Prime Suspect

Richard Jury (Sleuth)

  

Martha Grimes 22nd Richard Jury Mystery THE BLACK CAT hit bookstores today. Like all previous Richard Jury Mysteries, THE BLACK CAT is the name of an actual pub in the UK.

In THE BLACK CAT, Detective Superintendent Jury of Scotland Yard intrudes on the turf of the Thames Valley police to investigate the death of an escort at the Black Cat pub. Along for the ride is Jury's aristocratic friend Melrose Plant and a menagerie of talking cats and dogs that have overpopulated Martha's books lately.

I have enjoyed this series from the beginning. But lately I've been less than thrilled with the novels. They are beginning to feel like they are trapped in an earlier time before modern forensic science and when amateur/civilian friends would help Scotland Yard solve a case. To borrow a British phrase, the books are becoming rather twee.

 

Richard Jury Mysteries

1. The Man with a Load of Mischief (1981)
2. The Old Fox Deceiv'd (1982)
3. The Anodyne Necklace (1983)
4. The Dirty Duck (1984)
5. The Jerusalem Inn (1984)
6. Help the Poor Struggler (1985)
7. Deer Leap (1985)
8. I am the Only Running Footman (1986)
9. The Five Bells and Bladebone (1987)
10. The Old Silent (1989)
11. The Old Contemptibles (1991)
12. The Horse You Came In On (1993)
13. Rainbow's End (1995)
14. The Case Has Altered (1997)
15. The Stargazey (1998)
16. The Lamorna Wink (1999)
17. The Blue Last (2001)
18. The Grave Maurice (2002)
19. The Winds of Change (2004)
20. The Old Wine Shades (2006)
21. Dust (2007)
22. The Black Cat (2010)

Publishers:

• Little, Brown, Boston. (1981-1991)
• Alfred A. Knopf, New York. (1993-1997)
• Viking Penguin, New York. (1998-Present)

Once A Spy (Review)

   

I just finished Once A Spy by Keith Thomson. The spy/thriller is the story of a 30 year old deadbeat gambling addict son who finds out that his Alzheimer-suffering father was one of the CIA's most legendary spies. When Drummond is targeted by a shadowy group in the CIA (are they the good guys? the bad guys? are they really CIA?) who wants him dead because they fear that he may blurt out secrets that would do untold damage, Charlie and Drummond go on the run.

Charlie nonchalantly takes this all in stride. After all, Charlie is already being hunted by the Russian Mafia for an unpaid gambling debt, so it's not much of a step to being targeted by professional assassins that aren't very good at their job if a civilian and a senior citizen with Alzheimer's can elude them quite easily. Even when something HUGE happens, Charlie sort of just shrugs it off.

As for Drummond, he goes in and out of lucid moments and it's hard to tell if he is faking his alzheimer's disease in order to fool the enemy.

The novel is darkly humorous. Thomson has fun playing with the conventions of the spy/thriller genre. But with the setup offered here, the story should have stayed within the land of the believable. Instead, we quickly go to the improbable with plot twists and gadgets straight out of the worst James Bond films (such as a Dr. Mengele-like torturer, the villain's secret island compound, underground secret laboratories, a sinister washing machine, and a nursing home for retired spies). 

The relationship between Chalie and Drummond is what holds the story together. It is bittersweet because as we see Charlie get closer and closer to his father, we also see Drummond retreating farther and farther into his disease. There's also a half-hearted attempt at a romantic storyline between Charlie and an NSA spy that doesn't really gel.

Overall, it was a fun story while I was reading it. But trying to mix a poignant father/son story against an improbable spy/thriller filled with mobsters, double agents, and complex fight scenes, just doesn't work.

