Briar Patch Books

Tag: Southern fiction

  • Solving crimes, taking vows

    Bob Moyer loves good mystery novels, and he loves New Orleans, so it’s no surprise that he is reviewing the latest Sister Holiday mystery, No. 3 in the series. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer DIVINE RUIN. A Sister Holiday Mystery. By Margot Douaihy. Gillian Flynn Books. 336 pages. $28, hardcover. A gold-toothed, tattooed ex-punk rocker…

  • A cozy mystery, with extras

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE PRIMROSE MURDER SOCIETY. By Stacy Hackney. William Morrow. 339 pages. $15.20, paperback. Until recently, Stacy Hackney has been a lawyer who also wrote two well-received books for children ages about 8-12. These days, she’s taken on more of a challenge, and those of us who love a good, light…

  • A mother’s love, a mother’s war

    This fine first novel by a North Carolina author has its official debut this week. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson MEASURE OF DEVOTION. By Nell Joslin. Regal House Publishing. 254 pages. $20.95, hardcover. Susannah Shelburne has more than her share of worries when we meet her in late October of 1863. The deprivations of the…

  • Behind the glitter…

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE QUEEN CITY DETECTIVE AGENCY. By Snowden Wright. William Morrow. 260 pages. It’s 1985 in Meridian, Mississippi. It’s the Ronald Reagan era, morning in America, so they say. But in Meridian, once known as the Queen City but now more of a dump, there’s often more darkness than dawn, especially…

  • Surprise! Be prepared…

    Bob Moyer has found a new mystery/ thriller writer, and he likes her literary debut. It probably helps that the setting is Louisiana, one of Bob’s favorites. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer BROKEN BAYOU. By Jennifer Moorhead. Thomas & Mercer. 265 pages. $16.99. Very few writers can make a reader both gasp and wince. Jennifer…

  • Things done for love

    Bob Moyer reviews the latest book from one of North Carolina’s finest novelists, Ron Rash. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE CARETAKER. By Ron Rash. Doubleday. 252 pages. $28. Ron Rash populates his North Carolina mountains with some of the meanest people you never want to meet. Serena, the woman featured in his best-selling novel,…

  • Hell on Earth

    Bob Moyer takes a look at the latest book by an award-winning and best-selling crime novelist from southeastern Virginia, and likes what he reads. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer ALL THE SINNERS BLEED. By S.A. Cosby. Flatiron Books (Macmillan).  352 pages. $27.99 Charon County, the fictional Virginia setting of this novel, seems a typical Southern…

  • Like fine wine, a good novel grows better with age

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson. RUIN CREEK. By David Payne. Cedar Lane Books, an imprint of Ingram. 367 pages. $18, paperback. If you’re looking for a beautifully written, moving, wise novel to read while you’re lounging on the beach under a shady tent or umbrella, you couldn’t do better than Ruin Creek, the second of…

  • Lee Smith alert!

    Once I get over being envious and annoyed that Bob Moyer got hold of this new Lee Smith novel before I did, I will find it and read it. She’s a bright star of contemporary Southern and North Carolina fiction.    Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer.    SILVER ALERT. By Lee Smith. Algonquin Books. 224…

  • Murder at the salvage yard

    Here’s a remarkably good first novel by the latest addition to my list of outstanding North Carolina authors. Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson IT DIES WITH YOU.  By Scott Blackburn. Crooked Lane Books. 304 pages. $27.99. When Hudson Miller was just a boy, his dad “dismantled” what had been a reasonably happy, church-going, middle class…