Black and White Ball by Loren D. Estleman Forge / Tom Doherty Associates, $25.99, 240 pages, ISBN 978-0-7653-88476 There must be something in the air, water . . . or maybe an unknown isotope emanating out of the ground at night, that germinates world class crime writers in, around and about Detroit, Michigan. From the late great Elmore Leonard, to the much-lauded Steve Hamilton, to the indefatigable, prolific and
The Devil’s Half Mile by Patrick “Paddy” Hirsch Forge/Tom Doherty Associates, $24.99, 289 pages, ISBN 978-0-7653-9913-7 Wall Street trickery, corrupt politics, racial strife, gangs, murder . . . that all sounds like the headlines from today’s news, but instead, it’s the lead-in on the cover of a nifty murder mystery which takes place in New York City in the year of our Lord, 1799. Through the skill of Alexander
Night Blind by Ragnar Jonasson Minotaur/ St. Martins, $25.99, 213 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-09609-8 Iceland sits just below the Arctic Circle, about midway between Greenland and Scandinavia. At the northernmost point of the volcanic island is the city of Siglufjördur . . . where in late November, “The darkness comes and curls around you like a furry black cat,” and it doesn’t even think about getting light again until sometime
Righteous by Joe Ide Mulholland Books/Little Brown & Co, $26.00, 326 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-26777-9 Isaiah Quintinabe—one of the most original sleuthhounds to ever grace the pages of mystery and crime fiction—is back in a second installment that’s equally as good, or better than his Edgar-nominated first, which was entitled simply IQ. Righteous, by Joe Ide, finds IQ on a mission. He’s the high school dropout from East Long Beach,
G-Man by Stephen Hunter Blue Rider Press/ Penguin Random House, $27.00, 443 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-57460-3 The Great Depression of the 1930s was a time of unrelenting misery, hardship and economic deprivation. It was an era that left indelible scars upon all who lived through it, for who could forget the massive unemployment, the endless bread lines, or the dislocation and migration of tens of thousands of impoverished farmers who’d
Sorrow Road by Julia Keller Minotaur Books, PB, $15.99, 351 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-08959-5 The green rolling hills of West Virginia are the nearest thing to Heaven that I know though the times are sad and drear and I cannot linger here they’ll keep me and never let me go . . . are the opening words to a song that was made famous by Emmylou Harris. It was written
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
The Winter Girl by Matt Marinovich Doubleday/Penguin Random House, $24.95, 205 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-53997-5 It won’t officially be winter until the Twenty-first of December when the winter solstice, which is the shortest day of the year, happens. Mother Nature says otherwise. It’s been cold, gray and low freezing temperatures for some weeks in many parts of the country . . . a great time to start your personal reading
The Fireman by Joe Hill Harper Collins, $28.99, 747 pages, ISBN 978-0-06-220063-1 When I had the pleasure of hearing this weeks author being interviewed on NPR a few days ago, he said something that hit me right in the funny bone. And although I admit to having a warped sense of humor, maybe it’ll resonate with you too. When the interviewer asked him if perhaps folks had had enough
Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich Putnam/Penguin Random House, $26.95, 290 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-17396-7 This week’s author had a metric ton of A-list crime fiction writers heaping praise on his debut novel when it first appeared in the fall of last year. The likes of C.J. Box, John Connolly, James Ellroy and others were all highly complimentary of his work in their endorsements . . . and rightfully so, for