The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris A romance set in the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau sounds both improbable and rather insensitive, but The Tattooist of Auschwitz is neither. Based […]
The Swerve
The Swerve, How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt In history class we learned that the Dark Ages were, well, dark, and the lights didn’t come back on until […]
The Strangler Vine
The Strangler Vine and The Infidel Stain by M.J. Carter In the tradition of Holmes and Watson, Jeremiah Blake, a cynical ex-employee of the British East India Company and William […]
The Splendid and the Vile
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson Given the enormous number of Churchill biographies, especially of the war years, one might wonder about the necessity of yet another. Eric […]
The Spies of Shilling Lane
The Spies of Shilling Lane by Jennifer Ryan The Spies of Shilling Lane is another British World War II era novel from the author of the best-seller The Chilbury Ladies’ […]
The Son
The Son by Philipp Meyer When a friend asked me about The Son, I told her that I probably would not finish it– seeing as it is about a few […]
Operation Mincemeat
Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre The English have always appreciated, even treasured, eccentricity, and nowhere was this more evident than in the staffing of the British Secret Service during WW […]
The Forgotten
The Forgotten by David Baldacci The new Baldacci is a to-be-expected page turner. Aunt Betsy has a hunch that there is something fishy in her hometown of Paradise, FL. She […]
I am Half-Sick of Shadows
I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley I adored the first novel in the Flavia de Luce series, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. Subsequent novels in […]
Close to Death
Close to Death, a Hawthorne and Horowitz Mystery by Anthony Horowitz BOOK 5 Anthony Horowitz novels are more sophisticated than silly, but are excellent, engrossing summer reads. In the Hawthorne […]
How to Age Disgracefully
How to Age Disgracefully by Clare Pooley When recent empty nester Lydia applies for the job running the local Senior Citizens’ Social Club, she envisions quiet, grateful pensioners enjoying bingo […]
The Silver-Haired Sisterhood
The Silver-Haired Sisterhood (the further adventures of the Five French Hens) by Judy Leigh The Five French Hens are back in another improbable adventure. (Old ladies do not really live […]
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murders
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto Sixty-year-old Vera Wong springs out of bed at 4:30 a.m. each morning. “Late mornings, Vera believes, are only for toddlers […]
The Examiner
The Examiner by Janice Hallett I loved The Examiner, a fiendishly clever epistolary novel. I read the book in a weekend, and was repeatedly flummoxed by the plot’s twists and […]
One Death at a Time
One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman Romance writer Abbi Waxman (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill) has written a mystery. Twentysomething Natasha Mason and iconic, retired actress Julia […]