Bad Things Happen   Harry Dolan
Delightful mystery novel about someone killing people at Grey Streets, a magazine that publishes mysteries. An interesting protagonist, spare, clipped prose, a few delicate twists, and a wonderful ending made this an absolute pleasure. Wish it hadn’t ended.

Worth Dying For   Lee Child
The latest in the Jack Reacher books, which I have really enjoyed. Now Reacher has drifted from South Dakota to Nebraska where he gets involved with the Duncan family who terrorizes the entire county, imports sex slaves, and molests and kills eight-year-old girls. Previous Reacher novels have been great because of the razor-sharp prose and intelligent development and resolution of the mystery. This novel is just mindlessly violent, and Reacher has become just a brutal killing machine. Guess life on the best-seller lists changes you. Disappointing.

Shadow and Light   Jonathan Rabb
Nikolai Hoffner, now Kriminal Oberkommisar, returns in a mystery that couples the development of sound technology in movies with the further rise of the Nazis. It’s now 1927, Hoffner is struggling to understand the case he is on and have a relationship with his sons. Again very well-developed characters, complex plot, good writing, historically accurate, and uncompromising bleakness. Very good sequel to Rosa. Hope he keeps writing these Nikolai Hoffner novels.

Rosa    Jonathan Rabb
Excellent crime novel set in Germany in 1919 that explores the origins of Nazi power by “solving” the mystery of the disappearance of Rosa Luxemburg’s body after she was murdered. Introduces Kriminal Kommisar Nikolai Hoffner. Extremely well-developed characters, good writing, historically accurate, and a complex plot that is fully realized. Very, very good. Loved it.

The Sleepwalkers    Paul Grossman
In 1932 Germany, with Hitler on the verge of power, detective Willi Kraus, a Jew, works to solve a murder case of bizarrely deformed women which leads back to Nazi medical experiments. Pretty good, though slim on characterization, average writing, and a little sensationalized.