Further Fran Fav's

At first glance, you might be tempted to sing, “Goblins and pixies and bugbears, oh my!” when reading Yasmine Galenorn’s novel in the Otherworld series, Dragon Wytch, but that would be misleading.

Oh, certainly there are all three in the opening scenes, but that’s just a teaser. In this, the fourth in the series, Ms. Galenorn is beginning to show us the true depth and fabric of her writing.

Dragon Wytch, like Witchling, is told from Camille’s point of view. Yes, she and her sisters, Delilah and Menolly, have to face hordes of goblins and other nasties that are cropping up, all planning mischief, and there is a demon searching for the third Spirit Seal. The time has come for Camille to start repaying her debt to Smoky (and there are a few surprises there, let me assure you!), and as promised in Darkling, the unicorns are going to be involved in unexpected ways.

But that’s not all that makes this, in my opinion, the best of the bunch, although each element is important.

In Dragon Wytch, we’re now going to begin to get a glimpse of the numerous threads, Yasmine has so subtly woven into the first three books, and there are more than you might have imagined upon the first reading of the books. In fact, before I read Dragon Wytch, I went back and re-read Witchling, Changeling and Darkling, and I’m glad I did. That prepared me for the tapestry that we’re only beginning to glimpse in Dragon Wytch.

If you’ve dismissed this series as “merely romantic supernatural stuff”, I’d strongly encourage you to reconsider. Yes, there are romantic elements, but with this one, we’re going to see a more complex and definitely darker side of Ms. Galenorn’s writing, and I’m thrilled that she’s added such depth to her characters, and such an edge to her writing!

In the thirteenth book of the “Otherworld” series, Haunted Moon, Yasmine Galenorn takes us back to Camille’s point of view. Things are beginning to really heat up in the war between the demon world and ours. The Lord of Ghosts is ransacking cemetaries, and the Aleksais Psychic Network seems to be in league with him. If that wasn’t enough, Camille has to undergo a special rite in her priestess training that takes an unexpected turn. This series just continues to get better and better, and one of the things I liked most about Haunted Moon was that we get to know Morio better. We get some of his backstory, and we get to see how his relationship with Camille is growing. The complexities of all the sisters’ relationships, not just romantic but with everyone, both in the Otherworld and here in Seattle, are being explored and the depths Yasmine is bringing to them are fabulously intriguing and non-stop. Yasmine Galenorn will be here to sign Haunted Moon on Saturday, February 2nd at 2:00 pm, and let me strongly advise you to reserve your copy in advance!

Mercy Gunderson is back! The third in Lori Armstrong’s great series was a long time coming (why two years, Lori, why?!), but with Merciless, Mercy’s back and things are starting to look up for her. She’s learning the FBI ropes, although her mentor, ShayTurnbul, is making her a little cranky. But her relationship with Mason, the duly elected sheriff, is progressing nicely, even with the addition of his son, Lex. And then…

Naturally things go wrong, and one of the things I like about this series is that Ms. Armstrong is not afraid to let the darkness inside Mercy out. She’s a sniper – excuse me, an “insurgent removal specialist”, which is what she put on her tribal enrollment paperwork – and Ms. Armstrong is also not afraid to hurt the characters you like. Fast-paced and dark, which those of us who loved the first two in the series enjoyed, one of the things I really enjoyed about Merciless was the way Mercy grows and changes, all the while keeping hold of that place where she goes when she kills. I cannot wait to see what happens next!

When you hear the job description “forensic accountant”, kick-ass action probably isn’t what leaps to mind. But if you are Ava Lee, Ian Hamilton’s Canadian-Chinese lesbian bombshell in The Disciple of Las Vegas, high-octane action is the order of the day.

Ava has just returned to her home in Toronto when she gets a call from Uncle, her septugenarian Hong Kong partner, who asks her to fly to Hong Kong immediately because there is a problem in the Phillipines. Tommy Ordonez, one of the richest men in Manila, is convinced his brother has lost several million dollars in a real estate transaction, and Ordonez wants Uncle and Lee to get it back. Ordonez has a temper and has been rude to Uncle, which is something that would immediately disqualify him from receiving assistance, but Ordonez’s right-hand man, Chang Wang, is a friend of Uncle’s, so Ava agrees to fly in to help.

What happens then takes her from Manila to San Francisco and, of course, to Las Vegas.

I really like Ava and Uncle, and the nuanced, subtle relationships between Ava and Uncle, as well as their relationships with Ordonez and Chang, as well as the other people involved in what turns out to be a complicated and ingenious scam adds a layer of intrigue that kept me involved.

I only have two issues, really. One is that Ian Hamilton name drops designers to a level that I found distracting. Once we’ve established she wears high-end clothing, knowing the brand is irrelevent to me. But I freely admit that could just be me, since I am obviously no fashionista.

