Baby Shark’s Beaumont Blues By Robert Fate, crime fiction, 4/5:
Fate’s fledgling Dallas/Fort Worth private investigator Kristin Van Dijk tackles the equivalent of the Texas mafia in this installment of his popular series that takes place in the 1950s.
When she and partner/mentor Otis Millett are assigned the task of retrieving a missing heiress she finds herself in the thick of it.
But if anybody thinks Kristin, known as Baby Shark, is too young to handle herself among the toughest of thugs, they had better think again. In scuffle after scuffle she gives as good as she gets, most times, even better than she gets.
Ex-cop Otis worries that by besting these bad guys Kristen is setting herself up for a fall but she proves time and again that she can handle it. Get away from it all in this hardboiled action adventure that takes place in a bygone era when big cars and smokes were still considered good for you.
An Incomplete Revenge: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear, cozy crime fiction, 4/5:
Although I’ve never read previous Maisie Dobbs mysteries it didn’t detract from enjoying this one.
I learned fairly quickly that Brit Maisie’s somewhat unconventional pre-WWII occupation is as a psychologist/investigator and that she has developed a rather unique and laid back approach to her job. So when family friend James Compton asks her to investigate some mysterious doings in the small town of Heronsdene (where he’s planning to buy an estate) she tackles the task with sensitivity and grace and comes up with answers to more questions than Compton, or anyone, thought to ask.
I am tempted to pick up more books from this series, more because Maisie is a likeable heroine and because this one made for a pleasant break from high-action novels than for any other reason.
Nonfiction kills next…
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