Review-The Kings Ransom

Janet Evanovich has written forty-seven bestsellers in her thirty-year career. In addition to her wildly popular Stephanie Plum novels, she has authored other bestselling series including: Recovery Agent series, Lizzy and Diesel series, Fox and O'Hare series, Knight and Moon series, the Alexandra Barnaby novels, and the graphic novel Troublemaker with her daughter.  This is the second novel in this new series and I had no problem picking up the storyline.

Author: Janet Evanovich

   

Copyright: Nov 2025 (Atria Books) 352 pgs

   

Series: 2nd in The Recovery Agent

   

Sensuality: Occasional swear words, some "f" bombs, adult topics

   

Mystery Sub-genre: Women Sleuth

   

Main Character: Gabriela Rose, a high-end recovery agent

  

Setting: Modern day, US, Italy, and Egypt

  

Obtained Through: Library find

  

Book Blurb: "Gabriela Rose, recovery agent extraordinaire, can find just about anything. Too bad she can’t seem to lose her gorgeous-but-infuriating ex-husband Rafer Jones. And now he needs her help. His cousin, Harley, is in trouble…big trouble.

As the president of a too-big-to-fail bank, he [Harley] invested an astronomical amount of money in insuring some of the world’s most priceless artifacts at the urging of his board. It seemed like a low-risk, high-reward business move, so he jumped in with both feet. But recently, these insured pieces started going missing and worse, there’s no paper trail of Harley being directed to make these risky investments. Unless the artwork can be recovered soon, it looks like Harley is going to be heading to jail as the fall guy for an ingenious crime.

Gabriela knows what she must do: travel around the world with Rafer to find the missing works of art, keep Harley out of jail, and save both his skin and his bank. Along the way, she’ll encounter corruption, threats, murder, mysterious dark forces behind a global conspiracy to destroy the world’s wealth, and a nefarious villain who will stop at nothing to bring the world to the brink of ruin."

My Thoughts:

Gabriela Rose is resourceful and a go-getter who has built her reputation around the world. She also has a fondness for the cartoon Scrooge McDuck. 

Her ex-husband, Rafer Jones, is handsome and knows how to get under her skin and tries to charm her, which she counters smoothly. Rafer's cousin, Harley, is handsome and charming but very naïve and wants wealth without working hard for it. 

"Jim" is the guide and driver in Egypt for the crew. I loved this character, he was the break-out gem. He always has a relative who can help them with whatever they need.

This novel was a touch of "Lara Croft" meets the 1979 movie "Scavenger Hunt."  A little clarification on what Gabriela does: recovery agencies or the agents are people who pursue the debt owed by customers and businesses for banks or financial institutions.  But in this series she's hired to seek lost treasures, stolen heirlooms, or missing assets of any kind. 

The blurb doesn't say what the items stolen were. There were several paintings but key were the Rosetta Stone, and a solid gold funeral casket from a lesser known half brother of King Tut. I chose to read this because both those items peeked my interest.

I enjoyed the vicarious thrill as I felt the heat of the Egyptian desert and Cairo's bustling atmosphere. Great sense of place in this writing. There is some humor with Rafer-Gabriela banter and oddball characters, but it is unevenly paced (some high action moments then some slow rather dull scenes).  

There is an exciting and dangerous thief confrontation, but I particularly like the wrap-up. Nicely done on both counts.

I would consider this a lighter mystery read with some action-adventure vibes. It's good to break out of a rut or to read something that isn't dark or serious.

Rating: Excellent - A fun read, I'll follow this series 

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Mystery Movie Review - The Highwaymen

 

Prior movies on Bonnie and Clyde had been made but the most notable was the 1967 movie, Bonny and Clyde, that starred a young Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty, and Gene Hackman. It was nominated for 10 Academy Awards including for Best Picture, winning Best Supporting Actress (for Estelle Parsons) and Best Cinematography.  Its success encouraged other filmmakers to go against the norms to present sex and violence in their films. The film's ending became famous as "one of the bloodiest death scenes in cinematic history." Of course we have long past the milestone.

That is why this film is different.  Yes there is some violence, but not like the 1967 production. This time it presents the efforts of the two real-life Texas Rangers who tracked them across state-lines and hunted them down to put an end to the reign of terror.

