The Tenth Witness, Leonard Rosen

The second in the Henri Poincare series takes place before the events of All Cry Chaos.

Back in the ‘70s, Henri and his partner Alec are trying to get a salvage engineering business off the ground. Both men are young and keen and during a rare break from the exhausting preparations to salvage The Lutine for Lloyds of London; Henri meets Liesel Kraus, she’s beautiful, an heiress, co owner of Kraus Steel a major rebuilder of Germany after WWII.

Attracted and repelled by the family’s Nazi past Henri’s curiosity regarding the company’s current business practices brings him to the attention of Interpol, and while Interpol can threaten, there are others close to Liesel who would see Henri dead before he reveals their secrets.

A reason, not an excuse and CWA news

Regular readers will know that while I read in various different genres, mysteries, especially series are my favourites. I came late to the Louise Penny party, but that is the only reason I haven't reviewed the new one, I'm busy playing catch-up, these need to be read in order, start with Still Life and then come and see me in the bookstore and we'll talk.

In other news both Ghostman and Norwegian by Night are up for Steel and New Blood Daggers from the Crime Writers Association (CWA)

The Returned, Jason Mott

We've all lost loved ones but Mott asks the intriguing question what if they came back? Not as flesh eating zombies but at the same age as when they died. Could you ever make up for lost time? Would you take them back or shun them?

How would our world react to this blessing/curse. Mott focuses on the inhabitants of the small town of Arcadia, polarized by their own returnees including little Jacob and over run by forces determined to protect the living citizens of the US from the returned.

Rose Under Fire, Elizabeth Wein

Rose Under Fire is one of those books that stays with you. Wein calls it a companion piece to the NYT bestseller Codename Verity. American Rose Justice, an 18 year old ATA pilot and amateur poet is caught by the Germans in the dying months of WWII and sent to Ravensbrück, the infamous women’s concentration camp deep inside Germany.

As her loved ones struggle to comprehend losing her, Rose struggles to survive. She and her fellow prisoners, closer than family, stripped of their dignity and identity turn to small victories, little acts of rebellion, friendship, trading information for medicine all to maintain their sanity in the face of increasingly desperate attempts to silence the horrors of Ravensbrück by destroying all of the evidence. Can Rose survive? Will she ever fly again? Go home again?

Rose may be fictional but Ravensbrück and the atrocities carried out there are cemented in the history of the Nuremburg trials. A powerful and haunting read.

Nightmare Range, Martin Limón

A collection of short stories featuring Limón’s Sergeants George Sueño, a Mexican American and Ernie Bascom all American, but torched by his experience in Vietnam. Investigators for the 8th Army stationed in 70’s South Korea, Sueño and Bascom have a nasty habit of following a case through to its conclusion, and often leave the army brass’s ass exposed instead of covering it as they are supposed to. It you’ve just read The Orphan Master’s son (North Korea) then cross the DMZ to Nightmare Range.

Bones of Paris, Laurie King

1929, Paris, the Jazz age is in full swing, artists, poets, writers flock to the city of light along with lots of twenty-something bright young things, eager for a new life.

American Harris Stuyvesant, (Touchstone) now a private eye instead of a Bureau man is asked to track down Pip Crosby and for the money he’s being offered he doesn’t hesitate. Harris questions Pip’s roommate, artists she modeled for and his investigations lead him to a seedy theatre where the macabre plays alongside high comedy and Pip was trying to establish herself as an actress. Is there a crazed killer preying on the community of Montparnasse and could Harris be about to inadvertently place someone he cares about in great danger for a second time.

Sprinkled with real ex-pats like Sylvia Beech of Shakespeare and Company, Hemingway, spoiling for a fight, Man Ray, Josephine Baker and composer Cole Porter, King’s Paris is vibrant and sensual with a very dark heart beating beneath.

If you haven't read Touchstone, you've still got time to catch up!

Noah’s Rainy Day, Sandra Brannan

Noah Hogarty may suffer from cerebral palsy but his mind is way sharper than the average 12 year old’s and he wants to be a spy, like his Aunt Liv. Liv Bergen’s not actually a spy, she’s a freshly minted FBI agent about to take on her first real case.

It’s Christmas Eve and a little boy has gone missing from Denver International Airport. Liv and her bloodhound Beulah are assigned to track the kid. She and veteran agents Streeter Pierce and Jack Linwood are hours behind a meticulous kidnapper. While the boys high profile parents fly in from opposite coasts to await a ransom demand, Liv and the others don’t think there will be one.

Noah is working the case of ‘The Missing Backpack’ and thinking of playing with the little girl next door when he breaks the case, and possibly his leg, he thinks he left a vital clue for Liv but he doesn’t know if he can hold on for much longer.

Bitter River, Julia Keller

Young Lucinda Trimble had her whole life ahead of her until someone dumped her car in the Bitter River with her in it. Lucinda was bright, compassionate and pregnant.

Prosecutor Belle Elkins has plenty of suspects; Lucinda’s deadbeat dad, the boy she was going to marry, his family, Lucinda’s friends, but she has more on her plate than that. Sherriff Nick Fogelsong isn’t following procedure, Belle’s ex is trying to lure her back to Washington and an old friend of Belle’s from DC is bringing her and rest of Acker’s Gap West Virginia nothing but trouble.

September Reads

This month there are a lot of different titles, from Bitter River (the followup to A killing in the hills) to the powerful Rose Under Fire, a companion piece from Elizabeth Wein, the writer of Codename Verity. Enjoy.