New BookTalk Booklist on BookGuide: Donna's Recent Reads (mysteries)

 Donna G., retired Lincoln City Libraries staff member, formerly with the Virtual Services department, was the guest presenter for a booktalk at the Bethany BookTalks on February 3, 2013, which featured a lot of her favorite recent mysteries.

Check out the list of titles Donna shared at the following link: 

 

Donna’s Recent Reads

Time of Departure by Douglas Schofield

Time of Departure
by Douglas Schofield

I can only describe this novel as a mystery with some romance and a Twilight Zone like atmosphere. Claire Talbot is an up-and-coming prosecutor who looks into a cold case with the help of a retired Gainesville police officer.

The story begins when two skeletons are unearthed by a road-building crew. The bodies have been in the ground for about 30 years and are part of string of unsolved murders. Thirty years ago, serial killer stalked Gainesville and seven women disappeared. Six were brunettes and in their 20’s and the other one was a blonde in her thirties. One day, while Claire reading the old case files, an old man walks into her. He introduces himself as Marc Hastings, a retired Gainesville police detective and he tells her that he is there to help her solve these crimes. Claire is a taken aback but she agrees to work with him. As they work together she begins to feel some weird vibes from Marc. He knows way too much about her and her personal likes and dislikes. She asks him how he knows her so well since they had never met. He refuses to tell her. As I kept reading this engrossing novel, I learned how he knew her.

I highly recommend this book that kept me reading well into the night..

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Fool Me Once, by Harlan Coben] [ official Time of Departure web site on the official Douglas Schofield web site ]

Recommended by Donna G.
Virtual Services Department

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The New Prairie Kitchen by Summer Miller

New Prairie Kitchen
by Summer Miller [641.505 Mil] 

Food writer, Summer Miller, believes in buying locally grown foods and supporting restaurants that use these fresh ingredients. She decided to find out what is available within a 200-mile radius of her Omaha home. In the process Miller met many interesting people and she shares their stories and recipes.

On a road trip to Hastings, Nebraska she met John and Charlotte Hamburger who own the Back Alley Bakery and learned that the bakery started because of a bet. John challenged a friend to see who could bake the best loaf of bread. They built a wood-fired brick oven in the back room of an old building and started baking. People heard about the project (or perhaps smelled the enticing aroma of baking bread) and lined up in the alley for samples. Eventually the duo stopped giving away the yeasty delights and started selling them. Thus was born the Back Alley Bakery. John shared a recipe for Honey-Oat Bread that is made with Wild Yeast Starter. The recipe for the starter is also included.

Another journey took Miller to the Cleverly Farms near Mingo, Iowa. Larry Cleverly left the farm to work in New York. After 20 years of city life he realized that “New York is not a town to grow old in” and returned to Iowa and started farming the land that his grandparents bought in the “roaring twenties”. Over melon slices and coffee, Cleverly shared his philosophy about growing good food with Miller.

This is a fascinating book with interesting recipes and stunning photos of the Great Plains.

[ official Scalded Milk — Summer Miller blog ]

Recommended by Donna G.
Virtual Services Department

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

The Life We Bury
by Allen Eskens

Joe Talbert is taking a writing class at the University of Minnesota. His assignment is to interview someone and write a brief biography of that person. Joe goes to a nursing home to find a willing subject. He meets Carl Iverson, a Vietnam vet and convicted murderer dying of pancreatic cancer. As he talks to Carl, Joe comes to believe that Iverson is innocent of the murder that sent him to prison 30 years ago. Joe and his next-door neighbor, Lila, search through the old trial transcript, talk to the people orignially involved in the case and pour over the evidence that remains to track down the real killer.

Not only does Eskens create an intricate puzzle but he also weaves Joe and Lila’s troubled personal stories into the novel.

This is a well-written book that kept me up past my bedtime.

[ official Allen Eskens web site ]

Recommended by Donna G.
Virtual Services Department

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Night Night, Sleep Tight by Hallie Ephron

Night Night, Sleep Tight
by Hallie Ephron

Hallie Ephron inherited her considerable writing talent from her parents, screenwriters Henry and Phoebe Ephron. Their Beverly Hills home was filled with books and their neighborhood was filled with celebrities.

