"Death on Demand" by Paul Thomas / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s Killer Nashville Featured Books take me around the world, but they all have two things in common: non-stop suspense and brains.

Duplicitous characters are not only on a national level, but within the local New Zealand police department in Paul Thomas’s twisted “Death on Demand.”  Set in New Zealand, this is the fourth police procedural featuring vigilant Detective Sergeant Tito Ihaka.  He’s not popular and his colleagues would love to see him go, especially when he starts revealing the unsavory underbelly of the department as he moves through police diplomacy with the same force of a herd of rampaging cattle. Some have called author Paul Thomas, “Elmore Leonard on acid.”  Pay special attention to the believable characters and the dialogue, both excellent and droll.

Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!

Clay Stafford

– Clay Stafford is an Author / filmmaker (www.ClayStafford.com), business owner (www.AmericanBlackguard.com), and founder of Killer Nashville (www.KillerNashville.com) with over 1.5 million copies of his own books in print in over 14 languages.  Stafford’s latest projects are the feature documentary “One of the Miracles” (www.OneOfTheMiracles.com) and the music CD “XO” (www.JefferyDeaverXOMusic.com). Publishers Weekly has named Stafford one of the top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee, but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture.”  (PW 6/10/13)

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Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Killer's Art" by Mari Jungstedt / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

"Killer's Art" by Jari Jungsteadt

Today’s Killer Nashville Featured Books take me around the world, but they all have two things in common: non-stop suspense and brains.

“Killer’s Art” comes to us from one of Sweden’s most popular crime fiction writers Mari Jungstedt.  The theft of a painting and the battered and naked body of an art dealer set this mystery in order.  This well-crafted police procedural is the fourth in the series and features ongoing characters police superintendent Anders Knutas and reporter Johan Berg and takes place on a Martha’s Vineyard-type island on the Baltic Sea called Gotland where we see the contrast between the glittering art world and the shadowy, savage Gehenna underground surrounding it.  As usual with Jungstedt’s books, this is a thriller that will make you care about the characters as you explore those from different economic and erudite worlds.

Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!

Clay Stafford

- Clay Stafford is an Author / filmmaker (www.ClayStafford.com), business owner (www.AmericanBlackguard.com), and founder of Killer Nashville (www.KillerNashville.com) with over 1.5 million copies of his own books in print in over 14 languages.  Stafford’s latest projects are the feature documentary “One of the Miracles” (www.OneOfTheMiracles.com) and the music CD “XO” (www.JefferyDeaverXOMusic.com). Publishers Weekly has named Stafford one of the top 10 Nashville literary leaders playing “an essential role in defining which books become bestsellers” not only in middle-Tennessee, but also extending “beyond the city limits and into the nation’s book culture.”  (PW 6/10/13)

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Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Blood Trade" by Faith Hunter / Tuesday, May 7, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

“Blood Trade” is the sixth in the Skinwalker series from USA bestselling author Faith Hunter (also known as writer Gwen Hunter).

Jane Yellowrock is a vampire killer who finds herself working for the undead in a vampire story with elements of a police procedural.

The Skinwalker series is a popular series and if you’ve read the previous installments, you’ll know why:  great story (always and, in this case, a missing child always tugs at the heart), excellent plotting covering a lot of territory in a short time, and characters that become more interwoven and developed with every book, all mixed with the through-layering and exploration of Yellowrock’s Cherokee spirituality.  This particular installment has less sex and love life than previous books in the series (which works for me).  But it is always Faith’s urban fantasy writing style that makes for the great series.

I love the plague vampires of Natchez, Mississippi.  Faith pulls her characters from the location rather than building her characters around a location, which creates a wonderful, logical, and unified world. Readers will identify with the conflict of Jane coming to grips with her past.  For those following the series, this one offers a little more hope than the last installment.

If you ever want to know what it would be like to share your body with the spirit of a mountain lion, this is definitely the book to read.  You’ll be transported into this world as though you live there yourself.

– Clay Stafford is an author / filmmaker and founder of Killer Nashville. Stafford’s latest projects are the documentary “One of the Miracles” and the music CD “XO”.

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

"Farewell To Freedom" by Sara Blædel / Thursday, April 11, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Sara Blædel was voted as Denmark’s most popular novelist three times in a row. That’s no surprise. When it comes to police procedural, she’s always been one of my favorites.

