The Forgotten Masters of World War II Thrillers

The Forgotten Masters of World War II Thrillers

Jan 19, 2024 | #reviews

In the aftermath of World War II and horror of the Holocaust, the now-forgotten masters of World War II thrillers including Herman Wouk, Ken Follett, and Leon Uris wrote sweeping sagas of lives torn apart by war for an audience that had lived through the violence and uncertainty of it.

I discovered these authors when I was in high school. Their fiction taught me more about the war than any teacher.

As AI churns out recycled fiction and attention spans shrink, it’s worth re-reading these Big Novels. Elegant sweeping sagas, they were written before authors discovered the 3-act formula popularized by television and movie pacing.

Through these classic wartime thrillers, re-learn the hard lessons of WWII at a time when the world seems determined to repeat the mistakes of the past. These masterful authors deliver an experience that lingers long after the last page is turned.

Note: Affiliate links go to author’s page on Amazon.

KEN FOLLETT

Now best known for his hefty cathedral series, this British author first gained international acclaim for his riveting WWII spy novels.

Key to Rebecca by Ken Follett

Key to Rebecca

A British intelligence officer in Cairo hunts for a wily German spy who is able to blend in with the locals as Rommel pushes inexorably across Northern Africa. The book has everything—urgency of battle, lives hanging in the balance, cat-and-mouse action, love among the ruins, a critical code to transmit instructions to Rommel and a breathlessly gripping climax. Possibly my favorite thriller of all time and the role model for my first thriller, The Hidden light of Mexico City.

Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett

Eye of the Needle

A German spy ends up on a tiny British island with a mission to signal German ships, but first he has to neutralize the dysfunctional family that lives there and maintains the lighthouse. The daughter becomes his unwitting foe as she slowly realizes who he is and what is at stake. There’s a scene in which she shoves a screwdriver into a light socket to cut his signaling capability that is so shocking (pun intended) that I’ve remembered it for decades.

 

LEON URIS

Books by the prolific Leon Uris became iconic movies (Battle Cry starring gravel-voiced heartthrob Aldo Ray, Exodus starring Paul Newman and Sal Mineo.) His WWII novels exposed Nazi atrocities with unflinching courage.

Mila 18 by Leon Uris

Mila 18

An American woman and a Polish cavalry officer are star-crossed lovers in Warsaw as the German juggernaut rolls into Poland. A Jew, he is banished to the Warsaw ghetto where he’ll eventually lead the uprising, a last desperate stand. Seen through the eyes of a reporter who is determined to get the story out, the book is a tour de force. I’ll always remember the vivid scene in which a drunk explains what is going to happen to Poland, trapped between Germany and Russia, by sawing a ham steak in two. Exactly what happened IRL.

QB VII by Leon Uris

QBVII

The title stands for Queens Bench VII, a courtroom in which a British character modeled on Nazi doctor Josef Mengele is on trial for crimes against humanity. After his political beliefs land him in a Nazi concentration camp, the doctor earned privileges by performing inhumane operations on Jewish prisoners. Years later, back in Britain with a new name, he’s exposed and ends up on trial. Mengele’s real experiments become his in the book, so this is not for the faint of heart. But so much is taken from what came out after the war that the book fairly vibrates with the truth. It became an award-winning mini-series, too.

 

HERMAN WOUK

Truly a writer of enduring classics, Wouk created unforgettable characters who are embedded in the collective memory of a certain generation.

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk

The Caine Mutiny

The iconic saga of the USS Caine, a rusty minesweeper, is seen through the eyes of Willie Keith, a rich boy idling his life away playing piano in a dive bar. Willie joins the Navy, heads to the Pacific aboard the Caine. Captain Queeg of the Caine slowly becomes unhinged. Willie and other officers are tormented by his actions even while wracked by their own rivalries (and the Japanese). When the dam breaks and one of them relieves Queeg of command, he’s charged with mutiny. More comes out at the trial than expected. I saw Charleton Heston give an amazing performance as Queeg on stage at the Kennedy Center years ago, but Humphrey Bogart triumphed in the movie.

The Winds of War by Herman Wouk

The Winds of War & War and Remembrance

An American family is caught up in the war, starting in 1939 when the father is the US naval attaché in Berlin. He is close to President Roosevelt and in the thick of diplomatic maneuverings as world slides towards war before commanding a battleship after Pearl Harbor. Meanwhile, his grown children are each caught up in wartime drama, especially one son who is a civilian in Poland.

Both books became an award-winning mini-series. Over 140 million watched The Winds of War in 1983, a record audience at that time. Who can forget Jane Seymour getting an apple as the cattle car in which she is imprisoned snakes through a village? The first food she’s had in days, Jane eats the apple in a near trance of hunger, core and all.

Image by WikiImages from Pixabay

4 Unputdownable Thrilling Spy Reads

4 Unputdownable Thrilling Spy Reads

Jun 9, 2023 | #deception101, #reviews

Need Father’s Day ideas? How about a couple of thrilling spy reads?

As a retired CIA officer, I can vouch for the authenticity of each book on this list. Well-crafted, spine-tingling action, authentic details that comes from a deep well of research and/or personal experience.

Fiction or non-fiction, take your pick. Each is a brilliant book you won’t want to miss.

Click each image to go to Amazon.com.

 

Legacy of Spies ebook

A LEGACY OF SPIES by John le Carré

fiction

To honor the late Queen Elizabeth II, here is a book by a quintessentially British author. A LEGACY OF SPIES is the long sought-after backstory of le Carré’s first bestseller, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (henceforth THE SPY), a slim volume that taught many readers how Britain fought the Cold War during Elizabeth’s monarchy.

To refresh your memory, in THE SPY, British intel officer Alex Leamas, a hard-drinking, hard-driving spymaster in Berlin, pretends to get fired and fall on hard times. It is a ruse, however, for Alex to be “recruited” by Soviet/East German intelligence so he can save an odious East German intel officer who is Britain’s greatest asset inside the Iron Curtain. To position himself to be pitched, Leamas develops a relationship with an unwitting librarian named Elizabeth Gold who brings him along as her plus-one when she attends a socialist conference in East Germany.

