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 …
You might like Glen Erik Hamilton’s Van Shaw series. Van was raised as a thief, but got out of that life once upon a time and went into the military. Now he’s out, and he’s got old family history to settle. The first book, Past Crimes, starts fast and runs faster. Plus it’s set 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 …
If you’ve ever wondered how to commit the perfect murder, this book will give you some clues. Much delightful mayhem occurs in these five short chapters, where we come to know the seemingly mild-mannered Maud, an elderly retiree in Göteborg, Sweden. Maud leads a rather comfortable but pedestrian life of solitude, which she will protect at …
Andrew Shaffer is responsible for Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery. That’s right: Joe Biden and Barack Obama as a crime-fighting duo. Obama graciously inhabits the Sherlock Holmes role in this crisp and chatty crime caper, while Biden shows Watson a thing or two about how the sidekick should steal the show. Sure, it’s all …
A woman crosses a London street, walks into a funeral parlor and plans her own service. Six hours later she is strangled to death in her home. Did she know she was going to die? Did she plan her own murder? Was it suicide? Was it merely fate? Bad luck? Horowitz (Magpie Murders, PBS’s Midsomer Murders) has written himself as narrator into his latest …
Sometimes when I look back over the past few books I’ve read, I notice a common thread running through them. Might be a particular time period or historical event, a theme whether big or small, or frequently, a locale. And that’s why one corner of The Front Table is currently draped in the green, white …
Non-fiction for the cold, hard facts, fiction for flights of fancy. One grounds you while the other sets you spinning. Most of the time, maybe, but my experience this week perfectly inverts that paradigm. I’ve been reading a brand-new book from Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris, who is best known as the filmmaker behind such projects …
Throughout my career as a bookseller, one of my favorite duties was selecting the books to be displayed on the bookstore’s Front Table. Usually just inside the front door, a stack on that table was the best way to tell fellow readers “pick this one next.” Now that I’m retired, I no longer have such …
Seattle Mystery Bookshop closed at the end of September 2017, but it lives on in the hearts and memories of many fans. On April 1, former customers were delighted to find an update to the store’s blog– a fresh edition of the Newzine. (Really– it’s not an April Fool’s joke.) We are all still reading, …
