(hb; twenty-eighth novel in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"The horrifying rape and apparent suicide of Catherine Quixwood, wife of a wealthy merchant banker, falls outside the new jurisdiction of Special Branch head Thomas Pitt, but so pervasively offensive are the rumors about the victim that Pitt quietly takes a hand in the investigation.
"Yet even with the help of his ingenious wife, Charlotte, and his former superior, Victor Narraway, Pitt is stumped. Why did the high-minded, cultured Catherine choose not to accompany her husband to a grand party on the night of her demise? Why did she dismiss all her servants for the evening and leave the door unlocked? What had been her relationship with the young man seen frequently by her side at concerts and art exhibitions?
"As an ordinary policeman, Pitt has once entered London's grand houses through the kitchen door. Now, as a guest in those same houses, can he find the steel in his soul to challenge the great men of the world with their crimes? The path to the truth takes him in deeply troubling directions, from the lofty world of international policies and finance to his own happy home, where his teenage daughter, Jemima, is coming of age in a culture rife with hidden dangers."
Review:
A strongly (over?)stated sense of outrage highlights this timely and sometimes suspenseful mystery - it's timely because Midnight deals with financial malfeasance, political factions and rape, which has dominated many recent, real-world news cycles.
Of course, Perry keeps Midnight engaging as a work of fiction as well, with her trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing in this often-excellent series.
Solid entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - worth checking out from the library.
Showing posts with label murder mysteries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label murder mysteries. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
Pretty in Ink, by Karen E. Olson
(pb; 2010: second book in the Tattoo Shop Mystery series)
From the back cover:
"After Brett [Kavanaugh] and company ink Sin City's newest drag queen stars, they're invited to an opening night at the Strip's glamorous Nylons and Tattoos show. An evening of glitter and dancing ends in disaster when a stranger with a queen of hearts tattoo fells Brittany Brassieres with a wayward champagne cork.
"Even though Britney recovers, she mysteriously dies soon after, and then another drag queen is found poisoned. Someone's targeting Vegas's fabulous femmes. And sharp-as-a-needle Brett must crack the case before the show's over for good.
Review:
Engaging characters and colorful settings highlight this often-fun read. As a mystery, though, Pretty is a failure - its villains, and, more importantly, the 'how and why they did it' is evident early on. Not only that, but interesting as Brett - the narrator - is, she's constantly scatterbrained and forgetful, to the point of seeming Plot Convenient Stupid at key parts of what was an otherwise enjoyable book.
Pretty isn't a terrible read, but it is disappointing. I understand that worthwhile mystery writers make their villains' crimes solvable by their readers, but it shouldn't be that easy.
Followed by Driven to Ink.
From the back cover:
"After Brett [Kavanaugh] and company ink Sin City's newest drag queen stars, they're invited to an opening night at the Strip's glamorous Nylons and Tattoos show. An evening of glitter and dancing ends in disaster when a stranger with a queen of hearts tattoo fells Brittany Brassieres with a wayward champagne cork.
"Even though Britney recovers, she mysteriously dies soon after, and then another drag queen is found poisoned. Someone's targeting Vegas's fabulous femmes. And sharp-as-a-needle Brett must crack the case before the show's over for good.
Review:
Engaging characters and colorful settings highlight this often-fun read. As a mystery, though, Pretty is a failure - its villains, and, more importantly, the 'how and why they did it' is evident early on. Not only that, but interesting as Brett - the narrator - is, she's constantly scatterbrained and forgetful, to the point of seeming Plot Convenient Stupid at key parts of what was an otherwise enjoyable book.
Pretty isn't a terrible read, but it is disappointing. I understand that worthwhile mystery writers make their villains' crimes solvable by their readers, but it shouldn't be that easy.
Followed by Driven to Ink.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
The Missing Ink, by Karen E. Olson
(pb; 2009: first book in the Tattoo Shop Mystery series)
From the back cover:
"When a girl makes an appointment to get devotion ink with the name of her
fiancé embedded in a heart, Brett takes the job, but the girl never shows. The next thing Brett knows, the police are looking for her mysterious client. . . and the name this woman wanted on the tattoo isn't her fiancé's.
