Author

Brian Kenney

Review

The Last One

by Brian Kenney

Thrillers, for me, are like palate cleansers. Every few weeks, I need to immerse myself in an action-packed, plot-driven narrative full of fear, anxiety, and tension that pushes me to read at full throttle. But I was in no way prepared for the absolute terror of The Last One. Fifty-something Caz wakes up on an ocean liner that’s hugely similar to the Queen Mary 2—it’s even on a transatlantic voyage, QM2’s signature trip—only to find that her partner, Pete, is missing. But that’s just the beginning. It seems that every other passenger and the entire crew is AWOL. The idea of rattling across the Atlantic in a deserted ocean liner is scary enough, but when Caz discovers three more passengers, things take a decidedly darker turn. What’s incredible is how far Dean goes with his storyline, pushing relentlessly to up the fear factor, creating one scenario more terrifying than the last. At the same time, we learn about Caz’s troubled family, and what in her past helps to keep her alive in the present. One wild ride that is not to be missed.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Bell in the Fog

by Brian Kenney

What the world needs now is a great, queer detective, and Rosen is well on his way to creating him. The second in the series—the first was fun but also a bit idiosyncratic—this has the makings of a classic detective novel with a strong supporting cast. It’s San Francisco in 1952, and we’re back with struggling detective Andy Mills, whose home and office are above Ruby, a gay bar. Ex-navy and an ex-cop, Mills is still struggling to gain acceptance from the queer community. But along comes a case that may help him turn around his image. First one, then several people, it turns out, are being blackmailed—sex photos taken in a hotel, holes drilled through the wall—and Mills is on the case. But as with any good crime novel, the story isn’t what you first expect, and soon Andy is reunited with his Navy flame who disappeared seven years ago. Set against the queer bars of the city, the continual raids orchestrated by the police, and the foggy bay itself, this book is powerfully atmospheric. It ends leaving Andy free from the past and ready for the future. Exactly what most readers will be waiting for.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Busy Body

by Brian Kenney

Sometimes it’s the setting that grabs you. Often it’s the plot. But here it is two fabulous characters who come together and through sharp dialogue create a story that both cozy and traditional-mystery readers will love. Former Senator Dorothy Gibson—pant-suit loving, wise-cracking, and wine-imbibing—has just weeks ago lost a run for the presidency to that man, and she’s retired to her northern White House on the Maine coast to lick her wounds and begin work on her memoirs. Her ghostwriter, new on the job, is summoned to Maine; Dorothy’s not one to sit idle. It’s quite a fun hothouse with Dorothy’s gay son hanging around, a ten-out-of-ten bodyguard lurking in the corridor, a Huma Abedin clone who tries to keep everyone on track—and the ghostwriter describing it all in delicious detail. All’s well until there’s a death at a neighboring estate and Dorothy and the ghostwriter, refusing to believe it’s an accident, quickly launch their own investigation. The denouement is quite wordy, but full of the requisite number of surprises. The idea of a ghostwriter as the narrator, who pairs up with different celebrities to solve crimes, is a darn good one.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

West Heart Kill

by Brian Kenney

You could call it a meta-mystery. Or you could just call it a whole lot of fun. Gerald Ford is president, the Concorde is dominating the news, while Neil Sedaka is on the turntable. Detective Adam McAnnis accompanies a college chum to the West Heart Club, sort of an Adirondack hunting club set in the northern New York wilderness, crawling with tipsy uber-WASPS. This place is so old and insular the residents speak their own sort of slangy English. What brings a New York City detective to this rarefied compound? Hard to say, but it’s clear he’s got a motive. Comparisons to the Blades Out series are inevitable, but McDorman’s novel is a whole lot more sophisticated and a good deal more humorous. Reading this book is a bit like driving behind a school bus and a garbage truck; the narrative leaps ahead, only to pause while we’re treated to an essay on the rules of the mystery, or the nature of locked-room stories. Then we move ahead a bit, only to stop and be regaled by the disappearance of Agatha Christie, Auden on the Whodunit, and any number of references to mystery’s grand tradition. Confused at where we are? Fear not. There are narrators ready to jump into the fray and remind us we are in a detective story, and what to believe—and what not. It’s a thrill to come across a book that is at once so playful and so erudite.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Mother-Daughter Murder Night

by Brian Kenney

A wonderfully paced mystery, in a fascinating setting, told through the lives of three generations of women. Lana Rubicon is one of the leading real-estate developers in Los Angeles. But these days she’s spending less time running to power meetings in her Chanel suits and Jimmy Choos and more time asleep on her daughter Beth’s sofa, 300 miles up the coast. Recovering from cancer, the super Type-A Lana is bored beyond belief, with her days spent observing life in the slough—that’s a wetland, or marsh—that surrounds them. But when Jack, her teenage granddaughter, finds a body in the slough, where she gives kayak tours part-time, and the cops start looking at Jack like suspect number one, Lana grabs her wig and gets in on the action. The action, it turns out, is quite complicated, involving the recently deceased patient of Beth, a land dispute that involves one of the most prominent families in the area, rich ranchers, and some conservationists who can’t be completely trusted. To find the truth, and to get out alive, all three women need to do the unthinkable: work together. This reader would love to see more from this fab trio.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Hike

