Episodes
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We need to step away for about a month our beloved Ann Dark needs to take some time to heal. She can't wait to return to the podcast. Please join her family and freinds in wishing her well. We will be posting further updates on here or our facebook page. Thank you for your continue support and understanding.
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Episodes manquant?
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Recommendations For Your TBR
Show Notes
On today's episode, we feature six books that we recommend for our listener's TBR. These are books that
have been sent to us for review. There is no way we can read every book but we want to make sure they
are highlighted in some way.
Ann reported on Good Girls Don't Die by Christina Henry (Berkeley 11/23). This is the story of three
woman with one way out.
Tracey reported on The Repurposed Spy by Oliver Dowson (self 3/22) A modern spy novel filled with
humor and intrigue.
Misty had Miss Blaine, The Prefect & the Weird Sisters by Olga Wojtas (Felony & Mayhem Press 3/23) A
prefect who time travels to help people.
Ann's second book is The Murder of Andrew Johnson by Burt Solomon (Forge Books 10/23) An inspector
looks to see if the president was killed in his home state of Tennessee
Tracey 's second book is Anna-O by Matthew Blake (Harper 1/24) The story of a woman who commits
two murders while sleepwalking and then never wakes up again.
Misty's second book is The Lies I tell by Julie Clark (Source books 12/22) The story of a con woman who
becomes what her mark needs her to be.
Tracey is currently reading “the Carrow Haunt” by Darcie Coates and the “Night Circus” by Erin
Morgenstern
Ann is currently reading “The Deepest Kill” by Lisa Black, “The Waxworks Man” by J.C. Briggs, and
“The Huntress” by Kate Quinn.
Misty is currently working on her new mystery series based on a diner with dead people. -
1-24 WWAR
New Beginnings
Show Notes
For our first WWAR for 2024, we discussed three books that feature new beginnings for the protagonist or
storyl
Misty reported on her book “Poison Ivy” by Misty Simon. This is the first book she had published in
2004. It has been re-released two more times since then and has just been again re-released. She says the
book is still a lot of fun to read.
Tracey reported on her book “What Waits In the Woods.” by Kieran Scott It features a ballerina who has
to begin over when she damages her leg and has to give up her dream of ballet. On the day she arrives
back in her hometown in rural Pennsylvania, a body is found behind her father's house.
Ann reported on “Conflicting Loyalties: My Life As A Mob Enforcer turned DOJ Informant” by Aiden
Gabor. It is a true story of a teenager who is forced to become an informant for the Justice Department in
order to stay out of jail. He remained an informant for almost 20 years when he got out. He then has to
start his life over a second time when he was diagnosed with ALS.
We also reported on the books we are currrently reading.
Misty is reading “Writing A Cozy Mystery” by Nancy J. Cohen, and says she reads it often to make sure
she is including everything in her books.
Tracey is reading “A Good House For Children” by Kate Collins
Ann is currently reading “Seed” by Anya Allborne and “Calico” by Lee Goldberg. -
Edwin Hill
Show Notes
Today we talk with Edwin Hill about his book Who To Believe. It will release today from Kensington
Books.
Monreith, Massachusetts, was once a small community of whalers and farmers. These days it’s a well-to-do
town filled with commuters drawn to its rugged coastline and country roads. A peaceful, predictable place—
until popular restaurateur Laurel Thibodeau is found brutally murdered in her own home. Suspicion naturally
falls on Laurel’s husband, Simon, who had gambling debts that only her life insurance policy could fix. But
there are other rumors too . . .
Among the group of six friends gathered for Alice Stone’s fortieth birthday, theories abound concerning
Laurel’s death. Max Barbosa, police chief, has heard plenty of them, as has his longtime friend, Unitarian
minister Georgia Fitzhugh. Local psychiatrist Farley Drake is privy to even more, gleaning snippets of gossip
and information from his patients while closely guarding his own past.
