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Flavia, unbanished
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THRICE THE BRINDED CAT HATH MEW’D. By Alan Bradley. Read by Jayne Entwistle. Random House Audio. 9 hours; 7 CDs. Hardback print edition form Delacorte Press. 331 pages. $26. It’s happy days for the many fans of Flavia DeLuce, the 12-year-old sleuth and chemist. After a brief “banishment” to a…
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Absurdity, meet reality
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson RAZOR GIRL. By Carl Hiaasen. Read by John Rubinstein. Random House Audio. 12 ½ hours; 10 CDs. $54. In hardback from Knopf: 333 pages. $27.95. Razor Girl is Carl Hiaasen at his hilarious best, and that is very, very good. It’s wacky fiction that’s somehow crazily connected to reality. It’s…
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Short but tasty
Bob Moyer sent this review of from Germany. How can he read this book when so close to France and not go there? It’s a mystery to me. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer FATAL PURSUIT. By Martin Walker. Alfred A. Knopf. 320 pages. $25.95 Stuffed neck of duck. That’s the solution for a minor mystery…
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Where’s the gold?
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson CURIOUS MINDS. By Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton. Read by Lorelei King. Random House Audio. 7 hours; 6 CDs. $47. Also available in print from Bantam Books. For just plain fun, I adore Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, and I’ve also enjoyed some of Evanovich’s forays into other series, sometimes…
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Murder – or is it? – in WWII New York
Many newspaper reporters dream of one day writing a novel. Dan Fesperman is living the dream – he just published No. 10. Paul O’Connor isn’t a big fan of mysteries, but he found this one quite entertaining. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE LETTER WRITER. By Dan Fesperman. Knopf. 372 pages. $26.95 The last few…
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Danger lurks in gritty Texas
Here’s a review of a second novel by a fellow newspaper veteran who is a transplant to North Carolina. The review, now with a couple of modifications, first ran in the Greensboro News & Record. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson WINNING TEXAS. By Nancy Stancill. Black Rose Writing. 226 pages. $16.95, paperback. In real world…
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Channeling Robert B. Parker
A new writer is keeping an old favorite series alive, and Bob Moyer thinks that’s quite OK. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer Robert B. Parker’s SLOW BURN: A Spenser Novel. By Ace Atkins. Putnam. 304 pages. $27. Robert B. Parker may have passed from this mortal coil, but Spenser, his iconic Boston P.I., still packs…
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Keeping the seas safe in a perilous world
Here’s another reviewing collaboration with my U.S. Navy officer son, currently assigned to the U.S. Naval Academy as an instructor in seamanship and navigation. Although the two of us approach this book from markedly different backgrounds, we both heartily enjoyed it. That statement in itself is quite a commendation. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson and…
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One war ends, another simmers
Bob Moyer takes a look at the latest book in a series about a detective in Germany during the World War II era. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE: A Bernie Gunther Novel. By Philip Kerr. Putnam. 400 pages. $27. Some things change. In this accomplished series about the moral and…
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Saucy Jack strikes again
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson LOST AND GONE FOREVER. By Alex Grecian. Read by John Curless. Books on Tape. 9 CDs; 10 ½ hours. When reviewing the newest book in a series, I usually try to judge whether someone who hasn’t read all the earlier entries will understand and appreciate the new one. This time,…