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
Liars and Tyrants and People Who Turn Blue––Barbara Paul–1980-OOP Imagine you could tell if one someone was lying? And I’m not talking about body language like so called experts claim on talk shows, but concrete evidence that exposes anyone who likes to fib? That’s the premise of this tongue in cheek novel by Barbara Paul, … Read more
Roll Over and Play Dead—Joan Hess–1991–St. Martin’s Press–used If you’ve not encountered the worlds of Joan Hess, you have many unique hilarious to the point of embarrassing yourself, moments ahead. Practically any one title from her Claire Malloy series could be on my list, but I have a particular fondness for Roll Over and Play … Read more
I’ve already related my armed robbery story, but in that case, no books were taken, only money. I say only, because in some cases, the books are more valuable than what may be in the till. The stealing of book or books although not a common practice, occurred, more than we all liked to believe. Throughout … Read more
My father didn’t read. Ok, he read the newspaper and model railroading magazines. But fiction? No. The exceptions were located at a shopping spot called the Mart, where stalls contained various low key vendors, meaning, most of the stuff in the place consisted of velvet Elvis paintings, soft pretzels, and troll dolls. One stall sold … Read more
Serial Killer Days—David Prill—1996–available Forget competing for Miss America, the real prize is to become Scream Queen at Standard Springs’ annual parade honoring their local serial killer who arrives during the festivities to slaughter another member of the upstanding community. Back in 1996, the dark humor was appreciated and hilarious. Today, it rings a little … Read more
