Glass Souls

In the abyss of a profound personal crisis, Commissario Ricciardi feels unable to open himself up to life. He has refused the love of both Enrica and Livia and the friendship of his partner, Maione. Contentment for Ricciardi proves as elusive as clues to the latest crime he has been asked to investigate.

The beautiful, haughty Bianca, countess of Roccaspina, pleads with Ricciardi to investigate a homicide that was officially closed months ago. In the tense, charged atmosphere of 1930s Italy, where Benito Mussolini and his fascist thugs monitor the police closely, an unauthorized investigation is grounds for immediate dismissal and possible criminal charges. But Ricciardi's thirst for justice cannot be sated.

A tightly plotted historical noir novel, this eighth installment in the Commissario Ricciardi series is a gripping meditation on revenge and justice in which each character's soul reveals itself to be made of glass.

Glass Souls (Historical Noir Mystery)

By Maurizio De Giovanni

Europa Editions

ISBN #978- 1609454098

Price $12.19

424 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Giovanni Continues To Entertain.”

It’s September, and serious crimes are absent at the moment, leaving Commissario Ricciardi and his partner Brigadier Maione with nothing to do. Ricciardi is still suffering after the death of his housekeeper, and his lost love, Enrica. Maione is worried about him, but perks up when Bianca, countess of Roccaspina, approaches them to investigate a four month-old murder already solved. Her husband is in prison, awaiting trial, after confessing to the crime, but his wife wants to know why, since she knows he was with her when the crime was committed.

The case interests them, especially if her husband was somewhere else at the time. Why would he confess? Ricciardi knows murder can be pinned to either hunger or love/hate. To be doing something to occupy his mind, they take the case, though it’s against Rome to do so.

Livia believes Ricciardi is homosexual since he won’t make love to her, and Enrica may soon be engaged to a handsome German soldier, leaving his love life in limbo, and it doesn’t help when the Fascists think the police officer is a homosexual. They won’t him removed.

Glass Souls is character driven, each character proving that souls are merely glass, ready to be shattered. Even if Ricciardi can save Bianca’s soul, can he save his own? And will Enrica discover that Ricciardi also has a glass soul?  The author continues to entertain with his police novels set in Italy, whether contemporary or the 1930s. He is the best writer to come out of Europe in my opinion, and I devour every novel he writes. However, I’m anxious for Commissario Ricciardi to settle down with Enrica, and quit leaving us hanging in every novel. Bring some other characters in for romantic entanglements, and let Ricciardi and Enrica have a quiet home life for a change, after all, it’s been eight novels now, gee. Really, though, this is a wonderful series, and I highly recommend it to mystery lovers, as well as historical noir.

Tom Johnson

Author of THE MAN IN THE BLACK FEDORA

Fever City

The story kicks off in 1960 Los Angeles, with the daring kidnapping of the child of one of America's richest men. It then darts back and forth between a private detective's urgent search for the child, the saga of a notorious hit man in the days leading to JFK's assassination, and the modern-day story of a skeptical journalist researching the still-active conspiracy theories of the 50s and 60s, with the aim of debunking them. Just as the detective discovers that the kidnapping is a crime much larger than he imagined, and the hit man finds himself caught in a web that is astonishingly complex, the journalist discovers-to his horror, dismay, and even his jeopardy-that the conspiracy theories might well be true.

With expert pacing, sparkling dialogue, and plot twists that will keep readers entranced, Tim Baker's irrepressible debut novel is a joy ride through classic noir traditions, updated with a surprisingly contemporary sensibility.

Fever City (Crime Noir)

By Tim Baker

Europa Editions www.europaeditions.com

ISBN #978-1609452872

Price $12.07 (paperback)

400 Pages

Rating 5-stars

“A Fast-Paced, Thrill-A-Minute ride.”

