Hey There, Nowhere Man: Yo Mama!

 Prodigal Son - Gregg Hurwitz

Evan Smoak thought he’d retired from the hero business; or at least that was the deal he’d made to stay out of a federal prison. But when you get a phone call from someone claiming to be the mother you’d never met, you’re at least curious… maybe a little obsessed. The woman in question had a job for The Nowhere Man (Evan’s last “career” before retiring): find and protect Andrew Duran, a down-on-his-luck impound lot attendant who’d had the misfortune of witnessing the murder of a client. Perhaps out of boredom, Evan took up the hunt.

Mary, Mary, Never Quite Contrary: DiNunzio gets a New BFF

 Lady Killer - Lisa Scottoline

In case you hadn't noticed, Lisa Scottoline hasn't written a Rosato & Associates novel in years. The last time, she tells readers who make it to her afterword, was more than four years ago. Four years... could it have been that long? Well, when you consider that in those four years she gave us Cate Fante (Dirty Blonde), Vicki Allegretti (Devil's Corner), and Natalie "Nat" Greco (Daddy's Girl) in lieu of the amazonian women of Rosato-land, it's pretty easy to forget that the last time Mary DiNunzio dithered her way across the page was in 2004's Killer Smile. Problem one being, nothing much's changed: DiNunzio is still a ditz, and Bennie Rosato still only makes cameo appearances. That's too bad: Bennie is the Philadelphia equivalent of V. I. Warshawski, and Mary... Mary... well, suffice it to say that the world does not need another Stephanie Plum...

Rogue DEA Agents, Sicarios, and Zetas... Oh, My

Make Them Cry - Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith

If you like your protagonists flawed, then Make Them Cry is gonna be right up your alley. With the possible exception of a couple of innocent bystanders (who might not be all that innocent after all), not one character in this novel has more redeeming qualities than flaws. That negative balance definitely includes Diane Harbaugh, grifter’s daughter turned ASUA turned DEA agent; a woman with a penchant for playing fast and loose with whatever rules get in her way. It’s that penchant that already has her in hot water with her agency when she goes rogue in an attempt to bring in a cartel lieutenant in the Mexican coastal town of Tampico. Ultimately, she finds herself pitted against a sicario whose hobby is reading sword-and-sorcery fantasy and somehow in debt to Carver, a sexy ex-CIA agent who’s also gone rogue in his own way.

Everybody Do the Bonk!

Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex - Mary Roach

Mary Roach is the kind of science writer who really gets into her research, although for Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex one might more accurately state that her research gets into her. Literally (and I mean that in the true sense of the word) "into" her: in her latest book, an improbable glimpse into the laboratories and lives of sex researchers, Ms Roach volunteered herself as a test subject in not one but two studies. All of which takes participation to new heights (or lows, I suppose, depending on one's viewpoint). Bonk follows on the heels of Stiff, Roach's investigation into the post-mortem "careers" of cadavers willed to science; and Spook, in which Roach pokes into scientific studies of the afterlife. As in her earlier books, Roach brings to the subject insatiable curiosity, in-depth research, and a willingness to do anything - and I do mean anything - to get the story.

Ewwwww, Gross!

Flush - Carl Hiaasen

There's no question whatsoever of "nature vs. nurture" in the Underwood family. Given that papa Underwood - the name "Paine" is on his mug shot the local sheriff's department - named his daughter Abbey "...after one of his favorite writers, some weird old bird who's buried out west in the middle of a desert," it should come as no surprise that he's been known to perform a wee tad of monkey-wrenching¹. And getting caught - which is his most recent problem. With Dad in jail and Mom walking around mumbling the dreaded D-word², young Noah Underwood is having himself a heckuva bad summer.

Here Doggy, Doggy, Doggy...

The Hand that Feeds You - A. J. Rich

It’s a dog owner’s worst nightmare: the pet that shares your life has attacked someone. In this case, it was worse… far, far, far worse. Morgan Prager came home to her Williamsburg apartment that afternoon only to find her three dogs – a Great Pyrenees and two rescue pit bulls – covered with blood. In her bedroom she found the body of her fiancé Bennett, so savagely mauled that the funeral could only be closed-casket. One of the pitties didn’t survive the arrival of the patrolmen who responded to Morgan’s frantic 9-1-1 call; the other two dogs were bundled off to the local pound’s version of death row. The only reason they stayed alive at all was that they were evidence in a homicide…

In Which the Plot Founders Under the Weight of the Tropes

The 7th Victim - Alan Jacobson

When I read a mystery novel, I generally find myself comparing it to some of my favorite thrillers in the genre. Come on, you do the same thing. Maybe a character sounds familiar, perhaps the setting rings a bell, heaven forbid that the plot follows something I’ve already devoured. The first novel in a series can be critical, because if you don’t like the protagonist, it’s hard for you to come back for another helping. And then again there can be other, structural problems… …which is what happened with the first novel in Alan Jacobson’s Karen Vail series, The 7th Victim. You’d like to identify with Vail, a hard-charging FBI profiler, but Jacobson makes it pretty hard. Let’s get to the plot, and then we’ll explain.