“The Mayonnaise Murders” by Keith A. Owens

With apologies to the author, it took me longer than it should have to review this novel and, as always, it’s the best ones that are delayed.

Publication Date: September 24, 2012

Problem solver Vid and Vee the Reporter, both critters, happen upon a very dead human Johnny Beardy. Notable upon Beardy’s body is mayonnaise, which has been illegal for years on Planet 10 as it becomes a potent drug when mixed with an unnamed chemical. What develops is a deep plot of revenge that has Vid and Vee traveling the universe and landing in Colorado. Will they do the right or the easy thing?

“Chicken revenge is a serious thing.” (Kindle location 673)

As serious as chicken revenge may be, The Mayonnaise Murders isn’t. Owens novel was a whacky and off the wall read that isn’t for everyone. David joined me on this adventure only to abandon the novel a few chapters in saying that he “just didn’t get it”. If you think everything that you read should be relatable, this may not be the book for you. If you like good fun, cheesy plotlines and wisecracking characters, The Mayonnaise Murders is the novel for you. As we know, Jasper Fforde is my favorite author and the novel that locked in my love for him was one in which Jack Spratt of fairy tale glory was a detective of fairy tale creatures. “The Mayonnaise Murders” rejoices the absurd. Told in the snappy patter of a 50s’ PI movie and from the perspective of Vid, the narrative resonates with wisecracks worthy of Jim Rockford.

Owens doesn’t bog us down in expansive detail about his world and how it began. He gives us exactly what we need so that the novel has a filled-out feel of setting and time. The author assumes that we as readers are smart enough to extrapolate the rest. To do anything else would not have been true to the Vid character. Vid is moving forward, always. Vee has a vested interest in finding out about the mayonnaise as she and MayoMadd have a complicated history that has taken her from the “Very Very” (she is the daughter of a noted and successful scientist) to the streets of Planet 10. Owens very cleverly expands her back-story without weighing the readers down with information they don’t need to solve the crime and keep the story-line moving.

Due to the snappy patter in which Owen writes, The Mayonnaise Murders is a very fast moving tale infused with wonderful pop culture references. Cops are keystones, the Beatles are remembered and appreciated, the Weekly World News is alive and well. Vid and Vee have a kind of Maddie and David thing going on (“Moonlighting”). All of the elements brought together makes for a very interesting and fun read that doesn’t take itself too seriously. That’s not to say that there’s not something of a hidden message in the light-hearted text. If you’re going to look down on folks, how quick will they be to help you when you need it?

Even if you’re not into sci-fi, give it a shot. The Mayonnaise Murders is a brilliantly tongue in cheek mystery sure to please a lot of fans. Originally sold in a serial three-novel format, The Mayonnaise Murders can now be purchased in one complete edition and that edition is linked here.

If this sounds like a book for you, you can order it through Amazon.com by clicking on the image or book title anywhere in this review. Links for Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk appear below.

For more information about Keith A. Owens, follow the links below:

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6564454.Keith_A_Owens?auto_login_attempted=true

Twitter: @Kaoblues

“A Song Apart” by Jeffery H. Baer

Publication Date: March 15, 2011

Kevin Derow is a college student whose guilty pleasure is the music of rising bubblegum pop star, Shannon Kistler. When Shannon sees him wearing her concert t-shirt on a Manhattan street, she shouts out to him starting a chain of events leading to love and exposing a shady scheme that could threaten them both.

There is vibrancy to the way Baer writes. His characters are alive, breathing and vital. Kevin is a kid who feels out of place in his own life. When we meet him, Kevin is going through a day in of classes and the things kids do in college where he’s wearing a t-shirt featuring Shannon Kistler, a songstress that he likes and that so baffles everyone around him. Shannon is comparable to Demi Lovato or Veronica in that she’s the sort of pop star 10-year-old girls love. A girl from one of his classes stops him on his way out and asks about the shirt, his younger siblings outright ridicule him. On his way home he meets a homeless man who asks him for change. Kevin apologizes for not having anything to give him, and the man goes into a monologue that foreshadows what is to come in the story. The homeless man tells Kevin, You don’t gotta be sorry for nothin’. People always gettin’ into trouble ‘cause they sorry for stuff they can’t control… (Kindle location 70).

