Review: "Pro Bono" by Thomas Perry

 

Pro Bono by Thomas Perry Mysterious Press, 2025   Pro Bono, by Thomas Perry, is a lightning fast, surprising, and uniquely structured—there are two separate plotlines with one acting as a catalyst for the other, but otherwise never converging—chase thriller. Vesper Ellis, a beautiful, young, and wealthy widow, enters the law office of Charles Warren with concerns that someone is embezzling the investment accounts her late husband had managed. Since his death a few years earlier, Vesper hasn’t done anything with the accounts other than place the quarterly statements in their respective folders. But lately she has noticed the accounts seem to be stagnant even as the market is going up. Warren, who has his own experience with fraudsters, takes the case seriously and when Vesper disappears shortly after leaving his office he reacts as if something nefarious has happened. He contacts the client who referred Vesper to him, any other of her friends he can find, and finally the police. In the background, an old heartbreak of his mother’s resurfaces, also involving financial fraud, which is only tangentially related to Vesper’s plight but plays a large part of the story anyway. Pro Bono is vintage Perry: the plotting is swift, the action is fast, and the pages seem to burn in the reader’s hands. Much of the background plot (or the catalyst plot) is used to build Warren’s motivation for helping Vesper—a widow being defrauded by bad actors, which is exactly what happened to his mother. But it is more than that and it plays out in a surprising and dangerous way. Pro Bono is far from Perry’s best. The separate plotlines are both interesting, but I had hoped the two would converge in a satisfying way, and both are dependent on coincidence. If you’ve never read Perry before, I would suggest starting elsewhere in his backlist, but if you’re already a fan—you’ll like this one, too.

Check out Pro Bono on Amazon—click here for the Kindle edition and here for the hardcover.

Booked (and Printed): Dec. 2024

 

Booked (and Printed) December 2024     December is my second favorite month of the year. Its festive feel and the long dark nights—which are wonderful for reading and watching movies with the family—make winter’s arrival seem all right. At least until January’s subzero temps and icy snow comes calling, which is a different story altogether. As for reading, this December was a particularly good month. The number of books I read was far from spectacular—seven books; six novels and a story collection—but there wasn’t a dud in the bunch. Well, except the solitary title I put aside before the final page had been tallied, but I’ll talk about that one later. The month started just right with John Keyse-Walker’s marvelous puzzler, SUN, SAND, MURDER (2016). Teddy Creque is busy. He is the Royal Virgin Islands Police Special Constable, the customs officer, and he works graveyard at the powerplant on the tiny Caribbean Island of Anegada. He gets even busier—so busy he barely has time for his wife and two kids—when a torrid affair erupts with an American helicopter pilot, Cat Wells. Which is exactly when the local ganja hippy, an Englishman they call “De White Rasta” because of his faux pigeon accent, finds Paul Kelliher, a herpetologist studying Anegada rock iguanas, violently murdered on an isolated stretch of beach. Special Constables aren’t allowed to investigate crimes and so Teddy’s boss assigns him the humble task of notifying Kelliher’s next of kin. An errand that turns into its own investigation since Kelliher wasn’t actually a scientist or named Kelliher. And when Teddy realizes the “real” police aren’t going to investigate, he does it himself. Sun, Sand, Murder, which is the first of four Teddy Creque mysteries, is a delightful whodunit (although it isn’t exactly fair-play) with a smattering of eccentric characters—including Teddy himself—a brilliant setting, and just enough action to keep the pages turning. It is perfect for winter reading, with its hot and sandy beaches and warm clear ocean waters. Even better, Sun, Sand, Murder was my favorite book I read all month. Joyce Carol Oates’s FLINT KILL CREEK (2024), which is the only story collection I read in December, is littered with twelve brilliant tales about loneliness, envy, and identity. It is exactly what one expects from a writer of Oates’s stature because she really is a maestro. Read my full review here. AGAINST THE GRAIN, Peter Lovesey’s 22nd Peter Diamond mystery, is bittersweet because it is Lovesey’s last novel. Diamond revels in the challenge to solve an English Village mystery because he wants to test himself against the likes of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple. It is a fair-play whodunit with humor, excellent clue placement, and a brilliant solution. Read my full review here. My consumption of Westerns has diminished over the years, but every so often I get a hankering for an old-fashioned shootout. Which is what drew me to Lewis B. Patten’s THE TIRED GUN (1973). And it really delivered, too. Patten tinkers with his “man alone” plot—sort of a High Noon drama where the hero is forced to face a gang of killers unaided—just enough to keep the reader guessing at the outcome. The action is swift and violent and… well, read my full review here (and then read the book). Speaking of swift, J. D. Rhoades’s BREAKING COVER (2008), is a bullet of a thriller with outlaw bikers, undercover F.B.I. agents, betrayal, and oh so much violence! It is the kind of book you pick up in the evening and can’t stop reading until the final page has been turned. Read my full review here. I had the distinct pleasure of reading PRO BONO (2025), Thomas Perry’s latest thriller, ahead of its publication—which is scheduled for January 14—and so my review is still a dirty dark secret that won’t be revealed until the second week of the new year. It’s a book I enjoyed, but one that had a unique double plot; one acted as a catalyst for the other but they never came together. Come back in a few weeks for more… If you’ve been paying attention to the blog, you know I’ve been on a David Housewright kick. Wow, do I like his Rushmore McKenzie books and this month’s candy was the 13th entry, STEALING THE COUNTESS (2016). McKenzie does favors for friends and he is lukewarm when he’s approached to act as a middleman to “purchase” a Stradivarius, known as the Countess Borromeo and valued at $4 million, from the thieves that stole it from a famous violinist, Paul Duclos, after playing in a touristy Wisconsin town. McKenzie is tentative about engaging because it’s a felony to receive stolen property, but (of course) he decides to play the game anyway. With some fisticuffs, a couple gunfights, a trip to Philadelphia, and a bunch of sleuthing, McKenize recovers the violin and figures out whodunit. Stealing the Countess is another fine entry in the series—McKenzie is his usual smart-alecky, but likable self. The cast of suspects is large and there is danger lurking everywhere. While the Wisconsin setting is fun, I did miss the vibrancy of Housewright’s Twin Cities, but the smooth style and the whip fast pacing overrode any literary nostalgia I may have felt for St. Paul.

