Skeleton Creek is young adult fiction for kids who grew up online — think Harriet the Spy meets The Blair Witch Project. Two bored teenagers manufacture a mystery in their hometown, which leads to a real mystery and some dangerous consequences. When one of them is seriously injured, the other continues the investigation, videotaping her adventures and posting them online.… Read more
How could a book-lover resist a mystery that revolves around the New York Public Library? This is a novel about collecting great books and antique maps, about family secrets and public images. I was caught up in the fabulous descriptions of the collections and their eccentric collectors. In fact, I found the books more interesting than the mystery. This is… Read more
I received this book and read it last year, and somehow managed to overlook it when I was getting my reviews posted. I hope that readers won’t make the mistake of overlooking this book – I enjoyed this one very much. Mr. White’s Confession is the story of a series of murders in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1939. Dime-a-dance girls… Read more
“So, long ago, he’d taken to calling himself Jay Walker, and somewhere along the line someone had blurred that into Jaywalker. Which had been alright with him: the truth was, he’d never had the patience to stand on a curb waiting for alight…” The Tenth Case is a fun little legal thriller with plenty of twists and turns, lots of… Read more
I am working my way through the Elvis Cole novels by Robert Crais. I’m not reading them in any particular order – however they happen to turn up at the library or the bookstore is fine with me. I am glad, though, to have read this one fairly early on. It gives a fascinating look at Elvis’ family history and… Read more
Raymond White is a young man who has everything: a fancy degree, a gorgeous fiance, a high-powered career and connections that are about to land him a seat in the US Congress. Then he agrees to do a favor for a dying friend and it all falls apart. His rivals frame him for murder, taking the job, the Congressional seat… Read more
In Eric Van Lustbader’s new novel, the President is an ultra-conservative, ultra-religious extremist, and he and his supporters are willing to do anything to keep a lock on the country, even if it means torturing their own citizens and forcing foreign governments to be complicit in their dirty deals. It’s a future that seems all too plausible in our current… Read more
I have long been a fan of John Sanford’s “Prey” series, featuring Lucas Davenport of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. In this book, Sanford focuses on a different member of the BCA, Virgil Flowers, with the same excellent results. Virgil arrives in the tiny town of Bluestem in a rush of rain and fire – he’s speeding through a… Read more
I do love a good detective novel. Anyone who has taken a peek at my library knows that I love mysteries. I’ve got a full set of Nero Wolfe novels (including the cookbook), a full set of Spenser novels, and a smattering of other interesting detectives as well. But what to do since Archie and Mr. Wolfe won’t be coming… Read more
I have a certain fascination with old buildings, run-down hotels, abandoned factories. There are dozens of websites that show me I am not alone in this. (Check out Opacity: Urban Ruins for some fabulous photos.) So the idea of infiltrating a famous old hotel, closed up since the 1960’s, was really intriguing. Sadly, the book just didn’t live up to… Read more