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The Good Son contains all the elements of a bestseller: well-developed characters, a devilish plot and hairpin turns that keep you guessing and surprised until the very end of the book. Author Michael Gruber (The Book of Air and Shadows, The Witch’s Boy) weaves three stories together, bringing the reader deep into the surroundings and mind of each character as the story plays out.

Writer Sonia Laghari plans a peace-keeping symposium in Pakistan—only to be captured by terrorists. Her many secrets and unusual past make her both feared and hated among her captors and fellow prisoners. Laghari’s son, Theo, is a soldier who exploits his military connections to wage a war of his own and devise a plot to rescue his mother. Back in the United States, Agent Cynthia Lam stumbles on intelligence that the Pakistanis are making nuclear weapons. When she discovers a scam, her aspirations of moving up the ranks at work are compromised.

In The Good Son, Gruber delves into the hot topics of the day—religion, terrorism and big government. Readers will tear through the pages, entranced by the depth of the plots and entertained by the fast pace of the storyline. Gruber’s impeccable research skills are on display here as he captures cultural nuances in descriptions and conversations.

Anyone who enjoys suspense, action, adventure and political thrillers will not be disappointed with The Good Son, which keeps the reader hooked through the end. Consider yourself warned: the story is not resolved until the last few pages.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Mystery

Two sides of tragedy

Review by Kari Edgens

by Kari Edgens

Some writers ease the reader into their story, but Nancy Pickard dives right in with The Scent of Rain and Lightning. By page six, she has set up the framework of her novel and by the end of the first chapter, the reader is hooked on a tale of murder, mystery, family and love.

Jody Linder is infamous in the town of Rose, Kansas. On a dark and stormy night 23 years earlier, someone shot and killed Jody’s father; her mother disappeared and is presumably dead. From that night on, three-year-old Jody Linder was a girl with a story. Now Jody’s three uncles have upsetting news: Billy Crosby, the man convicted of killing her parents, has been released from prison and granted a new trial, thanks to the effort of Billy’s lawyer son, Collin. After years of comfortably living with justice—knowing the man who killed her parents is behind bars—Jody’s world crumbles as everything she has believed is thrown into question.

If anyone can understand the notoriety surrounding Jody, it’s Collin. The same town that coddled Jody treated Collin like a pariah as the two grew up side by side. Despite avoiding each other for their entire lives, Jody and Collin have a connection, and with this new case, Jody begins to see that hers was not the only life affected by this tragedy.

Against the backdrop of a small town like Rose, the reader understands how one event can define both a town and its people’s history. The standout feature of this novel is Pickard’s creation of complex characters that are deeply tied to history and setting. The characters are flawed, possessing feelings that aren’t resolved and struggling with the idea of accepting a new version of the truth. Pickard constructs a puzzle of interlocking events into which, as the story progresses, we slowly see how each character fits. The Scent of Rain and Lightning grabs you from the beginning, and Pickard holds you until the end, keeping you guessing the whole way through.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Mystery

A turning point for Maisie Dobbs

Review by Trisha Ping

by Trisha Ping

Over the course of six novels, a growing number of readers have followed the adventures of Maisie Dobbs, a former nurse turned private investigator in 1930s England. The series’ strength lies in its portrayal of a society turned upside down after the huge losses suffered in World War I and the resulting changes in the class system and the lives of women, who had taken the place of men in the workplace during the war and often had to continue doing so afterwards. Recent installments had become somewhat routine, with little change coming to Maisie’s personal life or monastic Plimco flat—but this seventh outing brings a big payoff, without sacrificing the series’ quiet appeal.

The Mapping of Love and Death finds Maisie facing yet another mystery rooted in the Great War. The remains of Michael Clifton, an American cartographer who leant his skills to the British during the war, have been discovered in a bunker. X-rays show that the young man may not have died with his fellow soldiers when their camp was shelled, and his parents have come to Maisie for answers. Papers found near Michael’s body hint at a love affair with a woman who refers to herself simply as “The English Nurse.” Could she be the key to discovering why someone wanted to kill Michael? Maisie’s search will, as usual, take her back to her past, but this time the journey opens up new paths for the future as she embarks on an unexpected romance and meets with a turning point in her career.

