The Scent of Murder

Title: The Scent of Murder
Author: Kylie Logan
Published: May 7th 2019 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover 320 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Jazz Ramsey #1

Too much fluff and reads as a young adult novel.

Jazz Ramsey has recently lost her tracking dog Manny and has agreed to help with the training of a new cadaver dog. Knowing that a building would be available she sets off for a night of training when what Luther, the new pup, finds is more than the tooth that Jazz had planted.

Turns out that Jazz knows the woman. Florentine “Florie” Allen had graduated a few years before from the private school where Jazz works. Currently, Florie is a struggling art student and though people change, Florie looks nothing like the girl Jazz remembers.

This is where author Kylie Logan begins to through everything that she can into the story. Arguments with old classmates, costumes, upcoming festivals, blackmail, personal relationships. But the sad thing is, the final “gotcha” was no surprise. Early on it made sense what Florie was up to since it is a well-used plot line.

There is also a romance if the redundant narrative doesn’t suit you, but that too is tired and clumsy at best.

Someone Knows

Title: Someone Knows
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Published: April 9th 2019 by G.P. Putnam's Sons
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Genre: Suspense

After a slow start, I am glad that I stuck with this book because by the end, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough or have guessed the final twist that Lisa Scottoline had was laying in store.

Allie Garvey never fit in with the cool kids of Brandywine Hunt, Pennsylvania, but that night twenty years ago sealed her fate when a hidden gun was found and Sasha Barrow, and her friends, decided to lie about the initiation into their so-called club. With their secret kept, and the death ruled a suicide, Allie and the rest are ultimately burdened with the truth. That is, all except one; when you are a psychopath, something like a body or two, or three, in the woods isn’t going to stop you from your destiny.

I enjoy Lisa Scottoline’s standalone novels. They let her branch out into the darker parts of individuals. Though some tend to follow the same formula of fateful decisions, broken families, and the demons that prey upon them, they are still full of twists that will keep the reader engaged.

In Plain Sight

Title: In Plain Sight
Author: Linda Castillo
Published: May 28th 2019 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, 60 Pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Kate Burkholder #10.5

In anticipation of her new release “Shamed” Linda Castillo has released a novella to whet our appetites and help ease us back into the world of Kate Burkholder and Painter’s Mill.

Bullies and small-mindedness can be found anywhere and this is what leads to a harrowing night in the life of Noah Kline. He is a good kid, walking home alone after taking a girl to a school dance. This is Noah’s rumspringa where he is allowed the freedom to experience the world outside of the confines of his Amish household. Little did he know that there are those who believe that he should stay with his own kind.

What he didn’t expect was the car that came barreling toward him and then chased him into a field. The next morning, while clinging to life, the story behind the attack is told revealing that intolerance is everywhere, even in the small town of Painter’s Mill.

The A List

Title: The A List
Author: J.A. Jance
Published: April 2nd 2019 by Gallery Books
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Genre: Suspense
Series: Ali Reynold's #14

“The A List” weaves around the stories that you already know from the Ali Reynolds’ series, and though the cover art does not match the plot, I would have to say that this is one of the better books in the series.

The “A” in the title stands for annihilation and that is exactly what Edward Gilchrist has planned for those responsible for his current predicament. When DNA testing came out, fertility specialist Dr. Edward Gilchrist knew that his empire could come crumbling down. Back in the day, when finances were tight, he decided to use some of his own material to help those that wanted a child - not realizing that a form of kidney disease would be passed along and with it. Edward Gilchrist was quickly found when Alexandra Munsey started her search for a kidney donor for her son Evan, and through the Progeny Project, led to a quick demise of a man that thought he, with his mother’s money, was untouchable.

Now facing a prison sentence for fraud and malpractice, Gilchrist tattoos the initials of those that he wants to annihilate. With the help of a fellow convict, Edward’s mother, and a nail technician, the three plot against those responsible. It is not until Frigg, the AI that readers know from the previous two books, starts putting things together does the team from High Noon realize that one of their own is in danger. Ali Reynolds is the reporter that put the original story on the air and if it was not for her getting this ball rolling, Edward Gilchrist would not be sitting behind bars.

Since this story revolves around previous storylines, there is a time shift and the reader is constantly fluctuating between then and now scenarios. Much to Stu’s chagrin, he too must play a give and take with Frigg, and her sidekick Fido, and their continuing ability to get into things that could get High Noon raided by the FBI.

I would recommend that this not be the first book in the series for new readers. There is too much going on in the background and a newcomer would feel that they are missing too much.

The Night Window

Title: The Night Window
Author: Dean Koontz
Published: May 14th 2019 by Bantam
Format: eBook,Hardcover, 432 pages
Genre: Techno Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Jane Hawk #5

It is hard to believe that this five-book to date series encompasses less than three weeks in the life of Jane Hawk. Yet by the time we reach the final chapter, it feels as if Jane has been in a battle for years, with each day encompassing decisions that would cripple an average person.

Vikram Rangnekar, who barely registered in previous books is front and center in “The Night Window”. With his brilliance and charming innocence, they take on the Techno Arcadians from the inside and in doing so, upends the group which has altered memories and turning people into slaves of evil.

There were a couple of new characters added and the return of favorites. All of which leads the reader on an endless ride in untraceable vehicles with brief respites so we can run to our dictionaries for a vocabulary lesson. There are cringe-worthy parts when it comes to the actions of some characters, no more so than the man handing out random acts of cruelty, but then again, it wouldn’t be a Knootz novel if there wasn’t evil among evil.

Though the author gives insight from previous novels, this is a series that must be read from the first book. The people, the places, and the reasoning all flow in a sick and sometimes disjointed way, but it is all there, laid out in occasional gory detail but that is helped along with a bit of humor on the side.

The Library Book

Title: The Library Book
Author: Susan Orlean
Published: Published October 16th 2018 by Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover, 337 Pages
Genre: Non-Fiction

Described as an investigation into the fire of the Los Angeles Central Library on April 28, 1986, is misleading. Most of this book is a dry overwritten background of how the library started and more than you would want to know of previous head librarians and the temperatures ranges that they had to endure. What this has to do with the fire, I will never know. There is a sprinkling or two of who the suspected arsonist was, but that is only to keep the reader going in hopes that Susan Orleans would get back to the crime itself which turned out not to be the point of the book after all.

Using this book, and a tantalizing arson, the author instead devotes too much time to the “fascinating” world of libraries, librarians, and the politics within their walls. Unfortunately, the average reader will find this book dreadfully slow and boring.

After 330 plus pages, the reader is no closer in knowing who was responsible for over tens of millions of dollars in damage to both books and the structure. Sure, the name Harry Peak is bandied about, they were even on the precipice of a trial with defamation counterclaims, but there have been no formal charges and if it is true, that less than 2% of arson fires are ever solved, which they cannot say definitively that this was an arson, it is a guarantee that after 33 years, this one will not be either.

Do not waste your time on this book unless you are fanatical about the history of Los Angeles Central Library because the arson is just a lure to get you to open the pages of this book.