DADDY'S GIRL by Lisa Scottoline: Natalie Greco, better known as Nat, or as she thinks of herself, "gnat", is a young, timid law professor at the University of Pennsylvania - which happens to be Scottoline's alma mater and her current employer.  Her students don't seem to be too interested in the History of Law class she's teaching, so when a colleague asks her to be a guest lecturer in the law class he teaches at a nearby prison, she agrees.  While they are there, a prison riot breaks out and in the confusion, Nat finds herself trying to save the life of a prison guard who's been stabbed.  His final words are for his wife, and Nat tries to deliver the message but there are a few stumbling blocks along the way: threats, an attempt on her life and an eventual frame up for the murder.  Nat is too much of a meek mouse to make a strong protagonist, and while she often compares herself to Nancy Drew, she just doesn't have that kind of spunk.  Not Scottoline's best.  04/07 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

THE DAMNATION GAME by Clive Barker: In Warsaw, following World War II, there are tales of an unbeatable cardplayer. To play this man is to gamble away your soul and one determined thief is about to do just that. He will learn the truth behind these tales and it will cost him his life. Years later, Marty Strauss is approached by a man named Mr. Toy and offered a deal on behalf of Toy’s employer, Joseph Whitehead. Strauss will serve as Whitehead’s personal bodyguard and, in exchange, he will be excused from the remainder of the prison term he has been serving. Whitehead, a rich and powerful man, has become eccentric since the death of his wife. He has become paranoid and begins to surround himself with security – dogs, cameras, fences, and bodyguards including Toy and Marty. Unfortunately, Whitehead is right to fear for his life and Marty is about to become an unfortunate pawn in a game that has been playing out for decades. The mythical card player is about to call in his debts and Marty is stuck in the middle. Barker’s debut novel is just a taste of what he would become in the following years. The Damnation Game is still shocking and disturbing even for today’s readers. Barker pushes you beyond the brink of terror and, in some cases, may just take it too far. Not for the faint of heart. 08/07 Becky Lejeune

DANCING ABOVE THE WAVES by Susan Walerstein:  Wealthy Bostonian Jack "Scooter" McCalister has it all - a degree from Brown, a Vassar graduate trophy wife, houses in Boston, Clary’s Cove, Palm Springs, Maui and Aspen; a Commander 24 powerboat, a restored Porsche Speedster, enough money to cash in stocks for $500,000 without a problem, and a mistress who was once “the prettiest girl on the Island.”  But now it all comes crashing down as Jack, rushing to meet the ferry, hits a pedestrian with his car – a young girl, and then he leaves the scene, not knowing whether she is dead or alive.  There are witnesses – the girl’s boyfriend, and Jack’s pregnant mistress who starts having second thoughts about Jack’s suitability as a father.  There are problems at the magazine he and his wife co-manage, a blackmailer appears, and Jack’s once wonderful life is now going down the tubes.  An interesting psychological thriller, although there are truly few sympathetic characters.  Even the dead teenager had sneaked out of her home and was high on drugs when the accident occurred.  Enough suspense to keep you going to the end of this debut novel. 05/08 Jack Quick 

DARK HARBOR by David Hosp:  Scott Finn has come a long way since his days as a Boston tough, part of the Irish gangs that grew up into organized crime.  He's a successful lawyer whose life takes a turn for the worse when his ex-girlfriend Natalie turns up dead.  There's a serial killer on the loose, nicknamed "Little Jack" after Jack the Ripper, but did he kill Natalie?  Hosp pens a scarily believable tale of intrigue that will keep you riveted until the last page.  And did I mention this is a first novel?  A really good read. 05/05 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

DARK HARBOR by Stuart Woods:  Stone Barrington’s cousin and his family are found murdered at their house in Dark Harbor, Maine. The local police think it was a murder-suicide, but when Stone learns from his CIA contact that cousin Dick was working covertly for the CIA, Stone decides to look into matters himself. Accompanied by Lance Cabot of the CIA and other series regulars Holly Barker and Dino Bacchetti, Stone heads up to Maine.  The more Stone examines Dick's house and learns about his life, the less convinced Stone is that Dick killed his family and himself.  Stone's worries increase even more when additional bodies turn up and Holly disappears after going out jogging.  Either you like Woods (I do) or you don’t.  This one breaks no new ground but feels awfully comfortable. 06/06 Jack Quick

THE DARK RIVER by John Twelve Hawks: In book two of the Fourth Realm Trilogy, The Tabula have taken steps to eliminate any and all persons who may have had contact with, and therefore support, the Traveler known as Gabriel Corrigan.  When it is learned that not only did the community of New Harmony offer shelter and support to Gabriel, but that the leader may have received correspondence from Gabriel’s long lost father, Matthew, The Tabula sends in a team of mercenaries to find out what they know and wipe them out.  The Corrigan family was attacked when Gabriel and Michael were young boys; Matthew’s body was never recovered.  Though the boys always believed that their father somehow survived the attack, there was never any evidence to support this theory.  After learning of the massacre at New Harmony, Gabriel and his remaining team of supporters are forced to flee their hideout in New York City.  When they become separated, Gabriel decides to follow the only clue to his father’s whereabouts and travel to England in search of the elder Traveler.  Meanwhile, despite the occurrences of book one, The Tabula is moving forward with their plan to launch the virtual Panopticon - a system that will not only allow them to tap into every existing eye in the sky, but will also allow them access to information on every single person.  Hawks’s vision of the future is creepy to say the least.  This modern day 1984 contains a certain a sense of realism in that Hawks shows how all this is possible with existing, as well as some as yet non-existing, technology. 07/07 Becky Lejeune

DARK LIGHT by Randy Wayne White:  Doc Ford is picking up in the aftermath of a hurricane that's ravaged the Florida coast when he and his dive team discover Nazi artifacts inside the old wreck of a pleasure craft, the Dark Light.  Ford runs into trouble immediately from Bern Heller, a nearby marina owner who claims his company has rights to the wreck site and doesn't hesitate to use violence to get his way.  Ford soon discovers, it is not about Lugers, war medals and a few gold bars.  What is at stake is the ownership of thousands of acres of Florida beachfront property.  White just keeps getting better and better. 04/06 Jack Quick 

DARK OF THE MOON by John Sandford:  Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigator Virgil Flowers who played a minor role in Invisible Prey moves into the spotlight for this adventure.  While enroute to rural Bluestem to assist local law enforcement with the murder of an elderly couple, he happens upon a fatal house fire on the edge of town.  Bill Judd was an elderly recluse who, back in his youth, ran an elaborate pyramid scheme and simultaneously bedded half the women in town.  After a murder free half century in Bluestem, there are now three in one week.  Coincidence?  Hardly.  Flowers begins digging into the situation seeking connections.  An unexpected one is with the sister of the local police chief.  Although I am still a Lucas Davenport fan, it will be interesting to see where Sandford takes Flowers who is a totally different type of hero. 11/07 Jack Quick

DARK ROOM by Andrea Kane: Kane brings back Pete “Monty” Montgomery, the ex-cop turned private investigator from her book, Wrong Place, Wrong Time, to appear in a terrific romantic suspense novel. Morgan Winter was just ten when she found her parents murdered in a basement on Christmas Eve. Seventeen years later, it’s discovered that the man who confessed to the killings was actually killing a cop at the time of the deaths. There’s a killer out there, and Morgan turns to Monty for help. He was the cop on the scene when she was ten. He brings a professional photographer, his son Lane, into the case. Somewhere in the past, in the crime scene photos, is a clue to the murderer. Monty, Morgan and Lane are determined to find the killer, the person who destroyed a young girl’s life. Morgan may have been raised by her parents’ best friends, but she still yearns for answers. Kane has written a compelling story, one that draws the reader in. The three lead characters are strong and likeable, and they work well together. And, for those of us who hate women who allow themselves to become victims by doing stupid things, such as answering the door, or running off in the dark to meet the killer, Morgan is a treat. She’s smart and savvy, and doesn’t take stupid risks. Andrea Kane’s Dark Room is an enjoyable, intriguing story. 04/07 Lesa Holstine

