Over the years, while browsing for books to read, the name of Martin Limon kept popping up, but I paid no attention to the recommendations. I now regret those decisions. I attended the Tucson Festival of Books in March 2019, where I had a chance to hear Mr. Limon speak during a session of a mystery writers’ …
This book was recommended to me by a trusted source. The source was right. I was not familiar with the writings of Chris Pavone, but now I am a fan. The Expats is set in Luxembourg, primarily, but takes the reader to Paris, Geneva, New York City and Washington, D.C. The primary “good guys” are …
A trusted source recommended Warburg in Rome to me. The author is James Carroll, who is Catholic. I mention that because I think it is important when reading this story. The setting is primarily the city of Rome just after the WWII Allies liberated that city in 1944. The story also moves to other parts …
You have heard the cliché “Never judge a book by its cover!” Thank goodness I did. I saw the cover at a recent writers conference. It had a couple of icons that I recognized– Big Ben in London, WWII aircraft and a woman dressed as a WWII spy. In the cover copy, I saw the …
Thank you, Frederick Forsyth, for writing The Fox. Thank you G.P. Putnam’s Sons for publishing it. The 21st century has seen the birth of a new type warfare– cyberwarfare. Mr. Forsyth has produced a book whose plot seems to be ripped from major news headlines (not “fake news!”). Among the major characters is Sir Adrian Weston, retired …
I first read a Josephine Tey book in 1962 and it changed my life. I became a huge fan of British history especially in the period from King Arthur to Richard III. I took a tour of the Tower of London castle/prison in August 1962. It was just before I began my junior year in …
I have been a book professional since 1974. In the course of my career, I have met many authors. Some have become friends. Bharti Kirchner is one. I try not to let friendship get in the way of honest reviews. Ms Kirchner has written several books in the fields of cooking and fiction. Season of Sacrifice is the first …
About a year ago, I read The Dragontail Buttonhole, the first book in a trilogy by Peter Curtis, in which he details his family’s flight from Prague after the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. That story read like the best spy fiction of that period of infamy. Peter has followed that story with Cafe Budapest. After an unbelievable trek …
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press for an advanced reading copy of P.T. Deutermann’s newest WWII military thriller, The Iceman. This is the 4th of Mr. Deutermann’s standalone WWII novels I have read. The previous books include Pacific Glory, Ghosts of Bundo Suida, and The Commodore. They all are about different ship’s captains facing primarily Japanese opponents during the …
After nearly 40 years as a book professional, I retired in 2011 and began traveling for pleasure. Many of the trips my wife and I have taken have a close relationship to books I have read. In 2011 we traveled to Carcassonne in southwestern France. I had read several books in which that part of …