But maybe everyone in Monreith has something to hide. Because before this late-summer evening has come
to a close, one of these six will be dead. And as jealousy, revenge, adultery, and greed converge, the
question becomes not who among these friends might be capable of such a thing, but—who isn’t? -
Top Five Rundown
Show notes
On today's episode we review our top 5 books we read over the past year.\
5
Ann – The Last Orphan by Greg Hurwitz
Tracey – The Devil's Chew Toy by Rob Osler
4
Ann - Last Known Port by Sue Anger
Tracey - Bone Rattler by Elliot Pattison
3
Ann – The Hunter by Jennifer Herera
Tracey – The Camp by Nancy Bush
2
Ann – Malibu Burning by Lee Goldberg
Tracey – Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
1
Ann – The Bones of Birka by Cynthia Surrisi
Tracey – Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby
We had a few honorable mentions of books that we did not cover on the program but were so good they
deserve a mention
Ann's list
The Girl in the Eagle's Talons by Karen Schmirnoff
The Road To Station X by Sarah Baring
Holly by Stephen King
Tracey's list
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Verity by Coleen Hoover
Carrie by Stephen King
TRIVIA
Last week's question
Which mystery author has a span of 29 years between the publishing of one of her mysteries?
a. Mary Roberts Reinhart
b. Ruth Rendell
c. Mildred Davis
d. Amanda Cross
The answer is c. Mildred Davis. She wrote 18 mystery novels between the years 1948 and 1977. She
didn't publish another until 2006 when she began the Murder in Maine mystery series with her daughter
Katherine Roome.
This week's question is:
Author Robert Barnard wrote over 40 mysteries. He wrote 4 mysteries under the name Bernard Bastable.
Who was his famous protagonist?
a. Wolfgang Mozart
b. Thomas Wolfe
c. Agatha Christie
d. Robert Barnard -
David Simmons
Ghosts of E#ast Baltimore
Show Notes
On the first official episode of 2024, we talked with David Simmons about his book “Ghosts of East
Baltimore.: David was delightful. Worm, fresh out of jail, tries to make a little money to get back on his feet,
and make it back to the halfway house before his 9 pm curfew. But what should be a simple drop-off, spirals
into a nightmare. Worm is faced with a number of obstacles like Greek gangsters, gimps, mecha suits, wild
drugs, and more. This feels like the perfect cross-genre book written for me especially with the clone
conspiracy theory sprinkled in.
Ghosts of East Baltimore is a wild ride and the perfect mix of elegant yet literary cosmic hood horror with
textured prose that not many could pull off. Rich with history, and a deep-seated love for Baltimore, this is a
fantastic crime fiction debut.
TRIVIA
Author Gary Phillips has edited several anthologies over the years. One that won particular accolades was
one that paid homage to a past president. Which one?
a. Nixon
b. Bush
c. Washington
d. Obama
Phillips has edited a number of anthologies including Orange County Noir and The Obama Inheritance:
Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir, with the latter receiving the 2018 Anthony Award for Best Anthology. The
Obama Inheritance was inspired by the many conspiracy theories generated about President Barack Obama.
Each story in the anthology focused on one conspiracy theory as a means to "Riff on it, take it apart and turn it
on its head, and give the reader a thrill ride of weirdo, noirish, pulpy goodness
Which mystery author has a span of 29 years between the publishing of one of her mysteries?
a. Mary Roberts Reinhart
b. Ruth Rendell
c. Mildred Davis
d. Amanda Cross -
In the last of our Holiday Break short stories We read a story that Bruce Robert Coffin sent to us. It is a perfect story to end this season of giving and caring. Please enjoy!! Tune in next week for our regularly scheduled episodes.
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The Noir before Christmas written and read by Ang Pompano
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The second in our Holiday Vacation series, Disappear is written and performed by the author, Sue Angejr. It tells the story of a sister's love and loss over the holidays.
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Dark and Stormy is off enjoying the season. Please enjoy a few weeks of Holiday stories brought to you by some of our favorite authors. We will return in January with more original episodes.
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Ann reported on The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon (Anchor 2015)
West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The
most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind
her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter.
Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara’s farmhouse with her mother, Alice,
and her younger sister. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that has
weighty consequences when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished. In
her search for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary hidden beneath
the floorboards of her mother's bedroom. As Ruthie gets sucked into the historical mystery, she
discovers that she’s not the only person looking for someone that they’ve lost. But she may be
the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.
Creepy, goosebumpy, scary ghost stories aren't only for cool fall evenings. It turns out that the
middle of January in remote Vermont when it's buried in snow is also the perfect setting for a
psychological thriller filled with ghosts.
