Making Money

 

Making Money by Terry Pratchett 394 pp.

Moist Lipwig, Ankh-Morpork's favorite conman turned Postmaster General is awarded a new position in the city's mint by the despotic Lord Vetinari. Moist must then deal with the elderly Royal Bank chairman who keeps two loaded crossbows on her desk and the Mint manager who is a small dog. There's also the chief clerk who is possibly a vampire and tries to block all of Moist's plans. Upon the death of the chairman, the dog is made the one in charge with Moist running things for him. While he tries to implement a paper money system, he must also figure out where the gold has disappeared to, creating many enemies that want to see Moist gone. Throw in a bunch of Golems, one who is transgender, if that is possible in a sexless clay being and a very inflexible accountant who was born a clown and it becomes Pratchett at his Pratchettiest.  In spite of, or maybe because of, the silliness there is a fairly solid plot in this book although it isn't quite as good as its predecessor, Going Postal.  

The Art Thief

 The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel, 221 pgs. 

Most heist films start off with a big plan, a cadre of ruffians who each bring their A-game along with the latest technology for subterfuge. The Art Thief is the opposite of all that. Starting in the late 90s, Stephane Breitwieser, alongside his girlfriend and accomplice Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, strolled into a museum in Belgium wielding only a swiss army knife and stole a 17-century, ivory-carved statue of Adam and Eve. No trip wires. No midnight rappel from a rooftop window. He walked right in during the guards lunch hour, put the statue in his waistband, and went home. And so began his insane spiral into stealing art all across Europe.

Breitweiser spent the next decade filling his tiny apartment above his mother's house with artifacts, oil paintings, engravings, statues--anything that caught his aesthetic eye. Most of the work he nabbed was from that similar time period, and to hear his side of the story as told by the author, he was a lover of art--not a thief. To wit, he never threatened violence against anyone, never damaged museum property, and--here's the kicker--never tried to sell any of the art. Investigators believe that's what made him so hard to catch. To Stephane, there is a long history of people stealing art from other cultures and he saw himself as carrying on that legacy. Not to make money but to enjoy and become closer to the work. However, even the best criminals get sloppy.

This is an unbelievable ride of  book where you find yourself shouting at Stephane saying "how is he going to get away with this?!" And then he does, time and time again. For adults and teen art students. Highly recommended (reading the book, not stealing art). 

Murder at Half Moon Gate

 

Murder at Half Moon Gate by Andrea Penrose 360 pp.

In Regency England, the Earl of Wrexford, an eminent scientist, discovers the body of a gifted inventor murdered in an alley. After reporting the death to the authorities, Wrexford is drawn into the investigation after the man's widow insists it was not a random robbery. The inventor's plans for a revolutionary improvement to the steam engine have gone missing, plans that are worth a fortune. Wrexford, his friend and political cartoonist Charlotte Sloane, and her two young wards join in the hunt for the killer. Suspects abound but as soon as they are sure of a suspect that suspect meets the same bloody death as the inventor. Wrexford and Sloane gather the local street urchins, friends of Sloane's wards, to be on watch and relay messages, much like Sherlock Holmes's Baker Street Irregulars. During all this, the local constabulary are pretty much useless. Lots of twists and turns in the story. This is the second book in the Wrexford & Sloane series but the only one I have read. 

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections

 The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections / Eva Jurczyk, read by Hannah Cabell, 323 pgs.

Liesl returns from sabbatical when a health issue puts the boss out of commission. He is a well-respected and dynamic leader who excels at fundraising. Closer to retirement than a burning desire to take the helm, Liesl immediately discovers a very rare and expensive Plantin Bible set has gone missing. Is it misplaced or has there been a silent heist? Next a librarian goes missing. Are these events related?   The story has enough personal detail that the characters, their interactions and history are as intriguing as the mystery. The end result reveals the exciting life of librarians and is a study on leadership. Narrator Hannah Cabell does a great job conveying Liesl’s frustration, stress and exhaustion while voicing other characters with equal aplomb.  

Hope Rides Again

 Hope Rides Again by Andrew Shaffer (2019) 285 pages

The second in a mystery series whose fictional main characters are Joe Biden and Barack Obama, this book was the perfect antidote to a rainy winter day. The book, written from Biden's point of view, takes a moment at the beginning to give his thoughts about the first book in the series: "What a bunch of malarkey...Some two-bit hack had written a potboiler starring yours truly, Joe Biden." 

This story finds Biden in Chicago to see Obama and to meet Caruso, a former rapper who's now a social justice activist, a man whose endorsement would be useful if Biden decides to go ahead with another bid for president. Along the way, Obama's Blackberry is stolen, leading Biden on a mission to track it down, bringing him to a crime scene at the railyards. Shaun, a teenager in Obama's Rising Stars Program which fosters the next generation of community leaders, has been shot. Over the course of the long day, Biden hops all around Chicago to find out who shot him, sometimes alone and sometimes with Obama (and Obama's long-suffering secret service detail, Steve). 

One never knows which pol's name will be dropped next. Sometimes the former partners keep secrets from the other, and sometimes they think they can read each other's minds, with almost disastrous results. Whatever, this mystery/bromance is a quick, entertaining read.

Dog Tags

Dog Tags by David Rosenfelt (2010) 360 pages

Andy Carpenter is an independently wealthy defense attorney who takes only the cases that really interest him. If a dog is connected to the case, he is interested. In this case, Billy Zimmerman, an army veteran who lost his leg in Iraq, returned to the US after his injury, only to find that his police job wasn't waiting for him anymore. He was able to keep Milo, the beloved police dog he'd worked with, now that Milo was considered too old for police work. Billy trained Milo to work a few thefts with him to survive. But when Billy found his former Army commander acting suspiciously and chose to send Milo after him to get an envelope out of his hands, the Army commander was shot by someone else and Milo took off with the envelope. Billy waited with the dead man, only to be arrested for his murder.

Andy Carpenter first took the case to protect the dog, and later Billy. What looks like a revenge murder (Billy supposedly killing his commander because he thought the commander cost him his leg in Iraq) turns into an international intrigue with several murders and something big on the horizon that must be stopped, if only Andy's team (and the FBI) could figure out what it is.

I've found Andy Carpenter mysteries to be fast-paced reads; some chapters with Andy's first person accounts and others with a third person description of other events to add background and suspense.