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 May 8, 2006Messiahby Boris Starling
"It's not hard to select your victims, if you know where to look." p. 360
Detective Superintendent Redfern Metcalf is obsessed with murderers. He can get inside their heads and learn what motivates them. In Messiah, Red, along with three other detectives from Scotland Yard, Jez Clifton, Kate Beauchamp, and Duncan Warren struggle to discover the link between the victims of gruesome and terrifying murders. They race time to uncover why each victim is found massacred, sometimes beyond recognition, each with their tongue severed, and a silver spoon lodged in their mouths. They know that they must find the victim's connection to each other before the murderer can be stopped. By Robin Fiorello
 Laidlaw
by William McIlvanney
Crime and punishment in Glasgow with Detective Inspector Laidlaw breaking the rules to find the murderer
A young woman, Jennifer Lawson has been found brutally murdered. She has been strangled and then sexually assaulted. Her body has been dumped in Kelvingrove Park in the western part of Glasgow. The author also tells the reader who the killer is and hints at a motive for the killing.
 Motherless Brooklyn
by Jonathan Lethem
How a dysfunctional detective finds the killer and looses the girl in a fast-paced murder mystery that provides a glimpse into day-to-day Brooklyn through the lives of complex, multidimensional characters.
Motherless Brooklyn begins with Frank Minna, the owner of a detective agency, sometimes "limousine" service, and petty crime ring getting kidnapped and killed after a meeting at the Yorkville Zendo in downtown Manhattan. Frank’s murder happens while two of his employees Gilbert Coney and Lionel Essrog are pursuing the kidnapped Minna and his captors. Minna is wearing a wire and Gilbert and Lionel can hear bits and pieces of conversation between Minna and his abductors but are powerless to stop the killing.
 Shella
by Andrew Vachss
You always hurt the one you love
The main character in Andrew Vachss’s novel Shella has no name other than the names others know him as—Ghost, John, and the various aliases he adopts as he goes through life doing his business. His business? Killing and he is very proficient at it.
 The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett
Reading The Thin Man after seeing the movie starring William Powell and Myrna Loy many times was difficult.
The movie prevented me from seeing the characters, as my imagination would have created them. I kept seeing William Powell and Myrna Loy. Forcing myself to concentrate on Hammett’s prose, however, I eventually got into the story and more importantly into Hammett’s way with words.
 Downtown
by Ed McBain
If Neil Simon had made The Out-of-Towners a mystery, it would be called Downtown
Florida orange grower Michael Barnes finds himself with several hours to kill before his flight to Boston from New York’s Kennedy Airport. It’s Christmas Eve so he decides to drop into a bar in downtown Manhattan for a drink before dinner. There he strikes up a conversation with attractive Helen Parrish, who claims to be a lawyer. Barnes is smittened especially since his very attractive wife; months earlier had run off with a bank manager in Florida leaving him a disheartened and divorced orange grower.
 The First Eagle
by Tony Hillerman
Detecting a cop killer and missing biologist in the desert Southwest
The elusive deserts of the Southwest offer a fitting back drop for Tony Hillerman’s latest murder mystery, as it takes place in an area few readers have probably visited — the backcountry of a Navajo reservation. Faithful Hillerman fans will recognize Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn as they join forces, once again, to solve what at first seems to be an open-and-shut case: the murder of a Navajo Tribal officer by a Hopi eagle poacher.
By Marnie Santoyo
 Get Carter
by Ted Lewis
Tough guy Jack Carter’s underworld odyssey seeking answers for his brother’s death
Jack Carter is the muscle for Gerald and Les Fletcher, two businessmen in London, who deal in all the less noble enterprises of any and all cities. Carter’s brother Frank in their hometown of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, 50 miles south west of Leeds, has just died in a car accident and Jack has come home to take care of Frank’s funeral and to make arrangements for Frank’s daughter Doreen.
 The Getaway Man
by Andrew Vachss
Chasing a Professional Getaway Man
Eddie is the main character in the Andrew Vachss novel The Getaway Man. The best description of Eddie comes from the first paragraph of Voltaire social criticism, Candide: “His face was the true index of his mind.” And the description applies to Vachss’s leading man. Eddie’s face is one that other characters in Vachss book read into it what they want to read. And Eddie happily allows them to believe what they choose.
 The Alibi
by Sandra Brown
A sensational murder case might further his career but an assistant DA struggles with his conscience
Hammond Cross is a prosecuting attorney for the city of Charleston, who makes a career-threatening mistake. He impetuously sleeps with a beautiful woman with a dark past after only knowing her for a few short hours. At approximately the same time, the brutal murder of Lute Pettijohn, one of Charleston’s most famous, and despised celebrities has begun to unravel. Is there some connection? This is how Sandra Brown’s novel of intrigue and suspense begins.
By Robin Fiorello
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