The plot for this novel was inspired by the 1958 murder of Johnny Stompanato that happened just a few blocks from the Ephron home. Stompanato was the gangster boyfriend of Lana Turner and he was stabbed to death by Turner’s teenage daughter, Cheryl. In Ephron’s book, 14 year-old Joelen Nichol kills her mother’s boyfriend. This story does not focus on Joelen but on her friend Deirdre Unger who stayed at Joelen’s that night. Deirdre has a hazy memory of being woken up late in the night and carried down the back stairs of the mansion and being put in her father’s car. Her next memory is of waking up in the hospital with a leg that is so severely broken that she walks with a crutch for the rest of her life. Deirdre always wonders what happened that night and when she drives up to Beverly Hills from her home in San Diego to help her father put his house on market she decides to confront him and out what happened that night.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Luckiest Girl Alive by Jess Knoll.] [ official Hallie Ephron web site ]

Recommended by Donna G.
Virtual Services Department

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Man Who Knew Too Much (on DVD)

The Man Who Knew Too Much

[DVD Man]

Alfred Hitchcock originally made this film in 1934 with a British cast featuring Peter Lorre. In 1956 Hitchcock remade the movie with an American cast (James Stewart and Doris Day). This film won an Oscar for best music for the song “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)”. This tune later became Doris Day’s signature song. When asked to compare the two movies, Hitchcock felt that the remake was more polished. In an interview, he said “the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional.”

Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day play a married couple, Ben and Jo McKenna, who are vacationing in Morocco with their son when they become embroiled in an international assassination plot. Their son, Hank, is kidnapped and taken to London to keep the McKennas from talking to the authorities. Their only clue is words whispered to Ben by a dying man. He tells Ben that a foreign statesman is going to be assassinated in London and to tell the British authorities to try Ambrose Chapel. A mysterious man calls Ben and tells him not to talk to the police or Hank will be harmed. The McKennas elude the authorities and go to London to find their son.

Stewart and Day give strong performances as frantic parents. And Hitchcock shows why he is a master at building suspense.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

Recommended by Donna G.
Virtual Services Department

Have you watched this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations! 

The Book Stops Here by Kate Carlisle

The Book Stops Here
by Kate Carlisle

As I read this amusing book I was reminded of the Stephanie Plum series. Admittedly, there are more differences than similarities between the two series. The humor in Carlisle's books is more sophisticated than the inane silliness found in the Evanovich books. Carlisle's character, Brooklyn Wainwright, does not live a paycheck to paycheck existence. She is a well-regarded rare-book restorer and appraiser. Brooklyn has a hunky live-in boyfriend with a sexy British accent. In this book Brooklyn is the rare book appraiser on This Old Attic a hit TV series. Her first appraisal leads to murder and to a meeting with an eccentric millionaire who is obsessed with Mae West. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Janet Evanovich, Erika Chase, Lorna Barrett and Ellery Adams.]

[ official Kate Carlisle web site ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni

My Sister's Grave
by Robert Dugoni

Tracy Crosswhite has been haunted by her sister's disappearance and presumed murder twenty years ago. Edmund House was convicted of killing Sarah eventhough they never found her body. It appears to Tracy that House was wrongly convicted and Tracy works to free him from prison. This page turner is a combination police procedural and legal thriller that questions legal ethics and asks the question "does the end justify the means?" -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Michael Connelly, Karin Slaughter and Linda Castillo.]

[ official Robert Dugoni web site ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies (on CD) by Susan Wittig Albert

The Darling Dahlias and the Naked Ladies
by Susan Wittig Albert [Compact Disc Albert]

This charming, homespun cozy is set in Darling, Alabama in the midst of the depression. The story is as much about the townspeople getting by as it is a mystery. Along with their gardening, the local garden club, the Dahlias, wonder who the secretive platinum blonde is that is visiting Miss Hamer and claims to be her niece and decide to investigate. The Dahlias also support each other through their trials and tribulations including a foreclosure and the resolution to an old romance. The book is sprinkled with recipes, gardening and housecleaning tips. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Laura Childs, Ellery Adams and Victoria Thompson.]

