A Time for Murder

Murder, She Wrote: A Time for Murder by Jessica Fletcher and Jon Land

Reviewed by Russell Ilg

“It’s just that the research I did turned up a murder where you used to live, where you were an English teacher.”
“There was a murder, and someone was arrested, yes, Kristi.”
“Were you the one who caught him, Mrs. Fletcher?” Purchase Here.

That exchange, between Jessica Fletcher and a young woman she thinks is a reporter from the local high school newspaper, forms the heart of A Time for Murder, the 50th entry in the iconic Murder, She Wrote series. Jon Land, current series shepherd, has chosen to celebrate that milestone by taking us where no reader (or viewer, for that matter) has ever gone before: into Jessica’s past, specifically twenty-five years back in time, and the result is nothing short of a smashing, slam-dunk success unrivalled in the annuls of literary pop culture.

Jessica’s still married to a much alive husband Frank. And they’re raising their eight-year-old nephew Grady at the time, as she tries to carve out a career as a high school English teacher while struggling to get published.

“Is this a mystery?” one of her students asks, as the class dissects one of Jessica’s own short stories that she distributed anonymously.

It’s not supposed to be, but that gets her thinking, as does the murder of the beloved high school principal who was just about to hire her full-time. An office mishap is suspected at first, until Jessica displays her keen powers of observation for the first time while working with Appleton Maine’s only detective, none other than future Cabot Cove sheriff Amos Tupper.

But that flashback to the past is only part of Land’s fourth, and best, effort in the series so far. In the present, the high school reporter for whom Jessica granted an interview turns out not to be a reporter at all; in fact, she’s not even in high school. And when she turns up murdered herself after badgering Jessica about that murder in neighboring Appleton, we’re off to the races on a dead sprint that swiftly reveals a clear connection between these two killings separated by twenty-five years.

Blood Relations

Blood Relations by Edward Cohen and Kathy Cohen

Book Reviewed by Lisa Brown-Gilbert

A twisted legal thriller which satisfies with as much grit as it does with intrigue, Blood Relations by co-authors Kathy Cohen and Edward Cohen keeps you rapt and wound tight till its shocking ending.Purchase here.

Absolutely worth the read, this legal thriller brings readers to the hot and steamy locale of New Orleans, where behind the closed doors of the selective Cameron and Munger law firm, things turn out to be just as hot and even steamier. And when young Kyle Cameron accidentally discovers his father’s infidelitous relationship with sexy femme fatale co-worker, lawyer Laura Niles, he aims to entice his father’s love interest away. However, things take a turn for the horrific when Laura Niles is found murdered and Jake –Kyle’s father–winds up in the center of a circumstantial whirlwind of evidence that could destroy his career, marriage and even his life. Facing jail or execution, Jake has no choice but to trust his ne’er-do-well son and lawyer, Kyle, trying the case that would make or break him.

Wholly a story that wields egos, money, wealth and the culture of New Orleans with apt storytelling and style, this narrative hosts an ensemble of complex characters that intrigue and draw ire, as well as scintillate – brimming full of personality with grittily imperfect characters whose tremendous egos have them crossing seemingly inviolable boundaries, unabashed by consequences. Especially engaging are the complex and prominent males, Jake and Kyle Cameron. Dysfunctional as father and son, both womanizing men are caught off balance by the draw of the unforgettable and exceedingly carnal Laura.

The authors Cohen tell an authentic story that treats readers to a vividly painted setting wrapped around an intense legal drama complete with plot twists and sexy interludes, leading to a read that makes both the blood and the senses boil. They tell an intelligent and intriguing story that immediately draws in the reader with its reveals of interludes of dark pasts, bad choices, family dysfunction, and legal drama, all buried deep in a web of deceit, murder and sex, the reveal of which keeps you rapt until the end. Additionally, I found the nod to the 1940s noir movie, Laura especially engrossing as it plays out within the psyche of Kyle, further enhancing this well- written story.

Altogether, Blood Relations makes for a juicy adult-themed murder mystery that is well worth the read. I enjoyed the twisted plot, swimming in intriguing twists, dysfunction, drama, and steamy sexuality. Ultimately, this is the type of book that should be considered a must-read for fans of legal thrillers.

 

The Experiment

The Experiment by Robin Lamont

Reviewed by Lisa Brown-Gilbert

Robin Lamont’s The Experiment, the third addition to her well-received Kinship series, traverses the rough terrain of animal rights in a story that not only takes readers seamlessly into a world that brims with webbed mystery but also exposes the horrific aspects of a subject that is not often visited – the protection of animals. Purchase Here.

Promptly, from the narrative’s outset, the suspense begins to build, as we meet the story’s engagingly complex protagonist, Jude Brannock, a senior investigator at The Kinship, an organization specializing in undercover investigations of large scale / industrial animal abuse. Jude anxiously broods about a recently hired investigator, Time Mains her trainee, who suddenly seemed to be mysteriously missing in action. Investigative Trainee Tim Mains embarked on an independent mission to go undercover to gather, document and report violations at a targeted company Amaethon Industries. After a spate of little to no contact from Tim, Jude embarks on an intense mission to find the missing investigator determined to get to the truth of his whereabouts, especially after his cryptic message of being on to “something big”. However, Jude’s interest in the mystery of Tim’s disappearance turns out to be more than just a “platonic” or “comrade in arms” type of concern for him as it turns out the two had started an affair that had to be kept out of sight.

Meanwhile, as the progress of her investigative efforts continues, Jude finds herself confronting a debilitating personal health issue. Her intimate feelings towards Tim brought on a deepening mystery as she hears evidence of his untoward behavior, including drug use, and an intense romance with a young woman, all while he was supposed to be working undercover investigating. It was now clear to her that Tim may not have been the man she thought she could trust not only with an important heartfelt job and not to mention with her heart.

Fundamentally, as a whole, The Experiment turned out to be a good stand-alone read that I found to be both creative and satisfying as a mystery read. Ultimately, the story captivated me with a mystery that deepened and twisted as the plot progressed centered around subject matter that I personally found a refreshing relief from the usual mystery genre fare. And as for characterizations, I found Jude to be a well-crafted central character whose own complex personal history intrigued, just as much as the other mysterious elements within the narrative which author Robin Lamont did a splendid job of culminating, into a cohesive and intriguing work that wielded suspense well. I look forward to her other books as well as hoping to see The Experiment made into a movie. I think it would be great and this book is definitely a must read.

Capitol White

Capitol White by Joe Pistone and Jon Land

Book reviewed by Russell Ilg

As a crime film connoisseur, I place Donnie Brasco among the very best the genre has to offer. Watching Johnny Depp, as the title character, spend five years undercover inside the New York Mob, before ultimately bringing down the infamous families at the top of the food chain, remains great fun every time I watch it. Purchase Here.

So it was with great interest that I plunged into Capitol White, more or less a direct sequel to that movie, penned by former FBI agent Joe Pistone working in tandem with bestselling thriller writer Jon Land. The twist is Donnie himself has been re-imagined wondrously here as a fictional hero, as opposed to a fictitious one, to spectacular success.
Pistone famously chronicled his years living undercover in Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia – A True Story. Capitol White may be all fiction but you wouldn’t know it from the writing and I had to remind myself numerous times that what I was reading was made up instead of a literary rendition of Donnie’s next major case.

And what a case it is, as we follow the now retired Brasco being lured back into action when a pair of current agents come to him with the story that his mentor’s recent death was the product of murder and not natural causes. Before you can say “Martin Scorsese,” Pistone’s famed undercover doppelganger is all-in on what got FBI Assistant Director Paul Weinman killed, following a trail that leads to a shadowy cabal of Washington powermongers who, by all indications, have usurped the opioid trade for their own nefarious ends.

Hence the title Capitol White, a play on “China White” which is one of the many street names for heroine. It’s oddly appropriate, given that Donnie will stop at nothing to ferret out the politicos and crooks running the show, as coolly professional in fiction as he was in fact, even if that means going back undercover, something he’d promised his family he’d sworn off forever.

For my money, those scenes with his wife and three young sons are the very best in the book, especially when his youngest boy becomes responsible for uncovering a crucial clue (as well as the book’s chilling denouement). William Faulkner once said that the greatest conflict is the human heart at war with itself, and Donnie struggles mightily to keep a vow made to his family while honoring an obligation to the man who was his lifeline during those dangerous years he spent undercover.

This is gritty crime-thriller writing of the highest order, hardboiled prose packed with a punch made all the more enjoyable by a superb unabridged reading by Alexander Centese. Centese’s measured voice and cadence make the tale’s noir-ish elements even more foreboding as Donnie plunges deeper and deeper into a darkness that threatens to swallow him whole at every turn. The first-person narration crackles with authenticity, helping to (re)establish Donnie’s street creds and smarts as he negotiates a Washington, DC terrain that seems little different than the New York streets on which he made his bones, politicians no different from mob bosses. A rollicking, riveting and relentless read/listen.