To Darkness and To Death

 To Darkness and To Death is the fourth book in the 10-book series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. As previously reviewed, this is a series of novels about Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest, and Russ Van Alstyne, the chief of police in Millers Kill, a town in upstate New York. In this story, the heir of one of the wealthy local families has decided to sell their massive property which has been in the family for 100 years. The property had been supported by the timber industry, but it has grown progressively more expensive to operate the business at the same time it could be sold to developers for millions of dollars, a move that is being protested by some radical nature elements. The author dives into the history of all the families and organizations involved at the same time she continues to develop the relationship between the two protagonists. Both Russ and Clare are persons of high ethics who have found their intense attraction to one another to conflict with their own standards, as well as what they know the public expects of them. It would be a massive scandal if the married police chief and a single priest were discovered to be having an affair. Still, they've done nothing to act on their mutual attraction accept to admit their feelings to one another. The book ends with an intense fire emergency in the property that is scheduled to officially change hands and Russ' decision that he would admit to his wife that he had fallen in love with another woman. It's my plan to read on, and I've already downloaded the next book, All Mortal Flesh.

Mortal Risk

 

Mortal Risk is a debut novel by Lester James Nixon. Nixon had a long history of working in the insurance industry. I was also an expert in the insurance industry although my expertise had to do with being a form of medical examiner in which both sides of a case would hire me to arbitrate psychiatric claims. On the one hand, it was clear that the insurance side tended not to believe anyone who filed a claim, and on the other, nearly everyone I saw over a span of 35 years had a tendency to exaggerate their claims, sometimes even when the claims were quite solid.

 In this story, the insurance companies had sought help from murderers to knock of claimants whose claims would eventually cost the companies millions of dollars. For example, a young claimant who was healthy enough to live a long life, but who would have astronomical medical expenses along the way. Even a retiree with an enviable benefits package who would die soon from an aggressive form of cancer, but then his estate would receive a huge payout, unless the death was deemed a suicide and not the disease itself. There are other such scenarios. The story was so outrageous and unbelievable that the cops would never believe in the conspiracy, so at great risk, the criminal operators had to be caught in the act if they were ever to be punished.  Those who died had heart wrenching stories. 

 The story was mostly carried by dialogue rather than a narration. I’ve often found that delivering such action by dialogue makes it difficult to sustain the fever of action that makes for a spellbinding story. I thought the author designed a good plot but I found the dialogue often to be lacking, not keeping the energy going in an intense way. I rate this one at 3 ½ out of 5, and it’s in my category of airplane books. I can’t give it a strong recommendation.

All Her Little Secrets

 All Her Little Secrets is a debut novel by Wanda M. Morris. It’s a gripping legal thriller that I saw recommended in the New York Times Sunday Book Review. Ellice Littlejohn was born into poverty in rural Georgia, and she grew up with much abuse from multiple sources. However, she was a bright person who excelled academically, and she won scholarships to a boarding school and then college scholarships which led to her completing a degree from the Yale School of Law. Now working at a highly regarding and successful and large law firm in downtown Atlanta, she was the only black lawyer in the firm. However, the firm has gained the attention of racial activists and there are daily protests going outside her building. Meanwhile, she was involved in an affair with her boss, Michael, who happened to be married. She had never been interested in a long-term relationship which might lead to her own marriage.

But suddenly, she came to work early to continue her satisfying relationship with Michael only to find him in his office, dead, shot in the head in an apparent suicide. Ellice was immediately promoted to her boss’s job, a position she did not feel prepared to do. But, the pay raise was significant and she had always dreamt of being in a position of power with the firm. It was because of her own secrets from childhood that she chose not to immediately call the police, a decision she would come to regret. This murder mystery was told with themes poverty, white supremacy, misogyny, infidelity, secrecy, legal ethics, and family matters. Ellice discovered that her boss had probably been killed because he objected to some of the deals the firm was involved in and she suddenly was faced with an ethical dilemma she was not prepared to handle.

 This is an excellent novel and I recommend it highly, with no reservations, rated 5/5. You won’t be disappointed.

Hollywood Hustle by Jon Lindstrom

Winston Greene is a weather worn action movie hero whose star is fading. Only gigs he can get now are B-grade Asian action flicks. And not many of them. Picture, maybe, Nick Nolte. 

Winston is a widower and a cancer survivor. Claire is his addict of a daughter who is married to Zeke, a bigger addict, and a lovely granddaughter. Nothing he'd like better than to get his daugher/granddaughter to drop that loser husband/father and move back in with him.  But the lovely couple has debts they are trying to run away from and the holder of the debts (Rocket) wants to be paid.

Rocket is a low level dealer who operates out of a bowling alley bar. He has two subordinates, Jordy (a large surfer) and Ozzie (a small mouthy hispanic). They work out a foolproof plan: kidnap the daughter and ransom her to Winston for 'all his money' (of course him being a famous, and rich, movie star, he's got to have a ton socked away). Once the kidnap happens and the ransom demand phoned in, Winston convinces a friend, Teddy (former New Orleans detective now LA PI)  plus Grover, his best friend, who is an in-demand stunt man. But no police. Given Greene's former notoriety, it's only a matter of time before some cop calls in a tip to a Hollywood tabloid. 

The book follows two primary plotlines. First, the idiots who dreamed up this scheme and what they try to do to minimize the fallout rapidly heading their way. Second, is the Winston's team tracing leads in an attempt to find Claire. It's imperative they find Claire because they don't know what the kidnappers will do when they learn that Winston is damn near broke. Actors apparently have little or no health insurance so Winston paid for his cancer treatments out of pocket, leaving him with only two tangible assets: his home (whose crumbling foundation means he could only sell it for pennies on the dollar) and a customized hot rod. 

