Review: A Colder War by Charles Cumming

A Mysterious Review of A Colder War by Charles Cumming.

Review summary: This thriller doesn't seem to fit the typical definition of such. There are no action scenes and the tension level is low with minimal suspense. Indeed, it is more a novel of spycraft than anything else. And given that's all it is, it's pretty good. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

A Colder War
Charles Cumming
St. Martin's Press (August 2014)

Publisher synopsis: A top-ranking Iranian military official is blown up while trying to defect to the West. An investigative journalist is arrested and imprisoned for writing an article critical of the Turkish government. An Iranian nuclear scientist is assassinated on the streets of Tehran. These three incidents, seemingly unrelated, have one crucial link. Each of the three had been recently recruited by Western intelligence, before being removed or killed.

Then Paul Wallinger, MI6's most senior agent in Turkey, dies in a puzzling plane crash. Fearing the worst, MI6 bypasses the usual protocol and brings disgraced agent Tom Kell in from the cold to investigate. Kell soon discovers what Wallinger had already begun to suspect — that there's a mole somewhere in the Western intelligence, a traitor who has been systematically sabotaging scores of joint intelligence operations in the Middle East.

        

New This Week: Broken Strings, A Murder Mystery by Nancy Means Wright

Omnimystery News is pleased to present a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during October 2014 and priced $4.99 or less …

Broken Strings by Nancy Means Wright

A Murder Mystery

Publisher: Enigma Press

Price: $2.99 (as of 10/10/2014 at 4:30 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

When puppeteer Marion collapses during a performance of Sleeping Beauty, her friend Fay Hubbard will carry on. But Fay already has her hands full with three demanding foster children — Apple and Beets, who have a fractious jailbird father, and sixteen-year-old Chance, who has a crush on an older guy in a band called Ghouls. And now Marion's husband Cedric seems more interested in a drop-dead-gorgeous French teacher than with any string puppets. And who is the mysterious Skull-man who warns of death if the show goes on with one of Marion's offbeat endings?

When an autopsy reveals that Marion had swallowed a dose of deadly crushed yew — and a friend finds her half-sister dangling from a rod like a marionette, a shocked Fay goes after the killers.

— Broken Strings by Nancy Means Wright

The Steel Deal, A Novel of Suspense by James Blakley, Now Available at a Special Price

Omnimystery News is always searching for newly discounted mystery, suspense, thriller and crime novels for our readers to enjoy. Today, we're pleased to present the following title, now available at a special price courtesy of the publisher, Inkwater Press …

The Steel Deal by James Blakley

A Novel of Suspense

Publisher: Inkwater Press

Price: $2.99 (as of 10/10/2014 at 4:00 PM ET).

  

Important Note: Price(s) verified as of the date and time shown. Price(s) are subject to change at any time. Please confirm the price of the book before purchasing it.

At 55, big city sleuth Sonny Busco is sinking deep into debt and distrust when suddenly he's thrown a lifeline. The chief assistant to a prominent university professor offers $2500 for safe delivery of a confidential briefcase to Santa Fe, NM. Sonny accepts, thinking it's easy money. That is until he learns of the case's contents: an amazing alloy called sentient steel.

Soon, Sonny risks life, liberty, and property to keep the revolutionary invention from falling into a wicked whirlwind of men and women in black, whose mission is to secure sentient steel for what appears to be the other side. But in a city full of smog and cynicism, things are rarely what they appear to be.

— The Steel Deal by James Blakley

The Legend of Sleepy Harlow by Kylie Logan, New on the Mystery Bookshelf during October 2014

New on the Mystery Bookshelf during October 2014 …

The Legend of Sleepy Harlow by Kylie Logan

A League of Literary Ladies Mystery (3rd in series)

Publisher: Berkley

  

To see more new paperback titles scheduled to be published this month, visit The Mystery Bookshelf for October 2014. For new hardcover mysteries, visit New Mysteries where for a list of October 2014 mysteries, novels of suspense, and thrillers is provided.

More about our featured title, below …

It takes more than a lurid legend to scare off the League of Literary Ladies …

For Halloween, the Literary Ladies have chosen to read Washington Irving's spooky classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, with its infamous headless horseman. But South Bass Island has its own headless legend — of a Prohibition bootlegger named Charlie "Sleepy" Harlow. Decapitated by rival rumrunners, Harlow appears once a year in spectral form to search for his noggin.

This October, the Elkhart Ghost Getters (EGG) have returned to the island. The group claims that they have film footage of Harlow's ghost, and are determined to get more. They're staying at Bea Cartwright's B and B, but it's Kate Wilder who isn't happy to see them after they trashed her winery last year. When the EGG leader turns up dead, Kate becomes the prime suspect, and the other League members need to scramble to crack the case.

— The Legend of Sleepy Harlow by Kylie Logan

Mr. E. Reviews Veronica Mars

Purchase/Rental Option(s)

There's nothing really wrong with this film based on characters from the mid-2000s television show, but there's nothing all that compelling about it either. Fans of the series will no doubt enjoy it more than those unfamiliar it, who will likely see it as a decent popcorn film and not much more.

Read the full text of our review at Mr. E. Reviews Veronica Mars.

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Mr. E. Reviews is your source for mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime drama reviews of television and film.