#48: The Feral Detective by Jonathan Lethem

A high-strung New Yorker--left adrift in the wake of the recent presidential election--decides to head to California and look for a friend's missing daughter, only to land in the middle of a war between desert tribes, in Jonathan Lethem's The Feral Detective.

Lethem is seen as more of a mainstream literary author, but his novels often have genre beats, from Amnesia Moon to Motherless Brooklyn to The Fortress of Solitude.  This one riffs on detective novels, as the "feral detective" of the title helps our narrator, as she slowly learns he has a hidden backstory that ties directly into what is happening in the desert. 

A grisly discovery about a third of the way into the book catapults the novel from romp to noir, and a nail-biting finale involving a rusty Ferris Wheel satisfies.

Lethem writes a cut above the genre and can be read across all interests.  I enjoyed this tremendously and would read another if he returned to this world.  Recommended.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana, and read it quickly.

#47: Death and the Saloon Girl by Frank Leslie

At the bequest of the sheriff's daughter, The Revenger goes looking for two missing lawmen and a delivery of gold in Frank Leslie's Death and the Saloon Girl.

Leslie is actually western author Peter Brandvold, a prolific writer with a stable of western series characters.  The Revenger throws back to the "Adult Western" genre, where our hero beds women as quickly and steadily as he guns down owlhoots.

Western readers will find pretty much everything they like here, and it moves at a quick pace.

Brandvold sent me this novel, which was part of a double with A Bullet for Sartain.

#46: Lethal White by Robert Galbraith

In this fourth outing, private eye Cormoran Strike and his loyal partner Robin juggle several cases, starting with a mental patient who thinks he saw a murder, in Robert Galbraith's Lethal White.

Galbraith was outed as J.K. Rowling a while ago, but continues to present these crime novels under the Galbraith name, and it's a good thing--these tough stories are not for young adult readers.

Lethal White is also not a good jumping off point for new readers, as it picks up about an hour after the end of Career of Evil, where Robin was on the brink of a disastrous marriage.  The aftershocks of this consume a big chunk of this novel, and your interest in this plotline will influence how you feel about the novel as a whole.

I found this to be a mild entry in the series, although a good audiobook read by Robert Glenister adds value.  I checked it out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana.

#45: November Road by Lou Berney

In 1963, a loyal crime family member leaves a car near the Texas Book Depository for his boss, and as national events unfold over the next few days finds himself on the run in Lou Berney's November Road.

Lou Berney's novel is striking in that it is a very hard-boiled noir--as the gangster picks up a runaway housewife and her kids, all while a ruthless hitman gets closer and closer--but also plays out every Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory straight-faced, sweeping up John, Bobby, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Ruby, and others.

Berney presents a genuinely offbeat but very readable thriller, which I enjoyed and consumed quickly.  Recommended.

I borrowed this from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#44: Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin

A man hiding from a drug cartel takes a job as a caretaker at a remote, mountainous wildlife preserve; but when bear poachers start creeping onto the land and challenging him and the balance of nature, he is gradually drawn back into a violent world in James A. McLaughlin's Bearskin.

Bearskin is a very tough crime novel in an unusual rustic setting, but the "tarnished angel" antihero is straight out of the mean streets of noir. 

Terse writing, and plenty of shades of gray, make this a compelling read throughout. Madness, revenge, redemption, all the hallmarks of hard-boiled classics, are on display.

I enjoyed McLaughlin's novel tremendously and will look for more from him.  Recommended.

I checked this out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library and read it quickly.

#43: Severance by Ling Ma

During a pandemic, a young woman at a publishing house is offered a bonus to keep the New York office open, and continues to do so even as people and infrastructure evaporate around her in Ling Ma's Severance.

Severance is a literate post-apocalyptic story, following three separate snapshots in time.  We see before the pandemic, as our protagonist navigates being young and hip and finding her soulmate in New York; during, as her office life becomes more surreal; and after, when she reluctantly joins a caravan heading for a perhaps mythical sanctuary as told by a maybe crazy former IT guy turned evangelical prophet.  There is also a dash of her arrival as a child from China, with immigrant parents.

This story engages on all levels and works across multiple genres.  Enjoyable throughout and recommended for general readers, but post-apocalyptic fans in particular.  Recommended.

I checked this out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana and read it quickly.

#42: Parade by Shuichi Yoshida

Four twentysomethings watch the world swirl around their Tokyo apartment in Shuichi Yoshida's Parade.

First the roomies think something strange is going on in the next apartment, and then we learn women are getting attacked in the neighborhood.  These stories unfold slowly, from each roommates' point of view. 

Unfortunately the first mystery unravels rather unceremoniously, and the second takes a sharp left turn in the last pages of the book.  Both are pretty low-wattage and didn't do much for me.

However, as a portrait of largely disaffected young people and their various entanglements, I was interested throughout.  Billed more as a thriller, it is really a slice of life story.  If that is of interest, I would seek Yoshida out.

I checked this out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana.

#41: The Mad and the Bad by Jean-Patrick Manchette

A scheming man becomes the guardian of an orphaned nephew who just inherited a fortune; when he hires a nanny fresh from a mental institution, and then a hitman to take care of them both, things don't go quite as planned in Jean-Patrick Manchette's The Mad and the Bad.

Manchette is at the top of the list in French noir, with a notably bleak, yet darkly comic, style that was the template for many others.  This one is lighter on existentialism, and heavier on action, than some of his others, but is a completely enjoyable read front to back.

I enjoy reading Manchette whenever I come across one.  This is the New York  Review Books Classics edition, which I found at the New Castle-Henry County Public Library.  Recommended if you have never tried French noir.

#40: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

A struggling painter and a young boy are the sole survivors of a plane crash, and soon find themselves in the center of a media firestorm in Noah Hawley's Before the Fall.

The novel starts with the crash, but quickly spins back in time, over years and through multiple points of view, showing the lives of the people on the plane, and gives hints as to what might have contributed to the crash.  These people include a media mogul and his young wife, the mogul's security chief, a financier about to be arrested and his wife, and the flight crew, including a party-boy co-pilot and a stewardess at the end of a troubled relationship.

Hawley has written several novels but may be better known for his television work, including his current project Fargo. I was really looking forward to this book based on his other credits, but found this to be a pretty standard but not disagreeable thriller. Socio-political commentary, including a FOX News-style commentator with his own secrets, adds value.

I listened to a good audiobook version on loan from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana.

#39: Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller

A floating Arctic city, overseen by AIs but really overrun with corruption and crime, feels its balance of power shift when a woman riding a killer whale and trailing a polar bear arrives at its docks in Sam J. Miller's Blackfish City.

Ensuing events unfold through the eyes of multiple narrators, including a low-level bureaucrat who used to be a street punk, a rich but slumming young man, a journeyman fighter with gaps in his memories, and a gender-fluid teen who works as a delivery person.

Miller has done a great job with world-building, and has a contemporary view of sexuality and politics.  The novel also features interesting characters and situations throughout.  It is a rare dystopian novel with a glimmer of hope at the end. 

Recommended for science fiction fans. 

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana and read it quickly.

#38: Seeing People Off by Jana Beňová

Two young couples in post-Soviet Slovakia figure out life and love in Jana Beňová's Seeing People Off.

Beňová provides a little slice of life in this vignette-oriented novel, some parts whimsical and magical, some parts more grounded in emotional and mental health.  All in all a fresh voice from the Eastern European school.

Beňová may be new to these shores in this English translation, but has written steadily, on a variety of platforms, in her native Slovakia.  She lives in Bratislava, the central city featured in this work.

I bought Seeing People Off  from Two Dollar Radio, an interesting publishing house for independent writing, based in Ohio.

#37: The Front Seat Passenger by Pascal Garnier

A man's wife is killed in a car accident with another man in the passenger seat, thus revealing an affair; so the widower begins to stalk the widow, with unintended consequences in Pascal Garnier's The Front Seat Passenger.

Garnier's novel reminded me of other French noir writers like Jean-Patrick Manchette and Seabastien Japrisot; inky-black comedy, existential crises, bleak storylines.

This one has about two-thirds of an unreliable narrator storyline and one third surprising mayhem, with a handful of murders. leading to a downbeat courtroom finale.

Garnier's novel is slim, and packs a punch.  I got it from Amazon in a collection called Gallic Noir Volume 2 and read it quickly.

#36: His Secret Son by Brenda Jackson

A Navy SEAL and an art student meet in Paris over the holidays, and have a brief romance; a few years later they are reunited, and have a surprise son in the mix, in Brenda Jackson's His Secret Son.

Directly after their long weekend in Paris, the SEAL is captured in Libya and presumed dead; when he is rescued, he starts the hunt to find his previous love, now a famous New York artist.  How they eventually reunite, and rekindle their romance, is the center of pretty low-level tension in this story.