Written by Jennifer McMahon, this is two stories in one with the common factor the setting of an
old farmhouse on a secluded road in the very small town of West Hall, Vermont. The stories
alternate: One takes place in January 1908, including flashbacks about 20 years earlier. The
other takes place in the present day, also in January. This thickly-wooded homestead includes
an outcropping of giant boulders that looks so much like a hand, the area has always been
called Devil's Hand. Wander too far into the woods, and you might not make it out alive.
Something is going on here, and those who have seen it believe there are ghosts in this spooky
forest.
It's January 1908. Sara Harrison Shea and her husband Martin Shea live in the farmhouse with
their little girl, Gertie, who is 8 years old. One day she is found dead, having fallen 50 feet down
a well. Sara collapses in grief, but writes her fears, anguish, and hopes into a secret diary. Sara
comes to an untimely and gruesome death, which remains the stuff of legend in West Hall a
hundred years later. She hid her diary in one of the hidey-holes in the old farmhouse, and many
people want to find it because in it she supposedly left instructions on how to raise the dead to
life.
Meanwhile in the present-day, Alice Washburne lives in the same farmhouse with her two
daughters, Ruthie, 19, and Fawn, 6. Alice, who is widowed, has lived off the grid for about 20
years. No computer. No cell phone. No links to anyone in the world. Even in this small town, not
everyone knows who she is. On New Year's Day, Alice disappears. More than anything, Alice
dislikes the police, so Ruthie knows she shouldn't call the cops. (This is one of several plot
points—some small, some big—that make the mystery work. If Ruthie did call the cops or
someone didn't lock her cell phone in the car so she didn't have it when she really needed it,
things would have worked out quite differently. A little cheesy, perhaps.) The two stories—past
and present—converge as Ruthie discovers dark secrets about her own past and those
surrounding this strange house.
This is one of the creepiest stories I have ever read, and while the plots from both time periods
are rather farfetched, the book is a page-turner. It will keep you up past your bedtime, and if you
read it then, you may very well have nightmares.
Tracey's book was A Dark and Snowy Night by Sally Goldenbaum, #5 in the Seaside Knitters
Mystery Series (Kensington 2022)
It’s holiday season in the picturesque, coastal town of Sea Harbor, Massachusetts! But in USA
Today bestselling author Sally Goldenbaum’s latest Seaside Knitters Society mystery, the
knitting club sleuths will have to take a break from crafting cozy Christmas gifts to investigate a
murder at the Mayor’s holiday party.
Winter in Sea Harbor is a feast for the senses—crackling bonfires, the scent of snow in the salty
air, carols ringing out on the village green. This year, the Seaside Knitters have a sackful of
obligations in addition to their usual Christmas preparations. Izzy is so overloaded with knitting
classes that she hires an extra salesperson, but the new addition has trouble fitting into the yarn
shop’s holiday spirit. Cass, juggling the stresses of running her lobster fishery, has finally found
a nanny for her active toddler. Molly Flanigan seems practically perfect in every way—until she
suddenly disappears, taking Cass’s beloved rescue mutt with her...
Meanwhile, the holidays are kicking off in style at Mayor Beatrice Scaglia’s holiday party, where
a well-dressed crowd admires the mayor’s sumptuous new home and the celebrity chef catering
the event. An additional treat for Ben and Nell Endicott at the festive affair is reconnecting with a
dear college friend, Oliver Bishop. But it’s not just reunions and the appetizers that are to-die-for.
Before the party-goers can toast the beginning of Sea Harbor’s festive season, the chef—and
young wife of the Endicott’s old Harvard friend—is found dead beneath the mistletoe.
Izzy, Birdie, Nell, and Cass must uncover the pattern to these mysteries to remove suspicion
from those they love, bring a murderer to justice—and keep Sea Harbor’s holiday magic from
vanishing into the chill winter air...
TRIVIA
Last week's question was:
Which mystery author was also a barrister?
a. Linda Howard
b. Patricia Moyes
c. Eileen Dewshurst
d. Nancy Spain
The answer is c. Eileen Dewhurst. She wrote the Hilary Tamar series This series of four
books, described as "legal whodunits", were written over a period of twenty years. Their primary
setting is the top floor of 62 New Square at Lincoln's Inn where four young junior barristers have
their chambers: Michael Cantrip, Desmond Ragwort, Selena Jardine and Timothy Shepherd.
