Movie Review: Return of the Fly

The Fly displays its diplomatic skills.

Movie Review: Return of the Fly (1959) directed by Edward Bernds It has been fifteen years since the mysterious and horrific death of Andre Delambre, which was officially ruled a suicide. His widow Helene never got over the events, and her passing seems almost a mercy to her brother in law Francois Delambre (Vincent Price). But… Continue reading Movie Review: Return of the Fly

Comic Strip Review: Evil Witch Allie and the Black Whole

Comic Strip Review: Evil Witch Allie and the Black Whole by Kristin Tipping Jake is a cautious boy who deals with scary things by avoiding them as much as possible. Like the Mirror Lake Bog back of his house, or his crush on Cal, the boy next door. Part of it may be that he… Continue reading Comic Strip Review: Evil Witch Allie and the Black Whole

Magazine Review: High Adventure #166: The Big Foot Murder Mystery

Magazine Review: High Adventure #166: The Big Foot Murder Mystery by Edgar Wallace This time the pulp reprint magazine only has one story, which originally appeared in Complete Detective Novel Magazine in October, 1929. It was one of twelve novels Edgar Wallace (Richard Horatio Edgar Freeman) had published that year! One publisher claimed that nearly… Continue reading Magazine Review: High Adventure #166: The Big Foot Murder Mystery

Magazine Review: Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine December 1978

Magazine Review: Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine December 1978 edited by Sam Merwin Jr. Private eye Michael “Mike” Shayne was created in 1939 by David Dresser, writing under the name “Brett Halliday”. The books were long-running and popular, and in 1956 Dresser licensed the character to a puiblishing company to be the headliner of a digest-sized… Continue reading Magazine Review: Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine December 1978

Book Review: Great Thrillers: 101 Suspenseful Tales

Book Review: Great Thrillers: 101 Suspenseful Tales compiled by Stefan Dziemianowicz The definition of “thriller” is a little loose in this fun anthology, though most of the stories do have at least some suspense.  It feels more like the compiler picked a bunch of the public domain stories he liked, but didn’t have a strong… Continue reading Book Review: Great Thrillers: 101 Suspenseful Tales

Book Review: A Life for a Life: A Mystery Novel

Book Review: A Life for a Life: A Mystery Novel by Lynda McDaniel Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate writing this review.  No other compensation was requested or offered. There’s big doings down to Coburn’s Country Store.  The new owner, Della Kincaid, used to be a big-city… Continue reading Book Review: A Life for a Life: A Mystery Novel

Book Review: Black Bird of the Gallows

Book Review: Black Bird of the Gallows  by Meg Kassel Cadence, Pennsylvania used to be a mining town.  The economy never fully recovered from the mines closing down, but the town survived.  But there are some disturbing signs.  There’s an unseasonably high number of crows for February, and an even more unseasonable number of unusually… Continue reading Book Review: Black Bird of the Gallows

Manga Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood 01

Manga Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood 01 by Hirohiko Araki Centuries ago in Mexico, an offshoot of the Aztecs discovered a method of attaining eternal life through the consumption of human blood.  They ruled supreme for a while, then abruptly vanished from the pages of history.  One of their mysterious stone masks… Continue reading Manga Review: Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 1 Phantom Blood 01

Book Review: Oliver Twist

Book Review: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens An anonymous woman stumbles into a village about seventy-five miles from London, heavily pregnant and with her shoes in tatters.  She collapses in the street, and is taken to the parochial workhouse.  There, she gives birth to a boy and then perishes, seemingly leaving no clue to who… Continue reading Book Review: Oliver Twist

Book Review: Enchantment Lake

Book Review: Enchantment Lake by Margi Preus Francine Frye isn’t a detective.  She played a detective on TV.  On a children’s show.  For a few episodes.  But that still makes her the closest thing to a detective Francie’s eccentric aunts Astrid and Jeannette know.  So when a series of perfectly explainable but statistically improbable deaths… Continue reading Book Review: Enchantment Lake