Thoughts on Living the Life Creative
The Mystery of Cloomber by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1888) - On a secluded coastline of Scotland, two families are brought together. Cloomber Hall is occupied by the family of a retired Indian Army general. They wall themselves in against a threat that only they can see. One stormy night, a shipwreck off the coast... Continue Reading →
Death of Choice Eight Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Mystery Compiled by Micheal Maxwell (2015) Kindle E-book When you grab a book with this kind of title you are expecting murder to figure heavily in the stories. In fact, it figures in about half. The real problem here is that there's not much effort put... Continue Reading →
The Thin Man (1934) - Retired detective Nick Charles and his heiress wife Nora find their life of frivolity and fun interrupted by the disappearance of an old client. That's followed by a series of murders. The socialite couple leaps into the fray with drink held high and a series of quips on their lips.... Continue Reading →
River City Blues by Ward Howarth (2016) - World War II veteran Bennie Sherwood comes home to Richmond after a tour of duty that took him to the grim fighting on Guadalcanal. Following in his father's footsteps, he joins the Richmond Police Department. He's also trying to solve the mystery of the old man's murder.... Continue Reading →
The Father Brown Mysteries (1910-1936) by G.K. Chesterton. Fifty-plus stories about the world's least impressive detective. It isn't his skill in solving mysteries that is unimpressive, it is the man himself. Chesterton describes the Roman Catholic priest in consistently unflattering terms. He is short, even stumpy, with baggy clothes and commonly a vacant look on his... Continue Reading →
The Man Who Knew Too Much - G.K. Chesterton (1922) - A collection of thirteen mystery stories centering mostly on Horne Fisher, the "Man" of the title (four of the stories feature other people). Fisher's problem is that he knows too many people and has either discovered, or been told, too many things. He knows... Continue Reading →
Down Solo - A Novel of Suspense by Earl Javorsky (2014) - Charlie Minor is a small-time detective with a list of less than reputable characters filling his life, a borderline crazy wife and a daughter with whom he doesn't spend nearly enough time. But when he wakes up dead, his life gets really complicated.... Continue Reading →
Short Sentence - A Crime Short Story Collection from Bloomsbury - (2013) - Start with a short story written by an established author in the field. Then challenge other authors to pick the idea and go their own nefarious way with the concept. That's the idea behind "Short Sentence". In this case there are five... Continue Reading →
The Retribution by Val McDermid - I don't think I've read anything else by this Scottish author and that's clearly a mistake on my part. While it's yet another forensic profiling meets crazed serial killer novel McDermid finds ways to bring a little freshness to the ideas. The book is the latest in a series... Continue Reading →
Stories Are My Life 