Tell No Lies – Gregg Hurwitz – “Simply Brilliant”? – It’s True!

By ekkarn July 16, 2014 January 10, 2026 Branches Books

So in keeping with the thought that one should write short I will give you my review of Gregg Hurwitz’s book Tell No Lies using the words of Anne Rice……“Simply Brilliant!”

So check it out of the library, buy it on Kindle, now you can by it in paperback just get you hands on it and see if you like me yell at Daniel Brasher – “Don’t do it – Wait for the police!! But you see Daniel is the kind of guy that will not do that – he has to go for it, never, is he half in, never does he sit back and rest, he needs to be out there doing. He could just be sitting back and living the life of luxury like his filthy rich mother, but no he gave that life up and became a counselor to violent criminals, a position that he is about to leave to move into private practice.

Until a letter appears accidentally appears in his work mailbox, threatening the lives of two people, telling them if they don’t “admit what they have done they will bleed for it” After Daniel reads that the first victim has been brutally slain, and the clock is winding down to the deadline for the second victim, who lives only blocks away from Daniel’ to admit what she has done, Daniel takes off to save her life! And you the reader know – this is not going to end well! True to form it doesn’t and soon…… there are more threats, including one directed at Daniel. So many questions, so little time…… could it really be one of his patients?? how are these seemingly random victims related? what are they to admit to, and does it all connect to Daniel?? All questions Daniel has to answer before his time is up!!

So now that I’ve used too many words to tell you about the book, I may as well give you the whole Anne Rice quote….

“Simply brilliant. Tell No Lies is infinitely more than a thriller, yet thrilling to the last page. Psychologically rich and often beautiful…A true page turner in which every phrase, every character, every little incident counts. Stylish, elegant, and absolutely riveting! An unforgettable read.” –Anne Rice, author of THE WOLVES OF MIDWINTER and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE.

Yep, it is that good, it was one of those books that I didn’t want to put down. The characters are great, the plot is terrific and the book works on several levels. The themes that the book addresses are real! I don’t really want to say what they are because they deal with the whole storyline!

I read my first Gregg Hurwitz book in 2004 The Kill Clause the first Tim Rackley book. I read the second Rackley book The Program and then three of Gregg’s stand-alones. It seems I read one about every three years. It also seems that has to change!! (Memo to self – get on the stick – take that Trust No One off of your to be read shelf, and get reading!!) So go grab a Hurwitz novel and get cracking and if you don’t like regular novels try Graphic Novels, he writes those to including Batman:The Dark Knight. Bye, I’m off to Trust No One…..

Book 15 of 2014

Book 14 of 2014 – Crissa Stone # 2 – Kings of Midnight by Wallace Stroby

By ekkarn July 11, 2014 July 11, 2014 Books-Fiction

So yes, as listed under Currently Reading on my webpage, I am still reading Subversives! I am now more than 65% of the way through the book, Reagan just became governor of California, so the battles rages more fiercely! But while reading that, I am still reading mysteries, and just finished Book 14 for 2014, Kings of Midnight from Wallace Stroby.

Kings of Midnight is the second book in the Crissa Stone series, and in it , Crissa, the criminal you root for, is battling to recover, some of the millions, that now dead mob boss Joey Dios hid from a robbery thirty-five years ago!! Crissa needs the money after the profits of her latest heist, were lessened by a crook that was trying to launder the money for her. Crissa needs to get back some of that money and maybe make one big score to help her boyfriend get out of prison, and to get her daughter back. So Crissa, is all ears when Jimmy Peaches sets her up with Benny Roth, a lower level member of Joey’s crew, who just may know where Joey hid the money. Only problem is that other mobsters are on the trail of the money too!

The book’s plot seemed rather simplistic, but Stroby’s writing style, and the characters he creates keep the action moving, and the pages turning right up until the last page of the book. Crissa is a character, that while a criminal, you still can root for her to come out on top, and this time , well actually like the last, she’s up against some pretty tough mobsters! So it was a quick fun read, and I’m looking forward to moving onto the next caper!!

Here’s what others say about Stroby’s books….

“Just when you think that you can’t be surprised anymore, a writer like Wallace Stroby ups the ante” – Laura Lippman

“Another fast, taut, winner from Stroby. As for Crissa, she may be crime fiction’s best bad girl ever” – Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Cold Shot to the Heart.

So check out the Crissa Stone series!

2014 Reads – How to Write Short has an impact on reading Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone!

By ekkarn June 19, 2014 October 22, 2025 Branches Books

Last night with music from the Hank Mobley Quintet playing in the background, I finished Daniel Woodrell’s great novel Winter’s Bone. While the book is not classified as a mystery, the plot of the novel centers around a big one. Where’s Jessup? Jessup is the meth cooking father of the book’s central character, 16 year-old, Ree Dolly. Ree has a big problem, if her Pa doesn’t appear for a court date, Ree and her two brother’s, and Ma could lose their family home, which Jessup posted as collateral to make his bail. So Ree sets out, braving the bitter Ozark winter, searching the hills for her father. But many of the tight-lipped inter-related folks, who live in the hills, live on the wrong side of the law, and would rather fight than give up their secrets. But Ree needs to push on, for her home and the ones who are in her care, but will she be able to live with the answer??

Now I could go on and on about the wonderfully drawn-out characters in the book, from Uncle Teardrop to Ree’s Mom, and the various themes, but I want to focus on another aspect of the book and that is Woodrell’s prose.

I started reading Winter’s Bone (Book 12 of 2014)the day after I had finished Roy Peter Clark’s book How to Write Short: Word Craft for Fast Times.(Book 11) Clark’s book focuses on the need to write short in today’s fast paced world, of Twitter, Facebook and the rest of social media. The book is filled with examples of short writing including; tattoos, advertising slogans, epitaphs and Tweets! The first Chapter is Collect Short Writing, which I had no problem doing while reading Winter’s Bone. Throughout the book, I marveled at how Woodrell packed so much punch, in so few words! My awe started with the book’s opening sentence….

Ree Dolly stood at the break of dawn on her cold front steps and smelled the coming flurries and saw meat.

So what did that sentence tell me. First, it’s morning, it’s cold, it’s going to snow and I’m somewhere meat hangs on trees, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas any more!!

Several of the examples of writing short that I noticed opened chapters….

She became ice as she walked.

The needed skill was silence.

Hillsides knit with ice came apart.

Then there were longer sentences that just blew me away….

A picnic of woods fell from Gail’s mouth to be gathered around and savored slowly

Ree waited kneeling for several minutes, kneeling as raised hopes fell to modest hopes,slight hopes, vague hopes, kneeling until any hope at all withered to none at all between her pressing hands.

I guess the question is would I have noticed these short gems, had not just read How to Write Short. probably not, so thank you Mr Clark!!

Summarizing, great book, full of unforgettable characters, and fine writing, read it!! If you do read, it be on the lookout for those powerful short sentences

NYPD Puzzle by Parnell Hall -(Puzzle Lady #15)

By ekkarn June 17, 2014 February 20, 2026 Books-Fiction, Roots Books

NYPD Puzzle by Parnell Hall – (Puzzle Lady #15)

Through the years, one of my favorite mystery series has been Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hastings books. Looking at my Goodreads shelf, I see there are 18 in the series — and I’ve read all but one! (Note to self: finally read Caper — I could have sworn I had??) That’s not the case with Hall’s Puzzle Lady series. There are 15 entries, and I’ve only read three (#1, #8, and #15). The most recent for me was NYPD Puzzle, which also became book #11 on my 2014 reads list.

Why Fewer Puzzle Lady Reads?

I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s because I felt a little resentful that Parnell seemed to forget Stanley and preferred the Puzzle Lady, Cora Felton. Between 1987 and 1998, Hall wrote 13 Stanley Hastings mysteries. Then, starting in 1999, the Puzzle Lady books appeared annually throughout the 2000s, while there were sometimes four-year gaps between Hastings novels. Probably the Puzzle Lady was just more popular — and more profitable. (It’s the same reason Linwood Barclay abandoned Zack Walker in favor of standalones, which I grudgingly admit turned out better. But what do I know…)

The Mystery

NYPD Puzzle is a quick, fun cozy mystery. Attorney Becky Baldwin hires Cora to accompany her to New York to meet a new client. When they arrive, they find the man dead with a crossword puzzle on his chest. Cora hears the killer in the next room, barges in, shoots, misses, and watches the suspect escape out a penthouse window — leaving her standing with a smoking gun. Is it the murder weapon? The police can’t prove otherwise — the bullet is too badly damaged to rule it out. Suddenly, Cora’s a prime suspect.

Cora, along with NYC Sergeant Crowley and others, sets out to clear her name. The killer plays cat and mouse, leaving crossword puzzles and even some Sudoku (created by Will Shortz!) between New York City and Bakerhaven. Another body drops — the Bakerhaven Town Clerk, with whom Cora just happened to argue. The twists and turns pile up as Cora fights to prove her innocence and unmask the murderer.

