Murder, She Watched: February 2014

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Listen to FREE AUDIOBOOKS on YouTube!

I only JUST discovered that YouTube has loads of FREE UNABRIDGED AUDIOBOOKS! Did everyone already know about this? There are lots and lots of older mystery books in particular, so I'm in heaven. Right now I'm listening to The Red House Mystery, by A.A. Milne (it's the detective mystery that Milne wrote for grownups and I'm loving it so far)!

There are a number of channels that have full audiobook uploads. I've been finding them by searching for "audiobook" plus a few keywords and setting the filter to "Long (20min+)" to find the longer files (and not just the book trailers or author interviews).

If you've found some great audiobooks on YouTube, I'd love to hear about them!

BOOK REVIEW: The Killing Hour, by Paul Cleave

The Killing Hour
Author: Paul Cleave
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: April 23, 2013
View on Amazon

Source: Edelweiss and NetGalley

Yay! Paul Cleave! I was so pleasantly surprised (okay, thrilled) to stumble upon Paul Cleave's previous novel, The Cleaner, so I was very excited about this one. And then...

I admit this book spent a long time on my ebook reader before I got around to finishing it. I was so excited to read more from Paul Cleave, so what happened?

BOOK REVIEW: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, by Alan Bradley

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
A Flavia de Luce Mystery
Author: Alan Bradley
Series: Flavia de Luce
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 14, 2014
View on Amazon

Source: NetGalley

There are few things that excite me more than seeing a new Flavia DeLuce mystery by Alan Bradley. With the familiar cover art it's easy to spot them right away, and when I saw The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches on NetGalley I literally squealed. Quite loudly in fact.

I read the entire book in the first twenty-four hours I had it, partly because it's a short book and partly because I couldn't put it down.

This is Book #6 in the series and it--more than any of the previous novels--is not a stand alone story. It picks up where the cliffhanger ending of the last book (Speaking From Among the Bones) left off. In fact it's the last book in the original story arc that Alan Bradley had planned, though apparently there will be at least four more books after it.

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

Narrated by Jesse Bernstein

Published by Quirk Books on June 7, 2011

Audiobook published by Random House Audio, June 10, 2011

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 11, 2014

View on Amazon

I think this is my favourite book from Quirk Books to date. I've always thought of them as just a novelty publishing house, best known for the Worst-Case Scenario guides and all of those Pride and Prejudice and Zombies type books. They make funny gifts, but they're not...well, they're not going to make anybody's list of favourite books. That is until now.

The Body in the Piazza: A Faith Fairchild Mystery, by Katherine Hall Page

Published by HarperCollins on April 30, 2013

First reviewed on Cozy Little Book Journal on April 4, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

I didn't quite "get" this book. I haven't read any in the Faith Fairchild series so I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but it wasn't this. Faith Fairchild is the wife of a minister who travels (extensively, by the looks of some of the other titles), this time to Rome. Although it seems like Faith and her husband Tom are happily married, almost as soon as they arrive Faith engages in a flirtatious and--to my mind--wildly inappropriate relationship with a British stranger named Freddy Ives (mild spoiler: he's the "body" in the piazza). The beginning of the book read like a cross between The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day and Bitter Moon with Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas. But Faith and Freddy never actually kissed or anything, so I was left wondering if I was misreading it. Was I more prudish than the author of a series about a minister's wife? It was weird.

Weirder still is the fact that after Freddy is murdered, Faith initially vows to solve the crime (as one would expect in a "Faith Fairchild Mystery") but then leaves to go on some sort of cooking retreat with her husband for a huge portion of the book. It does all tie in at the end, but I was confused by the change of pace. All sense of urgency was gone as Faith spent days and days perfecting her homemade pasta. I actually found myself skipping ahead to make sure they really did get back to talking about Freddy eventually.

Ultimately it was the lack of urgency that made the book fall apart for me. The author note at the end talks about her own to trip to Italy which was the basis of the book (even the author's note was long and rambling and didn't connect to anything). It seems obvious that this book was a "love letter to Italy" as the author says, but with a murder mystery thrown clumsily in so she could call it a mystery. Mostly it's just a collection of "stuff that happened" with little connective tissue and no stakes. It should have been called Eat, Pray, Murder.

