Sunday, November 30, 2025
Review: The Curious Poisoning of Jewel Barnes: A Samuel Craddock Mystery by Terry Shames
This comes out Tuesday...
It is always a great pleasure when
another book in the long running Samuel Craddock Mystery series by
Terry Shames comes out. The latest, The Curious Poisoning of Jewel Barnes,
is another solidly good one.
As the book begins, it is the fall of Craddock’s
discontent. He thought he was in love and they had a future together. But, Wendy
Gleason is gone as she has reconnected with her high school love who has come
back into her life. It has been a bit of a whirlwind these last few weeks for
them and they are about to be married. A break up is hard enough, but with
Jarret Creek so small, everybody for miles around knows every excruciating
detail.
Loretta has stopped by this morning, as
she almost always does, with some food and news. This time the news is a bit
strange as one of two twin sisters thinks the other is trying to kill her. Lily
and Jewel, part of the Barnes family, have lived together their entire lives. They
live a couple of blocks over from the family home. Much of their lives, they
have bickered, but nothing too serious and nothing ever got out of hand to the
point that anyone else, in the family or outside, had to really intervene.
That may have changed in the here and
now of mid-November. Loretta says she has heard from Hannah, another sister,
there is some sort of serious feud going on. Lily is sure her twin sister is trying
to poison her and, to hear Loretta tell it, the fear that Lily has is very
real.
Chief Samuel Craddock does not think
much of it as everybody in that family has a temper and there is always some
sort of petty disagreement going on. Some families are just like that. Not only
that, but the twins are in their mid-forties so Craddock believes they should
both have some sense. Beyond that, why would one try to kill the other one now?
Loretta does not know, but she is
clearly concerned as is Hannah who told her some of the details. So, he agrees
to see each of the twins and check in, but that takes awhile as various other
problems take precedence. That includes the possibility of an illegal dumpsite
just outside the limits of his jurisdiction. A site that, it soon becomes clear,
nobody wants to talk about or have it investigated.
Soon, Jewel is dead from an apparent
poisoning. Lily is the main suspect. She is also devastated by the death of her
twin sister. That death also has rocked Hannah and the entire family. A death
that has to be investigated by Craddock and others as either it was an accident
or deliberate.
If that wasn’t enough, Wendy’s kids who
have always thought the world of Craddock are concerned about the return of the
old flame and his criminal history. It doesn’t take long for Craddock to
realize they have reason to be concerned though he has no idea what to do about
it. Where is the line between being a lawman and a concerned ex-boyfriend?
As always in this series, much is going
on via many fronts, and Samuel Craddock does his best. The Curious Poisoning
of Jewel Barnes: A Samuel Craddock Mystery brings back numerous
characters that are old friends/ The latest installment of a great series that
began with A Killing at Cotton Hill is another solidly good read.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3JmQlU1
My digital ARC came by way of Severn
House, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Saturday, November 29, 2025
Beneath the Stains of Time: Dance of Death (1938) by Helen McCloy
SleuthSayers: The Long Road to River Road
Scott's Take: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt
Dinniman is the first book in a multi book series. There is also a graphic
novel version that you can read each chapter weekly through Webtoon for free as
it is released. Those issues will be version which will be collected into a
finished volume later. I first read some of the graphic novel that is out and
decided to read the book version. The graphic novel version cuts out some of
the adult content and seems to be more teen friendly than the book.
In this series, Carl is an ex-Coast
Guard member who has recently broken up with his cheating girlfriend. He is
alone with her prize-winning show cat, Princess Donut. It is a snowy night and
Princes Donut has decided to escape their dwelling. This means Carl has to,
without pants or shoes, chase after the cat before it freezes to death. Since
they are both outside, they are some of the few survivors of a massive alien
attack that causes all buildings everywhere to suddenly collapse killing anyone
who is inside a building at the time.
Those who were outside and survived are
then rounded up by the aliens who have plans for them. They will now be forced
to fight for their lives in a televised game show that will be watched by other
space aliens elsewhere. The aliens have designed this gameshow based on video
game logic, so Princess Donut and Carl must face goblins in level 1 if they
wish to survive. This is just the beginning of their journey as a man and a cat
must face the apocalypse together.
This book has plenty of adult content.
There is drinking, smoking, peeing, violence, and even an AI generated sex tape
comes to pass. This is a violent humor
filled adventure. There will be death and a talking cat. Princess Donut is
leveled up by the aliens to be a true partner for Carl. So now the cat can talk
and cast magic spells.
I read the large print version of this from
my local library which included a bonus short story from the perspective of one
of the goblins. There are seven books in the series out now. Book eight, A
Parade of Horribles, comes out in 2026.
The second book in the series is called Carl’s
Doomsday Scenario as a man and his cat continue their quest to survive
the game. Carl still has no pants and no shoes. There is an important reason
why this is, but I am not going to ruin it for you.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/448BhQX
Scott A. Tipple ©2025
Posts
