Medea-Kerry Greenwood

Medea
Kerry Greenwood
Poisoned Pen, Jun 4 2013, $24.95
ISBN 9781464201455

Princess of Colchis, Medea is a priestess of Hecate and guardian of the wood in which hangs the Golden Fleece. She also controls the serpent that violently guards this grove from intruders. Her childhood training was to safeguard at all costs the Golden Fleece that makes her kingdom prosperous.

When the Argo arrives at Colchis, the islanders welcome Captain Jason, his best friend Nauplius and the Argonauts. Jason flirts with Medea who falls in love with him. She switches loyalties and abets Jason’s stealing of the Golden Fleece. They sail home to claim his throne. Over the years, Jason abandons his wife who gave up everything for him, and ignores their children.

The latest Delphic Woman ancient historical Novel (see Out of the Black Land) is a powerful rendition of Medea that turns the accepted “mommy dearest” as written by Euripides on its head. The storyline is fast-paced throughout with several unexpected but fabulous twists. However, what makes this entry fresh is the Kerry Greenwood’s deep research supporting a different spin than that of the leading playwright of his time; as the reporter in Liberty Valance says: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

Harriet Klausner

Capacity for Murder-Bernadette Pajer

Capacity for Murder
Bernadette Pajer
Poisoned Pen, Jun 4 2013, $24.95
ISBN 9781464201288

In 1903 in Ocean Springs near Seattle, the Healing Sands Sanitarium has earned an esteemed reputation for restorative cures. Owner Dr. Arnold Hornsby is proud of his facility’s safety and curative records; he especially is euphoric about his invention Dr. Hornsby’s electrotherapy machine that provides electrotherapeutics to patients.

When Hornsby’s son-in-law David Hollister is electrocuted in an electrotherapy machine, he asks the electrical forensic investigator State University Professor Benjamin Bradshaw to investigate the death. Bradshw concludes the machine worked properly but an anomaly means the deceased was murdered. Besides the family and staff, four patients were at the sanitarium at the time of Hollister’s death.

The latest Professor Bradshaw early twentieth century investigation (see A Spark of Death and Fatal Induction) is a super mystery in which readers obtain a close look at medical practices in the era. Fast-paced, the whodunit is top rate but it is a look at 1903 medicine (mindful of Dr. McCoy in the hospital in the movie The Voyage Home) that makes for a strong historical detective tale.

Harriet Klausner

The Altarpiece-Sarah Kennedy

The Altarpiece
Sarah Kennedy
Knox Robinson Publishing, Mar 6 2013, $27.99
http://www.knoxrobinsonpublishing.com
ISBN: 9781908483478

In 1535 King Henry VIII sends soldiers to enforce the schism between England and Rome. His agents viciously destroy priories, churches and most remnants of the Catholic Church as the Church of England with the monarch as the Supreme Head has become the official religion of the kingdom. Priests, nuns and monks are tossed brutally onto the streets.

Lord Robert Overton arrives at the Priory of Mount Grace in Havenston, Yorkshire to claim his new property gifted to him by the king. However, he delays kicking the religious occupants out of their home when his younger brother William becomes seriously ill. Instead he orders a nun Catherine Havens the healer to save his sibling’s life. When William recovers, he and Catherine search for the missing valuable altarpiece that vanished at the same time as the siblings arrived at the priory; the prime suspects are the healer and her best friend Ann. Catherine and her former patient also investigate strange deaths that may be related to the Altarpiece.

The first Cross and the Crown Tudor thriller provides a deep look at the deaths, destruction and disarray caused by the shutting down of the Roman Church and the creation of the Church of England. The key cast is solid especially Catherine who faces moral dilemmas as she must choose between her past and an uncertain future. The leisurely-paced storyline enables the reader to believe we are there as Sarah Kennedy provides a wonderful spotlight on an age of deadly confusion.

Harriet Klausner

Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol-Gyles Brandreth

Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol
Gyles Brandreth
Touchstone, May 14 2013, $16.00
ISBN 9781439153758

In 1895 London, Mr. Justice Wills sentences noted playwright Oscar Wilde to two years of hard labor for gross indecency with young men. While forty year old Oscar head to jail, his wife and two kids flee England and the scandal for the continent, and the production of the Importance of being Earnest continues on stage.

