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The Empty Chair (Lincoln Rhyme Novels)

Jeffery Deaver

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 190 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

It's not easy being NYPD detective Lincoln Rhyme, the world's foremost criminalist. First of all, he's a quadriplegic. Secondly, he's forever being second-guessed and mother-henned by his ex-model-turned-cop protégé, Amelia Sachs, and his personal aide, Thom. And thirdly, it seems that he can't motor his wheelchair around a corner without bumping into one crazed psycho-killer after another.

In The Empty Chair, Jeffery Deaver's third Rhyme outing--after 1997's The Bone Collector and 1998's The Coffin Dancer--Rhyme travels to North Carolina to undergo an experimental surgical procedure and is, a jot too coincidentally, met at the door by a local sheriff, the cousin of an NYPD colleague, bearing one murder, two kidnappings, and a timely plea for help. It seems that 16-year-old Garrett Hanlon, a bug-obsessed orphan known locally as the Insect Boy, has kidnapped and probably raped two women, and bludgeoned to death a would-be hero who tried to stop one of the abductions.

Rhyme sets up shop, Amelia leads the local constabulary (easily recognized by their out-of-joint noses) into the field, and, after some Holmesian brain work and a good deal of exciting cat-and-mousing, the duo leads the cops to their prey. And just as you're idly wondering why the case is coming to an end in the middle of the book, Amelia breaks the boy out of jail and goes on the lam. Equally convinced of the boy's guilt and the danger he poses to Amelia, Rhyme has no choice but to aid the police in apprehending the woman he loves--no easy task, as she's the one human being who truly knows the methods of Lincoln Rhyme.

Rhyme's specialty combines the minute scientific analysis of physical evidence gathered from crime scenes and his arcane knowledge of, it would seem, every organic and inorganic substance on earth. Deaver combines engaging narration, believable characters, and his trademark ability to repeatedly pull the rug out from under the reader's feet. Lincoln Rhyme's back all right, and the smart money's betting that his run has just begun. --Michael Hudson

Sherlock Holmes : The Complete Novels and Stories (Bantam Classic) Volume I

Arthur Conan Doyle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Sherlock Holmes
The Complete Novels and Stories

Volume I

Since his first appearance in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes has been one of the most beloved fictional characters ever created. Now, in two paperback volumes, Bantam presents all fifty-six short stories and four novels featuring Conan Doyle’s classic hero--a truly complete collection of Sherlock Holmes’s adventures in crime!

Volume I includes the early novel A Study in Scarlet, which introduced the eccentric genius of Sherlock Holmes to the world. This baffling murder mystery, with the cryptic word Rache written in blood, first brought Holmes together with Dr. John Watson. Next, The Sign of Four presents Holmes’s famous “seven percent solution” and the strange puzzle of Mary Morstan in the quintessential locked-room mystery.

Also included are Holmes’s feats of extraordinary detection in such famous cases as the chilling “ The Adventure of the Speckled Band,” the baffling riddle of “The Musgrave Ritual,” and the ingeniously plotted “The Five Orange Pips,” tales that bring to life a Victorian England of horse-drawn cabs, fogs, and the famous lodgings at 221B Baker Street, where Sherlock Holmes earned his undisputed reputation as the greatest fictional detective of all time.

The Coffin Dancer (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel)

Jeffery Deaver

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 217 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This return engagement for quadriplegic criminologist Lincoln Rhyme is strong on forensic details as Rhyme tracks an elusive assassin known only by the tattoo that gives this fast-paced thriller its title.

Three witnesses to a murder could put a millionaire arms dealer behind bars for good. When one of them, the co-owner of Hudson Air, is blown up in a plane bombing with the Dancer's fingerprints all over it, the FBI takes the other witnesses into protective custody. Only Rhyme can decipher a crime scene, read the residue of a bombing, or identify a handful of dirt well enough to keep up with the killer. Helped by Amelia Sachs, his brilliant and able-bodied assistant, Rhyme traces the Dancer through Manhattan streets, airports, and subways. The psychological tension builds rapidly from page one all the way to the stunning and unexpected denouement. At the same time, Jeffery Deaver slowly develops the against-all-odds love affair between Rhyme and Sachs. Fans of Patricia Cornwell and others in the growing subgenre of forensic thrillers will find a lot to enjoy in Deaver's latest. --Jane Adams

The Game of Kings (Lymond Chronicles, 1)

Dorothy Dunnett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 118 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The first of a wonderful historical series 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I have just finished the last of the six - Checkmate. I was gripped from the first - Game of Kings. The writing is stunning, the plots complex and very exciting and the hero, Francis Crawford, is mesmerising. I highly recommend all six to anyone who is fond of historical fiction. The stories are all set in amongst genuine characters and events over a period of 10 years in the middle of the 16th C starting in Scotland with the young Mary Queen of Scots but taking in history and politics during that same period in England, Russia, Malta, Turkey and France. The personal stories of Francis, his family and friends/enemies are twisted through the whole in a wonderfully witty, moving and fascinating manner. To start with I was slightly daunted by the detail but persist - the rewards are great.