THE DARK ROOM by Minette Walters: On the evening of June 13, 1994, Jinx Kingsley is discovered unconscious in an abandoned airfield, apparently having been thrown from her car during a suicide attempt.  Upon waking, she can remember nothing following June 4, when she left for a weeklong visit at her father’s house.  She cannot remember her fiancé Leo calling off the wedding, nor can she remember his revelation that he has been having an affair with her best friend Meg.  Jinx can’t remember her first suicide attempt either, the one where she tried to kill herself in her garage.  In fact, when she is told all of this, she can’t believe that she would try to kill herself at all.  She’s not particularly bothered by the fact that Leo was leaving her either.  She claims that she was going to call the whole thing off herself.  Leo and Meg cannot be reached for any help, as they seem to be vacationing in France, or are they?  Barely a week has passed since Jinx’s accident when two bodies are discovered in the woods just miles from the airfield.  The bodies are identified as Leo and Meg.  Evidence seems to point to Jinx’s involvement especially since the two have been killed in the same manner as Jinx’s first husband.  Is Jinx a cold, calculated murderer?  The police seem to think so.  With leads pointing in so many different directions, it’s anyone’s guess what the investigation will reveal next.  Is Jinx lying or is she telling the truth?  Is she faking or is she hiding a terrible secret?  Walters is one of the masters of psychological suspense.  This tangled tale of deception will leave readers guessing until the very end. 04/07 Becky Lejeune

Dark Side of the Moon by J. Carson Black: Laura Cardinal, a Detective with the Dept. of Public Safety in Arizona, is suffering from the effects of the case she worked on in Black’s first mystery, Darkness on the Edge of Town. She’s investigating the murder of two young people, shot to death in a tent in Williams, AZ, but she’s continually sidetracked by other issues, including her failing relationship back in Tucson. Cardinal shows poor judgment at times, and it affects her decisions. As much as I wanted to like this novel, it felt disjointed with too many side issues. There’s a conspiracy, an issue with a sick child, an old case of drowning, Laura’s vision problems, her relationship problems, and difficulties with her partner. The storylines don’t come together smoothly in this book with too many problems thrown into it. 01/06 Lesa Holstine

DARK STAR by Alan Furst:  The year is 1933.  The location is Europe.  Andre Szara is a Polish born Jew, a foreign correspondent for Pravda, and he becomes a spy.  A small espionage task for the NKVD leads to his becoming a key figure in efforts to obtain information of German aircraft production by tracking stainless steel wire production figures from a Jewish German industrialist.  Complicating the situation is that Szara has strong feelings for Marta, the daughter of the wire maker.  Furst captures the uncertainty of these times beautifully as the alliances shift and fortunes ebb and flow on a daily basis. Szara’s juggling act of a life gets even more complex when a wealthy Jewish Frenchman pleads for Szara to honor his own Jewish heritage by trading his steel wire information to the British in exchange for desperately needed immigration certificates to mandated Palestine.  As the darkness of war descends on the continent of Europe, Szara clings to life while trying to decipher what it all means.  Extremely well written. 09/08 Jack Quick

THE DARK TIDE by Andrew Gross:  Gross’s compelling second solo novel begins with a bang and escalates from there. Karen Friedman is in her daily yoga class when reports come over the news that there has been an explosion in Grand Central Station. Only moments later, Karen realizes that her husband Charles took the train into work that morning. Months go by and she is finally coming to grips with the fact that her husband is gone, when two men show up on her doorstep claiming that Charles stole $250 million from their employer. The executor of Charles’s estate swears that everything is on the up and up and the two men are not heard from again. Almost a year after the explosion, though, Karen makes a startling discovery about her husband’s death and the men reappear. She and her children’s lives are threatened and Karen turns to the only person she can trust, Ty Hauck, head of Greenwich’s Violent Crime Unit. Ty had been investigating a link between Charles and a hit-and-run accident that occurred the same day as the explosion, but what seemed at first to have been a strange coincidence now appears to be much more. With more twists and turns than a Six-Flags roller coaster, The Dark Tide kept me up reading into the wee hours. Gross, co-author of six best-selling novels with James Patterson, made his solo debut last year with the highly anticipated The Blue Zone. Thriller fans who haven’t read Gross’s work are seriously missing out.  03/08 Becky Lejeune

THE DARKEST NIGHT by Gena Showalter: They were ancient warriors of the highest order until jealousy prompted an irreversible mistake. The story of Pandora and her box is well known, but Showalter adds another twist to this famous myth. Pandora was one of these ancient warriors, set to guard a box housing all of the evils of the world. Maddox, a fellow warrior is so incensed over Pandora’s assignment that he and his fellow warriors steal the box, accidentally releasing the demons housed within. As punishment, each of the warriors must house within them one of the demons from the box. Maddox’s punishment is the demon of violence. As further punishment for killing Pandora, he is murdered every night at midnight, his soul sent to hell, and resurrected each morning. The men live in a tower in Budapest, surprisingly supportive of the surrounding community who view them as angels. Ashlyn Darrow has been plagued with psychic abilities – she hears voices and conversations everywhere she goes. She seeks out the men in hopes that they may be able to help her and gets much more than she bargained for. She and Maddox are instantly drawn to one another, which could mean real problems since the men have taken great pains to avoid bringing outsiders into their sanctuary. This is an intriguing concept for a romance series, and it’s going to be a definite favorite amongst fans of the paranormal.  05/08 Becky Lejeune  

THE DARKROOM OF DAMOCLES by W. F. Hermans:  Written in Dutch in the 1950’s by Hermans and newly released in English, this thriller evokes comparison to other noirish works about World War II.  The mysterious Dorbeck visits tobacconist Henri Osewondt during the German occupation of Holland.  Dorbeck gives Osewondt a series of missions involving helping British agents and eliminating traitors, which ultimately leads to Osewondt killing his own wife after she denounces him to the Germans.  At war’ end, Osewondt is taken for a traitor and captured.  When he tries to prove his innocence he finds there is no evidence of Dorbeck ever existing and no available photos, which is interesting because Dorbeck is Oswewondt’s spitting image – in reverse.  Osewondt is blond, effeminate, and beardless – Dorbeck, dark, masculine and bearded.  So, is Osewondt a hero or a villain?  A patriot or a psychopath?  Did Dorbeck exist or not?  Draw your own conclusions.  08/07 Jack Quick  

THE DARWIN CONSPIRACY by John Darnton: This compelling story is a difficult one to summarize. Darnton links three storylines to unveil a mystery behind Charles Darwin and his theories. Hugo Kellem and Beth Dulcimer meet while working with finches on Sin Nombre, an island in the Galapagos. They later team up to search for a secret about Darwin that his daughter Elizabeth discovered. Darnton relates the story of Darwin’s travels as a young man, while Elizabeth writes in a journal of her own search for the truth about her father. The plotlines slowly intertwine until Hugo’s own personal struggles are paralleled with the story behind Darwin’s discoveries. It takes a novel to reveal that no one really knows the truth behind another person’s life. 10/05 ~This review contributed by Lesa Holstine.

DARWIN’S RADIO by Greg Bear:  We are about to face our greatest crisis, caused by a virus that has been passed from generation to generation since before the dawn of humankind.  Now it’s active and there are three people standing between us and the end of our race.  Mitch Rafelson is a discredited anthropologist who discovers the mummified remains of a Neanderthal couple in the Alps.  Kaye Lang is a molecular biologist specializing in retroviruses, who has postulated that so-called junk DNA may actually have an unknown purpose in the scheme of life.  Christopher Dicken is a virus hunter at the National Center for Infectious Diseases in Atlanta, hot in pursuit of a mysterious illness, dubbed Herod's flu, which seems to strike only expectant mothers and their fetuses.  Gradually, as these three scientists pool their results, it becomes clear that unless a cure is found, our days on the planet are numbered.  Well written although a bit heavy on the science side.  Hopefully, the sequel, DARWIN’S CHILDREN, will be as interesting. 01/08 Jack Quick

DATES FROM HELL by Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong and Lori Handeland: If you love supernatural romance or have ever been the unfortunate victim of a really bad date, this is the anthology for you.
In “Undead in the Garden of Good and Evil,” Kim Harrison treats readers to a rare look at Ivy and the events that lead up to her partnership with Rachel. Ivy knows that her best shot at a promotion has nothing to do with her job performance. When her arrogant boss takes things just a bit too far, she plans the perfect revenge.    Unfortunately, her plan will either ensure her path to the top or get her demoted straight down to the bottom.
In Lynsay Sands’ “The Clair Switch Project,” an accident at work causes some interesting side effects for Claire Bennett, and on the same day as her high school reunion, too. When her longtime crush finally asks her out on a date, Claire can’t refuse. Too bad a favor promised to a best friend could ruin the whole thing in this quite funny tale of a strange “double” date.
    Kelley Armstrong’s “Chaotic” features a half-demon tabloid reporter who feeds on chaos. A terribly boring blind date is about to turn into an unexpected adventure for Hope when she tracks a jewel thief at a museum gala. Karl Marsten is much more than he seems, however, and Hope soon finds herself in the middle of deadly game of revenge.
    Finally, in Lori Handeland’s “Dead Man Dating” Mara Naomi Elizabeth (call me Kit) Morelli is a literary agent who hasn’t had much luck in the dating department, until now. A blind date through truelove.com has finally landed this plain Jane a real hottie. Too bad Eric Leaventhall is a total jerk but that could be because he’s dead. If you’re looking for something to wind down with, but you don’t feel like you have much time, this book is perfect. Each story makes a great light read and they are each the perfect length for bedtime reading. 05/07 Becky Lejeune 

