Novels Now

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin

Pages: 335
First Published: Oct. 5, 2010
Publisher: William Morrow
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

The Rutherford girl had been missing for eight days when Larry Ott returned home and found a monster waiting in his house.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: I love southern fiction and am always intrigued with stories where the past comes back to haunt the lives of those living in the present.

It’s the late 1970’s, rural Mississippi and white Larry Ott from a lower middle class home and black Silas Jones son of a poor working single mother, make for strange friends. But friends they are, though they have to keep it secret because of their colour, everyone, including their parents would cause a fuss, but as the years go by they drift apart. Silas becomes a jock baseball player eventually moving away to play college baseball. Larry, always a loner, likes horror books and comics, goes out on his first date and the girl disappears forever. No evidence or body is ever found but for the next 25 years Larry is ostracized as the likely killer of the missing girl. Now Silas is back, a constable of a nearby town, and when another girl goes missing all eyes focus once again on Larry.

This is an emotional, poignant story that focuses on many levels. It is a story of a close, bonding, but brief childhood friendship and a story of race relations in a variety of complicated situations. The most profound theme found here though is the burying of deep secrets of the past and leaving them to rot. The harm and destruction they can cause when no one comes forth to tell the truth and the turmoil caused when decades later the secrets are brought forth into the light.

This is a somewhat slow moving story, which centers mostly on the relationship of the two men, the secrets of the past which they each are only partially aware of, and how their lives have been affected. The crime is in the background and keeps the plot moving forward as well as giving cohesion to the meandering narrative which drifts back to the past and forwards to the present. Personally, I didn’t find the crime or the secrets very hard to figure out knowing quite early on how things would probably turn out. However, the story is certainly character driven and I highly enjoyed spending time with Larry Ott and Silas Jones, though one more than the other. Somewhat dark emotionally, yet not all doom and gloom, with an ending that may not leave you feeling all fuzzy; I found it a satisfying ending and am enticed to looking into Mr. Franklin’s previous novels.

I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Pages: 373
First Published: Aug. 17, 2010
Publisher: William Morrow
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

“Iso, time for -”

Acquired: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: I’ve read one of Lippman’s series books and it was ok but I love her standalones and read each new one as it comes out.

Eliza Benedict lives a perfectly content suburban mother and housewife life. Her husband has a high paying job in finance which she really doesn’t understand and she has two children, a 13yo girl and an 8yo boy. Then one day her past meets up with her present when she receives a letter in her mailbox (no stamp) from the man, who is sitting on death row, who kidnapped and raped her when she was 15yo, holding her hostage for 39 days. Walter was prosecuted for the murders of the two girls who came before and after her. His letters turn into a need to talk to her on the phone, which she eventually agrees to and then he wants to talk to her in person. He will be executed in two weeks. Walter is believed to be the perpetrator in several unsolved rape/murder cases and missing persons cases. Eliza wonders if she can somehow be the one to finally get his full confession from him. But Walter, who once had her so cowered and controlled she never tried to escape from him, may have ulterior motives and purposes to wanting to get close to her again.

This story is a bit different than others I’ve read by Lippman. It really isn’t a mystery in the sense that a crime is being solved but more a “tale of psychological manipulation” as Eliza finds herself going back over that time of her life that she had tidily shelved away. The story switches back and forth from the present as she deals with the unwanted but compelling attentions of Walter to the past as we see the whole kidnapping play out from the beginning until her eventual rescue. A compelling read that I highly enjoyed. Characterization and plot are both high factors in the telling of this story and I was glued to the pages. It’s not exactly a fast-paced story but it is evenly paced, moving forward continually at a steady pace.

The book also deals with the issue of the death penalty and the author has done so, very well. As she states in her Author’s Note “this is a novel, not a polemic”, some other authors (coughKathy Reichscough) could do well to note how to not let their novels turn into a personal soapbox. Ms. Lippman’s personal view on the topic is not necessarily evident, as she has strong characters on all sides: for, against and confused. The character with the strongest view is against, but she is portrayed as somewhat of a crackpot yet at times sympathetic. All the viewpoints can be seen from different angles even by the other characters. Well done. Another Lippman winner in my book.

