Month: February 2012

  • Plum good, again

    My growing fondness for (OK, addiction to) audio books has been educational in more ways than one. I had been aware of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novel series for years. How could I not? Her new books regularly land on The New York Times best-seller list. But did I read them? Oh, no. Not me.…

  • The unkindest cut?

    Apologies for the headline, but Bob Moyer so often toys with puns and literary allusions that he incites others to try the same. In this review, the inimitable Bob amuses us by commenting wryly (?) upon our nation’s capital while reviewing a “gritty, atmospheric” novel set in that city’s “sleazy streets.” More good news: George…

  • Of crime and the river

    Ah, happiness. Hardly had I finished listening to Elizabeth George’s latest as an audio book when I started reading Deborah Crombie’s new mystery novel starring Scotland Yard’s Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. Inevitably, because they are both women writers who live in America and write British police mystery/suspense fiction, George and Crombie are often compared.…

  • Annapolis and beyond – a mystery

    I’ve stayed on the Naval Academy parents’ e-mail list-serve even though my son graduated in 2010. I stay because I hope that occasionally I can help some parent of a current midshipman, plus I enjoy reliving (some of) the memories. My unwillingness to let go paid off recently when another parent gave a heads-up about…

  • Lynley, lies and secrets

    Elizabeth George is one of a handful of women whom, as I’ve said more than once, I’d like to BE. She’s an American who’s made a grand success of writing British police/suspense novels. That means she gets to spend lots of time in England doing research and write it off as a business expense. As…