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Dinosaurs, gunslingers, Indians and more
This novel arrived right about the time my husband and I were moving from the farm where we’d lived for more than 40 years to a new home 300 miles to the east, in Currituck County, N.C. The book made the move, but ended up under the stack of other books waiting to be read.…
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A mad and maddening world
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE GOLDEN HOUSE. By Salman Rushdie. Read by Vikas Adam. Random House Audio. 14 ½ hours. 12 CDs. 45. Salman Rushdie’s new novel captures this moment in time in America in a brilliant and disturbing way. Yes, The Golden House is frenetic, hyperbolic, often over the top and sometimes confusing…
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A wreck, a murder, a mystery
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE. By Shari Lapena. Penguin Audio. Read by Tavia Gilbert. 9 hours; 7 CDs. $47. If Shari Lapena’s first suspense novel, The Couple Next Door, was as good as most people seemed to think it was, then she’s suffering from sophomore slump with A Stranger in…
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Same place, new face
Bob Moyer takes time out from his traveling, petanquing, haikuing, swing dancing and other passions to get caught up on a book review. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE LATE SHOW. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 405 pages. $28. Michael Connelly has been granted the mantle of successor to Raymond Chandler, and he has worn it…
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One last taste…
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE PAINTED QUEEN. By Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess. William Morrow. 352 pages. $27.99. Fans of Elizabeth Peters’ beloved Amelia Peabody series can enjoy this final installment if they read it as light entertainment, a glimpse of sorts of the beloved characters and perhaps a reminder of just how extraordinary…
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Beware the beasts
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson DEADFALL. By Linda Fairstein. Penguin Audio. Read by Barbara Rosenblat. 11 ½ hours; 10 CDs. $40. Alex Cooper is back – sort of – after her kidnapping ordeal, but she’s supposed to be on leave from work, and she’s struggling emotionally. A quiet time of healing is not in the…
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The sins of the past…
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson Y IS FOR YESTERDAY. By Sue Grafton. Random House Audio. Read by Judy Kaye. 17 hours; 14 CDs. $45. Also available in print from Putnam. You know how in stadiums after the rows of seats have been through the alphabet, the designation starts over with double letters – AA, BB,…
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History, mystery and French food
Where’s Bob, who might as well be Waldo? Japan? Michigan? Germany? In his heart and in his taste buds, at any rate, he’s lately been in the Perigord region of France, savoring the latest Bruno, chief of police, mystery. Here’s his review. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE TEMPLARS’ LAST SECRET. By Martin Walker. Knopf.…
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Out of the briar patch
Bob Moyer takes a look at the latest fine book in a series that he considers very good indeed. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer FALLOUT. By Sara Paretsky. William Morrow. 448 pages. $27.99. Private eye V.I. Warshawski, known as Vick to her friends, has been called a few other things by those who are not…
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Hot on the trail of a missing island
Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson When Janet Ivanovich’s first Knight and Moon novel hit the stands a year ago, I quickly declared the new series my second favorite of Ivanovich’s prolific offerings (the Stephanie Plum books have a lock on No. 1). Now Dangerous Minds, the second in the series, has arrived, and, yep, it’s…