Review: Wild West Detective by James Clay

Summary: Rance Dehner, an operative for the Lowrie Detective Agency, pursues a wanted killer to the small town of Hardin, Texas. After bringing down the killer in a gunfight, Dehner discovers the gunslick was in town to murder Leona Carson, a penniless 14-year-old girl with a baby. Dehner cannot understand why anyone would employ a gun for hire to kill Leona, and finding the answer to that question throws him into a whirlwind of violent encounters. Soon he must dodge bullets from an onslaught of professional killers, while uncovering the shameful secrets of Hardin's leading citizens.

Review: This was short and sweet. Much of the story line is telegraphed using all the old western tropes. Don't turn to this book to discovery anything new. Turn to this book to be entertained and amused. For some reason the author likes the words mumbo jumbo. It was overused but funny to me.

 The reader, Milton Bagby, does an excellent job of creating voices to help the listener differentiate between characters. The audio book was published by RadioArchives.com. They did a great job and added the cd ending interludes I love and spoke about in a previous review. Like I said, this isn't a ground breaking novel. It's short and uses well used western tropes to convey an unoriginal story. That doesn't make it a bad book. Think of it as an old friend that tells you an old story you never tire of hearing.

Review: The Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

Summary: Hidden deep beneath Manhattan lies a warren of tunnels, sewers, and galleries, mostly forgotten by those who walk the streets above. There lies the ultimate secret of the Museum Beat. When two grotesquely deformed skeletons are found deep in the mud off the Manhattan shoreline, museum curator Margo Green is called in to aid the investigation. Margo must once again team up with police lieutenant D'Agosta and FBI agent Pendergast, as well as the brilliant Dr. Frock, to try and solve the puzzle. The trail soon leads deep underground, where they will face the awakening of a slumbering nightmare... in Reliquary, from bestselling coauthors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

Review: This is my third book I've read by Preston and Child and I liked this way more than The Ice Limit. It might equal Two Graves as an intense adventure. This also introduces audiences to Pendergast for the second time. The Relic is the predecessor to this book. It was not necessary to have read The Relic. The gaps were nicely filled in for me and had no trouble following the story. The story is fast paced and very interesting.

The story comes from multiple characters that intertwine evenly and fairly. Though it is marketed as a Pendergast story, he is not the star nor the hero that saves everyone.

Dick Hill is the reader and he always does a wonderful job. I was originally drawn by the authors and to see that Dick Hill read it, was the icing on the cake.

Brilliance Audio is the publisher and they always do an excellent job. My favorite little tidbit is that they play a little interlude at the end of the CD to tell you the disc is finished. It's helpful to me and I really like it.

I can recommend this with out reservations. Pick it up.