(Reviewed by Melanie Hamilton) It is a kind of relief when, after being laid off from the law firm, Sophie Maxwell learns that she has to take her mother’s place-who, by the way is in Europe with her new husband- at their family’s summer home, The Birches, on Little Sanpere Island, Maine. That relief is…
(Reviewed by Melanie Hamilton) Author Larry D. Sweazy conjures up party-line, rocket-finned cars and long, black pay telephones in See Also, Murder, his version of 1967 North Dakota. When Hilo Jenkins delivers the news of Lida and Erik Knudsen’s murder, indexer Marjorie had no idea what would come next. She had all she could handle…
(Reviewed by Don Jung) Want to step back into 1950’s baseball and traditional themes of good versus evil? Emmy award winning writer, Rich Fogel does just that in his first novel, A Diamond in the Rough. Whitney Snow is an avid baseball fan ever since her father-and only parent- took her to Brooklyn Dodger games. However,…
(Reviewed by Glenda Anderson) Tremendously touching and skillfully written, Del Staecker's Sailor Man is succinct yet powerful. And it stunned me. This is a true story of a sixteen-year-old so anxious to join the Navy in WWII and so patriotic to do his part in "teaching the little yellow men a lesson", that he lies. Says he’s…
Reviewed by Lillian Thurston Ian Fleming may be gone, but this fascinating tale of a 40-year-old secret resurrects the old master. Raymond Greenberg of New Haven, Connecticut, is dead. As executor to his will, his granddaughter, Amy Greenberg, a young American historian, receives a letter from a Dublin bank. Due to impending closure they request…
(Reviewed by Melanie Hamilton) The Alpine Zen is the last of the alphabet series by Mary Daheim. For me, though, it is the first; and I am looking forward to starting from the beginning. In this Emma Lord Mystery, we find Emma at her Alpine Advocate desk writing her editorial. Not much breaking news in…
(Reviewed by JD Jung) “But she’d killed a man. Even though he was inches away from stabbing a deputy, it instigated a worse series of incidents that had almost killed her. The last months had drained her in ways she never knew existed and allowed the insidious contamination of betrayal to gain a hold in…
Why does your damn website underrate dreads? And I have yet to see a single one mentioned, let alone properly evaluated . You, JD Jung, need to be educated ! Check out this article to learn something . I expect to see more intelligent conversation on this vital topic in the future. Yours truly, LJ…
(Reviewed by Glenda Anderson) Orcas Island, Washington, site of a beautiful resort, is the locale of the new Downward Dog Mystery, A Killer Retreat. Invited to a wedding, Kate, a Seattle yoga teacher, drags along her newish boyfriend and her 100-lb. German shepherd for some get-to-know-each-other-time and festivities. Even though their cabin is more Plymouth-Rock-Austere…
