mystery

REVIEW:  City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin

REVIEW: City of Shadows by Ariana Franklin

Dear Ms Franklin, I’ve adored your books written as Diana Norman and rejoiced when Rosario broke the news that you also write under this name. When I knew you had this and another book already released, I was elated. As I read this book, I was euphoric. I wanted to race through it to enjoy(…)

REVIEW:  Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn

REVIEW: Wrapt in Crystal by Sharon Shinn

Dear Ms Shinn, I hadn’t known, or perhaps I’d just forgotten, that this book was a police procedural murder mystery. I did know that it involved priestesses so expected some religious element but I had not expected to be blown away by how wonderfully you would work that into the story. And while the book(…)

REVIEW: A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander

Dear Ms Alexander, I was delighted with my impulse buy of your first novel “And Only to Deceive.” Luckily for me I didn’t have to wait too long before book two in the series was released. Now all I can say is write quickly so I don’t have to mope too long before getting to(…)

REVIEW: Wedding Bell Blues by Charlotte Douglas

Dear Ms Douglas, When I picked up a copy of “Wedding Bell Blues,” I didn’t realize that it is the fourth book in your Maggie Skerritt mystery series. I thought briefly about trying to track down the other three books since I prefer to read a series in order but realized that I probably wouldn’t(…)

REVIEW:  And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

REVIEW: And Only to Deceive by Tasha Alexander

Dear Ms Alexander, Victorian era books are just not my favorites. I freely admit that is due to shallow reasons such as the ugly way most men wore their facial hair and the drabness of their clothes, ghastly women’s hairstyles (all slicked down with sugar water) and the image that I have of a repressed(…)

REVIEW: Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot

Dear Ms. Cabot: I’m a full on fan girl of yours. I read all of your books, even your young adult ones. The first in this series, Size 12 is Not Fat, was very cute and fun to read with a hint of a future romance. This second book was a cute, fun but the(…)

REVIEW: A Rather Lovely Inheritance by C.A. Belmond

Dear Ms. Belmond, Reading “A Rather Lovely Inheritance” was kind of like stepping back in time and enjoying something by Mary Stewart. You know, one of her 50s and 60s mystery stories when the heroine gets swept up in something she never expected that’s kind of glamorous and a teensy bit dangerous and at the(…)

REVIEW: Drop Dead Gorgeous by Linda Howard

Dear Ms Howard: I wasn’t really much of a Blair fan the first time around and with any book in the first person, if you don’t love the narrator, you aren’t going to love the book. I didn’t find her as irritating as I did in To Die For, but I don’t think I’m up(…)

REVIEW: Death in Berlin by MM Kaye

Dear Readers, In addition to her novels about India, M.M. Kaye also wrote a series of mystery novels set in exotic places. In “Death in Berlin,” she uses war torn 1953 Berlin as a backdrop to mystery and romance. “The strange beauty and terrible past of war-scarred Berlin. Miranda Brand is a beautiful model visiting(…)

REVIEW: True Blood by Patricia Waddell

Dear Ms. Waddell: I was talking to a sci fi aficionado the other day and bemoaning the fact that there are so few true sci fi / futuristic romances these days. When Tara Marie mentioned that she liked it, I paid attention and picked it up. Cullon Gavriel and Danna MacFadyen are part of an(…)

REVIEW: Spying in High Heels by Gemma Halladay

Dear Ms. Halladay: I know this letter isn’t fair because I picked up your book thinking you were another author, Gemma Bruce. In my defense, you were in the romance section, but I think your book is better classified as a chick lit whodunit with all the accoutrements of the chick lit book. All the(…)

REVIEW:  Death on D Street by Kathryn Kristine Rusch

REVIEW: Death on D Street by Kathryn Kristine Rusch

Dear Ms. Rusch, I wasn’t aware when I bought this that it is a short story. But I was an ebook novice then and thought I had just gotten a good deal on the price. I know authors have no control over price and compared to Quinn’s famous Second Epilogues this one is cheap but(…)

REVIEW: Gather Ye Rosebuds by Joan Smith

Dear Ms Smith, Gather Ye Rosebuds is kind of a Regency crossed with a mystery. It’s fun and interesting but maybe not as cuttingly humorous as some of your other Regency set trads I’ve read. Zoie Barron lives a quiet life until after her uncle dies. While cleaning out his room to turn it into(…)

REVIEW: Snobbery with Violence by Marion Chesney

Dear Ms. Chesney, Historical mysteries are my favorite type and I’m looking forward to reading more of your Edwardian series featuring the unconventional Lady Rose Summer and Captain Harry Cathcart. Lady Rose’s suffragette sympathies, excellent education and concern for the lower classes is just enough to be considered odd by her social peers without seeming(…)

REVIEW: Sex, Murder and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis

Ms. Davis: I bought this book at Elibron.com. Elibron carries no cover images and no descriptions so my purchase was based solely on a) the name and b) the publisher. I was in the mood for something chick lit and I was buying something else at the time . . . Oh, Hot Ticket. Gah.(…)