Edinburgh Twilight. Carole Lawrence, author.* Talk about satisfying two of my reading preferences at once! Hmm…maybe three: this novel’s setting is Ian Rankin’s dark Edinburgh underbelly, only in 1880; it’s a British-style mystery, with a Glasgow-born inspector playing the major role; and it’s first-rate historical fiction in addition to being an excellent mystery/crime story. I could hardly put this one down long enough to sip my Jameson!

Inspector Hamilton is a complex character with as much baggage as Rankin’s Inspector Rebus, and then some. He lost his parents in a terrible fire, and he has the burn scars to prove it. The arsonist was never captured, which is Hamilton’s motivation for becoming a policeman, although his father was also one. (Makes you wonder if the arsonist was on a payback mission, but the author doesn’t even hint at that. Maybe for later novel?)

The reader also is introduced to Hamilton’s Aunt Lillian, a Miss Marple/Esther Brookstone-type saucy character who often slips back into her Glasgow accent. That’s my only complaint, because the author’s transliteration of that accent propagates along with the tale—she should give the reader the initial flavor and then forget about it. The reader also meets Hamilton’s boss, assistant, and a street urchin who becomes essential to Hamilton’s investigation. All wonderful characters.

Not so wonderful is the serial killer. He’s on the loose, and Hamilton wants to find him as soon as possible before he kills again. Hamilton is unsuccessful, though, so the mystery and suspense builds, as the killer matches wits with the detective and his aides while killing again. Through it all, the reader discovers the vast gulf between rich and poor, the plight of Irish immigrants in the city, and the dark evil that can lurk in criminal minds.

Standard plot, right? Okay, but the interesting characters, all different, and noir setting make up for the weak plot. And remember, this is 1880, so the era also contributes to the setting. The author’s mesmerizing skill with words far exceeds the magical prowess of her villain.

In spite of the plot, this story is a well written  mystery/crime novel. For any newbie author looking for examples on how to write them, studying how it’s put together will be enlightening. I’ve already finished #2 number two in the series, and I understand the author is strolling the streets of Edinburgh in preparation for #3. Good luck to her.

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*Note from Steve: I will no longer indicate either publisher or date of publication in my book reviews. I usually don’t indicate price either. This allows “evergreen books,” which I often read, play on an equal playing field with recently published books—same for indie, small press, and Big Five books. If interested, the reader can follow the links I give here to Amazon, where the cover, blurb, and “peek inside” can provide more information than I can in my brief reviews.

And, as strange as it seems, you should not pay much attention to those book reviews, of my books or anyone else’s, especially those on Amazon or even my own reviews. Instead use the information I’ve indicated for your final buying decision. You have a right to make your own reading choices—they’re completely subjective, after all. The fact that I like or dislike a book or certain elements in it is only my opinion—yours might be entirely different, and I wouldn’t want you to accuse me of leading you astray.

Of course, I have no ax to grind here, and I don’t play favorites.

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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. The disciple’s missionary travels and Botticelli’s trip to the Middle East make for three travel stories that all come together. Esther’s boyfriend, 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. History, archaeology, romance, and art make for a tasty stew in this mystery/thriller novel soon to be published by Penmore Press in print and ebook formats. While it can be read independently of the first book, you can learn more about Esther and Bastiann in Rembrandt’s Angel—available in print and ebook formats at Amazon and in ebook format at Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and lenders (Overdrive, etc.).

