FRANK WESTWORTH - FIRST CONTRACT (2014)

Synopsis/blurb…

FIRST CONTRACT: A decade ago, JJ Stoner was a soldier. He killed people for a living and made no bones about it. On a scorching day in the Iraqi desert, when British blood stained the sand, he over-stepped the mark. Men died in compromising circumstances; too many men for an easy explanation. Faced with a dishonourable discharge and accusations of murder, Stoner accepted an offer from a stranger who represented an intelligence agency. Suddenly, Stoner found himself half a world away and about to execute his first private contract…

FIRST CONTRACT, a quick thriller, introduces the central character from the JJ Stoner / Killing Sisters series. As well as a complete, stand-alone story, First Contract includes an excerpt from ‘A Last Act of Charity’ and a sneak preview of the sequel, ‘The Corruption of Chastity.’

‘A Last Act of Charity’, is available in paperback and ebook.

Please note that FIRST CONTRACT is intended for an adult audience and contains explicit scenes of a sexual and/or violent nature.

‘It launches you straight into the mayhem and, like its protagonist, JJ Stoner, takes no prisoners.’

‘Sharp. Staccato. Smart. Lovers of long, luxurious, lyrical prose should read this to see how the other half writes.’

‘The tightly-written prose has more than a touch of the Elmore Leonard about it – sparse, sharp and often witty as well.’

A short story and an introduction to JJ Stoner. We meet Stoner initially in an Iraq desert. A short time later after 5 Iraqis are executed, Stoner’s suddenly surplus to army requirements. However, as one door closes another one opens and Stoner is recruited into the school of black ops, dark arts and total deniability.

His first contract seems fairly straightforward. Receive instructions, identify target and eliminate. A Dublin mission, but what if the wrong person gave you the information? Cue one wrong dead guy. 

However, Stoner’s unfazed and adaptable.

Not your typical buy one, get one free supermarket deal, but at the end of our tale we’ve a couple of corpses and our man waiting for his next mission.  

Author Frank Westworth packs a lot into 25-odd pages. Some background, history and context to our main character. A glimpse of his talents – cool under pressure, efficient and despite a shaky start, he appears capable and reliable.

4.5 from 5

I’ll be interested in sampling the other Westworth – Stoner shorts, before embarking on the author’s longer work.

The JJ Stoner short stories continue with:

Two Wrongs

Third Person

Four Cornered

His novels are A Last Act of Charity and The Corruption of Chastity.

Frank Westworth has a website - Murder, Mayhem and More

Catch him on Facebook here.

I received a copy of this one from the author.

E. PHILLIPS OPPENHEIM - THE EVIL SHEPHERD (1922)

Synopsis/blurb….

A best-selling author of novels, short stories, magazine articles, translations, and plays, Oppenheim published over 150 books.

He is considered one of the originators of the thriller genre, his novels also range from spy thrillers to romance, but all have an undertone of intrigue. He also wrote under the name of Anthony Partridge.

'The Evil Shepherd' begins - Francis Ledsam, alert, well-satisfied with himself and the world, the echo of a little buzz of congratulations still in his ears, paused on the steps of the modern Temple of Justice to light a cigarette before calling for a taxi to take him to his club.

Visions of a whisky and soda-his throat was a little parched-and a rubber of easygoing bridge at his favorite table, were already before his eyes. A woman who had followed him from the Court touched him on the shoulder.

A freebie book courtesy of Project Gutenberg for my 1922 contribution to Past Offences – Crimes of the Century meme. See what others have read for 1922 here.

Francis Ledsam is a defence barrister and is congratulating himself on a brilliant performance which has just seen Oliver Hilditch acquitted of murder. His ego is pricked by Margaret Hilditch confessing to him that Hilditch was guilty. The man himself boasts of it to Ledsam a day or two later.

Cue moral crisis and a vow never to defend anyone again unless he is sure of their innocence. 

Hilditch himself then dies and Ledsam believes he perjures himself in giving evidence at the inquest. He believes Margaret has killed her husband. Margaret is withdrawn and indifferent towards life, taking advantage of the things money can provide her, but enjoying none of them. Ledsam feels the stirring of an attraction.

We then cross paths with Sir Timothy Brast, who openly mocks Francis when he declares war on criminals….”I am not going to be content with a negative position as regards evildoers. I am going to set my heel on as many of the human vermin of this city as I can find.” Brast is Margaret Hilditch’s father. After an argument of sorts, Brast prophesises that within a few yards of the bar they are in, later tonight a crime will be committed.