When Kevin and Shannon get together the objections to their relationship are downright unreasonable. I wondered while reading, if Baer was using this text as a commentary about how much society is in our daily life and how little they really should be. Kevin’s boss, Dan, instructs him not to wear the shirt again because his co-workers won’t take him seriously but in a real world sense, does it matter what he’s wearing when he works in the sort of job he does?

As much as I liked Kevin, I found Shannon to be a caricature. She was well written, likable and worked well in the story-line but 100 authors writing a character sketch of a pop star could have come up with the same character. She is a spokesperson for Autism and Aspergers and we’re left with a sense that perhaps one of the characters is suffering from Aspergers Syndrome but the answer is left hanging. I would have liked to have known more.

A Song Apart is less a love story and more a human story. I was surprised to learn that Baer is a first-time novelist. His narrative style and plotting speak of a practiced hand. Each scene is a stepping stone to the next in a very logical sense.

To order this novel from Amazon.com, simply click on the image or title anywhere in this review. Links to the novel on Amazon.ca and Amazon.co.uk are below.

To learn more about this author, follow the links below:

Website: http://www.jeffreyhbaer.com/home.html

Twitter: @jbaer10314

“Business as Usual” by E.L. Lindley

Publication Date: October 9, 2011

Documentary film-maker, Georgie Connelly, has been getting death threats since an expose about a white supremacist group sent some of it member to jail. To complicate matters, Georgie is forced to revisit her teaching past and serve community service at a high school after a charge of drinking and driving. Georgie is on the brink of madness and the start of a new project about strip clubs when James Finn enters her life. The handsome, strapping, ex-Marine is just out of the military and hesitant to take on his new babysitting assignment. When one of Georgie’s students goes missing James and Georgie investigate pulling them into a world they never wanted to know. Can they stay alive long enough to find out what happened to the young girl?

DISCLAIMER: As you read this review, it will sound as though I didn’t like this novel. I did like it very much. The things that I highlight – though consistent in the narrative were minor and only distracted this reader temporarily.

Business As Usual (The Georgie Connelly Stories) can stand up proudly against any novel of its genre.

The first thing I did upon finishing Business As Usual (The Georgie Connelly Stories) was to head over to E.L. Lindley’s biography page. Georgie is a British ex-pat living in LA. The author still resides in England which led to this reader to wonder why she chose the characters and setting she did. Eric, a Georgia native, says things like “Well, there’s no point in tossing blame about” (Kindle location 1291). Los Angeles inner city kid, Josh, uses terms like “straight away.” Very BBC America but not the way someone from Georgia or inner city LA speaks. These are just two of the many examples. One could argue that James and Eric have interacted in the course of their military careers internationally and may have picked up dialect especially in light of the fact that they want to distance themselves from their Georgia roots but neither is constructed as the sort who would employ that pretension. Once I forced myself to take a deep breath and get beyond this issue in the narrative, the story was a very good one.

Georgie starts out typical of female characters of the genre. She is self-absorbed and impatient. She has an almost unnaturally short temper. Georgie figuratively stomps her feet and is irrationally hostile with James but once we settled into the story, the spark between them turns into something more interesting and believable. Both are carrying world-trip kind of baggage and Georgie soon shows us within the story-line that she knows which of James buttons to push and that she will one day come to a point where she just loves pushing them. In one scene the pair is interrogating the client with extreme good cop/bad cop which is hilariously well-connected. Don’t expect Lindley to show her hand in Business As Usual (The Georgie Connelly Stories). Lindley brilliantly builds excitement around the Georgie character to carry the reader further into the series.

