Tag: Mystery

Witness In Death (In Death #10) by J. D. Robb

It’s weird, I feel like this should have been a more powerful story for me. All the plot points are there, plus it’s set in The Theatre, so this is exactly the kind of mystery I should love. But there was something about it that was a little too overwrought, IMO. The killer’s little asides, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/24/witness-in-death-in-death-10-by-j-d-robb/

Conspiracy In Death (In Death #8) by J. D. Robb

Undoubtedly the weakest of the first nine books. I’m v glad I read this only after the ninth, as I would have strongly suspected the dreaded 8th-book slump and written off the rest of the series (well, excepting for the fact that I’m being paid to review the ninth, so would have read that anyway.) …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/18/conspiracy-in-death-in-death-8-by-j-d-robb/

Holiday In Death (In Death #7) by J. D. Robb

Another solid installment to the series. Loved the Christmas murder angle, even if I thought it was obvious, the way it usually is in Law & Order episodes, whodunnit. I also really enjoyed the exploration into Eve’s psyche: it’s nice that she’s kind of a horrible person but is working really hard at not being …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/09/holiday-in-death-in-death-7-by-j-d-robb/

Naked In Death (In Death #1) by J. D. Robb

(Hunh, I thought I’d posted this when I’d originally reviewed it. Apologies.) There is so much about this book to like, from the fully realized near-future setting to the compelling, scandalous murder mystery to the damaged protagonist (and victims) to the clear moral and political stance J. D. Robb has on women’s rights and crime …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/12/05/naked-in-death-in-death-1-by-j-d-robb/

Glory In Death (In Death #2) by J. D. Robb

A solid near-future police procedural, with a fully realized setting that falls firmly on the side of feminism and social justice. It isn’t the most inspired mystery — I figured out whodunnit 56% of the way in — but the world building and the cop talk more than made up for it. The thing that …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/11/08/glory-in-death-in-death-2-by-j-d-robb/

The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith

Two plots carry the action forward in The Handsome Man’s De Luxe Café, the fifteenth in Alexander McCall Smith’s series about Botswana’s first detective agency run by women. In slight contrast to its immediate predecessor, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, the two plots are not both cases taken on by the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/08/08/the-handsome-mans-de-luxe-cafe-by-alexander-mccall-smith/

The Magician’s Tower by Shawn Thomas Odyssey

The mystery was a bit more predictable here, and the book overall took on a much more Harry Potter-slant than the first, but still a tremendously charming and engaging supernatural mystery, ostensibly for children, but definitely enjoyable for those well past that stage in life. In this installment of the series, Oona Crate enters a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/05/13/the-magicians-tower-by-shawn-thomas-odyssey/

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith

One of the pleasures of reading deeply into a series is the sense of stories arising naturally from the personalities of the characters as the author has shown and developed them over the course of many books. The banter between Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin is freighted with but not weighed down by the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/04/26/the-minor-adjustment-beauty-salon-by-alexander-mccall-smith/

Aunty Lee’s Deadly Specials by Ovidia Yu

So many fiction series start out well then hit a sort of sophomore slump: Ovidia Yu’s Aunty Lee mystery series manages not only to avoid this pitfall but to improve (vastly, in my opinion) on her debut. While the food writing and observations regarding Singaporean mores and personalities are as excellent as before, the mystery …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/04/12/aunty-lees-deadly-specials-by-ovidia-yu/

Mycroft Holmes by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Anna Waterhouse

Let’s get this out of the way first: the book is a total Mary Sue. Which doesn’t make it a bad read, but every time I pictured Cyrus, I totally envisioned Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (tho since I like the guy, that’s not a bad thing.) It was interesting how the traditional roles of best friend and …

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2016/02/08/mycroft-holmes-by-kareem-abdul-jabbar-and-anna-waterhouse/