Category: books

The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza

On By Rick McIn books, travelLeave a comment

Jo Piazza is a novelist, journalist, and podcaster.

I read The Sicilian Inheritance (2024) mainly because I‘ve never been to Sicily. An unforgivable oversight on my part.

It kept me going. Both the modern day story of Sara, there for the first time. AND the story of her great-grandmother Serafina in the bad, old days when women were treated like chattel ➙ kept me going.

I’d almost place this book in the Romance genre.

Sara Marsala barely knows who she is anymore after the failure of her business and marriage.

On top of that, her beloved great-aunt Rosie passes away, leaving Sara bereft with grief.

But Aunt Rosie’s death also opens an escape from her life and a window into the past by way of a plane ticket to Sicily, a deed to a possibly valuable plot of land, and a bombshell family secret.

Rosie believes Sara’s great-grandmother Serafina, the family matriarch who was left behind while her husband worked in America, didn’t die of illness as family lore has it . . . she was murdered.

Thus begins a twist-filled adventure that takes Sara all over the picturesque Italian countryside as she races to solve a mystery and learn the story of Serafina—a feisty and headstrong young woman in the early 1900s thrust into motherhood in her teens, who fought for a better life not just for herself but for all the women of her small village. Unsurprisingly the more she challenges the status quo, the more she finds herself in danger.

Piazza wrote this fictional novel inspired by the real life murder of her great, great grandmother, Lorenza Marsala, more than a 100 years ago. 

Death Benefits by Thomas Perry

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Good book.

Death Benefits (2001) has a terrific premise.

A careful, methodical young data analyst for a California insurance company, John Walker knows when people will marry, at what age they will most likely have children, and when they will die.

All signs point to a long successful career—until Max Stillman, a gruff security consultant, appears without warning at the office.

It seems a colleague with whom Walker once had an affair has disappeared after paying a very large death benefit to an impostor.

Stillman wants to find and convict her; Walker is convinced the woman is innocent.

Now Walker teams up with Stillman on an urgent north-by-northeast race …

I enjoy learning about how skiptracers work and think.

The Left-handed Twin by Thomas Perry

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The Left-handed Twin (2021) by Thomas Perry is good, but not as good as the previous 8 books in the series.

One part I did enjoy was a chase on Maine’s Hundred Mile Wilderness.

Jane Whitefield helps people disappear.

Fearing for their lives, fleeing dangerous situations, her clients come to her when they need to vanish completely—to assume a new identity and establish a new life somewhere they won’t be found. …

… Jane finds a young woman fresh from LA with a whole lot of trouble behind her. After she cheated on her boyfriend, he dragged her to the home of the offending man and made her watch as he killed him. She testified against the boyfriend, but a bribed jury acquitted him, and now he’s free and trying to find and kill her.

Jane agrees to help, and it soon becomes clear that outsmarting the murderous boyfriend is not beyond Jane’s skills. But the boyfriend has some new friends: members of a Russian organized crime brotherhood.

When they learn that Sara is traveling with a tall, dark-haired woman who disappears people, the Russians become increasingly interested in helping the boyfriend find the duo. They’ve heard rumors that such a woman existed—and believe that, if forcibly extracted, the knowledge she has of past clients could be worth millions.  

He does plan a 10th book to be called The Tree of Life and Flowers (2026).

“I See You’ve Called in Dead” by John Kenney

On By Rick McIn books, philosophyLeave a comment

Mixed feelings.

I downloaded “I See You’ve Called in Dead” (2025) for the intriguing premise:

Obituary writer Bud Stanley is semi-depressed. One night he gets drunk and posts his own obituary.

His company assumes he is dead and removes him from their employees list.

Turning up at work, the computer won’t let them fire Bud because he’s technically dead in their system. 😀

Catch-22.

I love it.

And there is a lot of humour. I laughed out loud more than once.

Thurber Prize-winner and New York Times bestselling author John Kenney tells a funny, touching story about life and death, about the search for meaning, about finding and never letting go of the preciousness of life.

Suspended from work, Bud meets a woman and they start attending wakes and funerals of strangers.

There are some interesting philosophical discussions about the meaning of life. Important.

Two additional characters really appeal: Leo, a neighbour’s son, and Bud’s best friend Tim.

So … plenty of good content. But ultimately I’m not sure I can call this book a success. I nearly quit several times.

Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin

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Great title for a cozy mystery.

It kept me going right to the end. Never sure of which suspect was the real killer.

Uzma Jalaluddin is a Canadian writer and teacher. She also writes a column for the Toronto Star.

This one is an Agatha Christie set in the South Asian Muslim immigrant community.

When her grown daughter is suspected of murder, a charming and tenacious widow digs into the case to unmask the real killer in this twisty, page-turning whodunnit …

Sana, phones to say that she’s been arrested for killing the unpopular landlord of her clothing boutique.

Determined to help her child, Kausar heads to Toronto for the first time in nearly twenty years. …

With the help of some old friends and her plucky teenage granddaughter, Kausar digs into the investigation to uncover the truth.

