Review: Unthinkable by Clyde Phillips

A Mysterious Review of Unthinkable by Clyde Phillips. A Jane Candiotti Mystery.

Review summary: This is a well-structured police procedural, one that is much deeper than anticipated upon first glance. There is a lot going on here, but it's handled in a direct, methodical manner, one that's easy to follow yet still offers a surprise at the end. Fast paced with plenty of twists, this is a gripping and quite satisfying police thriller. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Unthinkable
Clyde Phillips
A Jane Candiotti Mystery
Thomas & Mercer (August 2013)

Publisher synopsis: For homicide lieutenant Jane Candiotti, stress is part of the job. But now that she and her husband are expecting their first child, Jane is under strict instructions to take it easy. A tall order on an average day, yet never more so than when a mass shooting at a local restaurant claims six victims — including her teenaged nephew. Jane's always been professional. But this time, it's personal.

Before she can bring a baby into this world, Jane vows to hunt down the monster who didn't think twice about shooting an innocent kid. But every thread of evidence leads her deeper into a tangled web of deception, violence, and murder. Her only hope of navigating the twisting turns of this case is to enlist the help of a dangerous ex-con, one who could shed light on the connection between the death of her nephew and a decades-old murder case — eventually leading her to the most shocking discovery of her career.

  

Holy Moly, A Blanco County Mystery by Ben Rehder, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Holy Moly by Ben Rehder, now available at a special price, courtesy of the author.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $0.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (09/26/2013 at 3:00 PM ET). Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Holy Moly by Ben Rehder
A Blanco County Mystery (6th in series)
Publisher: Ben Rehder

Originally published in hardcover by St. Martin's Press in June 2008.

When televangelist Peter Boothe decides to build a megachurch on the banks of the Pedernales River, he thinks his biggest problem will be a few unhappy neighbors. However, when backhoe operator Hollis Farley unearths a rare fossil on the construction site — a discovery that could lead to plenty of embarrassing Darwinian publicity — the cover-up begins.

Soon, Farley is dead, shot in the back with an arrow, and Game Warden John Marlin is asked to help with the case. What he and the local deputies find is a suspect list of biblical proportions: Could it have been the bitter geology professor? The private fossil collector with a somewhat unusual fetish? The minister’s wife who takes the Commandments rather lightly? Or the geriatric environmentalist with a mean right hook?

  

Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Nightmare Range by Martin Limon, New in Bookstores This Week

Today's new hardcover mystery title, scheduled to be published this week by Soho Crime, is Nightmare Range by Martin Limon.

For a list of more new hardcover mysteries published this month, visit our New Mysteries page for September 2013. For new paperback mysteries, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where a selection of September 2013 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers are shelved.

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Nightmare Range
Martin Limon
Series: George Sueño and Ernie Bascom Short Stories

Twenty years ago, Martin Limón published his first mystery story featuring Sergeant George Sueño, a young Mexican American army detective stationed on the US 8th Army base in South Korea in the early 1970s, the heart of the Cold War. George and his investigating partner, the rowdy and short-fused Sergeant Ernie Bascom, are assigned cases in which the 8th Army has come into conflict with local Korean law enforcement — often incidents in which American soldiers, who are not known for being on their best behavior in their Asian host country, have committed a crime. George Sueño's job is partially to solve crimes, but mostly to cover top brass's backside and make sure the US Army doesn't look bad. Thoughtful, observant George, who is conversant in Korean, constantly faces difficult choices about whether to follow his orders or his conscience.

      

Telemystery: ITV Renews Law & Order UK for an 8th Season

ITV has officially renewed Law & Order: UK for an 8-episode eighth season (though word leaked out earlier this Summer that the deal was done). All principal cast members will return. Production is expected to begin in October for an early 2014 premiere.

Law & Order: UK airs on BBC America in the US, which is currently airing the seventh season. The DVD sets have (to date) combined two UK seasons into one season for distribution.

MystereBooks: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber, Available this Month at a Special Price

Every month Amazon releases a new selection of Kindle books priced $3.99 or less.

