Browsed by
Month: April 2024

A Trouble of Fools and Rafferty’s Rules

A Trouble of Fools and Rafferty’s Rules

Comments 0 Comment

Got the manuscript for the new KD Thorne book, The Hidden Mine at Agua Dulce, back from the copyeditor. He made some valuable suggestions, so I’ve got a little more work to do.

In the meantime, from May 6-10 Travelers books 1-5 will be discounted. So if you need to catch up with the Travelers, now is your chance. I’ll send out an email with the details next week.

And here’re two thrillers from the 1980s that I read last month, where the men are still macho and women are beginning to assert themselves.

A Trouble of Fools (Carlotta Carlyle Book 1, 1987) by Linda Barnes. Carlyle is an ex-cop newbie private investigator in Boston, circa late 1980s, so the background is drugs, guns, the Italian mob, and the last vestige of support for the IRA. 

Carlyle is hired by an Irish spinster to find her missing brother, who drives for the cab company that Carlyle used to drive for after she left the police force. The case turns from missing person to something much more dangerous after the spinster is attacked and her home ransacked. Finding out the who and the why takes Carlyle down the back alleys of Boston where she has to use all of her connections and street knowledge to figure out what’s really going on and put a stop to it.

Interesting characters and a complex point of view make for fun reading, particularly after Barnes gets the various plot threads moving. 

Second, Rafferty’s Rules (Rafferty P.I. Book 1, 1987) by Bill Duncan. Rafferty is a wise-cracking ex-cop PI working the mean streets of Dallas, Texas, so there’s a slight comic element playing against the hard-boiled style.

Rafferty is hired by a wealthy couple to find and bring in dead-or-alive the outlaw bikers who kidnapped, raped, and brainwashed their daughter. Rafferty wastes no time kicking the hornet’s nest of local outlaw bikers to get on the trail of the thugs he’s after, and pretty soon things turn from ugly to brutal as he tracks his prey across rural Texas. A fast-paced, tightly plotted thriller.

Happy reading!

Spy Game and The Maid

Spy Game and The Maid

Comments 0 Comment

KD Thorne book 4, The Hidden Mine at Agua Dulce, is off at the copyeditor. In the meantime, here’re two thrillers I read last month. 

First off, Spy Game (Brodick Cold War Thriller book 1) by John Fullerton. This book is set in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the 1980s when the Soviet Union is mired in Afghanistan. Richard Brodick, a British spy in his first assignment, is undercover as a journalist gathering intel on the Afghans’ progress in their war against the Soviets.

He’s at odds with his superiors, can’t trust any of the locals he’s dealing with, and is conflicted about what he’s been assigned to do.

Lots of suspense and detailed tradecraft, a hero who does not do what you expect him to do, and historical accuracy make for a fun read.

Second, The Maid (Molly the Maid book 1) by Nita Prose. I picked up this book because the reviews were outstanding. This is a traditional cozy-style mystery told in the first person by Molly, a hotel maid who has what seems to be a learning disability of some sort. She’s constantly misinterpreting other people’s actions and intentions, which lands her into the middle of a murder investigation at the hotel where she works.

Deft plotting and the unique point of view make for real page-turning pleasure here. If you like old school cozy mysteries, this book is for you.

Happy reading!