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

Winter World + Solar War. A. G. Riddle, author. Okay, I haven’t read #3 yet—it’s a pre-order with an ugly cover, and I rarely sign up for them. (Why should I make a cash advance to Amazon?!) So far the series is a combo of post-apocalyptic and military sci-fi. And, so far, while a wee bit predictable, it’s better than the author’s other books, which is saying a lot—they were good, and so are these. There are only so many themes in sci-fi, so the stories often boil down to variations on themes. To wit…

The theme here, at least in the first two books, is similar to my Chaos Chronicles. An apocalypse occurs and humanity endeavors to survive it. In my case, humanity as well as bad ETs cause the problems. In Riddle’s, a collective intelligence formed by many galactic civilizations brushes away primitive civilizations like they were annoying gnats. If this reminds you of my own Swarm, good—that means you’ve already read my trilogy. If not, you might want to compare. My Swarm is aloof and impersonal; Riddle’s Grid is all that and evil—apparently bad ETs are welcome to join as well as good, and the bad corrupt the good. Swarm tries to stop the evil ETs.  Mind you, I haven’t read #3. In spite of murdering billions of humans, maybe the Grid will turn out to be good?

Novel #1’s plot does have a twist. Maybe Riddle doesn’t believe in global warming? In any case, we do not have a global summer as the Earth turns into Venus, as one might expect from our current and very real climate crisis. The Grid goes around stealing the energy out of suns like ours, so that swatting of gnats is realized in our solar system by causing global winter on Earth via blocking the sunlight. That premise is a bit absurd. If the Grid were truly aloof and uncaring, they’d just construct a Dyson sphere between Earth’s orbit and be done with it! Of course, there would be no story then.

The story in Winter World becomes stopping the Grid’s deep-freeze attack on Earth. The reader is introduced to ex-prisoner and super-genius James as well as lovely astronaut Emma, who’s the only survivor of the Grid’s attack on ISS. They come together in those trying circumstances to lead the charge against the Grid…and find a bit of romance in a post-apocalyptic winter (lots of snuggling).

Novel #2’s plot is about the counterattack from the Grid and the aftermath. Asteroids are involved as the Grid avenges the dinosaurs. With all that energy they’ve collected, why doesn’t it just turn Earth into nuclear glass? The author posits it’s because that would be a waste of energy, and the Grid doesn’t like to do that. Hmm. With all the stars in the galaxy, you’d think the Grid doesn’t have to worry about wasting a few nukes. Of course, that would end the story too, and eliminate another tale of survival and the few remaining humans fleeing Earth for a new home around a red dwarf (yeah, the Grid isn’t interested in those puny little stars). Another twist…maybe? Guess who helps the humans on the multi-century-long trip. That trek also occurs in my Chaos Chronicles; readers can consider both an homage to Brian Aldiss.

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The Bottom Dwellers. Leah Devlin, author (Penmore Press, 2015). Dr. Lindsey Nolan is an unstable genius with her original designs of new medical apparatuses, and she has a drinking problem. A competitor has a jealousy problem. And a homeless, teenage prostitute named Maggie has a drug problem. These are the bottom dwellers in this story.

Everything starts in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (beautiful spot, by the way, along with the whole Cape), where Lindsey works, drinks, and plays. But there are three parallel stories here., sometimes abutting, other times not. The story moves quickly on to a rehab facility. Will Lindsey pull her promiscuous life together and remain sober? Will Maggie overcome her substance abuse? And will Lindsey’s competitor take advantage of Lindsey’s absence from Woods Hole?

Almost every chapter is divided into sections corresponding to the three main characters—nothing new about dividing chapters, of course. Each section is in that character’s point of view—unusual, but not new either. But each section could be a chapter in itself, which makes the chapters a bit lengthy sometimes. That’s a different organization for a novel, but it works here. And be assured that the relationship between the individuals is finally defined.

I’ve been wanting to read this first book in the “Woods Hole Mysteries” after I read and reviewed #2, Aegir’s Curse. The Bottom Dwellers is grittier and deals with the underbelly of what goes on in our society a lot more. The story reads like a therapist’s chronicle of three personality disorders. There isn’t much of a plot, but readers who like character-driven stories will surely find many interesting characters here. In fact, this novel is probably more current today than when it was written, a true “evergreen” book that offers more evidence, if readers need it, that authors’ backlists contain many interesting stories.

