Spring 2021WX Issue 91 $2.50 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

MICK HERRON The Slough House Universe

Reviews WX Columns WX New Books WX What’s New in U.K. WX Articles 2 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------Mick Herron’s Slough House Universe

uch like the best sci-fi writers, Spy. When you get right down to it, the MMick Herron has created an series is about fascinating people and ever-expanding universe with its own how they interact, with a bit of danger unique language, which fi nds at its thrown in to spice things up. Th at is why center two buildings – Regent’s Park it has become so popular with readers and Slough House. In Regent’s Park, it with a wide range of tastes – and not is the best of times; in Slough House, it just spy fi ction afi cionados. Novellas is the worst of times. Regent’s Park is Th ese all feature John Batchelor, a where the elite of Britain’s MI5 intelli- Mick Herron’s Slough milkman (babysitter of retired spies). gence service is housed. All its members Th e List (2015). Dieter Hess, an aged are seemingly ambitious and have clear House Bibliography spy, is dead, and John Bachelor, his MI5 paths to climb, but at Slough House, handler, is in deep, deep trouble. Death where MI5 sends its rejects and screw- Novels (Plot summaries can be has revealed that the deceased had been ups, there is a general malaise and a found below in the individual reviews of keeping a secret second bank account— feeling of utter failure – a hole that there the books) and there’s only ever one reason a spy is no climbing out of. Its inhabitants, SLOW HORSES (2010) has a secret second bank account. Th e called “Slow Horses,” know that they DEAD LIONS (2013) question of whether he was a double can never get back into the good graces REAL TIGERS (2016) agent must be resolved, and its answer of Regent’s Park and must live out their SPOOK STREET (2017 may undo an entire career’s worth of days doing mundane and unimportant LONDON RULES (2018) spy secrets. assignments. It is either that or quit, JOE COUNTRY (2019) Th e Marylebone Drop (2018). Old and some eventually do that as well. SLOUGH HOUSE (2021) spooks carry the memory of tradecraft Th is arrangement enables MI5 to side- in their bones, and when Solomon Dort- step any legal hassle and tribunal threats mund sees an envelope being passed for wrongful termination. And this way from one pair of hands to another in a the downgraded spies can be kept on a Marylebone café, he knows he’s wit- short leash to make sure any secrets they nessed more than an innocent encoun- may know are not shared with undesir- ter. But in relaying his suspicions to ables. Th eir tasks are menial and ones John Bachelor, who babysits retired spies that can cause no harm. But… some- like Solly for MI5, he sets in motion a how, someway the Slow Horses seem train of events that will alter lives. to manage to get mixed up in serious Th e Catch (2020). John Bachelor is matters, much to our delight as readers. the saddest kind of spy: not a joe in the Th ese novels are billed as being es- fi eld, not even a desk jockey, but a milk- pionage novels – and they certainly are, man—a part-time pension administra- but there is perhaps even more space in tor whose main job is to check in on ag- them devoted to the inner workings of ing retired spies. Late in his career and MI5 than to any spy-on-spy espionage – having lost his wife, his house, and his especially the friction between Regent’s savings aft er a series of unlucky choic- Park and Slough House. So if you are es, John's been living in a dead man's expecting a traditional “spy story” in London apartment, hoping the bureau- each book you may be disappointed. It cracy isn't going to catch up with him is perhaps closer to the TV program Th e and leave him homeless. But keeping a Offi ce than to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, secret among spies is a fool's errand, and ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 3 now John has made himself eminently stationed principally in the Zoo (Berlin). blackmailable. Lamb is a chain-smoker who is over- weight, slovenly irreverent, politically The Characters incorrect to the max, insulting, fl atulent and dismissive. His only redeeming qualities seem to be a sly cunning, an To understand and enjoy the Slow impressive memory and a fi erce protec- Horses series, it is essential to get these tiveness of his domain and his “joes,” characters clear in one’s mind. It as he refers to his Slow Horses. Lamb is makes the reading of the novels much totally unpredictable and oft en makes smoother. If you are just starting the deductions that rival those of Sherlock series (with SLOW HORSES), it will Holmes. Mick Herron admits that be helpful to have this character list Jackson Lamb was inspired by Reginald close at hand. Hill’s Andy Dalziel. Along the way, the Slough House Universe adds some characters and sheds others. It can be dangerous to be “I look at Jackson Lamb and a Slow Horse. think: My God, did I write that? My mother reads this stuff !” – At Slough House Mick Herron most other ways.” Slough House inhabitants are known All the residents of Slough House, as “Slow Horses.” Slough House is a “Nobody left Slough House at when they fi rst arrive at their new character in and of itself. Th e word the end of a working day feeling assignment, are initially suspected to be “Slough” rhymes with bow wow. like they’d contributed to the plants sent to spy on the Slow Horses for Slough House is located on Alders- Dame Ingrid Tearney or Diana Tavern- gate Street right next to the Barbican security of the nation. Th ey left er, the heads of Regent’s Park. Station in London. Th e run-down, it feeling like their brains had four-story building is situated between been fed through a juicer.” Roderick Ho is a computer whiz a newsagent and a Chinese restaurant. but socially obnoxious. Hacking skills One doesn’t enter from the single, At the core of this series are some – 99%, people skills – zero. Ho is sent nondescript door on the street, but must major continuing characters and the to the Slow Horses not because he did go around to the back to gain access names of these prominent characters anything wrong but because no one can through a door that always sticks. At appear in larger red type. stand to be around him. Ho exhibits the beginning of DEAD LIONS a stray some sociopathic tendencies and has an Siamese cat takes us on a tour of the Jackson Lamb, easily the world’s imaginary (or is she?) girlfriend named building. In SLOUGH HOUSE, we worst boss, was a noted Cold War spy, Kim. Self-awareness is not his strong see the building through the eyes of an suit. Ho thinks he’s “cool,” but he’s ob- imaginary estate agent describing it to a viously not. Jackson Lamb skewers him prospective buyer (a tough sell). when mention of Ho having a girlfriend comes out: “Slough House was a branch of the Service, certainly, but “And this is an actual rela- ‘arm’ was pitching it strong. As tionship? Not an abduction? was ‘fi nger’, come to that; fi n- Well well well.’ gers could be on the button or Lamb dropped the appalled on the pulse. Fingernails, now: expression, and beamed round those, you clipped, discarded, at the company. ‘See what you and never wanted to see again. can achieve with a little appli- So Slough House was a fi nger- Gary Oldman cation?’ nail of the Service: a fair step as Jackson Lamb He patted Ho on the shoul- from Regent’s Park geographi- der. ‘It does me good to see you cally, and on another planet in rise above your disability.’ 4 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

‘I don’t have a disability,’ Ho ond novel, DEAD LIONS. She is in her (may contain spoilers): said. 30s and apparently is quite attractive. J.K. Coe, wears a hoodie and plays an “air” keyboard while listening to his ‘Th at’s the spirit. . . “ Min Harper left a classifi ed disk on a IPod. He is a strange bloke, but surpris- train and as a result wound up at Slough ingly insightful. He has serious mental Catherine Standish is an alcohol- House. He is divorced with two chil- health issues that seem to ameliorate ic who was former secretary to the head dren. Min teams up with Louisa Guy. when he commits extreme violence. of MI5 (Charles Partner). She is the administrative force that keeps Slough Struan Loy is the Slough House “As far as River and the other House running. Catherine was not joker and possibly a plant by Diana denizens of Slough House are relegated to Slough House but came at Tavener. the request of Jackson Lamb. She sees it concerned, JK Coe is a riddle as penance for past sins and her alcohol- Sid Baker is a young, attractive wrapped in a mystery inside an ism, and soldiers on with quiet dignity agent who is sent to the Slow Horses enigma, the whole package then and a deep sense of loneliness. Cather- for murky reasons. She is injured in the ine is highly perceptive and isn’t cowed refashioned in the shape of a line of duty (bullet to the head) and is surly, uncommunicative twat.” by Jackson Lamb. spirited to parts unknown at the end of SLOW HORSES. [Spoiler Alert] Some Moira Tregorian is a new adminis- think that she died, but Sid reappears in trator brought in to fi ll the space left by the seventh novel, SLOUGH HOUSE. Catherine Standish. She prides herself on organization – good luck with that Jed Moody is former “dog,” or heavy at Slough House. Moira is sent there by at MI5, put out to pasture with the Slow the new 1st Chair, Claude Whelan, for Horses. reasons that Jackson Lamb mysteriously fi gures out.

Added characters in the second book in the series, DEAD LIONS: Added characters in the sixth book Shirley Dander is fi ve-foot two, in the series, JOE COUNTRY: barrel-shaped, in her mid-twenties and Alec “Lec” Wicinski – a spy, who is dresses all in black. She has olive skin still trying to fi gure out how and why Jack Lowden as with a full mouth. She is sent from child porn was found on his offi ce com- River Cartwright Comms at Regent’s Park to Slough puter. He is later attacked and facially House aft er justifi ably punching a disfi gured. colleague who was sexually harassing Richard Pynne, also known as “Dick her. Shirley gets a high from doing her the Pr*ck”, is as an up and comer in MI5 job and occasionally from cocaine. She River Cartwright is young, white, Ops – Lady Di’s new lap dog. He wears has skills and doesn’t mind bending the glasses and his receding hairline led to fair-haired with grey eyes and a mole law to get what she’s aft er. Th is is not on his upper lip. River crashed King’s his shaving his head. He is a Cambridge someone to physically mess with for she grad, of course. Cross at rush hour during a training ex- is fearless and very aggressive. ercise. Everyone thinks it was a colossal Marcus Longridge is mid-forties, blunder, but River later discovers he was bald, black, south-London born of At Regent’s Park – sabotaged by a rival. River’s grandfather, Caribbean parents. He is exiled from David Cartwright (“OB”), is a legend Regent’s Park Ops because of his gam- Headquarters of MI5 at MI5 so River is kept on out of respect bling habit – deemed unreliable (too for the retired spy. much of a risk taker). Marcus is married Dame Ingrid Tearney is 1st Desk at with children. He sees himself as a man MI5, She is a middle-aged woman with Louisa Guy messed up surveillance of action who is chained to a desk. a squat body, who wears fashionable of a small arms dealer and guns got into wigs. Dame Ingrid is adept at playing the wrong hands. Despite that error, she power games and will not be easy prey is possibly the most competent of the for Lady Di who seeks to replace her. Slow Horses. Min Harper and Louisa Added characters with the fourth Diana Taverner (“Lady Di”) is have an aff air that is revealed in the sec- book in the series, SPOOK STREET 2nd Desk (Ops), which is one of fi ve top ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 5

expect more than a tap on the who has gone rogue and sometimes nose.” works as a mercenary. He has a surpris- ing connection to a Slow Horse. Intro- duced in LONDON RULES, Harknes Molly Doran, keeper of the paper play a major role in that book and JOE records (and secrets) in the basement COUNTRY. archives of Regent’s Park. She is missing her legs and gets around in a wheelchair. Her mind and memory are impressive. Terms of Use Molly and Jackson Lamb have a history, hinted at but never revealed. She is the MI5 is responsible for protecting the antithesis of the “Beast,” the digitized U.K., its citizens and interests, at home databases of MI5. and overseas, against threats to national security. It is comparable to the FBI in the U.S. MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service) is Added characters with the fourth responsible for gathering intelligence book in the series, SPOOK STREET outside the U.K. in support of the gov- Kristin Scott Th omas as (may contain spoilers) : ernment's security, defense, foreign and Diana Taverner A new 1st Desk, Claude Whelan, is economic policies. It is comparable to installed. He comes from MI6 to pro- the CIA in the U.S. MI5 and MI6 have vide “new eyes.” Whelan is a short man an intense rivalry and rarely share in- with a high forehead and a pinched way formation or cooperate with each other

st of speaking. But his manner is generally (sounds familiar). positions that all report to the 1 Desk. Th e Achievers are MI5's leg-break- Supremely ambitious, Lady Di raises pleasant and informality the key to his character. Lady Di is able to play him ers. Th ey don’t play by the rules. scheming to an art form, although some Th e Dogs are MI5's internal police. of her schemes are so complex that they like a fi ddle. Likewise, a new head Dog, Emma Th eir offi ce space if referred to as Th e are bound to fail. She plays a major Kennel. role in each book in the series. She and Flyte, replaces Nick Duff y. She came from London’s Met and is jaded against Th e Hub is the area at Regent’s Jackson Lamb are in an eternal struggle Park that houses operations agents and to outwit each other. Taverner direct- spy shenanigans. She is also model-level beautiful. analysts. It sits just outside of Diana ly supervises Slough House, the Hub Taverner’s glass-walled offi ce. (operations agents and analysts), the “‘You're all crazy,’ Flyte said. A Joe is an MI5 operative. Dogs (internal police) and the Achievers Joe Country refers to when an agent (door breakers, nose breakers, boots on ‘We prefer the term ‘alternative- is out in the fi eld on assignment. “He’s the ground). It would be impossible to ly sane’.” in Joe Country.” fi nd a Regent’s Park blunder so bad that Spook Street is a phrase that refers to she won’t go to great lengths to cover up. Bad Sam Chapman is an ex-head of intelligence offi cers watching every word [Spoiler Alert] Later in the series, Lady Dogs who left in disgrace over a large st and guarding every secret at all times. Di takes over as 1 Desk. sum of missing money. He is now a It can also refer to an agent’s home James Webb (“Spider”) is a former fi nder of missing children and teenag- base, where he resides when not in Joe friend to River Cartwright. It is later ers. Country. discovered he betrayed River to gain Milkman is a babysitter to retired professional advancement. He is not as Other Characters spooks. He keeps them happy and more smart as he thinks he is. importantly, quiet. Nick Duff y is head of the Dogs, Down the Corridor refers to West- MI5's internal investigative unit. Peter Judd is an unscrupulous, ambitious and amoral senior politician. minster (Parliament). Limitations Committee is the “Th e position was more akin By the third book, he is Home Secre- tary (overseeing MI5), who is critical of Parliamentary committee with fi nancial to enforcer than executive, and Regent’s Park and bears them a grudge oversight of MI5. Chaired by Leonard the Dogs were kept on a pret- because they wouldn’t hire him as a Bradley, then Oliver Nash. young man. His plans to take MI5 down Over the River refers to where MI6 ty long leash, so Duff y’s role (foreign intelligence) is housed. basically meant that he could a peg in REAL TIGERS go awry, much to the delight of the Slow Horses. Under the Bridge is an action taken bite whoever he liked, and not Frank Harkness is an ex-CIA agent sub-rosa or without legal sanction. 6 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

A Cold Body is a ready-made iden- wonderfully descriptive phrasing and novel, with a story that has a beginning, tity just waiting for someone to take it worldly wisdom. middle, and a satisfying end; but it also on. Th e identity documents are real, Herron challenges the reader to look is a novel that skillfully puts into place a not fake, and have been generated over a beyond the obvious and read between network of important elements that will lifetime, just waiting for the right intelli- the lines. He doesn’t spell everything sustain the series for years to come. gence source or agent to assign them to. out, but by the end of each novel there Th e main storyline of SLOW HORS- London Rules are the rules for sur- are few, if any, remaining mysteries – ES deals the abduction of young man vival in MI5: unless Herron wants you to read the by a group of unknown extremists. Th e 1. Cover your arse. next in the series because of a continu- kidnappers are threatening to broad- 2. Force others to take you on your ing string. And once the last page is cast the beheading of this man live on own terms. If they don’t, stay in their turned over, you’re saying to yourself, the Internet. Th e newest member of face until they do. “Wow.” Slough House sees an opportunity to 3. Always be a fair distance from a Th e beginnings of each subsequent redeem his career and slowly the entire screw-up. book in the series are less confusing as agent-base of that organization becomes Moscow Rules. Th ere really is only the reader becomes familiar with the entangled in rescuing this victim, while one – Watch your back. Mick Herron/Slow Horses universe. also fi guring out how his abduction Th e First Law of Spook Street is that Th at’s the key – to read on until you relates to the scandalous history of a secrets don’t stay secret. master the characters and the universe disgraced journalist. A Tiger Team are hired guns who they inhabit. Th en you’ll be hooked. Elevating this series and working to test the strength of your own defenses capture reader attention for the series rather than wipe out your enemies. DP Reviews The Novels as a whole are the elements that Mick Tricks and Toys Section is the Re- Herron carefully laid while creating this gent’s Park gadget section ruled over by SLOW HORSES “world.” a black woman named simply Terrance. SohoConstable, $25.00, 2010 First there is the Slough House itself. Very James Bondish. CWA Steel Dagger nominee. Th is is a foundation that certainly opens Spooks’ Chapel is a small church Reviewed by Kristopher Zgorski up countless avenues of exploration, but in Hamstead that is used for discrete Rating: A- one that also hooks the reader with how funerals of ex-spies. It’s real name is St. ingenious it is. In short, when a British Leonard’s. intelligence offi cer makes a career-end- ing mistake during an assignment, they are shift ed to this undesired branch where the tedious and mundane inves- Mick Herron’s Writing tigative tasks seem almost designed to Style drive them to resign, retire, or quit. But what happens when those offi cers elect Th ere are a handful of writers whose not to give up and instead endeavor to distinctive writing styles set them apart do whatever is necessary to salvage their from all other writers. I’m thinking of reputations and careers? authors such as Ken Bruen and James Th at framework needs a host of Ellroy. Well, Mick Herron is another. very interesting characters to fi ll it. In Th e style is hard to describe, but if you SLOW HORSES, readers meet folks like put one of his Slow Horse novels in front Jackson Lamb and Catherine Standish of me with no cover and the character who have been part of Slough House names removed, I’m sure that I could from the beginning, as well as newer instantly identify it. “recruits” like River Cartwright. By the Th e fi rst novel in the series, SLOW very location of their offi ces within the HORSES, starts with confusing, multi- Slough House complex, readers begin to ple points-of-view chapters. A quarter see bonds forming between subsets of of the way through the book the reader’s this crew. Since many of these agents are head is spinning. Th en things start to disgruntled, there is also the aspect of even out and get entertaining – especial- in-fi ghting that helps to create internal ly the dialogue and the behind-the-back, SLOW HORSES follows the tradi- stress that must be dealt with. inter-offi ce machinations of the Slow tion of espionage novels but manages to Each of these characters comes with Horses and Regent’s Park. Interspersed also forge its own unique path through a built-in backstory. Th ese histories are are wee dollops of subtle and sometimes the tropes of that genre. SLOW HORS- complex and will unfurl slowly across farcical humor. Each book is fi lled with ES works perfectly well as a stand-alone the series. In addition to whatever ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 7 mistake they might have made in that Soho Press has published a special sleepy village of Upshott. one critical assignment that changed the 10th anniversary edition of SLOW Th e “dead lions” of the title refers to course of their careers, they also have HORSES with an original Slow Horses possible Russian sleeper spies and also goals and desires, friends and family, short story and an interview with the to a children’s game: wants and needs. It’s the humanity in author. each of them that will appeal to readers Jeff Popple’s Take on SLOW HORS- "Dead Lions," Molly said. and turn casual fans into Slough House ES "What about them?" fanatics. Th is well-craft ed and clever spy Of course, Mick Herron knows that thriller set the scene for the Slow Horse/ "It's a kids' party game. You he also needs a few external enemies, so Jackson Lamb series and excelled in its have to pretend to be dead. Lie in addition to the kidnappers in SLOW intricate plotting, sardonic dialogue and still. Do nothing." HORSES, he also highlights the confl ict memorable characters. Th e story fl owed between the Slough House folks and the well, but probably at a slower pace and Cheering for the Slow Horses seems more traditional factions of British In- with less suspense than the later books. to come naturally, as one does for any telligence – MI5, etc. Th is plays into the It is, however, a crucial starting point for underdog. Th ey may have made some plot of SLOW HORSES, but it also an readers who want to get into the series, professional mistakes in the past (or important element for the series moving as Herron skillfully establishes the back- been sabotaged) but, when the chips forward – casting the Slough House ground to the main characters, especial- are down, they rise to the occasion and agents as a fringe (and sometimes rogue) ly Jackson Lamb and River Cartwright. exceed all expectations. Th is series is to group unhampered by the need to keep It is a thoroughly enjoyable book that cherish and re-read. up appearances. shook up British espionage fi ction in the Mick Herron is oft en compared to early 2010s and set the future path for REAL TIGERS the likes of John le Carré and Martin one of the most acclaimed spy series of Soho Crime, $26.95, 2016 Cruz Smith. Th ese are accurate compar- recent times. Last Laugh Award winner isons not simply because of the genre CWA Gold Dagger nominee and similar themes/topics, but each of DEAD LIONS CWA Steel Dagger nominee these authors write incandescent prose. SohoConstable, $25.95, 2013 Th eakston’s Crime Novel of Year nomi- Reading SLOW HORSES, there are CWA Gold Dagger winner nee some metaphors and turns of phrase Barry Th riller Award nominee Macavity Award nominee that will take your breath away – both Reviewed by George Easter Reviewed by George Easter in their sublime beauty and in how Rating: A Rating: A accurate, simple, and understandable Dickie Bow is a former “street walk- Th is is the third of the “Animal” they are. Mick Herron knows how to er” who worked with Jackson Lamb in titles of the series. First we had horses, lure readers in and leave them satisfi ed the Zoo during the Cold War. When then lions and fi nally tigers. Th e animal at every turn. Bow dies under suspicious circumstanc- names have plot signifi cance to each of es, Jackson Lamb is curious to fi nd out their respective novels. if he was murdered. So a Slow Horses Th e story starts quickly when Slow “under the bridge” investigation ensues Horse Catherine Standish is kidnapped with some clever and illegal detection off a London Street. Fellow Slow Horse on the part of Shirley Dander that River Cartwright is given the task of leads to the sleepy Cotswolds village of acquiring a piece of classifi ed informa- Upshott. River Cartwright is dispatched tion from headquarters at Regent’s Park to work undercover and fi nd out if there within a very short time frame in order is a Russian sleeper spy (a “cicada”) in to gain Catherine’s release. He almost Upshott. succeeds. Meanwhile the pair of Min Harper Enter the new Home Secretary and Louisa Guy, who have partnered up Peter Judd whose sole purpose in life in more ways than one, have been sur- seems to be the obtaining of power and reptitiously seconded to Regent’s Park control. He is already the person that and James “Spider” Webb to be hosts MI5 reports to, but that is not enough. and secondary protectors to a visiting He wants to have a strangle hold on it Russian oligarch, whom Webb wants to and its 1st Desk, Dame Ingrid Tierney. turn into a resource for MI5. So Judd enables a “tiger team” attack Th e seemingly disparate story lines on Regent’s Park to test its defenses and come to an exciting climax that takes succeeds in embarrassing the 1st Desk. place in the center of London and in the 8 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

grandparents. His grandfather David Cartwright, aff ectionately referred to as OB (“Old Bastard”) is a legend in MI5 circles and River’s childhood was rife with spycraft instruction. Riv- er’s grandmother is gone now and his grandfather is slowly losing his mental capacities. Someone who looks suspiciously like River makes an attempt on OB’s life and River travels to France following up on a clue found on the perpetrator’s body. Who would want to kill an old man who is mentally failing? Jonathan Price as In a parallel story line there is a ter- rorist attack in a London shopping mall David Cartwright and many young people die. As MI5 investigates, there are some disturb- ing facts that come to light – ones that Capital Crime Best Th riller Winner CWA Gold Dagger nominee CWA Steel Dagger nominee But those who carry out the “tiger team” Last Laugh Award nominee attack have alternative objectives and Th eakston’s Crime Novel that is when everything goes off the of Year nominee rails. Barry Th riller Award nominee Long about page 131, Dame Ingrid Reviewed by Jeff Popple receives the following edict – “Slough Rating: A House,” Judd said, “Close it down. Today.” You’ll have to read REAL Mick Herron is in fi ne form with the TIGERS to fi nd out how that plan is fi ft h novel in the Slow Horses series. thwarted. It involves lots of action and LONDON RULES continues the danger. adventures of the bunch of disgraced Warning: When it comes to the British spies who have been banished black humor is these tomes, it is best to to an archives center at Slough House resist the temptation to read bits aloud and renamed the “Slow Horses.” When to whomever is in the same room as the attempted murder of one of their you are. Trust me, I’ve tried this and it number is linked to a current campaign doesn’t work. As funny as these bits may of terrorist attacks, the bunch of misfi ts be, they aren’t so humorous to those see an opportunity to redeem their who are unaware of their context. Just careers. Of course, nothing is smooth st recommend that those in the room read Diana Taverner and her new boss, 1 sailing with the “Slow Horses” and the the series and get enjoyment that way. Desk Claude Whelan, are keen to keep book builds to a strong climax amidst hidden. double-dealing, treachery and a dash of SPOOK STREET SPOOK STREET sees an infusion violence. Soho Crime, $26.95, 2017 of new characters. Th ere is a new First Th is stylish and witty spy thriller Last Laugh Award winner Desk in Claude Whelan, and a new excels with its intricate plotting, sardon- CWA Gold Dagger nominee Head Dog in Emma Flyte. However, ic dialogue and well-craft ed characters, CWA Steel Dagger winner these two will soon learn that part of be- and will keep you reading well into the Th eakston’s Crime Novel ing involved in the Secret Service is that night. It also features some fi ne writ- of Year nominee not only are there secrets, but many are ing, as in Herron’s opening description Barry Th riller Award nominee kept even from those who should be in of dawn arriving at Slough House: “it Reviewed by George Easter the know – and which may come back comes wearing safecracker’s gloves, so Rating: A to bite those who have inherited them. as not to leave prints on windowsills and doorknobs; it squints through From the age of seven, River Cart- LONDON RULES keyholes, sizes up locks and generally wright was raised by his maternal Soho Crime, $26.95, 2018 ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 9

there are so many characters to keep year for CWA awards. Consider me now straight that it makes the reading of transformed from a hater to a fan. High- the book initially quite demanding. In ly recommended. other words, to appreciate the books, the reader must work for it. SLOUGH HOUSE Whenever I approached a Mick Constable Crime, $27.95, 2021 Herron book, I had most likely come Reviewed by Jeff Popple off reading a few international thrillers Rating: A and simply was not in the right frame of mind for the Slough House books. Th is Mick Herron’s SLOUGH HOUSE is time, knowing how slow these books probably one of the most eagerly awaited are, I read several slow and dull books novels of 2021. that were long-listed for the Booker Th e seventh book in Herron’s highly Prize for literary fi ction. By comparison, acclaimed series about Jackson Lamb they made JOE COUNTRY a pleasure and the Slow Horses of Slough House, to read. It is still a slow read and George it fi nds the team in a higher level of ag- emailed me a list with a description itation than usual. Th ey are still reeling of each of the characters that helped. I from the bloodbath at the end of JOE will say, initially, the characters can be COUNTRY, and it now seems that they have been wiped off the MI5 database. Some of them are also certain that they cases the joint ahead of approaching are being followed. When death strikes day.” several former members, it seems that Highly recommended. the Slow Horses are being targeted, despite Lamb’s protestation that: JOE COUNTRY Soho Crime, $26.95, 2019 “Th ey’ve never needed to kill CWA Gold Dagger nominee Th eakston’s Crime Novel us. I mean, f***ing look at us. of Year nominee What would be the point?” Reviewed by Larry Gandle Rating: A To give away any more of this exqui- site plot would be a crime, other than to Th e disgraced MI5 spies at Slough say that, as usual, the Regent’s Park’s 1st House all have their own problems Desk, Diana Taverner, is busily plotting they must deal with. New recruit, Lech Wicinski, is trying to discover how he was found with child porn on his work computer. Louisa Guy feels an obliga- tion to fi nd the lost son of her now de- ceased ex-lover in Wales. When Jackson confusing as there are probably up to Lamb fi nds out a man responsible for six separate subplots involving each of killing a member of Slough House may them. However, as the book progresses, be aft er the son Louise is searching for, the subplots coalesce into perhaps two he sends out the troops to possibly kill or three very much related plots and him. the pacing picks up to thriller pace. It is I have not really liked the Slough really a unique style of writing and with House books before. Th is is the sixth some concentration, at least initially, it book in the series and probably the really works. Jackson Lamb is one of fourth I have read or attempted to read. the most comical characters I have read So many times our impression of a book in quite some time. I laughed out loud can be determined by what we read on numerous occasions. immediately before this book and the I confess that by giving the book expectation in that it is supposed to be its due, I really liked it – as I do value a thriller. Th e style of writing is such originality. Now I fully understand why that the plot moves along slowly and the Brits nominate Mick Herron every 10 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

