Review of "W is for Wasted: A Kinsey Millhone Mystery" by Sue Grafton

In this 23rd book in the 'Kinsey Millhone' series, the California private detective investigates two suspicious deaths. The book can be read as a standalone though familiarity with the characters is a plus.



*****

Private Detective Kinsey Millhone is between jobs when she becomes involved with the deaths of two men. Pete Wolinksy, a disreputable P.I. acquaintance is found shot to death in a Santa Teresa park, presumably by a mugger.



And R.T. Dace, an alcoholic, ex-convict vagrant who Kinsey never met has left her a small fortune and made her executor of his will.



Turns out R.T. Dace is Kinsey's distant relative, and wanting to do the right thing Kinsey sets out to tell his disinherited children what happened. Though they had all rejected their father, the Dace children are furious and combative.



Meanwhile Kinsey's friend/sometimes lover Robert Dietz turns up, angry because Pete Wolinsky cheated him out of a fee.



Thus Kinsey starts looking into the deaths of both Wolinksy and Dace and discovers some intriguing connections between them. Seems that Wolinsky was investigating a doctor who may have falsified data in a pharmaceutical study involving alcoholics.



There are a slew of interesting characters in this story including old favorites like Kinsey's handsome 88-year-old landlord Henry, who loves to bake;



his hypochondriac brother William;



and the restaurateur Rosie, who serves only one dish per day at her eatery.



Grafton does a masterful job of intertwining the Wolinksy/Dace story lines leading to a completely satisfactory conclusion. This is a treat of a mystery book.




Rating: 4 stars

Review of "The Whistler: A Novel" by John Grisham

Lacy Stoltz and Hugo Hatch are lawyers with the 'The Florida Board on Judicial Conduct', which investigates claims that Florida judges are engaging in inappropriate or illegal behavior. This can range from being drunk on the job, to propositioning attorneys for sex, to taking bribes.....or worse. Even so, Lacy and Hugo are skeptical when a disbarred lawyer, who calls himself Greg Myers, claims that Judge Claudia McDover is in cahoots with the Coast Mafia - a criminal organization that engineered   Lacy Stoltz and Hugo Hatch are lawyers with the 'The Florida Board on Judicial Conduct', which investigates claims that Florida judges are engaging in inappropriate or illegal behavior. This can range from being drunk on the job, to propositioning attorneys for sex, to taking bribes.....or worse. Even so, Lacy and Hugo are skeptical when a disbarred lawyer, who calls himself Greg Myers..... .....claims that Judge Claudia McDover is in cahoots with the Coast Mafia - a criminal organization that engineered the construction of a casino on Tappacola Indian land in the Florida panhandle. According to the informant, Judge McDover helped the mafia grab land for the casino (and other developments) by shady use of eminent domain..... .....and she covered up the murder of a casino opponent by engineering the conviction of an innocent man - who's now on death row. The tipster also asserts that the judge gets tons of cash skimmed from casino profits and accepts other perks - like expensive condominiums. Lacy and Hugo look into the allegations, which seem to be true. The judge has been very careful though, and It won't be easy to prove she's guilty. So, to get a 'toe in', Myers makes a complaint citing McDover's ownership of illicit condominiums. This allows Lacy and Hugo to begin an official inquiry. Though Myers signs the complaint, he's actually the 'spokesman' for a trio who want to take down Judge McDover. These three include a 'whistle-blower' close to the justice; an intermediary; and then Myers. (IMO this hierarchy of snitches unnecessarily complicates the plot.) These tattletales are in it for the money, since whistle-blowers share in 'illegal gains' retrieved by the government. As part of their inquiries Lacy and Hugo start to sniff around the casino, which alarms the Tappacola Chief as well as the Coast Mafia - which is run by Vonn Dubose. As a result, Dubose arranges for his lieutenants to cause an accident that will intimidate The Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. This incident results in a death and a serious injury. Afterwards the Chief and his minions try to derail any investigation into the tragedy - which occurred on Indian land. The men who orchestrate the accident make some bad mistakes. This gives the FBI a wedge to expose the entire criminal enterprise. This is my favorite part of the book, since I always enjoy seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance. Some interesting characters in the story include: Judge McDover - a bottomless pit of greed; she amasses a mind-boggling collection of riches and her extravagant lifestyle is beyond belief. (Literally. I don't believe a judge can have numerous properties in foreign countries, fly all over the world on private planes, and spend infinitely more than she makes without Homeland Security or the FBI - or someone - noticing.) Gunther - Lacy's businessman brother, who alternates between being rich and being bankrupt. He's an assertive, annoying guy.....but always has Lacy's back. Vonn Dubose - a ruthless schemer who amasses bars, liquor stores, restaurants, strip clubs, hotels, convenience stores, shopping centers, amusement parks, golf courses, etc. Dubose is a wizard at hiding the ill-gotten gains....and will kill anybody that gets in his way. The story also includes several FBI agents, various thugs, a couple of colleagues of Lacy and Hugo, a reputable Indian cop, and more. For me this book is just okay. The plot is interesting, but not that original. And large swatches of the story don't move the plot forward, or seem to lead nowhere. This feels like padding to me. You might enjoy the book if you like legal thrillers.....but temper your expectations. Rating: 3 stars

Review of "The Hidden Child: A Novel of Suspense" by Camilla Läckberg

In this 5th book in the 'Fjällbacka/Patrik Hedström' series, Swedish crime writer Erica Falck is faced with the possibility that her mother was a Nazi sympathizer during WWII. The book can be read as a standalone.



