Monthly Archives: May 2015

“Second Street Station” is the first of the Mary Handley mysteries. It is also the debut novel by Lawrence H. Levy. The character, Mary Handley, is loosely based on a real life individual of the same name who was involved in a murder case upon which this story is also based.

Presumably, future novels will be completely fictional as I could not find further evidence that Ms. Handley pursued her work as a detective following the events described in this novel. Certainly, there is nothing to suggest that she was involved with such personages as Thomas Edison, J.P. Morgan, George Westinghouse, etc.

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“Tail Gait” is the latest in a long series of books by Rita Mae Brown (and apparently, Sneaky Pie Brown, too.) It is, however, the first book I have read by Ms. Brown. I often read a book out of order in a series to see how readable it is as a stand-alone book but it is rare that I will choose to read a book as far into as series as this one is (number 24.) Interestingly enough, I had no problem picking up the story, the characters, or the plot. As a stand-alone book, it is very readable. I’m sure that I am missing much in the terms of history of the characters but enough is provided by the author to make it still an enjoyable read.

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“Trident Code” is the follow up to last year’s mile a minute cyber attack thriller, “Lethal Code”. As with the previous book, “Trident Code” was pretty intense and required the reader to suspend reality and to accept some rather unlikely scenarios.

While the previous book involved multiple cyperattacks, in this book there is really just one, but it involves a nuclear submarine. Yet again, the US is portrayed as woefully unprepared and once again it is only a handful of heroes who can save the day. To say that this doesn’t seem credible is putting it mildly. However, if you are willing suspend reality and accept the worst case scenarios presented by the author as you read the book, then it becomes a fun race-to-the-end story.

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This is a fast-paced police procedural that spans a two day period. DS Allie Shenton is at a cross roads in her life. Her beloved sister, who was horribly brain-damaged in an attack seventeen years before, has taken a turn for the worse and may not have much more time.

Even though her personal life is at a breaking point, Allie is called in to help solve a puzzling murder. The story takes us through the almost hourly process of finding clues, processing information, and interviewing suspects. We get to see how the picture of the crime is reconstructed from the bits and pieces and how each bit of information reveals the next step in solving the crime.

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