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Just read my 'friend the murderer', by sir Arthur Conan Doyle ... Now I m asking myself y did I read it and waste 2 hours of my life :/

I just finished The Best of John Bellairs by John Bellairs, of course. The edition that I read includes the first three books of the Lewis Barnavelt series

I picked this YA book up in trade at my favorite used bookstore. I dropped off a bag of books for which they gave me $125 of store credit. I got this hardcover edition for $1.25 of that store credit and was out of pocket $0.18 ($0.12 tax plus $0.06 handling fee). I hate to use the cliche, but...WINNING!

This series of stories is set in New Zebedee, Michigan. Lewis Barnavlet is orphaned when his parents are killed in an auto accident. Lewis is sent to live with his quirky Uncle Jonathon who, despite his claims of being nothing more than a parlor magician, is actually a fairly talented wizard. With his neighbor Florence Zimmerman (who is also a witch) and his best friend Rose Rita, the group face several dark-themed adventures.

The three books included in this edition:

The House with a Clock in Its Walls - 4 STARS

The Figure In the Shadows - 3 STARS

The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring - 4 STARS

4 STARS for the collection, favorited

Reading burned, book 4 in house of the night series

Reading "Castle Rackrent", by Maria Edgeworth. Hilarious.

Just finished The Sherlockian by Graham Moore. Loved it! Starting today Last Chance Lassiter by Paul Levine.

Just started "Be A Villain" by Rex Stout; Somewhere near the beginning of "A Murder on the Appian Way" by Steven Saylor; in the non-mystery fiction, 1/3 of the way through The Help; in non-fiction, the John Quincy Adams biography. Also reading Melissa Foster's Megan's Way - intriguing that.

Finished Last Chance Lassiter by Paul Levine this morning. Enjoyed it! Starting The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen today. This is a new author for me.

FYI The Devil's Grin by Annelie Wendeberg is available on Kindle for 99 cents from Amazon through March 5th. The official description: In Victorian London's cesspool of crime and disease, a series of murders remains undiscovered until a cholera victim is found floating in the city's drinking water supply. Dr Anton Kronberg, England's best bacteriologist, is called upon to investigate and finds evidence of abduction and medical
maltreatment. While Scotland Yard has little interest in pursuing the case, Kronberg pushes on and crosses paths with Sherlock Holmes. The detective immediately discovers Kronberg's secret - a woman masquerading as a man in order to practice medicine - a criminal deed that could land her in prison for
years to come. But both must join forces to stop a crime so monstrous, it outshines Jack the Ripper's deeds in brutality and cold-bloodedness.

I just finished the YA novel The Bone Magician by F.E. Higgins.

This is the second book in the YA Sinister City series and it is every bit as well written as the first book, The Black Book of Secrets.

The series looks at the seamier side of life in Urbs Umida, which is a thinly veiled, Victorian-era London.

This book explores the squalor of Dickensian life on the wrong side of the river and touches on side-show horrors, phrenology and body-watching (a duty taken on by some undertakers to be certain that the dead were actually dead before burial).

While the books are loosely related, and the activities run in parallel to each other, there is a common thread that runs through the books that makes it IMPERATIVE that the books are read in order.

4 STARS

I just finished The Turtle Boy by Kealan Patrick Burke.

I was really impressed by this novella. The story was engaging and drew on the comforts of childhood while weaving a dark murder mystery / ghost story.

It was a great introduction to an author that is new to me and has me wanting to read more.

5 STARS

Have returned to Anne Rice and am reading

I just finished Dark Entry by John B. Kachuba.

Kachuba has written a number of travel books related to ghost hunting in various states. After reading Dark Entry, I think he should spend more time on his fiction. The book was quite good.

Kachuba, draws on his knowledge of ghost hunting lore to build a story around the allegedly cursed and abandoned town of Dudley Town, Connecticut (). He takes a point-of-view approach of several characters simultaneously and puts together a pretty decent tale.

I was a little surprised to see that this book has a low 3+ star rating on GR. It is quite a bit better than several other books that I have read with higher ratings.


4 STARS

I just started A Drink Before the War.

Dennis Lehane came highly recommended by a friend, and so far it doesn't disappoint.

I just finished To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine. 4 stars. Today I started The Devil's Grin by Annelie Wendeberg. Sherlock Holmes is one of the characters.

Just finished The Technologists by Matthew Pearl and I'm about to start The American Boy by Andrew Taylor.

I just finished I Am Eternal by Athanasios.

I am suffering from a severe case of "origin of the ancient vampire" fatigue. This theme has been played, hashed and re-hashed by author after author, some of whom have no right to even touch the same topic graced by masters like Stoker and Le Fanu.