As if by magic, a murder occurs and Ledsam factoring in Brast’s seedy reputation on some quarters…..he’s murdered someone abroad, he holds lavish orgies at the walled mansion on the banks of the river…. gets it into his head that Brast is a criminal mastermind.

While still pursuing Margaret, we obviously cross paths frequently with Brast during the course of the book. Both men enjoy each other’s company but are mistrustful. Margaret herself has a strained relationship with her father. Ledsam is determined to catch Sir Timothy out and in cahoots with a detective endeavours to spy on Brast. Brast is more amused than outraged.

Gradually we uncover Brast’s secrets and Ledsam overcomes Margaret’s indifference and opens her eyes to true love. Brast, Margaret and Francis are all reconciled and walk off into the sunset together; Brast on the arms of Lady Cynthia – 20 years his younger and soon to be Margaret’s step-mother. We all live happily ever after.

Can you enjoy a book that is total nonsense? Hmm…probably. I quite liked this and a fair bit more than I expected to.

3 from 5

I’m probably not going to rush to read Oppenheim’s 149 other books, irrespective of whether they are all free or not, but I do have The Great Impersonation waiting somewhere.

I got my copy at Project Gutenberg link here.

MARY E. BUSER - LOCKDOWN ON RIKERS (2015)

Synopsis/blurb….

Mary Buser began her career at Rikers Island as a social work intern, brimming with ideas and eager to help incarcerated women find a better path. Her reassignment to a men's jail coincided with the dawn of the city's "stop-and-frisk" policy, a flood of unprecedented arrests, and the biggest jailhouse build-up in New York City history.

Committed to the possibility of growth for the scarred and tattooed masses who filed into her session booth, Buser was suddenly faced with black eyes, punched-out teeth, and frantic whispers of beatings by officers. Recognizing the greater danger of pointing a finger at one's captors, Buser attempted to help them, while also keeping them as well as herself, safe. 

Following her promotion to assistant chief, she was transferred to different jails, working in the Mental Health Center, and finally, at Rikers's notorious "jail within jail," the dreaded solitary confinement unit, where she saw horrors she'd never imagined. Finally, it became too much to bear, forcing Buser to flee Rikers and never look back - until now.

Lockdown on Rikers shines a light into the deepest and most horrific recesses of the criminal justice system, and shows how far it has really drifted from the ideals we espouse.

An interesting look at the inside of Rikers Island jail and some of the workings of America’s legal system during the nineties. Rikers housed (and possibly still does) people arrested for crimes that have not yet come to court, other than an initial hearing. The unfortunate inhabitants are those without the resources to afford a few hundred dollars in bail money. The solution – stick them in Rikers where they can stay indefinitely until their case comes to trial. Only - the legal system only has the capacity to try a small percentage of the cases that could come before them, so typically the vast majority of Rikers inhabitants are forced to take a deal on a sentence irrespective of their guilt and innocence to at least put an end date on their incarceration. Justice in the land of the free, is apparently dependent on one’s ability to pay. At the time Mayor Guiliani’s tough on crime approach led to an increase in the numbers caught and swept up.

Buser was a young social worker who was offered the opportunity to assist some of the women in the jail. She offered support and counselling to some of the most vulnerable of the women inside. 

Progressing her career through the years to increased positions of responsibility and ever-increasing case-loads. Along the way, her employers changed with the renegotiation of the jail’s mental health contract and her paymaster’s were ever more focussed on running the service for profit.  Somewhat inevitably, burn-out and fatigue followed and Mary Buser left the system. Operating under the pressures she had, I was kind of surprised how long she stood it.

Lockdown on Rikers is littered with case examples from the women and men she helped……. for the main part - drug addicts, prostitutes, teenage delinquents, gang members and others with mental health issues. There’s a lot of misery and misfortune on show. Poor choices in abundance, made by some of the poorest, ill-educated members of society mostly black and Hispanics.

Mary encounters numerous instances of staff brutality and violence, which are exacerbated by having to turn a blind eye to them for fear of placing the victims at risk of further punishing treatment.

I think the saddest part of the book is the fact that I can’t especially claim to be outraged or surprised by how the system functioned. Is it right, fair or morally defensible, to lock people up – somewhat simplistically I know – for the crime of being poor, or ill? No. Has it changed in the past twenty years or so? I’m guessing not for the better.

I couldn’t really claim to have enjoyed the book. Enjoyed or entertained are probably the wrong words. I was informed and educated and more than once, thanked the fates that sees me living a life that promised greater opportunity than many of the folks encountered within these pages. A sense of gratitude also to those who dedicate themselves to a vocational life serving those less fortunate.

4 from 5

Mary Buser has a website here. 

My copy was provided by the publishers – St Martin’s Press.

    

JAY STRINGER - OLD GOLD (2012)

Synopsis/blurb…..

When gangland detective and former cop Eoin Miller wakes up to realize his almost-one-night stand has gone cold as a corpse in his bed, his gypsy heritage screams for him to do the easy thing and run. Having abandoned his morals, ambitions, and relationships for a life of alcohol, denial, and dirty work for local crime bosses, escape seems to be the only option left. But Eoin is surprised by a compulsion to root out his unknown enemies and fight for survival.

All too soon, he finds himself caught in the crossfire between nearly every faction in town: rival crime lords, drug dealers, politicians, cops - even his estranged wife has a card in play. His quest to uncover the truth - and prove his innocence - resurfaces deep pains, old scars, and shattered relationships that threaten to bury him under regret. That is, if the killer doesn't bury him first.

After a bit of a browse on the Kindle, tabbing through pages trying to remember what I had bought and forgotten about, Jay Stringer and his short stories Faithless Street jumped out at me. So I was reading the introduction to them, when Stringer suggests they might be better read in conjunction with the first Eoin Miller novel Old Gold. Well I’m not going to argue with the bloke am I? I read both together.

Faithless Street was on the blog last week – here.    

Miller is a gypsy, ex-cop who after a night out drinking and a successful pick-up, wakes with a hangover head which is just about to get worse. His companion from the night before is dead. After a panicky episode when he flees his house, he returns to deal with the situation, only to find the body has disappeared. Someone is obviously intent on messing with him. Flee or fight?

Miller chooses to fight.

Great setting, great main character with an interesting back story…… a gypsy heritage – not without baggage, an ex-cop and an ex-husband too, now dirtying his hands working as a fixer-finder-messenger for one of the local criminal gangs, though he tends to steer clear of the dirtier elements of the job. Well known around town, but with few friends and not much of a relationship with the policewomen ex-wife who’s intent on climbing the career ladder.  

During the course of our book as Miller struggles to unpick the fix he’s in, we encounter…… pubs, clubs, whiskey, strippers, hookers, drugs, cops, careers, ambition, heritage, family, Wolves, beatings, a missing student, alcoholism, criminal gangs, disappointment and betrayal.

It’s hard to define what I liked most about this one. Probably the characters and setting shaded it for me over the plot, but Stringer’s writing and pacing has an easy rhythm that keeps the pages ticking over. Just one more page, ok – I’ll finish the chapter, ok – just one more…….uh – boom! I’ve finished!

4.5 put of 5

Jay Stringer has his website here and is on Twitter @JayStringer 

His full list of books are as follows:

Eoin Miller

Faithless Street (2012)

Old Gold (2012)

Runaway Town (2013)

Lost City (2014)

Novels

Ways to Die in Glasgow (2015)

So 2 down and 3 to go!

Old Gold was bought a year or so ago.

2 BY JOHN BAKER

John Baker is a UK crime novelist with about 9 books under his belt, though I don’t believe there has been anything published by him since 2009 when Winged With Death appeared.

He has a PI series featuring Sam Turner which stretches to 6 books and 2 books in the Chinese Girl series.

The Times has said about him……. ”One of Britain’s most talented contemporary crime writers.”

I’ve read Poet in the Gutter a fair few years ago and wouldn’t disagree. Which begs the question, well why haven’t I read more by him?

The full list of his series books are as follows:

Sam Turner

1. Poet in the Gutter (1995)

2. Death Minus Zero (1996)

3. King of the Streets (1998)

4. Walking with Ghosts (1999)

5. Shooting in the Dark (2001)

6. The Meanest Flood (2003)

Chinese Girl

1. The Chinese Girl (2000)

2. White Skin Man (2004)

He has a website here. He also has a Twitter account which doesn't necessarily appear to be the most active - @johnbakeronline

Poet in the Gutter (1995)

Sam Turner has always had a romantic yearning to be Sam Spade. So he tells his men's group in York that he's a private eye - it's better than admitting he's an unemployed alcoholic. But then one of his friends asks for help in tracking an erring wife. So suddenly Sam is a P.I. And the next thing he knows, he's on the track of a serial killer - with the help of a street liver and an ex English teacher pensioner. . .

