Mystery Book Review: Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah
Non-series

Soho Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-56947-521-0 (1569475210)
ISBN-13: 978-1-56947-521-8 (9781569475218)
Publication Date: October 2008
List Price: $25.00

Review: Sophie Hannah's second psychological thriller, Hurting Distance, is an intricately plotted novel where the line between criminal and victim (or maybe, more generally, those in the right and those in the wrong) is so blurred it's hard to know which label to assign to each of the principal characters.

Naomi Jenkins is a rape survivor. Three years ago she was raped but never notified the police or told anyone else of her brutal attach. It took this long for her to even be comfortable with a man again. Now she has fallen in love with mild-mannered Robert Haworth, a married man with whom she has met in the same room at a less than desirable motel every Thursday evening from four to seven for the last three months. When he fails to show up at their chosen time, and she doesn’t hear from him for three days, she panics and is sure his wife has done something to him. With this story in mind, Naomi goes to the police to report Robert as a missing person. But the police don’t appear too anxious to start a search for Robert. When she realizes this she goes back again and tells them of her rape, but this time identifies Robert as the rapist. Now they will not be searching for a missing man, but a rapist. This lie leads Detective Sergeant Charlene "Charlie" Zailer and her team through a tangle of stories, people and places. Some truths are revealed, but many lies are told. Although it is said that people you love are within hurting distance, strangers are not. But is this a truth, or is this too a lie?

The intriguing plot of Hurting Distance is overshadowed by how the story is told (Naomi frequently speaks as if someone else is around, though she is alone; or is she?) and in the sometimes lurid descriptions of the characters and their actions. Rape is a dark, terrible crime, and the author handles it sensitively, covering the stages of humiliation, pain, fear, and ultimately recovery but never forgetting. Still, the convoluted direction the narrative often veers makes Hurting Distance a far more difficult, and hence less enjoyable, read than it could, or should, have been.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Hurting Distance and to Soho Press for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in purchasing Hurting Distance from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Sundial-maker Naomi Jenkins is used to living with secrets: three years ago something terrible happened to her, so terrible that she never told anyone.

Now, Naomi has another secret: the man she has fallen passionately in love with, unhappily married Robert Haworth. When Robert vanishes without warning or explanation, Naomi knows he must have come to harm. But the police are less convinced, particularly when Robert's wife insists he is not missing.

In desperation, Naomi has an idea. If she can't persuade the police that Robert is in danger, perhaps she can convince them that he is a danger to others. Then they will have to look for him - urgently. Naomi knows how to describe in detail the actions of a psychopath. All she needs to do is dig up her own traumatic past ...

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.

Return to Mystery Books News ...

NPR Remembers Donald Westlake

NPR remembers Donald Westlake with a rebroadcast of two interviews with the mystery writer from 1988 and 1997. Westlake died of a heart attack on December 31, 2008. He was only 75.

The webpage also has links to two other related articles, the AP's news report on Westlake's death and NPR's John Ridley's blog post remembering the author.

Return to Mystery Books News ...

January Magazine Interviews Mystery Author Natasha Cooper

January Magazine published a long, in-depth interview with crime novelist Natasha Cooper this week. Cooper currently writes two mystery series under her own name (actually, a pen name; her real name is Daphne Wright). Her first series featured civil servant and glamorous romantic novelist Willow King. In 1998 she began her latest series with London barrister Trish Maguire. The most recent book in this latter series, A Poisoned Mind, was published last year. Cooper also writes novels under the pen names of Kate Hatfield and thrillers as Clare Layton.

Cooper reveals in the interview that she's started a third series featuring forensic psychologist Karen Taylor. The tentative title is Dark Labryinth and it is set on the Isle of Wight. It is due to be published in the UK later this year.

When asked how she might explain the ever-growing market for crime fiction, Cooper gave what we think is a terrific answer: "Modern crime fiction seems to me to offer more or less everything a reader could want. You can find literary thrillers, novels full of political and social insight, psychological depth, relationships, excitement, art, the international situation, science, mathematical theories, corruption, theology, conspiracy ... the whole world is here. But you also find visceral excitement and healing. I think the combination is irresistible."

