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Title: Summer Cool

Subtitle: A Jack Paine Mystery, Book 2

Author: Al Sarrantonio

Narrator: Robert J. Sciglimpaglia

Format: Unabridged

Length: 3 hrs and 56 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-23-12

Publisher: Crossroad Press

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Jack Paine was on what passed for a vacation, or maybe it was a regrouping, an opportunity to forget the events of the last year and especially of the last month. When the phone rang, he tried to ignore it. There were only a few people who knew where to reach him, and none of them would try. But the phone kept ringing. And Jack Paine finally answered it.

Of course, it was bad news. Bob Petty, a friend from Paine's days on the force, had disappeared. Petty's wife, Terry, knew that he hadn't gone undercover; they'd worked out a code for situations like that. All Bob had said in his last phone call to his wife was, "If you ever come near me I'll kill you and the kids."

Jack Paine is a retired cop with a private license and a telescope he uses to watch the heavens. It's a simple life, good when he's got clients, and he manages when he doesn't. But this call was leading to something Paine wasn't sure he could manage: Now that Petty had disappeared, bodies were beginning to appear and the trail always led back to his old friend.

Paine doesn't think his friend has turned. But something is very wrong, something that goes beyond the deep-rooted corruption he beings to uncover, something that goes deeper...and much further back.

And in the Arizona desert, where day's heat turns deathly cold at night, and where the stars scream for attention, Jack Paine turns over the last stone....

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Title: The Premier Murder League

Author: Geeta Sundar

Narrator: Maneesh Dungartive

Format: Unabridged

Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins

Language: English

Release date: 07-20-12

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 2 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Set in the cricketing world, an exciting whodunit on the nexus between politicians and cricket boards....

When DCP Ravi and his ACP Rahul are handed the case of the death of the Union Sports Minister and cricket board member S.N. Rao, little do they know that this is just one of the series of murders across the city. What unravels is a ruthless game of supremacy - a deeper, more sinister plan to squash anyone coming in the way of setting up the 20-20 league and becoming one of the richest sporting bodies of the world! In the nexus between politicians and the cricket board, the players are just pawns and the real game a tamasha.

Members Reviews:

Avoidable

I am a little torn as I sit to write this review. On one hand, the author seems to have made an honest, unpretentious effort to tell a story in the best way she knows. But on the other, the book does not belong in mainstream publishing. It would be easy to trash this book, but let me try and do some justice to the author's effort.

The Premier Murder League, as the title suggests, is about the murky cricketing world that has come into being with the advent of T20 cricket in India. There is greed, corruption and murder as one would expect. Thankfully, there is no sleaze. The setting is topical and perhaps the main reason behind the book's sales.

But first, I do want to appreciate the author for plain and unaffected writing that is an innocent reflection of our inane TV serials. The conversation and actions are similar to what one sees in our afternoon soaps, sans the melodrama. Unlike some of the other `popular' writing that has been gushing out of our publishing houses lately, this book makes no pretense of being modern or trendy. The language is what one finds in a children's book. Murder mysteries written in children's language is a funny prospect.

Now, the book itself. The plot is flimsy, characters shallow and dialogue artificial. Police officers' idea of interviewing a suspect is to confront him/her with a series of accusations that are unsubstantiated by anything other than remote circumstantial evidence and hearsay. The guess what? The characters implode emotionally and confess. That's all it takes. Our vernacular TV coming through! And the police guys find clues so very easily that one can almost imagine the background music playing!

Having said that, I must say that I enjoyed the three hours I spent reading it. Not because of the plot or mystery, but for the amusement of experiencing a soap in book form.

I wonder what the publisher's thinking behind putting out such writing could have been. Did they want to experiment with unvarnished `common' language that undiscerning Bollywood and IPL fans could lap up? Were they trying to find an answer to Rupa's Chetan Bhagat phenomenon? They must have had some thinking before putting their brand to a style of writing that is the antithesis of what mature publishing markets (and their own parent brand?) demand.

