The Long Fall by Walter Mosley Riverhead Books, 2009, $25.95, 306 pages, ISBN 978-1-59448-858-0 So, here I am, snug and sassy, and chock-full of chai tea and warm oatmeal cookies June just made . . . thinking about the MBR for the week. In my mind, I’ve been contrasting my home life with that of Leonid McGill, the new character from the pen of Walter Mosley, one of the
Stolen Souls by Stuart Neville SOHO Press, $25.00, 351 pages, ISBN 978-1-56947-983-4 Charles Dickens is perhaps the best-known, most loved and respected writer in the world, without exception. He continues to speak volumes to all of us across the ages, through the voices of characters like Mr. Pickwick, David Copperfield, Scrooge . . . whose very name defines parsimony . . . Oliver Twist, Fagan, Mr. Micawber, Pip and
Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva Harper, $26.99, 448 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-207218-4 We’re reviewing a thriller by one of the big-guns in MBR number 40. The book is Portrait of a Spy by Daniel Silva. Daniel Silva is hands down, the best international thriller and spy novelist writer in the genre today. If you liked Ian Fleming, John LeCarre, or Robert Ludlum at the top of their game,
The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain Black Lizard Vintage Crime, $13.00, 116 pages, ISBN 978-0-679-72325-7 For this week’s review, I reached into the rear seat of Mister Peabody’s way-back machine, and pulled out a 1934 noir crime classic that was “banned in Boston for it’s explosive violence and eroticism.” Written by an elder statesman of the genre, James M. Cain and made into one of my
Hell & Gone by Duane Swiercyznski Mulholland, $14.99, 286 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-13329-6 We’re continuing with serials this week . . . and no Mikey . . . they’re not the kind you pour out of a box and eat for breakfast with milk and a spoon. These are serial stories, like you see on TV, where each installment ends with a cliff-hanger, so you’ll be eager to watch the
Fun & Games by Duane Swierczynski Mulholland, $14.99, 286 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-13328-9 Have you ever had one of those days when nothing goes right? Where every blessed thing is late, broken, or uncooperative? You know what I mean. The wake-up alarm doesn’t go off, you can’t find the car keys, the boss is all in an uproar and your co-workers won’t talk to you? Well, let me tell you about
A Killer’s Essence by Dave Zeltserman Overlook, $23.95, 240 pages, ISBN 978-1-59020-321-7 This week’s MBR is a noir-police-procedural-serial-killer-mystery with a supernatural twist. (And no, I haven’t been duct-taped to a chair in a windowless room listening to Weird Al Yankovitch all week.) All joking aside, it’s a nifty piece of writing by an up- and-comer named Dave Zeltserman. The novel is A Killer’s Essence. (Overlook, $23.95, 240 pages, ISBN
Moriarty by John Gardner Harcourt, 2008, $24.00, 298 pages, ISBN 978-0-15-101252-7 A couple of weeks ago in MBR No. 33 we reviewed a retro Sherlock Holmes novel that generated some buzz. It got us thinking; it might be fun to do another similar, but-not-quite-the-same kind of review. So, this week’s Mysterious Book Report will cover a novel about Sherlock Holmes’ mortal enemy, a sinister, arch-criminal genius; the Napoleon of
China Star by Bartle Bull Carrol & Graf, 2007, $15.95, 442 pages, ISBN 978-078671-923-5 It’s part mystery, part swashbuckler and entirely a lot of fun as it follows the adventures of a White Russian expatriate, Count Alexander Karlov, around the globe in a rollicking good adventure story called China Star by Bartle Bull. The narrative begins in Paris, France in 1922, where we are introduced to a group of penniless
The House Of Silk By Anthony Horowitz Mulholland Books, $27.99, 294 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-19699-4 It's cold, foggy and snowy here in Colorado Springs. In fact, it's sort of like London, England - where this week's MBR takes place. It's a retro Sherlock Holmes mystery, the first one authorized by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in it's one hundred-and-twenty-five-year history. That fact alone tells us this one's so