It’s that time of year when everyone wants a jolt of Tiny Nightmares. There is no easier way to get ready for Halloween than reading one or more of these super short horror stories in the dark before bed! From climate change to a subway rat to mother’s milk, theseContinue Reading
When Agatha dies, everyone has their eyes on her will. However, the bizarre terms will make it difficult to collect what they “deserve”. It seems everyone tries to kill everyone using extremely gory methods. In Dead End Drive, the last person alive wins the estate when the lawyer arrives theContinue Reading
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
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
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
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 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
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
“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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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