From memory it's not especially serial killer-esque, more about a man trying to find a purpose in life.

King of the Streets (1998)

John Baker's characters are his strongest point. However, his plot is every bit as well developed. P.I. Sam Turner has a full docket as he seeks a sadistic murderer and confronts the drug and gym trade in his beloved York. His delightful sidekick, Geordie, is his sweet self as they take on crooks who have connections in the very highest places. Cornelius Garrett does well with a wide range of accents, ages, and personalities; his best efforts are Sam and Geordie, who couldn't be more different but are further enhanced by Garrett's efforts. Although violent and graphic, the story is a believable portrait of modern life and crime. S.G.B. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART FIFTY-FIVE

More books than you can shake a stick at, another tub.......

Tub 55!

Ben Elton, Colin Cotterill, Mark Watson, Adam Hall, Pieke Biermann,

Quiller espionage series book!

German crime from the 90s!

Series set in Laos - not yet tried Cotterill.

Gil Scott-Heron, Geoffrey Homes, Peter Temple, Sjowall and Wahloo, Peter Wahloo on his own, 

Australian crime.

40s crime!

Richard Currey, Colin Cotterill, Abraham Rodriguez, David Benioff, Chris Bunch-Allan Cole,

Cormac McCarthy, Peter Temple, Richard Stark, Don Winslow, Mark McNay, 

Savages - also a film - I hope the book is better!

Parker 22!

Aussie Great Peter Temple!

Woody Haut, Colin Bateman, Rusty Young, Robert McLiam Wilson, Giampiero Rigosi, 

Italian crime!

Woody Haut crime fiction study!

Sports autobiography - Journeyman Footballer - I think he was a bit better than that actually.

Lex McAulay, John Gardner, Rowland Morgan, Martin Cruz Smith, Garry Nelson,

Rowland Morgan,

Gardner and Boysie Oakes!

MacDonald Lloyd, Herbert Lieberman, Stuart Pawson, Terry Pratchett-Neil Gaiman, Robert Leininger, 

Amazing cover! Great title!

Herbert Lieberman - 80s reading favourite of mine!

Don Winslow under a pseudonym!

Peter Robinson, George V. Higgins, Mike Ripley, John Harvey, Paul McGrath, 

Angel series book!

Alexander Baron, John Le Carre, William Kowalski, Davis Miller, J. R.Creech,

William Kowalski - been compared to John Irving!

From Goole books....

Eddie's Bastard spins the warm, endearing tale of William Amos Mann IV and of the inhabitants of his eponymous small upstate New York town, Mannville.

Related in flashback by the adult Billy, the story begins with him being deposited as an infant on the doorstep of his grandfather's home in a simple wicker basket with a plain two-word message pinned to his shawl reading 'Eddie's Bastard'. Eddie had been killed in Vietnam three months earlier - his father, Thomas Mann Jnr, had given up on life, having lost his only son and, he thought, his only heir. But now, suddenly, Thomas has a grandson and an heir - if not to the once-vast Mann fortune (for Thomas had recklessly squandered that in a foolhardy enterprise just after his heroic return from WWII), then at least to the long legacy of the Mann family stories, stretching back to the Civil War.

Eddie's Bastard is filled with episodes of madcap adventure and resonates with the power of lifelong friendship. By turns hilarious, thrilling and heart-breaking, here is a début that stays in the mind long after the reading is over.

George Smiley in action!

Alexander Baron  - London Crime!

Robert Ludlum/Gayle Lynds, Colin Bateman, Val McDermid, John Gardner, Marcus Sakey, 

Another Boysie Oakes!

HIGHLIGHTS..... Peter Temple, Don Winslow, John Gardner, Martin Cruz Smith, 

LOWLIGHTS....... nothing especially - an alright tub with not too many standouts, but on the face of it, nothing to be too upset about either

FULL LIST OF 50 AS FOLLOWS:

