In a predictable genre, this murder mystery I found original and interesting.
Eight Perfect Murders follows Malcolm “Mal” Kershaw, the owner of a mystery-focused bookstore in Boston called Old Devils Bookstore.
Years prior, Mal wrote a blog post titled “Eight Perfect Murders,” detailing eight fictional crimes from literature that he believed were truly unsolvable.
His life is upended when FBI agent Gwen Mulvey informs him that a serial killer appears to be using his list as a blueprint for real-life murders.
The novel deconstructs and often spoils the endings of these eight classic works:
Dinios “Din” Kol, a gifted young engraver (with perfect memory) is Watson to the eccentric investigator Anagosa “Ana” Dolabra. An entertaining Sherlock Holmes genius.
This book is a locked room mystery.
Technology in this world is based on extracting blood from sea monsters called leviathans.
There’s an attempt made to keep leviathan marrow alive in the lab, producing blood. This is what motivated the bad guy.
His books explore politics through his fiction, often examining how societies maintain order and justice in the face of external threats and internal corruption.
BUT very impressed with Nairobi. A worthwhile tourist stop.
I had a ride share in from the airport during a drenching rain storm that killed between 1-20 people, depending on the news source reporting. Happily I was on the ultra modern expressway, a toll road. A project of the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).
Location in the Westlands district made it convenient to get to restaurants, shops, and modern shopping centres. Expats here don’t lack for much in the way of international stores.
Carrefour grocery stores looked much the same as in Europe.
For day hiking, my hostel recommended Karura Forest, one of the largest urban forests in the world.
Trump ruined my first few days as it took time to change my ongoing flight from Dubai / Oman to London.
I’d hoped to do some hiking in the Kenyan highlands — but the rainy season had already started. It would have been a hassle.
My last 3 nights I booked into posh Wildebeest Eco Camp to live it up.
$61 / night for everything. Gourmet meals included.
On the same ticket you can see the Nairobi Snake Park and Aquarium. Neither is well maintained — but I am fascinated by snakes and reptiles.
There’s a small Botanic Garden, as well.
One last thing ➙ HUGE problem in Kenyafor me was that my Canadian credit cards only worked occasionally. Many ticket offices don’t take cash. A few drivers don’t carry cash.
Those same cards worked all the time in Tanzania.
I was relieved to get out of the country.
I wouldn’t return to east Africa unless it was for a guided hiking adventure or another safari.
When Phil Kramer is shot dead on a deserted suburban street in the middle of the night, his wife, Emily, is left with an emptied bank account and a lot of questions.
How could Phil leave her penniless?
What was he going to do with the money?
… Jerry Hobart has some questions of his own.
It’s none of his business why he was hired to kill Phil Kramer. But now that he’s been ordered to take out Kramer’s widow, he figures there’s a bigger secret at work — and maybe a bigger payoff.
As they race to find the secret that Phil Kramer so masterfully hid, both Hobart and Emily must question where their true loyalties lie and how much they owe those who have been unfaithful to them.
This novel takes a unique turn by placing Pickett’s three adult daughters in the leading roles while Joe himself fights for his life after a brutal ambush.
The Investigation: Joe’s daughters—Sheridan, April, and Lucy—refuse to wait for the new sheriff’s investigation and decide to find the attacker themselves.
The Three Ranches: The “Crossroads” of the title refers to a junction where three different ranches meet, each owned by a family with a motive to kill Joe.
The Thompsons: A billionaire couple involved in a top-secret development project.
The Bucholzes: Owners of a cattle company that may be a front for more sinister activities.
The McElwee Sisters: Rumored to be involved in an illegal drug trade.
The Daughters’ Roles: The three sisters split up, each investigating one of the suspect ranches simultaneously to avoid tipping off the culprits.
Surprisingly, fan favourite Nate Romanowski is only an incidental character in this one.
Reviews for Season 2 of Hijack are significantly more polarizing than the acclaimed first season.
Not nearly as good, in my opinion. The plot less clear. Some episodes dragged.
I did like the very end of the finale. A smart conclusion.
Two years after the flight KA29 hijacking, Sam Nelson (Idris Elba) finds himself caught in another hostage crisis, this time on a Berlin underground U-Bahn train.
Idris Elba can do no wrong for me. He’s the main reason to watch.
The Murder at World’s End (2025) historical mystery novel by Ross Montgomery, marking his debut in adult fiction. It is the first installment in a new series titled Stockingham & Pike.
Set in 1910 Cornwall, the story revolves around the real-world mass hysteria following the appearance of Halley’s Comet.
The Premise: Fearing an apocalypse caused by the comet’s “poisonous tail,” the eccentric Viscount of Tithe Hall seals every window, door, and keyhole of his remote island estate to protect his household.
The Murder: Despite the absolute lockdown, the Viscount is found dead in his sealed study the following morning, shot with an ancestral crossbow.
The Investigation: With a local inspector determined to frame a young under-butler named Stephen Pike due to his past criminal record, Pike teams up with the foul-mouthed, sharp-witted 80-year-old family matriarch, Miss Decima Stockingham, to find the true killer within the manor.
Jane Hawk knows she may be living on borrowed time. But as long as she’s breathing, she’ll never cease her one-woman war against the terrifying conspiracy that threatens the freedom—and free will—of millions.
Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane’s husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but by the secret cabal behind the plot.
Deploying every resource their malign nexus of power and technology commands, Jane’s enemies are determined to see her dead . . . or make her wish she was.
Jane’s ruthless pursuers can’t stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call.
Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will make her way from southern Southern California to the snow-swept slopes of Lake Tahoe to confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her.
Rick McCharles 