This is the 20th novel in Box’s series featuring Joe Pickett, a Wyoming game warden. This series is reliably good, but as with other series, there have been a few books recently that veered off of Box’s successful formula and as a result weren’t quite as satisfying. Happily, Long Range is very good, and could easily be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel.
In Long Range, Pickett is caught up in several different mysteries: a bear attack outside of Jackson Hole, the murder by sniper of a local judge’s wife, and threats made against his friend Nate Romanoski. Most of the series’ usual, favorite characters appear in this novel, and the Wyoming locations are well-done and interesting.
This series is one of my favorites, in part because of the Wyoming setting but also because the game warden angle is different and interesting. Joe Pickett is a likable protagonist, who seems like a pretty regular guy. Box does such a good job with this series. He’s a good writer, but he also really knows Wyoming, and it shows. As always, I recommend that you start with book #1 in a series and move forward — BUT this series is very accessible so I think you could start with this book without too much trouble.
Thanks to Brian Panowich, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel.
Panowich’s previous novel, Bull Mountain, was one of my favorite books of 2016, and I also very much enjoyed his next novel, Like Lions, so I couldn’t wait to start Hard Cash Valley. While this novel is set in the same part of north Georgia and has some of the same characters as the previous two novels, it is very different. It features a new main character in GBI Agent Dane Kirby. I enjoyed Kirby’s complicated backstory and I liked him a lot as a character. However, I liked the plot of this novel less than the previous ones — the cockfighting angle and the very long list of bad actors in this novel left me kind of cold.
Overall, I would recommend this book but with a few caveats. I hope that Dane Kirby will be a recurring character in a future novel from Panowich and I look forward to reading his next work. If you have not yet read any of Panowich’s books, I highly recommend reading Bull Mountain.
Thanks to Daniel Friedman, St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. In Running Out of Road, elderly retired Memphis detective Buck Schatz must come to terms with his own mortality, his wife’s serious illness, and the pending execution of Chester Marsh, a man he put on death row decades ago.
Buck’s story alternates with the transcript of a podcast by a journalist who is fighting to stop Marsh’s execution. The podcast attempts to investigate the circumstances of Marsh’s arrests and confessions, as well as to give a platform for his appellate attorney to detail his arguments against the death penalty. It’s an effective device that allows Friedman to show alternative opinions about justice and retribution.
I really enjoyed this novel, in part because Buck Schatz’s character is so irreverent and so cranky, but yet touching at the same time. The contrast between the earlier scenes with him as a young detective and those in the present, where he is physically and mentally frail, are poignant and sometimes heartbreaking. Friedman also does a good job here showing both sides of the death penalty debate, while at the same time telling an engaging story.
This is the first novel I’d read by Daniel Friedman, but it won’t be the last! I enjoyed this book so much that I’m planning to go back and read the earlier Buck Schatz books. I’m glad to have discovered this series.
Two young women, thirty-five years apart, are caught up in the mystery surrounding a haunted, isolated road-side motel in Simone St. James’ The Sun Down Motel.
I very much enjoyed St. James’ previous novel, the Broken Girls, but I liked this one even more! Creepy ghosts, cold-case mysteries, and good pacing make this novel a real winner. I had a few nit-picks with it, which I won’t detail here because I don’t want to give away any of the plot, but they didn’t take away from my overall enjoyment of the book.
The Night Fire, by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch # 22, Renee Ballard #3)
Michael Connelly’s Bosch series is one of the longest-running and most consistent series around. As with all series, some installments are better than others, but the recent addition of detective Renee Ballard, who works the night shift and partners with a now-retired Bosch, has breathed new life into this series. Bosch’s brother, Mickey Haller (the “Lincoln Lawyer”) also makes an appearance in this book.
Connelly is great at what he does — his police procedural and courtroom dramas are first rate. This latest installment of the Bosch series is quite good and I highly recommend it. Also, if you haven’t read his novel The Poet (which is not a part of the Bosch series) run out and do it now!
Land of Wolves, by Craig Johnson (Walt Longmire #15)
Johnson’s mystery series featuring Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire is one of my very favorites (as is the really good TV series based on the books). That said, the last couple of books in this series fell short of my expectations, and as with most long-running series, it’s really hard to keep the series fresh and interesting as it ages. Happily, this book returned to form in very nice fashion: Longmire is back in Wyoming, surrounded by his usual cast of characters, solving a Wyoming-based mystery and coming to terms with his age and his uncertain future.
I enjoyed this book very much! Johnson is a talented writer, and almost every sentence in this novel is either funny, touching, or profound, without being fussy or overly wordy. I was so happy to fall back into the Longmire world for a few hours. I look forward to the next installment in this series, and I highly recommend it (this book in particular and also the series) for anyone who enjoys mysteries.
The Bitterroots is not an installment of Box’s long-running Joe Pickett series but rather features character Cassie Dewell, who has been in several of his previous novels. In general, I prefer the Joe Pickett series to this one, but these novels share the wonderful western Rockies setting and are enjoyable.
Here, Cassie has moved back to Montana to pursue a career as a private investigator, and in that capacity she is drawn into a dangerous, multi-generational family conflict related to a sprawling ranch in western Montana.
This book was okay. I loved the western Montana setting, and I appreciated the character of Cassie as a strong female lead. Still, while I’m sure it was unintentional and just bad timing, I found the plot and the characters of the Kleinsasser family in The Bitterroots so similar to the tv show Yellowstone (which, if you haven’t seen it, involves a Montana ranching family and all of their soap-opera-y business – plus the bonus of lots of Kevin Costner – love it!!) that it was distracting. Perhaps if I had not seen Yellowstone I would’ve enjoyed this book more. End the end, I wanted to like this book more than I actually did.
