The Mongoose Deception

August 6, 2007
Greer's latest C.J. Floyd novel, which ties the JFK assassination to a thriller plot, will appeal mainly to conspiracy buffs, though the author offers little original material or theory. The historic crime resurfaces in the present day when an earthquake damages the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel in Colorado, revealing (in a move reminiscent of the 1984 film Flashpoint
) the corpse of Antoine Ducane, who had hinted that he knew the truth behind the murder and then disappeared in the 1970s. The discovery of Ducane's body sets off a chain of violent events, and soon Greer's series detective and antiques dealer C.J. Floyd (last seen in 2006's The Fourth Perspective
) gets involved. Greer derails any suspense with flashbacks to mobsters Santo Trafficante and Carlos Marcello discussing the need to kill the president. Given the many plot holes (why did the mob let Ducane live for a decade after Dallas?), Greer might want to stick to giving C.J. less controversial mysteries to solve.

September 1, 2007
African American investigator and bail bondsman C.J. Floyd ("The Fourth Perspective") and his cohorts get caught up in a series of murders that may be linked to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. First, an earthquake in a tunnel in the Rocky Mountains uncovers the tattooed arm of a miner who has been missing for more than 30 years; then, the tunnel attendant who found the body part is blown away in an affluent area of Denver. When someone tries to kill Mario Santori, C.J.'s mentor and a former Mafia don with connections to the dead miner, C.J. gets involved. Greer gives the JFK killing a newish spin in a riveting story that will make conspiracy buffs and fans of African American mysteries pleased that they stayed the course.

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2007
A Colorado earthquake offers up the body of Antoine Sugar Sweet Ducane, a minor criminal missing for 40 years. When he was alive, Sugar Sweet liked to brag that he knew who killed Kennedy. The appearance of his body sends ripples through Denvers organized crime community. The man who discovered Ducane is promptly gunned down, and Mario Satoni, long-retired mafia kingpin, receives a call threatening him if he doesnt maintain his decades-long silence. Satoni dabbles in antiques these days. His partnerand surrogate sonis Calvin CJ Floyd, semiretired bounty hunter and private investigator. Tohelp Satoni, Floyd undertakes an investigation into the Kennedy assassination that puts him in touch with old CIA operatives, mobsters, and Cuban expatriates. But the key to the puzzle may be in the Louisiana back country, with the grieving octagenarian mother of Ducane. The seventh CJ Floyd mystery is intricately plotted, eerily believable given its premise, and, as always, driven by its complex, ever-evolving hero. Returning readers will embrace it as fine crime fiction, and conspiracy theorists will be treated torich grist for their ever-churning mills.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)