Reading Recommendations: Target Lancer, November 1963, and They're Going to Kill JFK - in Chicago, Max Allen Collins

1963 - John Fitzgerald Kennedy is a lightening rod for public opinion. The handsome, youthful leader, who is prepared to take America into a brighter future, earns love from cheering crowds. But those who oppose his political agenda, including some who consider themselves betrayed by the Kennedy clan, dare to think the unthinkable: Kill an American President.

Nathan Heller is Chicago's most celebrated private detective, hobnobbing with Hugh Hefner, getting written up in Life Magazine, enjoying the fruits of a long career that began in a one room office, and now is a coast to coast agency. When he does a small favor for a friend, who handles PR for the Teamsters, Heller runs into an old west side mob crony, a small time hustler named Jack Ruby.

Suddenly Jimmy Hoffa wants to talk to Nate, and so does Hoffa's arch enemy, D.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Back in '61, Heller acted as the reluctant matchmaker in the ungodly marriage between the Mob and the CIA that created the ill-fated, JFK sanctioned plot to assassinate Fidel Castro. Now JFK is coming to Chicago, and Cuban assassins have been reported in the Windy City. RFK appoints Heller as a "consultant" to the local secret service, knowing that Nate understands why conspirators might well target the man code named "Lancer".

It's a big job for a P.I. But with a murder to avenge and a mystery to solve, Heller's up for the challenge.

Rigorously researched, fleshing out a little known but vital piece of the JFK assassination puzzle, Target Lancer is charged with the electric suspense of real events, and is far more truth than fiction.

And, Political Suicide, a novel, Michael Palmer

Dr. Gary McHugh, known around Washington, D.C. as the "society doc", calls his longtime friend Dr. Lou Welcome in a state of panic, certain he is about to be arrested for murder. McHugh was found in an alcoholic blackout in his wrecked car after visiting a patient of his, the powerful Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Elias Colston. Soon after McHugh left, Colston's wife returned home to find her husband shot to death in their garage. McHugh has no recollection of committing the crime and no one would possibly believe in his innocence, other than Lou. As more facts come to light, even Lou has serious doubts. But something about McHugh's story nags at him, and as he looks into matters, he finds that pieces of the puzzle don't point to his friend's guilt so definitively.

With the help of Sarah Cooper, an ambitious attorney with her own reasons for hating doctors, Lea finds himself at the center of a deadly, high level conspiracy where the difference between right and wrong is a matter of interpretation, and the words, "whatever it takes" have a chilling meaning. If Lou and Sarah can't uncover the real reasons Colston is dead, they may not survive themselves, and the entire country could be at risk for attacks that could destroy the very fabric of national security.

Once again, Michael Palmer proves that he is the King of Suspense in this page-turning thriller set at the cross roads of politics, the military, and medical science.

And, one other mystery to mention: And Then You Dye, A Needlepoint Mystery (Free Counted Cross-stitch Pattern Included), Monica Ferris

Fans will enjoy the needlework lore, the included pattern and ongoing adventures.

See you at Rylander!