THE GIRL IN THE VAULT

3.5 stars out of 5

My feelings about this book are very mixed, I'm afraid. Oh, not that it wasn't engrossing; in fact, I stayed up 45 minutes past my bedtime because I didn't want to wait till morning to see how it turned out. It's just that the plot seemed so contrived that at some points it was borderline silly - and having read other of this talented author's books, it was a bit of a disappointment overall.
 

Faye Walker, a dirt poor gal from the South, has "made it" to New York City as a summer intern at a Wall Street bank. She's just one of several interns - all unpaid - who are vying for a couple of full-time slots come fall. Her math-inclined brain and near eidetic memory is serving her well, and her chances of making the final cut are excellent. Needless to say, she has very little free time, but she's managed to find the love of her life - an immigrant who's anxiously awaiting his Green Card and driving a carriage around Central Park.

But as the internship nears the end, Faye makes a discovery that convinces her the deck is stacked against her; no matter how hard she's worked, she won't be picked. That, in turn, not only infuriates her, but makes her want to get even. She hatches a devious plan, finds a willing cohort who also has an axe to grind and sets out to get not only vengeance, but several million bucks.

To say her plan is complex would be an understatement; at a few points along the way, the details got lost on me and I just tried to ride it out till the goings on turned back to reasonably coherent (I mean, I've been to New York City and ridden the subway, but the concept of counting support posts and dodging third rails kind of left me scratching my head). Still other details of the plan made sense, but it was hard to believe that even a person as smart as Faye could ever have anticipated every possible glitch and pulled off a caper of this magnitude. The ending wrapped things up with a few twists, but of course I'm not about to offer any hints. All told, it was an enjoyable ride (really!!) even if it fell a little short of my expectations and defied credibility. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

The Girl in the Vault by Michael Ledwidge (Hanover Square Press, November 2023); 315 pp.

THE PROOF OF THE PUDDING

4 stars out of 5

Despite being royalty (Lady Georgiana Rannoch is the King of England's cousin, don't you know - he who's at the moment off galavanting with some woman named Simpson) - she's like most first-time mothers in being apprehensive about giving birth. And that big event is imminent in this, the 17th installment of the "Her Royal Spyness" series. She and hunky hubby Darcy O'Mara are close to penniless (not sure why since he has a job as some kind of investigator, but hey), so she has yet to hire a nanny or even buy enough nappies for the nursery. Some of the feet dragging, though, comes because - based on her own past experiences with an off-putting mother - she wants to be more involved with her own child. For now, they're living quite well at the estate of Sir Hubert in Eynsleigh, which comes with more rooms than Buckingham Palace and a slew of people to cook and clean.

But alas, there's no chef; and Sir Hubert, an explorer readying to return home, will expect to be fed in his usual custom. So, Georgie hires a Frenchman named Pierre she met on one of their trips - a man who claims to be a chef but who's an almost total stranger. Happily, when she throws a welcome back dinner party for Sir Hubert, it's a hit - and so is Pierre. So much, in fact, that one of the guests, Gothic horror writer Sir Mortimer Mordred, wants to "borrow" him to cook up a feast for a party he's hosting at his manor - a rather spectacular residence that includes a "poison" garden.

That dinner, too, is a culinary success - that is, until several guests become quite ill and one dies. But how could that be? Everyone ate the same things (perhaps some ate more than others), and most of the guests felt no ill effects. Beyond that, no one seemed to have been alone with the pre-served food, at least not long enough to doctor up a dish or two. That is, with one exception: Chef Pierre.

Georgie, though, is certain her chef is innocent, even though he's an avowed Communist who isn't fond of an "upper class." But most of the guests (and more importantly, the police) are ready to truss him up like a Christmas goose, so she's got her work cut out for her if she wants to prove that he's not the culprit. Solving the mystery becomes more of a treat for readers once Georgie meets none other than mystery writer Agatha Christie (who's at Mordred's party with her husband, who was one of the guests who became ill). Georgie and Agatha hit it off at once, bouncing ideas off one another until the end (after which they pledge to remain friends, so methinks we may see the indominable Agatha again soon).

