Crime Books

This is an excellent book, it is a smooth read; the characters are well-developed and real,most people can probably relate to at least one of the characters. The parallels of drugs, and corruption and moral decay of the conscience is not just in that community, but many communities. And the radical nationalist, that calls for unity and pride makes for a roller coaster emotional thrill ride. In short, you will enjoy this book.

Carlos Perez writes with the knowledge unique to a Mexican immigrant, and does a masterful job of framing his hero's actions so that we can better understand the characters', and Carlos', personal struggles. The story follows Genaro, a Mexican-Indian father and husband who determines to reach America in search of the work and opportunity that will elevate his family out of the crushing poverty of the Yucatan. As Genaro moves closer to the United States, his heroic actions set off a chain of events that will come to a conclusion on the U.S./Mexico border. Full of action, hope, courage, tragedy, and intrigue, Mass Exodus will leave you gasping for more. I can not wait to read Carlos Perez's second installment of Genaro's adventures and Mexico's moral revolution. A triumph.

I thought this was a great first effort from a new author. Tragic characters and an ironic plot intwined in the cloak of the politically devisive issue of illegal immigration make this book a very interesting and worthwhile read. I look forward to more of Mr Perez' work.

This story has it all. From the very first page you will be absorbed into a spectacular account of one man's determination to fulfill his dreams of escaping the "vacuum of poverty" and another man's determination to maintain a good heart when life continues to offer him nothing but adversity. The story will take you on a wild ride of twists and turns that will keep you speculating what will come next. Just when you think it's safe to put the book down, you'll find that you won't want to. This is never ending excitement and the climax will not disappoint you. The author has created a story of hope and intertwined it with the controversial topic of illegal immigration. The question you'll find yourself asking is whether or not the possibility that this fiction has the potential to become non-fiction. This is an easy to read story with an incredible plot and unforgettable characters. Trust me; you will be left wanting more when you're finished. I feel this has great potential to become a "book to movie" product. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't say that this has been one of the best books about illegal immigration that I have ever read.

This book is a quick read, one that will make you want to schedule leisure time for more reading. The author speaks with experience and has a good understanding of immigration challenges, illegal drug movement, border enforcement, and Mexico-U.S. defense issues. Artful method of closing out each chapter. The book provides a very believable example of what could happen that will result in a crisis on the U.S. Southwest border.

This is an unbelievable true story. Few books are written from the inmate's perspective. It is a "must read" for all, especially anyone in or retired from law enforcement

I couldn't put the book down! What an amazing story about how someone got trapped at the dark side and couldn't get out, even when he wanted to. His description about life in jail made me feel like I was trapped in there right next to him. If you know people who are at the edge of being thrown in jail, give this book to them, and Don's story may scare them into turning their lives around.

I had the privilege to meet the author in person. He is the most humble, laid-back, and friendly person I've ever met. If you enjoy this book, please come back and write a nice review here.

This is a story about a man who after reaching bottom decides to dig out. But not alone, not just himself. He decides to dig out as many others he can.

Written in a fast paced, Robert Loodlum-speed drama, this book takes the reader through the life of Don Kirchner, from one struggle to the next, reaching the very bottom, but with an ultimate triumph at the end. A true story, and as another reviewer pointed out, an instant classic.

I met Don Kirchner almost 5 years ago when he handed me his most current draft of the book. I couldn't put it down. I was thrilled with the drama and action of his true story. Being a pilot myself I was intrigued with the danger and suspense involved in the flying aspect of the tale. The further I read, the more I was remined of how delicate and tenious our lives really are. Don's ability to deal with and overcome these challanging situations is what impresses me most about "A Matter of Time". This book is a great read and I highly recommend it.

What a trip! No one could imagine what prison is like without reading this...and how the author grew and evolved during this experience is nothing short of inspiring. This book is written in such a compelling manner that I felt like I was living it myself. In addition to the joy, love, fear and the gamut of emotions experienced, I came away with a lesson about how we create the manner in which we experience our lives in a way that I could easily adapt to my own life. Of course, it kept me up several nights since I read it word for word so that I could hear and feel what I was reading. I feel that this book will become a classic.

