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December 2015

LUTHER

A British psychological crime drama television series starring Idris Elba as Detective Chief Inspector John Luther and Ruth Wilson as antagonist Alice Morgan. Created by author Neil Cross.

(2010 -2013) 3 Seasons. 14 Episodes

Available on Netflix, Netflix Streaming, Amazon Prime, BBC

Inquirer Columnist Jonathan Storm’s 1st season review:

The show stars Idris Elba, who seemed like such an authentic Baltimore gangster when he played Stringer Bell in The Wire. But he’s a native Londoner, and at the television critics’ summer gathering in Los Angeles, he demonstrated that John Luther’s accent and speech patterns are also different from his own.

Elba is flat-out scary as a detective who’s too smart to fit in and too angry in the face of continual crime and depravity to care. And Ruth Wilson, who played the title character in PBS’s most recent Jane Eyre, is also flat-out scary as Alice Morgan, an astrophysicist who got her Ph.D. at 18 and comes into Luther’s life as a witness in a grim murder case.

He’s large and black, with a stubbly beard. She’s small, with alabaster skin, blue eyes, red hair, and a charming overbite. Their relationship, which lasts over the entire six-episode first season of Luther (a typical series order in Britain), is unlike any that has come before on TV. MORE…

bestCrimeTV

 

November 2015

RESCUE HUMOR REVIEWS CHOKED UP

By RJ BeamRJ_SinC

A few months ago I reviewed the debut novel by Janey Mack titled Times Up. Mack is back with her crime-stopping meter maid Maisie McGrane in the follow-up Choked Up.

Screen Shot 2015-11-22 at 6.51.56 PMThe premises is a bit more complex this time. If you did not read the first book don’t worry this one is written as a stand-alone story. I would still suggest you pick it up the first book just because it was a fun read. Otherwise here is some backstory, Maisie McGrane is from a family filled with cops and lawyers. She tried to become an officer, but her dad (a high-ranking Chicago police officer) convinced police academy staff to wash her out. She then settled for second best and become a parking enforcement officer.

When this book picks up she is one of the top performing meter maids in the city. At the end of shift one day, she finds a man on the hood of her car. Well actually it is her boyfriend’s car, but she took it to work that day. The man is dead and was left there was a warning to the boyfriend, who happens to be a mercenary. Later Maisie is attacked but luckily saved by an underworld kingpin.

This criminal takes a liking to Maisie and asks her to work for him. I don’t want to spoil anything but her job is to act as his girlfriend, hiding the fact he is gay from other criminals and mobsters. At the same time, she is approached by the special undercover unit of the Chicago police to work for them to build a case aginst the criminal.

These books are written in the first person. Maisie offers up thoughts and sarcastic remarks as comments to what is happing to her. Often times her inner dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny. She will be thinking one thing to herself then say something the opposite to the people she is with. Something we all do.

Maisie is truly in over her head in this one. Which makes part of the story perversely entertaining. Not everything goes her way. It seems all too often in many stories the hero can do no wrong. This is one hero that gets a few things wrong. Still she is a fighter and works hard fix her mistakes, which sometimes just digs her in a deeper hole. Even so if Maisie McGrane was real she is the kind of officer I would love having working on my shift with my crew.

Choked Up comes out on December 29th. Order it now and makes sure it is one of the first things you read in 2016.

INSPECTOR MONTALBANO

Inspector Salvo Montalbano, played by Luca Zingaretti, is a Sicilian police detective.  Created by Italian writer Andrea Camilleri.

(1999-2013) 9 series, 26 episodes

subtitled

Available on Netflix DVD, Amazon Prime Streaming

The Guardian’s James Donaghy’s review:

Montalbano’s Sicily may look idyllic – but it retains the rough edges of the real Sicily. The state, the church and the mafia conspire to confuse, obstruct and cover-up their misdemeanours. The show is also good on human frailty: whether Catarella’s cowardice, Mimi’s weakness for women or Montalbano’s soft spot for Doctor Pasquano’s pastry rolls.

And you can’t help but like Montalbano. Although he can be bullish there’s a certain vulnerability and sophistication about him, particularly when it seems like he’s the only sane man on the police force, maybe even on the island. Whether he is railing against institutionalised corruption or tolerating Catarella’s latest malapropism Montalbano has a way of making you root for him – as the many women who find him hard to resist can attest. Maybe that’s why he’s a bit of a commitment-phobe when it comes to Livia – there always seems to be something better, more enticing around the corner. MORE…

bestCrimeTV

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY CHOKED UP REVIEW

In Mack’s sprightly second Maisie McGrane mystery (after 2015’s Time’s Up), Maisie, who’s been working as a meter maid in Chicago, gets her wish to become a full-fledged police officer, only to be assigned to duty as an undercover agent posing as a meter maid. Target number one is a ring of automobile thieves, which Maisie manages to infiltrate, cozying up to its chieftain, Stannislav “The Bull” Renko. No ordinary car-grabbers, Renko and his gang specialize in high-end luxury cars and collectible models worth up to $1 million each. Renko, who’s seeking an attractive companion, decides that Maisie is perfect for the job. Meanwhile, Maisie has to hold her real boyfriend and her own large family of lawyers and cops at arm’s length. A wild whirl of plots and counterplots, the book offers occasional hot sex and equally occasional violence. Mouth-watering descriptions of lavish meals are a plus.

