-
Nemesis, Part 2: A mess of Marple mistakes
I’m so sorry I’ve been so late to post – the holiday season got a bit away from me… But I am determined to get through this series this year – so expect some catch-up posts! As we get towards the end of our review of Miss Marple adaptations, I feel comfortable listing some of…
-
Nemesis, Part 1: Let Justice roll down like waters…
Back to my favorite sleuth in one of her most famous adventures – Nemesis. Nemesis sticks out in the Miss Marple canon for a few reasons: it leans hard into series status, and it involves an interesting and unique collaboration from beyond the grave. Thematically, the story emphasizes Justice and Choice, with character choices and…
-
TCO Reviews: West Heart Kill by Dann McDorman
Mystery stories exist on a spectrum. Some are adventures, masquerading as mysteries: they set up a puzzle that can’t be solved with the textual information. Others are “pure” mysteries – the only puzzle is the plot, with all the focus on figuring out whodunnit. And then a third, rare category adds another set of layers…
-
Murder in the Family: Cara Hunter plays at investigation
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a modern mystery novel must have a recommendation from Janice Hallett to stand any chance of success. OK, so maybe this isn’t strictly true. But Murder in the Family is the second book to cross my path this month with such a recommendation on the cover. And like…
-
TCO Reviews: Dangerous Women by Mark de Castrique
Writing senior protagonists is quite the challenge. Too often we see authors take too little advantage of the uniqueness of the elderly as characters. When written well, these characters are not “just like anyone else”. The best senior characters, in my opinion, have specializations. They know what they’re good at, and they have deep reserves…
-
Keeping the mystery alive in The Last Devil to Die
I know I’m not alone in my love for the Thursday Murder Club series. Ever since I read the first book, I knew that I’d return to this well as many times as Mister Osman let me. But even the best-written series can overstay their welcome, and one of the “danger zones” is entry four.…
-
Grave Expectations: a spooky, cozy sensation
So I have a teeny-tiny confession to make: I’ve been deliberately avoiding one of my reading challenges. Specifically, I owe a paranormal cozy mystery for my Cruisin’ Thru the Cozies Challenge. But I have simply… not read any this year. In large part this is because I already find myself so frustrated by the lack…
-
At Bertram’s Hotel, Pt. 2: a failure of peak TV coziness
I mentioned last week that At Bertram’s Hotel is one of my favorite Miss Marple stories, period. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for either of the adaptations of the book. Neither sufficiently capture that cozy (yet slightly unsettling) feeling of reading about Bertram’s hotel. Instead of unsettling perfection, we get either unsettling claustrophobia or…
-
TCO Reviews: Last Word to the Wise
You can tell that after weeks of reading spy stories and fantasies, I’m in the mood for something cozy. So I’m delighted that the Christie sisters returned for some more bookshop-based sleuthing in Last Word to the Wise. Like any good cozy + Agatha fan, I had a great time with Dead and Gondola, the…
-
A truly cozy mystery at Bertram’s Hotel (Part 1)
At long last, we return to our Marples – and joyfully, one of my very favorites. At Bertram’s Hotel is, in my opinion, one of the peak Miss Marple novels. There’s an element of coziness to it, perhaps because it involves more known characters and setting. Instead of a Caribbean resort or a rich man’s…