Guest blog: Marilyn Meredith Sunday, Apr 29 2012 

mystery to die for , Auntie M Writes Crime 9:29 pm

Author Marilyn Meredith is doing an exhausting blog tour for her new mystery, No Bells. Welcome, Marilyn~

 

ABOUT NO BELLS

The Rocky Bluff P. D. mystery series is different than most in that it has an ensemble cast of characters. In each book, a different character or characters are spotlighted, though the other members of the RBPD make appearances. When I began this series, I was determined to show not only what the police officers did on the job, but what went on in their private lives.

As each book unfolded, one character became a favorite with my fans, Officer Gordon Butler, he of the pink cheeks and determination to be the best police officer ever, by upholding the law and protecting the citizens of the small beach community of Rocky Bluff. Gordon doesn’t have the best of luck in life, including romance. When No Bells begins with Gordon newly infatuated, but a big problem arises almost immediately. His new love is the prime suspect in a murder case.

 

First Review of No Bells:

Fans of F. M. Meredith’s long-running Rocky Bluff Police Department mysteries will be happy to learn the newest book may be the best yet. In No Bells, Gordon Butler gets his first leading role in this clever ensemble series. Butler is like Joe Btfsplk, the cartoon character in Al Capp’s Li’l Abner, a poor sap for whom things never quite work out. Meredith’s plot – her best yet – is a perfect fit for the character.

 

Without giving away too much, he wins but he loses. It’s a very satisfying read, and the meaning of the title is not revealed until the end. No Bells is a tightly woven story. Just when you think you know “whodunit,” something happens to change your mind. Then you go back to your first guess. Then a different hunch arises. As always, every member of the Rocky Bluff PD and their family members has a speaking part as their personal lives and police issues give us another glimpse of a town we love to visit. 

 

–Review by Michael Orenduff, author of The Pot Thief Who Studied Escoffier

 Visit Marilyn’s website at http://fictionforyou.com for details on her other books and how to order them.

 

Two New in Paperback Sunday, Apr 29 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:50 am

Avon is reprinting two great mysteries in paperback for readers to gobble up.

J. A. Jance’s twentieth novel featuring J.P. Beaumont is titled Betrayal of Trust, and after reading this Seattle-based detective novel, you’ll understand the title refers to the many layers of trust that have been violated.

Telling the story from Beaumont’s first person point of view allows for the narrator’s dry wit and digressions to provide relief from the grim crime scenes he will face. Beaumont and his wife, fellow detective Mel Soames, work for the Attorney General’s Special Homicide Investigation Team on Squad B. It’s a recurring point of humor that the acronym for their team gets bandied about, but there’s nothing humorous about the case they find themselves seconded to, in Olympia’s Squad A, at the direct request of the Attorney General.

They meet with the AG at the hotel they’ll be living out of for the duration of the case, and the snuff film he shows them on a cell phone will lead them to unravel a twisted tale that revolves around murder, bullying, and blended families, thrusting them at the door of the governor’s mansion.

The cell phone belongs to the governor’s step-grandson, a troubled boy who denies knowledge of the apparent juvenile prank gone wrong. At least that’s what Beaumont and Soams are led to believe–until there’s a second death, and as the bodies pile up, it’s obvious there are deeper implications and layers of corruption with multiple perpetrators, who just might be minors.

The horrific case changes from being a part of Beaumont’s job to a more personal quest when he identifies with one of the dead young men. An interesting subplot concerning Beaumont’s own family roots is handled well, never detracting from the forward thrust of the investigation.

Jance’s characters feel authentic and her plot twists will grab your attention as she illustrates how dogged police work puts the pieces of a puzzle together and lead to a satisfying conclusion. The next in this series is titled Judgement Call. Jance is also the author of the Joanna Brady series, the Ali Reynolds series, and four Walker family thrillers.

 

Next up is Katherine Hall Page’s Faith Fairchild mystery, The Body in the Gazebo, the Agatha Award winner’s nineteenth in the series. Having a caterer and ‘foodie’ as a protagonist leads to the hallmark of the series: the inclusion at the end of the book of many of the recipes caterer Faith Fairchild mentions or uses during the course of the story. She also has a gift for weaving in historical details of the northeast.

Faith’s best friend, Pix Miller, is out of town at pre-wedding festivities, meeting her son’s soon-to-be in-laws. When Faith agrees to keep an eye on Pix’s mother, Ursula Rowe, it’s a gesture of born of friendship and genuine liking for the older woman, home recovering from a bout of pneumonia.