What it's about:

"The Highwaymen follows the untold story of the legendary detectives who brought down Bonnie and Clyde. When the full force of the FBI and the latest forensic technology aren't enough to capture the nation's most notorious criminals, two former Texas Rangers (Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson) must rely on their gut instincts and old school skills to get the job done." Netflix

Cast:

Kevin Costner as Frank Hamer

Woody Harrelson as Maney Gault

Kathy Bates as Governor Ma Ferguson

John Carroll Lynch as Lee Simmons

Kim Dickens as Gladys Hamer

William Sadler as Henry Barrow

Emily Brobst as Bonnie Parker

Edward Bossert as Clyde Barrow

Director John Lee Hancock

Writer John Fusco

Rated R / 2 hour 12 minutes / Netflix production

Rotten Tomatoes (58%) and Audience (75%):

-- "I get the inevitable complaints of “too slow” and “not enough action”. Yet I found myself loving it – the slow burn, the prickly Costner, the subtle moral questions it tosses out there."  Keith Garlington-Keith & the Movies

-- "The film is far too long but Costner and Harrelson make it worth your while what with their poignant, sincere performances." Charles Koplinkski-Real Talk with Chuck and Pam

-- "The famous outlaws Bonnie & Clyde hardly get a single close-up in this fascinating study of the rangers brought out of retirement to track them down." Adrian Martin-ScreenHub

-- "The story behind the demise of legendary Bonnie & Clyde at the well-armed hands of two ageing Texas Rangers gets a solid, unhurried treatment here...Director John Lee Hancock directs the drama with a hard nose and with no love for the celebrity criminals." Jim Schembri-3AW

-- "A lot of why this works is because of [Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson's] chemistry together." Christy Lemire-film Week (LAist)

-- "It isn't as dynamic or memorable as it could have been, but The Highwaymen still builds a compelling drama using a fascinating chapter from history combined with some solid acting and impressive camera work." Sameen Amer-The News International

Noteworthy awards or rankings:

-- 2019 Nominee Satellite Award won for Best Motion Picture Made for Television

-- SXSW Film Festival 2019

-- Nominee: 2019 Audience Award-- Headliners

-- Location Managers Guild International Awards (LMGI)

-- Nominee: 2019 Outstanding location in a period film

Trivia (from IMDB):

-- The quest for historical authenticity prompted director John Lee Hancock to recreate the ambush/death scene at the actual location where it had occurred Wednesday May 23, 1934, just outside Sailes, Louisiana, in the rural Bienville Parish.

-- Kathy Bates portrays Miriam "Ma" Ferguson, the first female governor of Texas. 

 -- In 1935, after [Texas Governor] Miriam "Ma" Ferguson left office, the Texas Rangers were reconstituted.

-- The real Frank Augustas Hamer was the most celebrated Texas Ranger of all time. He returned home to his wife Gladys and retirement and died on July 10, 1955.

-- When Bonnie Parker limps away from the car at the beginning of the film, this is historically accurate as she'd injured herself earlier in a car accident when Clyde drove their Ford V-8 off a bridge into a dry riverbed where the damaged battery leaked acid over Bonnie's left leg causing her third-degree burns. Her injuries were so severe she walked with a limp for the rest of her life.

-- The film was originally set up as a collaboration between Robert Redford and Paul Newman, but due to Newman's death in 2008, Redford left the project.

-- In 2013, Woody Harrelson was set to star alongside Liam Neeson, but Neeson left the project, and was replaced by Kevin Costner.

-- Kevin Costner was offered the role of Frank Hamer ten years earlier, but turned it down because he felt himself too young to play a grizzled, retired lawman called back into service. Having gotten older he felt the role was a better fit, though he still decided to gain 15 pounds to give himself a more over-the-hill appearance.

-- In 1994 Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis played an updated version of Bonnie and Clyde, Mickey and Mallory, in Natural Born Killers (1994).

-- The film's screenwriter John Fusco had the rare privilege of spending time with the late real-life Texas Ranger Frank Hamer's son (Frank Jr) as a means of structuring the story as historically accurate as possible.

-- At the time of the ambush there were $26,000 in reward pledges but when they tried to collect on this most of the pledges simply vanished. In the end, each of those involved received just $200. Hamer also kept most of the outlaws' guns for himself.

-- The events in the film take place before the United States federal investigative service, the Bureau of Investigation (BI or BOI), was renamed as the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI. (The Bureau is correctly named in dialogue although misidentified-it reads FBI-on an aircraft.) 

-- Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker's funerals were held on May 23, 1934. Barrow's funeral drew 15,000 people, Parker's drew 20,000. One of the attendees was Ellery Douglass Benton, father of writer-director Robert Benton who would be Oscar-nominated over 30 years later for his screenplay for Bonnie and Clyde (1967).

-- In the beginning Kathy Bates' character talks about digging up Wyatt Earp. Kevin Costner played Earp in Wyatt Earp (1994). At the time this film is set (1934), Earp had only been dead for about 5 years. The real Frank Hamer was born 3 years after the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral and was 36 years younger than Earp. Costner was born the same year that Hamer died (1955).

