Mayhem & Mysteries

2011-01-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

When it comes to discussion groups, there are few mysteries that have as many points for discussion as Big Wheat by Richard A Thompson. And it is a great read as well! The story centers on Charlie Krueger, a young man whose family owns a small wheat farm in the northern Midwest. Charlie's older brother, Rob, was the favorite son, the one to inherit the farm, but goes off to WWI and gets himself killed. Charlie, who, in his father's eyes could never take his brother's place, is left to help out his drunkard father who bullies Charlie, his sister, Ruthie, and their mom.

Points to consider - please note that the questions should be read as the book is read to avoid spoiling the ending of Charlie's tale.

The author starts off the story with the setting thrown in with the plot. Do you get the feel of the location as the character’s story is told?

The evil the character does is meant by him to be a healing for the land. How did he come to feel this way?

The second chapter tells Charlie’s story up to the point where these two characters meet in the wheat field. Do the background stories of each of these characters differ? What does this tell you about the two characters?

The chapter ends with the suppositions of why young people leave home. Are these still true nearly 90 years later?

“It had never occurred to Charlie that he might live long enough to see the passing of an entire era.” chapter 3. Compare Charlie in the 1910’s with young people living today. Would most young people have the same thought now? What eras have you witnessed that passed within your lifetime?

Charlie has a confrontation with the farmer who is unwilling to pay him and takes meat and eggs as security. The farmer was a crook and a bully. Do you think Charlie was right to take the food as security? Was there any other way the outcome would have come out fair to Charlie?

“We might not have much in the way of scenery around here, he thought, but we sure as hell have sky.” Chapter 5. Have you ever been to the open plains area? Can you attest to this statement?

What purpose does the Indian, George Ravenwing, serve in the story?

In chapter 5 we hear more from the ‘Windmill Man’ about his reasons for killing. The prairie grasses that continued year after year had deeper root systems than the wheat which is planted, grows and is harvested once or even twice a year in southern areas.

When Charlie falls in with Jim Avery he is quickly able to prove his ability to read people and how they will act. But can he read everyone – women as well as men? Lawmen as well as farmers? What makes this capability so important to Jim?

Sheriff Hollander goes far out of his jurisdiction looking for Charlie when Mabel turns up missing. Had he found Charlie, would he have listened to his story or was his mind made up? Did finding Mabel’s body (Chapter 8) change anything?

Throughout the story, Charlie remembers things his brother had told him – how to fight, how he had to make something of himself, etc. Was the brother always right?

Near the end of the story is a showdown. Did Jim Avery have to die in the story? Could Charlie have gone on working with Jim and his ‘family’ and been the same person in the end? Or did Charlie need to prove himself by becoming the new leader of the ark?

2010-11-16T08:46:00.000-08:00

Dead Man's Chest
by Kerry Greenwood is a great addition to her list of mysteries featuring Phryne Fisher
Too much mayhem and mystery has gotten Phryne Fisher longing for a few weeks sojourn at the seaside and she promises her ‘family’ no murders. As she arrives in the town of Queenscliff it looks like the perfect place to relax, but a mystery is afoot as they step into the rented home of a friend. Where are the Johnsons who were supposed to meet Phyrne’s group? Did they leave with their furniture or did someone else take it? And why was the kitchen left completely empty, without so much as a teabag for a restorative cup of tea upon their arrival? In typical fashion Phryne sorts out the problems and looks to her two adoptive daughters, Jane & Ruth, her companion, Dot, and even her dog, Molly, (she’s good at barking, but not too daring) to get things underway. Ruth, who wants to be a chef, would like to work on the kitchen, develop a few menus (at least 4 courses for the main meal each day) and starts listing foodstuffs the household will need during their stay. A neighbor lends a kitchen girl to help with peeling, slicing and dicing and a boy, eager, but used to living on the streets, is given a job as general factotum. As usual, Phryne is soon on the trail of ne’er-do-wells, but as to her promise of no murders, you’ll have to decide that one for yourself.

