Jun 27 2026
Dickie Bow got left behind by the spy game after the collapse of European communism, and never really found anything else. By the time that Dead Lions begins — it was first published in 2013 — he’s barely holding on with a job in a sex shop and a routine of steady drinking that will …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/27/dead-lions-by-mick-herron/
Jun 26 2026
Okay, but what happens neeeeeext?! That is less a complaint than a plea for Kirsty Applebaum to keep writing more books about the garden at the heart of The Strange Disappearance Of Imogen Good. The book itself opens with Imogen about to sneak into a forbidden garden, in hopes of ditching her once best friend …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/26/the-strange-disappearance-of-imogen-good-by-kirsty-applebaum/
Jun 21 2026
What does an intelligence agency do with its fuck-ups? Not the operational mistakes, or even the policy disasters, but the people who, for one reason or another, cannot be kept as part of the active service but cannot just be let go. Maybe they embarrassed the agency in some way, and giving them the boot …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/21/slow-horses-by-mick-herron/
Jun 11 2026
Men’s World Cup season has officially begun! Ever since 1998, this has been THE most exciting global sporting event for me, and even tho this year’s promises to be the worst run and most corrupt tournament of all time, not even that can dampen my love of the sport and the community who actually care …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/11/the-mystery-of-the-stolen-world-cup-trophy-by-angela-cervantes/
Jun 10 2026
Here in the northern hemisphere, as temperatures get hotter and hotter, and vacations get (hopefully) more and more imminent, don’t we all just want to relax with a cold beverage and a book in which people die at the hand of another? It can’t just be me. Luckily, publishers know we want this, and there …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/10/murder-summer/
Jun 06 2026
A detective on a generation starship is an interesting premise. Olivia Waite has taken the venerable concept of a slower-than-light spaceship, the Fairweather, taking humans to another star system and given it several new aspects. She has moved the launch date into a medium-distant future. The people on the ship are not desperate refugees fleeing …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/06/06/murder-by-memory-by-olivia-waite/
Apr 16 2026
The sequel to the bestselling Let’s Split Up finds the Sanera Four assembled again in the town that catapulted them to macabre fame only one short year earlier. Jokester jock Cam never actually left, choosing to take on a role as assistant at his former high school instead of going to college. Meanwhile, both his …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/16/be-right-back-by-bill-wood/
Apr 15 2026
Let’s Split Up was the fastest selling UK Young Adult debut of 2024. It’s said to appeal to the demographic that loves both the Scream movie franchise and Scooby Doo fans, but I suspect that this leans more to the former than the latter, at least if my reaction to it has been anything to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/15/lets-split-up-by-bill-wood/
Apr 07 2026
Hello, dear readers! Today I have an intriguing excerpt from the second book in the Flynn Martin series, Two Truths And A Lie. After being instrumental in helping to catch the notorious PDQ killer who terrorized Denver, investigative reporter Flynn Martin is thrilled that her career is flying high. Juggling her professional responsibilities with motherhood …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/07/two-truths-and-a-lie-by-mark-stevens-excerpt/
Apr 02 2026
Oh, boy, am I the worst person to send a speculative fiction mystery to when the mystery is, at best, mid. And that’s the thing: these mysteries could be so good, and have so much to say about the human condition as we hurtle into infinity, if the ideas were at all fleshed out and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2026/04/02/murder-by-memory-nobodys-baby-by-olivia-waite/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
Emily Lauer
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire