High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news.
Much like this reviewer, NYSPD Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas is not a fan of Christmas or the season itself. Too many people, too many massive crowds, too much chaos. It is the final weeks of 2058 and now she is very annoyed to discover she is supposed to select gifts for other people, including her […]
It is 2058 as Vengeance in Death begins and Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas is wrapping up her latest case in New York. She thinks she is done for the day and is looking forward to going home to Roarke and a weekend off. That is until the strange phone call comes in on her tele-link. […]
Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue 2, Fall 2021, opens with “At Fury Crossing” by Brent Spencer. Hella, a homeless vet, put her military skills to work to help Cliff. It was a job and nothing more. Now as she watches him get increasingly agitated outside the hotel known as “The Smiling Orchid,” she realizes she […]
Robert B. Parker’s Stone’s Throw: A Jesse Stone Novel by Mike Lupica finds Jesse Stone missing drinking as well as Sunny Randall. They are in a relationship time out and she is out in Los Angeles working a case. That means she is far from home and working for an old boyfriend, Tony Gault. He […]
Mystery Weekly Magazine: September 2020 opens with “Cult of Personality” by Nick Legrand. John Fielding has a job interview with Mr. Roger Martin Mathis of the billboards and the giant smiling face with tag line, “WE’LL GET HIM FOR YOU!” A lot is riding on this interview and Mr. Fielding is feeling the stress from […]
A Good Day For Chardonnay: A Novel by Darynda Jones is the second read in the series that began in A Bad Day For Sunshine. It was in that book that readers were introduced to the quirky town of Del Sol, the newly elected sheriff Sunshine Vicram, and her family. While some things were resolved […]
It has been fifteen years since Ike Randolph walked out of Coldwater State Penitentiary. He changed his life and built a business. He has a good life now, but he is still a black man in America with all that entails. Cops on the doorstep does not bode well. Their arrival means that his world […]
It is the middle of September 2019 as The Night Hawks: A Ruth Galloway Mystery by Elly Griffiths begins and locals are on a spit of land jutting out into the North Sea. It is dangerous to be out on the spit of land as the tide is coming in, but the group is out […]
A murder has happened again in the same areas as others as The Silenced Woman: A Violent Crime Investigations Team Mystery by Frederick Weisel begins. For Violent Crime Investigations (VCI) leader Eddie Mahler, the body on the bench in Spring Lake Park, Santa Rosa, California, is clearly yet another kill by a man he has […]
It is early September 2019 as Jordan’s Branch: A Willie Black Novel by Howard Owen begins. Reporter Willie Black knew that Stick Davis has been dead for quite a while when he sees the body. More than half a dozen times somebody shot the man. Once someone had thoroughly through ventilated Stick David, he or […]
DUKE: Inspector Mislan and The Expressway Murders by Rozlan Mohd Noor is the second in the series that began with 21 Immortals: Inspector Mislan and the Yee Sang Murders. This book is also set during a holiday. In this case, it is about to be the Eid or the Hari Raya holiday at the end […]
Mick Hardin, an agent in the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID), is back home in the Kentucky hills as The Killing Hills by Chris Offutt begins. Home on leave with a family problem that is not going to get fixed by drinking himself to sleep each night, he is at his grandfather’s place. That makes […]
Black Cat Mystery Magazine #9 opens with a brief word from Editor Michael Bracken and then moves on to the stories. First up is Stacy Woodson with “Last Rites” where Colonel Wilson and a few of his unit were lucky enough to survive an ambush. Several were killed. The survivors have suffered significant physical and […]
Painters Mill, Ohio, Police Chief Kate Burkholder has responded to a lot of crime scenes. The one at room 9 of the Willlowdell Motel as Fallen: A Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo begins is one of the worst she has ever seen in her career. From the carnage, it is clear that the woman […]
Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch had a plan for the day as Dead By Dawn: A Novel by Paul Doiron begins. The plan is a vet visit for Shadow. The hybrid wolf/dog needs a vet visit as he continues to recover from recent events. Bowditch may also have to relocate Shadow from the acre […]