What I Enjoy

Cora Felton is a fun character, always ready with a wisecrack. Hall’s humor shines through her dialogue, and the supporting cast — Sergeant Crowley and Chief Harper of Bakerhaven — provide plenty of friction and comic relief as they bicker over protecting Cora. She isn’t worried, though. After all, she has her guns… but will that be enough?

Bottom Line

NYPD Puzzle captures exactly what makes the Puzzle Lady books fun: witty dialogue, cozy mystery pacing, and playful puzzle tie-ins. It’s not as dear to me as the Stanley Hastings series, but it’s still a lighthearted, entertaining read that fans of humorous mysteries will enjoy.

← Back to Parnell Hall Author Page

Stone Cold – C J Box -Nate’s Out for Blood!

By ekkarn June 10, 2014 April 5, 2026 Books-Fiction

C.J. Box — Stone Cold (Joe Pickett #14)

Some writers take pages to hook you. In the latest Joe Pickett novel, C.J. Box does it in the first paragraph: Nate Romanowski shoves a drift boat into the Bighorn River and heads downstream toward the mansion of the man he intends to kill.

If this is your first Pickett, you’ll admire the crisp, descriptive prose. But if you’ve read a few (in my case, all but one of the first fourteen), you have the same “uh-oh” reaction I did: “Nate is going to murder someone.” That’s not going to end well.

Nate is Joe’s shadowy friend—he shows up when Joe needs him most—but he’s also on the run from the feds. Is that why he’s rowing toward a kill?

The Joe Pickett Connection

Meanwhile, Game Warden Joe Pickett gets a special assignment from Governor Rulon: look into billionaire Wolfgang Templeton, who’s buying up Medicine Wheel County and may be running a murder-for-hire ring for the ultra-wealthy. Joe is told to observe, not get involved (sure, Jan). It turns personal when a grainy video from a victim’s home seems to show… Nate.

On the home front, Joe’s daughter Sheridan, an RA at the University of Wyoming, calls about a resident: a mysterious guy in a long black coat who spends all night on violent, shoot-’em-up video games.

So Joe heads to Sand Creek Ranch, with Templeton on one side of the board, Nate on the other, and Sheridan giving him one more reason to worry.

The action is fast and the pages fly, as they do in the best Pickett novels. The characters keep evolving (fourteen books in), and Joe’s moral compass still points true. Nate’s? Not so much.

Should you read it?

Hook: Cold-open with Nate on a kill mission.
Plot engine: Billionaire land grab + possible contract killings.
Series payoff: Joe/Nate relationship tension turned up to 11.

Tip: New to the series? Read a few earlier books first so you can fully appreciate the Joe and Nate dynamic.

Series Links

Author’s Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Goodreads:Joe Pickett Series

About C.J.Box

Charles James Box Jr. is an American author of more than thirty novels. Box is the author of the Joe Pickett series, as well as several standalone novels, and a collection of short stories.

Visit C.J.Box page

If you like the family and character connections in this series…

Book No. 8 of 2014 – Wallace Stroby’s Cold Shot to the Heart (Crissa Stone #1)

By ekkarn May 27, 2014 May 27, 2014 Books-Fiction

Oh Boy! I finally read a book quickly and increased this years book’s read total all the way to eight!! (He says with a sarcastic sneer on his face and tone in his voice). The book was Cold Shot to the Heart and is book #1 in the Crissa Stone series from Long Branch, New Jersey native Wallace Stroby. They always say that you should write about what you know and what would a former writer for the Newark Star-Ledger know better mob related crime! (typed with Jon Stewart’s mob voice ringing in my ears!)

See Crissa is not a PI or a cop rather she is a career criminal. When the reader meets Crissa, she and her crew are robbing a store whose sign reads – CHECK CASHING MONEY TRANSFERS PAY DAY LOANS, a fine upstanding facility doubt! The job went well but the take was not what her team expected. When she comes home to New York City, she learns that her lover and partner Wayne, who is three years into a seven-year sentence is coming up for parole He may gain his parole, if Crissa can get 250 grand in the hands of Texan, who may be able to grease the wheels enough, to make it happen.

So when Crissa is asked to join a three-man crew to boost an illegal poker game in Miami, that may have a million dollars on the table, it seems like a no-brainer. And up until Crissa money in hand, hears gunshots coming from the room that she just left it was and then, all hell breaks loose in the form of Eddie the Saint, a hit-man recently released from prison, who is soon on the trail of the money. Bodies start to pile up and Crissa is in for the fight of her life!!

This was a quick read, with some well-developed characters, i.e. Crissa, and plenty of action to keep the pages turning. When I finished the book I was ready for book two Kings of Midnight. So check it out!

