Category Archives: Mystery
*** Defending Jacob by William Landay
Defending Jacob is a thriller about a teenager who is accused of killing a classmate and his father, who happens to be the district attorney who is handling the case — and who is promptly asked to relinquish it, although … Continue reading
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** The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark
A completely improbable lost manuscript, an even more improbable possibility that a scholar would store a precious manuscript in his house, let alone give it to a colleague for safekeeping, weirdly botched maneuvers with disposable cell phones, and several other … Continue reading
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* Hiss of Death by Rita Mae Brown
The problem with summer is that the pickings are slim at the library. I would like to think that it’s because people have more time to read so there are fewer books to go around, but judging from the sluggish … Continue reading
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** Instruments of Darkness by Imogen Robertson
I have to admit that I stayed up very late (but, reasonably, on a weekend night) to finish Instruments of Darkness, so I can’t stick a one-star rating on it, but it’s a close call. The story is the infinitely … Continue reading
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*** Started Early, Took my Dog by Kate Atkinson
In Started Early, Took My Dog, the author of One Good Turn is at it again, but with a simpler set of plots that quickly come together into the unlikely story of a retired police detective who suddenly decides to … Continue reading
*** I’ll Walk Alone by Mary Higgins Clark
I’ll Walk Alone starts in a Manhattan church where a woman is seeking confession, with a killer close behind. There’s also a kidnapped child, a stolen identity, a vicious business competitor, a variety of small lies that obscure the real … Continue reading
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* I’d Know you Anywhere by Laura Lippman
Alas, one great book does not a series make… In this, much more ambitious book, the author portrays a happy wife and mother who is suddenly contacted by a man who kidnapped and raped her while she was a teenager … Continue reading
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*** The Girl in the Green Raincoat by Laura Lippman
No, The Girl in the Green Raincoat is not a new addition to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series (I wish!) but I thoroughly enjoyed this short mystery with modest ambitions and a stunning (if a little hard to … Continue reading
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* Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
I like Agatha Christie mysteries: the tightly wound intrigue, the local British flavor, the complex protagonists. But Secret Adversary, her venture into the spy novel genre, is a bust. The two detectives could pass for interesting, but the other characters … Continue reading
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** The Pericles Commission by Gary Corby
I guess I’m on an antique history streak… but The Pericles Commission presents itself as a mystery rather than non-fiction. In it, a politician is slain and young Nicolaos, styled as Socrates’ older brother (Socrates being a child) is tapped … Continue reading
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