Friday, July 20, 2007

Mystery Bestsellers for July 20, 2007

Mystery BestsellersA list of the top ten for the week ending July 20, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

by James Patterson, by Janet Evanovich, and by Michael Connelly maintain their positions as the top three bestselling mysteries this week.

The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee BurkeNew on the list this week: , the 16th book in the Dave Robicheaux mystery series by James Lee Burke. In the waning days of summer 2005, a storm with greater impact than the bomb that struck Hiroshima peels the face off southern Louisiana. This is the gruesome reality Iberia Parish Sheriff's Detective Dave Robicheaux discovers as he is deployed to . In the midst of an apocalyptical nightmare, Robicheaux must find two serial rapists, a morphine-addicted priest, and a vigilante who may be more dangerous than the criminals looting the city. Publishers Weekly calls The Tin Roof Blowdown "meticulously textured" and adds, "Burke showcases all that was both right and wrong in our response to this national disaster, proving along the way that nobody captures the spirit of Gulf Coast Louisiana better." Library Journal states that this book is "[t]he best Robicheaux novel of the past several years."

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Mystery Book Review: Keep It Real by Bill Bryan

Mysterious ReviewsMysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Keep It Real by Bill Bryan. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.Keep It Real by Bill Bryan

Keep It Real by Bill Bryan
Non-Series

Bleak House Books (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-932557-31-8 (1932557318)
ISBN-13: 978-1-932557-31-2 (9781832557312)
Publication Date: May 2007
List Price: $13.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Ted used to be an investigative reporter—a good one. But that was before the divorce, the meltdown, the subsequent supervised visitation of his adorable little girl. Now he’s one of several peon producers for the inexplicably successful reality show, ‘The Mogul.’ Ted’s not a happy man. Unlike his viewers, he takes no joy in the vapid “reality” he helps edit together for ratings.

Then Ted inadvertently witnesses a violent exchange between gangsta rapper Boney and Boney’s hot-enough-to-dance-in-videos girlfriend, Patrice. When Patrice goes missing, it’s all Ted can do to keep his reporter instincts in check. With no real excuse for hanging out in the world of Cristal and grillz, Ted uses the resources at his disposal to snoop around. And what better way to invade a celebrity’s privacy than by featuring him on Reality TV?

Review: Bill Bryan's debut crime novel, Keep It Real, is a satirical and frequently funny blending of the behind-the-scenes production of a reality television show and a murder investigation.

Told in the first person present tense (which rarely works for mysteries, but seems appropriate here), Ted Collins is an investigative reporter who reluctantly admits that yes, he's won a "Pulie" (Pulitzer Prize), but that his currently employer doesn't hold it against him. Ted is a producer for the hit reality television series The Mogul starring billionaire Roger Dominus who is looking for an apprentice to work in his organization, and created by the king of reality TV himself, Trevor Bane. During a visit to his ex-wife to pick up their daughter, he overhears a conversation between the rapper Raymond Bonaparte ("Boney") and a model who is later found murdered. Suspecting Boney of the crime, Ted arranges for him to appear on The Mogul so that he can conduct his investigation without raising too much suspicion.

Subtle is not a word in author Bill Bryan's vocabulary. Roger Dominus is a thinly disguised version of Donald Trump; the Dominus casinos are in rather than Atlantic City and Dominus Tower is in Los Angeles rather than New York City, but the Dominus helicopter is the same. Trevor Bane is an even more transparent fictionalization of Mark Burnett. Bryan captures the public perception of the idiosyncrasies and excesses of these two men perfectly in his characters: there isn't anything Roger won't do to promote his identity and there isn't any product or service that Trevor isn't ready and able to make a buck off of. Anyone who watches reality television will be laughing at the outrageous manner in which it is portrayed here.

The murder mystery plays a supporting role here but does provide a unifying theme to the story. The resolution to the model's murder is beyond cynical, but in a perverse way is completely believable.

For a book that not only tests the boundaries of good taste but crosses over them regularly and repeatedly, Bryan is, ironically, a little too politically correct at times and tends to be a bit preachy especially when it comes to race relations. These minor objections aside, Keep It Real is a very funny look at the world of reality television with a bonus for mystery readers of having a murder to solve.

