In 1992, at the age of 50, a professor of English literature named Donna Leon published Death at La Fenice. The novel won a major award and set her off on writing a series of sequels, now numbering 25. Set in Venice, where Leon has been living for the past 25 years, these skillful police...
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The Koch brothers, Charles and David, get a lot of attention from political observers and, increasingly, from the public. No wonder. The fortune they possess together is greater than those of Bill Gates, Carlos Slim, Warren Buffet, and other private individuals who are often characterized as the...
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At the peak of his game, nobody writing espionage novels can match John le Carré. However, like anyone, he can’t always operate with all cylinders firing. The proof of that lies in Our Game, first published in 1995. Though the novel is worth reading for what it reveals about life inside...
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What can a writer do when the star of his long-running series ages into retirement? Henning Mankell took a cue from nature to solve that problem: Kurt Wallender fell prey to Alzheimer’s disease and proceeded to die a quiet death after twelve books, as did the series of detective novels...
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It’s tempting to think that there’s something in the air in Ireland that would move Irish writers to conjure up such thoughts as this in the musings of a Dublin coroner when meeting an old friend in the police: “they were a pair, no doubt of that, though what they were a pair of,...
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Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review,
with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review,
with links to other nonfiction content.
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.
Mysteries & Thrillers Tuesday includes my latest mystery and thriller book review, with links to other science fiction content.
Nonfiction Wednesday includes my latest nonfiction book review, with links to other nonfiction content.
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.