Briar Patch Books

Category: Mysteries

  • If it’s spring, it must be Rita Mae and Sneaky Pie

    Spring brings an abundance of new life and activity in the briar patch outside.  Two bluebirds, I suppose a pair hoping to nest, have been ferociously attacking the windows of the office (a former screened porch) where I write. I’d love for them to find a home close by, but I just don’t think inside…

  • Into Africa

    Once his No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books became hits, Alexander McCall Smith came out with an impressive number of other series. McCall Smith was born in what is now Zimbabwe, taught law at the University of Botswana and medical law at the University of Edinburgh, and lives in Scotland. Either he’s extremely prolific, or…

  • Bricks and bullets

    Here’s Bob Moyer again, this time in D.C., taking a look at the second book in a new series. By Robert Moyer AGENT X. By Noah Boyd. William Morrow. 391 pages. $24.99 Take a deep breath before you begin this book.  The Bricklayer, a cross between James Bond and Sherlock Holmes (with a touch of…

  • Much more than meets the eye

    There he goes again. Not long back from the mean streets of L.A., and before that,  the Perigord region of France, Bob Moyer is now on a fictional journey to Japan. By Robert Moyer THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X. By Keigo Higashino. Minotaur Books. 298 pages. $24.99 A Japanese police procedural centered around a lunch…

  • No. 2 in the spotlight

    Bob Moyer is prowling the mean streets again. By Robert Moyer THE SENTRY. By Robert Crais. Putnam. 320 pages. $26.95. For most of his life between the pages, Robert Crais’ Joe Pike has played a terse Tonto to Elvis Coles’ loose-lipped Lone Ranger.  Joe has a symbiotic albeit secondary relationship — Elvis detects, Joe protects.…

  • Victorian England as you’ve never seen it

    If you’re looking for a fictional change of pace, and want a heroine who’s definitely not like the girl next door, Carol K. Carr’s debut novel may be just your cup of tea – or perhaps, more aptly, your glass of whiskey. By Linda C. Brinson INDIA BLACK: A Novel of Espionage Mystery. By Carol…

  • A breakout book?

    Anne Barnhill, who spends much of her literary time these days in 16th-century England, steps into a different world to review a book by a fellow North Carolina writer. By Anne Barnhill THE BANKER’S GREED. By p.m. terrell and T. Randy Stevens. Drake Valley Press, Palari Publishing. 441 pages. $16.95, paperback. p.m. terrell is a…

  • Charles Todd – Two authors, two series

    Charles Todd – Two authors, two series

    Those who have access to the Greensboro News & Record can find my review of Charles Todd’s latest Inspector Rutledge mystery, A Lonely Death there today. And they also can read my interview with Charles Todd. Fans of Charles Todd will know that Charles Todd is the pen name for two people, a mother and…

  • Flavia de Luce rides (her bicycle Gladys) again!

    A new entry in one of my all-time favorite mystery series. An added bonus: The author was 70 when the first in the series was published. There’s hope for aging journalists who always wanted to write a novel but were too “busy.” By Linda C. Brinson A RED HERRING WITHOUT MUSTARD. By Alan Bradley. Delacorte…

  • Who did whatever it was?

    Paul O’Connor’s latest reading venture involved an actual book rather than the screen of his iPhone, and he moved from 19th century fiction to a real-life 20th century mystery. By Paul T. O’Connor DEATH OF A PINEHURST PRINCESS: The 1935 Elva Statler Davidson Mystery.  By Steve Bouser. The History Press. 206 pages. $19.99, trade paperback.…