As always, Maisie is an appealing heroine. Strong, intelligent, capable, empathetic—if a bit reserved—she faces threats without flinching and brings healing to her clients. Jacqueline Winspear’s assured writing (she is a Brit who currently lives in California) is as calm and measured as her heroine, and contains subtle touches that give the series its ring of period authenticityThe Mapping of Love and Death will leave Maisie’s many fans eager to see what her next adventure will bring.

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Read an interview with Jacqueline Winspear
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Mystery & Suspense, Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Suspense

Turow, better than ever

Review by Dennis Lythgoe

by Dennis Lythgoe

Not all lawyers are capable of translating legal speak into compelling fiction. One of the remarkable exceptions is Scott Turow, the Harvard-educated attorney and prolific author. In 1987, Turow scored big with his first novel, Presumed Innocent, the suspenseful story of Rusty Sabich, a Midwestern prosecutor who finds himself on trial for the vicious murder of Carolyn Polhemus, a young colleague with whom he had had an affair.

The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for 45 weeks. In 1990, it was translated to film with Harrison Ford starring as Sabich, whose brilliant defense attorney, Sandy Stern, goes head to head with the unglamorous but canny Tommy Molto.

Now, 23 years later, Turow has written Innocent, a long-awaited sequel. Sabich, now 60, chief judge of an appellate court and candidate for the state supreme court, is accused of killing his wife, Barbara, a mathematics scholar. Many of the same characters are back, including Stern, Molto and Sabich’s son, Nat, who was a little boy during the first case. Sabich has engaged in a second affair, this time with a beautiful and witty law clerk 25 years his junior. Anna is not quite “drop dead gorgeous,” but she’s close enough. Sabich can’t believe that such an attractive young woman is on the make for him, and initially he is determined to resist. Not for long. But after several exciting liaisons, Sabich dumps Anna, even though he has fallen deeply in love. Ironically, the broken-hearted Anna later meets Nat, now 28, quite by accident. He is instantly smitten with her, but she is convinced the relationship would be unseemly.

If all of this sounds a little tawdry, be assured that Turow carries it off with skill and flair. The big question is: How will all of this play in the murder trial? The court scenes are riveting, subject to legal twists that keep the reader in constant doubt as to the verdict. Forget the no-sequels rule: Turow is better than ever, especially in the development of his complex characters. And if this one also makes its way to the screen, Harrison Ford is still available.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Mystery

Another humorous, heartfelt Peabody adventure

Review by Tasha Alexander

by Tasha Alexander

Amelia Peabody is back, but this time she’s not returning to Egypt, her usual stomping ground. The 19th installment in this immensely popular series finds Elizabeth Peters’ iconoclast detective in Palestine, where she’s gone with her husband, the famous (and devastatingly handsome) Egyptologist, Radcliffe Emerson, to stop a careless adventurer from wrecking archaeological havoc while searching for the Ark of the Covenant. That would be enough to motivate Amelia to save the day—but there’s concern within the British government that Morley is not just archaeologically inept, but also a German spy.

Amelia’s son, Ramses, is already in Palestine, working on a dig. Before his family can reach him, he’s taken prisoner, caught in the middle of a nefarious scheme involving forgery and international intrigue.

What follows is all those things readers love about Peters’ novels: perfectly paced suspense, biting wit and fascinating tidbits about ancient cultures. It’s a pleasure to dip back into the Emersons’ lives. Instead of continuing their story after World War I, Peters has chosen to cover some more of their “lost years,” this time taking us back to 1910, and it’s a delight to once again see Amelia and Emerson at the peak of their physical prowess (yes, Amelia has prowess), and to see Ramses and his friend (more like a brother), David, honing the skills that will serve them so well in the future.