While the last named only appears sporadically, taxes barrister Julia Larwood, who works in the
adjacent premises, is a regular visitor and is in effect the fifth member of the group. These
characters are in some ways thinly drawn (Selena is highly organized and efficient, Julia is
clumsy and chaotic, Cantrip is casual and modern, Ragwort is elegant and conservative), never
communicating in anything other than an ironic tone, so that even when they are in deadly
danger the atmosphere remains uniformly light-hearted.
This week's question is:
Author Gary Phillips has edited several anthologies over the years. One that won particular accolades was
one that paid homage to a past president. Which one?
a. Nixon
b. Bush
c. Washington
d. Obama
Tune in next week for the answer. -
Jersey Ghouls
Show notes
Today we talked with Marissa and Jacki, two women we met at Fright Reads They host the Jersey Ghouls
podcast which features horror movies with a feminist twist. We Are in the process of planning a
collaboration with them. They primarily feature movies in the horror genre and we will do a book versus
movie episode of Dark and Stormy Book Club.
We are happy we met up with the girls and look forward to working with them.
TRIVIA:
Last week's question was
Mark Andrew Twitchell is a Canadian filmmaker. He became famous in April 2011 for what?
a. He used a fictional murderer as a guideline for the crime
b. He pulled off the biggest jewel heist in history
c. He murdered his wife and 6 children
d. He murdered a man and filmed the murder
The answer is a. He used a fictional murder as a guideline for murder. He was convicted of first-
degree murder in April 2011 for the murder of John Brian Altinger His trial attracted particular
media attention because Twitchell had allegedly been inspired by the fictional characte
Which mystery author was also a barrister?
A/ Linda Howard
b. Patricia Moyes
c. Eileen Dewshurst
d. Nancy Spain -
Rapid Reads
Show Notes
For our first Rapid Reads episode we gave short reviews of six different books:
Militia House by John Milas
“This is a beautiful horror story told masterfully and elegantly. It is a brilliant, different kind of war
novel, one that reveals the insidious ways the violences of war can tear people apart from the inside
out. “
Midnight is the Darkest Hour by Ashley Winstead
“a gothic Southern thriller about a killer haunting a small Louisiana town, where two
outcasts―the preacher's daughter and the boy from the wrong side of the tracks―hold the key to
uncovering the truth. “
Murder with Chocolate Tea by Karen Rose Smith
Tea shop owner and bride-to-be Daisy Swanson must solve a murder before she can say “I do”
in the latest Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery set in Pennsylvania’s Amish country...
What Wild Women Do by Karma Brown
Two women's lives unexpectedly collide at a camp in the Adirondacks in this fascinating dual-
timeline novel full of ambition, secrets, betrayal, mystery, intrigue, nature, inspiration, and a journey of
self-discovery.
Spy Coast by Tess Gerritsen
“This is a nice take on retirement—five old spooks whose bones may ache but whose minds
remain sharp. You can expect mystery, action, and bloodshed in this exciting thriller launched straight
from the peaceful shores of Maine.”
TRIVIA
Last week's question was:
Which mystery author used the pseudonym Mark Sadler, John Crowe, Carl Dekker and William Arden?
a. Dan Brown
b. John Grisham
c. Mickey Spillane
d. Michael Collins
The answer is d. Michael Collins but the name Michael Collins is actually a pseudonym for Dennis Lynds.
Beginning in 1968 with The Mystery of the Moaning Cave and ending in 1989 with Hot Wheels, Lynds wrote
fourteen novels under the pen name William Arden for the juvenile detective series The Three Investigators,
which was originated by Robert Arthur, Jr. Under this same name, he also wrote five novels featuring private
eye Kane Jackson, a former military policeman who has become an industrial security specialist after leaving
the military. The first Jackson novel, A Dark Power, appeared in 1968.