[Also available in traditional print, downloadable E-book and Large Print formats.]

[ official Susan Wittig Albert web site ]

Have you read or listened to this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Outsmarting of Crminals

The Outsmarting of Criminals
by Steven Rigolosi

This breezy novel introduces us to Felicity Prim, a criminal outsmarter. Criminal outsmarting is Miss Prim's second career. She had lived in New York City and worked in a doctor's office until she was mugged. After the mugging Felicity looked at her life and decided that she wanted something different. She retired and moved to Greenfield, Connecticut where she hoped to become a sleuth. Her first opportunity to work as a detective came while Felicity was settling into her new home. She found a secret entrance to a cellar in her kitchen. At the bottom of the stairs Felicity found the body of a recently deceased man. When she told the police about the man she asked Detective Ezra Dawes if they could work together. She pointed out that two heads are better one when solving crimes. He graciously agreed. Felicity made friends (and frightened people with her erratic driving) while trying to figure who the man was and how he got into her basement. This witty book is populated with warm and wacky characters. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[ official Steven Rigolosi web site ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Chasing Shackleton: Recreating the World's Greatest Journey of Survival

Chasing Shackleton: Recreating the World's Greatest Journey of Survival
by Tom Jarvis [919.89 Jar]

Tim Jarvis, a seasoned explorer, recreates the voyage that Ernest Shackleton took in 1916 voyage in the 23 foot wooden boat, the James Caird, to save his crew marooned on Elephant Island. This story starts in 2002 when Jarvis meets Ernest Shackleton's granddaughter, Alexandra and she asks him to recreate her grandfather's journey. Jarvis writes that "the plan viewed from a distance was straightforward enough: build a replica James Caird, take her to Antarctica on a larger ship, hire a dedicated support vessel for the duration of the journey, select the right team, get the permits and insurance, and do it. I would finance the expedition with corporate sponsorship and sales of the film rights, supplemented by funds from fee-paying passengers who'd get a once-in-a-lifetime trip on our support vessel." As with many plans that seem straightforward, this one become fraught with stumbling blocks. Sponsors backed out and there were problems with permits and customs officials. Jarvis and his crew made this voyage as authentic as possible. They wore Shackleton-era gabardine clothing and ate food similar to Shackleton's rations including Pemmican, a concoction of lard and beef seasoning heated on Primus kerosene stove that is apparently, as disgusting to drink as it sounds. Their sails were made by a traditional sail maker. The only modern touches on their whaling boat were cameras that the film crew used to record up close activity for the documentary made of this expedition. They set sail from Point Wild on Elephant Island and crossed the rough Southern Ocean in twelve days landing on the western shore of South Georgia Island. From there Jarvis and two of the crew crossed the Trident Mountains as Shackleton did to get help. This book is a good companion to the documentary that was made of Jarvis' expedition. It goes into more detail about Jarvis' preparations for the journey. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the documentary movie, Chasing Shackleton, on DVD.]

[Also available in DVD format.]

[ official Chasing Shackleton web site from PBS ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Red Chameleon

The Red Chameleon
by Erica Wright

Kathleen Stone spends her days catching cheating spouses. She relies on the skills that she learned as an NYPD undercover cop to blend into the background. With the help of an excellent wigmaker Kathleen creates a variety of personas ranging from a posh real estate agent to a sulky teenage boy. When one of the husbands that she is trailing ends up dead, Kathleen goes back undercover with the NYPD to find his connection with a high-end rehab facility. The twists and turns in this book make it perfect for a summer read. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and more of her reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Ingrid Throft, Alafair Burke or Linda Fairstein.]

