Murder at Rat Alley by Mark de Castrique

PARI is the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute. Sitting deep in the Pisgah National Forest SW of Asheville. Started out as a NASA site for keeping in touch with the Apollo program. After NASA, it became part of an intelligence gathering network where Russia and the US were tapping the other’s communications. With the end of the cold war, it became a research setting for astronomers. And with that come the alien nuts and conspiracy wackos. Asheville is ground zero for alien watchers (all that is true).

The hot dry summer means forest fires. And one is dangerously close to PARI. Firefighters use a bulldoze to dig in a fire line around PARI. In the process, a skeleton is dug up. When something like surfaces, law enforcement assumes the worst until proven otherwise. The Asheville ME’s first observation is murder given the gaping slash across the back of the skull.

Sam Blackman is a veteran of Afghanistan, minus his lower left leg. He partners with Nakayla Robertson in a PI business. They are lunching with a colorful bunch of locals, including a latter-day hippie/defense attorney and a few from his office. When Sam brings up the skeleton, the lawyer’s paralegal Cory goes pale, saying, ‘It’s him.’

‘Him’ would be her uncle she never met, Frank DeMille. He used to work at the PARI site in its Apollo days, but just fell off the face of the earth in 1971. DNA from her and the skeleton reveal the connection. Now they must tell her aunt and Frank’s sister up in Roanoke. Sam, Nakayla, and Cory drive up there. During the conversation, we learn that the sister’s husband, an army intelligence officer, were good friends. And that the officer died in Vietnam within a month of Frank’s disappearance.

Frank also had a girlfriend. A local mountain girl who worked at PARI site when it was with NASA. Her family wasn’t happy. Not one bit. Didn’t like that an outsider had taken up with her. And that’s not all. Given the location of the find and what it was used for when Frank disappeared makes for jurisdictional nightmare with local, county, state, and feds trying to work in an uneasy alliance. The cops are focused on the family. But Max and Nakayla do what every good PI should do. Follow the evidence no matter where it goes.

And it goes all over the place. Charlotte, Raleigh, Army chief warrant officers, Vietnam records, Putin (really?), alien abduction theorists, mountain family musicians, local bars and alleys, and (something I’d never heard of) the National Centers for Environmental Information (THE place for weather information. Their data storage facility is measured in the petrabytes – that’s a lot).

Wow. That’s a lot for a small book (6x9 inches, 252 pages) and yet the story doesn’t seem forced or cluttered. I read that the author has 40 years of production experience in theater and Hollywood. Obviously, that experience works because de Cristique is a very good storyteller.

I was at the local library picking up an interlibrary loan item and took a few minutes to stroll through the racks. Lots of options, but nothing that couldn’t wait. Noticed a new section promoting NC authors. Now I’m a sucker for NC authors so I glanced at some titles. Saw several books by de Castrique. Mysteries. That’s good. PI stories. Even better. All based in Asheville. SOLD! Asheville is one of my favorite places in the US. Then I see that this story spends a lot of time at PARI, the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, which is off a winding mountain road near Rosman/Brevard/Balsom Grove, NC, maybe a half hour from Asheville. All places I’ve been when camping and hiking while on the prowl for waterfalls. Familiar terrain. I checked it out.

I really liked this book. The setting was a delight. Easily identifiable characters. A smart and complex plot. And just enough ‘wink-wink’ dialogue to make it all more realistic. De Castrique was a chance find that will give me plenty of options when I find myself between books and looking for something comfortable. With around 20 novels to his credit, I don’t think I’ll be lacking for options.

Next time I’m camping in Pisgah, a side trip to PARI will be a must.

Head Shot by Otho Eskin

Even if you’re a DC homicide cop, getting shot at in your front yard is out of the ordinary. And that’s just chapter 1, page 1. Next day, you and your partner are called to a DC theater where the leading lady goes offstage after her last line and gets shot. Oh, forgot to mention that Detective Marko Zorn used to date the deceased actress back when he was a new-ish NYPD uniform cop and she was a starving artist.

