The Correspondent

This epistolary novel by Virginia Evans was a engaging read with it's slow evolution of secrets and relationships. It would be a spoiler to name all the characters with whom our 73-year-old protagonist exchanges a voluminous number of letters and emails, but they include a best friend, a neighbor, numerous famous authors, a stalker and her ex-husband. Sybil is going blind from a hereditary disease and fears losing the ability to continue her correspondence as well as the sense of permanence the letters gave her. She never knew her real mother, who put her up for adoption when Sybil was 14 months old. Her adoptive parents also adopted a boy, Felix, who Sybil considers her brother. Sybil pursued a career in law, both privately as a distinguished attorney and as a lowly clerk to her law partner when he was appointed as a federal judge, because the law was orderly, "black and white." That's also part of why she writes letters, to put her thoughts in order and be absolutely clear about what she wants to say. But it is also how she develops her relationships, finds her place in the world, comes to terms with her past, and discovers an unexpected future. 

Publishers Weekly calls the book a "charming debut" and concludes, "As the years go on, Sybil's relationships brim with tension waiting to be released, and the detailed connections between each character are brilliantly mapped through the correspondence. It adds up to an appealing family drama."

 Kirkus writes this summary and review "A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character. Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters ... Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth. An affecting portrait of a prickly woman."

A Morning for Flamingos

In this 4th Dave Robicheaux installment, Dave is approached by a DEA agent and asked to go undercover back in New Orleans for a sting operation to help catch drug lord Tony Cardo. He'll be presented as a disgraced and dismissed cop who's trying to make some money selling drugs. In the process, Dave hopes to locate and take revenge on a prisoner, an assassin named Boggs, who shot his partner and left Dave for dead in a muddy coulee. Therefore Dave agrees but wants to speed up the process and is soon in the good graces of Cardo himself. What no one predicted is that Dave would come to have some sympathy for Cardo who is the sole caretaker of a disabled son. Here is how Kirkus addresses this conflict: "Dave takes to him and his crippled son Paul much more deeply than to no-good guys like bullying, treacherous Vice Lt. Nate Baxter, who threatens to blow Dave's cover if he doesn't play the game his way. Multiple betrayals force Dave to choose between ... bagging and protecting Tony, between playing by the rules and going all out for Boggs. Another robust study of powerfully shifting motives disguised as an action yarn—thick and strong as southern gumbo."

Here are excerpts from the favorable review by Publishers Weekly: "...proceeds to balance the ... self-doubts of his tough, sympathetic hero with a complex, credible plot in his latest Cajun mystery. Robicheaux, a widower, leaves his small town for New Orleans, where he used to be a cop, to run a sting operation for the DEA. He engineers drug buys aimed at incriminating the local drug lord, an ex-Marine with nightmares and a habit from Vietnam, while trying to ferret out Jimmie Lee Boggs, the killer responsible for the coulee incident.... Attentive to language and atmosphere, Burke delivers action on churning Gulf waters, in city streets, in deserted fields and within the souls of his memorable characters--and a fully satisfying resolution." 

Booklist speaks to the strong sense of place created by Burke and it's meaning for the story and the characters. " James Lee Burke's interest in New Orleans...extends well beyond the travelogue surface. Burke's Cajun detective, Dave Robicheaux, is once again battling personal demons--questions of fear and bravery, violence and compassion, pleasure and pain--and as he stalks an escaped killer and infiltrates the world of a Mafia drug lord, he finds reflections of his own torment wherever he looks. What it means to be Cajun is at the heart of Robicheaux's dilemma: he treasures the easy-living side of his heritage, but with the po' boy sandwiches and the pulsing beat of Zydeco music come the lure of violence and an obsession with bravery and personal honor that consistently puts himself and his loved ones at risk. Can you enjoy beignets at the Cafe du Monde, or hum a chorus of "Jolie Blonde," or sip a Dixie beer without at the same time wanting to bash the head of anyone who smiles at your girl? And when you do bash a head, are you really doing it to protect the things you love or because the simple act of bashing something gives you such a kick? Robicheaux's ongoing attempt to resolve these questions brings new levels of meaning to the way we see New Orleans in particular and the pursuit of pleasure in general. Is the Big Easy really all that easy? Can any of us ever get free enough from our own demons to really experience the pleasures that New Orleans--or life--offers? "

