Made-up Stories

Mysteries

Oscar Wilde and a Game Called Murder by Gyles Brandreth. We already own Oscar Wilde and a Death of No Importance. That one checked out so I bought this one. Oscar Wilde is at a dinner party in 1892 with, among others, Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle. Wilde proposes the question, "Who would you most like to kill?" When one of people whose name was anonymously written down at the party is murdered Oscar and pals get to work.

Blood Alone by James R. Benn. Billy Boyle has landed in advance of the rest of the Allied invasion force on Sicily. With a concussion induced amnesia he cannot recall the true mission. You see, Boyle's mother got Billy a cushy staff job with Uncle Ike. Too bad Uncle Ike is General Eisenhower who decided to put Billy's detective skills to use.
If you like this one there is at least one more Boyle novel set in North Africa.

Twin Killing by Marshall Cook. Small town newspaper editor Monona Quinn rushes back to Iowa after her nephew is arrested for drug possession. Back home in Summersend, IA the locals start turning up dead. What a coincidence.

Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown. Some dead cat story. Or a cat with dead people. Or a cat writes about dead people. I'm not sure what the deal is with these.

Angel's Tip by Alafair Burke. Spring Breaker Chelsea hart stays late at a New York nightclub's VIP room and is found dead with her hair chopped off. NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher has a good case against a rich jerk but has suspicions based on previous deaths.
Burke gets around. I think she used to attorney-ize in Phoenix. Then she lawyerized in Portland, OR. Now she teaches legalizing in New York.

Fiction

Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse by Victor Gischler. Mortimer Tate leaves his mountain side cave after hiding out for nine years due to the fall of civilizaztion. He encounters cannibals, one eyed train conductors, hookers, would be cowboys, and searches for coffee.
For a fuller review see What to Read 10 or What to Read 12.

'Tis the Season by Lorna Landvik. Drunken socialite Caroline reaches out to her Norwegian former nanny and a dude ranch owner in Aridzona. Stories are exchanged and a Christmas reunion is planned.

Breaking Cover by JD Rhoades. Tony Wolf was assumed dead after his undercover assignment went bad and he took a biker gang's cash and ran. Now his self-imposed cover is blown and he has to defend himself.
A replacement for a copy that was doused. I interviewed Rhoades at the Murder and Mayhem in Muskego thing this past Saturday but do not have the video up yet.

Searching for Paradise in Parker, PA by Kris Radish. Some chick book. Judging by the cover and title this is a comedy.

Western

Grave For A Dead Gunfighter by Kent Cowell. Clint thought his father dead by Clint's own mistake. Ten years later Clint learns his father is alive and when Clint finds his father the man refuses Clint and his help against the carpetbaggers out to take the old man's land.