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Title: Three Can Keep a Secret

Subtitle: A Stella Crown Mystery

Author: Judy Clemens

Narrator: Tavia Gilbert

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-01-12

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

When motorcycle-riding Stella Crown hires a new farmhand to help run her Pennsylvania dairy business, she gets more than she bargained for. A Mennonite widow arrives, burdened not only with grief but also by rumors of infidelity and murder. Stella herself is feeling deep sorrow over the loss of her longtime friend and employee Howie and is worrying over her shaky finances. Soon she is also coping with an influx of nasty in-laws, heartbroken beaus, and spiteful vandalism. Determined to protect herself and her farm, Stella sets out to discover the truth while trying to give her new employee the benefit of the doubt.

Meanwhile, Stellas good friend and fellow biker Lenny is riding a crisis. One moment jovial, the next angry and suspicious, Lenny is haunted by pain and secrets he wont share with Stella. His odd behavior is soon complimented by bizarre attacks on his home and business. Now there are two people close to Stella with undisclosed pasts, and the old saying Three can keep a secret, if two are dead suddenly gains new and terrible meaning.

Critic Reviews:

"Milk cows, motorcycles, and Mennonites seem like an odd combination for a mystery, but Judy Clemens makes it work.... Glimpses of good-guy biker culture and the inner workings of a dairy farm create a rich, convincing backdrop." (Boston Globe)

"If you haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting one of the most original figures in recent crime fiction - Stella Crown, twenty-nine-year-old Pennsylvania dairy farmer and dedicated biker - Judy Clemens' perfectly realized second book about her is a good place to start. The elements of Stella's life, as diverse as they are, ring loud and true, thanks to Clemens' ear for what farmers and bikers sound like, especially when they're under pressure." (Chicago Tribune)

"A delightful story, brimming with life and quirkiness and stocked with memorable characters." (Contra Costa Times)

Members Reviews:

Great mystery....

Three Can Keep A Secret: A Stella Crown Mystery (Stella Crown Series)

"Three Can Keep a Secret" is the second book in the Stella Crown series by Judy Clemens. I read the review of the first book and then decided to read the book. I'm so glad I gave the book a try. I've ordered all of the Crown series and am looking forward to more in this series. I love the characters and the location of the series. Well done, Ms Clemens!

A fast, fun read.

Being a Mennonite woman, a sometime motorcyclist and well acquainted with farm life, I found the book fun to read and quite accurate on all three items. The events happened a little too fast and furious for my taste, but the book is not boring. Wonder how the author is received in her own area? If you are looking for a quick escape from boredom, read this book.

a single woman who likes Harleys and cows...what's not to like

This was a fun quick read with very likeable characters. Clemen's Stella Crown, her farm and her friends, Harley driving and not, engage you fully from the first pages to the last. The plot develops quickly but with some very unexpected turns.

#2

This is the second book in the series and I liked it even better than the first one. If you're thinking of reading the series, start from the beginning because there are a lot of references to events and people in the first book throughout this one.

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Title: Something in the Shadows

Author: Vin Packer

Narrator: Suehyla El Attar

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-24-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Joseph Meaker was a shy, dedicated scholar. To his brash wife, Maggie, and her advertising friends, he was a cipher, easily dismissed. But behind his gentle facade he carried the seeds of violence, subtle and understated. Until the day his pet cat was accidentally killed by a neighbors car.

Josephs desire for revenge became an obsession that could only be satisfied by a ''punishment'' so gruesome it makes the skin crawl.

Members Reviews:

A heaping dose of psychological suspense

Joseph Meaker is a quiet and gentle soul, wishing for nothing more than to study barn hexereiâof which there are plenty in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where he moves after obtaining a school grant. His ideal life would be to study, write, and pet his cat. Joesph is nothing like his wife Maggie, a bold advertising exec who brings her coworkers home from New York City for wild weekend parties. The odd coupleâs relationship is deteriorating in the rustic farmland, Joseph becoming more distanced and withdrawn, Maggie looking to her big-city coworkers for companionship. While theyâre not the ideal happily married couple, things stay status quo.

