Head Wounds by Chris Knopf

I enjoyed this, I'll try another in the series. PW: Part-time carpenter, full-time drinker and co-conspirator with an existential mutt named Eddie Van Halen, Sam tries to lead the simple life. But as always, fate intervenes, this time in the form of Robbie Milhouser, a local builder and blundering bully who shares with Sam an irresistible attraction to the beautiful Amanda. When Robbie is murdered, Sam finds himself in the crosshairs of a very determined chief of police.

A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block

Read again 2018. Very enjoyable, would like to read more in the Scudder series. 1981. PW: Nine long years have passed since the killer last struck - nine years since eight helpless young women were brutally slaughtered by an icepick-wielding maniac. The trail grew cold and the book was unofficially closed on a serial killer who stopped killing. But now "The Icepick Prowler" has confessed - but only to seven of the killings. Not only does he deny the eighth, he has an airtight alibi. Barbara Ettinger's family had almost come to accept that the young woman was the victim of a random killing. Now they must grapple with the shocking revelation that not only was her death disguised to look like the serial killer's work, but her murderer may have been someone she knew and trusted. Matthew Scudder has been hired to finally bring her slayer to justice, setting the relentless detective on the trail of a death almost a decade old, searching for a vicious murderer who's either long gone, long dead... or patiently waiting to kill again.

Cat Chaser by Elmore Leonard

Not the best Leonard but very enjoyable. 1982. PW: The hero of Cat Chaser, George Moran, isn't looking for trouble but finds it anyway when he winds up in bed with the wife of a drug-dealing mob-connected Dominican cop - vicious, macho and ready to follow George to the ends of the earth, which in this case means Miami.

Silent Prey by John Sandford

Another enjoyable Lucas Davenport saga. PW: In Eyes of Prey, Bekker, an insane pathologist who experiments with his patients’ pain thresholds, is finally brought down by an unrelenting Lucas Davenport, who brutally maims the doctor’s beautiful face but leaves him alive. “You should have killed me,” were Bekker’s parting and prophetic words. In this sequel to Eyes of Prey, Bekker endures the indignities and horrors of imprisonment, taking comfort in the fact that it is only a matter of time before he will make Lucas Davenport pay.

The Last Refuge by Ben Coes

Coes can write an excellent story but his characters are silly. PW: Off a quiet street in Brooklyn, New York, Israeli Special Forces commander Kohl Meir is captured by operatives of the Iranian secret service, who smuggle Meir back to Iran, where he is imprisoned, tortured, and prepared for a show trial. What they don’t know is that Meir was in New York to recruit Dewey Andreas for a secret operation.

The Boyfriend by Thomas Perry

Not great Perry but still very enjoyable. Excellent narration by Robertson Dean. PW: Jack Till, who has retired from the LAPD after a respected career as a homicide detective, now works as a private investigator, comfortable chasing down routine cases while visiting his 24-year-old daughter, Holly, who has Down Syndrome. But when the parents of a recently murdered young girl, about Holly's age, ask for his help when the police come up empty, Till reluctantly takes the case.

Lions of Kandahar by Major Rusty Bradley, Kevin Maurer

Enjoyable macho special forces stuff. PW: One of the most critical battles of the Afghan War is now revealed as never before. Lions of Kandahar is an inside account from the unique perspective of an active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces commander, an unparalled warrior with multiple deployments to the theater who has only recently returned from combat.

In the Frame by Dick Francis

Re-read 9/27/16 and enjoyed it a lot. Reading a Dick Francis book is like being with an old friend. His characters are so likable as to draw you in.  The book was released in 1976 and captures a naiveté of the time. The narrator Ralph Cosham was excellent. PW: Charles Todd is an English artist who is well known and respected for his renderings of sleek and athletic horses. What he now faces at his cousin Donald's house is also art - the art of a perfectly brutal murderer. Donald's home has been burglarized and his wife, Regina, is lying on her back dead, her face the color of cream. Donald is shattered, shocked, and a prime suspect. And Todd suddenly finds himself involved in a dangerous man-hunt as he searches, against all odds, for an elusive killer and some murderous answers.

Hard Target by Howard Gordon

Didn't like it, stopped reading early on.

Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney

Very enjoyable telling of the creation of Delta Force by someone who took part in it.

Falcon Seven by James Huston

What an usual scenario. Huston writes an intriguing thriller despite an unlikeable hero. The story really has to be good to continue on with this hero, I'm glad I resisted early temptations to put it down. PW: Jack Caskey, a Washington, D.C., criminal defense attorney and former navy SEAL, tries to prevent the judicial railroading of two U.S. Navy aviators by the International Criminal Court in this timely and provocative thriller from bestseller Huston (Marine One). When navy officers Doug Raw Rawlings and Bill Dunk Duncan bomb an approved target in Pakistan, they hit not a meeting between Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders, as expected, but European aid workers and their patients. After their F-18 Hornet is shot down during the mission, the captured pilots wind up in The Hague, where they're charged with war crimes. Jack, who leads a hastily assembled team to defend Raw and Dunk, travels to Pakistan in a dangerous effort to find witnesses. Meanwhile, the U.S. government maneuvers to avoid the trial. Huston provides an intriguing look at international law, current American policies, and modern war.

Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen

Fun. PW: Tourist season is swinging into high gear in Miami. So are the activities of a bizarre terrorist group determined to keep the hapless "snowbirds" away. Armed with bombs, weed, and jumbled credos, they move toward their grand target, the Orange Bowl Parade, with plans to bring Miami and its tourist trade to a halt.