THE DEAD BEAT SCROLL (PI-August Riordan-San Francisco-Contemp) – 7th in series – Mark Coggins Private investigator August Riordan returns to San Francisco to avenge the death of his friend and one-time partner, Chris Duckworth. Duckworth has taken over Riordan’s old business, his old office and even his old apartment, and Riordan suspects Duckworth’s death is linked to the missing person case he was working when he died. An alluring young woman named Angelina hired Duckworth to look for her half-sister, but what Riordan finds instead is a murderous polyamorous family intent on claiming a previously unknown manuscript from dead Beat writer Jack Kerouac.
Cindy - - I read only one third of The Dead Beat Scroll. I enjoyed the book at the beginning because of the San Francisco references and the photos. After some time, I lost interest in the main character Riordan (?). I felt I would like Chris but he was unfortunately dead. The female characters were lacking in depth and Riordan just didn't have enough oomph to keep my interest. I will probably still finish it since I did purchase the book. Corona - Okay - The voice was somewhat irritating especially at the beginning but I ploughed past the first chapter and got caught up in the story. The lot was engaging and had me thru most of the book. But the ending, like the voice, was overly dramatic and the protagonist took a heavier hand then the situation required. A saving grace was him saying so. My favorite characters were the ones who died before the story began. :-/ I don't think I'd read another by this author. Don – Okay - Great setting; plot is average; characters OK. This was a nice, but not gritty or polished, noir attempt Linda M – Poor - A couple of things bugged me enough to hinder my enjoyment of this book. When I started reading "The Dead Beat Scroll", I thought the San Francisco references and photos were fun. After a while though, the "name dropping" of San Francisco streets and buildings got to be very tiresome. Sometimes a single paragraph would have four or more references. I imagine it would be even more tiresome if the reader is unfamiliar with the area. I'm not sure how old August is supposed to be. He is painted as a luddite, and says things like "...gave it the old alley-oop." So I thought it was kind of creepy when he quickly fell into bed with the hot and trendy millennial whom he was supposed to be helping. There were some other sexist boys' club tropes I didn't care for. I guess we're remaking the Sam Spade era detective, including a good natured jab from August's ex-fiance that she left him for a urologist because urologists make good money. (eye roll) The mystery was okay, but I won't read another August Riordan. Marilyn – Good - The thing I like best about this book are the pictures that started off each chapter. Although I’m not that familiar with San Francisco, there were some pictures I actually recognized. The fact that they were in black and white added to the noir feeling of the story. I took it as a spoof on the classic PI noir books set in San Francisco and as such wasn’t bothered by some of the anachronisms. While waiting for this book I read, or I should say, tried to read the first one in the series. It did not have the humor, or at least I didn’t see the humor, that I see in this one. A year or so ago I took a short course on the poetry after WWII that included Ginsberg, so I also found the references to him mindful. The actual mystery was rather good. I did not see the end coming ahead of time and the twists we’re fairly satisfying.
AVERAGE GROUP RATING: OKAY
NOTHING MORE DANGEROUS (Mystery-Brodie Sanden-Missouri-1976/Contemp) – Standalone – Allen Eskens Set in the 1970s, Eskens gifts his readers with a story that deals with a mystery, bigotry, and a young man growing up in an environment that makes him decide who and what he believes and for what he stands.
