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Mystery, history and the lives of women
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson ASHTON HALL. By Lauren Belfer. Penguin Random House Audio. Read by Jayne Entwhistle and Kristen Sieh. 12 hours, 38 minutes. Also available in hardback from Ballantine Books. Don’t start listening to (or reading) this book unless you have some time to spare. Once you start, you won’t want to stop.…
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What’s going on???
Do you want to read a mystery that will really keep you guessing? Paul O’Connor found one that came from Sweden. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor GEIGER. By Gustaf Skordeman. Translated from Swedish by Ian Giles. Grand Central Publishing. 424 pages. $28, hardback. It’s been a pleasant afternoon for Stellan Boman, the long-retired but still…
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Still going strong
Looking for a good detective story? Bob Moyer has a suggestion. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer Robert B. Parker’s BYE BYE BABY. By Ace Atkins. Penguin. 315 pages, $28 hardcover. Fifty books. Robert B. Parker’s one-name Boston private detective, Spenser, has quipped, cracked wise, and quoted Shakespeare through that many books, while dispensing his…
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The hunters and the hunted
Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE LEFT-HANDED TWIN. By Thomas Perry. Mysterious Press. 321 pages. $25.95 She survives. Again. No spoiler alert needed here; Jane Whitefield has withstood every danger Thomas Perry has thrown at her in this successful series. She’s a “loser,” someone who helps people in peril of death disappear. She has lost only…
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Out of control
Need a vacation novel, one that’s fun and easy to read? Paul O’Connor has a suggestion. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor CITY ON FIRE. By Don Winslow. William Morrow. 351 pages. $28.99, hardcover. Danny Ryan knows trouble when he sees it. So, when a beautiful woman emerges from the water along the Rhode Island shore,…
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Dark, eerie – and beautiful
Paul O’Connor may have grown up in Connecticut, gone to college in Indiana and spent many productive decades in North Carolina, but there’s a lot of Ireland in him. He’s discovered a book by an Irish author that’s not exactly new – published in 2017 – and not usually what would be Paul’s cup of…
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All this and COVID too
Bob Moyer reviews a Michael Connelly detective thriller that came out late last year. If you missed it in the holiday/pandemic craziness, you’ll thank him. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE DARK HOURS. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 388 pages. $29. She hates taking her mask up and down for a sip of coffee, she…
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Another delicious crime entre’e
Thanks to Bob Moyer, I have another addition to my already lengthy must-read list. Martin Walker’s Bruno novels are pure pleasure, even if they do make me hungry. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE COLDEST CASE. By Martin Walker. Knopf. 315 pages, $27. In a Bruno, Chief of Police novel, the past is never past;…
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Murder, monks and mirth
Bob Moyer is back with a review of a book with plenty of “outlandish humor.” FELONIOUS MONK. By William Kotzwinkle. Blackstone Publishing. 278 pages. $26.99. William Kotzwinkle may be the most famous author you’ve never heard of. He has sold more than 10 million books across a swath of genres: the cult ‘70s favorite The…
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When things get really strange…
Paul O’Connor reviews a novel that transcends categories while revealing a lot about human nature. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor THE ANOMALY. By Herve’ Le Tellier. Translated by Adriana Hunter. Other Press. 391 pp. $16.95, softcover. On March 10, 2021, Air France Flight 006, high above international waters off the coast of Nova Scotia, encounters…