Lindstrom has a 20+ year career working in Hollywood having acting, producing, directing, and writing credits on his IMDB.com page. By coincidence, while reading this, a commercial came on with Lindstom as the subject. He had a long-running role in General Hospital (491 episodes) and a few other standalone books. My partner in crime here at MRB would've called this 'An airport read' meaning a fund read that will distract you from the drudgery of travel. I'd read another.  

Exit Strategy by Lee Child and Andrew Child

The wanderings of Jack Reacher make its 30th stop, this time in Baltimore, MD. Reacher is sitting in his usual haunt - a coffee shop - and scoping out the customers. Only thing kinda unusual is a 4-top with two couples, one elderly.  As he exits the shop, a customer coming in brushes up against Reacher (who then checks his pockets to make sure his passport and some cash are intact). They are. On the street is a 2nd hand store he stops in to buy a warmer coat giving the upcoming change in seasons. While transferring his meager existence to the new coat, he notices a note has been inserted into a pocket. A desperate plea for help. Could only have come from that brushpass at the door.  

But first, that older couple. Reacher recognized the shakedown as soon as he saw it. Con artists trying to scam the elderly for all their savings. He tells the couple they been taken and to sit tight while he confronts the scammers, gently tells them of the err of their ways, and returns the money to the couple (standard opening scene for most Reacher books is for him to help out someone getting scammed). 

What Reacher wants to do is find out who's behind the scam. What takes over, however, is the note he received. The note asks him to return the cash or the the man delivering the note will be killed. Obviously the note was given to him in error. This guy was told to deliver the note to the biggest guy in the coffee shop. Yeah, that was Reacher. But it was still the wrong guy. Another (bigger) guy was on the way to the shop when he was killed in a freak accident (we are led to believe) a block or two away.

Now it gets complicated and heavily layered involving a Blackwater-ish paramilitary contractor, fraudulent contracts, any number of thugs that unfortunately get in Reacher's way, Armenian separatists, CIA operatives, tunnels and caves used to train military dropouts, lots of coffee, and little sleep. 

This was a first for me . . . a Reacher story that didn't grab or hold my interest. I finished, but the further I got into the book, the more outrageous the plotline became. Upon closing the book, I breathed a sigh of relief. Done. A friend of mine saw I was reading the book to which he said, 'First Reacher book I ever quit reading.' I stuck with it, but if this was my first Reacher book, I doubt I'd be looking forward to reading another. As Amazon Prime continues to produce in the Reacher series (season 4 starts back up the end of March or April), think I'm safe in saying that this story is unlikely to be greenlit. 

ECD 

Force of Nature

Force of Nature is the 12th book in the series by C. J. Box about his protagonist Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. I did not remember this story which I previously reviewed in 2012, and I totally enjoyed this important part of the Joe Pickett saga. 

 

In this story, the main player was the infamous Nate Romanowski. Nate had been off the grid for an extended period of time following the murder of the woman he loved. Nate was a skilled falconist which Box explains in clear language, and he had been trained in that art by John Nemecek who had originally recruited him into a secret and exclusive special ops team. Nate had gone around the world doing unspeakable cruel acts on behalf of Nemecek who he thought was being directed by someone much higher in the military/covert hierarchy. 

 

But now, Nemecek had gone rogue, and as the result of past actions, found it necessary to eliminate Nate This story was about Nemecek and Joe trying to locate each other, and of course, Joe Pickett got involved. On the one hand Joe was tested because his lethal skills were not in the same level as the other two main characters, and his long friendship with Nate (as described in earlier books) put him in a precarious role with his fellow law enforcement officers. Nemecek had no limits on the mayhem he was will to inflict on those around him, and even Joe’s family was in danger.

 

This story reveals Box at his finest. Perhaps it is his masterpiece, but then again, I’ve felt that way after reading every book in this series. The conclusion is a page-turner, and I stayed up late and got up early to continue reading this story. You’ll be hooked on this story within the first couple pages. (While this could be a standalone book, it’s best to read these novels in the order in which they were published.)

 

Out of the Dark I Cry

I’ve already reviewed three books in this 10-book series about the protagonists episcopal priest Clare Fergusson and police chief Russ Van Alstyne, so this review is my forth novel in the series. I was introduced to these characters in the 10^th book, the one that is about to be released, At Midnight Comes the Cry. I liked that 10^th book enough to choose to dive in from the start, so I began reading them in the order of publication so I would get the character development that the author chose. Once again, I was hooked by the characters, the plots, and the writing itself by both books one and two. Please review my writings about the first books. The third book in the series is Out of the Deep I Cry.

These are not your typical murder mysteries. Russ is married to a woman the reader does not meet before this book, and it occurs when there is a brief encounter between Clare and Linda van Alstyne. They meet at the hospital where Russ is staying as the result of a series of injuries. It is clear that Linda has no idea of the relationship that has been building between her husband and Clare. By this time, the protagonists have expressed their love for one another, which is a challenge for these highly ethical people.

 

The plot itself was a bit complicated as it addressed the issue of childhood vaccines, bootlegging in upstate New York during Prohibition, the depression, marital fidelity, and “black diptheria” that was a very real problem in the 1930’s but which has been eradicated by the use of childhood vaccinations. In this story, there was a man missing from the 1930’s, but until the end of the story, it was not known to the reader whether this was a matter of murder or a matter of a missing person, perhaps someone who had intentionally fled the town of Millers Kill.

 

For the most part, I was less enamored with this novel than the other three. It just seemed like the author had made things complicated enough that it took a long time and a lot of pages to bring it all together. Even the escape from an impossible situation which resulted in the heightened connection between Clare and Russ took too long to tell. Overall, it just seemed like “too much” characterized the story. I also found myself getting a bit tired of the references to Clare’s religious role in Millers Kill. But, my appetite for more of these characters has not been killed off. Rather, I will now acquire the fourth book, To Darkness and to Death. I’m eager to see the next murder that catches their attention and how they manage their attraction for each other.

