Elizabeth Bates, nee Miles, is looking forward to a day at the races with her beloved lawyer husband Gideon and her just as cherished mother-in-law. Sebastian Nolan, a client of Gideon’s, is running a horse in the Belmont Stakes, and is hoping to use the opportunity to introduce his own daughter Irene to some ladies…
Willowjean “Will” Parker is coming off of the fresh high of apprehending a kidnapper with her boss Lillian Pentecost, 1947 New York City’s most celebrated detective. But there’s no time to rest on their laurels, as they must move quickly to once more pick up the trail of Pentecost’s greatest nemesis, Olivia Waterhouse. The woman…
October 1890. It’s no surprise that private investigators Prudence MacKenzie and Geoffrey Hunter welcome the opportunity to “get out of Dodge” aka New York City: New York is too hot for them given the sordid sexual nature of their recent investigations. The partners are intrigued to be offered a case in Niagara Falls. They can’t…
Most mystery fans are aware that Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express was inspired by the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping. In the classic mystery, Poirot investigates the murder of Samuel Ratchett. Years ago, Ratchett was behind the kidnapping of “Little Daisy Armstrong,” but he escaped punishment. As Poirot discovers, everyone on the train has a…
My mother was the one who showed me that love stories and mysteries are alike. A lifelong Victorian lit fan, she introduced me to the romances of Austen, the mysteries of Collins, the horror of Dracula. And each of them lead further down their genred paths: Dracula led to the gothic (and me dyeing my…
Young Willa Noble is thrilled to be able to leave her position at the beck and call of an overbearing boarding house mistress to go into service in the home of one of Amherst, Massachusetts’ most prominent families instead. Her new superior, Margaret O’Brien, is demanding but fair, and the pay is much better. The…
James R. Benn had a lengthy career in libraries and information technology before making the transition to novelist with 2006’s Billy Boyle—the first of seventeen (and counting!) WWII novels to feature the titular character, who is some distant relation of “Uncle” Ike Eisenhower. The series has garnered stellar reviews and earned prestigious nominations for accolades…
I am always so grateful whenever the latest British Library Crime Classics anthology crosses my desk. Having been raised in the fine tradition of sleuthing exemplified by the Golden Age of detective fiction—many if not most of whose practitioners were British—I always look forward to exploring the gems unearthed by Martin Edwards for his thoughtfully…
A frontrunner in the literary world of cold case fiction has emerged this year in the form of Back to the Garden. This new thriller from renowned author Laurie R. King had me hooked from page one. King opens up the novel by diving into the past, and from here seamlessly transports the reader back…