DATING IS MURDER by Harley Jane Kozak: Imagine being saddled with a name like Wollstonecraft Shelly!  Fortunately, she goes by Wollie which is much easier to wrap your eyes around - and so is the statuesque blond bombshell that is the heroine of this second novel by Kozak.  Wollie is a Renaissance woman, L.A. style; a greeting card designer, part time muralist, part time returning college student and one of the stars of a super low budget reality TV show called Biological Clock.  As bad as that sounds, it is a step up from her last part time job of serial dating (in the awesome debut Dating Dead Men).  This time out Wollie's math tutor, who is also a German au pair for a wealthy California family, goes missing and no one seems terribly concerned.  Wollie goes on the hunt for her and stumbles into the middle of a joint FBI/DEA drug investigation.  Luckily, she also meets a rather sexy Fed named Simon and she is gaining ground as the favorite on Biological Clock.  Lots of laughs, a little romance, and a real surprise ending put Kozak firmly in the must be read category, an elite place indeed.  Very well done.  03/05

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown:  I loved the first third of this book, with its intricate twists and fascinating look at art and the Louvre and Paris and the depth of research into the history of the Catholic Church.  But then it just started getting to be too much; too many details, too many symbols, too many cliffhangers until I found myself exhausted by it all, yet still racing through it just to see how it would be resolved - but it really wasn't worth the race. 

The curator of the Louvre is found murdered in a locked room, so to speak - and in a macabre start, leaves clues drawn in his own blood, including the name Robert Langdon.  Langdon is a professor from Harvard visiting Paris to give a lecture on religious symbolism, and coincidentally had an appointment with the murder victim, who of course failed to show.  The victim's granddaughter, Sophie Neveu, is a cryptographer with the Paris equivalent of the F.B.I. but the two of them become the chief suspects in the murder.  Their only hope is to solve it themselves, but with the cops hot on their tail they have to stay one step ahead as they race their way through France, then England, in this complex yet ultimately disappointing thriller.

THE DARK LANTERN by Gerri Brightwell: This historical thriller and debut by Brightwell is an enthralling read. In the late 1800s a lot depended on a person’s past and family histories. For the most part, your future was decided by your station in life and you would never break free of it. Young Jane Wilbred was born to most unfortunate circumstances - her mother stabbed a man and was hanged for her crime. Jane was raised in an orphanage with that stain already attached to her name. She gains employment with a family who makes it clear that she will never escape the “natural” suspicion inherited from her mother’s deeds. Jane does escape, though. She is hired on at the Bentley home, after some finagling of the recommendation letter written by her former employer. Jane soon learns that the Bentley home is full of its own secrets. The mistress of the house has been sickly and her daughter-in-law, Mina, suspects that the servants have been taking advantage. She asks Jane to be her eyes and ears in the home, a task that Jane is not thrilled to be assigned with. The other Bentley son is soon to return from India, but the family is informed that he has been killed in a most ill fated accident. Surprisingly, it is revealed that he left behind a widow who will soon be arriving at the home. Mina’s suspicious nature rears its ugly head once again and Jane begins to wonder what Mina herself may be trying to hide. A late-Victorian era mystery that’s brings to mind the film Gosford Park with slight gothic undertones.  03/08 Becky Lejeune 

DAWN PATROL by Don Winslow:  Three words: epic macking crunchy.  That’s “surfbonics” for big, freaking, wave.  Take a dip into Southern Cal’s insular surf culture with Don Winslow’s latest, Dawn Patrol.  The biggest wave of the last decade is headed toward Pacific Beach and the gremmies are stoked to go down on their guns.  Sadly, a stripper’s death gets between local legend, Boone Daniels, and the ride of a lifetime.  Boone and his gang, the dawn patrol, set out to solve the murder.  These cool cats and kittens meet up with angry Samoans, illegal aliens, drug dealers, shady attorneys, and child slave traders.  These divergent paths all lead to a satisfying climax as the big wave finally reaches the beach.  Meticulously researched.  Funny.  Sad.  Poignant. Brilliant.  06/08 Dan Cawley

THE DAWN PATROL by Don Winslow:  A gnarly rad epic that is macking crunchy.  Don’t worry, if you, like me, don’t speak surfer.  There is an on-going surfer-English dictionary embedded in the book.  Unfortunately this tends to take away from the flow of a nicely done P.I/police procedural with some really neat characters.  Boone Daniels was conceived on the beach to surfer parents, has lived all his life where he can hear the waves, and lives to surf.  He is a key member of the Dawn Patrol, a mixed bag of aficionados that start each day with a “run” on Pacific Beach.  Some of the members have j-o-b-s, but for Boone, all he wants is to make enough for fish tacos and wetsuits, and to be n the water to surf.  Nevertheless, this ex-cop is actually a pretty good investigator, working primarily for a surfing lawyer bud that has asked him to find a missing stripper the lawyer needs to testify at an upcoming trial.  When one of the stripper’s friends is murdered in a possible case of mistaken identity, Boone becomes obsessed with solving the case, even if it means dealing with a gorgeous, but bossy, female lawyer from Great Britain, who thinks that anyone still remaining in the pool, must be an evolutionary reject.  All in all an excellent book that truly is macking crunchy. 09/08 Jack Quick 

DAYS OF RAGE by Kris Nelscott: The time is fall 1969, and Smokey and his adopted son have fled Memphis for Chicago. Dalton is an African-American private investigator on Chicago’s South Side, maintaining a low profile because of his knowledge of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination which threatens his life and that of his adopted son, Jimmy. Dalton is working for on-again-off-again girlfriend Laura Hathaway. Laura has inherited her father’s business empire only to learn that it was built on less than firm moral ground. She is trying to right past wrongs with Smokey’s help, while also making sure she doesn’t push so hard that the entire structure tumbles. In this environment, Smokey is contributing by inspecting rental property’s for Laura’s company, Sturdy Investments, when he discovers three corpses in the basement of one of the buildings. This gruesome find quickly becomes worse as more bodies are found. On the one hand, Dalton and Hathaway know this needs to be taken to the authorities and the families of the victims are entitled to some kind of closure. On the other hand, the Chicago Police have not proven themselves to be beyond reproach and if the discovery can be tied to Laura’s father, she may lose everything. All the action occurs against the backdrop of the Weathermen sponsored “Days of Rage” demonstrations in Chicago after the earlier Democratic convention and its high profile confrontations. Over all, a well-written book as Nelscott, skillfully interweaves “headline news” and its impact on the lives of ordinary people as they try to live their normal lives.  09/06 Jack Quick

Days of Summer by Jill Barnett: In 1957, an automobile accident destroyed two families, leaving Kathryn Peyton widowed with a daughter, and millionaire Victor Banning to raise his two grandsons. Thirteen years later, Laurel Peyton meets Jud and Cale Banning, and is torn between the two of them. Barnett’s first romance in four years spans three generations and almost forty years as it tells of the repercussions of the accident. As Laurel discovers in this enjoyable story, people can build on their shared past, or allow it to destroy them. 06/06 Lesa Holstine

D.C. NOIR edited by George Pelecanos:  Apparently the prosperous Northwest section of D.C. isn’t a perfect place to live after all.  Ten of the sixteen stories in Akashic’s salute to the U.S. capital are set there, although Georgetown, Mt. Pleasant, Chevy Chase, the Hill and other sections of D.C. are also represented.  Highlighted by Pelecanos and Washington area native Laura Lippman, D.C. NOIR also includes first-rate offerings from Robert Andrews, Jim Beane, Ruben Castaneda, Richard Currey, Jim Fusilli, James Grady, Jennifer Howard, Lester Irby, Kenji Jasper, Norman Kelley, Jim Patton, Quintin Peterson, David Slater and Robert Wisdom. 01/08 Jack Quick

Dead Aim by Thomas Perry:  Perry is yet another mystery writer who has turned his hand to more lucrative suspense thrillers.  I have been hooked on his work since Metzger's Dog (which is actually the name of a cat that gets thrown at an intruder.)  His Jane Whitfield books, including Vanishing Act, were also well-received.
       Dead Aim is the story of Robert Mallon who saves a would-be suicide from drowning.  After she runs away again, he becomes determined to find out the reasons for her wanting to die.  The answers lie in a paramilitary "self-defense" training camp in California where spoiled thrill-seekers are taught the ultimate hunt.  As you might suspect, Mallon soon becomes the quarry.  The police refuse to accept his story and he is alone with nowhere to turn and no one that he can trust.
       Perry is a fine story teller and this book is hard to put down. I think that one of the reasons I liked Dead Aim was because it does have a lot of the elements of a vintage California mystery story.  The solitary hero with some sadness from his past.  An encounter with a beautiful woman that comes to naught when she is found dead.  And plenty of mayhem committed by frighteningly well-trained killers. This review contributed by Geoffrey R. Hamlin.

