A CRUEL DECEPTION by Charles Todd

 


     Those of you who have run across my reviews in the past will not be at all surprised by my once again singing the praises of that remarkable mother/son writing team who give us the compelling stories of Sister Bess Crawford.  I've  often wished that a film would be made of this amazing heroine's adventures but who could be cast as the amazing Bess?

     Nonetheless this time out the setting is the ending of World War I.  Indeed the fighting ended with an armistice but the war will not actually be over until a Peace Treaty is signed by all.  Representatives are gathering in Paris.  While Bess has been working with the seriously wounded in England but that is interrupted when she is asked something she cannot refuse by a Matron in London:  find her son, Lieutenant Lawrence Minton.  This is a request from a frantic mother who hopes for the best but fears the worst.

     Bess begins in Paris where she does find Minton being cared for by a young French woman who is ill equipped to deal with an extremely bitter and disturbed officer.  He has left his responsibilities at the Peace Conference and is verging on an opiate addiction, rudely telling Bess that he doesn't care whether or not he dies.  He longs for oblivion.  What has driven him to the depths of despair and how can Bess possibly bring him out of it?

     Here she is alone in a foreign country and Bess must find the truth as quickly as possible in order to save his life.  What or who is destroying Minton, and what does that mean for Bess?

     One more can't put down reading tale from this remarkable mother and son writing team.  Enjoy!

     

    

THE LONG CALL

 

 The Long Call
By Ann Cleeves
Minotaur Books

     The awesome Ann Cleeves introduces a new character in her latest can't-put-down mystery.  He is Detective Matthew Venn, a complex but winning character whom we first meet as he stands outside his father's funeral.  He's not welcome there as he's no longer a member of the Barum Brethern into which he was born.  Matthew had publicly withdrawn from the group which shamed his mother and distanced her.  Had that not been enough Matthew is now married to Jonathan and happily so.

     Soon we are introduced to Maurice Braddick, the widowed father of 30-year-old Lucy who has Down's Syndrome.  She spends her days at Woodyard, a center for adults with learning disabilities.  The elder Braddick keeps going to the window watching for Lucy to come walking up the path from the bus stop.  eventually she does but is unhappy because "The man wasn't on the bus today."  It seems a man has usually boarded the bus, sat next to Lucy and given her sweets.  Her father questions her concerned that the man might have harmed her, but that was not the case.

     Matthew's fellow detective is Jen, the divorced mother of two, and a perfect counterpoint for Matthew.  She loved her children and sometimes worried about not spending enough time with them
but work gave her life structure and meaning.  Cleeves has a remarkable gift and that is somehow with her words making readers care about the characters, be they good, bad or in between.  She slowly, carefully unrolls her story making it impossible to top turning pages, especially when a dead body is found on the beach and identified as Simon Andrew Walden, a volunteer at Woodyard.  Walden has been murdered, a brutal stab in the back.

     As her story unfolds Cleeves reveals secrets in the lives of her characters which kept this reader up until the wee hours of the morning.  Sorry when the story was over I turned the last page ever so grateful to the  amazing Cleeves for another remarkable journey.

    

CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR

  CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR
  By Hallie Ephron
  William Morrow


     Does your spouse or significant other have a habit that annoys you or to put it more bluntly drives you crazy?  Emily Harlow certainly does.  She's a much in demand professional organizer  and her home is a mess - the attic, basement and garage filled to overflowing with her husband's "collectibles."  Seems the poor fellow is totally incapable of driving past a garage sale - he'll brake his car and with pounding heart buy everything in sight.  He tells Emily he just can't help it and some day all of his finds will be worth something.


    Emily tells her clients that they're only allowed to clean out their own stuff.  This thought has kept Emily's marriage together (sort of).  She's busy with two new clients - an older woman recently widowed whose husband left a storage unit she didn't know anything about.  The other client is Quinn, a young wife whose husband won't allow her stuff into their house - after three years all of her belongings are piled in their garage.   Quinn decides they need a glass of wine to discuss the problem and while Emily doesn't usually drink she accepts a glass and then another and another and a plot is hatched.

     Ah, but what is in the mysterious storage unit?  Almost unwittingly Emily soon finds herself in danger of losing not only her marriage but more importantly her life.

     As is her wont Hallie Ephron has crafted an unputdownable page turner that is carefully plotted and artfully delivered.  Enjoy!

ALMOST MIDNIGHT BY PAUL DOIRON

 

















     I'm packing my bags and moving to Maine after reading this amazing, addictive outdoors tale by Paul Doiron.  I see this is the tenth installment in his Mike Bowditch series - all I can say is where has he been all my life?

     Doiron is a passionate author who writes eloquently about the wilderness and the creatures who inhabit it in his beloved Maine.   With his descriptions the forests spring to life before the readers' eyes and the sounds fill your ears.  His creation of Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch has given readers a hero all of us can admire and pull for.  (Who could resist someone who cares for a gray wolf?)