My Thoughts:

Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson, and Kathy Bates give great performances. I have seen the previous 1967 movie (Bonny and Clyde with Faye Dunaway, Warren Beatty, and Gene Hackman) and it romanticized the two cold blooded murderers to a degree. 

This is the unglamorous story of the two real-life retired Texas Rangers (Frank Augustas Hamer and Maney Gault) brought back into service who raced across the country trying to catch the pair. I loved learning about these men whose names should be more famous than Bonnie and Clyde.  Most of the police let Bonnie and Clyde slip through their grasp, perhaps afraid they would be murdered like so many other cops the pair slaughtered. 

I appreciate a movie on the topic that doesn't glamorize vicious criminals nor sensationalize the murders. Those aspects are presented for what they were and how Bonnie and Clyde had no conscious.

I appreciate the real life complication of Texas Governor Miriam "Ma" Ferguson being brought into the light, as she was crooked, spiteful, and dangerous in her own right. She disbanded the Texas Rangers, but when she left office they were reformed. This movie immortalizes the truth about her in regards to Hammer and Gault.

The movie shows the experience of these older Rangers makes more headway than the young agents using other newer methods. I always appreciate movies that show older folks are still useful and needed. 

They bring to the forefront that the outlaws had superior weapons compared to law enforcement chasing them. These two old-timers knew they had to change that fact if they had any chance.

I do believe the movie could have been cut about 15-20 minutes to speed it up and it would be better for it. But with that said I think it is well and truly worth it to watch the entire movie. It isn't a thriller but a historical police procedural, and police work can be less glamorous and there isn't instant results. 

After the movie I thought long and hard on how so many common law-abiding people were cheering and rooting for this horrible pair. This was a thought-provoking movie on a few issues.

The "R" rating is because of the violence and some bloody images, so keep that in mind. If the rating, some violence, and some bloody images scattered throughout don't bother you, then give this movie and chance.  I recommend.

Movie Trailer:

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Review - 1st to Die

James Patterson is well known whether you read his books or not. He writes multiple books every year by collaborating with other authors. Thus, he is one of the best paid authors around. Reportedly his books often account for one in 17 hardcover books sold in the U.S. and has sold over 400 million copies worldwide as of 2022. He holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers by a single author. Several of his books have either become movies, television shows, and even video games. 

Patterson has been called the "world’s best-selling author and a publishing phenomenon."  He has received the Edgar Award, the National Book Foundation's Literarian Award, and the National Humanities Medal.  But did you know he founded the ReadKiddoRead website to encourage children's reading?  He also donated over $1.75 million to U.S. public schools, $1 million to independent bookstores in 2015 alone, and provided thousands of grants to school libraries and independent bookstores. 

This particular series is now up to its twenty-sixth book, but I'm starting with the first in the series here.  I haven't read any books in this series before, so let's see how I like it.

Author: James Patterson

Copyright: March 2001 (Little Brown & Co.) 488 pgs

Series: 1st in Women's Murder Club series

Sensuality: Some violence with clinical descriptions mostly, swearing, and adult topics and situations.  PG-18

Mystery Sub-genre: Police Procedural, police thriller

Main Character: Inspector Lindsey Boxer of the Homicide Squad

Setting: Modern day San Francisco, California

Obtained Through: Library

Book Blurb: "Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand.

The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered—before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong."

My Thoughts:

Lindsey Boxer is headstrong and determined, she isn't immediately likeable but she did grow on me as I learned more about her.  Each of the others in the club, Jill, Claire, and Cindy, are brought into the group by Lindsey. Her closest friend is Claire, the ME, and that was natural, but Cindy being a reporter that police usually avoid is a strange pick, and Jill being the Assist. DA wasn't an obvious choice either but it all works and they are becoming friends primarily. Lindsey needs a support group and so do each of these career driven ladies.

San Francisco is a big city as well as a busy tourist spot which is key to the story.  The wedding industry has become a bemouth the last few decades and this plot utilizes that as the central theme for a serial killer to target people in a large city full of local or destination weddings. It makes the murders shocking and Lindsey reacts emotionally to them.

The tension builds throughout the story. I felt the book moved along between the investigation, more murders, and Lindsey's personal life. In between all of that is the gradual formation of the Women's Murder Club. The concept of collaborating the investigation among police, ME, DA, and press is great. Wish that was the makeup of police task forces that get created today.

The climax was nail-biting tense and heartbreaking. My heart was pounding just reading it. What an emotional and adrenaline inducing killer confrontation.

The one thing I wish were improved upon is a man trying to write from a woman's perspective--it didn't work in some instances. There were little references where a woman would never have inner dialog like that.  I don't believe it was intentional, but it shows a male's viewpoint in several places (a woman's "fragile courage" is used- you would never say a man's fragile courage. That is a man's perspective). Just understand this handicap when reading it.

