Wednesday, September 30, 2026
SleuthSayers: Old Myths, New Stories
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: The Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: SANDY THE TINKER
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Little Big Crimes: The Million Dollar Legs Matter, by Richard Helms
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
Jerry's House of Everything: OVERLOOKED MONSTER FLICK: MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (1954)
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Book Lovers’ New England: A Guide to Literary Landmarks by Sheila Moeschen
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Hangman's Tree (1949) by Dorothy Cameron Disney
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
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 100 Calls for Submissions in October 2026 - Paying Markets
We Really Do Need Help
As I began the month, I am ending the month flat out
begging for help
Things are very brutal money wise. Not just with the
groceries, gasoline, and more, that is
hitting all of us. As occurred almost all summer, Scott did not work most of
August as there was not any work for him. The contractor neighbor has not used
Scott at all this month. There is no sign of that changing. No work means no
paycheck and no income.
He is applying for anything and everything and can’t
even get an interview. A lot of places are using AI chatbots, or AI as a
screening tool after the application is submitted, and he can’t get by them.
Even for entry level minimum wage jobs.
So, I am flat out begging for help. If you like what
we do at Kevin's Corner, please consider making a donation through the PayPal
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Please and thank you.
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