The Qualities of Wood - Mary Vensel White

First line: "In the small, congested airport, Vivian didn't recognize her husband."

Vivian Gardiner has left her job in the city to spend a year in the rural home of her husband's late grandmother, Betty Gardiner. The house needs to be readied for sale, so while Vivian goes through the belongings left behind, her husband will be working on his second mystery novel.

The night Vivian arrives in her new temporary home, the police find a young girl dead in the forested area behind the Gardiner property. The death haunts Vivian as she works on the house and learns more and more about this "quaint" little town and the people who populate it. She may just find a few surprising skeletons in the house's nooks and crannies.

The Qualities of Wood is a book I've been wanting to read for awhile now and finally snatched my chance over Thanksgiving weekend. Right now it is available as an ebook; it was first published by the HarperCollins imprint Authonomy as an ebook exclusive but will be available in print this summer.

I'm tempted to say I fell in love with this book from the very beginning as I joined Vivian on her journey to small town U.S.A. Vivian had some reservations but the whole scene looked beautiful and inviting to me, my idea of heaven. I probably would prefer no suspicious deaths in my back yard, but otherwise...

Mary Vensel White has created a lush atmosphere in her debut novel, enveloping her reader in the sights and sounds of Vivian's foreign world. The dusty old house with bizarre wallpaper, the tall grass in desperate need of a cutting and the country road, slowly being paved over the course of the summer, these snapshots fit together like images in a flip book--each still photo a vital piece in the movement of the story.

And the characters are as quirky and fascinating as any you might find in a crowded subway car, illustrating the complexities of the often-stigmatized backwoods folk.  From Vivian's new gal-pal Katherine to the eerie neighbor Mr. Stokes to the dead girl's mother Kitty Brodie, everyone has their secrets. And as in many small towns, the stories make their ways around, but more in line with a game of telephone, the stories get distorted as they are passed from one person to the other. No one holds the whole truth and the misconceptions may prove deadly.

The plot is steeped in suspense. It has a slower rhythm. This isn't a thriller, instead the pacing coincides gracefully with the setting and the suspense builds gradually and hauntingly. White also employs plot twists that just may break your heart.

The Qualities of Wood is a striking debut and I'm anxious to see where Mary Vensel White goes from here.

The Qualities of Wood is available now from Authonomy (ISBN: 9780007469505) in all ebook formats. It will be available in trade paperback (ISBN: 978-0007523580) June 17, 2014.

Blood Bond - Sophie Littlefield

First line: "Joe Bashir stood in the glow of the streetlight shining through the triple-glazed windows of his girlfriend's Berkeley townhouse, pulling up his trousers and staring thoughtfully at the tableau unfolding in the street below."

Sophie Littlefield has launched a new series with Pocket Star books. Blood Bond, released as an ebook, introduces Joe Bashir, a Pakistani-American homicide investigator. A one-time med-school student who decided to pursue law enforcement when his father was brutally attacked in a hate crime, Bashir struggles with relationships but excels in his chosen field.

In Blood Bond, Bashir is called to investigate the suspicious death of a man at a dinner party. The wealthy Engler family hosted the dinner party and have been experiencing some harassment connected to Bruce Engler's business. The harassment has been harmless, so their connection seems unlikely, but Bashir has to pursue all avenues. However, when Gail Engler, Bruce's wife, ends up dead days later, new evidence surfaces for Bashir and the case takes on a whole new twist.

Littlefield has taken on an ambitious effort with her new protagonist. He carries a lot of baggage, which follows the prototype of crime's detectives, but he carries unique baggage. The racial element is in the background, but still plays a huge role in Bashir's overall character. Littlefield artfully balances this development of Bashir so that WHO he is remains clear, especially in contrast to those he is investigating, but doesn't overpower the plot of the novel. I look forward to watching how Bashir continues to develop in this series. He's a welcome addition to crime fiction.

Don't expect Blood Bond to be a female version of Stella Hardesty. This book is distinctly different from Littlefield's first crime series; she's expanding her horizons and showing even more of her writing chops.

I hesitate to comment on the ebook itself. I don't believe the review copy I received is a final format since font sizes and styles differed throughout the book.

Blood Bond is available in all ebook formats (ISBN: 9781476709406) from Pocket Star. For a limited time the ebook is priced at $1.99

Christmas in Absaroka County - Craig Johnson

First line: "Driving south on I-25, I kept sneaking glances through my half-closed eyes in hopes of seeing those first, dull, yellow rays of sunup crawling from the horizon."

