A zealous young editor goes to Venice in search of the legendary final papers of the American poet Jeffrey Aspern. Do they even exist? And to what depths will he have to go to find out?
Deceit Upon Deceit Upon Deceit
Reading List 2025
I have the same goal for each year when it comes to reading. 25 books, minimum. That's less than a book every two weeks. For someone who grew up a VORACIOUS reader, that should be a walk in the park. And yet... Photo by EYu00dcP BELEN on Pexels.com1 Once again, I have fallen short. My... Continue Reading →
An End and (Another) Start
I noted back in September that I was struggling. By the end of October, I knew that I’d run into several walls all at once. My physical energy never quite recovered from the longest year of bicycling of my life (81 rides and 1,100 miles!), my mental energy was ebbing, and my emotional energy was... Continue Reading →
Golden Years Investigators
Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (2020) – A quartet of retirees with a passion for unsolved murders face a murder on the grounds of their retirement home. Balancing their own lives and issues with the effects of the murder takes all the experience they gained over the decades of their lives. Why I Liked... Continue Reading →
Terrifying History
The Field of Blood-Violence in Congress and the Road to Civil War by Joanne Freeman (2018) - A look at violence within the halls of Congress and the streets of our nation’s capitol in the decades leading to the shelling of Fort Sumter and beyond. The divisions that would push the Union to the breaking... Continue Reading →
Some Moments Require A Witness
Monaco Unspoken: A Chauffeur’s Tales-A Novel About the Things We Don’t Say by A. Moreau (2025) Through a series of hushed, powerful stories, we discover a range of people facing many struggles, large and small. But each is unique, just like the locale. Set in the glittering jewel of the Principality of Monaco, the passengers... Continue Reading →
Gettin’ Spicy With Ghosts!
You're So Dead To Me - Grimdale Graveyard Mysteries, Book 1 by Steffanie Holmes (2023) - After an accident gave her the ability to see and hear ghosts, Bree's life got complicated. Her hometown of Grimdale treats her like a freak. The three ghosts that host her house won't leave her alone. When she couldn't... Continue Reading →
The Birth of the Modern Monster
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley (1818)-A scientist dabbles in creating life, only to face tragedy when his creation turns on him. Why I Like It-Going back to the original gives a new view of the story. This is the latest in my exploration of classics I’ve never read. Like “Dracula” I’m not... Continue Reading →
Neither Running Nor Hiding Will Help
The Curse of Penryth Hall by Jess Armstrong (2023) – Ruby Vaughn spent World War I as a front line ambulance driver surrounded by death and devastation. Since the war, she’s lived a life to help her forget it all. That changes when her elderly landlord sends to a small village with a shipment of... Continue Reading →
A New Generation’s Smiley
Slow Horses by Mick Herron (2010) – Slough House is where MI5 sends you when you’ve made a terrible mistake. The hope is that the residents, called “Slow Horses”, will quit. Days, weeks, and months of grinding out Slough House’s only product, meaningless and ignored paperwork is intended to break them. When a minor domestic... Continue Reading →
Stories Are My Life 