Compendium of Mystery News 070914

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• The results of the Quill Awards were announced this week. Readers can vote among the winners for Book of the Year. In the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category, the winner was What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman.

• Congratulations to the mystery book review site Reviewing the Evidence for being nominated for an Anthony Award in the Special Services category.

• Roberta Alexander reviews new mystery books in her It's a Mystery column on the Contra Costa Times.

• More from Janice O'Leary of the Boston Globe on Kate Mattes' plans for her Cambridge (MA) mystery bookstore, Kate's Mystery Books.

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Bestsellers for September 14, 2007

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending September 14, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

It is not unusual for James Patterson to have multiple books on the mystery bestseller list. This week he has three: The Quickie, The 6th Target, and his latest book, You've Been Warned co-written with Howard Roughan. Kristin Burns is making her way in New York City. Her photos are being considered at a major Manhattan gallery, she works by day with two wonderful children, and the man of her dreams is almost hers for keeps. But just as everything she's ever wanted is finally within reach, her life changes forever--with one murderous nightmare. Kristin wakes up every morning from the same chilling, unforgettable dream. And suddenly, it's visiting her during the day too. As her life turns stranger by the minute, Kristin is haunted and terrified. Is it all in her head? Or is the nightmare becoming her life? Kristin searches desperately for what's real through the lens of her camera, only knowing two things for sure: that no place is safe and the fate of everyone she loves lies in her hands. Reviews have been decidedly mixed, but this being a Patterson novel, it will likely be on this list for several months to come.

For readers wondering when the next Alex Cross mystery will be published, it is scheduled for release this November. Titled Double Cross, it is available for pre-order.

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Book Review: Page One Vanished by Nancy Barr

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of Page One: Vanished by Nancy Barr. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Page One: Vanished by Nancy Barr
A Robin Hamilton Mystery

Arbutus Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-933926-16-3 (1933926163)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933926-16-2 (9781933926162)
Publication Date: May 2007
List Price: $16.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): While browsing through an eclectic used bookstore in Copper Harbor, Michigan, Robin Hamilton, vacationing newspaper reporter, spies a dusty old scrapbook with a cover photo of a young girl with golden brown eyes. The label reads Mary Jo Quinn – 1960-1974. Inside, newspaper clippings from regional newspapers cover Mary Jo’s sudden disappearance on her last day of school in 1974. Robin’s journalist instincts come alive and she starts asking questions about the scrapbook and the girl whose body was never found.

Then Robin’s friend Charlie Baker, an Escanaba city cop, mentions a girl who disappeared from Ishpeming in ’79 – just vanished. More questions by Robin produce similar news stories, first from Robin’s newspaper editor and then from her father — about two more teenage girls, one missing from Manistique and another from Kingsford —both vanished without a clue or body ever found.

Now Robin has the scent and begs her editor for time and an expense account to pursue clues and a news story. The hunt takes Robin across the length and breadth of the U.P. and into her own recent and distant past, tracking the fates of five unfortunate girls over a span of 30 years.

The girls remain hidden—the mystery itself out of sight—until Robin Hamilton encounter the hideous truth.

Review: Nancy Barr's second Robin Hamilton mystery, Page One: Vanished, opens with the small town reporter finding a scrapbook in a used bookstore that prompts her to investigate the disappearance of a young girl over 30 years ago.

While discussing the scrapbook with a friend, she learns another girl disappeared in the same general area, though many years later. As she continues to pursue her story, she discovers several teenaged girls had disappeared without a trace over a three decade period. But the only thing they apparently had in common was their interest in the arts: music, painting, and the like. When another girl vanishes, Robin is convinced it's related to the disappearance of all the others, and is determined to find out who is responsible.

Certainly a great appeal of this series is the setting. Both the first book in this series and this one are set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. There are no large cities in this sparsely populated region, just small towns widely separated. As a reporter for a local newspaper, she doesn't have access to all of the resources a large city daily would have, and her low-tech pursuit for the truth is exciting to follow. In the end, Barr puts an unexpected twist on the highly foreshadowed conclusion making it much more intriguing than it otherwise would have been.

At over 300 pages, Page One: Vanished is far too long for the story being told. True, Robin has a lot of ground to cover during her investigation, but it isn't strictly necessary to relate every detail of every trip she takes as she travels from one town to the next. And she does a lot of traveling. It's interesting at first, but rapidly gets repetitive

Robin Hamilton is one small town investigative reporter that is worth getting to know. It's not essential to read the first two books in order, but doing so helps the reader understand some of her development as a character here. One can look forward to a third book in the series: a hint to its storyline is given in the final paragraphs of Page One: Vanished.

Special thanks to Arbutus Press for providing a copy of Page One: Vanished for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Mystery Book Review: Face Down O'er the Border by Kathy Lynn Emerson

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of Face Down O'er the Border by Kathy Lynn Emerson. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Face Down O'er the Border by Kathy Lynn Emerson
A Lady Appleton Mystery

Perseverance Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-880284-91-X (188028491X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-880284-91-9 (9781880284919)
Publication Date: September 2007
List Price: $14.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): When Catherine, Lady Glenelg, is accused of murdering her mother-in-law, Susanna must travel o'er the border to discover who really committed the crime.

Review: Kathy Lynn Emerson contrasts the gripping events of political unrest in 1577 Scotland with a seemingly simple domestic crime in Face Down O'er the Border, the 10th mystery in the Susanna, Lady Appleton series.

Jean Ferguson, Lady Russell, daughter of the seventh baron Glenelg, and her daughter-in-law, Catherine Russell, alone in their home, were assumed to been having an argument at the top of the spiral staircase. The house staff was out on errands and there were no witnesses to what happened next. When found later at the bottom of the stairs, Jean had blood and skin under her fingernails and Catherine’s face was scratched. Both women appeared to be unconscious. Annabel MacReynolds, an old friend of Catherine’s found them. Catherine was indeed unconscious, but Jean was dead. When it became apparent that Catherine was going to be accused and arrested for Jean’s death, Annabel insisted Catherine leave Glenelg House, and hide out as a maid servant in other houses until Susanna, Lady Appleton, a dear friend and amateur sleuth, could come and try to solve the crime.

As a historical mystery, Emerson includes real people who lived and ruled in Scotland during the time this mystery was set. Some of these people may factor into the death of Lady Russell. Was her death an accident? Was she killed intentionally by her daughter-in-law? Or was she somehow involved in the political unrest in Scotland and someone else was the killer? Though Catherine has suffered a memory loss for the time period, during, and just after the fall, Susanna does not believe she killed Lady Russell who appears to have died as a result of strangulation, not the fall. It takes all of Susanna’s wit and cunning to find the answers to where Catherine has disappeared to, and just who killed Jean Ferguson and why.

This very interesting story involves more than just the murder and subsequent investigation. Historical details such has how people dressed, how they managed their homes, and even how their horses are treated are included. The whodunit aspect is also well done, the result being an exciting mystery until the very end.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Face Down O'er the Border and to Perseverance Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Mysteries on TV: Prime Suspect, Bones, and Jericho of Scotland Yard

Mystery television series being released this week on DVD:

Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act starred the amazing Helen Mirran in her last performance as Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison. The series was based on the character created by Lynda La Plante in her trilogy of Prime Suspect mysteries from the early 1990s.

Originally airing on ITV1 in the UK, Prime Suspect aired as part of Masterpiece Theater on PBS in the US. This DVD set includes the 184 minute episode Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act on 2 disks.

Watch an exclusive clip of Prime Suspect 7: The Final Act on Amazon.com here.

Bones: Season 2 starred Emily Deschanel as forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan. David Boreanaz plays FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth who assigns her unsolved crimes to work on. The series characters are based on those created by mystery author Kathy Reichs.

Bones first aired on Fox in September 2005 and remains in production today. This DVD set includes all 22 episodes from the second season on 6 disks.