Today's featured title from the Mystery & Thrillers category is Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber. This Kindle book was listed at $2.99 as of the date and time of this post, Thursday, September 26, 2013 at 1:30 PM ET, and should be available at this price through the end of the month.

More information about the book is below; if other vendors have priced-matched this title, links to their sites are also shown.

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Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber
A Young Adult Comic Thriller
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

It’s prom night — and Perry just wants to stick to his own plan and finally play a muchanticipated gig with his band in the Big Apple. But when his mother makes him take Gobija Zaksauskas — their quiet, geeky Lithuanian exchange student — to the prom, he never expects that his ordinary high school guy life will soon turn on its head.

Perry finds that Gobi is on a mission, and Perry has no other choice but to go along for a reckless ride through Manhattan’s concrete grid with a trained assassin in Dad’s red Jag.

    

Click on the Amazon button to see also the special Whispersync offer associated with this title.

Important Note: Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

Deadly Descent, A Novel of Romantic Suspense by Kaylea Cross, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Deadly Descent by Kaylea Cross, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Carina Press.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $0.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (09/26/2013 at 1:00 PM ET). Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Deadly Descent by Kaylea Cross
A Novel of Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Carina Press

Devon Crawford is an officer; Air Force Pararescueman Cam Munro is enlisted. Dev flies medical evacuations; Cam jumps into danger zones to save lives. Dev wants to return home from Afghanistan with her heart untouched; Cam will do anything to win the woman he loves.

Reaching for happiness in a war zone is the last thing Captain Devon Crawford plans, but she can't ignore the feelings she's hidden for so long. Cam's sexy charm and wicked kisses weaken her resistance, but she's too afraid of losing him to give in.

When Dev's helicopter and crew are shot down and set up as bait by a notorious warlord, Cam risks all to save the team. What he doesn't know is that the trap is set for him …

    

Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

A New MystereBook: Jacked Up! by J. A. Konrath and Tracy Sharp

Here is a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers …

Jacked Up! by J. A. Konrath and Tracy Sharp is a short novella (20,000 words) that provides an introduction for new readers to the worlds of series characters Leah Ryan (from Tracy Sharp) and Jack Daniels (from J. A. Konrath).

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Jacked Up! by J. A. Konrath and Tracy Sharp
A Jack Daniels/Leah Ryan Mystery Novella
Publisher:
Publication Date: September 24, 2013

Stealing cars is murder …

Leah Ryan used to steal cars for a living. A former repo chick, she'd hung up her lock picks for a new career as a private eye. But when her old boss calls up with an offer to repossess a Rolls Royce, the thrill-seeker in Leah can't refuse.

Leah's trip to Chicago turns out to be more than just a simple boost. As the dead bodies start piling up, she runs afoul with a homicide cop named Lt. Jack Daniels, and her uncouth ex-partner, Harry McGlade.

  

Cinemystery: Jennifer Lawrence May Play Accused Murderer in Film Adaptation of Hannah Kent's Burial Rites

Hannah Kent's debut literary thriller Burial Rites was published earlier this month and already there is talk of a film adaptation.

More specifically, Gary Ross wants to direct Jennifer Lawrence in the film, though the book has yet to be optioned by a studio. Lawrence, who worked with Ross on The Hunger Games, would play Agnes, an Icelandic woman accused of murder in 1829. (More about the book, below.)

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Burial Rites
Hannah Kent
A Novel of Historical Suspense

Set against Iceland's stark landscape, this is the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

Horrified at the prospect of housing a convicted murderer, the family at first avoids Agnes. Only Tóti, a priest Agnes has mysteriously chosen to be her spiritual guardian, seeks to understand her. But as Agnes's death looms, the farmer's wife and their daughters learn there is another side to the sensational story they've heard.

      

A Conversation with YA Mystery/Fantasy Author Saoirse O'Mara

with Saoirse O'Mara

We are delighted to welcome young adult mystery/fantasy author Saoirse O'Mara to Omnimystery News today.

This summer Saoirse published the third in her "A Rogue's Tale" series, Pirates, Pirates! (CreateSpace; June 2013 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to talk to her about it.

