The Long Call is a mystery/crime novel by Ann Cleeves, the author of the Vera and the Shetland series. Ann Cleeves is a master storyteller, writing procedural detective books with well-developed characters and complex lives. For much of the book, the pace is slow and the small team of detectives in rural Devon follow possible leads, without much success. As … Continue reading →
Fairy Tale was published in 2022 and, as with all of his books, landed on the best sellers list. It is indeed a fairy tale with direct and indirect references to well-known stories from the Brothers Grimm and other authors, but also to classics in the horror genre. The 600 page book has three distinct parts. The first section follows … Continue reading →
Bruce Springsteen’s fall of 2002 release of the album Only the Strong Survive brings a new sound to his fans. The songs were chosen, arranged, and recorded during the Covid isolation time. He has chosen older soul songs from the 1960’s. In most cases, he has not reinterpreted the songs by artists like The Supremes, The Impressions, Sam and Dave, … Continue reading →
The Mysterious Affair at Styles was Agatha Christie’s first book. She wrote in on a dare in 1916 and tried to get it published, unsuccessfully until 1919. It was then releases in serial format with 18 parts. It was not published as a full book until 1920. In the book we are first introduced to Hastings, the narrator of the … Continue reading →
The Silkworm is a British detective story in the Cormorant Strike series, written by Robert Galbraith which is the pen name for J.K. Rowling. The first book of the series was The Cuckoo is Calling where we are introduced to a private detective, Cormorant Strike and his assistant Robin. In this book Strike takes on another case, in … Continue reading →
An Unkindness of Ravens is a murder-mystery novel, part of the Inspector Wexford series (#13). It is a tale of well-developed characters, most with secrets. Ruth Rendell’s books lean toward a sub-genre she established – psychological thrillers. There are a variety of suspects and the whole story of the murder requires understanding the “whys” as much as the facts (who, … Continue reading →
V2 is a historical fiction account of a phase of the V2 missile attacks on London in 1944. The story is told from the point of view of a German scientist, Dr. Rudi Graf and a WAAC officer Kay Caton-Walsh. Graf is a ficntional character who worked on the rocket program with Wernher Von Braun over a long period of … Continue reading →
A Sleeping Life is the tenth book in the Inspector Wexford series of mystery novels by Ruth Rendell. She is a master of the craft of storytelling and she does not disappoint with this book. It is a police procedural format, with Wexford and his team investigating the murder of a woman in their territory. What makes this mystery different … Continue reading →
A Master of Djinn is the first book in the Dead Djinn series by Phenderson Djéli Clark. It was the winner of a number of Fantasy Awards and is the part of the Dead Djinn Series. Set in 1912, it is a world filled with magic, djinns, and various magical beings. The protagonist is Fatma el-Sha’arawi, an agent of the … Continue reading →
Ordinary Grace is story of a family living in small town in Minnesota in the summer of 1961. Forty years later, Frank Drum reminisces about the events in New Bremen when he was just 13 years-old. His father is a Methodist minister, his mother and sister are musicians, and his younger brother Jake suffers from stuttering and is ridiculed … Continue reading →
The Girl on the Train has been a bestseller for years, and for a good reason. It is a mystery, a psychological thriller, and a story about secrets that can ruin relationships. There are three narrators, all unreliable, but most of the story is told by Rachel. She means well, but her drinking, her obsessiveness, her self-pity, and her self-destructive … Continue reading →
The Searcher is a modern-day western set in Ireland. Cal Hooper is a divorced, retired American who has moved to rural western Ireland, looking for peace, trying to leave behind a lifetime of police work and a broken marriage. He picks a run-down house on the lower slopes of the mountain and sets about to fix it up, go fishing, … Continue reading →
A Drink Before the War was Dennis Lehane’s debut novel, in which he introduced detectives Kenzie and Gennaro. His later novels are highly recommended – Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, and Shutter Island. With the strengths of these novels I decided to try his first, published in 1994. Lehane is a fine writer who provides wonderful local color, strong characterization, … Continue reading →
Near the end of her life Shirley Jackson had become homebound and felt isolated. Her last novel was published in 1962 and instead of another Gothic horror story she created a story about the unusual Blackwood sisters living in a rural home, away from town, but isolated because of the mistrust and hate of the villagers. Constance, Mary Katherine (Merricat), … Continue reading →
The Ruin is a crime story set in Ireland. The story starts strong with a young policeman (Cormac Reilly) investigating the death of a woman who appeared to have killed herself with an overdose of heroin. He takes the two apparently-abused/neglected children into custody. The main story shifts to 20 years later when Jack, one of the children sent to … Continue reading →
The Snowman by Jo Nesbo is a Norwegian crime novel in which Detective Harry Hole investigates and tries to find a serial killer dubbed The Snowman. The novel follows the police procedural model/format, and the plot has many twists and turns, false leads, and it develops into a thriller in the last chapters. There are some clever sections and … Continue reading →
