This is the second book in the Camino Island series and, like most second installments, isn’t quite as good as the first. Still, it’s a page-turner with a plot that would make a great movie. We rejoin our bookseller, Bruce Cable of Bay Books, after the hubbub surrounding the Princeton manuscripts has died down. Mercer is coming back to town… Read more
Camino Island starts out with a caper, and I love a good caper. A group of men are planning a heist. They are scoping out their target, getting familiar with the security, and devising a plan to break into the rare books library at Princeton University and steal the original manuscripts written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s a cunning plan… Read more
This is really a lovely book. Ashlyn is a rare book dealer and in a box of books from an estate, she comes across an oddity: a bound book with no author, no publisher, no end pages, none of the usual stuff. Only a title – Regretting Belle – an inscription: How, Belle? After everything…how could you do it? Intriguing!… Read more
To paraphrase the great Sugar Ray Robinson,” I said, “trouble is what I do.” Leonid McGill Walter Mosley is a poet. Sure, he writes detective novels, but the way he writes them can be pure poetry. From the names of the characters, to his descriptions, the words and phrases he chooses are a pleasure to read — but that’s only… Read more
So, this was another of my Bargain Books on Kindle. A while back, I ordered a stack of titles that were all free or 99 cents, and most of them have been pretty good (there are a few that I started and abandoned, but that’s another post altogether). Polar Bear Dawn is the first book in the Detective Bernadette Callahan… Read more
Murderbots! How could I resist a book about Murderbots! Even the title is awesome — All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries) — and I can’t stop saying it (murderbot murderbot murderbot). The fact that the author of this terrific bit of sci-fi is a woman (Martha Wells)? That’s just icing on the murderbot cake. All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries… Read more
I picked up a copy of The Dime by Kathleen Kent because I requested (and am eager to get my hands on) a review copy of the second book in the series, called The Burn. Makes sense to read the first book first, right? But as I was ordering the first book on Amazon, I noticed a familiar title and… Read more
Oh, how happy I was to see this! I’m a big Christopher Moore fan in general and I have really enjoyed the adventures of his court jester, Pocket of Dog Snogging, in Fool and The Serpent of Venice. This one had to be even more fun because: Squirrels! But let’s start with the Afterword: I know what you’re thinking. You’re… Read more
Let’s start the week off with another bargain find on Amazon: Method 15/33 by Shannon Kirk is a steal at 99 cents. It’s a decent read, pretty quick, and has some surprising twists. In Method 15/33 a girl is kidnapped and held for some unknown (at least for a while) purpose. But instead of panicking and dissolving into tears and… Read more
How could you resist a title like this? Something’s Alive on the Titanic by Robert J. Sterling is one of the bargain books I picked up for fun over the past weeks. The title got my attention but, to be honest, my expectations weren’t terribly high. However, I was pleasantly surprised by a book that was well-researched and a fun… Read more