Excellent as with all of the Miss Marple stories by Christie. I was disappointed a little because I thought I was getting a collection of Marple stories I did'nt already own. In fact, the book begins with the Tuesday Club Murders (which is already on my bookshelf). This was an error on my part because I should have checked the book out in more detail before purchasing. Still, a good collection to buy if you don't already have the stories in separate books. Besides, we Christie fans never tire of rereading about the exploits of her most famous detectives.

This short story collection is wonderful! Twenty delightful stories featuring Miss Jane Marple solving difficult cases. Miss Marples sharp observations, her spunk, wit, and intelligence shine through in these tales, making clear why Agatha Christie has created one of the greatest female sleuths of all time. If you're a fan of Christie's or Marple's, you can't go wrong with this colleciton.

Quick response, book in good condition. there was a printing defect with the book, but it is still OK.

The words quoted above appeared in a short story by Agatha Christie called "The Four Suspects." They were not spoken by Miss Marple but by "that well-groomed man of the world, Sir Henry Clithering," retired now and residing in St Mary Mead or nearby, but "until lately Commissioner of Scotland Yard." The words were addressed to Sir Henry's new neighbour, a certain Miss Jane Marple. There is EVERY reason to assume that Miss Marple agreed.

An earlier reviewer quoted a short passage from "An Autobiography" by Christie. I shall quote a little more extensively from the same source: "Miss Marple," wrote Dame Agatha, "insinuated herself so quickly into my life that I hardly noticed her arrival. I wrote a series of six short stories for a magazine, and chose six people whom I thought might meet once a week in a small village and describe some unsolved crime. I started with Miss Jane Marple, the sort of old lady who would have been rather like some of my grandmother's Ealing cronies--old ladies whom I met in so many villages where I had gone to stay as a girl. Miss Marple was not in any way a picture of my grandmother; she was far more fussy and spinsterish than my grandmother ever was. But one thing she did have in common with her--though a cheerful person, she always expected the worst of everyone and everything, and was, with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right...."

Later, she added, "Miss Marple was born a the age of sixty-five to seventy--which, as with Poirot, proved most unfortunate, because she was gong to have to last a long time in my life. If I had had any second sight, I would have provided myself with a precocious schoolboy as my first detective; then he would have grown old with me."

The first sextet of magazine stories were published in the late 1920s but did not achieve the dignity of book publication until 1932, two years after the publication of "Murder at the Vicarage," the first novel to feature Miss Marple.

The 1932 volume contained the first sextet of stories mentioned by Christie in her autobiography, plus a second sextet and one more story to provide a satisfactorily ominous title for the collection, "The Thirteen Problems." (In the US, the book appeared--less happily--as "The Tuesday Club Murders.") Christie wrote seven more short stories for Miss Marple. They all are included in this volume. The later stories are good enough, but Miss Marple had so grown in stature that her true milieu was the full-length mystery novel.

I suggest that special note be taken of the tenth story, "A Christmas Tragedy." This story represents a sea change in Miss Jane Marple. In all prior appearances she had been a mere device, a voice through which the author could resolve her little puzzles. With this story, the fully developed, elderly, tough as nails, knitting Nemesis of the novels emerges.

These twenty stories are competent, if not brilliant. No-one, least of all Agatha Christie, would call them literature. They are amusements, clever puzzles set to dialogue. As such, most of them are splendid. There are a couple of minor misfires, one in which the solution to a coded message is in English when by the logic of the story it should have been in German, another in which Christie chose to emulate the mechanically-oriented stories common in those days among the works of her less-talented contemporaries. A classic Christie work incorporates some deceptively simple example of what might be called mental sleight-of-hand. Stories that depend on gimmicked mechanical implements and the like seem somehow beneath Dame Agatha's dignity.

