Online Review for Nothing But Trouble

Christine Wald-Hopkins recently reviewed for the Tuscon Weekly Michael McGarrity's 10th mystery featuring Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney, Nothing But Trouble.

Synopsis of the book from the publisher: After years away on the pro rodeo circuit, Johnny Jordan struts into Santa Fe to ask his boyhood friend, Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney, to serve as a technical advisor on a contemporary Western movie to be filmed along the Mexican border. Kerney agrees and plans a working vacation on location in a remote area of the state known as the Bootheel with his wife, Lt. Colonel Sara Brannon, and their three year old son, Patrick. But a dead man on a road near an isolated border crossing, a federal undercover investigation into immigrant smuggling, the search for a fugitive from military justice hiding somewhere in Europe, and Johnny Jordan's troublesome behavior ensure that nothing goes as planned.

As separate investigations embroil Kerney and Sara in circumstances that will forever changes their lives, Kerney must care for Patrick while Sara plays a dangerous game of Pentagon politics. Packed with family secrets, international intrigue, and memorable characters, this is McGarrity's most ambitious and involving novel to date, traveling an accelerating arc from Santa Fe to the desert grasslands and mountains of the Bootheel, the most secret levels of the Pentagon, a resort town on the coast of Ireland, and back to an adrenaline-charged climax on a desolate landing strip a few miles north of the Mexican border.

Wald-Hopkins states in her review, "McGarrity has achieved a comfortable balance between Kerney's and Sara's work, and created enough outside activity to make the book feel like real life." She adds, "Nothing but Trouble feels nothing if not authentic. Setting, police procedure, filmmaking, even little current-event comments read as genuine."

Read her entire review here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, mystery book review, michael mcgarrity, nothing but trouble.

Press Release: New Mystery Novel is Not a Garden Variety Detective Story

Sacramento, CA (PRWEB) February 14, 2006 -- In his new novel, The Houseboat Murders, author Paul Wagner morphs a police procedural story into a broader slice-of-life tale involving a guilt-burdened father, his teenaged son, and a killer who masquerades as a high school student to avoid capture.

The reader is eyewitness to the triple homicide which launches the story. As the investigation of the crime proceeds, the father-son duo and a drug ring which includes a crooked cop are drawn into the case. Three more murders are committed.

Many seek the killer. None suspect someone posing as a high school student.

The setting of the story is present-day California, including Los Angeles and more particularly Sacramento and its fast-growing suburb of Elk Grove. Heading the official investigation of the murders is a captain in the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department, Sam Hornbuckle. Unbeknownst to the captain, one of the deputies working the case is on the payroll of a Los Angeles drug czar, who also wants the killer found. Hornbuckle pulls Jack McBride, an alcoholic ex-deputy, into the investigation. McBride’s 17-year old son, Troy, attends the school where the killer is pretending to be a student.

Author Wagner weaves the killer’s interaction with teenagers at school and the misdirected investigations by law enforcement and drug dealers into an irresistible story--disturbingly plausible and sprinkled with humor.

About Paul Wagner: Paul Wagner lives and writes in Sacramento, California. His other mystery novels are: All Rise: The Criminal Trial of 4 Teens, The A-Club Mystery, and Just One Mo.

Father of four and grandfather of eight, Wagner encourages young writers by publishing their stories and essays in a monthly magazine on the internet: http://www.aboutteens.org/. For more on the author and his work, go to http://members.aol.com/phwagner.

The Houseboat Murders (ISBN 0-595-38340-8) is published by iUniverse, Inc. Available on order at major booksellers.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, paul wagner.

Mystery Hardcover Bestsellers (02/17/2006)

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending February 17, 2006 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

James Patterson's fifth entry in the Woman's Club Murder series, The 5th Horseman, debuts at the top of the Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble mystery bestsellers list.

From the publisher's description: Accompanied by the newest member of the Women's Murder Club, Yuki Castellano, Lieutenant Lindsay Boxer probes deeper into a series of incidents at a hospital where, as patients are about to be released with a clean bill of health, their conditions take a devastating turn for the worse. Could these cases just be appalling coincidences? Or is a maniac playing God with people's lives? When someone close to the Women's Murder Club begins to exhibit the same frightening symptoms, Lindsay fears no one is safe.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, mystery bestsellers, james patterson, the 5th horseman.

Online Review for The Princess of Burundi

Timothy Peters recently reviewed The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson (translated by Ebba Segerberg) for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Eriksson's second novel (and first to be published in America) offers a much more privileged and detailed perspective on the myriad factors behind a crime and its widespread effects on the community and families involved. Peters adds, "This is a terrific mystery, and it transcends the too-often pejorative label of genre fiction." He concludes, "As with most mysteries, we're rooting for the detective to set things right, but Eriksson's fine book is a reminder that even the best possible outcome -- catching the guilty -- can never fully repair the damage wrought."

Read his entire review here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, kjell eriksson, the princess of burundi.

Newspaper Editor Pens Mystery Novel

Karen E. Olson, a wife, mother, and newspaper editor, was the recipient of an award for a debut mystery novel from Mysterious Press, an imprint of Warner Books, which has published the book and will put out her second one in September. Olson covered the police beat when she had to, but didn't love it like the spunky protagonist in her first mystery novel, Sacred Cows. Her character, Annie Seymour, is a smart, bawdy, single police reporter at a newspaper in New Haven, a workaholic who's not afraid to say what's what.

The News-Times of Danbury CT recently ran a profile of Karen Olsen. Olson chose the newsroom for her setting because of her familiarity with one. She's worked for newspapers since 1984, with her last 13 years at the New Haven Register.S he made Annie a more boisterous reporter than newsroom protagonists who precede her. And she picked New Haven as the city since it's the first time it's been chosen for a mystery series, she said.

Read the rest of this interesting profile here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, karen olsen, mysterious press.

Nero Wolfe Author, Goldsborough, Wins Readers' Choice Award

Nero Wolfe award winning author, Robert Goldsborough, wins an award for "Best Historical Mystery" for his first mystery, Three Strikes You're Dead, since writing the Nero Wolfe books.

This award follows close on the heels of the first academic placement for Three Strikes You're Dead. The first book in the Steve "Snap" Malek mystery series has been selected for inclusion in the "History of Chicago" class curriculum at the Loyola Academy in Wilmette (IL), a well respected Jesuit College Preparatory High School.

Three Strikes You're Dead takes fans back to 1938 Chicago, to a time when politics were king and baseball ruled. Dizzy Dean sat in the driver's seat of the Cubs' World Series ride, while scandal rocked the tight political community of the Windy City.

Read the entire press release here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, robert goldsborough, nero wolfe.

Weekly Mystery Godoku Puzzle for 02/13/2006

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

Godoku is similar to Sudoku, but uses letters instead of numbers. To give you a headstart, we provide you a mystery clue to fill in a complete row or column (if you choose to use it!). This week's mystery clue: Rhys Bowen writes the popular Evan Evans mystery series. What is Evans’ profession? (9 letters: A B C E L N O S T).

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!

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, mystery godoku, sudoku, godoku.

Online Review for Arthur & George

Arthur & George, the latest novel by Julian Barnes, appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List this past week. Arthur is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, physician, sportsman, gentleman par excellence and the inventor of Sherlock Holmes; George is George Edalji, also a real, if less well-known person, whose path crossed not quite fatefully with the famous author's.

Rob Thomas recently reviewed the book for The Capital Times (Madison WI).

Thomas writes, " ... readers looking for a no-frills mystery might be surprised by the book's considerable literary ambitions." He concludes his review with, "Just as we're resigned to think that the resolution of the mystery will mean the end of the novel, Barnes ties his narrative strands together with a truly breathtaking final scene ... It is an unexpectedly moving coda to a brilliant book, one that suggests that life's real mysteries are ephemeral ones that lie far beyond the reach of even the world's greatest detective."

Read the review in its entirety here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, julian barnes, arthur & george.

Author Sets Mystery In Her Home Town

Rebecca Forster, Long Beach (CA) native, visiting a friend who lives in the International Towers, was taken in by the view of the beach and ocean from the condo’s balcony. But her thoughts weren’t on just the scenery. She mused, "What if someone took a nose dive off this building?” Sounds like the premise for a mystery!

The third installment in her “Witness” series, featuring attorney Josie Baylor-Bates, Privileged Witness, revolves around the death of a wealthy woman, the wife of a Senate hopeful. His sister is accused of pushing his wife from the penthouse balcony of International Towers. Josie, who just happens to be his ex-lover, must defend her.

Gazettes.com recently ran an article profiling Rebecca Forster. Read the entire article here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, rebecca forster, josie baylor-bates.

