Best of “The Strand Magazine”
The Strand is a British mystery magazine known best for publishing the first Sherlock Holmes story well over a century ago. The Best of “The Strand Magazine” anthology collects 29 tales published within the last twenty-five years. Their authors are as diverse as Michael Connelly, Shirley Jackson and H.G. Wells.Continue Reading
With Friends Like These
A group of five women met at Harvard as college roommates. For the past twenty years, they have been playing essentially a game of tag once a year. Each player draws a name and must retrieve that person’s medallion by shooting each other with water pistols. The winner got braggingContinue Reading
The Cornish Christmas Pantomime Murder
Are you ready for a fun little Christmas mystery set in a rural English village, where everyone knows your name, and all your business? The Cornish Christmas Pantomime Murder provides all that while also managing to be gently humorous too. It really is the perfect cozy mystery when you needContinue Reading
Portals to a New Reality
Physics is at an impasse. Einstein’s theory of General Relativity works well to explain the world on a macro level. Quantum Mechanics works great at the subatomic level. But the two have never been reconciled into one giant universal law. Portals to a New Reality suggests five experiments that mightContinue Reading
The Midnight Knock
Seven people on the run from the police, a Mexican drug cartel, and/or the local human trafficker stop at a small motel in the desolate Texas desert. They are in for the longest night of their life in The Midnight Knock, a new paranormal thriller/locked room mystery genre mashup. AreContinue Reading
Death at the Door
In Death at the Door, twenty-something Ruby has recently moved to Boston. Unfortunately, her apartment has the ghost of a recent suicide, or was it murder, named Cordelia, living there too. Luckily, they become best friends even though their communication method, a magnetic alphabet on the fridge, is difficult atContinue Reading
A Guardian and a Thief
This book is literary fiction about A Guardian and a Thief. It’s part of Oprah’s book club so I knew I was getting more than simply plot. I was going to get a lesson in here somewhere too. It is Kolkata, India in the near future. Climate change has hitContinue Reading
Murder in Constantinople
Murder in Constantinople had a great potential that was spoiled by an unlikeable and one-dimensional main character, multiple anachronisms, and worst of all an uneven pacing. I kept plugging through it but it never seemed to get better in my opinion. If you like historical mysteries, there are much betterContinue Reading
The Hitchhikers
The Hitchhikers is an adrenaline fueled ride through rural Canada in 1976. Alice and Tom are on an RV adventure to see the Montreal Olympics. While traveling from their home in Washington state, they pick up two hitchhikers who call themselves Blue and Ocean. Little do they know that BlueContinue Reading
The Art of Spending Money
So what is The Art of Spending Money? It is being content with what you have. It’s using your money to buy once-in-a-lifetime experiences rather than just upgrading your everyday life. It is consciously deciding that whatever you want is worth trading your time that could be spent with familyContinue Reading
Christmas People
If you have watched any sickly sweet Christmas romance television movies, you are ready to read Christmas People. Whether a fan of holiday romances or not, this book is a hilarious sendup of all the tropes of those movies, while still activating the feel good feeling they always impart. JillContinue Reading
Sharp Force
A serial killer uses Sharp Force to kill his victims on major holidays. But first he terrorizes them with a ghostly vision that seemingly can pass through walls without triggering alarms. It’s Christmas Eve. Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta is just finishing up an autopsy on a man found floating inContinue Reading
F*cked Up Fairy Tales
These stories are not the Disney versions that you remember. They are for adults only now, even though our long ago ancestors used them to scare the pants off their own children. The author even includes trigger warnings referencing animal cruelty, child abuse, and sexual misconduct. These are some seriouslyContinue Reading
Moan: Junji Ito Story Collection
Junji Ito is the absolute best at taking familiar things, a clogged drain or a new transfer student, and turning them into horrible things that resonate long after the story is done. Moan: Junji Ito Story Collection gives us six more reasons to have restless sleep tonight. This collection isContinue Reading
The Armchair Detectives
I’ve read a lot of mysteries with unreliable narrators. However, The Armchair Detectives is unique because Martin may, or may not, have dementia. He also may, or may not, have a former career as a spy. Martin’s thoughtful though somewhat reluctant sidekick, Albie, makes up the other half of TheContinue Reading
Fizz
Watched all the Mormon Wives episodes but sick of paying for overpriced soda syrups? Fizz has the answer with more than 70 different mostly non-alcoholic soda concoctions. I’ve had a Sodastream for years. I’ve never used it so much. These recipes are delicious and cheaper than the pricey prepackaged syrups.Continue Reading