A Question of Fire

Cathy Bennett gets stuck with what she considered an assignment from hell when she gets stuck filling in for the society page editor at her paper. A self-described social klutz, and much happier with her usual local government column, attending the party was bad enough; ending up with a dead guy in her lap was way past her job description.

Not only did she witness a murder, the unseen murderer now thinks Cathy knows a lot more than she does. The victim died before giving the full location of evidence he said he had that would clear his brother, Danny, of arson. She feels obligated to Bobby, who died in her arms while trying to give her the information, but doesn’t really know where to start.

Teaming up with Danny’s lawyer, they set out to find the evidence and clear Danny of arson, but find themselves the targets of some genuinely bad dudes.

This story has good plot twists, a little romance, a lot of action, and is a book I enjoyed. I have to admit, I figured out where the evidence was in the first third of the book, but I’m not giving you a clue; buy the book and challenge yourself!

Reviewed by guest reviewer Jinx Schwartz, December 2011.

Vanish

Medical Examiner Dr. Maura Isles receives a big shock when the Jane Doe in her morgue suddenly opens her eyes.  Jane Doe is rushed to the hospital but before her identity can be discovered, she shoots a security guard and seizes hostages.

One of the hostages happens to be homicide detective Jane Rizzoli.  Jane is pregnant and ready to deliver her baby but is in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The police and Jane’s husband FBI Agent Gabriel Dean work frantically to try to get the hostages out but just when they think they have the situation under control a swat team rushes the scene and Jane Doe as well as the man with her is killed.

Jane, her husband and Maura eventually find Jane’s identity and uncover a scheme for bringing young women into this country that reaches into the top levels of the government.

Reviewed by Patricia E. Reid, November 2006.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vanish In Plain Sight
Marta Perry
Harlequin Books, May 2011
ISBN 978-0373775767
Mass Market Paperback

Link Morgan has returned to his home and family in Lancaster County.  Link has inherited his uncle’s old farmhouse and is in the process of preparing the property for sale.  Link is planning to sell the farm and move.  Link is knocking down the paneling in a later addition to the farmhouse and discovers an old stained and battered suitcase concealed in the wall.  The suitcase contains women’s clothing, including an Amish woman’s black apron and a white prayer kapp.   The suitcase also included a photograph of a woman and child. The child is about four or five years old.  Link contacts the Spring Township police. The police arrive and take possession of the suitcase.

One of the officers recognizes the woman as Barbara Angelo.  Barbara was an Amish woman who came to town to visit relatives.  Barbara met and fell in love with Russ Angelo.  The couple married and had a daughter, Marisa.  The town gossip spread around that Barbara could no longer live in peace away from her Amish family and had gone home to them leaving her husband and her daughter.

Marisa Angelo had grown into a beautiful woman and is very successful as an illustrator of children’s books.  When Marisa was contacted by the police, she returned to claim her mother’s suitcase and try to find out what had really happened to her mother.  The Amish in the area were not willing to discuss the matter with her.  It is only with the help of Link’s mother and Link’s family that she finally began to piece together what really happened so many years ago when she had lost her mother.

The main flaw that I found in the book was the fact that Barbara found herself in danger when she overheard a meeting that was taking place at Link’s uncle’s home but the purpose of that meeting was never revealed in the book. Overall, the book was an enjoyable read.

Reviewed by Patricia E. Reid, June 2011.

Death Echo

International intrigue is at the heart of the plot which joins Emma Cross, former CIA operative and now with St. Kilda’s Consulting, and Mackenzie Durand, former Special Ops leader, the only survivor of his team in its last mission.  Now a transit captain, he picks up a brand new yacht, the Blackbird, offloaded from a container ship to bring to a small port where it is to be fitted out.  Meanwhile, Emma has been looking for the yacht’s twin, the Black Swan, for an insurance company since its disappearance.

