Tag: Mystery Series

Six Great Mystery Series and Their First Books!

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Today, I received an email from Barnes & Noble and they are having a Nook Book Sale on the first book of a series. I checked out the first books Mystery series  that were on sale, and here are six books that started some of my favorite mystery series!

Navajo Mystery Series

1.The Blessing Way – Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee – Tony Hillerman – Tony Hillerman wrote 18 Navajo Mysteries featuring Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee and his daughter Anne Hillerman recently picked up the series and has written book 19!!

I stopped reading the series after book 14, not because I didn’t like the series but because I just started to read too many other mystery series. I always enjoyed the character of Jim Chee, who tried to walk in two worlds the modern and his ancestral Navajo and as a police officer that wasn’t always easy!!

It’s a great mystery series and The Blessing Way is a wonderful start to the series!

The Surgeon - Book 1 Rizzoli & Isles Mystery Series

 

2.. The Surgeon – Rizzoli and Isles – Tess Gerritsen – This was a book that just blew m away when I read it. The suspense and the characters were both great. Using the Hoyt character for the TV show was a great way to start the series just like The Surgeon was a great way to start the literary series!!

 

 

Book 1 - Carved In Bone - The Body Farm Mystery Series

3. Carved in Bone – Dr. Bill Brockton – Jefferson Bass

“Fantastic forensic detail and an engaging hero … an authoritative, compelling new voice to the forensic mystery.”
— Jeff Abbott, USA Today bestselling author of PANIC

The above quote about says it all. The about this mystery series that is still going strong.  Dr Bill Brockton is still a lovable hero and the forensic detail is still some of the best around, The series is now at  Number 9 which is due out in June of 2015!!

Blindsighted - Grant County Mystery Series

4. Blindsighted – Grant County – Karin Slaughter –  The whole crew of characters of this series – Sara Linton pediatrician, county medical examiner, Chief Jeffrey Tolliver,and Detective Lena Adams are all introduced in this riveting novel. Blindsighted like The Surgeon just was great right from the start as was the series! The novel was a Barry Award Nominee for Best First Novel (2002) and a Macavity Award Nominee for Best First Mystery Novel (2002)

Deal Breaker - Myron Bolitar Mystery Series

5. Deal Breaker – Myron Bolitar – Harlan Coben – while Harlan has had far more success with his stand-alone thrillers my first introduction to his writing was through sports agent extraordinaire Myron Bolitar’s mystery series. The stories and the characters were always well-developed and interesting, especially  Myron’s best friend  “Win” Lockwood who has saved Myron’s butt throughout the series!

Win was introduced in Deal Breaker. He was  a 31 year-old bachelor working closely with Myron Bolitar, his best friend since college. Win is also very close to Esperanza Diaz, Myron’s assistant (and later business partner) whom he meets through Myron. Wikipedia says that Win can be best  described as….

….an anti-hero, being very psychopathic in nature. In many of the books, Myron and Win debate the ethical nature of various actions, often Win’s.

Suspect - Joe O'Laughlin Mystery Series

6.  The Suspect– Joseph O’Loughlin – Michael Robotham – I was thinking about my favorite lead characters from mystery series, that are not Private Eyes or Policemen and certainly psychologist Joe O’Laughlin is probably at the top of the list.

Joe is one of my favorite all-time characters making this mystery series one of my favorites. Like Lay’s chips if you try this book, you won’t want just one…. you’ll be back for more and more and you won’t be disappointed!!!

Amanda Kyle Williams – Stranger in the Room (Keye Street Series #2)

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Stranger iin the roomOk so I did not really enjoy the first half of Amanda Kyle Williams The Stranger that You Seek, but the second half of the book was really good, and propelled me on to the second book in the Keye Street series Stranger in the Room. For me, there was no weak first half in this book, it grabbed me from the start and did not let go until the last page! Miki Ashton, Keye Street’s cousin returns home after a night on the town, puts the key in the front door of her house, before she can open the door, she hears footsteps in the supposedly empty house!! When she makes her way to the window in the front of the house, and peers in, she sees a slightly overweight man standing in the shadows, as he stands there he forms a gunwith his fingers and he pretends to shoot Miki!!  So begins this great twisting mystery!! Who was this stranger in the room?? Why was he there?? Is he the source of the mysterious calls, and noises that plague Miki??

Meanwhile. Keye’s boyfriend Detective Aaron Rauser is investigating the murder of a young baseball player on the cusp of good things! Soon the mystery man and the boy are entwined in an ever-growing murder investigation and Keye is once again drawn into the hunt for a murderer. Can she and Rauser put the pieces of the puzzle together before more lives are lost?  Soon Miki  and Keye become the focus of  the murderer’s wrath!! Why??

