Shot of Tequila (J.A. Konrath)

Chicago, 1993 – Tequila Abernathy, former Olympics gymnastics medalist and a collector for Marty “the Menace” Maritelli, is out collecting a debt when Marty’s vault is breached, his collector muscle team overcome, and his Super Bowl take of more than a million dollars disappears.

Tequila is framed for the heist, set up by someone who even hired an accomplice with a butterfly tattoo on his hand, just like the one Tequila has. Marty, a Chicago bookie, goes into a rage and sics his goons on Tequila. They do horrible things – they rape and kill his sister, Sally, who has Down Syndrome, as well as her caregiver. Tequila goes into a rampage and seeks revenge.

Chicago homicide detective Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels, 26^th District and her partner Det. Herb Benedict begin investigating a liquor store shooting, for which Tequila was responsible. After many false starts and lots of probing, Jack figures out most of what had gone down, with but a few details eluding her.

When Marty‘s henchmen fail to get Tequila, he contacts Fonti, the biggest loan shark in the Midwest, who lends him Royce, a brutal and effective killer. One by one, the thugs fall, until the only one left is Hector Slade. Nobody else is left, not even Slade’s partner with the butterfly tattoo, not even his five ferocious dogs – Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy and Happy.

Both Tequila and Jack want to find him, Tequila for revenge, and Jack to arrest Tequila. As it turns out, they end up working as a team.

Konrath’s clever and witty writing is sprinkled throughout Shot of Tequila: “The guy’s head was so empty that when he had a thought, there was an echo.” “Marty slapped him hard enough to be heard in Indiana.” I chuckled often, in spite of myself.

This is not Jack Daniels’ first appearance in a Konrath novel, but it precedes the first. YOU figure that one out.

Shot of Tequila (2010)

J.A. Konrath

CreateSpace Reprint Edition (Paperback, $13.95)

ISBN-13: 978-1453885765

As the Crow Dies (Ken Casper)

As the Crow Dies is Ken Casper’s debut novel, and it’s a good one. The title is a play on the phrase, “as the crow flies,” which of course generally means in a straight line. But the story Casper has written definitely doesn’t develop in a straight line. It also reflects the defining incident around which the story revolves.

Jason Crow – a Vietnam War double amputee – returns to Coyote Springs, TX, after being fitted with prosthetics that replace the two legs he lost during the Tet offensive in Vietnam. He is walking without crutches for first time, only to find out his father is dead.

Local police have investigated the death, and head detective and former football teammate Clyde Burker have all but written it off as a suicide. However, Jason believes his father, Theodore Crow, was murdered and sets about trying to find out exactly what happened.

Along with his best friend Zack Merchant and his girlfriend Michiko Clark, Jason assembles the facts and educated guesses and conjecture to set his mind at ease and find the guilty party.

Who wanted his father dead? Surely it wasn’t business partner George Elsbeth or his son Aaron. Could it have been Brayton Spites – Ted’s fierce competitor – or his redneck son, Bubba? Or was it the vangelical Church of the Sacrificial Lamb, which holds sway upon his mother?

Did his fraternal twin brother Leon have anything to do with it? What was the purpose? To gain control of the Crow’s Nest Steakhouse? Or the family ranch?

Skeletons rattle in the closet as secrets are revealed, until finally, everything starts to converge and things move fast, hurtling to a climactic face-off between friends.

I found a couple of irritating wrong-word choices – composed/comprised, insured/ensured – that should have been caught. But that’s just me.

As the Crow Dies (2011)

Ken Casper

Bell Bridge Books (Paperback, $14.95 list)

ISBN-13: 978-1611940084

Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)

(I recommend starting Mockingjay immediately upon completion of Catching Fire, the second book in Suzanne Collins’ “Hunger Games” series.)

District 12 is no more … it’s gone … burned to the ground in a devastating fire bombing by President Snow and the Capitol. Ninety percent of the population is dead, only around 800 have escaped … to District 13, long thought devoid of any life.

The rebels have united and are rising up against the government of Panem, headquartered in District 13, where the original inhabitants have continued to thrive underground, untouched by the Capitol because of an uneasy truce that spared complete nuclear devastation of the human race.

The District 13 powers that be want two-time Games survivor Katniss Everdeen as the de facto symbol of the uprising, a job she agrees to with certain conditions, the most important of which is the sparing of Peeta Mellark’s life.

