Avenging Angels
Mary Stanton
Berkley, Feb 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780425233092
When Brianna Winston-Beaufort took over her late Uncle Franklin’s Savannah law practice Beaufort & Company, she had no idea what she let herself in for as she works legal matters in the Celestial Court. Her clients are typically spirits and her assistance angels as she is the only mortal (and lawyer) who can enter 66 Angelus St.
Her current case is a suicide victim banker Russell O'Rourke who allegedly killed himself due to the recession leading to his bankruptcy and shame. Although she struggles with the lack of a law library on line, Bree knows the heavenly law about killing one’s self. However, she with Sasha her angelic guard dog at her side and her assistant angels investigate only to find Russell’s widow euphoric with his death. As she begins to wonder if Russell’s is a victim of a homicide, someone wants Bree needing a lawyer defending her in Celestial Court before she learns the truth of how Russell died.
The latest Beaufort paranormal legal thriller is an engaging tale due to a strong cast starting with the lead attorney. The story line is fast-paced on earth and in court as Bree and company investigate the suspicious death of Russell as well as appeal his sentencing in the heavenly court. Although similar in tone to the previous two defending their lives entries (see Angel’s Advocate and Defending Angels), fans will enjoy this still unique quirky angelic spin n the afterlife.
Harriet Klausner
Friday, January 1, 2010
Bellfield Hall: Or, the Observations of Miss Dido Kent
Bellfield Hall: Or, the Observations of Miss Dido Kent
Anna Dean
Minotaur, Feb 2 2010, $23.99
ISBN: 9780312562946
In 1805, affluent Richard Montague and his fiancée Catherine Kent dance at their engagement party when an unknown man approaches them. .He says nothing but somehow Richard understands and provides him with a secret message before silently leaving. Immediately, Montague informs a stunned Catherine that their engagement is over and leaves.
Distraught Catherine turns to a spinster relative Dido Kent for help as her aunt has a reputation for solving mysteries. She wants to know why her ex fiancé ended their relationship abruptly when he seemed so happy, where is he, and if he is safe. At Bellfield Hall Miss Dido Kent begins making observations upon arrival, but even she is unprepared for the corpse of woman found in the nearby shrubs. As she digs into the death of the young female and into the Montague family history, she seeks answers to her niece’s questions.
Using intelligent amusing letters to her sister Eliza as a means to explaining her observations, the first Dido Kent historical mystery is a delightful tale. Though the heroine arrives at the bequest of her niece to solve the disappearance, she also works the seemingly related (to her) murder mystery. Aunt Dido makes the tale as a sort of Miss Marple in Regency England with witty asides and observations. Although a few readers will feel her take is too contemporary, sub-genre fans will appreciate the spinster’s effort to solve two mysteries.
Harriet Klausner
Anna Dean
Minotaur, Feb 2 2010, $23.99
ISBN: 9780312562946
In 1805, affluent Richard Montague and his fiancée Catherine Kent dance at their engagement party when an unknown man approaches them. .He says nothing but somehow Richard understands and provides him with a secret message before silently leaving. Immediately, Montague informs a stunned Catherine that their engagement is over and leaves.
Distraught Catherine turns to a spinster relative Dido Kent for help as her aunt has a reputation for solving mysteries. She wants to know why her ex fiancé ended their relationship abruptly when he seemed so happy, where is he, and if he is safe. At Bellfield Hall Miss Dido Kent begins making observations upon arrival, but even she is unprepared for the corpse of woman found in the nearby shrubs. As she digs into the death of the young female and into the Montague family history, she seeks answers to her niece’s questions.
Using intelligent amusing letters to her sister Eliza as a means to explaining her observations, the first Dido Kent historical mystery is a delightful tale. Though the heroine arrives at the bequest of her niece to solve the disappearance, she also works the seemingly related (to her) murder mystery. Aunt Dido makes the tale as a sort of Miss Marple in Regency England with witty asides and observations. Although a few readers will feel her take is too contemporary, sub-genre fans will appreciate the spinster’s effort to solve two mysteries.
Harriet Klausner
From Away-David Carkeet
From Away
David Carkeet
Overlook, Mar 4 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9781590203040
At night Denny Braintree was driving on the icy road going to fast for conditions when he lost control; his skid left the car rental damaged and he missing his flight. After dealing with a State Trooper and EMS, Denny gets a ride with grandpa and Walt who dump him at a hotel where the desk clerk knows Walter who leaves without a goodbye. However, the hotel is filled with legislatures wasting the taxpayers’ money, but he gets the room because of Freckles whatever species that is. By phone his boss Roscoe fires him for his odd behavior interfering with his work. However, Denny is uninterested as he thinks he will have fun with Marge.
