"In Harm's Way"

"In Harm's Way" is Ridley Pearson's 4th Walt Fleming novel.  Sun Valley sheriff Fleming has his hands full running the police department and trying to make a home life for his twin daughters who divide their time between his home and where his ex-wife lives with one of his deputies.  Although Fleming is still coping with the aftermath of his divorce, he has feelings for Fiona Kenshaw, a local photographer who assists in taking crime scene pictures for his department.  As he acts on those feelings (which are reciprocated), both their lives are unexpectedly churned upside down when an out-of-town sport celebrity (who has just been released from prison) is killed and Fleming must investigate.

This case may have ties to a homicide in Seattle which brings Lou Boldt, a legendary homicide sergeant from Seattle, to the area.  Fleming and Boldt develop a good working rapport and continue to compare notes when Boldt returns to Seattle -- trying to connect the two cases and solve both of them.

In the meantime, Fleming is concerned about Fiona's change of behaviour and the fact that a young woman (former victim of sexual assault) who Fiona has taken under her wing, seems to be missing from around the time of the murder.  For the first time in his career, he finds himself wanting to ignore some of the evidence in the case because it might point the finger at one of them being involved.

As usual, Pearson weaves a complex tale with an unexpected turn near the end that helps both he and Boldt solve their cases.  I wouldn't miss one of Pearson's books and hope he has another Walt Fleming sequel in the works.  pazt

"Shock Wave"

John Sandford's "Shock Wave" is the 5th book, I believe, in the Virgil Flowers series and it's another fast read despite its 388 pages.  The stage is set when PyeMart decides it wants to move into the small Minnesota river town of Butternut Falls but there are a lot of factions opposed to the idea who are ready to do what they can to stop the construction.

Step one occurs when someone places a bomb in the corporate boardroom of Pye Pinnacle in Michigan.  Instead of killing Willard Pye, though, it goes off before a board meeting starts and kills his executive assistant and seriously injures a food service worker.

Three weeks later a bomb goes off at the PyeMart construction site just outside Butternut Falls and kills a construction superintendent and injures the civil engineer with him.  So, of course, Lucas Davenport calls Virgil Flowers and sends him to Butternut Falls to find the bomber before more people are killed.

Unfortunately, he's not able to stop some additional bombings and deaths but he and his persistent crew are on the trail of suspects and narrowing the field.  In the meantime, they and Flowers are at risk, too.

And....just to make things interesting, it appears the local council were bribed to change the zoning laws to allow PyeMart to build in a location that wasn't meant to be built on.  Davenport would find it a plus if Flowers could manage to take down those who were bribed while finding the bomber.

On a personal note, Virgil's current love, Lee Coakley, is in L.A. working as a consultant on a made-for-TV movie based on one of her cases.  Virgil feels things beginning to cool between them when they talk by phone but isn't quite ready to let go yet even though he's feeling some attraction towards Pye's assistant.

Flowers is juggling a lot right now -- is he up to it?   If previous Flowers' novels are any indication, he is!  I found this another great Sandford read.  pazt

"True Spies"

"True Spies" is Shana Galen's second in a series of English uppercrust spy couples.  The first one was "Lord and Lady Spy."  In "True Spies" Lady Elinor is getting bored and looking for a little excitement in her life.  Her husband, Baron Winslow Keating (known as Winn to her) has spent most of their married life managing his estates all over the country.  His long absences weren't so hard to bear when her daughters were younger and needed more of her attention.  The Lady is quite good at managing the household and arranging parties as well as helping others with their parties.  When an acquaintance hints he's a spy and needs her help, she is ready for a little adventure.

Unknown to Elinor, though, her husband is a spy and this acquaintance is just an imposter trying to bed her.  When Winn shows her he's an imposter and, to his regret, also gets her caught up in a very dangerous mission he's involved in, Elinor gets her excitement.  For safety, their daughters are sent off to spend time with Winn's mother and Winn and Elinor embark on an adventure that ends with her becoming a real spy and winning the love of her husband.

It's a fun, light read with some sex thrown in for those looking for some romance in their mystery spy thrillers!  pazt