by Kristopher | Sep 29, 2020 | Review
In his exceptional debut novel, A Line of Blood, Ben McPherson presented a stand-alone domestic suspense novel from the perspective of the husband. He now returns with The Island and once again focuses on a family in crisis, however, unlike the strain in that earlier...
by Kristopher | Sep 18, 2020 | Review
Imagine, if you will, this Venn diagram: the murder mystery is a subset of crime fiction which is both a subset of literature and a subset of social commentary. Or perhaps this diagram: truth and lies are two distinctive sets of data that would seem to be mutually...
by Kristopher | Sep 14, 2020 | Review
Pacing is one of those elusive elements that can make or break a novel. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all optimum pace. Some novels require a slow, methodical storytelling method, while others benefit from having a more frantic tempo serve as a foundation...
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 | 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...
