The Burglar

by
Thomas Perry 

The Burglar, a murder mystery, follows the day-to-day exploits of Elle Stowell a experienced house burglar in Los Angeles. Stowell looks younger than her age and is able fit right in with the beautiful, fit and energetic women who live in the neighbourhoods that she robs. The Burglar is the latest in a series of several books written by Thomas Perry.

Elle Stowell has never been arrested for Burglary in spite of the fact that she has robbed multiple house in well to do neighbourhoods of Los Angeles. Things are going well for Stowell until she stumbles onto the scene of a multiple murder and she begins being pursued by someone who must have seen her on site. To save herself she must now use her skills to solve a crime rather than commit one.

Thomas Perry has received numerous accolades for his excellent books, but I expect this one will not be remembered as one of his best. The descriptions of how to break into a house and what to steal are tedious. When Elle is discovered she seems to be able to carry on staying in nice hotels and sleep well while people around her are being murdered. When the murderers are revealed, their motives for committing several crimes seem superficial and opportunistic rather than skillfully planned. Finally how could a security company hired to monitor break-ins not know someone was monitoring their offices for weeks. All this makes the book hard to read.

The book is structurally and grammatically well written and a quick read, but the story line leaves me with no choice but to not recommend this book. I give it a 2 on 5.

I want to thank NetGalley and The Mysterious Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Death Spins the Wheel
by
George Bellairs

Death Spins the Wheel, is an Inspector Littlejohn murder mystery, which takes us on a fast paced journey from a Gambling Casino on the Isle of Man back to the French Resistance during WWII.  Scotland Yard Inspector Littlejohn, now Superintendent, happens to be on holidays helping a friend when he becomes embroiled in solving the murder of an elderly lady at a local casino. Death Spins the Wheel is one of many books written by Harold Blundell under the pseudonym George Bellairs.

Madame Garnier spends the evening gambling and winning.  Shortly after finishing for the evening she takes a walk along the beach and is found dead within less than thirty minutes, shot through the head.  Although everyone initially feels her gambling is to blame, Inspector Littlejohn quickly ascertains that the woman’s past may be even more significant.

I like this book because it is fast paced and takes many twists and turns before it finally becomes clear what has occurred.  The characters in the story are unique and interesting enough to hold the readers interest.  Although written in the 60’s and I find it a bit dated in style, there is intrigue and humour throughout the book.  I recommend this book because I found it entertaining and surprising and I give it a 4 on 5.

I want to thank NetGalley and Agora Books for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Nantucket Counterfeit

by

Steven Axelrod

Nantucket Counterfeit, is a murder mystery where we follow Police Chief Henry Kennis in his fifth Nantucket murder investigation this time involving the local Community Theatre.  Kennis, a former LAPD detective, is an intuitive investigator who has found his niche solving crimes in the darker side of the otherwise quiet surroundings of beautiful Nantucket Island. Nantucket Counterfeit is Steven Axelrod’s fifth installment in his Nantucket series of murder mystery novels.

Horst Refn the artistic director in the Nantucket Community Theatre is murdered and shoved into a freezer face first. It looks like quite a violent confrontation and many people dislike Refn enough to bring his life to such a violent end.   Several of the suspects, however, are members of the rich elite of Nantucket and they are reluctant to tell Police Chief Kennis anything.  It turns out that although victim was far from popular, he was in fact much worse than Kennis imagined. 

The author Steven Axelrod is an entertaining writer and the book is very humorous.    I particularly like the exchanges Chief Kennis has with his girlfriend.  Many of the self-deprecating comments he makes are particularly funny.

The one complaint I have about the book is all the lengthy asides that are interjected for no reason.  For example when Kennis discovers a clue about the murder he says:  “It reminded me of the night I figured out Joe Arbogast was sleeping with my ex-wife.”   He then goes on for 11 e-reader pages about Arbogast before he gets back to the point!  There are many asides like this in the book.  I find these very distracting and although they are often funny they are too frequent and for me they make the style cumbersome.  Overall I would give it 3 on 5.

I want to thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.