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!