A Little Death in Dixie by Lisa Turner

Pages: 298
First Published: Jun. 4, 2010
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

Cops like me won’t admit it out loud, but a lot of us believe murder has its right time and proper reason.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Bell Bridge Books.

Reason for Reading: I love Southern fiction and am always game for mixing my favourite genres, this time with a crime mystery.

The publisher’s blurb tells us that a notorious socialite disappears and it’s either because she’s off on another drunken spree or perhaps something more sinister has happened. Then it hints at the story being more complex. So, with only that information to go on I really was not ready for the incredibly twisting, turning, complex plot that I found myself plunged into. As the publisher’s blurb states “a complex spider’s web of tragedy, mystery, suspicion, and sordid secrets”. I thought that was typical overstatement to get one to buy the book, but no, it really describes the book in better words than I could come up with. Leaving it there, I’m not going to tell any more of the plot either, because it is best to let it all unravel not knowing what is going to come next.

I positively loved this Southern mystery which takes place in Memphis. The two main characters Detective Billy Able and Mercy Snow, sister of the missing person, are both fully fleshed, flawed and realistic characters. This is a stand alone book but I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing them turning up again in a series. Every single person in this story has a skeleton in the closet or a dark secret, no one is totally innocent, even if it be only from withholding the truth. This cast of characters are dark, devious and eccentric bringing the Gothic flavour to the suspense. As the story progresses it becomes about so much more than a missing person, various other crimes are involved and the shocking reveals come out of nowhere.

Now, I did find the plot a little over the top, somewhat unrealistic in places (but again those are common Gothic elements) and possibly unsolvable by the reader because of the plot twists. There was so much going on though that I didn’t even try to figure out who did what; I found myself just quickly turning the pages eager to find out what could possibly happen next and how it would all turn out in the end. A well-written and complex suspense novel. As Ms. Turner’s first novel, I eagerly await what she will present for an encore.

Pages: 169
Ages: 8+
First Published: Apr. 29 2010 CAN (Oct.1 2010 US)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing
Rating: 3.5/5

First sentence:

Grace double-checked her gear: flashlight, matches, pocket-knife, caving rope, rock hammer, and gloves — all there.

Acquired: Received a review copy from the author.

Reason for Reading: I liked the whole caves/fossil hunting angle of the mystery.

Grace’s father died a mysterious death three months ago, her mother is taking it very hard, and last but not least her creepy neighbour appears to be watching Grace’s every motion. So Grace spends most of her time with 3 friends fossil hunting (an activity her father was passionate about) out by the caves near abandoned mines and sinkholes. Grace soon turns her friends into detectives when she receives an anonymous note saying her father’s death was not an accident and as they begin investigating what really happened to her father the truth of what is actually going on at the Sydney Mines is unraveled and they are met with life threatening danger from both the land itself and devious criminals out to stop them.

I didn’t particularly like the dynamics of the young teens. Grace was very much the boss and two others kept bickering constantly. Grace is the only character fully developed and came off, to me, as a girl who was disrespectful to her mother, constantly lied and disobeyed. The other three were her followers and simply snuck out of their houses whenever the case called for it. However, the four children do grow throughout the story and eventually work out their character issues by stories end.

Character mores and manners aside, I became immersed in the mystery and Ms. Yhard surprised me at every turn by making the plot more and more intricate as it went along. The friends start off looking for any clues that can help tell what really happened to Grace’s father and end up finding a much bigger illegal operation, as well as being stalked and chased by someone. On top of that, they are searching on treacherous land where sinkholes can appear at any minute and cave-ins could happen at any time. The mystery is very well-written, fast paced and exciting. The fossil theme is also given great attention as everything relates back to either Grace’s father or the Fossil Museum he started. I found the topic very interesting and have a couple of destinations in mind now if I ever make it out to Nova Scotia for a trip. Kids’ looking for a straightforward mystery without all the spooky nonsense prevalent in so many children’s books will be happy to find here an intricate mystery, full of excitement, set in the real world.