I imagine that one of the reasons that I liked this book more than its predecessor, is that now I know the players. All the characters from Book 1 are back including of course Keye and Rauser, along with Keye’s adoptive parents, her work partner, stoner computer geek Neil, Tyrone the bail bondsman who Keye does work for, as well as, Larry Quinn the attorney who supplies Keye’s PI firm work. In this installment Quinn asks Keye to  investigate into the actions of a North Georgia Crematorium. This subplot was better than the investigation of a missing cow in the last book!

But I think that’s only half of the reason I enjoyed the book more.  The other half is the story itself. In this book, I thought that Keyes profiling of the perp was more in-depth, and it really brought to life the how and why of the killer’s actions, but profiling alone does not capture a criminal, so the work of Rauser and hs team played a big role in the discovery of the identity of the killer.

Bottomline: This book was a real page turner for me. A good police procedural that coupled Keye’s keen profiling skills with Rauser’s dogged police work, kinda like Bones and Booth without the bones or the FBI!  Along the way there was also Keye’s addiction battle, juxtaposed against Miki’s love for both alcohol and drugs, and Keye’s mom’s  attempt to be the next “Paula Dean” which made the book enjoyable on more than one level! So I am now a fan and I am ready to move on to Don’t Tak to Strangers book 3  in the series!! Now watch when I checked out both Book 1 and 2 book 3 was on the shelf what do you want to bet that tomorrow, when I take back this book, book 3 will be gone!!

Grade: A solid  A – so check it out!!

Links

Amanda Kyle Wiliiams.com

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((Book 32 of 2014)

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

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Next Read?

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

 

 

 

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Northwest Angle: A Cork O’Connor Thriller Review

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So you know I love books that take mw to places I’ll never see or teach me things I didn’t know and Book 30 of 2011 Northwest Angle is one of them.

Author William Kent Krueger set this book, the 11th in the Cork O’Connor series in the area of Minnesota known as the Northwest Angle. This pennisula juts into the Lake of the Woods and is the farthest point north in the lower 48 states.

You can not reach this piece of the United States by land without going through Canada! It can of course be reach by air or water, and by by water is how the O’Connor clan got there.

As the novel begins Cork O’Connor has brought his family together daughters Jenny and Anne and son Stephen and his sister-in-law Rose and husband Mal to the Lake of the Woods on a houseboat for a restful family vacation. On the day Jenny’s boyfriend Aaron is set to arrive, Cork takes Jenny on a side trip to an island he once visited with his spiritual guide Henry Meloux.

The island has pictographs of Ojibwe children on the cliffs of the island. But soon the day turns tragic as an unexpexted “Derecho” hits the area. A derecho is another thing that I didn’t know about. It is a powerful storm a bowed line of thunderstorms with wind speeds of a hurricane and causes massive destruction. A derecho hit the Northwest Angle area in July of 1999 you can read about it here.

Soon Cork and Jenny are separated and Jenny lands on an island and finds shelter after the storm she finds a cabin that has been mostly destroyed by the storm a young mother lies dead in the cabin a search of the cabin reveals

diapers and formula all neatly arranged and soon Jenny finds a baby. Soon someone else comes looking for the baby and Jenny must flee the area of the cabin.  But where is her father and are Rose, Mal and her sister and brother safe and who is the man returning to the cabin? Is he the killer or someone who has been helping the dead mother? All these questions and many others are answered as the story unravels.

Like all of William Kent Krueger’s books “the sense of place is great” as are the characters and the book addresses many other issues outside of the murder, including religion and spirituality and the presence of good and evil. I’ve loved each and every one of Krueger’s books, since the first one I read Purgatory Ridge, for just that reason. So give his work a try!

Here’s William Kent Krueger, who can tell you more about the book then I can

C.J. Box – Back of Beyond

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Back of Beyond. is C.J.Box’s third stand alone thriller..It was eleased soon after the 11th Joe Pickett novel Cold Wind  (which I started a while back and didn’t finish before it was due back at the library)

What the Press Says

“…timeless…gripping…resemble(s) an Agatha Christie closed-community whodunnit but with horses, bears, wolves, and hunting rifles.””
Sunday Times (UK)

AP: “…the new book may be his best yet…a roller-coaster ride of unexpected twists and turns, making “Back of Beyond” one of the most suspenseful wilderness thrillers since “Deliverance.”
Associated Press / ABC Ne

“…a taut tale…that hooks you.”
USA Today
“If Box isn’t already on your list, put him there.”
Toronto Globe and Mail

The Story

Back of Beyond was a fast and furious ride through the back country of Yellowstone Park. The novel’s main character is Cody Hoyt a divorced, alcoholic cop thrown off the Denver Police force and now stationed in Montana.