Prolific, explaining that he had more ideas than he knew what to do with, in addition to his Collins name, he
created additional series under the pseudonyms Mark Sadler, John Crowe, and Carl Dekker. For a few years,
he published under three of these pseudonyms at the same time at three different publishing houses
This week's question is::
Mark Andrew Twitchell (born July 4, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker. He became famous in April 2011 for
what?
a. He used a fictional murderer as a guideline for the crime
b. He pulled off the biggest jewel heist in history
c. He murdered his wife and 6 children
d. He murdered a man and filmed the murder -
Lee Goldberg
Malibu Burning Show Notes
Today we talked with our old friend Lee Goldberg about his bool Malibu Burning. It is the first in his
new seriues featuring arson investigators Walter Sharpe and Andrew Walker. It is published by Thomas &
Mercer and was released on September 1 of this year.
Hell comes to Southern California every October. It rides in on searing Santa Ana winds that blast at near
hurricane force, igniting voracious wildfires. Master thief Danny Cole longs for the flames. A tsunami of fire is
exactly what he needs to pull off a daring crime and avenge a fallen friend.
As the most devastating firestorms in Los Angeles’ history scorch the hills of Malibu, relentless arson
investigator Walter Sharpe and his wild card of a new partner, Andrew Walker, a former US marshal, suspect
that someone set the massive blazes intentionally, a terrifying means to an unknown end.
While the flames rage out of control, Danny pursues his brilliant scheme, unaware that Sharpe and Walker are
closing in. But when they all collide in a canyon of fire, everything changes, pitting them against an
unexpected enemy within an inescapable inferno.
TRIVIA
Last week's question was:
John Dickinson Carr is famous for writing what?
a. The most re-issued mysteries
b. Mysteries with hints given throughout the story
c. Impossible mysteries or locked room mysteries
d. First person mysteries.
The answer is c. Impossible or locked room mysteries. John Dickinson Carr is credited with writing the first
“impossible” mystery, Carr is generally regarded as one of the greatest writers of so-called "Golden Age"
mysteries; complex, plot-driven stories in which the puzzle is paramount. He was influenced in this regard by
the works of Gaston Leroux and by the Father Brown stories of G. K. Chesterton. He was a master of the so-
called locked room mystery, in which a detective solves apparently impossible crimes. The Dr. Fell
mystery The Hollow Man (1935), usually considered Carr's masterpiece, was selected in 1981 as the best
locked-room mystery of all time by a panel of 17 mystery authors and reviewers.[1] He also wrote a number of
historical mysteries.
This week's question is:
Which mystery author used the psynonym Mark Sadler, John Crowe, Carl Dekker and William Arden?
a. Dan Brown
b. John Grisham
c. Mickey Spillane
d. Michael Collins
Tune in next week for the answer. -
WWAR October
Show Notes
On today's episode, we selected mysteries that were set in Colonial America.
Misty reported on “A Shaker Murder” by Eleanor Kuhns. It is #6 in her Will Rees mystery series.
Fresh from facing allegations of witchcraft and murder, travelling weaver Will Rees, his heavily pregnant wife
Lydia and six adopted children take refuge in Zion, a Shaker community in rural Maine. Shortly after their
arrival, screams in the night reveal a drowned body ... but is it murder or an unfortunate accident? The Shaker
Elders argue it was just an accident, but Rees believes otherwise.
As Will investigates further, more deaths follow and a young girl vanishes from the community. Haunted by
nightmares for his family’s safety, Rees must rush to uncover the truth before the dreams can become reality
and more lives are lost. Yet can the Shaker Elders be trusted, or is an outsider involved? Misty highly
recommends this series.
Ann reported on “Brutalized” by J. R. Thompson. 17th-century Dublin, Ireland, preteen Callum McCarthy
is shipped to the English Colonies, where he will endure horrors of the Irish slave trade. Intense and powerful,
JR Thompson’s Brutalized explores ideas of greed, loneliness and despair, determination, and faith.
Growing up in an area where poor Irish families are as welcome as malaria, Callum, the son of a drunkard
father and neglectful mother, already has the odds stacked against him. But when the boy is kidnapped from
his own home, he’s plunged into a living nightmare.
Upon arrival in America, a cruel man by the name of Josiah Gillcrest makes Callum his ill-treated workhorse.