But Ursula’s recuperation is hampered by a story she feels she must confide to Faith: a secret tale of long-ago intrigue and murder that dates back to the Great Depression. It will take her days to tell Faith the story due to her weakened condition and the emotions attached to it. Faith hadn’t known until this time that Ursula once had an older brother; a brother who was brutally murdered, with an innocent man accused of his death.

As Faith becomes embroiled in the story, told often with flashbacks to the period from Ursula’s memory, she’s also trying to keep her children cared for competently and her business going, even as she worries about her assistant, newly-pregnant Niki Theodopolous.

Then Faith’s husband, Reverend Thomas Fairchild, is accused of embezzling from his church’s discretionary fund, and Faith swings into action to unravel all the mysteries affecting those she loves, putting herself squarely in danger in the process.

Page writes a lively mystery with a fast pace. Her gift for story-telling leads her readers down many avenues as her novels combine a balance between lightness and the deeper personal dramas that envelop her characters. Love, faith and redemption reside alongside murder, theft and intrigue, all wrapped up tighter than a good egg roll.

The next in this series is The Body in the Boudoir.

 

Peter Robinson: Before the Poison Sunday, Apr 15 2012 

Award winning novelist and great read Auntie M Writes Crime 12:05 am

Years ago when Auntie M was manning the booth for Mystery Review magazine at a Bouchercon convention, she recognized Peter Robinson right away. He was tall and had a friendly look, emphasized by an enigmatic smile that said he knew he was going to charm you. The author of the popular Chief Inspector Banks series has certainly done that with his new stand alone, Before the Poison, a departure from his usual style, and filled with surprises.

In contrast to Banks he gives us Chris Lowndes, a widower who has made a successful career in the US for years by composing music scores for films. “I had promised myself that when I turned sixty I would go home.” And so he does, but he travels alone back to his Yorkshire roots and a house in the dales where he tries to contain the grief that still catches at him over the death of his wife, Laura.

Kilnsgate House surprises him with its size, larger than he’d expected, and with its rooms holding the secrets of the past once Chris learns the house was the scene of a murder over fifty years before. Grace Fox, the young, beautiful wife of prominent Dr. Ernest Fox, was supposed to have poisoned him one snowbound night. She was arrested and brought to trial, found guilty and subsequently hanged.

The house contains artifacts and belongings from Grace, and Chris becomes captivated by her story, talking to locals about the story and researching archives. He soon convinces himself she was innocent, and sets about unearthing the true story of the events that led up to that fateful night.

Banks alternates between the Chris’ point of view and excerpts from a book titled Famous Trials concerning the Grace Fox case. It’s an effective device, bringing the early 1950’s to life as Chris discovers more than he bargained for as he delves into secrets from his own past. Grief does strange things, Chris soon acknowledges. But can it bring a person more in touch with their own sensitivity? “I had thought it was my choice to become interested in grace’s story but was it? I remembered the sense I had had on first approaching Kilnsgate that the house was somehow waiting for me.”

Yet even as he investigates what he comes to call his “Grace Fox theories,” Chris wonders at his actions and the path he’s set himself on, admitting his foolishness to his charming lunch companion: “Here I am, to all intents an purposed a sensible, reasonable, successful man, spending my time trying to prove the innocence of a woman who has hanged nearly sixty years ago. Insane, isn’t it?”

As Chris continues his search he will come across Grace’s granddaughter, Louise, who will assist him in his search. They visit Grace’s grave with its poignant Tennyson inscription, and when Louise compiles a DVD of her findings for Chris, he is startled to hear Grace’s voice singing a Tosca aria. The lyrics provide a window into Grace’s soul and impacting the new music he’s trying to write, even as Chris pushes on to the story’s resolution, where a monster is revealed.

Robinson has done his homework, both in the world of music and in the scenes set during WWII. This is the story of one man’s obsession, and how he must learn to confront his own ghosts.

 

Mark Billingham: From the Dead Sunday, Apr 8 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:03 am

DI Tom Thorne’s life is about to become more complicated. On the personal front, he and his partner Louise, also in The Job, are splitting their time between their two flats, their plans to buy a large one together on hold after Louise’s miscarriage months before. The strain of grief is taking its toll on both of them, their relationship strained and worsening. At work, he’s on edge, waiting for the verdict in a case that has become personal and difficult to prove: that high-powered Adam Chambers murdered the missing Andrea Keane, without her body being found. Worse is that Chambers has become a media darling.

