The Far Empty Mysterious Book Report 276 by John Dwaine McKenna This week’s MBR is written on the day after what’s already being called The most dramatic Super Bowl ever played: number LI, or fifty-one in Arabic numerals. It was the greatest comeback in playoff football history . . . and an apt comparison to what has to be one of the best, and most dramatic noir debut novels
The Second Girl by David Swinson Mulholland Books/Little Brown and Company, $26.00, 354 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-26417-4 One of the main functions of the MBR is to spot and point out for our readers new, outstanding and fresh crime fiction writers who’ve created memorable characters doing unusual deeds in authentic situations. The locations and times vary, but our aim is to encourage folks to read by introducing them to the
Redemption Road Mysterious Book Report No. 274 by John Dwaine McKenna One of my personal frustrations in life is that at any given time, there’s a pile of forty to sixty or more books on my bookcase waiting to be read and reported on. Well Okay, you say, What’s wrong with that? Sounds like job security to me . . . True, but here’s the exasperating part. The shelf
The One Man by Andrew Gross Minotaur Books, $26.99, 415 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07950-3 Pundits the world over have examined, discussed, analyzed, diagrammed, debated, researched and written thousands upon thousands of books, articles and dissertations on the subject of the Second World War. It’s the object of infinite fascination and endless study; perhaps because it was the most momentous, and tragic event in all of human history—costing at least 60,
Rise The Dark by Michael Koryta Little, Brown and Company, $26.00, 385 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-29383-9 We Americans have lived in peace, prosperity and plenty for so long that we pretty much take certain things for granted. There’s exceptions, certainly. And they are unfortunate for a fact. But in the main, we’re guaranteed basic human services, rights and privileges that we not only expect, but demand. Take utilities for example.
So Say The Fallen by Stuart Neville Soho Press, $26.95, 325 pages, ISBN 978-1-61695-739-1 An often explored mystery theme that never seems to get old, is the question of suicide or murder. What better way to get away with it than staging the death scene and making it look like the decedent took his or her own life? Do it artfully enough to foil detection, write up a goodbye
Every Man a Menace by Patrick Hoffman Grove Atlantic Press, $25.00, 278 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2544-6 Hello, and welcome to the 2017 edition of the Mysterious Book Report, where we’re dedicated to the proposition that You must read . . . or surrender yourself to ignorance, which makes just as much sense today as it did 2,500 years ago when a Chinese philosopher named Kong Zi said it. The world
The Hand That Feeds You by A.J. Rich Scribner/Simon & Schuster, $26.00, 273 pages, ISBN 978-1-4767-7458-9 This novel should have been read and featured months ago, but . . . confession time . . . the title was kind of a turn-off. I couldn’t have been more wrong. My Mother was right when she said, “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover, Honey.” It had to do with
A Hero of France by Alan Furst Random House, $27.00, 234 pages, ISBN 978-0-8129-9649-4 On September 1, 1939, German Armed Forces invaded Poland with tanks, armored infantry divisions and dive bombers. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany the next day and World War II began. Poland surrendered two weeks later. The German forces occupied Poland, loaded their weapons and combat troops onto railroads, and headed west, right
Charcoal Joe by Walter Mosley Doubleday/Penguin Random House, $26.95, 305 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-53920-3 Our author this week has been named a Grand Master in the year 2016 by the CWA, or Crime Writers of America. It’s the highest and most prestigious honor given by the group, and a distinction awarded only a very few. They’re the best of the best, at the top of their game, having labored long