Category: Mystery

The Family Vault by Charlotte MacLeod is a reissue of the first in the Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn series, originally published in the 1980s. I often enjoy going back in time and reading good mysteries from great authors, and I was not disappointed in this trip back in time. There are plenty of anachronisms, and I was somewhat put off by the shrinking violet Sarah and her chauvinistic relatives, but she grew on me as the story progressed.

We first meet Sarah as she accompanies a relative to open a family vault in a cemetery in Boston where a batty old uncle has decided he wants to be buried. The vault hasn’t been opened in decades, so Sarah goes along to supervise. Imagine her surprise when the body, or rather the bones, of a well-known stripper is discovered sprawled inside the family vault. The grisly discovery sets in motion a series of events that result in several deaths, one shockingly close to Sarah herself.

MacLeod’s writing is always enjoyable – good plots, decent characters, and a hefty dose of tongue-in-cheek humor – and Family Vault did not disappoint. Take this one on vacation, or keep it for a rainy Sunday afternoon when you’re in the mood for some light reading.

 Fatal Incision by W.R. Park

I am a sucker for Jack the Ripper stories. What mystery fan isn’t? So when I saw this offering on NetGalley, tying the Ripper mystery to New York City, I couldn’t resist.

The story is actually a good one, and an interesting, unusual take on the whole Ripper mystery. Young Scotland Yard constables Matthew Ward and Jimmy Black launch their own investigation of the Ripper murders in London, much to the embarrassment of their superiors who can’t seem to make any headway on the case. When the London murders stop and new, similar murders begin across the Atlantic, Ward and Black are sent to New York City to assist in the investigation there.

Ward & Black track the doctor they originally pegged in London through the streets of New York, as he looks for the mysterious “Joan.” Once in New York, the reader is treated to parallel stories – Ward & Black and Dr. Joshua Croft, the Ripper suspect. Croft’s life in subterranean New York is especially intriguing as he insinuates himself into the lives of the City’s forgotten, who live in the vast tunnels underneath New York. Ward and Black pursue Croft through one grisly murder after another, until they finally catch up to him and “Joan” in a startling conclusion.

While I enjoyed the first half of this story very much, I found myself put off by some rather juvenile character situations, particularly that of the “relationship” between Matthew Ward and the beautiful female detective assigned to help with the Ripper inquiry. Completely unnecessary to the plot, IMHO. The story started to drag about halfway through, and I kept finding myself wondering how much longer it was going to take to catch the damn Ripper. However, the unexpected, clever ending made up for the length of the story.

Not the best I’ve read recently, but not horrible either. Interesting, unusual plot that just went on a few chapters too many. Do take some time to check out the author’s website, though. Very creepy and shivery! http://www.wrparkebooks.com/index.html

The Light Keeper’s Legacy: A Chloe Ellefson Mystery by Kathleen Ernst
Midnight Ink, Coming October 2012
978-0-7387-3307-4

Historian Chloe Ellefson has a plum new assignment – spend a week on Rock Island in Lake Michigan to develop a furnishing plan for the restored Pottawatomie Lighthouse. Chloe is craving some alone time away from an annoying, meddling supervisor and from potential boyfriend Roelke McKenna. She finds the solitude she wants and much more.

Upon arrival at the isolated site, Chloe finds herself in the middle of a centuries old fishing territorial dispute, along with something older and more sinister. Things don’t get any better when she starts finding bodies washed up on shore wrapped in fishing nets.

While she works with the local authorities to solve the murders, Chloe also finds herself drawn to a woman who lived in the lighthouse more than 100 years ago and who seems to be trying to communicate something to Chloe. We learn that Chloe has flashes of unusual perception that appear to fascinate and freak her out at the same time. Curious, Chloe researches the woman, Emily Betts, and along the way discovers a tragedy that has marked residents of the Rock and the surrounding area for more than a century.

This was the first Chloe Ellefson mystery I’ve read, and I enjoyed it enough to go look up the earlier offerings. I found Chloe a likable heroine, despite her repeated use of the phrase “Geez, Louise,” which seemed a bit overdone. She’s smart, perceptive, independent, and kind but also stubborn and strong. The blend of historical and modern stories holds together nicely and develops into a solid story spanning decades. The story is set in 1982 and contains a nice nod to Sue Grafton, as it is her A is for Alibi that is given to Chloe at the beginning to keep her company on the island.

This is a light, very enjoyable read featuring a smart and sassy young woman who will appeal to a wide audience.

Secret Letters by Leah Scheier
Hyperion. On sale 6/26/12
978-1-4231-2405-4

Sherlock Holmes has been re-imagined countless times in modern fiction, and Secret Letters is one more attempt to paint a slightly different picture of the great detective. In this case, we find young Dora Joyce convincing her cousin Adelaide to visit Holmes on the pretense of tracking down the man blackmailing Adelaide with old love letters. Secretly, though, Dora wants desperately to meet Holmes, the man who she recently discovered to be her biological father.

Their reunion is not to be, however, as Dora’s arrival in London coincides with Holmes’ apparent death in Germany. While swooning in the street over the shocking news, Dora meets Peter Cartwright, a former associate of Holmes, who manages to draw Dora into investigating the case of the stolen love letters herself.

We find in Dora many of the personality traits one might expect in a daughter of Sherlock Holmes. She is industrious and creative in her investigations, and is a likable character. Her burgeoning relationship with Cartwright lends sweetness to the story that will appeal to young romantics. My only quibble with the story is the fact that the blackmail scheme which gets Dora involved in the first place is never really fully explained.The other mystery, however, is interesting and wound up in a surprise ending.

