Murder at the Academy Awards by Joan Rivers with Jerrilyn Farmer

Amateur Sleuth

Reviewed by Yvonne Selander

Main Character: Maxine Taylor (basically a younger Joan Rivers)

Setting: Hollywood

Point of view: First person

Taste of the Plot: Halsey Hamilton is the second youngest starlet ever nominated for Best Actress.  She is also a train wreck.  She’s been in rehab for the past three months and wasn’t supposed to come to the ceremony, but Max has just learned that not only is the troubled starlet coming, she’s giving Max an exclusive interview!  All seems wonderful until Halsey arrives sans dress and incoherent, eventually lying down on the red carpet, and as far as Max can tell, dying.  Who could possibly want to extinguish such a rising star?  Max and her entourage are on the case.

Style/Pacing: Very quickly paced from one madcap event to the next. 

Main Character: If you don’t like Joan Rivers even a little you won’t like Maxine.  She’s a brash tell-it-like-it is commentator on fashion and all things of the rich and famous.  As she says if you’ve discovered the cure for cancer and show up to claim your Nobel in a sack she’s not going to say a bad word about you.  Anyone else is fair game.  And she isn’t above poking fun at herself.

Language/ writing: Biting humor and one liners.  Unlike other celebrities who have tried to write mysteries Joan understand that stand up routines don’t make a book.  There is a pretty good mystery here.  Having an experienced co-writer I’m sure helped.

Emotional impact/ Degree of Violence:  Sex, drugs and major egos.  Aside from the death of the starlet on the red carpet the violence is minimal.

Humor: Got to like your humor sharp

Sex/vulgarity: Yep.  It’s Joan Rivers!

Issue Driven: While it’s comedic, including the heroine’s brief stint in rehab to nose around, there are some real issues like drug abuse and infidelity which are addressed

Other notes: I can not believe I enjoyed this book.  But I did.

R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton

Subgenre: Private Investigator

Review by Joanne Cronin

Main Character: Kinsey Millhone

Setting: Santa Teresa, California, 1980s (fictionalized Santa Barbara)

Point of view: First person

Style/Pacing: Deliberate pace; the routine tasks of a PI are part of the storyline. The reader learns things as Kinsey describes them. Action occurs in fits and starts, but accelerates toward the end..

Main Character: Kinsey Millhone, private detective, thirty-seven, does claims investigations, missing persons cases, etc.  Married and divorced twice, doesn’t like to mix work and love.

Language/ writing: Clear, laconic prose; twisty plot reads quickly.

Emotional impact/ Degree of Violence:  This particular title revolves around relationships in Kinsey’s current case and in her personal life.  Sometimes the two areas collide.  Violence and the threat of violence increases...

Humor: Kinsey has a wry sense of humor expressed in her descriptions of events and characters, as well as the occasional wisecrack

Sex/vulgarity: Not explicit. Sexual situations described in the buildup but not in the act.  Occasional mild vulgarity.

Issue Driven: Financial chicanery, emotional relationships, vengeance.

Other notes: Grafton’s long-running alphabet series is considered a benchmark of the genre.  The author has kept the action in the 1980s to keep the focus on detection and not on the more current technological devices more contemporary PIs use.  No cell phone or Internet for Kinsey.

Christmas Mourning by Margaret Maron

Amateur Sleuth


Review Courtesy of Megan Ingegno

Main Character:  Deborah Knott

Series/Title:  A Deborah Knot Mystery

Setting: The story is set in present day, fictional Colleton County North Carolina.  Events occur over Christmas week, hence the “clever” title.  

Point of View: The author primarily tells the story from Deborah’s point of view.  As the mystery comes close to being solved, a few chapters are told from the perspective of Sheriff Deputy Dwight Bryant, Deborah’s husband. 

Style/Pacing: The story develops slowly, but is a quick read. 

Main Character Traits: Deborah Knot is a district court judge.  More importantly, she is recently married with a large extended family.  It can be confusing to keep all of the family members straight, but the author includes a Family Tree to at the beginning of the book.  Deborah’s family relationships are more important in the story than the mystery, which no one works very hard to solve. 

Language/Writing:  The mystery is loosely plotted, but characters and setting are well detailed.  A gentle read that centers on family and community relationships.

Emotional Impact/Degree of Violence:  Any less violence and there would not have been a murder to solve.

Humor?:  Some light humor.

Vulgarity/Sex?:  Characters do not swear, and sex is only implied.  

Issue Driven?:  The dangers of using cellphones while driving; jack-lighting deer.

Special Points: This is the 16th book in the Deborah Knott series.  However, the author fills in enough detail that you do not need to start at the beginning to follow along. 

Missing by Karin Alvtegen

Foreign Mystery Authors

Review Courtesy of Megan Ingegno

Author: Alvtegen, Karin

Main Character: Sybilla

Title: Missing

Setting: Stockholm, Sweden

Point of View: First person

Style/Pacing: Current events occur over about a week's time.  Flashbacks in alternating chapters help to move the story along.  There is no action until the concluding chapters. 

Main Character Traits: 32-year-old homeless woman.  Grew up privileged, but ran away at 17.  She is a self-described outsider. 

Language/Writing:  Compelling, quick read

Emotional Impact/Degree of Violence: Violence and descriptions of gore are minimal.  The main character never encounters the victims directly, only reads about what happened to them in the paper. 

Humor?:   None.  Focus is more on the psychological drama.

Vulgarity/Sex?:  Again, minimal.  Sex is referred to using gentle/ vague metaphors. 

Issue Driven?:  Homelessness, adoption, grief, homosexuality, organ donation.  Psychological study as much as a murder mystery. 