But the characters and situations are interesting throughout thanks to Jackson, who is notable in the romance world for being a writer of color and for writing stories featuring various racial backgrounds.

I listened to this on audiobook, on loan from the New Castle-Henry County Library in New Castle, Indiana, which was given a very good read by Pete Ohms.

#35: Death Notice by Zhou Haohui

When a serial killer who sets elaborate traps resurfaces after many years, the Chengdu police form a special task force to catch him; but the police's own secrets might be their undoing in Zhou Haohui's Death Notice.

Death Notice was a big hit in China, and this first of a trilogy has been translated into English for the first time. 

A rocketing pace, twists and turns, and sometimes improbable plotting sets it comfortably in the western canon of summer blockbusters; but where I enjoyed it the most was insight into the lives of contemporary Chinese, and how our cultures are different.  Notable early on was the casual cover-up of a policeman's murder, as news of it was deemed too upsetting for the public to learn about.

I also enjoyed the motivations of the various task force members, some of which have surprising backstories that dovetail into a cliffhanger ending.

I am interested to read the next entry in this series.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#34: Classified K-9 Unit Christmas by Lenora Worth and Terri Reed

The stalwart FBI agents at at K-9 training center in Billings, Montana take on various bad guys in this pair of novellas by Lenora Worth and Terri Reed, Classified K-9 Unit Christmas.

In the first, an agent and her dog stumble across a hired assassin targeting college girls.  She teams with a handsome U.S. marshal to figure out what is going on, which ends up reaching up into the highest levels of state government.  In the second, a K-9 and his handler, who specialize in arson, investigates a series of blazes, beginning with a homeless shelter at Christmas.  When the arsonist targets a pretty baker and her family, the agent and his dog have additional motivation.

This was a decent but undemanding pair of connected stories, with religious undertones and value added with character and setting.  This is part of a series Harlequin released about K-9 officers and features characters from other stories.

I got this one from a big lot of Harlequin romances on eBay and read it quickly.

#33: Montana Royalty by B.J. Daniels

A woman tries to hang on to her failing ranch, even as a royal family from a hazy European nation tries to buy up all the land; but a passionate night in a line shack with a royal horseman ups the stakes for both in B.J. Daniels' Montana Royalty.

Daniels does a mash-up of  the ranch romance story and the royal romance story, and doesn't leave any stone unturned.  There is a hidden birth certificate, two surprise pregnancies, two murders, two attempted murders, a masquerade ball, and a climactic blizzard.

This one has a little something for everyone who enjoys romance novels and was helped by a good audiobook read by Abby Craden.

I checked this out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana.

#32: The Last Dodo by Jacqueline Rayner

The Doctor and his companion Martha visit a space zoo with a hidden agenda in Jacqueline Rayner's Tenth Doctor adventure The Last Dodo.

Fans of the David Tennant era will find a good characterization of him in this breezy entry that has the scope and feel of a television episode.  This zoo is full of extinct animals from Earth, so naturally a few hungry prehistoric creatures get loose.  Secret cloning and diabolical motivations make the story only slightly more complex.

Fans of the Doctor Who show will find enough to enjoy, and a good audiobook reading by Freema Agyeman--who played Martha in the show--adds value.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#31: Sting of the Zygons by Stephen Cole

In the 1900s, the Doctor and his companion Martha stave off an alien invasion of shape-shifters, rampaging giant monsters, and a conspiracy against the British government in Stephen Cole's Sting of the Zygons.

This Doctor Who novel features the character as played by David Tennant, but in the usual mind-bending Doctor Who logic, is a prequel to a storyline first introduced in the Tom Baker era, Terror of the Zygons.

The plot is very action-driven, and not much character-driven, so relies on the television show's fanbase for success.

I listened to a good audiobook reading by Reggie Yates, on loan from the Morrisson-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#30: Walkaway by Cory Doctorow

In the near future, a group of people decide to walk away from an oppressive society and come up with an alternative; but when they figure out the secret to immortality, the ruling government can't leave them alone in Cory Doctorow's Walkaway.

Doctorow is a fascinating person and an interesting writer, and this novel is filled with ideas, ideas, ideas.  Unfortunately it seems as if the characters talk about their ideas for very long stretches, punctuated by raw sex and drone strikes.

But it is a big, expansive story, covering several decades and offered up from multiple points of view.  Lots of food for thought, and I was constantly interested in what would happen next.

