Unfinished Graham Greene Mystery Novel Discovered; To Be Serialized in The Strand Magazine

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a long lost unpublished, unfinished mystery novel by Graham Greene has been discovered. Found at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin by Francois Gallix, the manuscript is believed to have been written by the author when he was 22.

The story is set in a country house, and the first chapter opens as the guests assemble in the morning and notice that one, Richard Groves, whom everyone regards as "a lazy devil," is conspicuously absent. When their irritation at Groves’ absence turns into concern, they go to wake him and break down his locked bedroom door, only to find him murdered, slain by a knife in his chest.

The Strand Magazine is taking the five chapters of the manuscript and will publish them as a serial, starting with its forthcoming July issue. "To me what is wonderful about all of this is that Greene published a few short stories in the old Strand," said Andrew Gulli, The Strand Magazine’s managing editor, "so I feel we’re continuing the tradition." Gulli added that his magazine would like to find a writer to finish the manuscript.

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Games of Mystery: Return to Mysterious Island 2 Mina's Fate, New at Big Fish Games

Games of Mystery, your source for mystery-themed electronic and board games, parties for kids and adults, and mystery getaway vacations, is pleased to announce the availability of a new mystery game from Big Fish Games released today. You can find out more about these games by visiting our Mystery Games: Big Fish Download Games page or by clicking on the links provided below.

Help Mina and her monkey, Jep, escape Mysterious Island! After being trapped on the island, and discovering its ancient secrets in Return to Mysterious Island, Mina is finally able to send out an SOS and rescuers soon appear. Return to Mysterious Island 2: Mina's Fate finds these castaways barely making it to their seats, when a missile strikes the helicopter and sends it into free fall! Escape from the wreckage of a helicopter and return to civilization in this incredible adventure game!

Also available: Return to Mysterious Island 2 Strategy Guide .

Return to Mysterious Island 2: Mina's Fate, a Big Fish Game Club Exclusvie, may be downloaded and purchased for $6.99 with a Big Fish Game Club membership. Due to its large size, a demonstration version is not available.

Watch a preview video below:

Other popular games on our download Big Fish Mystery Games page include several Agatha Christie and Nancy Drew games, games in the Mystery Case Files series and in particular the latest, Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst, Adventure Chronicles: The Search for Lost Treasure, Syberia and Syberia II, The Serpent of Isis, James Patterson's Women's Murder Club: A Darker Shade of Grey, and Nick Chase: A Detective Story.

Read our new game reviews by Ms. Terri: Nancy Drew Dossier: Lights, Camera, Curses! (Review), The Hardy Boys: The Perfect Crime (Review), Enlightenus (Review), and Nick Chase: A Detective Story (Review).

Big Fish Games: Bestsellers

Big Fish Games: New releases

And don't forget to visit Games of Mystery for all kinds of mysterious fun!

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First Clues Review: Murder, My Tweet by Bruce Hale

First Clues: Mysteries for Kids is delighted to introduce a new feature for our website, book reviews written by students. These students offer their unique perspective on the book in their review and provide a valuable resource to parents looking for new mystery adventures for their kids to read.

Murder, My Tweet by Bruce Hale
The Chet Gecko Series

Sandpiper (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-15-205219-4 (0152052194)
ISBN-13: 978-0-15-205219-5 (9780152052195)
Publication Date: April 2005
List Price: $4.95

Review written by Andrea, Age 10, Grade 5. Date of review: July 2009.

Review: Are you anxiously searching for a mystery that will keep your eyes reading all day? Then the 10th book in the Chet Gecko Mystery series is for you. Murder, My Tweet by Bruce Hale is a mystery that stars Chet Gecko, an investigator who is trying to figure out who is blackmailing the vice principal of Emerson Hicky Elementary School. Natalie, Chet Gecko’s friend, is a parakeet who gets suspended because Vice Principal Shrewer sees Natalie pick up the blackmail note. However, even though Ms. Shrewer saw Natalie, the blackmailer is someone else! Can Chet Gecko get his friend out of trouble and solve the mystery?

The blackmailing scheme causes a great deal of problems in the school. Although Natalie is blamed, she isn’t the blackmailer. Natalie knows that T-bone, a ringtail lemur who wants to be in the rock band known as Stench Bombs, is really the blackmailer – well at least one of them. Chet and Natalie meet up in a tree to discuss their plans for finding the blackmailers. Through sneaking around and looking for clues, Chet and Natalie come closer to finding the truth.

