The Deadliest Fever. June Trop, author (Black Opal Books, 2018). Miriam bat Isaac is an alchemist and amateur sleuth. This novel, the last one of a series recently published, focuses more on the second role. This is a mystery with historical fiction overtones that includes the clash of two cultures, one Jewish and the other Roman, and they somewhat coexist in Alexandria during the time of Nero.

Someone desecrates the synagogue leaving it a mess with blood and oil on the floor. But then one of the relics gets damaged several times. Miriam the sleuth wonders what’s afoot.

I have to apologize here. While I sat in on a course that compared the great religions of the world, in this short review I can’t pretend to do justice to all the new details I learned about Jewish religious traditions. It suffices to say that this background material makes the novel come alive, though, as do the historical settings. The details given, both religious and otherwise, indicate that the author did a lot of research for this book, as the endnotes show. There’s also a glossary there, but the meaning of terms I didn’t know were easily guessed from context. (Some readers might want to refer to that glossary before starting the novel, or during their reading.)

It’s a bit odd that there’s no homicide case to solve here in what is an unusual story. The violence of the era is found in the Roman Empire for the most part. A past pogrom against Alexandrian Jews is mentioned, but the Romans were equal opportunity tyrants in those days, as the Christians of the era also knew.

The plot picks up speed as you turn the pages, almost becoming a thriller by book’s end. The characters are finely drawn, with Miriam, the main character, able to shed her relatively privileged lifestyle and go undercover. Suspense and intrigue are aspects of human existence through the centuries, so why not in Nero’s time?

There is romance here too, with Miriam’s beau Judah a man who has pulled himself up by his bootstraps (or sandal ties), no mean feat in this era of class distinctions and even slavery. A practical man, Judah nicely complements Miriam. They make a good team, so maybe they’ll be solving more cases in the future.

If readers want to experience a new, original take on crime stories (at least new for me), don’t miss this book. Recommended.

[Note: If you want to learn more about this author, see the “Interviews” category of this blog for my interview of June Trop. This book is available in ebook and print format.]

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Comments are always welcome.

Aristocrats and Assassins. #4 in the “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series” is my favorite C&C book. In one very positive review with many kudos, the reviewer also commented that it could also serve as a model in a master class for authors who want to create a series: like all my books, it’s a completely independent story involving the detectives. Casilblanco is finally on vacation in Europe with his wife, and the action stays there. The assassins are terrorists, and the aristocrats are some European royals. Available at Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc).

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

Grave Expectations. Sandra Gardner, author. (Black Opal Books, 2019) This novel continues in the Carl Hiaasen tradition of the first book in the series, Dead Shrinks Don’t Talk, which I also reviewed. In other words, it’s a serious mystery that’s hilarious at the same time. You will recall that the Dr. Watson for Marabella Vinegar’s Holmes is her ghost-mom. (Or is it the reverse? Ghost-mom has ambitions to be Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher. Dame Angela, who played Ms. Fletcher, is still alive, though.)

The case afoot for our Sherlock incarnation this time is finding out who murdered Marabella’s old neighbor, a crime designed to look like a heart attack. Enter all the old man’s relatives who compete for our disgust and the inheritance involving millions. (Yes, a ubiquitous plot in the mystery literature, but it’s all about how authors put their own twists on that story.) As is often the case in Dame Agatha’s oeuvre (lots of Dames in this review), that dysfunctional, greedy family provides many suspects. Marabella and ghost-mom must figure out which of them did the dirty deed.

The main plot is often hilarious. There are some hilarious side stories too—Marabella’s boyfriend, with his three St. Bernard dogs meeting Zilla the cat, as well as his meeting ghost-mom; girlfriend Toniann’s wedding (Marabella is maid of honor); and coworker Carmen’s legal battle with Li Li, the boyfriend’s assistant. All good fun, and nicely fleshing out the main characters and their foibles.

Detective Rivera also returns. NYPD cops are often gruff and cranky because they’re overworked, but I’d like to see more of him. (Maybe in the next book?) I bet there’s more to his character that readers would like to discover.

My only complaint echoes one in my review of the first book: The ending seemed rushed again. Readers will be having so much fun with the story that they won’t want it to end. Just my perception maybe, because I felt that way.

All in all, this book is a lot of fun amidst its honest portrayal of quirky NYC culture. I sailed through this book with a smile on my face, and that wasn’t there only because of the Jameson. Recommended.

***

Comments are always welcome!

The Last Humans. Penny Castro uses her USN search-and-rescue diving skills to become a forensics diver for the LA County Sheriff’s Department. Surfacing from a dive, she finds that she’s one of the few survivors of a biological attack left in the world. Her adventures from that point on illustrate her strong will to survive and protect her adopted family. Coming soon from Black Opal Books!

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

Cherubs 2. Marc Liebman, author (Penmore Press, 2017). Numerous historical fiction stories about the Vietnam War portray how this conflict ripped at the fabric of U.S. society ad created mental and physical wounds for those who fought in an unpopular war. This is such a story, and it is a good one.

I confess that I approached it with some trepidation. Most readers won’t be able to approach this novel lightly either. Yes, it’s about SAR (search and rescue for downed aviators, not synthetic aperture radar). Josh Haman, the main character, is a helicopter pilot who works with the U.S. Navy but is slapped around a bit in a rigid organization dominated by old warriors and Naval academy graduates.

But this novel, like all good thrillers, has twists and turns often associated with machinations from China and Russia, two U.S. adversaries who were “backing” the North Vietnamese government (the word is in quotes because the North Vietnamese were being played like puppets just like the U.S. and the French before them did with South Vietnam in the decades-long civil war).

The story is about mettle and heroism pitted against rigidity and political manipulation, from within the armed forces to political machinations on a global scale. It’s historical fiction writ large that goes beyond personal stories, making a thriller that’s an exciting read.

That said, there are some stretches where the narrative dominates and the omniscient POV is overused. For example, I skipped over the description of a long hazing ritual that could have been much shorter.  The plot is a bit jumpy at times too as the reader travels from the local to the global and back, often within the same chapter. Some characters aren’t well-developed either, although the reason is obvious: there are many of them.

Josh Haman’s adventures as a SAR helicopter pilot cover his time as a newbie to his two secret surveillance missions ferrying SEALs into China. If that sounds suicidal, readers can blame the Air Force general who wouldn’t risk his own people to perform the missions and called on the USN to do it for them. Powerful moments are portrayed here. Josh’s confrontation and trial with the coward Higgins is an indictment of a rigidity in the military that non-academy personnel often have to face. Higgins’s father provides the clearest indictment of his son, though: “I don’t like what we’re doing in Vietnam. It is the wrong war with the wrong mission, but anyone who puts up his right hand and takes the oath to serve make a commitment to his country to do his duty.” Amen. (I lost all respect for my fellow citizens who didn’t realize that sacrifice of our service people, treating returning vets terribly during and after that long war. Hopefully they’ve learned their lesson and treat Afghanistan and Iraq veterans better. Politicians are the problem, not soldiers.)

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Reciprocal Evil. Scott Dyson, author (2018). Horror? Romance? Thriller? Fantasy? The reader will also find lots of very interesting philosophical questions in this novel. The premise of this story might make even a priest shudder, although Dante might have had it right: Hell is real. It exists in another dimension, and you can get there via portals that are usually found in churches. That’s never explained in this book, but it’s an interesting concept.

With the title as clue, the reader can guess that heaven is also real, although it’s not as clear how to get there. The novel’s protagonist Chris Jones has become obsessed with the reciprocals good and evil, heaven and hell, and thinks by studying evil and hell that he can understand good and heaven. But he starts hearing a voice in his head from someone who seems to be reading his thoughts, and the voice is not heavenly.

That’s an introduction to the horror. Romance enters when Chris starts getting serious about Rachel. The thrills start when the voice takes on human form. And the adventures that follow, while pure fantasy, are fantastic with a lot of hidden meaning found between the lines.

There are a few nits to pick: Both Rachel and the cop Chavez seem too accepting of Chris’s story; their internal struggle isn’t realistic enough here. The main characters were well done, although I would have liked to see them more developed because they’re so interesting. There’s certainly room for all this; in other words, the author could do a lot more with this interesting tale.

The author with this short novel channels early Stephen King. The plot is direct, elegant, and horrific. It’s also very original—no killer clowns or slighted wannabe prom goers involved here. While I always say that human beings make their own hells on Earth, this novel describes an interesting alternative. Is it a serious one? Readers will have to make that decision on their own as they enjoy this book.

I can’t write horror stories, so take what few negatives I’ve included in this review with a grain of salt. I enjoyed the story; that’s what counts. And, if I could write horror stories, I’d emulate Scott Dyson who seems to have a knack for spinning a good yarn that will challenge readers and make their skin crawl. I’ll be looking for more novels from this writer.

The author provided a free copy of his book for this review.

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Comments are welcome!

Pasodobles in a Quantum Stringscape. I’ve made some attempts at writing horror and fantasy, all short fiction; modesty aside, they’re not bad. You’ll find a few of them in this collection of speculative fiction. Also a sci-fi novella and several Dr. Carlos stories. (A second volume in this series is available as a free PDF download. See the entire list on my “Free Stuff & Contests” web page.)

Around the World and to the Stars! In libris libertas!

Most mystery and thriller readers have their own list of novels they remember with fondness. While yours might be different, I want to offer you mine. For younger readers, there are probably some oldies in my list you might have missed and could enjoy. Maybe you’ve heard old geezers like me mention them fondly. In any case, many are classics now. Without further ado, here’s my list in alphabetical order according to author:

Isaac Asimov, The Naked Sun

David Baldacci, Absolute Power

John le Carré, Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy

Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye (1955)

Lee Child, The Affair

Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile

Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles

Michael Connelly, The Narrows

Jeffery Deaver, Garden of Beasts

Ken Follett, Eye of the Needle (1979)

Frederick Forsyth, The Day of the Jackal (1972)

Dashell Hammet, The Maltese Falcon

P. D. James, Death in Holy Orders

Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty

Robert Ludlum, The Bourne Identity

Robert Parker, The Godwulf Manuscript

Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Relic

Ian Rankin, Resurrection Men (2004)

H. Rider Haggard, She

John Sandford, Bad Blood (2011)

Georges Simenon, A Battle of Nerves

With the exception of Sandford’s book, the years indicate when an Edgar Award was rewarded to the novel (Sandford’s is a best thriller award). I haven’t always chosen every author’s Edgar or thriller award novel if there is one because sometimes I don’t consider it the best! And many of the books in my list were unfortunately overlooked by the award committees.

I also should emphasize that most of the writers have authored many more books than the one that appears here for them. Baldacci produces bestseller after bestseller, but the one listed, his first, is his best. Deaver is more famous for his Lincoln Rhyme series, but I also think the one listed is his best. Follett has broadened his horizons, especially to more lengthy historical fiction, but none can beat the one listed here (also historical fiction in a sense and akin to Deaver’s in a way).

Many authors listed here were trailblazers in the genres. Those who followed them have a very big hurdle to leap over. All of these books should be considered classics (assuming snooty critics can ever consider genre fiction novels as classics—they tend to limit themselves only to those books in that catch-all genre “literary fiction”). I’ll admit I might have missed some classic mysteries and thrillers. I can state without reservation that I read every one of these novels and enjoyed them all (and a lot more than these, of course).

Some books here have influenced my own work in the mystery and thriller genres. Hard-boiled mystery writers like Chandler, Hammett, and Parker influenced my “Detectives Chen and Castilblanco Series,” but its spin-off, Rembrandt’s Angel, was influenced by Christie (the main characters are a modern version of Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, together at last!), and by P. D. James and Ian Rankin. Jame’s Death in Holy Orders influenced my sequel Son of Thunder much more than Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (the latter’s influence was more limited to doing such a story the correct way, without controversy and sloppy historical research).

Any list like this is subjective. You can make your own, but I’d expect at least some overlap.

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Comments are welcome!

Goin’ the Extra Mile. Hot off the press and available on Amazon and Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc). The U.S. made the MECHs (“Mechanically Enhanced Cybernetic Humans”), the Russians stole them, and now the Chinese are after the MECH tech and are willing to kidnap Mary Jo and her family to get it. #3 in the “Mary Jo Melendez Mysteries” puts Mary Jo and her MECH friends through the paces as the action and suspense takes the reader from the U.S. to Europe and China, returning to the globe-trotting thrills of the first novel, Muddlin’ Through, which is also now on sale for $0.99 at Smashwords for a short time.

In libris libertas!

Fear. Bob Woodward, author (Simon and Schuster, 2018). I’ve been a Bob Woodward fan since Nixon. Journalists keep politicians honest and the public informed. (Two at the NY Times made a mistake with their Rosenstein/25th Amendment report, but these are few and far between.) Freedom of the press is one of our most important freedoms, and it distinguishes democracies from the ubiquitous authoritarian regimes around the globe.

That said, this book only stands out because other books of the same flavor are not as trustworthy and prone to sensationalize the Trump administration’s scandals (that’s the worst kind of journalism–do we still call it “yellow journalism”?). We have to face the fact that the American people elected Trump. We’re probably stuck with him for four years, and his supporters are certainly hoping for another four. That too is democracy in action. Democracy isn’t the prettiest way to govern the multitudes and run a government, but it’s better than the alternatives.

This isn’t one of Woodward’s best books. First, I didn’t find many surprises here, at least for me. Maybe there’ll be some for people who only watch Fox News (not a fortress for good journalistic practices, by the way–even Trump watches CNN and MSNBC); these people either have their head in the sand, or they’re ardent Trump supporters who think he walks on water (he’s on a mission to ruin the environment, so that water will soon be polluted, I suspect). Oh, my bad! Those people, if they read books, don’t read books like this. (Hey, I’m open-minded; I even watch Fox News—Hannity’s always good for a few laughs—and I read McCain’s book, because he’s a true conservative and American hero, not a “populist” AKA fascist.) But think what you will. It’s still a free country, and I’ll respect your opinion even if it clashes with mine. (I couldn’t be a reader or writer if I didn’t.)

Second, the book has its flaws and ups and downs. There are some nice details, though. Trump running between two White House rooms ranting and raving about Rosenstein’s naming Mueller, Trump acting like a complete psychotic paranoid while yelling, “They’re out to get me!”  (You have to admit that’s funny at least.) Trump not worried about creating more national debt because Mnunchin could just print more money. (He doesn’t understand economics; I’m not sure he even understands real estate. He went bankrupt many times. Maybe he wants to solve our problems by making the country do the same?) Ivanka exploding to the Chief of Staff Kelly that she doesn’t have to report to him because she’s the first daughter. (And she wants to be president? Of course, she was a friend of Chelsea Clinton’s, who seems to have the same aspirations. Infectious mental disease of first daughters?) Tillerson exploding to those who remained in the Pentagon SCIF that Trump is a “f%$&ing moron” (the actual quote doesn’t soften the f-bomb) after Cohn and Mattis and others tried to control him and Trump stomps out.

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(James Comey, A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership, Flat Iron, 2018, ISBN 978-1-250-19245-5)

I don’t like to read celeb books. Famous people hire a ghostwriter to turn experiences, opinions, reminisces, and disordered notes about them into a book, and many readers will pay top dollar to read it, which often fattens that celeb’s already bloated bank account. The Big Five publishers rush to publish books like that because of those readers. And, as good as the ghostwriter might be (sometimes they get co-author status in small print), these tell-all memoirs are usually ho-hum and self-aggrandizing tales of the rich, powerful, and/or has-beens.

I so rarely read these books that friends and family take pity on me because they think I might be missing something I’d like. This books is an example. Even though it sounded intriguing when it came out, I’m enough up on the news that I didn’t think there would be much in it that I didn’t already know—not details but the general plot. They also know I wouldn’t spend money on such a book. With the Kindle edition at $14.99 (at least three ebooks worth in my budget, although I have a bundle of three books at $5.99) and the hardcover at $13.38 (you read correctly—it’s marked $29.99 retail, but I guess Amazon decided to “discount” the hardcover more than the ebook at the time I checked…go figure), I would have waited to either buy it used or borrow it from the public library.

