The Latest

SCIENCE FICTION

MYSTERIES & THRILLERS

Porfiry Rostnikov’s last case

Porfiry Rostnikov’s last case

Before his death in 2009, the prolific detective novelist Stuart Kaminsky wrote 16 police procedurals featuring a Moscow investigator named Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov. The books span the years 1981 to 2008. They encompass the final years of Communist rule and the first two...

read more

NONFICTION

20 top nonfiction books about World War II

20 top nonfiction books about World War II

If you've been reading my reviews for very long, you're aware that the World War II era holds special fascination for me. This might have something to do with the fact that I was born then—in fact, about six months before the USA entered the war. Or maybe it's just because it...

read more

Popular Fiction

Explore My “BEST OF the category” selections

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

When people ask me that question, I never know what to say. In a lifetime of reading, I’ve read many thousands of books. And I’ve reviewed well over 2,000 of them on this site. Picking just one as a “favorite,” or even a handful of them, makes no sense to me.

The problem is, I read for many different reasons. Perhaps you do, too. And I read many different sorts of books. Mysteries and thrillers. Popular fiction, especially historical fiction. Science fiction.

And nonfiction, history in particular. You’ll find hundreds of reviews in every one of those categories on this site.

Look to the right for a rotating random selection culled from throughout this site.

Happy reading!

 

Cover image of "The Warrior's Apprentice," an early entry in the Lois McMaster Bujold series

In Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga, Miles begins his journey

If you're looking for escapist entertainment, and if science fiction strikes your fancy, you'll enjoy the long series of novels in the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold. The Warrior's Apprentice, the fourth book in the series' chronology, is a case in point. In the preceding entries in the...

Khaled Hosseini in Berkeley, in person and in print

A review of And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini. @@@@@ (5 out of 5). An ambitious novel about family, loss, revenge, and new beginnings centered on the lives of two Afghan village children born in the mid-20th Century.

Bloody Genius is the latest Virgil Flowers page-turner.

A Virgil Flowers page-turner: Virgil investigates a murder on campus

Virgil Flowers is growing up. In times past, you could always depend on Virgil jumping into bed with the prettiest suspect in his current case. You wouldn't get upset with the man, because that was just . . . well, Virgil being Virgil. Which is to say, a bundle of contradictions. You'll typically...
Disappearing Earth is set in remote Kamchatka.

A mystery set in a remote corner of Siberia

I'll say this about Disappearing Earth: I have never before read a novel set in Kamchatka. I doubt you have either. And I suspect you might be having trouble even locating Kamchatka on the globe. It's not exactly a popular destination for Europeans or Americans (or anyone else, for that matter)....
Cover image of "Artificial Wisdom,"

When the world votes on a dictator, an AI is a candidate

Recent years have seen an increasing volume of science fiction on environmental themes, and no wonder. Of course, the world has known about global warming for decades. But it's only in the past decade that the trend has become obvious to millions. And scientists who have dedicated themselves to...
Cover image of "The Laws of Murder," an entry in an engaging detective series

An engaging detective series set in Victorian London

Mystery stories set in the past hold a certain fascination for me, so I turned to the Charles Finch detective series with anticipation. The Laws of Murder, the eighth and most recent addition to the series, is a workmanlike effort but fell short of delivering the thrill I get when a mystery or...
Cover image of "The Devil's Novice,"

A medieval mystery opens a window on 12th century England

Reading the Cadfael Chronicles is one of the best ways I've found to open a window on life in medieval Europe. Set on the English-Welsh border in the middle of the twelfth century, these clever little mysteries illuminate life within a Benedictine monastery, in the surrounding town, and in the...
Cover image of "The Scarred Woman" by Jussi Adler-Olsen, a Department Q novel

The latest addition to Jussi Adler-Olsen’s Department Q series

The Scarred Woman is the seventh novel in Jussi Adler-Olsen's series about Danish detectives holed up in the basement of Copenhagen's police headquarters, ostensibly to work on cold cases. Like the six books that preceded it, it tells the story of how the small team in Department Q takes on...
In Groucho Marx, King of the Jungle, Groucho Marx solves another murder.

Groucho Marx solves another baffling murder

In the sixth and final entry in Ron Goulart's series of Groucho Marx Mysteries, the irrepressible comedian and his trusty sidekick and scriptwriter, Frank Denby, once again wander into the thicket of Hollywood studio politics to investigate a murder. This time around, the murder victim in question...
Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions

The lady cop who fascinated America a century ago

This is not a detective story, despite the fact that it's one in a series of historical novels about New Jersey's first female deputy sheriff (and apparently the first anywhere to carry a gun). Nor is it a thriller or even especially suspenseful. Instead, Miss Kopp's Midnight Confessions is a tale...

My Most Popular Reviews

Weekly Reviews Delivered to You!

Mal Warwick - Book Reviews

Weekly book reviews to match your taste!

Love mysteries and thrillers? Historical fiction fan? Prefer to read nonfiction? Or, like me, you just love reading? Take your pick of my three weekly newsletters. Just click the Yes! button, and you’re on your way.

Here you can take your pick of the three newsletters I publish each week. They’re all free of ads, and I never share subscribers’ email addresses with anyone. Just make your newsletter selections below.

Feel free to subscribe to any or all of these newsletters. Remember, they’re ad-free, and I won’t share your contact information with anyone.

Enjoy reading!

Mal Warwick

The latest mystery
& thriller book
reviews every Tuesday.

…includes my latest mystery and thriller book reviews, with links to other content in the genre.

The latest nonfiction book reviews every Wednesday.

…includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

My latest
book reviews,
every Thursday.

…includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

The Latest Book Reviews of the Week

...includes summaries and links to all of the week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Mystery & Thriller Book
Reviews Every Week

Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Nonfiction Book
Reviews Every Week

Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Latest Book Reviews of the Week

The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Tuesday's Newsletter

Tuesday's Newsletter

Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Wednesday's Newsletter

Wednesday's Newsletter

Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

The Weekly Newsletter

Thursday's Newsletter

The Weekly includes summaries and links to all the previous week’s three to five book reviews, including some that don’t appear in any of the other newsletters.

You have Successfully Subscribed!