It is a book that brings a bad name to Indian writing.

Overall Rating: 1.5 / 5

Sub-ratings: Setting (3); Story (1); Characters (1); Writing (1)

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Title: Risky Business

Author: W. Soliman

Narrator: Victor Bevine

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-25-12

Publisher: Carina Press

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Former British police detective Charlie Hunter knows how cold cases can claw at your gut. His mother's unsolved murder was why he joined the force. Now he's reluctantly taking on cases as a P.I. - though what he really wants is to be left alone.

When a young woman asks for his help, he can't say no. Cleo Kendall is convinced that her father, who's serving a life sentence for murder, isn't guilty. Everyone thinks the case is closed, but Charlie doesn't agree. Especially when his investigation leads him to his difficult stepbrother, who may be involved with his mother's murder and Cleo's family.

With the detective chief inspector watching his every move, Charlie delves deeper and deeper into dangerous territory. But someone doesn't want Charlie getting to the bottom of this case - ever.

Members Reviews:

Intriguing mystery + sexy detective=must read

Risky Business by W. Soliman is an intriguing murder mystery starring retired British police detective Charlie Hunter. Charlie's investigation into an old case brings him face to face with a nemesis from his days on the police force. The case also intersects with his own troubled past when his investigation casts suspicions on his stepbrother Paul Flint. Charlie is about to discover the killer will do anything to keep his identity concealed.

Charlie Hunter is a fabulous character with a complicated past. He has a contentious relationship with his ex-wife but he is close to his son Harry. Charlie is a tough ex-policeman with street smarts, good instincts and an inability to say no to distressed (and attractive) women. His mother's murder was a defining moment in his childhood and he is still actively investigating her unsolved murder.

W. Soliman's Risky Business is a clever mystery that takes many unexpected twists and turns. The investigation into Charlie's mother's death is fascinating with each installment of the Hunter Files revealing vital clues about the killer's identity. Equally fascinating are Charlie's romantic entanglements with the women in his life.

A solid novel with a compelling and suspenseful storyline, Risky Business is a must read for anyone who enjoys contemporary English mysteries.

Review copy obtained from publisher through NetGalley.

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Title: XO

Author: Jeffery Deaver

Narrator: Lorelei King

Format: Abridged

Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-21-12

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Kayleigh Towne is a beautiful and successful singer-songwriter, and Edwin Sharp is her biggest fan. When she replies to one of his fan letters with "XO", Edwin is convinced she loves him, and that her latest hit song, "Your Shadow", was written for him. Nothing Kayleigh or her lawyers can say persuades him otherwise.

Then the singer gets an anonymous phone call; it's the first verse of "Your Shadow" playing. Soon after, one of the crew is horribly murdered.

Kayleigh's friend Kathryn Dance, a special agent with the California Bureau of Investigation, knows that stalking crimes are not one-off occurrences, and sure enough, more verses of the song are played as warnings of death to follow. With a little help from forensic criminalist Lincolyn Rhyme, Dance must use her considerable skills at investigation and body language analysis in an attempt to find the killer before more people die.

Deaver has written the actual song, "Your Shadow".

Members Reviews:

XO is OK.

To say that Jeffrey Deaver wrote another GOOD book is a let-down. He usually writes amazingly GREAT books! This Kathryn Dance murder mystery is a very good murder mystery because, as usual, you NEVER know who did it until the very end...even if you think you do...even if you don't think it's the obvious suspect! In that way, it DOES keep you on the edge of your seat. However, Kathryn Dance is a "Body Language (kinesics) expert" yet we don't get to learn very much at all about body language. In Deaver's The Vanished Man, we learned SO MUCH about the tricks used by quick-change artists and some magic tricks...and as ALWAYS with Lincoln Ryhme murder mysteries, we learn a lot about forensics, plus the fun of trying to guess who did it and how all the way through the book!

XO had plenty of surprises and plot twists, it was just such a disappointment to have a detective from whom you don't get to learn the secrets of their "specialty" (such as kinesics).

