Briar Patch Books

Category: Mysteries

  • A detective in island exile

    Michael Connelly introduces a new detective, and reviewer Bob Moyer is on the case. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer NIGHTSHADE. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 241 pages. $30. He’s not like Harry Bosch, Michael Connelly”s hard-boiled, hard-bitten ex-LAPD detective, who drives an old jeep around, drives women away and lives on a downtown hillside. Los…

  • More murder and mystery in the desert Southwest

    Bob Moyer and I are both loyal fans of the late Tony Hillerman and his mysteries featuring the Navajo Nation Police. I have read one or two of the mysteries added to the series since Hillerman’s daughter Anne since her father died, but Bob beat me to this latest one. I will have to catch…

  • A murder mystery with much to discover

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson DETECTIVE AUNTY. By Uzma Jalaluddin. Harper Perennial. 324 pages. $17.99, trade paperback original. Uzma Jalaluddin’s debut murder mystery is both familiar and different, a well plotted and well written whodunit that should appeal both to mystery fans and to readers who have enjoyed Jalaluddin’s earlier novels, which are generally considered…

  • So many clues, so many possibilities

    Looking for a good mystery? Paul O’Connor takes a look at a 2024 book by a mystery author who’s new to me. Sounds intriguing. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE GOD OF THE WOODS. By Liz Moore. Riverhead Books. 476 pages. $30, hardcover. Liz Moore can really tell a story, as anyone who read her…

  • Good story, great writing

    Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer BEEN WRONG SO LONG IT FEELS LIKE RIGHT: A King Oliver Novel.  By Walter Mosley. Mulholland Books. 336 pages. $29. “You been wrong so long it feels like right to you.” That’s just one of the great sentences in book three of Walter Mosley’s Joe King Oliver series, in which…

  • A good story, and some pointers too

    Do you need some really entertaining reading – escape reading, in more ways than one? Bob Moyer offers a review of a book he thinks you’ll find a good distraction in these troubled times. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer HERO. By Thomas Perry. Mysterious Press. 277 pages. $27.95 $27.95 Thomas Perry gives the reader not…

  • Bruno, chief of police, is at it again

    Bob Moyer reviews the latest in a much loved series rich in with French history, culture, food and, oh yes, crime. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer. A GRAVE IN THE WOODS. By Martin Walker. Knopf. 283 page. $29. The past is never past; it is always present. In this charming, slightly addictive (to some) series,…

  • Classic hard-boiled detective – deftly updated

    Like a fast-paced, atmospheric, well written detective story? Bob Moyer has found a series  that’s all that while adapted to our modern age. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer BLIND TO MIDNIGHT. By Reed Farrell Coleman. Black Stone Publishing. 291 pages. $26.99 Back in the good old days, a hard-boiled detective wore a fedora, drank cheap…

  • Tough times in the Big Easy

    Bob Moyer reviews a thought-provoking, haunting novel about justice – and lack of it – in New Orleans. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer SERAPHIM. By Joshua Perry. Melville Press. 272 pages. $18.99 In post-Katrina New Orleans, a woman, a local legend, is shot and killed on the street. Sixteen-year-old Robert is arrested and confesses. Except…

  • Vanished without a trace…

    Iceland’s most successful author has teamed up with the country’s prime minister to write a mystery/crime thriller that’s one of the best books I’ve read in quite a while. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson REYKJAVIK. By Ranger Jonasson and Katrin Jakobsdottir. Minotaur Books. 363 pages. $19, paperback. It’s 1956, and Kristjan Krisjtansson, a rookie policeman…