I am a sucker for historical fiction based on fact, particularly if it involves World War II. Add to that mix, people who make their living dealing with books, such as booksellers and librarians and I will jump on the book. Alan Hlad has written just such a book. The title is The Book Spy. It …
No matter how you look at it, The Holocaust was, and remains, a stain on human existence. Many authors have tried, via fiction and nonfiction, to portray what Jews, and others considered as “non-human” by the Nazis, went through while that evil was in control of Germany. None more eloquently than Lucy Adlington in her …
I read a book by Michelle Gable entitled The Bookseller’s Secret. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to try A Paris Apartment by the same author. It is one of the author’s earlier works. Like my first Gable book, this is based on fact but is a novel. The apartment existed. Marthe de Florian existed. …
In Sept. 2011, I first discovered Mary Lou Longworth and her first mystery (Murder at the Chateau Bremont) set in Aix-en-Provence. I waited, impatiently at times, for her follow up books. It is worth the wait. [The second in the series is Murder in the Rue Dumas. The ninth book was published in 2021.] Professor …
In the last ten months, I have devoured four books by [Bremerton, WA] author Gary McAvoy. His series is called The Magdalen Chronicles. Book 4 is entitled The Vivaldi Cipher that includes a cameo appearance by composer Antonio Vivaldi. [Here is the link for Book 1: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781954123021 ] The story opens, briefly, in The Vatican …
When I attended college in the early 1960s, I majored in history and minored in art history/appreciation (no drawing classes). When I saw a mention of An Exquisite Corpse by art historian Helen A. Harrison, I was hoping I would like it. In a word, it was awesome. The story takes place in New York …
I cannot believe that it has been five years since I read a Steven Berry novel. “So many books, so little time” is the quote of the day. The Malta Exchange is the book I just finished reading. As in most of Mr. Berry’s stories, there is an element of real history. In this case, …
I have been reading books since the early 1950s and reviewing/posting the reviews for the past decade. I do not know how I missed Blake Pierce for all of those years. I have just read book one in the European Voyage Cozy Mystery series entitled Murder (and Baklava). It has two components that I am …
M. K. Wiseman is the author of the new mystery entitled Sherlock Holmes and the Ripper of Whitechapel. As you might be able to guess, this story involves Holmes and Watson in the greatest unsolved true serial killing spree in British, if not world, history. It is the story of “Jack the Ripper” who terrorized …
Jon Reznick is former Special Forces, CIA “black ops,” and current FBI. consultant. Sometimes his ops are “on the books;” other times he operates outside formal control. He lives in Rockland, Maine. He operates worldwide. He usually is a loner but he has resources. Among his resources in this story are Martha Meyerstein, Assistant Director …