Watch the opening credits from Bones Season 2 on YouTube.com here.

Jericho of Scotland Yard: Set 2 starred Robert Lindsay as Detective Inspector Michael Jericho of Scotland Yard. The series also starred David Troughton as Detective Sergeant Clive Harvey and Ciaran McMenamin as Detective Constable John Caldicott. The series is set in London in the late 1950s.

ITV1 aired 4 episodes in the UK during the fall of 2005. Mystery! on PBS aired the episodes in the US. This DVD set includes the third and fourth episodes on 2 disks.

Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD.

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Mystery Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for September 10, 2007

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is available on our website.

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!).

This week's letters and mystery clue: A D E H K N O S W. According to the title of a Mick Sever mystery by Don Bruns, this criminal activity happened in South Beach (9 letters).

New! We now have our puzzles in PDF format for easier printing. Print this week's puzzle here.

Previous puzzles are stored in the Mystery Godoku Archives.

Enjoy the weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle from the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, and Thanks for visiting our website!

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Compendium of Mystery News 070909

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• Majesco Entertainment provides some screen shots of its upcoming Nancy Drew mystery for the Nintendo DS as well as creating a new website for what is expected to be a series of games for this platform. (MBN note: Visit Games of Mystery to see all Nancy Drew mystery games for the PC as well as get information on mystery games for the Nintendo DS.)

• Metro.co.uk has a 60 second interview with Ian Rankin.

• January Magazine interviews author M. J. Rose, whose latest thriller The Reincarnationist was published this month.

• Maureen Corrigan in the Washington Post writes about two new books with killer destinations.

• Marilyn Stasio reviews several new mysteries for her column in The New York Times.

• And, over in the UK, Jake Kerridge reviews crime fiction for his column in the Telegraph.

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Bestsellers for September 07, 2007

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending September 07, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

As predicted last week, Kathy Reichs latest Temperance Brennan mystery, Bones to Ashes, owns the top position in this week's mystery bestseller list.

New on the list this week: HeartSick by Chelsea Cain. Portland Detective Archie Sheridan spent ten years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful serial killer, but in the end she caught him. Gretchen kidnapped Archie and tortured him for ten days, then she released him and turned herself in. Now Gretchen is locked away, while Archie is in a prison of another kind—addicted to painkillers, and powerless to erase those ten days from his mind. When another killer begins snatching teenage girls, Archie knows that he has to pull himself together and investigate the murders. Newspaper reporter Susan Ward begins following Archie’s investigation, sparking a deadly game between Archie, Susan, the new killer, and even Gretchen. They need to catch a killer, and maybe somehow Archie can now free himself from Gretchen once and for all. The New York Times states that HeartSick is "lurid and suspenseful with well-drawn characters, plenty of grisly surprises and tart dialog, it delivers what readers of this particular kind of thriller expect."

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Book Review: The Way Life Should Be by Terry Shaw

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of The Way Life Should Be by Terry Shaw. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Way Life Should Be by Terry Shaw
Non-series

Simon & Schuster Touchstone (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-4165-6312-1 (1416563121)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-6312-9 (9781416563129)
Publication Date: September 2007
List Price: $14.00

Synopsis (from the publisher): Newspaper editor John Quinn and his wife have returned to his hometown to raise their son, but real estate prices have soared and natives are being pushed out. Then a popular politician and family man is murdered at a well-known gay pickup spot. The victim was Quinn's childhood friend, Paul Stanwood. Quinn insists Paul was only investigating a police crackdown at the park.

When the police chief and others seem to ignore and downplay obvious clues, Quinn takes matters into his own hands. Even though his wife's car is vandalized and a source is severely beaten after he speaks out on the hidden violence against gays, Quinn refuses to stop looking for answers. With so many people hiding secrets -- secrets some are willing to kill for -- Quinn has to find out the truth about his friend's murder before he, too, is permanently silenced.

