Sunday, November 26, 2017

Lines of Justice: Azdaja

I received a review copy of this book of this book from the author, Lee Sherred, in return of an honest review.

Lines of Justice: Azdaja is the debut novel by Lee Sherred. The story follows Dean Sampson, while serving in the Royal Military Police (and formerly having served in a parachute regiment) with United Nations troops in Kosovo in 1999, his team comes across a room in a basement in a town where a Serbian policeman and his family were gruesomely tortured and murdered which made everybody on the team sick by what they saw. All of a sudden they saw some movement in a dark corner of the room and captured the guy that did these atrocities, but they couldn’t prove it and he was sent back to Serbia. Now in present day England, Samson is a policeman and the body of one of the members of his team is found tortured in the same manner. Samson sets out to find and eliminate this man.

There is some very descriptive violence in this book. Other than the descriptive violence, the book is pretty good. The author ties in his military and police background into this book with non-stop action. This is the first book in a series and I’m waiting for the next one.


World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)




Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Into a Raging Blaze


Into a Raging Blaze is the debut novel by Swedish author Andreas Norman and was translated to English by Ian Giles. The book is about Carina Dymek, a Swedish diplomat who while at a regular working meeting with the European Commission, is approached by a man that gives her an USB stick. When she gets back to Sweden at discovers that it has a proposed top secret European Union Document, she forwards it to the Swedish government officials that would be the most appropriate to handle this material. The next thing she knows, Carina is suspended from her job, an investigation is began and her life starts going in a downward spiral. She decides the only way to repair her reputation to get her reputation and get her job back is to find this man that gave her the USB stick.

This book tends to be a slow read, especially at the beginning. The author doesn’t depict Americans and British in the best of light. It does start getting better within the last one hundred pages or so.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats from the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ***
(Three out of five stars)


Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Burnt Sienna



Burnt Sienna is a standalone novel by David Morrell, the author of Rambo. Chase Malone is a former marine helicopter pilot turned artist. International arms dealer and billionaire Derek Bellasar tries to strong arm Chase accept to paint a couple portraits of Bellasar’s wife and former model, Sienna, which Case refuses. Chase’s former copilot from the marines and current CIA agent shows Chase a picture of Sienna and persuades Chase to spy on Bellasar for the CIA, which Chase reluctantly accepts the commission to paint the portraits while also spying at Bellasar’s estate in the South of France. While working on the portraits, Chase senses that Sienna is being abused and is in trouble and decides to get her away from Bellasar, whatever it takes.

This story has action throughout and also has a love theme going along with it. It keeps the reader glued to the book wanting to know what’s going to happen and wondering if they’ll ever be free from Bellasar.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats from the following sites:


World of Sleuths Rating: *****
(Five out of five stars)


Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Murder As a Fine Art



Murder As a Fine Art is the first historical thriller written by David Morrell (author of Rambo) in the Thomas De Quincey series. This book takes place in London in 1854 where a copycat killer starts methodically and brutally murdering people as some true murders from 1811 Thomas De Quincy described in a book he wrote. De Quincey, his daughter, Emily, Detective Inspector Ryan and Constable Becker set out to find who is committing these murders and stop them.

This book seems to start out slow, describing some of the incidents from 1811, but the author soon draws the reader in to this story. It is interesting how he wrote it using both third person and first person narratives. The author did a good job of researching Victorian England and London and more specifically in 1854 so he could write it as if he wrote it back then. There is plenty of action and very absorbing.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats from the following sites:



Book of Sleuths Rating: *****
(Five out of five stars)


Posted by at No comments:

Friday, October 20, 2017

Least Wanted



I would like to thank BookGobbler.com for a review copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Least Wanted is the second Sam McRae Mystery written by Debbi Mack. Sam McRae is a female attorney in Maryland. In this story, two of her clients are Tina Jackson, a 13 year old black girl, who while trying to snatch an elderly woman’s purse, knocked the woman down causing her to break her arm and Brad Higgns, a young accountant and son of wealthy parents, suspected of embezzlement from the computer games company he works for. These two cases seem unrelated. But are they? The story follows Sam as she does her own investigation in order to try keeping her clients from going to prison. A lot of this involves going into rough Washington D.C. suburbs and Philadelphia.

This story ties a mystery, legal thriller and crime thriller all into one. Sam has to watch her back all along while trying to find the truth among all the lies she’s told. It keeps the readers wondering who all are behind the crimes up until the end of the story. A very entertaining book.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats at the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)


Posted by at 1 comment:

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

And the Wolf Shall Dwell


I would like to thank the author, Joni Dee, for a review copy of this book in return for an honest review.

