The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren

The Caledonian Gambit by Dan Moren

When I was pulling together my to-read list for Sci-Fi Summer, I ran across The Aleph Extraction, which sounded fun, but I decided to start with the first in the series instead, The Caledonian Gambit. Starting with the first in a series, or the zero-ith in the case- the numbering's odd, is rarely the wrong choice. The Caledonian Gambit is a fun spy novel that happens to take place in space. I enjoyed it, but the sci-fi trappings weren't really necessary to the story. It could have happened on earth now, with just minor transportation and weapon changes. And that's fine by me. Basically, we have two political entities at war, a special ops team, and a lost pilot that could save the galaxy. We also have the requisite superweapon that could change the tide of the war. And at the end we have two political entities at war, a special ops team and a pilot who will probably have to...
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A Village Murder by Frances Evesham

A Village Murder by Frances Evesham

Amber asked me the other day why I read so many British books. I have a tendency to read bits of books that I find funny or interesting out loud and apparently a lot of them have had British slang/terms lately. I don't have an answer to that question, at least as far as current mystery writers go. I'm a huge fan of Golden Age mysteries, and most of those are British. I guess, I probably am drawn to books set in the present that have the same feeling, as A Village Murder certainly does. A local businessman and town councillor has died and following his funeral, his daughter, Imogene, discovers the corpse of her soon-to-be-ex-husband in the greenhouse. She, of course, is the main suspect. Happily, her new friend and neighbor, is a former detective and believes she's innocent. Between the two of them, they dig up some clues and talk to several other folks who might have had reason...
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Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

Altered Carbon is compulsively readable. It's fast-paced, full of sex and violence, and just grabbed my attention. Kovacs is our rather hard-boiled detective. He's is a loner with a tendency to violence and a willingness to do whatever he needs to, legal or otherwise. He is also more than willing to take "justice" into his own hands and wracks up a body count to prove it. He also has a softer side that only shows up rarely. He was killed on another world and re-sleeved in Bay City in the body of a disgraced cop. People's personalities, souls, consciousness, whatever you want to call it, are digitized and can be downloaded into new bodies with the right reasons or enough cash. Kovac's has one mission: find out who killed Laurens Bancroft, a Meth (short for Methusaleh) billionaire. Bancroft is offering Kovacs some money and more importantly his freedom as a reward. Only a lot of people don't seem to want...
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The Vanishing Box by Elly Griffiths

The Vanishing Box by Elly Griffiths

Magician Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining at the Hippodrome Theater in Brighton, the first time they've done a father-daughter act. DI Edgar Stephens, engaged to Ruby, is called to the murder scene of a young florist found posed and dead in her room at a boarding house. Also staying in the house are two young women who are in the show, a part of the tableaux of nearly-naked "living statues." As the bodies begin to multiply, Edgar and his team, are under pressure to find the killer. I hate to admit that I like Max better than Edgar. Edgar is a good guy, hard-working, honest, a bit guilt-prone. Max is just more interesting. His view of the world is often clearer, even when it comes to Ruby. He's willing to make decisions that are perhaps morally dubious. He loves Italian food and the changes in the world are affecting his career more than Edgar's at this point....
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The Blood Card by Elly Griffiths

The Blood Card by Elly Griffiths

The Blood Card is the third in the series featuring DI Edgar Stephens and the magician Max Mephisto. This is a wonderful historical thriller located in the world of theatre variety shows and the gypsy community. It is the third in the series but the first I have read and it works very well as a standalone. It is set in the period leading to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. In London, Max is performing at the Theatre Royal, while in Brighton, Edgar is looking into the death of Madame Zabini, a fortune teller on the pier. Max and Edgar are summoned by General Petre who takes them to the murder scene of their old wartime commander, Colonel Peter Cartwright. There is a playing card left with the body, the Ace of Hearts, known in the theatrical community as the blood card. Petre asks them to look into the murder discreetly. Max and Edgar are horrified at...
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This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero

This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero

Loved, loved, loved This Body's Not Big Enough for Both of Us. In San Francisco, there’s a dingy little office that bears the names of A. Kimrean and Z. Kimrean Private Eyes, but anyone who walks into the office will be surprised to see one androgynous person sitting there, and nowhere near enough space for a second detective. Adrian and Zooey Kimrean are brother and sister, conjoined twins, who share the same whole body and brain. Adrian is all logic and little emotion, able to jump to deductions like Sherlock Holmes; Zooey is wild, carefree, and a bit of a nymphomaniac. Together they make an excellent team, when they aren’t trying to figure out a way to push the other one out of consciousness so that only one can be in control… but what siblings don’t have their little squabbles? So, we've got a Private Investigator who is hired by the SFPD to stop a gang war and get an undercover...
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