Britain. somehow enables the members of the George Easter’s Take on SLOUGH lowly Slough House department of MI5 HOUSE: Every book in this series is a to survive, or at least most of them. gem and SLOUGH HOUSE is no excep- Th is is one of those rare novels where tion. Not only will I continue to avidly you inadvertently slow down your read this series, but I will treat each new pace of reading to make your reading Slow Horses novel as I do a new Michael pleasure last longer. Plus, no sooner had Connelly novel and devour it within I fi nished reading SLOUGH HOUSE, two days of receipt. SLOUGH HOUSE I felt compelled to immediately read it left us a bit of a cliffh anger regarding a second time. Th is is a truly brilliant River Cartwright and Sid Baker, so that novel in every possible respect. Rating: will make anticipation of the next in the A+ series that much more tense. Rating: A Steele Curry’s Take on SLOUGH Why Are the Books So HOUSE: Th e seventh novel in the author’s Slough House series roars along Popular? with wit, deft characterization and a timely plot. Picking up on the actual at- Th e popularity of the Slow Horses tempted poisoning by Russian spies of a series did not happen overnight. In fact, former Russian intelligent agent and his it started off quite slowly. In England, daughter in the U.K. in 2018, SLOUGH Constable published SLOW HORSES away in the background. Th is time, HOUSE chronicles what happens back to underwhelming sales and decided to however, it seems that she has gone too in the U.K. when MI5 retaliates in Rus- not publish any subsequent novels in the far in accepting the help of arch-ma- sia by killing one of the spies responsible series. It wasn’t until 2014 that publisher nipulator Peter Judd in mounting a for this poisoning. Unfortunately, the John Murray stepped in and recom- retaliatory attack against the Russians in members of Slough House are the ones menced the publication of the series in response to their Novichok poisonings who must bear the consequences of this the U.K. in the U.K. retaliation. In America, Soho Press had great- As with the previous books in the SLOUGH HOUSE once again er faith in the Slow Horses and has series, the plotting is superb, and Her- demonstrates that Herron is an out- published all seven novels to increasing ron adroitly brings together his various standing storyteller who makes every sales with each one. In this age when strands in a clever and idiosyncratic word count with a unique writing style. most publishers demand instant grati- manner. Th ere are the requisite twists His Slough House novels are marked fi cation and don’t want to invest money and turns, and there is probably a higher by sparkling dialogue, an acute sense of to build readership of a series over time, level of suspense and action than in the place, and a colorful cast of characters, Soho Press should be commended for previous books. He moves the plot along their initial patience with and belief in with some urgency and the story builds this series. to a thudding conclusion. Crime fi ction (spy fi ction) experts As always, the dialogue sparkles and were in tune from the very beginning as Lamb is in brilliant witty form, albeit witnessed by how many awards the nov- always politically incorrect, especially els have won and been shortlisted for. during his encounter with a gay dwarf. Th e novels are not easy, facile reads, Th e characterisations are nicely nuanced especially at the beginning. Mick Her- and described with a razor sharp wit. ron makes the readers work a bit and Lamb is perhaps becoming too much fi gure certain things out for themselves. of a caricature of himself, although I think this may have had something in couple of scenes Herron skillfully to do with the series slow start. But reminds us that Lamb still has the tough Olivia Cooke as word-of-mouth recommendations are street smarts of a good agent. Regular Sid Baker a wonderful thing and I’m certain that readers of the series will also enjoy the a reader is willing to put in the eff ort if return, although sometimes very briefl y, the promised payoff is great. If you hav- of characters from earlier books. highlighted by the incorrigible Jackson en’t read this series previously, consider In all, a very enjoyable read that also Lamb (the head of Slough House) and this a word-of-mouth alert. It is essen- eff ectively uses its pre-COVID Brexit the treacherous Diana Taverner (the tial to start at the beginning with SLOW background to make some astute refl ec- head of MI5). Th roughout the series, HORSES. tions on the state of society, especially in Lamb’s perverse mode of leadership So why are these book so popular ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 11 now? It’s hard not to root for the under- “I'll tell you what, to have ish spy fi ction writers are clearly led dog, isn’t it? Th en there is that amazing been lucky enough to play Smi- by Mick Herron, but running closely satisfaction when those same underdogs behind him are a group of very tal- outshine their supposed betters. Along ley in one's career; and now go ented writers including Henry Porter, the way there’s Mick Herron’s ascerbic, and play Jackson Lamb in Mick John Lawton, Tom Bradby and Adam biting sense of humor that is its own Herron's novels—the heir, in Brookes. Also belonging to this group form of entertainment. And, there’s the a way, to le Carré—is a terrifi c is Charles Cumming, who has been wonderfully politically incorrect Jack- turning out intelligent and suspenseful son Lamb character. Once you are used thing.” — Gary Oldman spy novels since 2001. to it, Mick Herron’s prose is an absolute His latest book, BOX 88, is a tense delight to read. tale about deep secrets and old betray- Th e continuing storyline is also a als. Lachlan Kite is a member of a secret, major factor in the reader returning high-level spy agency, Box 88, that runs for each episode. Details about major clandestine missions away from the protagonists are stingily meted out over prying eyes of the traditional agencies. the course of the series. Our natural Kidnapped by Iranian Intelligence aft er curiosity keeps us coming back to fi nd attending the funeral of a childhood out more. Hence, it is important to read friend in London, Kite is forced to go this series in the order in which the back over the early days of his career novels were published. Some characters when he was involved in a botched die and you wouldn’t want to know that mission in 1989. With his family under ahead of their demise. threat, Kite desperately tries to escape Warning: there is a fair bit of pro- without revealing the truth of what fanity and crudity, especially whenever really happened back then. Jackson Lamb opens his mouth. If Th is is a well plotted spy novel, that you are off ended by that, you’ll either smoothly moves back and forth between have to adjust to it or skip this series, in the present and 1989, when Kite, as a which case you will miss out on a lot. In young man, was sent to spy on a close this day and age of ubiquitous profanity, friend and his family in France during I’ve learned to just ignore it. a holiday break. Th ere are some good Gary Oldman as twists and turns, and the sections set in Mick Herron Jackson Lamb the present are very tense, as the reader tries to work out what is happening. I Mick Herron was born in Hewcastles was probably not as engaged with the upon Tyne and now lives in Oxford, sections set in 1989, the idea of a late where he enjoys the odd game of squash Other Recent teenage spy did not ring true to me, but when not writing. Espionage Novels overall I really enjoyed BOX 88. He has a degree in English from It is not in the same class as his excellent earlier novels, A COLDER Baliol College, Oxford. Spy fi ction continues to be popular WAR and THE TRINITY SIX, but it is in today’s market. In the old days we still a very good spy novel with which to basically had only one boogeyman -- the TV Production pleasantly while away a weekend. Russians. Th ey’ve come back in a big Apple TV+ is producing a television way, but now we in the West have to also THE FRENCHMAN adaptation of the Slow Horses series contend with Jihadists, the Chinese, the by Jack Beaumont with Gary Oldman starring as Jackson North Koreans and sometimes even our Allen & Unwin, $A29.99 Lamb and Kristin Scott Th omas as Di- so-callled Allies. Th e espionage writer Rating: B+ ana Taverner. Six episodes will be based is spoiled by a feast of possibilities. Reviewed by Jeff Popple on Herron’s fi rst book, SLOW HORSES, Here is a sampling of what is avail- THE FRENCHMAN by Jack Beau- and the other six will be based on his able. mont provides a refreshing, slightly dif- second novel, DEAD LIONS. Th e pro- BOX 88 ferent approach to modern spy fi ction. duction has been delayed by Covid-19, by Charles Cumming Beaumont is apparently the pseud- but recent news indicates that shooting Harper Collins, £12.99 onym of a former French intelligence production has commenced. I don’t Rating: A- operative who now lives in Australia, have Apple TV+ but I will sign up when Reviewed by Jeff Popple and his debut book is fi lled with a lot this series becomes available. Th e current pack of quality Brit- of convincingly detailed spy tradecraft 12 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

some spy fi ction. He is also very good at is nicely contrasted with the internal in- articulating the personal cost of spy- trigue back in Washington, and Magson ing, both on the families of the French is as adept at the backroom scenes as he agents and the foreign assets that they is with describing a gunfi ght. use. In all, it is a very entertaining spy Overall, a very enjoyable and thought yarn. It probably does not have the myr- provoking spy thriller. iad of surprising twists that is expected of modern thrillers, but it still works A HOSTILE STATE quite well. For me it is not quite as good by Adrian Magson as the Harry Tate novels, but it is still in Severn House, £20.99 the top echelon of espionage novels. Rating: B+ George’s Take. Th ere is nothing Reviewed by Jeff Popple like an exciting chace to make a thriller Adrian Magson is one of my favorite like this one live up to its name. Adrian current writers of action spy novels. Magson is one of the best at this kind His series about former MI5 agent of novel and this is a series that never Harry Tate is superb, as are the two disappoints. Top-notch. hard-to-get novels in his Gonzales & Vaslik series, THE BID and THE TRIPLE CROSS LOCKER. Running alongside these by Tom Bradby series are his books about Marc Port- Bantam Press, £12.99, May, 2021 and seemingly insider knowledge of the man, a freelance professional shadow, Atlantic Monthly, $27.00, French security services. or watcher, who provides protection to September, 2021 Th e story opens with a jolting British and American agents in poten- Rating: A- prelude in Singapore and Pakistan, tially hostile situations. He works in the Reviewed by George Easter before moving to an exciting operation background, stays off the record and Former MI6 operative Kate Hender- in Palermo, aimed at disrupting a new oft en the people he is guarding have no son is vacationing in Southern France terrorist organization. Th e mission goes idea he is there. As with Magson’s other with her family, when she receives a terribly wrong and leaves Alec de Payns, books, these are good, old-styled spy surprise visit from the UK Prime Min- an operative in the secretive Y Division novels with up-to-date plots, exciting ister, asking for her help. He wants her of the French foreign intelligence service shoot-outs and betrayals. to prove that he has been the subject of (DGSE), suspecting that there is a leak A HOSTILE STATE is the fi ft h a Russian campaign to discredit him, in his team. Th at suspicion grows as de book in the series and fi nds Portman in rather than the Russian agent that some Payns is tasked to investigate a heavily Lebanon on a last-minute assignment. still believe him to be. Th e PM be- secured biological plant in Pakistan that A straightforward collect-and-go job, may be producing a weaponized bacte- with Portman providing protection to ria capable of killing millions. a CIA source who needs to be extract- THE FRENCHMAN is a confi dently ed. Th ings quickly go bad when the plotted and well-written novel. Beau- source does not show up and Portman mont moves his story along at a good is ambushed. It soon becomes very clear pace and it builds to a violent climax in that someone had advance warning of Paris, complete with the usual conclud- Portman’s arrival and wants him dead. ing twists. Th e book particularly excels With his controller back in Langley in its detailed descriptions of spycraft , hamstrung by internal politics, Portman the politics of French Intelligence oper- goes on the run. Fearing that there is a ations and the security measures taken leak at the heart of the CIA, Portman by agents. In the main this is seamlessly realises that he has to play by his own woven into the plot, although it appears rules to survive. overly elaborate at times. Th e descrip- Th is is a very enjoyable spy thriller tions of the operations and locations are that starts violently and keeps up a brisk also well done, especially the chapters pace for most of its length. Portman’s set in Pakistan and Afghanistan. race through Lebanon, aided by a mid- Beaumont’s characters are credi- dle-aged, female British agent, is nicely ble and are not the one-dimensional, concocted, credible and very exciting, gun-toting superheroes to be found in and is probably the highlight of the book for me. Th e action on the ground ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 13 lieves that there is a mole in MI6 who is in Beverly Hills who was formerly a Added to that duty, Saylor is also behind this fake news and he wants the Russian spy, and Katrina’s aunt, her- pulled away every day for a couple of mole unmasked. self likely a Russian espionage agent. hours by her minder Paul Bridger to Kate accepts her new role very reluc- Carver soon learns that the FBI has been surveil a local (Hamburg) Mosque and tantly and only because the PM made conducting its own long-running in- take notes on a particular group of her an off er she couldn’t refuse. A major vestigation of the fi lm producer related young men who may be radicalized. part of her reluctance comes from her to Russia’s involvement in U.S. election But she quickly perceives that she is not distrust of almost everyone around her. tampering. He comes to realize that all being told the whole story and begins Yet, she perseveres with the complex of these cases are entwined with the her own investigation. Of particu- investigation, getting into some tight Cold War never ending. lar interest to her is the apparent new fi xes. What we get is a spy procedural Carver is a compelling character recruit named Mamoud. She teams up not so diff erent in style from a police with Ken Dolan, another agent who is procedural but with a bit more danger a liaison between the CIA and the FBI. involved. His role in the story is not only to help On a personal level, Kate is trying Saylor but also to show how dysfunc- to be the best mom possible to her two tional the CIA and the FBI were in children who desperately want her to sharing information pre-9-11. patch things up with her estranged Th e trail Saylor follows leads to a sur- husband. prising revelation and some frightening Having read all three novels in the situations. To reveal too much of the series, I can safely say that they were plot would spoil it for the reader. Suffi ce meant to be one story told in three it to say that THE COVER WIFE is a parts. Now that the storyline that began “what if” book. It show how close we in SECRET SERVICE has concluded in could have come to preventing 9/11 TRIPLE CROSS, is that the end of the from happening. But inter-agency jeal- series? Th e author may think that Kate ousy and intra-agency bumbling proved Henderson is too good a character to our won undoing. discard (I agree), so he has left her career Barry-Award winner (SAFE HOUS- in MI6 quite open-ended as TRIPLE ES) Dan Fesperman has come up with CROSS winds down. I wouldn’t be sur- a tightly-written, suspenseful and prised to see more of her in the future thought-provoking thriller. His expe- and I certainly hope that comes to pass. rience as a foreign correspondent is I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this series and with some past demons, cosmopoli- evident throughout the narrative. highly recommend it to you. tan tastes and a relationship with Lily Hernandez, a uniform cop who wants to THE OLD ENEMY LAST DANCE make detective so she can partner with by Henry Porter by Jeff rey Fleishman Carver. Th e author is a terrifi c storytell- Atlantic Monthly, $26.00, June Blackstone, $25.99, 2020 er who writes with verve and soulful so- Rating: A- Rating: A phistication. I’m greatly looking forward Reviewed by Jeff Popple Reviewed by Steele Curry to reading more about Carver. It seems that Henry Porter’s THE Th e famous Russian ballerina Ka- OLD ENEMY has been a long time trina Ivanovna is found dead of an ap- THE COVER WIFE coming. Th e third in his series about parent overdose in downtown Los Ange- by Dan Fesperman former MI6 agent Paul Samson, Th e Old les. Detective Sam Carver is convinced Knopf, $26.95, July, 2021 Enemy was originally scheduled to be she was murdered. Before an autopsy Rating: A- published in September 2020, but has can be performed, Katrina’s body dis- Reviewed by George Easter only just made its way into print. Th e appears from the morgue. Several days Professor Winston Armitage is an good news is that the wait has been well later, a friend and neighbor of Katrina’s expert on the Quran and its transla- worthwhile. was also murdered. Th en, a third related tions. He has published a new book that THE OLD ENEMY is worthy person was shot dead in front of Carver refutes the assertion that jihidi martyrs successor to the terrifi c earlier Samson in a bar. are promised 72 virgins aft er death, books, Firefl y and White Hot Silence, As Carver’s investigation proceeds, and this has caused a furor in Muslim and in many ways is also a moving con- the number of suspects related to these circles. He is on a European book tour clusion to Porter’s earlier series of books killings increases to include two Rus- in October of 1999, with heavy security about legendary MI6 agent Robert sian hitmen, a gunrunner, a powerful and CIA agent Claire Saylor posing as Harland. billionaire fi lm producer now living his wife. THE OLD ENEMY opens with the 14 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

tight grip on the reader’s attention as the been recalled to Langley from her post various strands of the plot unfold and in Beirut, Lebanon because of her aff air the secrets at the core of the story are with a British intelligence agent, which unveiled. As Samson tries to unravel is a no-no. A former colleague, Eric the reasons behind the killings, Anasta- Newman, Chief of Russia Division, has sia battles with the high level American specifi cally asked for her to head up a politicians and corrupt business people search for a possible mole. Th ree Rus- who want Hasami’s secrets to remain sian “assets” have recently been killed buried. and it is strongly suspected that some- Th e story moves smoothly and one within headquarters or Moscow violently across Europe before coming Station has been feeding the names of to a tense conclusion in Washington. its informants to the Russians. Lyndsey Th e characters are well-developed and is devastated when she fi nds that one interesting, and the locations are simply, of the three dead is her former asset, but convincing, sketched. Th ere is also Yaromir Popov (code name Ghenghis), enough convincing modern spy craft whom she grew to love as a father-fi g- to satisfy even the most demanding ure. armchair spook and there are some As she is settling in, Lyndsey be- depressing insights into the British and friends CIA colleague Th eresa Warner, American political systems. Recent the widow of a legendary agent killed events in America add some currency by the Russians when he attempted to murder of Harland, who also featured in to the story and Porter is very good at exfi ltrate one of his sources from Russia. White Hot Silence, on a remote stretch portraying the close links between the Th e number of suspects is whittled of the Baltic coastline. Meanwhile bil- twin worlds of Intelligence gathering down to three and Lyndsey is sad to lionaire philanthropist Denis Hisami is and politics. Th ere is also plenty of poi- admit to herself that Th eresa is one of poisoned with a chemical nerve agent as gnancy in THE OLD ENEMY and quite them. he is preparing to give evidence at an US a few shocks and surprises. Th is plot summary will be very brief Congress hearing on his supposed links Th e ending is probably is a little so as to not spoil any of the surprises to militant Kurdish factions. Unknow- drawn out, and lacks the explosiveness that come along the way and there are ingly linking the two attacks is Ex-MI6 of the conclusions to FIREFLY and quite a few. agent Paul Samson who is also assaulted WHITE HOT SILENCE, but is still Th e author’s background, that at the same time on a London street quite eff ective and gripping in its way. included thirty-fi ve years as an intelli- while watching over a young woman Long term fans of Porter’s spy novels gence analyst for agencies like the FBI, connected to a controversial Non Gov- will also enjoy the return of several NSA and global think-tank RAND, ernment Organisation. While Hisami characters from his earlier books and certainly adds verisimilitude to the lies in a coma in a hospital bed, Samson I liked the wrapping up of various past sets out to fi nd out why the three of storylines. them were targeted for death. It soon Th e complaints are few. Some becomes very clear that Hisami and elements stretch credibility, but not to Harland were conducting a dangerous breaking point, and I thought that some operation against an old and powerful trimming would have made it a tighter enemy. Joining forces with Hisami’s and more exciting read. Th ere is also a wife, and the love of Samson’s life, sense of repetition at times, but overall I Anastasia, Samson has to battle against really enjoyed it. In all, THE OLD ENE- tremendous odds to outwit an envelop- MY is an outstanding spy novel. ing conspiracy that reaches to the top of 2021 has already brought us one the British and American governments. great spy novel in the form of Mick Her- Th is is a compelling spy story that ron’s SLOUGH HOUSE and I think that starts at a brisk pace and quickly catches THE OLD ENEMY is not far behind it. the reader up in its thrall. Th e plot is cleverly constructed and Porter deploys RED WIDOW some compelling action set-pieces to by Alma Katsu keep the story rushing along. By alter- Putnam, $27.00, March, 2021 nating the viewpoint between Samson Rating: A- Alma Katsu and Anastasia, and occasionally some Reviewed by George Easter minor characters, Porter maintains a CIA operative Lyndsey Duncan has ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 15 narrative. Th is is a novel that pits the Tom is not too happy about it. His boss “follow the rules” kind of spy vs. the has cancer and the company is being “end justifi es the means” kind of spy. sold to a ruthless billionaire who un- It comes as no surprise when the doubtedly will take it in a new direction mole’s identity is revealed, but the – one that Tom is not sure he wants to mole’s motives add nuance to the plot follow. line and the reader’s sympathy is en- Unbeknownst to all but a handful of gaged. Lyndsey Duncan proves to be a people (including his boss who recruit- strong and likeable character and I can ed him), Tom Klay is also a fact-fi nd- see this becoming a series. ing agent for the CIA. His cover as a travel-anywhere, talk-to-anyone inves- NORTHERN SPY tigative reporter is perfect cover for CIA by Flynn Berry intelligence gathering. Viking, $26.00 Bent on revenging his friend’s death, Rating: Tom is at a crossroads and doesn’t know Reviewed by George Easter whether he wants to continue working A diff erent kind of spy story. In the for the CIA and working for Th e Sover- old days, there was only two kinds – a eign. Th e CIA comes up with a solu- narrative that involved American or tion: work with former lover Hungry British spies versus Russian ones; or Khoza who is set to prosecute Botha and WWII one involving Nazi spies. Now bring him to justice. So Tom takes on we not only have spies from the resur- Tessa is forced to make a very diffi cult this one last assignment, little knowing gent Russia, but from other hot spots choice, one that could put her life and that it would turn out to be much bigger such as China and North Korea. And the life of her dear son in danger. But to than he envisioned. then there are the multitude of spy choose to do nothing could be equally Bryan Christy certainly has writ- thrillers that involve spying on the dangerous. So Tessa agrees to become a ing chops. IN THE COMPANY OF radical jihadists whom seem to be omni- spy for the British MI5. STRANGERS has garnered three present in today’s thriller fi ction. Edgar winner, Flynn Berry excels starred reviews (out of four) in the Enter into this mix, NORTHERN in her descriptions of physical settings library journals, a sure indicator that SPY, which is a story about Northern and of current Irish politics. Th is novel the author knows what he is doing. Ireland. Wait a minute. I thought that will appeal to a wide reange of readers Th e spying aspect of the novel is quite the English-Irish confl ict had been set- including fans of mainstream fi ctioon. minimal. I would categorize is more a tled or at least tamped down by the 1998 novel of revenge. It does meander a bit Good Friday Agreement. Well, those IN THE COMPANY OF KILLERS here and there, but the overall quality of supposedly buried animosities have by Bryan Christy the writing counterbalances any of that. resurfaced and the IRA is once again Putnam, $27.00, April Overall, a very impressive and morally making Northern Ireland a dangerous Rating: A- ambiguous fi rst novel. place to live. Tom Klay is a highly regarded inter- Tessa is a producer at the BBC in national journalist who works for the Belfast and is the mother of a new prestigious magazine Th e Sovereign. baby. While at work one day, she sees a Years ago he was involved in a fatal newsfeed about another IRA operation. accident while he was driving drunk. A Security footage reveals Tessa’s sister young boy died and he has never been Marian pulling a black ski mask over able to forgive himself. her face. Most of his time has recently been Th e police think that Marian, who is spent in Africa where he has written otherwise employed as a paramedic, has several pieces on endangered species joined the IRA. Tessa doesn’t believe it. and the rampant poaching of big game Aft er all, she and Marian are very close animals. On one fact-fi nding trip to and she knows that Marian abhors the Kenya, his good friend Bernard is mur- violence. Th e only explanation is that dered and he is wounded. Tom is sure Marian has been abducted and some- that a notorious poacher named Ras how forced to participate in an IRA Botha is responsible and seeks ways to attack. bring the man down. When Tessa fi nds out the truth about Meanwhile, back at the magazine, Marian’s involvement with the IRA, there is a changing of the guard and 16 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------A Conversation with Bryan Christy

ebut novelist Bryan Christy talks recently done a project in South Africa for example, greenlit some of the dark- Dabout IN THE COMPANY OF where I met some criminals who were est angels we’ve seen in this country in KILLERS (Putnam, $27.00, April, 2021) both ruthless and charming, and then a long time—in politics, media, fi nance, just when I needed extra inspiration in defense, and technology. As we wit- You had what many would consid- the villain category, Rupert Murdoch nessed at the Capitol on January 6, peo- er the coolest job in the world. You bought National Geographic placing the ple died as a result. Klay decides to take were head of Special Investigations for world’s fl agship magazine and television on what he considers "an unwinnable National Geographic with a virtually assets in the hands of its most powerful case," and stand up to these dark forces. unlimited budget to travel anywhere and destructive media mogul. Imagina- It is his only hope to reclaim himself. on the planet and investigate crimi- tion took over from there. nals. Why would you leave all that to Th e title comes from a pivotal You were initially a CPA and then a write fi ction? moment in the l atter half of the book successful lawyer, specializing in inter- when Tom Klay realizes he's been naive national law. What led you to become It was absolutely amazing, and my to the evil that surrounds him. Klay a writer? team and I did some good. Th rough is a very good investigative journalist our investigations we helped infl uence who tracks down criminal kingpins, Every male Christy since 1898 had China to close its ivory market, saving but not all that is wrong with the world been a mortician until I came along. tens of thousands of elephants. We got can be put on a Wanted poster. Injus- I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but if Vatican City ivory dealers raided and tice thrives when its perpetrators are I was going to break family tradition, a pedophile monsignor defrocked. We perceived to be too big to tackle or too I felt I had to be responsible about it. exposed corruption in South Africa. many to confront. If you look around, I did what writers do when they can’t Prosecutors and legislators around the we are all in the company of killers; the bear to disappoint their parents. I went world cited our work in improving laws powerful who game or break the system to law school. I was working at a fi rm in and sending some major traffi ckers to to achieve their goals and the good Washington, DC when I got word my prison. All good. people who allow bad things to happen father had only a few days to live. Before But there are limits on what truths by staying in their own professional and he died, I decided I had to tell him why can be told in journalism. As a criminal personal lanes. Th e Trump presidency, I’d become a lawyer. We were in the investigator I began to see relationships hospital. I was moistening his lips with among powerful actors that could not fi t ice chips. He looked at the bowl I was into a single magazine article or doc- holding and said he would give every- umentary fi lm. Mark Twain famously thing he owned for a whole ice cube. He said, “Truth is stranger than fi ction.” told me never to forget that in the end But fi ction, when it’s good, can be more nothing material mattered; I shouldn’t illuminating than truth. It’s why Twain worry about success as others defi ned it. wrote fi ction himself. He loved to fi sh, he said. If he had it to do over he would have spent more time What inspired you to write IN THE in his boat out on the lake, fi shing. COMPANY OF KILLERS? Where did I enjoyed law but it wasn’t my boat the title come from? out on a lake. My boat was writing. I went back to my law fi rm and quit. Six I wanted to write the kind of book years later I had my fi rst draft novel, I like to read—a good adventure story a thriller. I drove to New York City to involving real world forces and full meet my new agent for the fi rst time. characters that makes me feel a little Unfortunately, our meeting was set for smarter for having spent the time. I’ve the aft ernoon of 9/11. I saw the planes go crossed paths over the years with private into the towers on television. Nobody on military contractors and long wanted the street that day thought they would to write a story about that world. I’d fall. I spent the day as a volunteer, bring------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 17

imals, he was arrested and hit with the research did the book require and how longest prison sentence for wildlife traf- did you go about researching it? What fi cking in Malaysian history. Meanwhile was the most interesting or surprising an anti-corruption squad raided the thing you learned? Wildlife Department. Th e story made international news and members of Ma- I approached the novel the way I laysia’s parliament used my work to pass would a criminal investigation. I got new wildlife protection legislation. out a whiteboard and drew a tree of my main issues and characters and set How much of your protagonist, about learning everything I could about Tom Klay, is based off yourself and them. More than once I imagined the your experience? most outrageous criminal operation I could, only to see it happen in real life Th at’s the beauty of ction.fi What shortly aft er I’d sweated a chapter. In surfaces from your subconscious as you most cases I scrapped those scenes. A write—is it your invention, or is it you? few times I made them bigger. Tom Klay is a fi ctional character. Th e I was surprised to learn the CIA ac- story is made up. I drew on my expe- tually maintains a venture capital fi rm. rience as an investigative journalist to It’s called In-Q-Tel, the Q purportedly give him authenticity but Klay’s a diff er- coming from James Bond’s fi ctional ent guy. He’s darker, more cynical. He’s inventor, and is used to seed high tech ing water to fi rst responders. When I had some terrible experiences I haven’t startups. Th e mixing of fact and fantasy later met my agent he told me the thrill- had. Th at said we do have certain things by real world spies engaged in complex er was dead, pick a new genre. I reached in common. We both grew up in a fu- Wall Street investing struck me as too out to the CIA and to contacts in the neral home, we both worked as criminal good to pass up as a novelist. magazine world. I decided whichever investigators for a famous international I was also surprised to discover path opened fi rst I would follow it. magazine. Klay employs investigative National Geographic’s early history techniques I’ve used in the fi eld. Howev- with the CIA, including one disastrous How did you become a special in- er, Klay accepts the CIA’s off er, which is eff ort to plant a listening device on the vestigator for National Geographic? something I would never have done as a Chinese border, resulting in plutonium journalist. rolling down a Himalayan mountain I met an editor at National Geo- into the Ganges. Th e father of the CIA, graphic who asked me how I would What were some of your most Wild Bill Donovan, was a regular at approach a story assignment from them. memorable moments as an investi- Nat Geo headquarters back in the day. Th ey didn’t do crime, he added. I looked gator? What were some of your most Many people know that famous spy back at Nat Geo’s work on animals surprising? novelist Charles McCarry was CIA, but and realized they were oft en telling few people know he was also a National crime stories, they just didn’t know it. Oh, I loved all of it. Truly. Th e fi rst Geographic editor-at-large. Th eir stories had all the elements, but time seeing an elephant in the wild. Or the balance was off . Readers oft en felt a giraff e running free. Getting arrested Your fi rst book, Th e Lizard King, sad or powerless aft er reading them. I in Tanzania, of course. We were moving was nonfi ction. How was the transition proposed modifying their story-telling fake elephant tusks with GPS transmit- into writing fi ction? approach to move from victim-based ters hidden inside through the airport in stories focused on endangered species to Dar es Salaam for a story on ivory traf- Non-fi ction has handrails. Chrono- villain-based stories that exposed king- fi cking. It was a long night but I made logical sequence is there to assist you. So pins and corrupt government offi cials. friends among those who arrested me. are facts. You have them or you don’t. My fi rst assignment was to go aft er Th e challenge is to communicate your You hit limits on what you can accurate- a reptile traffi cker operating in Malay- humanity and to listen for theirs. And ly say about a character’s internal life. sia named Anson Wong, the so-called keep your sense of humor. In my fi ction Th ere is a joy to research that is usually Pablo Escobar of Wildlife Traffi cking. I I want to continue that. rewarded. set up a two-year investigation to expose Fiction has no limits. Genre helps. A him and the government offi cials who Th e book is fi lled with intimate crime helps. But you have many, many enabled him. As a result of my inves- detail about a host of things – hunt- more choices to make, and discarded tigation, police raided his farm, seized ing, Africa, international geopolitics, ideas don’t always stay dead. In fi ction his animals, and took away his license. weapons systems, computer security, you can kid yourself that excess re- When he was caught moving more an- and a good deal more. What additional 18 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

phy that fueled the 1980s recognized the need to produce a good output. But that moral imperative has been stripped from our national identity. It’s not just support for democratic institutions and a free press that is eroding; fundamental stories we tell ourselves as Americans are dissolving, too, so that lately words like liberty and freedom are confused with selfi shness and ignorance.

In 2017 you testifi ed before Con- gress on the importance of law enforce- ment in remote parts of Africa and the risk of spillover from wildlife-based search is a form of writing when it’s not. son at the Iowa Writers Workshop who disease. Do any notes of the argument Imagination is your job. A geopolitical opened my eyes to the importance of you made then pertain to what has hap- thriller should feel real, the danger writers as a kind of surgeon laying open pening with the COVID-19 pandemic? impending. One of the main reasons I the world for others to work on. Th at’s I testifi ed on the costs of failing to left National Geographic was to explore carried me. protect the natural world, including topics that are too large or untidy to fi t failing to support rangers and others on into reported stories. In the Company of What do you feel is the most rele- the front lines in Africa. Th e risks, I said, Killers is fi ction, but that doesn’t mean vant theme set forth in your novel? were increased terrorism, political in- it’s not true. And, if I’m right about stability, and emergent disease. Spillover what’s coming, readers should defi nitely Th is is the story of one man’s awak- diseases like Covid—I cited Ebola—are a be concerned. ening to his moral obligation to act in direct result of failing to adequately con- the face of largescale injustice. Tom Klay serve and protect wildlife and natural What were the infl uences, literary is a loner. He changes story assignments. habitats. Even though I knew the risks to and otherwise, that shaped you, both He changes identities. He doesn’t have be real, and had seen the bushmeat and in writing this novel, and earlier? to stand up or stand still for very long. other wild trade fi rsthand, I felt like an He skates above the world he wanders. academic warning those politicians of a My mother brought books into our He does not get involved. possible future disaster. Two years later home. Th e Flannery side of the family Greed is everywhere in the book and the bomb went off . talked books, checked on what you were takes many forms. Klay’s greed is to Experts tell us COVID19 is not the reading, celebrated a good author dis- keep his life rolling steadily along with last pandemic we will see. We should be covered, and cursed one who’d let them himself in control. But Klay is also a listening carefully to those scientists who down. My grandfather was a one-man witness. He has traveled the world and study the relationship between ecosys- fi replace we gathered around for stories has seen the eff ects of unchecked power tems and the chain of events that lead to well told. Th e Christys, by contrast, were and greed. Terry Krieger’s greed is more the outbreak of zoonotic disease. We are not avid readers, but oral stories play conventional. He’s handsome, brilliant, focused on politics and, appropriately, a vital role in a funeral home. Before extraordinarily wealthy, diplomatically on vaccines. Th e more diffi cult task is they’re called eulogies, they’re what we savvy. A war veteran. He’s got it all. And to understand and modify the human tell each other to give others meaning yet, more is what he wants. behavior that is a leading cause of this and to take form ourselves. I grew up I wanted to pit two American ideals type of pandemic. Unfortunately, there is surrounded by stories. against each another: the uber capitalist no vaccine for the supply end of disease. For love of literature, writing, and versus the lone individual. Th e idea is a Like Tom Klay, we’ve ignored our call animals my mom gets all the credit. My story that refl ects in some way the Unit- to action with disastrous results. Th e father taught me empathy for strang- ed States today. “American Exceptional- question is, having seen death, will we ers. My uncle the FBI undercover agent ism,” the notion that the United States is act now? taught me how to investigate. I spent a a city upon a hill, beacon for the world, number of years with a Philadelphia un- included the idea that ours was a nation What’s next for you and Tom Klay? derworld fence who taught me that the worth emulating, that Americans stand “good” aren’t always right, nor the bad up to injustice and support democracy By the end of In the Company of Kill- wrong. I had the great fortune to spend and basic human rights. Even Milton ers Tom Klay has fi nally found peace. It a summer with James Alan McPher- Friedman’s “Greed is Good” philoso- turns out that doesn’t last. ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 19

