Therapy, by Jonathan Kellerman

Alex Delaware, the LA psychologist who consults with the police, and his good friend, cop Milo Sturgis, are, truth be told, a bit bored.  Things are just a little too…normal.  So, when Milo hears on his police radio about a double homicide, he decides he’s ready for a challenge and volunteers to take the case.  The victims are a young man and woman who were murdered in a parked convertible on an estate that's up for sale.  The mansion is empty and there were no witnesses.  The young man is identified as Gavin Quick but the woman has no identification.  Milo has picked a real challenge.  About the only clue he has to go on is the fact that Gavin was seeing popular radio psychologist Dr. Mary Lou Koppel.  Several years ago another of her patients was also brutally murdered.  It’s not much—but luckily he has the help of Alex and together they’re able to piece together a very complex puzzle.  The interaction of the regular characters in this series is superb and makes a rather sub par plot still worth reading. 

The Shifting Tide, by Anne Perry

The time is 1863 and once again we are in Victorian London.  William Monk, the private investigator, agrees to look into the theft of a shipment of ivory from a ship docked in the Thames.  Monk is ignorant of shipping, the docks, and what goes on there and normally wouldn’t take the case but he is getting low on funds and the ship’s owner, Clement Louvain, is paying him very well.  The first thing Monk discovers is that he is very much out of his depth and all his previous experience isn’t going to help much.  He is fortunate, though, to meet a young dock urchin named Scuff, a wonderful character who gives him a fast education.  Meanwhile, Monk’s wife, Hester, is busy at the clinic she has been running for street women in need of medical attention.  Her funds are low, too, and she agrees to nurse a woman that Louvain brings to the clinic who is deathly ill.  He claims she is the mistress of a friend of his and pays Hester a large sum to care for her for a week until her relatives can come and get her.  And, here the stories converge, with the ill woman linking the two with a deadly, deadly plot twist that turns what I thought would be a routine mystery into something much, much more.  This was one of the best Perry novels I’ve read lately and it will have you biting your nails.  

The Perfumed Sleeve, by Laura Joh Rowland

It’s time for a return trip to ancient Japan.  It’s November of 1694 and we are in Edo, the ruling city of the shogun.  It's a period of unrest because two competing forces are vying to rule Japan.  One side is led by the shogun’s second in command, the scheming and evil Chamberlain Yanagisawa.  The shogun’s cousin, Lord Matsudaira, heads the opposing group.  Kept totally in the dark to the gathering conflict is the shogun himself, a weak, oblivious ruler.  Both sides are trying to get the upper hand when Senior Elder Makino is found murdered.  Makino had been an ally of Yanagisawa but had been rumored to be about to change sides.  His murder accelerates the conflict between the two groups—with each side accusing the other of his murder.  Caught in the middle of this mess is our old friend Sano Ichiro, the shogun’s most honorable investigator of events, situations and people.   Sano has the unenviable task of finding the murderer while trying to keep both sides from hindering his investigation.  So far Sano has managed to remain neutral to the two men and their conflict but he knows that if he proves one of the men is responsible for the murder he will have made a powerful enemy.  Sano, his wife Reiko, and his trusted aid Hirata, will have to walk a thin tightrope with this tricky and challenging murder investigation.  I adore this series and this latest is one of the best, filled with unexpected twists and the outcome in doubt until the end—which features a big surprise.  Don’t miss it.

Blow Fly, by Patricia Cornwell

I didn’t care too much for Ms. Cornwell’s last book, Isle of Dogs, and I  admonished her in my review to never try comedy again.  Fortunately, her latest book is a deadly serious Kay Scarpetta novel.  When we last left Kay, she had resigned as the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia and her future life was a question mark.  In Blow Fly, Kay has settled for the moment in Florida, near where she grew up.  Working out of a beachfront rental house, she has been keeping busy as a consultant and an occasional forensics instructor.  Her life is still unsettled, to say the least.  Several states to the west, in Louisiana, a serial killer is on the loose murdering women in the Baton Rouge area.  One of Kay’s former forensic students, Nic Robillard, is a Baton Rouge cop and she and the local medical examiner enlist Kay’s help both with the killer on the loose and a former case that might be related.  Kay agrees to lend her assistance, along with the help of her niece, Lucy, and her cop friend, Pete Marino.  As they delve into the murky goings on in Baton Rouge, several major characters from Kay’s past will once again show up.  One is ‘the Werewolf of Richmond’ and I’ll let the other one be a surprise—and a huge surprise it is.  Cornwell is back in fine form and this is an enjoyable addition to the Scarpetta series. 

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