Review: Winner of the 2007 Gather.com First Chapters writing competition, the mystery novel The Way Life Should Be by Terry Shaw is an intriguing character study of life in a small town along the Maine coast.

John Quinn's family had been living in Stone Harbor for generations and running the local newspaper for the better part of the last century. Following the death of his father, Quinn, who had left Stone Harbor to seek a more exciting life, returned to the small town to assume operational and editorial control of the family business. When Paul Stanwood, a close friend, is murdered in a local park known as a meeting place for gay men, Quinn is shocked not only at the death of his friend but that he may also have been leading a secret life. Determined to discover the truth behind Stanwood's murder, Quinn begins an investigation that takes him down a path of secrets and lies that winds its way through his hometown.

Shaw depicts life in this small Maine town through his characters, and the depth of their development as the story progresses is one of the strong points of the book. Though Quinn is the primary character, his family, friends, and associates all play substantial parts and are given fully developed roles. The author also asks some important questions about the newspaper business. What function does a small town paper play in an age of global media empires and the internet? As a business, should the primary motivation be to make a profit or to be a voice for the community? Can one be achieved without sacrificing the other?

At its core, however, The Way Life Should Be is a mystery and ironically this may be its weakest point. From a plot perspective, the murder and its resolution are well thought out. But the attempts at misdirection are handled clumsily and at times seem disjointed or incomplete. The fluid point-of-view doesn't help and can change abruptly, sometimes within a single paragraph. When two or more men are together in a scene, for example, it often isn't clear to whom the "he" refers.

Despite these minor shortcomings, The Way Life Should Be is a considered, thoughtful debut mystery and is recommended.

Special thanks to Touchstone Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, for providing an ARC of The Way Life Should Be for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Book Review: Buffalo Mountain by Frederick Ramsay

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of Buffalo Mountain by Frederick Ramsay. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Buffalo Mountain by Frederick Ramsay
An Ike Schwartz Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-369-8 (1590583698)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-369-2 (9781590583692)
Publication Date: August 2007
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): It's the bleak midwinter and the Shenandoah Valley is poised on the brink of an unusually icy and snowy season. Alexei Kamarov's body is discovered in a forest within the Picketsville town limits. His driver's license identifies him as Randall Harris. The last Sheriff Ike Schwartz heard of Kamarov, he was reported missing, presumed dead, in Russia, the victim of intelligence game-playing.

Ike is not happy with this piece of his past. Ike's former CIA colleague and friend Charlie Garland asks Ike to keep a lid on the investigation.

Slowly, interagency rivalries surface as local petty criminals vie with international assassins and plotters for attention. All the while, Buffalo Mountain looms in the background. Does the community's violent history have something do with this recent murder? Or is Kamarov's death part of some greater political plot?

Review: Buffalo Mountain, the third book in this series by Frederick Ramsay featuring Sheriff Ike Schwartz, is a convoluted yet enjoyable mystery set in the foothills of Buffalo Mountain western Virginia.

Ike is the chief law enforcement officer for the city of Pittsville. He has a small police force to work with him, including Sam Ryder, a computer wizard who can hack into virtually any computer. When a dead body is found, Ike is called to the scene. Though identified by his driver's license as Randall Harris, a member of a local clan known for its feuds with another family, Ike recognizes him as Alexei Kamarov, a Russian operative that Ike had known while he was working for the CIA. Alexei had been reported missing and presumed dead by the CIA. And now he has turned up in Pittsville. Is it just a coincidence that Ike happens to be Sheriff there? Is his death simply the result of a conflict between families in the area? Or could it be political? Or something else?

As Ike begins his investigation, Sam does a bit of electronic sleuthing and finds that the FBI and CIA are already aggressively following the dead man's money trail. Alexei had extensive financial resources and when someone starts using his credit cards and ATM accounts, they think they may have their killer.

