THE STRANGE CASE OF THE COMPOSER AND HIS JUDGE by Patricia Duncker (Bloomsbury, $15.00), recommended by Kathy Harig, Mystery Loves Company Booksellers, Oxford, MD, www.mysterylovescompany.com: This haunting and exceptional book begins with a "departure"-- a horrific scene which hunters come across in the Jura Mountains in France. Nine dead adults and their children whose bodies have been carefully arranged in the snow, died on January 1, 2001. Arriving at the scene soon after Commissaire Andre Schweigen is Dominique Carpentier," Madame Le Juge," an investigator of sects. She has made it her job to investigate this and other extreme religious groups. The case is similar to one in 1984 when Andre and Le Juge worked as partners. Once again they are thrown together and Andre has very strong feelings for Dominique, although he is married.
Dominique is a strong, dispassionate woman and takes the lead in the case.Her job is to put together the evidence and present it to the Republic of France. Her young well-pierced and tattooed assistant Gaelle brings to mind CLSI. The women work as a well-oiled machine to hunt down evidence while Andre frantically calls and emails the women to try to stay connected.
She discovers a charismatic seventy year old composer is at the center of the group calling themselves The Faith. She also can't deny that she is growing ever closer to him as he seduces her with his music and his philosophy.
Although primarily a metaphysical mystery, the action ranges from Strasbourg, to the vineyards of Languedoc, to Lubeck, to London, to castle sin Lausanne, and massive telescopes in Cheshire. It talks about death,dying, rebirth and the music of the spheres.
I can only use the words extraordinary to describe this book. I will remember it for a long time. Recommended for readers of music, astronomy and literary fiction and fans of Louise Penny, Fred Vargas and ArturoPerez-Reverte.
THE REVERSAL by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown, $27.99),
recommended by JB Dickey, Seattle Mystery Bookshop, Seattle, WA, www.seattlemystery.com: Michael Connelly’s
The Reversal is a slight departure for him on a number of fronts. First of all, he has Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch sharing the spotlight and tells the story by alternating chapters – Haller narrates a chapter followed by a chapter following Bosch. Second, he’s got Haller acting as a prosecutor.
24 years ago, a man was convicted of abducting and killing a young girl. His conviction has been overturned and he’s going to be retried but the LA DA wants someone outside of his department to act as prosecutor to deflect political heat. He taps defense attorney Haller to switch sides and act an independent prosecutor. Haller reluctantly agrees but requests to have free rein, including his choice of investigator; he picks Bosch.
As you would expect with a Connelly novel, there are twists and surprises as the case progresses. Because the original conviction has been vacated, Haller has to retry the defendant with basically the same evidence, without many of the original witnesses AND without ever bringing up the earlier conviction. He has to walk a delicate line which tests him as a rookie prosecutor. I have to admit that I was thrown off by the alternating views. It may just be that I am such a Bosch fan that leaving him and his mission was distracting. There’s never enough Harry Bosch. For me.
I also have to say that I found the ending to be uncharacteristically abrupt. Harry seems to be off on a new mission, or a mission related to this story. It may be that the next book will continue from here. (I hope so.) You may not find this to be the case and you may not be bothered by the alternating voices. I hope not.
In any case,
The Reversal tells a fast and furious story that kept me reading far too late into the night and wishing that my bus ride was a bit longer. And I dislike riding the bus!
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THE PERICLES COMMISSION by Gary Corby (Minotaur, $24.99),
recommended by Robin Agnew, Aunt Agatha’s, Ann Arbor, MI, www.auntagathas.com: This is a welcome addition to the historical mystery field, which has pretty much lacked material set in this particular time period: ancient Greece. Ancient Rome and Ancient Egypt are pretty well covered, but not Greece, which is peculiar when you think about it. Corby helpfully supplies a list of character's names and whether or not they existed (like Socrates, who makes an appearance here as an annoying, if brilliant, younger brother to the main character). This is handy as is the glossary at the end of the book: I recommend the use of both, unless you are for some reason fluent in Greek.
In tone, Corby's book most resembles those of Lindsey Davis, whose light and well-put-together novels set in Ancient Rome have always been popular. I think Corby shares Davis' nice mix of humor, use of historical background and the tone, which is breezy and entertaining, while not sacrificing plot or character. (The humor also reminds me of another gifted historical writer, Alan Gordon.)
The book opens with a literal bang as a corpse falls at the feet of our main character, Nicolaos, who shortly after encounters Pericles. Pericles knew the dead man - Ephialtes, who literally invented democracy, and who actually was murdered days after this astonishing creation. Pericles, knowing that Athens will teeter on the verge of a civil war if the perpetrator isn't caught, gives Nicolaos a commission to discover the killer. Nicolaos' task is made all the more difficult by the fact that he knows few of the players, as well as the fact that his father, a sculptor, had hoped that his son would follow him in his trade.
Structured like a fairly typical private eye novel, Nicolaos goes from suspect to suspect asking questions, often being reprimanded (or reprimanding himself, mentally) for his brash youth. Yet this seems to win him allies as well. The memorable characters he encounters on his path to truth include Euterpe, mistress of the dead man; Diotima, priestess in training and illegitimate daughter of the dead man; and Pythax, who is basically a mercenary working as a slave in Athens to keep the peace, as no Athenian is supposed to carry a weapon.
While some of the ancient Athenian customs are entirely unappetizing - the keeping of slaves, for example, and the fact that women were segregated and couldn't own property - many of the practices of the fledgling democracy are still in practice: jury trials, for example. As with any birth, the process surrounding it can be both messy and painful, and Athens at this point in time was in a state of flux. Of course, that's a perfect time to set a mystery.
Corby is really excellent at action scenes. There are two in particular that I thought were terrific - one involves Nicolaos in a street fight, and one involves the young Socrates. Both advance the plot, and Corby scatters them through the narrative like an old pro, punching things up before they begin to sag.
All in all this is a terrific and entertaining debut. For me the extra bonus was the humor. I'm really looking forward to the next installment.
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LIAR. LIAR by K.J. Larsen (Poisoned Pen, $14.95), recommended by Barbara Tom, Murder by the Book, Portland, OR, www.mbtb.com : Move over, Stephanie Plum, Cat DeLuca is on the prowl!
Liar, Liar is the debut novel by three sisters, two of whom live in the Pacific Northwest. This book harkens back to the first few bad hair days of Janet Evanovich's iconic heroine, the aforementioned Stephanie Plum. Liar, Liar has zest and sass very similar to Evanovich's z&s, and Cat has her own eccentric smloving (a cross between smothering and loving) family. There's also flirting, backtalk, an over-the-top sidekick, and even a car disaster. The differences? With Liar, Liar, there's a little more plot focus, and Cat manages to anger way more people. I personally have no problem with imitation, especially if it's well done. This book made me laugh out loud, the way Evanovich's One for Money did many years ago.
Cat DeLuca runs Pants on Fire Detective Agency. She surreptitiously chases after allegedly cheating spouses and gives the wronged parties ammunition to kick the bums (or bumettes) out of their lives.
In the course of following a far-too-good-looking-for-his-own-good-and-he-drives-a-Porshe guy for a sobbing client, Cat becomes embroiled in something bigger and more explosive than anything she has ever run across before. Literally. A bomb explodes in a building as Cat nears her prey, and she is clunked
unconscious by a falling sign. When she awakens in the hospital, she is told that the man she was tailing died in the explosion. After the "dead man" visits her in her hospital room, she tries to tell the police and anyone else who will listen that the dead man must be someone else, but no one pays any attention. And the woman who hired her may not be the not-dead-man's wife. Then she has another near-death experience. Is her concussion making her delusional, or is someone trying to kill her?
So she tries to figure out what the FBI, diamonds, a cranky mechanic, a shady philanthropist, and Max the bodyguard (who doesn't resemble Kevin Costner and isn't Italian) have in common? And, yes, someone is trying to kill her.
Toss in a mother who shouts, "Let's eat," as a coda to difficult situations, a family that tramples its way to the buffet table, a wild bunch of friends and relatives who are either Chicago cops or working for "the other side," and you have ...
Fun, fun, fun!
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THE GOSPEL OF MATTHIAS KENT by Mike Silvestri (Draumr Publishing, $22.95),
recommended by Debbie, Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop, Mechanicsburg PA, www.MysteryBooksOnline.com: "In a future without books…without paper…without hope…the most dangerous man is the one armed with a pen. The government wants his mind, his life, his secret. And will risk all-out war to destroy the thing it fears most … the truth." - From the YouTube trailer for
The Gospel of Matthias Kent.
The Gospel of Matthias Kent is a combination thriller, sci-fi and mystery. The Church and State have melded into one identity and it controls everything in a world devastated by a dirty bomb. There is only extreme wealth or extreme poverty. The “rot” is like a black fungus that eats through anything and everything except metal. Paper has become basically extinct because of the rot … only the Church or “Synod” has access to the paper. The Synod uses this loss to control the masses. No paper … no books to contradict their disinformation.
Church Elder Matthias Kent is an advertising executive employed by the First Bank of Job. As he rises through the ranks of the Synod and is in line to become an elder he takes a forbidden trip to Washington, D.C. While there, he makes a discovery so explosive that it rips his life apart. Ultimately, he becomes a man on the run from the Synod who want him eliminated at all costs.
Mike Silvestri has done an excellent job in creating both a history for the intervening years and in telling the suspenseful plight of Matthias Kent. There are twists and turns and surprises in this truly memorable and terrific book.