2010-10-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

Advent of a Mystery
by Marilyn Leach is the first in what I hope will be a long series.
The setting is the English countryside town of Aiden Kirkwood where Hugh Elliot is the new vicar of Saint Aiden of the Wood Parish Church. Hugh has been vicar for only a few months. Christmas is approaching, but in the middle of all the preparations, one of their eldest parishioners is murdered. There are very few clues and the local constabulary is rushing to close the case. While Hugh's wife, Berdie, had promised her husband to stay away from any investigating - he is the vicar after all - and particularly mysteries or murders, Berdie and her best friend, Lillie, cannot help but offer their services in Christian duty ... and maybe snoop just a little.
One of my favorite English TV shows is Midsomer Murders, based on books by Carolyn Graham. This mystery reminds me of that series, even down to the long-suffering spouse, which is Hugh in this case. The mystery has been likened to Agatha Christie with a touch of Jan Karon's village stories as well. If you like cozy mysteries, I recommend this title.

2010-09-26T18:16:00.000-07:00

Romance novels are not typically where one would find mayhem and murder, but this one is laugh out loud funny with both. The quirky characters in this novel are downhome types with a twist of paranormal in them. There's Glenda, the sorceress, who can make flames appear on her fingers, Delpha, the seer, who really can tell your fortune and Cindy, who invents ice cream flavors like What-Love-Can-Do Strawberry for couples in love and The-Kids-Will-Go-Back-To-School-Soon Lemon which is calming. Jennifer Crusie's book, Wild Ride, written with John Mayer is an enchanting read and deliciously funny.

Mary Alice (Mab) Brannigan grew up in a small town that has an amusement park, Dreamland. Her mother was an opponent of the park - for reasons that become clear by the end of the book - when Mab was growing up, so Mab never visited. After college, her knowledge of carnival restoration made her the perfect person to restore the statues and artwork that had been in the park for decades. Her uncle owns 50% of the park (when and how did that happen?) and got her the job. She's hoping to finish up before October when Dreamland becomes Screamland, but this is where the fun begins. Soon one of her statues walks right into her and another demon appears to be on the loose as well. One of her friend's eyes starts glowing (and what does that mean?) Quickly Mab and Ethan (he's the hunk with the glowing eyes) are caught up and almost begin to believe in the weird happenings in the park, and who or what is behind it all? But this is, above all, a romance with boy meets girl in some pretty hectic situations.

2009-06-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

Inez Stannert, her husband, Mark, and Abe Jackson, a black man, arrived in Leadville, Colorado with enough money to open a saloon. It was the late 1870’s and Leadville was once again a boomtown. First gold in 1860 and then silver in 1875 brought men and women to the town seeking fortunes. As stakes were mined, rich men would be looking for those that seemed most promising and tried to purchase the claims. Assayers checked the content of samples brought in by the prospectors and, for a fee, estimate the value of a claim. Stores, banks, saloons, dance halls and brothels sprung up to serve the miners. Sheriffs kept peace and order. With a chance for easy money, any of the men and women might be honest or not.

Mark Stannert had served in the Union army with Abe and they stayed together after the war, moving from town to town gambling and running minor confidence games until Mark arrived in Inez’s family’s hometown in New England. He swept Inez off her feet and they were married in a week. She traveled with her husband and his friend until arriving in Leadville. They formed a partnership, each owning a third share of the Silver Queen Saloon. Their plan was to get enough money together to move to San Francisco and open an establishment there.
Mark left town one day and was never heard from again. Inez and Abe continued running the saloon. The profitable business had two house rules: married men cannot gamble; and drunken men will not be served liquor. Inez hosted a weekly high stakes poker game and took a cut from each pot for the business.

It is winter in the Rocky Mountains. Inez is attending her church intent on its new, interim minister when her friend, Emma Rose, reveals that her husband, Joe, did not come home the previous evening. She is extremely worried as that is so unlike him. Upon leaving church, the sheriff indicates he may have bad news. A body was found in the frozen muck behind Inez’s saloon. Sheriff Hollis hopes someone will positively identify the man who was horribly beaten and unrecognizable. Hope vanishes completely as Abe shakes his head when he sees them.