 

Midnight Patriots

Paul Levine is a prolific author, and in Midnight Patriots he began with the reality of the friendship of Charlie Chaplin and Albert Einstein. This is the second book in the Einstein-Chaplin series. I previously favorably reviewed the first novel Midnight Burning.In Midnight Patriots,  Levine included nearly every famous person I could think of from the 1930’s and 40’s including President Roosevelt, gangster Mickey Cohen, singer Lena Horne, scientist Robert Oppenheimer, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, aviator Charles Lindbergh, various Nazi agents, newspaperman William Randolph Hearst, and many, many more were mentioned.

There was a light-hearted quality to the interactions between Chaplin and Einstein who were probably the most famous people in the world at the time. Both men were involved in various sexual escapades. Chaplin had just debuted his film, The Great Dictator, which ridiculed Hitler. The film was a smashing success in the U.S., and Levine made Chaplin the target of an assassination attempt Nazis because Hitler had been enraged by the content of the movie. Meanwhile Einstein was struggling with the idea of helping Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project develop the atom bomb. Einstein was a pacifist, but he was troubled both by the idea of developing the atom bomb, but also the forces that Hitler was putting into play. However, the idea of staying silent and allowing Hitler to develop the bomb was even more dangerous, so he agreed to help Oppenheimer with questions about theoretical physics, but he agonized over the loss of his pacifist values. At the same time Chaplin was the target of assassination by Nazis, Einstein was the target of Levine’s kidnapping scheme that would force Einstein to help the Nazis get the bomb first.

The chase Nazis and the two protagonists took place across the U.S. as many of these same celebrities traveled from the East Coast to the West Coast on the most luxurious of railroad accommodations. Levine did a great job putting all the famous personalities together while addressing the most troubling issues of the day, war versus isolation, nuclear energy, and racism. I loved the first book and this sequel was equally well done. 

Her Cold Justice

A Fountain Filled with Blood

 A Fountain Filled with Blood is the second book in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries. I’ve now finished three of this 10-book series, and I’m eager for more. In this story, more is revealed of the protagonists compelling histories, both having had combat army experiences, both currently being in jobs of responsibility in the public sector. She is an Episcopal priest and he is a police chief in a small town in upstate New York. He’s married, she is not. A big land development is beginning, but it may be disturbing a prior dump site for toxic chemicals. Contaminated water has been found and towns people are up in arms. But, a new development would mean jobs. There’s a big community protest while some small-brained lunatics are running around bumping off gay men. Then, the drug trade has made its way to this remote area, bringing vicious people to the territory.

 

As the plot carefully unfolded and the reader grows even more attached to Clare and Russ, there’s a rescue scene which is as nail biting as any that I’ve ever read. A man falls into a nearly inaccessible ravine and is unconscious. Clare and Russ, although short-handed, go to the rescue. She flies helicopters and grabs one that’s available. After military disasters involving helicopters, Russ has a phobia about those aircraft, but fearfully goes along to help Clare. After a death-defying act of getting the injured man into the helicopter, they discovered that it has been sabotaged. It crashes, and of course that sets off a fire from the sparks. It only gets better.

The sexual tension between Clare and Russ continues to evolve, and after the first two books, we've yet to hear a word from Russ' wife. I thought that near the end of the book as the author drew some subplots to a conclusion that the story line suffered, but that was only in the last few pages. I plan to read more.

Miracle Creek

 Miracle Creek by Angie Kim is a great legal thriller that I saw recommended by the New York Times. The legal aspects have to do with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, referred to as HBOT, for various medical conditions. It is an approved treatment and is offered in classic medical settings, but as happens with so many medical discoveries, it is also used for off-label conditions and is available in non-medical settings. The author writes about the controversy surrounding that treatment. Because of the use of oxygen, it is a highly flammable situation, and in the course of the novel, an arsonist lit a fire when there were six people in the “submarine”, two of whom died and the rest were injured. The plot had to do with who lit the fire. The patients/clients who were in the machine were of very different ancestries. 

Mixed in with the HBOT controversy and tragedy were very meaningful stories about Korean immigrants. The owners of the HBOT device, the “Miracle Submarine, were Korean immigrants, and the author who was also a Korean immigrant, wrote about all aspects of the difficulties that were inherent in that migration effort.

 

This book grabbed me from the beginning and it gets my strong recommendation.

Tracking Ariana by Larry Terhaar

 Guess you could say that this book is very topical. First off, the story begins around Ramadan that just started as this is being prepared. Second, it's about what happens when ICE runs amok, sweeping people off the streets for no reason, due process or legality, or feeling. 

Ariana Wilkinson is a young Afghan immigrant and mother of two. She worked as an interpreter in Afghanistan where she met Joe, an Air Force officer. He went through all the legal hoops to get her out of Afghanistan to the USA where they were married. During an Eid celebration, ICE descends on a park full of other Muslim families. Despite Ariana having all the necessary documentation with her, ICE still grabbed her and her children and put them into 'the system' to be deported; a system without much in the way of checks and balances.

Just as all this was happening, Joe returns from his most recent (and last) deployment. The newly retired full bird Colonel starts a full court press searching for where his family has gone and where they are destined. Meanwhile, all the ICE screwups have spawned a cottage industry of lawyers desperate to help those wrongly detained. Seth Bodner and private investigator Dan Burnett step up to the plate and  begin uncovering the good and the bad about what ICE is doing. The story shifts back and forth between the angst of Col. Joe, attorney Seth, and PI Dan as well and the rising fear of a dark future facing Ariana’s terror.

There are many characters to cheer for. First and foremost is Ariana and her terror about what's happening. Then there is Col. Joe's feeling of in adequacy in being unable to yank his family back out of 'the system;' this is a guy used to giving orders that are carried out immediately. Seth and Dan work the streets and gutters moving three steps forward and two steps back through various levels of government interference. 