This holiday season, Craig Johnson has a delightful gift for everyone. In CHRISTMAS IN ABSAROKA COUNTY, Johnson has compiled four holiday Walt Longmire stories. Three will be familiar to those who are on Johnson's mailing list, as they're the Christmas Post-It stories from previous Christmases.

The new story, "Ministerial Aid" starts off the collection. Decked out in his old bathrobe and nursing a hangover on New Year's Day, Walt finds himself dealing with a call for help when he drives out to Powder Junction to deliver Turk Connally's paycheck. Those familiar with the series will notice this makes the story set prior to THE COLD DISH, the first book of the series.

Walt has freshly lost his wife Martha and he encounters an elderly woman waiting in her car for Jesus. Despite the cold of the season, this story will warm your heart. This story isn't a laugh out loud yarn; instead you'll smile, chuckle and recall all that made you love Walt. It is classic Craig Johnson and just the Walt Longmire fix you need to get you through to the next full novel in the series.

"Slick-Tongued Devil" is the second story in the collection and Walt is confronted with a jolting experience when he opens his newspaper to see his wife's obituary. The event triggers some reminiscing so readers will glimpse Martha, the wife that defines a large part of who Walt is.

"Toys for Tots" is the third story. While Walt waits for his daughter, Cady, in the electronics store, he chats with a Navy chaplain manning the Toys for Tots bin. The small nuggets of both military trivia and Toys for Tots history enrich an already endearing tale.

And the collection ends with "Unbalanced." On his way to pick up Cady from the airport, Walt picks up a young, apparently homeless woman and gives her a ride.

If you've experienced a holiday story from Craig Johnson in the past, you know this collection is a heart-warming read for this time of year. The focus on family, forgiveness and generosity is reflective of Walt's character and it's a great reminder for all of us during this season of love. I encourage you to curl up one evening during the holidays and let your heart smile while you take a short visit to Absaroka County.

And as an added bonus for those who may not have read this series yet (shame on you!), you can read the first chapter of THE COLD DISH at the conclusion of the stories.

Christmas in Absaroka County is available from Barnes & Noble or Books a Million for the Nook, from Amazon for the Kindle, from iTunes for your Apple devices, and from Indie bookstores who carry Kobo Books.

A Double Dose of Craig Johnson

This was my week with Walt Longmire. First I read Craig Johnson's original short story "Divorce Horse" that is essentially set between HELL IS EMPTY and AS THE CROW FLIES. Then I moved right into AS THE CROW FLIES. So here is a double helping of my favorite literary sheriff.

First line: "It was Memorial Day weekend and I was having dinner with my best friend, Henry Standing Bear, and my daughter Cady at the Busy Bee Café."

Walt Longmire never seems to full convalesce before he finds himself in the midst of more life-threatening situations - or at least physically harmful situations. He does get a bit of a break in "Divorce Horse" after his harrowing experience chasing the escaped convicts through the mountains of Wyoming.

Walt and Henry bet Cady that men talk about relationships less often than women don't talk about them. Got that? Well Cady's keeping score, but she doesn't exactly play fair.

Meanwhile, Walt is summoned to the rodeo grounds to investigate a missing horse, the same horse that helped fuel a notorious Absaroka County divorce, thus Vic named it the divorce horse.

"Divorce Horse" is classic Craig Johnson. It's a nice little taste of the gang from Absaroka to fill some of the space between full-length books. As with all of the Walt Longmire novels, there's an underlying theme of relationships; this story looks at the dynamics of the men and women in those relationships.

The warm humor, crisp dialogue and strong sense of place are there, just squeezed into a smaller package. Fans of the series won't want to miss this little gem. And if you haven't tried this series yet "Divorce Horse" will whet your whistle for all the goodness that is found in Absaroka County.

"Divorce Horse" is an ebook exclusive. It's available for the Nook and the Kindle. It also contains the first chapter of AS THE CROW FLIES, book eight in the Walt Longmire series.

First line: "'I wanna know what Katrina Walks Nice did to get kicked out of a joint like this for sixty-one days.'"

It's closing in on Cady Longmire's wedding to Michael Moretti and Walt has father-of-the-bride business to take care of. He and Henry are on the Reservation trying to work out Cady's desired location for the wedding. However, they're running into a bit of a conflict. There is another event scheduled there at the same time. So Henry and Walt head out to another suggested location, just in time to see a woman fall off a cliff with her infant son. The young woman doesn't  survive the fall but her son does. Two many pieces of evidence point to foul play for the fall to be an accident; the young woman's husband becomes the prime suspect until he too winds up dead.

