I loved The Demon’s Parchment by Jeri Westerson. It is a masterfully written mystery, creating full-blooded characters, atmosphere so alive I could smell it (I pinched my nose shut in certain scenes), and a plot I followed with ease — and yet in the end, I was completely surprised! That is the proof of a [...]
Continue Reading →A Soviet-Era dictatorship still exists, as the people of Belarus understand too well. The oppressive regime of President Lukashenko is truly a hold-out from the days of the old USSR, with a KGB that takes care of dissent and a ruling government that brooks no opposition to its economic directives or political direction. Under President [...]
Continue Reading →Looking back on reviews I’ve written of other Andrea Camilleri mysteries involving Inspector Montalbano of Sicily, I realize I titled both reviews, of The Wings of the Sphinx and of The Patience of the Spider, “Marvelous Montalbano.” Last night I read the latest in the series, The Potter’s Field and I am here to say [...]
Continue Reading →One wonderful perk of writing book reviews for fun and to spread the love of reading among adults (great good comes from reading great books, remember?), is that I receive free books from publishers. And when a new book by a long-beloved writer arrives in my mailbox, it is like Christmas in September (or whatever [...]
Continue Reading →I came late to the Jack Reacher thrillers written by Lee Child. I have heard so much about Reacher and Child but with so many — fifteen to choose from — I didn’t know where to start. Lee Child to the rescue: he just made it easy for me, with the publication of his sixteenth, [...]
Continue Reading →I may be late to the table of Anne Perry admirers, but now that I am here, I am here for the full course — or rather, the full run of good courses, as Perry is adept at Victorian era, with both her William Monk series and her Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, and she [...]
Continue Reading →In February I read and reviewed The Oracle of Stamboul by Michael David Lukas. Inspired by the beauty of its portrayal of Istanbul, I began to look for other books with Istanbul as landscape. Through a friend I discovered the marvelous mysteries of Jason Goodwin. Goodwin’s Investigator Yashim novels are set in mid-nineteenth century Istanbul [...]
Continue Reading →For those of us waiting with bated breath for the next installment in C.J. Sansom’s marvelous Matthew Shardlake murder mysteries set in Tudor England, heed my words: Rhil Rickman and his John Dee have arrived to satisfy the cravings for craven Tudor-esque crimes! After all, the agitated times of Henry VIII, Bloody Mary, and Queen [...]
Continue Reading →Kirkus Reviews has named Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading, to its list of recommended summer reading for women. What’s on your list this summer? I have been getting in shape for my summer reading and I’m ready to leap in! For months, people around me have been gearing up for [...]
Continue Reading →
