Mostly Mystery Reviews

07/03/202307/01/2023

Coastal Conspiracy

Coastal Adventure Series, book 1 Do you have a favorite place, or places, to visit? I have a few. One of them is the Delmarva peninsula, which forms the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Don Rich‘s Coastal Conspiracy is set in the portion of Virginia that forms the tail and tip of the Delmarva peninsula. This is an area where fish and crabs rule.

With Rich’s descriptions in Coastal Conspiracy (the first book in the series), I can see the charter boats and skipjacks. And taste the crab cakes and soft-shelled crabs. And hear the back-and-forth banter between the group of friends that make up the characters in the series.

In Coastal Conspiracy, Michael “Murph” Murphy and his girlfriend, Lindsay Davis, plan to purchase a run-down marina in Virginia, near the southern tip of the Delmarva peninsula, or Eastern Shore Virginia (ESVA) as this portion is known. Their plans are small because of a lack of enough funds to do an extensive expansion. When Casey Shaw, Murph’s friend, and a real estate investor, hears about the project, he is all in and uses his resources and his staff’s knowledge to greatly enhance the extent of the project.

When Bill Cooper, Marlin Denton, Kim Collier, and Timmy O’Shea, charter boat captains who currently lease slips at the marina, hear of the extended plans, they get nervous. That is until someone tries to stop the purchase and renovation. Even to the point of trying to kill Murph and Lindsay. The captains, along with Casey and Dawn Shaw, jump into action. Who is behind the violence, and why?

Straightforward prose enlivens the action in this series debut. Action scenes and scenes on the Chesapeake thrum with spot-on descriptions. I will definitely read further into the Coastal Adventure Series.

Traversing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel has been a goal of mine for a while. When I, one day, actually do travel across the bridge, I will always think of the characters in this series.

06/26/202306/25/2023

The Honey in the Bones

Caroline Mellor‘s The Honey in the Bones is fantastic, exquisite. Her poems hum and sing and whisper in your ear and heart. Mellor partitions her poems in this collection into seasons of the year as well as earthly directions and elements. Rightly so.

Her poetic sense makes much of the earth’s seasons and weather and draws the reader along “soft and slow/as each breath/follows the last,” through the earth’s daily and seasonal tides and cycles. She invites the reader into a comfortable space where you can “tend the ember glow/of your soul’s hearth.” The poem, “Changing Sky, December 31, 2020,” recalls to mind that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Crocuses, birdsong, weather, light, birth—these are all related in Mellor’s vision.

Mellor makes various allusions to gardening regarding many things, including life. “Let my life/be an overgrown/garden:/gloriously messy/and lightly tended/with love.” Yes, mine, too.

In “Imbolc,” Mellor speaks about building bridges: “Give me the silent crescent moon rising over the sea and I will build/you a bridge of light so you can walk across and lie down in it.” To me, Mellor’s poetry is a bridge to a life of serenity and beauty.

The Honey in the Bones is Mellor’s first poetry collection. Living in the United Kingdom, besides being a poet, Mellor is a writer of essays and creative nonfiction. I can hardly wait for her second poetry collection. This first magnificent collection left me a fan.

The Honey in the Bones
by Caroline Mellor
© 2022
Golden Dragonfly Press

06/12/202306/11/2023

The Tower Hill Terror

Book 2 in Dane Cobain‘s Leipfold Mysteries series cuts to the chase, or the bone in this case. The Tower Hill Terror grabbed me from the first sentence. Mutilated corpses appear during Leipfold and O’Hara’s surveillance of Jayne Lipton, a suspect in a previous case. (See my review of Driven.) As the bodies mount up, James Leipfold and his assistant, Maile O’Hara, chase clues on social media and dating apps. Their friend, Jack Cholmondeley, rips his hair out, figuratively, as pressure mounts on the police to solve the crime.

Why is a serial killer cutting off the genitals of his/her victims? That’s one of the monumental questions that Leipfold and O’Hara must figure out. When they finally do, the answer helps lead them closer to the solution. But, will they be in time to save Kat Cotteril, O’Hara’s roommate, from the same fate as the other victims?

