Lisa is a new detective in Sweden. Up first is locating a missing person, who is deep in the raggare culture of vintage American cars and rockabilly music. His parents report him missing after he misses the annual local car festival, Motorcity. I expect more exotica from Europe Comics. SettingContinue Reading
Characterization is sacrificed for plot in Bats in the Belfry. There are a multitude of characters in Bats in the Belfry. Most are only vaguely fleshed out. We first meet the main players at a funeral where they begin to discuss how they would hide a dead body. Old AgathaContinue Reading
Despite being depressingly far from the suggested age for The Ghost the Owl, I loved this middle grade (ages 9-12) comic. The story was intriguing. The artwork is unusual but superb. It merges a picture book and a graphic novel into a surreal dream world of the afterlife. A girlContinue Reading
Lengthy meandering summary of research studies about aging. The Happiness Curve is found worldwide in both males and females and even in apes. The curve shows that people get decreasingly satisfied with life (the definition of happiness used here) from age 20 to their early 50s. After bottoming out, theirContinue Reading
An eerie ambience suffuses The Broken Girls. It is a mystery wrapped in a ghost story or perhaps the other way around. “Ghosts and dead babies and murdered girls. What next?” Roberta, Katie, Cece and Sonia were all dumped at Idlewild Hall, an all-girl boarding school in 1950 Vermont. RobertaContinue Reading
The Marmalade Murders is an enjoyable cozy mystery set in a small North Wales village. Penny and Victoria are partners in the village spa. When they get roped into checking in contestants for the local food competition, they discover some irregularities. Why did someone call Florence telling her to checkContinue Reading
SHOCK Anthology is a collection of 21 completely different stories from Aftershock Comics. Fluctuating genres and art keep any one person from liking all the stories. However, there is something for everyone within: horror, sci-fi, memoir, adventure and some with apparently no plot at all. The new Neil Gaiman isContinue Reading
Military strategies compared to Star Wars are the theme of the 28 essays within Strategy Strikes Back. Focusing on both past warfare and the wars to come, it is comprehensively researched and annotated. I have to say that only reviewers will have the patience to read a foreword, a prefaceContinue Reading
Beautiful photographs of 80s music industry veterans and short summaries of their life now fill 80s Redux. 46 people are profiled. Most are lead singers but other musicians and a few complete bands are included. Here are the artists and/or bands included: Dave Wakeling, The English Beat Martha Davis, TheContinue Reading
The Great American Outpost is a scattershot memoir of the North Dakota fracking oil boom and its impact on local residents. In 2011, the first horizontal fracking oil well was drilled in North Dakota. What followed totally changed the laid back farming vibe of the state. Out-of-state workers flooded theContinue Reading
Only Sherlock Holmes unites the unique and disparate tales within Baker Street Irregulars The Game is Afoot. The 13 stories within this collection take wildly different approaches in their homages to Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock is a girl, a native American, a student, a teacher, a librarian, a rabbi and aContinue Reading
Eclectic mix of essays in Beyond the Map is sure to have something for everyone. How unique islands are formed and claimed is described in Part I. Part II is about how some small nations and communities were developed. Part III describes utopias of religion, lifestyle, or technology. Part IVContinue Reading
Not for modern readers, The Leavenworth Case will made the reader appreciate Sir Arthur Conan Doyle all the more. Bestselling 1878 amateur detective mystery. It sold 750,000 copies in the 15 years after its publishing. Arguably the first full length mystery written by a woman, The Leavenworth Case is narratedContinue Reading
Fifth in the Flaxborough Mystery series, Charity Ends at Home is another late Golden Age small English village cozy. The village coroner, constable and editor of the local paper each receive an identical unsigned note stating that the writer is fearful of being murdered. The note references a photo ofContinue Reading
A history of disasters and a prediction of The Big Ones fill Dr. Jones’ book. Containing a wealth of information about the science underlying disasters, The Big Ones is written in an informal and non-technical manner. From Pompeii and Iceland’s volcanos, to California’s 1861 floods, to earthquakes in 1775 Lisbon,Continue Reading
Fourteen years, deaths, illnesses, corruption and kickbacks! Who knew a history of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge could be so interesting? It takes a family (and a lot of immigrants) to build the Brooklyn Bridge in The Bridge: How the Roeblings Connected Brooklyn to New York. The story beginsContinue Reading