just for fun

I’m Watching You by Mary Burton (Zebra Books, 2007) is the first in a series featuring Homicide Detectives Zack Kier and Jacob Warwick.   Kier is the lead detective in this first book about a serial killer.  The killer’s first victim is found behind the woman’s shelter run by Kier’s estranged wife, Lindsay O’Neil.  Soon enough, more victims are found to be connected to Lindsay in some way.  Dead Ringer (Zebra Books, 2008) is the second book in the series.  Detective Warwick is the lead detective in this novel and the story focuses on Warwick and Kendall Shaw, the local TV reporter and anchor.  Though serial killers have become de rigueur these days, Burton paints her characters with enough depth that the reader cares what happens.  She has also written twelve historical western romances for Harlequin Historical and four novels for Silhouette Romantic Suspense. For a recent interview with Burton, check out Paperback Writer - Books and Author Interviews by Rebecca Camareana.

Stealing Trinity by Ward Larsen is set at the end of World War II, before the first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.   Maj. Michael Thatcher, a tenacious British officer whose job it is to hunt down Nazi spies, is intrigued when the words “Manhattan Project” come up in one of his interrogations. Meanwhile, in Germany, Col. Hans Gruber knows that a sleeper spy, Die Wespe, who’s been working on the atomic bomb project in Los Alamos, must be smuggled out of the U.S. with his stolen plans so that those Nazis who survive the war can rearm and continue their goal of world domination. Charged with this mission is Capt. Alexander Braun, an American fighting in the German army. Braun is clever and ruthless, but once Thatcher catches his scent, he won’t rest until Braun is captured or killed. 

Larsen has done a good job with the research for this novel.  He describes the German bunkers in Berlin and the English country-side well enough for the reader to visualize the settings.  He brings to life, not only the good guys, embodied by Major Thatcher of the English Army, but also the bad guy, Braun.  This is a fast-paced story with action set in Europe, the United States, and the island of Guam. 

Larsen is a former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot who uses that insider’s knowledge to great effect in this story.  His first novel, The Perfect Assassin, was published in 2006.  It won the Military Writers Society of America’s 2007 Gold Medal Award.  The novel also won the Silver Medal in the Florida Book of the Year Awards and was named as a finalist in the mystery/suspense category in both the USA Book News Best Books 2006 Awards, and the National Indie Excellence 2007.  Larsen currently is a pilot for a major commercial airline and is working on his next book.

Haiku is a mode of Japanese poetry (originally called hokku) consisting of a pattern of approximately 5, 7, and 5 syllables in three verses. They were one of the most popular poems in Japan in the 16th century. While traditional hokku focused on nature and the place of humans in nature, modern haiku poets often consider any subject matter suitable, whether related to nature, an urban setting, or even technology. While old hokku avoided some topics such as romance, love, sex, and overt violence, contemporary haikus often deal specifically with such themes.

I will pick a topic for each blog entry and print the top 5 in the next blog. All the topics will be related to reading, writing, authors, and book titles.

Today’s Haiku topic: The Civil War or the Civil Rights movement