Special thanks to Authors on the Web for providing a copy of Keep It Real for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Compendium of Mystery News 070718

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• The cameras are rolling in Toronto on a new television mystery series, The Murdoch Mysteries, based on the novels by Maureen Jennings. The series is scheduled to air on Bravo in 2008.

• MSNBC has an excerpt of Janet Evanovich's latest Stephanie Plum mystery, Lean Mean Thirteen, on its website.

Bruce DeSilva (AP) reviews The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Mystery Book Review: Deadly Appraisal by Jane K. Cleland

Mysterious ReviewsMysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Deadly Appraisal by Jane K. Cleland. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.Deadly Appraisal by Jane K. Cleland

Deadly Appraisal by
A Josie Prescott Mystery

St. Martin's Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-312-34366-3 (0312343663)
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-34366-8 (9780312343668)
Publication Date: April 2007
List Price: $23.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Josie Prescott is settling into her new life in . Her antiques business is thriving, she's beginning to make some close friends, and her relationship with the local police chief is becoming more interesting. Not bad for someone who has completely uprooted her life as a New York City auction house expert in order to get a fresh start in a small New England town.

With so much suddenly to lose, Josie can't help but worry when murder invades her seemingly quiet community. Josie is sponsoring the Portsmouth Women's Guild Annual Black and Gold Gala and is looking forward to receiving a kindly worded thank-you for her efforts. Instead, the Guild representative, Maisy Gaylor, dies a horrible death in the midst of the banquet. Who could have wanted to kill earnest, drab little Maisy? "Funny, isn't it," muses the hostile detective Rowcliff, "how a lot of people end up dead when no one has any enemies."

Everyone who had access to the wine Maisy drank, including Josie herself, soon comes under suspicion. Can Josie manage to ferret out the truth, keep her business running smoothly, and continue to put down roots in her new town, or will everything prove too much for her to handle on her own?

Review: Deadly Appraisal is the second winning entry in this entertaining series by Jane K. Cleland that features New Hampshire antiques dealer and amateur sleuth Josie Prescott.

Josie's antique consignment shop is starting to do well, and she is quickly becoming known throughout the community. An opportunity to showcase her expertise comes up when Maisy Gaylor of the Portsmouth Women's Guild asks Josie to sponsor a charity dinner and antique auction. Following the dinner, the rather shy Maisy is to announce the winning bidders. Before she can do so, she coughs, screams, and collapses to the floor – dead. Someone has poisoned her wine. Who would want to kill Maisy? She had no enemies. Through intense questioning of everyone at the gala by the police, the question becomes not who killed Maisy, but was Maisy the intended victim? Could the poison have been meant for Josie? This idea becomes even more credible when a few nights later Josie is injured by a hit-and-run. Even Josie begins to believe that there is someone out there trying to kill her. But why?

Though this series has a fairly typical background story (woman leaves the big city to establish herself anew in a small town, starts a new business, makes new friends, and without really trying finds herself in a new relationship), Cleland makes it seem fresh. Deadly Appraisal nicely balances Josie's personal life, her professional life, and of course a murder mystery that will have the reader guessing as to the killer's identity until the very end. There is also the requisite inclusion of facts about the antiques business, but Cleland so effortlessly incorporates them into the story that they are an interesting, integral part of the plot. Why, for example, is one antique worth so much money when another, virtually identical item, is worthless? The answer to this question may lead to murder!

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of for contributing her review of Deadly Appraisal and to St. Martin's Minotaur for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Mysteries on TV: The Rookies and Vincent

Mysteries on TVMystery television series being released this week on DVD:

starred Sam Melville (as Mike Danko), Michael Ontkean (as Willie Gillis), and Gerald S. O'Loughlin (as Eddie Ryker), rookie officers of the southern California Police Department. Kate Jackson (later of ) played nurse Jill Danko.

The series ran for 4 seasons on ABC from September 1972 through March 1976.

This DVD set includes the 23 episodes from the 1st season on 5 disks.

stars Ray Winstone as the workaholic private investigator Vincent Gallagher, a passionate, headstrong man, who sometimes forgets that he's running a business and not a crusade. The series is set in Manchester (UK).

