book review Archives

Dead in the Hay

Farming Accident or Framed for a Felony? Author: Connie Feddersen Amanda Hazard, CPA and amateur sleuth, has made it to wedded bliss with Nick Thorn, the town’s sheriff and ardent local farmer. But wedded bliss goes on the backburner when one of Amanda’s most disliked clients, Harvey Renshaw, is found dead in the hay. Thorn rules it an accident (the price of farming alone), but Amanda suspects there is more to the story. Harvey has left behind a lot of would-be killers, from his four ex-wives to his business partners to the women with whom he had affairs. The local beauty [...]

Frances Carden2025-10-27T13:19:13-07:00October 27th, 2025|Tags: Amanda Hazard, book review, cozy mystery, Dead in the Hay, mystery, read, reading|

Bliss Montage

“Another self was needed to move into the future.” Author: Ling Ma Running the gambit from abusive relationships to surreal pregnancies, from secret worlds hidden in professor’s closets to intimate relationships with yetis, Ling Ma’s Bliss Montage is a psychedelic dream of melancholy and trauma, wrapped in a dispassionate voice that has seen it all before, and expects no better. While there isn’t a theme, per say, one might argue that a line of longing punctures each story: a longing to understand, a longing to be understood, a longing for justice, a longing for belonging, a longing for escape, a longing [...]

Frances Carden2025-10-24T14:24:38-07:00October 24th, 2025|Tags: book review, Ling Ma, read, reading, Short Stories, short story, surreal|

Nicholas Nickleby

“Such is hope, heaven's own gift to struggling mortals...” Author: Charles Dickens After the death of young Nicholas’ errant father, the Nickleby family is cast into poverty, at the mercy of Ralph Nickleby, their only remaining relative. Ralph is a scheming uncle who finds love in money, not family. True to Dicken’s approach, the story unfolds almost as a fictional biography, highlighting the injustice of society and the importance of character over station. At Ralph’s arrangement, Nicholas is sent to a cheap school for boys, where he will work to support his mother, a ridiculous woman who spends her life toadying [...]

Frances Carden2025-10-22T22:00:17-07:00October 22nd, 2025|Tags: book review, Charles Dickens, classic, read, reading|