#ChocLit Archives - Mostly Mysteries

As usual, Joffe has a couple of freebies this weekend

The Charity Shop Detective Agency is the first in the The Charity Shop Detective Agency series by Peter Boland. It’s free right now at Kindle US and UK as Joffe’s free mystery of the weekend. But not for much longer, since it’s already Sunday… Free for now at Kindle US | Kindle UK And The Best […]

As usual, Joffe has a couple of freebies this weekend Read More »

Joffe’s two free books for this weekend

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Once again this weekend, Joffe has two free books, and as usual, one is a mystery, and one is a romance… Murder on Sea is the first in the Rina Martin series by Jane Adams. It’s Joffe’s free Friday/weekend book for a few more hours – apologies, I’ve been really busy this holiday weekend. Murder

Joffe’s two free books for this weekend Read More »

Two Joffe Books freebies for the weekend

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

As usual for the weekend, Joffe has a couple of free books – one mystery and one romance. What’s not usual is that I’m getting around to posting these sometime before Sunday afternoon. Woo-hoo! These are ostensibly free just for today, Friday, but in practice are usually free through the weekend. You can probably figure out

Two Joffe Books freebies for the weekend Read More »

Two free books from Joffe today – a mystery and a romance

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Joffe are offering two free books for Friday this week, a mystery and a romance. (You can guess which is which 😁.) These “Friday freebies” are usually good through the weekend, but I still advise that you grab them now if you want them… The Killer Detail is the first in the Dr Will Traynor

Two free books from Joffe today – a mystery and a romance Read More »

Just Friends by Lucy Keeling is free right now in the US and UK

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Joffe’s Free Friday book is a romance, Just Friends, which is the second in the Friends series by Lucy Keeling. It’s a repeat freebie, from back in July 2024. But if you missed it then, now you have a second chance! Free for now and also probably through the weekend at Kindle US | Kindle UK

Just Friends by Lucy Keeling is free right now in the US and UK Read More »

The House that Alice Built by Chris Penhall is free right now in the US and UK

Leave a Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

This week’s Joffe/Choc Lit free romance book is The House that Alice Built, which is the first book in the Portuguese Paradise series by Chris Penhall. It has been free a couple of times before, but if you missed it then, here are links: Buy at Kindle US | Kindle UK

The House that Alice Built by Chris Penhall is free right now in the US and UK Read More »

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.