Some might say that this is just some left wing drivel written to heap mounds of criticism over the government's deportation policies. That's a bit unfair. The overarching confusion about what's being done and what should be done on both sides of the deportation debate litters the story. Both sides are presented almost coldly with minimal passion. For me, I'm torn between this being a legal thriller or a family drama played out in men in masks vs. innocents in hajibs.

That'll be for the reader to decide. You decide. Our lines are open. 

Just published and on the shelf of your favorite bookstore. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance reader copy.  

ECD 

The Camino by Anya Niewierra

Emil and Lotte are a 40something couple living on the border of the Netherlands with Germany/Belgium. She is a chocolatier working out of her home. Emil is a bit of a stay at home dad to their two sons. She is a Dutch national. He was born in Bosnia in the early 1980s. After a stint in a Bosnian militia during the breakup of Yugoslavia, he emigrated to Germany with his lifelong friend Paul. Together, Emil and Paul meet Carol (? can't recall her name) and Lotte. It's love at first sight for Paul and Carol, producing a daughter. Not so much for Emil and Lotte, but when Lotte gets pregnant, they decide to get married. The two families are best friends and live a mostly uncomplicated life outside of South Limburg in the Netherlands. 

More backstory is needed to set up the book: Carol dies of cancer leaving Paul to raise his daughter.  Emil is diagnosed with stomach cancer that he manages to beat. As part of Emil's recovery, he decides to solo hike a portion of the infamous Camino de Santiago, a legendary trek across the border of Spain and France. He begins his trek a year before the book open. Emil expects to be gone for 10-14 days. He begins his trek a year before the book opens. On day 9 or 10,  Lotte is notified by the local police that Emil has committed suicide. After Emil's death, Paul and daughter move in with Lotte and her boys. 

And here is where the book begins. 

As part of her grieving process, Lotte decides to duplicate Emil's trek. Same schedule and same housing plans eventually arriving at the location where Emil took his own life. She's trying to come to some better understanding of what led to Emil's fatal decision. In her preparations, she also wants to learn more about Emil's Bosnian past that he has been reluctant to divulge. She learns about a lawyer (Bosnian? Serb? Croatian? can't recall) who specializes in finding people lost or missing after that war. 

As you can imagine, a story like this is going to be a day by day (and in some instances, hour by hour) recounting of the hike, the people she meets, the B and B's where she stays, the food, the wine, the flowers, the smells, the people she meets, etc. Lots of descriptive prose to go along with her own internal dialogue. The major issue is that most every other day on her hike, there is either a fatality or a near miss. A woman falls, a dog is poisoned, a runaway car narrowly missed Lotte, someone dies in their sleep, is someone following her. And there is this former war correspondent on the trail that is a willing ear and shoulder for Lotte's recovery.

This book is the 2025 English translation from the original 2022 Dutch novel. Couldn't find much online, but apparently the author is quite a big deal in Europe. Multiple best sellers and awards. The Camino is being made into a TV series. Looks like her latest book was a #1 best seller the day it was released. Guessing she's got a devoted following. 

Can't say I'm listed amongst those so devoted. Long drawn out descriptions of what she sees are not my cup of tea. Guess I need stories that move along a little more briskly. I will admit that once the dominoes that make up Emil's past begin to tumble, the pace of the story picked up and held my interest, but I had to get through 75% of the book first, and for me that was a chore. 

ECD 

The Stolen Hours

 The Stolen Hours is the first novel by Allen Eskens that is reviewed in Men Reading Books, but it is likely we will see him again. The author’s protagonist is Lila Nash, a recent law school graduate who is trying to land her dream job as a prosecutor for Hennepin County, Minneapolis. She wants to put away the bad guys, and as the story moves along, we learn about her personal secrets which led to her dream. She does have a remarkably successful time as a law student when she participated in a famed trial that as second chair, she helped win the case over an established attorney who is now also working in the same prosecutor’s office. While waiting for the results of her bar exam, she was working as an assistant to senior partners. There was a murder which involved a woman whose body was dumped in the Mississippi River, and the details of the case reminded Lila of some previous murders she knew about. However, in pursuing the matter, no physical evidence could be found. The reader quickly learns that the murderer is Gavin Spencer who has been choosing women to rape and kill once every two years. Gavin was quite good at covering his tracks. The story was then one about linking the necessary evidence to put Gavin away. Meanwhile, office politics were causing Lila great problems until she found a new mentor who saw her potential. 

This is a good murder mystery with great characters. The plot is very nicely developed. You won’s be disappointed. I’d rate this book at 4+.

In the Bleak Midwinter

 

 

Last month, I reviewed what turns out to be the 10^th book in the Fergusson/Van Alstyne mystery series by Julia Spencer-Fleming, At Midnight Comes the Cry. It was an excellent story with strong characters and a good plot, so I chose to go back to the beginning of the series and see if my enthusiasm for the author would hold up and allow me to read the entire series. Good news, the first book, In the Bleak of Midwinter, did not let me down. 

We are introduced to the two protagonists, Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne. Fergusson is a newly minted Episcopal priest who has landed at a parish in Miller’s Kill, a small town in upstate New York. She is an unmarried woman who retired from the Army where she was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Van Alstyne is the police chief of the small police force in Miller’s Kill. The author, for her first book, she used the name of a poem and Christmas carol for the title of this story that took place during the midwinter in upstate New York, much of the action occurring during a blizzard for which Fergusson was very poorly prepared. A newborn baby had been left on the doorstep of her church where there just happened to be a couple that had been desperately searching for a baby to adopt. But then, the mother was found murdered, and so the mystery evolved with a great cast of supporting characters.

 

So, my excitement about this author and the series will at least get me to the third book, A Fountain filled with Blood, which I hope to acquire very shortly.