Josephâs world is flipped upside-down when he watches a Mercedes hit-and-run his prized feline companionâand, for the first time in his meek, ordinary life, he vows revenge. He tracks down the killer, finding him to be Doctor Louis Hart, and sets about needling the man with the topics of murder and death, breaking him down for a final assault. Little does he know that Hart has turned raging alcoholic and gained a local reputation of murdererâhaving passed out drunk in his car on the way to an accident, Hartâs negligence caused the deaths of two people. And while Joseph is set on revenge for his cat, Hartâs blood is boiling over Josephâs topics of blood and deathâ

I picked up Something in the Shadows after seeing it called âVin Packerâs best,â as I knew I wanted to start off with her best. And I was very impressed by the novel. It was interesting to compare Marijane Meaker (the real person behind the Vin Packer alias) and Patricia Highsmith by reading them back-to-back, given the similarities and history between the two authors (they were in a relationship living in Bucks County when Meaker/Packer wrote this novel). Something in the Shadows compares favorably; Iâm not sure itâs the most tense or suspenseful, but it comes within striking range, and it has its own strengthsâits well-drawn, realistic characters for one. Itâs a complex social drama that takes a dark turn down the road of suspense, and near the end thereâs some developments that make it a very suspenseful book indeed. An excellent pageturner, itâs a quick read. Recommended for suspense/thriller readers, particularly readers who enjoy those of the psychological kind.

Mercedes Benz and Siamese cat

A Mercedes Benz chases a Siamese cat down the road and kills it. Just another

cat run down, nothing unusual about that. Except this particular cat is

owned and beloved by Joseph Meaker. He lived in Bucks County, Pennsylvania

with his very successful advertising wife. Meaker ponders revenge.

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Title: Miami Marauder

Author: Mike Barry

Narrator: Adam Epstein

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-15-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

When a wolf leaves the pack, he lives only as long as he can kill by himself quicker and surer than any pack he runs up against. Meet a man beyond either forgiveness or vengeance. Meet the Man they call The Lone Wolf. Better meet him now. The way he lives, he cant live much longer.

Burt Wulff was the target, and the way to Wulff was through an old friend named Tamara. Calabreses men came for her in broad daylight, abducted her from her home and shot her full of drugs so that she didnt know a thing until she woke up in Miami. Miami - famous resort town, place in the sun and all that - but not now, not for Tamara and not for Wulff.

The trouble was that Wulff was dead set against heroin, and went around breaking up the neat little trade routes that drug runners had set up around the globe. Now Calabrese decided hed had enough of Wulff. Now he had Tamara, the bait by which to lure Wulff to Miami. In the shadow of those fine hotels and fancy shops, there was something going on along surfside. And that something was called murder.

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Title: Old School Bones

Author: Randall Peffer

Narrator: Jim O' Hare

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-15-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Winter in a New England prep school brings term papers, wet snow, and the suicide of a young black student. Except Liberty Baker's friends are convinced she couldn't have taken her own life, and Liberty's faculty advisor, Awasha Patterson, believes them. She is desperate to believe any theory that Liberty's death was suspicious - Awasha turned the girl away the night of her death. If Liberty had been suicidal, Awasha had missed the signs. But how to prove it? No one in the school wants to think that it could have been a racially-motivated crime; vague whispers of school-sanctioned secret societies are quickly stopped by the headmaster.

Awasha can't let it rest, her guilt is consuming. So she seeks out help from a man she knows understands guilt - a man so sensitive, so compassionate to others, that it ruined his career as a defense attorney with one fateful case. Awasha finds Michael DeCastro on his father's fishing boat, and Michael knows from the moment he sees her that he's about to be haunted by another injustice. And he knows he'll give everything of himself until the spirits of the dead lie in peace.

Members Reviews:

Couldn't finish this book

I agree with Beth's review. I read all the time and it has been years since I put a book down without finishing it. That's what happened with this book; it was so poorly written that I couldn't continue reading. Thank goodness I only spent $1.99 for it as a daily Kindle deal.

A big waste of money

I read a great deal and when a friend asked me to join an online book club I thought it sounded like fun. The first book we are reading is Old School Bones. Unfortunately, the author is in the book club so I don't feel comfortable telling him how dreadful it was to read this book but I would like to warn potential purchasers that if you must read it get it from the library. I am furious at myself for spending money on what reads like a first draft of a quickly written, poorly thought out high school creative writing essay.

Old School Bones

Michael DeCastro was formerly a defense attorney who now fills his time working on his father's fishing boat. But the entreaties of Awashonka "Awasha" Patterson, faculty adviser and Director of Minority Affairs at a New England prep school [once a boys' and a girls' school now integrated into one coed school, albeit still filled with sexist and racial prejudices] convince him to investigate the death of Liberty Baker, a young black student. The authorities have ruled it a suicide - she was found dead in a bathtub with her wrists slit - but Awasha and Liberty's dorm-mates think she was murdered - she had been the recipient of a racially charged death threat.