The two are thrown together when all the intelligence agencies pick up vibes of an impending terrorist act against a major U.S. urban center. It is not known whether the threat is biological, chemical or nuclear.  So Mackenzie becomes the captain of the Blackbird, with Emma as “first mate,” on a voyage through the inland passageway on the West Coast of Canada, ostensibly to bring the ship to its new owner.  It is quite a trip.

The descriptions of the passageway, the tides, weather and difficulties of steering a ship under various conditions are graphic and exciting.  And despite all the dangers from the sea and adversaries, love finds a way.

Recommended.

[It should perhaps be noted that the pb edition has also been issued in a larger trim size, ISBN 978-006204484-6.]

Reviewed by Ted Feit, January 2011.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Money to Burn
James Grippando
Harper,2011
ISBN: 978-0-06-155631-9
Mass Market Paperback

By combining the issues of market manipulation and identity theft, James Grippando has raised some interesting questions in this somewhat flawed but timely novel.  This reviewer’s reservations, which admittedly are probably in the minority, apply to whether or not the premise that a single hedge fund could actually bring down a thinly disguised Goldman Sachs without steps being taken by the New York Stock Exchange or the Securities and Exchange Commission stepping in to stop naked selling of the brokerage’s stock is valid.

Nevertheless, legal issues aside, it makes for a provocative tale, especially in view of recent events in the financial world. Essentially the plot involves a 35-year-old star of the venerable Wall Street firm Saxton Silvers, Mike Cantella, who discovers on the night of his birthday that all his accounts have been transferred to an offshore bank and he is left without a penny.  At the same time, these funds are used to short the firm’s stock, driving its price down, and continued pressure pushes the firm into bankruptcy.  Further, other events point to his involvement in the demise, as well as in subsequent murders.

The story is over-plotted, with all kinds of devices including spyware on cell phones and computers, enigmatic e-mails from unidentified sources, FBI probes, corporate espionage, and a wife of four hours who disappears and is presumed dead, eaten by a shark, not to mention a second wife who complicates Mike’s life while he is fighting to clear his name.  And to wrap up, introduction of the Madoff Ponzi scheme seems a bit gratuitous. Nevertheless, the novel is an entertaining read, and does have some useful insights into today’s financial picture.

Recommended.

Reviewed by Ted Feit, January 2011.

Tiffany’s got simple instructions from her husband, Colin.  Dump ‘Rover’s’ body.  When she hears sounds and screaming from the trunk, she realizes the boy is alive.  A frantic call to Colin and he tells her to kill the kid and dump him.  Unfortunately for her, the boy manages to get away and she’s terrified Colin will hurt her for it.

Meanwhile, thirteen year old Samantha is sunbathing in her backyard.  She’s got mono and is feeling weak and miserable.  When she hears her next door neighbor Tiffany in distress, Sam goes to the fence to help.

Seeing her opportunity to make up with Colin, Tiffany cons Samantha to come into her house where the girl’s locked into a soundproofed bonus room over the garage.

The Perfect Couple

Sam’s mom, Zoe, is completely distraught when she discovers that her daughter is missing.  She takes her troubles to a friend who runs The Last Stand, a charitable service to help parents in need.  Thus enters Jonathan, a detective who’s got a bad history with picking a woman in love with someone else…

When I saw Brenda Novak’s book available on Vine, I grabbed it without thought and consideration of the difference between the classifications of mystery and romantic suspense. Prior to this, I have read Ms. Novak’s work and thoroughly enjoyed her writing; however, for several reasons, this book is not one I personally enjoyed.

However, Ms. Novak did a superlative job showing us the mind of Colin, seemingly half of a ‘perfect couple’, who is actually a sociopathic abuser of his spouse and children.

Personally, this is a deeper point of view of both an abuser and his victims than I would ever want to take.  “Perfect Couple” did have me turning pages just to read the end, but I would never want to put myself through reading a book like this again. While the abuse was spoken of in the past tense, this is definitely a hard read and not one I would recommend to everyone.

Reviewed by Becky Kyle, January 2010.