Killer Deadline

Lauren Carr writes stand alone cozy mysteries. I have to wonder, though, if Killer Deadline is the beginning of a series as the front cover references "a Nikki Bryant cozy mystery."  The characters are perfect for one and the main character has a job as a TV news station owner, which will give her a good reason for being an amateur sleuth.  Add in Nikki's photogenic "ugly" dog and you have the ingredients for a perfect series.

This awesome story begins with Nikki's return to Pine Grove, Pennsylvania after working as a journalist for several years in Las Vegas and Washington, D.C. With her mother's decision to retire from the news business, Nikki comes home to take over the station that her father began over thirty years ago.  Soon after her arrival Nikki finds the dead body of her news anchor Ashleigh Addison, who is also her childhood rival.  The night before her death, Ashleigh was at a party to welcome Nikki where Ashleigh stated that she would be airing live an explosive news story the next day.  The question for the police and for Nikki  is whether her news story is connected to the murder of Nikki's father in his office at the station.  

Killer Deadline was an enjoyable read. It is a modern cozy with accomplished, power hungry women. Ashleigh is the traditional female character who cares more about appearances than substance. The fact that she is the novel's victim is telling for me.  I would expect the aggressive female character to be the victim in a cozy.  I like to see this connection to the modern world. 

The plot was a straightforward murder mystery.  It moved fast with the murder of Nikki's father taking precedence over Ashleigh's murder. I love it when the mystery formula is followed faithfully. Of course, you can never go wrong by using a dog as a character. 

5 out of 5 stars!

The Grand Odalisque

Carole and Alex are childhood friends who become partners in crime.  They specialize in art thefts and have been working as a team for nine years.  The story begins with them successfully pulling off the theft of a painting at the Musee D'orsay in Paris. After a deserved vacation, they receive a request to steal a painting from the highly secured Louvre Museum. The Grand Odalisque is a painting done by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Odalisque means concubine and that is the subject matter of this artwork and, hence, the title of the comic.  The mission is quite daring because it must be done during daytime. Knowing that they will need a third assistant to pull off this assignment, they hire a third person for their team as well as a diplomat's son who also happens to be an arms dealer.  

The relationship between Carole and Alex is just as prominent as the heist itself.  The two women have different personalities and strengths but also recognize this difference.  They are able to rely on each other's strengths in order to get the job done. Some times it becomes problematic. For instance, when the heist at the Musee D'orsay is occurring, Alex is not able to help Carole because her boyfriend is dumping her via a text message.  The two authors of this comic are men. Would a female writer allow this to happen?  

This is a fun, short book of 125 pages and brightly colored illustrations. Bastien Veves illustrated the comic. 5 out of 5 stars.

Can't Wait Wednesday #2

The Can't Wait Wednesday meme is hosted by Tressa at the Wishful Endings blog. Here, you write a post about a book you want to read, preferably one that hasn't been published yet. 

One of my favorite authors has a new book coming out on March 1, 2021. Ellen Crosby's 11th wine country cozy mystery, The French Paradox, adds an historical aspect to the plot, a first for the series.  Our main character Lucie Montgomery, owner of a Virginia vineyard, discovers that her grandfather had a romantic relationship with Jackie Kennedy Onassis in 1949 during Jackie's junior year abroad in Paris. During her time in Paris, Jackie purchased several paintings of Marie Antoinette by an unknown artist. These paintings suddenly appear for sale in the present time.

From what I have read about this novel I gather that this is also an art mystery. In addition, it also seems that Lucy's grandfather will be more prominent than Lucy herself. What confuses me is that the earlier books in the series have always been straight murder mystery novels where the murder occurs in Lucy's vineyard. Lucy's disability has also been featured prominently in the series. She has a mobility impairment from an auto accident and needs to use a cane. How all these issues become tied together will be interesting to discover. I hope that this installment of the series won't be a disappointment. Other authors I read who crank out a book year after year tend to get bored with their series and change the formula for the genre as well as the setting of the books. It usually doesn't turn out well but we will see how Crosby's newest novel reads. Perhaps there is a murder somewhere in the plot and maybe the vineyard will be the spot for all of the action. I will have to wait for March to find out.

Deliberate Duplicity

Deliberate Duplicity is David Rohlfing's debut novel. It is the first installment of the Sasha Frank Mysteries, a police procedural series. The author is a retired businessman and I am blown away at his ability to craft a magnificent novel with no prior work in the writing world. Deliberate Duplicity will keep you up at night reading until you finish the book. It grabbed me from the first chapter mainly because it takes place somewhere I used to live but the suspenseful chapter endings grabbed my attention too.

When bodies begin to appear along the Constitution Trail in the Bloomington Normal twin cities, detective Sasha Frank is assigned to investigate.  The killer has a particular method of staging the bodies.  He/she poses them in a park with their eyelids glued open and he kills every ten days.  The book is more a howdunnit that a whodunnit.  The police cannot find decent clues to the killer's identity until the fifth death occurs.  What the readers sees in this book are the meticulous methods used in investigating a homicide. 

