A Lifetime of Page-Turning Mysteries and Intriguing Books

Okay, It is now August and the days are getting shorter and the air cooler but there is still time to read a good book before Fall arrives.  I have been busy reading for my LJ column but have been thinking what I might like to reread if I had the time.  Naturally I came up with a long list of possible books.  I narrowed the list down to three for now. 

If you have not read anything by C. J. Box you might like to try IN PLAIN SIGHT.  I used it as a book for the Noble Library’s Mystery Evening book discussion and it was a hit.  Joe Pickett is faced with an ugly situation when one of the wealtiest landowners in Saddlestring, Wyoming goes missing.  Her sons begin to fight over who gets what before she is proven to be dead.  Straight arrow Pickett finds himself in trouble with his boss, the family of the woman and a stranger who has come to town soley to make Pickett’s life miserable and short.  Box has a way with characters.  They walk right off the pages of his books.  He is worth reading if you are looking for something that grabs you on the first page and does not llet go until the surprising ending.

For a complete change of pace try Jim Kelly’s THE COLDEST BLOOD.  Kelly is a British author and spends a lot of time on description and plot so that you really feel like you are walking with newspaper reporter Philip Dryden.  Dryden’s wife is in hospital and has been for a long time following an accident.  He quit his job in London and moved to Cambridgeshire so that he can be with her even if she can not talk or move.  So he is dealing with someone he loves who wants to die and the death of a man who looks like he froze in order to commit suicide or because he could not afford the cost of heat.  Complex plot tendrills get unwoven as Dryden follows them to unlikely and surprising resolutions.  The story ends with the reader gasping for more. 

Another book I would reread and have is Laurie R. King’s THE MOOR.  Sherlock Holmes goes back to Dartmoor where his great adventure about the hound of the Baskervilles took place.  He manages to pull Mary Russell away from her studies at Oxford and the two of them investigate a death on the moor.  Part ghost story, part suspense and all Sherlock Holmes reasoning out the solution to the problem.  This is a great way to continue to enjoy Holmes with an added surprise of a female Watson who is competent and intelligent and thoroughly engaging.

In August Richard Montanari’s new book BADLANDS will be out. The book is entitled PLAY DEAD in the UK where he is a best seller in all print formats. He is an author who deserves high praise but does not receive it in the United States. This has always been a puzzle for me because his prose has suspense and excitement. His plots are clear and concise and keep you reading. I can see his characters. i just do not get it. But he is an International bestselling author. So what does that say about the US?

His two novels set in Cleveland (DEVIANT WAY and KISS OF EVIL) featured Jack Paris a police detective and are so well written that I can still remember whole scenes from each book. Of course any one who has read them knows that Mr. Montanari is also a master of the shocking ending. You know the kind that you are so not expecting. I kept saying in my mind “No, he didn’t mean that!” But of course he did.

He now writes about Philadelphia and he brings to that series the same realism that he so skillfully used in his Cleveland books. The books follow two police detectives-Jessica Balzano and Kevin Bryne- as they solve intricate murder cases. THE ROSARY GIRLS, THE SKIN GODS, MERCILESS (BROKEN ANGELS in the UK) and now BADLANDS are beautifully conceived and executed crime fiction. In all of his books there is a strong sense of place that I find particularly appealing. You, as the reader, are really walking the streets of city, hearing the people talk and living the danger of the urban setting.

Maybe one day he will be able to write another Mystery set in Cleveland but until then we can enjoy the others as they come out.

I know, I know.  Most people divide up into cat people and people who love dogs.  Right?  Well, I have had cats most of my life so I think we know where I fall.  However I had a Wirehaired Fox Terrier for a number of years and coexisted with a Beagle and something mix for a long time as well.  Dogs are not entirely unknown to me.  As you know there are many Mysteries which feature animals.  There are cats that talk, cats that solve crimes, dogs that cheerfully help their humans do all sorts of things.  The very best books about dogs are those written by Carol Lea Benjamin.  She has years of experience as a dog trainer and treats dogs with respect and kindness. 

Her book THE WRONG DOG is one her best.  She clearly loves dogs and knows how they will act when in any situation.  The dog run in New Yoirk City is a perfect place for Dashiell, a pit bull who was mistreated and rescued by Rachel Alexander, to exercize and meet friends.  While Dashiell is doing his thing one day, Rachel, a private investigator, meets Blanche, a seizure alerting bull terrier.  Blanche has been cloned and now Sopie who suffers from epilepsy has Bianca as well.  No one believes that Bianca is a clone even when her DNA is checked.  Sophie hires Rachel to find the company that did the cloning but soon she is found dead in her apartment with her dogs.  It looks like they did not alert her to the fact that she was about to have a seizure.  The dogs steal the show here.  This is one of my favorite series because Benjamin always tells a good story but shows the reader ways that an investigotor can use to unravel what happened and why.

Not all Mysteries are Murder Mysteries.  There are actually some where no one dies from poison, stabbing, gun shot and all of the other various ways people have managed to kill others.  I think that authors write murder mysteries because most readers want closure when a crime is committed.  They want the perpetrator to be caught, tried and judged.  This does not always happen in real life.  Some of the gentlest people I know read the most gruesome murder mysteries and then top that off with a bunch of true crime books. 

