Romance Reviews, December 2010
THE MYSTERY CREEP Have you noticed how elements of mystery and suspense are everywhere, and not just in what is normally labeled mystery/suspense or romantic suspense? This has been going on for some time—all that genre blending (or blurring) that is m...
Romance, October 15, 2010
’TIS THE SEASON This season’s holiday romances are tempting readers with a delectable assortment of tasty treats in a range of styles: lively or low-key, side-splitting or sober, magical or mundane, sexy or sweet. As is usually the case, home- and fami...
Short Takes: Holiday Fiction; What’s in Santa’s Book Bag?
Snow may not be on the ground yet (depending on where you are), but holiday- themed fiction will soon be hitting the shelves. Romance, gentle reads, and mysteries abound. Jane Austen fans must have been extra nice this year—they get two tribute volume...
Roundup Reviews: Blood, Brains, and Books, October 15, 2010
Anyone who has anything to do with books knows that zombies are a big deal right now, and there are a lot of theories as to why. Some point to the big print successes like Max Brooks’s World War Z and Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies...
SF/Fantasy Reviews, October 15, 2010
Bujold, Lois McMaster. Cryoburn. Baen, dist. by S. & S. (Miles Vorkosigan Novels). Oct. 2010. c.352p. ISBN 9781439133941. $25. SF When a company specializing in cryogenics from the planet Kibou-daini seeks to expand into the Barrayaran Empire, Imperi...
Mystery Reviews, December 2010
DAMAGED GOODS Mystery writers looking to make their sleuths more complex and believable often inflict a psychological or physical injury on them. Yet none of these protagonists let this damage prevent them from seeking justice for others. Susanne Alley...
SF/Fantasy, January 2011
Abercrombie, Joe. The Heroes. Orbit: Hachette. Feb. 2011. c.512p. ISBN 9780316044981. $24.99. FANTASY Black Dow, Protector of the North, wages war against the King of the Union as their great armies meet on a plot of ground near a ring of stones kn...
Mystery Reviews, February 1, 2011
FAMILY FEUDS Family troubles are no longer the mainstay of the cozy. Eccentric relatives like those of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum can also be found in Nancy Martin’s Roxy Abruzzo books (Sticky Fingers) and Maggie Toussaint’s Cleopatra Jones seri...
Genre Spotlight | Mystery: Dispatches from the Edge
Crime fiction is a genre dedicated to exploring the underside of both human psychology and life itself. This year’s crop of summer and fall mysteries and thrillers—and in particular those by debut writers and established authors launching new series—pr...
Editors’ Spring Picks
While we do not represent the rainbow of reading tastes American public libraries accommodate, we Book Review editors—now nine strong—are a wildly eclectic bunch. One look at our bedside tables and ereaders would reveal very little crossover.
S...