Passover starts Monday night and lasts for eight days. That should give you plenty of time to read these mysteries set during the holiday. This is an updated list, but, as always, let me know any missing titles/authors. Passover Crime Fiction Passover by Aphrodite Anagnost Conspirators by Michael Andre Bernstein People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks    The Passover Commando by Irving R. Cohen The Passover Protocols by Ellen Frankel The Passover Murder by Lee Harris  All Other Nights by Dara Horn Never Nosh a Matzo Ball by Sharon Kahn Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home by ..read more

MASTERPIECE has announced that Grantchester, Season 9 will premiere on Sunday, June 16 at 9/8c on PBS. The new season is set in 1961 and sees the departure of Rev. Will Davenport (Tom Brittany) and the arrival of Rev. Alphy Kotteram (Rishi Nair).  ..read more

If characters don’t act in congruence with how they generally try to live, there needs be a good reason or they’ll cease to be believable. An upright citizen can’t suddenly decide to rob a convenience store. The killer in a murder mystery has to either be a major creep or someone with a compelling motive or backstory that pulls anomalous behavior out of them. I find it wholly unsatisfying for the solution to a mystery to embody a less than fully explained, out of character act.  All of this is central to the success of many mysteries, including my just released latest—The Not Quite Enli ..read more

THE 2024 CRIMEFEST AWARD SHORTLISTS Eligible titles were submitted by publishers, and a team of British crime fiction reviewers votes to establish the shortlist. SPECSAVERS DEBUT CRIME NOVEL AWARDIn association with headline sponsor, the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award is for debut authors first published in the United Kingdom in 2023. The winning author receives a £1,000 prize.    - Stig Abell for Death Under a Little Sky (Hemlock Press/HarperCollins) - Jo Callaghan for In The Blink Of An Eye (Simon & Schuster) - Megan Davis for The Messenger  ..read more

Oh My! I was so busy gardening yesterday that I forgot to post on National Gardening Day!  I'm an avid gardener, and I post a photo of a flower or tree or a meandering path from my garden on my FB page every day-- "Behind My Garden Gate."  Although I'm known for my roses, I also have a small poison garden. There are so many ways to kill in the garden what with poisonous plants, pesticides, and tools! Agatha Christie certainly knew that. If you’re looking for ways to murder with plants (for writing purposes only!), I suggest Amy Stewart’s Wicked Plants. It’s a wonderfully illust ..read more

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The Tax Man Cometh! I've done several posts over the years about Tax Day Mysteries. Surprisingly there are many that deal with Finance and Accounting, but not all that many that deal with the average Joe filing his taxes on April 15. Surely it's enough to commit murder. So here are a few mysteries that deal specifically with Tax Day. At the end of this post, I have an updated list of several accounting/accountant mysteries.  Perhaps the most well known Tax Day Mystery is David Dodge's Death and Taxes--an oldie but goodie (1941). It's been reissued. Read Librarian and Editor Randal Brand ..read more

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Today is National Bookmobile Day! What a great source of library outreach. I've posted several photos of Bookmobiles before, but thought in honor of the day, I'd post a few more! National Bookmobile Day celebrates our nation's bookmobiles and the dedicated library professionals who provide this valuable and essential service to their communities every day. We honor the access to information and resources our nation’s bookmobiles make available to our communities and the professionals who work diligently to provide these services. For over 100 years bookmobiles have brought a library to thos ..read more

How do you feel when you hear the word “Holocaust?” Many of us react with an involuntary shudder or stomach flip. We feel uncomfortable. We probably want to change the subject. There’s a general consensus that the period between 1932 and 1945 during which six million people perished was the worst tragedy in human history.  We know in generalities what happened to Jews, Catholics, Poles, and others. We know about Nazi persecution, deportations, concentration camps, and mass killings. Oh yes, I can say. My late father-in-law was the sole survivor of his family. He escaped to the US in 1 ..read more