Some top-notch mystery writers

Ross Macdonald
Ross Macdonald is one of the best of the classic American private eye writers. He writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, that is, wealthy Los Angeles, full of sin and corruption; very atmospheric. “Most mystery writers merely write about crime. Ross Macdonald writes about sin.”—The Atlantic Monthly


The Barbarous Coast
In this novel detective “Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad.”
The Doomsters
Lew Archer is hired to investigate the suspicious deaths of a senator and his wife. He runs into a history of double-crossing and dirty-dealing. Now someone has it in for the senators’ family and Archer has to find out who before another body winds up on a slab.


P.J. Parrish
Author of the successful Louis Kincaid series is similar to author Dennis Lehane because of her ability to create “sympathetic main and secondary characters and through her skill at creating suspense and sustaining a mood.” Her first Louis Kincaid novel An Unquiet Grave was fantastic!


South of Hell
This novel finds “Louis Kincaid and his lover, female detective Joe Frye, …team[ing] up to find out what happened to Jean Brandt, who was reported missing by her husband from their Michigan farmhouse in 1981.” Lee Child says: "Crime fiction at its finest. Beautifully written, beautifully imagined and packed with raw power."

Hard Case Crime books are always good if you’re looking for an old-time hard-boiled mystery. They include both classic mysteries as well as new noir novels. And best of all the covers are in the grand pulp style. They’re easy to identify so grab one today!

Max Allan Collin
Collins has many books in the Hard Case Crime series. He’s “violent and volatile and packed with sexuality…classic pulp fiction.”—USA Today
The First Quarry
Quarry was the first hit man to star in his own series of crime novels. This is the prequel to the popular novel The Last Quarry. See Quarry in his first job: “infiltrating a college town and eliminating a professor whose affair with one of his beautiful, young students is the least of his sins…”

Stan Jones

Frozen Sun
This title is in the Nathan Active series. Active is an Inupiaq State Trooper in Alaska, Inupiat by birth but raised by adoptive parents in Anchorage. This background allows for an exploration and investigation of the fault lines between Alaska’s various peoples, through the lens of crime fiction. In this novel he is in pursuit of a young woman who went missing years before. The search takes him to Anchorage and an island fishing camp. He creates a vivid portrait of the area using native language devices.

Reviewed by Julie

Mystery Mini-Reviews from Julie

In the Heat by Ian Vasquez
Miles Young, an over-the-hill boxer, is hired to find the daughter of a wealthy woman in this mystery set in the country of Belize. This is Vasquez’s first novel and it’s a good one.


Birdman by Mo Hayder
Detective Jack Caffery is on the trail of a truly sick & twisted killer. Hayder is a terrific writer: the characters are fully developed & the plot is full of unexpected twists & turns. This is a creepy but exciting read!


The Shadow Walker by Michael Walters
In modern day Mongolia, in a series of brutal killings, an Englishman is killed. To help in the investigation a British policeman is sent to Mongolia to work with the police & the head of national security to find the killer. This is a very interesting, well written & exciting mystery.

Reviewed by Julie

More Good Mysteries from Julie

Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda
Jade Del Cameron, an adventurous, independent young woman, explores post WWI Africa in search of her dead fiancés half-brother. If you like Amelia Peabody, you’ll love Jade Del Cameron! Very entertaining!

The Marshal and the Murderer by Magdalen Nabb
Marshal Guarnaccia, a Florence policeman, may look like he’s asleep on his feet but his brain is always working to figure out who done it.An easy and entertaining read.

Ammunition by Ken Bruen
Ammunition in this book is what you know about someone that gives you power over them. This is a rather cynical look at a police department but is an entertaining and fast read.


The Lemur by Benjamin Black
This is a creepy mystery where nothing seems or feels right. A writer hires a researcher who is then murdered, but murdered in exactly the same way as a death in the past. Is it a coincidence or did the same killer do both jobs?

Reviewed by Julie

A Few Good Mysteries and Thrillers

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski
"His name was Paul Lewis.... ....and he didn't know he had seven minutes to live." This is a book that is in fast forward-the action never stops or even slows down! Once you start it, you can't stop!

Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill
This is a Dr. Siri Paiboun mystery set in Laos. Dr. Siri and his nurse Dtui investigate the mysterious case of a body found encased in a rock .too complicated to explain. These are fun, easy to read books. Siri and Dtui are a hoot! With lots of Laotian atmosphere (ghostly atmosphere at that!)

Reviewed by Julie


Killing Rommel bySteven Pressfield
This outstanding military thriller is based on the real life story of the Long Range Desert Group, an elite WWII BritishSpecial Forces unit whose mission was to destroy Rommel’s Afrika Korps. Pressfield captures the adrenaline and fear of battle and the camaraderie of the brave men whose mission was so dangerous they knew many of them would die so realistically I kept forgetting it’s fiction. The historical background is accurate and some of the characters are real. The fictional characters are so well imagined, and the action so detailed, you feel you are there. Pressfield's previous books are military historical fiction about Thermopylae and Alexander the Great. This is his first set in the modern era. His website has a 10-minute documentary about Rommel, "the greatest fighting general of WWII", desert warfare tactics, the Battle of El Alamein and about how the Long Range Desert Group were able to break the back of the Africa Korps. There's also an hour-long interview with Pressfield.
Steven Pressfield's website

Collision by Jeff Abbott
Abbott’s characters are often ordinary, intelligent people who are unwittingly caught up in dangerous situations and become victims. This one takes a while to jell as the various plots are laid out, but stick with it, it’s worthwhile! Ben Forsberg, who is grieving his wife’s murder 2 years previoucly, becomes the target of a secret government agency. Lots of action, crosses and double-crosses, and the ending is a stunner!