Larry Gandle Critiques

very year the announcement of the Best Novel Emma Djan works as a private EEdgar shortlist is met with some investigator in Accra and is hired to bewilderment for some of the titles in- I did not particularly care for the vast look into Gordon’s disappearance. To cluded, and most defi nitely for titles that majority of this list. Some were noted as do that, she must enter into the world are excluded. Included are some titles the best of the year in multiple lists but of the sakawa scams, which are internet otherwise unknown and excluded are they did not strike a positive chord with scams that originate in Ghana and Nige- some of the most widely discussed titles me. In my order of preference they are: ria. Th e closer she gets to the truth, the of the year. Th is past year, George and I more dangerous it will get for her as the scoured the internet looking for Crime villains go way up the hierarchy of the THE MISSING AMERICAN Fiction Best of the Year lists. Th e last government. by Kwei Quartey issue of Deadly Pleasures contained all Th is book surprised me. I was Soho, $27.95 the lists from widespread sources, in- expecting another long, dull, dreary Rating: A cluding international lists. George then British type of PI novel. Instead it is Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged did something I don’t think was ever more of a thriller. Short chapters with man living in Washington DC, is still done before. He sorted out all the titles alternating points of view, similar to a mourning his wife’s death. She was from into how many mentions they received James Patterson novel, keeps the pacing Ghana and together they made quite a from all the 50 “Best: lists. of the compelling plot moving along. few trips there. He goes onto a widows Th e clear favorite -- above any others Th e locale is quite foreign to me and the and widower website and meets a very -- was BLACKTOP WASTELAND by topic of internet scams is fascinating. attractive woman from Ghana. He falls S.A. Cosby. It is not on the list. THE Characters are complex creations with in love with her but is she tells that her SEARCHER by Tana French was second almost none of them truly and totally sister got into a car accident and they and is also missing. Th e fact that these evil. It is a unique novel, an exciting need money for medical care. He sends and others were excluded from the list novel and a totally compelling read. In thousands of dollars then plans to visit perhaps makes the shortlist somewhat my mind, this is the Edgar Best Novel her. He travels to Accra and disappears. suspect. I checked the list of submit- winner. ted books before the announcement of THE DISTANT DEAD the shortlist and I did note that every by Heather Young top-rated book was submitted. As it Morrow, $27.99 turns out, four out of six of the Best Rating: A Novel shortlist and only one out of fi ve In a small Nevada town, the burnt of the Best First Novel list has a sub- body of a local math teacher, Adam stantial number of votes. So, other than Merkel, is discovered by one of his the omission of BLACKTOP WASTE- sixth-grade students, Sal Prentiss. Sal is LAND, four out of six is not bad in the a quiet and lonely boy who recently lost Best Novel category and, ironically, in his mother to an apparent heart attack the Best First category, the book that and now lives with his uncles on the got zero mentions is my favorite book of Prentiss land where the body was dis- them all! covered. Nora Wheaton, a social studies So here is my annual assessment of teacher at the same school as Adam, is the Edgar shortlists. As I noted pre- stuck in this small town caring for her viously, I will not read or review Best father who sleeps in a trailer outside Paperback and Ebook Originals because their home. He is racked by guilt over we do not review books that are not the death of his son in an auto acci- available in a physical form. dent while he drove intoxicated. Nora looks into Adam’s past in an eff ort to 20 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

placed over her head while left for dead Pari, decide to become detectives and in 1999. She sees a white woman follow- solve the disappearances. Th ey plunge ing her for over fi ft een years. Th e police into the local bazaar in an eff ort to dis- think she is crazy. Essie pays attention cover clues not heeding the danger they and Essie will get results. are in. Eventually the disappearances hit Sometimes there are books that much closer to home and the stakes rise you might admire but could really not considerably. Th e question always re- recommend. Th is book is one of them. mains- where are the missing children? It is a very unpleasant read fi led with One of the great diffi culties a writer odious characters that you would never must experience if writing fi rst person want to spend time with. Th e author as a nine-year-old child, is to accurate- uses a technique where you get to know ly depict the thoughts that that child the character fairly well- then kills would have. Th ey are the thoughts of a them. It is awful. I will admit the book child- not an adult. In my opinion, the Heather Young is very well written and totally compel- author fails resoundingly. Th e words, ling. Characters are realistic and well the situations, the reasoning is not at all thought out. Th ere is a certain sense of that of a child. Th e dialogue is so very realism in the situation, the locale and stilted- and I refer specifi cally to the discover some clues that may have led the dialogue. However, I really did not dialogue with Guru in the city. It almost to someone killing him. Along the way enjoy the read or getting to know these reads as a young adult novel. However, she discovers some things about herself, characters. It is skillfully written and, as overlooking the obvious fl aws, the plot her father and Sal that leads her to some such, is a worthy addition to the Edgar is compelling and I managed to read degree of hope in the future. shortlist. I would just point the reader most of the book in one day. Th is novel Th is is a remarkable and quite liter- elsewhere. has been named on a few best of the ary novel. It is beautifully written with year lists. I am not sure I agree but it is realistic and sharply drawn characters. D JINN PATROL ON great for the pool or the plane. A mild Th e depiction of the locale appears to THE PURPLE LINE recommendation. be vivid enough for the reader to get a by Deepa Anappara sense of the insular and claustrophobic Random House, $27.00 BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN small town life that exists there. Th e Rating: B by Caroline Cooney solution to the death is both clever and, In a crowded smoggy city in India, Poisoned Pen Press, $26.99 in a sense, inevitable. It is a compelling children are disappearing. Nine-year- Rating: C read, not just because of the plot, but, old Jai has lost two classmates in the Clemmie, a resident of a South also the sympathetic characters that span of a few days. Th e police are not Carolina retirement community, checks inhabit the book. Th is is a very worth- doing anything so Jai and his friend, in on her unpleasant neighbor, Dom, while contender for the Edgar Award on a daily basis because he lives alone. best novel and one of the best books of One day, he is not there. As Clemmie last year. Highly recommended. explores, she comes upon a stunning sculpture and makes the mistake of THESE WOMEN photographing it and sending it to her by Ivy Pochoda nephew. Th e nephew inadvertently Ecco, $27.99 sends it onto a man who claims it was Rating: B stolen from him. Next thing we know, In West Adams, a seedy area of Clemmie is in the middle of a drug deal- South Los Angeles, prostitutes are being er’s search for money that was with the killed. Th ere is, apparently, a serial killer sculpture, putting her life in danger. She amongst them. We get to know them also lives as an alias to hide a secret past and their stories. Th ey all live a life on thatshe wants to stay away from. Th ere the edge, all into drugs and using sex as is now a defi nite danger that the author- their means to some kind of an exis- ities will discover who she really is. tence. It takes Essie, a vice cop, to begin Th is is another silly book about to realize that a serial killer is on the septuagenarians. It is a bit darker than loose. No other member of the police a simple ‘seniors solving crimes’ mys- really seems to care. tery but not enough to cause any real Feelia survived a brutal attack in- suspense. Characters are shallow and cluding having her throat cut and a bag the plot is easily forgettable. Th e story ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 21 just never appears realistic enough to added to my disappointment. Th is is approaches Adi Framji, the widower of move me, the reader. Th is is another one of the worst books I have read in the one of the women, and is soon hired to head scratcher of an Edgar nominee for past year. It is an awful Edgar nominee, look into the event. As Jim investigates, Best Novel. To think of the many other IMHO. To me, reading a book such as he is soon beaten and battered as some- books much more worthy of taking its this is one of the hazards of agreeing to one wants to keep him from the truth. place, is quite aggravating. I know the read a complete shortlist. He also begins to fall in love with Diana, Edgar committee works hard and takes My pick: THE MISSING AMERI- Adi’s sister, knowing they could never their job seriously, overall, but this is CAN by Kwei Quartley marry for religious reasons. As Jim gets another blown call. closer to the truth, he places himself and Best First Novel the Framji family increasingly in harm’s THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB way. by Richard Osman by an American Author I dreaded reading this book among Pamela Dorman Books, $26.00 the Edgar shortlists. It is a very long Rating: C- At fi rst glance, it appears to not be an novel and I assumed, with its horrifi c In a small English village, four impressive list at all. However, except for title, that I was facing another extreme- septuagenarians meet every Th ursday to one dud, it is a very strong list -- includ- ly long dull, dreary British style police solve cold cases of the local police. Well, ing one of my favorite books of the year. procedural. I was very wrong. Th is they have their hands full when a local ambitious novel is so much more than a real estate developer is killed in his own MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY simple investigation of a baffl ing crime. home- bludgeoned. Th ey seem to have by Nev Marsh It is an epic adventure novel and moves something over the local police depart- Minotaur Books, $26.99 around the country highlighting the ment as one of the women has a history Rating: A history of India in the late 19th century. in some kind of law enforcement agency In 1892 Bombay, two young women Jim adores Arthur Conan Doyle and in her past. Others die, clues come in commit suicide by jumping off a tower there is much Holmesian references. and the local police are unable to solve at the university. Th e women are from Th e book is part mystery, part historical anything without the help of these four the Framji family- a wealthy Parsee novel, part thriller and part romance. It elderly nursing home residents. Th e family. Th e Framjis feel justice is not all blends together into a totally compel- excitement never ceases. served by the sham of a trial and the ling novel reminiscent of thrillers of the Th is is a very popular book written fi nal analysis that it was suicide. Captain past. (Th e author states she was infl u- by a popular British television personal- Jim Agnihotri has just been released enced by Ridyard Kipling’s KIM). Char- ity. Others have loved this book (includ- from a local hospital aft er suff ering acters are overall well developed and ing George). Obviously, the Edgar com- wounds from a fi ght in Karachi. He has sympathetic creations but the villain, mittee did, as well. Th is is a first novel read in the newpapers about the dual Akbar, is a cardboard cutout. Th ere is but given that Richard Osman is not suicides and is convinced it was murder so much to this novel that it leads me to American, he cannot be eligible to win when no witnesses come forward. He think that with adventure novels- they the debut category. I did not like this just don’t write them like this anymore. book at all. In fact, I would have stopped Very well done and easily the best debut reading it aft er having read almost half novel of the year. of it. It is one of those books in which I would fi nd something else to do- any- PLEASE SEE US thing- rather than continue to read it. It by Caitlin Mullen is not at all to my taste. It is on the level Gallery Books $26.99 of a quilting club mystery. But those Rating: B+ books are relatively brief and most can Atlantic City, bleak, rundown and be read in a single sitting. (Cat mysteries devoid of tourists, is the home of several are actually superior and certainly more young women looking for a new start interesting.) Th is book is…so…freak- in life. Th ere is Clara, a sixteen year old ing…long! I will also add that it is total- psychic who lives with her Aunt Des on ly idiotic. Four septuagenarian nursing the boardwalk, helping to run a psy- home residents solving crimes while chic reading shop and to help out with marginalizing the local police? I simply various cons her Aunt developes. Clara cannot get past that. Th e fact that this longs to travel to California to meet her book is actually on the Edgar shortlist mother again and start a new life. Lily baffl es my mind. I expected much more has come home aft er a romantic betrayal from this book given the great things from her artist boyfriend in New York I was hearing about it. Th at probably City where she ran a Soho art gallery 22 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------with some success. She longs to start out GRHDFKRIWKHPKDYHLQVWRUHIRUWKHRWK HVFDSH7KHVWRU\LVFRPSHOOLQJDQGWKH again, on her own, aft er spending this HU5RVH*ROGLVQRWWKHKHOSOHVVOLWWOHJLUO characters display a richness not often summer, with her mother, in Atlantic VKHZDVZKHQKHUPRWKHUJRWSXWDZD\ VHHQLQD¿UVWQRYHO+RZHYHUDVWKHVWR City. Th ere is also a serial killer on the The twist at the end will surprise the U\UHDFKHVLW¶VFOLPD[WKHERRNFKDQJHV loose who is collecting young women UHDGHUDQGPDNHUHDGLQJWKHERRNYHU\ from an intelligent regional mystery to a and placing them in the swamplands ZRUWKZKLOH+LJKO\UHFRPPHQGHGGXHWR run of the mill thriller with all the stock outside the city. It is no surprise that WKHFKDUDFWHUVWXGLHVDQGWKHXQLTXHQHVV IHDWXUHVVXFKDVWKHKHURKHOGDWJXQ eventually all these characters will meet RIWKHSORW SRLQWZKLOHWKHYLOODLQGLYXOJHVDOO5HDO just prior to a resolution. LW\PXVWEHVXVSHQGHGPXOWLSOHWLPHVIRU Atlantic City is portrayed as a city WKH¿QDOJXQ¿JKWV([FLWLQJEXWQRWKLQJ of lost souls- crumbling and danger- QHZRUXQXVXDO)RUWKDWUHDVRQWKH ous. Th ere is so much good in this ERRNORVHVLWVH[FHOOHQWUDWLQJEXWLVVWLOO remarkable debut novel. Th ere are rich DZRUWKZKLOHDQGUHFRPPHQGHGUHDG characterizations of the main characters but minor characters are sketchy and CATHERINE HOUSE come off as caricatures. Th e dialogue is E\(OL]DEHWK7KRPDV reasonably realistic and the setting is so &XVWRP+RXVH very vivid that it emanates hopelessness. Rating: D However, the reader must buy into the &DWKHULQH+RXVHLVDVFKRRORI psychic visions that Clara has which KLJKHUOHDUQLQJ7XLWLRQLVIUHHDQGWKH does play an intricate role in the plot. DGPLVVLRQSURFHVVLVJUXHOLQJ2QFH In my mind, the visions give away too VFKRROEHJLQVWKHUHZLOOEHQRFRQWDFW much to bear any realism. Also, there ZLWKWKHRXWVLGHZRUOGZKDWVRHYHULQ are too many coincidences in the plot FOXGLQJIDPLO\RUIULHQGV,QHVKDVQR and a very unrealistic thread on how outside life and nowhere else to go so Lily discovers the artist of the paintings VKHDFFHSWVWKHDGPLVVLRQRIIHUDQG¿QGV she admires. Th ere is enough good in KHUVHOIOLYLQJLQDQLVRODWHGROGPDQVLRQ the book to earn my own admiration ZLWKKHUURRPPDWH%DE\6KHLQLWLDOO\ and I consider it a very worthy contend- GHFLGHVQRWWRVWXG\IDLOVDQGEHJLQV er for the Edgar Award Best First Novel. WRKDYHDFKDQJHRIKHDUWZKLOHLPSULV WINTER COUNTS Highly recommended RQHGLQWKHWRZHU6KHEHFRPHVDEHWWHU . 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------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 23 The Edgar Award Winners 2021

Best Novel

DJINN PATROL ON THE PURPLE LINE by Deepa Anappara – Winner

BEFORE SHE WAS HELEN by Caroline B. Cooney THURSDAY MURDER CLUB by Richard Osman THESE WOMEN by Ivy Pochoda THE MISSING AMERICAN by Kwei Quartey THE DISTANT DEAD by Heather Young

Best First Novel by An American Author

PLEASE SEE US by Caitlin Mullen – Winner

MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY by Nev March CATHERINE HOUSE by Elisabeth Thomas WINTER COUNTS by David Heska Wanbli Weiden DARLING ROSE GOLD by Stephanie Wrobel

Best Paperback Original

WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING by Alyssa Cole – Winner

THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW by Brian Freeman UNSPEAKABLE THINGS by Jess Lourey THE KEEPER by Jessica Moor EAST OF HOUNSLOW by Khurrum Rahman

The Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award

THE CABINETS OF BARNABY MAYNE by Elsa Hart – Winner

DEATH OF AN AMERICAN BEAUTY by Mariah Fredericks THE LUCKY ONE by Lori Rader-Day THE FIRST TO LIE by Hank Phillippi Ryan COLD WIND by Paige Shelton

The G. P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award

VERA KELLY IS NOT A MYSTERY by Rosalie Knecht – Winner

THE BURN by Kathleen Kent RIVIERA GOLD by Laurie R. King DEAD LAND by Sara Paretsky THE SLEEPING NYMPH by Ilaria Tuti 24 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 25 The Barry Award Nominations 2021

he winners of these awards will be announced at the Opening Ceremonies at the New Orleans Bouchercon on August 26, T2021.

All readers of Deadly Pleasures are qualifi ed to vote. Please submit votes to [email protected] by July 15, 2021.

Many, many thanks to our nominating committee members who put a lot of time (reading and evaluating) and then nomi- nating.

Best Novel

THE BOY FROM THE WOODS, Harlan Coben (Grand Central) THE LAW OF INNOCENCE, Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) BLACKTOP WASTELAND, S. A. Cosby (Flatiron Books) AND NOW SHE’S GONE, Rachel Howzell Hall (Forge) MOONFLOWER MURDERS, Anthony Horowitz (Harper) ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE, Louise Penny (Minotaur)

Best First Novel

DEEP STATE, Chris Hauty (Atria/Emily Bester) MURDER IN OLD BOMBAY by Nev March (MInotaur) THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB, Richard Osman (Viking\Pamela Dorman) THE EIGHTH DETECTIVE, Alex Pavesi (Henry Holt) WINTER COUNTS, David Heska Wanbli Weiden (Ecco) DARLING ROSE GOLD, Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley)

Best Paperback Original

WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING, Alyssa Cole (Morrow) MONGKOK STATION, Jake Needham (HP) HIDE AWAY, Jason Pinter (Th omas & Mercer) BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAST, James Swain (Th omas & Mercer) DARKNESS FOR LIGHT, Emma Viskic (Pushkin Vertigo) TURN TO STONE, James W. Ziskin (Seventh Street Books)

Best Thriller

DOUBLE AGENT, Tom Bradby (Atlantic Monthly) BLIND VIGIL, Matt Coyle (Oceanview) ONE MINUTE OUT, Mark Greaney (Berkley) THE LAST HUNT, Deon Meyer (Atlantic Monthly) EDDIE’S BOY, Th omas Perry (Mysterious Press) THE WILD ONE, Nick Petrie (Putnam) 26 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

Steck which is found on youtube.com. Just enter “Thriller Talk” into the search box on YouTube. The authors interviewed Editor’s Message so far are Dean Koontz, C. J. Box, S. A. Cosby, Peter James, Rachel Howzell Hall, Lisa Jewell, Lisa Gardner, Brad Taylor, This Year’s Bouchercon is a Go! New Regular Column – Introduc- Mark Greaney, Chris Hauty, Steve Berry, Tired of virtual mystery conventions? ing... I started this column in DP Issue Joel Rosenberg, Don Bentley, J. T. Ellison, Then do what I’m doing and sign up for #89 with Introducing...Max Tomlinson and Jack Carr this year’s Bouchercon in New Orleans – an author published by Oceanview The Crew Reviews (http://thecrewre- (August 24-29, 2021). I’ve gotten my Publishing with whom I was really views.com/index.php/podcasts/) also shots and feel safe to travel. As more and impressed. My intent was to introduce concentrates on thriller writers, but I more of us become vaccinated, I’m sure you to an new author or a new series by a recently watched interviews with C. J. the number of attendees will balloon. veteran writer that not many of you may Box and Michael Connelly, whom I don’t Right now there are about 800 people be acquainted with. If you are a dedi- consider thriller writers. I know these signed up, of which 300+ are authors. cated reader of Deadly Pleasures you authors pretty well but was surprised to The 2016 Bouchercon was also held will know by now that we try to shine a learn a lot I didn’t know about them. in New Orleans and was just about the light on not just the most popular writers The Red Hot Chilli Writers (https:// best Bouchercon I ever attended. The and their works, but other lesser-known, www.redhotchilliwriters.com) is a same people are putting on this one, so it talented writers who may be underappre- podcast hosted by two of my favorite should be lots and lots of fun. ciated or overlooked. writers, Abir Mukherjee and Vaseem I’m most looking forward to getting So I’ve been on the lookout for short Khan. They are sometimes joined by together with Ali Karim, this year’s Fan series (so far) by new writers or ones that another favorite writer of mine Amit Guest of Honor, whom I haven’t seen in you may not have noticed. In this issue Dhand (who publishes under the name person since 2016. Here’s hoping that the Introducing... column will shine a of A. A. Dhand), as well as Ayisha Malik, any travel restriction between the U.K. spotlight on female thriller writer Steph Imran Mahmood and Alex Khan. The and the U.S. will be lifted by August, Broadribb. Future columns will treat banter between Abir and Vaseem is lively, 2021. Same goes for Jeff Popple and the works of writers such as Andrew humorous and informative. his new bride who plan to come from Mayne (his Florida Underwater Inves- With all three of these sites, the Australia. tigative series), Lee Goldberg (his Eve interviewers come well prepared and ask Ronin series), and John Galligan (his Bad intelligent and probing questions. Confusing Email Addresses. I use Axe Wisconsin series) – all male writers two e-mail addresses. Both are safe to who have female lead protagonists. I just A Sad Note. My older sister Char- open. My main one is george@deadly- noticed this so don’t try to figure out lotte (my only sibling) recently passed pleasures.com but since switching servers why I was attracted to these series. It away at the age of 80. The first couple a couple of years ago, I’ve had difficulty has nothing to do with the male/female of weeks after her passing were pretty with aol email addresses in particular. I thing. tough on me, but I’m getting adjusted can receive them, but if I reply or send a This is requiring a lot of extra reading now. She never married and since I’m new email to an aol address it bounces on my part so we’ll see if I can keep this her only heir, it has fallen on my shoul- back. I’ve tried to figure out how to solve up for each issue. Please send feedback ders to wrap up her estate which includes this problem and neither my computer if you read any of the series I write about cleaning out her house and putting it up guy nor I have come up with a solution. and let me know if my recommendation for sale. My family hopes to accomplish If someone knows a fix, please send it to was valid. this in a 2-3 month time period. But this me. task is taking up most of my time and So when I send out the links to each Great Online Author Interviews. has affected the publication schedule for new issue I send them from my gmail The pandemic shutdown has caused us this magazine, which you will notice did address: [email protected]. to find our entertainment within the not meet the exact three month target of That ensures that everyone will get the walls of our home. Many, like me, have April 21, 2021. I hope you understand. I link if their email address is still current. turned to books and I’m grateful to have have a lot of help from my DP contribu- It is important to send me any change this obsession with reading to pass what tors in getting the material that goes into in your email address. It is now the only would otherwise be boring hours of time. this magazine, but it is solely up to me way to communicate with you and if the Others turn to the internet or to TV to lay it out and get it to the finish line. email address I have for you no longer streaming. I’ve done a bit of that as well, Sometimes “life” or in this case “death” works, I have to wait to hear from you but keep going back to books at the end interferes. Postscript: Charlotte was an before I can get your subscription going of the day. The three best sites for excel- avid mystery fan and read each issue of again. lent author interviews that I’ve found are: Deadly Pleasures from cover to cover. Thriller Talk by Kim Howe and Ryan ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 27

bookstores have been struggling and we should do what we can to support them. With this in mind, I drove out of Assistant Editor’s Message my way and went to the bookstore. I had a specifi c book in mind which I want- ed to buy. I walked into the shop and t seems like recently I have been read- writers and reviewers today. She is an there was a man at the register doing Iing a lot of redneck mystery novels. inspired choice and her columns are in- paperwork. Next to him stood an elderly Th ese are books written about charac- credibly well written. She also makes it woman opening small boxes. Th ey never ters at the lowest end of society. It’s okay clear what books she likes and why. I am once looked up when I entered the store occasionally but I have been reading glad for her getting the opportunity. or said a word to me. I walked over to these books seemingly one aft er the oth- I attended a reviewer’s panel a couple a rack fi lled with the book I wanted to er. So many of them are considered the purchase. I picked up a copy and went to best of the year and they are excellent. the register to pay. Th e gentleman took Th is led me to note that it is interesting my credit card and asked if I wanted a that British mysteries set in the coun- bag. Th at would have been the extent try are in idyllic villages with greenery of any interaction in the store if I didn’t and hedges. Th ese are pleasant places mention how many copies of the book to visit. In the United States, the setting they had. He told me it was the month’s is in rundown trailer parks or horribly selection of the new bookclub they maintained homes in the middle of started. I walked out thinking to myself, nowhere. Th ese are locales and setting I ‘Why did I come here? I don’t feel like am okay reading about but do not want anybody gave a damn about me.’ Now, to go anywhere near. I paid $31.00 for this book in the store. I Th ere must be a certain sense of could have ordered it from Amazon for insularity in judging the Edgar Awards. Sarah Weinman $16.40 or the Kindle for $14.00. I wanted Omitting a book such as BLACKTOP to support the store so I went out of my WASTELAND and including other way to purchase it from them. I get as books not nearly as universally regarded of years ago at Th illerfest. According to much attention walking into Barnes might refl ect taste or simply not pay- the panelists, none of them would write and Noble and, incidentally, would have ing attention to what books respected a negative review. I have oft en said it is a gotten thirty percent off . reviewers are praising. When I judged disservice to the readers to not let them Independent bookstores, in order the Th riller Award, I made sure I was know what we think- good or bad. We to succeed must at the bare minimum, aware of what books were being touted are not working for the publishers or the make the customer feel valued. A as excellent. I made sure those books authors. Once a book is published, it is friendly greeting such as, “Welcome in. were submitted for the award so the a commodity. As reviewers we owe it to If you have any questions or need any shortlist would truly refl ect the best of the readers to give them our opinion.- help, just ask. If you want some sugges- the year and not what simply appealed even if we put a book down and never tions, that’s what I am here for.” Th is to our personal tastes. Th is is always an fi nish it. I have recently started THE might have led to a friendly discussion issue for the Edgar Awards. Yet, they do SURVIVORS by Jane Harper. I made and it would have been probable that manage to include some of the books it about a third of the way through and they would have sold me a couple of considered the year’s best. did not fi nd it remotely interesting and I more books. I would also walk out Marilyn Stasio fi nally retired from stopped reading it-giving it the dreaded feeling good about my purchase and the New York Times Book Review! I DNF rating (did not fi nish). Th is infor- anxious to return next time I am in have never hid the fact that I am not a mation can be useful to the readers. It town. Instead, I felt like an intruder. I fan. Th ey were cryptic columns and it can also lead to some awkward mo- have visited the Mysterious Bookshop in was never clear which books she liked ments at Bouchercon! NYC and the customer is always greeted or disliked. We had to search for a I was recently in Houston and decid- by someone sitting at the front desk telltale adjective such as ‘charming’ or ed to visit the mystery bookstore there. with another person at a desk further in ‘engaging’ to determine her opinion. I Now please understand- this store is a the store willing and able to help. Th e found her column a waste of space and destination location. Th ere are no near- customer leaves feeling appreciated. For her selection of books bewildering. Her by pedestrian walkways or coff ee shops. these bookshops to survive, that should column was taken over by a previous Th ere is no reason to be in the neigh- be the priority. As far as the mystery DP reviewer, Sarah Weinman, who I borhood except to visit the bookstore. bookstore in Houston, I would not waste consider to be one of the most insightful My understanding is that independent my time going back there. I just don’t get it! 28 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------He Ran For The Gold by George H. Madison

ichard Sale was born in New York as a correspondent for the Saturday example, Sale was unique for achieving RCity on 17 December 1911, a fourth Evening Post. a trifecta as a screenwriter, director and generation New Yorker. He died in Los Pulps were enormously popular producer, permitting him to lead the Angeles, California on 3 March 1993, during the 1930’s; predating pocket luxurious Hollywood lifestyle to which having successfully transitioned from books. For reasons that escape me, he aspired. He became an avid yachts- a sophisticated New Yorker to one of each seemingly featured a hardboiled man and a hunting and fi shing devo- Hollywood’s highest valued, elite, hired newspaperman. Sale drew upon his fi rst tee. A dedicated hobbyist, he enjoyed guns. He’s best remembered as a Tinsel hand experiences ad contributed Joe electric trains and cameras, and proudly town screenwriter; however, as a writer “Daff y” Dill. His stories represent writ- possessed a complete collection of Nick of mysteries his sobriquet was “Th e Du- ing of unusually high quality. Harold Q. Carter paperback originals. His dalli- mas of the Pulps”. It is estimated that Masur, creator of the Scott Jordan series, ances were many. Sale wrote 1,000,000 words a year and was one of his great admirers. Sale developed an expertise in 500 stories in a ten year period (1930s). In 1936, he wrote NOT TOO NAR- science and medicine that were essen- ROW, NOT TOO DEEP. It was pur- tial ingredients in his mysteries. Th ese chased by Hollywood and in 1940 was elements provide them with a slightly made into a hit movie, Strange Cargo macabre atmosphere and subset. starring Clark Gable and Joan Craw- From 1944-1956, Sale labored for six ford. Not really a mystery, and escaping diff erent studios, turning his attention from the Devil’s Island Penal Colony is at the propitious moment from the big defi nitely not to my taste. Nevertheless, screen to the small screen (CBS-TV). its popularity placed the Hollywood stamp of approval on Sale’s career and predicted his future. By 1944, he was ready to follow a horde of other mystery book authors to Hollywood where writers were needed to script the many “B” mystery/detec- tive movies that were being rapidly produced at a staggering and Homeric rate. Th e exodus was largely from the east coast and Tinsel town became a place where good writers were content to hide in plain sight while collecting Sale was born to be a writer and sold substantial paychecks, a heretofore his fi rst short story when only twelve unknown luxury to almost all of them. years old. It’s said that he couldn’t pass Sale was a fi rst rate product of his times, a typewriter without producing a story. although much of his talent as a writer He was educated at Washington & Lee was squandered while pandering to the University (1930-1933) and became a movie moguls. newspaper man in New York City. Sale Unlike most other gift ed writers, served in the U.S. Navy during WWII Jonathan Latimer and Harry Kurnitz for ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 29

He wrote for the FBI and Yancy Der- Wiggins, and his wife in a complex tale riger shows among others. Later, he of murder and intrigue involving their became active in the production side, adoptive daughter. Who was that lady too. One of his wives, Mary Loos, was a in the dark? Th e Wiggins family calls collaborator on many Hollywood proj- upon ex-cop Al Garrity to help solve the ects from 1946-1971. She was the niece puzzle. of the famed writer, Anita Loos. Th e three aforementioned titles are Sale’s complete emersion in fi lm- but samples of Sale’s pulp –like work in dom’s subculture should not eradicate book form. his accomplishments as a mystery BENEFIT PERFORMANCE (1946) writer. We should only bemoan the is a clever and enjoyable nostalgic trip limited number of his books which may back to the pulps. At least it appears be characterized as possessing unusual that way to me. Having just completed wit, bizarre plots, intelligent dialogue, a movie, fi lm star Kerry Garth hires a a sense of humor and pleasant banter stand-in to take his place at a movie pre- between endearing characters. It isn’t mier so that he may vanish from public oft en that one is in the company of a ho- view and rest. Chaos arises when the micide detective named Daniel Webster. stand-in is murdered. Who was the in- Arguably, his best and most famous tended victim? Why? It moves quickly. mystery is LAZARUS #7 (1942). It’s THE OSCAR (1963) is his infamous a dandy tale of murder and suspense. and trashy book made into a worse Tropical disease expert, Dr. Stephen ings aboard a ship. Duplicitous dames movie in 1966. It was a critical and Mason, teams up with the aforemen- and murder follow our accidental hero. box offi ce disaster. Th e legendary New tioned Daniel Webster in a medical set- HOME IS THE HANGMAN (1943), York Times reviewer, Bosley Crowther, ting. Mason desperately seeks to leave aka s SAILOR, TAKE WARNING, remarked: “Another distressing exam- Hollywood and return to his position involves macabre murder in the West ple of Hollywood fouling its nest…..it at the Rockefeller Institute, NYC, but Indies. Mike Heyward arrives in Haiti doesn’t need enemies as long as it has murder and romance with a movie pro- to fi nd murder, adventure and romance itself”. ducer’s secretary disrupts his planned awaiting him in a meteorological station FOR THE PRESIDENT’S EYES departure. A looney doctor/scientist during a hurricane. A simple and direct ONLY (1971) is a radical departure and only adds to the mayhem. WWII adventure mystery. represents Sale’s attempt to capitalize on By that time, Sale was familiar with the James Bond craze. Surprisingly, it’s Hollywood and exploits it in a carefully quite good and had unrealized screen constructed plot. Nowhere is his innate potential. cynicism better expressed than when Th e fi rst draft was the last draft . the hero naively proclaims that you can- Speed and production were the aim. not get away with murder in America, to Despite these less than loft y goals, Sale’s which a longtime Tinsel town resident talent managed to occasionally surface replies: “In the U.S. you mean. But this in his few mystery books. As Spencer is Hollywood”. Tracy say about Katherine Hepburn in PASSING STRANGE(1942) is the the classic fi lm, Pat and Mike (1952), sequel to LAZARUS #7and is labeled “A “Not much meat on her, but what’s there novel of Birth & Burial” in which Sale is cherce.” is at his playful best. Dr. Peter Merritt becomes involved in a complex medi- cal based murder while in California. When he returns to NYC, he promptly becomes a target for bad guys who seek to make him a member of the “Better Dead Club”. Folks die before the Doc and Det. Daniel Webster bring the ad- venture to a satisfying conclusion. DEATH AT SEA (1940), aka DES- LADY AT MIDNIGHT, aka MUR- TINATION UNKNOWN, involves the DER AT MIDNIGHT (1945) fi nds Har- inadvertent adventures of ichthyologist vard grad and news commentator, Pete (think fi sh) Gabriel Adams. Strange do- 30 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

book is former tennis pro Chuck Chan- dler, reduced to giving lessons at a small club in Florida. Chuck becomes involved with some wealthy newcomers to the It’s About Crime club who may be connected to gangsters and millions of dollars that was stolen from the mob. Th e writing is nothing Marv Lachman special, with overreliance on sex scenes and foul language. However, Woods de- scribes Key West very well, and he does include exciting car and boat chases at the end. “Escape” is what we usually look for The Short Stop Recently Read in our mystery reading, and too many current books don’t provide it. Th eir Time has a way of creeping up on Based on past reading, I am not interest is in providing realism, causing you, and I just realized that this is a fan of bestselling Stuart Woods. How- them to bring in many of the current the 50th year I’ve prepared lists of my ever, the combination of tennis (a sport problems of the world. (I fear that favorite short stories each year for this I played for seventy years) and mystery within the next year or so the Corona column and its predecessors. led me to read his CHOKE (1995). Virus pandemic will appear as plot 2020 was a better year than some for Although it starts in the fi ft h set of device for many mysteries.) If you want the mystery short story. I read over 200 the Men’s Final at Wimbledon, tennis true escape, go back in time to Victor stories and came up with a list of ten turned out to play a negligible part of L. Whitechurch’s MURDER AT THE that I thought were the best. It was when this book. Many writers, in acknowl- PAGEANT (1930), reprinted by Dover in I tried to pick my one favorite story that edging help from others, oft en take the 1987. We have a wealthy English home I ran into trouble. Th e ten stories were blame for errors. Woods, aft er thanking with murder occurring aft er an opulent so close in quality that it was diffi cult to Victor Mulcahy for his help, amusing- pageant. Th ere is a dying message, and choose. I fi nally picked Wayne J. Gar- ly says, “If I got any of the tennis stuff more detectives than suspects to puzzle diner’s story, listed below. wrong, it’s his fault.” Whoever is to it out. Clues abound, but they aren’t al- blame, there is a serious tennis error on ways useful for the reader to solve Can- Lachman’s Favorites: page 4 of the hardcover edition, though on Whitechurch’s (he was an Anglican it doesn’t impact on the book. churchman) complicated puzzle. Never Liza Cody -- “My People” Th e main protagonist in Woods’ mind. Th e atmosphere and language of (EQMM Nov./Dec. 2020) the people ninety years ago is so diff er- David Dean -- “Th e Scourging of Jim ent from today that it will provide you Blake” (EQMM July/Aug. 2020) with “escape.” For example, because Wayne J. Gardiner -- “Strictly Business” there is no police car in the local village, (AHMM July/Aug. 2020) when a suspect has to be taken into Barb Goff man -- “Eat, Drink, and Be custody, the police call a taxi. Murdered” (AHMM Nov./Dec. 2020) Peter Lovesey started off as a writer Steve Hockensmith -- “Th e Death and of historical mysteries. (More about Carnage Boy” (EQMM July/Aug. 2020) that later.) In THE LAST DETEC- Jane Jakeman -- “Th e Oxford Ghosts” TIVE (1991) he created Inspector Peter (EQMM Sept./Oct. 2020) Diamond, a modern police detective Margaret Maron -- “By a Hair” who has proven to be Lovesey’s most (EQMM Jan./Feb. 2020) popular creation. Th e book was one Jane Pendjiky -- “Fruiting Bodies” of the most critically praised of the (AHMM Sept./Oct. 2020) late 20th century. Its sequel, DIA- Peter Turnbull -- “Th e Banks of the MOND SOLITAIRE (1992), is another Ouse” (EQMM Jan./Feb. 2020) fast-moving book. Diamond, never Stacy Woodson -- “Mary Poppins politically correct, has left the Bath Didn’t Have Tattoos” (EQMM July/Aug. police. In the book’s surprising opening, 2020) Diamond, now a nightwatchman, fi nds an autistic child spending the night on Notes on Novels a sofa in Harrod’s department store! Th ough he eventually gets a fi nancial ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 31

matched by the people Lovesey created: books it is readable from page one. gamblers, promoters, spectators, train- Th ere is considerable suspense through- ers, journalists, and walkers, or as they out, and even a fair play detection clue. are called, “pedestrians,” at least one of whom will be murdered. Th is is the fi rst Doom with a View appearance of Sgt. Cribb who went on to be Lovesey’s series character in books If, as many maintain, Film Noir is a and a television series. Th e relationship separate category of mystery fi lm, Th e between Cribb and his cohort Constable Killers (1946) was a great example, Th ackeray is interesting and complex including many of the characteristics throughout the series. generally associated with noir. It has a It’s February fi rst as I write this. potential victim who is willing to accept Sheltered in New Mexico where it’s 50 whatever fate has in store for him. Th ere degrees and sunny while I read of the is Ava Gardner as one of the best of noir snow storms hitting the eastern U.S. femme fatales. And the movie is in black- Still, I’m not warm yet aft er reading and-white. Julia Spencer-Fleming’s THROUGH In 1964 Th e Killers was remade in THE EVIL DAYS (2013). In it a huge snow and ice storm hits New York State while all problems imaginable strike the characters in Millers Kill, NY. Clare supporter, he generously helps the child, Fergusson is pregnant, and she and Russ who has played a role in a murder, in must decide whether she should have an this case that takes him to the United abortion. Clare may lose her ministerial States and Japan. position because she slept with Russ be- Th e book is more a thriller than fore they married. Meanwhile, she may a detective story and contains many have contracted fetal alcohol syndrome. disparate elements. including autism, and she still suff ers from PTSD from her sumo wrestling, pharmaceuticals. and service in Iraq. Russ may lose his job be- the Stock Market, plus the third chap- cause the politicians are thinking of the ter which has some of the best erotic ultimate in defunding: abolishing the writing I’ve read in a mystery. Lovesey local police force. Hadley Knox (she and does a good job of bringing it all to- Tommy Flynn have become characters gether, even depicting New York City in of equal importance in the series) is ha- what would qualify as good American rassed by her ex-husband and may lose regional writing. Th ere are some draw- her children. Meanwhile, there are meth ings as clues that require deduction, but dealers to provide considerable danger. I suspect readers will have diffi culty in Above all, there is that storm that lasts fi guring them out; I did. A convenient four days. Like all Spencer-Fleming color, with the story simplifi ed and many confession wraps up this most enjoyable of the plot twists eliminated. Many book. bloody shootings were substituted. Th e Peter Lovesey’s fi rst novel, WOBBLE killers are Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager, TO DEATH (1970) celebrated its fi ft ieth and they have far larger roles than did “birthday” in 2020, and the author’s William Conrad and Charles McGraw current publisher, Soho Crime, has in 1946. Th ough they are the killers, they brought out a 50th Anniversary Col- are the ones who investigate why they lector’s Edition, giving me the oppor- received a contract on John Cassavetes, tunity to do something I seldom have playing the part that Burt Lancaster orig- inally had. Th ere is too much auto racing time for: rereading a book. It’s the best (a boring sport to me) and too much sports mystery I ever read, this side of sunshine, not helpful to noir atmosphere. Dick Francis. Set in 1879 the subject is Ronald Reagan is evil but bland in his the “Wobble,” a sport that was popular acting as a crime boss. He was to learn in the 19’ century. It can be described how to act, I guess, since three years later as a fast-walking race over consider- Julia Spencer-Fleming he became governor of California, and able distances. Th e sport, new to me in we know what happened aft er that. 1970, is fascinating to read about and is 32 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------T Introducing ... Steph Broadribb by George Easter

