Jim Nesbitt's Substack Reviews: Radioactive --Scott Powers Captures Florida Sleaze With Nuclear Glow
Tuesday, June 02, 2026
SleuthSayers: And They Lived Happily Never After
SleuthSayers: And They Lived Happily Never After: When I was little, before I learned how to read, my dad used to read fables and fairy tales to me before I went to sleep. We had a big book,...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: New in June!
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: New in June!: Allen, Samantha Puck Andrews, Mary Kay Road Trip Arden, Katherine The Unicorn Hunters Benedict, Marie A Pair of Aces Benja...
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 Brian Gerag...
Publication Day Review: The Bookseller: A DS George Cross Mystery by Tim Sullivan
As the father of DS George Cross faces a
very hard medical diagnosis, he works the case of a murder inside Squire’s Rare
Books. Located in Bristol and owned by the Squire family, the bookstore has
been a fixture in Berkeley Square. The squires have been involved in the business
of rare books for decades, but world of bookselling has massively changed from
when Torquil Squire was a mere lad running books when he was a lad. The staff
that runs the place these days is having a hard time working together and
adjusting the business and there is friction.
Did that friction play a role or cause
the death of Edward Squire, son of Torquil, or not? A question that DS George
Cross and the rest of the team will have to answer in coming days along with a
host of other questions. A team that has a lot going on, professionally and
personally, as they deal with various matters including the repercussions of
recent events depicted in The Teacher.
Quite a lot is happening in The Bookseller:
A DS George Cross Mystery. This review deliberately skims the surface
of this intense police procedural. In my opinion, to reveal more would cause spoilers
and I won’t do that. Suffice it to say that this is a mighty good read in a
series that just keeps getting better and better.
As I have tried to make clear before,
each book in this series is well worth your time. The Bookseller: A DS George Cross
Mystery is as well.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4ctnvNP
I received a digital ARC from the
publisher, Atlantic Crime, imprint of Grove Atlantic, through NetGalley, with
no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, June 01, 2026
Little Big Crimes: Strangers on a Train on a Train, by Paul Ryan O'Connor
Little Big Crimes: Strangers on a Train on a Train, by Paul Ryan O'Co...: "Strangers on a Train on a Train," by Paul Ryan O'Connor, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, May/June 2026. This is...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Butler by Clare Mackintosh
The Butler
by Clare Mackintosh (Podium Publishing, June 2026) is a stand-alone thriller
from the author of the DC Ffion Morgan and DS Leo Brady series. CWA
recently announced that Clare is shortlisted for the 2026 CWA Dagger in the
Library.
Baxter is a
butler who freelances for wealthy individuals in need of major domo services
for a short time. He’s been hired to prepare and run a villa in the hills above
Cannes for a house party of some half dozen individuals connected to the
industry during the film festival and the accompanying events. Alec Prescott is
the host, he and his ex-wife Sylvie Calloway are also celebrating the 21st
birthday of their only child Carter. Prescott arrives with his current much
younger girl friend Kaitlynn. Baxter is alarmed to learn that Kaitlynn doesn’t
know that Sylvie will be present and Sylvie doesn’t know about Kaitlynn. In
addition to this worrying trio, Prescott and his girlfriend Jade and Prescott’s
godparents Damian and Francesca Huxley, film producer and actress,
respectively, make up the rest of the party.
Damian loses
no time in trying to convince Alec to finance his next film, Alec declines and
tactlessly suggests Francesca is too old to play leading roles. Alec also calls
Prescott to task for not holding down a paying job, and Sylvie and Alec trade
jabs over his youthful girlfriend. The atmosphere is tense and Baxter is
required to supply vast quantities of alcoholic beverages to soothe tempers.
The first two or three days are consumed with cinema viewings and media events,
especially for Francesca who is promoting her newest film. The sniping
continues whenever two or three of the party are together, and dinner with
everyone is downright fractious.
Through it
all, Baxter and the couple he hired to help him stay busy. They plan, shop,
cook, and serve meals on time, clean all the rooms in the villa, change linen
and towels, and cater to the constant demands for booze.