Reading these stories quickly demonstrates that Agatha Christie was born one of nature's great re-cyclers. Dame Aggie had a strong tendency to ... ahem, quote from herself when a good plot was involved. For those who would put a more positive spin on the simple facts, then it might be said that within these stories may be found seeds that later sprouted into full-length mystery classics such as "A Murder is Announced" and "Murder Under the Sun."

The collection, I was surprised to discover, was dedicated to Leonard and Katherine Woolley. Sir Leonard Woolley was a great archeologist who famously excavated the ancient city of Ur in Sumeria, a land that would one day come to be known as southern Iraq. He became a media superstar when he dug down through the artifact-laden soil of Ur to find a very thick layer almost entirely free of man-made remains, and beneath that yet another layer of artifacts. Woolley attributed the break in the artifact layers to an extensive flood--or as he suggested a bit prematurely and the newspapers shouted loudly to all the world, not a flood but The Flood. When the shouting was at its height, Christie was already a world-famous author and an enthusiastic traveler. She visited the dig at Ur and stayed on for some time to lend a hand. There she met and fell in love with archeologist Max Mallowan, whom she married in the same year that she published "Murder at the Vicarage."

Doubtless, anyone who has slogged this far is wondering why I've wandered so far off-track with all this biographical blather. The reason is simply that I am astonished to see Katherine Woolley's name in the dedication. When Christie arrived, Lady Woolley was very much in residence at her husband's archeological site. She regarded herself as Queen of all she surveyed and she went out of her way to make sure that the upstart mystery novelist knew it. Christie got on with Leonard Woolley, but she simply could not abide his wife. In one of her novels, she made a perfectly obvious caricature of Lady Woolley into the murderess. When she transformed the book into a stage play, Christie slyly converted her novel's villainess into her play's comic relief.

This collection of the twenty Marple short stories are, as I've said, not literature themselves, nor even necessarily vintage Christie. Nevertheless, they are clever, entertaining and an invaluable memento of one of the great literary characters of the Twentieth Century.

Five stars for Agatha, for Jane and for St Mary Mead.

"Miss Marple insinuated herself so quickly into my life that I hardly noticed her arrival," Agatha Christie wrote in her posthumously-published autobiography (1977) about the elderly lady who, next to Belgian super-sleuth Hercule Poirot, quickly became one of her most beloved characters. Somewhat resembling Christie's own grandmother and her friends, although "far more fussy and spinsterish" and "not in any way a picture" of the author's granny, like her, she had a certain gift for prophecy and, "though a cheerful person, she always expected the worst of everyone and everything, and was, with almost frightening accuracy, usually proved right."

Although Christie herself considered Miss Marple her favorite creation - preferred even over the prim and proper Belgian with the many "little grey cells," of whose exploits she occasionally tired and whom she brought back again and again chiefly because of her audience's undying demand - there are only twelve Miss Marple novels and twenty short stories: while no small feat in any other author's body of work, just over one tenth of the lifetime output of the writer justifiedly dubbed The Queen of Crime.