The other problem I have is with the US publisher. The Disciple of Las Vegas is second in a five-book series, but it’s the first one published in the US. Why the second?! And where are the rest? I want to read the entire series, but we can’t get them here. Yet. Picador, are you listening? Give us all the Ava Lee novels, please? Now!

Because I really want to read them all!

Andi Marquette has found a way to circumvent the dreaded “Jessica Fletcher syndrome”: she has alternating protagonists for her series. In her first book, Land of Entrapment, we meet K. C. Fontero, a cultural anthropologist who has gone to Texas to heal her broken heart, but when her ex approaches her, appealing for help, K.C. feels obligated. She goes back to Albuquerque to help Melissa extricate her sister, Megan, from a cult. With the help of her best friend, Chris Gutierrez, she takes on a white supremacist organization.

Then, in her second book, State of Denial, Andi switches to Chris’ point of view. Chris Gutierrez is a cop with the Albuquerque police department, and she is assigned to investigate the murder of a young gay man with ties to a local megachurch.

In the most recent book, The Ties That Bind, we’re back to K. C.’s point of view. She reads about a man found dead on the Navajo reservation up by Farmington, and wonders about the cultural and legal implications of a white man found dead on the rez. But when the murdered man turns out to be her partner Sage’s father, K. C. and Sage, along with K. C.’s flighty sister and Sage’s stoic brother, must go to Farmington to discover what happened to the father that deserted Sage and River all those years ago.

Andi Marquette has created an engaging, dynamic and altogether realistic group of people who can band together to face adversity from the outside, but often have difficulties within their own lives, much like any band of friends. She captures the societal and cultural dynamics of the different folks who live in New Mexico, and she does it with compassion, humor, and keen insight.

Add to that the fact that her books are fast-paced and tightly written, and you have the makings of an up-and-coming new series!

Once in a while you read a book that transports you to another place and time. There's a special kind of magic when that happens, and with William Kent Krueger's Ordinary Grace (no idea if we'll have signed copies), that magic hits hard.

It's 1961 in New Bremen, MN, and Frank Drum is thirteen years old. The Twins were new on the scene, Hot Stuff comics were the big hit and nothing quenched your thirst like an ice cold mug filled with root beer. Frank's father is the Methodist minister, his mother is rebellious enough to smoke in public, his older sister, Ariel (born with a harelip, which has been corrected) is headed for Julliard on a music scholarship, and Jake, Frank's kid brother, tags along wherever Frank goes, and rarely speaks in public because of his stutter.

One of Frank's classmates, Bobby Cole, was killed by a train on the trestle, and not long after, Frank discovers the body of a homeless man. Both are disturbing in a small, tight-knit community, but that was just the beginning, and the events of that hot, fateful summer changed everyone in New Bremen.

I am so very fond of Krueger’s main character, Cork O’Connor, that I was a bit hesitant to pick up Ordinary Grace. It’s so very different from what he’s written in the past, and I can be intensely loyal to my characters. And the punctuation Kent used here is innovative, which should just annoy the heck out of the English teacher in me.

But oh. Oh my. Ordinary Grace is stunning! The build-up of suspense is almost Hitchcockian in its subtlty and pervasiveness. There’s nothing horrific in what happens to the good folks of New Bremen, just people being themselves. But what those people do to themselves and each other, born of their own teaching, ignorance, biases, love, faith and determination, will touch you, I’m positive. And William Kent Krueger, with his amazing writing and beautifully human people, will teach you that it’s an ordinary grace that means the most.

Like I have time to read a whole new series! And yet, I’m going to have to.

See, I finished Made To Be Broken second in the series by Kelley Armstrong and it just knocked my socks off. I loved the first one, Exit Strategy (Bantam, $6.99) that introduced us to Nadia Stafford, ex-cop who is now owner of a hunting lodge that doesn’t do very well, and who funds her lodge by being a part-time hit woman. Person. Whatever.

In the latest installment, Sammi, a new employee of the lodge -- a young, single mother – doesn’t show up for work one day. Nadia becomes curious as the days go by and no one hears from her. Nadia begins exploring and discovers Sammi’s body, buried in a shallow grave. The biggest question, aside from the murder, is where has her baby has gone, because Sammi would never leave her child. Nadia teams up with her mentor, Jack (another hitman who has taught her a variety of skills) to find out who is killing young single mothers and what their motive might be. Nadia has to confront her own psyche as she takes on this personal challenge: When is a hit woman doing jobs because she enjoys it, or because it is necessary?

And that’s what makes this series so wonderful. The characters. They are so individual and complex and multi-layered and believable. They change and develop and grow. Nadia’s personal history has grown out of a troubled past, where the man who assaulted her cousin walked away unpunished, and further complicated by Nadia’s shooting of a man while she was a police officer.

