Call Down the Hawk
The mind of Maggie Stiefvater is a strange, labyrinthine forest of compelling characters, lyrical prose, and tantalizing half-formed truths not quite available to anyone but her. This much-anticipated book is the first of a new trilogy that nonetheless… Read More
B & B #2
I was delighted, upon browsing the seven-day checkouts in the Los Angeles Public Library e-book catalog, to discover that there is already a new book out from Michael Connelly. That guy is prolific! It’s another that combines the… Read More
Buh-bye, Jack
A brand-new Jack Reacher novel came out in October and, lulled by my positive experience of reading the last one, I enthusiastically put my name on the holds list at the library and jumped right on it as… Read More
Cold cases
I was a little wary when starting to read Case Histories, by Kate Atkinson, because I read her book Life after Life and, while I admired it, didn’t enjoy it much. But I think, in Jackson Brodie, she has found… Read More
Books for Hallowe’en
I went looking for scary reads to feature here, but although I found some things I liked, I struck out when it came to true horror. My selections turned out to be more suitable for the original pagan… Read More
The Man
Twice in two weeks I was able to read the latest in a mystery series I have followed from the beginning. What a treat! Robert Crais has been writing the saga of Hawaiian shirt-wearing Private Investigator Elvis Cole… Read More
A feast
The mail brought me a delightful surprise this past week: Deborah Crombie’s latest in her Kincaid/Duncan mystery series. (I had forgotten that I had excitedly pre-ordered it a few months back.) It’s one of the British police procedural… Read More
A reach
I wish they were all like this… I started out by reading a large swathe of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series, as one does when first enamored of a character, and then, after I grew bored with reading… Read More
Fresh look: old books
A friend reminded me recently of the purportedly “best opening paragraph of all time,” which, according to LitHub author Emily Temple, is the one that opens We Have Always Lived in the Castle, by Shirley Jackson. “My name… Read More
The Book Adept 