Category: Police procedural

  • A taste of violence

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson NEON PREY. By John Sandford. Penguin Audio. Red by Richard Ferrone. 11 ½ hours; 9 CDs. $40. Also available in print from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. There’s no mystery why John Sandford’s thrillers routinely make it to the top of the best-seller lists. They are tautly written, with intriguing surprises and…

  • Bosch, times two, with a twist

    Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer DARK SACRED NIGHT.  By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 433 pages. $29. It’s fitting that Rene Ballard and Harry Bosch share a book.  She’s the latest Michael Connelly character with one book under her belt, and Bosch has more than two dozen. They’re both cut from the same creative cloth Connelly has been…

  • Driving out the dark spirits

    Don’t you just love it when a reviewer introduces you to a promising-sounding series with a lot of books in it? Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer DESOLATION MOUNTAIN. By William Kent Krueger. Atria Books. 320 pages. $26 When the mining company moved out of the Iron Lake area, it left behind a ravaged landscape and…

  • Murders and miracles

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson HOLY GHOST. By John Sandford. Penguin Audio. 10 hours; 8 CDs. Read by Eric Conger. $40. Also available in print from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Virgil Flowers from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is back in one of his best novels yet. The setting is Wheatfield, Minn., a tiny, middle-of-nowhere…

  • A novel to savor

    In many circles, Bob Moyer is better known for his haiku than for his book reviews. I offer him this lead-in to his latest review: Finest French cuisine Clever detective at work Bob is in heaven   Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer A TASTE FOR VENGEANCE. A Bruno, Chief of Police Novel. By Martin Walker.…

  • Hold your breath…

    Briar Patch Books is the beneficiary when Bob Moyer goes on a reading/reviewing tear. Here’s his latest contribution. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE BOMB MAKER. By Thomas Perry. Mysterious Press. 372 pages. $26. Thomas Perry usually writes thrillers that, like the standalone The Old Manor the series with Jane Whitefield, take your breath away…

  • The more things change…

    Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer TWO KINDS OF TRUTH. By Michael Connelly. Little Brown. 402 pages. $29. ‘Things change.” On his way to downtown L.A. from San Fernando, Harry Bosch reflects on how the landscape, the office he’s going to, the former partner he’s meeting, have all changed. Not to mention his own life, of…

  • Murder, sex and Barbie dolls

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson DEEP FREEZE. By John Sandford. Penguin Audio. Read by Eric Conger. 10 hours; 8 CDs. $40. If you don’t think murder and assorted lesser crimes can be funny, you haven’t read any of John Sandford’s Virgil Flowers detective novels. A detective with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Virgil gets…

  • The tough side of the Big Easy

    Bob Moyer knows New Orleans, and he knows good police procedurals. He finds much to praise in this lively novel. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE DEVIL’S MUSE. By Bill Loehfelm. Farrar Straus Giroux. 258 pages. $26. Mardi Gras. Most people see a chance to party, beads flying through the air, beads on the ground,…