Tag: fiction

Book Review: Winter’s Lost Love

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

A Woman Underground is a pretty interesting mystery novel by Andrew Klavan and is the fourth installment of his Cameron Winter series.

Cameron Winter is a university professor, who has a past as a dangerous government operative. He also has a peculiar tendency to get involved in the investigation of unusual crimes. He is not exactly psychic, but he has a gift of imagining how something actually occurred when it seems to baffle others who look into these misdeeds. Winter calls this tendency “a strange habit of mind”.

Winter has been seeing a therapist for a while due to overwhelming loneliness and guilt over some of what he had to do for the service of his country. He is one of the most dangerous men on the planet and also one of the most sensitive.

Winter starts to unravel a bit more when he believes that the first woman he ever loved tried to reach out to him because she was in danger. He comes across a book seems to spell out what her life may have been like in recent years. In the meantime, Winter is trying to convince a colleague to not leave his wife over some fantasy involving a hot student. During his therapy sessions, Winter discusses a previous mission to Turkey that went sideways in all kinds of ways including betrayal and very troubling revelations about those for whom he worked.

Winter has been a tortured soul since his first appearance, but he is even more troubled than usual, which is a state of mind that could get him killed as he searches for the lost woman who meant the most to him.

Klavan is a pretty thoughtful and talented writer who weaves his story through events of the character’s past. There is a pretty established pattern on how this Winter novels unfold, but the main plots are usually quite intriguing.

There are times when Klavan’s exposition seems to slow down the action a bit more than I would prefer, however it didn’t discourage me all that much.

There are some interesting twists in the story that I did not predict. Winter’s strange habit of mind got directed to a crisis that I wasn’t expecting, which was pleasantly jarring. He’s probably going to remain a pretty melancholic guy for some time in the series, but it was a bit troubling to read about his near complete mental unraveling. I did give a mental cheer when some of his usual sharpness started returning.

Klavan accomplished his goal, at least with me, in that I am most interested in where the next installment will take this complicated, curious professor with his strange habit of mind.

Next up, I will check in with the detectives of the 87th Precinct in Ed McBain’s Kiss.

Book Review: Not The Most Welcoming Inn

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier is a gothic thriller first published in 1936 and reads a little easier than expected in spite of the typical lengthy exposition of its time.

The protagonist is Mary Yellan, a young woman whose mother has recently died. Mary is on her way to Jamaica Inn where she is to be reunited with her aunt. Aunt Patience is married to a man who is quote a brute and involved in some unsavory activities on the moors in Cornwall. Uncle Joss begins the new arrangement by bullying and intimidating Mary, who feels duty bound to remain at the inn to protect her aunt. Mary meets her uncle’s brother and becomes attracted to him against her better judgment. A peculiar vicar is also lurking around is may not be the ally he presents himself to be.

Mary gets a close look at what her uncle does to supplement his income and has even more reason to wonder how long she has before her life is on the line.

Du Maurier is best known for her novel Rebecca which was published later. She does have a distinctive eloquence in her prose, and I can appreciate how she became so respected.

The character of Joss Merlyn, the abusive uncle, comes across as a bit campy in his bluster. It got a little difficult at times to imagine him as authentic. The tension between Joss and Mary was quite compelling in any case.to read.

Du Maurier also does well with describing the hostile and oppressive environment surrounding the inn. Sometimes it seems to go on a little long, but one must also understand the time in which that was written and what was expected versus the short attention span of today’s audience.

This is a little bit of a departure from my usual reading interests, but I was glad to find this one.

Next up, I am taking on the Big Kahuna of the true crime genre. I am delving into the intricacies of the Charles Manson case as told by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry with Helter Skelter.

Book Review: Trouble In Cypress County

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Long Lavender Look is a decent novel written by the revered crime writer John D. MacDonald and features his best-known protagonist, Travis McGee. It was first published in 1970.

