Crime Fiction Archives - John Dwaine McKenna

The Texas Job

By John|2022-04-25T19:31:17+00:00March 14th, 2022|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report|

The Texas Job Mysterious Book Report No. 481 by John Dwaine McKenna As The Texas Job, (Poisoned Pen, PB, $15.99, 416 pages, ISBN 978-1-4642-1570-4), by Dallas journalist and Spur Award-winning author Reavis Z. Wortham begins, it’s 1931. The Great Depression is in full swing and one of the greatest oil discoveries in American history has just been made in the northeast corner of the state, as a young Ranger

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Thunder Road

By John|2022-04-25T19:32:07+00:00March 7th, 2022|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report|

Thunder Road Mysterious Book Report No. 480 by John Dwaine McKenna Thunder Road, (CamCat Books, $24.99, 384 pages, ISBN 978-0-7443-0497-8), the debut effort of author Colin Holmes, is a genre-jumping, rock-n-roll kick-ass, action-adventure novel that begins with some cattle rustling and a gun-fight, then roars off into a private-eye crime novel before ending with a bit of sci-fi for good measure. It begins in 1947, on a ranch near

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The Runaway

By John|2022-04-25T19:33:29+00:00February 21st, 2022|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report|

The Runaway Mysterious Book Report No. 478 by John Dwaine McKenna Master of hard-boiled crime fiction and award-winning writer Nick Petrie takes bad-assery to a whole new dimension in his newest (the seventh) novel featuring a PTSD-stricken U.S. Marine veteran named Peter Ash. The Runaway, (Putnam, $27.00, 400 pages, ISBN 978-0-525-53550-8), begins in rural Montana, where an orphaned, neglected, victimized and beautiful teenaged girl named Helene Johansen impulsively ditches

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City of The Dead

By John|2022-04-25T19:34:31+00:00January 31st, 2022|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report|

City of the Dead Mysterious Book Report No. 475 by John Dwaine McKenna City of the Dead, (Ballantine, $28.99, 336 pages, ISBN 978-0-525-61858-4), by Jonathan Kellerman is his 37th book featuring the duo of LAPD consulting psychologist Alex Delaware and Los Angeles Police Department Detective Milo Sturgis—now a Lieutenant, and an openly gay homicide investigator—whose solve rate is “close to 100 percent.” The novel opens with the body of

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Find Me

By John|2022-04-25T19:35:31+00:00January 10th, 2022|Crime Fiction, Murder Mystery, Mysterious Book Report|

Find Me Mysterious Book Report No. 472 by John Dwaine McKenna Hope Miller is the name adopted by a young woman who doesn’t know her real identity . . . or where she came from. She was found fifteen years ago, in a wrecked and stolen SUV, unconscious and severely injured. The woman who discovered the accident in a remote area just outside of Hopewell, New Jersey, is Lyndsay

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Ice Angel

By John|2021-12-14T18:10:37+00:00December 13th, 2021|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report|

Ice Angel Mysterious Book Report No. 469 by John Dwaine McKenna Despite it’s dumb-assed title, Ice Angel, (Pegasus Crime, $25.95, 272 pages, ISBN 970-1-64313-811-4) by Matthew Hart, is a cool piece of crime fiction that has an exciting premise, a dynamic, fast-moving plot and an interesting cast of characters—all of whom are trying to rob, swindle, outwit and kill each other somewhere north of the Arctic circle in

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Private Cathedral

By John|2021-11-07T22:21:31+00:00November 8th, 2021|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report|

A Private Cathedral Mysterious Book Report No. 412 by John Dwaine McKenna Whenever CWA Grand Master and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient James Lee Burke brings forth a new work of fiction, the world of mystery, thriller and crime readers and writers sits up and takes notice. We know it will be lyrically written and thought provoking . . . as well as exciting, violent and philosophical . . . all

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Just Thieves

By John|2021-10-07T20:13:38+00:00October 11th, 2021|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report|

Just Thieves Mysterious Book Report No. 466 By John Dwaine McKenna Just Thieves, (Melville House, $26.99, 256 pages, ISBN 978-1-61219-937-5), by Gregory Galloway, is set in an unknown corner of the United States, where a career thief and down-and- outer named “Rick” learned dishonesty from his father, a crooked building inspector. When his girlfriend, Denise, gives birth to a baby girl, she and Rick split the sheets. Not a

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Razorblade Tears

By John|2021-08-26T19:59:34+00:00August 30th, 2021|Crime Fiction, Hard-boiled/Noir, Mysterious Book Report|

Razorblade Tears Mysterious Book Report No. 462 by John Dwaine McKenna There are legions of fiction writers in the world today, who toil diligently at their chosen craft and produce innumerable works that are exciting, memorable and entertaining. They satisfy our need to educate ourselves and explore unfamiliar societies while experiencing another person’s world through their eyes—all from the comfort of our favorite reading nook. But only a few—a

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Widespread Panic

By John|2021-06-10T19:25:09+00:00June 14th, 2021|Crime Fiction, Mysterious Book Report, Paranormal|

Widespread Panic Mysterious Book Report No. 453 by John Dwaine McKenna In a departure of sorts from his usual crime thrillers, master wordsmith and MWA Grand Master James Ellroy takes a wiiiiiiiiild, wacky and wonked out trip down the paranormal rabbit hole, based on the schemes of a notorious real-life Hollywood fixer, PI and bent cop named Fred Otash. Hot off the presses, (released June 15, 2021) Widespread Panic,

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