Anything Legal, Legal Thrillers, Legal Mysteries and More discussion
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I am going to post some reviews of books that I have read. First Nights of Awe by Harri Nykänen The author, formerly a crime reporter, has crafted an interesting police officer. Ariel Kafka is 1 of 2 Jewish policeman in Finland. He considers himself a Finnish policeman first and a Jew second. He only goes to the synagogue occasionally. He has a sense of humor and deals gently with his rabbi trying to persuade him to come to synagogue more often. His conflicting loyalties come into play when as an inspector in the Helsinki Violent crime unit he is called to the scene of the murder of 2 Arab men. As more murders take place, he realizes that Israel's spy agency, the Mossad, is involved. He follows the case to the end, despite misinformation from SUPO(Finnish Security Police) and the Israeli embassy.
I give it 5 stars out of 5.
It was an easy read--3 days for me and hard to put down. A friend lent me this book.
Second; The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe by Timothy Williams Read from November 22 to 29, 2014 — I own a copy, read count: 1
I received this book free from the publisher through the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway program. I gave this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4, for believable characters, good dialogue and a well constructed plot. I could not figure out what happened until near the end.
This book takes place on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, now a French departement, but formerly a French colony. The central character is Anne Marie Laveaud, a juge d'instruction(examining magistrate), a position in the French legal system, denoting a person in charge of a criminal investigation. She is a single mother of 2 children, juggling her job with demands of motherhood. She is already investigating 1 death when she is called to the scene of a second suspicious death, a young female tourist, found dead on a beach.
There are some interesting insights into leftover traces of French colonialist racism and tension between Anne Marie Laveaud and her boss, anxious to solve a murder that could cause a loss of tourist money.
There are 2 mistakes in this "Advance uncopyedited edition"(prominent label on the front of the book).
P70 "For some reason(he) took offense."
p.99 a conversation between Madame Vaton and Monsieur Trousseauis repeated almost verbatim, lines 6-17. It looks like a bad cut and paste mistake.
Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith This is a light, mildly humorous murder mystery. A San Francisco lawyer finds a murdered prostitute in her apartment. The police arrest a man she is dating. He hires her to defend him. She realizes that he is innocent and decides to find the killer.
I received it free through Bookbub. It is the first in a series.
Thomas wrote: "Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith This is a light, mildly humorous murder mystery. A San Francisco lawyer finds a murdered prostitute in her apartment. The poli..."
Hi Thomas,
Interesting sounding book. I don't recall ever reading a humorous mystery.
I am going to check. Would you recommended it?
I just wrote a review last night of Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass.
I'm behind in reading Grafton. I think the last one I read was R. Need to get caught up. Nice review!
Linda wrote: "I'm behind in reading Grafton. I think the last one I read was R. Need to get caught up. Nice review!"S is for Silence is very unique, this one was great.
Catch up on Grafton, you guys! I think that X is finally coming out sometime this year.
Michael wrote: "Thomas wrote: "Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith This is a light, mildly humorous murder mystery. A San Francisco lawyer finds a murdered prostitute in her apar..."
Yes, I would recommend it. I gave it 4 stars. Both my wife and I read and enjoy this author's books. She has 3 other series. My wife has read and enjoyed all of the Skip Langdon series(Edgar nominee for book 1). We both have read the Rebecca Schwatrz series, although I have only read 2 and Liz has read 4. I will post another review.
Sourdough Wars byJulie SmithEnjoyable legal murder mystery
I gave this book four out of five stars, because of believable characters and a well written plot. Rebecca's Jewish mother is overbearing and just what you would imagine. She has some laugh out loud lines.
Louisiana Hotshot by Julie Smith I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. Talba Wallis is a smart, sassy, computer whiz who applies for a job with a private detective agency run by Eddie Valentino. She shows off her computer skills by handing him a folder with his personal info. Julie Smith writes well drawn characters across racial lines--Talba is black and Eddie is white.
One quote from the book that I liked: "... a shrimp po'boy was still finer than nightingales' tongues."
This is book 1 of the series.
Thomas: it sounds like a great book and series.
For Grafton fans:Kinsey and Me: Stories by Sue Grafton
I enjoyed the ten short stories. The thirteen autobiographical stories were sad and depressing, although they do explain the author's outlook.