Cobain’s main characters are well-rounded people who add substance to the plot. James Leipfold is a down-on-his-luck private investigator. He makes strides to turn his life around in each book within this series. Maile O’Hara, a computer-savvy twenty-something, advances in learning the private-investigation field. Jack Cholmondeley is a smart chief inspector of police at the height, and end, of his career.

The Tower Hill Terror was enjoyable. I look forward to reading more about these folks in any upcoming additions to the Leipfold Mysteries series.

05/26/2023

She Who Rides Horses

She Who Rides Horses: A Saga of the Ancient Steppes, by Sarah V. Barnes, is a wonderful addition to the fictional literature genre dealing with prehistoric human conditions. This novel imagines how groups of humans might have lived on the Eurasian steppes millennia ago. While following a clan of nomadic herders/hunter-gathers, mention is also made of permanent settlements of farmers and stone cutters with whom the nomads trade.

Naya, daughter of the clan chief, interacts with a small herd of horses. Does she have special powers to communicate with animals and possibly the spirit world? When out on the steppe by herself, an arrow shot by a foreigner hits Naya in the back. This event changes the course of many in the novel.

She Who Rides Horses is first rate. Barnes’ concise prose creates perceptive scenes of that long-ago world. From interpersonal family relations, to politics within the clan, to collaborations with strangers, all facets of this era are incredibly drawn by Barnes.

On a par wit, or even surpassing, Jean M. Auel’s Earth Children series, Barnes has fashioned a real winner with this book. I look forward to reading further books in this series.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

05/23/202305/22/2023

The Mazatlán Showdown

The Mazatlán Showdown What happens when your life is centered around the intent for revenge? How would you feel if your wish came true? Would it be as good as you thought? How would you live the rest of your life? How do you love and not let your desire for revenge sour you to the good things in life? Like a single mother’s love for the son born after the father’s murder? These questions are among those investigated in Patrick Weill‘s The Mazatlán Showdown.

Jeff Walker, a lifeguard in the San Diego area, recalls his love of the water…his single mom sitting watching him surf at a beach in Mexico. He thinks about how his mom worked more than one job to allow him to do that. The more he contemplates his and his mother’s loss, the more resentful he becomes. Revenge slowly eats him up. How will he react when he and his lifeguard buddies become involved with taking down a drug-smuggling gang whose leader is his father’s killer?

Patrick Weill does a fair job of portraying Southern California beach life. The group of lifeguards and the various policemen with whom they interact are well drawn. The few gang members are less well so; they seem common enough thugs.

Most of the story hinges on the revenge theme. Without giving anything away, I will only say that the novel loses some steam after the climax and coasts to the ending.

However, I enjoyed this outing with Weil and look forward to reading Bad Traffic, the next book in this series.

I received a copy of The Mazatlán Showdown in exchange for an honest review.

The Mazatlán Showdown
by Patrick Weill
(c) 2023
Weill & Associates

05/17/202305/16/2023

The Torso at Highgate Cemetery

The Torso at Highgate Cemetery and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories by Tim Symonds has all the expected tropes, such as foggy London streets and fast hansom cab rides. From Highgate Cemetery to Holmes’ retirement bee farm in Sussex Holmes and Watson are “crammed into an agile hansom rattling off to Charing Cross Station [Watson’s] revolver tucked into a pocket.” One of the stories even has Watson in a prison in Istanbul! He even had a visitation from Mycroft Holmes and was sent to Crete to search for Holmes.

Things and times are more modern in some ways, too. Holmes has a telephone in the house at his farm. Modernity abounds as Holmes and Watson take a ride in a motorized hackney (i.e., an initial form of a car).

Overall, I liked these stories. Crisp writing enlivens them and causes tension. For example, in “The Torso at Highgate Cemetery,” Holmes and Watson indirectly cause the death of a Chinese scribe. Some oddities exist, too. In “The Mystery of the Missing Artefacts,” Watson had offered his services during World War I. While imprisoned, Watson received a telegram from Holmes to come assist him. As if Watson were casually sitting in his house in Marylebone. Upon Watson’s return, Holmes picked up relations with him as if Watson had been away on vacation. Really?!