’m always on the lookout for good in ebook and paperback in April 2019. “Ten years ago, JT’d been a reclusive Ifemale action thriller writers because, “I was born in Birmingham and bounty hunter and I’d been grieving frankly, there are too few of them and grew up in Buckinghamshire, and most the death of my best friend, who’d been I feel a need to encourage and support of my working life has been spent be- shot in front of me by my good-for- the ones who have the guts to write and tween the UK and USA. I’m an alumni nothing husband, Tommy. Tommy had publish in this male-dominated field. of the MA in Creative Writing (Crime evaded the cops and disappeared into My latest find is Steph Broadribb. Fiction) at City University London, and the wind. JT had helped me find him. Steph Broadribb, a.k.a. Crime Thrill- a member of the International Thriller He’d taught me how to track a man er Girl, describes herself as follows: “I Writers (ITW) and Sisters In Crime and how to capture him. But when it started out as a corporate suit by day organisations. I currently live in Buck- came to me bringing him in, Tommy and a crime fiction blogger – Crime inghamshire surrounded by horses and attacked me, and I emptied my gun into Thriller Girl (hence the name of my trying to wrangle an unruly but ador- him. JT never understood why I didn’t blog) by night. Now I’m a thriller writer, able puppy!” shoot to disable rather than to kill, just writing as Steph Broadribb and Steph- as he’d taught me. I couldn’t explain anie Marland. I’m an avid reader of The Bounty Hunter Lori why either. That night, as JT helped me all things crime thriller and I love to bury Tommy’s body, our romance died. connect with people who share the same Anderson Series The next day I packed my belongings in passion for books. silence and drove out of JT’s life. Four “Here’s a little more about my writ- Florida Bounty Hunter Lori Ander- months later, when I realized I was ing selves… son has the following back story as the pregnant, I made the decision never to “As Steph Broadribb I write the Lori series begins, as told in her own words, tell him – he’d let me go and he’d never Anderson action thriller series for Oren- da Books. While researching the books I trained as a Bounty Hunter in Califor- nia and travelled around the US scout- ing locations. My debut thriller – DEEP DOWN DEAD – was shortlisted for the ITW Best First Novel, the eDunnit eB- ook of the Year award, the Dead Good Reader Award for Fearless Female Char- acter, and Dead Good Reader Award for Most Exceptional Debut. (She has written three more in the series.) “As Stephanie Marland I write the Starke/Bell psychological police proce- dural series for Trapeze (Orion). This series draws on my own experience as a blogger and the research I did (when working at a university for my day job) into human behaviour in online groups. The first book – MY LITTLE EYE – came out in April 2018, with the second – YOU DIE NEXT – published ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 33 once tried to make contact after the a place where ‘bad things never happen,’ dead. Rather than a bullet, they offer fact. He’d been the love of my life, but but he’s also mixed up with the powerful her a job: find the Mob’s ‘numbers man’ I’d gotten used to the idea that I’d never Miami Mob. With two fearsome foes on (North) who is in protective custody see him again. And it’s stayed that way their tails, just three days to get JT back after being forced to turn federal witness until earlier this year...” to Florida, and her daughter to protect, against them. If Lori succeeds, they’ll Lori has her work cut out for her. wipe the slate clean and the price on her The four novels in this series are re- head – and those of her family – will be ally just chapters in one long story. Each DEEP BLUE TROUBLE (Orenda, removed. If she fails, they die. starts right where the last left off – usu- Kindle, $6.15, Trade Paperback, $14.95, With North due in court in 48 hours, ally involving some sort of cliff-hanger 2017). Single-mother Florida bounty Lori sets off across Florida, racing ending. hunter Lori Anderson’s got an ocean against the clock to find him and save of trouble on her hands. Her daughter her family. Only in this race the prize is DEEP DOWN DEAD (Orenda, Dakota is safe, but the little girl’s cancer more deadly – and the secret she shares Kindle, $0.99, Trade Paperback $14.95, is threatening a comeback, and Lori with JT more dangerous – than she ever 2016). Lori Anderson is as tough as they needs JT – Dakota’s daddy and the man could have imagined. come, managing to keep her career as who taught Lori everything – alive and a fearless Florida bounty hunter sepa- kicking. Problem is, he’s behind bars, DEEP DARK NIGHT (Orenda, rate from her role as single mother to and heading for death row. Kindle, $0.99, Trade Paperback, $15.95, nine-year-old Dakota, who suffers from Desperate to save him, Lori does a 2020). Working off the books for FBI leukaemia. But when the hospital bills deal, taking on off-the-books job from Special Agent Alex Monroe, Florida start to rack up, she has no choice but shady FBI agent Alex Monroe. Bring bounty-hunter Lori Anderson and her to take her daughter along on a job that back on-the-run felon, Gibson ‘The Fish’ partner, JT, head to Chicago. Their mis- will make her a fast buck. And that’s Fletcher, and JT walks free. This is one sion: to entrap the head of the Cabressa when things start to go wrong. job she’s got to get right, or she’ll lose crime family. The bait: a priceless chess The fugitive she’s assigned to haul everything… set that Cabressa is determined to add to back to court is none other than JT, his collection. Lori’s former mentor and lover– the DEEP DIRTY TRUTH (Orenda, An exclusive high-stakes poker game man who taught her everything she Kindle, $7.99, Trade Paperback, $15.95, is arranged in the penthouse suite of knows … the man who also knows the $2018). Single-mother bounty-hunter one of the city’s tallest buildings, with secrets of her murky past. Not only is Lori Anderson finally has her family Lori holding the cards in an agreed ar- JT fighting a child exploitation racket back together, but her new-found hap- rangement to hand over the pieces. But, operating out of one of Florida’s biggest piness is shattered when she’s snatched as night falls and the game plays out, amusement parks, Winter Wonderland, by the Miami Mob – and they want her stakes rise and tempers flare. When a power failure plunges the city into darkness, the building goes into lockdown. But this isn’t an ordinary blackout, and the men around the poker table aren’t all who they say they are. Hostages are taken, old scores resurface and the players start to die.

I give this exciting series an overall rating of A- because of the quality of the writing and the realistic action scenes. Steph Broadribb is adept at keeping the narrative progressing at a rapid pace. The character of Lori Anderson is as admirable as she is tough. She is my favorite kind of character – a clever sur- vivor. However, Lori is not Stephanie Plum. These are much darker tales. Kudos to Orenda for publishing this series as well as another favorite – the Emma Viskic /Caleb Zelic series. 34 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

But if Frankie’s hard knock life taught her anything, it’s that if you keep asking The DP List questions, someone is going to crack. As her amateur investigation starts to take shape, people around Mattapan start paying attention. And before long Frankie’s quest to fi nd Angelique turns 2021 into more than she, or anyone else, bar- gained for. BL & PW

itles listed garnered starred reviews by Will Dean (Atria, $27.00). On an **THE POSTSCRIPT MURDERS Tin the four library journals (Pub- isolated farm in the United Kingdom, by Elly Griffi ths (Houghton, Miffl in, lisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist and a woman is trapped by the monster $25.00). Th e death of a ninety-year-old Library Journal) and a glowing review who kidnapped her seven years ago. woman with a heart condition should in Deadly Pleasures as indicated. Th ese When she discovers she is pregnant, she not be suspicious. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur certainly sees noth- books are the best of the best for 2021. resolves to protect her child no matter the cost, and starts to meticulously plan ing out of the ordinary when Peggy’s caretaker, Natalka, begins to recount Best Novels her escape. But when another woman is Peggy Smith’s passing. But Natalka had brought into the fold on the farm, her a reason to be at the police station: while **NORTHERN SPY by Flynn Berry plans go awry. Can she save herself, her clearing out Peggy’s fl at, she noticed an (Viking, $26.00). A producer at the BBC child, and this innocent woman at the unusual number of crime novels, all and mother to a new baby, Tessa is at same time? Or is she doomed to spend dedicated to Peggy. And each psycho- work in Belfast one day when the news the remainder of her life captive on this logical thriller included a mysterious of another raid comes on the air. Th e farm? PW postscript: PS: for PS. When a gunman IRA may have gone underground in breaks into the fl at to steal a book and the two decades since the Good Friday **BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED by its author is found dead shortly there- Agreement, but they never really went Lisa Gardner (Dutton, $27.00). When aft er—Detective Kaur begins to think away, and lately bomb threats, security Frankie Elkin, a recovering alcoholic on that perhaps there is no such thing as an checkpoints, and helicopters fl oating a mission to fi nd missing people that the unsuspicious death aft er all. BL & DP ominously over the city have become system has forgot, arrives in Mattapan, features of everyday life. As the news Boston and starts asking around about **THE COMMITTED by Viet reporter requests the public's help in lo- Angelique, a missing teenage girl, the Th anh Nguyen (GroveAtlantic, $27.00). cating those responsible for the robbery, locals and the detectives still on Angel- Th e Committed follows the Sympathiz- security footage reveals Tessa's sister, ique’s fl oundering case are suspicious. er as he arrives in Paris as a refugee. Marian, pulling a black ski mask over Th ere he and his blood brother Bon try her face. Th e police believe Marian has their hands to capitalism in one of its joined the IRA, but Tessa is convinced purest forms: drug dealing. Th e Sympa- she must have been abducted or coerced; thizer is both charmed and disturbed the sisters have always opposed the by Paris. As he falls in with a group of violence enacted in the name of uniting left -wing intellectuals and politicians Ireland. And besides, Marian is vaca- who frequent dinner parties given by his tioning on the north coast. Tessa just French Vietnamese “aunt,” he fi nds not spoke to her yesterday. When the truth just stimulation for his mind but also about Marian comes to light, Tessa is customers for his merchandise. But the faced with impossible choices that will new life he is making has dangers he has test the limits of her ideals, the bonds not foreseen, from the oppression of the of her family, her notions of right and state, to the self-torture of addiction, wrong, and her identity as a sister and a to the seemingly unresolvable paradox mother. Walking an increasingly peril- of how he can reunite his two closest ous road, she wants nothing more than friends, men whose worldviews put to protect the one person she loves more them in absolute opposition. Kirkus & fi ercely than her sister: her infant son, PW Finn. Kirkus, BL & DP **THE ART OF VIOLENCE by **THE LAST THING TO BURN S. J. Rozan (Pegasus, $25.95). Former ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 35 client Sam Tabor, just out of Greenhaven a darker turn aft er Graham secretly wit- prison aft er a fi ve-year homicide stint, nesses the murder of an Arab by a for- comes to Bill Smith with a strange re- eigner, possibly an American involved quest. Sam is a colossally talented paint- in illegal gunrunning. PW er whose parole was orchestrated by art world movers and shakers, but Sam's is **THE CONSEQUENCES OF convinced that since he's been out he's FEAR by Jacqueline Winspear (Harp- killed two women. He doesn't remember er;$). October, 1941. Daily bombing the killings but he wants Smith, one of raids have made it perilous to move the few people he trusts, to investigate about London, yet among the London- and prove him either innocent or guilty. ers "doing their bit” to aid the war eff ort PW & BL are fl eet-footed boys who run messages for government offi ces while dodging **CITY ON THE EDGE by David debris and aerial raids. On one such Swinson (Mulholland, $28.00). In 1973, errand, a young runner witnesses a 12-year-old Graham Sanderson, the nar- murder destined to send shock waves rator of this outstanding thriller from through the secret war plans of British Swinson (the Frank Marr PI series), and Free French agents. It will take psy- moves with his family to Beirut, Leba- chologist and investigator Maisie Dobbs non, where his father, a Foreign Service to prove the truth of the frightened offi cer, is posted to the U.S. embassy. For boy's story and unravel the geopolitical Graham, it’s an opportunity to make signifi cance of the killing. PW & BL the globe, engage both politicians and two expat friends who will help him warlords, and openly record what he explore the delights and occasional risks **WE BEGIN AT THE END by sees. When he needs help, the Agen- of a new place and diff erent culture. Ob- Chris Whitaker (Henry Holt, $27.99). cy provides it to him, and asks little servant and inquisitive, Graham soon Duchess Day Radley is a thirteen-year- in return. But while on assignment in becomes aware of the underlying sense old self-proclaimed outlaw. Rules are for Kenya, Klay is attacked and his closest of danger and imminent violence that other people. She is the fi erce protector friend is murdered. Soon Klay's careful- hangs over the city, the result of forces of her fi ve-year-old brother, Robin, and ly constructed double life unravels as his he can’t understand. When Graham the parent to her mother, Star, a single ambition turns to revenge. PW, Kirkus discovers that his father carries a gun mom incapable of taking care of herself, & BL and holds clandestine late-night rendez- let alone her two kids. Walk has never vous with strangers, the boy suspects he left the coastal California town where he **EVERY LAST FEAR by Alex Fin- may be working for the CIA. Events take and Star grew up. He may have become lay (Minotaur, $26.99). Aft er a late night the chief of police, but he’s still trying to of partying, NYU student Matt Pine heal the old wound of having given the returns to his dorm room to devastating testimony that sent his best friend, Vin- news: nearly his entire family?his mom, cent King, to prison decades before. And his dad, his little brother and sister?have he's in overdrive protecting Duchess and been found dead from an apparent gas her brother. Now, thirty years later, Vin- leak while vacationing in Mexico. Th e cent is being released. And Duchess and local police claim it was an accident, Walk must face the trouble that comes but the FBI and State Department seem with his return. Kirkus & PW far less certain – and they won’t tell Matt why. Th e tragedy makes headlines Best First Novels everywhere because this isn’t the fi rst time the Pine family has been thrust **IN THE COMPANY OF KILL- into the media spotlight. Matt’s older ERS by Bryant Christy (Putnam, brother, Danny – currently serving a life $27.00). Tom Klay is a celebrated sentence for the murder of his teenage investigative wildlife reporter for the girlfriend Charlotte – was the subject of esteemed magazine Th e Sovereign. But a viral true crime documentary suggest- Klay is not just a journalist. His report- ing that Danny was wrongfully con- ing is cover for an even more dangerous victed. Th ough the country has rallied job: CIA agent. Klay's press credentials behind Danny, Matt holds a secret about make him a perfect spy--able to travel his brother that he’s never told anyone: the night Charlotte was killed Matt saw 36 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------something that makes him believe his town, and Andie and Kenneth uncover **SEARCH FOR HER by Rick brother is guilty of the crime. When simmering racial tensions and a de- Mofi na (Mira, $9.99). At a truck stop Matt returns to his small hometown to cades-old conspiracy. Kirkus, PW & near Las Vegas, fourteen-year-old Riley bury his parents and siblings, he’s faced DP Jarrett vanishes from her family’s RV, with a hostile community that was vil- turning their cross-country dream of lainized by the documentary, a frenzied Best Thrillers starting over into a nightmare. Investi- media, and memories he’d hoped to gators have their work cut out for them. leave behind forever. Now, as the deaths **2034: A Novel of the Next World Th e massive, bustling truck plaza in the in Mexico appear increasingly suspi- War by Elliot Akerman & James desert is the perfect place for someone cious and connected to Danny’s case, Stavridis (Penguin, $27.00). On March to disappear—or be taken. Detectives Matt must unearth the truth behind the 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah pursue every chilling lead as all eyes fall crime that sent his brother to prison – Hunt is on the bridge of her fl agship, the to the newly blended family with a trag- putting his own life in peril and forcing guided missile destroyer USS John Paul ic past. With the clock ticking down on him to confront his every last fear. DP Jones, conducting a routine freedom of the likelihood that Riley’s alive, suspi- navigation patrol in the South China cions run deep. Everyone—from Riley’s **SUBURBAN DICKS by Fabian Sea when her ship detects an unfl agged mom to her stepdad to her stepbrother Nicieza (Putnam, $27.00). Andie Stern trawler in clear distress, smoke bil- and her ex-boyfriend—has something to thought she'd solved her fi nal homicide. lowing from its bridge. On that same hide. DP Once a budding FBI profi ler, she gave up day, US Marine aviator Major Chris her career to raise her four (soon to be "Wedge" Mitchell is fl ying an F35E fi ve) children in West Windsor, New Jer- Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, sey. But one day, between soccer games, testing a new stealth technology as he recitals, and trips to the local pool, a fl irts with Iranian airspace. By the end very pregnant Andie pulls into a gas of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian station--and stumbles across a murder prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer scene. An attendant has been killed, and will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the bumbling local cops are in way over the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have their heads. Suddenly, Andie is obsessed clearly coordinated their moves, which with the case, and back on the trail of involve the use of powerful new forms a killer, this time with kids in tow. She of cyber weaponry that render US ships soon crosses paths with disgraced local and planes defenseless. In a single day, journalist Kenneth Lee, who also has America's faith in its military's strate- everything to prove in solving the case. gic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, A string of unusual occurrences--and, terrifying era is at hand. Kirkus & BL eventually, body parts--surface around **SLOUGH HOUSE by Mick Herron (SohoCrime, $27.95). At Slough House— MI5’s London depository for demoted spies—Brexit has taken a toll. Th e “slow horses” have been pushed further into the cold, Slough House has been erased from offi cial records, and its members **STRANGER AT THE DOOR by are dying in unusual circumstances, Jason Pinter (Th omas & Mercer, $15.95). at an unusual clip. No wonder Jackson When Rachel Marin discovers an omi- Lamb's crew is feeling paranoid. But nous email her son’s teacher sent to her are they actually targets? With a new just before his murder, she knows she populist movement taking hold of Lon- must help bring his killer to justice. But don's streets and the old order ensuring soon a fi gure from her past reappears, that everything's for sale to the highest threatening to expose Rachel’s darkest bidder, the world's a dangerous place for secrets if she doesn’t tread lightly. And those deemed surplus. Jackson Lamb when her son is recruited by a shadowy and the slow horses are in a fi ght for businessman who may be connected to their lives. BL & DP the murder, Rachel knows this has just gotten very, very personal. PW, BL & Best Paperback Originals DP ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 37

The Mason Collins Series Still Going Strong!

ave you ever followed an enjoyable OF THE INNOCENT shortly after, and Stand-alone Novel HTV series only to find it suddenly then in early 2020 I published TO KILL GOOD NIGHT, SWEET DADDY-O cancelled – often with unresolved, un- A DEVIL. I then dusted off a stand-alone (2020) derlying plot lines? Well, I occasionally novel I’d written before the Mason nov- have the same feeling of disappointment els, rewrote it and published that in May, John A. Connell when a good writer (of a good series) 2020 as GOOD NIGHT, SWEET DAD- suddenly finds himself or herself with- DY-O. And, now, I’m about to publish Biography out a contract for further books in the the fifth Mason Collins story, WHERE John A. Connell is a 2016 Barry series. Prime example: Taylor Stevens THE WICKED TREAD, on February Award nominee and the author of the and her Vanessa “Michael” Monroe 13, 2021.” Mason Collins series. He was born in series. Imagine my surprise and delight Atlanta then grew up in Ohio, New Another author who found himself when I recently discovered that John York and Virginia before ending up in in that position was John A. Con- was still writing and publishing. He Atlanta again at the age of thirteen. He nell, who wrote two novels that were sent me (from France, where he lives!) has a BA in Anthropology, and has been published in hardback by Berkley in hardback copies of BONES OF THE a jazz pianist, a stock boy in a brassiere 2015 and 2016 (RUINS OF WAR and INNOCENT, TO KILL A DEVIL and factory, a machinist, repairer of newspa- SPOILS OF VICTORY). They were set WHERE THE WICKED TREAD to per racks, and a printing-press operator. in post-WWII Germany, which I found review. I enjoyed them so much that I He then moved to Los Angeles to work fascinating because my uncle Fred decided to write an article about them as a motion picture camera operator for Taylor helped rehabilitate a German city as opposed to single reviews. I might film and TV, where he worked as a cam- during that period of time. mention here that the hardbacks he eraman on films such as Jurassic Park Both novels were well received and sent me are beautifully produced, with and Thelma and Louise and on TV critically acclaimed and RUINS OF sturdy spines and fine paper – much shows including NYPD Blue and The WAR was nominated for a Barry Best better than the standard fare the Amer- Practice. John and his wife spend their First Novel Award. I read and enjoyed ican publishers put out. The cover art time between the U.S. and France. both of them a lot. However, there was is stunning. All of his books are also a major shakeup at Berkley and John’s available in Kindle and trade paperback contract was not renewed. What was editions. The Mason Collins John to do? Series In John’s own words, “my agent John A. Connell refused to try to find another house to continue the series, even after I’d finished Bibliography The five novels in the series (so far) the third, BONES OF THE INNOCENT. are, in effect, just chapters in one long Upon his urging, I tried a new, contem- Mason Collins’ Series story. Each book begins shortly after porary thriller series, a la’ Steve Berry, the end of the prior one. There are a but finding a publisher for that one got to 1. RUINS OF WAR (2015) re-titled few continuing characters that pop up be an uphill battle. He urged me then to MADNESS IN THE RUINS here and there to lend Mason a helping try a domestic thriller, but that’s not me. 2. SPOILS OF VICTORY (2016) hand. Connell infuses each novel with “After a couple of years, I decided to re-titled HAVEN OF VIPERS many fascinating details of post-WWII go independent. In early 2019, I got the 3. BONES OF THE INNOCENT Europe (and in one case, Tangier) that rights back to the first two in the series, (2019) appear accurate to me. And since Ma- RUINS OF WAR and SPOILS OF VIC- 4. TO KILL A DEVIL (2020) son is getting into one fix after another, TORY, and self-published them with new 5. WHERE THE WICKED TREAD there are any number of exciting action titles and covers (Nailhead Publishing (2021) scenes to move the plot along. I read the is my own imprint). I published BONES last three novels one right after another 38 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------and had a great time in doing so. population, offi cious superior offi cers Some might compare his work to and a brilliant murderer, Mason suc- that of the late Philip Kerr’s Bernie ceeds in the end, as you would expect Gunther series and there is some justi- him to. But at what price? fi cation in doing so. Mason and Bernie Connell appears to capture the are both good detectives, but Mason essence of what it was like to live in is much more of a man of action than chaotic1945 Munich. It wasn’t good, the cerebral Bernie. If you like to read especially if one were German. about the time period (1945-1947), then Overall he tells a good story with you will enjoy both writers’ works. several red herrings and interesting characters to follow. RUINS OF WAR is for those who like to read about this time period and need a good mystery.

SPOILS OF VICTORY re-titled HAVEN OF VIPERS by John A. Connell Berkley, $26.95, 2016 Nailhead Publishing, TPB $14.99, Kindle $4.99 Rating: B+ who, in turn was investigating large- scale crime and corruption. When Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a fairy- Mason manages to upset the crime tale town with gingerbread houses has ring’s applecart, the crime bosses are attracted many Nazi war criminal in not happy and seek revenge. post-WW2 Germany. And the gang Mason has an on-again, off -again running things are ex-Nazis and crook- romantic relationship with war/investi- ed U.S. Army offi cers. In other words, gative reporter Laura, which continues it is a target-rich environment for an through the series. army investigator. U.S. Army detective Mason Collins BONES OF THE INNOCENT comes to town to investigate the mur- by John A. Connell RUINS OF WAR der of his friend, a Counter Intelligence Nailhead Publishing, Hardcover re-titled MADNESS IN THE RUINS Corps agent named John Winstone, by John A. Connell $28.99, Berkley, $26.95, 2015 TPB $14.99, Kindle, $4.99, 2019 Nailhead Publishing, Rating: A- TPB $14.99, Kindle $3.99 Rating: A- June, 1946, Marseilles, France. No longer a U.S. Army detective, Mason Munich, Germany, late 1945. Collins is hiding out from a team of Mason Collins is an army criminal assassins sent by a crime ring run investigator who in a prior life was a by powerful people. It’s a matter of Chicago homicide detective – then a revenge because Mason dealt the ring a soldier and then a prisoner of war. He severe blow by his investigation chron- doesn’t want to return home, where he icled in SPOILS OF WAR (re-titled was set up to take a fall by a corrupt HAVEN OF VIPERS). But just when police department, so he signs on with matters seem most bleak, a stranger, the occupied forces in Germany. one Carson Trusdale, appears out of New in Munich, Mason is assigned nowhere and off ers Mason a way out. a puzzling, bizarre and brutal murder Th e British diplomat entices Mason to to solve. Th en more dead bodies show follow him to Tangier, Morocco, where up, certainly the victims of the same a very wealthy expat is willing to pay murderer. Battling against a hostile Mason a handsome sum to fi nd his kidnapped daughter, Cynthia Brisbane. ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 39

She is one of three girls from wealthy crime ring that seeks revenge on him families who have disappeared over the for his actions in SPOILS OF WAR last few months. (re-titled HAVEN OF VIPERS). While Once in Tangier, Mason gathers a Mason was in Tangier, the gang went small group of helpers, including police aft er his friends and loved ones, so he Captain Rousselot whose investigation is determined more than ever to fi nd into the disappearance of the girls has out who is the shadowy fi gure pulling been stymied by his superior at every the strings, a certain someone called step of the way. No one seems willing Valerius – and eliminate him. to help, even the parents of the missing It seems that many people Mason girls are evasive when Mason turns to question know the man by name and certain subjects. But he begins to make fear him, but know blessed little that some headway when he discovers that will help Mason fi nd him. So he teams there are also Moroccan young women up with his old friend counterintelli- who have gone missing. Needless to gence agent Mike Forester and his love say, Mason gets into a lot of scrapes be- interest Laura to “kill a devil.” cause he shares that character trait that Along the way, we readers are treat- most of our heroes have – fearlessness. ed to a vivid description of post WWII Connell has a cinematic approach Vienna, divided into diff erent Allied to his settings and the talent to make zones of infl uence, which adds dramat- was an eye-witness to Ziegler’s war them come alive with words that feed ically to the danger of travel around the crimes and is all too eager to get a shot the reader’s imagination. His depiction city. at putting him down. Ziegler was last of 1946 Tangier is vivid and memora- Th e Russians enlist Mason’s help seen heading towards an Italian rat ble. He also writes the kind of novel I to fi nd a spy feeding information to line, one of the Nazis’ favorite escape like to read – a combination of detec- the Americans and in return for their routes through Italy. tion and action. help in unmasking Valerius, he says It seems that Ziegler has joined up he will fi nd out who the spy is (but has with other escaping Nazis who are de- no intention of doing so.) Will Mason termined to abduct a mysterious wom- fi nally be able to rid himself of his an and her young son. Mason's troubles nemesis? escalate when he agrees to escort the Connell brings post-World War woman and her son to safety, while Two Vienna to life in vivid detail and helping to smuggle a convoy of Jewish veracity. refugees down through Italy to a ship awaiting in Naples. And Naples just so WHERE THE WICKED TREAD happens to be the place where he is to by John A. Connell rendevous with Laura, the elusive love Nailhead Publishing, Hardcover $27.99, of his life. TPB $14.99, Kindle, $4.99, 2021 Man plans and God laughs seems Rating: A- to be an appropriate way of describing

what happens next. What seems a sim- 1947, Graz, Austria. We fi nd Mason ple plan turns out to be anything but as Collins residing in a British jail for Mason must overcome one challenge beating up a British army major who aft er another to obtain his goals. was who was in the midst of an at- WHERE THE WICKED TREAD tempted rape. His good friend, intel- ends on a real cliffh anger, which makes ligence agent Mike Forrester, comes to me anticipate the next book in the TO KILL A DEVIL the rescue and sends Mason on a sub series even more. by John A. Connell rosa mission that he is all too willing John A. Connell has penned what Nailhead Publishing, Hardcover $27.99, to accept. Th e Allies have released has become one of my favorite series. TPB $14.99, Kindle, $4.99, 2020 the former Nazi SS Obersturmfuhrer Each new novel will be a “must read.” Rating: A- Th eodor Ziegler on promises of coop- You can jump in anywhere, but if you eration in future intelligence gathering are like me, you may want to start Back in Europe (Vienna), Mason and this sticks in Forrester’s craw, who with the fi rst in the series, now named Collins is once again a target for the wanted him tried and hanged. Mason MADNESS IN THE RUINS. 40 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