Links

Wallace Stroby at: Goodreads
Amazon

The Best Mystery Authors – Part One – The Ranker List – What Do You Think??

By ekkarn May 22, 2014 May 22, 2014 Books-Fiction

Ok so I have visited the Ranker site before, but today and yesterday, I spent some time on the site looking at various list that would pertain to this blog. The following list is one of them. I am in total agreement that Agatha Christie is the greatest mystery writer of all time, but many of the writers that I have read over the years are not even on the list!! and if they are they are well below where they would be on my personal list of the best mystery writers of all time. So I will break this post down into two posts, this is the first, duh! and in it I am presenting the Ranker listing and would ask for your thoughts or comments! The second list will be the Me, Myself and Mysteries list. But you will have to wait until after my 6 and 1/2 hour break! So for now the question is What Do You Think??? No James Lee Burke??

[rnkrwp id=”1007481″ format=”grid” url=”http://www.ranker.com/list/best-mystery-authors/ranker-books?format=GRID&action=tab&type=embed” name=”The Best Mystery Authors”]

Where the Characters in My Favorite Mystery Series Live and Work!!

By ekkarn May 14, 2014 May 14, 2014 Books-Fiction

Next Read?

This year so far has been a slow year for reading. I have spent much more time over the last several months listening to music than reading. I think that I will make it a goal to read at least two books, that are part of a series that I read, per month for the rest of the year. Maybe one can be new one from a series that I am current with, and the other an older book in a series that I am trying t catch up on!

One of the aspects of reading all the mystery series that I do are the places that I get to roam, if only through the pictures painted in my mind by the words of these great writers. The major series that I read along with the main character, the main setting for the series and the author of the series are listed on the table below this post. I cover both coast, the central part of the US and five countries!! So which one should I start with… oh no! looks like I left out Kathleen Mallory of New York created by author Carol O’Connell maybe that means I should start, or should I say resume that series. Double oh, no …. Greg Isles’ Penn Cage novels set in Mississippi…. and Greg has a new one out…. and I need to read The Devil’s Punchbowl ... decisions, decisions!! Oh, well let’s go for a run and think about it!!

Character

Location

Author

Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn	Arizona/New Mexico	Tony Hillerman
Elvis Cole	California	Robert Crais
Nameless Detective	California	Bill Pronzini
Joe O’Laughlin	England	Michael Robotham
Jake Lassiter	Florida	Paul Levine
Will Trent	Georgia	Karin Slaughter
Detective Erlendur	Iceland	Arnaldur Indriðason
Dave Robicheaux	Louisiana	James Lee Burke
Stoney Calhoun	Maine	William G Tapply
Tess Monaghan	Maryland	Laura Lippman
Brady Coyne	Mass	William Tapply
Kenzie &Gennaro	Mass.	Dennis Lahane
Jane Rizzoli	Massachusetts	Tess Gerritsen
Alex McKnight	Michigan	Steve Hamilton
Amos Walker	Michigan	Loren Estleman
Cork O’Connor	Minnesota	William Kent Krueger
Myron Bolitar	New York-New Jersey	Harlan Coben
Stephanie Plum	NJ	Janet Evanovich
Inspector Sejer	Norway	Karin Fossum
Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov	Russia	Stuart Kaminsky
Bill Brockton	Tennessee	Jefferson Bass
Hackberry Holland	Texas	James Lee Burke
Maggie O’Dell	Washington DC	Alex Kava
Joe Pickett	Wyoming	C.J. Box

Book 7 of 2014 – Light of the World – James Lee Burke

By ekkarn May 1, 2014 May 1, 2014 Books-Fiction

I read the first of James Lee Burke’s twenty novels featuring Dave Robicheaux The Neon Rain in July of 1990. I loved it and I have read almost every books since. I actually finished reading the latest book Light of the World back on the 14th of April, but I am just getting around to writing about it now and for most of those 16 days I’ve asked myself why am I avoiding writing about the book. The truth of the matter is that I really don’t know why except that I just thought that there was just something amiss with the book. It certainly wasn’t the descriptive writing that Burke is so well-known for, because that was still there, although this time he was describing Montana and not the Louisiana bayou. And it wasn’t that Dave and Clete Purcel were not battling some really bad villans because the main one serial killer Asa Surrette was a bad as they come and many of the other characters on both sides of the law were pretty evil, too. So what was it?? I know that at 502 pages this book is the longest of the series, and it took me a long time to get through it. Actually, it took much longer for me to get through the first half of the book than the second. Generally I think that Burke may have tried to force things a little too much, for me it seemed that there were too many bad guys, none on the level of Asa but a couple them, including one police officer came pretty close and the rich folks that Dave and Clete always run up against were no sweethearts either!