The story is basically about a young and very successful country music star who is being stalked...people around her are being murdered. Before each murder, there is a warning using lyrics from one of her songs. I do recommend this book.

Good Stuff, But I Wanted More Kathryn

XO is the new Kathryn Dance novel. Except that, in some ways, it's not. The focal character is Kayleigh Towne, a country singer who is being stalked by an obsessive fan. Or is she? Is the real murderer (or are the real murderers) setting up the putative stalker to draw attention away from his/her/their machinations in order to create the perfect fall guy? Or is the stalker using them to make Kayleigh believe that he is her hero, the knight seeking only to protect her from a set of people who wish to do her harm?

The story takes us into the world of country music in a changing distribution/production environment and, as always, Jeffery Deaver is filled with interesting information to flesh out the background. He knows this world and he knows music and the technical details of instrumentation and public performance.

The problem (for me, at least) is that this is primarily a Kayleigh Towne novel rather than a Kathryn Dance novel.

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Title: Taken

Author: Niamh O'Connor

Narrator: Grainne Gillis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-21-12

Publisher: Oakhill Publishing Limited

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Its a cold wet winter night when a car pulls into a service station on Dublin quays. Strapped on to the back-seat is a three-year-old boy. Asleep. Five minutes later hes gone - kidnapped in the time its taken his mother to pay for her petrol. Distraught and fearing for his safety, she has only one option: DI Jo Birmingham. Her search for the little boy takes her into a dark world of lies and corruption, where hard cash is king, where sex is a commodity to be bought and sold - and where the lost and vulnerable are in terrifying danger...

Members Reviews:

Strong message

The second novel in this exciting series is similar to the first one. Ms. O'Connor is obviously a reporter. Her writing is quick and to the point. There is no unnecessary padding and she doesn't waste much time on character development. The story is moving quickly without any stumbles. It has realistic and gritty quality. Seems to be written from vast experience, not just thorough research. My personal preference are novels with more character and less action, but even so this is a very compelling mystery with a strong message.

Great second novel!

In February 2011 I read Niamh O'Connor's debut novel and really enjoyed it. I was looking forward to reading the second instalment. We once again meet the feisty Jo Birmingham who as a female DI is one of the few female senior officers in Dublin. She is trying to manage her work as well as her children and being a single parent makes her life that little bit harder. The Model and It-Girl Tara Parker French drives into a petrol station to fill up and runs into the station to pay. She leaves her three year old son Presley in the car, and that is her biggest mistake.

With Tara's child kidnapped Jo does her best to help with the case. What she can't work out is why Tara doesn't want the public to know he is missing. Before long in true Jo Birmingham style she has forced herself into the middle of the case irrelevant of the consequences. Jo is a character I really liked as although she was feisty she was also human and that means mistakes. It makes her all the more likeable as a character. We also see the return of her colleagues Gavin Sexton, Foxy and her ex-husband (who also happens to be her boss) Dan.

The story itself is pretty intriguing early on as you get to see the sheer terror of Tara whose child has been snatched. What I didn't realise was that as soon as I was hooked on that part of the story I didn't really come up for air. The book itself isn't too lengthy but has enough substance to make it interesting. The crime element of the story covers pretty much everything with drugs, sex crimes as well as corruption and extortion to name a few. Towards the end it picked up again and I have to say I read the last quarter of the book the quickest. The ending surprised me, but I have to say it leaves the reader really wanting to pick up the next book to find out what happens to the characters.

There is a lot of crime books and especially new authors about at the moment. Niamh O'Connor will definitely be making it on my `to read' list every year, but has yet to blow me away. It seems she has created a great series with characters that are slowly worming their way into people's minds. Most definitely somebody to watch for the future!

