Soho Crime

Francine Mathews: Death on a Winter Stroll

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Great Christmas Read

Confession: this is the first book I’ve read in Mathews’ Merry Folger series, and I very much regret not being up to date (something I plan to rectify). What a great read – it reminded me of Jane Haddam’s books, without some of the sardonic edge that Haddam brought to her work.  Set on Nantucket, the setting is spectacular, and it’s obviously born of a personal love and knowledge of the area.  She describes the social strata of a resort perfectly – the workers who serve the very wealthy who frequent Nantucket exist in a different social sphere.  Merry, a native, is a “townie” who grew up on Nantucket and has long family roots on the island. They are there when the dust of the tourist season clears, and the gap between townie and summer visitor is often vast. read more

Naomi Hirahara joins our August Book Club

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Naomi Hirahara will join our book club via zoom on Sunday, August 21 at 2 p.m. when we discuss her award winning book, Clark and Division.  Set during WWII, it follows the travails of the Ito family who are placed in a Japanese internment camp in California and then, after two years in the camp, relocated from California to Chicago. The portrait of the family, of the time period, and of the Ito family’s circumstances are beautifully portrayed.  All are welcome to join!  Come with questions or come to listen.  I can’t recommend this book more highly – it was my favorite read of 2021 and am delighted to get it into the hands of as many readers as possible.  We do have copies available on the store page of this website, but please check out your local bookstore, your library, and find and read a copy in some form or fashion!  Email us as store (at) auntagathas.com for the zoom link. read more

May Book Club Read: Slow Horses

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Join us in May for our book club read of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses, the first in his series about MI5 agents who have made some epic fails.  We’ll meet in person on Sunday, May 22 at 2 p.m. or via zoom on Wednesday. May 25, at 7 p.m.   Email us at store@auntagathas.com or message us on facebook for details.

Here’s the publisher’s description of Slow Horses (now an excellent TV series): London, England: Slough House is where the washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated here. Maybe they messed up an op badly and can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they all have in common, though, is they all want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there─even if it means having to collaborate with one another. read more

James R. Benn: Road of Bones

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This book will be published on September 7.

For new readers, the Billy Boyle books are set during WWII and feature an army captain, Billy, who investigates the murders that occur on the edges (or directly inside of) the war. It’s now 1944, and after giving Billy a bit of a break in the last book, The Red Horse, author James Benn plunges Billy and his sidekick Big Mike directly into the action.  Road of Bones begins and ends with two bravura action scenes, a type of writing at which Benn excels.  Action scenes can easily become dull or repetitive (to this crime reading veteran, anyway), but Benn is specific, descriptive in a concise way, and the pacing of his action scenes is perfection.  The more I read, the more I think pacing is all, and Benn has the gift. read more