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Mysteries on TV: Damages, Monk, and Psych, Season Premieres This Week

The premieres of several shows will air this week and Mysteries on TV, your source for the most complete selection of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series now available or coming soon to DVD, is reminding you to set your DVRs!

On Wednesday, January 7th, the second season of Damages premieres on FX. The series follows the turbulent lives of Patty Hewes (played brilliantly by Glenn Close), the nation's most revered and reviled high-stakes litigator and her bright, ambitious young protégé Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne).

In the second season, after her unprecedented victory over billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), Patty Hewes has the legal world at her feet. Just as she's pondering her next move, Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), a man from Patty's mysterious past, storms back into her life, catapulting Patty into a new legal challenge. What starts as a domestic murder case, escalates into the highest reaches of government as Patty unearths a vast conspiracy.

At the same time, Ellen is on a mission to take down Patty. She's agreed to act as an informant for the FBI, assisting them in their criminal investigation of Patty and the firm. As Patty unravels the mystery surrounding Daniel Purcell, she must also negotiate the perilous minefield both inside and outside her office.

The first season of Damages is available on DVD.

Visit the official Damages website on FX for more information about the series.

Also premiering this week is the second half of the seventh (and penultimate) season of Monk. When Monk's delinquent half-brother, Jack Jr., escapes from prison and breaks into Monk's apartment, he manipulates Monk (Tony Shalhoub) into helping him find the person he claims framed him for murder. Steve Zahn guest stars in Mr. Monk’s Other Brother at 9PM (ET) Friday, January 9th, as America's favorite obsessive-compulsive detective returns to USA Network.

The first six seasons of Monk are available on DVD. And just published last month is the seventh book tie-in to the series, Mr. Monk is Miserable by Lee Goldberg.

Visit the official Monk website on USA Network for more information about the series.

Finally, also on Friday, and also on USA, the second half of the third season of Psych premieres. When Shabby the Sea Lion is found dead after being released into the wild, Shawn Spencer (James Roday) sets out to prove it was murder and stumbles onto a bigger conspiracy. Don't miss the premiere of Six Feet Under the Sea, guest-starring Ted McGinley, on Friday January 9th at 10PM (ET).

The first two seasons of Psych are available on DVD. Last October, USA Network confirmed that Psych has been picked up for a fourth season starting in the summer of 2009. Finally, new this month in paperback is the first book tie-in for the series, Psych: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Read by William Rabkin.

Visit the official Psych website on USA Network for more information about the series.

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

Return to Mystery Books News ...

London Mystery Bookstore Murder One to Close

TheBookseller.com is reporting that the Charing Cross Road mystery bookstore Murder One is closing at the end of the month.

It's been far too long since we last visited London, but when we were in town we always made an effort to visit Murder One. More than a few UK editions of the mysteries in our library, many of them signed, were purchased at the store.

The world seems just a little less complete when a specialty bookstore, regardless of genre, closes its doors. We extend to the owners and employees of Murder One our best wishes and our thanks.

Return to Mystery Books News

Mystery Savings: Buy 2 DVDs Get the 3rd Free at Barnes&Noble.com

Mystery Savings periodically provides our readers with current promotions that offer discounts or other incentives for purchasing mystery-themed products and services products through our partner websites. Below is a special offer recently received by us that we're pleased to pass on at this time.

From now through February 02, 2009, buy 2 DVDs and get the 3rd FREE at Barnes&Noble.com. When you purchase three or more DVDs or Blu-ray discs with a special "Buy 2 DVDs Get the 3rd Free" icon, you get the least expensive DVD or Blu-ray disc for free. Your credit for the least expensive disc will appear at checkout. This offer is valid for one order per individual, and may not be combined with any other coupon or any discount promotion. Barnes & Noble Member program discounts will apply. Shipping charges may also apply.

Thousands of movie and television titles are eligible for this promotion. B&N.com mysteriously hides their Mystery and Suspense category under drama, so be sure not to miss this it! Click on the text link above or the banner link below to start shopping.