His time in Wandsworth Prison is physically and mentally hell; made worse by his wife’s forgiveness visit and the knowledge that he is financially broke. Just before his transfer to Reading Gaol, Warder Braddle comes to his cell in a rage, blaming him for his diseased body just before he dies. In Reading Gaol, Wilde learns of another Warder dying violently. Soon afterward others die so the Governor asks Wilde to look into the Murders at Reading Gaol.

The latest late Oscar Wilde Victorian mystery (see Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders, and Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders) may be the best in the series, but not because of the clever whodunit. Instead Gyles Brandreth provides a deep look into the two years of Wilde’s torturous incarceration and a powerful condemnation of the British gaol in the last decade of the nineteenth century. Wilde’s murder inquiry is terrific but it is the jailhouse that rocks.

Harriet Klausner

The Barbed Crown-William Dietrich

The Barbed Crown
William Dietrich
Harper, May 7 2013. $26.99
ISBN: 9780062194077

Crossing to France on the Phantom, American adventurer Ethan Gage feels he owes his one-time employer Napoleon for nearly killing his wife Astiza and kidnapping their young son Harry (see The Emperor Storm). He plans to destroy Napoleon while his spouse schemes to prevent the little dictator from becoming crowned Emperor by using the Crucifixion Crown of Thorns.

When their effort fails to prevent the coronation, the married couple returns to England. Gage stops in Walmer Castle where he joins Sidney Smith, inventors Robert Fulton and William Congreve, and smuggler Tom Johnstone to keep Napoleon from invading England. This escapade soon leads Gage to the Battle of Trafalgar.

The latest Ethan Gage Napoleonic Era thriller (see The Barbary Pirates) is an exciting over the top of the Admiral Nelson Statue and column in Trafalgar Square (built decades after the famous battle). The storyline is fast-paced though the hero’s swashbuckling role seems diminished as he is less actively involved than usual with him on the sidelines for the most part during the coronation. Still fans will enjoy this engaging mix of history and action as The Barbed Crown is an enjoyable early nineteenth century tale.

Harriet Klausner

The Roots Of Betrayal-James Forrester

The Roots Of Betrayal
James Forrester
Sourcebooks, May 7 2013, $14.99
ISBN: 9781402272691

In 1564, William “Clarenceux” Harley detests being the keeper of the “Catholic Treasure” document as possession is not conducive to a long happy life span researching coat of arms by the warmth of a fire with his family. Queen Elizabeth’s advisor Sir William Cecil entrusted him to safeguard the document so the devoted Catholic herald will do what it takes to keep it secure. Clarenceux understands the significance of what he watches as religious civil war between the Catholics supporting Mary, the Protestants deeming the Pope is the Antichrist, and the compromised Church of England straddling both camps seems probable; with what Harley diligently protects as a fire-starter in the wrong hand.

However, in spite of his efforts, someone steals the Catholic Treasure as betrayal is everywhere. As Clarenceux faces harsh incarceration, stink and torture, he remains steadfast in pursuit of what he lost with his worst adventures on the pirate ship the Davy captained by atheist Raw Carew.

The second sequel Clarenceux historical thriller (see Sacred Treasure) is a powerful action-packed Elizabethan era tale in which gore, filth and violence are as normal as mutton pie (modifying H. Rap Brown quote); combat was a bloody endeavor but so was living in the Reformation Era. Definitely not for anyone with a queasy stomach; James Forrester provides fans with an unromantic picture of mid sixteenth century England as not “the best of all possible worlds” as (Voltaire).

Harriet Klausner

The Big Beyond- Michael Lister

The Big Beyond
Michael Lister
Pottersville Press, Apr 12 2013, $16.00
http://www.pulpwoodpress.com
ISBN: 9781888146332

During WWII in in 1940s Panama City, Florida, private investigator Jimmy “Soldier” Riley awakens strapped to a bunk after two thugs knocked him out. He has one thought besides his constant one of how he failed Lauren Lewis: quick death before the woman who hooked up electrodes to his penis can give him a charge. However, former combat pilot Clipper Jones and Salvation Army nurse Ruth Ann Johnson rescue him from the psychos.

Jimmy, who has lost his right hand to the mean streets and his soul to his dead angel, thinks what a trio as Clipper lost an eye so no longer flies military planes and Ruth Ann lost a leg providing combat medical care to troops. Ruth Ann loves Jimmy, but knows he remains obsessed with Lauren. She decides to have a makeover in her ghostly rival’s image because she believes
that is her only chance with him though she knows in her gut that Jimmy will not move on until he confronts Lauren’s killer.