But that’s just a sidelight. For some reason, the State Department has requested Zorn by name to be a part of the security detail for the visiting Prime Minister from Montenegro. Apparently, the request came from the visiting delegation. It’s not as though the Feds don’t have enough people to provide security, but SecState insists, much to Zorn’s chagrin.

The new Prime Minister of Montenegro is a liberal opposition leader who came up through a student protest movement back in the day. She was elected to their version of the House. A coup brought down a neofascist government, but not before the outgoing head of state orchestrated some racial cleansing. The primary ruler and brother fled to Chicago away from the mob bent on revenge.

Zorn has a side gig. He’s on-call for a fixer of sorts. A recent assignment was to find the brothers in Chicago. Just find them. That’s it. But as Zorn learns the atrocities committed, he lets it slip when and where the former dictator would be transiting from shelter to car. A crowd of ex-pats who had lost family arrives, surrounds the prick and beats him to death.

Right before Zorn meets with SecState, his fixer calls him again. Wants to hire him to provide some security to the current PM. Now he’s serving two masters. And he wants to find whoever killed his former paramour.

Two more people connected with the theater killing end up dead. A code clerk at the Montenegro embassy also ends up dead. It’s obvious that somehow, the two circumstances are connected because the MO of each murder is the same. And Zorn’s fixer tells him that one of the world’s most expensive assassins has been hired to kill the PM and Zorn before the end of her state visit. Juggling has become Zorn's middle name what with the two cases, 5 or so victims, local/national/international politics, his 3 bosses, local and foreign security. And this guy doesn't like to carry a weapon.

Eskin’s initial Marko Zorn was Reflecting Pool, a DC-based mystery that I liked a great deal. Zorn gets it done, legally or otherwise. Zorn knows DC and the political scene and Eskin keeps this plot moving with his foot slammed to the accelerator. The story takes place over the week that the Prime Minister is in DC – that’s a lot to squeeze into a week, but Eskin handles the packed calendar like a seasoned pro. Guessing we haven’t seen the last of Marko Zorn. With Zorn around, DC is in safe hands.

City Problems by Steve Goble

Mifflin County, Ohio is basically a fueling stop on the I-71 between Columbus and Cleveland (A fictitious county, but most all the stops between Columbus and Cleveland are just that. I used to live in Ohio so I can say that with some impunity). It’s where former NYPD detective Ed Runyon finally landed after a particularly heinous missing persons case sent him over the edge. 

Running from city issues, he’s now a detective for the Mifflin County Sheriffs Office. Lives in a trailer off a road that is off a road. Near a creek. Plays his guitar. Battles depression and his own guilt about not having done enough to save a teenage girl from a gruesome death. Still drinks too much. Resists an 80yo resident’s invitations to church. Provides overwatch for the regional SWAT team. A local high school English teacher is his current friend with benefits. Decent co-workers. Occasional work-related outbursts. But so far, he prefers cases of a missing tractor to sliced and diced victims nailed in effigy to a wall covered with bloody graffiti.

A big party in Columbus drew kids from all around central Ohio. A girl has gone missing. All the local cops have to go on is that she left with some guy(s?) in a truck not from Franklin County (Columbus). The search is focused on stops along I-71 north. Columbus is sending cops and detectives asking for local help. The Sheriff assigns Runyon to help Columbus Detective Michelle Beckworth.

There is the usual give and take about who is in charge. Who is the good cop and who is the bad cop. Basic cop banter. It’s a crap shoot that the missing girl arrived in the county, but they still have to look and start in with the local high school and ne’er do wells in the county like a punk band, football heros, survialists, and so forth.

When Runyon gets a scent, he narrows his laser focus on a suspect. Problem is his interview techniques tend to be a little coarse and Beckworth is continually reigning him in. Problem is that he zeros in on a suspect, he sees only two things. That girl in NY he failed to save (because his case load was so heavy) and how this case parallels that case, and he ain’t gonna let that happen again.

