Review of "Mango, Mambo, and Murder: A Caribbean Kitchen Mystery" by Raquel V. Reyes

This review was first posted on Mystery and Suspense. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. https://www.mysteryandsuspense.com/ma...

This is the first book in the Caribbean Kitchen mystery series, featuring a Hispanic sleuth and her circle of friends and relatives.

Miriam Quiñones-Smith and Robert Smith, both natives of Miami, met at NYU when Robert was an adjunct professor and Miriam was a teaching assistant.



Miriam and Robert fell in love, married, moved into a tiny Manhattan apartment, and had a baby named Manuel.



Little Manny is now four-years-old.....



......and the couple have moved back to Miami, where Robert has a job with the Department of Environmental Resources and Development, and Miriam - a Cuban-American with a Ph.D. in food anthropology - plans to write a book about the Caribbean kitchen and its importance in retaining cultural identity.



Though Miriam is happy to be back in Miami, close to her native Latin community and her best friend Alma Diaz, things aren't all rosy.



Miriam and Robert's new home in classy Coral Shores is only blocks away from Robert's parents, and Robert's mother Marjory - an upper-class snob who thinks Miriam isn't good enough for her son - constantly drops by and criticizes her daughter-in-law.



Also, while Miriam is unpacking, setting up the house, and taking care of little Manny, Robert is golfing and meeting friends at the country club - including his old high school girlfriend Juliet.



Miriam is a bit irritated by this but is really thrown for a loop when, within weeks of moving to Miami, Robert announces he's taken a new job with a land acquisitions and development company owned by Juliet's father - a job that doesn't fit with Robert's environmental interests. Moreover, Robert buys a $90,000 Tesla the Smiths can't afford, and - despite Miriam's questions - avoids explaining his actions.



Meanwhile, Miriam's best friend Alma, a real estate agent who knows the value of networking, insists Miriam establish herself in toney Coral Shores. So Alma sets Miriam up with an audition for a cooking segment on the Latino morning show UnMundo and takes Miriam to a Women's Club luncheon.



At the luncheon, a woman named Sunny Weatherman collapses and dies. A few days later, Alma takes Miriam to a promotional event where a woman called Elliot Truman collapses and dies. Both Sunny and Elliot had been using products sold by Dr. Mario Fuentes, who advertises himself as a preeminent MD who combines western medicine with ancient herbal practices from the West Indies.



To Miriam's shock, her friend Alma is arrested, accused of giving Sunny Weatherman drugs that caused a cocaine heart attack. Miriam is certain Alma is innocent, and feels if anyone is responsible for Sunny's death, it must be Dr. Fuentes. So Miriam launches her own investigation, to the annoyance of Detective Frank Pullman, who's in charge of the police case.



Soon enough, however, Detective Pullman sees the value of having someone 'inside' the Coral Shores community and brings Miriam into his investigation, anointing her the neighborhood's Veronica Mars (a fictional TV sleuth).

At this point, Miriam has a lot on her mind. She's taking care of Manny, who she converses with in Spanish, so he'll be bilingual; she's taping cooking segments and promotional blurbs for the UnMundo show; she's going to Mambo-cise classes, to keep in shape; she's concerned about her marriage to Robert, who's spending a lot of time with Juliet; she's trying to clear her best friend Alma of murder charges; and she's making new friends in the community.



Things are not always as they seem in this cozy mystery and Miriam perseveres until she discovers the truth about everything.

This is a multicultural cozy, with some Spanish dialog sprinkled throughout. This didn't bother me because the meaning is usually clear from the context. For instance, when little Manny wakes up and wanders into the kitchen, Miriam says: "Buenas dias mi principe. ¿Qué quieres para desayunar?" Manny responds "¡Panqueques!" and Miriam makes her son pancakes with a topping of cream cheese and guava.



Miriam is a bold, appealing character who takes the high road with her difficult mother-in-law; prepares delicious Cuban dishes; braves vermin and bugs to clear her friend Alma's name; and deftly bridges Miami's multiethnic culture. I look forward to her future adventures.

The book contains recipes for Papaya Smoothie, Saint-Tropez Sangria, Picadillo de Pavo (Spanish Sloppy Joe), and Chicken Fricassee Cuban Style.


Papaya Smoothie


Saint-Tropez Sangria


Picadillo de Pavo (Spanish Sloppy Joe)


Chicken Fricassee Cuban Style

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case" by Charles Bosworth, Jr. & Joel J. Schwartz"

On December 27, 2011, Russ Faria was at his usual Tuesday evening game night, where he and his friends enjoyed role-playing board games and watching movies. On the way back to his house in Troy, Missouri, Russ had two sandwiches from Arby's and texted his wife Betsy that he was on his way back. Russ received no response and assumed his wife had gone to sleep after a tiring chemotherapy session for her cancer.

Russ Faria


Betsy Faria


Russ and Betsy Faria

Instead of finding Betsy peacefully asleep Russ found her dead in the living room, with multiple stab wounds and a knife sticking out of her neck. Knowing that Betsy had been depressed about her health, Russ called 911 and cried, "I just got home from a friend's house and my wife killed herself."

Police detectives soon determined that Betsy was murdered, and in fact, the stiffness of the body indicated Betsy had been dead for some time. Nevertheless, the cops immediately dubbed Russ Faria the killer despite the fact he had a rock solid alibi for the time of death. The events that followed, with willfully blind cops, an obstinate district attorney, and an inexperienced judge are tragic.


Russ Faria was immediately Prime Suspect #1

If you're unfamiliar with the Russ Faria case, there are spoilers ahead.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT

Russ should have called a lawyer before speaking to the police, but hindsight is 20/20 and Russ allowed himself to be questioned by detectives for hours and hours, not realizing that every word he said was twisted to 'prove' his guilt.

When Russ finally got a defense attorney, Armani-clad Joel Schwartz, the lawyer immediately saw the obvious.


Attorney Joel Schwartz

In Schwartz's view, the major suspect for Betsy's murder should be Betsy's 'friend' Pamela Hupp. On the day of Betsy's death Pam maneuvered to drive Betsy home; Pam was the last person to see Betsy alive; Pam made a series of suspicious phone calls; Pam stood to gain $150,000 as the new beneficiary of Pam's life insurance policy; and Pam's story about what happened that night changed from minute to minute. Moreover, Pam went out of her way to badmouth Russ and to point the police in his direction.


Pamela Hupp

In this book, Schwartz and his co-author Charles Bosworth, Jr. give a step-by-step account of Russ's activities on the night of Betsy's murder; the police questioning of witnesses; the police/district attorney manipulation of witnesses; the lies that were told; and the trials and re-trials that followed. In the midst of the hubbub, the NBC program 'Dateline' became interested in Betsy's story: "A popular, outgoing woman already stricken with terminal cancer stabbed fifty-five times in her home in a quiet Midwest town....A husband arrested despite a seemingly ironclad alibi that put him thirty miles away....A good friend who became the life insurance beneficiary days before the murder and was the last one to see the victim alive." Dateline may well have been instrumental in inflaming public opinion and securing Russ a second trial.

This is a fascinating tale of justice subverted, a debacle that left Pam Hupp free to commit additional crimes. If this was fiction, you'd say it stretched believability to the breaking point. In any case, this is now a HULU mini-series called "The Thing About Pam", starring Renée Zellweger as Pam Hupp and Josh Duhamel as Joel Schwartz.


Renée Zellweger as Pamela Hupp


Josh Duhamel as Joel Schwartz

The book is highly recommended to true crime fans.

Thanks to Netgalley, Joel Schwartz and Charles Bosworth, Jr., and Kensington Books for a copy of the book.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "The Golden Couple: A Novel of Suspense" by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Avery Chambers was never a conventional therapist, but a major mistake got Avery's license revoked, and she's now a 'consultant' to couples who have relationship problems.

Avery's method consists of holding ten sessions with each couple, starting with Confession and progressing through Disruption, Escalation, Revelation, Devastation, Confrontation, Exposure, The Test, Reconciliation, and Promises.

Avery's newest clients are Washington, DC residents Marissa and Matthew Bishop, a wealthy young couple with an 8-year-old son named Bennett.



During the first session, Matthew seems to think he and his wife are there to talk about Bennett, but Marissa immediately confesses she had sex with a man from her gym. Marissa promises it was a one-time thing, she'll never do it again, and she wants Avery to help herself and Matthew heal from her betrayal. Matthew is understandably incandescent with anger, but agrees to attempt to reconcile with Avery's help.



To say Avery has her own methods is an understatement. Avery does background searches on her clients; snoops around their homes, places of business, and neighborhoods; gathers information about their acquaintances and extracurricular activities; follows them; spies on them; and so on.



In the case of the Bishops, Avery soon unearths some strange vibes. Marissa owns a luxury boutique called Coco that sells expensive goods from around the world.



Marissa's new hire, a young woman named Polly, copies Marissa's mannerisms and appearance and seems unusually nosy about Marissa's life.



And Matthew, who's a partner in a D.C. law firm, seems to be overly friendly with a woman named Natalie, a girl he dated in college who's in the same social circle as the Bishops.



As Avery is digging into the Bishops' life and marriage, she's having some troubles of her own. A previous client named Finley had told Avery that the pharmaceutical company she worked for was about to launch a dangerous drug. Finley was too fearful of backlash to inform the FDA, so Avery did it on the FDA's anonymous tipline. However, the company discovered it was Avery, and is now harassing her, determined to find the name of the snitch.



In addition, the extremely controlling wife of a couple Avery (purposely) broke up is causing difficulties.



On the bright side, Avery regularly stops by an animal shelter to take an abused pit bull named Romeo for a run. After a while Avery can no longer resist Romeo's sad face and adopts him for good.



Avery works hard to save the Bishops' marriage and deal with her own problems, but is hampered by the fact that almost everyone in the story is hiding things and keeping secrets.

The story is told from the alternating points of view of Avery and Marissa, and the surprises ratchet up bit by bit to the book's shocking ending. Hendricks and Pekkanen are known for the twists in their books and they don't disappoint here.

Thanks to Netgalley, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Dark Hours: A Renee Ballard and Harry Bosch Mystery" by Michael Connelly

This review was first posted on Mystery and Suspense. Check it out for features, interviews, and reviews. www.mysteryandsuspense.com/the-dark-h...

LAPD Detective Renee Ballard worked in the elite Robbery Homicide Division until she accused her boss of sexual harassment and got transferred to the night shift.



On the graveyard shift Ballard gets to start investigations, but then has to pass them off to the day watch. Renee resents this and often finds a way to continue the investigations, to the chagrin of her superiors.



On New Year's Eve 2020 Ballard and her temporary partner, Detective Lisa Moore of the Sex Crimes Unit, are sheltering beneath an underpass while Angelenos follow the tradition of firing guns into the air. Falling bullets often shatter windshields, so the detectives are staying out of the way while they anticipate a call about the Midnight Men, a team of two rapists known to strike on holiday eves.



Shortly after midnight, Ballard and Moore are called to the scene of a death. Auto shop owner Javier Raffa, who hosts a neighborhood party every New Year's Eve, was shot in the head.





Renee would normally turn the Raffa case over to West Bureau Homicide, but they're overtaxed so Renee gets to keep the case for the time being.

As it turns out, a shell casing connects Raffa's homicide to the unsolved murder of rapper Albert Lee ten years ago, a case investigated by Detective Harry Bosch.



Bosch worked for the LAPD for over thirty years, but was always a maverick, and was finally pushed out. Bosch now works independently, looking into cold cases. Ballard contacts Bosch - who's her mentor and friend - about the deaths of Raffa and Lee , and the duo decide to investigate the homicides together.

Renee and Harry discover that Raffa had been a member of the Las Palmas gang, but borrowed $25,000 to buy himself out.



As it happens, victim Albert Lee had also borrowed a large sum of money, and the detectives speculate that the debts connect the murdered men with their killer.

Meanwhile, on New Year's Day, a woman named Cindy Carpenter reports that two men raped her the night before, and the modus operandi proves they're the Midnight Men.



Ballard has to pursue the rapists on her own because Detective Lisa Moore has sneaked off for a vacation with her boyfriend. This lackadaisical attitude has become common in the LAPD due to the Covid pandemic, public vilification of the cops, violent protests, and the defund the police movement.



The malaise hasn't spread to Renee though, who works day and night to capture criminals.

Meticulous police work by Ballard and Bosch uncovers clues about the Raffa and Lee shootings, and a man walking his dog gives Renee a lead on the tag team rapists. Ballard's fervent pursuit of the perpetrators puts her life in danger, and flouting the rules gets her in trouble with her lieutenant. As the murder and rape cases head toward resolution Ballard considers leaving the LAPD and working with Bosch full-time. Will a visit from the chief of police change Renee's mind?



On the light side, Ballard adopts a chihuahua mix from Wags and Walks. The rescue pooch, named Pinto, goes paddle-boarding with Renee on her days off and stays in 24-hour doggy daycare when Renee's working.



Ballard also meets an attractive EMT called Garrett Single, who helps Renee out in a pinch and invites her to a firehouse dinner. Is there romance in Renee's future?



This is an excellent thriller, and I look forward to seeing Ballard and Bosch work together again.

Rating: 3.5 stars