Apparently the girls had been investigating the existence, many years before, of secret societies at the school, banned 50 years ago, but whether or not they actually ceased to exist is another question. Now, with Liberty dead, the other girls feel threatened as well. And when the remains of, apparently, another student are discovered, that threat seems more real.

Old school ties are surely more benign than old school bones, but not necessarily.

There are various ethnicities which come into play - African-American, Native American, Portugese [Michael's father is referred to as a Portagee], Asian.

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Title: The Same Lie Twice

Author: Ron Goulart

Narrator: Ray Chase

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 15 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-12-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

A copywriters wife has vanished, and only John Easy is slick enough to save her.

Jim Benning makes $25,000 a year writing drivel for the admen at the Arbogast & Joseph Agency, and his wife thinks hes worth a whole lot less. Joanna is a model: nervous, beautiful, and prone to meltdowns. In a last-ditch attempt to save their marriage, she agrees to a few sessions with a psychiatrist in San Ignacio - a quack whose psychobabble is more sinister than it appears. But when Joanna disappears, Jims only hope is John Easy, the hippest P.I. in Hollywood.

Jim gives John a matchbook found in his wifes purse for a club called Maybe - a swingers hideout where morality is not in style - and John plunges into the seedy side of sunny San Ignacio, where the copywriters wife led an entirely different sort of existence. To save Joanna from her shadow self, John Easy will have to swing harder than ever before.

Members Reviews:

A good time waster

This is a fun little read that will easily wile away an afternoon. The main character is a detective named John Easy, and he is that way about almost everything. Easy with woman, with suspects, with his gun.

Easy goes in search of a missing wife and an interesting adventure along the way. Do not expect to talking politics or philosophy with this book, as it is simply written to give us some time off. There is some funny word choices and conversations on ocassion but nothing too much to distract from the story.

The story feels as though it was written some time ago. After a quick check, I find it was originally published in 1973, and I think that the writing style shows some age to it. But... I was going to give this only 3 stars, but it was a good time waster that did not require too much thinking. Based on that I have bumped it up to 4 stars.

A Fun Read

Ron Goulart's The Same Lie Twice is simply a lot of fun. Peopled

by L.A. characters that make me want to visit there just to

people watch, Goulart's detective Easy is just that, easy with

his women, his survival, and with those he meets as he searches

for a run away wife.

This is one of those books that is good for laughs, some head scratching and some good discussion - a fine light mystery that

will relax you after a hard day's work, or on a wintery afternoon.

A fun read.

An okay book if you know what to expect

I have a pet-peeve that is becoming more of an issue with the prevalence of e-books. If a book was previously published I really feel the publisher/author should make that known. I think the John Easy series was originally published in the 1970s. It's great that books are being re-released but I feel it's fair to warn the reader that the books are dated. There's references to past events, items, and trends. If the reader isn't expecting it, it can be quite unsettling.

I've only read "The Same Lie Twice" and I won't make a point of reading the rest of the series. They're okay but not really my thing. The series is very reminiscent of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series or the early Robert B. Parker Spenser novels.

Disclaimer: I received the Kindle book in exchange for my honest review.

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Title: The Damnation of Adam Blessing

Author: Vin Packer

Narrator: Alan Robertson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-12-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

The Damnation of Adam Blessing is the story of the strange, private world built by a man of many faces and as many distorted passions. And it is the story of the women who dared enter that world....

Members Reviews:

Possibly a Literary Masterpiece

I began reading this book simply based on the unusual title and the fact that it was on sale. I also found it intriguing that an Acid Rock band of the late 60s early 70's that was an opening act for many great rock bands adopted the title as the name of their band. According to the band's website, the leader of the band has been in prison for almost 18 years following a "domestic dispute.". The book is unlike any other Vin Packer book I have ever read. It is a unique psychological Portrayal of an unusual man. It is not a fast paced thriller. There are no gun battles and no police chases. And it starts off slowly and builds to the point where you can't put it down. But it is well written and should be studied in English Lit classes along with Catcher In The Rye and Faust. An orphan works in NYC in a book and autograph collector store. He managed the store for the owner who is a bit nuts. By chance, he meets a well to do acquaintance from childhood and that's when the trouble starts. An amazing book. Highly recommended.

Brilliant character study noir

Excellent writing and fascinating characterization detail the sad and humorous story of Adam Blessing.

This book is written by Vin Packer (whose real name is Marijane Meaker), and it is an engaging, funny and uncomfortable reading experience that I'd rank alongside the best noir pieces by my other favorite crime novelists---David Goodis, Charles Willeford, and Jim Thompson---though this is certainly less plot oriented and even more character driven than those books. It also brings to mind Fellini at his finest (the touching, The Nights of Cabiria) and some of the edgier character study movies that came out in the 70s.