Don – G+ - Good reading, plot, character development, & setting. An airplane book; predictable, but redemption theme is good Corona – DNF - The going was slow but the characters worth getting to know but soon the story was clearly headed for ugly issues which I did not want to get involved with. - So I stopped reading. Gabriel – Good - Disappointed that this wasn't that much of a mystery--much more of a coming of age tale. The case of Lida Poe turned out to be somewhat important to the overall situation, but not central. At least it was a fairly good coming of age tale, with a likeable yet somewhat flawed protagonist. It was a relief that if the author was going to make someone a mouthpiece for the author, it was Hoke and not the protagonist. It held my interest throughout, even with the slow pace sometimes. Some of the revelations were fairly good. But the final, most important one--that somebody was a saint--was cloying Helen – Good - This was another mystery that didn’t feel like a mystery. The emphasis on this book was on the personal growth of the main character, Boady Sanden. He seriously needs it: he has a bad case of teenage soft-headedness. I liked how his experiences throughout the book led him to think more seriously about his future and examine the beliefs that had been sort of absorbed through osmosis. I also liked how his friendship with Thomas evolved naturally. The characters were pretty well done in this story. The author did a good job of making the characters robust enough so that they didn’t come off as tropes. Pretty much all of the characters have their secrets, some more interesting than others. As the secrets are revealed, they make the story more interesting, even if the reveal isn’t always a surprise. And a lot of them are left as loose ends, which is nice because the end of the story wraps up a little too neatly. The sliding down the tree thing made me want to try it. The biggest mystery in this book was whether racism was going to win or not, as well as what year it was. It was a page-turning ride to the end, though. There are a few bits in this book that make you think about your own behavior and how you treat people. It’s a good reminder to not take things at face value, learn more about something before you judge it, and be nice to people. This is presented without the usual heavy-handed YA effort; it’s a natural part of the story. Overall, this book had a decent, well-told story, great characters, and didn’t beat me over the head with its message. I give it a good. Linda M – Ex - I adored this book! Its vibe strongly reminded me of Boy's Life by Robert McCammon, though more straightforward and minus the mysticism. And Hoke is a wonderful character, with all the wisdom, quiet strength, and kindness of Atticus Finch. "Nothing More Dangerous" is about growing up in the mid-seventies in a small rural town with some ugly and prevalent bigotry and nepotism. In the author's note, Mr. Eskens says: I began this novel, Nothing More Dangerous, in 1991 as a way to explore my own failing regarding notions of prejudice and racism. I can see some of this gradual self-examination in the young protagonist Boady, and it's very nicely done. I was on the edge of my seat with wide eyes many times while listening to this. I've had "The Life We Bury" on my To-Read shelf for some time, and it just got bumped up a bit. Kevin Stillwell was an excellent Audible storyteller. LJ – VG+ - I love an author with a true storyteller's voice, and subtle humor. His characters are recognizable and have a timelessness about them, yet reminding us of the bigotry which still exists in so much of the country. The book is nearly perfect, but does have a few flaws making it miss that mark. It is a story of friendship, bigotry, violence, fate, and redemption, and it touched my heart. Marcy G – VG+ - . I love Eskens’ writing, spare but also so descriptive at the same time. I could not put this book down. The tension was high, the pacing was great and the character of Boady was beautifully complex. Marilyn – Good - This book didn’t read like a mystery. Although there was a death and it was unknown who had done the killing and there was an explanation of the clues, that wasn’t really what the book was about. The book was about the relationship between two adolescent boys of different races. The character I liked best was the man who lived next-door and over the course of the one boy’s life acted as a father. Also, the way the young boy saw him was interesting. How that part of the story played out by the end was the emotional crux of the story for me. I read this shortly after having read the other book that was about the south and racial tensions and to some extent that colored my view of the book and maybe reduced my enjoyment of it. I read it over a month ago and as I’m writing this review and thinking back about this book the things that stuck in my memory were less about the racial issues and the murder and more about the relationships between some of the characters. I can’t even remember some of the characters that were important in the racial aspects. What I remember is the boy and his mother and the guy who lives next-door and the family who moved in across the street and the relationship between those two boys and the relationship between the two mothers.
AVERAGE GROUP RATING: G+
THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T DIE (HumMys-William Fitzgerald-Silicon Valley-Contemp) – 1st book – A.B. Jewell Silicon Valley scion Captain Don Donogue is dead under mysterious circumstances. In fact, he might’ve well have been murdered. Just ask Captain Don himself. He’s been sending messages about his suspicious death from beyond the grave. Yep, he’s been tweeting from the afterlife. Or so it seems.
Corona – DNF - I found the story irritating. There was a lot of attitude, it got old quick. - The guy was just to full of himself. Don – G+ - Quite likeable; novel theme with good protagonist. The plot was uneven, saved by witty dialogue & funny characters Gabriel – Okay - Sometimes the main plot interested me, sometimes it didn't--especially all the action with the Tarantulas. A lot (not all) of the whimsical satire of the tech world and the Bay Area was amusing, occasionally made me laugh. (Like the Starbucks drink made of coffee, Red Bull, and echinacea. People laughed when I told them, "That's so Bay Area.") Kathy – Ex - Loved it’s quirkiness. Somewhere between sci-fi and mystery. Not being a techie, there were times when I wasn’t sure if what was happening could be happening in the present day. Loved the local setting. Very familiar with it all and could find myself there. Even fell for the escape through distraction of the cell phones going off. A statement on present behavior. Marilyn – DNF - Did not finish. Actually, barely started. The start seemed like slapstick humor which I don’t like.