Because who better to pry answers from unwilling suspects than a meddlesome aunty?

But even Kausar can’t predict the secrets, lies, and betrayals she finds along the way…

5-STAR REVIEW: DETECTIVE AUNTY by Uzma Jalaluddin

Themes included murder, affairs, fraud, pyramid schemes, theft, racism, gentrification.

Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chien

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I liked the 1st book in the series — Death by Dumpling — so carried on with Dim Sum of All Fears. A great title. 😀

Another short, easy read. A cozy mystery. Almost Young Adult. 

Lana Lee is a dutiful daughter, waiting tables at her family’s Chinese restaurant even though she’d rather be doing just about anything else.

Then, just when she has a chance for a “real” job, her parents take off to Taiwan, leaving Lana in charge.

Surprising everyone―including herself―she turns out to be quite capable of running the place.

Unfortunately, the newlyweds who just opened the souvenir store next door to Ho-Lee have turned up dead. . .and soon Lana finds herself in the midst of an Asia Village mystery.

I’ll likely carry on to the 3rd book in the Noodle Shop mysteries series.



A String of Beads by Thomas Perry

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Still worth reading, but I found the 8th in the Jane Whitefield series weaker than the rest.

All these books are too slow for me. Unnecessary repetition of plot points.

This one was too slow and had a weaker storyline.

A String of Beads (2015)

 … a year after getting shot on a job that took a dangerous turn for the worse, Jane McKinnon, née Whitefield, has settled into the quiet life of a suburban housewife in Amherst, New York — or so she thinks.

One morning as she comes back from a long run, Jane is met by an unusual sight: all eight clan mothers, the female leaders of the Seneca clans …

A childhood friend of Jane’s from the reservation, Jimmy, is wanted by the police for the murder of a local white man.

But instead of turning himself in, he’s fled, and no one knows where he is hiding out. …

Jane must find and hide him.

Actually, the end of the book was satisfying. A good wrap-up.

The Housemaid by Frieda McFadden

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Freida McFadden (born May 1, 1980) is the pen name of an American thriller author and practicing physician specializing in brain injury.

Her 2022 book The Housemaid was an international bestseller.

In recent years I’ve begun to tire of the endless line-up of psychological thrillers. But this one is better than average.

Millie is a young woman with troubled past, having recently been fired from her job after an incident which nearly sent her back to prison.

She is unable to find work due to her criminal record and spends a month living in her car.

She jumps at an opportunity as a live-in maid for the Winchester wealthy family: Nina, her husband Andrew, and their daughter, Cecelia, who live in a luxurious estate on Long Island.

Their seemingly perfect life unravels when Millie discovers that the Winchester household hides dark secrets beneath the surface.

To me the twist was predictable.

The husband character one of the most absurdly unlikely I’ve ever read.

The ending of the book was satisfying. BUT I’m unlikely to read on in the series.

I will probably end up watching the upcoming film.

The Butcher’s Boy by Thomas Perry

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The Butcher’s Boy (1982) was the first novel from Thomas Perry, one of my favourite authors of late.

It’s remarkably mature and sophisticated.

 Perry won the 1983 Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best First Novel.

According to Stephen King, “there are probably only a half dozen suspense writers alive who can be depended upon to deliver high voltage shocks, vivid, sympathetic characters, and compelling narratives each time they publish. Thomas Perry is one of them.”

Rochester.edu

The Butcher’s Boy, features as its protagonist a professional hitman …

After dispatching an innocent union member and a U.S. Senator, he arrives in Las Vegas, Nevada to pick up his fee. Instead of a payoff he finds himself on the wrong end of a murder contract.

The Butcher’s Boy seeks to collect the debt by terrorizing the Mafia – the lifelong source of his freelance jobs and current nemesis – into backing off. …

A fascinating character.

The second story line follows Elizabeth Waring, a bright young, unmarried analyst in the Justice Department, who seems mostly incompetent in trying to catch up to the killer. Her role was unimportant to me — but she appears again in the sequel ➙ Sleeping Dogs.

Sleeping Dogs by Thomas Perry

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Sleeping Dogs (1992) is a sequel to The Butcher’s Boy, set 10 years later.

The anti-hero contract killer has left the United States and is living in England, hopefully safe from America’s organized crime,which he decimated and alienated in the first book.

He is recognized quite by accident by a minor American crime figure while at the track in Brighton, and the mobster has the bad judgement to attempt to enhance his standing by counting coup. The results are predictable. …

The whole book is a tragicomedy of errors, with the Butcher’s Boy, the mob, and various law-enforcement agencies assuming motivations and intentions on the parts of the other players that are completely erroneous, and result in much quite unnecessary mayhem. …

A Review by Barry Gardner: THOMAS PERRY – Sleeping Dogs.

The characters aren’t unreliable. Rather they quite logically guess what is happening — and are dead wrong most of the time.

It’s an original book. But not quite as good as Butcher’s Boy, in my opinion.

I will go on to the last 2 books in the series:

  • The Informant (2011)
  • Eddie’s Boy (2020)