The Stacks
All book reviews
412 honest reviews across fiction, non-fiction, mystery, sci-fi, romance, and more.
Showing 289-312 of 412
A Way With Widows
by Harold Adams
Another Carl Wilcox novel. Harold Adams at his most observational about how small communities deal with desire.
The Ditched Blonde
by Harold Adams
A mid-period Carl Wilcox novel. Harold Adams writing the Depression-era prairie with the kind of dry honesty that the form usually pretends to.
Date with the Devil
by Cherry Adair
A T-FLAC romantic suspense from Cherry Adair. Counter-terror operative meets event planner. Reliably fun.
Orphan of Creation
by Roger MacBride Allen
Roger MacBride Allen's genuinely strange standalone SF novel. An anthropologist uncovers fossil australopithecines on a Mississippi plantation. The book that made Allen's reputation.
The Burying Field
by Kenneth Abel
The second Danny Chaisson novel. Kenneth Abel deepening the Louisiana political world with a parish-corruption investigation that earns its weight.
WormWood
by Susan Wittig Albert
The 17th China Bayles. Susan Wittig Albert taking her herbalist sleuth into the Kentucky Shaker community at Pleasant Hill. Quietly fascinating.
Isaac Asimov's Utopia
by Roger MacBride Allen
The third Caliban novel. Roger MacBride Allen closing out his Asimov continuation trilogy with appropriate political weight.
Allies and Aliens
by Roger MacBride Allen
A Roger MacBride Allen solo SF novel. Two short pieces in one volume, both with the careful diplomacy-first SF sensibility his Asimov books also have.
Long Teeth
by Marvin Albert
Marvin Albert's Pete Sawyer Riviera PI in solidly mid-series form. The South of France treated as a working geography, not a postcard.
Hide and Seek
by Cherry Adair
A T-FLAC romantic suspense from Cherry Adair. Mid-period, well-paced, the formula in full bloom.
Edge of Darkness
by Cherry Adair
A Cherry Adair Black Rose Chronicles entry. Romantic suspense with extra teleportation. Honest fun that never apologizes for itself.
Spanish Dagger
by Susan Wittig Albert
The 15th China Bayles. China's sister returns to Pecan Springs and the family history thread Susan Wittig Albert has been quietly setting up for years pays off.
Mourning Gloria
by Susan Wittig Albert
The 19th China Bayles. A car fire on a country road, a body that should not be there, and Susan Wittig Albert at her most quietly devastating.
An Experiment in Treason
by Bruce Alexander
The ninth Sir John Fielding mystery. Benjamin Franklin makes a cameo. Bruce Alexander writing 1770s espionage at the official level.
Wanderlust
by Ann Aguirre
The second Sirantha Jax novel. Ann Aguirre raising the political stakes and giving Jax a job that she should not be doing.
Tell Me What You Like
by Kate Allen
The first Alison Kaine novel. Kate Allen writing a lesbian Denver cop investigating an SM-community murder. A small underread series that is exactly as honest as it needs to be.
Quaker Witness
by Irene Allen
The second Elizabeth Elliot mystery. Irene Allen deepening the Friends-meeting world with a Harvard biology lab murder and a Quaker graduate student who fits no one's narrative.
Touch of Madness
by C. T. Adams
The second Kate Reilly novel. C. T. Adams deepening the Thrall world with serial-killer plot, vampire-court politics, and a heroine running short of good days.
Cast the First Stone
by Jane Adams
The second Mike Croft novel. Jane Adams writing a child-protection investigation with the kind of moral seriousness that the form rarely allows.
Panic
by Jeff Abbott
Jeff Abbott writing a propulsive standalone thriller. Texas filmmaker discovers his real parents were not the people he thought they were.
Distant Blood
by Jeff Abbott
The fourth and final Jordan Poteet mystery. Jeff Abbott closing out the small-town Texas librarian series with appropriate weight.
Death at Daisy's Folly
by Bill Albert
A Robin Paige Edwardian mystery set at Daisy Brooke's country house. Edward VII makes an appearance and Bill and Susan Albert keep the seams from showing.
Cinnabar Shadows
by Lynn Abbey
The second Dark Sun: Chronicles of Athas novel. Lynn Abbey deepening the world and earning a real second act.
Killing of the Saints
by Paul Adam
Paul Adam doing the classical music mystery. Violin-makers, contested attributions, and a death at a Cremona auction. A genuine niche done with love.