Suffer the Little Children (2007) Donna Leon Brunetti is called to the hospital for an assault case, where it turns out that a citizen of Venice has been injured, only the assault isn’t what he was expecting, and draws Brunetti into a case of illegal adoptions. I’d been saving Suffer the Little Children for months, […]
Death of a Dutchman (1982) Magdalen Nabb Marshal Guarnaccia decides to to stop and check on Signora Giusti while doing his rounds with the hotels. Signora Giusti is an old woman who constantly calls to make complaints. Her complaints are always groundless, but they check on her anyway, because they recognize that she is a […]
The Stepsister Scheme (2009) Jim C. Hines As you may or may not know, I love folk tales and fairy tales. I also love things derived from folk and fairy tales, which is why I love Fables, and Sandman, and Hellboy. Authors who work myth and characters from folklore into their works. So when John […]
Unfallen Dead (2009) Mark Del Franco Connor Grey is still helping Detective Murdock of the Boston PD solve cases in the Weird, still has a crush on Meryl, and is still fighting the Darkness that stole his abilities. Unfortunately, things have gotten even more confusing after the events of Unquiet Dreams. The Taint is wreaking […]
Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand (2009) Carrie Vaughn Kitty and Ben are trying to plan for their wedding, and when they decide on a Vegas wedding, Kitty’s producer decides that would be a great opportunity for Kitty to try her hand at a live TV show. I’m still not sure how I feel about […]
The Paper Moon (2005) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli I am sad. I have now read all the Inspector Montalbano books that have been published and translated into English. August Heat comes out later this year, but after that? No more Inspector Montalbano for me–at least until the next book is translated. Montalbano is […]
Death of an Englishman (1981) Magdalen Nabb A call comes into the station and is answered by Carabiniere Bacci. Instead of awakening Marshal Guarnaccia who is gravely ill with the flu, Bacci instead goes to the scene and discovers a dead Englishman and a case that gets more complicated as it goes on. First of […]
Dead Lagoon (1994) Michael Dibdbin Aurelio Zen is a Criminalpol police officer who has wrangled his way to Venice in search of a case so he can cover his real pretext for being in Venice–to reopen a missing persons file because the family is offering him large sums of money for closure in the case. […]
Mean Streets (2009) Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, Kat Richardson, Thomas E. Sniegoski OK. I admit it. I’m an Amazon junkie. I often search for my favorite artists and look at coming releases to see if anyone I love has something new coming out. Which is how I stumbled upon Mean Streets. I believe it […]
Wings of Fire (1998) Charles Todd Wow. Just like the first book, A Test of Wills, the second book, Wings of Fire was also quite depressing. Which leads to me to wonder: why am I surprised that a murder mystery is depressing? After all, the very premise of a murder mystery is that someone has […]
The Patience of the Spider (2004) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli The problem with Inspector Montalbano books is that if I pick one up, I tend to read the entire book in an evening. Which isn’t so good on a week night. Montalbano is recovering from the events in Rounding the Mark. Liva is […]
Rounding the Mark (2003) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli Inspector Montalbano is mad. Very mad. Police raids in Genoa have made a spectacle of Italian police, and Montalbano feels as if he has been betrayed by a system that ignores that ideals he holds dear. He says he’s going to resign, but then he […]
The Smell of the Night (2001) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli As Montalbano continues to have trouble with the commissioner, trouble with Liva, continues to be an asshole to everyone he works with. In other words, nothing has changed with him. In The Smell of the Night Emanuele Gargano has run off with billions […]
Unnatural Inquirer (2007) Simon R. Green We return once again to Nightside, where John Taylor is once again on the case. On several cases actually. As he finishes a case at the HP Lovecraft Memorial Library, he’s asked by Walker, who has the Voice of Authority in Nightside, to retrieve the Aquarius key before Max […]
Gil’s All Fright Diner (2005) A. Lee Martinez A vampire and werewolf walk into a diner… Not in those words, but that’s pretty much the start of Gil’s All Fright Diner. Duke the werewolf and Earl the vampire end up spending time at Gil’s All Night Diner, to help Loretta the owner deal with her […]
Tempting Danger (2004) Eileen Wilks Lily Yu is a young Homicide detective on the San Diego police force whose first major case is going to be a lupi killing–and the prime suspect seems to be the local werewolf prince. This is a very interesting book. The world is not quite our own, as magical creatures […]
Where Serpents Sleep (2008) C.S. Harris I really like C.S. Harris’ Sebastian St. Cyr mysteries. In fact, now that I’ve finished the latest, Where Serpents Sleep I’m depressed I’ll have to wait at least a year before the next book in the series comes out. Sebastian has been leading a dissolute life following the events […]