Business As Usual (The Georgie Connelly Stories) suffers a bit from the first book syndrome. We are getting to know the characters as the author does. She gives us their rather extensive backstories and quirks brought on by experiences in their past. There are very slight editing and POV issues. Georgie realizes something about herself and then we switch to James who is also realizing that about Georgie. While perhaps designed to show us how in-tune the couple are, the POV switch when the main characters are together often comes off as needlessly repetitive.

Business As Usual (The Georgie Connelly Stories) is a light and fun read. There’s blood, gore and violence but Georgie and company are busy people and as the reader is carried through Georgie’s life the harsher elements seem less so. I will definitely be picking up the next novel in the Georgie Connelly series and recommend this novel for any of my readers that enjoy mysteries usually thought of as “cozy.” Georgie is tenacious and strong with a fabulous support system and is simply good fun to read.

The Georgie Connelly series currently has two other titles available for purchase. Book 2 is titled The Ties That Bind (The Georgie Connelly Stories) and Book 3 is The Righteous Path (The Georgie Connelly Stories). You can purchase them or Business As Usual (The Georgie Connelly Stories)by clicking on the title.

For more information about E.L. Lindley and the Georgie Connelly series, follow the links below:

Twitter: ">@LindleyE

Website: http://ellindley.weebly.com/index.html

“Death in Bagheria” by Susan Russo Anderson

Publication Date: December 6, 2012

Its 1870 and Serafina is a Sicilian midwife who is well known for solving crimes. Dismissive aristocrat, Sister Genoveffa, believes her mother has been murdered and hires Serafina to look into the case. Serafina travels to Sicily’s Gold Coast to investigate but will she be able to stay alive long enough to unmask the killer?

Death In Bagheria (A Serafina Florio Mystery) is the third novel in the Serafina Florio series.

I came into this novel a fan of historical work. David did not. I bought the entire series and did what I normally do when buying mystery novels; I sent them to my Dad’s Kindle. Last night when discussing what I’d read for review, we discovered that the novel I was set to review today was the one he’d read as my Mom drove the 12 hours north to our home.

David and I found the book captivating. Serafina is a good character and well written. Though Death In Bagheria (A Serafina Florio Mystery) is the third novel in the series, the story easily held up as an introduction to the character and the world in which she lives. Serafina is clearly a character the authors knows well and is able to write without the awkwardness that can often accompany a first novel as an author develops the character. David was inspired to read the rest of the series so stay tuned with his thoughts as to if the character grew or was strong from the start.

Some of the characters seemed to rely on rote but most were seemingly very well thought out and developed. Serafina has a complex relationship with many of the characters and yet there wasn’t a feeling of repetition between them. They were all very uniquely strained and delicately balanced in a way that made all simply more interesting to read.

Death In Bagheria (A Serafina Florio Mystery) has a very specific feel of place and time. Often with historical fiction you can take the story out of it’s setting and just change the date and the feel of the story hasn’t changed. Not so with this novel. I don’t know if Russo has deeply researched the time period in Sicily as I’m not familiar with that era of history in the era but there’s a true feel to the way she’s written the location as a second main character. Like the great Canadian detective show, “Murdoch Mysteries” (set at the turn of the 20^th century), the feel of the novel is very period piece in a way that I loved but David found as a spice to the real prize – the mystery.

The mystery was complex and the writing style intense. Anderson pulls few punches. Serafina is not a perfect person and not a perfect detective but she’s in there tenaciously working hard. She is mother to seven children and in no way a perfect parent. She’s widowed and still young and looking for romance and finds it with an old flame. David found the romance aspect of the novel needless but truly enjoyed the mystery. I found that the romance added flair to the mystery, as did the very real nature of Serafina and her time in her longing for companionship.

This is a great read for mystery fans. David was inspired to read the series from the start and is currently reading the first Serafina Florio mystery. I don’t know when I’ll have time but would also love to read them straight through and experience a little vacation in Sicily.

