Call Me Ismael Phone Book
The exquisite Call Me Ismael Phone Book is in the style of a retro phone book, if you remember those. I haven’t seen one in at least two decades. Short history lesson (feel free to skip this paragraph) They used to drop large paperback phone books off for free atContinue Reading
A Waffle Lot of Murder
My Review My favorite part about cozy mysteries are when they have a holiday theme. And Halloween is my favorite holiday! If you want to get in a Halloween mood, A Waffle Lot of Murder will get you there fast. Even here in California with triple-digit heat, I still feelContinue Reading
Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year
It’s an interesting idea but I’m unclear how each passage is chosen. I thought it was going to be reading one play in order in bite-size pieces, and then on to the next play, rather than piecemeal like this format. Due to this methodology, Shakespeare for Every Day of theContinue Reading
A Death Long Overdue
By all accounts, Helena Sanchez was a nasty rude woman. She insulted most of the attendees at Bertie’s fortieth college reunion. However, even she didn’t deserve to be murdered for her sins. For the murderer, it was A Death Long Overdue as Helena was the former Library Director at theContinue Reading
Confessions on the 7:45
Confessions on the 7:45 would make a great movie! While ostensibly a remake of Strangers on a Train, it is so much more. Selena has had a bad few months. Her husband, Charlie, lost his job—and doesn’t seem to be searching too hard for another one. In fact, at thisContinue Reading
Deadly Travel
My Review It’s 1939 in England. You are a journalist, an amateur detective, and a part-time spy for the British government. You are chosen to join the Quaker Kindertransports of mostly Jewish children from Germany to England. Your goals? Find out who murdered the person you are replacing. Discover whoContinue Reading
Five Total Strangers
“I do not climb into cars with a group of strangers or jaunt off into a snowstorm. This isn’t something I’d normally do, but to get home to Mom? I’ll do whatever it takes.” These are Mira’s last thoughts before she indeed becomes one of Five Total Strangers stuck inContinue Reading
Surrounded by Psychopaths
Regardless of which side of the aisle you lean towards, every US citizen feels, more now than ever, they are Surrounded by Psychopaths. This book included a timely discussion of how psychopaths think based, at least partially, on real psychological theory. It then teaches people, based on their own personalities,Continue Reading
30-Minute Cooking from Frozen Cookbook
It is nice to be able to cook dinner in 30 minutes or less. But it’s even better to make dinner when I feel like eating it instead of right before the fresh ingredients are about to spoil. Enter the 30-Minute Cooking from Frozen Cookbook to solve both problems. WithContinue Reading
Come to Light
In Come to Light, Emit’s wife, Julia, and two of her friends went missing six years ago while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. When the skull of one of the friends is found after a storm on the PCT, Emit suspects his wife’s stalker ex-boyfriend, Guillaume. Unfortunately, Julia’s sister, Sara,Continue Reading
Snifter of Terror Vol 2
Part parody, part homage, and fully camp, the Snifter of Terror Vol 2 is great for Poe fans that can take a bit of friendly ribbing. It’s the Mad Magazine of Poe. There are graphic short stories, prose short stories, and poems within these pages. Some are mashups of moreContinue Reading
Aggretsuko: Metal to the Max
Retsuko is an mild mannered accountant working in a mind-numbing corporate job. But when karaokeing, she turns into Aggretsuko: Metal to the Max. When her entire office comes down with the “C-virus”, it’s Retsuko to the rescue. How you say? A vaccine? Social distancing? Bleach injections? No, of course not!Continue Reading
Lon Chaney Speaks
Lon Chaney Speaks more than ninety years after his death in this excellent graphic novel biography. Lon Chaney was famous for his ability to turn himself into completely different looking, and scary, monsters. Everyone knows his iconic Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame. But some of hisContinue Reading
Gunning for Ramirez
A Mexican drug cartel accidentally sees their former employee, an infamous killer named Ramirez, in an Arizona vacuum store. Could an assassin be in hiding as a mild-mannered vacuum repairman? The cartel is convinced and their assassins come Gunning for Ramirez! The art was my favorite part of this novel.Continue Reading
Murder at the PTA
There is a gossip website called Dirty Laundry that focuses on Portland High School in Maine. While Sandra was giving a speech to the school’s PTA in her new role as PTA President, a story explodes from Dirty Laundry into the room. Sandra’s Senator husband is rumored to be usingContinue Reading
The Haunting of H.G. Wells
The Haunting of H.G. Wells follows Wells into WWI trenches where he is looking for morale building stories for the folks back in England. What he finds are ghosts of the war dead that follow him back into his life. And what a life that is. Good ol’ HG hadContinue Reading