A RENDEZVOUS WITH DEATH (Amateur Sleuth / Soldier) – G-

W.Y. Boyd – 4th book

Elton-Wolf Publishing, 2003 – Hardcover

Set in the midst of battle during WWII, an officer hears a woman’s cry and, by the time he reaches the barn, finds a woman with her throat cut and an officer, nephew of unit Commander Coleman, who’s been shot. Coleman appoints Second Lieutenant Charles

Donnelly to find the killer at the same time trying to keep he…

COLD CASE FILE – VG

Edna Buchanan – 14th book

Simon & Schuster, 2004 – Hardcover

Twelve years’ ago children at a birthday party witnessed a garage explode which kills Charles Tarrell. Now his ex-wife comes to the Cold Case Squad saying she being seeing her

husband, even though she knows he’s dead.

Although the Squad is ready to pass on the case, their lieutenant, K.C.

Riley, insists they put it…

TIME ENOUGH TO DIE (Cont. Gothic Suspense) - VG

Lillian Stewart Carl - 11th book

Wildside Press, 2002 - Hardcover

Dr. Matilda Gray, an parapsychologist specializing in art, archaeology and architecture, is teamed with Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Gareth March to investigate the murder of a young woman suspected of stealing

artifacts for an archaeological dig.

Take a town in England, interesting…

THE FRACTAL MURDERS (Private Investigator) – VG

Mark Cohen – 1st book

Mysterious Press, 2004 – Hardcover

Math professor Jayne Smyers asserts that the probability of three other professors, experts in fractal geometry, must be related, despite what the FBI says. So she hires

investigator Pepper Keane, a former Marine JAG and prosecuting attorney, to

look for the link, and the killer.

Pepper is…

THE NARROWS (Private Investigator) – G

Michael Connelly – 14th in series

Little Brown, 2004 – Hardcover

When now Private Investigator Harry Bosch is asked by the widow of Terry McCaleb to investigate her husband’s death, he finds Terry was actively investigating a case who path led to a serial killer in Nevada. When FBI agent Rachel Walling receives a call

that she must travel to Las Vegas

because of a package sent to her, it…

DEATH OF A THOUSAND CUTS (Police Procedural) – VG

Barbara D’Amato – 19th Book

Forge, 2004 - Hardcover

During a reunion weekend, famed doctor and author, Dr. Jay Schermerhorn, is found brutally murdered in the basement of Hawthorne House, once a home and treatment center for autistic children. Chicago Detectives Emily Folkestone and

Oliver Parks must quickly find the killer of this high-profile victim among the

former staff,…

BURIED DREAMS (Amateur Sleuth / Reporter) – VG

Brendan DuBois – 5th in series

Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2004 – Hardcover

Reporter Lewis Cole’s friend Jon Erickson has made finding evidence of a Viking settlement in New Hampshire his avocation. It seems he’s finally found proof and has

invited Lewis over to see it. But when

Lewis arrives at Jon’s house he finds the police there and Jon murdered.…

LIGHTS OUT: A WORKING MAN’S MYSTERY (Amateur Sleuth) – G+

L.T. Fawkes – 2nd in series

Signet Mystery, 2004 – Paperback

Not-yet-ex-wife of carpenter and pizza-delivery man Terry Saltz is found when a gun in her hand at a murder scene. Terry, certain of her innocence, enlists the help of his roommates and friends to find the real killer.

The plot is light but the characters are wonderful. You truly get to…

RED TIDE (Amateur Sleuth/Police Procedural) - G+

G.M. Ford – 4th in series

William Morrow, 2004 - Hardcover

When the police evacuate an area in Seattle, including a gallery with Meg Donovan’s first showing and Corso in attendance, Frank decides to find out why. Terrorists have released a

controlled form of the Ebola virus into a subway stations, and over a hundred

people die. In the meantime, Meg sees,

follows, and loses…

THE MAN WITH A LOAD OF MISCHIEF (English Police Procedural) – VG

Martha Grimes – 1st of series

An Onyx Book, 2003 (Reprint from 1981) - Paperback

It’s Christmas time in Long Pittleton. When the second of two murders occurs with the bodies found in two separate pubs, one with his head stuck in a beer keg and the other draped over the pub sign beam, Det. Chief Inspector Richard Jury

is sent to investigate.…

THE MADMAN’S TALE (Psychological Thriller) - Ex

John Katzenbach – 10th non-fiction

Ballantine Books, 2004 – Hardcover

Francis Xavier Petrel, named C-Bird by his former fellow inmates at Western State Hospital, is now living on this own. But an

invitation to the hospital, closed for 20 years, being made a museum, draws

Francis back, both to the place and the memories of the events, people and

murders there.…

THE HUNDREDTH MAN (Police Procedural) – G

Jack Kerley – 1st book

Dutton, 2004 – Hardcover

Det. Carson Ryder is one-half of new team supposed to investigate crimes which indicate having been committed by someone with psychological disorder; i.e., crazy. For

their first case, they have a serial killer leaving headless bodies lying about

with very small writing on the body.

The character of Ryder…

KILLER’S CHOICE (Police Procedural) – VG

Ed McBain – 6th in series

The Armchair Detective Library, 1991 (Reprint from 1958) – Hardcover

The detectives of the 87th precinct are looking for the killer of one of their own, have gained a new member of the squad, Cotton Hawes, and looking for the person who murdered a young woman.

This edition is particularly enjoyable as it includes an introduction by the…

CHICKAHOMINY FEVER – Ok

Ann McMillan – 4th in series

Penguin Books, 2003 - Paperback

It is 1862, and Richmond is surrounded by the Union Army. Nurse Narcissa Powers is attempting to locate the body of a missing Confederate soldier, while Judah Daniel, a free black herbalist, searches for

the mother of an abandoned infant. A crucial letter, which could change

the course of the war, brings these two together.…

MASQUES – G

Bill Pronzini – Standalone

Leisure Books, 1999 (Reprint from 1981) - Paperback

Photographer Steve Giroux, vacationing in New Orleans, but the vacation turns into a nightmare when a voice on the phone demands a photograph Steve never had and he finds himself being stalked..

Pronzini has truly captured the feel of New Orleans in this dark, creepy, scary book with a really poor ending. However,…

MASQUES – G

Bill Pronzini – Standalone

Leisure Books, 1999 (Reprint from 1981) - Paperback

Photographer Steve Giroux, vacationing in New Orleans, but the vacation turns into a nightmare when a voice on the phone demands a photograph Steve never had and he finds himself being stalked..

Pronzini has truly captured the feel of New Orleans in this dark, creepy, scary book with a really poor ending. However,…

VISIONS OF DEATH – VG

J.D. Robb – 19th in series

Putnam, 2004 – Hardcover

A serial killer is murdering young women and leaving them posed naked with a red ribbon around their neck, their hands posed in prayer, and their eyes removed.

This series has always been something of a guilty pleasure for me. Yes, there’s still Roark, but he is less involved with the case than he once was. I love the cast of…