The Burning Grounds

 Abir Mukherjee is hardly a new author, just new to me. I ran across a review of this book, The Burning Grounds, and chose to take it on. This story turns out to be the sixth mystery novel in the Wyndham & Banerjee series. This is a story about former partners who have been estranged for several years as the result of the outcome of a prior case. It takes place in Calcutta in the 1920’s when India was a colony of England. Both men have left India and have only recently returned to the country. The murder of a prominent man, a wealthy philanthropist with a hidden dark side, was assigned to Wyndam, and then a relative of Banerjee, a female photographer went missing. The cases are intertwined which essentially forced the two men to work together again. The body of the philanthropist was found with his neck sliced open in the grounds where corpses were taken to be burned. It turned out that man had financed a movie with a rising female star who seemed to be attracted to Wyndam. 

As much as this story was a murder mystery, it was also a dive into the social struggles of the time, India with its cast system, and the palpable race and economic divisions of the populace which had to be taken into constant account. This is a great book, a good plot, with excellent characters. Now I have a new author to explore. There are five novels that precede this one in the mystery series, and three other books already published by this author. When I can get to it, I’ll read the first one, A Rising Man, which was published in 2016.

Apostle's Cove by William Kent Krueger

Krueger has a long history with Cork O'Connor - this is his 21st O'Connor outing.

O'Connor is the retired sheriff in Aurora, MN. From there, left for a few years to be a Chicago cop, then came back. Joined the force for a few years, won an election, make that a lot of elections. Now retired, he lives with his immediate and extended family way the hell up nort' near the legendary Boundary Waters. He took over a local hamburger stand but still does some PI work when the need arises.

His son, Steven, is in law school and moonlights a bit for a non-profit dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted from prison. When shuffling through the stacks of potential cases, he finds one from Aurora. Axel Boshey is serving a life term in the Stillwater, MN prison. He confessed to the brutal murder of his wife.  The first capital case for the newly elected Sheriff O'Connor.

At the time, it seemed an open and shut case. Blacked-out drunk Indian (who already beat a manslaughter charge years earlier), a philandering wife. While all the evidence pointed to Boshey, some seemingly trivial details were left hanging. At the time, the evidence and confession pointed only at Boshey. 

In the light of 25 years, those details don't seem so trivial, at least to Steven so he asks his dad if he might review the case to see what might've been missed or overlooked or lost in the shuffle of a quick closing of the case.  Cork agrees. The thought that the wrong man was incarcerated and that the real killer might still be free drive him to make things right. 

That's the premise. The narrative breaks into two parts: Then and Now. 'Then' is told in first person as it happened. The killing, investigation, confession, incarceration; takes upwards of 60-65% of the book. A significant backstory. 'Now' is told similarly. First person, as it's happening.

The main characters are Cork and family, a hippie flake (Aphrodite) who moved into area and formed a bit of a commune (replete with hipsters, alcohol, drugs, and free love), the cops of the time (one of whom Cork defeated in the first election, other is a racist pig against the native population), and various colorful locals, their kids and grandchildren. In particular, Chastity (Aphrodite's child) and Boshey (her husband) and two of Chastity's kids (neither by Axel; Moonbeam and Sunny).

Axel gets sentenced to life and turns his life around from being an unreliable drunk to becoming a bit of a healer for inmates. Comes to realize this calling may be why was really locked away. When Cork sees Axel 25 years later, Axel tells him he doesn't want to be released, that he's needed in the prison more than Cork needs to set him free. 

That the real killer may still be around, Cork goes off on his own trying to piece together a complex interaction of what turns out to be a series of seriously demented people Cork thought he knew.

As stated above, this is Krueger's 21st book featuring Cork O'Connor. That means he's got a following and must be pretty successful to boot (lots of NY Times bestsellers).  He also have four other unrelated novels, three of which I've read and reviewed here. One of which, Ordinary Grace, is one of the best books I've ever read and won the 2014 Edgar Award for best fiction (the book version of the Oscar for Best Picture. If you've not read Ordinary Grace, you really owe it to yourself). Not really sure how many Cork O'Connor books I've read and reviewed here. Whatever that is, there are more. 

While reading this book, I had a feeling that this is a book he'd started way back when, put it aside and never got back to it. But after a while, he resurrected the manuscript, and reorganized it to be a cold case book. Regardless, Krueger has presented loyal readers (and newbies, too) with another memorable outing filled with concrete characters, the emotional edge needed for such a story, a comfortable rural setting, native characters and the mysticism that permeates their soul. 

Can't go wrong with Krueger. Betting your local library has a shelf full of his work. It's about time you get to it.  

ECD 

Wild Dark Shore

 Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy was published in 2025 and has received numerous awards including a nomination for the 2026 Edgar Award for Best Novel. The story takes place on fictional Shearwater Island which was located about where the real Macquarie Island is, between Tasmania and Antarctic. It had been chosen as a vault for seeds of every possible species of plants. However, as the result of rising sea levels which would eventually make life on the island impossible, the island is scheduled for abandonment. The scientific research station had already been abandoned, so all the scientists that had been located had left by the time the story began. Left behind was a family of caretakers and one scientist who had been chosen to get the content of the vault ready for transport to a better location. 

The story opens with the discovery of a woman, Rowan, who has washed up to the shore following a severe storm. She was alive, but there was no evidence how she possibly could have gotten there. With the help of Dominic Salt and his three children, Raff, Fen, and Orly, Rowan is gradually nursed back to health and she slowly reveals her secrets, including her marriage to the one scientist, Hank, who had been left behind to sort the seeds and get them ready for a transfer to a safer location.. Dominic had brought his children there eight years earlier following the death of his wife during child birth for Orly. Rowan was searching for her husband, Hank, but she discovered her own mixed feelings about the marriage. The isolation from the rest of the world was taking its toll on the remaining inhabitants.

 

This is really a story about life and death, and the emotions that go along with that. There’s the death of life on the island, the death of Dominic’s wife, possible murder of scientists, death of the inhabitants before they could get rescued death of the seeds that had long been protected, the drowning of Rowan as she gives her own life to save Orly. This story is very well-written with fascinating characters and a skillfully unfolding plot. I agree with the awards that have come to McConaghy for this novel, so it gets a 5/5 rating from me.