Into this tension steps Anna Carpenter, a new private investigator looking for a life different from the bank job she held before.

Recent photos have surfaced that seem to be of Alan Langford, a wealthy career criminal who supposedly died ten years ago, handcuffed to the steering wheel of his car which was set afire in the midst of Epping Forest. Langford’s wife had been subsequently arrested for paying for her abusive husband’s death and has just been released from prison.

Donna Langford is trying to reconnect with her teenaged daughter and start a new life with a female partner she’s met in prison. When these photos are anonymously delivered to her, Donna hires Anna to find the truth. Anna’s research finds Thorne sent Donna Langford to prison and she enlists his aid. When she shows up with the photos from Donna, she becomes attached to Thorne’s investigation by his publicity-seeking DSI, to his chagrin.

Thorne loses the Chambers case, which contributes to his moody, anti-social behavior. The Langford case takes Thorne to Spain, with the tension building as the investigation heats up. His patience with Anna at times wears thin, but her honesty and outlook wear him down, and he finds himself drawn to the young woman’s joy of life. By the end of the novel, Thorne is surprisingly vulnerable, even as the twists and turns of the plot take their toll. This one has a climax you won’t see coming.

By giving us Anna Carpenter’s point of view, Billingham ties readers to the amateur sleuth and how she views Thorne. His knack for describing small details in the life of his characters add texture and complexity that allow the reader to view them in reality, making him one of Auntie M’s favorite reads. This is compelling read, completely engrossing, and will keep you flipping pages to the unexpected ending.

UK’s Sky TV has filmed some of the Thorne series and it’s to Auntie M’s regret that the series isn’t available here yet. But the books are so well written that Thorne leaps off the page satisfyingly and without the need of film.

Billingham’s next in the Thorne series, Good as Dead, make number one in the UK and you can be certain Auntie M will be reading it soon.

 

Deborah Crombie: No Mark Upon Her Sunday, Apr 1 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:35 am

In the latest installment of her Duncan Kincaid/Gemma Jones series, Texas author Deborah Crombie’s  love and affinity for England once again shine through.

Detective Inspector Gemma Jones is finally very married to Detective Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, and their blended family is adjusting to its newest member. Crombie skillfully weaves the tapestry of their lives into the investigation of their latest case.

Preparing to trade Gemma’s domestic leave to take his own turn, Duncan finds himself at the last minute involved in a murder investigation filled with far-reaching tendrils, as the victim was a detective with the Metropolitan Police and an Olympic-grade rower. A subplot includes a high-ranking predatory policeman which complicates his investigation at every turn.

Becca Meredith is a solitary and competitive rower, hoping to regain her footing in a controversial bid for a place on the Olympic team. Her dreams are ended when a training row ends with her being tipped from her scull and drowning in the Thames River near Henley. Her lover, Kieran Connolly, struggles with post-war injuries. Part of the volunteer K9 search and rescue team with his Labrador Retriever, Finn, he is among the first to find Becca’s body, caught near the downstream weir near Mill End.

When the mysterious drowning becomes Duncan’s case, his team investigates Becca’s past, including her rowing for Oxford Blue, and her ex-husband, a former rower. It quickly becomes obvious that Becca’s talented but difficult personality has led her to acquire many admirers and just as many enemies. Complicating matters is a politically fraught work situation that will spill over into a  separate investigation Gemma has gotten entangled with just as her family leave is ending, and this widens the list of suspects for both detectives.

Then Kieran is targeted in a horrid accident, it becomes obvious that there is a killer who needs to silence people and it’s up to Duncan to stop him before he can kill again.

Rooted in reality, Crombie’s endpapers on the hard-covered books contain a lovely hand-drawn map by Laura Maestro of the area, which goes a long way to helping readers unfamiliar with the area visualize the main places of the action. The descriptions and feel of The Leander Club, a revered Henley rowing club, as well as the grueling routine of an elite rower, add to the pleasure. One of the hallmarks of Crombie’s books is the way she brings to life pockets of the UK we readers vicariously come to know, and the clubby, status-conscious world of Oxford rowing blends well with the routines of the K9 rescue team and their dogs.

 

Carolina Girls Sunday, Mar 25 2012 

great read and writers , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:03 am

Auntie M had the good fortune to meet a lively bunch of “low country”  North and South Carolina authors a few weeks ago at the Cape Fear Crime Festival.