As for short stories—December was less than prolific. The solitary tale I booked as read (outside a collection or an anthology) was Ray Bradbury’s jazzy and inventive “THE WONDERFUL DEATH OF DUDLEY STONE” (1954). Dudley Stone was destined to be better than Faulkner, Steinbeck, and Hemingway, but he disappeared twenty-five years ago, as Bradbury calls it, “to live in a town we call Obscurity by the sea best named The Past.” Douglas, perhaps Stone’s most ardent fan, tracks down the great man with an eye at discovering why he quit writing. And what he finds is… “The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone” is Bradbury at his best. There is surprise, wonder, and it tumbles off the page with the beat and style of great jazz music. While it originally appeared in Charm magazine, I read it in the Jan. 1984 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Oh, and that book I mentioned all the way in the first paragraph. The one I chose not to finish? It is Peter Steiner’s spy thriller, L’ASSASSIN (2008). It is advertised as a literary thriller, which I often like, but when I hit page 50 and it hadn’t sparked I put it away. But, Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review, so who am I to judge? Fin— Now on to next month…

My Favorite Books Published in 2024

My Favorite Books Published in 2024     There was a time not so long ago when I read enough new mystery and crime releases that I would have felt more comfortable (although not that comfortable) putting together a “best of the year” listing, but 2024 hasn’t been that kind of year. I have read a bunch of books published this year—I’ve even reviewed many of them here at the blog and at Mystery Scene’s website, which like the magazine is now gone—but my survey of the genre hasn‘t been broad enough to declaratively state what I think of as the best. So—instead of championing the following five titles as the best of the genre, these are my favorite of the books (of those I’ve read) published this year. As has been the case since 2016—when I took over as Mystery Scene’s short story critic—about two-thirds of my intake this year were story anthologies and collections. And this list reflects that disparity. So, without precedence, here are my favorite mystery and crime fiction books published in 2024:
HERO, by Thomas Perry (Mysterious Press / Jan. 16). This action-packed thriller from the author of The Old Man is everything I like about thrillers: fast, complicated without being busy, and a rush of pure adrenaline. In my review I called Hero “a shotgun blast from the first page to the last.” Read the review here. Check out Hero here at Amazon.
THE STARK HOUSE ANTHOLOGY, edited by Rick Ollerman & Gregory Shepard (Stark House / June 3). A big and ambitious celebration of Stark House’s silver jubilee, this anthology has 30 tales from mid-century to today. There are brilliant stories by Jada M. Davis—a short novel, really—Charles Runyon, Orrie Hitt, Dan J. Marlowe, Ed Gorman, Fredric Brown, Wade Miller, and—so many more. In my review, I called The Stark Anthology, “close to a perfect hardboiled story collection…” Read the review here. Check out The Stark House Anthology here at Amazon.
SAFE ENOUGH AND OTHER STORIES, by Lee Child (Mysterious Press / Sep. 3). If you’ve only read Child’s Jack Reacher series, many of these 20 standalone tales may surprise you. They showcase Child’s ability as a writer—sharp plotting, expert pacing, and subtle irony—without tying him down to the expectations of a series character. As I wrote in my review of Safe Enough, “[it] reads easy” and “there is nary a dud in the pack.” Read the review here. Check out Safe Enough and Other Stories here at Amazon.