And the Wolf Shall Dwell is the debut novel by Joni Dee. In this book, which takes place mainly in London, retired MI6 agent Adam Grey gets a phone call from an old informant wanting to meet with him and him alone. On the way to the meeting spot, Grey gets a phone call telling him that the informant had just committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. Since he was already near where the suicide happened , he was sent to the scene by MI6 to investigate. At the scene he comes across John Daniel, a foreign IT professional working in London who the informant ran into and muttered some words that John didn’t know what the informant meant by them. He then saw two men coming after the informant just before he jumped in front of the train. Grey and John then start working on trying to figure out what the informant meant and who was chasing him.

The author describes this book as a political and spy thriller. It definitely does have elements of both in it with plenty of action. About halfway into the book when they are starting to piece things together, a seemingly unrelated event takes place that drastically changes the course of the book. It has an interesting plot and story line.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats from the following site:


World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)


Posted by at No comments:

Friday, October 13, 2017

The Policewoman (revised edition)



I would like to thank the author, Justin W. M. Roberts, for sending me a review copy of the revised edition of this book in return of an honest review.



I first reviewed the book The Policewoman, Justin W. M. Roberts first novel, in this blog back in July. For those who haven’t read it or want to read it again, you can view it here. After reading mine and other readers reviews, the author went and revised the book some, addressing the areas that he got the most criticism, especially in the first few chapters of the book. After completing the changes, he sent me a copy and asked me to give it another read.



The author removed some of the material from the first few chapters that made it a slow read before making it a faster read. It is full of action, taking place in England, Ireland and Indonesia. The only thing that keeps me from giving it a higher rating are the scenes of graphic and gruesome violence scattered throughout the book.



If interested in reading this book, you can download it from the following sites:









World of Sleuths Rating: ****

(Four out of five stars)




Posted by at No comments:

Monday, October 9, 2017

The Simple Truth



The Simple Truth is the fourth novel written by David Baldacci. Michael Fiske, an attorney and clerk with the U.S. Supreme Court commits a felony by stealing the appeal letter by prisoner Rufus Harms from the Court twenty-five years after Harm’s imprisonment commences. After visiting Harms to verify the validity of his claims, Fiske and anybody else that has anything to do with the appeal ends up murdered. Fiske’s estranged brother, a former police officer turned defense attorney comes along and is determined to find his brother’s killer.

The first hundred pages tend to go slow in this book, but after that that action starts it keeps up until the end. Two of the people behind the crimes are known throughout the book, but the others can only be guessed throughout the book and why. It is a very entertaining page turner.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it from the following sites in various formats:



World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)


Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Killing Floor



Killing Floor is the first novel written by Lee Child and is also the first Jack Reacher novel. In this book, Jack Reacher is a former Army military policeman who’s been out for six months and has been a drifter ever since. Shortly after entering a small town in Georgia, he is arrested for a murder that he didn’t commit. Shortly after getting freed from jail and hearing about some information about the murder, he decides to stay and find the true murderer.

This book has action right from the beginning and keeps the reader entertained through the entire book. The author’s choice and use of the first person perspective works very good in telling this story. Many exciting twists and turns throughout the book.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats from the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: *****
(Five out of five stars)


Posted by at 1 comment:

Saturday, September 23, 2017

Evil Under the Sun

Evil Under the Sun was the thirty-second novel written by Agatha Christie, the twentieth with Hercule Poirot. Poirot is on vacation at a small island resort just off Leathercombe Bay in England. After the body of a former actress and temptress, disliked by around all of the female guests, is discovered on one of the beaches on the Island, Poirot is brought on to assist the local constables in their investigation to find the murderer.

Just like in several of her other stories, this one has several suspects, which are nearly all the hotel guests in this case. Their are deceitful stories told by several of the suspects and it is up to Poirot to figure out why. It is a good story all together.

If interested in reading this story, you can purchase it in various formats from the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)

Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Ten Little Indians

Ten Little Indians (also known as And Then There Were None) was the twenty-ninth novel written by Agatha Christie. Ten people, almost all complete strangers, are each invited to Indian Head Island for a week. Each invitation had something referencing to former friends and or employment possibilities. After they all get to the island, they are informed that their mysterious host is unable to join them until later in the week. After the boat that brought them to the island leaves, stranding them, just the ten. Soon after the murders begin. Who and where is the mysterious host? Who is the murderer?

This book keeps the reader trying to figure out who the murderer is through the entire story. It is as much a thriller is it is a mystery and written in such a way that it keeps the reader glued to the book.
It is a very well written and enjoyable book.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats from the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: *****
(Five out of five stars)

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Easy to Kill

Easy to Kill (also known as Murder Is Easy) was the twenty-eighth novel written by Agatha Christie. It as about Luke Fitzwilliam, a freshly retired policeman returning to England from Asia, who ends up in a alone in a compartment on a train with an elderly woman. The woman tells Luke about some recent deaths in the village she lives in and how she believes they are all homicides. She is on her way to Scotland Yard to tell them about her hunches because the constable and everybody else in her village would just laugh. The following day, Luke reads in the newspaper that she was hit by a car and was killed walking to Scotland Yard. Luke decides to go investigate the deaths and gather some evidence to give Scotland Yard, so he goes to the village, posing as an author writing a book about the local folklore.