Travis McGee is a salvage consultant with a peculiar tendency to get involved in murder investigations. He lives in a houseboat called The Busted Flush in Florida and just has a talent of falling into dire peril involving greed, corruption, and murder.

This story begins when McGee and his friend, Meyer, are returning home from attending a wedding when a scantily clad woman darts across a darkened road right in front of his car, causing them to end up in swamp water upside down. As McGee and Meyer make their way to civilization, they are accosted by someone in a truck passing them taking shots at them. When they make it to the authorities, they find themselves arrested for the murder of a guy in Cypress County who was apparently involved in an armored truck heist some years prior. McGee finds himself in the middle of a complicated web of corruption where he is not sure who he can trust as he fights to clear his name and return home.

First of all, I will say that I will likely be revisiting this author’s works again, but MacDonald does require some patience because he is a bit wordy. His exposition at times slows down the story and kind of makes it a bit of a chore to get through.’

I do appreciate that MacDonald does display an impressive eloquence in his prose for what is classified as a hard-boiled crime novel. The friendship between Meyer and McGee has its charm as well. I had heard of Travis McGee for years but did not really know much about this series. I do like the set-up MacDonald has created for him. For example, The Busted Flush seems to be a great name for a boat.

MacDonald is generally considered one of the great ones in this genre, and I can understand how he gained that acclaim even though I struggled a bit with this one. I suspect that I have spent too many years with writers who are much more abrupt and simple in their prose to fully appreciate MacDonald’s writing style.

Once again, I may not be doing myself any favors by starting well into the middle of a series. MacDonald has numerous standalone novels, which I will also likely explore, but I doubt this will be my last effort to hang with Travis McGee.

I wish this particular novel hooked me more, but I am not ready to throw in the towel in my exploration of the works of John D. MacDonald.

My next read is going to take me further back in time to another legendary suspense writer named Daphne Du Maurier, who is most famous for the novel Rebecca. I thought I would be introduced to this author’s works by way of Jamaica Inn.

Book Review: Never An Easy Path For Mr. Rawlins

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

A Red Death by Walter Mosley is an interesting mystery novel featuring the author’s best-known protagonist, Easy Rawlins.

It is 1953 in Los Angeles, and Easy Rawlins has become a property owner who keeps his assets a bit of a secret due to the hostility he would likely face since he is a black man living in the midst of ongoing racial strife. The secret’s out when an IRS agent has reason to file a tax evasion charge against Rawlins. An FBI agent comes to Easy’s aid, but the aid is not going to be unearned. Easy is given the task to spy on an alleged communist who has volunteered at the First African Baptist Church. The matter turns more dangerous when people start getting killed, and Easy has to protect his life as well as his livelihood.

Easy’s life becomes even more convoluted when he falls his friend’s estranged wife. That friend known as Mouse is one of the most dangerous men in the city. That’s only the beginning of the pressures gathering around Easy Rawlins.

This is the second novel in the series featuring Easy Rawlins and follows Devil in a Blue Dress. Mosley is a talented writer and seems to capture the era well. I like Easy because he is not a saint. He also has some scruples and is easy to root for.

Mosley does write in the dialect that someone like Easy and his peers likely spoke, so that could be a little tricky to interpret correctly. It does give the characters and setting authenticity, so I don’t begrudge Mosley making the effort.

It was a good book, and I will likely revisit Easy Rawlins and see how his story unfolds. I recently confirmed that Mosley still brings Rawlins and drops him in the middle of trouble. Mosley actually has quite a bibliography in his wheelhouse, and I will likely pick up some more of his works.

My literary journey which is not going to end anytime soon will continue with another iconic suspense writer. I have not read this guy before, but I am about to rectify that. The Long Lavender Look by John D. MacDonald is the next to be picked up and hopefully enjoyed.

Book Review: Lew Archer Takes The Case

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

The Archer Files provided me with a welcome introduction to an author I had not read before. This is apparently the definitive collection of short stories by Ross MacDonald that feature his best-known private eye character, Lew Archer.

