Tag: Fiction
Death of a Witch
Catriona Beldame has come to the village of Lochdubh in the Scottish Highlands. The superstitious locals think she’s a witch, and Catriona doesn’t dissuade them from that opinion, claiming that she supplies “therapy and herbal treatments.” She’s bewitched the men who often visit her at night. The women, however, stay away and are surprisingly tight-lipped… Read More ›
The Blight Way
Bo Tully, the Sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, has his own way of doing things, thus the Blight Way. “That’s because Blight County is thirty years back in time, and Famine is at least fifty years back,” says Bo’s father, Pap. This quote is so suitable in describing the fictitious county—and the very small “town”… Read More ›
By Its Cover: Dreamless
The first thing I saw wasn’t the man running, looking behind him as if he was being chased. No, my eyes focused immediately on the familiar image below. It is the scene of a nightmare haunting a woman. Iconic images or famous works of art on a book’s cover can set the mood for the… Read More ›
Is Fat Bob Dead Yet?
Welcome to Bank Street in London, Connecticut. “It would be wrong to say it’s a good day on which to die, but surely one can imagine worse days.” Though the narrative is a bit heavy on description at the beginning–describing the New London scene from a bird’s eye view–it soon narrows the focus on hapless… Read More ›
By Its Cover: Red Line
A lone figure, his back to us, stands by the shore beneath an expanse of bridge. The bridge is ablaze with lights as dusk deepens in the background. A literal red line bleeds through the title. Colors matter. Vibrant colors catch our eye and make us notice them. The lights on the bridge drew my attention… Read More ›
Live Read: Macaroni and Freeze
Today, The Poisoned Martini‘s is reading Christine Wenger’s Comfort Food Mystery, Macaroni and Freeze. This 4th book in the series released in July 2015 from Penguin books and their Obsidian Mystery imprint. A famous TV chef and former Sandy Harbor resident returns to her hometown to judge a mac-and-cheese cook-off fundraiser. When the chef turns… Read More ›
Diners, Drive-ins, and Death
It is a truth universally acknowledged that when, in a mystery novel, a character threatens to kill someone who invariably ends up dead, said person will inevitably be arrested for the threatened deed. Within the first chapter, larger-than-life Antoinette Chloe Brownelli dramatically brandishes a knife and announces, “As soon as I find Nick, I’m going… Read More ›
By Its Cover: Mayhem
This striking cover with its skeletal visage—is it formed by smoke or fire?—wearing a top hat and the vintage map of London behind it have me asking: what is it that we have here? “A moody whodunit with a horrific twist, set in London during Jack the Ripper’s red reign…” says the quote (attributed to… Read More ›
Short Story: The Confession
They gathered in the library, the place where it had happened. Last Friday, Tony Pagliano, the gym teacher at St. Ann’s Elementary, had been found dead among the dusty volumes in the very room where they now sat fidgeting. In The Confession, a phys ed teacher at an elementary school has been murdered. The suspects… Read More ›
By Its Cover: The Bones of Paris
Do some covers attract attention because they feature someplace we’ve been or wish to go? When traveling do you bring a book set in the place where you’ll be? Two things stand out on this cover: the Eiffel Tower and off to the left, an equestrian statue. It’s not the most stellar cover featuring a… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 