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Blood on the Page, a New Mystery Blog from Bantam Dell

Bantam Dell has introduced a new blog called Blood on the Page offering visitors a chance to read and share free chapters from some of today's best suspense and crime novels by bestselling authors and new talents. Be sure to read the first post that provides some background on the what the publishers hope to accomplish with the blog.

It's all very new (it only started yesterday) and one book has been featured, the first five chapters of Safer by Sean Doolittle, scheduled for publication next month in hardcover under the Delacorte imprint of Bantam Dell. Still, more mystery on the web can only be a good thing so we plan on visiting often!

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Mysteries on TV: Dexter and Mannix, New on DVD This Week

Mysteries on TV, your source for the most complete selection of detective, amateur sleuth, private investigator, and suspense television mystery series now available or coming soon to DVD, is profiling two series that have season DVDs being released this week.

Strictly speaking, the first season of Dexter was released some time ago and this isn't a new release. But it is new in the sense that it is now being released on high definition Blu-ray discs. Based on the Jeff Lindsay novels Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly Devoted Dexter, this crime thriller follows Dexter Morgan (played by Michael C. Hall), a forensic blood spatter expert for the Miami Dade Police Department and, oh by the way, a ruthless serial killer. But he only kills those heinous perpetrators that are above the law or who have slipped through the cracks of justice. A respected member of the police force, a perfect gentleman and a man with a soft spot for children, it's hard not to like Dexter. Although his drive to kill is unflinching, he struggles to emulate normal emotions he doesn't feel, and to keep up his appearance as a caring, socially responsible human being.

The Dexter: Season One (Blu-ray HD) DVD set of 3 discs contains the 12 episodes of the fourth season that aired on Showtime during the fall of 2006.

See the trailer for the standard release of Dexter Season 1 on DVD below:

Mike Connors starred as Joe Mannix in Mannix, a crime drama that aired on CBS for 8 seasons in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was developed by Richard Levinson and William Link, the creative force behind other mystery television classics such as Columbo and Murder, She Wrote. Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible, Starsky and Hutch, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., among many others) wrote the highly recognizable series theme music.

In the first season, Mannix worked for a high-tech detective agency. By the second season, he was out on his own as a private investigator with Gail Fisher joining the cast as Peggy Fair, his loyal secretary. The show was high on action with Mannix involved in any number of physical altercations over the course of each season.

The Mannix: Season Two DVD set of 6 discs contains the 25 episodes of the second season that aired on CBS from September 1968 through April 1989.

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

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Mystery Godoku Puzzle for January 05, 2009

A new Mystery Godoku Puzzle has been created by the editors of the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books and is now 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 B D O P R S T Y

This is the title of the first mystery in the Tally Whyte series by Vicki Stiefel (9 letters).

We now have two weeks of our puzzles on one page 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!

   

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Mystery Book Review: Blood Island by H. Terrell Griffin

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Blood Island by H. Terrell Griffin. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Blood Island by H. Terrell Griffin
A Matt Royal Mystery

Oceanview Publishing (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-933515-21-X (193351521X)
ISBN-13: 978-1-933515-21-2 (9781933515212)
Publication Date: December 2008
List Price: $24.95

Review: Matt Royal follows the trail of his ex-wife's missing stepdaughter Peggy to a mysterious island in the south Florida keys in Blood Island, the third mystery in this series by H. Terrell Griffin.

Matt's initial inquiries into the girl's disappearance are met with a surprising response: someone tries to kill him. Rather than being a deterrent, it prompts the opposite response from Matt. Nothing short of putting him six feet under is going to stop him now. Everything he learns seems to point to Key West as the key (as it were) to solving the mystery. He heads there undercover and soon locates Peggy on an isolated private island with a storied history, Blood Island. But before he can get her to safety, she tells him of a mysterious plot to blow people up, and that the island's owner is behind it. In a race against time, Matt uses every resource available to stop what may be start of the next world war.

