Mary Higgins Clark - Bald men!

As anyone who visits this blog regularly they will know that I usually post reviews.  However last week I read The Melody Lingers On by Mary Higgins Clark.  I hadn't read her for ages, so wondered if I would still enjoy her books.  I did in a way, but I found that I was becoming irritated, and eventually went back and checked that I wasn't imagining something.......

Page 6 we meet Eric Bennett, late forties - he had a full head of greying black hair
Page 19 we meet Dr Cunningham (not young) who has - a head of white hair
Page 41 we meet Rudy Schell (FBI) not young - who has a shock of grey streaked black hair
Page 51 we meet Patrick Adanms aged 52 years old, - but with a full head of mostly grey hair
Page 144 we meet Dr Papretti, mid fifties or so - with a thick head of greying hair
Page 155 we meet Dwight Crowley - who has a head of sandy grey hair
Page 215 we meet Jonathan Piece – Jonathan had a full head of dark brown hair.

The italics are actual quotes from the book.
My favourite is  Dr Papretti, mid fifties or so - with a thick head of greying hair. Bless him he had a thick head, rather than a head of thick hair,


My question is don't many men go bald in America?  I have a wide number of male acquaintances and regardless of age at least 90% of them have some degree of baldness, ie receding or thinning hair.     It Sounds daft to say it kept pulling me out of the story, but it did.

So do odd things like this pull you out of a story?  Just interested.
Any comments
Lizzie

‘The Burning Room’ by Michael Connelly

Published by Orion,
6 November 2014.
ISBN: 978-1-4091-4551-6

Bosch is spending his remaining days with the LAPD in the Open-Unsolved Unit. He has a new partner, Lucia Soto, a rookie detective who became a well-known celebrity after a violent liquor store shoot-out.

Not many murder victims die a decade after the crime. Bosch and Soto get the cold case of Orlando Merced when his body finally gives in to the complications of being shot ten years ago, and the autopsy shows the bullet caused his death. The case files have little for them to go on.  Bosch uses his unorthodox methods to help move the case forward.

Soto, also known as Lucky Lucy has a burning ambition that could make her a jeopardy to Bosch. 

As the case moves forward Bosch starts to consider that her luck is rubbing off on him.

A great read with twist and blockades that are not only created by the people Bosch and Soto are investigating but also by the people who want the case closed.

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Reviewer: Nicky Cooper Brown

Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 21, 1956. He moved to Florida with his family when he was 12 years old. Michael decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews. After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat.  In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written. After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America.  Fifty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into thirty-nine foreign languages. Michael lives with his family in Florida.

http://www.michaelconnelly.com/

Nicky Cooper Brown came late to this game we call writing. Growing up, up North, she was always praised for her talents with her hands, rather than her mind, she harboured an artistic flair often drawing and painting into the night. It wasn't until she moved south to the Beautiful picturesque New Forest that she took pen to paper so to speak. Now Nicky enjoys writing short stories and articles and has a funny and light hearted style, but when it comes to her novels she displays a darker side and a taste for psychological thrillers.

The Convert’s Song Sebastian Rotella

Published by Mulholland Books,
18 December 2015.
ISBN: 978-1-444-78554-8

South America, and Valentine Pescatore has started a new life as a PI – until a chance encounter with his long-lost friend, Raymond, as charming and dangerous as ever ...

This fast-moving terrorist thriller would make a wonderful film. Pescatore is a sympathetic James Bond, with a more enlightened attitude towards women – particularly his French co-investigator, Belhaj – and a more thoughtful approach to the world problem that is modern terrorism. His friend Raymond is also vividly drawn: the charm comes across, but also the immorality and selfishness. The bond between them and Valentine’s difficulty in accepting his links to global terrorism is a strong strand in the book; I enjoyed the mixture of human emotions and big-scale scenes. The action is non-stop, moving us from Buenos Aires to Paris and Baghdad, with a breathless series of explosions, chases, interrogations and fights. The political background is particularly well drawn – Rotella’s background as an award-wining journalist gives it authenticity.

An action-filled terrorist novel with credible background detail. It can be read as a stand-alone, but the events of the previous novel are still important to Valentine, so you might like to begin with that one, Triple Crossing.

