This Is Very Nice

Scott D. Parker's pick for Barrie Summy's Book Review Club.

Also, Scott and I have some news coming up soon. Stay tuned to this BTAP channel.

The Book Review Club: Ripley Under Ground

Then came the stretch of jammed-together Victorian houses that had been converted into small hotels with grandiose names in neon lights between Doric doorway pillars: MANCHESTER ARMS, KING ALFRED, CHESIRE HOUSE. Tom knew that behind the genteel respectability of those narrow lobbies some of the best murderers of the present day took refuge for a night or so, looking equally respectable themselves. England was England, God bless it! -- RIPLEY UNDER GROUND (1970)

It's six years after the events of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Tom Ripley is living with his pharmaceutical-heiress wife in a French villa. Ripley’s lifestyle is supported by Dickie Greenleaf's fortune (inherited after he murdered Dickie in the previous novel) and Derwatt Ltd., an art forgery scheme that begins to unravel when an art collector suspects someone is duplicating the paintings of a famous recluse artist. Ripley invites the suspicious collector to his villa where he attempts to persuade the man to drop the investigation. When the collector refuses, Ripley takes matters into his own hands by giving the man a tour of the wine cellar where... well, you can imagine what follows.

Ripley Under Ground isn't on the same creative level as the classic The Talented Mr. Ripley because of some implausible situations--Ms. Highsmith concocts stuff that will surprise and stretch the believability factor. Still, I found the continuing adventures of the con artist and serial killer's supercilious actions quite entertaining. I'm looking forward to the next three books in the Ripliad.

Book Review Club: PRESENCE OF MIND

Steve was dead. There was a penny-sized bullet hole in the back of his neck, about an inch above the knob. I moved over and touched the woman, and when I got no reaction, lifted the blonde hair up and out of her coat collar. And saw the same thing. Her shoulders and head moved to the right and rested against the glass of her door's window.

Out of standard PI loyalty, Chess Hanrahan begins investigating the murder of his pal, Steve, who had taken on a case that Chess had passed on to him. The cops try to dissuade Chess with evidence of a paperclip sculpture found at both his friend's murder scene and a similar 'calling card' at a double-murder elsewhere in town, theorizing a serial killer is loose and Steve was the victim of random violence which had nothing to do with the case Steve was working on. Chess quickly learns there is more to the situation than meets the eye.

Any detective book that begins with an Edith Hamilton quote is likely to be far from standard and, thankfully, PRESENCE OF MIND shakes it up with political parley between the USSR and US (the novel takes place in the late 1980s), connections to the Korean War, and the trail of Soviet agents hell-bent on seizing a little known computer company.

Mr. Cline's writing is sharp and lyrical in refreshing ways for a genre that is getting drier and drier. I intend to read each Chess Hanrahan novel that is released. Recommended.

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@Barrie Summy

The Book Review Club: THE GUILT EDGE

He was lying on the floor of one of the stalls, and had obviously been kicked to death by a horse. His head was bleeding, and the blood had soaked into the straw and dirt around him. I went into the stall and bent over him, but there was nothing for me to do. I didn't touch him, or move him. I got out of there, feeling slightly sick. It's not every day you see somebody's brains scattered about. -- "The Girl Who Talked To Horses" from THE GUILT EDGE by Robert J. Randisi.

The above passage is from one of fifteen short stories that comprise Robert J. Randisi's THE GUILT EDGE and features five protagonists (Henry Po, Val O'Farrell, Truxton Lewis, Bat Masterson, and Timothy Webster) crime fiction revelers have come to love over the last twenty-five years.

Highlights, for me, are the O'Farrell/Masterson tales that imagine Bat still fighting the good fight and mentoring real life O'Farrell as late as the early 1920s.

Michael Connelly has stated "Robert Randisi has long been held as a master of the genre.... He's one of the best."

I agree, and THE GUILT EDGE shows why.

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@Barrie Summy

The Book Review Club: L.A. Outlaws by T. Jefferson Parker

Suzanne Jones, a history teacher with three young sons, appears to lead a very normal, upstanding life. But as her alter ego, Allison Muretta, she pulls off a series of holdups, primarily at fast food restaurants dotting the Los Angeles landscape.

Tipped off to a cache of diamonds, Suzanne decides to upgrade her thieving habits and snags the gems following a gang-style massacre that leaves ten dead and merciless killer, Lupercio, hot on her trail. Charlie Hood, newly assigned to the Homicide division, begins investigating Suzanne suspecting she knows more than she’s letting on. Disarmed by her captivating charm, he eventually becomes romantically involved with the thief.

Suzanne is presented as a villain and heroine, in a gray area where she's a crook but donates to various charities. And something different for the writers out there, Parker uses first person in chapters from Suzanne's point of view and third person in chapters from other POVs.

The Washington Post said of OUTLAWS, "One of the most enticing heroines in recent American crime fiction," and I definitely agree. This novel is the first by T. Jefferson Parker that I've read but hardly the last.

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@Barrie Summy

The Book Review Club: High Profile by Robert B. Parker

Controversial talk-show host Walton Weeks is found dead, hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Paradise, Massachusetts. The body of his pregnant mistress is discovered in an alleyway soon after. Police Chief Jesse Stone has his hands full as the national media descends on his little ‘sleepy’ town for the headline of the year.

To add to an already hectic scene, Stone’s reporter ex-wife, Jenn, shows up in hopes of landing the murder scoop, and she further complicates the situation by claiming she’s been raped. Stone, who’s still hung-up on his ex, puts his budding relationship with Sunny Randall to the test when he asks Randall to stay with Jenn to provide security while he solves the murders (btw, if you’re new to the Jesse Stone series, it may be of interest to note at this point that the Paradise police chief is an alcoholic who sees a psychiatrist on a regular basis).

As Stone investigates, he peels away the layers of undisclosed and tangled relationships involving three former wives, each of whom have a stake in the host’s media empire, all while trying to put the pieces of his own personal life in order.

This book was an enjoyable read, and the interplay between the characters is well-developed, especially Stone’s conflicted ties to Sunny and Jenn—the reader can only speculate why Stone doesn’t kick his ex’s cheating a** to the curb and take up with the much more deserving Ms. Randall.

If I had to name just one gripe with the Jesse Stone series, and this is one that shares a common thread for all Parker franchises, it would be the endless psychiatric discussions. Heck, even Sunny Randall is seeing a shrink ... Susan Silverman who is Spenser’s longtime girlfriend. Talk about obsessive!

In short, High Profile is a good place for first time readers to jump on the Parker train or for old fans looking to return.

Thanks to Barrie Summy for inviting me to participate in The Book Review Club. For more reviews, check Barrie's blog for a complete round-up.