Lesa's Book Critiques: Damned If I Do by Alexandria Bellefleur
Monday, September 21, 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 KiKi Layne ...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Scholars by MacKenzie Common
The
Scholars (Headline, September 2026) by Canadian author MacKenzie Common is
a dark academic mystery set in Oxford. Unlike any other academic mystery I have
read, I don’t know quite what to think of it.
Every year
five outstanding candidates from Britain, the Commonwealth, and the United
States are selected to become the year’s Shepherd Scholars. The notable program
was endowed by a Victorian plantation owner who made his fortune in India. He
was a graduate of Frideswide College, one of the oldest colleges at Oxford, which
hosts the students during their stay. They each receive a full scholarship for
postgraduate study at Oxford, and they are expected to use their experience to
accomplish great things on the world stage, as their predecessors have done.
In 2024 the
five included a young woman with a large social media following and who is
constantly recording content, a young man who is developing an artificial
intelligence program to provide instantly available grief counseling, a young
woman who has established humanitarian projects in India, a Yale graduate
studying mass violence and its origins, and the son of the current Minister of
Higher Education who was working in Asian Studies.
All of their
backgrounds were impressive on paper but a little research showed none of them
were exactly who or what they claimed to be. The research unfortunately was not
conducted until after one of their number fell five stories from the Frideswide
College roof. The police and the university preferred to believe the death was
an accident but rumors quickly swirled around campus and on social media that the
victim had been pushed.
Told from the
perspectives of each of the five students, all of whom are unreliable
narrators, the story describes the anxiety of continuing to work under the load
of suspicion and outright anger from the university populace and the accusations
from social media. Their attempts to cope with the public revelations about
their pasts take them away from the work at hand and prove to be deeply
distracting. The credibility of these prestigious award programs is also
questioned.
Oxford is
omnipresent. Its authority, history, and architecture are gloriously portrayed.
The usefulness and the dangers of social media are also strongly shown. The
ending is unexpected and leaves a number of questions unanswered. Fans of noir
will enjoy this book. Academic mystery lovers may not like it as much.
·
Publisher: Headline
·
Publication date: September 24, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 352 pages
·
ISBN-13: 9781035426140
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: ???? as it is not listed at this time.
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Lesa's Book Critiques: A Note between Reviews – Steven F. Havill, RIP
Such sad news.... This huts very hard.
Lesa's Book Critiques: A Note between Reviews – Steven F. Havill, RIP
Little Big Crimes: The Walkout, by Kevin Egan
Little Big Crimes: The Walkout, by Kevin Egan: "The Walkout," by Kevin Egan, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2026. Last year I mentioned being s...
Mystery Fanfare: BLOODY SCOTLAND AWARDS 2026
Mystery Fanfare: BLOODY SCOTLAND AWARDS 2026: Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival announced the winner of two crime fiction prizes Friday night. Yes, I said winner, no...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Glass Tower Murders (2021) by Mikito Chinen
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Glass Tower Murders (2021) by Mikito Chinen: Last year, I came across the work of fan-lator Mitsuda Konno , formerly known as Mitsuda Madoy, who's translating first-rate Japanese de...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote by Gordon A. Martin, Jr.
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighti...: This description at Goodreads is excellent: Forrest County, Mississippi, became a focal point of the civil rights movement when, in 1961,...
Saturday, September 19, 2026
SleuthSayers: The Way I Do It
SleuthSayers: The Way I Do It: The other day, as I sat here wondering what to post for my SleuthSayers column, I received an emailed request from an editor for an interv...
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: Three Reasons to Start with Pearson Grove
A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: Three Reasons to Start with Pearson Grove: If you are looking for a complete Western romance series with strong heroines, dangerous secrets, and a Texas frontier town worth visiting, ...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death at the Crossings by Jacquelyn Nowak
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Death at the Crossings by Jacquelyn Nowak: Reviewed by Jeanne Sergeant Mike Minor is called to the Art History building on a college campus after the decomposing body of...
Scott's Take: I’m Not The Hero: An Isekai LitRPG by Tommy Kerper, aka Sourpatchhero
I’m Not The Hero: An Isekai LitRPG
by Tommy Kerper, aka Sourpatchhero, is a series of webnovels that have done so
well they have been published into actual physical books. An Isekai is
something where the main character is transported into another world. A LitRPG
is something that is an RPG game in Literature form. Dungeon Crawler Carl was
my introduction to this genre. Hoopla put a selection of books that they
recommended under this genre as part of their monthly advertisement and I
selected it.