When Coty finds his mentor from AA dead in his burned out cabin, Coty knows it’s not the accidental death it appears to be but murder!

Soon clues link the murderer to an outfitter leading tourists on a spectacular multi-day wilderness horseback trip into the remote corners of Yellowstone National Park

. Coty’s  son Justin is one of the tourist on the trip with his step-father to be! Among the tourists is fourteen-year-old Gracie Sullivan, an awkward but intelligent loner who begins to suspect that someone in their party is dangerous.

After accidentally shooting the coroner at the crime scene, Coty is suspended from the force and soon takes off on a chase to stop the tour and rescue his son from the murderer! The action is fast and furious and the book was a real page turner with lots of twists and turns.

Here’s what some folks are saying:

Final Thoughts

I agree with all of them. I’ve loved Box’s books from the first one I read ! I love the characters in this book particularly Coty and Gracie! So if C’.J.Box is not on your list of  “to be reads” put him there! I myself hope this is not a stand alone but that Coty has another adventure. Hey James Lee Burke has two main characters why not Box! Maybe Coty can meet up with Joe Pickett!

Book 24 – Fallen – Karin Slaughter

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So for seven years and six books, Karin Slaughter entertained her readers with her Grant County series, featuring Sara Linton and her husband Jeffrey Tolliver. Jeffrey was a cop and Sara a pediatrician and a medical examiner. In 2006, she started another series featuring a dyslexic Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) agent Will Trent and his partner Faith Mitchell. In 2009 the two series merged (I’m not telling why) in Undone. Book 24 for the year is the 3rd book in this series Fallen This book had me from the first page and I zipped through the book looking forward to what was going to happen next.

The story revolves around the kidnapping of Faith’s mother Evelyn Mitchell, former head of the Narcotics Division of the Atlanta Police Department and best friend of Will and Faith’s boss Amanda Wagner. I said the story got my from the first few pages that’s when Faith arrives late at her mother’s house only to pull up and hear AC/DC Back in Black blaring from the house and blood on the door handle! When she enters the house she sees it’s been trashed and blood is everywhere. There’s a dead man in the laundry room and a man with a hostage in her mother’s bedroom. Quickly things get worse as Faith kills one man and then the other as he is trying to escape! But where is her mother and why was she kidnapped!

This book is as much about the people as it is the storyline. Sara and Will, Faith and her children Jeremy and Emma, Amanda and Evelyn and their interwoven histories! It’s a story about family, and friendship and the effects of drugs. I have loved Slaughter’s books from the first one I read which was book two in the Grant County series Kisscut. That book was quickly followed by Book 1Blindsighted and all the rest and the books just keep getting better and better and I can’t wait for the 2012 edition!

Here’s an interview with Karin talking about Fallen Lena Adams was a very important and interesting character in the Grant County Series!

Live Wire – Harlan Coben

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Live Wire – Harlan Coben (Myron Bolitar #10)

 Live Wire by Harlan Coben.starts when  Suzze T a former tennis star and client visits Myron and asks him to find an anonymous Facebook member, The Facebook member  left a post questioning the paternity of her unborn child. She also wants Myron to find her husband Lex Rider. Rider is also one of Myron’s clients.He is a member of the famous rock band HorsePowe. Horsepower is  fronted by, the looks to die for, but reclusive, Gabriel Wire. Suzze tells Myron that Lex ran off after seeing the post.

When Myron finds Lex he also finds someone he wasn’t looking for: his sister-in-law Kitty Bolitar. Kitty and Myron’s brother Brad are estranged from the Bolitar family. They ran off years ago and now live a nomadic life roaming the world. As the story unwinds Myron, Kitty and Suzze and Lex’s lives becomes entwined. As everyone faces lies  they’ve told, that have upset their world! Myron is also confronted with his past and sometimes doesn’t like what he sees!

Thoughts about Live Wire

Live Wire is a fast paced read with lots of twists and turns. The conclusion left me a little misty eyed! I love the characters in the Bolitar book’s: Myron, and his best friend Win. along with his business partner Esperanza and receptionist Big Cindi. Add to these characters Myron’s parents Al and Ellen and his nephew Mickey, throw some gangsters the Ache brothers and hit man Evan Crisp, stir up their lives, and what you have is a great book. I don’t know whether you want to pick up the series at Book 10 but I think you could and still enjoy it!

The book also sets the stage for Coben’s first young adult book Shelter which will be released in September. So check it out!