Early one
morning Baxter finds Alec Prescott at the bottom of the swimming pool, quite
dead. Too many people were upset with Prescott for Baxter to believe it was
accidental. He decides to investigate on his own.
Readers
familiar with Agatha Christie’s 4:50 from Paddington APA What Mrs.
McGillicuddy Saw will immediately see the similarity of Baxter to Lucy Eyelesbarrow,
that very expensive but extremely capable housekeeper who worked for wealthy
households a few weeks at a time.
An original
and pleasant read. Mackintosh is a recent find whom I plan to follow more
closely. I particularly enjoyed the details of the job, which gave a strong Upstairs,
Downstairs feel to the narrative. This story has strong potential to become
a series.
·
Publisher: Podium Publishing
·
Publication date: June 16, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 208 pages
·
ISBN-13: 979-8347009268
Amazon Associate Purchase Link:
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, May 31, 2026
SleuthSayers: Twenty-Two and Counting
SleuthSayers: Twenty-Two and Counting: More than a few people have asked me why the cover image of CRIME SCENES , my recently published collection of stories from Level Best Books...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Argosy Library: Four Corners, vol. 2 (2020) by Theodore Roscoe
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Argosy Library: Four Corners, vol. 2 (2020) by...: Theodore Roscoe was an American biographer, historian and one of the finest pulp writers of the day, known for his gripping tales of exotic...
Want To Be A Guest?
As we stare in the face of summer when
the flaming Sky God tries to kill us all, I thought I would remind you that I
welcome guest posts here. If you have read this kind of post before, and have
an interest, please read this updated post today as I have added a couple of
things.
Guests are more than welcome and very
much appreciated. Unlike some folks and their places, I don’t have a lot of
forms to fill out or hoops to jump through as I have made the process as easy
as possible. Most questions you are already answered here so please read the
post before reaching out.
First and foremost, No AI
for anything. Period.
With that out of the way…. Depending
on my reviews—Open days are currently Tuesdays and Sundays. Sometimes other
says are as well as I don’t read that fast anymore. I usually run excerpts from
published or about to be published works on Sundays as excerpts seem to work
best on those days.
Topic--pretty much anything goes.
While my blog is mainly aimed towards items of interest for readers and writers
of mystery and crime fiction, I am open to pretty much anything. I do ask that
folks avoid the topics of religion and politics unless either or both directly
relate to the work being discussed or promoted.
Please Note --- I am not going to run
anything that advocates big pharma is hiding the cure for cancer. Folks that
come up with that stuff deserve a special place in hell.
Before contacting me, please have an
actual idea in mind. I absolutely do not assign topics. That means I am NOT
going to tell you what to write about. This is your opportunity to write what
you want to write about. You know your books, your expertise in topics, etc. I
do not. Your idea does not have to be set in stone. It does need to have some
detail. Have something to say beyond the fact that you have a new book coming
out and you want to talk about it in a guest post. Have at least a
couple of things that you know you want to have in your piece and tell me that
in your pitch.
And, yes, book reviews are very
popular here. Several folks regularly contribute book reviews. I would love to
have more book reviews from guests.
Word Count: Totally up to you. I do
not set a maximum or a minimum word count.
When your piece is ready, you send it
to me by email and include a 100 words or fewer bio. Also send any pics that
you think should be included in the piece. While some guest posts are super
heavy in pictures, I think it works best to have two or so. While I can and do
lift author photos and book covers from Amazon and author websites, it is
easier if you just send it from the start as well as any other pics you believe
should be included.
Exclusivity: The period should be
original to my blog. I request that you allow me to be the exclusive home for
the piece for 90 days. This allows me to make multiple posts about your guest
post on social media and still bring in readers.
I have had folks write for me one
weekend and, within two weeks, ignore the exclusivity period, and run the exact
same piece elsewhere. Rather kills the point of my efforts to bring attention
to your post.
