My friend Joanne told me she wants to ven­ture into read­ing mys­ter­ies and asked for a few rec­om­men­da­tions. I tried not to over­whelm her, but it was like open­ing the flood gates. Here’s what I told her. I love the Victorian-era-set … Con­tinue read­ing →

I haven’t exactly resisted read­ing Har­lan Coben before, but I some­how didn’t think a mys­tery series about a sports agent could be that riv­et­ing. I mean, I like teams of sweaty men in skimpy uni­forms as much as the next … Con­tinue read­ing →

Hav­ing fallen to pon­der­ing titles yes­ter­day after being reminded of Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Heart, I wrote a lit­tle here about what makes a good one. This morn­ing, I was directed to Mys­te­ri­ous Mat­ters, where the under­cover … Con­tinue read­ing →

I envy writ­ers who come up with book titles that grab you and tell you exactly what the book is about with­out reveal­ing the whole story. Ellis Peters was great at it. A Nice Derange­ment of Epi­taphs (1965), about a … Con­tinue read­ing →