mysteries.  “Believing the Lie” is a worthy addition to the series.  I sometimes feel, however, that George’s novels would benefit from a few less characters and subplots.  This is only a very small criticism.  I am glad to see that Thomas Lynley is finally starting to recover from the death of his beloved wife Helen.  Like many Lynley fans I hope Thomas will find happiness again in a future Elizabeth Geroge thriller.

A SAD AND LONELY POLICE DETECTIVE SAYS GOODBYE - "THE TROUBLED MAN" BY HENNING MANKELL

“The Troubled Man” is Henning Mankell’s 10^th and last Kurt Wallander mystery.  Wallander is said to be the most popular fictional detective in Europe, perhaps even in the world.  His dour personality is a perfect complement to the landscape of Skane, the Swedish province where Kurt lives and works.  The unhappy inspector drinks too much, eats too much, doesn’t exercise and is always unlucky in love – whether the woman is his ex-wife Mona, or the love of Wallander’s life, the Latvian professor Baiba Liepa.

In “The Troubled Man” Wallander is 60 years old, and after suffering several memory lapses, is afraid he may be succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease.  His daughter Linda gives him his first granddaughter, a beautiful little girl named Klara.  Linda’s partner (and Klara’s father) is Hans von Enke, a financier.  Hans’ father is the retired naval commander Hakan von Enke.

One day Hakan goes on his usual morning walk and never returns.  Not long after Hakan’s disappearance his wife, Louise, who is originally from East Germany, also vanishes.  Louise’s dead body is discovered a month later.  Even though Haken’s disappearance and his wife’s death happen out of Wallander’s jurisdiction, Kurt, of course, jumps in to solve these crimes.  Soon Wallander uncovers connections to the cold war and even the 1986 assassination of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme.

The mystery of what really happened to the von Enkes is well plotted, but “A Troubled Man” is really about Kurt Wallander’s struggle with his own mortality.  Wallander’s life is lonelier than the topography of his native Skane.

This is a man who desperately needs a soul mate, but he’s never been able to hold on to a lover.  His wife Mona divorced Kurt years before.  While solving the murder of Latvian police officer Major Liepa, Wallander falls passionately in love with his widow Baiba.  Baiba returns Kurt’s love, but does not want to marry another policeman.  In “A Troubled Man” the Latvian professor visits Wallander and tells him she is dying of cancer.

The only lights in Wallander’s life are his daughter Linda and granddaughter Klara.  As the novels ends Kurt has difficulty recognizing the little girl.  Henning Mankell makes it very clear that “A Troubled Man” is the very last Kurt Wallander mystery.

Henning Mankell’s Wallander is a wonderfully rich character, one I will truly miss.  Kurt’s depressed personality is sometimes seen as a metaphor for Sweden in the early 21^st century.  Sweden is suffering from many of the same problems faced by other industrialized countries.  The economic uncertainty, political corruption, teen suicides and public lack of faith in the system – all these are problems familiar to Americans.  Inspector Kurt Wallander will be sorely missed, but perhaps it is time for him to take his leave from the fictional dectective stage.  The series ends on a very sad note, but Mankell remains true to his gloomy policeman.  “The Troubled Man” is a book to be savored, not only by fans of Kurt Wallander, but anyone who enjoys a beautifully written police procedural.

A MOTHER'S WORST NIGHTMARE - TAMI HOAG'S "DOWN THE DARKEST ROAD"

“Down the Deepest Road” is another one of Tami Hoag’s eerily suspenseful novels.  It is set in 1986, in the days before DNA testing.  Lauren Lawton was once a happy wife and mother, living in a quiet town near Santa Barbara, California.  But four years earlier Lauren’s sixteen year old daughter, Leslie, never returned home from a high school softball game.

The police suspected Roland Ballencoa, a photographer and convicted sex offender.  Lauren is convinced that Ballencoa kidnapped her daughter, but the police could not find evidence that the photographer committed the crime.  Two years after Leslie’s disappearance, Leslie’s husband died when his car fell off the edge of a mountain.  The official report found that Lauren’s husband had been drinking and declared the death an accident.  Lauren, however, believes that her husband had had enough of the conjecture and allegations concerning his role in Leslie’s disappearance and that his death was intentional.

