nomadreader

The backstory:  David Morrell, best known for his debut thriller First Blood , which the Rambo  franchise was based on, has written more than twenty novels. The basics: Set in 1854 London, Murder as a Fine Art  is the story of a panicked London, as the someone is copying the horrifying Ratliffe Highway murders of 1811. Thomas de Quincey, known as the Opium-Eater, is immediately a suspect, as his recent essay Murder as a Fine Art  details the 1811 crimes and speaks of them with reverence. My thoughts: I was instantly transported to 1854 London as soon as I started this book. The first chapter immediately brings to life the grime and chaos of London; it also brings a savage set of homicides. About two-thirds of the way through, I (correctly) figured out the killer, but this novel is not as much a whodunit as it as a whydunit. Morrell reveals the killer about three-fourths of the way through the novel. Much of the last quarter of the novel felt like a cin...

The backstory: Angel's Tip  is the second mystery in Alafair Burke's Ellie Hatcher series, after Dead Connection  ( my review ). The basics: When Ellie Hatcher discovers the murdered body of Chelsea Hart, an Indiana college student who was visiting New York City with her friends, during her morning run, she takes the case as her own. My thoughts: After liking but not loving Dead Connection , I was curious what Angel's Tip  would bring. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fantastic mystery as well as an impressive amount of character development for Ellie Hatcher. As the novel opens, some time has passed since the end of Dead Connection . Immediately, this time allows for Ellie to step out of some of the lingering shadows from the last novel and embrace her new promotion to a homicide detective. The reader jumps right into her new normal, and readers who didn't read Dead Connection  could still enjoy this mystery. What often seems to be a contrived plot:...