Assassin byTed Bell
Alex Hawke is everything a thriller hero must be - strong, fearless, determined and resourceful. In this one, a personal tragedy derails him briefly, but he’s soon back in the thick of the action, pursuing evil-doers and seeking revenge, supported by a cast of colorful and likeable comrades. The book is long; there's too much time spent on the villain's backstory, and the action is over the top. That said, the Hawke series is action-packed with well-drawn characters, and I'm now a confirmed Hawke fan.

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci
A fantastic thriller! A Shaw (no first name, just A) is a contract terrorist hunter and hitman for a shadowy government agency. He’s trying to get out of his dangerous profession and settle down with the woman he loves. But nothing is simple in the world of international terrorism. Baldacci's most popular books are his "Camel Club" series.

Reviewed by Suzanne

A miscellany of mysteries & a graphic novel

How the Dead Live by Derek Raymond
This was a bit slow starting out but once you get used to his writing style he’s great! I love the way he says so much in so few words:
It’s the capacity of knowing that’s the real agony of existence; maybe we would all of us be more honest without knowledge.
I’m looking forward to reading more of him. He died in 1994 and there are only 5 in this series so I might actually get to read all of them.

Epileptic by David B.
This is my very favorite graphic novel! It is an incredible story of growing up with an epileptic brother, plus a look at the medical crazes in France of the 70’s. It is complete fascinating!

A Grave in Gaza by Matt Beynon Rees
Teacher Omar Yussef is working with the UN to investigate the imprisonment of a UN teacher in this, the 2nd in the series. As well as a great mystery, Beynon Rees teaches you so much about Arab culture and customs. This is a great series!

Lie in the Dark by Dan Fesperman
This is a mystery story that takes place in Sarajevo at the height of the war. Our police detective, Vlado, investigates a case of stolen artwork which involves entanglements with the government, the UN and the military. Very exciting!

Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas
Detective John Blake investigates the murder of his high school girlfriend which leads him into the world of strip clubs and mobsters. Nominated for an Edgar and Shamus award for best first novel.

Above Ground by Don Easton
Jack Taggart (Cpl. in the RCMP) seeks vengeance after an innocent man with his name is killed & his infant child is paralyzed by a vicious drug dealer. This is a satisfying, tough read full of danger and which questions “what is justice?”

Reviewed by Julie

Good Eats!

The Organic Food Shopper’s Guide by Jeff Cox

If Michael Pollan’s books In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma inspired you to change your eating habits, you will find that this book is a good resource to have. Cox starts out with a chapter called “Why Buy Organic Food?” in which he spells out the benefits of organic versus conventionally produced food. Then it’s on to chapters devoted to groups of foods, further broken down by individual type. For each type of food Cox provides information on growing season, varieties, how to determine freshness, tips for storage and preparation, and some simple recipes. He winds it up with a chapter at the end called “Kitchen Staples,” where he discusses such items as coffee, chocolate, and cooking oils. Cox also provides resources for learning about and locating organic foods. This is a good primer for those just venturing into organic foods and a handy reference for the more experienced shopper.

Reviewed by Macaire

Spies and a thriller

The Spies of Warsaw by Alan Furst
Alan Furst and I share an obsession with the Spanish Civil War. His last two books are set in the late ‘30’s, when the Spanish Republic was desperately hanging on in the fight against Franco and his Fascists, a fight the republicans eventually lost. But Furst’s books The Spies of Warsaw and The Foreign Correspondent are not about that war. In both of them the protagonists are resisting the Fascist threat that is menacing all of Europe, not just Spain. They are fighting the good fight, risking their lives trying to subvert the Nazis, which as we all know was a futile effort in the end. Nonetheless, they are heroic in the manner of true heroes. They are ordinary people putting their lives on the line to fight evil. Furst writes intelligent and compelling spy fiction. His characters are thoughtful and very human, with human failings. He mixes in just the right amount of romance, creating relationships that are believable but that don’t swamp the plot.
Alan Furst's website


City of Thieves by David Benioff
Kolya is the grandson of a Cossack who likes to quote passages from Russian literature and Lev is the son of a Jewish poet who was taken from his home by the secret police and never heard from again. They are an unlikely pair. They meet when they are arrested in wartime Leningrad, Kolya for desertion from the army and Lev for plundering. The NKVD colonel in charge who can order their execution, gives them a reprieve, offering to trade their lives for a dozen eggs, needed for his daughter’s wedding cake. This would seem to be a simple task, but for the fact that the city is under siege by the German army, and the inhabitants are starving and turning to cannibalism. As Kolya and Lev search the city and beyond for the eggs, they are affected by the horrors of war they witness and those they hear about. In spite of the cold and the hardships and the seeming impossibility of their task, Kolya never loses his optimism and his sense of humor. This is a book with a lot of heart. Benioff has created a memorable character in Kolya.
Interview with David Benioff

Christopher’s Ghosts by Charles McCarry
I picked up this book because it was described as a spy thriller. When I started reading it, it seemed to be something different, and at first I was disappointed at the lack of action. I almost abandoned it, but I’m glad I didn’t, because I was irresistibly drawn into the lives of the characters and the horror of their situation. In 1939 16-year-old Paul Christopher, son of a German mother and an American father, is living in Berlin with his parents. SS officer Stutzer, who has an obsession with Paul’s mother, harasses the boy and his girlfriend, harassment that ultimately ends in a sadistic act. The second part of the book is a traditional spy thriller, which has Christopher sneaking around East Berlin. I enjoyed this part, also, more so because he so carefully set up the situation and the relationships in the first part.

Reviewed by Suzanne