Books I've Read

Palmer Stoat doesn't seem to get the message about his litter- ing. A lovable labrador is on the cover.

A plastic surgeon mucks up operations and murders. Interesting prosthetic hand in this one.

Mallory runs away from home, her friend Richard meets Skink and they team up to find her. A "teen"-downed story, pretty good, a little slow near the end, good ending, though.

Woman survives murder attempt by husband, gets back at him. Swamps, snakes, gators, and a large hairy guy.

Skink, #8. Published in 2020, this story is about a bunch of Burmese Pythons, a U.S. President who uses a tanning booth maybe too much. His wife, who is sympathetically portrayed. A woman snake catcher. Assorted Secret Service types. And Skink.

Untalented pop star Cherry Pye falls to revive a faltering career. No one loses a limb to a Floridian animal in THIS book, although one guy gets shot in the butt.

Big hurricane wipes out a goodly portion of Florida.

"Funny as hell.", "Hilarious..." say the blurbs. I was roused to laughter only five times. On pages 170, 287, 260, 364 and 414 of the paperback edition. Never the less, it was entertaining so I am going to try his other books.

A newspaper man comes up with a solution to the tourist problem in Florida.

A crawdad fisherman in Florida (imagine that!) has problems drug smugglers and the law.

Hector swears revenge on the man with one eye (and a big nose) who blackmails his father, causing him to die of a heart attack. Very good, now I have to read the rest of the related books!

Ripley meets an American lad who has run away from home and ended up in France. My second Ripley book, I rather found this one better than the first.

I could only find this book in a collection "Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s". It was so ungodly LONG that I'm entering as a separate entry! Since the collection contained four other NOVELS, one can assume the print was rather tiny. It was. I didn't much care for this book, and do not intend to read any others in the Ripliad. There were 340-odd pages of, did I mention it, TINY, print? I didn't feel any sympathy for any of the characters. About eight pages from the end, just before Ripley boards the Hellenes, he mentions THREE murders. I only remember two. I'm sure I just missed the point of the sentence. Hadas recommended this book. I don't hold it against her, though, it just didn't work for me.

Chee and Leaphorn looks for three guys who robbed a casino.

Joe Leaphorn investigates a rug that was supposed to have been burned a few years ago. Good story. I WAS confused when the gift box of cherries made their appearance on page 199. I cannot find any reference to it before that, and I LOOKED!!

Bernie becomes a Customs agent. A satisfying story, but not overly complicated. Chee finally gets his stuff sorted out.

Jim Chee goes into the Grand Canyon to search for diamonds from an airliner mid-air collision back in 1956. Dup entry under last name of Tony.

Another good mystery set in the Navajo nation. I got a little confused though.

Jim Chee investigates a policeman's death, Joe Leaphorn searches for a missing fleacatcher. Curiously these come across as "clean air", while the Lovejoy books seem so dark.

Chee and a retired Leaphorn look for clues in a tragic story of a lost gold mine, murder, and a missing wife. Very good.