Briar Patch Books

Category: Mysteries

  • The pet patrol rides again

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson NINE LIVES TO DIE. By Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. Bantam. 253 pages. $26. Rita Mae Brown’s Mrs. Murphy mysteries are light and easy-going despite the inevitable presence of at least a couple of murder victims. There’s also always some danger for Mary Minor “Harry” Haristeen, the human…

  • A Buffalo girl – detective

    A few books and CDs sit heavily on the table in my office, emanating a cloud of guilt whenever I look their way. These are books I read or listened to and liked enough to review – but something happened, and that review never made it out of my head and into print. One of…

  • Crime, Minnesota style

    By Linda C. Brinson It should come as no surprise to me or anyone else that John Sandford’s novels are very good. After all, everything he writes lands at the top of the bestseller lists. He brings the writing and investigative skills of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist to his fiction, with good result. He’s a…

  • Nutty family meets axe murderer

    Three years ago, I reviewed (favorably) Colin Cotterill’s first Jimm Juree mystery, set in Southern Thailand. Somehow, the second entry in the series (with the intriguing title of Grandad, There’s a Head on the Beach) slipped by me, but I’ll be looking for it. I’ve just read third book about the intrepid Jimm, and it’s,…

  • Spies: gentleman and madam

    Speaking of mysteries, foul deeds and intrigue: I seem to have missed book No. 3 in Carol K. Carr’s entertaining India Black series. My very strong clue was the arrival of what appears to be book No. 4 in my mailbox, listing the two previous novels I had read and reviewed (favorably, I might add),…

  • Two treats from Anne Perry

    I don’t know how Anne Perry does it.  She keeps her two very good Victorian England series going, plus her annual Christmas novel and the occasional foray into some other historical territory. Here are brief reviews of her latest novels in the William Monk series (from late last year) and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt…

  • What is real?

    Sometimes, when she’s not writing historical novels or modeling Tudor costumes at book events, Anne Barnhill amuses herself by reading a good thriller. Reviewed by Anne Barnhill THE OTHER TYPIST. By Suzanne Rindell.  G. P. Putnam and Sons. 354 pages.  $25.95. In her debut novel, Suzanne Rindell dishes up a delicious psychological thriller, a cold…

  • What’s next for Flavia?

    Once again, I treated myself to double enjoyment of Alan Bradley’s latest Flavia de Luce novel. I read the book as soon as it arrived, because I couldn’t wait. And then when I got the audio version, I listened, because the stories are just that good, and because I love British accents and can’t do…

  • Stephanie Plum, in hot pursuit of a giraffe in New Jersey?

    If you want to listen to a thoroughly entertaining audio book, it’s hard to beat the combination of a Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum tale read by Lorelei King. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson TAKEDOWN TWENTY. By Janet Evanovich. Read by Lorelei King. Random House Audio. 6 hours, 5 CDs. $32. Also available in print from…

  • Inspector Rutledge in the misty fens

    Even though I’ve followed Charles Todd from the time “his” first Inspector Ian Rutledge mystery appeared in 1996, I find it hard to believe that this latest is the 16th in that series. The mother-son team that writes under the name Charles Todd manages to keep each new book fresh and intriguing, while slowly allowing…