Diane Plumley Billy Dead—Lisa Reardon–Viking Publishers-1998–IP Not an ordinary crime novel. The story is shocking, hard, and to some, I’m sure, distasteful. It’s also heartrending, compassionate and creates a reality so strong, the characters and events linger long long after the pages have been read and the book closed and perhaps traveling on to the next reader. … Read more
Washington NC is a sleepy town of 10,112, unless someone died or was born since we visited. It was deserted when we arrived, but it was 100 degrees in the shade and maybe most humans preferred to survive and declined strolling outdoors. Self titled “The Heart of the Inner Banks,” it’s bisected by the waters … Read more
Want to check out a house in the shape of a shoe? Or a duck? How about a building shaped like a cup of snowball ice? Maybe you prefer a cemetery safari–poking among tombstones, reading inscriptions, taking photo ops. Some places have buried the famous, such as Mother Goose, and some, the infamous, like axe … Read more
Murder Between the Covers—Elaine Viets–IP Oh what a perfect book for independent booksellers to revel in. The action takes place in a chain store, albeit a small one in Florida, but still oddly reminiscent of the local B&N. And why is that? Because Ms. Viets, the author of the Dead End Job series, worked at … Read more
What is it about this obscure writing duo called the Little sisters that made so many customers in the mystery book store where I worked willing to pay fairly large sums of cash for so-so reading copies of their titles? After providing a particularly thrilled recipient with a copy of Constance and Gwenyth Little’s BLACK … Read more
The very first mystery bookstore I entered was Whodunit? in Philadelphia PA. I was a teen with my mom, and deliberately looked up and found this particular store because I had a couple of books I wanted to sell and they said they bought books in exchange for credit. I was enthralled upon entering. I … Read more
After finding the ABE article about books exploring the theme of twins, I became intrigued, and realized I had one of the titles in my TBR pile. It had been there quite awhile. I think because every time I’d pick it up I’d veto reading it at that moment on the basis of needing something … Read more