She came home loaded down with new books to interest readers. Here are a few you might want to check out:

Sin Creek is Susan Whitfield’s fourth mystery featuring North Carolina SBI agent Logan Hunter.

Logan is called from her bridal shower to attend the crime scene of a murdered woman, found on the nature preserve on the campus of UNC-Wilmington. Maeve Smoltz’s badly beaten, naked body has been shredded in the groin area with a razor-sharp Sawzall, her genitals found in a separate bag.

Contrary to her parents impression, the preliminary examination by the coroner shows Maeve to have been highly sexually active. A search of her room reveals pricey boots, a Prada bag and Jimmy Choo shoes she couldn’t possibly have afforded on her meager salary from the college canteen.

Maeve’s roommate, Antonella Beaujue-Dufour, sets Logan’s instincts on edge, and the girl’s evasiveness coupled with the people she hangs out with soon plunge Logan into the heart of an investigation that reveals a pornography business built on deceit and coercion. Logan manages to squeeze in her beach wedding to the love of her life, Chase Railey, also an SBI agent, with the help of her two best friends. But that doesn’t stop her from tracking down an unstable killer as the deaths mount up.

Whitfield captures coastal NC area details just right. The storyline will capture your attention, but nothing will prepare you for the dramatic ending that will irrevocably change Logan’s life.

Whitfield has done a ton of research into the chilling aspects of the porn business and how it endangers the lives of young women on college campuses.  A former high school administrator, the story was one that has lingered in her mind since hearing from one of her students how her older sister coped with college life by her lucrative sideline. Whitfield, a lifelong NC resident, also compiled recipes from mystery writers for the cookbook Killer Recipes. Its proceeds go to cancer research. Learn more about Susan and her book on www.susanwhitfieldonline.com.

 

In Dear Killer, Linda Lovely has given us a protagonist who has been sorely lacking from today’s mystery world: an attractive 52 year-old,  woman who wants a relationship and all that entails.

After retiring from military intelligence, widow Marley Clark has chosen to security on South Carolina’s low country Dear Island to keep busy.

On night patrol, she notices the pool gates have been left open at the Dolphin Club and sees a pile of clothing on a chair beside the Jacuzzi. The naked man floating in the spa has apparently drowned, but Marley still tries to resuscitate him, even as she realizes the dead man is a friend, Stew Hartwell.

It’s only when she’s waiting for help to arrive that she notices carrots, celery and whole onions bobbing in the water with him. Trying to take in the confusing scene, she sees a trail of folded towels, pointing to a message scrawled in the sand: “STEWED.”

This is only the first grizzly pun a sadistic killer will use as the killings continue. Marley soon becomes the liasion on the case with the lead investigator on the case, Deputy Braden Mann. It doesn’t hurt matters that romance sizzles between the two as the investigation ratchets up.

Marley’s independent streak but soft heart soon lead her deeper into the web of suspects on this small island. Her courage and skills will be put to the test as she and Braden are both put in jeopardy in their race to find a killer.

Sprinkled with a lively sense of humor and characters, Marley is a delightful creation and one to watch for in future offerings. Iowa native Lovely has been in the south for over thirty years and brings her readers a dose of Gullah history and a firm sense of place. You can read about Linda on her website: www.lindalovely.com.

 

Ellis Vidler’s romantic suspense Cold Comfort  starts off with a bang. She takes us to Virginia, where Claire Spencer runs her aptly-named Williamsburg Christmas shop, Mistletoe. The charming shop has been written up in Southern Living, which proves to be an important plot point down the road.

Still recovering from a broken engagement and the death of her mother, Claire’s entire world is hit with a heavy dose of violence when she’s mugged in her own driveway.

Her house and the shop are burglarized shortly after, and still sporting the stitches in her scalp from her mugger, Claire agrees to contact her assistant’s brother, Ray, who offers up the help of his own friend, Ben Riley.

Riley clearly isn’t happy to be involved, but he owes Ray a favor and reluctantly agrees to meet with Claire. When he has to keep Claire from being run over in the alley behind her shop, he starts to take the menace in her life seriously.

It soon becomes obvious that hired goons are trying to murder Claire, but neither she nor Riley can find a motive or a reason for someone to want her dead. As they try to search her history and follow clues, they also try to ignore the chemistry between them, complicating matters as they track down her killer who seems to know their movements before they make them.

