Fiction Review

Elvis Cole, a fan favorite, is back in Robert Crais’ The Big Empty. You’ll want to pre-order a copy through the Webstore after you read Oline Cogdill’s review. https://bit.ly/4h4a4mF.

Oline Cogdill, special correspondent for “The Sun Sentinel”, shared her review. Crais’ Elvis Cole retruns, at least, in ‘The Big Empty’.

The Big Empty’ by Robert Crais. Putnam, 400 pages, $30 

Readers expecting an annual installment of a beloved mystery series may feel a void when those characters are missing for a couple of years, like Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole novels, the last of which was “Racing The Light” in 2022.

So welcome back, Elvis, and, of course, his partner Joe Pike — do NOT call him a sidekick — as Crais reunites his private detectives in the lean and agile “The Big Empty.”  Crais’ brand of melding sly humor with a hard-boiled story driven by the smart-mouthed Elvis and the taciturn yet lethal Pike hasn’t stalled during the three-year absence.

In “The Big Empty,” L.A. private eye Elvis is hired by Traci Beller, a 23-year-old influencer whose prowess in baking has brought her 8.2 million followers. “The Muffin Girl,” as fans call Traci, already has a series of cookbooks and merchandise but is poised for even more success.

But Traci also has an emptiness that brought her to Elvis. Ten years ago her father, Thomas, disappeared without a trace. The van for his heating and air-conditioning company, which  he owned with his brother, was never found following his last job. No trace of Thomas has ever been found, despite other high-profile detective agencies Traci has hired. Traci also has never quite forgiven her mother for seeming to move on so quickly after Thomas vanished. Her mother calls Thomas’ disappearance Traci’s “curse.”

Elvis finds ignored witnesses while retracing Thomas’ last steps as he and ex-Marine Pike uncover a conspiracy that leads to an ex-con, her daughter and a group of criminals.

“The Big Empty” is vintage Crais, with a plot that starts simple then turns dark, taking myriad twists leading to an unpredictable finale. Elvis still revels in his snarky humor — yes, he still uses the Mickey Mouse landline in his office — but also is completely serious and professional at his job. As for Joe Pike — let’s just say he’s the person you want on your side. The friendship and respect Elvis and Pike have for each other continues to be a driving force. The action is believable, yet restrained.

Crais set a solid course for Elvis beginning with his 1987 debut “The Monkey’s Raincoat,” which was nominated for an Edgar Award. “The Big Empty,” Elvis’s 20th outing, continues Crais’ high standards.

BEHIND THE PLOT: Robert Crais’ journey to Elvis began when he wrote scripts for TV series such as “Hill Street Blues” (which brought him an Emmy nomination), “Cagney & Lacey,” “Miami Vice” and numerous series pilots and movies of the week. Crais was inspired to create Elvis Cole, using elements of his own life, following the death of his father in 1985, according to his website. “The Monkey’s Raincoat” received the Anthony and Macavity Awards, was nominated for the Edgar Award and is listed on “100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century” by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. “The Monkey’s Raincoat” launched Crais’ penchant for mixing dry humor with hard-boiled action as well as a sense of poignancy, such as the scene in which Elvis helps a middle-aged woman write her first check after her husband’s disappearance.

Originally Published: December 31, 2024 at 10:10 AM EST

Dana Stabenow recently read and reviewed Agatha Christie’s Marple by Mark Aldridge. You can still order a copy of this nonfiction book through the Webstore. https://bit.ly/4gTrG57.

Here’s Stabenow’s review of the book.

I’m no Christie scholar, or even a Miss Marple one, but I am a Jane fan, much more than an Hercule one as I found Poirot’s ego and affectations hard to take.* I’ve read all the Marple books and I think all the short stories. I’ve seen some of all the Marple television series but every single one of the episodes starring Joan Hickson multiple times.

This book is a worthy effort to collect all the stories around the Marple stories and put them into a timeline that lasts, good lord, nearly a century now. It includes interviews with friends and family and editors and agents, excerpts from the very few interviews Christie would consent to during her lifetime, and memories from cast and crew of almost all of the productions. There are lovely little discursions in the various chapters on the novels, as here from the story about At Bertram’s Hotel.

The real star of the novel is Bertram’s itself. It has often been argued that the hotel was based on Brown’s Hotel in Mayfair, while Dorothy Olding thought it might have been the Connaught in the same area…One person who believed the hotel to be Brown’s was Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, who was inspired to stay in the hotel after reading the novel, where he encountered his own mystery: the sound of of footsteps in the corridor. Deciding to investigate, he then found himself locked out of his room.

