Blood from a Stone (2005) Donna Leon In Donna Leon’s fourteenth Commissario Guido Brunetti book, a vu cumpra is shot down on the street by hired assassins. Brunetti is (eventually) called to the scene, and attempts to unravel why a man selling fake handbags was shot in cold blood on the streets. The more Burnetti […]
White Corridor (2007) Christopher Fowler Once again the Peculiar Crimes Unit is in danger of being closed. After Raymond Land decided to close the until for a week’s vacation, a member of the unit is found killed, while Bryant and May are on their way to one of Bryant’s spiritualist conventions. With Bryant and May […]
Harbingers (2006) F. Paul Wilson The tenth Repairman Jack novel things are beginning to come to a head as finds Jack at odds with the entities that have wreaked such havoc in his life. Abe is still trying to find a new identity for Jack, and a way for him to reenter society. But Jack […]
Doctored Evidence (2004) Donna Leon A querulous old woman is killed in her apartment, and suspicion automatically falls upon the maid. Scarpa closes the case, but when Brunetti comes back into town, new evidence–that Scarpa wants to dismiss unheard–comes to light. This book is not just about discovering who killed a nasty old woman and […]
Uniform Justice (2003) Donna Leon I really like Commissario Guido Brunetti. I like his sense of justice and fairness. I like his intelligence and wit. And I like his wife. In fact I think I wish I was Paola. A boy is found dead in the local military school, and it’s immediately filed as a […]
Cast in Fury (2008) Michelle Sagara Let me get this out of the way: I hate this cover. The scene seems to be a depiction of events from the last book, Kaylin does not once wear a dress–especially a dress that horrific–in this book, and the bracer is so badly photoshopped onto her arm her […]
Precious Dragon (2007) Liz Williams The third Detective Inspector Chen novel, it seems as if recent activities have brought Chen and Zhu Irzh to the attention of authorities, and they are charged with escorting the emissary from Heaven, Miss Qi, through Hell. Meanwhile, an old woman arranges the marriage of her only daughter, and soon […]
Infernal (2005) F. Paul Wilson The next book (9th?) in the Repairman Jack series, Infernal again contains little but misery for Jack. A visit from Jack’s father turned terribly wrong turns into the visit from hell from Jack’s brother Tom. It’s actually impossible to say anything more than that, without giving away the main parts […]
Fatal Remedies (1999) Donna Leon I started Fatal Remedies immediately after I finished A Noble Radiance, wasn’t sure about the direction the story was taking, and then picked it up again today, as I have a whole stack of Guido Brunetti books waiting to be read. What I was unsure about was how things were […]
Crisscross (2004) F. Paul Wilson Jack is still in the Repairman business, despite the fact that Gia doesn’t like the way she never knows if he’ll return safely from his fix-it jobs. And with Gia’s pregnancy (Despite the fact this is a multi-book pregnancy, Gia is only at 20 weeks. She might be pregnant for […]
A Noble Radiance (1998) Donna Leon The Commissario Guido Brunetti series continues with A Noble Radiance. A body is discovered in a field that has lain fallow for several years, and from the ring found with the body, it is likely that the body is that of a young man who had been kidnapped two […]
The Man with the Golden Torc (2007) Simon R. Green Eddie Drood is a field agent for a family that knows more secrets than anyone else, and has magical and mechanical powers that would make mages and mad scientists drool in envy. Unfortunately for Eddie (known on the streets as Shamus Bond) there’s trouble in […]
Quietly in Their Sleep (1997) Donna Leon This was a rather strange story in comparison to the previous books. Brunetti is given only a vague idea that there might be something untoward happening in a nursing home–a home that is run by the same man as the home in which Brunetti’s mother resides. It is […]
Acqua Alta (1996) Donna Leon In Acqua Alta we return to two of the characters that Guido met in the first mystery, Death at La Fenice. Brett Lynch is beaten in the doorway of her own apartment. When Guido discovers what has happened he goes to her hospital where he again meets Flavia Pitrelli, with […]
Death and Judgment (1995) Donna Leon In two seemingly unrelated incidents, a truck goes off a cliff, killing the driver and his unexpected cargo of lumber and women. And months later, in Venice, Commissario Guido Brunetti is given the investigation of the murder of a prominent local loyal, whose unblemished record is enough cause for […]
Death in a Strange Country (1993) Donna Leon The second Commissario Guido Brunetti mystery (how I managed to read the third book instead of the second in two different series within a week is beyond me) finds Guido awakened to come down to a canal as a body was found in the water. The stab […]
The Nymphos of Rocky Flats (2006) Mario Acevedo Michael was actually the one to pick this up, and was also the first to read it. When he finished it, he said it was funny, and that he thought I would like it. Well, it is funny. And I did like it. But I didn’t love […]