Black Cherry Blues

This Edgar-winning 3rd installment in James Lee Burke's "Dave Robichaux" series. Enemies have already come after Dave and murdered his wife Annie. Now a new threat appears when an old friend confides in Dave that he overheard talk of a murder. This time the bad guys, who work in the oil lease business in Montana, are threatening his adopted daughter, Alafair. Dave goes after them and leaves them beaten but alive. One of the men kills the other and makes it look as though Dave is the killer. Now Dave must travel to Montana with Alafair in tow to clear him name or end up in Angola prison.  While Kirkus is once again less than laudatory of Burke's writing style, they still conclude that "Burke tells an evocative and compelling story of a good man's struggle with the vigilante inside him."

Publishers Weekly is more favorable, opening their review by saying "Burke pits a land-hungry oil company against a Blackfeet Indian reservation in a stunning novel that takes detective fiction into new imaginative realms.." and they continue "Robicheaux's dogged investigation...sets him on a collision course with Mafia thugs and oil interests...All the main characters in this darkly beautiful, lyric saga carry heavy emotional baggage, and Robicheaux's sleuthing is a simultaneous exorcism of demons of grief, loss, fear, rage, vengeance. Burke's fictional terrain--stretching from the Louisiana bayous to Montana's red cliffs and pine-dotted hills--is uniquely his own, yet also a microcosm of a multi-ethnic America. He writes from the heart and the gut."  

The Neon Rain

I was looking for a good mystery series to recommend to my brother-in-law and went down a rabbit hole with author James Lee Burker, reading 3 of his 4 first novels while on a trip to Nevada for a wedding. This is the first in the "Dave Robicheaux" series. In this debut, Robicheaux is still a detective with the New Orleans Police Dept and partnered with Clete Purcell, a continuing character in the series.  Dave is constantly battling old memories from his VietNam days, his cravings for alcohol, as well as police bureaucracy that prioritizes expedience over justice, so it's not surprise that he wants to find the killer of a young prostitute whose body was dumped in the bayou even though his superiors want to write it off. Now Dave is facing off against organized crime and his hot-headed partner is not consistently supporting him in trying to solve the case. What saves Dave from a total relapse to his alcoholism days is the constant care of Annie Ballard, who he eventually marries. As usual the writing is atmospheric and gritty. Richly developed characters are not always likable but they are compelling. 

Kirkus calls it a "bloody, ripsnorting suspenser" and offers in their review that the book is weak on storyline, overdrawn in the violence but still offers "some fine scenes that fairly crackle with menace." 

The Storm

Another book by Rachel Hawkins that will keep you guessing til the very end about who actually murdered the governor's rich and philandering son 40 years ago.  Lo (short for Gloria) Bailey is back in the tiny coastal town of St. Medard's Bay, Alabama, after being exiled by gossip and rumors that she was the one responsible. Even though she was found not guilty of the murder, popular opinion remained against her; but now she says that she has come back to clear her name once and for all. She is accompanied by a journalist, August, who says he wants to write her story. Geneva Corliss is the struggling owner of the Rosalie Inn, the only structure in town that has survived the periodic hurricanes that seem to seek out this otherwise out-of-the-way corner of the coast. The arrival of August and Lo promises to be a boon to the flagging business prospects of the Inn but everything turns out to be more complicated than that as Rachel learns secret after secret about her mother who is now forever silenced by Alzheimer's. 

Publishers Weekly says of this "sleek suspense novel" that "Hawkins toggles back and forth between Lo's return to St. Medard's Bay and the days leading up to Landon's death, marking each timeline with the name of a contemporaneous hurricane. She shrewdly orchestrates the plot twists in each story line, folding in letters, emails, newspaper articles, and excerpts from August's unfinished manuscript to raise new questions and ratchet up suspense. When the pieces finally click into place, readers will be more than satisfied." I personally found this structure to be disjointed and a bit off-putting as some of the reporting is not identified with an author and you have to figure out from the context who is speaking. Library Journal calls the novel "fast-paced" and "atmospheric" and indeed the weather plays a key role in both structuring the storyline and ratcheting up the suspense as chapter titles count down the days until the next hurricane is going to hit. Booklist concludes their review with this positive note: "Hawkins uses her mastery of multiple time lines and characters to great effect in this quick and enjoyable read." Similarly, Kirkus closes with "the story is gripping from beginning to end."