On the other hand, Darcy, a favorite character of mine, was barely there; even when he was present, he was, shall I say, rather lackluster. And Georgie? I know she's trying to stop saying "golly" so much, but I sure wish she'd hurry it up. Overall, though, this is another great romp back in time as always, and I'm already looking forward to the next adventure. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review this one.

The Proof of the Pudding by Rhys Bowen (Berkley, November 2023); 295 pp.

CALICO

5 stars out of 5

No matter what the topic or genre, I'm always up for reading any book by a guy who's one of my favorite authors.That said, it pays to pay attention: had I noticed the genres in which this one is included (e.g., Science Fiction and Time Travel), I wouldn't have been quite so perplexed when it turned out to be quite different from what I expected. But once I got into the groove, I was hooked - and I marveled that anyone could come up with such an intricate plot that doesn't have holes in it large enough to drive a spaceship through (and happily, one that leaves the door open for more to come).

It's hard to cough up a review without spoiling things for other readers, but the story centers on homicide detective Beth McDade, who managed to land a job with the somewhat remote San Bernadino County Sheriff's Barstow Station after being dumped from the LAPD for doing something that comes naturally once or twice too often. These days, she spends a bunch of time at a local pub called Pour Decisions (gotta love it) but solving crime not so much. That changes when she's called to the scene after a screaming man ran right into a van driven by an elderly couple on their way to Las Vegas (an accident; they were sent on their way). But the dead guy has no identification; a bigger mystery, though, is why he's wearing clothing from the 1800s and is in poor health. But wait, there's more: not long afterward, construction workers unearth human bones that are quite old - except for the titanium implants in the elbows. Whoops!

As Beth and local coroner Amanda Selby try to figure out what's going on, readers get the full monty by way of chapters that provide timely (or maybe I should say untimely) insights into the past. By the end, of course, everything comes together, complete with a twist I sure didn't see coming. The whole thing is entertaining and kind of mind-blowing, and for sure I'll be watching for the next installment. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the privilege of reading a pre-release copy.

Calico by Lee Goldberg (Severn House, November 2024); 415 pp.

OPPOSABLE THUMBS

5 stars

From 1975 to early 1999 - the period in which Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert did their wildly successful thumbs up or down thing on TV, our family of four was up and running, with our younger (and final) kid entering her seventh year. We went to the movies with some frequency - back then, a box of popcorn didn't cost as much as a new car - but we also spent many hours with our noses glued to the TV set in the living room (one of those big old cathode-ray sets, of course). We loved watching the sometimes volatile dynamics between the two movie critics, which often helped us decide whether or not to spend our hard-earned money at at the theater. So I looked forward to the enlightenment this book promised to bring.

And the author delivered; the writing was interesting even during parts that easily could have turned boring, and I learned much more about the complicated relationship between the two rival newspaper columnists as well as the evolution of their popular TV show from a behind-the-scenes perspective. Other chapters serve as biographies of their early and pre-TV lives.

Not surprisingly, much is made of the never-ending tension between the two, both personally and professionally; but in the end, it was what propelled the somewhat unwilling team to the stardom they enjoyed for 23 years until Siskel's death in early 1999. Ebert continued for a time until he, too, passed away. So what would they be doing if both were still alive today? "Whatever projects they did separately, Gene and Roger would have remained Siskel and Ebert as long as they lived: two individuals who were better at arguing about movies together than anyone else in history," the author posits. 

At the end of the book is a list of 25 films - amid hundreds of films they reviewed over their years together - that earned a thumbs-up from both critics (that in and of itself may be worth the price of admission). All in all, this is an informative, enjoyable book and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.A thumbs-up from me!

Opposable Thumbs by Matt Singer (G.P. Putnam's Sons, October 2024); 352 pp.

THE SECRET

4 stars out of 5

This book, the 28th in the Jack Reacher series, is set in the late 1990s and takes readers back to his days in the military. As might be expected, he's a little less the maverick and loner we've come to know and love; even his physical prowess is toned down a bit. What we do see, though, is some of what shaped what he became in more recent books as told in an enjoyable, engrossing story.

