Although her books are beginning to come back into print at last, and most (if not all) of her oeuvre is available for digital download, Margaret Millar is a name sadly lost to the annals of history. She was actually a successful writer for a long time who won an Edgar Award in 1956 for Beast In View. Had she lived today, she’d be right up there with women such as Megan Abbott and Laura Lippman who dominate bestseller lists with their exciting blend of thriller and […]
A Different Kind of Spy Novel
Charles McCarry meets the kind of Goldilocks/middlebrow standard I look for in spy novels: not too complex, not too simple, not too jingoistic, not too cynical. Juuuuust right. This is the third I’ve read of his Paul Christopher series and like the last two, the plot gripped me. It’s a deep plot but not so convoluted that it loses the reader. Every scene has a purpose; there are few red herrings. It hurtles its way towards its sad, surprising end, tying in perfectly with the […]
The Book Sensation That’s Sweeping The Nation!
Disclaimer: I don’t know what the political boundaries are for this website, i.e. what’s appropriate to talk about and what’s not. I’m a bleeding heart liberal who makes other bleeding heart liberals look like Birchers. I also bear the scars of many a social media fight over politics and have no desire to reopen wounds here. So I’ll be reviewing the quality of this book and what Woodward is saying in its context. Please do not take this as support of an administration I find […]
So…I guess I like James Ellroy now?
I began the calendar year 2018 with the belief that, among other things, I would never be a fan of James Ellroy. Many readers have that one author they think they should like, perhaps because they are drawn to said author’s specific genre (for me, that’s mystery novels, particularly moody period pieces set in LA). And they try, try, and try again to get into their books with no luck. James Ellroy is that writer for me. I read American Tabloid years ago and it was a […]