by Brian Kenney

A near-perfect novel of utopia-gone-wrong. Liz and her three female friends take a vacation together every year, typically somewhere with plenty of sun and a good bartender. But this year it’s Liz’s turn to pick, and needing a radical reset, she decides they’ll go mountain climbing in the gorgeous wilds of Norway. Gorgeous, but deadly. And—as the locals point out, not a climb for the inexperienced—which is all of them. Here’s a bit of what could go wrong: creepy, predatory males spying on them; killer storms; mud slides; loss of all provisions; no cell phone reception; and interference from a drug cartel. In addition, each woman manages to screw things up in her own way, like losing the trail or spraining an ankle, regularly setting them at one another’s throats. The novel builds slowly, we get plenty of insight into each woman’s personal life and the baggage she hopes to leave on the mountain, while the suspense blossoms beautifully. Richly atmospheric, well-plotted, with plenty of insight into female friendship, this should appeal to fans of Lisa Unger and Claire Douglas.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Couple in the Photo

by Brian Kenney

Two couples—Lucy and Adam, Cora and Scott—are the best of friends. It helps that, with the exception of Lucy, they were flatmates as far back as university. They’re in and out of one another’s houses, share care for the children, and have even purchased a beach house together, spending the weekends collectively renovating it. So when Lucy is at a work party and a colleague shares photos of her honeymoon in the Maldives, she’s shocked to see Scott in one of the photos, clearly with another woman. What is going on? Adam tells her to drop it—who knows what she really saw in the photo?—but Lucy is like a dog with a bone. Her investigation of Scott’s life opens up layers of deceit, causing Adam, and then Scott, to launch an aggressive campaign to gaslight her. Eventually Lucy realizes that she isn’t crazy but that everyone in her life knows far more about Scott, and the mystery woman in the photograph, than she does. For readers who love domestic suspense that doesn’t shy away from well-developed characters; large, complex plots; and plenty of dialogue. For fans of Lisa Unger and Rachel Hawkins.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

How the Murder Crumbles

by Brian Kenney

After a stint as an advertising executive in New York City, Mallory is back in Wingate, Connecticut, where she has taken over her recently deceased aunt’s Cookie Shop. Finally, a long-held dream fulfilled. Except Mallory’s staff of two can’t stop rankling each other, her boyfriend is seen in a compromising situation with another woman, and food blogger Beatrice Wright, aka Queen Bea, is accusing her of stealing a recipe. Then Beatrice is discovered dead, lying on her kitchen floor, her body outlined by flour. And who might have discovered the body? Our heroine, Mallory–who had stopped by Beatrice’s house to make cookie peace. While this novel uses many of the tropes of cozy fiction, there’s a wonderful freshness about Mallory, who can’t wait to let others solve the murder, and confronts all likely suspects herself, in a direct and unvarnished manner. The first in a series that many cozy readers will love. One request: it’s time for Kip, Mallory’s BFF and fellow baker, to come out. Everyone seems to have a love life, while he’s left at home making spaghetti for Mallory and loading up the Netflix. Sad.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

The Trade Off

by Brian Kenney

Do you look at Britain’s sleazy, salacious and exploitative tabloid culture and wonder: how do they get away with this? If so, this is the book for you. Set in the fictitious The Daily Voice, “the country’s top-selling newspaper”–it’s a whole lot like the real Daily Mail– the narrative alternates between tough-as-nails Stella, just a step away from being editor in chief, and newbie Jess, in from the country with, of all things, ideals. The “trade off” refers to the practice of exchanging one thing, say photographs of a naked leading man being led about on a dog leash, for what the tabloid really wants: a front page interview with him about his failed marriage. When this sort of celebrity manipulation goes awry–the beloved winner of a cooking show is hounded until she kills herself–Stella miraculously finds her much-dented moral compass and reluctantly pairs up with Jess. Inspired by #metoo, the two manage to dismantle the toxic misogyny and sexual harassment that’s at the center of The Daily Voice. Both characters have wonderful voices, and when you’re not cringing in horror you’ll be laughing aloud.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Dead of Winter

by Brian Kenney

Have we been holding back on the raw carnage? If so, this book will more than make up for that. It’s winter, and Christa, our narrator, and her boyfriend, Kiernan, join a tour group of eight headed to a splendid lodge in the Rocky Mountains. But en route the weather turns nasty, a huge pine tree blocks their road, and they are forced to seek shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin as the snow piles up. Alarm bells ringing yet? The plot is squarely in the tradition of locked-room mysteries, more often locked mansions or islands these days, and we can expect our eight participants to slowly get bumped off thanks to poison, asphyxiation, or other genteel means. Well, that’s half correct. For most of the novel, the characters are locked in, thanks to the storm, unable to stray much beyond the cabin. But death in this novel is anything but genteel. In fact, it’s downright terrifying. But even more disturbing is Christa’s plight; obsessively assessing her peers to determine whom, if anyone, she can trust. Coates is also a horror author, and there’s a good dollop of that genre woven through this novel of high suspense. Keep a cat or two on your lap when reading this one.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail