Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 0-425-20686-6

Creating a hero that is outside the norm is a risky and gutsy move. And Harris has done it successfully in Shakespeare’s Landlord. Lily Bard is a cleaning lady in the small town of Shakespeare. She keeps to herself and lives an ordered and austere life to counteract the emotional turbulence she still suffers as a result of being brutally raped several years before. But circumstances are conspiring against her. An insomniac, she secretly walks the streets while the rest of her neighbors sleep. As she is returning from a long walk in the middle of the night, she sees someone use her garbage cart to dump a body in the park across from her house.

Shakespeare is a small town and the number of possible suspects in the murder of her neighbor is even smaller. The police investigate everyone and dig up the past that Lily has tried to escape. Suddenly her anonymity, security, and emotional stability are all threatened. It is fascinating to watch the character of Lily develop as she is required to interact with people and to break up her ordered routine. She is amazed to discover that she is ready to re-enter the world she has avoided – but slowly and definitely with care.

If you have read Harris’ other books you may be surprised at the literary muscles she flexes here. She is able to juggle some serious themes without making the book depressing. She crafts great characters in a book that is both a mystery and a personal awakening and keeps the attention of the reader throughout.

Favorite character? Claude Friedrich, next door neighbor and cop. Did I guess it? Actually, this was a re-read for me and I can’t remember if I did or not. Will I read another? Yes, I have done so and will read still more.

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

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ISBN 0-312-32893-1

Zack Chasteen is going to Bermuda to plant some palm trees for the eccentric aunt of his ladylove Barbara Pickering before the old lady’s birthday party, with a brief side trip to visit the money in his offshore bank account. But when he finds the body of a murdered scuba diver on Aunt Trula’s rocky coastal property, discovers that his lovely money has disappeared from the bank, and rescues a man during a ghastly beating, the focus of his little trip quickly changes.

Zack soon has an iron in every fire as he tries to get his missing money back while assisting the dead diver’s sister in her hunt for a killer. They are trying to find the connection between this recent murder and two previous murders with the help of a local reporter, who is convinced a shipwreck treasure trove is part of the answer. And he still needs to get those trees planted in time for the party.

Bermuda Schwartz is a good book with a backdrop that makes you want to pack your bags and head for the islands. Chasteen is a great bad-boy character. He has that appealing combination of smart, tough, tender, and disreputable that keeps the reader interested because you never quite know which way he will jump. Throw in humor, good writing, and underwater treasure hunting and you have a great book.

Favorite character? Crusty Sir Teddy Schwartz, underwater salvor extraordinaire. Did I guess it? Yes, but it was still good. Will I read another? Yes. This is the third book in the series and I will read the others to get the whole experience and because now I want to know where the money in the offshore account came from.

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

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My review for Gwen Freeman’s great Murder… Suicide… Whatever… went up yesterday and I wanted to let you know a little bit more about her. This is the first book for this lawyer and painter and she tells me she is almost done with her second Fifi Cutter mystery. Murder… Suicide… Whatever… is available for pre-order from Amazon now and will be in book stores March 1st. And if you are in the area, Gwen will be appearing at the following locations:

Saturday, March 10
3:00 pm
The Mystery Bookstore
1036-C Broxton Ave.
Los Angeles, CA

5:30 to 8:00
Book Launch
Wine and cheese reception
Mystery and Imagination Bookstore
238 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA

Saturday April 7
Time tba
Barnes & Noble
Valencia, CA

Saturday, April 14
1:00 pm
Mysteries To Die For
2940 Thousand Oaks blvd.
Thousand Oaks, CA

She will also be signing in Albuquerque, NM and Asheville, NC but the dates and times have not yet been determined.

Find out more about Gwen and keep up with her appearances on her web site www.gwenfreeman.com. Congratulations Gwen, great book!

ISBN 0-9776276-1-6

Fifi Cutter comes from an interesting blended family. She has white family, black family, rich family, poor family, step-family, and now she has courtesy family. Or she did until her step-brother Bosco informs her that Uncle Ted was murdered. Bosco tells her this because he has been hired to find out who killed Uncle Ted and needs her help. Since Fifi is desperate for money to pay the property taxes on the house she inherited from her father, she isn’t too hard to persuade.

But there are a few problems along the way. Neither Fifi nor Bosco are actually private investigators, or grief counselors, or accountants, or reporters – all of which they impersonate as they dig into Uncle Ted’s personal and professional life. But Fifi and Bosco are smart, funny, resourceful, and they need the money. And they have their work cut out for them, because it seems just about everyone had a motive to kill Uncle Ted, be it financial, political, sexual, or just plain old revenge.

This well-written book has suspects and plot twists galore. It has the added bonuses of a little locked room mystery (which I am partial to) and a lot of humor. Fifi and Bosco’s quirky family members, their peculiar outlooks on life, and their increasingly bizarre adventures are often hysterical. This book is a cross between a Sue Grafton investigation and a Janet Evanovich romp. Fans of those authors will particularly like this book.

Favorite character? Fifi and Bosco are great. Did I guess it? Not really. Will I read another? Absolutely. Fifi and Bosco can come crash at my house any time.

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

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ISBN 0-7387-0833-X

Hardworking Silicon Valley executive Ian Michaels comes home one day and discovers the body of a murdered woman on his bed. He is pretty sure it is his cleaning lady, Gwendolyn, who he has never met but has corresponded with via sticky notes left on the fridge. He is surprised to discover that she is young, beautiful, and her family, friends, and the police are under the impression that the two of them were involved. Confused and frightened by the possibility that he could be convicted of her murder, Ian takes advantage of his entrée into Gwendolyn’s family to learn more about her and find her killer.

Dot.dead is written by Keith Raffel, a Silicon Valley insider, and incorporates some of his knowledge of tech startup companies and industry culture. One of the plot lines shows the reader the “innovate or die” side of the competitive technology business. This information is interesting and incorporated into the book pretty smoothly.

Raffel does an excellent job of dropping everyman Ian Michaels into a perplexing and scary situation and letting him investigate his way out. Raffel has also given us excellent characters. The people Ian meets along the way are well thought out, have clear motivations that ring true, and they aren’t just filler. Unfortunately, most of them aren’t good suspects, either. Raffel has given us so few suspects and plot twists that the identity of the killer is painfully obvious.

Dot.dead shows us that Raffel has the skills, technical knowledge, and dedication required to write a great mystery. If he can combine those assets with a more sophisticated/complicated plot, his next book could be a blockbuster.

Favorite character? Ian’s mother. Who can resist a good Jewish mother? Did I guess it? Yes. Will I read another? Yes. I want him to wow me with the next one.

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

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Last week, I reviewed Jack Getze’s book Big Numbers and also posted a brief interview with him. If you have read those and/or been to his web site, you know that Jack has just gotten his first book published at age 61 – after 37 years and 10 rejected manuscripts.

You have to admire someone who sticks with something for that long AND still has a sense of humor about it. So we asked Jack if he would give us an inside look at the life of a newly published author. Jack has graciously agreed to send us periodic updates from the 2007 Big Numbers World Tour.

As Jack pointed out in his interview with us, getting the book published isn’t the end, it is just one of the many steps. Marketing and promoting the brand new book come next. All authors spend time promoting their books at signings, bookstores, and conferences, but first time authors have to work particularly hard to get their names out there, hence the World Tour. Here is our first installment from guest blogger, Jack Getze.

(Seattle) The 2007 Big Numbers World Tour began February 1 when I arrived at Sea-Tac International Airport, rented my car, and headed South on Interstate 5.

Seattle and The Left Coast Crime conference being positioned to the north, some observers might have thought me lost. But no, I’d decided that Seattle could wait. My first stop on the World Tour would be Whodunit? Books in Tacoma.

Well, actually, my first stop turned out to be a Tacoma taco shop. I was hungry. But after eating a few crispy corn tortillas filled with beef and cheese, I located Whodunit? Books on Fifth Ave. and strolled inside.

As a new author, my job is to visit as many bookstores as I can, introduce myself and my book, see if I can get these booksellers to read, hopefully like, and then recommend my book. I’m with a small independent publisher that doesn’t make things easy with returns, so my books won’t be found in many chain stores. I have to get out and develop relationships with independent bookstores like this mystery specialist in southern Washington state.

Owner and manager Linda Dewberry graciously welcomed to her bookstore that afternoon. We sat in a corner of her eclectic shop and talked books, author promotion, and what her life was like selling titles to a growing list of good customers.

“If I like something enough to recommend it,” she said, “my customers will buy it.”
That’s what I wanted to hear.
“I don’t have any books to offer you yet,” I told Ms. Dewberry, “but I do have a couple of chapbooks I could leave you.”

She took the promotional item (which contains the first two chapters and an author Q&A) from me with a look that said I’d handed her a large black spider. “I guess I could take a look,” she said.

I visited six more stores that day and the next in the Seattle area. All of them were pretty cool to Jack Getze and Big Numbers, and my chapbooks. I decided next time I’d show up with real, honest-to-goodness books, not these pretend promo thingies that I’m sure ended up in the trash.

Saturday, I was scheduled to give a 25-minute talk on using reality to create fiction at the Left Coast Crime convention. This was my real shot to meet mystery fans and interest them in my work.

I’ll tell you how that went next time.
–Jack Getze

ISBN 0-373-89603-4

Yes, I have been known to judge a book by its cover. Theoretically, book covers give some indication about the story waiting inside. And when I saw the cover of The Key, I thought it was going to be a little fluffy. I was surprised and pleased to find a well-written and absorbing book.

Rachel Benjamin is an investment banker who puts in the long hours required to make partner at an investment bank. Unfortunately, she has some serious concerns about her new boss. In addition to abusing his underlings in a manner that earns him some colorful nicknames, he is pushing through a questionable buyout at unheard of speed. When Rachel receives an anonymous email saying the buyout is dirty and her boss is murdered immediately after, she realizes her life might depend on the outcome of the buyout deal and she has to investigate. Rachel enlists the help of her computer consultant fiancé to track down the anonymous emailer and then calls on her old college roommates when she becomes a suspect and has to disappear for a while.

The publisher of The Key, Red Dress Ink, is obviously publishing mysteries aimed at youngish, sophisticated women (I am no longer young and my sophistication level is debatable, so I am probably not the target audience). But unlike some books aimed at women, this book is well-written, has a complex plot, and I particularly like the ending. This book reminds me of Grisham’s The Firm, but with more humor, character development, and emphasis on the relationships between the different characters. This is the third Rachel Benjamin book and I look forward to going back for the other two.

Favorite character? Peter, the fiancé, for adapting to difficult circumstances. Did I guess it? Some of it. Will I read another? Yes.

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

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ISBN 0-9773787-3-X

Who Gets the Apartment? has an immediate appeal to anyone who has ever hunted for an apartment in a big city. People do go to ridiculous lengths to get and keep a decent place to live. And this book is about an unbelievable apartment – a luxury Central Park penthouse for $600 per month.

And yes, there is a catch. The man renting the apartment is a disgruntled former employee of the apartment’s owner. He rents the apartment to four different people – all of whom have legal contracts and ownership of the apartment. The book editor, artist, assistant District Attorney, and computer expert all try to move in on the same day and must figure out who gets the apartment.

This book initially reads like someone’s college creative writing assignment. Rigolosi sets up the story and provides several different possible solutions to the apartment situation. But the briefer solutions are quickly dispatched and we settle in for a novella length final ending. This solution turns into a delightful Sting style story as the four apartment renters attempt to get their revenge and their money back from the man who rented all of them the apartment. The last part of the book is another novella featuring the further adventures the same four characters.

This is the first entry in a series by Rigolosi called Tales From the Back Page – plots for the books are based around ads from pages in newspapers. This book is more of a caper than a mystery, but I enjoyed it. If you are a fan of the “long con” you will definitely want to pick this up.

My only complaint about this book is that it is a little too pat. The dialog is a little too nice and doesn’t ring true at times. Hopefully, Rigolosi can snap the dialog into shape in time for book two, Circle of Assassins.

Favorite character? I kind of like the bad guy. Didn’t you ever want to mess with a former employer? Did I guess it? Not a guessing book. Will I read another? Yes.

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

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ISBN 0-425-19461-2

The Ghost and Mrs. McClure is a fun book for mystery readers – it is set in a mystery bookshop and there are lots of mystery references in the story. Penelope Thornton-McClure is a widow who moved herself and her young son out of New York City and has invested the last of her funds in her aunt’s small town mystery bookstore. Desperate to increase the store’s revenues, they arrange for an appearance by a famous author at the store, only to have him murdered in front of his devoted fans. Now Mrs. McClure is dealing with the headaches of the bookstore, the police (who see her as a prime suspect), and the suddenly talkative ghost who haunts the store. The good news is that the ghost was a private investigator in real life and is determined to get Mrs. McClure off the hook.

The setting is interesting, the characters are good, and the mystery is sort of standard issue, but good. The ghost is what gives this story a boost. Kimberly does a good job of incorporating the ghost of Jack Shepard into the book. Murdered in the bookstore more than fifty years ago, Shepard has been quietly haunting the bookstore ever since. Kimberly does the reader a favor and makes his boundaries clear for us – he is confined to the store, has only been able to communicate with three people (Penelope and two as yet unnamed children), and has limited manifestation abilities. Keeping Shepard from being all-powerful means the other characters have to pull their weight, so Mrs. McClure has handle any investigative work outside the building.

Yes, there are a lot of parallels with that wonderful old movie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. If you like the movie, you will probably like the book. And Kimberly can keep them coming because she has set up a good foundation for a series. I look forward to reading about the two children Jack was able to communicate with and to solving his murder, too.

Favorite character? Jack Shepard, noir ghost. Did I guess it? Yes. Will I read another? Definitely.

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

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ISBN 978-0-06-082967-4

If I have read a book stranger than this one, I can’t think of it at the moment. Hurricane Punch is a road trip mystery with serial killer Serge A. Storms and his overmedicated buddy Coleman. When not killing annoying people in fiendishly clever ways, Serge is fascinated by hurricanes and he, Coleman, the woman of the moment, and an assortment of hostages are all chasing hurricanes across Florida. They are pursued by law enforcement, McSwirley (an unfortunately named reporter), and a cop named Mahoney, who keeps getting real life confused with old noir detective novels, and a second serial killer.

Into this bizarre setup, Dorsey has injected some great writing. His character writing is interesting, the dialog sharp, and his riffs on modern culture are hysterical. Which leads me to the first thing I find disturbing about the book.

This book is a glorification of crime and bad things. Serge the serial killer is the coolest guy in the book. He is smart, funny, sexy, and upholds his personal code of honor by killing only obnoxious people. Excessive drug use is cool and mental illness is downright fun. Theft isn’t a problem because you need the stuff, right? Kidnapping, torture, and murder are all good if they are done in cool and creative ways. Technique is everything, and even inspires this reverential comment by a police officer at the scene of a homicide “I definitely want to rock with these cats!” There is, in fact, never a down moment in this manic book – it is just fun, fun, fun! And that is disturbing.

The other thing that bothered me about this book was its non-linear construction. At times it was creative and funny, but at other times it was a little confusing. They kill someone in the first chapter, pick up the means of his death in the middle of the book, and then show how it was done near the end. Since there are multiple victims and they all seem to have been hostages for some time before they were killed, I wasn’t always clear on exactly who was tied up in the back of the truck.

Favorite character? Mahoney, the confused cop. Did I guess it? No. Will I read another? I don’t know. I suppose I will if I ever find myself in the mood for book about a happy-go-lucky serial killer.

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

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