Crime Fighting from Dublin to New Orleans and Beyond:

This month's roundup of recently read mysteries features police procedurals in a variety of settings, from Dublin to New Orleans to Beijing and back again, with a couple of serial killer cases and thrillers to leaven the mix. The Dublin novel, "The Midnight Choir" by Gene Kerrigan (2006), is a morality tale as well as retelling of investigations of crime cases; for the lead character, detective Synott, proves to be a little too intent on closing the books on villains, a character flaw which catches him out in the end. This story is a closely woven one, with scenes shifting from character to character, as the reader discovers who will get away with murder or other crimes and who will be trapped by fate and happenstance.

Drug running appears to motivate murderous activity in Vermont, Maine, and points north in Archer Mayor's "The Catch" (2008), which finds supercop Joe Gunther coordinating with different law enforcement agencies to seek out the killer of a Vermont patrolman. Much of the novel is spent in Maine, where the plotlines follow intrigues among fishermen and the lure of dealing in pharmaceutical-grade pills and tablets; but the underlying mystery involves a twist which can only be uncovered back in Vermont. There are some interesting supporting players, including women police officers and even a couple of female bad guys.

Larger than life good-guy Joe Pike manages a thrill ride called "The Watchman" (2007) by Robert Crais. The body count is very high as Pike strives to protect a federal witness and seeks to discover the sources of betrayal in a case that starts out as a relatively minor traffic accident. Pike appears to fall for the witness, a rich party girl named Larkin, but never lets emotions get in the way of taking out the bad guys. Larkin seems to grow up during the course of five harrowing days; yet, there she is at the end, once again tearing through Los Angeles in the dawn hours in a shiny new car. This novel is a quick read, with colorful bit players, and plenty of action.

For a fascinating blend of crime investigation and culture clash, a good choice is Lisa See's "Flower Net" (1997), which devotes equal time to uncovering murderers and other criminals in Los Angeles and in Beijing. Chinese detective Liu Hulan teams up with assistant U.S. attorney David Stark. Of course, the two are not strangers as both worked as young lawyers in the same L.A. firm and also, of course, are reunited as lovers. Diplomats and crime bosses are treated with kid gloves but still interrogated closely. Incidents dating from the Cultural Revolution have a bearing on the investigation. Gruesome deaths abound but, at last, Hulan and David find a resolution. There are some loose ends and overly frequent coincidences but, overall, this one is worth the effort.

Taking a different tack is the smart-alecky storytelling of James D. Doss in "Snake Dreams" (2008). Here we find 7-foot-tall tribal investigator Charlie Moon as the calm center of a storm where guns and pickup trucks are lost and, more significantly, found again in telling circumstances. That there is a murder to be solved seems almost peripheral to the madcap scrapes of Moon's aunt, who is a Ute shaman given to weird visions, and her young ward, a shaman in training. Devious females, who easily best the bad guys, are celebrated in this fun mystery where a new adventure appears to be waiting just around the corner.

More complicated, and possibly overpopulated with suspicious and intriguing characters, is Lee Wood's "Kingdom of Lies" (2005), a mystery combining murder with historical research into English royalty. Amateur sleuthing and regular police investigating are combined here as a history professor attending a conference in Kent insists on looking into the puzzling drowning death of a colleague. Sergeant Keen Dunliffe copes with the historian as well as with unfriendly London coppers, rather violent secret service types, and unresponsive witnesses. The research angle involves a book the drowned woman was writing about George III's first wife, a Quaker, from whom he may never have been legally divorced and by whom he had several children.

Another mystery with a British setting, "Wolves of Memory" (2005) by Bill James, focuses on the resettlement of a so-called supergrass, a former criminal turned police informant. Assistant Chief Constable Iles and Detective Chief Superintendent Harper are in charge of this witness-protection detail, which includes new names and housing for the informant and his wife and two young children. Conversations about the new names and about whether the informant can reconcile with his former crime boss are endless and become rather annoying for the reader. However, as a plot device, the repetitive but actually rather clever conversations, very effectively set up the twist ending.

Rome is the setting for David Hewson's decidedly melodramatic "The Seventh Sacrament" (2007), a serial-killer thriller revolving around a 14-year-old missing child case. Additional ingredients are an ancient religious cult and little known archaeological sites, plus rivalry and politicking up and down the police hierarchy. Series regulars, Inspector Leo Falcone and detectives Nic Costa and Gianni Peroni, investigate the motives of apparently crazed Giorgio Bramante, the archaeologist recently released from prison for killing the presumed abductor of his young son 14 years earlier. Along with pathologist Teresa Lupo and former FBI agent Emily Costa, Falcone and the others race to find out what happened to Alessio Bramante all those years ago when he was left alone in an underground cave near a Mithraic sacrificial altar. Falcone is set up to be Bramante's last victim, the seventh sacramental sacrifice, and features prominently in a unexpected ending.

Lastly, there is "Killer Takes All" (2005) by Erica Spindler. Here the setting is pre-Katrina New Orleans and the focus is a fantasy role playing game, one with unusually high stakes. Although the dialogue and descriptions are cliché riddled, the plot features enough twists to keep dedicated gamers and determined readers interested in seeing what happens next. The heroine Stacy Killian is a former cop turned graduate student. The official investigators Spencer Malone, also a love interest for Stacy, and his partner Tony Sciame, a family man, give Stacy plenty of leeway, but find themselves frequently coming to her rescue as she enmeshes herself further into the underground game called "White Rabbit," an RPG based on the "Alice in Wonderland" story. More detail about playing the game might have made this mystery a little more convincing. Still, the nearly unending series of whodunit twists, leading to a "last man standing," works pretty well.

This varied collection of novels may well appeal only to crime mystery buffs (you know who you are) and not to the general run of fiction aficionados. Imagined investigations, analyzed motives, and character interactions are expected, but the added spice of colorful locations, plot twists and red herrings, and exotic subcultures enliven all of these works, making them worthwhile leisure-time reading. Pick one and enjoy the case!