President Coriolanus Snow hates her with a passion and uses Peeta to upset and unhinge Katniss. Brought to the Capitol when the 75^th Games were shut down after Katniss and sympathetic allies were able to escape the arena, Peeta is being paraded before the cameras imploring Katniss and the rebels to stop what they’re doing.

One of her first official duties is to visit a hospital in District 8, where victims of fire bombings conducted by Capitol aircraft are being treated. If you can get past the obvious pandering to the reader’s emotions, I guarantee there will be tears in your eyes when you read what she does and how she reacts to the injured.

The rebellion spreads and succeeds to the point where only District 2 – the Capitol’s military base where Peacemakers are trained – remains. Once control is wrested, it’s on to the Capitol, where the fighting and mission is as difficult as any of the Games have been.

Much of the action in Mockingjay, especially in the concluding chapters, is covered extensively through introspection – through Katniss’ thoughts – resulting in monologue summaries, rather than blow-by-blow chronological descriptions. That’s a bit off-putting at times, and gives the impression that Collins just wanted to get the story-telling over with.

That’s probably not true, but it’s the impression I got.

Mockingjay (2010)

Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Press ($17.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0439023511

Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins)

Catching Fire is Suzanne Collins’ second book in the Hunger Games trilogy and picks up right where the first book, The Hunger Games, left off.

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark have returned from their triumphant victory in Panem’s 74^th annual Hunger Games. District 12 hasn’t changed much, after all, it’s only been a few weeks. But as for Katniss and Peeta, things have changed for them.

Peeta is somewhat resentful that Katniss and their mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, had a plan going into the games. They drop the “we are in love” front, taking on a more reserved relationship.

Food and hunger are no longer a problem for them, and their families have moved into better quarters. Katniss and Gale have resumed their hunting, but with Gale now working in the coal mines, their time together is extremely limited. Their relationship also is a bit different.

Meanwhile, Capitol President Snow is seething with anger. Katniss has a target on her back now, and Snow intends to set an example with her. He obviously senses something in the mood of the country and wants to continue trying to suppress it through control of Katniss’ activities.

Following a victory tour midway between the Game just completed and the 75^th Games (the “Quarter Quell” held every 25 years), uprisings begin the districts. The Capitol is obviously hiding what’s really going on – revolution is afoot.

Then, a shocker. An envelope sealed since the Games were initiated is opened, revealing the format of the third Quell – this time, district tributes will be selected from existing winners; one male, one female. There’s no way around it, Katniss must again fight, along with either Peeta or Haymitch. Haymitch’s name is pulled, but Peeta immediately volunteers to take his place.

In a most emotional moment, during Katniss’ nationally televised appearance in her pre-Games interview, she “turns into” a mockingjay, which has become the symbol of the rebellion. But wait! Peeta’s revelation during HIS interview trumps all.

The Games begin, as horrible as ever. The reader is held captive by what transpires, by the hardships. Alliances are formed, and surprises abound. But there is a plan afoot. The mockingjay MUST survive … at all costs.

Now … on to the concluding story – Mockingjay.

Catching Fire (2009)

Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Press ($17.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0439023498

The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

As punishment for a rebellious uprising, the 12 districts in Panem, a country in what used to be known as North America, must each year send one girl and one boy, aged 12 to 18, to participate in what’s known as “the Hunger Games.”

The combatants, called “tributes,” are chosen by lottery then whisked by train to Capitol City, located in an area once known as the Rocky Mountains. There they are trained and fight to the death; the last one standing wins, and is showered with prizes … mostly food, because hunger is the usual state of being outside Capitol City.

District 12 is the eastern-most district, located in what used to be known as Appalachia, where Katniss Everdeen and her best friend and confidante Gale sneak outside the fenced-off town to hunt for and gather food for their families.

Unfortunately, Katniss becomes this year’s female tribute when she volunteers to take the place of her 12-year-old sister, Primrose (“Prim"), who had entered the lottery (“the reaping”) for the first time. A baker’s son, Peeta Mellark, is selected as the boy tribute.

With the help and guidance of Effie Trinket, who has been assigned District 12, and Haymitch Abernathy, one of only two District 12 Hunger Games survivors, Katniss and Peeta prepare for battle – a glamorous opening parade and ceremony, three days of training sessions, a national televised interview, and a ranking by the Gamemakers.

