A Hurricane and Murder in CAMINO WINDS

John Grisham returns to the setting of his previous crime novel, Camino Island, in an entertaining new mystery, Camino Winds.

The main character from the first book is back again--- Bruce Cable, the owner of Bay Books, a popular literary hangout on the resort island off the Florida coast. Bruce is enjoying the pleasant tropical life he leads amidst a circle of local writers, when the sudden forecast of a dangerous hurricane headed for the island changes everything.

Panic ensues as the island undergoes emergency evacuation. Bruce Cable is one of a handful of locals who stay behind to ride out the storm. The arrival of Hurricane Leo is quite exciting as the savage winds smash across Camino Island.

Cable survives the storm, with heavy damage to his bookstore. As the locals emerge to survey the destruction, Bruce notices that one friend, writer Nelson Kerr, is missing. When they look for him, Kerr is found dead at his condo. But the storm didn't kill him. Someone else on the island did.

From there, the novel settles into a search for who killed Kerr, and why. Clues point to a new crime novel that Kerr had just finished about criminal abuse at a large chain of nursing homes. But the novel may have been an expose of crimes happening at a real company, and a book that someone powerful didn't want to see published.

Camino Winds is a pleasantly readable mystery that moves along at a leisurely pace. For fans of the author, it's another satisfying entry to add to the John Grisham shelf. 

Best Mystery and Crime Novels of 2018

The last year saw the release of a variety of great Mystery and Crime reads. These are the best novels of the year that were reviewed by this blog:

The Wanted - By Robert Crais. Private eye Elvis Cole is back, along with his California cool style and his classic yellow Corvette. A worried Los Angeles mother hires Cole to investigate her teenage son's activities, fearing he's into drug use. But it turns out the kid is into things a lot more dangerous than that.

The Disappeared - By C.J. Box. Wyoming state game warden Joe Pickett returns in the popular Crime series set against a rugged Western landscape backdrop. A British tourist vanishes after her stay at an upscale local dude ranch. As Joe digs into the mystery, he comes up against a powerful wind power utility that may be involved.

Twisted Prey - By John Sandford. Another bullet-paced thriller featuring U.S. Marshal Lucas Davenport. A assassination attempt is made on a U.S. Senator on a lonely forest road. When Lucas investigates, he faces a cold blooded sociopath with political ambitions, who masterminds several murders in order to further her own Senate campaign.

The Dry - By Jane Harper. Set in the barren Outback of Australia, where a small town is suffering from an endless drought and reeling from a horrific local crime. Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk tries to unravel the mystery of why a local farmer would kill his family and then himself. Or did he?

The Witch Elm - By Tana French. An engrossing psychological mystery in which fate and coincidence play twisted roles in the course of fatal events. A young man is the victim of a brutal attack that leaves him with a serious head injury. Then he becomes a suspect in a murder case from years earlier.

Dark Sacred Night - By Michael Connelly. This police procedural teams former LAPD detective Harry Bosch with current LAPD night shift detective Renee Ballard.  Bosch and Ballard cross paths on a cold case involving the murder of a teenage girl by an unknown predator who may still be out there. The two cops agree to pool their efforts to find the killer.

Ruth Ware is Back With THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY

The Death of Mrs. Westaway is a new psychological mystery by Ruth Ware, author of previous best sellers In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin Ten.

The main character of the new novel is Harriet Westaway, nicknamed Hal, a young woman who ekes out a living as a Tarot reader on the Brighton Pier. Hal gets a surprising letter naming her as an heir of a deceased grandmother. But Hal immediately realizes it's a mistake, the dead woman was not her grandmother. Yet Hal is in debt and desperate, so she makes a risky decision to try to claim whatever the inheritance is.

She travels to Cornwall to the Westaway family estate of Trepassen. There she meets the brothers Harding, Able, and Ezra, along with the aged and hostile housekeeper Mrs. Warren. Hal must pass herself off as the daughter of a sister, Maud Westaway, who went missing years earlier. Hal's appearance as an unknown heir is a shock to the suspicious family members.

