Double Play, by Robert B. Parker

Parker takes a break from his series novels and transports us back to 1947 America.  The war is over and the servicemen are home.  One of these is Joseph Burke, who was severely wounded but eventually recovers—at least physically.  He hasn’t really recovered mentally and when his wife leaves him, he pretty much gives up on life.  He tries boxing for awhile and then loan collecting and eventually he is hired to watch and protect the spoiled, rich daughter of a mobster—who is having man trouble.   When Burke and the mobster have a disagreement over the daughter, Burke quits but he has made a powerful enemy.  Being newly unemployed leaves him ready for the challenge of his life.  Jackie Robinson has just been named to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers and he will be the first black to play in major league baseball.  The Dodgers owner is worried about Robinson’s safety and he hires Burke to be Robinson’s bodyguard for his inaugural season.  It will be a momentous season for both of them as they must work together to cope with dangerous characters that would like to see both of them dead for different reasons.  I wonder how many young people know about Jackie Robinson and the integration of American sports.  Although this is a novel, Robinson comes across as very real and this book is a highly entertaining way to learn about an important man and year in American history. 

Cold Case Squad, by Edna Buchanan

Ms. Buchanan has a wonderful series going starring sexy, single, witty, complicated Britt Montero as a Miami newspaper reporter who writes on crime and more often than not becomes part of the story.  The Cold Case Squad has the makings for a second good series.  As the title suggests, the novel is about a Miami police squad that tries to solve cases from the past—sort of like the CBS tv series that debuted this past season.  It’s a small group—only about four strong—and the detectives all want to be working the cold cases.  One of them, Sam Stone, hopes to someday crack the long ago unsolved murder of his parents.  But that will have to wait because the squad has two challenging cases to tackle first.  Twelve years ago a man died in a garage explosion—or did he?  Now, his ex-wife has come to the squad claiming to have recently seen him.   Sam is working independently on the case of a serial killer who only targets old women—and has been killing them in different cities around the country for years. And, it looks like the killer’s rotation has put him back in Miami.  This was a terrific kickoff to, hopefully, a new series.  But, I miss Britt and I hope she will make another appearance soon.

The Tarnished Eye, by Judith Guest

It’s hard to believe that Ms. Guest wrote Ordinary People way back in 1976.  She’s not an author that cranks out a book every other month.  The Tarnished Eye is only her fifth book and the first she has written in about seven years.  But, in my opinion, she is an author worth waiting for.  Her latest is billed as a novel of suspense and it is somewhat of a departure for her.  The story takes place in the lake community of Blessed, in northern Michigan.   The town sheriff is Hugh DeWitt.  Hugh is still trying to get over the death of his infant son from SIDS several years ago and his inability to move on is causing problems with his wife and daughter.   New to Blessed is the Norbois family.  Edward Norbois is a publishing multi-millionaire and a controlling, somewhat cold figure to his wife, Paige, and their children.  Their main house is in Ann Arbor but Edward has built a huge vacation home on one of Blessed’s choice waterfront sites.  Hugh hasn’t had much contact with any of the Norbois members because they have tended to stay to themselves when they are in town.  However, that will change when a devastating event strikes the Norbois family and Hugh is suddenly faced with the most difficult investigation of his career.  I would call this more of a mystery than a suspense novel but whatever its classification, I liked it a lot.  Guest has written a good ‘whodunit’ here and populated it with interesting, well-developed characters. 

The Madman’s Tale, by John Katzenbach

Francis Petrel is the madman.  Well, madman might be a little harsh, in my opinion.  Twenty years ago, Francis was hearing voices and as a young man his family committed him to Western State Hospital in New York, a facility for the mentally ill.  While he was at the facility, a student nurse was murdered.  One of the patients was quickly arrested for the murder but Frances didn’t think the man was guilty.  Neither did Peter the Fireman, who was at the hospital to be evaluated and befriended Francis.  Back then the two of them joined forces with Lucy Jones, a prosecutor who came to the facility to investigate the murder.  Lucy believed that the killer was also responsible for three other murders outside of the hospital.  It’s now twenty years later and Francis is living a marginal life on his own.  The hospital has been closed down for years and the site is due to be redeveloped.  Former patients are invited back for a ceremony to commemorate the hospital’s history.  Francis attends the ceremony and being back at the hospital triggers memories of  the long ago murder and events that still haunt him. When Francis returns home, he decides he needs to tell his tale.  Having no paper, he uses the white blank walls of his apartment.   We, as readers, go back with Francis to Western State Hospital and learn what really happened there so many years ago.  John Katzenbach is one of my favorite authors and this novel is well written and certainly kept my interest.  But, perhaps because of the subject matter, I can’t count it as my favorite of his books. 

 

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