tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16241956230414200242024-03-13T23:17:34.685-07:00LJ's Mystery Reviews - It Is Purely My OpinionLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.comBlogger991125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-6328039733273813352023-08-14T13:23:00.000-07:002023-08-14T13:23:18.379-07:00Code of the Hills by Chris OffuttFirst Sentence: Janice drove slowly to avoid jostling the plastic container of food on the floor behind her seat.Mick Harden, newly retired from the military, is back in Rocksalt, Kentucky. While his sister, the town’s sheriff, is recovering from a gunshot wound, Mick, a former CID investigator, is deputized in order to solve the case on which she was working, and to find out who shotLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-45575671531961067442023-08-07T14:25:00.000-07:002023-08-07T14:25:17.296-07:00Shutter by Ramona EmersonFirst Sentence: Souls don’t scatter like the rest of the body.Rita Todachene is a forensic photographer whose precise crime scene photographs have helped solve cases. She also sees and hears the ghosts of those who have died. While photographing a supposed suicide, the ghost of the victim latches on to Rita and won’t let go. Insisting she was murdered; the ghost demands Rita expose the killer whoLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-90997194586026249302023-07-17T15:30:00.001-07:002023-08-07T14:26:12.505-07:00The Dead Will Rise by Chris NicksonFirst Sentence: It was a
balmy evening for early spring; after ten and still a faint, lingering hint of
warmth in the air.
Joseph Clark is a wealthy
engineer. After discovering the buried
body of his employer's beloved daughter, Catherine Jordan, has been stolen, he
hires thief-taker Simon Westow and his team to find the men. Simon discovers
there is a gang of body snatchers who have stolen LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-54111834525801498382023-06-13T12:59:00.001-07:002023-06-13T13:08:47.495-07:00George Easter's list of Police Procedurals (and I helped)I love police procedurals! Here is a list compiled by George Easter, publisher of Deadly Pleasures Online Mystery Magazine, to which I am a proud contributor. I was honored that he ask for my input to the list. We may disagree on the ranking of a few, but it's a great list.=======George’s Top (Favorite) 25 Current Police Procedural/Detection SeriesMichael Connelly’s Renee Ballard/Harry Bosch LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-16874820089359189552023-02-28T16:53:00.000-08:002023-02-28T16:53:25.103-08:00Murder in the Eternal City by Ashley GardnerFirst Sentence: The first English Person I encountered as I wandered the vast city of Rome in February of 1820 was a man I already knew.Captain Gabriel Lacey, and his loyal bodyguard Brewster, are in Rome with Lord Grenville. He has been commissioned by James Denis, criminal overlord of London, to obtain a small marble statue while he is there. In the process, he encounters a man he thought to beLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-81804760237582843052023-02-14T15:04:00.002-08:002023-02-14T15:04:54.564-08:00The Overnight Guest by Heather GudenkaufFirst Sentence: On August 12, 2000, Abby Morris, out of breath with sweat trickling down her temple, was hurrying down the gray ribbon of gravel road for her nightly walk.Crime writer Wylie Lark is snowed in at the farmhouse where she retreated to write. The setting is perfect as two decades earlier, two people were murdered there, and a girl disappeared. What she doesn’t expect is to find a LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-88521155025523582652023-01-31T14:47:00.000-08:002023-01-31T14:47:22.159-08:00Things We Do In the Dark by Jennifer Hiller First Sentence: There’s a time and place for erect nipples, but the back of a Seattle police car definitely isn’t it.Paris Peralta’s husband has been murdered. Covered in blood, and holding a straight razor, she is immediately arrested. Her greatest fear is that the media attention will result in Paris’ true identity and past being exposed by her mother, Ruby Reyes, who is in prison for a similarLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-81759131390699709572023-01-23T12:22:00.000-08:002023-01-23T12:22:22.889-08:00The Bookstore Sisters by Alice HoffmanFirst Sentence: The letter to Isabel Gibson arrived on a Tuesday, which had always been the unluckiest day of the week.Isabel Gibson had left Brinkley’s Island, Maine, far behind and is now living in New York City. Her parents are dead, the family bookstore is nearly bankrupt, and she has broken completely from her sister, Sophie. Still, she can’t ignore the letter which draws her back to the LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-456724017689600172022-12-13T17:26:00.000-08:002022-12-13T17:26:47.899-08:00Fox Creek by William Kent Krueger First Sentence: It’s after the lunch rush, and the man at the window
orders a Sam’s Special, large fries, and a chocolate shake, a pretty standard
request.Henry Meloux, an ancient Ojibway healer, has had visions of his own
death. Dolores Morriseau has come to Henry for solace and advice.
