The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry

March 10, 2026

The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry

Tom Rourke is a drifter in the mining town of Butte, Montana, in 1891. He emigrated from Ireland and landed in Butte along with thousands of other Irish immigrants, where a good income could be earned working in the mines. But he is unsuited to the work and soon finds himself working part-time at a second class photography studio and spending the rest of his time drinking, smoking opium, and patronizing the town brothels. At the studio, he meets the new wife of one of the mine owners, who is decidedly lower class than her new husband, and the pair decide to run off together. But the miner wants his wife back and sends a bounty hunter to track them.

I picked up Barry's latest book from the library, and it had a romance sticker on the spine. It is NOT a romance - Barry writes literary fiction, usually about the grittier side of life. Yes, there are two people who may be star-crossed lovers who run away together, but you know right away that there is no happily-ever-after going to happen. I've read Kevin Barry before so I had an idea what to expect. The language is poetic but the lack of punctuation makes the dialogue difficult to follow at times. There is a Bonnie & Clyde vibe here, two doomed lovers who know they are doomed, repeatedly make the wrong choice, and know they are doing it. This is a Western adventure populated by the author's usual Irish characters and their dark humor and outlook on life. Other reviewers have compared this novel to the TV series Deadwood, which I loved. Not for everyone.

Butte, Montana, in the late 19th century

Five Decembers by James Kestrel

September 25, 2025

Five Decembers by James Kestrel

In early December 1941, Detective Joe McGrady is new to the Honolulu police department, having been recently discharged from the Army. One rainy night, his captain sends him out to a dairy farm to investigate a wild story told by a drunken farm worker of finding a dead body hanging in a shed. Little does Joe know that the case will take him to China and Japan, far from the woman he loves as he chases down a vicious killer.

Winner of the Edgar award, a traditional noir mystery with the traditional hard-boiled crime cover, beginning in Honolulu in December 1941. Gritty, violent, bloody. There are shocking descriptions of Tokyo after it was fire-bombed by American bombers. It turns out the Americans didn't need the atomic bomb after all - since almost all the buildings in Japan were made of wood, regular fire bombs wreaked just as much destruction as the A-bomb (see picture below). This is a can't-put-down read - I read a third of the book the day that I started it. Readers who enjoy the grit lit fiction of James Ellroy or James McCain or even Don Winslow will enjoy this classic noir.

Tokyo after the fire bombing 

City in Ruins by Don Winslow

June 1, 2025

City in Ruins by Don Winslow

After leaving Hollywood, Danny Ryan has landed in Las Vegas. He is now a multi-millionaire, a legitimate businessman developing luxury hotels. But his past is never far behind, and it finally catches up with him.

Winslow concludes his saga of Danny Ryan with its combination of Greek tragedy and the Godfather. Not my favorite book in the trilogy, but Winslow wrote a conclusion to the series that wound in all the various threads and characters. Themes include moral ambiguity, revenge, crime and punishment, fathers and sons, honor, and the importance of family, whether they are your biological family or your chosen family. Although Winslow does some recapping, you really need to read the first two books to appreciate this one. The audio version is excellent. Winslow has announced that this will be his final novel. We'll see. Recommended for readers who enjoy the crime fiction of Michael Connelly, John Sandford, and Lee Child.

The Riviera, one of the oldest hotels in Las Vegas

City of Dreams by Don Winslow

May 5, 2025

City of Dreams by Don Winslow

After double-crossing the Moretti crime family in Rhode Island, Danny Ryan flees the east coast for California with his father, his toddler son, and the remnants of his Irish crew. He just wants a quiet life, to start over with his child. But federal agents contact him about doing them a favor; in return, they will help his problems from his old life go away. But then Danny learns that one of the film studios is making a movie based on the crime wars back in Providence, and he decides he wants in on the project.

The second book in the Danny Ryan trilogy, sequel to City on Fire, picks up exactly where the previous book leaves off. Loosely based on Vergil's Aeneid, which is the sequel to Homer's Iliad. Danny insists (a little too much) that he wants to go straight and live a quiet life, but just like the leopard, Danny can't change his spots: crime and bad decisions just seem to find him. All of the characters except Danny's son display some moral ambiguity - no one is all bad or all good. Furthermore, there is a pervading sense of tragedy that affects all the characters. Doesn't work as a stand-alone novel - you need to read the previous book to really understand what is going on here. I can't wait to get the final book in the trilogy, City in Ruins.

City on Fire by Don Winslow

March 16, 2025

City on Fire by Don Winslow

Danny Ryan is a small-time gangster working for the Irish mob in Providence, Rhode Island, working on the docks and trying to support his little family. Although there has been an uneasy truce between the Irish and the local Italian gang, their peace is shattered when one of the Irish takes the girlfriend of one of the Italians, triggering all-out war between the two factions. As he watches his friends fall, Danny finds himself reluctantly thrust into a leadership role as he tries to find a way to resolve the conflict before more deaths occur.

