Blog Posts by David

Review forthcoming on:

"Dare to Die" by Carolyn Hart
on Sunday, April 5th

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich St. Martin's, 309 pp., $27.95 Reviewed by David Marshall James Janet Evanovich's latest "Between the Numbers" Stephanie Plum opus is full-length and full of fun. Indeed, it's difficult to recall a Plum adventure, numbered or otherwise, that supplies more laughs than this one. For those who've never sampled the Evanovich oeuvre, Steph, barely thirtysomething, retrieves people who fail to appear for their court dates after being bonded out by her uncle, whose bail-bonds office is located in downtown Trenton, N.J. Some would call her an FTA agent; the more glamorous, cable TV term is bounty hunter, those door-bustin', high-kickin' bad As who surprise their prey like deer in the headlights. Although armed with handcuffs, pepper spray and a taser, Steph often proves more inept than adept, the one who has to deal with punching, screeching, even shotgun-firing bond clients. The novel's title may summon images of Halloween revelry, but Evanovich is evidently

A Spoonful of Poison by M.C. Beaton St. Martin's Minotaur 276 pp., $24.95 Reviewed by David Marshall James Few mystery series protagonists keep readers on the watch for their return engagements the way M.C. Beaton's (Marion Chesney's) Agatha Raisin does. "Aggie" resides in a thatched-roof cottage in the English Cotswolds village of Carsley, but any similarities to that other Agatha's-- Christie's-- sleuth, Jane Marple, begin and end there. Aggie, who escaped the Birmingham slums to establish a successful public-relations agency, has reinvented herself as an equally prosperous private investigator, having found early retirement in Carsley a yawn. Her firm, located in nearby Mircester (fictitious, as is Carsley), is staffed by two seasoned men, a female secretary and, most recently, the youthful Toni Gilmour, who has pulled herself out of a bad situation, much as her mentor before her. Although her business ventures have proved golden, Aggie has landed in middle age with a thud, and a

Earthly Pleasures by Karen Neches Simon & Schuster, 311 pp., $14 (paperback) Reviewed by David Marshall James Those writers who trod through the Pearly Gates in search of a literary domain do so at great peril. Beyond the guesswork inherent in that endeavor, every reader is likely to have a highly individualized concept of Heaven that's probably going to clash with the author's. However, as Johnny Carson used to say, "You buy the premise, you buy the bit." And some writers, such as Fannie Flagg-- in her sentimentally comedic masterpiece, "Can't Wait to Get to Heaven"-- succeed triumphantly in their temerarious foray. Karen Neches, writing as Karin Gillespie, has produced several amusing, down-to-earth "Bottom Dollar Girls" novels set in fictitious Caboo Creek, S.C. In "Earthly Pleasures," she sets her sights heavenward, creating a celestial landscape that's far more Shirley MacLaine than harps-and-choirs. Well, as long as you're aiming high, why not shoot the moon? Neches, who lives in

Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw Hyperion, 262 pp., $24.95 Reviewed by David Marshall James Green Haven, Maine, is a far cry from Cabot Cove, but Jane Bunker may have Jessica Fletcher beat. After all, Jane's just 42, and she worked as a police detective in Miami. However, something went horribly wrong with Jane's mentor on the force, and she has left her badge, if not her heart, in Dade County to return to her birthplace. She's also assumed what she hopes will be a dull job, investigating maritime concerns for insurance claims and policy renewals and readjustments. This being a mystery, there's likely to be a corpse, and Jane stumbles upon the tidal-borne body of the town drunk while she's inspecting a fish-processing plant. "Ayuh," proclaim the Down Easters. "So sotted up he fell off the pier, hit his head, and drowned." And that consensus would have been that, but Jane doesn't believe the head wound is accidental. Even so, without solid evidence, she cannot interest the state police in