Mostly Mysteries

The Sedleigh Hall Murder (apa A Certain Blindness) by Roy Lewis is free right now at Kindle US and UK

A Hundred Thousand Dragons by Dolores Gordon-Smith is on sale in the US and the UK

A Hundred Thousand Dragons is the fourth in the Jack Haldean historical mystery series by Dolores Gordon-Smith. I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of the early books in this series, although not this one. It has dropped to $1.99/£1.99 at Kindle and Kobo US, and at Kindle UK – and probably at Kobo UK also,

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Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh is on sale in the US today

A bunch of John Creasey titles across several series are on sale in the US and UK

Dark Sky by CJ Box is £0.99 at Kindle UK right now

9 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

Dark Sky is the twenty-first and most recent (2021) in the Joe Pickett series by C.J. Box. It has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK. It’s always nice to see a most-recent-in-series title on sale at a very nice price! Since this dropped in price at the beginning of May, and is still on sale

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The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

I’ve not read this book, The Silence of the Girls, by Pat Barker, but it seems pretty intriguing – the story of the Trojan war told from the point of view of the women involved, and per the blurb, specially from the point of view of the Trojan queen, Briseis. It also comes pretty well

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Silver-Tongued Devil by Rosalind James is free right now at Kindle US and UK

6 Comments / Price Drops / By Sue

Silver-Tongued Devil is the first in the Portland Devils series by Rosalind James, one of a very few contemporary romance authors whose books I really like. It’s free right now (May 21, 2021) at Kindle US and UK, probably in honor of the newest book in the series, Devil in Disguise, which is coming out

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Gideon’s Fire by John Creasey (JJ Marric) is less than a dollar at Kindle US right now

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Gideon’s Fire is the seventh in the George Gideon series by John Creasey (writing as JJ Marric), which is IMO a great police procedural series. Per SYKM, it also won the 1962 Edgar Award for Best Mystery. And it’s on sale right now at Kindle US for only $0.60. Not just on sale at $0.99

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Lethal Pursuit by Will Thomas – a review

6 Comments / Historical Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

I’m a huge historical mystery fan, and I’ve had my eye on the Cyrus Barker/Thomas Llewelyn series by Will Thomas for quite a while. So I was happy to receive an advance review copy of the latest title in the series, Lethal Pursuit. I was a little bit nervous starting out with the 11th title

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Review of Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells – recently published

4 Comments / Contemporary Mysteries and Thrillers, Science Fiction and Fantasy / By Sue

A nice mix of mystery and science fiction… I’m a big fan of mysteries, and I like to read mysteries set in places that are new to me – or in this case, imaginary places that are new to me! Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells fills that bill quite nicely. Our protagonist, Murderbot, is a

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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.