I’m in Washington, DC, for a while, but I’m still hard at work on the new KD Thorne novel. I’ll have more to say about it when I’m done with rewrites.

In the meantime–

As many of you know, I can’t pass up a discounted crime fiction classic. A few weeks ago, I downloaded a copy of Ed McBain’s Killer’s Choice (number 5 of the 87^th Precinct books) from the Murder & Mayhem newsletter. It did not disappoint.

A woman working at a liquor store has been murdered. When the cops dig into her background, none of her associates agree on what kind of person she was. Was she a party girl, a free spirit, a doting mom, or a straightlaced, model employee? So the cops are at their wits’ ends trying to figure out who killed her and why. In the meantime, a cop is murdered interrupting a robbery. And the new detective feels duty-bound to catch the killer. This is a fast-paced crime book that never misses a beat.

(It’s $0.24 on Amazon today: https://www.amazon.com/Killers-Choice-87th-Precinct-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B005WZZRQU )

Also read Wendy Hornsby’s Half a Mind (Kate Teague Mysteries Book 2). This is a copy-cat killer book. A jailed psycho-killer is about to go on trial when bodies start turning up murdered in his usual way. Kate Teague’s boyfriend is the cop who caught the killer, and thus is the expert on his methods, but he has memory defects from a recent brain injury. So Kate finds herself in the middle of the action. There are lots of red herrings here, and real chemistry between Kate and her boyfriend. A fun read that kept me guessing until the end. You might want to check it out.

Happy reading!

Just a short note. We’ve been visiting family in New York City (and playing with our granddaughter), which all seems a lot more special than it did pre-covid. Hope you’re able to get out and about wherever you’re at.

The new book is back from the copyeditor, so I’m making the final adjustments. More on that in a few weeks (I hope).

Previously, I mentioned reading Richard Stark’s The Dame, the second of four books he wrote featuring Parker’s sometime accomplice Alan Grofield. (I’m a big fan of the Parker crime thrillers.) Since then I’ve read two more of these—the first one, The Damsel, and the fourth one, Lemons Never Lie.

The first one, The Damsel, which takes up with Grofield recovering from wounds he received in The Handle (Parker #8), is a little loosely plotted for my taste. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it. It just seemed to me that Stark was still finding his way with Grofield as a lead character in this book. And it’s not really a heist book: the plot is more focused on a series of unintended consequences that come out of the criminal choices made by the characters.

Now Lemons Never Lie, on the other hand, a novel where Grofield’s heist plans continually go wrong, is as good as any Parker novel. The plot just buzzes along, double cross on double cross, providing a lot of suspense and surprise as Grofield tries to end up as the last guy holding the bag of money. A fun read.

That’s all for now. Happy summer reading!

Been knocking out some early spring chores—cleaning up flower beds and raking up some of the never-ending leaves—in hopes of being able to cut loose later in the season. And I’m making good progress on the new book, which I’ll have something to say about when it’s in just a little bit better shape.

I recently read Michael Crichton’s Timeline. Not a crime thriller, but one of those thrillers based on a scientific premise, in this case a sort of quantum theory time travel that takes a group back into the medieval period in France where they get caught up in events as they try to make their way back to the present. I haven’t read many Crichton books, but years ago I read Eaters of the Dead, a retelling of the Grendel story as if it happened to an Arab traveler who finds himself among a group of Vikings. (Made into the movie The 13^th Warrior.) I actually saw the movie version of Timeline several years ago. It made an impression on me, so I happened to pick up the book. First rate actioner. The fictional science was presented believably and was not overly complicated or boring. The history was very cool.

I also read Don’t Know Jack (The Hunt for Jack Reacher Series Book 1) by Diane Capri. (Included a free link for it in last month’s email.) It seems that each of these books in connected to a Jack Reacher novel, in this case the first one: The Killing Floor. This is an FBI procedural about trying to unravel a complex conspiracy that is somehow connected to a Jack Reacher adventure. A fun read from start to finish. I’d read The Killing Floor previously, but I don’t think you’d need to read it to fully enjoy this book.

Later this month, (the 25^th through the 30^th of April) there’ll be a spring sale on the first five Travelers books. So if you need to catch up, or you know someone who’d like to try the books, now’s your chance. I’ll drop a reminder with the book links on the 25^th.

Finally, Red Means Run by Brad Smith is free today. I downloaded a copy. Here’s the link if you’re interested. (There’s nothing in this for me. Just though you might like to know.)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088NGHL9L

That’s all for now. Happy reading!

Just a quick note. We’re finally out of the deep freeze here in Iowa. Feeling some warmth and sun, which you can’t always count on in March.

Making good progress on the new book. Don’t want to say much about it yet, although I hope to have it for you later this spring.

In the meantime, I recently read Don Winslow’s Power of the Dog, which is the first of his novels that deal with the US war against drugs in the 1980s and 1990s. So it’s the DEA up against corrupt cops and narco-terrorists. Well-written, gritty, exceptionally realistic portrayal of corruption and violence in the war-on-drugs quagmire.

Also read Richard Stark’s The Dame. As you know, I’m a big fan of the Parker crime thrillers. Donald E. Westlake (writing as Richard Stark) also wrote four books that feature Alan Grofield (a sometime Parker accomplice) as the lead character. The Dame is the second of those novels and starts out as a locked room mystery—you know the drill: a crime has been committed at a remote location so someone who is already there must have done the deed. Who is it? Agatha Christie wrote several of these, including Murder on the Orient Express, but The Dame is written in Richard Stark’s unique hard-boiled style and does not disappoint.

Finally, Don’t Know Jack (The Hunt for Jack Reacher Series Book 1) by Diane Capri is free today. I’ve been wanting to check out this series, so I picked up a copy. Here’s the link if you’re interested. (There’s nothing in this for me. Just though you might like to know.)

https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Know-Jack-Hunting-Reacher-ebook/dp/B0072JJTIG

That’s all for now. Happy reading!