"Bad Blood"

"Bad Blood" is the 4th novel in John Sandford's Virgil Flowers series.  Flowers is an investigator for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (or BCA) and in this newest novel he has been specifically requested by Sheriff Lee Coakley of Warren County.  Lee is a newly elected Sheriff with two accidental deaths on her hands -- or were they?

The first death occurred at a grain elevator where Jacob Flood was dumping a load of soybeans and apparently slipped, fell, and died.  What initially looked like an accident is found to be murder by the coroner and the only suspect is a teenage boy, Bob Tripp, a local high school jock who should have been away playing freshman college football but an injury has delayed his start for a year so he's been working at the elevator and this day he was working alone.

While Tripp is in jail, he commits suicide by hanging himself but only one deputy, Crocker, was on duty at the time and that deputy was a friend and fellow church-goer of Jacob Flood.  Since Lee won a recent election over Crocker, she believes it would be best to bring in an outside investigator to be sure it was a suicide.

Flowers' boss, Lucas Davenport, agrees to the assignment so the next step is for Coakley and Flowers to interview Crocker at his home.  When they arrive at his rural home, he has apparently committed suicide by shooting himself but again there are inconsistencies. 

As they continue their investigation, they uncover the death of a teenage girl the year before across the state line in Iowa who was a member of the same church as Flood and Crocker.  She was found naked in a cemetary and had recently had sex with several men.  It turns out she was also a friend of Tripp's who she met when she worked at a local fast food place.

The investigation is slightly hampered by the secrecy of the church itself and the fact that all the children are homeschooled.  They keep pretty much to themselves and those who are not part of their church know very little about this group of farmers whose families emigrated to the area from Germany several generations ago.

Flowers begins to suspect there is underage sexual activity within the church -- young girls with much older men -- and uncovering this fact makes him wonder if the church and its sexual activity is at the crux of these deaths.  He needs to find a way to unmask the church activities and protect the children if they are indeed being abused.

The story uncovers just like a methodical investigation and Flowers and Coakley's instincts work well together.  Experienced officers working with them also offer insights that aid the investigation to lead it to a successful but bloody conclusion.  Along the way Flowers and Coakley develop a friendship and romantic relationship -- but not a relationship they expect to last -- just one of convenience at the time.  Both are divorced and Coakley has three sons at home so she's not looking for anything permanent but seeking confirmation that she is an attractive, desirable woman outside her duties as a sheriff.

I love Sandford's books and look forward to reading the next Virgil Flowers mystery.  pazt

"Miracle Cure"

Harlan Coben's "Miracle Cure" is a fast paced murder mystery which revolves around Sara Lowell, a TV journalist, and her basketball star (and very handsome) husband, Michael Silverman.  Michael and Sara are from totally different backgrounds -- his included abuse at the hands of a stepfather but he lucked out when some doctors took an interest in him and got him out of the situation.

Sara is the daughter of a wealthy doctor (a former surgeon general) and, when her mother died of cancer, her father put his focus on cancer research.  She has contacts in the political, medical, and sports world due to her family background, her marriage to Michael, as well as her journalistic career.  Some of her close friends are closet gays.

Dr. Harvey Riker lost his brother to AIDS and he has dedicated his life to finding a cure along with his former brother-in-law, Dr. Bruce Grey.  They have a Manhattan clinic that appears very close to achieving that goal.  Dr. Riker is a good friend of both Sara and Michael and he turns to them for advice when Dr. Grey apparently commits suicide and 3 of the clinic's male patients are murdered.  It appears someone is targeting the clinic by using a hitman.  Why?

Sara's good friend (and closet gay) Lt. Max Bernstein is assigned to solve the murders and, since the third murder is that of the son of a high profile conservative Senator, the case itself is getting a lot of press.  Bernstein's methods are not always orthodox but he usually gets results and he's willing to go to the ends of the earth if necessary to solve a case.

When Michael is diagnosed with AIDS (from a blood transfusion after an injury while on vacation several years ago), the clinic with its promising research and his doctor friend is the logical choice for him but will he become a target of this unknown psychopath?

More lives are lost and more are endangered before Lt. Bernstein unravels the clues to solve the case - a very satisfying read!  pazt

"Shelter"

"Shelter" by Harlan Coben is his first Mickey Bolitar novel but he was introduced to readers in Coben's adult novel, "Live Wires."  Mickey is a high school sophomore who loves to play basketball.  His father was recently killed in a car crash that sent Mickey to the hospital and his mother escaping into addictions.  Mickey's Uncle Myron, an attorney, has offered Mickey a home while his mother is in rehab.  Mickey still owns the family home that he grew up in with Mickey's father.  The two brothers had a falling out years ago and there was also some disapproval over his father marrying his mother when they were both so young.

Mickey has spent most of his life traveling the world with his parents while they did relief work but his dad had recently decided it was time to settle down in one place and allow Mickey the opportunity to attend one high school and prepare to go on to college. 

Mickey has learned a lot of useful life skills while traveling with his parents and living in some fairly exotic places but he also has a true gift for basketball which he is keeping under wraps until time for tryouts.  Although Mickey's father was a good player, his Uncle Myron is still known as one of the best basketball players at the school Mickey is attending.  If his mother hadn't gotten pregnant with Mickey, she would have been a tennis star so he has inherited some natural abilities.

Adjusting to a new school takes some time and Mickey is not above making choices that don't always set well with teachers and/or other students -- like refusing to participate in all the "bonding" exercises the teacher had for the first day of school.  The exercises do allow him the opportunity to meet Ashley, though, and the demure young woman becomes his new girlfriend.  When she disappears, he decides to find out what happened to her and/or where she has gone.

In the meantime, he has an encounter with the town's crazy "Bat Lady" who knows who he is and tells him his father is still alive.  He makes friends with some unlikely fellow classmates -- Ema who is known as the fat girl, and Spoon who is the janitor's son.  He's really surprised, though, by being approached by Rachel, the prettiest and most sought after girl in school, after Ashley's disappearance.

Mickey and his new friends find some adventure in their search for Ashley and he has another encounter with the Bat lady.  Although this is from the teen section, it doesn't read like a teen mystery to me -- kept me engrossed to the end and I almost read it in one sitting.  I can hardly wait to see what Mickey gets up to next.  pazt

"Heavenly Pleasures"

"Heavenly Pleasures" by Kerry Greenwood is the second Corinna Chapman mystery I've read and I find them excellent mysteries as well as a lot of fun to read.  Greenwood is also the author of the Phryne Fisher mystery series.  Although I haven't read that series, I've seen some of the DVD's based on it and that's what led me to look for Greenwood's books.

Corinna is a baker who gets up at 4 a.m. Monday through Friday to bake the goodies for her bakery along with the help of her apprentice, Jason, who likes to make muffins.  The bakery and her home are located in a building that is home to shops, the shop owners, as well as some other tenants.  Down the street is a lovely chocolate store, too, run by two young sisters.

Corinna's very handsome Israeli lover helps a local nun in the evenings when she goes out to feed and care for the homeless.  The nun often sends him off "detecting" which is something he's very good at.  When the sisters discover someone is spoiling their chocolates -- and thus their business -- they hire Daniel to investigate.

In the meantime a couple of new tenants have moved into Corinna's building and the male tenant is very reclusive.  When she sees a female policewoman following him as he's moving in, Corinna's antenna goes up and she wonders what else might be going on.  When a series of scary incidents begin to invade the building and affect all the tenants, Daniel and Corinna have another mystery to also capture their attention.  A very satisfying read and I look forward to the next book in the series!  pazt

"Dead Men's Dust"

"Dead Men's Dust" by Matt Hilton is the first book in a series and it introduces Joe Hunter, an Englishman, former military operative, and ex-CIA agent.  Hunter's half brother left England for America after he and Joe quarrelled and he left behind a wife and 2 children to run off with a woman he worked with.  While in America, though, he gets himself in a spot of trouble and disappears so Joe goes looking for him.  It appears his brother is a thief but he's also been mistaken for a serial killer, Tubal Cain.  Cain has been very clever to date but when he and Hunter's brother cross paths, Cain decides to use him for his own purposes.

Joe knows he's going to need some local help looking for his brother in America as well as someone who can get him the weapons he'll need while he's there so he turns to Jared Rington.  Jared not only has access to everything Joe has requested but he also has some contacts that prove helpful in their search - a search that starts in Florida and ends in California.  Looking for his brother leads Hunter and Jared into some dangerous situations and Hunter begins to wonder just what his brother has gotten himself into.  Will he be able to reach him before the authorities and/or all the bad people looking for him?  Hunter and Jared are kept on the go trying to catch up with him then their own lives are in as much danger as his.  This book is full of action and suspense -- a good read.  pazt