The sequel to The Big Goodbye is an exhilarating historical noir that brings to life the Florida Panhandle during WWII. Action-packed from the moment the protagonist wakes up strapped, fans will enjoy the adventures of the three hardboiled wounded warriors investigating murders in Panama City.

Harriet Klausner

Fear In The Sunlight-Nicola Upson

Fear In The Sunlight
Nicola Upson
Harper, Apr 9 2013, $14.99
ISBN: 9780062195432

In 1954 Scotland Yard’s Archie Penrose learns that someone confessed to the murders of three women during the filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window in California. That same person also admitted to killing three people two decades earlier in Portmeirion, Wales.

In the summer of 1936, mystery writer Josephine Tey celebrates her fortieth birthday with friends at a resort in Portmeirion, Wales. Movie director Alfred Hitchcock films the gala while wanting the rights to her novel A Shilling for Candles that his wife Alma gave to him to read as a possible adaption to the big screen. The renowned director also plans to deploy experiments in how people negatively react to the belief they caused someone else’s death. While many of the Tey party believe Hitchcock is a pest, someone brutally slashes to death an actress at a cemetery. Hitchcock has gotten what he wished for as long time friends look at each suspecting one another is the killer. Scotland Yard Chief Inspector David Penrose becomes involved in the investigation.

The latest Tey-Penrose “Golden Age” historical British mystery (see Two for Sorrow, An Expert In Murder and Angel with Two Faces) is a tense whodunit based on the real encounter between Tey and Hitchcock in Wales over filming her novel. Although a cast that Cecile B. DeMille would relish slows down the storyline, fans will appreciate this psychological suspense as the joyous birthday bash turns from a happy occasion into a fearful one.

Harriet Klausner

The Black Stiletto: Stars and Stripes-Raymond Benson

The Black Stiletto: Stars and Stripes
Raymond Benson
Oceanview, Apr 2 2013, $25.95
ISBN 9781608090723

Martin Talbot has read two of his mother Judy Cooper’s over five decades old diaries (see The Black Stiletto: Black and White), but struggles with who she insists she was. He cannot question her because Judy suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s, but as he begins her third journal, the depth of the entries affirms his mom was the vigilante superhero the Black Stiletto. Talbot wonders whether he should tell his new girlfriend at the same time his daughter Gina proves more a chip off Judy’s block than him as she lands in trouble.

In 1960 New York’s Chinatown, local ruthless Tong hoods kill the father of Judy’s friend teenager teen Billy Shen Lee. Idealist Judy volunteers as a “Kennedy Girl” to help the elect JFK presidential campaign. As the Black Stiletto dodges NYPD, she takes on the Tong and a Cuban-Soviet spy ring planning to assassinate JFK.

The third super Black Stiletto thriller is a great tale as 1960 (through the diary) comes across as if Judy wrote her entries at the end of the Eisenhower Administration. The present segues add depth as Martin struggles with his life (as his ex remarries) while admiring his mom’s daring deeds. However, this is clearly the Black Stiletto’s story with her journal providing an insightful look at racism in 1960 Manhattan and the effect of the Cold War in NYC and on the presidential race.

Harriet Klausner

A Study In Revenge-Kieran Shields

A Study In Revenge
Kieran Shields
Crown, Jan 8 2013, $25.00
ISBN: 9780307985767

In 1893 in Portland, Maine Police Deputy Marshal Archie Lean follows the ashen footprints into the house until he finds the burned corpse of Frankie “The Foot” Cosgrove sitting in a chair. On the outside door written with ash and blood is a face with words “Hell Awaits” above it. Lean saw the victim buried a couple days earlier without any burns. At the gravesite, the empty coffin looks like it was busted from inside.

Lean asks hybrid Abenaki-Caucasian criminalist Perceval Grey to assist him in solving the strange homicide. Grey agrees to help although he already promised dying wealthy tycoon Horace Webster to locate his missing granddaughter Maddy. The rest of the Webster family has no interest in locating a missing heir except for her sister Phebe; instead the Webster clan prefers Grey focus on finding a missing heirloom. The deeper the two men dig into the cases, increasingly they believe them connected.

The second Lean-Grey collaboration (see Truth of All Things) is a great historical police procedural that once again enables armchair readers to believe they are in late nineteenth century Portland and to a lesser degree Boston anchored by real persona like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Action-packed, the taut storyline is an enjoyable fast-paced read as the two detectives will remind readers of a different Holmes partnership as they work to find the missing link.

Harriet Klausner