Book Review: In the Presence of the Enemy (Inspector Lynley series #8) by Elizabeth George

When you have a kid, you get more attuned to what may affect them. Thus, reading this book and its character Eve Bowen who was so much career-oriented that even the kidnapping of her daughter, she treated as a symbol of power struggle. No, I am just writing down a different way of synopsis, and my post (book review) is not going to lead to any spoilers. Though the first part of the book In the Presence of the Enemy was lacking (umm, what can I say, I like Sergeant Havers’ characterization better and she was almost absent), the second part of the book, specially the end more than made for the lacuna.

Well, for some, love is not made and people are destined to be on their own, but wait, story abhi khatm nahi hui hai (story is not yet over). Okay okay, I am not writing anything more, for I will end up telling you the end, ah, so good is it really 🙂

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Book blurb: Hailed as the “king of sleaze,” tabloid editor Dennis Luxford is used to ferreting out the sins and scandals of people in exposed positions. But when he opens an innocuous-looking letter addressed to him at The Source, he discovers that someone else excels at ferreting out secrets as well. Ten-year-old Charlotte Bowen has been abducted, and if Luxford does not admit publicly to having fathered her, she will die. But Charlotte’s existence is Luxford’s most fiercely guarded secret, and acknowledging her as his child will throw more than one life and career into chaos. Luxford knows that the story of Charlotte’s paternity could make him a laughingstock and reveal to his beautiful wife and son the lie he’s lived for a decade. Yet it’s not only Luxford’s reputation that’s on the line: it’s also the reputation—and career—of Charlotte Bowen’s mother. For she is Undersecretary of State for the Home Office, one of the most high-profile Junior Ministers and quite possibly the next Margaret Thatcher. Knowing that her political future hangs in the balance, Eve Bowen refuses to let Luxford damage her career by printing the story or calling the police. So the editor turns to forensic scientist Simon St. James for help. It’s a case that fills St. James with disquiet, however, for none of the players in the drama seem to react the way one would expect. Then tragedy occurs and New Scotland Yard becomes involved. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley soon discovers that the case sends tentacles from London into the countryside, and he must simultaneously outfox death as he probes Charlotte Bowen’s mysterious disappearance. Meanwhile, his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, working part of the investigation on her own and hoping to make the coup of her career, may be drawing closer to a grim solution—and to danger—than anyone knows. In the Presence of the Enemy is a brilliantly insightful and haunting novel of ideals corrupted by self-interest, of the sins of parents visited upon children, and of the masks that hide people from each other—and from themselves.

About the author: Elizabeth George is the New York Times and internationally best selling author of twenty British crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his unconventional partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her crime novels have been translated into 30 languages and featured on television by the BBC. She is also the author of a young adult series set on the island where she lives in the state of Washington. A longtime instructor of creative writing, she has taught at colleges, universities, writers’ retreats, and conferences internationally. She is the recipient of the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, France’s Grand Prix di Literatture Policiere, and Germany’s MIMI. She has twice been nominated for an Edgar Award, and she is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from California State University Fullerton, and an honorary MFA from Northwest Institute of Language Arts (Whidbey Island MFA Program). Website: elizabethgeorgeonline.com Twitter: @LynleyMysteries

Rating: 9/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	In the Presence of the Enemy (Inspector Lynley #8)
Author:	Elizabeth George
Pages:	656
Publication Year:	1996

Book Review: A Suitable Vengeance (Inspector Lynley series #4) by Elizabeth George

Sometimes when I have completed reading a book, I try to read reviews written by others to gauze their reactions, especially when I am ambivalent towards liking the book. And this book A Suitable Vengeance turned out to be one such book. Yes, it was a prequel, so some dissonance with respect to our favorite characters and background was pertinent, still without Sergeant Havers, her special dressing sense and working/practical sensibilities, it seemed there was so much missing (okay okay, she was there but cameo does not amount to much, right?).

The book is all about the central characters (yes yes, except Havers) and a few side ones as well and their linkages and relationships with each others of past and additionally, which revolves around a murder mystery striking so closer to home. The mystery was interesting, but the other parts (characters/relationships) really crazy. But then all that ends well, is well, even if in a whodunnit.

