WONDERLAND by Robert B. Parker and Ace Atkins

Wonderland is the second Spenser novel by Ace Atkins, and it is possibly the most densely plotted of all the books. Usually I breeze through these novels, including Atkins’s last entry into this long-lived series, but this one took some time to digest. There are a lot of players, and there are a lot of […]

DOC SAVAGE: SKULL ISLAND by Will Murray

When I first heard that Doc Savage was going to meet King Kong in the newest Wild Adventures of Doc Savage book by Will Murray, I couldn’t believe it. Then, after I thought about it for a moment, I wondered why no one had ever thought to tell that story before. Well, now it’s told, […]

SIX YEARS by Harlan Coben

I love Harlan Coben’s twisty suspense thrillers. I logged on with his first, Tell No One, and I’ve been through most of the rest of them with him, enjoying the surprising rides he’s offered. I show up every year just to get my breath sucked away as he launches into a chase with life or […]

BYE BYE, BABY by Max Allan Collins

Bye Bye, Baby isn’t a detective novel as much as it is a love letter from the author, Max Allan Collins. Collins makes no bones about his attraction to Marilyn Monroe, her story, or the mystery that surrounds her murder or suicide. Most of America is still split over exactly how the movie star’s death […]

NIGHT OF THE TOADS by Dennis Lynds

Night of the Toads is a Dan Fortune private investigator novel by Dennis Lynds writing under the pseudonym Michael Collins. Legend has it that Lynds created one-armed PI Fortune after another private eye who was nicknamed “Slot Machine.” Because of the one arm, you see. I read my first Dan Fortune novel back in high […]

APOCALYPSE by Kyle West

Hopefully this first review is a sign of interesting things to come for the year. This novella, an original ebook of 40,000+ words, is the start of an interesting sojourn across an apocalyptic world. We seem to have plenty of those types of books out there these days, but this one is special to me […]

THE LOST ONES by Ace Atkins

I was kind of tepid on the first Quinn Colson novel by Ace Atkins. I thought The Ranger had a great sense of place and character, but there just wasn’t enough going on to suit me. The pot needed a little more stirring. However, after reading and being suitably impressed with the author’s Spenser novel, […]

THE SILVER ALIBI by James Reasoner

Years ago, James Reasoner created the character Judge Earl Stark, a U. S. Circuit Judge roaming the Old West who dispensed justice with a courtroom gavel and a rather large LeMat pistol, which fired a shotgun blast as well as nine bullets. Reasoner wrote three well-received books about the judge, the Stark appeared to vanish […]

FORT WORTH NIGHTS by James Reasoner

Although James Reasoner is mostly known these days as a writer of Westerns and historical fiction, he cut his teeth on detective writing. For a long time, he was the “ghost” for the Michael Shayne Mystery Magazine, penning monthly adventures of Miami’s favorite redheaded detective. Somewhere in there, he also started writing the adventures of […]

REDEMPTION, KANSAS by James Reasoner

Redemption, Kansas is one of the more human Westerns I’ve read of later. Author James Reasoner invests time and emotion in his characters in this book that pays off for the reader. This is one of those books that could be effortlessly translated into a movie. The main character, Bill Harvey, is a young Texas […]