I love serial killer novels.  I read them because the investigations are usually conducted by the police.  They begin with little or no clues, forensic evidence or suspects.  The thing that fascinated me most is that through dogged hard work and a sifting of little things the detectives are able to piece together a road to the killer.  The mind of the author who can fool me or show me new ways to plot a murder mystery involving the unmasking of a serial killer is endlessly fascinating to me. 

Â

There are so many new Mysteries coming out this year that few people will be able to catch up on the ones that missed. However there are a few that are so good that I felt compelled to mention them.

Laura Joh Rowland’s THE SECRET ADVENTURE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE which highlights the famous British author rushing to London where she must attempt to clear her name. Rowland, the creator of the very popular Sano Ichiro books which take place in Edo during the Tokugawa regime in Japan has really stepped out of her comfort zone in tackling Bronte and the Victorian Era.

Peter May writes two series about the use of forensics in solving crime. One is set in France and the other in China. In THE KILLING ROOM, the third book featuring Beijing police detective Li Yan and American pathologist Margaret Campbell the two find themselves looking into a series of particularly vicious murders and trying to solve their hopeless love affair.

Author Louise Ure in THE FAULT TREE (second in the series) involves her most intriguing protagonist in a murder investigation. Cadence Moran, an Arizona auto mechanic, is the only witness to a killing but blind Cadance is reluctant to report what she heard.

Anyone who is not familiar with Eliot Pattison’s books about Tibet and Shan Tao Yun and his Buddhist monk companions should race out and read the first in the series - THE SKULL MANTRA - which won an Edgar Award for Best First Novel. PRAYER OF THE DRAGON is the fifth book in the series and is so unique in its motive and underlying premise that I can not recommend it as anything but a triumph.

Richard Montanari is a local writer. He has written three books set in Cleveland: DEVIANT WAY, THE VIOLET HOUR AND KISS OF EVIL. His second series is set in Philadelphia. This series is an International success. THE ROSARY GIRLS, THE SKIN GODS and MERCILESS are bestsellers in the United Kingdom and around the world. His 2008 title is BADLANDS and has Philly police detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano investigating. I can not understand why Montanari is not a huge success in the United States. His books are well researched, he portrays the police as they would be while working on a case, his characters are walk-off the page real and his plots are always shockers. He deserves more attention and greater praise here in the United States. Check his books out if you like police procedurals but be aware that he is not for the faint of heart.

Happy reading, everyone.

Here we are in July already and we have a great Summer Reading program for all adults. All you have to do is fill out one of our simple forms letting us know which book you have read, your name, email address if you have one and your telephone number. You drop the form in the entry box (there is one in each of our four libraries). There will be prizes given throughout June and July. On July 31st we will draw the name of the Grand Prize winner. That lucky person will receive one year of books - a book of the month prize tailored to your reading tastes.

If you are looking for a good book to read so that you can join the Summer Reading program, look no farther than the “2008 What to Read Next” compiled by the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Readers Advisory Team. There are a number of lists of really good books for you to choose. This year we included the different kinds of novels featuring vampires, first time novelists, Favorite books that the staff read in the last year, our favorite Children’s books, and actors as authors. Since the Children’s Summer Reading theme is Bugs - Catch the Reading Bug, I thought it would be fine if I included a list of Mysteries that revolve around Forensics. Pick up a copy at any of our four buildings and start reading!

Librarians often use words that mean one thing in regular conversation but in library-speak mean something totally different.  A RAT is a member of the Readers Advisory Team here at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library.  We have been together since 1993.  We are the staff members who help you find a good book to read.  We are the people who are asked to suggest books that might you might like if you have read all of your favorite author’s work and need something to tide you over until that author has a new book out.  The RATS spend a lot of time talking about books and authors and fiction genres and non-fiction that reads like fiction. 

I am the Mystery Fiction expert or at least that is what people tell me.  I read a lot of Mysteries and write a column for a national journal where I review 17 new Mysteries per month.  There are so many new trends in the Mystery along with tons of new authors, new publishers and new series.  It is difficult to keep up with the changes in the genre.  I am envisioning this as a place where I can comment on the trends that I see happening and some of the books that might just be of interest to people who like good Mystery fiction. 

Just so you know there is not a person today who can read all of the Mysteries out there.  There are just too many of them.  The way I look at it is that I suggest authors to people to read.  They suggest authors to me.  I have friends who email me names of authors that i have never heard of.  This is a great thing because then I can add them to my evergrowing list of books to read. 

You may not have read Robert Andrews’ A MURDER OF HONOR.  Father O’Brien, an activist and left winger is shot in the street an apparent hit and run drive-by shooting.  Lieutenant Frank Kearney and Jose Phelps of the Washington D. C. homicide squad are given the case because they are not liked by the head of the squad.  Soon they find gay ads in a folder in the priest’s room and then a suitcase containing $500,000.  This is a complex story that never lets up.  It keeps the reader fully engaged and you do not know how this will end until you read it.  It is a great police procedural.

Les Roberts has a new Milan Jacovich Mystery coming out on July 1, 2008.  The title is THE KING OF THE HOLLY HOP and it begins at Milan’s 40th High School Reunion.  That is all I am going to say about it since i reviewed for a national journal and can not review it here.  However, I really enjoyed it.  Milan has changed so much over the years and has become someone who is tough but not to the point that he has lost his decency and humanity.  There are a number of surprises here that should delight all of the series fans.