Vidler moves the action around and never lets up on the chase, with characters who are vivid and well-rounded. This is an action-packed romance with a fast pace that doesn’t let up.

Even when the reader thinks they know what’s happening, Vidler manages to throw in one more twist. And when we think it’s over, it’s really not.

You can read more about Ellis and her two other novels at: www.ellisvidler.com.

 

 

Michael Robotham: Bleed for Me Sunday, Mar 18 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:58 am

Clinical psychologist Joe O’Loughlin is one of my favorite series characters. Dealing with the daily effects of “Mr. Parkinson,” Joe is separated from the wife he still loves. Living outside Bristol near them, his life is entwined with Julianne and their two girls, Charlotte and Emily.  In Bleed for Me, Joe is waiting for his marriage to formally end, and for his own acceptance of that: “I’m still thinking about what Coop said about life leading somewhere or meaning something. Mine doesn’t. I am living in a kind of limbo, a lull in proceedings. I am waiting for my wife to have me back–when I should be seizing every day and living it like it could be my last.”

O’Loughlin understands pain and grief: of losing a child, as he almost lost Charlotte in a previous novel; of losing his functioning, as he battles his disease on a daily basis and its effects; of losing the life he thought was perfect. When Sienna Hegarty, Charlotte’s best friend, tells him “You’re kind of broken,” we understand she is telling the truth.

But is Sienna telling the truth when she insists she hasn’t killed her father? She shows up at Julianne’s home, covered in blood, and runs away. Joe goes after her and finds her, shivering and almost catatonic, on the river bank. The blood is her dead father’s, a celebrated former policeman found in Sienna’s bedroom with his throat cut. Sienna’s trauma has pushed the details of the incident away but she is convinced that she isn’t a murderer–and so is Joe O’Loughlin.

Sienna is the obvious suspect when her history with her father comes to light, yet O’Loughlin is convinced there is a more devious murderer at work. Assigned to give the court a clinical profile of Sienna, he pursues his own investigation of her father’s murder in the hope at first it will win him back Charlotte’s affection. With the aid of a retired detective, he ferrets out a widening circle of hypocrisy and crime that may do more than explain Sienna’s actions. As the plot escalates, the circle of terror widens to a crushing climax.

Robotham’s disturbing storyline is all too realistic, as are the fine characters he creates, multifaceted and complex, at times downright chilling. His story is clever and compelling, a terrific psychological thriller that has a fast pace yet at times is achingly moving. There are flashes of unexpected humor, too, as when O’Loughlin unexpectedly finds himself conversing with the man who sees himself as Julianne’s next husband and is waiting to take her out. O’Loughlin doesn’t hesitate to explain she won’t be long because she’s just upstairs “taking her medication,” and instructs her suitor not to let her order dessert–even as he admits to himself that “the love you want to save won’t survive the constraints of jealousy … Love is either equal or a tragedy.”

Author Linwood Barclay says: “Michael Robotham doesn’t just make me scared for his characters; he makes my heart ache for them.”

Don’t miss this remarkable novel that combines subtlety with an intimate knowledge of human nature and builds suspense with a masterful touch.

 

Elly Griffiths: House at Sea’s End Sunday, Mar 11 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:43 am

Elly Griffiths has written another intriguing mystery in this third novel set along the remote Norfolk coast.

Grittiths created the crime series featuring forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway, a character Canadian author Louise Penny called an “inspired creation.” Crossing Places, the series debut, won the Mary Higgins Clark Award. It brought Ruth into contact with DCI Harry Nelson, with surprising results that found Ruth pregnant. Griffiths advanced Ruth’s story in The Janus Stone, with a pregnant Ruth struggling to work and keep her baby’s father’s name to herself.

In The House at Sea’s End, Ruth is just back from maternity leave, learning how difficult it is to juggle being a mother with her demanding work. She’s called in to investigate when other members of her team, logging coastal erosion, investigate a rock fall and find human remains.

Handling childcare arrangements, leaving the infant daughter she’s fallen in love with, and worrying about this new case are all complicated for Ruth by the presence of Nelson, the child’s father. To make matters worse, Nelson’s lovely wife, Michelle, has grown fond of Ruth and enamored of the baby, remembering her two almost-grown daughters.

But back to those bones. Once exhumed, they turn out to be the skeletons of six men with their arms bound behind their backs, shot execution style. When bone testing confirms their age to be approximately seventy years old, Ruth and Nelson are led to investigating the history of the war years along this desolate stretch of coastline. Local Home Guard members patrolled the area at the time, anxious to protect the area from a German invasion.

