amateur detective Archives — Mostly Mystery Reviews

05/23/202305/22/2023

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

03/06/202302/17/2023

In Bleak Midwinter

Who would expect a former Army helicopter pilot to become an Episcopalian priest? Who would expect that priest to also be a female? And one who jumps into possibly dangerous situations first and asks questions later? These are some of the plot twists in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s In the Bleak Midwinter, first in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series.

A baby abandoned behind St. Alban’s demands Reverend Clare Fergusson dive right into the thick of things assisting Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. They begin piecing clues together, first the identity of the baby’s mother, then the father. Deaths mount up as quickly as clues – first the baby’s mother, then the baby’s conniving, ne’re-do-well grandfather. All during a bleak Adirondack winter.

As the mystery thickens, so does the attraction between the priest and the married chief. Needless to say, feelings deepen between Russ and Clare as they work towards the denouement with the murderer.

Clare and Russ are well-drawn characters. However, some of the secondary characters are rather stereotypical, such as the vestry members and congregation at St. Alban’s – white and definitely WASP-ish. Any hint from Reverend Clare about helping young, unwed mothers to improve their lives gets her congregation all aflutter. Linda Van Alstyne, Russ’s wife, is a virtual nonentity, always in the background. All that’s mentioned about her is that she runs a business dealing with draperies and curtains. But still, her presence (or lack thereof) is like the silent sword of Damocles hanging over Russ and Clare and their budding friendship.

Similarly, the family of the baby’s mother are distinctly described as overweight and white trash from the wrong side of the tracks. So, of course, the family of the baby’s father look down their long, thin, patrician noses and attempt to distance themselves from baby Cody, his mother, and her family.

Overall, I liked this mystery with romance sprinkled in. In the future, I’ll gradually read the rest of this series. I’ll read at least one more helping of Clare and Russ this year – A Fountain Filled with Blood.

In the Bleak Midwinter
by Julia Spencer-Fleming
© 2002
Minotaur Books

02/06/202302/04/2023

Forced Induction

John Tyler, former Green Beret, attracts trouble like a magnet, no matter how hard he tries to stay away. But he remains upbeat and undeterred, even keeled and able to deal with whatever comes his way. With his ex-wife in jail, his daughter, Lexi, living with him, and a super girlfriend, Sara Morrison, in Forced Induction, by Tom Fowler, Tyler’s life seems to be on a smooth path. At least for the time being. Then guns go missing from Fort Bragg and Sara, a Pentagon executive gets involved. Tyler gets involved too, through a strange accident at his Special Operations Car Repair shop. Patrick Baker crashes his recent model Subaru in the parking lot next to Tyler’s shop. Why?

Along with the dynamic, descriptive scenes of the interactions between Tyler and various militias that are ready, willing and able to buy stolen Army rifles (thanks to Tyler’s brother-in-law) are charming scenes between Tyler and Lexi. The tension sizzles between Tyler and his ex-wife in the women’s correctional center as Tyler explains his killing of her brother.

Forced Induction is the fifth in Tom Fowler’s great series featuring John Tyler. Sufficient backstory is presented for Forced Induction to be read out of sequence. But I will read the previous installments to know the whole story.

See last week’s review of The Reluctant Detective (here), the first book in Tom Fowler’s CT Ferguson series. I’ll be reading and reviewing both of these series throughout this year, and probably beyond, as Tom Fowler is prolific.

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

Forced Induction
by Tom Fowler
© 2023

03/28/202203/27/2022

Grace Among Thieves

In Kari Bovée’s Grace Among the Thieves, Grace finally gets to meet her father. Why had her father waited so long to contact her? She thought he was dead. Many years dead. When had he remarried? When had he become a heroin addict, and why?

Who would beat Anna Ivanova almost to death for a mysterious package? Valentina Baklanova, Ivanova’s niece, draws Grace into the investigation. Baklanova works at the same Hollywood studio as Grace.

The pressure on Grace and her friends ramps up when Madeleine, her father’s second wife, is kidnapped, and a note left about the same mysterious package.

Grace and Chet, her husband, are faced with keeping their circle of family and friends safe as murders and break-ins abound. Will they be successful and find the package? And learn what it contains? Will they succeed and beat the clock?

Why does Grace remain fixated on her sister four years after her death? Including still wearing Sophia’s dressing gown in the evenings and mornings. Grace now has a loving husband, a promising job as a clothes designer and as a costume designer for Ambassador Studio. As well, she and her husband care for a few teenage orphans.

Likeable Characters

In this third entry in the Grace Michelle Mystery series, Kari Bovée succeeds in growing Grace in confidence and likeability. The plot moves along at a fair pace. However, the supernatural aspect, in the form of Grace’s dreams and voices initiated by Sophia, her deceased sister, leaves a lot to be desired. Those aspects slow the plot and are not really believable. Sophia’s ghost does a lot of the heavy lifting in the hunt for the package and the crime’s solution. She provides connections and hints that could have been better provided through other, natural, means.

I have read the first and third installments in Grace Michelle Mystery series. I’m not sure I will read other books in this particular series. Although I like the characters more in this book than in Grace in the Wings, the plot in Grace Among Thieves had aspects that were less than credible.

See my review of Grace in the Wings, here.

I received a free copy of Grace Among Thieves from ireadbooktours.com in exchange for an honest review.

02/28/202202/26/2022

Last Call by Cathi Stoler

Who can you trust, if not your friends, drinking buddies, and regular customers? That’s the question stumping Jude Dillane and Thomas “Sully” Sullivan, her landlord and friend. The dumpster behind The Corner Lounge, Jude’s bar/restaurant hides a body. Turns out, it’s the recently arrived brother of one of Jude’s regular customers, Art Bevins. Who would want him dead, and why? Who among the “10th Street Irregulars,” Sully among them, would have the guts to do such a thing? Last Call by Cathi Stoler keeps the reader guessing.

When Elaine Garlinger, an FBI agent, takes charge of the case, she starts talking about a serial killer. Because of the murder weapon and the physical appearance of the victim, Garlinger connects the current crime to the New Year’s Eve Killer. And things really heat up for Jude. The killer begins leaving her threatening notes, both at The Corner Lounge and slid under her apartment door. How does he know where she lives? And how does he get into the building, anyway? Why is he so interested in Jude? Does the killer think she’s seen him or knows his identity in some way?

Believable Characters Attract

Believable, likeable characters entice the reader in Last Call by Cathi Stoler. The reader meets characters first seen in Bar None, such as Dean Mason, Jude’s hunky bartender; Sully Sullivan; Tony Napoli (who is this guy anyway?!); and Pete, Jude’s chef and co-owner of The Corner Lounge. Eric, Jude’s new boyfriend, earns a larger part in this second book of Stoler’s Murder on the Rocks series.

I’ve read three of the four books in the Murder on the Rocks series. All of them held my interest based on characterization and, to a lesser extent, plot. I want to read further in this series and look forward to the next installments. See my reviews of Bar None and Straight Up.

I received a free copy of this book from booksirens.com in exchange for an honest review.