Dressed for Death (1994) Donna Leon The second third Commiario Guido Brunetti mystery, Dressed for Death starts with the body of what is assumed to be a prostitute found behind a slaughterhouse in Marghera. The case falls to the Mestre police department, however due to a series of unfortunate events, they have no detectives, so […]
Tooth and Nail (1992) Ian Rankin In some ways, 1992 doesn’t seem that long ago to me. But reading this book, it seems a lifetime ago. Tooth and Nail was written in 1992, it many of the little things in the book made it feel old to me: the lack of cell phones, the smoking, […]
Gateways (2003) F. Paul Wilson In this seventh Repairman Jack novel, Jack receives a call from his brother, saying their father is in the hospital in Florida, and Jack needs to go down to take care of their father. While there, Jack must discover not only what placed his father in the hospital, but why. […]
The Haunted Air (2002) F. Paul Wilson The sixth Repairman Jack novel, Haunted Air takes place a year after the events of The Tomb. Jack is still in turmoil after the events of Hosts as he attempts to deal with Kate’s death. Like the previous books, Jack is still learning more about The Otherness, and […]
Dancing with Werewolves (2007) Carole Nelson Douglas I picked this book up, then let it languish on the shelf for awhile. Primarily because something about the cover bugged me, although I can’t put my finger on exactly what it is. But I decided to pick it up, and was in for a surprise. This book […]
All Together Dead (2007) Charlaine Harris It’s been awhile since I read a new Sookie Stackhouse story. They’re now published in hardback first, and as much as I enjoy her stories and her writing, I don’t much care for hardback books. I also wasn’t sure they were worth $25. So I placed it on pre-order […]
Hosts (2001) F. Paul Wilson The further into the Repairman Jack series I get, the more I’m starting to miss having read Conspiracies. In the fifth Repairman Jack novel, things start out badly for Jack when he’s on a Subway car where a man pulls out a gun and starts picking of the passengers one, […]
White Night (2007) Jim Butcher I’ve been reading the Dresden Files series for awhile now, even when Harry was annoying the crap out of me, by being incredibly stupid and obtuse. But the books got better, and Harry got smarter, and the stories have been getting better ever since. When Murphy calls Harry to come […]
Madhouse (2008) Rob Thurman I’ve been eagerly awaiting Madhouse for months. I have loved the previous Cal Leandros books, and couldn’t wait to read more about Cal and Niko. Although I enjoyed this book as much as the previous two, I was very unhappy with the last three paragraphs. In fact, I’d recommend reading the […]
All the Rage (2000) F. Paul Wilson The third Repairman Jack novel, Conspiracies, has not been reprinted, and the used prices were a little steep, so I skipped Conspiracies and went straight to the fourth book, All the Rage. As with the previous two Repairman Jack books I read, I very much enjoyed All the […]
Legacies (1998) F. Paul Wilson The second Repairman Jack book takes up an undetermined time after the events of the first book, Tomb. The indeterminate time is most likely due to the fact that there were 15 years between the two books. When a local AIDS clinic where Gia volunteers is robbed, she convinces Jack […]
Silent in the Grave (2007) Deanna Raybourn To say that Silent in the Grave annoyed me would be a vast understatement. This book had tons of high recommendations, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. First, the heroine, who is supposed to be intelligent, tends towards sheer idiocy. Sure, she’s well […]
Death at La Fenice (1992) Donna Leon Guido Brunetti is vice-commissario of police in the Venice, and a good detective as well. When a world famous maestro is found dead in his dressing room, from what seems to be cyanide poisoning, Guido is immediately pressured to find the killer, lest Venice receive bad press. Although […]
Knots and Crosses (1987) Ian Rankin Knots and Crosses is the first John Rebus mystery. John Rebus is a Detective in the Edinburgh police force, who is not doing a very good job of getting over his divorce, or his time spent in the special forces. When someone starts kidnapping and murdering young girls, the […]
The Tomb (1984/2004) F. Paul Wilson Repairman Jack fixes things. Not appliances or houses or anything so prosaic, but instead fixes situations. When he is asked to “fix” two separate problems at the same time, little did he realize that the situation would turn deadly–and the girl he loves in mortal danger–the girl he loves […]
Unquiet Dreams (2008) Mark del Franco Unquiet Dreams is Mark del Franco’s second book about Connor Grey, consulting detective and damaged druid. When Detective Murdock asks Connor to help him investigate the death of a teen in the Weird, they are both drawn into a mystery that stretches as low as bridge dwelling trolls and […]
Zen Attitude (1997) Sujata Massey It’s not that this wasn’t a good story–it was. And it’s not that the characters weren’t vivid–they were. And it’s not like the writing wasn’t strong–it was. But there was something I just can’t put my finger on… missing from the story. Possibly the fact that the cover reads “A […]
