JOHN LUTZ - SHADOWS EVERYWHERE (1994)

Synopsis/blurb....

Twelve tales of mystery from the pen of best-selling author John Lutz, Shadows Everywhere collects much of the author's early work. You'll meet everyone from a “hardscrabble farm woman” to a volatile trucker with an explosive cargo, a cliff driver with dreams of gold, and women who are digging for it. Not every PI is a good guy, and not every villain gets his due. These tales twist and turn, surprise and entertain. Flowing from the imagination of a master story-teller, the stories in Shadows Everywhere are a classic glimpse into the worlds of a rare talent.

When I think of author John Lutz. two things spring to mind - Single White Female and a series character of his called Fred Carver, neither of which I've actually gotten around to reading. I did love the film and could easily stand giving it a re-watch sometime. The Carver books I always liked the sound of, but for once common sense and restraint prevailed and I never actually filled my boots buying them. I crossed paths with one in a second hand shop a few years, bought it and then benched it.

This collection of short stories was enjoyed a month ago and while not totally forgotten, without reference to the blurb for the book I'd be scratching my head trying to recall any of them. 

The collection comprises.....

Shadows Everywhere ....... a crooked PI, a marital investigation, a false report, some unforeseen consequences and a comeuppance

The Lemon Drink Queen..... a kidnapping, a trophy bride aka a caged bird, and a variation on the suicide by cop theme

A Rare Bird...... a bird-watcher, a corpse disposal, and an ill-thought out blackmail scheme

A Verdict of Death..... a missing woman, a murder trial without a corpse and an eventual license to kill 

All of a Sudden..... an average cop, and an ill-advised alliance, a few good years and some chickens coming home to roost 

Living All Alone..... a spinster temptress and a well fertilised orchard

Garden of Dreams..... a power cut, some dead plants and a maniacal gardener to contend with 

Prospectus on Death..... karma, the power of suggestion, what goes around comes around

Fair Shake..... an upcoming trial, an endangered witness, and police protection

The Midnight Train..... pig farming on a budget

Hector Gomez Provides..... a Mexican cliff diving tale 

Explosive Cargo..... a dodgy hitchhiker and a shady trucker cross paths

I liked the collection without ever being blown away by it. All of the stories had decent twists and most had resolutions which in hindsight kind of seemed obvious but as I wasn't especially trying to second guess them at all, I liked the elenent of surprise with the outcomes.

Favourites.......the title piece Shadows Everywhere and The Lemon Drink Queen. 

Least enjoyed ....... Hector Gomez Provides.

Entertaining...... all the others.

A corrupt PI, dodgy cops, untrustworthy widows, wives and spinsters, cheating husbands, schemers, plotters, revenge, ambition, greed and just like real life, some outcomes where the villains prevail and a few where they get their just desserts. 

4 from 5

John Lutz has been enjoyed before - The Truth of the Matter  and The Eye which was co-authored with Bill Pronzini

Read - (listened to) August, 2020

Published - 1994

Page count - 123 (4 hrs 31 mins)

Source - Audible purchase

Format - Audible

TOM PICCIRILLI - SORROW'S CROWN (1998)

 

Synopsis/blurb….

Jonathan Kendrick's grandmother lives in the upstate New York village of Felicity Grove. And whenever something of a criminal nature occurs, Grandma Anna is right in the thick of it. This time, the senior sleuth needs Jonathan's help to clear an innocent man's name. Zebediah Crummler, the cemetery caretaker, has been arrested for killing a member of the powerful Harnes family… Because of his childlike nature, Crummler is placed in an asylum, where his inconsistent tales and ramblings prove difficult for Jonathan and Anna to decipher. But they must be careful, for the Harnes clan has its own idea of rendering justice.

Sorrow’s Crown is the second book in Piccirilli’s Felicity Grove series after The Dead Past and it was enjoyed much the same as the first.

Small town setting, amateur snooping from Jonathan Kendrick and his disabled Grandmother – again due to a lack of confidence in the local sheriff/police chief – I forget which.

The simple-minded graveyard curator is the patsy for a murder; the victim being the son of the one of the richest and most powerful men in the state. Our intrepid duo, Jonathan and Anna, friends of the man. Crummler seek to uncover the real killer and in the mean-time cross swords with the head of the Harnes family; a man who is used to having his own way by fair means or foul.

Family history, secrets, a dysfunctional dynamic, power games, a long-ago suicide, psychopathic tendencies, money and influence buying silence, a local asylum as a playground for abuse, torture and more, an investigation, friendship, an elusive brother, and an outcome which goes some way to redressing the balance. The resolution worked well enough for me.

Enjoyable as far as it went. Nothing particularly memorable or conversely objectionable. Interesting story, interesting investigation, decent setting, decent characters – both familiar, due to the recent proximity of the earlier book in the series. We get where we are going soon enough, with no particular haste and with no sense of drag. The book itself is 20 years old, so there is no real reliance on tech to do the legwork in the investigation. It's more a case of asking questions and stirring the pot.

3 from 5

Piccirilli’s The Dead Past was enjoyed earlier in the month, to add to a few from the author in the pre-blogging days. I’ll read more from him in the future and look forward to them without actually causing a stampede.

Read - (listened to) August, 2020

Published – 1998

Page count – 231 (6 hrs 40 mins)

Source – Audible purchase

Format - Audible

AUGUST 2020 - 31 DAYS 31 SHORTS!

August again and another bout of a short story a day, with the usual proviso, some days none, some days two or more to catch up.

It's a great way of trying new authors or re-visiting old favourites and there are plenty of great sources of stories around the web........  Spelk Fiction, Shotgun Honey, Close 2 the Bone, All Due Respect, Bristol Noir, Tough, Yellow Mama Webzine, Strand Magazine, Fairlight Shorts, Punk Noir Magazine, Mystery Tribune - to mention a few.

Author websites can be great sources as well.

1st - Tom Leins - Demonology (Shotgun Honey)

2nd - Pamela Ebel - Love and Death at the Red Onion (Shotgun Honey)

3rd - Preston Lang - The Woman from Florence (All Due Respect)

4th - Steven Berry - The Gangster's Game (All Due Respect)

5th - Beau Johnson - Making the World Livable Again (Punk Noir Magazine)

6th - Morgan Boyd - Hotdog Man (Shotgun Honey)

7th - Beau Johnson - Bruce Tartare (Spelk Fiction)

8th - Liam Sweeny - Beggar's Brunch (Spelk Fiction)

9th - Mark J. Newman - Long Time Coming (Bristol Noir)

10th - Maura Yzmore - Pixie Dust (Spelk Fiction)

11th - Mark J. Newman - The Homecoming (Bristol Noir)

12th - Tom Leins - Recalibration (Pulp Modern)

13th - Tom Pacheco - The Cheating Wife (Strand Magazine)

14th - Jason Beech - Loose Words (Spelk Fiction)

15th - Bill Baber - Going to Find Her (Spelk Fiction)

16th - Todd Morr - Love or Money (Shotgun Honey)

17th - Margot Kinberg - Silence is Golden (Crime and Mystery Writer Margot Kinberg)

18th - Tom Leins - Splatterproof is Not a Challenge (Shotgun Honey)

19th - Cindy Rosmus - Homicidal Hubby (Yellow Mama Webzine)

20th - William R. Soldan - King of the Blue Rose (Tough)

21st -  Melkon Charchoglyan - Madame Gayane (Fairlight Shorts)

22nd - Bill Pronzini - Possibilities (Strand Magazine)

23rd - Jason Jawando  - How Lucky You Are (Fairlight Shorts)

24th - Michael Pool - Everything's Coming Up Duane (All Due Respect)

25th - John Patrick Robbins - Indiana Cold (Punk Noir Magazine)

26th - L A Sykes - Rollerblades (Spelk Fiction)

27th - Gary Lovisi - Dry Run (Yellow Mama Webzine)

28th - Tom Leins - Oozy Rat in a Sanitary Zoo (Spelk Fiction)

29th - M.E. Purfield - Bumper (Tough)

30th - Paul D. Brazill - A Tissue of Webs  (Paul D. Brazill)

31st - N.B. Turner - Old-Fashioned (Shotgun Honey)

Previous outings.......

AUGUST, 2016 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

AUGUST, 2017 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

AUGUST, 2018 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

AUGUST, 2019 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

FEBRUARY, 2020 - 29 DAYS, 29 SHORTS!

MAY, 2020 - 31 DAYS, 31 SHORTS!

MARK PRYOR - THE FRENCH WIDOW (2020)

Synopsis/blurb.....

A young American woman is attacked at an historic Paris chateau and four paintings are stolen the same night, drawing Hugo Marston into a case where everyone seems like a suspect. To solve this mystery Hugo must crack the secrets of the icy and arrogant Lambourd family, who seem more interested in protecting their good name than future victims. Just as Hugo thinks he’s close, some of the paintings mysteriously reappear, at the very same time that one of his suspects goes missing.

While under pressure to catch a killer, Hugo also has to face the consequences of an act some see as heroic, but others believe might have been staged for self-serving reasons. This puts Hugo under a media and police spotlight he doesn’t want, and helps the killer he’s hunting mark him as the next target….