Of course, Inez and Abe become prime suspects.

I’m enjoying this series because I find historical mysteries interesting. Most authors extensively research the time period about which they write, so readers can get a real feel for life at that time and place. In this case, winter in the Rockies in the 1870's, it is cold and bleak. Ann Parker had discovered she had an ancestor who was a blacksmith in Leadville around that time. Inez is an interesting character because she is somewhat unconventional. She grew up in the east to a good family and was a proper miss, yet she went off with Mark having just met him. She is well known around town and respected by all who know her, but she runs an saloon.

Published by Poisoned Pen Press

Silver Lies, 2003
Iron Ties, 2006
Leaden Skies, 2009

2009-05-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

You may be wondering why I haven’t mentioned Janet Evanovich yet since I know she’s one of the most popular female mystery authors. She has a new book coming out in June, Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, which is, as you might guess, the 15th title in her Stephanie Plum series. Stephanie is a Jersey girl born and raised in the Burg, a neighborhood in Trenton. She’s still single and lives in an apartment with her hamster, Rex, most of the time. When her apartment has been trashed or she needs to hide or feel safe, she moves in with Joe Morelli or into the Rangeman complex.
In the first volume, ‘One for the Money’, she has lost her job as lingerie buyer for a department store and is looking around for a job. Her cousin, Vinnie, is a bail bondsman looking for someone to find people who did not appear for their court dates. If they are not found and do not reschedule, then Vinnie is out the bond. When he hesitates to give Stephanie the job, she blackmails him; Vinnie has secrets. Stephanie earns a percentage of the bond amount to bring them in.
Evanovich’s books are full of funny, quirky, characters and laugh-out-loud antics. Her Grandma Mazur has come to live with Stephanie’s parents and has her nose in everything. Grandma forgets she’s not a spring chicken any longer (by a long shot!) and wants to assist her granddaughter in her job. Stephanie meets up with quite a few other individuals, many who are funny and a few who are sinister. Her mother, who wonders where she went wrong in raising Stephanie that she turned out without a steady job and carrying a gun, and her long-suffering father, who just wants dinner on the table at a reasonable time are among Stephanie’s foibles along with Joe Morelli, with whom she has a long history and is the subject of her first apprehension, and Ranger, Carlos Manoso, who is an expert employee of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds and helps Stephanie learn the ropes. There’s lots of sexual tension between Steph and these two hunks.
I have listened to many of the Stephanie Plum titles on audio and I enjoy C J Critt’s readings. She is not the only narrator, however, so I’ll leave it up to you to decide. There are 4 titles that feature Stephanie Plum in what Evanovich calls her Between the Numbers Series as well, but these are shorter, though even more outrageous.

Published by Scribner

One for the Money, 1993
Two for the Dough, 1996
Three to get Deadly, 1997

Published by St Martin’s Press

Four to Score, 1998
High Five, 1999
Hot Six, 2000
Seven Up, 2001
Hard Eight, 2002
To the Nines, 2003
Ten Big Ones, 2004
Eleven on Top, 2005
Twelve Sharp, 2006
Lean Mean Thirteen, 2007
Fearless Fourteen, 2008
Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, 2009

2009-04-20T06:48:00.000-07:00

From a cozy series, we turn to a gritty, hardboiled series by Philip Kerr. Bernhard Guenther looks for people. More precisely, he tries to find out what happened to people, for he lives in perilous times, 1936 Berlin, and more often than not there are no answers, much less good ones. Nazis, the Gestapo and the SS are everywhere and usually behind the disappearances, so Bernie must tread carefully lest he come under the suspicious eye of a member of law enforcement. This is not always easy to do because he must ask questions to find answers. In the first volume of the series, Bernie is ‘requested’ to come to the aid of the owner of one of pre-war Germany’s largest steel mills. Herr Six, the owner, is looking for jewels, or is he? He claims a valuable necklace was stolen from his daughter and son-in-law’s home after they were murdered and the home set ablaze to cover up the deed. As Bernie gets deeper into the case he finds more questions than answers, some from top-ranking officials.