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Omnimystery News: What is it about series characters that appeals to you as a writer?

Photo provided courtesy of
Saoirse O'Mara

Saoirse O'Mara: The characters of A Rogue's Tale just popped up and told me they had several stories to tell, so I sat down and started writing. I'm what's called a pantser in the writing world — someone who writes without plotting much, if at all, but just sits down and starts. My characters develop throughout the series, as do their relationships with other characters in the setting and with each other. I'm basically just sitting back watching them, and then I try to type their stories fast enough before I forget half of what I saw.

OMN: Into which genre would you place the books?

SO: I call my A Rogue's Tale books YA fantasy/mystery since each book has its own mystery that gets solved by the main protagonists, Tayla and Govin, while the whole story is set in a fantasy world. Since it's a genre mix, it's sometimes hard to find the right category for my books if I'm only allowed to choose one. On the other hand, wherever I can give more than one genre, I hope that my mix will attract readers of more than one genre.

OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a YA mystery author and thus I am also …".

SO: I am a YA mystery author and thus I am also more than just a bit weird. Throw in my love for fantasy and an addiction to coffee and chocolate and you might get a glimpse of what my hubby goes through!

OMN: Tell us a bit more about the book covers for the series.

SO: For the covers of the A Rogue's Tale series, I'm working together with Svenja Liv. I met her online, in a writers forum, where she was creating NaNo spreadsheets, and fell in love with her artwork. Since then, she's drawn my children's book illustrations and done all the covers for A Rogue's Tale, as well as the cover for my ebook-only fairytale The Enchanted Garden.

OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young?

SO: I read lots of adventure novels, fantasy, and I think I started pretty early on Agatha Christie's novels too. My passion to write fantasy was pretty much set when I started taking my writing seriously. That I ended up writing children's and YA books wasn't planned but was one of the best decisions I've made regarding my writing career. There's nothing more rewarding than smiles of children during a book reading. The jump to mystery simply happened. It was neither planned nor was a different approach planned; the characters, setting, and stories just came to me and demanded to be written. Since I love mystery novels (especially the British), I was happy to give it a try, and was positively surprised that I'm actually able to write a mystery novel without any outline. The puzzle pieces just fall together at some point.

OMN: Do you have any favorite mystery characters?

SO: Definitely Miss Marple. Apart from her, there are several I really liked: some of the Harry Potter characters, some of Trudi Canavan's characters, Charlotte and Thomas Pitt (by Anne Perry), and probably a whole lot more.

OMN: Give us a Top 5 list on any topic.

SO: Okay, let's try … Top 5 Fantasy Authors You Should Read (in no particular order) …

• Trudi Canavan
• Licia Troisi
• Julia Beylouny
• Tanja Höfliger
• J. K. Rowling

OMN: What's next for you?

SO: I'm currently working on part IV of my A Rogue's Tale series and on book two in my children's book series Miro the Dragon. Personally, my hubby and I are finally moving into a bigger flat, which means I will soon have my own office room for my freelance work and my writing. And my collection of signed books (most of which were either editing, proofreading, or translation projects of mine).

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Saoirse O'Mara is a children's and YA writer and home mostly in the fantasy and mystery genres. For more information about her, visit her website or find her on Facebook and Twitter. You can also become a fan of her two series, Miro the Dragon and A Rogue's Tale, on Facebook.

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Pirates, Pirates!
Saoirse O'Mara
A Rogue's Tale

Imagine you witness a murder but have no clue who the man was, or why he had to die. Imagine you stumble into a rat's nest of piracy and greed and put your own life at stake for the sake of justice. Imagine you don't know who you can still trust …

No matter how she looked at it, she ended up with far too many suspects. How should she ever get to the bottom of the attack and the murder if almost half the harbour population had a motive?

Tayla would have never dreamed that her day off might end so terribly — or that Govin wouldn't find time to help her when she needs him. Yet she decides that justice can't wait, and she follows her heart to right a wrong that happened in front of her eyes. Despite the dangers involved, her resolve stays strong. But who can she trust when the web of greed and intrigue threatens to ensnare her?

