Balance of Power, by Richard North Patterson

When we last left Democratic President Kerry Kilcannon, in Protect and Defend, he had just succeeded in getting Caroline Masters, a pro-choice liberal judge, confirmed as the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court after a hard-fought battle.  Kerry, now newly-wed to Lara, his girlfriend of several years, has an even tougher struggle on his hands when he decides to pass a strict gun control bill.  His crusade becomes highly personal when Lara’s mother, sister Joan, and niece are killed by Joan’s estranged husband using a handgun he was able to buy without a background check.  Kerry’s battle will pit him against the powerful lobby group Sons of the Second Amendment and Senate Majority Leader Frank Fasano, likely to be Kerry’s Republican rival in the next presidential election.  Fasano and the SSA will stop at nothing to defeat Kerry, including publicizing a dark period in Kerry’s life before he became president.  In an author’s note, Patterson says that this is the concluding volume in what he calls his Kilcannon trilogy, which began with No Safe Place.  If so, he has ended the series with an engrossing and entertaining novel on a topical subject with an outcome that will leave you guessing until the final pages.
 

The Murder Room, by P.D. James

A new mystery by P.D. James (long may she write!) is always a treat.  Her latest features Commander Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard and his murder team of Kate Miskin, Piers Tarrant, and Francis Benton-Smith.  The main action takes place at the Dupayne Museum, a small, privately owned museum on the outskirts of London.  The museum is devoted to the interwar years of 1919-1939 and it was started by the late Max Dupayne.  His three children—Marcus, Caroline, and Neville—have inherited the museum.  By the terms of Max’s will, all three children must agree for the museum to remain open.  If one is opposed, the museum will be closed and its contents sold off.  Marcus and Caroline very much want to continue and even expand the museum but Neville is totally opposed.  Several days after a stormy meeting with his siblings, Neville is found burned to death in the museum’s garage.  The death is ruled a homicide and Adam is called in to investigate.  One strange aspect of the murder is that it duplicated a notorious homicide from the interwar years—one that is depicted in the Murder Room, the museum’s most popular display room.  Just as Adam and his team are getting started, a second murder occurs.  This time the body is found in the Murder Room itself and it also mimics a famous murder from the interwar years.  Is a copycat killer on the loose or is there something else at play here?   At eightysomething Baroness James still has what it takes and this was a terrific, thoroughly engrossing mystery filled with great description and vivid, interesting characters.  Now if we could just get eightysomething Dick Francis writing again!
 

The Frumious Bandersnatch, by Ed McBain

A bandersnatch is a character in a Lewis Carroll work but it is also the title of the debut album of rising singer Tamar Valparaiso.  Her album is being launched at an elaborate party on board a luxury yacht on one of the rivers that surround Isola, the city that stands in for New York in the 87th Precinct series.  While Tamar is performing one of the songs from the album, two armed masked men who have secretly boarded the yacht seize her and get away in a speedboat.  Harbor Patrol is first on the scene and after assessing the situation they call the 87th Precinct for assistance.  Our old friend Steve Carella takes the call and he is suddenly knee deep in a high-profile kidnapping.  Well, with anything high-profile involving a crime—and especially a kidnapping—the FBI is a sure bet to become involved and Steve ends up being assigned to work with them.  That lasts for about a New York minute before Steve decides he is just being used as an errand boy and takes a hike.  The FBI isn’t happy about Steve’s perceived insubordination but the Police Commissioner backs him up—and tells the cops of the 87th Precinct that they are still on the case.  Suddenly we have a horserace on our hands to see who will locate Tamar first and catch the kidnappers.  This was another terrific addition to McBain’s long-running police detective series—just don’t ask me to pronounce the title!
 

Bleachers, by John Grisham

Fall Friday nights in Texas mean high school football and this is especially true for the town of Messina.  For over thirty years, the Messina Spartans were coached by Eddie Rake, who produced numerous state titles and a record 84 game winning streak that put the town of Messina on the map.  You don’t win that many games in a row by taking things easy and nothing was ever easy with the coach.  He worked his players to death—literally in one case.   Now, Coach Rake is dying and his past players have come back to town to gather and reminisce—and perhaps come to terms with what Coach Rake meant to them.  All-American Neely Crenshaw, Messina’s most famous player, was the star quarterback for the Spartans when they won the state championship in 1986.  However, after a falling out with the coach, he hasn’t been back to Messina in fifteen years.  As he returns for the first time and gets together with his former teammates, Neely will look back on his Messina years and a life that didn’t turn out quite how he expected it to—either personally or professionally. But, will he finally be able to make peace with the coach and his past?   Grisham made his fame and fortune with his great legal thrillers but he’s just as good when he tries something a little different.  Nicely done.
 
 

 

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