Tag Archives: Thomas J. Thorson

Bad Fortune

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Bad FortuneBad Fortune by Thomas J. Thorson is so hot, it sizzles in your hand. This fourth book in the Malcom Winters Mystery series grabs you within the first few pages.

We get to learn more about Rebecca and also about Leo’s real family. Family members usually stick together, right? Not so in this case. Far from it, in fact.

Strange things start happening to Rebecca, such as someone hacking her credit card. And someone attacks Leo. What does this have to do with Sara, an ex-friend of Rebecca? Who would want to attack Malcom and Vinn’s friends? What can Malcom and Vinn do to help?

Thorson fills out the depiction of Leo and Ted/Rebecca to some degree. Maybe someday we’ll learn a bit more about Malcom Winters and V. N. (Vinn) Achison. Why did Malcom assume the name of another person? This was discussed briefly in Heirs Apparent, the first book in this series. (See my review of Heirs Apparent). Let’s hope for more personal background on Malcom and Vinn in future outings .

In my view, letting us into Mal and Vinn’s previous lives, even a tad, would add oomph and intensity to these two characters and their blossoming love affair. As it is, sometimes they seem a little superficial. Both Malcom and Vinn have secret past lives. Will the reader ever learn the how, where and why of their earlier lives? Let’s hope that we get at least a tiny peek behind the curtain in future additions to this enjoyable series.

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

Bad Fortune
by Thomas J. Thorson
© 2022
Thorshammer Books

Cosmic Killings

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Cosmic KillingsThomas 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.

The Cosmic Killings
Thomas J. Thorson
© 2021

Heirs Apparent – A journey of love and death

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Heirs Apparent

Malcom Winters, alias for the initially unnamed narrator of Heirs Apparent, by Thomas J. Thorson, escorts the reader on a journey. Wandering through Greyhound terminals, always on his way to the next place, Winters introduces us to a variety of characters, human and architectural. Freddie Four-Fingers, the African American forger, from Winters’ old life. Felicity “Fyre” Stockton, Winters’ new lover, as tight-lipped about her past and present as Winters is about himself.

The list of bizarre characters grows longer once Winters settles down in a three-flat he buys in Chicago. Leo, a tenant, and ersatz chef, supposedly made an assassination attempt on Castro. Ted, or Rebecca, a cross-dressing businessman, Winters’ other tenant. V. N. “Vinn” captures the prize for normalcy in Winters’ expanding network. She’s a science professor at the local university where Winters takes a creative writing professorship for which he’s not credentialed. But even Vinn keeps secrets about her past.

Are Fyre’s secrets the reason for an assailant to fire at her and Winters when they exit a restaurant? Why does Fyre evade Winters, who follows her to the Old Post Office? Who kills Fyre and wounds Winters while there? Help tracking Fyre’s killer comes from Winters’ network of odd-fellow friends.

Leo, Ted/Rebecca and eventually Fyre are fleshed out in Heirs Apparent. Even the Old Post Office comes alive under Thorson’s light and able touch. Each character is deftly drawn and given their own, credible, story. Vinn and Winters remain something of an enigma—hopefully to be further developed in the next installment in the Malcom Winters mystery series.

Heirs Apparent
by Thomas J. Thorson
Austin Macauley Publishers
© 2020