Reviews 
Whether it be a book, movie, or something else, here’s a critique.
Unshapely Things
I slogged through this book. As a fan of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden series, I’ve been looking for similar urban paranormal/fantasy series. Mark Del Franco’s Unshapely Things is my most recent trial run read. I found the premise of the book intriguing. Connor Grey is a druid who lost his powers while investigating a case… Read More ›
A Cure for Night
You can rest assured that this book won’t put you to sleep. A Cure for Night starts off as the story of Joel Deveraux, a young attorney, who squandered a successful law career and is now getting a second chance in the public defender’s office in Brooklyn. However, the story becomes so much more than that… Read More ›
City of Light
“The year is 1901. Buffalo, New York, is poised for glory. With its booming industry and newly electrified streets, Buffalo is a model for the century just beginning.” Thus begins the jacket cover description of this historical murder mystery by Lauren Belfer. Published in 1999, City of Light is an engaging look at turn… Read More ›
Hypothermia
This month’s mystery book club pick was Arnaldur Indriðason’s Hypothermia, published in 2007 (translated into English in 2010). This is actually Inspector Erlendur’s eighth case, but only six of his books have been translated into English. Several reviews on Amazon incorrectly refer to this as his sixth case. The story begins with a funeral; Maria’s mother… Read More ›
Chess
I’ve always enjoyed the game, and the musical is one of my top ten favorites! Back in the 1980s when I was first developing a taste for popular music, there were three songs that I’d hear on the radio that I loved. One of those was One Night In Bangkok. In buying my first music… Read More ›
Requiem in Vienna
Last September, my mystery book group read Requiem in Vienna by J. Sydney Jones. This historical mystery set in 1899 Vienna delves into the colorful history of classical music giants. This is actually the second book in a series featuring lawyer Karl Werthen and criminologist Hans Gross. Their first cast, The Empty Mirror, involved artist Gustav… Read More ›
Cats
Memory is a powerful thing. So it has been said. Tonight, for the fourth time, I have been priviledged to see the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, CATS. This was the very first true musical I ever saw. Famous Artists Broadway Theater Series presented CATS here in Syracuse at the Landmark Theatre in February of 1988. … Read More ›
Death at the Alma Mater
G. M. Malliet’s Death at the Alma Mater was the book my mystery book group chose to read in October, a month before I started up The Poisoned Martini. My parents had picked up a signed copy of this book for me at one of last year’s American Library Association conferences. The author spoke at… Read More ›
The Water’s Edge
Scandinavian crime novels are in vogue right now. Perhaps this is in large part due to the popularity of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which has drawn attention to Scandinavian authors…at least to American audiences. “Stark” and “bleak” have been used, in general, to describe the landscape of these authors’ works. Of course,… Read More ›
Now, Voyager
This is the movie that sparked my interest in classic cinema. I’d never much cared for black and white movies as a child. I did watch several of the Abbott and Costello movies, King Kong (1933) and a few others. But the idea of watching black and white in an age of color was not an… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 