That’s my little story about how I came by this book, a big story that Mr. Comey tells about the cesspool that is Washington politics. He is a celeb, of course, maybe more so now than when he wrote the book. But this isn’t the typical celeb’s book. He actually has written something that’s worth reading.

Comey was famous even before the 2016 election and the later skirmishes with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. He helped end the mafia of days of yore and stranglehold of the Gambino family; he prosecuted Martha Stewart; and he created the special counsel the put “Scooter” Libby where he belonged. You probably heard more about those three people, though, than about James Comey. They were more infamous celebs. (The last prosecution explains Mr. Trump’s pardon of Libby as a way to get back at Comey. The next-to-last explains the rumor about another potential pardon for the same reason. Mr. Trump is a vengeful man who holds a grudge.)

The 2016 election changed everything. The FBI was investigating Mrs. Clinton’s use of a private email server, more for the possibility she had violated national security rules for dealing with classified material (those who have security clearances might still wonder why she wasn’t prosecuted for that) and Donald Trump and his minions’ possible collusion with the Russians (they already knew about their cyberattacks on the U.S.). Mr. Comey was no longer working in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District (starting there under Giuliani, a man Comey describes with no kind words, to be sure). He was no longer the Deputy Attorney General who became acting AG for an ailing John Ashcroft. He was Director of the FBI since 2013, taking over from Bob Mueller, and Comey was expecting to serve his country in Washington for ten years.

So, what about the book? Let me take a novelist’s point of view. The plot here is well done, interesting and complex. The characters are well drawn, none of them two-dimensional and most of them flawed. The setting, the DC power scene, is well described with all its warts and surreal nature. Make no mistake, this is a novel. But the writer didn’t have to follow Clancy’s advice and make his fiction seem real. Here the reality slaps you in the face and tells you to wake up and smell the cesspool. That’s what DC is—not a swamp—and the cesspool stinks more than ever before. In this autobiographical novel, James Comey writes like a novelist, and his story about his struggles in the halls of power often reads like a mystery/thriller. Comey is telling a story, his story, and he tells it well. (An aside: I like that he uses the Oxford comma in his title!)

I suppose I shouldn’t sing the praises of a man so many people hate, but like Comey and unlike many others in our nation’s capital, I believe in doing what’s right to the best of my abilities. In that sense, those same haters are disrespecting an honorable man who believes he’s done what’s right for the country and the integrity of the FBI as an independent police force. He might be wrong, but I don’t think so. Maybe he could have done things differently and still act rightly. Read the book before you make your decision about that.

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(Alex Gerlis, Vienna Spies, Studio 28, 2017, ASIN B06XY644HG)

What a great story! More gripping than Follett’s Eye of the Needle and Deaver’s Garden of Beasts, this spy tale about Vienna at the end of WWII kept me reading. It’s complex, poignant, and gritty. It took me a while to keep the characters straight, even with the character list kindly provided by the author, but that’s stretching it to find something negative. My kind of book!

The book is related to some of the author’s other historical novels—Major Edgar, the spy controller, is in them, for example. I believe the main characters, Rolf Eder and Katharina Hoch, are new. Eder is a Vienna native who becomes a somewhat reluctant spy for the British, a dangerous game in wartime Vienna, considering the Austrians have bought into Hitler’s far-right nationalistic nightmare. His partner Katharina becomes his lover after he gets over the loss of fiancée who was tortured by the Viennese Gestapo. The overriding problem: Keep a Soviet spy Viktor from turning Austria Communist at the end of the war. The means? Get an old Austrian statesman not to side with the Soviets by hustling him out of Vienna to the American-British lines.

This novel isn’t for the squeamish, although the descriptions don’t begin to compare with the horrors the Nazis performed. At the same time, readers will meet human beings who laugh and love their way to survive the worst war the world has seen.

Readers might even end up identifying with the Soviet spy. All the spies here are conflicted. Not one Nazi has redeeming qualities. Classic battle between some good and some evil.