Every step is orchestrated behind the scenes by the brilliantly quiet George Smiley.

In A LEGACY OF SPIES, it is 50 years later. The offspring of Leamas and Gold sue the British government to find out how and why their parents disappeared. The new generation of British spooks, who want to make the lawsuit go away, find that the files on Leamas, as well as the East German agent codenamed Windfall, have been purged.

With no memory of the Cold War and no appetite for its justifications, they bring in Peter Guillam (BTW, Benedict Cumberbatch played him in the 2011 movie with Gary Oldman as George Smiley). No one can find Smiley; but as the infamous spycatcher’s right-hand-man, Guillam will do.

Guillam narrates the book, which moves across time. At first we are in the present when he is summoned to London, there to find that long-held secrets are on the verge of being exposed. Then through his memory, we are transported to a Cold War landscape. Spies sneak in and out of East Germany which is replete with Stasi brutality and Communist paranoia. There are shortages of everything, except informers.

The look into the past gives us the first case in which Smiley is led to believe there is a mole inside British intelligence and reveals how Windfall came to be recruited to the British side. These elements set in motion everything that happens in THE SPY.

A LEGACY OF SPIES is another le Carré espionage tour de force. Haunting writing, the sense of wheels-within-wheels. The back and forth across time is handled deftly, without confusion.

Subtle clues abound. Gather them carefully—le Carré is never obvious.

The book is a standalone, but will be a richer experience if you have at least read THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (or saw the 1965 movie starring Richard Burton. FYI Dublin substituted for Berlin).

Other bestsellers featuring Smiley and his team, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY and SMILEY’S PEOPLE, are also referenced in A LEGACY OF SPIES. Peter Guillam was with Smiley through the entire Cold War, you see, and he has a long memory.

 

Related: Could AI Defeat a Spy?

 

Operation Mincemeat book review

OPERATION MINCEMEAT by Ben Macintyre

Non-fiction

Eighty years ago, a dead British naval officer named Bill Martin washed up on a Spanish beach. He was a landing craft expert with a fiancée named Pam. They’d gone to the theater in London a few days before his plane crashed in the Atlantic with no survivors.

Based on the letters in a briefcase tethered to his waist, Martin had been carrying secret letters to a British general in North Africa.

The letters wound up in the hands of supposedly neutral Spanish authorities who shared them with representatives of Hitler’s Nazi government. Photographs of the letters were rushed to Berlin.

In this way, Hitler learned that the Allies planned to attack via Greece and the Balkans, with a false feint at Sicily and a minor diversion in Sardinia. Reports from other sources soon trickled in, verifying the Allied plan for Greece. In response, Hitler fortified forces there rather than Sicily.

But Bill Martin never existed

The body that washed ashore in Spain with top secret information was the product of Operation Mincemeat, a British naval intelligence operation designed to trick Germany into diverting military forces away from Sicily before the Allied invasion of the Italian island in July 1943.

The ruse worked.

Thousands of lives were saved when US and UK forces landed on the beaches of the Mediterranean island. Although the remaining German troops fought hard, the Allies successfully took Sicily and drove north up the boot of Italy. The Germans conducted a running retreat but the Italian army collapsed, taking Mussolini and the Pact of Steel between Rome and Berlin with it.

The body that became Bill Martin was that of Glyndwr Michael, a Welsh vagrant who’d died of accidental phosphorus poisoning. Michael’s body was preserved in a morgue, then dressed in a naval uniform, carried in a special capsule aboard a British submarine, and deposited on the Spanish coast at Huelva.

Ben Macintyre’s account details the months of painstaking research and preparation, the two officers who were instrumental in pulling it off and the amazing way multiple intelligence assets were used to reinforce the ruse. OPERATION MINCEMEAT is a fascinating account of a little-known intelligence success, written like an unputdownable thriller.

Note–Macintrye has written several other excellent non-fiction books about spies and espionage, including a profile of UK’s Kim Philby, Soviet defector Oleg Gordievsky, and more WWII spy operations. All superb.

 

Related: Get Carmen’s Top Secrets

 

Billion dollar spy book review

THE BILLION-DOLLAR SPY by David E. Hoffman

Non-fiction

During the height of the Cold War, Adolf Tolkachev was a Soviet engineer working on advanced aviation radar system for MiG fighter planes and other platforms, in the highly secretive Scientific Research Institute for Radio Engineering, known as Phazotron.

He was also a CIA asset, codenamed CKSPHERE.

From 1977, when Tolkachev first attempted to make contact with the CIA in Moscow, to 1985, when he was arrested by the KGB, Tolkachev was committed to damaging the Soviet Union by passing technical secrets of the highest magnitude to the West. He was driven by revenge and the belief that the Soviet system was rotten to the core. His wife’s family had been destroyed by Stalin’s purges. He wanted to destroy the repressive system which had killed so many, leaving the rest struggling under ever-present brutal KGB scrutiny.

This is the definitive work on Tolkachev, from his personal story to the staggering amount of intelligence he passed to the United States over the course of so many years. Photographing documents that he smuggled out of his workplace and even snapping some in the restroom with miniature cameras, he provided a wealth of information on Russian airpower, technology, and radar, that saved the West billions in arms development costs.

The book is also a deep dive into what it was like to operate as an agent handler in Moscow, when the KGB constantly surveilled Western diplomats, had observation posts on street corners, and roving cars of KGB agents roamed the city’s streets. Informants abounded, as did so-called “militia” soldiers who provided more surveillance eyes and ears.

The CIA officers assigned to meet Tolkachev used elaborate disguises and subterfuges to evade KGB watchers and meet with him. Frankly, they had guts of iron because one wrong move on their part would expose him. What did Tolkachev want in return? Western music, books, art supplies for his son, and money that was a fraction of the value he gave to the US government.

