Thursday, January 15, 2026
Beneath the Stains of Time: My Grandfather, the Master Detective (2023) by Masateru Konishi
Beneath the Stains of Time: My Grandfather, the Master Detective (2023) by Mas...: Masateru Konishi, a TV and radio writer, debuted as a novelist in 2023 with Meitantei no mama de ite, vol. I ( Stay a Great Detective ), re...
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: MR. SMITH KICKS THE BUCKET
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: MR. SMITH KICKS THE BUCKET: "Mr. Smith Kicks the Bucket" by Fredric Brown (first published in Street & smith's Detective Story Magazine , August 194...
Review: Crimeucopia - The Not So Frail Detective Agency
Recently released by Murderous Ink Press, Crimeucopia
- The Not So Frail Detective Agency, is a good read. The entertaining
anthology focuses on the female private investigator and does so by way of a
variety of tales set across multiple time periods and featuring women often not
fully appreciated by others. In other words, just like women experience in real
life every single day of the week. In this case, while these ladies may not
have the brawn of a man, they also walk down mean streets and get the job done.
The anthology contains fifteen solid stories from as
many authors. Several tales I personally preferred over others, as you can see
below. No doubt your preferences would vary from mine. There is also no doubt
that you will find lots of good reading here as you would in any of the long
running series of Crimeucopia books.
The tales that resonated with me, in order of
appearance, are:
Steve Liskow’s “Slam Dunk” where Tatiana, known to
all as “Tats” for reasons soon made clear, takes a case where the client is
sure the husband is cheating on her. He plays basketball for incredible money.
AmyLee signed a prenup and she knows the kind of guy she married. But, now she
is pregnant, and wants proof of what he is doing so she make sure that the child
and her have a secure financial future.
It has been decades since she last saw her. Lorriane
coming loudly into her office in Detroit was absolutely not a sight for sore
eyes. She could have gone the rest of her life never thinking about Lorriane
again. In Sandra J. Cady’s “High School Reunion,” she is back in Bonnie’s life and
won’t take no for an answer. She wants to hire Bonnie to look into the death of
her husband, Harvey Harris. He died a few weeks earlier, in a traffic accident,
and the cops are not moving fast enough to suit her as she needs access to his
money. She wants Bonnie’s help and is very willing to use her pollical connections
to make sure Bonnie never works again as a private investigator should she
refuse. It is very clear that in the more than three decades since they last
saw each other that Lorriane has not improved one bit as a human being.
Kathleen Marple Kalb takes readers to the fall of 1987
with her very young private investigator in “Danno and the Babysitter.” Diana
Czednik wants the case. A mutual friend, Gary Bigelow, sent Mark McKinnon to
her. Somebody has been killing men in Shadyside, a gay friendly neighborhood in
Pittsburgh. The cops, to this point, have done less than nothing. Gary, Mark,
and others, have decided it is past time to get some professional help. She’s
willing, but the owner of the agency and her boss, Mr. Kozakevich, does not
want his rookie investigator on the front lines on a murder case and thus in
danger from a serial killer. He severely limits what she can do at the start,
but, before long, she is deep into it.
Crimeucopia - The Not So Frail Detective Agency
has twelve more tales to interest you beyond the three that I highlighted. The
read, as these books always do, showcases a variety of authors with varied
writing styles, characters, time periods, and more. The read is full of
interesting cases. It features female private investigators often dealing with
those who do not understand their capabilities. They soon do, one way or
another, in the very enjoyable read.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/45JBWZQ
My digital ARC was provided by the publisher with no
expectation of a review.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2026
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
SleuthSayers: 2025 Year in Review: Writing and Other Things
SleuthSayers: 2025 Year in Review: Writing and Other Things: In my previous SleuthSayers post , I discussed my year as an editor; in the following I discuss my year as a writer, and I discuss some of ...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Too Old for This by Samantha Downing
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Too Old for This by Samantha Downing: Reviewed by Kristin Lottie Jones has gotten away with murder. Frequently. Lottie thought her killing days were behind her, until s...
Publication Day Review: The Cyclist: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan
It has been a few months since the
events of The Dentist as the police procedural, The Cyclist:
A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan begins, and DS George Cross
is at, in all likelihood, a crime scene. An annoyed contractor wants to get his
men back to work on the teardown of a row of garages, but the dead body wrapped
in plastic and sitting in the bucket of a digger has meant that all work is
stopped. Detective Sergeant George Cross of the Somerset and Avon police force
flatly and calmly explains the reality of the situation in his unique style and
returns to the business at hand—solving a murder.
The unique style of Detective Sergeant
George Cross is due to the fact that he is on the autism spectrum with
Asperger’s syndrome. He has a very hard time picking up on social cues and
interacting with people. He does not recognize emotions and has to go through a
sort of mental catalog to figure out the emotion a person is displaying on their
face. So, he is working hard to be civil and polite with the contractor who
wants nothing more than to get the project back underway, and doesn’t quite get
why DS George Cross is saying what he is saying to him. DS Ottey is soon able
to rescue Cross before things go sideways with the man.
