Review of "Every Waking Hour: An Ellery Hathaway Mystery" by Joanna Schaffhausen

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

In this 4th book in the 'Ellery Hathaway' series, the police detective searches for a missing girl. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

As a young teenager, Ellery Hathaway was abducted by a sadistic serial killer who raped her, carved her up with a knife, and shut her up in a dank, putrid closet.



Ellery was on the point of death when she was rescued by FBI Agent Reed Markham.



Hathaway and Markham's names have been linked ever since in articles, books, and movies about the perpetrator, Francis Michael Coben, who murdered at least 17 girls. The publicity adds to Ellery's distress, because people are constantly approaching her to ask questions and stare at her scars.

Nevertheless, Ellery goes on to become a Boston police detective.....



.....and sometimes works on cases with her rescuer, Virginia-based Agent Reed Markham.



After Reed's wife divorces him for being a workaholic, Reed and Ellery become a romantic couple, and Reed may be the one person who understands Ellery's PTSD, anxiety, and difficulty with physical and emotional closeness.



As the story opens Reed and his 7-year-old daughter Tula are on vacation in Massachusetts, and Reed, Tula, Ellery, and Ellery's basset hound Speed Bump (aka Bump) are visiting a lively street fair on the Boston Common.



Tula and Bump are having an especially good time.....



.....and Bump even snatches an ice cream cone when a horde of children crowd around to play with him.



Reed, Tula, and Ellery are settling down to eat tacos Reed purchased when a woman starts screeching, "Help! She's gone! Someone, please help me!"



The woman, a nanny called Margery Brimwood, can't find her charge, 12-year-old Chloe Lockhart. Margery explains that Chloe went to buy a snack from a food truck an hour ago, and never returned - and she's not answering her phone.

Ellery and Reed immediately start to search for the girl. They learn that Chloe's parents, Teresa and Martin Lockhart, instructed nanny Margery to keep a close eye on Chloe at ALL times.



The reason for this is a tragedy in Teresa's past. When Teresa was married to her first husband Ethan Stone, their 12-year-old son Trevor was murdered in their home, as was the housekeeper. The killer has never been caught, and Teresa lives in constant fear that something will happen to Chloe.

Chloe's close supervision leads to suspicions that she sneaked off on purpose, to get a taste of independence. Still, with Ellery's abduction constantly in the backs of their minds, Ellery and Reed take Chloe's disappearance very seriously. They get CCTV footage from the area around the fair; question nanny Margery Brimwood; interview Chloe's parents; visit Teresa's ex-husband Ethan Stone; speak to Chloe's school friends; publicize Chloe's photo; ask the public for assistance; and so on.



Because of the hubbub of the investigation, Reed and Tula move from their hotel room to Ellery's apartment, so the detectives can work together and discuss the case. Tula is thrilled with this, since she gets to play with Bump, but Reed's ex-wife Sarit STRONGLY disapproves, because she thinks Ellery is troubled and unstable.



The search for Chloe gets off to a slow start, but soon picks up. Ellery and Reed uncover many secrets and scandals as they desperately look for the missing girl, who they hope to bring back alive. The hunt is especially distressing for Ellery, who gets flashbacks to her own abduction.

In the midst of the case, Ellery's teenage half-sister Ashley hops a bus from Michigan, for a surprise visit with her sibling.



Ellery's houseguests now include Reed, Tula, and Ashley, which is hard on Ellery, who views her small apartment - with its triple-locked door - as her personal sanctuary. Still, Ellery deals pretty well, with Tula on the sofa, Ashley on an air mattress, and food from take-out and delivery shops.



By the end of the book Ellery has made important discoveries about the case and herself, and the reader gets a hint of what to expect in the next addition to the series.

This is an engaging police procedural that takes the reader on a wild ride through Boston and its environs.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author (Joanna Schaffhausen), and the publisher (Minotaur Books) for a copy of the book.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Party Upstairs: A Literary Novel" by Lee Conell

 

Martin has been the super in a luxury apartment building on New York's Upper West Side for 25 years.



The perks of the job include a basement apartment, where Martin and his wife Debra raised their daughter Ruby.



Martin and his family got by, but young Ruby was well aware of the difference between herself and her best friend Caroline, whose wealthy family lived in apartment 6A.



Unlike Ruby, Caroline got new playthings all the time, and Ruby was always leaving 6A with borrowed stuff, like expensive American Girl dolls.



In addition, Caroline's parents gave Ruby books on animals and ecosystems and history and famous artists, and tried to make sure she had enrichment opportunities. Nevertheless, it's hard to always be the 'poor little girl downstairs', and - though Ruby was appreciative - she grew up with a sense of resentment.

