Mostly Mysteries

Review of Chaos Reigning by Jessie Mihalik

4 Comments / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

A fun series finale… I’ve enjoyed each of the previous two books (see my reviews here and here) in Jessie Mihalik’s Consortium Rebellion series, and to avoid creating any suspense, I really liked Chaos Reigning too. I found it just a little bit slow to get started, but pretty soon the action got going, and […]

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Review of Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik

2 Comments / Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

I originally found the first title in this series, Polaris Rising, mentioned on an e-book forum a while back, bought it and loved it. So I was happy to be given a review copy of Aurora Blazing to review for my blog. Although I mostly read mysteries, I also appreciate a good space opera and/or

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The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury is on sale today at Kindle UK

7 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

And while we’re on the subject of science fiction books on sale…. Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles is on sale today for £0.99 as part of the Kindle UK daily deal. Buy at Kindle UK

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Sci-Fi and fantasy e-books on sale today at Kindle US

Review of A Question of Betrayal by Anne Perry

2 Comments / Historical Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

A thoroughly enjoyable new series from Anne Perry… I’ve long enjoyed Anne Perry’s Charlotte and Thomas Pitt books, so I was thrilled to be offered a chance to read a review copy of the second title in her new Elena Standish series, A Question of Betrayal. Betrayal has a different feel than the Charlotte and

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Review of Shills Can’t Cash Chips by Erle Stanley Gardner

17 Comments / Contemporary Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

My favorite Erle Stanley Gardner series… Erle Stanley Gardner is the super-famous author of more than 80 Perry Mason mysteries, which, in addition to being best-selling books in their own right, were also spun off into a long-running TV series and several movies. Few people, however, are aware that he also wrote almost 30 titles

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Review of Dead Men Don’t Ski by Patricia Moyes

2 Comments / Contemporary Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

A great Golden Age-style series starter… Patricia Moyes has long been one of my favorite mystery authors, from back in the days when paperbacks of her books were crowded onto my shelves. Somewhere along the way, though, most of those books got loaned out or lost, and so I was really happy to be offered

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Review of Killer Instinct by Zoë Sharp

1 Comment / Contemporary Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

A multi-dimensional noir protagonist… I am not usually a huge fan of books that strike me as thiller- or noir-ish, but I very much enjoyed Killer Instinct, which is the first in the Charlie Fox series by Zoë Sharp. I think this was largely due to Sharp’s development of Charlie as a real person, complete

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Sleep Like a Baby by Charlaine Harris is on sale in the US

6 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

Sleep Like a Baby is the tenth and most recent (although not all that recent, from 2017) in the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris. This is Harris’ first series, and it’s more of a classic mystery series, without the paranormal background of Harris’ much better known Sookie Stackhouse series. Baby has dropped to $1.99

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Lonelyheart 4122 by Colin Watson is on sale in the UK

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Lonelyheart 4122 is the fourth in the Inspector Purbright/Flaxborough series by Colin Watson. It has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK. Buy at Kindle UK I also note two other titles in this series are semi-long-term at $0.99/£0.99 in the US/UK – the first, which is always kind of nice if you want to try

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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.