Philip Kerr recreates an extremely realistic Germany under the Third Reich. Once a woman married, she was expected to stay home and take care of the family. This also helped with unemployment. Another program to keep people off welfare was the building of the autobahns. Pay was minimal, but men were working, and the autobahns were strategic to the Nazis, since they were built to allow armies and their equipment access to countries such as Czechoslovakia which was invaded a few years later. At this point Jews were not the only people sent to KZs, concentration camps. Homosexuals and Communists were sent there as well. In fact, Bernie remarked about one man who was all three that his luck hadn’t run out so much as hopped on a motorcycle and fled. In the midst of this were the 1936 Olympics and Jesse Owens.

This is one of those series that I’d run into every so often and finally read the first in the series. I highly recommend it to readers of hard-boiled and noirish mysteries as well as fans of historical mysteries. In the meantime, I’ve requested the second title on audio and anxiously await its arrival. Philip Kerr, by the way, has written a variety of thrillers as well as a series, Children of the Lamp for middle-school-aged kids. He lives in Scotland.

Published by Viking

March Violets, 1989
The Pale Criminal, 1990
A German Requiem, 1991

Published by Penguin Books

Berlin Noir, 1993 compiles the 1st 3 titles

Published by G P Putnam’s Sons

The One from the Other, 2006
A Quiet Flame, 2009

2009-03-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

This week we’re turning to a subgenre of mysteries called cozies. These usually take place in a small town or village. Typically the language is clean and violence, other than the murder or murders, is minor. In cozies, the main characters can be anyone, sometimes retired and they are put into a situation where they must find the killer because they or friends have come under suspicion by the local police detectives. Mary Saums is the author of a cozy mystery series that features two retired ladies from very different backgrounds. Jane Thistle was born in England and spent many summers in Wales. She married an American career soldier and moved where he was stationed as his career moved him up the ladder to become Colonel John Thistle. Phoebe Twigg has retired from her job as Children’s Librarian in her home town. These two women formed a friendship from the first day Jane moved to Tullulah.

Jane discovered Tullulah while taking a scenic route from Florida to the Midwest after supervising the packing of her household after another transfer. To her it was a place of wonderment such as she had experienced as a child. Jane, you see, has two secrets. The first is that she can see ghosts and auras; at least she could while she was in Wales. Once she left Wales for the last time, that ability seemed to go to sleep and was reawakened when she entered Tullulah. She had rather forgotten about it, but something in this sleepy little town reminded her of Wales and she determined that this is where she would live if she outlived her husband. This was not a place where he would be happy and she never told her husband about it. She saw a little girl on her first trip into town. She thought nothing of it until she returned, this time traveling from the Midwest back to Florida years later. She saw the little girl again and she had not aged at all and was still wearing the same white dress she had on when Jane first saw her.

The house she purchased was far from town, on the border of a wildlife refuge. She liked hiking and birding and having few neighbors. She was excited to settle in to her new life at a relaxing pace. One of her neighbors, Cal Prewitt, a man the townsfolk call ‘no account’ stopped over the first night. He was drunk but stopped to introduce himself and his dog, Homer. The Prewitt’s owned many acres of untouched woods and Cal had begun writing the Native American stories that had been handed down each generation. They had a long conversation and Cal asked Jane over the next day to see some of his woods and the secrets they held.

Things are not as they seem on Cal’s land and a body is discovered. Cal seems the only choice for the deed, so Jane and, reluctantly, Phoebe start investigating.

I have enjoyed this short series. So far, there are only two titles, but I’m hopeful for more. And, oh, yes, Jane’s second secret. It’s a whopper, but I’ll let you discover it yourself. Some things may seem a bit preposterous, but the series is imaginative and fun to read.

Published by St Martin’s Press

Thistle and Twigg, 2007
Mighty Old Bones, 2008

2009-03-08T09:53:00.000-07:00

Readers everywhere are heralding the return of Jane Whitefield after a hiatus of several years. Thomas Perry’s character, Jane, was introduced to readers in 1995 in Vanishing Act. Jane is a Native American from the Seneca tribe, Wolf Clan in upper New York State. She helps deserving, desperate people ‘disappear’ by giving them new identities to hide from abusive husbands or the perpetrators of high-profile killings.

Jane knows many tricks and teaches her clients how to stay safe by keeping a low profile, blending in, living where others wouldn’t expect them to live, but most of all by keeping alert …and aware…always. For a new life to work there has to be a new background. Family and their stories must be forgotten, given up because those looking will be watching them, too, waiting sometimes years for a chance that something will turn up to tell them where to search. The new stories must be rehearsed until they become natural, the first response to a question, answered without thought or hesitation. False papers and paper trails are easy for Jane to obtain, for she knows people in the right places, people who trust her as she trusts them, because they all operate outside of the law.

Is it easy? Not at all, but it can be done. The worst thing is to forget to be watchful, because someone is out there, searching.

This is a great series because Jane is very real, resourceful, clever and likable. Her story and the story of the Native Americans in the area surrounding Lake Ontario is present throughout the books. But, suspense is the key to this series as well as action, confrontation and narrow misses. Jane is very good at what she does, but there are always surprises.

Published by Random House

Vanishing Act – 1995
Dance for the Dead – 1996
Shadow Woman – 1997
The Face-Changers – 1998
Blood Money – 1999

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Runner - 2009

2008-09-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

Edith Pargeter is one of the grande dames of the historical English countryside mysteries. Writing as Ellis Peters, her most memorable character is Brother Cadfael, a Welshman who joined the first Crusades. Upon his return to England, he gave up his worldly life to join a Benedictine monastery, The Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, in the English county of Shropshire. He is the herbalist for his brethren and knows the medicinal value of the herbs he grows and finds in the countryside and would prefer to spend his time in his greenhouse. But war and its cruelty come to Shrewsbury Castle. King Stephen and Empress Maud are battling for the kingdom and the lords in Shropshire have taken sides.

The series was well researched and Peters used a number of historical events in her chronicles including the battle in Shrewsbury. In the first title, A Morbid Taste for Bones, one of the abbey’s monks has a vision that one of his fellow brothers will be cured if he visits the spring of St Winifred in Wales. They begin to feel that it would be fitting that her bones should be honored more significantly should they be moved to the Shrewsbury Abbey. Since Cadfael is Welsh, he is included in the group to request the transfer of the relics. When the person most opposed to this is found murdered, it is up to Cadfael to find the miscreant. The ending is a bit of a surprise that I won’t give away here.

In addition to the books by Ellis Peters, two companion volumes were co-authored by Peters and Robin Whiteman. The first is the Brother Cadfael Companion, printed in the US by Mysterious Press in 1995. It includes all things Cadfael: the places; people and events that take place in the 20 Chronicles and 1 book of novellas. The second was also co-authored by Rob Talbot: Brother Cadfael’s Herb Garden: an Illustrated Companion to Medieval Plants and their Uses, printed by Little, Brown in 1996.

Brother Cadfael’s Chronicles are available on audio as well as print format. Sir Derek Jacobi is perfect at Cadfael on video, originally published for television.

1 Morbid Taste for Bones, 1977 by Mysterious Press
2 One Corpse Too Many, 1979 by Morrow
3 Monk's Hood, 1980 by Warner
4 St. Peter's Fair, 1981 by Morrow
5 Leper of St. Giles, 1981 by Ballantine Books

Published by W Morrow

6 Virgin in the Ice, 1983
7 Sanctuary Sparrow, 1983
8 Devil's Novice, 1984
9 Dead Man's Ransom, 1984
10 Pilgrim of Hate, 1984
11 Excellent Mystery, 1985
12 Raven in the Foregate, 1986
13 Rose Rent, 1986

Published by Mysterious Press

A Rare Benedictine, short stories from Cadfael's life before the monastery
14 Hermit of Eyton Forest, 1988
15 Confession of Brother Haluin, 1989
16 Heretic's Apprentice, 1990
17 Potter's Field, 1990
18 Summer of The Danes, 1991
19 Holy Thief, 1992
20 Brother Cadfael's Penance, 1994

2008-08-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

Jane Austen has inspired any number of authors who copy her style and use her settings. There have been books written supposing what happened, for example, once Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy were wed and moved to Pemberley. There is even a mystery series (by Carrie Bebris) where Elizabeth and Darcy must discover who is behind dastardly events befalling their friends a la The Thin Man’s Nick and Nora, according to the books’ jackets.

