by Kristopher | Sep 8, 2020 | Review
There was certainly skepticism when Sophie Hannah published her first Agatha Christie Estate-authorized continuation of the Hercule Poirot series. Many readers were hesitant to pick up The Monogram Murders, fearing that their beloved character would be tarnished. As...
by Kristopher | Sep 8, 2020 | Interview
From the Booking Desk: I was honored to be invited as a guest on John B. Valeri’s YouTube show, Central Booking. If you have ever wanted to know more about the book blogging experience, this is the chat for you. We cover everything from the origins of the blog,...
by Kristopher | Aug 26, 2020 | Review
Rachel Howzell Hall continues to prove that she can write anything; and that when she does, she will always knock it out of the park. Whether it’s a touching personal essay like “I Don’t Know This Word” (from the Private Investigations anthology) or a hard-hitting...
by Kristopher | Aug 25, 2020 | Review
To the delight of readers everywhere, Ann Cleeves – and more specifically her beloved creation, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope – return in The Darkest Evening, the most recent novel from this acclaimed practitioner of the traditional procedural mystery. As with all...
by Kristopher | Aug 19, 2020 | Review
Louise Penny’s Three Pines mystery series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache has grown from the early books that struggled to find a readership to its current ubiquity where the series is so incredibly beloved and every new entry is almost guaranteed instant...
by Kristopher | Aug 18, 2020 | Review
For quite some time now, it has been clear that the young adult category has been aching for a traditional mystery series. So much writing in that field represents interesting and ground-breaking blends of multiple genres, that while inspiring, also forgets that the...
by Kristopher | Aug 17, 2020 | underCOVER
From the Booking Desk: Most followers of BOLO Books know that I am a proud member of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime. I try to do whatever I can for my fellow members by helping to spread the word on their books, events, and accolades. So when Barb Goffman...
by Kristopher | Aug 14, 2020 | Review
Susanna Lee’s Detectives in the Shadows examines the topic, trajectory, and transcendence of the “private eye” in crime fiction from its origins through to the present day. While it is a scholarly work from an academic press, the writing here is clear and concise, as...
by Kristopher | Aug 13, 2020 | Review
The cozy mystery sub-genre is an important and too often overlooked corner of the crime fiction world. Anyone who reads them knows how difficult it is to craft and plot an effective one – maybe even harder than some of the other sub-genres. In my opinion, a cozy...
by Kristopher | Aug 4, 2020 | Review
Every season or so, there’s a book that seemingly comes out of the blue that manages to knock our socks off. Rules for Being Dead is that book for the Summer of 2020. And its author, Kim Powers, is a bona fide breath of fresh air on the literary landscape....
