Murder in Constantinople had a great potential that was spoiled by an unlikeable and one-dimensional main character, multiple anachronisms, and worst of all an uneven pacing. I kept plugging through it but it never seemed to get better in my opinion. If you like historical mysteries, there are much betterContinue Reading
Knave of Diamonds is another entry in the long running Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery series. It has a more character-driven focus than other recent entries in the backlist. Mary’s ne’er do well Uncle Jake arrives in her life after being absent for decades. He needs a favor thatContinue Reading
I should have known after reading and so enjoying House of the Spirits decades ago that any other book by this author would feel like a letdown. Her latest novel, My Name Is Emilia del Valle, continues the saga of the del Valle family that she has written about inContinue Reading
I have a confession. I really don’t like reading historical fiction. This author, David Baldacci, is one of my favorite thriller writers so I gave Strangers in Time a chance. And I’m glad I did. Strangers in Time has an intriguing plot but it shines best with its fully fleshedContinue Reading
In Splinter Effect, Rabbit Ward is an experienced time traveling archaeologist who has made one too many mistakes in his past. A mentee, the impetuous young son of his founders, has been left in the past. A rival has stolen half of his treasures on his most recent visit toContinue Reading
In The House on Graveyard Lane, amateur detective Rachel Savernake is once again hunting a killer in 1930s London. However, this time her client, famous artist Damaris, kills herself in full public view. What drove Damaris to suicide? And why didn’t Damaris just expose the reason herself rather than usingContinue Reading
Is The Montford Maniac on the loose again after a ten-year absence? Lady Violet, author and amateur detective, is on the case. With the help of her fictional characters, can she solve the crime? Hmmm, I so wanted to like this book. While I found the fictional characters in LadyContinue Reading
Get your hankies ready! The Women is a near constant tearjerker. Nothing goes right for Frankie. Frankie decides to finish her nursing degree to join her brother in Vietnam. It’s 1965 and war is still considered a patriotic duty. The day she joins up, her family receives notification that Frankie’sContinue Reading
The Robin Hood stories are reimagined as medieval history in the graphic novel, Tales from Nottingham Vol. 1. The artwork is detailed and colorful. It has the mood of the old Classics Illustrated comics or the pictures in an old history book. The plot takes real, but long dead, royaltyContinue Reading
The Golden Gate is a historical hard-boiled police procedural novel that includes family drama and addresses a lot of buzzy topics like politics, racism, passing, and how the rich are treated differently. The story is set in 1944 in a fashionable hotel where a politician is murdered but has flashbacksContinue Reading
Hiss & Tell is a cozy mystery with two timelines—the present and 1789–both set in the same location in rural Virginia. In the present day, when a man is found shot dead in a ditch with no ID and drugs in his system, the locals worry that big city problemsContinue Reading
Encouraging readers to come for the mystery and stay for the characters is basically the goal of every cozy mystery. Bookclubbed to Death achieves that objective with a light-hearted look at bookstore ownership and the life of a new author. Sam is celebrating her impending marriage and her soon toContinue Reading
Paperback Jack is advertised as a noir thriller, but instead reads like a period piece/memoir. Pulp fiction writer Jacob returns stateside after WWII and finds the pulps dead. What is a writer to do to make a living? He turns to creating lurid paperback fiction as his meal ticket. ButContinue Reading
Big Red is a reimagining of the life story of Rita Hayward through the eyes of a fictional sexually fluid female would-be gossip reporter, and part time spy for Rita’s boss, Rusty. In real life Rita had an interesting life. This book reads like a Hollywood scandal sheet version hypingContinue Reading
A rent collector is murdered, and children are missing in Dear Little Corpses, the latest Josephine Tey mystery. The heroine of Dear Little Corpses is a fictionalized Josephine Tey. Tey was a writer of laudable British golden age mysteries that fictionalized historical figures. This book attempts to do the sameContinue Reading
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is, of course, based on the famous tale by H.G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau. The original story was a cautionary tale against man’s hubris. The movie into which it was made was a horror film. This book, however, is a look into aContinue Reading