Also, you know, while reading this book, I tried to imagine if closure of a murderer in other books also depend on so much coincidence. I guess, I would need to keep a closer eye when I read the next books in this Inspector Lynley series. What do you think?

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Book blurb: ‘Award-winning author Elizabeth George gives us an early glimpse into the lives of Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley, forensic scientist Simon Allcourt-St. James, and Lady Helen Clyde in a superlative mystery that is also a fascinating inquiry into the crimes of the heart. Lynley, the eighth earl of Asherton, has brought to Howenstow, his family home, the young woman he has asked to be his bride. But the savage murder of a local journalist is the catalyst for a lethal series of events that shatters the calm of a picturesque Cornwall village and embroils Lynley and St. James in a case far outside their jurisdiction—and a little too close to home. When a second death follows closely on the heels of the first, Lynley finds he can’t help taking the investigation personally—because the evidence points to a killer within his own family.

About the author: Elizabeth George is the New York Times and internationally best selling author of twenty British crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his unconventional partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her crime novels have been translated into 30 languages and featured on television by the BBC. She is also the author of a young adult series set on the island where she lives in the state of Washington. A longtime instructor of creative writing, she has taught at colleges, universities, writers’ retreats, and conferences internationally. She is the recipient of the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, France’s Grand Prix di Literatture Policiere, and Germany’s MIMI. She has twice been nominated for an Edgar Award, and she is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from California State University Fullerton, and an honorary MFA from Northwest Institute of Language Arts (Whidbey Island MFA Program). Website: elizabethgeorgeonline.com Twitter: @LynleyMysteries

Rating: 8/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	A Suitable Vengeance (Inspector Lynley #4)
Author:	Elizabeth George
Pages:	449
Publication Year:	1991

Book Review: A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

At times when you are reading so many murder mysteries, an easy to read book with a focus on good relationships gives you a whiff of fresh air. And you really need that! A good balance of everything… And my first Maeve Binchy, A Week in Winter was exactly that for me!

In fact, it was like a best of both worlds – a novel + short stories collection, for the stories of the guests was exactly that. Each of the characters feel so real and the place, where the story is set in is truly magical.

Some of the beautiful lines of this book:

“How will I explain it all … to everybody?” “You know, people don’t have to explain things nearly as much as you think they do.”

Her life was like her house—a colorful fantasy where anything was possible if you wanted it badly enough.

So, get a cup of tea/ coffee, find a nice cozy corner of your home and read this book and smile.

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Book blurb: Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know one another. When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house) and Orla, her niece (a whiz at business), Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House’s big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms. John, the American movie star, thinks he has arrived incognito; Winnie and Lillian are forced into taking a holiday together; Nicola and Henry, husband and wife, have been shaken by seeing too much death practicing medicine; Anders hates his father’s business, but has a real talent for music; Miss Nell Howe, a retired schoolteacher, criticizes everything and leaves a day early, much to everyone’s relief; the Walls are disappointed to have won this second-prize holiday in a contest where first prize was Paris; and Freda, the librarian, is afraid of her own psychic visions. Sharing a week with this unlikely cast of characters is pure joy, full of Maeve’s trademark warmth and humor. Once again, she embraces us with her grand storytelling. This is the last book that Maeve Binchy wrote before her sudden death. As are all her stories, it is her trademark warmth, humor and the kind of characters that will make her books live on. It is a privilege to be able to share this book with readers.