This entry will be focusing on a series by Stephanie Barron where Jane Austen is the sleuth. The stories take place in villages and towns where Jane’s family lived and visited and Ms Barron uses fictional diary entries and letters to Cassandra, Jane’s beloved sister, just as these devices were used in Miss Austen’s own works.

The interesting aspect to the books is how well Ms Barron is able to include situations that are similar enough to Austen’s own works that, were they not fictional, one might suppose that these events inspired her to write her novels. Included are various footnotes to help a reader who is unfamiliar with life and society in the early 1800’s England.

In the first of the series, Jane is visiting her friend, Lady Scargrave. Isobel calls her from her bed because her husband of only 3 months is in agony. Earlier that evening he was merry, enjoying a party to toast his and Isobel’s nuptials. Lord Scargrave does not revive and to further upset the house party, Isobel receives a ‘missive’ accusing her and the Earl’s nephew of adultery and murder. With so many people in residence and nearby, Jane reluctantly consents to assist her friend.

These titles do follow Jane’s life and travels, and are best read in order.

Published by Bantam Books

Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, being the First Jane Austen Mystery, 1996
Jane and the Man of the Cloth, being the Second Jane Austen Mystery, 1997
Jane and the Wandering Eye, being the Third Jane Austen Mystery, 1998
Jane and the Genius of the Place, being the Fourth Jane Austen Mystery, 1999
Jane and the Stillroom Maid, being the Fifth Jane Austen Mystery, 2000
Jane and the Prisoner of Wool House, being the Sixth Jane Austen Mystery, 2001
Jane and the Ghosts of Netley, being a Jane Austen Mystery, 2003
Jane and his Lordship’s Legacy, being a Jane Austen Mystery, 2005
Jane and the Barque of Frailty, being a Jane Austen Mystery, 2006

2008-08-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

I hope you're finding some new authors to try. That is the purpose of this blog! Feel free to comment on any of these posts.

This week’s author-character combo is David Rosenfelt who pens the Andy Carpenter mysteries, and Andy is definitely quite a character. Andy is a guy’s answer to Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum, as long as the guy is a wise-cracking, sports fan who loves his Golden Retriever, Tara. Both Andy and Stephanie call the east coast state of New Jersey home, though Stephanie’s city is Trenton and Andy hails from Paterson, closer to New York City. Andy is a lawyer, son of Nelson Carpenter, former D.A. in Paterson, and the judges really dislike Andy. They don’t like his wise-mouth; they definitely don’t like the stunts he pulls in the courtroom, and they all know him or about him.

In the first book, Open and Shut, Andy is defending a client accused of jewelry theft. The case is going to the jury and evidence is all circumstantial. His investigator, and love of his life, Laurie, walks into the courtroom. He asks the court if he may have a few minutes to confer with Laurie, which is granted. When he comes back, he states that someone has confessed to the crime, and that throws the court into a tizzy. It turns out that that statement was false, but Andy used it to his advantage to remind the jury that they have a duty to believe the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You’ll have to read the book to see if it worked. You’ll also read about the inheritance from his father, the D.A. 22 million dollars is a vast sum of money that remained in the bank untouched for decades. Where did it come from and how did Nelson acquire it?

This is another series that would be better to read in order as events flow from one to the next, but that is my opinion.

Published by Mysterious Press

Open and Shut, 2002
First Degree, 2003
Bury the Lead, 2004
Sudden Death, 2005
Dead Center, 2006

Published by Warner

Play Dead, 2007

2008-08-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

My next author is Australian and her heroine, Phryne (frý·nee) Fisher, is, too. Kerry Greenwood has been writing historical mysteries for many years now and it is only in the last five years that mystery readers in the US have been able to enjoy this series. The list below is in order by original publication date in Australia. When brought to the US, publication was not in the original order, according to Robert Rosenwald of Poisoned Pen Press. (http://www.poisonedpenpress.com/)

The mysteries take place in the mid 1920’s, though there are flashbacks to WWI and just after. Phryne was born in the poor part of a town in Australia. Her father was a minor lord who later inherited his title because the more closely related heirs died. He moved the family back to England and took up residency on his estate. He hoped Phryne would turn into a perfect little English miss, but she would have none of that. She ran away to help in the war effort and found herself driving an ambulance in war torn France. Her experiences were often horrific and several volumes have mentioned some of these.

She is now the Honorable Phryne Fisher of Melbourne, Australia and can do as she pleases. Her clothes are ‘au courant’ by local couturiers. She can fly a plane, drive like a racer, dance the Charleston and knows what she likes; she is completely irrepressible, think Emma Peel, from TV’s ‘The Avengers’, as a flapper.

These are best read in order because they do follow a sequence and characters tend to stick around Phryne and appear in later books, but each book is a story in itself if you want to try one out. The audiobooks produced by Bolinda Audio are excellent.

Originally by McPhee Gribble in Australia & later Poisoned Pen Press in USA

1) Cocaine Blues, 1989, 2006
2) Flying Too High, 1990, 2006
3) Murder on the Ballarat Train, 1991, 2006
4) Death at Victoria Dock, 1992, 2006
5) The Green Mill Murder, 1993, 2006*
6) Blood and Circuses, 1994, 2006
7) Ruddy Gore, 1995, 2005

Originally published by Allen & Unwin in Australia & later Poisoned Pen Press in USA

8) Urn Burial, 1996, 2005
9) Raisins and Almonds, 1997, 2007
10) Death before Wicket, 1999, 2008
11) Away with the Fairies, 2001, 2005
12) Murder in Montparnasse, 2002, 2004
13) The Castlemaine Murders, 2003, 2004
14) Queen of the Flowers, 2004, 2008
15) Death by Water, 2005, December, 2008
16) Murder in the Dark, 2006, not yet available in US

* the paperback edition contains the whole story; parts were inadvertently left out of the original hardbound US publication

2008-08-05T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hi and welcome,

This blog will be featuring thrillers and mystery fiction that I have found either on my own or heard about from others. This entry features author, Lee Child, and his character, Jack Reacher.

Jack was born in Berlin, West Germany. Hid dad was a Marine and his mom was from France. He has an older brother, Joe, whom he hasn't seen in a long time. The family lived on military bases throughout the world, moving as required by his dad’s orders. Jack attended West Point and joined the Army himself. He won awards for his marksmanship and was in the Military Police. There are very few things that scare him.

He has since left the Army and travels the United States in order to get to know his country. Jack has an excellent internal alarm clock and is good with numbers. Of course, in each of his thrillers he encounters someone with a problem. At times this someone is a stranger or it’s someone he knew or Joe knew, but Jack helps him or her and then moves on, because Jack is a loner.

Jack is a great character. He doesn’t always follow the letter of the law, but he gets the job done and each of his books makes a great read. I have also listened to Bad Luck and Trouble, read by Dick Hill, which was excellent.

By the way, I'm one of those who prefers to read books in order, but the Jack Reacher novels rarely refer back to previous titles in the series, so reading them in order is not really necessary.

Jack Reacher Novels published by Delacorte Press

Nothing to Lose, 2008
Bad Luck and Trouble, 2007
The Hard Way, 2006
One Shot, 2005
The Enemy, 2004
Persuader, 2003

Jack Reacher Novels published by G P Putnam's Sons

Without Fail, 2002
Echo Burning, 2001
Running Blind, 2000
Tripwire, 1999
Die Trying, 1998
The Killing Floor, 1997