Review of "Remains of Innocence: A Sheriff Joanna Brady Mystery" by J.A. Jance

In this 16th book in the 'Joanna Brady' series, the sheriff investigates geographically distant crimes that seem to be connected. The book can be read as a standalone, but knowledge of the characters is a plus.




*****

Massachusetts resident Selma Matchett, a cantankerous, mean-spirited hoarder, is estranged from both her children, Liza and Guy.



When Selma enters hospice care, Liza cleans out her mom's house and finds nearly $150,000 hidden in books and magazines. Liza proceeds to spend some of the cash to renovate her mother's decrepit house for sale. Then, at Selma's funeral, a man approaches Liza and tells her that be once knew her long-absent father and that Liza needs to be careful because some people 'don't forget'.



Murder and mayhem soon begin and Liza takes off across the country on the 'underground railroad' operated by long-haul truckers, which is meant for abused women.



Liza's plan is to get to her older brother Guy in Bisbee, Arizona to see if he can explain what's going on.

Meanwhile, across the country in Bisbee, Sheriff Joanna Brady has a lot to deal with. Junior, a handicapped man beloved by his adoptive parents and the community, is found murdered - his body lying in a cave with the remains of several abused animals and a live but tortured kitten. Joanna fears a budding serial killer might be responsible.



The medical examiner, Dr. Guy Matchett (Liza's brother), is scheduled to do Junior's autopsy but he is soon found brutally murdered himself, his body showing evidence of torture. Joanna thinks the Junior and Guy deaths are unrelated and - when she's contacted by authorities in Massachusetts looking for Liza - concludes there's a connection between the crimes in Massachusetts and what happened to Liza's brother Guy.



The story skips back and forth between Liza's trek across the U.S. and Joanna's investigations in Arizona. Liza is handed off from one long haul rig to another and meets a series of interesting personalities along the way.




In the Arizona sections, Joanna has a competent team of deputies and crime scene analysts and their work is well-described and informative.



Joanna's family also plays a part in the story, including her supportive husband Butch, rodeo-loving daughter Jenny, and the family dogs and horses. This adds a homey touch to the book.

Joanna solves Junior's murder with the help of forensic evidence and the Matchett case with the help of federal authorities. The Machett solution, however, didn't quite ring true for me. This book is a fine addition to the Joanna Brady series and recommended for mystery fans.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "Bad Blood: Intercrime Book 1" by Arne Dahl

In this 2nd book in the 'Intercrime' series, the Swedish detective squad is on the trail of a vicious serial killer. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****



Stockholm's Intercrime Unit A squad deals with serious crimes that extend beyond Sweden's borders. As this book in the Nordic crime series opens, the team hasn't had a case in quite some time and is concerned about being split up.

Before that happens though, the FBI calls Unit A leader, Detective Superintendent Jan-Olov Hultin, to report that a Swedish literary critic named Lars-Erik Hassel has been murdered at Newark International Airport.....and the killer is on a plane headed for Stockholm.



The FBI tells DS Hultin that - before he was killed - critic Hassel was rendered mute by a diabolical device inserted into his neck.....and mercilessly tortured.



This is the modus operandi of a serial murderer called the Kentucky Killer, who first used this torture method during the Vietnam War - to squeeze information out of the enemy. Afterwards, the Kentucky Killer employed this technique for his own deadly purposes. However, the Kentucky Killer died in a fiery car crash many years ago. So it looks like a copycat killer is on his way to Sweden.

Detectives from Unit A are deployed to Stockholm Airport to try to apprehend the copycat when he deplanes. However, there are too many passengers and too much confusion, and the murderer gets away.



As the intercrime unit waits for the killer to make his next move they investigate Lars-Erik Hassel, to see who might have wanted the literary critic dead. Turns out Hassel was a self-important snob who mistreated his former wives and skewered many writers, ruining their careers.



Almost everyone disliked Hassel, including his son. Was Hassel's murder random? A hit? Something else?

Meanwhile, the copycat killer gets busy in Sweden, and dead bodies turn up here and there. The police try to see connections among the victims, but make slow progress.



Thus two members of Unit A, Detective Paul Hjelm and Detective Kerstin Holm, fly to the U.S. to consult FBI Special Agent Ray Larner - who spent years pursuing the Kentucky Killer. Hjelm and Holm makes important discoveries in America.....and their colleagues back home also obtain new evidence. This leads to some startling discoveries and a dramatic denouement.