Try as he might to stay out of it, Walt gets pulled into the investigation when Lolo Long, the newly appointed tribal police chief, needs some serious law enforcement lessons and a similar adjustment to her attitude and people skills. 

My time visiting Absaroka County never seems long enough. Maybe it's because once I pick up one of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire novels, I can't put it down until the end. And then I'm wishing I would have read it slower.

AS THE CROW FLIES takes place primarily on the Reservation so we have a bit of a change in scenery. Johnson has many strengths as a writer, but few if any surpass his sense of place. He brings the Wyoming - or in this case Montana - landscape and its inhabitants to life and puts them to work as characters, affecting and influencing all the elements of the story. There are no questions that Walt Longmire's surroundings are as alive and vital as he is:

"The surface was a loose scrabble of sedentary shale that looked like shattered terra-cotta in a wild cathedral floor; the footing was unstable, and a few lizards scrambled like ball bearings over the hard surface. I moved toward the edge and kneeled down to look at the disturbed rock shelves at the point where the woman had fallen. The wind picked up a little, nudging me from behind, as I allowed my eyes to drift toward the clouds again, some of the trailing low enough to almost reach out and touch."

The change in scenery also brings with it some new characters, including Lolo Long, her mother Hazel and brother Barrett.

The richness of Johnson's character development can be seen in any of his characters, but Lolo Long is an excellent illustration. She's a tough woman with a hard exterior. She's not a popular chief because of those characteristics, but she is determined. She wants to do well and she wants to do right; however, sometimes she tries a bit too hard. Lolo carries both physical and emotional scars; she's experienced pain before, so she doesn't want to expose her weaknesses and open herself up to more pain, yet still she takes a chance reaching out to ask Walt for help.

And there's no need to worry about humor. Johnson writes serious, thought-provoking themes, but he also knows how to have a good time. Walt finds himself in a bit of a drug-induced state during his time on the Reservation. He battles it out with Henry's infamous pick-up truck, Rezdog, and he has just as many wedding jitters as his daughter Cady.

In short - which I have obviously not been in this review - AS THE CROW FLIES is another winner for the Walt Longmire series. I miss some of our Absoraka regulars who've been on the scarce side the past couple of books, but the new faces are adding more layers of enjoyment to an already scrumptious series I only continue to devour. And now, the wait for book nine.

AS THE CROW FLIES is available next Tuesday, May 15 from Penguin Viking in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-670-02351-6). As many of you know this is also one of my very favorite series on audio. I'm unable to find any information at this point on the audio release, but once I know the details, I'll be sure to share them.

LOCKDOWN - Sean Black

First line: "Nobody guards the dead."

American Ryan Lock served in the special close protection unit of the British Military. Now he's putting his skills to use in the U.S. as a body guard. In LOCKDOWN he's the head of security for a large pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, dealing with regular protests from animal rights activists. On Christmas Eve, the pharmaceutical company CEO agrees to meet with the leader of the protest and agrees to some of their demands. In a press conference outside the building the celebration turns deadly as the protest leader and others are shot by snipers from a neighboring rooftop.

The murders look appear to be the work of animal rights activists who missed their target. Instead of hitting the evil CEO, they took out their own spokesman. But Lock isn't buying it, especially after he winds up in the hospital from a shot-gun rigged door. During his convalescence, Ryan and his good friend Ty start digging into who is really behind the Christmas Eve blood bath.

LOCKDOWN is the first book in Sean Black's Ryan Lock series and I'm very excited that I don't have to wait a year for the next book - one of the benefits of discovering a series late. This is a fun action-adventure novel with a little bit of everything in it. You can't argue that Lock's a real character when he's knocked out in the first 20 pages. And the shaved head with stitches isn't going to win him People's Sexist Man contest. But he's smart and funny and determined; I think I'm smitten. Lock is never about show; he's about doing the job and doing it right.

Sean Black is equally generous to his female characters. Lock's journalist on again-off again girl friend is an independent, no-nonsense gal. But the female I enjoyed the most in this particular book was the terrorist. There are simply no stereotypes to her character. I wouldn't recommend messing with Sean Black's women.

Black also does a superb job of including the relationship between Lock and Carrie Delaney so that it enhances the novel instead of taking the plot off in unrelated directions. But it's Lock's relationship with Ty Johnson that has the greatest impact on the book for me. Their sharp banter is priceless and the unspoken between them adds just as much to each's character.

The plot is fast-paced. This is a text-book thriller in that sense, but Sean Black puts a unique stamp on the genre in many other ways. The first sentence of the book should tell you that much.