Daniel and Orrin are lifelong friends who are
basically brothers because of Orrin’s tragic backstory. Daniel is a natural
born hero. When both are simultaneously hit by a truck, they are transported to
a magical world where the AI that runs it decides that Daniel should be the
hero. The AI assigns Daniel a quest.
But what do with Orrin? Orrin is given a new class
(think power set) that is uncommon in this magical world and off they go. That
is basic gist of the initial premise. Things are way more interesting and
detailed than that, but the book blurb only tells you so much.
This tale is told from Orrin’s perspective who has
his own struggles and issues with his new powers and magic. Daniel and Orrin
are the leads of this series. Along the way they make new friends and enemies.
I think the author did a very good job of making both characters interesting
and powerful in their own right.
The second book in the series, also available on
Hoopla, is titled Secrets and Strife: An
Isekia LitRPG. Daniel and Orrin just are exploring a dungeon
(underground realm with monsters) and along the way are caught up in a war
between humans and elves. There are
currently five published novels four of which are on Hoopla. These reads are
also on Kindle Unlimited. There is a sixth novel that is being posted in installments
by the author online.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4zCBoT6
I read this by way of Hoopla through the Dallas
Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple © 2026
Friday, September 18, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: SLOW HORSES, Season 6, release
Mystery Fanfare: SLOW HORSES, Season 6, release: Slow Horses, Season 6, released this week on AppleTV. It's a 6-episode season in which two Mick Herron novels, Joe Country and Slou...
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Ghost of a Chance
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Ghost of a Chance: William Roos (1911-1987) was born in Pennsylvania, eventually heading to Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh to study drama, first as an actor, then...
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: X
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: X: X by Eunice Sudak, adapted from the 1963 Roger Corman film scripted by Robert Dillon and Ray Russell, 1963 (unconfirmed: this may have bee...
Thursday, September 17, 2026
Got Covid Boosted
Wednesday morning Scott and I
went down to our local Kroger to get our Covid boosters. As some folks know,
Scott has not worked in weeks for the neighbor who does home remodeling and other
stuff as there is no work for him. Don't have anything doctor wise for the rest
of this month and early next, as long as nothing happens, so it seemed like a
good time to get it done.
We wanted the new Novavax shot
(aka Nuvaxovid) as it worked great last year for us. We had no side effects to
speak of at all. The belief by my docs was that it was the best one to get for
protection and it was a plus as it was a non mRNA deal. Past boosters using
mRNA technology have beaten me like drum.
So, around 9:45 yesterday
morning, we got boosted. Both of us noticed that when it went in, it hurt, and
did not remember that happening last year.
By noon, my left arm hurt pretty
good as did Scott’s. While he remained pretty much okay, by 1 yesterday
afternoon I knew it was working me.
Spent much of yesterday, and
again today, in bed with on and off chills, fever, nausea, body aches (on top
of my normal all body pain), really bad headaches, and my blood pressure
rollercoasting like crazy. My BP tends to swing very high and very low, as it
normally is, which is why I am on the drugs
I am on.
Yesterday and today have been the
worst I have had in years. One reading was as high as 217/185. Within minutes
it dropped to 84 over 54 and I damn near threw up. That crap also makes my head
pound and makes my eyes feel like they are going to pop out of my skull.
All this beats Covid and I know that. But, this shot this year has so very much sucked.
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange: The Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival will take place in the historic city of Stirling from September 18-20. Headliners ...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hit List: Top 5 Favorite Mystery Short-Shorts
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hit List: Top 5 Favorite Mystery Short-Shorts: When patching together one of these lists, I always try to avoid the usual topic and opt for something slightly less obvious and original, ...
Thursday Treats: 9/17/2026
Some reading opportunities of interest this week.
The
news is starting to appear across social media. DEATH CAMAS: Best New
England Crime Stories 2026 is scheduled to be released in early October
from Crime Spell Books. As always, the anthology includes short stories from
numerous SMFS list members. Sone of those members are: Bruce Robert Coffin (Pump Number 2),
C. Dan Castro (The Mass Murderer and a
Little Disorder), Zakariah Johnson (Dangerous
Tastes in Literature) Nikki
Knight (Milk. Bread. Homicide.), Avram
Lavinsky (The Daughter of the King), Steve
Liskow (A Deed without a Name), Edith
Maxwell (Cough Lasagnas and Salty Memories), Ruth McCarty (I Hereby Bequeath), Ang Pompano (The Angel of
Sachem Creek), Susan Oleksiw (All’s
Well That Ends . . .), Eugenia Parrish
(Stopping by the Woods), Stephen D.
