Tag: Fiction
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 ›
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 ›
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 ›
The Christie Caper
This book was an adventure for me and has a storied history. In the Summer of 1991, I attended the ALA (American Library Association) conference in Atlanta, Georgia. One of the authors in attendance happened to be Carolyn G. Hart, who had recently released The Christie Caper, an homage to Agatha Christie. Of course, for… Read More ›
Storm Front
A house on a lake. Behind it a cityscape and lightning bolts streak through the night sky. What an intriguing cover. That’s what first drew me to this book and this awesome series. Storm Front introduces Harry Dresden, a wizard in Chicago who helps the Chicago P.D. with those cases that defy everyday logic. When the… Read More ›
The Lost Hero
I am fanatic about Greek Mythology. I will read just about anything related to the gods, heroes, and monsters of Ancient Greece. Periodically I search for new stories inspired by myth; that’s how I came across Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series. What started off as a sort of Harry Potter knock-off using the Greek gods… Read More ›
Bookmarked For Death
This month, the mystery book club I host chose to read Lorna Barrett’s Bookmarked for Death. Set in the fictional New Hampshire town of Stoneham, the Booktown Mystery series features Tricia Miles, propietor of a mystery bookstore. In this second book in the series, Tricia hosts an author signing, but the featured author turns up… Read More ›
The Mysteries of Udolpho
One of the few books I’ve read twice! Modern readers of paranormal romances and urban fantasies would be adrift without this early novel, published in 1794. This epic gothic novel (most editions run about 700 pages) begins with Emily St. Aubert’s idyllic life in the south of France in 1584. When her circumstances change, Emily… Read More ›
Agatha Christie’s Double Sin
This was the very first Agatha Christie book I ever read. You can even see how yellowed the cover is! A girl in the seventh grade was reading Christie, and wanting to have something in common to talk about with my fellow classmate, I picked up this collection of stories to read. Needless to say,… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 