The Breaker, by Minette Walters

This is the first book I've read by Ms. Walters, who lives in England.  I was very impressed.  A young woman's murdered body has washed up on the south shore of England in a resort area. Sometime later the woman's three-year-old daughter is found alive and abandoned in a town twenty miles away.  Who killed the woman and what happened to the daughter?  Called in to investigate is Nick Ingram, who runs the local rural police station.  Supervision of major crimes is handled by county headquarters and several investigators are assigned to the case. Two good suspects soon emerge. The first is the woman's husband. He's a strange one and seems an unlikely match for the woman.  And, why does the daughter cry every time she sees him?  The other suspect is a young actor, a very unsavory character who knew the woman and was in the resort area on his yacht at the time of her death.  Neither of the suspects has a good alibi but did one of them kill her?  Nick and the two county investigators set out to find the truth.  Nick is first thought to be a hayseed by the investigators from headquarters but he soon proves that he has the right stuff.  At the same time he manages to romance Maggie, a high-spirited local girl who runs a horse boarding business that is floundering despite her best efforts.  This is a nicely done police mystery with interesting, believable characters.
 

The Devil's Teardrop, by Jeffery Deaver

If you like Thomas Harris I think you will enjoy Jeffrey Deaver's books.  His latest reminded me of  Red Dragon, one of the best by Harris.  The setting for Deaver's new book is Washington, DC.  A brilliant extortionist sends a brain damaged killer to open fire at the Dupont Circle Metro escalator, his gun equipped with a silencer and hidden in a shopping bag.  Chaos erupts and the gunman melts into the crowd.  The mayor of DC receives a letter from the extortionist demanding twenty million dollars or the extortionist will send the gunman out for another mass shooting in four hours and four hours after that.  The mayor decides to pay but the extortionist is killed in a hit and run accident before he can pick up the money.  The gunman has orders to keep killing unless he hears from his partner so the FBI must somehow find him to prevent the next shooting.  Working to solve the crime are FBI special agent Margaret Lukas and Parker Kincaid, a top forensic document examiner and former FBI agent.  Both of them are career successes but have fragile personal lives.  Deaver does a terrific job of building suspense.  Just when you think the story is over it's not and you're once again on a literary roller coaster taking another unexpected turn.  Space Mountain in handy book form!
 

In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner, by Elizabeth George

In Elizabeth George's newest, we find our wonderful policewoman Barbara Havers in the doghouse.  Having defied orders on her previous case, she has been demoted.  Worse, her boss, Inspector Lynley, has not stood up for her and chooses to work with someone else on the current case--the murders of a man and a woman in the English countryside.  The woman is the daughter of a former policeman and he asks Lynley to investigate his daughter's murder.  Lynley works with the local inspector--who suspects the father.  Lynley thinks the daughter's boyfriend is a more likely suspect.  Barbara, meanwhile, has been assigned donkeywork checking computer files and hates not being part of the action.  Fortunately, Lynley's new partner Nkata asks for Barbara's help with the London aspects of the case and together they come up with a third suspect.  Finding the real killer makes for an entertaining and absorbing read and the characters remain a delight--especially Barbara.
 

Family Honor, by Robert B. Parker

Parker's latest gives us a brand new character--Sunny Randall.  Supposedly this character has been created specifically for Helen Hunt to play her on screen.  Sunny is a divorced private investigator working in Boston.  She's also a painter and a former cop.  She's just getting started in the P.I. field and she's still feeling her way.  Sunny is hired by a wealthy couple to find their daughter Millicent, who has run away from home.  Sunny soon discovers that someone else is also looking for the girl--but not to return her home safely.  Pretty soon people start turning up dead, a mob connection surfaces, and the case becomes a lot more than just a missing girl.  Luckily, Sunny has the help of her ex-husband, who has family contacts with the mob, and her friend Spike, a gay restaurant owner with a blackbelt in karate.  She also has a lot of spunk, which, unlike Lou Grant, I like in a character.  I hope this becomes a new Parker series because I want to know what happens with Sunny. And, I love her take on things.  Favorite sample (from her visit to Milllicent's private school and her interview with Ms. Plum, the snooty headmistress):  Ms. Plum:  "Our graduates usually continue their education at the best schools."  Sunny:  "Where do you suppose Millicent is headed?"  Ms. Plum:  "I fear that perhaps a public junior college would be her only option."  Sunny:  "Eek."
 

THIS ISSUE'S OLDIE BUT GOODIE

Get Shorty, by Elmore Leonard

I don't think Elmore Leonard is capable of writing a bad book.  Every one I have read has been terrific.  If he is new to you, Get Shorty would be a good introduction.  Leonard primarily writes crime fiction and he is noted for his wacky, humorous characters and totally believable, realistic dialogue.  Get Shorty features Chili Palmer, a Miami loan shark.  Chili goes after a man who is behind in his payments and his pursuit first takes him to Las Vegas and then to Hollywood.  Chili meets a cast of wonderful Leonard characters and somehow ends up in the movie business--where he fits right in.  Scary!  Leonard has great fun skewering anything and everything  associated with Hollywood and movie making in this laugh out loud enjoyable novel.
 

RECENT ARRIVALS

Dark Lady, by Richard North Patterson
The Phantom of Manhattan, by Frederick Forsyth
Hide Tide, by Jude Deveraux
Last Dance, by Ed McBain
Soft Focus, Jayne Ann Krentz
Rough Draft, by James W. Hall
Garden of Evil, Edna Buchanan
 

 Revised Aug. 9, 2000
Comments to Bill McCleary