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political person has to do when politi- cal hope is gone. Th e questions – and answers – are frightening. From The Waterfront As with all of Downing’s novels, the book has been meticulously researched, but that research is presented in such a way that it blends in seamlessly with Ted Hertel the story, being informative rather than intrusive. Downing has captured a terrible period of history in a fascinating and suspenseful tale, one that holds the WEDDING STATION But in Germany fear was entangled in reader from the fi rst page to the fi nal by David Downing every aspect of daily life, from whom words. Soho Crime, $27.95, March 2021 a person spoke with to what a reporter Rating: A wrote to politics, sexual orientation, and THE ART OF VIOLENCE religion. One wrong thought or state- by S. J. Rozan On the night of February 27, 1933, ment or action could result in beatings, Pegasus Crime, $25.95, December 2020 crime reporter and former communist torture or death. Reporting the truth Rating: A- John Russell witnesses the fi ery destruc- about the Nazi regime, exposing its lies, tion of Germany’s Parliament building, could bring arrest and the closing of the Not everyone is happy that Sam the Reichstag. Six days later federal newspaper. Th e forces of law and order Tabor is out of prison aft er a mere fi ve- elections are held, putting the Nazis in had become the people who were com- year stint for the vicious murder of a complete power. While Stormtroopers mitting the crimes. Truth had lost the young woman. But his prison art had unleash a campaign of terror against battle and the lie would be enshrined in caught the attention of the art world, communists, Jews, socialists, and oth- the law at the point of a gun. Th e rule which campaigned for his release. Th e ers, life must go on for Russell. Not only of law was replaced by screams in the artist believes that he has murdered two is he on the verge of being thrown out night. additional women since his release, so of Germany due to his recent separation All of this Downing brings to life he asks P.I. Bill Smith to investigate the from his wife, he has a six-year-old son in the way that his protagonist must murders, not to prove his innocence, to worry about. Among the crimes he struggle with doing his job. Fear hangs but instead to prove his guilt. Due to must report: the gruesome murder of over this entire novel, from the opening alcohol-fueled blackouts, Tabor cannot a young homosexual who left behind a scenes of the Reichstag in fl ames to the remember anything that happened on horror-fi lled tell-all journal, the disap- penultimate passages inside the horrors the nights of the killings. Smith enlists pearance of a prominent fortune teller, of the Sturmabteilung Stormtroopers’ the help of his partner in both love and the search for a young woman who has cells. It’s an examination of what a business, Lydia Chin, because he actu- vanished aft er falling in love with a ally believes that Tabor is not a serial communist, a mysterious coded note- killer. But as more bodies and evidence book of a dead man, and more. All the pile up, it looks like Smith could very while he treads the thin line between easily be wrong. doing his job and staying out the way of Fresh off the long-awaited return of the Nazis. the team of Chin and Smith in 2019’s Th is compelling novel is the seventh Paper Son comes this engrossing novel in David Downing’s consistently excel- about a tortured man who has no idea lent John Russell “Station” stories. It is a whether or not he has returned to his prequel to the previous six novels, set six killing ways of years earlier. Hated by years before Zoo Station, the 2007 novel many who believe his release from pris- that opened the series. It is not neces- on aft er such a short stint for murder sary to have read those books in order was a miscarriage of justice, Tabor has to follow this one. However, once you infused his art with scenes of violence read this one, you will defi nitely want to buried within the work itself. What role go out and get the others to read them does art play in violence? Or violence immediately. in art? S.J. Rozan integrates this theme Franklin Roosevelt had intoned “that perfectly into her novel without hitting the only thing we have to fear is fear the reader over the head with it. itself” in his fi rst inaugural address fi ve In spite of the fact that Tabor is a days aft er the burning of the Reichstag. convicted killer, Rozan has created in 46 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

pushed deeply into the cold. As fatal old girl. He’s not told why this must be “accidents” begin happening to them, done, only that if he doesn’t do it, he’ll Jackson Lamb, head of the division, be the one killed, very slowly, by the makes the eff ort to keep his remaining syndicate. Just to make it harder, the team safe from harm. But there are death has to look like an accident. And enemies everywhere, from the Russians if that’s not bad enough, he’s given only to MI-5 itself, perhaps using them as a couple of days to do the job right. targets. Sometimes “they” really are out Th is novel was originally published to get the paranoids. Can Lamb devise a in 1957 by paperback publisher Gold plan in time to protect his crew and save Medal Books. Jonathan Craig (born his operation? Frank Eugene Smith) was head re- Th is is the seventh novel (there have search analyst for the Pentagon during also been three novellas) in Mick Her- WWII and later an advisor to President ron’s consistently entertaining Slough Truman at the Potsdam Conference. House series. Winner of the CWA Gold He started writing western and crime and Silver Daggers, Herron has the stories in 1947, moving to police proce- ability to write compulsively readable durals and standalone novels in 1952. novels, fi lled with suspense, crisp dia- Th is is a dark tale that builds sus- logue, and dark humor. He manages to pense by using the short timeframe that take a wide cast of characters, give them Garrity has to complete his assignment. each their own quirks and personalities, Along the way he has to fi gure out how him a sympathetic character. She paints and set them off on individual missions to make the death look accidental, all a portrait (pardon the pun!) of this all with one central goal: to come out the while having to make his appear- deeply troubled man infl icted with a the other end still alive. ance in the small town where the girl host of psychiatric (and perhaps con- Th e novel is rife with parallels to lives look natural. Can he drown her fl icting) diagnoses, alcohol abuse, and current politics, as well as the nightmare while she’s swimming? Stage an auto a deep-seated belief that he really is out of Brexit, all the while asking whether accident? Push her down some stairs? of his mind. She brings him fully to life disgraced spies are worth anything. How will he avoid suspicion and get with all of these problems, along with Can a bunch of slow horses outwit the away with it? And, perhaps most diffi - startlingly realistic dialogue. GRU, the Russian foreign intelligence cult, how will he discover the reasons While this novel is told from Smith’s agency? Or even their own MI-5 bosses? why the syndicate wants a young girl to point of view, Lydia Chin plays a big Jackson Lamb and his group of discred- die? role in helping both Smith and Tabor. ited agents fi nd that this is the world Th is is a bleak noir tale that gets Th e reader is also treated to scenes they move in now. One where decisions with Chin’s mother who has her own are based, not on the greatest good or thoughts about Smith, yet manages to the most just cause, but simply fouling assist, even if unwittingly, in resolving up the opposition, even if the opposition the case. Th e plot moves smoothly is your own side. through to the end, fi lled with clues that Th is is a series best read from the the reader only wishes they could have beginning due to numerous backstory spotted earlier. Th is absorbing novel references throughout. Even a new is a must-read for all of Bill and Lydia’s reader will gain an appreciation of the many fans, but totally accessible to those complexity of the novels by jumping in who have not yet read one of Rozan’s here, but may fi nd some bits of confu- captivating stories. sion along the way. Smiert spionam, as Ian Fleming said. SLOUGH HOUSE Death to spies? Not if Jackson Lamb by Mick Herron can help it. Soho Crime, $27.95, February 2021 Rating: B SO YOUNG, SO WICKED by Jonathan Craig Brexit has struck Slough House, MI- Black Gat Books, $9.99, April 2021 5’s depository for demoted spies. Th is Rating: B- “special needs” group, the “slow horses,” have been wiped from Service records, Hitman Steve Garrity is given a new assignment: kill a beautiful fi ft een-year------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 47 bogged down a bit in the middle while sitting in prison. Th e aunt believes that Garrity is trying to answer these ques- the killer is actually Augustus Seeza, tions. Other than that, it moves along the talk show host and married lover of well and tells a suspenseful story in the deceased. All the agents, including under 200 pages with a clever fi nish that Emma Djan, the only woman in the makes the trip to the end worthwhile. agency, are assigned by Sowah to look into the case due to its prominence. ONE GOT AWAY Th is is the second case for Emma by S. A. Lelchuk Djan, the fi rst being the Edgar nominat- Flatiron Books, $27.99, April 2021 ed (for Best Novel) Th e Missing Ameri- Rating: B- can. Having read the prior novel is not necessary to understand this one, as all Nikki Griffi n, bookstore owner/pri- characters and any background infor- vate investigator/all around kickass, is mation is given here. hired by the wealthy Martin Johannes- Th e story is told in a non-linear S. A. Lelchuk sen to investigate Dr. Geoff rey Coombs. fashion, jumping points of view and Martin’s even wealthier 81-year-old time periods, although each jump is mother is “dating” the much younger made clear so that the reader knows of trouble and fi nishing villains off like Coombs and, in fact, she has transferred exactly when and where the chapter is Mike Hammer did back in the day. She more than one and a half million dollars set. Rather than being mystifying, this has her cadre of just the right friends to him. He believes that Coombs is actually helps provide the reader with when she needs them, but usually she blackmailing “Mother,” though he has information as it is needed. So some manages quite well on her own, thank no idea over what. Martin wants to scenes are set twenty years before the you very much, which in large part intervene before things get even more murder, while others occur up to a year is the point of having a protagonist – out of hand. Nikki’s investigation leads later. It also allows the author to slowly female or male – around which to build her to the very charming Coombs and “peel back the onion” to disclose the lies a story. One needs to overlook the into serious danger with real criminals and secrets each character has, as well as implausibility of the whole thing, but involved in human traffi cking. the interconnections among them. that’s oft en what fi ction is: suspension I really enjoyed the fi rst novel in Th e story reveals the incompetence of disbelief to enter an entertaining this series, the Barry-Award-nominat- and corruption in the Ghana justice and exciting world that the reader will ed SAVE ME FROM DANGEROUS system, from police to judges, and how hopefully never be a part of under any MEN, but I didn’t fi nd this story quite innocent people can be held for months circumstances. So sit back, relax, and up to the initial one. You don’t have to without fair hearings. It also examines enjoy. have read the previous book to follow all too briefl y the sexism that is ram- George’s Take: I’m in total agree- this story. Th e story takes quite a while pant in the fashion industry. As most ment with Ted ‘s opinion on ONE GOT to actually get going, however, with AWAY. It didn’t have near the “juice” more exposition than is needed. It also of the fi rst novel, SAVE ME FROM has many of the P.I. tropes that had DANGEROUS MEN. Nikki Griffi th is been scattered throughout the earlier a great characterwho needs a good plot book. Here we have the almost obliga- to show her stuff . Rating: B tory lying client (along with just about everybody else), people who aren’t what SLEEP WELL, MY LADY they seem to be, the family with hidden by Kwei Quartey secrets, Nikki getting involved with the Soho Crime, $27.95, January 2021 man she has been hired to follow, taking Rating: B on a young kid as a sidekick, and the like. Of course, as always, it’s what an Ghanaian fashion icon and media author can do with these things once celebrity Lade Araba Tagoe has been they are headed down this path. brutally slain in her own bedroom. Th e Fortunately, Lelchuk does manage to suspects are many but her chauff eur combine these elements (some of which is arrested shortly aft er the crime is seemed like serious mistakes, unlike discovered. Ten months aft er the arrest her character’s carefulness in the fi rst Araba’s Auntie Dele hires the Sowah book) into a fast-moving (once it gets Private Investigators Agency to investi- going anyway) tale. His protagonist is gate the murder, while the driver is still one tough lady, shooting her way out 48 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------everywhere else, power and money that once in a lifetime story. But when is also the killer, he gets mixed up with mean more than justice. So it’s up to he comes up against dangerous people politics, strippers, and assorted crimi- Emma Djan and the Sowah Agency to who constantly lie to him, how far will nals as he tries to extricate Lisa from her set things right. he have to go for answers? On the other trouble. A couple picky points: Th e cover hand, when it comes to women, the Shipley acts pretty much as a private of the novel refers to this book as “An otherwise sharp Eddie is pretty much investigator as he goes about looking Emma Djan Investigation,” but that stupid, as he admits to himself. into the murder and the blackmail gives short shrift to work of the other Th is is a fairly straightforward story scheme. Th at pretty much begs the agents at Sowah. All have nearly equal without a terribly complex plot. A num- question for me: why did Lockhart roles in the investigation, including un- ber of red herrings get thrown in (oft en choose to make his protagonist a lawyer dercover work and outright questioning in the form of lying witnesses) and some instead of a private investigator? Th e of witnesses and suspects. It’s as if Ed of the other elements are relatively cli- last time I met a lawyer who investi- McBain’s 87th Precinct novels were all ché. Th e mystery of the sobbing statue gated blackmail and murder was never. labeled “A Steve Carella Investigation.” is given short shrift , buried under some Add to that the numerous off enses that Further, although the book is set in of these other plot points. A lot of time Shipley commits as he goes along: theft Ghana, other than a bit of a sense of the is spent in restaurants ordering carefully of evidence from a crime scene and then culture, I had little feel for that coun- described food and drink. While that withholding it from the police, violating try here. I would like to have known made me hungry, the overall meal of the client confi dentiality, sleeping with his more about the landscape, the people, book was only mildly satisfying. client (that is a major – I’ll use the legal the sights and sounds and smells of the term here – no-no! for lawyers), and nation. THE INNS (AND OUTS) so forth. Can you say “disbarment,” Robert? Also, Shipley, be sure to check WHERE HAVE YOU GONE OF COURT the law fi rm’s employee handbook to see

WITHOUT ME? what it says about sexual harassment! In this very occasional sub-column I by Peter Bonventre Further, he eventually winds up take a look at books involving attorneys Keylight Books, $15.99, January 2021 getting fi red by Lisa and still plunges as principal characters and how close Rating: C ahead with his ever more dangerous their actions come to reality (not that investigation without hope of recom- that’s necessarily important in fi ction, I Newspaper columnist Eddie Sabella pense. Th is is exactly what happens in suppose. Aft er all no one is expected to receives a phone call about a statue of St. just about every private eye novel you’ve take the bar exam based on what they Joseph that has begun weeping real tears ever read. Th e case really sounds like a read in a novel. Books of this nature are in a local church. Th ere appears to be job for someone trained in criminal in- strictly for entertainment. Th at doesn’t no rational explanation for this, which vestigation. Shipley isn’t even trained in stop me from commenting on them). sparks his interest. He checks out the criminal law (beyond that one manda- story, then writes his column. Shortly aft er the story appears in the paper, the A CERTAIN MAN’S DAUGHTER statue is stolen. Th e cops aren’t all that by Timothy J. Lockhart interested in the theft , so Eddie, seeing Stark House, $15.95, February 2021 yet at least one more column out of it, Rating: B+ begins investigating. Along the way he rediscovers his long lost love and tries to Lisa Lindstrom asks attorney Robert rekindle the fl ames. He also discovers Shipley, her law school lover of years that certain unsavory elements are not gone by, to investigate a videotape all that interested in having him inves- blackmail scheme. Th e future United tigate. Th ese are people with secrets States Senate hopeful has been caught they’d rather keep hidden, a deadly on camera in bed with another woman. serious hitman, and Mafi oso with ideas She has fi ve days in which to announce of their own. that she has decided not to run or the Author Peter Bonventre has created tape will be released. Shipley tells her one extremely inquisitive character in to go to the cops, but she won’t for fear Eddie Sabella. Th e reporter is not afraid that word of what happened would still to ask the dangerous questions, no mat- get out. So, even though he’s a business ter how much trouble they might cause lawyer, he undertakes the investigation. for him. He’s a curious guy, with an itch When he goes to meet Lisa’s lover at her to scratch that could get him killed. Yet apartment, he fi nds her dead, shot in he plows straight ahead in the quest for the chest. Figuring that the blackmailer ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 49 tory law school class in it, I suspect). So horror/science fi ction, classic murder why did Lockhart choose a lawyer here mysteries, and the popularity of boy instead of a private eye? Th e answer bands. Told with a wink and a grin may just lie in the fact that Lockhart (and a number of entertaining puns) himself is an attorney who has worked Gregory takes the reader on a wild spin for the C.I.A., D.I.A., and the Offi ce of through one night in the life and death Naval Intelligence. of these young “manimals.” Th e book Having said all of that, Lockhart is arranged along the lines of a record has created an interesting character in album, each chapter being one “track” Robert Shipley, put him in a diffi cult in the album. Lyrics are occasionally situation, and allowed him to muddle added, though the reader has to make his way through to a bloody conclusion up their own music, of course. Th ere in the hot seat of America power. Along is also fan adulation in the form of the way we get an inside look at Wash- Delgado’s daughter, people dressed up ington politics and the dirty way it is in animal costumes, and a wild party oft en played, complete with lobbyists, with deadly consequences. mob-connections, and hardball-playing Distilled down to its essence, the politicians. Th ere is a touch of humor, story smacks a bit of John Dickson oft en pointed at the system (“Th at’s Carr and his brilliant locked room about all members of Congress do now, mysteries, though not nearly as com- you know, raise money for the next plex in either their creation or solu- (who may be ushering in a new Gold- election.”). All of this combined makes tion. Th ere are secrets within secrets, en Age), Goodrich pieces together not for an entertaining and insightful look misinformation aplenty, combined with only what other writers have said but at how “the game” is played. the questioning and the gathering of the also interviews he conducted to weave suspects, all as one should expect from a history of mystery over the years. He TELL A NOVELLA a traditional mystery. It just has these drops in interesting bits of trivia (who other bizarre elements as integral parts knew that Peter Falk did not originate THE ALBUM OF DR. MOREAU of the story, which add to the fun. Th is the role of Levinson and Link’s sleuth by Daryl Gregory unusual little book makes for quick Columbo?). He relates an amusing story Tordotcom/Tom Doherty Associates, reading for an evening’s entertainment. of his telephone encounter with Dilys $14.99 Winn, proprietor of Murder Ink, the E-book $3.99, May 2021 AND NOW FOR NYC bookstore, when he tried to join Rating: B SOMETHING her sixteen-day mystery readers tour of Britain – when Goodrich was a mere It’s 2001 and the WyldBoyz are the COMPLETELY thirteen-year-old in Minnesota! Along world’s hottest boy band. Well, that is, if DIFFERENT the way we learn of Wynn’s history and you can call these genetically engineered just how Goodrich’s eff orts paid off . human-animal hybrids “boys.” But if UNUSUAL SUSPECTS: Selected Th ere are many such stories along nothing else they are the only band of Non-Fiction the way, from the creation of the bril- that, um, nature and together they have by Joseph Goodrich liant Foyle’s War television series by an amazing sound. Th ere’s Bobby the Perfect Crime Books, $12.00, June 2020 Anthony Horowitz to how Goodrich ocelot, Matt the bat, Tim the pango- Rating: A himself came to write the play which lin (think scaly anteater), Devin the would win him the Edgar: Panic. Each bonobo, and Tusk the elephant. When Edgar Award winning playwright of these short essays (usually four pages the science barge they were on exploded, Joseph Goodrich, editor of the fascinat- or so) is fi lled with oft en little-known they managed to escape and were “dis- ing Blood Relations: Th e Selected Letters facts, personal insights, and details that covered” by Dr. Maurice Bendix. But at of Ellery Queen 1947-1950, has compiled make the subjects spring off the page. the end of their current tour, “Dr. M.” an entertaining and very informative As befi tting the editor of Blood is found brutally murdered – slashed to collection of essays he has written over Relations, there is also a long section on death – in their hotel suite. Th e boyz the years about both famous and not Ellery Queen and his creators. He gives are, naturally, the prime suspects. It is so well-known authors of books, plays, us the history of the radio shows, the up to Detective Lucia Delgado to step in fi lm, and television. Jim Hutton TV show, and background and put all the pieces together. From Golden Age authors like of the two authors. We are also treated Daryl Gregory has created a weird Dashiell Hammett and Elizabeth Daly to the notes of Manfred B. Lee, perhaps and amusing mashup of H. G. Wells to Nicholas Meyer and Ashley Weaver the lesser known of the cousins who 50 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

(along with Frederic Dannay) created who is having lengthy blackouts, some GLE (1965), part of the fourth Queen Ellery Queen. Lee undertook numerous lasting three or four days. Van Horn period’s “fun and games,” as Dannay lecture tours and the notes from three of doesn’t know what he does during those phrased it. Th ere Ellery has just re- those events are reproduced here. Th ey times, but he’s concerned it’s something turned to NYC with two broken legs make for absorbing reading and insight not very good. Ellery agrees to go to from a skiing trip in Wrightsville and into Lee, Dannay and Queen. Wrightsville, scene of several recent must resolve this case without ever leav- Th e fi nal section is a long essay on cases he has worked on, where Howard ing his hospital room. Th is made him Derek Marlowe, tracing his life and lives. Th ere he meets the man’s father, an armchair, er, better yet, a wheelchair, how Goodrich came into contact with uncle, the father’s young wife, and a detective. It was yet another way to get him while Goodrich was working in a mysterious elderly woman. From this around police investigative methods. bookstore in L.A., then followed up later small cast of characters comes a tale I love re-reading these books and with those who knew Marlowe. Th ese of blackmail, theft , and murder. Th e TEN DAY’S WONDER is Dannay and include Marlowe’s sisters and his son, as results of this case, and Ellery’s tragic Lee at the top of their form, as strong well as such luminaries as Tom Stoppard bungling of it, send Queen into a de- a novel as they ever wrote. As Shake- and Piers Paul Reid, both of whom had pressive spiral that will haunt him long speare penned (Henry VI), “Th at would shared a fl at in London with Marlowe. aft er this novel is over (see the follow up be ten days’ wonder at the least. Th at’s We get a glimpse of Derek Marlowe mystery, CAT OF MANY TAILS, 1949). a day longer than a wonder lasts.” And remembered, from his life to his work from that we have this terrifi c Golden (of which his fi rst and best novel was A Age novel. Will wonders never cease? DANDY IN ASPIC, published when he Let’s hope not. was only 28). I started to make a list of the books Parnell Hall mentioned in this collection I wanted If you’ve ever been to a mystery con- to add to my TBR pile, but then gave up vention, you knew Parnell Hall, one of when I discovered that I wanted to read the all-time great guys. His charm, his just about every book. I decided it was humor, his approachability, his outright easier to keep the volume on the shelf friendliness made him unmissable, and refer to it when wondering what I whether it was on a panel or singing should read next. You’ll want to do the one of his hilarious ditties from the same. stage or passing time with him in the hallway. And who can forget the cult THE OLD-TIMER IN classic C.H.U.D., which he wrote and in THE CORNER which he “starred” (by which I mean, of course, “had a small part”)? Sadly, Ellery Queen he passed away on December 15, 2020, following a series of health setbacks. In Reading about Manfred B. Lee’s his memory I pulled out an early Stanley lecture tours in Goodrich’s UNUSUAL Hastings novel and delved into it again: SUSPECTS encouraged to me to pick Wrightsville is the small town Ellery MURDER, the second book in the up an Ellery Queen novel for re-reading. has visited from time to time. Th is series, appeared in 1987. Trouble has a Not that I need much encouragement setting was one of the ways that Dannay way of fi nding “gift ed amateur” Stanley for that, as I’ve always enjoyed those and Lee managed to get Ellery out of big Hastings. Here, at the urging of his novels. Queen is my favorite Golden city New York as criminal investigation wife, he reluctantly takes on the case of Age novelist(s), in particular the early techniques improved and technology Pamela Berringer, who has managed to “Adjective-Nationality” ones. Of those became more important in solving get blackmailed into becoming a pros- the best is THE EGYPTIAN CROSS crimes than Ellery’s deductive ratio- titute for an unsavory character. She MYSTERY, one of the fi nest mystery cination. His fi rst journey there was hires Stanley to talk to the blackmailing novels of that era. But this time around detailed in CALAMITY TOWN(1942), pimp. When Stanley shows up at his I went for a slightly newer one, one which was the fi rst novel in Queen’s apartment, he fi nds the man has been where Ellery is no longer (as Lee once third and arguably greatest period. It murdered. To protect his lying client described him) “the biggest prig to ever was followed immediately thereaft er by (aren’t they always?), he “appropriates” come down the pike.” his next case there, THE MURDERER evidence so the cops can’t get it, then Outstanding is the only word to IS A FOX (1945). Queen made numer- lies to them, only to discover that he has describe Ellery Queen’s TEN DAYS’ ous further visits to the town, including, become the prime suspect in the killing. WONDER (1948). Ellery is approached for example, one briefl y mentioned in As serious as all of that sounds, by Howard Van Horn, an old friend THE FOURTH SIDE OF THE TRIAN------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 51

Maggie Mason’s Mystery Cafe’

THE THURSDAY MURDER CLUB Th ey don't want the usual safety talk, by Richard Osman but want to hear about real police cases. Viking, $26.00 Newly transferred here, she fi nds this Debut Mystery. very diff erent from her assignments in Rating: A South London. Th e four retirees are First of all, a big thank-you to George intriguing to her, being so diff erent from Easter for encouraging me to read this the "norm" for elderly folks. wonderful book. And thanks also to A local developer is found dead, and Graham Norton, for having the author a body from decades ago has been found appear on his wonderful show. in a grave. Tony Curran was in the Hall’s sense of humor shines through Retirement villages vary from town process of building a new development the entire book (in fact, throughout the to town, and country to country. Th e near Coopers Chase that would hurt the entire series of twenty Hastings’ nov- one this book takes place at is one of quality of life there. His death could els). Parnell oft en said that he created the better ones, in my opinion. Th ere seem a blessing in disguise, were it not a Stanley as an amateur detective so are activities for diff erent interests, and crime. Th e club members pull together that he wouldn’t have to do any actual I think I'd want to join the Th ursday using past experiences and intelligence, research. While he wrote other series Murder club. experience and just common sense to (such as the Puzzle Lady mysteries, the Th ere are four main members of the fi gure out both a current and decades Steve Winslow courtroom dramas, and club, from varied backgrounds. Th ey old crimes. Both PC De Frieitas and novels with Stuart Woods), the Stanley mesh well, and all have diff erent skills, her boss, DCI Chris Hudson have be- Hastings stories stand out – for me – as backgrounds, and interests which help come friendly with the elderly sleuths, the most entertaining of the lot. Th ese in the case at hand. which enriches all their lives. are funny, funny books. If you haven’t PC Donna De Freitas is at Coopers I thoroughly enjoyed this book, tried one, get hold of some. If you like Chase Retirement Village to give a talk and am waiting not very patiently for your mysteries with a light touch, you on security. She fi nds the residents a sequel. Getting on in years myself, I won’t be sorry. quite diff erent from what she expected. loved seeing the club do what's neces-

BOOKS REVIEWED IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE

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employment and to give everyone a fresh start. Riley doesn’t want to leave Deadly Pleasures her boyfriend and is very resistant to the move. To make things a little easier, John and Grace have rented an RV to make the trip and to see some of the sights along the way. George Easter Th ey make a stop at a massive truck stop just south of Las Vegas. Riley is sleeping off a recent fi t she threw when her phone was taken away, so they HOUSE STANDOFF Lee Child, his brother Andrew Grant decide not to wake her when they leave by Mike Lawson (Child) and Andrew’s wife Tasha Alex- the RV and visit the facilities. Back on Atlantic Monthly, $26.00, April ander. the road they discover that Riley isn’t in Rating: A- the RV and they turn around to return Joe DeMarco takes some time off SEARCH FOR HER to the truck stop and get into a serious from his duties as the “fi xer” for House by Rick Mofi na accident. By now Grace is frantic. Speaker Mahoney. Shannon Doyle, Joe’s MIRA, $9.99, March 9, 2021 Th e ensuing search for the fourteen- former girlfriend, has been murdered Rating: A- year-old takes us on a twisty-turny ride in Waverly, a remote town in Wyoming. Grace and John have been through that includes surprising revelations She was a best-selling fi ction writer a lot. A few years ago Grace’s husband about all the family members. Is Riley who was in Wyoming researching the was killed in an auto accident and John’s running from her family or has she been setting for a new novel. Her death is wife and daughter died in a sailing kidnapped? Friends from California being passed off as a random killing by accident. Aft er these traumas, Grace come to join in the search as investiga- a trucker just passing through town. and John met, fell in love and married. tors dig deep and then deeper. DeMarco doesn’t buy that and wants Grace brought her daughter Riley to Once again, Rick Mofi na’s to see her killer brought to justice. So the marriage and John brought his son reporter’s keen eye for detail is on full he dupes his boss into thinking he’s Blake. As one would expect, the melding display. His novels have the feel of a working on something else and heads of the two families has been a little bit true crime narrative and are eminently to Wyoming. Once there, it doesn’t rocky. believable and readable. It is why he is a take too long for him to discover that John has decided to move the family Barry Award winner and such a favorite the local sheriff ’s department has not from San Diego to Pittsburgh for better with the Deadly Pleasures “crowd.” conducted a proper investigation and is SEARCH FOR HER is a combination in “cover up” mode. So DeMarco puts missing child thriller blended into a on his big-boy Jack Reacher hat and stirs domestic suspense novel. If you haven’t up the locals as he looks into the most sampled Rick Mofi na yet, this novel or prominent family in the town – famous the Barry-Award-winning MISSING for their “standoff ” with Federal offi cials DAUGHTER may be the best place to over grazing rights on Federal land. start. One might miss the incorrigible Speaker of the House Mahoney and oth- A MAN NAMED DOLL er characters we have come to know in by Jonathan Ames DeMarco’s Washington, D.C. circle, but Mulholland, $26.00 I’m sure we’ll get reacquainted in Mike Rating: A- Lawson’s next book. In the meantime Happy Doll (don’t ask how he got it was refreshing to see how DeMarco that name) is a Navy vet and ex-LAPD. handled a totally unfamiliar landscape. Now he calls himself a P.I., but one It seems impossible to me that this with no current clients. He makes do th is the 15 in the series. Where has the by working as a bodyguard (graveyard time gone? I have read and gained great shift ) at a local Th ai spa that off ers its enjoyment out of them all. Whenever I clients special services. He is there to think of this series I think of the phrase: protect the female employees from cli- “consistently high quality.” ents who have trouble with the concept Quiz: Can you name fi ve prominent of “no.” mystery writers who live in Wyoming? Two events occur that change his How about C. J. Box, Craig Johnson, life. One is when an old friend, in need 54 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

States also bears a serious grudge. His tion, during which his beloved wife died beloved fi ancée was killed in the Twin in his absense. Towers on 9/11. He has never mar- Kiera and Jack team up with the plan ried and secretly has sworn vengeance of traversing the prison blocks to get against all responsible. POTUS and to the place where they just maybe can Reece have a private meeting at Camp get to higher ground to an abandoned David in which the President outlines part of the prison complex. Meanwhile what he wants Reece to do. Reece agrees water is pouring into the prison and the to do the President’s private bidding walls are crumbling. Reece’s plans intersect with those Herron keeps the tension ratcheted of some Iranian agents, led by Hafez up but in the end there seemed too Qassem, who wish to unleash a hemor- many obstacles to realistically prevail rhagic virus on certain American cities, against and I became skeptical and jad- which, if successful, would force the ed. It is a great premise for a novel and I President of the United States to make give kudos to the author for coming up a diffi cult decision of possible epic and with the idea. It is not a long book, but I tragic proportions. Like any good thrill- feel it would have served the reader well er, this is a race against time. if it had been shorter. Carr also includes in the narrative a fairly detailed synopsis of political and AMERICAN TRAITOR military decision-making as it pertains by Brad Taylor to the Middle East and describes policy, of a kidney transplant, asks him for Morrow, $28.99 legislation and Executive orders that one of his kidneys. Doll procrastinates Rating: B+ have brought us decades of confl ict in in his response and his buddy seeks a What starts out as a planned vaca- that region. Th is is something rarely more dangerous alternative. Th e other tion for Jennifer and Pike turns out to found in an action thriller but it adds a is when a drugged-up client of the spa be anything but that. Arriving at their realistic context to the storyline. Th is threatens the life of one of the girls friend Dunkin’s apartment in Ade- is fi ction but may have more kinship and Doll winds up in a life-and-death laide, Australia, they encounter three with reality than we care to contem- struggle. thugs bent on mayhem. Not much of plate – scary in concept and exciting in When his buddy comes to his door a challenge for the likes of Pike and execution. he has been shot in the stomach and Jennifer who are as skilled as they come soon aft er dies. Happy goes in search of from years of service in the Taskforce, BREAKOUT the villain or villains, with unpredict- a sub-rosa entity for special operations, by Paul Herron able results. supervised by POTUS and others in At 177 pages, this is an enjoyable, Grand Central, $28.00, April quick read, full of quirky characters and Rating: B+ a thrill-paced and exciting plot line. I It can’t be a good thing if you are hope this is the beginning of a series. ex-cop Jack Constantine, who now fi nds Happy Doll makes me happy. himself in prison for killing those re- sponsible for the murder of his pregnant THE DEVIL’S HAND wife. But wait ... things can get even by Jack Carr worse – in the form of a convergence of Atria/Emily Bester, $28.00, April two Category 5 hurricanes merging into Rating: A- one megastorm. When the storm hits, James Reece has been welcomed back the correctional offi cers at Ravenhill ee fl into the folds of the CIA, despite the (except for a rookie, Kiera Sawyer, who objections of some who resent the havoc is left behind) and the 800 inmates are he created in exacting revenge for the left on their own to survive. It becomes deaths of his wife and daughter (as well questionable which poses the greatest as some of the soldiers he served with). danger: the storm outside or the inmates But he is taking some time off to fi nish inside, who seem intent on settling what he started. Th ere is one more scores with a killing frenzy. Jack is one name on his terminal list and he goes in of those who want to settle up with the search of that person. surviving members of the team who Th e new President of the United killed his wife. And there is a crime boss who blames Jack for his incarcera------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 55