This is, as always, a nonpaying
opportunity. Yes, I absolutely value your work. I also have no income other
than SSD (and that is just a few hundred each month) and am supporting myself,
my adult son, and this old house on what little I inherited when my Mom passed.
The bank account is steadily shrinking and I am doing the best I can to hang in
here. Scott has been without work since mid April and that has made things
massively worse. Things are going downhill, rapidly, but as long as I can keep
this place going, I will.
While I have no funds to pay you, I
can promise to promote the heck out of your appearance. You will be seen. I
can’t promise a certain number of sales, but most guests do see a spike in
their sales. Guests who are on the blog on a semi regular basis do far better
than one off appearances, but everyone does see an impact.
Questions/ pitches should be sent to me at Kevinrtipple AT Verizon.net
I hope you choose to be a part of
things here. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2026
Saturday, May 30, 2026
KRL Update:
Up on KRL this week reviews and giveaways of 4 fun food and drink related cozies-"Some Like it Fudgy" A Candy-Coated Mystery by Nancy Coco, "A Poisonous Pour" A Cece Barton Mystery by Maddie Day, "Death by Chocolate Ladyfingers" Death by Chocolate Mystery by Sarah Graves, and "Confessions of an Amateur Sleuth" A Bainbridge Island Mystery by Lynn Cahoon https://kingsriverlife.com/05/30/may-food-mystery-catchup/
And the latest Queer Mystery Coming Attractions from Matt Lubbers-Moore https://kingsriverlife.com/05/30/queer-mystery-coming-attractions-pride-month-2026/
And a review and ebook giveaway of "The Family Bix" by Alan Orloff, along with an interesting interview with Alan https://kingsriverlife.com/05/30/the-family-biz-by-alan-orloff/
And a review of "The Inklings Detective Agency" by John R Kelly https://kingsriverlife.com/05/30/the-inklings-detective-agency-by-john-r-kelly/
Up on KRL during the week another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Victoria Hamilton where she talks about tea with the Queen, and her new book "Masher of Ceremonies" https://kingsriverlife.com/05/27/tea-with-the-queen/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Murder Under a Bitter Moon" by Abigail Keam https://www.krlnews.com/2026/05/murder-under-bitter-moon-by-abigail.html
And a review and ebook giveaway of "Homicide on the Range" by Rosalie Spielman https://www.krlnews.com/2026/05/homicide-on-range-by-rosalie-spielman.html
And a review and giveaway of "Guilt" by Keigo Higashino https://www.krlnews.com/2026/05/guilt-by-keigo-higashino-reviewgiveaway.html
Happy reading,
Lorie
SleuthSayers: Re-Tell Me a Story
SleuthSayers: Re-Tell Me a Story: It seems that I get a lot of my ideas for SleuthSayers posts from what I see on my TV--and that's what happened with today's colum...
Jerry's House of Everything: DELL FOUR COLOR (1939 SERIES) #6: DICK TRACY
Jerry's House of Everything: DELL FOUR COLOR (1939 SERIES) #6: DICK TRACY: This issue collects 64 Sunday strips featuring Chester Gould's famous detective. It starts when Tracy arrests a gang of female perfume t...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Subtle Art of Folding Space by John Chu: Reviewed by Kristin An infinite number of universes. Humans have coded and manufactured “skunkworks” to manipulate and manage physics of t...
Scott's Take: The Butcher's Masquerade: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl series)
The Butcher's Masquerade: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is the fifth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I read this by way of an eBook so I did not have access to the bonus short story for this novel.
The publisher’s plot synopsis for this one
is pretty vague. That presents a problem as the book is hard to describe as it
is without spoilers. Basically, there is a giant jungle region where the
hunters are now part of the game and are hunting the crawlers. There are
roaming dinosaurs, Vrah, one of the Mantis, is hunting Carl. If that was not
vague enough, the book ends with a cliffhanger.
The audible book might be worth listening
to instead of reading this one as there is at least one song only included only
in the audible version. However, that song is also available on YouTube.
Princess Donut becomes a bard in this novel so there are songs now.
