An interesting collection of twenty hard science-fiction tales selected by the author is located in the Best of Greg Egan. The longish stories deal with what it means to be human and how technology is going to change both us and our outside environment. They were originally created between 1990Continue Reading
In Murder Can Mess Up Your Masterpiece, Celeste Cabot, with her Chihuahua Van Gogh, is embarking on a new life as a freelance artist. Living in her tiny bright pink trailer, Celeste has good sales at her first craft fair until she finds the organizer murdered and she is theContinue Reading
When would you need Animals Reviewed? Before you hire two skunks as house protection, read the included 2-star review suggesting guard rabbits instead. If you need a CrossFit instructor, you could do worse than the 5-star rhinoceros described here. Animals Reviewed is a perfect zoo or aquarium gift shop purchase.Continue Reading
Raymond Chandler has been reincarnated in the expressive prose of Shamus Dust. On Christmas Day, a man is found dead on the porch of a church in post-WWII City of London. By all accounts, the victim, Raymond Jarrett, was up to no good. Pictures of young boys in compromising positionsContinue Reading
Society expects that people will use logic and reason to sway others to change their mind. However, Stop Being Reasonable argues that reason doesn’t work, which is why the country is so divided. Using several true stories, the author anecdotally tries to prove what changes minds. The stories encompass catcalling,Continue Reading
The Big Book of Reel Murders is chockful of well-known authors like Dashiell Hammett, Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Fleming, and W. Somerset Maugham. Even better, it has some of my favorite silver-age short story writers from 1950-1989 Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen mystery magazines like Cornell Woolrich and Stanley Ellin.Continue Reading
Serf and Turf: A Silicon Valley Mystery by Marc Jedel Author Interview How did you get started writing cozy mysteries? I’ve wanted to write a book forever. For the longest time, it seemed I couldn’t come up with a good plot. Unfortunately for my prospective writing career, I had learnedContinue Reading
Beware the East Wind (The Mah Jongg Mysteries) by Barbara Barrett Author Guest Post The Mysteries of Mah Jongg I decided to use the game of Mah Jongg as the focus of my first mystery series for two reasons. First, it was a subject with which I had some familiarityContinue Reading
It’s the day before her one-year wedding anniversary and Elise has a problem in the new gaslight-esque thriller, Poison Garden. When Elise arrives home one day early from a trip, she finds her husband, Kieran, in their marital bed with another woman. He swears it was a one-time fling, butContinue Reading
“It takes a stroke of luck to find your vocation. I might have spent my whole life searching. Hare Krishna? Hairdressing? Water polo? But the universe blessed me with a taste of the perfect crime.”—from Of Vengeance. Welcome to the mind of an unnamed sociopath, who is also a thirteen-year-oldContinue Reading
The Art of Flaneuring is to wander intentionally in an aimless way. It is a technique to use mindfulness, live in the moment, and get some exercise. It was first practiced by rich, slightly drunken Frenchmen in the late 1800s. In modern times, it isn’t so limiting. In fact, flaneuringContinue Reading
The Fixer: The Last Romanov by Jill Amy Rosenblatt on Tour October 21 – November 23, 2019 Synopsis: “My name is Katerina Mills. Make sure I disappear.” Katerina Mills is getting out . . . Desperate to escape a psychotic former client, a vengeful mobster, and a dirty DEA agent,Continue Reading
A Very Vegan Halloween: The Witch’s Cauldron Cookbook The Vegan Holiday Cookbook Collection #1 by Rebecca Henry My Review With thirteen snacks, eight main dishes, seventeen desserts, and four drinks, A Very Vegan Halloween allows you to share Halloween with your friends and family without giving up your values. JustContinue Reading
Meg is helping her Grandfather run Owl Fest 2019 at the Caerphilly Inn at Christmas. When its 200 ornithologist guests are stranded by a snowstorm, one of the most cantankerous and least-loved professors is killed. Time for Meg to step in, with help of her extensive family, to solve theContinue Reading
Toyo Harada was nine when his world in Hiroshima Japan was blown apart by an atom bomb. His father died during the war and his mother died in the bombing. Harada was somehow saved. But he came back changed in the Life and Death of Toyo Harada. Harada has newContinue Reading
It was the eighties and everything was about making money. Reaganomics gave the promise that everyone could be rich with some smarts and initiative. So what were poor African-Americans using as their method to achieve this American Dream? Crack. With a 40% unemployment rate for African-American teenagers in 1984, thereContinue Reading