Mystery 
The Chocolate Cat Caper
The first in the Chocoholic mystery series takes Shakespeare’s adage, “first kill all the lawyers,” to heart. Clementine Ripley, a high-profile defense attorney, takes a fatal bite of chocolate and then promptly falls over a balcony landing at Lee McKinney’s feet. In her first full-length appearance (see this entry about the short story), Lee McKinney has once again… Read More ›
The Chocoholic Mysteries
With Halloween approaching, October is the perfect month to read a book featuring chocolate, and JoAnna Carl’s Chocoholic Mysteries are a perfect choice. For my “A Taste of Murder” discussion series, I ended up reading two selections. I picked up a copy of Crime de Cocoa, which includes the first three Chocoholic Mysteries and a… Read More ›
Dark Shadows
In 1991, a show premiered on NBC that captured my imagination. It opened with a governess on a train… “My name is Victoria Winters. My journey is just beginning—a journey that I am hoping will somehow begin to reveal the mysteries of my past. It is a journey that will bring me to a strange… Read More ›
The Gracie Allen Murder Case II
Philo Vance is a noted detective in mystery fiction. However, modern readers might find his affected speech irritating. His tendency to use complex words, references to classical mythology, and dropping the ‘g’ off of words ending in ‘ing’ are a tad annoying, perhaps. As I mentioned previously, having a dictionary handy is a good idea…. Read More ›
The Gracie Allen Murder Case
This is a most unusual mystery novel. In reading about the mystery genre and the craft of writing detective stories, I’ve come across mentions of S. S. Van Dine and his detective Philo Vance. Van Dine, the pseudonym of critic and journalist Willard Huntington Wright (1888 – 1939), was an acquaintance of Burns and Allen,… Read More ›
Scones & Bones
Piratical legend features in this twelfth entry in the Tea Shop Mystery series by Laura Childs. The Tea Shop Mysteries are like revisiting an old friend. Invariably the story begins with Theodosia Browning and company at a notable event in Charleston, South Carolina, and by the end of the first chapter, someone had been killed. It’s… Read More ›
Aunt Dimity’s Death
What constitutes a mystery? In this delightful tale, Lori Shepherd learns that her Aunt Dimity has died. “I was stunned. Not because she was dead, but because I had never known she’d been alive,” says Lori. Her mother used to tell her stories, featuring the indomitable Aunt Dimity. Recently, Lori’s life has been a downward spiral. She… Read More ›
A Taste of Murder
Enjoying a good book is always a treat. Having a treat along with your reading is even better. This Autumn, I’m hosting a mystery book discussion series, “A Taste of Murder,” at my Library. It’s an opportunity to read culinary murder mysteries and sample delectable treats! After all, isn’t the image of reading a book… Read More ›
Drood the Musical
It’s the solve-it yourself Broadway Musical! One of the first musicals I ever saw–and still one of my top ten favorites–is The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which played in Syracuse at the Civic Center on October 17 & 18, 1988. I was drawn to it because it was a murder mystery and was thrilled to… Read More ›
Introducing The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Who killed Edwin Drood? Was he killed? We’ll never really know the answers because Charles Dickens died before finishing this, his last novel. Perhaps the Victorian Age’s most iconic author, Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870. Only a scant two months prior, Dickens’ newest tale, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, began appearing in monthly… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 