Book Reviews by vicki rock

It’s Christmas in Millers Kill, N.Y. and the Rev. Clare Fergusson and her husband, Russ van Alstyne, newly resigned from his position as chief of police, plan to enjoy it with Ethan, their 8-month-old son.

The Greenwich Annual Lighted Tractor Parade is in full swing. Clare and Russ can watch while at a holiday open house hosted by PJ Addams. But when white supremacists in the parade unfurl an offensive banner, people in the crowd attack them. Russ runs to stop the fight. Claire, rector of St. Albany’s Episcopal Church, talks to Meghan Smith, the wife of the man with the banner, to try to defuse the situation before police arrive.

Meanwhile, Hadley Knox, the newest member of the police force, doesn’t want to worry about her former partner, Kevin Flynn, but when he takes leave from the Syracuse Police Department and disappears, she can’t help her growing concern that something has gone very wrong. She convinces Russ to look into Kevin’s disappearance.
Novice lawyer Joy Zhào is keeping secrets from her superiors at the state Attorney General’s Office. She knows they wouldn’t condone her off-the-books investigation, but she’s convinced a threatening alt-right conspiracy is brewing.
NYS Forest Ranger Paul Terrance is looking for his uncle, Pierre Laduc, a veteran of the park service who is missing. He doesn’t think much of an ex-cop and out-of-town officer showing up in his patch of the woods, but he’s heard the disturbing rumors of dangerous men in the mountains. These five people will discover their suspicions hang on a single twisting thread, leading to the High Peaks of the Adirondacks.

This has a fast-moving, intense plot that is believable. The characters have changed over the 10 books in this excellent series, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. I like how Claire and Russ aren’t the only strong characters in the book. It’s a pleasure to return to Millers Kill, N.Y.

I rate it five out of five stars.

It is Christmas Eve 1901. The Inner Temple in London, one of the Inns of the Court, remains as quiet and calm as ever. Quiet, that is, until a severed hand is delivered, wrapped as a Christmas present to Temple Treasurer Sir William Waring.

Waring is very shaken. He is anticipating a family dinner at which his daughter Amelia’s engagement is to be announced. He orders Sir Gabriel Ward, Kings Counsel, to investigate the hand. Gabriel is filled with curiosity. Who would want to send such a thing? And why? But then Sir Edward Hopkins K.C. receives a similar package containing a foot. Gabriel realizes the Inner Temple is under attack.

Someone is holding a grudge that has already led to at least one death. Now it's up to Gabriel, and Constable Maurice Wright of the City of London Police, to find out who, before an old death leads to a new murder.

During all this, London's most famous music hall star, Tabitha “Topsy” Tillotson tries to retain Gabriel to represent her in a libel case against Landon’s most notorious tabloid newspaper, the Nation's Voice. But Gabriel tells her that she must first retain a solicitor who will represent her. A solicitor would then consult a barrister. She hires Arthur Brindle who consults Gabriel.

Lionel Sullivan, owner and editor of The Nation’s Voice, and other journalists are invited to the Inner Temple Treasurer’s annual dinner. Frank Holloway is Sullivan’s top reporter.

This is the second in the series. While it is easy to guess the outcome of the libel trial, the mystery of the body parts is more complex. The characters are wonderful. This is a good new historical series.

I rate it four out of five stars.

Walter Nash’s father, Tiberius, a Vietnam veteran, has died. The two weren’t close in recent years. Walter and his wife, Judith, have a daughter, Maggie, 19. His mother died when Walter was young.

Nash is the vice president of a company, Sybaritic Investments, where he is head of acquisitions. Everett “Rhett” Temple is the company’s CEO.

Isaiah York, nicknamed Shock, was his father’s best friend. He berates Nash at the funeral. That night, FBI Special Agent Reed Morris goes to Nash’s house. The meeting isn’t about Tiberius; it is about Sybaritic.

The FBI believes Rhett Temple is a criminal and they want Nash to help in the investigation. The FBI agents think Temple works for Victoria Steers, who is the head of a criminal organization. After Nash verifies that Morris is an FBI agent, he agrees to help.

Then Steers learns that Nash is helping the FBI and has Maggie kidnapped. Nash is implicated in her disappearance and in a related murder. He contacts Shock, his father’s old Army buddy, for help.

This is an intense, fast-moving escapist thriller. While the plot is riveting and the book is difficult to put down, it is also violent and implausible. While readers knows who the villains are, they don’t know how far Nash will go for revenge. The ending is surprising.

I rate it five out of five stars.

It is 1879. Charles Lenox is in Portsmouth, England, waiting for the ship, Marie Grace, which is coming from India. Lenox, a detective, was stabbed during his last investigation and is still recovering.

He lives in London with his wife, Lady Jane, and young daughters, Sophia and Clara. His agency partners are Polly Buchanan and Lord John Dallington. He is waiting for the arrival of Angela Lenox, his late cousin Jasper’s daughter. She has a companion, Sari.

Lenox receives a letter from his former housekeeper, Elizabeth Huggins. She is now living in London and is contacting him because of a cold case murder. It was the murder of Austin Martell, an apothecary, seven years earlier.

