The second book in the Ashraf Bey series is as good as the first. It’s different: the relationships between the various characters have changed following the events of the first book, and the focus of the narrative is less on Ashraf himself, and more on Hamzah Effendi. Just as in the first book, the story spends a lot of time in flashbacks, bringing the history of its characters to light. We already knew that none of the protagonists were innocents, but in places Effendi is surprisingly brutal and violent. The action kicks into high gear for the last hundred pages, with a neat twist to bring plot home. The final showdown is a bit too easy, and most of the political sub-plots are unnecessary, but it’s a damn fine book nevertheless.

Part murder mystery, part post-cyberpunk cyberpunk, and part exploration of the fascinatingly intricate city of El-Iskandryia. The story begins with two mysteries: who killed the woman in the study, and who is ZeeZee? ZeeZee is a refugee from the USA. He has just found out that his real name is Ashraf al-Mansur, that he is the son of the Emir of Tunis, and that he has been brought to El-Iskandryia by his aunt so he can marry the daughter of the richest man in North Africa. ZeeZee/Ashraf is not a man to be confused by this, though. He is a natural chameleon, and he adapts to his new persona quickly. Grimwood weaves the two plot lines together skilfully with flashbacks and plenty of foreshadowing, but by the end of the book only one of the mysteries is resolved…. Brilliant writing, with well-rounded, interesting characters–something for mystery and SF lovers alike.

Bernie Rhodenbarr takes a weekend break at an English country house hotel in the remote backwaters of Massachusetts. He has an ulterior motive, of course: he suspects there is a rare and extremely valuable book in their extensive library. Of course, the theft doesn’t go as planned. One of the guests is murdered, and then the hotel finds itself snowed in, and cut off from the outside world. A classic whodunnit that parodies Christie-style country house mysteries as much as it is one itself.

Kinsey Millhone gets persuaded to help Lieutenant Dolan and his retired colleague Stacey Oliphant investigate a murder case that has lain unsolved for eighteen years. Grafton weaves a classic detective story: a few tenuous leads develop into a tangled mess of small-town lives, and it takes all of Kinsey’s ingenuity to follow each strand to the end. There are some tantalising glimpses of Kinsey’s family, and some hints about where that story arc is going. As an interesting counterpoint to her relationship with her biological family, Kinsey forms a very strong bond with Dolan and Oliphant here, both of whom are in ill health. The overall result is one of Grafton’s best mysteries to date.

After the relative disappointment of Chosen Prey, Sandford is back on top form here. Clara Rinker was one of Sandford’s most interesting villains, because he chose to make her a sympathetic character. He even allowed Lucas Davenport to like her–a bit. She got away at the end of Certain Prey, but she’s back now, and taking revenge on her former employers. The FBI call in Lucas to help track her down. In classic Davenport style, he schmoozes and networks his way into places the FBI could never go, and breaks their investigation wide open. But can he get to Rinker in time? And in the end, who are you cheering for? Excellent stuff.

This is the first Kidd and LuEllen novel. For a book–a mass-market thriller, no less–about computer hacking that was published in 1989, it hasn’t aged a bit. Sure, the tech is old, but it’s never silly in the way that some “hi-tech” books seem after the fact. This is partly because Sandford puts a lot of research into his books, but mainly because at its heart The Fool’s Run is a fundmentally human story about crime and betrayal. Very good.

A robbery goes wrong. The three perpertrators break into a suburban house and take the family hostage. On the surface this looks like a simple hostage negotiation story, but it soon becomes more complicated than that. Some of the plot twists are expected, but all are perfectly timed to ratchet up the tension and keep the action flowing. The characterisation is simple but effective, resulting in a highly satisfying thriller that’s just begging to be turned into a film.

Not as good as The Dilbert Principle, but still a very funny and cynical look at work life. If you don’t recognize any of the underhanded, conniving weasel behaviour he describes (either in your colleagues, or in yourself), then you clearly haven’t spent enough time working in an office.