Readers who enjoy works about the ever-popular Holmes and Watson, detectives extraordinaire, will be happy with this selection of short stories. From dealing with the ever-dangerous Colonel Sebastian Moran to scaring Dr. Watson with galloping knights and ghostly monks, things happen within these stories. Although some stories had sluggish spots; overall these six were enjoyable.

Not my favorite stories in the Holmes-Watson canon of pastiches. But, I would read other Holmes-Watson adventures written by this author.

I received a copy of The Torso at Highgate Cemetery and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories in exchange for an honest review.

05/01/202305/01/2023

LIES

LIES In Seeley James’ LIES, Jacob Steane, expert spy for Sabel Security, hunts for pieces of the Chaac Project, a highly prized experiment. When together, the equation and the data will enable the possessors to build a world-changing meta capacitor. Also of immense importance is the knowledge that Betty Bardon, a physicist, has of the project. Those that had conceived of the project were all for broadcasting the information for free once everything was reviewed. But, in addition to Pia Sabel and the American government, the Russians and Chinese are after whomever has the disparate pieces.

Stearne, a decorated Army special ops veteran, is soon saddled with Symone Blackworthy. He rescues her from a brothel and later realizes she has PTSD and is rather of a drag on his way of life. But anyway, that doesn’t stop him. Nothing seems to stop Jacob. Not even dealing with an old love—Betty Bardon. Or a would-be new love—Symone. Jacob mostly adheres to his own survival code: “Paranoia is the result of acute situational awareness.”

LIES lives up to its name as an action thriller. It steamrolls along, enticing the reader with it. Jacob and the secondary characters are well drawn. A solidly believable book, with terse, but descriptive prose. Well done.

Take a look at my review of a previous Seeley James work: The Rembrandt Decision.

I received a copy of LIES in exchange for an honest review.

LIES
by Seeley James
© 2022
Machined Media

04/11/202304/11/2023

The Recollections of Sherlock Holmes

The Recollections of Sherlock Holmes In London’s dark and foggy depths Holmes and Watson keep vigil against the various misdeeds of those gone astray and perpetrators who assume they can outsmart the Holmes and Watson dynamic duo. Snagging stalkers, blackmailers, mesmerists leave Holmes and Watson little time to enjoy Mrs. Hudson’s cooking or smoke a pipeful of shag tobacco. All of the recognizable tropes of the Holmes and Watson stories appear in The Recollections of Sherlock Holmes.

Arthur Hall‘s The Recollections of Sherlock Holmes hits all the right and best points for anyone who enjoys Holmes and Watson. Holmes accompanied by Watson and his service revolver seek clues in back alleys as well as posh surroundings. The duo are always on the lookout for new cases and experiences. Otherwise, Holmes exudes nervous energy and “abhorrence of inactivity. Of course, whenever a story involves a young woman, Watson delights in a pretty face and a shapely figure.

Whether catching jewel thieves red-handed or dealing with a case of a wife contracting with someone to kill her husband, Holmes is steady and calm in reading the clues and deducing the absolutely correct action. Of course, Watson is always up for an adventure and has Holmes’s back. The stories are engaging with spare prose that indubitably places Holmes and Watson in the center of any action. Criminals beware.

Arthur Hall is spot on with his choice of words to describe the pair and the setting. One can see the foggy streets with gas lamps gleaming faintly. One can almost smell Holmes’ shag tobacco as he ponders a problem. As always, sitting with his legs stretched out, Dr. Watson reads a medical journal nearby.

Always open to Holmes and Watson pastiches, whether full length or short stories, I liked this collection immensely.

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

04/03/202304/02/2023

The Rembrandt Decision

At the outset of The Rembrandt Decision, by Seeley James, number 12 in his Pia Sabel mystery series, Phil Jacobsen, the murder victim, and how he died, is known. Why he was killed and by whom takes longer to unveil. Although James plays it close to his authorly vest with subtle clues, who committed the crime becomes increasingly obvious. The why of things takes most of the book to uncover.