About the author: Maeve Binchy was born on 28 May 1940 in Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland, the eldest child of four. Her parents were very positive and provided her with a happy childhood. Although she described herself as an overweight child, her parents’ attitude gave her the confidence to accept herself for who she was. She studied at University College Dublin and was a teacher for a while. She also loved traveling, and this was how she found her niche as a writer. She liked going to different places, such as a Kibbutz in Israel, and she worked in a camp in the United States. While she was away, she sent letters home to her parents. They were so impressed with these chatty letters from all over the world that they decided to send them to a newspaper. After these letters were published, Maeve left teaching and became a journalist. Maeve married Gordon Snell, writer and editor of children’s books. When they were struggling financially, Light a Penny Candle was published, which made her an overnight success. Many of her books, such as Echoes, are set in the past in Ireland. Some of her later novels, such as Evening Class, take place in more modern times. Her books often deal with people who are young, fall in love, have families, and deal with relationship or family problems. The main characters are people whom readers can empathise with. She passed away on 30 July 2012, at the age of 72. Website: maevebinchy.com

Rating: 10/10

Genre:	Chick Lit, Romance
Book Name:	A Week in Winter
Author:	Maeve Binchy
Pages:	464
Publication Year:	2012

Book Review: A Banquet of Consequences (Inspector Lynley series #19) by Elizabeth George

I am crazy when I like a writer’s book and want to keep on reading the same. So, when I was not able to get another book in the Inspector Lynley series after I completed A Great Deliverance (1st book), I jumped to this book, a 19th one in this series though I would not recommend for anyone to do such a jump for the background stories of Lynley and Havers are equally important. But the murder mystery, especially “the ending” was written so well that I could not care and thought of it as a standalone book only. Any other talk about ending will spoil it for you, so my lips are all sealed when it comes to that…

Okay fine, a few things here and there could have been given a miss – the three affairs, one of which involved Lynley. But then Lynley was at like at the back of this book, and it was all about Havers and Winston, the camaraderie between them is what I absolutely loved. Does it beat the partnership between Havers and Lynley, ah, only time will tell! And I am waiting to find that out for I am no more interested in St. James and Deborah, for that matter (for I have read many other books, all set prior to this book in the series since this book).

So, skip a few pages here and there, if you want, but you must read this book to find out the ugly truth of human relationships (yes, a murder boils all down to relationships).

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Book Blurb: Inspector Lynley investigates the London end of an ever more darkly disturbing case, with Barbara Havers and Winston Nkata looking behind the peaceful façade of country life to discover a twisted world of desire and deceit. The suicide of William Goldacre is devastating to those left behind. But what was the cause of his tragedy and how far might the consequences reach? Is there a link between the young man’s leap from a Dorset cliff and a horrific poisoning in Cambridge? Following various career-threatening misdemeanours, Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers is desperate to redeem herself. So when a past encounter with bestselling feminist writer Clare Abbott and her pushy personal assistant Caroline Goldacre gives her a connection to the Cambridge murder, Barbara begs DI Thomas Lynley to let her pursue the crime. Full of shocks, intensity and suspense from first page to last, A Banquet of Consequences reveals both Lynley and Havers under pressure, and author Elizabeth George writing at the very height of her exceptional powers.

About the author: Elizabeth George is the New York Times and internationally best selling author of twenty British crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his unconventional partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her crime novels have been translated into 30 languages and featured on television by the BBC. She is also the author of a young adult series set on the island where she lives in the state of Washington. A longtime instructor of creative writing, she has taught at colleges, universities, writers’ retreats, and conferences internationally. She is the recipient of the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, France’s Grand Prix di Literatture Policiere, and Germany’s MIMI. She has twice been nominated for an Edgar Award, and she is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from California State University Fullerton, and an honorary MFA from Northwest Institute of Language Arts (Whidbey Island MFA Program). Website: elizabethgeorgeonline.com Twitter: @LynleyMysteries

Rating: 8/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	A Banquet of Consequences (Inspector Lynley #19)
Author:	Elizabeth George
Pages:	576
Publication Year:	2015

Book Review: Playing for the Ashes (Inspector Lynley series #7) by Elizabeth George

Forget the side characters St. James, Lady Helen and Deborah, this one is all about murder – its background, character sketch of victim and potential murderers, and of course Inspector Lynley and Sergeant Havers (both of them truly rock in this book, what a partnership, wow), and because of that, this book Playing for the Ashes is part of my topmost list of Elizabeth’s books.

