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 […]

DEAD THINGS by Stephen Blackmoore

Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore was recommended to me by an editor friend who not only reads my books, but also reads a lot of the same stuff I do. So I have her to thank for this one. After I saw the cover and read the description, I ordered the book immediately. I’d been […]

DEAD AIM by Joe R. Lansdale

Joe Lansdale’s latest book snuck up on me. I didn’t know it was already out until I tripped across it yesterday on Amazon. I downloaded the ebook and tucked in, instantly transported to East Texas crime noir with series heroes Hap Collins and Leonard Pine. I’ve been reading the Hap and Leonard books for a […]

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 SWORD-EDGED BLONDE by Alex Bledsoe

I have to admit, it took me a second try to get into The Sword-Edged Blonde. I blame me, though. I must have been looking for something different when I first picked it up. Or maybe I was looking for a more sedate or a more pure read. Alex Bledsoe’s first Eddie LaCrosse novel is […]

CREOLE BELLE by James Lee Burke

James Lee Burke’s new Dave Robicheaux novel is, I’m guessing, the longest book he’s ever written. It’s also at once the most layered and sometimes the most confusing of his novels I’ve ever read, and I’ve read most of them and enjoyed them a lot. I enjoyed this one too. Creole Belle is part eerie […]

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 […]

JOE GOLEM AND THE COPPER GIRL by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola

Joe Golem and the Copper Girl is a prequel of sorts to Joe Golem and the Drowning City. Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola have been having some real success in storytelling through comics, short stories, and illustrated graphic novels, and I’m having fun trying to keep up with all of them. Their Hellboy stuff and […]

EDGE OF DARK WATER by Joe Lansdale

For the last few years, Texas writer Joe Lansdale has been writing books about what most people consider to be the “good old days.” Only Lansdale is showing his readers that those “good old days” were filled with murder and desperation, and a scattering of heroes who had no other way to survive other than […]

DRIVEN by James Sallis

I read James Sallis’s first Driver novel before it had even been optioned for a movie, or made into one starring Ryan Gosling that became an eye-catching movie that captured moviegoers everywhere. I’d hoped that Sallis would follow up with a sequel and was glad when he did. Driven is another slam-bang feast of action […]