But it does. A drunk lady pointing a handgun in his face. Said missing tractor. domestic calls. A day of SWAT duty. Every minute he’s on something else is one minute lost to find the missing girl. And it’s wearing on him to the point of making bad decisions particularly when facing an AR-15.

Goble isn’t a rookie, but he’s not grocery store book rack worthy yet. Has maybe a half dozen titles to his credit. This book is presented as the first in an Ed Runyon series and I think it’ll be a fruitful venture. Runyon is a seriously flawed cop from his days in NYC. He battles his depression, the bottle, his temper and more with the help of his latter-day hippie girlfriend who gladly accepts a Svengali role to help keep Ed’s feet on the ground. Not to mention this is an Oceanview Publishing book and so far I’ve met with good success with Oceanview books.

Serious readers tend to be on the prowl for new authors. Give Steve Goble a go. Glad I did.

Available July 2021.

 

ECD

 

Black Ice by Brad Thor

Most of the big time thriller heros are getting up there in age. Jack Ryan. Mitch Rapp. Scot Harvath, Bob Lee Swagger, Jack Reacher, et al. They’ve all been at it for 20+ years. And all the havoc they’ve created is showing as most seem to be more introspective and leaning towards cutting back on saving humanity from itself.

Scot Harvath has lost how many friends, girlfriends, wife (or is it wives?). In his last mission (Near Dark), he met up a Norwegian operative, Solvi Kolstad, now a Deputy Director of the Norwegian Intelligence Service. They are moving ahead with their relationship with Scot spending more and more time in Norway while he considers the Nordic way of life together. And that means making a decision: return to active duty (so to speak) or resign.

Sitting at a sidewalk café, he recognizes a man get out of a taxi that can’t be. It’s a man he knows he killed years ago. Alive and in Norway? He’s got to know. And he knows Solvi could provide vital information while he tries to track down this dead man, but in doing so, could well end Solvi’s NIS career.Surveilling citizens is as much a no-no in Norway as it is in the US.

Scot has two tasks ahead of him. Find out the identity of this guy and find out what he is doing in Oslo. But those answers are just the beginning when we learn that the Russians and the Chinese are working on something that will put a serious dent in the US’s ability to monitor polar traffic, both physical and digital.

As usual, politics come into play. Like an American operative, thought to be ‘on leave’ being activated within the borders of a friendly NATO country. And in doing so, any actions taken against what appears to be a legitimate Russian/Chinese ‘business’ could well be considered to be an act of war, especially if SEALs are involved. Any failure of the hush-hush aspects done by Harvath and his team will have enormous geopolitical repercussions. Not to mention, Norway wouldn’t be all that happy by being left out of the loop and could expel Harvath and that would kill any future he and Solvi might have.

The key element is that any action must look accidental. Man vs. Nature way north in the Arctic Circle where Nature wins.

This makes the 20^th Brad Thor thriller I’ve read. Spotted #1, The Lions of Lucerne during a random stroll through the stacks at the local library and haven’t looked back. All are first rate thrillers (OK, maybe The Athena Project was a rare misstep). One of the great things about the Harvath storyline is that Thor makes sure to take Harvath’s aging into account (something Lee Child doesn’t do as well with Jack Reacher). And in this one, Harvath spends considerable time weighing his happiness vs. his love of country. For followers of Harvath, that alone is a major plot line that will hold our interest. But the action is pretty cool, too.

Thanks to the good folks at Atria/Emily Bestler Books for the advance reader copy. Just did go on sale August 1, 2021. And don't forget to check out West Coast Don's review. Not often we review the same title.

East Coast Don

Basil's War by Stephen Hunter

In the years before the US got involved in WWII, the Brits were doing the heavy lifting when it came to dealing with Hitler. Germany had by now overrun France and was pressing eastward against Russia. German soldiers in France knew they had it easy when it came to hostilities. Any screwup in France was a 1-way ticket to the eastern front.

Spies seem to be around every corner. Could be a storekeeper, a mechanic, a librarian, anyone. This goes both ways. And a big concern is the getting information to whichever side one is on can be problematic. The Brits have uncovered a communication chain, but they are lacking one rather important piece of information.

