http://bookbag.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag en jstrafford@timesdispatch.com Copyright 2012 2012-05-20T12:16:28+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/motors_and_motives/ Sometimes, an old flame can ignite a controlled burn.  At others, the result is a deadly, out-of-control wildfire. And it’s the latter that sparks the inferno of violence in “The Whole Lie” (312 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), the second in Steve Ulfelder’s series featuring auto mechanic and former NASCAR driver Conway Sax. When Conway’s old girlfriend Savannah “Savvy” Kane shows up at his Massachusetts garage, Conway’s loyalty demands that he help her.  Both are recovering alcoholics, and Savvy needs his help.  But the whirlwind of mayhem she reaps after she informs Conway of a political-blackmail scheme involving a Massachusetts gubernatorial election threatens him and his relationship with his girlfriend, Charlene. As Conway battles his way through a web of half-truths, the bodies – including Savvy’s – pile up, and no one is exempt from death by homicide as sex, power and greed converge to endanger Conway and all for whom he cares. Ulfelder, a former business and technology journalist turned novelist and race-team owner, infuses his work with grit leavened by grace, and “The Whole Lie” not only fulfills the promise of its predecessor, “Purgatory Chasm,” but also surpasses it.  Not for the faint of heart, but a novel that should appeal to political junkies and motorheads alike, “The Whole Lie” is, in all its disturbing beauty, a work of hardcore crime-fiction art.   2012-05-20T12:16:28+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/motors_and_motives/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/a_kitchen_caper/ Pyrex refrigerator dishes in primary colors, McCoy mixing bowls and wooden colanders:  If you know them, you might have a taste for retro kitchens. So does Jaymie Leighton, the plucky heroine of “A Deadly Grind” (293 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), a series opener by Victoria Hamilton. When Jaymie successfully bids on a 1920s Hoosier kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, she’s thrilled.  But hardly has she transported the bulky item to the back porch of her home in Queensville, Mich., than an unidentified man is found murdered on the porch. Convinced that there’s a cabinet connection, Jaymie undertakes a bit of amateur sleuthing. Her investigations lead to a number of suspicious characters, but just when you think the case is cracked, Hamilton pulls a double twist.  An accomplished beginning, “A Deadly Grind” shows great potential – and not only for fans of vintage kitchens. 2012-05-14T22:27:53+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/a_kitchen_caper/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/cats_and_crimes/ Cat-themed mysteries have proliferated like, well, feral cats.  But not many are as catcentric as “The Big Kitty” (293 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), the first in Claire Donally’s projected series. Newspaper reporter Sonata “Sunny” Coolidge has taken a leave of absence from her newspaper job in New York City to return to her hometown of Kittery Harbor, Maine, to care for her ailing father.  While there, the paper lays her off, and Sunny takes a low-paying job with the local agency that promotes tourism. But Sunny is soon caught up in much more than visitors.  Ada Spruance, an elderly neighbor known as the Cat Lady, seeks Sunny’s help in finding her winning Powerball ticket, worth about $6 million and due to expire within days.  When Ada is found dead, Sunny is drawn into the case and is adopted by Shadow, one of Ada’s cats who avoided the local animal shelter’s roundup. Before long, the case is linked to a methamphetamine ring, and Sunny’s only two-legged ally among the local authorities is Constable Will Price.  With a deft hand at plotting, an appealing small-town setting and a determined protagonist, Donally has created a series opener that aficionados of whodunits and felines will find rubs them exactly the right way. 2012-05-09T21:44:41+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/cats_and_crimes/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/into_the_woods/ In a village, everyone knows everyone else’s business, right? Not necessarily, which gives the four members of Enquire Within, a distinctly unusual detective agency in Barrington, England, plenty to do in “The Wild Wood Enquiry” (294 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), the third entry in Ann Purser’s series featuring elderly spinster Ivy Beasley and her cohorts: Ivy’s fiancé, Roy Goodman, a fellow resident of the local old-age home; rich widow and Ivy’s cousin, Dierdre Bloxham; and Augustus “Gus” Halfhide. The investigation is sparked when Gus’s ex-wife, Katherine, shows up at his cottage.  