As for me I’m off to the wilds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula  via  Steve Hamilton’s new Alex McKnight novel Misery Bay. It’s the first McKnight novel since 2006’s A Stolen Season!

Books 14 and 15 – Ultralongevity and The Bone Yard

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So I have finished two books in the last week Book Number 14 is UltraLongevity: The Seven-Step Program for a Younger, Healthier You by Mark Liponis and Book Number 15 is The Bone Yard by Jefferson Bass. Both were very good reads! Mark Liponis is the Medical Director of Canyon Ranch Health Resorts and author coautrhor of the book UltraPrevention. The book outlines a seven step program for “a younger and healthier you”! The book is based on the latest research on aging and the immune system. From the dust jacket:

According to the latest scientific research, you can control the aging process, simply by paying attention to one thing: your immune system…. Dr. Liponis also offers an innovative and practical seven-step program that not only gives you guidelines for a healthier life; it reveals some startling facts about aging…..

I found the book very informative and am going to go back through it again and try to implement as many of the aspects of the plan as I can!! You can pick up the paperback at Amazon for $4.46. The links on the sidebar! The second book I finished was Jefferson Bass’ sixth Body Farm novel The Bone Yard . Once again the writing team of Bill Bass, the director of The Body Farm at the University of Tennessee and Jon Jefferson have written a great book! In this installment Bill Brockton is called by a forensic analyist with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Officer Angie St. Claire to help her investigate her sister’s suicide and to determine if she was actually murdered by her husband! While he’s in Florida he’s asked to take a look at a skull of a murdered young child… this leads Bill into the world of the North Florida Boys Reformatory and The Bone Yard! This is a fast paced book that I couldn’t put down! I always enjoy Bill Brockton character and this book is no exception, however, this book is disturbing for it’s portrayal of the grim world of the Reformatory!  So if you like Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell but haven’t read Jefferson Bass do yourself a favor and pick up one of their books! You won’t be disappointed! 

Book 42 – Track of the Cat – Nevada Barr

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WooHoo! So after a month plus of slugging through Michael Koryta’s So Cold the River and only getting half through it, although I was enjoying it, I just haven’t had the time to finish it! I did finish a shorter book Track the Cat by Nevada Barr is book 42 for the year. The book is the first Anna Pigeon novel. Anna is a national park ranger and here’s what it says about her on the back cover of the book:

“The fascinating hero of Nevada Barr’s award-winning series , park ranger Anna Pigeon has brought an unyielding love of nature and sense of fair play to the mystery game. Track of the Cat is the acclaimed  novel that first introduced readers to Anna, as a woman looking for peace in the wilderness – and finding mystery instead…..

The murder in this case is a fellow park ranger and when the murder is blamed on a rouge mountain lion and Ana’s investigation proves that that was not the case, Anna sets out to find out what really happened! Althoug I didn’t think that the plot was all that great I did like the character and didn’t guess the murderer! I will probably continue with the series and already have a few more books on my Mount to Be Read!!

Damaged – Alex Kava

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Damaged – Alex Kava -(Maggie O’Dell # 8)

 

Damaged – Maggie O’Dell #8 – Alex Kava

Damaged is the eighth Alex Kava novel featuring FBI profiler Maggie O’Dell, and it’s another fast, compelling read. Like many of Kava’s thrillers, it weaves elements of real-world truth into the fiction — and in this case, it drops Maggie right into the eye of a hurricane.

The Story

When a sea chest containing dismembered body parts is pulled from the Gulf of Mexico, Maggie is sent to Pensacola, Florida, to investigate.

At the same time, Dr. Benjamin Platt is called to Pensacola to help determine why young soldiers are dying after otherwise successful surgeries to repair war injuries. Maggie first met Platt while being treated for Ebola exposure in Exposed, and now they have a tentative, evolving relationship.

Adding to the chaos, a Category 5 hurricane is bearing down on the Florida coast.

Among the standout characters here are:

  • Liz Bailey, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer who recovers the chest.
  • Walter Bailey, Liz’s father, whose Coney Island canteen is a fixture on Pensacola Beach.

Thoughts on the Series

I’ve been an Alex Kava fan since A Perfect Evil, Maggie O’Dell’s debut, and every book since has been solid. The last three before Damaged — Exposed, Black Friday, and now Damaged — have tackled a wide range of threats: biological terrorism, suicide bombers, and now the grisly mystery of dismembered bodies.

While reading the series in order adds depth to Maggie’s character development and relationships, each book works well as a standalone.

If you’re looking for a smart, fast-paced thriller, pick up Damaged — or grab any Maggie O’Dell novel and enjoy the ride.