#Sphere Archives - Mostly Mysteries

Some early Kay Scarpetta books by Patricia Cornwell are on sale right now

The Catherine LeVendeur books by Sharan Newman – a series review

2 Comments / Historical Mysteries and Thrillers / By Sue

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, Sharan Newman wrote ten excellent historical mysteries, set in 12th century France, featuring former religieuse and scholar Catherine LeVendeur as the protagonist. Newman herself has a doctorate in medieval studies, and this shows in the wonderful and informative (but never boring) settings she created. The tensions between Jews

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Today’s Big Deal at Kindle UK is seven Tom Clancy books for £0.99 each

Crescent Dawn by Clive and/or Dirk Cussler is on sale in the US right now

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

Crescent Dawn is the twenty-first Dirk Pitt book. Ostensibly, per the webpage and cover, it’s by Clive Cussler with his son Dirk Cussler (not sure who was named after whom), but given that SYKM says that Clive Cussler died in 2020, and that the last few books were already co-written, it seems it really must

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The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) is on sale in the UK right now

1 Comment / Price Drops / By Sue

The Running Grave is the seventh and most recent (2023) Cormoran Strike/Robin Ellacott title by Robert Galbraith, which is a pen name for JK Rowling. It’s £0.99 in the UK right now – probably only for a few hours more – so grab it if you want it! Buy at Kindle UK | Kobo UK

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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.