For those readers who like more plot-driven stories, consider this book a prequel to Aegir’s Curse, which is a  mystery/thriller novel with a terrific plot involving two of the main characters from The Bottom Dwellers. Both books are well written but completely different. I wonder what #3 in the series, The Bends, will be like. Stay tuned.

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Comments are always welcome.

Rembrandt’s Angel. “You’re an elitist.” “And you’re a killer. I prefer to be an elitist.” Ex-MI6 agent and current Scotland Yard Inspector Esther Brookstone becomes obsessed with recovering a Rembrandt painting stolen by the Nazis in World War II. Interpol agent and paramour Bastiann van Coevorden tries to control her obsession and keep her safe. Their quest to recover the painting leads them to an international conspiracy that threatens Europe. Published by Penmore Press, this mystery/thriller is available in ebook and print format from Amazon and as an ebook version from Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) Also available from the publisher or your local bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask for it). A sequel is coming.

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

The Clock. Leonardus G. Rougoor, author (Black Opal Books, 2017). Siblings Elizabeth and Matthew Janssen, seventeen and eighteen, take a long summer vacation on Cape Cod with their parents. On their arrival, they start to explore their vacation cottage and discover a secret room containing an old grandfather clock with instructions inside on how to operate it as a time machine.

The time-travelers eventually discover two past murders and one suicide, the murders committed against Alice and John, kids living in the 1920s. Is Alice’s irascible uncle responsible and feeling so guilty he commits suicide? Are two evil strangers his accomplices?

In speculative fiction literature, a reader can find time-travel romances, fantasies, thrillers, and horror stories. This novel could be called a time-travel mystery for young adults. It reminded me a bit of The House with a Clock in Its Walls without the nightmarish and slimy stuff. The murders are treated in an antiseptic fashion without a lot of blood and gore—minimalist writing at its best because young readers with active imaginations can visualize them easily enough.

The author uses the present tense with an omniscient point of view, even to describe the past. That was a little bit quirky, but I quickly became accustomed to it; it works. The plot moves along from its idyllic beginnings to its harried climax. There were a few missing things in the denouement that left me dissatisfied (I won’t go into them—no spoilers here). The characters aren’t very complex, though, and the Janssen family is a bit too perfect. Alice’s uncle is the most complex character and therefore the most interesting, but we don’t see enough of him.

The novel is very enjoyable and almost seemed to transport me to that simpler 1920s life from the present of Elizabeth and Matthew—tranquil horror, if you will. Well worth the read for any young adult or adult who is young at heart. It made this old curmudgeon feel young again…and brought back fond memories I’ve had with rentals on Cape Cod!

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Comments are always welcome.

“Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” the National and International Novels. In Angels Need Not Apply, the two NYPD homicide detectives join a national task force to go after a drug cartel leader who has an insidious plan. In Aristocrats and Assassins, the detectives are in Europe, fighting a terrorist who is kidnapping European aristocrats. In Gaia and the Goliaths, they learn about a plot conjured up by a US energy company and a Russian oligarch and set out to stop it. All these ebooks are available on Amazon and Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.). Current, pithy, and exciting, this is great summer reading!

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

Sins of the Sister. Zari Reede, author (Black Opal Books, 2018) Lana has been looking for her twin sister, Dania, who was abducted three years earlier. In the opening scene, Lana meets the sex traffickers who she’s been pursuing, thinking they’re somehow involved with Dania’s disappearance. But there’s another candidate too, a mad gamer who carries his role-playing too far. Lana knows her sister’s alive because she can sense how her captor tortures her and abuses her sexually. If he’s the role-player, he’s bent on “cleansing” the girls he captures for Mother before killing them.

My first impression was that this story is really creepy, but on the Goldilocks scale, it’s probably just right. It could be a model for anyone wanting to write a horrific crime story. The plot moves along as the reader follows Lana’s pursuit of clues and her missteps. Parallel stories are found about Dania’s two potential captors; Lana’s friendship with Favor, her martial arts instructor; and her romantic feelings in her love-hate relationship with Norris, the cop who seems to have given up on finding Dania. The characters seem like real people—creepy villains, misguided teens, and good people with flaws, all examples of the wide spectrum of human behavior.

