Briar Patch Books

Category: Mysteries

  • A lesson in loyalty

    Bob Moyer’s reviewing has gone to the dogs – in a good way. By Robert Moyer SUSPECT. By Robert Crais. Putnam. 312 pages. $27.95. “Bark bark arf. Bark.”—Spike “Yap yap yap.  Yipyip.”—Princess “Woof, woof, wooof.” –Atticus  I’m Nesta, and I’ve taken on Bob as my alpha.  He asked me to collect a few critical comments…

  • Dashiell Hammett, revisited

    What could be better for a fan of hard-boiled detective stories than a novel about the daddy of them all: Dashiell Hammett? Bob Moyer writes that the book itself is a bit of a mystery. By Robert Moyer HAMMETT UNWRITTEN. By Owen Fitzstephen. Notes and Afterword by Gordon McAlpine. Seventh Street Books. 176 pages. $13.95.…

  • Past glories, past sorrows

    Every time I read a book by Deborah Crombie or Elizabeth George, I have a flash of envy. These women are Americans, but they write excellent police mystery/suspense fiction set in England. Even the British critics say they do a good job, getting the details right. Not only are they successful authors; they also get…

  • Guns, mean guys and other lethal weapons

    Bob Moyer is back, again, from wherever it is he’s been, again. I can’t keep up with his globe-trotting ways. I’m just grateful that he keeps reading and writing reviews. Here’s his latest, with his promises that there are more to come. By Robert Moyer THE THIRD BULLET. By Stephen Hunter. Simon and Schuster. 485 pages.…

  • All this and a mystery, too

    Novel readers are well acquainted with the darker side of Victorian England, the often-wretched lives of the poor and society’s gaping inequalities. We also may have had literary glimpses into the lives and adventures of those in government and law-enforcement circles. Julia Stuart’s hilarious novel offers a look at a slice of Victorian life that…

  • Who’s dead, who’s missing?

    By Linda C. Brinson I’ve read all Charles Todd’s books since that mother-son team’s first novel appeared in 1996.  Now, we have the 15th in that first series (there’s now a Bess Crawford series as well). As with any series, some Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries are better than others. But even those that might not…

  • Out of retirement, into a mystery

    Old detectives, it seems, are a lot like old soldiers – except that in addition to never dying, they rarely fade away. Tom Dillon reviews a new Ian Rankin book (published in Great Britain last year) in which John Rebus is back at work, at least for a while. By Tom Dillon STANDING IN ANOTHER…

  • Fearless (almost) Flavia tackles murder in the churchyard

    How much do I like Alan Bradley’s Flavia de Luce novels? Here’s an indication: This is the second time I have read the latest novel straight through – and then listened to the audio book version. Having read the book, I know the solution to the mystery, but listening to the audio version lets me…

  • This one’s a reach for Reacher

    Bob Moyer has returned from points north just in time to see snow here in North Carolina – and to tell us about one of the books he read when he was traveling. By Robert Moyer A WANTED MAN. By Lee Child. Delacorte Press. 405 pages. $28. A bevy of federal agencies shows up to…

  • Danger at Windsor Castle

    As readers of this blog know my now, I love historical fiction, especially novels set in the early 20th century. World War I and its aftermath in England have long been a particular interest of mine, partly because that conflict wrought such profound changes on the world as the British knew it. Charles Todd’s novels…