Peters is well established as a master when it comes to character development, and she takes full opportunity to further flesh out our old friends in this book. Emerson has always viewed religion with more than casual skepticism, and putting him in the Holy Land is a treat for readers. He and Amelia spar about theology in the way only they can—acerbic and humorous all at once. The dialogue between the two is a consistent highlight throughout the series.

Best of all, Peters, with a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, can always be relied on to present readers with an accurate, well-researched view of the historical periods in which she sets her books. She gets every detail right, from archaeological techniques to cultural mores. A River in the Sky is a charming, entertaining read, full of all the good things we expect from Amelia Peabody. Including her infamous steel-tipped parasol.

Tasha Alexander is the author of the Lady Emily Ashton series. She lives in Chicago, unfortunately without a parasol of any sort.

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Mystery & Suspense Suspense

Into the maelstrom of love and war

Review by bookpagedev

by Tim Davis

Brace yourself for a pulse-pounding immersion into the fear, the stench, the horror, the rage and the valor of a Holy War. The Religion transports you to 1565 and delivers you into the frightening maelstrom of combat and the complicated passions of love.

The Islamic forces have begun their siege of Malta, and their grand plan is nothing less than the conquest of the world. The Christian stronghold is protected by the Knights of St. John, and they know what’s at stake: the destiny of mankind for all eternity. Calling themselves the Religion, the knights defend Malta the strategic key to Europe with a profound, spiritual fervor. For the knights, war is God’s blessing, a manifestation of divine will. As the battle unfolds, the indefatigable defenders, outnumbered 10 to one, will go beyond knowing God. They will discover that war makes men mad, and a select few will also discover that love makes them madder still.

Key figures in screenwriter and novelist Tim Willocks’ epic, fiendishly insightful novel include Mattias Tannhauser, the blood-stained veteran of the most ferocious infantry of the world, now a successful businessman whose loyalties are dangerously divided; Carla, the sensual countess who must suddenly confront the love and shame of her secret past; and Ludovico Ludovici, the treacherous Inquisitor whose subtlety and duplicity are exceeded only by his absolute trust in his God.

Beginning with the most frightening scene in contemporary fiction, The Religion goes on to become a fast-paced, stomach-churning depiction of the sublime beauty and grotesque brutality of a religious war the apotheosis of power, fear and faith yet through it all, something strange and wonderful survives: the exquisite resilience of the human spirit. The narrative is exuberant and extravagant. The imagery is luminous and visceral. The Religion is magnificent, passionate, terrifying and in 2007 profoundly relevant. Don’t miss it! Tim Davis teaches literature at the University of West Florida.

Mystery & Suspense, Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Suspense

Avenging a sister’s death

Review by Leslie Budewitz

by Leslie Budewitz

In Erin Hart’s much-welcome third mystery, False Mermaid, pathologist Nora Gavin feels compelled to return to the States to investigate the five-year-old murder of her younger sister, Triona. It was Nora’s despair over that death, and her inability to pin it on Triona’s husband, Peter Hallett, that drove Nora to return to Ireland, her childhood home. Now Peter is remarrying, and Nora is determined—driven—to prove his guilt, even though it means temporarily leaving Irish archaeologist Cormac Maguire and their deepening relationship.

In Minnesota, Nora reconnects with Detective Frank Cordova, the original investigator still plagued by both the cold case and his interest—unrequited—in Nora. Cordova is as willing as she to focus on Peter, and as frustrated by their failure to link him to the murder. Wanting to prove her theory, and protect her niece Elizabeth, now 11, Nora pleads with Peter’s new wife to see what she is getting into. She is met with icy refusal and the same accusations Peter levels: that crazy Nora is still after him. Worse, the pair insist that Nora did not really know her younger sister, and that Triona’s own risky behavior led to her death.

But when another woman’s body is found, in the riverside park where Triona often ran and where evidence suggests she was killed, Nora believes Peter has struck again. Through her expertise in bog bodies—the remains are preserved in Ireland’s ancient bogs—and her contacts in the forensic community, Nora discovers the reverse: whoever the killer was, Triona was not the first victim. Working with Frank to review evidence old and new, Nora gets closer than ever to the proof she craves—and is led back to Ireland, where the old legend of the selkie might cast light on her sister’s death.

