Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Genre: Mystery

Publisher: Harper Collins

Reviewer: JAG

JAGS: 6

Those who can't do, teach.

And Ernie Cunningham is no exception. Ern, to close friends, helps writers navigate the craft of murder mystery as a crime fiction aficionado. After one fateful evening with his brother, Ernie broke the cardinal rule of the Cunningham Family and snitched on his brother for murder. 

Fast-forward 3 years, and Ernie is headed to a ski lodge for a family reunion, and hopefully reconciliation with his newly released brother. Little does the Cunningham family know, including Ern, that this weekend retreat will be anything but normal. Death seems to follow wherever they go. Ernie must use every ounce of his deductive reasoning, and his "10 Commandments of Detective Fiction from Ronald Knox's 1929 playbook, to solve a rash of unexplained murders. 

Agatha Christie meets Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, meets Guy Ritchie, in this salute to the Golden Age of Crime fiction. Can Ern make peace with his brother and his family before the next body turns up? Are his skills as a sleuth as good as the literary greats he teaches about? 

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is a humorous take on crime drama. Confusing in parts, and drags in others, the story is overall pretty good. It was reminiscent of the movie Clue, just with too many backstories. Ern, the main character, could have been less self-deprecating. You are constantly reminded of his failings in life and his quest to be the Sherlock Holmes of the Cunningham Family. 

It's definitely a page-turner, only because you want to just finish it. Good palate cleanser if you had a month of hard fiction right before.  

  

The Italian Secretary by Caleb Carr

Genre: Fiction

 

Pages: Paper

 

Publisher: Carroll & Graf

 

JAGS: 7

 

The services of Sherlock Holmes and his trusted friend Dr. John Watson are needed once again by the British Realm to solve a perplexing case of supernatural proportions. Enlisted by Holmes’s brother Mycroft under the Queens direct order, the detectives travel to Scotland after receiving a cryptic message from the elder Holmes. Almost immediately, the pair is thrust into what appears to be the brewing of international espionage as the train ride from London is attacked by spies.

Reaching the royal residence of Holyroodhouse, or as it is more simply known by British subjects as Palace of Holyrood, Holmes and Watson stumble on what could quiet possibly be the strangest case yet. The ghost of Rizzo is said to be haunting the West Tower and all of the Queens staff knows all too well the comings and goings of the specter of Holyrood.

Caleb Carr wows readers once again with his poetic styling of 18^th century England as he resurrects the famous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in The Italian Secretary. Caleb Carr does not have the clinical syntax of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Dr. Watson, but executes beautifully the subtle nuisances of the relationship between the detectives. Carr’s interpretation honors the Holmes legacy and would make any Sherlock fan proud to read. A definite must read if you are a Holmes fanatic.

 

 



Joyland by Stephen King



Genre: Fiction

Pages: Paper Back

Publisher:  Titan Books

Reviewer: Virginia Armstrong

Rating: 7 JAG

To keep his mind off his broken heart and his first lost love, Devin Jones takes a job at Joyland, an amusement park in North Carolina.  There, he meets Madame Fortuna, who eerily predicts his future.  Uncertain if she is for real or not, he ponders her words until, one by one, her predictions prove true.

Looking out for the one with the “sight”, he becomes obsessed with the ghost of Linda Gray, who was said to haunt the Horror House at Joyland.  With the help of friends, Erin and Tom, he begins piecing together the woman’s murder.   Exploring the Horror House, Tom witnesses something that he refuses to speak about.  Something that leaves him forever changed.

As summer rolls to an end, Devin decides to stay on at Joyland.  Its then that he meets ten-year old Mike Ross and his mom, Annie.  As a friendship begins to forge between the three, Devin starts piecing together the murder of Linda Gray.  As he gets closer to solving the puzzle, danger lurks nearby, forcing him to make a frightful decision.  Does he surrender his life?   Or does he sacrifice another’s?

Joyland is a coming-of-age murder mystery filled with youthful notions and innocence.  Not your typical Stephen King novel, yet the characters are engaging just the same.  As the story jumps from a twenty-one year old to the same person forty years later, it’s easy to visualize Devin Jones at both stages of his life.   The story is of friendships made and lost, of life, death and the beyond.  As usual, King’s characters have a way of becoming real, the emotions now shared between the writer and the reader.

Paris Metro by Carl D. Malmgren

Genre:  Historical Fiction

Published by:  Omega Publications

Pages:  Paper Back

Rating:  1 JAGS

Paris Metro introduces us to Nick Edwards, aspiring writer who pens an essay that wins him the opportunity to study aboard in the glamorous cosmopolitan city of 1925 Paris. Here, he meets Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein, as well as a cast of characters from American fiction. Nick decides to start his own novel under the tutelage of Hemingway, but interest weans as Nick and his new friends explore the Paris night life.

With decadence and the spirit of a forgotten age, murder ensues and the violent air of reality comes crashing down on Nick and his entourage, as they come face to face with the truth of Paris, love and betrayal. Nick’s plan of documenting the revival of American Literature in the city of Paris has taken a backseat to investigate the murders that marked his time in the city of love.

This book was confusing at best. It felt as if it was all over the place, blurring the lines of fiction and literary heroes. Paris Metro was slow moving at first, while finishing up with a dialogue to drawn out to gain any merit. I would not purchase new, or ask to receive as a gift. In part, it was so descriptive; it left no imagination for the reader. Sadly, I would pass this book entirely. The one highlight of this book was the historical fiction that Malmgren has chosen to write about.