Cara Black (Author)

 

Cara Black writes a thrilling crime series set in Paris in the 1990s. Her sleuth is a private investigator and computer security expert named Aimee Leduc. Aimee along with her partner, a dwarf named Rene, solve murders and kidnappings and other crimes in the seedier neighborhoods of Paris. Each novel takes place in a different section of Paris's 20 arrondissements. She expertly weaves the mystery with the history of the neighborhood and its current multicultural character. The stories are firmly set in the 1990s and deal with issues like immigration, terrorism, the legacy of Nazism in Paris from WWII, and even the death of Princess Diana. These too are woven into Cara's mysteries to make them grander and give a more universal scope to her novels.

Cara's 10th Aimee Leduc Mystery, Murder in the Palais Royal, was published on March 1, 2010. I am in the middle of reading #5 Murder in Clichy.

I have to confess, I always thought Cara Black was a resident of Paris. Her knowledge and description of the City of Lights is so detailed, I thought only a native could write like this. But, no. Cara lives in one of my other favorite cities, San Francisco. However, she visits Paris frequently on research trips (one of the joys of being a writer!).

Cara Black is a featured author at the Tucson Festival of Books this weekend in my hometown. She along with Libby Fischer Hellmann, Shilpa Agarwal, and Suzanne Arruda will discuss mystery writing in foreign lands in a forum called "Other Countries, Other Crimes." On Sunday, Cara and Libby will talk about the emergence of the female private investigator in mysteries in a forum called "Good Girls and Bad Guys."

Visit Cara Blacks website for much more on Aimee Leduc, Paris, and her book tour. http://www.carablack.com/

Aimee Leduc Mysteries

1. Murder in the Marais (1998)
2. Murder in Belleville (2000)
3. Murder in the Sentier (2002)
4. Murder in the Bastille (2003)
5. Murder in Clichy (2004)
6. Murder in Montmarte (2005)
7. Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis (2007)
8. Murder in the Rue de Paradis (2008)
9. Murder in the Latin Quarter (2009)
10. Murder in the Palais Royal (2010)

Publishers:

• Soho Press, New York

www.sohopress.com

Bowen, Rhys (Author)

 

Rhys Bowen is the nom de plume Janet Quin-Harkin uses when writing her mystery series. Her most current mystery, The Last Illusion, was just published this month. It is the 9th novel in the Molly Murphy Mysteries.

The multiple award winning author writes three mystery series: 

The Molly Murphy Mysteries feature an independent, forthright Irish immigrant in turn of the century (20th) New York. She starts her own detective agency, a bold move for a woman at that time. She soon finds herself trying to navigate her way through every level of New York society in search of murderers and other villains. Each novel focuses on on familiar themes of the era: the plight of immigrants, horrible sweatshops, fraudulent spiritualists, and woman's suffrage, to name a few. Molly has an on-again, off-again relationship with a high society police detective named Daniel Sullivan that adds a touch of romance to the mysteries.

1. Murphy's Law (2001)
2. Death of Riley (2002)
3. For the Love of Mike (2003)
4. In Like Flynn (2005)
5. Oh Danny Boy (2006)
6. In Dublin's Fair City (2007)
7. Tell Me Pretty Maiden (2008)
8. In a Gilded Cage (2009)
9. The Last Illusion (2010)

The Constable Evans Mysteries take place in modern day Wales. The village of Llanfair is as picturesque as a village one could hope for in mysteries. Filled with oddballs, family feuds lasting generations, jealousies approaching the boiling point, a kind-hearted constable, Evan Evans, to solve the mysteries and a pretty school teacher, Bronwen Price, to steal Evan's heart. The mysteries are short and funny while at the same time deal with modern societal problems like drug abuse and arranged marriages. After writing 10 books in this series, it is currently in hiatus according to Rhys's website.

