Saturday, March 28, 2026
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Cheating Death by Maxie Dara: Reviewed by Kristin Nora Bird has always been cautious in life. She and her twin brother Charlie lost their parents in an accident whe...
Scott's Take: Absolute Batman Vol 2: Abomination by Scott Snyder and Marcos Martin (Illustrator), and Nick Dragotta (Illustrator)
Absolute Batman Vol 2: Abomination by Scott Snyder and Marcos
Martin (Illustrator), and Nick Dragotta (Illustrator) collects issues 7 through
14. The previous issues in the series were collected in Absolute Batman
Vol. 1: The Zoo which I reviewed here
last September.
In
this action-packed volume, Batman takes on Mister Freeze, Bane, and learns more
about the mysterious man in white, aka the Joker. Bane has Batman in his sights
and has plans for Batman that Bruce is not going to like. Batman investigates
Arkham M, which is supposed to be treating the mentally ill, but instead is creating
monsters to terrorize the world with.
This
is a really interesting action-packed saga, but there is a lot of body horror
and torture sessions. This book introduces new versions of Bane, Cat Woman, and
Mister Freeze, and others. The new version of Killer Croc is pretty cool.
The art for the Mister Freeze section was not
good in my opinion, but the art for the Bane story, which is the main story was
excellent. This series will continue as Batman will face off with Poison Ivy.
We will also meet the new version of Robin. The title of the volume and the
release date have yet to be announced.
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4rBlQL0
I
read some of this through the DC
Universe Infinite app and some through Hoopla by way of the Dallas Public
Library System.
Scott
A. Tipple ©2026
Friday, March 27, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Murder at the Villa Rose
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Murder at the Villa Rose: British author Alfred Edward Woodley (A.E.W.) Mason, born in 1865, spent much of his career serving in Parliament and in World War I where h...
Beneath the Stains of Time: Back for More: Q.E.D. iff vol. 1-2 by Motohiro Katou
Beneath the Stains of Time: Back for More: Q.E.D. iff vol. 1-2 by Motohiro Katou: Last year, I finished Motohiro Katou 's first run of his flagship Q.E.D. series with a review of vol. 50 and " The Hit List: Top ...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 51 Writing Contests in April 2026 - No entry fees!
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 51 Writing Contests in April 2026 - No entry fees!: This April there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range ...
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Paper Girl, Eleventh Hour, A Death in the Family
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Paper Girl, Eleventh Hour, A Death in t...: Reported by Rita Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America by Beth Macy From one of our most acclaimed chr...
Thursday Treats: 3/26/2026
The latest reading opportunities…
SMFS President Joseph S. Walker announced that
his short story collection, Crime Scenes, was released by Level Best Books. Currently available in eBook
format with print scheduled later this year, the collection features twenty
stories. A number of them won or were finalists for various awards. Pick it up
at Amazon and elsewhere.
SMFS list member Andrew Welsh-Huggins’ new book, The Delivery: A Mercury Carter Thriller, came out earlier this week. Aubrey reviewed it here, as she did the first book. Lesa Holstine also reviewed this new book earlier in the week and previously reviewed the first one.
Punk Noir has published, Find What You
Love and Let It Kill You #3 — a PUNK NOIR Magazine series. This series of short
stories are all free to read online at their website. SMFS list
member Sandra J. Cady (For the Love of Writing) and S. B. Watson’s (My Human),
short stories appear as do others.
SMFS member Tom Larsen announced that
his short story, "El Fantasma (The Ghost), is in the latest issue of Black
Cat Weekly. You can pick up Black Cat Weekly #238 here.
Finally, next week sees the release of From the Dust: A Novel by David
Swinson. I was able to read an ARC of this from Mulholland Books through
NetGalley months ago and very much enjoyed it. The police procedural comes out
next Tuesday as does my review of it here on the blog. This is a really good
one, folks, and well worth your time.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Sidney Chambers and the Per...: The Grantchester Mysteries is a series of short story collections by James Runcie. The short stories are all connected and follow the crim...
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 34 Awesome Writing Conferences and Workshops in April 2026
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 34 Awesome Writing Conferences and Workshops in Ap...: This April there are more than two dozen writing conferences and workshops. Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but most wil...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Underfoot in Show Business by Helene Hanff: Reviewed by Jeanne I first encountered Helene Hanff’s writing in the delightful 84, Charing Cross Road which was composed of lett...
Monday, March 23, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday: It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news: THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES Benjamin ...
Beneath the Stains of Time: Puzzle in Porcelain (1945) by Elizabeth Gresham (writing as "Robin Grey")
Beneath the Stains of Time: Puzzle in Porcelain (1945) by Elizabeth Gresham (w...: "Robin Grey" was the pseudonym of Elizabeth Fenner Gresham , of whom not much is known today, except that she was involved with th...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Delivery: A Mercury Carter Thriller by Andrew Welsh-Huggins
Make sure you read Aubrey’s review of The Mail Man,
the preceding book, here.
The
Delivery (Mysterious Press, March 2026) by Andrew Welsh-Huggins is the
second thriller about former U.S. Postal Inspection Service agent Mercury
Carter. Carter is now a freelance courier, hand-transporting cargo too precious
to entrust to the usual delivery mechanisms.
In Pawtucket,
Rhode Island, Carter is en route to Providence to deliver a vintage 1951
baseball card signed by Cleveland Indians/Boston Red Sox shortstop Lou Boudreau
to 91-year-old Lenny Pellegrino, who had seen Boudreau play in person. Carter,
also a baseball fan, was looking forward to making the delivery and meeting
Pellegrino.
The pounding
rain makes navigation precarious and Carter encounters a wrecked vehicle with
an unresponsive driver, an obvious victim of hydroplaning and diminished
visibility. He is attempting to extract the bloodied woman behind the wheel
when another vehicle stops and its driver, a large man with a gun, demands that
Carter get away from the accident victim. Carter declines and the first
physical altercation of the book, and there are many, ensues.
Thus begins a
complicated tale in which Carter takes on what he thinks will be a quick
delivery in Pawtucket before he goes on to Providence, which turns out to be
nothing of the sort. The quick side trip spirals into multiple encounters with
an assortment of human rogues--traffickers, drug sellers, and IT
fraudsters--each of whom is running a separate con while angling for a larger
piece of the profits from the various scams underway with their colleagues. Double-crossing
and backstabbing abound.
As expected,
Carter’s quick wit and resourcefulness come into play again and again. It takes
some time to sort through the assorted agendas of the multiple players and
their schemes, I had to re-read sections of the narrative here and there to
make sure I understood them, but Carter eventually works his way through a
truly impressive quagmire of grift, larceny, and violence to the other side and
a satisfying ending.
I am grateful
for the early review copy of Mercury Carter’s latest adventure and recommend it
unreservedly to thriller fans who will be pleased to make Mercury’s
acquaintance.
·
Publisher: The Mysterious Press
·
Publication date: March 24, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 336 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1613167172
·
ISBN-13: 978-1613167175
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Nv0ZtY
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, March 22, 2026
Little Big Crimes: The Tattle-Tale Heart, by John Leonard Pielmeier
Little Big Crimes: The Tattle-Tale Heart, by John Leonard Pielmeier: "The Tattle-Tale Heart," by John Leonard Pielmeier, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2026. Hoo-boy...
The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog: SMFS Spotlight: Barb Goffman
The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog: SMFS Spotlight: Barb Goffman: Elena Smith is back with another interview of one of the great writers in the Short Mystery Fiction Society. In the spotlight this time is G...
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