






I am reasonably sure I don’t have enough impulse control. At least I’m binging library books?







I am reasonably sure I don’t have enough impulse control. At least I’m binging library books?

Back again with another Bodenstein and Kirchoff mystery. Like the previous books, this one also involved multiple murders and a race against time. But unlike the previous books, there were secondary and new characters that I thought were really well written and compelling. At least compelling enough to mention that they were good in my review.
This story follows an sniper as he picks off people in what starts off as appearing completely random. But, as the bodies pile up, a pattern emerges that points to a really devastating motive. Kirchoff and Bodenstein investigate with the help of the daughter of one of the early murder victims. As they uncover a pattern, she uncovers some really sketchy behavior that implicates her father and others in a vast conspiracy.
I am Your Judge really made me sad. Not only were the deaths themselves absolute bummers, but the underlying motivation for the murder spree was horrifying. I think this is the best of the four, but it was also incredibly heartbreaking. It was a tale of vengeance served cold. Of the four of the novels in this series, this is probably the one I’d be the most likely to recommend, but only if you were looking for a detective story that was a serious downer.
For some crazy reason I thought this was seriously a non-fiction book. It’s not. It builds off of facts of the real case about Elizabeth Short and it adds in a noir-style detective story. Bucky Bleichert and Lee Blanchard are warrants detectives in the LAPD and former boxers. They have a pretty good thing going on as warrants detectives. They’re in with the higher ups and in their spare time they go on re-po jobs and make some extra cash. But, then Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia, is found murdered and mutilated in a field on their beat and their story because focused on finding Short’s killer. As they dig deeper into the case, their own secrets start to come out and their professional and personal lives begin to crash. Can they solve Short’s murders? Can they save their own careers?
This was a dark novel but it was well written and I enjoyed it. If you’re interested in period pieces set in the 1940s, detective stories or sensationalized murders, you may want to check this one out.
I checked this book out from the Buffalo and Erie County Public Libraries