They need the code. They know it’s a basic cipher in the form of numbers. Messages are a set of numbers linked to a book. Let’s say the number is 2586. Get the right book. Look at page #25, line #8 and word #6. The first letter of that word makes up the content of the message. Tedious task at both ends, but effective. The Brits know that the book being used is an obscure religious text called The Path of Jesus. But using the printed book doesn’t work. What they need is the original handwritten pages by the author of which there is one duplicate, which the London-based spy uses, and one original that is safely housed in a Paris university library.

Stealing the original from the library won’t work. Once the Germans know it’s missing, they’ll just change books to something equally obscure. So, the Brits plan to send their own spy behind German lines into Paris to photograph the pages.

Basil St. Florian is Britain’s most effective operative. He has the right breeding, schooling, appearance, guile, physicality . . .  and a taste for movie starlets. The only thing he doesn’t say is ‘shaken, not stirred.’ A plan is hatched to fly Basil into a Cherbourg field used by the French resistance, find his way to Paris, sneak into the library, photograph the book, get back to Cherbourg for his clandestine flight back.

As usual, plans change at first contact with the enemy, or in this case, before first contact. Basil improvises and instead of being dropped off at the airstrip, parachutes out early. His travel to Paris and around France requires local ID papers, which he pickpockets (Basil can 'pick the fuzz from a peach') whenever needed. His first victim turns out to be a German sympathizer who reports that his papers have been lifted. Germans know that the only real reason for that is for travel. The routes for every train out of Cherbourg that evening are checked and guards posted at security at each stop looking for a man traveling using that victim’s name.

Basil’s experience tells him that new papers are needed at most every stop, so he lifts more as needed. He bluffs his way into the library, gets what he needs and now must get out despite the local French police, German abwher, Gestapo, and the SS on the hunt for a spy they know is out there, but they don't know what that spy is tasked to do.

Seems like a simple enough plot. But Hunter weaves in a bunch of subplots. Like the need to keep the German lines of communication open so they can feed false information to Berlin. Like the real reason behind the mission is less about that specific book and more about helping Stalin understand the real German plans on the eastern front. On top of all that is a German spy codenames OSPREY.

Last week, I got to wondering what Hunter was up to so I looked at his (unofficial) website and found this 2021 book. Got it from the local library. Curious. It’s a small book, maybe 6x9 inches with generous margins and senior-friendly typeface. More novella than novel. Turns out it’s an expanded version of a short story Hunter did for a 2015 series by this publisher. 

Its presentation is quite clever with chapters alternating between The Briefing and The Mission. With each new Briefing chapter, Hunter reveals a new piece of the puzzle until the rousing conclusion of the mission. But not the whole story because Hunter has multiple threads dangling that need to be tied together. Hunter knows how to tell a story that keeps the reader engaged, even a tale that, on the surface, seems straightforward. The MRB boys have reviewed most every Stephen Hunter book, every blessed one is a winner.

This is an enjoyable weekend read. And one that will keep Hunter in your cross hairs as you await his January 2022 book ‘Targeted’ featuring this MRB reviewer's favorite character: 

BOB LEE SWAGGER!

The Devil's Hand by Jack Carr

Flashback 20yr: Alec Christensen is a Stanford grad. Met Jen there. He took a job with a Silicon Valley startup. She went to work Manhattan finance. The long-distance thing was unacceptable, so Alec moved to NYC and they got engaged. She had to skip a downtown breakfast to deliver some reports to her bosses. While eating, Alec heard what sounded like a bomb. He goes outside to see the unthinkable, tears off toward the Towers while the rest of the world was running away. Alec tries to help the NYFD dig through the rubble for Jen.

Current day: The world is coming out from under both the covid pandemic and a presidency that fanned the flames of division. The new president it a young and self-made business success. One of those natural leaders. Alec Christensen.

(You’d need to read Jack Carr’s earlier books to see what simmers insider a man like James Reece. Is he an amoral executioner or a skilled operative whose spur of the moment decisions, which are sometimes flirting with being illegal, always seem to favor US interests?)