There are any number of suspects who have connections to both Alexei and Ike, including a minister of a local church, a Colonel who served in three wars, and some young men living in the hills. Though at times confusing to follow, this whodunit is a real page turner that has what every mystery should have: a credible plot, suspense tempered with a little humor, and a charming love story.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Buffalo Mountain and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Compendium of Mystery News 070904

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• John Mark Eberhart interviews mystery author Alafair Burke in The Kansas City Star. Burke's latest mystery is the first in a new series featuring NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher.

• Margaret Cannon reviews several new mysteries in her column on TheGlobeandMail.com.

• Author Nancy Pickard talks to St. Louis Post-Dispatch book editor Jane Henderson about the craft of writing mysteries.

• David Fischer of the Associated Press profiles Jeff Lindsay, author of the Dexter thrillers that serve as the basis for the Showtime series Dexter. (MBN note: The first season of Dexter is available on DVD; visit Mysteries on TV for more information.)

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mysteries on TV: Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

Mystery television series being released this week on DVD:

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates: The Complete Series starred Patricia Routledge as a 60-something amateur sleuth. Hetty Wainthropp was based on a character from the David Cook novel Missing Persons; a screenplay adapted from this book served as the series pilot that aired in 1990.

BBC-1 aired 27 episodes of Hetty Wainthropp Investigates over 4 seasons from 1996 through 1998. This collection contains every episode plus the rarely seen pilot, Missing Persons, on 13 disks.

Watch the opening credits and closing credits (from the 1st episode) on YouTube.com here.

Visit the Mysteries on TV website to discover more television mystery series currently available on DVD.

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Mystery Book Review: Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood
A Phryne Fisher Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-168-7 (1590581687)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-168-1 (9781590581681)
Publication Date: September 2007
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Phryne Fisher loves dancing, especially with gorgeous young Simon Abrahams. But Phryne’s contentment at the Jewish Young People’s Society Dance is cut short when Simon’s father asks her to investigate the strange death of a devout young student in Miss Sylvia Lee’s bookshop located in the Eastern Market.

Miss Lee has been arrested for the murder, and Phryne agrees that she is a very unlikely murderer. Investigation leads her into the exotic world of Yiddish, refugees, rabbis, kosher dinners, Kadimah, strange alchemical symbols, and chicken soup.

Phyrne picks her way through the mystery with the help from the old faithfuls Bert and Cec, her taxi driver friends; her devoted companion Dot; and Detective Inspector "Call me Jack" Robinson. Phryne soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery far graver and more political than she at first appreciates.

And all for the price of a song ...

Review: Melbourne socialite Phyrne Fisher encounters the mystery of alchemy and the reality of Middle East politics in Raisins and Almonds, the ninth mystery in this consistently enjoyable series by Kerry Greenwood. The title is taken from a Yiddish lullaby of the same name.

A young Jewish scholar has dropped dead, murdered in the bookshop of Sylvia Lee. The police arrest the most unlikely suspect for the crime, the bookshop owner Sylvia Lee, and seem content with their decision. Miss Lee's landlord, Benjamin Abrahams, who just happens to be the father of Phyrne's latest lover Simon, suspects someone else may have committed the crime and hires Phyrne to find the real killer.

There is little mystery in Raisins and Almonds. Phyrne knows very early in the book how the scholar was murdered (or at least what was involved in committing the murder), and she probably knows who (as does the reader) as well, but not the why. Her investigation takes her into a world of which she is unfamiliar and, for the most part, in which she is unwelcome. For a series that is generally light and amusing, this book is easily one of the darkest and most somber.

Greenwood is known for adding a little extra mystery for the astute reader at the beginning of each chapter of each book in this series, and part of the fun in Raisins and Almonds is interpretting these mini-mysteries. Anyone with a basic chemistry background will recognize the formulas given at the start of the first two chapters; what do these chemical compounds have to do with the death of a Jewish scholar in a Melbourne bookstore? Many other chapters reference terms of alchemy and the classical elements (water, fire, air, earth). All of these factor into the "why" of the murder but may not explain it entirely. The seemingly omnipresent politics of the Israelis and the Palestinians also play a role here. Is Greenwood trying to equate peace in the Middle East with turning lead into gold under the guise of a murder mystery set in 1920s Australia? Maybe ... or maybe this is just a simple story of a young sophisticated woman solving the murder of a young educated man in a bookshop.

