The Pecular Crimes Unit squeeks by again!
343205
Reading the short stories was fun because through out the books of the Peculiar Crimes Unit it is often mentioned that Bryant has been writing about many of their unusual cases and stretching many a truth which distressed May no end.
I delight in reading the many tidbits of London that Arthur Bryant has stored in his head or gathers from his personal library collection of archaic volume's.  Again much to John May's dismay.
The Peculiar Crimes Unit's characters have all become friends to me.
4040964
Looking for a crime story writer, Rebecca Forster is tops!!!  Her Witness series has been a great go to of mine for many years. It is with great joy that she has started another series in this criminal vein, which begins with Severed Relations, her new Finn OBrien/Cori Anderson Series.

Lets start with Finn OBrien : Finn is LAPD Wilshire Division. He is not the hero of the department or hero of his home. Cleared for killing a fellow officer, he is shunned by everyone in the building, including the janitor! His wife wants a divorce because her life with him is not what she would envision now, because she is being ostracized as well. Life is a bit heavy for him at the moment. Finn is called upon to solve a brutal murder that occurred within their jurisdiction. Finns chief is forced to bring someone from a neighboring division to even work with him and he hunts down Cori Anderson his old partner.

Cori Anderson: single Mom of a young flighty unwed daughter,  who now has her own child. They three all live together. Cori has always loved Finn from afar, and the partnership,  aside their police techniques work well together.

The murder is in a very posh neighborhood, a gated professional area called Fremont Place where a nanny and her two charges have been viciously killed. The parents are a well to- do young lawyer and his beautiful wife, who upon first view are in shock losing their two beautiful baby girls. The crime scene is grisly, with the babies carved to pieces. They have just returned from a trip to Paris to find this has just happened.

Ms. Forster takes us along with the detectives, on a hunt for the killer, as we are along with them, following clues, interviewing everyone they can to put together what happened and why. Who was the hit on, the nanny or the children? And why?

We follow as they start with the cr&egrave;me de la cr&egrave;me of the rich, then Cori and Finn work thru all types needing help from professionals, and finally to the dregs of society. The relationship between the parents is heartbreaking. You can imagine in this situation, as you watch it  and them unravel,  we see this happen  in real life;  couples try to hurt each other for the guilt each feels.

Ms. Forster is such a strong writer in ferreting out human behavior, as we slowly watch and piece together who dun it!  We see Finn and Cori keep their humanity faced with such a horrible crime. As always just when you think you have it all buttoned down, our author gives you a what for, and makes you say awwwww..

Needless to say the story was thrilling and chilling and just what a thriller should beBut the end was spine tingling.a keeper

Review by Gloria Lakritz

Sr Review and Review Chair for the Paranormal Romance Guild
4824230
That character I love to hate,  Mona, is back and  causing her own brand of mayhem. When Sam gets a call from her friend asking for help, she rushes off to Boca and finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery along with US marshals, the DEA, the FBI, and the mob. Has Mona come clean about the facts of the  case or is she manipulating Samantha and pals for her own selfish agenda? The reader will have to decide in this tale of greed, jealousy, and revenge. There are plenty of laughs along the way thanks to Sam's crew of senior wannabe sleuths. Although this is a stand-alone, I recommend grabbing the entire series. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to reading the next installment.
49674
Well written crime novel that is pretty disturbing!
4147168
Book 6 and the surprises keep coming, please keep them coming!
3482136
Kevin Hearne continues this most excellent series with more rousing action, bigger and badder Baddies, laugh-out-loud commentary on the state of our current use of the vernacular via the rather uptight and oh-so-proper speech patterns of his vamp attorney--and not the least, leaving us cringing at the rather steep price he has to pay for ear replacement.

Atticus O'Sullivan has catapulted to the top of my favorite Druid list (OK he's the only one but still...). I can't wait to see what happens when he confronts Thor the Thunder Thug. Oh, gee, I don't have to! On to the next...
1676067
This is the sequel to Out of Hell and is again a very short read but one that holds the reader in such a grip that you have to keep reading to see how things work out. It is a continuation of the same inspector in the first book and how his life has panned out since solving the murder of a wealthy aristocrat. When the ripper murders appear to be starting up again, our hero, the Scotland Yard inspector, is drawn in once again to a case that he has had nightmares about for years. This time the threat is directed at him and his beautiful new wife. Another great page turner by the author Denyse Bridger! Highly recommended!
3160388
Another cracking good read that DI Ted Darling fans have been eagerly waiting for.
This is the fourth book in the series and this time there are a series of sexual assaults on young women in Stockport supermarket car parks for DI Ted Darling and his team to investigate. Once more, a difficult topic is handled with sensitivity by the author. The crimes are both nasty and violent and the perpetrator needs to be caught quickly. DI Ted Darling and his team have yet another difficult case ahead of them.