Normally, there are two things I absolutely hate in a story. One is using real people in scenes and narrative, the second is jumping back and forth in the tale from one point to another. This story contains both, but the author pulls it off. The author’s writing is smooth, and he keeps the same people throughout the tale, even if the years jump from 1959 to 1960, 1963, and 2014. It all stems from the kidnapping of the Bannister child in 1960 and the private eye handling the case, to the assassination of JFK in 1963 and one of the assassins hired for the job, and finally culminates with the son of the private detective searching for answers to the mystery in 2014. We are led through conspiracies with Marilyn Monroe, Howard Hughes and the Roswell UFO crash, to secret cabals, the Masons and Illuminati, and hidden temples in the homes of powerful men who control the political system of America and the world.

Two leading questions haunt the tale. First, what became of the missing child, and why are assassins trying to kill the son of the detective, now a reporter, trying to find answers to an old mystery. Everyone the reporter questions turns up dead, and some really weird people are trying to protect him before he meets the same fate. With most of the original people involved now dead, it seems he will not find the answer.

The story comes to an end in France, as the reporter finally learns the truth from one of the main players in this long-running mystery, although I had figured it out early in the story, and if readers will pay attention they will also. But it is certainly a good yarn, even if it does play loosely with real people in history. This book was hard to put down, and kept me turning the pages. Highly recommended for noir lovers.

Tom Johnson

Author of CARNIVAL OF DEATH

EUROPA EDITIONS Noir November Giveaway

EUROPA EDITIONS is doing an exciting #NoirNovember giveaway of one of their titles, plus a limited edition 10th anniversary tote bag. I will be posting about Noir November on my Blog, PULP DEN and Yahoo Groups. To enter, just comment on my blog saying what you like about Noir Crime fiction.

EUROPA EDITIONS publishes some great books, and I’ve discovered excellent international authors and series over the years.

You’ve read my reviews, now enter to win a book.

The Method

A down-and-out LA actor with a knack for impersonations finds his circumstances completely reversed by a chance meeting with a look-alike stranger. After a night of drinking with his new friend discussing the possibilities made possible by their similar appearance, the stranger offers the actor a ride home. On the way there is an accident and one of them is killed. The survivor finds himself in the hospital with amnesia and everyone assuming he's the stranger, the right-hand man for a mob boss. The survivor plays the role that's expected of him, despite the fact that doubt about who he is, weighs heavy on his mind. Life becomes a balancing act between the role he finds himself playing and the search for who he really is: the down-and-out actor or the mob consigliere?

The Method (Graphic Novel, Crime Noir)

By Jerry Bader

MRPwebmedia

ISBN #978-0994069818

132 Pages

Price $19.99 (Paperback)

Price $15.99 (Kindle)

Rating 4-Stars

“A New Experience In Graphics.”

An unnamed actor down on his luck falls even farther under when his wife leaves him for his agent, and depletes his bank account on the way out. With a hundred dollars left in his wallet he heads for a bar to get drunk. But a strange encounter changes his life suddenly. The waitresses mistake him for someone else, and within minutes that someone walks into the bar. He’s mobster Arnie Barnardo, the right hand man of gangster, Carmine, and is a twin to the actor. Becoming drinking partners, they’re both drunk when the mobster offers to drive the actor home. On the way there’s an accident, and one is killed, the other is left with amnesia. In the hospital, the survivor meets mob enforcer, Vito, and Arnie’s moll, Lonnie. The survivor quickly understands that he’d better play along, or the mob will kill him if he’s really the actor.

This was certainly a new experience for me. I was sent the iPad version, which included the audio. Unfortunately, I had trouble with the audio. Either I listened to just the audio, without changing pages, or I lost the audio by changing pages; every three or four pages, the audio hook-up would return, but just for that page. Although this is a Graphic Novel, with pictures and text, it is also adult in nature, and not meant for youngsters. The “f” bomb is constantly used in dialogue, so anyone offended by language should be aware of the content. The story itself was interesting, though contained numerous typos – “were” was usually always “where”, etc. Recommended for adult readers with an interest crime noir, and Graphic Novels with an edge.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia.com Production Company. “The Method” is the first in a series of hybrid Graphic Novels written in screenplay format with the script on one page and the illustrations opposite. The iPad version also has audio included for each chapter. In the coming months “The Method” Universe will be expanding with exciting and exotic  new characters as well as many of your old friends from this edition. If you’d like to be informed of each new edition please follow @mrpwebmedia on Twitter.