Bone-chilling secrets Callum uncovers on the tobacco plantation force him to make difficult decisions. Should
he make a run for it? Kill the wicked overseer, who happens to be his master’s son? Lead a slave uprising?
The possibilities are endless.
Mystery, brutality, and deep, dirty secrets saturate Brutalized as Thompson shares truths of white slavery from
Ireland and Germany to Colonial America. Callum’s detective skills could prove useful in bringing crucial
changes to the plantation if they don’t kill him first.
Finalkly Tracey reported on the book. Bone Rattler by Eliot Pattison. Unfairly convicted and force into
indentured servitude, young Highland Scot Duncan McCallum finds himself aboard a prisoner ship bound for
the New World. A series of mysterious deaths plagues the passengers and claims the life of Duncan’s dear
friend Adam Munroe. Enlisted by his captors to investigate, a strange trail of clues leads Duncan into the New
World and eventually thrusts him into the bloody maw of the French and Indian War.
Duncan is indentured to the British Lord Ramsey, whose estate in the uncharted New York woodlands is a
Heart of Darkness where multiple warring factions―the British, rogue Scots, the French, the Huron, and the
Iroquois―are engaged in battle. Exploring a frontier world shrouded in danger, Duncan, the exiled chief of his
near-extinct Scottish clan, finds that sometimes justice cannot be reached unless the cultures and spirits of
those involved are resolved. -
Dark Ride
by Lou Berney
9/23/23 William Morrow
This week we visited with an old friend, Lou Berney, about his new book “Dark Ride.:
From Lou Berney, the acclaimed, multi award-winning author of November Road and The Long and Faraway
Gone, comes a Dark Ride
Sometimes the person you least expect is just the hero you need
Twenty-one-year-old Hardy “Hardly” Reed—good-natured, easygoing, usually stoned—is drifting through life.
A minimum-wage scare actor at an amusement park, he avoids unnecessary effort and unrealistic ambitions.
Then one day he notices two children, around six or seven, sitting all alone on a bench. Hardly checks if
they’re okay and sees injuries on both children. Someone is hurting these kids.
He reports the incident to Child Protective Service.
That should be the end of it. After all, Hardly's not even good at looking out for himself so the last thing he
wants to do is look out for anyone else. But he's haunted by the two kids, his heart breaking for them. And the
more research he does the less he trusts that Child Protective Services —understaffed and overworked—will
do anything about it.
That leaves...Hardly. He is probably the last person you’d ever want to count on. But those two kids have
nobody else but him. Hardly has to do what's right and help them.
For the first time in his life, Hardly decides to fight for something. This might be the one point in his entire life,
he realizes, that is the entire point of his life. He will help those kids.
At first, trying to gather evidence that will force the proper authorities to intervene, Hardly is a total disaster.
Gradually, with assistance from unexpected allies, he develops investigative skills and discovers he’s smarter
and more capable than he ever imagined.
But Hardly also discovers that the situation is more dangerous than he ever expected. The abusive father who
has been hurting these children isn’t just a lawyer—he also runs a violent drug-dealing operation. The mother
claims she wants to escape with the kids—but Hardly isn't sure he can trust her.
Faced with a different version of himself than he has ever known, Hardly refuses to give up. But his
commitment to saving these kids from further harm might end up getting the kids, and Hardly himself, killed.
TRIVIA
Last week's question was:
Isaac Asminov was a prolific author but he had one serious phobia.. What was it?
a. Fear of the number 13
b. Fear of Heights
c. Fear of Closed spaces
d. Fear of flying
The answer is d. Fear of Flying.. Asimov was afraid of flying, doing so only twice: once in the course of
his work at the Naval Air Experimental Station and once returning home from Oahu In 1946. Consequently, he
seldom traveled great distances. This phobia influenced several of his fiction works, such as the Wendell Urth
mystery stories and the Robot novels featuring Elijah Baley. In his later years, Asimov found enjoyment
traveling on cruise ships, beginning in 1972 when he viewed the Appollo 11 launch from a cruise ship. On
several cruises, he was part of the entertainment program, giving science-themed talks aboard ships such as
the Queen Elizabeth 2. He sailed to England in June 1974 on the SS France for a trip mostly devoted to
lectures in London and Birmingham, though he also found time to visit Stonehenge.
