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Index Interviews: Janny Wurts Collaboration: Right or Wrong The Debate: Freelance Gigs vs. a Staff Job Manufacturing Inspiration Return to This Issue's Index Return to Homepage Subscribe
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Mystery/Thriller Book ReviewsPage Two of TwoCatch as Cat Can by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie BrownBantam, March, 2002Hardcover, 320 pages ISBN: 0553107445 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
In this tenth outing, Mary Minor "Harry" Haristeen
and her very smart animals, gray tiger cat Mrs. Murphy,
hefty gray cat Peweter and Tucker the Welsh Corgi,
must face a crime wave in the tiny Virginia hamlet of
Crozet, where Harry serves as postmistress. When a dead
woodpecker shows up on Harry's front porch, Mrs. Murphy
senses that there is trouble ahead. She's right: first Mrs.
Hogendobber's hubcaps are missing, and things escalate from there with
three mysterious deaths. Harry also has a very interesting
new beau on the horizon, although there may be more to him
than it appears at first glance.
If you can suspend disbelief long enough to accept the concept of intelligent, talking animals, Rita Mae Brown is sure to hook you within the first chapter of this witty and entertaining cozy. The little town of Crozet is peopled with some very interesting characters indeed (human and animal) and Rita Mae Brown's sense of humor adds a sharp flavor to this ultimate cozy tale. The English Assassin by Daniel SilvaPutnam, March, 2002Hardcover, 400 pages ISBN: 0399148515 Ordering information: Amazon.com | Amazon.co.uk 
Gabriel Allon is a well-known art restorer
who specializes in the restoration of Old Masters.
But art restoration is only one of his many talents; he
is also a part-time intelligence agent for the Israeli
government. His latest assignment sends him to Zurich
to restore a painting for a wealthy banker. When Gabriel
arrives at the home, he is given the access codes to the
security system and told to go inside. He discovers the
body of the murdered banker under the Old Master, and
immediately realizes that he is being framed for the killing.
As he sets out to find the real killer, Gabriel discovers
a number of people who will do anything to stop his
investigation. His enquiries lead him to a multitude of
shameful secrets about the Swiss people's cooperation
with the Nazis in World War II. As events spin out of control,
Gabriel realizes that he has another enemy: a brilliant assassin
that he actually helped train, known only as The Englishman.
Daniel Silva is one of the most promising authors in the spy genre to come along since Le Carre. He takes a familiar subject, the rape of Europe's art treasures by the Nazis and the Swiss cooperation in the crime, and gives it new life. Gabriel himself is a mass of contradictions: he is an expert assassin who is trained to take life, yet he is an incredibly skilled artisan who restores some of the world's most valuable treasures. Silva's prose is crisp and clean, and his pacing is excellent, as are his characterizations. Highly recommended. --Claire E. White Mystery Book Reviews Page One | Page Two Click Here to Return to the Book Reviews Index ** To visit the archives of mystery books reviewed in The IWJ, please click here. |