Cabinet-level positions. two copies in the world). Th ese photos horizon in her rear-view mirror. It seems that Dunkin (tech guy/hack- will enable English code breakers (led One day, one of her kids desperately er) has become a danger to a Chinese by professor Alan Turing) to thwart has to go “number 1,” so she pulls into a mole at his new place of work, and the present Nazi plans and Russian post-war gas station. Two bumbling, rookie cops Chinese want to eliminate the threat to ambitions. are there, just having arrived to fi nd their plans. By the seat of his pants is the only a murdered attendant. Th ey won’t let Pike and Jennifer have unwittingly way to describe Basil’s modus operandi. Andie use the restrooms and her daugh- stepped into a conspiracy to undermine For instance, it would have helped if he ter can’t hold it any longer and pees all the security of Taiwan and provoke an knew how to parachute or fl y a plane, over the crime scene. attack by mainland China. but he doesn’t and has to learn on the fl y During all this fuss Andie has Th e setting surrounding the main- (yes, that is a pun.). observed what has occurred there and land China/Taiwan tensions is certainly Th e rapid pacing of this novel made has formulated hypothesis and conclu- topical and insightful. this another quick read for me. But for sions that diff er with the police version AMERICAN TRAITOR contains a whatever reason BASIL’S WAR left me released the next day. number of exciting and realistic action fl at. eTh hero just wasn’t all that likeable Th is is where the story takes a huge scenes throughout the narrative that – more than a bit puff ed up if you ask leap. Andie ties a seemingly innocuous take place in Australia and then Taiwan. me. Th ere is some clever deduction conversation with girlfriends about their Th ere is a whopper of a coincidence that and spy craft revealed at the end that town’s denial of permits to build swim- leads the team to the whereabouts of one brought it up a bit as far as my rating. ming pools with the murder of the gas of the main “bad guys.” Th is stretched station attendant (who is from India). my ability to suspend disbelief a bit too SUBURBAN DICKS Some of you might fi nd that leap highly far. Considering world events, the plot by Fabian Nicieza improbable (it is) and stop reading right is very timely and informative. A good Putnam, $27.00, June there. You’ll miss a lot of fun if you do. beach read. Rating: A- Andie teams up with local, dis- Strap yourself in for a wildly improb- graced journalist Kenneth Lee, whom BASIL’S WAR able and enormously fun ride. she knew in high school, and together by Stephen Hunter Andie Stern seems like your typical they go in search of a murderer and Mysterious Press, $23.95, May suburban New Jersey housewife with investigate a decades-old conspiracy. Rating: B- four rambunctious kids and one more In mysteries there are some protago- Back in 2015, Stephen Hunter wrote on the way. Her days are spent carting nists that just stand out by their force of a novella called CITADEL, which Otto her kids around from one activity to personality and their likeability. Andie Penzler published under his bookstore another – day aft er day of the same old, Stern is such a character. You may imprint Mysterious Bookshop. It is same old. Andie pines for her former cringe at her maternal skills, but she is part of a long series of bibliomystery career as a budding (and brilliant) FBI so entertaining that I became an instant novellas written by famous mystery profi ler, but those days are beyond the fan. and thriller writers for publication as Beware: there is quite a bit of New small paperbacks and limited hardcover Jersey profanity with Andie being the editions. At some point, either Stephen family’s biggest contributor to their or Otto got the idea to turn CITADEL swear words jar. into a full-length novel and that is how I can see Janet Evanovich fans fl ock- BASIL’S WAR came to be. ing to this title. Basil St. Florian is an experienced agent provocateur in the British Army. DEAD BY DAWN He is given a task (that is slowly revealed by Paul Doiron in the novel) that entails a clandestine Minotaur, $27.99, June entry into Nazi-occupied France, which Rating: A he accomplishes in an unorthodox man- Maine game warden Mike Bowditch ner. His skills as a con man, pick pocket receives a letter from a relative of a and master of disguise come into play wealthy professor who was declared a as he travels to Paris under imminent suicide four years ago when his body threat of capture. was fi shed out of a river. His daughter- Basil’s nominal task is to gain in-law doesn’t believe the verdict and entrance to a distinguished Parisian thinks that she can convince Mike to library containing many valuable tomes open the case again. and take photographs of certain pages Meanwhile, it is time for Mike to of an extremely rare manuscript (only take his half-wolf, half-dog Shadow for a 56 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

ternate between his attempts at survival Th e smooth writing and action and his earlier-in-the-day investigations. scenes are such that one can race lick- I can see why Paul Doiron structured ety-split through SHADOW TARGET. the novel this way, but I found myself But I didn’t fi nd this story line as real- impatient to get through the investi- istically believable as his prior thrill- gative chapters to get to the survival ers. Still good though. Good beach or chapters. airplane fl ight material. Th is will certainly be on my list for best thriller of 2021. But it’s not just an Books Reviewed in action thriller. It’s a pretty darn good Order of Preference novel of detection also. Great entertain- ment, Paul! DEAD BY DAWN SUBURBAN DICKS SHADOW TARGET SEARCH FOR HER by David Ricciardi HOUSE STANDOFF Berkley, $27.00, June A MAN NAMED DOLL Rating: B+ THE DEVIL’S HAND A little backstory is appropriate. SHADOW TARGET Th is may contain spoilers for those who AMERICAN TRAITOR have not read this series. Zac Miller BREAKOUT is a CIA desk-bound analyst who is BASIL’S WAR visit to his vet, a matter of a couple of suddenly called on to do dangerous hours’ drive. Th e town where the rich fi eld work in the first book in the series, professor drowned is close by to the vet’s WARNING LIGHT. He shows an un- practice so Mike thinks he can kill two usually high aptitude for it, but it soon R.I.P. birds with one stone. becomes evident that there are powerful With Shadow sedated and sleeping forces (Iranian and otherwise) aligned , an award-win- in his custom carrier (he’s really large against him, so his death is faked. A few Jason Matthews ning spy novelist who drew upon his and half-wild), Mike starts retracing the months later, aft er some minor plastic long career in espionage and his admi- steps of the original investigation into surgery, he reappears as Jake Keller. Th e ration for John le Carre among others the death of Professor Chamberlain. downside to this change in identity is in craft ing his popular “Red Sparrow” His interviews with the principal wit- that he has had to leave everything per- thrillers, has died at age 69. Matthews nesses in the case are met with suspicion taining to his prior life behind, includ- died from Corticobasal Degeneration and mistrust on both sides. By the time ing the love of his life, Geneviève, an (CBD), a rare, untreatable neurodegen- he leaves in the early evening to head agent of the French intelligence service erative disease. He graced the cover of home, Mike defi nitely suspects that (DGSE). Deadly Pleasures Issue # 82 (Winter something is amiss, especially among Two years have passed since his iden- 2018). A sad loss of an author who was the residents of Pill Hill. tity switch and all this time Geneviève just hitting his stride. He takes a turn a little bit too fast has thought Zac/Jake had died. But and encounters lots of sharp spikes that Jake is miserable and realizes that he someone has spread across the road. has committed a major blunder by not His tires burst and he loses control communicating with her. of his vehicle, which plunges into the Fast-forward to the present and CIA frozen river at the side of the road. He agent Jake Keller is taking some well-de- is now in a fi ght for survival for him served time off to go skiing in the and for Shadow. Nature seems to have French Alps. Th e small plane he is on stacked all of its elements against him, crashes in the mountains and he is left but it isn’t just nature. Th ere are hu- the sole survivor. Jake narrowly escapes mans that for some reason desperately when others appear to fi nish him off . want Mike dead. How he escapes from Subsequent attempts on his life convince one threat aft er another makes for the him that he is on someone’s hit list, so most exciting thrill ride I’ve experienced he engages friends for help – including with an action thriller in quite some Geneviève who gives him a very frosty time. reception, but later soft ens. Together Once he enters the river, chapters al- they go in search of whomever is behind these attacks. ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 57

L J Roberts It is purely my opinion

FROZEN story, aft er all, and fi ts in aft er book 8 in Personal fi tness trainer Erik Lingoss By Ann Cleeves - free e-shortstory the series. is found murdered in his fl at by a young Minotaur, 2020, 16 pp What is here is atmosphere and woman who fancied herself in love with Rating A Cleeve’s creative use of the weather him. A box full of cash in his closet, 700 almost as another character. Nothing is pounds under his pillow, and his miss- First Sentence: Vera woke to a free lost in the construction of this fascinat- ing mobile phone indicates things may day and an unexpected longing for ing short story. Suspects are identifi ed, not be as indicated. Th e more Slider and exercise. clues tracked down with twists and red his team investigate, the more suspects It’s her day off and DI Vera Stanhope herrings. emerge. Under pressure to clear the takes the opportunity to visit a new FROZEN may be a fairly simple story, case, they work to fi nd the who and why bookshop located in a renovated chapel. but it is well-craft ed and, if one has not of the murder. What she was not looking for was a previously read Ann Cleeves, this a Beginning a new book by Cynthia skeleton unearthed in a cellar baptismal perfect introduction to her writing and Harrod-Eagles is akin to being given font. Time for Vera to solve this long- the Vera series. one’s favorite dessert. First, there is no cold case. prologue, not even one masquerading as Cleeves’ descriptions allow one to CRUEL AS THE GRAVE a fi rst chapter. Th e story begins on page see places we’ve not been, in the present By Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, one and continues to the end. Second, and the past—”Standing with her back 22nd in series wonderful dialogue fi lled with wry to old stones, she imagined squads of Severn House, Feb 2021, 256 pp humor—”Let he who is without sin bore legionnaires marching… they must have Rating: B the pants off everybody else.” Last, the policed the region then, so she saw them sense of time and place. Her evocative as her forbears, as kindred spirits, and First Sentence: Atherton was singing descriptions employ all the senses. felt a connection across the centuries.” in his Dean Martin voice. Th e characters are alive--”…Ath- Bringing us to the present, she carries erton stretched, catline. Tall, elegant, forth that sense of timelessness with sartor’s plaything, he was as out of place her wonderful imagery—”the building at a dreary crime scene as an orchid in a that had once been built to the glory vegetable patch.” Th e balance is Slider, of God, now celebrated the story in all not a Long-Ranger cop, but respected by its forms.” Whereupon the mood is a team where each has their role to play. eff ectively broken, and the investigation Th e plot may initially present itself as begins. straightforward, yet one knows it won’t Even though the books are separate stay that way long—”Th irteen thousand from the television series, those who pounds. …Normal people don’t keep watch may clearly hear the voice of large amounts of cash in the wardrobe.” actress Brenda Blethyn as Vera. Rather Including characters’ families in the than a negative, it adds a warmth and story adds humanity and dimension. personal touch to the story. Still, this Unlike the questionable stability of is not Vera’s story alone, but one which Atherton’s relationship, Slider has an includes her team, including Joe who is extended family of his wife, son and a still her second in the books, and Holly child on the way, a daughter by his fi rst in a scene that makes one smile. Howev- marriage, a father and his partner. A er, if one is looking for in-depth descrip- wonderful hospital scene touches the tions of the characters, or quantities of heart. backstory, it’s not here. Th is is a short Th e author’s use of language, includ- 58 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------ing the chapter headings, is a pleasure. or aunt, a dead child—by no promises. One small caution, or treat, is that From a friend who attended a psy- it is very British, meaning there are chic reading, former cop, Rushmore numerous British terms and idioms. It McKenzie, learns of a threat placed on can be confusing, but the meaning is his life by the spirit of Leland Hayes. easy enough to glean from the con- McKenzie killed Hayes aft er Hayes text—”Th e bathos almost made him escaped the scene of an armored car smile.” Th e use of malaprops—”Put- robbery leaving his son Ryan to take the ting the cat before the horse, aren’t fall. Th e money was never recovered. you?”—and literary references are fun Now, more than 21 years later, a highly to spot. Th e banter between Slider skeptical McKenzie becomes involved and Atherton realistically refl ects that with two psychic mediums to fi nd the of friends/colleagues who know each money and, due to one of the mediums, other well. Garry Disher to locate a missing woman. Th e plot focuses on the real police To add a bit of light to the dark, work of identifying the many sus- McKenzie’s partner, Nina owns a jazz pects, following leads, and looking for meaning behind them. “Hirsch the me- club thought to be haunted. Nina’s con- evidence. What drives Slider as much diator. He seemed to spend most of his cern about the infl uence her late mother as fi nding the killer is discovering the time as father confessor, therapist, social had her present actions gives both histo- motive which is poignant. worker, fi xer and go-between. What ry and insight into the character. CRUEL AS THE GRAVE is such a he’d give for a plain old criminal and a Set in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, good read. Harrod-Eagles is a skilled plain old vanilla arrest.” Housewright creates a strong sense of writer who evokes empathy for the It is not all serious. Hirsch’s rela- place, even for something as basic as killer. It was truly the dessert’s fi nishing tionship with Wendy and her daughter Nina’s condo. Th e interplay between the touch. provides normalcy, off set by his unwill- two characters is easy and natural—”I ingness to confront the woman who is like your outfi t.” “Really? Last night you CONSOLATION stalking him as she becomes a threat. couldn’t wait for me to take it off .”— By Garry Disher – 3rd in series We see the openness of Northern and a particular conversation between Text Publishing, Nov 2020, 399 pp Australia and the bone-chilling cold of Rating: B+ summer. them provides good background and an As the story progresses Hirsch fi nds explanation of their relationship. McK- First Sentenc e: Did Hirsch own the one should be careful of for what one enzie’s unpleasant neighbor provides a town? wishes when things turn violent and touch of normalcy. Mackenzie has an Hirsch’s territ ory covers a large deadly. “…his ABC of policing said: inner monologue that is used sparingly area of not much in Tiverton, South assume nothing, believe nothing, chal- and eff ectively, oft en with a touch of Australia. It is up to him to keep the lenge everything.” humor. Housewright has also given him peace. Someone is stealing women’s CONSOLATION is a story of lives an excellent playlist. underwear. Although that seems a intertwined; the domino eff ect begun by It is always fun when an author refer- small thing, it is the sort of thing that the actions of one crashing into the lives ences other authors. Because of the psy- can escalate. As the winter heat rises, so of others. Th is is an author well worth chic aspect, he also references a number does the severity of the cases, exacerbat- reading. of popular paranormal investigation ed by a woman who has developed an shows, but it is McKenzie’s skepticism obsession about Hirsch. FROM THE GRAVE which keeps things grounded, until his A very good introduction presents By David Housewright - 17th in series Constable Paul Hirschhausen “Hirsch” Minotaur, 2020, 312 pp skepticism is tested. Learning what and the scope of his job, which is Rating : B goes on in the making of such shows impressive in its scope and diversi- is both interesting and demystifying ty. Issues range from the seemingly First Sentence: Th e young woman without taking away from the possibility innocuous to the potentially dangerous. who identifi ed herself as a psychic me- of actuality. Th e jump from one incident to the next dium moved with almost absentminded Th e other characters are well pre- brings the residents into play. Hirsch confi dence among the fi ft y people who sented, with a couple of inside jokes. It isn’t a cop who sits behind a desk, but had paid forty dollars each for a seat in is hard to say much about some of them, spends his time walking the street, and the community center lecture hall with except that Housewrights approach to driving the territory. the hope that she might help them con- his characters is refreshing. Th ere are Disher is a wonderful wordsmith. several people out to fi nd the missing One understands the works, and the nect with a dead mother or father, uncle ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 59 money. And some are what one might story. Th e inclusion of information on expect. the forensics of the time adds veracity As the 17th book in the Rushmore and interest. McKenzie series, this book is somewhat Good dialogue makes all the diff er- lighter and less suspenseful than some. ence, particularly when twinged with In this time of COVID-19 when many humor—”How precisely does one go about accosting a man in the middle are having trouble concentrating, that’s of a ball in order to discuss the murder not a bad thing. Even so, the story does of someone who once ran off with his not lack for twists and red herrings. wife.” “I don’t know,” said Sebastian. FROM THE GRAVE, at its founda- “But I’ll think of something.” tion, is a solid mystery, well-constructed WHO SPEAKS FOR THE and enjoyable. One may, or may not, DAMNED is an excellent read. Th e accept the paranormal aspect, but it mystery is well-plotted and solved with does provide an extra layer of creativity. an ending that speaks to humanity and However, best of all, is the ending that puts paid to all the ugliness caused by makes one smile. man. It draws one in from the start and keeps one engaged to the very end. WHO SPEAKS FOR THE DAMNED By C.S. Harris - 15th in series SHADOWS IN DEATH Berkeley, 2020, 322 pp By J.D. Robb - 51st in series Rating: A+ this time and confi rms that bigotry has St. Martin’s Press, 2020, 368 pp always existed. Rating: B+ First Sentence: Alone and trying Honorable characters have great desperately not to be afraid, the child appeal. When asked why Sebastian, First Sentence: As it oft en did since wandered the narrow, winding paths of a Viscount, aft er all, spends his time he’d married a cop, murder interrupted the tea gardens. chasing murders, especially when the more pleasant activities. Nicholas Hayes, a son to the late victims are despicable characters them- Lt. Eve Dallas, with her husband, Earl of Seaford, had been convicted of selves, he responds: “Making certain a Roarke, goes to the scene of a murdered murder, transported to Botany Bay, and killer doesn’t get away with what he has woman. While on-site, Roarke sees a assumed dead. Instead, he returned to done is an obligation we the living owe man he knew from his past in Ireland. London and was murdered. An Asian to the dead—no matter how unsavory Lorcan Cobbe, a contract killer, claims child who had been with Hayes, fi nds we consider them to be.” ... “Am I not he is Roarke’s father’s actual and fi rst the body and goes to Hayes’ former my brother’s keeper?” …”And because son. Lorcan hates Roarke enough to friend James Calhoun, valet to St. Cyr. I believe we are all connected, every kill him, and everyone he loves. Eve is Aft er which, the child disappears. It is living thing one to the other, so that I certain the dead woman’s husband hired now up to St. Cyr to fi nd the child and owe to each what I would owe to my- Cobbe to perform the hit. Eve’s fi rst task uncover the murderer. self.” What a perfect defi nition of equal to proving the husband a killer, then Th ere is nothing better than a book justice under the law. stop Cobbe before he kills Roarke. that captivates your attention from the Th e relationship between Devlin and Th ere are times when one wants an very beginning. One is introduced to his wife Hero is so well done. Th e inti- entertaining, captivating read. With her several of the main and recurring char- macy is neither gratuitous nor salacious, 51st book in the Eve Dallas series, Robb acters, learns about their backgrounds, and dialogue is very natural. Harris succeeds in creating exactly that. Yes, and is taken straight into the story. does involve Hero in the investigation, the plots are somewhat predictable, but Harris sets the story up beautifully, but in a way that makes sense for a the world Robb has created is visual, providing multiple motives and sus- woman of her time and rank. and the characters are ones about whom pects. Nothing here is obvious. She also Th is historical mystery set in 1814/ readers’ care. eff ectively conveys the fear felt by young Regency London, is well-plotted. It What is remarkable is that the …IN Jai, alone in a foreign country. He is a moves along at a good pace and presents DEATH series began in 1995 with the character who touches the heart but twists at just the right points although fi rst book set in 2058 and Eve being 30 also allows for an interesting look at one might wish authors weren’t quite so years old, releasing two Dallas books/ China during this period. Th e historical predictable in their timing. Th at said, it year, plus the occasional novella. Set information woven into the story is both is nice when one is surprised by a plot in 2061; three years and 51+/- cases informative and harshly factual. Harris twist. Th e story grows with one revela- later, this brings Eve’s clearance rate makes no attempt to soft en the image of tion upon another. Rather than con- to ~17 cases per year, or once every fusing, this adds to the intrigue of the three weeks. What police department 60 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------wouldn’t love that? Robb has a deft hand when it comes to dialogue, even creating slang that fi ts for the near-future time period. How clever to use an expression known to readers in the present but would be anachronistic to the period. Th ere are some great lines, and her wry humor is always a pleasure. A discussion on the subtle diff erences between colors leads to an internal observation—”Pea- body turned a little green—perhaps celadon—and turned her head to stare hard at the wall.” Robb carries thoughts through from one scene to another with great deliberateness and ease. One learns more about Roarke’s childhood and one must respect that Robb, even this far into the series, still has new information to impart. One small irritant is Roark’s refer- ences to Eve being “his,” making her seem a possession. However, this is is a nice injection of the character’s mitigated by the realization that Eve BLACK CORAL personal life which adds to balance to claims Roarke in the same manner and By Andrew Mayne – 2nd in series the story, injecting light into the dark. showing it is a manifestation of their Th omas & Mercer, Feb 2021, 317 pp Th ere is realism in admitting no one is commitment of care and protection, Rating: A+ a perfect parent. one provides compel- and not possessiveness, even including ling She is introspective both about the those around them. Yes, the scenes of First Sentence: Everyone is looking at case—”I see two diff erent men in front lovemaking are hot, but they are more me funny. of me. One is the monster. Th e other is about emotion than sex. Th e Underwater Investigatio n Unit the victim. Th e victim didn’t make the Eve is not perfect which makes her is called out to a submerged van at Pond monster, but it sure did nurture him.”, more real. She has areas of discomfort 59. Th e passenger has been recovered; and her life as a cop—”…where do I go and gaps in her knowledge for anything but Detective Sloan McPherson, the from here? Catching the New River beyond her job or her city—”Th ey look team’s top diver, needs to recover the Bandits was a good thing, but in no way like cops…I need them to look like driver. Rather than one, she fi nds three deeply fulfi lling.” farmers. Irish farmers,” Eve added. bodies in the van, and evidence of a fi ft h Having Sloan be an archeologist, as “Who are out there doing farm stuff .” person having been involved. Th e inves- well as a diver and cop, brings dimen- Th ere is an urgency and intensity to tigation puts McPherson and the UIU sion to the character and opens inter- the investigation which gives the sense on the trail of the serial killer, while also esting doors. Th e plot is very well done of needing to run to keep up. Th e ac- trying to catch a thief stealing millions and fi lled with surprises, yet none of tion scenes are visceral, tense, exciting, of electronic equipment off mega-yachts. them feel contrived. Th e things one and fi lled with twists. Th ey provide Mayne has a great voice layered with learns are unusual. excellent examples of Eve’s leadership wry humor—”If you have any questions, Periodic references to events from and authority, and the respect she has please contact us through our web- the fi rst book, don’t distract from the earned. Even so, it is not a perfect book. site,” George concludes.” … “We have current story, nor does the crossover Th ere were opportunities for danger a website?” I ask in a whisper.” He is a reference to Mayne’s Th eo Cray series. and suspense not taken, and the ending true storyteller who creates wonderful Th is book stands nicely on its own seemed too quick with a fi nal scene a characters that play into one another. merit. bit silly, albeit satisfying. One wants to share passages of his writ- Of the two cases, one is fairly straight SHADOWS IN DEATH is an ex- ing with others. Not every male author forward, but the second takes one down cellent remedy to off set the stress and writes women well. Mayne is one who a surprising, twisty path with some uncertainty of these times in which we truly does, and it is a pleasure to read. defi nite “Oh, my” moments. Although live. Slone is fully dimensional. Th ere the main plot is about a serial killer, the ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 61 book is far more suspenseful than gory. the region into focus. It is always fun there. BLACK CORAL is an excellent read having a book set in one’s hometown, Information on the main characters is full of humor, suspense, wicked good being familiar with the places visit- provided in bits as the story progresses. twists, and a very unexpected ending. ed by the characters. It is even more It is that information which then pro- amusing when the author’s description vides motive for their actions. Damien FINAL OUT of a particular building echoes one’s Epps, Roarke’s second, is the breath of By Sheldon Siegel – 12th in series own thoughts—”The Salesforce Tower fresh air. Sheldon M. Siegel, Inc., Jan 2021, 303 pp dominated the San Francisco skyline and That the story is told in days height- Rating: B+ dwarfed the Transamerica Pyramid. It’s ens the suspense. The story alternatives impressive in its size and technology, but between Roarke and the woman, and it First Sentence: The Honorable Robert it looks like an enlarged phallic symbol works. The introduction of a man and J. Stumpf, Jr. scanned the empty gallery to me.” his 14-year-old child raises the stakes in his airless courtroom on the second Siegel’s style is one of short, tightly even higher. The author has an ability floor of San Francisco’s crumbling Hall of written chapters that read almost as not only to set the scene, but to convey Justice. vignettes. Each chapter compels one to the underlying emotions of it—”He Jaylen Jenkins is arrested for the mur- continue reading straight through to the steps through the open doorway, past the der of prominent San Francisco sports end. carved wooden door, into the entry hall agent Robert Blum. He is on video hold- FINAL OUT is well written and com- with its white painted brick walls and ing a baseball bat walking toward Blum, pletely involving. The underlying theme tiled floor. … The terror has turned every and then running away without the bat. is a sad, but important truth about our cell in his body to ice; his feet can barely Jenkins claims he is innocent. But is he? justice system. move him forward.” Without contradictory evidence, can Just as Sokoloff has not given the attorney Mike Daley and the team of the HUNTRESS MOON investigators anything definite they can San Francisco Public Defender’s Office By Alexandria Sokoloff– st1 in series track, she leaves the reader directionless. use the “SODDI” defense to convince the Thomas & Mercer, Jan 2015, 386 pp It is clear the moon has significance, but jury that some other dude did it? Rating:A what is unknown. However, evil, the The story begins with a soft case to sense of it, is a prevalent and effective introduce the principal characters in a First Sentence: FBI Special Agent theme. casual, conversational manner. In little Matthew Roarke is closing in on a bust As the story progresses, the killer time, one is taken into the meat of the of a major criminal organization in San takes on the identity first as “Huntress,” story and a case that couldn’t be more Francisco when he witnesses an under- and finally her name and background are timely. One of the benefits is learning cover member of his team killed right in revealed with a powerful twist. The au- something new. Siegel walks readers front of him on a busy street, an accident thor’s skill is clear in the killer’s progres- through every aspect of the case allow- Roarke can’t believe is coincidental. sion. I don’t recall another author being ing one to experience exactly what is Waiting for his undercover agent able to transition one’s attitude toward a involved. He educates without lectur- to cross a busy street, Agent Matthew killer in the way Sokoloff does. ing or slowing down the plot. After all, Roarkes attention is captured by a wom- This is not a perfect book. There are who else is familiar with the legal term an standing behind the agent. Moments some plot holes and weaknesses such as “wobbler”? It is impossible to conceive later, the agent is dead, and the woman the description of the Tenderloin, which knowing one is innocent and while being has disappeared. As he tracks the wom- is not nearly as grim as portrayed. The told accepting a plea sentence of eight an, he discovers several deaths at which primary thing which did not ring true years is a “good deal,” yet that happens to she was present. Is she that most rare is Roarke, an FBI Agent, seemingly so many. of killers: a female serial killer? She is surprised by the idea of a female serial Through the principal character, canny, and always one step ahead leaving killer. He just could not be that naïve. Mike, an ex-priest turned lawyer, Siegel bodies behind as Roake begins to piece Another slight miss was the inference of created an excellent ensemble cast of together her motive and her objective. a supernatural element which was not Mike’s family and friends. They are What an intriguing book, and one developed. wonderfully drawn; brought to life where readers are kept off-guard from HUNTRESS MOON, the first in the mainly though his skill with dialogue. start to end. It’s also a hard book to series, is rather a first chapter in one long Even Mike’s internal monologues add review without spoilers. Matthew Roarke book with an arching theme: Evil. It is a dimension to the character and the story. is a driven character who we come to page-turner and truly a popcorn book in One appealing aspect of the character know in small bits. He is intuitive, yet that no one will be able to read just one. is his realism. This isn’t a strutting, logical; a perfect balance for someone in If you like the first, chances are you will overly-confident lawyer, this is one who his job. But it’s the female character who want to continue. recognizes he could lose his case. keeps us going. Initially, we don’t know Set in the San Francisco Bay Area, the identity of the killer until the “ah-ha” A FATAL LIE captured in perfect detail, Siegel brings moment, and the tension builds from By Charles Todd, 23rd in series 62 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

William Morrow, Feb 2021, 349 pp step in front of Ian. Yet it seems to take Rating: – C- a while before any real progress is made and then, aft er all the to-ing and fro-ing, First Sentence: On his sixth birthday, there is the great and complete confes- Roddy MacNabb was given a fi shing pole sion. Good grief. by his pa, with promises to teach him how A FATAL LIE is a good book, but to use it. not as good as usual. Th e dialogue was Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge weak, the usual wry humor was com- is sent to Northern Wales where a man’s pletely lacking, and the book could have body was pulled from the River Dee by a used some serious editing and simplify- young boy. It’s fi rst thought the man had ing. One wonders whether because of fallen from the viaduct that spans high COVID, the authors had little to do but above the river, put there are no signs of write, so they just kept putting things in. a fall, no identifi cation on the body, and Here’s hoping for a crisper, more involv- no one claims to know him. Only a few ing book #24. clues lead Rutledge on a trail to identify the victim, recreate the man’s recent SPITEFUL BONES travels, and uncover both the motive By Jeri Westerson - 14th in Guest series and the person responsible for the man’s Severn House, 2020, 192 pp Jeri Westerson death, and those that follow. Rating: B+ Authors strive to create a good “hook,” the opening which will compel First Sentence: Nigellus Cobmartin the reader to keep turning the pages. stood in the courtyard of his family home Westerson has a wonderful voice. Her Todd’s opening does that very eff ectively. – its garden walls crumbling, its arched dialogue is refl ective of the period Ian is a unique character. Shell shock: windows overlooking the tired and weedy without being mired in it. She writes i.e., PTSD, from WWI has left him with garden with its dead fl owers and gnarled with a balance of humor and drama. It the voice of Hamish, a soldier execut- trees – and sighed. is interesting to see how, even in this ed for desertion, in his head. We are Th e year is 1398, and Crispin Guest’s period, forensic evidence was taken reminded of the cost of war, not only in house is fi lled with his assistant Jack, his into account—”But it looks as if some- the number of the dead, but the lasting wife Isabel, and their many children, as one coshed him good. Aye, look at the impact on the veterans and their fam- well as the satisfaction of watching grow wood of the uprights here. If he was still ilies—”A fi ne soldier, liked by his men, and providing training for Christopher awake, there would have been scratches he didn’t suff er, and we must be proud of Walcote, the son he can never acknowl- and scuff s from a struggle.” One issue, him, for he gave his life for his King and edge. Into that tranquility comes John however, is the frequent use of Latin Country. Th at isn’t terribly reassuring, Rykener/Eleanor Cobmartin with an phrases. While is it very appropriate to is it?” urgent summons. In restoring the home, the period, an immediate translation of It is always fascinating to read about he inherited, John’s “husband’s” workers each phrase, as is oft en done by other the forensics of the time. Todd weaves uncover a body holding a precious relic. authors, would not have been amiss. details of places, such as the operations Th e body had been bound and sealed Still, there are lines which make one of the aqueduct, and history, the Ban- within a wall for 20 years. It is up to smile—”Sometimes, Jack, the Church, in tam Battalions, smoothly into the story. Crispin to discover the killer while pro- all its wisdom, is lacking when it comes Th ese create strong visual images and tecting the secret of John’s true identity. to compassion.” play into the fact that in the days before One can appreciate when the author Th e relationships are enjoyable and technology, police work was done by of an historical mystery, provides a sec- add dimension yet don’t overtake the pulling the thread of clues, a lot of travel, tion of “Notes About Characters,” as well plot. Th ey provide richness and emotion. and intuition. as a “Glossary.” Th e sections are not only One becomes attached to the charac- One does need to keep track of who helpful but interesting in themselves. ters. Th ere are times where one might is where. Between the character names No one stays the same age forever, question whether Crispin is too modern; and Ian traveling from place to place, having characters who age, and whose too good, too noble. Yet, it is part of the and back again, it can become confusing. life circumstances change, adds real- development one has seen in the charac- Pulling up a map proves helpful. It is also th ism to the story and, in the 14 book ter and is part of what draws one back to a challenge to follow the timeline. Th ere of this series, much has changed for the series. is a lack of clarity as to when things Westerson’s characters. Readers of the SPITEFUL BONES presents an happened as there can be the impression series will appreciate that, but even new eff ective twist and an exciting climax. of something happening in the past only readers are given a sense of how time has Historical mystery devotees will be to realize it is in the recent past. Follow progressed. pleased. the trail of bodies which are always one ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 63

Lookin’ For A Few Good Books Larry Gandle

WIN building, killing multiple people. He Together they get involved in a criminal by Harlan Coben was never brought to justice. Now Win enterprise selling drugs and running (Grand Central, $29.00) must discover why this man had his other ‘errands’ for the mobsters. He lives Rating: B+ family’s painting and his suitcase. In or- with his French Vietnamese ‘aunt’, a left Windsor Home Lockwood III was der to do that, he must solve the decades wing radical, who along with her vari- always a shadowy fi gure in the Myron long crime that the FBI could not solve. ous lovers, have numerous intellectual Bolitar series. He was Myron’s kung foo Th is is a clever, fun book and Harlan discussions with the narrator about Viet sidekick who could always provide some makes Win a unique character who is Nam political ideology. muscle to any situation. Harlan has now fun to be around. It is a welcome change decided to devote a book specifi cally to from the dull, dreary and depressing PI Win. novels that are so prevalent in the genre. Over twenty years ago, Win’s cousin, Money is not a problem for Win, so he Patricia, was abducted from her home can fl y anywhere at a moment’s notice and his uncle was killed. Two famous and never appears to be part of the masterpieces were stolen, as well. minutia of daily life we all experience. Patricia escaped and her kidnappers Characters are well done. Th e pacing is were never identifi ed or found. Now, a brisk. Th e plot does get a bit convoluted recluse is found murdered in an exclu- requiring a very long exposition at the sive apartment on Manhattan’s Upper end. However, overall it is a recom- West Side. In the apartment is one of the mended read. stolen paintings, as well as, a suitcase George’s Take: Win is more of an belonging to Win. Th e recluse was part anti-hero than a hero and more of a fas- of a domestic terror cell that bombed a cinating character than a likeable one. His actions oft en veer in the direction of vigilantism and his reliance on his physical prowess and great wealth don’t always protect him from serious bodily harm. Harlan Coben’s forte’ is his plot- ting and that skill is on evident display in WIN. It was a quick, enjoyable read full of moral ambiguity, but I preferred Th is is a book that is quite evidently last year’s Barry-Award-nominated THE well written and well thought out. Judg- BOY FROM THE WOODS to this one. ing it as a crime fi ction novel (which Rating: B+ it is touted as), the book is a bit too meandering with the political ideology. THE COMMITTED It reads quite slowly as the reader must by Viet Th anh Nguyen concentrate to clearly understand the (Grove, $27.00) multiple ideas that are discussed. Any Rating: B action scenes are few and far between Th e unnamed narrator from THE and it is only in theses scenes that the SYMPATHIZER is back. He has trav- pacing picks up and the plot becomes eled to Paris in the early 1980s which, more interesting. Th e characters are well as a Vietnamese, is his spiritual home. fl eshed out and the research that went He is there with his best friend, Bon. into this book is obviously extensive. 64 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