There are several stories and other material in this volume, so I don’t have the time and patience to analyze each entry. I will just merely recommend for any mystery fans to try this volume out.

There is a rather helpful and interesting biographical profile of Archer written by Tom Nolan, who edits and reviews crime fiction and apparently has done a thorough account of MacDonald in the past. I guess he is one of these experts in crime fiction. He seems to be a pretty good writer in his own right. I had no real issues with his introduction.

There are a dozen short stories that follow. Some are better than others, as one would expect, however none stand out as being really bad. Archer himself is pretty typical of other fictional, hard-boiled, protagonists of the era of the early Cold War days and the subsequent decades. He is does have a cool blend of toughness and intelligence. Archer is no slouch when it comes to his knowledge of literature and culture, but he’s certainly no push-over. He is a likable enough hero, and I will likely peruse a novel or two before long.

A somewhat more intriguing feature of this volume is a section known as the Case Notes. These are stories that MacDonald started and either just not finished or recycled the ideas into other works. It was interesting and a little annoying t the same time in that there were several stories that I was really wanting to know the resolution.

I am not sure that Ross MacDonald really broke much new ground in the genre at the time of his publications, but I can certainly see how he earned whatever acclaim he enjoyed during his lifetime. MacDonald died in 1983, and his real name was Kenneth Miller.

MacDonald certainly was not lacking in his writing talent. From what little research I did, it does seem that MacDonald has held in quite high esteem in the world of crime fiction, and as near as I can tell from my so far limited exposure to his works, that reverence from his peer seems pretty justified.

I am moving on to another highly regarded, long-standing crime writer who is still very much alive and quite prolific. It has been a couple of years, but I think it’s time to revisit Easy Rawlins as he gets himself into a bit more trouble with A Red Death by the formidable Walter Mosley.

Book Review: Myron Nets A Killer

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Drop Shot by Harlan Coben is a pretty engaging and straight-forward murder mystery featuring that sleuthing sports agent, Myron Bolitar. It was first published in 1996 and is the second novel in the series with Bolitar as the protagonist.

Bolitar is representing a rising star in the realm of professional tennis when another former player is gunned down just outside a stadium where an important match was being played. Bolitar had missed a recent message from this young woman named Valerie Simpson, who was wanting some assistance to return to competitive tennis. She is murdered with a few yards of where Myron was seated watching his client dominate the court alongside his mysterious and dangerous best friend, Windsor Horne Lockwood III, known as Win. Win is described by a belligerent police detective as a psycho yuppie. Win has no discernible conscience or sense of mercy when crossed. He is a financial guru and enjoys the finer things in life, but he is capable of the most brutal forms of vengeance when he or Myron is threatened.

Anyway, Bolitar finds himself drawn to the investigation of Valerie’s murder when he learns that he has a talent for investigation. He has a small but successful business as a sports agent, but he has an eclectic, small group of allies and a nose for trouble.

Bolitar is an interesting and likable protagonist, but Win is the most fascinating of sidekicks. Their friendship also seems unlikely in many ways, but sometimes relationships are like that.

Bolitar’s sense of integrity when representing his clients seems a little too good to be true, but I liked Coben’s optimism in his description. I hope there are sports agent who actually care about their clients’ well-being in real life.

The murder of Valerie Simpson seems to have some roots tied to another murder six years before that concerned the con of United States senator. Bolitar finds himself coming across mob bosses, a corrupt senator, and a troublesome detective in his pursuit of the truth.

Coben planted some pretty well thought out red herrings in the plot. Although it is fairly easy to tell how early this novel is in Coben’s now lengthy writing career, it is still quite engaging. There is little about Coben’s writing style that seems uncommon among his peers in this genre, but the novel is competently written and is enjoyable.

