Rough Weather, by Robert B. Parker

 Spenser, our Boston private eye, doesn’t usually hire on as security but he makes an exception for the beautiful and very rich Heidi Bradshaw.  Heidi, multi-divorced, has a huge mansion on her own private island off the coast of Massachusetts and her only daughter, Adelaide, is to be married there.  Heidi wants Spenser to be her personal body guard at the wedding—and he can bring along Susan, his lover, for the weekend.  Sounds like an easy assignment in the lap of luxury.  If only.  During the wedding ceremony, just at the conclusion of the vows, armed men attack, kill the groom, and abduct Adelaide, escaping the island by helicopter during a violent storm.  Spenser manages to protect Susan but could do little else against the armed force.  Being Spenser, it doesn’t sit well that Adelaide was taken on his watch—and he decides to try to find her on his own dime.  Helping with the search is his good friend Hawk, with Susan contributing her always helpful psychological insights.  The first mystery they need to solve is why no ransom demand?  As always with Parker, a fun, enjoyable, fast read.

Heat Lightning, by John Sandford

 Mr. Sandford has a great series going with his ‘Prey’ series, featuring Lucas Davenport, the Minnesota police investigator working for the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, or BCA. In one of his recent books, he introduced a new character, Virgil Flowers, who also works for BCA.  Virgil is in his late thirties, divorced, a music buff, sort of a free spirit, and likes to fish and write articles in his leisure time.  Lucas is tied up in Washington so he dispatches Virgil to look into a murder that is remarkably similar to one that occurred a week earlier.  In both cases, the men were shot and left at veterans’ memorials, killed probably by a team of at least two assailants. As Virgil investigates, and as another identical murder happens, it appears that the men being murdered share a link to an event that happened during the last throes of the Vietnam War.  With several more men involved in the long ago event, can Virgil catch the killers before they strike again?   Virgil is an interesting and engaging character —and he makes this an enjoyable mystery/thriller. 

Divine Justice, by David Baldacci

 Oliver Stone, the nominal leader of the Washington, DC based Camel Club, is on the run.  The Camel Club, for those arriving late, is made up of a small group of rather quirky Washingtonians and it tends to interfere with various nefarious affairs going on in the nation’s capital.  Stone has dispatched a couple of very bad but prominent men and he’s on a train heading to New Orleans to disappear for awhile. While he’s on the train, he gets involved in a fight, defending a young man, Danny Riker, who has been attacked by several others.  Stone and Danny are put off the train at the next station and they end up traveling to Danny’s home town of Divine, Virginia, in the remote southwest area of the state.  Stone takes a liking to the town--and to Danny’s widowed mother, Abby--and he decides to hang around for awhile. Maybe he should have stayed on the train because he soon gets in another bad fight, barely survives an explosion, and ends up in a high security prison run by a ruthless, corrupt, murderous warden.  Things look desperate but the remaining members of the Camel Club are on the case and heading to Divine.  I’ve enjoyed the books in the Camel Club series but this one was just ok.  Instead of an exciting, daring, dangerous prison rescue as the novel’s climax—which I was anticipating and which would have kicked this thriller into high gear—Stone’s rescue was a little lacking in drama and interest. 

Your Heart Belongs to Me, by Dean Koontz

 Thirtysomething Ryan Perry seems to have the world on a string.  He’s made a fortune on the internet and he lives in a beautiful California mansion with servants at his beck and call.  With his beautiful girlfriend, Samantha, he can spend the day surfing—or perhaps traveling to another city in his private jet.  Life could hardly be better—but suddenly Ryan is stricken by an unusual illness that has attacked his heart.  Without a transplant, Ryan is likely to die within the year.  He is put on the transplant waiting list and after several tense months a match is found for him and he receives a successful heart replacement.  Ryan’s life starts to get back to normal but then strange things start to happen.  First, although his mansion has tight security, someone manages to break in undetected and leave him candy hearts.  Then, a mysterious woman begins to stalk him and he is left the message:  Your heart belongs to me.   For Ryan—and the reader—it’s a mystery as to what is happening to him—and why.  This is fairly entertaining and has an interesting twist I didn’t see coming but it’s not my favorite Koontz novel. 

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