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Advent of Mystery, Day 8: Murder at the Theatre Royale
We’re continuing the Ada Moncrieff read-through with the nect of her Christmas mysteries, Murder at the Theatre Royale. We’ve moved on from Hugh to a new protagonist (and a surprisingly popular type). Daphne is an agony aunt for a London newspaper who longs for a “real” beat. She talks her way into covering a new…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 7: Murder Most Festive
We are moving away from the dark and shocking side of holiday crime into lighter fare. We’ll start with three days of Ada Moncrieff, a modern writer with a taste for the historical. The first in her holiday mysteries is Murder Most Festive, an homage to the classic Manor House Mystery genre. Murder Most Festive…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 6: Murder on the Christmas Express
On to our final day of Alexandra Benedict’s Christmas mysteries. Murder on the Christmas Express has a classic setup with a holiday twist: murder on a stuck train, nowhere to go, and it’s Christmas Eve. By now we know a little bit of what to expect: a lonely – and clever – protagonist, reluctant to…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 5: The Christmas Murder Game
I first found Alexandra Benedict’s The Christmas Murder Game while trying to find Golden Age stories for this series last year. At the time, I was intrigued – puzzle hunt + country house + closed circle mystery + cold case seemed right up my alley. I had to table it, since it wasn’t Golden Age…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 3: Christmas Presents
It’s the third day of our Advent of Mystery and we’re looking at Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger. Unger’s work is a little out of my usual zone, but I was excited to see how I’d fare with another thriller-style mystery. Christmas Presents follows the story of a bookshop owner, Madeline Martin, whose life is…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 1: The Mistletoe Murders by P.D. James
It’s Year 2 of the Advent of Mystery! Over the next 12 days, I’ll share (short and sweet) thoughts on 12 crime and mystery books that are set at Christmas or have a Christmas theme to them. Like last year, I’ll work through both the quality of mystery and the actual Christmas coverage. This year,…
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Long-term loves: a list of underrated romances for Valentine’s day
Happy Valentine’s Day! I’m not typically a reader of romance novels – I tend to like my romance subplots with a big ol’ helping of plot on the side. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have favorite literary romances. And because I’m feeling mushy, I thought I’d share some of my favorites with y’all today.…
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Magicians and mystery: unraveling the secrets of the loneliest sleuths
In a mystery series, the protagonist is key to a reader’s enjoyment. The proper selection of protagonist can have critical impacts on a reader’s willingness to accept the investigation. Does it makes sense that this character investigates this crime? Does her expertise seem actually relevant to her solution? And, to an equal extent – does…