Tag: Book
By Its Cover: The Cocktail Waitress
Hard Case Crime has been issuing–or should I say, reissuing–novels with a retro pulp fiction look. This particular book, released in 2012, is touted as a lost final novel by James M. Cain, author of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce. Cain’s name should be well-known to mystery fans and film… Read More ›
Chapter by Chapter: The Mystery of Edwin Drood VII
“WHEN SHALL THESE THREE MEET AGAIN?” The title of Chapter Fourteen asks a curious question. To which three characters is it referring? Christmas Eve has come to Cloisterham. “Lavish profusion is in the shops” and elsewhere, as Dickens describes the Yuletide scene in Cloisterham before turning to the matter at hand. “Three are to meet… Read More ›
By Its Cover: Wait For Signs
An owl perched in front of a full moon was the very first thing that caught my eye. Then I say the author’s name: Craig Johnson, and that this was part of the Longmire series. From the inside jacket description: “Sheriff Walt Lonmire, first knocked readers dead in the Hillerman award-winning short story “Old Indian… Read More ›
Demise in Denim
The novel begins with Reagan Summerside in a little trouble. “It was a perfect spring night except that my palms were seating, my heart was rocketing around in my chest, I shook so bad it was hard to keep the car on the road, and there were one, two, make that four police cars on… Read More ›
For Your Eyes Only
“M replaced the stamp and the ink pad in the drawer and closed the drawer. He turned the docket around and pushed it gently across the desk to Bond. The red sans-serif letters, still damp, said: FOR YOUR EYES ONLY.” This meeting with M occurs in the title story featured in this collection of adventures… Read More ›
Josephine Tey’s To Love and Be Wise
Tey’s 3rd Inspector Alan Grant has to be one of the most ingenious mysteries ever written, and it begins with a good-looking young man arriving at a party… “Just inside the door, baffled apparently by the solid wall of talking and drinking humanity, was a young man, looking lost. He still had his hat in… Read More ›
A Cold Day for Murder
First, a young national park ranger has gone missing in Alaska. Then an investigator sent to find him has disappeared, too. Will it be a case of search-and-rescue or murder? The mystery begins with two men ski doo-ing their way to an isolated homestead, a log cabin that looked “more as if it had grown… Read More ›
Top 10 Fantasy Novels in 2014?
Reflecting on last year’s top mysteries made me curious to take a look at the fantasy novels of 2014. What were the most popular? Perhaps you may be surprised to learn that #1 was published over a decade ago! Now, this top 10 list includes a mix of high fantasy and urban/paranormal fantasy titles, all… Read More ›
Top 10 Mysteries in 2014?
2015 has certainly arrived, along with the cold. But I still find myself reflecting on the year that was. What were the most popular mysteries of 2014? Based on circulation figures at the library where I work, these were the most checked out mysteries in 2014. *** 10. Dust by Patricia Cornwell — Kay Scarpetta… Read More ›
5 Thrillers for Halloween
Recently I put together a short list of recommended books for a “book beat” article I contribute to a local newspaper, The Eagle Bulletin. Appearing in the October 22, 2014 issue, the selected books appeared under the banner of “Some New and Well-Respected Horror Reads for Halloween.” Though not the title I’d originally chosen for… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 