Thursday, November 22, 2018
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Blood and Rubles: Stuart M. Kaminsky
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Blood and Rubles: Stuart M. Kaminsky: The Inspector Rostnikov series began in 1981 when Russia was still part of the USSR; the 16th and last book in the series was published in ...
Blood-Red Pencil: Writers Gotta Read, Right? Thanksgiving Day in the...
Blood-Red Pencil: Writers Gotta Read, Right? Thanksgiving Day in the...: Home to Thanksgiving. George Henry Durrie [Public domain] Published by Currier and Ives. Thanksgiving is upon us—the season for gratit...
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Crime, Prisons, Breathing Lessons, Uns...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Crime, Prisons, Breathing Lessons, Uns...: Reported by Jeanne In My Father’s House: A New View of how Crime Runs in the Family by Fox Butterfield was deemed both fasci...
Crime Watch: Review: HEAVEN SENT
Crime Watch: Review: HEAVEN SENT: HEAVEN SENT by Alan Carter (Fremantle Press, 2018) Reviewed by Karen Chisholm Detective Sergeant Philip ‘Cato’ Kwong is light on sleep...
MAKE MINE MYSTERY: Where to Write - An Experiment
MAKE MINE MYSTERY: Where to Write - An Experiment: by Janis Patterson I’m lucky. I have an office. Well, that’s a bit grandiose. I have a tiny desk against one wall i...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 3 Noteworthy Writing Conferences in December 2018
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 3 Noteworthy Writing Conferences in December 2018: Pixabay During the holidays, writing conferences slow down. However, the few conferences offered in December are vibrant with opportuni...
Review: Mystery Weekly Magazine: June 2018
The
cover story “Lady Dick” starts off the Mystery Weekly Magazine: June 2018 and
it is a good one. After WWII a woman has to put her war time earned skills to
work at home in this tale by Tony Parker. It is 1947 and “DC coppers object to
me ventilating mugs for adultery.” Well, it is Washington after all.
“A Ship
Called Pandora” by Melodie Campbell follows next. A touch of science fiction, a
damsel in the need of relocation through the witness protection program, and Tosh
Malloy is on the job. Tosh is a very good at safely disappearing witnesses into
their new lives. Not a single failure yet. He intends to make very sure that Crystal
Starlight will not be his first.
Working
the graveyard shift at the Donnelly Street subway station is never a good
thing. Even worse when Tucker Clark is in town doing a concert. His brand of
country rock seems bring in folks who think it is okay to trash the city. In “Mop Jockey” by Michael Ayoob, things are
starting to escalate in a negative way with long lasting repercussions.
Family
is not always as great as it is cracked up to be. Molly Sullivan has no
interest in going back to Uncle Raymond’s farm in “A Detour Down Memory Lane”
by John H. Dromey. When they were kids Liz was no fun then and was pretty much
a bully. Molly is pretty sure things have not changed even though they both are
adults now. Liz was never was one to
take no for an answer and is very much motivated to get Molly to come visit.
The job
has gone very wrong and now the man known as “Tank” is in real trouble. At
least Tank still has the drugs and the cash if he can make it out of there in
“Stars” by Peter W. J. Hayes. Even if he can, the aftermath is sure to be no
party.
The body
in the dumpster at the Harborside Motor Court was not supposed to be found by
Betty. But, she was the one to find it in “The Motor Court” by Jennifer Collins
Moore. It is August and all that entails for the body in a dumpster which, in
this case, was and is the late and not so lamented Ronnie Murphy. Did the real
estate deal with the place get him killed? Maybe so. Maybe not.
The last
view Tommy Cevic had was of the wooded valley below. Chances he did not see his
killer who was about to fire the fatal shot through the widow. Detective
Perkins, as well as the reader, is left to figure it out in the “You-Solve-It” puzzle,
“In The Crosshairs” by Laird Long.
Mr. Long
also provides the solution to the previous “You-Solve-It” titled “Kidnapped” found
in the May 2018 issue. My review of that issue can be found here.
From the
striking cover all the way to the last page, Mystery Weekly Magazine June 2018
is another solidly good magazine. Mystery in all its many splendid flavors is
welcome in this publication and that is certainly true with this issue as readers
are even taken to space in the form of a tale set in a science fiction setting.
Full of mystery, Mystery Weekly Magazine: June 2018 is another solidly good
issue well worth your time.
Mystery Weekly Magazine: June 2018
May 29, 2018
ASIN: B07DF6T315
eBook (also available in print)
86 Pages
$2.99
For quite some time
now I have been gifted a subscription by the publisher with no expectation at
all of a review. I now read and review each issue as I can. To date, I have
never submitted anything to this market and will not do so as long as I review
the publication.
Kevin R. Tipple
©2018
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Review: Skies of Ash by Rachel Howzell Hall
“Personal drama handled, my heart found its regular pace, and I
shoved the phone back into my bag. I muttered another “thank you,” then jammed
up the hill, following a dank river of water and ashes that would end in blood.”
(Skies of Ash, Rachel Howzell Hall, Chapter Two, Page 20)
It is
almost mid-December and six months after Land of Shadows when Detective Elouise
“Lou” Norton is called out to a house fire in Baldwin Hills. There are bodies
in what is left of the house ravaged by a horrific fire most likely caused by
an arsonist. As it happens, the scene is a short three miles away from her home.
While she has directions, she could have just followed the smoke plume over the
area.
Much of
the house at 6381 Don Mateo Drive is gone. What remains and still barely stands
hides the bodies of Juliet Chatman and her kids, Chloe and Cody. All three were
found dead. The smoke got to them before the flames worked their way to them.
But, there are troubling aspects that indicate Juliet Chatman knew they were in
serious danger. One is the fact that while she clearly was holding on to her
daughter, Juliet Chatman died while clutching a gun in the other. Then there is
the 911 call Juliet made where she said somebody was trying to kill her. The name
of that person is not discernable on the tape.
Clearly,
person or persons unknown, did kill the mom and her kids. Somebody did it.
While law enforcement always starts from the proposition that the spouse did it
in this case that initially seems unlikely. Christopher Chatman, a commodities broker,
arrived as the fire was blazing and was injured fighting firefighters in attempt to go into the inferno
after his family. His alibi for why he was not home stands up to scrutiny.
If he
didn’t do it, then who did? And why are the neighbors being so weird about the
Chatmans? Two of the many questions for Detective Norton and her partner Colin
Taggert to answer in Skies of Ash.
Often
the second book in a series is weaker than the first. That is certainly not
remotely the case here. Skies of Ash builds on Land
of Shadows and adds further depth to the Norton character as well
as most of the other characters.
Like a
lot of really good series, this second book continues everything regarding
personal relationships while offering a brand new intriguing case to solve.
Such is the case here with what is definitely a horrific tragedy in the deaths of
two children as well as their mother. Author Rachel Howzell Hall does not focus
on the gruesome details of what happens to a body in a fire and instead keeps the
focus on the reason why things like this happen.
Skies of Ash is a very good book. Interested potential readers are strongly
encouraged to read Land of Shadows as major plot points from the first book carry
over here amongst the new case and that investigation. There are a lot of
things going on in this second book that tie directly into the first making
both books well worth your time and effort. Good stuff and very much
recommended.
Skies of Ash
Rachel Howzell Hall
Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
May 2015
ISBN# 978-0-7653-3636-1
Hardback (also available in paperback and digital formats)
336 Pages
$25.99
Material supplied
by the good folks of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2018
Monday, November 19, 2018
Do Some Damage: You Know What They Say About Opinions ...
Do Some Damage: You Know What They Say About Opinions ...: I'll be the first to admit I'm not much of a comic book reader. Even as a kid, I preferred immersing myself in words and I think the...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Sarah's Scribbles
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Sarah's Scribbles: Reviewed by Ambrea I originally saw Sarah Andersen’s work online, and I quickly fell in love with her comics. Andersen is funn...
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