Instead just when he believes he has a one night stand, Marge leaves. Preparing to escape the insanity of the hotel and its town, people begin to call Denny Homer Dumpling, who vanished without a trace three years ago. When he realizes no one believes he is Braintree and that Homer remains popular amongst the locals, he decides to stick around for a while. This proves a smart move when Marge is found dead and the cops believe the “missing” Denny did it.
Readers will enjoy Denny’s thought process starting with the State trooper interviewing him, his hotel stay and his time residing in Homer’s home while the real missing man’s girlfriend Sara is also there. The story line is breezy and fun as Denny’s reactions and actions are seemingly abnormal yet enable him to survive crisis after crisis. Filled with twists including a brilliant encounter, fans will root for the antihero whose love for real and model trains enhance the audience inability to understand an eccentric fascinating individual who brings a fresh outlook to the Vermont crime scene.
Harriet Klausner
David Carkeet
Overlook, Mar 4 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9781590203040
At night Denny Braintree was driving on the icy road going to fast for conditions when he lost control; his skid left the car rental damaged and he missing his flight. After dealing with a State Trooper and EMS, Denny gets a ride with grandpa and Walt who dump him at a hotel where the desk clerk knows Walter who leaves without a goodbye. However, the hotel is filled with legislatures wasting the taxpayers’ money, but he gets the room because of Freckles whatever species that is. By phone his boss Roscoe fires him for his odd behavior interfering with his work. However, Denny is uninterested as he thinks he will have fun with Marge.
Instead just when he believes he has a one night stand, Marge leaves. Preparing to escape the insanity of the hotel and its town, people begin to call Denny Homer Dumpling, who vanished without a trace three years ago. When he realizes no one believes he is Braintree and that Homer remains popular amongst the locals, he decides to stick around for a while. This proves a smart move when Marge is found dead and the cops believe the “missing” Denny did it.
Readers will enjoy Denny’s thought process starting with the State trooper interviewing him, his hotel stay and his time residing in Homer’s home while the real missing man’s girlfriend Sara is also there. The story line is breezy and fun as Denny’s reactions and actions are seemingly abnormal yet enable him to survive crisis after crisis. Filled with twists including a brilliant encounter, fans will root for the antihero whose love for real and model trains enhance the audience inability to understand an eccentric fascinating individual who brings a fresh outlook to the Vermont crime scene.
Harriet Klausner
A Brief Life-Juan Carlos Onetti
A Brief Life
Juan Carlos Onetti
Serpent’s Tail, Jan 1 2010, $14.95
ISBN: 9781852429782
In Santa Rose, Brausen has mixed feelings about being the caretaker of his wife who has been ill for a long time. On the one hand he misses their caresses and kisses while on the other he feels guilt for being increasingly non-understanding and empathetic towards her.
To mentally survive, he has become a listening voyeur as he listens through the wall to the married couple next door making love. He fantasizes that it is he kissing the breasts, scar and long legs of Gertrudis. Over time that becomes not been enough; so in between the neighbors’ sexual trysts, he fills the void by creating the adventures of Dr. Diaz Grey in the make believe town of Santa Maria. Tired, Brausen seeks emotional escape from his all too lonely “brief life”.
This is a reprint translation of a super 1950 tale that remains relevant even more so today than when the late great Uruguayan author Juan Carlos Onetti wrote it. The story line is filtered through the battered mind of Brausen who emotionally, mentally, and physically is feeling the toll of his wife’s illness and has turned to neighbors serendipitously and his imagination for escape from reality. Readers will appreciate this cautionary tale in which Mr. Onetti almost six decades ago warned society to not ignore the plight of a family caretaker who will feel immense stroke level pressure; as it is easy to sympathize with the sick person but not the seemingly healthy individual caring for the long term ill loved one.
Harriet Klausner
Juan Carlos Onetti
Serpent’s Tail, Jan 1 2010, $14.95
ISBN: 9781852429782
In Santa Rose, Brausen has mixed feelings about being the caretaker of his wife who has been ill for a long time. On the one hand he misses their caresses and kisses while on the other he feels guilt for being increasingly non-understanding and empathetic towards her.
