Lesa's Book Critiques: The Devilish Duke’s Rejected Wife by Eloisa James
Wednesday, November 04, 2026
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Mystery of Hunting's End (1930) by Mignon G. Eberhart
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Mystery of Hunting's End (1930) by Mignon G. E...: Last year, I reviewed Mignon G. Eberhart ' s From This Dark Stairway (1931), fourth in the Nurse Keath and Lance O'Leary series, wh...
SleuthSayers: What Are You Wearing?
SleuthSayers: What Are You Wearing?: What are you wearing? Such an interesting question. Or at least it can be. It could be asked in a horrified tone--imagine a mom seeing her...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: PARLOUR TRICKS
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: PARLOUR TRICKS: "Parlour Tricks" by Ralph Plummer (first published in the Passing Show Christmas Holiday Annual , 1930; reprinted in Silent Nigh...
Short Story Wednesday Review: A Dark Place and Other Kate Burkholder Short Stories by Linda Castillo
A Dark Place and Other Kate
Burkholder Short Stories by Linda Castillo opens with every
parent’s nightmare. 12-year-old Aaron Kuhns and 11-year-old Kevin Dennison are
missing. As the night goes on and the weather gets worse, it is all hands-on
deck for the small police force in Painter’s Mill, Ohio, led by Kate
Burkholder. The kids have to be found.
A missing child is also in play in “Disappeared.” The youngest child
of Joseph and Emma Kline, a toddler, is missing. The child might have wandered
outside and could have easily gotten to the nearby Painters Creek. Or be lost
elsewhere on their Amish farm.
Merle Beachy was just trying to get home
in “Blood Moon.” The buggy is on the way home down backroads as the fog gets
thicker when everything goes wrong. The horse got spooked and bolted, the buggy
crashed, he got attacked, and now dispatch is waking up the chief with the call
for help out at the Levi Miller Farm.
Eddie Chupp is harvesting pumpkins as
“Hallowed Ground” begins. The harvest is a good one. He’s happy and enjoying
the day until his dog gets into something in the field. The dog won’t stop digging. Eddie goes to see
what the dog has found and thinks that it is a human bone.
And arsonist has done their work as
“Dark Storm Rising” begins. Just days later, Kate Burkholder and John Tomasetti,
BCI agent, are on the way to their honeymoon cabin somewhere close to Lake
Erie. Sugar Maple Cabins is owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. Nisley. They are
also having some trouble as one of their cabins was burned down recently.
A derecho is a terrifying and
destructive weather event. Here in NE Dallas, we are blasted by one a few years
ago. The result was a multi-day power outage that made me sick from the heat
and widespread damage. They are far more common in the Midwest, places like
Ohio. One has hit “A Dark Path” and people are missing. It might not be just
the fault of the weather either.
I have long been a fan of the Kate
Burkholder series by Linda Castillo. I was onboard long before she was famous
and winning awards. Like the late Steven F. Havill, her books are set in a small
town, feature diverse and complicated characters, and build upon each other. The
primary characters become like family to the read as they go through their
lives. The series is fluid and the same can be said of her latest short story
collection.
If you are a new to this author, A
Dark Path and Other Kate Burkholder Short Stories is a very good start.
And if you are an old hand at the series, reading this is like coming home.
Truly a balm for the soul and what ails you.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://link.amazon/B04oKRVqN
After being denied by the publisher, Minotaur
Books last summer on NetGalley, Lesa
Holstine sent me her paperback review copy several months ago. I am grateful to
her for sending me her copy to read and review. You should read her review
as well.
Kevin R. Tipple © 2026
Tuesday, November 03, 2026
Publication Day Review: Have Courage: Longmire Stories by Craig Johnson
Have
Courage: Longmire Stories
by Craig Johnson collects a number of the holiday stories that he wrote over
recent years and g away as free reads in his newsletter. The second of such
books, following in the tradition of Wait for Signs: Twelve Longmire
Stories, (a great read if you have not read it) includes the all-new
short story, “Angel Shot with a Twist.”