I've been waiting for this one to come out and was kindly given a preview copy in exchange for an honest review.

There is something about DI Ted Darling and his partner Trev. You'd want them as friends, neighbours, brothers, colleagues or bosses. In fact I'd just like to move in with them both and their six cats. The author won't reveal exactly where they live though :)
  The two characters of Ted and Trev in this crime-fiction series seem to have the same effect on other readers too and have developed quite a fan following.  There are interesting snippets of their lives and background throughout all the books and with each new book release, inbetween the details of the cases and investigations, we learn a little more about them as individuals.
The character of DC Vine the female detective we were introduced to in 'When I'm Old and Grey' has settled more into her role in the team and plays a vital part in the investigation.

I'm just waiting for the next one in the series to come out now!
3056914
A fabulous installment in this terrific series.  Elvis Presley does the sleuthing!
Freddy "Squirm" Littlejohn sent Elvis a letter and photo.  The photo was from four years ago when Elvis was in Germany in the army.  It was of Elvis singing with other Army guys at Christmas.  Squirm was one of them.  His letter asked for Elvis' help.  Squirm was serving a life sentence for a murder he didn't commit.  Holly McDougal had been strangled on the MGM lot.
Elvis went to the California Correction Institution in Tehachapi to see Squirm.  He met Bob Reardon, warden of CCI.  After his discussion with Squirm, the warden gave Elvis a script.  In a recent interview Elvis had asked for a first-class script.
Then Elvis contacted Regis Clifford, Squirm's lawyer.  Elvis quickly concluded that Regis was a drinker.  He discussed Squirm's case.  He found out that a makeup artist named Connie Spinelli had told Regis that Holly McDougal was a wild kid.  She said that she `made a stripper blush to her ankles.'  Unfortunately when Regis went to meet with Spinelli, she had vanished.
He also told Elvis that Miss Nanette Poulette, Squirm's girlfriend, had given some damning testimony against him which seemed to seal his fate.
Elvis asked around about Spinelli and finally got someone to talk to him.  He then called his buddy Billy Jackson and asked for his help in contacting her.
Elvis went to the stunt shack on the MGM lot.  He met Will Cathcart, a stuntman and rodeo rider.  He showed Elvis around including the bunk room where Holly had died.  Will had not been around then.  He also gave Elvis a trial ride on Nelly, the stuntman's mistrees, a harness.  While dangling from the harness, he met Mickey Grieves, Squirem's good buddy who had referred Squirm to his attorney.
I won't tell you anymore.  You'll have to read to find out how Elvis keeps digging and digging to find out the truth behind the strangling of Holly McDougal.  So many times I had to remind myself that Elvis never did all this investigation.  It is written so well and with such believability and history interwoven, that I often forget it's fiction.
Mr. Klein has done a great job in catching the true essence of Elvis and using it in his books.
I highly recommend this book and the whole series.
2195278
Ultra on the sadistic violence in another sicko-sexual serial killer saga.  *Silence of the Lambs* started the two psychos.  This time there are three,  plus an enabler.  An interesting twist is that the killer is a sympathetic belle dame sans merci.

A well-done police thriller in Paris.  But serial killer has been done so many hundreds of time now that I can consider this only run-of-the-mill.

Go back to the prototype:  *The First Deadly Sin.*
1661421
my son cant get enough of his patrol unit. the only thing i wish i could cut the sound of sirens. (continous siren/code3)
3456939
The riot of characters have come together for another amazingly crazy story that will have you doubled in snorts and giggles. And not even the drone-catching-hawk can prepare you for the adventure of this mystery-shopper! But, since you've followed this family's story, maybe you might have an idea!

So, cancel your appointments, call in sick from work, shut down your TV, because you will definitely not get anything done until you've finished reading this!!!

