The Murder of Katie Boyle-A fun short story with two likeable heroines

I’ve become a fan of Libby Fischer Hellman over the last year or so and I’ve read a book in each of her Georgia Davis and Ellie Foreman series.  This short story, which is also published in “Nice Girl Does Noir” has both of her heroines.  When Ellie finds a dead body, Georgia is one of the cops on the case.  I really love when a writer has their literary worlds overlap.  I often wonder why more writers don’t do it.  To me, it grounds the stories and makes them seem more realistic.  

Ellie arrives early at her exercise class and has the unpleasant discovery of a dead body.  Georgia’s boyfriend, a detective is having a meal nearby with Georgia, not yet a detective, and brings her along to the scene of the crime.  It’s definitely not best-friends-at-first-sight for Ellie and Georgia.  The POV moves back and forth between the two so you have plenty of insight into what’s happening.  When Georgia makes a crucial discovery, the case is blown wide open.

This is a short story, you’ll probably have it read in 20 minutes or so.  But if you are a fan of Georgia Davis or Ellie Foreman it’s fun to see them when Georgia was a still a cop and Ellie was just learning how to be a single mom.  As with Libby Fischer Hellman’s other writings, you have a well-written compelling story with sympathetic heroines.

More info about Libby Fischer Hellmann 

• Would I pay money for it?  I'd probably buy "Good Girl Does Noir" rather than this stand-alone
• Would I read more by this author?  yes 
• Would I recommend this to a friend? yes

Purchased as a Kindle freebie July 8, 2013

Rusty Nail-A graphically violent Jack Daniels

GRAPHIC VIOLENCE WARNING. Ok, you have been warned.  I was warned by the author (thanks Mr. Konrath, I really do appreciate it!) that this book has the most graphic violence in the series.  Having been warned, I was able to blip over sections where that violence occurred.  It was pretty easy to see them coming.  So why would I even read a book with stuff I don’t like in it?  Well, I really wanted to know what happens to Jack.  I was starting to get fairly invested in her after the first two books,  Whiskey Sour and Bloody Mary, and having been told that the violence decreases after this book, I wanted to keep up with her storyline.  

The first book involved Jack’s investigation into the Gingerbread Man.  He pops up again here and let me say that he is not someone you want to deal with more than once.  Jack is once more being personally targeted by a serial killer.  Her partner is having to deal with some health issues, her mom’s in a coma, her ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend, life is not fun. 

As with the first two, there are excellent descriptions of police work.  I like hearing about some of the nitty-gritty of an investigation, the leg-work involved.  I don’t like cases being solved purely by intuition or a sudden revelation.  We see plenty of good detective skills here.  As with the first two, there is plenty of humor.  Great one-liners, good relationships between the characters.  Jack and her partner have a real warmth to their relationship that I enjoy.  For all the things that are wrong in her life, Jack has a great group of people that like and help her.   

Bottom line-if you don’t want the violence, avoid this book.  If you can jump over it and are interested in following Jack’s story, you’ll find this quite satisfying.  

More about J.A. Konrath 

Author's suggested order of reading

• Would I pay money for it?  Maybe not this particular one because I skipped some parts but yes, the others in the serious I would
• Would I read more by this author?  yes 
• Would I recommend this to a friend? Not this particular one but I would recommend the others in the series to friends that like police procedurals

Purchased as a Kindle freebie March 30, 2013

 

Bloody Mary-Life is never easy for Jack Daniels

Life is never easy for Jack Daniels and in this second book in the series, it just gets a little weirder.

I like this series. It's hard to describe why. It's much bloodier than a cozy, which is what I usually read and yet, it's light. It is somewhat reminiscent of Stephanie Plum and yet quite different. It's a police procedural with humour. It's a bit of a whodunit but this particular book tells you whodunit about halfway through. Jack's personal life plays in very heavily. Even writing about it sounds like a jumble of discordant elements and yet, for me, it works really well. I should just stop trying to compartmentalize it.

Jack is once again on the track of a killer that seems to be taunting her personally.  When her handcuffs turn up on a victim, it's definitely personal.  But as in the first book, Whisky Sour, it's not just her professional life that's giving her fits.  Her personal life has taken a strange turn.  Jack finds out that her mother is sick and brings her to Chicago so she can keep an eye on her. Her mother's name happens to be Mary and she happens to be an ex-cop.   I think any time you put an adult character's mother into the mix, you're going to come out with something interesting.



Just two books in and I'm already feel like I know Jack well. Even though it's bloodier than I care for, I'll be starting the next one in the series right away.

More about J.A. Konrath 

Other Jack Daniels books reviewed 
Whisky Sour
Rusty Nail

Would I pay money for it?Yes

Would I read more by this author? Yes I will

Would I recommend this to a friend? Depends on their level of tolerance for graphic violence

Purchased as a Kindle freebie February 9, 2013

Whiskey Sour-And so we meet Jack Daniels

This is the first Jack Daniels novel I've read and my first by J.A. Konrath. The author says that you don't have to read them in order, they are each written to be stand-alone but if you want to read them in the author's recommended order, you can find it here. I'm one of those people that doesn't like to run willy-nilly through a series so I'll be reading them in order. 

Jack Daniels is a lieutenant with the Chicago PD. Her love interest has just left her so her personal life is a mess.  She's chasing down a serial killer called the Gingerbread Man who's  taunting the police and Jack so her professional life is rather messy also.  The story goes back and forth between her point of view and the killer's.  I'm not normally a fan of alternating view points but it didn't bother me too much in this book.

I very much enjoyed the style of writing, the humour, the mystery and the detective work, but it was more graphic than I normally like so consider that if you care about that kind of thing. It wasn't enough to put me off from the series which I will definitely continue to read.

I'm familiar with Chicago so I enjoyed the talk about the scenery and geography. I was able to see the action pretty clearly. I've already read the next one in the series and look forward to the rest of them.

More about J.A. Konrath 

Would I pay money for it?Yes

Would I read more by this author? I already have and plan on reading more

Would I recommend this to a friend? Depends on their level of tolerance for graphic violence

Purchased as a Kindle freebie February 28, 2013