Rambling reader

I read both of these books in Alison Gaylin's Samantha Leiffer series back to back.

Samantha is a preschool teacher by day and a ticket seller at an off-off-Broadway theater by night.

In Hide your eyes, Samantha finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time and witnesses something that looks fishy to her. Two people are pushing an ice chest off the pier. She has a strong feeling that they are doing more than littering.

It isn't until the police find the ice chest and discover it's grisly contents that they start to take her seriously.

In You kill me, Samantha receives a cryptic warning that she is in danger. She doesn't believe it until people connected to her start to die. Then there is that nagging feeling that she is being watched. Someone close to her is moving in for the kill.

Samantha is a great character. She also has her quirky theater friends, the cute kids at the preschool, the cops working the cases, and a mother who is a self-help guru.

Top off the great characters with complex plots that twist and turn and keep you guessing right up to the end and you have great stories.

Both of these books are highly recommended.

This is Chris Grabenstein's second novel about Sea Haven, NJ and partners Ceepak and Boyle.

The stories are told from the viewpoint of Danny Boyle who started working for the small tourist town's police force as a part-time summer cop. Danny is young and looks up to Officer John Ceepak, a former military, spit and shine, kind of cop. Ceepak has high expectations of himself and all around him. Boyle understands he can't always live up to Ceepak's expectations but tries really hard.

In the first book, Tilt-a-whirl, Ceepak and Boyle solve a high profile murder at the local amusement park, on the Tilt-a-whirl naturally. (Don't ask why there is a roller coaster on the bright pink cover. I can't imagine.)

In Mad Mouse, the title referring once again to a park amusement which does not grace the cover, someone is shooting paint balls at Boyle and his friends on the beach. When the paint balls are replaced with live rounds in subsequent incidents, it becomes aparent that Danny and his friends are the intended victims, not just random targets.

Who might one of them angered enough to cause this. What do the trading cards left at the scenes mean? Can they figure it out before one of them ends up dead?

I enjoy these books very much. The crimes are serious but seeing the world through Danny's eyes lightens them up considerably. Danny's goal for the end of the summer is to be the one summer cop who gets hired on full time. He is idealistic, optimistic and a bit naive. Ceepak has seen so much more of the world and has no such limitations, however we only understand Ceepak as well as Danny can understand him.

Sea Haven is a fun place to visit and I snap these up as soon as they are released.

Karin Slaughter steps out of her Grant County series this year with a standalone.

We follow an Atlanta cop and an FBI agent, who aren't certain they can trust each other, as they investigate the mutilation death of a prostitute. There are possible links to some recent similar crimes and a newly released convict who served 22 years for another similar crime. There isn't much else I can say that won't give away too much of the intricate plot.

All of the characters are damaged and so very human. Each of them leaps off the page at you.

Slaughter is my absolute favorite author. Everything she has written is edgy with a dark twist. She is especially adept at the "gotcha" moments. She allows you to meander off in one direction only to yank you back and make you gasp as you realize your mistake. I never peek ahead in one of her books. Getting to the end her way is the best way.

PJ Tracy is back with the Monkeewrench crew. I'm not certain why these books get called the Monkeewrench series since the two cops are really the main characters and the Monkeewrench employees are second stringers, but they are.

Gino Rolseth and Leo Magozzi are Minneapolis detectives. Gino has been roped into participating in a snowman building contest for charity. With the park full of kids and their snowmen, dead bodies are found inside two of the snowmen.

Gino and Magozzi are off to figure out whether the two men were targeted or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When all the leads keep taking them back to a rural county north of the metro area, they come into contact with the new county sheriff, the woman is serving her first day on the job after being elected to the position. Her previous experience is as a 911 dispatcher, not a cop.

This series just keeps getting better with each novel. The authors are a mother and daughter team and are wonderful in person. Go see them if the opportunity presents itself.

Well, I'm running a little behind here. I think I'm about 4 books ahead of this now. Too much reading, not enough commenting.

Tara has been robbing banks with her father, Wyatt, since she was nine years old. Wyatt came up with the 47 rules to teach Tara the business. When they come into a small Arizona town to rob the bank, Tara falls in love with Max, the son of the local sheriff. When she runs off with him, Wyatt takes up the chase to bring her back. Also after all of them are two FBI agents, Max's father, and a couple of Wyatt's former partners.

