Assistant Chief Constable Robert Skinner is head of CID and security advisor to the Secretary of State. He, and his team, is faced with terrorist threats that turn murderous during Edinburgh's popular August Festival, which

attracts thousands of tourists. But in

spite of the terrorists missives saying they are demanding a free…

THE MUSIC BOX MURDERS (Amateur Sleuth/Doctor-New York/London-Cont) – G+

Karp, Larry – 1st mystery

A Write Way Publishing Book, 1999– Unedited ARC

Neurologist Dr. Thomas Purdue is an avid collector of antique music boxes. His two-week vacation begins with the news that a fellow collector has been murdered, and

receiving a call about a rare music box being available. It becomes immediately apparent the two

events are linked and…

TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE (Private Investigators-US-Cont) – Ex

Koryta, Michael – 1st in series

Thomas Dunne Books, 2004 – Hardcover

Private investigators Lincoln Perry and Joe Pritchard have been hired by John Weston to provide that his son, also a private investigator, did not commit suicide and to locate his missing daughter-in-law and

granddaughter. With the help of

journalist Amy Ambrose, the case involves them with one of…

HARK! (Police Procedural-Fictional City-Cont) – G

McBain, Ed – 54th in series

Simon & Schuster, 2004- Hardcover

The members of the 87th precinct are receiving notes, lots of notes. Some are quotes from Shakespeare, some are anagrams, some are palindromes, and all are from the Deaf Man once again challenging the 87th to

figure out what he's going to do and when.

This is not the book with which to…

DARK FIRE (Amateur Sleuth-Lawyer-England-1500s) - VG

Sansom, C. J. – 2nd in series

McMillan, 2004- Hardcover

Matthew Shardlake is asked to defend Elizabeth, a girl accused of killing her cousin. However, she is unwilling to speak at all and is facing torture. But

Matthew is approached by Thomas Cromwell and offered a 12-day reprieve for Elizabeth in exchange for

Matthew locating Dark Fire, also known as Greek Fire, a…

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS (Suspense-England-France/Canada-Cont) – G+

Wolstencroft, David – 1st book

Dutton, 2004- Hardcover

Charlie Miller and George Shaw are two men working in a photo-processing booth. They also happen to be two secret agents, although neither knows about the other. But when each receives orders to kill the

other, they decide to go on the run together.

Wolstencroft, the writer of MI-5…

FAST LANE (Private Invest-Denver-Cont) – G

Zeltserman, Dave – Standalone

Pointblank, 2004 – Hardcover

Private Investigator Johnny Lane has become famous in Denver due to his monthly columns talking about his cases.

Unfortunately, he also happens to be a psychopath. When a young woman asks for his help finding

her birth parents, with whom it turns out Johnny was involved, things get ugly

very…

LJ's Top Reads of 2004

Benoit, Charles - Relative Danger

Cleverly, Barbara - The Damascended Blade

Connor, John - Phoenix

Dunnett, Dorothy - The Game of Kings

Hamilton, Sylvian - The Bone Peddler

Hamilton, Sylvian - The Gleemaiden

Karp, Larry - First, Do No Harm

Katzenbach, John - The Madman's Tale

Krueger, William Kent - Blood Hollow

McBain, Ed - The Frumious Bandersnatch

Myers, Beverle Graves - Interrupted Aria

Pawel, Rebecca -…

Copyright attorney Rep Pennyworth and his wife, Melissa, become embroiled in trying to clear their friend Peter or the murder of a man with whom his wife had just been unfaithful.

The fun of this book is the main characters of Rep and Melissa and the itinerary references. The weakness is…

A FATAL VINEYARD SEASON (Amateur Sleuth-Martha's Vineyard-Cont) – G

Philip H. Craig – 10th in series

Scribner, 1999- Hardcover

Retired policeman, J.W. Jackson, is hired to look after starlet Ivy Holiday, who is African-American, and has continued to receive letters from a stacker currently in prison.

