On this, the 171st anniversary of his death, Edgar Allan Poe is more popular than ever and more misunderstood. Mystery writer S. S. Van Dine describes the detective story as a contest, in which the author seeks to “outwit the reader” by presenting a puzzle that the reader is unable to solve, despite being given…
London, 1888. A royal scandal, a murdered madame, and the most notorious serial killer in history call Veronica Speedwell to the aide of the royal family yet again. It’s Autumn, and the intrepid, endearing, adventuring Veronica Speedwell, steps off a train from Cornwall straight into a London terrorized by Jack the Ripper. A Murderous Relation…
Into the Fire is the 5th entry in Gregg Hurwitz’s hugely entertaining Orphan X series, which follows Evan Smoak, who at the age of 12 was plucked from a foster home and trained as an assassin for the government’s secret Orphan X program. He’s Jason Bourne with a touch of MacGyver and a hint of…
Tightrope by Amanda Quick follows an unconventional woman and a man shrouded in mystery who walk a tightrope of desire as they race against a killer to find a top-secret invention. Amalie Vaughn hears the voice in her nightmares. “Fly for me Princess,” the killer said. “If you fly, I’ll let you live.” He was…
In David R. Dow’s suspenseful debut novel Confessions of an Innocent Man, restaurant owner Rafael Zhettah is wrongfully convicted of the murder of a celebrity philanthropist, but he fights—for his freedom, and to deliver justice to those who stole everything from him. David R. Dow, author of Confessions of an Innocent Man, is the founder and director…
The American Agent by Jacqueline Winspear is the 15th installment of the Maisie Dobbs series, and now Maisie must balance her dangerous new case while her own feelings of love and grief threaten to overwhelm her. Intrepid investigator Maisie Dobbs drives an ambulance during the London Blitz, investigates a sensitive case of murder, hopes to adopt an orphan,…
A Dangerous Collaboration, the fourth installment of Deanna Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell Mysteries, has everything a mystery reader could want: a spooky castle on a shadowy isle, a missing bride, and a murderer. In their fourth outing, A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn, Veronica (the semi-legitimate daughter of the Prince of Wales) and Stoker (aka the Honourable Revelstoke…
Today, January 19th, is Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday. To celebrate his would-be 210th name day, we’re taking a look back at “The Purloined Letter,” C. Auguste Dupin, and the villain who’s been right in front of our eyes this whole time. It’s what he would have wanted. You don’t hear too many people using the…
The Dead Will Tell by Linda Castillo is the sixth book in the Kate Burkholder series. “Is it safe?” Not if you live in Painters Mill, Ohio—home to 5,300 people, half of them Amish. One of the more striking aspects of this captivating series is that there seems to be more crime per square mile…
This week, PBS aired a documentary on Poe titled, Buried Alive. It should have been, Buried Anew. It was too much to hope that the film would actually set the record straight about Poe. Yet the advance write-up on the PBS website said all the right things. The film would sweep away the “misrepresentations” of Poe and…