To mentally survive, he has become a listening voyeur as he listens through the wall to the married couple next door making love. He fantasizes that it is he kissing the breasts, scar and long legs of Gertrudis. Over time that becomes not been enough; so in between the neighbors’ sexual trysts, he fills the void by creating the adventures of Dr. Diaz Grey in the make believe town of Santa Maria. Tired, Brausen seeks emotional escape from his all too lonely “brief life”.
This is a reprint translation of a super 1950 tale that remains relevant even more so today than when the late great Uruguayan author Juan Carlos Onetti wrote it. The story line is filtered through the battered mind of Brausen who emotionally, mentally, and physically is feeling the toll of his wife’s illness and has turned to neighbors serendipitously and his imagination for escape from reality. Readers will appreciate this cautionary tale in which Mr. Onetti almost six decades ago warned society to not ignore the plight of a family caretaker who will feel immense stroke level pressure; as it is easy to sympathize with the sick person but not the seemingly healthy individual caring for the long term ill loved one.
Harriet Klausner
Sprinkle With Murder-Jenn McKinlay
Sprinkle With Murder
Jenn McKinlay
Berkley, Mar 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780425233429
Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura own Fairy Tale Cupcakes along with silent partner rich Tate Harper. The trio has been best friends since grade school and soon the threesome will become a foursome when Tate marries fashion designer Christie Stevens, a spoiled fashionista diva and all around nasty person. She tells Mel and Angie to make five hundred cupcakes, but insists each have five original flavors that she will legally own.
Mel goes to the home of the queen of mean for a tasting, but finds the designer dead with a partially eaten cupcake nearby. The toxicology report shows the cupcake contained arsenic, but the victim’s stomach did not. The police target Mel as the prime suspect while the media crucifies her and Tate when a photographer caught them in an innocent clinch in which she was comforting her friend, but the photo made them look like lovers. Not trusting the cops who want the case solved or the reporters who want a scandal Mel believes neither will seek the truth if that intrudes on their respective preference. Thus, Mel investigates knowing she better find the killer before she goes on trial and besides she needs to save their business. However, her plan was not to become victim number two although the culprit disagrees with her and perhaps as bad traps her with her adversarial rival Olivia.
Sprinkle With Murder is the opening culinary amateur sleuth of a new series that will elate fans of cozies. The three BFFs are fully developed with fun quirks making each different while the late fiancée is a malicious caricature of Cruella. With recipes and an egg nod to Kill Bill 2, fans will enjoy the fun Sprinkle with Murder.
Harriet Klausner
Jenn McKinlay
Berkley, Mar 2010, $6.99
ISBN: 9780425233429
Melanie Cooper and Angie DeLaura own Fairy Tale Cupcakes along with silent partner rich Tate Harper. The trio has been best friends since grade school and soon the threesome will become a foursome when Tate marries fashion designer Christie Stevens, a spoiled fashionista diva and all around nasty person. She tells Mel and Angie to make five hundred cupcakes, but insists each have five original flavors that she will legally own.
Mel goes to the home of the queen of mean for a tasting, but finds the designer dead with a partially eaten cupcake nearby. The toxicology report shows the cupcake contained arsenic, but the victim’s stomach did not. The police target Mel as the prime suspect while the media crucifies her and Tate when a photographer caught them in an innocent clinch in which she was comforting her friend, but the photo made them look like lovers. Not trusting the cops who want the case solved or the reporters who want a scandal Mel believes neither will seek the truth if that intrudes on their respective preference. Thus, Mel investigates knowing she better find the killer before she goes on trial and besides she needs to save their business. However, her plan was not to become victim number two although the culprit disagrees with her and perhaps as bad traps her with her adversarial rival Olivia.
Sprinkle With Murder is the opening culinary amateur sleuth of a new series that will elate fans of cozies. The three BFFs are fully developed with fun quirks making each different while the late fiancée is a malicious caricature of Cruella. With recipes and an egg nod to Kill Bill 2, fans will enjoy the fun Sprinkle with Murder.
Harriet Klausner
Horns-Joe Hill
Horns
Joe Hill
Morrow, Feb 16 2010, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061147951
One year ago in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ignatius Parrish’s perfect life as a second son of affluence died when someone murdered his beloved Merrin Williams. As he has much of the time since she died, Ig got drunk. Last evening intoxicated he visited the sight where her corpse was found. Outraged with the makeshift cross there as Jesus should have shown up a year ago, he rips down the artifact and urinates on it and his feet.