Troy Cook's first novel is a fun romp with characters that blur the lines between good and bad. The good guys sometimes break the law and the bad guys try to do the right thing. Everyone is a little dysfunctional but that only adds to the fun.

This book is not part of a series. Troy's second book will also be a standalone and it is due out next summer.

Frank Zaphiro is the author of this character driven novel. I tried to explain the plot to a friend and the best I could do was say it was very much like the old Hill Street Blues TV show.

Zaphiro recounts the daily job for the cops in a fictional town called River City. We follow their daily lives, both personal and professional, and their interactions with each other. There is a man nicknamed Scarface hitting convenience stores in town and they are always on the lookout for him to stop his string of robberies. There is also a gang member vowing to kill one of the cops.

It was very interesting to see the day to day workings of a police department. The characters are very well drawn and come to life off the page.

A plot is almost non-existent but somehow I didn't miss it. A couple of times I attempted to skip ahead but couldn't bring myself to do it. It is compelling reading.

JA Konrath is on a huge tour this summer attempting to get to 500 bookstores with his new book, Rusty Nail.

The main character of his series is named Jacqueline Daniels. Everyone calls her Jack. This allows Konrath to come up with a list of great book titles all named for drinks made with Jack Daniels whiskey; Whiskey Sour, Bloody Mary, Rusty Nail, and next year, Dirty Martini.

Jack is in the middle of a personal crisis in this book. Her mother is in a coma after the events in the last book, her love life is in shambles after she and her boyfriend broke up, and her partner on the job is having some health related problems of his own.

Amidst all this, Jack is hunting for someone who sent her a snuff film. It is just like the films made by the Gingerbread Man in Whiskey Sour, but that killer is dead. The victim's head is covered but Jack is certain she knows her identity leading her into territory she though was dead and buried.

Konrath has a talent for mixing humor with horror. The scenes with the killer are always creepy and sometimes I read them with one eye closed. They can be a bit graphic. I have heard that some people who are squeemish actually skip those parts. (Do you know there are people who actually skip prologues just because they aren't named Chapter 1??) The humor is natural, never forced, and is expressed in normal, everyday situations and conversations.

If your tolerance level for creepy is quite low, Konrath may not be a good choice for you. But, the rest of you should check out the Jack Daniels series. I recommend them.

I absolutely love Ken Bruen's books. I'm not sure I can explain why. They are deceptively thin and a quick read. His writing is lean and every word and sentence are necessary. Don't blink or you might miss something.

Calibre is the sixth in the Brant series. The Southeast London cops are looking for a serial killer who chooses his victims randomly among the rude people he meets in his daily life. Also, Falls and McDonald are trying to get back into the good graces of the department after problems they each had in previous books. Brant is actually trying to write a crime novel.

Brant is up to his usual deeds, creating trouble for those around him, fixing problems that only he can fix, and managing to do all the right things to solve the case. He is the character you hate to love. He is a good cop but believes the ends justify the means and isn't above bending, or breaking, a few rules. He is also a bit of a sociopath.

I've also read all of Bruen's Jack Taylor books which I think are more brooding, darker. I like them just as much but I seem to have a soft spot for Brant.

I picked up this book, the first in Steve Brewer's Bubba Mabry series, because I heard the movie version was about to start filming. Bubba is played by Jay Mohr. I can definitely see him in the part.

Bubba is a displaced southern boy from Mississippi now working as a private investigator in Albuquerque. He is hired to do a bit of surveillance on a fan who is harassing a celebrity. The celebrity turns out to be Elvis Presley. Yeah, the dead one.

Well, Bubba soon finds out the fan is actually a tabloid reporter who recognized Elvis and plans to expose him. But Elvis is trying to stay dead.

When a couple of bodies appear, and Elvis has left the building, Bubba has to figure out what is really going on as the police have him down as the prime suspect in the murders. If he tries to say Elvis hired him, they will throw him in the looney bin.

I liked Bubba a lot. I wasn't too sure about the whole "Elvis lives" theme but if you can suspend reality enough to accept that Elvis is still alive, and wouldn't want anyone to know that, this is a fun story. After all, the taboids already want us to believe he's been sighted.

There are five more books after this one and several others not in this series. I'll be looking for all of them.

Anne Seymour is a reporter working the case of a dead college girl who moonlighted for an escort service. Following the trail to her regular customers leads Anne into a web of crooked city employees, laundered money, and a connection that's a little too close to home.

