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historical thriller

Book Review: The Poison Machine by Robert J. Lloyd

By Doreen Sheridan

December 5, 2022

What an extraordinarily absorbing historical mystery, filled with just as much swashbuckling derring-do as it is intellectual conundrums! Robert J. Lloyd draws from real figures and events of the 17th-century to frame his exciting tale of a young scientist seeking out the truth under the most perilous of circumstances. In 1679 London, Harry Hunt faces…

My Journey with An Affair of Spies

By Ronald H. Balson

September 12, 2022

Isn’t it interesting how one event, simple in its origin, will lead to another? One might say it sets up a chain reaction. So it was that while researching a project, I came across a typewritten letter that led me on the road to write An Affair of Spies. In 1939, A. Einstein, of Old…

Five Essential Lessons from Seven Crime Fiction Masters

By W.A. Winter

September 9, 2022

Good crime-fiction writers don’t learn their craft in school or via online programs. We learn from other good crime-fiction writers—that is, from their books and public comments. We learn to write fiction the way we learned to tie our shoes: by watching and then doing. It’s always more difficult than we expect, but there’s no…

Book Review: Death On Gokumon Island by Seishi Yokomizo

By Doreen Sheridan

July 22, 2022

What a pleasure to finally have the words of Seishi Yokomizo translated into English! Louise Heal Kawai does a wonderful job of translating classic mystery novels, opening up an entirely new collection of books for non-Japanese-speaking fans of Golden Age traditional mysteries to enjoy. Death On Gokumon Island opens as Japanese soldiers—including our hero Kosuke…

Book Review: The Next Time I Die by Jason Starr

By Brian Greene

June 27, 2022

Part of why Philip K. Dick’s novels are so effective is how the daring, game-changing sci-fi author juxtaposed the extraordinary with the relatable. Take his 1970 novel A Maze of Death, for instance. The main thrust of that story involves fourteen humans who come to inhabit a mysterious space colony which proves to be treacherous…

Book Review: The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

By Doreen Sheridan

June 10, 2022

What a delightfully meta-textual examination of writing in the 21st century! With The Woman In The Library, Sulari Gentill has written a truly thought-provoking modern crime fiction novel—one that entertains and enthralls at a high level while still keeping at least one foot grounded in reality. The book’s core is the story of four people…

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