The Dead Room by Robert Ellis

Have you heard this story line before? Beautiful women keep disappearing, and the wrong guy gets blamed. In this case, the wrong guy is mailman, a true asocial weirdo who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he happened to have an interest in the last woman who was killed. Then, he was seen fleeing from the scene of her murder, so he must have been the one, right? The mailman happened to be the brother-in-law of a hot shot attorney who is simply embarrassed that he’s related to the guy. He just wants the matter to go away so his reputation and his family’s social standing won’t be tarnished. He hands the case to one of his rooky attorneys, Teddy Mack, a guy who hates criminal law and who came to the firm to do real estate law. Suddenly Teddy is in over his head with an ambitious DA who wants to be governor and sees this case as one that will bring him needed fame. Of course, Teddy turns out to be a man of integrity, so he won’t buckle under the pressure of his boss, the DA, and the press which wants to hang his client. It’s my opinion that you don’t need to read this book. The innocence of the mailman-bros-in-law was clear from the start of the book, and there were no unanticipated twists and turns – really a pedestrian effort by the author in plot and character development. I won’t give up on Ellis yet since I liked his first book and Midwest Dave is a big fan, but he’s got a strike against him for making my power rotation of authors.

The Informant by Thomas Perry

Just because you’ve been contracted by the Mafia doesn’t mean you may not end up in their crosshairs. It’s only business.

Not this time.

When Michael Schaeffer lost his parents when he was about 12, the local butcher took him in. The butcher was reasonably successful at his craft who took really good care of his best customers, the wives in particular. He taught Michael his ways and brought him up to be the best. In this case, the best was not as a meat cutter, but the best in the butcher’s part-time job – contract killer.

And Michael flourished. He scored his first kill at 16 and by 19 he was an independent contractor whose main employers were the various Mafia families who hired him to take out folks who had wronged the family no matter if the target was inside or outside La Cosa Nostra.

But, one lesson Michael learned was that business partners don’t cross each other. When one boss makes the unfortunate decision to have Michael snuffed after a job, Michael takes it personally. He kills an enemy of the boss, cuts off the head, hands, and feet for burial on said boss’s horse farm in upstate NY. Then calls the FBI and tips them off to the burial, landing the boss in prison for life.

Frank Tosca is a ruthless underboss in the old vein of Don’s back in the day. After about 10 years of the mob floundering around with his boss in prison, Frank is convinced that if the other crime families agree with him to kill The Butcher’s Boy (as he’s known by the mob), by doing so will give him the power to rise to the absolute boss of all the families. He arranges a meeting of the main 25 family heads at a dude ranch outside of Phoenix.

Frank had sent a couple slugs looking for Michael, finding him married and living near Bath, UK. Michael is none too pleased, kills them easily, and learns Tosca is behind the kill order. Michael heads back to the US and starts to track down Tosca, but has been out of the game for a decade and wants to know the current hierarchy, so he contact the Justice Dep’t organized crime wonk, Elizabeth Waring, who first deduced his existence about 20 years ago.

She doesn’t give him much, preferring to bring him in as an informant, which he declines. He whacks the next guys up the Tosca chain, a couple right under the noses of the Feds, and learns of the desert meeting. He arrives to find the 25 bosses surrounded by about 200 soldiers. He sneaks in (all those young soldiers had never seen him, only heard tales. It has been a while since he was active), learns of the consensus by the bosses, follows Tosca to his cottage, cuts his throat, and slips out past the coming FBI takedown of the conference; Waring found out where it was being held, too.

Michael finds out the mob is really pissed off. Now it's personal.

A normal guy might slink off to parts unknown, but Michael has decided to convince the mob that it is too dangerous to hunt him down and systematically crisscrosses the country taking out the heads and underbosses of the biggest families, and whoever is unfortunate enough to be nearby. As his butcher mentor once told him, "Anybody you kill by accident is just one you won't have to kill on purpose."

Waring knows the Mafia will come after him, probably hiring mercs to hunt him down and manages to offer witness protection, which Michael again ignores, preferring to continue to take out big shots. One team of mercs learns that Michael and Waring are connected somehow and go to her home near DC to hold Waring’s family hostage until Michael resurfaces.

Which he does.

I picked up this title from a trip to B/N a few months ago and got on the list at the library. Perry has about 20 titles to his name and this is the third of the Butcher’s Boy series (with Butcher’s Boy and Sleeping Dog). If I read Perry’s website correctly, the Butcher Boy books are spaced (copyright date) 10 years apart and the first won Perry an Edgar for debut novel. Stephen King said that Perry’s 2010 release, Strip, was a Top 10 Summer Read and he has had a number of NYT Best Sellers. Not that I know every crime writer, but this guy’s new to me and he really has got the chops. I think I like the concept behind this series, the plotting (OK, there are a few leaps of faith that may seem a bit far fetched), and the character development and will try to find the other 2 books as well as Strip. Hey, King’s opinion resonates with me as another of his must-read lists turned me to Olen Steinhauer and The Tourist.

