Mostly Mysteries

Big batch of John Lescroart books on sale at Kindle UK

John Lescroart is a little more legal-thrillerish than I usually tend to read. Just personal preference on genre. But if you like him, or like legal thrillers in general, there is a big batch of his books on sale for £0.99 and £1.99 at Kindle UK right now, mostly from his Dismas Hardy series, but […]

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Review of Blackout by Simon Scarrow – recently published

4 Comments / Historical Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

Author Simon Scarrow has written a taut and enjoyable mystery, set in Berlin during the ice-cold winter of 1939-40. Although much better known for his Eagles of the Empire series, which takes place during the first-century AD, Scarrow moves to “recent past history” with no apparent effort or problems. And he also transitions smoothly to

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Several Captain Lacey mysteries by Ashley Gardner mysteries are free or on sale

5 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

Captain Lacey Regency Mysteries Volume One contains the first three books and a couple of short stories in the Captain Lacey series by Ashley Gardner (pen name for Jennifer Ashley). It’s on sale for $0.99/£0.99 at Kindle US/UK right now. The omnibus includes: The Hanover Square Affair, A Regimental Murder, The Glass House, and The

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Ten free books from Amazon/Kindle in honor of World Book Day 2022

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill is on sale in the US and UK

The Lorax by Dr Seuss is on sale in the US today

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is $1.99 in the US today… Buy at Kindle US | Kobo US This is really more than just a kid’s comic, IMO…

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Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters by Andrew H Knoll is on sale in the US today

An omnibus of all four Geoffrey Chaucer titles by Philip Gooden is on sale in the US and UK

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Medieval Blood: The Geoffrey Chaucer Mysteries is an omnibus of all four titles in the Geoffrey Chaucer series by Philip Gooden. It’s a Kindle Countdown Deal at $0.99/£0.99 in US/UK for about 6 more days. The first three of these books were originally published under the pen name Philippa Morgan, but I couldn’t find much info

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Almost all of Ian Fleming’s James Bond books are on sale at Kindle UK today

2 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

Today’s Big Deal at Kindle UK is ten of the original Ian Fleming/James Bond books for £0.99 each. And one of them is even an omnibus with three books (the Spectre books)! Here’s a list of the books: Casino Royale Live and Let Die Moonraker Diamonds are Forever From Russia with Love Dr No Goldfinger

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An omnibus of five Edna Buchanan books is on sale in the US

6 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

I read most of Edna Buchanan’s Britt Montero series in “real paper” books back in the early 1990s. I really liked the ones I read, which I’d call sort of “journalist versions of police procedurals”, featuring Montero, a Cuban-American crime reporter in Miami, as the protagonist. Now, there’s an omnibus of the first five titles

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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.