I enjoyed this book, but the final third
act is way different than what I expected as I was reading. It also drags a
bit. If you like the humor and the action of the series than you should enjoy
this one. But, you are also warned that things get pretty weird.
I am looking forward to reading The Eye of the Bedlam Bride which is
the sixth book in the series.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4u4TRUH
My digital reading copy came by way of the
Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2026
Friday, May 29, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Blood Lines
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books - Blood Lines: Ruth Rendell (1930-2015) is an author who needs very little introduction, having created the popular Chief Inspector Reginald "Reg...
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE LOST CITY
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE LOST CITY: The Lost City by "John Blaine" (Harold L. Goodwin & Peter J. Harkins) (1947) Book Two in a series of twenty-four, with the...
Thursday, May 28, 2026
Something Is Going To Happen: Response to a Guy I Argued With in a Pub (by S. B. Watson)
Something Is Going To Happen: Response to a Guy I Argued With in a Pub (by S. B. Watson)
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange: The typewriter of celebrated murder mystery author Dame Agatha Christie will be featured in a new exhibition celebrating her life later thi...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 86 Calls for Submissions in June 2026 - Paying markets
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 86 Calls for Submissions in June 2026 - Paying mar...: This June there are more than seven dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As always...
Thursday Treats: 5/28/2026
The latest reading opportunities…
Punk Noir has published, Champagne For My
Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends — Issue 3.This series of
short stories are all free to read online at their website. You can also read
the first issue for free here as well as the
second here.
A few weeks back, fellow SMFS member Judy Sheluk announced that her short story, The Last Detail, was published
online at Brown Hound Press. She also said this was a great publication to work
with and was very enthusiastic about the market for other writers. Fellow SMFS
list member Shelly Jones was equally
enthusiastic when she announced that her short story, Bloom, was published by
Brown Hound Press. You can read the tale, for free, here. A reminder for
fellow writers, this is a paying market.
Fellow SMFS list member Nick Guthrie announced that his WWII mystery short
story, In the Ruins, was published online at Cold Caller. You can read the tale
for free here.
Fellow SMFS list member Christina Hoag announced that
her non fiction book, I Am the Famous Carlos: The Story of the Jackal,
the World's First Celebrity Terrorist, was released earlier this month.
Published by Three Jandals Press, the read is available at Amazon and other
vendors.
According to Amazon, Scenic &
Sinister: An Indiana Landmarks Anthology was released back in April. It
was only this past week when two fellow SMFS list members announced it was out
and that they had stories in it. Michael Dabney (Death—In 9
Innings) and Shari Held (Send in the
Clowns) reported their presence in the anthology published by Speed City Press
(publishing imprint of the Indiana chapter of Sisters in Crime). You can get
the book at Amazon or other
vendors.
Finally, fellow SMFS list member, Michael Bracken, announced that the anthology, Wish Upon
A Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales was now up on Amazon for
preorder ahead of the June 2nd release. Coedited with Stacy Woodson also of the SMFS,
the book features short stories from Donna Andrews, Michael Bracken (editor),
David Dean, John M. Floyd, Barb Goffman, Debra H. Goldstein, James A. Hearn,
Adam Meyer, Tom Milani, Laura Oles, Josh Pachter, Joseph S. Walker, Andrew
Welsh-Huggins, and Stacy Woodson (editor). Published by Level Short (an imprint of Level Best Books), the anthology is available in
both print and digital book versions at Amazon.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 57 Writing Contests in June 2026 - No entry fees!
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 57 Writing Contests in June 2026 - No entry fees!: This June there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes range f...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "A Touch of Petulance" by Ray Bradbury
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "A Touch of Petulance" by ...: The story I am featuring comes from the collection Killer Come Back to Me: The Crime Stories of Ray Bradbury . It was published by Hard Ca...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: DRY SEPTEMBER
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: DRY SEPTEMBER: "Dry September" by William Faulkner (first published in Scribner's Magazine , January 1931; reprinted in Faulkner's collec...
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