On one hand, this is a mystery/crime story with Lana playing the role of the PI (she inherits an agency). The connection Lana has with her twin adds a bit of paranormal flavor. The point of view (POV) flips back and forth between Lana and the gamer at first. That might be a bit disconcerting to some readers, especially when they’re inside the monster’s insane mind, but as a reader I always enjoy the use of this technique. Readers will know who he is before Lana does, which suggests this book is also a thriller. The parts involving the sex trafficker, whose POV isn’t shared, is more a standard mystery with interesting little twists and one major one.

I won’t dwell on the cast of characters. There are so many, which makes this novel complex and interesting. The writing is superb. Let me include one quote I hope to always remember: “…in the river of life, relationships pooled up in eddies, sometimes churning forever, while others swept around the bend, lost except in the memory of those who once cherished them.” That’s a meta-theme for this novel: relationships. I’ll write no more about it. You should just read it…and enjoy the story.

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Comments are always welcome.

“Detectives Chen & Castilblanco Series,” the NYC novels. In The Midas Bomb, terrorism and Wall Street excesses go hand-in-hand, with an evil genius lurking in the wings. In Teeter-Totter Between Lust and Murder, Castilblanco is out to prove that Chen is innocent of murder. In The Collector, the detectives find that sex trafficking and stolen art provide an unusual mix. And in Family Affairs, Castilblanco helps some family members who are in trouble. All these ebooks are available on Amazon and Smashwords and the latter’s affiliated retailers (Apple iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.). Current, pithy, and exciting, this is great summer reading!

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

Happy July Fourth to all U.S. readers of this blog! Celebrate, be safe, and be responsible.

[Note from Steve: For an interview with this author, see the previous post.]

The Case of the Missing Mobster. Harol Marshall, author (Black Opal Books, 2019). When wannabe actress Sally Martin walks into PI Polly Berger’s office, Polly is glad to get the case of finding her client’s missing husband Ricky Martin—another wannabe actor, not the singer. But the case becomes complicated. Her client knows things the local Hollywood cops don’t know, and the local FBI agents, who start tailing Polly, won’t admit to knowing either. Part of Sally’s extra knowledge involves Lenny Spinoli, who Sally says was Ricky’s friend; his body just washed up on a beach.

There’s a good cast of characters here that includes Polly’s sidekick Bernardo “Bunny” Contreras and several “contacts” Polly works with, and other friends. The plot has enough twists and misdirects to please any fan of the mystery/crime genre, and with Polly in the first person, the reader will discover them right along with Polly. There’s serious business afoot too, but the overall tone is tongue-in-cheek, especially with Bunny, who moonlights as a standup comedian. That fits the Californian laid-back lifestyle. I should mention that Bunny’s girlfriend is Polly’s twin sister Franny, a fact used to confuse the FBI, for example. Franny and Rosa, who does tarot card readings in the office below Polly’s, add more color to the plot.

The author is a fan of Perry Mason, but the style here reminds me of both Robert Parker and Carl Hiaasen. LA is neither Boston nor Florida, of course, but having a bit of fun among the serious goings-on characterizes Ms. Marshall’s main character’s adventures as well as those of the other two authors’.

There were a few references to pop culture that tickled my fancy too, and a revisit to my old California haunts was frosting on the cake. Readers will enjoy this novel as much as I did, I’m sure.

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Comments are always welcome.

The Last Humans. Ex-USN diver Penny Castro surfaces from a forensics dive for the LA County Sheriff’s Department to find her fellow deputies and a witness dead from a plague that sweeps around the world, killing billions. Follow her adventures in this post-apocalyptic SoCal landscape as she finds other survivors, some friendly and others violent. Their struggles aren’t for the faint of heart, but Penny and her companions show mettle and ingenuity as they deal with a world gone mad. Available in print and ebook format on Amazon and in ebook format on Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.).