The Cuckoo's Calling
Author: Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling)
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Publication Date:
Source: my local library
View on Amazon

I forgot to write a review for this when I read it months ago. Basically my feelings can best be summed up with this chart:

BOOK REVIEW: The Christmas Crimes at Puzzel Manor, by Simon Brett

The Christmas Crimes at Puzzel Manor

Author: Simon Brett

Publisher: Hodder and Stoughton

Publication Date: October 15, 1992

View on Amazon

Source: I borrowed this from my local library years ago. Now that I think about it, I should probably buy myself a copy.

I read this ages ago (probably 10 years or more) and I can't remember if I ever wrote a review, even in the form of notes to myself about the book. Nonetheless, I do remember that it is one of my favourite mystery books of all time ever. Full stop. It contains puzzles throughout the book, usually at the end or beginning of each chapter and, although you can just keep reading to see how the protagonists solve the puzzles, the plot of the whodunnit advances better if you solve the mysteries yourself as you go. And unlike the Puzzle Lady series by Parnell Hall, it's not just crosswords or Sudoku. It's clever logic problems and other brain teasers that are left by the killer for the sleuths--and the reader--to find and solve. I LOVE LOVE LOVED it so much that I sincerely wished it was not only one in a series but one in a genre of mystery novels.

The Case of the Missing Servant:
From the Files of Vish Puri, Most Private Investigator
Series: Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator
Author: Tarquin Hall
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Publication Date: June 16, 2009
Source: local library
View on Amazon

I can't believe I forgot to review this sooner, since it's probably my favourite book in the Vish Puri series. I read them out of order, so even though this is the first one in the series, I read it third. They're easily read in any order, though. The first one I read was The Case of the Deadly Butter Chicken and I fell in love with everything about it. But even I was surprised with how much I enjoyed The Case of the Missing Servant. It's both a well written book and a jolly good mystery. Plus, it was good to finally get more insight into some of the characters' back stories, particularly the origins of their nicknames (Facecream, Handbrake, etc.). If you've never read a Vish Puri novel, this one is a great start.

BOOK REVIEW: Death of Yesterday, by M.C. Beaton

Death of Yesterday: A Hamish Macbeth Mystery, by M.C. Beaton

Published by Grand Central on March 26, 2013

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on April 18, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

I have been a huge fan of M.C. Beaton--particularly the Hamish Macbeth series--for so long that I get very excited every time I see a new book in the series. So excited, in fact, that I seem to forget all of the problems the books have had over the years, especially recently.

Out of the Frying Pan

(A Poppy Markham Culinary Cop Mystery)

Author: Robin Allen

Publisher: Midnight Ink Books

Publication Date: July 8, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

It was pretty good. With an amateur sleuth in the form of a food safety inspector (but I like "culinary cop" better) and a murder that takes place on an organic farm, it satisfies the cozy mystery fan AND the wannabe foodie in me. And a lot of the characters are fantastic, particularly the socialite stepmother (whom I pictured as a slightly younger Lucille Bluth). But at times I felt like I needed the out of state translation guide. It seemed VERY Texas at times, with more references to college football than I could keep up with. There were entire passages I had to reread slowly just to figure out which things I needed to look up. This should not be a problem for people who know about Texas, American colleges, or sports, but I fit into none of those categories.

Apart from being a little confusing (almost convoluted) at times, I'd give it a solid B+.

BOOK REVIEW: Killer Librarian, by Mary Lou Kirwin

Killer Librarian
Author: Mary Lou Kirwin
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: November 27, 2012
Source: local library
View on Amazon

Full Disclosure: I didn't finish this book. I rarely abandon a book I'm not enjoying, not because I have a problem doing so, but because so many of the books I read have been provided by publishers through review programs (usually in the form of digital galleys) and I feel bad abandoning them because then I can't write a proper review. So usually I slog on, even if I'm hating the book (which almost always results in a negative review, but at least an honest one). In this case I had gotten the book from the library so I hadn't promised a review to anyone, so I didn't feel bad about stopping after only a few chapters.

So here's why I abandoned Killer Librarian:

Gingerbread Cookie Murder
Authors: Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier
Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2010
Source: my local library
View on Amazon

This is actually a three-in-one book with three separate stories, all with gingerbread cookie themes, by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier. (Sorry for the lateness of this Christmas-themed review, but I usually don't even get a chance to read my Christmas-themed mysteries until January as it is!)

The Body in the Sleigh: A Faith Fairchild Mystery, by Katherine Hall Page

Published by William Morrow on October 27, 2009

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 2, 2014

View on Amazon

I've read at least one Faith Fairchild mystery before and I enjoyed it, but this one didn't quite live up to my expectations. It started off very promising but the pace slowed to a crawl at times and it seemed the author was still laying down establishing details and character background right up to the last page.

Sherlock Holmes and the Needle's Eye:

The World's Greatest Detective Tackles the Bible's Ultimate Mysteries

Author: Len Bailey

Foreword by: Warren W. Wiersbe

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: May 7, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

I really, really enjoyed this book! Since it's a book about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson travelling through time to solve Biblical mysteries--complete with Bible study questions and notes on scripture--it's sort of fan fiction on multiple levels. Because of that, I feel I should disclose my own bias--i.e. where on the fan-fiction fan spectrum I fall.

First of all, I LOVE mysteries, particularly Sherlock Holmes. Actually, I have a particular fondness for modern day mysteries set in Victorian London and written in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (so, fan fiction, essentially). That alone was enough to make me want to read this book. But I'm not Christian (despite my frequent reviews on Booksneeze), so I may not exactly be the target audience for this book. BUT here's a little secret: I actually love reading religious books, albeit in a non-religious way. I even have a degree in Religious Studies. So I've done my fair share of Bible reading, even though it was in a classroom more than a church.

Okay, now that I've alienated the atheists and the Christians alike, here's my review:

BOOK REVIEW: The Great Cake Mystery, by Alexander McCall Smith

The Great Cake Mystery:
Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case
Series: A Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Book for Young Readers
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Illustrator: Iain McIntosh
Publisher: Anchor
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
View on Amazon

Originally published in the UK by Polygon on February 1, 2012, with the title "Precious and the Monkeys"
Source: local library (digital)
Author's website
Illustrator's website

Magda and I read this in one sitting. It's absolutely delightful! It's based on the character from The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, except it's her as a little girl, solving her first case. She's logical and adorable! My daughter and I were thoroughly charmed.

The Chinese Orange Mystery, by Ellery Queen

(Published by MysteriousPress/Open Road on February 5, 2013)

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on March 27, 2013

View on Amazon.com

Let me just start by saying that I've long been conflicted about ebooks. I do own an ebook reader and I love that it allows me to read some books sooner than I would otherwise (like with advanced digital copies) but when it comes down to it, I'll always prefer a print copy of any book. I can't think of a single exception. However, I do have to admit that there is a very big advantage to ebooks that I hadn't considered before. Specifically, when classic books that I may have forgotten about are put out by ebook publishers like Open Road Integrated Media, it gives me an excuse to rediscover them all over again.

Enter Ellery Queen.

The Litter of the Law: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery, by Rita Mae Brown (and Sneaky Pie Brown)

Published by Bantam, October 22, 2013

View on Amazon

Before my first blog, Cozy Little Book Journal, was even a book blog, it was an actual journal that I kept beside my bed and used to record my thoughts on books I had read. One of the reasons I did that was for books like this. I read a lot of cozy mysteries and sometimes when I discover a series I like, I want to make sure I can find that author again. Other times I want to warn myself that this series is not for me. The reason I need to take notes is because, with cozy mysteries, they can all start to look the same after a while.

Take, for example, the cat cozy. There are a million of them. I remember reading something by Marian Babson on my lunch break once and my boss said, "Oh is she the woman who writes all those cat mysteries?" and I said, "No, you're thinking of that other one." In other words, there are a LOT of "that woman who writes the cat mysteries." It's hard to remember which ones I like and which ones I don't.

The Anatomist's Apprentice:

The Dr. Thomas Silkstone Mysteries, Book 1

Author: Tessa Harris

Audiobook Narrator: Simon Vance

Publisher: Kensington

Audiobook Publisher: Blackstone Audio

Publication Date: December 27, 2011

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

Is there any book that can't be made better by the narration of Simon Vance? No. No, there is not. Simon Vance is the absolute best. A lot of the other reviews I read for this book on Goodreads complained that the writing was poor or that the story was convoluted and overly complicated but I honestly didn't mind any of it. I could listen to Simon Vance tell me a story any time. I'm thinking of doing a project next year in which I read classics of literature and I think I may start with a list of any book that has an audiobook narrated by Simon Vance. I bet War and Peace wouldn't even seem that long, to hear him tell it.

To be perfectly fair, I did perhaps find the middle to the end of the book a bit convoluted and overly complicated, and I'm not sure I would have loved it as much as I did if I were simply reading it.

BOOK REVIEW: The Summer of Dead Toys, by Antonio Hill

The Summer of Dead Toys
Series: Inspector Salgado

Author: Antonio Hill

Publisher: Random House

Publication Date: June 18, 2013

Source: NetGalley and Edelweiss

View on Amazon.com

Every time I tried to read The Summer of Dead Toys--which was a lot of times, I had the advanced copy for, like, ever--I had the exact same thought, "Is this the book that's supposed to be so good? Do I have the right book?" And then I'd go and read some of the advanced buzz and reviews and see that everyone seems to love this book. Like crazy love it. So I'd think, "I must just be reading it wrong." And I'd keep reading. Another hundred pages in I'd think, "Surely not EVERYONE loves this book, right? I can't be the only one who is finding it boring as hell, right? Am I?" And I'd look at online reviews and find out that yup, I was. So I again figured I was reading it wrong. By the time I had slogged through two thirds of the book I realized that nothing was going to make me like it but it was too late to stop at that point. So I finished...eventually.

BOOK REVIEW: A Christmas Secret, by Anne Perry

NOTE: Oh. my. GAWD. Can't even deal with this.

A Christmas Secret
Author: Anne Perry
Series: The Christmas Stories
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: November 7, 2006
Source: local library
View on Amazon

NOTE: So I read and reviewed this book before I realized that Anne Perry was, in fact, herself a convicted murderer. I'm still trying to process that information. (Agghhhhh! That's the sound my mental processing makes.)

This is the first Anne Perry book I've ever read and I was pleasantly surprised. I guess I've always avoided her because, despite the "mystery" label, her covers always look like they belong on romance novels (not my favourite genre). And with a plot description about a 19th century vicar's wife who accompanies her husband to a remote village at Christmastime to replace the regular pastor, well, I was afraid the only "secret" she'd be uncovering would be the "secret to a happy marriage" and maybe a new biscuit recipe. But I am happy to say I was wrong.

A Grid For Murder: A Mystery By the Numbers, by Casey Mayes

Published by Berkley Prime Crime, 2012

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on September 8, 2013

View on Amazon

It's a good little cozy, or rather it's almost a good little cozy. My main problem with it is the flaw in the lead character's logic. The amateur sleuth, Savannah Stone, makes the same leap of logic when trying to solve a murder that nearly all cozy sleuths make: she is so obsessed with finding people with motive that she completely ignores means and opportunity. Who was actually in the area when the victim was killed? Who could have had access to her in the time period before she died? She's focused solely on the "why" and not the "how."

Death in the Vines
A Verlaque and Bonnet Provencal Mystery
Author: M.L. Longworth
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: May 28, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

Oh come on! What the --? This book started out SO cozy. There are neighbouring vineyards in the south of France and one of them is the victim of a wine thief. Oh no! Who could it be?

Uh, could it be the...

[I don't know if this counts as a spoiler because it doesn't reveal the ending but it does talk about things that happen past the first few chapters, so I'll put up a "spoiler warning" and let you decide.]

