Indigo Slam (1997) Robert Crais Synopsis: Three kids walk into Elvis Cole’s office, because they want to hire him to find their father. To make things more complicated, the book opens with the three children and their father being evacuated by the US Marshals as (we quickly realize) part of the witness protection program. The […]
North of Havana (1997) Randy Wayne White Synopsis: Dewey has come to visit Doc over the Christmas holidays, unfortunately, Doc also received a call from Tomlinson who is trapped in Havana because the Cuban authorities have confiscated his boat No Mas. Tomlinson wants Ford to bring him the money to get his boat out of […]
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World’s Greatest Scientist (2009) Thomas Levenson The first third of the book is simply a biography of Newton, from his childhood up until he took the position of Warden of the Mint in London. Although it was interesting, I’m not certain the background had a […]
Food Matters (2009) Mark Bittman I really like Mark Bittman’s cookbooks. His How to Cook Everything is well written, clear and concise. So when I heard he’d written something of a food manifesto a la Michael Pollan, I was very curious to see what he had to say. First, if you’re a vegetarian or vegan […]
Captiva (1996) Randy Wayne White Synopsis: Doc Ford & Tomlinson are up in the middle of the night to watch the starts. Well, Doc is watching the stars, Tomlinson is looking for extra-terrestrial intelligence he believes is trying to make contact. Because they are awake, they witness an explosion that eventually kills the man involved. […]
Sunset Express (1996) Robert Crais Synopsis: A woman is found murdered, and her husband becomes the immediate suspect. However, when he hires a celebrity lawyer to defend him, stories start appearing in the case, and Elvis is hired to see if any of those hole in the case are real. And in the middle of […]
The Book of Murder (2007) Guillermo Martinez translated by Sonia Soto As much as I enjoyed The Oxford Murders, I found The Book of Murder to be thoroughly disappointing. Rating: 5/10 Published by Penguin
The Wild Road (2008) Marjorie Liu Why yes, this is a floating head & torso romance. However, as I am on crutches and spending a lot of time waiting, I needed a diverting book to keep in my purse, and since I enjoyed The Fire King (another floaty head romance book set in the same […]
Lullaby Town (1992) Robert Crais Synopsis: The 3rd book in the Elvis Cole series finds Elvis hired by a famous (and perhaps infamous) move producer, to find his ex-wife and son, who the producer abandoned soon after the birth of his son. Lucky Elvis: the producer is an asshole, the woman doesn’t want to be […]
The Man Who Invented Florida (1993) Randy Wayne White I found the 3rd Doc Ford book, The Man Who Invented Florida, to be a bit disappointing. Mostly it was because I didn’t particularly enjoy reading the point of view of Doc’s uncle, Tucker Gatrell. I’m not saying I disliked Tuck and his friend Joe, I’m […]
Clockwork Heart (2008) Dru Pagliassotti Two words for you: Steampunk Romance. Perfect right? I mean, isn’t the essence of Steampunk the romance of the Victorian era? OK, yes, the cool mechanical robots and stuff are a large part as well, but that’s also very much a romantic era of dress and manner social striation. So […]
Voodoo River (1995) Robert Crais Synopsis: Elvis is hired to find the natural parents of TV star Jodie Taylor, who was given up for adoption immediately after her birth, and whose adoption records remain sealed by the courts. The case takes a turn for the worse when Cole discovers there is a whole lot more […]
Strip Jack (1992) Ian Rankin When a raid on a brothel operating secretly in Edinburgh nets a local MP, Inspector Rebus thinks things feel a little off–Gregor Jack isn’t the kind of MP you’d expect to find at a brothel, and his reaction during the raid isn’t precisely what Rebus would have expected. From there, […]
The Heat Islands (1992) Randy Wayne White Synopsis: When the most hated man on the island is found floating, the list of possible suspects seems to be astronomical. Unfortunately, the most likely suspect seems to be Doc’s friend Jeth, and Jeth–who seems to be going through a personal crisis–doesn’t seem to be doing much to […]
Free Fall (1993) Robert Crais Synopsis: Jennifer Sheridan wants to hire Elvis to find out what is wrong with her fiancee. He’s a cop, and he hasn’t been the same for several months, and she thinks he’s in some kind of trouble and she wants Elvis to find out what it is–and if possible how […]
Stalking the Angel (1989) Robert Crais Synopsis: In the second Elvis Cole book, Elvis is hired to find a missing ancient manuscript. He doesn’t much like the guy hiring him, and he doesn’t much like the job he’s hired for, but he takes the job anyway. In doing so he learns a bit (nothing good) […]
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker (2009) Leanna Renee Hieber Picked this up a few weeks ago after breaking my leg, but as I was on pain killers, I couldn’t focus and put it back down. Now that I’m still laid up but no longer spaced out, I’m tearing through books and came […]
Veil of Lies (2008) Jeri Westerson The complete title of the book is Veil of Lies: A Medieval Noir, which is part of what interested me in the book. I like historical fantasies, though I often take umbrage at the lengths to which authors will go to create an historical detective. but they’re fun, so […]
Hide and Seek (1990) Ian Rankin After reading his anthology A Good Hanging, I decided to pick up another of Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus books. I had ’em in the house, just never got around to reading any further in the series, because the first two books I read were quite dark, and I wasn’t […]
Sanibel Flats (1990) Randy Wayne White Doc Ford has lead an exciting life, and he is more than ready for his move to the beach and second career as a marine biologist. Too bad for him that he receives a phone call from an old friend in trouble. Not a hard boiled mystery and not […]
The Monkey’s Raincoat (1987) Robert Crais Elvis Cole went to war, then he came back to the US and was a security guard for awhile, and then he became a private investigator, which is what he when Janet Simon drags her friend Ellen Lang into his office. Her husband and son have disappeared, and Ellen […]
The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York (2010) Deborah Blum I think that anyone who enjoys mysteries has to be at least a little bit fascinated with poisonings and forensic medicine, and The Poisoner’s Handbook looks at the beginning of forensic medicine and the circumstances that allowed […]
A Good Hanging (1992) Ian Rankin A Good Hanging is a collection of Inspector Rebus short stories. I read Knots and Crosses a couple years ago, and although I enjoyed it, found it very dark, so I’ve been hesitant to continue in the series because I haven’t been in the mood for that much darkness. […]