CHRISTMAS CRIMES AT THE MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP, edited by Otto Penzler (Mysterious Press / Oct. 22). The twelve stories here are a catalogue of good short fiction by some of the genre’s best writers. Every tale has a scene or two in New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop and every single one is exciting, well-written, good-natured (aka nothing dark) and every story is different from every other story. About those writers—they include, Lyndsay Faye, Ace Atkins, Rob Hart, Jeffrey Deaver, Thomas Perry, and a bunch of others just as good. Read the review here. Check out Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop here at Amazon.
FLINT KILL CREEK: STORIES OF MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE, by Joyce Caro Oates (Mysterious Press / Nov. 5). This twelve-story collection is a dark ride into the underbelly of what it is to be human. The tales are dark, at times grotesque without ever being unbearable, and written with a power of language that allows them to live in the mind of the reader long after the pages have been turned. And here is my favorite line from the review I wrote for Flint Kill Creek: “It should appeal to fans of Joyce Carol Oates and anyone else with a humanist bent and an eye for the phantasm of gothic hallucinatory realism.” Read the review here. Check out Flint Kill Creek here at Amazon.
HONORABLE MENTIONS: Man in the Water, by David Housewright (Minotaur Books / June 25); An Honorable Assassin, by Steve Hamilton (Blackstone / Aug. 27); Against the Grain, by Peter Lovesey (Soho Crime / Dec. 3).

Review: "Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop" ed. by Otto Penzler

 

Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop edited by Otto Penzler Mysterious Press, 2024     For more than thirty years, New York City’s Mysterious Bookshop has commissioned a Christmas story from the genre’s most talented writers. These stories are printed as pamphlets and given out to the Bookshop’s customers during the holiday season. The marvelous Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop collects twelve of the most recent tales—an eclectic cohort ranging from puzzler to hardboiled and whimsical to murderous and always with a good-natured attitude—into a single attractive volume. Lyndsay Faye’s “A Midnight Clear,” is a brilliant and surprising take on loss and vengeance with an ending that stings the reader just right. “Secret Santa,” by Ace Atkins—about a thriller writer long past his prime, visiting New York City for a book signing on Christmas Eve in 1985—is a pleasant stroll, with a little excitement and a touch of irony, down the mean streets of the mid-century mystery world. Rob Hart’s “The Gift of the Wiseguy,” is a slam-bang, atmospheric, and ironic tale about a father’s love and son’s forgiveness. And the ending is perfectly bleak in a heartwarming and Christmasy way. “Snowflake Time,” by Laura Lippman, is a comedic and satirical tale about a deceitful television personality fired for sexual harassment. Its first-person narration, which is from the unreliable tv host, is briming with wit and irony. And even better, everything turns out exactly as it should. Thomas Perry’s “Here We Come A-Wassailing,” is more whimsical than mysterious—although a couple thieves are working the neighborhood around the Mysterious Bookshop—but it is a delightful journey from that first page to the last. Better yet, the entire tale is centered around a bottle of 1962 Bertinollet XO Cognac, which I gather is quite expensive, and that thin line that separates fantasy from fact. “Sergeant Santa,” by David Gordon—the only writer in the collection I was unfamiliar with—is a joyful holiday jig in The City. There is a corrupt cop, an unlucky pick-pocket, and enough holiday cheer to enliven even the most jaded readers. Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop also includes excellent entries from Jason Starr, Loren D. Estleman, Jeffrey Deaver, Ragnar Jónasson, Tom Mead, and Martin Edwards.

