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
What Moves the Dead? I am pretty sure it’s Edgar Allan Poe turning over in his grave after the publication of this anemic adaptation of his short story The Fall of the House of Usher. Location, location, location is the mantra of real estate agents. However, atmosphere, atmosphere, atmosphere isContinue Reading
This time it’s personal in Vera Kelly: Lost and Found. Vera’s girlfriend Max is summoned back to her California family home. Max’s parents are divorcing, and a shady occultist may be stealing some of their ample funds. It’s 1971 and even in California being in love with another woman makesContinue Reading
In October 1918, Private Maxwell is running from a bomb during World War I. In flashbacks, it is shown how Maxwell got there as one of The Stretcher Bearers in the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne. The book puts the reader directly in the action as a stretcher bearer in WWI.Continue Reading
What do you feel like reading? A Los Angeles-set noir? Historical fiction? A murder mystery? An alternate history that feels scarily relevant to today’s world? With Beat the Devils, you can get all of this and more in one book. Mo Baker is a holocaust survivor and an LAPD detectiveContinue Reading
Lillian Pentecost is a private investigator in 1946 New York City. Will Parker is her female assistant. Will’s former job was as a circus knife thrower’s assistant. When the knife thrower is arrested for the stabbing death of the tattooed lady, Lillian and Will travel to rural Virginia to investigateContinue Reading
Constable Twitten and charwoman/criminal mastermind Mrs. Groynes are both trying to determine what is causing the multitude of recent murders in their sleepy southern English town in Psycho by the Sea. When Mrs. G was running things, messy murder victims weren’t filling the morgue. But now one of her chiefContinue Reading
Dr. Watson brings his second wife, Juliet, to Egypt to cure her tb. He runs into Sherlock, who is looking for a missing nobleman. They join forces. In Return of the Pharoah, the game is once again afoot! This author does the best job of the many writers trying toContinue Reading
The Cry of the Hangman is historical mystery fiction set in working-class London in 1667. Lucy is a printer’s apprentice. When her mentor, Magistrate Hargrave, is beaten and his court notes stolen, Lucy suspects a rival printer. She soon begins to investigate. The Cry of the Hangman is excellent historicalContinue Reading
William Jackson Crawford is skeptical of the seances that are popular in England after World War I. But his skepticism turns to wonder after he meets Kathleen Goligher, who allows him to talk to his beloved mother’s spirit. William spends years trying to prove Kathleen is a genuine medium. AfterContinue Reading
In 1885, the women of Paris are in danger. Not from unknown murderers. No, from their own husbands and fathers. For women who refuse to follow the restrictive culture of marriage, babies, and staying quiet, the Salpetriere asylum beckons. Some may truly be mentally ill. But most are just inconvenient.Continue Reading