Briar Patch Books

Back from the dead

I’m catching up with all the reviews Bob Moyer sent we when he was catching up. And now you can catch up on your pleasurable reading. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer ONLY TO SLEEP. A Philip Marlowe Novel. By Lawrence Osborne. Hogarth. 256 pages. $26. The world’s oldest hard-boiled detective is alive and living between…

February 24, 2019
Flavia on the case(s)

Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE GOLDEN TRESSES OF THE DEAD. By Alan Bradley. Random House Audio. Read by Jayne Entwistle. 9 hours; 7 CDs. $35. Also available in print from Delacorte Press, 323 pages. $26. A new novel starring Flavia de Luce, the precocious young English girl who uses her extensive knowledge of chemistry…

February 18, 2019
Depressing, yet compelling

Paul O’Connor reviews a book he meant to read long ago, one that still offers important lessons. Like Paul, I find that I will listen to the audio version of difficult books I cannot make myself read in print. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor A BRIGHT SHINING LIE: JOHN PAUL VANN AND AMERICA IN VIETNAM.…

February 11, 2019
Reacher tackles a ghost and a host of bad guys

Bob Moyer is taking time out from his travels to catch up on some of his favorite authors. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer. PAST TENSE. By Lee Child. Delacorte Press. 382 pages. $28.99. Wow. It takes a good writer to drive a single plot competently down a path to a satisfying destination. It takes a…

February 5, 2019
The right touch

Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson When Stuart Woods is good, he’s really quite good, but sometimes he seems to be just cranking out yet another Stone Barrington ode to the joys of being ridiculously wealthy. A Delicate Touch, No. 48 in the series (which started in 1991), is better than most of Barrington’s recent adventures.…

February 4, 2019
“In my life…”

Paul O’Connor returns to Briar Patch Books with a review of a book published in the spring of 2016. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor PAUL MCCARTNEY: THE LIFE. By Philip Norman. Little, Brown and Company. 816 pages. $32. For those Americans of a certain age, The Beatles represent more than music. Although John, Paul and…

January 29, 2019
A little coincidence…

Bob Moyer keeps trying to catch up on all the books he’s read and intends to review, but there are so many ways to have fun and put off writing. … Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer SHELL GAME. By Sara Paretsky. William Morrow. 385 pages. $27.95 Over the course of 17 novels, she’s been beat…

January 20, 2019
Through a screen, darkly

From time to time, my younger son, a Navy officer, contributes a review. This one is particularly timely, not to mention thought-provoking. Reviewed by Lt. Samuel Brinson LIKEWAR: The Weaponization of Social Media. By P. W. Singer and Emerson T. Brooking. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 416 pages. $28 Over the last few years, the internet and…

January 13, 2019
Driving out the dark spirits

Don’t you just love it when a reviewer introduces you to a promising-sounding series with a lot of books in it? Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer DESOLATION MOUNTAIN. By William Kent Krueger. Atria Books. 320 pages. $26 When the mining company moved out of the Iron Lake area, it left behind a ravaged landscape and…

January 11, 2019
A book for those who love books, bookshops and mysteries

I somehow misplaced this review when Bob Moyer submitted it last fall. He politely nudged me to find and post it. And now I won’t rest until I have the book. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE BOOKSHOP OF YESTERDAYS. By Amy Meyerson. Park Row Books. 364 pages. $32.99. Some books are scary. Not Halloween…

January 7, 2019