Complicating Anne's personal and professional life are a tenacious cub reporter, her meddling lawyer mother, a hot private investigator, and her long-term boyfriend who happens to be the lead investigator on the girl's death.

I generally like to take notes while I read a book. How else can I remember the important stuff when it can be a year or two between series entries? This book was moving so fast with twists and turns everywhere that I completely forgot to write anything down.

Karen E Olson has created a smart, witty, lovable character who depite her faults, worms her way right into your heart. She is just snoopy enough, just careful enough, and just cynical enough to be realistic. I'd take her out for white clam pizza anytime.

The second book in this series will be out in September. It is called Secondhand Smoke.

My bookmark reluctantly gave up on Mario Acevedo's book about halfway through. It had such promise. It was also a Booksense Notable Pick for April 2006.

Felix Gomez is a former soldier who served in the Middle East. He was bitten by a vampire while there and returned home, now a vampire himself, to become a private investigator. Just imagine the possibilities of a PI with superhuman vampire powers and military training.

Yeah well, those possibilities weren't here. The dialog was choppy, the characters were two-dimensional, the plot was getting silly despite the nymphomaniacs, and Felix just had too much angst about drinking human blood.

I read to approximately the midpoint of the book, then jumped to the end to see if the story was going anywhere. The last chapter convinced me I didn't need to see what happened in between. I really didn't care how it got there.

I will try his second book, X-Rated Blood Suckers, out next spring. I still think this premise has potential.

Jeff Shelby's second novel in his Noah Braddock series is even better than the first. I read Killer Swell a couple of weeks ago and posted my comments here. I ordered this second book even before finishing the first.

Peter Pluto asks Noah to look for his brother, Linc, who is missing. Noah was recommended to him by a mutual friend so Noah feels some responsibility to take the case. It turns out the reason Peter wants the police kept off the case is because Linc was mixed up with some white supremacists.

When Noah is beat up by two of the supremacists and shot at by some local gang members the case becomes much more confusing and terribly personal. Mixed somewhere in all of this is a cache of guns found in Linc's apartment.

On a personal level, Noah is attempting to reconcile with both his estranged alcoholic mother, and Liz, the cop Noah has dated off an on for some time.

Carter returns as Noah's backup and muscle and Noah becomes friendlier with Liz's partner, Wellton, this time around.

I highly recommend Jeff Shelby's books. Run out and get both of them!

I had heard so many good things about this novel that I purchased it a few months ago but it didn't make it to the top of my TBR pile until this past weekend. Brian Freeman's debut novel has been shortlisted for five of the major awards, the Anthony, the Edgar, the Macavity, the Barry, and the Dagger.

There is little I can say about this book without giving away too much of the plot. It is written in three parts. The first part is the investigation into the disappearance of a young girl. Jonathan Stride and his partner Maggie Bei are the lead investigators on the case. Jonathan is still haunted by a similar case from a year ago that was never solved. Feeling as if he had failed that girl, he is determined to solve this case. Suspects abound as the girl was not well liked by anyone. Even her relationship with her mother and step-father was strained.

The second part is the trial where even more of the facts in the case come out. We hear the later investigative results and a few surprises are revealed during testimony. Trials are not my favorite things to read about but this is different. We learn everything that happened in the investigation after the suspect was arrested. We also get to be like the jury and decide for ourselves the guilt or innocence of the accused based on the available evidence.

The third part actually happens three years later. Everyone has moved on and further evidence is revealed that sheds new light on the case. Jonathan has to know the truth and follows this new lead to satisfy himself that the case is really closed.

I absolutely loved this book. Jonathan became real to me. After the upheaval at the end of this book, the next will be quite different. The setting and the secondary characters will all have to change but I know Freeman can pull it off. I'll be standing in line the day it comes out.

John Sandford has taken a break from his very popular Lucas Davenport series and brought us a standalone this year.

I am a big Sandford fan but this book is a little lukewarm. The plot is interesting and moves quickly but I never felt strongly about any of the characters. There isn't a singular bad guy to fear and hate and the good guy is no Lucas.

An ex-senator is missing and his wife believes the White House is involved since her husband had just made a speech that was very inflamatory to the current administration. The Chief of Staff gets their go-to guy, Jake Winter, to investigate and to find out what he can about the missing man. Jake agrees that the disappearance appears to be a kidnapping but then the man's body is found and Jake uncovers a conspiracy to take down the Vice President and his political party. He also uncovers information about this man's personal life that could be used to confuse the investigation and deflect it from the White House. But should he? Is damage control the only issue at hand?

