Jim Hanvey, Detective by Octavus Roy Cohen

August 15, 2021

Readers sometimes ask for mysteries without murder. Octavus Roy Cohen’s Jim Hanvey, Detective, fits the bill. The seven stories in the collection, first published in 1923, feature Jim Hanvey, who investigates con men and thieves. The stories originally appeared...

A Simple Murder by Linda Castillo

February 09, 2021

If you’re expecting the latest Kate Burkholder novel by Linda Castillo, you’re in for a surprise. A Simple Murder is a story collection featuring the police chief in Painters Mill, Ohio. Or maybe I should just say it features Kate Burkholder. One story...

A Very Scalzi Christmas by John Scalzi

December 20, 2019

I love Christmas books. I enjoy mysteries set during the holiday season, and romances set at Christmastime. But, every year I look for an unusual Christmas book, one that isn’t sweet or one that is humorous. It’s one reason I’ve always loved Connie...

Crime Travel, edited by Barb Goffman

December 15, 2019

When Barb Goffman asked me if I was interested in an anthology called Crime Travel, she captured two of my interests, mysteries and time travel. However, she wouldn’t have been able to tell me ahead of time how enjoyable the stories would be. A couple of them,...

From Sea to Stormy Sea edited by Lawrence Block

November 17, 2019

I’d love to see all of the paintings that inspired From Sea to Stormy Sea: 17 Stories Inspired by Great American Paintings”. Because I read an ARC, an Advanced Reader’s Copy, the paintings were in black and white. I did look up some of them, but the...