East Coast Don

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Warning: This novel is out of genre.

My bros-in-law, the literature prof was telling about the book that publishing houses were bidding for, and then I saw it the next day as the #1 recommendation for September by Amazon. It’s a baseball book, sort of, but not like any baseball book that I’ve read (and there have been many). It’s a first novel.

Henry Skrimshander is a 17 ½ year old phenomenon at shortstop, but he’s old school, all field, no hit. He has grown up worshipping the mythical Aparicio Rodriguez, who not only had a Hall of Fame MLB career, but who also wrote “The Art of Fielding.” The book is the bible for infielders everywhere. It’s a book that Henry has grown up with, carried with him wherever he went, slept with, dreamed about. Beyond high school in South Dakota, Henry has no real prospects and is dreading the end of his senior year. But, then he’s discovered by Mike Schwartz who is not a major league scout, but a small college player who just finished his own freshman year at Westish College in small town Wisconsin. Schwartz is maniacal about his own career, and everything else, and now he has a new focus – the talented but undeveloped Henry. On the one hand, this is a book about Henry and Mike, and it’s about the progress Henry and the team make over the next three years. But it is really a story about coming of age and of developing identities. The author, Harbach, weaves together stories about the college president, his daughter, and others. The prose in this book is far better than most of what we read, and the character development is spectacular. There is an important subtheme on homosexuality, so that might tickle your homophobia, but that too is done well. I could not put this one down, and it gets as many stars as there are in any rating system.

Nowhere to Run by C.J. Box

C.J. Box has a formula that works. Joe Pickett, his main character is a highly principled game warden in Montana with a unique sense of right and wrong. His stubbornness will not let him violate his principals regardless of negative consequences to his career or to his life. This character trait makes him both an ally and an annoyance to most everyone he knows from his anarchist best friend, Nate Romanowski to the governor of the state, Governor Runlon. Only with his wife, Mary Beth does he manage to maintain a stable relationship.

In 'Nowhere to Run', Joe Pickett takes a weeklong trip on horseback into the supposed uninhabited mountains to investigate an elk hunting violation. Seems someone stole a hunter’s prey and Joe sets out to find out what happened. Two days into his trip Joe comes across a tall, thin mountain man fishing in a stream without a license and proceeds to write him a violation. Turns out Caleb Grim and his twin brother, Calmish (aka Brothers Grim) are living in exile in these secluded Montana mountains and take offense to all ‘government men’ which Joe represents. Shortly after leaving the brothers, Joe and his horses are attacked with bows and arrows. Joe narrowly escapes with an arrow in his leg but he watches the Brothers Grim butcher his horses from afar. With the arrow sticking out of his thigh, Joe luckily stumbles upon a cabin with a single woman inhabitant. She treats his wound and sends him on his way just before the brothers show up and burn the cabin down. Joe again narrowly escapes but this time he has a long walk on an injured leg down the mountain.

Back in civilization, Joe reports his story to the authorities from his hospital bed. The media becomes interested in Joe’s story because a young female Olympic runner, Diane Shober had disappeared in the area a few months earlier and speculation swells that the woman who helped Joe could be the missing athlete. Local, state, and federal law enforcement as well as private investigators hired by the athlete’s family, all takes interest. The sheriff leads a modern day posse up the mountains but finds no evidence of the woman, her cabin, or the Grim brothers. Joe’s reputation comes into question and he feels compelled to prove his story except that his wife makes him promise not to pursue it. As he is recuperating at home, Diane Shober’s parents visit Joe. While Joe takes an instant dislike to the arrogant father, the mother’s plea to find her daughter sets Joe in motion with Mary Beth’s blessing. Joe and Nate set out with horse trailer in tow and guns loaded toward the mountains. They are intercepted in route by state troopers and are taken to meet personally with Governor Rulon and Agent Coon of the FBI. The government duo tells Joe and Nate a conspiracy story involving a Michigan U.S. Senator, Diane Shober’s father and Michigan land developer and the Grim brothers. Joe finds himself sympathizing with the Grim brothers and Diane Shober but morally obligated to bring them in and uphold the law.

Nowhere to Run allows you to escape into the solitary beauty of some of the most rugged and majestic landscape of our country and entertains you with an intriguing story of human greed and its consequences. Only in fiction are we comfortable with the solid and selfless character of a Joe Pickett. As to more C.J. Box novels…giddy up.

Chasing Darkness by Robert Crais

My next venture into a power rotation author has Elvis Cole wondering if he screwed up 3 years ago. It’s fire season in LA (I guess the other season is mudslide season) and the cops are evacuating Laurel Canyon (did they knock on Mickey Haller’s door?). A neighbor says the house across the street has an invalid in it so he’ll need help. The cops bang on the door and when they enter they find the remains of a 5-day old suicide. At his feet is a photo album containing pictures of women at right about the time they painfully died.

The dead guy was accused of a murder 3 years earlier (of one of the women in the album). His lawyer hired Elvis to track down his alibi and sure enough, the alibi checked out so the accused was set free. After that, 3 more women died. What did Cole miss that let this guy go and continue killing? An ass’t chief shows up at the scene and almost immediately pronounces that 6 or 7 cold cases have now been solved.

Elvis is now wondering what went wrong and despite being told in no uncertain terms to cease digging into the past, our boys Cole and Pike bull their way into stuff better left hidden. So he goes back into each of the old cases trying to learn as much as he could but comes up mostly blank on any kind of pattern. No one is much help. Not the lawyer he worked for, the families, the cops, the CSI dude, not the former bomb tech who seems to have the hots for him, no one can help because this chief has put a lid on it all.

A number of minor clues point to a firm that handles political careers. So Cole wonders if the chief is covering up something to do with this firm (whom the chief has retained for his own political aspirations) or other clients of said firm. One of female victims worked there and there were rumors of issues with a well-heeled client.

Cole is spun around so many circles it’s hard to figure out how he manages to break out and zero in the most likely answer. What was it Holmes said? When the improbable has been eliminated, all that remains is the probable?

Not here.

Terrific story. Cole and Pike - two of the best guys to escape with. A cover-to-cover winner. Great literature? Nope. Great fun? Absolutely.

The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly

While Mickey Haller was recovering from being gut shot at the end of The Lincoln Lawyer, he got addicted to oxycontin and went into rehab and that took him out of lawyering for a year. As this book opens, Mickey is slowly working his way back into the game, still working out of the back of his Lincoln. He gets a note that the chief judge of LA County wishes his presence. Turns out that a former ADA/opponent of Mickey’s went private and in setting up his papers, named Mickey as the person who should inherit his cases should he meet an untimely demise (guess that’s required of all lawyers). So within minutes, Mickey learns that this guy was murdered last night and Mickey goes from being essentially a part-timer to having a full caseload, one of which is this year’s Trial of the Decade.

The head of one of the Big 4 studios, Walter Elliot, is accused of murdering his trophy wife and her lover at his getaway in Malibu. He goes out to confront them, goes in, finds them shot dead, and he calls 9-1-1. The guy had motive (the pre-nup had vested 2 weeks earlier and she stood to get half the studio), opportunity (security cameras at the studio have him leaving in plenty of time to reach Malibu), but no means (no gun found). But, he has gunshot residue on his hands so he gets arrested. Mickey now has 2 weeks to prepare for the Trial of the Decade while not neglecting his other new clients. Mickey wants a continuance, but not Elliot who demands they go to trial on time.

From here on, Connelly details Mickey’s investigation, discovery exchange with the DA’s office, and the trial in exquisite detail. The investigation darts around amongst possible organized crime in Florida and France, corruption in the LA court system, bribes, manipulation by Haller, the LAPD, Elliot, the DA’s office – hell, you barely know who to believe. But Connelly doesn’t let any of the subplots muddy the stormy waters through which Haller wades.

It’s all about whether Elliot is guilty or not, was there jury tampering and who was behind it, and just who gets street justice – the brass verdict. Connelly keeps the procedural business hustling along at a vicious pace that had me looking for every possible break to sneak in a chapter or two.

And one of the best subplots of the book involves Connelly’s other star, Harry Bosch, investigating the original murder of the lawyer that started this avalanche of plot twists. Get set for one of those ‘no shit?’ moments in the last 2 chapters.

The Cut by George Pelecanos

To bastardize a line from the old Houston Oiler's head coach Bum Phillips, "Pelecanos may not be in a class by himself, but it sure doesn't take long to call the roll."

Spero Lucas is one of 4 children, 2 natural and 2 adopted - 2 Greek and 2 African American. Spero spent an important part of his 20somethings as a Marine in Fallujah ending the lives of men bent on ending his. Back home in DC, he now works as an investigator doing legwork for Tom Peterson, JD. Peterson, whose appearance and long blond hair make him resemble the late Brian Jones of the Stones, is defending the guy locked up on a weed trafficking charge. Anwan Hawkins was a wholesaler for marijuana. He has FedEx ship 30 lb. boxes of weed to addresses where he (and his 2-man crew) know no one will be home. Five minutes later, his 2 guys just walk up to the door and pick up the package. Neat.