The book is amazingly detailed yet reads like a thriller. Tolkachev remains a legend in spy circles and this book shows us why.

Related: Confessions of a Media Spy

 

Tower of Secrets by Victor Sheymov

TOWER OF SECRETS by Victor Sheymov

fiction based on true events

In 1980, Victor Sheymov was the head of worldwide cypher security for the KGB. A brilliant engineer and wily political operative, he rocketed through the ranks by a combination of blackmail and technical expertise and was one of the few senior KGB officers allowed to travel overseas.

But 1980 was also the year the CIA smuggled him out of the Soviet Union, together with his wife and daughter in an unprecedented and daring exfiltration operation. The CIA has never described the means used to get the Sheymovs out. All we know is that the operation led the Soviets to believe the family was dead, saving them from being hunted down.

In fact, Sheymov is mentioned in the Hoffman book about Tolkachev. His codename was CKUPTOPIA.

TOWER OF SECRETS (the title refers to the tower inside the original KGB headquarters in Lubyanka Prison) is Sheymov’s own account of his career, KGB power and paranoia, and escape. It’s a memoir disguised as a thriller and absolutely riveting.

Published in 1990 as the USSR crumbled–after the Sheymovs had been living in the US under false names for 10 years–TOWER OF SECRETS is written in the third person, a device that Sheymov explains in his intro as the best means of standing apart and viewing his decisions critically. It also allowed him to fudge still-classified details. FYI, the book’s fictional depiction of his escape is remarkably similar to the real-life exfiltration of Oleg Gordievsky from Moscow by the British in 1985.

With all that out of the way, let me tell you, TOWER OF SECRETS is page-turning. It opens with Sheymov meeting his future wife while suffering the effects of being poisoned by a brother-in-law trying to get a permit to live in Moscow. The event sets the stage perfectly for both his devotion to Olga and his cold-blooded approach to problems.

As a senior KGB officer, Sheymov lives in a cross between a mousetrap and a fishbowl. KGB surveillance is everywhere: roving unmarked cars, fixed observation posts, uniformed officers on street corners, and a network of informants. Along with this looming presence, there’s dire consequences for failure and rampant hypocrisy. Every day he experiences the hallmarks of a thoroughly corrupt system perpetuating itself through fear, blackmail, and favors.

Sheymov pulls you into this labyrinth of paranoia. Friends are assassinated for speaking out, owning the wrong books, or even being in the wrong hallway at the wrong time when the head of the KGB goes by. Family members protect each other with silence.

He realizes that someday he will make a misstep and be denounced by his 5-year-old daughter who is indoctrinated every day at school. Soon he and Olga plot their escape during evening walks away from their bugged apartment. Just when you don’t think the tension can ratchet up any higher, it does.

The tension is excruciating, matched only by the pace throughout the entire book. You will be in that time and place, without question, looking over your shoulder for the KGB watchers.

FYI, Victor Sheymov became a US citizen in 1985, was awarded the US Intelligence Medal, ran a computer security company, patented communications technology, and consulted for the National Security Agency. He died in 2019. He also sued the US to get money that was promised him and won.

The Father’s Day Kindle

Kindle oasis

Do you know a dad who needs a Kindle?

We got my husband the squarish Kindle Oasis last year for Father’s Day. Or maybe it was the Christmas before last. (Photo from newatlas.com)

He swears by the feature that serves him up the next book in a series. Thanks to his Kindle, he’s now read a million books by Griff Hosker!

25 International Mystery Series to Take You Around the World

25 International Mystery Series to Take You Around the World

Jun 1, 2023 | #noticed, #reviews

A hand-selected list of international mystery series that will take you around the world.

How many have you read?

Globe tor ead around the world

AFRICA

1  Precious Ramotswe series by Alexander McCall Smith

Main character: Precious Ramotswe is the “traditionally built” proprietress of the Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, in Gaborone, Botswana.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, because the series continues in a linear fashion like a television soap opera, with major life changes for all the characters happening throughout.

Recommended favorite: Hard to name one, as they are all written with the same measured pace, engaging character development, love for Botswana, and cultural details.

Find on Amazon >>> NUMBER 1 LADIES DETECTIVE AGENCY

2  Tannie Maria mysteries by Sally Andrew

Main character: Maria van Harten is a widow living in South Africa’s Klein Karoo district who becomes the advice columnist, doling out wisdom and recipes suitable for the lovelorn and aggrieved while stumbling across murder and a certain handsome detective.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, start with RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER, in which Maria corresponds with a woman who seeks advice, then ends up dead, sending Maria–as well as her boss Hattie and the paper’s single investigative reporter Jessie–into a maze that includes a female lover, abusive husband, and strange doings at the local grocery store.

Recommended favorite: So far there are only 2 books in the series, RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER and THE SATANIC MECHANIC, which together create a continuing storyline. Read, then wait breathlessly for the next in the series.

Find on Amazon >>> RECIPES FOR LOVE AND MURDER

3  Inspector Kubu series by Michael Stanley

Main character: Detective David “Kubu” Bengu of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department is a hefty cop—his nickname “Kubu” means “hippo”–and family man who solves crimes rooted in his country’s culture and spiritual beliefs.

Have to start at the beginning? No. A CARRION DEATH is first in the series, but each book stands alone.

Recommended favorite: DEADLY HARVEST takes on the pervasive influence of witch doctors and their potions called muti that include human body parts.

Find on Amazon>>> A CARRION DEATH

AMERICAS

4  Detective Emilia Cruz series by Carmen Amato

Main character: Emilia Cruz is the first and only female detective on the Acapulco police force, taking on Mexico’s drug cartels, official corruption, and culture of machismo.

Have to start at the beginning? CLIFF DIVER is the first full-length novel in the series and sets up Emilia’s position as not only the only female in the squadroom, but as a relatively inexperienced detective who is forced by the police union to head the investigation into the murder of a dirty cop—her own lieutenant.

