Mary Daniels Brown

My mother always insisted that, as soon as I was old enough to sit up, she’d find me in my crib after my nap babbling away, with a Little Golden Book on my lap. I’ve had my nose in a book ever since. I grew up in a small town, with the tiny town library literally in my backyard. As an only child in an unhappy home, I found comfort and companionship in books. As an adult I wanted to be Harry Potter, although I admit I’m more Hermione. My life has been a series of research projects. Reading has taught me that human lives are deliciously messy and that “it’s complicated” isn’t a punchline.

“The Black Ice” by Michael Connelly

Connelly, Michael. The Black Ice (1993).  St. Martin’s, 368 pages, $6.99 mass market paperback   ISBN 0 312 95281 3 It’s Christmas Day, and L.A. homicide detective Harry Bosch is on call. When he hears a broadcast for a homicide on the police scanner, he wonders why he, the on-call detective, hasn’t been notified. Bosch […]

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The Best Books I Read in 2001

Listed alphabetically by author Bragg, Rick. All Over But the Shoutin’ Haruf, Kent. Plainsong Irving, John. The World According to Garp Lethem, Jonathan. Motherless Brooklyn Liss, David. A Conspiracy of Paper Oates, Joyce Carol. Blonde Oates, Joyce Carol. We Were the Mulvaneys Schwarz, Christina. Drowning Ruth Shreve, Anita. Strange Fits of Passion Vreeland, Susan. Girl

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“The Echo” by Minette Walters

Walters, Minette. The Echo (1997)   Penguin Putnam, 351 pages, $6.99 paperback  ISBN 0 515 12256 4 When a homeless man known as Billy Blake dies of malnutrition in the garage of an expensive home in London, police are unable to discover anything about the man’s true identity. Several months later journalist Michael Deacon is

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“The Scold’s Bridle” by Minette Walters

Walters, Minette. The Scold’s Bridle (1994)   St. Martin’s, 365 pages, $5.99  paperback   ISBN 0 312 95612 6 Recommended Nobody is very concerned when the body of Mathilda Gillespie, a venomous old woman, is discovered in her bathtub. Mathilda apparently has committed suicide by slitting her wrists while wearing her scold’s bridle, an ancient

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“The Sculptress” by Minette Walters

Walters, Minette. The Sculptress (1993)   St. Martin’s, 308 pages, $5.99 paperback   ISBN 0 312 95361 5 Rosalind Leigh is a blocked writer given an ultimatum by her publisher: write a book about a sensational murder that occurred several years earlier or be dropped from the publisher’s list.  Roz grudgingly accepts the assignment to

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“The Ice House” by Minette Walters

Walters, Minette. The Ice House (1992)   St. Martin’s, 301 pages, $5.99  paperback   ISBN 0 312 95142 6 Recommended When a decomposing body is discovered in the ice house on a British estate, two cynical detectives arrive to investigate. They’re certain that the body must be that of the husband of the household, who

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“P” Is for Peril by Sue Grafton

Grafton,Sue. “P” Is for Peril (2001)   Putnam, 352 pages, $26.95 hardcover  ISBN 0399147195 Dr. Dowan Purcell has been missing for nine weeks by the time his ex-wife, Fiona, hires Kinsey to find him. The 69-year-old doctor, a respected member of the local medical community, is director of a nursing home. He’s now married to

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“Angels Flight” by Michael Connelly

Connelly, Michael. Angels Flight (1999)   Little, Brown, 393 pages, $25.00 hardcover   ISBN 0 316 15219 6 Howard Elias, an attorney well known around the LAPD for bringing charges of police brutality, is found murdered in Angels Flight, a small two-car train that travels up and down a hill in Los Angeles. The murder

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“The Black Echo” by Michael Connelly

Connelly, Michael. The Black Echo (1992)   St. Martin’s, 412 pages, $7.50 paperback   ISBN 0 312 95048 9 Harry Bosch of the LAPD, newly demoted to Hollywood detectives after 10 years in RHD—Robbery Homicide Division—catches what looks like a routine homicide. Soon, though, Bosch realizes that the corpse is Billy Meadows, whom Bosch had

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The Best Books I Read in 2000

Listed alphabetically by author Gibbons, Kaye. A Virtuous Woman Hamilton, Jane. The Short History of a Prince Hegi, Ursula. Stones from the River James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird McEwan, Ian. Enduring Love: A Novel Percy, Walker. The Moviegoer Pipher, Mary. Reviving Ophelia Shreve, Anita. The Weight of

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