Thirteen Orphans: Breaking the Wall (2008) Jane Lindskold I really like Jane Lindskold’s writing. Brenda Morris thinks she is simply taking a vacation with her father, but she quickly learns the trip is much more–that her father took her to California to introduce her to her magical heritage. Unfortunately, this simple trip turns dark when […]
Excursion to Tindari (2000) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli A young man is found dead just outside his front door in what seems to be a mafia killing. This event would have passed almost unnoticed, except that a distraught man calls to report that his parents–who live in the same building as the murdered […]
Shinju (1994) Laura Joh Rowland It’s 1698 and Sano Ichiro is a yoriki, or magistrate who is assigned the case of a shinju–or ritual suicide to two star-crossed lovers. Although he is pushed to close the case, something about the deaths bothers Sano, and he is determined to discover the truth of the deaths–no matter […]
A Test of Wills (1996) Charles Todd Inspector Ian Rutledge has returned from the Great War a far different man than when he left Scotland Yard for the Army. He returned to England suffering from shell shock and only with after a great effort was he able to return to Scotland Yard. Unfortunately for him, […]
Voice of the Violin (1997) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli The more I read of Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series, the more I like it. Initially I wasn’t sure about Salvo–he’s often a jerk–why do people like him? Well, he can be a jerk, but the more I read, the more he comes across […]
Farthing (2006) Jo Walton Wow. That was far more depressing than I expected. It’s 1949, and Great Britain remains independent after its “Peace with Honor” with Hitler. The war between Hitler and the Soviet Union continues on, but in Britain labor unions are starting to emerge to ask for better pay and working conditions. The […]
The Snack Thief (1996) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli The third book in Andrea Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano series finds Montalbano investigating a man found murdered in an elevator, while Augello investigates a shooting on a fishing boat that left a Tunisian dead–shot ostensibly by a Tunisian police boat claiming the fishing boat was no […]
Why Mermaids Sing (2007) C.S. Harris I really like Sebastian St. Cyr Viscount Devlin, and look forward to new books in the series as they come out. Unfortunately for me, others seem to like him as well, and Why Mermaids Sing came out in hardback. I really do not like reading hardback books (I’ve got […]
The Terra Cotta Dog (1996) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartaelli In the second Inspector Salvo Montalbano book, Montalbano is called by his friend Gege–the head of local prostitution–to meet, because Gege has something he has been asked to discuss with Montalbano. From here, Montalbano is drawn into organized crime, whether he wants to or […]
Unusual Suspects (2008) edited by Dana Stabenow I own and read Dana Stabenow’s first fantasy/mystery anthology, Powers of Detection and found it a mixed bag. But when I saw Unusual Suspects and saw it had stories from Sharon Shinn & Simon R. Green, I knew I would have to have this anthology. In general, I […]
Hellboy Vol 8: Darkness Calls (2008) Mike Mignola, Duncan Fegredo Hellboy is slowly working his way back to the world, after spending six (or however many) years under the sea. But now Hellboy is on his own, separated from B.P.R.D., and Baba Yaga and several others who were taken down are also looking to extract […]
The City of Falling Angels (2005) John Berendt I loved Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil so when I came across it in paperback, I picked up a copy of City of Falling Angels. And then proceeded to not read it for several years. Part of the problem was because I had no […]
Fables Vol 11: War and Pieces (2008) Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, Niko Hearichon, Andrew Peopy So there are added advantages to pre-ordering from Amazon. I got Fables Volume 11 today! It’s very very good. As a matter of fact, I started to panic while I read it, fearing that this was going to […]
The Truth (2000) Terry Pratchett I seem to have developed a somewhat insane relationship with Terry Pratchett novels. I’ll read one, remember how awesome they were, then read a whole bunch more, move onto something else, and then at some point pick up a new novel and put of reading it for months and months, […]
Territory (2007) Emma Bull Matilda is a widow living in Tombstone and working as a typesetter for the paper. Jessie Fox is a horse trainer who ends up in Tombstone after someone tries to steal his horse. In Tombstone Wyatt Earp is consolidating power, including keeping Doc Holliday in town. In Territory we see Tombstone […]
Hellboy Vol 7: The Troll With and Others (2007) Mike Mignola, Richard Corben, P. Craig Russell This is another collection of shorter stories, and as usual, these collections tend to be my favorites. Though I do have to admit, that from reading Mike Mignola’s introductions to the various Hellboy short stories, I have apparently missed […]
