From Sea to Stormy Sea edited by Lawrence Block (Short Story Anthology, 2019). Lawrence Block, the best-selling and much-honored author of numerous crime novels and stories, turned anthologist a couple years back. The above title is the 3rd in a series of anthologies he’s edited. In each case, he’s used paintings by famous artists as […]
Read more "BOOK REVIEW: From Sea to Stormy Sea"The Rule of Law by John Lescroart (Legal Thriller, January 2019). The wily Dismas Hardy heads up a crew of defense attorneys in San Francisco and this is the latest entry in a long-running series about them and their cases. For a legal thriller, this one features almost nothing in the way of courtroom theatrics. The […]
Read more "BOOK REVIEW: The Rule of Law"John Woman by Walter Mosley (Contemporary Novel, September 2018). Mosley is one of our most varied and interesting contemporary authors, not to mention frequently honored, prolific and best-selling. This time out he’s offered us a striking book that combines psychological character study, musings about the philosophy of and practice of history, the internal backbiting and politics […]
Read more "BOOK REVIEW: John Woman"Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert. Cozy Mystery Novel, July 2018. The second novel in yet another cozy mystery series, this one revolves around library director Amy Webber. She also has a background in art history, which comes in handy here, even as she narrates the tale in a capable yet vulnerable and winning manner. Adhering […]
Read more "BOOK REVIEW: Shelved Under Murder"The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory (Contemporary/Romantic Novel, 2018). Successful freelance writer Nikole (Nik) Paterson has been dating a self-involved and shallow LA actor for only 5 months. It’s totally casual and that’s fine with her. A bad ‘serious’ relationship a few years back has left her gun-shy about the very idea of love. Baseball isn’t her […]
Read more "BOOK REVIEW: The Proposal"The Johnstown Girls by Kathleen George. (History-Related Novel, 2014). On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 two journalists with a major Pittsburgh newspaper are in search of fresh angles for a series of articles on the subject. Ben Bragdon and his younger co-worker Nina Collins plan to feature an […]
Read more "BOOK REVIEW: The Johnstown Girls"What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan (Contemporary Novel, 2018). This touching first novel features vivid characters interacting with the hopes and contradictions of our multicultural world, as well as universal the joys, challenges, contradictions and heartbreaks of modern family life. Wei and Lina Zhen grew up in a small town in the China of the […]
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