DEAD AIR by Ed Goldberg:  Anyone who dedicates their crime novel to the memory of their cat can’t be all bad, and this particular crime novel isn’t bad either.  Lenny Schneider leaves the Big Apple to go all the way cross country to Portland, Oregon, so obviously he is smart.  He moves in with his buddy Walter, a controversial radio show host at the aptly named KOOK-FM.  Before you know it two of Walter's colleagues have been killed with a bayonet from Walter's knife collection, and Lenny may be the next request on the murderer's "hit" list.  Originally released in 1998, this was a review copy of the apparent planned re-release next year.  10/07 Jack Quick 

THE DEAD by Ingrid Black: Irish author Black invades Val McDermid territory and comes out a winner in this first mystery set in gritty, moody Dublin. Saxon (no first name given) is a former FBI agent turned true-crime writer. Her lover, Detective Chief Superintendent Grace Fitzgerald has persuaded her to remain in Dublin after her unsuccessful attempt to write a book about vanished Dubliner Ed Fagan, a vicious, Bible-quoting serial killer. Newspaper reporter Nick Elliott, whose book on Fagan was a success, gets a letter with a threat to kill five prostitutes. With each murder the killer taunts the police. Fitzgerald pulls Saxon into the investigation and Saxon determines this is a copycat killer. A true mystery as well as a crime novel, worthy of comparison to the efforts of Val McDermid. 08/06 Jack Quick

DEAD CENTER by David Rosenfelt:  I just love Andy Carpenter, the smart-ass New Jersey lawyer with the huge inheritance that allows him the luxury of working - or not.  When his ex-girlfriend Laurie calls to say she thinks she's arrested the wrong guy for murder and needs some help, Andy and his beloved dog Tara are on their way to Findlay, Wisconsin to lend a hand.  Laurie dumped Andy and moved back home when she was offered the job as Findlay Chief of Police, but Andy still has feelings for her.  Nevertheless he gets to work, investigating the victims who were both members of a religious sect called the Centurions.  Smart, engaging characters, lots of laughs, some nice plot twists and simply superb storytelling make Dead Center irresistible.  (Make sure you read the acknowledgments page - Rosenfelt manages to turn that into entertainment and I'm not just saying that because I'm first...)  05/06 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

DEAD CENTER by David Rosenfelt:  “Sex without love is just not what I’m looking for anymore, those days are behind me.” Those are the words that form in my mind but don’t actually come out of my mouth.  What my mouth ends up saying is, “Absolutely, check please.”  When New Jersey defense lawyer Andy Carpenter gets a call from his former lover, Laurie, a police detective who has moved home to Wisconsin, to tell him she may have arrested an innocent man for murder he packs his bags and sets off for the Midwest to lend a hand.  He quickly finds himself going up against a very shady religious group, but it's his feelings for Laurie that cause him the most distress.  Another strong outing for what is becoming my favorite wisecracking attorney who only works on what interests him, having made his fortune earlier in the series.  Would that I could also. 05/06 Jack Quick

DEAD HEAD by Allen Wyler: Brain surgeon Russell Lawton must develop an innovative computer that can manipulate a robot by using brain activity. Otherwise the terrorists who have kidnapped his eight year old daughter Angela will bury her alive.  When he learns how the terrorists plan to use his work, he knows that not only is his daughter’s life at stake, but also the lives of millions of other innocent people.  Although well written, I couldn’t stay with the plot.  A claustrophobic who sees too much medicine in real life, I couldn’t relax and enjoy this one at all.  Not for me. 02/07 Jack Quick

DEAD IN RED by L.L. Bartlett: Jeff Resnick suffered a head injury when he was mugged, and, as a result, he has a “sixth sense” that flashes pictures of events associated with violence and murder.  When he accepts a job as bartender, the tavern owner asks him to look into his cousin’s murder.  Before he can go to far, a homeless man is arrested, and everyone seems satisfied.  But, Jeff’s image of a red stiletto high heel, and, later, bloody hands shows him that the murderer is still out there.  Despite their differences,  Jeff and his brother team up, even going so far as to go to gay bars, to find a killer.  This is a solid entry in the series about two brothers, who care for each other, no matter what. 08/08 Lesa Holstine

DEAD IN RED by L.L. Bartlett:  Second full length outing for Bartlett’s Jeff Resnick, a former insurance investigator who acquired certain psychic “powers” as the result of brain injuries incurred during a mugging.  Let me say at the outset, I am not much for so-called “paranormal” phenomena but Bartlett does this so well it is largely reminiscent of a Matthew Scudder tale.  Resnick has been hired to look into the murder of a part-time bartender by the victim’s cousin who also engages Resnick to replace the cousin as part-time bartender.  This gets him somewhat out from underfoot on his brother and brother’s girlfriend with whom he has been living since the events first set forth in Murder on the Mind.  Visions of bloody hands and red rhinestone studded stiletto lead him into the world of drag queens and foot fetishists.  Richard insists on helping and the two end up on the dark side.  Not my favorite book ever, but nicely done and well written. 09/08 Jack Quick 

DEAD MADONNA by Victoria Houston: Houston takes readers back to Loon Lake, Wisconsin in the eighth book in this enjoyable mystery series. If you like small town mysteries, outdoors series, or interesting characters, you might want to try Houston’s books. Lew Ferris is the Police Chief of Loon Lake, an expert at fly fishing, and a mature woman working on her relationship with a widower, retired dentist Paul Osborne. Chief Ferris is also extremely shorthanded when a crime wave hits Loon Lake. Two murders and a bank scam are a little much to handle when the coroner is off at a polka festival. Lew deputizes Doc Osborne as acting coroner. She’s also forced to deputize Roy Pradt, a fishing guide with an eye for the ladies, who has been known to skirt the law. As the friends work together, they discover that Dee Dee Kurland, one of the victims, was not the saintly Madonna that her parents thought she was. But, who would have wanted to murder local resident Nora Loomis, and deface her in the same manner as Dee Dee? Fortunately, Chief Ferris has friends to watch her back during the investigation. The murderer may be evident to the reader, but part of the enjoyment of Houston’s book is her wonderful characters. Pick up Dead Madonna for the mystery, but you’ll return to Loon Lake for the people. 05/07 Lesa Holstine

DEAD MAN RISING by Lilith Saintcrow:  While still mourning the death of her demon lover, Tierce Japhrimel, Dante is once again dragged into the middle of a mystery that threatens her very own. Danny has been neglecting her necromance skills in fear of meeting Japhrimel on the other side. Instead, she has been throwing herself into bounty hunting, taking one job after another to keep herself busy. Jace, the Shaman, has given up his place at the head of his mob family in order to work alongside Danny. The bounties have been visibly wearing him out and though Danny’s newfound demon powers keep her from being physically exhausted, she is pretty close to a mental breakdown. Then, Danny is hired to help solve a series of mysterious deaths in Saint City. Three bodies have been discovered, gruesomely shredded to pieces, and the clues seem to point back to Rigger Hall, the government run school where psion orphans were sent to learn to use their powers. Danny had managed to block all memories of the horrible events that took place there, until now. All the secrets of Rigger Hall will once again be revealed and Danny will finally have to face them, or die trying. Saintcrow has created an intriguing alternate universe with a complex history and mythology of its own. Part sci-fi/fantasy, part mystery, this series is one of the best amongst the many that have shown up on the urban fantasy scene lately.  01/08 Becky Lejeune

