Reviews + Articles

Book Topics – Jim’s Epitaph

Well, this is a little weird, and I'm just posting it on February 15, because that's where it belongs. But, I lost this post when I converted from Blogspot to my current server for Lesa's Book Critiques. My husband died thirteen years ago today. Thanks to a friend,...

Bookends by Zibby Owens

I'm not one of those people who listened to Zibby Owens' podcast, Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books, before I picked up her memoir. Instead, I came at the book from a different angle. Owens just started a publishing company, and she's publishing one book a month...

The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions by Art Taylor

I don't know if anyone writing today has won more awards for his short fiction than Art Taylor. According to his website, "He won the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Short Story for “English 398: Fiction Workshop,” originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine,...

Before I Sleep by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

I'm always eager to return to Bill Slider's world in Cynthia Harrod-Eagles' series. Before I Sleep is the twenty-fourth in the series, and it's just as delightful as a British police procedural as all the earlier ones. It's never a good sign when Detective Chief...

Chalice of Darkness by Sarah Rayne

Violence and murder and old tragedies. How about a historical mystery featuring a leading theatre family in London that is also a family of thieves? Sarah Rayne's Chalice of Darkness, featuring the Fitzglens, promises all of that. The Fitzglens are a leading...

Wined and Died in New Orleans by Ellen Byron

When Ellen Byron launched the Vintage Cookbook Mystery series with Bayou Book Thief, I complained that amateur sleuth Ricki James was a bit of a mess. She's still a little too impulsive for my taste, but she's growing on me. And, I love the cast of characters in...