When Home Guard veteran Archie Whitcliffe reveals a secret exists, he is killed before the details can come to light. Then a German journalist arrives, asking questions about Operation Lucifer. As the deaths mount up, Ruth and Nelson will try to unravel the secret that old soldiers have vowed to protect with their lives.

Griffiths has created an interesting mix with Ruth and Nelson. Ruth isn’t a femme fatale who seduced Nelson. Her feelings as she adapts to motherhood, from fear to delight, are spot on. Nelson, too, struggles with the thought of having created this new child whose life he won’t have involvement in the way he wants to. And then there’s his wife …

The forensic details are interesting and the history and archaeology aspects well researched. Add Ruth’s unusual friends to the mix, and you’ve got a small band of people surrounding Ruth who exasperate her even as they offer their support in well-meaning ways. Griffiths has created flawed people who are decent at heart–unless they are contemplating murder.

Auntie M is amongst the scores of readers who await Griffiths next Ruth Galloway outing, A Room Full of Bones, due this spring.

 

Elizabeth George: Believing the Lie Sunday, Mar 4 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and mystery to die for , , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:30 am

In her latest novel, Elizabeth George writes a complicated plot that brings her wounded inspector, Thomas Lynley, to England’s glorious Lake District to conduct an undercover investigation. Still grieving over the deaths of his wife Helen and their unborn child, Lynley’s efforts to move ahead are causing him to question his actions in several quarters.

Wealthy Bernard Fairclough’s nephew has drowned, and his death has been ruled an accidental drowning. Yet through his highly-placed contacts at New Scotland Yard, the influential Lord manages to arrange for a discreet inquiry to determine if the death was really an accident, and Lynley finds himself summarily dispatched incognito to Cumbria. He’s tasked with determining whether Fairclough’s son, Nicholas, a reformed drug and alcohol addict, might be responsible for loosening the boathouse stones on which the unlucky Ian Fairclough slipped and fell to his death.

The coroner thinks not, but Lynley has asked his old friend, forensic specialist Simon St. James, and his photographer wife, Deborah, to nose around, hoping to find any evidence of foul play. Back in London, DS Havers is engaged in off-the-record research for Lynley, which will have its own affect on her position and put her an uncomfortable position with her superior. Her private life gets a good work out here, too.

There is plenty for all of them to investigate in the dysfunctional Faircloughs, who include: Fairclough’s distinctly different twin daughters, Manette and Mignon; his nephew Ian’s angry son Tim and sexually active ex-wife Niamh; as well as the man Ian left his family for, the foreign-born Kaveh. Add to the mix the Lord’s daughter-in-law, the beautiful and secretive Argentinean wife of Nicholas, Alatea, and there are scores of possibilities, real and imagined. Muddying the landscape is a tabloid reporter sent to find a sex scandal when he’d rather be writing poetry.

The Cumbrian landscape plays its part in the action, as deeply buried secrets will rise to the surface, with deception and delusion found to be at the heart of too many lives. Homophobia, infidelity, illegitimacy and greed all surface, but it is Deborah St. James, dealing with her own infertility and feeling a kinship to Alatea, who sets in motion the final tragedy.

Themes and subplots abound in this weighty tome, just over six hundred pages, that has a melodramatic feel at times that will try some readers patience. But fans will enjoy a few twists of the regular cast’s lives, and devour every page.

 

Ian Rankin: Impossible Dead Sunday, Feb 26 2012 

Award winning novelist and Continued series winner and great read and mystery to die for and new series and Series not to be missed , , , Auntie M Writes Crime 12:36 am

Fans of Rankin’s creation Inspector Rebus were more than disappointed when he retired that character. But his newest creation, Matthew Fox, is proving a strong contender for our interest. First introduced in The Complaints, Fox and his team are called that because they work in the oft-despised area of Internal Affairs. “How come you hate cops so much?” is the question they are often asked.

The Impossible Dead brings readers into close contact with Fox and his team in this second installment, and we’re liking him more and more. Different from Rebus, he has his own tough job, with the team never welcomed. What is supposed to be a temporary assignment leaves Fox wondering how he can meld back into the CID department. Now they’ve been asked to investigate off their home area, in Val McDermid’s turf of Kirkcaldy, and their reception is less than warm. Detective Paul Carter has been found guilty of misconduct, a charge led by his own uncle, retired from the same force. Fox’s team are to clear up allegations that Carter’s colleagues had been covering up for him, turning a blind eye to the sexual favors Carter had supposedly exchanged with a variety of women, from drug addicts to casual offenders, to drop their charges.

