The Perpetual Summer by Adam Walker Phillips

January 10, 2018

HR executive Chuck Restic is back, fighting for his life, and his work life. Adam Walker Phillips manages to combine amusing stories of Human Resources in the corporate world with the dark world of an amateur sleuth.  The Perpetual Summer brings back a few...

The Silent Second by Adam Walker Phillips

December 04, 2017

Who would ever expect a Human Resources manager to be a successor to Raymond Chandler? Adam Walker Phillips’ Chuck Restic walks Chandler’s mean streets of Los Angeles in the debut mystery, The Silent Second. It’s an unusual combination, HR...

Sayonara SLAM by Naomi Hirahara

May 13, 2016

What a fascinating character! I had never read one of Naomi Hirahara’s mysteries featuring Mas Arai, the almost retired gardner who is nearing eighty. The mystery in Sayonara SLAM was interesting. But, the true mystery revealed, and, never completely revealed...

The Decent Proposal by Kemper Donovan

April 26, 2016

I read some of the comments about Kemper Donovan’s debut novel, The Decent Proposal. While the premise is interesting, and the contrast between the characters is certainly written effectively, somehow I missed what everyone seems to find delightful. Other...

Be Frank with Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson

February 08, 2016

Julia Claiborne Johnson introduces an unusual cast of characters in her debut novel, Be Frank with Me. It’s a group so odd that they could only survive in the monied world of Hollywood. But, their eccentricities are the reasons for their charm. When Mr. Vargas,...