If you are in the market for a western-based mystery series, I think you’re better off with either Box’s Pickett series or Craig Johnson’s wonderful Longmire series (among others).
The Wild Inside (Glacier Mysteries #1), by Christine Carbo
This series landed on my radar screen due to an email blast from Murder by the Book (an excellent small book store here in Houston that is really the authority on all things mystery-related). I love mysteries set in the National Parks, but there aren’t many of them out there. For years, I read Nevada Barr’s series about a park ranger who solved crimes, though lately I have found that series disappointing and I no longer keep up with it. So, I was excited to discover this series set in Glacier National Park, which is now on book #4. We visited Glacier two summers ago — it had long been on my bucket list — and it was an amazing experience. Glacier is now one of my favorite parks, so I couldn’t wait to dive into this series.
I started with the first book in the series, The Wild Inside, which introduces the character of Ted Systead, a detective for the Department of the Interior, charged with investigating crimes in the National Parks. Ted is sent from Denver up to Glacier National Park to solve an apparent homicide, where the victim was tied to a tree and left to be mauled by a grizzly bear. Complicating matters is the fact that Ted lost his father to a bear mauling when he was only fourteen. That experience haunts him and impacts his ability to rationally approach the murder case.
This book was a bit of a mixed bag. Carbo is a very skilled writer, and I felt like the writing in this novel was a cut above that of a typical genre mystery. Of course, I loved the setting and Carbo is clearly very familiar with the park and with that area of Montana. However, the pacing of the story was a bit off — there were parts of the book that dragged and really kept it from holding my interest. While I was interested enough in the story to hang in there to see how it would end, I never really felt like anyone was in any danger (so, no real suspense), and the stakes just didn’t seem to be very high for anyone. Ted’s personal demons were central to the story and gave it complexity but also seemed overdone. Overall, I think this book could have benefitted greatly from some editing.
I wasn’t blown away by this book but I am intrigued enough by the idea of the series to read book #2 at some point. You might give it a try if you are looking for a new mystery series and/or if you are drawn, as I am, to this setting.
The Fragments, by Toni Jordan (available September 10)
Thanks to Toni Jordan, Text Publishing Company, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. The Fragments is a mystery involving the death of a celebrated author in the 1930’s, her much-anticipated novel that was almost entirely destroyed in a fire, and the young woman in 1980’s-era Australia who endeavors to find the missing manuscript.
I was intrigued by the description of this novel, and it did not disappoint! Historical mystery, academic intrigue, a hint of romance, and a love of books — all mix together into a captivating read in The Fragments. I was not ready for it to end – so I found the ending a bit abrupt and that was disappointing, but not so much that it changed my overall impression of the book. I very much enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading more from this author in the future! Highly recommend!
29 Seconds, by T.M. Logan (available September 10)
Thanks to T.M. Logan, St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. In 29 Seconds, Sarah is given the opportunity — by a powerful and mysterious man who is suddenly in her debt — to take revenge on someone who is systematically destroying her life. Will she take him up on his offer? And if so, what consequences will she face for her choice?
29 Seconds is an enjoyable thriller about the choices we make and about the consequences that necessarily follow from those choices. It kept my interest throughout, even though I found the premise a bit hard to believe and also found the protagonist’s actions (or lack of action) frustrating at times. Not too deep on substance, but a good vacation read.
Heaven, My Home, by Attica Locke (Highway 59 #2). (Available Sept 12)
Thanks to Attica Locke, Serpent’s Tail/Profile books, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. This is the second novel featuring African-American Texas Ranger Darren Matthews, following Locke’s Edgar award-winning novel Bluebird, Bluebird. Here, Matthews is sent to a small east Texas town where a young boy has gone missing, to try to find the boy and also to investigate a gang of white supremacists.
Locke is a gifted writer, as evidenced by the first few pages of the novel which are a master class in description and suspense. She does an excellent job creating characters and situations that seem real. I appreciated those aspects of the novel, but I had the same overall feeling that I had reading Bluebird, Bluebird, which was that as much as I wanted to like Ranger Matthews, I didn’t like him much. It’s really hard to root for the hero of the story when you don’t find him likeable. Matthews seems petty, insecure, and most troubling, ethically compromised. These are all problematic character traits for any protagonist, but in particular for a Texas Ranger. I don’t expect a main character to be perfect — indeed, most successful series characters are flawed in some respect — but there must be something about them that makes us like them. Sadly, that is lacking here.
Also, Ranger Matthews does things that as a Houstonian, I find incomprehensible – like reading a case file on his steering wheel while driving up Interstate 59 at eighty miles an hour….. Seriously, what?
Locke is a talented writer with a unique point of view, but this series has not worked for me so far. Your mileage may vary!
This Side of Night is the third novel by J. Todd Scott featuring Big Bend County Sheriff Chris Cherry. I’m a big fan of these novels not only because Scott is a great writer (who spent decades in the DEA before he became a writer, so he knows his stuff) but also because I’m partial to the far west Texas setting. All three novels are set in Murfee, Texas, which is basically a fictionalized Marfa, and involve Sheriff Cherry and his young family.
I enjoyed this installment of the series, which focused on drug/cartel violence along the border, but not quite as much as I hoped. The first book in this series, The Far Empty, is still my favorite by a long shot. This third novel held my interest largely because I’ve become invested in the characters. I wasn’t quite so taken with the cartel-related plot because I’ve grown a bit weary of that. (Don Winslow’s The Border — the final installment of his border triology — has been sitting on my bedside table for months now, but I haven’t had the heart to dive into it yet.). Scott is a gifted writer and I look forward to seeing what he does next, either with this series or with something new.
If you are interested in trying a new crime/mystery series, give this one a shot but start with the first book. Be aware that these are gritty crime novels, and have some graphic violence, so they may not be for everyone.