*SPOILER ALERT*

BOOK REVIEW: The Advent of Murder, by Martha Ockley

The Advent of Murder:
A Faith Morgan Mystery
Author: Martha Ockley
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Publication Date: July 19, 2013
Source: NetGalley
View on Amazon

Oh I'm a sucker for a good vicar mystery. The Father Dowling Mysteries, The Father Brown Stories (both with excellent TV adaptations), Sidney Chambers stories (we need more of those!) and now, the Faith Morgan series.

Faith Morgan is a lot of cozy mystery detective types all in one. She's a former police officer who has changed careers and become a vicar, and she has to deal with her surly police inspector of an ex-boyfriend Ben (I've never thought of vicars as having ex-boyfriends), and in this one she has to solve a murder while planning the Christmas pageant. Oh and it's a Christmas cozy! Basically this book was written with me in mind. If it had somehow included recipes or puzzles, I would have been in heaven.

Forget Me Knot
A Quilting Mystery
Series: Quilting Mystery (#5)
Author: Mary Marks
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: January 7, 2014
Source: NetGalley
View on Amazon

Forget Me Knot is the "other sort" of cozy mystery from A Dark and Stormy Knit. While the two books are very similar--they are both amateur sleuth cozy mysteries set in the world of needlecraft--A Dark and Stormy Knit leads up to the murder with a series of escalating conflicts while Forget Me Knot just dives right in. I'd barely cracked the cover (okay that phrase is meaningless because I read it on my e-reader, but I couldn't think of the comparable term--"barely opened the file"?) when I'm confronted with a dead body. But that's not necessarily a bad thing if handled deftly, which this quilting mystery is.

Death of a Policeman
A Hamish Macbeth Mystery
Author: M.C. Beaton
Publisher: Grand Central
Publication Date: February 25, 2014
Source: NetGalley
View on Amazon

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 4, 2014

M.C. Beaton is back! After far too many disappointing entries into what I had started calling my "formerly favourite series," I can honestly say that M.C. Beaton has penned the best Hamish Macbeth mystery in years. I had no expectation that I would like this--I've been sorely disappointed by the last several books--but I can't help myself. I just have to read every new Hamish Macbeth as soon as it comes out. I keep hoping that the next one will be as good as the earlier ones that made me fall in love with the series in the first place (like Death of a Prankster or Death of a Poisoned Pen). And, I'm happy to say, this one finally was!

Murder as a Fine Art, by David Morrell

Published by Mulholland Books on May 7, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

If you took No Country For Old Men (or at least the movie, I haven't read the book), Ripper Street (the British TV show...I only saw one episode but it seemed like turn-of-the-century London meets Law and Order SVU) and Kate Summerscale's The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher (the book, not the TV movie, although that was great as well) and shook them up in a jar, the result would be Murder as a Fine Art.
David Morrell weaves facts about mid-1800's London (some of which are absolutely horrifying) with a story of a brutal mass murderer (fiction, but based on some real cases, such as the Ratcliffe Highway murders) and injects them with a fictionalized version of the real British essayist Thomas De Quincey (of Confessions of an English Opium Eater fame). De Quincey wrote an essay entitled, "Murder as a Fine Art," which was the inspiration for both Morrell's novel and the killing spree of his fictional character therein. As such, the opium addicted De Quincey (in the novel) becomes the chief suspect in the murders and struggles to clear his name through a fog of drug addiction.

Nooo! Don't murder the puppies!! New McVitie's ad uses Murder, She Wrote theme, implied puppy murder

What are they trying to tell us? That the puppies are being murdered and then eaten as cookies? I'm pretty sure that's the message here.

BOOK REVIEW: A Dark and Stormy Knit, by Anne Canadeo

A Dark and Stormy Knit: A Black Sheep Knitting Mystery, by Anne Canadeo

Published by Gallery Books on January 14, 2014

View on Amazon

I should have known when I picked this up that I was going to love it. It's by the author of The Silence of the Llamas (I'm in love with that title) AND it involves both knitting and knit graffiti. I just started knitting last year and I'm finally at the point where I really enjoy it, plus I've been fascinated by knit graffiti because one of their most famous "leaders" has the same name as my daughter (Magda).

Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly (A Novella), by Agatha Christie
Publisher: Witness Impulse/HarperCollins
Publication Date: November 12, 2013
Source: Edelweiss
Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 8, 2014

I'm so glad I finally got around to reading this "previously unpublished" Agatha Christie novella if for no other reason than that it cleared up a question that had been nagging at me: what was Christie's obsession with follies? I didn't even know what an architectural folly was before I started reading Agatha Christie but she has three separate stories about them: Dead Man's Folly, "Greenshaw's Folly" and The Greenshore Folly. Why is she so fond of them? Finally I have an answer.

A folly, by the way, is an ornamental building, usually found in the large garden of a rich person, and is by definition a building that serves no purpose other than decorative but is designed to look like it does have a person. The most common follies are things like miniature replicas of ancient Greek temples or even fake ruins. They're very silly but at least they're aptly named.

An example of a folly: The Temple of Modern Philosophy in the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Park in France. This building was left unfinished on purpose, symbolizing that knowledge would never be complete and that philosophy will progress (and also to be pretentious).
from Wikipedia

As it turns out, Agatha Christie probably did not mean to write three separate stories about follies. It all started with this one, The Greenshore Folly, which she wrote as a gift to her local church. Specifically, she promised to donate the sales rights of one of her short stories to the church so they could install stained glass windows (which was apparently Christie's idea in the first place). Unfortunately after she had written it, she discovered that her publisher wouldn't publish it in its current state. It was too long to be a short story, too short to be a novel or even a proper novella, and not right for serialization. How embarrassing. What folly.

Killer Honeymoon

A Savannah Reid Mystery

Author: G.A. McKevett

Publisher: Kensington

Publication Date: March 26, 2013

View on Amazon.com

View on Amazon.ca

I think I've only read one other book in the Savannah Reid series, and I remember it being a fun read (though apparently I had some issues with the fact checking, according to my review), so I was happy to get my hands on this. I've been reading so many heavy, heartbreaking books lately that I was due a nice light read. And thank goodness for it! It was exactly what I was looking for in a cozy mystery and it came at the perfect time.

One thing I liked about this one in particular is how the author managed to make her main characters--a police officer and a private investigator--feel like amateur sleuths (in a good way). While on vacation (the titular killer honeymoon, no less), Savannah Reid and her new husband Dirk (Are people really named Dirk? Perhaps only in the South?) stumble upon a dying woman, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds. Although they are unable to save her, they do hear her dying declaration and are prepared to make a statement to the local police. Unfortunately the police seem more interested in protecting the reputation of the tourist destination than solving the murder of the woman, who turns out to be a popular news anchor. Obviously, Dirk and Savannah have to step in and solve the crime, with or without the help of the police!

This isn't really about murder...already I'm doing it wrong

Tonight for Valentine's Day the hubby and I watched Vibes. You know, the movie from the 80's where Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper are psychics? I know, we're so romantic it's disgusting. Try not to be too grossed out by our elaborate courtship ritual. We also ate potato chips and talked about how nice it would be if the neighbours would be quiet and the weather would clear up. Jealous yet? Yeah, you should be. We're awesome.

Anyway, I know Vibes isn't actually a murder mystery. I mean, there's a mystery--sort of--and there are murders, but nobody tries to solve them (the murders, not the mystery). But Peter Falk is in it, so that makes it feel more murder-y than it actually is.

Apart from Peter Falk's distracting glass eye and Cyndi Lauper's always fantastic wardrobe, the best thing about Vibes is the music video for the song that only appears in the end credits (and in fact the only song that appears in the movie at all, apart from some pan flute music).

"I've got a hole in my heart that goes all the way to China--"

See? It IS Valentine-y!

BOOK REVIEW: The Case of the Love Commandos, by Tarquin Hall

The Case of the Love Commandos

From the Files of Vish Puri, India's Most Private Investigator

A Vish Puri Novel

Author: Tarquin Hall

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Publication Date: October 8, 2013

View on Amazon:

Source: Edelweiss, Net Galley

Yay! You know that joy you feel when, after discovering a new mystery author and thinking perhaps you have a new favourite series, you then read a second book by that author and realize that yes, you were right to love them? By contrast, there's nothing worse than being disappointed in the second book you read by an author after loving their first. Thankfully, Tarquin Hall did not disappoint.

The Silent Wife
Author: A.S.A. Harrison
Audiobook Narrators: Karen White and Donald Corren
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: June 25, 2013
Source: Goodreads (paperback from the publisher), audiobook from local library
View on Amazon

I just don't understand the hype about this book. I've had it on my shelf for months and I can't even recall how many times I've picked it up, tried to plough through a few more chapters, only to wonder--again--why it's so boring. Surely it should be better, after all the attention it's gotten? But the characters are not just unlikable, they're downright inscrutable. What is their motivation for anything they do? I couldn't get a handle on any of them, and I absolutely could not get myself to care.

Welcome! You have Peter S. Fischer to thank for this blog

Thank-you for finding my blog. It's sort of a spin-off from my main book blog, Cozy Little Book Journal. It arose from a desire to have all of my reviews of mysteries and thrillers in one place, plus a desire to talk about my favourite murder-themed TV shows. Well, that and I've been really, REALLY into Murder, She Wrote lately. Originally I considered just having a Murder, She Wrote blog. It may still be that...we'll see.

Let's kick it off with the book that re-ignited my love of Murder, She Wrote and led to the creation of this blog: Me and Murder, She Wrote: My Adventures in Television with Angela Lansbury, Peter Falk and Jerry Orbach...among others, An Unauthorized Autobiography by Peter S. Fischer. I cannot stress enough how much this book made me want to go out and re-watch every single episode of Murder, She Wrote...which is exactly what I did.

Me and Murder, She Wrote:
My Adventures in Television with Angela Lansbury, Peter Falk and Jerry Orbach...among others
An Unauthorized Autobiography by Peter S. Fischer
Author: Peter S. Fischer
Publisher: Grove Point Press
Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) Members' Titles
Publication Date: September 15, 2013
View on Amazon
Source: NetGalley
Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal, October 3, 2013

Ooh this book made me want to watch a marathon of Murder, She Wrote! Why don't I have this series on DVD? I'm going to have to look into that.

It was a fun book to read. Peter Fischer gives a behind the scenes look at some of the coziest crime dramas of the '70's and '80's--Kojak, Columbo, and of course Murder, She Wrote--as well as some lesser known shows like Mrs. Columbo, Blacke's Magic, The Law and Harry McGraw. He tells the tales and names the names, including who was a joy to work with (Angela Landsbury, Jerry Orbach), who wasn't (Peter Falk) and who was a total nightmare (Hal Linden). It's deeply satisfying gossip, even if I didn't entirely remember all the people he was gossiping about.

The one thing that did make it a bit hard to follow was the fact that he switched tenses all over the place, often in the same paragraph. He goes from "I was" to "I am" to "I have" with seemingly no discernible rhyme or pattern. It was hard to tell when he was talking about the distant past and when he was talking about the present. Plus the book isn't exactly chronologically told and he almost never referenced years when he was introducing an anecdote. He did, however, frequently mention the month the story took place, which was confusing. "It was March and I had been writing..." "It was December and I have a meeting with..." You would think that meant all those stories took place in the same year that was previously mentioned, but usually that was not the case. I was struggling to figure out what year it could have been that had Columbo, Murder, She Wrote, Law and Order and The Father Dowling Mysteries all airing at the same time before I finally gave up and decided to just enjoy the stories. And I did enjoy them!

UPDATE: Guess who just tracked down the entire series on DVD? YAY!!! I'll see you in a couple of months.

Pages

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Friday, February 21, 2014

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Monday, February 17, 2014

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Friday, February 14, 2014

Thursday, February 13, 2014