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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Sebastian Rotella was born in Chicago. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and studied at the University of Barcelona. He speaks Spanish, French and Italian. He

is an award-winning author, foreign correspondent and investigative journalist. His first novel, Triple Crossing, was named favorite debut crime novel and favorite action thriller of 2011 by the New York Times Sunday Book Review. He previously worked at the Los Angeles Times, serving as bureau chief in Paris and Buenos Aires and as correspondent at the Mexican border. His reporting from the Mexican border inspired two songs on Bruce Springsteen's album The Ghost of Tom Joad in 1995.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh, and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

‘The Infidel Stain’ by M.J. Carter

Published by Penguin, Random House UK,
30 April 2015.
ISBN: 978-0-241-14625-5

The Infidel Stain is set in London in 1841. William Avery and Jeremiah Blake are reunited for the first time since their adventures together in India left them lauded as heroes. Since that time Avery has become a Captain in the army, although he has recently left the service, and Blake has continued his mysterious and solitary life as an investigator. On the surface no two men could be less alike. Avery is a country squire, respectably if not happily married; a man of moderate wealth, influence and power. Blake is a man of contradictions, he was brought up in poverty and understands the desperate measures people will take to survive, at the same time he is self-educated and free-thinking; although he works for the rich and powerful, he is very much his own man.

Blake has summoned Avery to London to work with him on solving the murder of two men, both printers, who lived in the poorer parts of London and printed and sold pornographic books. Blake has been employed by the wealthy and pious philanthropist, Lord Allington, who has had the murders brought to his attention and believes that the newly set up police force is not doing all they can to solve the crimes.

The story takes Blake and Avery from visiting in the homes of the wealthy and powerful to the dark, malodorous back alleys of the poor, hungry and desperate. Their lives are threatened by both the New Police and the Chartists and, as the danger grows more intense, they suspect that somebody very powerful is shielding the murderer.

I don't think I have ever referred to a novel I am reviewing as 'magnificent' before, but this is the word that came to mind as I read The Infidel Stain. It is clearly a well-researched novel that takes the reader into the dark side of Victorian life, with the poverty and desperation that leads to crime and violence. Avery is a well-meaning and, at times, naïve assistant to Blake's more subtle and inscrutable character and both protagonists are well drawn, likeable and fascinating.

The Infidel Stain is the second in the Blake and Avery books and I hope there will be more. It is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.

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Reviewer: Carol Westron

M. J. Carter is a former journalist and the author of two acclaimed works of non-fiction: Anthony Blunt: His Lives and The Three Emperors: Three Cousins, Three Empires and the Road to World War One. M. J. Carter is married with two sons and lives in London.

Carol Westron is a successful short story writer and a Creative Writing teacher.  She is the moderator for the cosy/historical crime panel, The Deadly Dames.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times.  The Terminal Velocity of Cats is the first in her Scene of Crimes novels, was published July 2013. Her second book About the Children was published in May 2014.

www.carolwestron.com

‘The Fire Man’ by Iain Adams

Published by Matador,
28 March 2015.
ISBN 978 1784622 152

Andrew McRae has a promising career in front of him.  He manages the Birmingham branch of Fairclough and Partners, a small but growing partnership of loss adjusters negotiating the settlement of complex insurance claims.  The unexpected opportunity to do work for one of the largest general insurance companies is a fantastic opening for him and his colleagues.  However, it is not a straightforward inquiry and his investigations uncover a possible fraud involving millions of pounds.  His attempts to bring this to light get him sacked.  As he struggles to rebuild his career, he continues to think about the case and this obsession ultimately takes him in unexpected and dangerous directions.

The author is writing about an industry he knows well; the complicated operations of the insurance industry are explained and the potential for major fraud is clear.  Characters are well-drawn, the descriptions of dingy factories are familiar and the niggles of office work ring true.  The disconnected events of everyday life add to the tensions and uncertainties of this story, which keeps the reader interested and involved to the final page.

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Reviewer:  Jo Hesslewood

Iain Adams is a qualified insurance adjuster, with decades of experience in the field of claims investigation. Apart from major frauds involving fire and floods, Adams has personally investigated and negotiated terrorism, products liability and catastrophe claims on an international basis.