Jhegaala
Steven Brust
Forge, Jul 2008, $24.95
ISBN 9780765301475

Vlad Taltos is upset with his divorce as he married expecting forever. However, he is more concerned over his former employer, Jhereg putting a hit on him for his recent betraying activities. He concludes if he wants to remain with a head on shoulders he has to leave Draegaria until Jhereg’s assassins find a different target to ocuppy their time.

Vlad decides to visit maternal relatives he never met in some way out place. His only clues are their surname is Merss and they reside in Burtz, Fenario. He leaves with his usual retinue of familiars and his telepathic lizard pals Loiosh and Rocza. In Burtz, Vlad expected a hero’s welcome or at least a welcome to the family greeting. Instead he is warned to be careful by everyone in the paper mill town he encounters including his Noish-pa grandfather as he is under surveillance because the leaders expect him to cause trouble. The outsider is further stunned by a lack of a local coven, a given in every Fenario village and the normally potent Guild remains silent while workers are abused. However when a fire that looks like arson kills most of his relatives, Vlad begins to investigate, but each clue he and his limited support crew uncover leaves them with many more questions and danger from a powerful despotic oligopoly.

This is a fresh change to the strong long running series as not only does Vlad leave town enabling the audience to meet some of his maternal roots, but he conducts a fabulous whodunit investigation. The story line is fast-paced but humorous with the amusement mostly performed by the two lizards who provide 1930s style sidekick comments to the sleuth. Fans will enjoy this entertaining trek into Vlad’s heritage Steven brust writes a delightful fantasy investigative thriller.

Harriet klausner

Lover’s Bite
Maggie Shayne
Mira, May 2008, $7.99
ISBN: 9780778325185

With a respite from the Gregor hunt and while her teammates are occupied elsewhere, royal vampiress Tanya “Topaz” DuFrane decides the opportunity to learn more about her roots is now. She knows her mom was movie star Mirabella DuFrane, who was murdered in an unsolved case and that four men claim fatherhood. Ironically she thinks none stepped forward when she was an infant with no mother. Topaz plans to bring her brand of justice to the unknown killer.

Vampire Jack Heart insists on assisting Topaz who wants nothing to do with the rogue as he broke her heart and absconded with a half million dollars of her money the last time he helped her. She distrusts him and cannot afford the fee for his services especially in the bedroom, but figures she is safer to keep your known enemy close when you are at war. As they investigate the cold case, she fears déjà vu is happening all over again as he steals her heart and who knows what else from her.

Few writers can combine humor, romance, and the paranormal in action-packed yet character driven thrillers like Maggie Shayne consistently achieves (see her Twilight tales). Her latest winner is a terrific romantic suspense vampire investigative thriller that never slows down from start to finish as Topaz needs to know and act once she knows. She quickly learns she don’t know Jack who is a loving rogue with a deep need to keep her safe while also trying to con a few zillion bucks out of his princess. Fans will enjoy this excellent tale as Topaz fears her LOVER’S BITE comes with a high price that to her chagrin she wants to pay.

Harriet Klausner

In Milton Lumky Territory
Philip K. Dick
Tor, May 2008, $25.95
ISBN: 9780765316950

Mid twenties Bruce Stevens lives in Reno working as a buyer for Consumers Buying Bureau. It is one of those new establishments: a discount place. He stops in Montario, Idaho to buy Trojans; planning to use them when he visits Peg Googer. However, Peg has company including Susan Faine, who looks familiar, but he cannot place her. Susan runs a typewriter rental service mostly used by male lawyers and has just obtained a divorce from Walt in Mexico. He leaves for Boise but forgot his coat so he returns to Peg’s house; only Susan is there as the others went out. As he leaves again, he is attracted to Susan before realizing that she was Miss Reuben, his fifth grade teacher at Garret A. Hobart Grammar School in Montario back in 1944.

Ten years his senior, Susan and Bruce marry giving him an instant family as she has a stepdaughter and her typing business to run while he is on the road a lot as he does the circuit between most of the major cities west of the Rockies. His western travels lead to his meeting older traveling paper salesman Milton Lumky whose depressing look at the American conditions haunts Bruce as the middle aged seller pontificates negatively about traveling salesmen being a dying dinosaur with the discounters on the rise. Meanwhile, Susan’s fears that Bruce will leave her for some younger female he meets on the road harm their relationship while his misperceptions about families hurt their marriage further.

Although written as a late 1950s contemporary, IN MILTON LUMKY TERRITORY has the deep feel of a well written character driven historical that feels so apropos today with the dramatic demographic shifts in employment skills. Bruce is actually the prime player with Milton and Susan providing strong support mostly insight into the lead character or his work. Philip K. Dick shows his versatility and currency with this fine tale that holds up well as both a historical and as a deep look at people struggling with radical societal changes in their lives.

Harriet Klausner

In the Earth Abides the Flame
Russell Kirkpatrick
Orbit, Feb 2008, $7.99
ISBN: 9780316003421

In Faltha, the Company led by teens Hal and Leith completed their quest, rescuing their parents Mahnum and Indrett from the Bhrudwons who snatched them to keep their invasion plan secret (see ACROSS THE FACE OF THE WORLD). However, the group still grieve their losses and the survivors recover from their wounds; but wary they realize a new mission has surfaced as the Bhrudwons were right to want to silent Mahnum, who knows their insidious scheme. The Company needs to inform the ruling Council of Faltha that their neighbor led by the Destroyer plans to invade so the country can prepare.

The heroes travel to the capital Instruere where they soon find themselves mostly ridiculed by the Council members; as some are corrupt and already bought by the Bhrudons while others disbelieve such an assault is imminent and all fear the at hand religious threat from within. Frustrated Hal and Leith realize the only hope to unite the country resides with finding the legendary Jugom Ark that most people believe never existed. The second quest has begun.

Like its predecessor this quest tale differs from fantasy sagas as most of the plot occurs on the mundane plane rather than the otherworldly realm; this enables the audience to feel they are part of the Company with a deep taste of geography and history. However, after the harrowing escapades of their previous rescue adventure, the relationship between the siblings feels off as it seems static rather than having changed, which makes them feel less developed than in the previous book. Still this is an entertaining save the world from evil entry although it behooves new fans to read the previous entry first.

Harriet Klausner

Iron Kissed
Patricia Briggs
Ace, Jan 2008, $7.99, 304 pp.
ISBN 978044105665

The werewolves have come out of the closet (at least the woods) to let the humans know they exist. The Grey Lords forced the fae to reveal themselves as well. Because they are so powerful, they live on reservations guarded by human security. Mercy Thomas, a walker (a shapeshifter who turns into a coyote) is asked by her friend and mentor Zee to come to the reservation to see if she can scent out the killer of various fae.

One scent is present at all the killings sites, the human guard O’Donnell. When Zee and his and Mercy’s friend find him, he is being torn apart by an unseen person. Zee asks Mercy to leave; the next thing she hears is Zee has been arrested for O’Donnell’s murder. He is not talking to the human authorities and doesn’t want Mercy to interfere but she won’t let her friend be tried for murder because the fae especially the Grey Lords think that will make the problem of human fearing the fae go away. She investigates on her own and gets caught in the trap that was set for the killer.

If Mercy didn’t have enough to worry about, the time is coming where she will have to choose Sam or Adam, the alpha of his pack as her mate. Sam was her friend who hurt her very badly and Adam is a domineering possessive werewolf who won’t let Mercy get away from him. The well plotted mystery contains plenty of suspects but nobody will guess who the killer is because the culprit hides in plain sight giving everyone, including the audience and Mercy, the impression of being a sweet and kind person. IRON KISSED is a wonderful urban fantasy combined with an exciting amateur sleuth mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Jumper: Griffin’s Story
Steven Gould
Tor, Aug 2007, $24.95
ISBN: 9780765318275

When Griffin was four year old he learned he had the uncanny skill of a Jumper, being able to teleport himself to any place he has been. His parents warned him to keep his ability secret and quickly relocated out of fear. When he turned nine the men arrived at his home in search of him; they killed his parents, but he leaped to safety before the hit men could murder him.

Over the years, Griffin vows to survive long enough to kill those who murdered his parents. Nothing will stop him although he knows he must learn who the planners and financiers behind the operation are. Every one of them must die if he is to avenge his parents’ murders and if he is to survive as his adversaries want him dead.

This is a book based on an upcoming movie based on a book originally written by the same author Steven Gould. Griffin’s story is fun to follow although it has a film feel to it as it jumps from one action scene to another. Still Mr. Gould showcases his talent as readers will empathize with Griffin, whose jumps seem genuine and his obsession for revenge real.

Harriet Klausner

Jupiter’s Shadow
David N. Drury
Five Star, Sept 2007, $25.95, 343 pp.
ISBN 9781594146077

On the Jupiter Station of the Conglomerated Mining and Manufacturing Companyprivate detective Michael Flynn and his wife Wendy Chadwick head of the legal department are content with their respective jobs. Flynn is hired by Francine Cross to find out if her husband is cheating on her. The case turns deadly when Leron’s body is found dead; the victim of a homicide.

Before Leron was murdered there was another homicide at the station but it takes a while for Company Security to find out who the deceased is as his DNA is not in the database of company security chief Silvanus Drake. Flynn’s wife hires him to find out who killed the unidentified victim and Drake puts Flynn on a yearly retainer so if that something happens to him, Michael will take over his job. Drake and Flynn believe the murders have to with the weapon that was placed in the station a decade ago that was neutralized by Drake and that the person who put it there is coming to blow up the station. Flynn and Drake hope to catch that person soonest because they don’t know if there are anymore weapons like that on the station.