Throughout this book, we aren't certain who is involved. Who are the bad guys? Who can we trust? There is also a certain futuristic element that I can't quite put my finger on. There are references to an organization called the Watchmen that reminds me of science fiction stories where the government polices the people with surveillance and intimidation while promising only protection. Very Big Brother.

If you are a Sandford fan, this will be required reading just as it was for me. Sandford is definitely one of the best but this book isn't his best effort. If you are new to this author, you would be better off to start with Lucas.

Monday, August 7, PJ Tracy will be signing Snow Blind

Thursday, August 10, Bruce Cook will be signing Philippine Fever along with Troy Cook who will be signing 47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers.

Both events will be at Once Upon a Crime in Minneapolis and start at 7:00pm.

PJ Tracy is actually a pseudonym for a mother/daughter team. PJ (mom) lives in Minnesota and Traci (daughter) lives in Los Angeles. If you have an opportunity to see them in person, go. They are extremely funny and gracious.

I believe Bruce Cook and Troy Cook are also father and son though they write separately. Bruce's new book has a blurb of my review on the cover so I think I have to pick up a hardcover despite the fact that I already have an ARC on my shelf. We have corresponded a few times so it will be nice to meet him in person.

I have also heard good things about Troy's book and planned to get it even before I heard he was coming to Minnesota or that he is Bruce's son. Nice coincidence.

I can't believe I almost stopped reading this book at page 22. I would have missed so many good laughs.

Helena Handbasket is a private detective. Well, sort of. She didn't actually have any training and she isn't any good at it, but she bought an official looking certificate on the internet.

When Owen Banks asks Helena to help him find out who killed his brother, Robin Banks, and sent his severed hands to Owen, Helena and her secretary/psycho sidekick Fifi Fofum are on the case, aided by their computer savvy friend Heidi Salami. (say all these names out loud if you aren't getting it)

More bodies are found with their hands removed, a fish sewn to their chests, and a Bible verse on a piece of paper in their mouths. It all seems to tie back to some missing jewels the Banks brothers are suspected of stealing.

The whole book is one big send up of crime novels. It is a parody of every subgenre of mysteries you can think of including the ones with cats. It is like watching a Mel Brooks spoof movie. Remember Spaceballs?

This book is short at only 153 pages but with a laugh out loud moment on almost every one. Save this book for when you are in the mood to poke fun at everything we believe a mystery should have. If you aren't in the right mood, this book could come off as too silly but give it a chance. It is wonderful light hearted fun.

I looked for a website for Donna Moore, the author of this book but was unable to locate one. I did find out she lives in Scotland and this is her debut novel.

Books about lawyers are not typically my favorite but I have a short list of authors who write legal mysteries to whom I am faithful. David Rosenfelt and his series about defense lawyer Andy Carpenter are on that list.

Andy is a self-deprecating wiseass who typically angers judges with his courtroom antics but he is honorable and his goal is to find the truth. He only takes cases he believes in. He is rich, thanks to a hefty inheritance, so he can be choosy and turn down anyone he doesn't feel strongly about.

At the end of the last book, Andy's girlfriend and investigator Laurie Collins left New Jersey to take her dream job with the police department back in Wisconsin where she grew up. It is only a few months later and Andy is still trying to recover. When Laurie calls him to defend the boy she had to arrest for a double homicide, he isn't sure if he wants to reopen the wounds of their breakup. When circumstances make the case personal, Andy decides to take the case despite having to be around Laurie every day.

Most of the secondary characters we have come to love throughout this series manage to help out in Wisconsin, including hypochondriac lawyer Kevin, song-talking computer hacker Sam, and the ever scary Marcus.

The two murdered girls were members of a cult-like religious community in a nearby town. The group is closed and secretive making investigation difficult for both the police and the defense team.

Andy is very likable and the first person narrative lets us inside Andy's head to hear the snarky comments he would like to say even when he can't.

Even if you avoid legal mysteries like I typically do, give Andy Carpenter a chance. Rosenfelt has a winner here.

Noah Braddock is a private investigator in San Diego. He isn't a typical PI. He's a surfer dude. Noah worked for an insurance company doing investigative work and when he had the required time in, he got his license and went out on his own.

Noah is approached by the mother of an ex-girlfriend who is missing. She wants Noah to look for her daughter. Noah has no trouble finding Kate decomposing in the trunk of her car but now the parents want him to figure out what happened to her.

