May 28 2024
Hi readers! We’re in for a treat today, as we begin a series of semiweekly excerpts from Annamaria Alfieri’s recently reissued historical mystery series set in 1911 British East Africa, Vera And Tolliver. The Vera of the series is Vera McIntosh, the rebellious daughter of Scottish missionaries. Having grown up in Africa with Kikuyu playmates, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/28/strange-gods-by-annamaria-alfieri-excerpt/
May 23 2024
Hello, readers! This week we have the privilege of giving you a sneak peek at J David Bethel’s latest suspense-filled thriller, Mapping The Night. The upcoming novel follows the hunt for a serial killer terrorizing New York City’s Upper East Side in attacks carried out only under cover of dark, bringing the reader into a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/23/mapping-the-night-by-j-david-bethel-excerpt/
May 04 2024
The back cover asserts that A Song of Comfortable Chairs is “the one where Mma Potokwani saves the day,” and indeed she does, but this deep into the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, getting there is all of the fun. Which is just as well, because all of this book’s storylines emerge from actions …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/05/04/a-song-of-comfortable-chairs-by-alexander-mccall-smith/
Apr 17 2024
Hunh. So I don’t know very much about the author, but I get the distinct feeling that I would have appreciated this novella a lot more if I did. Hit And Run begins with the titular violent act, as witnessed by our narrator John Frederick and his friends Louise and Brian. John sticks around to …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/04/17/hit-and-run-by-john-freeman/
Mar 29 2024
Good characters keep revealing more of themselves over time. Mr J.L.B. Matekoni has been around the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency for quite a long while, first as the owner of the garage next to the agency, and then as husband to Precious Ramotswe, father to their adopted children. He is a steady, low-key man, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/29/the-joy-and-light-bus-company-by-alexander-mccall-smith/
Mar 20 2024
Back in December 2021, I had the pleasure of reviewing Steven Max Russo’s second novel, The Dead Don’t Sleep. Now, we’ve been given the opportunity to give you a sneak peek of his latest novel, The Debt Collector, publishing today! ~~~~~~~ Abigail Barnes is young, pretty and petite, but her looks and size can be …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/03/20/the-debt-collector-by-steven-max-russo-excerpt/
Jan 25 2024
Gosh, I wish every aspiring literary thriller author who’s planning on writing some heartfelt, wordy, incredibly dreary and often borderline racist tale of suburban scandals would just read this graphic novel and go ahead and reevaluate whether this manuscript they’re working on actually says anything that the Brubaker/Phillips crew hasn’t covered perfectly already. My day …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2024/01/25/where-the-body-was-by-ed-brubaker-sean-phillips-jacob-phillips/
Dec 22 2023
Given the way this year has been going, it seemed only fitting to (finally, belatedly) start my Year Of Sanderson with the last book released as part of his gargantuan Kickstarter. And let’s be honest, I likely won’t finish reading the other four books he sent out by the end of the calendar year. Fortunately, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/12/22/long-chills-and-case-dough-by-brandon-sanderson/
Nov 28 2023
Having survived eight weeks of the worst emotional turmoil I’ve ever endured, what should I fall prey to next but whatever horrid ailment has seized all my children over these American holidays! After finishing my last book for work yesterday morning and staring down the barrel of many, many more books for work, I decided …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/28/the-case-of-the-modern-men-bad-machinery-8-by-john-allison/
Nov 14 2023
Alas that I did not receive this book in time to pitch it for work, as I had with its predecessor Station Eternity, the first book in the Midsolar Mysteries. As that latter was my favorite book of 2022, I knew I had to sneak this into my reading schedule sooner than later, and am …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2023/11/14/chaos-terminal-by-mur-lafferty/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire