by Kristopher | Feb 18, 2020 | Review
If you take the writings of Mary Higgins Clark, Victoria Holt, the Brontës, and Han Christian Andersen and mix them in a blender, the resulting concoction could serve as the building blocks for Carol Goodman’s oeuvre, the latest of which – The Sea of Lost Girls–...
by Kristopher | Feb 14, 2020 | Composite Sketch
From the Booking Desk: It is nice to be able to use the Composite Sketch profiles to feature people who haven’t previously been on the blog. I have been a fan of Priscilla Royal’s medieval crime novels for years now, but she and I have not yet met. That...
by Kristopher | Feb 11, 2020 | Review
From the Booking Desk: Continuing my new plan to post mini-reviews together in the hopes of creating cross-over readers in a selection of sub-genres, this week we have 4 short reviews – three historicals and a contemporary police procedural. But these books have...
by Kristopher | Feb 7, 2020 | Composite Sketch
From the Booking Desk: My respect for Verena Rose knows no bounds. Even before joining the Malice Domestic Board, I was always impressed with how professionally that convention runs – and so much of that is due to Verena’s work as the Convention Chair. As...
by Kristopher | Feb 5, 2020 | underCOVER
There are so many people in our crime fiction community that do so much for us all. When those people reach out to me asking if I can help with something, the answer is always YES. Case in point, The Malmons – Dan and Kate. They visited the blog when Killing...
by Kristopher | Feb 4, 2020 | APB
Time for another entry in this incredibly popular feature here at BOLO Books – The APB (All Points Bulletin).As always, competition for these slots was tough. Which books are generating that elusive buzz in the publishing industry? Which are books that I personally...
by Kristopher | Feb 3, 2020 | Review
Every so often the crime fiction canon welcomes a new character who is instantly iconic. There is no easy formula for making this happen; otherwise it would not be nearly as rare an occurrence as it is. In theory, it is likely some elusive combination of character...
by Kristopher | Jan 31, 2020 | Composite Sketch
From the Booking Desk: I first came to be aware of Edwin Hill when Shawn Reilly Simmons told me there was this new book coming out that she thought I might enjoy. That book turned out to be Edwin’s debut, Little Comfort, which I did immensely enjoy (and which...
by Kristopher | Jan 28, 2020 | Review
With the release of four novels under her wings – The Black Hour, Little Pretty Things, The Day I Died, and Under a Dark Sky – Lori Rader-Day has established herself as one of the most consistently-excellent and thoroughly-unpredictable writers of crime fiction. Part...
by Kristopher | Jan 27, 2020 | Review
Typically, when a reviewer says a book is cinematic, it is a reference to the fact that the book could easily be adapted to the screen and would probably be successful if that happened. In the case of Elizabeth Little’s second novel, Pretty as a Picture, the term...