Aldridge makes a solemn promise at the beginning not to spoil any of the plots and he doesn’t let the reviewers he quotes spoil, either, but you’ll still get a picture of how Christie’s work was received at time of publication. There is also a sense of the evolution of how crime fiction was thought of then and now, from critics initially viewing it solely as frothy entertainment to accepting it as a respectable art form. Not to mention a cultural phenomenon.

*Always with the exception of my all time favorite Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express, of course. If you haven’t seen the 1974 film starring the best ensemble cast of any film ever on any size screen, do so at once.

It’s worth waiting to read Deb Lewis’ January reviews. You can order or pre-order all the books she mentions through the Webstore. https://store.poisonedpen.com/. And, watch for those authors’ event links who will be appearing at The Poisoned Pen soon.

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen  $28,00

Agnes adored her grandfather, loved him more than her father, to be honest. When a true crime podcaster reaches out to her family to investigate why her grandfather fled Iceland, presumed to be the murderer of his wife and baby daughter, Agnes travels from sunny San Francisco to dark and chilly rural Iceland to find out the truth. Family secrets revealed, and the long shadows of previous crimes come to light. I love this kind of mystery, where each conversation brings you a little closer to the truth, and reveals a little more about Agnes to herself. http://Website link to buy.

Power of Persuasion by Stacey Abrams, writing as Selena Montgomery 

Politics, public service, an unlikely romance and AI all combine together in this re-introduced story for Abrams fans. She never disappoints. http://Website link to buy

She Doesn’t Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke  $17.00 

This delightful paperback adult debut by Jenny Elder Moke is the perfect mashup of romance and mystery: a locked room murder on an isolated island full of lust, longing, duplicity and a hunky Australian. The main character, bestselling author Kate, receives a mysterious invitation to her former fiance’s wedding, and chaos ensues. Every romance trope and setup are skillfully woven into the plot: poisonings, drownings, secret passages and wild animal chases included. Can Kate solve the murder before the murder is pinned on her?  Great fun. http://Website link to buy
Event Jan 14 

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer   $20.00

Aa instant bestseller when published in November 2024, this follow up from the author of Braiding Sweetgrass, is a bold challenge to us all to re-orientate ourselves from a hungry society to one build around gratitude, reciprocity and community, as it is in the indigenous natural world. So inspiring. https://tinyurl.com/c5z9nc58

And for those of us who cannot wait for the next installment of CBS’s TRACKER, the book that started it all: 

The Never Game by Jeffrey Deaver $10.99

The son of a survivalist family, Colter Shaw is an expert tracker. Now he makes a living as a “reward seeker,” traveling the country to help police solve crimes and locate missing persons for private citizens. http://Website link to buy

While The Poisoned Pen is closed on January 1, you can always check out the Webstore for books to order in the future. https://store.poisonedpen.com/.

Watch this space in 2025 for more reviews from Dana Stabenow and Deb Lewis, as well as events from The Pen. I hope you’ll come back in this new year! Happy New Year!

Barbara Peters, owner of The Poisoned Pen, called Sally Smith’s A Case of Mice and Murder “A brilliant English mystery debut”, one of her favorites of 2024. Author Dana Stabenow loved it. You might want to pre-order a copy through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/5cfdjeds.

Here’s Stabenow’s review of A Case of Mice and Murder(The Trials of Gabriel Ward).

For any fan of British police procedurals, even if the crime is set in 1901 and the current London police are less Dalgliesh and more Dalziel, only not as smart.

And it wouldn’t matter anyway because the murder happens in the Temple, that cloistered fifteen acres in the heart of London where British law was studied and practiced, and still is, and where the police are not allowed to enter, and still aren’t. Yes, you read that right.

But back to 1901, where the Lord Chief Justice is murdered, his body left where Sir Gabriel Ward, barrister, stumbles across it on his way into work one morning. To his further horror, Gabriel is placed in charge of the investigation, with a not-so-veiled threat of being dispossessed of his chambers if he refuses.

Which is going to interfere with his defense of publisher Herbert Moore, who four years before printed a children’s book, Millie the Temple Church Mouse, which has become an unexpected hit, relieved all of Moore & Sons’ debts, and provided a comfortable living for him and his family, not to mention has supported the Temple Church by vastly increasing its congregation.

Millie the Mouse, born in a hole in the round nave of the Temple Church to loving mouse parents, had grown up to become, thanks to her early exposure to the beauties of the Temple services, a devout mouse dedicated to performing acts of kindness for the congregation. These acts, necessarily limited in scope by her species and size, nonetheless assumed saintly proportions in the hands of Miss Cadamy.

(One gets the distinct feeling that Smith had even more fun writing the story of Millie than she did the story of Gabriel.)

The difficulty lies in the authorship of the book, which was left on Moore & Sons doorstep in a plain brown wrapper with no identification of its author other than a name, Harriet Cadamy, that Moore could not trace to any living person. Now a claimant to the rodentiary throne has materialized and Moore & Sons are being sued.

And now Gabriel, with the assistance of an inexperienced but promising young constable who nevertheless shows promise, vide his name, Wright, is set to the additional and equally onerous task of ferreting out the Lord Chief Justice’s murderer. Which, never fear, he does, although it certainly pries him out of his comfort zone, and out of the Temple, which he hasn’t left in forty years.

The scenes in court are worthy of Michael Gilbert

Mr. Justice Anderson, a judge of great experience and little patience, entered, and looked characteristically at the clock in order to convey that not a moment of court time was to be wasted.

And not forgetting the scenes in chambers.

She…leaned across the desk, her bosom perilously close to the inkwell. Gabriel backed against his bookshelves.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, and a pretty good mystery, too. I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

Do you have a little holiday cash you’d like to spend on a book? The Poisoned Pen has a limited edition of Emily Rath’s North is the Night. There are currently nineteen in stock. Once those are gone, that’s it for the edition just released on December 17. You can order it now through the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/mscsjcu9

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Here’s the description of the limited edition.

***DELUXE LIMITED FIRST PRINT RUN with stenciled edges, a beautiful foil-stamped hardcover, exclusive interior design with full-color illustrated endpapers, and a reversible foil dust jacket!*** Only while supplies last.

Two bold young women defy the gods and mortals, living and dead, in this darkly mythical, Finnish folklore-inspired fantasy duology for readers of T. Kingfisher’s Nettle & Bone, Danielle L. Jensen, Thea Guanzon, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec.

In the Finnish wilderness, more than wolves roam the dark forests. For Siiri and Aina, summer’s fading light is a harbinger of unwelcome change. Land-hungry Swedes venture north, threatening the peace; a zealous Christian priest denounces the old ways; and young women have begun to disappear. 

Siiri vows to protect Aina from danger. But even Siiri cannot stop a death goddess from dragging her friend to Tuonela, the mythical underworld. Determined to save Aina, Siiri braves a dangerous journey north to seek the greatest shaman of legend, the only person to venture to the realm of death and return alive. 

In Tuonela, the cruel Witch Queen turns Aina’s every waking moment into a living nightmare. But armed with compassion and cleverness, Aina learns the truth of her capture: the king of the underworld himself has plans for her. To return home, Aina must bargain her heart—as Siiri plots a daring rescue of the woman she loves the most.

Happy Holidays to all who celebrate!

Janet Evanovich’s Now or Never is the Hot Book of the Week at The Poisoned Pen Bookstore. Did you know you can order the backlist of the Stephanie Plum series through the Webstore? https://tinyurl.com/n5tcuvmx. And, of course, you can order a copy of Now or Never. https://tinyurl.com/mr9vyk29.

In case you missed it, here’s the summary of Now or Never.

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The latest Stephanie Plum novel from #1New York Times bestseller and “the most popular mystery writer alive” (The New York Times) Janet Evanovich.

She said yes to Morelli. She said yes to Ranger. Now Stephanie Plum has two fiancés and no idea what to do about it. But the way things are going, she might not live long enough to marry anyone.

While Stephanie stalls for time, she buries herself in her work as a bounty hunter, tracking down an unusually varied assortment of fugitives from justice. There’s Eugene Fleck, a seemingly sweet online influencer who might also be YouTube star Robin Hoodie, masked hero to the homeless, who hijacks delivery trucks and distributes their contents to the needy. She’s also on the trail of Bruno Jug, a wealthy and connected man in the wholesale produce business who is rumored to traffic young girls alongside lettuce and tomatoes. Most terrifying of all is Zoran—a laundromat manager by day and self-proclaimed vampire by night with a taste for the blood of pretty girls. When he shows up on Stephanie’s doorstep, it’s not for the meatloaf dinner.

With timely assists from her stalwart supporters Lula, Connie, and Grandma Mazur, Stephanie uses every trick in the book to reel in these men. But only she can decide what to do about the two men she actually loves. She can’t hold Ranger and Morelli at bay for long, and she’s keeping a secret from them that is the biggest bombshell of all. Now or never, she’s got to make the decision of a lifetime.

