Let Justice Descend/ Lisa Black/ 320 pgs

This is the fifth book in this series set in Cleveland. Jack is a detective with the police and Maggie is with the crime scene unit. Both Jack and Maggie have dark secrets that the other knows, though Jack's is much, much darker. He's a vigilante killer (not a spoiler--it's on the back cover of the first book). Since Maggie discovered his secret, Jack has stopped killing the bad guys. Their current case involves the death of an incumbent senator running for re-election. Of course there's all sorts of unaccounted-for money, bribery, lobbyists, etc going on here. And a couple more deaths as well. The author really does her research. I wasn't sure where this one was going and I have to admit the identity of the killer surprised me. I'm very interested to see where this series goes next!

Seedfolks / Paul Fleischman / 69 pages / Color in the title / Required Reading / Tasty cover

In Cleveland of 1997, a young girl takes inspiration from her late father, who was a farmer, and plants some lima beans in a dirty vacant.  At first, it starts off as her own private garden, but as soon as more and more people find out about it, the vacant transforms into the neighborhood's community garden, where people from diverse races and cultures come together to work, celebrate, and even look after one another.

It was a nostalgic read, as this was a book I had to read in my 6th grade English class, almost ten years ago.

Perish/ Lisa Black/ 320 pgs/ audiobook

Another first for me--I listened to this audiobook from Hoopla on a long weekend drive. I'm not very fond of being read to. I think that might be because I'm a fast reader as well as a visual learner. Anyway, this narration wasn't the best but I got through it. This is the third novel in the Maggie Gardner/Jack Renner series. It's set in Cleveland. Maggie is a crime scene tech and Jack is a detective. A detective who also happens to be a vigilante killer because he feels it's okay to get rid of the baddest of the bad guys. (Again, this is not a spoiler--it's in the cover copy of the first book.) Maggie figured out Jack's secret but now he has something on her: she killed the abusive woman Jack's been tracking for years. It's interesting and different to read about anti-heroes in an otherwise ordinary suspense. The case here is that three women, all of whom work at a mortgage company, are brutally murdered. While I did enjoy the surprise ending, there is far too much information about the mortgage business and the housing crisis of 2008. It gets rather bogged down but if you can stick it out, the ending has a nice twist.

The Unpunished/ Lisa Black/ 312 pgs

This is the second book in Black's Gardiner and Renner series. Maggie Gardiner is a forensic tech in Cleveland. Jack Renner is a detective with the police. In the first book Maggie figured out that Jack has been systematically killing the worst of the bad guys he encounters in his work (not a spoiler--this comes out in the first few chapters). In the end, Jack learns a secret about Maggie. So now in book two, they each "have something" on the other so neither can reveal the other's dirty secret. They intend to stay away from each other but soon enough they are embroiled in a new case. In quick succession three people who work at the local newspaper are killed as is the wife of one of the victims. I really like this series because of the risks it takes with morally questionable lead characters and the way they dance around each other and try to come to terms with what they have done. I'm thrilled to discover there is already a third book out. Off to put it on my list!

That Darkness/ Lisa Black/ 308 pgs

This police procedural is set in Cleveland. There are two main characters--Maggie, a fingerprint expert/crime scene tech, and Jack, a homicide detective. The case begins with an unidentified female body found in a cemetery. Due to her persistence and attention to detail, Maggie is soon on the trail of a killer who has struck more than once and while the victims seem random, she puts the puzzle pieces together and they lead her straight to Jack. (This is not a spoiler.) Jack soon realizes Maggie is on to his carefully organized system of justice and vengeance and he desperately tries to stay one step ahead of her. This was an interesting take on a police novel and the ending was a true surprise. Word of warning--Maggie witnesses a couple of autopsies and the details provided are quite graphic.