Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Dead Drop by James L’Etoile
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Friday, October 02, 2026
Beneath the Stains of Time: Every Roos Has Its Thorn: "Death is a Trouper" (1946) by Kelley Roos
Beneath the Stains of Time: Every Roos Has Its Thorn: "Death is a Trouper" (19...: Writing under the shared pseudonym " Kelley Roos ," William and Audrey Roos formed one of the best, cleverest and funniest writing...
Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: The Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: The Tiger in the Grass: Sto...: This short story collection is divided into 5 sections. First is the story "The Tiger in the Grass," which I enjoyed very much. ...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: SANDY THE TINKER
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: SANDY THE TINKER: "Sandy the Tinker" by Charlotte Riddell (first published anonymously in London Society , Christmas 1880; reprinted in her collec...
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Little Big Crimes: The Million Dollar Legs Matter, by Richard Helms
Little Big Crimes: The Million Dollar Legs Matter, by Richard Helms: "The Million Dollar Legs Matter," by Richard Helms, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2026. This is Helms...
Jerry's House of Everything: OVERLOOKED MONSTER FLICK: MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (1954)
Jerry's House of Everything: OVERLOOKED MONSTER FLICK: MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN ...: Not a great movie but it has the distinction of being the first film produced by Roger Corman; it was Corman's experience in making this...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hangman's Tree (1949) by Dorothy Cameron Disney
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hangman's Tree (1949) by Dorothy Cameron Disney: Dorothy Cameron Disney was an American journalist, writer and columnist whose column, "Can This Marriage Be Saved," ran for three...
Monday, September 28, 2026
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: London Station: A Novel by David McCloskey
The fifth
book about CIA agent Artemis Aphrodite Procter, London Station (Norton,
September 2026) by David McCloskey is plainly inspired by recent events in the
United States. There’s a new president in the White House, who it was rumored
intended to lower the boom on the CIA. His pick for CIA director was an
unconventional one. Bobby Jerome started a home building company with three
employees and now it has more than 15,000 personnel. He has vowed to bring a
business perspective to the running of the agency, despite his complete lack of
knowledge or experience in the field, and reduce the budget which he considered
bloated. To do so, he brought several of the senior managers of his corporation
to fill the upper level slots, all as clueless as he is.
One of
Jerome’s first acts is to examine how much money the CIA is spending to support
its fellow agencies in other countries and sees the balance is heavily weighted
on the U.S. side. He unfortunately decides to withdraw support from the British
Secret Intelligence Service to better balance the relationship financially,
leaving some of their agents dead as a result. The SIS is in an uproar and, after
Jerome offends the chief of SIS in a meeting, he fires the CIA’s head of London
Station because he is too supportive of the British. In his place Jerome
appoints Artemis, despite her disinterest, and tells her she is in charge of
rebalancing the relationship.
Artemis is an
espionage agent to the core and she knows that all intelligence agencies work
together to assess threat and defend against it. After a few more demented
instructions from Jerome and his buddies, she decides she has to find a way to aggressively
protect the U.S.-British relationship and its agents while she protects
herself.
In the
meantime the abruptly terminated former head of London Station, whose pension
is being threatened by Jerome, has gone to work for a private intelligence
agency run by an eccentric billionaire for a purpose as yet unclear. The former
CIA chief of station still has an active Rolodex and he can draw on internal
sources to help him in his new work.
Artemis has
her work cut out for her in this galloping story of boots-on-the-ground
tradecraft and political maneuvers punctuated with wisecracks. One of Jerome’s
henchmen annoys her so severely she establishes a swear jar every time she’s
tempted to smack him. By the time the book ends, she’s graduated to a large
wastebasket that is overflowing with cash. McCloskey’s background in the agency
and his first-hand knowledge of the work show in every scene. A very good read.
Especially for fans of espionage thrillers.
·
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
·
Publication date: September 29, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 432 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1324123214
·
ISBN-13: 978-1324123217
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4iRyofB
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 27, 2026
Friday, September 25, 2026
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: STAR SURGEON
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK: STAR SURGEON: Star Surgeon by Alan E. Nourse (1959) One interesting sub-group of science fiction is medical science fiction, from the early days of Mary...
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: MUCKLE-MOUTHED MEG
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: MUCKLE-MOUTHED MEG: "Muckle-Mouthed Meg" by Howard Pease (from Border Ghost Stories , 1919) 'Hang him, Provost!' cried the Town Clerk; ...
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Secret Wonders of the World: 385 Extraordinary Places You Never Knew Existed
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Secret Wonders of the World: 385 Extraordinary Pl...: Reviewed by Jeanne I am kind of a sucker for these sorts of books: books about interesting places in general ( Atlas Obscura: An Explo...
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