Noah is warned off by a major drug lord and the police but memories of Kate keep him looking for her killer. Even when he keeps hearing that she wasn't the woman he remembered, that she had gotten mixed up in some illegal activities, he has to keep going.

Assisting Noah is his good friend Carter Hamm. Carter is a little scary with even scarier friends. Both Noah and Carter are a little snarky which adds humor in all the right places.

The lead detective on the case is another old girlfriend of Noah's and now Kate's sister is interested in starting something with him.

This is a quick, fun read. I finished it in one sitting. Jeff Shelby's second Noah Braddock novel just came out this month. I'll be picking it up real soon.

Tess Monaghan is teaching a seminar at the local paper about investigative techniques. One of the cases she is using is the high profile, unsolved murder of a federal prosecutor. When her boyfriend brings home a street kid who seems to unknowingly hold a clue in the case, Tess tries to do a good deed and gets the newspaper to print the information anonymously setting off a chain of events that puts everyone she cares about in danger.

Laura Lippman's series has been strong throughout, as are her standalones. Tess started as a Baltimore reporter, then left the paper to become a licensed private investigator. She is extremely likable, intuitive, intelligent, and thinks quick on her feet. Occasionally she manages to put her foot in her mouth, though. The secondary characters are equally wonderful and add fullness to the community Lippman has created. Tess' lawyer, Tyner, gets her through the legal situations while her best friend, posh Whitney Talbot, gets her out of, or sometimes into, some of the more questionable ones.

I like the way Tess remains idealistic and tries to always do the right thing. She tries to uphold her beliefs despite what she's been through. So many other protagonists come off as cynical and hard. Tess is truly one of a kind and definitely a favorite of mine.

Oh yeah. Give me a nice serial killer book and some uninterrupted quiet time and I'm happy.

Unfortunately the uninterrupted quiet time isn't happening in my house any more and it almost killed me to have to keep putting this book down.

Blown Away by Shane Gericke is about a seriously sick guy who has it in for a rookie cop named Emily Thompson. He keeps setting up murder scenes to depict games Emily played in her childhood, like Clue, Operation, and Chutes and Ladders. When they realize all of this is leading up to a showdown on Emily's birthday, only a few days away, the tension ratchets up with each new crime scene and Emily has to scour her past to figure out who this guy is.

Emily is convincing as an older rookie cop who wants to do well at her job and please her employers. She is horrified that people are dying in order to deliver some sort of message from the killer.

Flashbacks show the killer and Emily with their families and attempt to explain the grudge the killer has with her. They are brief and integral to the story, explaining much of Emily's personality as well as his.

It was hard to believe this book is Gericke's debut. The plotting was tight and the characters are well-drawn and believable. I enjoyed it immensely.

I am really excited about three author signings next week. I mentioned earlier that Kim Harrison will be in the Twin Cities on Monday at Dreamhaven Books. I'm also looking forward to Barry Eisler on Wednesday at Once Upon a Crime and Laura Lippman on Thursday at the Hennepin County Library-Ridgedale Branch.

I have already read Barry's The Last Assassin and reviewed it briefly here. Kim's book will be purchased that night since she will be signing at a bookstore that I have never been to before. I can't wait to see what Rachel Morgan is up to this time around. Laura's new book, No Good Deeds, is already in my posession and I have no qualms about taking it to the library to get her to sign it. I also want to read it before I go hear her talk about it so it needs to get to the top of my TBR pile.

I'm also reading a couple of books for review on Armchair Interviews. I'm just starting the first one and it is looking really good. We'll see if it can keep up this pace. Full notes will appear here when I have finished it.

Kim Harrison is the author of a great series about The Hollows, a part of Cincinnati that is home to vampires, witches, pixies and various other races. The main character is a witch and a runner, similar to a bounty hunter, named Rachel Morgan. Her partner is Ivy Tamwood, a living vampire. Ivy won't become a full undead vampire until she dies.

Undead in the garden of good and evil is a novella, sort of a prequel to the series, about how Ivy became Rachel's partner. It is in an anthology called Dates from Hell that also includes stories by Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, and Lori Handeland.

Harrison has created a world so complete you will believe it exists and she is revealing more and more in each book.

She is going to be signing her new book, A Fistful of Charms, near me on July 17th. This is another author who's books never sit around my house for any length of time once they are published. I've been saving two of the stories in this anthology, Harrison's and Armstrong's, for when I needed a guaranteed read. A road trip over the past weekend was just what I had been waiting for. Also, I wanted to get Harrison's read before I got her new book. I'll have much more to say after I have read that one.

