Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper
Much like Deepti Kapoor’s Age of Vice, this is an early 2023 novel that came with a ton of hype. Being a big crime fiction fan, I’ve been hearing about this book for months, not just from publishers who make it their job, but from other mystery writers. It was billed as the modern day Chinatown, the new age Los Angeles noir. I knew I’d probably enjoy it but wasn’t sure if it could live up to its lofty billing. It did. Oh my, it did. What […]
Secrets Typed In Blood by Stephen Spotswood
Hello howdy and hey y’all, it’s my first post ever! I love detective stories. I’ve got a brain that enjoys puzzles and being right, so it’s fun on top of fun. But I am also super picky and easily distracted or annoyed by most mysteries. I need a challenge but not something so convoluted it’s unsolvable. I don’t want anything too cozy or too grim, nothing with lots of graphic violence/mutilation/torture but a decent amount of action. I prefer women authors and characters, I like […]
Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
Well, this is a perfect book to review after Blood Sweat and Chrome? Going by the blurb of Blacktop Wasteland, I had been expecting a crime novel. But this is not really the case. What I got instead was a novel that was one part noir and many many parts most intense car changes I have ever seen committed to the written word. Now I may have made some grammatical clunkers there trying to convey the kind of feel you get from Blacktop Wasteland, but […]
The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
Read as part of CBR14 Bingo: snakes. This book has several references to snakes, and also I think one of the characters turned into a snake? It was a wild scene, regardless. It took me two tries to get into this one but ultimately, I’m glad I did. It didn’t match the hype but it’s a good read on its own. Essentially, there are two books here: the first 20% that’s a compelling novel and the rest which is the magical mystery tour through the throes of […]
An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy
Whew this is rough. I got hyped for this book just by reading the blurb. A literary mystery in mid-aughts NYC? Rock on, brother. And then I read interviews by Dwyer Murphy and got even more pumped. His favorite authors are my favorite authors and his views on crime fiction mine. And THEN some favorite writers such as Walter Mosley and Andrea Baartz blurbed it. Another dropped a Chinatown reference to the plot. So…this rocked right? Yes? Sigh. On some level, I’m sure folks will […]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
After being convicted of libel, Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate the decades-old disappearance of Harriet Vanger, a teenage heiress, with the help of Lisbeth Salander. I read this book a long while ago, but very few things clung in my mind. Certainly not the length, or the amount of time that was devoted to the financial intrigue aspect. Also all the pedantic sandwich making and eating! First, the good. The mystery of Harriet Vanger is a fascinating one and hard to guess the truth […]
