Tag Archives: mystery

Runner by Thomas Perry (2009) – BR00196 (2021) – 🐸🐸🐸⚪⚪

The PolyBlog
June 25 2021

Plot or Premise

Jane is retired, ready to give advice if need be to would-be runners looking for her help, but she spends her days being the dutiful supportive wife of her surgeon husband. At a fundraiser for the hospital, a bomb explodes to hide the activities of a group of hunters determined to capture a pregnant girl before she can get to Jane.

What I Liked

As always, Jane is going to help. If she doesn’t, there’s no book, right? So yes, she helps the runner, gets her away, finds a way to get her safe, and Jane does some other sleuthing to help her stay hidden. I liked the “lull” in the action so to speak as Jane tries to return to her normal life after helping the girl, giving her some time to get ready for birth etc., and there is a surprisingly deep storyline about the fact Jane has been trying to have a baby of her own with no luck conceiving.

What I Didn’t Like

There are two elements in the story that I found a bit strained. First, Jane gets her away, gets her safe, and is helping her “get ready” for the birth. Annnnnd then just says, “See you later, I’ll be back before the due date”. Why does she leave? No real reason, it’s stupid. With predictable results. Equally, the final parts of the novel seem more like Die Hard than a Jane Whitefield novel.

The Bottom Line

Surprising mix of depth and misplaced action.

Shadow Woman by Thomas Perry (1998) – BR00195 (2021) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
June 18 2021

Plot or Premise

Pete Hatcher works in a Las Vegas casino as a low-level executive. When the big bosses decide that maybe he knows something that would interest the Feds, Jane has to help him escape to a new life. But the major complication for Jane is that they hire a couple of pros to find Hatcher.

What I Liked

The book covers a lot of ground, with lots of running around the country, and even up into Glacier National Park. It’s a bit different than the urban settings of the rest of it, and you get to see lots of new issues for Jane to adapt to while teaching the people how to live a hidden life. The pros that are chasing her are really good, and it adds lots of tension.

What I Didn’t Like

I liked reading the story, and still the premise of what Jane does, but this one had some challenges for me. First, Pete has no idea what’s going on because he doesn’t know why they suddenly decided he knows too much or what’s going on. But he hasn’t done anything wrong, and unlike a lot of other people trying to disappear, he could simply go to the authorities and say “Help!”. There’s no good explanation why he doesn’t. Secondly, the two pros that are chasing them are kind of nuts, but in very cliché ways. There’s no depth to the characters so there’s no menace, just pretty superficial. Finally, one of the big tension scenes is more resolved by coincidence than the actions of the people, which was unsatisfying.

The Bottom Line

A potentially excellent book brought down to highly enjoyable.

Dance for the Dead by Thomas Perry (1996) – BR00194 (2021) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
June 10 2021

Plot or Premise

Jane Whitefield is back and trying to guide an 8-year-old boy with an inheritance and a 30-year-old woman with stolen bank money to a safe haven.

What I Liked

The methodology for how Jane helps everyone is quite good, and reads both simple and plausible, a veneer of realism that sells the stories. The explanations for both cases are relatively clear, you understand the motives and why someone is coming after the two of them. Most of the story is a cat and mouse world, and it works well.

What I Didn’t Like

The two stories seem unconnected at the beginning but it is blindingly obvious that they will eventually connect, even if it is a connection told in reverse (i.e., if you know the connection in advance, you can write two separate stores to get there), but it seems coincidental rather than natural. There are also two really long expositions, one at the beginning for the kid’s backstory and one in the middle for hers. Finally, there is some romance that comes out of nowhere for the character, particularly as you have been in her head for some time and then it’s like, “Cue the romance scene with a guy she knows but we don’t.”.

The Bottom Line

A good second book, the premise is still great.

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (2018) – BR00189 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸

The PolyBlog
March 22 2020

Plot or Premise

A woman dies at a party at a country resort, the solution obvious. But she was actually murdered, and a guest must solve the crime or never leave. Because the same day repeats each day, and each day the guest is in the body of someone else. He has seven chances to get it right.

** Note that when I bought the e-book, all the promotional material including the cover said “The 7 Deaths of…”. Now, a few months later, as I go to review it, the title has changed to the 7.5 deaths. I’m keeping the title I had initially. **

What I Liked

The Groundhog Day / time loop is rarely handled well in any genre (TV, movie, books), but Turton not only handles it expertly, he adds in a body jumping element that is brilliant. Each day he learns just a little bit more about the culminating murder, and about the reality he is trapped in, playing detective in a country resort. Some days he is completely new, other days he is locked into exchanges he witnessed the day before and must tweak them to ensure they end the same or differently. Can he prevent the murder? Can he solve the crime? And why does another guest seem to know he’s not himself? And who — or what — is stalking the guests?

What I Didn’t Like

It is a bit confusing at times, given the sheer complexity of the story. 

The Bottom Line

Expertly done — time jumps, loops, and body-hopping, oh my!

Murder at Hawthorn Cottage by Betty Rowlands (2018) – BR00188 (2020) – 🐸🐸🐸🐸⚪

The PolyBlog
March 21 2020

Plot or Premise

A mystery writer moves to the country to find some peace and quiet in her life to do some writing.

What I Liked

The feel is very much like an Agatha Christie-style small village with priests, neighbours and a local mystery, with a body dropping shortly after things get settled.

What I Didn’t Like

The romance side doesn’t work, as it’s hard to get a feel for the lead character’s age…one minute she seems like a woman in her late 50s and the next she seems like a girl in her early 20s. Worldly, calm, centred and then naïve, unsure, flighty. The ex and her son seem superfluous, and some of the other characters are a bit superficial with their secrets which are wildly apparent long before they are “revealed”. She isn’t as bumbling as, say, Stephanie Plum, but she’s hardly Miss Marple either, or even Jessica Fletcher. But these are minor complaints for a rich world and sense of Christie-like mystery.

The Bottom Line

Not quite Christie but I’ll read more in the series.

Note that the book was originally published as A Little Gentle Sleuthing (1990).