Publication Date April 8, 2025 Much to my husband’s puzzlement, I am a big fan of true crime. I listen to podcasts, watch TV shows like Dateline and 48 hours, and read true crime books (another great thing about reading on a device rather than a printed book: you don’t have to cover up odd …
Publication Date January 14, 2024 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 …
Publication Date January 14, 2025 When I reviewed James Grippando’s Twenty (in 2020), I noted that I couldn’t recall reading any of James Grippando’s books. And when reading about that title, Jack Swyteck wasn’t a guy I felt like I knew (despite that one being #17 in Grippando’s Jack Swyteck series). Jack Swyteck, the protagonist …
Publication Date January 7, 2025 I first read Alafair Burke because she is James Lee Burke’s daughter, and my husband LOVES JLB’s books. I was happy to receive a copy of The Note, thanks to Knopf and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.Described in the blurb as an “irresistible page-turner” that would make a …
Publication Date November 26, 2024 I’ve been a fan of Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series since…forever. I know it was in the 1980s that he came to do a reading at a bookstore (Capitola BookCafe) in my hometown, and I was taken aback when he went on and on about the Boston Celtics…but he was …
Publication Date October 15, 2024 Last year, when I reviewed Michael Connelly’s Resurrection Walk (“Highly recommended. Five stars!”), I wrote “I’m generally a big Michael Connelly fan, with the newer series featuring Renee Ballard (sometimes partnered with Harry Bosch) probably being my favorite.” BTW, if you haven’t read The Late Show from 2017, which introduced …
Publication Date October 8, 2024 How incredibly appropriate that Randy Rainbow’s new book Low Hanging Fruit came out (so to speak) on my sister’s birthday! She has been a huge fan of his for years – in fact she may be the one who introduced me to him. Whoever it was, I am grateful. This …
Publication Date October 1, 2024 Really? Twenty-five years since The Tipping Point was published? There is something magical to me about readable social science and the impact of social communication. If you read/remember the original and enjoyed it, you will love this follow-up: Revenge of The Tipping Point. I know some academics have issue with …
Publication Date October 1, 2024 Louise Erdrich is an incredibly gifted writer. As usual, this book shows her talent to the world! The Red River is only one of the characters in this story, along a variety of quirky, fascinating people in North Dakota…There is “humor, disturbance, and hallucinatory mourning.” Huh?? The people are complex, …
Publication Date September 17, 2024 Published just seven weeks prior to the Presidential Election of 2024, the stunningly well researched and written Lucky Loser, the sordid tale of “How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success” makes me even more afraid of another term with this con man/grifter in charge. …
I’ve been a huge fan of Elizabeth George’s Lynley-Havers series of mysteries, and frequently marveled at her ability to establish setting and characterization in ways that truly make them REAL to the reader. I received a copy of The Abandonment of Hannah Armstrong, #1 in the Saratoga Woods Series, in exchange for my honest review. …
Publication Date August 20, 2024 I have enjoyed the novels by William Kent Krueger that I have read, so I was happy to receive an advance copy of his latest, Spirit Crossing, from Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Minnesota politicians? A hot topic this election season, and in this one, …
Publication Date September 17, 2024 A few years ago, I read and reviewed Laura Dave’s The Last Thing He Told Me, using words like “fun,” “twisty,” and “surprising.” I noted that I would read other books by her, so I was pleased to receive a copy of her latest, The Night We Lost Him, from …
Publication Date October 29, 2024 I tend to be a fan of multigenerational family sagas, so I was happy to receive a copy of Like Mother, Like Mother, by Susan Rieger from Random House/Dial Press and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. I was especially inclined to like it as it was described as …
Publication Date September 24, 2024 I’m not sure why, among the 1,875 books I have on goodreads, there isn’t a single one by Tami Hoag…especially after repeatedly seeing the huge number of positive reviews for the Broussard and Fourcade series. For sure, reviews don’t guarantee anything, but in any case I thought the combination of …
Publication Date August 20, 2024 NOTE: This review includes information about and from John Glatt’s book Tangled Vines (also about the “Murdaugh mystery”), in addition to Valerie Bauerlein’s The Devil At His Elbow. I admit my guilty pleasure in both reading and podcasts is true crime, so I fell into this topic, along the way …
Publication Date October 2, 2024 Three years ago, reviewing JohnBanville’s “April In Spain,” I wrote “Banville is an outstanding writer, and he is great at developing both setting and character — but you have to be REALLY patient or just one of those readers who likes to savor a well-written story. The ending was a …
A couple of years ago, when I reviewed T. Jefferson Parker’s book A Thousand Steps, I wrote: “When I first read T. Jefferson Parker’s Laguna Heat back in 1985, I had recently moved to Santa Cruz and was ecstatic to be living in a small beach town again — because I grew up in South …
What a fun puzzle, along a nice story about an aspiring writer who wants to get back to his roots (sort of) after his dreams didn’t work out in the big city. He goes back to Puget Sound (great atmospheric detail) in Washington State and before you know it, there is a dead woman hanging …
Subtitle: The Fight Against Book Banning in America Publication Date: August 27, 2024 I’m a retired librarian, one of thousands. And also a STRONG opponent of book banning and censorship, among other current threats to liberty and democracy these days. As a librarian, I dealt with my share of challenges, complaints, etc, but I never …