Category Archives: Mysteries

The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone

Posted on 13 October 2024 by Barbara Howe

The Bookshop Detectives: Dead Girl Gone, by Gareth Ward and Louise Ward, is a Kiwi-infused mystery set in Havelock North, a town in New Zealand’s Hawk’s Bay region. This story about two ex-Brit coppers turned bookstore owners is written by … Continue reading →

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2023 Recap

Posted on 1 January 2024 by Barbara Howe

I started 2023 with a list of eight books I was excited about reading. Unfortunately, an intriguing concept doesn’t always turn into a compelling story, and I ultimately abandoned several of them, and none of them made it onto the … Continue reading →

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The Reluctant Widow

Posted on 22 April 2023 by Barbara Howe

The time and place: early 19th century England, during the Napoleonic Wars. Miss Elinor Rochdale, on her way to take up a post of governess, alights from a stagecoach in the village of Billingshurst. She is expecting to be met—by … Continue reading →

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Never Pick Up Hitchhikers

Posted on 27 January 2023 by Barbara Howe

On his way to the British town of New Braybourne, where he is supposed to be studying art, twenty-year-old William (Willie) Banks hitchhikes to save money, instead of taking the train. (This story is set in the 1970s, when hitchhiking … Continue reading →

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Quiet in Her Bones

Posted on 13 January 2023 by Barbara Howe

 Ten years ago, Nina Parvati Rai vanished without a trace, taking with her a quarter of a million dollars in cash. Her disappearance was assumed to be an act of defiance: a bored socialite’s revenge on her wealthy, controlling husband. … Continue reading →

Posted in Kiwi author, Mysteries, New Zealand | 2 Comments

2022 Recap

Posted on 16 December 2022 by Barbara Howe

I started off this year with a post about the half-dozen books on the top of my TBR pile, and was only happy with one of them (When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain). What about the others? I loved … Continue reading →

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Piranesi

Posted on 17 June 2022 by Barbara Howe

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves … Continue reading →

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Flashback

Posted on 23 April 2022 by Barbara Howe

Anna Pigeon is enjoying her temporary assignment as Acting Supervisory Ranger of the Dry Tortugas National Park. The Dry Tortugas, seventy miles further into the Gulf of Mexico than Key West, is one of the U.S. National Park System’s least … Continue reading →

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Death and Taxes

Posted on 1 April 2022 by Barbara Howe

Death and taxes: the only things certain in this world, and they’ve taken a toll on us over the last few weeks. Between a funeral (of a friend and former neighbour, not a family member) and some complications in our … Continue reading →

Posted in A Writer's Life, Historical Mysteries, Mysteries, On Reading | 2 Comments

The Relentless Moon

Posted on 6 November 2021 by Barbara Howe

In my last post, I wrote about The Calculating Stars, the first book in the Lady Astronaut series by Mary Robinette Kowal. That book had its good points, but I had some reservations about it. I liked The Relentless Moon, … Continue reading →

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