The series first aired in the ITV during the month of October 2005. It is listed as a returning series.

This DVD set includes the 4 episodes from this season on 2 disks.

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

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Mystery Book Review: Nothing to See Here by David L. Post

Mysterious ReviewsMysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Nothing to See Here by David L. Post. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.Nothing to See Here by David L. Post

Nothing to See Here by David L. Post
Non-Series

Beckham Publications (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-931761-29-8 (0931761298)
ISBN-13: 978-0-931761-29-4 (9780931761294)
Publication Date: August 2007
List Price: $14.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Nothing To See Here spans one summer in the life of psychiatrist Alan Sarnower, an ordinary citizen who finds himself in extraordinary circumstances when his wife suddenly leaves him and their young son in the middle of a psychotic episode. When she returns unexpectedly with a new lover and announces her intention to get a divorce, his own life and sanity begin to unravel.

As the divorce process grinds on, he forgets appointments and lets responsibilities slide. An affair with his seductive secretary provides only temporary relief from a frightening descent into mental illness. Now, finally sicker than his own patients, as people and events are misinterpreted and doors begin to close, his comfortable suburban life recedes and murder becomes the only option left.

Review: David L. Post's debut novel, Nothing to See Here, is a well-written though formulaic psychological thriller that promises far more than it delivers.

Nothing to See Here opens with Cassie, the wife of psychiatrist Alan Sarnower, systematically destroying their bedroom as she prepares to leave. To where and for how long he doesn't know. Nor does he seem to care. He has a thriving practice, a large home in the suburbs, a young son he adores, and a close friend he can confide in and count on. Maybe life without her would be better. But when she suddenly returns and files for divorce, he starts to see his world being taken away from him. His anxiety about potentially losing his son and his home and the staggering fees he's paying his lawyer to represent him begin to affect his reasoning, so much so that he'll do anything to ensure that his wife doesn't take everything he values away from him.

Nothing to See Here fails to generate any real suspense primarily because it is told from the point of view of Alan Sarnower. Every action he takes is telegraphed well in advance, and therefore nothing he does surprises the reader. He loses control of his marriage, his relationship with his son, and his professional practice, but there is never any sense that he is out of control, and certainly nothing to suggest that he is mentally unbalanced. Of course that's the crux of the problem: since the story is told from his perspective, he's not going to think anything is wrong with him. He's the only sane person in a world gone mad. It isn't until the last few pages that he's threatened in any way, uncertainty clouding his future. This provides a welcome element of surprise for the reader, but with only a few paragraphs until the end, it's too little, far too late.

Post is a talented writer but the lack of originality in his plot and the manner in which he chose to relate it make Nothing to See Here rather prosaic and dull.

Special thanks to Maryglenn McCombs Book Publicity for providing a copy of Nothing to See Here for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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Monday, July 16, 2007

Compendium of Mystery News 070716

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• Ian Rankin, author of the John Rebus mysteries, speculates that J. K. Rowling may next write a whodunit along the lines of Dorothy L. Sayers or Agatha Christie.

• From a press release, Dorien Grey's Lambda Award-nominated mystery series featuring PI Dick Hardesty is the flagship release for Zumaya Publications' new GLBT imprint, Zumaya Boundless.

• Oline H. Cogdill reviews two new mysteries in her column on Sun-Sentinel.com.

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 Godoku: Weekly Puzzle for July 16, 2007

Mystery GodokuMystery Godoku Puzzle for July 16, 2007A new 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 letters and mystery clue: A I L N R S T U. This bar drink is the title of the 3rd “Jack” Daniels mystery by J. A. Konrath (9 letters).

New! We now have our puzzles 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!

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Sunday, July 15, 2007

News: 2007 Thriller Award Winners Announced

The International Thriller Writers ThrillerFest award ceremony was held last night where the winners of the 2007 Thriller Awards were announced.

Best Novel: Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder.

Best First Novel: Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone.

Best Paperback Original: An Unquiet Grave by P. J. Parrish.

Congratulations from Mystery Book News to all the winners!

Please visit the website where lists of winners from 20 different organizations that recognize excellence in mysteries, including the , are presented.