The Damnation of Adam Blessing is a funny, disorienting and cringe-inducing book, an episodic--yet cumulative--journey wherein the oblivious protagonist proves to be an often unreliable narrator. It is probably not considered essential literature because of the pulpy way in which it was originally marketed, but this is superb stuff that works on every emotional level and is worth more serious study and admiration than most commonly regarded "classics." My favorite book by her, though The Twisted Ones and The Thrill Kids are comparable.

A Man Obsessed

Adam Blessing, an orphan, grew up obsessed by Billy Bollin, son of a rich man. Created in 1961 by Vin Packer, he would probably be the only character unsurprised

by a rock group that called themselves The Damnation of Adam Blessing. Yes, really. They took the title of the book in 1963. The fictional Adam, strange and destined

for a peculiar life in Billy's shadow, was only repelled by the ordinary, by

things that had explanations, by the usual and everyday. Meet him and the women

who dared enter his bizarre world.Then try to sleep well thereafter.

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Title: My Lovely Executioner

Author: Peter Rabe

Narrator: Danny Campbell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 37 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-12-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Jimmy Gallivan is only three-and-a-half weeks from his prison release for trying to kill his wifes lover seven years ago. But fellow-inmate Rand has other plans for Gallivan. A break-out is engineered, and now theyre hiding out in a sanitarium. But the whole set-up seems suspicious. Rands boss wants Gallivan to help him with his drug operation. But is that all there is to it? Because it begins to seem like the whole escape was engineered just for him. And what about Jesse? Where does she figure in all of this? Is she the bait - or has she become Gallivans new jailor?

Members Reviews:

A Prison Escape, a Psych Hospital, A Party, A Junkie, & A Con

My Lovely Executioner is a noir novel taking place during the winter snows of Christmastime. It features a convict who is three weeks of completing his seven years and, when a riot and jailbreak is staged, is reluctant to go along. Once out, he remains a prisoner in some sense by the criminal organization that engineered the escape and wants him to do something.

Rabe does an excellent job of portraying the monotony of prison life and Gallivan's uncomfortableness with his unplanned escape and uneasiness with what they want from him. He's sort of a misfit in this role and it shows in his constant sparring with the femme fatale of the piece, Jessie.

Although I really enjoyed this novel, it was at times a little light on the action and sometimes left the reader as confused and misled as Gallivan himself as to what was really going on. There's also a lot in the middle of the book that just shows how uneasy and untrusting Gallivan was.

Overall, this is a good noir selection from Rabe, just not one of his better known works.

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Title: Verdict Suspended

Author: Helen Nielsen

Narrator: Erik Davies

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 2.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Intricacy, expertise, substance - all are here in this latest of Helen Nielsens absorbing mysteries.

Homicide, by person or persons unknown, was the judgment of the coroners jury - but for Jaime Dodson, brother of the murdered woman, the ordeal was just beginning. There was that crucial period that had begun when he stood over his sister, enraged, ready to strike. Only one course was open - to investigate for himself the events of the fatal evening, teasing the memory. His young wife, his friends watched in painful fascination; for two of them knew that already, under narcosis in the hospital, Jaime had confessed that he was the killer....

Members Reviews:

Another Terrific Murder Mystery

Helen Nielsen has a terrific body of mystery work -and it's difficult to understand why she is not more well-known.

"Verdict Suspended" is a taut, well-designed mystery. Everyone knows who killed the rich, mean gal. But what If the town ready to lynch the poor guy has it all wrong? What if there's no need to run him and his new wife out of town?

Nielsen begins this tale by leading the reader through the coroner's inquest. An interesting beginning, indeed.

Although there's not much action in this novel, there is never a dull moment.

It's a classic mystery filled with upper class people, many of whom

have valid motives for wanting the shrewd, Nasty victim dead.

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Title: The Severed Key

Author: Helen Nielsen

Narrator: Christian Rummel

Format: Unabridged

Length: 5 hrs and 52 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 3 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Was the crash deliberately contrived, a diabolical piece of sabotage, or was it cruelly fortuitous? Simon Drake - Miss Nielsens very personable and popular lawyer-detective - happens to be at the airport at the time of the crash, and notices that some surprising people have been awaiting the ill-fated plane: among them, a gangster boss and a millionaire playboy. He hastens to take his boat out into the bay, to help search for possible survivors, but all he manages to pick up is one piece of hand luggage - a cosmetics case which is identified as belonging to Sigrid Thorsen, a young starlet who was joining her fianc at Los Angeles. And the severed key concealed in the case is the first of many clues in the extremely dangerous and complex adventure which invades Drakes life.