Erin Hart’s Haunted Ground (2003) was nominated for an Agatha and an Anthony for Best First Novel. Once again, Irish music, myth and history are integral to setting, character and even plot. The reader will find herself almost believing, along with Elizabeth and Triona, in the ancient stories of the selkies, humans on land and seals in the sea.

Leslie Budewitz sometimes sings Irish folk songs in her car while driving around western Montana.

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Mystery & Suspense Suspense

Something rich and strange

Review by bookpagedev

by Tim Davis

In a comic thriller written with remarkable flair, successful author Michael Gruber (Valley of Bones) serves up an elaborately layered and devilishly detailed masterpiece in The Book of Air and Shadows. The plot revolves around an intriguing quest: the modern-day search for an unknown, unpublished and hidden play by William Shakespeare. Action begins with the discovery of a 17th-century letter along with a baffling coded message that had been hidden in the binding of an 18th-century book. An oddball cast of quirky characters sets off in search of what seems to be a controversial Shakespearean historical drama that would have changed the course of English history (and the monarchy) if it had been discovered by Shakespeare’s contemporaries.

The dramatis personae of Gruber’s tour-de-force adventure include Jack Mishkin, an intellectual property lawyer (and weight-lifting Lothario with plenty of family problems), two bookstore clerks (Albert Crosetti, an aspiring Roman Polanski without much of a love life, and Carolyn Rolly, a dead ringer for Brigid O’Shaughnessy of Maltese Falcon fame), a couple of corduroy-clad Shakespearean scholars, a handful of NYC immigrant gangsters and more than a few unconventional family members. Filled with laugh-out-loud humor and meta-fictional satire, Gruber’s literate novel intricately recursive and richly allusive in its innovative narration adroitly conflates the truths and lies of the human comedy; in fact, throughout The Book of Air and Shadows, Gruber wryly deconstructs the strange ways in which we deceive ourselves into believing things that are (and perhaps ought to remain) unbelievable. Not since A.S. Byatt’s Possession (1990) has an author so successfully combined literary puzzle, tempestuous duplicity, human adventure and good old-fashioned story-telling. Gruber’s highly recommended novel about the search for that which would be the greatest single event in Shakespeare studies a quest full of chases, murders, mysteries and eccentric characters is engaging, fast-moving and hilarious. Don’t miss it! Tim Davis teaches literature at the University of West Florida.

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Mystery & Suspense Mystery

Revenge and redemption

Review by Michael Alec Rose

by Michael Alec Rose

Too much historical fiction relies on the tragedy of history’s grand sweep overwhelming little lives. Instead, Robert Goddard flips the switch and subordinates historical events to the fates of his protagonists in Long Time Coming. Governments and armies may determine history; but Goddard keeps firmly in our minds that it is individuals who suffer and occasionally even survive it. Humphrey Bogart’s famously ironic “hill of beans” line in Casablanca comes to mind. Goddard’s heroes and villains in Long Time Coming may not be quite as colorful in their parting shots, but they are every bit as compelling.

In this case, the war is World War II, the place London (and later, Antwerp), the time shifting between 1940 and 1976. Two disturbing historical facts set the scene: First, Ireland remained stubbornly neutral during the war; and second, in the years leading up to the war, a handful of Belgian merchants—mainly Jewish—made a killing (the wording is, alas, all too accurate) from the brutal diamond mines in the Congo. The historical data in question would be easy fodder for (respectively) anti-Irish sentiment and anti-Semitism, as they are at certain points in this novel. But the author refuses to make his complex case pliable to any straightforward ethical assessment. Goddard cares only for how this particular person experiences this crisis and is transformed or destroyed by it, according to character and luck.

