reviews

Bad Nose Jobs and Barracudas Author: Carl Hiaasen Earlier last year, I stretched out on the beach for a much-needed de-stressing vacation and grabbed the nearest Carl Hiaasen, ready to return to his wacky world of corrupt Floridians, con-artists, gangsters galore, and slap-stick murder. In Skin Tight, ex-cop/investigator Mick Stranahan has hung up his Glock to retire to Stiltsville, out in the ocean, where he can spend his days blissfully alone, caring for a giant Barracuda and fishing. This also means being far away from his continual spree of bad marriages (five in and counting) and away from his not so [...]

The Spider Becomes the Fly Author: Melanie Raabe Linda Conrads’ house is the world. The east wing is the African Savannah, the west an evening in bustling Paris, her bed a metropolis of travel guides and glossy dreams. The walls that confine her body nurture her mind. Let the public say she is a reclusive author, a victim to a strange disease ten years in the making. She is free. At least, she was, until the earthquake of revelation when she sees that face again, the one of her sister’s murderer, beaming out at her from the television. Like that, [...]

A Murder of Marples Author: Susan McCormick Let’s face it; ladies of a certain age have always been the best cozy mystery sleuths. Just ask Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher. So what if we had a whole group of ladies (a gaggle of gumshoes? a bevy of bloodhounds?), living in the same apartment building, who solve mysteries together? Sounds pretty great, right? Well, yes and no. The Fog Ladies, by Susan McCormick, is the first in a series of cozy mysteries set in San Francisco. The titular ladies are indeed all of a certain age, and most have lived in [...]