*****

In Fjällbacka, Sweden two teens break into the house of Erik Frankel, an elderly man who collects Nazi memorabilia.





They're shocked to discover his badly decomposed body. Coincidentally true crime writer Erica Falck, looking through belongings of her deceased mother, Elsy, finds some diaries and a Nazi medal.



Thus starts a dual investigation - the police look into Frankel's death and Erica searches for information about her mother.

The story alternates between the present-day and the 1940s (during World War II), when some Swedes aided the resistance in Nazi-occupied Norway.





The mysteries in the book multiply when a woman with Alzheimer's disease is killed and Elsy's friends are curiously reluctant to talk about Elsy with her daughter, Erica.

The book has plenty of interesting characters, including Nazi sympathizers, Nazi hunters, a motley crew of detectives (including Erica's husband Patrik Hedström), a cute child, and a stray dog that helps its new owner find romance.



I found the characters more interesting than the mystery at the heart of the story, which turned out to be fairly ordinary and foreshadowed by the book's title. Also, once the mystery was resolved the explanation was too long and drawn out.

The book does provide some interesting insight into Sweden's role in WWII and the fate of Scandinavian prisoners of war. Overall, an okay book.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "A Darker Domain: An Inspector Karen Pirie Mystery" by Val McDermid

In this 2nd book in the 'Inspector Karen Pirie' series, the cold case cop looks for a man who disappeared 22 years ago and a kidnapped baby boy who's been missing for over two decades. The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

The 1984 coal miners' strike in Great Britain hit the Scottish town of Newton of Wemyss very hard.



Miners' families had no heat, no food, and no hope. In desperation, a few blacklegs (scabs) went south to work in the mines of Nottingham, England. The scabs were scorned and despised by Newton townspeople, and the families they left behind were vilified.



So.....when miner Mick Prentice disappeared from Newton in 1984 his wife Jennie and daughter Misha assumed he'd gone scabbing and wrote him out of their lives forever.

Jump ahead to 2007 and Misha's little son Luke is dying from leukemia and in dire need of a blood marrow transplant.



Unable to find a compatible donor among local family members, Misha tries to locate her father.....and discovers he never went to Nottingham. So after 22 years Misha goes to the police and declares Mick Prentice a missing person.

Detective Inspector Karen Pirie, a cold case cop who tends to go her own way, dives into the inquiry. However she has to hide this from her disapproving boss, Assistant Chief Constable Simon Lees - who's been nicknamed 'The Macaroon' and considered a 'numpty' (bit of a fool).



ACC Lees doesn't want to spend money on this old case, and his interactions with Karen are the funniest parts of the book.

Karen is soon assigned an additional cold case. More than two decades ago an heiress named Catriona Maclennan Grant and her infant son Adam were kidnapped. Catriona's father, Sir Broderick Maclennan Grant, agreed to pay a huge ransom, but the handover went wrong. In the confusion Catriona was killed, the kidnappers escaped, and baby Adam disappeared.



Now, 20-plus years later, a freelance journalist named Bel Richmond is vacationing in Italy when she happens upon a clue to the Catriona kidnapping. The journalist parlays her discovery into an interview with the reclusive Sir Broderick Maclennan Grant, who reports the clue to the cops and insists that DI Pirie handle the case.



Grant also asks Bel to (secretly) gather more information in Tuscany.....perhaps thinking of dispatching a little frontier justice. Bel readily agrees to go, hoping to get a book deal - or even a movie - out of the whole business.

Meanwhile, DI Pirie and her partner - DS Phil Parhatka - juggle the two cases.



To locate Mick, the detectives speak to his family and friends as well as officers of the old National Miner's Union. They also ask the Nottingham police to interview the scabs who settled there years before. To find Catriona's kidnappers, the cops talk to her father and ex-boyfriend and get help from the carabinieri in Italy.

As the investigations proceed new information and discoveries come to light regarding both inquiries.

The story alternates between the past and present, so we learn what was going on in the characters' lives twenty years ago and how the investigations are proceeding now.

To say much more would give away spoilers. I will say, though, that there's a little flirty tension between DI Karen and DS Phil. However Karen - who sees herself as plain, chubby, and rumpled - doesn't really believe Phil could be romantically interested in her.

As the investigations into the two cold cases proceed some readers may think they know how things will turn out....but there are some big surprises. I'd recommend the book to mystery fans.



(I've read McDermid's non-fiction book Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA and More Tell Us About Crime - which is excellent.)



Rating: 3.5 stars