For more information about the author, visit Susan Russo Anderson’s website: http://susanrussoanderson.com

“Tutti Frutti” by Mike Faricy

Publication Date: March 7, 2013

Dev Haskall is back in a new mystery! Dev is asked to investigate the owners of a nightclub and falls for Candi Slaughter, one of the waitresses at the joint. As before things kind of happen around Dev and he finds himself mixed up with the mob and questioned by the police. Is someone out to frame Dev?

Tutti Frutti is the fifth Dev Haskall mystery by author Mike Faricy.

I previously reviewed the third Dev Haskall novel, Bite Me. I called Dev a cross between Stephanie Plum and Jim Rockford (or an exceptionally self absorbed person who gets beat up a lot). I also mentioned Faircy’s tendency to write women as either model thin or extra-large coffin fat. In Tutti Frutti Dev drops the Stephanie Plum aspect of his description. He’s more humanly accessible. He still gets beaten up and put upon and the story drives Dev rather than him driving the story.

The result of this more human and less douchebaggy Dev is my favorite outing by Faricy so far. The writing style is tighter, the plotting more focused on story and less on Dev. Tutti Frutti is a fabulous mystery cozy that will stand with some of my favorite mystery authors. This is quality writing and plotting, folks.

Back to torture Dev is his adversary in the police department, Detective Norris Manning. The not always so innocent Dev is usually the victim of Manning’s harassment and in Tutti Frutti Dev is pulled in for every bump and bruise sustained by all members of the literary cast and questioned thoroughly by Manning who seems to have nothing better to do than grill Dev like a fresh fish. When Dev gets mixed up with the aptly named former porn star, Swindle, and her former agent suffers certain injustices, Dev seems a natural candidate for guilt. The classic misdirection from Faricy is beautifully done and once again we’re presented with a novel that’s about the journey and not the destination.

Louie Laufan also returns as Dev’s office-mate and lawyer (who narrowly escaped disbarment). Louie is very busy with his gangster clients in Tutti Frutti. The Tutti Frutti is an S&M club owned by one of Louie’s clients and is a great step into a world outside of Dev’s own. I think I’d react as he did to the environment.

The end result is that the reader feels they’ve read something fun and worthwhile. Faricy himself sees it a novel of “no great social value.” I disagree. I read it beginning to end and loved every moment. If you like Virgil Flowers, you will love Dev Haskall.

Want to know more about the author? Follow the links below.

Twitter: @MikeFaricyBooks

Facebook: Mike Faricy

Website: http://www.mikefaricy.com/

“The Red Suitcases: An Inspector Castle Investigation” by Lyndsey Norton

Publication Date: October 12, 2012

Inspector Rebecca Castle has a full plate. With terrorist, Fakesh, in town, Geoff marrying a woman she’s sure if after her money and her husband on leave from Iraq. Can she juggle her busy life and stop a terrorist who is leaving red suitcases in transportation terminals?

The Red Suitcases: An Inspector Castle Investigation is the third novel in the Rebecca Castle series.

On Amazon this novel is classified “thriller/suspense.” I would have thought that it realistically falls within the cozy mystery category. The main character is a detective but the primary focus seems less mystery and more daily life.

Rebecca’s husband, who she doesn’t seem to know well, has returned from Iraq and they’re on a getaway together when she’s called away due to a suspected terrorist threat. What follows is a lot of sex and daily life. From time to time Rebecca is called into the mystery storyline but those breaks are less common than the tracing of bare skin and erotic kisses.

The dynamic between the main characters tends toward the petulant and catty. Characters talk about how snooty Geoff’s potential bride is and how she’s after his money never having met her. There is a scene in which the husband has a nightmare in which he’s having sex with the bridesmaid sister when Rebecca walks in and shoots the woman. The woman in question is one neither have met and both assume that she will be licentiously after Rebecca’s husband. When they actually meet the sister its clear that the nightmare scene does not serve a purpose within the storyline beyond leading into further intimacy between the two main characters.

Inspector Castle is a bit fabulous. She can shoot a grenade launcher and hit a mark, she solves a case with ease and she turns her husband on like no other woman ever has.