This book is credited as a Superintendent Battle novel, but he doesn’t appear until the last two or three chapters of the story. There are a number of suspects like in the authors other stories, but unlike most of them, the reader can start guessing who the murderer is before they are actually exposed. It is a good story.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it at the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ***
(Three out of five stars)

Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, September 14, 2017

The Murder at Hazelmoor

The Murder at Hazelmoor (The Sittaford Mystery in the UK) was the thirteenth novel written by Agatha Christie and is a standalone mystery. The story takes place at the edge of Dartmoor during a cold and snowy period. Most of the residents of the tiny village of Sittaford gather in the largest house in the village for a fun evening despite being snowed-in and they decide to have a séance for fun. In the middle of the séance, a different spirit starts communicating with them informing them that a long standing member of the village has been murdered. Is this a joke or is it for real?

This story keeps the readers interest peaked with a good number of suspects with around each one having a tie to somebody at the séance. The reader can guess what some of the incidents might be in the book, but there are several that are hard to guess including the surprising end.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats at the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)

Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Peril at End House

Peril at End House was the fourteenth novel, the sixth Hercule Poirot, written by Agatha Christie. This book takes place in the town of St. Loo in southern England where Poirot and Captain Hastings are on vacation. They come across a Miss Buckley who tells Poirot that she has had three near misses with death over the same number of days. This persuades Poirot to come out of retirement in order to find out who’s trying to kill her.

There are several possible suspects in this story with several twists and turns throughout. It’s interesting following Poirot and Hastings in their investigation and has a surprising ending. It keeps the reader guessing at who is behind these attempts until the very end.

If interested in reading this book, you can purchase it in various formats from the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)

Posted by at No comments:

Friday, September 8, 2017

Dolores Claiborne




Dolores Claiborne is a psychological thriller written by Stephen King a bout a woman whose husband has a mysterious death during a total eclipse in 1963 and her wealthy employer who is under her care dies almost thirty years later. The setting of this book takes place on a small island just off the Maine coast. This story is her confession.

The format of this book is one that I’ve never seen before. The full book is her confession and in her words. The only dialogue the reader sees in this book is that in her confession or her replies to the questions that the local police ask her. The reader doesn’t see any of those questions, but the way she replies gives the reader a good idea what was asked.

If you are interested in reading this book, it can be purchased in various formats at the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)


Posted by at 5 comments:

Friday, September 1, 2017

The Cardinal of the Kremlin



The Cardinal of the Kremlin was the fourth novel written by Tom Clancy, the fifth in the Jack Ryan Universe (chronological order). This book takes place in the 1980’s while Ronald Reagan was President, both the United States and Soviet Union are individually working on their own Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) programs and the Soviet Union is in the middle of a war in Afghanistan. A high ranking Soviet official that has been acting as an agent for the CIA, code name Cardinal, for 30 years is discovered and can jeopardize the nuclear arms reduction talks going on between the United States and the Soviet Union. Jack Ryan is part of the diplomatic team sent to Moscow for the talks. He is also working on trying to get Cardinal out of the Soviet Union without anything being leaked about Cardinal’s spying against the Soviet Union.



This book has action throughout the entire story. There are times that it does seem to go slow. There are characters outside of the ones introduced in the previous books in the series that the reader will get to love or hate. Overall the book is thoroughly enjoyable.



This book can be purchased in various formats from the following sites:









World of Sleuths Rating: ****

(Four out of five stars)
Posted by at No comments:

Monday, July 31, 2017

The Return of Sherlock Holmes



The Return of Sherlock Holmes is the sixth Sherlock Holmes book by Sir Conan Arthur Doyle. Like The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, this book is comprised of short stories. The author had taken time away from writing Sherlock Holmes stories and led the readers to believe that Sherlock was dead. This book starts off with the reappearance of Sherlock after being gone for some years and the stories are of cases after he returned.

The stories in this book are varied and many of them have the reader guessing at who done it and how until the end of each story. Arthur Conan Doyle did another splendid job ad crafting these stories.

This book is in the Public Domain and be downloaded are purchased in various formats from the following sites:





World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)


Posted by at No comments:

Friday, July 28, 2017

Red Rabbit



Red Rabbit is the thirteenth book written by Tom Clancy, but the third in the Jack Ryan Universe. There were several books in the series written before this one, but this story takes place a few months after Patriot Games and before The Hunt Before Red October. It takes pace in the early 1980’s when Pope John Paul II was the active pope and the Solidarity Movement in Poland was starting to get international attention. Jack Ryan a new analyst with the CIA (and an up and rising star on the analyst side) is assigned to work in England alongside British Intelligence (SIS) specializing on the Soviet Union. All of a sudden he is assigned to sit in at the debriefing of a high-level Soviet defector.