But when they arrive to start their interviews, the three men they’ve arranged to see are at not at the station, and Tony Kaye, Fox’s colleague, can’t contain a nasty comment, to Fox’s chagrin. “News would now travel through the station: job done. The Complaints had come to town, found no one home, and let their annoyance show. The desk sergeant shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying not to seem too satisfied at this turn of events.”

And so it goes: the lack of cooperation; the inadequate office space; the interviewees, when they are finally approached, sullen and uncooperative. There are hints of corruption, and a possible conspiracy, and Fox needs to widen his investigation. Then suddenly a murder occurs, and forensics show the weapon used should not even exist.

This sets off a chain of events that will take Fox back to ties within his own family, and with political connections to the social and politically-charged era of 1985. Fox finds himself following the past, which leads him to a visit the state mental hospital, where a patient with history and information Fox needs will correct his definition of power. “It’s something you hold in both hands like a weapon, something you can choose to use to strike at your enemies’ hearts.”

As Fox’s team concentrate on the current problem, Fox will delve into these buried secrets from the past, flushing out dangerous truths that could ruin reputations and threaten lives, even Fox’s own, and leave him questioning his role as a detective.

This is an intricately-plotted thriller, entangled with subplots involving Fox’s ill father and the damaged relationship he has with his sister. People are not whom they seem on the surface, in small and large ways. Rankin knows crime, and he knows human nature. A thoroughly satisfying read that will leave readers anticipating the next outing with Rankin and Matthew Fox.

 

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Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Award-winning Mystery Author on books, reading and life: If proofreading is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Lee Lofland

The Graveyard Shift

Being Author

Sherri Lupton Hollister, author

Romance, mystery, suspense, & small town humor...

Liz Loves Books

The Life of Guppy

the care and feeding of our little fish

middlesisterreviews.com/

My train of thoughts on...

Smile! Don't look back in anger.

Killer Women

K.R. Morrison, Author

My author site--news and other stuff about books and things

The Wickeds

Wicked Good Mysteries

John Bainbridge Writer

Indie Writer and Publisher

Some Days You Do ...

Writers & writing: books, movies, art & music - the bits & pieces of a (retiring) writer's life

Gaslight Crime

Authors and reviewers of historical crime fiction

Mysteries To Die For

For Mystery Listeners and Readers

Amazing Family Books

Featuring The Very Best in Fiction & Nonfiction Books For Children, Parents & The Entire Family

Book Review Magazine

Incredible Books & Authors

Book Sparks News

Writing, Books & Authors News

Artisan Book Reviews

& Marketing

Bookish Trends

Book Bug Out

KIDS CLUB

Writer Beware

Shining a small, bright light in a wilderness of writing scams

authorplatforms.wordpress.com/

Books, Reviews & Author Spotlights

DESTINATION PROPERTIES

The preview before the visit.<ins class="bookingaff" data-aid="1815574" data-target_aid="1815574" data-prod="map" data-width="400" data-height="300" data-lang="xu" data-currency="USD" data-dest_id="0" data-dest_type="landmark" data-latitude="40.7127753" data-longitude="-74.0059728" data-landmark_name="New York City" data-mwhsb="0"> <!-- Anything inside will go away once widget is loaded. --> <a href="//www.booking.com?aid=1815574">Booking.com</a> </ins> <script type="text/javascript"> (function(d, sc, u) { var s = d.createElement(sc), p = d.getElementsByTagName(sc)[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = u + '?v=' + (+new Date()); p.parentNode.insertBefore(s,p); })(document, 'script', '//aff.bstatic.com/static/affiliate_base/js/flexiproduct.js'); </script>

Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Award-winning Mystery Author on books, reading and life: If proofreading is wrong, I don't wanna be right!

Lee Lofland

The Graveyard Shift

Being Author

Sherri Lupton Hollister, author

Romance, mystery, suspense, & small town humor...

Liz Loves Books

The Life of Guppy

the care and feeding of our little fish

middlesisterreviews.com/

My train of thoughts on...

Smile! Don't look back in anger.

Killer Women

K.R. Morrison, Author

My author site--news and other stuff about books and things