The Boy In The Snow by M.J. McGrath

The Boy In The Snow is M.J. McGrath's follow up to White Heat and the second in the Edie Kiglatuk mystery series. This book took me a little longer to read. It sucks you in, but it's not really a 'fast read.' As with her debut novel, McGrath winds some heavy, complicated themes into this mystery that deal with land development, human trafficking, the sex trade and selling babies (and yes, you did read that last one right).

While in Alaska to support her ex-husband's Iditarod run, Edie stumbles upon the frozen body of an infant boy wrapped up in a silken shroud and hidden in a tiny 'spirit house' under a tree on the edge of Old Believer land. An interview with the Anchorage Police Department detective in charge of the case makes Edie realizes that the detective has prematurely pegged a couple of Old Believers as the murderers. So Edie decides to do some digging on her own when the forensic evidence she witnessed at the scene doesn't add up to what the police and the newspapers are telling the public.

With her old friend, police sergeant Derek Palliser's disapproving support, Edie continues looking for answers. Edie comes across references to the Dark Believers, purported to be a satan worshipping off shoot of the Old Believers, that has everyone spooked and on edge and yet there's no evidence to prove their existence. Edie's investigation reveals possible connections to a developer attempting to develop parts of the Alaska shoreline that the Old Believers own and refuse to sell off. The sect believes the developer is vindictive enough to frame an Old Believer both in retaliation for broken down negotiations and to pressure the group to sell the land.

Meanwhile, Alaskans are getting ready for a gubernatorial election in which the mayor of Anchorage hopes to unseat the incumbent. However, rather than get to the bottom of the murder, the mayor is more concerned with quickly pinning the crime on a convenient scapegoat, sweeping it under the rug, and burying it so deep no one will ever dig up the truth. While the mayor is clearly no prize himself, it's hinted that his wife hides even darker secrets of her own.

When a second frozen infant is found in the same manner and the same forest as the first, Edie realizes that a symbol drawn in oil on both bodies that everyone thinks connects the infants to the Old Believers actually excludes the Old Believers as suspects. However, the police still believe they have the right man in custody and the mayor is determined that no one goes looking for and finds more frozen dead babies. Meanwhile, Edie's investigation reveals threads that lead to an ever darker, more twisted, and gruesome tapestry that shields human trafficking and the sex trade in a state with weak laws to combat these crimes.

This is a suspenseful, dark and compelling story suffering the minor annoyances of small gaps in the narrative, underdeveloped plot points and a flat villain. This is a heartpounding, page turner of a mystery. Fans of the first book will want to read this one.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

How To Be A Heroine: Or What I've Learned From Reading Too Much by Samantha Ellis

I feel as if I could write a book subtitled "What I've Learned From Reading Too Much" except all my lessons would be culled from Greek mythology, the Babysitters' Club, the lives of British queens, crime mysteries, suspense thrillers and celebrity and entertainment gossip. I first ran across How To Be A Heroine by Samantha Ellis in an ad in BookPage. The title sounded intriguing and once I looked it up on Amazon, I was in for reading it. It reminds me of the literacy autobiography writing assignment that I had in one of my English composition classes in college--except this is the literacy autobiography on steroids. The premise of this book is that the author revisits the seminal texts that she read in her youth by examining the lessons and impressions of the novels that she had upon her first readings when she was younger. Ellis has then re-read the novels as an adult specifically for the writing of her own book to see if the novels hold up to her original i

Heat Lightning by John Sandford

I'd previously read John Sandford's first Virgil Flowers novel, Dark of the Moon , a few years back and found it to be a quick, well written read. Recently I discovered he has since written three more Flowers titles and decided to start with the second title and read through to the fourth and most recent one. Heat Lightning is the second Flowers installment. The darkness of the crimes committed that must be solved in the novel are leavened by the lighter presentation of Flowers and the story. It works well together--a dark crime doesn't always need dark prose to back it up. Virgil Flowers is Lucas Davenport's go to man in the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension when there's a sensitive, tough or otherwise puzzling case to solve. Flowers has a high clearance rate and can often turn around a case in about a week. This particular case is especially perplexing with quite a few red herrings thrown into the mix to throw everyone--Flowers and the reader in

The Whisperers by John Connolly

If there was one thing Jimmy didn't care for, it was competition, ... There were some exceptions to that rule: he was rumored to have a sweet deal with the Mexicans, but he wasn't about to try to reason with the Dominicans, or the Columbians, or the bikers, or even the Mohawks. If they wanted to avail themselves of his services, as they sometimes did, that was fine, but if Jimmy Jewel started questioning their right to move product he and Earle would end up tied to chairs in the [bar] with pieces of themselves scattered by their feet, assuming their feet weren't among the scattered pieces, while the bar burned down around their ears, assuming they still had ears. from page 86 The Whisperers is John Connolly's newest Charlie Parker installment in which some beloved characters reappear and in which previous characters from another Parker installment reappear to shed further light on the big baddie that may or may not be coming for Parker in the future. This newest inst

A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

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