This novel is helped tremendously by a really good audiobook version by several narrators, including Amber Benson and Wil Wheaton.  Worthwhile to those willing to watch it spool out.

I checked this out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana.

#29: Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino

A cold-hearted husband is served up poison, but the prime suspect--his wife--is several hundred miles away when it happens, confounding the Tokyo police in Keigo Higashino's Salvation of a Saint.

This is Higashino's second "Detective Galileo" novel (after The Devotion of Suspect X) and follows a similar formula where the killer is actually revealed at the outset, and the main action is watching the police trying to figure out how exactly it was done (with the help of an eccentric professor).  This entry especially has kind of that old-fashioned "locked room" puzzle feel.

Interesting characters and situations add value, as does a really good audiobook read by David Pittu.

I checked this out from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library in New Castle, Indiana.

#28: The Italian Party by Christina Lynch

A young, newly-married couple move to Italy to open a Ford dealership; but the husband is actually a spy, and that's not the biggest secret in their relationship. 

The Italian Party, Christina Lynch's debut novel, starts as if it is going to be a fizzy romp through 1950s Europe, but has much darker undertones in both personal and professional relationships.

I have visited Italy a half-dozen times over the years and felt like Lynch got the pitch exactly right.  The storytelling is compelling throughout and has a good balance of light and dark. 

Enjoyable overall and I look forward to more from Lynch.

I checked this out from the Morrisson-Reeves Library in Richmond, Indiana.

#27: Watcher in the Shadows by Geoffery Household

After World War II, a former deep-cover British spy comes into a killer's crosshairs in Geoffery Household's Watcher in the Shadows.

In this case, our troubled hero can't reveal that he was working for the Allies when he posed as a guard at Buchenwald; so when a mysterious figure begins to hunt other war criminals, he ends up in a reluctant cat-and-mouse game.

Household wrote a lot of popular British thrillers, and this one is full of those hallmarks with dry wit, a focus on manners and station, and old-fashioned British resolve.  But the core story is very sobering, as the former spy copes with his inadvertent role in the Nazi prison camp.

This was a very solid thriller and my first from Household.  I would look for more from him.

I bought this at a used bookstore in Rome that I always enjoy visiting, and found it in the cool Orange Penguin cover.

#26: Stop at Nothing by John Welcome

An aging race car driver gets involved with a hot-headed jockey, his beguiling sister, and a stolen formula in John Welcome's Stop at Nothing.

Stop at Nothing is a British novel of the early 60s, and reads like one; plenty of boozing and pill-popping and high-speed chases around the British and French countrysides, all with dry humor and a can-do attitude.

Speaking of high speed, this novel takes off on the first page and never lifts its foot until the end, when our hero takes Bentley and gun and chases the bad guys to a deadly finale.

I had never heard of Welcome, but he writes a bright, breezy adventure.

I found this at my favorite used bookstore in the Trastevere area of Rome, in the cool Orange cover version from Penguin, and read it quickly.

#25: Queenpin by Megan Abbott

A young woman ends up under the wing of a tough female gangster; but when the young woman falls for a hard-luck gambler with big debts, it creates deadly cracks in all of the relationships in Megan Abbott's Queenpin.

Queenpin is a contemporary novel, but could have fallen right off of a spinner rack full of Gold Medal paperbacks.  Abbott has written as hard-boiled and satisfying a noir as was ever banged out on the feverish typewriters of the 40s and 50s.  Abbott writes in the proper terse style, never lets up on the accelerator, and ends with the usual dose of nihilism; a potent brew, indeed.

I have read two books by Abbott recently, and they are both very different, but written in a style that ratchets up the suspense right to the end.  Recommended.

I got this for my beloved Kindle and read it quickly.

#24: The Late Show by Michael Connelly

A detective who accused her boss of sexual harassment ends up on the graveyard shift, but her determination to solve crimes--and work outside the rules--stays strong in Michael Connelly's The Late Show.

Ballard quickly finds herself with two cases she can't let go of; one is that of a transgender prostitute beaten with a pair of signature brass knuckles, and the other a club shoot-out that leaves a waitress and several others dead.

This is Connelly's first book in a new series with a different character, after a long and successful run with Harry Bosch and his half-brother "The Lincoln Lawyer"; I wouldn't say Ballard rings as resonantly yet, yet is interesting.

But the two cases move at a steady clip, so those looking for fast-paced police procedurals will enjoy it, and I would be interested in reading another novel featuring Renee Ballard.

I listened to this on audiobook on loan from the New Castle-Henry County Public Library.