Lethal Legacy

Lethal Legacy by Irene Hannon, 351 pages

“The police say her father's death was suicide. But Kelly Warren says it was murder--and she has new evidence that she believes proves it. Detective Cole Taylor doesn't put much credence in her claim, and nothing in his case review suggests foul play. But when Kelly ends up in the emergency room with a suspicious life-threatening medical condition, the incident strikes him as more than just coincidence. Digging deeper, he discovers she's linked to a long-ago crime. Is history repeating itself? And who wants Kelly silenced?” This followed Hannon’s typical formula but it doesn’t stop me from feeling compelled to read the story, especially when it gets intense.  Fans of the suspense romance will like this.  Women looking for Christian romance will also like it, if they are ok with the thriller aspect.

The Lake House

The Lake House by Kate Morton    512 pages

Better clear your calendar before you start bestselling author Kate Morton’s fifth, and latest, novel; yes it’s that good.

The prologue is one of the best that I have ever read. A heavy rain is falling over Cornwall, England in August 1933. A woman is burying something…or someone. It doesn’t give away the ending as most prologues do, and it set the reader up to keep guessing what…or who…is being buried until almost the end…exactly where Morton wants the reader to figure it out.

Alice Edevane is sixteen when the events above occur. She lives there with her parents, an oder and younger sister, and a baby brother.  Previously on that day, the lakeside estate is bustling with servants and hired help in preparation of the annual Midsummer’s Eve party. It’s to be another grand affair. The next morning, eleven-month-old Theo has vanished without a trace.

Fast forward seventy years. Detective Constable Sadie Sparrow is on a forced leave of absence. She is visiting her grandfather who has recently moved to the area. While out jogging, Sadie stumbles across a decaying mansion. Peeking in the windows, the house is fully furnished. It seems that whoever lived there also vanished.

Sadie’s grandfather knows about the property and the supposed kidnapping of Theo. The lake house was once part of a much grander estate. The house is called Loeanneth, which in Gaelic means the lake house.

Sadie becomes obsessed with the cold case. Much to her surprise, Alice is still living in London. She is the famous mystery writer, A. C. Edevane.

The story weaves between past and present. I felt as if I’d known the Edevane’s all my life by the end of the novel. Be prepared to be drawn into their happiness and sorrow with many twists and surprise that will keep you guessing until the end.

In Julie’s world, The Lake House, gets 6 out of 5 stars.

The Muralist

The Muralist by B. A. Shapiro  337 pages

The latest B. A. Shapiro novel, after The Art Forger, delves into the art world in two centuries and with two artists.

In 2015, Danielle Abrams (Dani) works as a cataloguer for Christies in New York. A lapsed artist, Dani receives several paintings that have been found in an attic. They could be some undiscovered works by Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, or Mark Rothko. However, Dani sees something different; the paintings remind her of her great-aunt Alizee Benoit’s work. In the world of abstract expressionism, there has always seemed to be a missing link. Dani has always thought that work could be Alizee’s.

In1939, Alizee Benoit is working for the WPA (Works Progress Adminstration under Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal). Her best friends are Jackson Pollock, Leo Krasner, and Mark Rothko. They are painting murals for various buildings, but their true passion is abstract expressionism.

Alizee is a Jew from France and has left her entire family there. As Hitler’s rise to power escalates, letters from her family become more and more desperate, begging her to help them obtain visas to get out. When she’s working on her art, she wants her paintings to reflect the Jewish crisis. When she’s working for the WPA but she’s forced to paint idyllic country scenes. Alizee gets to meet Eleanor Roosevelt, who becomes a champion of her art. This seems a tad implausible, but Shapiro is so deft as a writer, that it’s interesting but not a read-breaker.

Alizee’s family (her brother, aunt, uncle, and two cousins, one with a family) manage to get aboard the MS St. Louis. The plight of the 937 Jews trying to escape persecution was mentioned, but did not delve deep enough for me. That story is all but a footnote in history now, but readers who are curious can learn more about it in: Refuge Denied: The St. Louis Passengers and the Holocaust by Sarah A. Ogilvie and Scott Miller.

In the meantime, Dani discovers envelopes containing pieces of canvas behind the paintings that were recently discovered.  Dani is also trying to uncover what happened to Alizee. She checked into a sanatorium in 1940 and simply disappeared.

The narrative weaves back and forth between the past and present, bring the art world of the mid-20^th century to life. I had hoped to be swept away into this world while I read, but I was not. I was intrigued, but I didn’t find myself anxiously awaiting the time I could get back to the story.  Therefore, I give The Muralist 4 out of 5 stars.