Coben has rightfully earned the success he enjoys. He does seem to give his readers a credible glimpse in the world of professional sports. I still have yet to figure out how the scoring in tennis actually works, but I do seem a little better understanding how the business side of that industry works.

I have yet to read this series in order, so I have to fill in some gaps on my own. I recently read a more recent Bolitar novel, so I am not quite following the progression of this guy’s life journey all that well.

Drop Shot may fall short of any real literary excellence, but it does accomplish the purpose of entertaining and keeping the audience in suspense quite effectively. It’s a pretty good mystery, and I will join Myron Bolitar on another unlikely investigation in the near future.

I can’t get enough of misdeeds and murder in my literary indulgences, so I am going to try out the works of a more classic crime writer that I have never read before. I am going to peruse The Archer Files, which is a collection of short stories written by Ross MacDonald and features his best-known creation, private eye Lew Archer. This anthology was compiled by MacDonald’s biographer, Tom Nolan, who also has what I am sure will be a fascinating essay and overview of Archer’s exploits.

Book Review: London Is All Grown Up

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Edward Rutherford’s London is quite a literary feat with a page count that is over eleven hundred. It’s a great showcase for Rutherford’s prose style.

Rutherford takes his readers back to the time of Julius Caesar and creates several families as his vessels for exploring the rise and development of the great city of London. He creates quite a tapestry of historical events and personal struggles experienced by his numerous characters in his narrative.

Although this novel was not without moments of sluggishness in the plot, it is still an enjoyable reading experience on the whole. It was pretty thrilling to come across some of the historical events I recognized as not being that well-remembered. There are a lot of threads of which to keep track, and the sudden shifts in perspective kind of made things a little tricky.

There is no question that Rutherford is a talented storyteller. He also seems to have done an impressive amount of research which is laid out quite nicely.

It is a daunting book for many people, and I struggled a bit with retention of certain aspects of the novel. I think that may be more of an issue with my attention span rather than any downfall of the author.

I usually read simpler novels for my leisure time, but I like to challenge myself a couple of times a year at least, and London did satisfy that prescription. Even though I had some hurtles throughout the experience, I did enjoy the book and would recommend further examination of his other works. It may be a little while before I circle back to Mr. Rutherford, but I have no plans to avoid his other works. I was rather pleased with being able to take this on and stick with it.

I think it’s time to draw Harlan Coben out of the reading queue with Drop Shot, which features that sleuthing sports agent, Myron Bolitar.

Book Review: Holly Has Someone to Find And Has To Play For Keeps

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Stephen King continues his literary reign of terror in Holly, which was first published in 2023. King revisits a character who was first introduced in what is known as the Bill Hodges trilogy which began with Mr. Mercedes.

Holly Gibney has inherited the Finders Keepers Detective Agency from her friend and mentor, Bill Hodges. She is coping with her mother’s death from COVID and learns some troubling secrets that were kept from her. A desperate mother has shown up at her office and wants to hire her to locate her missing daughter. The investigation places Holly on a collision course with two very old, very strange professors with horrific appetites. Rodney and Emily Harris are trying to stave off the consequences and ravages of old age and are testing out some troubling theories to do just that. Holly has already faced down some monstrous killers, but the Harrises may indeed the most horrific of the bunch.

King has indicated a deep affection for this character and is featuring her in an upcoming novel. I am, not quite as enamored with this one at first, but as the confrontation with the Harrises comes to a head, King still has me rooting for her. I had some trouble staying interested in this one for a while, however I got a bit more engage when Holly picks up their trail, and it was becoming clearer as to what the Harrises were actually doing.

King does make some of his political leanings a bit more obvious than I remember him doing in previous works, so that was also a little distracting. I, of course, know he and I would disagree sharply on many issues including decisions made during the COVID lockdowns, but I do believe him to be a talented and interesting writer.

King is good enough to keep me from actually hating his novels, and Holly herself shows some grit that I ended up ultimately respecting.

I don’t consider this to be one of King’s greatest efforts, but the climax of the story was just exciting enough to keep me from hating it. There is even some hope that I will end up liking Holly Gibney a bit more if I decide to read her next adventure.

So, the unending literary journey continues with a more recent voice as I return to the imagination of Freida McFadden through the pages of Never Lie.

Book Review: A Most Peculiar Adoption

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

Unto Us a Son Is Given by Donna Leon is not one of the better novels featuring Venetian Commissario Guido Brunetti. It was first published in 2019.

Brunetti is invited by his father-in–law to a drink because he wants to lay out a concern over an old friend. An elderly art connoisseur in Venice is wanting to adopt a young man, and there does not appear to be much of a rational explanation for this move. Brunetti is asked to look into it and see if this young man has any trouble in his past. Brunetti agrees to take a look into it even though this isn’t his usual type of investigation. The old man drops dead in the street leaving the young stranger as an heir to his estate. Brunetti is back on familiar territory when another friend of the old man’s is strangled to death. He finds that the people in his life have more complicated pasts than even he realizes.

Leon describes the setting of Venice in loving and captivating detail. Brunetti is a pretty interesting protagonist with a stable family life.

Leon’s prose style is certainly distinctive and more than adequately displays her natural talent.

The problem I have with this novel is that it really seems to take a while for anything that interesting. The first death doesn’t occur until around halfway through the book. The murder takes a bit longer. It’s just kind of a slow book.

The plot itself is rather interesting, but it just takes too long to get moving. Leon herself is still a writer worth checking out, and I am sure it will not be too long before I look in on Guido Brunetti, his family, and fellow police officers.

The next selection on the reading queue is Holly by Stephen King.

Book Review: Chief Inspector Gamache Finds The Devils Even In Paris

~ Peter Kanelis ~ Leave a comment

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny is an intriguing entry into her mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, who would usually be investigating all manner of violent wrongdoings in Quebec. This time, murder strikes his family vacation in Paris, and Gamache finds that he is never really off duty, especially when the devils strike too close to home.

“Hell is empty, and all the devils are here” is a line from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and I think Penny has struck gold with the title of this particular thriller. She also been writing about Gamache and his family for a lot of years. Although this is my first indulgence with this series, I elected to jump in with one of the more recent installments, so the background is not immediately clear to me.

The trouble starts off when Gamache’s ninety-three-year-old godfather, Stephen Horowitz, is struck down in the street and is sent into a coma in front of the other family members. Gamache and his wife find a key to a ritzy hotel suite where they find a body. Apparently, Horowitz has been keeping some dangerous secrets over his many decades, and it’s unclear as if he is on the side of the angels or the devils. Gamache and his whole family, some of whom have moved to Paris from Quebec, face suspicion from the Parisian investigators. Gamache finds that there may be a deep corruption rotting the souls of those he should trust the most.

Penny is without question a talented writer, and she has created a very likable character that deserves to endure through several more novels.

Her description of Paris is quite compelling. I like the family dynamics even if Gamache has an unexplained estrangement with his son, which does actually get explained in this entry. Gamache is a tough dude, but he does have a unique sensitivity not often found in many crime fiction protagonists. I love his fierce loyalty to his family and his unwavering devotion to his son, Daniel, even when there is some reason to question his intentions.

I had a little trouble following the story because there were some flashback moments that were a little hard to follow at times. Specifically, the climax of the story was apparently not related sequentially.

I also had some trouble because much of the past capers were referenced, and I was missing some context, but that was probably more due to my erratic reading habits than any fault of Penny’s.

Anyway, this is a perfectly enjoyable thriller, although the reader would probably get more out of reading the series in order. I may not follow my own advice on that, but I can pretty much guarantee that this is not my last foray into the works of Louise Penny.

It has been a while, but I think it’s time to take a literary journey to Venice and check in on Commissario Guido Brunetti who has another murder to solve in Donna Leon’s Unto Us a Son Is Given.