Actually, there are two threads; as part of his regular assignment as Military Police Officer at the Rock Island Arsenal in Illinois, Reacher is dealing with stolen gun parts and trying to track down not only who's behind the theft but where they're ending up. Just as he's making progress, though, he gets pulled off to serve as the Army's representative on a task force looking into the presumed murder of a man who was involved in a top-secret government research project in India 20-plus years ago. Prior to that, eight other people related to that project have bitten the dust, although in ways that didn't attract suspicion till now. Since the task force was formed at the behest of the U.S. Secretary of Defense, time is of the essence and failure isn't an option.

The trick, if there is one, is to explore the connections among all the victims, determine whether there could be more victims to come (and if so, find ways to protect them), and, ultimately, find out who's doing the killing. Given all the secrecy surrounding the project and all the years that have intervened, that's no small job. It gets even more complicated as the task force's worst fears come to fruition. Readers meanwhile get treated to a behind-the-scenes look at everyone involved, so they know more than Reacher does almost every step of the way except near the end, when Reacher beats us all to it (well, almost - I correctly guessed it fairly early on). Needless to say, there's no shortage of Reacher tough-guy action, though as I mentioned earlier, it's not as full-on as in later books.

All told, it's another attention-holding adventure that's easy to read (good thing, since I really wanted to get through it in one sitting; didn't quite make it). Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. 

The Secret by Lee Child and Andrew Child (Delacorte Press, October 2023); 304 pp.

A LONESOME BLOOD-RED SUN

4 stars out of 5

I've read three other books by this talented author and looked forward to checking out the adventures of "Bone Detective" Dave Beckett in this series - of which this is the second installment. Honestly, neither he nor the story grabbed me much till at least halfway through, but after that, my interest picked up and I enjoyed the rest of the ride. It helped to learn - albeit after the fact - that most of the adventures are based on the author's real-life experiences in law enforcement.

Basically, Beckett, a homicide detective in San Bernadino County, California, has earned a reputation for noncompliance with the rules - even to the point of writing his own. For years, he's gotten away with his offbeat, borderline illegal words and actions, mostly because he also gets his man (or woman) - or at least more often than the other detectives in his department. Still, his antics are enough to try the patience of Job (and certainly didn't endear him much to me). The plot is a sort of compilation of his adventures and misadventures over four or so years, centering primarily on the father he barely got to know, his emotionally disturbed partner and his attraction to a pretty female officer named Judith "Jimmie" Poe. Throw in his own penchant for shooting himself in the foot (usually after loading the gun himself), and you've got a real mishmash of back-and-forths that at times can be a little hard to follow (or, in some instances, really care much about).

Eventually, though, it all comes together with a gruesome find unearthed - literally - by a local dog. The rest of the story isn't much less gruesome, but it does bring closure of at least one major case that pretty much assures a follow-up. Will I? Yes, I think - if for no other reason than to see what beat of whose drum this guy will follow next time out. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the pre-release review copy of this one.

A Lonesome Blood-Red Sun by David Putnam (Level Best Books, October 2023); 333 pp.

HOLLY

5 stars

As a big fan of this author, I was surprised that I really don't recall much about Holly Gibney, the central character in this book. But I sure am now, and by golly, I'm looking forward to reading about her again. These days, she's a private investigator in her agency, Finders Keepers, and she's got her work cut out for her here when she runs up against murderers whose tastes, shall we say, are rather unusual.

There's a fair amount of background included, though, so readers with memories like mine won't be left in the dark. The story takes place amid the early emergence from Covid-19 restrictions - in fact, Holly's own mother recently died of it and her agency partner, Pete Huntley, is currently in quarantine after contracting it - so no surprise that Holly is super-careful and the subject is an underlying theme throughout (also no surprise given the author's well-known stance on the subject). But when Penny Dahl asks Holly to find her daughter Bonnie, who's been missing for three weeks, she overcomes her reluctance and takes on the case. 