Nadia’s relationships with Jack and Evelyn and Quinn are equally thorny and complicated, much as real-life relationships are.

But make no mistake, this is an action-packed, non-stop rollercoaster, and I found myself sneaking in a page or two when JB wasn’t looking. I’d say I’m sorry, boss, but I’m not!

So there’s my dilemma. Kelley Armstrong also writes the Women of the Other World urban fantasy series, and now I’m going to have to read all of them. Trust me, this Lady can really write!

Anyone who’s read John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series has met Louis and Angel, so I was intrigued to find out that his new book, The Reapers revolved around the two, I was excited. In addition to being excellent back-up for Parker, Louis and Angel, in their own deadly way, add moments of comic relief. I wondered if Connolly was going to try his hand at humor.

And there are funny moments; it’s Louis and Angel so there have to be. But in The Reapers, Connolly introduces us to the genesis of Louis, what helped shape him into the man he is now. And those events are brutal and dark and horrifying, and Connolly handles them deftly, almost lyrically and with compassion.

Louis is one of the last of the Reapers, a group of killers gathered, mentored and utilized by the enigmatic Gabriel. Louis has walked away from it, which very few have done successfully, but his past is still following him in the form of a fellow Reaper, Bliss, who has his own plans for Louis. It’s personal. And Bliss knows that he’ll have to take on both of them, for Angel is Louis’ partner in all things, business and life.

But when someone threatens not only Louis and Angel but people they have protected over the years, they know that there’s something dangerous afoot, and soon they find themselves in danger on several sides and in need of back up themselves if they are to survive.

John Connolly is a master at creating characters you care about. They’re complicated and multi-layered, with moments of shining honor and equal moments of intense cruelty. I find myself drawn into his world, caring about the people in it, and this is no exception. I’ve always been fond of Louis and Angel, but here he introduces us to the mechanic, Willie Brew – who refers to Charlie Parker respectfully as “The Detective”, to the delightful and resourceful Mrs. Bondarchuk, the violent and brutal Deber, and a host of others who will haunt my dreams for a long time to come.

This one could be read by itself, without having read the Parker novels that came before. Of course, I firmly believe that you should read them all, but if you haven’t read any of Connolly’s work before, this is a fabulous introduction to his characters and his style of writing.

Joseph Geist begins his story with us by saying, “I used to own half of Nietzsche’s head.” Geist has been working on his doctoral dissertation in philosophy at Harvard for more than a few years. Finally he has been kicked out of his grad school and out of his girlfriend’s apartment for pretty much the same thing – not moving forward. Geist is a wholly involved with the life of the mind and intellect, of the power of thought, and he is a bit irritated at the intrusion of mundane life. However, he answers an ad for a “conversationalist”, where he meets Alma Spielmann, an elderly lady who is looking for someone to stimulate her mind with intelligent conversation. What seems to be the perfect situation, however, turns out to be more fraught with danger than Joseph could possibly be prepared for. Jesse Kellerman has written a thoughtful, deeply intellectual novel exploring the nature of humanity, need and motivation. He has created in Joseph Geist a man who lives up to his name, who explores the nature of everything, who involves the reader in the various ramifications of things as ordinary as whether or not to buy a pair of shoes to whether or not there is such a thing as free will. This is not an action-packed, jet-fueled read, although when the action kicks in, it’s fierce. But this is a quieter, more intellectually intense novel than a traditional thriller, and I found it to be a nice – if at times unsettling and challenging – change from the usual suspects. I followed up Jesse’s book with one of his father’s Alex Delaware novel, Deception, and I have to say up front that I’ve been a fan of Jonathan Kellerman’s for ages now. Long before I worked in bookstores, I was following Alex and Milo’s investigations, and I am incredibly pleased to have the opportunity to meet the author who has provided me with so many hours of enjoyment. If you haven’t read the Alex Delaware series, why not? Get started! The first is When the Bough Breaks, and then sit back and enjoy the ride. If you are, like me, already a fan, then all I can tell you about this is that a woman is found dead under incredibly strange circumstances and behind her has left a DVD accusing some of her fellow faculty members at a highly regarded private prep school. As always, Dr. Kellerman’s writing is assured and compelling, and despite the turmoil and grief in the story line, Deception is a joy to read. For me, it was like coming to visit old friends, and I have to remind myself not to stay away so long!

I have to say that I’ve been looking forward to reading this book, both because it’s set near my hometown of Las Cruces, NM, but also because…well…Urban. He’s a great writer!

Ray Lamar had great plans at one point in his life. But work dried up in his little town of Coronado, and to support his family, he got in with the wrong folks, drug traffickers out of Mexico. When his wife was killed and his son badly damaged, Ray tried to walk away, but that’s not allowed. Especially with the skills Ray has – he’s cool under pressure, and he’s an efficient killer.

