Mostly Mysteries

Review of A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh

1 Comment / Contemporary Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

A new direction for paranormal romance author Nalini Singh… I participate in the Mobile Read forums and many of the folks in the romance subforum rave about Nalini Singh’s paranormal romance books. So I was excited when I got a chance to review an advance copy of one of her titles. Then I found out […]

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Amber Nine by John Gardner is free right now in the US and UK

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Amber Nine is the third in the Boysie Oakes series by John Gardner, who is perhaps better known for writing a bunch of James Bond continuation titles. It’s free right now at Kindle US and UK. No idea how long it’ll be free, so grab it now if you want it. Free at Kindle US

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Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is on sale in the UK today

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, which spawned an incredible number of particularly apt quotes, is on sale for £0.99 in the UK. My favorite quote is actually one of the lesser known ones: “Catch-22 says they have the right to do anything we can’t stop them from doing.” Buy at Kindle UK

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Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews is on pre-sale now

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Ilona Andrews’ coming Hidden Legacy book, Ruby Fever, is up for pre-sale, with a scheduled release date of Aug 23, 2022. It’s $7.99 in the US, which is not bad for a brand-new book. But if you live in or visit the UK, it’s only £3.99 there (about $5.40, per my favorite Forex website), which

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Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino is on sale at Kindle US

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy by David Zucchino won a 2021 Pulitzer Prize (for general nonfiction). It’s on sale at Kindle US for $1.99. Buy at Kindle US

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Review of The Texas Job by Reavis Z Wortham – coming soon

1 Comment / Historical Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

I’m predisposed to be a big fan of historical mysteries set in unusual places or times, and The Texas Job qualifies on both counts – I’m definitely unaware of any other mysteries set in the 1930-ish early days of the East Texas oil boom! Reavis Z Wortham’s prequel (of sorts) to his Red River series

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Black Drop by Leonora Nattrass is on sale in the UK today

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Black Drop by Leonora Nattrass is a historical mystery/thriller that was, per its blurb, one of the Times‘ best historical fiction books of 2021, and a Sunday Times Book of the Month. It’s £0.99 today as part of the UK Kindle Daily Deal. I’ve not read this author, but the blurb sounds pretty cool, if

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Capture the Crown by Jennifer Estep is on sale today in the US

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Capture the Crown is the first title in Jennifer Estep’s Gargoyle Queen series, which is a spin-off from her Crown of Shards series – which I quite liked. (See here and here for reviews.) It has dropped to $2.99 at Kindle and Kobo US. Buy at Kindle US | Kobo US

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Two titles in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series are on sale today in the UK

4 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series. It’s £0.99 at Kindle UK today as part of the UK Daily Deal.Buy at Kindle UK And the first in the continuation of the series by David Lagercrantz, The Girl in the Spider’s Web, is also £0.99 right now.Buy at Kindle

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Murder on the Lusitania by Edward Marston is on sale at Kindle UK

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Edward Marston’s Murder on the Lusitania (Ocean Liner #1) is on sale for £0.99 at Kindle UK right now…Buy at Kindle UK

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About Mostly Mysteries

Whether you are a non-stop reader looking for your next series to binge-read, or someone without much spare time, wanting to make sure the next book you read is great, I hope my reviews will help you out. I hate reading reviews that just say “five stars” or “I loved the book, it was great”, and I’m sure you do too. So you won’t find any of those here! Instead, I take the time to read and think about a book, and then write a review that (1) doesn’t just parrot the blurb, (2) talks about what I liked and didn’t like, and (3) has some additional info to help you decide if the book might be right for you.

I’ve been a huge fan of mysteries since my earliest days of reading, cutting my teeth on Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew, and quickly moving on to Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. From there, I bounced around a bit, trying some thrillers, like Alistair MacLean, and some romantic suspense, mainly Mary Stewart. And then I started branching out. I discovered historical mysteries, and British mysteries (Sarah Caudwell is my idol), and cozy mysteries, and police procedurals, and mysteries set in foreign climes, and noir, and…well, you get the idea! Just about the only mysteries I’ve never quite gotten into are psychological thrillers.

This blog reflects my own personal tastes, so, as you might guess, you’ll mostly find reviews of mysteries here. But, over the decades, I’ve also picked up some other reading habits. I read a fair amount of history, especially books about the Great Game rivalry between Britain and Russia. I’ve gone through all the Asterix comics (a big thank-you to my middle-school French teacher), and I even read a bunch of them out loud to my son when he was young. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read and re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, and those books have led me into a little bit of fantasy and science fiction as well. Oh yeah, and recently, I’ve been reading some social and political science books too. So check out the Science Fiction/Fantasy, Nonfiction, Romance and Other Stuff tabs up in the menu as well!

Finally I’d love to hear from you too, so please make use of the comments sections available for most of my posts, or use the contact form, down at the bottom of the page.

Reviewing and Rating Info

I rate books on a scale from 1 to 5 stars, with occasional half-stars when a full star just won’t do.

Many of the books I review are provided to me by the publisher or author as a reading copy – in other words, at no cost to me. In other cases, usually for older books, I’m reviewing books I borrowed from the library or bought myself. My rating and review do not depend on whether I was provided a free reading copy. However if I did receive a free reading copy, I will disclose this in the review.

I do not post reviews of every book I read – not even close. It takes a lot of time and effort to craft a good review, and so I tend to be biased towards reviewing books that I enjoy or that excite me. As a result, you’ll find mostly 4- and 5-star reviews on my blog. Also, I do not post 1- or 2-star reviews on my blog unless the author or publisher asks me to.