THE COMMITTED is a very good over a ghost. In other words, the author last year. Believe it or not, this book is book but, unfortunately, I would look changes the rules as he sees fi t. It is even better. Now, I will admit that reali- for anything else to do rather than sit silly but the story is compelling and the ty must be suspended at times. However, down and read this book. Th e bottom length is relatively brief for a Stephen this book is not only an exciting thriller, line is that I admired the work but didn’t King novel. It is not his best eff ort, but there is much depth to the writing, as particularly enjoy it. Recommendation recommended for the pool or the plane. well. for the reader wanting a more intellec- Race, LGBT, class structure is all cov- tual read. RAZORBLADE TEARS ered here. Ike and Bobby Lee form an by S. A. Cosby unlikely pair who reminded me of Tony Flatiron Books, $26.99, June Curtis and Sidney Poitier in the Defi ant Rating: A+ Ones. Both characters learn a lot about Ike and Bobby Lee are attending tolerance and respect from each other. their son’s funerals. Th eir sons were Th ere is also much humor in some married to each other and both were of their exchanges. Crime fi ction is not brutally killed- gangland style. Ike is an necessarily about literary fi ction. It is imposing black man who owns and runs really about entertainment and how a landscaping business and Bobby Lee is the particular story refl ects reality. Th is a racist redneck currently unemployed. book does both. Both of them are ex- cons and both of Michael Connelly is a close friend of them treated their gay sons miserably. mine. While reading one of his stories, Th ey were terrible fathers and feel re- I quoted one of his many truly literary morse over their relationships with their passages so beautifully written to him. sons. In an eff ort to assuage their guilt, He told me that he was having a really they join forces in order to avenge their good writing day when he wrote that. son’s deaths even if it means they must Well, Shawn had a lot of good writing sacrifi ce their own lives. Th e police have days with this book. put the murder investigation on hold as Th e plot is totally compelling and they have no new leads. It is up to Ike the pacing is relentless, overall. I could and Bobby Lee to uncover the truth no not put it down. Well, aft er two superb matter how dangerous to themselves books, I am really excited about this and, in Ike’s case, his family. author. In fact, I will say that no other LATER Th e mystery community has been author has excited me as much about by Stephen King raving about BLACKTOP WASTE- their work since Lee Child came on the (Hard Case, $14.95) LAND, in my mind, the best novel of scene. Highly, higlhly recommended. Rating: B+ Jaime Conklin tries to be an ordi- WE BEGIN AT THE END nary kid but he sees dead people. He by Chris Whitaker discovered this at age six and Tia, his Henry Holt, $27.99 single mother is aware of his ability. Rating: A- When his mother’s girlfriend, Liz, an Duchess Day Radley is a very preco- NYPD detective asks for his help in cious thirteen-year-old living in a small solving a crime relating to a dead crim- California coastal community. She is inal, Jaime’s life takes a more dangerous fi ercely protective of her fi ve-year-old course as he must contend with some brother, Robin, while their mother, Star, deadly demons. is unable to take care of them due to her Nobody can capture childhood drinking and self-absorption. Walk is characters as well as Stephan King. Th e the local Police Chief who grew up with narrator mentions multiple times that Star and his best friend, Vincent King, it is a horror story and, as such, the who he helped convict for causing the reader must accept that Jaime sees dead death of Star’s sister thirty years ago. people and the stringent situation that Well, Vincent is getting out of prison the author makes up for that to occur. and Walk will pick him up while, hope- For example, the ghosts are around the fully, aiding Vincent’s return to free- dead body but can wonder off . Th ey only dom. Another death soon occurs which last for a few days before they disap- may put Vincent back behind bars but pear. Th at is, until another demon takes ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 65

Australian Crime Fiction

SHORE LEAVE builds to a good, if morally ambiguous, by David Whish-Wilson ending. Fremantle, $A32.99 Rating: A TRUST David Whish-Wilson is one of the by Chris Hammer best purveyors of gritty, credible, hard- Allen & Unwin, $A32.99 boiled Australian crime fi ction. His se- Rating: A- ries about Perth detective Frank Swann Aft er successful forays into outback in the 1980s is a stand-out and the latest noir and small town crime, Australian entry, Shore Leave, maintains the high author Chris Hammer now turns his standard of its predecessors. attention to big city corruption with his It is the summer of 1989 and the US third novel, Trust. Walk is convinced of his innocence and aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, is Former journalist and successful must now try to prove it. docked in Fremantle and discharging true crime writer, Martin Scarsden is Th is is, overall, a well written hundreds of sailors keen for a good enjoying a peaceful time on the beach character driven regional mystery with time. Th ings go sour very quickly, when a desperate phone call sends him some thoughtfully created characters. however, when there appears to be a link rushing home to fi nd an unconscious However, I could not buy into Duchess between the arrival of the ship and the man sprawled on the fl oor and his as a thirteen-year-old. She knows too murder of two women. US Navy Master- partner, Mandalay (Mandy) Blonde, much, is way too promiscuous and in at-Arms Steve Webb approaches his old missing. It soon becomes clear that no way thinks like a child. I am not friend Frank Swann, now retired from Mandalay has been kidnapped and that convinced she is realistic, at all. Yet, the police, for assistance with the local the reason for it lies in Sydney and her she, along with Walk, are the central law. Before long Swann, who is suff ering murky past with an apparent swindler, characters of this very long novel. from an undiagnosed debilitating dis- who years before stole millions from a Minor characters are superfi cial and ease, is caught up in the hunt for a killer bank before disappearing. stereotypic. Th e plot is quite compelling and having to deal with the possible and there are plenty of twists and turns theft of a cache of M16s from the ship. throughout. Th e story just seems to go Adding to Swann’s problems, are an on and on with some pointless episodes escaped con and the unwanted attention that serve no purpose other than to of a crooked cop from the Gold Squad. bulk up the book. Th ere is enough emo- It is a busy storyline, but Whish-Wil- tional devastation, as well as, surprises son keeps it well under control and along the way to raise this book above pushes his plot along at a brisk pace, the ordinary. It is still highly recom- with hardly a wasted word. He skilfully mended and one of the year’s best. shift s the viewpoint between an inter- esting cast of well-developed characters and takes the reader on a scary journey Books Reviewed in through the local 1980s milieu of biker Order of Preference gangs, drug dealers, crooked cops and white supremacists. Th e descriptions, RAZORBLADE TEARS characters and dialogue are spot-on WE BEGIN AT THE END and honest, and Whish-Wilson really WIN captures the sense of the dark side of the LATER city. THE COMMITTED Overall, SHORE LEAVE is a very tense and enjoyable crime novel, that 66 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

Th e discovery of a body causes a life as an Audible Original, but has now rethink of what happened fi ve years ago, been made available in book form. Set and Scarsden and Mandy suddenly fi nd in Melbourne, it opens with a horrif- themselves in the centre of a bloody ic incident at a train station, before search for the missing millions. Mean- backtracking to explore the events that while Scarsden’s investigation into a led up to it. Th e focus of the story is large scale case of corruption takes him psychologist Margot Scott who lives a down some dangerous and unexpected- seemingly pleasant life in the suburbs ly tragic paths. with her husband and two children. Th e TRUST is a tightly constructed and easy fl ow of her life is disrupted when DOOM CREEK well-paced crime thriller that smoothly she takes on a new client, the enigmatic by Alan Carter moves along to a suitably surprising and Cormac Gibbons. Margot knows that he Fremantle, $A32.99 bloody fi nale. It twists its way through is lying to her, but then all her clients do. Rating: B+ several unexpected developments, and, What she does not know is whether he Alan Carter’s MARLBOROUGH despite its length, Hammer keeps the is behind an escalating series of attacks MAN introduced former British po- suspense at a high level and the fi nal on her, or whether it is one of her other liceman Nick Chester who moved to a chapters are gripping and exciting. clients. As things unravel, she begins to remote part of New Zealand to escape As with the earlier books, SCRUB- even question aspects of her own past. the Geordie gangsters who were aft er LANDS and SILVER, all the charac- him. Having survived the dangers of the terisations are astute, well developed fi rst book, Chester is back and trying to and subtly drawn. Th e central pairing live a quiet life as a police sergeant in the of Scarsden and Mandalay come across almost idyllic Marlborough Sounds. as credible characters with fl aws and DOOM CREEK opens with Chester secrets who are trying to make the best dealing with minor disputes between of what life has given them. Scarsden is gold prospectors and the tensions caused particularly well drawn and believably by a bunch of trigger happy Americans torn between his new life and the pull of looking to build a post-apocalyptical being a journalist again. bolt-hole in a nearby valley. Th ings soon Th ere are also vivid descriptions of escalate, however, when a murder occurs Sydney and sharp eyed comments on and one of Chester’s team is assaulted politics, corruption and the sense of by a masked man. A bizarre cold-case economic unfairness that cloaks mod- murder investigation also adds to the ern Australian society. Hammer also pressure and Chester quickly fi nds him- frequently takes aim at the superfi ciality self caught up in a rapidly deteriorating of modern journalism and the “clickbait situation, which is not helped by his own health concerns. and frippery” of today’s newspapers. TELL ME LIES is a nicely paced psy- DOOM CREEK is a very well written In all, TRUST is a terrifi c read that chological thriller, with a good rhythm crime novel that steadily draws you in kept me enthralled from beginning to to the story telling and a growing sense and catches you up in the dramas faced end. I enjoyed the plotting and the rich, of unease. Th e back and forth between by Chester and his team. Th e plot pro- evocative descriptions of SCRUB- Margot and her clients would have ceeds in a logical manner and there some LANDS, but I think that TRUST is a worked well as an Audible book, and in good surprises along the way to the taut stronger, more compelling and ulti- written form it engages the reader and and tense fi nale. mately more thrilling crime novel. keeps them interested. Th e conversa- Carter brings a nice hard edge to the tions are nicely balanced by Margot’s story telling and there are also some TELL ME LIES increasing sense of anxiety and the good humorous touches. Chester is a by J. P. Pomare increasing attacks on her. well-fl eshed out and credible character Hachette, $A24.95 Th e characters are well craft ed and and the rest of the cast are also nicely Rating: B+ Pomare eff ectively uses his Melbourne defi ned and believable, especially the New Zealander J. P. Pomare, who backdrop to ground the story. Th e pac- marvellous Constable Latifa Rapata. now lives in Australia, attracted con- ing increases as the story progresses and Carter nicely captures the feel and con- siderable praise for his fi rst two nov- Pomare produces some good surprises. cerns of small town New Zealand and els, THE CLEARING and the award Some of the twists are predictable, but the descriptions of the countryside are winning CALL ME EVIE. He has now one took me totally by surprise. rich and evocative. followed them up with an enjoyable In all a quick, enjoyable thriller that Th ere are a couple of sluggish places, third novel, TELL ME LIES . builds to a dark and thoughtful conclu- but otherwise this is a well-paced and TELL ME LIES apparently started sion. accomplished crime novel. ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 67

Aft er stumbling across a message that only her sister could have left for her, Rose's unease around the circum- What’s New in stances of Kate's death turns to open suspicion. A QUIET MAN, Tom Wood (Sphere, May). Th e assassin known as the U. K. Victor is hiding out in a small motel in Canada aft er a job across the border. A few days laying low and he'll be gone THE CROCODILE HUNTER, painfully in mysterious circumstances. and leave no trace behind. He doesn't Gerald Seymour (Hodder & Stough- His colleague James Marwood is asked count on getting to know a mother and ton, £18.99, April). In the offi ce at MI5 to investigate – but the task brings unex- her boy who reminds him of his own where he works, they call Jonas Merrick pected dangers. troubled childhood. When both vanish, 'the eternal fl ame'. It isn't a compli- FORFEIT, Barbara Nadel (Headline, only Victor seems to notice. Once he ment. It's because he never goes out. May). In the early hours of the morning, starts looking for them, he fi nds himself He never goes undercover, never does Turkish TV star Erol Gencer is found at odds with the criminals who own the surveillance, never goes with the teams dead at his home on the outskirts of Is- town. that kick down the doors or seize the tanbul. Beside him lies a Syrian refugee suspects off the street. But Jonas has whose stomach has been split open. Did qualities the hot-shots fail to notice: a Gencer kill his guest before committing steely concentration, a ruthless ability suicide, or are they victims of a sinister to focus and fi nd the enemy hiding in double murder? Th e dead Syrian is soon plain sight. Hearing of a British Jihadi identifi ed as Wael Al Hussain, whose returning from Syria with murderous wife, Samira, is in prison for attempting plans, Jonas decides to dig deeper.. to kill Gencer a year ago. MISSING PIECES, Tim Weaver LEFT YOU DEAD, Peter James (Michael Joseph, £12.99, April). Re- (Macmillan, May). With his wife Eden bekah Murphy has been missing for fi ve gone without a trace, Niall is arrested months. Why is no one looking for her? on suspicion of her murder. When DS THE ROYAL SECRET, Andrew Tay- Roy Grace is called in to investigate, it lor (HarperCollins, £14.99, April). Two doesn’t take long to realize that nothing young girls plot a murder by witchcraft . is quite as it seems – and this might be Soon aft erwards a government clerk dies his most mysterious case yet. THE PACT, Sharon Bolton (Trapeze, May). A golden summer, and six talent- ed friends are looking forward to the brightest of futures - until a daredevil game goes horribly wrong, and a woman and two children are killed. 18-year- old Megan takes the blame, leaving the others free to get on with their lives. THE TRAWLERMAN, William In return, they each agree to a 'favour', Shaw (Riverrun, £16.99, May). Th e na- payable on her release from prison. ked corpses of Aylmer and Mary Younis Twenty years later Megan is free. are discovered in their home. Th e only THE WIDOWER, Christobel Kent clues are a note written in blood and (Sphere, May). When bossy, loving, sen- an eerie report of two spectral fi gures sible Kate dies suddenly, her little sister departing the crime scene. Offi cer Jill Rose dutifully returns from a carefree Ferriter is charged with investigating life abroad to help Kate's widower and the murders while her colleague Alex the two children Rose has never met. Cupidi is on leave, recovering from But she is unsettled to see no trace of post-traumatic stress. Despite being her warm-hearted sister in the remote, in counselling and receiving offi cial dilapidated house, nor in Kate's cold, warnings to stay away from police work distant partner, Evan. Cupidi fi nds herself dragged into the case. 68 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

In all, an enjoyable read that will be much appreciated by fans, both new and old, of the original Campion stories by Reviews from Allingham and the more recent ones by Ripley.

NEMESIS the U. K. by Anthony Riches Head of Zeus, £8.99 Rating: B Jeff Popple Reviews ing which might be chapel of sorts, and certainly no sign welcoming visitors NEMESIS is the fi rst foray into modern thriller fi ction by well-regarded MR CAMPION’S COVEN to Wicken and asking them to drive historical writer Anthony Riches, who by Mike Ripley carefully.” is best known for his exciting Roman Severn House, £20.99 You get the sense that Ripley has Empire adventure novels. Rating: B+ enjoyed himself in creating the local history to Wicken, and the detail of the NEMESIS features Mickey Bale, an elite close protection offi cer who Mr Campion’s Coven is the eighth ship voyage to America in the late 1690s, is usually assigned to the Minister of book in Mike Ripley's seamless and this historical detail adds great tex- Defence. Outwardly Mickey is a calm and enjoyable continuance of the Albert ture to the story. His description of pres- professional, but underneath that ve- Campion novels by Margery Allingham ent day Wicken and the local area is also neer he is troubled by the death of his and once more features Mike’s marvel- enjoyable and relevant tothe unfolding younger sister from drugs. Determined lous sense of humour and his love for of the plot. to take revenge on the dealers who gave archaeology and history. Th e pacing is leisurely, but is aided his sister the lethal ecstasy pill, Mickey Aft er a brief interlude in 1963, the by lots of wry humour, obscure cultural launches a personal war on a powerful book moves to 1971 and fi nds the age- references and the occasional nod to London gang family. Meanwhile his job ing, but still active, Campion involved British crime writing and reviewing in as a bodyguard becomes more dan- in the search for a missing dog on the the 1960s and 70s, including a possible- gerous as relations between China and mudbanks near the remote Essex coastal meeting between Campion and Inspec- Britain deteriorate. village of Wicken-juxta-Mare. Th e dog tor Morse. Propelling the story along is Th is is an enjoyable action thriller, had become lost following the beaching a clever and original mystery plot and with a brisk plot, some good scenes of of a luxury yacht owned by the famous the book builds to a good climax on the violence and nice dose of moral ambigu- British actress, Dame Jocasta Upcott, Essex mudbanks. ity. Th e story starts quickly, and Riches who is anxious to get him back. Cam- keeps it bubbling along with a couple pion fi nds the dog, but also becomes of unexpected developments and the caught up in the suspicious death of the regular infusion of tough violence. Th e yacht’s captain. Campion has no excuse international elements add extra tension to become involved in the investigation, and give the story some meat. Holding but his interest is piqued, and he soon the two storylines together is the fl awed has a new reason to look into the strange and morally compromised Bale, who activities of the very small village, when manages to be sympathetic while carry- he plays host to a visiting Harvard stu- ing out some wild acts of violence. dent, who is writing a thesis on a group In all, an enjoyable thriller with a of settlers who travelled to America neat fi nal wrap-up and a couple of good from Wicken 300 years ago. twists. MR CAMPION’S COVEN is a well plotted and enjoyable murder mystery, SHIVER but as usual the real pleasure comes by Allie Reynolds from Campion’s amusing asides and Headline, £12.99 the fascinating background informa- Rating: A- tion on the fi ctional village of Wicken, consisting of a handful of thatched Set in an isolated ski lodge high up in cottages and “no post offi ce or any other the French Alps, Australian author Allie retailestablishment, no telephone box, Reynolds provides an enjoyable and ex- no street lights, no pubs, a stone build- citing twist on the classic crime plot of a ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 69

Milla is particularly well done, and get underway, but the pace picks up she is an engagingly fl awed narrator, as the story gradually unfolds and the who has her own parcel of secrets. She fi nal third of the book is very suspense- is a very nuanced character and Allie ful. Mark is an adroit plotter, and he breathes real life into her and makes her carefully slots the various elements of interesting. his story into place and skilfully draws Allie is a former professional free- the strands together as it moves to an style snowboarder who spent fi ve years unexpected and shocking conclusion. competing in the Alps, and elsewhere, Th e writing is literate and witty and and she brings a good deal of credibility there are nice fl ashes of dark humour, to the snowboarding scenes. She pro- and some clever lines that bring a smile. vides an interesting insider perspective Mark is also very good at creating inter- on the atmosphere and tricks of a snow- esting, nuanced characters that develop board competition and skilfully por- and change with the story. Th e central trays the various personalities involved. trio are well craft ed, but so are the mi- She also nicely captures the danger of nor characters, especially the detective being stuck in the snow and generates a who is trying to bring Cox to justice. good sense of foreboding as the snow- Overall CAGES is a grim, but quietly storm approaches the lodge. entertaining tale. A very enjoyable read. HER LAST HOLIDAY group of characters trapped in a remote CAGES by C. L. Taylor location and being killed off because of by David Mark Avon, £12.99 some old secrets. Severn House, £20.99 Rating: B+ It is with some reluctance that Milla Rating: B+ accepts an invitation to a reunion in C. L. Taylor’s novels seem to sit the cosy Alp resort that saw the peak David Mark is probably best somewhere between murder mystery of her snowboarding career, but she is known for his DS McAvoy series of and psychological suspense, and usually keen to see the charismatic Curtis one police novels, but he has branched out feature unfashionable and slightly frag- more time. She has not seen Curtis, or over recent books into the realm of ile female protagonists who move out the other three invitees, since the tragic quirky, stand-alone chillers and has of their comfort zone in order to solve a events ten years ago when the beautiful produced a couple of gems in the form mystery. Saskia went missing during the fi nals of THE MAUSOLEUM and A RUSH Taylor proved in a previous of the snowboarding championships. OF BLOOD. novel, SLEEP, that she can make good When they get to the lodge, they fi nd it CAGES is his latest stand-alone deserted and their only way back down novel and is a very tense tale that goes the mountain closed off . A series of nas- down some dark alleys. Rufus Orton ty events open up old wounds and they once wrote a highly praised literary soon realise that they do not know who novel, but his writing career has been has invited them there, or for what pur- downhill ever since, and he is forced to pose. With a snowstorm approaching, accept a job teaching creative writing at and old secrets coming to the surface, a prison to earn some money. Th e teach- the threats become more severe. ing role was organised by one of his few Th is is a very accomplished debut remaining fans, prison offi cer Annabeth novel that quickly draws you in and Harris. Annabeth is keen to improve the keeps you interested and guessing all the lives of the prisoners that she is respon- way to the fi nal dark twist. Allie makes sible for, but she also has a dark secret good use of the alternating storyline, that threatens to destroy her life. Joining between the present and the events ten the writing class is sex off ender Griffi n years ago, to ratchet up the suspense and Cox who is suspected of being a child the book steadily twists its way through killer, although no remains have ever several good surprises. Th e characters been found. Cox is a master manipula- are nicely developed and the moving tor who sees the class as an opportunity back and forth between the two time- to escape and sets about conniving his lines helps to fl esh out them and allows way to freedom. the reader to see them grow and change. Th is dark tale takes a little time to 70 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------use of the old plot device of isolating a for those who enjoy that sort of thing. fi ction in that she is obsessed with prov- bunch of strangers in a remote location Some parts of the book do not ing herself and breaking through the with secrets and murder, and in HER ring true, but overall it is an enjoyable barriers of the male-dominated police LAST HOLIDAY she has now applied mix of mystery and domestic suspense clique. those skills to two drama-drenched and there are some very good twists and Cleverly collected DNA evidence wellness retreats. unexpected developments at the end. points to two well-known criminals who Over two years ago, Fran’s sister have previously escaped the clutches Jenna disappeared whilst on a wellness George Easter Reviews of the police. Especially galling is that retreat at the Malta resort of Gozo. Th e these two are suspects in the murder retreat went terribly wrong and Tom of a police colleague. Before they are BOUND Wade, the infamous fi gure behind Soul arrested however, the two disappear and by Vanda Symon Shrink Retreats, was held responsible for the search is on. Orenda,, £8.99, March the disaster that happened and was sen- Th e police higher-ups believe the in U.S., $15.95, September 1, 2021 tenced to jail. Wade has now just been case is solved and its just a matter of ap- Rating: A- released from prison aft er serving his prehension, but Sam suspects otherwise sentence for the deaths of two people, and digs deeper. Th is is the fourth in the fine Sam but he has never let on what happened Th is is my fi rst experience with Shepard series. Sam is short, pretty and to the third victim: Jenna. Determined Vanda Symon’s work and I am very newly appointed as a detective Dune- to fi nd out the truth, Fran books herself impressed. BOUND has one of the din, New Zealand. Late one night she onto his upcoming retreat in a remote best surprise endings I’ve encountered is called to a crime scene where John part of Wales – the fi rst since his release in quite a while. Th e writing is sound Henderson has been shot in the face – and fi nds herself face to face with the and the characters are fascinating. Just with a shotgun and his wife Jill tied up man who might hold the key to her sis- another example of the excellent writing and gagged to the point of near suff oca- ter’s disappearance. Will she fi nd out the coming nowadays from the Kiwi-Aussie tion. Th eir teenaged son Declan arrives truth or face the same fate as her sister? Connection. home late to fi nd one parent dead and HER LAST HOLIDAY is a bit of the other almost. a slow burn thriller. Alternating the PROOF OF LIFE Sam’s work colleagues couldn’t be viewpoint between the socially clumsy by R. J. Ellory more diff erent from each other. Her and outspoken Fran and Tom Wade’s Orion, £20.99 boss, DI Johns, is a misogynist who manipulative wife, Kate, Taylor gradual- Rating: B+ rides her pretty hard, whereas Detective ly sets the scene for the retreat in Wales Paul Frost is her lover and is attentive and introduces the reader to the various Stroud is a world-weary, former war to her every need and seemingly the participants. Th e story also regularly photographer who is going from one perfect match for her. Sam is similar to fl ashes back to the original retreat in small job to another, barely scraping by. other female police detectives in crime Gozo two years before, and we learn He suff ers from the mistakes he made through Jenna’s eyes what really hap- in his past that caused his marriage to pened then. Gradually the two plotlines break up and his daughter to be perma- come together in a surprising and tense nently estranged from him. climax. Six years ago his best friend and Taylor is very good at creating mentor, Vincent Raphael, was killed in credible, fl awed characters who extrude an explosion in Jordan. doubt and uncertainty, but are able to Now (in the mid-1970s), a former rise above their fears when they need to. colleague is off ering him a large sum to Her portrayal of the drab, but deter- delve into rumors that Raphael didn’t mined, Fran is very convincing, and the die and has been seen recently. Stroud minor characters are also well craft ed. is very skeptical, but accepts the assign- It takes a little while to come to terms ment because he is desperate for the with the shift ing timelines and the large money off ered. cast of characters from the two retreats, Stroud’s search starts in Turkey and but Taylor steadily guides the reader then takes him all over Europe. In through it and towards the end creates each stop, his quest is stymied by men a nice sense of foreboding. Family rela- he suspects are intelligent agents from tionships, especially between sisters and various countries. What is it about between mothers and daughters, play an Raphael’s death or disappearance that is important part in the novel and there is of such importance that so many people a lot of relationship angst and refl ection are intent on blocking his investigation? ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 71

Getting Away With Murder Mike Ripley

[Printed by permission of the author enjoy one aspect of the book, however, and SHOTS Magazine (http://www. as the author, clearly seeking inspiration shotsmag.co.uk/)] for the names of two subsidiary police offi cers glanced up from the keyboard When A Subtle Knife and ran an eye along a convenient bookshelf stocked with much-loved Won’t Do paperbacks:. It has long been the philosophy of this august magazine [Ezine, you old fool. - Ed.] to recommend goodcrime novels to its many readers worldwide, Stroud is totally puzzled by the whole af- rather than rubbish those which off er up fair, but he has the bit between his teeth derivative plotting, cardboard charac- and can’t help pushing forward, despite ters, inadequately-researched settings the danger he fi nds himself in. and fl avourless prose. (It is rare to fi nd Th e last 50 pages (and especially the one which demonstrates all four fl aws, last paragraph) picks up the pace and but it is not unknown, and indeed those made the slogging through the fi rst can occasionally be found at the top of 350 pages worth the while. Th ere is an the bestseller lists.) inordinate amount of soul-searching on I will therefore neither name nor And thus the characters of DCI the part of Stroud and that got tiresome shame a new debut crime novel which Deighton and DS Gardner were born. aft er a while. threatens to be the fi rst of a series, but Oh, come on, we’ve all done it. Although there are some tangential within the fi rst sixty pages, it commits espionage elements to the storyline, - not once, but twice - a cardinal sin Comfort Reading PROOF OF LIFE is a novel of detection. in my book by getting local newspaper Roger Ellory’s style is more literary coverage of a murder so badly wrong. When a gruesome murder is committed One unsung consequence of the cur- than that of most authors I read. I’m rent plague is that due to staff shortages, one who tends to skip the descriptive and a body part removed from the vic- tim, the details are never immediately the postman only calls at Ripster Hall passages and get to the meat of the story. once every eight days, which has meant In PROOF OF LIFE the storyline is released to the media and no newspaper would print them anyway, no matter a dearth of new books thudding on to interesting and the descriptive passages, the driveway from a speeding red van. of which there are many, are beautifully how much it helped the plot along. I can forgive a crime-writer fudg- Th is has resulted in several lulls - oft en written but slow down the pacing of the far too short - in the crowded reading story. Th at is my only complaint. Oth- ing police procedure, because the most eff ective police procedure is usually schedule forced upon me by publishers erwise, this is a book that is a recom- and publicists. mended read. painstakingly dull. (Colin Dexter always used to say he didn’t ‘do’ police proce- I have used these brief moments of dure because he didn’t know any.) But quietude to reading authors whose work it should not be beyond the wit of the I have long regarded as comfort food, in would-be crime writer to read a news- that their books are easy to digest and paper now and then to see how it should usually leave me warm and satisfi ed. Barry Awards be done. And so I turned to a previously unread Th is month’s debutant is by no Victor Canning, THE CHASM, from Vote Now! means the fi rst to strain disbelief when 1947. featuring newspaper reporting of a mur- By that time, Canning (1911-1986) der and certainly won’t be the last. I did had published a dozen or so picaresque 72 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------novels pre-war and a war story during, playing Brian Aldridge in The Archers. Bulwer Lytton, still famous for but as he resumed his writing career coining the phrase ‘Th e pen is mightier aft er military service, he took a diff erent I am not, I see, alone in this nostal- than the sword’ for the fi lm Indiana turn towards the thriller. Not that THE gic bent, as in recent weeks I have read Jones and the last Crusade [Are you CHASM was a conventional thriller, in articles by noted media personalities sure? - Ed.] and, of course, the most that it clearly started out as a refl ection waxing lyrically on how they have en- cringeworthy opening line in fi ction, on the aft ermath of war, then morphs joyed revisiting novels by Ira Levin (the turns out to be a bit of a cad, at least in into a romantic novel before, in the last outstanding A KISS BEFORE DYING, the way he treats his wife (and dogs) and quarter becoming a suspenseful revenge a book as old as I am but which has held is surely ripe to be murdered. Aft er all, thriller. Although something of a mish- up far better), PORTERHOUSE BLUE we have a country house, a closed circle mash, publisher Hodder gave it a fi rst by my former history tutor Tom Sharpe, of unpleasant suspects all with suitable print run of 15,000 such was Canning’s and the novels of that master storyteller motives and the presence of two liter- reputation, despite the fact that it was Nevil Shute. ary detectives. It can only be a matter his fi rst book for several years. It was of time before a shot rings out, and it a book where Canning seems to have Inspector Bucket and does in suitably theatrical fashion. Th e been experimenting with the thriller victim, though, is not Sir Edward, but and, fi nding the genre to his liking, he Sergeant Cuff should it have been? then produced a slew of them in the Step forward Bucket and Cuff , or 1950s (and beyond), many of which were I am not sure whether it was a dark rather their alter egos, to solve the case. fi lmed. and stormy night when Irish mystery Th e setting is Florence and north- writer Cora Harrison had the idea of In Remembrance of Time ern Italy immediately aft er the end of teaming up Charles Dickens and Wilkie WWII; an area in which Canning had Collins as detectives in her Gaslight Teams Past served in his army days and which he Mysteries series. As they created two describes lovingly through the eyes of the nineteenth-century’s earliest fi c- In my days as an archaeologist, of a depressed ex-army offi cer called tional detectives (Bleak House and Th e the words ‘Night Hawks’ were always Burgess, who is drinking too much Moonstone if you have to ask), surely preceded by a very rude adjective, but whilst working for UNRAA, the United they would be a dream team at solving in the latest addition to Elly Griffi ths’ Nations relief agency. (Th e initials crime. crowd-pleasing Dr Ruth Galloway must have been well-known at the time In Harrison’s third ‘Gaslighter’ Sum- series, they appear to be a fairly re- as Canning never bothers to explain mer of Secrets, out now from Severn spectable society of metal-detectorists them.) Burgess mooches around a House, the pair are at Knebworth House operating in North Norfolk. superbly-evoked war-damaged Florence for a special event. No, not an early I remain to be convinced, as al- and then heads off to a tiny village in incarnation of Led Zeppelin, but a per- though many a metal artefact now the mountains as winter sets in quicker formance by the house guests of a play graces a museum thanks to the metal than expected. Cut off by a collapsed written by the owner Sir Edward Bulwer detector, many archaeological sites bridge, he discovers love-at-fi rst-sight, Lytton, whose best-selling prose took, have been wrecked (usually at night) by fi nds an old enemy and makes a new as one of the characters admits, quite an unscrupulous ‘treasure hunters’. But in one. At this point, Canning the thriller eff ort ‘to wade through’. THE NIGHT HAWKS [Quercus] the writer kicks in. detectorists are the plot generators as THE CHASM is by no means the their activities (on the coast at night) best Canning, but it is an interesting looking for Bronze Age treasure, lead one, showing a writer, aft er his wartime to the fi nding of a body - one which has experiences, switching to a tougher, certainly not been dead for two thou- more suspenseful style. It also refer- sand years and Dr Galloway is, once ences the work of American novelist again, called in to help the police. Joseph Hergesheimer and uses the word She is hampered rather than helped herisson, neither of which I had ever by a new recruit to the University of seen before in a popular thriller. Details North Norfolk who is at times so obnox- of Canning’s life and work can be found ious that he deserves a slap, the sort of on the exhaustive dedicated website cu- archaeologist who sees a fragment of rated by John Higgins at http://canning. old metal and immediately assumes it is marlodge.net/ and for lovers of trivia, from a spear and therefore grave goods the literary estate of Victor Canning and immediately starts thinking of is controlled by his godson Charles facial reconstruction on a skull (or even Collingwood, the actor best known for a grave) not yet found. ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 73

Ruth Galloway, however, has her than Martin Schwartz, an undercover killer as a sort of psychopathic Raymond head screwed on and realises she must German cop with a bit of a death-wish, Blanc. do the right thing and apply for an offi - following the disappearance of his wife cial Licence For the Removal Of Human and son from - you guessed - a cruise Remains. Th ese are real things and I still liner some years before. Our hero have the last one I worked under when uncovers an incredibly twisted tale of excavating graves dating from Roman murder, torture and sexual abuse (and Britain. be warned, some bits are graphic) along with a transgender theme which I am not going to comment on. Th ere is even, in a coda to the main plot, an example of cosmetic surgery of the most extreme kind.