I liked Murder, My Tweet because mysteries are my kind of book. Sometimes I pretend to be a secret agent – a lot like Chet Gecko! I especially liked the part when Natalie is allowed to go back to school. Also, another good part of the book is when Chet pours brown soup on battery controlled robots! The robots fall to the ground in a puddle of brown soup – now that’s not something you get to see every day! This was my first time reading a Chet Gecko book and this has inspired me to read more of them. Some parts of the book felt like I was watching TV in my head. There are many other things I like about the book, but I don’t want to spoil the book for you! I hope you think the book is as funny and enjoyable as I do.

If you are interested in purchasing Murder, My Tweet from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

First Clue Mysteries is pleased to provide information on over 100 mystery series for children and young adults. Each series is conveniently listed under four different age categories (New Sleuths, ages 4 to 6; Future Sleuths, ages 7 to 9; Sleuths in Training, ages 10 to 12, and Apprentice Sleuths, ages 13 and older). If you have a favorite mystery series you'd like to see added to our site, please contact us.

All student book reviews are protected by copyright and may not be reproduced in any manner, print or electronic, without the express written consent of the copyright owner. Reviews are published here with permission of the copyright owner.

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Mystery Bestsellers for July 10, 2009

A list of the top 15 mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending July 10, 2009 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

No change in the top four bestsellers this week with Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich retaining its position at the top of the list this week. James Patterson's latest debuts and two other titles that just missed the cut-off last week move into the top 15.

In the thriller Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro, a breathtakingly beautiful supermodel disappears from a swimsuit photo shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. Only hours after she goes missing, Kim McDaniels's parents receive a terrifying phone call. Fearing the worst, they board the first flight to Maui and begin the hunt for their daughter. Ex-cop Ben Hawkins, now a reporter for the L.A. Times, gets the McDaniels assignment. The ineptitude of the local police force defies belief--Ben has to start his own investigation for Kim McDaniels to have a prayer. And for Ben to have the story of his life. All the while, the killer sets the stage for his next production. His audience expects the best -- and they won't be disappointed. Swimsuit is a heart-pounding story of fear and desire, transporting you to a place where beauty and murder collide and unspeakable horrors are hidden within paradise. (Note: due to a tabulation error, Swimsuit should have appeared on last week's mystery bestseller list at about the 13th position.)

Moving up to number 9 is Killer Summer, the third Walt Fleming mystery by Ridley Pearson. Sun Valley, Idaho—playground of the wealthy and politically connected—is home to an annual wine auction that attracts high rollers from across the country, and Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming is the one who must ensure it goes off without a hitch. The world’s most elite wine connoisseurs have descended on Sun Valley to taste and bid on the world’s best wines, including three bottles claimed to have been a gift from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. With sky-high prices all but guaranteed for these historic items, it’s no wonder a group of thieves is out to steal them. Walt is responsible for all aspects of the glitzy event, from security of the dignitaries to the physical safety of the auction site to the transportation and safeguard of the wines themselves. Walt is enjoying a rare afternoon of freedom, fly-fishing with his nephew, Kevin, when a passing truck catches his eye— his suspicions throwing him headlong into the discovery of a complicated plan to steal the rare wine. When a bomb detonates just as the auction revs up, the investigation explodes as well, pulling Walt in a dozen different directions. It seems Walt is caught in the middle of a heist of epic proportions—and not the heist he had prepared for—all orchestrated by the ingenious mind of Christopher Cantell, a man who appears to have covered everything, including the way Walt’s own sheriff’s office will react. (MBN note: Visit Mystery Book Contests to enter to win one of three tote bags filled with Ridley Pearson novels, including a signed copy of Killer Summer.)