Such a thick book and so many characters with each of them having one reason or the other to lie, but it is Elizabeth George‘s writing which could pull it all together with such clarity of words (okay fine, the thoughts of Olivia Whitelaw could have been given a break). Though the name was a bit misleading for I kept on thinking round and round about the reason for murder being cricket, but no, it is the character sketch and circumstances of a person who can murder. So, basically, anyone can be a murderer, when it comes to that! What do you think, my dear reader? Can you be a murderer? Hmm, I can be, for all you know…Shhhh…….

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Book Blurb: “The story begins with my father, actually, and the fact that I’m the one who’s answerable for his death.  It was not my first crime, as you will see, but it is the one my mother couldn’t forgive.” In her astonishing New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Elizabeth George reveals the even darker truth behind this startling confession. Playing for the Ashes is a rich tale of passion, murder and love in which Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers once again find themselves embroiled in a case where nothing—and no one—is really what it seems.  Intense, suspenseful and brilliantly written, Playing for the Ashes will make readers “search out the sleuthing pair’s first six adventures…a treasure,” as Cosmopolitan predicted in their review.

About the author: Elizabeth George is the New York Times and internationally best selling author of twenty British crime novels featuring Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his unconventional partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. Her crime novels have been translated into 30 languages and featured on television by the BBC. She is also the author of a young adult series set on the island where she lives in the state of Washington. A longtime instructor of creative writing, she has taught at colleges, universities, writers’ retreats, and conferences internationally. She is the recipient of the Anthony Award, the Agatha Award, France’s Grand Prix di Literatture Policiere, and Germany’s MIMI. She has twice been nominated for an Edgar Award, and she is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of humane letters from California State University Fullerton, and an honorary MFA from Northwest Institute of Language Arts (Whidbey Island MFA Program). Website: elizabethgeorgeonline.com Twitter: @LynleyMysteries

Rating: 9/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	Missing Joseph (Inspector Lynley #6)
Author:	Elizabeth George
Pages:	619
Publication Year:	1994

Book Review: The Snowman (Harry Hole #7) by Jo Nesbø

At times, there is a book which you keep on repetitively hearing about and even though it is a part of series, you cannot wait to pick that one up (no patience to go through the other 6 books in that series). Yes, I know many of you do not do that, even my book friend keeps on telling me to go through the reading order as is mentioned in Fantastic Fiction. I am too much of an impatient person when it comes to anything!

It was such a killer book with power packed primal dialogues. Sample this: I’ve read that it’s the smell some carnivores use to find their prey. Imagine the trembling victim trying to hide, but knowing that the smell of its own fear will kill it. And this: Evil is not a thing. It cannot take possession of you. It’s the opposite; it’s a void, an absence of goodness. The only thing you can be frightened of here is yourself.

Depressing and intense is this book with killer closer to home. Umm, aren’t they all? I mean recently whichever book and author I pick up – Elizabeth George or Tami Hoag, I am in that way finding similarity. But then the writing style is different and that makes all the difference. So, do I want to switch genres? Naah. So pick this book if you enjoy murder mysteries and cheers to this genre to keep you engaged.

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Book Blurb: Internationally acclaimed crime writer Jo Nesbø’s antihero police investigator, Harry Hole, is back: in a bone-chilling thriller that will take Hole to the brink of insanity. Oslo in November. The first snow of the season has fallen. A boy named Jonas wakes in the night to find his mother gone. Out his window, in the cold moonlight, he sees the snowman that inexplicably appeared in the yard earlier in the day. Around its neck is his mother’s pink scarf. Hole suspects a link between a menacing letter he’s received and the disappearance of Jonas’s mother – and of perhaps a dozen other women, all of whom went missing on the day of a first snowfall. As his investigation deepens, something else emerges: he is becoming a pawn in an increasingly terrifying game whose rules are devised – and constantly revised – by the killer. Fiercely suspenseful, its characters brilliantly realized, its atmosphere permeated with evil, The Snowman is the electrifying work of one of the best crime writers of our time.

