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On June 21, New York Times Bestselling author Linda Castillo will join the Learned Owl Book Shop’s Book Club in a Bar to talk about her series of thrillers. These gritty police procedurals are set in a fictional Ohio Amish community. The talk kicks off at 7 p.m., upstairs at the Old Whedon Grille (200 N [...]
5. Ash, by Malinda Lo. This is a different take on the Cinderella story. There are many common elements with the well-known fairy tale: Ash, or Aisling, is a happy, contented girl until her mother and, later, her father dies. Her stepmother makes Ash a servant to pay off her father’s debts. Ash serves both the [...]
Obstruction of Justice, by Perri O’Shaughnessy. I actually started this late last year, and finally got around to finishing it. All in all, it was pretty enjoyable. A bit slow in places, but it keeps you guessing. There’s more twists and turns in this than a double knot. Basically, there are two different mysteries: the [...]
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larrson. Don’t let the near 600 pages fool you; this book moves fast. There actually are two main stories covered in this first book of Larrson’s trilogy, both of them concerning Mikael Blomkvist, a well-known financial journalist. Blomkvist’s stellar career is tarnished after he loses a high-profile [...]
Tallmadge resident Amanda Flower, who grew up in Cuyahoga Falls, takes readers through a murder mystery in a small Ohio town in her first book, “Maid of Murder.” In the story, India Hayes, a college librarian and reluctant bridesmaid, is thrown into the role of amateur sleuth as she hunts down the person who murdered [...]
A short, succinct collection of 15 unsolved murder cases in the Cleveland area. Each case fills a chapter, with numbers and contact information at the end (a nice touch) for those who might have information. The cases include the infamous Torso murders in the 1930s, the death of a young woman which launched not only [...]
I actually started this one some time ago, and finally finished it earlier this year. Enjoyable collection of short stories, all in all, and they show the range of writing King is capable of. What I really liked were the little side notes at the beginning (or sometimes at the end) of each story. “Autopsy, [...]
An interesting mystery, with a bit of a twist. Instead of a society person getting murdered, it’s a rather nondescript maid hired at several people’s homes, in an equally nondescript Village called Broadhinny. There’s a lot of humor in this book, mostly dealing with Poirot’s having to suffer in less than posh conditions in the [...]
Finally got around to reading this one earlier in the year. It’s been on my list for a while now. It was…amusing. I would have enjoyed it more had it not try to supposedly base so much on “real” things and events. Symbologist Robert Langdon and cryptologist Sophie Neveu are thrown together after the murder [...]
“Third Girl” has a different feel from the other Agatha Christie novels I’ve read. For starters, this is set in the 1960s. This mystery is easily the funniest I’ve read. Hercule Poirot gets a visit from a young lady who says she think’s she’s murdered someone, but can’t remember who, when or where. She departs [...]