Except 2 shipments were picked up by persons unknown. Hawkins hires Spero to find either the product of the money from its sale. Spero's cut is 40% (thus the title). Spero takes a liking to Hawkins 2 young aides. But they were seen (by a HS senior neighbor) putting the latest package into a cop's trunk. They've been turned, and DC's MPD is involved. When they go to get paid, they get blown away. The cop part of this 'gang' (the son) is not happy and hates his dad for using him (he never knew his father when growing up. All he wanted was his dad's acceptance, but the old man paid him no attention until he found out the kid was MPD).

Spero does what he does best. Starting with the witness's description of the cop, he tracks the case back to the cop's father, a deflowered former MPD cop who was nicknamed 'Rooster' by IAD back in the day, and his partners. Spero was hired to recover the weed or the money, so he learns where the creep dad lives, breaks in, steals the money, trashes the apartment and leaves a taunt on the bathroom mirror. He takes his cut and returns the remaining, as promised, to Hawkins wife. He's done.

Fat chance. The cop's dad is one very pissed off ex-cop turned thief/murderer. So he grabs the witness and tells Spero it'll be a simple exchange - the money he stole for the kid. Of course, everyone knows Rooster is going to kill both Spero and the kid. So Spero is going to go in hot, but as he is suiting up, he sees the cop leaning on his car. Spero confronts him but the cop convinces Spero his dad is out of control, that his dad plans to kill Spero, and wants to help Spero bring him down, with extreme prejudice. They cook up a plan.

With some slick manipulating, the kid sneaks the victim out one way and he leaves by another. But he calls back to the hideout saying he forgot something and for them to open the door. Only thing is that our cop friend has the victim in his car and is off site. When the door is unlocked, Spero relives clearing a house in Fallujah, sending them all off to their maker. Now he's done, right?

Again, fat chance. Spero still wants to know why Hawkins's partners were killed. They were decent kids earning a living, so to speak. Well, once Hawkins learned that these 2 guys were stealing from him, Spero learns that the Rooster had visited Hawkins who essentially put out a hit on these two kids cuz they had disrespected him and made him look weak on the street. Had to be done. Payback, that's all. Funny thing, attorney Peterson has a few bad days in court and Hawkins is found guilty and put away for a very long time. What goes around, comes around. Payback payback, I guess.

I've been a huge Pelecanos fan for years. Gritty, tough stories all centered in DC where I grew up. And DC and neighboring MD (rarely VA, good move GP) are both integral characters. It's easy to get involved with a story when the picture painted is so vivid and familiar - sort of why WC Don likes TJeff Parker who writes about San Diego.

I remember the first time I read one of his books, how it took almost half the book to get into the rhythm of the dialogue. While reading a recent interview with him, I now know why. GP works as a volunteer at the DC jail trying to counsel juvee offenders to give up the life - that's were he gets his spot on dialogue.

GP has 17 books and I've read them all. Let's see, I think that means of the crime writers in my power rotation, I've read every book by only Pelecanos and Charlie Stella. I think I see a pattern here; I've run the table on 2 authors recognized for the quality, authenticity, and directness of dialogue. Add that to realistic and thoughtful plotting, and making the location integral to the whole package = one o u t s t a n d i n g book. Pelecanos is setting up Spero as the central player in his next few books. And that's the bad thing about being caught up with an author . . . that damn wait.

East Coast Don

Over the Edge by Jonathan Kellerman

Jamey Cadmus was the scion of a Pasadena family, but his family had a tragic history. His parents died early, and he was left as a 3-year old to the care of his uncle and aunt. Jamey was part of a UCLA study of the exceptionally gifted, those with an IQ greater than 160. The intent of the study was to show that the idea of greater madness among geniuses was just a myth, but as Jamey aged, he began having more trouble, seeming to disprove the theory behind the study. As a child, Jamey had been in psychotherapy with Dr. Alex Delaware, but at the age of 16, he dropped out of treatment. Delaware called the uncle about Jamey’s need to continue treatment, but the uncle never called back. Five years later, Jamey called Dr. Delaware in the middle of the night, clearly psychotic, begging for his help. Then, Jamey was charged with being a serial killer, and Dr. Delaware was called into the legal process as Jamey’s advocate. Of course, all was not as it seemed. As with Kellerman’s prior stories about Dr. Delaware, he did a great job with the psychiatric/psychological issues. He used the characters to effectively address facts about psychopaths and schizophrenics, and he was fair in his portrayal of psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as different schools of thought in both disciplines. He also was knowledgeable and interesting in his discussion of both psychotropic and psychotomimetic medications. Of course, I like the staging of the stories in LA and especially at UCLA where I spent so much time in those same sciences. While this story held together, I did not find it quite as riveting as some of Kellerman’s other works. For me, Over the Edge only gets an average rating, not a “must read” recommendation.