It's been a few years since I read one of Mark Pryor's Hugo Marston Paris set books and having enjoyed the ones I have read previously, I had quite high hopes for the latest in the series. It didn't disappoint. Marston is head of security at the American Embassy in Paris. He has some props as an investigator and solver of crimes.

Having previously asserted a preference for stories featuring criminal sorts and lawbreakers, when I do choose to read crime solving mysteries, I like books where there are multiple crimes to solve, in this case two. I think it spreads the focus of the book and helps maintain my interest rather than having a narrow concentration on one event, which can on occasions bore me.

An American woman is attacked at work and some paintings are stolen and in another incident Hugo shoots dead a killer after he encounters the deranged gunman on a murderous rampage in a Parisian park. The second incident attracts the furore of the press once some details of the gunman emerge and Hugo becomes the centre of some unwanted scrutiny. In the first mentioned event, Hugo manages to attract the ire of the wealthy Lambourd family, the apparent victims of the art theft. There's very often something about rich families in fiction where they are often portrayed as heartless, domineering, controlling, arrogant and insensitive. No exceptions here. They usually have more than a few skeletons in the closet - and again no exceptions here. 

I liked the dual investigations, the main character - Hugo (though he can be slightly annoying in a supercilious Sherlock Holmes sort of way. There's a smidgeon of smugness he portrays when he figures everything out but holds onto that information before he does a big reveal). I do like his interactions with the support cast here; his ex-CIA mate Tom, the American ambassador, his journalist-cum-non exclusive girlfriend, Claudia and his main liaison in the French police, the sex-changed and necessarily thick-skinned Camille Lerens. He works well with them all. There's plenty of respect for each other along with a healthy dose of teasing and humour in these relationships.

Decent setting, and an interesting investigation mainly focussing on an uber-dysfunctional family, not many of whom are worthy of any great understanding or sympathy. It's hard to like people who don't especially seem to like themselves or each other. Looking down their noses at the little people doesn't quite endear them to me either. The matriarch in particular is odious.

Overall an enjoyable return to Paris, Hugo Marston and author, Mark Pryor.

4 from 5

Mark Pryor has been read before - The Bookseller (2012), The Crypt Thief (2013), The Blood Promise (2014) and The Button Man (2014)

Read - September, 2020
Published - 2020
Page count - 299
Source - review copy from publisher Seventh Street Books
Format - PDF read on laptop 

ED GORMAN - MURDER ON THE AISLE (1987)

Synopsis/blurb....

Peeps takes movie reviewing to new heights of viciousness. On this prime-time TV show, two caustic critics look at the hits and misses among the new movies, trading wits, insults - even punches.

But even a series with high ratings like Peeps can stare at cancellation - not by the networks, but by murder. Because Dunphy has just been found with a knife in his back in the dressing room of Tobin, his co-host and sparring partner. The cops' script says Tobin - who'd secretly shared the affections of Dunphy's wife and brawled on air with Dunphy the night before - has the motivation for the part of star suspect. But for Tobin, the accusation is hardly entertaining, and he sets out to find the real killer in the cast.

Another day another audible book and one mostly enjoyed while at work. Ed Gorman is an author I've been meaning to try for a while and this was my first outing with him. In truth it was okay and from a few comments on a tangential post on Twitter concerning Gorman, apparently it is not one of his better works. It didn't blow me away that's for sure.

A radio host turns detective when his co-star is murdered and he's the likeliest suspect; having previously been having an affair with the deceased's wife and having had a major bust up in public with the man.

Murder, an amateur investigation, a variety of suspects each with possible motivation for the crime, some sexual shenanigans, an outcome.

Nothing especially memorable or outstanding in the book. I'm a bit undecided as to whether I liked the main character or not. There's nothing in his character or actions that invoked strong feelings either way. Similarly, I was interested in the story and the investigation and the revelation of the guilty party, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat. It was a book which was enjoyed upto a point. It's the kind of book that fills in a gap before I either encounter my next amazing or really terrible read.

I did like the look into the world of television and broadcasting...... envy, ratings, networking, the career ladder.

The pace was okay and the book wasn't over-long but neither did it feel rushed.

3 from 5

Ed Gorman did pen a second book with Tobin the main character, but it's probably not one I'll seek out. There are plenty of other books from him with more appeal.

Read - (listened to) August, 2020
Published - 1987
Page count - 160 (5hrs)
Source - Audible purchase
Format - Audible

TODD MORR - THE PATCH: THE STORY OF HANDSOME HENRY (2017)

Synopsis/blurb....