Already Dead (2005) Charlie Huston Joe Pitt is a vampire who was a small time punk and thug before he was turned. After he was turned, he spent some time working as an enforce and, not to thrilled with that line of work either, then ended up Rogue, doing his freelance work and pretty much […]
Bangkok Tattoo (2005) John Burdett The sequel to Bangkok 8 returns us to Krung Thep, where Sonchai is now part owner of the Old Mans Club, in addition to remaining a detective in the Royal Thai Police Force. It is because they are in Bangkok that a devout Buddhist and policeman can also be part […]
Bangkok 8 (2003) John Burdett Sonchai and his life-long friend and now partner in the Bangkok police force, Pichai, are following an American Marine through Bangkok, on the orders of the Colonel, the head of the police department in his sector. When the Marine is murdered and the woman he was with has disappeared, Sonchai–for […]
Murder on Astor Place (1999) Victoria Thompson I’m a sucker for historical mysteries, so chances are if a series looks halfway decent, I’ll try it out. Sarah Brandt is a widowed midwife who practices her trade in new York city in the late 1800s. Theodore Roosevelt has just started his attempts to reform the New […]
When Gods Die (2006) C.S. Harris Last year I picked up What Angels Fear on because I thought it looked mildly interesting. I was pleasantly surprised to find an intriguing and fascinating Regency thriller. I then placed the the second book in the series When Gods Die on preorder, which means I’ve been waiting since […]
Valley of the Soul (2006) Tamara Siler Jones Valley of the Soul is the third book in the Dubric Byerly mystery series. I read Ghosts in the Snow and enjoyed it, and decided to order the rest of series. Unfortunately, Threads of Malice was out of print, so I had to skip to Valley of […]
A Ghost in the Machine (2004) Caroline Graham Ghost in the Machine may be my least favorite Inspector Barnaby mystery so far, because it takes us forever to actually get to Inspector Barnaby, and even once he becomes involved, we still spend a great deal of time with the characters involved in the murders. What […]
The Killings at Badger’s Drift (1987) Caroline Graham This is actually the first Inspector Barnaby mystery. How annoying when publishers only have part of a writer’s catalog and one is deluded into thinking you’ve read the first book in a series, only to discover you were terrible wrong. So this is the book where we […]
A Place of Safety (1999) Caroline Graham I only meant to read a couple of chapters of A Place of Safety. Unfortunately, an interesting combined with difficulty getting to sleep after an afternoon nap meant that I read the entire book yesterday evening. A man witnesses what appears to be a woman pushing a girl […]
Faithful Unto Death (1996) Caroline Graham I picked up a later book in this series somewhere, and being the way I am, decided to go back and start at the beginning of the series. Too bad for me. This isn’t the first book in the series, it’s simply the first book published by St. Martin’s […]
Many Bloody Returns (2007) edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner I pre-ordered this, not realizing it was in hardback. As much as I love anthologies, I’m not that excited about hardback books–especially anthologies where I don’t know all the authors or the quality of the stories. Many Bloody Returns pretty much tells you […]
New Amsterdam (2007) Elizabeth Bear Imagine North America where there was never a Revolutionary War against the British. Where England and France and Spain control North American colonies. France controls Canada and Louisiana. Spain controls the West Coast. And England still controls the original colonies. It’s 1899. Magic and technology exist together. Despite the tensions […]
The Demon and the City (2006) Liz Williams After reading The Snake Agent, I’ve been looking forward the reading the next Detective Inspector Chen book. (In fact, the paperback edition has been on pre-order for several months.) As with many authors I like, after getting a book, I’m hesitant to read it, for fear that […]
Shadows in the Darkness (2004) Elaine Cunningham Gwen Gellman is an ex-cop who was pushed off the force after a bust goes terribly wrong. So she sets up her own private investigation company. However, the latest case to walk in her door–a missing teenager–starts to go wrong almost from the start. There are actually several […]
Unshapely Things (2007) Mark del Franco Connor Grey is a druid who has lost most of his powers. An attack by radical environmentalist elf has left him crippled–not physically, but magically. So in addition to his disability payments, he takes occasionally jobs helping the Boston police department in attacks involving the fey. What I found […]
Labyrinth (2005) Kate Mosse This book could be classified in any number of ways. There are elements of fantasy, mystery, suspense, romance, and history. As such, I thought it worked best as an historical novel, because this was the strongest part of the book. The story of Alais and Guilhem and Sajhe was the most […]