Dead Man Running by Rett MacPherson: Torie O’Shea’s archenemy, the mayor of New Kassel, Missouri, is running against her stepfather in the mayoral race. The ninth in the Torie O’Shea mystery series is the darkest one yet. Torie is torn emotionally as she watches her daughter date for the first time, builds a new house, and continues to feud with the mayor. When asked to investigate the genealogy of the two candidates, she discovers problems with the mayor’s chart, but before she can talk to him about it, bodies start appearing, and the mayor disappears. MacPherson’s latest book is a satisfying story that continues to develop Torie as a person with a complicated life. This is the strongest entry in the series so far. 05/06 Lesa Holstine

DEAD STREET by Mickey Spillane: (Hardcase Crime 37).  Mulligan:  In golf, a "do-over."  Hit a bad shot?  Take a mulligan and hit it again.  For twenty years NYPD detective Jack Stang fears his old fiancée, Bettie, is dead, killed in a kidnapping gone wrong.  Now, soon after his retirement, he is told that Bettie is, in fact, alive and living in Florida.  However, she is blind and suffers from amnesia from the car crash that killed her abductors.  However, the men who arranged the abduction would still like her dead, so Stang has the opportunity to try to save her this time, an opportunity he missed twenty years ago.  One of a handful of novels he was working on at the time of his death DEAD STREET was prepared for publication by Hard Case vet Max Allan Collins.  It is solidly Spillane with dolls, louses, and the hero packing a trusty .45.  If it is, in fact, the last one, it’s a damn good one. 11/07 Jack Quick  

DEADFALL by Robert Liparulo:  I swear I heard dueling banjos mid-way through this book.  Think Deliverance in Canada.  Four middle aged Colorado buddies are braving the remote wilds of North Saskatchewan when they encounter a crazed millionaire who plans to obliterate an entire town and its 242 inhabitants using a space-based laser.  (James Bond, where are you when we really need you?)  Anyway, bow-hunter and journalist John Huthinson leads his buddies in a battle for survival.  Some questionable technological assumptions and an extremely predictable ending tend to work toward offsetting neat guy toys and good writing.  It’s better than the reading the Yellow Pages, but no threat to my top ten list. 01/08 Jack Quick

DEADLY NIGHT by Heather Graham: The Flynn brothers; Aiden, Jeremy, and Zachary, learn they have inherited a plantation home from an aunt in New Orleans they never knew. At first, they contemplate selling the house, but upon seeing it, decide to fix it up instead. Aiden, the oldest, finds human bones on the property. His instincts as a private investigator kick in and he begins to research the history of the home, and of missing persons in the area. He soon learns of decades of missing women, all last seen in New Orleans. With the help of Kendall, a local tarot card reader who has close ties to Aiden's aunt and the plantation, Aiden reveals the plantation's dark history. He is aware of the rumors that the plantation is haunted, but he refuses to believe in ghosts. That is, until Kendell starts seeing things during her tarot card readings. Women she does readings for disappear. Is it all tied to the Flynn plantation? This was my first taste of Heather Graham's writing. It is obvious that she did a lot of research into New Orleans, and the civil war, in preparation for writing this book. The storyline and characters were well thought out and developed. I've read many a mystery, and most I've figured out before I reach the book's halfway point. This one intrigued me up until the end. I'm looking forward to starting the next in the Flynn Brothers series, HAUNTED HARVEST. 11/08 Jennifer Lawrence

DEADMAN’S BLUFF by James Swain: In this follow-up to Deadman’s Poker, a legally blind poker player named Skip DeMarco is scamming the world’s largest poker tournament in Las Vegas, and cheating-expert Tony Valentine and his son, Gerry, have been hired to find out how. DeMarco is tied to some dangerous characters who will go to extremes – even cold-blooded murder–to ensure that he wins big.  While Gerry works in Atlantic City, Valentine stays in Vegas and teams up with an aging grifter named Rufus Steele, who has his own score to settle with DeMarco.  On opposite sides of a deadly game, father and son work their way through a colorful landscape of conmen and hitmen. Together, they will have to prove there’s more to any game of chance than meets the eye. 06/06 Jack Quick

DEADMAN’S SWITCH by Barbara Seranella: Charlotte Lyon, victim of obsessive compulsive disorder, has turned her illness into a career, as a crisis management specialist. No matter how bad the situation, Charlotte can think up even more dire scenarios. This case involves a train wreck, a Hollywood star who is fatally injured, possible sabotage, and even a new love interest for the widowed Lyon. Throw in Charlotte’s dysfunctional mother and voluntarily absent sister, and you have quite a cast. Unfortunately it ends all far too quickly.  From The Big Chill: Richard is having a late-night snack while talking to Sam and Nick “There's some asshole at work you have to kowtow to, and you find yourself doing things you thought you'd never do. But you try and minimize that stuff; be the best person you can be. But you set your priorities. And that's the way life is. I wonder if your friend Alex knew that. One thing's for sure, he couldn't live with it. I know I shouldn't talk; you guys knew him. But the thing is... no one ever said it would be fun. At least... no one ever said it to me.” Barbara, no one ever said it would be fun, and no one ever said it would be fair, but you were a winner and went out at the top. God Bless. She saved her best for last. 05/07 Jack Quick

DEADMAN'S SWITCH by Barbara Seranella: Barbara Seranella died earlier this year, so the first Charlotte Lyon mystery will also be the last one. It’s sad that the world lost a gifted author. But, it’s also sad to know there will not be a second mystery featuring this interesting protagonist.
    Charlotte Lyon deals with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). However, she has made her problem work for her successfully, since she is in disaster-planning crisis management. When the Sunliner passenger train derails on its way to an Indian casino in Palm Springs, CA, Charlotte is hired to do story control, crisis management and investigation. It’s fascinating to watch Charlotte work with experts from the NTSB, and other agencies as they investigate the disaster. Problems get worse when it’s discovered that a beloved actress was one of two fatalities. Deadman’s Switch shows how Charlotte copes with problems, both professionally and personally. Seranella was even able to make the investigation of a train derailment interesting. It’s a fascinating book, with an equally fascinating character. Barbara Seranella will be missed as an author. 04/07 Lesa Holstine

DEAD RUN by P. J. Tracy: The mother/daughter writing duo, P. J. Tracy (Monkeewrench, Live Bait), has once again penned a furiously paced tale with their trademarked humor and quirky characters, only this time adding a personal twist. Deputy Sharon Mueller suspects a serial killer at work and asks prickly, paranoid Grace McBride and Queen-size sexpot Annie Belinsky of Monkeewrench fame to accompany her to Green Bay to try and get to the bottom of it – but they never make it there. Their car breaks down in the tiny town of Four Corners, which appears to be a recently vacated ghost town. They quickly find out that they are not alone, however; an extremist paramilitary group has garrisoned the town and is hunting them down with orders to shoot on sight. The men they left behind grow concerned when the women don’t arrive in Green Bay and set out after them, but this is no damsel in distress tale. These women are smart and feisty, but there is a much bigger problem afoot than they realize. Four Corners is just part of a much larger terrorist plot that takes the combined efforts of the sheriff’s department, the FBI and the Monkeewrench crew to resolve. 04/05 Copyright © 2005 Cahners Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.  Reprinted with permission. 

DEAD RUN by P.J. Tracy: Grace and Annie of Monkeewrench and Wisconsin deputy Sharon Mueller are headed to Green Bay, where Sharon believes a serial killer has set up shop.  After Grace's Range Rover breaks down the women seek refuge up in the town of Four Corners, which is abandoned.  They discover all the phone lines have been cut and then witness the cold blooded killing of a couple.  Soon Federal, state and local authorities are all involved while our three heroines remain at risk right in the middle of the action.  Tracy’s work just gets better and better. 01/06 Jack Quick

DEAD WATCH by John Sandford:  The president hires Jake Winter to investigate the disappearance of former Virginia senator Lincoln Bowe.  Bowe’s wife, Madison, believes his bitter political rival, Governor Arlo Goodman, is behind her husband’s disappearance and eventual murder.  Bowe was not a saint: he was obsessed with destroying Goodman's political career.  This may have driven him to contemplate political blackmail, which could have cost him his life.  Sandford shows that he knows insider Washington just as well as his more familiar Minneapolis.  There’s dirt enough to cover everyone, although not enough to cover the odor of day-to-day political infighting.  A first rate book.  Lets hope it is not a stand-alone and we will see more of Mr. Winter. 07/06 Jack Quick 