Cork O’Connor’s wife, and Henry’s niece, Rainy, agree to assist Henry and Dolores. AllLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-23251955655093470662022-12-05T12:39:00.000-08:002022-12-05T12:39:39.259-08:00Shifty's Boys by Chris OffuttFirst Sentence: At age eight, Albin decided to be a race-car
driver when he grew up.Mick Hardin’s life isn’t going well. He is on medical leave from the Army
CID, dealing with the end of his marriage, and living in his late mother’s
house now owned by his sister, Linda, who is running for re-election as the
sheriff of Rocksalt. Things are even worse for Barney Kissick, known as
“LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-46331255966081661372022-12-01T23:45:00.003-08:002022-12-05T12:11:18.671-08:00Three Pines: The television series IIPMO - LJ's Review: "THREE PINES, an Amazon Prime television series based on the books by Louise Penny.From the opening scene where we see Gamache reprimand a young officer, to where he gives the indigenous family a ride home, Alfred Molina is excellent as Gamache, capturing his compassion, his sense of justice, and later, his occasional humor. His face is expressive, often conveying more LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-54477480068312589532022-11-28T22:43:00.003-08:002022-11-28T22:43:49.082-08:00A World of Curiosities by Louise PennyFirst Sentence: “Oh, merde.
Going to the past can be painful and dangerous. It is there where Chief
Inspector Gamache and Agent Jean-Guy Beauvoir first meet during the case of two
children so emotionally damaged they may have murdered their own mother,
Clotilde Arsenault. The older sister, Fiona, is sent to prison, while the
brother, Sam, is deemed too young to be tried. LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-84692534437667827222022-11-22T12:02:00.002-08:002022-11-22T12:02:47.608-08:00The Killing Hills by Chris OffuttFirst Sentence: The old man walked the hill with a long stick,
pushing aside mayapple and horseweed, seeking ginseng.
Combat veteran Mick Hardin is now with the Army Criminal Investigation,
Division. Currently home on leave, he needs to resolve issues with his
pregnant wife, but his leave time is running out. His sister, Linda, is the
newly appointed sheriff the town’s Mayor wants toLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-13781543845723679142022-11-15T12:34:00.001-08:002022-11-15T12:36:24.550-08:00Do No Harm by Robert PobiFirst Sentence: Dr. Jennifer Delmonico was approaching the second
tower, which translated to somewhere around seventeen minutes at her usual
pace.
Lucas Page is a polymath, astrophysicist, professor, husband, father, and
ex-FBI agent. During a gala with his wife Erin, a surgeon, a video is
played memorializing all the doctors who died by suicide or falls in the past
year. Page beginsLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-85172165547637747982022-11-07T11:47:00.000-08:002022-11-07T11:47:03.069-08:00Cold Moon by Alexandra SokoloffFirst Sentence: The moon is high, spilling icy light through the
pine branches.Cara Lindstrom has been caught and is awaiting trial. When the
prosecution’s witness goes missing, the case falls apart and Cara is
released. Agent Matthew Roarke is a man who is seriously conflicted and
is obsessed by Cara. He knows her history and her motive; she saved his
life. But he LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-15801473760094580912022-10-25T19:24:00.000-07:002022-10-25T19:24:27.775-07:00Fires of Edo by Susan SpannFirst Sentence: FIRE!Samurai Hiro and the
Portuguese priest, Father Mateo, who Hiro has been assigned to protect, have
arrived in Edo to warn their fellow spies to return to Kyoto since their lives
are in danger. A fire sends them to assist the fire brigade, headed by Daisuke,
a fellow member of Iga Ryu who bullied Hiro when they were children. This is the third recent fire, yet this LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-88001332947166621922022-10-19T11:59:00.001-07:002022-10-19T11:59:25.375-07:00Death on a Galician Shore by Domingo VillarFirst Sentence: Inspector Leo Caldas got out of a taxi and,
stepping over the large puddles on the pavement, entered the hospital.DI Leo Caldas is called out to a small fishing village
to sign off on the supposed
suicide of Justo Castelo, a local sailor. But