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

(Jill Paterson, Rose Scented Murder, J. Henderson, 2019)

I read novels from all over the world, and almost any book involving a DCI or DS attracts my attention. And Ms. Paterson, an Australian author, has a whole series of them!

In this novel, DCI Alistair Fitzjohn and DS Martin Betts set out to solve another crime, this time the murder of a famous Australian actor. The crime occurs just after the last play in a famous old theater that will be torn down. The memoir of the victim plays a big role. (As an aside that’s a wee bit curious,  at the time I purchased this book, I was already well into a piece of short fiction involving my detectives Chen and Castilblanco with a famous actor as victim. I’m far enough along that it might turn into a novella, not a novel, though. My detectives work in NYC; there are many more theaters there.)

A bit more taut and better written than number seven in the series, this did a nice job of satisfying my minimum quarterly dose of a British-style mystery (the “local color” here is Australian, of course). I put most books containing a DCI in this category (Louise Penny’s and Ian Rankin’s provide other examples that don’t occur in Britain), and Fitzjohn is one of the most interesting DCIs. There are nice twists throughout the book, and there’s a wee bit of surprising news regarding Inspector Fitzjohn.

I have been following this series. It’s a good example of how books in a series can stand alone relative to others in the series (the reader can jump in anywhere), avoiding cliffhangers and soap-operatic episodes that drive readers away (including me). At the same time, readers who follow the series can watch the characters change as the novels proceed along a timeline that follows their careers. Ms. Paterson has done well in both regards.

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Comments are always welcome!

Rembrandt’s Angel. Esther Brookstone, of London’s Scotland Yard, is also a DCI, but she’s not modeled after any of the ones mentioned above. She’s more like a younger version of Dame Agatha’s Miss Marple. How far would you go to find a painting stolen by Nazis in World War Two? Esther, of the Art and Antiques Division, becomes obsessed with the idea, and paramour and Interpol agent Bastiann van Coevorden (he even looks like Hercule Poirot, rather David Suchet, the actor who portrayed him so often) attempts to focus the investigation and keep her out of trouble. Together they discover the painting plays a role in an insidious conspiracy that threatens Great Britain and the world. Available on Amazon in ebook and print format, on Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, Walton, etc) in ebook format, and in print at your favorite bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask for it). A sequel, Son of Thunder, will be published by Penmore Press—coming soon!

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

(M. J. Markovski, Whatever It Takes, White Bird Publications, 2019, ISBN 978-1633633773)

Hunter Grainger acts strangely when he returns to Parker, Texas. So does Regan Argent. The two almost committed in high school; the attraction still remains. And they don’t realize how their pasts during the years away from Parker are connected.

How should I classify this novel? Much of it is steamy romance as Regan and Hunter draw closer. But all the romantic heat gives way slowly to a tidy mystery, suspense, and thriller story.

The romantic part is a bit soap-operatic, reminding me of the few peeks I’ve taken at Nicholas Sparks’s oeuvre. The rest is more disorganized and rushes a bit toward the end where the finale of Hamlet nearly occurs, with Regan in the role of Ophelia (in this case, it’s her mother who’s nuts) and Hunter in the role of Hamlet (his father is almost but not quite the villain). To make another analogy, Regan’s time in NYC reminded me of John Grisham’s character in The Firm who found out the legal establishment he worked for wasn’t quite so legal.

I’ll confess that this novel didn’t hook me at first. It improved. I gauge that by my reading speed. By the end, I was in a mad dash and when the race ended, I wanted more. I often say writing a novel is like running a marathon, so I now wish the author had paced herself a bit more. The book nearly divides into two parts: part one, the steamy romance; and part two, mystery, suspense, and thrills.

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I write reviews all the time for other authors’ books, but I’m not very lucky in receiving them for my own books. Here’s a few for some recent books.