Rogers (A Scene of Salt and Sea), Bonnar
Spring (Safe?), and Leslie Wheeler
(The Wound Clinic). It can be preordered now at Amazon and elsewhere. (Big time thank you to fellow SMFS list member Nikita Costiuc who brought a number of our member's and their short stories to my attention.)
Also
coming in October is the latest book by Dallas area author Harry Hunsicker. I
have long been a fan over the decades and now doubt will enjoy the thriller, Mother
May I. You can learn more about the book, and where to preorder it, at
Mr. Hunsicker’s website.
If you are not already reading him, you should be and there is a lot of really
good stuff to read.
Just
a few minutes before I was setting up this post on Tuesday afternoon, fellow
SMFS list member Nikita Costiuc,
and welcomed frequent commenter here, announced that he is in the inaugural
issue of Betascape as is fellow SMFS list member A.L. Sirois. This is a free to read publication
aimed at, according to the website, “speculative, crime, and genre fiction” pieces
and readers. They also generate editorial comment on the stories by
highlighting certain segments. You click on that and you get information on
story structure, character development, pacing, etc. Nikita Costiuc’s short
story, A Narrative Concerning the Allocation of Assets, as well as A.L. Sirois’ short story, The Cage, can be
read here in this first issue.
SMFS
list member Aimee Kluck announced the
publication of her short story --Late, But Right on Time—was published ay
Shotgun Honey. You can read the tale online, for free, here.
And, now for something completely different--- as they used to say on a certain show when I was growing up. I have long been a fan of the science fiction and fantasy works by author Terry W. Ervin II. He has a lot of stuff out there and I am always behind. I just found out that his latest book, Relic Shield: Book Three of the Crax War Chronicles, is now out. You can pick it up on Amazon where it is also available through the KindleUnlimited program.
I
now pause to remind you, that as we have discovered the hard way, the KindleUnlimited
program, in fact, is very limited. You are limited to no more than twenty
titles at a time. Makes as much sense as telling me the buffet is unlimited and
then I get one serving of three things and can do no more. If you share the deal, as I do with Scott, you are even more limited. Boo.
Coming
in early October is the anthology, The Speculative Detective Agency: Case
Files of the Supernatural and Fantastic. Published by Diversion
Books, the read is available to preorder at
Amazon and other vendors.
Back
to crime fiction and mystery reads…
Punk
Noir Press announced on Twitter that FAFO—A
Punk Noir series that the second installment of the new series is available to read. Four more stories are here. You can also still read, for free, the first
group here.
SMFS
list member, and editor, Michelle Kubitz recently announced that Shotgun Honey Books will be releasing the new anthology, Daydream
Believer: Crime Stories Inspired by the Songs of the Monkees!. The book
includes a short story by fellow SMFS list member Alan
S. Orloff as well as tales by numerus other
folks. Proceeds go to American Library Association. You can preorder the book
now at the publisher
or at Amazon. September 29th is the planned release date.
I
have been a fan of author Frank Zafiro
for quite a few decades now. His latest read in his River City police
procedural series, The Quick of the Night, is now out. Assuming everything with
Amazon and Kindle worked right. Published by Code 4 Press, the read is available now for preorder at Amazon and will be part of the Kindle
Unlimited program at time of publication.
Also
now out is the latest read from fellow SMFS list member and author, C. W. Blackwell. The Cold Dark
Forever: A Novel, published by Shotgun Honey Books,
is a crime fiction read set in 1942. The read is now available at Amazon.
Additionally,
now out is the young adult read, It Should Have Been You: A Novel
by Lynn Slaughter. Now published by Picarones Press, an imprint of Misti Media
Publishing, the book is available at the White City Press.
Back
last June, professor and author John
A. Tures did a guest post
here on the blog about his book, Branded, published by Huntsville Independent
Press. His next book, Independent Thought, is now out with the same
publisher. This sequel deals with the possibility of a third-party
presidential candidate and more.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Little Big Crimes: The Ordnance Special, by James D. Crabtree
Little Big Crimes: The Ordnance Special, by James D. Crabtree: "The Ordnance Special," by James D. Crabtree, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2026. There are war c...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Books from the Book Sale
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: Books from the Book Sale: Since I already own so many short story collections and anthologies, not to mention all my husband's short story books, I always plan ...
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
SleuthSayers: Mixing Urban Legends and Crime Stories
SleuthSayers: Mixing Urban Legends and Crime Stories: Coming up with anthology themes isn't always so easy. Ideally a good theme is at least a little different from what's already been...
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