This book doesn’t have as much action as his earlier novels. There isn’t much action until around two-thirds of the way into the story. But when the action starts, it keeps the reader glued to the book to see what’s going to happen. During the first two-thirds of the book, the reader can start guessing some of what is going to happen, but still is wondering how and when it will happen. There are still a lot of surprises after the action begins. It’s not his best book, but is still a good thriller.

You can purchase this book in various formats from the following sites:



World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)



Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Justice for Jessica

Justice for Jessica is the ninth novel by Alretha Thomas, the first in the Detective Rachel Storme series. This book is about Jessica James who was a very attractive woman married to Grant James, a wealthy businessman. Grant had to go to London for business, so Jessica’s best friend, Stacey Sullivan, stays with her the night he leaves. The following morning Stacey discovers Jessica’s body with her throat cut and notifies the police. Detective Rachel Storme, a seasoned detective on the force, was brought back from an extended leave, just when she was about to put in for retirement, to work on this case. There are several suspects for the case with Grant and Stacey’s husband, Mat Sullivan, being at the top of the list.

This book was written in the present tense first person narrative by both Stacey and Rachel which works good for this book. The author switches between the two by alternating chapters for each. She has a good size suspect list and many turns and plots in the investigation with a surprising end.

You can purchase this book in various formats from the following site:


World of Sleuths Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, July 7, 2017

The Policewoman

I would like to thank the author, Justin W. M. Roberts, for sending me a review copy of this book in return of an honest review.

The Policewoman is the debut novel by Justin W. M. Roberts. The book is about Inspector Sarah Michelle Dharmawan, a very beautiful and one of the best officers of the Indonesian National Police’s elite counter-terrorism unit, on loan to Interpol in Manchester, England as a liaison between Interpol and Indonesian police. Her team is going after the Irish Drug Cartel, formerly Irish Republican Army, who has drug manufacturing plants which produce ecstasy. They have known plants and operations in Ireland, England and recently Indonesia. The team’s objective is to bring down the cartel and their operations. Sarah’s primary task to find the cartel’s manufacturing plant in Indonesia. She plays a big role in the teams objective.

This book was a little slow at first, but picks up in Chapter 3. After that there is plenty of action. The story takes place in England, Ireland and Indonesia. They work with elite military units in all three countries in order to try to bring the cartel down. Just to let the reader beware, there are some graphic descriptions of the violence that a psychopathic member of the cartel performs. The author does a good job at informing the reading of the jargon and acronyms used in various countries in the book and will give the equivalents of what we use here in the United States.

You can purchase this book in various formats at the following sites:



World of Sleuth’s Rating: ****
(Four out of five stars)
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, June 29, 2017

The Butcher's Bill

First of all, I would like to thank the author for an advanced review copy of the book for in return for an honest review.

The Butcher’s Bill is the latest thriller novel by Martin Roy Hill. In the book, NCIS agent Linus Schag is assigned to find his friend, former Navy Seal and NCIS agent, Bill Butcher, who decapitated two men and wrote Linus’ name in blood at the murder scene. Instead of finding Bill, Bill find Linus and tells him about a scandal and conspiracy before Bill disappears again. The book follows Linus’ search for Bill and the truth of the conspiracy.

This book is non-stop action from beginning to end and keeps the reader wondering what will happen next. The author depicts NCIS and it’s agents to be not as glamorous as depicted in the three television series. He depicted the jurisdiction of NCIS while investigating crimes in more of an actual setting. He loosely based this story on some crimes that actually happened during the Iraq war and keeps it thrilling and entertaining all of the way through.

This book can be purchased in various formats at the following site:


World of Sleuths Rating: *****
(Five out of five stars)
Posted by at 1 comment:

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Introduction

Welcome to World of Sleuths, a blog mystery and thriller book reviews. Over a year ago I started another book review blog where I post reviews for most of the books I read. I have noticed since then that I read a lot more mysteries and thrillers than any other genre of books, so I have decided to start this blog dedicated just to the reviews for those books. I will continue review the books from the other genres that I read in my other blog, http://tims-reviews.blogspot.com.

I will review mystery and thriller books of about any sub-genre, old and new and also children's and young adult books as long as the main premise is a thriller or trying to solve a mystery, such as child detectives. I will also review books in which I receive advanced review copies from the authors or publishers in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have a number of mystery and thriller books sitting on my shelves and also on my Kindle Fire and Nook which I have yet to read which I will post a review upon completion of the book in this blog. If any of my readers have any recommendations for books or authors that you would like to see me review, please feel free to post them in the comments.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)