Queen Elizabeth sends clothier and constable Matthew Stock, along with his wife Joan, to investigate the mysterious drowning of a knight a year earlier. Joan gets “feelings” from an old chest that the knight was indeed murdered. Meanwhile, a resentful neighbor, surly manservant, deceptive cook, and cheerful stableman all have their own agendas, and the Stocks may join the list of victims.
I accidentally read this book before the earlier books in the series. I gave up shortly after realizing this was a so-called “paranormal” mystery, which I don’t like – just another variation of the deus ex machina on which inferior authors rely.
Timing: Follows the Mage Storms trilogy Apprentice mage Darian would rather live in the forest than be constantly told how grateful he should be to the village. But when an army wipes out his village and he is rescued by a Hawkbrother, his guilt over abandoning his teacher mars his opportunity to learn woodcraft and magic. Only when his unique combination of abilities makes rescue possible is he able to accept himself.
Fast-moving, involving storyline featuring both humans and nonhumans. There is a simplistic and unbelievable ending, unfortunately, but Lackey’s endings are typically the weakest part of her stories. Just don’t let them ruin your enjoyment of the rest of the book.
Police detective Carmine Delmonico must track down a serial murderer of several young girls after a torso is found in an animal disposal unit.
Grisly police procedural. I didn’t get very far into it before giving up.
Emperor Justinian assigns Lord Chamberlain John to investigate when a Court officer is found stabbed in an alley. But after a prostitute is killed and John’s old love Cornelia is threatened, the Emperor believes a dead soothsayer is the one responsible and pulls John back to his usual duties.
Well-written and involving, although a touch too much of modern attitudes. Also an exceedingly grisly account of how John became John the Eunuch, and the title didn't have much relevance to the story.
Tarma and Kethry investigate when the captain of their mercenary troop fails to return from a trip to Rethwellan and end up organizing a coup.
More of a traditional novel than most of her Tarma & Kethry series, but still a good strong story, introducing a love interest for Kethry.
Princess Andromeda is tired of being treated as a child. But showing her research abilities to the Queen and her adviser makes the princess a threat, especially when she brings the people’s problems to the Queen. So Andie is chosen as a “sacrifice” to a rampaging dragon … but she and the Champion sent to fight the dragon face a surprise.
This has turned into an utterly charming series. Lackey cleaves to the letter of the classic fairy tales but turns the spirit sideways, producing a lot of natural humor, such as unicorns that become a besotted nuisance when confronted with a virgin girl. Not a very fast read but definitely enjoyable.
Token NYPD female police detective Sigrid Harald investigates the poisoning of a self-important art professor.
Sigrid is not a sympathetic character, having locked away her emotions in order to progress in the PD but somehow unable to resist the advances of a macho-man suspect. And the resolution smacked of “gee I couldn’t figure this out logically so what else can I do?” oversimplification. But the characters seemed real and the plot did keep me reading so I guess I’ll try the next in the series.
Aging hunt master “Sister” Jane Arnold reluctantly decides to take a joint-master to ensure a smooth transition when she dies. But the two main candidates each have good and bad points and she considers adding both of them.
This could have been a good mystery, with an engaging setting and well-developed characters without too much flashback. But Brown desperately anthromorphizes every animal in the book. A fox family having a philosophical discussion of how hunting has changed and a group of puppies apologizing for not following the right fox was just too stupid for me to tolerate.
Utterly confusing book in which I never found a plot. Two narrators: one droned on about how important the Movement is and grieved that his girlfriend left him, while Guy Silvestri narrated the police part of the murder investigation when HE wasn’t distracted into personal life. I didn’t get far into it.
Notre Dame invites obese author Roger Knight to teach, who brings along his investigator brother Phil. When a college trustee is found dead the morning after having dinner with Phil, the brothers help a local policeman investigate.
Roger and Phil are unusual PI characters. Roger hasn’t used his doctorate to teach, but wrote a book about an obscure American Catholic and works with Phil as a PI. Phil is athletic, while the book repeatedly brings up Roger’s excess weight and even stuck him in a doorway at one point. They are happy bachelors, cooking for themselves. The book itself is a fast read, with emphasis on plot and very little character development. I’m not convinced the reader is given all the pieces to identify the murderer, though. Certainly there is ample reason to look elsewhere than the obvious choices, but no reason to pick one person rather than another. It also doesn’t matter if you’re not a football or Notre Dame fan, I just skipped a page here and there without losing the story.
Collection of short stories, mostly set in a town called Carstairs, in Canada.