Dead of Winter: A Novel by Stephen Mack Jones reflects the way things are changing in local neighborhoods all across the United States. Places that were ignored for years and residents were left to fend for themselves are now the cool place to be and rehabbers and others are snapping up properties. Some homes are […]
Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue 1, Summer 2021, opens with “Midnight At The Oasis” by Robb T. White. His uncle, Rexford Allan Roisch, likes to call himself, “the Notorious Double-R.” He also has mood swings, a prison rap sheet, and a plan. The plan tonight is for Uncle and nephew to grab stuff from a […]
Mickey Finn Vol. 1: 21st Century Noir, edited by Michael Bracken, is a dark read as one would expect. After all, as the title makes abundantly clear, this is an anthology of noir style short stories so one does not expect sweetness and light with sunshine and flowers with flying unicorns and rainbow kisses. That […]
A Good Kill by John McMahon marks the return of Detective P. T. Marsh first seen in The Good Detective and The Evil Men Do. Both books made my favorite of the year list. This is a series that must be read in order. This is especially true for A Good Kill as this read […]
Darkest Corners of Texas: An Al Quinn Novel opens with Al Quinn working on his boat at Lake Travis. He would rather be on the water fishing, but the bilge pump had other ideas. Fergie is at the boat with him and is the first to spot the boat coming at high-speed right to their […]
As The Drummers: A Josie Gray Mystery by Tricia Fields begins, it is January in Artemis, Texas, and cold with overcast skies. The cold snap is not something Police Chief Josie Gray or any of the other locals want as they prefer the sunshine and warmth the rugged and of southwest Texas near the Big […]
Moonlight & Misadventure: 20 Stories of Mystery and Suspense opens with a powerful tale by Joseph S. Walker titled “Crown Jewel.” Keenan Beech has brother issues. Specifically, twin brother issues. Xavier has now taken something that rightfully belonged only to Keenan. Xavier knew how to stick the knife in–figuratively– and Keenan intends to restore balance […]
The Caretaker: A Short Story by Paul Doiron begins with Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch sitting on the porch with retired Game Warden and good friend, Charley Stevens. The quiet calm of Sixth Machias Lake is broken by Violet and Josiah Baker driving a brand new and now very dusty, Tesla. Sent by the local […]
It is five months after it happened when Lucas Davenport is finally brought into a case. The FBI got nowhere, as did the DEA and just about every other law enforcement agency, and a certain U.S. Senator has been made aware of Lucas’s special skill set. He solves cases. Especially ones those other folks have […]
Death Stalks Door County: A Dave Cubiak Door County Mystery by Patricia Skalka is the first book in a multi book series. Published in 2004, author takes readers to the peninsula that juts out between Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Dave Cubiak is a man living with incredible grief. His wife and daughter were […]
Mystery Weekly Magazine: August 2020 opens with “Lucid” by Bill Kelly. Lucy Pritchard, a twenty-eight-year-old grad student, has a plan to help Alzheimer’s patients. She wants to bring up older, lingering memories in the hopes of helping the elderly and those in their lives communicate better. Ted, the 45-year-old director of the Westwood Senior Center, […]
Five previously published short stories make up A Simple Murder: A Kate Burkholder Short Story Collection by Linda Castillo. Published in 2013 to 2019, each short story was released at that time as a marketing effort to draw attention to the new book that would soon follow. Such is the case here as there is […]
It is the first week of December as Missing and Endangered: A Brady Novel of Suspense by J.A. Jance begins. Things are fairly routine as the paperwork keeps coming. Jenny is making plans to be home as soon as finals are over. Butch is out of town on a book tour. As always, Sheriff Brady […]
It was not a job that Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett wanted, but the Governor made it clear he had no choice. At fifty-one and doing a job for the most part he loves, he is very well aware that politics controls his career and his department. If he did not already know, a recent […]
It has been a few months since Naked in Death and Lieutenant Eve Dallas is on the scene of another murder as Glory in Death. The year is 2058 and murder still happens in New York city despite genetic testing and catching those who might have hereditary traits predisposing them to violence. Guns are banned, […]
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