I have been reading and enjoying Sue Grafton's alphabet series since 1995. now that I have read this book, I can better understand Kinsey Millhone and how much of Sue Grafton is part of her.
How very interesting, Thomas, and I am a Grafton fan.
I love reading, writing reviews, blogging, writing my own stories ( etc), but I don't read e-books.
Jean wrote: "Catch up on Grafton, you guys! I think that X is finally coming out sometime this year."Hi Jean:
X is due for release August 25, 2015.
Thanks!
Una Tiers
My review of COLLISION COURSE, by Joe Broadmeadow. A very entertaining and enjoyable read.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
DRJ
David, wonderful r4eview; I added this to my TBR shelf.
Original Skin by David MarkI first started reading David Mark's books last summer. I won Sorrow Bound(book 3 in the series) last summer in a Goodreads giveaway and enjoyed it enough that I decided to go back and read books 1 and 2 in the series.
This book has several threads: There is a turf war over the growing of marijuana, with new, ruthless gangsters moving in on established Vietnamese grower/sellers. The new gangsters are brutal tortuers, using nail guns and paint stripping burners to torture and murder their way into the business. The second thread concerns a murder written off as a suicide, which Aector Mcavoy suspects may not be a suicide.
The other threads are inter police politics and a family dispute.
I like the author's sense of humor, wherein a character has a 3 course meal--"bag of peanuts, packet of crisps and pickled egg."
I give it 4 out 5 stars.
Thomas wrote: "Death Turns a Trick by Julie Smith I thought The Sourdough Wars was a lot of fun, too.
Reviews from several of my favorite books this year: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (HN Wake is awesome!)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (Debut thriller that comes out Sept 15 but author's looking for reviewers. Of note, the author is a lawyer, and she writes incredibly well.)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... - Extremely well written by David Staniforth. He has written fantasy novels as well; this is his first psychological thriller.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (Another debut thriller that deserves attention)
Thomas wrote: "For Grafton fans:Kinsey and Me: Stories by Sue Grafton
I enjoyed the ten short stories. The thirteen autobiographical stories were sad and depressing, althou..."
Thomas, I have this book, but I've never looked at it. Now I'll have to give it a shot!
Lion Plays Rough by Lachlan Smith I received an autographed copy of this book from the author through the Goodreads giveaway program. Thank you Lachlan Smith!! I give it 4.5 stars(rounded up to 5). It was a fast, easy read--2 days.
Leo Maxwell is a criminal defense attorney who is out for a morning bike ride when a passing car hits him a glancing blow. The driver, an attractive blonde, stops, picks him and his bicycle up and takes him to his car. Later, she comes to his office to hire him to defend her brother. She gives him $10,000 in cash.
She tells him that his brother will call him from jail. The brother does and Leo agrees to speak to him. Then things go bad. The prisoner brought to him is not the man he talked to on the phone and he already has a lawyer.
The characters are well written and the plot twists are numerous. This is book 2 in the series, but it read ok as a standalone.
I plan to read books 1 and 3.
The book author bio says that the author practices civil rights and employment law in Alabama. There is a separate thread in the book where Leo defends an accused child molester. I found the courtroom scenes to be authentic.
After We Fall has just become available on Amazon. I just posted my review. I highly recommend it.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Friendship of Criminals: A Novel by Robert GlinskiI received this book free from Minotaur books through the Goodreads giveaway program. This book is written from the viewpoint of two criminals in the Philadelphia world of organized crime, Anton Bielakowski and his protege, Sonny Bonhardt. Bielakowski is head of the Polish organized crime faction, which stays in Port Richmond. It does not encroach on any other group's territory, and fiercely defends its own. The Italians decide to move on the Poles and the ensuing struggle is like watching a chess game. It turns out that one player is hugely outclassed, in a hard, gritty game of move and counter move. While the book blurb compares it to George V. Higgins' books, it is written in plain English and not dialect. I never finished The Friends of Eddie Coyle because of the dialect and lagging plot.
I read this book in three days. It was a fast, easy read. The plot moved along briskly and never lagged. The author is a former Philadelphia criminal defense attorney.
This book is a solid 4 out of 5 stars. If you were a Sopranos fan, you will like this book.