As Hal continues her deception, she learns more and more about Westaway family secrets long buried. But someone doesn't want those secrets exposed and Hal finds she has stepped into a dangerous trap.

The Death of Mrs. Westaway is not Ruth Ware's best work. The novel is a slow-tempo read, with far too much of Hal's swirling interior thoughts clogging the plot. The frenzied climax stains credulity with its questionable motivations of a key character.

THE DISAPPEARED by C.J. Box a new Wyoming Mystery

Wyoming state game warden Joe Pickett returns in The Disappeared, a new mystery novel from C.J. Box. The popular series is set against a rugged Western backdrop as Joe Pickett finds himself involved in often dangerous criminal situations.

A new problem arises for Joe when a British tourist vanishes after her stay at the upscale Silver Creek dude ranch. The local game warden from the same district is also suddenly missing. Joe Pickett is sent by the new state Governor to replace the missing game warden and at the same time, look into the disappearance of the British woman.

As Joe digs into the mystery, he begins to have questions about a big company, Buckbrush Power, which owns a massive wind power farm in the nearby mountains. Could the company be behind the recent losses of the tourist and the game warden?

Joe's investigation leads him in unexpected directions toward the surprising answers to two different mysteries. The Disappeared offers only a passable mystery plot, but new material involving familiar characters like Joe's daughter, Sheridan, should satisfy fans of the continuing series.

Best Mystery and Crime Novels of 2017

The last year saw the release of a variety of great Mystery and Crime reads, including double entries by some popular authors. These are the best novels of the year that were reviewed by this blog:

Rather Be the Devil by Ian Rankin - The irascible John Rebus returns, when the retired former Edinburg, Scotland police inspector is called in as a civilian consultant on a new assault case. But Rebus soon finds himself digging into an old serial murder case he could never solve earlier.

Vicious Circle by C.J. Box - Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett is back to renew his violent feud with the roughneck Cates clan, who terrorized Joe and his family once before and aren't finished yet.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - Suspense puzzle of memory and deceit set in a rural English village, where a local pool has claimed the lives of a series of women over the years.

Golden Prey by John Sandford - A new Lucas Davenport crime thriller. Lucas has recently joined the U.S. Marshals and he's on the track of a cold blooded robbery crew in a wild chase across Texas.

Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves - Latest book in the mystery series set in the Shetland Islands off the east coast of Scotland. Heavy rains and a landslide expose a woman's dead body inside a wrecked house.

The Late Show by Michael Connelly - Gripping police procedural that introduces a new main character, LAPD detective Renee Ballard, who works the overnight shift, dubbed the "late show."
Ballard works two violent cases she was supposed to let go of, one of which leads her toward her own imminent death.

Deep Freeze by John Sandford - Quirky crime escapade featuring Minnesota State Police detective Virgil Flowers. It's the middle of a Minnesota winter and there's a murder in a small town, where the victim had just left a high school reunion meeting before she was clubbed to death by someone.

Paradise Valley by C.J. Box - In this Western-set crime thriller, sheriff's detective Cassie Dewell renews her hunt for an elusive serial killer called the Lizard King, a long haul trucker who abducts and murders his female victims across the country. He got away from Cassie once before and she's been obsessed with getting him ever since.

COLD EARTH Continues Shetland Mystery Series

Cold Earth by Ann Cleeves is the latest book in the mystery series set in the Shetland Islands off the east coast of Scotland. The novels, which were adapted into a popular PBS TV series, feature Inspector Jimmy Perez, head of the small island police force.

Cold Earth opens with a sudden natural disaster. Heavy winter rains on Shetland cause the land to give way on a saturated hillside. The resulting landslide sweeps downward, crushing an isolated house in its path. When the mud-filled wreckage is searched later, a woman's dead body is found inside.

The victim is unidentified. No one seems to know who was staying in the rental house. As Jimmy Perez tries to identify her, an unexpected new issue arises. An autopsy reveals the woman was murdered, strangled before the landslide ever destroyed the house.

The woman's name is eventually learned. She appears to have been having an affair with someone local, but who? Perez has a list of possible male suspects, one of whom is a killer. The answer comes in a chilling climax that gives prophetic meaning to the novel's title. For fans of the Shetland series, Cold Earth is a worthy new entry.

INTO THE WATER a Tangled Psychological Maze

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins is the author's new suspense novel after her previous best seller  Girl on the Train. The new title is a similar puzzle of memory and deceit told through a series of alternating character points of view.

The novel takes place in the insular English village of Beckford, where a sinister pool in the local river has claimed the lives of a succession of women going back centuries. The place is known as the Drowning Pool, where women have died -- some by suicide, some by violence in the era of witchcraft hysteria, some more recently by murder perhaps.

The latest to die is Nel Abbott. Shortly before that was teenager Katie Whitaker. Both deaths at first appear to be suicides. Investigating the case are two detectives, the locally born Inspector Sean Townsend, and Sergeant Erin Morgan.

The mystery winds through the changing internal viewpoints of a half dozen characters. But all of them may be unreliable narrators holding back their own secrets, including one of the detectives. The story is convoluted, jumping into flashbacks at times, requiring close attention by the reader to follow the narrative.

Into the Water is a tangled psychological suspense tale that builds slowly toward a resolution that is itself enigmatic, where we can still not be certain we really have the final truth.

THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR a Tangled Mystery

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena is a tangled domestic mystery filled with continued, surprising plot twists. Nothing is as it first seems, and all of the key characters are hiding secrets which are eventually revealed.

Anne and Marco Conti are parents with a new baby girl. When their babysitter cancels, they decide to attend a dinner part anyway at their next door neighbors' house. They leave their baby, Cora, sleeping alone while checking on her every half-hour. But when Anne goes to check on Cora at one a.m., the baby's crib is empty. Someone has taken her.

The police are called. A search is undertaken. But no sign of who took Cora is found. Anne and Marco are distraught. Detective Rasbach begins to suspect the parents are hiding something. They had both been drinking earlier. Anne has been seeing a psychiatrist for poet-partum depression. Something is off about all of it, but Rasbach can't tell what it is.

More plot twists unfold. Anne's parents arrive to help, with their own agenda. The next door neighbors are questioned, but they may be hiding something as well. A witness may have seen something. But the baby is still missing.

 The Couple Next Door is a compelling, tautly written mystery that moves toward an unexpected answer. The novel makes entertaining winter reading for mystery fans.

IN A DARK, DARK WOOD a Sinister Memory Puzzle

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware is a sinister psychological mystery whose answer depends on the confused, damaged memories of one character.

The story is set in the woods of northern England, where a group of six gather for a bachelorette party in an isolated country house. Nora Shaw is the main character, an introverted woman who doesn't want to be there with people she hasn't seen in years. The party is for her once best friend Clare Cavendish, but the two have lost touch until now.

Once the group gathers at the house in the spooky woods, tensions rise as old secrets and resentments begin to emerge. Then a truly horrific incident occurs suddenly and someone is dead. But was it only a grotesque accident, or is something more diabolical at work?

Nora Shaw herself can't remember what happened. She suffered a head injury in a car accident as she fled the house. Now the police have questions she can't answer.

The truth emerges in disjointed puzzle pieces from Nora's damaged memory. But is it a truth she even wants to fully remember? In a Dark, Dark Wood is a compelling read that saves its answers until the wrenching final twist.

THE HIGHWAYMAN a Walt Longmire Ghost Story

The Highwayman by Craig Johnson is a new entry in the popular crime series that features Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire. But this short novel is a departure for Longmire as he investigates a legendary Western ghost story.

