For the Sake of Elena (1992) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Lynley is still keeping busy as things are still uneven between him and Helen, while Havers continues to struggle with finding care for her mother. When Lynley volunteers to take a case in Cambridge, both of their personal situations come to a head. Elena Weaver is […]
A Suitable Vengeance (1991) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Going backwards in time, we see the engagement of Lynley and Deborah, which we well know isn’t going to last, and we meet other members of Lynley’s family, including his mother and his brother, and spend time in the town where he grew up. Unfortunately, Lynley’s engagement weekend […]
The Shadow Pavilion (2009) Liz Williams Detective Inspector Chen has multiple problems to deal with: his partner Zhu Irzh has disappeared, along with the badger, a Bollywood star/tiger demon is on the rampage, and someone wants to kill the Emperor of Heaven. Add to that the complexity of everyday life in Singapore Three, a new […]
Well-Schooled in Murder (1990) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Thomas Lynley is called upon by an old schoolmate from Eton, when a boy at his school–a boy for whom he was ultimately responsible–is discovered to have been missing for the entire weekend. As Lynley is currently taking every case that comes across his desk (and a number […]
Payment in Blood (1989) Elizabeth George Synopsis: Once again, Thomas Lynley is called from vacation to deal with a murder. And once again Barbara Havers is to be his partner. As the subject of their investigation the upper class to which Lynley belongs, he feels that Havers may cause more problems that she might help […]
The Solomon Effect (2009) C.S. Graham I picked up both The Archangel Project and The Solomon Effect after discovering they were written by the same couple who write the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries as C.S. Harris. After reading the first book, The Archangel Project, I held off on reading The Solomon Effect, since there are […]
A Great Deliverance (1988) Elizabeth George I’ve been out of sorts recently, and keep picking up books, reading a few pages, and then putting them back down, because they’re not what I’m in the mood for. Luckily (or perhaps unluckily) for me, Amazon provides endless recommendations, based upon other books you’ve read and enjoyed. Thus, […]
A Local Habitation (2010) Seanan McGuire Toby has gotten her PI license back, and has started taking cases in the mortal world, however, the big case that comes to her is from her liege, Sylvester: Go into the county of Tamed Lightening, and check on Sylvester’s niece. She gets to take one person with her–the […]
Turn Coat (2009) Jim Butcher Harry’s idea that he might get some down time is (unsurprisingly) thrown awry when Morgan–yes, the Morgan who has spent his recent years waiting for Harry to screw up so he can kill him–shows up at Harry’s house in bad shape and asking Harry to hide him from the Wardens. […]
The Undead Kama Sutra (2008) Mario Acevedo Felix Gomez is again on the case–or rather cases as his luck would have it. First a dying alien asks Felix to find his killer, then orders come down from the Araneum too looking into a plane crash. Meanwhile, he’d come to Florida on his own to investigate […]
The Oxford Murders (2005) Guillermo Martinez, translated by Sonia Soto Although related years after the events–after the death of the mathematician Arthur Seldom–we follow a young Argentinian graduate students during his stay at Oxford, and his discovery of the body of his landlady, an elderly women in failing health who had been involved in the […]
Unperfect Souls (2010) Mark del Franco Finished this book several hours ago, but I still don’t know how I feel about it. Connor Grey is still fighting with the darkness in his head, and still persona non grata at Guild Headquarters. Unfortunately for him, the world won’t leave him alone, and he remains involved in […]
The Archangel Project (2008) C.S. Graham I love the Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries by C.S. Harris. So when I realized she also wrote under the name C.S. Graham, I immediately ordered the books. Now the books written as C.S. Harris are set in Victorian/Regency England. These books are modern thrillers. October Guinness is a Navy […]
At the Scene of the Crime (2008) edited by Dana Stabenow I first stumbled across Dana Stabenow when I picked up a fantasy/mystery anthology she edited. After a second anthology, I discovered she was primarily a mystery write, and so picked up her Kate Shugak series. Which I absolutely loved. So I found myself interested […]
The Wings of the Sphinx (2006/2009) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli Inspector Salvo Montalbano and his girlfriend Livia are again on the outs. And his day begins with a call from Catarella, about a dead body. And if you’ve read an inspector Montalbano book, you know that no phone call from Cat can lead […]
What Remains of Heaven (2009) C.S. Harris The Archbishop of Canterbury enlists the help of Sebastian St Cyr’s aunt to ask Sebastian to look into the death of the bishop of London, who’s body was found in an abandoned crypt. In the meantime, he is attempting to determine just how Hero Jarvis is doing, after […]