About the author: Jo Nesbo is one of the world’s bestselling crime writers, with The Leopard, Phantom, Police, The Son and his latest Harry Hole novel, The Thirst, all topping the Sunday Times bestseller charts. He is an international number one bestseller and his books are published in 50 languages, selling over 33 million copies around the world. Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for Norway’s premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for Spurs was dashed when he tore ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen. After three years military service he attended business school and formed the band Di derre (‘Them There’). They topped the charts in Norway, but Nesbo continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and gigging at night. When commissioned by a publisher to write a memoir about life on the road with his band, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime novel, The Bat. Website: jonesbo.com Email: fanmail@salomonssonagency.com

Rating: 9/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	The Snowman (Harry Hole #7)
Author:	Jo Nesbø
Pages:	383
Publication Year:	2007

Book Review: The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska #5) by Tami Hoag

Frankly speaking, I do not like coincidences in a murder mystery which solves on its own, just for the heck of it. I mean detectives do need to put proper efforts, right because how many such coincidences do occur, especially in cold cases.

If the start of the book made you think you were going to miss the chemistry of Kovac and Liska for Liska’s case was cold, very cold, you were so so wrong! Oh, never mind. I am sure reviews are mostly checked out by one who has not yet read a book, I mean, that is my perception and that is what I do. Tell me, am I correct or wrong in the comments below.

Well, rest of the book is good because in books, cold cases are not so cold. And Kovac and Liska are ever more better partners without actually being (can they become life partners? Umm, some relationships are happier just the way it is). And murders are more gruesome, total yuck. And has an unexpected conclusion with innocents (or not so?) getting hurt.

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Book Blurb: EVERY FAMILY HAS A SECRET. THEIRS WILL CHILL YOU TO THE CORE. #1 New York Times Bestselling author Tami Hoag returns to the bestselling series of her career with a Kovac and Liska case that will delight fans and new readers alike. A murder from the past. A murder from the present. And a life that was never meant to be… As the dreary, bitter weather of late fall descends on Minneapolis, Detective Nikki Liska is restless. After moving to the cold case squad in order to spend more time with her sons, she misses the rush of pulling an all-nighter, the sense of urgency of hunting a murderer on the loose. Most of all she misses her old partner, Sam Kovac. Sam is having an even harder time adjusting to Nikki’s absence, saddled with a green new partner younger than pieces of Sam’s wardrobe. Sam is distracted from his troubles by an especially brutal double homicide: a middle-aged husband and wife bludgeoned and hacked to death in their home with a ceremonial Japanese samurai sword. Nikki’s case, the unsolved murder of a family man, community leader, and decorated sex crimes detective for the Minneapolis PD, is less of a distraction: Twenty years later, there is little hope for finding the killer who got away. On the other end of the spectrum, Minneapolis resident Evi Burke has a life she only dreamed of as a kid in and out of foster homes: a beautiful home, a family, people who love her, a fulfilling job. Little does she know that a danger from her past is stalking her perfect present. A danger powerful enough to pull in both Kovac and Liska and destroy the perfect life she was never meant to have.

About the author: Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers—The Bitter Season, Cold Cold Heart, and The 9th Girl. Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller List with Night Sins, and each of her books since has been a bestseller. Renown for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag prides herself on her research-based realism, crackling dialogue, and spot-on police procedure. “My first obligation as a writer is to be as true as possible to the characters I’m writing about, to the jobs they do, and to the world they inhabit.” To that end, Hoag has become a crack shot with both hand guns and long guns, studied forensic psychology with top experts in the field, learned to drive a police car in pursuit of bad guys, and developed knockout power in her right hand while cultivating a taste for mixed martial arts fighting. Tami Hoag lives in the greater Los Angeles area where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Website: tamihoag.com Twitter: @tamihoag

Rating: 7/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska #5)
Author:	Tami Hoag
Pages:	416
Publication Year:	2016

Book Review: The 9th Girl (Kovac and Liska #4) by Tami Hoag

The 9th Girl fits into the theme of gruesome murder and questioning relationships, which now I have gone accustomed to after reading Elizabeth George books, but when I was reading this book (ummm, this review is also being posted late), it was shocking. By the way, just a small ‘chhotu sa’ hint – though the banter between detectives get tiring at a few times, they still do not solve either of the two crimes mentioned in the book.