So Lauren is left alone with her younger daughter, Leah.  In 1986 Leah is almost the age Leslie was when she disappeared.  Trying to move on with their lives, Lauren and Leah move to the small California town, Oak Knoll.  Oak Knoll in the 1980s is the setting for two other Tami Hoag mysteries – “Deeper than the Dead” and “Secrets to the Grave”.  Both are wonderfully suspenseful thrillers, but it is not necessary to have read them in order to understand Hoag’s latest novel.  “Down the Darkest Road” stands on its own.

While shopping in her new town, Lauren is convinced she sees Roland Ballencoa.  Soon Leah seems to be a target of the photographer and Lauren is afraid she will lose the only child she has left.  With the help of Oak Knoll homicide detective, Tony Mendez, Lauren is able to both protect Leah and discover what really happened to Leslie four years earlier.

As always, Tami Hoag writes a page-turner likely to keep readers awake at night.  Hoag excels at showing ordinary people caught up in nightmarish situations not of their own making.  Leslie and Leah Lawton could be anyone’s daughters.  Roland Ballencoas live in American towns both large and small.  Hoag’s many plot twists and turns are up to her usual high standard.  “Down the Deepest Road” is a novel all fans of crime fiction should read.

A MOBSTER'S SON FALLS IN LOVE - FAYE KELLERMAN'S "GUN GAMES"

“Gun Games” is Faye Kellerman’s 23^rd Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mystery.  I have been a huge fan of the series since the first book “Ritual Bath”, but “Gun Games” is in a part a disappointment.  The weak portion of the novel involves the character of fifteen year old Gabriel Whitman.  Gabe is the son of gangster Chris Whitman Donatti, who first appeared in the Decker/Lazarus story “Justice” back in 1995.

Gabe’s mother, Terry, has run off with her lover to India.  Gabe’s father, Donatti, is in Nevada overseeing his chain of bordellos.  Police lieutenant, Peter Decker, and his wife, Rina Lazarus, agree to foster Gabe until he leaves for Juilliard.  (Gabe is a piano prodigy.)  Gabe meets and falls in love with a fourteen year old Jewish girl whose parents are from Iran.  Gabe’s young love, Jasmine, cannot tell her parents that she is seeing a white Catholic boy.  So they text constantly and meet secretly at the Coffee Bean.  Romeo/Juliet relationships are the basis of many good (sometimes great) novels, but this one just does not ring true.

The dialogue between Gabe and Yasmine, whether it’s by text or in person, seems very forced and unnatural.  Do teenagers really say “I adore you” or “What’s wrong, my love”?  The characters of Gabe and Yasmine don’t seem real.  I found myself not caring about either one of them.  The relationship between Gabe’s parents, damaged bad boy Chris Whitman Donatti, and bookish good girl, Terry McLaughlin, first seen in Kellerman’s novel “Justice” in 1995, is much more interesting.  Even though he only has a small part in “Gun Games”, 30 something Chris Whitman Donatti leaps off the page.  As already mentioned, I can’t say the same about his son, Gabe.

The other plot, which concerns two suicides at an exclusive Los Angeles prep school, is considerably more suspenseful.  The mother of the first victim, Gregory Hesse, does not believe her son could have committed suicide.  She asks police lieutenant, Peter Decker, to look into the case.  When another student from the same school takes her life six weeks later, and it is discovered that both suicides used stolen guns, the plot, as they say, thickens.  Decker and his team unearth some very unpleasant teens who are running the show at their prep school Bell and Wakefield.  These young bullies are much more faithful to life than Gabe and Yasmine.

“Gun Games” would be a much better mystery if Faye Kellerman had only concentrated on the teen suicides and the characters of Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus.  She should stick to what she does best and leave the teen romance to writers like Judy Blume.

 

WHY DID ANNA PIGEON BECOME A FOREST RANGER? - "THE ROPE" BY NEVADA BARR

“The Rope” is Nevada Barr’s 17^th Anna Pigeon mystery.  The author takes the reader back to 1995 when the protagonist began her career with the National Park Service.  Anna’s actor husband has died in a car accident, so she leaves her job as a New York stage manager and becomes a seasonal park ranger at Glen Canyon National Recreational Area on the shores of Lake Powell in Arizona. 

