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Reading adventures, Pt. 1: Stories familiar and novel in Madrid
When I was little, summer meant one thing: travel. Whether we were packing our car for a road trip through the Appalachian Mountains or buckling in for a long-haul flight to Kolkata, my family was lucky enough to spend our summers adventuring. And that meant I got to take my reading to the most wonderful…
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Through a glass, darkly in Catchpenny by Charlie Huston
LA has an – interesting – reputation. It’s the City of the Stars, but also all the machinations required to keep those dreams going. Wannabe actors (and now influencers) flock there, hoping for a Big Break, but the break can only come for so many. But what happens to those who get left behind? In…
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Time trials in The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
Time-travel is a tricky subject, both to read and to write about. When done well, time-travel stories can be suspenseful and thrilling. Hermione’s Time-Turner adventures, even with their flaws, taught me how much character writing can impact a time-travel plot. More recently, The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle set up an unputdownable Golden Age…
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Atmospheric puzzling in The Last Murder at the End of the World
Mysteries are like comfort food for me – familiar, soothing, a pattern that never fails to please. Like with the best comfort food, even slight tweaks on the typical formula can keep the recipes fresh. But every once in a while, you find a recipe writer that does such unexpected, creative things that they force…
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Prophecies, puzzles, and legacy hijinks in How to Solve Your Own Murder
As a mystery fan, I constantly find myself wishing for books with both a human element and a really tricky puzzle. Modern mysteries frequently seem to focus on one or the other. Cozies love human connection, but their puzzles are often predictable, especially reading at a meta-level. And modern stories that focus on the crime…
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Autism, awareness, and The Framed Women of Ardemore House
It’s Autism Awareness month! And that makes it perfect timing for The Framed Women of Ardemore House, a recent mystery featuring an autistic protagonist. I picked this up almost as an afterthought – an English country house murder, with some historical elements. Before we get into it, though, an apology for all of you. I…
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When murder meets music: Gethsemane Brown’s paranormal Irish adventures
It’s a bit of a leap from the past to the present in mystery novels, but this next entry should help bridge the gap. Alexia Gordon’s Gethsemane Brown Mysteries have been popping up on my radar for a while, but I’ve been reluctant to engage. The series follows Gethsemane Brown, a violinist who finds herself…
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Murder aboard! Drama and race in Miss Aldridge Regrets
Black Mystery Month continues, and this time we’re keeping things cozy – and going back in time. I’ve mentioned my love of train mysteries in the past, and that magic extends to boat settings. So as I was researching reads for this month’s posts, I was delighted to come across Miss Aldridge Regrets, a 1930s…
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Abby Collette’s cozy, culinary delights
I’ll start Black Mystery Month off with some of my favorite cozy mysteries, period. There’s so much to love in Abby Collette’s Ice Cream Parlor and Books & Biscuits mysteries. These are the books I turn to when I want peak cozy mystery – mostly shenanigans, with a heap of family interactions. Reading these got…
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Tales from the Wild: Tricksters, justice, and the Floridian Way in Gator Country
I think I’ve mentioned that I grew up in Florida. You might not expect a young reader to care particularly about the Floridian environment. But the Sunshine State is home to an extensive literature full of love for Florida, its wilderness, and its people. I bit my teeth on Carl Hiaasen’s Hoot and Flush, loved…