A modern day retelling of Homer's Iliad, like The Iliad crossed paths with Mario Puzo's The Godfather. I had to go back and make a list of the characters in the Iliad to try and match up the players who represent who (the Achilles character is not who you think it is at first but once I connected the actions, the character absolutely fit). There is even a Trojan horse of sorts. And who doesn't love a good mafia book? Themes include revenge, fate, respect, loyalty, and moral ambiguity. This is the first book of a trilogy. Another good Winslow read is California Fire & Life, a less complicated story but still a very good read. Recommended for readers who enjoyed The Godfather or Casino, especially if you are of a literary bent and are familiar with The Iliad.

Providence, Rhode Island

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

February 12, 2020

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

Clayton Burroughs has spent his whole life trying to be different from the rest of his family.  His father and brothers ran the biggest moonshine operation on Bull Mountain, and when prohibition was overturned, they moved on to marijuana, crystal meth, and guns.  To prove that he is not like his family, Clayton runs for and is elected county sheriff, which doesn’t sit well with his closest relatives.  His brother Halford has run his illegal businesses like a mafia don and depends on personal loyalty from those who live on the mountain, but various agencies of the federal government are closing in.  For good measure, throw in an ATF agent with a serious drug addiction and his own agenda.

The Godfather meets Winter’s Bone.  This is a quick suspenseful read with well-developed characters that kept me turning the pages, with good concise writing that doesn’t wander into a lot of unnecessary detail.  The story moves back and forth from the 1940’s to the present day with various stops in between, so if you don’t care for a nonlinear story, this may not be for you.  Be warned:  there is also a pretty high violence level.  Panowich has written two sequels set in the same area (Like Lions and Hard Cash Valley).

Sarah Jane by James Sallis

October 3, 2019

Sarah Jane by James Sallis

Sarah Jane Pullman (which may or may not be her name) was born in the area where Tennessee meets Alabama.  Her mother flitted in and out of her children’s lives, and although her father was hardworking, he couldn’t make a success of anything.  From an early age, Sarah roams from place to place, stopping when she runs out of money or meets someone interesting or just gets worn out, always hiding her secret history.  The chaos of her early life teaches her to travel light with regard to possessions and people.  Along the way, she serves in the army in a combat unit, earns a college degree, and becomes first a fry cook, then a baker, then a chef.  After her police officer boyfriend is killed in the line of duty, Sarah finds herself drawn to police work and becomes a deputy sheriff.  She is doing a good job, too, until the sheriff goes missing and she finds herself promoted to acting sheriff to investigate his disappearance.  But the deeper Sarah gets into the investigation, the more she realizes that the sheriff had secrets of his own that caught up with him, just as her own secrets find her.

Although we are aware that Sarah is telling her story selectively, deliberately omitting certain details, the reader is well into the novel before realizing exactly how unreliable a narrator Sarah is.  She chooses not to define many of her relationships and misadventures, even her relationship with Sid, one of the men who stays in her life longer than most men do.  Sarah is a true noir character, always short of money, taking whatever job comes along, choosing the wrong kind of man, and living according to her own code of ethics.

James Sallis writes wonderful, spare prose and does not waste words, the kind of writing that makes you stop and go back to re-read a loaded sentence.  Many thanks to the publisher, Soho Crime, and editor Juliet Graemes for providing me with a pre-publication ARC.

The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz

July 11, 2019

The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz

Billie James is a biracial woman, about 35 years old, who inherited a house in the town of Greendale on the Mississippi Delta.  Her mother, Pia, was a medieval scholar, recently deceased.  She returns to the house with her dog (Rufus, who used to belong to her recently deceased grandmother) because she wants to find out what happened to her father, Clifton James, a well-known local poet who fell and hit his head and died.  Billie was missing for several hours on the day her father died.  Billie and her mother have been estranged for several years from her father’s family, because inter-racial marriage was a felony in Mississippi.  After hearing snippets of information, Billie decides to investigate the events surrounding what happened the day her father died, but her family and the locals don’t want her digging around.

This was a little heavy for reading during the summer, but you take your new library books when your hold comes in.  Very slow moving, like the Mississippi Delta where it is set; the overall themes are the importance of family, place, and the truth.  Many of the characters are well-drawn, even Rufus the dog.  The ending was flat:  one of the things I didn't care for was getting to the end and having one of the characters (Billie's uncle) say, "Okay, this is what happened," after letting the other people in the town lie to her, terrorize her, beat her up, and shoot her dog (the dog is okay at the end).  It turns out Clifton dies as a result of being beat up; he refused to get medical help at the time of the beating and later when De tries to get him to go to the hospital; and when he is found later that night collapsed in his yard, the sheriff doesn't take him to the hospital.

Even though it's described as a mystery, I wouldn't give it that label.  I only finished it because I did want to find out what had happened to the father.  I did not really enjoy this one and don't recommend it.