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Saturday, July 14, 2007

Compendium of Mystery News 070714

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• Dick Lochte reviews James Lee Burke's two most recently published books, the Dave Robicheaux mystery The Tin Roof Blowdown and a collection of short stories Jesus Out to Sea.

• New York Magazine has an interview with first time author Nick Santora. (MBN Note: Read our on Mysterious Reviews.)

• Lighthouse Interactive has released the second playable demo to their upcoming investigative/horror adventure game Delaware St. John Volume 3: The Seacliff Tragedy.

• Otto Penzler writes about the second annual Thriller-Fest in his column in the New York Sun.

• Mystery! on PBS airs a new Miss Marple movie this weekend, Towards Zero, starring Geraldine McEwan as the senior sleuth. As originally written by Agatha Christie, this book did not feature Miss Marple but rather Superintendent Battle.

• Kathy Blumenstock writes about the USA Network series Psych which began its second season on Friday. Psych features a young sleuth who uses his powers of observation to solve crimes. (MBN Note: is now available on DVD.)

• Michael Riedel in the New York Post reports that Columbo Takes the Rap, a screenplay first shown at the International Mystery Writers Festival last month, is heading for Broadway.

• Fans of the American Girl mysteries will be pleased to learn that a movie based on one of the characters, Kit Kittredge, is in production. Visit their website for a video preview. (MBN Note: Visit , mystery books for children and young adults, to see all of the mysteries in the .)

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: Slip & Fall by Nick Santora

Mysterious ReviewsMysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Slip & Fall by Nick Santora. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.Slip & Fall by Nick Santora

Slip & Fall by Nick Santora
Non-Series

State Street Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 0-681-12749-X (068112749X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-681-12749-4 (9780681127494)
Publication Date: June 2007
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Robert Principe’s law school graduation was supposed to be the moment that transitioned his family from its honorable, but often difficult, blue-collar roots to the supposedly easier white-collar world.

However, when faced with a struggling practice, a pregnant wife, and a sister in trouble, Rob realizes the white-collar world isn’t as easy as he thought. He needs money … and fast.

Desperate, he approaches his wiseguy cousin Jackie with an insurance scheme—a way for the Mob to collect from guys who owe but can’t pay and a chance for Robert to use his law degree to make a few quick bucks when he needs it most.

Rob thinks it will be a one-time thing. It isn’t. The scheme works well—too well. The money flows, the violence escalates, and Robert soon learns that getting out of a deal with the Mafia isn’t exactly easy … especially when the FBI is onto you.

Review: Slip & Fall, the debut novel by Nick Santora, a successful writer and producer of several television series, is the story of an honest attorney who, in trying to the do right thing for his family, makes a disastrous choice that threatens everyone he loves and everything he values.

Robert Principe could have followed his cousin Jackie into the Mafia but instead attends law school and makes his wife and family proud by opening a practice in the old neighborhood. His clients are friends who need to make a will, union men who are hurt on their job but don't know how to go about getting compensation for their injuries, and the like. But after only a few years his business starts slipping. His wife is pregnant, he's behind on his mortgage, and he has other financial obligations to his family. In an effort to make some fast money, he contacts his cousin Jackie and they come up with an insurance scam. Jackie knows a man who owes the Mafia boss a $50,000 gambling debt who would be willing to take a fall if it meant clearing his debt. Jackie also knows a chiropractor that would testify to the man’s injuries. The scheme nets them less than they were hoping before, but enough for Robert to pay some bills. Though Robert doesn't want to do it again, the Mafia insists he continue working for them. After trying to quit, he is threatened with his life, plus that of his wife, unborn child, his parents and his sister. When he is finally caught, the FBI offers him an opportunity to make things right. How Robert is able to extricate himself from the mob, protect his family and satisfy the FBI, is both powerful and bold.

At its core, Slip & Fall is a story about families and the love and bonds that bring and keep them together. It is easy for the reader to identify with Robert's need to take care of his family, and though it is regrettable that he chooses an illegal path to do so, it's completely credible that he chooses a path that's available to him, even if it conflicts with his morals.

Santora is a terrific storyteller and has created a very believable character in Robert Principe. His experience in writing for television comes through in a book that is well paced, descriptive, and keeps the plot moving forward. It's all very well done. (Note: the violence in Slip & Fall is very graphic and may not be suitable for all readers.)

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of for contributing her review of Slip & Fall and to Authors on the Web for providing a copy of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Friday, July 13, 2007

Mystery Bestsellers for July 13, 2007

Mystery BestsellersA list of the top ten for the week ending July 13, 2007 has been posted on the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books website.

New England White by Stephen L. CarterNew on the list this week: , Stephen L. Carter's second novel in which he returns to the New England university town of Elm Harbor where a murder begins to crack the veneer that has hidden the racial complications of the town’s past, the secrets of a prominent family, and the most hidden bastions of black political influence. Publishers Weekly states calls New England White "... a compelling, literate page-turner that effortlessly blends a gripping whodunit with complex discussions of politics and race in contemporary America."

Also new this week:

by Ridley Pearson, a heart-stopping story in which Sun Valley (ID) sheriff Walt Fleming struggles to protect a controversial politician from the elegant plan of a hired assassin. This is the first in a new series by this bestselling author.

by Stef Penney, her debut novel in which she deftly weaves adventure, suspense, revelation, and humor into an exhilarating thriller, a panoramic historical romance, and a gripping murder mystery.

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Thursday, July 12, 2007

Mystery Book Review: Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato

Mysterious ReviewsMysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato

Dead on Arrival by
A Pauline Sokol Mystery

Avon Books (Mass Market Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-06-083708-X (006083708X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-083708-2 (9780060837082)
Publication Date: July 2007
List Price: $6.99

Synopsis (from the publisher): Normally, insurance fraud investigator Pauline Sokol likes to keep her feet firmly on the ground. But her latest undercover assignment has the aero-phobic ex-nurse flying high—as she takes off to ground a land-and-air ambulance company that's been doing some rather flighty billing. Even having ER Dano, the company's best (and hottest!) paramedic, in the copter seat next to her isn't enough to soothe her queasy tummy.

But her insides really start doing loop-de-loops when one of the company's owners is brutally murdered—and Pauline starts receiving creepy phone calls . . . from the killer! Suddenly the air looks a lot safer than the ground. And if Pauline doesn't crack this case soon, even mouth-to-mouth from her favorite paramedic won't be enough to revive her.

Review: Insurance investigator Pauline Sokol again dons her nurse's uniform to look into some billing irregularities in her sixth case, Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato.

The Scarpello and Tonelli Insurance Agency, for which Pauline works as an investigator, suspects that a local ambulance service, TLC Air and Land, has been falsely billing for services never rendered. Working undercover as a nurse for the company, she quickly finds evidence to confirm her agency's suspicions. But things get complicated when Payne Sterling, who owns TLC with his twin sister Pansy, is murdered, and the killer is all too willing to make Pauline his next victim.

The primary appeal of this series is accompanying Pauline as she gets herself into and out of trouble during her investigation, following her evolving relationship with the mysterious Jagger, and seeing how she deals with the ruggedly handsome men with whom she finds herself working. Plots have never been that important, and that is particularly evident in this case. With Pauline discovering the incriminating billing records and the murder of Payne taking place very early in the book, one would think that her mission was accomplished, job well done, time for the police to step in to solve the murder.

That wouldn't make for much of a story, however, so Pauline continues to pry into the affairs of TLC. But there's an underlying sense that everyone is simply biding their time until the killer is conveniently identified and their motive revealed.

Fans of the series will likely enjoy the familiarity of Dead on Arrival. New readers may not be as enthusiastic.

Special thanks to Book Trends for providing an ARC of Dead on Arrival for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

For more visit Mysterious Reviews, a partner with the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books which is committed to providing readers and collectors of with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

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Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Compendium of Mystery News 070711

Today's compendium of recently published mystery news articles:

• The South Florida Sun-Sentinel talks to Nick Stone, author of the 2006 Ian Fleming Silver Dagger Award winning Mr. Clarinet, describing him as your average Scots-Haitian-Jewish-Catholic crime writer who lives in London and sets his novels in Miami and the Caribbean.

• Speaking of Mr. Clarinet, Oline H. Cogdill has a review of the book in her column in the Sun-Sentinel.