September 2015

TIME’S UP – DEBBIE HOFFMAN’S VIDEO REVIEW

Check out the Warren-Newport Public Library’s Debbie Hoffman, (Adult Services Librarian) and her “Let’s Talk Books” video review of Time’s Up.

WNPLibrary-LOGO

PIMA COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY REVIEW

September 2, 2015 

Due to a psych test revealing “a pathological need to be liked,” Maisie McGrane has been kicked out of the police academy. Stunned, and in a desperate attempt to prove her mental fortitude, she takes a job working for her brother’s girlfriend as a Parking Enforcement Officer. Obviously, this is a big step down for Maisie. But having the public pour milkshakes on your head and pee on your golf cart is not nearly as bad as confessing to your family why you didn’t graduate.

Maisie’s family is one of the spectacular aspects of this debut mystery. With five older brothers who are all either cops or lawyers and her parents, one a cop and one a lawyer, the reader develops great appreciation for this group. The familial harassment, interference in private lives, and dinner competitions regarding ticketing violations (the better to catch criminals), is very relatable. I laughed aloud at Maisie’s internal commentary because I too would like to share my brother with someone else, forever.

In Time’s Up, the entire cast of characters, from Maisie’s training officer, to the sketchy ex-Army Ranger she dates, are highly entertaining, bringing to mind Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series. But Maisie is not a walking accident. On Day One of what she hopes will be a short parking enforcement career she finds a dead body, which is turned over to her brothers and found to be mob-related. Then, while acting as the designated driver for another brother, she ends up in bar fight against her academy nemesis. Between ticketing the mayor, finding more dead bodies and booting vehicles all over the town, Maisie keeps this title moving.

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July 2015

TIME’S UP RELEASE PARTY

TIME’S UP Release Party at Golden, CO: Rolling Hills Book Club

LONG AND SHORT REVIEW’S: BOOK OF THE MONTH – TIME’S UP

TIME
Time’s Up by Janey Mack
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (356 pgs)
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Aloe

 

All Maisie wants to do is become a cop like her father and her brothers. Her mother is a lawyer, but that’s not for Maisie. So all her hopes and dreams come down around like a collapsed air balloon when she’s told she has flunked the academy because of her psychological test. She wants people to like her and that’s impossible when you’re a cop. Now what will she do?

This author wanted to be a cop and her father wouldn’t allow her to do so. This book is a story that’s based on that premise but Maisie refuses to give up. She’s an easily likeable character because she’s so determined and focused on her goals she’s almost not protecting herself from political or physical danger. It’s a good thing she has lots of brothers to protect her and a very supportive family (for the most part).

Ms. Mack has the tone and quality of writing that reminds me of Janet Evanovich. I enjoyed the story and the style it was written in.

Maisie is almost in despair when she comes up with the idea of going into the world of parking enforcement. Her brother, Cash, gave her that idea and she’s going to run with it. She does and it doesn’t take long until she’s cross-wise with the Mayor. That’s not a good start for her…

There’s murder, a bomb, hot politicking and a family trying to warn her off, but Maisie is her own person and she muddles her way through.

The best part, though, is her hot boyfriend. He reminds me of Ranger in the Evanovich books. He’s a mean human weapon who has taught her skills that come in handy in this story and he’s determined to take care of her. What more could you want? Thoroughly enjoyable.

RESCUE HUMOR REVIEW OF TIME’S UP

RJ_SinCBy RJ Beam

Debut author Janey Mack has written a novel that keeps the action and suspense moving so you keep the pages turning in Time’s Up. According to her author bio she always wanted to be a police officer but he family would not let her. So now she writes about police.

Cover of Time's Up

In this story Maisie McGrane is in the police academy. Unfortunately for Maisie she fails a test and is kicked out of the academy. The McGrane family in the story all works in Criminal Justice. Dad is a police officer, mom is a lawyer. Her siblings are both a mix of lawyers and cops, including homicide detectives.

Family members pull some strings and get Maisie a job working parking enforcement, as in meter maid. Now she is not on patrol looking for crime, she is on patrol looking for parking violations. Her police dream morphed into nightmare.

You can tell the author had a desire to work as a police officer. There were details in some aspects of the story that most authors miss. Yes there were some things that are not normal procedures, but overall she did a good job describing police work. She also got the humor and the family dynamic right.

As a matter of fact the humor kept the story fresh. In addition there are just the right number of twists to keep the plot moving forward.

The cover notes this as a “Maisie McGrane Mystery”, meaning this promises to be a series of books. I could see myself reading more books by Janey Mack if her next book in the series is as good as Time’s Up was.

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June 2015

TIME’S UP RELEASES

TIME’S UP Releases June 30, 2015

3 oz.

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