Recommended favorite: PACIFIC REAPER pits Emilia against an evangelical priest dedicated to Santa Muerte, Mexico’s forbidden saint of death, and begins a series arc that exposes Emilia’s shocking family secrets.

Find on Amazon >>> CLIFF DIVER

5  Inspector Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny

Main character: Gamache leads the Homicide Department of the Sûreté du Québec. His investigations, however, invariably lead him to the small village of Three Pines, where the unexpected always happens.

Have to start at the beginning? No, each book can stand on its own but details drip out about a series-spanning unsolved crime.

Recommended favorite: HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN is a study in personalities, with everyone subjected to Gamache’s careful scrutiny and probing questions. Plus, the usual dose of Tree Pines quirkiness.

Find on Amazon >>> HOW THE LIGHT GETS IN

6  Spenser series by Robert B. Parker and Ace Atkins

Main character: Spenser, whose first name we never learn, is an ageless private investigator in Boston, Massachusetts who deftly moves between the city’s finest restaurants and its darkest criminal underworld. Series dialogue is a lesson for all wannabe mystery writers.

Have to start at the beginning? No. There are many Spenser novels and they can all be read on their own but starting from the beginning reveals how the characters have evolved over time and allows the reader to catch references to past events in the most recent books.

Recommended favorite: HUGGER MUGGER, in which Spenser investigates crooked horse racing is great, but the series’ triumph is POTSHOT, in which all the crime stoppers Spenser has run into over the lifespan of the series come together to take on a cult.

Find on Amazon >>> HUGGER MUGGER

7  Inspector Lascano series by Ernesto Mallo

Main character: Inspector Perro Lascano is a police superintendent in turbulent Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the height of the right wing military junta’s rule (1976-83) when right and wrong are hideously intertwined.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes. NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK sweeps us into a mix of crime and mystery, with multi-layered characters and a rich, intimate style.

Recommended favorite: As of this writing, there are only 2 novels in the series available in English, NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK and SWEET MONEY. Grab them both and stay awake for the next few days.

Find on Amazon >>> NEEDLE IN A HAYSTACK

8  Chief Inspector Mario Silva series by Leighton Gage

Main character: With a stubborn and brooding demeanor, Chief Inspector Mario Silva of Brazil’s federal police has been described by Booklist as “South America’s Kurt Wallander.”

Have to start at the beginning? BLOOD OF THE WICKED sets up Silva as a good cop with a rag-tag but loyal band of underlings caught in Brazil’s pervasive corruption. The book also gives us Silva’s disturbing but important backstory.

Recommended favorite: Impossible to pick just one. Even as New York agents were claiming that books with Latino characters could not sell, this series was breaking down barriers with high quality writing and a insider’s view of a fascinating culture.

Find on Amazon >>> BLOOD OF THE WICKED

ASIA

9  China Thrillers by Peter May

Main character: Beijing detective Li Yan and American forensic pathologist Margaret Campbell solve crimes in modern China even as they carry on a tempestuous relationship. Tremendous sense of place.

Have to start at the beginning? No. Each book stands alone although the central romantic relationship evolves throughout the series, starting with THE FIREMAKER.

Recommended favorite:  No favorites here. Each book is written with vast authenticity, from the pancake vendors on the street corner who trades riddles with Li Yan, to Margaret’s visa troubles.

Find on Amazon: >>> THE FIREMAKER

10  Hiro Hattori series by Susan Spann

Main character:  Ninja-with-a-heart Hiro Hattori has sworn to protect a Jesuit priest in medieval Japan in this absorbing and beautifully researched series.

Have to start at the beginning? The first book, CLAWS OF THE CAT, immediately immerses us in the sights, sounds, norms and culture of medieval Japan.

Recommended favorite: In BETRAYAL AT IGA, as political rivalries threaten peace, trained shinobi assassin Hiro leads Father Mateo from danger in Kyoto to the false safety of Hiro’s clan of trained assassins in Iga. Japan has never been this lovely, this dangerous, or this exciting.

Find on Amazon >>> CLAWS OF THE CAT

11  Superintendent Chris Le Fanu series by Brian Stoddart

Main character: Le Fanu is a British police officer in 1920’s Madras who must navigate through a minefield of colonial intrigue and growing Indian restiveness.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes. The scene is set and historical issues explained in A MADRAS MIASMA.

Recommended favorite: No favorite here—the series simply gets better with each book, as the reader is plunged deeper and deeper into the danger posed by Britain’s unraveling colonial authority. A STRAITS SETTLEMENT was longlisted for the prestigious 2017 Ngaio Marsh Award.

Find on Amazon: >>> A MADRAS MIASMA

BRITAIN & IRELAND

12  DI John Rebus series by Ian Rankin

Main character: Rebus is a hard drinking loner cop in Edinburgh, with a nemesis from the city’s underworld and a female partner who grows a bit more like him every day.

Have to start at the beginning? No. While the later books bring back characters introduced before, there is enough context to follow without any trouble.

Recommended favorite: RESURRECTION MEN is a great novel in which Rebus, whose superiors are fed up with his maverick behavior, is shoved off to a cop charm school with other troublemakers to investigate an old crime that no one wants solved.

Find on Amazon >>> RESURRECTION MEN

13  Dublin Murder Squad by Tana French

Main character: Set in Dublin, Ireland, the books showcase a revolving door of cops rather than the typical mystery series built around one particular character.

Have to start at the beginning? No. Each book stands alone, with a different narrator, but most reference characters and events from other books.

Recommended favorite: IN THE WOODS is the first in the series, and sets a fast pace and unique narrative style. FAITHFUL PLACE was gritty perfection.

Find on Amazon >>> IN THE WOODS

14  George Smiley series by John LeCarré

Main character: George Smiley is a polite and self-effacing spymaster in Britain’s intel service known as “the Circus,” whose demeanor masks his cunning, ruthlessness, and brilliant tradecraft during the Cold War with Russia.