The book is a fast paced read with teenage thoughts well expressed and tattoos being central to that. The quote “Tattoos are a road map of the bearer’s personal journey” suitably puts the same into perspective. And I personally know a girl who believes in the same (though not a teenager). By the way, do we not all remember the TV series The Prison Break of tattoo actually being a road map of gaining freedom. Well, back to the book, in fact, because of tattoos only, the victim is identified. I am waiting to read The 1st Victim and how it was left open-ended, for it must have been, else this book would not have taken place with Doc Holiday.

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Book Blurb: “Kovac had seen more dead bodies than he could count: Men, women, children; victims of shootings, stabbings, strangulations, beatings; fresh corpses and bodies that had been left for days in the trunks of cars in the dead of summer. But he had never seen anything quite like this . . . “ On a frigid New Year’s Eve in Minneapolis a young woman’s brutalized body falls from the trunk of a car into the path of oncoming traffic. Questions as to whether she was alive or dead when she hit the icy pavement result in her macabre nickname, Zombie Doe. Unidentified and unidentifiable, she is the ninth nameless female victim of the year, and homicide detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are charged with the task of not only finding out who Zombie Doe is, but who in her life hated her enough to destroy her. Was it personal, or could it just have been a crime of opportunity? Their greatest fear is that not only is she their ninth Jane Doe of the year, but that she may be the ninth victim of a vicious transient serial killer they have come to call Doc Holiday. Crisscrossing America’s heartland, Doc Holiday chooses his victims at random, snatching them in one city and leaving them in another, always on a holiday. If Zombie Doe is one of his, he has brought his gruesome game to a new and more terrifying level. But as Kovac and Liska begin to uncover the truth, they will find that the monsters in their ninth girl’s life may have lived closer to home. And even as another young woman disappears, they have to ask the question: which is the greater evil – the devil you know or the devil you don’t?

About the author: Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers—The Bitter Season, Cold Cold Heart, and The 9th Girl. Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller List with Night Sins, and each of her books since has been a bestseller. Renown for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag prides herself on her research-based realism, crackling dialogue, and spot-on police procedure. “My first obligation as a writer is to be as true as possible to the characters I’m writing about, to the jobs they do, and to the world they inhabit.” To that end, Hoag has become a crack shot with both hand guns and long guns, studied forensic psychology with top experts in the field, learned to drive a police car in pursuit of bad guys, and developed knockout power in her right hand while cultivating a taste for mixed martial arts fighting. Tami Hoag lives in the greater Los Angeles area where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Website: tamihoag.com Twitter: @tamihoag

Rating: 9/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	The 9th Girl (Kovac and Liska #4)
Author:	Tami Hoag
Pages:	405
Publication Year:	2013

Book Review: Prior Bad Acts (Kovac and Liska #3) by Tami Hoag

At times even though you like murder mysteries and have read a lot, the description of a murder raises your hackle. Prior Bad Acts was one of those books (I had not yet read many Elizabeth George) and it was better than the other two previous books of this Kovac and Liska series by Tami Hoag.

Murderer can be anyone and where least he/she can be expected. The wise-crack interactions between the two detectives Kovac and Liska was less and I missed those even though separately they were good enough in exploring out the solutions. The book amply shows how a crime affects so many people around, hardens them and changes them for bad, in most cases. The name of the book Prior Bad Acts made me start thinking on a tangential line, that what was the bad act the judge did. But then, hey a book’s name is not supposed to be correlated to every character of the book.

So, go ahead pick this book and tell me how many murderers did you think this book could have had once you were half way through – 1, 2 or 3?

