Game Piece. Alan Brenham, author. This mystery/thriller novel won a Readers Favorite award, so I thought it had to be good. Right? Wrong! It’s an excellent addition to the crime fiction literature. It reminded me of the early Bosch books—they were even mentioned as reading material in the novel.

Barry Marshall is a detective in the police department of Temple, Texas. People he’s had problems with in that job are turning up dead. The serial killer always phones Barry to gloat after murdering another victim. A witness is also killed, and another one is injured in a deadly hit-and-run—the killer wants to leave no witnesses of his heinous crimes.

Barry’s job is dangerous—any cop’s is—so Barry’s wife Erin wants him to quit. One reason: her favorite uncle who worked undercover was murdered. She’s making her husband miserable with her constant nagging. She becomes even more irate when she receives pics of Barry hanging out with another woman. She kicks him out.

Will Barry survive all this stress in his professional and private lives? No spoilers here, but you can imagine he won’t have an easy time of it. The classic ploy of making your main character jump through dangerous hoops works well here with the addition of the cops-make-bad-husbands theme. The author’s background also adds gritty reality in this crime drama filled with interesting, complex characters living in a small town that could be Anytown, USA—here a town in Texas.

It’s hard to find negatives in this story. Erin’s over-the-top reaction to the photos bothered me a bit. She and Barry have been married a while, so she should know her man. It’s petty of her to not give him a chance. In her defense, she hangs with three divorcees who have good reasons to hate philandering husbands. She’s a pharmacist, though, so she’s intelligent enough to filter our her friends’ advice and think of Photoshop—it’s the 21^st century, after all! Barry thinks of it, although he’s slow to make the connection to the serial killer, who is out to destroy him completely.

Another negative: Right from the start, it’s obvious that there’s a mole in the police department (or maybe I just write too much mystery and crime myself?). Someone is providing insider info to the killer. We’re not given enough clues about who the mole is, though, so that comes as a surprise, with a wee bit of Deus ex Machina as an added ingredient.

These are minor negatives in a damn good story filled with positives, enough twists to keep mystery fans happy and enough thrills for fans of the thriller genre too. Stories of serial killers abound; this one rises above the norm.

***

Comments are always welcome.

Son of Thunder. #2 in the “Esther Brookstone Art Detective Series,” this sequel to Rembrandt’s Angel has Esther Brookstone, now retired from Scotland Yard, obsessed with finding St. John the Divine’s tomb, using directions left by the Renaissance artist Sandro Botticelli. Esther’s search, the disciple’s missionary travels, and Botticelli’s trip to the Middle East make for three travel stories that all come together in one surprising climax.

Esther’s paramour, Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden, has problems with arms dealers, but he multitasks by trying to keep Esther focused and out of danger. The reader can also learn how their romance progresses, as well as travel back in time to discover a bit about Esther’s past with MI6 during the Cold War.

It might seem like The Da Vinci Code, but the historical references here are confirmed as true and a product of my extensive research. History, archaeology, romance, religion, and art make for a tasty stew in this moving, moralistic mystery/thriller novel soon to be published by Penmore Press. While it can be read independently from the first book, you can learn more about Esther and Bastiann in Rembrandt’s Angel, available in print and ebook formats at Amazon and from the publisher, and in ebook format at Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lenders (Overdrive, etc.). Son of Thunder will be available at the same places.

Both are entertaining stories for your fall reading.

Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!

 

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