Tag: Novella
The Third Man
Graham Greene’s The Third Man has the aura of familiarity about it. It’s one of those works that’s part of the collective consciousness, much like Romeo and Juliet, Gone with the Wind, The Maltese Falcon, and several Greek myths, that—whether or not one has seen or read them—we have a sense of their basic story… Read More ›
Bones on Ice
A body frozen in ice. A freak accident leading to such an occurrence is tragic and frightening, but what if it’s something more? Consider Ötzi, the 3,300 BCE era “Iceman” whose frozen remains were found in the Alps. Discovered in 1991, at first, it was thought he was a hapless mountaineer recently deceased. Tests later proved… Read More ›
Louise Penny’s The Hangman
“Armand Gamache didn’t like what he was looking at … A man was hanging from a tree in front of him.” The calm, collected Chief Inspector Armand Gamache stands “still and silent, like the forest itself” as the police search the area deep in the woods of Quebec where the body is found. It’s a… Read More ›
Two Ravens and One Crow
What a strange interlude. Unlike his earlier novella, Grimoire of the Lamb, Hearne’s second novella, Two Ravens and One Crow, is less an adventure story and more of an interlude between books that fills in some interesting backstory along with a side dish of excitement. It begins with Atticus wishing he could train his druid… Read More ›
Live Read: Grimoire of the Lamb
Today, The Poisoned Martini is reading Kevin Hearne’s novella, Grimoire of the Lamb. Atticus O’Sullivan looks twenty-one years old, but he is the centuries old druid Siodhachan Ó Suileabháin lying low in the desert clime of Tempe, Arizona. When an evil sorcerer steals the titular grimoire, Atticus travels to Egypt to get it back, but… Read More ›
Circus of Blood
“If my heart wasn’t armor-plated with scar tissue, it would have broken for the girl who was hooked up to IVs and fighting for her life.” What an opening. We learn that someone tried to beat this girl to death, but then… “If she hadn’t been a Were-bat, then this would’ve been an autopsy.” The scene… Read More ›
Spider’s Lullaby
The first clue was the door… open ever so slightly. “The second clue was the bittersweet scent of Were-spider blood drifting from inside the house.” Yikes! Spider’s Lullaby begins with Deacon Chalk, Occult Bounty Hunter—”have silver bullets, will travel”—and his lady friends, Charlotte and Tiff, returning to Charlotte’s place after a night of binge drinking…. Read More ›
Live Read: That Thing at the Zoo
Today, The Poisoned Martini is reading James R. Tuck’s novella, That Thing at the Zoo. Monster slayer Deacon Chalk faces an unknown assailant or “whatever is leaving the Atlanta Zoo’s most dangerous predators bloodless, skinned, and hanging high in treetops.” Now with the zoo in lockdown, Deacon and a handful of zoo staffers must survive… Read More ›
Gingerbread Cookie Murder III
On a more serious note, Leslie Meier’s “Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots” rounds out the trilogy of novellas offered in Gingerbread Cookie Murder. “It was Christmas…again.” That’s how this Lucy Stone mystery begins. A much more somber tone than the two previous entries. The last in my “A Taste of Murder” discussion series, Gingerbread Cookie Murder features… Read More ›
Gingerbread Cookie Murder II
“Christmas with my parents is always a mixed bag.” Oh, dear. With an opening line like this, where are we headed? Moving to a retirement community doesn’t necessarily benefit one’s health, at least for one individual in Laura Levine’s novella, “The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies.” Fans of Janet Evanovich might very well enjoy this taste of… Read More ›
The Poisoned Martini 