#ComingSoon

A review of The Net of Steel by Fiona Buckley – coming soon

It’s hard to believe that The Net of Steel is Fiona Buckley’s twenty-second Ursula Blanchard (now Ursula Stannard) mystery, and the series is still going strong.    And in fact, it might even be getting better…    As The Net of Steel opens, Ursula faces a number of life’s milestones: her son, Harry, has gotten engaged; …

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A review of Retribution by Robert McCaw – coming soon

A slightly odd but enjoyable mix of police procedural and thriller… Retribution is the fifth book in Robert McCaw’s Koa Kane series, set in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii.   It’s a slightly odd mix of police procedural and thriller, and although readers may have to suspend disbelief occasionally as a result, Retribution is …

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A review of Green for Danger by Christianna Brand – coming soon

Nice plot and stylish writing, but I couldn’t get into the characters… It’s unusual to find a murder mystery that is so obviously set during World War II that was also written during the war, rather than after the fighting was over.    And Christianna Brand’s Green for Danger is one of those books.   It was …

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A review of The Rewards of Treachery by Rosemary Rowe – coming soon

Now starring Libertus’ son, Junio… Rosemary Rowe’s The Rewards of Treachery is another excellent entry in her Libertus series – although in Treachery, the focus shifts from Libertus, who fled Glevum at the end of the previous book, to Libertus’ adopted son, Junio, who has taken up his father’s mosaic business, and also more-or-less inherited …

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Murder at the Willows by Jane Adams – a review

A cozy mystery with a bit of grit… Jane Adams has written a thoroughly engaging English countryside mystery featuring actress Rina Martin, who is now semi-retired and the “proprietress” of a Victorian era boarding house, Peverill Lodge.   At first, the case appears pretty simple – so simple that there’s not really a case at all:  …

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Good Dog, Bad Cop by David Rosenfelt – a review

A fun, not-quite-cozy, mystery… David Rosenfelt’s Good Dog, Bad Cop is the fourth in his K-Team mystery series, which is itself a spin-off from his Andy Carpenter series,  And somehow I’ve never read any of them.   But I was recently offered an advance review copy of Good Dog, and, even without having any background from …

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A review of Philanthropists: Inspector Mislan and the Executioners by Rozlan Mohd Noor – coming soon

Another solid police procedural set in Kuala Lumpur… It had been a while since I’d read one of Rozlan Mohd Noor’s Inspector Mislan books, so I was pleased to receive a review copy of the latest in the series from the publishers.  Philanthropists: Inspector Mislan and the Executioners is, like the earlier books, a tightly …

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Not the Ones Dead by Dana Stabenow is coming in April – a review

Back to the awesome Kate Shugak mysteries of old… As Not the Ones Dead opens, a nasty incident involving Kate’s friend, Bobby Clark, one of the few Black men in the Park, makes it obvious that the outside world is tentacle-ing into the Park again in unpleasant ways. And the unpleasantness seems to be spreading. …

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A review of Alligator Alley by Mike Lawson – coming soon

A hard-to-put-down mix of thriller and police procedural… Alligator Alley starts with a wrenching scene, as we watch a young DOJ agent, Andie Moore, first tailing, and then being caught and killed by two men, in the Everglades.   And, as we learn shortly afterwards, the two are DOJ employees themselves – they are FBI agents, …

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Review of Fools Die on Friday by Erle Stanley Gardner – e-book version coming soon

Kind of like cotton candy: lots of fun with no deeper meaning… Aside from the rather macabre origins of the title (we’re told in the author’s note up front that executions in California are on Fridays), Fools Die on Friday is another light, quick read in Erle Stanley Gardner’s Bertha Cool/Donald Lam series.  To be …

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