10th Anniversary (James Patterson)

In this latest Women’s Murder Club mystery, James Patterson once again presents another successful collaboration with Maxine Paetro.

Three stories unfold in 10^th Anniversary.

San Francisco Police Det. Lindsay Boxer has just gotten married to Joe Molinaro, her long-time (off and on) boyfriend, and is investigating series of drug/rapes, as well as a very unusual case. Avis Richardson, 15, is found naked except for plastic rain poncho, claiming she lost the baby she’d delivered that night.

Avis, a student at Brighton academy (for rich kids) disappears, then is found, then disappears again before she is found. One of her acquaintances tells Lindsay and Avis was seeing English teacher Jordan Ritter.

Assistant DA Yuki Castellano, who has begun Boxer’s new boss, is trying a murder case involving Dr. Candace Martin, head of cardiac surgery at Metro Hospital. Dr. Martin has been accused of killing her philandering husband, Dennis. Yuki is sure she’s got the trial won.

Cindy Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporter, is chasing down facts and clues for a story in Boxer’s drug-rape case.

The action moves nicely along, with the WMC members crossing over into each other’s territory. Who killed Dennis Martin? Who is the rapist? What happened to Avis’ baby?

And then, a break. Avis finally produces a couple of names under duress, which prove to be a real lead that Lindsay and medical examiner and Murder Club member Claire Washburn can follow up. And then, there’s a shocking twist in the Dr. Martin murder trial – an unbelievable confession.

Oh, and remember the mysterious rapist? The story that Cindy was chasing down? There’s a startling development in that story as well.

And what about the 10^th Anniversary book title? What has that got to do with anything? I’ll tell you right now that it has nothing to do with the cases, but everything to do with the Women’s Murder Club. It’s all explained at the end. Not very relevant to anything, unfortunately.

10^th Anniversary (2011)

James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

Little, Brown and Company ($27.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0316036269

The Righteous (Michael Wallace)

Jacob Christianson, a med student, is sent to investigate a murder at Blister Creek, a polygamous enclave in Utah called “The Church of the Anointing,” headed by “The Prophet” – Brother Joseph. Jacob is a believer, but not above pushing the boundaries of that belief, not above breaking through limitations if it feels right to him.

He takes along his sister, Eliza, to help him. Her father is about to force her to marry, and Jacob wants her to have a choice or at least let her opinions be known.

Eliza’s half-sister, Amanda Kimball, was murdered, her throat slit and tongue ripped out. Amanda’s husband, Elder Taylor Kimball, is a stern and domineering man with many wives. Elder Kimball suspects his Mexican workers. Jacob doesn’t think so because of the ritualistic killing.

Their excommunicated brother, Enoch, has been seen around Blister Creek lately, but he denies it when his siblings visit him in Las Vegas. They find out he DOES know something about Amanda’s murder. As it turns out, it’s more than just a murder. It’s money laundering, tax evasion, welfare fraught, and illegal transfer of funds. It’s also more than that – it’s a battle between the traditional and the eugenicists, a schism over how to prevent inbreeding.

Author Wallace gives some pretty interesting explanations of the polygamist rationale and the different Mormon sects, and an insight into some of their rites.

However, the promised conflicts and complications are merely skimmed over and cast aside, tempering any tensions that were promised in the story’s development. And the conclusion of the story is somewhat disappointing, almost without direction.

The Righteous (2011)

Michael Wallace

Balsalom Publishing (Kindle ebook, $0.99)

ASIN: B004LX0B9M

A World I Never Made (James Lepore)

When American Pat Nolan arrives in Paris to identify the body of his daughter, Megan, he has no idea what he’s letting himself in for. Although the police tell him Meg had committed suicide, the body in the morgue is not hers.

Still, he confirms identification, knowing deeply that’s what she’d wanted him to do. But why? Paris police assistant chief inspector Geneviève LeGrande suspects something isn’t right, and assigns one of her detectives, Catherine Laurence, to stick with Nolan and find out what the real story is.

Megan, it seems, truly is still alive. But why the deception? She’s connected with Rahman al-Zahra, apparently her Saudi Arabian lover. But Megan’s lover is Abdel al-Lahani, a powerful Arab she met in Marrakech, Morocco. 

A World I Never Made is actually two stories interwoven and presented alternately – Nolan’s search for Megan, and (flashing back a year earlier), Megan’s search for information and facts for a free-lance story on terrorism. Her tale, unfortunately, veers off into the world of terrorism itself.

