When a Sister Service paper pusher and a true believer in the EU discovers the conspiracy and is busted trying to give it to the Germans, Ned’s boss says: Point about Trump is, he’s a gang boss, born and bred. Brought up to screw civil society all ways up, not be part of it… And…
Read more And poor little Vladi Putin never had any democratic potty training at all.
…the entire book is worth reading for Chapter xxvi, “The Chorus Line: The Trial of Odysseus, as Videotaped by the Maids.” Judge: What’s going on? Order! Order! This is a twenty-first-century court of justice! You there, get down from the ceiling! Stop that barking and hissing! Madam, cover up your chest and put down your…
Excerpt… “The Mistletoe Murder” has a great “Aha!” at the end, “A Very Commonplace Murder” is not commonplace and not a single murder and will leave you with a creep of horror across your skin, “The Boxdale Inheritance” is a perfectly lovely little piece of bait-and-switch with the only sympathetic portrayal of a blackmailer I…
Read more The only sympathetic portrayal of a blackmailer I have ever read…
Excerpt… There is a perfectly delightful Christmas Eve story by Ed McBain set in the 87th Precinct, a Jane Marple story by Agatha Christie with Jane at her self-condemnatory best, and not one but two, count ’em, two stories by Ellis Peters. One features Brother Cadfael and the other begins with one of the best…
Read more A perfectly delightful Christmas Eve story by Ed McBain set in the 87th Precinct…
Excerpt… There is a perfectly delightful Christmas Eve story by Ed McBain set in the 87th Precinct, a Jane Marple story by Agatha Christie with Jane at her self-condemnatory best, and not one but two, count ’em, two stories by Ellis Peters. One features Brother Cadfael and the other begins with one of the best…
Read more A perfectly delightful Christmas Eve story by Ed McBain
Excerpt… But it’s really about the stories in the collection, right? In this case the packaging lives up to the content. Legit cave, the noir is seriously noir here and you’ll know what you’re in for from the very first story, Helene Tursten’s “An Elderly Lady Seeks Peace at Christmas,” which satisfies the wish fulfillment…
Excerpt… A fully realized fantasy world, with some of the best ensemble characters imaginable; for example Orro, a gigantic hedgehog and Dina’s very own Red Cleaver chef. There aren’t enough stars in Michelin to assign Gertrude Hunt Inn with Orro in the kitchen. –from my review of Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper Chronicles No Stars includes over…
Read more …Orro, a gigantic hedgehog and Dina’s very own Red Cleaver chef.
You have spoken! Here’s the vote on the cover art for No Stars, the collection of all the book reviews from Book Review Monday on my website. Cover #2 — the winnah! — is ready for its closeup, right here: That’s my reading chair with a stack of books piled next to it, all of…