Christine Jacobsen, one of the three narrators in this who-done-it, attempts to steamroll the investigation towards Al Devino, a relation, and also part of an organized crime family that wants to invade Deeping, Maine, a small, fictional town where everyone knows almost everyone else. Why doth she protest too much about Devino being the culprit? What further complicates the investigation is that her adopted son, Scott Jacobson, is the town’s police chief. Christine thinks Scott is still a small boy (she continues to call him Scotty) and that she can control him as well as the investigation.

Pia Sabel, of Sabel Security, is in town to investigate if Deeping is a good place to locate Sabel Research Center, a new wing of her conglomerate. Once Sabel offers to assist Scott with his investigation, Christine continually denounces Sabel’s help. Christine declares that Sabel will uncover the town’s “secrets,” even though no one else agrees or even mentions secrets. Christine originally provided the impetus for Sabel’s invitation to view the town, but once Sabel and Scott begin working together, Christine wants her to move on as quickly as possible. Why? What harm can Sabel cause the town by accelerating the pace of the investigation? Or more importantly, cause harm to whom?

Readers learn about Pia Sabel through the other two narrators: Isaiah Reddick, one of her advisors, and Scott Jacobsen, the police chief. Sabel comes across as extremely smart and observant. Very smart, Sabel seems to know something about almost everything. She can be likeable, but also an obnoxious know-it-all.

Subtexts

Although I enjoyed The Rembrandt Decision, it was slow moving for the first two-thirds of the story. For example, a long-winded conversation between Scott and Pia details adoption. This interaction helps Scott grow as a person/character. However, the mystery plot comes to a screeching halt. Similarly, an interaction between Scott, Isaiah and Kubari Eady (who are both Black), underscores white supremacy and how white police handle dealings with minorities. Rather heavy-handed. A third subtext involving unhoused/homeless people. The impression is that those unfortunate enough to have no place to live are either mentally ill or alcoholic, or both. These subtexts could have been treated differently and more succinctly.

The Rembrandt Decision may not be a favorite of mine, but I’ll read others in this series. I’ll also read James’s second series about Jacob Stearne.

I received a copy of The Rembrandt Decision in exchange for an honest review.

03/13/202303/11/2023

Driven

Driven In Driven, by Dane Cobain, James Leipfold, a down-on-his-luck private investigator, sticks his nose into a strange hit-and-run case. A car strikes and kills Donna Thompson, a waitress walking home after hours. A driverless car, to be exact. Was it an accident? A software glitch? Or murder? Leipfold and Detective Inspector Jack Cholmondeley work on different aspects of the case and occasionally coordinate their findings. As Leipfold begins his investigation, he picks up Maile O’Hara, a computer whiz, as an unpaid assistant.

According to Cobain: “Maile and Leipfold live in a London that’s similar to, but not identical to our own. It’s a London where the villains are straight from the pages of a comic book, where the heroes are unusual (but normal) people struggling to do the best they can in the knowledge that life doesn’t always turn out like it does in storybooks.” Is this the reason that Leipfold feels like an intruder in his own neighborhood? And why he feels the people have changed? Certain characters in Driven are single dimension, underdeveloped stereotypes such as Eleanor Thompson, Donna’s mother. She is snarly and uncooperative, period.

Cobain creates a showdown scene towards the end of Driven similar to Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe series. The suspects, police, and press congregate for a confrontation with the “great” detective. Maile O’Hara functions in a similar fashion to Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe novels. They are both actors in the crime detection but are kept in the dark by the detectives as to how the puzzle pieces fit together to corner the perpetrator.

There are a few inconsistencies – at one point, Leipfold surreptitiously records a conversation with Eleanor Thompson, a suspect – supposedly on a Dictaphone. Really? In the age of smartphones? A few pages later Leipfold is asked by James Cholmondeley, his police inspector friend, whether he recorded a conversation with Ms. Thompson (Donna’s mother). Leipfold then pats the “phone” in his pocket. Hmm. Later in the story, Leipfold texts Maile on his phone. Yes, Dictaphone made, and most likely still makes, dictation equipment. But I doubt whether the company makes a voice recorder application or a texting application for smartphones, though I may be wrong.

On the whole, Driven held my attention and I look forward to Leipfold and O’Hara’s further adventures and development as well-rounded idiosyncratic characters and a dynamic detective duo.