Just Another Judgement Day (2009) Simon R. Green It’s been awhile since I read a Nightside book, since they switched to publishing in hardback first. But after lots of anticipation, Just Another Judgment Day arrived. John Taylor is still a bit at loose ends after the Lilith War. He is no longer being hunted by […]
Whisper to the Blood (2009) Dana Stabenow The Park is still uneasy after the death of Louis Deem, and when a representative of a mining company comes in talking up a gold mine, things are stirred up even more. Residents are attacked and their supplies stolen, and people are starting to take matters into their […]
Vampire Sunrise (2009) Carole Nelson Douglas Things pick up immediately where the last book left off. Ric is still unconscious after almost being killed, Delilah continues to be wracked with guilt over kissing Snow, and Lilith–Delilah’s twin or perhaps Doppelganger–remains a mystery. On of the things I’ve enjoyed about this series is that it doesn’t […]
Victoria Vanishes (2008) Christopher Fowler The Peculiar Crimes Unit (PCU) has changed Oswald’s retirement party to a wake, and on the way home Bryant sees a woman who is later discovered murdered. Unfortunately for him, he sees her across from a pub that hasn’t existed in decades. Unsurprisingly, the PCU is drawn into the case, […]
Dark Road Rising (2009) P.N. Elrod Jack Flemming is in trouble. He’s put his best friend and partner in the hospital, and the mobsters from New York won’t leave him alone. Even worse, one of the mobsters is actually a vampire, and in a strange twist of fate, Jack is ordered to keep tabs on […]
Blood Lite (2008) edited by Kevin J. Anderson This anthology came out in hardback last year, but considering the theme, I was more than content to wait until it came out in paperback. Which it recently did. As with most anthologies, there are good stories and bad stories, but there weren’t too many stories that […]
A Clubbable Woman (1970) Reginald Hill I’ve been in the mood for mysteries recently, so I’ve read through most of the ones I had in the house but had not already read. I’m a fan of British mysteries, so I figured the Dalziel & Pascoe series looked interesting. And since it was available, I picked […]
100 Bullets: First Shot, Last Call (2000) Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso I’m not sure how I feel about this. The premise is Noir Crime meets the graphic novel, and although the graphic novel part is well done, I’m not as sure about the noir crime bit. Your life has been ruined. A man comes up […]
A Grave Denied (2003) Dana Stabenow This is the book published right before where I entered the series (A Grave Denied), so I knew that at some point in this book a Bad Thing was going to happen to Kate. I was surprised when The Bad Thing happened quite early in the book. The area […]
Soulless (2009) Gail Carriger Alexia Tarabotti doesn’t have a soul. This isn’t a particularly well known fact, since the only people who can recognize this are the supernatural–vampires, werewolves etc. But when she is attacked by a vampire at a ball, she is (quite willingly) drawn into an intrigue, against the wishes of Lord Macon […]
A Fine and Bitter Snow (2002) Dana Stabenow The Park (and Kate Shugak) are riled up when they discover that Dan O’Brian–the chief ranger of the park–is asked to leave by the new presidential administration. When two local environmentalists are attacked, Niniltna is thrown into an even greater uproar, wondering who in their community could […]
The Singing of the Dead (2001) Dana Stabenow A native woman is running for state senator, and after multiple threatening notes, the staff decided that she needs security. Despite her better judgment (and in need of money) Kate takes the job, even though she intensely dislikes the campaign manager (and the feeling is mutual.) I […]
Midnight Come Again (2000) Dana Stabenow Last year I picked up A Taint in the Blood and thoroughly enjoyed it. But from details mentioned in the book, wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back and read earlier in the series. However, I discovered that Midnight Come Again is set after her lover is brutally […]
Rosemary and Rue (2009) Seanan McGuire October Daye disappeared for thirteen years. When she returned, she refused to return to her life as a changeling knight or as a private investigator, but is instead trying to squeak by as a human. Unfortunately for her, Faerie refuses to let her go. The Faerie from which Toby […]
The Black Hand (2008) Will Thomas Barker is called down to the docks, where a barrel containing a dead Italian had been pulled from the river. This single body draws Barker and Llewelyn into a case involving an attempt by the Sicilian mafia to start in London–something Barker, Scotland Yard, and the Home Office want […]
Devil Bones (2008) Kathy Reichs Tempe is back in Charlotte NC, teaching and working for the local medical examiner. The discovery of a human skull in the basement of a house being renovated leads to rumors about satanic cults. Unfortunately for everyone involved, events spiral out of control from there. First things first. I am […]
Crimini: The Bitter Lemon Book of Italian Crime Fiction (2005) edited by Giancarlo de Cataldo translated by Andrew Brown After getting sucked into Andrea Camilleri‘s Inspector Montalbano series, when I came across this anthology of Italian crime fiction I decided to branch out and see what it had to offer. The fact that it contained […]