DEADLY ADVICE by Roberta Isleib: Isleib introduces Dr. Rebecca Butterman, a psychologist who also writes an advice column. The mystery focues on Butterman's role as a columnist, and her personal life. When her neighbor is found dead, the woman's mother asks Butterman to investigate because she doesn't believe her daughter could have committed suicide. Feeling guilty because she didn't get to know her, Butterman agrees to pry into her personal life. Her discovery of Madeline's dating history coincides with an assignment to cover the dating scene for her advice column. Unfortunately, Dr. Rebecca Butterman seems ill-equipped to investigate, date, or offer anyone advice. She's an insecure character, with a troubled background, and she doesn't seem prepared to assist anyone, let alone herself. Dr. Rebecca Butterman needs to become a stronger character before she is able to function as an amateur detective. At the present time, the Advice Column mysteries need a stronger character to provide that advice. 04/07 Lesa Holstine

DEADLY ADVICE by Roberta Isleib: Dr. Rebecca Butterman has her own problems – a recent divorce, her practice as a psychotherapist, and her advice column for Bloom magazine. Now she finds that her next-door neighbor, Madeline, has been found dead, under circumstances that suggest suicide. Madeline’s mother insists that the suicide note wasn’t written by her daughter and after having talked Butterman into taking care of Madeline’s cat, also persuades her to look into her late daughter’s life. What Butterman finds in Madeline’s blog – a lively and up to date chronicle of dating adventures, causes her to wonder, as well, since there are no signs of depression. When Butterman’s editor assigns her to do a column on the modern singles scene, Rebecca finds out just how deadly some advice can be. 06/07 Jack Quick

DEADLY APPRAISAL by Jane K. Cleland: Jane Cleland, author of the Agatha award nominated Consigned to Death, brings back Josie Prescott, antiques appraiser, in this second mystery. Josie is just settling in comfortably to her new home and business in New Hampshire, enjoying her romance with Rocky Point Police Chief Ty Alvarez. While Ty’s out of town dealing with a family health crisis, Josie hosts the Portsmouth Women’s Guild’s Gala at her auction hall. When Maisy Gaylor dies on stage that evening, Josie’s past is slammed back in her face. Is she a suspect in the murder, or is she a possible victim herself? Josie’s former boss has just been released from prison, a man she testified against. Who was the actual target the night of the Gala? With Ty gone, Josie turns for help to a newspaper reporter, a man who can help her dig into the past. Cleland continues to reveal more about Josie, while adding tidbits of antiques information in each enjoyable mystery. 04/07 Lesa Holstine

DEADLY BELOVED by Max Allan Collins:  Number 38 in the Hard Case Crime series is the first Ms. Tree novel.  Ms. Tree, aka Ms. Michael Tree, is the groundbreaking female P.I. featured in the longest running private-eye comic book series of all time.  Not a kids’ comic here.  Ms. Tree is investigating a conspiracy that involves murder.  Marcy Addwatter shot and killed her husband in the motel room where he was entertaining a blonde hooker.  Shot the hooker, too.  But before she gets sent away, Ms. Tree is going to dig out the truth – or die trying.  Another Hard Case winner, with lines like “Dr. Sander’s icy smile, however, wasn’t that soothing – her lipstick was dark red and the effect was that of a cut in her face…Her laugh was as chilly as her smile.”  Where is my trench coat and gat? 11/07 Jack Quick   

DEADLY BEAUTIFUL by Sam Baker: Annie Anderson has traded in her investigative journalist shoes for a pair of high heeled Jimmy Choos. Her current assignment has her at New York’s Fashion Week reporting on some of the lesser-known designers at Bryant Park (her boss gets the A-list). But when her best friend and fellow reporter, Lou McCartney, comes to her for help, Annie can’t resist. See Lou’s been holding out on Annie. It seems Lou McCartney is really Luella Ulrich, the abandoned daughter of rich industrialist Rufus Ulrich. That means that Lou’s little sister is Scarlett Ulrich, the world-famous child model. Scarlett, or Lettie as Lou calls her, would appear to have all the luck until she goes missing in Tokyo. Despite Lou’s attempts to appear otherwise, she is worried about her little sister, and Annie has a history of being able to track down hard-to-find people. Annie’s fear lies in the fact that all of those people she tracked down were dead. Two bodies have already been found in Tokyo and Annie sincerely hopes that Lettie won’t be next. Sam Baker, editor-in-chief of Red, draws on her own experience as a journalist to give readers a glimpse of the dirty side of the fashion industry and skillfully wraps it up in a thrilling package. You can read more about Annie in Baker’s debut, Fashion Victim, or you can read Beautiful all on its own. Deadly Beautiful has been published as This Year’s Model in the UK.  08/08 Becky Lejeune

DEADLY COLLECTION by Elaine Flinn:  This is the third installment in Flinn's Molly Doyle mystery series and they just keep getting better.  This one has an interesting twist; Molly's twelve-year-old niece Emma is helping her aunt with the antique store she runs, and with the murder she stumbles over.  Molly is commissioned to sell the contents of an estate in Carmel, California.  The owner is an old friend-of-a-friend of Molly's, so even though she doesn't really like the woman Molly agrees to take on the sale - and the commission doesn't hurt either.  But a murder, a fire and other mysterious happenings spoil the sale and create a lot of tension for Molly and her friends.  A good mystery in an appealing setting and strong, believable characters add up to another great read from Elaine Flinn. 10/05

DEADLY COLLECTION by Elaine Flinn: I don’t do cozies but my sweet wife opines that this is the best Molly Doyle yet.  Taking away nothing from the first two books, but in this one the characters really seem to come to life.  She said even after she figured out whodunit, she never figured out the whydunit.  Five stars according to my bride of many years, with whom I never disagree. 11/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

DEADLY ERRORS by Allen Wyler: A scary thriller that will cause you to have second thoughts about going to the hospital. .A comatose man is given a fatal dose of insulin in the Emergency Room---even though he isn't diabetic. An ulcer patient dies of hemolytic shock after receiving a transfusion---of the wrong blood type. A recovering heart patient receives a double dose of the same medication---triggering a fatal cardiac arrest. When the doctors and nurses at Seattle's prestigious Maynard Medical Center start making preventable drug and treatment errors that kill their patients, neurosurgeon Dr. Tyler Mathews suspects that something is murderously wrong with the hospital's highly touted new "Med-InDx" electronic medical record. But when he airs his concerns to the hospital's upper management, he's met with stonewalling, skepticism---and threats. Millions of dollars, and the future of Med-InDx, are at stake. Powerful corporate forces aren't about to let their potential profits evaporate. Tyler soon finds that his career, his marriage, and his very life are in jeopardy---along with the lives of countless innocent patients. Will the last surviving patient please turn out the light? An excellent read. 10/06 Jack Quick

DEADLY GAMBLE by Connie Shelton: Charlie Parker and her brother Ron are RJP Investigations in Albuquerque. Normally Ron handles the detecting while Charlie, a CPA, handles the financial end. Unfortunately Ron is out of town when Stacy North shows up needing RJP to find a missing Rolex watch. Unfortunately, because ten years earlier Stacy had eloped with Brad, Charlie’s fiancé. Needless to say, Charlie is somewhat reluctant to get involved but does so, against her better judgment. Things start to get sticky when she does, in fact, find the watch in a pawn shop where the alleged thief sold it. The “thief”, it turns out, is having an affair with Stacy and when he is killed, Stacy is immediately a suspect. Charlie soldiers on and additional murders occur. This is quite different from pushing numbers around a spreadsheet. First installment in what looks to be an interesting series. 08/06 Jack Quick

DEADLY HARVEST by Heather Graham:  The second installment of the Flynn Brothers Trilogy has middle brother Jeremy Flynn traveling to Salem, Massachusetts to help his old partner whose wife has gone missing. Rowenna Cavanaugh, a native of Salem, has been living in New Orleans and met Jeremy through her friend Kendall (of Deadly Night). Ro has a gift that allows her to see things. She says it is simply the fact that she can easily get into the victim’s mindset and that there is nothing supernatural about her ability, but her almost-father-in-law, a Salem detective, has used her help in many investigations. Jeremy is definitely a skeptic when it comes to all paranormal mojo and initially believes that Rowenna is an attention-seeker who should be avoided at all cost, in spite of his attraction to her. Upon learning that they will both be working the case in Salem, however, the two finally give in to temptation. Their burgeoning relationship becomes fraught with tension when Ro discovers a body in a local cornfield. Though the body is not that of Jeremy’s friend, it’s clear that someone is stalking women in Salem and that she, or even Ro, could be the next victim. The light paranormal aspect to this trilogy is great. It’s not overpowering, but still fits easily within the stories. Plot-wise, I love that each of these tales fits around a different holiday, thus far. Deadly Night is set in New Orleans around Halloween and was released in October and now Deadly Harvest deals with the Fall Harvest Festival in Salem in the month of November. We’ll see if the holiday link continues with the final installment, Deadly Gift, coming in December. 10/08 Becky Lejeune