 After the preamble about the new President's history, we witness Reece undergoing a lie detector test for reinstatement into the CIA (That Q/A sort of summarizes Carr's first 3 books). Practically every answer is labeled ‘deceitful’. The guy Reece will be reporting to ignores the test results and hires him.

While Reece is at The Farm getting reacquainted with Company guidelines, he is called out for a meeting where he is transported to Camp David at the specific request of President Christensen. They meet in the President’s private cabin; probably the only place on the planet where what the President does and says is not recorded. The President wants to sell Reece on an operation that will be known only to the two people in that cabin. After taking office, the President reviewed all the materials related to 9/11 including highly classified documents where he finds out that the Towers came down not because of the actions of 18 hijackers, but also the names of those behind the scenes who help make it happen. Some are sleeper cells still in the US, but the important people, those that made the go/no go decision, are still n the Iranian hierarchy. Christensen wants his vengeance for Jen’s death and after learning about how Reece works, he gives Reece a list of names and the freedom to do what has to be done.

Remember, 'current day' is 20yrs after 9/11 and terrorists see the symbolism of returning to their ways on anniversaries. The Iranians have watched how the Great Satan operates on all levels. And the US response to covid has shown them that the best weapon to bring down the US is biological. And what they have managed to acquire is a virus called Marberg Variant U. A hemorrhagic virus with a fatality rate of 90%, far more vicious than Ebola. A plan has been developed to weaponize the virus, activate sleeper cells, grow the virus and stealthily smuggle it into the US to be released in Richardson, TX and Denver.

As Reece tracks down the first couple names on his list, the virus is released. His work has now increased a 1000-fold as his first task for the President intersects the developments with the virus. Part of the problem is that there is a deeply hidden set of procedures to deal with containment and eradication of such a biological weapon on US soil. And the time is running out for the President to make a decision that’ll effect millions.

This is a big story with multiple layers, dozens of good and bad primary characters, complex decisions, political manipulations, and heroes across the board. Yep. It's a big story (and book as it clocks in at 524 pages). And Carr pulls it off like a seasoned pro and not an author with just 3 books to his credit. Not to mention that his 20-yr career as a SEAL means he has the chops to assemble such a complex story. 

Set aside some time because this races ahead like a runaway train. ‘Can’t put it down’ is too trite a phrase. Intense? Oh yeah. Insanely intense. The plot (and body count) keeps building as Reece races against the clock to save the President from having to make a nightmare decision. This is a real winner for those who like thrillers that cross medical, intelligence, and political lines.

And I’m not sure how many people read an author’s acknowledgement, but I do. And it’s a doozy – 13 pages worth.

And as I was sitting down to write this, I noticed that it is an Emily Bestler Books title. Why am I not surprised?

East Coast Don

 

The Hail Mary Project

 

Blacktop Wasteland by SA Cosby

The location: 

South central Virginia. Maybe 1.5hr north of Winston-Salem

The players: 

Beauregard (Bug) Montage and wife Kia. A high school age daughter and 2 boys on the verge of puberty. Cousin Kelvin. Bug and Kelvin own a car repair shop in Red Hill, VA. Losing some money since someone opened a Prestige Car Care franchise. Boonie is Bug's surrogate father. Runs an auto salvage yard and has been known to turn his back when someone needs to borrow his car crusher.

Ronnie and Reggie Sessions. Poster children for the concept of 'poor white trash.' Ronnie always seems to have a plan to hit it big so he can head for highways that end at a beach side Tiki bar and all the umbrella drinks he can stand. Reggie follows whatever Ronnie plans.

Lazarus (Lazy for short) is a regional bad guy who runs women, drugs, weapons, drugs and anything else that'll turn a profit. Shade is Lazy's prime competition. Shade is based in NC and wants to expand to VA. Lazy will do anything to keep that from happening. Neither one is to be underestimated. 

Now you have the players. The book opens at a street race in SW Virginia. Bug has his daddy's old Duster. He and Reggie are looking to race for some serious cash. Bug needs money. The mortgage on his garage is overdue. His mom's nursing home want's to toss the old battleax for non-payment after Medicaid cut her off. His daughter has been accepted to VCU and he needs tuition money. His two boys need either glasses or braces. Bug really needs the money.

He wins the race. After the race, his opponent sets Bug up with some phony cops and a roadside heist. Bug manages to leave with some money, but far less than he'd hoped for. 

Ronnie Sessions comes to Bug with a sure thing. A girl he knows works in a jewelry store in Newport News. Her boss lets it out that about $1.5 million in loose diamonds is coming to the store. He and brother Reggie and maybe one other guy will hold up the store. All Bug has to do is drive because Bug's rep is that he is the best wheelman on the east coast. Once they get the stones, Ronnie's DC-based fence will buy the gems. Bug's take on a 4-way cut will cover his immediate money needs.

Reluctantly, Bug agrees, much to Kia's chagrin. The heist goes down, but not without some gun play. A jewelry store gets robbed, the cops may show a little interest. But a dead patron? The cops will be coming hard. Ronnie fences the stones, Bug gets his cut. Pays down on all that debt with a little left over. 

Here's where Lazy comes into play. He owned that store. It was a middle stop in processing stolen money and precious stones. And he ain't happy. Not one bit. The store manager winds up dead. Ronnie's girl in MIA. Ronnie's been seen throwing some money around, exactly what Bug said not to do. 

Lazy's guys close in on Bug's family. Not smart. But Lazy sees a way to take care of Bug's debt to Lazy from the theft and a way to bust Shade. Lazy has a guy on the inside of Shade's operation. A truck loaded with contraband platinum in coming through to Shade. If Bug will hijack it, Lazy will forget about the jewelry store. 

Sounds simple enough, right? But the east coast's best wheelman has his own plans and wants to bust up not just Lazy but Shade, too. Clean up that section of the middle Atlantic. 

If one had to ask about the book's overall theme, it's probably something to do with the duality of man. His personal yin and yang. The good and the evil. As Bug says, "I used to think of myself as two people. I was Bug with his Duster sometimes and Beauregard with his wife and kids, ran a business, went to school plays. Bug . . . he robbed banks and armored cars, drove 100 mph on hairpin curves, threw people who killed those he loved into a car crusher. But you can't be two types of beasts. Eventually, one of the beasts gets loose and wrecks shop." And the book is about how well, or how poorly, Beauregard or Bug keeps the other beast at bay. What Bug's family has to go through may have you levitating off your chair.

Whether it's his Duster, a wrecker, a beat up panel truck, caddy, or some junker Boonie found, Bug will push Beauregard to the background when he gets behind the wheel of a car, because that's were it all makes sense. And when a car won't do, his .45 will because "you can't argue with a .45."

Cosby is an Anthony Award winning author with around a half dozen books to his credit. Too bad my county library has only this title; the purchasing dept is staffed by idiots. I will find the others. Count on it. This book is drop dead spectacular. Stellar writing, stellar plotting, and stellar character development. I haven't been this enamored with a new (to me) author since stumbling across Brian Panowich and his Bull Mountain trilogy. This is Southern Noir of the first order. No joke and no hyperbole. A great book by a great writer. Found an interview with Cosby and he said that Hollywood has been sniffing around. This would be a spectacular movie or limited series. The book is so well written that you practically see the storyboards in your mind's eye while reading. In that interview, some delusional critic complained that Cosby used too many similes. I've never heard such a foolish statement. The similes are what make this book come to life. While reading, I thought Cosby combines the talents of two power rotation authors: George Pelacanos, for the gritty dialogue, and Brian Panowich, for his ability to stage the southern scene. For me, putting Cosby up there with Pelacanos and Panowich is running in some high cotton.

Get this book. You won't be disappointed. You'll tear through it just like I did. The way Bug's daddy taught him how to drive: 

"Drive it like you stole it."

East Coast Don