It’s puzzling to me why an American author living in the United States would choose to write one novel after another in a long-running series of detective novels set in a foreign land. Cara Black’s series about the brilliant French detective Aimee Leduc is set in Paris. But she is by...
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In this worthy sequel to Dawn, the opening book in Octavia Butler’s much-admired Xenogenesis Trilogy, the focus shifts from Lilith Ayapo to her son Akin (“AH-keen”). The infant is a “construct,” the product of a Human mother and father, and the three other...
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If it’s true that “God is in the details,” wouldn’t it stand to reason that history can best be understood through the stories of the individual people who experienced it? It often seems that way, doesn’t it? Certainly, the reality of life in times past is far easier...
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Some writer or critic — I forget who; it was somebody who gravitates to Literature with a capital “L” — defined the content of a novel as “something happens.” The late Joseph Heller even wrote a novel with that title. (Not a good one, actually.) Stuff happens in...
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Estimated reading time: 3 minutes Sara Paretsky writes for me. I’m convinced of it. Her consistently excellent series of V. I. Warshawski detective novels features a believable central character, a handful of her charming friends, and a finely tuned appreciation for the depths of big-city...
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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.