Rating: 
Summary: A turning point in the Mark Manning series
Review: "Body Language" is the third installment in the Mark Manning mystery series, and it represents a significant turning point. Most obviously, the series moves north from Chicago to the fictitious town of Dumont, Wisconsin. What's more, beginning with "Body Language," Manning acts as a first-person narrator, spinning the whole tale in his mind. (The previous two books in the series employ a somewhat unusual third-person present-tense narration.) I hope you'll agree that this new narrative style provides a more intimate portrayal of Manning, his backstory, and the various forces that make him tick. For more details on you'd care to drop me an e-mail, I'd be happy to hear from you
Rating: 
Summary: Keeps Getting Better
Review: Another great book in the Mark Manning series. Mark has decided to buy his own newspaper, and move into an old family home in Dumont. Returning to the home revives fond memories of his cousin Mark, and his uncle. However, tragedy soon occurs, and it is up to Manning to solve the case. I could not put it down once I started on it. I can honestly say that I figured out who did it this time. Maybe I should start writing myself! Nah!You will love this book. Buy it today!
Rating: 
Summary: Spine Tingling Thriller!
Review: Another great book in the Mark Manning series. Mark has decided to buy his own newspaper, and move into an old family home in Dumont. Returning to the home revives fond memories of his cousin Mark, and his uncle. However, tragedy soon occurs, and it is up to Manning to solve the case. I could not put it down once I started on it. I can honestly say that I figured out who did it this time. Maybe I should start writing myself! Nah! You will love this book. Buy it today!
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Summary: Limp and Lame
Review: As much as I thought I would like the direction Craft is taking this series: journalist Mark Manning moves his dead-ended career back to his hometown roots to take up crime-busting--er, writing there, I was doomed to disapointment by other turns of event. Craft has a bad habit of TELLING not SHOWING. We never get the taste of snow or coffee or a lover's mouth. We never feel the weather. We get the outline of a well-written mystery, but we don't really get the story. The mystery, by the way, is quite well-done, but who these days reads a mystery merely for the academic puzzle? We read for the characters. The change to first person narrative doesn't really help because Manning's character was already developed. The problem lies increasingly with Manning's young lover, Neil, who has all the personality of a department store mannequin. I want this relationship to work and frankly I'll give up on the series if it doesn't, but the way it is being developed I don't know how it CAN. Manning fantasizes about sex (for two books) with everyone EXCEPT Neil--and no wonder. Neil is boring. He only appears with tiresome token het female friend Roxanne (maybe they are having an affair?). After three books I still don't know anything about Neil. What are his personality quirks? What pisses him off? What does he love about Manning? And how come everybody is so hot for middle-aged Mark Manning? It IS a little unrealistic. For a change center the plot around Neil (really, how seriously can we take Manning in peril?). Worst of all is this extended family thing with young Thad (one of the least appealing or interesting male adolescents ever conceived by a gay writer). This is so fantasy-land that it is painful to read. But then nobody in this book behaves realistically. The recently betrayed Neil is okay with Manning taking off for the little house on the prairie with his hunky new editor with never a qualm, huh? Manning's infidelity had no effect on their relationship, huh? This started out as such a promising, smart and refreshing series, but I see it losing focus and direction. A real disappointment.
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Summary: Perfect just the way it is
Review: Chicago journalist Mark Manning has many reasons to be the happiest person alive. His relationship with his spouse Neil Waite has solidified, turning them into a blissful couple. He is wealthy enough to maintain his current lifestyle for the rest of his life and Neil,s architectural expertise has them living in a near perfect home. Still, Mark feels despondent after reporting the story of the century. Mark seeks a new Everest to climb and thinks he found it in Durmont, Wisconsin, the home of his cousins, the Quatrains. He purchases their former home and the local newspaper, and settles into life in the small town. He meets Suzanne Quatrain, her retarded brother Joey, and her son Thad. However, someone murders Suzanne, leaving Mark as the prime suspect because he suspiciously inherits a large chunk of cash. The intrepid reporter begins an investigation to clear his name. BODY LANGUAGE carries less of the emotional tome normally included in a Mark Manning novel because the protagonist and his partner seem more durable and loving than the turmoil of the previous books. The truth behind the well-designed mystery surfaces diabolically but cleverly slow as readers are unable to stop reading until Michael Craft reveals whom the culprit is. Adding to the fun is a twist that alters the Manning-Waite relationship and making the audience want more crafty tales from this stupendous writer. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: This is no ordinary writer
Review: Cleverly crafted, top notch writing. Craft has a real love for the language and it shows. I cared about these characters and their outcome.
Rating:
Summary: This is no ordinary writer
Review: Cleverly crafted, top notch writing. Craft has a real love for the language and it shows. I cared about these characters and their outcome.
Rating: 
Summary: No Mystery Here
Review: Craft is an excellent story-teller, with an equally good hand at mellifluous prose. But when it comes to the "mystery" genre, this work in particular suffers from too much told too soon to offer much of a surprise by the end. This was not the case with "Boy Toy," which is a subsequent novel, but this novel, "Body Language," has all the mystery wrung out of it. I guessed the identity of the "murderer" by the end of the first part. I recommend Craft's other works, but not this one.
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Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: Craft's third installment of the Mark Manning series is without question his best work yet. When I opened the book and read Craft's thank you to Dame Agatha Cristie I was a bit dubious. Having read every Agatha Cristie novel, I wondered if Craft could pull it off. Well........ he does with aplomb! As any dedicated Christie reader can tell you, the reader always figures out who the killer is before the Perot or Marple does. The talent Christie and Craft share is they both have the ability to keep the reader interested even though the reader knows who the killer is. Craft development of the characters and plot makes the reader "feel" he is there, whether it's jogging with Mark and Neal, eating cavier on New Year's Eve or witnessing the "outing" of the killer. Mr. Craft, Dame Christie would be proud of your work! Well done, as usual.
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Summary: Surprise, Surprise
Review: I am an avid mystery fan, Agathie Christie being my favorite for years. Michael Craft has really done an outstanding job in this book. I could not put it down and read it in one day. That is very unusual for me to do, I usually put a book down and then come back a few days later. The characters are all believable and delightful and by the end I felt they were friends.
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