It was interesting to see the strange way that the serial killer set up the murders to avoid getting caught.  The reader gets a glimpse into the mind of a serial killer as the book is written from the point of view of both the police and the killer. The book does not follow the traditional serial killer formula. Most of these type of books begin with establishing the main character and then show a sequence of unsolved crimes.  Normally there is an unrelated subplot but there wasn't one here.  However, the usual bureaucracy in a police department is shown in the novel.  

If you like serial killer novels, this one is for you.  4 out of 5 stars.

Now and Then Stab

Now and Then Stab is the seventh Francis Bacon Mystery novel by Anna Castle.  I thought that the series ended a few years ago when The Spymaster's Brother was published in 2019. However, it will continue. The eighth book in the series will be published in 2022.

The story opens in the Spring of 1593 when a ballad promoting violence against immigrants is found posted on the Dutch Church door in the center of London. After the Lord Mayor promises a 100 crown reward to the person who can identifiy the author, Tom Clarady begins to investigate. He needs that money in order to file legal papers to assert his livery in the Court of Wards.  Tom interviews poets while his patron Francis Bacon analyzes the verse. At first, this investigation is solely about collecting the reward. After two of Britain's best poets are targeted, both are killed. One of them dies after being tortured for information and the other dies under dubious circumstances. Christopher Marlowe, one of Tom's friends from his Cambridge University days, is killed after starting a brawl in a pub. However, Tom doesn't believe Marlowe started the fight and thinks he was murdered.

This novel is one of the best in the series. The period is, as usual, meticulously researched. Our real-life Francis Bacon was at odds with Queen Elizabeth in 1593. The author wrote this fact into her novel to add to its authenticity. English poet Marlowe was, likewise, killed in a bar room brawl. These facts are only background information to the plot, which moved forward quickly. 

The characters are lovable, even the stern Francis Bacon.  I love how their lives advance significantly with each novel.  Here, Francis is about to receive the promotion he has longed for and Tom's love affair with Alice "Trumpet" Trumpington continues after her marriage.  Tom, Trumpet and Tom's university friends provide lightweight fare while Francis Bacon's serious demeanor offers a contrast.

Another great installment of the series!  5 out of 5 stars.

One by One

 

One by One is a modern locked room mystery, offering technology with old-fashioned suspense.  Locked room mysteries consist of a key set of ingredients: a fixed location, a fixed set of characters and a murder or two.  There is a striking aspect to this novel which I doubt the author intended as it must have been written before its 2020 publication date.  The characters, as well as the readers, are confined in isolation.  Sound like a pandemic? 

The publisher's summary of the plot:

"When the co-founder of Snoop, a trendy London based tech startup, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other:  PowerPoint presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes.  But as soon as one shareholder sends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. Even worse, one Snooper hasn't made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.  As each hour cases without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further . . . one by one."

I loved this book! There were a few hiccups, though. There are nine major characters in the novel.  Initially, it was hard to remember who was who. Once I got them all firmly set in my mind, I could not put the book down. The suspense was riveting. Another hiccup is that the story is told from the point of view of two characters. I could not tell the difference between them because their personalities were similar. I am not sure why the author wrote the story in this way but these points of view didn't make a difference in how the plot unfolded. However, the suspense was ratcheted up high and it carried the novel. 

I will definitely be reading more of Ware.  4 out of 5 stars.

Vendetta

Vendetta is another fantastic historical mystery by Christine De Melo, this one set in Venice in 1570. The publisher has summarized it best:  "Under the guise of "Beto," seventeen-year-old Isabetta Bastian runs her father's successful shipping business. Her older brother sails their commercial galley between Venice and Lisbon, exporting exotic spices obtained by the Portugese.  A heinous crime shatters her ideal life and a risky attempt to save the family business ends in failure.  Now, Isabetta is forced to live with the harsh consequences.  Resentment brews until she seeks the advice of her sophisticated neighbor, Veronica Franco.  With the savvy courtesan's help, Isabetta devises a scheme to avenge her loved ones but will her fall from grace be worth a brilliant vendetta?"

There is a lesson for everyone here.  While at one time or another we all plan to get revenge against someone, the courtesan's advice to Isabetta is insightful: can you accept the outcome of your revenge?  I don't think our Isabetta understood what the fallout would be of her plan to avenge her murdered father and brother. She was just seventeen and had no real life experiences yet as she has been sheltered by her parents.  As with most of De Melo's novels, Isabetta is a woman with a desire to have a man's job, something seemingly impossible during the Renaissance period of time.  It is a theme I never get tired of reading about.  In Vendetta, Isabetta's dream of working in the shipping business is affected in a myriad of ways be her vendetta.  Yes, you reap what you sow.

5 out of 5 stars!