Review: The Beekeeper's Apprentice

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was a tremendous novel, all the classic Sherlock characters, Mrs Hudson, Watson, Mycroft and even a helpful Lestrade. Along with the newest character to add to the Holmes cast, teenage Mary Russell who Holmes identifies with immediately. I'd recommend this novel to any fan of Sherlock Holmes who's looking for more stories after the Doyle cannon.



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Review: The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Another fun entry in the series, I can't believe I only have one to more book in the series left to read. Please Ms Springer give us more Enola cases soon!



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Review: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



An interesting read, the first two chapters as introductory are the weakest for me, the last two shows the true potential of the concept. I particularly enjoyed the little cameos such as the Artful Doger and his thoughts about civil air defense. I was also intrigued by the prior incarnations of the league that were hinted at, especially Bumpo and the Reverend Dr Syn.



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Review: The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel

The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Ever since the Sherlock show ended, I been on a bit of a Holmes kick so this months feature novel in the The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group came at a great time. I'm a big fan of Horowitz's TV work on Midsummer Murders, and also a Sherlock fan so I hoped that it would read more like a Doyle story then a Horowitz plotted TV show and was completely captivated by the new story. The narrator sounds like the Watson from Sir Conan but the writing is quite easy to read, maintaining a historic feel without more modern language.



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Review: The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan

The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan by Nancy Springer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I'm really enjoying this series, the characters are terrific, Sherlock has never seemed more human then in this series and Mycroft so stuffy, but occasionally useful. The star Enola is who powers the series and she'e in great form in this novel. Again my only complaint is that the book is too short, luckily I have a few more to read.



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Review: A Perfect Blood

A Perfect Blood by Kim Harrison

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Another kick butt Rachel Morgan adventure, this is the longest running urban fantasy series that I keep up with and the only one I get the day that it's published.

I liked this one as much as any in the previous series, and the few doubts about the logic of the plot that I had were more then answered as more facts were revealed by the author.

This series is so tightly plotted I'd recommend reading the first nine volumes before picking this one up.



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Review: The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets

The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets by Nancy Springer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Not quite as good as the first two novels in the series but still a very strong entry. The story is about Watson and his wife and Enola's dysfunctional family. I have to agree with Sherlock that he wishes that Enola would trust him, but I can also understand why Enola can't. The real only problem with this novel is that it's just to short, if the story was expanded it would have been a strong four star book.



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Review: The Case of the Left-Handed Lady

The Case of the Left-Handed Lady by Nancy Springer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is the best YA series that I've read since Robert Sawyers WWW trilogy. This second entry in the series is superior to the first as the characters have all been introduced and the mystery is the central part of the novel. Enola's family issues are an interesting second mystery, will she continue to elude her famous brother Sherlock in his city of London.



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Review: The Case of the Missing Marquess

The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I'm a big fan of Alan Bradley's Flavia series, read all four novels at the end of 2011 and waiting somewhat impatiently for his next book I chanced upon this series. 11 year old Flavia is less mature then the 14 year old Enola but much more sure of herself. The first half of this novel deals mostly with the setup and introducing the characters of Enola and older brothers Mycroft and Sherlock. The second half see Enola come into a mystery and it's solution.

I'd highly recommend this novel to fans of Holmes or Flavia, being fans of both makes this an irresistible read.



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Review: Spock Must Die!

Spock Must Die! by James Blish

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



While this doesn't compare to my favorite James Blish series Cities in Flight it was a nice interesting story where the characters act as you'd expect from the TV series. Little new however is learned about the characters because of my biggest complaint about the novel, which is it's too short. It's much like an 60 minute episode from the original series. What I did like was the way that Bliss tied this to the original with both a plot heavily dependent on "Errand of Mercy" episode and secondary characters from other Trek episodes.



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Review: The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



A hard boiled classic that introduces Philip Marlowe as the knight out to save two damsels in distress. The opening hallway description of the Knight tells a lot about Marlowe's character. If you've seen the movie there is still lots to enjoy here as the details are finely drawn.



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Review: Dream Park

Dream Park by Larry Niven

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I wouldn't rate this book as high as I did when I first read it a little over thirty years ago, because now I notice more of it's flaws particularly some of the early dialogue between Griffin, Harmony and Skip being horrendous. It reminded me of cheap 1950's SF movies. Also long ago it was one of the first novels I'd read about fantasy gaming something I was very much into. I've since read many more novels on the subject that I feel are much better, last year's Ready Player One is a prime example of a more exciting and interesting story. But I still like this Dream Park for the mythology surrounding the cargo cults which is still intriguing to me.



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Review: The Alehouse Murders

The Alehouse Murders by Maureen Ash

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was a very interesting medieval murder mystery. It’s set about fifty years after the Brother Cadfael series in the time of King John. The series shares much with Peter’s Brother Cadfael series, both feature monks who spent part of their lives fighting the Crusades. Cadfael becomes a monk after his time in the Holy Land, Bascot de Marins the detective in this series served as a Templar Knight in the crusades and was at Acre with king Richard, and has a crisis of faith upon his return to England.

This series is much more secular then the Cadfael series and also at least this volume seemed to have much more historical detail and was more realistic then the highly romantic Cadfael series. That said if you enjoyed the Cadfael books I’m fairly certain you’ll enjoy this novel as well.




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Review: A Purple Place for Dying

A Purple Place for Dying by John D. MacDonald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



MacDonald is a superb writer and the Travis McGee series just continues to get better and better. A series of mysteries can often take on a pattern and sameness of tone that make it to familiar and slightly boring, MacDonald has avoided that in the first three McGee novels.