AUTHOR		TITLE	YEAR	SERIES
BARON	ALEXANDER	THE LOWLIFE	1963	LF1
BATEMAN	COLIN	ORPHEUS RISING	2008
BATEMAN	COLIN	TITANIC 2020	2007	T1
BENIOFF	DAVID	CITY OF THIEVES	2008
BIERMANN	PIEKE	VIOLETTA	1990
BUNCH/COLE	CHRIS/ALLAN	A RECKONING FOR KINGS	1987
COTTERILL	COLIN	ANARCHY AND OLD DOGS	2007	DSP4
COTTERILL	COLIN	DISCO FOR THE DEPARTED	2006	DSP3
CREECH	J. R.	MUSIC AND CRIME	1989
CRUZ SMITH	MARTIN	NIGHTWING	1977
CURREY	RICHARD	FATAL LIGHT	1988
ELTON	BEN	BLAST FROM THE PAST	1998
GARDNER	JOHN	A KILLER FOR A SONG	1975	BO8
GARDNER	JOHN	THE AIRLINE PIRATES	1970	BO6
HALL	ADAM	THE SCORPION SIGNAL	1980	Q9
HARVEY	JOHN	STILL WATER	1996	R9
HAUT	WOODY	NEON NOIR	1999
HIGGINS	GEORGE V.	VICTORIES	1990
HOMES	GEOFFREY	BUILD MY GALLOWS HIGH	1946
KOWALSKI	WILLIAM	EDDIE'S BASTARD	1999
LE CARRE	JOHN	TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY	1974	S5
LEININGER	ROBERT	KILLING SUKI FLOOD	1991
LIEBERMAN	HERBERT	NIGHTBLOOM	1984
LLOYD	MACDONALD	A WINTER SPY	1996
LUDLUM/LYNDS	ROBERT/GAYLE	THE ALTMAN CODE	2003	C1-4
McAULAY	LEX	THE BATTLE OF LONG TAN	1987
McCARTHY	CORMAC	SUTTREE	1979
McDERMID	VAL	CRACK DOWN	1994	KB3
McGRATH	PAUL	BACK FROM THE BRINK	2006
McLIAM WILSON	ROBERT	RIPLEY BOGLE	1989
McNAY	MARK	UNDER CONTROL	2008
MILLER	DAVIS	THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI	1996
MORGAN	ROWLAND	LOW MEAN MEN	1992
NELSON	GARRY	LEFT FOOD FORWARD	1995
PAWSON	STUART	LAUGHING BOY	2002	CP8
PRATCHETT/GAIMAN	TERRY/NEIL	GOOD OMENS	1990
RIGOSI	GIAMPIERO	NIGHT BUS	2006
RIPLEY	MIKE	ANGEL TOUCH	1989	FMA2
ROBINSON	PETER	THE SUMMER THAT NEVER WAS	2003	IB13
RODRIGUEZ	ABRAHAM	SPIDERTOWN	1993
SAKEY	MARCUS	NO TURNING BACK	2009
SCOTT-HERON	GIL	THE VULTURE	1970
SJOWALL/WAHLOO	MAJ/PER	THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN	1968	MB4
STARK	RICHARD	NOBODY RUNS FOREVER	2004	P22
TEMPLE	PETER	DEAD POINT	2000	JI3
TEMPLE	PETER	SHOOTING STAR	1999
WAHLOO	PETER	THE LORRY	1962
WATSON	MARK	BULLET POINTS	2004
WINSLOW	DON	SAVAGES	2010	S2
YOUNG	RUSTY	MARCHING POWDER	2003

VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE SILVER (1960-1989) - COMPLETED

VINTAGE MYSTERY CHALLENGE SILVER – (1960–1989)

In theory the Silver Challenge should have proved easier for me to complete than the Gold one because I do like books from the 70s and 80s. Again lethargy ruled and I’m just a bit tardy in staying up to date on certain blog things – hardly a capital offence.

Bill Pronzini – Hoodwink (1981) (4/5) read August 2015

Mark Smith – The Death of the Detective (1973) (4/5) read June 2015

Brian Freemantle – Charlie M (1977) (5/5) read September 2014

Jim Thompson – Ironside (1967) (4/5) read March 2015

Agatha Christie – Miss Marple’s FinalCases (1980) (3/5) read February 2014

Michael Avallone – Shock Corridor (1963) (3/5) read July 2014

Looking back - best book by a mile - Brian Freemantle's Charlie M. No decent excuses for not having read more in the series bearing in mind it's about 14 months since I enjoyed this one.

Second best - Mark Smith's infuriating, frustrating but brilliant The Death of the Detective  - a challenge in itself reading this one!

Others - Jim Thompson's Ironside was fun, Bill Pronzini's Hoodwink was another enjoyable Nameless mystery.

Christie's truncated Marple short stories and Avallone's novelisation of a movie - Shock Corridor ...... well I've read worse, I've read better.