Rose Gold

Rose Gold: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley   320 pages

L. A. private detective Easy Rawlins is back in his thirteenth adventure; the second after Mosley left readers believing Easy had perished after driving his car off a California cliff.  It’s only months after that near-death experience, and Easy is still recuperating.

Easy’s focus is no longer catching the bad guy but making a good life for his daughter, Feather, which includes getting her into a pricey private school. He needs money; not sure how he’s going to afford the tuition, but confident that he’ll find a way.

The story open with Easy moving to a newer home, not terribly far from his current address. He may be moving, but Easy is an simple man to find. He is approached by undercover police officer Roger Fisk and three other unidentified, plainclothes officers to find Rosemary Gold, the daughter of a very wealthy and very private munitions manufacturer. Readers should keep in mind that the novel takes place in the 1960s, at the height of Vietnam. I immediately thought of Patty Hearst and her 1974 kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. And while Rose Gold’s action takes place long before that event, I can’t help but wonder if Mosely wasn’t influenced by it. The revolutionary group who supposedly kidnapped the young heiress calls itself Scorched Earth, which again reminded me of the SLA.

Easy is reluctant to take the case; after all he is a black man who would be nosing into a white man’s business. He quickly changes his mind when he is offered an eight thousand dollar down payment on services rendered. This could be ticket to Feather’s education.

Needless to say, Easy finds himself involved in more than a mere kidnapping plot. Several other law enforcement agencies are either trying to buy him and his service or buy him off. Sometimes he isn’t sure exactly who he is working for nor exactly why he is y to Rosemary Gold

Mosley’s sentences are as colorful as the decade the action occurs. There’s the hippie subculture, plenty of drugs, tough guys who are hell bent on making a name for themselves in the neighborhood, and a fascinating subplot surrounding the last of an American Indian tribe who could almost be as dangerous as Easy’s friend, Mouse. And to top it off, Easy is in the doghouse with his girlfriend, Bonnie.

I give Easy Rawlins’ latest adventure 5 out of 5 stars.

Burn

Burn by James Patters & Michael Ledwidge, 401 pages

The latest book in the Detective Michael Bennett series has Bennett returning to work after testifying in a mob trial.  He and his family are finally able to leave witness protection and get on with their lives.  Unfortunately, Bennett finds out upon his return that the Chief of Detectives has changed and consequently, so has his job.  The new man, Starkie, hates Bennett and is determined to make him miserable so transfers him from Major Crimes to a new division that is supposed to be a community liaison type of department but is really a bureaucratic nightmare, staffed by officers that departments wanted to get rid of, for one reason or another.  Bennett, determined not to let Starkie get the best of him, decides to make this new position work, and eventually finds himself actually handling big cases, not only for his new department, but also a major diamond thief operation for Major Crimes.  Of course, his personal life is no picnic, with issues stemming from one of his children, his nanny, and his father, Seamus.  A fast-paced thriller, fans of Patterson should be satisfied with this story.

P.K Pinkerton And The Petrified Man

P.K Pinkerton And The Petrified Man by Caroline Lawrence, 309 pages

P.K. is the sole private eye in Virginia City in the Nevada Territory, has come across another case.  A young servant girl, Martha, has witnessed the murder of Miss Sally Sampson, and believes that the murderer is now after her.  P.K. takes her case and sets out to find the murderer, because, although Martha was a witness, she has poor eyesight and didn’t get a good look at the man.  She only knew what Miss Sally called him and that Miss Sally had referred to him as an old friend.  P.K., being only 12, is able to slip into places unnoticed, unlike an adult, but also finds that some people do not take him seriously.  However, he also finds himself being taken too seriously when he, himself, is arrested for Miss Sally’s murder.  Now, it has become much more important to figure out who the real killer is.  Despite P.K.’s Thorn, Foibles and Eccentricities, he does have quite a few friends, and hopefully, with their help, he can solve the case before time runs out.  For kids who like mysteries and historical fiction, this is a fun and exciting story with plenty of action.  This is the second book in this series.

The Sword Edged Blonde

The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe 308p

Private Detective/Sword Jockey Eddie LaCrosse starts out this adventure searching for a missing princess.  Before he can wrap up that case, he becomes embroiled in another mystery that requires his returning to his homeland, renewing old acquaintances, and facing old memories that were deeply buried.  He must prove that the wife of his childhood friend didn't kill her child.  The only way to do this is to retrace his steps from years ago and face truths he previously avoided.

I've been reading the series willy nilly and while it doesn't really matter if you read them in order it helps to get the back story that is referred to in almost every volume.  This is the first book of the Eddie LaCrosse series and I finally get the full story of Eddie's past.