Briar Patch Books

Category: Mysteries

  • A treat for Spenser fans

    Bob Moyer reviews the latest in a venerable detective series that has outlived its creator. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer Robert B. Parker’s SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME. By Ace Atkins. Putnam. 306 pages. $27. Since Ace Atkins took over the Spenser franchise, he has aptly inhabited not just The Spenser voice, but the habits, […]

  • A voice of pain and passion

    Bob Moyer reviews the latest in a venerable detective series that’s set decades ago but, he finds, has much to say that’s relevant to today’s readers. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer BLOOD GROVE. By Walter Mosley/ Mulholland Books. 307 pages. $27. Long before Black Lives Matter, before George Floyd, a voice articulated the plight of […]

  • The boy is back

    Bob Moyer takes a look at the latest book by one of America’s most respected mystery and thriller writers. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer EDDIE’S BOY. By Thomas Perry. Mysterious Press. 274 pages. $26. Thomas Perry never fails to produce a pager-turner. His protagonists, whether in stand-alone novels or series installments, Native American females or […]

  • Reacher “Just Happens” to be at it again

    Bob Moyer reviews the latest in one of his favorite series (and one of mine, also, once he introduced me to it). But, as he explains, this involves a “new Jack Reacher.” Reviewed by Robert P Moyer THE SENTINEL. By Lee Child and Andrew Child. Delacorte Press. 351 pages. $28.99 Jack Reacher is the star […]

  • The ticking bombs…

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE KING’S JUSTICE. By Susan Elia MacNeal. Bantam Books. $17, paperback. Over the course of eight previous novels, Maggie Hope has been an assistant to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a code breaker, a spy, a prisoner…. She’s come way too close for comfort to a serial killer trying to emulate […]

  • The most important client

    Bob Moyer has a way of making we want to get a book and start reading right away! This one sounds particularly good. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE LAW OF INNOCENCE. By Michael Connelly. Little, Brown. 42 pages. $29. Mickey Haller is the Lincoln lawyer. He does most of his business in the back […]

  • Walter Mosley, the short version

    Years ago, a review by Bob Moyer introduced me to the works of Walter Mosley. Since then, I have read many of Mosley’s outstanding  and evocative mysteries, including many  of the early ones I had missed.  Now I’ll have to add this book of stories to my reading list. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE […]

  • Not for the faint hearted

    There were the holidays, you know. Oh, and he recently moved to a new house. And other things intervened. But Bob Moyer is back in book-reviewing mode now, and the world rejoices. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer DEAD GIRL BLUES. By Lawrence Block. LB Productions. 218 pages. $24.99. She’s dead. Her blues are over. The […]

  • In the swamps, Burke takes it up a notch

    Bob Moyer has been busy, moving to a new home and doing all the other things Bob Moyer does. Including reading. Now, at last, he’s found time again to write some book reviews and share his literary finds with us. Thank goodness. Reviewed by Robert P.  Moyer A PRIVATE CATHEDRAL: A Dave Robicheaux Novel. By […]

  • Law, order, love and money, Stone Barrington style

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson SHAKEUP. By Stuart Woods. Penguin Audio. Read by Tony Roberts. 7 hours; 6 CDs. $35. Also available in print from G.P. Putnam’s Sons. OK, here’s the book to take you from the craziness we are in to a fantasy world in which the United States has just inaugurated its second […]