Have to start at the beginning? Although Smiley first surfaces in A PERFECT MURDER, start with TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY.

Recommended favorite: SMILEY’S PEOPLE is a tour de force. Smiley finally matches wits against Karla, the Russian spymaster who recruited moles inside the Circus to bring down British intelligence.

Find on Amazon >>> TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

15  Shetland series by Ann Cleeves

Main character: Jimmy Perez is a Scottish police detective serving the stormy and remote Shetland islands between Scotland and Norway.

Have to start at the beginning? No, but I would. RAVEN BLACK starts the series with a shocking murder and a plunge into Perez’s personality, empathetic investigative techniques, and a wild and unique landscape.

Recommended favorite: Each one is a whodunit triumph, largely because Cleeves makes everyone a suspect by using quirky personalities and the restlessness of confined and gossipy island communities.

Find on Amazon >>> RAVEN BLACK

16  The Lewis Trilogy by Peter May

Main character:  Raised on the Isle of Lewis in the remote Hebrides islands off Scotland’s Atlantic coast, Fin Macleod is a emotionally damaged Edinburgh detective who returns to investigate a copycat murder and stays.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, read the three books in order, starting with THE BLACKHOUSE.

Recommended favorite: THE BLACKHOUSE is a gripping thriller that uses seemingly random flashbacks to tell Fin’s backstory; yet each memory is part of a puzzle that comes together in a brilliant and blindingly shocking climax.

Find on Amazon >>> THE BLACKHOUSE

FRANCE, ITALY & RUSSIA

17 Arkady Renko series by Martin Cruz Smith

Main character: Arkady Renko is an ageless Moscow cop who has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of a Mafia-riddled Russia. The series is dense and absorbing, with rich descriptions of Russia, the Russian character, and decrepit Lada cars.

Have to start at the beginning? No. The first is GORKY PARK, but it’s a bit slow, especially the last 10%. The last two in the series are missable.

Recommended favorite: The second book, POLAR STAR, is a tour de force–all the action takes place on a rust bucket of a Soviet fishing vessel–but WOLVES EAT DOGS, set in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, is hauntingly memorable.

Find on Amazon >>> POLAR STAR

18  Commissario Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon

Main character: Guido Brunetti is a commissario of police, equivalent to a detective, in Venice, Italy. The city, with its mildew, high tides, lost aristocracy, immigrant populations, and decaying art and architecture, is a stunning backdrop to the series.

Have to start at the beginning? No, Leon does a good job of building every book as a stand-alone story. The first, DEATH AT LA FENICE, is a whodunit at Venice’s legendary opera.

Recommended favorite: Leon’s books are very consistent but a favorite is DRAWING CONCLUSIONS, which builds to a different style of ending than is her norm.

Find on Amazon >>> DEATH AT LA FENICE

19  Genevieve Lenard series by Estelle Ryan

Main character: Dr. Genevieve Lenard is the world’s leading authority on body language, a skill she developed as a way of dealing with her autism. She works for an elite insurance company in Strasbourg, France.

Have to start at the beginning? Strongly suggested. THE GAUGIN CONNECTION sets out Genevieve’s carefully ordered life and then demolishes it when she meets a reformed art thief.

Recommended favorite: The books link into one long narrative during which Genevieve joins a team of specialists working for the president of France to solve art crimes and catch international terrorists, relying heavily on cyber techniques.

Find on Amazon >>> THE GAUGIN CONNECTION

20  Commissario Salvo Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri

Main character: Montalbano is a detective in Sicily, where the Mafia, loose women, and endemic corruption complicate every crime.

Have to start at the beginning? No, every one of the 24 books in the series stands alone with a clever cast of regulars and sinister newcomers.

Recommended favorite: All the books deal with significant issues in Italy such as illegal immigration, drug smuggling, prostitution, money laundering, but with a streak of humor that keeps our hero afloat.

Find on Amazon >>> TREASURE HUNT

21  Aimée Leduc murder mysteries by Cara Black

Main character: Aimee Leduc is a fashion-forward private detective in Paris juggling single motherhood, disappearing lovers, and a shadowy organization called The Hand. Her late father was a Paris cop killed by the group, while her super-spy American mother pops in and out of Aimée’s life.

Have to start at the beginning? No, each book stands alone, with preceding events put into context. MURDER IN THE MARAIS starts the series.

Recommended favorite: MURDER ON THE LEFT BANK, is a non-stop action roller coaster that leads us into the famed Gobelins tapestry weaving atelier.

Find on Amazon >>> MURDER IN THE MARAIS

NORDIC COUNTRIES

22  Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbo

Main character: Harry is a police detective in Oslo, Norway. His heavy drinking, some-time drug use, belligerent attitude, and maverick ways hurt him when it comes to personal relationships and other cops, yet often help solve crime.

Have to start at the beginning? Start with THE REDBREAST, which is actually Book 3. Skip the first book, THE BAT, as it neither takes place in Oslo nor is as well written as the rest.

Recommended favorite: POLICE was a tour-de-force, with virtually every chapter a cliff-hanger and secondary characters given fresh leading roles. Follow immediately with KNIFE.

Find on Amazon >>> THE REDBREAST

23  Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell

Main character: An over-the-hill, heavy drinking Swedish cop from the small town of Ystad, Wallander constantly struggles with alcohol, self-doubt, and the gray Swedish landscape. Kenneth Branagh played him in a pitch-perfect BBC series.

Have to start at the beginning? There are a lot of Wallander books. Start anywhere.

Recommended favorite: THE WHITE LIONNESS and THE DOGS OF RIGA are both excellent. The latter not only pulls you into multiple murders, but took Wallander to Riga, where Mankell does a fantastic job of viewing the Soviet-era Estonian city and its political corruption through neutral eyes.