Pages: 388 pages
First Published: Oct. 5, 2010
Publisher: Vanguard Press
Genre: thriller, suspense
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

He was not going to kill her immediately.

Acquired: Received a review copy from the book’s publicist.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary defines “velocity” as “The speed and direction of motion of a moving body.” FBI Profiler Karen Vail is that moving body and she is running to beat the clock with a fiery momentum to find her missing boyfriend who has disappeared into thin air with no clues but a possible connection with a serial killer. Unusual in the mystery/thriller series genre, Velocity picks up right where Crush ended. Literally starting with the next chapter. The plot starts off highly connected with book 2, followed by a resolution, then continues on with book 3’s unique plot which always centres on the missing boyfriend, police detective Roberto Hernandez.

I loved this book! Jacobson keeps getting better and better. Velocity takes off in different directions, plot-wise, than either of his previous books making it more than just a serial killer case (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) These new directions are surprising and unexpected reveals create a story that is much more than one at first assumes they are reading. Certainly plot is the mainstay of Velocity but, as often happens in mysteries, it has *not* been done so at the expense of characterization. Book 2 took us away from Karen’s Quantico colleagues and Velocity continues with the now familiar California characters for whom we’ve grown fond (or not). But Karen gets sent back to Quantico where we are reintroduced to the characters from Book 1 and Jacobson has done a good job bringing these folks back to the reader’s mind, especially giving significant development to Vail’s boss, Gifford.

The book ends with the completion of the plot; the unique experience of a two-parter within a series is over but the personal lives of the main characters continue on, ending with a new trajectory for one of said characters and an interesting reveal which we can expect to be explored in the next book. I’m very much looking forward to the next book, which one can only hope is “in the works”.

12. Yule Be Sorry by Lisa Michelle Atkinson - The unnamed owner of The Mysterious Bookstore is in dire straights: the phone’s been cut, last month’s mortgage is due, he’s worried about the electricity, etc. He’s desperately hoping one of his buyers can come up with a first edition of Hammett’s second book as he already has a buyer. The book arrives the day before Christmas but as he is about to hand it over to the buyer he can’t find it anywhere. That’s only the first twist. Cute story. 3/5

13. The Long Winter’s Nap by Rupert Holmes - A new Mysterious Bookstore has opened at another location at it’s celebrating its first Christmas so O.P. hires a brass band to play out front. When the tuba player asks to use the washroom, a clerk shows him the way downstairs where they find a dead Santa in the storeroom. This story is much longer than any of the others so far, thus allows for quite a bit of a set-up and detecting as the murder is unraveled just in time, as the police arrive. Straight forward, classic mystery story. 4/5

14. Cold Reading by Charles Ardai - Just a regular day at the bookstore a few days before Christmas when a young woman walks in and starts talking to the clerk, Roger, turns out her grandmother was a highly collectible ’50s author who only wrote two books before her untimely death. This woman says her father has just died and going through his stuff she’s found a lot of grandma’s things including a third book but it’s only in manuscript form. Would he come over, she doesn’t live far away, and take a look? When he arrives her apartment has been ransacked and she is missing, that is until her kidnapper calls on the phone. Quite a delightful story. You know something’s up from the beginning but there’s a twist and it’s not what you thought it was. Fun. 3.5/5

15. The Killer Christian by Andrew Klavan - A brother and sister in the city for a while now from their more rural beginnings are leading very different lives. Holly, an aspiring actress, who currently has a part as an angel in a play, works part time in “The Mysterious Bookshop” and has been given a low rent apt. above it. Brother Steven however, has got himself mixed up with the criminal world and had Holly bail him out several times. But this time, he’s in big trouble because his boss had decided to “off” him and Steven tries to stay alive, just ahead of the assassin. I really enjoyed this one. It had quite a bit of action and the characters were developed enough that I actually liked them and could imagine them outside the confines of the story. Apart from the very first story in the book, this is the only other one *not* to take place entirely in the store and use the owner as a major character. By this point in the book, I found that very refreshing! 4/5