In David Fennell’s THE ART OF DEATH [Zaff re] the serial killer is a sort of psychopathic Banksy, leaving grue- some examples of his work as art instal- lations all around Central London, not Th ey are issued by the Home Offi ce giving a fi g for the Congestion Charge, and mine was signed by the then Home and, perhaps not surprising in London, Secretary, David Blunkett. Ruth Gal- only when someone starts screaming are loway’s licence will presumably come they noticed. signed by Priti Patel, and if she doesn’t Just when you thought the serial-kill- frighten off the illegal night hawks, er thriller had gone as far as it could, nothing will. David Fennell attempts to breathe new Th e whole thing is bloody, breathless, life (okay - poor choice of words) into Books of the deliberately discomforting and outra- the genre, though by calling his police geously gripping.It was back in 2008 detective protagonist Inspector Grace Last Few Months when I tipped German author Sebastian Archer, he is bound to raise the hairs on Fitzek for great things aft er his chilling the necks of dedicated Radio 4 listeners If anything is going to put people off debut thriller THERAPY appeared in of a certain age. going on an ocean cruise apart from the English and this could be his year, with Veteran thriller writer Gerald Sey- threat of a virus or having to sit through other translated titles, SEAT 7A and mour changes tack from his usually ex- aft er dinner lectures by crime writers, THE SOUL BREAKER, appearing in otic and invariably dangerous locations then it will be PASSENGER 23 by April and August. to set his new novel THE CROCODILE Sebastian Fitzek [Head of Zeus] despite HUNTER [Hodder] almost entirely in the protestations of the author who says Th e thing that’s always amazed me comfortable southern England. Th e plot he really likes them. about (fi ctional) serial killers is where do line is, however, uncomfortably topical. PASSENGER 23basically suggests they fi nd the time? Not to do the killing, When young British jihadi fi ghters that the reason 23 people disappear each but to elaborately arrange their victims begin to drift back from the Middle East year from cruise ships is because there as ghastly trophies. A prime example of aft er fi ghting under the black fl ag of may be a serial killer or two on board. this was shown, tongue in cheek (well, Isis, bent on a fi nal act of violence, the When one ‘victim’ disappears only to somebody’s tongue...), in the television Security Service refers to them as ‘croc- reappear in a catatonic state two weeks series Hannibal where we were treated odiles’ because they lurk beneath the later, who better to send to investigate to an over-the-top portrait of the serial surface waiting to strike. To track, trace 74 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

and assorted gangsters, and discover a cover-up with political implications With THE APRIL DEAD [Canon- in the bowels of the Italian horror fi lm gate], Alan Parks has given us an industry in the days when fi lms went absolute belter of a crime novel with straight to VHS. a multi-layered plot and a police hero who could, one day, be ranked up there Chris Brookmyre, being Chris with Laidlaw and Rebus. Harry McCoy Brookmyre, has lots of fun with this may be a tad squeamish, and have too scenario, which revolves around a ‘lost’ many dodgy friends from the wrong (and therefore cursed) Italian horror epic and with his student hero’s ob- session with t-shirts promoting Heavy Metal music - ‘the whitest form of music known to man’. Th e humour is mostly on the dark side, and spiked with needles of Scots vernacular - I can make a case for why I hit the guy with a hammer, but I cannot claim I yeeted his body into the river in self-defence. (Spoiler alert: the ‘yeeting’ of a dead and catch them, a crocodile hunter is body off a bridge doesn’t exactly go to required, and the one created by Gerald plan.) Seymour is Jonas Merrick, a methodical, desk-bound, unfl ashy operative nearing retirement who was known (behind his back) as ‘the Eternal Flame’ until a close encounter with a suicide bomber earns him a reprieve from retirement and the title ‘Wobby’ - Wise Old Bird. Merrick, with his fl ask, sandwiches, suburban routine and caravan holidays side of the legal tracks, but his heart is is so unlikely a spy, he’s probably the in the right place and his creator imbues perfect one, everything about him seems his story with the dry self-depreciating so mundane. As a fi ctional hero he is wit which made the audiences at the a world apart from George Smiley and Glasgow Empire notorious. a universe away from James Bond, but In a burst of Good Samaritanism, when the fi nal showdown comes with a McCoy gives a visiting American, aft er dangerous lone fanatic who has made it a trans-Atlantic fl ight, a lift to Aber- back from Syria by crossing the Chan- deen and they stop at a roadside café for nel with a party of illegal immigrants, breakfast. Th e American orders fresh- Merrick proves to be just as resourceful ly-squeezed orange juice, pancakes with and just as brave. maple syrup and a side order of crispy A septuagenarian ex-jailbird, having bacon. He is served with a sausage served a 25-year sentence for murder, sandwich and a can of Fanta. Welcome and a young fi lm studies student with THE CUT sees Brookmyre on top to Scotland. a talent for petty thievery make for an sarcastic form tilting at many a wind- unlikely pair of heroes in a road trip of mill and managing to skewer most of In THE FINE ART OF INVISI- a thriller which rocks and rolls from them. BLE DETECTION [Bantam], Robert Glasgow to Paris to Rome to the ru- Glasgow, 1974, when HMP Barlin- Goddard plumps for an unlikely pro- ins of Pompeii in Chris Brookmyre’s nie had the reputation for being the tagonist, a quiet, middle-aged Japanese THE CUT [Sphere]. En route to the most environmentally-friendly prison widow working as a secretary for a fi nal justice being sought by former in Europe (because all the lead from its Tokyo private detective. Umiko Wada fi lm make-up artist Millie who was, of roof had been removed), and was where actually has no ambition to becoming course, framed for the murder, the cou- even hardboiled police detectives like a detective herself, but fate doesn’t ple are pursued by corrupt policemen Harry McCoy can’t stand the sight of all leave her much choice and the mousey the blood. ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 75

Umiko has to adapt to something of a When the murdered man is found SEA, the debut novel of ‘James Woolf’ jet-set life as the investigation more or to be part of a seven-person tontine - appeared in 2018, I wrote: from the less dropped on her, involves travel to whereby the last man standing scoops start this has a ring of truth to the plot, London, Exeter, New York and Ice- the pool of this rather bizarre non-life tradecraft and setting (Ambler and land where she has to prove she can insurance wager (probably invented Kim Philby country) and I suspect has take care of herself when things turn by the French) - there is no shortage of been written by someone who has been violent. suspects among the other tontine sub- there, done that and got the t-shirt, Robert Goddard is a thriller writer scribers, who have each invested £500, though of course never wears it. who is never content with one plot- a staggering sum in 1746. Th e investi- Now comes HOW TO BETRAY twist when three will do and reveals gation undertaken by Cragg and Fidelis YOUR COUNTRY [Bitter Lemon] and more about the development of Sarin leads them into a particularly violent I am in danger of repeating myself, es- gas than I was comfortable knowing. cricket match (this is Lancashire pecially in the reference to the setting, He also cannot resist the necessity, by Istanbul - classic Eric Ambler territory. all foreign writers, to comment on the August Drummond is a spy on weather in Iceland: Sunday in Reyk- the edge of cracking up following the javik was no less bleak than Saturday, death of his wife. Th rown out of MI6 and heavily dependent on alcohol, he decamps to Istanbul and even before he gets off the aeroplane is embroiled in an ISIS-inspired plot which may be mercenary rather than ideological. Th e local MI6 offi cials, more concerned with offi ce in-fi ghting than external threats, seem oblivious to any danger and only an intelligent Turkish intelli- gence offi cer (more shades of Ambler, though female this time) seems re- motely capable.

aft er all) as well as some very dubious drinking dens and alehouses where the favourite tipple, I learn, was something called bumbo -- an explosive rum- based cocktail. with drizzle, sometimes intensifying THE MERCENARY by Paul Vidich into rain, drift ing across the grey city. [No Exit Press] is a vintage piece of In my university days several centu- spy fi ction set in the bad old days of ries ago, I met a fellow undergraduate 1985, with a reluctant CIA agent sent to who hailed from Ormskirk in Lan- Moscow to ex-fi ltrate a defecting KGB cashire. I mention this simply because I offi cer. Naturally, in this kind of tale, cannot recall having been conscious of Moscow Rules apply and Vidich plays it Ormskirk in the years since, until now. straight when it comes to the suspicion, SECRET MISCHIEF by Robin Blake fear and double-dealing as the oppos- [Severn House] begins with the murder ing spies battle it out ‘old school’. of a prized pig in Ormskirk, no doubt Th at THE MERCENARY is some- a very serious crime in 1746, but which thing of a throwback in terms of style Th e narrative unfolds in the third is quickly overshadowed by the murder and subject matter is not to disparage person, the fi rst person and in extracts of the pig farmer and the investigative it in any way. In fact, if I told you just from documents and reports, which duo of County Coroner Titus Cragg how good this spy story was, I’d proba- all point to the story being one long and Dr Luke Fidelis are soon on the bly have to kill you. suicide note for the risk-addicted, case. When BESIDE THE SYRIAN much-troubled August Drummond 76 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------called Edgar, the year is 1929 and Agatha Award there’s a dismembered body in a suit- case in a quarry near Wakefi eld. Th at’s Nominees all you really need to know. Don’t bother trying to guess whodunit, just immerse yourself in the infectiously he Agatha Awards will be pre- jovial atmosphere generated by David Tsented during MORE THAN Staff ord in SKELTON’S GUIDE TO MALICE, an online virtual crime SUITCASE MURDERS [Allison & festival coming this July, 2021. Busby].

It is the worlds which mild-man- Best Contemporary nered Skelton inhabits, both domestic Novel and professional, which appeal here, oft en hilariously, from the highest GIFT OF THE MAGPIE law courts to his Yorkshire homeland by Donna Andrews to the epistolary contribution from MURDER IN THE BAYOU Skelton’s cousin whilst on a religious BONEYARD by Ellen Byron mission to Scotland. Th ere are some FROM BEER TO ETERNITY great gags at the expense of the Scots, by Sherry Harris the north/south divide (including ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE who goes to his fate with aplomb. a mention of a legendary Yorkshire by Louise Penny For legal reasons I missed Alison fi gure called Joe Soap) and recalcitrant THE LUCKY ONE Bruce’s new stand-alone THE MO- children, not to mention a cameo for by Lori Rader-Day MENT BEFORE IMPACT when fi rst an up-and-coming actor called Lau- published last year, it is, however, now rence Olivier. Best Historical Novel out in paperback [Constable] and I am Populated with a host of minor glad it has caught up with me. characters which could have stepped THE LAST MRS. SUMMERS A horrifi c car accident (or was it?) out of Wodehouse, you may not learn by Rhys Bowen involving a group of young students much about suitcase murders (though FATE OF A FLAPPER aft er a boozy picnic of the banks of you might) but you will certainly fi nd by Susanna Calkins the River Cam leaves Nicci Waldock, much to enjoy. A LADY'S GUIDE TO MISCHIEF the driver, scarred in more ways than AND MURDER by Dianne Freeman one. Th ree years and a prison sentence TAKEN TOO SOON later, Nicci returns to her old stomping by Edith Maxwell ground in Cambridge - not a part of THE TURNING TIDE the city familiar to tourists - and tries by Catriona McPherson to pull together her life and her mem- ory with the aid of a former journalist, Best First Novel only to discover things were not what they seemed. A SPELL FOR TROUBLE THE MOMENT BEFORE IM- by Esme Addison PACT is an engrossing tale, sparingly WINTER WITNESS but sympathetically told and Alison by Tina deBelgarde Bruce once again captures Cambridge DERAILED by Mary Keliikoa the town rather than the gown bril- MURDER AT THE MENA HOUSE liantly. She even manages a plug for by Erica Ruth Neubauer Anglia Ruskin University (known as MURDER MOST SWEET the College of Arts & Technology when by Laura Jensen Walker I was there in the last century), where she now teaches creative writing.

Arthur Skelton is a barrister, he has a gloom-merchant of a legal clerk ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 77

8 Laura Jensen Walker, DEADLY DELIGHTS (Bookish Baker) Sneak Previews 8 Victoria Gilbert, RESERVED FOR MURDER (Booklover’s B&B) 8 Terrie Farley Moran, MURDER SHE WROTE: KILLING IN A KOI Upcoming Mysteries POND 9 Charles Todd, AN IRISH HOSTAGE (Bess Crawford) 10 Trevor Wood, ONE WAY STREET isclaimer: with the Covid-19 crisis, CASE (Bruno) (Jimmy Mullen) Dmany publishers have modifi ed 25 Mettie Ivie Harrison, THE 15 Alex Michaelides, THE MAIDENS their publishing schedules. Th is infor- PRODIGAL DAUGHTER (Linda 15 John McMahon, A GOOD KILL mation is the best I could come up with, Walheim) (P. T. Marsh) but there may be changes from the dates 25 David Gordon, AGAINST THE 15 James Ellroy, WIDESPREAD for publication that I am not informed LAW (Joe the Bouncer) PANIC about. 25 David Swinson, CITY ON THE 15 Leonard Goldberg, THE EDGE ABDUCTION OF PRETTY PENNY (Daughter of Sherlock) May, 2021 25 Mary Dixie Carter, THE PHOTO -GRAPHER 15 Taylor Adams, HAIRPIN BRIDGE 15 David Ricciardi, SHADOW 1 Quentin Bates, BETRAYAL 25 James Wolff , HOW TO BETRAY YOUR COUNTRY TARGET (Jake Keller) 4 Stephen Mack Jones, DEAD OF 22 Sarah Stewart Taylor, A DISTANT WINTER (August Snow) GRAVE (Maggie D’arcy) 4 Stephen Hunter, BASIL’S WAR June, 2021 22 Brad Th or, BLACK ICE (Scot ( WWII) Harvath) 4 Linwood Barclay, FIND YOU FIRST 1 Sujata Massey, THE BOMBAY 22 Laura McHugh, WHAT’S DONE IN 4 Ragnar Jonasson, THE GIRL WHO PRINCE (Perveen Mistry) DARKNESS DIED 1 Nelson DeMille, THE MAZE (John 22 Nicci French, WHAT TO DO 4 A. J. Cross, DEVIL IN THE DETAIL Corey) WHEN SOMEONE DIES (Will Traynor) 1 Eric Van Lustbader, THE KOBALT 22 Laura Lippman, DREAM GIRL 4 Brian Klingborg, THIEF OF SOULS DOSSIER (Evan Rider) 29 Paul Doiron, DEAD BY DAWN (Inspector Lu Fei) 1 A. J. Tata, CHASING THE LION (Mike Bowditch) 11 Jeff rey Deaver, THE FINAL TWIST 1 Spencer Quinn, TENDER IS THE 29 Elly Griffi ths, THE NIGHT HAWKS (Colter Shaw) BITE (Bernie Little/Chet) (Ruth Galloway) 11 R. H. Herron, HUSH LITTLE BABY 1 J. A. Jance, UNFINISHED 11 David Ricciardi, SHADOW TAR BUSINESS (Ali Reynolds) GET (Jake Keller) 1 Peter Steiner, THE CONSTANT 11 Ashley Weaver, A PECULIAR MAN (Willi Geismeier) COMBINATION (Electra 1 John McFetridge, EVERY CITY IS McDonnell) EVERY OTHER CITY 11 Steven Konkoly, SKYSTORM (Ryan 8 Allison Montclair, A ROGUE’S Decker) COMPANY (Right Sort of Marriage 11 Kylie Logan, A TRAIL OF LIES (Jazz Bureau) Ramsey) 8 Catherine Steadman, THE DISAP 11 Brett Battles, MERCY (Nate and Jar) -PEARING ACT 18 Ben H. Winters, THE QUIET BOY 8 Henry Porter, THE OLD ENEMY 18 Mary Kubica, LOCAL WOMAN (Paul Samson) MISSING 8 Andrews & Wilson, SONS OF 18 Carolyn Haines, INDEPENDENT VALOR BONES (Sarah Booth Delaney) 8 Iris Johansen, THE BULLET (Eve 18 David Fisher, THE EXECUTIVE Duncan) ORDER 8 Eric Redman, BONES OF HILO 25 David Housewright, WHAT (Kawika Wong) DOESN’T KILL US (McKenzie) 8 Tracy Gardner, RUBY RED HER 25 Martin Walker, THE COLDEST -RING (Avery Ayers) 78 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

29 Jeff rey B. Burton, THE KEEPERS 6 Susan Elia MacNeal, THE HOLLY (Mace Reid K9) -WOOD SPY (Maggie Hope) 29 Riley Sager, SURVIVE THE NIGHT 7 James Carlos Blake, THE BONES OF 29 Steven Saylor, DOMINUS (Pinarius WOLFE Family) 13 Ace Atkins, THE HEATHENS 29 John Galligan, BAD MOON RISING (Quinn Colson) (Bad Axe) 13 B. A. Paris, THE THERAPIST 29 Tracy Clark, RUNNER 13 Oliver Harris, ASCENSION (Elliot 29 Khurrum Rahman, HOME GROWN Kane) HERO (Jay Qasim) 13 Gabriel Bergmoser, THE HUNTED 13 Daniel Silva, THE CELLIST July, 2021 (Gabriel Allon) 13 Jonathan Maberry, RELENTLESS 6 Connor Sullivan, SLEEPING BEAR (Joe Ledger) 6 Megan Abbott, THE TURNOUT 13 Megan Miranda, SUCH A QUIET 6 S. A. Cosby, RAZORBLADE TEARS PLACE 6 Dan Fesperman, THE COVER 13 Kris Lackey, BUTCHER PEN ROAD WIFE (Maytubby & Bond) 6 Jeff Abbott, AN AMBUSH OF 20 Owen Matthews, RED TRAITOR WIDOWS 20 Bracken MacLeod, CLOSING 6 Linda Castillo, FALLEN (Kate COSTS Burkholder) 20 Trevor Wood, ONE WAY STREET 6 David Rosenfelt, DOG EAT DOG (Jimmy Mullen) SINGER(Island Murders) (Andy Carpenter) 20 S. C. Perkins, FATAL FAMILY TIES 3 Donna Andrews, MURDER MOST 6 Liv Constantine, THE STRANGER (Ancestry Detective) FOWL (Meg Langslow) IN THE MIRROR 20 Louise Candlish, THE OTHER 3 Stuart Woods, CLASS ACT (Stone 6 Mick Finlay, ARROWOOD AND PASSENGER Barrington) THE MEETING HOUSE 20 Hansjörg Schneider, THE BASEL 10 Joanna Schaffh ausen, GONE FOR MURDERS KILLINGS (Inspector Hunkeler) GOOD (Annalisa Vega) 6 Kathy Reichs, THE BONE CODE 20 Samantha Downing, FOR YOUR 10 Lyndsay Faye, THE KING OF (Temperance Brennan) OWN GOOD INFINITE SPACE 6 David Bell, KILL ALL YOUR 20 Karin Slaughter, FALSE WITNESS 10 Sarah Warburton, YOU CAN DARLINGS 27 Lindsey Davis, A COMEDY OF NEVER TELL 6 Jennifer Ashley, DEATH AT THE TERRORS (Flavia Albia) 10 Marcia Muller, ICE AND STONE CRYSTAL PALACE (Below Stairs) 27 Glen Erik Hamilton, ISLAND OF (Sharon McCone) 6 Abir Mukherjee, THE SHADOWS THIEVES (Van Shaw) 10 Mary Daheim, LADY MacDEATH OF MEN (Sam Wyndham) 27 Karin Slaughter, FALSE WITNESS (B&B) 10 David Peace, TOKYO REDUX August, 2021 10 Joy Fielding, CUL-DE-SAC 17 Arnaldur Indridason, THE DARK -NESS KNOWS (Konrad) 3 Mark Billingham, RABBIT HOLE 17 Catherine Ryan Howard, 56 DAYS 3 Max Tomlinson, BAD SCENE 17 Ben Coes, THE ISLAND (Dewey (Colleen Hayes) Andreas) 3 Chevy Stevens, DARK ROADS 17 Hannah Dennison, DANGER AT 3 James Swallow, SHADOW (Marc THE COVE Dane) 17 James Rollins, KINGDOM OF 3 Alafair Burke, FIND ME BONES (Sigma Force) 3 Taylor Moore, DOWN RANGE 17 Jonathan Santlofer, THE LAST (Garrett Kohl) MONA LISA 3 Claire Douglas, THEN SHE 17 Ted Bell, SEA HAWKE VANISHES 17 James Lee Burke, ANOTHER KING 3 Naomi Hirahara, CLARK AND OF EDEN DIVISION 17 Megan Collins, THE FAMILY PLOT 3 Karen Rose, SAY GOODBYE 17 Sandie Jones, THE GUILT TRIP 3 Johanna Mo, THE NIGHT 17 Preston & Childs, BLOODLESS ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 79

(Pendergast) 21 Barry Eisler, THE CHAOS KIND 24 Louise Penny, THE MADNESS OF (Rain & Livia Lone) CROWDS (Gamache) 21 Jane Casey, THE KILLING KIND 24 William Kent Krueger, LIGHTNING 21 Craig Johnson, DAUGHTER STRIKE (Cork O’Connor) OF THE MORNING STAR 24 Sheila Connolly, THE SECRET (Longmire) STAIRCASE (Kate Hamilton) 21 Andrea Camilleri, RICCARDINO 24 Michael Laurence, THE ELIMINA (Montalbano) -TION THREAT 28 Richard Osman, THE MAN WHO 31 Karen Cleveland, YOU CAN RUN DIED TWICE (Th ursday Murder Club) September, 2021 28 Archer Mayor, MARKED MAN (Joe Gunther) 1 Rachel Howzell Hall, THESE TOXIC THINGS (Th os.&Mercer) October, 2021 7 Allen Eskens, THE STOLEN HOURS 5 Helene Tursten, AN ELDERLY 7 Mike Lupica, Robert B. Parker’s LADY MUST NOT BE CROSSED STONE’S THROW (Jesse Stone) 5 Romy Hausmann, SLEEPLESS TURN OF THE PHARAOH (Sherlock 7 James R. Benn, ROAD OF BONES 5 L. Alison Heller, THE NEIGHBOR’S Holmes) (Billy Boyle) SECRET 16 Martin Limon, WAR WOMEN 7 Stuart Neville, THE HOUSE OF 5 John Banville, APRIL IN SPAIN (Sueno & Bascom) ASHES (Quirke) 16 Kjell Eriksson, THE DEATH 7 Alice Feeney, ROCK PAPER 5 Keigo Higashino, SILENT PARADE WATCH BEETLE (Ann Lindell) SCISSORS (Galileo) 16 Th omas Perry, THE LEFT-HAND 7 Nell Pattison, THE SILENT 5 Ellie Alexander, THE CURE FOR -ED TWIN (Jane Whitefi eld) SUSPECT WHAT ALES YOU (Sloan Krause) 16 John Lescroart, THE MISSING 7 Ann Cleeves, THE HERON’S CRY 12 David Rosenfelt, BEST IN SNOW PIECE (Dismas Hardy) (Two Rivers) (Andy Carpenter) 23 Elly Griffi ths, THE MIDNIGHT 7 Margaret Mizushima, STRIKING 12 Donna Andrews, THE TWELVE HOUR (Brighton) RANGE (Timber Creek K-9) JAYS OF CHRISTMAS (Meg 23 Tom Rosenstiel, THE DAYS TO 14 Julia Dahl, THE MISSING HOURS Langslow) COME (Rena & Brooks) 14 Vince Flynn, ENEMY AT THE 12 Peter Lovesey, DIAMOND AND 30 Hannah Morrissey, HELLO, GATES (Mitch Rapp) THE EYE (Peter Diamond) TRANSCRIBER 14 Tori Eldridge, THE NINJA 19 Anthony Horowitz, A LINE TO 30 Sarah Strohmeyer, DO I KNOW BETRAYED (Lily Wong) KILL (Hawthorne & Horowitz) YOU? 21 Spencer Kope, ECHOES OF THE 26 Kimi Cunningham Grant, THESE DEAD (Special Tracking Unit) SILENT WOODS December, 2021 26 M. C. Beaton/R. W. Green, DOWN THE HATCH (Agatha Raisin) 7 Stephen Spotswood, MURDER 26 Lee Child & Andrew Child, BETTER UNDER HER SKIN (Pentecost/ OFF DEAD (Jack Reacher) Parker) 26 Alexander McCall Smith, THE JOY 7 Teresa Dovalpage, DEATH UNDER AND LIGHT BUS COMPANY THE PERSEIDS (Havana) (No.1 LDA) 7 John Straley, SO FAR SO GOOD (Cecil Younger) November, 2021 7 Mick Herron, DOLPHIN JUNCTION (Short stories) 9 Michael Connelly, THE DARK 7 Alice Blanchard, THE WITCHING HOURS (Renee Ballard & Harry TREE Bosch) 7 Paige Shelton, DARK NIGHT 9 Simon Gervais, THE LAST (Alaska Wild) PROTECTOR (Clayton White) 14 Jake K. Cleland, JANE AUSTEN’S 9 Ken Follett, NEVER LOST LETTERS (Josie Prescott) 9 Nicholas Meyer, THE RE 80 Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine ------

Recent Paperbacks of Note

Softboiled to Mediumboiled ($7.99). Davis, Krista. THE DIVA SPICES IT UP ($15.95). Adams, Ellery. MURDER IN THE Day, Maddie. MURDER AT THE COOKBOOK NOOK ($8.99). TAFFY SHOP ($8.99). Archer, Winnie. DEATH GONE A’RYE Doyle, Carrie. DEATH ON BULL ($8.99). PATH ($8.99). Calder, Eve. A TALE OF TWO Duncan, Emmeline. FRESH BREWED COOKIES ($7.99). MURDER ($15.95). Camilleri, Andrea. THE COOK OF Ehrhart, Peggy. KNITTY GRITTY THE HALCYON ($16.00). MURDER ($8.99). Elliott, Lauren. UNDER THE COVER Adler-Olsen, Jussi. VICTIM 2117 OF MURDER ($8.99). ($16.00). Fletcher, Jessica. MURDER SHE Bannalec, Jean-Luc. THE KILLING WROTE MURDER IN SEASON TIDE ($17.99). ($7.99). Barron, Laird. WORSE ANGELS Flower, Amanda. LEMON DROP ($9.99). DEAD ($8.99). Berenson, Laurien. GAME OF DOG Gates, Eva. A DEATH LONG OVER BONES ($8.99). DUE ($9.99). Blacke, Olivia. KILLER CONTENT Haines, Carolyn. DEVIL’S BONES ($16.00). ($7.99). Bokur, Debra. THE FIRE THIEF Innes, Louise R. DEATH AT THE ($8.99). SALON ($8.99). Boyd, Damien. BEYOND THE POINT Logan, Kylie. THE SECRETS OF ($15.95). BONES ($7.99). Boyle, William. CITY OF MARGINS MacRae, Molly. THISTLES AND ($16.95). THIEVES ($16.95). Burgess, Doug. DARK CURRENTS Meyer, Deon, THE LAST HUNT ($15.99). ($16.00). Bush, Nancy. THE GOSSIP ($8.99). Ness, Lucy. PHANTOMS AND Carcaterra, Lorenzo. PAYBACK ($9.99). FELONIES ($7.99). Cha, Steph. YOUR HOUSE WILL PAY Penney, Elizabeth. BODIES & BOWS ($17.99). Carl, Joanna. THE CHOCOLATE ($7.99). Connelly, Michael. FAIR WARNING SHARK SHENANIGANS ($7.99). Perkins, S C. LINEAGE MOST ($16.99). Carlisle, Kate. THE GRIM READER LETHAL ($7.99). Connelly, Michael. THE LAW OF ($7.99). Shelton, Paige. STOLEN LETTER INNOCENCE ($16.99). Cass, Laurie. CHECKING OUT ($7.99). Constantine, Liv. THE WIFE CRIME ($7.99). Wilton, Traci. MRS. MORRIS AND STALKER ($16.99). Chien, Vivien. FATAL FRIED RICE THE SORCERESS ($8.99) Deaver, Jeff ery. THE GOODBYE MAN ($7.99). Young, Kate. SOUTHERN SASS AND ($9.99). Collette, Abby. A GAME OF CONES A BATTERED BRIDE ($8.99). De Castrique, Mark. FATAL SCORES ($16.00). ($15.99). Coyle, Cleo. THE GHOST AND THE Mediumboiled to Downing, Samantha. HE STARTED IT HAUNTED PORTRAIT ($7.99). ($17.00). Davis, Krista. BIG LITTLE SPIES Hardboiled ------Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine 81

Dugoni, Robert. IN HER TRACKS Palmer, DJ. THE NEW HUSBAND (Harper $17.99). ($15.95). ($16.99). Raybourn, Deanna. A MURDEROUS Engel, Amy. THE FAMILIAR DARK Panowich, Brian. HARD CASH RELATION ($17.00). ($16.00). VALLEY ($17.99), Rosen, Renee. THE SOCIAL GRACES Feeney, Alice. HIS AND HERS ($16.99). Paris, B A. BREAKDOWN ($9.99). (17.00). Gentry, Amy. BAD HABITS ($14.99). Parks, Alan. BOBBY MARCH WILL Todd, Charles. A DIVIDED LOYALTY Gilly, Alex. DEATH RATTLE ($9.99). LIVE FOREVER (Europa $17.00). ($16.95) Griffi n, Laura. FLIGHT ($7.99). Robotham, Michael. GOOD GIRL BAD Hallinan, Timothy. STREET MUSIC GIRL ($9.99). Thrillers ($16.95). Sandford, John. MASKED PREY Hendricks, Greer. YOU ARE NOT ($17.00) Bruns, David. THE PANDORA ALONE ($16.99). Spencer Fleming, Julia. HID FROM DECEPTION ($9.99). Jones, Darynda. A BAD DAY FOR OUR EYES ($17.99). Child, Lee/Andrew. THE SENTINEL SUNSHINE ($17.99). Stabenow, Dana. NO FIXED LINE ($17.00). James, Rebecca. THE WOMAN IN ($14.95). Hamilton, Glen Erik. A DANGEROUS THE MIRROR ($16.99). Swanson, Peter. EIGHT PERFECT BREED ($9.99). Jones, Stephen Graham. THE ONLY MURDERS ($16.99). Harris, Oliver. A SHADOW GOOD INDIANS ($16.99). Viskic, Emma. DARKNESS FOR INTELLIGENCE ($15.99). Leon, Donna. TRACE ELEMENTS LIGHT (Steerforth $14.95). Lawson, Mike. HOUSE PRIVILEGE ($17.00). Walker, Martin. THE SHOOTING AT ($16.00). Longworth, M L. THE VANISHING CHATEAU ROCK ($16.95). MUSEUM ON THE RUE MISTRAL Wallace, Kali. DEAD SPACE ($17.00). ($16.00). Walker, Wendy. ALL IS NOT Luna, Louisa. THE JANES ($16.00). FORGOTTEN ($9.99). Macmillan, Gilly. THE NANNY ($9.99). Weisel, Frederick. THE SILENCED McBride, James. DEACON KING WOMEN ($16.99). KONG ($17.00). Wrobel, Stephanie. DARLING ROSE Mofi na, Rick. SEARCH FOR HER GOLD ($17.00). ($9.99). History

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Table of Contents Editor/Publisher Mick Herron 2 George A. Easter Recent Espionage Novels 11 [email protected] Conversation w/ Bryan Christy 16 Larry Gandle on Edgars 19 Associate Editor Edgar Award Winners 23 Larry Gandle Bouchercon 2021 24 [email protected] Barry Award Nominees 2021 25 Editor’s Message 26 Contributors Assistant Editor’s Message 27 Marvin Lachman He Ran For Gold, George H. Madison 29 It’s About Crime Mary Mason by Marvin Lachman 30 Kris Zgorski Introducing...Steph Broadribb 32 Jeff Popple DP List 2021 35 Mike Ripley Mason Collins Series, Ted Hertel, Jr. Still Going Strong! 37 George H. Madison Reviews Ali Karim Kristopher Zgorski 40 Donus Roberts Ted Hertel, Jr. 45 Mary Mason 51 George Easter 53 L. J. Roberts 57 Larry Gandle 63 Australian Mystery 65 Subscription Rates R.I.P. 56 News and Reviews From the U.K. Sample Free (see website) New Books 67 Reviews 68 1 year digital (four issues) $10.00 Mike Ripley Column 71 Agatha Award Nominees 76 Make checks (U.S. funds only) Sneak Previews 77 payable to George Easter or Recent Recommended Paperbacks 80 Deadly Pleasures and send to George Easter -- DP 1718 Ridge Point Dr. Bountiful, UT 84010 PayPal payment is also accepted at [email protected]