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Does Spenser really live on?
Here’s another review Bob Moyer sent along during his sabbatical in Europe. He’s a longtime fan of Spenser as created by the late Robert B. Parker, so you know he read with a discerning eye the first Spenser novel to appear since Parker died in 2010. By Robert Moyer Robert B. Parker’s LULLABY: A Spenser…
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A mystery, German style
Fittingly, Bob Moyer has sent from Germany a review of a mystery dealing with wartime Germany. Will Bob keep traveling the world, sending reviews to match his locales? Or will he return to North Carolina and join the rest of us in armchair journeys? Stay tuned. Meanwhile, enjoy this review. By Robert P. Moyer PRAGUE…
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To laugh or not to laugh
Jesse Kellerman may know the business of writing best-selling novels as well as anyone. For him, it’s a family business; he is a son of Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, both highly successful crime writers. And he’s followed in the family tradition admirably with four novels: The Executor, The Genius, Trouble and Sunstroke. Sometimes, after a…
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Justice, present and past
Bob Moyer touched down in North Carolina just long enough to write reviews of the books he’s been reading while on his travels. Here’s one of a police procedural that meets his discerning standards. He’d give it two thumbs up if he weren’t too busy holding onto his luggage. By Robert Moyer CRIMINAL. By Karin…
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This year’s new gems from Anne Perry
Fortunately for her legions of fans, Anne Perry continues to produce fine novels in her two series set in Victorian England, the William Monk novels and those featuring Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. These books offer so much: They are excellent historical novels. Perry does her research well, presenting us with an unsentimental picture of life…
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Move over Queen Elizabeth – I’ve had a James Bond moment myself
By Linda C. Brinson Readers who have access to the Greensboro News & Record may have seen my James Bond spread on its book page Sunday, Aug. 5. I can’t link to it here because the News & Record is trying to avoid giving away its content online. I wish it well in that endeavor…
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Peculiar times in London
What is literature for if not to take us into places and experiences that we might otherwise miss? I’m missing London right now; I see it nightly on TV coverage of the Olympics, and I wish I were there. There’s no way I could make it to London for the games, but I’ve done the…
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Bess Crawford, on the battlefields of France
A few years back, Charles Todd, the mother-son writing team in Delaware and North Carolina, started a new mystery series. Their Inspector Ian Rutledge series was highly successful, but they hoped that first-person stories with a young woman protagonist might attract some readers who find novels centered on the brooding Rutledge – struggling with what…
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A lot of fun, with fringe benefits
Paul O’Connor reports that while the temperatures have been up around 103 degrees in North Carolina, the highs have been in the low 70s in Portland, Ore., where he’s visiting. Maybe that’s why he has energetically written another book review, putting me to shame. I’ve been reading and listening, but not doing much writing. I’m…