Tag Archives: detective

The Arbor House Treasury of Detective and Mystery Stories from the Great Pulps compiled by Bill Pronzini (1983) – BR00091 (2000) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 12 2000

Plot or Premise

A collection of decent stories.

What I Liked

Two stories stand out. Fatal Accident deals with a cop on vacation who sees a car wreck in front of him where the wife dies. When he tries to follow up with the hospitalized driver, the driver is more worried about people looking at the car than the wife. The cop’s instincts say murder. Not quite as solid but memorable is Crime of Omission, where a man consumed by jealousy is trying to convince himself to kill his best friend/wife’s lover while up at the cottage in the winter. Can he do it? Will he have to? Nice twist ending, although kind of campy.

What I Didn’t Like

Nothing bad stands out.

The Bottom Line

Solid collection.

The Best of Ellery Queen by Edited by Francis M. Nevins, Jr. and Martin H. Greenberg (1985) – BR00090 (2000) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 12 2000

Plot or Premise

A collection of Ellery Queen stories.

What I Liked

A few of the stories really stand out…Mind Over Matter with the death of a boxer just after a fight; The Inner Circle with a combination investment fund and deadpool; The Dauphin’s Doll with the planned theft of a doll collection; and the Three Widows with one of them slowly being poisoned. The Glass-domed Clock and Man Bites Dog are also pretty well-done.

What I Didn’t Like

A few places where the story creates a red herring through vague wording, but not obnoxious.

The Bottom Line

A good collection indeed.

Double Jeopardy by William Bernhardt (1995) – BR00073 (2000) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 12 2000

Plot or Premise

Travis Byrne is having a hard time. He traded his badge for a law degree and now most cops hate him. His courtroom opponent thinks he’s scum since he switched sides. And to prove her point, he’s just been appointed lawyer for Al Moroconi — an all-round scumbag with mob ties.

What I Liked

Then Al breaks out of prison, shooting a guard in the process, and starts gunning for his lawyer who he thinks hasn’t done enough to help him. Add in the mob and some crooked FBI agents, and this story gets complicated real fast.

What I Didn’t Like

It has the feel of a fish-out-of-water TV-movie and never quite pays off.

The Bottom Line

A fairly light read.

Three to Get Deadly by Janet Evanovich (1997) – BR00072 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
November 29 1999

Plot or Premise

This time around, Plum’s got a dandy assignment: pick up Uncle Mo, the owner of the local soda shop who everybody thinks is a saint. He got picked up for carrying a concealed weapon (which everybody says is no real crime at all) and promptly jumps bail for no apparent reason. She no sooner asks the first person about Mo’s whereabouts, and lo and behold, her mom is getting complaints about her harassing poor Uncle Mo. Ah, life is just peachy. Add in a couple of vigilante types who keep warning her away from Mo, some more involvement with Jackie and Lulu (the hookers from book one), and life gets interesting.

What I Liked

I liked the expansion of the various characters again. As well, it’s kind of fun to see the relationship develop between Joe and Stephanie, even if it is not romance-by-the-book. 🙂 The grandmother is less pronounced in this one but Lulu more than makes up for it as she wants to kick butt too. Ranger is definitely an interesting presence, and fun for everyone.

What I Didn’t Like

This book is a little more hard-boiled, complete with lots of guns blazing, and some harder-core motives for stuff. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it detracts a bit from the otherwise amusing antics of Stephanie as she is still learning the ropes about being a bounty hunter.

The Bottom Line

A little more hard-boiled.

Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich (1996) – BR00065 (1999) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
November 29 1999

Plot or Premise

This is the second book in the series about Stephanie Plum, new bounty hunter. This time around, her first love’s distant cousin, Kenny Mancuso, is supposed to be a relatively easy pickup. Sure, he shot a guy, his best friend, but he’s not all that bright. Except that he’s fresh out of the army and suddenly wealthy.

What I Liked

I liked the expansion of the role by Plum’s grandmother, even though I thought she was over the top in the first one. Here, it’s funny, as she is out of control. She goes to a funeral with a closed coffin for a guy who was shot, and she opens the coffin to see what he looks like. Another dead guy has a strange-looking ring so she touches the hand and the finger comes off. Don’t even ask about her shooting a gun. The love story with Morelli moves along a bit until he screws up (as all men do) and the brakes come on hard. Add in the sub-plot of 24 missing coffins, and the read is a riot. An improvement over the first book, and further expansion of some nice supporting characters.

What I Didn’t Like

There are a few too many guys running around with no real explanation, and the major baddie Kenny does a pretty good job of going wherever he wants to despite a large number of people looking for him (remembering that he wasn’t too bright to begin with).

The Bottom Line

Another great one in the series.