On her day off from her new job Anna goes on a hike and disappears.  Her co-workers think that the antisocial novice ranger has packed her bags and gone back to New York.  In reality Anna has been attacked and thrown into a jar, a dry natural well.  Even with a dislocated shoulder, Anna finds her way out of the jar and returns to the Glen Canyon Recreation Area.

However, her unknown assailant is still on the loose.  With the help of her roommate, Jenny Gorman, Anna tries to discover who attempted to kill her before her attacker succeeds at this task.  By the end of the novel both Anna and the reader find out who has been after the new park ranger and why.  Anna Pigeon also realizes that she has found a new profession in law enforcement for the National Park Service. 

Nevada Barr has much in common with her most famous character.  Barr’s husband was a New York stage actor, but thankfully he was never run down and killed by a taxi driver.  Barr herself had a 20 year career in the theater, tv, films, commercials and voice work before becoming a seasonal park ranger.  Barr’s knowledge of the National Park Service and her wonderfully detailed descriptions of the beauties of the American wilderness make her Anna Pigeon thrillers both realistic and absorbing.  Nevada Barr knows how to write a well plotted, suspenseful mystery and “The Rope” is no exception. 

Anna Pigeon is a fascinating protagonist and long-time readers of the series will love learning more about how she became a park ranger.  New readers will discover an exciting thriller rich with fascinating people and incredible scenery.  I hope Nevada Barr writes 17 more Anna Pigeon novels.

WYATT HUNT INVESTIGATES HIS OWN PAST - "THE HUNTER" BY JOHN LESCROART

San Francisco private investigator, Wyatt Hunt, receives an anonymous text message asking him “How did your mother die?”  Hunt has always known he was adopted, but until he gets this text question he has shown little interest in his birth parents.

Hunt discovers that his mother was murdered when he was a very young child and his father was accused of killing her.  After two mistrials, Hunt’s biological father disappeared.  Before he vanished, however, Hunt’s birth father left a letter for his son with a local priest.  When Wyatt hunts down the priest, Hunt is given the letter.  In it his father swears that he did not slay his wife.

Wyatt Hunt, along with the members of the Hunt Club (the name of his private investigation agency), begin to unearth the secrets of Hunt’s birth parents.  The private detective discovers that there is a connection between his mother and James Jones, the infamous cult leader who forced thousands of his followers to commit suicide in the late 1970s.

The more Hunt and his team explore his mother’s murder, the more it seems that someone high up in the San Francisco Police Department wants to silence him.  Wyatt also starts having flashbacks of himself as a young child seeing his mother’s dead body on the floor.  The longer the probe into his mother’s murder goes on, the more Hunt is affected physically, mentally and emotionally.  This becomes even worse when one of Wyatt’s detectives is killed during the investigation. 

John Lescroart does not pretend that his characters have anything to do with his own life.  He just knows how to write a well plotted and exciting mystery.  “The Hunter” is definitely one of his best novels.  Wyatt Hunt is a fascinating character and discovering more about his background and history makes for an even richer thriller.  Whether the protagonist is Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky or Wyatt Hunt, the reader can count on a great whodunit whenever they open a John Lescroart book.

TOO MANY MURDERS SPOIL THE PLOT - PATRICIA CORNWELL'S RED MIST

Red Mist is Patricia Cornwell’s 19^th Kay Scarpetta mystery.  Cornwell’s most famous character is a medical examiner.  It has often been said that this fictional pathologist has influenced television shows like the CSI series.  Dr. Scarpetta not only performs autopsies, but also solves the murders of the victims whose bodies she dissects.  Scrapetta usually does this with the help of her husband, former FBI profiler Benton Wesley, her niece, Lucy Farinelli, a computer whiz and hacker supreme, and investigator Pete Marino.