After
the introduction by A. Martinez, Jacob Nighthorse, the book opens with “Warms
You Twice.” Set on Christmas Eve of December 1972, Walt Longmire is a new and
relatively untested Deputy. Sheriff Lucian Connelly decides it is time for Deputy
Longmire and he to go out on their first call out together and warns him not to
do anything stupid. The cantankerous Sheriff is taking him to see Willis Dietz who has troubles of his own.
Also
set in 1972 and a few months earlier, “The Perfect A,” comes next. Walt
Longmire was hired days earlier and is pretty much alone when the call comes in
at the Absaroka County Sheriff’s Department. Doctor Bloomfield wants to go
check on one of his patients, Salvatore Ibarra, up at his mountain camp. He’d
been in town earlier and that visit concerned the good doctor. So much so he
wants somebody to go check on Mr. Ibarra, a sheep herder, at his camp in the
mountains. Doctor Bloomfield wants to go too and to do it now during an ice
storm.
Sheriff
Longmire always heads out alone, for a day or two around Christmas. He doesn’t
explain himself. In “Known Associate” we find out why he does what he does. Of
course, he does it for good reason and it is nobody’s business at the office
but his.
One
never wants a hostage situation. Especially at Christmas. It’s Christmas Eve in
“Land Of The Blind” and that is what is happening out at the Congregational
Baptist Church out at the edge of the county. The deputy known as “Double Tough”
and Sheriff Longmire head over in an attempt to end things peacefully. Easier
said than done.
What
got Eddie in jail and a lot more is explained in “Elven/Twenty-Nine.” It is
also a tale of grace and redemption as are many of the stories in this read.
The
Sheriff of Campbell County, Sandy Sandburg, and Sheriff Walt Longmire are on
the hunt for a murder suspect, Mike Embersoll. That hunt has led them to the Crow
Butte Mine. “The Percentages” takes readers on the hunt for Mike Embersoll who is
a heavy equipment operator at that mine. Going to a working mine is dangerous
enough before you throw in a possible murder suspect that can operate heavy
equipment.
For
the third year in a row, somebody has stolen the baby Jesus from the church
nativity scene. Deputy Santiago Saizarbitoria has been working the case from
the start. He is taking the latest theft very hard in “Away, In A Manger.”
Soon, Sheriff Longmire arrives at Saint Matthias to assist with the latest
investigation.
It
is Christmas Day in Powder Junction, Wyoming, and there is quite the commotion
at the unofficial local trailer park. The Kropky brothers are all large men.
They are all currently in mutual and destructive combat with household goods
sailing out into the yard around the trailers. In “Who’s your Daddy” familial history has suddenly come to light
and the news has not been universally well received.
Barrett
Long is the part-time dispatcher. He wants to tag along as Longmire and his dog
head out on Christmas Day for a domestic dispute. The call is to the Murdochs’ place
and one the good Sheriff have visited many times before. So, after they talk a
bit, Longmire decides to let his future deputy come along. In so doing, he
gives the man a glimpse of the job in
“Musical Chairs.”
It
has happened again at the “Durant Home for Assisted Living” and it needs to
stop. In “Recidivism” the former Sheriff and current resident, Lucian Connelly,
is of little help. Can not really tell you more without blowing up the tale, so
I won’t.
“Starter’s
End” is next where Ruby, the dispatcher, has entrusted Longmire with a jar of sourdough
starter. The stuff dates back over 150 years has come down through Ruby’s
family. In the here and now of the story, Ruby, as a member of the Methodist
Ladies Baking League was supposed to hand it out to various ladies of the
league. But, she has to go out of town and has turned it over to Sheriff Walt
Longmire for feeding and monitoring. He, in turn, has to deliver the jar of
stuff to Barbara Graff, at a precise time. He is on a schedule with the stuff
while he is also supposed to doing his duties as Absaroka County Sheriff with
nearly everybody in the department gone. Boy, howdy.
Barbara
Graff makes a repeat appearance in the next story, “Scents Of The Season.” She
was hosting a Christmas Eve holiday party and everything was fine. That was until
a skunk got inside her place and all the guests fled outside. With it being a holiday
resources are limited, so Longmire and Undersheriff Victoria Moretti have to
deal with it and more.
“Angel
Shot with a Twist” is the all-new tale that concludes this short story
collection. Bernadette Ochoa needs help this New Year’s Eve. She’s been well
known to local law enforcement for many decades now. She has been drinking at
the only bar for miles around that will let her in their establishment, the Chicken
Shack Bar. Now the seventy-two-year-old woman is a hostage and needs help.
Have Courage: Longmire Stories by Craig Johnson is a highly entertaining short story collection. Filled with many historical nuggets and true facts, characters that are like family, and the idea that in the end things work out, the read is a good one. Well worth your time, Have Courage: Longmire Stories by Craig Johnson is perfect for this and all holiday seasons.
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://link.amazon/B0aElo6si
My
digital ARC came from the publisher, Viking, through NetGalley with no
expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, November 02, 2026
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: New in November!
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: New in November!: Fiction Armstrong, Jess The Lost Souls of Saint Oda’s (Ruby Vaughn) Baldacci, David All In (6:20 Man) Battles, Brett Stuart Wood...
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 Keanu Reeve...
Mystery Fanfare: DAY OF THE DEAD CRIME FICTION
Mystery Fanfare: DAY OF THE DEAD CRIME FICTION: W hat holiday could be more fitting to Crime Fiction than El Dia de los Muertos: Day of the Dead? DÃa de los Muertos is celebrated eve...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: So Anyway, I Replied to the Nigerian Prince by Mark Dowling
So Anyway,
I Replied to the Nigerian Prince (Independently published, 2026) by Irish
author Mark Dowling is a light-hearted thriller with a serious streak set in
Dublin. I am not sure how it came my way but I am delighted that it did.
Liam
O’Sullivan is desperate. He lost his job with an internet supplier and can’t
find another one. He’s out of cash and behind on his rent. Even tiny rundown apartments
above a kebab shop require a regular cash outlay. Then there’s the debt he owes
the local moneylender Fingers, who is losing patience. So when the email from
Prince Amokachi of the Royal House of Benin arrives, offering him 10 million
pounds for his assistance, Liam responds by saying he only needs 10 thousand
pounds and the prince can give the rest to someone else. He resists adding a
couple of sarcastic emojis and hits the Send key.
Almost two
weeks later an invitation to meet the prince at the best hotel in Dublin arrives.
His similarly down-and-out friends Kevin, Spud, Darren, and Gerry insist on
accompanying him to serve as protection. Prince Amokachi appears in person and explains
that his late father left the bulk of his money in a London account that is
being contested by a cousin. His father’s will requires the signature of a
third party, completely unbiased, to release the funds to the older son, and
the prince is asking Liam to serve as that independent signatory.
The transfer
will take place in London, and the transaction has a deadline. If the prince
does not meet the deadline, he forfeits the money. The cousin has a vested
interest in seeing that the prince does not appear in court at the appointed
time and his thugs are actively searching for the prince. Liam and his friends
undertake to hide the prince until they can fly to London.
An original
and funny premise with some spot-on characterization. The lack of employment
and career options for those without the means or interest to attend university
comes through clearly. Dowling plainly shows there is no future for these folks
without a Nigerian prince or a fairy godmother. Dowling unfortunately did not
maximize the suspense potential of the plot but he has a great eye for the
ridiculous and knows how these characters think. Possibly the happiest book I
have read all year.
- ASIN: B0H3KHB7K9
- Publisher: Independently published
- Publication date: May 31, 2026
- Language: English
- Print length: 149 pages
- ISBN-13: 979-8255367627
Amazon
Associate Purchase Link: https://link.amazon/B05xnflJ4
Aubrey Nye
Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton
is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads
mysteries at night.
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Little Big Crimes: The Grammar Dick, by Randy Eggert
Little Big Crimes: The Grammar Dick, by Randy Eggert: "The Grammar Dick," by Randy Eggert, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, November/December 2026. Parody, boy. That'...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Ghost Walks: Case Closed, vol. 99 by Gosho Aoyama
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Ghost Walks: Case Closed, vol. 99 by Gosho Aoyama: So, before getting to the 99th volume of Gosho Aoyama 's Case Closed , some fantastic news for those who have been reading reviews of th...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