I Am Eternal spends a fair amount of time on that thread. But, Athanasios has done so with a goal in mind, the establishment of a pedigree for his "vampire hunter" hunter. The hunted is now the hunter.

More to follow? Surely!

A qualified 3 STARS for I Am Eternal. But, if Athanasios is heading where I think he is with this one, the subsequent titles should carry higher ratings.

I just finished The Willows by Algernon Blackwood. I read it based on the recommendation of a friend as a short-story that every horror fan should read.

It is a very intense psychological thriller.

This is the first work by Algernon Blackwood that I have read. I will be reading others.

4 STARS

I just finished The Listening Post by L.K. Jay.

A lighthouse (win!), a coastal English village (win!), WWII (win!) and a ghost (win!).

All-in-all a well written ghost story. It is not a rip-your face off type of horror but rather more of a slower paced village life haunting.

Worth checking out....especially since its free on Amazon right now:




3 STARS

Just finished The Devil's Grin by Annelie Wendeberg. Terrific book with a new twist on Sherlock Holmes. I will look for more from this author. Starting today The Sentry by Robert Crais, one of my favorites.

Just finished The Long Midnight Of Barney Thomson by Douglas Lindsay.

Our hero is a serial killer. Not in the sense that Dexter is a serial killer. More like Barney Fife meets Mr Bean.

A great dark sense of humor!

5 STARS

BTW, free on Amazon:

Just finished reading John Green's "The Fault in Our Stars".
A fantastically wonderful novel- a heartbreaker for sure, but weirdly uplifting.
Now off to read Virgil's "The Aeneid"! (A required book for my course at uni)

Just finished Three Bedrooms in Manhattan and am now reading The Queen of the Damned

I just finished The Haunted Hotel by Wilkie Collins.

This one is less a horror novel than it is a murder mystery. It certainly has a horror element. But, its strength lies in the mystery that is laid out early in the novel and keeps you guessing until the end.

5 STARS

I just finished Reliquary by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

I enjoyed this book up until the climactic action scene that composed the last 100 or so pages of the novel.

Its funny when in the tongue-in-cheek James Bond flicks our hero races against a timer strapped to an explosive and amazingly stops the clock with 007 seconds remaining. In the thrill of action sequence you will have lost track that 15 minutes of the movie has passed when the clock initially had only 2 minutes until apocalypse.

But, in this novel it just didn't work. With the countdown to destruction set at T-minus 2 hours, agent Pendergast had a laundry list of weapons to procure, SEAL teams to enlist, plans to be drawn up, guides to engage, arguments to be had, blah blah blah, not to mention he actually had to stop that proverbial ticking clock. It just didn't work for me! Granted, Pendergast is faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than any runaway locomotive, there is just no way in any bit of seriousness that he could have pulled this off!

Okay, I'm no fun.

3 STARS

I'm reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
I read it many years ago and had forgotten how good it was. I'm tempted to go on a John le Carré marathon.

I just finished Peter and the Dead Men.

This was a fantastic YA book and a great introduction to Darren Pillsbury.

Peter, his mother and younger sister move from California to rural Duskerville. They live with Peter's eccentric grandfather in a old mansion that is a fitting home for someone as eccentric as the grandfather.

Along with his new-found friend Dill, Peter stirs up a two centuries old town curse that will have to be addressed.

I read this as part of the collection of Peter Normal stories in
Peter And The Vampires.

To address some of the other reviews on this book that I have read:

1. Yes, the younger sister is annoying and there seems to be a rather large dose of her upfront. Baby talk will grate on you and I'm not sure why any author would write it. Look past that. It is a bit part and goes away after the first couple of chapters.

2. It seems that at least one reviewer was annoyed that this book undermines parental control and encourages children to ignore their parents and act out! Seriously? Well, if that's the way you feel, I might suggest avoiding other books such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Peter Pan, Pollyanna, etc. Or better yet, go back to your hole and turn on The Brady Bunch reruns.

5 STARS

I also just finished Peter and the Vampires. This is the second book in the YA Peter Normal Series by Darren Pillsbury.

Peter and his friend Dill find themselves in the middle of a vampire mystery that has been part of their town lore for centuries. Eventually, they have to pull Peter's grandfather into the mix to help them get out of the mess that they find themselves in. There is a lot more to grandfather than they expected.

A very dark YA series. And very fun.

I read this as part of the collection of Peter Normal stories in Peter And The Vampires.

5 STARS

I just finished The Man Who Was Poe by Avi.

