Death games by Michael Jahn

In ten words or less: Mysterious hitwoman is taking out Mafia mobsters; Donovan wonders why.

Review: A beautiful hit woman is taking out mobsters with a Civil War pisstol, and Bill Donovan, NYPD, is on her trail. She's a race horse owner who is settling a score--but what is the connection between the uppercrust horsewoman and the Mafia hoods? On hand are Donovan's on-again, off-again lover, Sgt. Marcia Barnes; Donovan's assistant, T.L. Jefferson, the regulars at Riley's Saloon, and Clint, the snapping turtle.

Why bother? Donovan takes the reader through the streets of New York, adding lots of local color to a solid murder mystery.

BOOK REVIEW

Road dogs by Elmore Leonard

In ten words or less: Jack Foley is back. Will he give up robbing banks?

Review: Jack Foley, the "Sweetheart Bank Robber," is released from prison, where he has spent the last three years with Cuban criminal Cundo Rey. Cundo pays for a lawyer for Foley, who gets his sentence reduced, and agrees to wait in Venice Beach, CA., for Cundo, due to be released shortly.
Also waiting for Cundo is Dawn Navarro, his wife of eight years and a professional psychic. When she meets Foley, she discovers the perfect partner for her scam to relieve Cundo of all his money. Can Dawn trust Jack? Does Jack trust Dawn? And does Cundo trust either one of them?

Why bother? A fast, funny read that unites characters from three of Leonard's previous books.

BOOK REVIEW

Murder in Central Park by Michael Jahn

In ten words or less: Body discovered in Central Park; many suspects, no alibis.

Review: NYPD Captain Bill Donovan is invited to spend a night high up in a tree in Central Park. His neighbor, a scientist who studies crows, goes for a walk in the middle of the night, and when they descend from the tree in the morning, a crow is picking on a corpse.
Donovan's friend swears he's innocent. But the friend's son, the girlfriend, the girlfriend's father (a reclusive poet of note), a rollerskating pickpockets, and a rival scientist all have motives.
Donovan's boss wants him to wrap up the case quickly, before the big Earth Day celebration. His wife, retired police sergeant Marcy Barnes, wants him to quit his overnight stakeouts in the park.

Why bother? A solid police procedural, with lots of Big Apple atmosphere.

Whiskey and water by Nina Wright

In ten words or less: Whacky dogs and townsfolk complicate Whiskey's life.

Review: Real estate agent Whiskey Mattimoe's life is spinning out of control. Her incorragible Afghan hound Abra is causing trouble among the other residents of this small, upscale Michigan resort town. Three men are interested in her--newcomer MacArthur, a hunky Scotsman and potential new employee, self-help author Fenton Flagg, and her ex-husband Jeb Halloran, a musician who woos her by playing covers of Barenaked Ladies' songs.
When a young tenant of Whiskey's is found dead on the beach, everyone presumes she was caught in a riptide. But what happened to the small children she was caring for?
The book is crammed full of whacky characters--a mayor returned from the dead, a computer guru who controls a vast financial empire, a pack of neurotic dogs, an oldeer-than-his-years middle schooler, and more.

Why bother? Whiskey is an incompetant pet owner and a neglectful step-parent. All the eccentric characters are hard to keep straight, and the plot gets lost along the way. I assume the dogs' and kids trials were meant to be funny, but they were just sad.

August’s Books

In "The day my dogs became guys" by Merrill Markoe, a solar eclipse makes Carey's dogs turn into people. Butch, Dee Dee, and Ed raid the kitchen, and chase cars and squirrels. Eric Brace's illustrations are wonderfully wacky and Merrill Markoe's story brings the trio of hungry dogs to life. Fun for kids and adults.

Person of interest by Theresa Schwegel
China trade by S.J. Rozan
State of the onion by Julie Hyzy
The day my dog became guys by Merrill Markoe
The first quarry by Max Allan Collins
Brass verdict by Michael Connelly
500 things to eat before it’s too late by Jane and Michael Stern
Concourse by S.J. Rozan
Mandarin plaid by S.J. Rozan
Whiskey and water by Nina Wright
No colder place by S.J. Rozan
A bitter feast by S.J. Rozan
Death wore white by Jim Kelly
Stone quarry by S.J. Rozan
Get real by Donald Westlake
Last known address by Theresa Schwegel
Life is good by Trixie Koontz
Chasing the bear by Robert B. Parker
American eats! By Pat Willard
American sea writing: a literary anthology
Reflecting the sky by S.J. Rozan

Casualty crossing by Kevin Hughes
In ten words or less: Police officer advocates for a runaway boy who won't talk.

Review: Toby Jenkins, known as TJ, is on the verge of losing his job at the Madison Police Department. His ex-wife, a lawyer, isn't contributing to his peace of mind, either. When a thirteen-year-old runaway turns up in a Madison hospital, beaten and claiming not to remember anything, TJ investigates. As he gains the boy's trust, he discovers the boy was abused by his stepfather. The author is a former Dane County Sheriff's Department detective.

Why bother? The boy's story is more interesting than that of TJ, a hothead with an adolescent attitude toward his work and ex-wife.

China Trade by S.J. Rozan

In ten words or less: Asian-American investigator Lydia searches for stolen porcelains in Chinatown.

Review: An expensive gift of porcelain is stolen from the Chinatown Museum, and Chinese-American private investigator Lydia chin is hired to look into the theft. She is young, smart, and tough, and lives with her traditional mother, who fears that her daughter will never find a husband until she finds a more suitable career for a woman.
The porcelains are a gift from a reclusive collector; not many people knew they were stored in the Museum’s basement. Is it a gang-related crime? Or is a professor charged with inventorying the collection covering up insurance fraud?
Lydia’s partner, Bill Smith, is attracted to her, but her mother calls him the “white devil.” Lydia tries to sort out her feelings toward him as they discover a body in another museum, and set up a meet with a gang leader.

Why bother? Lydia is fiercely independent yet loyal to her family and community. Chinatown provides an intriguing setting for a mystery, and the reader wants to find out where the relationship between Lydia and Bill is heading. I’m getting the next in the series this week.