Moving up to number 14 is A Plague of Secrets by John Lescroart, the 13th legal thriller featuring San Francisco attorney Dismas Hardy. The first victim is Dylan Vogler, a charming ex-convict who manages the Bay Beans West coffee shop in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district. When his body is found, inspectors discover that his knapsack is filled with high-grade marijuana. It soon becomes clear that San Francisco’s A-list flocked to Bay Beans West not only for their caffeine fix. But how much did Maya Townshend—the beautiful socialite niece of the city’s mayor, and the absentee owner of the shop—know about what was going on inside her business? And how intimate had she really been with Dylan, her old college friend? As another of Maya’s acquaintances falls victim to murder, and as the names of the dead men’s celebrity, political, and even law- enforcement customers come to light, tabloid-fueled controversy takes the investigation into the realms of conspiracy and cover-up. Prosecutors close in on Maya, who has a deep secret of her own—a secret she needs to protect at all costs during her very public trial, where not only her future but the entire political landscape of San Francisco hangs in the balance, hostage to an explosive secret that Dismas Hardy is privilege-bound to protect. Mysterious Reviews says A Plague of Secrets by John Lescroart "combines the best of a legal thriller, a police procedural, and a murder mystery into one terrific novel."

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.

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Mystery Book Review: The Mosquito Tapes by Chris Holmes

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

The Mosquito Tapes by Chris Holmes
Non-series

Highland Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-9823615-1-3 (0982361513)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9823615-1-1 (9780982361511)
Publication Date: June 2009
List Price: $12.95

Review: Chris Holmes' latest thriller, The Mosquito Tapes, features Dr. Jack Youngblood, Chief Medical Examiner for the city of San Diego, investigating the deaths of two men, found in the same general vicinity but both, inexplicably and most unlikely, without any identification.

Jack "studies the dead for a living." His friends call him a ghoul, which he readily admits he is, but he also loves his job. He received his first microscope when he was just 8 years old, and studied everything he could: yeast cells, hair and fur, amoeba from the local pond, and more. And he's working in a profession that allows him to continue to study the minutiae of life. Or death, as the case may be. His current case involves two men. The first is a young man shot in the forehead, no ID, no distinguishing marks, no money, no jewelry. He was found on the side of a road not far from a local Indian casino. It also wasn't far from a tract of Federal property on which the company Biologistics is located. The second is also a young man, this one dead from a hit-and-run. Again, no ID, no distinguishing physical characteristics, but he did have $3000 in his pants pocket and a dead mosquito in a jacket pocket. He, too, was found in the same general area as the first man. Are their deaths related? Might the two men have known each other?

Jack is assisted in his investigation by a new forensic specialist, Jill Hanraty. She's very good at her job, but she's also a stunner to look at. Jack, divorced from his first wife, a widower following his second marriage, a Labrador named Lilly his only companion, realizes he has feelings for his new partner, which may complicate further what is already a very complicated case.

The Mosquito Tapes is a most unusual mystery, fascinating and extraordinary. The author seems to clearly know his science, incorporating the latest forensic methodology into Jack's investigation in a manner that furthers the plot without weighing it down. The relationship between Jack and Jill is both touching as it develops and heartbreaking as it unwinds. Allow for plenty of time when starting this captivating novel; it will be hard to put down.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of The Mosquito Tapes and to Chris Holmes for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

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

If you are interested in purchasing The Mosquito Tapes from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Jack Youngblood is a ghoul. That's what his friends call him. More comfortable in the morgue than the coffee shop, Jack is San Diego's Chief Medical Examiner. Dead bodies are his business. A twice-divorced recovering alcoholic, Jack hasn't had a date since he's been sober. His only commitment is to his work; his only love is Lilly the Lab who shares his home.

When red-haired, green-eyed Jill Hanraty, a Forensic Investigator, joins his department, Jack falls for her like a mountain climber losing his grip. Together they investigate a pair of baffling homicides. Jill becomes more than Jack's colleague -- more than a friend. Until she betrays him.

Part love story, part forensic police procedural, this fast-paced novel is full of chases, plot twists, a dramatic climax, and an on-again, off-again romance as mysterious as the murder investigations themselves.

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Mystery Savings: Save 40% on Harry Potter Audio Books

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.

To celebrate to upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Simply Audiobooks is having a "Harry Potter and the 40% off Audio Books Sale"! Starting midnight Thursday July 9th, Simply Audiobooks is offering different Harry Potter books for sale each day up until the movie's release. Check back daily to see when your favorite Harry Potter audio book will go on sale; prices will automatically be adjusted on the Simply Audiobooks website (no coupon code needed), so you'll just need to shop and save! (Sale ends July 16, 2009.)

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Authors on Tour: Rosemary and Larry Mild Visit Allie's Musings and Bookish Ruth

Mystery Books News is pleased to be coordinating this week's online book tour for husband and wife authors Rosemary and Larry Mild for the third mystery in their Paco and Molly cozy mystery series, Boston Scream Pie.