Just finished Heather Burnside's Slur. My review is posted: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Two O'clock, Eastern Wartime by John Dunning I enjoyed reading this book and give it 4 out 5 stars. I borrowed it from a friend. Jack Dulaney is a man with an extraordinary talent for writing radio drama shows in 1942, the golden age of radio drama. He also is looking for the missing father of his girlfriend, Holly Carnahan.
The two threads converge in a story a of a Nazi spy murdering people who might expose him.
The spy is based on a real life Nazi spy, whose biography is Counterfeit Hero: Fritz Duquesne, Adventurer and Spy by Art Ronnie which I read 15 years ago and gave it 4 stars.
The author is an expert on old time radio drama and has a personal archive of 40,000 radio drama recordings.
Two quotes that I liked from the book:
"Fifty years from now it(radio) could be just a medium for hucksters and fools, a whorehouse in the sky."
"How something so big and vital could have been reduced to a theater of babbling deejays and bloated, self important talk show hosts."
Yikes!! Could he be talking about Rush Limbaugh?
For some reason, my review of Stacy Green's Tin God, which I wrote a couple months ago, never showed up. I have updated my shelf and re-posted it:https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A 5-star read!
Thomas, I avoid Rush Limbaugh and everyone like him! Great quote!
For those who love Stacy Green's Lucy Kendall novels, her 3rd in the series is coming out this month. It is FANTASTIC! Here is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I actually DO read a legal thriller now and then! John Lescroart has long been a favorite. I've just posted my review of his latest book, The Fall.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Her Final Breath
Author of the David Sloane series
Review here ---> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
From Bruges with Love by Pieter AspeRecommended for: Translated mystery fans
Read from June 08 to 14, 2015 — I own a copy, read count: 1
I received this ebook free from NetGalley.com. Bruges Police Inspector Pieter Van In is called to the scene of a skeleton discovered on a farm. It is soon clear that the person was murdered. Pieter is married to Hannnelore, an investigating magistrate, who is charge of the case. She is 3 months pregnant and has tried unsuccessfully to give up smoking. She will not give up wine. All in all, parts of this book read like they were written 30 years ago, so I checked and the Belgian 1st edition was published in 1997. This translation is excellent and flows very well.
Pieter's investigation leads him to some very powerful figures involved in the sex trade. There are several threads in the plot, which merge in the end. I enjoyed it and give it 4 stars out of 5.
According to the book blurb, the book series is a best seller in Belgium, and this book is #33 in the series. It read ok as a stand alone.
Some local food tastes are mentioned: french fries dipped in mayonnaise and beer served ice cold(unlike the UK)
The Switch by Elmore Leonard Elmore Leonard books are always a pleasure to read. This book is a solid 4 stars out of 5. Two minor criminals kidnap the wife of a wealthy developer who has a secret bank account in the Bahamas with a million dollars. They demand that million dollars. But he went to the Bahamas to be with his mistress while his lawyer serves his wife with divorce papers. Leonard has the dialect of the criminals down pat. I read it in about 36 hours.
This is not written as a thriller, but it has plenty of tension and intrigue:Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale. My review is posted:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Doctor's Daughter: Journey to Justice by Belle Blackburn I received this ebook free from the author in return for an honest review. The first third of the book was very slow while the author introduced the characters. The main character is Kate Seaver, who is present at her father's death from a gunshot wound. He emerged from a house with a gunshot wound in his chest and tells his daughter:"He shot me."
She is dismayed when the police and coroner declare it a suicide and sets out to prove he was murdered by James Rayburn. The rest of the book shows how she finds out the truth and also how the civil war affects her and her family. The book starts in Nashville, Tennessee in 1860 and ends in 1862 after the Union army has captured Nashville.
The author did quite a bit of research into how people lived their lives during this period, using such words as "sockdolager" and "snood".
I found snood in the kindle dictionary but had to ask the author what sockdolager meant--a forceful blow.
There are some laugh out lines early on in the book when she is called to a wake and the corpse is still alive.
I give the book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.
The author is a GR author and a member of this group. She invited me to read her book on a group discussion.
Can't recommend enough. If you are looking for a different and fresh kind of mystery/thriller that will keep you turning the page check out Gail Matelson's, The Building.
THE BUILDING: Hidden Deep Within
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Anything Legal, Legal Thrillers, Legal...
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