“Drop Shot”   by Harlan Coben

2011 Book Review #35

   Publishers Weekly Review

Quirky, sarcastic sports agent, Myron Bolitar makes his second appearance pursuing the killer of a 24-year-old has-been tennis star on the verge of making her comeback. When someone shoots Valerie Simpson near the Food Court during the U.S. Open, Myron learns she was urgently trying to contact him.

Rapid-fire dialogue reminiscent of Gregory McDonald's Fletch books keeps the pace whirring as Myron, sometimes aided by his elegantly lethal pal, Win Lockwood, prowls New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey.  

Dry humor and a self-deprecating attitude make Myron an appealing hero and minor characters are delineated with attitude and verve. The exception, Myron's girlfriend, Jessica, is so flawlessly beautiful, brilliantly accomplished and oversexed (rescued from an attempted gang rape, she immediately wants to make love), that she seems more a fantasy than a character. 

My Thoughts:  I like the characters and I liked this book.

“Murder, She Wrote…

The Queen’s Jewels”

by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain

   

 2011 Book Review #34

                     

          Summary

In the brand-new novel in the USA Today bestselling series, Jessica Fletcher takes a cruise through some rough…and deadly-seas. Jessica Fletcher has always wanted to take a transatlantic voyage on the legendary Queen Mary II. Now, she's finally getting her chance.

She's hoping to fly to London, spend a few quiet days visiting and then depart on the high seas. When she calls her old friend, Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland, to let him know she's on her way, he mentions the case of an enormously valuable diamond that was stolen from its wealthy owner, who was murdered during the heist. Jessica is well aware of the story. But, when she finally boards her dream ship, the deadly mystery appears to have followed her up the gangplank.

Now, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, she must try to enjoy the sumptuous seaborne surroundings while she tries to find a priceless diamond…and the killer desperate enough to take a life for it.

My Thoughts:  I really liked this book.  I watched the whole Murder She Wrote series on TV and Jessica Fletcher is one of my favorite characters!

"Running Blind"   by  Lee Child
A Jack Reacher Mystery

2011 Book Review #33

Booklist Review

Jack Reacher fits the profile of a serial killer being tracked by the FBI. Plus, he's connected to the victims, all of whom filed sexual harassment cases against the military. (Jack was the military policeman who investigated the women's cases.) 

The Feds don't think Jack did it, but they force him to help them find out who did. 

The crime scenes are elaborately bizarre yet bereft of clues. Reacher, skeptical of the official profile portraying the killer as a resentful anti-feminist, looks for other possible motives. One of them hits pay dirt, sending Jack on a deadly cross-country race with the killer. 

This fourth Reacher thriller is easily the best. The plot is a masterpiece of misdirection, red herrings, and veiled motives. Reacher himself is an evolving, ever more likable moralist who sometimes gives in to his inner thug. He belongs at the same table with the genre's leading tough-tender sleuths: Parker's Spenser and Burke's Robicheaux among them. 

My Thoughts:  Child is another one of my favorite authors and the Reacher stories just get better and better.  There is a surprise ending and I love those!

"To Have And To Kill"  
       by Mary Jane Clark

2011 Book Review #32

Booklist Review

Struggling actress Piper Donovan moves back in with her parents in New York City. With no immediate prospects for work, she helps out with the family bakery business. When her friend Glenna, star of a daytime soap opera, gets engaged, Piper agrees to create the wedding cake.

Then Glenna's costar, Travis York, dies at a charity auction of cyanide poisoning. There's no shortage of suspects, including Glenna's fiancé, Casey Walden, and her ex-con ex-husband, Philip. But who was the real target?

When Piper learns that Glenna has been receiving threatening letters, she decides to investigate, with the help of her ex-neighbor Jack, an FBI agent.

Clark's latest mystery is the first in a new series, in which all the entries will involve wedding cakes. The intriguing premise will interest fans of foodie crime.

My Thought:  I liked this book.  The plot was believable and the characters are fun.

“Tick Tock”   By  James Patterson 

                              and Michael Ledwidge

A Detective Michael Bennett Novel

2011 Book Review #31

                                                           

                                                                Summary:

NYC's #1 detective, Michael Bennett, has a huge problem…the Son of Sam, the Werewolf of Wisteria and the Mad Bomber are all back. The city has never been more terrified!

Tick--a killer's countdown begins, a rash of horrifying crimes tears through the city, throwing it into complete chaos and terrorizing everyone living there. Immediately, it becomes clear that they are not the work of an amateur, but of a calculating, efficient, and deadly mastermind.

Tick--Michael Bennett is on the chase. The city calls on Detective Michael Bennett, pulling him away from a seaside retreat with his ten adopted children, his grandfather, and their beloved nanny, Mary Catherine. Not only does it tear apart their vacation, it leaves the entire family open to attack.

Tock--your time is up.  Bennett enlists the help of a former colleague, FBI Agent Emily Parker.  As his affection for Emily grows into something stronger, his relationship with Mary Catherine takes an unexpected turn.  

All too soon, another appalling crime leads Bennett to a shocking discovery that exposes the killer's pattern and the earth-shattering enormity of his plan. From the creator of the #1 New York detective series comes the most volatile and most explosive Michael Bennett novel ever.

My Thoughts:  I love all of James Patterson’s mystery books and this is no exception.  He just gets better and better!

“Crooked Heart”   by Cristina Sumners

A Reverend Kathryn Koerney Novel

2011 Book Review #30

  

  Booklist Review

Chief of Police Tom Holder is middle-aged, 40 pounds overweight, and trapped in an appallingly bad marriage. When a suburban housewife goes missing, it doesn't take Tom long to conclude that she is a kindred soul who has decided to run away from her despicable husband.

However, the case soon becomes more complicated, and he enlists the bright, attractive Reverend Kathryn Koerney (with whom he is secretly smitten) to help question a child who believes she has witnessed a murder.

Sumners shapes a case that mirrors the emotions of the lead characters. The simmering erotic tension between Tom and Kathryn, which they refuse to act on, constrained by their faith and their roles, is reflected back to them in the course of their investigation of two people who acted on their attraction with disastrous results.

Sumners also explores the nature of unrequited love--is it cowardice or conscience? What happens when you play it too safe? This is smart, engaging writing in what one can only hope is the beginning of a series.

My Thoughts: Sumner has written a couple more books since this Booklist Review was written.  I have reviewed two others previously.  I like the characters and the plots in all of them.   The author is becoming one of my favorites.

“The First Rule”  By Robert Crais

 

2011 Book Review #37

 Publishers Weekly Review

When garment importer Frank Meyer and his family are executed in their Los Angeles home, at the start of bestseller Crais' adrenaline-fueled second thriller to feature PI Joe Pike, LAPD detectives soon connect Meyer to Pike, who knew each other from their days as military contractors.

 Pike is convinced that Meyer, who left soldiering to start a family, wasn't dirty, even though his murder is the seventh in a series of violent robberies where the victims were all professional criminals. Determined to clear his friend's name, Pike discovers that Frank's nanny and her family have ties to Eastern European organized crime.

With the help of PI partner, Elvis Cole (the lead in Chasing Darkness and eight other books), Pike engages in a dangerous…and not always legal-game of cat and mouse with some of the city's most dangerous crooks. Pike emerges as an enigmatically appealing hero, whose lethal skills never overshadow his unflappable sense of morality. 

My Thoughts:  This is a new author for me and I really liked the characters and this book.