While not up to the high standard of Sherlock Holmes and the Voice from the Crypt (2002), Thomas's fourth pastiche collection conveys the tone and spirit of Conan Doyle's original tales with nary a false note. In the clever The Case of the...
Deputy Sheriff Lou Ford is a pillar of the community in his small Texas town, patient and apparently thoughtful. Some people think he's a little slow and maybe boring, but that's the worst they say about him. But then nobody knows about what Lou...
Once the great Glacier enclosed the Raumsdalian Empire. Now it’s broken open, and Count Hamnet Thyssen faces a new world. With the wisecracking Ulric Skakki, the neighboring clan leader Trasamund (politely addressed as Your Ferocity), and his...
It's never easy reviewing a classic; obviously it is good or it wouldn't be regarded as such, and if it has just been reprinted then its charm and relevance still exist for readers today. Since its publication in 1958, Robert Van Gulik's...
The Chinese Lake Murders describes how Judge Dee solves three difficult cases in A.D. 666, shortly after he has been appointed magistrate of Han-yuan."[Robert van Gulik] deftly interweaves three criminal cases involving exotic yet...
Judge Dee must solve three complex mysteries in this case. Poisoned plums, secret messages in a scroll picture, passionate love letters and a murderer with a penchant for torturing and killing women lead him into the heart of the Governor's...
Judge Dee and his entourage, seeking refuge from a mountain storm, become trapped in a Taoist monastery, where the Abbott Jade mysteriously dies after delivering an ecstatic sermon. The monks call it a supernatural experience, but the judge calls it...
After Bourne is ambushed and nearly killed while in Indonesia, he fakes his death to take on a new identity and mission- to find out who is trying to assassinate him. In the process, Bourne begins to question who he really is and what he would...
A nice writing style and considerable wit. – Chicago TribuneWit is Wolzien's strong suit… Her portrayal of small-town life will prompt those of us in similar situations to agree that we too have been there and done that. – The Mystery...
Just about a decade ago, Valerie Wolzien, who was then a housewife, began composing her first mystery novel on a warped old card table in her basement. All her subsequent whodunits pay implicit tribute to that hard-won apprenticeship: Each of...