  

Deep Bay Vengeance by Kathleen Morris is Today's Third Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Deep Bay Vengeance by Kathleen Morris as today's third free mystery ebook (A Novel of Suspense; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, September 26, 2013 at 7:30 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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Deep Bay Vengeance
Kathleen Morris
A Novel of Suspense
Publisher: Rouge Publishing

When Loretta's only son gets killed during a bank robbery, she sets out to find his killer no matter what the cost.

She travels to a remote fly-in-fishing camp in Northern Saskatchewan where three very different people come together for very different reasons. Together they pursue truth, discover faith, and expose corruption of the human spirit deep in the heart of Canada's north.

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Dark Beach by Lauren Ash is Today's Second Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Dark Beach by Lauren Ash as today's second free mystery ebook (A Suspense Thriller; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, September 26, 2013 at 7:20 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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Dark Beach
Lauren Ash
A Suspense Thriller
Publisher: Lauren Ash

There once was a beach and it was dark, very dark …

Jenny is lost in a sea of heartaches that she's carried for too long. If it wasn't for her unexpected pregnancy, she would be able to take the medication that would prevent her from falling into the brink of darkness. Unable to cope with the news of this new life, she keeps it a secret from her husband.

Ronald just wants to get away from it all. He takes his wife, Jenny, to the family beach house. Unfortunately he is called away on business, leaving his sick wife behind. Will he ever learn the truth?

Kurt is a simple fisherman who falls in love with the wrong woman at the wrong time. Jenny is everything he could hope for, but she is married, and she holds a dark secret. Still, he just wants to spend time with this unorthodox female.

Everything unwinds for Jenny as a stalker makes his mark. Who is this man that stands upon the beach watching her at night? Is it her broken mind playing tricks, or is it real?

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

Passage Graves by Madyson Rush is Today's Featured Free MystereBook

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Passage Graves by Madyson Rush as today's free mystery ebook (A Novel of Suspense; Kindle format only).

This title was listed for free as of the date and time of this post, September 26, 2013 at 7:10 AM ET. Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

For a summary of all of today's featured titles, plus any that may have appeared before and are repeat freebies, visit our Free MystereBooks page. This page is updated daily, typically by 8 AM ET.

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Passage Graves
Madyson Rush
A Novel of Suspense
Publisher: Mad Rush Publishing

Archeologist David Hyden is hell-bent to disprove his Biblical archeologist father's religious theories. After his father is found dead at the center of Stonehenge with a strange glowing spiral engraved into his palm, David decides to challenge his father's theory that Maeshowe — a passage grave ruin in Stenness, Scotland — possesses metaphysical powers. However, the morning after his arrival in Stenness, David wakes to find everyone else in town is dead.

NATO pathologist Brynne Thatcher is trained to recognize the subtle features of subsonic death, a unique forte and her only leg-up in a career dominated by men. Sound is the ideal weapon: an indiscriminate killer that leaves almost no trace upon its victims. She is testing an acoustic cannon in the grasslands a short distance from Stenness. Thatcher is certain her weapon caused the Stenness massacre, but all bets are off when she pinpoints Maeshowe as the source of deadly noise. The ruin erupts with low-frequency sound every 77 hours. Each explosion is larger and deadlier than the last. The only clues to stopping Maeshowe are the spiral petroglyph glowing inside its central chamber and the lone survivor, David.

Investigating the connection between the two glowing spiral symbols, Thatcher and David uncover Brenton's most bizarre theory: There are four locks and four keys lost throughout antiquity. Any man who finds a matching lock and key will gain one of the powers of the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (Conqueror, War, Plague, and Death). Displacement of a key awakened the passage grave. Unless the "key" is placed into the petroglyph "lock", the ruin will kill every living thing.

Finding the key won't be easy. A clandestine brotherhood known as the Abaddon is sworn to protect the keys. As Maeshowe's eruption spreads across northern Europe, the leadership of the Abaddon crumbles. A new leader of the dark society seeks to become Conqueror, and a race to the Apocalypse begins.