South, Scott and Amundsen's Race to the Pole

 After reading the accounts of polar explorers Shakleton and Amundsen, I decided to read the short (less than 100 pages) nonfiction account of the intense race between the two Antarctica explorers, Scott and Amundsen, as told by Hunter Stewart in South, Scott and Amundsen’s Race to the Pole. Robert Scott and Roald Amundsen were both determined to be the first to arrive at the South Pole. They had different ideas about how to form a polar expedition, and they were intense competitors. Shakleton was not a part of this particular race. It was in 1914, three years later, that Shakleton’s unsuccessful but heroic adventure occurred. 

Amundsen was methodical in his planning, and he was proven correct that dogs would be the key to his success, unlike Scott who travelled with a much larger group of men Scott also took along motor vehicles and ponies, both of which proved to be problematic. He didn’t trust dogs to be useful enough, a decision that Amundsen proved to be wrong. Amundsen a smaller group of men and he took a lot more dogs with him. Neither ponies nor cars were a part of his planning. Both explorers wrote about the hardship from the weather, although Shakleton really did a better job as he wrote about the hardships of traveling in such a remote and harsh climate.

 

Scott had trouble with his cars and ponies and that resulted in a month later start than Amundsen. The travel itself, much by foot, was arduous, incredible, breathtaking. Given the material, this reader came away with respect for having Amundsen as a leader, and it was very easy to dislike the dictatorial and self-centered efforts of Scott. Amundsen arrived at the South Pole on 12/14/11, and Scott arrived 34 days later. Amundsen made it back home to Norway, but Scott never made it back to London, having died during his belated effort to reach the pole and then get home again.

 

This short book was definitely worth reading, and it maybe the best primer that I’ve read so far as I prepare for a touristy visit to the Palmer Peninsula of Antarctica. I’ll be crossing the Drake Passage in a luxury liner, unlike the 22-foot row boats that Shakleton had. It was the Hunter’s author’s quotes from Scott’s diary that was most interesting. The diary was found in his tent and under Scott’s frozen body. Despite his failures, Scott argued in his diary that it was merely bad luck with poor timing and weather that led to his failures, not any mistake that had made in planning for this expedition. He refused to accept his responsibility for his own fatal end and that of his loyal crew.

Chasing the Light

 Chasing the Light by Jesse Blackadder is historical fiction about the first woman to land on Antarctic in the 1930s. In theisstory, there were three Norwegian women who had the possibility to land on the continent first, all who were traveling together in the same ship although they arrived there under very different circumstances. Ingrid Christensen was the wife of Lars Christensen who owned the biggest whaling operation in Norway. She both wanted to see her husband’s whale harvesting boats in action as well as desperately wanting to be first woman to reach Antarctica. Mathilde Wegger’s husband had died recently and she was miserably depressed. Since Lars would not allow Ingrid to travel without a female companion and since they thought the adventure might spark Mathilde out of her mood, although it was really against her will and interests to leave her children behind, Mathilde had the trip foisted upon her. She actually changed her mind as they were about to board ship in Cape Town, but Lars did not allow her to get off his boat. Lillemor Rachlew had been inspired to be adventurous by none other than Amelia Earhart. She was a highly manipulative and beautiful woman who came to Cape Town with hopes of weaseling her way onto the ship. She was someone who usually got her way, and she was successful once again in securing a place for herself. 

Over the course of their voyage, there were shifting alliances among the women. Lars wanted his wife to cooperate with him about producing a seventh child, but Ingrid really did not want to be responsible for another child. I thought the descriptions of sailing through the southern ocean was particularly good, and the group almost did not get to make their landing, but they did so at a time they believed they were not the first. One of the other sea captains brought his wife along which was against the strong the misogynistic spirit of all other captains at the time. She was thought to have been the first, much to the disappointment of Ingrid and Lillemor. Mathilde was so angry about being kept on the ship in Cape Town, against her will, that she nearly just stayed in her cabin rather than make a landing when she had the chance.

 

The first known landing on Antarctica was by an American, Captain John Davis, on 2//7/1821. The first person to reach the South Pole was Roald Amundsen on 12/14/1911, and it was not until 2/20/1935 that a woman finally made it to the continent. In fact, it was the wife of the Norwegian Captain Klarius Mikkelsen, Caroline, who first stepped on the continent. It was not that there were no women who wanted to go south to Antarctica, it was that the male captains simply would not bring them along.

 

The 1930s were not the end of the whaling business which could not endure the mass slaughtering to which the whales were subjected. The Norwegian whaling began in 1904, peaked in the 1920/s and 1930’s, and mostly collapsed at the end of WWII. However, the severe over-exploration dragged on until it’s last season in 1967-68. The global moratorium on commercial whaling did not begin until 1986.

At Midnight Comes the Cry

 Julia Spencer-Fleming is not an author that I had known prior to a blurb in the NY Times Book Review, so I gave her a look. When I finished her latest novel in the Fergusson/Van Alstyne mystery series, At Midnight Comes the Cry published in 2025, I found out this was at least her 11^th book in the series. She published the first one, In the Bleak Midwinter, in 2002. The newest novel tells about the ongoing relationship between Clare Fergusson, an Episcopal priest and former US Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot, and former police chief Russ Van Alstyne in the fictional town of Millers Kill in upstate New York. I find it exciting to read a very good story and then learn that the author has a substantial body of work already published. Now I have a series of novels to look forward to, and I’ll get to enjoy the evolution of Ms. Spencer-Fleming’s protagonists. I’ve already downloaded In The Bleak Midwinter and plan to read it soon and then work my way through her novels in the order of publication. 

This story began with Kevin Flynn, a young officer who chose to leave the Millers Kill PD to work in a bigger department at Syracuse. He was assigned to an undercover operation in which his task was to infiltrate a group of white supremists, but then he disappeared. His girlfriend and parents had not heard from him for months, he was fired from the Syracuse PD because the funds for his undercover job had been reallocated to other things, and he was a no-show for a new assignment.

