Contemporary mysteries and thrillers ranging from the mid 1900s (plus or minus) to the present time
A gaslighting masterpiece from before gaslighting was even a thing… When I got the chance for a review copy of The Lady Vanishes, by Ethel Lina White, I was not quite sure I really wanted to read it. I’m not that much of a movie person, and not much of a psychological suspense/thriller person either. […]
A review of The Lady Vanishes by Ethel Lina White – a new e-book version is coming soon Read More »
Worth the read, but room for improvement… Off the Air caught my attention as a Tony Hillerman prize-winner, and the blurb sounded interesting too, so I was happy to receive a review copy. For me, however, Off the Air didn’t fully live up to its promise. First, the good. I enjoyed the mystery itself, which
A review of Off the Air by Christina Estes Read More »
Don’t read this LOL-inducing book around other people… When I was offered a review copy of Dead Tired, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But what I found was a nicely plotted mystery with a lot of enjoyable moments of snark. I missed the first book in the series, during which, apparently, Alice’s group
A review of Dead Tired by Kat Ailes – recently published Read More »
Another Alex Delaware/Milo Sturgis book that’s a real treat… I came late to Jonathan Kellerman’s Alex Delaware books, based on a bad assumption on my part: that books featuring a psychologist as a protagonist would necessarily be psychological thrillers, which I’m generally not fond of. However, a few years ago, I was lucky enough to
A review of The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman – recently published Read More »
A great second book in the series… As you can see from my review of the first book in Bruce Borgos’ Porter Beck series, The Bitter Past, I really (really) liked it, and that set an insanely high standard for the second book, Shades of Mercy. And Shades of Mercy came very close, and the
A review of Shades of Mercy by Bruce Borgos – coming tomorrow Read More »
Brunetti books always feel like coming home, even though I don’t live in Venice… In a series with thirty-three books (!!!), one could be forgiven for thinking that it would be hard to keep producing engaging books that draw readers in, while also making them think. But Donna Leon consistently pulls this off (see here
A Refiner’s Fire by Donna Leon is coming Tuesday – a review Read More »
Back to Posadas County… I’ve been a fan of Steven F Havill’s Posadas County mysteries for years, and Perfect Opportunity is the newest in the series. And it’s just as enjoyable as all the previous books. To start with, there’s an off-beat plot that originates with a series of seemingly unconnected incidents – but in
A review of Perfect Opportunity by Steven F Havill – recently published Read More »
More suspense with romance than romance with suspense… Mind Games, by Nora Roberts, is only the second “official” Nora Roberts book that I’ve read, although I’ve read many of the Eve Dallas/In Death mysteries that she has published using her pen name, JD Robb. So I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but whatever I
Mind Games by Nora Roberts – a review Read More »
Read this one alone, because you’ll laugh out loud… Simon Brett’s Mrs Pargeter series is my second favorite of his many series. Although sometimes it’s actually my favorite – it all kind of depends on what I’m in the mood for at the moment. But in any case, I was thrilled when Brett picked the
A Review of Mrs Pargeter’s Patio by Simon Brett Read More »
Originally written in the 1960s; a bit dated now… Although it’s kind of a classic, Love in Amsterdam, by Nicolas Freeling, was published in the early 1960s, and sadly, shows its age a bit. From the time early on when Inspector Van der Valk asks the main suspect whether the victim was a “nymphomaniac”, I
A review of Love in Amsterdam by Nicolas Freeling Read More »