Now Ruby is a 24-year-old college graduate with an art degree, but she still isn't doing well.



Ruby has lost her job as a barista, has been dumped by her rich do-gooder boyfriend, and is burdened with massive debts from school loans. Thus Ruby is back in her parents' basement nest. This chagrins Ruby's father Martin, who - being middle-aged, graying, and exhausted from his job - wants to live alone with his librarian wife Debra.



The book is essentially a day in the life of Martin and Ruby, who - though they're father and daughter - are nothing alike.

Martin meditates to relax, bird watches in Central Park for pleasure, and takes his job very seriously. Martin is always at the beck and call of rich tenants, who phone him to kill waterbugs, trap rats, clean drains, unstick doors, unclog toilets, change light bulbs, chase away vagrants, knock down pigeon nests, etc.



Martin is also the one to call the firemen, the plumbers, and the bedbug guy, and he's the middleman between tenants who are renovating their homes and contractors - who don't always speak English. While doing all this Martin must kowtow to the residents, because tenant complaints would get him fired and thrown out of his apartment.



For her part Ruby moons around and thinks about making dioramas, which she'd like to do as a professional artist.



Ruby has loved dioramas since visiting The Museum of Natural History as a child.....



.....and she once stole a library book on the subject from upstairs neighbor Lily - who was a sometimes babysitter and sort of 'honorary grandmother.'



Though Ruby wants to be an artist she's never even taken an art internship, and always worked summers in coffee bars. After graduating college, Ruby once again took a job as a barista, and she seems to lack the ambition to REALLY get ahead, even though she's encouraged by her family and friends.

By contrast Ruby's childhood friend Caroline, who now lives in her parents' newly built penthouse apartment, IS a working artist.



Wanting to make a statement about wasteful disposables, Caroline started to sculpt things like paper plates and sporks. Ironically, Caroline's marble sporks are now the 'in thing' among the rich and famous.



Ruby can't help but be resentful, and is especially annoyed because Caroline can coast on her parents' money - unlike Ruby - who has to take ANY job to pay back crushing loans.

On the day highlighted in the story, Ruby has an important employment opportunity. Through Caroline's connections, Ruby has a job interview at the Museum of Natural History, which she often visits to see the blue whale.



A position at the museum would be Ruby's ideal job, and she fantasizes about crafting dioramas based on her experiences and interests. The upcoming interview softens Ruby's feelings toward Caroline, and Ruby consents to attend Caroline's party that evening, where she'll meet the hostess's rich and successful friends.

Martin and Ruby are a father and daughter who love each other, but have a testy relationship. This is heightened by the fact that mom Debra - who's the family peacemaker - goes off for a weekend professional conference. Martin and Ruby grate against each other and get into spats, and Ruby is especially angry when Martin chases away a homeless woman sleeping near the building's entrance.



To me Ruby comes across as well-meaning but clueless, childish, and selfish - and her behavior gets increasingly outrageous as the day progresses.

Martin, on the other hand, is nervous, anxious and barely holding up. His bent back, greasy face, dirty fingernails, sweat-stained clothes, desperate bouts of meditation, resentment of the building's residents, and auditory hallucinations of deceased tenant Lily - who he found dead on the toilet - seem to bode ill. And Martin's disagreements with Ruby just make everything worse.

In addition to presenting an interesting character study, the story addresses the contrast between the middle-class and upper-class in a hoity-toity Manhattan neighborhood with insight and humor. A good debut novel from author Lee Conell.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Review of "The Enemy Inside: A Paul Madriani Thriller" by Steve Martini

Steve Martini is well known for his popular legal thrillers. In this 13th book in the 'Paul Madriani' series he veers off that genre, and the lawyer characters act more like detectives than attorneys. Thus this is more a conventional thriller than a legal thriller.

The book can be read as a standalone.

*****

The story: Alex Ives, a journalist for an online news site, is investigating a Washington, D.C. lawyer named Olinda Serna for a tell-all exposé he's writing.



After a beautiful stranger inveigles Alex into attending a high-class party at a California mansion.....



.....the reporter is involved in a deadly crash that kills attorney Serna.



Alex ends up in the hospital, charged with drunk driving and manslaughter. The thing is, Alex remembers nothing beyond arriving at the party and having one drink.

Alex's DUI case seems like small beans, but attorney Paul Madriani takes the case at the behest of his daughter, who knows the defendant.



Madriani - working with his partner Harry Hines and investigator Herman Diggs - learns that Alex was drugged and the crash was staged.