Editorial Review:

Praised for her historical fiction by critics and devoted fans alike, author Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles took the romance world by storm some 30 years ago, firmly fixing Dunnett's reputation as a master of the historical romance. The Game of Kings, the first story in The Lymond Chronicles, sets the stage for what will be a sweeping saga filled with passion, courage, and the endless fight for freedom. The setting is 1547, in Edinborough, Scotland. Francis Crawford of Lymond returns to the country despite the charge of treason hanging over his head. Set on redeeming his reputation, He leads a company of outlaws against England as he fights for the country he loves so dearly. Dangerous, quick-witted, and utterly irresistible, Lymond is pure pleasure to watch as he traverses 16th-century Scotland in search of freedom. The Game of Kings is a must-have for the historical romance connoisseur.

The Bone Collector (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel)

Jeffery Deaver

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 290 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The One That Started It All 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Warning: Once you read this novel, you will be hooked. I devoured every other Lincoln Rhyme novel after reading the Bone Collector. The only problem I have discovered is that Mr. Deaver cannot write fast enough.

To anyone who enjoys a deliciously complicated character base along with amazing plot twists, you have found yourself a winner. I find myself wishing I could meet the people in this novel. You will too. I dare you to pick up a copy today, I promise you will be glad you did.

PATRICK RALEY is the author of the mystery, detective novel entitled "Precedent of Justice". Find out why Publisher's Weekly calls him "the next John Grisham."

Editorial Review:

The hero of Jeffery Deaver's thriller The Bone Collector is Lincoln Rhyme, a forensic scientist known to his peers as "the world's foremost criminalist." Rhyme will need all his reason--and his considerable stock of high-tech tools--about him to solve this latest brain-twister: a serial killer with method to his madness. In tried and true thriller fashion, the killer's crimes are described in lurid detail, as is the astounding technological equipment with which Rhyme examines the evidence--everything from an energy-dispersive x-ray unit to a mass spectrometer.

Every fictional detective has his or her gimmick, from Sherlock Holmes's violin to Nero Wolf's orchids, and Rhyme is no exception. He is a quadriplegic who can move nothing but a single finger. Gadget-philes will be in seventh heaven reading about Lincoln Rhyme's tools; other readers might feel the book could do with a few more plausible characters and a little less technology.

The Cold Moon: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel (Lincoln Rhyme)

Jeffery Deaver

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 105 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Less Detail And More Action Might Have Made The Cold Moon More Readable! 2 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have been a huge fan of Deaver's books since The Bone Collector. However, despite repeated efforts to get into The Cold Moon, I had to give up on it after only a third of the way through. For as long as I was able to stay with The Cold Moon, I found, atypical of Deaver's other Lincoln Rhyme books, the bad guys to be one-dimensional and uninteresting, the plot to be slow-moving and filled with excessive detail about the "science" involved in the investigation, there was too little action and the action that did occur was somewhat unbelievable and convoluted, and that Deaver provided nothing new in terms of developing the relationship between Lincoln Rhyme and Amanda Sachs. Perhaps if I had the patience to continue reading The Cold Moon my opinion would have been different; but after reading many of the other Amazon reader reviews, I didn't hold out much hope. Thus, given that I have so many books and so little time to read them, I decided to put The Cold Moon aside and move on to my next book. I'm still a Deaver fan and will read his next book -- but for the first time, I have been disappointed in a Lincoln Rhyme mystery.

Editorial Review:

On a frigid December night, an eerie pattern emerges from two equally brutal murder scenes, where a killer's calling card is a moon-faced clock that seemingly ticked away the victims' last moments. From his wheelchair, criminologist Lincoln Rhyme tracks the Watchmaker, a time-obsessed genius. With every passing second, the Watchmaker is moving with razor-sharp precision to his next act of perfectly orchestrated violence -- and Rhyme can't afford to have his trusted partner, Amelia Sachs, distracted by a daunting homicide case of her own. Up against a brilliant madman, Rhyme and Sachs are locked in a blood-chilling race with their deadliest enemy: time itself....

Catering to Nobody (Goldy, Book 1)

Diane Mott Davidson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

MEET THE CATERER WHO WHIPPED UP THE
MULTIMILLION-COPY MYSTERY SERIES–
AS GOLDY SOLVES HER FIRST MURDER!

Diane Mott Davidson’s winning recipe of first-class suspense and five-star fare has won her and caterer Goldy critical raves and a regular place on major bestseller lists across the country. In Goldy’s tantalizing debut, she serves up a savory dish of secrets, suspicions, and murder....

INCLUDING NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED RECIPES

Catering a wake is not Goldy’s idea of fun. Yet the Colorado caterer throws herself into preparing a savory feast including Poached Salmon and Strawberry Shortcake Buffet designed to soothe forty mourners. And her culinary efforts seem to be exactly what the doctor ordered...until her ex-father-in-law gynecologist Fritz Korman is struck down and Goldy is accused of adding poison to the menu. Now, with the Department of Health impounding her leftovers, her ex-husband proclaiming her guilt, and her business about to be shut down, Goldy knows she can’t wait for the police to serve up the answers. She’ll soon uncover more than one family skeleton and a veritable stew of unpalatable secrets–the kind that could make Goldy the main course in an unsavory killer’s next murder!