"An alliance with an unlikely partner leads Brett to a dead body, a suave Englishman, and an Elvis karaoke bar. And who is the tattooed stranger stalking her? Brett draws lines between the clues, unwittingly putting herself in danger. But she intends to see justice done, since death, like a tattoo, is permanent."
Review
Entertaining read, with engaging characters and a plot that moves along at an smart pace. I figured out most of the who-did-what elements of the book long before Olson reveals the bad guy(s) - I read a lot of mysteries - but I still enjoyed Missing, a promising start to what may be an interesting, subculture-based series.
Worth reading, this.
Followed by Pretty in Ink.
From the back cover:
"When a girl makes an appointment to get devotion ink with the name of her
fiancé embedded in a heart, Brett takes the job, but the girl never shows. The next thing Brett knows, the police are looking for her mysterious client. . . and the name this woman wanted on the tattoo isn't her fiancé's.
"An alliance with an unlikely partner leads Brett to a dead body, a suave Englishman, and an Elvis karaoke bar. And who is the tattooed stranger stalking her? Brett draws lines between the clues, unwittingly putting herself in danger. But she intends to see justice done, since death, like a tattoo, is permanent."
Review
Entertaining read, with engaging characters and a plot that moves along at an smart pace. I figured out most of the who-did-what elements of the book long before Olson reveals the bad guy(s) - I read a lot of mysteries - but I still enjoyed Missing, a promising start to what may be an interesting, subculture-based series.
Worth reading, this.
Followed by Pretty in Ink.
Saturday, January 05, 2013
Dorchester Terrace, by Anne Perry
(hb; 2012: twenty-seventh novel in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series)
From the inside flap:
"Thomas Pitt, once a lowly policeman, is now the powerful head of Britain's Special Branch, and some people fear that he may have been promoted beyond his abilities. He, too, feels painful memories of self-doubt, especially as rumors reach him of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line - on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin.
"Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot? He must resolve this riddle at once, before the damage is done.
"Meanwhile, in a London sickroom, an old Italian woman - at the end of a romantic career as a revolutionary spy - is terrified that as she sinks into dementia, she may divulge secrets that can kill. And a beautiful young Croatian woman, married to a British power broker, hoards her own mysteries. Apparently all roads lead to the Continent, and Pitt suspects that between them these two fascinating women could tell him things he desperately needs to know. But as the hours tick by, it seems that the only woman Pitt can count on is his clever wife, Charlotte."
Review:
This is a suspenseful, masterful mystery that engaged me from its first word to its last. Perry's trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing, livens up the action and often-charming conversations.
Exemplary entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - and one of my favorites thus far.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Midnight at the Marble Arch.
From the inside flap:
"Thomas Pitt, once a lowly policeman, is now the powerful head of Britain's Special Branch, and some people fear that he may have been promoted beyond his abilities. He, too, feels painful memories of self-doubt, especially as rumors reach him of a plot to blow up connections on the Dover-London rail line - on which Austrian duke Alois Habsburg is soon to travel to visit his royal English kin.
"Why would anyone destroy an entire train to kill one obscure Austrian royal, or are the rumors designed to distract Pitt from an even more devastating plot? He must resolve this riddle at once, before the damage is done.
"Meanwhile, in a London sickroom, an old Italian woman - at the end of a romantic career as a revolutionary spy - is terrified that as she sinks into dementia, she may divulge secrets that can kill. And a beautiful young Croatian woman, married to a British power broker, hoards her own mysteries. Apparently all roads lead to the Continent, and Pitt suspects that between them these two fascinating women could tell him things he desperately needs to know. But as the hours tick by, it seems that the only woman Pitt can count on is his clever wife, Charlotte."
Review:
This is a suspenseful, masterful mystery that engaged me from its first word to its last. Perry's trademark warmth and/or chill between the characters, many of them ongoing, livens up the action and often-charming conversations.
Exemplary entry in the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series - and one of my favorites thus far.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Midnight at the Marble Arch.
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