Meantime, her young friend Jerome Robinson, who helps with investigations, is hoping for success with a book he's written, and his sister Barbara, Holly's good friend, is doing the same with her poetry. The latter effort brings her in contact with married couple Rodney and Emily Harris, mostly retired professors at a local college. Now in their eighties, they still get around better than most their age, in fact, but for a very sinister reason that - you guessed it - ties in with Holly's investigation. Readers, though, get the benefit of seeing things from all angles as chapters shift from the perspectives of various characters, prompting us to keep turning pages and chew our nails the closer we get to the end (a more appropriate reference than you'll know till you read the book; and while on the subject, please know that I'll never look at liver and onions the same way again).

My bottom line verdict on this book? As expected: scary, gross and thoroughly delightful.

Holly by Stephen King (Scribner, September 2023); 464 pp.

ROBERT B. PARKER'S BROKEN TRUST

5 stars out of 5

Of all the characters in the late Robert B. Parker's arsenal of books, Spenser is - by far - my favorite. And in the years following Parker's death in 2010, I've continued to read (and for the most part enjoyed) those that were carried on by other writers (all of whom, for the most part, did admirable jobs). But now, a favorite author has tackled Spenser - and I couldn't be happier.

Much of that comes because the others never quite got the hang of Hawk, Spenser's sometime sidekick; in some of the books he was conspicuous in his absence, and I always suspected that was because it was so hard to find Hawk's "voice." This time, though, it rang true (well, as true as it can get minus Parker himself). It also hits a timely topic as Laura Crain, the wife of the world's sixth richest man - and an acquaintenance of Spenser's longtime main squeeze, psychologist Susan Silverman - walks into Spenser's office. Her hubby Andrew, she claims, hasn't been himself lately and she wants to know why. His longtime business partner, Ethan Lowe, is honchoing a major merger with a Canadian company - one that could push the combo into the financial stratosphere (or possibly in the opposite direction).

But with the ink on Laura's retainer check barely dry, disaster strikes; now Spenser is even more intrigued and, like a dog with a bone, doesn't want to let go of the case. As his investigation progresses, he gets to interact with old friends from the Boston Police Department and frenemies who are not - plus, of course, the aforementioned Hawk - all of whom should be familiar to loyal readers of this series. For details, though, you'll just have to read the book. Already, I'm chomping at the bit for the next installment, and I heartily thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the privilege of reading and reviewing a pre-release copy of this one.   

Robert B. Parker's Broken Trust by Mike Lupica (G. P. Putnam's Sons, November 2023); 400 pp.

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY, SH!T WENT DOWN

5 stars out of 5

Back in the dark ages, I took History 101 as a required course in my college major. The elderly professor, bless his pea-pickin' heart, did nothing except read from the textbook during every. Single. Class. I hated it so much that when the class was over, I ran to the registrar's office and changed my major (yes, really!) to one that didn't require another history class. What struck me most as I got into this book, then, was if this author had been my history professor, well, chances are I would have spent quite a few years teaching typing and shorthand to high school students instead of working as a university administrator.

And oh, it's not just the history part - even though the events, organized by month, are interesting, well laid out and more than occasionally chuckle-eliciting. Rather, it was the fun of learning from someone who proclaims that "those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says f*uck a lot." Truth be told, I was hoping to learn some new words here, but that ended up being only one (no, I'll never tell). Besides that, his promise of "no shortage" of hate for a certain orange-haired former U.S. president was nothing short of endearing to me. A word of advice: if either of these revelations bothers you, don't even bother opening this book.

It is, alas, nearly impossible to write a review of this book without spoilers; so the best I can do is offer a few insights and examples of what's between the pages. As I mentioned earlier, specific events in history are highlighted by month - some of which are quirky things you (and definitely I) somehow missed in formal history classes. Others add finishing touches that, arguably, should have been included in what we did learn; others just illuminate the importance of those we did.

I learned, for instance, how the term "gerrymander" came to be (hint: it was named after a real person). That Gutenberg wasn't the first to invent the printing press. That Grace Hopper, close to age 80, was the oldest active-duty commissioned officer in the U.S. Navy of either gender. That Jack Ruby was, technically, innocent of killing Lee Harvey Oswald. Intrigued? You should be. If you want to know more, go read the book. Meantime, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to indulge in exchange for an honest review.

On This Day in History Sh!t Went Down by James Fell (Bantam, October 2023) 432 pp.