This novel has a market. There are people who love the heavy-handed personal life aspect. They like seeing a character being a human and shopping at Sainsburys. I thought this novel was mmmmmkay. This is not a series that I will pursue. If what you see above sounds pretty good, you should head over and pick it up.

“Murder and Other Distractions” by Michael Estrin

Publication Date: September 5, 2012

Ethan runs into the Girl Who Got Away with her new boyfriend at a Taco Stand. The next day the woman and her boyfriend are dead and Ethan is the prime suspect according to raw bulldoggish, Detective Boyd. Can Ethan avoid taking the fall for a crime he didn’t commit? Or did he?

Helen Smith, an Amazon reviewer, calls Murder and Other Distractions a slacker comedy. There is no better descriptor for this novel which could have been sub-titled “What Ethan did while being investigated for murder.” In a novel rife with hipster philosophy, Ethan is the guy looking toward his next sexual encounter and hit on the joint.

I really enjoyed this novel. The writing style smacked of Tim Dorsey. Light and airy while hitting the essential high points to take a pause and say, “Hey, someone was killed, back on track.” I laughed out loud several times during this read from Ethan, who is the worst pot buyer in the world visiting the worst pot dealer in the world to the sarcastically cynical observations of life in Los Angeles, Murder and Other Distractions was a truly entertaining read.

Boyd was a little much. He was loud, crass, and heavily confrontational. When we met Ethan’s lawyer he was much the same and then it occurred to me that Ethan is telling us this story. It’s like that friend who is telling you a story and relays being pulled over with super confrontational cop. That’s not how it really happened, but that’s how they see it. Ethan is a writer so he is more sophisticated in style than the friend. I will admit, I could be over-thinking this book.

The ending makes sense but doesn’t really matter. Just ask Ethan who debates meaning vs matter throughout the story-line.

Ethan refers to “Seinfeld” more than once in the narrative and this is a novel of all Costanzas and no Jerrys. A lack of Jerry is okay for me because I never liked him. The plot flow is passage of time rather than event to event. There are reviews that say that Ethan is an accurate representation of 20-somethings today. I would hope not. That Ethans are the wave of the future scares me but he does come out of the other side changed. Changed for good or bad, I’ll let you decide.

Murder and Other Distractions is a fun read. It is free on Amazon Kindle today (February 26, 2013). Be sure to check the Kindle price before clicking as Amazon can change the free designation at any time. If you like dark humor and aren’t put off by a little funny filth, pick this one up. Quick, fun and loaded with laughs.

“Dead Man’s Hand” by Luke Murphy

Publication Date: October 10, 2012

Calvin Watters is a former college football star who was badly injured and turned to debt collecting (the kind of debt collecting where they pay or lose a toe) for a bookie in Vegas to make ends meet. When a big time casino owner is killed, Calvin is the natural suspect. Dayle Dayton, a detective with the Las Vegas Police Department, isn’t sure that Calvin is guilty and is willing to give him a shot at finding the real killer. Complicating matters is the hit out on Calvin and his girlfriend. Can Calvin survive the game and clear his name?

For a novel from a first time writer, Dead Man’s Hand was outstanding. It had some problems with over explanation and plotting but if you had given me this novel and not said anything about the author, I’d think that Luke Murphy had been writing for years. The characters are detailed and the storyline takes twists and turns like the pros. There’s nothing wrong with Dead Man’s Hand. So why didn’t I like this novel?

Murphy has either done a great deal of research or had a great deal of life experience. As a former pro hockey player, I would imagine that Murphy has had experiences with the sort of injury that Calvin has sustained whether it is his own injury or teammates’ injury. Calvin’s dilemma is explained in too much detail not to be believed. Murphy gives us information through dialogue but it’s almost like turning on a radio commercial … “You know the department gives you a yearly allowance for weapons! Go with something newer, something sleeker!” (Not a quote from the novel). At the start of the novel, Calvin is “collecting” a debt and the lengths to which he’s gone to just injure a toe seem way out there. I know there’s the intimidation factor but the man is tied to a seat and wetting himself. If you’ve gone to the trouble to abduct him it just seems that you’d do a bit more.

