I love private investigator stories, and the general plot of the kidnapping of an heiress seemed like potential fun. But a good crime story needs plausibility, even with some allowance for suspension of reality as to the premise. It also needs well-drawn characters who make the reader root for (or against) somebody and care … More Alternative to Murder by H.E. Joyce [Review]

Devlin Haskell is a classic hard-boiled private detective, in a modern setting, with a heavy dose of humor. Author Make Faricy has created a character who harkens back to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, with a quick wit, a perpetually unrequited love life, and a penchant for getting into trouble. When a bombshell blonde named … More Russian Roulette (Dev Haskell #1), by Mike Faricy [Review]

When a marine with mangled fingers has a chance to return to the scene of his injuries and take revenge on the enemy that maimed him – and at the same time can take revenge for the killing of the woman he loved – the story is bound to be compelling. Add in a new … More A Warrior Still, by M.C. Thomas [review]

A memoir is difficult when the subject is an unexceptional person whose life had few interesting aspects. This would have been a fine short story. “Mommy, am I a real Korean?” her daughter asks her at age five. She thought about it. She had been adopted by a white family after her Korean parents gave … More All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir, by Nicole Chung [Review]

I read this book as part of a reading group and I’ll say up front that this is not my usual genre. There are eight stories in the volume. Six involve a female protagonist who seeks and finds love. One is a cautionary tale from the perspective of an 18-year-old girl about the perils of … More Lightning in the Snow, short stories by Virginia Babcock [Review]