PULSE
By Edna Buchanan
Avon, $23
Coincidence or trend? Two of this spring’s best new crime novels–Michael Connelly’s “Blood Work” and Edna Buchanan’s “Pulse” — introduce heart-transplant recipients who become sleuths to repay a debt they feel is owed to their benefactors’ families. The organs came from gunshot victims whose spirits aren’t allowed to rest in peace until the mysteries behind their deaths are put to rest.
Where Connelly pumped new life into a retired FBI agent, Buchanan–whose Britt Montero series is among the most consistently entertaining in the genre–offers renewed hope to a desperately ill Miami CPA. As Frank Douglas recovers from his ordeal, he can’t help but wonder if there’s something he can do to show gratitude for the donor’s gift. Although the victim’s wife is reluctant to accept Frank’s help, it soon becomes apparent that she is in difficult financial straits, and the accountant’s skills actually would come in handy.
This is because the widow has been left a growing pile of bills and no way to pay them off, even though her husband, a restaurateur who apparently committed suicide, was by all appearances quite successful. After Frank enlists the help of a P.I. buddy to dig deeper into the mystery, he becomes obsessed with the notion that foul play was involved, and this obsession spawns a reckless passion for the dead man’s wife.
As usual, Buchanan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, has no trouble sustaining the drama or inventing enough credible plot twists to keep the story from boiling over when certain paranormal elements are introduced. I’m not sure the world is ready for a series starring a gumshoe accountant with a borrowed heart, but “Pulse” makes another solid case for the recuperative powers of mystery solving.
ONE FALSE MOVE
By Harlan Coben
Dell, $21.95
At first glance, sports agent Myron Bolitar would seem to make an unlikely crime fighter (the publisher asks us to imagine Jerry Maguire as a reluctant P.I.). A former star athlete who blew out a knee on the basketball court, Myron — Myron?!? — isn’t particularly brave or intimidating, but he can crack wise with the best of the hard-boiled boys and, in any case, his pal Win is tough enough for any two men.
Harlan Coben must be doing something right, though, because, with “One False Move,” his series has moved from the world of paperback originals into the big leagues of hardcover publishing. It’s about time. Here, Myron is enlisted to protect Brenda Slaughter, the reigning star of the Women’s Professional Basketball Association, after she begins receiving death threats and her father–a former ballplayer and associate of Myron’s–disappears under suspicious circumstances.
It doesn’t take long before Myron, who would love to sign Brenda as a client, becomes entangled in a conspiracy that involves mobsters trying to launch a competing league and a New Jersey politician in whose closet lurks the secret behind Brenda’s stolen youth. Coben keeps the action bouncing along in a sprightly fashion, and he isn’t afraid to throw in some grisly violence every now and then to keep his protagonist honest. Call “One False Move” a slam dunk.
N IS FOR NOOSE
By Sue Grafton
Holt, $25
The many fans of Grafton’s by-the-letters collection of mysteries, starring the irrepressible Kinsey Millhone, won’t need much encouragement from this corner to run out and grab “N Is for Noose.” It’s a worthy addition to the series, and, apart from a rather intricate denouement involving a missing police casebook and a well-camouflaged noose, it will keep the reader engaged with bruising dustups and the continuous hunt for clues into the Millhone psyche.
After spending time in the High Sierra attending to convalescing fellow P.I. Robert Dietz, Kinsey is hired by the widow of a Nota Lake cop to inquire into the circumstances that led to his death in a car accident. It appears as if it was a simple matter of untimely cardiac arrest, but the woman is convinced that her husband was working on a case so stressful that it taxed his system beyond its limits. Whatever it was, Kinsey ends up spending most of her time digging through a mountain of clutter on the detective’s desk until she comes up with the shred of evidence that leads to a broader conspiracy.
Nota Lake is like a malevolent Mayberry, and Kinsey soon becomes the target of malicious gossip and physical threats. But she’s a tough ol’ gal and gives as good as she gets–most of the time. Grafton loyalists should enjoy the visit, although, again, newcomers to the series would be better advised to start at “A.”
STRAY KAT WALTZ
By Karen Kijewski
Putnam, $22.95
P.I. Kat Colorado lives only a few hundred miles north of Kinsey Millhone, in Sacramento. She’s a bit more hard-boiled, and flip, but they both manage to find themselves placed in harm’s way several times more often than the average resident of the Golden State.
This time around, and against
her better judgment, Kat is cajoled into accepting the case of an emotionally–and, perhaps, physically–abused wife of a cop who can’t accept the fact that their marriage is kaput. The woman is seeking protection from his jealous rages, but she doesn’t trust her husband’s police comrades to do the job. Unfortunately for Kat, the woman is only slightly less dangerous–and infinitely more devious–than the man she’s trying to avoid.
The investigation leads Kat to an elaborate insurance scam involving a charismatic self-help guru and a rehab clinic where no one is allowed to get better. The P.I. takes her lumps in this one but is able to muddle through the various double crosses–and right crosses–with her usual feistiness and acid sense of humor.
LIAR
By Jan Burke
Simon & Schuster, $23
Farther to the south, in Los Angeles, Jan Burke keeps her intrepid crime-fighting reporter, Irene Kelly, busy in a case that plumbs the twisted roots of her own family tree. A long-lost aunt is killed by a hit-and-run driver, and because Irene is named sole beneficiary of her rather meager estate, she becomes a leading suspect in the homicide investigation. To clear her name she must find the woman’s son, Travis, who has distanced himself from his relatives to the point that it takes an Internet search to track him down.
The genesis of the whole grisly affair can be traced back three generations to an ugly scandal involving bigamy, murder and a disputed inheritance of the family fortune. In the course of clearing their names in the murder, Irene and Travis spend most of their time healing old wounds, while also trying to avoid new ones, unsuccessfully. Burke really keeps things moving in “Liar,” spinning an intricate yarn in a riveting and wholly enjoyable fashion.
THE LAST BEST HOPE
By Ed McBain
Warner, $24
One of the benefits that comes from being the author of multiple series of crime novels is that it is always possible to cross-fertilize your creations to amuse loyal readers and maintain your own level of sharpness. In his lively new caper, “The Last Best Hope,” Ed McBain asks the cast of his Matthew Hope books to work–if only by phone–with the boys from the 87th Precinct to get to the bottom of, first, a missing-husband case; then, two murders; and finally, an attempt to rip off an ancient Greek treasure.
The further these investigators dig into the various, interrelated cases–all of which involve four perfectly matched sex fiends–the messier they get. Fortuitously, in McBain’s hands they provide ample fodder for outrageous humor and formidable police work. This is a book perfectly suited for a brisk read on a long plane ride.
