Category Archives: murder mystery

New Viennese Mystery by Jaya Gulhaugen: Review

Posted on March 10, 2012 by dorothyjames

Jaya Gulhaugen was born in Berlin three months before the 1949 Airlift. She moved to Vienna in 1956 just before the Hungarian Revolution broke out. She was a teenager in the Congo during the Simba Rebellion. Growing up, she just … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, murder mystery, review, Vienna mysteries | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Requiem for the Detective Novel: Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s “The Pledge”

Posted on February 9, 2012 by dorothyjames

Requiem auf den Kriminalroman:  This was Dürrenmatt’s own subtitle for his short and stunning novel, Das Versprechen [The Pledge] (1958).  It has no place in Sean Penn’s film version of the book  though this did keep the title, The Pledge … Continue reading →

Posted in crime fiction, detective fiction, literary mystery, movie thriller, murder mystery | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Interview with Sally Spedding

Posted on October 24, 2011 by dorothyjames

Sally Spedding was born in Wales to a Dutch father and Welsh mother. She studied sculpture at Manchester and at St. Martin’s, London, and when still a practicing and exhibiting artist, won an international short story competition. She was approached … Continue reading →

Posted in murder mystery, thriller | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Chilling Thrillers of Sally Spedding

Posted on October 12, 2011 by dorothyjames

Sally Spedding does not write cozies.  Some people have called her novels “creepy chillers.”  They are not for the faint-hearted. They frighten me. But that, I think, is what they are supposed to do, and they do it with style, … Continue reading →

Posted in murder mystery, paranormal, thriller | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Review of William Ryan’s “The Bloody Meadow”

Posted on October 5, 2011 by dorothyjames

“What will William Ryan do with Korolev’s dilemma, as the 30s in the Soviet Union grind on into more and more terrible times?” This was the question I asked at the end of my recent review of William Ryan’s first … Continue reading →

Posted in detective fiction, historical fiction, murder mystery, thriller | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Interview with Aaron Paul Lazar

Posted on September 26, 2011 by dorothyjames

Aaron Paul Lazar is the author of  three series of mysteries, the LeGarde Mysteries, Moore Mysteries, and Tall Pines Mysteries.  He lives in the Genesee Valley  in upstate New York, and enjoys the countryside where, in his own words, his … Continue reading →

Posted in country mystery, cozy mystery, murder mystery | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

The Country Mysteries of Aaron Paul Lazar

Posted on September 8, 2011 by dorothyjames

Aaron Paul Lazar is an all-American writer of popular mysteries. He sometimes calls them country mysteries, and this goes some way towards describing them. Because I come from Britain and have many connections with Europe, I might wish to call … Continue reading →

Posted in country mystery, cozy mystery, murder mystery, review | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Review of Frank Tallis’s “Vienna Twilight”

Posted on July 5, 2011 by dorothyjames

Viennese mysteries are close to my heart, and Tallis is surely the master of Viennese mystery. He writes historical, psychological thrillers—nothing cozy about him, despite the number of cakes that are consumed in the course of his novels.  They are … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, murder mystery, psychological thriller, Vienna mysteries | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Interview with William Ryan

Posted on June 28, 2011 by dorothyjames

William Ryan, author of The Holy Thief, was born in London in 1965 and attended Trinity College, Dublin. He practiced briefly as a barrister before completing his master’s in creative writing at St. Andrews University. His work has appeared in … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, murder mystery | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Story Behind The Mousetrap

Posted on June 16, 2011 by dorothyjames

Behind every murder mystery, like it or not, there is a murder, often fictional, sometimes real.  After reading my review of the Berlin Kriminaltheater performance of Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap,” Jessica Best, of CardiffRead, reporter for the South Wales Argus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Berlin theater, murder mystery, mystery play | Tagged , , | Leave a comment