Bibliophile Support Group

Psych: A Mind is a Terrible to Read is a contemporary mystery based on the USA television series and written by William Rabkin. Brilliantly showing up a detective in court by causing someone other than the defendant to confess to a murder, therefore throwing out the whole case, is not the best way to get in someone’s good graces. Though Shawn, man-child of excellent deduction skills who has convinced most of Santa Barbara that he is actually psychic, may be convinced that the end justifies the means in this case, the detective in question is not so sure. In fact, he’s so irritated that he gets Gus, Shawn’s best friend since childhood, and Shawn’s car impounded over something as silly as eighty-seven parking tickets. Petty man! But when the duo go to pick up the car, they find they’ve stumbled across a criminal conspiracy and nearly get run over by a Mercedes. Not that surprising, really. Once Gus wakes up in the hospital, not only does he find himself in the...

Scarlett Undercover is a YA contemporary mystery by Jennifer Latham. Independent, shrewd fifteen year old Scarlett finished high school two years early and now spends her time as a private investigator. When she agrees to investigate the concerns of a little girl after her older brother seems to be “off” following a friend’s suicide – she doesn’t expect it to be a long investigation, more of a feel good case for a kid. Yet when it becomes clear the suicide may have actually been murder, Scarlett finds herself getting entangled in a world of cults, curses and secrets that may tie into her own family tragedy… Scarlett Undercover is trying to be a lot of things. It is trying to be diverse, by bringing a biracial, non-traditional Muslim main character into the limelight. It is trying to be clever and sassy, with a Veronica Mars angle with the teenage detective plot and droll protagonist dealing with a personal, unsolved crime. It’s trying to be slyly supernatural in a magical...

Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron is the tenth historical mystery in the Jane Austen Mystery series by Stephanie Barron. As I said last week regarding Jane and the Barque of Frailty , these are really books best read in order to get the full impact and understanding of relationships and such. However, I believe they could potentially work as stand-alone stories, as well. When Henry’s adored, animated wife Eliza passes away from illness, Jane and Henry mourn her deeply. Calling on the recuperative, distracting power of the ocean and sea air, the pair head to Brighton to enjoy the teeming, dazzling resort life favored by so many. It is not long before Jane’s path crosses with the famous, possibly mad, undeniably magnetic poet and seducer of women: Lord Byron. His reputation is known to Jane, but even she cannot help but be shocked by the circumstances in which she meets him. So, when a beautiful young girl barely out in society is found murdered and placed in Lord Byron’s be...

Jane and the Barque of Frailty is the ninth in Stephanie Barron’s Jane Austen Mystery series. I thoroughly recommend reading this fantastically imagined, Regency whodunit series from the beginning. You would want to start with Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor . I’ve been a huge enthusiast of this series from the beginning as a fan of both Jane Austen and mysteries! It’s 1811 in London and Jane Austen is enjoying a month-long visit with her brother Henry and his lively wife Eliza. She’s awaiting publication of her first novel, Sense and Sensibility and spending her free time socializing during the height of the Season. When a mysterious, exiled, lovely Russian princess is found dead outside of the abode of a notorious Tory minister, though – even Jane is surprised. The determination of self-murder does not sit right with Jane, and she is happy to investigate further. What is more surprising, however, is that Jane and Eliza manage to thrust themselves into the ca...

The Dresden Files: Grave Peril is the third book in the adult urban fantasy series by Jim Butcher. To get the maximum reading enjoyment, I suggest reading these books in order – therefore reading Storm Front first and then Fool Moon . I wouldn’t say that this review will really spoil anything from the first two books, but you can never be too careful!!! Ghosts are going haywire lately. Becoming more menacing, more violent and more… more … Harry has his work cut out for him lately. Unfortunately it’s not the paying kind – it’s the moral wizard responsibility kind. But when Harry and Michael – a knight, literally – attempt to rid yet another location of an unruly ghost, it becomes clear that someone is causing this. Someone is stirring up trouble purposely. And the fact that many of the victims have ties to Harry cannot be ignored… As I’ve said before, I loved the TV show The Dresden Files – based on this book series. I’m still not feeling as much love for the book se...

The Bride Wore Size 12 is an adult contemporary mystery humor novel by Meg Cabot – and the fifth book in the Heather Wells series. To fully enjoy the series in order read the books as such: Size 12 is Not Fat Size 14 is Not Fat Either Big Boned Size 12 and Ready to Rock The Bride Wore Size 12 Got it? Now, if you haven’t read books one through four yet – don’t read this review! It’ll contain spoilers of the earlier books!!! Established Heather Wells fans, read on: Preparing for incoming freshman at New York College as the assistant director of Fischer Residence Hall – a.k.a. Death Dorm – is almost as exhausting as planning a wedding at the Plaza. Heather wants nothing more than for everything to go smoothly. Then an attractive junior turns up dead in her room. Tragic? Absolutely. Murder? Heather certainly hopes not. Yet Heather’s rather skilled observational talents and nose for trouble is starting to wonder… In the meantime, Heather’s mother shows up - the m...

The Cuckoo’s Calling is a private detective crime novel by Robert Galbraith, a.k.a. J. K. Rowling. That’s right – J. K. ROWLING!!! You know, author of my favorite series EVER? Anywho… The story was in the media for quite some time: Lula Landry, gorgeous young supermodel, plummeted to her death from her balcony. Yet once the fervor calmed down and the police deemed it a suicide, it quietly became less and less of a scoop. For Cormoran Strike – missing a leg from his time in Afghanistan, freshly and painfully separated from his longtime girlfriend, and barely getting by as a private investigator – the buzz around Lula never registered much. He had enough of his own problems. But when Lula’s brother steps into Cormoran’s office – desperate to find someone willing to investigate further – it becomes front and center. Lula’s brother is convinced Lula did not commit suicide – and he’s willing to pay Cormoran handsomely to look into it. Diving into the scintillating world of fa...

Death Takes a Ride is the third book in the Christian humorous mystery series The Cate Kinkaid Files by Lorena McCourtney. For your fullest enjoyment, I recommend read Dying to Read first and Dolled Up to Die second and THEN Death Takes a Ride . There won’t be terrible spoilers in this review for the first two books, but I still recommend waiting until you’re caught up with the series! On the crest of receiving her P. I. license, Cate should be feeling more capable than ever in her new career, right? Well, when a non-job related task brings her to H & B Vintage Auto Repair one evening and the night ends with one man wounded and another dead, shot in self-defense… she really wonders. But the case is cut and dry, no need for investigating on her end! Or so she tells herself. That is, until she digs a little deeper – the curse of the curious! – and starts to notice oddities that lead her to believe the shooting may not be so simple… The Cate Kinkaid Files is a fun...