Robert Fate recently sent me a copy of his debut novel, Baby Shark, due out in September 2006.

Kristin van Dijk travels with her father, a pool hustler, from bar to bar. When a gang of bikers come looking for him one night in a bar, they kill him and the bartender, wound the bartenders father, Henry Chin, and beat and rape Kristin and leave her for dead.

The beginning of the book is a little slow as Henry helps Kristin escape the fire set by the gang to cover their crimes and takes her to his home to recuperate. However, the story starts to pick up speed as Henry finds Kristin tutors to school her in the use of firearms and military style close work. She also starts training with her father's friend to hone her pool skills.

The pace continues to build as Kristin earns the nickname Baby Shark in the pool halls her father used to frequent and as the private investigator hired by Henry to find the members of the gang who attacked them has some success. Kristin, now trained by her military tutors to be deadly, wants revenge.

Part of what makes Kristin unique is the fact that the story takes place in the early 1950's. Women at that time were not expected to be strong or skilled in the art of killing which makes it easy for her quarry to underestimate her abilities.

Fate has an interesting background. According to his bio, he spent time in the Marines, studied at the Sorbonne in France, worked as an oilfield roughneck, a fashion model, and a chef. Baby Shark is the first in a new series for him. I'm very curious about what will happen to Kristin after the exciting climax of this book and will be looking for the next one in the spring of 2007.

Jack Reacher is a former Army military police investigator who retired when he felt he was no longer needed and now travels the country, a bit under the wire, going wherever he chooses. He has no drivers license, no credit cards, no address, and carries only the clothes on his back and the toothbrush in his pocket.

In each book of this series by Lee Child, Reacher is caught up in someone's mess due to being in the wrong place at the wrong time and his code of honor compels him to do what he can for the side he believes to be right. There is typically an opportunity (or several) for him to use his military training to outsmart the bad guys, and a woman to warm his very temporary bed.

The dialog is clipped in a military sort of way. It feels exactly right for someone like Reacher who grew up in a military family. The way Reacher notices and remembers everything around him and his ability to always know precisely what time it is make him seem superhuman yet he is flawed and that only makes him more human. He is analytical with the clues yet can dismiss the facts and go with his guy feeling when it disagrees. He makes mistakes but always makes up for it in the end.

In The Hard Way, Reacher witnessed the pickup of ransom money. The man whose wife and step-daughter were kidnapped wants Reacher to help recover them. Reacher will do whatever he can to bring the woman and her daughter home despite the fact that he doesn't like or trust the man who hired him. When Reacher starts to have doubts about the truth, he has to figure out who he can trust.

Lee Child's novels are consistently high octane. I try to save them for when I have an uninterrupted weekend to read it cover to cover. They never wait long once they make it into my hands and I haven't been disappointed yet.

Most of the books in this series stand alone nicely. Reacher is a loner who travels so he meets new people in each book. There were some at the beginning of the series where people reappeared though, and one which went back in time to when he was still in the Army.

Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus are homicide detectives in Mobile, Alabama and the protagonists in a great series by JackKerley.

I would classify these books as police procedurals with a hefty bit of creepy suspense mixed in. Carson and Harry are the only two members of the Psychopathological and Sociopathological Investigative Team, or PSIT. When the really creepy cases come along, these are the guys that get it.

Carson is particularly appropriate for this assignment. He and his brother grew up in an abusive household. Their mother was unable to protect them from their father. Carson grew up to be a cop. His brother, Jeremy, grew up to be a psychopathic killer and is incarcerated.

In the first couple of books, Carson managed to get some important insight from his brother that helped them figure out the case. However, this insight did not come without a price. The payment that Jeremy asks and the reluctance with which Carson complies is part of the creepy that I really like about these books. Carson loves his brother but knows the insanity could have been his fate as well.

For those who don't like torture or grisley death scenes, I have to say that Kerley handles it more like Alfred Hitchcock. He tells you just enough that you know what awful thing is going to happen, or did happen, and then you have to imagine the details.

I especially liked the second book, The Death Collectors, where the investigation led them to people who collect death memorabilia. It's hard to imagine people who get off collecting personal items that belonged to serial killers or their victims. People who would pay big money to get their hands on actual murder weapons or police photos so they could display them proudly in their home.