Special thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of Raisins and Almonds for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Mystery Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for September 03, 2007

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is available on our website.

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!).

This week's letters and mystery clue: A E G H I M N R T. Joan Lowry Nixon set this young adult murder mystery in a summer camp for underachieving teens (9 letters).

New! We now have our puzzles in PDF format for easier printing. Print this week's puzzle here.

Previous puzzles are stored in the Mystery Godoku Archives.

Enjoy the weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle from the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, and Thanks for visiting our website!

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Mystery Book Review: Fire Prayer by Deborah Turrell Atkinson

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written our review of Fire Prayer by Deborah Turrell Atkinson. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Fire Prayer by Deborah Turrell Atkinson
A Storm Kayama Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-402-3 (1590584023)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-402-6 (9781590584026)
Publication Date: August 2007
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Storm Kayama's old high school friend, Tanner Williams, wants a favor. He's asked her to come to Moloka'i to make sure his ex-wife is taking good care of his adolescent son, a newly diagnosed diabetic. In the meantime, Storm's law partner and lover, Ian Hamlin, is investigating the possibility that a Moloka'i kayaking company's negligence played a part in the disappearance of Brock Liu, the son of an O'ahu shipping magnate. It looks like a great excuse for Storm and Hamlin to get away from Honolulu for the weekend.

But Storm soon finds that Tanner has bigger problems than he let on, including his bitter wife Jenny Williams, a history of mental illness, and ties to a local protest group linked to an unsolved ten-year-old homicide. A few hours after Storm's visit to Jenny's home, twelve-year-old Luke Williams finds his mother dead on their living room floor. Luke calls the police, then he disappears.

Storm believes Luke may have seen his mother's killer and is in grave danger from both the murderer and his fluctuating blood glucose levels. Her chase after Luke-and answers-leads through the dense rainforests, pristine beaches, and untamed wilds of Moloka'i. Are Brock Liu's disappearance and Jenny Williams' death linked to the old homicide?

Review: Deborah Turrell Atkinson's third mystery featuring Storm Kayama has the Honolulu lawyer honoring a favor and becoming involved with a murder that may be related to a 10-year-old fire that resulted in an unsolved homicide.

Much of the story takes place in a small town on the Hawaiian island of Molokai. The people there, mostly native Hawaiians, want to retain the character of their town: unpaved streets, no traffic lights, and no large condominiums. They have their traditions, their lore and history, which supports their beliefs. One of the strengths of Fire Prayer is in Atkinson's vivid descriptions of the island and its people. This beautifully written mystery isn't just set in Hawaii; Hawaii is an integral part of the mystery.

Storm and her partner Ian Hamlin travel to Molokai for different reasons: Ian to locate the missing son of a shipping executive, Storm to check up on Luke, a 12-year-old boy and the son of a high school friend who's now living with his ex-wife Jenny on the island. Soon after arriving, Storm and Ian ride horses along the beach and into the forests but they are forced to turn back after an accident dislocates Ian's shoulder. Upon their return, they find Jenny has been murdered, her son Luke finding the body. Luke himself soon disappears, apparently in hiding from his mother's killer. The police soon find another murder victim, the missing man Ian was hired to locate. Are these murders related? And if so, do they have anything to do with an unsolved murder from 10 years ago?

Though the primary plot in Fire Prayer is quite intriguing and the disparate pieces of the mystery puzzle all come together, it's a little disappointing that the subplot involving Luke wasn't expanded a bit more. Luke is a very appealing character that the reader greatly cares about yet in the end his story seems incomplete. But it is a minor disappointment; this is a fine mystery and is highly recommended.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Fire Prayer and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more mystery book reviews visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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