Book Review: Thief River Falls

Book Review: Thief River Falls by Brian Freeman “Write what you know.” Thriller author Lisa Power followed that maxim in her fourth book, entitled Thief River Falls. It’s set in her home town of Thief River Falls, Minnesota and features real locations there, and even the real names of some of the residents. The verisimilitude… Continue reading Book Review: Thief River Falls

Book Review: New Stories for Men

Book Review: New Stories for Men edited by Charles Grayson This 1941 anthology’s title is a trifle misleading, as some of the stories were up to twenty years old at the time of publication. It turns out it’s a sequel to Stories for Men by the same editor a year or two earlier, which became… Continue reading Book Review: New Stories for Men

Book Review: The New Adventures of Ellery Queen

Book Review: The New Adventures of Ellery Queen by Ellery Queen Ellery Queen was the shared pen name of Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee, as well as the main character of the mystery stories they wrote. Starting with The Roman Hat Mystery in 1929, they wrote many novels and short stories about a brainy mystery writer solving crimes (and then writing about them in the third… Continue reading Book Review: The New Adventures of Ellery Queen

Book Review: The Wanderer and the New West

Book Review: The Wanderer and the New West by Adam Bender Disclaimer: I received a download of this book through a Goodreads Giveaway to facilitate this review.  No other compensation was requested or offered. Fifty years ago, the Born-Again Patriots party was a rising independent political party with a platform of libertarianism and isolationism.  About… Continue reading Book Review: The Wanderer and the New West

Book Review: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard

Book Review: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard by Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (1925-2013) started his career as a professional writer by producing short Western stories for the pulp magazines.  According to the introduction, Mr. Leonard’s first attempt was not very good and was rejected, whereupon he decided that next time he… Continue reading Book Review: The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard

Book Review: The Mystery Men of Mars

Book Review: The Mystery Men of Mars by Carl H. Claudy Dr. Isaac Lutyens, Professor of Physics and Higher Mathematics, has created what amounts to a gravitic engine.  His first thought was to create a spaceship in his attic and orbit the moon.  This being successful, Dr. Lutyens decides that the next step is to… Continue reading Book Review: The Mystery Men of Mars

Book Review: A Man Named Raglan/Gun Junction

Book Review:  A Man Named Raglan/Gun Junction by John Callahan and Barry Cord, respectively While most of the Ace Doubles (two short books fused together and printed upside down from each other) I’ve read are science fiction, Ace also put out mysteries and westerns in the format.  This book is one of the Westerns, and… Continue reading Book Review: A Man Named Raglan/Gun Junction

Book Review: One Night in Sixes

Book Review: One Night in Sixes by Arianne “Tex” Thompson Island Town used to be known as Sixes, when the Eadan Confederacy controlled this area.  But a decade or so back, the indigenous peoples pushed the Confederacy across the river.  Now Island Town is on the border, with only a handful of the old inhabitants… Continue reading Book Review: One Night in Sixes

Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016

Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016 by various While I spend many of my comics-related posts on this  blog talking about the Big Two’s superhero comic books, there are a number of worthy small press comics companies that put out interesting material every year.  Oni Press has put out an affordable collection of… Continue reading Comic Book Review: Oni Press Starter Pack 2016

Book Review: Curiosities of Literature

Book Review: Curiosities of Literature by John Sutherland This is a book of trivia, factoids and amusing stories about the world of literature.  The author is a professor of English literature, so he knows his stuff.  The book is organized by loose themes, beginning with food (both as featured in literature, and as eaten by… Continue reading Book Review: Curiosities of Literature