A Sea of Troubles (2001) Donna Leon I am failing to understand the hows and whys of Penguin’s publishing schedule for Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti series. A Sea of Troubles was first published in 2001, but was published by Penguin and released in the US only this year (2009). Additionally, there was not notice […]
Bones to Ashes (2007) Kathy Reichs Tempe Brennan is back in Montreal for the summer. But almost as soon as arrives she’s called about a case waiting for her. First things first, I have had it with Tempe and Ryan. Really, I would just as soon not read another word about the relationship. Aside from […]
Hit Man (1998) Lawrence Block Keller–he has a first name but no one uses it–is a hit man. He gets a call to visit the Old Man in the house in White Plains, receives instructions, and then does the job he’s paid to do. Hit Man is not a novel, it’s a collection of short […]
Flower Net (1009) Lisa See Liu Hulan is a detective for the Ministry of Culture in Beijing. When a body is found frozen in a lake, she is called out to investigate. When the body is discovered to be the son of the US Ambassador, the case takes the direction the Ambassador wants, regardless of […]
The Girl of His Dreams (2008) Donna Leon This has all of the elements I’ve come to expect of a Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery–death, intrigue, good food, and corrupt Italian politics. This is not to say she presents all Italians as corrupt, after all we have Brunetti and Vianello on the side of the “good […]
Cast in Silence (2009) Michelle Sagara Cast in Silence continues the story of Kaylin Neya, Private in the Hawk force, marked by Nightshade, and possessed of magical powers she has yet to learn to control. The forces that surround and imbue Elantra are slipping into chaos, and both Kaylin’s history and powers make her uniquely […]
Skin Deep (2009) Mark del Franco Having enjoyed Mark del Franco’s Connor Grey supernatural mysteries, I pre-ordered Skin Deep hoping he would do as good a job writing a female lead as he did a male lead. The book came, but then I put of reading it primarily for the blurb on the cover, “She’ll […]
A Beautiful Blue Death (2007) Charles Finch A Beautiful Blue Death has come up for awhile now as a recommended book for me, and there is good reason for that: I love historical mysteries. Charles Lenox is a gentleman who likes to dabble in the investigation of crimes. Being a gentleman, he has the time […]
Underground (2008) Kat Richardson I have got to start paying better attention when I pre-order books. I now have two copies of Underground. (sigh) Harper Blaine is a private investigator who was beaten to death several years previously. She was only dead for a few minutes, but she woke up a changed woman, and able […]
Vicious Circle (2006) Mike Carey Felix (Fix) Castor, who is usually at loose ends, is suddenly involved in three different cases. As a consultant in a police case, in a missing child case, and in assisting Juliet with a case she has taken on involving a haunted or possessed church. Additionally, he is still trying […]
The Dresden Files: Welcome to the Jungle (2008) Jim Butcher, Ardian Syaf Harry Dresden in comic form. First, the story was interesting and I liked it. There is a murder at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Although city officials would like to blame Moe the gorilla for the murder, Murphy calls Harry in because the crime […]
Jhegaala (2008) Steven Brust First things first, I love Steven Brust, and I love the Vlad Taltos books. That said, this is not anywhere close to being one of my favorite books in the series. Jhegalla is set between the events of Phoenix and Athyra. We learn some of what happened to Vlad after he […]
Strange Brew (2009) edited by P.N. Elrod I love short story collections. They’re a way to discover new authors, visit with favorite characters, and to be honest I just enjoy short stories. Now if you like short stories, you eventually learn that a lot of collections are not worth buying, but there are certain authors […]
Daemons Are Forever (2008) Simon R. Green That was thoroughly disappointing. I really like Simon R. Green’s writing style–I love the Nightside books and liked the first Eddie Drood book, The Man with the Golden Torc. The second Eddie Drood book, however, not so much. This book was all over the place, and it wasn’t […]
Bangkok Haunts (2007) John Burdett Once again we return to Bangkok where Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep is investigating another murder. A stuff film has appeared in Bagkok, and as the body of the prostitute has also appeared, it is apparent this is truly a film of her death. Sonchai is investigating–even against the orders of Colenol […]
Break No Bones (2006) Kathy Reichs Tempe Brennan is teaching a special summer anthropology course and running a dig in Charleston, South Carolina when her students discover bones that are not ancient, but are instead relatively fresh–a corpse that’s appeared in the last decade instead of the last millennium. Things get even more complex when […]
A Kiss Before the Apocalypse (2008) Thomas E. Sniegoski I first came across Remy Chandler when I read the anthology Mean Streets. Thomas Sniegoski wrote the closing story, and I ended up reading that story in a single sitting. Remy Chandler is a private detective. And an angel. Except that he’s been on extended leave […]