Reviewed By Liz

Today’s featured author is Chris Grabenstein. Chris is the author of the John Ceepak series, in which a a by-the-book former MP is teamed up with a twenty-something slacker on the police force in a Jersey Shore resort town. I have read all three of these books and just love them. You can read my reviews here.

In WHACK A MOLE, an innocent discovery on the beach in Sea Haven leads to a string of gruesome clues and one chilling conclusion: a long dormant serial killer is poised to strike again.

In another fast-paced thrill ride, Danny and Ceepak, the cop with a strict moral code, race against the clock to undercover a hidden mole with a twisted code all his own. If they don’t catch the killer in time, someone they love may become the next victim.

MAD MOUSE was chosen as one of Kirkus’s Ten Best Mysteries of 2006. It’s almost Labor Day, and the end of summer could mean the end of someone’s life in this exciting sequel to Chris Grabenstein’s TILT-A-WHIRL.

Young Danny Boyle, the part-time summer cop “down the shore” in Sea Haven, New Jersey, gets taken on a wild ride when he and his longtime beach buddies become the unwitting targets of a mad-man’s twisted scheme for revenge. Fortunately, John Ceepak, the cop with a soldier’s unshakeable code of honor, stays at Danny’s side to help him negotiate the quick twists and turns that threaten to destroy his life, his friends, and everything about the world he loves.

TILT A WHIRL won the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery. There isn’t much fun in the sun when a billionaire real estate tycoon is found murdered on the Tilt-A-Whirl at a seedy seaside amusement park in the otherwise quiet tourist town of Sea Haven, New Jersey.

John Ceepak, a former MP back from Iraq, has just joined the Sea Haven Police Department. The job offer came from an old Army buddy who wanted to give him at least a summer’s worth of R&R to escape the horrors of war.

Instead, Ceepak heads up the murder investigation. He is partnered with Danny Boyle, a 24-year-old, part-time cop who doesn’t carry a gun and only works with the police by day so he has enough pocket money to play with his beach buddies by night.

Chris can be found on the internet at ChrisGrabenstein.com. There are all sorts of neat interview and appearance links on the website.

If you haven’t signed up for the Summer Mystery Reading Challenge yet, click here for directions. You are welcome to read along on your own, of course, but only registered participants are eligible for the prizes. No matter what your mystery preference – cozy, noir, hard-boiled, soft-boiled, thriller, suspense – we have it on revewiedbyliz this Summer.

If you would like to comment on a book by a featured author or ask them a question, please leave the comment on their daily page so they can find it easily. Comments about what you are reading, books you have finished, requests for readalikes or recommendations, or mystery related links can be made on the SMRC post for that day so we can all see them. Thanks!

ISBN 0-78681-760-2

Mad Mouse is the second book in the John Ceepak/Danny Boyle series. It is just before Labor Day and Danny Boyle is reuniting with his long-time Sea Haven friends for a little nighttime fun on the beach. In the middle of their frolics, someone starts shooting them with paintballs. Although they are angry because one of the girls has been hit in the eye and injured, it isn’t until John Ceepak joins Danny on the beach to investigate that they realize how much worse their evening could have been. Ceepak discovers that there was a real bullet fired at the group in addition to the paintballs. And the shooter intentionally left behind a trading card – The Phantom.

Over the next few days, Ceepak and Boyle investigate similar shootings, in which an assortment of trading cards is left behind. Hampered, as usual, by the need to keep the investigation quiet and to avoid disturbing the tourists vital to the Sea Haven economy, Ceepak and Boyle look for a sharpshooter who is playing with them. The rush is on to find the shooter before the World’s Biggest Beach Party that Sea Haven hosts every Labor Day.

One of the things that I like best about Grabenstein’s Sea Haven books is the mood. Sea Haven is a small Jersey shore beach town, in which every business has a theme and goofy name. As Ceepak and Boyle are going about their business or chasing down suspects, they are using these landmarks to navigate – Sand Castle Swirl Cone, Aquaman’s Comix, Saltwater Tammy’s, Smuggler’s Cove Motel. The silly names provide a fun backdrop for the police activities and give the story a surreal quality.

Having read the three books in this series out of order, I would suggest you read them in order so you can follow the development of the Ceepak/Boyle relationship. Straight arrow Ceepak and beach boy Boyle are learning to work together in this book, and are becoming friends as Ceepak props Boyle up during a crisis. These are wonderful characters in a very good series.

Favorite character? Dr. McDaniels, who never seems to be there in her official capacity. Did I guess it? No. Will I read another? Just as soon as the next book is published.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Available at Amazon!

ISBN 0-7867-1584-7

Tilt A Whirl is Grabenstein’s first book featuring police officer John Ceepak and his partner, part-time Summer cop Danny Boyle. The two of them work in the small New Jersey resort town of Sea Haven. While eating breakfast one morning, they see a girl standing in the street covered in blood. Her wealthy father has been fatally shot while sitting on the Tilt A Whirl at the amusement park. Ceepak, who has recently returned from the war in Iraq, has a soft spot for children in need and vows to protect the girl and find her father’s killer.

I must confess that I read Gravenstein’s second book (Whack A Mole) in this series first and came back to read this one. Tilt A Whirl shows how Ceepak came to Sea Haven and sets up the hero/sidekick relationship between Ceepak and Danny Boyle. The story is told from Boyle’s point of view and he sees Ceepak as somewhat larger than life. Compared to Ceepak, Danny looks like a screw-up. Grabenstein does a great job of describing Danny as a young man who grew up at the beach and still hangs out there with his friends – a young man without ambition until he meets Ceepak. And when he believes that his hero has done something wrong, Grabenstein writes of his disappointment simply but powerfully.

I tend to dislike books in which children are victims. I think authors often use children gratuitously for extra shock value. But Grabenstein doesn’t run rampant here. He has incorporated Ceepak’s special need to help children into his character background and makes it believable. Ceepak is a character who has been through the emotional wringer and is doing the best he can to solve the problems put in front of him, in accordance with his personal code of conduct.

I have enjoyed both of Grabenstein’s books and am looking forward to the next one, Mad Mouse. If you are interested in reading them, start with Tilt A Whirl. It is a little bit more serious than Whack A Mole (in which Grabenstein’s history in comedy is a little more apparent) but give you good background information. There are also some events mentioned in Whack A Mole that happen in Tilt A Whirl and you will understand the references if you read the books in order.

Favorite character? Danny Boyle. Did I guess it? Yes. Will I read another? Definitely.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Available at Amazon!

ISBN 0-78671-818-8

Whack A Mole features two police officers whose beat is the Jersey Shore. Told from the point of view of rookie Danny Boyle, our hero is John Ceepak, an Iraq war veteran with a strict code of honor. Ceepak is more than a little uptight and Danny admires him but can’t resist tweaking his nose from time to time. But the two share of love of Bruce Springsteen lyrics and a dedication to keep the locals and tourists at Sea Haven safe. The two characters are off-beat and fantastic – think Dragnet after it has been through the mod and odd filters and you can imagine the quirky feel of this book.

Whack A Mole is set during the height of tourist season in Sea Haven when local businesses earn most of their income for the year. When a series of increasingly grisly “trophies” show up indicating a serial killer from the 70’s and 80’s may be active again, Ceepak and Boyle are pressured to keep their investigation quiet so as not to scare away the tourists. Hampered by their need for secrecy and the jealously of their competitive colleagues, the men dig deeply into the history of the resort in an effort to keep this killer from claiming another victim.

This is a fun book. The characters are delightful, the plot is good, and the setting is very interesting. Books about serial killers tend to be too grisly and turn me off, but Grabenstein has a lighter touch here and I never once considered putting this book aside. Grabenstein lets the reader know that this isn’t a “straight” mystery and we let him play a little fast and loose with standard police procedure – which produces an eccentric and excellent story.

Favorite character? Danny Boyle, an average guy in an unusual situation. Did I guess it? No. Will I read another? Absolutely.

Mystery Book Reviews by Liz at http://reviewedbyliz.com ©2007

Available at Amazon!