Sacrifice

Rating:
Summary: Another Excellent Mystery from a favorite author!
Review: Clyde Phillips has been away for too long...but that has only served to sharpen his storytelling skills as evidenced in his latest thriller, "Sacrifice."

Inspector-turned-Lieutenant Jane Candiotti returns in this snappy-paced thriller, and she's spunkier than ever! Married to fellow officer Kenny Marks, the duo make a riveting team. When billionaire philanthropist Phillip Iverson is murdered after pledging another generous financial gift to his own children's charity, it's up to Candiotti and Marks to put the pieces together. But how many pieces are there? Is the serial murders of local homeless men connected? How does the not-so-grieving billionaire widow fit into it all?

With plenty of action, suspense, and enough red herrings to stock his own fish farm, Phillips delivers another ripping thriller to his eagerly-awaiting fans! Yay!

Rating:
Summary: The Candiotti series just keeps getting better and better
Review: San Francisco is the type of city that makes for a natural setting for a murder mystery. The fog-shrouded buildings, the rolling streets, and the marked diversity of its citizens seem to have been created expressly for mystery, intrigue, and suspense. Writers from Dashiell Hammett to Robert B. Parker to D.W. Buffa have used San Francisco either during part of or the entirety of one or more novels, and to wonderful effect.

SACRIFICE is the third of Clyde Phillips's novels to feature San Francisco Police Inspector Jane Candiotti. SACRIFICE is a study in contrast: it begins with the murder of Philip Iverson, a man wealthy almost beyond imagining, on the most gratifying night of his life. It is followed closely by the murder of Willie Temple, a man whose life has been on a downward spiral for decades. Candiotti's homicide team --- a team that includes her husband, detective Kenny Marks --- is assigned to both homicides. Iverson's murder is given the expected priority, yet Candiotti, despite pressure from the mayor on down, refuses to simply neglect Temple's murder, even when there is subtle pressure to do so. As the murders of both of these very different men are investigated, it is slowly but painstakingly determined that neither their lives nor their deaths are quite what they seemed to be.

Candiotti's team, through good, old-fashioned police work, also discovers the tenuous, random connection between the men that resulted in the death of one of them, a discovery that places Candiotti in life-threatening danger from two wholly unexpected sources. Phillips plays the story out against the stark backdrop of a city that suffers from a slow internal decay, while nonetheless maintaining an external beauty and keeping the reader on a roller coaster ride of suspense. Phillips also continues to develop the characters, and relationship, of Candiotti and Marks. Their professional and personal relationships do not always mesh well --- Nick and Nora, they're not --- but Phillips infuses them with a willingness to make things work that is at once refreshing and realistic.

SACRIFICE continues the tradition that began with FALL FROM GRACE and BLINDSIDED, while furthering the development and evolution of Candiotti and Marks. Phillips's ability and inclination to keep his characters fresh and yet familiar bodes well for future volumes of this series --- and for Phillips's growing number of readers. Recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Rating:
Summary: Another winner from Clyde Phillips
Review: What could a wealthy philanthropist and a skid row bum possibly have in common? Nothing at all other than the fact that they were both killed within minutes of each other in the same area of San Francisco and it looks like the same person is responsible for both of their deaths.

In Clyde Phillip's latest police thriller, "Sacrifice," he treats his readers to another heart-stopping adventure that will keep you planted to your seat until the very last page.

Philip Iverson, San Francisco's favorite son, had just donated millions to his favorite cause and had quite a bit of cash and expensive jewelry on him when he was gunned down in a hotel parking garage. Yet he had not been robbed. Could it be that Iverson might not be the good guy that everyone thought he was, and what was in his past that could provoke someone to kill him?

Willie Temple was a down and out drifter who showed up at big events to panhandle from the rich. He was stabbed to death on a Pier not far from where Iverson was murdered. But symbols and clues left at Temple's death spoke of a different scenario than that of Iverson's. What had Willie Temple seen that he shouldn't have?

Lieutenant Jane Candiotti, head of the SFPD Homicide division and her team, which includes her new husband Inspector Kenny Marks and an enthusiastic but bumbling new detective Linda French, is called in to investigate the crimes.

When other victims start piling up with eerily similar evidence, the mystery deepens. One mystifying clue keeps popping up over and over - the mark of an "S" drawn in the victims' blood appears at each murder. The police fear that there is a serial killer on the loose. It falls upon Jane and her team to pull together the pieces of the puzzle to uncover the plots behind the murders before someone else winds up sacrificed.

Clyde Phillips is a master of storytelling. His years of experience as a television producer and writer serve him well in his role as a novelist. His dialogue is snappy and fast and his stories move with grace and speed. "Sacrifice" is the third in Phillips' "Jane Candiotti" novels (the first two are "Fall From Grace" and "Blindsided"), and they are all equally well-written, high-voltage tales that will leave you breathless and wanting more.

Watch for more of Clyde Phillips' fast-paced, amazing writing skills as he takes the reins of head writer for the highly successful crime NBC crime series "Boomtown" this fall.
As I have said before, "Clyde, write faster!" I can't wait for the next installment of the Jane Candiotti series.

Sharon Galligar Chance
TIMES RECORD NEWS - Wichita Falls, Texas