O, my temptress. How can I, a mere mortal, resist your golden light? Your entrancing perfume? I pull you closer. My lips part in sweet anticipation … Putting down my pint glass, I laugh. Here we go again– this strange split personality of mine. Half novelist, half beer blogger and columnist. Home for me is …
Just for fun, let’s find a picnic table in the park in one of our large cities – maybe London. Fill a coffee thermos with a load of Arthurian legend, toss in a dragon (it’s okay – it’s a big container) and bring in some immortal knights for good measure– maybe a damsel in distress– …
Fall into the vortex of this novel and be whisked along by Marshall’s flowing and poetic prose. Venture past lies and fractured lives, along forgotten trails of a blood-stained woodland, and arrive at the center of it all– a secret concealed by the forest and protected by three young girls. A secret which, once unearthed, …
What do you get when you have donuts, an alien cult, and a writer’s missing ex-wife? A Joe R. Lansdale novel! Let the entertaining banter carry you through the revelations that our writer uncovers in the search for his missing ex-wife and her husband in connection with a local cult. –Abbie, Trail’s End Bookstore, Winthrop, …
Author Brendan Slocumb incorporates some of his personal experiences as a classical musician and POC in this fictional novel of black history set against the classical symphonic industry. Protagonist Ray is an African American violinist who discovers his instrument is a rare Stradivarius that has been passed down to through his family. After it is …
This was fast-moving, intense, and delightfully dark and spooky. Longlisted for the National Book Award and for good reason! I picked it up because it’s rare for a thriller to make the list and I was curious– it didn’t disappoint. –Becky, Secret Garden Bookshop, Seattle, WA Pursue your curiosity at Secret Garden Bookshop and other …
Pedro Hoffmeister’s disaster thriller American Afterlife and Meredith Hambrock’s dark humored crime novel Other People’s Secrets were both released by Crooked Lane Books in recent months. The publishing house mates connected to talk about writing, process, and what’s next. PH: First, let’s each answer a few of the same rapid-fire questions. Then we’ll go deeper. …
This story takes “never meet your heroes” to a whole new level. I loved the use of tension in the book, and how the author played with supernatural elements while still keeping the story grounded in reality. Twisty, dark, and even fun! — Ann Branson, Beach Books, Seaside, OR Break out of any reading slump …
Here is Oliva Matthews’s Against the Currant, a Spice Island Bakery Mystery. It’s got a West Indian bakery, an earnest baker who has everything she’s ever wanted, and a disgruntled rival who seems likely end up in some sort of romantic entanglement—except he turns up dead before any smooching can happen. Well, that’s awkward. We …
Now this is a crowd-pleaser. A novel set in contemporary India featuring political corruption, intricate family dynamics, and crimes violent and clandestine, it’s highly literate yet built for speed—it might best be considered as a Godfather for the 21st century. It’s won praise from both Booker Prize-winners such as Marlon James and blockbuster thriller writers including …