LOCKDOWN is available in the US in ebook format for both the Nook and the Kindle.  If you'd prefer it in print, you can get a print copy through Book Depository (free shipping) or you can check here at Better World Books where they have listings from independent sellers.

NAUGHTY: NINE TALES OF CHRISTMAS CRIME

Steve Hockensmith's e-book collection of his short stories is called NAUGHTY: NINE TALES OF CHRISTMAS CRIME. I couldn't help but think, these should all be holiday cartoons for adults. You know, our kids have Frosty and Rudolph and whatnot. Hockensmith's stories would be great premises for adult versions. Reading these stories was as enjoyable to me this holiday season as those cartoons were to me years ago as a child.

About these "nine tales." The first of the collection is called "Fruitcake." In several of the stories, Hockensmith makes use of the age old fruitcake, but in this tale the fruitcake is a major player in a retirement community. The ladies out number the men and Ethel Queenan is determined to snatch herself a husband, armed with...yep, a fruitcake. Before anyone goes all huffy, this is NOT a romance story. It's filled with murder and mayhem and laughs. Lots of them.

Next up is "I Killed Santa Claus." That title right there tells you why these couldn't be cartoons for kids. When Hannah's mother lines up a job for her as Santa's elf at the local mall, she has no idea she's sending her daughter into the jaws of "Big Buck." Hannah quickly tires of the sexual harassment she has to endure from "Santa" and rigs up his chair to catch him in the act. Only she ends up with more than she bargained for.

"Secret Santa" takes one of the holiday's work place traditions and turns it into a hilarious caper. Erik Bigelow is a lazy, thieving director at Now! publications. He expects a lot from those who work under him but he takes advantage of his position every opportunity he gets. When his secret santa starts calling him out on his atrocious behavior through the secret gifts he bestows on Erik, Erik decides he's going to figure out his secret santa's identity and pay him back in spades.

"Humbug" may have been my favorite story in the collection, which really says a lot because I loved the whole collection. I just found this particular take on Ebenezer Scrooge's story to be quite brilliant and fun. When Scrooge is run over by a wagon carrying Christmas trees, Inspector Bucket has to determine if it was an accident or murder.

The title of the collection comes from the next story, "Naughty," where Hockensmith brings back Hannah from "I Killed Santa Claus." Hannah seems to be a magnet for the male perverts, but in "Naughty" she decides to pull a "Grinch" on this one and steal his Christmas so he doesn't get away with cheating on his wife and buying back her good graces with pretty gifts. Only the caper doesn't go quite as planned.

"Hidden Gifts" is the most emotionally powerful of the stories. It still has funny elements, but the main idea of the story is a bit of a heart-wrencher. Karen and Ronnie live with their mother and her boyfriend who seems to have no need for the kids. Karen informs Ronnie that there really is no Santa Claus, but she may just discover she's wrong.

Hockensmith tries his hand at a bit of a Christmas spy thriller in "Red Christmas" and it's second only to "Humbug" as my favorite in the collection. This story was so vivid in my mind as I read - and laughed. The KGB is out to kidnap Santa on Christmas Eve. I'll never see my hot cider in the same light after this story. I love Hockensmith's description of Elf blood. And Hockensmith once again makes great use of the fruitcake!

"Naivete" brings back The Reptile and Diesel from "Naughty." This Christmas they don't have enough to keep them busy, and The Reptile decides the best place to make a lot of money fast is at Church. They'll steal the collection plate. Right away you know the good karma is not going to be with these two, but their caper is filled with slapstick humor and a bit of irony.

The collection ends with "Special Delivery" which will tickle the fancy of any person who lived through the Cabbage Patch Doll phenomena. Whether you were a child with a doll or a parent trying to get a doll, you'll appreciate the humor of this one. Bass is truck driver who is hired to run an overnight trip on Christmas Eve to pick up a shipment of Cabbage Patch Dolls for the local toy store. He has to drive from Indiana to Pennsylvania and back with his precious cargo and everyone wants to get their hands on these dolls.

I read about a story a night and it was something I looked forward to each day. They are fun stories and perfect to remind ourselves not to sweat the small stuff in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season. Hockensmith's signature humor and his wonderfully brilliant approaches to the holiday season make this collection a present in itself. And you should even read the stuff the you usually skip over, like the copyright info and such. There's some hidden gems tucked in there as well. So treat yourself! You can get this ebook in every format you could want here. And it's only $2.99. I promise, you're getting a steal! So leave the collection plate to the Church and snag your copy of NAUGHTY.

Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!