The Literate Kitty

It might be hard to believe, but there   was   life before self-driving cars were an option. Before AI and the internet gave us split-second access to  all  manner of information.  Before cell phones were practically glued to our hands. So let’s go back to one such “before”—specifically, the early 1990s—for a few minutes.  Grunge was taking over the music scene, and the number of channels on cable TV was exploding. And although we  knew  serial killers existed... for the most part, it was still in a “ stuff-that-only-happens-somewhere-else ” kind of way. Thriller master Alex Finlay leads us into that world—a quite ordinary one... until a serial killer starts terrorizing everyone—with his latest,  The Anniversary .   It could’ve been just another day in a small Nebraska town... except on this one day of the year—May 1, 1992—folks are a little jittery. You see, terrible things have been happening on this particular day for a while, now. Yo...

Imagine for a moment that you’re a chef—brilliant, by all accounts—until one day, everything goes horribly wrong. You lose your career, your family, and your reputation. (Oh, and also your freedom, because you wind up in prison.) The police think you burned down your own restaurant for an insurance scam—even though you insist you didn’t. So you do your time, and it’s not great... but because this is Iceland, it’s not unbearable, either.  You make friends with other inmates—and get to impress them with your talent, because you’ve earned kitchen privileges. And then you’re released... carrying the baggage of being an ex-con. Reykjavik Fusion  is the story of what happens next. And that “next”? Should’ve come with a big ol’ warning sign.   When Jónas (played by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) gets a job cooking at an elementary school, he considers himself lucky; no one else had shown any interest in hiring him.  But when parents learn the new cook making such tasty meals for th...

  It’s the   end of the world as we know it... but only the super-rich feel fine. (Well, closer to fine, anyway.)   In an America that could exist in the not-so-distant future, every nightmare scenario has become reality. The oceans have encroached on the coasts, submerging entire cities.  The fertile farmlands of the country’s midsection have completely dried up—no longer fit to produce either crops or livestock—leaving them nearly-unlivable dust bowls. Unable to afford even the basics—ample food, safe housing, medicine, modern technology and equipment—and being refused government assistance, the general populace is stirring. Angry. Hungry. Tired. Restless.  Millions of powder kegs set to ignite. The government is well aware of the imminent danger—as are the multi-billionaires whose money runs all of the men in power. And those wealthier-than-Croesus individuals? They’ve been planning for this eventual outcome a very long time... building luxury bunkers for the...

What do you get when you pair a flunked-out-of-K-9-school-(on-his-final-test, no less) dog with a former-military-guy-(with-plenty-of-skills)?  If you guessed “the most delightful detecting duo in the desert” ( or maybe anywhere! ), then you’re on the right track.  (But if not, no worries—until the latest entry in Spencer Quinn’s long-running “Chet & Bernie Mystery” series,  Cat on a Hot Tin Woof , I’d never had the pleasure of spending time with these two, either.)     Things are going pretty well for both members of the Little Detective Agency. Bernie is engaged to police sergeant Weatherly, and Chet, well... even if he’s still unsure about Weatherly’s dog, is always happy when Bernie’s happy.   They’ve also seen a recent uptick in business, after solving a highly-publicized case. ( Great news for the treat jar! ) Unfortunately, much of that business is still divorce work, which Bernie, in particular, hates.  So, when a teenage girl and her ...

A popular murder mystery writer—with a penchant for finding herself involved in actual murders (and murder-adjacent situations)—accepts an invitation to teach at a weekend writing retreat. It’s in the Bahamas. Sun, sand, ocean waves, and potent cocktails served with little umbrellas? Of course  she’ll do it. So what if that means giving pointers to an over-eager group of would-be writers? It’s only three days . What could possibly go wrong?! Turns out,  a lot , in Catherine Mack’s wickedly-funny little romp,  This Weekend Doesn’t End Well for Anyone .     Eleanor Dash is more than ready for a vacation—particularly since the last two she went on wound up turning into murder investigations... with her at the center. ( Okay, so her bestselling series involves murders... on vacations... so there’s also that. ) Regardless, she’d like to enjoy an  actual  vacation, for once, but this one doesn’t start out promisingly when the location turns out to be a small...

You might think you “know” L.A. Kale salads, twenty-dollar smoothies, and sushi.  (Yeah... but it’s also donuts, coffee, and food trucks.) Beautiful people everywhere, dressed like they’re headed for the Oscars. (Most days it’s an endless sea of yoga tights, jeans, sneakers, and flip-flops–on everyone.) The glamor of Hollywood, beachfront mansions, and compounds in the hills. (Except only a small percentage of Angelenos have  that  kind of crazy money... meaning most live in ordinary places, while the unhoused try to survive along Skid Row, under every overpass, or in camps in vacant lots.) It’s a sprawling city of extremes—from unimaginable excess to poverty, peaceful mountains to the unceasing noise of the freeways that intersect everywhere else—and always,  always  a powder keg, about to explode. And in Jordan Harper’s  A Violent Masterpiece , it does.   There’s only so much crime and awfulness even a city of some ten million souls can handle, and L...