This compilation unites the twenty short stories revolving around St. Mary Mead's elderly village sleuth, beginning with the canon of originally six and, after an expansion for republication in book form, later thirteen stories which, in addition to the novel "A Murder at the Vicarage" (1930) introduced Miss Marple to the world; a series of unsolved problems told by her guests one Tuesday night, to be followed by six further problems narrated during a similar gathering at the home of village squire Colonel Bantry and his wife Dolly, about a year later. In attendance on those two nights are a number of people who make recurring appearances next to Miss Marple; first and foremost her doting nephew - thriller novelist Raymond West - and retired Scotland Yard Commissioner Sir Henry Clithering, as well as village solicitor Petherick, and of course the Bantrys (who will move center stage, much to their embarrassment, in "A Body in the Library," 1942); furthermore Raymond's new flame, artist Joyce (later reincarnated as his wife Joan), a doctor, a clergyman, and a well-known actress. Later stories also feature appearances of Miss Marple's niece Diana "Bunch" Harmon, married to the vicar of Chipping Cleghorn, a village not unlike St. Mary Mead (see "A Murder Is Announced," 1950), St. Mary Mead's Dr. Haydock, several maids called Gladys, as well as Inspectors Slack and Craddock and Colonel Melchett of Melchester C.I.D. and village Constable Palk; and of course the usual cast of other unique characters, many of whom could just as well figure in one of the elderly lady's "village parallels," those seemingly unimportant events summing up her knowledge of life, on which she unfailingly draws in unmasking even the cleverest killer. Avid Christie readers will also recognize certain other character types, plot snippets, settings and other features here and there; for Dame Agatha was known to draw repeatedly on devices she found to have worked before, and she tended to use her short stories as mini-laboratories for elements later expanded on in novels. Caveat, lector, of premature conclusions, however, for Christie was equally known to throw in a little extra twist in such cases: what is a real clue in one instance may well be a red herring in another and vice versa, and one story's innocent bystander may easily be the next story's murderer.

"The Thirteen Problems" (1932, a/k/a "The Tuesday Club Murders"):

"The Tuesday Night Club:" Sir Henry Clithering opens the evening with the case of a woman's mysterious poisoning by arsenic.

"The Idol House of Astarte:" A man inexplicably dies after a costume party's nightly excursion to a pagan temple.

"Ingots of Gold:" Raymond West tells about a treasure hunt, sunken ships and murder on the Cornish coast.

"The Bloodstained Pavement:" Joyce and the case of a drowned wife in a Cornish watering place called Rathole.

"Motive vs. Opportunity:" Mr. Petherick's tale of a will that mysteriously vanishes from its sealed envelope.

"The Thumb Mark of St. Peter:" Miss Marple's story how she quashed rumors about the sudden death of her niece Mabel's husband.

"The Blue Geranium:" Opening the second round of mysteries, Colonel Bantry's narration about a prophecy involving death and three uncharacteristically blue flowers.

"The Companion:" Two English ladies go on a holiday in Tenerife, but only one returns home alive.

"The Four Suspects:" Sir Henry Clithering's account of the murder of a retired secret agent.

"A Christmas Tragedy:" Having failed to prevent a murder, Miss Marple is all the more eager to unmask the murderer.

"The Herb of Death:" Mrs. Bantry's gifts as a storyteller, a serving of sage and foxglove, and a charming young girl's unexpected death.

"The Affair at the Bungalow:" Double-dealings, charades and mischief on stage and off, just outside of London.

"Death by Drowning:" A village girl "in trouble" finds a desperate solution - or does she?

From "The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories" (1939):

"Miss Marple Tells a Story:" Miss Marple assists Mr. Petherick in the case of a client accused of having murdered his wife.*

From "Three Blind Mice and Other Stories" (1950):

"Strange Jest:" A rich iconoclast's final joke - at the expense of his heirs?*

"Tape-Measure Murder:" Miss Marple's knowledge of village life and human nature (once more) corrects the all-too straightforward path of Inspector Slack's investigation of an elderly lady's murder.*

"The Case of the Caretaker:" Dr. Haydock's story about a rural rascal, a poor little rich girl, an old estate and its grumpy caretaker.*

"The Case of the Perfect Maid:" Domestic service and burglary in a Victorian estate-turned-apartment building.*

From "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding" (1960):

"Greenshaw's Folly" (republished in "Double Sin," below): A reverse-locked-room mystery at an eccentrically-built country estate.