DS George Cross is detail focused and
driven and is an exceptional investigator though he drives everyone around him
a bit mad at times. Of course, if everyone had his attention to detail, that
would really help everyone. Since the pathologist clearly does not, she might
have noticed clues on the body that would give them an idea as to the identity
of the victim. The victim had no identification, no engraved watch, no cell
phone, nothing at all that would identify him. But, in his close examination of
the body in front of the perturbed pathologist in the morgue, DS Cross identified
several clues that indicate the victim was a serious cyclist.
That fact soon proves out to be true and
the team is able to identify the victim. Now that the victim is identified, they
can actually start investigating him, his background, relationships, etc., and
begin to make slow progress in a complicated case.
This second book in the series builds
off the first book, The Dentist, and does so very well. Further
character development of George Cross, as well as several other characters, is
underway here and does not distract from the main storyline. Also present are
the economic budgetary issues impacting the police in the name of efficiency and
are, actually, doing the exact opposite. Also present is a complex mystery with
far reaching implications.
A police procedural series that should
be read in order, The Cyclist: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim
Sullivan is a highly entertaining read.
The book, and the series, to date, is
highly recommended.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4omEQLH
I received a digital ARC from the
publisher, Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive
review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Monday, January 12, 2026
Bitter Tea and Mystery: My Results for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge 2025
Bitter Tea and Mystery: My Results for the 52 Book Club Reading Challenge ...: This year I participated in the 52 Book Club’s 2025 Reading Challenge . It is a self-led challenge and how you decide to participate is up...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Murder Mindfully by Karsten Dusse
Karsten Dusse
is a German lawyer, actor, and television scriptwriter. He’s received the German
Television Award and the German Comedy Award. His debut novel Achtsam
Morden was published by Heyne Verlag in 2019. It was translated into
English by Florian Duijsens and published in the UK as Murder Mindfully
by Faber & Faber in February 2025. It will be released in the US by Soho
Crime in April 2026. Netflix realized what a gem it is and turned it into a
series. Fortunately for all of us, there are four more titles in the series.
The second, My Inner Child Wants to Murder Mindfully, also translated by
Florian Duijsens, will be published by Faber & Faber on 15 January 2026. My
copy is on pre-order with Waterstones.
Björn Diemel
is just a plain ordinary lawyer, working far too many hours to keep the
partners in his law firm happy and coping with a difficult client. A client so
difficult that no one else in the firm can deal with him but Diemel seems to
have a knack for pleasing the challenging Dragan Sergowicz. Diemel’s wife
Katharina, however, is tired of Diemel working so much. She tells him he must
find more time with his family or she will leave and take their daughter Emily.
Diemel adores his daughter, so reluctantly he signs up for sessions with Joschka
Breitner, a mindfulness coach who encourages Diemel to breathe deeply, to live
in the moment, to only do the things he wants to do, and on and on.
Diemel begins
to take Breitner’s advice with devastatingly unexpected but funny results. He
gets rid of his client, he stands up to the draconian receptionist in his law
office, he refuses to cower when the partners of the firm take him to task.
Best of all, he gets more time with his daughter, which he realizes is the most
important thing of all.
A
tongue-in-cheek send-up of the “everything is beautiful” mindset with a comedic
if violent approach to organized crime. The funniest bit may be when Diemel
accidentally discovers a completely legal way to make useful people like police
detectives and government officials obligated to him that doesn’t involve
bribes, drugs, or lavish parties.
A wildly
original and witty book. Highly recommended.
Publisher: Faber
& Faber
Publication
date: February 1, 2025
Language: English
Print
length: 416 pages
ISBN: 9780571384044
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4qMRTqo
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal
It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, January 11, 2026
Little Big Crimes: The Roosevelt Affair, by Adam Meyer
Little Big Crimes: The Roosevelt Affair, by Adam Meyer: "The Roosevelt Affair," by Adam Meyer, in Crimecopia: The Not So Frail Detective Agency, Murderous Ink Press, 2026. A nice straig...
Review: Inside Man: A Head Case Novel by John McMahon
Inside Man: A Head Cases Novel
by John McMahon is the very enjoyable sequel to Head Cases. As
always in any good series, it is best to have read the first book before the
sequel. Agent Gardner Camden leads an FBI unit named PAR. The Patterns and
Recognition team exists to find peculiarities in cases that have stalled or gone
cold. When they find something, the case goes back to the field office that
sent in the case or to a team in Quantico. Led by Agent Garnder, the team consists
of Joanne “Shooter” Harris, Richie Brancato, and Cassie Pardo. They solve cases
by way of their unique mental skill set each member brings to the table. They
look at things differently than most.
As Dick Wolfe would now say, “These are their
stories…”
They have been working a Florida fraud case where a
handful of people have been filing false unemployment claims and getting paid.
They have identified clusters of where the bogus claims where being filed and
the ATMs where, literally, thousands and thousands of dollars have been withdrawn
each month for many months now. A person of interest, Freddie Pecos, was identified
during the last three months they have been working the case.
