Dark Justice

Dark Justice, authored by J.L. Hughes, is a new crime-fiction novel starring NYPD homicide detective Jade Carmichael. The book is published by Rough Edges Press in March of 2025 and you can pre-order now. 

Veteran Carmichael and her partner Kane serve in a small Upstate New York town called Shadow Hook. It is here that Carmichael, years ago, was found at a gruesome murder scene. A serial killer known as The Redeemer targeted and killed her mother and was later captured. Years later Carmichael and her team are faced with copycat murders that resemble the bloodletting associated with the horrendous crimes of The Redeemer.

At over 400 pages, Dark Justice is appropriately fluffy and padded for a modern suspense thriller. But, the hefty volume possesses a gripping intensity laced with the strong character development of the lead. Carmichael is an intelligent, challenged hero that reminded me of Lee Goldberg's iron-clad Los Angeles heroin Eve Ronin. She is often pushed against the grain in pursuit of the killer and finds herself at odds with a roguish officer. 

The author's inclusion of a highly respected criminal profiler, a bewildering psychiatrist, and a dark conspiracy among the top brass elevates and enhances the narrative. The mystery of who the killer is, his next target, and the close-knit relationship with Carmichael are worth the price of admission.

Dark Justice is darkly delightful. If you enjoy modern suspense thrillers then J.L. Hughes should be your next read. Get it HERE.

The Hangman's Forest

According to his website, William Joseph was born and raised in New Jersey and in an internationally published photographer and graphic designer. As an author, his first novel, This is War was published in 2017 as a three part series. Since then he has authored 14 novels of horror, young-adult fantasy, and romance. I borrowed his crime-fiction novella The Hangman's Forest from a friend. It was independently published in 2023.

Detective Iokua Sanne, half-Hawaiin and half-German, arrives in a rural unnamed town to restart his career. After an incident while working for a Chicago police force, Sanne is happy turn the page and begin anew. In a meet and greet with his new department readers learn that Sanne is a recovering alcoholic. He is then introduced to his new partner, Detective Hill. The two will be busy.

In alternating chapters, a serial killer named Daniel is capturing young women. He ties their hands and ankles and then secures a noose around the victims' throats. While pleasing himself Daniel slowly lifts the victims into a treetop where they suffocate. His little funeral forest has quite a few bodies swinging in the wind. 

As Daniel continues to capture and kill women both Sanne and Hill get to work on studying recovered tapes form a nearby store that shows a victim being attacked. Together the two lead an investigation to locate the killer before he strikes again.

The Hangman's Forest is only 120 pages and reminds me of a more violent type of novella or novelette found in a mystery magazine like Ellery Queen or Mike Shayne. There isn't a lot of character development because the pace is so quick. It worked well for me and I was mostly pleased with this brisk crime-fiction tale and the hunt for the killer. Recommended. Get it HERE.

The Sister of Cain

Mary Collins (1908-1979) was born in St. Louis and studied at Miss Burke's School in San Francisco and the University of California. After selling a few short stories to the magazine The Passing Show, Collins took to writing novels. During her short writing career she authored six mysteries from 1941 through 1949. In 2024, Stark House Press began reprinting her books with Only the Good. A year later the publisher has reprinted The Sister of Cain, complete with the original artwork. It is available in both physical and digital editions with an introduction by the always informative Curtis Evans.

Young Hilda is experiencing some domestic changes in her life. She and her husband are expecting their first child. However, David is away serving the U.S. Navy during WW2. In his absence he has urged Hilda to travel to San Francisco to stay with his family in their large house. David's parents are deceased but he has five sisters and they all live together. But, not happily ever after.

After meeting the family's grumpy housekeeper, Hilda meets with the oldest sister, Pauline. She is firmly etched into the family dynamic as the overseer of the family trust and the smothering motherly figure for the four women. During a turbulent dinner it is revealed that Pauline is forbidding one of them from dating a local druggist. After a few days Hilda discovers that Pauline has also placed unnecessary obstacles to block other sisters from marrying, gaining employment, and even dating. 

When Pauline's body is found in her bedroom with a knife in the back the narrative begins a slow character study and analysis of the many motives and suspects. Beyond just the sisters presence there's also the housekeeper and the family friend. The only male character is the homicide detective Cassidy, who soon joins with Hilda to learn who the killer is. The author explains the pairing by elaborating that the police force is severely understaffed.

Collins' The Sister of Cain is a tight suspense thriller that works like any traditional murder mystery. Each suspect is carefully considered and the obligatory secrets are answered that delve into the family's murky past. I never became bored with the plotting and found it affected me in the same fashion as Margaret Miller's excellent The Iron Gates, published in 1948 and two years after Collins' novel. Both books examine young women with emotional distress and mental health issues. The sleuth in that book, Inspector Sands, is similar to Cassidy in this novel. Both are open to the investigation and never paint themselves into a corner with a quick judgment. 

Overbearing family members living in the same dwelling makes for excellent storytelling even without the murder. With a corpse (or three) readers will find the plot development, characterization, and pacing a perfect balance for this 200-page whodunit. The Sister of Cain is recommended. Get it HERE.

Fiction Firefight

Eric hits the used book store shelves in central Florida and finds hundreds of action-adventure paperbacks. Check out the book covers, series titles, authors, and publishing history! Watch the video below or stream it on the YT channel HERE.

Solomon Kane - The Hound of God

Jonathan Mayberry has earned five Bram Stoker awards during his long and prolific writing career. His books include series titles like Joe Ledger, Rot & Ruin, Dead of Night, and Kagan the Damned. The San Diego author joined Titan's round table of authors in 2023 to write fiction based on characters created by Robert E. Howard. Mayberry's contribution is the ebook Solomon Kane: The Hound of God. 

