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Wit, Intrigue, and Warmth: My Favorite Mysteries in 2024
It’s the time of year for reading roundups and top-n lists, and this blog is no exception. I’ve read 180(!) books this year, some better than others, and I Have Some Thoughts on those I loved best and why. We’ll start with the mysteries, which were far and away the genre I spent the most…
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Advent of Mystery, 2024: Some thoughts on the Christmas crime genre
Merry Christmas, my reading friends! I hope you have enjoyed this year’s Advent of Mystery at least as much as I have. I’ve certainly learned a ton about what it takes to manage a Christmas mystery story that still feels festive. As usual, we’ll keep it quick – starting with a roundup of all the…
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Advent of Mystery, Day 10: A Lively Midwinter Murder
Our last day of book reviews brings us to A Lively Midwinter Murder, a continuation of the cozy Dahlia Lively series. For those unfamiliar, this series follows three actresses who have played three generations of the same female detective. They’re drawn together by this commonality – and when murders occur around them, of course they…
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Advent of Mystery 2024, Day 2: Murder at Holly House and The Christmas Stocking Murders
Next up is a double feature with a bit of an epistolary twist: Denzil Meyrick’s Inspector Frank Grasby series. This first came on my radar last year with Murder at Holly House, as an epistolary mystery potentially worth reading. This year, Meyrick expanded the series with The Christmas Stocking Murders, which follows up with Grasby…
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Jill Paton Walsh, Peter Wimsey, and the perils of ghostwriting
Generally speaking, I’d consider myself a Golden Age mystery purist. I find it very hard to believe that modern authors can replicate the particular charm of the genre-starters. Modern authors have tried to expand the Holmes and Poirot canons, even officially – but with limited success. Such adaptations frequently stick too closely to the “original”…
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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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TCO Reviews: The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller
Perhaps my favorite class in high school was Art History. I loved everything about it – learning about the stories behind each slide, both the depictions and the stories of creation. And, surprising nobody, the art world has always intrigued me, particularly art crime. (I have a sizable collection of books on forgery!) So when…
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Modern(ish) mystery: First impressions of Cover Her Face
New year, new… murder mystery series, I guess. This year’s holiday reading binge introduce me to P.D. James, and I enjoyed her writing enough to try and explore it further. The short stories I read had flavors of the classic English mysteries I love, but with a little more darkness. There was something about the…
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From mystery to epistolary: my best reads in 2023
As we enter the final days of 2023, it’s time to recount my favorite books (and reviews) of the year. I’ve found that (in large part due to my challenges) my reading has been split into 3 major categories: little-old-lady cozies, adventurous epistolaries, and modern updates to traditional mysteries. The following list are my personal…