The spooky setting for the tale is the night fogs of the rugged Wind River Canyon region. Mysterious police radio calls are coming in, seemingly from state trooper Bobby Womack. But Womack himself died in a fiery crash in the canyon decades earlier. Trooper Rosie Wayman swears she heard the radio calls in her patrol car, and she comes to her friend Longmire for help. Walt gets involved in the mystery and finds more than he bargained for.

The Highwayman is the author's updating of the classic Charles Dickens tale "The Signal-Man." The novella is a quick, fun read both for fans of Walt Longmire and readers who enjoy a good, eerie ghost story.


DARK FANTASY THRILLER BY WILLIAM WILDE



She's called The Rep and she's not human.

Now at Kindle, Nook, and iBook.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IT1Y0G2#nav-subnav

Harry Bosch is Back in THE CROSSING by Michael Connelly

The Crossing by Michael Connelly sees popular character Harry Bosch return in a new police procedural mystery. Bosch is now retired as an LAPD detective. When defense attorney Mickey Haller asks Bosch to assist as an investigator in a homicide case, Bosch doesn't want to do it. He spent his whole police career putting such criminals behind bars. It would mean "crossing over" to help the other side if he works to free an accused defendant.

But Bosch does grudgingly agree to at least take a preliminary look at the murder case. The victim was a woman brutally beaten to death in her home. The accused suspect is a black former gang member, whose DNA was found at the scene.

The case looks solid until Bosch starts digging deeper. He doesn't like what he finds. Too many things don't fit. It looks like Haller's client may have been set up, possibly by someone inside the LAPD.

When new murders occur as Bosch keeps probing, things take a dangerous new turn. Someone unknown will keep killing to protect themselves and Harry Bosch is the next target on the list.

The Crossing is a riveting, outstanding read for mystery fans. Michael Connelly continues to deliver, book after book, the best novels in the police procedural genre.

DRY BONES a New Walt Longmire Wyoming Mystery

Dry Bones by Craig Johnson is the latest in the popular mystery novel series featuring Wyoming county sheriff Walt Longmire.

A highly prized T-Rex fossil skeleton is discovered buried on a local ranch. Soon afterwards, the body of the ranch owner is found floating dead in a fishing pond and it looks like he was murdered.

Longmire pursues the homicide case while the valuable T-Rex fossil is the subject of a tangled legal dispute involving a museum, federal agents, and an Indian tribal group that also claims title to the skeleton. Longmire looks for a link between the murder and the T-Rex find, or was there another less obvious motive?

The real charm of the Longmire series is Walt's own dry, unflappable nature and the set of eccentric characters surrounding him. His tough talking deputy, Victoria Moretti. Walt's wise and mystical friend, Henry Standing Bear. And all the colorful members of reservation tribes that Walt must regularly deal with.

Dry Bones is another entertaining tale for readers who like their mystery stories salted with wry humor and a backdrop of rugged Western landscape.

GIRL ON THE TRAIN a Devious Psychological Mystery

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins is a devious psychological mystery that shifts through a series of plot twists, first pointing in one direction, then changing course again.

The plot structure is elaborate. Events move in chapters told in the first person by three alternating narrators --- Rachel, Anna, and Megan. An added complication is that Megan's chapters take place in a time period a few months earlier than the chapters narrated by Rachel and Anna.

Rachel Watson is the central character, a troubled alcoholic with memory blackouts, who is unhappily divorced and jobless. She rides commuter trains to fill her empty life. Other characters circle around her confused thoughts. Tom Watson, her ex-husband. Anna Watson, Tom's new wife. Scott and Megan Hipwell, former neighbors at Rachel's old home. Dr. Kamel Abdic, a psychiatrist.

When a key character goes missing, followed by the discovery of a body, the truth of what happened can only be worked out through the competing narrative accounts of Rachel, Anna, and Megan. The answers build piece by piece toward the startling exposure of the killer.