[ Publisher's official Red Chameleon web page ] | [ official Erica Wright blog ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Vanishing Point

Vanishing Point
by Judith Van Gieson

Very few books engross me from the first page but this is one of them. Jonathan Vail wrote a "coming of age" novel that made him famous. His disappearance shortly after the book was published made him a legend. Today, archivist Claire Reynier preserves Vail's papers at the University of New Mexico. Vail was a gifted writer who disappeared 35 years ago while on a camping trip with his girlfriend, Jennie Dell. They took refuge in a cave in Slickrock Canyon when a thunderstorm arose. Jennie said that Vail inexplicably walked out into the downpour and disappeared. Park rangers searched for him but never found a trace. Rumors swirled about Vail. Some said that he went to Canada to avoid being sent to Vietnam. Others said that he was in Mexico. Still others claimed that Jennie had murdered him. Officials believed that he had fallen off a cliff and that the flood water had swept him away. One day a graduate student walks into Claire's office with an old dusty briefcase saying that he found Vail's missing journal in a cave in Slickrock Canyon. Claire authenicates the journal and starts for her own search for Vail. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and other reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Steven F. Havill, Aimee Thurlo and Michael McGarrity.]

[ official Judith Van Gieson web site ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

The Cairo Affair (audiobook) by Olen Steinhauer

The Cairo Affair
by Olen Steinhauer [Compact Disc Steinhauer]

This is a complex novel that entwines personal secrets and intelligence secrets. Emmett and Sophie Kohl inadvertly set the wheels in motion twenty years ago when they were on their honeymoon in Yugoslovia. When the book opens, American diplomat Emmett Kohl is murdered in front of his wife. Sophie, feeling guilty because she had confessed to Emmett that she had had an affair while they lived in Cairo just before he was shot, searches for Emmett's killer. As Sophie probes, she is shocked to learn they were forced to move from Cairo to Budapeste, because Emmett was supected of passing secrets to the enemy. But as she digs deeper she learns about "stumbler", an aborted CIA plan to oust Khaddaffi from Libya. Was this long abandoned scheme the real reason that Emmett killed? -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile and Other Reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of John le Carré, Len Deighton and Chris Pavone.]

[Also available in downloadable audio and traditional print formats.]

[ official The Cairo Affair and Olen Steinhauer web site ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Life Sentences by Alice Blanchard

Life Sentences
by Alice Blanchard

Daisy Hubbard takes a leave of absence from her job as a research scientist in Boston to look for her sister, Anna. Anna is schizophrenic and has gone off her meds. Daisy flies to California and works with LAPD detective Jack Makowski to find her. The plot of Life Sentences is complicated. It starts out as a medical thriller about rare genetic diseases. Then the book pokes into the family secrets that not only bind Daisy, Anna and their mother but also alienate them from each other. We also learn about Makowski's motivation. He's a tenacious cop whose fatal flaw is that he likes to save "damsels in distress". This strong urge causes him to make bad decisions that put his life and career in jepordy. The book has lively dialogue and moves along at a brisk pace. But it is hard to believe that a police officer would do what Jack does. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ See Donna's Reviewer Profile ]

[Also available in book-on-cd format.]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Pilgrimage by Annie Leibowitz

Pilgrimage
by Annie Leibovitz [770.924 qLei]

The inspiration for this coffee table book came when Annie Leibovitz and her sister impulsively visited Emily Dickinson's home. Later, Leibovitz made a list of the potpourri of places that she wanted to see and record with her camera. Paging through the book, one learns how Leibovitz selected each location and befriended the curators. The images that illustrate this book have a random quality to them. Some are grand vistas of places such as Yellowstone National Park. Others are intimate photos of living rooms and bedrooms. Still others focus on the details of people's lives such as the blood-stained gloves that Abraham Lincoln wore on the night of his assassination. These photos are a huge departure from the edgy portraits that one usually identifies with Leibovitz. Lovers of photography and armchair travelers will enjoy the stories and pictures. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile ]

[ official Smithsonian American Art Museum page for this Leibovitz exhibition ] | [ Wikipedia page for Annie Leibovitz ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Sins of the Flesh by Colleen McCullough (downloadable audio)

Sins of the Flesh
by Colleen McCullough [Downloadable Audio McCullough]

