The Runner,  by Christopher Reich

I don't know what it is about the Nazi war era but I always enjoy novels set in this period.  Maybe it's because the Nazi characters always make such sinister villains.  The Runner is actually set in July 1945 and Germany has surrendered.  Devlin Judge, an American lawyer, is in Paris as part of the international tribunal that is trying Nazi war criminals.  Devlin has a personal reason for being there.  He wants to avenge the death during the war of his brother, who was gunned down in cold blood along with a company of other soldiers who had surrendered.  The Nazi who gave the order is Erich Seyss, who is being held in a POW camp in Germany.  Devlin is looking forward to putting him on trial when Seyss engineers a daring escape from the prison camp.  Devlin gets permission to go to Germany to hunt him but soon he feels like he's also the hunted because Seyss is not hiding or slinking off to Argentina.  Instead, he is on a mission of his own--to assassinate President Truman on his visit to Berlin and the Potsdam Conference.  This is a great cat-and-mouse thriller and Seyss is a wonderfully complex and interesting bad guy.
 

Heartwood, by James Lee Burke

Defense attorney Billy Bob Holland made his debut in the novel Cimmaron Rose.  Holland is an ex-Texas Ranger who lives in the small town of Deaf Smith, north of Austin, Texas.  Holland left the Rangers after he accidentally shot his partner in a drug bust that went wrong.  Now, several years later, he is still haunted--and occasionally visited--by his dead partner.  In this second book of the series, Holland is hired to defend Wilbur Pickett, who is accused of stealing three hundred thousand dollars in bonds from Earl Deitrich, the local crime lord.  Holland has his work cut out for him because Deitrich has the sheriff and just about everyone else in his pocket.  To complicate matters, Holland had a long-ago affair with Deitrich's wife, Peggy Jean, and they may still be in love with each other.  This is an enjoyable book filled with interesting and memorable Texans and it will leave you wanting to find out what happens next with Billy Bob.
 

Hot Six, by Janet Evanovich

This is the first book I've read by Ms. Evanovich and it's the sixth in a series featuring Stephanie Plum, a somewhat inept bounty hunter.  The author has been using numbers in the titles--perhaps in homage to Sue Grafton's 'alphabet' books.  And, she definitely owes a big debt to Ms. Grafton and her wonderful character of Kinsey Millhone.  Plum, based in Trenton, New Jersey, is a fairly interesting character, too.  She's divorced, juggling love interests, and works with a wacky group of people in a bail bondsman's office.  Number six finds Stephanie involved in the murder of a local black-market arms dealer.  Caught on video just before the murder of the dealer and now a suspect is Stephanie's mentor, a mysterious former Special Forces soldier known as Ranger.  He has taught Stephanie all she knows but now it's her turn to come to his aid and help him find the real killer.  This is a whodunit and somewhere along the way it gets solved but the real fun with this humorous series is watching Stephanie cope with her active love life, her parents, her hilarious grandmother (who briefly moves in with her), her loony friends, and her dangerous career as a bounty hunter often out of her depth.
 

Gap Creek, by  Robert Morgan

The cover of this book says Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage but I think the subtitle should be The Story of Julie Harmon.  This is her story, told in her words, and I guarantee you will remember her long after you finish the last page.  And, you'll regret coming to that last page.  We first meet Julie and get to know her just before the turn of the nineteenth century into the twentieth.  She is living with her family in the remote hills of North Carolina. The family is very poor, life is hard, and it's Julie who does all the difficult outside farm work when her father falls ill.  It's Julie who keeps the family together and functioning through one tragedy after another.  When she is just a teenager, she meets Hank Reynolds from a nearby village and they marry only a month after they've met.  Together they move to Gap Creek, over the border in South Carolina, and the book portrays the first year or so of Julie's marriage, which will severely test her love for Hank.  This is a wonderful novel that ends much too soon.
 

Almost Night, by Ann Prospero

Ann Prospero is a journalist and a poet and this is her first novel.  We are introduced to Miami homicide detective Susannah Cannon; her partner, Rafael; Bea, the commander of the division; and Raja, a forensic pathologist. Susannah is assigned as the lead investigator in the murder of a young, wealthy businesswoman.  She soon discovers that the woman is one of a number of successful but lonely career women a serial killer has befriended and murdered.  The killer is very clever and leaves very few clues.  After another woman is murdered, the pressure is on Susannah to solve the case quickly.  To make matters worse for her, an FBI profiler Susannah consults gives his opinion that the killer might be targeting her next.  Reviews of this book have been somewhat mixed but I enjoyed it a lot.  Susannah is very likable with interesting quirks and flaws and the other characters, even the minor ones, are nicely drawn.  This is a suspense book but the writing reflects Prospero's poetry background and the descriptive passages were a pleasure to read.  I'll be eagerly looking forward to Susannah next case.
 

McNally's Folly, by Vincent Lardo

Faithful readers may remember my diatribe with the last 'McNally' book.  Although Lawrence Sanders had died, he was still touted as the author of the book in great big letters on the cover and the real author, Vincent Lardo, was not on the cover and hardly mentioned at all.  It seemed to me the book was being passed off as something it wasn't. Happily, with this latest book, Vincent Lardo has made the cover!  Lawrence Sanders is still right there at the top in huge two-inch letters but way, way down on the bottom is good 'ol Vincent Lardo in half-inch type.  Progress, I guess!  I have to say that Lardo (Why do I laugh every time I type his name???) is doing an excellent job of mimicking Sanders.  Archy McNally, who works for his father's Palm Beach law firm as an investigator, is assigned to find out who is blackmailing Desdemona Darling, an aging Hollywood movie legend.  As part of his investigation, Archy becomes involved with the Palm Beach Community Theater, which is putting on a production of Arsenic and Old Lace with Desdemona as the star.  At a party where Archy is being introduced as the director of the play, Desdemona's husband is killed by arsenic in his drink.  Suddenly, Archy must contend with murder, blackmail, and a show that must go on.  All the usual, well-known characters of the series are present and in fine form.  The 'McNally' books are so light you have to hold them down while you read them lest they float away but they are also a lot of fun to read.
 
 

Revised Sept. 29, 2000

Comments to Bill McCleary