Readers who seek fast and furious action in their mysteries need look no further than Blood Island. A cozy it most certainly is not. Matt is a fearless protagonist, but also strategic. He knows when he needs help and his buddies are willing and able to be there when he calls. Somewhat ironically, though, the plot is at its strongest when Matt is on his own in Key West searching for Peggy. It's here that the disparate pieces to the puzzle start to come together and the narrative is more foreboding and atmospheric. Still, the relentless pace and ever increasing body count don't quite disguise the occasional lapse in logic, but that's almost certainly not the primary objective of Blood Island. For a mystery that means to entertain its reader, it does that and more in spades.

Special thanks to Oceanview Publishing for providing a copy of Blood Island for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

If you are interested in purchasing Blood Island from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Matt Royal never has to look far for excitement. Excitement -- and sometimes trouble -- has a way of finding him first. But for this fun-loving lawyer turned beach bum, things are about to get serious. Dead serious.

When his ex-wife asks for help in tracking down her stepdaughter, last seen in Matt’s hometown of Longboat Key, Matt agrees to do a little searching.

But what looks like the case of one missing girl turns out to be something much bigger -- and much more dangerous.

Enlisting the aid of his buddies Jock Algren and Logan Hamilton, Matt launches a full-speed-ahead search that leads from Longboat Key to Key West to an ominous strip of land called Blood Island.

But this is no island paradise. Blood Island is home base to a cult of religious zealots. And they’re making devastating plans that could change the world forever.

Bullets fly, and as the clock ticks down, it will be up to Matt to make sure that what happens on Blood Island stays on Blood Island.

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.

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Mystery Book Review: The Anteater of Death by Betty Webb

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of The Anteater of Death by Betty Webb. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

The Anteater of Death by Betty Webb
A Theodora "Teddy" Bentley Zoo Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-560-7 (1590585607)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-560-3 (9781590585603)
Publication Date: December 2008
List Price: $24.95

Review: Betty Webb has penned a creative and fun mystery in The Anteater of Death, the first in her Zoo Mystery series. On the lighter side, the book has good humor and some laugh-out loud funny lines. I hadn’t realized a zoo would make such a fabulous setting for a mystery, and Webb clearly did her research, taking advantage of all the atmosphere a zoo offers. We learn about monkeys, wolves and giant anteaters in general as well as individual critters such as Makeba, a giraffe who gives birth to a healthy baby; Cisco, the alpha male wolf; and Carlos, the magpie jay who, for some unknown reason, wants Teddy for his avian mate.

Teddy, a wonderful protagonist, has a down-to-earth attitude, a generous heart and a love of animals. Dumped by her ex, she struggles with the idea of getting involved again, especially with Sheriff Joe Rejas who broke her heart in high school. Or was it just that her mother (“don’t call me mother, it’s too age specific”) shipped her off to finishing school in Virginia. Her mother, Caroline (Carol) Piper Bentley Mallory Huffgraf Petersen, I lost track of the number of husbands, wants Teddy to be more like her so they can go to the spa together, shop and double date, an idea that makes Teddy shudder. She has a love-hate relationship with her over-protective mother who tells her to quit her job every time something happens at the zoo. So the dead body in the anteater’s pen has Carol all riled up.

Teddy vows to protect not only Lucy, but also someone else who the police have wrongly accused of the murder, and she’ll do just about anything to that end, even dating the smarmy zoo director. Remember that generous heart I mentioned?

Webb paces the novel beautifully, dispensing details judiciously, so we don’t learn too much too quickly. She writes vivid descriptions and strong characters, many of whom I’m sure we will get to know better in future books. I haven’t read Webb’s Desert series, so I can’t make that comparison but The Anteater of Death sits high on my list of series to follow, right up their with Susan Wittig Albert’s China Bayles series. I look forward to reading the next Zoo Mystery tale as soon as possible.

Special thanks to Katherine Petersen for contributing her review of The Anteater of Death and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing a copy of the book for the review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Katherine Petersen — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission

If you are interested in purchasing The Anteater of Death from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): But if Lucy, the pregnant Giant Anteater from Belize, didn’t kill the man found dead in her enclosure, who did? California zookeeper Teddy Bentley must find the real murderer before her furry friend is shipped off to another zoo in disgrace.