In Red Mist Scarpetta leaves her home base of Cambridge, Massachusetts to interview Kathleen Lawler, an inmate of the Georgia Prison for Women.  Many years before Lawler had an affair with twelve year old troubled youth, Jack Fielding.  Fielding grew up to be Dr. Scarpetta’s Deputy Medical Examiner.  He also is also the father of Lawler’s psychotic daughter, Dawn Kincaid.  Kincaid murdered her father in Cambridge, Massachusetts six months before Red Mist begins.  Scarpetta hopes Lawler will give her some understanding of the death of her Deputy.

Scarpetta does not know that she has been lured to Savannah, Georgia by former New York Assistant District Attorney, Jamie Berger.  Berger wants Dr. Scarpetta to help exonerate Lola Daggerty, an inmate on Death Row who is accused of murdering the entire Jordan family.

I don’t want to give too much away, but the longer Kay Scarpetta stays in Savannah, the higher the body count becomes.  Dr. Scarpetta does finally solve the murders, but not without a lot of confusing twists and turns and way too much technical forensic jargon.

As usual the book is narrated by Scarpetta.  In Red Mist the good doctor seems especially verbose.  She spends a good half of the 500 page book “summing up” events which occurred in the previous Scarpetta book, Port Mortuary.  This does not help the reader understand the current murders.  It just makes the plot more muddied and confusing.

Even without all the background information, Red Mist is a very convoluted mystery.  Too many murders occur in too short of period of time.  Red Mist makes me long for an Agatha Christie-type cozy, with just one juicy murder to concentrate all my attention on.

Cornwell also spends too much time dealing with Kay Scarpetta’s personal life.  Patricia Cornwell is one of the leading authors of the literary school of “My protagonist is really me, with a few changes thrown in.  I don’t actually have a medical degree or solve crimes.”

Much is made of Scarpetta having “daddy” issues.  In the novels, Scarpetta’s father died from leukemia when she was young.  In Cornwell’s real life, her father deserted the family on Christmas Day when Patricia was only five years old.

Kay Scarpetta is an interesting character, but in a mystery the plot is also very important.  In future Scarpetta novels, Cornwell should work on streamlining her story.  Fewer murders per book and especially less detailed forensic information would make for a more compelling mystery.

James Patterson's Kill Alex Cross

 

James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author.  In the past few years his novels have outsold those of Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined.  Patterson’s most popular character is Washington D.C. psychologist and police detective, Alex Cross.  Kill Alex Cross is Patterson’s 18^th Cross mystery.

Kill Alex Cross begins with President Coyle’s two children, Zoe and Ethan, being kidnapped from their exclusive middle school.  As always, Alex Cross, homicide detective for Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is the only one who can solve the crime.  He does, however, get assistance from his lifelong friend and fellow MPD detective, John Sampson.  President and Mrs. Coyle have received a note from the kidnappers saying they don’t want ransom.  A desperate Regina Coyle’s only chance is to personally ask Cross to find her children (hopefully alive). 

Kill Alex Cross also introduces us to a Saudi couple.  Hala is a beautiful doctor and her henpecked accountant husband is named Tariq.  The reader soon discovers that the duo are terrorists, part of an organization called The Family.  The Family’s plans, if carried out, will cause more damage to the United States than 9/11.  For much of the book it appears that The Family is behind the abduction of Zoe and Ethan Coyle.

Before Alex Cross saves the day for the President and First Lady, we are offered glimpses of Cross’s personal life.  As is the case with all the Cross mysteries, the reader is introduced to Nana Mama, Cross’s grandmother who raised him after his parents’ deaths.  We also meet Cross’s new wife, MPD detective Brianna (Bree) Stone, and his three children Damon, Janelle (Jannie) and Alex Jr. (Ali).  Cross is always an exemplary husband and father.  As well he is actively involved in the community of Southeast Washington D.C.  Cross still lives there even though he can easily afford to live in a better neighborhood.

I won’t give away what eventually happens to the Coyle children.  At the end of the mystery the Saudi terrorist, Hala, is still alive.  She is almost sure to play a role in subsequent Alex Cross novels.

As is the case with all the Alex Cross books, Kill Alex Cross is a fast-paced, absorbing read.  It keeps the reader intrigued and interested from beginning to end.  I hope Patterson will write many more Alex Cross mysteries in the years to come.