Today, Thursday 9th, Rosemary and Larry will be visiting 2 blog sites:

• Allie's Musings, where the authors are interviewed; and
• Bookish Ruth, which is hosting a guest post by the authors.

We're also thrilled to announce that Rosemary and Larry are giving away a signed copy of their new book to one lucky tour visitor. Visit each tour site on the day indicated and pick up a unique PIN to be used to enter the giveaway on that day. The entry form can be found on Rosemary and Larry's tour page, which also has a complete schedule of their tour including a biography and more information about Boston Scream Pie.

We hope you have the opportunity to stop by each of the tour sites this week to learn more about Rosemary and Larry and their series characters Paco and Molly.

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Harper's Island Concludes This Saturday, July 11th

Harper's Island wraps up its 13 episode season with the final 2 episodes, titled "Gasp" and "Sigh", which, respectively, comprise the 2-hour finale airing this Saturday, July 11th.

8 of the original 25 guests remain: Abby Mills (the daughter of one of Wakefield's original victims), Henry Dunn (the groom), Trish Wellington (the bride), Jimmy Mance (Abby's old flame), Christopher "Sully" Sullivan (Henry's best man), Danny Brooks (Henry's college buddy), Shea Allen (Trish's sister), and Madison Allen (Shea's daughter).

Originally scheduled to air over 13 consecutive weeks from April 9th through July 2nd, CBS (in our opinion) completely mismanaged its self-described "mystery event". The early episodes were not only tediously dull, they were often illogical if not incomprehensible. As a result, viewers quickly abandoned Harper's Island in droves leading CBS to move the series from Thursday to Saturday, the graveyard (as it were) of network television. Soon thereafter CBS unexpectedly replaced one episode with a repeat of one of its other series leading some to speculate that Harper's Island had been canceled. (It had not.) Which is all really a shame because these last few episodes have been rather good, typical of what a mystery series should be, and what this mystery series could have been all along.

If you're still watching Harper's Island, and we are, the final questions will be answered and all revealed this Saturday at 9 PM ET/PT. If you've missed any of the previous 11 episodes, or simply want to catch up on the storyline, you can find full episodes on CBS.com.

Watch a preview of the finale below, which features interviews with 6 of the remaining cast members:

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Mystery Author Harlan Coben Developing TV Crime Drama

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that mystery author Harlan Coben and producer Greg Malins (How I Met Your Mother) are developing an hour-long television series for 20th Century Fox TV. The project, as yet untitled, is about a larger-than-life former private investigator who teaches a criminology class at an UCLA-type college in Los Angeles and is described as a "drama with humor".

According to the article, not long before he took the teaching job, the show's private eye suffered a bullet wound to the head that made him lose his inhibitions. That "makes him a psychopath," Coben said. "It (also) makes him a better cop and teacher because he doesn't have a sympathetic outlook."

Thus the tagline for the show: "They want to learn about the mind of a psychopath. Well, they are about to learn from the best."

Coben's most recent novel, Long Lost, a Myron Bolitar mystery, was published in March 2009 by Dutton. We called it "one of Coben's most entertaining efforts." Read our full review here: Long Lost by Harlan Coben.

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Winners of the 2008 Strand Magazine Critics Award Announced

The 2008 Strand Magazine Critics Awards were given out this evening, selected by The Strand Magazine to recognize excellence in the field of mystery fiction. The winners were:

Best Novel: Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Best First Novel: Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)

See Twitpics of Richard Price and Tom Rob Smith accepting the awards courtesy of @jasonpinter.

Congratulations from MBN to the winners!

Visit Mystery Book Awards for more information on over 30 other awards recognizing outstanding mystery fiction.

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Untitled Tom Clancy Project Screenplay Nears Completion

That was fast! Just a day or so after Variety blogger Anne Thompson posts that George Clooney is interested in assuming the role of Tom Clancy's CIA analyst Jack Ryan, she writes that screenwriter Hossein Amini has a first draft of an "Untitled Tom Clancy Project" nearing completion. She calls it an "original screenplay", which strongly suggests that it isn't adapted from one of Clancy's thrillers. She also doesn't mention whether it's written for a younger Jack Ryan or a role that George Clooney could play.