As Nolan and Catherine search for Megan, they fall in love, their relationship cemented more than once by events promulgated by someone’s search for Megan, whose life truly is in danger now that her fake suicide has been discovered. Daniel Pelletier, Catherine’s uncle and advisor, is killed after trying to help them. Madame Annabella Jeritza, a fortune-teller and Meg’s friend, also dies.

Nolan twice meets a little flower girl who had knew Megan and gives him a message and prophesy – he will find Megan, he will remarry and he will have another child. For Megan indeed was pregnant, but had sent her little son to Carmelite nuns in a Lisieux orphanage. Where is Meg? She’s hiding in gypsy camp in Czech Republic.

Megan’s story begins a year earlier, then slowly catches up to Nolan’s and Cathy’s odyssey as they search for her. It’s a torturous path for the three of them, filled with international intrigue, police hunts, murders and gunshot wounds – enough to keep the reader glued to the pages, Kindle or paper.

Good story, good read.

A World I Never Made (2009)

James Lepore

The Story Plant ($24.95 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0981608723

The Maverick Experiment (Drew Berquist)

The Christmas holiday just didn’t work out this year for Derek Stevens. A CIA contractor who specializes in human intelligence (humint), he gets a call and is asked to attend a meeting.

Before he knows it, he’s heading an elite team charged with gathering intelligence and disposing of critical targets.

Derek, Dustin Grimes (a communications specialist), Randy Keller (good with operations planning and a qualified medic), and two other guys named Miller and Carson, become prototypes for a clandestine program called Maverick. They will be a roving team, reporting to no one in field, rogue but supported, outside of laws the CIA must follow.

The only others who know about them are Carlisle Davenport, a CIA contractor who recruited Derek, and Jerry Carr, a CIA member in charge of operations, the CIA director and the President. Absolutely no one else.

 Mission 1: Kabul, Afghanistan, the team is to hook up with Derek’s old friend and get rid of a local dirty parliamentarian named Agha Jan, whom the CIA cannot touch. The team passes its first test but steps on feet of Brit Intel who’d been working Agha Jan.

Mission 2: Terrorist Habib Rahmen is in Afghanistan’s Pol-e-Charkhi prison. The Taliban wants him out. The Mavericks’ goal is gain access to prison and make the problem “go away.” They do run afoul of aTaliban rescue attempt, losing Grimes. Rahman is captured, and under torture, tells them that Taliban mastermind Malawi Rafig will be at a wedding in Pakistan.

Of course, they take it into their own hands and head into Pakistan.

The Maverick Experiment moves fast and it’s hard to stop reading. Author Drew Berquist is a former U.S. intelligence officer and brings a lot to the table, promising that this book is the first in a series. As of this writing, it’s available free in a Kindle edition at Amazon.com (formerly $9.99). Get it before it’s too late.

The Maverick Experiment (2011)

Drew Berquist

Greenleaf (Paperback, $14.95 list)

ISBN-13: 978-1608320905

Least Wanted (Debbi Mack)

Least Wanted  is author Debbi Mack’s second novel featuring Maryland lawyer Stephanie Ann “Sam” McRae.

To Sam’s surprise, two seemingly unrelated cases become interconnected, leading to a trail of white collar crime, surprising revelations, and a growing number of dead bodies. At the center of the plot are Tina Jackson, a black junior high student who’s taken the wrong path in life, and Bradley Higgins, a computer programmer accused of embezzlement.

Tina’s mother, Shanae, is murdered the day after she and Tina meet Sam to discuss her daughter’s defense in a purse-snatching gone wrong. When Tina is accused of the murder, Sam launches an investigation to establish her innocence; along the way, she finds information that is relevant to Brad’s case.

One by one, people who can help are killed, and if it weren’t for one of Shanae’s friends – Darius “Little D” Wilson Jr. – Sam might have joined that growing list. Along the way, she meets up with former boyfriends who still get on her nerves, and a former college football player nicknamed “Diesel” who is an absolute threat to her well-being.

Segueing from seedy neighborhoods to the upper-crust side of town, from dingy offices to those occupied by the more well-to-do, Sam plies her trade – defense attorney yes, but practically a private investigator as well.

The ending satisfies, but not enough tension had built up to warrant a long, “let your breath out slowly” denoument.

Ms. Mack’s writing is very linear, straight-forward, taut and easy to follow, but lacks a bit of tension-building as she resolves situations too quickly for my taste. It took less than four hours to complete the book.

Least Wanted (2011)

Debbi Mack

Renegade Press (Paperback $14.95 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0982950814