Michael P. King

Working hard on the outline of a new Travelers book. In the meantime, here’s two thrillers I read last month. They couldn’t be more different from each other. One is traditional hard-boiled, the other is quirky literary.

The first is My Gun Is Quick (Mike Hammer Book 2, 1950) by Mickey Spillane. I’d never read one of these books, although I was familiar with the character from popular culture (which means I knew the character’s name, but I don’t know why).

Mike Hammer is a hard-drinking, quick-to-fight private eye who lives by a code of protecting the innocent and punishing the guilty. On this outing, a prostitute is murdered, and the police aren’t interested, at least initially. So Hammer digs into her death and uncovers the city-wide corruption supporting a violent prostitution ring.

Lots of twists and turns here, leading to a smash-up finale, although you’ll have to ignore the casual sexism and homophobia that marked the hard-boiled thrillers of this era.

Also read Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2019) by Olga Tokarczuk. (Tokarczuk is a Nobel Prize winner). This is a first-person literary mystery. The narrator, Janina, is an eccentric older woman. You might practice astrology, translate William Blake into Polish, and be strong for animal rights, but, trust me, you are not as eccentric as Janina. Community leaders in her village are being murdered in bizarre ways, and she gets involved in the investigation, trying the patience of the local police.

We dig into her character via her philosophical musings, odd outbursts, and spirited generosity, as we follow along to the discovery of the killer and the surprising ending. Challenging and enjoyable.

Happy reading!

It’s the dog days of summer, and I’ve started writing a new Travelers crime thriller. Hoping for it to be the best one yet. But more on that later. Here’re two mystery I read in the last month. One from the time capsule and one contemporary.

A Knife for Harry Dodd by George Bellairs (Inspector Littlejohn, book 20, 1953). In a small town in England, Harry Dodd, a happy-go-lucky ne’er do well, is stabbed outside a pub on his way home and dies before he can get help. As Inspector Littlejohn of Scotland Yard digs into the case, he discovers that Dodd isn’t at all the man he appears to be and that his girlfriend and his estranged family all have motives to want him dead.

This is a classic, old-fashioned police procedural loaded up with convincing red herrings and false trails. An easy, fun read.

Also read Dark Angel (Letty Davenport Book 2) by John Sandford. Sandford is probably best known for the Lucas Davenport Prey series. I’ve read a number of those books, so I thought I’d give this one a try. This is a “ripped from the headlines” kind of book.

Letty Davenport is Lucas Davenport’s adopted daughter, and she does investigations with the Department of Homeland Security. On this outing, she’s on the trail of a hacker collective that’s disrupted railroad trains in Russia. In the usual John Sanford fashion, circumstance quickly go out of control at Davenport tries to home in on the hackers and discover the real reason that the NSA has sent her after them. A quick read with lots of exciting twists and turns and a great introduction to a cast of fresh characters that I imagine will be appearing in later books.

Happy reading!

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!

Finishing up the new KD Thorne book, where NDA agents KD Thorne and Jeffery Blunt are on the trail of jihadis and black marketeers who are trying to gain control of a newly discovered strategic metal before the US government cuts off their access. In the meantime, here’re two crime books I read last month. 

First off, The Passengers by John Marrs. The premise here is the that unhackable driverless cars have been hacked, putting the lives of eight innocent passengers at risk as people across the web are provided information about each passenger and asked to vote on who will live and who will die.

Started a little slow for me, as we learn about the complicated background stories of each passenger from their own point of view, but it quickly picked up speed as the hacker makes his demands and the tension and plot twists piled up. A very clever, well-reviewed thriller.

Second, The Thief Who Couldn’t Sleep (Evan Tanner Book 1) by Lawrence Block. I’ve read most of Block’s Matthew Scudder books (disgraced detective) and the Keller books (contract killer), but I’d never read one of his Evan Tanner books.

The Scudder books are top-notch gritty crime thrillers, but this Tanner book is more lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek.

Evan Tanner is a polymath who does not sleep due to a brain injury suffered during the Korean War, which gives him plenty of time to work on his many sort-of-maybe legal interests. In this first outing, he’s on the trail of a fortune in Armenian gold hidden in Turkey during WWI. In short order, he’s stumbling into trouble all across Europe, which makes for a lot of screwball plot twists and suspense. A quick, fun read.

Happy reading!

Happy New Year! Hope you have another great year of fun reading. I’ve been out and about visiting family over the holidays, but now it’s back to work.

Doing rewrites of the new KD Thorne book. Going to have to think up a title. In the meantime, here’re two crime books I read last month. 

First off, The Man Who Died Twice: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery (book 2) by Richard Osman. I wrote about the first book in this series earlier this year. These are light-hearted British romps that will keep you guessing down to the last few pages.

Our four septuagenarians—Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim—who live in an upscale retirement community are back, this time trying to find stolen diamonds and the killer who’s murdering to get to them first.