***

Did you miss Rembrandt’s Angel? More Nazis, ISIS terrorists, and a cartel contribute villains to this mystery/thriller about a Scotland Yard’s obsession to recover a missing Rembrandt.  Available on Amazon and Smashwords and its affiliates (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc). Or ask for it at your favorite bookstore (if they don’t have it, ask them to order it).

In libris libertas…

(Jill Paterson, The Fourth String, J. Henderson, 2017, ASIN B07848BHT2)

When Crispin Fitzgerald, new conductor of the Sydney Symphony, is brutally murdered, DCI Alistair Fitzjohn is called back from leave to take charge of the case. He finds a crowd of persons of interest: all of Fitzgerald’s condo building, quite an artsy group.

We get a peek into book signings and other author woes, the stolen art trade, and apartments used for violin practice, sculpting, and vocal lessons, as the building’s inhabitants go about their businesses under the watchful eyes of the police. Oh, and the murderer leaves spoor—a violin string draped around the victim’s neck.

As the case progresses, Inspector Fitzjohn and his sidekick Betts delve deeper into the past of all the persons of interest. They turn up even more of them as they go.  Meanwhile, Fitzjohn’s troubles with his irascible neighbor and snarky superintendent continue, although the latter is temporarily replaced by a woman. Will she become a romantic interest and someone to fill the loneliness in the Inspector’s life? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

A few copy editing errors remain, notably with the British-style single quotes, but there’s not enough to ruin the fun. The plotting is carefully done and the author continues to develop her main characters, which is the advantage of writing a series. But this novel can be read independently from the others, the mark of a good series. There’s not much local color here, though. In fact, the story could have taken place in England or Canada, and it reminds me of the P. D. James and Louise Penny mysteries—horrible happenings occurring amidst Commonwealth propriety.

I’m a fan of this series. Like all of the Fitzjohn books, nice twists and turns abound. This one is a pleasant mix of police procedural, with Fitzjohn’s traditional sleuthing, mystery—who did the deed?—and suspense, because there’s evil to be rooted out. In other words, this is the kind of novel I love to read. Fans of good mysteries will too.

(Note: I purchased this book for R&R reading.  When I do so and like the book, I often write a review.)

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Great Spring Thaw Sale? Still on at Smashwords! My author page there lists all my ebooks there, and you’ll find at least two on sale to the end of June.  If you want more mysteries, I have them.  My oeuvre contains both oldies (more current today than ever before) and new releases. Great late spring and summer reading.

In libris libertas!

(Elizabeth Bonesteel, Cold Between, Harper Collins, 2016)

Romance? Hard Sci-Fi? Space Opera? Mystery? Thriller? Many genre tags are possible for this novel. It has some of the quirkiness I put into my own sci-fi (but maybe not enough?). Forget the bad title and the romance novel cover (bodice ripper in space?). Chief Mechanic Elena from the Central Corps battleship Galileo meets pirate Trey in a bar…. Yes, that sounds a bit like a bad joke and also a bit trite. The Corps has a Shadow Ops division, and the pirate is a retired captain from another nomad (?) fleet, the Psi.

The story works best when the author focuses on chain-of-command human relationships between the crew of Galileo, whether ship-based or planet bound; it’s awful when she focuses on the romantic ones. In fact, the characters, including the main character Elena, aren’t very believable, and the author could have used better content editors because the plot flow is jumpy. All those possible genre tags imply that readers will be jerked around, which can be disconcerting at times.  But let’s analyze some of those possible categories.

Romance? Actually, there’s not much—thank you for minimizing my pain, Ms. Bonesteel! After that bar scene, there’s a lengthy and steamy orgy, an animalistic bonding between Elena and Trey. That’s the raciest part of the book, but there are sappy parts sprinkled throughout, and especially at the end (the author doesn’t seem to know how to end her novel after blathering on and on for 500+ equivalent pages).

Elena’s relationships, especially the one with Trey, diminishes this main character. She acts all too often like a pubescent rock star fan instead of a mature crewmember. The author should have built up the relationship with Trey slowly in the plot—the novel is long enough to do that.

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