B.P.R.D. Vol 6: The Universal Machine (2007) Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Guy Davis Roger is dead. Abe is still lost in his thoughts of his past. And Johann is trying to bring Roger back from the dead. While Kate Corrigan heads off to France in search of a book that may help bring Roger back […]
Hellboy Vol 6: Strange Places (2006) Mike Mignola Hellboy was gone for awhile–a couple years. Strange Places tells us where he was during that time. Nowhere good. He travels to Africa to talk to a shaman, gets nailed by an evil undersea witch, spends time hanging out with some dead sailors, and learns some of […]
B.P.R.D. Vol 5: The Black Flame (2006) Mike Mignola, John Arcudi, Guy Davis In the 5th BRPD volume, the frogs released in Plague of Frogs are now appearing everywhere, and wreaking destruction as they go. In the meantime, Roger, who was extra simple last volume, has decided to imprint on Captain Daimio. Needless to say, […]
B.P.R.D. Vol 4: The Dead (2005) Mike Mignola. John Arcudi, Guy Davis Set in the aftermath of Plague of Frogs, the BPRD has to figure out how to stop the frog monsters, while Abe has become obsessed with his past, and the man he may have been in another life. On top of that the […]
Blue Moon Rising (1991) Simon R. Green I believe it was Tania who was shocked that I had not read Blue Moon Rising. After all, I love the appalling John Taylor of Nightside, so why hadn’t I read Blue Moon Rising? Especially since I own a used copy of it? Two not very good reasons. […]
The Shape of Water (1994) Andrea Camilleri translated by Stephen Sartarelli After stumbling upon The Fencing Master several years ago, I overcame my reluctance to read books that had been translated into English. I’d somehow gotten it into my head that translated books were literature and my experiences with literature have not always been the […]
Undead and Unwed (2004) MaryJanice Davidson Betsy thought things couldn’t get much worse when she got fired from her job. She soon discovered that was wrong, when she woke up in a coffin (after being smashed by a truck) dressed in pink and wearing her step-mother’s castoff shoes. So, first and foremost Undead and Unwed […]
Spirits that Walk in Shadow (2006) Nina Kiriki Hoffman I ordered Spirits that Walk in Shadow, but because it’s a trade paperback instead of a mass market paperback, it got put on a different shelf, and I forgot I had it. But my reading binge while home sick reminded me I had another unread Nina […]
The Silent Strength of Stones (1995) Nina Kiriki Hoffman To get it out of the way, the cover shown here? Awesome. The cover on the used copy I received? Awful. So bad that I kept putting off reading The Silent Strength of Stones even though I love Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s writing. I mean really, a […]
X-Rated Bloodsuckers (2007) Mario Acevedo Felix Gomez went to Iraq a soldier but returned a vampire, so with his unique skill set, decided that becoming a private eye would be the best career he could make. He’s good enough that he can choose the cases he wants, but is intrigued when Katz Meow asks him […]
A Fistful of Sky (2002) Nina Kiriki Hoffman The first time I read A Fistful of Sky, I was at loose ends and thought I’d just flip through a couple pages and see if that was what I wanted to read. I ended up reading the entire book in a single sitting. When I picked […]
Through a Glass, Darkly (2006) Donna Leon I’ve been trying to slowly read–to savor–Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti books. However, being home sick I’ve read through several in the past couple days, and having finished Through a Glass, Darkly have only one published paperback left. (There are a couple of books that were not republished in […]
B.P.R.D. Vol 3: Plague of Frogs (2005) Mike Mignola and Guy Davis I have to admit I was a tad bit disappointed when I saw Vol 3 was a single story and not a collection of short stories. It’s not that I dislike the longer format, it’s simply that I think the short stories are […]
Friends in High Places (2000) Donna Leon Apparently, Donna Leon’s Commissario Brunetti books are not being published in the US following European copyright dates. Friends in High Places has a European copyright of 2000, but was published in the US only recently. Not that this particularly matters in the grand scheme of things, as the […]
Borderland: Where Magic Meets Rock and Roll (1986) edited by Terri Windling and Mark Alan Arnold The Borderland anthologies contain stories by some of my favorite authors, in this volume Charles de Lint and Ellen Kushner contributed stories, along with Steven R Boyett and Bellamy Bach. I’ve been a fan of shared world anthologies since […]
Backup (2008) Jim Butcher At last, we get to see into to mind of someone other than Harry Dresden–and get a glimpse of Harry from the outside–albeit the somewhat adoring eyes of his brother Thomas. We also get to a glimpse of the interior life of Thomas. He considers himself a monster, but he continues […]
B.P.R.D. Vol 2: The Soul of Venice & Other Stories (2004) Mike Mignola, Miles GUnther, Michael Avon Oeming, Brian Augustyn, Guy Davis, Geoff Jones, Scott Kolins, Joe Harris, Adam Pollina & Cameron Stewart In The Soul of Venice & Other Stories, Mike Mignola invited several other artists and writers to help him write five new […]