Malcom Winters series Archives — Mostly Mystery Reviews

07/24/202307/23/2023

Two Lists

In Two Lists, Malcom “Mal” Winters and his close friend, V. N. “Vinn” Atchison, confront a series of bizarre murders. Staged crime scenes laugh at them, daring them to connect the dots. And solve the crimes before someone else is murdered. Oddly, the murders seem to follow two lists created in the psychology field about those who would be most, and least, likely to commit murder. With each murder, props meticulously set the stage that indicate two different careers. And all the suspects congregate at Puzzlers Anonymous. What is it with that, anyway?

Mal and Vinn move as fast as they can with the help of Rebecca and Leo, Mal’s tenants. But not fast enough. Among the victims – their young friend, Maggie, the journalism student.

Mal and Vinn’s mounting frustration is sharply depicted in this latest from Thomas J. Thorson. When Mal and Vinn must take justice into their own hands, how will they react? Will they kill again, like in their previous lives? Even for justice? As Mal says, “it’s a slippery slope…Over time, your become immune to the emotional effect of holding a knife to someone’s throat or putting a gun to her head, and it becomes easier each time to follow through. At some point you actually begin to relish the rush…”

Also, see my reviews of Thorson’s previous Mal Winters books: Bad Fortune, The Cosmic Killings, The Connubial Corpse, and Heirs Apparent.

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

Get a copy of Two Lists by Thomas Thorson.

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Two Lists
by Thomas J. Thorson
© 2023
Thorshammer Books

11/01/202111/01/2021

Cosmic Killings

Thomas J. Thorson’s The Cosmic Killings delivers. Thorson rewards the reader with relatable characters, snappy prose and a succinct plot. Also, ironic humor appears frequently enough to keep readers chuckling.

Humor sneaks in when a volunteer at the zoo calls the police “incompetent boobs.” Late in the story, the English Department Head at the university where Mal teaches, disparages Mal’s teaching methods. I erupted into outright laughter when Mal says the following to confuse and dismiss him:

“Stuart, no need to be alarmed. I’m sure you’re keenly aware that when it comes to the problematization paradigm of students’ dialectic approach to disputatious engagements, where iatrogenic paths are often the result of idiopathic homogeneity, professorial divagation toward the inapposite, here in the form of a demiurge, can lead to originative solutions. Don’t you agree?”

Even Mal agrees to himself that this is “pure babble.”

Relevant information about Amish culture and Raelism slow the plot a bit. However, things speed up as Vinn Achison and Malcom Winters’ investigation heats up.

Vinn and Malcom (Mal) help bring down a killer who murders two young people. But they feel that the case isn’t finished. The police officer who oversees the official, but closed, investigation, agrees. So, with the officer’s blessing, Vin and Mal continue their probing and research. And feel like they’re traveling “a path of uncertainty in a crusade without end.”

Great Characterization

Vin and Mal’s deepening relationship rings true. They enjoy everything from cooking for each other to trying to outsmart each other in their investigations. Leo and Ted/Rebecca, Mal’s tenants, make appearances. As usual, they help in the current murder investigation.

Thorson’s new book delves a bit too much into lesser-known religions (Amish, a traditionalist Christian group, and Raelism, a UFO religion founded in the 1970s). But it still charmed and satisfied me.

See my reviews of Thorson’s previous books, Heirs Apparent and Connubial Corpse, here and here.

I received a free copy of this book, but gave an honest opinion.

03/15/202103/18/2021

Connubial Corpse – Ghost Wedding Victims?

Thomas J. Thorson‘s Connubial Corpse, the second book in the Malcom Winters series, pulls the reader quickly into the story. Sparse but sufficient backstory clues the reader into what’s gone before. (See my blog post about Thornton’s Heirs Apparent.)

Thorson’s spare prose grabs the reader and drives the story inexorably forward. Who’s killing Asian female university students? Winters gets sucked into the mystery when Lily Cheng, an Asian student Vinn (Winters’ girlfriend) teaches, goes missing. What follows is a chase through Chicago’s Chinatown section. Of course, Winters’ eccentric tenants, Leo and Ted/Rebecca, give an assist. So do another of Vinn’s students and an assortment of offbeat acquaintances of Rebecca. The actions of this motley group set in motion a succession of falling dominoes. Included in these tumbling dominoes are Hop Leung, head of the local tongs, and a severed head.

Malcom and Vinn’s relationship has advanced since the series’ debut. It’s stable enough for Malcom to even have some snarky thoughts about Vinn: about “her off-the-charts intelligence” and “ravishing beauty.” Or better yet, when thinking about the larger size of Vinn’s university office compared to Malcom’s: “She also needs the room to hold her outsized intellect.” (Shades of an unreliable narrator here, maybe?)

Other than some minor grammar glitches (using I and myself instead of me in several instances) and nomenclature of Chinese names, this second outing in the Winters series rolls along. It’s also great fun meeting Leo and Rebecca again. And the assorted secondary characters. Nice pace to the plot and great characterization. I’m looking forward to the follow-up to Connubial Corpse.

I received a free copy of Connubial Corpse from the author. All opinions are my own.