Dana Stabenow’s fourth book in her Eye of Isis series, Abduction of a Slave, will be released Jan. 28. You can pre-order it now from the Webstore. https://tinyurl.com/yne6568b. The Pen’s copies come with exclusive bookmarks and stickers.

Stabenow was kind enough to share her recent blog post with us. Check it out.

[*I was going to title this post “Puuuurrrrrrty,” but I caught myself in time.]

Yep, the finished copy is now in my hands, another stellar production by Head of Zeus. (And incidentally, who are those guys? I want names and photos and maybe addresses, too, so I can declare my undying devotion to each and every one of them who had a hand in making my book look this good.)

From the first Isis novel HoZ asked me to chose images of Ancient Egypt for the cover art, and at my request HoZ has used that same image as a line break symbol. For Abduction of a Slave it’s Montu, the Egyptian god of war (one of them, anyway).

Which I naturally think is the coolest thing ever. So of course I jumped right on my Zazzle store to see if they make stickers. They do and I did, of all four images from all four Eye of Isis novels. From left in the image below, the Wedjat Eye from Death of an Eye, Seshat the god of scribes from Disappearance of a Scribe, the scarab from Theft of an Idol, and Montu from Abduction of a Slave.

hese stickers will make their way into copies of the novels (Eye stickers in copies of Death of an Eye, etc) sold by the Poisoned Pen at the launch of Abduction of a Slave on January 25th, a live and virtual event. See you there, one way or another!

The PP books are the only ones that will have the stickers in them.

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Dana Stabenow will appear at The Poisoned Pen, in person and virtually, on Saturday, Jan. 25 at 5 PM to discuss her series. Pre-order a copy of Abduction of a Slave. Stabenow will be signing copies on Saturday.

Did you miss these titles? You can still order copies, although the books won’t arrive until 2025. Order them now through the Webstore. Deb Lewis from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore reviewed all these books that were published in October or November.

Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch (Berkley, Nov)

Is there anything more special than the love between a girl and her pony? Follow the incredible journey as Pony, separated from his grown mistress, Penny, sets out to find her and clear her name when she is wrongfully charged with murder. Do ponies talk? Yep. Do ponies manipulate their owners? You betcha. Do you want a pony on your side? After reading this you will! Funny, fierce, heartwarming and totally original. https://tinyurl.com/yc66k4xw

Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson (Viking, Nov) 

The perfect stocking stuffer for any Criag Johnson fan, this short novel fills in the chronological  gap for young Walt and Henry after they have returned from fighting in Vietnam and before they become our favorite sheriff and bar owner in Wyoming. The Alaskan cold and a corrupt oil company is no match for these two. https://tinyurl.com/4n5daz7m.

Karla’s Choice A John leCarre Novel (Viking, Oct) 

Harkaway captures his late father’s voice, giving us one more time with fan favorite characters master spy George Smiley and his Soviet counterpart, Karla. An unexpected delight for long-time fans of the series or a shorter treat for newbies wanting to read about spycraft as a skill, soaked in 1960’s atmosphere. https://tinyurl.com/h9spdbb9.

Into The Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah (One World, Oct) 

Beloved comedian and author of BORN A CRIME delights us all with a gorgeously illustrated fable that follows a boy’s journey into the uncut grass to discover the secrets of sharing and compromise. A perfect holiday gift to read to the grands! https://tinyurl.com/25b2wy36.

Framed by John Grisham and Jim McClosky (Doubleday, Oct)

Bestselling author John Grisham has delivered a powerful work of nonfiction, his first in many years. Co-written with the founder of nonprofit Centurion Ministries, it outlines 10 cases that will shock you: 10 Americans who were innocent but found guilty. A powerful look at the courts and systems that are decked against the wrongly found guilty, this call to arms is written in Grisham style, and is a fascinating and disturbing read. https://tinyurl.com/3wmhmpr8

Like Mother, Like Mother by Susan Rieger (Random House, Nov) 

This novel blurs the line between reality and fiction in a way that will have you stopping and Googling at the end of each chapter: did that really happen? Are these characters real or fiction? Follow the lives of three very different generations as these powerful, witty and wonderful women live, love and lie. Was Zelda committed to an asylum or did she run away and leave her kids with her abusive husband? How do you mother when you have no mother of your own? Be prepared to fall in love with the sparkling dialogue and bigger than life characters here. https://tinyurl.com/56pz846y