• And there's more: Ellen Kanner interviews Nick Stone on MiamiHerald.com.

• Mystery author Mark Arsenault, a reporter who also writes for the The Providence Journal, gives his rules to write by. Try low standards, lots of caffeine, and a little goofing off.

• Two more reviews of the latest PC game, Nancy Drew: The White Wolf of Icicle Creek. One from the Associated Press (and published on SFGate.com) and the other from Anne Reeks and published on the Houston Chronicle.

Reuters interviews Ridley Pearson who has just published his first book in a new crime series, Killer Weekend.

• Sharyn McCrumb talks about the upcoming film adaption of her mystery, The Rosewood Casket.

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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Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Mystery Book Review: And Murder for Dessert by Kathleen Delaney

Mysterious ReviewsMysterious Reviews, mysteries reviewed by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books, has written a review of And Murder for Dessert by Kathleen Delaney. For our blog readers, we are printing it first here in advance of its publication on our website.And Murder for Dessert by Kathleen Delaney

And Murder for Dessert by
An Ellen McKenzie Mystery

Poisoned Pen Press (Hardcover)
ISBN-10: 1-59058-423-6 (1590584236)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59058-423-1 (9781590584231)
Publication Date: July 2007
List Price: $24.95

Synopsis (from the publisher): Ellen McKenzie and her fiancé, Chief of Police Dan Dunham, are on their way to the very upscale Harvest Festival Dinner, hosted by Ellen’s niece, Sabrina, and her husband, Mark Tortelli. They are seasoned winery professionals. What could go wrong?

New to Silver Springs Winery, the Tortellis have been worried for weeks that their jobs depend on the success of this event, and the reputation of the guest chef hasn’t helped calm their nerves.

Otto Messinger is noted for his temper tantrums. Ellen is hoping he’ll keep himself in check. Dan is hoping the Tortellis, who have been staying with Ellen for a month, will triumph and soon find their own place to live. Tonight’s guest list seems to include everyone who has ever had a feud with Otto, a fact the little chef is thoroughly enjoying. The dinner progresses, a little shaky but without disaster. Then it’s time for dessert. But where is Otto?

It is Sabrina who finds him, quite dead, in a wine fermenting tank. Who helped him into it? Dan seems to think it was Sabrina. Ellen would prefer Dan find another suspect—and there are plenty …

Review: Kathleen Delaney’s third entry in the Ellen McKenzie series, And Murder for Dessert, is a delightful mystery featuring some jealous and distrustful chefs, those who enjoy the fruits of their labors, and those who invest in their talents.

The quiet lives of real estate agent Ellen McKenzie and her husband, Chief of Police Dan Dunham, are turned upside down when Ellen’s niece, Sabrina, and her husband, Mark Torelli, move in with them temporarily until they could find a home of their own. The two quickly accept jobs at the local Silver Spring Winery on a trial basis. Their first assignment: plan a festive formal dinner and wine tasting event. For the dinner, Mark hires a famous chef, Otto Messinger. Mark not only wants to impress his guests with his own talent regarding wines, he also wants Otto to impress them with his fine cuisine. The wine is exquisite and the food divine. All of the invited guests are overwhelmed by the event. All but a murderer, that is, who sets out to kill Otto that very night. Soon thereafter another murder takes place. Ellen’s curiosity and her unsolicited help are all that are needed for Dan to be able to identify the culprit.

Every character written in the story felt real. The residents of the city seemed like neighbors. Even Otto, who could easily have been portrayed as a caricature of an arrogent out-of-control chef, seemed no worse than the typical culinary expert on television. No doubt every reader has experienced a situation where a meal had to be sent back to the kitchen for some reason or another. But would you kill the chef because of it? No need to answer that! To be drawn into a book and feel a part of it (dead chef notwithstanding) is a wonderful reading experience.

What's not to like about a gourmet meal, fine wine, and a little murder thrown in for dessert? Not much! And Murder for Dessert is a treat and is highly recommended.

Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of for contributing her review of And Murder for Dessert and to Poisoned Pen Press for providing an ARC of the book for this review.

Review Copyright © 2007 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved.

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