WONDERLAND by Robert B. Parker and Ace Atkins

Wonderland is the second Spenser novel by Ace Atkins, and it is possibly the most densely plotted of all the books. Usually I breeze through these novels, including Atkins’s last entry into this long-lived series, but this one took some time to digest. There are a lot of players, and there are a lot of […]

BYE BYE, BABY by Max Allan Collins

Bye Bye, Baby isn’t a detective novel as much as it is a love letter from the author, Max Allan Collins. Collins makes no bones about his attraction to Marilyn Monroe, her story, or the mystery that surrounds her murder or suicide. Most of America is still split over exactly how the movie star’s death […]

NIGHT OF THE TOADS by Dennis Lynds

Night of the Toads is a Dan Fortune private investigator novel by Dennis Lynds writing under the pseudonym Michael Collins. Legend has it that Lynds created one-armed PI Fortune after another private eye who was nicknamed “Slot Machine.” Because of the one arm, you see. I read my first Dan Fortune novel back in high […]

DEAD THINGS by Stephen Blackmoore

Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore was recommended to me by an editor friend who not only reads my books, but also reads a lot of the same stuff I do. So I have her to thank for this one. After I saw the cover and read the description, I ordered the book immediately. I’d been […]

DEAD AIM by Joe R. Lansdale

Joe Lansdale’s latest book snuck up on me. I didn’t know it was already out until I tripped across it yesterday on Amazon. I downloaded the ebook and tucked in, instantly transported to East Texas crime noir with series heroes Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. I’ve been reading the Hap and Leonard books for a […]

SUSPECT by Robert Crais

I’ve been an Elvis Cole/Joe Pike fan for years, and I was really looking forward to January and catching up with my fave L. A. PIs, but that wasn’t in the cards this year. However, Robert Crais’s newest serving of cops and suspense was entirely awesome, with two characters that kept me nailed to the […]

GUN MACHINE by Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis is an amazing comic book writer whose career has spanned DC Comics and the Marvel Universe and independent comics companies. He wrote Red, which became a hot Bruce Willis action/comedy movie so successful a sequel is coming out. He’s one of those writers whose every move is watched by comics fans and Hollywood […]

LEGION by Brandon Sanderson

Legion was an interesting novella with a truly great conceit. Brandon Sanderson has created his version of Sherlock Holmes and introduced him in a whimsical, yet thought-provoking investigation. Stephen Leeds is a genius and a mental case, a man with gifted personalities that appear, disappear, are masters of innumerable skillsets – and they tend to […]

THE LOST ONES by Ace Atkins

I was kind of tepid on the first Quinn Colson novel by Ace Atkins. I thought The Ranger had a great sense of place and character, but there just wasn’t enough going on to suit me. The pot needed a little more stirring. However, after reading and being suitably impressed with the author’s Spenser novel, […]

LULLABY by Robert B. Parker and Ace Atkins

When I lost Robert B. Parker in 2010 shortly after meeting him for the first time at a book signing down in Dallas, I didn’t know what to think. Well, actually I did. I’ve been reading the Spenser series since 1978 when I got Promised Land from the Mystery Book Club. That single book hooked […]