The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Novels (A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Valley of Fear)

Arthur Conan Doyle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The four classic novels of Sherlock Holmes available in a new slipcased edition.

The publication of Leslie S. Klinger's brilliant new annotations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 short stories in 2004 created a Holmes sensation. Here, in this eagerly awaited third volume, Klinger reassembles Doyle's four seminal novels in their original order, with over 1,000 new notes, 350 illustrations and period photographs, and tantalizing new Sherlockian theories. Inside, readers will find:

• A Study in Scarlet (1887)—a tale of murder and revenge that tells of Holmes and Dr. Watson's first meeting;
• The Sign of Four (1889)—a cinematic tale of lost treasure;
• The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901)—hailed as the greatest mystery novel of all time; and
• The Valley of Fear (1914)—a fresh murder scene that leads Holmes to solve a long-forgotten mystery.

Whether as a stand-alone volume or as a companion to the boxed short stories, this classic work illuminates the timeless genius of Conan Doyle for an entirely new generation. Slipcased hardcover; two-color text; 300 illustrations.

The Stone Monkey (A Lincoln Rhyme Novel)

Jeffery Deaver

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 114 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Good Detective Novel! 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

In this novel, the duo of Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs are on the case of an evil people trafficer, known only as the 'ghost'. The 'ghost' has just deliberately scuttled a cargo ship carrying his illegal immigrants, after locking them in the hold. However, a couple of families have escaped, and now he is ruthlessly on their trail, in the city of New York.

I found this novel a good read, if not quite a page turner. The combination of Rhyme and Sachs is always interesting, although, I feel, the large cast of characters, around them, from the different law enforcement agencies, can sometimes be a bit unwieldy, and on few occasions I had to think as to which character, belonged to which agency.

I thought there were a couple of small drawbacks to the book. Firstly, there seemed to be an awful lot of action/events going on in the space of just a few days, and, secondly, I felt some of the Chinese characters in the novel, were a bit too stereotyped. All in all, though, a fairly good book. Three and half to four stars.

Editorial Review:

When a vicious smuggler known as the Ghost scuttles a ship filled with undocumented Chinese immigrants less than a mile from New York harbor, only a handful of survivors--and the Ghost himself--manage to escape the burning vessel. Lincoln Rhyme, the quadriplegic NYPD forensic detective first introduced in 1997's The Bone Collector, and Amelia Sachs, his partner and lover, must stop the Ghost before he murders the two families who made it to shore. The families have gone to ground in the all but impenetrable world of Manhattan's Chinatown, a fact that makes the pair's two allies--Sonny Li, a Chinese cop, and Dr. John Sung-- invaluable partners.

The group's race against time showcases Jeffery Deaver's many talents, particularly intricate plotting, plenty of surprising twists, and breakneck pacing. This is a real standout from a writer whose previous thrillers have earned him a solid following among mystery fans. --Jane Adams

Saturnalia: A Marcus Didius Falco Novel (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries)

Lindsey Davis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Take a Roman Holiday 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

The most surprising aspect of this almost perfect mystery is that it is the eighteenth in the Marcus Didius Falco series. Some series lose focus. Some fictional heroes are useless once matrimony and children occur. Happily for the reader, that is not true here.

An enemy of Rome is on the loose, a wild priestess of unconquered Germany. Falco knows her from one of his foreign missions and is one of the few men in Rome who could recognize her. Falco has been ordered by the Emperor to track her down by the end of the Saturnalia festival. However, if Falco knows what's good for him, he'll find her sooner--his brother-in-law who may have once had an affair with the priestess has also disappeared. The wrath of the Emperor pales beside the anger of Falco's wife and in-laws.

Falco also needs to find a suitable gift for his wife, cope with the clamor of his vast extended family and find out who dumped the head of young Gratianus Scaeva in the fountain. The enterprising twists in the mystery compete with the engaging comic turns of a Roman family celebrating an extended holiday. Historical, yes, but also hysterical. Keep your eye on the turnip.

Editorial Review:

It’s 76 A.D. during the reign of Vespasian and the Roman festival of Saturnalia is getting underway. The days are short; the nights are for wild parties. But not for “informer” Marcus Didius Falco. His job is to uncover unwelcome truths and deal with sensitive situations, frequently at the behest of the imperial government. So when a general’s famous female conquest escapes from house arrest—leaving a horrendous murder in her wake—Falco is on the case. If finding a fugitive isn’t enough of a Zeus-like headache, Falco’s wife Helena Justina’s brother has also gone missing. Against the riotous backdrop of the season of misrule and merriment, the search seems impossible. And Falco seems to be the only one who notices that some dark agency is bringing death to the city streets…