It wasn’t until reading a few other reviews that I realized the problem I likely have with this novel. Trax23 says, “The writing style of Murphy is similar to Patterson, but that’s where the comparison ends.” Murphy’s writing style could be called worse than like James Patterson. Patterson is a highly successful author who really fits, on paper, into the wheelhouse of what I like to read but I just cannot get into his novels. Is it the short chapters? Is it that, like Patterson, Murphy was a journalist and the feeling of the text can be very reporting the news so that the reader feels like they are reading a book of someone reading a book? At the risk of sounding strange, there’s passion in the text but it completely centers around Calvin and doesn’t encompass any of the other characters. Because of the feeling of displacement with the characters, Calvin was the only character with whom I really connected. Lots of people like Patterson and lots will like Murphy as well if they give him a shot.

Dead Man’s Hand is fast paced and graphic (without hitting an edge too far) filled with raw characters. The plot does take turns that the reader won’t see coming. I will not say this often but this is one novel you will have to ignore what I think and give it a try for yourself. It didn’t work for me, but it’s a good writing job that should be out there and should be read. In terms of stars, for me this would be a three-star- novel while for my dad it might earn all 5. I’m going to send it to his Kindle and hopefully update in the coming weeks with what he thought.

“Rip Tide Ultra Glide” by Tim Dorsey

Publication Date: January 22, 2013

Serge and Coleman are back and are filming a reality show down the coast. Patrick and Barbara McDougall are laid off from their jobs in Wisconsin and decide to vacation in Florida, a state that holds fond memories for Patrick as he lived there as young child. Florida isn’t exactly as Patrick remembers. In the meantime, the pain pill market is alive and well in southern Florida and causing a bit of a bloody war. Can the ever-helpful Serge help the McDougalls stay alive along enough to get back to Wisconsin?

The Riptide Ultra-Glide: A Novel is the 18^th book in the Serge Storms series.

Tim Dorsey’s novels are brutally violent. In The Riptide Ultra-Glide: A Novel, one guy lashes another to a post to die in the elements and another crushed with expanding bags of sand and yet another is buried alive. Immediately after these events we meet up with Serge who is high-strung and highly entertaining and his stoner sidekick, Coleman, and the violence doesn’t seem so intense. Balancing Serge is Coleman who whenever the word camera shifts to him is popping a can or taking a hit of coke or popping a vicodin. Each would be a little much but together they’re entertainment.

The Serge Storms series is one that, for the reader to enjoy, suspension of disbelief must be firmly embraced. Serge is firmly an anti-hero. He’s a serial killer who believes that he is exacting balance and fairness on society. He’s also not a careful killer. In The Riptide Ultra-Glide: A Novel Serge is pushed around by a man at an ATM who he then carries around in his trunk, into a home he’s robbing (which he feels he’s performing a helpful service as the owner has died and he’s helping clean out the place for the kids who will put it up for sale) and then dumps him to die in the elements. Any good law enforcement agency these days would have the killer pegged in a second with modern techniques. Jail doesn’t serve Serge’s purpose of making the world a better place so Dorsey doesn’t inflict it on him.

It does take a long time for all of the story-lines to come together in The Riptide Ultra-Glide: A Novel. In the meantime, we have the set-up for the pill scam, Coleman the celebrity, Serge the Florida historian and reality star who is making conflict for the camera, Pat and Bar in their jobs in Wisconsin. Dorsey is an author for whom the story is about the journey and not the end. Serge tells us of a crook who climbs through the vents of a business only to get stuck:

“If your arrest involves a lot of butter, or, even more embarrassing, I Can’t Believe its Not Butter, then you actually need to go to jail, if for nothing else just some hang time to inner-reflect.” (Kindle location 154)

Later in the week my co-worker brought her lunch in an “I Can’t Believe its Not Butter” tub and I laughed and then I was in Wal-Mart in the margarine section and laughed. The Serge Storm books are just THAT kind of novel for me.

