Review: The Bat

The Bat by Jo Nesbø
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Alcoholic Norwegian police officer, Harry Hole, is sent to Sydney to observe the investigation into the murder of a young Norwegian girl. He pairs up with an Aborigine detective, Andrew Kensington, a former boxer. From Andrew, Harry Holy, as the Aussie's call him, learns the folk tales of the Indigenous people, including an origin story very similar to the Garden of Eden tale of Christians. He also learns of the treatment of the Native people by the European settlers and their descendents--also similar to the experience of others throughout the world.

As the investigation proceeds Harry becomes very familiar with an area of Sydney that is definitely seedy and the underbelly with its motley assortment of denizens. It also becomes evident that the girl's murderer is a serial killer with a preference for blondes and a wide area of predation. Many red herrings and false leads as well as the revelation that Harry isn't very fond of American cinema, in time, leads to the identification and apprehension, of a sort , of the perp.

In this first of a series, the character of Hole, with all its flaws is fully developed. He's likeable, intelligent, driven and terribly sad--he'd be awfully wearing if anyone spent too long in his presence but Harry is a rolling stone so he probably moves on before that happens. The cast of characters surrounding him are varied and interesting, too. All in all, a good book even if his binges are too long and drag the story out too much.

View all my reviews

Review: Pray for Silence

Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Set in the rural Amish farmland of Ohio, this murder mystery is horrendous in its depiction of the slaughter of a family of seven, including five children, one a toddler. For Kate Burkholder, the Chief of Police and excommunicated Amish woman, it is particularly emotionally devastating. Both teen girls have been viciously tortured and disemboweled. One of them has had her uterus removed and is not found. As the story unfolds, the similarities between Kate's life as a young Amish girl and that of this girl, Mary Planck almost destroy Kate. Without any evidence and with no immediate leads, Kate and her team, outsiders to the community, find it very difficult to get any information from the other farm families of the area. Who could want to so savagely destroy a quiet family with no obvious enemies in this small Ohio town? The search for answers is engrossing and the revelations almost worse than the crime scene itself.

View all my reviews

Review: Murder on Pleasant Avenue

Murder on Pleasant Avenue by Victoria Thompson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Victoria Thompson brings turn of the century NYC to life. This installment takes the reader to Italian Harlem-- how I wish my Mom were still here to fill me in on this neighborhood. I only knew of Black Harlem and Little Italy as locations but never of a large Italian presence in the Harlem area. As to the prejudice against Italians--oh, yes, I knew of that for even in my family there was displeasure when one of my aunts married an Italian fella. But, as can be seen in this story the bias moved in both directions--Gino's family is not thrilled that his " possible" love interest is neither Italian nor Catholic--a double whammy against our Maeve.

This over-riding bias and lack of trust among the Italian community for any outside it play a major role in the search for the murderer of the leader of the Black Hands and the subsequent murder of his wife. It would appear that the Black Hand group has been making money by kidnapping women and children of wealthy Italians for ransom. When the boss, Nunzio Esposito, is found stabbed to death in a flat he'd rented for his mistress, it is assumed the murderer might have taken revenge for this and/or other unjust demands, such as protection money, from the folks of Italian Harlem. Unfortunately, since Gino Donatelli was found in the flat with the dead body shortly after the murder, the police were happy to arrest him, despite his being a former policeman himself.

Malloy gets Gino out on bail and hidden away from the Black Hand. They might want to kill him out of revenge--a vendetta--or perhaps kill him so that the police will consider the murder solved and not go looking for any other possible perp--not that the police ever get very active investigating any crime involving the Italians! Stiil, Malloy, Sarah and Maeve all get involved in finding out what exactly is going on and who is truly responsible. With Gino in danger Maeve is forced to look a bit closer at what she wants from her involvement with him. Many plots thicken as always in the gaslights of New York

View all my reviews

Review: Fatal Finds in Nuala

Fatal Finds in Nuala by Harriet Steel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Just love the setting and the characters in these books--30's in Ceylon. British rule is still there and Archie Clutterbuck is the chief poombah for the Brits. In this episode his snobbish wife, Florence, is off on a cruise so Archie can get out in the field and work closely with Inspector Shanti de Silva and his two officers. Shanti is Sinalhese Buddist married to his lovely English wife, Jane. Sgt Prasanna is in his 20's, recently married and also Sinalese while Constable Nadar, a Tamil Hindu, is a bit younger and a recent Dad.

On a dark and stormy night, LOL, de Silva find himself broken down on a muddy back road with no houses in sight. He is rescued by Clutterbuck's assistant who happens by, but not before he is spooked by strange sounds emanating from the surrounding jungle..

The next day Prasanna's wife comes with an older woman to the police station to report the lady's missing husband, a villager named Venu. Before long his body is found buried in the jungle not far from the site of Shanti's disabled car. There are old coins and pieces of what appear to be gold jewelry in the vicinity of the burial. What are they doing here, did Venu have them and if so, where did he get them? The investigation is is convoluted, the characters shady. The solution is surprising. All in all a good book for a rainy day!

View all my reviews

Review: The President's Daughter

The President's Daughter by Bill Clinton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fast reading and interesting. Not a pulse pounding as some other Black OPs books so wouldn't call it a thriller, as the cover says. Lots of InterAgency politics --lots of politics in general. Maybe some wishful thinking on the part of the real ex-Potus co-author but then it is fiction.

View all my reviews

The Whitby Murders

The Whitby Murders by J.R. Ellis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Beware Your Friends

This series is a favorite but I knew what happened in the escape room and who the murderer was right when it happened. Then, because Oldroyd insisted that all the friends had to be investigated, I began to doubt myself! Once the murderer was revealed, though I could not figure out the full crime or its motivation, I sort of felt like Andy. Lots of wasted time. But the characters, the team work and the personal relationships, the history and the setting made up for any weaknesses in the crime plot.


his daughter insisted

View all my reviews

Review: A Private Cathedral: A Dave Robicheaux Novel

A Private Cathedral: A Dave Robicheaux Novel by James Lee Burke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Installment 23 of the Robicheaux-Purcell extravaganza but oh, how I hope there is not a 24th! Finished this one out of loyalty but it is as though the alcoholic brain destruction has gotten full blown for these two. If the timeline is right they are pushing 75-80 and the time has come to hang it up. Several reviewers have called the visions and plot supernatural--no, they are hallucinogenic and drugs and trips have never tempted me. I found it impossible to figure out what was real and what totally mental--and if we can believe, jLB, it wasn't much better for his imperfect heroes. I don't know if these guys are done but I pretty much am--will have to buy other books from my friend at Books Along the Teche.

View all my reviews