In A Garden of Vipers, the vipers are a wealthy family that may not be as altruistic as they want to appear. Keeping the family secrets behind closed doors has cost several lives including a young reporter, a psychiatrist, a retired teacher, and a convict. How Carson and Harry managed to tie all these cases together while Carson was dealing with a tattered love life kept me turning pages well into the night.

Jay MacLarty writes a great series about a courier named Simon Leonidovich. Now this isn't the bike messenger kind of courier. Simon travels internationally delivering packages. His basic rate is $10,000 plus expenses so the packages tend to be really important.

In the first book, The Courier, the package was information about a new pharmaceutical drug that was killing people. Simon was up against the company who had invested heavily and desperately wanted to keep that quiet.

The second book, Bagman, had Simon delivering ransom money for the kidnapped daughter of a Las Vegas casino owner. Things got complicated by an unknown insider providing intel to the kidnapper.

This third installment is a political thriller. Simon is set up with faked evidence that will "prove" the President of the United States is supporting a faction that is trying to reunify Korea. He is then sent to North Korea where he is supposed to get left holding the documents and be too dead to refute the evidence.

I liked that we weren't any more certain of the players than Simon. When Simon is asked to trust someone, we aren't sure if he should any more than he is. Knowing who is in on it and understanding why they are doing it doesn't completely clear it up until the very end when it all comes to a climax and everything is revealed.

Simon is assisted by his sister, Lara Quinn, the office manager of their high tech business. He also has a friend who specializes in encryption at the NSA. She uses her conscience to draw the line on what she can and can't do to help Simon when he gets in a sticky situation. Some characters from previous books make repeat appearances.

MacLarty keeps the tension high in all three books. Live Wire will be on my award nomination list for 2006.

Each of these books probably could stand nicely on it's own or be read out of order as no huge spoilers are given away.

C J Box writes a series about a Wyoming game warden named Joe Pickett. Joe is a warm likeable guy who loves his job and hates the bureaucracy that he feels sometimes works against him. He is happily married to MaryBeth, and the father of two daughters, Sheridan and Lucy. Joe's partner in the pick-up is Maxine, his dog.

Each of the books in this series tells a great story about what it is like to live in the west. There are hunters, fishermen, poachers, wealthy ranchers, small town sheriffs, people just trying to hide out, extreme weather, and majestic scenery that Box describes so well I feel I've seen it.

Box manages to weave his stories around real political issues in Wyoming without coming off as heavy-handed. He carefully lets you see both sides of the issue without telling you which side is right and which is wrong. Of course his protagonist has opinions, but his job as game warden makes him uphold the law regardless of what he thinks of it. Box has included issues such as endangered species, eco-terrorism, methane drilling, and primogeniture.

It is my firm belief that Box is the king of the opening lines. See what I mean...

In Plain Sight (2006)
"When ranch owner Opal Scarlett vanished, no one mourned except her three grown sons, Arlen, Hank, and Wyatt who expressed their loss by getting into a fight with shovels."

Savage Run (2002)
"On the third day of their honeymoon, infamous environmental activist Stewie Woods and his new bride, Annabel Bellotti, were spiking trees in the forest when a cow exploded and blew them up. Until then, their marriage had been happy."

So, am I right???

If you haven't experienced Joe Pickett yet, start with the first one, Open Season. Some of the characters from earlier books show up in later books and there are some spoilers if you read them out of order.

Having said that, I have to admit that I am a stickler about reading series books in order. I will almost never pick up a recommended book without going back to the beginning. I do sometimes find it doesn't really matter but I expect to see the protagonist affected by the things that happen to him and to grow from the experiences. Reading out of order spoils that for me.

So what are you reading?

I'm currently reading The Last Assassin by Barry Eisler. His books are about a freelance assassin who specializes in making the death look like natural causes. John Rain started out very much a loner but through the arc of the series has come to a tentative trust of a few close friends and associates. They are a varied lot from the party animal, ex-Marine sniper to the beautiful Mossad agent.

I especially like the detailed covert operations and the exotic locales that Rain travels to. They remind me of Reacher in the Lee Child books only with a larger travel budget and a bigger wardrobe.

While reading these books I start to look around me more than usual. I'm looking for people who are out of place or those that could be lying in wait to ambush me. I start to feel a little paranoid but it's like getting into character. I read only one book at a time and live with the characters while I'm at it.

When I get to the new Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich, I'll start noticing where the funeral homes are.