     The story opens when Mike receives an SOS phone call from one of his oldest friends - Billy Cronk.  With reluctance Mike had put Billy in prison (leaving his wife and six children.)  Nonetheless, Billy wants Mike to investigate a female prison guard with a suspicious background.  Mike can't turn his friend down but all too soon there is a brutal outbreak at the prison and the guard is seriously injured.

     A second phone call spells more trouble for Mike when he learns that Shadow, a wolf-hybrid, he had befriended, is on the brink of death - shot by an arrow of all things.  As soon as Shadow is in the hands of a caring doctor Mike tries to find whoever had done the shooting but is blocked at every turn.

     Almost Midnight is fast-paced, rich in suspense with a nail-biting finish all wrapped in the remarkable Maine countryside as only Doiron can describe it.

     Don't miss it!

THE SNAKES

 



















How to describe this amazing book? What first comes to mind is that it is a parable to remind us of how money corrupts and that there are untrustworthy people - even in your own family. Jones writes with sharpened pen in this powerful, moving tale. She is an astute, thoughtful writer. The Snakes is an unforgettable story that will stay with readers long after the last page. Don't miss it!

KILLING WITH CONFETTI by Peter Lovesey

This is my first book by Peter Lovesey and all I can say is W0W!  Where has he been all my reading life and shame on me for not meeting him sooner!  I love mysteries but to read one laced with humor is this reader's paradise.  An imaginative plot filled with uniquely  fascinating characters kept me up most of the night as I simply couldn't put the book down.

    You'd think an upcoming wedding would be a joyous occasion  - parties, presents, showers - not quite.  Caroline the daughter of crime kingpin Joe Irving turns down the proposal from the man she loves, Ben, who is the son of Deputy Chief Constable George Brace.  She has never told Ben about her father and is positive their marriage is impossible.  Not  so.  Not only is it not impossible but the happy event will be hosted by Joe himself who will soon be released from prison.  Joe will spare no expense for his daughter's big day with the ceremony to be held in the Bath Abbey and an extravagant reception in the historic Roman Baths.  However, any number of Joe's enemies may well see this as a perfect opportunity to get rid of the old man.   How to protect everyone?  Enter Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond.  Brace orders Peter to be in charge of security for the wedding, and there is no way Peter can say no.

    In the past Peter's duties have not included personal protection, and he is appalled that the police department is to protect the country's most well known criminal.  Leave it to the agile Lovesey to come up with such an ingenious plot.  What follows are more twists and turns than are found in a pretzel factory leaving readers thoroughly engrossed and unable to stop turning pages.  I found myself guessing until the very last page - at which point I promised myself to read the other Lovesey books.  Who else gives us a compelling mystery that is also laugh-out-loud funny?

- Gail Cooke

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STONE COLD HEART by Caz Frear

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STONE COLD HEART
• Stone Cold HEART
  By Caz Frear
  HarperCollins

  
  

      Ready for the return of DC Cat Kinsella?  Of course you are!  She’s back at the London Metropolitan Police with her irrepressible banter and ability to know a lie when she hears it.  Her partner, Luigi Parnell is also back as sassy as ever as they both try to please their boss, Detective Inspector Kate Steele.

  
  

            The plot quickly begins to boil when a young Australian woman is found dead after a party hosted by her new boss.  First off the investigation of the killing aims for Joseph Madden, and what a case he is!  Nonetheless this good time Joseph claims total innocence and that he was home with his beloved (?) Wife, Rachel when the murder occurred.  But wait a minute Rachel doesn’t give him an alibi but swears she was home alone.  And we’re off!
  
      The story, characters and language are pure delight as readers are introduced not only to a murderer but to dysfunctional families as well.  It’s a multi-layered tale that will leave readers eager for more of Cat Kinsella.  Enjoy!
  
      - Gail Cooke

  
  

  
  

  Gail Cooke

  Reviews & Comments

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  Fort Worth  TX   76132 

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Gail Cooke <32brie sbcglobal.net="">
To:32brie@sbcglobal.net
Jun 25 at 8:39 PM
Stone cold HEART
By Caz Frear


    Ready for the return of DC Cat Kinsella?  Of course you are!  She’s back at the London Metropolitan Police with her irrepressible banter and ability to know a lie when she hears it.  Her partner, Luigi Parnell is also back as sassy as ever as they both try to please their boss, Detective Inspector Kate Steele.


          The plot quickly begins to boil when a young Australian woman is found dead after a party hosted by her new boss.  First off the investigation of the killing aims for Joseph Madden, and what a case he is!  Nonetheless this good time Joseph claims total innocence and that he was home with his beloved (?) Wife, Rachel when the murder occurred.  But wait a minute Rachel doesn’t give him an alibi but swears she was home alone.  And we’re off!

    The story, characters and language are pure delight as readers are introduced not only to a murderer but to dysfunctional families as well.  It’s a multi-layered tale that will leave readers eager for more of Cat Kinsella.  Enjoy!

    - Gail Cooke