  

Important Note: This book was listed for free on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

For more free mystery ebooks, visit our Free MystereBooks page.

A New MystereBook: A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock

Here is a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers …

A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock is the author's debut novel, in which she asks, What is the next evolutionary step for the human species? This is the question she had in mind when she created the character of Jayna.

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A Calculated Life by Anne Charnock
A Sci-Fi Thriller
Publisher: 47North
Publication Date: September 24, 2013

Late in the twenty-first century, big business is booming and state institutions are thriving thanks to advances in genetic engineering, which have produced a compliant population free of addictions. Violent crime is a rarity.

Hyper-intelligent Jayna is a star performer at top predictive agency Mayhew McCline, where she forecasts economic and social trends. A brilliant mathematical modeler, she far outshines her co-workers, often correcting their work on the quiet. Her latest coup: finding a link between northeasterly winds and violent crime.

When a string of events contradicts her forecasts, Jayna suspects she needs more data and better intuition. She needs direct interactions with the rest of society. Bravely — and naively — she sets out to disrupt her strict routine and stumbles unwittingly into a world where her IQ is increasingly irrelevant … a place where human relationships and the complexity of life are difficult for her to decode. And as she experiments with taking risks, she crosses the line into corporate intrigue and disloyalty.

Can Jayna confront the question of what it means to live a "normal" life? Or has the possibility of a "normal" life already been eclipsed for everyone?

  

Cinemystery: Odd Thomas, based on the Dean Koontz Novel, To Open in US Theaters in Early 2014

After a year of so of sitting on the shelf in legal limbo, the film adaptation of Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas, which was completed in 2011, will open in US theaters in Q1/2014.

"Director Stephen Sommers's spectacular style and extraordinary vision translates so well to the big screen for this material," said Bill Bromiley, Chief Acquisitions Officer for Image Entertainment, which has acquired the US rights to the film. "We are proud to distribute the film and introduce the magical world of Odd Thomas to a wider audience."

Anton Yelchin stars as Odd Thomas, a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities. Maybe he has a gift, maybe it's a curse, Odd has never been sure, but he tries to do his best by the silent souls who seek him out. Sometimes they want justice and he finds himself helping police solve a crime. Occasionally, they prevent one.

One day, however, a mysterious man comes to town with a filing cabinet stuffed with information on the world's worst killers and a pack of hyena-like shades that follow him wherever he goes. Who the man is and what he wants, not even Odd's deceased informants can tell him. What happens next is a mysterious battle between light and darkness.

More about the book from which this was adapted, below.

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Odd Thomas
Dean Koontz
An Odd Thomas Novel

"The dead don't talk. I don't know why." But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant.

Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd Thomass want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. But this time it's different.

A stranger comes to Pico Mundo, accompanied by a horde of hyena-like shades who herald an imminent catastrophe. Aided by his soul mate, Stormy Llewellyn, and an unlikely community of allies that includes the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Odd will race against time to thwart the gathering evil.

      

Telemystery: FX Network Renews The Bridge for a Second Season

FX Networks has renewed The Bridge for a second season. The 13-episode season will premiere in Summer 2014.

Demian Bichir and Diane Kruger star in this present-day crime thriller exploring the tensions on the US-Mexico border. When an American judge known for her anti-immigration views is found dead on the bridge connecting El Paso and Juarez, Sonya Cross (Kruger) from El Paso PD must work with her Mexican counterpart from Chihuahua State Police, Marco Ruiz (Bichir), to catch a serial killer operating on both sides of the border.

"We've been blown away by the compelling performances of Demian Bichir and Diane Kruger and the writing of Meredith Stiehm, Elwood Reid and their team, and are thrilled to be able to continue this journey for another season," said Eric Schrier, President of Original Programming for FX Networks.

The Bridge is based on the Scandinavian crime drama of the same title (Danish: Broen; Swedish: Bron), which over its first season followed a similar storyline set on the international bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark.

Keep up to date on the status of your favorite mystery and suspense television with our Telemystery Scoresheet. We've updated it with today's news.