A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
There’s 12 days of Christmas, folks. We all have through January 6th to celebrate. So I got my holiday reading in just under the wire. Yay me. Been meaning to return to the Inspector Gamache series after enjoying the first book. The women from my crime fiction class swear to it and I can see why. It’s an engaging mystery series that has the elements of a cozy but is a little more hardened. Three Pines is a charming place and the people all seem […]
The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber
“The scream froze me in my tracks, but the shout that followed propelled me out of my indecision and around the hedge line of the maze…Lady Godwin lay draped across a stone bench, her eyes stared sightlessly into the night sky and her mouth seemed frozen open on a scream.” “Death was not unfamiliar to me. I had seen more than my fair share of corpses in my lifetime…so I hardly relished the appearance of yet another one, and in my sister’s garden no less. […]
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye
I would not be lying if I say that this is the best Sherlock Holmes novel I’ve ever read, and that’s including the actual Sherlock Holmes novels written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I have some thoughts about why this is, none moreso than ACD never seemed to love his characters as much as other people did, and the popularity and lovabilty of the character has maintained, even grown in some circles, in the one hundred years since he first appeared in the pages of […]
On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle
I decided for a change of pace with On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle, the first Coffeehouse mystery. I like coffee, but I really like humorous pun book titles even more. I also LOVE me some cozy mysteries. I’m patiently waiting for the Christmas romances to disappear and the return of Hallmark mystery marathons. They are a balm to the soul whether on screen or the page. I like how the mystery tends to be solved swiftly and how easily I can devour the pages. […]
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley
A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley
Someone on the Cannonball Read book chat asked recently for recommendations for when you just can’t focus due to various life stressors. Having gone through a similar phase myself, I recommended cozy mysteries as the genre I find easy to read when I can’t concentrate on much else. I picked up The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie when I was in Pennsylvania on a family emergency, and I decided to go ahead and read the next couple in the series (#2 The Weed […]
Broken Places by Tracy Clark
The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie
Solos by Kitty Burns Florey
The Lady Upstairs by Halley Sutton
Finishing off the year right with another round of great crime fiction… Broken Places 4 stars A really good debut novel that’s pure Chicago without being annoying. A little predictable towards the end but well-written nonetheless. Also, much love for featuring black Roman Catholicism, which is a different expression than the commonly mass produced (re:white) Roman Catholicism of crime novels and movies. The A.B.C. Murders 4 stars This one was about to highlight why I’m not a big Christie fan, despite usually enjoying her novels. Whereas […]
