In the mid-1990s, Dennis Lehane published A Drink Before The War, the first in a series of mystery novels featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. I was hooked. His writing includes both standalone novels as well as series – and in my opinion all can be read in any order (although as is often the …
As someone with a lifelong commitment to exercise and fitness, it was hard for me to adapt to my new reality when I was diagnosed with a serious disease a few years back. Uncurable is a hard word to accept, but fortunately my “affliction” is treatable, so after having treatment, I was kind of a …
As I noted last year when I read and reviewed Janet Evanovich’s Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight, I have been reading and enjoying Stephanie Plum’s adventures as a bond enforcement agent (bounty hunter?) for twenty-five+ years (gasp!), ever since One For The Money. And everytime a new one comes out, it makes me happy to know …
Oh, how I wanted to love The Last Chairlift by John Irving. I’m one of those readers who was totally knocked out by The World According to Garp decades ago, and have been hoping for an echo of that greatness. Having been disappointed several times, I retained my optimism when I received a copy of …
If you are a mystery lover like I am, it’s sort of sacrilege to trash talk John Grisham…and I admit I still eagerly grab any new Grisham book available. But for me at least, lately there hasn’t been that certainty that “this is gonna be GOOD” that is always there with my most reliable authors …
In 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2021 I read and reviewed Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things, Spark of Light, The Book of Two Ways, and Wish You Were Here…and each one earned five stars (with two or three getting my “You HAVE to read this book”). I also noted in every review that “when a friend …
I was familiar with the early 1980s deaths in Chicago that resulted from people consuming tainted Tylenol capsules…but I truly don’t remember the (copycat?) tainted Excedrin capsules in the Seattle area in the mid 1980s. In 2002, prolific author (of both fiction and nonfiction) Gregg Olsen published Bitter Almonds : The True Story of Mothers, …
Years ago, I read and loved Defending Jacob, and I was thrilled to receive a copy of William Landay’s new book, All That Is Mine I Carry With Me. I’m a big fan of legal thrillers/courtroom dramas, and this promised to MAYBE be the Landay book I had waited so long for… In 1975, ten-year-old …
For some reason, I haven’t been a fan of Sally Hepworth…but The Soulmate sounded intriguing, and was described as a “one night stand” – you know, one of those books you have to stay up reading until you finish it! With thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley (for providing a copy in exchange for …
My husband is a HUGE fan of Cormac McCarthy. I, on the other hand, have never really appreciated his books. But I decided to give The Passenger (the first in a two-book series) a try, hoping that because it sounded like it might be a mystery/suspense thing (right up my literary alley) that finally I …
I’ve been a big fan of Kate Atkinson (particularly the Jackson Brodie series), so I was happy to receive a copy of Shrines of Gaiety from Doubleday and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. If you are a fan of family sagas and historical fiction, grab this one! It’s set in the roaring 20s, …
Wondering how long I’ve been reading and enjoying the Doonesbury comic strip, I looked it up and was initially shocked that it has been going for over FIFTY years. And it STILL makes me laugh (although it is frequently more of an “ouch” as Trudeau’s columns in the time of Trumpism seem to skewer the …
I was happy to receive a copy of Elizabeth Strout’s Lucy By The Sea (thanks to Random House and NetGalley) in exchange for this honest review. I recall reading her Oh William! But couldn’t remember much about it…looking back, I realized I had never gotten around to writing a review…so it clearly wasn’t a grabber …
As Washington, D. C. Bureau Chief for Rolling Stone, Andy Kroll is well situated to report on the pervasive craziness that seems to have taken over since 2016. Seth Rich’s name has become synonymous with conspiracy, and his rumored influence among Democratic Party operatives as a tech wizard who just may have been involved in …
Five years ago, I was a huge fan of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, and I was happy to receive a copy of Our Missing Hearts from Penguin Group/Press and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. It is one of my less-favorite genres, a dystopian novel… set in a time following a period of …
I’ve been a big fan of Scott Turow since I read Presumed Innocent back in in the 1980s when I was working in a public library. His stories are generally set in “Kindle County,” and familiar characters recur throughout the books. This time, the PI is Picky, granddaughter of renowned attorney Sandy Stern. Pinky spent …
I am a big fan of “unputdownable psychological thrillers,” and a huge fan of B.A. Paris’s Behind Closed Doors (2016), Bring Me Back (2018), The Dilemma (2020), and last year’s The Therapist, I was happy to receive a copy of The Prisoner from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in return for my honest review. …
Last year, I had the joy of discovering a new favorite author…As an avid mystery fan, I’m not sure why I had never read anything by Ann Cleeves, author of the Shetland and Vera series (neither of which I ever got into). But then I received a review copy of her 2021 book The Heron’s …
As I have stated before, I have been a diehard fan of Robert Crais/Elvis Cole/Joe Pike for over THIRTY YEARS. Seriously, when The Monkey’s Raincoat was published in 1987, I was working in a public library, grabbed it as soon as it came in, and was HOOKED. Since then, this has been one of the …
Thanks to Celadon Books and NetGalley, I received a copy of the Chapter Summary of Bad City, by Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Paul Pringle. Subtitled “Peril And Power In The City of Angels,” this nonfiction true crime thriller is a stunning expose of corruption in both city governments and academic institutions, featuring …