An interesting character study of a lonely police detective forced to retire. The Darkness is another character as is the beautiful isolation of Iceland. Hulda is 64. She is dreading retiring to her lonely apartment when her superior tells she has been replaced effectively in two weeks. He allows herContinue Reading
A true crime memoir that reads like a thriller! The takedown of the notorious street gang, MS-13, is described in Operation Devil Horns. “A special agent is never—ever—off duty.” MS-13 expanded from El Salvador throughout Central America to Los Angeles and finally San Francisco’s Mission District. Local cops were unableContinue Reading
Claw the System: Poems from the Cat Uprising is a short book filled with luscious cat photos and poems written by extremely upset cats. Cats have a four stage plan for their uprising: recognize, resist, revolt and rebuild. Each stage has a chapter filled with at least ten poems andContinue Reading
In Be Our Ghost, Kate and her grandmother, Liza, run a bed and breakfast in coastal Oregon. When a local businessman is found dead, they investigate to exonerate a local business owner. Soon they are uncovering oodles of secrets in this fine cozy mystery. Norman wants to open a largeContinue Reading
The wild wild West is alive and well high above Palm Springs in the Mojave Desert. Low Life in the Desert tells the allegedly true tale of Pioneertown in the early noughties. David, an Australian journalist, moves to Los Angeles to be with his girlfriend, Boo, who is writing aContinue Reading
The Witch Elm was an acceptable family drama but not much of a thriller. Toby is a lucky privileged jerk. His girlfriend, Melissa, is a sweet bubblehead. After celebrating his ability to talk his way out of a possibly career-ending mistake at work, Toby goes home. There he surprises twoContinue Reading
All kinds of lunches, dinners and holiday meals are included in Simply Bento. This cookbook includes Japanese, sandwich, noodle, rice and sushi bento recipes. It has a full chapter featuring vegan bento recipes and another for low carb bento. Each entree’s recipe comes with suggestions for side dishes and aContinue Reading
Light and easy cozy mystery set in the world of talent agent, Kay, who provides animal actors to television and film productions. Bird, Bath and Beyond is a nice afternoon’s entertainment with no graphic violence or language. Celebrity parrot, Barney, is the sole witness to the death of television star,Continue Reading
A killer is stalking Wheatfield, a miracle is seen at the local church and Virgil Flowers is on the case in Holy Ghost. The mayor of tiny Wheatfield Minnesota was selected as a joke. However, he and his teenage partner come up with a con that might just save theContinue Reading
Melding hard-boiled noir with a post-Facebook breach world is a brilliant idea. When nothing is private, the world’s only choice is to turn to Analog Volume 1. In 2023, Jack is a Ledger Man, a paper jockey hired to move confidential papers from place to place. He also literally brokeContinue Reading
Warning: The Book of Onions contains no onions at all. Instead it contains darkly humorous single page cartoons about life. Have you ever wondered how Ronald McDonald got his job? Or whether kitchen matches are happy to be chosen for important jobs? Even if you have never had any curiosityContinue Reading
“Making a no-budget indie film is like going to war. But you’re not General MacArthur storming the beaches with a force of a hundred thousand soldiers. Instead, you’re more like a small squad of Vietcong guerillas behind enemy lines, trying to complete an impossible mission using guile and your wits,Continue Reading
Amateur detective Mordecai Tremaine is back is the fine mystery In at the Death. Dr. Hardene is found bludgeoned to death inside a vacant house. When Chief Inspector Boyce of Scotland Yard is called to investigate, he brings his buddy Mordecai Tremaine. Numerous questions emerge. Why was the DoctorContinue Reading
Herbert Cargate is a very unpleasant man. He is also soon to be poisoned on a train in the English countryside in Excellent Intentions. Starting a murder case at the end, in the courtroom trying to prove a mysterious person’s guilt, is an unusual plot structure. Published in 1938, fifteenContinue Reading
Medallion of Murder is another excellent entry in the young adult mystery series, Nefertari Hughes. Terry, a female high school senior, has many balls in the air. She is still getting used to her leg prosthesis, deciding what to make her career after high school, and dealing with her widowedContinue Reading
The Way of All Flesh emphasizes the historical while leaving the mystery almost as an afterthought. In 1847 Edinburgh, medicine is rudimentary and painkillers were thought to be against God’s will. When Will becomes the apprentice of Dr. Simpson, an obstetrician, he sees some horrific things. In the mystery, WillContinue Reading