Blood Truth by Matt Coyle

When P.I. Rick Cahill’s ex-girlfriend, Kim, comes to him with a problem, he cannot deny her request for help because he’s still in love with her. She fears her husband is cheating on her and she trusts no one but Cahill whose forte happens to be tailing wayward spouses. What he sees appears to be philandering, but as Cahill digs deeper, it becomes something more complicated, especially when a “solid citizen” with a notorious past enters the picture.

Simultaneously, Cahill receives a phone call from a contractor who found a hidden safe while demolishing Cahill’s boyhood home. Upon opening it, Cahill finds a gun, $15,000 in cash and safe deposit box key. His father, a dishonored La Jolla policeman who died a broken man after years of ostracism and alcohol, was rumored to be on the mob payroll, but Rick, who idolized his father, always held out hope that the rumors were false. Could this be evidence that they indeed were true?

This fourth entry in the Rick Cahill series, after Dark Fissures, provides readers with a lot of action. Cahill does take his share of knocks. The plot moves along quickly. Cahill’s part time partner, Moira, a true curmudgeon, provides the smart repartee exhibited by many crime novel sidekicks.

Cahill’s antagonistic relationship with the local police, carried forward from previous books, continues unabated. A little more background, while alluded to, would have been nice, although its absence doesn’t really hinder enjoyment of this solid book. My only other criticism is that Coyle keeps harping on the rumors and demise and Cahill’s idolizing of his father. It was made crystal clear a few pages into the book and there was no need for the constant repetition. All in all, though, Blood Truth was a good read and  while I’d read more books in the series, I wouldn’t necessarily go specifically looking for them.

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If You’re Lucky by Yvonne Prinz

Both the readers and George (short for Georgia), the protagonist of Yvonne Prinz’s latest engrossing entrée into YA Fiction, If You’re Lucky, aren’t quite sure where reality ends and George’s scrambled mind takes over. Lucky, George’s older brother, was killed in a surfing accident in Australia. Considering he was an excellent surfer, George can’t grasp that it was an accident. To her it resembled drowning in an inch of water, possible, but not probable.

A bunch of Lucky’s friends congregate at George’s California home for a party, not a memorial service, because Lucky would prefer it that way.  When one of the friends, Fin, decides to stay in the sleepy little town and ingratiates himself into Lucky’s family (even Lucky’s dog, Rocket, is enamored of Fin) and starts seeing Lucky’s girlfriend Sonia, George becomes suspicious. Was Lucky’s death an accident or murder? Does Fin want Lucky’s life? Unfortunately for George, her grasp on reality is fragile, and no one is willing to take her warnings seriously.

Reading If You’re Lucky conjured up memories of Gail Giles’ excellent book Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, another psychological drama. On the outside all appears normal but on the inside something is amiss.

I could not put If You’re Lucky down, especially as I got closer to the end. Prinz, author of Vinyl Princess and All You Get is Me, does a great job putting readers in the mind of a schizophrenic to the point reality and fantasy merge in both George’s and the reader’s minds.

If you’re looking for a great book, If You’re Lucky should definitely be on the list.

 

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X by Sue Grafton

Any time we return to Kinsey Millhone is a treat and X by Sue Grafton is no exception. In some of this alphabet series books, the neighbors play an important role and some Millhone’s family plays a big part. In X, there’s no family (other than references to them every now and then) and some neighborly stuff.

There are three stories going on in X.

It is the 1989 drought in California and Kinsey’s neighbor and landlord, Henry Pitt is concerned about water consumption. Despite all his water conservation measures, his water bills are rising. Along with this, Henry and Kinsey appear to have needy, clingy new next door neighbors.

In early March, a woman contacts Kinsey. She’s being rather secretive and private and would prefer to meet at her home rather than in Kinsey’s office to discuss her services. However, she is also leaving the next morning on an extended trip. So in early evening, Kinsey takes the half hour drive along windy roads to meet Hallie Bettancourt in what can only be described as a mansion. Hallie wants to find the son she gave up for adoption many years earlier.

If you recall from other books, a fellow (somewhat slimy) detective, Pete Wolinsky was killed in a robbery attempt. His widow, Ruthie, is contacted by the IRS who is looking at Pete’s records as well as his former employer, Byrd-Shine Investigations, which ceased operations 15 years earlier. Ruthie has looked through whatever she has and come up empty handed and has asked Kinsey to look through the one box she has. While not finding any financial records, Kinsey did stumble across a sheet with 12 rows of numbers, each with 8 columns of 4 numbers, tucked into a folder. Additionally, underneath the bottom flap of the storage box was an envelope containing a rosary, a bible, and two greeting cards from a Lenore Redfern, who died a dozen years earlier. Apparently the envelope was meant for her daughter, who was four at the time of her death.

In X, nothing is as it appears to be, which of course, is why we like reading Sue Grafton mysteries. Other than the clothing Ms. Grafton describes, there is nothing that would set the book in 1989 vs. 2015–well maybe no cell phones and laptops. Her neighbors, Henry, William and Rosie play minor roles, as do her previous dalliances. Her new characters are interesting and the plots are new.

With only two more letters to go in the series, I’m hoping Ms. Grafton will think about doubling up on letters, AA is for Accidental Asphyxiation or start using numbers. I hate to think at she would stop writing. That would be T is for Tragic. Anyway, I’m sure there are many of you out there who have invested the time to read the 23 previous novels in the series. It would be silly to stop now. Go for it.

And don’t forget one of my favorite books by Grafton, Kinsey and Me. It is some of Grafton’s best and most interesting writing.

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