This McGee novel has my favorite quote “People who censor books are usually illiterate” this quote from 1964 seems even more appropriate with the recent battle in the Senate over SOPA and how the internet really works.




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Review: Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This was a very clever mystery, but not exactly to my taste. I prefer a more character driven story and the characters in this mystery, the first mystery featuring Poirot that I’ve read were mere sketches. Even the famous detective seems to not develop at all over the course of the story. This may not be fair as I haven’t read the first nine mysteries in the series and the others may have been radically different and the author may feel that Poirot was developed sufficiently in the prior novels. But I still enjoyed the book as I say the puzzle itself was very enjoyable.



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Review: Buried in a Book

Buried in a Book by Lucy Arlington

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A pleasant first book in a cozy series about a literary agency and the middle aged woman who interns there. The thing I liked best was the literary town that she built, I would have liked to see more of the town, and also the characters could certainly be furthered developed maybe we'll see more of that in future books in the series.



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Review: Knots and Crosses

Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I'd picked this up because the The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group is reading another of Rankin's books this month Bleeding Hearts: A Novel and never reading any other works by the author I thought I'd give this popular series a try. [b:Bleeding Hearts: A Novel|69806|Bleeding Hearts A Novel|Ian Rankin|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170712666s/69806.jpg|1398310]

This was a terrific first novel in a series and only the second novel by Rankin. The characters were all complex and interesting, most were deeply flawed but also somewhat sympathetic, while Rebus is my favorite Jim Stevens the journalist was also a well drawn and complex character who'd I'd like to learn more about. I will be reading more books in this series.




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Review: The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza

The Burglar Who Studied Spinoza by Lawrence Block

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Another terrific entry in Block’s burglar series, with a few surprises from the familiar formula that’s been used in the earlier books in the series. Bernie is most like a private investigator while still using his brain and burglar skills to solve a series of murders. Some favorite moments include the romantic twist at the end, I didn’t see that coming, the first killer, I knew that from the start, and finally the second killer that one was a surprise.



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Review: A Superior Death

A Superior Death by Nevada Barr

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



The first half of this book was two stars at best, it was very slow and with few likeable characters I had to push myself to keep reading. I wouldn't have bothered but I'd read the first book in the series years ago and like it quite a bit so I figured that I'd push on. The characters in the second half don't get any more likeable except for Anna and her roommates, but the action ramps up and she starts to solve the mystery which pushed a two star book up to three.



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Review: Buttercream Bump Off

Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn McKinlay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Not as good as the first, just a little to over the top in parts, I'd really rate this as a two and a half star book but gave it three because a couple of the scenes were laugh out loud funny and I really liked the new characters Marty and Roach but especially Marty. The hair hat wearing oldster really added to the story.



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Review: The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling

The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling by Lawrence Block

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This was my favorite book of the series so far,funnier then ever with lines like

“Wonderful. I can play it safe by sitting in a stolen car parked at a bus stop. Why don’t I just wait in the subway? I could cling to the third rail for security.”

Fictional Kipling poems " The Deliverance of Fort Bucklow" drives the story but it's all Bernie and Carolyn thatdrive the fun with excellent dialogue and a complicated mystery just perfect for a book lover.





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Review: Sprinkle with Murder

Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I don't usually read cooking mysteries but after reading Books Can Be Deceiving also by Jenn McKinlay and no second volume in the Library series yet, I figured I'd give it a try. This was a fast paced story with genuinely likeable characters. Mel the heroine of the tale is a former fat kid, who shed the weight and learns to like herself while also learning that she still loves to eat. I'll be reading the next volume in this series as soon as I can get a copy.



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Review: The Burglar in the Closet

The Burglar in the Closet by Lawrence Block

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



A funny fast paced mystery, my favorite scene in the book is when Bernie calls Denise Raphaelson on the phone and their back forth dialogue, she appears to have impressed Bernie with her wit also. I don't usually go to much for crime novels but Bernie makes an excellent detective and Block really knows how to write. You may need to be a bit older to solve this mystery written in 1978 with it's tent cent payphones and late night TV.



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Review: Murder Past Due

Murder Past Due by Miranda James

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



This was a two and a half star book for me, the mystery being the strongest part of the story. I went for the red herring hook line and sinker. My problem with the novel was the characters I really didn’t like any of them except for Diesel the cat. The main character was too prissy, his friends and co-workers were either gossips or pompous, the victim was so unlikeable everyone in the town hated him. For me the mystery or story or plot always is secondary to the characters so this book just didn’t cut it for me.



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Review: The Thin Man

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This novel is quite a bit different in tone from the 1934 William Powell, Myrna Loy movie which played almost like a screwball comedy where the book is more hard boiled. But the essential chemistry between Nick and Nora remains the same and drives the story from drinks in the hotel, to speakeasies, to drinks at the police station. Asta makes her appearance but doesn’t have the crucial role solving the mystery that she had in the movie. The best scene for me was when Nick took on the armed gangster with only a pillow, meanwhile Nora is fascinated and having the time of her life.



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Review: Curiosity Thrilled the Cat

Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Two cats in a small town “400 miles north of everywhere” with a literary protagonist, no it’s not the newspaper reporter Qwill from the Cat Who series, this is Kathleen the head librarian and her two magical cats.
The two series are really very much alike, with this series being given an edge for a decent mystery, The Cat Who series being better for the number of likable and quirky characters. But a cat fancier who enjoys a cozy mystery should enjoy this novel.




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