Category: Mystery

The Peacekeeper (The Good Lands #1) by B.L. Blanchard

This may easily be the most fascinating invented setting I’ve read for a murder mystery in ages, and that definitely includes the Anglo-Nordic nation Peter Spiegelman created for his excellent A Secret About A Secret. Imagine, if you will, a near-future world in which North America was never colonized by Europeans. Instead, the indigenous tribes …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/01/the-peacekeeper-the-good-lands-1-by-b-l-blanchard/

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

It would have worked, too! As the back cover of Meddling Kids says, in 1977 the Blyton Summer Detective Club unmasked the Sleepy Lake monster, a low-life fortune hunter who put on a funny suit to scare people away while he searched the grounds of the Deboën mansion for the gold hoard that was rumored …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/05/06/meddling-kids-by-edgar-cantero/

Queen Of The Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

Trina Low was the Queen Of The Tiles, the glamorous and hyper-competitive Scrabble champion who died abruptly and unexpectedly towards the end of a championship match when she was only 16. Her death scarred the lives of many of those around her, foremost among them being Najwa Bakri, her best friend and the girl determined …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/04/21/queen-of-the-tiles-by-hanna-alkaf/

Cold Clay (Shady Hollow #2) by Juneau Black

I’m sure there’s an interesting sociological reason for the recent rise of anthropomorphism in popular culture aimed at adults, where once it was considered primarily the province of children’s books and media. From the bestselling Wanderhome role-playing game to this delightful Shady Hollow mystery series, a longing for creature comforts seems to have seized grown-ups …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/04/19/cold-clay-shady-hollow-2-by-juneau-black/

Appraise Her by Paula Priamos

Tia Drakos is a Los Angeles real estate appraiser who, once upon a time, worked with the police as a handwriting analyst. She’s initially surprised when an old friend, Elise Davis, contacts her about appraising the home Elise grew up in. As the daughter of Hollywood royalty Carson Davis, and a fairly successful businesswoman in …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/04/11/appraise-her-by-paula-priamos/

Black City by Boris Akunin

Black City by Boris Akunin

A rare blunder by Erast Fandorin, Imperial Russia’s foremost detective, puts him on the trail of an assassin and revolutionary in the summer of 1914, a trail that leads to Baku, oil-spattered boomtown and possible crucible of a plot against the very order that Fandorin upholds. The city itself is a bubbling pool of money, …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/03/13/black-city-by-boris-akunin/

To the Land of Long Lost Friends by Alexander McCall Smith

To the Land of Long Lost Friends by Alexander McCall Smith

To the Land of Long Lost Friends begins with a wedding and moves quickly to a funereal subject. And it was on the way [to the catering tent] that Mma Ramotswe suddenly gripped Mr J.L.B. Matekon’s arm. “I have seen a ghost, Rra,” she said, her voice filled with alarm. He looked at her in …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/03/to-the-land-of-long-lost-friends-by-alexander-mccall-smith/

The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen

This page-turner of a thriller will have you either sighing with satisfaction at the ending or grimacing with dismay, depending on your personal worldview. Three friends have decided to take off from the hurly-burly of New York City in order to have a girls’ weekend upstate, all while nursing wounding sorrows. Diana is hiding from …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/01/04/the-perfect-escape-by-leah-konen/

Her Second Death by Melinda Leigh

Her Second Death is a kick-ass short story introduction to Melinda Leigh’s on-going Bree Taggart mystery series. It takes place just days after Detective Taggart’s transfer to the Homicide division of the Philadelphia Police Department. And while this is the first official homicide she’s been assigned to — and is, in fact, her second case …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/07/her-second-death-by-melinda-leigh/

The Math Kids: An Incorrect Solution (The Math Kids #5) by David Cole

with illustrations by Shannon O’Toole. The Math Kids are starting fifth grade in a pretty glum mood. Not only are they not all in the same class any longer, but the boys, Justin and Jordan, have been stuck with a teacher known as Miller the Killer, who has no love for math and barely teaches …

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/12/01/the-math-kids-an-incorrect-solution-the-math-kids-5-by-david-cole/