From "Double Sin and Other Stories" (1961):

"Sanctuary" (first published 1954, a/k/a "The Man on the Chancel Steps"): The last secret of a man found dying on Chipping Cleghorn's church steps.*
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*Republished posthumously in "Miss Marple's Final Cases" (1979).
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Also recommended:
Murder at the Vicarage: A Miss Marple Mystery (Agatha Christie Collection)
Agatha Christie: Five Complete Miss Marple Novels (Avenel Suspense Classics)
Marple Classic Mysteries (Caribbean Mystery/4:50 from Paddington/Moving Finger/Nemesis/At Bertram's Hotel/Murder at Vicarage/Sleeping Murder/They Do It with Mirrors/Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side)
Miss Marple - 3 Feature Length Mysteries (The Body in the Library / A Murder Is Announced / A Pocketful of Rye)
The Mirror Crack'd

This lady leaves no stones unturned !! Knowledge and exposure is POWER ! Everyone should read this book and OPEN your eyes....unfortunately there is too many con people out there !!!!

I thought this was a very bizarre, and interesting story! Good book--easy, quick reading! I sympathize with the author for having to relive all of this and then publish it. It can't be easy to be vulnerable to the world and tell your mistakes in a book. But, she pulled it off beautifully! I really think everything in this book happened just as she said, even though the book has a fiction disclaimer in it. Despite her not so smart decision to trust this person, she was clearly smart enough to avoid any legal troubles! I have met people like this guy, and they are really convincing! People don't understand how easy it is to believe them and get sucked in! The thing I liked is that she is willing to share her money from the book with the other people that got scammed. That's pretty cool! The heiress lady that this guy married is probably in for some real surprises, especially after that dark secret about him is revealed! I have to admit, I was really surprised when she told the name of the company that her family started. (They probably helped us with the war in Iraq.) She also gives some pretty good advise as to what to watch out for in a relationship contendee. This author has more dignity and integrity than anybody I know. Kudos to her and touche to him.

I read this book in several hours! Hats off to this creative, strong woman for having the guts to tell it like it is, admit her mistakes, and do something about the losses this guy caused. Anyone who would do all that work to write a book, get published, and then share the book proceeds with the other people cheated by this jerk, gets my vote for the true definition of having real integrity!

This well-written story is bizarre, and it's shocking that one man was capable of so much deception. This is kind of similar to "Catch Me if You Can" in that a guy cheats people out of money, but different in that the main character in this story is Catholic and acts so almighty while he is cheating people. Plus, this guy targets mostly women. I sort of feel sorry for that Northrop Grumman heiress he married, because now she's stuck with him and this book must be scandalizing to such a prestigious family. It seems like the author is pretty smart, so I'm a bit surprised she didn't see through this shady character sooner. She sounds like a nice person who put her trust into the wrong man! But like she said, she indeed made lemonade out of a lemon! Good for her!!

Wendy Quirk delivers!
This is a sensational book, unlike any I've read, that offers incredible understanding into the mentality of con artists.
The author provides fresh and candid advice through her own experiences on how to protect yourself and love ones from becoming a con mans next victim.
Finally a book by an author that truly cares about the reader.

This book will touch your heart and pull at your heart strings!
Valuable techniques given to "STOP BEING A VICTIM OF OTHERS ACTIONS!"

Relationships teach us the hard way, most of the time, and this
story parallels with real life situations. How many of you have been the victim of someone you loved? How many times did you
suffer because of someones lack of "integrity"? I believe it is
time to stop this nonsense and move to a higher ground with
all relationships! This book shows you all the steps to awaken
from denial and see the truth about someone immediately!!

Several personal relationships came to mind for me while reading
this book, and I took the opportunity to heal my issues from past mistakes! READING THIS BOOK WILL AWAKEN YOUR SENSES AND PREVENT FRAUD, LIES, AND DECEPTION FROM COMING TO YOU!

This whole series is delightful. Mrs. Jeffries and the Feast os St. Stephen is just as entertaining as the previous installments of this series. I recommend this series to read. You'll enjoy it just as much as I did. It's humorous and delightful.

I have read all of the books in the Mrs. Jeffries series and could not wait for this one to come out in paperback. I was wondering what would happen now that Smythe had gone to Australia and left Betsy in England. Because I'm an impatient person I went to used books and got it at a discount. It was worth every penny.

Another great mystery from Emily Brightwell. Only wish new books could come out more frequently. Easy to read at one setting or evening.

I have been following the lives of the people at Upper Edmonton Gardens for some time now, and I really enjoyed this book. It is a Christmas cozy, and that alone would make it fun for me, but the story is a good one. I find that these stories keep getting better and better. In this book Mrs. Jeffries and her Inspector are trying to solve a murder of one of the gentry. The murder occurs about two weeks before Christmas, and Inspector Witherspoon is under some pressure to have the case solved by Christmas. It's a complex case with a real twist, and even Mrs. Jeffries has difficulty with it at first. This is a truly deligtful little book with all the wonderful characters that are like friends to me now.

Yuletide preparations abound in Victorian London. One celebration is the party Stephen Whitfield is hosting for a few select guests. How rude-the host didn't make it through dinner. He fell forward into his soup, dead. Now six guests are suspects, including a sister-in-law, boyhood friends, and a romantic interest, but who would want to kill Stephen?

Each with their own special connections, Mrs. Jeffries and her below-stairs friends and fellow workers secretly help their employer, Inspector Gerald Witherspoon, solve his latest murder. He can use the help. Christmas is just around the corner and his superiors want the murder of wealthy Stephen Whitfield solved before December 25.

With Witherspoon's nemesis Inspector Nevins waiting in the wings to see him fail and each lead exonerating a suspect, everyone must work harder at pursuing leads and solving the murder.

Emily Brightwell uses slight of hand to build intrigue from the beginning of the story. She skillfully weaves leads throughout the book. The challenge is laid down before you, but are you capable of solving the mystery before Mrs. Jeffries or Inspector Witherspoon?

Humor and romance aren't forgotten during the course of the book. In-depth descriptions of the people and places of the Victorian Era set you firmly in each scene. A pleasant surprise was the spacing used to introduce characters and their traits.

Armchair Interviews says: This is the 23rd book in a delightful series of cozy mysteries. Come, join the search and solve the mystery before the feast of St. Stephen.

The writer of Murder at the Reddog is a serious writer, a humorist, and seems to me to be in the company of other contemporary novelists like Kurt Vonnegut, and especially John Irving. John Herrman is new to me and I can't wait for the next one.

A native of Berkeley, California, John Herrmann earned his MFA in writing from the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop and went on to direct the MFA program at the University of Montana in Missoula. He has published several short stories and has over twenty years of teaching experience at the college level.

In Murder At The Red Dog we meet up with Drew Moore, a semi-retired journalist who fled the high pressure journalism game out East for the friendlier skies of Montana. Brew's main love and commitment is to his border collie Jessie, who accompanies him on his exploits. But when Brew's friends Gil and Beth Owen are found murdered in their offices at the rear of the Red Dog, he pulls himself out of his reverie of non-commitment long enough to investigate a case the local police would like to pin on the local American-Indian, Dennis O'Brien. When the F.B.I. appear suddenly out of nowhere, Brew knows it's time to start snooping:

"'Another thing,' I said, 'why are the federales in on this? I'll tell you why. It's because there was something going on before the crimes. The FBI doesn't get into the act on mere homicide. Serial murder, yes. But there's nothing on the surface here to indicate an FBI investigation. Also, Agent Pace arrived here mere hours after the bodies are found--here in this remote location, a hundred miles from the honest-to-god airport. I say the FBI was here all along, maybe doing something else, and only coincidentally were around when the murders were committed. They've been working on something here, whatever it is, a log longer than two days.'"

Hermann is a first-rate writer, with a special facility for great dialogue. His characters come across as three-dimensional, and appeal to the reader's thirst for entertainment. Brew Moore is a wise man with a lot of charisma. He doesn't pull any punches with any of the many characters with their own agendas, and it is refreshing to see someone who can work their way through a chain of enormous injustice. Brew's dog Jessie is a rare personality herself, who adds another dimension to the story; sort of a pressure release for the reader. All in all, Murder At The Red Dog is a well-written story with a great plot and lots of dash and swagger.