Private investigator August Riordan returns to San Francisco to avenge the death of his friend and one-time partner, Chris Duckworth. Duckworth has taken over Riordan’s old business, his old office and even his old apartment, and Riordan suspects Duckworth’s death is linked to the missing person case he was working when he died. An alluring young woman named Angelina hired Duckworth to look for her half-sister, but what Riordan finds instead is a murderous polyamorous family intent on claiming a previously unknown manuscript from dead Beat writer Jack Kerouac.
Cindy - - I read only one third of The Dead Beat Scroll. I enjoyed the book at the beginning because of the San Francisco references and the photos. After some time, I lost interest in the main character Riordan (?). I felt I would like Chris but he was unfortunately dead. The female characters were lacking in depth and Riordan just didn't have enough oomph to keep my interest. I will probably still finish it since I did purchase the book.
Corona - Okay - The voice was somewhat irritating especially at the beginning but I ploughed past the first chapter and got caught up in the story. The lot was engaging and had me thru most of the book. But the ending, like the voice, was overly dramatic and the protagonist took a heavier hand then the situation required. A saving grace was him saying so. My favorite characters were the ones who died before the story began. :-/ I don't think I'd read another by this author.
Don – Okay - Great setting; plot is average; characters OK. This was a nice, but not gritty or polished, noir attempt
Linda M – Poor - A couple of things bugged me enough to hinder my enjoyment of this book. When I started reading "The Dead Beat Scroll", I thought the San Francisco references and photos were fun. After a while though, the "name dropping" of San Francisco streets and buildings got to be very tiresome. Sometimes a single paragraph would have four or more references. I imagine it would be even more tiresome if the reader is unfamiliar with the area. I'm not sure how old August is supposed to be. He is painted as a luddite, and says things like "...gave it the old alley-oop." So I thought it was kind of creepy when he quickly fell into bed with the hot and trendy millennial whom he was supposed to be helping. There were some other sexist boys' club tropes I didn't care for. I guess we're remaking the Sam Spade era detective, including a good natured jab from August's ex-fiance that she left him for a urologist because urologists make good money. (eye roll) The mystery was okay, but I won't read another August Riordan.
Marilyn – Good - The thing I like best about this book are the pictures that started off each chapter. Although I’m not that familiar with San Francisco, there were some pictures I actually recognized. The fact that they were in black and white added to the noir feeling of the story. I took it as a spoof on the classic PI noir books set in San Francisco and as such wasn’t bothered by some of the anachronisms. While waiting for this book I read, or I should say, tried to read the first one in the series. It did not have the humor, or at least I didn’t see the humor, that I see in this one. A year or so ago I took a short course on the poetry after WWII that included Ginsberg, so I also found the references to him mindful. The actual mystery was rather good. I did not see the end coming ahead of time and the twists we’re fairly satisfying.
AVERAGE GROUP RATING: OKAY
NOTHING MORE DANGEROUS (Mystery-Brodie Sanden-Missouri-1976/Contemp) – Standalone – Allen Eskens
Set in the 1970s, Eskens gifts his readers with a story that deals with a mystery, bigotry, and a young man growing up in an environment that makes him decide who and what he believes and for what he stands.
Don – G+ - Good reading, plot, character development, & setting. An airplane book; predictable, but redemption theme is good
Corona – DNF - The going was slow but the characters worth getting to know but soon the story was clearly headed for ugly issues which I did not want to get involved with. - So I stopped reading.
Gabriel – Good - Disappointed that this wasn't that much of a mystery--much more of a coming of age tale. The case of Lida Poe turned out to be somewhat important to the overall situation, but not central. At least it was a fairly good coming of age tale, with a likeable yet somewhat flawed protagonist. It was a relief that if the author was going to make someone a mouthpiece for the author, it was Hoke and not the protagonist. It held my interest throughout, even with the slow pace sometimes. Some of the revelations were fairly good. But the final, most important one--that somebody was a saint--was cloying
Helen – Good - This was another mystery that didn’t feel like a mystery. The emphasis on this book was on the personal growth of the main character, Boady Sanden. He seriously needs it: he has a bad case of teenage soft-headedness. I liked how his experiences throughout the book led him to think more seriously about his future and examine the beliefs that had been sort of absorbed through osmosis. I also liked how his friendship with Thomas evolved naturally. The characters were pretty well done in this story. The author did a good job of making the characters robust enough so that they didn’t come off as tropes. Pretty much all of the characters have their secrets, some more interesting than others. As the secrets are revealed, they make the story more interesting, even if the reveal isn’t always a surprise. And a lot of them are left as loose ends, which is nice because the end of the story wraps up a little too neatly. The sliding down the tree thing made me want to try it. The biggest mystery in this book was whether racism was going to win or not, as well as what year it was. It was a page-turning ride to the end, though. There are a few bits in this book that make you think about your own behavior and how you treat people. It’s a good reminder to not take things at face value, learn more about something before you judge it, and be nice to people. This is presented without the usual heavy-handed YA effort; it’s a natural part of the story. Overall, this book had a decent, well-told story, great characters, and didn’t beat me over the head with its message. I give it a good.