Gone Before Goodbye

This thriller from Reese Witherspoon and Harlen Coben will keep you guessing what's real in the world of uber wealthy clients who demand ultimate discretion from their medical providers. And Maggie McCabe is the one called upon to provide the skills and the willingness to go to an opulent palace in the wilds of Russia to perform some unique plastic surgery. Having always served the poorest patients in the most dangerous places, Maggie has lost her medical license and is thrown a lifeline by a former professor who has connections with this rarified clientele. It will wipe out the debts left behind after her mother died of cancer. Kirkus summarizes "A whirl of surgeries, chases, and escapes ensues as Maggie gradually comes to understand who these people are and what they have in mind for her, and how it connects to [her deceased husband] Marc and their missing friend and business partner, Trace Packer. She is aided by her delightful father-in-law, Porkchop, owner of a biker bar in New York City and a very handy guy to have on your team if you've run afoul of an international criminal organization. From the palace in Rublevka the action moves to Dubai and then Bordeaux, climaxing in a high-stakes illegal heart transplant. But wait—is Marc really dead? What happened to Trace? Who is Nadia really?" And they conclude: "Maybe not the most thrilling thriller, but the role of AI in coping with grief gives this novel pathos and interest." The Los Angeles Times calls it a "fun ride about the super rich...at the same time that it ponders real questions about the ethics of social engineering via medical advances in organ regeneration." Read the rest of their review for a more detailed story line. 

Murder at the Christmas Emporium

First of all, this novel by Andreina Cordani has a terrible book jacket image which does not represent the setting in any way, shape, or form--picky I know but really. I found the plotting entirely too complicated and the multiple flashbacks distracting, but Publishers Weekly loved the book. Here is their review in its entirety:

"Holiday magic goes horribly wrong in Cordani's delightfully eccentric follow-up to The Twelve Days of Murder. Merry Clarke steals her boss's invitation to the reopening of Verity's Emporium, a bespoke London toy store that's home to elaborate displays and strange mechanical attractions. After Montagu Verity, the store's Willy Wonka--esque proprietor, offers a warm welcome to Merry and a handful of other VIPs, the shoppers discover they've been drugged by their complimentary hot cocoa. They awake trapped in the multilevel, secret passage-filled building, their phones having been confiscated upon entry, and soon discover the dead body of the store's head toymaker. From there, flashbacks tease out each character's backstory and relationships to the Veritys, while tense conversations in the present slowly reveal their links to one another. Meanwhile, the store brims with clues and terrors, including a display depicting each guest's brutal murder. Cordani's plotting is devious and perfectly calibrated, revealing just enough to heighten dramatic irony while leaving plenty of room for shocking twists. This canny combination of whodunit and horror makes for a gleefully demented stocking stuffer." 

Likewise, Booklist praises characters and setting: "Told from multiple points of view, both past and present, this compelling, stand-alone mystery with its myriad plot twists, well-drawn characters, and a lovingly described Christmastime setting will appeal to locked-room-mystery fans." 

Kirkus, on the other hand felt much like I did. "...The problem is that at no time do any of her retrospective thumbnail sketches give readers much reason to wish for the grown-up characters’ survival. Even Merry, stuck in a dead-end job and hopelessly in love with co-worker Ross, is foolishly controlling, and TV celebrity Fran, tortured by a secret Cordani teases for more 100 pages before revealing as the most obvious thing possible, is shallow and self-serving. When bad things happen to good people, justice cries out for an explanation. But when bad things happen to bad people, well…why the hell not? A joyless Yuletide tale offers little to celebrate."