The Englishman Eldritch Swan—long thought dead—spent 36 years in an Irish prison. Now he and his nephew Stephen must find proof that a set of Picassos was forged. Why is this eccentric undertaking so crucial? How do private passions give meaning to the enormities of history? Shakespeare knew the answer. So did Dickens and Conrad. Now the knowledge has passed to fearless weavers of intimate histories like Robert Goddard.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Mystery

More dark fun with Flavia

Review by Arlene McKanic

by Arlene McKanic

“But Flavia can’t be dead!” this reviewer thought as she read the first page of Alan Bradley’s latest novel starring the 11-year-old sleuth-cum-toxicologist, Flavia de Luce. Further reading reveals that of course she’s not dead, but only pretending to be. Like any other lonely and somewhat neglected child, Flavia wonders what her hateful sisters and distracted, widowed father would make of her death. Her conclusion: not much.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag picks up where 2009’s The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pieleft off, and like the first book, this one mines the vein of human sadness that exists alongside the fun and skullduggery. Along with Flavia’s isolation—she may not be the only living child in Bishop’s Lacey, but it feels like she is—Bradley’s far-reaching examination of the consequences of terrible grief and guilt add depth and poignancy to the book.

As Flavia lies in the cemetery contemplating her own demise, she hears weeping and goes to find a woman, Nialla, stretched out on a nearby grave. She turns out to be the assistant of Rupert Porson, a famous puppet master. He’s also a brute, especially to his many lovers, of whom Nialla is the latest. Soon there’s a murder at one of the puppet shows Porson puts on for the town, and Flavia goes to work, armed only with her chemistry set, her beat-up old bicycle and her preternatural intelligence.

It’s almost as if the Flavia books are the reminiscences of an eccentric pensioner, for it’s hard to see even a brilliant 11-year-old fully understanding all the grown-up tribulations (adultery, among other things) she encounters in the crimes she solves. But there’s also humor, as when Flavia injects a box of chocolates with swamp gas to show up her sister, or in the amazement of the town police when they find—again!—that she’s one step ahead of them. It’s both the humor and the pathos that keep Flavia from being annoying and unbelievable, like Charles Wallace Murry, the smugly infallible boy genius from Madeleine L’Engle’s classic, A Wrinkle in Time.

The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag, for all its tragedy, is still a delight from the inimitable Alan Bradley.

Arlene McKanic writes from Jamaica, New York.

Mystery & Suspense, Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Suspense

Dark secrets on a Scottish isle

Review by bookpagedev

by Harvey Freedenberg

British mystery and thriller writer Mo Hayder (The Devil of Nanking) will please her growing body of fans with this latest novel, her fourth. It’s a book best read on a night when the wind howls and the rain lashes against the windows. Just be sure the doors are locked.

Joe Oakes, a journalist whose specialty is debunking hoaxes, is summoned to Pig Island, off the coast of Scotland, by the members of a religious cult known as the Psychogenic Healing Ministries, to calm the uproar caused by a video of a half-human, half-animal creature cavorting on the island’s beach and rumors about the practice of satanic rituals there. When Oakes encounters the PHM members, he finds a seemingly benign, if slightly furtive, group of voluntary exiles from conventional society. But the group lives in fear of its charismatic founder, Malachi Dove, who’s fled to the other half of the island to live in grim isolation, walled off from his former followers by a line of pig skulls, an electrified fence and chemical waste drums.

Not satisfied with the evasive explanations for Dove’s frightening behavior offered by the island’s inhabitants, Joe sets off to find the truth. His investigation leads indirectly to a horrific act that devastates the PHM community and to the discovery of Dove’s daughter, Angeline, who is afflicted by a bizarre congenital deformity. With Angeline in tow, Joe flees to the mainland, where his troubled wife, Lexie, who narrates a significant portion of the novel in counterpoint to Joe, has been awaiting his return. From that point on, the novel recounts the heart-pounding race between the authorities who are trying to bring Dove to justice for the crimes they believe he’s committed and the deranged killer. Pig Island is not a book for the squeamish, but it’s one that will keep readers turning the pages until the horrifying mysteries of the island ultimately are unraveled.