Believing she’s up to no good, Gus refuses her refuge, so she’s taken in overnight by Gus’ neighbor, Miriam Blake.  But when Katherine is nowhere to be found the next morning, and Miriam and a friend see a human hand in the nearby woods, Enquire Within takes the case.  What they find is a sordid (well, sordid for Barrington) case involving missing jewels, duplicity and death. Purser, as always, leavens this mystery with light-hearted insights into human nature, with the four members of Enquire Within, of course, taking center stage.  Devotees of crime detection in a picturesque English village will find “The Wild Wood Enquiry” a pleasant diversion and a penetrating look at the ways of small communities. 2012-05-03T11:44:05+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/into_the_woods/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/friendship_and_fatalities/ Many mystery series set in small towns, however entertaining, suffer from stasis.  Characters neither grow nor develop, their circumstances remain the same, and readers can find that familiarity breeds indifference. But not those of Sally Goldenbaum, whose “A Fatal Fleece” (321 pages, Obsidian, $24.99), the sixth entry in her Seaside Knitters series, which continues the author’s commitment to character development. Exonerated suspects in earlier installments re-enter her fiction, and previously upstanding citizens of Sea Harbor on Massachusetts’ Cape Ann find themselves under scrutiny. Through it all, though, Goldenbaum maintains the bonds of friendship between the four main characters:  semiretired Nell Endicott, lawyer-turned-knitting-studio owner Isabel “Izzy” Perry, fisherwoman Catherine “Cass” Halloran, and wealthy grande dame Bernadette “Birdie” Favazza. But a mystery needs a corpse, and in “A Fatal Fleece” it’s that of elderly Francis “Finn” Finnegan, an outspoken but upright and likable curmudgeon.  When he’s found murdered on his overgrown but valuable property, suspects proliferate.  Was the murder the result of a developer’s greed (or a daughter’s), or the work of a vagrant, or the product of a long-held secret? When Cass becomes a suspect, Nell, Izzy and Birdie rally round her and uncover the surprising identity of the killer. And Goldenbaum scores another success with thoughtful and intricate plotting, wonderful characters and a coastal setting drawn in loving detail.  Conceived in Goldenbaum’s generous heart and executed by her subtle mind, “A Fatal Fleece” stands in the ranks of the first-rate.  2012-04-29T21:53:43+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/friendship_and_fatalities/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/a_recipe_for_death/ Given the choice between spending time with killers doing life terms or investors trying to open a new restaurant, which would you choose?  And be careful about your selection – at least the lifers aren’t running around loose. In “Life Without Parole” (275 pages, Plume, $15), the second installment in Clare O’Donohue’s featuring freelance television producer Kate Conway of Chicago, the heroine doesn’t have a choice.  She’s doing shows on both.  When one of the would-be restaurateurs is stabbed to death, suspicion falls on another one, heiress Vera Bingham – the woman with whom Kate’s husband was having an affair before he was murdered in the series opener, “Missing Persons.” Kate, a good person but hardly a warm and fuzzy one, nevertheless is convinced that Vera is innocent and enlists the help of the two killers she’s profiling to try to understand the workings of a murderer’s mind. But what’s the truth, and what’s a lie? What results is a far more sinister work than the books in O’Donohue’s quilting series.  But not to worry:  O’Donohue proves with this second novel featuring Kate that she’s equally adept at both forms, infusing each with clever storylines and intriguing characters.  2012-04-23T16:17:49+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/a_recipe_for_death/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/sightings_and_skeletons/ When a novel is set in England’s Regency era, a reader might, with good reason, turn away, fearing the onslaught of yet another bodice-ripper. But Anna Dean blasts that misconception away in her series featuring Dido Kent, a 36-year-old spinster with a skill for sleuthing.  And the third entry in her series, “A Woman of Consequence” (383 pages, Minotaur Books, $24.99), is no exception. This time out, Anna is drawn into a case of murder when she accompanies several friends, including young Penelope Lambe, to the ruins of Madderstone Abbey.  When Penelope falls on a treacherous staircase and momentarily loses consciousness.  Waking, she says, “I saw her.  It was her.”  And her companions believe she must be referring to the Grey Nun, long rumored to haunt the abbey. Dido, though, is no believer in ghosts.  But when a small pond on the grounds of the nearby Harman-Foote estate is drained, and a woman’s skeleton is found, she is thrust into a complex and chilling case.  