Linda M – Ex - I adored this book! Its vibe strongly reminded me of Boy's Life by Robert McCammon, though more straightforward and minus the mysticism. And Hoke is a wonderful character, with all the wisdom, quiet strength, and kindness of Atticus Finch. "Nothing More Dangerous" is about growing up in the mid-seventies in a small rural town with some ugly and prevalent bigotry and nepotism. In the author's note, Mr. Eskens says: I began this novel, Nothing More Dangerous, in 1991 as a way to explore my own failing regarding notions of prejudice and racism. I can see some of this gradual self-examination in the young protagonist Boady, and it's very nicely done. I was on the edge of my seat with wide eyes many times while listening to this. I've had "The Life We Bury" on my To-Read shelf for some time, and it just got bumped up a bit. Kevin Stillwell was an excellent Audible storyteller.
LJ – VG+ - I love an author with a true storyteller's voice, and subtle humor. His characters are recognizable and have a timelessness about them, yet reminding us of the bigotry which still exists in so much of the country. The book is nearly perfect, but does have a few flaws making it miss that mark. It is a story of friendship, bigotry, violence, fate, and redemption, and it touched my heart.
Marcy G – VG+ - . I love Eskens’ writing, spare but also so descriptive at the same time. I could not put this book down. The tension was high, the pacing was great and the character of Boady was beautifully complex.
Marilyn – Good - This book didn’t read like a mystery. Although there was a death and it was unknown who had done the killing and there was an explanation of the clues, that wasn’t really what the book was about. The book was about the relationship between two adolescent boys of different races. The character I liked best was the man who lived next-door and over the course of the one boy’s life acted as a father. Also, the way the young boy saw him was interesting. How that part of the story played out by the end was the emotional crux of the story for me. I read this shortly after having read the other book that was about the south and racial tensions and to some extent that colored my view of the book and maybe reduced my enjoyment of it. I read it over a month ago and as I’m writing this review and thinking back about this book the things that stuck in my memory were less about the racial issues and the murder and more about the relationships between some of the characters. I can’t even remember some of the characters that were important in the racial aspects. What I remember is the boy and his mother and the guy who lives next-door and the family who moved in across the street and the relationship between those two boys and the relationship between the two mothers.
AVERAGE GROUP RATING: G+
THE MAN WHO WOULDN'T DIE (HumMys-William Fitzgerald-Silicon Valley-Contemp) – 1st book – A.B. Jewell
Silicon Valley scion Captain Don Donogue is dead under mysterious circumstances. In fact, he might’ve well have been murdered. Just ask Captain Don himself. He’s been sending messages about his suspicious death from beyond the grave. Yep, he’s been tweeting from the afterlife. Or so it seems.
Corona – DNF - I found the story irritating. There was a lot of attitude, it got old quick. - The guy was just to full of himself.
Don – G+ - Quite likeable; novel theme with good protagonist. The plot was uneven, saved by witty dialogue & funny characters
Gabriel – Okay - Sometimes the main plot interested me, sometimes it didn't--especially all the action with the Tarantulas. A lot (not all) of the whimsical satire of the tech world and the Bay Area was amusing, occasionally made me laugh. (Like the Starbucks drink made of coffee, Red Bull, and echinacea. People laughed when I told them, "That's so Bay Area.")
Kathy – Ex - Loved it’s quirkiness. Somewhere between sci-fi and mystery. Not being a techie, there were times when I wasn’t sure if what was happening could be happening in the present day. Loved the local setting. Very familiar with it all and could find myself there. Even fell for the escape through distraction of the cell phones going off. A statement on present behavior.
Marilyn – DNF - Did not finish. Actually, barely started. The start seemed like slapstick humor which I don’t like.
AVERAGE GROUP RATING: Good