However, a greater threat comes from a local sexist racist and whose

ex-con brother runs a protection…

THE GLASS HOUSE (Amateur Sleuth-England-1800's) - VG

Ashley Gardner - 3rd in series

Berkeley Prime Crime, 2004- Paperback

Captain Gabriel Lacey is called on by his former Sergeant, now a Bow Street Runner, to possibly identify the body of a woman pulled from the river. Although he does not know

her, he is angered by her death and determined to find her killer. When her identity associates her with both society

and The Glass…

TOP OF THE HEAP (PI-California-1950s) – G-

Erle Stanley Gardner - 13th of series

Hard Case Crime, 2004 (Reprint from 1952), Paperback

Private Investigator Donald Lam is asked to verify the alibi of wealthy John Carver Billings II. When it soon becomes clear the alibi is false, Donald decides to find out what crime

is Billings is

trying to cover.

I kept trying to view it in context of the period.…

NIGHTINGALE'S LAMENT (Fantasy/Detective) – VG

Simon R. Green – 3rd in series

Ace Fantasy, 2004 – Paperback

John Taylor has been hired to find a local diva who has cut herself off from her family. While her voice is gaining fame, it is also causing those who hear her to commit suicide.

Taylor's world is not a place one would ever want to visit: a part of London

called Nightside where it is always 3…

LAKE OF SORROWS (Amateur Sleuth/Pathologist-Ireland-Cont) – VG

Erin Hart – 2nd book

Hodder & Stoughton, 2004 – U.K. Hardcover

Forensic pathologist, Nora Gavin, goes to an archeological site to investigate the finding in a peat bog of an Iron Age Body who seems to have been a human sacrifice having been slain three ways. Then a second, recent body is uncovered

having been killed the same way. More,

similar, deaths occur…

THE LAST VICTIM IN GLEN ROSS (Police Procedural-Scotland-Cont) - G

M.G. Kincaid - 1st in series

Pocket Books, 2003- Paperback

Detective Sergeant Seth Mornay is called to investigate the murder of a woman found in the local church graveyard of the vicar with whom she was a close friend. When Mornay

learns the vicar's wife committed suicide a couple year's earlier, Mornay feels

there is a link between the two…

THE STUPIDEST ANGEL (Fantasy-Pine Cove, CA-Cont) - VG

Christopher Moore - Standalone

William Morrow, 2004 - Hardcover

Constable Theo Crowe has sworn off pot as long as his wife, Molly the Outlander Warrior Babe, keeps taking her meds. Add to them a completely off-center cast of characters and young Joshua Barker, who has just seen Santa murdered and is

praying for a Christmas miracle.

Unfortunately, the…

DANCE FOR THE DEAD (Suspense-U.S.-Cont) - VG

Thomas Perry (2nd in series)

Ivy Books, 1996-Paperback

Jane Whitefield, an expert at helping people disappear, is actually helping a small boy reappear in time to save him from being declared legally dead and his inheritance being taken over by the trustees. However, it seems someone would rather he

disappear forever. A woman asks Jane to

help her disappear from those pursuing her.…

SHADOW OF DEATH (Amateur Sleuth/Lawyer-New England-Cont) – G+

William G. Tapply - 20th in series

St. Martin's Minotaur, 2001- Paperback

Attorney Brady Coyne has been hired by the campaign manager of Democratic Senate hopeful Ellen Stoddard to locate her husband. However, when Coyne hires an investigator who is then murdered, Coyne decides to find out himself why his friend died and

where is the husband.…

THE BURNING GIRL (Police Procedural-London-Cont) – G+

Mark Billingham – 4^th in series

Little Brown, 2004 – U.K. Hardcover

Detective Inspector Thomas Thorne is in the middle of an investigation of what appears to be contract killings. A former colleague asks for his help with an old case of a girl, mistaken for the daughter of a mob boss, is murdered. It shortly becomes clear the two cases are,

in fact,…

Attorney Tal Jackson has returned to her hometown determined to give up practice after a major defeat in her last defense. But a local judge demands she

defend Crystal Walker, whom she hasn’t seen since childhood and who is accused

of murdering one of the town’s wealthy locals.…