Pros with Pens

Two soon-to-be-published novels by fine crime writers recently arrived in my mailbox, and were very much enjoyed:

The Morning Show Murders, by Al Roker and Dick Lochte (Delacorte; November). Network television can be murder, as Today show weather guy Roker knows. Just ask his hero, Billy Blessing, famous for his smile, charm, and ability to survive the shark tank that is high-stakes morning broadcasting. While Roker may have personally enriched the terrain where this tale takes place, a lot of the book’s smarts obviously come from Lochte, a longtime crime-fiction reviewer for the Los Angeles Times and the Nero Award-winning author of mysteries such as Blue Bayou, Croaked!, Laughing Dog, Sleeping Dog, and The Neon Smile.

The Traitor in Us All, by Robert S. Levinson (Five Star; February). Says Jeffery Deaver about best-selling author Levinson’s latest: “Absolutely top-notch ... a delicious blend of the best in thriller writing.” No surprise here: Levinson has been stirring up delicious blends for many years. His series starring a Hollywood movie and music couple, Neil Gulliver and Stevie Marriner, reflects the author’s earlier career as an ace publicist. Such previous works as Hot Paint, The Elvis and Marilyn Affair, The James Dean Affair, and The John Lennon Affair are wonderfully bitchy reads.