WHERE IT HURTS by Reed Farrel Coleman

I hadn’t read Reed Farrel Coleman before, although I was aware of his Moe Prager books and the fact that he is currently continuing Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone novels. However, I was given a copy of Where It Hurts, his first Gus Murphy novel, and I opened it up, feeling immediately as though I’d […]

CHARCOAL JOE by Walter Mosley

I love Walter Mosley’s characters and stories. I remember when he was going to quit writing the Easy Rawlins books and I was disappointed. Thankfully, that didn’t happen and Easy’s uneasy journey continues in the restless 1960s of Los Angeles. Charcoal Joe is an interesting book. According to the cover copy, Easy is supposed to […]

SLOW BURN by Ace Atkins

I’m glad Ace Atkins was picked to carry on the Spenser novels. I grew up with that character and I don’t want him to ever disappear. Atkins comes really close to mimicking Parker’s style with his dialogue and observations (so different from Atkins’ Quinn Colson character), but I noticed in Kickback that the storylines were […]

BETWEEN THE LIVING AND THE DEAD by Bill Crider

Every year for several years now, I’ve traveled down to Blacklin County, Texas, to help out with a murder investigation. Seems like somebody’s always ending up dead in little towns around the county and it takes a heap of investigating to set things back to rights. Those little Texas towns are a lot like the […]

THE SKELETON CREW: HOW AMATEUR SLEUTHS ARE SOLVING AMERICA’S COLDEST CASES by Deborah Halber

I was a fan of Christian Slater’s television show, The Forgotten. It only lasted one season, seventeen episodes, actually, but my wife and I were drawn into the emotional cases and the cast of characters that were so deeply affected by the unidentified bodies. At the time, I didn’t know that Todd Matthews, the Director […]

WIDE SPOT IN THE ROAD by Wayne D. Dundee

Wide Spot in the Road was the first Jack Laramie Drifter Detective novella I’ve read in the series. The premise is interesting, kind of a Jim Rockford (only a little tougher in the clinches) who lives in the back of his horse trailer and roves Texas looking for work. Jack Laramie is the grandson of […]

THE SKIN COLLECTOR by Jeffery Deaver

At first glance, Jeffery Deaver’s new book, The Skin Collector, sounds like it has a lot in common with his breakout hit featuring forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme. Well, like all of Deaver’s creations, the book meets some of the reader’s expectations and spins others wildly in another direction. This latest novel in his long-running series […]

BATMAN: THE RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE by Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison’s The Return of Bruce Wayne is one of those dividing books in the DCU. You mostly either hated it or you loved it. I’m pretty much a fence-sitter on this one. I was okay with reading it, but not blown away. It felt too much like an “imaginary” adventure that was prevalent in […]

CHEAP SHOT by Ace Atkins

Cheap Shot spends a lot of time hitting buttons in the Spenser World. After a while, I started to feel like I was checking off names on a scavenger hunt. Hawk. Check. Vinnie Morris. Check. Rachel Wallace. Check. Hugh Dixon Check. (Only long-time readers would have picked up on that one from The Judas Goat.) […]

CHEKHOV’S GUN by Vin DeLoach

Chekhov’s Gun by Vin DeLoach is a novella based in the new Kindle Worlds licensed franchise of Veronica Mars. I was a fan of the television show, and am currently aggravated that the movie has not shown up yet in my hometown. So when I heard that there would be new Veronica Mars stories I […]