A reviewer of Goin’ the Extra Mile says…

“WOW! What an exciting story from Steven Moore.  A total page turner from the start.  There are no doubts who you cheer for and who you want to lose in this exciting espionage story.
BACKGROUND: While in the CIA [actually she’s an ex-USN Master-at-Arms], Mary Jo was sent to reclaim two MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”) that were stolen from the CIA [a secret US government project] by Russian operatives. Instead, she freed them, then the three of them destroyed the laboratory and escaped to freedom. That was years ago and they have had no contact with each other since then.  But nobody believes Mary Jo. The Russians and CIA keep trying to find the MECHs and they still believe Mary Jo knows where they are.
CURRENT: Mary Jo is former Navy and now a former discredited/framed CIA agent [actually a security guard at the place with the MECHs project].  Her husband is a former FBI agent, [and] now all they want is to live the American dream of raising a family in peace.  But it appears the Chinese have different ideas for their future.
When Mary Jo’s husband and two children are kidnapped we start a rescue operation that jumps between France and America and ends up in Beijing. All kinds of alphabet agencies are involved, FBI, CIA, DSGI, DSGE, MSS, etc. [US, US, French, French, and Chinese agencies.]
Woven throughout the story are references of the Wall a previous President built, the disrespect of our leaders by the leaders of other countries, the decay of American values and freedoms, becoming more of a third-world country than a powerful leader of the world.  Unfortunately, this part of the story is partially true and just may be our actual future.
This story of political power desolving democracy and the free world deserves 5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.”

—Diana Raven, in an Amazon review

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The Red and the Blue. Steve Kornacki, author (ECCO-Harper Collins, 2018). This book’s subtitle is a useful addition: The 1990s and the Birth of Political Tribalism. For those not yet born during that time (millennials, for example), it’s a must read if only to see that the current craziness isn’t just some kind of spontaneously generated creature spawned in the rotting vegetation of DC’s political swamps. The thesis here is that Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich created America’s bitter political divide.

There were no team colors for that divide until the 2000 election when NBC chose blue for Democrats and red for Republicans. and other networks followed their lead, in that Bush v. Gore debacle that ended with SCOTUS choosing to saddle the US with a nice fellow but incompetent dynasty member for president (our current political chaos seems tame and Dubya seems harmless in comparison to who we now have as POTUS, especially if you ignore Cheney and Rumsfeld who were really running the George Bush show). This book ends with that election. How the Clinton v. Gingrich confrontations led to that is clearly laid out in this history of an important decade in America.

While reading this book, one might be tempted to compare Bill Clinton and Donald Trump in the harsh spotlight of today’s nasty politics. Neither Clinton nor Gingrich were angels in any sense of the word. Yet, if their struggles gave rise to our current situation, Trump and Pelosi play similar roles. If we focus on the presidents in the first story and its sequel, though—perhaps the more important comparison—Clinton comes off better than Trump.

They both looked inward more than outward. For example, Clinton failed miserably in going after al Qaeda after the first attack on the World Trade Center (the book doesn’t even mention this); and Trump’s ineptitude in foreign policy knows no bounds. (What does Putin have on him that makes him say he believes that Russian monster more than his own intelligence community? Is it all just about business, i.e. the Trump Tower in Moscow?).

But I prefer to focus on morality. Here’s something the author quotes from Tom Delay: “…it is much more damaging that this president [Clinton] looked the American people in the eye and knowingly lied to us.” He was lying about Monica Lewinsky. Fast forward to the Trump administration. The Washington Post keeps a running list of all Trump’s lies—thousands of them and counting. And how do the porn star and Playboy bunny compare to Monica Lewinsky? The latter was an affair between two consenting adults; the former—well, maybe we should let Melania say what they represent? So far she’s followed Hillary’s lead in avoiding the issue, hopefully not as far as running for president one day (step-daughter Ivanka seems to have that aspiration). Isn’t politics wonderful?

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