James W. ZiskinRecensioni

Ellie Stone, the heroine sleuth of this engaging, clever mystery, is a reporter for an upstate New York newspaper. It’s August 1962, height of the racing season in nearby Saratoga Springs, when Ellie happens on a fire at the abandoned Tempesta Farm, once a quality breeding place for Thoroughbreds.

A barn has burned, which should have no particular significance, since it’s been years since Tempesta operated. However, Ellie finds human remains in the ashes and a bit of racing silk that suggests the victim was a jockey. A bullet hole through the head confirms that it’s murder, which leads the police to suspect gamblers as the criminals.

Ellie isn’t so sure, and, as is her wont, she pursues the case from every conceivable angle, like any good reporter; for about a week, she seems never to get any sleep. Knowing nothing about racing, she relies on a good friend to teach her, whereupon she drops the nuggets she’s learned into conversations with gamblers, horsemen, and racetrack swells, often with comic results.

Ellie befriends a beautiful, temperamental horse named Purgatorio, and crosses paths with hoods who have no beauty but plenty of temperament. Her allies in the police department worry about her, especially the closer she gets to the truth, and the more heat that results.

Ziskin tells his story with brisk economy, and despite a large cast of characters, he never loses you. That should be a given, but I’ve read many mysteries in which I’ve had to stop and say, “What just happened, exactly?” Yet the clarity never reveals too much, and the solution to the mystery comes as a complete surprise — another quality that eludes some authors.

The prose is nicely seasoned without being cute or cloying, and that helps too. As for historical flavor, I would have liked more than random details of dress, popular music, or news headlines. To his credit, though, Ziskin involves social issues hovering on the mainstream horizon in 1962. I particularly like how he handles the office politics, which conveys both background and contrast.

Ellie has an assistant, an older woman with a developmentally disabled child, who does a lot of the spade work, for little money and no recognition, except from Ellie. The younger woman, educated at Barnard and blessed with the more glamorous, better-paying job, realizes how unfair this is.

However, her status cuts two ways, for Ellie endures the sobriquet of “girl reporter,” symbolic of the hostility she faces on her beat and in the newsroom. Ellie never describes herself physically in her narration, but you get the idea that she’s very attractive, often more of a hindrance than an advantage. When an old-timer at the paper makes a remark about her derrière, she photographs his and posts the prints where other staffers can laugh at them.

But it’s not all fun and games, for Ellie faces constant sexual harassment, and she fights an uphill battle to be taken seriously. Luckily, her editor believes in her reportorial skills— but nevertheless, she depends upon a man’s good graces.

Also, Ellie’s Jewish, and Ziskin does a fine job portraying the shades of anti-Semitism she encounters, whether from the Saratoga blue-bloods or the underworld types. The blue-bloods also have no idea how racist they are toward African-Americans, even as they raise money to aid poor black schoolchildren. Properly, Ziskin never mentions the national movements or leaders campaigning for women’s rights or against racial and ethnic prejudice, a low-key approach that avoids earnestness or exaggerated significance.

These are some of the pleasures of A Stone’s Throw, an excellent, satisfying mystery.

Nothing is as it seems!

Danny Jacobs, a journalist caught up in Bombay as Irandi Ghandi declares an Emergency to help save her party and her power. Democracy in India is at a standstill. Ghandi rounds up her opposition as the whole country faces upheaval
A beautiful young Indian woman, Sushmita leaves him breathless
Her companion, a Belgian it turns out, Willy Smets, takes to Danny like father to son
An ugly American, Russell Harlan Jr., a gorgeous German Lufthansa hostess, and Danny’s manservant of a few days, Ramu and Police Inspector Lockhande. Then there’s his boss Frank’s secretary, Janice.
All form a nexus around which we, along with Danny, are whirled.
One of Danny’s first stories, still on the back burner, was an interview with a bomb maker and terrorist. An unfortunate photo leaves Dan in a precarious position.
A dive into Indian and European society and culture in 1975 India where nothing is as it seems, cultural differences aside.
An intriguing thriller embedded in a culture where nothing is at it seems. So enjoyed this!

A Oceanview ARC via NetGalley.
Many thanks to the author and publisher.

Well, that was just grand. I'm a sucker for well-done historical fiction, especially when there's a sassy protagonist ahead of her time. Throw in some well-drawn characters, a baffling murder, and some solid head fakes and I really enjoyed this. The pacing seemed kind of uneven, though, and Ellie's emotional lability and jumping into bed with Isaac so rapidly strained my credulity just a little (there's a big difference between sassy and stupid).

Thank you to Seventh Story Press for the advance reading copy.

Hometown boy Tony Eberle is making it big on the West Coast, set to be the second lead in a new movie. The New Holland Republic sends Ellie Stone out to Los Angeles to interview him for the paper. This is the fifth Ellie Stone book by Ziskin, and the first I have read in this mystery series, set in the early 60's. The time period lends itself well to the hard boiled nature of the story--plus Ellie winds up doing a lot of things the old fashioned way, both in pursuing her story and the mystery of the missing Tony. She is both savvy and naïve, the atmosphere of Hollywood is still somewhat circumspect to the goings on in dark clubs and private parties.

