1 to 11 of 11
Review Date: 9/8/2008
This is a fantasy novel that makes a feminist point. A group of human males are shipwrecked on an island that is occupied by a group of women with wings. The men and women fall in love, but it is not long before the men plan to clip their lovers' wings. This book was published in 1914 before women had the right to vote. Foreword by Ursula Leguin.
Review Date: 8/17/2010
In addition to being the queen of the regency romance, Georgette Heyer wrote excellent mysteries. All the clues are there for you as well as for the inspector and his sergeant. There are also some eccentric young people and some romance as well. Very much in the vein of Agatha Christie.
Review Date: 2/21/2011
Set in an imaginative alternate universe in which Native American magic holds the United States to the land east of the Mississippi. Tombstone is full of steam punk inventions, courtesy of Thomas Alva Edison and Ned Buntline. There are also plenty of horse-thieving, murderous outlaws as well as hard-drinking, card-playing shootists. A lot of fun.
Review Date: 12/5/2010
I will only say that this is a deeply, deeply weird book. It certainly has noir features: the power structure is deeply corrupt, the hero's inquiries lead to some pointless deaths of innocents, and the plot is incredibly twisted. There are also many absurd touches: the client is the Queen of Denmark, the detective's father is a former cop who now runs a donkey ride concession, and one of the recurring villains is the detective's former gym (games) teacher.If your sense of black humor is well-developed, you may well enjoy this one.
Review Date: 1/19/2008
Helpful Score: 5
This is a chocolate bonbon of a book. A naive but fun protagonist, lots of brand-name dropping, clothes, romance, good friends, hilariously disfunctional family . . .it's just fun.
Review Date: 5/3/2009
This is one of my favorite books. Miss Marjoribanks is a young lady with a great deal of confidence in her ability to arrange other people's lives for the better, but she is not a monster of egoism. If a plan fails, she ties a knot and moves on. If a suitor loves another, she will begin to plan their nuptials. Her better qualities become most apparent when she encounters real adversity.
Review Date: 7/22/2009
Helpful Score: 7
Before Charlaine Harris wrote the Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels that are so deservedly popular, I read all of her Aurora Teagarden mysteries, and I am very glad that they are being reissued in paperback. These are mysteries in a setting very similar to the English villages that gave rise to coziesa small Southern town. Harris does a good job of showing how even in a place where you think you know everyone and everyone's business, the one secret you didn't know may be a killer. The Southern setting and the dangerous secrets are devices that she brought to new levels in her supernatural novels later, but even earlier in her mysteries, she reminds us that a small town is a microcosm of a world that is sometimes colder, and sometimes warmer than we know.
Review Date: 9/8/2008
Helpful Score: 2
I have begun to believe that it is impossible to find any Japanese books published in English translation that are not deeply bizarre. This is one of the more disturbing that I have read.
Review Date: 2/20/2010
Although Charlaine Harris is now best-known for her Sookie Stackhouse fantasy novels that were made into the TV series True Blood, I first encountered her work when I read her Aurora Teagarden series of murder mysteries. In this book, Aurora has quit her job as a librarian after inheriting some money from a friend. She is considering joining her mother's very successful real estate business, but when she begins to show a very sexy man around the Anderton mansion, they discover the luridly displayed corpse of another real estate agent known for her sexual escapades. One of the things I like about these novels is how much Aurora finds out just by taking the obligatory casserole to the bereaved and following other customs of small towns. I can recommend this book both for the mystery and also for Aurora's new love interest, Martin Bartell.
Review Date: 3/7/2009
Helpful Score: 2
Portrait painter, secret agent, equally willing to debauch beautiful members of either sex, Lucifer Box jumps, runs, flies, takes a hack from one outrageous situation to another. He would be entertaining at a dinner party, he might be fun for a roll in the hay, but you should never to trust him with your secrets or your cash. If you like outrageous conspiracies and mad geniuses with infernal devices, Lucifer Box might show you a good time.
Review Date: 12/31/2009
Helpful Score: 1
Frankly, the character of Makie, the female demon, has no depth. She is clearly just a male pornographic projection. When first introduced, she rescues the hero, but before the end, he is rescuing her from a gang rape. Within an hour of that she is begging him for sex. Yeah, right.
With that huge caveat, there's a lot of action, and the supernatural lore was good.
With that huge caveat, there's a lot of action, and the supernatural lore was good.
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