… tells the story of a CIA agent who has infiltrated Al Qaeda and, years after 9-11, struggles to stop a terrorist attack in the United States. …
Al Qaeda detonates two truck bombs in LA, killing hundreds of people. John Wells is returned to the USA on a mission from Al Qaeda where he reconnects with the CIA. However, due to the length of his absence he is accused of being “un-faithful” because he did not warn the US about Al Qaeda attacks. …
Peter Grainger is the best author I can name who doesn’t have a Wikipedia page.
His 2024 book ➙ The Late Lord Thorpe: A DC Smith Investigation — is as brilliant as all of the rest.
DC Smith is one of my favourite characters of literature.
Dry British wit. I laugh out loud.
No gun shots. No car chases. No profanity. No sex, please, we’re British.
Instead you get a meticulous procedural. The slowest of slow burns.
This is DC Smith’s third investigation with the Diver and Diver Associates agency. He works for them part time, being retired from the police.
They have been asked by a member of Norfolk’s aristocracy to look into the tragic death of her younger brother, Freddie, the late Lord Thorpe of the title.
The inquest verdict was of misadventure, but it isn’t long before Smith begins to suspect there has been a serious miscarriage of justice.
This book is only available on Kindle and Audio. I highly recommend it.
William Stanford Davis as Mr. Johnson, the school’s eccentric, overqualified and talented, custodian is my favourite character. Still.
It’s an insight into the American public school system. ReTrumplicans insist on reducing funding for public education, while subsidizing rich kids in private schools.
Several weeks have passed since Richard Jury was left bereft and guilt-ridden after the tragic accident of Lu Aguilar. Now she lies in a coma, and Jury wants to stay near her.
Instead, he has been tossed a case outside of his jurisdiction, in the village of Chesham, where a beautiful young woman has been murdered in the grounds of a pub called the Black Cat. And the only witness to the murder is … the black cat. …
Given her gown–Yves St. Laurent–and her shoes–Jimmy Choo, Jury wonders, Was she rich or wed to riches? She carries no identification, and no one in the village has a clue as to who she is.
Then in London, another murder, another beautifully-got-up woman, this time shoes by Louboutin. And then a third. Jury is stumped: he knows these killings are connected, but if this is a serial killer in London, why commit a murder in Chesham?
The book is average. But it’s impressive to see how great writers can improvise into someone else’s plot.
The private eye is Perry Christo, a divorced dad and one-time NYPD homicide cop who’s been running on fumes (and parental guilt) since a corruption scandal cost him his career, his marriage, and, most importantly, time with his beloved daughter Nicky.
So when a loaded Upper East Side matron Julia Drusilla offers a load of cash for what seems like a no-brainer wandering-daughter job Perry jumps at the chance.
But tracking down the 20-year-old heiress Angel isn’t quite the slam-dunk he expected—it turns out everyone has a different reason for finding the troublesome party girl—or making sure she’s never found. …
I started by asking a bunch of writers if they were willing to participate in the project and for a good cause – in this case, donate their royalties to a charity of my choosing, (again, I was calling the shots). I chose Safe Horizon, an organization that helps victim of violent crime and abuse. I figured that writers who made money writing about crime (often violent crime) should want to give something back – and every one of these writers enthusiastically said YES. …
Mark Billingham Lawrence Block CJ Box Ken Bruen Alafair Burke Stephen L. Carter Mary Higgins Clark Marcia Clark Max Allan Collins John Connolly James Grady Bryan Gruley Heather Graham Charlaine Harris Val McDermid SJ Rozan Jonathan Santlofer Dana Stabenow Lisa Unger Sarah Weinman Introduction by Lee Child Afterward by Linda Fairstein
The 15th book (2016) in the Charlie Parker series is not his best.
Too long. Too slow.
The most interesting characters are Charlie’s sidekicks/bodyguards, Angel and Louis. They are not given enough time in this book. Nor is lawyer Moxie Castin.
John Connolly is an excellent author. But his story telling skills are far inferior to Stephen King, for one example.
Connolly writes gritty crime fiction with supernatural elements. Much violence.
In this book, one of Charlie’s clients is killed.
His investigation leads him to weird, creepy, cult-like group who call themselves the Cut.
Meghan Michaels is trying to find balance between being a single mom and working full time as an ICU nurse, when a patient named Caitlin arrives in her ward with a traumatic brain injury. They say she jumped from a bridge and plunged over twenty feet to the train tracks below.
A shocking revelation.
When a witness comes forward with new details about Caitlin’s fall, it calls everything they know into question. Was a crime committed? Did someone actually push Caitlin, and if so, who… and why?
No one is safe.
Meghan lets herself get close to Caitlin until she’s deeply entangled in the mystery surrounding her. Only when it’s too late, does she realize that she and her daughter could be the next victims…
I noted again that the DRAMA in all these psychological thrillers with “Girl”, “Woman”, or “She” in the title are caused by lying. One lie leads to the next. And the next. Then the murder.
Rick McCharles 