So Ray agrees to one last pick-up, and of course things go badly. As things spiral out of control, all the citizens of Coronado are going to be drawn into the conflict between Ray and the cartel. Sheriff Edna Kelly will do her level best to keep the peace, but she’s badly outnumbered and definitely outgunned, and dispirited.

Urban Waite proves with this second book that he is excellent at taking his very human, deeply flawed but always compelling characters step-by-step down some very dark paths. Having lived in the area, I know just how desperate some people become, and how very important home is, even when that home is crumbling around your ears.

I have to admit to a very teacher-ish gripe (and it is just me, really, but as an English teacher for a decade, I can’t help myself) in that Urban uses short, choppy phrases and sentences, and while they do set the tone brilliantly, I found it jarring. However, that didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying The Carrion Birds!

JB Here:

I agree with most of what Fran said. I didn’t mind the shorter sentences, but then I like James Ellroy as much as I like James Lee Burke. Like them or the late, great Ross Macdonald, Urban is able to carry over the descriptions of the landscape into the mood of the novel:

“He ran a hand through his hair, resting his scalp in his palm. It was already late enough in the day that the sun began to stretch the shadows long and thin across the parking lot, constructing a stilted world that teetered toward the point of falling.”

This is great noir, where no one is happy in their lives, everyone thought they’d be somethere else, doing something better, but they find themselves in the same place where they’ve always been and are beginning to understand they’ll never escape, where the sand and heat and bullets and cartel killers are all inescapable. If you enjoyed The Terror of Living, you’ll The Carrion Birds just as much.

"Look, I'm a Christian working for a Jewish lawyer who's working for an Islamic kid to find out who really killed the atheist. It's America, right?" So says Carl Van Wagener, protagonist in Larry Beinhart's new novel, Salvation Boulevard. At attorney Manny Goldfarb's request, investigator -- and evangelical Christian -- Van Wagener looks into the circumstances surrounding the death of Philosophy professor, Nathaniel MacLeod. Ahmad Nazami has, it's reported, confessed to killing the professor, although when Manny and Carl interview him, Ahmad insists he was tortured into confessing. Manny believes him, and despite his reservations, Carl does too. But everyone around Carl insists that if he takes this case, he's working for the terrorists, and in his church, it's worse because he's accused of working for Evil. Carl has to examine not only the evidence, but what he believes to get at the truth. There is no easy way to sum up this book. Like its subject matter, the novel is multi-layered, complex and filled with opposing truths. It's a good novel, certainly, although there's no real surprise as to what has happened. The surprise is in the why. What really caught me about this books is the way Beinhart tackles the various religious and political issues involved. No one faith is the obvious bad guy, and all the people have unexpected layers and foibles. Watching Carl step back and assess his faith, and his subsequent actions, kept me immediately involved. His interaction with his Jewish colleague, his willingness to learn a bit about Islam, his reaction to MacLeod's work, all were very real to me, and I truly enjoyed the fact that he allowed the characters to be noble and venal and conflicted and delusional. I knew these people. At the end of the book, Beinhart explains what his sources for information were, what events prompted him to write this book, and in a way, that was the most disturbing bit of all. Interesting, compelling, humorous at times, the entire novel is a quick read, but the implications and ramifications and interactions will stay with you long after you've closed the book. It's been a long, long time since I've read something quite this thought-provoking, and even though it made me uncomfortable at times, I really can't recommend Salvation Boulevard strongly enough.

I love diving into a book by Erin Hart because her love of Ireland just shines through, and The Book of Killowen (no signed copies available – sorry!) is no exception. This fourth book in the Nora Gavin/Cormac Maguire series finds them investigating the body of a medieval bog man found in the trunk of a car, which was also buried in the bog. And underneath the bog man is a substantially more modern corpse. All the nearby residents become suspects, especially the group of people living in the artists’ community, Killowen Farm, since they all seem to have something to hide, and the wife of the modern body is an artist in residence. Nora and Cormac really want to concentrate on discovering the secrets of the medieval bog man, but their investigation is deeply intertwined with the modern death, and they have to work with local detective, Stella Cusack, in order to figure everything out. Erin Hart always crafts a strong story, and she has some twists in The Book of Killowen that I definitely didn’t see coming, much to my delight. But as always, it’s the people who captured me, and I was impressed with how much attention Ms. Hart gave to her detective. We really get to know Stella, and I have to admit, I’d love to see more of her. And Ireland! Oh my, every book by Erin Hart always finds me swearing that soon – soon! – I will visit Ireland! Her love of history and how it impacts our modern lives, her respect for the people and the areas all conspire to draw me in. I just wish she’d write faster!