Click here for the Kindle edition and here for the hardcover of Christmas Crimes at the Mysterious Bookshop at Amazon.

Review: "Hero" by Thomas Perry

 

Hero
by Thomas Perry
Mysterious Press, 2024

 

Hero, Thomas Perry’s latest thriller, is a shotgun blast from the first page to the last. Justine Poole is a security agent for Los Angeles’ most prestigious security firm, Spengler-Nash. The agency specializes in security for celebrities and wealthy businesspeople. When Justine stops a criminal gang from kidnapping a geriatric Hollywood producer and his wife, she gets the full media treatment. She is hailed as a hero for a couple news-cycles, but then she is vilified as a vigilante. Worse, Justine gets on the wrong side of the crime boss, Mr. Conger, that ordered the kidnapping. Conger wants Justine dead as a show of power to both his friends and enemies.
     With a high-dollar hitman, Leo Sealy, on her trail, her friends out-of-reach, and the police looking for her, Justine finds herself alone. So she does the only thing she can do—run and hide. She finds help from an unwitting investigative journalist, Joe Alston, but this is little comfort since Justine can’t shake Sealy and it will take more than luck to escape with her life.
     Thomas Perry is (from my house anyway) the preeminent thriller writer working today. His chase scenes, which are a large part of all his novels, are believable, exciting, and breathless without ever feeling rushed or underdeveloped. And Hero is no exception. The race begins when Justine pulls the trigger on the kidnappers and doesn’t end until the last page. The details of the high-end security industry are intriguing—identifying targets, creating escape routes, etc. The character development is skimpier than Perry’s usual, including that of Justine Poole, but Hero is a marvelous piece of escapist fiction anyway.
     

Click here for the Kindle edition and here for the paperback at Amazon.

RUNNER by Thomas Perry

Jane Whitefield is in retirement. She married a surgeon, changed her name, and has worked diligently to keep her past behind her. A past that was dangerous yet fulfilling. She helped people disappear. Every one of them was in trouble and while not all of them were necessarily good people none of them deserved to die. Her new name is Jane McKinnon and the world she has built is threatened when a young pregnant girl finds her at a hospital fundraiser and asks for help. Jane can’t turn the girl down. It might be that she is pregnant, but it’s probably because the dangerous group pursuing her set a bomb in the kitchen of the hospital as a diversion to get the girl out.

Jane faces the group of six—two women and four men—who are chasing the girl in the parking lot of the hospital. She puts one down with a fierce attack and then beats it out of there in her Volvo sedan. She doesn’t have time to think about what she is doing. She just does it. The old ways kick in and Jane’s only concern is to get the girl to safety. That means a new identity, a new city, and a new life. Unfortunately for both Jane and her client nothing goes quite as planned and this job gets very personal for Jane Whitefield.

Runner is the first Thomas Perry novel I have read, but it won’t be the last. It is a thriller that amps the tension with action, suspense and raw violence. There are no unnecessary sub-plots and the characterization is balanced very near perfection between backstory and forward momentum. There is just enough of the former and plenty of the later. Jane Whitefield is an extremely competent and likable protagonist and the girl—Christine Monahan—is young enough and naïve enough to make her mistakes forgivable. The prose is swift and stylish:

“Jane Whitefield fought the darkness. She struggled to hold in her mind the possibility of waking, and then to make her way toward it. She felt pain where her body was in contact with the hard, cold terrazzo floor. She opened her eyes to the sight of the overhead light s flickering and then steadying to a sickly yellow glow as the hospital’s generators came on. She could hear the voices of confused people, some moaning and others calling to each other.”

Runner reminded me how good a well-crafted thriller can be. It was very much like what David Morrell was writing in the late-1990s—Double Image, Extreme Denial, etc—but it has its own voice and style. Mr Perry is a terrific storyteller and if Runner is an example of his work I can’t wait to get my hands on more of it.