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Book Blurb: New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag returns with a thriller that begins with a shocking crime scene you’ll never forget and follows two relentless detectives on a manhunt that ends in a chilling confrontation with the essence of human evil. It was a crime so brutal, it changed the lives of even the most hardened homicide cops. The Haas family murders left a scar on the community nothing can erase, but everyone agrees that convicting the killer, Karl Dahl, is a start. Only Judge Carey Moore seems to be standing in the way. Her ruling that Dahl’s prior criminal record is inadmissible raises a public outcry—and puts the judge in grave danger. When an unknown assailant attacks Judge Moore in a parking garage, two of Minneapolis’s top cops are called upon to solve the crime and keep the judge from further harm. Detective Sam Kovac is as hard-boiled as they come, and his wisecracking partner, Nikki Liska, isn’t far behind. Neither one wants to be on this case, but when Karl Dahl escapes from custody, everything changes, and a seemingly straightforward case cartwheels out of control. The stakes go even higher when the judge is kidnapped—snatched out of her own bed even as the police sit outside, watching her house. Now Kovac and Liska must navigate through a maze of suspects that includes the stepson of a murder victim, a husband with a secret life, and a rogue cop looking for revenge where the justice system failed. With no time to spare, the detectives are pulled down a strange dark trail of smoke and mirrors, where no one is who they seem and everyone is guilty of Prior Bad Acts.

About the author: Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers—The Bitter Season, Cold Cold Heart, and The 9th Girl. Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller List with Night Sins, and each of her books since has been a bestseller. Renown for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag prides herself on her research-based realism, crackling dialogue, and spot-on police procedure. “My first obligation as a writer is to be as true as possible to the characters I’m writing about, to the jobs they do, and to the world they inhabit.” To that end, Hoag has become a crack shot with both hand guns and long guns, studied forensic psychology with top experts in the field, learned to drive a police car in pursuit of bad guys, and developed knockout power in her right hand while cultivating a taste for mixed martial arts fighting. Tami Hoag lives in the greater Los Angeles area where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Website: tamihoag.com Twitter: @tamihoag

Rating: 9/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	Prior Bad Acts (Kovac and Liska #3)
Author:	Tami Hoag
Pages:	525
Publication Year:	2006

Book Review: Dust to Dust (Kovac and Liska #2) by Tami Hoag

I am reading the book blurb now and trying to recall what this book was all about. Oh yes, this is the book where Kovac and Liska interactions finally came to the forefront in good doses. I like them and their banter. That is how any relationship should be like, umm, not the love angle, friendship/ working relationship/ anything else because why make life sad! A few other characters were loud, but what the hell, a mix of characters bring up a better story-line in a murder mystery. Only if the pages were less, I would have been happier.

Overall a decent book for murder mystery.

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Book Blurb: The death of internal affairs investigator Andy Paxton is a potential political bomb for the Minneapolis Police Department… Andy Paxton was gay and he was investigating a possible cop connection in the brutal murder of another gay officer. But Andy’s death looks like suicide, or an unfortunate and embarrassing accident, and the pressure is on from the top brass to close the case as soon as possible. But the investigation’s lead detective Sam Kovac is not convinced the case is as straightforward as it appears. As he digs deeper, it is looking very much like Paxton discovered something that got him killed. And he might not be the final victim….

About the author: Tami Hoag is the #1 international bestselling author of more than thirty books published in more than thirty languages worldwide, including her latest thrillers—The Bitter Season, Cold Cold Heart, and The 9th Girl. Hoag first hit the New York Times Bestseller List with Night Sins, and each of her books since has been a bestseller. Renown for combining thrilling plots with character-driven suspense, Hoag prides herself on her research-based realism, crackling dialogue, and spot-on police procedure. “My first obligation as a writer is to be as true as possible to the characters I’m writing about, to the jobs they do, and to the world they inhabit.” To that end, Hoag has become a crack shot with both hand guns and long guns, studied forensic psychology with top experts in the field, learned to drive a police car in pursuit of bad guys, and developed knockout power in her right hand while cultivating a taste for mixed martial arts fighting. Tami Hoag lives in the greater Los Angeles area where she is also known as a top competitive equestrian in the Olympic discipline of dressage. Website: tamihoag.com Twitter: @tamihoag

Rating: 7/10

Genre:	Mystery Thriller
Book Name:	Dust to Dust ( Kovac and Liska #2)
Author:	Tami Hoag
Pages:	480
Publication Year:	2000