POET IN THE GUTTER (Private Investigator) – G+

John Baker – 1^st in series

Indigo, 1995 – Paperback (U.K. Release)

Recovering alcoholic Sam Turner keeps telling people he’s a private investigator. But when a friend asks Sam to find out if his wife is being unfaithful and then ends up murdered,

Sam, with the help of a retired schoolteacher, a homeless youth and his

pool-hall friend, becomes an investigator for…

DEATH OF AN ADDICT (Police Procedural – cozy) – Ok

M.C. Beaton – 15^th in series

Drugs come to the Scottish Highlands when a young man is found dead from an apparent overdose. But his parents believe it as murder and ask Constable Hamish Macbeth to

investigate.

Although Hamish is brighter than he appears, the idea of him posing as a drug kingpin just doesn’t work. And the dialogue is weak in…

TROPHY HUNT (Game Warden) – G

C. J. Box – 4^th in series

G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004 – Hardcover

It’s bad enough when Joe finds the mutilated body of a moose, but when similar mutilations are found on dead cattle and then two men, it becomes clear that the predator has two legs rather than four.

After Box’s first three excellent books, I found this a bit lacking. It felt very slow at times and had…

SLEEP OF DEATH (16^th Century Mystery) – VG

Phillip Gooden – 1^st of series

Carroll & Graf, 2000 – tradepaper

During the reign of Elizabeth I, actor Nick Revill, joins the Chamberlain’s Men, the acting company of Richard Burbage and author William Shakespeare. When he unmasks a thief, he

is asked to investigate the death of a young man’s father whose mother then

marries his uncle.…

R IS FOR RICOCHET (Private Investigator) – VG

Sue Grafton – 17^th in series

Putnam, 2004 – Hardcover

When Kinsey is hired to pick up Reba, the daughter of wealthy Nord Lafferty, from prison, little did she know she find herself in the middle of a money laundering investigation.

Kinsey is finally growing as a character, and Reba was a delight. The story felt less dated and the tone was lighter…

KILL THE MESSENGER (Suspense/Police Procedural) - VG

Tami Hoag – 25^th book

Bantam Books, 2004 – Hardcover

Bike messenger Jace Damon makes one last run of the day and ends up running for his life when the lawyer who gave him the package is murdered. Jace is both the prime suspect

of the police and the target for someone who wants that package..

I have loved Tami Hoag’s books since her early…

SMOKE AND SHADOWS (Fantasy/SciFi) – G

Tanya Huff – Standalone

Daw Books, Inc., 2004 - Hardcover

Tony Foster, rescued from street life by vampires Vicki Nelson and Henry Fitzroy, is now trying to create a life of his own as a PA for a very low budget television show in Vancouver. Everything is fine until he starts seeing

shadows, which move independent of anything, and they start killing people.

While…

SKIN RIVER (Crime Thriller – Wisconsin-Cont.) – Okay

Steven Sidor – 1st book

St. Martin’s Minatour, 2004 – Hardcover

Buddy Bayes, a man trying to get away from his past with the Chicago underworld, is trying to lead a quite life in small-town Wisconsin. But when women start disappearing, he becomes

a suspect, people around him are attacked and his former crime partner is after

him, he goes from trying to get by to trying to…

DYNAMITE ROAD (Private Investigators) – VG

Andrew Klavan – 1^st in series

Forge, 2003 – Hardcover

The San Francisco detective agency of Weiss Associates sends operative, pilot and lady’s man Jim Bishop to investigate for what the planes of a small Northern

California airport are being used. Meanwhile the agency’s owner, Scott Weiss,

is investigating several deaths that seem to tie to a beautiful, but…

EAST SIDE (Police Procedural-NYC-Cont) – G

John Mackie – 3^rd in series

Onyx Fiction, 2004 – Paperback

It’s winter in New York City, Priests are being murdered a card of Our Lady of Fatima left behind and a letter sent to the New York Post from The Soldier claiming credit.

Detective Sergeant Thornton Savage and his team are under pressure to

solve the crimes before the Pope visits…

HIGH COUNTRY FALL (Amateur Sleuth/Judge-Cont) – VG

Margaret Maron – 10^th in series

Mysterious Press, 2004 – Hardcover

Newly engaged Judge Deborah Knott is looking to escape the chaos of her family and agrees to sit in for another judge in the small mountain community of Cedar Gap. But

when the friend of her twin nieces is brought before her accused of murder, she

becomes more involved in the community that she…

PUZZLE FOR WANTONS (aka Slay the Loose Ladies) (Amateur Sleuths-England-1940s) – G+

Patrick Quentin – 4^th in Series

International Polygonics Ltd, 1990 (Reprint from 1945), tradepaper

Lieutenant Peter Duluth and his actress wife Iris are spending his leave at the Lake Tahoe home of wealthy Lorraine Pleygel. Other guests

include Lorraine’s

brother, and a group of women about to be divorced. But when Lorraine shows up…

FIVE O’CLOCK SHADOW (Amateur Sleuth-New Mexico-Cont) - NR

Susan Slater – 2^nd book

Poisoned Pen Press, 2004 – Hardcover

Set in New Mexico, Pauly Caton takes refuge at her carnival-queen mother’s house while trying to find out who killed the husband she married four days ago.

Between a recent widow lusting after…