Harvey Freedenberg writes from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

British mystery and thriller writer Mo Hayder (The Devil of Nanking) will please her growing body of fans with this latest novel, her fourth. It's a book best read on a night when the wind howls and the rain lashes against the windows. Just be…

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Mystery

A dog’s eye view

Review by Rusty McDaniel

by Rusty McDaniel

Call me Rusty.

BookPage (or rather, a certain BookPage writer) asked me to review the second in Spencer Quinn’s Chet and Bernie mystery series. I’d rather be a pirate (B’arrrrrrrgh!), but the book was written by Chet, a dog, and deserves the attention of the author’s peers. So, being “one of my guys,” as Chet puts it, I’m happy to lend a paw.

To begin with, this book looks good and smells good. (Chews well, too, though a little pulpy in the middle.) Chet, a dog of an unrecognizable breed, works alongside his godlike human, Bernie Little, Private Investigator. They check out a mysterious case of dognapping, involving a “tiny fluffball” named Princess. Princess came to town for the Great Western Dog Show and disappeared somewhere into the dry gulches and canyons—along with her ill-fated owner, an Italian contessa, and Suzie, Bernie’s girlfriend.

Details are sometimes hazy, but Chet is more observant than your average dog. (Present company excluded.) His soliloquies often involve taking human metaphors literally, as in pondering the connection of poles to Polish sausage.

Life is always great for Chet, as for all of us dogs, so don’t expect any noir here. But he is not unphilosophical—“whatever that is,” as he often says modestly. Dogito ergo sum (“I am a dog, therefore I am”) appears to be his ruling concept, though not in so many words, of course. I did notice that he can’t seem to bark Latin. So few dogs, ahem, can.

Any reader with a nose for nastiness may sniff out the perp early on, but the real fun is in Chet’s take on humans and their world. He’s not above expressing his amazement at the many ways in which dogs are superior (hearing, smelling, etc.). Still, he retains an unqualified love for his human, and he expresses universal truths eloquently—like the superiority of bacon chew strips over other forms of entertainment.

Great job. Good Spencer.

Rusty lives with his owner, Maude McDaniel, in Cumberland, Maryland.

Call me Rusty.

Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Mystery

Medieval crime scene investigations

Review by bookpagedev

by Iris Blasi

Four children turn up murdered in 12th-century Cambridge, England, and the restless Catholic townspeople immediately pin the blame on local Jews. As the Jews flee to the safety of the castle, King Henry II seeking the truth as much as the return of his Jewish citizens to their tax-paying status hires a highly recommended investigator from the Salerno School of Medicine in Sicily to uncover the true killer. Enter Adelia, the so-called mistress of the art of death, who is not at all what Henry had been expecting. Whereas in Sicily, women attend medical school (Adelia studied a rudimentary form of forensic science, dissecting dead pigs in a Salerno lab), in England a female doctor would be labeled a witch. Adelia must keep her real identity under wraps, posing as the assistant to her own Muslim manservant while he acts as the doctor. Meanwhile, Adelia sets about her real work, mining the bodies of the murdered children for clues about their killer. Her task is made no easier by the fact that everyone is a suspect, including the handsome tax collector, Sir Rowley, whom the previously nun-like Adelia seems to be falling for. An overly formal narrative voice makes for a slow start, as antiquated speech and archaic vocabulary provide multiple stumbling blocks for readers trying to orient themselves in the medieval landscape. Those who trudge through the stilted first quarter of the book, however, will be handsomely rewarded for their efforts. Author Ariana Franklin’s in-depth research (she is the author of historical novels and biographies under her real name, Diana Norman) produces a gripping narrative with meticulous detail about everything from the topography of Cambridge to race relations to medical conventions of the era. The issue of religious warfare strikes a particularly modern chord. When Adelia asks Rowley just what the Crusades are achieving, he responds, They’re inspiring such a hatred amongst Arabs who used to hate each other that they’re combining the greatest force against Christianity the world has ever seen. It’s called Islam. Iris Blasi is a writer in New York City.