Anne Thompson opens her post with a somewhat rhetorical question: "Am I the only one who still adores The Hunt for Red October?" Our answer is an emphatic "No!" We watch it at least once a year and continue debate the finer points of how realistic the film is (or isn't) with our closest friends. (For those keeping score, we're right, they're wrong.)

We'll keep you posted on details as they emerge.

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Mystery Book Review: One Big Itch by Sara Williams

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of One Big Itch by Sara Williams. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

One Big Itch by Sara Williams
A John Spyer Mystery

ArcheBooks (BookZine Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-59507-197-0 (1595071970)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59507-197-2 (9781595071972)
Publication Date: July 2009
List Price: $14.95

Review: Sara Williams introduces "hapa haole" private investigator John Spyer, who looks into the circumstances surrounding the murder of an old friend, in One Big Itch. The novel is published as a "BookZine", a format similar in size to a magazine.

Noted economist Dr. Randolph ("Randy" to his family and friends) Haverhill has been on the receiving end of a number of petty crimes, manuscripts shredded, wedding china broken, office vandalized, and the like. But for Spyer, the trouble began with a note tucked inside an engraved invitation to a celebrity event featuring Randy. "John please come. You must. We need your help." It was signed by Randy's new wife, Hillary. Spyer agrees to meet her, but there seems little that he can do. Three months later, Haverhill is dead, shot in the chest and crotch. Though almost certainly a crime of passion (Randy was, well, randy with the ladies), the police arrest his son, Toby. Spyer is puzzled by this ("Toby Haverhill couldn't murder a cockroach. Of that I was quite certain.") and sets out to determine the truth.

The author provides a map of Oahu, with locations referenced in the book highlighted, a glossary of Hawaiian terms used, and even a pronunciation guide, all well and good and much appreciated. What would probably have been most helpful, however, is a cast of characters. There are a lot of them and it's not always easy keeping who's who straight. The story seems to take a somewhat circuitous path at times, but is otherwise well-plotted with an abundance of red herrings. A minor quibble: Toby never makes for a credible suspect and it's a little disingenuous to spend so much time on his defense, especially when there are so many other interesting suspects.

It would be remiss not to mention something about the book's format. Its size and attractive, eye-catching cover make it appear much like a trade magazine. It fits comfortably in a briefcase or seat pocket and in general is easy to read (though the font used is less than ideal). The format possibly works better with shorter novels (this, at nearly 150 pages, is probably on the long side) and it will be interesting to see if other publishers adopt it.

Overall, One Big Itch is a fast-paced, enjoyable novel with a lot of local Hawaiian color, published in an unusual format that's perfect for taking along to read in place of a magazine. It's well worth seeking out.

Special thanks to ArcheBooks for providing an ARC of One Big Itch for this review.

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

If you are interested in purchasing One Big Itch from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right.

Synopsis (from the publisher): One Big Itch is set in Honolulu, the playful tropical city that's also haunted, as Detective John 'Oluhana Maalaea Spyer well knows. Too bad Spyer is a hapa haole (ha-pa how-lee), a half white, and so pays only half attention when Madam Pele herself warns him off the Randolph Haverhill case. No decent Hawaiian ever says no to an old friend, which makes Spyer the quintessential "soft boiled" detective. Despite Madame Pele's warnings, Spyer investigates the death of his childhood pal Randy Haverhill, opening his own psychic wounds and putting the love of his mainland girlfriend Maya to the test. Spyer is soon privy to a frightening tale of obsessive love. Trouble is, Randy became too popular with the ladies for his own good. It appears that one of Randy's crazed lovers shot Randy on his doorstep. So why do the police persist in the notion that Randy was murdered by his own son?

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Authors on Tour: Rosemary and Larry Mild Visit Cafe of Dreams and Wendi's Book Corner

Mystery Books News is pleased to be coordinating this week's online book tour for husband and wife authors Rosemary and Larry Mild for the third mystery in their Paco and Molly cozy mystery series, Boston Scream Pie.

Today, Wednesday July 8th, Rosemary and Larry will be visiting 2 blog sites:

• Cafe of Dreams, where Boston Scream Pie is reviewed; and
• Wendi's Book Corner, which is hosting a guest post by the authors.

We're also thrilled to announce that Rosemary and Larry are giving away a signed copy of their new book to one lucky tour visitor. Visit each tour site on the day indicated and pick up a unique PIN to be used to enter the giveaway on that day. The entry form can be found on Rosemary and Larry's tour page, which also has a complete schedule of their tour including a biography and more information about Boston Scream Pie.