I was provided a copy for review purposes.
2804135
Inspector Knutas is back in action, and so is the journalist Johann Berg, whose relationship with a woman who lives on the Swedish Island of Gotland grows more complex. This time, the series of crimes starts out with the beheading of one of the local Gotland ponies and conrinues with a murder at an archaeological site.  As usual, the island background is strongly drawn, and the setting becomes an important part of the story.  My favorite of this series, so far -- fortunately there are several still waiting to be translated into English.  As I believe I have noted in other reviews, when I visited Gotland, a hotel keeper informed me that there had been one murder there in the past several hundred years.  Ah well, any reader of Scandi crime fiction has to be willing to suspend the will to disbelieve --
3061235
Chief Superintendent Dalziel and Inspector Pascoe are back, this time in a rather sophisticated case -- or a collection of related case, actually. The trigger is the nearly concurrent deaths of three elderly men one freezing winter night, one apparently of exposure in a vacant field, one brutally murdered in his bath, and one knocked off his bicycle by a car in which a heavily inebriated Dalziel says he was a passenger, though witnesses say he may have been the driver. Pascoe gets the call-out on all three -- hes spending a lot of time at the hospital this time around -- but only the bathtub murder really draws his attention. The Deputy Chief Constable (whom Dalziel regularly gives headaches to) is trying to keep a lid on the possible DUI and wants Fat Andy on the sidelines with his head down, but we know that isn't going to happen. On the other hand, there are hints that Dalziel may have a finger in some iffy importing from the Continent, just to help out an old friend, and Pascoe doesnt like that at all.

Nobodys getting much sleep this time, and Ellie Pascoe is having to deal with her own aging fathers gradual slide into dementia (the fact that she admits she doesnt quite know what to do is shocking to her husband, to whom shes the steadfast pillar of his life). And theres the hotel restaurant chef/manager who probably knows a good deal more about everything than he lets one. And theres the murdered mans grandson, now in the army in Germany, who has a fiance whos a real piece of work. And theres growing evidence that the dead man in the field may have been attacked. Its a complicated skein of events, some connected and some not, and Hill does a very good job.
2550048
Another great story! This novel continues to build upon the characters introduced in the first story and deals directly with the consequences of Reggie's efforts in saving his brother and solving the mystery in the first novel. He has lost the respectability that he once had, his girlfriend is being romanced by a tabloid owner, his pool of clients has shrunk, he is bound by his lease agreement to reply to letters sent to his address at 221b Baker Street addressed to Sherlock Holmes, a threatening letter bearing the name of Moriarty has arrived,  and fans of the famous detective continue to invade his offices bothering him incessantly! All of that seems to change as a young solicitor contacts him begging him to represent her client, Reggie answers the call and quickly proves reasonable doubt, but even as he is tempted to celebrate his victory things rapidly begin to spiral out of control. All of theses events have been arranged by an old foe who has arranged events to take revenge for the death of their ancestor James Moriarty! Nigel's brother comes to his aid and events rapidly race along revealing the true manipulator behind the tragic events but before things come to a close Reggie and his foe are brought together  in a harrowing chase with his girlfriends life in on the line. Before the story ends Nigel will find himself facing his foe in a scene reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes last clash with Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls.
729710
Once again, the "queen" (?) of illiterate ghetto garbage gangster (c)rap is at it again (with apologies to my friends and family still in the hood)! Somebody needs to chain the record studio doors and add armed guards to keep this poor child from wasting good Cd space again!

I was at my nephew's apartment last weekend and he was wasting electricity by playing this junk. I asked "Who the heck is that?" "Queen of the South" he replied. "If that's so, I'm moving out west!" was my rejoiner.

Once again, as in "Thug Misses," sister girl is having a field day displaying her ignorance on wax. The reasons she gives to "Respect Me" aren't any reason for anyone to do as the title suggests. The "song" B--MFGD" is little more than the chanting of these curse words that seem to represent about 90% of her VERY limited vocabulary.

In "Ah-Ha" she has the audacity to thank God for her success while spouting some most typically unGodly language toward her distractors, or "them @@##$$! @#$ haters" as she puts it. F--- Me Tonight is WAY more sleazy than sexy and "Questions for the N(egroes)" could have easily been recorded off of a streetcorner conversation between drunken bimbos. Khia, there are these places called schools and libraries-go to them!

Yeah, I know, some of the fellas are making worse records than this (Believe it or not!) and I have equally condemned them in other posts. So there's no double standard here. Trash is trash in my book.

In short, this is Khia's second sickening collection of poorly written sexual boasts and hatred for her distrators. Take this CD out for target practice! Use it as a frisbee! Just don't pollute your CD player with it or use hard earned money to support the continuation of recorded ignorance. To break the language down for those illiterate enough to like this mess-DON'T BUY THIS JUNK!
468677
I love these Crime Files books! Crammed with several stories that are so interesting, I have a hard time putting the book down. Can't wait to read the next one!