Robin Agnew

Emily Sullivan: A Death on Corfu

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Minnie Harper #1

This lovely, sparkling book is set on Corfu in 1898.  It’s the story of widowed Minnie, raising two kids on her own.  Minnie is British but her husband chose Corfu for them, and the family was very happy there together.  His dying request was for Minnie never to send the children back to England.  While Minnie’s son, Tommy, is young and more than entranced by the copious insect and amphibian population, her daughter Cleo is a teen who has reached the eye rolling stage.  I doubt that’s what it was called in 1898, but you know what I mean.  Cleo is longing to go away to school. read more

Maha Khan Phillips: The Museum Detective

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Dr. Gul Delani is an art historian working at the Museum of History and Heritage in Karachi, Pakistan.  She has basically forced her way into the museum by more or less creating her own department and curating her own staff of eager grad students.  When she gets a middle of the night phone call, she thinks it’s information about her long missing niece, Mahnaz, who had vanished at 15, but instead, it’s an order to get dressed and get in a car for a long ride. When she arrives, she’s asked to take a look at what could possibly be the mummy of a legendary princess of Persepolis. read more

Chris Nickson: No Precious Truth

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Cathy Marsden #1

Often when I read a book set during WWII, I imagine myself as the heroine of an exciting yet dangerous espionage operation, looking Hollywood glamorous the whole time.  Nickson offers readers a different, more workaday take in the person of Cathy Marsden, seconded from the Leeds police department to serve in the SIB or Special Operations Bureau, part of the military police. As the book opens, Cathy’s unit is joined by her brother Dan, who at the moment is stationed in London in the XX Committee, a part of MI5 which attempted to turn German spies in England into counter agents who would feed selected disinformation back to their masters. read more

Jesse Q. Sutanto: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

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Vera Wong #2

These books are like comfy, beautiful pillows for your brain, and, let me tell you, these days that’s not a bad thing.  Vera, the heroine of the series, is the 60 something widow who, in the first book, finds a dead body in the middle of her formerly obscure tea shop, ultimately finding friends and a purpose in the act of solving a murder.  Vera is opinionated, bossy, maternal, and an excellent cook, who as the book opens, gets a scam phone call which cons her into sharing her social security number and even a photo of her driver’s licence. read more

Nikki Knight: Hound of the Bonnevilles

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Grace the Hit Mom #2

This is the second book in the deliciously high concept “Hit Mom” series.  Knight’s heroine, Grace Adair, only takes out those who truly deserve it.  And she does it in an untraceable way.  Book one had many details of the way her organization functions; this second book deals more with fallout of actions taken by Grace and her fellow murder-y sisters.  While this sounds intense, humor is on tap here.

While Grace is a “hit mom” she’s also a mom-mom, as well as an editor and a sometime practicing lawyer.  In other words, she’s extremely busy.  She and her husband, who have a solid and affectionately loving marriage, share a fairly low maintenance son but her life still revolves around school drop off and pick up time.  It’s truly amazing what she manages to fit in between those times. read more

Ann Cleeves: A Lesson in Dying

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Inspector Ramsay #1

This welcome re-release of the first book in Ann Cleeves’ Inspector Ramsay series, originally published in 1990, is a pure delight.  Our bookstore (open 1992-2018) was lucky enough to have many of these  now collectible volumes on our shelves.  Before breaking out with her Vera books in 1999, the hardworking writer produced two now completed series, one centering on birdwatching, and this debut in the Ramsay series, a real, golden age gem.

Of course, the golden age of mystery ended many decades before this series began, but Cleeves follows many of the plotting and set up tropes familiar to any fan of the classics.  Set in a small village, the book begins when the much hated school headmaster of the insular community  is done away with at a combination Halloween/Guy Fawkes party for the school kids.  To the natives, all of whom are more than familiar with each other, Inspector Ramsey seems like  a exotic creature who appears from above to swoop in to solve the crime. read more

Deanna Raybourn: Kills Well with Others

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Killers of a Certain Age #2

This is the second in Raybourn’s delicious, breakout series following a group of sixty something lady assassins.  They work for an organization called “The Museum” and their mission is to take out those who are doing serious wrong (originally Nazis) and take them out in a way where the deaths can’t be traced and don’t appear to be murder.  The first book was a smorgasbord of beautifully executed little death scenes, each one a sharp and precise how-dunnit.  It also introduced the main characters, Billie, Natalie, Helen and Mary Alice.  In the first novel they were on an enforced “retirement cruise” but when it became clear they were actually the targets, they took action. read more

Radha Vatsal: No. 10 Doyers Street

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Archana “Archie” Morley is a journalist working in 1907 New York City.  She’s a double outsider: she’s a woman, and she’s from India.  Her physician husband, who has defied his family to marry her, is quite tolerant of her choice to don pants and traverse dangerous parts of the city looking for stories.  And boy, does she find some.  While her editor has her latched on to the notorious murder of Stanford White by Harry Thaw, Archie gets distracted by a gang style shooting in Chinatown and the gangster who may or may not be behind it, Mock Duck. read more

Amanda Flower: I Died for Beauty

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Emily Dickinson #3

This may be my favorite in this series to date.  The perfect blend of setting, character and story really sing in this novel, which takes place during a very cold and snowy winter in 1857 Amherst, Massachusetts.  While Amherst is now famous as Emily Dickinson’s birthplace and home, in 1857 Emily was just an eccentric member of the prominent Dickinson family, with scraps of writing spilling out of her pockets. And, in these novels, a penchant for sleuthing.

While today we experience cold and snowy winters, in 1857, those things made a much bigger difference in people’s lives.  The cold and snow meant there were fires going all the time which also meant a greater chance of house fires.  The snow cut off train deliveries (and travel) so food stores were hoarded.  For the poor, the situation was worse, as the cold meant their firewood supply may not have kept up with the need to keep warm. read more

Jeanne M. Dams: Murder of a Recluse

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Oak Park Village #3

I read the first book in this series, Murder in the Park, when it came out in 2021.  It stuck in my head, and when I picked up the latest book four years later, the place and characters came back to me right away.  Set in a Chicago suburb in the 20’s, the books follow now new bride Elizabeth Wilkins.  She’s separated herself at last from a difficult and controlling mother and is finding life as a young bride very pleasant.  She and her husband are building a house and are making space for his Aunt Lucy in their new home. read more