"Funny, I heard about a gunfighter with pistols like that, had himself a reputation," the fat one said.

Holt didn't say anything.

"Of course, you couldn't be him? They called him Handsome Henry. Apparently he was as good with the ladies as he was with a smoke wagon. You are one of the ugliest saddle bums I have ever seen."

If being called ugly bothered Holt, he didn't show it. Kirby, his wife and child moved around the two cowboys and went to their table. The cowboys let them go and kept their attention on Holt.

"You should learn to mind your own business stranger," the fat one said, moving his hand closer to the six shooter in his belt.

A short entertaining Audible outing and my first time with author Todd Morr.

Close to an hour's entertainment and a trip to the old wild West. I do like the occasional western in my reading. As far as I'm concerned it's just crime fiction with horses and hats pretty much.

Handsome Henry is not so handsome anymore and there's a score to be settled in respect of his lost looks which are the result of a love rivalry which saw a woman killed. Some of our minor characters are also concerned with the divvying up of the spoils of a robbery.

Outlaws, gun play, romance, the obligatory saloon setting laced with humor, violence, conflict, mistrust and a dollop of revenge. All in all, a decent tale with more than a twist or two.

4.5 from 5

More from Todd Morr sits on the pile, including the intriguingly titled - Jesus Saves Satan Invests and If You're Not One Percent.
Read - (listened to) August, 2020   
Published - 2017
Page count - ? (40 mins)
Source - Audible purchase
Format - Audible

JOE R. LANSDALE - MORE BETTER DEALS (2020)

Synopsis/blurb.....

From the Edgar Award-winning author of the Hap and Leonard series, a hard-boiled novel set in 1960s Texas in which a no-nonsense car salesman faces a tempting decision, a dangerous deal, and an alluring affair.

Ed Edwards is in the used car business, a business built on adjusted odometers, extra-fine print, and the belief that "buyers better beware." Burdened by an aging, alcoholic mother constantly on his case to do something worthier of his lighter skin tone and dreaming of a brighter future for himself and his plucky little sister, Ed is ready to get out of the game.

When Dave, his lazy, grease-stained boss at the eponymous dealership Smiling Dave's sends him to repossess a Cadillac, Ed finally gets the chance to escape his miserable life.

The Cadillac in question was purchased by Frank Craig and his beautiful wife Nancy, owners of a local drive-in and pet cemetery. Fed up with her deadbeat husband and with unfulfilled desires of her own, Nancy suggests to Ed -- in the throes of their salacious affair -- that they kill Frank and claim his insurance policy. It is a tantalizing offer: the girl, the car, and not one, but two businesses. Ed could finally say goodbye to Smiling Dave's, and maybe even send his sister to college. But does he have what it takes to see the plan through?

Told with Joe Lansdale's trademark grit, wit, and dark humor, More Better Deals is a gripping tale of the strange characters and odd dealings that define 1960s East Texas.

Great fun was had reading this latest one from Joe R. Lansdale - More Better Deals. I've read Lansdale on and off for the best part of 30 years, starting back when I was still into horror fiction. I think the Drive In 1 and 2 were my earliest reads. Since then I've enjoyed a couple of his Hap and Leonard books and other bits and bobs of his crime and mystery fiction output. Lansdale's one of those authors (there's more than a few) whose books I seem to buy and then stockpile as opposed to getting stuck right into. Maybe 2020 I'll have a brain fart and try and work my way through some of the stash, rather than just talking about working my way through them. If they prove to be half as entertaining as this one, it will be time well rewarded.

More Better Deals - 60s East Texas setting, and a used car salesman crosses paths with a sort of femme fatale, soon followed by sex, crime, more sex and death all of which has serious repurcussions for our main characters - Ed the car salesman and Nancy the dissatisfied wife.

Breezy pace, great time frame, a back drop of a car showroom, a pet cemetery and a fair ground, booze, sex, marital grief, discontent, race, family conflict, dreams and some low level scheming and downright crookedness. All served up with a liberal dollop of spicy humour.

Fantastic writing, great characters, an interesting story with a few twists which keep you guessing as to the final outcome - an ending which satisfied and put the final tick in the box

5 from 5

Lansdale's The Thicket, Dead Aim, Briar Patch Boogie, Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man's Back, The Steel Valentine, Bullets and Fire, Incident On and Off a Mountain Road - a varied output of novels, novellas and short stories have all been enjoyed to a greater or lesser extent since I started blogging about books.

Read - August, 2020
Published - 2020
Page count - 232
Source - Net Galley review copy
Format - ePUB read on laptop