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Title: Hold the Anchovies

Author: Harris Tobias

Narrator: Bill Comb

Format: Unabridged

Length: 2 hrs and 22 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-19-12

Publisher: Harris Tobias

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Retired New York City homicide detective, Vinny DeMarco joins his old partner, Bluto, in a pizza restaurant in Reno, NV. The oldest pizza delivery man in America gets more than he bargained for when he delivers a pizza to the mysterious Scotsman, one of Reno's big shot gangsters. What follows is a tale of action, murder and revenge as hot and spicy as a pepperoni pizza.

Members Reviews:

Dashiell Hammett with Pepperoni and Extra Cheese

What did you love best about Hold the Anchovies?

Hold the Anchovies was fun, light entertainment: fresh to my ears and . . . well my son owns a pizzeria, so it hit close to home.

What other book might you compare Hold the Anchovies to and why?

Any of the noir detectives.

Which scene was your favorite?

The encounters with the bad guy: the fearlessness of the battle hardened retired detective: his wily manipulation of the crime boss and particularly the strenthening, rather than weakening as the threat increased and grew clearer.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listen to all my books in big chunks and only leave when duty calls me away.

Any additional comments?

Bill Comb's rendering of the characters ranged from the consistenly harsh and rough voice of our hero to the lightest of the females and was good in every one of them.

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Title: The Big Wake-Up

Subtitle: August Riordan, Book 5

Author: Mark Coggins

Narrator: Richardson Jones

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-18-12

Publisher: Mark Alan Coggins

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 4 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

The odyssey of María Eva Duarte de Perón - the Argentine first lady made famous in the play and the movie Evita - was as remarkable in death as it was in life. A few years after she succumbed to cervical cancer, her specially preserved body was taken by the military dictatorship that succeeded her deposed husband, Juan. Hidden for 16 years in Italy in a crypt under a false name, she was eventually exhumed and returned to Buenos Aires to be buried in an underground tomb said to be secure enough to withstand a nuclear attack.

Or was she?

When San Francisco private eye August Riordan engages in a flirtation with a beautiful university student from Buenos Aires, he witnesses her death in a tragic shooting and is drawn into a mad hunt for Evita's remains. He needs all of his wits, his network of friends and associates, and an unexpected legacy from the dead father he has never known to help him survive the deadly intrigue between powerful Argentine movers and shakers, ex-military men, and a mysterious woman named Isis who is expert in ancient techniques of mummification.

The fifth novel in the August Riordan series, The Big Wake-Up plunges everyman PI Riordan and his sidekick, Chris Duckworth, into their most terrifying and anguishing case ever.

Members Reviews:

Best so far in a great series

Like other reviewers, I've read all of the August Riordan mysteries and found this to be the best yet. "The Big Wake Up" is a fast-paced, engaging read with all of the plot complexity fans of the series have come to expect. Hard-bitten San Francisco private detective August Riordan is true to form as he attempts to solve a very unusual missing persons case. Coggins is particularly good at using familiar Bay Area neighborhoods and attractions as settings for his stories and he doesn't disappoint with his latest work. Devoted fans and newcomers alike will find themselves waiting anxiously for the next in the series.

This book is so good I can't even give it enough stars

This book is so good I can't even give it enough stars. Very complicated plot and wild.

Warning, I read it in one day. It's addictive.

Five Stars

Another fun, fast paced read by Mark.

the Big Wakeup

I've really enjoyed each book in this August Riordan series, but this one was almost too violent & had a very strange ending. It does, however, give the author a chance to bring August back after he cleans up his act a little bit and maybe gets a newer car and a regular love interest.

A Fun Jolt

"The Big Wake-Up" has more graves, graveyards, gravestones, crypts, mausoleums, coffins, embalming fluid and urns than a vampire-werewolf-Hamlet film festival and it has Eva Peron. Yes, Eva Peron.

"The Big Wake-Up" has August Riordan and that means that perfect pitch of dry humor and an interesting, fully realized assortment of co-workers and associates.

