Category Archives: Mystery

#WitchWeek2020 Day 5: Gothic fantasy, with puppets

Posted on November 4, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Puppet shows! Fun times for all, right? Not in this chilling Newbery Honor book. In 2007, Laura Amy Schlitz had won the Newbery Award for Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village. This 2012 gothic fantasy by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Fantasy, Gothic, Historical fiction, Mystery, Witch Week, YA Lit | Tagged Laura Amy Schlitz, M R James | 8 Comments

#WitchWeek2020 Day 1: Gothick Dreams

Posted on October 31, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Happy Halloween to all! My first guest blogger is my co-host, Chris, who blogs as Calmgrove on WordPress, where for eight years he’s been exploring the world of ideas through books by way of reviews and discussions. Today Chris has taken … Continue reading →

Posted in Castles and towers, Gothic, Mystery, Witch Week | Tagged Alexandre Dumas, Ann Radcliffe, Bram Stoker, Charlotte Bronte, Diana Wynne Jones, Edgar Allan Poe, Evelyn Waugh, Hamlet, Horace Walpole, J K Rowling, Jane Austen, Ludwig II, Mervyn Peake, Philip K Dick, Sir Walter Scott, William Beckford | 21 Comments

#WitchWeek2020: Master Post

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

Diana Wynne Jones’ Witch Week (1983) is a fantasy set between Halloween and November 5th — Bonfire Night — marking the day in 1604 when Guy Fawkes was caught preparing to blow up Parliament. Six years ago, Lory of Emerald City Book Review used this … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Mystery, Witch Week | Tagged Alessandro Manzoni, Diana Wynne Jones, Laura Amy Schlitz, M R James, Neil Gaiman, Silvia Moreno-Garcia | 7 Comments

Flotsam and Jetsam

Posted on January 19, 2020 by Lizzie Ross

4 books reviewed here, and from them you’ll get a sense of my odd taste in reading these days. No particular reason for it — each one spurred by happenstance, satisfying a yen, or whatever. Lud-in-the-Mist, by Hope Mirrlees (1926, … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Fantasy, Mystery, YA Lit | Tagged Elizabeth Alcevedo, Hope Mirrlees, Neil Gaiman, Rumer Goden | 14 Comments

Ghoulish image

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

Because there can never be too much Poe available on this spooky day, here’s a little something I spotted at a recent art show (IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair) in NYC: “Edgar Allen Poe”, Horst Janssen (1929 – 1995), color etching, 1988 … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Gothic, Horror, Macabre, Mystery, Poetry, RIP | Tagged Edgar Allan Poe | Leave a comment

Fortean doings

Posted on October 25, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

A bonus post for R.I.P. XIV (Readers Imbibing Peril) — what more could anyone ask of this week before Halloween? Today, a YA trilogy drawn from Edison’s and Tesla’s rivalry that raises important questions about morality, mixed in with some … Continue reading →

Posted in Am reading, Historical fiction, Humorous, Macabre, Mystery, RIP, Science fiction | Tagged Eric Elfman, Neal Shusterman | Leave a comment

R.I.P. XIV, part 2

Posted on October 18, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

As promised, a second post for R(eaders) I(mbibing) P(eril) XIV, a celebration of any genre that raises the hairs on the back of your neck. Four books, 2 of which also fit into my celebration of Herman Melville’s 200th birthday … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Am reading, Biography, Fantasy, Gothic, Mystery, RIP, Seafaring | Tagged Avi, Edgar Allan Poe, Marilynne Robinson, Mat Johnson, Peter Ackroyd | 1 Comment

R.(eaders) I.(mbibing) P.(eril) XIV

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Lizzie Ross

Thanks to a new follower (that’s you, Juliana), I’ve discovered this perfect September-October reading project that makes a good run-up to WitchWeek2019: Readers Imbibing Peril XIV, aka RIP14, 2 months devoted to reading scary tales. Mystery, horror, dark fantasy, Gothic, … Continue reading →

Posted in Am reading, Fantasy, Mystery, RIP, Witch Week | 4 Comments

Brueghelian Obsession

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Lizzie Ross

The fourth and last in a series of novels involving the search for lost art. But a new slant here: this novel is for adults. Headlong, Michael Frayn (1999), Picador, 342 pp. Remember that Rod Serling story, where the Nazi … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Mystery | Tagged Michael Frayn, Pieter Breughel the Elder, W H Auden | 2 Comments

The Borrowers Meet Don Marquis’ Archy

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Lizzie Ross

Third in a series reviewing novels about stolen paintings. Masterpiece (2008), Elise Broach (illus. Kelly Murphy), 288 pp. It’s a bit strange to read about “beetles” living under the sink of a NYC apartment, but I suspect Broach’s editors wouldn’t … Continue reading →