The competition is brutal and bloody, one by one the tributes fall, some killed by others, some killed by the elements, some killed by hunger. But killed, nevertheless. But as we find out at the exciting climax of the Games, they aren’t forgotten.

Friendship finds a place, and Katniss finds an ally, only to suffer unimaginable emotion when things change for the worse, just as the reader experiences a lump in the throat. Then, the rules are changed and she discovers she doesn’t have to kill her fellow District 12 tribute in order to win.

The Hunger Games is a very good read. Written for teens, yet also appealing to adults, the prose is flowing and uncomplicated, and the characters are easy to identify with and care about. It makes you want to read the second book in the trilogy, Catching Fire.

The Hunger Games (2008)

Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Press ($17.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0439023481

Watch Me Die (Lee Goldberg)

Harvey Mapes is a PI wanna-be. When he’s not manning the security booth at the Bel Vista Estates gated community, he reads detective novels and watches old private eye movies on TV. Everything he knows about PI work is from what he’s seen on TV and reading paperbacks.

Cyril Parkus, rich resident and international movie distributor, hires Harvey to follow his wife, Lauren. It turns out she’s being blackmailed by a guy with a thick, bushy mustache.

When Harvey tells Cyril what he’s found out, Cyril is visibly stunned and calls an end to the tail, giving Harvey ten C-notes as a bonus (that’s $1,000 to any of you who don’t watch TV or read paperbacks and don’t know detective lingo).

But, Harvey can’t let go of the case. After all, it’s his first one and although he’d done what he was paid for, he wants to find out (1) who the mustached man is, and (2) what Lauren did to be blackmailed.

Unfortunately, Lauren won’t be able to tell him, because she takes a literal nose dive into freeway traffic. Before jumping, she looks directly at Harvey, as if to say “Watch me die.”

So Harvey heads north to Washington, pursuing the case on his own. It’s dangerous, as he soon finds out, narrowly escaping with his life. But he learns a lot about Lauren, Arlo and Cyril, Information that helps him piece together why things happened the way they did.

Harvey evokes what he’s read in the works of today’s top crime authors. His neighbor/FWB Carol starts working with him as a partner/researcher; they talk over everything he’s learned and think they have everything figured out. And it all makes sense to the reader.

Watch Me Die, once it starts rolling (which is fairly early, actually), is a good read. Author Lee Goldberg creates a pretty good finger-painting of his protagonist, intermingling his adventure with flashes of self-deprecating humor that is sure to elicit chuckles and laughter from the reader.

There’s a nice little twist in the story too.

Watch Me Die (2011)

Lee Goldberg

Adventures in Television (Paperback, $9.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0615499703

Back on Murder (J. Mark Bertrand)

Roland March, a Houston PD Homicide detective, is “invisible” … all his fellow cops avoid him. But he discovers something everybody else had missed at a murder scene, resulting in his being involved in solving the crime.

In the meantime, he has to deal with his wife Charlotte, with whom he’s grown apart over the years. A graduate student (Tommy) is a tenant at their house and has been rather inconsiderate, in Charlotte’s opinion and she wants him evicted. March is not so sure.

March believes there is a connection between a mysterious female who left blood on local loan shark Octavio Morales’ bed at the crime scene, and Hannah Mayhew, a high school girl who has gone missing.

He’s assigned to the Mayhew task force and meets Det. Theresa Cavallo. Together they investigate Hannah’s disappearance, which (it seems) might have a connection with the Morales murder case.

As we march through their investigation, we meet some interesting characters. Like Carter Robb, the youth minister at Cypress County Church, and Joe Thomson – a mysterious cop who frequents the Paragon Bar and has information that will help March put parts of his past to rest. We also learn about Evangeline “Evey” Dyers, Hannah’s friend, who has also gone missing.

Then, just as things are getting interesting, everything falls apart and March is left with no leads what-so-ever. It seems he’s brought it all upon himself. It’s practically a mid-way reset. There are still some connections, but the story moves in a whole new direction.

Of course, little things continue to fall into place, bringing us back to a renewed focus and urgency. Yes, the story’s changed, but the two elements – the Morales murder and Hannah’s disappearance – continue to converge.

Back on Murder involves the reader in a nicely constructed tale of a man finding himself through his work.

I recommend it.

Back on Murder (2010)

J. Mark Bertrand

(Paperback, $14.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0764206375