We hope you have the opportunity to stop by each of the tour sites this week to learn more about Rosemary and Larry and their series characters Paco and Molly.

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Mystery Book Review: Black Water Rising by Attica Locke

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, is publishing a new review of Black Water Rising by Attica Locke. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.

Black Water Rising by Attica Locke
Non-series

Harper (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-06-173586-8 (0061735868)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-173586-8 (9780061735868)
Publication Date: June 2009
List Price: $25.99

Review: If you enjoy reading about the struggles faced by African Americans in the 1960s and the prejudice and discrimination that they still face in the 1980s, then Black Water Rising is the novel for you. Black Water Rising is the first novel written by Attica Locke. The inspiration for her novel comes from a real life incident, which happened to her father, Gene Locke, a Houston attorney. Gene heard gunshots and screams, but chose not to investigate them in order to stay and protect his wife, and his ten-year-old daughter Attica.

Jay Porter is a struggling African American lawyer who lives in Houston in the early 1980s. His clients often pay him in trade instead of cash, and he takes many cases for little or no money. One such “fee” was a boat ride on the bayou and dinner for two. The boat turns out to be barely afloat, but he and his pregnant wife Bernadine embark on the “cruise” anyway. As they journey down the bayou they hear screams and several gunshots. Moments later, Jay fishes a young woman out of the water. She refuses to give him any information and he drops her off at the police department. Jay himself does not accompany her into the police department because of his brush with the law in the 1960s. The story continues with Jay trying to find out who the mysterious woman is, and then it flashes back to his “civil rights” days when he was put on trial for “inciting a riot.” Meanwhile, the African American dockworkers of Houston are ready to go on strike because they are underpaid and not represented in management. Violence erupts and Jay is called on to represent the dockworkers. Add to this, the mayor of Houston is a former girlfriend of Jay’s from the 1960s. Will the dockworkers get better pay and more representation in management? Will Jay find out who the mysterious woman is, and if she is responsible for the death of a local man? Will his former lover help him solve the mystery or look out for herself?

This book was perplexing at times. I had a hard time following the jumps from the 1980s to the 1960s. His former girlfriend was white, something the reader was not able to figure out until halfway through the novel. His wife, Bernie, was given very little importance, and instead the focus was more on his former flame from the sixties. The characters as a whole needed to be developed further. As a reader, I did not really care about what happened to them until I was halfway through the book. The description of the dockworkers’ pay issues was unclear and also confusing in parts. If I were to rate this book, I would give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars. It took too long for me to want to continue reading this novel.

Special thanks to Ruth Miller for contributing her review of Black Water Rising and to HarperCollins for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2009 — Ruth Miller — All Rights Reserved — Reprinted with Permission

If you are interested in purchasing Black Water Rising from Amazon.com, please click the button to the right. Black Water Rising (Kindle edition) is also available. Learn more about the Kindle, Amazon's Wireless Reading Device.

Synopsis (from the publisher): Jay Porter is hardly the lawyer he set out to be. His most promising client is a low-rent call girl and he runs his fledgling law practice out of a dingy strip mall. But he's long since made peace with not living the American Dream and carefully tucked away his darkest sins: the guns, the FBI file, the trial that nearly destroyed him.

Houston, Texas, 1981. It is here that Jay believes he can make a fresh start. That is, until the night in a boat out on the bayou when he impulsively saves a woman from drowning—and opens a Pandora's box. Her secrets put Jay in danger, ensnaring him in a murder investigation that could cost him his practice, his family, and even his life. But before he can get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that reaches into the upper echelons of Houston's corporate power brokers, Jay must confront the demons of his past.

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The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown, Dust Jacket Covers Revealed Today

Dust jacket covers for The Lost Symbol, the third thriller featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon by Dan Brown, were unveiled today. There is still no official information as to the storyline of the book.

The US dust jacket has a blood red seal with an embossed image of a double-headed phoenix, the number 33, and the Latin phrase "order from chaos". It is placed over a photograph of the US Capitol at dusk. The background is a wash of cryptic symbols.

The UK dust jacket is simpler in design but possibly more illuminating in terms of plot, showing what appears to be a Masonic key. It, too, is placed over a photo of the US Capitol.

The Lost Symbol goes on sale September 15th, and is available to pre-order.

  

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