Hear that sound? It’s the clock ticking down the days,
hours, and minutes until Christmas morning! Don’t despair—you already know what
to get the mystery lovers on your list! There are lots of good books out, some
with the ink barely dry. So print out this list, head for the bookstore, and
while you’re there, buy yourself a little something, too!
Dead or Alive, by Tom Clancy (Putnam; $28.95) Hot off the
press, this huge thriller brings together Jack Ryan and the rest of the Clancy
crew to fight a sadistic killer known as the Emir who is intent on destroying
the US.
Our Kind of Traitor, by John le Carré (Viking; $27.95): A
young vacationing English couple’s tennis game with a Russian money launderer
puts them in the middle of a tug-of-war between the Russian mafia, the City of London, and the competing
arms of the British Secret Service.
Port Mortuary, by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam; $27.95): Kay
Scarpetta’s training in virtual autopsies come in handy when a young man drops
dead near her home in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, with befuddling
internal injuries.
Secrets to the Grave, by Tami Hoag (Dutton; $26.95): When a
young mother is murdered, the cops in a small California town ask a child advocate to help
with the victim’s four-year old child, but her work soon puts her and the child
in the path of the killer.
Hollywood Hills, by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown; $26.99:
LAPD “Hollywood Nate” Weiss’ stint keeping an eye on the Hollywood Hills
mansion of a wealthy widow puts him at odds with her ex-con butler and
conniving art dealer.
Christmas Mourning, by Margaret Maron (Grand Central
Publishing; $25.99): Judge Deborah Knott and her husband, Sheriff’s Deputy
Dwight Bryant put their dreams of a homey Christmas on hold when a horrific
accident turns out to be not an accident.
What the Night Knows, by Dean Koontz (Random House; $28.00)
A series of murders seem to mirror killings some years before, and the homicide
cop on the case suspects his own family might be next.
In Too Deep, by Jayne Ann Krentz (Putnam; $25.95): An
investigator of the paranormal and his new assistant with powers of intuition
must battle the dark energy of the secret powers afoot in their small California town.
And now, two favorite authors of mine whose books were
disappointing:
Worth Dying For, by Lee Child (Delacorte Press; $28): As
Jack Reacher passes through a small town in Nebraska, he crosses paths with the Duncans,
a villainous family with a deadly secret. The book is almost a parody of Childs’
usual Reacher mysteries, with a ludicrous body count, numerous mountainous
Cornhusker football players overcome by our middle-aged hero, and one ridiculous
scene of Reacher setting his own badly broken nose.
Djibouti,
by Elmore Leonard (Morrow; $26.99): This book is, quite simply, a mess. The plot, such as it is, has a documentary
filmmaker trying to film Somali pirates stumbling upon a plot to blow up a
tanker carrying liquid natural gas. Instead of Leonard’s usual brilliant
dialogue, the conversations in this one are nearly incomprehensible, and none
of the characters are at all memorable. I love Elmore Leonard, but this book
was a stinker.
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