Mystery Book Review: Blondes Have More Felons by Alesia Holliday

Mysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has posted a mystery book review for Blondes Have More Felons, a new series introducing December Vaughn, by Alesia Holliday. Published by Berkley Prime Crime, the book has a scheduled publication date of March 07, 2006.

December Vaughn is a corporate attorney who has relocated to Florida to set up her own private practice. Her first client: a man whose wife died because of defective insulin. The consequence of taking the case: a drug company and its ruthless lawyers doing anything in their power to derail the case.

Read our review of Blondes Have More Felons here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, mystery book review, alesia holliday.

Mystery Hardcover Bestsellers (02/10/2006)

A list of the top ten mystery hardcover bestsellers for the week ending February 10, 2006 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

New this week: Sea Change, the fifth Jesse Stone mystery by Robert B. Parker. Reviews have been generally mixed. Publisher's Weekly concludes their review with, "Stone is a work in progress whose following is likely to increase as he continues to grow." While Booklist states, "Shortcomings aside, though, Parker's setting and plotting are enough to make most readers forgive the unrelenting Guy Noir style."

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, mystery bestsellers, robert b. parker, jesse stone.

More Literary Clues Soon to Be Discovered on 'Lost'

The Book Standard is reporting that more literary clues will soon be discovered on ABC's hit series Lost. Gary Troup’s manuscript for Bad Twin made its debut last night as the reading material of character Hugo “Hurley” Reyes.

Disney’s Hyperion Books, a sister company of ABC, hired a well-known mystery author to pen Bad Twin, about a wealthy heir who searches for a long-lost evil sibling. Hyperion will release the book on May 2, 2006.

Read the entire article here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, abc's lost, gary troup.

Edgar Award Nominees for 2006

The Mystery Writers of America has announced its nominees for the 2006 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2005. The Edgar Awards will be presented to the winners at the 60th Gala Banquet, April 27, 2006 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

Best Novel Nominees

The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook (Harcourt)
Vanish by Tess Gerritsen (Ballantine Books)
Drama City by George Pelecanos (Little, Brown)
Citizen Vince by Jess Walter (Regan Books)

Best First Novel By An American Author

Die A Little by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Immoral by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's Minotaur)
Run the Risk by Scott Frost (G.P. Putnam's Sons)
Hide Your Eyes by Alison Gaylin (Signet)
Officer Down by Theresa Schwegel (St. Martin's Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original

Homicide My Own by Anne Argula (Pleasure Boat Studio)
The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman (Penguin - Plume)
Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford (Dark Alley)
Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie (Hard Case Crime)
Six Bad Things by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)

For a complete list of nominees in all categories, visit the MWA website.

Visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books to see a list of previous Edgar Award winners as well as winners of many other mystery awards.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, mystery awards, mystery writers of america, edgar award.

Online Review for Memory in Death

Marcia Anderson, writing for ThisWeek Newspapers (Columbus OH), recently reviewed the latest futuristic mystery from J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts), Memory in Death. Following in the footsteps of witty crime-fighting couples like The Thin Man's Nick and Nora Charles, police detective Eve Dallas and her techno-savvy billionaire husband Roarke use their complementary talents to solve murders in mid-21st century New York City.

Anderson writes, "The In Death novels offer something for every fan of genre fiction. Mystery aficionados get their whodunit fix while science fiction buffs appreciate Robb's futuristic vision. And Eve and Roarke's sexy love life appeals to Nora Roberts' romance readers." She adds, "Fans aren't worried about the series 'jumping the shark' -- to borrow a TV term -- anytime soon, since the author has no plans to wrap up her In Death mysteries. Haunted in Death, a novella in the Bump in the Night anthology, will be on the shelves this April, and Born in Death hits bookstores in July."

Anderson concludes, "Memory in Death is a welcome addition to the ongoing saga of Eve and Roarke."

Her review in its entirety can be read here.

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, j. d. robb, eve dallas, memory in death.

Mysteries with a Hook: An NPR Interview with Victoria Houston

On February 02, 2006, NPR featured an interview with mystery author Victoria Houston. Houston writes murder mysteries set in the fictional Wisconsin town of Loon Lake. One way or another, her characters solve the mystery through clues that center around the sport of fly fishing, a sport the author also enjoys.

You can listen to the interview here as well as read the first chapter of her book Dead Creek (Penguin 2000).

Technorati tags: mystery books blogs, mystery, mystery books, victoria houston, npr.