“Farewell to Freedom” is from #1 international bestselling author Sara Blædel. Unlike a good number of writers I read in the crime genre who try to sex-up the victimization of women, Blædel’s portrayals are straight-on ugly. The story opens with a violently murdered woman and, across town, a found newborn. Though set in Copenhagen, the crimes could happen anywhere; there is a Kodboderne Street in every city of the world. As usual, Blædel handles multiple storylines well and eventually blends them together. Blædel’s portrayal of the slimy underworld side of humanity reads so realistically – syndicated crime, child abandonment, human trafficking – I found myself pondering at moments how active (or safe) she was in her research. She writes with the authority of first-person observation.

This novel is part of the series featuring Detective Louise Rick and reporter Camilla Lind. These two make a great partnership in crime fighting. “Farewell to Freedom” is the fourth Rick / Lind novel, but only the third to be published in the United States. Though part of a series, I think reading it as a standalone works as well as reading it in chronological order.

Kudos to Erik J. Macki and Tara F. Chace for an excellent translation from Danish.
– Clay Stafford, author, filmmaker, and founder of Killer Nashville

Buy the book from the Killer Nashville Bookstore and help support a new generation of writers and readers.

Visit our bookstore for other similar books.

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join our Facebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

“Only One Life” by Sara Blædel / Tuesday, October 16, 2012 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Today’s featured book is Only One Life by Sara Blædel.

A dead teen and an ethnic community wishing autonomy.

Why Clay Stafford chose this book:

Today’s Killer Nashville Book of the Day is an introduction to author Sara Blædel, Denmark’s designated “Queen of Crime.” You may not be familiar with her. This is only her second book to be translated into English. However, she is a novelist that I think you ought to get to know. Not only is she an internationally best-selling author, but she also founded the first crime fiction publishing house in Denmark. Good to know for you authors who are looking to expand into some foreign territories.

“Only One Life” is a bare bones police procedural. As one would suspect, it is set in Denmark. A young girl is found submerged in water. The cause of death is unknown. An investigation follows. For the would-be crime writer, this is a good story to study and take apart because the investigation is straight-forward and procedural. It reminds me of a Patricia Cornwell novel, but from a detective’s perspective rather than a forensic scientist’s stance. As writers, we buy a lot of books to learn proper procedure. Here is one in action.

The character’s (basically the detective and a newspaper reporter are the key catalysts in the story) are well-written and believable. Like all of us, they have their strengths and weaknesses. You learn some about their personal lives, but not to excess. Both women are more focused on their career tasks than on domestic relationships, which is what gives this novel such a streamlined structure.

Set in Copenhagen’s closed immigrant neighborhoods, this novel is a case of the outsiders trying to infiltrate complex ethnic family and community relationships. What the detectives find is a thriller filled with imported customs and values, indigenous expectations, obsession, family honor, and jealousy. What the reader will find is a great “new” author to follow.

As of this writing, Amazon is running a special on this book. Hardcover. Regularly priced at $25.00. Only $4.43 and ships free if you have a Prime account. And, if you order through the Killer Nashville site, you’ll also be supporting Killer Nashville.

From Amazon:

“Jealousy, obsession, and family honor have fatal consequences for an immigrant community on the fringes of seemingly idyllic Copenhagen society.

It was clearly no ordinary drowning. Inspector Louise Rick is immediately called out to Holbraek Fjord when a young immigrant girl is found in the watery depths, a piece of concrete tied around her waist and two mysterious circular patches on the back of her neck.

Her name was Samra, and Louise soon learns that her short life was a sad story. Her father had already been charged once with assaulting her and her mother, Sada, who makes it clear that her husband would indeed be capable of killing Samra if she brought dishonor to the family. But she maintains that Samra hadn’t done anything dishonorable. Then why was she supposed to be sent back to Jordan? Samra’s best friend Dicte thinks it was an honor killing. A few days later Dicte is discovered, bludgeoned to death, and Samra’s younger sister has gone missing.

Navigating the complex web of family and community ties in Copenhagen’s tightly knit ethnic communities, Louise must find this remorseless predator, or predators, before it is too late.”

If you want to make your own comments on this selection, we would love to hear from you. Join ourFacebook Killer Nashville group page or our blog and join in the discussion.

Remember that these books are listed at a discount through Amazon. You also don’t have to purchase the version that is featured here. Many of these books are available in multiple formats: e–book, hardcover, softcover, and audio. Enjoy!

– Clay Stafford, Founder of Killer Nashville