It is late January of 1960 as Styx & Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery begins and Ellie Stone gets some bad news from the local sheriff. Her father was found unconscious in his New York City apartment and is now in the hospital in critical condition. Eleonora “Ellie” Stone, a reporter and the only living child of Professor Abraham Stone, is going to have to take some time off from her job in New Holland and go back home to see about her dad. Their relationship is not a good one as they are estranged and now she is faced with dealing with their past issues as well as the current crisis.

Upon arrival she soon learns that it was not a stroke or a heart attack that put her father in the hospital. He was violently assaulted and his home office and library was ransacked. This occurred just days after her brother’s grave was severely vandalized. While the police believe the events are not related and the assault on her father, a renowned Dante scholar and esteemed professor, was nothing more than a random burglary, Ellie has her doubts. Especially since another professor, well known to her father and a colleague, died in somewhat mystery circumstances in close proximity time wise to the assault on her father.

That fact, what happened to her brother’s grave, the very specific damage in her father’s apartment, and more makes Ellie question the police investigation from the start. Ellie considers herself a “modern woman” and has no problem with asking questions and pushing for answers when she isn’t thinking about the past or enjoying the pleasures of the present. She drinks, she smokes, she likes a good time with a man who strikes her fancy, and Ellie won’t put up with nonsense from others.

Styx & Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery is the start of a series and a good one. While all the characters are complicated in this tale to some degree (no cookie cutter cardboard cutouts need apply), Ellie Stone is exceedingly complicated. There is depth and nuance to this character that is rarely found in the first novel of a series. She also has a subtle sarcastic streak that appealed very much to this reader.

While historical mysteries are not my usual reading material, I thoroughly enjoyed Styx & Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery. A complicated tale with characters of depth and nuance, the mystery itself was a difficult one to solve kept this reader engaged, and the read was flat out very entertaining on all levels. Styx & Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery was a very good book and is strongly recommended.

Styx & Stone: An Ellie Stone Mystery
James W. Ziskin
http://www.jameseziskin.com
Seventh Street Books
http://www.seventhstreetbooks.com
October 2013
ISBN# 978-1-61614-819-5
Paperback (also available as an eBook)
270 Pages
$15.95

Material supplied by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library System.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2018

I won this ARC in a GOODREADS giveaway - Cast the First Stone by James W. Ziskin - a good mystery that you can't put down. Set in 1962; it read like a classic! -- keep your eye out for this author; in fact, you probably already have something of JWZ's on your shelf!

The dark voice of noir set in New York, not the streets of Los Angeles, and the dark underbelly of the populace replaced with respectable, distinguished academics and small town citizens peaks curiosity. All three of Ziskin’s novels offer complex plots and characters which move the reader from page to page. But what keeps those enthralled with his work is not on the surface. What pulls someone after finishing Styx and Stone to reach for No Stone Unturned, and then Cold Stone Dead? James W. Ziskin has an extraordinary understanding, gift and use of language.
Review by Le Coeur de l'Artiste http://www.djadamson.com/le-coeur-de-lartiste

Potential Hollywood star Tony Eberle is missing. Protagonist Ellie Stone is sent to Los Angeles to get the story. Of course, if you are a reader of the series, you know Ellie will soon be on the trail of what happened to Tony. The 5th book in Ziskin’s series floats along like riding in the middle of a marauding river. You’re happy to go wherever he wants to take you. And when you get to the rapids, you are prepared to be tossed from one clue to the next, a missing person to murder—on an exciting, refreshing ride to the dock and safety.
--Le Coeur de l'Artiste

Styx and Stone by James W. Ziskin is a 2013 Seventh Street Books publication.

This is the first book in the Ellie Stone series set in the 1960’s. Ellie is a newspaper reporter, and is considered a ‘modern girl’, meaning she is not married and has a career, who might enjoy a party or two. But, she quickly turns into an amateur detective when her father is attacked in his apartment, leaving him comatose.

I had no idea what to expect when I started this series, but I knew one of the books in this series had been nominated for an Edgar. However, I must admit, I am still very pleasantly surprised by how good this book is.

The author cleverly weaves intellectual politics, backstabbing, and the jockeying for positions, by tenured professors, which had a very authentic ring to it, as well as incorporating the study and symbolisms of Dante, into a compelling whodunit. The story shifts into something far more serious with huge ramifications, but is also a poignant tale of family dynamics and crushing loss.

Ellie is definitely ahead of her time, accepting her unorthodox choices which goes against the traditional roles for women in 1960, but is also melancholy at times, as she copes with deep regret over the rift with her father, and the disappointment they both endure.

I loved the small details that, upon first glance, may not have seemed important, suddenly taking on greater significance, in one way or another. So, while on the surface, the story is a twisty and surprising mystery, it has a much deeper depth to it than I first realized.

I have already checked out the other books in this series and have signed up to review an ARC of the latest installment. I’m looking forward to seeing how Ellie’s character develops moving forward.

4 stars

This is the first book I have read in this series. I picked the book up because of the time period that this story took place in. Ellie is a good, strong, leading female lead character. I like her tenacity to go to all lengths to get her story. She is very invested in her job and the topics she writes about. However I did not find the rest of the characters or the story as a whole that interesting. I did keep reading however as the location and Ellie made up for some of what was lacking and managed to get half way. Then the rest of the book I was skimming to speed it up and see how all of the pieces came together. Overall, I did find this book to be a nice read.