Reviews + Articles

Death of a Showman by Mariah Fredericks

I don't know if Mariah Fredericks' Death of a Showman is that much better than the other three Jane Prescott mysteries or if it's my passion for Broadway that makes this one shine. She excels at the behind-the-scenes machinations of a Broadway musical. And,...

Telling Tales by Ann Cleeves

All those books in my place, and one Saturday I couldn't find anything I wanted to read. I really wanted a traditional mystery because I had just watched "Agatha Christie's England" on PBS. So, I turned to Ann Cleeves and the second Vera Stanhope mystery, Telling...

Winners and An Award Nominee Giveaway

Congratulations to the winners of the last contest. Kathy T. from Bogota, NJ won The Kaiser's Web. Richard R. from Portland, OR won The Blues Don't Care. The books are going out in the mail today. This week I'm giving away two books that are award nominees. Let's...

What Are You Reading?

Here's the exciting news. I took a leap of faith yesterday. I was already registered for Left Coast Crime 2022 in Albuquerque because it was moved from 2021 way last year, and I just let my registration ride. But, yesterday, I made my hotel reservations. If we're...

The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral by M.L. Longworth

While M.L. Longworth's The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral is the ninth Provencal mystery, I had no problem starting with this one. You can certainly pick up the series here. It's an unusual book, set in Aix-en-Provence and other towns in the area, a police...

A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames

The notes referred to Jonathan Ames' detective novel, A Man Named Doll, as quirky and "deliciously noir". Quirky, maybe. It seemed a little too dependent on old tropes. Stolen kidneys? Really? Ames is the creator of two television shows, Bored to Death and Blunt...