1. Evans Above (1997)
2. Evan Help Us (1998)
3. Evanly Choirs (1999)
4. Evan & Elle (2000)
5. Evan Can Wait (2001)
6. Evans to Betsy (2002)
7. Evan Only Knows (2003)
8. Evan's Gate (2004)
9. Evan Blessed (2005)
10. Evanly Bodies (2006)

The Royal Spyness Mysteries is Rhys's newest series. It features Lady Victoria Georgiana Charlotte Eugenie Rannoch, a distant cousin to King George V of England. The year is 1932 and Lady Georgie (as she's known to friends and family) finds herself in London, penniless and without servants! But she is no shrinking violet. Lady Georgie comes up with a crazy plan to make money: Clean and prepare London townhomes for the aristocracy when then come to town for the Season. Her escapades are quickly discovered by Her Majesty Queen Mary (of Teck) who asks Lady Georgie to use her proximity to these aristocrats to solve some minor mysteries and squash any scandal. The mysteries poke fun at the mystery conventions while adding derring-do and romance to mix.

1. Her Royal Spyness Solves Her First Case (2007)
2. A Royal Pain (2008)
3. Royal Flush (2009)

You can read more about Rhys Bowen and her series at www.rhysbowen.com .

Publishers:

• Minotaur Books, Macmillan, New York.
• Berkley, Penguin Group, New York.

Rimington, Stella (Author)

 

At Risk is a fast-paced thriller hitting on every global hot topic. Written by Stella Rimington, the former head of UK’s MI5 (the internal security force), the story takes us from the desolate borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan to the desolate marsh lands of Norfolk, England as we follow two terrorists as they execute their plan to blow up a target in England.

MI5 Agent Liz Carlyle is in charge of the counter-terrorism investigation. She’s smart, devoted, and strong. She is able to collate disparate chatter into a firm conclusion that the terrorists have made their way into the country. With each new piece of information, it is fascinating to see how the security forces work together (and at times against each other) in order to stop a terrorist attack. Rimington admits that Liz is mostly autobiographical. As a reader, it is nice to know that what we are reading is (most likely) what really happens – mistakes and all.

The story is filled with many great characters including the slimy MI6 Agent Mackay, the Englishwoman turned Islamic Jihadist, and Wetherby, Liz’s surprisingly kindly boss. Even smaller characters are well developed. Particularly Denzil Parrish, a quiet, shy college kid who hates to admit he likes birdwatching because he thinks it might hurt his chances with the ladies.

In Secret Asset, after recovering from her last case (you have to read At Risk to find out what I mean), Liz gets information from her informant that there is a new terror attack in the works. But before she gets involved in following up on the info, she is given a new assignment and a new partner. The partner is a young go-getter named Peggy Kinsolver and the assignment is to find an IRA mole working for MI5. While working the case, Liz realizes that she has to uncover the mole fast because what she really needs to be doing is stopping the terror threat that is spiralling out of control.

This book is more polished than the first which is good. Fascinating tidbits about spycraft and memorable characters are also plusses. On the downside, it is also a little too much “inside baseball” which is bad.

Illegal Action Liz is given a simple assignment: infiltrate a Russian billionaire’s household and make sure he isn’t assassinated by the Russian government. This plot is based on a true “ripped from the headlines” story: Alexander Litvinenko, an real ex-Russian agent and a fierce critic of Putin was poisoned in London. Once Liz gets into the house, she soon finds that her job isn’t going to be that simple. Everyone, it seems, in the house isn’t who they say they are. So Liz along with her team do lots of intelligence gathering. Liz finds the assignment sort of boring and lets her guard down, which almost gets her killed.

But in the end, Liz and her team (well, almost all of her team) are successful in keeping their Russian alive. But was that the real assignment? Or was it all a ruse (pun intended) for something even more villainous? You’ll have to read it to see.

Stella gives us lots of interesting insights into the sometimes monotonous assignments that MI5 agents must contend with. But she has a way of making the most boring surveillance or information gathering seem so fascinating and suspenseful. Much improved writing and plotting in her third outing.

Liz Carlyle MI5 Spy Novels

1. At Risk (2004)
2. Secret Asset (2007)
3. Illegal Action (2008)
4. Dead Line (2008/UK, 2010/US)
5. Present Danger (2009/UK, ????/US)

Publishers:

• Hutchinson, Random House UK, London. (2004-2008)
• Quercus, London. (Current)
• Knopf, Random House, New York.