The only clue to the murder is an odd emblem carved into the doorway of the building where the man was killed. Mrs. Huggins lives in that building now owned by her nephew, Ernest. When Lenox finds a similar mark at the site of another murder, he begins to piece together a hidden pattern.

The morning after the girls arrive in London, Charles’ older brother, Sir Edmund Lenox, comes to meet them. He has one of the nation’s highest political posts. The brothers are good friends with Scottish physician Thomas McConnell and his wife, Toto. But Toto and Lady Jane have fallen out because of Lady Jane’s public support for women’s right to vote.

Charles Finch’s books have a strong sense of place and time; the reader feels what it must have been like in Victorian England. He writes good characters, both men and women. The mysteries are intertwined and the ending is satisfying. This is the 15th in the series.

I rate it four out of five stars.

Clay Edison has left behind the Alameda County coroner’s office to strike out on his own as a private investigator. He’s working on an embezzlement case when Regina Klein, another private investigator, calls. She needs his help.

Elizabeth and Rick Valois are friends with Regina’s boyfriend. Their son, Adam, 33, disappeared the previous summer. A couple of weeks later, his body was found in Coyote Hills.

With the anniversary of his disappearance coming up, the parents are hiring investigators because they feel that they got the runaround from police who called the death an accident because of drugs in Adam’s system and a head injury. Adam was a videographer who had a girlfriend, Olivia Parisi.

But when Clay reads the toxicology report, he remembers the death of Denny Kudelka, who died under similar circumstances. It was also ruled an accidental death. Then a search of records shows additional similar deaths. Is there a serial killer?

This is the sixth in the series. The plotting is good and has a psychological element exploring memories and guilt. There is an unusual element as an expert in tidal technology tracks where the body entered the water. I didn’t see the ending coming at all.

I rate it four out of five stars.

California Attorney Mickey Haller, a former criminal defense attorney, is now in public interest litigation. He filed a civil lawsuit in federal court against Tidalwaiv, an artificial intelligence company whose chatbot told Aaron Colton, 16, that it was okay for him to kill his ex-girlfriend for her disloyalty.

Rebecca Randolph, 16, was murdered. Her mother, Brenda Randolph, is suing Tidalwaiv. Twins Mitchell and Marcus Mason, Tidalwaiv’s attorneys, want Judge Margaret Ruhlin to exclude Rikki Patel, a former employee, from testifying. The AI companion is called Clair. Brenda Randolph wants a public apology from Tidalwaiv and an admission of wrongdoing.

After a pretrial court hearing, Jack McEvoy, a technology journalist on Substack, approaches Haller. He wants to help research the case so when the trial is over, he can write a book about it. Since there is a mountain of printed discovery materials to go through, Haller agrees. McEvoy’s digging comes up with names of witnesses who will change the course of the trial.

This is the eighth book in the Mickey Haller series, but Michael Connelly is the author of over 40 books. Connelly is a master at crafting an engrossing legal thriller. The core issue of whether an artificial intelligence company can be blamed for a murder is fascinating.

I rate it five out of five stars.

London, December 1921. Newly promoted Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge is called upon by Chief Superintendent Markum to go to the Kent home of Lord Edward Braxton, who is recovering from an attempt on his life.

In bed with a concussion, Braxton is convinced someone is trying to kill him. He claims he was struck by the hoof of a running horse whose rider never stopped to check on him.

Braxton and Rutledge are both veterans of World War I. Braxton was promoted to colonel under Field Marshal Haig, the commander of the British Forces on the Western Front.

As Rutledge is haunted by his actions during the war, with what we today call PTSD, he is the right choice to investigate what happened to the colonel. The supporting characters are all good, with the local police officers rising to the challenges. Although this is only a novella, it is a good addition to the series.

I rate it four out of five stars.

Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Braxton, Virginia, who is making just enough to pay his bills. He is burning out after 18 years of handling bankruptcies, driving under the influence cases and other issues. He and his wife, Paula, want a divorce, but don’t want the expense of two households.

Eleanor Barnett, 85, a widow, comes to Latch to have him write her will. She and her late husband, Harry Korsak, had no children, but he had two sons from a previous marriage. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it.

Simon is in debts for thousands because he is a compulsive gambler. Once he hooks the richest client of his career, he works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack.

Then Eleanor and her friend, Doris Platt, are in a car accident. When she is hospitalized,
Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems. When she dies, he is arrested for her murder. Simon knows he’s innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Simon now wants to figure out who killed Eleanor Barnett.

John Grisham is known for his courtroom dramas, but this is his first mystery. While I knew going in that Simon was going to be arrested for murder, the build up to it is very intense and the plot has unpredictable twists. The characters, even the unscrupulous ones, are excellent. The narrative unfolds under the skillful precision of an expert author. The conclusion is a little abrupt, but this is one of John Grisham’s best.

I rate it five out of five stars.

It is almost Christmas and residents of Northern Virginia are on high alert. A serial killer dubbed the Phantom Slasher has been terrorizing the region for months. He uses technology to invade his victims’ homes while they sleep.

Chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta is performing an autopsy on Christmas Eve when she gets a call from Pete Marino. Marino, a former homicide detective, is now head of investigations for the statewide medical examiner system. Marino and Investigator Blaise Fruge have been called to meet with TV journalist Dana Diletti, who received a tip about the slasher.

Marino is married to Scarpetta’s sister, Dorothy. Scarpetta is married to Benton Wesley, a forensic psychologist for the Secret Service. Her niece Lucy Farinelli is also part of the slasher task force. Scarpetta and Wesley are leaving on Christmas Day for a two-week trip to Europe.

But during the early hours of Christmas  morning, Scarpetta receives a call that the slasher  has struck again. She  is summoned to Mercy Island, the site of a psychiatric hospital where two people have been brutalized, one of them from  Scarpetta’s  past. Psychiatrist Dr. Georgine Duvall was murdered and Zane Willard was assaulted. Zane, a senator’s nephew, is an intern at the White House.

The plot is both terrifying and timely as multiple treads are woven together with a satisfying conclusion. Thanks to Cornwell's forensic expertise, the science is fascinating. The characters continue to evolve over time. This is the 29th in the series, but it can be read as a stand-alone novel. Patricia Cornwell’s fans will especially enjoy it.

I rate it five out of five stars.

Father Tim Cavanaugh, an Episcopal priest, and his wife, Cynthia, live in the fictional town of Mitford, North Carolina. Father Tim was 62 when they married.

In the first book, “At Home in Mitford,” Tim, then single, adopted Dooley, who was abused. Dooley is now a veterinarian and married to Lace, an artist. They have two young children: Jack, 7, and Sadie, almost 3.

As “My Beloved” opens, it is November and Tim is working on his Christmas list. Although he is retired from full time ministry, he was the supply priest for St. Mark’s in Holding. Cynthia is a writer and illustrator of children’s books.

When Tim asks Cynthia, what she wants for Christmas, she replies a love letter. He writes the letter, then gets an emergency call and rushes out of the house. When he returns, the letter is missing.

Can a letter change a life? Ask former mayor Esther Cunningham who has four adult daughters who are planning on taking over Christmas preparation for their parents. Or Hope, the owner of the town’s bookstore, who needs money for a new furnace. Or Puny Guthrie, who cleans the Cavanaugh’s house. Puny is married to Joe Guthrie, the police chief. They have two sets of twins. Joe is Esther and Ray’s grandson.

Will Father Tim get his letter back in time for Christmas?

The plot is not complicated, and it is slow-moving and comforting. Even if you haven’t followed the series of 15 books, you will still enjoy this installment. Jan Karon explains why she writes in vernacular in the afterword. She also explains why she wrote another book after saying she wouldn’t.

I rate it four out of five stars.

Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady is looking forward to the holidays with her family, and to celebrating her daughter Jenny’s graduation from the police academy.

Jenny is the third-generation law enforcement officer in the family. She has been hired by the Prima County Sheriff’s Department. Jenny’s fiancé, Nick Saunders, is in veterinary school. Joanna’s husband, Butch Dixon, is staying home from the graduation with the younger children.

Within days, the family is celebrating Thanksgiving when Joanna gets a call. A body of a murdered young boy is discovered beneath a flooded bridge. The details of the crime scene tell Joanna two things: This was not the killer’s first murder. And it’s only a matter of time before he kills again.

As Joanna digs deeper into the case, she uncovers connections between cases of mysterious deaths and missing persons, having long since gone cold, that extend far beyond the confines of her small town. Meanwhile Marliss Shackleford, a local reporter and Joanne’s longtime archenemy, is causing problems.

While the reader knows from the beginning who the murderer is, the plot is of how the crimes are committed and how the sheriff’s department solves them. This story line becomes intense as they discover more murders across the country. The characters are authentic. J.A. Janice nicely balances Sheriff Joanna Brady’s work and home life. It is the 20th in the series.

I rate it five out of five stars.

It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner, Willow Reeve. They have a four-year-old son, James, and are expecting their second child. Willow is a chief inspector which makes her Jimmy’s boss.

One stormy winter night, Jimmy’s oldest friend, Archie Stout, disappears. Ever the detective, Jimmy catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife, Vaila, and two sons.

But when he arrives he finds Archie's body on an archaeological dig site and an ancient Westray story stone with precise spirals carved into it beside him, the apparent murder weapon. The artifact, taken from a nearby museum, seems to suggest a premeditated murder.

Senior officers from Glasgow are to arrive and take over the case. But meanwhile, Jimmy starts talking to people. He hears rumors that Archie may have been interested in Rosalie Greeman, a younger English woman. Although Willow is on maternity leave, she helps Jimmy investigate George’s murder before the other officers arrive. Then there are two more murders.

Ann Cleeves is very good at writing descriptions of places and setting the mood. The characters are excellent and the plot is complex. Readers will be distracted by the red herrings and totally shocked by the motive and ending. After the last Jimmy Perez novel, “Wild Fire,” was said to be the final one in the series, I was pleased to learn that it wasn’t the last.

I rate it five out of five stars..