Review: The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart

by Carol11 Comments
When I borrowed The After House by Mary Roberts Rinehart from our library, I honestly had no idea it took place aboard a ship. I picked it out solely based on the author. I had listened to one of hers before and enjoyed it, so I thought I'd try another. Apparently the title should have given it away, though. I didn't realize an afterhouse is the deckhouse nearest the stern of a ship, not that it would have mattered one way or another. Our narrator is Ralph Leslie, a young man, out of money after paying for medical school and just released from the hospital following an illness. Leslie jumps at the chance to spend the summer aboard the Ella, a yacht owner by millionaire Marshall Turner. Leslie is to act as the steward for the guests housed in the afterhouse. There is some stress on board, but it seems like the journey should be pleasant enough, until Leslie discovers the...
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Review: The Book That Eats People by John Perry

by Carol10 Comments
I picked Amber up after school the other day. She opened the passenger door and innocently reached for the books stacked on the seat to put them in back, like she has to most days. I'm sure I'm not the only one who tends to have books in the car. I had to yell for her to be careful. No, I didn't yell too loud, I wouldn't want to embarrass her. But she was reaching for The Book That Eats People! She just rolled her eyes at me. She's getting good at that, but she is 11, I guess I should get used to it. This is an irresistible, if potentially dangerous book. A great book to read aloud to pre-school or younger elementary kids, it tells about the book's journey and its victims, like poor Sammy Ruskin, the first kid the book ate. You see, he had forgotten to wash his hands after lunch and they smelled like peanut butter....
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Tuesday Intro from Two and a Half Dead Men

by Carol6 Comments
I was looking through some of the books on my line-up seeing which one's first paragraph really grabbed my attention. This is the first three paragraphs from Two and a Half Dead Men by Jason Krumbine. "What the hell?" the guy on the floor says, appropriately freaking out. "I'm Thane," the shorter man with the lighter, closely cropped hair says. He points to the guy standing next to him. "This is my brother, Mort. Our last name is Grym. It's funny, you won't get it right away, but you will in a minute." "And you're dead," Mort points to the man on the floor impatiently. So, would it grab your attention? I found it rather amusing. Tuesday Intros is hosted by Diane at Bibliophile By the Sea....
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Review: The Sherlockian by Graham Moore

by Carol11 Comments
Picture London, December 1893. The city is in mourning and angry at the man who killed a remarkable man. Sherlock Holmes is dead, killed at Reichenbach Falls by his creator, Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle is amazed that people have responded as if Holmes, the character who he honestly hates, was a real person. Jump ahead in time to 2010. The Baker Street Irregulars, a group of Holmes devotees, have gathered in New York for their annual get-together. The highlight this year is to be a presentation by Alex Cale. He has announced that he found the missing diary chronicling the years between when Doyle killed Holmes off and brought him back again in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Unfortunately, Alex is killed before he can make his presentation, and our main character, Harold, the youngest and newest Irregular, decides he needs to solve the case, using all he has learned from Holmes along the way. He is helped, or hindered, along...
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Review: Ding Dong the Diva’s Dead by Cat Melodia

by Carol15 Comments
I love candy corn, the traditional kind with the yellow bottom, orange middle, and white tip. I could eat it by the handfuls, even though it really isn't good for me, there's no complexity to the flavor. But it's such a treat and makes me happy. That's kind of how I felt about Ding Dong the Diva's Dead by Cat Melodia. (I'm sorry that's got to be one of the worst nom de plumes I've heard recently.) It's a light, fun, perky mystery that kept me reading, even when I should have been working. It takes place behind the scenes at a small opera company. One of the singers has died in an "accident," and Debbie de Lille is called in to take her place as Nicklauss in Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman. Odd things keep happening, smoke bombs, threatening phone calls, a fire. Who's behind it all? And is Debbie going to make it to opening night alive? The actual whodunnit plays...
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Review: India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr

by Carol16 Comments
India Black and the Widow of Windsor is a delightful romp, a mix of adventure, comedy and just a touch of sexual tension. Prime Minister Disraeli believes that a group of Scottish nationalists is planning to kill Queen Victoria while she spends the holidays in the highlands at Balmoral Castle. He sends along French, the sexy James Bond-type spy, and India Black, the madam of the Lotus House who has proved herself a resourceful woman before. French is to be a guest and will keep an eye on the aristocracy; India, on the other hand, is to mingle with the servants, working as a lady's maid for an eccentric, elderly Marchioness. They both have the same goal, though, keep the Queen safe and find the assassin. India is a brash, unrepentant woman. We get to hear the conversations she is a part of, or overhears, but we also are privy to her internal monologues which are biting, sarcastic and practical too. She's...
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