Forty Words for Sorrow, Giles Blunt

Well-written tale of serial killings in frozen Canadian North chased by Catholic guilt-ridden detective and his Francophone partner. Description of torture devices not too overdone.

Stone Cold by David Baldacci

Another Camel Club outing.  Annabelle is still being sought by the gambler she conned out of $40 million; Oliver is being sought by the CIA and the son of a former CIA killer/colleague.  Plots are all over themselves and *exciting*.  Unputdownable.

Blood Lure by Nevada Barr

Anna Pigeon tracks grizzlies and a murderer in Glacier National Park.  Entertaining as always, but Barr seems to have developped a taste for the passive verb.

Address Unknown by Kressman Taylor

A short story printed as a book, I would suggest that Address Unknown redeems the short story, except that it was written in 1938 when short stories still had form.  Written as an exchange of letters, it follows the rise of Hitler with a twist in the tale.  Most satisfying.

Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

Also known as Everyone Dies Alone.  Life in wartime Berlin among the ordinary, the minor crooks, the Gestapo and an old couple who resist by leaving messages on postcards throughout the city.  Even tone makes sudden violence the more shocking.  (I read this in French.)