Fast-paced, fresh writing and loads of human interest keep this book moving. You won’t be disappointed

Second, The Forgers by Bradford Morrow. (There are several books with the same title. This is the Broadford Morrow book.) This is a first person, unreliable narrator novel that follows the blackmail scheme that arises from a murder, all of which takes place in the word of rare book dealing and manuscript forgery.

Complex, descriptive language and lots of twists and turns in a suspenseful plot make this an interesting read. Plus all the trivia having to do with rare book world. A little different from my usual thriller read, but a fun change.

Happy reading!

Howdy, Michael here,

Wow! December’s already here. And whatever you’re celebrating this season, I’m wishing you and yours all the best now and in the new year.

I’m still drafting the new KD Thorne book, which is coming along nicely, I think. In the meantime, here’re two crime books I read last month. 

First off, March Violets by Philip Kerr. This is the first of the Bernie Gunther series. I wrote about Prague Fatale (book 8) previously and wanted to see how the series starts out. It did not disappoint. Set in Berlin after the Nazis take over and before WWII starts, this is an extreme noir world of cruelty and corruption. And Bernie Gunther, private investigator, is both somehow distinctly cynical and highly moral.

So when an industrialist hires him to locate missing diamonds, he soon finds himself dealing with the Gestapo and hire-ups in the government who all seem to have their own corrupt advancement at the front of their minds. Fast paced and sarcastically funny. I’ll be reading more of these.

Second, Pay Dirt Road (Annie McIntyre Mysteries Book 1) by Samantha Jayne Allen. This book won the Tony Hillerman Prize, which is awarded to a first-time author of a mystery set in the southwest, so I decided to give it a try.

Annie McIntyre is a young woman fresh out of college who finds herself back in her hometown at loose ends, trying to figure out what to do with her life. In the meantime, she’s working as a waitress. Her grandfather is a semi-retired, ex-sheriff, private eye. When a work friend goes missing, Annie tries to discover what happened, and in the process finds her calling as a private detective and uncovers the answer to a disturbing personal experience that has been dogging her since high school.

Careful plotting creates lots of tension here, leading to a fast-paced finale that puts the pieces of the puzzle together. If you’re okay with a twenty-something protagonist, you’ll enjoy this book.

Happy reading!

I’m hard at work on a KD Thorne book right now, still in the early drafting, but I’m making good progress. After this I’ll write another Travelers book.

In the meantime, two crime books I read last month. 

First off, Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane. The book takes place is Boston during the run up to the school integration of 1974, which was an explosive situation. A young woman from the Irish housing projects goes out with friends and doesn’t come home. The next morning, a young black man is found dead at the nearest subway station. The young woman’s mom starts digging into where her daughter was, who she was with, and what happened to her, while the cops are looking into the black man’s death.

Could not put this book down. The local color, the use of the historical situation, the motivations and desires of the various characters. All wonderful.

Second, Never Let Me Down Again by Mark Dawson. This is number 19 in the John Milton series. Milton is a sort of Equalizer character, only he’s British and on the run from the secret government agency he used to work for.

On this outing, he’s trying to make amends for a hot-headed mistake he made back when he was a soldier that had repercussions for an old friend and, at the same time, help a dying woman find her missing son, all of which leads to facing up against an international consortium of bad players in the outer reaches of Scotland. Complex plot with lots of action. A fun read.

If you want to try a John Milton eBook, number 20, Bulletproof, is $0.99 US today.

Happy reading!

We’re on the countdown to the release of my new Travelers crime thriller, Grifters’ Hopscotch. I’ll have more news about it and discounts on earlier books in the series as the time approaches.

In the meantime, two mystery books I read last month while I was on vacation in the Canadian Rockies.

First off, People of the Book by Geraldine Books. This is a literary book that moves back and forth in time, but it is an excellent mystery and an easy read.

Hanna Heath, a rare book expert, is asked to authenticate an ancient Jewish prayer book. While examining the binding, she discovers several tiny artifacts that are extremely puzzling because they don’t belong in the book. Figuring out when and where these artifacts came from tells the story of where the book has been since it was written in the late 1400s.

But there are three mysteries here—the story of the book and its origins, the story of why Hanna Heath was chosen to research it, and the story of her own origins. You won’t find out all the answers until the last few pages. A fun, fun read.

Second, Acqua Alta by Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti Book 5). I wrote about Death at La Fenice (Book 1) earlier this year. These books are a high recommend if you like European locations and tightly crafted police procedurals.

This time out, an archaeologist friend of Brunetti’s has been badly beaten in what appears to be a home invasion gone wrong, but as Brunetti digs into the case, he finds himself of the trail of antiquities’ smugglers who won’t stop at murder to get their way. A pleasure from start to finish.

Number 15 of this series, Through a Glass, Darkly,  is $1.99 US today.

Happy reading!