The next day he wakes up with a horrific headache, the “un-Merrin” Glenna Nicholson in bed, and horns on his head; the latter leads to his peeing on his feet for the second time in less than twelve hours. Ig assumes the horns are caused by either remaining drunk or mentally insane due to grief; a kind of pink elephant purgatory. Despondent, everyone even his family, who got the police inquiry aborted, assume he killed Merrin in a rage. He believes the horns are real and God has joined his family, friends, and others in deserting him; everyone except the devil. Ig realizes his horns come with power so he begins his investigation into who killed Merrin and his soul because he plans to send this monster on a one way ticket to hell shortly
This is a super parable supernatural thriller that looks deep at the dark side of humanity in which faith is not enough. Ig is a terrific antihero as he recognizes the devil’s team cannot be the hero regardless since legend means more than good deeds. The support cast, especially the deceased Merrin, Glenna, and Ig’s brother trumpeter Terry, add depth to an exciting paranormal whodunit. However, this is Ig’s road to bear the trials and tribulations like a Job, but unlike a Job he chose the other side losing faith in a God who allowed his Merrin to die so horrifically.
Harriet Klausner
Joe Hill
Morrow, Feb 16 2010, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061147951
One year ago in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ignatius Parrish’s perfect life as a second son of affluence died when someone murdered his beloved Merrin Williams. As he has much of the time since she died, Ig got drunk. Last evening intoxicated he visited the sight where her corpse was found. Outraged with the makeshift cross there as Jesus should have shown up a year ago, he rips down the artifact and urinates on it and his feet.
The next day he wakes up with a horrific headache, the “un-Merrin” Glenna Nicholson in bed, and horns on his head; the latter leads to his peeing on his feet for the second time in less than twelve hours. Ig assumes the horns are caused by either remaining drunk or mentally insane due to grief; a kind of pink elephant purgatory. Despondent, everyone even his family, who got the police inquiry aborted, assume he killed Merrin in a rage. He believes the horns are real and God has joined his family, friends, and others in deserting him; everyone except the devil. Ig realizes his horns come with power so he begins his investigation into who killed Merrin and his soul because he plans to send this monster on a one way ticket to hell shortly
This is a super parable supernatural thriller that looks deep at the dark side of humanity in which faith is not enough. Ig is a terrific antihero as he recognizes the devil’s team cannot be the hero regardless since legend means more than good deeds. The support cast, especially the deceased Merrin, Glenna, and Ig’s brother trumpeter Terry, add depth to an exciting paranormal whodunit. However, this is Ig’s road to bear the trials and tribulations like a Job, but unlike a Job he chose the other side losing faith in a God who allowed his Merrin to die so horrifically.
Harriet Klausner
Shalador’s Lady-Anne Bishop
Shalador’s Lady
Anne Bishop
Roc, Mar 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780451463159
When she was Queen the first time, Cassidy of Bhad was too weak and plain so her retinue deserted her to join the stronger court of much prettier and more powerful Queen Kermilla. At the same she is dethroned, the deceitful Queens ignored the honorable Rules of the Blood and ruin Dena Nehele leading to revolt
.
As the Rose-Jeweled Queen Cassidy expands her efforts to cleanse the entire realm and affirm she deserves being the ruler, Cassidy continues to grow in moral fiber, which enables her to grow in power to cleanse the land of the taint.
Fans of the long running Black Jewels saga will relish this terrific entry; newcomers need to at least read the previous entry The Shadow Queen to better understand the action-packed entry though perusing previous books would be even better as Anne Bishop paints a complex realm.
Harriet Klausner
Anne Bishop
Roc, Mar 2010, $24.95
ISBN: 9780451463159
When she was Queen the first time, Cassidy of Bhad was too weak and plain so her retinue deserted her to join the stronger court of much prettier and more powerful Queen Kermilla. At the same she is dethroned, the deceitful Queens ignored the honorable Rules of the Blood and ruin Dena Nehele leading to revolt
.
As the Rose-Jeweled Queen Cassidy expands her efforts to cleanse the entire realm and affirm she deserves being the ruler, Cassidy continues to grow in moral fiber, which enables her to grow in power to cleanse the land of the taint.
Fans of the long running Black Jewels saga will relish this terrific entry; newcomers need to at least read the previous entry The Shadow Queen to better understand the action-packed entry though perusing previous books would be even better as Anne Bishop paints a complex realm.
Harriet Klausner
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