Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews

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Void Moon by Michael Connelly
Little Brown, January 2000.
Hardcover, 391 pages.
ISBN: 0316154067.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.

Void Moon
by Michael Connelly

Cassie Black, an ex-con, is lucky to have her job at a Porsche car dealership, but she just can't shake the adrenaline fix she get from committing a crime. She turns to Leo, an old friend and fellow thief, and asks him to get her another robbery gig. Leo offers her a high-stakes job robbing a high roller at the Cleopatra, a Las Vegas casino and hotel. Unfortunately, this same hotel is also where disaster struck for her last time, leaving her in the slammer and her boyfriend dead. She takes the job anyway, but unfortunately things don't go perfectly. Soon a skillful special investigator with a nasty mean streak, hired by the hotel, is hot on her trail.

Michael Connelly, author of Blood Work, Angels Flight and The Poet, turns his attention to casinos, mobsters and the lives of thieves in his latest thriller. Connelly's regular hero Harry Bosch is absent from this novel, but you won't miss him for long. There is still lots of fun to be had with Connelly's take on high-tech thievery and the inner workings of Las Vegas casinos. Connelly, as usual, does a superb job of crafting the characters, especially the vicious villain Jack Karch. Don't miss this latest winner from Connelly.

Who Killed Blanche DuBois? by Carole Bugge
Berkley, Nov., 1999.
Paperback, 242 pages.
ISBN: 0425171957.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.

The Victim in Victoria Station
by Carole Bugge

The Victim in Victoria Station
by Carole Bugge

Claire Rawlings is one of New York's top mystery editors. Her biggest clients are the creepy, but bestselling author Willard Hughes and steel magnolia Blanche Du Bois, who does her best to imitate every bad cliché of the grande dame Southern belle. Claire has also acquired (quite by accident) a pre-teen ward named Meredith. When Blanche is murdered, Meredith, who fancies herself a modern Sherlock Holmes, begins detecting when she's not consuming copious cups of tea and trays of Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies. When the killer strikes again, it's up to Meredith and an attractive local police detective to keep Claire from being the next victim.

There are enough suspects to keep you guessing in this charming whodunit, but it is the wonderfully alive characters which set this mystery apart. Claire, the editor who is starting to question everything in her life, and Meredith the incredibly annoying, yet somehow endearing, child are extremely well-done. New York and its environs make an excellent setting for the mystery, and even if you figure out who the murderer is it won't make a bit of difference; this would be an inventive and entertaining tale even if there were no mystery at all.

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Mystery/Thriller Book Reviews

Void Moon by Michael Connelly

Who Killed Blanche DuBois? by Carole Bugge