This is a gripping and entertaining novel with twists and turns, I appreciate the four women in the club are all strong female characters which we need more of in novels. I want to note how the human element is recognized in the story, not relegated to an afterthought or footnote. This is a strong genre book delivering a memorable police thriller.  I immediately started on the second in the series.

If you haven't read this book before and don't mind grittier mysteries, this could be for you.  If you have read it before, please leave your thoughts on it in the comments -- I would love to hear from you.

Rating: Near Perfect - Buy two copies: one for you and one for a friend. 

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Here is a great interview with James Patterson, well worth watching.

Suspense-heist Movie Review - Flawless

 This 2008 British film isn't flashy or have breathtaking thrills which so many think is required today. It's one of those movies that you either like or hate.  Many critics hated it while others weren't so critical or even liked it.  I like it and yes, even own it. Find out more below.

What it's about:  "London, 1960. Laura Quinn (Demi Moore) is the lone female executive at London Diamond Corporation. She is frustrated as her talents are rarely acknowledged and her less-experienced male co-workers are promoted ahead of her. She is shocked, but intrigued, when the mild-mannered night janitor, Mr. Hobbs (Michael Caine), approaches her with a daring but simple plan to steal a handful of diamonds from the vault. Laura agrees to help, but she is soon in over her head. And it is not long before insurance investigator Mr. Finch has his eyes on her."

Taglines: "It took the heist of the century to settle the score" and "He had a scheme. She had a motive."

Cast:

• Demi Moore as Laura
• Michael Caine as Hobbs
• Lambert Wilson as Finch
• Nathaniel Parker as Ollie
• Shaughan Seymour as Eaton
• Nicholas Jones as Jameson
• David Barrass as Fenton
• Joss Ackland as MKA
• Director - Michael Radford
• Writer - Edward Anderson

Rated PG-13  1 hour 46 minutes

Rotten Tomatoes 56% and critics reviews:

"Yet for all the imperfections, Flawless is a film you find yourself rooting for. Heists involving a keen sense of history are pleasant to stumble across." Charlotte O'Sulivan - London Evening Standard

"It's Caine's old-timer who provides the acting sparkle. Flawless may not be a perfect gem, but thanks to Caine it's definitely not paste." Jason Best - Movie Talk

"There's little by way of thrills. Still, as a caper with a great cast and clever premise, Flawless works, despite its, um, flaws." Rosamund Witcher - Empire Magazine

"Ignore the dull framing device and this is a watchable period crime drama." Daniel Etherington - Film4

"Terrific performances elevate this extremely low-key heist thriller into something thoroughly intriguing. It may never crank up much excitement, but the 1960s vibe it generates is very cool." Rich Cline - Shadows on the Wall

"Demi Moore is excellent as the catalyst for the crime caper with a profoundly personal motive, something we don't discover until late in the film, and Michael Caine is wonderfully dry as the office cleaner with an agenda" Andrew L. Urban - Urban Cinefile

"May not quite live up to the daunting implication of its title, but as a solid piece of beautifully acted and precisely written filmmaking, you'll find nothing better." Ken Hanke - Mountain Xpress

"For about 100 of its 108 minutes, this film treats the viewer to a stylish, suspenseful roller coaster peppered with all manner of ugly, money-grubbing corporate types." Christy DeSmith - Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Retro London heist caper may not interest kids." James Rocchi - Common Sense Media

"The answers to its most intriguing puzzles disappoint, and the final motive provided for this near-perfect scheme can only be described as flawed." Sean O'Connell - Charlotte Weekly

"Fatuous and soulless." Kevin Maher - The Times (UK)

Trivia (from IMDB):

• Edward Anderson wrote the script with Sir Michael Caine in mind, and he was always his first choice for the part of Hobbs.
• The movie playing at the theater is The League of Gentlemen (1960), a much beloved heist movie.
• Sir Michael Caine's grandfather had a similar job to Hobbs.
• Hobbs is another name for the devil, and like the devil, Mr. Hobbs tempts Demi Moore to commit a sin.

My Thoughts:

If you like the pace of John leCarre movies, then this pace won't bother you. If you are used to fast paced thrillers that develop at the speed of light or Marvel movies, this definitely isn't for you. But if you enjoy a story that develops as it goes building some layers, then this could be your movie.

The story develops incrementally and there is a plot disconnect or two if you really churn over the details. But I personally found it an enjoyable movie to watch when I just want to loose myself in a movie and forget this world. It can be a respite in many ways. Michael Caine is always stellar and I thought Demi Moore was quite good in her role, too.  Some of the camera work could have been better and the ending wasn't as satisfying as I like, but it is good IMHO.

Movie Trailer:

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