This week's question is:
Mystery author Charlotte MacLeod had a family connection to which criminal
a. Whitey Bulger
b. John Gotti
c. Al Capone
d. Albert Anastasia -
Today we visited wi6h Vanessa Riley about her bnook Murder at Drury Lane. Portraying the true diversity of the Regency-era and the hidden intrigue of England’s abolitionist movement, this vibrant, inclusive new historical mystery from acclaimed author Vanessa Riley features an engaging heroine with an independent streak, a notorious past, and a decided talent for sleuthing…
Pressed into a union of convenience, Lady Abigail Worthing knew better than to expect love. Her marriage to an absent lord does at least provide some comforts, including a box at the Drury Lane theater, owned by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Abigail has always found respite at the theater, away from the ton’s judgmental stares and the risks of her own secret work to help the cause of abolition—and her fears that someone from her past wants her permanently silenced. But on one particular June evening everything collides, and the performance takes an unwelcome turn . . .
Onstage, a woman emits a scream of genuine terror. A man has been found dead in the prop room, stabbed through the heart. Abigail’s neighbor, Stapleton Henderson, is also in attendance, and the two rush backstage. The magistrate, keen to avoid bringing more attention to the case and making Lady Worthing more of a target, asks Abigail not to investigate. But she cannot resist, especially when the usually curmudgeonly Henderson offers his assistance.
Abigail soon discovers a tangled drama that rivals anything brought to the stage, involving gambling debts, a beautiful actress with a parade of suitors, and the very future of the Drury Lane theatre. For Abigail the case is complicated still further, for one suspect is a leading advocate for the cause dearest to her heart—the abolition of slavery within the British empire. Uncovering the truth always comes at a price. But this time, it may be far higher than she wishes to pay. -
‘Do you believe Will took his own life?’
The question echoed off the white tiles in the hospital’s cold, cavernous morgue, and I studied my husband in peaceful repose. I leaned down and put my forehead against his. Silent tears ran down my cheeks. They felt hot, and he felt so cold. It was five days since his death, and my grief felt heavy, like a vast, dark mass pushing down on me.”
When Maggie’s husband, Will, is shot dead in their London home, she thinks he is the victim of a burglary until the police tell her the shocking news that Will was the one who pulled the trigger.
Maggie is consumed with grief and questions. Will wasn’t suicidal. He had so much to live for.
After the funeral, Maggie travels to their holiday home on a small Croatian island to escape London. She finds a disturbing letter written by Will, containing clues to a dark secret.
As Maggie puts the pieces together, she discovers Will’s death is connected to someone from his past… Someone who will go to extreme lengths to keep Maggie silent.
Three can keep a secret... If two of them are dead.
The international multi-million bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice is back with his first stand-alone thriller, a heart-racing, hold-your-breath read that will keep you hooked until the very last page. -
Desmond P. Ryan and Fright Reads Recap
Show Notes
On this episode we talked with old friend Desmond Ryan. His Mary Margaret O'Shea mystery series has
finally been published.
Mary Margaret and The Case of The Lapsed Parishoner (Level Best Books 8.28.23) When Mary-Margaret
O'Shea, a woman of a certain age with mildly Machiavellian tendencies, discovers a homicide scene and
meets an unimpressive lead investigator, she realizes that she has no choice but to solve the crime herself.
With little help from Michael, her police-detective son, she enlists Arthur, her eccentric housekeeper, to help
her find the killer.
In Mary-Margaret and The Case of The Lapsed Parishioner, a series of assumptions and misguided steps
may lead her to the killer, or they may make her the next victim.
Desmond is working on two new series and has begun a writers event at a local pub near his home in
Toronto. We wish him all the best and look forward to talking with him soon.
We then gave a quick recap of the Fright Reads Book Convention we attended last weekend. The event has
grown over the years and we were thrilled and had a wonderful time. We were honored to hose three author
panels during the event. We met many new friends and were very pleased to meet the Jersey Ghouls. They
have a podcast which mainly covers horror movies with a feminist twist.. We are planning on having a
collaboration with them next year. We thank Harry Carpenter and his team for their expertise on planning and
executing such a great event. We can't wait for next year.
Due to the length of today's episode, we will defer trivia until next week. - Montre plus
