The story behind this book, revealed in authors’ notes, is fascinating: Jennifer Boylan Finney dreamed she was writing a novel with Jodi Picoult and tweeted about her dream the next…
crime fiction
The Widows of Malabar Hill
June 25, 2024Sujata Massey’s series of detective novels set in 1920s India starts off with an intriguing glimpse into the lives of Muslim pardanashin, women who live in seclusion. The three widows…
It Girl
July 9, 2023My first encounter with Ruth Ware’s work was when I read The Turn of the Key quite by accident. I think I found it at the library and realized when…
The Maid
October 13, 2022The premise does not seem original (the hook on the front cover: “YOU DON’T SEE HER. BUT SHE SEES YOU…”) nor does the narrative gimmick of an individual with ASD…
Gone Girl
August 17, 2022Nefarious characters, noir plot. I, for one, loved the end. Weaponizing reproduction–what a concept. I did not like like Amy, but I respected her and I think it would be…
Eight Detectives
May 28, 2022The blurbs on the back are all true: this is one of the most creative detective novels I’ve read lately. There are homages to Christie, Chesterton, Conan Doyle, Marsh, etc.…
Enter a Murderer
January 16, 2022The second detective novel by Ngaio Marsh featuring the almost imperturbable Roderick Alleyn does not disappoint. This one develops the friendship between Detective Alleyn and the journalist Nigel Bathgate. I…
A Man Lay Dead
December 29, 2021This is the first Roderick Alleyn mystery novel by Ngaio (“Nigh-O”) Marsh, published in 1934. Marsh is considered one of the great “Queens of Crime” from the Golden Age of…
Last Bus to Woodstock
August 18, 2020[spoiler alert!] A little surprising, a little disappointing. We’re fans of the British TV series, here, so I thought I’d better see how Colin Dexter originally depicted Inspector Morse and…
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club
May 26, 2020This did not disappoint. Although I was surprised at the similarities between this plot and its resolution and that of Sayers’s first novel Whose Body? I suspect that once you’ve…