Reviewed By Liz

Welcome to the first official day of the Summer Mystery Reading Challenge! Yes, we started early and you are welcome to join late, too. Some of us have time to read a lot and some just a little. Feel free to jump in at any time. This challenge is about discovering new and different mystery authors and it is more about the experience than winning. But make sure you sign up at the link below so we can send you prizes! And now for today’s author… A.C. Ellis.

IN PURSUIT OF THE ENEMY
In an obituary, Brad Carpenter, a San Diego homicide detective, recognizes the North Vietnamese Army officer who killed his best friend thirty years ago. Somehow, that enemy soldier had come to the U.S. when he should not have been able to, and had established himself as a respected businessman.

What was he doing here? When did he come? How did he die?

Driven by his past, Brad must find the answers to these questions. His unauthorized investigation takes him away from his family and his official duties, to Denver, Colorado, where both the killer and the police relentlessly pursue him.

A. C. Ellis has had short science fiction and mysteries published in magazines and on the Web, and novel length mysteries and science fiction released in paperback editions and as e-books. An independent Los Angeles film producer recently optioned one of his novels.

A.C. Ellis can be found on the web at http://www.acellis.net/. And read the short story The Chanter while you are there!

If you haven’t signed up for the Summer Myster 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.

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!

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

ISBN 0-8027-3342-5

Little Miss Evil is set on a Michigan university campus and revolves around composition instructor Nick Hoffman, his partner, and the cutthroat politics of a university. This is the fourth book in the Nick Hoffman series and things are going badly for Nick. His favorite cousin is facing a potentially life-changing surgery, he has been moved to a dungeon office, his partner Stephan’s writing career is waning, and the college has acquired a new literary shining star who is getting unprecedented red carpet treatment and causing mutinous mumblings among the faculty. Then the death threats and vandalism start.

I suspect this is a transitional book in this series – the book in which everything goes wrong for the main characters and is redeemed at the end, leading to the next (and more uplifting) book. Which makes it a little depressing to read when you aren’t already attached to the characters and pulling for them to get through the tough times. Since this is the first book I have read by Raphael, this is the situation I was in. So I would recommend you don’t start with a middle book in the series the way I did.

What this book does have is a great inside look at the academic world. The political maneuvering, backstabbing, complaining, etc., are all great and presumably what Raphael knows best as an academic himself. The cattiness and conspiracy cause glee in anyone who has worked in similar situations. This takes away time from the murder mystery, however, as the killing doesn’t take place until very near the end of the book. This is seldom a situation I have enjoyed, and I wasn’t thrilled with it here.

And my next issue with this book is a strange one. There wasn’t enough sex. You will almost never hear this complaint from me because I am not a romance reader and whenever I read anything sexually explicit I tend to look around and make sure no one is watching – just in case they have read the book and know there is SEX in it. I wouldn’t want to be caught reading that part of the book, you know. But in this book, Nick and Stephan seem like strangers. They have a long and committed relationship but almost no intimacy. I don’t want to read the detailed stuff but I expect some hand-holding, compliments, kissing, tickling, something that shows they are a real couple and care for each other. I have a suspicion that Raphael was trying to play it safe and sell books to a less tolerant but wider audience, but the characters feel flat.

Favorite character? Juno, the woman who stirs up trouble. Did I guess it? Sort of. Will I read another? Yes. Raphael came highly recommended to me and I will give him another shot.

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

Available at Amazon!