The remains are identified as those of Elinor Fenn, a governess who went missing 15 years ago.  But is Penelope’s plunge connected to the cold case? Endowed with intelligence and common sense, Dido sets out to uncover the truth, despite warnings from her occasional beau, William Lomax, that her pursuits are decidedly unfeminine.  In the end, though, Dido prevails in her search for the facts. Dean has again scored highly with an imaginative mystery that captures Regency England not only with Austen-like prose but, more importantly, with an accurate portrayal of the customs and challenges of the time, particularly as they involved the suspicion cast upon women with minds of their own. 2012-04-16T21:51:58+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/sightings_and_skeletons/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/no_rest_for_the_heroine/ Almost everyone has experienced a vacation that went wrong, but the one Johannesburg private investigator Jade de Jong takes with her boyfriend, police superintendent David Patel, descends into chaos. In “The Fallen” (310 pages, Soho, $25), the third installment in Jassy Mackenzie’s series, Jade has planned a trip to coastal South Africa, where she can learn scuba diving and thus accompany enthusiast David on reef dives.  But Jade hasn’t counted on her fear of water, nor on David’s dumping her, nor on her diving instructor, former air traffic controller Amanda Bolton, being stabbed to death. In aiding the local, inexperienced police, Jade and David find themselves in mortal danger as a ruthless businessman, driven by greed, determines to let nothing – not human life, not environmental catastrophe – stand in his way.  But is he also behind Amanda’s murder? A tightly and beautifully written story of casual cruelty committed by a pack of villains, “The Fallen” is also a powerful accomplishment in character development and a nuanced look at post-apartheid South Africa.  And its conclusion ranks among the most unnerving in the genre – and one that readers will not soon forget. A writer of profound talent, Mackenzie surpasses even the superb predecessors in her commanding and addictive series. 2012-04-13T16:31:20+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/no_rest_for_the_heroine/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/dogs_and_danger/ Older pets, as well as those with disabilities, too often are ignored when potential adopters visit an animal shelter.  But Bella Frankovick has a mission; she has opened Save Them All, a facility near Los Angeles dedicated to the hard-to-place critters. And Lauren Vancouver, another L.A.-area rescuer and the head of HotRescues, is delighted.  But things go awry in “Hounds Abound” (291 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), the third entry in Linda O. Johnson’s series featuring Lauren and her friends. Bella and her former husband, cosmetic surgeon and animal-hater Miles Frankovick, are locked in a bitter property dispute, and when Miles is found stabbed to death in his car outside Save Them All, Bella instantly becomes the prime suspect.  But Lauren is convinced of Bella’s innocence and, despite warnings from cops and friends alike, determines to prove it.  What results is a dandy whodunit filled with amiable characters and wonderful potential pets – dachshunds Ignatz and Durwood are particularly appealing.  Johnston, whose love for animals shines throughout her work, writes for pet-lovers, of course, but also for anyone whose taste runs to a good story. 2012-04-12T10:42:45+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/dogs_and_danger/ http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/veggies_and_violence/ Someone is sabotaging the first lady’s kitchen garden, and Cassandra “Casey” Calhoun is mightily aggravated. But that’s not all that’s facing Casey in “The Scarlet Pepper” (312 pages, Berkley Prime Crime, $7.99), the second in Dorothy St. James’ series featuring the assistant White House gardener.  When word reaches the White House that obnoxious reporter Griffon Parker is working on a story that’s likely to bring down Bruce Dearing, the president’s chief of staff, it’s bad enough, particularly given that Bruce’s wife, Francesca, is a powerful Washington socialite in her own right – and one of Casey’s garden volunteers. When Griffon is found murdered, potential scandal escalates into realized crime, and Casey – despite being warned by her Secret Service boyfriend, Jack Turner – feels compelled to conduct some amateur sleuthing. A potboiler of homicide, blackmail, journalism, power and sex – but one that St. James handles with taste as well as verve – “The Scarlet Pepper” fulfills the promise of last year’s series debut, “Flowerbed of State,” and then some. 2012-04-10T10:07:47+00:00 http://www.mytimesdispatch.com/index.php/bookbag/veggies_and_violence/