Is there any fictional character who has been showered with parodies, pastiches, homages and adaptations as much as Sherlock Holmes? Has anyone even tried to keep track of all the stories, novels, plays, movies, and games that have gotten their inspiration from the most famous detective of all time? I am no Holmesian scholar. In my lifetime, … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS: The Improbable Tales of Baskerville Hall
Kiddie Krimes
ARE YOU MY MOTHER? Gus and the Missing Boy
Like me, some of you might remember how back in the 1980’s and 90’s, the dairy industry would put the pictures of missing children on their cartons. This was the time – blissfully free of the internet – when wanted posters dotted the bulletin boards in every post office. It seems like a natural fit … Continue reading ARE YOU MY MOTHER? Gus and the Missing Boy
KRIMES FOR KIDS, SOUTHERN STYLE: Three Times Lucky
Easily the best part of Christmas for me these days is the package I receive from my Secret Santa! We’ve been playing this game for a few years now, my blogging friends and me, and even though sometimes it feels like we’ve all read everything to do with classic mysteries, and even though our financial limit on … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS, SOUTHERN STYLE: Three Times Lucky
KRIMES FOR KIDS: The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson
“On Monday afternoon, my beautiful baby boy, Teddy, went missing from my father’s yard. I urge anyone with any information as to where he is to please call the police. Anything, even the smallest bit of information, could help find him. So, please, no matter how trivial you think it might be, please call. “If … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS: The Goldfish Boy by Lisa Thompson
SHAKEN NOT STIRRED, JUNIOR EDITION: Stuart Gibbs’ Spy School
This will come as a tremendous shock to most of you, but I was a huge nerd in high school! I was a homeroom rep, a member of both The Sherlock Holmes Society and the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Things Club (Soffowitica!), and an avid drama kid who snuck into the choir room with … Continue reading SHAKEN NOT STIRRED, JUNIOR EDITION: Stuart Gibbs’ Spy School
KRIMES FOR KIDS: A Comparison for the Ages
With everything so dicey these days pertaining to public education in the post-pandemic era, it was nice to hear some good news for a change: at a recent dinner party, my friend Maggie, who works as a librarian in a local middle school, told me that her students love mysteries! Turns out kids do sometimes … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS: A Comparison for the Ages
AIM (NOT SO) STRAIGHT AND TRUE: My Resolutions for 2023
A few weeks ago, my pal (and Book Club Arch Nemesis!) the Puzzle Doctor reached his 2000th post on In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel. Not bad for a man who’s only been blogging since 1954. I hit my 500th post last August (it was a dreary review of a dreary book, Dorothy L. Sayers’ The Documents in … Continue reading AIM (NOT SO) STRAIGHT AND TRUE: My Resolutions for 2023
PAT ON THE BACK: Meeting (Some of) My 2022 Goals
“There is no Frigate like a Book to take us Lands away . . . “ These words by Emily Dickenson were emblazoned on the bookplates my grandparents gave me when, at an early age, I declared my love for reading. I pasted them into every volume I owned and used up my stock long ago. … Continue reading PAT ON THE BACK: Meeting (Some of) My 2022 Goals
KRIMES FOR KIDS (WITH A CHRISTIE TWIST): Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen
As the sages are fond of saying: good things come to those who read Christie. Had I not picked up my first Agatha Christie novel (And Then There Were None) at the tender age of eleven, I might not have devoured the author’s entire canon by my twenties, re-read her voraciously, and set myself up … Continue reading KRIMES FOR KIDS (WITH A CHRISTIE TWIST): Aggie Morton, Mystery Queen
THE BOY FROM U.N.C.L.E.: The Arctic Railway Assassin
Tell me it’s not true, Maya! Say it isn’t so, Sam. Et tu, Elisa . . . ? There is a myth in the literary world that authors (and illustrators) are people, too, and that they must be allowed to go where their imagination and passion takes them. I think those who believe this are … Continue reading THE BOY FROM U.N.C.L.E.: The Arctic Railway Assassin
Ah Sweet Mystery! 