Wednesday, 29 November 2023

Deus X
by Stephen Mack Jones
Soho Crime, November 2023, $27.95

Deus X is the fourth novel in Stephen Mack Jones’ mystery series starring former Detroit cop August Snow—and easily his best.

For the uninitiated, Snow debuted in his eponymous novel in 2017. A Blaxican (half-Black, half-Mexican) veteran of the Marines, Snow walks in two worlds. Forced off the Detroit Police Department by a cabal of corrupt cops and politicians, he sued and won $12 million in a wrong dismissal suit, earning many enemies along the way on both sides of the thin blue line.

Snow now works as a private investigator in Detroit’s Mexicantown neighborhood, helping people in need. In Deus X, Father Michael Grabowski, the priest who baptized Snow and a close family friend, retires unexpectedly. Snow finds this suspicious, especially after Father Grabwoski goes missing. Looking into it, Snow learns Deus X, a splinter cell of the Knights Templar who have forsaken their own souls in order to protect God’s Church on Earth, has put a hit on the priest, who has been accused of abusing children. Refusing to believe this, Snow does everything in his power to help Grabowski, putting his life on the line as he runs afoul of a deadly Deus X assassin.

One interesting aspect of Snow’s character is that since he’s made of money, he can both kill off or buy off those is his way. One of the funniest scenes in the book has Snow buying off three would-be hit men. You can tell Jones had a lot of fun writing that chapter.

Jones really hits his stride with Deus X—it has the perfect balance of plot, characterization, and dialogue. Tomás, his tough-as-nails godfather (I always picture actor Danny Trejo from Grindhouse as Tomás), and computer hacker par excellence Lucy aid Snow in his mission to save the priest. Jones seems more comfortable writing both supporting characters, whose roles are much stronger, this time out.

Without question, Jones has joined the ranks of the always-impressive Loren D. Estleman and the late, lamented Elmore “Dutch” Leonard as one of the best authors writing mysteries set in Detroit. Deus X is primo reading—don’t pass it up!

REVIEW: "Deus X" by Stephen Mack Jones
Kurt Anthony Krug
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Wednesday, 29 November 2023

2023 Ngaio Marsh Award Winners

The 14th Ngaio Marsh Awards celebrating excellence in crime, mystery, thriller, and suspense writing in New Zealand, announced Best Novel, Best Non-Fiction, and Best First Novel winners at its annual awards ceremony Friday, November 17, 2023, in Christchurch, New Zealand. Founded in 2010, the award is named after celebrated Golden Age crime writer Ngaio Marsh.

“It was a superb night to cap an outstanding year for the Ngaio Marsh Awards, with our terrifically strong and varied group of finalists,” says founder Craig Sisterson. “This year’s winners are world-class writers, who collectively showcase how our local take on one of the world’s most popular forms of storytelling—and our Kiwi creative artists in general—can like our sportspeople match up against the best from anywhere.”

Congratulations to all the winners.


BEST NOVEL
Remember Me, by Charity Norman (Allen & Unwin)

BEST NON-FICTION
Missing Persons, by Steve Braunias (HarperCollins)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Better the Blood, by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster)

2023 Ngaio Marsh Award Winners

Pictured L–R: Michael Bennett, Charity Norman, and Steve Braunias. Photo courtesy of NGAIO Marsh Awards

2023 Ngaio Marsh Award Winners
Teri Duerr
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Wednesday, 22 November 2023

Resurrection Walk 
by Michael Connelly
Little, Brown and Company, November 2023, $30

As author Michael Connelly's latest novel Resurrection Walk opens, attorney Mickey Haller is on hand for the release of one of his clients, a man wrongly convicted of murder, but successfully exonerated by the Lincoln Lawyer.

Haller's success leads to his office being inundated with letters from people who claim they, too, were wrongly accused, and pleading for the lawyer's help. Haller hires his half-brother, Harry Bosch, to help wade through the stacks of mail. Most of the claims are set aside, but when Bosch comes across a letter from Lucinda Sanz, he is intrigued enough to bring it to Haller's attention.

Sanz pleaded no contest to killing her husband, a Sheriff's deputy, but has always maintained she her innocence, even while taking the plea on the recommendation of her second-string lawyer. As Bosch and Haller begin to look into the matter, a case fraught with a number of landmines (a murdered deputy and a DA's office unwilling to reopen the case), it quickly becomes clear that Sanz may indeed be innocent.

The path to justice for Lucinda isn't an easy one, though. Haller, Bosch, and the rest of their team will have to fight their way past a string of betrayals, a long and documented history of corruption, a hard-nosed judge, and a legal system that is stacked against their client. In order for truth to win out and Lucinda to receive true justice, Haller will have to expose a coverup that swallowed up his client and puts him in danger.

Author Connelly is a superb crime fiction writer and Resurrection Walk is just the latest in a long line of books that serve that reputation. From the investigation before the court case begins to a series of legal confrontations that displays Connelly's deft ability to pack in plenty of legalese without bogging down the book's pacing, there's plenty of gut-wrenching intensity that will have readers on the edge of their seats. Readers also get a very real sense of the motivations of everyone in the story, however briefly they are woven into the plot. Resurrection Walk is one of the more compelling and involving legal thrillers of the year.

Review: "Resurrection Walk" by Michael Connelly
Jay Roberts
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