16. The 74th Tale by Jonathan Santlofer - A young man walks into the bookstore near closing time and buys himself a Christmas present. Thinking he’s getting more for his money he chooses a book with 73 stories in it. When he gets home and starts reading the stories, from his descriptions, we can tell the book is Poe. Then he comes across a story that inspires him to conduct a real life experiment he has always wanted to try. This is the creepiest story is the book! A good suspenseful tale and one of the best in the book. 5/5

17. What’s in a Name by Mary Higgins Clark - Can’t really give a summary of this as it slowly unravels until the end but it begins with a woman who is slowly clearing out her Nana’s house after her death. For the past 20 years Nana has written mystery novels but none of them were ever accepted and her office is full of manuscripts (never having let anyone read one) , some in envelopes that have been sent and returned. Nana gave instructions to her granddaughter that upon her death, if she had never sold a book, then all her papers were to be thrown away with the promise that nobody would ever read them. This story was more cheesy and like a “Hallmark moment” than a mystery. 2.5/5

Pages: 337 pages
Ages: 13+
First Published: Aug. 10, 2010
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

A sobbing man huddles on a narrow ledge, clawing at his eyes to shield them for the horror far below.

Acquired: Received a review copy from the publisher.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

I want to say The Body at the Tower is even better than book 1 but I think that’s because I’ve just finished reading it. The follow up to A Spy in the House is just as amazingly brilliant as its predecessor. A fast-paced, read-into-the-night Victorian mystery.

Mary Quinn has been sent on assignment this time to go undercover as a young boy. Chopping her hair off and binding her chest tightly her petite half Chinese frame allows her to pull this off without a hitch. She is sent to the construction site of St. Stephen’s Clock Tower which holds the bell, Big Ben. A construction worker has just been found dead at the bottom of the tower, having supposedly either fallen or jumped. Mary’s assignment is to infiltrate the construction crew and pick up any insider information on the man’s death and also to look into the state of affairs concerning the construction management itself.

Lee’s depiction of Victorian times is authentic and never loses its credibility. As I’ve said previously, Ms. Lee has managed to pick the perfect profession for her heroine to move about within the confines of this rigid society. As a spy, her disguises allow her to cross class lines and present as a bold, outspoken woman in private. This time around disguised as a boy, there are no boundaries to “Mark’s” world. As Mark, Mary has access to a construction site, pubs, the streets at night, and plenty of places a woman of any respectability, no matter how small, would never deem to go.

The mystery is an intricate plot with several different tracks being followed. People of bad character are easy to find but it doesn’t necessarily make them the villains in these particular circumstances. Lee keeps the reader guessing by adding more to the plot with each reveal. Mary also has the added burden of running into James again and their relationship takes many turns.

The recommended age of these books are 12+ but I would suggest a little older as even though they are perfectly clean they speak of adult topics. This one mentions rape, prostitution, men who like little boys and other unsavory topics. Also since the protagonist is 18 years old I find no reason that this would not be enjoyed by adult readers of cozy historical mysteries. The publishers may even want to consider marketing “adult version” covers of the series. I’m anxiously awaiting book 3 but I am a tad worried that this is supposed to be a trilogy. I really hope Ms. Lee reconsiders and continues on with the adventures of Mary Quinn.

Pages: 375
Ages: 18+
Finished: Aug. 28, 2010
First Published: Mar. 29, 2010 (UK, Can)
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Genre: urban fantasy
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

‘The Cardinal is dead - long live the Cardinal!’

Acquired: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: Next and last in the series.

Starting ten years after the events of the first two books we meet up with Capac Raimi again whom we last really saw in Book One, though he was referred to in Book Two. We see that his rule as Cardinal has not gone as smoothly as he had hoped but this is in fact his own doing as he wants to put his plans into action and slowly watch them unfold since he has eternity to fill. But what he hadn’t counted on was the power the rival gangs were gaining and that has him worried. Also though he has started to see and have encounters with people from his past who are dead and that can only mean the mysterious blind Incan priests are up to something. When Capac disappears, his second in charge hires professional killer Al Jeery to find him and this leads to the realization that the Ancient priests have been secretly plotting to take back the City for themselves for years.

Darren Shan has brought all the aspects from books 1 & 2 together in this conclusion to the series in an explosive showdown between the gangs, the Cardinal’s mafioso and the powerful Incan priests. The plot is fast-paced and keeps its energy throughout. Just as expected from the previous books this is a dark, gritty, violent urban fantasy. All threads are pulled together and story arcs run to conclusion many in unexpected endings. I was a bit disappointed that Capac’s part was limited to the opening and closing sections, with Al Jeery being the protagonist throughout the main portion of the novel. But that’s just because I was fascinated with his character in book one; this story needed to be told the way it was. There is a huge revelation for Jeery which is a big shocker and a very disturbing one as we thought we knew all there was to know about serial killer Paucar Wami.

I’m not usually a big fan of urban fantasy or the level of violence that comes with type of story but Darren Shan is a favourite author and he truly has come out with a tour de force for his first series written to an adult audience. I was so looking forward to reading this last book and my expectations were more than met. I definitely plan on re-reading the series someday in the future where I can read the books altogether in a row as I think it will be an even more intense experience when I don’t have to wait a year between books. If you can handle mafioso style violence, I definitely recommend this urban fantasy trilogy. The Incan mythology gives it a unique flavour especially when combined with a mafia-type organization and mysterious powers that control certain peoples lives, I should say deaths.

As a P.S., in Shan’s dedications he says good-bye to his previous pen names “Darren O’Shaughnessy” his real name I believe, which he wrote under in his early days and “D.B. Shan” the name he wrote under for his two famous YA series. At this point we can expect all Shan’s future books to be written under “Darren Shan” which also includes this adult series and two new YA novels published this year.

Pages: 440 pages
First Published: 2009 UK (Jun, 22, 2010 US)
Publisher: Avon A
Rating: 4/5

First sentence:

London, June 1839

At one end of the lists the Knight of the Green Tree was fighting to control his horse, a raw-boned chestnut hunter of sixteen hands or so, over bitted- and nervous of the flags fluttering in the breeze.

Acquired: Received a review copy from Harper Collins Canada.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

I like to think of the Liberty Lane series as one of my guilty pleasures. I know I’m in for a quick dip immersion into the Victorian era with a light mystery and an easy read. I also know Liberty is not going to get into a romance with anyone, though someone will probably be trying to play matchmaker for her but Liberty has more important things to do as a “private intelligencer”, a name coined for her line of work by her friend and politician Benjamin Disraeli. Disraeli also is in the habit of bringing work her way and that is how Liberty gets her case in this book.

A classic tale of the class system, the Lord is in a private asylum and close to death at which point the Lady announces that the eldest son is not the Lord’s legal heir throwing doubt on his legitimacy and placing the younger son in line to inherit the estate. Thus, the Lady then retires from talking about it. Liberty is hired by the lawyer to find out if the Lady is lying or simply mad. He has no interest if she is telling the truth; it is simply not an option. But Liberty finds out much more than legitimate birthrights are being kept secret when she arrives on the scene and a servant is found dead packed away in a barrel and the eldest son has simply vanished. She takes it on her own initiative to solve the answers to the many questions, secrets and mysteries she encounters at Brinkburn Hall.

I have to say this has been my absolute favourite of the Liberty Lane mysteries by far! Liberty Lane is still written too far on the modern side to be entirely believable but having got to know the character through the three books, I don’t really care anymore. She is a fun heroine, not afraid to go where the danger leads her and full of simple derring-do. I loved the mystery this time as well. I had all sorts of ideas wandering around in my mind; I did figure out one of the elements but so much was going on by the end it was a complete surprise when the shocking reveal came out. I read the first half of the book at a leisurely pace enjoying the new characters and setting which revolves around the Victorian love for all things medieval and includes the ill-fated joust, the Eglinton Tournament. Then the second half was quick paced as all the secrets started unraveling and danger threatened. I thoroughly enjoyed this book in the series and eagerly await the next. Historical mystery fans and lovers of cozy mysteries alike will enjoy this romp with Liberty Lane.