The mystery develops in many directions, and Drake finds himself and his friens more and more involved. In the background there is the hovering, enigmatic presence of the gangster boss. And from time to time a trio of utterly amoral hippies erupt into the narrative.

As we approach the very tense climax, the plot grows darker and more deadly: Miss Nielsen has many surprises in reserve.

Members Reviews:

Simon Drake And The Clues Falling Out Of The Sky

The classic hardboiled detective has a tiny office without a receptionist or secretary and is always wondering how he is going to make the rent. After all, most of the typical hardboiled detective's clients drop dead just as they are about to hire him. He is generally at odds with official law enforcement and too busy wisecracking to practice his judo moves. Simon Drake is a different kind of detective. Well, he is actually a lawyer, a wealthy, successful lawyer who lives in a mansion and drives a fancy jaguar. He hobknobs with the well-to-do and seems to know everybody who is anyone. He is engaged to a beautiful entertainer. He goes to nightclubs. He lives in Marina Beach (which appears to be a not-so well disguised Laguna Beach) and odd things appear to happen around him, causing him to investigate.

This is the third Simon Drake novel and is a terrific read. Helen Nielsen is a topnotch fiction writer and ought to be better known than she is. Her work is generally understated in that she doesn't hit you over the head with continuous action, but it is just a pleasure to read because it is smoothly written and the story just unfolds. This story involves jet plane crashes, former Caribbean dictators, Hollywood wannabees, bodies turning up in beds and in oceans, wild Westside parties, hippies in vans, mobsters, and missing fortunes.

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Title: Detour to Death

Author: Helen Nielsen

Narrator: Michael McConnohie

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins

Language: English

Release date: 10-11-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Danny Ross, kid hitch-hiker trapped by circumstantial evidence Now he was a fugitive, alone and friendless His one ally lay on the seat of the stolen car, the gun hes ripped from the sheriffs holster when he escaped. The sight of it brought sweat to his forehead, made him want to toss it out the window. But he could not Now it was all he had, and he was going to need it

Members Reviews:

Great Pulp Story Set In The West

One of the great things that Prologue Books has done is introduce a new generation of readers to forgotten writers from the great age of the pulps. There were few women writers of pulps and mysteries during that age and fewer still that did not write under pen names. Helen Nielsen wrote about a dozen novels from the 1940's through to the 1970's, including The Brink of Murder, Dead on the Level, and Sing Me A Murder. She is, however, most well known for being a screenwriter for Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Perry Mason. Her pulp writings often featured either a Mike Shelly, a hardboiled detective, or a female detective. Detour to Death features neither of these. It is nevertheless an excellent book.

The basic plot for Detour to Death is familiar to most pulp readers. A man, through no fault of his own, becomes the chief suspect in a murder and, while he is on the run from the law, other bodies fall in his path and he is the chief suspect in those murders as well. He stands friendless, alone, unable to prove his innocence until the end of the story. Most of the time this plot is found in New York, Chicago, or Philadelphia (if it is a David Goodis story). What is wonderful and unique about Detour to Death is that the familiar plot is not played out in familiar territory. The entire story takes place in a small, desolate town in the west and the murder at the center of the story is of the town's popular doctor, a man everyone loved, and the entire town is arrayed against the protagonist.

Who is the protagonist of this story? Danny Ross, a young kid of nearly eighteen, who had set out from Chicago and was headed down to Mexico to start life over. His seventeen-year-old jalopy had given out and, after pushing it to the side of the road, he thumbed a ride with the doctor. "Danny was barely eighteen. Eighteen and skinny in a pair of tight Levi's and an old leather jacket, with his sun-bleached hair cut a quick two inches from his scalp, and his tanned face marked with anger and pride. Danny wasn't running away from life; he was running toward it."

The pair stop into a general store called Mountain View for a cola and, after the doctor flashes a few hundred dollars that is in his wallet, the doctor wanders outside first to take care of business. Danny follows him a moment or two later and finds him prone in front of the car with the radiator cap still in his hand and blood pouring down his forehead. Danny checks him to see if he is still breathing and notices a bloody rock nearby, which he picks up to examine. It doesn't take a genius to realize what will happen next as the locals spot him near the body all bloody and the sheriff finds two hundred dollars in his pocket. Danny is booked for murder and the town, which is somewhere on the dry, bleached prairie near a mining camp, is ready to lynch him.