Auntiemwrites Crime-Mystery Author M K Graff

Peter Robinson’s Inspector Banks series is one I’ve followed from with great delight and this 19th novel is no exception. One year at the mystery convention Bouchercon, I saw Robinson in the crowd and thought how much he resembled my mental image of his Detective Chief Inspector.

Recovering from a lousy love affair (those readers who follow the series might have seen that one coming), DCI Banks is away on holiday when a distraught former neighbor arrives at the police station asking to see him. His partner (and early love) Annie Cabbot is covering for him. The woman has found a loaded handgun in her daughter’s room. Under current English law, this is a punishable offense of up to five years for the girl, Erin. The neighbor has left her tearful and uncommunicative daughter at home with her husband.

The situation unfortunately quickly gets out of control at the house. It is immediately complicated when it comes to light that one of Erin’s roommates is Banks’ daughter Tracy, who was last seen going to warn off the gun’s owner, Erin’s boyfriend, Jaff.

Jaff is good-looking, sexy, and involved in dubious business; he has too much money and is too smart for his own good. Banks is summoned home early from his vacation due to Tracy’s disappearace, only to find out that Jaff’s boss is his former nemesis, George Fanthorpe.

Banks must race against Fanthorpe’s formidable backing to track down Tracy before Jaff can do her permanent harm. Did I mention there’s an almost-fatal shooting of one of his team? And that his new superior is still deciding how to handle Banks?

This is a series that never disappoints, as Robinson continues to grow his main characters and let them operate within the bounds of today’s criminal reality.

One aside, that I noted with great dismay. I’ve read Robinson’s prior novels, published variously through by the years by companies such as Macmillan and Hodder & Stoughton. All have been on quality paper, with readable print in size of 6.5 X 9.5. This last book is out of William Morrow, in a 5.75 X 8.5 size. The quality of the paper was thin, with a lesser lb. weight; the print smaller and more difficult to read. But the most distressing part for me was the number of typo’s and errors that were allowed to stand, an almost disdain for this fine author’s work. On the top of page 5, there is an extra space between two lines of a sentence! This lack of care speaks volumes to me about today’s traditional publishers and the reason so many writers are turning to indie and self-publishing. If I were Peter Robinson, I would be calling my agent immediately to find me a new publisher.

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Janet Evanovich always makes me laugh out loud several times during my read, and Sizzling Sixteen is no exception.  This one had me reading several paragraphs out loud to Doc, who always nods and smiles at my laughter.

Stephanie Plum’s major assignment this time around is trying to raise over $700,000 to secure the release of her kidnapped cousin Vinnie. Yes, the same Vinnie who is the owner of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds and her boss, although she personally loathes the man. His gambling debt to a mobster has set this whole caper in motion.

Helping Stephanie, as only she can, is file clerk Lula, she of the spandex outfits she squeezes her zaftig body into; and Connie, office manager, who decides to lend a hand getting Vinnie back. All three are more anxious to save their jobs than to save Vinnie, but since it boils down to the same thing, off they go.

Stephanie’s on-again, off-again romance with cop Joe Morelli is in an ‘off’ stage in this one, so sexy security expert Ranger ramps up the heat.  Of course, Stephanie still needs to find her usual collars to keep the business going, as the trio search for Vinnie.  There are encounters with a Jersey Turnpike toilet paper bandit and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles. Really.

And no Plum novel would be complete without a turn from Grandma Mazur, one of the funniest characters ever put on the page.

You can’t get better summer reading than putting on the sunblock and settling down with the fast read.  I’m waiting for Stephanie and company to be put on the big screen. Readers, who would play Stephanie, Lula, Joe and Ranger?

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Mary Higgins Clark has her formula down pat.  There’s no question that the protagonist will survive to find happiness, it’s just a matter of with whom and what she has to go through to get there, and this book is no exception.

The Shadow of Your Smile is her29th suspense novel, excluding the five holiday novels she’s written with her daughter Carol. That doesn’t include her short story collections (three), a children’s book, an historical novel and a memoir.

In the interests of summer reading, this predictability turns out to be a good thing. This one goes down like an icy pina colada, quick and easy.   The plot revolves around a long-standing family secret that threatens the life of an heiress, who, in true MHC fashion,  doesn’t know she IS one.  Pediatrician Dr. Monica Farrell fills this bill nicely.

A greedy foundation, battling family members, and even the beatification of a saint all come into play. Really. Of course, there’s the little question of murder here and there, but it all gets sorted out at the end of the day.

I’ll have another pina colada, thank you.

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