The Girl on the Train is a smartly written, compelling psychological mystery read. It's a much more satisfying novel than last year's similar genre novel, Gone Girl, with its manipulative, misleading plot, unreliable narrators, and flagrantly over-written style by the author.

PHANTOM By Jo Nesbo a Must-Read Crime Thriller

The new Jo Nesbo work Phantom is a must-read for crime novel fans. The novel is the latest in a series that features Oslo police detective Harry Hole, who appeared in the previous outstanding novels The Snowman and The Leopard.

This time, Harry isn't hunting for a serial killer, but is on a more personal quest. A young man Harry is close to is arrested for murder. Harry digs into the case, even though he is not currently on official police duty.

The case takes him into the murky, violent world of drug smugglers who exploit the spreading heroin addiction problem in European countries. The drug ring is led by a mastermind phantom known as Dubai. The smugglers even have a planted mole inside the Oslo police. Enemies who cross the ring are dealt with using a diabolical device called The Beetle.

As Harry Hole keeps hunting for the identity of Dubai, the case takes him toward awful truths he doesn't want to know. He must face at last the inner demons that now lead him to a final dark end. Phantom is a tense crime thtiller that doesn't disappoint and another winner for Jo Nesbo.

BEACH RATING:  4 Palm Trees

DEFENDING JACOB a Troubling Legal Mystery

Defending Jacob by William Landay is both an engrossing legal mystery and a troubled picture of a family cracking apart under the stress of a murder indictment against one of its members.

Andy Barber is an Assistant D.A. who is taken off a sensational murder case when his own teenage son, Jacob, becomes a prime suspect. One of Jacob's classmates is murdered in a local park. Evidence uncovered leads to Jacob's arrest and trial for the killing. Jacob insists he is innocent.

Andy Barber and his wife, Laurie, support their son even as the family become despised outcasts in their own community. But as the Barbers endure the trial testimony, they are forced toward a stark choice: either Jacob is entirely innocent, or their son is a deceptive, emotionless sociopath.

Defending Jacob is a compelling, disturbing read with a hideous twist at the end. Rich in character, the novel is a moral mystery with no comfortable answer.

BEACH RATING:  4 Palm Trees

THE EXPATS An Intriguing Tangle of Deception

The new mystery The Expats by Chris Pavone is an intriguing and surprising tangle of a married couple's lies and deceptions in their jobs and with each other.

Kate Moore is a retired CIA agent whose husband, Dexter, never knew about the sometimes violent kind of work that she did. Dexter himself is a high-tech bank security consultant, or at least that's what Kate thinks he is. The couple has recently relocated to Luxembourg for Dexter's work, and joined the American expatriate community there.

But while Kate hides her own secrets, she begins to suspect that Dexter may be hiding things of his own. When a new couple, the Macleans, arrive and seem to be keeping Kate and Dexter under surveillance, alarm bells go off in Kate's head. Could the Macleans be there after her, or is it her husband?

The plot is full of unexpected twists as each layer of lies is peeled away one by one. The Expats is an inventive mystery set within the borders of a marriage and played out against an international backdrop.

BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees

This Year's Must-Read Mystery: THE LEOPARD

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo is the must-read mystery novel of the year so far.

Set in Oslo, Norway, the novel continues the chilling series that features Oslo police inspector Harry Hole. This new entry follows on the heels of The Snowman, an outstanding thriller that was one of the best mystery novels of last year.

The Leopard is a gripping, psychologically complex, and nearly epic hunt for a serial killer who uses a fiendish device called the Leopold Apple on his victims. In his obsessive pursuit of the killer, Harry Hole continues to battle his own personal demons of alcoholism and drug use.

Jo Nesbo's novels are rich in character and twisted, large canvass plots. Nesbo takes over as heir to the title of best Nordic mystery novelist from the late Stieg Larsson and his great Dragon Tattoo series.

For those new to Nesbo's work, The Snowman is highly recommended as a starting place. Then get your hands on The Leopard.



BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees