Congratulations, James Mullaney

I've been a fan of Jim's writing every since he took over ghosting The Destroyer series.  After twenty six Destroyers, and contributions to The Assassins Handbook 2, Jim began writing and self publishing not one but two series: The Red Menace and The Crag Banyon Mysteries.

The Private Eye Writers of America have just announced the nominees for their 2013 Shamus Awards and Jim's second Banyon, Devil May Care, has been nominated in the Best Indie P.I. Novel category.  It's an honor just to be nominated (but here's hoping Jim wins).

Reading

Got these from the page 25 Signs You're Addicted to Books. 

"Crag Banyon is a two-fisted P.I. with a heart of gold and a liver of stainless steel."

Available now:

James Mullaney's latest book,  The Red Menace #4: A Red Letter Day is now on Smashwords. Which means it's available for download for Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps.  And it's on Kindle also.

A Red Letter Day (the Red Menace #4)

James Mullaney's latest Red Menace book, A Red Letter Day, is now available on Kindle and will be at Smashwords and other venues shortly.

The first ten Destroyer novels have been reissued in paperback.

Buy Created, the Destroyer at Amazon

Royal Flush (the Crag Banyon Mysteries #3)

Available on Amazon Kindle

Recent Destroyer books

Available now on Amazon and Nook

Available now on Amazon and Nook

Available now on Amazon and Nook

Available now on Amazon and Nook

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

In 1886, Lady Julia Grey's husband dies suddenly of heart disease which runs in his family. His cousin, Simon, is similarly afflicted and not expected to live much longer either. Lady Julia quickly settles into the life of a widow, but then she receives a visit from Nicholas Brisbane, a private detective who tells her that her husband Edward had been getting threatening notes and had hired him shortly before his death to look into the matter. He hints that her husband's death may not have been natural, prompting Julia to begin an investigation that uncovers things about her husband and her life that make her realize she never really knew him -- and herself -- at all.

When I picked it up, I was a little leery of beginning a 500+ page book by a first time author, but Ms. Raybourn's writing style is clear and flows well. Her main characters are interesting and well fleshed-out and she fills her story with secondary characters who are strong enough to be main characters in their own books. I loved how Julia moves from wanting a conventional life, in contrast to her wildly eccentric family, to becoming a little more her own person. And I like how Ms. Raybourn does it without making Julia a true eccentric -- just a mite more unconventional than she envisioned herself wanting to be at the beginning of the book. I'll be interested in how her budding romance with the moody, secretive Mr. Brisbane develops.

It's a great start to a great series, and I'm looking forward to the next one.

The Black Sun by James Twining

Tom Kirk an ex-CIA agent and art thief who, in this sequel to The Double Eagle, has gone into the legitimate antique business. When a series of bizarre robberies and murders that point to the Kristall Blade, a group of neo-Nazi extremists, the British Secret Service (MI6) tries to recruit him. But he isn't interested until he learns his old enemy, Harry Renwick, is involved.

I'm so-so about this book. On the one hand, it is an interesting topic: the search for a treasure that was hidden by a group of Nazis at the close of WWII. But the main characters really didn't hold my interest. Tom spent too much time agonizing over the past; his business partner wasn't that well-fleshed out; and Dominique, Tom's possible love interest (if he ever allows himself to get close to her) even less so. She's beautiful, poised, and intelligent, but there's nothing that makes her memorable.

There's one character who comes in toward the end: Viktor -- the Russian crime boss -- who makes the last third of the story come to life. She (yes, Viktor's a she) has an interesting background and made me care about her. Which made it harder when Twining used her for cliche fodder.

The book kept the action moving briskly, but not so briskly that I didn't wonder how they seemed to solve mysteries that people had been looking into for sixty years so quickly. Also, about halfway through Tom realizes that Renwick's following him, letting Tom solve the riddles for him. And yet, Tom doesn't take any more precautions once he knows this, just keeps trying to pinpoint the location of the treasure.

Not a bad book, but I don't recommend it.

A Christmas Secret by Anne Perry

Dominic Corde and his wife Clarice are elated when he becomes the temporary vicar of the small village of Cottisham while Reverend Wynter is away on vacation. Everything seems perfect at first. It's a beautiful rural area with warm and welcoming villagers. The couple even entertain hopes that the situation might become permanent. But then Clarice discovers that Reverend Wynter isn't on holiday; something more sinister has transpired.

This is the fourth in Anne Perry's Christmas-themed mysteries, which feature minor characters from her other series. My only problem was, with this one, remembering who Dominic Corde was (he's Charlotte Pitt's former brother-in-law, widowed when her eldest sister is murdered in The Cater Street Hangman -- the first Pitt mystery). He did turn up in another of the series, but it's been almost ten years and it took me awhile to get enough info from this book to remember him.

Not an overly complicated plot, since these Christmas mysteries are more novelettes, but not overly thin either. She manages to give readers several strong suspects and a plausible reason for the murder. Anne Perry has a way with characters. Even her minor ones are fully realized, interesting, and sympathetic people.

Perhaps this won't be as enjoyable to those who have not read the main series first. On the other hand, it serves as a good introduction to her style and, at 208 pages, is a quick and entertaining read.

Critique of Criminal Reason, by Michael Gregorio

An historical mystery set in 1804 Prussia. The main character, Magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis, is called from his small town to Konigsburg to investigate four seemingly random murders. The only connection is that the victims are all found kneeling with no visible injury. The public, already nervous about the possible invasion of Napoleon, is thrown into a panic, attributing demonic powers to the killer.

Hanno discovers he has been recommended by his mentor, the philosopher Immanuel Kant, who had encouraged him to study law as a way to atone for the guilt he feels over his brother's death. He must unmask a serial killer before anyone knew that such a criminal existed.

He is helped by Kant, who in this book uses his philosophical tenets to invent what would become forensic analysis of crime scenes and the psychology of the killer. Elderly and frail, he gives Hanno nudges in the right direction, though Hanno is inclined to trust the usual methods of brutality and torture at first.

Gregorio does a good job of invoking the atmosphere of early 19th century Prussia, from the damp cold to the casual cruelty -- from the filthy table and blood encrusted knives of a bewitching abortionist to the filthy beds and blood encrusted apron of the barrack surgeon. Hanno wavers from believing the killings to be the work of pro-Bonapartists trying to foment chaos and fear to wondering if it might be witchcraft. He gradually begins to see the merit in Kant's methods.

The book is worth reading, for the atmosphere first, and for the mystery which kept me guessing until close to the end of the book. There are a few surprising revelations which I won't hint about here.