The setting is San Francisco. Riordan is a private detective but he won't be giving master classes at the convention. What he lacks in technology skills and sleuth savvy, he balances with determination and a gut load of zeal. He's easily drawn in by the stunning Melina Rivero, sister of the beautiful Araceli Rivero, whom August meets in a Laundromat doing his wash (always a good indication of the income level of your leading man) in the opening scene.

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Title: Murder in the Wings

Subtitle: A Jack Dwyer Mystery, Book 4

Author: Ed Gorman

Narrator: James Lewis

Format: Unabridged

Length: 4 hrs and 29 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-13-12

Publisher: Crossroad Press

Ratings: 3.5 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Jack Dwyer, ex-cop turned amateur actor, is delighted when his agent lands him a role in a local production of Long Day's Journey into Night. The real drama starts, however, when Michael Reeves - the play's angry, bullying director - is found murdered, and Dwyer's friend Stephen Wade, a sweet has-been of an actor, is charged with the crime. Dwyer knows that Wade has been set up. But who did it? And why?

Was it David Ashton, an apparent fortune-seeker and heir to the Bridges Theater by marriage; or Richard Keech, the handsome, pushy young actor who shared the woman whom the dead man loved? Or could it have been Anne Stewart - the aging actress who carries a secret as dark as that of the character she plays? And what of Lenora Bridges, the matriarch of the theatrical family, who never comes out of her room in the building high above the stage?

Sure, all the world's a stage, but for Dwyer, it's not that simple, because a real man's life is on the line. In order to save him, Dwyer's going to have to discover what's really going on behind the scenes at the most bizarre, mysterious, complex theater company west of Times Square.

Members Reviews:

Fun Eighties mystery

Any additional comments?

Nice little story here of a Chicago ex-cop turned actor. Nostalgic 80's feel. Well read by James Lewis.

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Title: Dismal Mountain

Subtitle: Owen Allison Mystery, Book 3

Author: John Billheimer

Narrator: Kevin Foley

Format: Unabridged

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-13-12

Publisher: Books In Motion

Ratings: 5 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

The third Owen Allison mystery, following Contrary Blues and Highway Robbery, finds the transportation inspector defending his Aunt Lizzie against a murder charge. With her land threatened by the construction of a shopping mall, Lizzie parks herself at the edge of her property, shotgun in her lap, vowing to do whatever it takes to stop the dump trucks; then, suddenly, a truck driver is dead. Did Aunt Lizzie really shoot him? Owen smells a rat, but Lizzie seems determined to refuse his help. Throw in an assortment of well-drawn characters (Billheimer's specialty) and a clever scam run by some shady hospital administrators, and you have a first-rate crime novel.

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Title: Revenge for Old Times' Sake

Subtitle: Tracy Eaton Series, Book 3

Author: Kris Neri

Narrator: Beth Richmond

Format: Unabridged

Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins

Language: English

Release date: 06-13-12

Publisher: Books in Motion

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 1 votes

Genres: Mysteries & Thrillers, Modern Detective

Publisher's Summary:

Free-spirited Tracy cheers when her stuffy husband, Drew, loosens up enough to rearrange the nose of his boorish boss, Ian Dragger. But Drew's timing couldn't be worse. When Dragger is found floating face down in the Eatons' pool, deader than disco, Drew is the one that wily Detective Patti Garcia zeroes in on as her prime suspect. Still, Tracy expects to clear her sweetie in short order. But that's before help arrives - in form of her own mother, over-the-top movie actress Martha Collins, and her rigid-with-dignity mother-in-law, Charlotte Eaton. And when the mothers get together, the fireworks go off.

Obstacles mount higher when Drew's ex-flame, attorney CeeCee Payne, deals herself into the game. But CeeCee's peculiar behavior raises too many questions. Does she want Drew back? Or is revenge what CeeCee's after, as her actions threaten to condemn him to a life behind bars. When the bodies in the pool start stacking up like timber in a logging camp, Tracy knows nothing less than her wildest antics will do. But as the blows keep coming Drew's way, Tracy fears that even her craziness won't be enough to save him.