Crime Fiction Dossier

Book of the Week: Edna Buchanan's "Legally Dead"

The subject of Edna Buchanan came up in conversation with a friend recently and we both stated our belief that we thought she was deceased. I'm not sure why we thought that, but the good news is that Ms. Buchanan is not only alive and well, she's got a new book out and it's very entertaining. Legally Dead is about a cashiered U.S. Marshall from the WITSEC program who uses the techniques he's learned to help people disappear. As the plot unfolds, it gradually veers off into increasingly improbable territory, but there’s no doubt that the journey is a fast and fun one. Legally Dead is an excellent start to a promising new series.

Book of the Week: John Scalzi's "Zoe's Tale"

John Scalzi returns to the world he first introduced in the excellent Old Man's War with Zoe's Tale, a science fiction adventure that tells the story of teenage Zoe and her experiences as a colonist on a distant planet. Zoe faces the usual teenage issues -- boys, making friends, clueless parents -- along with some unique ones, like being an idol to an entire species and living with the constant threat of annihilation. Scalzi does a nice job of capturing the sarcastic, witty voice of the wise-beyond-her-years Zoe. (The characters are the best part of the book.) Zoe's Tale is an imaginative, touching story that makes a nice introduction to Scalzi's work.

Book of the Week: Ellen Crosby's "The Bordeaux Betrayal"

The delightfully named Lucie Montgomery returns for her third oenophilic mystery in Ellen Crosby's The Bordeaux Betrayal. Montgomery is hosting a charity auction featuring a rare and valuable bottle of wine that Thomas Jefferson supposedly bought for George Washington. When a wine expert casts doubt on the bottle's authenticity, Montgomery uncorks a hotbed of mystery, murder and deceit in Virginia's wine country. As is the case with a lot of traditional mysteries, the plot of The Bordeaux Betrayal is somewhat improbable, but it's the author's deft use of the story's small-town setting and the charms of its heroine that make it a winner.

Book of the Week: Lisa Gardner's "Say Goodbye"

Lisa Gardner returns with another entertaining thriller featuring Kimberly Quincy, a special agent with the FBI and one of the author’s most likable characters. Say Goodbye is a haunting story that might challenge readers with its dark subject matter, but pays off in its fine execution. Quincy investigates the case of a murdered prostitute, which leads her onto the trail of a serial killer who preys on children. Gardner has consistently delivered in recent years, but she’s gone one better with Say Goodbye.

Book of the Week: George Pelecanos' "The Turnaround"

George Pelecanos, one of the finest living writers, returns with The Turnaround, yet another outstanding piece of literature from the dark poet of DC. In a broad sense this is a crime novel, but more importantly it's a story that tackles important themes like the relationship between fathers and sons and the question of what it means to be a man. A crime decades past unites a group of men in the present, bonding them together against their will. The Turnaround is not the masterpiece that some of Pelecanos' work is, but it's still a powerful, resonant story, and it makes a fine introduction to his work for those readers who haven't yet had the pleasure.

Book of the Week: Daniel Silva's "Moscow Rules"

Daniel Silva extends his run of top-notch thrillers with the latest book in the Gabriel Allon series. Allon is an Israeli covert agent and assassin who moonlights as an art restorer. This dichotomy between killer and artist makes Allon a deep, rich and utterly conflicted character, a man who desperately wants to be left alone, but can never turn his back on the country he loves. In Moscow Rules, Allon heads to Russia in an attempt to track down the details of a pending arms sales that threatens the safety of Israel and the Western world. A former journalist, Silva never pulls his punches, whether the topic is Saudi support of terrorism or the dismal state of affairs in moden Russia. His books are tense, exciting affairs, given added significance by their treatment of real events. Silva is hands-down one of the best thriller writers working today.

Book of the Week: Brent Ghelfi's "Volk's Shadow"

This sequel to Ghelfi's outstanding debut (last year's Volk's Game) is another high-stakes adventure set in the dark underworld of crime and corruption that plagues modern Russia. Col. Alexei Volkovoy, an ex-Special Forces soldier and one-man wrecking crew, is tasked to recover a missing Fabergé egg. His search puts him up against the Russian mob, Chechen guerrillas and powerful apparatchiks in the Kremlin, but none of them are a match for Ghelfi's cunning anti-hero. Volkovoy is not an especially likable man -- he's violent, suspicious and irretrievably damaged -- but he's a fascinating one to read about. Volk's Shadow doesn't move with the lightning pacing of the first book -- in most parts it's more mystery than thriller -- but even so Ghelfi delivers the goods.

Bonus Book of the Week: Robert Crais' "Chasing Darkness"

Since I did a science fiction book earlier this week, I wanted to give you a crime novel recommendation as well. One of the most entertaining books I've read recently is Chasing Darkness. I've been a fan of the Elvis Cole series from the beginning and Crais' latest reminds readers of why his books are so popular. Chasing Darkness is old-school Crais. It doesn't have the emotional gravitas of the last few books in the series -- but it also doesn't have the smirkiness that sometimes undermined the first few books. It's just a very solid, well-crafted and suspenseful detective story, with a great lead (Elvis Cole), fine supporting cast and several very juicy, but well-earned, twists. Chasing Darkness is the product of a fine writer using his tools to produce a detective novel that any crime reader will enjoy.

Book of the Week: Charles Stross' "Saturn's Children"

Charles Stross channels Robert Heinlein with a science fiction adventure filled with robots, spaceships and a lot of unusual sex. In the 23rd century, all of the humans are gone, leaving Freya Nakamichi 47, a robot designed to please humans, with no purpose in life. Instead she gets involved in a series of high-stakes missions that take her from planet to planet, facing constant danger and a host of very strange enemies. Much like the space travel that features prominently in the plot, Saturn's Children takes a while to get where it's going, but it's always an interesting experience -- and a journey worth taking.

Book of the Week: Victor Gischler's "Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse"

Best known for writing hard-boiled, darkly-comic crime novels, Victor Gischler now turns his hand to hard-boiled, darkly-comic science fiction with the fast, funny and action-packed Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse. Go-Go Girls takes place nine years after the end of the world when Mortimer Tate emerges from the cave he's been hiding in for the past decade to see what's left of society. What he finds is a world dominated by chaos, barbarism -- and a chain of strip clubs known as Joey Armageddon's Sassy-A-Go-Go. Mortimer hooks up with the Joey Armageddon crowd and winds up going to war to help them defend truth, justice and the American way. Or something like that. Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse is sometimes serious, sometimes funny and always good fun.