Taking place only four decades in the future, readers get a glimpse of what it could be like living on a space station with 24,000 people. It is a small city with its own culture and laws (reminds me of a place called Co-Op City in the Bronx). The hero is a man who succeeds at what he is trying to do. Readers will enjoy the characterizations, the action that is plentiful, and the locale.

Harriet Klausner

Jane-Emily
Patricia Clapp
Harper, August 2007, $12.95, 285 pp.
ISBN: 9780061245015

“Jane Emily”. In the summer of 1912 in Lynn, Massachusetts, Louisa Emory accompanies her niece Jane to visit her father’s mother. Twenty years ago another young child died there; a girl who was willful, selfish, and determined to get her own way. Jane is obsessed with Emily, seeing her face in the reflections ball in the garden, reciting a poem that Emily wrote and seeing the reflections that light up on a moonless night in Jane’s room. The one thing Emily wanted most was to grow up and marry Dr. Frost but now he is falling for Laura. That makes Emily very angry and she is determined to haunt Jess through someone he cares about.

“Witches’ Children”. It began in January of 1692 in Salem village when a group of girls, cooped up for the winter, begged the slave Tituba to read the cards and tell the future from reading palms. They know the slave goes into a trance and they teach themselves how to do it. As they emulate the slave, the villagers see them having fits and when they come out of it they accuse villagers of being witches. The more attention people pay to them, the more power they gain and the more people are named witches and wizards; arrests are made until one of the girls Mary Warren begins to believe they are suffering from group hysteria and begins to doubt what she has “seen” is real. All the people named witches are found guilty and some are executed until the tide of public opinion turns against them.

“Jane-Emily” was first published twenty years ago and it is a brooding gothic ghost story in the tradition of Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Slowly readers come to believe that the essence of Emily is lingering even after she died, as malevolent after death as she was in life. “Witches’ Children” is a tale of mass hysteria in which the power of the mind is mistaken for the power of witches living in the village. Both novellas are well written, with interesting characters and a dark foreboding atmosphere.

Harriet Klausner

The Jaguar Legacy
Maureen Fisher
Lachesis Publishing, 2007, $17.50
ISBN: 1897370040

Journalist Charley Underhill’s career looked promising until the panic attacks began that devastated her and destroyed her reputation as a serious investigative reporter. Seeing an opportunity to rebound and restore her name, Charley “joins Dr. Alistair Kincaid’s Olmec archeological dig in Mexico. There she is “greeted by the Ice Queen who warns her to beware of jaguars as reported by the New York Times, who never prints anything not fit to print.

Alistair also wants to save his reputation with this dig so he is unhappy with a snoop arriving at the remote locale although he admits to himself he is attracted to her. However, he has bigger problems than some nuisance reporter he desires, as problems from unknown adversaries impact the methodical work to uncover Olmec artifacts. As they fall in love, Charley begins to believe her panic attacks are memories of a past life warning her that she and Alistair are in danger just like they were in a previous lifetime.

THE JAGUAR LEGACY is a terrific paranormal romantic suspense thriller starring two likable lead protagonists. Charley and Alistair share in common a deep attraction from the first moment they see each other, a gut suspicion of one another, an apparent past, and a need to prove worthy initially to their respective peers, but soon to each other. Sub-genre fans will gain immense delight from this tale as the audience will wonder reincarnation, native occult mysticism, or human enemies.

Harriet Klausner

Just Like A Fairy Tale
Sophia Babai
Luna Brillante Publishing
ISBN: 0978527224

She arrives at the Eva After restaurant not remembering anything though the eatery seems to beckon her. Her first reception there is from a young woman who accuses her of being a whore and costing her a waitress position at the eatery when they both worked there. Next the owner Kevin has missed Anima Sola, but now that she has returned he wants to hit her; he settles for yelling at her asking why she came back and what she did with his pants when she left. Kevin has a “guest” little Eva who tells him to be nice to the bewildered woman

Kevin provides shelter to a god-like creature Taliesin who is in mortal combat with his malevolent brother Morfran. However, Taliesin seems to behave as if he prefers death in spite of raging Kevin’s frustrated coaxing to fight. Anima realizes Kevin’s guest knows who she truly is, but he refuses to reveal anything of importance to her. Instead, he encourages her to learn the truth with surly Kevin’s help because for him to defeat Morfran, he needs this duo.

This is a character driven fantasy starring a strange super-being, a female amnesiac, and a churlish hero, who argue and fusses even when confronting the enemy. Readers will enjoy the verbal battles between the magnificent trio, as they prepare to battle evil though the loquaciousness makes the story line more passive then action fans will want. Still fantasy readers will enjoy the first Walking Shadows thriller while welcoming a new talent into the fold.

Harriet Klausner