This newest entry in the Holmes genre provides a light-hearted read that will appeal to fans of English country house murder mysteries and cozies. It reminded me slightly of The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer, which introduced Sherlock’s younger sister, Enola Holmes. I think she and Dora could be good friends.

The Columbus Affair by Steve Berry – The publication of a new Steve Berry book is always cause for celebration in my little world, and this new offering did not disappoint.

Berry, known for his rough and tumble, action-packed Cotton Malone series, moves in a slightly different direction here and introduces a whole new cast of characters who take part in an adventure every bit as steeped in history and full of action as Berry’s other offerings.

We meet Thomas Sagan, disgraced reporter, just as he about to end his life. His suicide is prevented by Zacariah Simon, a man who appears at Sagan’s window holding a picture of Sagan’s estranged daughter. We soon learn that Simon has Ally captive and will kill her if Sagan doesn’t agree to exhume his father’s body to retrieve something that was buried with him years before. We soon discover that Sagan’s father, and now Sagan, is the Levite, a man entrusted with the greatest secret in Jewish history. Berry immediately lets the reader know that all is not as it appears as he begins to weave a tale of Christopher Columbus and an ancient treasure stolen from the Jews when the second temple was destroyed.

Moving the action from Florida, to Austria, to Jamaica, Berry grips your attention with intriguing bits of history interwoven with his own imaginative elements and, as usual, delivers a tightly plotted narrative peopled with interesting, well-drawn characters. I always want to research something that I read about in a Berry book, and this time it is the Temple treasure. That urge to learn more about what I’ve read in a novel doesn’t happen all the time, which is why I look forward to each new Steve Berry book.

This one is highly recommended.

I was intrigued from the very first exposure I had to The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman, primarily because I am a New Yorker and totally enamored with the history of my state. That, combined with all the elements I love in a story – mystery, murder, romance – how could I not read this?

I was not disappointed. At all.

The Orphanmaster didn’t grab me right away, however. The first chapter detailing the activities of spies and assassins dispatched across the globe to hunt and murder the men who authorized the execution of Charles I of England, kind of left me cold, but as I read further, it became clear why Zimmerman began the story in this way. Edward Drummond, our hero, is one of those spies and his activities in New Amsterdam and New England are driven by his mission to hunt three regicides who have taken refuge in the New World. It also didn’t hurt that the second chapter contained one of the most frightening scenes I’ve read in a book since Peter Straub’s Ghost Story.

What did immediately capture my attention was the character of Blandine van Couvering, a she-merchant (don’t you love that term?) trader and an orphan who moved easily and confidently through the hard scrabble world of early New York. It is through Blandine that the story gets it red thread – the thing that holds it all together. And what a character! Strong, independent, kind, beautiful (of course), a superb housekeeper, a skilled negotiator – a woman making her way in a man’s world. What I appreciated the most about Zimmerman’s treatment of Blandine were the references to the role of women in early Dutch culture. Blandine was not an anomaly. Under Dutch rule, women were allowed to work, to own property, and to choose their own husbands.

Blandine and Edward find themselves smack in the middle of a rash of child killings and disappearances – all of orphans. Blandine’s mentor, Aet Visser, the Orphanmaster of New Amsterdam, is involved, but we don’t know how deeply until well into the story. Zimmerman draws a vivid picture of a man conflicted as we watch Visser tumble into despair. Add to that several other well-drawn characters – Martyn Hendrickson, the handsome, dashing patroon who cannot be tamed, Kitane, a Lenape trapper afflicted with a horrifying mental illness, and Lightning, a terrifying half-breed – and you have all the elements of a thriller.

There are a number of gruesome scenes in this story that could and should repulse the reader. This is, in an odd way, a 17^th century Silence of the Lambs, but Zimmerman uses the horrifying actions of the killers to create a suspenseful, nail-biting story that had me guessing to the end. There are a lot of elements at work here besides the child killings, but all the loose ends are tied up in a frenzied ending that left me wanting more from this author. I was also pleasantly surprised to find Blandine and Edward ending their days in Honeoye, a lovely area quite near where I live.

It’s been awhile since I had trouble putting a book down, so I appreciated the combination of riveting story and skillful telling. Highly recommended.

First published in 1994, this reprint tells the tale of how Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle teamed up to catch a killer recreating grisly scenes of death from Edgar Allan Poe’s writing. Houdini and Conan Doyle meet up in New York City, where Houdini is busy revealing the tricks used by mediums to defraud their clients, and Doyle is in search of spiritual connection, which he finds in the form of Poe’s ghost, who visits him occasionally.

Having long admired Conan Doyle, Houdini, and Poe, and being a mystery lover, I thought I couldn’t miss with this story. I was wrong. The more I read, the greater my sense of dissatisfaction with the story. I simply could not connect with the characters, or with the story, and found myself increasingly annoyed with the author’s descriptive elements. For example, Conan Doyle and his wife are continually referred to as “the knight and his lady.” While I understand Conan Doyle was knighted, this description seemed contrived and silly. Elsewhere in the story, I found myself cringing when reading how a cop “felt his sphincter tighten with excitement” as he realized he had a clue to a murder. And later on, when describing the atmosphere of an indoor pool, Hjortsberg writes that “the close, humid air reeked sexually of chlorine.”

Really?

Despite the odd descriptive elements, I plugged along, thinking the story could get better, and there *are* some really interesting elements. I found the character of Isis engaging, and appreciated how Hjortsberg developed the relationship between her and Houdini. The ghost of Poe, though, seemed contrived and unnecessary, and the climax less than breathtaking. All in all, an excellent concept but an unsuccessful treatment.