As The Crow Flies by Damien Boyd

Jake Fayter falls to his death during a routine rock climbing accident. At least that is what the report reads. His parents disagree. So they turn to their son’s old friend, Detective Inspector Nick Dixon.  Dixon was once Fayter’s climbing partner and has a hard time believing the report. He knows that there is no way that Jake made the mistake necessary to cause his death. So he begins to investigate. As he digs into his friend’s death he soon realizes that he is not going to like what he discovers.

As The Crow Flies is the first book featuring DI Nick Dixon. He is a quiet man who requested a transfer back to his home area instead of staying in London and working his way up the administrative ladder. Now he has a small place that needs furniture, a dog, and the peace and quiet of the countryside. Of course he also is on the trail of a team of burglars who keep breaking into the houses of the recently deceased. Now he has what appears to him to be the suspicious death of an old friend. Before it is over he will find himself dealing with a smuggling operation, drug dealers, and a killer who won’t go down easy.  Boyd’s is an excellent stylist. He brings his characters to life and allows them to develop as the story goes on. The book is full of great characters who you feel you want to know better.

As I read this book I couldn’t help but think that this story and these characters are perfect for a BBC mystery series. This is the kind of detective drama that so many of us have come to know and love over the years.  I read a lot of books. Usually over 150 per year. Some of the books are old friends, most are new. The majority of books that I have read I doubt that I will ever read again. Damian Boyd’s DI Nick Dixon novels fall into that rare category of books that I will definitely read and enjoy again and again over the years.  I look forward to more in this series. I suggest that you order this book right now. It is the perfect book to take with you on summer holiday. It is also the perfect book to curl up with in your favorite reading chair. In other words, it is just a great book. 

The Last Town by Blake Crouch

Sometimes you don’t want to know the truth. The townspeople of Wayward Pines had wanted to know the truth. They wanted to know why they were trapped in this town. Then they discovered the truth, that they had been kidnapped and were 1,800 years in the future. They have also learned that the world is now inhabited by a bestial species that had once been man. All of that was bad enough, but when, in their anger they refused to obey the man who had put them there he does the unthinkable. He shuts down the electric fence, opens the gates, and lets the monsters in.

That is how Wayward the second book in the series ends. Now in The Last Town we go through the next two days of hell that the people in Wayward Pines suffer. Alone, mostly unarmed they have to try and stay alive. They have to avoid the terror that is killing and consuming them. Sheriff Ethan Burke didn’t know that David Pilcher would go this far. But he underestimated the megalomania that gripped the billionaire inventor. Now Burke has to try and keep himself and as many of the residents alive as possible. Most importantly he has to get to the hidden command center to challenge Pilcher and confront him with his crimes.

The Last Town is a breakneck paced novel. The action is almost non-stop. The fear and the horror that the residents face is quite vivid. You feel for these people who have had everything taken away from them and are now at the mercy of a madman and a swarm of ravenous monsters.  How the people survive and how they choose to keep the human race going is quite interesting. There are some who will wish for a different ending, but I felt that the ending was perfect and really wrapped up the series. This was one of the more interesting series that I have read this year and I recommend it.

Wayward by Blake Crouch

In Pines we were introduced to Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke. Burke had awakened in a forest suffering from amnesia that came from an automobile accident. His experience soon became a nightmare. He finally got the answers he was looking for, but the realization stunned him. It turned out that he was not in Wayward Pines, Idaho in 2012. Instead he was in Wayward Pines 1,800 years later. Mankind has doomed himself. Aberrations in the genetic structure have caused mankind to develop into a more animalistic species, roaming the earth in large swarms. Wayward Pines is the last town on Earth.

Now Ethan is the sheriff. His job is to keep the peace in Wayward Pines. The trouble is that no one other than Ethan knows that Wayward Pines is the last town on Earth. On top of that the creator of this experiment, David Pilcher, has a massive god complex that is only growing. Now the peace has been interrupted by the town’s first murder. Ethan has to solve this crime and keep an eye out on the town’s residents. As he investigates the murder he comes to a blinding realization about the true nature of the town. The result will leave you sitting on the edge of your chair.

Wayward is the second novel in the Wayward Pines Trilogy. The book is very interesting. The characters that we met in the first book are developed more fully in this novel.  The pacing of the story is steady, but not breakneck. Blake Crouch has invented an interesting world and populated it with fascinating people. If you have read Pines you will want to read Wayward.

The Complete Crime Stories by James M. Cain

A man uses a tiger to try and murder his wife, a young code clerk falls for a beautiful bookie, a bank executive caught in a web of deceit. These are only a few of the exciting stories in this collection of Crime Fiction by the master James M. Cain.

James M. Cain has written some of the great crime novels of our time. Works like The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity still stand out as masterpieces of Crime fiction. These seventeen stories are a mixed bag. Cain is an excellent writer so there are no bad stories here. Some are better than others. Even though this is called Complete Crime Stories not all of the stories are crime stories, but they are all enjoyable. Cain had an amazing ability to pull you in to the story in just a few short words. There are some real gems here. One of my personal favorites is the classic “The Baby in the Icebox.”  In just a few short pages we have adultery, attempted murder, and tigers. Many of the stories have characters falling impossibly in love. Sometimes they have relationships falling completely apart.

Cain’s spare prose and often realistic look at human nature would make him one of the great influences on Elmore Leonard. The short story is one of the literary forms where American authors tend to shine the brightest. When reading these stories you can really see how Cain was a true master of the short story.

Wild Pitch by A. B. Guthrie

Buster Houge is an ornery old man, but while none of his neighbors hate him no one really wants to kill him. At least that is what everyone says. There is only one problem: someone shot Buster in the head at a nighttime picnic. Now it is up to Sheriff Chick Charleston to find out who that person is. The Sheriff is a man with an interesting past, but he is not accustomed to hunting a murderer. When the murderer strikes again the stakes are raised. Will Charleston be able to prevent another murder? None of the locals seem like the kind of people who would become a sniper, but one of them must be. Is it one of the old timers in the area? Is it the retired Geology professor? Perhaps it is the Psychiatrist? No one seems  to have an idea.

Wild Pitch is an engaging mystery with a western setting that takes place sometime in the middle of the 20^th century. The narrator is Jason Beard, a 17 year old who helps the Sheriff out with odd jobs and hopes to become a major league baseball pitcher one day. Through Jason’s eyes we are able to get a glimpse of the interesting characters who live around the small town of Midbury, Montana.  Guthrie is writing more than a mystery in this novel. He gives us a glimpse into the life of a small, rural town in the West. There is the elderly widow who sings hymns everywhere she goes. There is the town drunk, the old doctor, all of the classic characters you would expect.  Guthrie’s style is light and humorous. Thanks to OpenRoad Media this novel, and the others in the Chick Charleston series are now available in ebook format.  Let’s hope that a whole new generation will be able to discover these enjoyable gems from the Western genre. I know that I enjoyed it and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.