My Review of 'No Game For a Dame'

REVIEW: NO GAME FOR A DAME
AUTHOR: M. Ruth Myers

Maggie Sullivan is a female hardboiled private eye, who (in the grand tradition of the genre) is tough as nails, yet has a heart of gold beneath the steely exterior. In this first novel of the series, she’s hired by a wealthy man to check up on his daughter’s beau. Next thing she knows, some goon barges into her office and trashes it. Then, warns her off the investigation.

Needless to say, Maggie smells a rat. Mainly because the subject of the investigation is such a … nebbish. What danger could he possibly be associated with?

The answer to this question is the key to solving her client’s problems, as well as protecting various people who are at risk – including the nebbish beau.

I read this on my Kobo and it was a real “page-turner”. Or “finger-flipper”, if you will.

And did I mention that the story takes place in the Depression Era “radio days”, when private eyes were tough men who wore fedoras and packed a punch? This makes Maggie’s job even tougher, of course.

I so loved this book. Maggie Sullivan is my new favorite female private eye. She’s like Honey West before television!

My Review of ‘… A Dangerous Thing’

REVIEW: ... A DANGEROUS THING
AUTHOR: Bill Crider

In this installment of the Carl Burns mysteries, which take place at Hartley Gorman College in the very small Texas town of Pecan City, Burns and his fellow professors Mal Tomlin and Early Fox aren’t at all happy about the new Academic Dean, Dr. Gwendolyn Partridge and her sidekick of sorts, Eric Holt, a new faculty member in the English Department (which happens to be where Burns teaches). And that may possibly be the longest sentence I’ve ever written.

Anyhow, Dr. Partridge has all sorts of new-agey ideas and emphasizes political correctness in thought and deed. This, along with Holt’s being her pet favorite prof, as it were, isn’t sitting well with the three main players of the series.

Then, amid all the hubbub the new dean’s attitudes cause, another professor goes tumbling down to the pavement from a third-floor window in Burns’ building. And, of course, he didn’t just trip and fall or this wouldn’t be much of a murder mystery.

Burns is a sardonic and trenchant observer of all things. He’s a most likeable and entertaining amateur sleuth. But I wouldn’t call this book a cozy. It’s more like an academic mystery with an edge.

As an amateur sleuth, Burns tends to knock heads a bit with the local chief of police, Boss (R.M.) Napier. Not just over his sleuthing, because Burns has been known to solve the occasional mystery in a most helpful manner for the cops. However, there is friction between the men, due to their rivalry for the affections of Elaine Tanner, librarian and world-class trophy collector.

This novel pokes great fun at the whole liberal arts college/PC/aging hippie thing, while telling an intelligent and riveting puzzle mystery, with enough sharp edges to keep it from being too sweet and enough heart to make you smile at the end.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and want to read more by Bill Crider.

My Review of ‘Saturday Night Cleaver’

REVIEW: SATURDAY NIGHT CLEAVER
Author: Karen Cantwell

Ever since I read the first installment of the Barbara Marr series, I’ve been a huge fan of these comedic mysteries. And, pun lover that I am, not just because of their groan-worthy titles.

The title of this book cleverly refers to two major aspects of the plot: Barbara’s discovering a man’s … sex organ (or pracia, as she prefers to call it) on the side of a footpath and a secret club in her community, Rustic Woods (aka, Reston, VA) – a place called Saturday Night Fever.

But what really sets the plot in motion is the disappearance of Barbara’s old friend, Colt.

Now, that’s all the details you’re getting from me. Because between the bizarro neighbor lady renting the house next door, Barbara’s need to tolerate her dominating mother, and the weird orgy she and her George Clooney-like husband Howard expect to find at the secret club, if I told you more, you wouldn’t need to read the book.

So trust me – read the book. It’s funny, suspenseful, and has movie references. And Barbara really comes through in the end!

This is a great read, and I highly recommend it.

My Review of ‘Hill Country Rage’

REVIEW OF HILL COUNTRY RAGE
by Patrick Kelly

In this sequel to HILL COUNTRY GREED, Joe Robbins is still separated from his wife, Rose, and is willing to do anything to reunite with her and their two daughters. Meanwhile, he’s been offered a job as CFO for a company run by Sam Monroe (a larger-than-life cowboy type) who has big plans (and a big payday for Robbins, assuming all goes well), which largely depend upon landing Kenji Tanaka, a big-shot Japanese businessman, as an investor.

However, when Neil Blaney, Robbins’ best friend (and a character from the first book) smells something wrong with Tanaka, then ends up murdered (in a way made to look like an accident), Robbins starts to rethink his commitment to Monroe.

What follows is a story that pulls the reader into the world of Austin big business and international intrigue. The book is compulsively readable. Robbins is a flawed, but likeable, protagonist who launches a personal quest to avenge Neil’s death by finding his killer. But, to his dismay, so many people (including those he’d usually trust) seem to want him to leave it be.

The book is not only a tense and fast-paced read, but Robbins is a three-dimensional character. In reading both books, it’s my impression that Robbins is a man simply looking for love, good friends and the good life. Without revealing spoilers, I’ll only say that Robbins’ continued quest to restore his former family life (a task made harder by Rose’s dating a new man) may be part of the good life he seeks. Or not. For there’s yet another woman in Robbins’ life. Leaving me to wonder if Robbins really knows what he wants or has defined what he means by “the good life”. This question adds a dimension to his character that holds promise for future storylines.

I highly recommend the book.

My Review of 'Little Green'

Review: LITTLE GREEN
Author: Walter Mosley

My Review of 'Suspect'

Review: SUSPECT
Author: Robert Crais

My Review of 'The Casablanca Case'

Review: THE CASABLANCA CASE
Author: Simon Swift

My Review of DEAD MAN STALKING

REVIEW: DEAD MAN STALKING
AUTHOR: Karen Cantwell

My Review of 'Ketchup Clouds'

Review of KETCHUP CLOUDS
Author: Annabel Pitcher

This is great young adult novel, told using an unusual narrative approach -- through letters sent from a troubled teenaged girl in England to an American on death row. I've posted a full review on YouTube.

My Review of HERBIE'S GAME

Review of HERBIE'S GAME
Author: Tim Hallinan

My Review of 'Honey West: This Girl For Hire'

Review of HONEY WEST: THIS GIRL FOR HIRE
Authors: Trina Robbins and Elaine Lee