There are also some jabs at Michigan that I loved. Like a rock star doing a shout out at a concert, when Dorsey mentioned the Detroit area the inner Tammy yelled, “YEAH!” I absolutely loved The Riptide Ultra-Glide: A Novel. If you like whacky the Serge Storms series is for you. To close this review in Dorsey style, I will have to quote Serge congratulating Coleman:

“Use sunscreen; don’t do heroin … if you could give the entire human rce only one sentence of advice, I think you’ve just nailed it” (Kindle Edition location 3449)

“Severe Clear” by Stuart Woods

Publication Date: September 18, 2012

A government agency monitoring transmissions between Al-Qaeda operatives hears a transmission with two English words – The Arrington. Coincidentally, a hotel named The Arrington that will cater to the rich and famous is opening soon on the grounds of an estate once owned by famous movie star, Vance Calder after whose widow the hotel is named. Stone Barrington, second husband of the late Arrington Calder, sharp-as-a-tack lawyer and general all around ladies’ man finds himself pulled into international intrigue to keep the Presidents of the US and Mexico safe when they grace the hotel with a historic meeting on opening day.

Severe Clear (Stone Barrington) is the 24^th novel in the Stone Barrington series.

I have been on the Stone Barrington train for a long time. A good friend, who has introduced me to a number of great authors, introduced me to the novels of Stuart Woods. I find the reads to be quick and entertaining and the characters mostly light and fun in a sense that you have danger but it’s not too serious. Woods is a true cozy author. The Stone Barrington series was a special favorite a the books were quick and fun. I met with an old friend to find out what woman had dumped him now and what scrape he’d get himself into next.

Things have always been too easy for Stone. He’s an ask for it and it happens kind of guy. No mystery is too deep and difficult that the elements can’t just fall into place. He is the guy who, when recruited by the CIA, chose a manner of investigation that entailed no secrets. “I’m with the CIA” was the first thing he told everyone about himself. This element of Stone is something I relished before these last few books. The last few books are taking easy to a bit of an extreme. Do the baddies need jobs at the hotel? POOF (to borrow from my friend) it’s done. Does some higher up need to know about a guy that he really, logically, wouldn’t know? POOF that’s done!

Add to that the character’s tendency to overshare. If a character asks someone who they are in a book, you’re going to get not only where they were born but where they went to school, their life story. You want to know an ulterior motive that a character has? Just ask and he or she will tell you. In one scene in the book, Harp (the PI) tracks someone likely aiding the terrorists and he not only goes along with what she says but recites his life story and what they were doing as though he had practiced in front of a mirror.

Don’t get me wrong; this was not the worst book I’ve ever read. It was more or less typical Stone. You have a problem and working through the book progresses the problem. We see a crossover to the Holly Barker and possible movement in her story line. Will we see another Holly Barker novel? Things were never so easy for her as they were for Stone. If you’d like a bit of a tougher cookie and real police work, Holly Barker is a series to check out.

One bonus in this book is that we did not see Teddy Fay, who by Wikipedia’s account, has appeared in 4 of Stuart Wood’s series a total of 7 times. He is the baddie who simply cannot be caught – even when it seems he might have been any number of times.

I highly recommend the Stone Barrington series but advise you don’t start with this one. I have enjoyed Stone a great deal but find Severe Clear (Stone Barrington) and the last few books since he married Arrington (despite her eventual departure from the series – already spoiled above) a little lackluster.

On a positive note, we once again got to “see” Stone’s best friend, Dino, naked. A seeming obsession of Woods’ – steak, scotch and naked Dino. We also saw Dino and Stone “interviewing ” new restaurants. Each book started with a visit to Elaines’ but when the real Elaine in New York died, Woods tipped his hat to her and acknowledged her importance in the series as a character based on a real person and place and wrote about that tragic event as well as the need to find a new “home base.”

Stuart Woods’ next Stone Barrington novel, Collateral Damage will be out on January 8, 2013.

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