It is perhaps fitting that I review Tattoo, one of Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s Pepe Carvalho mystery novels, so soon after Andrea Camilleri’s The Terracotta Dog. If you think you can guess a link between a Montalbano who solves crimes and a Montalbán who writes about crime solvers, you’re on the right track. Camilleri has acknowledged […]
When Inspector Montalbano is approached by a mafioso named Tano the Greek, it is because he has a reputation for understanding how certain matters are handled. In many ways The Terracotta Dog, the second book in Andrea Camilleri’s Montalbano series, is less a murder mystery and more an examination of how Montalbano handles these matters. […]
A Madness of Angels by Kate Griffin: I tried a lot to like this story. I started it three times, once in the middle to try and mix things up. That one was the most successful attempt but after a bit a fight scene convinced me that what Griffin was doing and what I wanted […]
(large plot shape spoiler) Every review is in some ways a story of encountering a book. In some cases, as with Dana Stabenow’s Disappearance of a Scribe, it’s actually quite a long one. A friend mentioned this book a few months ago as they were reviewing it. Me, a sucker for ancient murder mysteries, came […]
(Mild Spoilers) Wanted: One Private Eye to traipse around parts of the Roman Empire, solving local problems while taking on the Emperor’s worst missions. Duties involve pointing out interesting historical and local details for readers, acting tough while being a soft touch, general wittiness, and having a ‘lively’ romance with the glamourous and competent leading […]
(mild spoilers) Put yourself in the shoes of Marcus Didius Falco. You’ve just been bailed out of prison, stuck there by a jealous palace spy. You need to make a whopping big pile of money in order to marry your amazing patrician girlfriend, but your best hope of doing so relies on working for the […]
(mild spoilers) There is a problem when it comes to reviewing Camilleri’s Inspector Montalbano books and that is they feel so full of Sicilian culture, so focused on it, that how is someone who’s never been there meant to say what is right and wrong about it? I can tell you The Shape of Water […]
I like breaking down fiction. I say that while often raging at a culture that seems more intent on appreciating fiction in its components rather than as its whole, but I do. It’s part why I review. But with Shadows in Bronze, I see no better way to celebrate Lindsey Davis’ novel than as a […]
There’s a certain way I like to have my crime novels. I like there to be a bit of a laugh. I like seeing teams at work. I like it when they make a point of showing a small world, not just the pursuit of one crime. As such, I liked RJ Dark’s A Numbers […]
(Kind of a big series spoiler but not really) It is good to come from a family of readers. Not only will you have a never ending supply of books to steal borrow, but it will give you a list of books with memories forever attached to them. The Silver Pigs, the start of a […]
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