Mystery Book Reviews

Glancing at the cover of this book we know right off the bat something is up with that well. There are too many historical writings about fountains of youth to count, not to mention the legendary island of Avalon and utopian villages such as Shangri-La. In The Puddingstone Well, the second novel from William Westhoven, variations of these myths are indeed relied upon, but with a contemporary spin. In the Prologue to Part One, the phrase “what history does not recall” lets us know this is Westhoven’s tale for the telling.

Our first protagonist is a freelance writer for […]

In the novel Spitting Image, by M. K. Mattias, the main character can’t stay out of trouble. Simone Darling is terrified of flying. After her father plunged to his death when he fell out of a helicopter, Simone never wants to step foot onto a plane. Also, she’s afraid of America, especially Miami. Her fear of Miami is extreme. Simone, who lives in Sydney, Australia, never wants to visit her mom in Florida. Never.

That is until Simone’s stepfather offers to pay her $80,000 to restore some of his paintings. She’s an art restorer. At the time, she isn’t making […]

Tropical Temptation: A Kristen Maroney Mystery, by Susan LaDue, is a short mystery involving a cast of characters residing in Placencia, a small Caribbean town in Central America. Kristen Maroney owns a beach and resort wear boutique. She’s divorced, has a sexy boyfriend, wonderful friends, and a dog named Buster. Her store doesn’t make a ton of money, but she’s no longer working in the fashion world, which was ruining her life. She hated the job and resorted to drugs to get through each day. Now she’s living in tropical paradise and is content. That is until her friend’s […]

Detective John Ressler is faced with a series of murders that defy logic.  The serial killer has an artistic streak; setting his victims in some outlandish poses, painting them, photographing them, dressing them and creating works to enhance their death – and leaving the art at the scene.   What is even more bizarre is that some of the crimes appear to be impossible to have set up and executed in the time allotted.  When they finally capture the artist, he disappears from the holding cell.  Ressler and his partner Holt are stumped.

Mr. Finney then takes us off the grid […]

Honor and Entropy is a complex book — part mystery, part war narrative, and in essence a coming of age story, with age not measured by chronology.  Before it is these things it is also a story within a story, that of Telly Benson’s search for his long-lost father and his friend Art Spevak’s reflection on that quest and its results.

The book initially moves quickly between the Pacific Theater in World War and various U.S. time periods, people, and places.  While it was at times difficult to discern which character was thinking or speaking, the author and his readers […]