Police Captain Carmine Delmonico comes home early from his vacation to help his team catch a psychopathic killer in Holloman, Connecticut. The team focuses their investigation on a trio of eccentrics who knew the victims and who keep changing their stories. But the cases are still puzzling and complicated. They are complicated because one of the suspects is the high-powered head of the local mental and the friend of one of police detectives. They are puzzling because of the various methods used to kill them. As they investigate the detectives travel through a maze of lies and betrayals. This series is set in the 1960s in a small sleepy college town in the days before technological and forensic science tools assisted investigations. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services [ see Donna's Reviewer Profile ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the Oak Knoll series by Tami Hoag and the works of Karin Slaughter and Lisa Jackson.]

[Also available in traditional print format.]

[ official Sins of the Flesh page on the publisher's official Colleen McCullough web site ]

 Have you read or listened to this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Bloodland by Alan Glynn

Bloodland
by Alan Glynn [Downloadable Audio Glynn]

Who would think that a job researching the life of Susie Monaghan, a starlet known more for her antics than her acting for her biography would lead to the downfall of an American presidential candidate? Jimmy Gilroy didn't think that this job would be anything but a way to pay the bills while he searched for work as a newspaper reporter in Dublin. Jimmy is perplexed about the helicopter crash that killed Susie and her fellow passengers. Things became weird as Jimmy probed further. If the wrong-doers had been more subtle Jimmy would have continued to focus on Susie and the criminals would have gotten away. Nevertheless, this is an engaging conspiracy theory thriller that takes the reader from Europe to the Congo to the U.S. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ See Donna's Reviewer Profile ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Chris Pavone, Alice LaPlante and Olen Steinhauer.]

[ publisher's official Bloodland web page ]

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Murder at a Vineyard Mansion by Philip R. Craig [audiobook]

Murder at a Vineyard Mansion
by Philip R. Craig [Compact Disc Craig]

This book is populated with quirky characters. One of them escapes from jail every night to roam the streets. But he's always back in his cell before breakfast because the inmate who cooks the prisoners' meals is an excellent chef. Another character has been nicknamed the Silencer. He zaps booming car stereos and destroys the sound systems of party animals that aggravate their neighbors with their loud music. The residents who value their hearing are greatly relieved by the Silencer's crusade. Nobody knows how he does it and they don't care. On the other hand, the offended parties want this vandal CAUGHT! The lovers of peace and quiet are happy that the Silencer is around. The police have made catching him a low priority. J. W. Jackson, a former Boston police officer and a sometime private investigator is one of these unconventional islanders. One of his wealthy neighbors drags a reluctant J.W. away from his fishing rod into his role as a detective. She asks him to prove that her son did not murder a night watchman at a Chappaquiddick mega-mansion. To do so, J.W. must explore some of the esoteric connections among the moneyed elite on Martha's Vineyard. The eccentric characters make this book a fun read. Craig also co-wrote the Brady Coyne series with William Tapply. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department [ See Donna's Reviewer Profile ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Cynthia Riggs and William Tapply.]

[Also available in Print format.]

[ official Philip R. Craig web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Honestly Dearest, You're Dead by Jack Fredrickson

Honestly Dearest, You're Dead
by Jack Fredrickson

Dek Elstrom is a down on his luck PI living in Riverton, Illinois. One day he receives a phone from an attorney saying that his client, Louise Thomas, died and named Dek as her executor. Louise Thomas? Dek had never heard of her. Dek learned that he would earn seven hundred dollars for his efforts. Since Dek needed the money he agreed to settle the estate. The lawyer promises that it won't take long because Louise didn't have much. When Dek visits her home close to Ramble, Michigan he finds that the house has been searched. Papers are strewn all over and blood is spattered on the walls. When Dek digs further into Louise's life he feels as he has fallen down the proverbial rabbit hole. Nothing is as it seems. And it leads back to Dek's childhood. This is a fast-paced read with colorful characters. -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Douglas Corleone, Steve Hamilton, and Harlen Coben.]

[ official Jack Fredrickson web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!