Knowing this isn't enough however. To get Alex exonerated, Madriani will have to find out why the accident was arranged, how it was pulled off, and who did it.

Unfortunately, there are several people who are determined to keep the truth from being revealed. These include: Cletus Proffitt - the managing partner at Serna's law firm;



'The Eagle' - a mysterious, older gentleman who walks with a cane;



and General Cheng - a government official in China.



Moreover, a powerful U.S. Senator named Maya Grimes - whose wrongdoing has put her into the clutches of a power-hungry manipulator - also has a stake in the case.



To top things off, a brilliant female mercenary - who designed the device that caused the cars to crash - is hanging around.....trying to get her hardware back.



For much of the book, each of these people has his/her own storyline, which is a LOT to keep track of.

In many ways this is more like a spy novel than a legal thriller. All the antagonists seem to have top notch espionage devices - regular microphones, hyperbolic microphones, hidden cameras, phone taps, GPS devices (in short, all manner of surveillance equipment) - most of it aimed at Madriani and company.



Thus, every move the lawyers make is closely scrutinized.....and people they interview tend to end up dead. I thought the lawyers were a bit naïve about this - going on their merry way without realizing they had a trail of followers.....until they finally caught on.

In any case, Madriani realizes that Ives' life is in danger, and the reporter is spirited off to a safe house in Mexico.



For their part, Madriani and Hines travel to the Caribbean and Europe to 'follow the money' that's at the heart of the trouble. The surveillers stay on their tails, though, and all kinds of mayhem ensues.

Steve Martini injects some of his political opinions into the story, and - if U.S. politicos are as venal, greedy, and corrupt as he suggests - we're in a sorry state for sure. (Sadly, I don't think he's totally wrong.) In some ways the book is very relevant to current affairs, with foreign countries allegedly sticking their fingers into U.S elections and so on.



The basic plot of the story is intriguing but there's too much going on - and it gets a little tedious. Moreover, the scoundrels are more like comic book supervillains than real people. They can see and hear everything that's going on everywhere, follow people without being detected, line up thugs as tough as Navy Seals at the drop of a hat, and so on. Even the good guys get hold of some nifty devices. It's just not credible - and some parts of the book seem more like science fiction than mystery thriller.

Martini is a good writer, but this isn't one of his best books - and I can't wholeheartedly recommend it. Still, the story has lots of action and some nifty tech devices - so readers who like that type of thing might enjoy the story.

Rating: 3 stars

Review of "The Devotion of Suspect X: A Detective Galileo Mystery" by Keigo Higashino

 

When Yasuko Hanaoka was a single mother to her little daughter Misato, she met and married Shinji Togashi - a luxury car salesman.



The family was happy and lived well until Shinji's employers discovered he was a thief and fired him. After that Yasuko took a job as a bar hostess....



.....and larcenous Shinji sat home, ate and drank, and took all his wife's earnings.



If Yasuko protested, Shinji beat her, and he also frightened his young step-daughter.



Eventually Yasuko managed to divorce Shinji, but he continued to harass her and ask for money. To get away from her ex-husband, Yasuko moved and took a job in a boxed lunch shop, hoping to ditch creepy Shinji for good.



However Shinji tracked his former wife down at the shop, made noises about getting back together, and made implicit threats about Misato - now a pretty teenager.



Yasuko is trying decide what to do about Shinji when he unexpectedly shows up at her apartment. Yasuko is upset, Misato is freaked out, and Shinji ends up dead on the floor.



As it happens Yasuko's next door neighbor Tetsuya Ishigami - a brilliant math teacher - has a crush on Yasuko. He's too shy to speak to her, but stops at the boxed lunch shop most days, to see her and order a meal.



Ishigami is home during the altercation between Shinji and Yasuko and her daughter, and he hears the hubbub leading to Shinji's death. Since Ishigami is secretly in love with Yasuko, he offers to help the ladies. They agree, and Ishigami does what he does.

When the homicide victim is found near a river, Detective Shunpei Kusanagi gets the case.



As usual Kusanagi consults his physicist friend Manabu Yukawa (aka Detective Galileo), a brainy fellow who's helped solve crimes in the past.



It so happens that physicist Yukawa and math professor Ishigami were at university together decades ago, and the physicist comes to suspect the mathematician had some hand in the crime. This leads to a 'battle of the brains', with Yukawa trying to discover what REALLY happened to victim Shenji, and Ishigami trying to preserve the cover up.

This is clever psychological thriller that will appeal to readers who like puzzles. I figured out a tiny bit of the plot, but got a big surprise at the climax.

Rating: 4 stars