Find on Amazon >>> THE WHITE LIONNESS

24  Department Q series by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Main Character: Copenhagen detective Carl Mörck heads up Department Q, a political invention of a cold case unit, with the help of a motley group of assistants, including Assad, a Syrian enigma.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes, THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES begins this fantastic series, showing us Carl’s complicated personal backstory, the origin of the unit, and how Assad became Carl’s crime-fighting wingman.

Recommended favorite: THE MARCO EFFECT is a favorite because of a clever young Gypsy boy who becomes a fugitive after witnessing a murder. Carl and Assad must follow his clues to solve the case.

Find on Amazon >>> THE KEEPER OF LOST CAUSES

25  Inspector Anita Sundström series by Torquil Macleod

Main character: Anita Sundström is a police detective in the Swedish city of Malmö, where she wrangles murder investigations, single motherhood, relationships with the wrong men, and snuss, the popular Swedish version of chewing tobacco.

Have to start at the beginning? Yes. MEET ME IN MALMO is a richly twisted story told from multiple points of view, with a jaw-dropping ending.

Recommended favorite: MISSING IN MALMO, the third book, hits the mark with multiple strings of danger and suspense all having to do with missing persons cases.

Find on Amazon >>> MEET ME IN MALMO

Best Prohibition-era Reading

Best Prohibition-era Reading

Oct 27, 2022 | #GallianoClub, #reviews

A tall frosty glass of Prohibition, ballplayers and mobsters? I drank up a dozen books while researching 1926 for the Galliano Club thriller series. Now that MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB has hit your favorite bookstore, I highly recommend the following:

Scarface and the Untouchable

SCARFACE AND THE UNTOCHABLE by Max Allen Collins and A. Brad Schwartz

Far and away the best accounting of the infamous rivalry. The book “draws upon decades of primary source research—including the personal papers of Ness and his associates, newly released federal files, and long-forgotten crime magazines containing interviews with the gangsters and G-men themselves. Collins and Schwartz have recaptured a bygone bullet-ridden era while uncovering the previously unrevealed truth behind Scarface’s downfall. Together they have crafted the definitive work on Capone, Ness, and the battle for Chicago.”

Find on Amazon https://geni.us/colsc

Luckiest Man biography of Lou Gehrig

LUCKIEST MAN: The Life and Death of Lou Gehrig

A beautifully written and fulsome account of baseball legend Lou Gehrig, from his German roots and domineering mother to his rocky friendship with Babe Ruth to his sad demise of a baffling and uncurable disease that now bears his name. Did you know that he auditioned in Hollywood to play Tarzan? Or that his last words were “All my pals”?

Find on Amazon https://geni.us/elou

One Summer by Bill Bryson

ONE SUMMER: America 1927 by Bill Bryson

Written in Bryson’s wry style, the book recounts everything of note that happened in the summer following Charles Lindbergh’s historical flight across the Atlantic. From the adoring crowds that nearly crushed the shy aviator to pole sitters, murder trials, a baseball tour featuring Ruth and Gehrig, and floods along the Mississippi, a patchwork of events is given wonderful context.

Find on Amazon https://geni.us/1br

Last Call by Daniel Okrent

LAST CALL by Daniel Okrent

A brilliant, authoritative, and fascinating history of Prohibition during 1920 to 1933, when the U.S. Constitution was amended to restrict alcohol. From the legal challenges to rumrunners, each chapter is full of insights and observations as to how Prohibition impacted the national character.

Find on Amazon https://geni.us/last2022

The Black Hand by Stephen Talty

THE BLACK HAND by Stephan Talty

One of the first books I read in preparation for the Galliano Club, it’s the fantastically well-researched and gripping account of the Italian murder and extortion ring that terrorized Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the determined New York City cop, Joseph Petrosino, who fought them. Petrosino is still a legend in both Italian and law enforcement circles.

Find on Amazon https://geni.us/hand2022

1926 in Fiction

The first book in the Galliano Club thriller series, MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB begins in August 1926. Hollywood hearthrob Rudolph Valentino died that month, only 31 years old but mourned by millions. New York governor Al Smith ran for re-election on a “wet” ticket opposing the enforcement of Prohibition in the state. Chicago bootleggers Al Capone and Hymie Weiss were locked in a battle for gang supremacy.

In MURDER AT THE GALLIANO CLUB, Chicago bootlegger Benny Rotolo locks horns with bartender Luca Lombardo. They both want the club, where beer is king and trouble is always on tap.

Just ask the dead man in the alley behind the club. Find it on Amazon: https://geni.us/mur2022

Murder at the Galliano Club

The Best Thrillers set in Exotic Locations

The Best Thrillers set in Exotic Locations

May 15, 2022 | #booknews, #reviews

I was recently invited to curate a page on Shepherd, a new book discovery website. Warning, this site can easily become your new favorite rabbit hole.

Authors are invited to introduce their book at the beginning of a showcase of books similar in genre or theme. I chose The Best Thrillers set in Exotic Locations as my theme.

CLIFF DIVER, the first Detective Emilia Cruz mystery set in Acapulco, introduces the showcase. The Best Thrillers set in Exotic Locations then flies you around the world in five books! From China to Fiji to Ceylon and points in between, these 5 thrillers are some of my favorites. I review each title, giving you my reasons for including them and why the exotic setting makes a difference.

The Shepherd site uses color and fonts for a quite lovely visual experience, too.

The Best Thrillers set in Exotic Locations are:

Waking Up in Medellin By Kathryn Lane

Thief of Souls: An Inspector Lu Fei Mystery By Brian Klingborg

Trouble in Nuala By Harriet Dorothy Steel

Recipes for Love and Murder By Sally Andrew

Death on Paradise Island: Fiji Islands Mysteries 1 By B.M. Allsopp

My criteria for choosing these 5 books was 1. An exotic and unusual setting, and 2. The mystery was based on local culture and could not happen elsewhere. I think you’ll agree!

Visit the page on Shepherd here: https://shepherd.com/best-books/thrillers-set-in-exotic-locations

Book review: Sherlock Holmes, twice as nice

Book review: Sherlock Holmes, twice as nice

Jan 28, 2019 | #reviews

A KNIFE IN THE FOG and DUST AND SHADOW are both sensational thrillers. The two books have a few things in common, including exceptional historical research, an investigative trio, and a satisfying conclusion, yet each offers an original take on Victorian London’s most heinous true crime.

Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper

A KNIFE IN THE FOG by Bradley Harper goes beyond the familiar Sherlock Holmes construct with a truly unique set-up: all of the main characters are real-life historical figures who influenced Victorian society. The book rings with authenticity and the historical elements are executed faultlessly.​​​​​

The narrator is Arthur Conan Doyle himself.

In the summer of 1888, Doyle is a practicing doctor in  Portsmouth and has published A Study in Scarlett, the story which introduced Sherlock Holmes. His wife is pregnant with their first child and his future looks to be that of a general practitioner and family man, writing stories on the side to augment his income and amuse himself.

Doyle receives a summons to London from the office of former prime minister William Gladstone, whose secretary has read Doyle’s story and wishes him to become a paid consultant to find the killer terrorizing London’s East End.  Doyle agrees on condition that his former mentor, Professor Joseph Bell, joins the effort.  Bell, a Scottish surgeon and lecturer at the medical school of the University of Edinburgh and widely regarded as the real-life inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes, soon joins Doyle in London.

A third real-life figure joins Doyle and Bell. Margaret Harkness is an investigative journalist and social commentator whose writings expose London’s poverty and social injustices. Often using the pen name John Law and disguising herself as a man, Margaret will be an invaluable guide and ally.

By giving Doyle a voice of his own, author Harper has created a character as appealing as Holmes. Doyle is considerate and charming, with the formalities and vocabulary of the British gentleman of 1888. Doyle draws the reader into his confidence as the three develop a working relationship, navigate Victorian social rules as well as London’s dark and dangerous passageways, and encounter Jack the Ripper’s missives and victims. Margaret is tireless and Doyle’s growing feelings for her provide a quiet complication.

With deductive reasoning worthy of Sherlock Holmes, the three encounter danger and deceit on the way to identifying Jack the Ripper. The end is a heart-stopper.

DUST AND SHADOW by Lyndsay Faye delivers a more familiar construct in which Dr. John Watson narrates an investigation conducted by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Watson, as in the Conan Doyle stories, is the perfect everyman foil to his brilliant friend. Faye amps up the legendary Holmes formula, however, immersing the reader in the details of life with Holmes: his moodiness, restlessness, investigative prowess, the many trials of Mrs. Hudson the housekeeper. Holmes’s dialogue crackles with acerbic personality and sharp wit. I swear I heard Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice in my head.

An investigative trio is also formed in DUST AND SHADOW when Holmes hires Mary Ann Monk, the friend of one of the Ripper’s victims. The investigation initially turns on the whereabouts of an Army man supposedly seen with an early Riper victim.

Warned by his Baker Street Irregulars—the group of street urchins that provide Holmes with intelligence—Holmes and Watson are able to arrive first on more than one murder scene. When Holmes is stabbed in pursuit of the Ripper, the gutter press begins to question if he is the killer.  With his credibility strained and vigilantes out to get him, Holmes goes undercover to ferret out the Ripper. Mary Ann and Watson carry on until the three reunite for a stunning and wholly believable climax.

If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan or a student of the Ripper’s crimes, both A KNIFE IN THE FOG and DUST AND SHADOW are unmissable treats. The only spoiler I’ll reveal is that the identity of the Ripper is different in each book. Both are highly recommended.

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sherlock holmes

CARMEN AMATO

Mystery and thriller author. Retired Central Intelligence Agency intel officer. Dog mom to Hazel and Dutch. Recovering Italian handbag addict.

 

sherlock holmes

Book Review: 2 Tickets to Venice

Book Review: 2 Tickets to Venice

Aug 4, 2017 | #reviews

Venice is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Architecture, canals, and history make it a prime setting for a mystery. Two favorite authors, Donna Leon and Martin Cruz Smith have new books set in Venice that take you on two very different journeys to La Serenissima.

book review

THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH by Donna Leon is as intricate, glorious, and absorbing as a trip to Venice can be. As Commissario Guido Brunetti, aided by fellow detective Claudia Griffoni—a relatively new character in this long-running series—and the stouthearted uniformed cop Vianello, you walk the riva on the side of the canals, you crowd with them into the vaporetto water taxis, and you share the unfamiliarity of riding in a car. But most of all, you are inside Brunetti’s questioning mind as he investigates an accident that occurred 15 years ago which left a young woman with the mind of a child. Her grandmother, an aging socialite who runs a foundation dedicated to preserving Venice’s sinking architecture, believes that her granddaughter did not fall into a canal by accident. With little to go on besides the woman’s intuition, Brunetti begins to poke into the past. In the process, he must enlist allies, manipulate his superior, and uncover a related murder. Much of the time he comes up empty-handed, but Leon leaves tiny clues like diamonds in a handful of sand. The writing is brilliant, the characters are fully-developed and endearingly familiar, while the meals never failed to make me reach for the nearest Italian cookbook.

Related: Book Review: The Golden Egg by Donna Leon

Unlike some of the other Brunetti mysteries, this one closes with all the loose threads woven into a cloth nice enough to be the pocket square in Brunetti’s suit jacket. Having read all the books in the series, THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH (a double entendre but I can’t say why) ranks in my personal Top 5.

I consider Martin Cruz Smith to be a role model as well as a favorite writer. Author of the ground-breaking Arkady Renko series set in Russia, he is also the author of several romantic thrillers. After a several-year break, he’s got a new website, new book covers, and THE GIRL FROM VENICE is his new romantic thriller.

book reviewIt is the end of WWII. Venice is riven by suspicion and fear as Mussolini’s regime cracks apart. The action takes in the muddy lagoon and poor fishing communities that fringe the palazzos and piazzas of central Venice.

Cenzo Vianello is a barefoot fisherman barely scraping by and hoping to avoid the chaos of his collapsing country. The Germans continue to prop up Mussolini and Cenzo frequently runs into German patrols as he cruises shallow waters in his fishing boat. One night, he finds a dead woman floating in the lagoon.

But Guilia isn’t as dead as he thought. A strong swimmer, she faked her death to escape the Gestapo after her Jewish family’s hiding place was betrayed. Cenzo kills a German officer hunting for her, then hides the girl in his fishing shack on the outskirts of Venice.

Cenzo has enough problems without being arrested for murder or protecting a Jewish girl for whom the Germans are hunting. He was kicked out of the Italian Air Force when he refused to gas the populace in Ethiopia. His wife was stolen by his brother who is a famous actor and Mussolini insider. She died, leaving Cenzo and his brother with unfinished business.

Turning to a friend from his piloting days, Cenzo arranges for Guilia to be spirited out of Venice and sent to the partisans in the mountains. When the friend is killed, Cenzo goes looking for Guilia in an odyssey that sees him reunited with his brother and plunged into the strange court of Mussolini’s last days. While I was impatient for him to find Guilia, the book became an absolutely fascinating glimpse into this suspenseful snippet of WWII history, as seen through some superbly drawn characters: a would-be moviemaker, the wife of a Brazilian diplomat who is also an expert forger, and Cenzo’s matinee-idol brother who is also Mussolini’s radio spokesman.

Cenzo is a marvelous vehicle for this fishing trip through Italian history. He’s decent and unambitious; hardly fearless but willing to find his courage when he needs to. The attraction between him and Guilia, who is both younger and much better educated, develops slowly. You can see why it works—improbably—for each of them.

All of the pieces were in place for a big and stunning climax, but the ending wrapped without too much drama. There were also a few continuity errors; for example, Cenzo and Guilia have sex for the first time at least twice. But the prose is beautiful, the sense of history is remarkable, and THE GIRL FROM VENICE is worth a prime spot on your TBR list.

These books made me wonder if Venice is really sinking. Yes, it is. Read about the looming issue in this article from The Guardian.

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book review

CARMEN AMATO

Mystery and thriller author. Retired Central Intelligence Agency intel officer. Dog mom to Hazel and Dutch. Recovering Italian handbag addict.

 

book review

Book Review: Weapons of Mass Deception

Book Review: Weapons of Mass Deception

Jul 14, 2015 | #reviews

Like spy and military thrillers? Books based on current events? Polished prose? Great plots? WEAPONS OF MASS DECEPTION is for you.

WEAPONS is a high caliber thriller, using a very plausible Iraq War scenario as its core: Saddam’s sons move the country’s nuclear weapons to Iran for safekeeping as US forces begin to move against his regime. They use the same frenemy as welcomed Iraq’s fighter aircraft in the Gulf War, knowing the terrible gamble they are taking.

That frenemy turns out to be three half-brothers. One is a ayatollah, one a military intelligence officer, and one whom the other two are able to manipulate into joining a sleeper cell in South America.

Related post: Book Review: Smokescreen by Khaled Talib

The action moves from the Middle East to the US where the action follows main character Brendan McHugh as he graduates from the Naval Academy, becomes a SEAL, and fights in Iraq. By accident he runs into one of the Iranian brothers, beginning an odd connection that underpins the rest of the novel. McHugh’s career is stalled by a serious combat injury, taking him in an unforeseen direction during which he comes full circle back to the Iraq war and the hunt for nuclear weapons.

Some of the best parts of the novel are scenes in which the three Iranian brothers create their private nuclear arsenal with the appropriated Iraqi weapons. They are a team in some ways, but also three separate entities who have different motivations, backgrounds, and personal lives. The set up is plausible and wonderfully described with a great visual narrative.

After such a phenomenal story, the ending wasn’t the big deal I expected but upon reflection probably more in keeping with real life. I hope this writing team of Bruns and Olson has more to offer and the McHugh character is welcome to repeat his starring role. Highly recommended.

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Book Review: The Ragman Murders

Book Review: The Ragman Murders

Jul 13, 2015 | #reviews

Based on a true family story, THE RAGMAN MURDERS is clearly a labor of love. The novel tells the story of two immigrant families, the Amatos and the Tassones, and the circumstances that bring them into conflict within Hartford CT’s teeming immigrant neighborhoods in the early 1900’s. I read it at the same time that PBS brought out its documentary “The Italian-Americas,” and the descriptions in RAGMAN resonated deeply.

RAGMAN’s action moves between an interview with one of the grown daughters of Maria Carmella and Guiseppe Amato, and flashbacks of the Amatos’ immigration experience from Serra San Bruno, Italy. Other flashbacks show Guiseppe’s involvement with the Black Hand gangsters that preyed on newly arrived fellow Italians, and the story of the tragedy-prone Tassones. While the back-and-forth narrative is well explained, the construction would have been tighter if there had been more of the storytelling daughter in the flashback sequences, perhaps showing that she and the father had a special relationship. That would have also justified the plot twist (no spoilers!) at the end.

That point notwithstanding, RAGMAN is a piece of the Italian-American immigrant experience. It is based on true events and has so many characters because all of them actually took part in those events. News stories no doubt shaped some of the narrative, and lend a period writing style to the last fourth of the book. Highly recommended for those who are interested in the history of Italian-Americans and Italian immigration to the US.

Coming 17 July

AWAKENING MACBETH is a serialized novel of romantic suspense by Carmen Amato. Episodes are released on carmenamato.net, Pinterest, and Facebook on Tuesdays and Fridays. Carmen’s other novels are available on Amazon and include THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY as well as the Detective Emilia Cruz mysteries CLIFF DIVER, HAT DANCE, and DIABLO NIGHTS. Please use the link below to sign up for the Mystery Monthly mailing list for exclusive excerpts, book release news, and sales alerts.

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