This 39-page short-story is set in Livonia in 1598. Puritan swashbuckling hero Kane has discovered a village literally torn apart. Pieces of bodies are seemingly everywhere as if a pack of wild animals mauled every villager. The scene is so appalling that Kane stops, with tears running down his face, to ask, “God in heaven, have hell's doors opened?”

Kane finds large animal prints mixed with at least as many as twenty bootprints. How could creature and human exist together in one party? Surely this much destruction brought to a village wouldn't bother to spare the lives of a few Cossacks. Kane learns the answer when he is faced with a werewolf and a creature known as The Benandanti.

Overall this was an enjoyable short story that possessed the imagery and feel of a Robert E. Howard Kane entry. It seems that Mayberry is a Solomon Kane fan and his admiration for the character showed in the writing. Solomon Kane stories are easy to read as “monster of the week” episodes and this one was no different. Recommended. Get it HERE.

Paul Harris #01 - Suddenly, at Singapore

According to Spy Guys and Gals, Gavin Black authored a 13-book series of action-adventure paperbacks that fit the snugness of the tight spy-fiction genre. The books were published in hardcover and paperback by a variety of publishers, including Signet, from 1960 through 1979. Always excited for a good action novel I tackled the series debut, Suddenly, at Singapore.

British man Paul Harris, the series star, fought in World War 2 alongside his older brother Jeff. The two were captured by Japanese forces and endured harsh treatment as prisoners-of-war. Eventually the war ended and the two went into business in Singapore running a successful shipping and freighting enterprise in a coastal village. However, their wealthy empire runs a thriving hustle of smuggling weapons so the good people of southeast Asia can rebel against their communist overlords. Harris particularly has an interest in vetting out the reds from Indonesia.

As the novel begins readers learn that Paul and his wife Ruth are suffering marital woes due to the loss of their young child to cancer. The two have drifted apart and mostly live separate lives. Paul has an ongoing affair with a woman named Kate, who is integral to the book's narrative. When Paul learns that his brother was shot in the head execution style an investigation is launched to find and punish the culprits.

Suddenly, at Singapore features a first-half written for espionage-fiction fans. Paul knows the communists killed his brother to deliver a fatal blow to the smuggling enterprise. However, Paul wants to know who tipped them to his brother's whereabouts the night he died. This leads to a fiery exchange with a British inspector and one amazing action sequence as Paul is captured and tortured by a downright evil General. Then the book runs out of fiction fuel. 

The book's second half reads more like a twisted romance novel as Paul works through his marriage issues with Ruth while simultaneously orchestrating a split with Kate. Obviously the relationships have a lot to do with finding the killers but this concentration on character study sacrificed what was shaping up to be a rip-roar, hard-hitting revenge ploy. Nevertheless, Suddenly, at Singapore was still entertaining and definitely a recommended read. I'm anxious to read more of the series and I am specifically interested in the nautical aspects. Additionally if you want to learn a great deal about southeast Asia during this turbulent moment in Earth's history then this book puts you in the thick of it. 

Get a copy of the book HERE.

John Hutchinson #01 - Deadfall

Robert Liparulo, who majored in Motion Picture Production in college, is a screenwriter, investigative reporter, business columnist, and full-time novelist. He's authored thrillers like The 13th Tribe, Comes a Horseman, Germ, and a series of young adult novels titled Dream House Kings. His two action-adventure novels starring a Denver newspaper columnist named John Hutchinson is how he landed here at Paperback Warrior. The first novel, Deadfall, was published in 2007 and the sequel, Deadlock, published two years later. My proper introduction to John Hutchinson is the first of the two books, Deadfall.

Fiddler Falls is a small town of 242 people located in the rural Northwest Territories of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is here that Hutchinson and three friends touch down from an airplane. They plan on spending a week in the wild archery hunting. They only have supplies for the week and the only weapons they have are simply bows and arrows. It's a great time to kick back and take a break from messy divorces, cutthroat business ventures, and unhealthy living. But, another group has also calling Fiddler Falls home this week. Only they have lots of weapons. 

Deadfall works like a traditional The Most Dangerous Game type of story. I lump it into my own term which is Deer Hunter Horror. It's the niche where ordinary people face overwhelming odds when a hunting trip descends into madness and depravity. Liparulo places these four men against a wild bunch gang of tech outlaws that are testing satellite weaponry on the innocent citizens. They feel that since no one will miss Fiddler Falls or its residents it would make perfect cannon fodder. With the local Royal Mounted Police dead and the town captured it is up to the four hunters to “survive the game” to protect the town.

Deadfall kicks total ass, but I do wish it were a shorter tale. At nearly 500 pages the novel could have been shaved to 300ish and never missed a beat. That being said, the novel has a little bit of everything. There's the always solid “man hunting man” element to reinforce the narrative, but at the same time there's plenty of cat-and-mouse tactics as the group find allegiance in a tough-as-nails school teacher and her charismatic young son. Like an excellent action movie the characters use - or defy - helicopters, planes, an aggravating Humvee, scary satellite weaponry, and machine guns while being targeted in mine tunnels, the dense forest, the empty small-town streets, and the bad guys' makeshift headquarters. Liparulo's message is about the human spirit and the need to consistently evolve and adapt when faced with challenges. The concept of the simplest weapon versus a 21st century advanced killing machine is the perfect popcorn comfort. 

Alluding to the cover blurb, Deadfall is indeed Rambo, Mad Max, The Wild Bunch, and The Most Dangerous Game all blended together in a summer big-screen-styled narrative. Highly recommended. Get it HERE.