Death Notice Mysterious Book Report No. 388 by John Dwaine McKenna Death Notice, (Anchor Books, PB, $16.00, 301 pages, ISBN 978-0-525-43594-5) by Zhou Haohui, is the most fiendishly clever, diabolically complex and wickedly inventive novel to ever cross our desk here at the Mysterious Book Report! The mystery begins and ends in the city of Chengdu, the dynamic capitol of central China’s Sichuan Province, where, after an interlude of
Dancing With The Tiger Mysterious Book Report 271 by John Dwaine McKenna Today, in nearly every corner of the world, works of art are being stolen, forged or destroyed by persons of the criminal classes. They are rapacious, greedy, ignorant and uncaring of the fact that their crimes are against all of humanity—for all time—because each piece of art is unique and cannot be replaced. And nowhere is this
One Small Sacrifice Mysterious Book Report No. 387 by John Dwaine McKenna Don’t let the innocent sounding title fool ya . . . . One Small Sacrifice, (Thomas & Mercer, $24.95, 351 pages, ISBN 9781542042116) by Hilary Davidson . . . is an utterly engrossing. finely wrought and thoroughly entertaining murder mystery and thriller that will keep the reader guessing from the very first page to the very last.
Below The Radar Mysterious Book Report No. 385 by John Dwaine McKenna A deep undercover mission infiltrating a violent extremist organization in a foreign country, by a female FBI agent with psychological issues rooted in a too-recent-to-be-recovered-from operation, with zero planning time beforehand, an inexperienced, unsophisticated partner and poorly-constructed legend—spies cover story—made up on the fly. What could possibly go wrong? That’s the exciting premise underlying retired FBI agent
The Korean Woman Mysterious Book Report No. 386 by John Dwaine McKenna Mi-Hi Abrahams is living the American dream. She’s the mother of two children; a boy age five and a girl age two and a half, married to a Wall Street lawyer, and living a privileged, wealthy lifestyle on Manhattan’s upper east side where she’s a doting mommy and actively involved in the PTA and
Below The Line Mysterious Book Report No. 384 by John Dwaine McKenna If the unconventional and quirky kind of character is your cup of tea, this week’s MBR No. 384 will put a smile on your face that can’t be knocked off with a fire ax, because author Howard Michael Gould is about to release his second Charlie Waldo novel. Below The Line, (Dutton, $26.00, 304 pages, ISBN 978-1524744861)
Bones of the Earth Mysterious Book Report No. 383 by John Dwaine McKenna Inspector Shan Tao Yun was a senior detective on the Beijing Police Department until, “I investigated the wrong people and they sent me to prison in Lhadrung,” (Western Tibet the notorious work camp number 404), “because the death rate is so high there. But the governor had a problem. I helped him, unofficially, and to show
Rogue Strike Mysterious Book Report No. 382 by John Dwaine McKenna There are moments that come along so infrequently, when all the elements line up for someone in such a way that they’re considered fortuitous . . . lucky beyond belief . . . because somehow, that person has managed to get the right pieces in the right places at just the right time to command success. Such is
This Storm Mysterious Book Report No. 381 by John Dwaine McKenna The writer James Ellroy is a genius, and a living legend who follows no rules but his own. He cuts, slashes and burns the English language however he sees fit, then reassembles it at will in his own inimical style to bring forth what can only be called masterpieces of American literature. He writes fiction; he writes about
99 Ways To Die Mysterious Book Report No. 380 by John Dwaine McKenna After the end of World War II in 1945, China was in total disarray; weakened for decades by the lack of a functioning central government, the vast areas controlled by individual warlords, and devastated by years of savage mistreatment by the occupation of Imperial Japanese armed forces in the 1920s, ‘30, and ‘40s. After WWII the