As always, Munro’s stories are more than a bit odd. One casually brings back a character who died earlier in the story, but not apparently as a ghost; another skips back and forth between a discussion about writing a story, and the story itself. Her characters are real, but none of the stories seemed to have a point, which eventually killed my interest.
Shortly after Bailey starts a contract with a celebrity gossip magazine, someone kills the abusive editor. As she investigates, she finds a new friend and a new boyfriend – or does she?
Well-plotted and fast-moving. Even though the clues were all there, I was completely wrong about whodunit, which is always a sign of a good story.
Janner and his siblings Tink and crippled Leeli are going to be sent via Black Carriage to Gnag the Nameless.
This story was an odd combination of funny names and scary things happening to children, which I simply cannot tolerate. (Blame my mothering genes.) It was interesting enough up to the point that I quit because the children were in danger, but the discord bothered me anyway.
Humorous imaginary epitaths for people in various professions.
This seems to have been written for children, although I doubt young children would be able to understand some of the references. Vaguely reminiscent of Spoon River Anthology but without the bite, and the 22 poems vary in quality. The best was “Food Critic,” a satire of Dorothy Parker’s famous “Resume” and quite funny. It’s short enough that it’s worth the few minutes to read it if you can borrow it, but I don’t consider it worth spending money on.
Complicated but enjoyable mystery featuring Middle Eastern terrorists meeting common Los Angeles archetypes. I’m not sure why I like this series; maybe it’s because the hero doesn’t take himself too seriously. I don't like Westlake's supposedly humourous mysteries at all, but I'm hunting for the rest of this series.
I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like this series. I was right. Bounty hunters aren’t real high on my list of likeable people, but it sounded mildly intriguing. Turns out the heroine only became a bounty hunter because she was laid off from her job as a discount underwear buyer, knows nothing about bounty hunting to start with, and is a dip to boot.
No more of this series for me. Even though it's set in my beloved Wyoming, it's more of a political thriller than a murder mystery, and when children are put in danger, it stops being enjoyable. From what I can tell, the author did a good job combining the thriller and mystery lines, but it was just too scary for me.
Sam has gone off to find himself and Melanie's ex-husband Bob reappears in this story, but the main question is whether Sara Bentley is a murderess or a victim. I was three-quarters of the way through the book before I figured out whodunit, and I was wrong (although I was right about the why). No relying on the dogs NOT doing something in this story, Berenson is back playing fair with the reader.
Talk about your guilty pleasures. This book should come with suggested penances. McNamara, an L.A. Times reporter, shows she really knows the L.A. routine. Written from the viewpoint of a hotel P.R. director, it weaves the story of famous people living famous lives in between occasional deaths that may or may not be murder. I couldn't put it down, and it's long time since I've said that.
Very strange and not very interesting story of two children from dysfunctional families whose lives intersect as adults when one is living with a gifted musician who is also a suspected terrorist. No likeable characters and a rather disjointed plot. I struggled to get halfway through and then skipped to the last 30 pages, so I guess I was interested enough to find out what happened, but not interested enough to keep slogging through.
I wasn't impressed with the idea of this book. It presents Oscar Wilde out-Holmesing Sherlock or his author, Arthur Conan Doyle, on the trail of the killer of a young male prostitute. Tying such an alleged ability onto a real person seems disrespectful and belittling to his very real abilities and problems. And the story isn't involving enough to make up for the way-out fictionalizing of Wilde. I made it halfway through before I gave up, as the story clearly wasn't improving.
I've never made a secret of the fact that I need some likeable characters in order to enjoy a book (or movie). This book failed that test. Olivia grated on me like fingernails on a chalkboard. When her "overactive imagination" suspects that a dark-skinned man is a terrorist and she winds up needing the CIA's help -- I just couldn't care. Of course I didn't finish the book.
I have to admit I did not see the ending coming, and I'm not sure all the information to figure it out was given to the reader. But there were two major problems. First, Charlotte's compulsive organizing doesn't make her very interesting as a heroine, and the constant references to her compulsive behavior became more and more irritating. Second, a major plot point is that the police detective investigating the murder, Pepper, is an ex-friend of Charlotte's, with a personal grudge as motive to convict Charlotte of the murder. All it would take would be one phone call to the police chief and ex-friend would be totally off the case and lucky to escape a reprimand. Even if Charlotte didn't know that, her lawyer would. So every twist that depended on Pepper's determination to prove Charlotte guilty became totally unbelievable. I don't know if I'll bother with anything else by this author.