Their big break came when Pecos got himself arrested
for assault. Guilty as heck, he made a deal not to go to jail. He agreed to be
an undercover informant. He also explained that what they were seeing is just
the tip of the iceberg. The scam is being done to support a militia group that
is led by an arms dealer, J. P. Sandoval.
PAR has stumbled across possible domestic terrorism.
Sandoval is using the cash from the unemployment scam to accrue a cache of
unmarked weapons. Weapons to be used again law enforcement. They don’t know the specifics of the target or
targets and they don’t know where the guns are located. They do know, according
to their informant, the high-powered guns are free of serial numbers and therefore
don’t exist in the manufacturing system. They can’t be traced and there are, at
least, several hundred of them. But, where?
As the book begins, Camden and Harris have
discovered the very dead body of their informant in his mobile home. He has
been shot at very close range. From various indications in the trailer, the
agents don’t think his cover was blown. They also soon realize that his cell
will be there in minutes. As it is close to four in the morning, their options
are limited to protect the case and to be able to continue the investigation
with the targets unaware. They need to know where the guns are and where they
are headed.
Camden makes the decision to do something that
solves all the issues. It also might get him fired. The act makes logical sense.
It is the only angle they have got to keep the suspects unaware of the presence
of the FBI as well as the fact that some evidence is now in their possession. Camden’s
decision and their actions at the crime scene keep the case going. And it is
one heck of a ride.
This second book in the series is another good one
from author John McMahon. Character development of the various main characters
continues here as does the action and the complexity of the cases.
Regardless of the series, and author John McMahon
has several now, he always delivers a great read. Such is the case here with Inside
Man: A Head Cases Novel.
One hopes that the series continues as they are very
good.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/44Ehx82
My digital ARC came by way of the publisher, Minotaur
Books, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Saturday, January 10, 2026
KRL Update
Up on KRL this week a review and giveaway of "The Last Death of the Year" the latest Poirot mystery by Sophie Hannah https://kingsriverlife.com/01/10/the-last-death-of-the-year-by-sophie-hannah/
And the latest Mystery Coming Attractions from Victoria Fair https://kingsriverlife.com/01/10/mystery-current-coming-attractions-january-2026/
We also have a mystery short story by Donalee Moulton https://kingsriverlife.com/01/10/mystery-short-story-moist/
And a review and ebook giveaway of "The Sweetest Getaway" by Sasha Preston, along with an interesting interview with Sasha https://kingsriverlife.com/01/10/the-sweetest-getaway-by-sasha-preston/
And the last part of a 3 part series on female vampires by Sarah Peterson-Camacho https://kingsriverlife.com/01/10/blood-mothers-vamps-before-the-birth-of-dracula-part-3/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Murder For Shore" by Beth Prentice https://www.krlnews.com/2026/01/murder-for-shore-by-beth-prentice.html
And a review and giveaway of "Not Our Crowd" by Michael Craft https://www.krlnews.com/2026/01/not-our-crowd-darling-by-michael-craft.html
And for those who enjoy fantasy, we have a review of "Turns of Fate" by Anne Bishop https://www.krlnews.com/2026/01/turns-of-fate-by-anne-bishop.html
Happy New Year!
Lorie
Beneath the Stains of Time: Invitation to Murder (1953) by Ab Visser
Beneath the Stains of Time: Invitation to Murder (1953) by Ab Visser: Ab Visser was a Dutch writer, editor, critic, reviewer, poet and a tireless advocate of the Dutch detective story, who tried to position him...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: At Death’s Dough by Mindy Quigley
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: At Death’s Dough by Mindy Quigley: Tommy, a local Butterball lookalike, with a copy of the book. Reviewed by Jeanne Valentine’s Day approaches and while love is in the ...
Scott's Take: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt
Dinniman is the second book in the Dungeon
Crawler Carl series. In this read, Donut and Carl are now further
in the game alongside Mongo (Donut’s pet dinosaur) and have reached their first
major town. There are quests now being thrown into the game to make things more
complicated. Carl and Donut and others must put a stop to a murder circus full
of infected monsters. They also need to stop someone who is dropping dead
hookers from the sky. All of that must be done while still trying to survive
the alien factions that are running the games.
I read the large print edition from my
local library which includes a bonus short story about the meth dealing lamas
from the first book. This second book I
think is better than the first because there are less exposition dumps than the
first. There is still plenty of action, humor, and monsters. We have nudity, nudity,
zombies, Krause (a type of monster), and a lot more.
Mongo has grown on me as a character in
the last book I just found him annoying but I see why he is an important
character now.
I
am currently on hold at my local library for the third book in the series, The
Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4qLf8B8
My reading copy, in paperback large
print, came from the Kleberg-Rylie Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2026
Friday, January 09, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: Bookish: a new British mystery tv series
Mystery Fanfare: Bookish: a new British mystery tv series: Bookish , a new British mystery show on PBS, starts Sunday, January 11. I haven't seen it yet, but a six episode show about a bookshop o...
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE VENUS PROBE
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE VENUS PROBE: The Venus Probe by "David St. John" (E. Howard Hunt), 1966 The race is on. Kennedy vowed to place an American on the moon by th...
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