Review: Cold Case in Nuala

Cold Case in Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Very fond of this series set in late 30s early 40s Ceylon. Although war is raging in most of the world, Ceylon seems far removed from it. The only possible bearing it will have on the island is the threat of military service to the young British government officers living there. Despite its peaceful tropical existence, all is not serene for Inspector de Silva and his two juniors,Nadar and Prasanna.

A dog has dug up the remains of a human body on a local tea plantation. The owner of the plantation had mysteriously disappeared 8 years earlier, having supposedly deserted his wife and home for another woman. Could this be his body? At the time of his disappearance, Archie Clutterbuck, assistant government agent for Nuala and in the service of the British Crown, carried out a rather superficial investigation into it. Neither the man's stepmother, Isobel Moncrieff, nor his wife, Mariana , seemed concerned for his welfare. In actuality, for different yet equally strong reasons, both believed the rumor of his infidelity and seemed relieved to be free of him.

Yet, when the examination of the bones reveal that the deceased is most likely Donald Moncrieff, the Inspector feels compelled to learn how he died and who, if anyone, played a part in his death .
Besides, there is the added mystery of an impressive luxury car, a Bugatti. To the lover of automobiles, this is ALMOST as compelling a case for Shanti as the one regarding a man's death and burial in a remote corner of his estate.

View all my reviews

Review: The Dead Will Tell

The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A city councillor is found hanging from a beam in his barn.Suicide? Well,no, he's been shot twice; once in the abdomen and once in the groin. And he has a peg doll jammed into his throat on the base of which is written Hochstetler. That's the name of an Amish family who suffered an unspeakable crime 35 years ago. Someone fatally shot the husband during an apparent robbery,the wife disappeared and four of the five children died in the basement of the farmhouse that burnt to the ground. What could the deceased possibly have to do with that cold case? Kate Burkholder, the Police Chief of Painter's Mills,Ohio and her force will not discover the connection in time to save two more members of the community. When they do,it will be a race to catch the killer. Before they do,another victim will die, a veteran policeman will be severely injured and Kate herself will come close to being another victim! What violence can do to the human mind!

View all my reviews

Review: The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder

The Good Nurse: A True Story of Medicine, Madness, and Murder by Charles Graeber
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At first it is almost impossible to believe this man was able to bounce from one medical facility to another, killing as he went. But as the story continued it became evident that the facilities themselves were complicit in his crimes--he was suspected, he was reprimanded, he was terminated and he was given good or neutral references each time. That aspect of the story is bad enough--but it is not unusual--it happens in education as well with child molesters--don't rock the boat, don't cause the public to take their business elsewhere, don't let the institution's reputation suffer and oh, God, avoid lawsuits at any cost.

But more than that, the lack of supervision and the poor method of accounting for drug access also played a big part in this tragedy. Add to this the fact that smaller hospitals are being swallowed up by larger ones or put out of business entirely and that huge sprawling medical centers where who knows who anyone is as long as there are name tags swinging from the neck and the whole enterprise is too large to monitor. Then, of course, there is the outsourcing of hiring personnel and traveling nurses--here today, gone thousands of miles away to another hospital tomorrow. How can anyone expect accountability or monitoring??

The wonder behind this story is that more of the same situation hasn't been found. It is enough to send someone's blood pressure through the ceiling anytime a visit to a medical center becomes necessary, either as a patient or the friend or relative of a patient! Bottom line, this little worm is right where he belongs--hopefully in solitary 23 3/4 hours a day with food shoved through a slot maybe without utensils so he can eat like the animal he is.

Make sure to watch the documentary on Netflix to see and hear the actual good nurse and the detectives and others who were instrumental in finally stopping him. But, do not for one
minute believe that he in any way wanted to stop human suffering. Half the time, he had no idea what patient would receive his doctored, no pun intended, IV bags.

View all my reviews

Review: Magpie Murders---The Book Read After Starting the PBS Adaptation

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having started the PBS Mystery series adaptation of the book for TV by the actual author, Horowitz, I wondered how he handled the intertwined murder mysteries on the page. It is every bit as satisfying as the TV version, but a bit less confusing. The first half of the book is the " fictional " book written by Alan Conroy and ends as submitted manuscript ends. That is to say, missing its final chapters. The second half of the book is dedicated to the editor's ( Susan Ryeland's ) unauthorized investigation into the suicide of Conroy which she believes is actually the murder of Alan Conroy.

All of the same characters appear in the book, although Horowitz has brought the TV version up to the 20's attitudes of political correctness. Far more minority characters, especially the one of Joy as a black woman whose intended mother-in-law opposes the marriage to her son based on the color of her skin. All well and good, I suppose, except that weakens the book's plot. The written objection is based, supposedly, in the possibility of her grandchildren being born with Down's Syndrome, an inherited disease. In today's view that is unreasonable and shows bias. Yet, when one finds the real objection, at the end of the book, it fits far more with the supposed case than a racial prejudice.I love the references to other authors and British whodunnits on BBC, all of which I've watched and loved,even Bergerac!!

Still, both book and adaptation are excellent and each of the mysteries are satisfyingly hard to resolve. Atticus is a wonderful sleuth and Susan is no smuck, though not as intuitive. Now, I'll have to wait and see how the TV series ties up the loose ends in both tales--there are a couple more installments to go.

View all my reviews

Review: A Steep Price

A Steep Price by Robert Dugoni
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two of the best aspects of this series is that the characters at two dimensional and we are always introduced to situations that broaden our knowledge of what goes on in the world outside our own lives. We've watched Del develop trust enough to embark on a serious relationship; Faz and his wife, Vera are now facing a personal health challenge but their son has successfully opened his restaurant and proposed to his girlfriend; Kins' marriage and love for his two boys help in the climax of this current case; and Tracy and Dan have a new baby girl continuing Tracy's path away from the tragedy of her sister's disappearance into a life of happiness and peace.

As to new knowledge, this book introduces us to an Indian family and the culture that focuses on the arranged marriages of daughters so that they may take on the roles of wives, parents and caretakers of their husband's parents. This focus leaves no room for education or professional lives for these women. Also, we learn of a dating practice called sugar baby dating. Young women basically prostituting themselves to sugar daddies to gain the money necessary to advance themselves primarily as college students.

These last two practices produce the case that Kins and Tracy find themselves trying to solve--the apparent disappearance of an Indian-American young woman struggling to pay for medical school as well as housing. Needless to say, it is not long before her body is found and a missing person case becomes a homicide.

Meanwhile, Del and Faz are investigating the drive-by murder of a young mother who had become an activist in her community to rid it of the drugs and drug cartels that are making life nothing short of dangerous.

Between the aforementioned strengths of the book and the police procedurals and mystery they hold, this book has depth as well as interest.

View all my reviews