Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed
Review: In the follow-up to the excellent debut novel, MONKEEWRENCH, homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth return to investigate a series of murders of Holocaust survivors. There is no seemingly plausible explanation why these salt-of-the-earth elderly people were being murdered. Clues lead to an international link that threatens to unravel a lifetime of secrets.I highly anticipated another page-turning suspenseful thriller after MONKEEWRENCH, which was one of my favorite books last year. The setup of the story started off well enough because the characters were engaging and the premise seemed interesting, but once the plotline was revealed the story went into cliché-ridden, been there-done that territory. It was a real letdown. The ending to the mystery is a little too predictable. I figured out who the culprit was without even trying. The best part of the book was the interaction between Grace McBride from MONKEEWRENCH and Leo Mazozzi. I hope they are forefront in the next book and that the next book has a better storyline.
Rating: 
Summary: More Murder & Mayhem in Minneapolis
Review: Just in time for opening of Fishing Season in Minnesota came this new book from the mothers of Monkeewrench, the mother/daughter team of P.J. and Tracy Lambert (pseudonym P.J. Tracy - get it?) So if fishing is slow, one can read this snappy (no Piking here) story of post Holocaust horrors. It's a taut, well-characterized tale, somewhat reminiscent of Ed McBain's 87th Precinct police procedurals - with all their side stories. The reader even rides along Up North, out of Minneapolis, back to Brainerd for those of you who haven't had the pleasure since the movie *Fargo,* but since then they took the Paul Bunyan Statue and his nostalgic amusement park paradise and put up a parking lot :-( Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer.
Rating:
Summary: MONKEEWRENCH LITE
Review: Most of the main characters from the 5-star Monkeewrench all make appearances, but they're not as cleverly delineated this time. It's almost as though they gave it their all last time and are just going through the motions this outing. Worth the read, but start with Monkeewrench. It's the better of the two.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Monkeewrench
Review: Not as good as Monkeewrench, but still worth reading. I was disappointed to see that it was another revenge-from-the-camps type of book - it's not like that subject hasn't been covered. They did a good job with it, though, although it took the cops way too long to figure out the revenge angle. Maybe they don't read fiction?
I was mildly suprised to learn whodunit but by then I wasn't really that invested in having the mystery solved. In Monkeewrench the plot and the writing were equally great. In Live Bait I think the writing was too good for what the writer was working with.
Most of the writing was about Magozzi and crew solving the crime, but Grace and the Monkeewrench crew were there, preparing to take a crime-solving RV out on the road. I'm curious as to whether the next book will follow the Monkeewrench crew out on the road, or Magozzi and pals back at the station house. I'm rooting for any further books to follow the cops. I like the Monkeewrench crew, but would seriously miss Leo and Gino and Angela (who is never seen but whose presence is so strongly felt through Gino's lunches and phone calls).
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling and Lively Sequel to "Monkeewrench"
Review: P. J. Tracy (the pseudonym for a mother-daughter writing duo) gained a lot of fans with their first novel, MONKEEWRENCH, a word-of-mouth favorite. Now MONKEEWRENCH's unforgettable characters, lively pacing and eccentric humor return in the sequel, LIVE BAIT. A year after the Monkeewrench killing spree paralyzed the city, Minneapolis's finest are still reeling. It's been a slow few months in the homicide department, but on a rainy April night, two murders are called in. At first, the two crimes seem unrelated --- the only connection is that both victims are senior citizens. As Detective Magozzi and his team investigate, though, it soon becomes clear that the two murders are connected, but not in a way that anyone would have imagined. The surprising connection between two seemingly unrelated murders is just one of LIVE BAIT's plot twists that will keep readers hooked. In addition to the compelling mystery story, Tracy's clever, sharp-tongued prose and wry observations add depth to the novel. One detective, for instance, describes the muggy spring day by saying, "I feel like Frosty the Snowman when he got locked in the greenhouse with all the poinsettias." The weather is, in fact, a major force in the novel, as a tornado bears down on the city just as the Minneapolis police bear down on their suspect. Most of the favorite characters from MONKEEWRENCH are back for this second installment. Many of them are still bruised from their earlier adventures, none more so than Marty Pullman, the cop whose wife was murdered by the Monkeewrench killer. Unable to work, haunted by memories of his wife and his own dark secrets, Marty is a tragic character, consumed by loss and alcoholism. Beautiful but fragile Grace MacBride is also back, trying hard to live a normal life now that she's no longer in mortal danger. Grace's motley band of software developers --- the central characters of MONKEEWRENCH --- are here, too, but in LIVE BAIT, they serve primarily as comic relief rather than as fully developed characters. Their connection to the plot is tenuous at best, although the author does seem to be setting up a larger role for this quirky crew in the next installment of this winning mystery series. Stay tuned! --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
Rating:
Summary: Another polished and intriguing story
Review: P.J. Tracy (the pseudonymous identity of a mother-daughter writing team) wrote one of the best debut mysteries of 2003, the Gumshoe Award-winning Monkeewrench. Now she has written a sequel, Live Bait, and it is another polished and intriguing story.
Like John Sandford, the superb crime writer whose work hers most resembles, Tracy uses the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul as the setting for her stories. That frigid Midwestern location makes a perfect backdrop for her suspenseful and witty stories of cops and killers.
Several elderly people in the city have been the victims of violent attacks, and the pressure on the police to solve the crimes is intense.
Live Bait has a complex and interesting plot, and the lead characters are nicely done. Unfortunately the secondary characters who were used to such great effect in Monkeewrench hardly appear in this one, but that is only a minor detraction.
Reviewed by David Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times
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