The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins This was the first of my two short Halloween reads. Like most of my Halloween reads, it wasn’t particularly scary. The story opens with the Countess Narona visiting a doctor in London, and recounting a strange story about her meeting her fiance’s jilted lover. ... more >
California Passes Law That Could Make Getting Any Autographed Book or Art in the State Very Difficult – If you’re a reader who likes to collect autographed books, heads up on this new California law that requires a certificate of authenticity for any autographed item over $5. I can see this kind of requirement ... more >
Something really strange is happening in the City by the Bay. People are dying, but their souls are not being collected. Someone—or something—is stealing them and no one knows where they are going, or why, but it has something to do with that big orange bridge. Death Merchant Charlie Asher ... more >
E. F. Benson’s beloved Mapp and Lucia novels are sparkling, classic comedies of manners set against the petty snobberies and competitive maneuverings of English village society in the 1920s and 1930s. The third and fourth novels in the series, Lucia in London (1927) and Mapp and Lucia (1931) continue the ... more >
“The city of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency back-up mistress of the great Bay Area night, and my mangahaired love monkey, Foo Dog, stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public.” ... more >
E. F. Benson’s beloved Mapp and Lucia novels are sparkling, classic comedies of manners set against the petty snobberies and competitive maneuverings of English village society in the 1920s and 1930s. Benson’s series revolves around two unforgettable characters, both forceful and irrepressible women who dominate their respective villages in southern ... more >