The story starts with Dave’s family wife Molly, and daughter Alafair on vacation with Clete in Montana. They are joined in this adventure by Clete’s newly discovered daughter Gretchen Horowitiz a former Mafia hitman turned movie maker who is on a busman’s holiday as she is visiting Montana to work on a documentary concerning the environmental damage wrought by the oil and gas industry. When they first arrive Alafair has an arrow fly past her and the question raised is who tried to kill her, She is convinced that it the shooter was Asa Surrette As Dave and Clete and the gang set out to discover who did fire they arrow/ They meet up with an ex-con and Rodeo rider Wyatt Dixon. Wyatt’s new talent is that he can talk in tongues. Both Dave Wyatt believe that the shooter was Asa Surrette who is out to even the score with Alafair for what she wrote about Asa that got him sentenced to prison. Dave and Wyatt are also convinced that Asa is well beyond a normal being and is rather the true personification of evil. In addition to this the police are also investigating the murder of the adopted Indian daughter of Caspian Young son of oil baron Love Young(these are the rich people Dave and Clete are bumping heads with), a crime the Police think Wyatt committed. Are you lost yet, see why Burke needed 502 pages… because in addition to these story lines there is also one or two involving Gretchen!! And then Asa uses the name of a Roman Emperor, and the wife, of Caspian, becomes a gladiator ready to sacrifice her life….too much yet? I don’t think I understand all the undercurrents….

Ok so the bottom line did I enjoy the book, yes Would I recommend it, yes, but I think you should read several of the other books first Finally, before I wrote this post I read this book review in The Houston Chronicle Review: James Lee Burke faces dilemma in “Light of the World” in the review Mike Snyder writes:

…But Burke has a problem: His signature character, Robicheaux, is about played out.

It’s hard to provide new insights about a guy whose life Burke’s dedicated readers have been following so devotedly since the first book in the series, “The Neon Rain,” was published in 1987. Those who have read all or most of the Robicheaux books — surely a substantial portion of Burke’s readers — might be tempted to skip the pages with the familiar back story. They already know about the death of Robicheaux’s father in an offshore-oil-rig accident. They know about the years when Robicheaux bonded with sidekick Clete Purcel in the jungles of Vietnam and later on the streets of New Orleans, where the two police officers were known as “the Bobbsey Twins from Homicide.” They know about his alcoholism and recovery.

and summarizes …..

Burke’s writing gifts haven’t dimmed, but the character who defines his career has lost his luster. It’s quite a dilemma. Read Full Review

Sadly, I say, I really have to agree with him and maybe that’s the reason I didn’t love the book like the earlier ones. Throughout the book I kinda’ felt that Dave was really a fifth wheel to Clete and Gretchen… and I don’t know if that’s the way I like it!! But I know I will still be waiting for the next installment of the series!!

The 28 Day Reading Challenge – Three New Books !!

By ekkarn March 19, 2014 March 19, 2014 Books-Fiction

So I went to the library today, like I need more to read, anyway. I took two books back that I have read Kent Haruf’s Plainsong and Deborah Hick’s The Road Out– two others I did not have time to read Crossroads a book about BLues and Rock music and Chi Marathoning – running what’s running??? Then I checked three out and we'[l see how I do at reading this set of books:

The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend

by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

The history of the American Indians and the Indian Wars has been an interest of mine forever. Maybe it stems from being in Indian Guides when I was little or maybe all he Westerns that I was raised on. whatever the reason is I find that time period in American history interesting and tragic. I always rooted for the Indians! I look forward to learning more about Red Cloud.

Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry That Foraged a Nation

by John Ferling

Another time period in US history that intrigues me. Jefferson has always been a favorite of mine and this book certainly looks interesting!!

A Beautiful Truth – A Novel

by Colin McAdam

From Amazon:

A powerful and haunting meditation on human nature told from the dual perspectives of a Vermont family that has adopted a chimp as a surrogate son, and a group of chimpanzees in a Florida research institute

A Beautiful Truth is an epic and heartfelt story about parenthood, friendship, loneliness, fear and conflict, about the things we hold sacred as humans and how much we have in common with our animal relatives. A novel of great heart and wisdom from a literary master, it exposes the yearnings, cruelty, and resilience of all great apes.

My literature read for the month. Anyone care to join in???

Ok so I have my reading cut out for me – now all I have to do is see if I can successfully block out the time to read them!!

Return to Home

Category: Books-Fiction