DEADLY INTEREST by Julie Hyzy: Hyzy brings back Alex St. James in this latest mystery, a researcher for a news magazine show in Chicago. Alex reluctantly helps her neighbor, Mrs. Vicks, one evening by crawling in a window when the woman was locked out of her house. Then she rushed out to attend an awards banquet. It doesn’t make her feel good when she gets home and learns Mrs. Vicks has been murdered. Suddenly she feels guilty that she brushed aside the concerns about bank papers. Did her neighbor know something that led to her death? Alex reluctantly agrees to investigate on behalf of the bank, while keeping the investigating detective, Detective Lubinski, informed of her progress. When she’s threatened, beaten up, and finds another body, she realizes, “This isn’t the job I signed on for, you know. News research isn’t supposed to be a life-threatening occupation.” Alex St. James is an appealing amateur detective, carrying a burden of responsibility. If you’re looking for a detective that knows her own weaknesses, check out Deadly Interest. 11/06 Lesa Holstine

DEADLY INTEREST by Julie Hyzy:  People are always asking me how to spell my last name, and I suspect Ms. Hyzy has the same problem.  Fortunately, her heroine, Chicago TV reporter Alex St. James doesn’t seem to have that problem.  Everyone seems to know who she is because of her work on Midwest Focus News Magazine.  When Alex’ neighbor Evelyn Vicks is murdered, Alex becomes involved whether she wants to or not.  She is stalked by an ex-con and has to deal with Evelyn’s estranged son.  Combined with romance and caring for her handicapped sister, its all part of the complicated life she leads.  Relatively fast paced for a cozy, Deadly Interest will probably have greater appeal to the female reader who would have a greater appreciation for the angst of broken fingernails and unruly hair than do I.  Still a quality read, and second in the series after Deadly Blessings.  A third, Deadly Messages, is in the works.  08/07 Jack Quick  

DEADLY LAWS by Jim Hansen:  Fourth in the Laws series, drawing us again into the life and work of hard charging, coffee drinking, womanizing, homicide solving Denver detective Bryson Coventry.  A man is abducting women, and then calling other women to go rescue them.  If the proposed rescuer refuses, the abducted woman dies.  One such rescue leads to the killing of a rapist, which brings Coventry onto the scene.  A security camera video leads him to the “rescuer” and the most recent victim.  They don’t want to cooperate, because of the circumstances of the rapist’s death, and because they have vowed to find and kill the abductor themselves.  So Coventry begins a long, drawn out investigation/ assignation, the latter of which is thoroughly enjoyed by all concerned.  In the meantime, the ladies are trying to use to get more information on the abductor, as well as.......  Crisp as a Rocky Mountain morning and as exciting as a new powder run at Vail, this is the best “Law” yet.  10/07 Jack Quick 

DEADLY NIGHT by Heather Graham:  The Flynn brothers have just inherited a home in New Orleans that has a quite sordid history. Locals say that the Flynn’s ancestors have haunted the home since the end of the Civil War when two cousins, a confederate and a union soldier, killed each other and one of their wives threw herself over the home’s balcony. For Aiden, Jeremy, and Zachary, news of the family estate and its history come as something of a surprise; they only learned of the home after the death of an unknown aunt. The three are all formerly involved in law enforcement and run a successful private investigations firm. When Aiden, the eldest Flynn, discovers two human femur bones on the same day, one on the estate itself and another nearby, he comes to believe that there is something fishy going on. Local agencies chalk it up to Katrina damage on graveyards, but Aiden soon uncovers evidence that suggests someone has been stalking women in the Big Easy and possibly using the estate as their dumping ground. This first in a new trilogy proved to be a great read. Graham ties in a slight paranormal storyline that works to the book’s advantage. She is true to her setting, post-Katrina New Orleans, something that is much appreciated by this Louisiana native. The subsequent titles leave the south for other locales, but I’m really looking forward to continuing the Flynn brothers’ adventures. 10/08 Becky Lejeune  

DEADLY VINTAGE: A MOLLY DOYLE MYSTERY by Elaine Flinn: I'm not a fan of traditional mysteries, yet there are a few series that I really look forward to and enjoy and this is one of them.  While the mystery aspect is always interesting in this series, it's the characters that keep pulling me back. Molly Doyle is an antiques dealer with a troubled past who settles in Carmel, California, to manage the antique store of an old friend.  She makes some good friends in this small town, including the chief of police who'd like to be more than a friend.  Along the way she also inherited her niece, a dream child who adds to the richness of the story.  This time out Molly is trying to expand her bank account and takes on a decorating project for the tasting room at a local winery.  But the owner's husband is abusive, and Molly has a very loud, very public fight with him.  When he gets killed, Molly is high on the suspect list.  This a terrific read and a must for any mystery fan. 12/07 Stacy Alesi, AKA The BookBitch

DEADLY WILL by Marion Moore Hill: This is the first in the Deadly Past mystery series, in which Millie Kirchner will travel to historic sites, and discover mystery along the way. In 1789, Nathan Henry, an admiring acquaintance of Benjamin Franklin's, devised a will that would leave keepsakes to his descendants generations later. In 2001, Millie Kirchner, a single mother receives notification that she is one of Henry's descendants, and she's invited to Philadelphia for the reading of the will. While the heirs spend a week learning about their inheritance, someone is spending the time killing off heirs. Millie is afraid to trust any of her fellow heirs since any of them could be the killer. I had high hopes for the historical aspects of this mystery, and I was disappointed in that aspect, as well as the plot. There was not enough history, and the plot has been done better by other authors. Unfortunately, this was a tired plot with stereotypical characters. 01/06 Lesa Holstine

DEADMAN’S POKER by James Swain: Gerry, son of gambling expert, casino consultant and retired cop Tony Valentine, has a lifelong friend, Jack Donovan, who tells Gerry he's concocted an undetectable scheme that "can beat any poker player in the world," but dies before he can let Gerry in on it. Gerry is convinced Jack was murdered and his investigation leads him and his reluctant father to the World Poker Showdown in Las Vegas, where they encounter tournament darling Skip DeMarco, the legally blind nephew of a notorious mobster. Every expert Tony and Gerry speak with thinks Skip is cheating, but no one can prove it. Swain's knowledge of the con, and of his leads, make this one another winner. 05/06 Jack Quick

THE DEAL KILLER by Jack Bludis:  Its 1951 and Hollywood P.I. Brian Kane has been hired for the princely sum of $50 per day to find out who is threatening Hungarian born actress Hanna Mills.  Before he can even get all the basics Hanna’s fellow Hungarian and friend is ambushed and killed, followed by a kidnapping.  There are also contract issues and lots of money involved as Kane is up against the postwar Hungarian mob.  His life and the fate of the studio hang on the ruse of Kitty Chaney, Kane’s high priced lady friend.  After reading THE BIG SWITCH and this one, I wish we could persuade Jack Bludis to give us more.  Recommended. 03/08 Jack Quick 

DEARLY DEVOTED DEXTER by Jeff Lindsay: You have to give credit to an author who can make you feel sympathetic towards the plight of a stone cold serial killer who has to “act” human because he has none of the normal range of emotions. In Dexter’s second outing he helps sister Deborah and the Miami police deal with a South American monster who is now loose in their area. In the meantime he pursues his own hobby of providing permanent solutions to child molesters. Actually, Lindsay doesn’t really portray Dexter in a sympathetic fashion, but more in the sense of an unemotional occurrence, like a thunderstorm or avalanche. Dexter just happens and while the results aren’t pretty you can’t really blame him, just as you couldn’t blame an errant gust of wind. In the meantime, the police procedural written around Dexter is as good as any. 08/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

