Contemporary mysteries and thrillers ranging from the mid 1900s (plus or minus) to the present time
Back to the awesome Kate Shugak mysteries of old… As Not the Ones Dead opens, a nasty incident involving Kate’s friend, Bobby Clark, one of the few Black men in the Park, makes it obvious that the outside world is tentacle-ing into the Park again in unpleasant ways. And the unpleasantness seems to be spreading. …
Not the Ones Dead by Dana Stabenow is coming in April – a review Read More »
A hard-to-put-down mix of thriller and police procedural… Alligator Alley starts with a wrenching scene, as we watch a young DOJ agent, Andie Moore, first tailing, and then being caught and killed by two men, in the Everglades. And, as we learn shortly afterwards, the two are DOJ employees themselves – they are FBI agents, …
A review of Alligator Alley by Mike Lawson – coming soon Read More »
Kind of like cotton candy: lots of fun with no deeper meaning… Aside from the rather macabre origins of the title (we’re told in the author’s note up front that executions in California are on Fridays), Fools Die on Friday is another light, quick read in Erle Stanley Gardner’s Bertha Cool/Donald Lam series. To be …
Review of Fools Die on Friday by Erle Stanley Gardner – e-book version coming soon Read More »
Who’s really the victim, and who’s just “collateral damage”? I had somehow missed out on the last few Ali Reynolds books, so I was happy to receive a review copy of the newest book in the series, Collateral Damage. And I found that all of the elements that I like in JA Jance’s books are …
A review of Collateral Damage by JA Jance – coming soon Read More »
Not quite as enjoyable as the previous couple of books… Unnatural History is the 38th in Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis series. But it’s only the third that I’ve read, after Serpentine and City of the Dead, since I picked the series up only recently. And, although many of the same enjoyable elements (wonderfully detailed …
Unnatural History by Jonathan Kellerman coming soon – a review Read More »
A fun mystery in an appealing setting… As I’ve mentioned on this blog a time or two, I’m a sucker for mysteries set in France, so I was thrilled to receive an advance review copy of Susan C Shea’s Murder Visits a French Village. And I liked it a lot. As the story opens, Ariel …
A review of Susan C Shea’s Murder Visits a French Village – coming soon Read More »
The book that started the Kate Shugak series… Dana Stabenow’s A Cold Day for Murder is the first book in her Kate Shugak series, which now runs to more than 20 titles. And it’s quite a series-starter! Stabenow’s love for her home state shows in her almost lyrical descriptions of Alaska: its vistas, its geology, …
A review of A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow Read More »
I really liked the first half, but the second half, not so much… Murder in the Basement is the eighth in Anthony Berkeley’s Roger Sheringham series. Originally published in the 1930s, it recently has been e-published by Poisoned Pen Press as part of their British Library Crime Classics series, and I received a review copy …
Review of Murder in the Basement by Anthony Berkeley – recently e-published Read More »
Brunetti is still as awesome as ever… It’s hard to believe that Donna Leon has been writing her Guido Brunetti series since the early 1990s, and although there’s a little bit of variability from title to title (some stand out a little more than others), I’ve read each and every one, and all are excellent. …
A review of So Shall You Reap by Donna Leon – coming in March 2023 Read More »
An unusual mix of legal thriller and Golden Age atmosphere… I hadn’t read any books by Phillip Margolin before receiving a review copy of Murder at Black Oaks, and I was surprised to find that he is the author of several mystery series, including this one, which features Robin Lockwood as the protagonist. But my …
Review of Murder at Black Oaks by Phillip Margolin – coming soon Read More »