This middle-reader is the second book that I have read by Avi, the first being The Seer of Shadows, which I enjoyed immensely. Avi tackles some pretty dark topics.

In this book, we find Edgar Allan Poe acting as Detective Dupin to help a young boy find his missing mother, sister and aunt. In the process, he finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery and investigating a bank heist.

This book had all the ingredients: Poe, murder, kidnapping, robbery. But, I found this book overly confusing.

Avi doesn't write Disney characters. He writes Poe as a alcohol-addled drunkard, more interested in his art than in actually solving the crimes he is investigating. Poe moves in and out of lucidity often confusing reality for the story he is writing. It almost seemed Johnny Depp-ian at times...and that didn't help the resolve some of the complexity of the story.

I didn't NOT like this book. I just found it a little too confusing and would think the the targeted middle-readers would be completely lost.

3 STARS

Dust and Shadow by Lindsay Faye.

Hi Alex, How are you liking Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson? I really enjoyed it.
I just started Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly: And Other New Adventures of the Great Detective and have The Empress of India on my TBR shelf. The latter is a Professor Moriarty story.

Hi Tiffany.

So far I am enjoying it. I am only about 30 pages into it, so I will let you know as I get further along.

Just finished In the Blood (A Genealogical Crime Mystery #1) by Steve Robinson. Being an avid genealogist myself I really enjoyed the mix of genealogy and mystery, as well as the Cornwall, England setting. Just started a book I won in a GR giveaway, The Black Country (Scotland Yard Murder Squad #2) by Alex Grecian. So far so good.

Just finished The Element of Surprise: The Wormwood Scrubs Enigma. Have just started The House Of Silk.

Finished The Black Country(Scotland Yard Murder Squad #2) by Alex Grecian over the weekend. I enjoyed it a lot and gave it four stars. Bit of cross between Conan Doyle and HP Lovecraft as far as atmosphere. Today I am starting Silver Lies by Ann Parker.

I finished Silver Lies by Ann Parker over the weekend. Today I am starting The Singular Case of the Duplicate Holmes by Jan Walker. It was recommended to me by a friend with this group and I'm looking forward to it.

Here's a couple of Victorian horror books that I have been reading. They are a series of related short stories that should be read in order. I have read the first two books and really enjoyed them.

Mask of the Macabre - 4 STARS

Ballet of the Bones - 4 STARS

Seance of the Souls - to be read

Can't spin either of these as Sherlock related, but what the heck. I just finished The Ophelia Cut by John Lescroart which I won as a First Read on GR. Today I'm starting a sci-fi novel Gabriel's Redemption by Steve Umstead.

Just finished reading David Ruffle's Holmes and Watson End Peace. I really enjoyed how different the book was. :) Don't want to give anything away for those that haven't read it.

Jacquelyn wrote: "Just finished reading David Ruffle's Holmes and Watson End Peace. I really enjoyed how different the book was. :) Don't want to give anything away for those that haven't read it." I agree with your judgement here - I also gave it 5 stars. It brought tears to my eyes.

Just finished Gabriel's Redemption by Steve Umstead. I don't read a lot of sci-fi but this was very good. Very realistic job of world building. Started today Trial & Error by Paul Levine.

I'm currently reading Stephen King's "11/22/63."

I just finished "Back to Blood", by Tom Wolfe.

Just started today More from the Deed Box of John H. Watson MD by Hugh Ashton. Just finished a First Reads King's Mountain: A Ballad Novel by Sharyn McCrumb. Also read The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante.

Liza Picard on Elizabethean London, Vince Flynn: Amercan Assasin and How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes... And of course The Memoirs...

Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye. Just finished the Noble Bachelor (again).

I am heartily enjoying 'The Godfather' by Mario Puzo the Suspense is Nerve wracking

I am reading EAST WIND COMING by a Japanese Sherlockian.

I'm finishing up To the Grave by Steve Robinson, a genealogical mystery. This is a really good series. Not sure what I'll read next, but I just won on GR First Reads A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway. Sounds like a steampunk version of Sherlock Holmes featuring his niece Elvinia. Sounds interesting, but I'll let you know more later.

Reading my third Jack Reacher book.
My daughter and I went to see the film several months ago - so far the only film I've seen this year - and she picked up one of the series. It's not her thing - she is more into historical, fantasy, YA and some romance - but she got completely hooked and has read all but the latest. So I picked up one last week, read it in a few days, read a second one in a day, now on the third.

Started today A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway, a book I won on GR First Reads. It takes place in an alternative steampunk version of London. The main character is Sherlock Holmes' niece Elvina. Have never read anything in the steampunk genre before so it is a new experience.