Tatiana by Martin Cruz Smith Simon & Schuster, $25.99, 292 pages, ISBN 978-1-4391-4021-5 Given the current state of world affairs as regards Russia, Vladimir Putin, the Crimea, Ukraine and the general world condemnation of Mr. P and the country he’s president of in light of the so-called referendum on March the sixteenth as to whether Crimea should become part of Russia or remain part of Ukraine . . .
Bear Is Broken by Lachlan Smith Mysterious Press, $24.00, 256 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2079-3 Some of the most popular and ever present murder mysteries and crime fiction novels involve lawyers and courtroom dramas. Probably the first to do so was Earle Stanley Gardner, with his case-cracking super-lawyer named Perry Mason, who always seemed able to force a confession on the witness stand. These days, author John Grisham seems to have
City of Saints by Andrew Hunt Minotaur Books, $24.99, 321 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-01579-2 I’m willing to bet that most Americans don’t know jack about Mormons, or Mormonism, or Salt Lake City, Utah . . . the heart of the Mormon empire. If they happen to be a little more savvy than their follow citizens, some few might recognize the Mormon Tabernacle choir from their Christmas concerts on television, or
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25.00, 288 pages, ISBN 978-0-374-21491-3 Do you ever wish you were a kid again? To go back in time when learning was easy and quick for you? When your biggest worry was coming up with your share of the rent? Do you like quests; the hunt for the priceless artifacts that belong to all of humanity, but somehow
Star of the Sea by Joseph O’Connor Harcourt, pap.2002, $14.00, 401 pages, ISBN 978-0-15-602966-9 It’s been so dry out here that every known frog in the state has moved to Minnesota. It’s been so dry that rattlesnakes have to carry canteens and travel in squads . . . and one of ‘em had better be a doctor. Yessir. And that’s a fact. So, this week’s MBR No. 68 is about
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
A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block Mulholland Books, $25.99, 319 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-17804-4 This week’s MBR is A Drop of the Hard Stuff, by Lawrence Block, a distinguished author of more than fifty novels. He’s as easy and comfortable to read as a favorite old flannel shirt is to wear beside a warm fire on a nippy fall night. The novel begins with two old friends,
The Diviner’s Tale by Bradford Morrow (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26.00, 311 pages, ISBN 978-0-547-38263-0) The Diviner’s Tale is part murder mystery, part ghost story, some paranormal and part literary. It’s now on my personal ‘best-books-of-the-year’ list. The author manages to weave all of the disparate elements into a story that will not only keep you turning the pages; you’ll be sorry there aren’t more of them as you follow
The Ranger by Ace Atkins (Putnam, $25.95, 354 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-15748-6) Some of the best thrillers and mysteries are driven by the idea that an ordinary woman or man is somehow caught up in an extraordinary situation. Time and place, or circumstances and events force the protagonist to act. Maybe it’s fate, maybe it’s not, but he or she is inexorably compelled to get involved. The Ranger is just
Field Gray by Philip Kerr (Putnam, $26.95, 435 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-15741-7) Have you ever thought about your dreams, noticed how real they seem when you’re asleep? But then when you awake, it’s just in time to escape, or lose the elusive goal that’s always just out of reach? That’s how mine end anyway. But what if you couldn’t wake up? What if your nightmare never ended? What then? How would