The detectives in Unit A are an interesting bunch who navigate diverse private and professional lives. Paul Hjelm and Kirstin Holm deal with the aftermath of their illicit affair; Gunnar Nyberg - a former Mr. Sweden - is torn with guilt about his previous bad behavior; computer whiz Jorge Chavez adds a light, exotic touch to the team; and so on. The ongoing characters add engaging elements to the novel.

I enjoyed the story and recommend it to fans of Scandinavian thrillers. 

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "Deal Breaker: The First Myron Bolitar Mystery" by Harlan Coben

I've read many books in the Myron Bolitar series but never read this first one until now.

Myron Bolitar was a basketball phenomenon in high school and college and an early draft pick for the NBA. Unfortunately he was severely injured in his first exhibition game and had to quit basketball. Instead Myron got a law degree and became a sports representative.



Now in his early thirties Myron represents a small stable of players, including football player Christian Steele - a star college quarterback who's just been drafted by the Titans.



Myron is a master of wisecracks and sarcastic remarks and is endlessly amusing to himself (and probably many readers). He reminds me of Robert B. Parker's 'Spenser' and Rex Stout's 'Archie' in the Nero Wolfe books.

In any case, Myron is having trouble negotiating Christian's contract because the thuggish owner of the Titans......



.....wanting to knock down the pay package, says Christian has a public relations problem. His beautiful girlfriend Kathy Culver disappeared 18 months ago and Christian was suspected of being involved.



And Kathy (or her body) has never been found.

Just before training camp begins Christian, in a highly agitated state, calls Myron. Someone has sent him the latest edition of 'Nips' Magazine, a soft-porn rag that contains ads for phone sex. Shockingly, one of the ads features a nude picture of Kathy. Moreover Christian received a phone call from someone who sounds like his missing girlfriend.

At about the same time Myron's drop-dead gorgeous ex-girlfriend Jessica Culver (Kathy's older sister) shows up.



Dr. Culver, her pathologist father, was just killed by a mugger and Jessica thinks this might be connected to Kathy's vanishing. Since Myron has known investigative skills, Jessica asks him to look into it.

So Myron investigates, with the help of his old college roommate Windsor Horne Lockwood III. Win is a rich, blonde, handsome, American aristocrat - but his dapper, dandyish appearance is misleading. Win is a sixth degree black belt in Tae Kwan Do, handy with guns, and perfectly happy to maim and kill his (or Myron's) enemies if necessary. In fact, Win is a sociopath (but a lovable one if he's on your side).



As Myron does the dual jobs of working out Christian's contract and looking into the 'Nips' and Kathy situation he comes across various thugs and shady characters as well as a college dean, a seductive married woman, a detective, Dr. Culver's best friend, a porn magazine publisher, a porn photographer, Kathy's mother, former college football players, and more. Most of the male characters are flat and blur together, so I had a problem remembering who was who. We do get to meet a regular in the series, Myron's assistant Esperanza - a Latin fireball who used to wrestle under the moniker 'Little Pocahontas'. Esperanza is always an entertaining senorita.



The first two-thirds or so of the book moves along pretty smoothly. Then, when Myron starts to figure out the truth about Kathy's disappearance, the story gets convoluted, confusing, and (frankly) not believable. Another irritant in the book is Myron's constant gushing about how beautiful his ex-girlfriend Jessica is. He mentions this on about every third or fourth page. At one point Jessica walks past an elegant society party and the jaws of ALL the men in the room drop as they turn to stare at her. (Come on!!! Really???)

It feels like, in this first book, Harlen Coben hasn't found his 'Myron Bolitar' legs yet. The book reminds me of the pilot episode of a TV series that starts out shaky but gets better later on. Overall I'd mildly recommend this book to mystery fans - not for the story but for a first meeting with characters that might just become favorites over time.



Rating: 3 stars

Review of "After the Storm: A Police Chief Kate Burkholder Mystery" by Linda Castillo

In this 7th book in the 'Kate Burkholder' series, the Police Chief is threatened by a stalker as she tries to solve a murder. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the series is beneficial.

*****

A ferocious tornado rips through Painters Mill, Ohio causing damage and fatalities.

Review of "How the Light Gets In: A Chief Inspector Gamache Mystery" by Louise Penny

In this 9th book in the 'Chief Inspector Armand Gamache' series, the detective investigates the death of an elderly quintuplet. The book can be read as a standalone, but familiarity with the characters and background is a bonus.

*****



Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is a troubled guy: his best homicide detectives have been transferred out of his squad and he's been saddled with a bunch of lazy losers.



His former mentee Lt. Jean-Guy Beavoir is not speaking to him and is once again abusing prescription drugs; he's still trying to ferret out corrupt individuals in the Sûreté du Québec (police department) and in return the powers that be want him gone; and he's landed a homicide investigation involving elderly Constance Oullet, the last member of the once famous Oullet quintuplets.



Turns out Constance Oullet recently visited the village of Three Pines, where Gamache has good friends and where he adopted his beloved German Shepherd Henri. Gamache simultaneously investigates the Oullet murder…….

…..and assembles a secret squad that retreats to Three Pines in an effort to foil an evil plot hatched by the above-mentioned corrupt individuals. 

The story is well-crafted and engrossing though there are some slow spots about the lives of the quints and the 'voyeur-industry' that sprang up around them.





The characters are well-drawn and the residents of Three Pines are the kind of loyal friends we'd all like to have.

Every book needs a light side and there's an endearing scene where Henri (the dog) falls in love with Rose (the duck).



All of Gamache's determined activity leads to an excellent, exciting conclusion. A good mystery.

Rating: 4 stars

Review of "Every Last Lie: A Novel of Suspense" by Mary Kubica

Nick and Clara Solberg seem to be a happily married, successful young couple living on the outskirts of Chicago.....until something terrible happens.



Nick is driving his little girl home from ballet class when a terrible accident takes his life.....and miraculously spares his four-year-old daughter Maisie.



Nick's wife Clara - who's home nursing their 4-day-old infant Felix when the tragedy occurs - is shocked and disoriented by the loss. One minute she's married to a successful dentist, and the next she's a 28-year-old widow with two small children.





Clara has other problems as well. Her mother is suffering from Alzheimer's disease.....



and her father - who cares for his wife with the help of an aide - can barely cope.



The police investigate the crash and conclude that Nick's reckless driving caused the accident. Clara refuses to accept this; she doesn't think Nick would put his child at risk. Clara's beliefs are reinforced when Maisie says 'a bad man' was following the car.....and freaks out at the sight of a black automobile. Clara concludes that someone in a black car forced Nick off the road - in other words, murdered him!

Clara does some investigating of her own, and talks to people who live near the accident site.



She brings her 'evidence' to the police, who say they'll look into 'the black car' murder theory. However, the cops are clearly skeptical.

SPOILER ALERT / SPOILER ALERT / SPOILER ALERT

Meanwhile, Clara - a photographer with little income at the moment - knows she has to pull things together. She needs to collect Nick's life insurance to pay for hefty funeral expenses and household bills; and she has to sell Nick's dental practice. When Clara looks into doing these things, however, she discovers that Nick was keeping BIG secrets from her!

The story is told in the alternating voices of Nick and Clara. Nick relates his experiences before the accident; and Clara talks about what happens right before and then after the crash.

In Nick's narrative we learn that he had a big fight with his bullying neighbor across the street; he pulled the tooth of a patient from hell, with dire consequences; he fell out with his 'partner' in the dental practice; he gambled with the family's funds; he became reacquainted with his (now married) former girlfriend, whose son might be his; and so on. Nick was becoming undone by these problems - but felt he couldn't tell Clara because she was pregnant.



In Clara's chapters, we see her find out about Nick's secrets.....one by one. Clara discovers that the dental practice is in disarray and that Nick's life insurance policy was cancelled. Clara also sees a receipt for a pricey necklace among Nick's things and learns that a woman had a restraining order against him. These discoveries - and other 'clues' - lead Clara to speculate that Nick was having an affair; that he was a drug dealer; that he was planning to leave her; etc.



Clara adds to her own troubles by refusing to tell Maisie that her father is dead. Maisie's continual request 'to see daddy' is met with lies and misdirection.

On top of all that, Clara's parents are in crisis. Her mother no longer recognizes her; acts out when Clara's visits; and - when no one is looking - swipes the car keys and goes for rides. For his part, Clara's father seems to be having problems with his memory and is apparently mishandling the family's finances.

As Clara tries to identify Nick's killer; take care of her money woes; figure out who Nick really is; and take care of a toddler and an infant - she starts to break down. She can't sleep, can't eat, and edges toward becoming delusional - unable to separate speculation from fact. Moreover, Clara's paranoia is exacerbated by a real life 'stalker.'

The story is engaging and kept my attention, but at some point - around the middle of the book - the characters' woes started to strain credulity.

For instance, Nick's problems became so immense that I no longer believed he could keep them from his wife. A man with so much on his mind couldn't act completely normal at home. Surely Clara would suss something out!



As for Clara, she seemed to lose all her common sense and - at one point - behaved like a psychopath.....with her children right there. I found this behavior to be unbelievable.



END SPOILER ALERT / END SPOILER ALERT / END SPOILER ALERT

Even with these problems, though, the story is a compelling thriller with surprises I never saw coming. The book doesn't require much deep thinking and would be a good choice for vacation entertainment (IMO).

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "Merchants in the Temple: Inside Pope Francis's Secret Battle Against Corruption in the Vatican" by Gianluigi Nuzzi

Journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi

"Merchants in the Temple" by Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi is an exposé of the entrenched, morally suspect and financially unscrupulous culture of the Vatican. It's well known that power corrupts, that human nature can be self-serving, and that Church bigwigs are no angels....for many years they protected pedophile priests (as seen in the movie "Spotlight"). Still, I was shocked by the revelations in this story.


The Vatican


Inside the Vatican Museum

If Nuzzi is right, Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013 because he couldn't deal with the engrained, powerful, self-indulgent, sometimes criminal (money laundering) Cardinals that run the Vatican.


Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict's resignation led to the election of Pope Francis, who apparently has a stronger stomach than Benedict. Pope Francis is determined to clean house - which has proven to be extremely difficult.


Pope Francis

The book gives a detailed picture of financial shenanigans perpetrated by Cardinals and Vatican employees. I got a feel for what was going on but - there are so many people involved (with very long titles and names) and so much economic hocus pocus - it's very hard to understand the exact details and how it all works.


Cardinals in the Vatican

As far as I can tell the financial schemes and malfeasance in the Vatican involves: using donation money meant for poor parishes to bail out Vatican overspending; hiding money from auditors; laundering Mafia money; underwriting lavish apartments and lifestyles for Cardinals and other employees (food, wine, clothing, interior decorating, prostitutes/lovers, etc.); paying blackmail to keep Cardinals' sexual peccadillos out of the public eye (sexual liaisons are supposedly very common among the Catholic clergy); patronage and nepotism - hiring WAY too many employees and paying excessively high salaries; using overpriced outside printshops for Vatican publications, rather than the fully capable Vatican printers; hiring contractors without getting estimates, and allowing them to overspend....with no oversight; permitting pension funds to become nearly bankrupt; being financially ignorant and inept (Cardinals aren't usually economists or businessmen); and more.

According to Nuzzi, Pope Francis has brought in financial experts and auditors- both religious and lay people - to fix some of this mess.


Auditors were brought in to examine the Vatican's books

However, the Cardinals have no intention of giving up their power. They resist reform; refuse to cooperate; pretend to cooperate; wage secret - and not so secret - campaigns to discredit the reformers; perhaps commit murder (Pope John Paul I died 33 days after he was elected, allegedly just before he was going to remove some Cardinals from power); and more.


Pope John Paul I

Thus, Pope Francis might have to wait until the ensconced Cardinals reach mandatory retirement age (80) or die, and replace them with people he trusts. However, the 'power corrupts' problem might begin a new cycle of bad behavior (just my opinion)......


Pope Francis placing the red hat on a new cardinal

When I finished the book I admired Pope Francis but had very little respect for the Vatican. The self-serving Cardinals mentioned in the book apparently forgot what priests are supposed to do - minister to the Catholic people. In fact, the Catholic flock seems to be the last thing on their minds. (I'm not Catholic, btw)

Overall, this is an interesting book, a real eye-opener - though perhaps a bit too detailed and confusing (though I admire the enormous amount of research Nuzzi must have done). In any case, I hope Pope Francis succeeds in his mission to 'fix' the Vatican and wish him luck.

Rating: 3.5 stars