Mystery Archive |
A Dangerous Place - GUEST BUTLER NORA LEVINE owns the literary mystery/thriller corner of this site. That’s my good fortune --- I can’t read everything --- and yours too. Nora introduced us --- well,
Agatha Raisin and The Quiche of Death - AGATHA RAISIN RIP: Marion Chesney, who wrote as M.C. Beaton, died recently, at 83. According to the New York Times obituary, she wrote 150 novels and had no plan to
Death at Breakfast - I met Beth Gutcheon ages and ages ago, in a college tutorial. I had never been terrified in school before. I was now --- of Beth. She had read everything
Everything You Need to Know About Tana French - A writer has a book coming out in two months. When was the last time the Times did a feature about the writer that promotes her previous books –-- all
I’m Thinking of Ending Things - You may not want to read “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” but you will. With a pounding heart. And flying fingers --- I read all 210 pages in two
James M. Cain: ‘The Postman Always Rings Twice’ and ‘Double Indemnity’ - SUPPORTING BUTLER: Since the start of 2023, Amazon seems to have gone on a quiet campaign to rid itself of small sites that, collectively, generate revenue worth noticing — and
July 4, 2016: Stay safe. Read a book. - This is so obvious it shouldn’t need to be said, but real patriotism is the exact opposite of what those fools --- mostly male --- mean when they chant “USA!
Maisie Dobbs - GUEST BUTLER NORA LEVINE: The e-mail was direct: “Have you met Maisie Dobbs, created by Jacqueline Winspear? She's an impressive character.” I had not. I replied with a question about Maisie. Two mails later,
Nerve Damage - “Sometimes the dead live on in your dreams.” A nice start to the first suspense novel I've opened in years. I pressed on. It turns out that Roy
Raymond Chandler: The Big Sleep - It was about eleven o’clock in the morning, mid October, with the sun not shining and a look of hard wet rain in the clearness of the foothills. I was
Tana French: In the Woods - Guest Butler Nora Levine introduced herself by asking if I knew the mystery novels of Jacqueline Winspear. I did not, so she produced an astonishingly good piece about Winspear and
Tana French: The Secret Place - Guest Butler Nora Levine is our Tana French expert; she last reviewed French’s “In the Woods.” In her other life, Levine, a former law librarian, unravels the mysteries of her
Tana French: The Trespasser - GUEST BUTLER NORA LEVINE owns the literary mystery/thriller corner of this site. That’s my good fortune — I can’t read everything — and yours too. Nora introduced us — well,
The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, M.D. - The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint from the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. burst onto the bestseller list in 1974. More “reprints” followed. Then Nicholas Meyer, the "editor" of
The Affliction - When we last saw Maggie Detweiler and her old friend Hope Babbin, the recently retired private school head and the socialite were investigating a murder at the Oquossoc Mountain Inn
The Glass Key - "The Glass Key," published in 1930, was Dashiell Hammett's favorite book --- quite a statement when you consider that he also wrote "The Thin Man" and "The Maltese Falcon." “The clues
The Killer Inside Me - The first time I read this book, I wasn’t right for days. This is not an uncommon experience. The killer is Lou Ford, deputy sheriff of Central City, Texas (population: 48,000). He's
The Moving Toyshop - Having come late to mysteries, I thought to read some classics. So I found an old Penguin edition of Edmund Crispin’s “The Moving Toyshop,” which P.D. James called one of the
The Silver Bear - There is no love in The Silver Bear. Not one little bit. The desire for love, the hunger for love? Oh, this short novel has plenty of that. There's
The Woman in Cabin 10 - GUEST BUTLER NORA LEVINE owns the literary mystery/thriller corner of this site. That’s my good fortune — I can’t read everything — and yours too. Nora introduced us — well,
