“Harlem After Midnight,” by Louise Hare (Berkley)
In the first Canary Club mystery, English singer Lena Aldridge was lured to New York for a Broadway career. The job turned out to be a sham. Now Lena is booked for a return trip, but she’s intent on spending her few days in the big city hunting for information about her father. He was a black musician who suddenly left Harlem for England in the early 20th century. With the help of bandleader Will Goodman, the object of her shipboard romance that Lena believes might become a more permanent relationship, she is ensconced in Harlem with his friends. Lena spends days searching for signs of her father and her evenings swept up in prohibition-era Harlem nightlife. She begins to see a future in New York with Will until a murder makes her wonder if she really belongs back home in England.
“The Beautiful and the Wild,” by Peggy Townsend (Berkley)
Although the police say there is a 99 percent certainty, Liv can’t quite believe her husband, Mark, has jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. So when a couple of clues emerge indicating he might be living somewhere deep in the Alaskan wilderness, Liv packs up her little boy and heads north. Against all odds, she finds Mark, who is overjoyed to be with his family again. His girlfriend, Angela? Not so happy, although she has bought into Mark’s dream of living free, with trust and no sexual restraints. Not sure that Liv will go along with his new “religion,” Mark locks her inside a metal container until she can convince him she’s open to his new lifestyle. Truth is, all Liv cares about is escaping with her son. She’s even more determined after another “wife” shows up. All the players have deep secrets, Liv most of all.
“Robert B. Parker’s Broken Trust,” by Mike Lupica (Putnam)
Robert Parker died a dozen years ago, but his Spenser mysteries live on under the pen of novelist and sports journalist Mike Lupica. In “Broken Trust,” Spenser’s hired by Laura Crain, wife of the sixth richest man in the world, to find her missing husband. Andrew Crain’s high-tech company is involved in a merger, but Crain has pulled another of his disappearing acts. When he finally surfaces, Andrew threatens a man who’s physically abusing a woman before he disappears again. But it’s Laura who is murdered. “Broken Trust” is good Parker, a clever, witty book with a good mystery.
“Fall,” by Tracy Clark (Thomas & Mercer)
Released from three years in prison for corruption, Marin Shaw, former Chicago alderman, just wants to go home and reconnect with her daughter. But when another alderman is murdered, the cops descend. As more aldermen fall by the wayside, Marin becomes the prime suspect. Harriet Foster and her partner Vera Li are the lead detectives on the puzzling case. Their guts tell them Shaw is innocent, but other suspects are few, and evidence points to Shaw getting even with corrupt colleagues who made her the fall guy. Foster, meanwhile, has her own problems. She’s threatened by an unknown caller who wants to blackmail her.
“Necessary Deeds,” by Mark Wish (Regal House Publishing)
Sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing his wife’s lover, literary agent Matt Connell is offered a deal by the FBI. If he’ll help nail the killer of three successful young authors, he’ll be released. Will he take it? Well, duh. FBI agents are convinced unpublished poet Ethen Hendee, Connell’s former client, is the killer. Matt agrees to trick Hendee into implicating himself. So at a literary reading, Matt rekindles their friendship. But he’s unnerved at the same event when he meets Em, and it is lust, if not love, at first sight. Despite the distraction, Connell sets up Hendee. The FBI believes Connell’s found enough evidence to charge the poet with murder, and he’s jailed. But the charges are dropped after a fourth woman is murdered while Hendee is incarcerated. Then, oh dear, Hendee is murdered. “Necessary Deeds” is a terse (197 pages) novel that is almost a spoof of wannabe authors, agents and the whole literary world. Wish’s taut writing makes the book a cut above the average who-done-it.
“The Watchmaker’s Hand,” by Jeffery Deaver (Putnam)
Lincoln Rhyme faces his long-time nemesis in “The Watchmaker’s Hand,” a fast-paced thriller with double-dealing, kidnapping and murder. When a mysterious group sabotages one of New York City’s building cranes and threatens to bring down a second one, Rhyme has only hours to stop the carnage. He quickly finds that the group claiming responsibility is fake and realizes the Watchmaker is the mastermind behind the destruction. Rhyme must not only stop the Watchmaker’s destruction but find who’s behind him. And, of course, he must protect himself: The Watchmaker has vowed to kill him.
“Unnatural Death,” by Patricia Cornwell (Grand Central)
Speaking of a long-time nemesis, Dr. Kay Scarpetta discovers one she thought was dead: Carrie Grethen. Could the vicious Russian spy and assassin be behind the savage deaths that Scarpetta, Virginia’s chief medical examiner, is investigating? The victims, a couple suspected of Russian connections, is shot and killed, then impaled on hiking poles, while camping off-the-grid near an abandoned gold mine. To add to the mystery, Scarpetta’s assistant discovers a footprint in the mine dust that could only belong to Bigfoot.
Sandra Dallas is a Denver author and freelance reviewer.