Then another human bites the dust, the monkeys riot, and the wolves go nuts. Things get worse when the snooty folks at Gunn Landing Harbor attempt to evict Teddy from the Merilee, her beloved houseboat. That’s just the beginning. Her father, on the lam from the Feds for embezzling millions, gets targeted by a local gangster; and Caro, Teddy’s socialite mother, a former beauty queen who loathes Teddy’s dangerous job, starts introducing her to “eligible bachelors.” But Teddy has already given her heart to Sheriff Joe Rejas, a migrant worker’s son. Caro is not pleased.

Zoo life, animal lore, and the leaky ups and downs of Central Coast California houseboat living create a thrilling backdrop for murder.

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.

Return to Mystery Books News ...

A Conversation with Mystery Author Carol O'Connell on Minnesota Public Radio

Minnesota Public Radio broadcast a conversation with mystery writer Carol O'Connell yesterday as part of its All Things Considered program. O'Connell, probably best known for her series character Kathleen Mallory, published her second stand-alone thriller last week, Bone by Bone.

O'Connell told MPR's Euan Kerr that while the novel turns into a portrait of an offbeat town with a lot to hide, it grew out of a single idea.

Four audio programs are available on the MPR webpage: O'Connell talks about the conflict between crime fiction writers and the rest of what she calls "the literati", O'Connell talks about small towns and her character Mallory, O'Connell reads from Bone by Bone, and the featured audio that MPR generously allowed us to post on our site, O'Connell and the covenant of the crime novel (listen below):

Return to Mystery Books News

Mystery Bestsellers for January 02, 2009

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending January 02, 2009 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

A quiet final week for mystery bestsellers with only a minor shuffling of the top four. James Patterson's latest Alex Cross thriller, Cross Country, retakes the top spot by a slim margin followed by Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, and The Private Patient (Adam Dalgliesch) by P. D. James.

That should all change next week with the publication of the new between-the-numbers Stephanie Plum mystery, Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich, scheduled to go on sale January 6th.

On our bestseller page, we've added an icon next to every title that is available for immediate download onto the Amazon Kindle. To learn about this wireless reading device, visit the Amazon Kindle page for more information.

The top four mystery bestsellers this week are shown below:

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.

Return to Mystery Books News ...

Mystery Author Donald E. Westlake Dies

The New York Times is reporting that multi-award winning mystery author Donald E. Westlake died yesterday while on vacation in Mexico. He was 75.

Westlake was widely considered to be one of the most successful and versatile writers of crime fiction in the US. His many awards included three Edgars and the title of Grand Master from the Mystery Writers of America. More than 15 of his books were adapted for the screen and made into movies.

He was so prolific that he took to writing under multiple pen names. One of our favorite series was the Samuel Holt mysteries that he wrote using the name Samuel Holt. There were only four books in the series, but the title of the third remains one of the most clever we've ever seen: What I Tell You Three Times Is False. And we've frequently told people that the restaurant scene in his novel High Adventure is one of the funniest we've ever read.

Westlake's contributions to the field of mystery fiction are so numerous it's hard to mention them all for fear of leaving something out, though the NYTimes article provides a good summary. He will be sorely missed.

Return to Mystery Books News

Mystery Savings: Save 40% on Selected Books and eBooks at eHarlequin.com

Mystery Savings periodically provides our readers with current promotions that offer discounts or other incentives for purchasing mystery-themed products and services products through our partner websites. Below is a list of offers recently received that we're pleased to pass on at this time.

eHarlequin.com has two special deals going on during the month of January that may be of interest to mystery book readers: Books on a Budget and eBooks on a Budget. Both offer savings of 40% on featured books. Click on the links above or the banners below to search for new mysteries for the new year. This promotion is scheduled to end 01/31/2009.

   

To keep up to date on sales and other promotions offered by eHarlequin.com, register to receive their free newsletter by clicking on the banner below:

Return to Mystery Books News ...