It strikes me that I’ve stopped talking about books on the blog. Let’s rectify that now. Double Sin is a collection of Agatha Christie shorts, involving Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, but also including some non-series stories with a gothic taste. The title story, while a Poirot, isn’t the best in the book. Infact the […]

by Jonathan Kellerman. This is the second Alex Delaware mystery I’ve read (the first being The Web. Kellerman’s books aren’t really “whodunits.” as they don’t play by those rules. They’re more “novels of suspense.” There’s no real puzzle to solve, as you can generally keep up with the sleuth’s knowledge through the entire book, and […]

by Dick Francis. I’ve always liked the way Francis has with a plot, though it has seemed in his recent books he’s gone out of his way to toss in more sex. I suppose he’s trying to be modern, but it just seems forced. I’ve never minded sex (or violence — why do those two […]

One of the “Home Repair” mysteries from Sarah Graves. This is my first venture into this series, and I’m disappointed. I was looking for a modern series; It struck me that, aside from Dick Francis, all the mystery authors I was seriously reading and collecting were dead. There was Tom Clancy, but I gave up […]

I’ve gotten behind on writing about the books, haven’t I? In this one Dame Agatha’s favorite avatar, Ariadne Oliver, calls Hercule Poirot to come party because she thinks something is wrong. They have their usual discussion about women’s intuition, and, sure enough, someone dies. The story is her usual good puzzle, though definitely not prime […]