something doesn’t add up; a suicide doesn’t have bound wrists. The more Caldas and Rafael Estevez, his second, investigateLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-54807339776196076832022-10-02T17:06:00.001-07:002022-10-02T17:06:59.589-07:00Even the Darkest Night by Javier CarcesFirst Sentence: Melchor is still in his office, simmering on the low flame of his own impatience waiting for the night shift to end, when the phone rings.Melchor, convicted of working for a Colombian drug cartel, when to prison as a teenager. While there, he read “Les Misérables,” and it changed his life. After his mother was murdered, he decided to become a cop. Now the murder of a LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-54713635693813784252022-10-02T15:55:00.000-07:002022-10-02T15:55:21.486-07:00The Botanist by M.W. CravenFirst Sentence: There were bastard trees and there were wait-awhile trees and there was a building that didn’t exist. Pathologist Estelle Boyle’s father has been fatally shot, twice in the head. Traces of gunpowder are on Estelle's hands and her footprints are the only ones leading into the house where her father is found. Estelle is arrested, and all she will say is “Tell LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-84222953063837058782022-10-02T15:31:00.000-07:002022-10-02T15:31:39.535-07:00Her Child's Cry by S.A. DunphryFirst Sentence: ‘Between 2015 and 2019 a total of one hundred children were abducted in Ireland, one third of whom were taken within the Dublin Metropolitan Area.’Ten days. That is all the time the police have to rescue Rosie Blake. Rosie is a child with cancer who was stolen from the hospital. She can only survive ten days without her medication. The police find theLJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-65823895219200326912022-09-21T11:39:00.000-07:002022-09-21T11:39:34.316-07:00Lost Hills by Lee GoldbergFirst Sentence: The
northern stretch of Mulholland Highway ended in a T intersection with
Mulholland Drive.Deputy
Eve Ronin has experienced a meteoric rise in her career. She is the youngest female homicide detective
in the LA County Sheriff's Department history. With that comes the resentment
of her colleagues, including her partner, Det. Duncan Pavone, who is about to
retire. Now LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-38458160679338965212022-08-30T12:00:00.002-07:002022-08-30T12:32:11.844-07:00Fall Guy by Archer MayorFirst Sentence: Joe Gunther crested the hill overlooking a small cluster of flashing, multihued vehicles below. Special Agent Joe Gunther, head of the VBI (Vermont Bureau of Investigation), and his team are confronted with a case that initially seems straightforward. An expensive car with New Hampshire plates, reported stolen by Lemuel Shaw, is found in Vermont near the scene of two burglaries.LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-1613193268838949542022-08-24T15:20:00.000-07:002022-08-24T15:20:00.755-07:00The Blood Covenant by Chris NicksonFirst Sentence: His footsteps rang and echoed off the walls.Thief-taker Simon Westow remembers the years of punishment and torture he'd received as a child working in the mill, a prisoner of the workhouse. When his friend, Dr. Hey, has him read the report of two young boys who died at the hand of a mill overseer, it brings Simon back to those memories. A man is pulled from the river with his LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-22641022034028601182022-08-16T12:00:00.001-07:002022-08-16T12:00:33.970-07:00Fierce Poison by Will ThomasFirst Sentence: Scotland Yard is of the opinion that we at the Barker and Llewelyn Agency are barking mad.Private Enquiry agents Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn have had a wide assortment of cases. This is something new. Roland Fitzhugh, a Member of Parliament, was rebuffed by the police over his claim that someone was trying to kill him. Entering the office of Barker and Llewelyn, LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1624195623041420024.post-33497733703716600042022-08-09T16:18:00.001-07:002022-08-09T16:18:52.305-07:00Shadows Reel by C.J. BoxFirst Sentence: Lorne Trumley had called dispatch to report a dead moose on his ranch.Game Warden Joe Pickett goes to the scene where allegedly a moose has been burned. Instead, he finds the tortured and burned body of a local fishing guide. Librarian Marybeth Pickett receives an anonymous package containing the photo album of a former Nazi officer. The Pickett's friend, falconer Nate Romanowski,LJ Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14697572554853668731noreply@blogger.com1