Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala

February 08, 2022

Mia P. Manansala’s Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mysteries are not typical cozies. There’s a depth and relevance to the series that is sometimes lacking in the genre. I’m not disparaging cozies because I read a number of them. I’m saying that...

Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury

October 30, 2021

When discussing Ray Bradbury’s novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes, I told friends that the movie was better. There are only a few times I’ve said that about a book and movie, but I don’t think Bradbury would have been disappointed by that...

Death in Castle Dark by Veronica Bond

August 29, 2021

Another reader commented that they weren’t sure Veronica Bond could sustain a series with the Dinner and a Murder Mystery theme. I’m not sure either, but I found the first in the series, Death in Castle Dark, to be a fun, engaging book with a charming...

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manasala

May 04, 2021

Mia P. Manasala’s Arsenic and Adobo, will make you hungry, if nothing else. But, it does offer a great deal more. The debut mystery introduces readers to Filipino-American food and culture, with its emphasis on family. There are cozy tropes; the close-knit...

The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton

June 29, 2020

When Margaret Mizushima and Paula Munier blurb a book, it’s natural to expect a mystery featuring a dog. You’d be right with The Finders, Jeffrey B. Burton’s action-packed series debut. It’s an intense, sometimes graphic, novel about a...