As usual with Deaver, there are plenty of surprising twists and turns.

And a terrific bad guy.

Solitude Creek is the fourth in the Kathryn Dance series …

Dance, an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation, finds herself suspended from duty when an interrogation goes bad in a horrific way.

She’s busted down to the Civil Division of CBI and given the boring assignment of checking permits after a stampede in a local roadhouse results in several deaths and a number of injuries.

Dance soon learns, however, that the panic was intentional—a classic case of someone yelling fire in a crowded venue—and unofficially begins to investigate. …

JefferyDeaver.com

The worst videos online are hilariously bad book trailers. This one is an exception — check it out.

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The Breaker (2021) is the 6th book in the Peter Ash series. And the best, so far.

This one is set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where the author lives.

Peter Ash came back from the wars in both Afghanistan and Iraq with PTSD and claustrophobia. He has problems going indoors.

In this book he’s working renovations with his best friend, fellow veteran, Lewis.

Ash has a false identity as he’s wanted by police in both Iceland and the States.

As with the Jack Reacher books, the characters here are drawn into a worldwide crisis by coincidence — they happen to see a shooter in a busy city market. And try to stop him.

Ash’s girlfriend June identifies the gunman. And off we go.

As their parallel investigations draw together, they’re thrust into the path of a ruthless tech thief, an eerily cheerful assassin, a brilliant and troubled inventor, and a revolutionary technology that could wreak devastation in the wrong hands. …

Amazon

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The Goodbye Man is another well written, original story by a master craftsman.

It’s the second book in the series about Colter Shaw, a fascinating character.

Shaw is an itinerate “reward-seeker,” traveling the country to help police solve crimes and help private citizens locate missing persons.

He does this for the reward offered.

Shaw refuses to call himself a bounty hunter — he’s an expert tracker — and goes to great pains not to use firearms. I appreciate that.

In Goodbye Man, Shaw signs up for a 3 week course at a mysterious, remote cult retreat called The Foundation. Cost $7500.

It’s creepy. More creepy than Nicole Kidman’s in the TV series Nine Perfect Strangers which I was watching at the same time.

Colter Shaw is in the retreat investigating what happened to one of the young men he as tracking in a previous case, accused of defacing a church with neo-Nazi slogans.

Personally, I preferred book #1 – The Never Game.

This book is very good. But had fewer twists and surprises than the usual Deaver plots.

It was muddled in places, as well, with flashbacks at inappropriate times.

The plot was interesting, but some of the incidents highly unlikely.

The House of Silk is a Sherlock Holmes novel written by British author Anthony Horowitz, published in 2011.

I’d say it’s better than any of the original books by Conan Doyle.

In a new case, Sherlock turns to the Baker Street Irregulars, street kids who work for Holmes as intelligence agents. 

The newest Irregular, a boy named Ross, is killed while staking out a cheap hotel.

Investigating that murder leads Sherlock into the House of Silk case.

The book is full of surprising twists and turns. Watson is a few steps behind, as usual. 😀

Anthony Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense.

Super popular, I’ve only read one other of his books.

He’s well respected. The estate of Arthur Conan Doyle chose him to write two NEW Sherlock Holmes books: The House of Silk (2011) and Moriarty (2014).

He’s written for the Ian Fleming estate, as well.

The Word Is Murder is the first novel in a series. An intriguing plot.

Anthony, the narrator (a barely fictionalized version of the author), is approached by ex-Detective Inspector Hawthorne, with whom he worked on a television series.

Hawthorne, who is in need of money, proposes that Anthony write a book about him and one of the cases he is working on in exchange for a 50/50 split of the advance and royalties.

The case involves a woman who, six hours after planning her own funeral, is found murdered. Initially reluctant, Anthony agrees and proceeds to document Hawthorne’s solution of the case.

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Next in Line (2022) is the 5th and most recent book in the popular William Warwick series.

London, 1988. Royal fever sweeps the nation as Britain falls in love with the ‘people’s princess’.

Which means for Scotland Yard, the focus is on the elite Royalty Protection Command, and its commanding officer. Entrusted with protecting the most famous family on earth, they quite simply have to be the best. A weak link could spell disaster.

Detective Chief Inspector William Warwick and his Scotland Yard squad are sent in to investigate the team.

Maverick ex-undercover operative Ross Hogan is charged with a very sensitive – and unique – responsibility. But it soon becomes clear the problems in Royalty Protection are just the beginning. A renegade organisation has the security of the country – and the crown – in its sights. The only question is which target is next in line …

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Great debut murder mystery 2021. John McMahon is already being listed with the best.

A complicated and fascinating plot.

P.T. Marsh was a good detective.

Then his wife and son were killed in an accident.

Months later he’s not so good — drinking, blacking out.

Late one night he agrees to help out a woman by confronting her abusive boyfriend.

When the next morning he gets called to the scene of his newest murder case, he is stunned to arrive at the house of the very man he beat up the night before.

He could swear the guy was alive when he left, but can he be sure?

What’s certain is that his fingerprints are all over the crime scene.

johnmcmahonbooks.com

Not bad. This book is intriguing to start. But doesn’t maintain that throughout.

On a night flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning and mysterious Lily Kintner.

Sharing one too many martinis, the strangers begin to play a game of truth, revealing very intimate details about themselves.

Ted talks about his marriage that’s going stale and his wife Miranda, who he’s sure is cheating on him. Ted and his wife were a mismatch from the start—he the rich businessman, she the artistic free spirit—a contrast that once inflamed their passion, but has now become a cliché.

But their game turns a little darker when Ted jokes that he could kill Miranda for what she’s done. Lily, without missing a beat, says calmly, “I’d like to help.” After all, some people are the kind worth killing, like a lying, stinking, cheating spouse. . .

Peter-Swanson.com

Peter Grainger is my favourite writer — who doesn’t yet have a Wikipedia page. 😀

He’s so unknown that he had time to reply to me on one of my comments on his books!

Grainger started by independently publishing for Kindle.

Lane is his 2017 short book introducing Willows and Lane.

Emily Willows is middle-aged, widowed, wealthy, and bored.

Summer Lane is a mysterious new neighbour.

An incident throws them together in a hostage situation and car chase.

It’s Grainger, so it’s good.

The Sleeping Doll by Jeffery Deaver is an excellent short book.

Special agent Kathryn Dance—a brilliant interrogator and body language expert and her partners at the California Bureau of Investigation hunt down escaped killer Daniel Pell, a self-styled Charles Manson.

Both Dance and Pell are fascinating characters.

Jeffery Deaver creates plots with so many twists and turns they could “hide behind a spiral staircase” (People), and The Sleeping Doll has Deaver’s trademark twists in spades. It is guaranteed to keep readers guessing right up to the breathless end.

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