Special Points:  Karin Alvtegen was dubbed Sweden’s “Queen of Crime.” 

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

FOREIGN AUTHORS

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

Review Courtesy of Cassandra Alpaugh

Main Character: Police Detective Harry Hole

Series/Title: Harry Hole Series; The Redbreast

Setting: The story takes place during the final months of World War II to the present, and from the Russian front to contemporary South Africa and Oslo. 

Point of View: The author uses the multiple point of view method in the book and due to this the readers can get a glimpse into the minds of the protagonists as well as the antagonists; this creates a reading experience which is not only interesting because we get to know what happens next an who is behind all the crimes committed, but because we get very deep and thorough descriptions of the thoughts and motivations of the characters.

Style/Pacing: The story has a slow start but picks up pace especially on the Eastern Front and in Oslo when all the parts of the story start to collide together.

Main Character Traits: Police Detective is a lonely alcoholic who is terrible at relationships and has difficulty interacting with his coworkers, but develops great relationships with his beat partners.

Language/Writing: Intricate characters; lengthy subplots; well-drawn secondary characters

Emotional Impact/Degree of Violence: There is a lot of mental and physical carnage on the Eastern Front. A main portion of the story also deals with the violence of Neo Nazis and the “black stain” of soldiers from Norway who fought for the Nazis during World War II who are slowly being killed off.

Humor?: It is a very dark story.

Vulgarity/Sex?: Occasional swearing, sex is mostly off the page. Rated: PG

Special Points: This is the first book in the Harry Hole Series. I started with the 5th book in the series so it isn’t terribly important to start at the beginning. This is a difficult book to listen to on audio since the setting jumps time periods and the character’s names are very tricky.

Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

Private Investigators

Review Courtesy of Cassandra Alpaugh

Series/Title

Moonlight mile by Dennis Lehane

Main Characters

Patrick Kenzie-P.I., Angela Gennaro-P.I., Amanda McCready – Sequel to Gone, baby, gone

Setting

11 years after Gone, baby, gone Kenzie and Gennaro are still in Boston, MA. Kenzie has mellowed with age and fatherhood and is looking to find more stable work and income. The start of the book does a good job expressing what it feels like to live in the current recession. Gennaro is a stay at home mom who is finishing up her degree but is pinning after the excitement of her P.I. days.

Plot

Kenzie is called back to once again find Amanda McCready. Amanada is missing, again. Amanda’s aunt has Kenzie and Gennaro are determined to do the right thing by Amanda but once again there are legally right and morally wrong decisions that need to be made.

Point of View

First person point of view from the character of Patrick Kenzie.

Style/Pacing

Has a nice pace in the beginning as the character’s current situation is explored and then takes off at an explosive pace as the investigation gets underway.

Main Character Traits

Matter of fact personalities laced with dark humor. The characters are getting older but they are balanced, yet prone to handling situations with violence.

Language/Writing

Lehane has an amazing command of the first person narrative which stays consistent throughout the entire book. There is gritty language used.

Degree of Violence

There are Russian mafia folks who like to shoot people. Kenzie has a tendency to shoot people. Bubba has a tendency to shoot people … so it is pretty violent.

Humor

There is a lot of dark humor sometimes so understated that it may take you a while to get the job. Bubba has a few good one-liners.

Vulgarity/Sex

There is a lot of talk about sex and a teenage pregnancy. It isn’t terribly descriptive but could be almost Rated PG-13.

A Cold Touch of Ice by Michael Pearce

Foreign author

Review Courtesy of Bryan Eichner

Series/ Title

Mamur Zapt Mysteries;  A Cold Touch of Ice  by Michael Pearce

Main Characters

Gareth Owen:  The Mamur Zapt- A private investigator the serves as a liason to The British and Egyptian leaders. He is investigating the murder of Sidi Morelli, an Italian citizen living in Egypt.

Setting

Egypt in 1912 during The British occupation. Italy has invaded Tripolitania and tensions are high against foreigners.  Public opinion is shifting from tolerance to xenophobia (fear of foreigners) and this shift must be controlled before its supporters have a chance to destroy British/Egyptian relations in the government.

Plot

Garreth Owen, The Mamur Zapt  visits Cairo, Egypt because of Mahmoud’s wedding. Local Italian, Sidi Morelli is killed in front of a coffee house on Mahmoud’s street. Gareth and Mahmoud are then sent to investigate the case of Sidi’s death and uncover the truth behind his relationship with the local Egyptians.   Gareth and Mahmoud are also sent to investigate a gun smuggling ring in a Cairo warehouse.

Point of View

Third person, but Gareth and Mahmoud are mentioned the most frequently.

Style/Pacing

Starts off at a slower pace, but progressively becomes faster as the mystery is revealed. There are some chase scenes as Gareth and Mahmoud pursue suspects for questioning. While the steps in the investigation are noted (research and conversations) they do not take precedence over the thrill of the chase.

Main Character Traits

British, a sharp observer, and fair.  Gareth’s physical traits are rarely touched upon in the book. The Mamur Zapt is very sensitive about issues on sides of both The British and The Egyptian.

Language/Writing

 Egyptian culture and language is used in part of the book. Action-oriented

Degree of Violence

One murder. Weapons (knives and guns)

Humor?

Some light humor

Vulgarity/Sex?

Occasional flirting and fighting. Rated: PG- 13

Special Note:

The reader might want to keep an Arabic/English dictionary handy because some of the words in the book are Arabic terms that are not widely used in The English language. The reader does not have to look at the entire series unless they would like to see Egypt at different points in the 20^th century.