DEATH AND HONOR by W.E.B. Griffin:  Only Griffin can write the same story so many times and keep the concept fresh and freely flowing.  This is the fourth in the Honor Bound saga of World War II espionage in Germany and Argentina.  Cletus Frade, a wealthy Marine pilot recruited by the OSS, with strong family ties to Argentina, has a lot on his hands.  OSS chief Wild Bill Donovan has asked him to set up his own (and OSS) airline in Argentina, using “loaned” Lockheed Lodestars and Constellations.  This is in furtherance of the overall war effort but also tied to two Nazi inspired operations that the OSS is trying to get into. The first allows Jews outside the Fatherland to purchase the freedom of their relatives in concentration camps, who will then be transported to Argentina and Uruguay. The second, called Operation Phoenix, involves the use of these funds to establish a sanctuary for senior Nazi officials in South America.  Another great outing from a master.  06/08 Jack Quick

DEATH BEFORE DINNER by Gerald Anderson: In some circles, parting the chef’s hair and head with a meat cleaver after the meal might be considered as a form of criticism. When it is done before the meal and inside the chef’s locked kitchen in the heart of rural Minnesota, Sheriff Palmer Knutson considers it homicide. The victim is the self-serving widely disliked President of Fergus Falls State University and there is no shortage of suspects – basically everyone who has ever come into contact with Dr. George Gherkin -with a name like a pickle, he has to be sour - (sorry, my bad). Knudson’s dilemma, after determining that Gherkin was not in fact cooking up Hot Dish, isn’t about motive or opportunity, but how did the killer gain access and who, of the many suspects, actually did the deed. A most interesting variant on both the traditional locked room and culinary sub-genres. I’d vote for Sheriff Knutson again – and avoid breaking any laws in his territory.  05/07 Jack Quick

DEATH BY HOLLYWOOD by Steve Boccho:  If you witness a murder, you normally would call the police and report it, unless you are a down and out Hollywood screen writer.  Bobby Newman’s career is in the tank, he’s drinking too much and his wife is finding comfort outside the marriage bed.  So when he sees a neighbor kill her lover with an acting trophy, Bobby sees this as a chance to both solve his writer’s block and propel him to the top of the heap in Hollywood.  Told by Newman’s agent, it is a typical Hollywood tale, but very well done.  The author, Steve Boccho, has produced Hill Street Blues, NYPD and other crime shows, and knows his way around a mystery. 12/05 ~This review contributed by Jack Quick.

THE DEATH COLLECTORS by Jack Kerley: Kerley, author of the successful mystery, The Hundredth Man, brings back Mobile, Alambama police officers Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus in another creepy story. Together they form the entire Psychopathological and Sociopathological Investigative Team to look into unusual crimes, often involving serial killers. A woman's body found in a motel, surrounded by candles and flowers, leads the two men to a thirty-year-old murder and a group of people called Death Collectors who buy serial-killer memorabilia. Reluctantly, Ryder once more reaches out to his brother for help, the man who killed their father and five women, but can still offer hints as to the mind of other psychotic killers. Kerley's novels are police procedurals much more than The Silence of the Lambs was, but readers who enjoyed Thomas Harris may want to try The Hundredth Man and The Death Collectors. 07/05 ~This review contributed by Lesa Holstine.

THE DEATH COLLECTORS by Jack Kerley: Mobile, Ala., PD detectives Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus are tracking a serial killer who leaves a tiny beautiful painting with each body. Retired police detective Jacob C. Willow hears of the murder/painting connection and tells Carson he thinks it has something to do with a serial killer case he worked early in his career. That killer has been dead for years, but a peculiar group of collectors specializing in murder memorabilia is keeping his memory alive. Another excellent outing from the author of The Hundredth Man. 03/06 Jack Quick

DEATH ON THE FAMILY TREE by Patricia Sprinkle: Sprinkle debuts a new Family Tree mystery series with the story of Katharine Murray’s inheritance, research, and resulting troubles. Murray is a well-off married woman, living in Buckhead, a suburb of Atlanta, in a house where she’s rattling around. Her two children are grown, and her husband spends weeks in Washington, D.C. as a lobbyist. She just lost the last of her elderly aunts, so she’s feeling lonely and sorry for herself when she inherits a box containing a necklace and a diary. Her research shows they might be traced back to Austria around 1846, when a Celtic village was uncovered that existed from 1000-400 B.C. Unfortunately for Katharine, her research also attracted a great deal of attention. She’s followed, her house is broken into, and events go from bad to worse. Soon, Katharine doesn’t know who she can trust. And, as she continues to dig, she realizes she can’t even trust her own family history. Sometimes, secrets are better left hidden. 03/07 Lesa Holstine

Dealing in Murder by Elaine Flinn: I just loved this first novel and terrific mystery.  Molly Doyle is a disgraced antique dealer in Carmel, California (with that famous mayor, Clint Eastwood).  A friend is helping her get back on her feet and has her manage a shop that has been woefully neglected.  Molly hits the garage sales and finds a good desk, but when she gets it back to the shop the drawers are locked.  She returns for the key, a woman dies in her arms, and things get a bit sticky after that.  Lots of nice twists, interesting characters and terrific tips on the antique business make this a fun, fast read.  This book has been nominated for several awards.

A DEATH AT THE ROSE PAPERWORKS by M.J. Zellnik: The title says cozy but the new effort from brother/sister team Miriam and Joseph Zellnik has more action than most. Amateur sleuth Libby Seale is working as a seamstress for the Rose family in turn of the century Portland, Oregon when her boss Hiram Rose is reported to have been killed – caught in machinery at his own paper mill. Minutes later, a healthy Mr. Rose walks through the front door. As continued murder attempts reveal a dark agenda, it is up to Seale and boyfriend Pere Eberle, a maverick reporter for the Portland Gazette, to solve the mystery. Portland, Oregon, 1894 – well depicted – if that’s your cup of tea. A bit too sweet for me. 10/06 Jack Quick

DEATH BOOKS A RETURN by Marion Moore Hill:  The second book in the Scrappy Librarian series allows Wyndham, Oklahoma librarian Juanita Wills to dig into the past while trying to write the town's history. Unfortunately, she hits a logjam when she gets to the brutal 1959 murder of a teenage black athlete. No one in Wyndham, or the neighboring town, wants to talk about the hate crime. Wills is persistent as she digs into the cold case. The story is interesting, but, as a librarian, I found Juanita a little unbelievable. She's a librarian with too little actual work, and too much time on her hands. Even so, it's an interesting look into racial tensions and feelings in the 1950s. 09/08 Lesa Holstine

THE DEATH CHAMBER by Sarah Rayne:  UK author, Sarah Rayne, returns with yet another chilling thriller about family secrets and the people who will do just about anything to make sure they stay forgotten. Georgina Grey has lost everything. Her business partner left with all the cash, and Georgina’s boyfriend, so it’s something of a saving grace when she receives a letter from the Caradoc Society. The society was set up ages ago to deal with psychic phenomena. It seems Georgina’s grandfather, a man she never met, left a good portion of money to the society – money that, after being used to pay off the society’s debts, will fall to Georgina. All Georgina knows about her grandfather is that he once served as the prison doctor at Calvary Gaol, a prison specifically for death row inmates. She makes the trip hoping to learn more about the man and meets TV host Chad Ingram. Ingram and his team are working on a show about Calvary and Georgina promises to let them use any relevant information she finds. Unfortunately for Georgina, this is one man’s worst nightmare - not only could his family’s terrible secrets be unearthed, but for them to be aired for national viewing is something he cannot, and will not, allow.  04/08 Becky Lejeune 

Death in Dublin by Bartholomew Gill: I should confess from the outset that I am a big McGarr fan. One of my favorite lines comes from an earlier book and involved the questioning of a bartender by the Irish police. He explains that at the time in question, he was at the trough in the bathroom. The policeman responds "I guess you have a cast-iron alibi, then." Death in Dublin was the last book written by Bartholomew Gill before his passing and I am going to miss him and his characters.
    The book starts with the theft of The Book of Kells from Trinity College and the literal sucking the life out of the watchman who admitted the crooks. Atlhough the signs point to a cult proclaiming itself to be the New Druids, the plot grows increasingly more complicated. It involves such current matters as oxycontin addiction and the Opus Dei organization and such old themes as lust, politics and money.
    McGarr's progress throughout this maze is monitored, assisted and hindered by a young aggressive female reporter and the rich, despicable, but politically-connected publisher of the newspaper for which she is working.
    McGarr is assisted in his investigation by two former members of his squad who were forced to resign from the Garda Soichana when their communal marriage was exposed by that newspaper. They become vital when a "pretty boy" on the way up is put in charge of the Guarda.
    By the end of the story, McGarr has not only solved the crime, but exposed corruption at the highest levels of government, religion and industry. And as a bonus, learned the true facts surrounding the earlier murder of his wife and father-in-law.