 

Basically, this was a story about the white supremists, their plan to kill Jews, the misogyny of that movement, and the multicultural characters who were aligned to stop them. This was a very well-designed plot with fascinating characters. This mystery novel gets a 5/5 rating from me, and it left me excited to read more of this authors work.

 

Everland

 Everland by Rebecca Hunt, published in 2015, is a novel regarding two visits to a fictional island in Antarctica, the explorations taking place 100 years apart. Three explorers in 1913 were contrasted with three researchers in 2012, who set out to explore unchartered territory in the harshest of circumstances. On the one hand, the descriptions of the troubles of Antarctic exploration by the author sounded quite similar to what was reported in the nonfiction works of explorers Shakleton and Amundsen. Weather had to be considered literally at every step along the way, be that in the early 20^th or 21^st centuries. Both the real explorations and the fictional ones in this novel were impressive, breathtaking. On the other hand, I found myself getting lost with regard to the characters in both of these fictional expeditions. I got to the 60% mark of this historical fiction work and just was not interested in following through to know how the author brought this novel to a conclusion.

Raskin's World by Charlie Stella

Charlie (seeing as how we've met, I think I'm allowed to use his first name) ventures away from his typical crime/mafia genre venturing in the legal world. No, it's not John Grisham redux. Lawyers are just the subjects of Charlie's pen (make that keyboard). "They" say write about what you know and Charlie has spent a long time in legal firms (but he's not a lawyer) so one could wonder how much of this book was inspired by actual shenanigans in some law firm from his past. But it's not a legal procedural. Regardless, as with most of Stella's books where character development reigns supreme, a cast of characters is warranted (essential?):

MAIN CAST

Carol Delvicchio: a stunningly beautiful young woman . . . has worked in the lower levels of a few law firms . . . always on the prowl for her next conquest she can squeeze for money and a living arrangement . . . has a history of drug/alcohol abuse to go with a few failed attempts at rehab.

Tom Raskin: . . . The title character . . . Married to Maryanne, couple kids . . . a decent man who strayed once (with Carol when she worked in his firm) and feels genuinely guilty . . . cut Carol off immediately after his failure, freeing her up to track down her next target.

Bobby Medina: Good husband and father . . . neighbor of Tom's . . . Raskin's best friend at the firm . . . 3 kids . . . both have similar sporting interests.

Maryanne Raskin: obviously married to Tom Raskin. Good friend to . . . 

Alicia Medina: She's unhappy in her marriage to Bobby . . . been stepping out, the latest is also a lawyer, of course . . . 3 young kids . . . When the wives and kids spend a few days in Atlantic City, she quietly has a rendezvous with her latest paramour . . . 

Nicholas Delvicchio: Carol's brother, also in the legal field (I think) . . . has bailed Carol out of various jams gone bad . . . paid for her rehab . . . loyal to a fault to his sister.

Marsha: engaged to Nicholas . . . hates Carol with a passion . . . thinks Carol is just using her brother as an always-there safety net . . . a bit of a shrew . . . comes from money and daughter of a retired, but still connected, judge.

SUPPORTING CAST

Jerry Sloane: a partner in a firm where Carol has cast her post-Tom snare . . . well heeled, married in the process of a potentially messy divorce . . . trying to figure out how to minimize the financial loss coming from the divorce

Dominic DiNucci: NY mobster . . . meets Carol on the Atlantic City boardwalk . . . talks her into quit chasing lawyers and join his cadre of dancers at his posh Manhattan club.  

Parents: Carlos and Maria (of Alicia); Jorge and Rose (of Bobby)

Paul: Alicia Medina's current fling

Hope I got that all correct - apologies to the Knuckmeister if I've screwed up. Should've taken notes while reading. Oh, well. 

 

Here we go. Carol and Raskin engage in some 'harmless' flirting at his firm. One night, he gets too drunk with Carol and, despite knowing better, still allowed a front seat hummer that has him immediately angry with himself. Tells Carol no way to anything in the future and struggles with telling Maryanne. Carol moves on to her next conquest (Jerry) and scores pretty big despite him being a pig. 

Meanwhile, Medina is getting concerned that his wife is having an affair (with Paul). When the truth comes out, Medina goes off the deep end where his actions have devastating consequences far beyond himself that will likely affect multiple generations within his circle. 

From a basic summary of the plot, that's it. There's some tangential mob involvement. Otherwise this is a tale of broken families and the depths people struggle with when infidelity rears its ugly head. No one is left unaffected or unbroken. It's Charlie's skill with the spoken word that draws us in. The dialogue, always the centerpiece of a Stella novel, is convincingly realistic drawing the reader into the fears, regrets, guilt, and sympathy for those victimized by Carol's selfish and childish behavior. 

We also are torn between the back and forth of friends and spouses, adult children and their parents, as we attempt to find a winner and a loser in this complex foray into human shortcomings. Don't look for a bang up solution (typical of a Stella mob story) because I'm betting he wants us to question all sides of this mess. In the end, there are solutions of course, but there are also some unresolved actions that'll stay with you well after you close the book. 

Bottom line boys and girls: This is one helluva a story . 

Charlie's departure from crime may leave some fans scratching their collective heads, but when it comes to delivering a tale that is rife with complex character development and lean righteous dialogue, I defy to you find a better active writer than Charlie Stella.