 

 

The Killing Stones

This is the latest installment resurrecting characters from the "Shetland Island" series by Ann Cleeves. Detective Jimmy Perez is now living on Orkney with his live-in partner Willow and their 4 year old child James. Another baby is imminently due.  Willow is technically Jimmy's boss but they don't seem to step on one another's toes when a missing person turns out to be a murder victim--Jimmy's best friend from childhood, Archie Stout. Archie has been killed near a neolithic archaeological site with one of the two "story stones" unearthed in the excavation. Jimmy constantly struggles with the boundaries between his own personal sense of grief and friendship with the deceased's family and his role as investigating detective. It's approaching Christmas and bad weather has grounded flights from Glasgow so Jimmy and Willow are on their own to figure this out. Two subsequent deaths, also at archaeological sites convince them that it is a single murderer they're seeking. The culprit will come as a total surprise to most readers. I loved the sense of place and the well-developed characters.  

Publishers Weekly calls the plotting "crafty," and ends their review with this endorsement: "The intensely personal nature of the case infuses it with welcome emotional depth, and Cleeves keeps readers guessing until she delivers a gutting climactic reveal that few will see coming. This proves Detective Perez still has the goods. " Kirkus likewise praises "A first-rate mystery full of historical detail and descriptions of a beautiful place."

The Predicament

This novel by William Boyd is the second of his "Gabriel Dax" series about a reluctant spy. Dax is, by profession, a travel writer with several published books to his credit and just about to finish another one called Rivers. Somehow--and one would ostensibly have to go back to the beginning of the series (Gabriel's Moon) to find out the origins of this situation --he has become an occasional spy for MI6 and a double agent for the Russians. Reviews are glowing and Booklist gushes "...this John Le Carré-esque Cold War thriller is something rare--a sequel that surpasses the original. Full of wry humor, this is a compelling novel full of intrigue..."

Dax's profession allows him to travel without suspicion and he is sent first to Guatemala to report on an up and coming labor leader who is expected to become the next President--until he gets assassinated right after Dax's abortive interview with him.  Dax feels he's been set up by the CIA and, to top it off, he gets attacked and stabbed for his trouble. After recovering, he is sent to Berlin to keep an eye on a man suspected of plotting an assassination of John F. Kennedy who is coming for a week-long state visit. Dax manages to "... thwart disaster via a string of accidentally heroic acts inspired by his instincts as a writer. Readers will be charmed by Dax's tendency to fail upward, and Boyd smoothly incorporates real history into his wildly entertaining plot. This is a treat" (Publishers Weekly).  Kirkus concludes their positive review by saying "A thriller that's always in motion but, unlike its hero, always knows where it's going."

The Woman in the Library

This thriller/ mystery by Sulari Gentill will keep you on the edge of your seat as each chapter ends with something of a cliff hanger. Four patrons in the reading room of the Boston Public Library--strangers to each other we are led to believe-- are suddenly united when they hear a woman scream. A dead woman is found in the library later that day, they undertake to find out who the killer is. This is a story within a story and a mystery within a mystery. Writer Winifred "Freddie" Kincaid is joined by fellow writer Cain McLeod, failing law student Whit, and graduate psychology student Marigold in the hunt. Is one of them the killer? Of course they all alibi each other at the time of the scream and supposedly of the murder. Someone begins to terrorize Freddie with text pictures of her own front door as well as that of Whit's house. It's coming from Cain's phone which he says he lost. An interwoven plot line is the correspondence between famous Australian author Hannah Tignone, who is using the events of the 4 to fuel the plot line of her next manuscript, and American wannabe writer Leo. His responses to her manuscript become increasingly sinister and graphic, making you glad they are on different continents--or are they?  Booklist says "The two story lines work together beautifully, amping up the suspense before reaching a surprising conclusion." 

Library Journal concludes their review of the book as "a complex, riveting story within a story. The fictional story of an author writing about another writer with messy, complicated friendships and suspicion is an innovative literary mystery. " Publishers Weekly calls the book a "thrilling excursion into metafiction from Australian author Gentill [which]... wittily examines the writing process itself." They close with this endorsement: "This elegantly constructed novel is intelligent, funny, and profound. Who could ask for more?" Kirkus concludes their review by saying "A sharply drawn fictional hall of mirrors sure to tantalize and occasionally frustrate."