 

due to be published in early in 2026. Keep checking with Stark House Press or Amazon

 

  

The South Pole

 Published in 1913, The South Pole, Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the ‘Fram,’ 1910-1912 was written by the most successful of the Arctic and Antarctic explorers, Roald Amundsen. It was Amundsen who first reached both the north and south poles and he apparently was never unsuccessful with any goal that he created. He planned meticulously. However, there were deaths that occurred in the course of his journey which seemed to be a more common experience of those who chose to take on the horrors of Antarctic exploration. His writing was somewhat more simple, direct, mater-of-fact than those words of his rival Shakleton, leaving out much of the human hardship and trauma that one could see in Shakleton’s writing. The prose was more like the words of the old tv show Dragnet when Joe Friday would say to a woman he was interviewing, “The facts, just the facts maam.” Still, the difference between the styles of Amundsen and Shakleton gives an important picture of the race to the South Pole and the difficulty of exploring such a remote and difficult terrain as Antarctica.

 

Dead in the Frame

 Dead in the Frame is the fifth of five books (so far) in the Pentecost and Parker Murder Mystery series. If you’ve been following my reviews of the first four books, you’ll know that I chose to read those four books before I got to this one. I found the NYTimes claim that Dead in the Frame was the best crime novel written in 2025 was a most audacious claim given the competition of great crime writers. I don’t need to review the primary protagonists because this is not meant to be a stand-alone review. Given the blog’s reviews of so many crime novels, I just found it rather startling for a reviewer to claim one was the best book. Also, if there was a great writer that I had not heard of, as is the case for Stephen Spotswood, but I was also excited about the possibility of having a new author to add to my favorite authors. 

Once again, the characters and main plot and subplots were excellent. The continuing evolution of the characters of Pentecost and Parker was most interesting. In this story, Pentecost winds up in jail with a murder charge, and Parker is left to do much more of the detective work, although she is clearly stressed by not having Pentecost in firm control of the investigation that would ultimate free her. Parker was also worried about her detective partner’s failing health due to the progress of her muscular dystrophy. Parker seemed to have too much investigative work to do before the expedited trial that M. Pentecost insisted on.

 

In short, this was a very good book. I thoroughly enjoyed all five books and I hope Spotswood will pursue this series. The end of the story does set him up nicely to do so. Was it the single best crime book that I read this year? I can’t go that far. Writers such as Daniel Silva, Louise Penny, Michael Connelly, C.J. Box, S.A. Cosby, John Grisham, James Lee Burke, Don Winslow, Jonathan Kellerman, Ken Bruin, and others have produced volumes of great work far beyond what Spotswood has done so far. Certainly, his writing deserves mention with the other writers I love, and just maybe, I’m seeing the beginning of what I hoped for, a great writer whose going to keep on writing. I will be following him as I wait for novel #6. This entire series is bound to leave you wanting more from Spotswood.

Endurance: Shakleton's Incredible Voyage

 This is the third time I’ve read Endurance, Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage, by Alfred Lansing although this time was via audio format. Simon Prebble was the perfect voice for this remarkable story. I chose to read it again in anticipation of actually going to the Antarctica in another month. We will fly to Buenos Aires, and then take a second flight to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, located on Tierra del Fuego. From there, we’ll take a 10-day cruise to the peninsula which juts north from the Antarctica mainland. We’ll be crossing the dangerous Drake Passage which Lansing writes about in vivid language. That passage around the cape is famous as being the most dangerous sailing area in the world due to the monstrous waves. 

It was about 16 years ago that my wife and I sailed through this same area. Two days before Cape Horne, while we were sailing through the more protected Straits of Magellan, there were 60-foot waves in the Drake Passage which would have kept us from going out to the cape, but when it was our turn, the seas were nearly dead flat. It was a beautiful day and we sailed around the small island of Cape Horne where there’s a light house before heading off for the Falklands. At the time, it was not our intent to go to Antarctica. While standing on deck and getting a good luck at the remarkable beauty of Cape Horne, a fellow passenger told me it was the fifth time she had taken this tour, but because of brutal weather, it was the first time she had actually seen the Cape Horne island. Because I had the prior experience of being at sea and sailing through a typhoon with it’s own monstrous waves, which I found to be exciting as hell, I’m hoping this trip does not have another flat day. I’m hoping for some motion, just maybe not 60-foot waves.

 

The Endurance, the name of Shakleton’s ship as well as the title of the book, is nearly indescribable with regard to adventure and danger. After reading many adventure books, I find myself eager to be a part of such treks, but not this one. I thought Lansing was shouting at his top voice, “Don’t do this.” At the same time, Lansing’s admiration of Shakleton was unmistakable. As one might expect of anyone who would undertake such a journey in what was a failed attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole, Shakleton was obsessed, a maniac, but also a man who drew the affection and loyalty of his total crew of 28 men. This was Shakleton’s third trip to Antarctica. The story starts with all the difficulty of putting together such an expedition in 1914, but when it arrived, the Endurance got stuck in an ice floe. Despite heroic attempts to dislodge the boat, the crew had to abandon it, and that’s when their greatest perils began. His descriptions of going through the Drake Passage on a 22-boat was amazing. Time and again, Shakleton faced life and death decisions, and more than two years after setting out on his journey, they made their way to safety. He did not lose a single man, compared to his rival Amundsen who lost three men on his contemporary expedition.

 

This is a great true adventure book, certainly one of the best ever written. Did you know that the ship Endurance was recently discovered where it sunk in the Antarctic waters? I’ve seen underwater pictures of the ship, and I hope to learn more about that.

 

The Protector

My daughter was attending a charity event and she happened to be sitting at the same table with the author of this book and her husband. She described a pleasant evening and good conversation. She learned that the author, Mary Beth Wilkas Janke, had served in the Secret Service and had completed an autobiography. I was intrigued, so I bought the book. Clearly this woman has led an interesting life, and it was unfortunate that the Secret Service, after only a short stint, chose to terminate her employment because of an alleged lie she told on her original application. She presents her state of mind about that matter and the act of termination does seem a bit suspect. I'm sure the agency is a misogynistic one, but she does not harp about that fact. Rather, she continues her career doing private security work, while continuing her education. This was not a good book, rather flat, basic, and sometimes boring. I did read the whole thing cover to cover, but I cannot recommend it.